In an attempt to be innovative, companies are constantly adding more of the same stuff in their products. New 'technology' and 'features' are designed to make our lives easier. While this might be true in many cases, have these two products from the future gone too far?

Product from 2016: Gillette Super7

Tagline:
Copy:
The number seven is the number of balance. Not as many as eight, but far superior to six, Super7 has just the right number of blades for a super comfortable shave, should you still have any skin left on that face. This time (as usual) we promise a super close shave and you have no choice but to believe us as our brand ambassador, recently rehabbed pop star, Justin Bieber shows his clean-shaven mug.
[Note: Actual results may differ depending on whether or not you have real hair growing on your face]

Product from 2012: Facebook version 1 million

(The following post was first published on Yahoo! Fit To Post here.)

A message for Ms Julia Roberts on behalf of my fellow Indians: we are cautiously happy that you have embraced Hinduism. According to reports, your family goes to the temple together to “chant and pray and celebrate”. “I’m definitely a practicing Hindu”, you are reported to have said. We may be buying Ms Gilbert’s book and we will buy tickets to your movies, but please don’t expect us to buy your words.

Don’t get us wrong: under normal circumstances, we would have whole-heartedly believed you. We love to include and be included. This is not the most private of our weaknesses. All Indians felt included when Obama said, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus…” at his inauguration speech. And not all Indians are Hindus. And Obama was talking about Americans. This trait also shows up when we refer to Indian-Americans as ‘Indians’ when they become famous. We laugh when Russell Peters makes fun of how we wash ourselves, and we grin and bear crappy movies like ‘Lady in the Water’. In American Idol, we wildly cheer for Sanjaya and Anoop, knowing fully well that they won’t get anywhere, except on shows like Survivor. And then we root for them there.

Despite this obvious weakness, the reason we’re not fooled by you is that you are announcing these beliefs at a time when your movie based on ‘Eat Pray Love’ is about to release. This kind of timing seems like, for lack of a better word, movie publicity. Besides, the Hindu identity cannot possibly co-exist with other facets of your personality. We have to work hard to preserve this identity in India where it withstands daily torture from radical, foreign concepts like ‘Friendship Day’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ and pub culture. It will crumble when trying to assimilate with a radical Hollywood star who appeared in a TV series called ‘Friends’, a movie called ‘Valentine’s Day’ and still probably frequents pubs.

Today you may be a Hindu, eat only Italian food and love only people from Bali, but we know that tomorrow if you are cast in ‘Shrek 5: After forever – Why are we doing this to ourselves?’, you will be convinced that ogres exist and fairy tales are the reality we choose to hide from by living our normal lives. (This, in turn, could be a sci-fi action movie with many super-slo-mo shots. Mr Nolan, I’m available to write the script.)

Here’s a suggestion though: if you want to take up Hinduism seriously, you will be subject to the strict standards of its most visible leader. Out of respect I will refer to this leader only as Rajan Zee, President of Universal Society of Hindu-ness (not the real organization name) or as he’s known in lazier circles – the PUSH. After Gisele Bundchen (umlaut omitted to protect privacy) evinced deep interest in Hinduism by saying that she enjoyed Hinduish things like yoga, meditation and sarees, she was offered advice by the leader [1]. You will also need to give a similar opportunity to the PUSH administration, who will ‘be glad to help in your spiritual exploration’, if your journey isn’t already over after reading Ms Gilbert’s book.

Once you become Janaki Rani, do not to expect star treatment in India. We have plenty of good female actors of our own, including the uncrowned queen of vegetarian Ham, Kareena Kapoor. According to the very objective opinion of her cousin and debutant director Sidharth Malhotra, she has surpassed you in a remake of one of your movies. That’s all right, she can copy your roles, but you will copy her religion. And when you do, there’s nothing to fear – if there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s being inclusive.

[1] See hyperlink for full story and real name of Mr Zed

The most honorable @krishashok has come out with another template for us mortals to fill in. Here were a couple of my entries for #kalmadeception.

Here's an excellent self-referential template that someone had made. [Thanks to unnamed guest for providing the link.]

There are enough reviews of 'Inception' on the internet and this isn't one of them. I liked the movie enough to watch it a couple of times, but one of things that I really loved about it was the title of the movie: the word 'Inception'.

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word is defined as:

'the establishment or starting point of an institution or activity'

The word is also loosely used to mean 'beginning', but the movie takes this basic English meaning and migrates the action part of it to an idea. So now it means:

'the act of implanting an idea in a person's mind'

Since the language defines 'inception' differently, this makes the term specific to this movie and therefore part of its jargon. You will notice that most of the jargons used are derived from Latin including  'limbo', 'extraction' and 'projection'. Like most sci-fi comics and movies, the words need to be of Latin descent to sound scientific and sophisticated. When done right, this aids our suspension of disbelief sufficiently.

One of the reasons I like the word is that it sounds simple, rolls easily off the tongue but still retains a certain mystery. It's not a word that everyone knows, but yet one that is not restricted to high literature. It has very little of the obvious flashiness of 'The Matrix' and plays a central role in the backstory as well as the plot.

This appeal is enhanced by the movie itself. The trailers did a very good job of explaining the term, without giving away the story, unlike most trailers today. I don't know if Christopher Nolan spent a lot of time thinking of the right word, but it's likely that he had a Eureka moment when he thought of the word.

One thing is for sure: 'Inception' by any other name would be as sweet.

P.S: Also check out, 'Writing English as a second language', by William Zinsser for more on Anglo-Saxon and Latin words.

So the UK has put in place a ban on mini-skirts for customer facing roles. A quote:

Women can wear trousers, informal dresses or skirts of "reasonable" length, but "not mini-skirts". 
"Please try to dress smartly and thoughtfully, in line with other professionals you come across in your day-to-day work, and in a way that shows respect to children and families ," it said.

It's a little relieving to know that we are not the only weird society in the world. I wonder what will happen when the daughters of the families in question come dressed in mini-skirts; will the families be sent back because they're not respecting themselves?

My psychic powers sense an internet campaign coming up. #shortskirtquake anyone?

Now this is a prank!



(via FB)

One of the best ads I've seen in recent times:


On that note, have a great weekend.

(Link from Mr. Linkastic)