What makes South Korean cinema so special on the global map? With a great line-up of its contemporary films, IFFI's 47th edition, could be the place to find the answer

In Andheri, eight performers play up-and-coming actors reflecting the ruthlessness of getting into Hindi cinema

Sensex, Nifty updates on 18th April 2024: Equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty extended losses on Thursday. As per provisional figures, BSE Sensex fell 332.23 pts or 0.46 per cent to trade at 72,611.45 as of 3.35 pm and Nifty 50 declined 103.70 pts or 0.47 per cent to trade at 22,044.20., Bharti Airtel, Power Grid Corp, M&M, BPCL, and Tata Steel were the top gainers, while Nestle, Apollo Hospitals, Axis Bank, HCL Technologies, and ONGC were the major laggards. The stocks that hit a 52-week high on the NSE include AAA Tech (19.33 per cent), Just Dial (12.95 per cent), Indo Tech (10 per cent) and Hi-Tech Gear (10 per cent).

Does the strong revival in demand across realty segments signal an investing opportunity? Read on to take an informed call

Pan-India, the diversity ties in with the fact that B30 cities are aggressive on equity compared to T30

Open to spinning off passive fund business under MF Lite, says Swarup Mohanty, Vice-Chairman and CEO, Mirae Asset Investment Managers

Multi-cap and Focused funds were the best performers with 75 per cent and 64 per cent or 18 each of the 24 and 28 schemes beat their respective benchmark

Despite the run-up in valuations, the healthcare sector does have a strong investment case

ICICI Prudential Flexicap’s performance over the past three years places it in the top-quartile of its category

Mahindra Manulife Focused fund is large-cap heavy and takes moderate risks in its portfolio

As benchmarks rise and broader markets correct, a portfolio anchored in strong value-based stock-selection criteria may work well for investors

A brief explainer on the amendments pertaining to investors recently brought in

Diversification and banking well on winners have made all the difference

Food & Wine magazine’s “Best of the Best” cookbooks feature in the June 2009 issue will include

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet

and

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart by Pauline Nguyen with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen







Food & Wine magazine’s “Best of the Best” cookbooks feature in the June 2009 issue will include

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet

and

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart
by Pauline Nguyen with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen

No Laughing Matter By JIM MCTAGUE
Cartoonist and blogger Scott Adams is outspoken about economics, politics and more -- but tight-lipped about Dilbert, hero to cubicle jockeys.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE ECONOMY COULDN'T POSSIBLY get worse comes this disturbing news: Dilbert's mismanaged high-tech company is foundering, jeopardizing the lovable cartoon character's oppressive but steady job as an electrical engineer in a stuffy cubicle, where he's manufactured laughs about illogical and inhumane corporate managers for nearly 20 years.

Barron's won't divulge the climax of the current plot. During a recent interview, Dilbert's creator, Scott Adams, asked that we merely hint at what lies ahead for the cylinder-headed nerd with the upturned, clip-on tie. But read the daily Dilberts carefully over the next few days or weeks; clues abound and they don't point to a happy conclusion.

That's fitting because, as Adams notes in Dilbert 2.0, his $85, 576-page 20th-anniversary collection of 4,000 of his more than 8,000 cartoon strips (plus a DVD): "Dilbert is most popular when the workplace is at its worse." In fact, the strip, a window on workplace absurdity, took off during the downsizing binge of the early 1990s. In one memorable sequence from that period, Dilbert competes with a monkey to keep his engineering job. Dilbert wins, but his victory jig is short-circuited by his pointy-haired boss' decision to place the monkey on the upper-management fast track. Sounds like a telling commentary on the corporate world of 21st century's first decade, too.

Adams' current strips and very funny blog (http://www.dilbert.com/blog/), which often feature the cartoonist's insightful economic and stock-market commentaries, provide more hints about Dilbert's fate. A Dec. 12 blog argues that the recession is anything but temporary: "I think we are on the verge of a change as profound as the Industrial Revolution. Society will have to retool its expectations to meet the reality that there just won't be enough money to provide necessary services if we insist on consuming in an inefficient way."

One clue about Dilbert's fate appeared on Dec. 13 in newspapers around the world (Dilbert is published in 70 countries and 25 languages) in what turned out to be one of the most popular episodes in the strip's history: A financial adviser recommends that Dilbert's pointy-haired boss invest all of the company's funds in sick livestock. Don't buy just one sick cow, the adviser urges; buy an entire herd, because by aggregating sick cows, the risk goes away. "It's called math," the adviser adds, in a send-up of the asset-backed securitizations that have helped topple the global economy.

The financial adviser, by the way, is a malicious canine. In his blogs, Adams is equally unkind to real advisers and money managers. In his view, formed long before the disrobing of Bernie Madoff, they're always conniving to steal investors' money. Perhaps this depiction is payback: Adams lost a bundle following advice during the tech bubble, which also convinced him that investing in individual stocks and "professionally managed" funds is a losers' game. His advisers put half of his portfolio into WorldCom, Enron and other sure things and lost 40% of his invested cash, he says. He managed the other half and lost 20% in the tech wreck.

"Most of the investments I made in individual stocks went bad because managements were lying. They are the source of the information for the markets." His conclusion: "It is even dumber to pay an expert to talk to the liar for you and charge you 1% of your portfolio." Some folks who bought funds of funds that invested with Madoff surely would agree.

People Are Talking About columnist Danielle Nussbaum on Teen Vogue called Jurassic Towel Origami "The best thing we got in the mail this week."

http://www.teenvogue.com/industry/blogs/entertainment/2009/03/best-thing-we-got-in-the-mail-this-week.html

The Art & Soul of Baking has been named a nominee in the James Beard Foundation Awards 2009 in the Books: Baking Category

The James Beard Foundation Awards shine a spotlight on the best and brightest talent in the food and beverage industry.

The winners will be announced May 4th at a Black Tie Ceremony in New York

The Art and Soul of Baking guides readers through the world of baking, where alluring aromas of chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon fill the air and tempt the palate. Culinary authority Sur La Table teams with professional pastry chef and baking instructor Cindy Mushet to create the ultimate book for bakers. The Art and Soul of Baking demystifies the friendly science of baking through delicious recipes and photography sequences that illustrate proper techniques for carmelizing sugar, or working with croissant dough.

Tom Flynn Reads from Bikeman

Journalist Tom Flynn decided to respond to the events of September 11, 2001, by writing an epic poem in which he recalled how, on that fateful day, he had hopped on his bicycle, braved the chaos, and headed down to the World Trade Center to cover the attacks for CBS News. When the second tower was hit, Flynn found himself in the middle of the unraveling horror. In his book, Bikeman: An Epic Poem (Andrews McMeel), Flynn's poetic dispatches reflect on the sorrow, fear, and humanity shared by the nation on that “forever September morning.”

In celebration of National Poetry month, VF.com presents an exclusive audio excerpt.

Court exempts Palakkad Collector from personal appearance on condition that she will appear through virtual mode

Aviation Secretary says these amphibious aircraft can link tourism locales in the State. A seaplane will operate a trial service from Kochi International Marina to the Mattupetty dam in Munnar on Monday

Topics presented by young researchers included science of sonar, exploration of planets outside solar system, use of nanotechnology in cancer treatment, environment-friendly alternative for food security, and use of AI to save diabetics from eye diseases