Roger Federer defeats Roddick. Reaches Australian Open 2009 Final!

World number two Roger Federer proved too much for seventh seed Roddick, taking just two hours 17 minutes to defeat the American 6-2 7-5 7-5 and book a place in the final against either top seed Rafael Nadal or Fernando Verdasco.

This was Roddick's 16th loss to Federer in 18 games! Chasing his 14th grand slam, Federer defeated Roddick in staright sets 6-2 7-5 7-5.

Andy Roddick, whose fastest serve of the match was a scorching 224 KMH as compare to Federer's 208 KMH, managed only 8 aces as compared to this opponent's 16.

As the official Australian Open site puts it - "When Andy Roddick saw Roger Federer make two consecutive video line-calling challenges and get them both right, he should have known he was in for a pounding. Unfortunately for the American, that moment came in only the sixth game of the first set - and by then, he was already two breaks of serve in arrears. It was not going to be a comfortable night."

Will we see another Federer-Nadal final this Sunday? Federer surely can't wait to get his hands on his record 14th Grand Slam title!

India v/s Srilanka 1st ODI : India win by 6 wickets

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led by example as India relied on a clinical all-round display to thrash Sri Lanka by six wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series in Dambulla on Wednesday.

Chasing 247, major contributions for India came from Gautam Gambhir (62) and Suresh Raina (54) and M.S. Dhoni (61 not out).

The ageing genius Sanath Jayasuriya's 28th ODI century went in vain as the Indians never allowed the islanders to break loose on a slow track. Kumar Sangakkara contributed 44 as Sri Lanka posted 246 for seven wickets in their allotted 50 overs.

With a hip injury keeping Virender Sehwag out of action and Sachin Tendulkar (5) back in the hut in the fourth over, the chase on a sluggish track was far from easy. But with Gambhir and Raina on song, India hardly had a reason to worry.

The left-handed duo went on to stitch together a 113-run stand for the second wicket which laid the perfect foundation for a successful chase, besides offsetting the setback of losing Tendulkar early in the innings.

Kumar Dharmasena made his ODI debut as umpire today. He took his time before approving the vociferous appeal against Sachin Tendulkar in the 4th over of the Indian innings.


Both the teams now move to Colombo for the second match on Saturday. This was India's sixth ODI win in a row, coming after their 5-0 whitewash of England at home.

Schools in NY closed due to storm!

ALBANY, N.Y. - Scores of schools from the Finger Lakes to Long Island are closed or delaying the start of classes because of a storm that's expected to dump up to 16 inches of snow on some upstate areas.

Only a handful of school closings are reported Wednesday morning in western New York, where up to 4 inches had fallen and up to 12 inches is expected. Most of the closings are in the eastern half of the state, where forecasts predict 8 to 16 inches of snow in the Adirondacks and up to a foot in the Albany area by Wednesday night.

Highway closures were reported in the Hudson Valley after accidents occurred during snowy conditions. The southbound Thruway lanes between exits 18 and 17 and the eastbound lanes of Interstate in Putnam County have since reopened. No details on the accidents were immediately available from state police.

SOURCE - newsday.com

Brazilian amputee model loses to infection

Health officials have confirmed the death of the Brazilian model whose feet and hands were amputated because of an infection earlier this month.

Officials said in a statement early Saturday that 20-year-old Mariana Bridi's condition deteriorated overnight and she died at 2:30am.

The 20-year-old beauty queen suffered from a generalised infection that forced the amputation of her hands and feet because the flow of oxygen to her limbs was reduced.

The Espirito Santo State Health Secretariat said she died from complications related to a generalised infection. It was caused by the life-threatening bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is known to be resistant to several kinds of antibiotics.

Her feet were amputated last week, and earlier this week doctors were forced to surgically remove her hands.

Bridi also underwent surgery to have part of her stomach removed as doctors tried to contain internal bleeding, local media said. She was not breathing on her own and underwent haemodialysis.

Bridi had been in the hospital in the city of Serra in south-eastern Brazil since January 3. She became ill in December and doctors originally diagnosed her with kidney stones. But her condition worsened and she was then diagnosed with a urinary tract infection that spread.

Bridi was twice a finalist in the Brazilian stage of the Miss World pageant.

A new video footage of the Hudson plane crash released on Reuters

Newly released video shows the dramatic water touchdown of the US Airways plane as it crashes into New York's Hudson River.

The video was taken on security cameras belonging to energy company, Consolidated Edison, and picks up the drama moments after Flight 1549 ditched into the water until the last of the 155 passengers and crew were rescued from the sinking Airbus.

Robin Uthappa and Zaheer Khan swap places for IPL 09!

Reliance Industries owned Mumbai Indians, led by Sachin Tendulkar, have swapped Karnataka Ranji Trophy captain Robin Uthappa with left-arm pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who represented Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League last year, at no cost to either franchise.

The Mumbai Indians had earlier swapped their player Ashish Nehra with Delhi Daredevils batsman Shikhar Dhawan.

The move was on the cards with the Bangalore outfit showing keen interest in taking the flamboyant Uthappa for in-form bowler Zaheer, who played a crucial role in Mumbai outclassing Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy final at Hyderabad recently. Speculations are also ripe that Utappa may captain the RC Bangalore team after their dismal performance in the last years edition in place of Rahul Dravid.

Oscar Nominations 2009 Announced! These Academy Awards are sure to be interesting.

Nominations for the 2009 Oscars were announced today. Below is the complete list of nominees:


Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR)
Frank Langella (FROST/NIXON)
Sean Penn (MILK)
Brad Pitt (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON)
Mickey Rourke (THE WRESTLER)

Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin (MILK)
Robert Downey Jr. (TROPIC THUNDER)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (DOUBT)
Heath Ledger (THE DARK KNIGHT)
Michael Shannon (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD)

Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED)
Angelina Jolie (CHANGELING)
Melissa Leo (FROZEN RIVER)
Meryl Streep (DOUBT)
Kate Winslet (THE READER)

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (DOUBT)
Penélope Cruz (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA)
Viola Davis (DOUBT)
Taraji P. Henson (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON)
Marisa Tomei (THE WRESTLER)

Animated Feature Film
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E

Art Direction
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DUCHESS
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Cinematography
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Costume Design
AUSTRALIA
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DUCHESS
MILK
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Directing
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Documentary Feature
THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
THE GARDEN
MAN ON WIRE
TROUBLE THE WATER

Documentary Short
THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN
THE FINAL INCH
SMILE PINKI
THE WITNESS - FROM THE BALCONY OF ROOM 306

Film Editing
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Foreign Language Film
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX
THE CLASS
DEPARTURES
REVANCHE
WALTZ WITH BASHIR

Makeup
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

Music (Score)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DEFIANCE
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E

Music (Song)
"Down to Earth" (WALL-E)
"Jai Ho" (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE)
"O Saya" (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE)

Best Picture
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Short Film (Animated)
LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES
LAVATORY - LOVESTORY
OKTAPODI
PRESTO
THIS WAY UP

Short Film (Live Action)
AUF DER STRECKE (ON THE LINE)
MANON ON THE ASPHALT
NEW BOY
THE PIG
SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

Sound Editing
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

Sound Mixing
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

Visual Effects
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Writing (Original Screenplay)
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK
WALL-E

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button picked up the most no of nomimations (13) including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay closely followed by Slumdog Millionaire with 10 nomis. The Oscar ceremony will be hosted by Hugh Jackman on February 22 at LA’s Kodak Theater.

Late actor Heath Ledger has been nominated for the 'Best Actor in Supporting Role' category for his famed role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. If you ask me, the 'Makeup' and 'Animated Feature Film' categories are the ones to watch out for. What say??

SOURCE: The Official OSCAR site ofcourse!

Michelle Obama's Inaugural Ball gown designed by Jason Wu taking the internet by storm

As America's first couple President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama danced to Beyonce during the Inaugural Ball, the world couldn't help but gaze at the first lady's flowing gown. She was definitely looking beautiful in it!!

Designed by 26 year old Taipei native Jason Wu, this gown has taken the internet by storm. Infact, the term 'Michelle Obama Inaugural Gown' was the most searched term on Google all day even higher than the President himself!!

Here are a few photos of the beautiful dress courtesy of the HuffingtonPost.

Sania Mirza crashes out of Australian Open 2009. Damn it!

Unseeded Indian ace Sania Mirza went down to 10th seed Russian Nadia Petrova in the second round of the Australian Open today. Petrova defeated Sania 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets to move into the third round.

Returning to competitive tennis after a four-month injury lay-off, Sania was a little rusty as she made 12 unforced errors as compared to her opponent's 10. Sania made three double faults in the opening set while Petrova had none to her name.

Earlier in the tournament, Sania Mirza had defeated world number 61 Marta Domachowhska in straight-sets to move into the second round.

Sania Mirza had famously beaten Nadia Petrova in 2005 on a hardcourt in straight-sets. This is Sania's second loss to Petrova after the grass-court defeat at Wimbledon 2007.

Karnataka Diploma 2009 result sites shimoga.net and showmyresult.com out of order!!

If you are a Karnataka state student waiting for your Diploma results, the wait has just become a bit more excruciating. It is now well passed the '20-Jan-09, 3PM Onwards' deadline that was mentioned on their official site shimoga.net But the site has been down all afternoon!!

As seen in a cached screenshot of the site on Google, results were to be declared simultaneously on shimoga.net and showmyresult.com but both sites have not been functional all afternoon! Why does this have to happen with us every single time. Even my engineering results site often crashes whenever results are out. Why can't organizations simply divide out roll numbers over the entire day so that we don't have to deal with crashed websites!!

In the mean while, if you are a K'taka student, all you can do is keep trying their sites or put somebody to the task for you:

PowerPuff girls could as well have been The Whoopass Girls!!

Today is the 10th Anniversary of 'The Powerpuff Girls'! In an interview with ColdHardFlash.com, PPG creator Craig McCracken revealed that it was 1992 when he first brought Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup to life in a student short titled Whoopass Stew! A Sticky Situation, initially introducing the threesome as The Whoopass Girls.

The Powerpuff Girls went on to win several Emmy awards, an Annie award and in 2002, TV Guide listed their 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time, placing The Powerpuff Girls (collectively) in the 13th spot - ahead of animation legends like Popeye and even Mickey Mouse!

Here are a few scenes of what was originally made by Craig. Check it out..



Also check out these links:

• The complete interview on ColdHardFlash.com
• Craig McCracken's official DeviantART page

Bharti Airtel launches IPTV services in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida

India's largest private telecom giants Bharati Airtel have announced their entry into IPTV services today. According to Wikipedia, IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a system where a digital television service is delivered using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. A general definition of IPTV is television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks.

With download speeds of over 8 mbps, Airtel had earlier mentioned that they could cater to IPTV services in India. Airtel is said to have already tested IPTV services through its soft launch in some of the cities in India.

Airtel’s service called 'Triple Play', which offers landline telephone connection, broadband Internet and television with video-on-demand, became available TODAY.

“With the launch of Airtel digital TV interactive, we offer a single unified bill for voice, broadband and TV,” Bharti Airtel’s telemedia services president Atul Bindal said.

In its first phase of roll-out, Bharti's IPTV services will be made available in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida. The service will offer subscribers 3 key facilities:

• Interactive 2.0: This makes complete online transactions on TV possible, for example, users can purchase food and even movie tickets through IPTV.

• Time Shift TV: This transforms TV viewing into a two-way experience, allowing the viewer to pause and rewind live TV as well as auto-record and store favorite programmes for 7 days.

•  Movies on Demand: 100 blockbuster titles that can be accessed on demand by subscribers at any time.

Airtel digital TV interactive services are available in 2 entry packs:

• A. Magic@ Home Pack (Triple Play Plan) at Rs. 999 per month, which gives access to 135 channels, 256 kbps broadband speed with unlimited download, and a landline connection.

• B. Combo Pack (IPTV and Broadband Plan) at Rs. 599 per month, which gives access to 117 channels and 256 kbps broadband speed with a download limit of 2.5 GB.

 The service will be backed by 24x7 customer care, says the company.

Hope they make it available to the entire country very soon.

Jonas Brothers announce Fan Family Experience 2009

American boy band Jonas Brothers (of Disney Channel fame) made a huge announcement through their official MySpace page this week much to the excitement of their fans.

Here is what they put up on their page:

Hey everyone!

2008 was an amazing year, and we owe it all TO YOU!

In 2009, we want to work WITH YOU to make this year even better!

As you know, the Jonas family does everything together, and we know you and your friends, the FANFAMILY, do everything together.

You may have heard that our 3D movie is coming out and in the movie, we invite you behind the scenes for the ultimate Jonas experience.

But over the next seven weeks - which will be the busiest seven weeks ever - we’re going to work together to create the “FanFamily” Experience!

What is the FanFamily Experience?

There will be a variety of activities and events that allow us to join forces on everything we do this year – from the 3D movie to the World Tour to the release of our new CD. But our first FanFamily project is to make the OPENING WEEKEND OF THE 3D MOVIE the BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND EVER for a 3D movie.

Besides reading letters and watching some of your videos, we want to GET TO KNOW YOU – the FanFamily - better by working together in some new and exciting ways!

Over the coming weeks, make sure you are checking MySpace, watching YouTube, and listening to SayNow for more details on how to participate in the FanFamily Experience.

We are REALLY excited about working with you, the FanFamily, to make this the best year ever!

Thanks,

JB
Kevin, Joe and Nick

PS: We’re really close to finalizing our list of nations and cities for the WORLD TOUR, so hopefully we will be seeing you really soon!

Sweet eh??

Kenya's Kenneth Mugara wins Mumbai Marathon 2009

Kenya's Kenneth Mugara won the January 2009 Mumbai Marathon in record time today. He finished the race in 2 hrs and 11 minutes 51 seconds, 12 seconds clean of the previous course record.

Some of the celebs seen in the 42km marathon were Anil Ambani, Milind Soman, Arjun Rampal, Vinay Pathak, Shreyas Talpade, Rahul Bose, Om Puri, Tara Sharma, Lillete Dubey, Dolly Thakore, Anand Mahindra, Amit Chandra, Archana Chandra, Sanjeev Kapoor and Annabelle Mehta.

The event's brand ambassadors were John Abraham, three-time Olympic champions Gabriela Szabo and Gail Devers, and famous Moroccan long distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj!

Thousands of people enthusiastically turned up for the marathon each running for a special cause. Every year, the marathon provides the city with a platform to come together in a celebration that cuts across social and economic barriers. It brings together the common man, the corporate czar, the politician, the socialite and the physically challenged onto one platform. Hats off to Mumbai!!