An excerpt from the sales pitch to the Lord of Hades on IT systems implementation “to ease transition of souls to the underworld”

RJ : Imagine this scenario, Mr.D…  You go online on Gtalk/AIM… find people whose time on earth is up and ping them… and BANG.!!! They fall lifeless…. No “Final Destination” drama… No gory blood spilling… Just plain shutdown of body organs… Matrix style… How cool would that be?

Mr. D : I have been in this business for a long long time, kiddo… Do you take me for a fool?? What if the guy is never online? Is that not the equivalent of the Sorcerer’s stone?

RJ : [Already sweating, given the searing temperature of hell fire] What about a facebook-like application then? U just add the guys you want dead as friends… We will even build a special app which will not require them to confirm you as a friend…

Mr. D: I need up-to-date information… How do you plan to do that?

RJ: For info on increasing population, we could consume web services from the birth-registers at hospitals… As for ‘The Ledger of deeds’, it will have to be migrated to the new system.

Mr. D: What about the element of fear? I thrive on fear…

RJ: [Pulling together the consultant's air] We will analyze the requirements and provide an optimal solution… It is too early for us to specify a particular implementation methodology…

[Uncomfortable silence...]

RJ: As a bonus, we will also add a ’suicide module’… Which would allow a select few, with problems,  to send you friend requests! To sweeten this deal… What says you, O lord of Hades?

Mr. D: You talk too much!

RJ: My friend tells me I am a cartoon at times…

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. Of course the butterfly cannot literally cause a tornado…. The kinetic energy of a tornado is ultimately provided by the sun and the butterfly can only influence certain details of weather events in a chaotic manner.   

                                                                                  - Wikipedia 

Being my usual self, I could not help thinking about this little outcome of studies related to Chaos theory. Can we actually affect things around us so much?

Did the guy, whom I heard had cheated at the college exams, actually alter the course of history by depriving another Emil Adolf von Behring-to-be of the class rank he wanted to apply for that research position? Did that just, by happenstance, let the discovery of an AIDS vaccine get delayed by another decade? Did that let happen the deaths of AIDS infected people all over the world, who would otherwise had a cure? I will never know for sure.

I do, however, see people trying to affect their own lives and of those in their vicinity in some way. I see an amputee vying for the Beijing Olympics. I see  my friends stay awake that extra hour to make time for their families in the face of piling work. I see two girls sitting together on the park bench, one trying to console another because her long-time boyfriend had broken up with her!

I do not see people resigned to fate. I do not see many “Waiting for the world to change” (John Mayer).

May be, all of these small actions can cause a huge change in the unforeseeable future. I will keep flapping!

I adore spoofs. While most try to achieve a new ‘harmlessly humorous’ plane, some target a specific person or group. But whatever the motive, it takes some real creative muscle flexing to get it up.

I have put together just a sampling of videos that caught my attention.

Nickelback - Rock-star

This song embodies every youth’s dream. This favorite band of mine put what I dreamt of in college, while listening to Dream Theatre.

If Rock-stars have such a cool life, then what about pop-stars? Check the video to find out.

James Blunt - You are beautiful

This master-piece helped me through quite a few love-at-first-sight scenarios. The lyrics are brilliant and the song sticks to a heart-melting pace.

But listening to this spoof cleared my mind of any future plans of the falling-head-over-heels concept. Beauty can be skin deep at times.

Heroes:

I did not miss a single episode of season 1, when it was aired in India last year. Hours of such idiot-box patronage left a few questions unanswered. The video is an embodiment of all my doubts.

There you have it folks. A few of the videos which set my humor bone on fire and got me searching for more! Spoofs are all about creativity and spontaneity.

I hail thee, O creative immortals out there…