Here comes the new COD (Modern Warfare 3)

Remember the time when Call of Duty came out back in 2003 with sizzling graphics and a compelling storyline, forcing us to forget Medal of Honor and Counter Strike. So many years have passed since then and have had the privilege of playing the back to back award winning games under this franchise.  

MW3 will be 8th installment of COD and 3rd of the Modern Warfare series releasing in last quarter of 2011. It is important to note here that the first Modern Warfare game in 2004 won Game of the year awards from Academy, Bafta, Spike and Sattelite and tonz of awards from gaming magazines and websites like GameSpot, IGN, GameCritics etc. Having watched the teaser, I am pretty sure MW3 will also rock the award parties.

Also, do watch this reveal live action trailer

Pixar's Movies

In 2011, Pixar Animation Studios is celebrating 25years of animation.

The Infamous lamp (Pixar's studio lot in Emeryville, California)

If you are one of the very few unaware people, its the company behind (almost) every block buster animated movie. In fact, every single one of their animated feature is a masterpiece and thats why they have won a plethora of awards, including 26 Oscars and 7 Golden Globes. Noted here are all of Pixar's animated feature films with some level of detail.

Toy Story (1995)
Academy Award for Special Achievement
Grossed 362m against 30m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,  IMDB: 8.2,  Meta Critics: 92

A Bug's Life (1998)
Grossed 363m against 60m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%,  IMDB: 7.3,  Meta Critics: 77

Toy Story 2 (1999)
Grossed 485m against 90m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,  IMDB: 8,  Meta Critics: 88

Monsters Inc. (2001)
Academy Award for Best Original Song
Grossed 525m against 115m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%,  IMDB: 8,  Meta Critics: 78

Finding Nemo (2003)
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Grossed 868m against 94m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%,  IMDB: 8.2,  Meta Critics: 89

The Incredibles (2004)
Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature
& Best Sound Editting
Grossed 631m against 92m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%,  IMDB: 8.1,  Meta Critics: 90

Cars (2006)
Grossed 462m against 120m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%,  IMDB: 7.5,  Meta Critics: 73

Ratatouille (2007)
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Grossed 621m against 150m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%,  IMDB: 8.1,  Meta Critics: 96

WALL-E (2008)
Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature
Grossed 521m against 180m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%,  IMDB: 8.5,  Meta Critics: 94

Up (2009)
Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature
& Best Original Score
Grossed 731b against 175m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%,  IMDB: 8.4,  Meta Critics: 88

Toy Story 3 (2010)
Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature
& Best Original Song
Grossed 1b against 200m Budget
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%,  IMDB: 8.8,  Meta Critics: 92

 Pixar has following 3 upcoming releases announced:

• Cars 2 in 2011 June
• Brave in 2012 release, featuring a female lead character (first time by Pixar) 
• Monsters University in 2013

Cars 2 (2011)

Obama's limo is not invincible after all

This happened during Obama's visit to Dublin on 23rd May 2011. 

I am pretty sure the metal-hit-metal bam scared the heck out of not just the people inside the vehicle but crowd present in the vicinity too. Bytheway, this vehicle is referred to as THE BEAST (find its details here). Below is the picture of a secret service personal CLEANING the vehicle just before the incident. I never knew this is part of their Job Description.

Mercedes Concept A Class

I was rather thrilled to see this Concept model on Merc's website today and felt like sharing it here. Get the taste of its teaser introductory video before having a look at the pictures below.

Check out more details on its very own website and on TopGear.com.

Mercedes SLK 2011 - The New Roadster

I was too anxious to see how it looked like because I've been looking at how their design has changed over the years. My interest in SLK formed when I coincidently won a huge poster of the 2000 SLK model in my college days. Lets take a look at 2000 model first:

Merc Benz SLK 2000

Merc Benz SLK 2000

Every year, they try their best to evolve the new model to look even better than previous one while preserving the persona of original series. Take a look at 2011 model to see for your self:

Merc Benz SLK 2011

Merc Benz SLK 2011

Merc Benz SLK 2011

The 2011 model will be available in UK from June 2011 for just around 30K pounds. Out of the three SLK series lines, the fastest is SLK-350 with 3.5Liter v6 engine thrusting up to 306bhp. It accelerates from zero to 62 in about 5.6seconds with a top speed of 155mph. More info can be found on TopGear.com and Merc's very own SLK site.

HTC Sensation vs. Xperia Arc (Charming vs. Sleek)

I should have included HTC Sensation when I recently compared LG Optimus 2X and Samsung Galaxy SII because like these two, Sensation packs a dual core CPU, and that too with a hefty clock speed of 1.2GHz (tops in the market). But when talking about looks, LG Optimus X2 and Samsung Galaxy SII are no match against these most attractive phones we are about to compare. (videos at the bottom)

HTC Sensation

I personally prefer Arc for its sleek futuristic design, the same thing that captures your heart in concept cars.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

Lets compare their features now

	HTC Sensation	Sony Ericson Xperia Arc
Display	S-LCD Capacitative Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor Multi-touch Input	Sony Mobile Bravia Engine Scratch Resistant Multi-touch Input
Size & Weight	126x65x11mm 148g	125x63x9mm 117g
CPU	1.2GHz Adeno 220 GPU	1GHz Adeno 205 GPU
RAM	768MB	512MB
Internal Storage	1GB	320MB
OS	Android v2.3 (Gingerbread)	Android v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera	8MP Auto Focus Dual LED Flash Image Stabilization Face Detection HD Video Recording	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash Image Stabilization Face & Smile Detection HD Video Recording
Connectivity	Wifi + USB + AGPS Bluetooth v3.0	Wifi + USB + AGPS Bluetooth v2.1
Misc Features	Stereo FM Radio TV Out	Stereo FM Radio HDMI Port
Price (approximate)	600EUR	430EUR

Xperia Arc's performance is overshadowed by Sensation's Dual Core CPU and bigger RAM but even with the available power, Arc promises not to disappoint your expectations because of its sleek outlook, a Giga CPU, latest Android OS and a relatively lower price tag.

HTC Sensation on the other hand is quite expensive, even more than Samsung Galaxy SII. To compensate the price it should have boarded at least 1+GB of RAM like SII and Optimus 2X. But that charming curvy shape forces you to ignore all this.

Update: note some important issues with HTC Sensation. The charming handset is not so perfect after all. There have been a notable number of reports of its touch screen going numb in just a matter of days after purchase. Android Police has uploaded a video proof of "not so responsive touch screen any more". Up till now, HTC has not offered any help in this regard. This comes along with the dreaded WIFI Death Grip issue and several reports of firmware malfunctioning like getting restarted when browsing gallery after taking a picture from camera. It appears as if HTC has wrecked this charming phone in the wake of gigahertz competition.

When talking about the looks, I would like to point out how Samsung has been using a very standard design for most of its phones lately. Not just all the Galaxy products (S, SII, Ace) but even low end phones like Star and Wave look like clones of each other. In fact, I actually felt that even this design is not their's originally. Apple confirmed this by filing a lawsuit against Samsung for copying their design of iPhone, but then Apple is suing everyone these days.

Funny Animation