Short glass shot glass

Among the major contributions from the University of Illinois are the transistor, superconductivity, LED and the internet (ok..just mosaic...but you get the idea). Its alum have gone on to start many pathbreaking firms (playboy..Hugh hefner) and run countries (Taiwan's veep). Continuing that storied tradition of innovation, 198 students of the university were recruited to perform an extremely important study. Do short and wide glasses increase the amount of booze consumed? The answer turned out to be yes (:

Why a Cornell professor recruited U of I students, I don't know. And given the tendency here in UIUC to get plastered and get others even more drunk (esp of the opposite sex), I don't think I believe the study!!

Watched a couple of movies recently. Recommend both of them. Went retro with the first one. Blade runner.


This movie, which can walk into a bar and legally buy a drink, still manages a cult following. Despite the fact that movies like matrix are basically Blade runner on steroids (and with CG), it is still revered as one of the most technically plausible sci-fi movies (except for the stupid flying cars). So, intrigued, I watched this semi-noir, semi-punkish sc-fi movie about clones (called replicants). It tries to answer what it is to be humans, just like in the movie I, Robot (which I won't recommend). There are many different versions floating around (there is a version with voiceover..a la Sin city). So, get yourself a copy and watch it if you still haven't and like sci-fi. An interesting fact about the movie: This was made around the time when Japan was beating America black and blue in the industrial sector...so this movie set in the future has a huge Japanese influence and presence in it. Its funny that most of the companies advertised in the movie are dead!

Second movie, Goodbye Lenin.




Rammstein is one of the main reasons for my current interest in the German language. That combined with the fact that this German movie is the most rented intl. movie in my local free library made me check it out. It is a well made movie that takes a nostalgic view of East Germany through the eyes of a son trying the save his mother's life. She went into a 8 month coma around the time the wall came down. Basically the world had changed around her. Trying to prevent her from being shocked, the son recreates the east in his bedroom and with the help of a friend's video skills on his television set. Overall pretty nice. Doesn't overwhelm you with brilliance, but a nice and easy way to understand how the wall fell and who it fell on.