General

Coke Ad Celebrating The Diwali Season

November 4, 2018 General
Coke - Diwali Diya

There are instances of TV commercials which have endured the test of time. Some have been influential through a combination of visual appeal and a haunting melody (jingles) & yet there are some ads that have forever changed our perception of products and are considered iconic today. But there’s one commercial made by Coke for Canada which has appealed to my creative tastes ever since I first saw it around 2015-16, and I’m certain it will also resonate with individuals who have chosen to settle elsewhere and miss their loved ones during the festive season.

It’s never futile to embark in decoding the diverse cultures of India, to discover its colourful and vibrant celebratory traditions which are out in full glory during the festivities. The most vivacious of them is Diwali, or famously called the ‘festival of lights’ which starts from today. It’s when neighbourhoods across the subcontinent will light ‘diyas‘ (an earthen lamp), dangle radiant lanterns outside their homes and honour the tradition by lighting crackers; often loud but never lacking in its radiance, and of course, partake homemade sweets and other delicious delicacies. It’s the occasion for bonding with loved ones, the likes of whom have been lost to time, and some to the unfortunate rift as they settle in far-away places for a better future.

This Coke Diwali ad featured on the Facebook page of Coca-Cola Canada with the caption “What Makes Diwali in Canada a #HappyDiwali?” capturing the emotional longing of countless people during Diwali and the role Coke plays in bringing lost souls together. The realism in the messaging imagined through a long-distance call in recounting the sentiments of love perfectly drive home the point. Its reproduction in Hindi and Punjabi languages further adds to its mass appeal and the music makes it particularly surrealistic, sincere, and subliminal. On that wonderful note, I want to wish you all a prosperous and a cheerful Happy Diwali. Have loads of fun!

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard And Mac Nostalgia

October 17, 2018 General Technology

At some level, I feel like I celebrate chaos, although, I would not like to take my share of responsibility for creating any of it, to begin with. I buy and care for my stuff like my own life and store it at places inside my home where I could find them easily as the need arises but for me, ‘easily’ is a metaphor for “ease of access”, not signifying keeping stuff organized. Though with time, I lose some of my prized possessions and it makes me feel disappointed, like this priceless DVD copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

I would have lost this precious possession forever to the sands of time but I rediscovered it quite accidentally last weekend while I was looking for another piece of valuable junk in my storeroom (ugh!!). I’m talking about this copy of DVD of Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard released back in 2009 (August 28, to be precise) and it was a shocker for me to find that one can order it online on the Apple Store, even today!

My Snow Leopard Saga

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

So Snow Leopard (version 10.6) was released in 2009 and within a year of my purchase of the then newly introduced unibody MacBook Pro that had come bundled with OS X Leopard, and I am proud to admit, that even to this day, I still operate this wonderful piece of hardware in significantly augmenting my creative workload.

If my memory serves me correctly, I had obtained this particular DVD-ROM at the Croma outlet in Malad who still run a dedicated corner for Apple products. I was super excited about the process ahead because it was my first major upgrade of the Mac OS X since getting my MacBook Pro. It’s also nostalgic in a sense because I have come so far in understanding & appreciating the MacBook Pros not just from a cult/design perspective but also for its reliable performance & technical architecture, and I believe Mac OS X is what makes the Mac line-up truly awesome. This landmark release of Mac OS X back in 2009 wasn’t meant to introduce new features rather addressing the stability issues with previous versions & focusing on better performance.

Personally, I am glad to possess an important portion from my past that marks my sheer interest in Apple products & future technology. Now it goes without saying, that I since have recovered this valuable treasure, despite accidentally, I’m holding on to it for posterity.

About Snow Leopard

  • 10.6 Snow Leopard was the last version of OS X before Apple started to add iOS elements from OS X 10.7 Lion onwards
  • Snow Leopard came on a DVD and was the last version to be sold on a disk
  • It was also the last version to support OS X Rosetta, and thus the last version that could run PowerPC-only applications
  • Snow Leopard has often been compared with its counterpart Windows XP for its widespread adoption and longevity
  • Snow Leopard is the last release of Mac OS X to support the 32-bit Intel Core Solo and Intel Core Duo CPUs
  • Although Snow Leopard has officially been out of support since 2014, you can still purchase it in the form of boxed DVD-ROMs through Apple’s online store.

Snow Leopard also set a new precedent for software pricing. While Leopard retailed for $129, Snow Leopard was just $30. This made the update accessible to customers who would’ve previously stuck with older versions of the operating system.
– 9to5 Mac

I still wish that Apple would have continued naming Mac OS after wild cats, it brought a sense of connection with previous releases. Although with such rapid releases of major upgrades means they’d have run out of cat names sooner than later.

Changes, Challenges, And New Beginnings

October 10, 2018 General
Calvin & Hobbes - Changes & Challenges

One out of the many unpreventable consequences of our existence is facing countless changes and challenges of varying magnitudes, both in personal and professional capacities. To our advantage, if it wasn’t about accepting certain changes and tackling the challenges our pursuit of surviving against the odds would be permanently impeded and life itself would become dull and repetitive. Yet there’s no denying the fact that everything is shrouded in ambiguity without any access to answers from the future unless we gauge the situation first-hand.

In short, I could be intellectually prepared to face an unknown confrontation with time but I would have absolutely no control over when that event would occur or even have any visibility of the consequences thereof. Needless to say, there’s always a sense of apprehension lingering about how might I perform to the best of my abilities, and what path I might undertake that would align with my goals when I eventually face the challenge? Or how would that process change me for the better or worse?

A proud and a delightful moment is being unfolded, one that would unimaginably transform my viewpoint on matters relating to ‘challenges’ for the rest of my life. I’m embarking upon a new voyage in rediscovering myself all over again, and regardless of whether I’d end up smarter or lame, this wonderful token of blessing has ‘JOY’ written all over it!

Source: Calvin and Hobbes

PS Vita – A Diehard Fan’s Ultimate Eulogy

September 24, 2018 General Happenings Technology
PS Vita
The PS Vita (Metallic Red) version which was exclusively launched in Japan in 2016. 

I was kind of expecting this update for some time now so there were no surprises for me in discovering that Sony has decided to put an end to the manufacturing and supply of the PlayStation (PS) Vita through 2019. This handheld gaming platform which received a well-deserved upgrade 4 years ago in the form of PS Vita Slim is sadly going to be buried forever. Personally, I was never able to push the potential of the gadget, which I bought when it launched in North America in 2014; beyond playing the Uncharted – Golden Abyss, with other exclusive titles such as Killzone Mercenary and WipeOut 2048; and Mortal Kombat. In fact, it was the storyline of the Uncharted series that kept me hooked to the Vita for the duration of its gameplay and I bagged the Platinum trophy as well, but it also left me lurking in the dark about why some of the other more popular franchises such as the Second Son or Crash Bandicoot (available on the Switch) for that matter, weren’t introduced on this handheld platform. Presumably, Sony’s gaming studios were more focused on developing games for the PlayStation 4.

Continue reading…

Behind The Mac, Once Again!

September 18, 2018 General Happenings

Of all the places in this vastness of Toronto city, I spot a massive poster hung atop a building featuring none other than the musical maestro AR Rahman, I’m still wondering how that location somewhere on Bloor Street West was chosen for this grand display! One is used to seeing a diverse mix of models complementing anything from creams to cuisine, so the excitement of watching an Indian celebrity endorsing a premium brand in a foreign land was palpable. This is Apple’s attempt at projecting it’s Mac lineup of computers as brilliance personified.

This ad was also unique for a reason because this month I chose to move on from my ‘old-but-gold’ MacBook Pro and opted for the new 2018 line-up. Here’s a little background to my old Mac which is still my favourite – the second-generation unibody Macs were first announced by Steve Jobs in October 2008 and the timing couldn’t have been more appropriate for me to order one in Canada back in 2009. It was a tedious buying episode, to say the least, however, this time the shopping experience was definitely surreal & seamless (thanks to my location in Toronto) right from placing the order on my app to receiving it within a few hours at the nearest Apple Store. The new 15-inch configurations are loaded with Intel Core i9 (up to 6 core) and upgradeable to up to 32 gigs of RAM which definitely makes it sheer desktop-class. Besides having been on Mac for several years now the need to experiment or work on a Windows (eco)system is fairly diminishing.

Which brings me to a question. In a previous post about my first Mac I had pondered if this indeed is the end of my association with the Windows family and the answer is probably “nah”. Because as someone in the creative arts field I need to constantly push the boundaries of my artistic and innovative desires and not let my limitations or beliefs stifle the positive outcomes. I guess Rahman would have definitely smiled on that note.