Clock, right on the Touch Bar

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From: Medium

I have been using a MacBook with Touch Bar for last 1.5 years and I have always loved it. I personally feel that touchbar is a cool idea. Apart from the inbuilt features which Apple provides though touchbar, I have always felt that a lot of cool things can be done through it. There are, though, very less number of useful apps for touchbar. So, I thought of giving it a try to build something useful.

For me, it takes a lot of effort to check the time from the menu bar. Also, when you are working in full-screen mode, time is what you are missing the most. The clock on the touchbar feels so perfectly and strategically placed. You do not have to put any effort into checking the time. It’s right there, always in the front.

It was my first experience trying out building a MacBook app. Built it in a night’s time. I could not find any other MacBook around me with touchbar, so could not test it on a different system. However, I tested the auto login, hiding the icon from menubar on a couple of macs, worked perfectly fine.

Options:

  • Tap to change the time format.
  • Change colors (Just for fun).
  • Open at login. (change in preference)

Github Repository: Clock Bar (Do not shy away from giving a star *)

Download: Here

Movies – Recently Watched

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Pi (1998) :

Darren Aronofosky has never disappointed you, has he? Requiem for a dream, Black Swan, The Fountain etc. are some of the movies he has directed. Pi is a nice movie to watch. Shot in black and white, this movie is about a geeky mathematician who is trying to figure out something, a pattern, which has some deeper meaning to it. This movie is very intense and the whole paranoia of the character displayed is really nice. Overall, it’s a good movie.

Jacob’s Ladder (1990):

Sometimes you need a dose of mind-bending movies and this movie really fits well. You get an intelligent, nail biting plot which has so many twists and turns that makes you thinks about a lot of possibilities. The movie is weird, creepy and unique. A Must watch!

Leaving Las Vegas (1995):

I had never thought that Nicolas Cage, an actor of so many pathetic movies, would have ever got an Oscar for his acting. But, boy, has he acted in this movie. What a fantastic flick! The chemistry between Cage and the actress, Elizabeth Shue, is quite amazing. They seem so natural in the roles they play. The whole emotions and vulnerability of the characters that has been shown, seems so genuine and flawless.

Like Father, Like Son (2013): 

These Japanese directors try to keep the things very simple and this is where they get distinguished. This movie has got a very unexpected plot which I should not be talking about. Just watch this beautiful movie and get overwhelmed with the simplicity of the characters.

A Bong Land Away From Bengal

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Chittaranjan Park (Bengali: চিত্তরঞ্জন পার্ক), aka C.R. Park is a neighborhood in South Delhi, and home to a large Bengali community in Delhi. That’s a very known fact. People say, if you want to get a feeling of how Durga Puja is celebrated in West Bengal, then go to this place. I visited this place on the last day of Puja and witnessed the show and it was totally worth it. 


The Bengalis go little insane during Puja period. They have their own way of celebrating it. Seems like there is a sudden induction of too much happiness in these people. And thanks to whatever it is, the place turns into an electric one during the Puja. The streets were decorated with light bulbs – not too bright.  Too many people walking the streets. Kids shouting, girls giggling and ladies blabbering. Too much of chit-chat and I could not hear myself at times. Initially I was little disturbed by the noise, but after I walked enough along with the crowd I start enjoying it. And then there were things around which kept me engaged. The sound of drums, flock of girls in ethnic dresses dancing on a stage nearby the Pandal, a beautiful woman in red embroidered sari singing some classic Bangla song, young girls chatting shyly with boys near the food stalls, smell of fish in and around the Pandal. Everything was oozing out of itself some kind of Bengali class. 

Though I am not a great fan of Bengal/i, but one thing I must mention that I like is – they carry their culture wherever they go. You must be having some Bengali family living near by and they having your mind blown off with some great foods or at least some great variety of sweets. They make you feel the impact of rich culture own and they belong to. A single Bengali family can form community of its own and then slowly engulfing the people near by. A small place secluded from the typical charm which Delhi carries was what the place appeared. The streets reminded me of  a typical Kolkata streets minus the crowd part. It was indeed a nice experience. 

It Was Dreddfully Fantastic

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Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris
Director: Pete Travis

For a long time we all have been waiting for a perfect action movie where there is no Super-hero but a bad-ass toughie. Lessons, protagonism and philosophy ruin the essence of action. A perfect action flick is the one where we get some gory stuffs, gunshots, some dark humor, rushing sequences and  a music to elevate all these up to a different level. With Dredd you are guaranteed to get everything. A perfect violence crime thriller with every element presented in pristine form. Right from the start, the movie assures you that you will be fed a great dose of insanity and in the end you have with you a head swirling on the tune of it.

The movie, set in future,  revolves around busting of a ghetto gang homed in a multi-storeyed led by an unattractive blood crazed lady called Ma-Ma. This gang deals in production and selling of drugs and their main product- Slo Mo – which slows the perception of time of the addicts. The slow motioned effects of this drug has been so wonderfully portrayed. Everything stops and you feel yourself to be the subject. Judge Dredd, character led by Karl Urban, is a ruthless executioner who believes in law and exterminates every one who goes against it. He teams up with a rookie who is a mind-reader too and very strategically uproots the gang.

The plot may not be the greatest, but it does not have to be. What matters the most is the presentation. And for that the movie wins a standing ovation. Cinematography, I must mention, is breathtaking – as good as it should be. The futuristic city – chaotic, gloomy and plagued by social malaise – speaks off its story. The slow motion acts are one of many great things about the movie. Who needs a description on acting now? Karl Urban is such a perfect fit for the lead role. With laconic dialogues in husky voice, the helmeted actor will surely win your heart. The character(of a rookie) played by Olivia Thirlby is very powerful. She is on a par with Dredd – witty and equally intelligent. The music is just divine. It keeps you on your toes every time. The thrilling sequences coupled with great background music will make your heart slip at times.

Dredd is what we have been looking for so long. It has been crafted very nicely. A perfect juxtaposition of brutality and violence! Leave everything behind and behold to those bloody sequences. It would very foolish mentioning what 3D effects have done to the movie. For those who enjoyed Kill Bill and District 13, here is Dredd satisfying the hunger of both.

The Greatest Fear Of All – Fear Of Death

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“No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils.”  – Plato.

I am not fearful of death – of my death – but I get too much scared when someone dies – someone close. I am fearful of the fear and silence that it propels in the  surroundings. I am fearful of the all the other scared faces around me, of the mournful smell of the air. I am fearful of the darkness with which it overshadows the brightest sunlight. The tears of all the disturbed souls that soon would flood the universe haunt me. The  swelled-dry-lips and red-wet-eyes of all who are suffering the loss weaken me. How cruel is the fact –  that this astronomically huge span of life would be destroyed in a blink of an eye and would leave everyone behind in pain -it tortures me a lot. Death, by far the most stupid and preposterous creation of God is the greatest fear of all. 

A couple of days back I lost someone. A person who was not there with me for the most of the time of my life, but yes there was this noble and magnanimous image of that lady which was alive in my mind,  my heart and my thoughts for so long – it was all shattered. The image which was just so alive and so vibrant – talking to me smilingly – was all missing in the very next moment.  It was like a black-hole of silence and fear and pain created somewhere in my heart and ’twas drowning me in. I was scared and was never scared this much. I cried a lot – alone – many a times – but that was even drowning me more. I was crying and thinking about the condition of those who were closely related to her, those who had spent their entire life with her.  How pitiful their conditions would be – unimaginable ! And then I was cursing God for  he was the only one who scripted all this drama and was watching it being enacted. Preposterous.

I do not want to leave people behind me tormented and crying in pain. I now know how it feels. But I can not help it. I know they will cry when I am gone, miss me more than ever. But why? Why God has created such nonsense circle of Life and Death? Why on one hand does he put so much strength and positivity in Life and then despise his own creation and spread fear with Death? And why does he not bestow the humans with the power to overcome that fear? Why does he let them suffer? These unanswerable questions will haunt everyone – everyone who has felt death so closely. One can not escape this only irrefutable reality. But then why is this truth so untrue that no one want to face it, to believe it? Death is  evil and the God himself created this evil.

Rest in peace the pious soul of the lovely and beautiful old lady; you shall always be there in my heart.