Sony Ericsson are on the move recently and the Aino is very much part of the agenda. But living in the shadow of the Satio and X10 is not much fun we guess. So, the Sony Ericsson Aino is keen to live a double life. At first glance, it's a touchscreen PMP, but on a second look it's a regular slider phone with an extra big screen. It's not the ultimate PlayStation phone but it does have Remote Play, to wirelessly pair with Sony's PlayStation 3.
Sony Ericsson Aino official photos
As far as feature phones go, the Aino has pretty much everything - excellent connectivity, full-featured navigation, a great camera, plenty of internal storage and a simple-but-snappy touch media menu.
By the way, don't let anyone tell you touchscreen functionality is limited to the proprietary Sony Ericsson multimedia menu. We were pleasantly surprised with Opera Mini, which seemed to quite agree with the Aino touch system. Touchscreen navigation is all there and it performed very smoothly. This means touch controlled Java games might work as well.
All right, this was just a single little secret revealed. Let's take a closer look at what else the Aino may be hiding there.
The box contents are a sweat deal too - the matching desk stand and wireless headset would fetch a pretty high price as a separate purchase, but with Aino they are part of the experience. And the 8GB microSD card in the box should be enough for most people.
Uncomfortable questions start to emerge though - the Remote Play feature doesn't really do much more than DLNA and is useless with anything but PlayStation3. The touch functionality sounds great but not having it in the built-in browser sucks.
But asking these questions is missing the point. If you owned the original PlayStation, then upgraded to PlayStation 2 and have the 3rd version sitting next to your BRAVIA set, well this love letter in the shape of Sony Ericsson Aino is addressed to you.
It Is Just Perfect
The Princess and the Frog marks Disney's less-than-triumphant return to the realm of 2-D animation with a film that's certain to entertain the children and simultaneously tax the patience of those parents who've become spoiled on the more accessible, multi-layered films of studios like Pixar.
The story of Tiana, a low-class worker in old timey N'Oleans, the film centers around the arrival of Prince Naveen to the city from a far-off fictional country. Tiana, whose dream of one day opening her own restaurant is more an homage to her late father's love of cooking, is closing in on the money she needs for the down payment. But just as her finances are looking up, Prince Naveen's are on the wane. Cut off by his parents and forced to search for a rich princess to marry, he sets his sights on Tiana's friend-slash-employer, the spoiled debutant, Charlotte.
Before he can seal the deal, the local voodoo "shadowman," Dr. Facilier, seduces Naveen and his manservant into a ritual that finds Naveen transformed into a frog and his servant transformed into Naveen. Thinking that a kiss from a princess will bring him back into his real form, he convinces a costumed Tiana to help him, but once the kiss is complete, Tiana herself is transformed into a frog simply because she's not a true princess.
This particular performance also bears the distinction of being perhaps the only truly entertaining number in the whole film – catchy, well-written, brilliantly performed and highlighted by the first-rate animation. The other musical numbers, however, prove less than stellar, offering a tour of Louisiana's rich musical tradition from jazz, zydeco, blues, gospel, etc. It's a noble effort, and most of the songs produced for the film entertain on at least a basic level, but aside from "Almost There," which provides a through-line for the film, the music just feels secondary. Most of the tracks aren't catchy enough, or emotional enough, to inspire a second viewing or a purchase of the soundtrack, and one wonders if the choice of setting didn't limit the filmmakers to a style of music that simply doesn't work for kids these days.
Described by novelist Edmund White as “one of the first and best novels of the modern gay liberation movement,” Isherwood’s “A Single Man” presents a stream-of-consciousness portrait of a middle-aged gay man, known only as George, going about his daily routine in early ‘60s LA. On-screen, virtually the entire film, often alone with only the bottomless grief on his face driving the scene, Firth is riveting, the vibrant charm of his work in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and other frothy romances easily co-existing with his character’s melancholy.
It’s a tragic but simple story, Firth’s George Falconer, a British professor of English at a Los Angeles campus, going about what he intends to be the last day of his life, with the peril of the Cuban missile crisis playing out in the background. Through flashbacks, we relive tender moments of his home life with Jim (Matthew Goode) and the awful day when George got word that his companion had died in a car wreck. As George passionately lectures students, has a close encounter of potential romance with a stranger and shares witty phone chatter over preparations for an evening with dear friend Charley (Moore), it becomes clear that he plans to kill himself at day’s end, no longer able to go on without Jim.
Firth and Moore capture a great sense of familiarity and fraternity in George and Charley’s friendship - the sort of relationship that can erupt from boozy good humor to fierce reproach and back again without any permanent damage. The detail Ford applies to the production design is a marvel. Big-finned cars, narrow ties, thick eyeglass rims, stiffly sculpted hair, exquisite dresses for a casual evening at home, it all evokes a beauteous world that’s maybe too idealized to have ever really existed but is just a treat to look at. The house of glass walls that George shared with Jim provides a grand window into a grieving man’s soul. What once was a haven for George now is a wound torn open for anyone who wants to peer inside.
George’s meticulous arrangements for his suicide and its aftermath - the plans ranging right down to laying out his burial suit - were not part of Isherwood’s novel. Ford added the suicide element, which strengthens the cinematic tension and even adds a dash of macabre humor asGeorge experiments with the best angles at which to hold the gun that will blow his head off. But George’s intent to end his own life winds up undermining the film’s finale, bringing rather coarse, even bludgeoning irony to the man’s fate. It’s a dissatisfying conclusion to an otherwise involving day in the life played to perfection by Firth.
Firth's measured performance, delivered in a clipped British accent, has just the right restraint, and the intelligent dialogue is a pleasure. Moore is glamorous and likable as the alcoholic divorcee Charley, adrift without a husband. Goode and especially Hoult are just too perfect to be true, but they serve the purpose of offering George good reasons to stay alive. In contrast to Firth's underplaying, the directing has its overblown, operatic soul. Ford is unafraid of such cringeworthy moments as playing an opera solo over a suicide attempt or having a nattily dressed symbolic figure in Tom Ford Menswear give the kiss of death to the recently departed. In the same spirit, tech work is satisfyingly bold. Dan Bishop's stylish production design and Eduard Grau's cinematography set the film in a romantically idealized '60s world. The film score written by Abel Korzeniowski and Shigeru Umebayashi is variegated and full of lush orchestral themes that salute Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann, among others.
Described by novelist Edmund White as “one of the first and best novels of the modern gay liberation movement,” Isherwood’s “A Single Man” presents a stream-of-consciousness portrait of a middle-aged gay man, known only as George, going about his daily routine in early ‘60s LA. On-screen, virtually the entire film, often alone with only the bottomless grief on his face driving the scene, Firth is riveting, the vibrant charm of his work in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and other frothy romances easily co-existing with his character’s melancholy.
It’s a tragic but simple story, Firth’s George Falconer, a British professor of English at a Los Angeles campus, going about what he intends to be the last day of his life, with the peril of the Cuban missile crisis playing out in the background. Through flashbacks, we relive tender moments of his home life with Jim (Matthew Goode) and the awful day when George got word that his companion had died in a car wreck. As George passionately lectures students, has a close encounter of potential romance with a stranger and shares witty phone chatter over preparations for an evening with dear friend Charley (Moore), it becomes clear that he plans to kill himself at day’s end, no longer able to go on without Jim.
Firth and Moore capture a great sense of familiarity and fraternity in George and Charley’s friendship - the sort of relationship that can erupt from boozy good humor to fierce reproach and back again without any permanent damage. The detail Ford applies to the production design is a marvel. Big-finned cars, narrow ties, thick eyeglass rims, stiffly sculpted hair, exquisite dresses for a casual evening at home, it all evokes a beauteous world that’s maybe too idealized to have ever really existed but is just a treat to look at. The house of glass walls that George shared with Jim provides a grand window into a grieving man’s soul. What once was a haven for George now is a wound torn open for anyone who wants to peer inside.
George’s meticulous arrangements for his suicide and its aftermath - the plans ranging right down to laying out his burial suit - were not part of Isherwood’s novel. Ford added the suicide element, which strengthens the cinematic tension and even adds a dash of macabre humor asGeorge experiments with the best angles at which to hold the gun that will blow his head off. But George’s intent to end his own life winds up undermining the film’s finale, bringing rather coarse, even bludgeoning irony to the man’s fate. It’s a dissatisfying conclusion to an otherwise involving day in the life played to perfection by Firth.
Firth's measured performance, delivered in a clipped British accent, has just the right restraint, and the intelligent dialogue is a pleasure. Moore is glamorous and likable as the alcoholic divorcee Charley, adrift without a husband. Goode and especially Hoult are just too perfect to be true, but they serve the purpose of offering George good reasons to stay alive. In contrast to Firth's underplaying, the directing has its overblown, operatic soul. Ford is unafraid of such cringeworthy moments as playing an opera solo over a suicide attempt or having a nattily dressed symbolic figure in Tom Ford Menswear give the kiss of death to the recently departed. In the same spirit, tech work is satisfyingly bold. Dan Bishop's stylish production design and Eduard Grau's cinematography set the film in a romantically idealized '60s world. The film score written by Abel Korzeniowski and Shigeru Umebayashi is variegated and full of lush orchestral themes that salute Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann, among others.
All Bones No Meat
Odd as it sounds, Peter Jackson needed to come down to Earth a bit more in “The Lovely Bones,” his adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her life from beyond. The visionary filmmaker behind “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy still is in fantasyland, still in the grip of Middle-earth and the film suffers for it as Jackson crafts lovely but ineffectual dreamscapes of the afterlife that eviscerate much of the human side of the story. It’s certainly a smaller, more intimate tale than his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and his “King Kong” remake. Yet the hope among fans of Jackson’s early work was that “The LovelyBones” would hark back to his 1994 drama “Heavenly Creatures,” which put Kate Winslet on the road to stardom.
With modest production, “Heavenly Creatures” presented striking fantasy visuals that complemented Jackson’s dark story of two teenage women whose compulsive relationship results in murder. Now working on a grander Hollywood scale, Jackson loses the spark of Sebold’s story - a young girl’s lament over a life never lived, a family’s bottomless grief over a child and sister lost - amid his expensive pretty pictures. Like the book, the film merges first-person and omniscient narration as Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) chronicles her journey from sensitive 14-year-old schoolgirl to shattered soul stuck in a nether zone between earth and heaven.
Sweet and somewhat shy, Susie is just developing a passion for photography and on the verge of her first kiss when a creepy neighbor (Stanley Tucci) with a serial-killer past lures her into his secret lair and murders her. For her family - including parents (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz), grandmother (Susan Sarandon) and younger sister (Rose McIver) - Susie has simply vanished, her body hidden away by her killer. Years pass, and Susie watches the family crumble, her mom running off to work on a farm, her dad obsessed with finding his daughter's murderer, to the exasperation of the cop (Michael Imperioli) handling the case.
Through death, Susie gains a razor-sharp focus on what’s truly important, all those glorious little snapshot moments that, for the living, can become lost and forgotten in the cacophony of everyday life. Jackson’s focus is fuzzier, the film flitting disjointedly from the Salmons’ lingering sorrow to Susie’s limbo, a realm that alternates between her anger and melancholy over what she’s left behind and her wonder over what’s yet to come in her larger existence. Earth and limbo don’t really seem as though they’re part of the same movie. The vibrant, sometimes ominous fantasyland where Susie dwells disconnects her from the life on which she reflects, puts her at a distance from the people she loves and misses.
We’re supposed to think she can’t let go, when much of the time, it feels as though she’s already gone. The images often are striking - ships inside giant bottles shattering on the rocks of a forlorn shore, candy-colored landscapes where Susie romps as she begins to sense the freedom of passing into the cosmos. But the spectacle Jackson creates is showmanship, not storytelling, distracting from the mortal drama of regret and heartache he’s trying to tell. The actors all are earnest and engaging. As Ronan did with her breakout role in “Atonement,” though, McIver kind of steals the show here, playing Susie’s sister from age 11 to her late teens with a spirit and energy that outclasses Ronan’s sometimes subdued performance. It’s nice to see Imperioli play sympathetic rather than savage as the devoted detective. You do have to ask how good a cop his character is when a weirdo neighbor who lives alone, has no kids yet makes intricate dollhouses as a hobby doesn’t jump right to the top of the suspects lists.
The New Sumo Grande MK II combines the looks of an SUV with the comforts of a family car. It has been specifically designed to satisfy the needs of city customers in the areas of driveability, manoeuvrability and fuel efficiency. In its 13 year long journey Sumo faced many rivals but Tata has kept the vehicle alive with constant upgradation. But in recent years, image of the brand changed a lot. The Sumo Grande MK II sports an all new styling with clean chiselled looks mating with flowing contours.
The tall aggressive stance of the Sumo Grande MK II is complimented by large clear headlamps, and a cutaway air dam in the front. The clean rear look, with the spare wheel tucked under the body, is accentuated by attractive tail lights and a chrome overlay. Tata has borrowed few design cues from the new Xenon for the Sumo Grande MK II. The high bonnet, strong crease and grille gives a V shaped front. The V theme is carried on to the lower part of the bumper. The end result is the sumo grande retains the same masculine feel though in a different form. The real attraction is the side profile of Sumo Grande MK II.
The tapered roofline, dynamic fenders and glass windows are sure attract every by passers. The waterfall fenders merges with the bumpers smoothly. Rear gets a new trendy tail lamp cluster but it looks bland without any distinct bumper. Sumo Grande MK II is built with a longer wheelbase than is usual for Tata, namely 2550 mm in comparison to the current 2400mm. The SUV features three rows of seats and is powered by the new generation 2.2 liter direct injection common rail (DICOR) engine, fitted with a variable geometry turbocharger. The Sumo Grande MK II combines the looks of an SUV with the comforts of a family car. Chassis and suspenison system are carried over from sumo victa.
But this time it has to do more work due to the increased wheelbase and weight. Tata has worked on with the steering to make maneuvering easy in the city. Ride quality is good at lower speeds. Beige interiors are complimented by fire and stain resistant fabric upholstery. Dual HVAC with roof integrated louvers ensures personalised climate adjustment for the occupants in each row. Power steering, power windows, motorised ORVMs, height adjustable driver's seat and a state of the art CD/MP3 music system further add to the comforts and convenience of a family traveling in the Sumo Grande MK II.
The aptly titled "Serious Moonlight" walks a dangerous line between dark comedy and psycho-drama, but it's a tribute to writer Adrienne Shelley and first-time director Cheryl Hines that, despite the film's flaws, it ultimately pulls off its unlikely tone. It's difficult to say whether the script itself is a serious misfire or if the problem is Cheryl Hines, an actress making her directorial debut. As a director, Shelly had a particular gift for finding precisely the right tone, for floating between the real and the fantastic, the sober and the comedic, but "Serious Moonlight" is a tonal disaster, distasteful and sentimental by turns. It was probably a mistake to have Hines try to walk that same delicate line that took Shelly her entire career to master.
The film is pretty much a chamber piece in which a wife (Meg Ryan) - a hard-charging professional - finds out that her seemingly passive husband (Timothy Hutton) is about to leave her for another woman. The initial mistake is that Ryan, who is normally about as likable as any actress out there, plays the wife as a repellent nut job, so that audience sympathy is entirely with the husband even before she knocks him out with a flower pot and duct-tapes him to a chair. And there we have "Serious Moonlight." A wife duct-tapes her husband to a chair and tells him that she will make him fall in love with her again. The situation is frustrating. Audiences may begin to feel as if they're duct-taped to a chair. It might take duct tape to make people sit through this thing.
"Transylmania" is a bad movie with a cast of no-names who hurl themselves at it as if it were auditions week at Juilliard. A graphic spoof of vampire thrillers and college-kids-in-Europe-in-jeopardy horror, it's unfunny and out-of-step. It feels dated, almost quaint, in the post-"Hangover" and "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" cineplex. Ten college "types" set off for a semester of study at Romania's Razvan University, which is actually a castle where coeds occasionally disappear. RU is run by a dwarf dean (David Steinberg, who pronounces castle "CAST-ull) who has a humpbacked daughter (Irena A. Hoffman). She's been sexting the virginal-but-on-the-make Rusty (Oren Skoog, apparently his real name) after meeting on the Internet.
Rusty is a dead ringer for a long-dead (supposedly) vampire, which his classmates - the brainy one, the stoners, Mr. Bad-in-Bed, the sexpot, the good sister and bad sister, the hustler and '70s hair - think is hilarious until the real vamp wakes up and confusion ensues. South African Musetta Vander ("Kicking & Screaming") rolls her Rs as the resident vampire hunter on campus. An Ava Gardner look-alike, she wields swords and wears her Spandex with verve. C-movie vet Jennifer Lyons flings herself at her character - the daffy, sometimes-possessed-by-a-vampire bombshell Lynne - with the abandon of someone with a lot of direct-to-DVD credits and one shot at showing she deserves better.
Radio has no story. It's bunch of haphazardly put together scenes involving some equally confused characters. Adding to the adversity is the director's fixation for dividing his film into non-linear chapters. The unintentionally hilarious dialogues only act as an icing on the cake. If you thought Karzzz had gems, this one is a treasure chest of corny one-liners. Unfortunately this time around Himesh's musical score also lacks punch and can't be called a saving grace. Himesh Reshammiya is an unquestionably talented musician. Once, a normal behind-the-scenes guy, Himesh today looks visibly uncomfortable in this attention-seeking, cool dude avatar.
Targetting a generation much younger, his team gets it all wrong. Team Radio adopts the premise of Dil To Pagal Hai, styles and shoots it like Wake Up Sid and narrates like Love Aaj Kal. But it’s all too fake and wannabe. For a film dealing with relationships Radio neither has the maturity of Life in a Metro nor the innocence of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Sonal Sehgal has a gorgeous face but her character spends too much time weeping. Shenaz on the other hand keeps grinning for no reason – clearly a reflection of the confused material handed out to both the beauties. After a gimmicky film with a chartbusting score and the miserably self-indulgent, overconfident second outing, Himesh keeps it normal this time. But he is quite simply out of place. The characters often scream out of frustration that they want to end it all. As a viewer the feeling is not quite different.
Though ‘Radio’ boasts of recovering its cost before release, thanks to the composer, who has scored music for 100 films, 500 songs and has been part of many shows worldwide, is happy that the music has been appreciated so much and has been rocking the music charts. But the film falls flat when it comes to storyline and direction blessed with trite dialogues. The problem with the film is that it tries too hard to be hep and cool but falters badly. Director Ishaan Trivedi attempts to take a modern-day look at relationships (ala Imtiaz Ali) to add that youthful feel to his film but fails to capture the right pulse. His screenplay pattern with the narrative opening in individual chapters appears too wannabe. Radio isn’t much different from a Himesh Reshammiya music video – it has a heart-broken protagonist, it’s gloomy and has an overdose of music. If you are amongst those audacious audiences who buy Himesh’s music video DVDs, this film is certainly for you.
The Wait is Over - Sporty 110cc Honda Bike - CB Twister Launched
A day after the launch of Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS, Honda India has launched the much talked about new 110cc bike - The "CB Twister". Previously it was expected to be launched at the Auto Expo 2010. Though unofficial pictures of CB Twister has already started floating accross the new. Thanks to Motoring Team's eagle eyed photographer, they have clicked 2-3 pictures of CB Twister which gives clear idea of what Honda is up to. The bike looks very sporty and aggressive in terms of looks and styling. It seems the designers had high end super bikes of Honda while designing the CB Twister.
The fuel tank of CB Twister looks like reworked CBF Stunner's tank and also the red shock absorbers at the rear have been carried as it is from Stunner. The headlight has been made very agressive and gels very well with the stylish air scoops. Honda has already promised it won’t compete with splendors and passions but a niche bike in the commuter segment. The CB Twister is going to boast some never seen before features in this segment bike including six spoke mag alloys, front disc brake, stylish exhaust design, split grab rails, open chain and high quality paint. CB Twister has been launched at a very competitive price which is Rs. 42000.00 (Ex-Showroom New Delhi) for the basic model which features kick start and drum brakes.
The 110cc engine of Honda CB Twister generates maximum power of 9 Bhp at 8000 rpm with maximum torque of 9 Nm @ 6000 rpm which are more or less same like we have seen in New Honda Aviator & Honda Activa. Also the instrument cluster of CB Twister is all analogue like other entry level Honda bikes on sale in India which seems to be very outdated in comparsion to other bikes in market like we have the New Pulsar 135, TVS Flame & Bajaj XCD 135 - all comes with digital cum analogue instrument cluster.
Shades Available & Variants of Honda CB Twister
Honda CB Twister is available in 5 Shades:
- Pearl Night Star Black
- Pearl Fujy Blue
- Pearl Amble Yellow
- Candy Comic Green
- Pearl Siena Red
Honda CB Twister is available in 3 variants:
- CB Twister Kick Drum which comes with drum brakes and kick startPress Release - Honda CB Twister
“We don’t expect competition with Hero Honda as a joint venture brand. I am not in a position to compete. Our position of CB Twister is to expand the market itself. I believe we can activate demand from youngsters with this 110cc motorcycle,” said Mr. Aoyama. “Along with a good mileage we will introduce the element of style which Indian people have never seen in this segment. I believe for youngsters there is a still a substantial demand that exists,” he added.
Main Features of Honda CB Twister:
Screenless Front Cowl
- Take style to the next level with a Screenless front cowl that enhances aesthetics and gives you the best performance.
Instrumental Panel
- Get the best of the both worlds with a combinatory instrument panel
Floating Side Cowl
- Pursue the law of aerodynamics with the stylish floating side cowl that gives you the ultimate adrenaline rush.
Muscular Tank
- Bring out the beast in your with curves that ooze power.
109cc Honda Engine
- Empower yourself with the cutting edge 110cc, 9 bhp engine that gives you a smooth ride with a mileage of 70kmpl*, so your joy rides never stop.
- Based on Indian mode – Internal Honda driving mode based on various simulated actual driving conditions.
Trendy Wheels
- CB Twister equipped with a 240mm Front Disc Brake for efficient control, tubeless tyres in the front and rear for better performance and cornering and V-shaped alloy wheels for enhanced aesthetics.
Viscous Air Filter
- A new technology that cuts down on maintenance and gives you a hassle free ride
Maintenance Free Battery
- With no topping up and leakages you never have to worry about it, ever again.
Short Muffler and Sharp Rear
- A trendy compact muffle and sharp rear with short tail that adds style to your ride and Honda has made sure it’s short and sweet.
Half Chain case
Flaunt your insides with a half chain case that reveals the latest trends.
Volkswagen unvieled the all new 2009 Polo at the Geneva Auto Show '09. And it is going to be launched in India at the Auto Expo 2010 in New Delhi. New Polo has some stunning design details, particularly the headlights and tail lights. The exterior surface got a lot of added attention but underneath well, quite a lot got taken away. Engineers were able to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle 7.5 percent over the previous model. The weight savings translates to a dramatic increase in fuel economy. No other car in this class has such a mature and high-end image as the new Polo. Comfort, quality and safety have all taken a considerable leap forward.
Polo was specifically designed to attain the recently established, stricter and more comprehensive, 5-star EuroNCAP rating. The higher structural rigidity of the Polo’s bodyshell contributes to these results. In the footwell area alone, intrusion - related to the car body’s deformation strength in a frontal crash – was lowered by 50 percent! In the case of a side impact, the intrusion value was reduced by 20 percent.
In addition, the European version of the Polo now being presented is equipped with following safety features:
Volkswagen Polo will be made at the chakan plant in India and it is going to be launched in India at the Auto Expo, 2010 in New Delhi in the price range of 4-6 lakhs to compete with the likes of Skoda Fabia, Hyundai i20 & Honda Jazz.