Oh Dear Agatha

I'm an avid reader of Agatha Christie's works. I particularly like her series on the great 'Hercule Poirot'. Poirot is different from Sherlock Holmes, both in approach and involvement of readers in the plot. he has a distinguished look, and definitely an air of authority as well as confidence.
and Agatha indeed portrays the characteristics of Poirot in each of her novel to such an extent, that one believes it is real.
I happened to watch a movie based on one of her novels, 'The Murder on the Orient Express'. the book is a must read Poirot mystery novel, but the movie isn't worth watching. what sets apart Poirot is his methods, and appearance. But alas, both these are neglected in the movie. some clown is chosen to perform the role, and the most embarassing part is that he uses a laptop to solve the crime. thats too bad. I simply don't understand as to why the director wrote a new script instead of just using the novel.
I must say that if people were going to watch this movie without having ever read an Agatha novel, then they aren't going to read one for sure. and its a bad publicity for the queen of crime.

the amazing elliptical trainer

running is good. it burns a lot of calories compared to walking and other exercises ..... this is what a lot us think. but try this elliptical trainer, its an amazing calorie cruncher.
running typically burns about 10 - 15 calories/min based on the speed and wt of the person. and we usually get tired pretty soon. these days I run for about 45 mins and walk 15 mins and end up burning about 650 cals. but yesterday I tried this elliptical trainer for a change, and amazing, I lost 850 cals in 1 hr. no matter how many strides you put on the machine for every min, the avg cal burnt per hr is always in excess of 11. It is indeed difficult in the beginning, but I find it more easy to maintain great levels of consistency than running. and we can also read a magazine while exercising, instead of getting bored by just watching TV above the head.
and the best part is the knees don't get banged up as in running.
isn't that wonderful.

elliptical trainer is going to be my new mantra.

An Insult to .... well everything

ever wondered what people can do for money. well, get ready for this, this might be the new level of insanity. there is a very popular show here -- The Fear Factor. every week a group of people participate in this show, and the winner takes home $50,000. yeah thats a lot of money, but not worth the ridiculous things (its called stunts) they are asked to do. usually there are about 3 stunts, and the second one is the most ugliest of all. here is a sample ---
1. Lie in a tub full of cockroaches
2. Lie in a tub full of rats
3. Eat live cockroaches
4. Eat as much worms as you can

well all the above weren't that gross compared to the one below ---
A protein shake that includes raw pig brains, cod liver oil, and some animal's raw spleen.
two people were able to drink it all .... oh my God this show has to be banned. I consider this not only as an insult to mankind, but also to everything else in this universe.  

Wanna cup of free coffee

about 3 weeks back I went to a nearby starbucks. there was only one guy working at the shop and he was busy making a drink for someone. it wasn't unusual and I just stood at the counter patiently. he then came over and apologized for the delay, but I said it was OK and he could take more time if he wanted. apparently he was so impressed by that and refused to accept money for the coffee. he said I was such a nice person (hmm hmmm...), and very understanding too, and hence the coffee was on the house. no doubt I was very happy too.
 
fast forward... 2 days back I went to the same shop. though I didn't have any twisted ideas of getting another free coffee, I did make myself as polite as possible. this time it was a different person at the counter. she was already having a hard day and yelling to her co-worker that she needed some time to go and cry (????). now being the perfect gentleman, I just stood there smiling till she took my order. Should I explicitly tell that the coffe was again free? :)
 
either the residents of Santa Clarita are so impolite that the workers in starbucks find something divine in me, or they are actually nuts, I DONT CARE as long as I'm getting that free coffee :)
 

the big question

the surge of excitement I had in creating this blog almost vanished when I had to really think about the stuff that goes in here. fellow bloggers agreed with me, except that their rate of 'excitement dissipation' was lower than mine. but all the more, this kind of pushes me to learn more stuff and share it here. lets see if the trend starts (not continues) :)
 

the noise begins

will get more random as it goes

saranyan.