Chicago

Iron Maiden @Toronto

Iron Maiden @Air Canada Centre - 16th Oct 2006.

Muhammad Yunus gets the Nobel Peace Prize - rewind to 1998

I was glad when I heard the news of Prof. Yunus getting awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. If anyone has followed the rise of Grameen Bank (Wiki) which he established, he/she would be aware of the concept of Microcredit that he has revolutionised in Bangladesh. I was fortunate enough to meet him back in 1998 in AIESEC's 50th anniversary conference in Helsinki and Stockholm. I didn't know who he was till then and was looking forward to catch his lecture on Microcredit and entrepreneurship. In walked a gentleman who could might as well as have passed off as my uncle who was dropping in to say hello. Very humble appearances and when Yog and I met him after the seminar to say hello, introduce ourselves as delegates from India he was very warm and friendly. You wouldn't have been able to make out that he was the CEO of Grameen Bank. Later in 1999 I visited AIESEC Bangladesh for some of their training needs and was made aware how big and successful Grameen Bank was all over the country. And very professional, great offices. All this with the bottomline of helping poor people. They have really come a long way. All the best to them for their future endevours!

Friday Night Lights - Off!

New York Times columnist Virginia Heffernan wrote about the Premiere of 'Friday Night Lights' on NBC. The following is an excerpt:

“Friday Night Lights” is a wonder. It’s a big drama, and even seasoned pilot skeptics — and their bookies, who rank shows based on the odds they’ll be canceled — will have a hard time not getting choked up at tonight’s episode. At this rate, “Friday Night Lights” might just bring old NBC the state championship. It’s been a long time.

There's no chance a self-respecting audience will eat up trash like this unless he's a sucker for cliche-d plots. As soon as the pilot started with a back-up quarterback who is more like a waterboy and the first choice quarterback being interviewed and how is going to be better than Manning types, you know he is going to be in an accident and the back-up guy is going to steal his limelight. Plus you also have the angle of angry young black and white men and immediately my thoughts turned to 'Remember the Titans'. I mean give me a break. The pilot was like the compressed version of a full length movie. The plot seriously lacks imagination. I can tell you what will happen next for sure. The black and white men will fight and they will lose a few matches but they will eventually bond and win the state championship!!! C'mon!

As the pilot kept hammering about high expectations from the school team, its now only way to go for this sitcom - Down! I was really disappointed. But again I had high expectations!

You got this one wrong Ms. Heffernan.