Month: July 2007

Ratatouille

Last night, I also watched “Ratatouille“, Pixar’s latest film, written and directed by Brad Bird, who also worked on 2004’s “The Incredibles“.

I’m a big fan of Pixar and their animation movies, they’ve got the best animations, the best stories and the best characters hands down.

Personally, Ratatouille is now my favourite Pixar movie, I simply loved it. It’s such a fun and cool movie. Remy, the rat, is just so cute and adorable as a main character, the story is a very nice one, and the animation is perfect as usual.

The story follows Remy, a young rat who is passionate about cooking, and finds himself at the famous Paris bistro that belonged to his idol Chef Gusteau, as he tries to become a chef despite his family’s skepticism and the rat-despising staff and patrons.

I’ll surely be buying this movie’s DVD when it’s released; it’s a sure classic.
I totally recommend watching it, it’s so much fun and so enjoyable.

Heroes – Season One

I just finished watching season one of “Heroes” last night, and honestly this is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I can’t describe how much I enjoyed this series.

I heard about this show when it was just beginning over in the US, and how it was somehow a cross between “The 4400” and “Lost“, and I’ve been waiting to watch it ever since.

The concept of the show follows a rather simple formula, a bunch of people who find out they have super powers, a fight between good and evil, hard work to save the world; and a lot of great fun in between.

My favourite character of all in this series, from the very beginning, is “Hiro Nakamura”. The guy just rocks! He’s funny, cute, honest, simple, driven, radiates with a child’s innocence and he has a kick-ass super power: bending time and space. He’s simply the best.

I can’t recommend watching this series enough, it’s so much fun; I enjoyed every minute of it. I really can’t wait for Season Two to begin.

The Top 10 Super Powers I’d Love To Have

Obviously watching “Heroes” has gotten to my head and put me into the whole super hero and super powers mood again.

So I thought I’d post a list of the Top 10 super powers I’d love to have. Here it goes:

1. Time & Space Bending: Moving back and forth in time, here and there in space; this would rock big time

2. Shape shifting: Becoming whoever/whatever I want to become at anytime, so cool, the possibilities are endless.

3. Telekinesis: I actually tried to move objects with my mind when I was younger, but obviously it didn’t work out for me, still it’s a great power to have.

4. Flight: I don’t think anything could match the feeling of flying freely in the open skies over stretches of land; I’d just love to experience it.

5. Invisibility: Being invisible would just be so cool, another level of great freedom; and coupled with the next superpower it just gives you unlimited options.

6. Walking through walls and objects: With this superpower, you’re simply unstoppable, you go anywhere you want in the shortest way possible; no door is a closed door for you.

7. Telepathy: Having the ability to read people’s thoughts is a great power; even though I prefer being able to turn it off whenever I want, and just using it when I need it.

8. Molecular manipulation: It’d be so cool to be able to change any object to another by manipulating its molecular structure. Would come in very handy.

9. Invulnerability: Of course being unbreakable and untouchable is always a cool super power to have.

10. Water breathing: I’m a Pisces, and I sometimes feel that my natural habitat is water, I am most relaxed when in water, so having the ability to breathe underwater would certainly be an amazing thing for me, to enjoy the beauty of the sea and ocean worlds magical.

Periodic Table Of The Internet

Periodic table of the internet

Wellington Grey has created a periodic table representing some of the internet’s most popular sites.

The different web services are grouped into the categories: Search Engines, Internet Tools, Site Ranking, Aggregators, Webcomics, Productivity, Get Stuff, Operating Systems, Miscellaneous, Blogs, Social Networking, Podcasts, Videos and News.

Of course, not everything is on there, but I find it an interesting graphic nonetheless.

[Source: Wellington Grey]
[Via: Download Squad]

10 Tips To Being A Better IT Manager

I just found a great article on ZDNet with ten tips to being a better IT manager. I couldn’t agree more with the points on the list; this article is a must-read for anyone taking on a management position in an IT environment.

The list goes as follows:

1. Spend time (and money) developing your people
2. Get to know what your staff really does
3. Don’t do it for them
4. Know the business and make sure they know you
5. Treat communication as a busy, fast-moving, two-way street
6. Encourage everyone to work as a team
7. Provide feedback regularly and let employees know what you want
8. Hire well
9. Understand best IT practices but don’t just make them buzz words
10. Be a good project manager

Read the full article here: 10 tips to being a better IT manager.

Subzero Blue In Jordan’s Pulp Magazine

Jordan based Pulp Magazine published a list of the “Most Popular Blogs In Jordan”; people who are showing Jordan in a more interesting light.

And guess what? Subzero Blue is on the list.

The entry goes as follows: “He’s Tunisian, but he used to live in Jordan — He touches on all that is interesting around the world during his travels.”

Pulp Magazine

Here’s a link to the full page.

I’d like to thank Pulp Magazine for including me on their list, it’s really a pleasure, I’m flattered.

Other blogs mentioned are 360 East, Sabbah

The Greenest Skyscrapers In The World

Bahrain WTCMore and more sustainable buildings, packed with a bunch of eco-friendly innovations, are popping up all over the world.
I just came across this list of the world’s top 10 greenest skyscrapers, of which three are in the Arab world:

1.The Bahrain World Trade Center Towers, Kingdom of Bahrain
2. The Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China
3. Bank of America Tower, New York City
4. The Lighthouse Tower, Dubai
5.The CIS Tower, Manchester England
6. The Hearst Tower, New York City
7.The Burj al-Taqa (Energy Tower), Dubai
8.Waugh Thistleton Residential Tower, London
9. 340 on the Park, Chicago
10. The Urban Cactus, Rotterdam

[Via: Arab Environment Monitor]

Good Marketing, Bad Distribution

The other day we were shopping at one of the big stores, and I went on to pick up a bottle of skimmed milk; I was just checking the expiry date and other stuff when I found a little something I’m not used to finding on Tunisian products.
There was this little message informing customers that the same company also sold 0% Fat Yogurt with different flavors.
This isn’t a form of marketing you usually find on Tunisian products, even though I find it one of the most targeted, unobtrusive and interesting forms of advertising and marketing around because you’re talking directly to a customer who is surely interested in the other product you’re selling and who has already given his confidence to your company by choosing one of your products over the competition.

This is all great, it actually put a smile on my face seeing that Tunisians were getting smarter about marketing and advertising their products, and I went to check out the advertised product.

This is where they messed up whatever effort they made and advantage they got through their targeted marketing; the product was nowhere to be found, neither in that store not any other I’ve been to ever since.

So even though these guys have a great way to market their product to the right people in the right market segment, they fail to distribute their product well and lose everything they worked for, maybe even generating customers that are frustrated because of a product they haven’t even tried yet. That would mean that their good marketing push is actually generating the opposite effect to what anyone would wish for.

All this to say that one missing link in the chain is enough to spoil everything for the customer and the company, especially when that link is distribution.

So please, don’t market a product that doesn’t exist or is never available. It works against you and annoys the customers.