IMAX and 3D

I had the pleasure of watching the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. The 3D version of the movie was released in IMAX after 2 weeks (due to some contract between IMAX and Transformers). I watched this 3D version last Friday. Only the first 20 minutes was in 3D. However, I realized the huge difference in experience between 3D and 2D movies. I have watched a lot of 3D movies this year (I can count at least 5), but this is the first time I was able to compare it to the 2D version. I was able to observe even the small details that I missed when watching the 2D version. Even after the first 20 minutes, watching the movie on the IMAX screen just made a huge difference.

Two weeks ago, I experienced a demo of a 3D video without wearing those 3D glasses!! It was just fantastic!!! I'm waiting for the day when all movies will be in 3D, all theaters will be in the IMAX format and we would be able to experience 3D without any special glasses. This day is not too far in the future. Our next generation will be laughing at the fact that we had to wear a stupid glass just to watch a 3D movie!

Wimbledon '09

The third grand slam of the year began today @ London. I would like one of these 3 lovely ladies to lift the trophy this time ;)

I know it is a bit of a stretch, but still........ Go Cirstea!! Go Sharapova!! Go Ivanovic!! and yeah, go Sania too :D (she survived the first round!)

Facebook usernames

Facebook announced on its blog today that it would introduce Usernames @ midnight on Saturday. The link to my facebook profile currently is http://www.facebook.com/people/Madhan-Sivakumar/715745522 The claimed reason for the introduction of these Usernames is to remove these numbers from your URL (makes my profile http://www.facebook.com/madhans for example) so that is is easier to type, share or search. Some people claim that this will make you more googleable. Huh....?? Googling for your full name already returns your facebook profile page! So, why are they introducing this now? One major reason 'might' be their recently acquired "twitter envy". All communications on Twitter are based on user names. For eg. to reply to a person you just have to tweet "@ message". My twitter page is at http://twitter.com/madhans. We should expect more changes from Facebook centered around these user names as they try to fight Twitter's rising popularity. So, grab those good user names while they last ;)

Twikini

I have been experimenting with some twitter apps for my Windows Mobile and came across twikini around a month ago. Today, twikini v1.0 was released. You can download it from here. I love the interface (especially the scrolling part as I hate scrolling on some Windows Mobile apps (designed for stylus use??)). You can configure the refresh interval, update your location automatically using GPS, upload pics to twitpic and tweet the songs you are listening to. Give it a try and follow me on twitter (madhans).

Summer Blockbusters are here!!

It's the beginning of Summer 2009... beginning of a good season of Hollywood blockbusters.. last Summer was pretty good starting with The Dark Knight. I have a big list of movies that I want to watch in the theater this summer.

• X-Men Origins Wolverine - 5/1 (Done!)
• Star Trek - 5/8 (Done!)
• Angels and Demons - 5/15 (Done!)
• Terminator Salvation (Christian Bale) - 5/22 (Done!)
• Up (Pixar) - 5/29 (Done!)
• Transformer 2 - 6/24 (Done!)
• Public Enemies (Christian Bale & Johny Depp) - 7/1
• Harry Potter 6 - 7/17
• Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarentino's) - 8/21

This is more like a personal note and some recommendations for you guys.. I'll keep updating this blog... Have a great summer!!