Sony Tablets announced!!

After almost every single brand out there had come out with an Apple iPad competitor, it was strange for one of the most innovative brands in the area of consumer electronics to be mum on the issue of tablets- Sony. There were murmurs of what the Japanese giant would be launching, with online blogs have few leaked details of a dual-screen tablet, while others were talking about a larger, Samsung Galaxy-esque 10 inch model. Well, finally it has been revealed that BOTH will be manufactured by Sony, and I for one can't WAIT to see what the finished product looks like!
In the meantime, here are some pictures and a short video of the tablets, called the S1 and the S2. They run 3.0, which means they'll have the most up-to-date Android Honeycomb goodness installed. The S1 is a 9.4 inch media tablet with both, front and rear facing cameras and a curved wrap design that looks something like a folded magazine. The second, the S2 is the one that has the dual screens that each measure 5.5 inches. Both the S1 and S2 are "PlayStation Certified" and are WiFi and 3G/4G compatible.
I will give you more details about the tablets as and when I get them, but in the meantime here is the launch video that gives you an idea of all the sexiness Sony is looking to offer!-
  

Interview with Amish Tripathi, author of "Immortals of Meluha"

You may remember a few months back I had done a review on a book called the Immortals of Meluha on my blog, and highly recommended it. For those interested in spirituality and Hindu Mythology, I'd promised that it would be one of the best books you'll ever read on the subject. Hopefully a lot of you would have bought a copy and read it since then, or encouraged others you know to have read the book. I have given my copy to my Mother, who doesn't particularly like to read, and she is slowly making her way through the book, which tells the story of one of the most powerful deities for Hindus- Lord Shiva.
I was SO fascinated with the book, I nosied around on the internet and managed to contact the author, Amish Tripathi, and requested him to answer a few questions that I had for him. If you've read the book, I'm sure some of the questions will be ones that you yourself might have had! He took some time getting back to me as he is currently busy working on the sequel to IOM and also busy with his day job... believe it or not, the famed author who found his first book top the national best seller list in India, actually works in the Insurance industry! He is also a graduate of the famed IIM Kolkata.
He kindly took some time out to respond to all my questions-

1) First of all Amish, thank you for writing such an inspiring and informative book! What is it that prompted you to write a book fictionalizing Hindu Mythology, and what percentage of it is fact and what percent have you allowed yourself creative liberty to tell the story of Shiva?

Honestly, I can't say that I planned this book. I had never even dreamt of being an author. Before The Immortals of Meluha, I had written no fiction. Ever. So I am as surprised as anyone else that I ended up being an author.
The book began during a conversation between my family and me. We were watching TV together and there was an interesting historical programme being broadcast, where we discovered something surprising. We all know that for ancient Indians, Gods were called Devas and Demons were called Asuras. What we don't know is that for ancient Persians, Gods were called Ahuras and demons are called Daevas - the exact opposite of the ancient Indians. This triggered an interesting conversation. Maybe if the ancient Indians and the ancient Persians met, they would probably be calling each other evil - because one person's god was the other person's demon. Now both the groups cannot be right can they? So who is evil? Both the groups? Neither? But what can't be denied is that evil does exist. It rises again and again. And it has to be destroyed. A philosophy occured to me on this topic and I started writing it down. Then my brother and sis-in-law gave me some good advice that readers will be more interested in a grand adventure where the philosophy happens to come across with it rather than a pure philosophy book. And hence I started writing the present novel with a hero whose journey conveys the philosophies I want to talk about. And since the story is about the destruction of evil, who better to be the hero than the destroyer of evil Himself, Lord Shiva!


2) The book goes into so much detail about the background of so many Hindu traditions, customs and phrases. As a Hindu, I found myself having many "aha" moments thinking, "THIS is where such and such tradition comes from!" How much research did you do before beginning to write the novel?


There are 2 aspects to the research in this book. First is the historical data and the second is our collective Hindu myths. On the historical data, I didn't do any specific research for this book. Or another way of looking at it is that I have been researching this book for the last 25 years! Because I have always been deeply interested in history and have been a voracious reader all my life. Some of the books that have helped in the historical interpretations for my book are Graham Hancock’s path-breaking Underworld and even primary research books like Gregory Possehl's brilliant treatise, The Indus Civilisation. As for our collective Hindu myths, I have depended a lot on what I have heard from my family over the years. My grandfather, besides being a teacher, was also a Pandit. Both my parents are very devout and religious. And we heard a lot of stories about Hindu myths from all of them when we were children. And of course, as for most people in our generation, the Amar Chitra Katha comics have been a fantastic source of knowledge to me of our fantasies. Anant Pai had done a great job!

3) For those wanting to study more about Shiva and Hindu Mythology in general, are there any books you can recommend? Any that you may have turned to while researching "Immortals of Meluha"?

Like I said, I have depended more on what I have heard from my family for the myths on Lord Shiva. But all those who want to learn more about the Lord, should read up the Shiva Purana.

4) Speaking of which, what is your favourite book (fiction or nonfiction) book of all time?

That's difficult to say. There are so many. I really do like reading and my favourites change as I read more. But at this point of time, I am reading a book called Shiva, the wild god of power and ecstacy. It's brilliant.

5) In another interview of yours, I read that before beginning to write this book, you were a non-believer, and now are a true devotee of Lord Shiva. What specifically caused that transformation? Do you have any message for atheists out there?
Yes, it's true. I used to be a non-believer. But today I am a devoted Shiva Bhakt. Within the story of The Immortals of Meluha which shows the simple man behind the myth of a god, I discovered my devotion to the divinity in Him. But I have also discovered the beauty of other religions. I think I've finally understood what my father used to say when I was young. There is beauty and ugliness in every religion. The choice before us is what do we want to see...

As for a message for atheists, I would certainly not say that there is anything wrong with being an atheist. Every person has the right to follow philosphies that give him peace - as long as he does not try to impose them on others. But I will certainly say that I have found a lot of peace through faith. Mental peace is worth more than all the money in the world. If there are atheists who are unhappy, they may want to explore the path of faith. It may help answer some questions - as it did for me.

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Facebook: Connect with Amish Tripathi OR Shiva Trilogy OR join The Immortals of Meluha group
Twitter: Follow @amisht
Trailer film of book: http://www.shivatrilogy.com/theimmortalsofmeluha.html
www.shivatrilogy.com

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Carine Roitfeld to launch own Label?

Someone by the name of Amber Atherton on Twitter has caused quite a stir by tweeting the following photograph of what looks to be like an outfit with a "Carine Roitfeld" label on it with the comment, "Carine Roitfeld's new Womenswear label?! @vogue_london or just an odd HK label mishap?!"

Ms Atherton seems to be based between London and Hong Kong, and given HK's proximity to China, it wouldn't be surprising if not only Carine Roitfeld, but Anna Wintour-ed labeled outfits were being sold everywhere. Having said that, the popular I want to be a Roitfeld blog that obsessively follows the first family of French fashion around, pointed out a picture tweeted by Derek Blasberg at the Wolseley in Britain having tea with Carine, hairstylist Luigi Moreni and photographer Iango Henzi. Could we be seeing the team behind the first lookbook of the CR collection at work? If only wishes were horses...

Review of the Hotel de Crillon- Part 2

I'd done a review of the rooms at the gorgeous Hotel de Crillon where I've been staying for the past week in Paris, and I'd promised a review of the entire hotel with some lovely pictures. I'd ended the post saying the Hotel is one of my favourites and there really are many reasons for that. The service was excellent, the food divine and most importantly, the Hotel is located right in the centre of all the shopping. Let's just put it this way, 5 steps away you had the landmark Hermes store at the Rue de Faubourg which made things very easy for me! If you are thinking of staying here and haven't checked out the pictures of the room, I urge you to hit the link above and go check them out.
Here are some more pictures I'd taken-

The exterior of the hotel was being given a facelift, but instead of boring old ugly scaffolding, they'd done it up by matching it up to the look of the hotel! Thought that was very cute.

       I just loved the old European charm of the entrance of the hotel and the lobby. Gorgeous!

In my previous post i'd mentioned about the Afternoon tea we had received with the American Express fine hotels and resorts package. The tea could be had in the very pretty sitting area they had outdoors, or in the lovely area they had indoors. As it was too cold in the evening, we decided to have ours indoors, but the outside was too pretty for it to not be photographed.

And when I said the High Tea deserved a post of it's own, I wasn't joking. It was INCREDIBLE. I'm a huge fan of High Tea and I've had it at a few places in London, and almost in all the popular Hot Spots in New York- The Plaza, The Carlyle, Bergdorfs, London Hotel... seriously NOTHING could even come close to the High Tea I had here. It's a meal by itself so if you're in Paris and even if you're not staying at the Crillon, I can't recommend the Tea enough!

Ok so High Tea is really very rarely about the tea itself (I usually take coffee with mine!) and it's really allll about the food. The sandwiches were very filling and very, very tasty. I can't remember what the first one in the baguette is (chicken maybe?), then there was ham and cheese, and the last one on the right is the foie gras pate.

And then there was the plate of mini deserts! Seriously lets not even get me started on these as each one was magnificent, and am at the Lounge at the airport and I'm seriously about to lick my computer screen. I'm also exhausted out of my mind and delirious so I may even do it!
Aah.. talk about timing! Time to board my flight! I think the lady at the counter saw my face inching towards my screen and figured she HAD to get me out of here!
More from Dubai peeps!
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Review- Room at the Hotel de Crillon

As I mentioned in my earlier post here I'm currently in Paris for my birthday. I'd mentioned there that I'm staying at the Hotel de Crillon for my birthday and had taken a picture of the divine chocolate cake as well the champagne they had sent up to my room to celebrate my big day. I know it makes sense for me to write a review about the hotel AFTER I leave, but I've been here for 5 days already so can safely write a review without expecting too much to change my thoughts on the hotel before I leave in two days.
I've stayed at the Crillon both other times I've visited Paris- once when I was very young with my entire family, and once again a few years back with my Mother and older (middle) sister. While booking my hotel room I was researching the other hotels in Paris and looked into availability and prices of the top 3 (in my opinion anyway)- The Ritz, George V and the Crillon. My eldest sister frequents the George V, the second one, the Ritz and as I mentioned, I'd only ever experienced staying at this hotel. As luck would have it, the Crillon was offering the best deal for my stay, and I decided to return to the hotel that was tried and tested.
While the Hotel de Crillon is quite expensive, I had booked my room through my American Express Centurion Concierge service which gives its users a lot of perks at the hotels that are part of the Fine Hotels and Resorts program. While the rates are the regular rack rates (that can be found on the website here) the perks I got with my room were plenty. The program gives the same package for all hotels which is the free room upgrade depending on availability, guaranteed late check out till 4 PM available and free breakfast for 2 per room. Some hotels add on extra perks and the Crillon added not only a one way airport transfer but also a 50 Euro credit per day to be used for food and drink in the hotel. It couldn't be accumulated and the girl while checking in had told us to either "use it or lose it" which of course we had found hilarious. We thought that was a lot of money till we had a look at their room service menu and realized a portion of hommous cost 20 Euros. Not that I was going to come from Dubai and order Hommous in Paris, but I was quite tempted to just to find out what 20 Euro Hommous would taste like!! The Crillon also gave us an Afternoon Tea for 2 (once per stay) that we used up the first day we arrived. That deserves a separate post by itself! Anyhow, I thought the perks with the hotel were amazing, so Amex deserves a pat on the back for hooking that one up.
Without further ado, here are some pictures of my room that I took immediately upon getting in. This is the room before we unpacked, so that it wouldn't look like a tornado had run through it!

The room was absolutely gorgeous and was extremely spacious. I'm pretty sure they did upgrade my room since I don't remember the room being this large when I visited last.

The sitting area was really nice to have as it was so convenient to use while chatting, or in my case, while blogging. The TV can be viewed from either the bed or the sofa too, which would be nice if they had many English channels to watch. What Payal and I both thought was very interesting was that apart from the news channels, there was very little to watch in English, but there are 5 or 6 Arabic channels on there! When we went down for breakfast on our first morning here, we understood why.

More important to me than the room is a spacious bathroom! The bathroom here has a shower and a tub and unlike other hotels that have been renovated but forget to give the bathroom a facelift, this one feels brand new.

Eau d'Hadrien by Annick Goutal remains one of my most favourite perfumes till today, and it's actually the Crillon that had first introduced me to it on my first trip to Paris. I remember being really young and being so blown away by this gorgeous scent and purchasing my first bottle from Paris then. It slowly became popular all over the world and a few years back I was shocked to find it being sold in Dubai as well! I was so happy to see them still sticking by their signature scent that thanks to them had become MY signature scent for many years (followed by Lime, basil and Mandarin by Jo Malone for ages, and has currently been Spring Flower by Creed for a few years).

When I start posting my food reviews, you'll understand why I avoided this devil device shown above like the PLAGUE!

                              There was generous space for a walk in closet in the room as well.

These are just some pictures of the room I've put together... As mentioned, I'll review their Afternoon tea and the rest of the hotel too. I didn't want this post to become too picture heavy.
All in all, if you're visiting Paris, I can't recommend the Hotel de Crillon enough! When I post the rest of the pictures of the Hotel, you'll understand why. Look out for Part 2 of the review!
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Payal's Bday Gift

In my post here I've written about my best friend and I celebrating my birthday in Paris. If you read my blog often or if you follow me on Twitter then you'll need little introduction to Payal, my best friend from college who now is married and lives in New York City. I've written a lot about her on here as well as in my articles that I used to do on Khaleej Times, and I think she's a huge reason why I love NYC so much. Of course, if I could have picked one person to celebrate my birthday with it would be her, and so I couldn't have had a better birthday present than having her fly to Paris to come celebrate with me!! She however wanted to add to that present and give me something (or a bunch of things) that would either define me or signify a lot of the memories we have together. As silly as some of the items may seem to you, I thought they were hilarious and so incredibly sweet  and thought I'd photograph them to give you a glimpse of what else makes up ME- besides the gadgets, books and fashion!! So here's a glimpse into my birthday gift and the cute bag it came in-

So you're probably wondering, "What the...?!" Yes, part of my birthday present involved food.. and not just ANY type of food. It's very odd but as much as I LOVE my fancy French meals and pride myself on my gastronomic knowledge, my favourite meal on any given evening is probably cup noodles and chips. Yes, it sounds horrible and yes its extremely unhealthy and fattening and has a zillion calories and is just an ODD combo, but I really have a real love affair with noodles, and am a complete chipaholic. The best noodles in Dubai are at Bentoya on Sheikh Zayed Road and is a dish called the "Tantan Men" (or sounds like that anyway) and the best cup noodles from any supermarket are the Koka Tomyam variety. Yes, I can really do a thesis on noodles and give you the best noodle shops in almost all parts of the world. As for chips, I love ALL types except, strangely enough, the ready salted variety. Payal has for over the thirteen odd years she's known me, tried desperately to change my eating habits and shake off my chip and noodle obsession, extremely unsuccessfully. She's thus, has tried to adapt it by making the chips baked, and the noodles the rice variety, which is gluten free, and according to her, slightly less sinful. Oh and since she grew up in Japan, she bought me Japanese chocolates too to finish my sinful meal.

I love to paint and draw and doodle and love these weird Japanese-y type books. If you remember, I'd photographed one of these colouring books here that I'd picked up in Dubai. I don't really know what to ever do with them, as it's not like I'm a child and colour in them or anything of that sort. I guess it's why my mother says I collect junk! But you have to admit, it's extremely cute kinda junk? Well I guess Payal saw this and thought I'd appreciate it, which I very much did!

I'm kinda confused by why this book reminded her of me? I don't know whether it's because she thinks I should be looking for a husband, or because we have the oddest of names for each other... We call each other Wifey. I think it started in college because people would say we'd bicker like a married couple, which incidentally we kind of still do. We get into silly arguments where both of us forget what we were arguing about, or sometimes also have screaming matches with each other and stuff like that. Yes, it might seem crazy to you but I think is actually quite healthy in an odd way considering if we ever have an issue with each other, we sort it out with each other. Too many times people will go talk about their friends to other friends as they're "venting" their issues. We just scream at each other. Strange, yes, but it works for us! So yes, when we started calling each other "Wifey" in college, it never raised any eyebrows and Oprah and Gayle were just looked upon as being great girl friends and all was so simple in this world. Times have changed and people don't understand friendships anymore but the name has stuck! So a conversation between her and me will almost always start with a "Hi Wifey/Payali!" "Hi Wifey/Kirani!" greeting on both ends. Incidentally, her husband (who was in college with us) thinks its hilarious too, so it's not like a secret name or anything! Either way, I think this book had more to do with the former explanation of her wanting for me to look for a husband than the "Wifey" story, but now you know both.

Hmm.. this box contained one of this foldable desk things that I guess advertise to the world what mood you're in on that particular day. I should pull them out and wear them on a pin! Anyhow, thought it was really cute. My current mood?

And this one I thought was the funniest!! Pretty self explanatory! Made me laugh so hard!!!-

Ok so there were a whole bunch of other things that go in there that either didn't make it because I didn't photograph it, or because she didn't manage to get them to me in time!
- Mini boxes of cereal- Payal can't understand why I'd want to eat raw cereal (without milk) which I do, so that was in there
- A toothbrush/toothpaste set- So for my graduation present from college, Payal had bought me and her a final trip to Miami for one long weekend. This trip is what started the trend of us going away together, as is probably one of our most memorable one yet! Not because we went out and had so much fun.. but quite the opposite. Her face had broken out into a terrible rash that was sensitive to the sun so we had to stay indoors the entire time. Anyhow, the first day we got there, we woke up in the morning and realized we didn't have any toothpaste as both figured the other one would have carried it. The hotel didn't have any and we had quite the adventure trying to get ourselves some toothpaste, which I won't get into here! Mind you, I haven't been able to photograph the toothpaste as I had forgotten to carry mine from Dubai and am currently using the one she got me. It's a good thing she knows me as well as she does!
- A Hello Kitty rolling stamp thingy- One day I will tell you guys about my Hello Kitty Fettish. Today shall not be that day.
- An AMC (movie theatre) gift card- We both LOVE going for movies and always manage to see one on all our holidays. Let's just put it this way, last night was a Saturday night in Paris and we cancelled our plans at the last minute and were looking for a movie theatre to head to that played English films. We've even gone in the middle of the day to watch a movie in Orlando at the Universal Studios as we were hot and tired and wanted a break to sit down and rest. So yes, we rarely walk by a movie theatre without contemplating going in.

Hmmm.. I think that was about it. I'll update later if I think I've missed any part of the pressie! But it's so funny that something with so much meaningless stuff to someone else, can be so meaningful and thought provoking to someone else! Hope you guys have a best friend who knows you that well and whom you have so many random memories with.
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My birthday Week in Paris!

Hello All!  I do apologize for going MIA from my blog for a while, but I have a pretty good reason for it.. I'm in Paris! I got here on Thursday and am going to be here for another few days before I head back home. And if the heading of this blog post or the picture of the cake in the photograph didn't give it away, I'm here for my birthday! Once every year, my best friend Payal and I have a tradition to do a girl's trip together, and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that we'd taken a short trip to Chicago last summer. This year I really wanted to do some place in Europe and have been wanting to come to Paris for a while, so I asked if she'd be willing to meet me halfway and spend my birthday in Paris with me. She said yes, and so here we are!
My birthday was a lot of fun as I alternated between eating and sleeping with a bit of shopping thrown in. On the day itself we made our way to the Plaza Athenee and had lunch at the restaurant there followed by a bit of shopping on Avenue Montaigne and then we were on to Pierre Gagnaire for dinner. I have taken tons of pictures and have lots of reviews coming your way so do keep checking back for a lot of info from my Paris adventures.
I'm staying at the Hotel de Crillon, and they were kind enough to send me a bottle of champagne along with a chocolate cake (that was DIVINE) to my room, which is the picture I've taken above. Payal's bags were delayed by over a day so they had finally come in after we got back from dinner, so she opened it up, gave me my birthday gift (which deserves a separate post) and all the stuff I'd ordered for myself and had shipped to her to bring including a customized computer that I'm currently typing on. After that, I cut my cake while she half sang for me and we chatted for a while before heading off to sleep. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!
Thanks to all of you who wished me on Twitter and via email.. really made me feel so special!! And for those who aren't following me on Twitter yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! ;)
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Judith Leiber CRAZY!!!!!

If you regularly follow this blog you'll know that I'm a HUGE Judith Leiber fan!! Sometimes I glance at the pictures of their bags sent in to me from Bergdorf Goodman's shop floor in New York City and just smile at how beautiful they are. Sometimes I'll lust after one, and sometimes the lust will be enough for me to send in an email to my Personal Shopper Linda (details below) and have her send one to me. Then there are days like this where I just look at the bags and gasp! How on earth do I decide on just one?
Here are pictures of the Judith Leiber collection in Exotic skins. I love love LOOOOVE.....

$2,995 - Python Fliptop w/Black Onyx Stone w/Long Chain

$5,995 - Black Crocodile Clutch

 

$7,795 - Brown Crocodile Clutch w/Mother of Pearl

$7,795 - Navy Crocodile Clutch w/Mother of Pearl

Left to right:
1) Gold Clutch Lame Python $2,995 (front)
2) Gold Lame Python w/Shoulder Strap $2,995 (back)
3) White Python Marlana Clutch $2,795 (front)
4) Rainbow Python w/Shoulder Strap $1,995 (back)
5) Rainbow Natalie Pleated Clutch $1,995 (front)
6) Rainbow Python Clutch w/Turn Lock $1,795 (front)
7) Black Crocodile w/Onyx Bar Clutch $7,795 (back)
8) Black Crocodile Shoulder Bag $9,795 (front)
 

Left to right:
1) Large Black Crocodile Clutch  $8,795 (back)
2) Large Navy Crocodile Clutch w/Silver Hardware $8,795 (front)
3) Pearlized Python Clutch w/Gold Hardware $1,795 (back)
4) Long Blues Python Monica Bow Clutch $2,495 (front)
5) Long Rainbow Python Monica Bow Clutch $2,495 (front)
6) Navy Crocodile w/Shoulder Strap $9,795 (back)
7) Black Crocodile Mirror Clutch $5,995 (back)
8) White Kurung Bow Clutch $1,495 (front)

Please click on the pictures to have a larger view of the bags. Oh and try not to drool on your keyboard!

Please contact Linda at lindamdpreston@yahoo.com for prices, reservations of purchasing of any of the products listed above.
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Book Review- The Name of the Wind

 

One day while browsing Amazon's best seller book list, I came across the sequel to The Name of the Wind. It seems fans of the first book in the trilogy were desperate to get their hands on a copy and had raved about how absorbing the first book had been, and how they couldn't put it down, and how they had waited (im)patiently for the Author to finally release the sequel, etc etc. With a follow up like that, I just HAD to read the first book in the series. Hence, I ran over to a bookstore in Dubai and luckily they had the book in stock. 

The book belongs to the Fantasy genre, and being a HUGE fan of Harry Potter and the Narnia series, I was eager to check out a book in the same genre written for adults. While reading the Harry Potter books in particular, I used to get lost in the story and the magical world JK Rowling had spun for me. By the time the movies came out, I had my own version of what Hogwarts looked like, which incredulously turned out to be very similar to what the movie version was. The beauty of Rowling's writing was that her descriptions were just so vivid. I was hoping Patrick Rothfuss would be just as successful. 

As much as I WANTED to immediately get lost in the world of Kvothe, the protagonist of the story, I must say it took me a long while to. I was practically two-thirds into the book, picking it up every few days and reading a few pages, just because I was determined to finish it. Somewhere halfway through, when the young Kvothe makes it into University is when the storyline started to get interesting for me- probably a hangover from my Harry Potter days! Once that happened, there was no putting the book down. It really absorbed me into it's world and became one of those fast paced page-turners that avid readers love. A lot of people who've read the book seem to have had the opposite effect and say the book gripped them from the first page, so if you're a huge fan of Fantasy novels already, you may have the same experience. While the forms of magic, money, university, countries, people, customs, etc are all fictional and have been given names to create a new world, I felt like it was a bit too tedious for me and as a fast reader I found it slowed me down as I had to pay attention to every word and every description on the page. Another thing I found very tedious were the number of characters in the book who are just not necessary and could have been completely done without. Especially since they had confusing names, I found myself constantly wishing there was some sort of glossary or chart to help me out.

Having said that, did I absolutely love the second half of the book and glad I read it? Yes. Will I be getting the sequel? Most definitely! Would I recommend the book to readers of this blog? As I mentioned earlier, if you're a fan of Fantasy novels, this book does not fail to disappoint. While reading the book I gave it a maximum of two years before it would get snapped up and made into a Blockbuster Hollywood movie. While googling the title to get a picture of the cover for this blog post, I came across a whole bunch of fan-made movie trailers for what I assumed to be the already existing movie. Turns out, they are actually just a bunch of video clips taken from other movies, put together to showcase their interpretation of the film. The way I see it, if you've read the Harry Potter series and like me, were a huge fan, this book will give you a bit of a grown up version of it. At almost 700 pages long, it's not a quick read so if you're looking for one, don't even bother. But if you want your introduction to Fantasy fiction, I suggest you start with Rowling's books and get inducted to Pottermania rather than jumping into this one. 

If you do read the book (or have already)  I'd be definitely be interested to know what you think, so do keep me posted!

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Love Lanvin Bags!

I'm loving the newest collection of Lanvin Handbags! The thing I love about them is that just like their clothes, Lanvin bags are always so light, easy to wear and go amazing from day into night. I'm particularly loving the gold messenger bag (shown below)...
Here are the pictures of the latest collection as seen in Bergdorf Goodman's New York!

Black with Tan Single Adjustable Handle $1,485
Metallic Gold w/Chain Strap $1,790

 

Camel Tote $1,490

 

 

Burnt Orange Tote $1,695 (Also in Beige and Yellow)

Clutches $585 - Tan, Coral & Black

 

Relex Luggage Tote
Python $1,995  
Coral, Black & Camel $2,150

White Patent & Beige Single Tan Adjustable Strap $1,750
Luggage Belt $940
Camel Fliptop Tote $1,850

Black Tote $1,490 

 

Patent Berry w/Tan Strap $1,485

 

Gold Messenger $1,390

 

 

White Satin w/Flower & Gold Chain $750 

 

Gold Clutch $750

Clutch White, Yellow & Coral $265

 

 

Please contact Linda at lindamdpreston@yahoo.com for prices, reservations of purchasing of any of the products listed above.
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Musings on Faith...

Last week my Mother received a heartbreaking phone call from my Sister telling her about some news relating to a friend's daughter. The girl had passed away the night before in a motorcycle accident. She was only 17 years old. My Mother and I were in a state of shock about the news and our hearts really went out to the parents of the victims (the boy who was riding the bike also passed away on the spot). A few days later, on the 6th of April, would be nine years since my Father's passing and as I said to a friend, I hadn't, or rather haven't, really been able to get over his loss even after all this time. I cannot even imagine then what it must feel like to lose a child! All religions have some sort of coping mechanism to deal with death- but how does one even begin to turn to religion or to prayer at the time of losing a loved one when you question the very existence of God?

I remember when my Father passed away, I'd been cooped up in the hospital in Mumbai for 3 weeks straight, spending the nights with my Mother in a hospital room we had taken, and my days outside the ICU praying for his health. The day he passed away, he was actually supposed to be moved out of the ICU and into a regular room, and the family was so happy that God had listened to our prayers. On hearing the terrible news of his passing, my first instinct had been to curse God and to swear to never pray or have any ties to religion again, but 2 things happened soon after that made me weaken my resolve. The first one I've written about briefly in my article about my Father- The final rites for Hindus are to be carried out by the son of the family, but since my Father only had us 3 girls and since I was the youngest, I was able to perform the cremation. My Father, all my life, used to tell me about how he was convinced that a trip to Tirupati (a temple in India) where he prayed for Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth) is what resulted in me being a girl, despite my parents being convinced they were having a son. When I was born they decided to give me the same name they'd picked out for the boy- Kiran, and in a lot of ways, maybe because I was the youngest or just because I was a tomboy through my teenage years, they raised me as a boy. It was weird for me then to be acting out my final part as a son to my Father, as he'd rhetorically often asked me through my life, "Why weren't you my son? You should have been born a boy!" The second sign I received is when I went to Haridwar to immerse my Father's ashes in the Ganges, another tradition for Hindus. Since I was the won having performed the final rites, it was my duty to carry the process out to the end. Another thing my Father had told me all my life, was that I was extremely lucky for him and that every year, my birthday had always been extremely lucky day for him. While performing the final rites, the Pandit (Priest) had turned to me and said, "Do you know this is the best thing you could ever do for your Father? By completing this final step, you are putting his soul to rest." 15th April 2002 was that day- My 24th birthday. People can call it coincidence, but I know there is a weird symmetry to this Universe and to my Life.

Over this past weekend my Mother and I went to the house of the girl and my heart broke looking at her parents. It reminded me of a few years back when a friend of mine had lost his child and I was helping him realize the existence of God amidst the madness of the World. After our meeting, I'd come home and something about that had prompted a poem out of me which I'd like to share with you. It's entitled "Lost and Found."

We met at lunch. He did not cry
His eyes were parched. Drained. Dry.
Over sushi was where we spoke of loss
Over bite sized rolls dipped in soy sauce.

He spoke of his child. I talked of my Dad
We shared notes on tears and emotions we'd had
We thought of the length of life that they'd led
He spoke of his faith. Buried. Dead.

"Karma, Destiny, It's all in the mind,
Crutches to hold, while we lag behind.
I once was lost, but now understand
There is nothing to be found in the palm of a hand.

Gates above, Damnation below,
I believed that too, a long time ago
But now I've seen the light, my friend,
You have one life, and then a dead end."

"I'd worry," he continued, "How would she know,
Once she was lost, which way to go?"
"He'd find her," I argued, "and hold her hand
Haven't you read, 'Footsteps in the sand'?"

"He must need her," I said, "He must have a plan
That you and I cannot understand."
"Plan?" he said, "What could she do?
She was so small. My daughter was Two."

"You'll find your faith," I finally said,
Losing a bit of mine instead,
Over lunch, when he spoke of his kid.
I then squeezed his hand. I'm glad I did.

Review of Sony Ericsson Arc phone-

When Sony Ericsson sent me the phone to review, I didn't quite know what to expect. I'd read about the launch of the Xperia Arc alongside the Xperia Play (better known as the PlayStation Phone) and the Play had pretty much stolen the Arc's thunder. When I held the Arc in my hand however, I was surprised as to how incredibly light it was, and how incredibly thin. I used the phone for about 2 weeks so I think I'm in a pretty good position to review the product with all it's positives and negatives. 

The screen is powered by what is called the "Bravia Engine." I don't know quite what that entails, but I'm guessing it uses the same sort of technology as found in Sony Bravias. On turning on the device, I was amazed to find an incredibly sharp screen that really was a visual delight! Once I had it set up and going, I found the interface on the device to be smooth, without any stuttering or lag in performance. Previous Sony Ericsson Android Devices have received a lot of flak for having outdated Android operating systems installed, but the Xperia Arc has managed to turn that around and comes pre-installed with Android 2.3 "Gingerbread." 

I realized very soon that I wasn't a huge fan of the keyboard that was part of the Android system and decided to dig around to find a way to change it. The thing I love about the Android open system is that while Apple would never agree to have workarounds present in the iTunes store to change the look and feel or usability of the iPhones, Android devices have no such problems. I realized I could download Swype on my device that made my life a LOT easier, and I was good to go. If you don't know what Swype is, click here to check out the video I'd posted of it working on my Samsung Galaxy S.

Sony Ericsson phones usually take full advantage of Sony's technology and is probably why they have the best cameras on any smartphones around. The 8 megapixel camera on this phone works like a charm and takes fabulous pictures! I realized it was pretty useless for you guys for me to just post up pictures I'd taken on my phone, so I'm going to work on taking photographs in varying light conditions with my Arc as well as my iPhone 4 to show you guys side-by-side comparison shots. Check back for that post very soon. 

Because it's an Android device, you have access to all the literally thousands of software applications in the Android Market including Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds, etc. Since the last time I tested out an Android phone, there seem to be a lot more available games and useful apps made for the OS. Also since then, Amazon has launched it's own Appstore for Android which makes it possible to buy, or download free, all the apps that are available. The paid Android Market apps are not available on phones in the UAE so I think the Amazon appstore would come in handy to be able to do that. However, I didn't test that part out, so I'm not 100%sure on that one. 

Like any device, the Xperia Arc is also not without any cons. As I mentioned, the Arc is one of the slimmest smartphones I've ever seen and is also super light. I've read reviews about the phone that talk about this and say the phone feels cheap and plasticy. While this may bother some people, I'm actually quite happy having a device that weighs very little and doesn't feel like a slab of metal. Somehow mentally, I feel like a phone like the Arc would be more able to survive a fall than the solid iPhone 4, which in my head would smash to pieces if it were to fall to the ground. I don't know whether that is true and lucky I've never had my iPhone4 fall and I'm not about to do a test drop with the devices! I just know that the build quality doesn't bother me. What DID bother me however was the battery on this device. While I'd love to be able to give the phone a glowing review with no faults, the truth of the matter is, the limited battery life did give me a few problems. If I was out till late and hadn't had the opportunity to charge my phone, the Arc would just completely die on me- a problem I've never experienced with my iPhone 4. Having said that, the phone does (unlike the iPhones) have a removable battery so a lot of people might choose to swap the battery around, or to plug the phone in their car chargers or at work. I happened to be using the phone during the World Cup during which I was tweeting constantly, taking pictures, calling friends and didn't have access to a charger. 

All in all I can safely say that the Xperia Arc is one of the best Android devices I've seen till date. While I've loved the HTC as well as the Samsung Galaxy device in the past, I still remember having to deal with issues like problems changing the on-screen language or alarms going off in the middle of the night. Sony Ericsson always managed to get the design right, as well as the camera which is extremely important to me. The only reason I stopped using the device? Sony Ericsson sent me over the Xperia Play to.. well.. play with!!! I can't WAIT to give you guys my review on the much awaited PlayStation phone! In the meantime, if you have any comments or questions about the Arc, feel free to voice them in the comments below. Hope you found this helpful.

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