Mario’s World

Well it was on the to-do list and last week we finally got to check it out. Booked those tickets online and reached 1 hour early at 360 to grab a quick bite and check out the Gulf Run display.

We picked seats right at the top so we wouldn’t have to deal with the flying pop corn or the fizzy drink splashes. We were handed these huge IMAX glasses which were pretty funny and since everyone was taking pictures with these glasses on, we took a few too. In a few seconds this usher comes up and tells me to stop taking pictures. OK. But how come only I have to stop taking pictures? Supposedly, I was seated below some contraption that would get affected by the flash. Yeah right! Or maybe his Indian ass was too scared to tell all the Arabs around us to stop taking pictures.

Anyway, the movie started and it was a great experience. At 2 points during the movie everything went blank! Oh yeah, we were in Kuwait and that was how they censored the movie. There was more laughter during those two blank screen moments than the rest of the movie. Everyone found the censorship odd. Guess there isn’t a better way to censor an IMAX movie. There is some info on their censorship tech on BlogAllAlong.

The weird thing is that during the movie, if you look around, no one notices you looking at them since those huge 3D glasses block their side vision. Everyone is just glued to the screen. I guess offices and maybe schools should allot similar glasses to staff/students so they don’t get distracted easily. Something to think about!

I’m not sure why Burger King would call this a Meat Beast! It looks like any other regular burger.

Only 1/6th of the sandwich is meat. Now if they replaced those sesame buns with meat patties, those lettuce leaves with some turkey cuts and squeezed in some sausages …that would be a meat beast.

I came across this great website for comparing camera features. Snapsort allows you to pick two camera models and compare them feature wise. It also shows you the clear winner between them.

I just love the simplicity of the site. But although its very informative, some user / editor reviews on the same page would be great. In addition there is no mention of approx prices. I guess this site is best used once you have gone around town and need to decided between 2-3 cameras of your liking.

I’ve noticed these markers on the roads and pavements in a few places in Deira and only after riding on the Metro, I realized that they fall in line with the location of the metro tunnels! So I guess if anyone is paranoid about walking above tunnels, these should be a good indicator.

I wonder what they are really for caz none of the people I asked even noticed them before. Guess everyone was looking up at Burj Kaleefa/Burj Dubai instead of down at the road/pavement.

Most companies love to give out calendars as promo material. I think this bubble wrap calendar is a great idea. Its unique and its fun and for all you trigger happy people out there …you can punch through every day of the year in just a few mins.

Looks like that building is on fire! But its just the clouds.

Decided to try the much talked about Dubai Metro last night. Got in at the Union Station and took the red line to Deira City Center. It took me a while before I realised I was about 4 stories below ground waiting for my ride.

Overall a good deal, 4 Dhs one way compared to a 10Dhs cab ride. And I got there in 15 mins from the time I got to the station.

The interiors are well finished and I especially like the sepia photos across all the walls.

When I got in initially, I though the guy in the pic below was the driver. Seems he was just another passenger …hogging the best spot. Oh yes, there is no driver, its completely automatic. Funny thing though is that before the doors close, there is an announcement in Arabic to stay away from them (doors). After the doors are shut, the message comes on in English.

This was my first metro ride through a tunnel! Must say it got me curious and worried at the same time. Curious caz during my last few trips I didn’t notice anyone digging such a deep hole, and worried caz there was no driver (just in case)!

Seems they used a massive 1,000 ton drill called the Bu Geisha (Father of a Geisha?) to carve out that tunnel.

Got a real nice feeling at Deira City Center. Everyone is still in the holiday mood here and doing lots of shopping. I must say that the prices at all the shops were more or less the same as Kuwait. Probably since I just went by all the sales there last week.

This huge tree with the musical Santas was a nice attraction in the middle of the mall. Very well decorated. And I could even hear the music at the other end of the mall!

This is the height of craziness. Running a command line application on a 42″ screen.

Had to pull up Sabre during my demo today and this screen looked really odd compared to the extremely cramped and complicated interface of Dynamics AX.

The on-board entertainment system on Emirates is now showing Michale Jackson’s “This Is It”. Half way through the flight I took a peek around and whaddya know… everybody is watching the same video with the exception of 3 kids on the flight… all watching Nemo.