"Da Vinci Code" Dan Brown in India:

Fan club is common for Celebrities - be it for Actors / Muscicians / Crickters / Authors. Gone are the days of Dr.Arthur Conan Doyle of "Sherlock Holmes" or Agantha Christie. But their books still lives on. Such is the power of their creations.

In many a times, some of their creations becomes synonymous with the author that their other works often get overshadowed. For instance : "Coma" by Robin Cook, "Harry Potter" by JK Rowling, "Jurassic Park" by Michael Chrichton and "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. By and large, they have thrilled the audience with their thought process. And some have invited criticisms for having challenged the established facts - and Dan Brown is no exception.

Relatively young at heart, Mr.Dan Brown was in India recently for a literature festival. One of his interview appeared on The Hindu on 16-Nov -2014. For the sake of Dan Brown Fan's, I'm posting a scan image of the article. Click the page below to enlarge. You can right click and save it too! 

Happy Reading.

Michael Jackson - Interesting Facts

It has been two years since Michael Jackson passed away but his glory has not at all faded from our hearts and minds. A true multi dimentional personality - he was a great Singer, Lyricist, Choreographer and Director : All in One. His space is yet to be replaced or could not be replaced in the music industry.

Hailed all over the world as the 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson's fairytale life was always under the public scanner. Everything he did made it to the headlines while he lived, and he kept on making news even after his death. This can definitely be attributed to the impact he had and curiosity he generated on people.

On the eve of his 53rd birth anniversary, here are a few interesting facts about Michael Jackson.

1. M.Jackson was a vegetarian.

2. His iconic 'moonwalk' was inspired by street dancers. He had reportedly spotted them outside a hotel where he was staying.



3. Jackson's Billy Jean was the first video by a black artist to be aired on MTV.



4. Three of his albums, Dangerous, Thriller and Bad, are counted among the world's best-selling records of all time. Thriller still remains to be the biggest-selling album of all time.

5. He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was first inducted as a member of The Jackson 5 on May 6, 1997 and as a solo artist on March 19, 2001.

6. Jackson's famous pets were a chimp called Bubbles, a ram called Mr. Tibbs, a python called Crusher, a rat called Ben and a llama named Louie. The most famous of them all was Bubbles, who was adopted from a cancer research centre in Texas. Bubbles even sat in during Jackson's recording sessions for the album Bad and also accompanied the singer on his trip to Tokyo.



7. As a child, his favorite comics were 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Old Man and the Sea'. His favorite cartoon character was Pinocchio and his favorite superhero– Morph from the 'X-Men'.

8. Jackson allegedly used to sleep in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in order to enhance his beauty and slow down the aging process.

9. In 1984, during the filming of a Pepsi advertisement, Jackson sustained second-degree burns to his scalp after his hair caught fire due to an explosion.

10. MC Hammer once challenged Jackson to a dance off. Michael retorted back saying, "I've seen your videos and every single dance move you use, you got off me."



11. Jackson's performance during the half-time of the 1993 Super Bowl attracted the largest TV audience in American history.

12. He had several nicknames like 'The Gloved One', 'Wacko Jacko', 'Jacko', 'The King of Pop', and 'MJ' given to him by the media. He was called 'Smelly' by his close friends. The one he detested was 'Wacko Jacko'.

13. Jackson drank Ricola candy dissolved in hot water as a pre-concert ritual. It apparently made his singing voice and throat clear.

14. An obsessed Jackson fan from France committed suicide in 1984 after his mother refused to allow him to undergo surgery in a bid to look like the star himself.



15. Michael Jackson owns the patent for the shoe device that allows performers to 'lean forward' appearing to defy gravity à la Smooth Criminal.

Steve Jobs - Brief Biography

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is a living legend in Silicon Valley, the man who has changed modern culture with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, Jobs grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.

As a high school student, he attended lectures at Hewlett-Packard computer company in nearby Palo Alto, and worked a summer job there with engineer Steve Wozniak.

Jobs left Reed College in Portland, Oregon, after a single semester, but continued to take classes, including a calligraphy class he has cited as the reason Macintosh computers were designed with multiple typefaces.

After a spiritual trek to India, he worked as a technician for video game pioneer Atari and joined a "Homebrew Computer Club" with Wozniak, a fellow northern California college dropout. He was just 21 and Wozniak 26 when they founded Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs's family home in 1976.

Under Jobs, the company introduced its first Apple computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s. Jobs was elevated to idol status by Macintosh computer devotees, many of whom saw themselves as a sort of rebel alliance opposing the powerful empire Microsoft built with its ubiquitous Windows operating systems.

He went from celebrity bachelor days that included a relationship with folk singer Joan Baez to settling into family life in Palo Alto. Jobs married in 1991 in a ceremony presided over by a Buddhist monk. He has three children by his wife and has a daughter with a woman he dated prior to marrying.

Jobs left Apple in 1985 after an internal power struggle and started NeXT Computer company specializing in sophisticated workstations for businesses.

He co-founded Academy-Award-winning Pixar in 1986 from a former Lucasfilm computer graphics unit that Jobs reportedly bought from movie industry titan George Lucas for 10 million dollars.

Apple's luster faded after Jobs left the company, but they reconciled in 1996 with Apple buying NeXT for $429 million and the co-founder ascending once again to the Apple throne.

Since then, Apple has gone from strength to strength with Jobs revamping the Macintosh line and giving the world the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes online shop.

Jobs underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 but bounced back three years later with the hugely popular touchscreen iPhone. He went on medical leave in January 2009 but returned to work in June after undergoing a liver transplant, looking gaunt but declaring himself healthy.

For a time last week, Apple surpassed ExxonMobil as the world's most valuable company based on stock value.

Known for his trademark mock black turtleneck shirt, blue jeans and running shoes, Jobs is prone to phrase comments in musical references involving his favorite artists such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

Jobs on Wednesday resigned as chief executive of the California company, turning the helm over to chief operating officer Tim Cook.

His resignation represents to many the departure of a perfection-driven personality so fierce that it was the heart and soul of the firm.

A Jobs biography written by former Time magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson will be released in November, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.