Yes, again! As the popular social networking website, Facebook continues its makeover policy, a “Change Facebook Back to Normal” group at the website claimed slightly more than a million members urging the social networking giant to change back.

On Friday, Facebook modified its news feed feature to let members of the world’s leading social-networking service catch up on tidbits they may have missed while away from the website. However this change, as like the previous times, yet again triggered ire amongst the millions of users that prefer things remain the same.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” a Facebook user with the screen name Carlos Deleon wrote on a protest group chat page clearly stating the preference for the former page and in protest against the company’s policy to continuously introduce changes in its homepage.

The Facebook’s new feature enables the users to switch between getting real time streams of news or activities taking place and the highlights of what their friends have shared in the preceding 24 hours. The new concept of Live Feed option funnels updates and news about online friends’ activities to Facebook home pages.

Turkey is a country where history echoes from every city and settlement. Among the many Turkish places which boast of famous historical monuments is the coastal town of Bodrum.

Located on the fringes of the Aegean Sea, Bodrum was known in ancient times as Halicarnassus. The most significant historical monument of Bodrum is the St Peters Castle which repeatedly figures in the collective consciousness of the city. This medieval castle stands as a sentinel at the mouth of Bodrum’s stunning blue bay where the waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas meet. Built by the Knights of Rhodes, the castle stands testimony to the ideals of the Hospitalers who arrived in this land to establish hospitals but ended up by fighting to save Christianity.

The St. Peters Castle at Bodrum has five towers, each built after the people - French, English, Italian, Spanish and German – who defended the Castle and the city against the Turks. Today the Castle is not only famous for its numerous relics, tombstones and towers but also for housing the Museum of Underwater Archeology which is reputed to be one of the best in the world.

Travelers to Bodrum take can a flight from Istanbul. To explore lodging options visit www.ooaha.com for best Bodrum hotel deals.

St Petersburg in Russia is known as the City of Tsars, having been founded by Peter the Great in 1703 to be his “window on Europe”. Indeed the city is today the proud bearer of a rich heritage in arts, literature and architecture.

The one place in St Petersburg which showcases the long complex history of the country in its artistic treasures is the Russian Museum. Established in 1895 by a royal decree from Emperor Nicolas II, it is the first fine arts state museum to come up in Russia. The museum has an amazing collection of paintings and other representations in figurative art including Old Russian Applied and Decorative Art. The heart of the museum however is the Picture Gallery which includes masterpieces from the late eighteenth century down to the present.

Besides acting as a treasure trove of the finest artistic productions in the country, the Russian Museum is also a major cultural and educational center. It hosts temporary exhibitions, conducts workshops, undertakes restoration projects and oversees the activities of around 260 other art museums in the country. The central information desk at the Mikhailovsky Palace is the right place to gather all visitors information on the Russian Museum.

Travelers to St. Petersburg must make it a point to stop in the city and explore the Russian Museum among its many attractions. Visitors can check out www.ooaha.com for best St. Petersburg hotel deals.

Chicago is a city of myriad attractions. This is a place where high buildings, industrial marvels and a thriving nightlife co-exist with a rich heritage of art museums, galleries and cultural institutions.

One of the most popular destinations among tourists to this city is the Art Institute of Chicago. Located at 111 S. Michigan Avenue, the Art Institute has one of the rarest collections of masterpieces from the world of Art. the European painting collection includes 950 of the best works from the Middle Ages to 1900s with special emphasis on French masters. The African and Amerindian collection covers woodwork, ceramics, sculptures and metalwork from West, Southern and Central Africa as well as Mesoamerican and Andean regions of South America.

Another highlight of the Institute is the Department of Textiles which houses more than 13,000 varieties of textiles from 300 B.C till the present times. Some of the regions represented by their textiles are European, Asian, Latin American and African.

The Department of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Institute boasts of one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of paintings of the 20th century. This section includes around 1500 paintings and sculptures of the best artists from Europe and America since the last hundred years. Visitors to Chicago can go through www.ooaha.com for lodging options in the city and the best Chicago hotel deals.

Kuala Lumpur in recent times has shaken off decades of inertia and emerged as one of the most happening tourist destinations of Southeast Asia.

KL, as Kuala Lumpur is known, is the capital and largest city of Malaysia but along with that it is an amazing mosaic of various communities and cultures. Along with the predominant Malay population live the Indian as well as the Chinese communities. This is a city where the past and present too co-exist in a fantastic design. If there are old colonial buildings like the Royal Selangor Club and the sporting clubs of Dataran Merdeka, there is also the shiny Petronas tower, a marvel of modern architecture.

Until recently the Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world before being bypassed by Taipei 101. They are however still the tallest twin buildings and an amazing sight to behold, especially against the night sky. Some of the main occupants of the Tower are Petronas and its subsidiaries, the KLCC Park and the Suria KLCC while the skybridge, the waterpark and a double-decker lift system are some of its highlights. The all-glass shell of the Petronas Towers gives the exterior a classy contemporary look.

For those intent on seeing the Petronas Towers in real, a trip to KL is a very good idea. Check out www.ooaha.com for best Kuala Lumpur hotel deals.

Jambalaya is a signature Louisiana dish which carries with it the tastes of several traditions like Creole, Cajun, Spanish and French.

Primarily a chicken, vegetable and rice dish, Jambalaya evolved from the Spanish paella when the Old World settlers from Spain tried to prepare the dish with Louisiana ingredients. Later French influence was added and the dish further evolved along Creole and Cajun lines. While the Spanish paella must include saffron, the cost and rarity of the spice in Louisiana led to its replacement with tomatoes. This was how the Creole Jambalaya got its red color while the Cajun Jambalaya used browning of the meats to give the dish a dark color.

The Jambalaya is a popular dish in Louisiana where people find it not only delicious but also filling and simple to prepare. The dish requires the browning of meat first, then the addition of vegetables and tomatoes and finally the rice and stock. The whole idea is that the rice should cook in the rich stock of the meat and vegetables and as it cooks its grains absorb the delicious flavors.

Louisiana is proud of its most popular rice and meat dish and to sample the best Jambalaya, a trip to the city is a must. Visit www.ooaha.com for the best New Orleans, Louisiana hotels and set out on a culinary expedition.

Located in the heart of Beijing is the Forbidden City which is a prime destination for all tourists visiting China. Known as Gu Gong in Chinese, the Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is still acknowledged as the largest palace complex in the world and is spread across 74 hectares.

The Forbidden City is built according to a rectangular plan and is surrounded by six meter deep moat as well as by a ten meter high wall. The palace complex in the Forbidden City is reputed to house 9,999 rooms and is clearly divided into two sections. One is the Outer Court located in the southern section from where the Emperor exercised his royal powers and formally carried out affairs of the state. The other section is the Inner Court in the northern section where he resided with his family.

The Forbidden City now houses the Palace Museum which has vast range of imperial treasures from the bygone days. Numerous treasures and rare artifacts of the Ming and Qing dynasties are on display for visitors. The Forbidden City has been the royal seat of power for at least five centuries and thus the imperial aura it exudes is unforgettable. Visitors to Beijing can choose from a vast range of accommodations in the city. www.ooaha.com gives an exhaustive search of best Beijing hotel deals.

Among the biggest hopes in Oscars this year is the fantasy drama “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. the movie has received 13 Oscar nominations in all including those for the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor as well as Best Supporting Actress.

the movie is about a man who finds himself aging backwards and relearns the meaning of life. His path crosses, time and again, with those whom he loves but Benjamin cannot have the luxury of long-term relationships because of his strange biological condition. Eventually he learns – and the audience with him – that it is not important how long we live. What is important is how we live and love during our days on earth which are forever shadowed by the eventual fact of death.

The movie was released on Christmas Day, 2008 in the US and garnered positive reviews from both critics as well as audiences. The director David Fincher, has been praised for telling a rich, fulfilling tale that is both an intimate love story as well as an epic on age, youth, loss and the essence of life. The cinematography seamlessly blends the earthen colors and shadows of a previous era with technical effects of Benjamin’s reverse aging. Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button delivers his best performance till date. The movie is definitely going to be a favorite at the Oscars on the coming 22 February.

After the Mumbai trauma, the only thing to cheer up the gloomy 2008 was the two major box office releases lined up for their December release, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Ghajini. And surely, both the movies did live up to the expectations.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jod, as expected, was another typical SRK movie, banking on colossal expectations of a man and conservative thinking of a woman. RNBDJ was another emotional drama, an extra sweet love story with a tinge of new flavor - a dancing reality show. As the cliché goes, old wine in a new bottle! But is it justified to show everything with so much of perfectionalism, show a false picture and give false expectations? The over dosage of romance and love, unrealistic expectations and the hypothetical parameters being set makes it difficult for the active audience to digest the story.

The latter, Ghanjini, too verified that Bollywood still does not have the potential in it to recreate the magic of Hollywood or for that matter even redo a Tamil version. Amir Khan starrer Ghajini, though praised by most, failed to do justice to the storyline it copied..errr..was ‘inspired’ from, kiling the beautiful love story with an over dose of violence. Every now and then when the audience gets a ‘Short Term Memory Loss’ of the previous violent act, a newer one would crop up!

What’s more, though Amir Khan seems to be the hero of the movie, was he any less from the villain? Was it justified to show a man going so crazy that he revenges by killing people in broad daylight? He committed minimum three murders after all! So why was he spared from the criminal court case? Bollywood’s tradition has been biased movies, portraying hero as the man always fighting for a just cause, a man who can never be wrong, so what if he has lost all his senses after the tragic death of his girlfriend?

Does the mere ‘A’ certification ensure that the right audience is watching the movie? Viewing from a different angle, isn’t cinema expected to play a constructive role in the development and reinforcement of our culture and beliefs? The connotation is that cinema in India is taken by most as the reference group. And hence the portrayal of such unrealistic and biased stories could force them to think wild and believe what’s illegally wrong as just.

Remember the super hits like Dilwale Dulahania Le Jayaenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Apart from being the Shahrukh Khan films, what else do these, together with the latest flick Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, remind you of?

Bull’s eye! Before you go through the first thirty minutes, you feel proficient enough to script the remainder of the story yourself. The story would progress from a happy beginning, then the happy duo goes through a lean patch but in the end the heroine would always run into the wide open arms of her ‘true hero’. The audience weeps during the entire duration and leaves with the happy ending! 

The over dosage of romance and love has been the chief ingredient of all. How perfect a formula was that. Not anymore! As clearly evident from the mixed audience responses to Rab ne…, these movies are no longer being appreciated. While the hardcore SRK and Aditiya Chopra fans have liked it, the responsive audience has shown it the door, bashing it as impracticable and predictable. 

Talking in a larger perspective the unrealistic expectations that have been set by these stories have made it difficult to sit through them. The impact has been particularly greater in terms amongst the youth. The adolescence is such a vulnerable stage of life that the storyline which portrays everything with so much of perfectionalism could easily frustrate anybody of his love life. The hypothetical parameters are set when you watch any of the typical Bollywood style ‘love stories’ and start fantasizing about your ‘to be spouse’. But the reality hits you damn hard when you start realizing the harsh realities of life. It gets too late to realize that the evaluation parameters employed were built on virtual foundations.

Dil Chahta Hai, Rang de Basanti, Life in a Metro, Delhi Heights, Taare Zameen Par and many like these have been critically acclaimed to be unbiased stories, much relevant in the contemporary world. The hard-hitting stories have shown the audience the true mirror of the outside world. The writers have made the audience relate to the story and portray the factual image. This has gained them ample admiration not only from the audience but also from their rivals and English counterparts. It’s high time to change the content of the cinema and make it more appealing to the youth rather than giving them false anticipations.