I am a big fan of music. It’s what i do most of the time. I listen to music like 10-12 hours a day. Although i have my favorites with the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Def Leppard, Creed, Michael Jackson and many more but that doesn’t stop me to constantly look forward to hear new artists who are making their presence felt in music industry. Few months back, Susan Boyle came to the big arena of “Britain Got Talent” and she created a sensation world over with her voice. Unfortunately she bagged second position in the grand finale of the show, but her voice still beats in many hearts. There was another guy whose singing talent was much appreciated. His name is Shaun Smith and he sang “Ain’t No Sunshine” by “Bill Withers“. I am mentioning him here, as “Ain’t No Sunshine” is my one of the favorite songs and has already been re-sung by 100 plus known artists including Akon, Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz. Shaun Smith too created a little sensation on the web.

But Oh My God! Susan Boyle’s craze was still all around the web when this young fellow named “Danyl Johnson” came to the music arena in auditions of The X Factor. Danyl not only sang but performed on the song titled “With a Little Help from My Friends” which is written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was “The Beatles” song. It was the auditions and his first attempt ever. It was such an impressive performance, i literally felt goosebumps all over my body. He truly performed like a rockstar out there and everyone is crazy about his performance.

Danyl Johnson is being compared to Susan Boyle already. All for the obvious singing talent reasons. I am already a fan of his voice. All judges really appreciated his voice and performance. In particular, Simon Cowell said that “It’s the best first audition he’s ever heard in almost nine years of doing judging“. Wow!!! That’s a pretty huge comment for someone who has just stepped into auditions of X Factor.

Here is an online video of Danyl Johnson performing and rocking the X Factor auditions. Do leave your comments on the performance

I just took my gaming to the next level with the MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse by Logitech. I don’t know why but i have always been into Logitech mice since long. It’s hard to trust anyone else as i personally believe Logitech is the best in this special area. Besides, i have had my own agendas with another popular brand which i cannot name probably because of brand copyright issues.

In the past, i had never given any importance to mouse device whatsoever. I have always bought the ordinary simple Logitech Optical Mouse PS/2. That’s the simplest branded mouse available in market. Anyways, the way i use these mice, none has a lifespan of more than 6 months, whatsoever. So this time i decided to get something better. Something mean. Something more elegant…. So i checked up Logitech’s website and found some 3 or 4 great mice. My favorite one was a Logitech G5 Laser Mouse but i guess it wasn’t available. So i ended up selecting Logitech MX518 Mouse.

I have been using this mouse for a while now. And yes, it’s lot more comfortable, lot elegant and really comfortable. I can honestly feel the difference compared to any other conventional mice. I can feel it in my hand and in my game. Okay, these are wordings from the MX518 Mouse Box…but i feel the same way, so i don’t mind repeating these wordings.

The Logitech official website for some unknown weird reason says that MX518 has a 1600-dpi MX™ Optical Engine, whereas, in reality it has 1800-dpi MX™ Optical Engine. This actually helps in ultra-high resolution and pixel-precise tracking, so i don’t mind the extra 200 dpi coming in… It’s all good. It has a 8 button design which is all programmable, so this way i take full control of what all my mice can do. These 8 buttons include the two thumb buttons and the scroll wheel. You can see the following pics i just took for the rest of buttons location and integration.

As for the shape of the mouse, it looks pretty cool. It’s lightweight and dome shaped that really fits in precisely in my hand. Such shape supports the hand, helping to reduce discomfort during long gaming/work sessions. And the movement of the mouse on my table is really smooth compared to the other mice i had. It’s because of some ultra-slick polytetrafluoroethylene feet. I really have no idea what that means however i can break it up into Poly-Tetra-Fluoro-Ethylene.

I think i should mention the adjustable sensitivity of this mouse. I can shift from pixel-precise targeting to high-G maneuvers, without pausing the action. I can crank the tracking engine up as high as 1800 dpi for quick movements and fast turns. Or i can go as low as 400 dpi for more accuracy and precision aiming. All this can be done from the easily accessible dpi switching buttons that you can see just above and below the scroll wheel. So now i can adjust sensitivity on the fly!

Time for some non-professional pictures of Logitech MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse:

Alright some people wouldn’t care about the whole review that i have written. For them here is a complete Specifications list of MX518:

Tracking:

Resolution : 1800 dpi
Image Processing: 5.8 megapixels/second
Maximum Acceleration: 15G
Maximum Speed: 40 inches/second

Responsiveness:

USB Data Format : 16 bit/axis
USB Report Rate: 125/second
Sleep Mode: Disabled

Glide:

Total Weight : 106 Grams
Cord : 15 grams

Durability:

Button Life : 10 million clicks.
Feet : 250 kilometers.

In glide section there are some coefficients for friction. The dynamic coefficient is .09 and static coefficient is .14. Please note that these were measured on a wood veneer desk surface. Obviously other surface would have a little different friction coefficients. That concludes the brief specification.

If you liked this mouse, then do check out the “Logitech G5 Laser Mouse” as well. You will really love the looks of that mouse. Unfortunately, it’s double the price of what Logitech MX518 cost me.

Twitter has redesigned it’s homepage and My God! It’s beautiful. I won’t say that the old design wasn’t any good but yes it was loosing it’s charm somehow. But i guess this new homepage is lot more useful and attractive. Apart from the design work, what i like the most is the “latest trending topics” feature that you will only find if you’re logged in to your account on twitter.

Almost a month back, Twitter changed the follower and following page from basic style list to AJAX based list which is much more easier to use and good looking. Twitter has definitely grown into something big than what everyone expected. As for me, i always prefer Twitter over Orkut or Facebook, however i still cannot find my friends on Twitter as they are still hooked up to other old social networks. But i guess an year down the line, with more twitter awareness, my friends in India will start using it!

Twitter homepage and signing in process is noticeably very very fast now, compared to old design! I’m loving it!

Oh! Here’s the old design of homepage and the new much improved design:

Of course you can checkout the new design in action yourself by visiting Twitter.com. Make sure you’re not signed in at that moment!

Also, if you ever want Twitter’s profile custom design for just $25, you can contact my designer at AllyCreations.com. And you checkout my Twitter account for an example of our custom designs! Visit Sharat Jaswal Profile At Twitter!

72 Days and counting?

It’s been 72 days since i last made an update to my blog. I realized that it was high time to stop the count. I guess, the last few (unapproved) comments, made me change my mind and come back to my blog to start blogging all over again. Last few comments being questions like “Are you alive?” “Is it a shutdown?” “Are you selling this site?“….etc etc. To answer a few, Yes i am alive and kickin. In fact i have never been in a better health since last three or four years. So thanks for asking! And God no! I am not selling this site! Who in the world can buy a personal blog? Where the hell do you come up with such questions anyways? LOL

A lot happened in my life since i last made a post. Some of which i should mention, probably in the up coming updates on this website. By the way, i turned 27 this July 11th. I did celebrate my birthday in style. Had lunch with my love of my life, Simran. Followed by dinner with my family. And the following next day had dinner party with my friends. So yes, it was a great birthday this year.

I have watched lot of movies as well. If you are a movie maniac kid just the way i am, you’ll be amazed to read the list of movies that i have watched this summer. I really cannot name all of the movies that i have seen but i think total should come close to 35 movies in all, in last 70 days. That makes it a movie in two days. Not bad, haan! Okay, so just to name a few (specially the ones i super-liked) movies that i watched this summer : Angels n Demons, City of God, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fast & Furious 4, Kambakht Ishq (Hindi), Madagascar – Escape To Africa, Night At The Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian, New York (Hindi), Notorious, Paying Guest (Hindi), Pink Panther 2, Quantum of Solace, Terminator Salvation, The Reader and many many more. I guess the best of these all were “City of God“, a 2002 movie which i guess is a must watch movie for everyone. I think it’s a little on the 18+ mature audience side as the movie has lot of bloodshed and shocking violence. Another movie is the John Abraham starrer “New York“. I think it was great movie and it perfectly shows how Muslims were treated back in USA, after the 9/11 incident.  The brutality and torture to Muslim communities in America surely brought tears to eyes and of course John Araham did a fine job in the movie. Another must watch movie!

Moving on from entertainment to my health stuff. Well, i have been a little health conscious this time around. I am exercising enough to get back into shape. Hopefully the results will be seen very very soon, i hope. I do wish to shed some 10 kilos by two months! God willingly, it should be an easy task!

As for my spondylitis problem, i guess it’s here to stay. It’ll stay as long as i do not lose some weight and get my body weight in to right proprtions. After that i guess only time will tell if i can really get rid of spondylitis. Even now, as i am writing this post, i really feel heat in my neck and pain in the spine.

I have lot more to say, i even bought some new gadgets in last few days. I’ll blog about them pretty soon! Till then, i’ll have to say goodbye and take care!

I don’t think i need to introduce the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” to you. Few Oscars awards to it’s name, this movie has been super hit across the globe. I personally believe that’s not entirely true. People here in India do not find the movie too great that it could win an Oscar. A slumdog guy making into riches is not a unique concept. There are hundreds of movies in Bollywood that goes on the same concept and many of them actually are better and much more popular than Slumdog Millionaire. However, I do agree that the innovative idea wherein a guy becomes a millionaire via an actual reality TV show was a new concept, but that does not make it a great movie. I think the Americans and Britishers were overwhelmed with the slums and poverty shown in the movie, which is not a rare sight in India, so that bring in the differences between my opinion and those who think it was worthy of an Oscar. Still, i do not want to take any credits from it. It was a good movie and am proud of it that it won Oscars making it the first Indian movie to get such prestigious award.

This however is not the reason i wrote this post. The title of this post, most probably gave you a different picture in mind and that’s what this post is about. If i mention the name, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, that probably won’t ring in your minds. He was one of the child actors that acted in the movie. Probably the picture beside this post will give you a clear indication of who he really is.

Mohammed Ismail And Rest Of Crew of Slumdog Millionaire

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail’s life never took a drastic change after the megahit Slumdog Millionaire made million bucks at box office. There is a reason why i am saying this and i will explain it a bit later. Anyways, the little guy lives in a city called “Garibnagar” (City of poor) in Mumbai, India. Yesterday, May14th 2009, a terrible thing happened. Azharuddin Ismail lost his home as it was demolished and turned into pile of debris by the Indian municipal authorities. According to the authorities, his home, among 20 other homes were illegally built, so they had to demolish it anyhow. I was just reading this news at CNN.com and a senior inspector of the authority named Rahim Sheikh, who is also in charge of the locality, told the CNN, that “The shanties were brought down as part of a municipal drive to clear encroachments on public land. Bulldozers leveled the slum built on a municipal garden”. So we now have a reason why this step was taken. I am not sure what to say here. It can be said that “Indian rules stand equal for everyone” whether poor man or celebrity which we all know is not true. We all know that Indian rules although laid strictly, but are flexible and corrupted in reality.

Anyways, what may bring tear to your eyes is when you see Azharuddin Ismail sitting between the debris and twisted metal, surrounded by filth on all sides and tears running down his cheeks. It’s little hard to believe specially for a buy who achieved such a success so very recently. According to Ismail, they got no notice for the demolition in advance and they weren’t even allowed anytime to remove their belongings from the house. It’s sad how things go around in India specially with the poor. Ismail family however were strong enough and said that they will return back and they do plan to rebuild the house. I would suggest that you do rebuild your house but take care of the encroachment laws this time around.

I managed to get hold of the video where in Ismail talks about how he feels on the same issue. He cried a lot and of course he expects little respects for his celebrity status which he was denied by the Mumbai authorities. Here is the video courtesy the Associated Press!

I did mentioned before about how his life never took a drastic turn. Ismail’s father is a bit cruel, so to speak. He was photographed beating his son after Ismail begged to rest his jet lagged body after reaching home from Oscars ceremonies in Los Angeles. His father has been trying repeatedly to fish out more money from Danny Boyle (Director of Slumdog Millionaire). It is believed that Ismail was paid $1000 USD (Rs. 50,000 INR approx.) during the filming of the movie. Danny was smart enough to put an amount near about $25,000 USD ( Rs. 12.5 Lacs INR approx.) in a trust which will be accessible by Ismail when he turns 18. Apart from that he pays $30 (Rs 1500) a week to 10 year old Ismail as allowance. Now imagine how this could change the life of a real slumdog kid. But thanks to his father, Ismail will only get money when he turns 18. So no drastic change as on now!

Anyways, i heard Danny Boyle initially offered them a house out of slums worth $30,000 USD. I hope this is the right time for that commitment to come into action. We surely hope the slumdog kid strike some peace in real life too.