how cool is this? it's wii-tarded [groan]!!!

holy crap this is cool (as found on geekanerd.com)

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote:


Tracking Your Fingers with the Wiimote:


Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wiimote:



johny lee is amazing [my new hero]. you can see more about his work on his blog, procrastineering.


i wish i was smarter [i HAD to close this entry on a more highbrow note]:


now if only jason would let me mess with his wii.

i wish.

time to go, tide to go?

on one of the brands we work on - Tide to Go - we've been hosting a "make your own ad spoof" contest, that was kicked off w/ the following superbowl ad:





the results of the campaign have been off-the-charts. if i shared any actual numbers though, i would have to kill you. i take no credit though, this is all on my boss/friend mandy (not to be confused / my sister mandi). ANYWHO, to date, this is my personal favorite ad spoof (+ the real reason i would bring something about work into my blog). so random. so hilarious:





see more about the contest on the official youtube channel, or embed yourself in the original commercial at mytalkingstain.com


this message was brought to you in part by Tide (a Procter & Gamble brand) , who ultimately pays for my life...

who is...the master debater?

had my laptop up during the democratic national debates (from Cleveland) last night. here's a snapshot of my thinking, as reflected via my Facebook status*:

9:19pm Raman thinks hillary is acting like a kid in the ohio debates.
9:48pm Raman thinks brian williams just laid the SMACK DOWN on hillary.
9:52pm Raman thinks the john glenn ad got the SMACK DOWN from nbc.
9:58pm Raman doesn't think hillary cited the most efficient driving route thru ohio.
10:07pm Raman wonders where they got their $5MM...
10:15pm Raman thinks farrakhan just got the SMACK DOWN.
10:22pm Raman thinks H just gave Putin the SMACK DOWN.
10:57pm Raman thinks tim russert won the debate.

*[a note for my loyal readership (hi mom!) - if you look on the right side of the blog, you can see a REALTIME update of my FB status, so you can know what i'm doing/thinking at any given moment...bearing in mind there is a SLIGHT time delay (i have yet to adopt twitter). RSS is brilliant in so many ways...]


NET - while my respect for Hillary is growing (and i AM starting to notice how the media IS picking on her a bit much), i still think she's not acting "big enough," as made evident by her abrasive nature, contrasted to Obama's calm + rationale demeanor. if you missed out [and want more context for the above commentary], check it out on YouTube:
part 1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10

and if you're too lazy, you can just watch my favorite part below:

baby on board.

spent the past weekend in Madison, WI visiting my childhood friend Raj, his wife Emily, and they're new baby boy Deven (<4>Barun (of Montgomery, Boston, bunny, China + Nepal fame) came out as well.

due to popular demand (hi mom!), below is a link to a few pictures of Deven the ridiculously cute (and zen-like) baby:

"i'm the leprechaun!"*

hard to believe i actually went to highschool in downtown Mobile, AL, where this shit is apparantly going down:



my favorite part is the guy who's grandfather was irish. that's funny. bc i'm also part irish.

*[inside joke from highschool]

not just style, substance.

credit to my friend stefan and thinkonthesethings for picking this up. basically a pretty abrasive reporter tries picking on a "slacker youth's" political interest, only to find said youth actually knew what he was talking about:



also see:
“Obama Supporter, Derrick, Responds to Video and Explains the Emotional View“

here's what our friends at the Economist had to say:

ONE of the most interesting political videos on YouTube features a young Obama supporter, Derrick Ashong. A camera-wielding interviewer collars Mr Ashong in the street and starts to pepper him with questions. The interviewer assumes that his victim’s casual appearance—he is wearing a baseball hat, a shell necklace and is chewing gum—betokens an equally casual approach to politics. “Do you have any specifics?” he demands aggressively. “What are their policies?” Mr Ashong delivers a series of carefully argued replies that could form the basis of an editorial in a serious newspaper. The interviewer is increasingly abashed. But, having delivered his defence of Barack Obama, Mr Ashong concludes the interview by saying “I’m independent. I’m not a Democrat. I might vote for McCain.”

and finally, if my political preferences weren't already readily apparent, i also found this somewhat interesting

go vote already. but make sure you know what you're voting for.

fry boy, & how i feel today.

[wait until 1:46 to fully appreciate my situation]:

to make matters worse, i'm NOT going to the gym. sorry Meg (and Megan).



"They tell me it's cool, but i just don't believe it
Sell out, with me oh yea,
Sell out with me tonight,
The [record] company's gonna give me lots of money
And everything's gonna be [alright]
I don't think it'll be so bad
And I know it won't be so bad
'Cause the man said 'that's the way it is'
And the man said 'it don't get better than this'
No no no"

dead presidents, & getting shit done .

on this snowy President's day (which i get off but apparently no one else does), i was [more] productive [than usual] and:

• amended/finished my taxes (usually not a good idea when you accidentally input your salary twice).
• listened to new [to me] albums by miles davis and mason jennings.
  
• paid off the monthly credit card bill.
• checked on my roommates' bills using billmonk.
  
• contributed to my 2007 and 2008 Roth IRAs (you should too).
  
• dropped an overdo lump sum into my HSBC (was not saving in Asia) AND setup recurring deposits.
• started investigating refinancing my home.
• made another contribution to my preferred presidential candidate.
• read the latest volume of Ultimate Spider-Man (still the consistently best title on the racks).
• finished the last 10 issues of Y: the last man.
  
• got another 2 stars on Super Mario Galaxy (quite possibly, the greatest game ever made).
• updated my blog.
• emailed my mom.
  
• updated my movies spreadsheet
• updated my Visual Bookshelf
• finally watched the season premier of Lost (online)

net observation - the internet is a wonderful thing. with the exception of playing Mario, everything was enabled by/done online (though it should be noted that the Wii is an internet-enabled device).

man, what will they think of next?

is nothing sacred?

apparantly there have been many changes in the US while i was gone. today i'm going to write about what to me, has been, by far, the most outrageous egregious (there are actually many more "real" ones, which i will write about in a more serious tone, but for now, have fun with this one, i sure did):

the other day i was just catching up on ANOTHER crossover of "World War Hulk" (the Irredeemable Ant-Man* #10 to be exact), and i noticed something funny:
surely that's just a coincidence. just a few familiar-looking letters, or was it?

believe it or not, "the stupidest thing i've ever done" are not the words you should be paying attention to in the above frame (though i think the artist Phil Hester was probably thinking that has he put the finishes on this page). still though, some minor branding aside, this all seemed innocent enough, but as i turned the page...

WHUDD! it hit me, and kept getting worse, and WORSE:

i mean, seriously? in the bowels of a gamma irradiated monster, we find the all-too-familar bottle of bodywash? one of my favorites: a close up of THE In-FREAKING-credible Hulk getting knocked out by Iron Man (who was sporting some pretty sweet HulkBuster armor BTW, the overall "World War Hulk" storyline, and the preceding "Planet Hulk" arc are really a testament to Marvel's willingness to take on some pretty intense issues like prisoner treatment, etc), and there just HAPPENS to be a bottle of Old Spice Body Wash flailing through the air with all the debris?

i'm going to have to agree with Ant-Man on this one:

it was almost enough to make me go...

but i guess this was to be expected. when i take off my corporate/marketing hat + put on my "in touch" consumer hat, i AM a pretty hard guy to reach with traditional advertising. for TV - i DVR/slingbox. i only read a few specific magazines (Wired, Economist, Rolling Stone), and i dabble w/ online ad-blockers (so long as you don't mess w/ my Scrabulous). so how exactly is Old Spice (a brand i use, and to be clear, owned by the same guys who write my paycheck) supposed to reach me? once again, Ant-Man sums it up for me...

all in all, this was pretty ridonkulous. shame on you Old Spice**.
Wrakkathoom indeed.


*don't make fun of me for reading Ant-Man, OK, it was a Hulk crossover. don't make Raman angry. when Raman angry, Raman SMASH.
**but of course, maybe Phil Hester (the artist of attached comic) is really into Old Spice, in which case, it's OK, and i retract above curse)

[south] india pics. finally.

the news...is what happens.

who knew, even in Cincinnati, no one shows up for WIR...

where in the world?

this was a brilliant waste of time. but fun and edumacational.

presented by TravelPod, the World's First Travel Blog ( Part of the TripAdvisor Media Network )

m-goats?

thanks to my buddy Khurram for sharing:



while micro-lending is nothing *new* it is alays inspiring to see, especially when i see the potential for the intersection with the field i work in. all of a sudden it becomes something more than just selling soap...

mlk.

Barack Obama's "stirring speech" at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday morning:



hope all you American's w/ the day off (sorry American's abroad) took a second to think about the day.

i get to ROCK tonight.

only in America. rock on.

what i work on.

colder.

i'd been seeing this on my Google desktop in Singapore for awhile, but it became all too much clearer upon my return to the US yesterday...

back in the USSR*.

they'll let anyone (me) thru customs these days.

no real reason for posting this, other than it seems i always post something. i took this in Japan way back when (October), and it sure is a catchy tune to commemorate my [triumphant?] return. you have to wait for the chorus though...




more to come.

*it's a Beatles song (the post title, not the actual song in the videi). it just sounded cool. and NO, i haven't become a commie (thought i got a GREAT shirt in Vietnam).

singapore, goodbye-la.

heading off to south india for some a week off ...backpacking thru kerala + tamil nadu. see entry below for pics from the going away party.

singapore to raman, "go away."

my last night in singapore, spent with close friends, new friends, and friends of friends. click pic below to see the album of pics...
the world is getting smaller, so there were no goodbyes.

thanks to barun for taking most of these.

new years: chiang mai, thailand

Obama takes Iowa: fan-frickin-tastic.

happy new years, & stuff (literally).

emptied bags [and pockets] from Chiang Mai*:
*where we celebrated new year's a whole day ahead of all of you westerners (with paper lanterns in the sky to boot).

more to come.

holidays pics + ...invasion!

some assorted pics from my brief return to the US for the holidays:

and it would seem as if the invasion has finally begun (beware jason)...

fröhliche Weihnachten...and Snoopy

back in Cincinnati for just a few short days (living it up on sister Mandi's basement couch while the parents visit). wrapping presents, digging through tons of mail, cramming some quality Guitar Hero III time (thank's Kat!), and enjoying some quality family tension. back on a plane in 2 days!

jetlagged.

i'm working...really.

thanks to my friend ambika for putting me up on my stop in chicago (her apt has a sweet lake-view, no orchard scotts, but it will do).

next stop, cincinnati!

Barun lives!

after a sitting in a monastery and wandering Nepal + Thailand for the past month, Barun finally makes it to Singapore, only for me to send him off to Cambodia.
...and he grew a beard. welcome to Singapore Barun (and Debbie).

week in review - holiday hulabaloo FINALE

note the awesome central story (bittersweet):

phuket - learning how to do nothing

for our last weekend in asia before returning home for the holidays, we jetted off to thailand, where we relaxed in phuket (click above for photos, which are far FEWER than from recent trips, and hardly do any of the islands justice).

our first day we caught a boat to the more remote (it's all relative) ko phi phi island, which was pretty amazing, but a little too active - snorkling in maya bay, and kayaking to monkey beach to feed bananas to the natives. most of sunday was spent sitting around the beaches of phuket doing much of nothing: reading, swimming, sitting, eating, reading, sitting, swimming, etc.

i'm a shade or two darker now.

ho chi minh, vietnam, pictures speak far too loud.

1-3.DECEMBER.2007:
after obtaining visas (an especially drawn out process for Americans), we finally made our journey to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. we stayed in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), but spent most of our time exploring the outer areas (to Cu Chi and the famed tunnels, as well as to the Mekong Delta). more than enjoying some great food (Pho!), we also received a recent history through a different lens (there, it's known there as "the American War").

beyond the history lesson, all things considered, i really enjoyed my time in Vietnam. it's one of the most naturally beautiful countries i've visited, and her people remain resilient, resourceful and optimistic, despite years of being ravaged by foreign imperialism and impoverishing communism alike. i only wish i had been given more time out here to explore the entire country because in and around Ho Chi Minh City did not cut it. this is definitely a place one can spend weeks, if not months, and a return trip is definitely on my lifetime agenda.

per the usual pattern, i'm posting pictures ahead of my narrative and observation, but all of these are captioned, so please read through them. be warned, you might not be comfortable with everything you see, but i'd encourage you to go out and seek more information about something our modern society chooses to turn a blind eye to. the SIX albums i'm sharing below barely scratch the surface of some of the things we saw. sadly, it looks as if we are prone to repeating many mistakes of the past...

siem reap, cambodia - TOO many pics.

29.NOVEMBER - 1.DECEMBER.2007:
since i'm far too behind on my posts, i've gone ahead and put up the pics from our trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, a few weekends ago. Cambodia is an amazing country that is just recovering the burden of a horrifying genocide from recent history (1975-1979). yet somehow the countries youth (almost 40% of the population is under the age of 20) has slowly, but surely rebounded, focusing on promoting the amazing sites which their ancestors blessed them with

our first two days were spent exploring the many temples of the ancient Angkor empire. our final day was spent on the water at the floating village south of the city. i'll [eventually] get to the official narrative and observations; but for now, click on any picture below to enjoy one of EIGHT photo albums...