Director Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland in 3D is very different from Lewis Carroll’s original books Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. Don’t go looking for Carroll’s version of Alice in Wonderland in this movie. Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland is instead inspired by the works of Carroll, where we meet a 19-year old Alice, who goes through her journey of the Wonderland or Underland. This being a Burton movie there is a certain quirkiness to the film. Burton is the director of Bettlejuice and Edward Scissorhands and produced Batman, Batman Return and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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Aziz “the bored” Ansari is a rising star in the world of entertainment. Within a short span of time Aziz has carved a name for himself. He  currently appears on NBC’s sitcom Parks and Recreations. He has appeared in a handful of Hollywood films and is working with Hollywood Director Judd Apatow on 3 films.  Last month he released his hour long Comedy Central special Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening. The title of the album I suspect is inspired by his love for smooth R& B music.

As you may have noticed in the video clips Aziz’s mind runs at 64,000 RPMs and there is a certain edginess to his style of speaking. He started exploring a career in the entertainment field while he was studying marketing at New York University. A quick study Aziz is deft at answering those questions about his nationality. When asked where he is from his studied response is: “From the South,” and that is the truth. He is from the South in two ways: he was born and brought up in South Carolina, and his parents are from Tamil Nadu, South India. Often, he will mention in passing how he can speak a little bit of Tamil. (Don’t miss his hilarious reference to the singer M.I.A.).  I guess it is kind of expected for desi stand-up comics to mention their cultural heritage. Russell Peters does it, Aasif Mandvi does it, and now Aziz Ansari does it.

Like many young people Aziz  leads a highly networked life (is that the right term?) and is connected either to his Blackberry or laptop. He constantly makes references to his Blackberry, Facebook and Twitter in his stand-up routine, and then there is the reference to his young cousins, whom he likes to tease mercilessly on Facebook and IM.

Keep your eyes on this rising star. In the meantime check out Aziz’s website or Twitter for updates. He is prolific.

That is a demo of Cisco’s TelePresence, which provides an incredible “true-to-life” experience. Sitting around the table at this virtual meeting were people from  different parts of the world. There was no lag and the quality of audio and video was superb. Using Cisco’s TelePresence is a delightful customer experience.

Currently Cisco’s TelePresence is deployed in 50 countries. Earlier this week Starwood Hotel and Tata Communications rolled out Cisco TelePresence meeting suites at W Chicago City Center and Sheraton on the Park Sydney, Australia. Starwood plans to launch TelePresence suites at other properties properties in Manhattan, LAX, Hong Kong, San Francisco and Frankfurt. You could almost feel the infectious enthusiasm from the Starwood team during the press conference hosted via Cisco’s TelePresence. In this age of frenetic travel and 24/7 connectivity it seems a good fit for Starwood to offer Cisco TelePresence solution to its business guests.

Tata Communications has provided the service layer over Cisco’s TelePresence. Cisco TelePresence suites are available in India through its partnership with Taj Hotels.

It was over 3 years ago that I saw a demo of Cisco’s TelePresence at the inauguration of Cisco’s new campus in Bangalore, India. That first demo of Cisco’s TelePresence by John Chambers, CEO and Chairman, left an indelible impact on me. It demonstrated the power of virtual live communication using high-definition audio and video and IP technology. Watching Chambers talk with his team member sitting thousands of miles away in Silicon Valley was surreal. It was as if the person was right there live on stage standing right next to Chambers. I understand this was a demo and folks must have worked frantically to make the experience flawless. That is how technology should work I thought to myself. Just flip a switch and then there is that instant magic of a rich, interactive virtual meeting.

Since that initial demo I have attended a handful of Cisco TelePresence conferences and events and continue to be impressed with the quality and level of interaction that takes place. Is it any wonder that I have been craving to get my own Cisco’s TelePresence ? You would too if you saw it. Apparently Cisco is working on a consumer edition.

The Dalai Lama,the spiritual head of Tibetans is on Twitter. This time it is official with that recognizable blue colored tick mark with “Verified Account” right next to his name.Last year a fake Twitter account was opened in his name.

The Dalai Lama is currently on a tour of the United States, and held a low-key meeting with President Obama last week. He is now traveling around the US meeting and speaking at different cities.

Last evening when Evan Williams, co-founder, Twitter wrote that he met the Dalai Lama and pitched him to join Twitter, the spiritual leader laughed in response. But, within hours of Ev Williams’ pitch to the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama officially launched his Twitter account. The news about the Dalai Lama on Twitter broke out earlier this afternoon (California time) and  within hours he has garnered over 16,000 followers and is included in almost 800 lists. (Update: make that over 21,000 followers and included in over 1000 lists.)

Twitter is banned in China.

The Dalai Lama is fond of technology, especially all things related to clocks.

Often dubbed as a realist the Dalai Lama has been living in exile in Dharamsala, India since 1959. For the past 50 years he has been fighting for the autonomy of Tibet, and does not subscribe to the view that Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Two years ago author and essayist Pico Iyer wrote a book about the Dalai Lama. In this interview Pico talks about the Dalai Lama, China and the future of Tibet.

Mr. Sidney Poitier turned 83 today.

An actor, director and a diplomat, Mr. Poitier’s story reads like a textbook case of a person going from rags to riches. He grew up poor in Bahamas with little education, and came to the US when he was 15 years old. He worked in a series of menial jobs to support himself and by the time he was in his early 20s he got his first break in theatre, and thus was born a gifted actor.

His story is an inspiration and reminder that if you apply your mind, energy and time you can succeed. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Mr. Poitier did not set out to become an actor, but once he put his mind to becoming an actor, he applied himself to becoming an excellent one and got the right breaks.

He was the first major male black actor, who went on to win an Oscar for his performance in Lilies of The Field. “It was amazing, amazing, amazing,” he said in an interview about winning the Oscar. But, the movie that stands for many is Guess Who Is Coming For Dinner that addresses inter-racial marriage in the 1960s, when it was not exactly a topic that was widely discussed.

His other movies include To Sir, With Love, Paris Blues, In the Heat of the Night and The Greatest Story Ever Told among others.

If you missed watching Mr. Poitier’s film, it might be worth checking them out. May I recommend Guess Who Is Coming For Dinner?  Besides Mr. Poitier the movie stars Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, and is directed and produced by Stanley Kramer. Hepburn won the best actress award for the film in 1967.

There is something about Mr. Poitier that inspires you…

Silicon Valley’s Churchill Club held a sold out event last evening. About 400 people attended a packed event to listen to a  conversation between Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix and Michael Eisner, CEO of Tonante that creates original content and incubates startups. Before this Eisner was the former CEO of Walt Disney, who turned around the company and transformed it into a multi-billion dollar generating entertainment powerhouse. (BTW: Tornante funded online video company Veoh filed for bankruptcy last week.)

The very first question that Eisner asked Hastings was about the unlimited leave policy that Netflix supposedly extends to its employees. And  that question set the tone for the evening, where Eisner constantly probed, prodded and questioned Hastings about Netflix, its strategy, whether it is a content company and how it plans to work in the changing digital environment (think streaming movies).  You could immediately sense the faultlines between the two people through the sub-text of the conversation. It seemed like Eisner was trying to understand the startup and innovative culture of Silicon Valley, and what makes Silicon Valley companies different. It does not seem like Eisner is a big fan of free massages/flex hours and options. But that is what people tend to focus and not on the long, interminable work hours, the broken promises to your family to attend a birthday party or your child’s first show that is so common in Silicon Valley. Those long hours, those broken promises are the unspoken parts of what goes behind the success of Silicon Valley companies. But how do you bottle the essence of Silicon Valley culture and help folks understand the power of ideas and dreams?  As an observer to the conversation between Hastings and Eisner you could  spot the difference between Northern (Silicon Valley) and Southern (Hollywood) culture and the difference between old  and new media world. I don’t think  Eisner would be very flattered to be referred to as a member of the old media since his current company creates content for the online world.

I digressed. Back to the conversation between two very different CEOs and their views on how content should be served to the audience.

Hastings talked about the culture at Netflix, which in many ways is a reflection of a unique work culture that exists in the valley. He defined Netflix as “a specialist firm” that has adapted itself to changing business scenarios and went from renting DVDs to streaming content online. Netflix started by renting out DVDs in the 1990s and currently has about 12 million members in the USA.

Eisner was curious to know about Netflix’s strategy for streaming content, and pointed out to Hastings that “unless you get the rights for the first run of the films” for streaming it might be difficult to break into Hollywood. Hastings replied that Netflix’s  strategy is to stream and pay big checks to the companies. Hastings believes that the new model for viewing content will be click and view and that is what they are focused on working. He was also quick to point out that their DVD mailing business continues to grow simultaneously.

Do you change strategy as you grow asked Eisner?  Hastings responded that innovation is key to their strategy and pointed out that companies in Silicon Valley fail when they stop innovating (he offered Sun Microsystems as an example). Which is when Eisner shared his experience of Disney’s acquisition of InfoSeek, and how that acquisition did not work out for them. “InfoSeek was McKinsey’s fault,” said Eisner, who clearly stated that he is not a big believer in acquiring companies.

Throughout the conversation at various points Eisner kept going back to how Netflix was going to acquire original content besides Hollywood movies. At one point he told Hastings that Netflix has made a better mousetrap and then quickly tagged on a question about content. At the end of the conversation Eisner made this pronouncement: “My take is you are way too close to content than you are admitting.” And added that Netflix is right now in the licensing business but “you are totally in the environment of content.”

Listening to the exchange between Eisner and Hastings it was interesting to get a feel for the kind of conversations that might be taking placed behind the closed doors of many, many companies in Hollywood, Netflix, HBO, NBC, Hulu, Amazon and others as they struggle to figure out what is the right model/strategy for serving content online. These are early days and nobody has the right answer on how to tap into this growing opportunity. Eisner was right in emphasizing in creating quality content, and Hastings was right in saying Netflix will pay big checks to stream content. But do either of them have the answer to this question: What does the audience really want?

What I tried to say in my post was brilliantly captured in less than 140 characters by @Wildgw #churchill club event…reed hastings and michael eisner was like two 747s passing in the sky… many great points… different plans……