Economics and Shopping on the Magnificent Mile

I was reading the WSJ this morning and as usual it contained depressing news about the recession and the anticipated slow recovery. That then got me thinking about consumer confidence and its record lows. The thought of consumer confidence drove me back to Business Economics MGT 551 in the MBA program. The simplest concept I learnt in that class (and I mean simplest – everything else involved multiple curves and multiple equilibrium points) was that recessionary fears essentially fuel the recession.

Over the weekend, I was paying my routine visits to the splendid stores along Magnificent Mile, Chicago. I wasn’t looking to shop for anything in particular. I was just feeding my soul with the experience. As expected, I found some awesome deals this time of the year. (I’ve frequented stores in all seasons so I know that the best deals are during the end of winter and not between thanksgiving and Christmas.) Banana Republic jackets for $30; Kenneth Cole shoes for $20; 50% off at Nordstrom. WHO CAN RESIST THAT?  

To draw a connection between the paragraphs above – I felt the need to resist the temptation to shop, even with such awesome deals around. The pessimistic job market, weary business conditions and bleak economic outlook has made me reluctant to spend. In any other scenario, I would have considered these deals to be throw away prices. But the need to stretch your dollar’s worth has become ever so crucial.

This fear feeds the recession which feeds job losses and we keep going in circles! It’s discouraging even for a fervent shopper like me!

Slumdog and the Oscars

So many people have asked if Slumdog bothers me. Well, it does. But this is not a movie/story about national sentiments or depiction of the broken slums of Mumbai. Yes, there are issues to address – India’s poverty line, the disparity in income, the living conditions of the slums, the fate of slum children, and more… But those are not reasons to discount the success of the movie. Enjoy the movie for what it is – 2 hours of thrilling cinema.

The Oscars are recognition of excellent cinema, cinematography, and acting. Last night was possibly the first time that a movie associated with India, Indian actors and musicians received such acclaim. All the actors in Slumdog are Indian, for the exception of Dev Patel, who is a Briton of Indian origin. The story is based on the novel “Q&A” by an Indian author. And of course the brilliant music of A.R Rahman – he deserved an Oscar long back. (If you compare his work in this movie to his older ones like Roja, Dil Se, Bombay, and his take on Vande Mataram; Jai Ho and O… Saya don’t come close. I am glad he finally got the recognition he deserved.)

Even at the Emmy’s, Slumdog won hands down. So let’s acknowledge the work of the crew and not crib about the image it portrays of Mumbai. I know that my country is battling poverty, but on the other hand, it offers so much more than can be captured through any film.  

All said and done, I think I’ve seen other Indian movies that surpass Slumdog, and are definitely worthy of such international recognition. For what it’s worth, I’ll mention my picks – Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par, Black, Devdas, and this Kannada movie called Galipata. Hopefully our film makers will get more appreciation going forward. 

Making rounds on Facebook

This picture of smileys is making its rounds on Facebook! I found it in some corner and decided to tag my friends – but what do you know, overnight, it’s become quite a sensation!

I have to say though, that this picture got the most comments of all my pictures! Obviously, when you tag a friend as the guy ‘who is up to no good’ or the ‘geek’, you are bound to invite reactions! It was a fun exercise though… 

Benglur Talkies

This post is meant for all my Kannadiga and Bangalore peeps. Click on the post title Benglur Talkies to listen to some amuzing snipets of Bangalore residents. 

Its not the perfect dialect and accent, but very entertaining and will guarantee a laugh... My favorite imitation is that of the NRI guy. Good job Bikerdude!

I did HTML!

P.S: I don’t enjoy reading code or trying to make sense of it.

So I thought that editing the template that I chose for this blog would be easy... apparently, not so easy! What I wanted to do, was expand the 2 column posting area and minimize the brown wrap on the sides. I started off playing with the HTML code and changing the width of the header, body and footer. By the way, the template's name is Scribe. I was successful to the extent that I was able to expand the posting area, but the main wrapper was not expanding accordingly, it was only adding white space.

After some futile attempts, yet not wanting to give up, I googled for help. And I found some helpful ideas from other bloggers like this guy. They didn’t have the solution, but they pushed me in the right direction. So I combined some of their suggestions along with my own intuition from playing with the code. I had to resize the image that I have in my header, but that was the least of my problems.

Ah well, after 3 hours of trial and error, I was able to get the look I wanted. I would have settled for less, but obsession is kind of my problem – I can’t quit until it looks the way I want it to.

Lesson learnt: I can manage HTML. I might struggle, but I can do it!

And I probably need to start paying more attention to the content of the blog than the appearance!