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Melanie Oudin - The new teenage tennis sensation

One of the biggest stories so far at this year's US Open tennis championships, is the dream run of 17 year-old American Melanie Oudin, to the ladies singles quarter-finals.
  
The former junior world no. 2 and currently ranked world no. 67 on the WTA rankings, put yet another sensational display today by ousting 13th seed Nadia Petrova in 3 tough sets. Oudin lost the opening set, but just like in her previous 3 matches, she came back to win the 2nd and 3rd.

After reading Pete Bodo's article about Oudin, I decided to sit up and take notice! Watching her play against Petrova today, what struck me the most about her game is how strong she is mentally. She works out the points beautifully, constructing rallies, waiting for the right moment. It's really a delight to watch when a player uses her brains to out-think her opponent.

Here's wishing all the best to her for the rest of the tournament and I hope, we get to see more of her in the future.

Vodka Lemon: Intoxicating Melancholy

IMDB Link - Vodka Lemon (2003)

"Vodka Lemon" is a touching tale of love, loneliness, loss and hope told in a simple manner with stunning visuals. Based in a remote, winter-frozen village of Armenia surrounded by snow-capped mountains, it tells the story of Hamo (Romen Avinian), a widowed ex-soldier.

Hamo is a father of 3 sons and has a grand-daughter.This film chronicles his re-discovery of love and hope amid abject poverty.

The opening sequence itself sets the tone for the film. It is funny, quirky, sad and dramatic all at the same time.

Out of Hamo's 3 sons, Gule lives in Samarkand and Kamo has emigrated to Paris in search of a better life and promise of economic salvation for his family back home. Dilovan (Ivan Franek), the eldest son, is a good-for-nothing with a violent streak.

Dilovan has a daughter called Avin (Astrik Avaguian) who reluctantly falls in love with and marries a relatively well-off local businessman.

With very sparse dialogues, the film hooked me with beautiful cinematography and with moments that are at different times, laced with poignancy, joy, sadness and dark humour.

The other pivotal character in the film is that of the widow of a slain soldier. Nina, played by Lala Sarkissian, has 2 daughters. One of them is married, the other girl named Zine (Rouzanna-Vite Mesropian) lives with Nina. She loves to play the piano, which is the only prized possession in their sparsely furnished home. Unknown to her mother, she is forced to take up prostitution in order to make ends meet. While her mother is simply led to believe that she plays the piano at a hotel and gets to take home tips from art-loving patrons, in lieu of a salary.

Nina works at a liquor shop named "Vodka Lemon", from which the film derives it's title. But there is one more thing, a small piece of conversation, that brings the meaning of the title into sharper focus. It occurs when Dilovan is buying some vodka from Nina's shop and he asks her "Why is it called Vodka Lemon when it tastes like almonds?", and Nina responds with "Well, that's Armenia!". It is as if she's trying to say that in this desolate place, nothing is what it seems or that's how life actually is, you don't always get what you desire.

Both Hamo and Nina regularly visit the graves of their respective departed spouses at the local cemetery. They travel together on the same public bus and that is how they get to meet and know each other. It is sweetly ironic to watch love blossoming amidst remembrance of the dear departed.

While travelling together in the bus, they try to steal glances at each other hesitatingly trying to initiate a conversation. Both the characters are shy, scared and are portrayed with such innocence that it's a delight to watch. From the corner of their eyes, they cast glances trying to reach out to the other. And one day, they finally come together.

Some of the visuals really lend a surreal touch to the film. I particularly loved the scene where the bus driver (Armen Sarkissian)throws away a cassette that refuses to play while Hamo and Nina are seated together in the back of the bus. Who needs music on a tape recorder, when their hearts are singing an ode to love! Awesome!

The cinematography by Miguel Mata-Langlois is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking as he tries to capture Armenian rural life in all its splendour, despair, folklore and desolation.

But amidst all the cold and bleak surroundings, the luminous Nina always radiates beauty and warmth .

The film tries, among other things, tries to depict the fallout of the crumbling of Soviet empire by the way of Hamo's poor economic condition, as he is forced to sell his belongings one by one. Hamo's naivete and his lack of business acumen shows through, when he sells off his uniform to a young man for a pittance. The hand-to-mouth existence starts to take toll of the old veteran who had seen better days in times of the Soviet empire.

The film is also filled with brilliant moments of black comedy like when Hamo gleefully runs away on striking a deal for his wardrobe, finally relieved of his burden not stopping to witness the predicament of the new owner or even trying to lend a helping hand. Or when his wife's picture on the tombstone changes expression from a peaceful one to an agitated face, when Nina thanks Hamo for placing a rose by her husband's grave!

The script by Beatric Pollet is beautifully brought to life on screen by the director Hiner Saleem. I liked the way it ends on a positive note when Hamo refuses to sell the beloved piano. This is a beautifully crafted film which appealed to me immensely.

Installing Wordpress locally on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) in 10 easy steps

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We will be installing Wordpress to run locally on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) in 10 simple, easy-to-follow steps.

Before we start, we need to have LAMP server stack installed. Detailed information for installing LAMP server under Ubuntu is available at this location - ApacheMySQLPHP. The easiest way is through Synaptic Package Manager by going to Edit > Mark Packages by Task > Select LAMP Server.

Alternatively, it can be installed from the command line by issuing the following command:

sudo tasksel install lamp-server

There is another method for installing the LAMP server stack which is a bit long-winded and involves installation of individual components separately. During the installation process, mysql asks for the root password to be assigned to the root user in mysql. Once we have our LAMP stack up & running, it's time to configure the various bits & pieces required to get wordpress up & running. Here we go then.

1. Logging into mysql as root

Our first step would be to set up a database and user under mysql with requisite permissions enabling wordpress to make use of the database capabilities. For this, we will need to login into mysql and root user with the following command

mysql -u root -p

After giving this command, you will be logged into mysql and the mysql prompt will appear as seen in the below screenshot:

2. Creating database for use with wordpress

The next step is to create a database that will be used by wordpress by giving the following command at the mysql prompt

CREATE DATABASE wordpress;

We can give whatever name we like for the database. Here, we will be assigning he name name “wordpress”. The following screenshot shows the output of the CREATE DATABASE command

3. Creating user for the wordpress database

After creating the database, we have create a user that can access and operate on the created database. For this the following mysql is used:

CREATE USER wordpressuser;

where wordpressuser is the user name that we have selected. A sample output of this command is displayed in the screenshot below:

4. Setting the password

Once we have created the database and the corresponding user, we now move on to setting a password that can be used for accessing the database by the user that we have created in previous step. To do this, the command is as below:

SET PASSWORD FOR wordpressuser = PASSWORD('ilovewp');

which will give the output as displayed in the below screenshot:

5. Granting database privileges

After setting the password, we now have to grant privileges on the database to the user we have created so as to enable the user to operate on the database as & when required. For this purpose, the following command is used:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO wordpressuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'ilovewp';

which will give the below output:

6. Exiting mysql

Alright, now we are done configuring mysql as per our requirements and it is time to quit mysql which is done by issuing the command exit. This will drop you back to the shell prompt as shown in the screenshot that follows:

We are done with setting up & configuring mysql for use with wordpress. Let's move on to installing wordpress for which the tar file is available at this location.

7. Extracting the wordpress files

This is where we begin configuring wordpress so that it would run on our system. For this we will first have to extract the tar that we have downloaded, to the directory called /var/www. The following two commands will accomplish this task:

cd /var/www
sudo tar -zxvf /home/sarfaraz/downloads/wordpress-2.8.4.tar.gz

8. Configuring the wordpress settings file

Wordpress comes with a sample configuration which we can modify as per our requirements and system setup. It is through this configuration file that we will provide wordpress information about our mysql setup and the details that we have configured in earlier steps.

For this, firstly, open the “wp-config.sample.php” in gedit by giving the following command:

sudo gedit /var/www/wordpress/wp-config.sample.php

You will get a display similar to the one shown in this screenshot below:

Inside this file, we will have to change 3 things – DB_NAME, DB_USER & DB_PASSWORD. These values should correspond with the ones that you have provided while configuring mysql. So, replace 'putyourdbnamehere' with the database name, 'usernamehere' with the username & 'yourpasswordhere' with the database password. After this save the file as “wp-config.php”

That's it! We have done all the configuration required to get wordpress up & running.

9. Starting wordpress

Alright, let's check it out if it really works! To start wordpress, open up your web browser and enter this address in the address bar - http://127.0.0.1/wordpress

You will be greeted with the Wordpress welcome screen as shown in the following screenshot:

This means that everything has went well and wordpress is up & running! Congratulations!

At this point, the Wordpress welcome screen asks you for a Blog Title & email address. Enter these and click on “Install Wordpress”.

10. Logging into wordpress

Now will see a page that looks similar to the one shown in this screenshot:

This page displays the username (of the blog administrator) which is “admin” by default, and a system-generated password for the admin. The password can be changed later on. For now, note down the system-generated password which you will have to provide at the very first login.

Once you click on “Log In”, you will get a login page requesting for the username (which is “admin”) and the password (the system-generated one, which you hopefully noted down earlier!). Enter these and click on “Log In”

Voila! Welcome to the Wordpress control deck, the Dashboard!

From here, you can change the system-generated password and create, tweak, customise and enrich your blog to your heart's content! Enjoy!


References:

• http://acassis.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/installing-wordpress-on-ubuntu/
• http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed/?p=115

EPL Fixtures 09/10 season

The English Premier League 2009/10 season is off to a rousing start with some fantastic matches played on the opening day. It promises to be an exciting, roller-coaster ride all season long.

I'm supporting Tottenham Hotspur and will also be following three other teams, namely, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic & Sunderland. To make it easier for me to follow the games, I have compiled a season-wide fixtures list (in ods format & pdf format) from various sources.

Alright then, go Spurs!

The King of Clay bites the Parisian dust, finally!

Robin Soderling played the match of his life to defeat Rafael Nadal in the 4th round of the French Open in 4 sets scoring a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 victory in just over 3 gruelling hours of some of the most scintillating tennis. This is Nadal's first ever loss at the French Open and ends his 31 match winning streak at the Roland Garros, a record accumulated over a period of 5 glorious years.

I missed the first set of the match due to an extended afternoon siesta! And was surprised to see the score when I joined the action in the second set. Soderling had taken the first easily at 6 games to 2 and was simply refusing to go away in the 2nd set as well. He kept whaling away at his explosive forehand, smoking winners from the back of the court. Soderling's net play was equally impressive as he capitalised on every opportunity to come to the net and finish points off. Added to this, Soderling's huge serve meant that there was constant pressure on Nadal to hold his own and not allow Soderling dictate play. Both of them traded 1 break each as the 2nd set headed for the tie-breaker. Nadal forged ahead in the breaker with his typical aggressive play and ran away with it allowing Soderling a lone point. Now the match was at one set apiece and I was already expecting it to go the full distance.

However, Soderling had other ideas! He came back strongly in the third set not giving Nadal many cheap points and kept serving like a dream. He kept cranking winners from his forehand side and murdered anything short. Nadal tried to apply pressure hoping that Soderling will not be able to keep his level of play and break down. But it just wasn't Nadal's day today. At several points in the match, he looked a bit flat and jaded as he took a stumble on more than one occasion whereas Soderling never looked like running out of gas. Soderling went on to take the third sit 6-4 to go 2 sets to 1 up in the match. Nadal's first serve percentage for the 3rd set was 92% and still, he ended up losing the set! Now was the time for Nadal to show his fabled grit, determination and never-say-die approach. I was anticipating an epic in the making!

As expected, Nadal came out strongly at the beginning of the 4th set and jumped to a 2-0 lead. However, Soderling clawed his way back with a break of serve to level the set at 2-2. Meanwhile, I headed over to TennisWorld to check out the reactions and as expected, Rafa fans were crying "Nooooo!!", "Rafa's injured!", "It's the f***ing PINK!!" and "Soderling, of all people?!!". Apparently, Nadal and Soderling had an infamous tiff during Wimbledon 2007 where Soderling made fun of Nadal's delaying tactics by imitating him! Soderling is not really liked by many because of his foul attitude off the court and Rafa fans, in particular, absolutely detest the guy nicknamed "Sod"!

Coming back to the match, both the players held serve to push the 4th set into tiebreak. Uncle Toni was shouting "Vamos" as Soderling's coach, Magnus Norman, looked on calmly in typical icy Swede fashion! Nadal was looking to turn the match around and was first to serve. But it was Soderling who grabbed the initiative and went on to do the unthinkable! He won the tiebreak 7-2 and thus ended one of the greatest winning streak in the history of tennis. To sum it up, Soderling played a gutsy match and executed to near perfection. It just was not to be Nadal's day!

At the end of the match, Nadal was visibly pissed off as the television crew tried to get an on-court interview. Personally, I really dislike the idea of on-court interviews after the completion of a match. I mean, what are post-match press conferences for then?!

With the exit of Nadal and Novak Djokovic already out of the tournament, the draw now looks wide open. Soderling next plays Nikolay Davidenko who was a surprise winner against Fernando Verdasco. Roger Federer will be facing Tommy Haas in the next round, so not much trouble for him. This certainly looks like Federer's best chance ever to grab the French Open trophy and complete the coveted career grand slam. Possibility is, he might most likely face Andy Murray in the final, if he goes all the way. However, this being a grand slam event, anything can happen! Just ask Nadal! Fingers crossed for now!

The "pre-rains" rain!

The very first rain of the season is always special.

After living in Dubai for 3 years, I had completely forgotten about this pleasant experience.

Having burned the midnight (cyber!) oil the previous night in pursuit of optimal utilisation of my broadband connection's crazily scheduled happy hours, I had to give in to my body's complaints and get some rest in the afternoon. As usual, the electricity went off at 4 pm (damn load shedding) and it was hot as hell! I was half awake laying in bed when the faint rumbling sounds first started coming in. I thought it must be just the wind. And then a few minutes after that, the kids below my window started squealing in delight at the prospect of an early shower.

Mumbaikars had received their pre-season showers just a few days back. Today was the turn of Ratnagirikars to experience the delights of the very first rains of the season! The rumbling in the skies above grew louder as the wind started to swirl and pick up pace. The tall magnificent palm fronds started swaying like Rastafarians grooving to reggae! The noise of the kids below started growing. It made me jump out my bed. And just as I peered my head out of the bedroom window, the raindrops started to fall on the parched surface below. The cool wind also started working its magic.

Just then the scent hit me! The scent of the earth rejoicing the change in weather. Little droplets were followed by bigger ones and soon the drizzle turned into a shower. And just like that, in a span of few minutes, it was all over. Leaving everyone thirsting for more!

Without a doubt, the rains will now become the talk of the town relegating all other topics of discussion into the background, making a weather forecast expert out of everybody!

Blunders

I would love to get hold of this book and this one as well.