Posts from — June 2003

Indiatimes is Connecting people…

One of my colleagues wants to buy a new cell-phone. He’s bored with his Siemens C35. So, yesterday he decided to check out a few new models and their prices. So he hopped over to the Indiatimes Auctions site since he was not averse to buying a second-hand piece.

He was looking for a Nokia model. I suggested Nokia 3650, just because of its unconventional looks and colour display. He liked it but he kept on searching some more.

That is when he landed up on an auction for the stunning Nokia 6800. It was going for Rs. 36000. My colleague had never seen this particular model before so he read through all the impressive features that 6800 boasted. At the end of the features-list was the customary link to the picture of the piece being auctioned. It said, ‘see picture‘. Click on it to see this strange Nokia ‘model’.

Boy!… if I get one of those, I sure don’t know which are the right buttons to push!

One more post about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You might feel I’m going overboard (and crazy) about the bespectacled wizard (with the lightening shaped scar on his forehead, if I may add!)). But then, isn’t everyone?!

Barnes & Noble, the largest US bookseller said on Sunday that the weekend sales figures of HP5 were on course to top 1 million copies (??!!!). They had anticipated a sale of 1 million copies by the end of the first week. But the rate of 80 copies per second ensured that the 1 million mark would be achieved in the first 48 hours alone!

Tesco Supermarket in the UK is supposed to be the biggest single outlet for HP5. It had sold more than 300,000 copies in the 24 hours after the launch. Tesco had sold about 42,000 copies of HP4 in the first week after its launch. So… compare for yourself!

Ok, get those sales figures out of your heads and check this review of the book. [link via Instapundit] It claims that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has Libertarian overtones to it!

I’m on page 550 of Book Five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It’s an excellent read, and the only reason I’m putting the book down to blog is because I can barely contain my enthusiasm about this — I can’t believe the overwhelming libertarian overtones in this book!

Before you read the review, I must warn you that though there are no spoilers mentioned, there are still some plot details included in the review.

But like all the reviews that I’ve read so far, the review ends with…

I finally finished the book, and I highly recommend it. Amazingly, and despite my previous assumptions, the series is getting better and better as it continues.

Oh well! Now I HAVE to start the book ASAP!!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Reviewed

Lets see how HP5 fares at the hands of the critics…

NY Times feels Harry Potter loses his innocence in this book

This Harry Potter is less Prince Hal than a budding Henry V; less the callow boy in “The Sword in the Stone” and more of the young King Arthur.

A considerably darker, more psychological book than its predecessors, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” occupies the same emotional and storytelling place in the Potter series as “The Empire Strikes Back” held in the first “Star Wars” trilogy. It provides a sort of fulcrum for the series, marking Harry’s emergence from boyhood, and his newfound knowledge that an ancient prophecy holds the secret to Voldemort’s obsession with him and his family.

BBC says Rowling has brought the magic of reading to a global audience

Rowling’s magical formula, so hard to replicate, is that she can keep the reader - whether young or old - enthralled.

The pages seem to turn themselves as though some unseen force drives us through the book.

The Globe and Mail says the Phoenix rises to expectations

Flashy, fast-paced, but a little flabby, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is here — all 766 pages of it.

The most anticipated book of the summer, Phoenix, the fifth book in J. K. Rowling’s celebrated series of novels about an orphaned wizard raised in the home of the Dursleys — that beastly suburban family of muggles — lives up to its advance press.

The Age says its pretty gripping and the best so far!

Phew! What a read this book is! After reading 300 pages of the 766-page book, I’m pushing myself to type this review because I want to go back to the gripping story

Edmonton Journal declares it to be worth every minute of wait

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — the eagerly awaited fifth instalment of J.K. Rowling’s revered Harry Potter series — is as creative, engrossing and satisfying as any Potter fan could hope.

Now… only if Fabmart could deliver the book to me!! I’m fuming right now!!! x-(

Guess what day it is today??! It’s the Big Day today!!

I mean that literally!! 21st June is the longest day of the year. It’s a solstice.

Solstice revellers watched sunrise from the Stonehenge in England, which is considered to be of particular significance as many believe that the site was built as an observatory thousands of years ago.

By the way… I really am experiencing the longest day as I wait expectantly for my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to be shipped to me!!

Ladies, gentlemen and the rest… I’m pleased to announce the 17^th edition of the Bharateeya Blog Mela. Without further ado, let us dive into the murky depths of the Indian Blogosphere (hah! kidding!!) and uncover some pearls to hold aloft and admire!

Rohini kicks off this week’s Blog Mela with a post on something that everyone of us has experienced sometime or the other. She wonders… even though Indian call centres are supposed to be The Good Ones amongst them all, why, then, do we have to face the music?!

In Rick Nightmares, Anita relives some of the nightmares that she has experienced in various Indian cities when it comes to riding the ubiquitous autorickshaws.

On his travels in Kerala, Jayakrishnan Nair notices posters alerting people to the Evils of Globalization, which according to him is contradictory to the facts.

Niraj picks up the thread and tries to expose the Globalization Hypocrites.

In another insightful post, Jayakrishnan Nair tries to explain What Causes Globalization.

Sampada tries to analyse the causes that have led to the decline of the once flourishing Marathi film industry and hopes that it will see better days.

Dina presents the first draft for a Youth Program that she wants to initiate.

In Of Cards - Credit and Debit types [scroll down to the bottom of the page for the post. Dated 16 June 2003], Lazy Lump talks about how we take credit and debit cards for granted nowadays.

Nilesh is perplexed about why the Women of the species are not active in hacking (hacking, not cracking).

A Bharateeya Blog Mela would be incomplete without an entry from Dancing with the dogs!! Shanti talks about the Muslim Personal Law and the reluctance of Muslims to reconcile to the idea of having an Uniform Civil Code in India.

Ind posts an informative post on the Flag Code of India. In another one of her posts, Ind shares a recipe for a Dates and Walnut Cake (yummmmm!)

That brings us to the end of this week’s Blog Mela. I hope you enjoyed going through all those interesting posts. The next Bharateeya Blog Mela will be hosted by Yazad on his brand new website at www.yazadjal.com!!

Ciao!