Mad Men - Season 2

Wow, just wow.  I just finished season 2 last night, and my head is still buzzing with the finale.  Outside of any real shocks (no, I won't ruin it for you), the biggest thing that impressed me with the level of character development during season 2.  Being the main characters, I expected to see some growth in Don Draper and Peggy Olson.  The show didn't disappoint with Don and Peggy...but also provided some very remarkeable development of secondary characters Betty Draper, Pete Campbell, Roger Sterling, and Duck Phillips. 


I'm constantly amazed at the level of the detail that the show's producers put into each episode.  The trials and tribulations of Sterling Cooper reflect the paranoid anti-communist environment of the early 1960s.   You get a real sense of fear during the Cuban Missile Crisis within the show...e.g. "I can't see into the future as well as Duck can, but if we're still here on Monday, I'll discuss it then".  People were seriously thinking that the world was ending, and the show's characters accuractely reflected that turmoil.

Other political events that influenced the show's main characters....JFK's election, the launch of Sputnik, the civil rights movement, and growth of the military-industrial complex. 

Overall, I'm amazed with the quality of the show's writing and acting.  The sets are immaculate, the actors well chosen, and the lines delivered perfectly. 

Check out season 1 (available on DVD now), and season 2 (I had it for free with Comcast on-demand).  you won't be disappointed.

Bond...James Bond....

A few months after its release, I finally got a chance to check out the new James Bond movie...dubbed "The Quantum of Solace".

I loved the series reboot with Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale", so I went into QoS with some pretty lofty expectations.  I expected to see Craig brooding over his dead lover, and I wanted to see some completely impractical bad-guy schemes that will somehow end the world.   QoS only delivered on my first expecation.

I felt the plot was a bit odd and haphazard.  It was like the writer of QoS wanted to continue the completely awesome story of Casino Royale..but for only half the movie.  The first half seemed like a continuation of Royale, and kicked butt.  Once we get into the heart of the bad-guy scheme, the movie sucked.  We have this huge lead-in and buildup to some new bad guy group called Quantum, only to learn absolutely nothign about them. 

Bond kicks a lot of butt....gets at least 1 girl (did he ever score the "bond girl"?  my brother and I couldn't decide if they hooked up or not).....but doesn't get to play with any fancy gadgets.  He has a cool iphone-wanna-be, but other than that, nothing completely awesome like Pierce Brossnan's invisible car.

oh yeah...he also saves the Water supply for the Bolivians..  truly what british secret agents are trained to do......

btw - I just realized that I need to add 2 more books to "read in 2008" list - Casino Royale and Goldfinger.  They both rocked...read them.  seriously, save the 2 hours from Quantum of Solace, and read those 2 books instead.  you'll thank me afterwards

bored.....

What started as an obsession, has slowly turned into something that I no longer enjoy.  I started using google reader to find interesting blogs and stay caught up with the latest in news, politics, sports, and randomness.  but, lately, I'm not sure why, but I've been quite bored with the blogs on my list (yes - including my own).

Anybody have some good recommendations for fun blogs to add to my list?

India - What I learned...

Note - I started this post when I was still in New Delhi and Bombay. Now that I am back in the U.S., I have finally found some time to finish this posting.

I'm currently in New Delhi, India and heading back to the United States on December 20th. So far I've been to Udaipur, Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Agra, and Bombay (Mumbai). I've seen many forts, ridden on elephants and camels (see photos below), and learned a thing or two about how to bargain.

Instead of writing a massive post about my time in India and because there is so much to cover, I thought I would just cover what I've learned through my experiences in India.

I'm not going to rehash my first post on India, but the things I mentioned :
- Lack of personal space
- Chaotic driving
- Tasty Indian food
- Friendliness of the people

are still valid.

General Perceptions:

1. The sense of time is different than in the United States. What I mean here is that if an Indian tells you that the bus is leaving at 7am, then they really mean the bus is leaving at 7:30am or 8am. This does not mean you should be the one to cause the bus to leave late, but in reality, you probably aren't going to be leaving at 7am. At first, this is was somewhat difficult to get used to, but once I adjusted to "Indian Standard Time", (IST), I had a better understanding of when something was going to happen. I also noticed the sense of time when it came to ordering food at cafes/restaurants. In general, I noticed that Indians are not in a constant hurry and take things very easy.

2. Learn how to bargain. Services such as taxis, guides, and street goods have no set price. Instead, the person selling the service or product will start out with a price. You should then counter offer with a lower price. As I have spent more in India, I have become better at bargaining. I just wish I had known how to do it when I first started my trip. Of course there are exceptions to the bargaining rule, there are places that have fixed prices and some services like internet cafes and hotels where the price can not be bargained.

3. Everyone is a guide. Being a white, westerner from the United States, I stuck out like a sore thumb in a country of 1 billion people. Of course, people approached me claiming to be a guide, or wanting to tell me the history of a fort, park, palace, etc. I have hired three different "guides" while I have been here. Overall, the guides have given me alot of historical information. The problem is, the information is simply too much to remember. It would have almost been better if I just bought a book about each of the forts and then I could have read the information on my own time. I think the thing that made it hard for me to retain all the information is that the names are difficult to remember and pronounce and everything runs together.

4. Indian prices vs. Foreign prices. I guess I could have put this up in the "learn how to bargain" observation, but what I really mean here the drastic difference in the price of entry to forts and monuments for Indians vs. foreigners. For example, the Taj Mahal is 18 rupies for an Indian and 750 rupies for a foreigner. I understand that Indians probably don't have as much income as foreigners, but I saw this price difference at all the monuments. I also experienced this when bargaining for various goods. I was sort of nervous telling people I was from the U.S. because they might automatically think I have a lot more money and try to take advantage of me. One thing I learned is that if I shopped at the local markets (referred to by the guides as the "bad" markets), I would get prices that were fair and reasonable.

5. Bombay is not Delhi. Delhi is not Bombay. All I have to say is wow. Delhi seems more chaotic to me and there seems to be a lot more pollution than in Bombay. In Delhi, I saw a lot more animals in the street and really felt like I was in a foreign country than in Bombay. When I was in Bombay, I felt like I was in New York or San Francisco. Some of the things I really enjoyed about New Delhi were the narrow streets filled with various markets and bazaars, the smells of the vendors cooking their food, and the general feeling of not being able to find this anywhere back in the United States. My hotel was located in the main bazaar just north of Connaught Place near the New Delhi Railway Station. I would have no problems finding my way from the railway station to the hotel, but if you started me somewhere else within 5-10 minutes walking distance from the hotel, there was no way I would be able to find my way back to the hotel. I must say that on my last day, I took a city tour of New Delhi and warmed up to the city's sights and sounds. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed both cities, but if you had to ask me which one I would definitely visit again - hands down, it would have to be Bombay.

6. Being white == being different?! This was definitely a new experience for me. Granted, in country with about a billion Indian people, I wasn't expecting to find many white people. However, I wasn't expecting the type of reactions from seeing a white person. For example, when I was on the city tour of New Delhi, I was at a momument. A group of school kids saw me and some came up and shook my hand. They wanted to meet me. One of the people in my group told me they had never seen or talked to a white person before. This was pretty amazing. I took it all in stride and enjoyed the experience.

I can now add New Delhi and Bombay as major world cities that I have visited. I definitely have no regrets about going to visit India especially since I was able to experience an Indian wedding. (maybe if I had more time to see the rest of the country). Before my trip to India, I will admit that it wasn't on my "list of places" to see next. However, as I did more research about the things to do and see, I became more intrigued about the trip. I would definitely like to visit India again to experience the sights, sounds, and culture of the areas of the country I did not get to see the first time around.

I have included a couple of photos from the trip. You can see my entire trip's photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/morriswt

books books.....

holy crap, i read a ton in 2008.....here's what I read (in no particular order).  I'll try to add some commentary if I remember anything......

1. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - the semitrue story of an Aussie conman's journey into the infamous Bombay underworld.  fantastic book, and I look forward to the movie staring Johnny Depp
2. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin - A deep book that attempts to bring laymen into the Supreme Court.  Most of the case details went way over my head, but I still enjoyed the read.
3. The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury - I picked this book up while stuck at LGA, and I regretted it from the beginning.  Tries to read like Dan Brown, but fails miserably.  stay away!
4. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell - Like all of Gladwell's books, this was an interesting read.  But remember to take his words with a grain of salt...he cites very little evidence, and the reasoning is a bit thin
5. The Beach by Alex Garland - Fantastic book about a backpacking trip gone very wrong.  loved it, still need to see the movie
6. Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin - written under a pen name, this book takes a fascinating look behind the Burmese junta.  As a huge fan of Orwell (and 1984 in particular), it was interesting to see where he came up with his ideas
7. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson - Disappointing follow up to his hugely successful "Devil in the White City".  Pick that book up instead
8. Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre - Came from way out left field, but ended up being my favorite book of the year.  Read it! Love it!
9. The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke - Fictional account of murder and theivery that occured during Katrina.  Nothing shocking, but an interesting and fun read
10. The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester - Interesting story about a fascinating man.  Some of the details went a bit too deep for me, but I still enjoyed it.
11. Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card - The same story as Ender's Game, but through the eyes of "Bean".  I loved Ender's Game, but this one just fell a bit flat.
12. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande - A great treatise for how to become a better person.  I need to reread this, because I can certainly become better
13. The Innocent Man by John Grisham - True story that reads just like his fictional tales.  Interesting book
14. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk - Another tale by the writer of Fight Club.  This one dwelving into the murky world of porn, and i felt a bit disgusted by what I read.  Interesting, but so wrong at the same time.
15. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright - Loved this book.  A history of Islamic terrorism from Egypt (circa 1925) to 9/11.  Read this and understand why these people are pissed at us!
16. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz - Hugely fun and irrerevent.  Check this out, I believe that this book won the Pulitizer Prize
17. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin - This book is getting lots of pub because Obama is allegedly using it as his playbook for selecting his cabinet.  Abe Lincoln picked his 4 biggest political rivals to join his cabinet, and they all served an important role. 
18. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris - Loved his older books, but this didn't do it for me.  skip it if you can
19. The Appeal by John Grisham - To be honest, I read this back in February, so I don't remember what its about.....i think i enjoyed it

I think that's all the books that I finished this year.  I definetly started some other books, but got bored with them......I'll edit this if I remember more!

Shoe to the head = progress?

Bush with some mad reflexes


If you've turned on the news at any point this morning, you must have seen video from President Bush's visit to Iraq.  Some Iraqi local journalist displayed his feelings on Bush by throwing his shoes at the President.

Bush, to his credit, first dodged the shoes, and then used the opportunity to show how this shoe incident is a sign of progress.

The CNN correspondant goes on to say that especially in Arab culture, it is disrepectful to throw your shoes at somebody.  This begs the question....which culture considers throwing shoes at somebody a sign of respect??

random links...Cihcago edition

corruption in chicago...why? [slate.com]

I hate ORD...now I know why....[msnbc]

Michigan Alum (and huge benefactor)...and Chicago Cubs and Tribune owner Sam Zell has fallen on some hard times.....2 articles about his downfall [the big money]  [slate]

lots of articles about the most imfamous Governor in America.....cnn, fox news, and google news have them covered.....

Happy 1000th Reader!

Just checked my google analytics (love that site btw) for the first time in a month, and we finally passed the 1000th unique reader mark!

When I first started this site back in March, I envisioned that it would be incredibly random, sporadic posting, and a good mix of interesting and semi-pointless articles.  Looking back 8-9 months later, I achieved all that (maybe too many pointless articles though).  I certainly didn't envision hitting 200 readers, let alone 1000 readers this quickly (or really ever).

Looking at the trends, I'm proud to say that while the bulk of the visits came from the United States, people in 47 different countries (Ethiopia/Pakistan really??...cool!).  

Just wanted to say thanks....and please keep sending me feedback, comments, or even ideas for future articles.  

 

Thanks again!!

Gov Blajo arrested!

Wow....you just can't make this shit up.  He tried to sell Obama's newly vacated Senate seat......while I hate how corrupt he is, you have to admire his brass balls.....

link - yahoo news

Hello from India!

Sharad asked me if I could get a couple of posts in while I am
visiting India. I thought I would share my initial perspectives on the
country of India.

Before I begin, I want to say that this my first trip to India,
however, I have been overseas before to New Zealand, Russia, western
Europe, Moldova, and South Korea.

A brief run down of my itinerary is that I will spend 17 days in India
spread across the following cities: New Delhi, Mumbai, Kota, Jaipur,
Udaipur, and Agra. My primary reason for visiting India was not to see
the Taj Mahal (ha! I know I caught a few people off guard) but it was
because I was invited to an Indian wedding.

I arrived in New Delhi very late in the evening and the first thing I
noticed was the sense of personal space was about 2 inches. While
waiting for my bags to be unloaded, many people would be push their
way forward to the baggage belt. Now I should have realized this
personal space thing after going through the boarding process in
Amsterdam. I am not sure if Indians have any concept of a line and
pre-boarding but I think the personal space issue is directly related.

The second thing I noticed is the utter chaos of driving and crossing
the street as a pedistrian. Crossing the street is truly an experience
especially with navigating ie dodging traffic and any animals in the
street. My friend told me traffic is supposed to stop for pedestrians
not the other way around. I think this may help explain why rush hour
in New Delhi takes a long time to get through. There were many close
calls when I was being driven to Agra. If you didn't accept the fact
that someone else was in control of the vehicle, then the trip would
have been more stressful. I quickly accepted this fact and enjoyed
experiencing the sights of cows, camels, dogs, donkeys, and horses
sharing the road with cars, tuk-tuks, tractors, and industrial sized
trucks. You quickly learn that driving in India should be left to
those with experience. I myself am contemplating adding a line to my
resume that states "safely crossed the street in India as a
pedistran". Yes it really is that much of an adventure.

The final first impression I want to share is that the people of India
are extremely warm and friendly. They treat you like family, make sure
you are comfortable, and give you lots of tasty food. I myself have
enjoyed trying the different types of food. It hasn't been too spicy
either. The one thing I will say is that the food is somewhat more
heavy than what I am used to. The more food I eat, the more sleepy I
become. Also add in tiring activities like street dancing for a few
hours and it certainly makes for a good night's sleep! I have learned
a lot about the Indian culture from my friend's younger cousins. They
have been helpful in explaining what is going on or why an activity is
being performed. I have also learned a lot by observing how the kids
interact with their parents and older relatives. The kids are equally
curious about me and my western culture. Even though their parents are
a little concerned with their children crowding around me and the
groom's Kenyan friend from the U.S., neither of us mind it too much
because we learn so much from the kids.

Right now, I am in Kota for my friend's wedding. In the interest of
ending this lengthy post, I will save those thoughts on my first
Indian wedding and my Agra trip for a different time. I am also
including some random photos that I have taken (obligatory taj photo
included).

Hope all is well in the states.

Slumdog Millionaire - MUST SEE

Saw this little gem of a movie last night, and even though I went there with extremely high expectations, I was completely blown away.

This movie takes place in Bombay (Mumbai), and tells the story of Jamal, a slum dweller who's on the cusp of landing the top prize on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".  He's made it to the last question...and time runs out, so he's coming back tomorrow for the last question.

As he's leaving the studio, he's arrested by the police.  They think that he's cheating...there's no way that a "slumdog" like him could know the answers.  So they take him to the police station, and question/torture him through the night.  And that's where the action in the movie starts....

he's winding story takes us through his entire life.....from the famous Chowpatti slums in Bombay to the Taj Mahal in Agra...through Delhi, and finally back to Bombay.  He's lived a very hard life, and there's a story behind each and every one of the questions asked. 

The story and plot is extremely riviting.  I could feel the tension in every scene, and the entire movie theatre was hanging off every word.  Moving, emotinion, and tense.....fantastic plot.

The acting was also very entrancing.  I'd never heard of any of hte actors before, but they all played their roles extermely well. 

Music and Scenary...perfect.

The last time I was so connected to a movie was when I first saw Trainspotting.  No coincidence there.......same director :)

If you get a chance, or even if you don't have a chance, make the trip down to the Independent movie theater and see it....you won't regret it.

Great Write-up of the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Normally I don't recommend using the Wall Street Journal as a good source of non-financial news.  Reporting is typically skewed towards only the business impact, and the editorial section is litered with advice for President Obama from people like Karl Rove.

Thus, I was shocked and awed (yes - I still use this lame term....5 years after it went out of style) that the WSJ had the most comprehensive reporting of the recent Mumbai terror attacks. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122809281744967855.html

The article is chilling, comprehensive, and very detailed.   check it out.....

recoving a stolen ipod

so this morning, my friend Kate's car was broken into.  while completely sucking (they ransacked the interior and caused a ridiculous amount of damage), they also found her ipod in the glove compartment and lifted it.

short of buying a new one (or waiting for the insurance check), any tips on how to track down the stolen device? 

I wish I had the Fox Soccer Channel

I'm watching the UEFA Cup over at Mona's house right now, and I find myself really wishing that Comcast would add the Fox Soccer Channel to their lineup.....

i'm not a huge soccer fan, but I get really into the World Cup every 4 years, and for some reason, loved the Euro Cup last summer...there's just something about the passion of worldwide futbol fans that leaves me in awe every time.

so i find myself late on a thursday night watching a seemingly meaningless game between 2 teams that I've never heard of (Manchester City - note, not the Manchester team that you have heard of.....and Paris Saint Germain) when I could be sleeping.......weird, but i love it.

random links.....

Chicago = the new New York?  [ny times]

RIP Circuit City....yes, it was my first "real" job (no, that week at BK doesn't count!) [time.com]

How many Manny's are at your firm?  How do you manage Manny?  Do you let Manny just be Manny?  [fastcompany.com]

Detroit's loss in Washington = our collective gain??? [salon.com]

Confessions of an economic hit man [cnet.com]

The secret of Google's success....and yes, they completely rule my world [techcrunch.com]