Blag, Teh.

Five iconic moments in Comics

2011-04-29T19:17:00.001+05:30

The reign of comic books began with detectives and stories of action. It moved on to fantastic stories of humans changed by cosmic radiation and mutations, even going to the point of celebrating humans simply inspired by the acts of fictional heroes. And these heroes have ranged from mutants and technologically empowered mortals to gods from Asgard. Villains have ranged from gangsters and disgruntled anti-heroes to forces as strong and fearsome as the lords of Hell. With a million mind-boggling multiverses emerging from each publishing house, stories have diverged and combined and given us leagues of power and avenging brotherhoods. Reading every single one of these creations would take a lifetime, if not more and we limit ourselves only to the ones we've heard of or had recommended.

My experiences, too, have been limited so, but today, I'm hoping to present a few scenes from comics that have truly blown my mind. Given the nature of the scenes, some of these constitute spoilers and I'd advise you against reading that bit if you intend to read the comic at any point. I've also tried to give a brief summary building up to each of these epic scenes. Keep in mind that without context, these won't be as impressive and I highly recommend reading the comics mentioned. And as I wrote it, I noticed that the list of 5 has only 3 authors. Oh, well. And without further ado, here are five AWESOME moments in comics:

Note: Click pictures to enlarge

5) 300 - The beginning of the battle at Thermopylae [No spoiler]

We've all seen Zack Snyder's slow motion action scenes and the merciless massacre of invading Persians by 300 Spartans standing as the last line of defence. One must read the comics to have a true grasp of the brilliance of Frank Miller, the creator of the graphic novel. As the Spartans arrive at the battlefield and witness the invading hordes, there is no long speech of inspiration given by King Leonidas. Simply, as one of the exemplary examples of laconic speech, he says, "Come and get it". And before the end of the battle, Leonidas shows that even gods can bleed.


This is Spartaaaaaaaaa!

4) Watchmen - Dr. Manhattan's change of mind [Mild spoiler]

Picking one scene from Alan Moore's epic is difficult. A novel that takes you through the lives of ex-superheroes begins with a death. Defining moments usually centre around the character of Rorschach. The story itself begins with his journal - "A comedian died in New York today". As time progresses and his incarceration revealing his true nature, one cannot help but marvel at what he says to his fellow inmates - "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me." The amount of character development seen with Rorschach may be absent when it comes to Dr. Manhattan but it is ultimately his decisions that affect the progress of the story. And the turning point in his decisions comes on the surface of Mars as he stands upon the infamous "Smiley" crater with Laurine Jupiter. The dialogue on what he views as thermodynamic miracles help him regain some form of admiration, if not respect, for humanity and bring him back to Earth.

As told by naked blue men.

3) Sin City - The ending of "The babe wore red" [BIG spoiler]

It's hard to not like a series that has stunning artwork and coloring with a storyline that puts those long running multiverses to shame. And when this series has crime, guns and girls in plenty, it becomes impossible to not love it. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it's by Frank Miller. Sin City has so many intertwined stories that selecting one for show is an act that disgraces the rest. The only explanation I can provide is that this is one of those endings that I remember even after a long time. It is completely wrong to assume that the rest of Sin City is anything like this and this is only the story that I personally favour. "The babe wore red" is one of the stories in the One Shot series and traces the story of a girl, Mary, who is rescued by Dwight McCarthy after his friend is killed. As the story progresses, Mary tells him he's a hooker who had become entangled in the mess after she propositioned his friend. Dwight suspects all along that she was lying and the last page of the comic proves him right. Mary mentions that she was 'engaged' and Dwight hears her praying at some point in Latin. And the ending reveals everything with a package to Dwight from Mary.

Engaged. Ah, that's what she meant.

2) Batman: The Killing Joke - The joke [Mild Spoiler]

We're back to Alan Moore with this one. A single story written by Moore gives an insight into a possible origin for The Joker. As Commissioner Gordon is abducted and tortured and The Joker attempts to prove that he isn't that much crazier than the common man, we see how much Batman and The Joker have in similarity. This is one of those rare points where he even attempts to make peace with his nemesis - only to get in response a joke; A joke that explains their relationship, similarity and impending spiral to mutual destruction. Both of them begin laughing and the comic closes with their reflections in the rain merging into one.

Only Alan Moore can write a joke so excellent and serious.

1) Sandman - Retrieving the mask of the Dream god [Mild Spoiler]

Arguably, my entry into the world of graphic novels began at its peak. A series for the graphic novel industry as epic as The Lord of the Rings was for long fiction, it traces the story of Morpheus, also known as Dream of the Endless. Gaiman himself summarized the series in Endless Nights with "The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision." Again, this is a series with so many highs that choosing one point was a matter purely of personal choice. In the beginning of the series, Dream is imprisoned and his journey to retrieve belongings to restore his power takes him to hell. As he wins his helm from a demon that had it, he is challenged by Lucifer and the hordes of Hell asking him why they should simply let him walk. Lucifer goes further and confronts him asking what power Dreams have in the depths of Hell. And that, Dream takes, as his cue for bringing in the awesome:

And so, Lucifer decides who his immortal enemy is. Apart from God.

Five iconic moments from five fabulous works of fiction. I only wish more people would drop the 'comics are for kids' idea and read these.

I have a few more moments lined up and if I gather enough, we might even have a second Five Iconic Moments. Until then, find a nearby bookstore and grab a copy of one of these.

- Mod

Grey matter and greyer areas

2011-04-15T16:52:00.000+05:30

Four months have passed since the last post I made. Four full months of believing in horoscopes, quizzing and travelling around the country. As I look back at the four years I spent in college and think about what I've learnt (understandably, I am not referring to academics), I can see how much I've changed after getting there. The people I've been with have shaped me in more ways than I could even begin to describe. And this post is dedicated to every single one of those people that ran around the country/state/college/hostel with me.

Whether they come from the lost streets of Puducheri or are Chennai-born, hyperactive, white-skinned (lovable) idiots, each of the varied characters I've met has taught me something. About people. About the world. And about myself. Some of the people I met have been the (glue-sniffing) patriotic kind. Some of them are the Indians who would rather not be called so and yearn for a cup of Earl Grey and a broadcast of the queen's latest yawn (the last one was at 3:30 PM IST).

Whatever it is that makes each of these people different, there are similarities that I cannot help noticing in my circle. We are not the ones who participate in sporting tournaments (leave hockey to Baichung Bhutia); We are not the ones who end up on stage to dance or sing; We are not the ones with daily visits to the gym (you're not fooling anyone, HK) to bulk up. We are, at the risk of sounding arrogant, drawn to matters deemed more intellectual. Even if some of us are Indians from abroad who have no idea how teams were decided in cricket as children, we are all similar in the sense that our thrills come from answering questions or solving crosswords (damn you if you add a 'puzzle' after that word). Some of us go a step further and append the written word to our thoughts. Whichever way we take, none of us ever enters the proverbial spotlight.

And I have only one question: Why? We have participated in more activities. We have won far more. Comparing the monetary rewards would be a joke as we have individuals who have earned more than entire clubs. And yet, there isn't the least bit of praise or support, except from others like us. What is it that has caused these pursuits to be sidelined and declared a deviation from the mainstream? We have our own answers to these questions; answers which have held us up all this while. Answers which provide relief, but not closure. And yet, I'm sure that won't be stopping any of us.

This, being the end and all, is probably the right time for me to get sentimental. College will end; What we've nurtured over these years (excluding hatreds) will not. As I look back at the four years I spent in college, I can only smile.

We will spend a few more weeks together before we leave our separate ways. And wherever these ways take us, I'm guessing we'll meet again. As different people. And as the same friends.

- Mod

World Wide Web War 1.0 and the Stand Alone Complex

2010-12-10T00:28:00.002+05:30

They are legion. They do not forgive. They do not forget. And most importantly, none of them is as cruel as all of them.

Reads like a rebel manifesto if I ever saw one. Admiral Ackbar would be proud. But enough with the memetics. Today, I wish to talk about what everyone else is talking about - the war raging across the intertubes. On one side, you have a whistleblower website that is eclipsed by the sheer magnitude of support for its publicist (and supposed founder). On the other, you have governments - ones gasping for breath in the deluge that was a leak of diplomatic cables - with one in particular devoting a minute to irony by celebrating 'World Press Freedom Day' as it struggles to heal the damage wrought by the disclosures. And what is truly fascinating is the proxy war (no pun intended) that began between spineless corporations and internet vigilantes.

(News report begin)
The push began with a 'hacker' (excuse me if I snigger) supposedly taking whistleblower site Wikileaks down by what is becoming the most popular method of protest - a DDoS attack. A Distributed Denial of Service attack disables a website by overloading it with requests. Simple, and effective. With the initial spurt of DDoS's piling, Wikileaks decided to move to a much stronger server cloud - one controlled by online retail giant Amazon. Due to alleged U.S. government pressure, Amazon decided to kick Wikileaks off the cloud, setting the precedent that would be followed by EveryDNS, the next site to host Wikileaks. While Wikileaks struggled to keep the primary website online with DDoS attacks rolling in from all directions, donations were thrust into a bottleneck with the withdrawal of services by Paypal, Visa and MasterCard. The U.S.A. is usually an international police of sorts but when it turned into the playground bully, the war began. Enter Anonymous.
(News report end. Tune in next week for more serious buttkicking)

Anonymous has been in the news numerous times in the past. From unleashing the rage of the hive-mind on abusive adolescent girls to tracking down boys indulging in animal cruelty, Anon, had made a name for itself as the uncontrolled, uncontrollable vigilante of the internet and decided that now would be a good time to start a fight. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. On a related note, I am completely in love with the internet today.

However, all this anarchy and call for rebellion, as much as I love it, isn't my focus. The attacks on PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and now, Amazon, may be justified. But that isn't what grabs my attention. What I find interesting here is the way everyone is reacting to our first World Wide Web War.

When the hacker 'The Jester' came up saying he pulled down Wikileaks, the first redneck reactions called him a patriotic 'MERICAN. What followed is what caught my attention. After his supposed attacks, many more followed. This could be attributed to TJ being a true blue patriot but the fact was that it wasn't him. Rather, it wasn't just him. Many more hackers, self proclaimed saviors, helped in bringing Wikileaks down. The part that I find interesting is that this Jester character need not exist. In short, we have a Stand Alone Complex in place. For those unfamiliar with the concept, I quote from the Wikipedia article on the idea of a Stand Alone Complex:

"A mere fire, no matter the number of deaths, is just a garden variety tragedy. However, if the right kind of people begin to believe it was arson, caused by deliberate action, the threat that more arsons will be committed increases drastically."

If you read the article (click here), you will understand the correlation much better. The striking similarities almost make the current DDoS attack scenario look like an example of the complex. What makes this an even more interesting read is the way the response to The Jester's message appeared. Anonymous vowed to take down the websites mentioned earlier (and a bank, PostFinance, that shut down Julian Assange's account fell as collateral damage). The thing is, most Anonymous attacks follow the same pattern. Starting with a message by one of their legion, the attacks set a date and time for attacking a target. Most of these attacks succeed in overwhelming their targets. The driving force for participating in the 'raids' is the same as in the Stand Alone Complex - information that others are doing it. As thousands voluntarily join a botnet and use software for carrying out the DDoS attack, we see the force come into play. Given the nature of Anonymous, as a body with no shape or motive for the most part, it is impossible to deny the effect of the complex in operation here. A simple message created by an Anon is all it takes to rally the forces. One might argue that this could be a genuine call to arms - and in all probability, it is - but given that no member of Anonymous is different from the other, and given that no member is more a leader than another, the anonymity ensures that the Stand Alone Complex is always at play.

And this is what I find fascinating. This copycat behavior that has come to define a form of protest. People who owed no allegiance to either side in the past take up arms now on seeing others go at it. Maybe being a part of a large group that is gaining worldwide attention is a driving factor. Maybe it is the thrill of throwing open your window and screaming that you're mad as hell and that you aren't going to take it any more. Whichever plays a dominant role, the protest has started a war on the intertubes.

I haven't posted in months. I wouldn't have if all this hadn't been so terribly exciting. The complex may be the work of overzealous manga writers but it describes the hivemind with exceeding accuracy. As I mentioned, I am in love with the internet today. People are up fighting, even if their knowledge of the affair is horribly limited. There is a pull that this flavor of rebellion exerts that cannot be ignored. I leave you with echoed thoughts of two dead men. A little anarchy has been introduced. And beneath this mask of anarchy is an idea - this idea cannot be touched, or held, or kissed for an idea is not flesh, but it will survive; ideas, unlike men, are bulletproof.

- Mod

Too deep.

2010-08-16T14:56:00.002+05:30

As I mentioned earlier, I won't be posting frequently through this semester.

On another note, I watched Inception and decided to make this:

The next few months

2010-07-16T14:09:00.001+05:30

I guess it's time for an earnest post to everyone reading my blog. Considering I'm entering a few strenuous months, my post frequency will drop; Possibly to the point of the blog appearing dead. It's been lingering in that area for a while but the months ahead won't be helping the case. My posts, if any, would be stories/poems out of sudden urges and articles that I write for something.

Apart from this earnest message (which is now over), I thought it would be nice to post a list of reasons contributing to my low posting frequency:
1) Lack of a muse. Ah, Calliope.
2) Lack of the physical equivalent of a muse. Ah, woe is me.
3) Twitter. I tend to type my thoughts out in sentences. Don't really wait for them to collect.
4) Blood. Sugar. Sex. Magik. And all their other albums, actually. Too much RHCP gets me all poetic. Not sure how appreciative you guys are of poetry :\
5) Gaming. RA3: Uprising has some good music, though. The 'Soviet March' is a song about bears and Vodka.
6) Academics. Well, maybe not a reason right now, but I hope it does become one :D
7) Me. Lethargy has always been a problem.
8) You. Hey, I can't take all the blame, can I?

So, here's to the glorious months ahead.

-Mod

The YouTube Top 10 – Part 1 (6-10)

2010-06-30T21:00:00.000+05:30

I've been doing some writing recently for a website called Techwhiz. Of my posts to date, this is the closest to my usual style of writing (and still misses it by a mile). Anyway, seeing as the blag needs fattening, I'll leave this here :D

Part 1 (No. 10 to No. 6)
Being among the top 10 videos on YouTube means a lot. The ways to get there are numerous as well - from flashy underwear to anthropomorphic puppets to 16-year-old-males with female voices (Yes, that means Justin Bieber). With the top 10 dominated by music videos, it's rather hard to give them all credit. Here's a roundup of the top 10 videos with thoughts on exactly how they got there.

10) Achmed the dead terrorist

American ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham's most famous puppet has been running around in the top 10 for over a year with a final drop to No. 10 at the time of the article's writing. Featuring Achmed, a suicide bomber with a 'flesh wound', the video satirizes the modern views on terrorism. Although a bit controversial due to its inclusion of seemingly anti-Islam sentiments, it has overcome the allegations to find a place on the list of most viewed videos and push Jeff Dunham to fame on the internet.

9) Just Dance

The first of many music videos we encounter on the list. Lady Gaga became a sensation in 2008-2009 and hasn't quite left that status. An increasing number of fans from the late-teens to post-teens age group give her enough support to push two of her videos into the Top 10.

This video, featuring Gaga at a party, is the most energetic video in the top 10. The video traces the events at a party which is brought back to life after Gaga repeatedly tells them all to -you guessed it- Just Dance. It's Dance-pop base is responsible for most of the song's popularity and fits perfectly into the party setting it gives itself. Some images are homage to some of Gaga's influences - including the electric blue lightning scar added on her face as a tribute to David Bowie. Some critics argue that the popularity is due to Gaga appearing attractive (compared to her current oh-my-god-what's-that-thing? image), 'riding' an inflated orca and not being completely dressed through the video. I don't completely disagree.

8) 7 Things

Miley Cyrus's post-breakup hate song won the hearts of teenage girls worldwide who sang along and stated the 7 things they hated about their boyfriends. The song quickly rose on the most viewed list and even managed to reach the top. This, too, was hardly a surprise as young girls girls with even the most remote love for music have loved her dual incarnations from the Hannah Montana universe; All this, before it became fashionable to fall in love with sparkly vampires.

The video is not very elaborately shot. Based in a simple set with a plain background, the song draws its angry spirit from Cyrus and the girls in the video coming together to vent their frustrations with their boyfriends. Modeled as an anthem for girlfriends who were let down, it fulfills its role of channeling their anger. The song itself isn't bad but for a video on the Top 10, it is somewhat empty.

7) Hahaha

Yes, that's what the video is called. The entire video is about a baby going hahaha at the cues by an adult, possibly its father. The sounds that the adult makes, akin to Homer Simpson's D'oh, set the baby off on a giggle spree. I know babies are cute and adorable with their cherubic laughter but a video of nearly 2 minutes with little else is not all too interesting. Some people suggesting that the baby may be a victim of substance abuse does not help its credibility.

The support for this video comes from the hordes that squeal at the slightest hint of cuteness in anything. Be it little kids who get their fix from puppies doing backflips or aged men and women who post videos of children biting other kids' fingers (more on this later), a large population allows the proliferation of these videos through chain mails with subjects along the lines of 'FWD:FWD: CUTEST BABY LOLZ. PASS TO 15 PPL TO HAVE CUTE BABBY'.

6) I know you want me

Pitbull's most (only?) succesful single has all the ingredients to success in perspective - even if not in the right quantity. A white, blue-eyed, Cuban-American rapping is not what everyone wants to hear; Especially if a majority of the rapping is a display of the person's astronomical counting skills (all the way up to 4). However, this being the YouTube countdown, the quality of the video is what we should be looking at.

To put it plainly, the video is a vehicle for the gratuitous display of the sensuality of Latin American chicks in short skirts. And we're not complaining. The video is well done, with the beats of the song being accentuated by the moves of the leading ladies. Occasional images of the Cuban flag give a throwback to Pitbull's lineage and when coupled with a carefully placed display of Brazilian colors, add to the whole South American feel of the video. Though not suitable for younger audiences, the video vindicates its position, even if only as the choice of the average male.

Coming in the next post:
The top 5 in the list along with a few other videos (that deserve views even if not in the top 10).

-Mod

A view of the future

2010-06-20T17:19:00.001+05:30

The gray concrete bit into my thoughts. The light from the lone, dim bulb in the middle of the room didn't brighten my mood any. I hated being alone in a block of gray. Three days without my lenses. Walking through streets with no lighting or color was depressing. Couldn't even find my damn way to the store. Again, the dullness of it all hit me like a blunt axe. Looking at four gray walls staring at you impassively wouldn't boost your morale either. I'd have to go in a while to collect the lenses. Those wretches probably put the defects in them. Like missing out a few colors. Or not seeing one of the girls in the movie. Putting the defects in them just so you go back and shell out more credits. Trust the government to suck you dry. I hope they fix the Eve linkup too. I can't get through the day without that tranquil face telling me things will be alright. That voice and face soothe me; They take me out of this lie we pass off as a world. My mood really goes to shit without her comforting me. Without those record instances, I wouldn't have got through these three days with my sanity. Last time Eve went down, there was almost a riot. They take our only voice of hope away and call it maintenance. Trust the government to mess with your head.

I hope the cab makes it in time. I'll end up breaking a door if it doesn't turn up. Wonder how that would turn up inside the world. Probably a poster for the Alliance. "Trust the government." Fat chance.

I can hear the cab pulling up outside. Late, as expected. But I should make it to the store in time. I step out of my room to have the grayness embrace me. I need to bear it. It won't be long now.

The store guy was surprisingly friendly. Then again, the hostility the gray shows must be what made me think that. Anything is better than the colorless desolation. None of it mattered anymore. I had my lenses again. It was time to go home.

I slipped in my lenses and opened my eyes again. My world was back. The pristine white covered the buildings again. The trees towering amidst the blocks were back too. A homecoming for a weary traveler. Enjoying the colors would have to wait. Mia would be waiting for me at home. And if she chose today to throw a tantrum (by random chance, the government assures us), I'd always have Eve. Time to go home.

Unrelated poem

2010-06-07T14:33:00.002+05:30

I haven't posted in a long time. That's a fact. I have a valid reason. I could go on and tell you why. But, any sort of apology just wouldn't seem sincere. It probably isn't.

So, here's an unrelated poem.

For every path, and for its every fork,
Every trail with grass that is trod,
For seas crossed and oceans seen,
Clear crimson clouds cut through,
For bird-songs heard at the tranquil dawn,
And the day spent basking in the sun,
For every sweet scent on a gentle breeze,
Every touch of a caring hand,
And every damsel saved,

Remember that there is always a twin,

A road not taken and a choice not made,
An unseen trail that leads to a rainbow,
A clear crystal lake and a river unseen,
A storm-cloud raging and spewing its fury,
The cry of a vulture piercing the wind,
And a cold, dark winter with a blanket of snow,
There is the stench of blood from a battlefield,
A wrinkled palm soon to be dust
And a succubus drawing out your blood.*

*Alternate ending available on FB.
That's it. Too profound for my usual writing?

Art, part 2

2010-05-25T17:21:00.000+05:30

Its been nearly a month. I'll have you know its been a tough one at that. With a surf trip to Mangalore (which, to wide surprise, I returned alive from) and the pressure of two unfinished projects, I'm drained mentally as well as physically. I thought of making a compilation of interesting things I had seen recently but the horror that is the Festember Blog put me off all writing whatsoever. So, I decided to do what I said I would. Finish my two-part post on my artwork.

The work I'd shown in my previous post is all with and primarily by software - Photoshop/Gimp/Cinema4D. In this post, I'll cover stuff that I've drawn. With my hands. On the computer. With a tablet. Another short sentence.

My inspiration for drawing was mostly from xkcd. I must confess, I did not display much awesomeness in my drawing, but people (that understood it...) did find it humourous.

Not as much a display of art as it was of what happened during our trip to Riviera. The comment was from Vaidyanathan a.k.a Void a.k.a NoName00. Thankfully, he did not get his hands on any aphrodisiacs.

Most of these drawings are depictions of incidents. Or things people say. Like this one:

Opal is our heavily guarded, fortified, barbed-wired girls hostel, by the way. I did go on to correct him that such an endeavour, although interesting would not bear fruit.

I also attempted humor based on some ideas I'd had earlier:

I also made some others that are potentially unsafe for my blog. Visit my FB album for those.

I've also started making wallpapers of random things that come to my mind (Cinema4D though):

Here's a link to it at a 1680 by 1050. Yes, that is the Android. Identify the reference for Self Satisfaction +10.

I'm also doing a few 3D wallpapers on request or with suggestions. If you've got a good (and simple) idea, send me a message.

I'll close this post with something I made for Festember X. I'm just posting a close up of the original:

That covers most of my artwork. I'm shifting closer to 3D these days since its more fun to make. If you're interested in commissioning something, don't be afraid to ask!

All that apart, I've been rather occupied of late. Will try to increase the frequency of posting :D

Mod

Art

2010-04-26T23:41:00.002+05:30

Here, I present you with all my works of art. It includes bits that people have liked (like my old Photoshop experiments) and bits that people have really liked (like the tsfu-opal-ninja thing).

Going in chronological order, I'll run through (I guess it isn't as detailed as I had hoped it would be) each of my works in PS before I move on to my latest 3D ventures and the *cough* sketches *cough*. I'll be covering my sketches in another post.
If you just want a link to individual albums of all my works, pay a visit to my photobucket page.

I began with signatures, which are little banner like things you add at the bottom of your posts in forums. This is how most internet based digital artists enter the field. Given here is one of my last few siggies.

My affair with Photoshop lasted only 2-3 months but that gave me enough time to experiment with other styles of art as well as image generation and manipulation. My personal favorite when it comes to art style is pixel art:

This style of art involves creating your piece with pixels. One at a time. A typical image takes about an hour to create but the end result can prove stunning with experience and creativity. If you want an example of how far pixel art can go, visit Nitrome.

I also dipped my toes in fractals and meta-fractals (with the latter being generated using a PS plugin). These are what people (especially girls) have liked most.

I've also done some abstracts. Just head over to my abstracts folder to check them all out. If you browse around on the homepage of my photobucket account, you'll also find the stuff I made for school and college.

My latest creations did not use Photoshop. All my work in the 3d images folders are made with Cinema4D. Being new to the software, I haven't really made any breathtaking 3d masterpieces. Yet. Here's an example:

And yes, I did make that. The background is a stock image but the rest is created in C4D.

That wraps up the basic guide through my artwork. More about art, my inspirations and my sketches in the next post!

A month after the ides of march

2010-04-15T21:43:00.000+05:30

And a month before the ides of may.

I noticed that I haven't posted in a while. It isn't my fault. Since its hard to maintain a blog while your semester exams smile from around the corner, I'll stick to filler articles.

First up, I'll post a series of drawings that I've been doing since I won custody of the graphic tablet from my digital art event.

Second, I'll finally be posting a detailed description of all my art (not including aforementioned sketches).

As for the period after the exams, I have a little job. Little, and non-paying. Oh well. I would also be hanging out in Chennai and am open to all suggestions of drunken bashes and geohashing.

42

2010-03-27T23:23:00.006+05:30

Click this.

This makes it my 42nd post on this blag; and to commemorate the occasion, I've decided to share information about someone I respect a lot. He was a genius in his own right. He could turn entire radio plays into books. He envisioned a future where the quirkiness of human nature would eventually overcome the vestiges of sanity borne today. He wrote on topics far and wide and also penned five books in a trilogy of four. He also happens to be my favorite author.

Douglas Noël Adams, an English writer lived between March 1952 and May 2001. I heard of his most famous creation for the first time during an IIT-foundation class. It took me 4 years to get a copy of a book and subsequently worship him. Those of you that have read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would notice his influences on my work (with the other major influence being Jonathan Stroud). His ability to bring humour (At least within the reaches of this article, I'll stick to British spelling :D ) to the most disconnected of circumstances is unparalleled. Sample this:

"You may not instantly see why I bring the subject up, but that is because my mind works so phenomenally fast, and I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number."

"Er, five," said the mattress.

"Wrong," said Marvin. "You see?"

The mattress was much impressed by this and realized that it was in the presence of a not unremarkable mind.

While it does not have much by way of plot, the Hitchhiker's series is one of the best pieces of science fiction that non-geeks would read. The heady mix of satire, wit and cynicism is rare (if not absent) in sci-fi, which is composed of more serious stories, with humour being the garnishing.

Adams' passing was sudden and was mourned by fans around the world. Hackers at MIT left messages on their great dome. Posts called for (and eventually established) Towel Day - a day to pay tribute to the author and his works. Fellow writers still speak fondly of the man he was.

There are some books you read. There are some you read and share. There are also the tiny few that you cherish and try to emulate.

As the MIT hackers put it; So long, and thanks for all the wit.

Quiz pro quo

2010-03-14T21:03:00.002+05:30

People have heard of quizzes. Some have been to one. And then, there are some that have set one. This post is dedicated to those that attempted the third and ended a few shades short of flying colors. Or failed miserably. Even if you aren't a quizzer, you just might find this interesting.

What is it that people look for in a quiz? A good question? Some great info? A new question that wasn't ripped from wiki? Or, as quizzers like me put it, crowd rating?
To be truthful, none of these matter (Well, maybe the last one, a bit...). You could give the most convoluted funda this side of QFI but will only meet with disapproval if it makes little sense. You could also try cheap tricks like including for every two questions, one on savita bhabhi. This, although effective on the short run, will fizzle out. What is really important is that the audience is interested - and remains that way. What I'm putting down here is a list of Dos, Don'ts and Don't even think abouts for quizzes.

Do put in interesting questions. Sea urchins, no matter how many legs they have, are just not that interesting.
Do give clues. Make the questions workable. Drop hints. Be subtle. Hide your clues in a flurry of text if you have to. Just don't give half a line of obscure data and expect people to crack it (or give a damn).
Do include questions that the entire crowd is bound to crack. Maintain some class, though. Questions on Swami Nityananda are ok. Doctor Prakash is best left in the recycle bin.

Don't have too many questions on a topic. Even if its your specialty, it becomes a grind. Not everyone shares one's obsession with LOLcats.
Don't leave trails. Consecutive questions on Da Vinci, Santi and Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni aren't such a good idea.

Don't be a wikish*g. Go beyond removing the [citation needed] tags and research a bit. Don't just copy from wiki. You're only helping the chronic Googlers if you leave pieces of text untouched.

Don't even think of copying from another quiz. Even if you're from someplace remote, chances are, someone has seen the QFI quiz you're ripping.
Don't, for the love of god, set a question just because wiki has a list about it. The list of all the different breeds of sub-Saharan camels, although an interesting list, does not appeal to most audiences.

Most of these are based on my own experiences as a quiz-master and a participant. Some of these are corrections for mistakes I've made. Although this list gives the general frame, what's important is that the quiz set is interesting and fun.

Whatever you do, just make sure you don't end up with a lame quiz. If I'm there, I will boo you down.

The reality of an illusion

2010-03-12T22:48:00.000+05:30

Here's the poem I submitted for Shaastra/Kurukshetra/Pragyan for short story. The original was at Shaastra and the other two are a modified version (which, by my own admission, is not as good as the first). I tried to keep it as close as the original but some of the changes caused excessive divergence. Leave your opinion in the comments section.

The reality of an illusion

The door swung ajar as the clock struck nine;
For, not a day passed without him on time.
He rolled in leaving a slight trail of slime
That basked in the twin suns’ early morn shine.

As he moved in, the side door slid, showing
Her trembling form behind the seat it hid.
One tentacle motioned for her to come
As another closed on a draught of rum.
She stood at her seat, pale as a young wraith
And walked in, clutching to her bosom, faith.
A slug in a bad mood was all but rare
And add to one, drink, it leaves but despair.

She stood before him with eyes gone red,
Her courage amassing within.
All the night’s crying in her lonely bed
Had worn her rather thin.
He drew out notes from the top of the pile
And looked at the ones marked ‘bad’;
Asked with a darkly lit smile
If it was all she ever had.
She stared back holding in tears,
And asked for another chance.
Watching them for millions of years
Left her wanting more than a last glance.
His face screwed up as the rum hit him
In unison with her renewed plea.
His eyes became cloudy near the rim
And dark as a storm at sea.
“Of course not!”, he yelled at her face,
“You’ve had enough. They do
Nothing but fight in a dizzy craze
And you know that too.”
Her face softened, her tears began to slide,
All she could do was pray.
Even if reason was on his side,
That little world could not go gray.
“They are my children”, she began.
“I’ve seen them grow for so long.
I’ve witnessed every plan,
Every right and every wrong.”
“And that is why”, he replied,
“exactly why you must see.
For our profits to stay high,
That one cannot be.

Nobody wants to buy a world
That is covered in carnage.”
“But they are harmless”, she protested,
“and will learn with age.”

“Mostly”, he corrected her.
“And I’ve given you your order.
If you want to work here, get rid of
That chunk of disorder.”
She could do no more for this little world
But she would be there for the rest.
After all, they needed her
Like younglings, their nest.

She hardened her heart and went to the back
Where the heart of the system lay.
All the worlds were on neatly stacked racks
As she had left them the previous day.
She told herself this had been coming,
It was no surprise.
With sentience came a choice of two -
Peaceful existence or eventual demise.
With quivering fingers
She turned on the terminal
And searched among the worlds
Dying and germinal.

She found the one he wanted erased
And bid it a teary goodbye.
And she commanded the system,
Barely hiding her sigh,
“Commence editing”. The terminal
Replied, “Data required: Complete”
With a tear rolling, she replied,
“World: Earth. Delete.”

Last Night

2010-01-16T11:58:00.001+05:30

As seen in the books of her unholy haemomancer-ness. Any reference to any person real or fictional is probably intended. If you're a lawyer, this post was written by my neighbour.

This crepuscular tale begins with a girl. She can be described as beautiful, intelligent and a stunning example of nature's crafting. But then, that would be a lie. We'll settle for something a tad lower. She's average.

The tale proceeds with a boy (Girl on girl action, involving cups, is best left to shock-sites). He would be an average guy in a normal world. But then, with a normal world and a normal boy, you can't have rabid fangirls across the universe. So, in their world, he's strong, understanding, smart, good-looking (So fantastically beautiful, in fact, he wouldn't be altogether out of place as a tragic hero in a story about a boy wizard). Since we have a boy and a girl, there's bound to be some action. So, let's give him good breath. Most important of all, he's sparkly. Like a firecracker. Or a Christmas decoration.

Now that we have our two main characters decided, we must ensure the two meet. What do average girls of schooling age do? Go to high school. And what do sparkly, superhuman immortals that have spent decades hunting and battling bands of roving trolls do? Go to high school, of course.

All high schools are in areas with wooded clearings right around the corner. A perfect spot for one-to-one conversations about life, the universe and everything. But not for our couple. Being the deeply romantic and moving story it is, our couple will sit in said clearing and talk about how bad sandwiches taste when cut in particular ways. As you are on the verge of forgiving them for this minor transgression, they reveal they are falling in love. *Slow, painful music*

No romantic story can exist without a disturbing love triangle. Girl is bat-crazy about guy 1. Guy 1 is sparkly enough to possess homosexual intentions towards Guy 2. Guy 2 has a wolf-like hunger for love from Girl. Guy 2 is doing something that all rebellious girls love. He repairs motorcycles.

To add a bit of originality, let us add family affairs and century long blood-feuds to the broth. Any parallels you are drawing with Romeo and Juliet are your own imagination. Any similarities you find with the works of Bram Stoker will cause him to turn in his grave, obtain vampiric unlife, hunt you down, dismember you and set you on fire. Stoker wrote novels, not fairytales with christmas decorations.

Since we've provided here the key elements of the story, it is up to you to make up the details as you go. In all probability, whatever sappy tosh you come up with, it just might be what our unholiness wrote in her series.

I read a book last night.

This post submitted for Blogomania 2010. If you like it, head over there and vote for me.

Vote for me now! Blogomania 2010 sponsored by Odyssey360 | Buy online from over 5 million books

Critiqus Anonimus

2010-01-15T23:25:00.000+05:30

*Points* The Critiqus Anonimus. She's a beauty isn't she?

This marvelous creature, known my its common name whysostoopid, never ceases to amaze binary etymologists around the web. Rearing its neck from its hovel only to let out a slow, winding moan, the creature makes its presence felt by sending shock waves rippling across the interwebs. These waves are often created by a group that closely follows the activities of the creature and are responsible for feeding it and keeping it alive (The group, incidentally, is known as The Group). Critiqus shows a level of intelligence not unlike the others of its kind, which, when considered as a whole, are called blogs (Of course, any researcher worth his salt knows that the right term would be blag). This particular member of the species shows sleeping patterns that are affected by how often it is fed by The Group. Being a youngling of its kind, it seems to depend a lot on them for its nourishment and well being.

An interesting example of its kind, Critiqus, has shown behaviour that suggests it wants to be the Alpha individual. Supporting this evidence are its shouts via the group and its erratic speech pattern (probably a result of the varied fodder from members of The Group) that are surely calls seeking attention. The fate of this specimen might prove to be interesting with its caretakers indulging in various forms of legal, semi-legal and not-really-legal-but-fun-anyway activites including (and not limited to) Geohashing, Alcoholism, Marijuana cultivation, Tweeting, Piracy and Studying. Initial date collected about members of The Group indicate addiction to Alcohol (as mentioned earlier), The Interwebs and videos showcasing the mating rituals a 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned, alien race.

Coming back to the creature, the Critiin is a must watch for a researcher seeking worldly knowledge. Even if the information from it comes in little bursts, the occasional light it sheds on some topics to such enlightening degrees that it just might be the next big flash of news. To find the Critin in its natural habitat, one must tread carefully to its top-secret mountain hiding place.

I hope more of my journeys will open our eyes to such insightful creatures. If you ever feel the need for adventure, trek to said hiding place and observe the Critin.

In other news, I finished Soul Reaver 2. My next post may or may not see me writing normally again. Also, I am searching for things from my past. I found a poem.

So long

2010-01-02T18:18:00.000+05:30

And thanks for all the memories.

Time pulls closer the inevitability of fate and my condemnation to the darkest of realms, where I shall wander again, a listless soul, anguished by the sheer weight of a burden that no mortal must be bid to bear. It is time to be parted from the comfort of my home and embrace, with might, the bleak future that adorns my path. It is also time to leave my love. My only solace lies in this fate being shared by numerous others; brave souls that will do battle by my side; souls that will face, with me, ambushes of the most vile of papers, set upon us by demented mentors seeking to test us on the little we learnt (while awake) under their tutelage.

College. And no, I still haven't finished Soul Reaver 2 (guilty, yet again, of poisoning my tongue with language deemed archaic).

Right, that wraps up everything I have to say. Here is a list of things I did these holidays (some of which, even if I say so myself, proved rather fun):

Discovered Very Demotivational, IMMD and Hawtness.
Saw more funny pictures.
Earned money.
Spent said money.
Learnt about suicide on uncyclopedia.
Convinced people on Omegle that I was Basement Cat.
Discovered that my parents follow my blog AND my twitter handle. (Not on fun list)
Set up a collaborative blog.
Found out my blog has 10 followers (w00t!).
Downloaded Deus Ex, Final Fantasy VII and Soul Reaver 2.
Downloaded The Playlist of Instant Attraction.
Planned for my digital art event coming up in February.
Entered 3D art. (Check out earlier posts)
Downloaded and subsequently fell in love with Plants Vs. Zombies.
Wrote a short story-poem in Sci-Fi for Kurukshetra. (Will put it up sometime)
Read So long, And thanks for all the fish.

Yup, it's been interesting. With the next year breaking, I'm looking forward to a bit more fun.

Have fun.

Follow up: TMoHS review

2009-12-25T12:51:00.002+05:30

Going through my previous post, I noticed I had not covered comprehensively the view-ability aspects of the series. Alright, maybe it wasn't much more than a fan rave. Seeking to undo my wrong, I set upon the forging of another post that delves deeper into the plotline and emerges as a review for the blessed series. (Archaic language, courtesy of Soul Reaver 2).

First, the plotline. Oh, the plotline. Giving out the slightest of details would constitute a spoiler. For a series that is an incoherent stampede of episodes, the plot holds up rather well. The first few episodes introduce the main characters of the series sequentially (with the exception of the first episode itelf, which, to cut a long story short, is disorienting and interesting). Compressed into 13 episodes is the story of a girl, Haruhi Suzumiya, combining the genres of Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery and plain, old, high school life. The direction of the series is exceptional, with subtle imagery that mimics the events in the story.

Next, the graphics. As good as any other well designed anime, TMoHS captures the emotions of its characters with a good degree of accuracy (ex. the insanity on Haruhi's face). Its not something that you could watch the series for, but it satisfies nonetheless.

On to the music. The fact that the seiyu (voice actor) Aya Hirano won multiple awards for the songs in the series (especially Bouken Desho Desho, which, is awesome) should speak for itself. The beginning and ending songs epitomize the ideas the series prescribes.

Finally, the characters.( *Must... fight... Fanboy rave urge...*) Well, they're good. Really, really good. Each character is developed with a specific purpose that is revealed over the course of the anime. The depth and detail devoted to each character is unimaginable in the age of hack-and-slash franchises like Bleach and Naruto.

Overall: A great series for anyone looking for a good story. If you watch with a mind open enough, you could even be influenced by the series (Yes, this is to blame for some of my weirdness as well). If the concept of having fun has always caught your fancy, you're sure to like it. As I said in the previous post, do watch it. You won't regret it. A little Haruhiism never hurt anyone.

The Phenomenon of Haruhi Suzumiya

2009-12-21T22:21:00.001+05:30

Let's start with a friendly word. Anime is not cartoon. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Before we get started on the (pending) post on TMoHS, it would be a good idea to get a clear picture of what anime is. Ben10 is a cartoon. Cartoons are primarily for kids. Anime, on the other hand, caters to as wide a range of viewers as chocolate, i.e. everyone. You have the childish run-of-the-mill fantasy series (like Bleach), the types that beckon with childlike beauty (like Chobits), the complex types (like S. E. Lain) and the types best left without mention (ask me in person). These broad classifications are but examples of the most typical genre. Add to this a thousand series, each having a devoted fan following and you have a whole new order in your hands. Sadly, however, for the inexperienced viewer, anime falls into the worst of classifications (hentai and cartoon). I can only ask you to watch some good ones before you take your side on the 'anime is for kids' debate. There are amazing examples that are shorter than 26 episodes. Eat that, sitcom addicts.

On to what this post is really about. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TMoHS, as mentioned earlier). TMoHS is one of the best pieces of art I have seen - and that's putting it lightly. It isn't a series that I would suggest for someone getting started on anime. It certainly isn't a defining work. And most important of all, it is a heady mix of a number of genres. Watching it twice will probably be necessary before you fall into Haruhi's fandom (and eventually start worshiping her). The sheer brilliance of it all does not come out until the end (Hell, the first episode, provided you watch it in the right order, leaves you wondering what you saw). Choosing a non-linear narrative is a nice touch that brings the right amount of suspense to the mystery that is TMoHS. Oh, and do watch it in Japanese (with subs).

To see the aftereffects of TMoHS, a google search will reveal how far things from the series have entered our world. Apart from huge fan bases (and related rabid fangirl/fanboy attacks), the show has even inspired flash mobs in full cosplay that start dancing at busy intersections. The prison inmates at a filipino prison (yeah, the same guys that brought us the Thriller dance) added the outro of the series to this their dance numbers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xx4tszZ-DE).

Just like any other series, TMoHS has its critics, who, despite being hammered by fans, pick at the anime. I guess there is a price to pay when you adapt a long manga and shorten it to 13 episodes (that's less than half the running time of the average english season). The depth and the ideals brought out in the series make up for most of its shortfalls. The songs from the series, which are among my favorites, If you've got the time to download and watch it, do it right away.

On another note, I'm trying to figure out something fun to do for New Year's. Any suggestions?

Liminality at Pragyan 2010

2009-12-17T22:29:00.002+05:30

The tech fest of NITT is around the corner. This time, with a dull website and interesting events, the interest thus far has fallen a mile short of overwhelming. The prizes are as good as always (I still cherish that coffee cup I won in my first year). Offsetting that is a surge in the number of events (some of them, surprisingly, are good). In this freshly sorted heap, is Liminality; The first event Pragyan has seen that takes your mind away from the technical and technological indulgences that have become something of a bore.

I'm sorry the picture isn't that good. I didn't have enough time to work on it.
Now, back to Liminality:

The basics - Limi is a digital art event. We'll be giving the participants PS (CS 3 or 4) and let them paint the town pixelly. Artists that use graphic tablets are also allowed to participate and they're allowed to bring their own brushes and fonts. We'll also be putting up a PS101 for people that haven't tried it before but are eager to.
The cash - 3,000 if you win. Slightly smaller amounts for coming in second and third. And if your initial submissions are good enough, we might even be printing T shirts with them :D

There is no restriction on the genre; In fact, we'd like to see some variety in the submissions. Any thing from pixel art to photomanips is allowed.

If you're into art, or know friends that are, please pass this on. The topics are not your standard love, war and peace (We nearly made them Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik but decided to avoid copyright entanglement) and the people reviewing it might actually understand pop culture references you make. There are also bonus points for using lolspeak in your image.

Link: Liminality

Pass it on, won't you?

The end and the beginning

2009-12-16T22:31:00.004+05:30

With 12 grueling hours topping off a largely similar week, my work draws to a close.

What this means to you: Articles on everything I've mentioned in the past but let slip.
What this means to me: Life. Liberty. The pursuit of the fairer sex. Or, as a friend put it,

"There'll soon be a billboard on Elliots Beach... "Wanted: Single Woman, any shape, size, age. Kindly contact the undersigned. Mod"

Rather than leave this a stub, I thought I would put in a few pieces of junk that are too small to occupy their own topics and interesting enough to warrant mention.

First, visit Wiki: Balls by Picasso for a well written entry that describes the literary society of NITT. Depending on when you decide to pay a visit, the status of availability of said site will vary. If you have a wiki account, post in the Talk section and vote against deletion ^_^.

Second, and with a slight shade of importance, are quotes. Not the quotable kind you get in RD (Ex. Love people. Use things. Never confuse the two.) but the kind that must be shared with the intensity of a roll. Mentioned below are actual snippets from a conversation we were having with a professor who is overseeing our project.

Prof: So, you're from Trichy. You know, that place is fit only for night schools. Because it is Tiruchi Raa Palli.
Us: He He... yeah...

Prof: Do you have all the data I gave you?
Us: Yes sir, we have it all filed.
Prof: Oh, that's not possible. Only if you're in Mech Engg., you can file everything.
Us: Ha. Ha. *cough*

Prof: Tell your friend Harshavardhan to be nice to people, or he will be called Harsh vardhan.
Us: Yeah...

Prof: (In MS Excel) Ah, I just managed to add 3 rows to the sheet. Now, I can order the same brand of tea (Go figure).

Prof: In a North Indian restaurant, there is limited variety - Rotis, sabzi and raita. Each is kept in a separate row. A customer eats there and complains that the sabzi provided isn't hot enough. Why?
Us: ??
Prof: Because it was kept in sabzi row!

(WARNING: Grand finale)
Prof: It is the year 2020. There has been a variant of avian flu that has killed most of the chicken on the planet. All the people are sad since tasty wings are out of the question now. I create a device that manages to cook crows (they aren't that tasty normally) and brings KFC back in business. Now, to patent my invention, what do I call it?
Us: *Blank stare*
Prof: Mycrowprocessor!
Us: *Facepalm*

We hope you enjoyed it.
And I'll try to make up for this with a few good posts ^__^.

Anatomy of a fest

2009-12-11T00:12:00.001+05:30

This post hopes to be a reasonable argument discerning between the various aspects of a cultural fest. If you are a fanatic that pledges undying loyalty to the likes of Saarang/MI/Any fest with crores pumped into it. you should really stop reading now. Or now. You could also go on a fast as a means of protest. That certainly works better and has far less in the form of consequences than the option of blocking me. I may not have written 4 miserable books but I do know how to use hashtags. #chetanblocks

Getting back to the topic - The reason for this post lies in a conversation-debate-argument I had yesterday that involved the analysis of the aspects of a cultural fest. Although the chat didn't lead anywhere, it gave me a lot to think about. Given the hundreds of fests out there, the possibility of a fest standing out depends on very few factors. Mentioned here are what I feel are the biggest contributors to the status of being "big". For the fanatics: Before you begin, do keep your mind open, and for blood's sake, use your brain. If there are points of contention, I hope to god they do not revolve around grammar or the incorrect assignment of *random* numbers.

Factor M aka Teh Moola: There isn't much to say here. The culturals with the biggest bank to dig from ends up on top. This can also be the sole deciding factor in many cases - from cash prizes that want you to return the subsequent year for another sweep to half page event coverage in newspapers (Yes, we all know who the Arindam chowdhury of cultural fests is), the reasons for prominence rising from monetary advantages are many. This factor also accounts for the failure of many fests.

Factor F aka Teh Fun!: This is what sustains the interest of regular participants - the people that are a part of dance/theatre/lits groups. Even if the money on offer is low, and the advertising is limited, the simple word-of-mouth spread of information drags people in. This could range from a well conducted, fair event to the presence of elements on campus that add to the charm (Yes, I mean NLS). This factor often overpowers the negatives of the monetary aspect but will not be enough to bring in participation from non-regular members.

Advertising aka Teh Face: What colleges see first when they hear of a fest is very important. The publicity video that goes out and the posters that are put up in other colleges could very well decide the fate of a fest, especially if they are lacking. The closest example I can give would be that of Festember itself - the video, on top of being found lacking, was mocked at some of the colleges that were visited. The abuse of the "headphones" pretty much killed it. Preventing a Facepalm is as simple as making the publicity material good.

Location aka Teh WhereTF: Let's face it. No matter how good a fest is, if it is at a college that is hundreds of miles from civilization, nobody is going to want to go there. Nobody, here, includes participants as well as sponsors. And without this financial backing, we are back at the dead end of Factor M.

The Analysis:
The combination of all these points at one fact - However interesting or fun a fest is, the chances of it being recognized depend heavily on the student community that supports it. If a fest banked on its fun factor, chances are, it would crash. Without good organization, it falls on its face. Without participation, there are no numbers to show to future sponsors. And without these sponsors, there is practically no hope of getting more participants the next year. Now, I'm not saying this evil circle gripped Fember. There was enough mediocrity in the organization to kill it without the other factors even playing a role. Marred by a disastrous publicity vid right at the beginning and having numerous problems during the execution (Acco, for eg.), I could even go as far as saying the entourage brought by the regulars was its saving grace.
The main point posed as argument to my statement (which is more or less what I've written here) was that a cultural fest that is good cannot be obscure. I agree to this to an extent. Any fest that people like will have its set of dedicated regulars to keep it alive but it ends there. There is no reason for the crowd coming in to exceed this basic participatory amount. There is no way that word of mouth can make up for all the other factors shadowing its popularity. You like the fest, you tell your friend. He might tell his friends about it, who, in turn, might tell theirs. Going by plain probability, the odds are not for it. It is possible, although the mathematical improbability is stacked against it.

There is a lot more to add to this that simply cannot be done by presenting to the reader my views. If I feel there is adequate information to add to this, I shall in the future. If you are a staunch supporter of some really big fest (say, Saarang), analyze exactly what makes your fest good. I have no intention of beginning a silly debate here. However, if you choose to break down the facts and look at them objectively, I would love to start our discussion there. My summary is that many fests suffer due to one or many of the reasons listed above. It would be a harsh (and somewhat stupid) move to condemn it as a failure simply because you haven't heard of it. Saarang is not the best. Festember is not the worst. And there are facets of one that better the other. Look at your own fest critically. Think.

Leave your views, replies, rants and phone numbers in the comments section.

Have u seen mah bukkit?

2009-12-06T12:54:00.000+05:30

I am not the lolrus.

After nearly 3 years, I've started designing again and I've put up the offspring from my latest affair here. This new start also brings new experiments - the most obvious of which is my shift to 3D. Dropping plain Photoshop and adding Cinema 4D (and in some cases, a combination of the two) to my worktable, the style of my latest phase is shifting closer to jaw-dropping/stunningly realistic images. It is a long way though, and having two projects and a bit of work doesn't make the transition smoother.

The induction of C4D didn't go well either. Starting with the loss of half my installed software and a subsequent state of semi-depression that involved seeking succour on FB (which eventually degenerated into a discussion of the Group of Death) and research on methods of self-termination (where 1 page in 12 actually told you how to do it), I gradually recovered and faced less-serious-but-troubling-all-the-same problems. Like my computer hanging (which, incidentally, I faced an extra time because a friend wouldn't believe that the rendering of certain images could really cause computers to crash). The butterscotch praline on the cake was my discovery of heavy usage on my condemnably limited internet plan, which would force me to cut down the time online or shell out money. Seeing as I was incapable of performing the latter, I was (am) forced to stop fBS, among other things.

Faced with despair, I convinced myself that making little pieces of 3D art was the key to making my life a whole lot better and set about working on C4D. The results were not wholly unsatisfactory. And while you're at my photobucket album, go through the other folders as well. I could do with some positive reinforcement right now ^_^.

On a different note, some of you might have noticed the Wikipedian appeals for donations on your recent visits there. If you have cash to spare, do contribute. You may lose a week's supply of Absolut but your contribution to the sharing of knowledge helps a lot of people. And who knows, the fairer sex might even appreciate your new found sobriety!

Beating the system

2009-11-26T15:03:00.002+05:30

The exams draw to a close for engineering colleges across the country. The sighs and whimpers of a significant portion of this populace is as apparent as it is expected. Once again, a month is spent dreading the arrival of the next semester. And once again, a month is spent awaiting the arrival of those numbers and letters that define a student in the eyes of the parents. This is not a log calling upon the system to change. It merely derides it.

Why is it that these grades are seen as better markers of performance than a student's ability to excel in a field of his or her choice? It can be said that at least a third of engineering students would rather be pursuing some other avenue. Pushed into these streams by peer or parental pressure, some of them trudge through, even if the goal is merely getting to the other side with the hope of a better, and perhaps more interesting, life after. Others grind through these years with no plans beyond these four and join the herds flocking to an IT company. Yet others choose easier ways out and drop out and attempt to rebuild their lives around a course of their interest. And then there are the few that lose hope and resort to escapism to deal with the mounting pressures brought upon them by an army of sheep pushing and pulling to secure the grades of distinction that a failing system bestows upon them. These few are not the only ones falling to the viles but they definitely are the ones worthy of that bit of pity. Whether it is alcohol, dope, smoke or being locked up in a room with a cup of noodles and a TV show for the whole day (A disclaimer that these are just examples might seem ironic), the fact remains that these methods are nothing but base, escapist tendencies. It must be easy for those without these indulgences to pass judgement upon the seeming lesser mortals. What should be considered is not their unsavoury act of leaving the path but the causes for the very straying. As mentioned, it is easy - a bit too easy at that - to mark them as losers, and move on without a second's thought.

Why does this start, anyway? Maybe, all the hours spent in a room full of marijuana smoke have a meaning that the "smarter" ones refuse to see. Be it a drop in GPA or a disillusionment with the educational system as a whole, each is a reason as good as the other for someone on the verges of depression to sink lower and give up on studies - or on life, for that matter. The onus is on the ones that still hold on to their sanity and sensibility to drag the others out, even if it means getting a little muck on oneself. It takes a pat on the back and a meal shared at a fancy restaurant to profess friendship but these hours of seeming attachment mean little if the need for a friend is not satisfied in those hours when someone is spiralling down into despair. Of course, the fault isn't entirely with the ones that are better off. There is some hesitation owing to the fear of seeming overbearing. This leaves a small gap between the two groups that must be bridged by some indication that help is needed. It isn't humiliating to go to a friend for help or to share problems with someone. Understably, this step is the hardest to cross and is where most of the connections break. Even so, a minute spent thinking about what is right might prevent a decision to end it all.

Most of what is written would appear somewhat directed and hence, a bit without meaning, but sit on it a while. If you're got friends that need help, don't hesitate. And more importantly, if you need help, don't keep it in. It doesn't have to be a beer buddy or even someone of the same sex. If you consider someone a friend, talk to them. Anything is better than wasting your life away. That's what friends do anyway - they look out for each other.

Back without a bang

2009-11-23T16:07:00.002+05:30

I'm back. Even though I didn't say so with a heavy austrian accent, it was somewhat expected. And here is a three piece discourse; each, a discourse on the near present.

The week that was:
Rain is beautiful. As each drop falls and lowers the temperature and every bit of moisture seeps into the earth, you let it soak you up with the smell and joy that comes with it. You think of hot chocolate, snuggling under a warm blanket and girls - or some combination of the above. You think of how wonderful the weather is. You bask in the wet radiance. The weather is perfect for just about any activity you enjoy. What it isn't, is the right time to study. When you need to study, everything fades and what is left is the ghostly, gray shell of life. You notice the bugs that come with the rain, the mold that grows on your food and the way the cloudy sky lowers the luminous flux density in your room. The colour leaves your life and your dreams/nightmares revolve around the timing cycles of microprocessors (or other equally retarded topics). Your mood drops well before your GPA. Suffice to say, my hopes of scoring high this semester were washed away.
Add to this, the disappointment of not getting to visit NLS for their culturals.

Today:
Logging in to my blag, I find some people actually like my serious article. And before I get the chance to complete a "Wait...What?", I notice that the number of people reading my blag has gone up (Yay!).

Tomorrow and beyond:
Two projects and a semi-internship loom large in the horizon. On the brighter side of life, there are visits to the beach and to ICHC. If things go well, I will also get back to being active on the interweb ^_^

In a name

2009-10-18T10:48:00.001+05:30

Teh. Blag. Half a dozen other idiosyncracies that would leave you thinking I needed grammar/spelling training. Those that lurk around webcomic sites would probably smile at the references. An occasional post that made perfect sense would have seemed more like a chance meeting with sanity that dropped the facade by the next post. To those that I left baffled with my spellungs, this should open an eye.
I can sum up most of this with one word(phrase?) - xkcd. The site that I found while searching for answers to a certain shady quiz somewhere has influenced my writing (at least the not-so-serious parts of it) almost as much as Adams. Toting itself as "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language", it caught my attention with a particular strip. From then on, we've been hitting it off pretty well (well enough for me to give serious thought to geohashing at Chennai).
That (rather short) piece sums up the reasons for my blag. The Teh part is just the regular internet culture of swapping nearby letters (to imply rushed/lazy typing). So, there. That's about all there is in a name.

On the topic of xkcd, my article about is due. I'll try to stick that in by the end of the month. And if anyone reading this has a car and is in the mood for a geohash, let's meet up ^__^.

Lights of a Festival

2009-10-16T20:24:00.000+05:30

He rolled the last one. That would be it for the day. He hated working late before a holiday. He would miss the early hours of the morning when the air was fresh. He looked at his hands. Black. As always. He lifted his fists to his face. The thick smell crawled into his nostrils. Months back, when he still held on to the hope his anna had promised him, he would have found it repulsive. Now, it was just another affront to his senses. Like the black all around him. Like the coarse powder that lined everything about him. Like the laughter of the younger children outside that hadn't entered his world yet. They would eventually. They, too, would be conditioned to ignore all of this. That's how it always went. Anna had spoken of a way out. But he wasn't around. Not after the fire at the other godown last year. Anna had spoken of going to Madras. There was always a job in a big city. And you didn't even have to get your hands covered in the powder. You could make tea. Or sell something on the streets. A decent living. Anything seemed possible when anna said so. All those dreams went with anna and the fire last year.
He got up and walked towards the exit. The coolies were lazing outside. One of them held a beedi in his hand. Anna used to smoke too. Nobody could tell anna what to do; He was older than all of them. He knew much more about the world. If anna smoked a beedi, it was because that was what all men did. He kept begging him to stop. Not that his words were heard. Anna did as he liked. It was the privilege of being born a year earlier. A year earlier. He was as old now as anna was on the day of the fire. Time seemed to mean so little now. Day after, the work would resume. There was always an order, especially for the large thousand-walas. Even after the festival, it would be no different. He thought of what could have been if that fire hadn't started. If only anna had listened to him and stopped smoking.

Thank you for reading. That was my first attempt at writing some serious material. I hope I didn't disappoint. I don't really know why I wrote it. Some conversations I had been having recently laid the seeds for it. I just hope you like it.

Happy Deepavali.

Crushes - Part 2

2009-09-30T22:28:00.000+05:30

I suppose you were waiting. Well, you better have been.

It is time that my treatise on girls, crushes and the whole love scene is dwelled upon in further detail with the narration lending a bit more light on my most recent fling. For those of you that complained of a silly, puppy-love tinge to my previous post, I hope you were expecting a change. It makes it all the more fun to get under your skin.

First, and foremost, I would like to declare that I am over my little fancy. Yes, quite sudden, I agree. Given that I only admitted to a crush, this change can, perhaps, be overlooked. Of course, if you didn't find it sudden when I started it a week back, this would barely ruffle a feather. Providing, as it did, little comic caper, the past week made me think. Consider my case: I'm in a college with girls that run straight into two categories - uninteresting or taken. Seeing as neither is likely to provide engaging company for the evening, my thirst slips into a little status quo that seeks little and sleeps long. This equilibrium, much like that of a mexican standoff, takes little to be thrown off balance. As little as the sight of a cute girl. Picture a see-saw. With a fat guy. And me. When you throw a swan in a pool of ducks (pardon my reference to ugliness), being temporarily stupefied by the brilliance and beauty is a fairly common reaction. It did take me by surprise though.

In the end, it probably comes down to the aspects of character that draw you in. I would find it rather weird to spend a day conversing with someone that hasn't heard of Jedi. Or Star Wars, for that matter. Even so, weird could be interesting. As the situation has not been juiced to its limit, I just might continue. The idea of making contact and pretending to be a stalker should prove funny. Or I could let her read my chatlog (Refer: Crushes - Part 1). Whichever path this takes, a bit of fun seems to be drawing closer.

Oh, and if you're a girl, you have my gratitude for being one.

Facebook Stalking

2009-09-27T16:30:00.001+05:30

Cheesy, I know. But hey, who doesn't love lolcats?

Before I complete my post on crushes and the internet, I decided to run a primer on stalking. Online. Apart from sounding cursably cool and absurdly interesting, my recently acquired hobby runs along the fringes of the law, making it even more enjoyable.

Although Facebook Stalking (fBS) has been going on for a while thanks to its relative ease (Orkut keeps tabs on where you go. And tells them. Bad, bad server), I never really gave much thought to the habit of running on clicking sprees that lead you on the never ending quest for great profile pictures. Before FB, I could not understand the logic behind following someone for miles at a stretch, only to watch them enter their house and be locked away for the rest of the day. This line of thought was derailed with my discovery of the exhiliration that is fBS.

My search began in a friend's profile and lead me through a long and daunting search (that lasted the whole of 5 seconds) before I reached the page (and understandably, the picture) I was searching for. I found the picture, all right. Apart from granting a poor view of the subject in question, there were also elements in the picture that detracted one's attention. Not in the positive sense, mind you. Suffice to say, I was disappointed. All that effort, and all I got was this lousy weblog.

Disappointment and anticipation aside, fBS is fun if you're interested in browsing through a ton of profile pics to remind of the exact aspects of life you're missing in yours. Its something like bharatmatrimony.com, only with cuter girls who will never end up on those websites. And if you're single with the right connections and numbers of mutual friends, you might even hit it off.

Next post: Crushes - Part 2

Crushes - Part 1

2009-09-26T16:53:00.000+05:30

I've recently been having a lot of conversations regarding girls and crushes. Some of these have, without the slightest shimmer of doubt, run into extended debates on their characteristics and mannerisms. Well, at least the ones I like, anyway. Of late, the chats have been taking a few bizarre turns and making me wonder how much a person changes when under the influence of a crush. This post, the first in a series is a clutch of chatlogs from my mailbox that I thought would be fun to share. More on this when I get time again :)

(Excerpts from a chat between a friend of mine and me. She asked me to edit her name out but I didn't really bother. Whenever you go over hotandsweetbabe, please block it out mentally.)

me: boo
11:22 PM my browser is fine for now :)
hotnsweetbabe: >:D<
u camed :)
me: yes, yes i did
now, we can talk about her ^_______^
hotnsweetbabe: rolls eyes
me:hehe

me: GIRLS ALL OVER THE WORLD LOVE HARUHI SAMA
hotnsweetbabe: not natural :)
me: you're a disgrace
hotnsweetbabe: i think shes very cute but thats it
me: haruhi or her? o__o
that description fits both...
11:29 PM hotnsweetbabe: $*#&)$*@#Y+

me: and ---- sounds too manly, im gonna call her bi instead
bi as in beee
like how a pokemon with bi in its name wud say it
all kawaii and everything
im so good at this ^___^

me: why?
so that she wud kill me? o__o
tell u wat
once she adds you in fb
go post all this :Di certainly wont get to go out with her
but it'll b fun as hell :Dhotnsweetbabe: don make me do ANKIL vela
me: no, think about it
she almost certainly wont like me after that
but it'll b so much fun!!!me: im willing to risk my future with her for fun :D
hotnsweetbabe: ur toooo obsessed with TMOHS

me: lol
btw
i just ran a google search for her
:D
hotnsweetbabe: OHHHHH
MYY
GODD
11:35 PM me: loooooooooooooooooooooooool
im feeling so crazy rite now :d
i cant think of anything else crazy to do
^__________^
IVE GOT IT
hotnsweetbabe: y dont u google MY name next? :|
me: im gonna get her number and call her up ^___________^

ookina yume, yume, suki desho?

Quizzing at home

2009-09-25T14:51:00.000+05:30

Every fest has a quiz.

Every quiz has questions.

And every question has, behind it, a dedicated team of quizmasters intent on separating the grain from the chaff, the strong from the weak, and if you're at NITT, the girls from the guys.

I spent Festember '09 alternately messing up events and missing big cash by fractions of a point. All this, with the constant distractions in the form of the *cough* participants. To remedy my poor quizzing skills and build up social connections that could, some day, lead me to somebody cute, I started a little quiz database with contributors running across the state. This is the official call for quiz enthusiasts across the interweb wanting to take a wee peak at the quizzing scene in the lower reaches of India. Call your friends, sisters and grandparents and head over to qui.forumer.com and help us in our goal of Quizzing World Domination!

And for the non-literary minded readers, I'll be active this week. So, don't be disappointed :)

With zest, to remember

2009-09-15T18:59:00.000+05:30

This little piece here is an article i wrote for the Writers' Circle of my college for our issue during the cultural fest. Go NITT!

The Fest to Remember has been, for a while, plagued with banter of a re-christening. Aided by only-too-willing sponsors, certified numerologists and the student populace, we’ve shortened the list to a few names that capture the magical spirit of Festember and still manage to sound interesting:

Dept.-ember: Originally an idea for NITTfest that found its way into our book. Adds another dimension to the fest and paves the way for more fights outside The Barn.

Ineptember: Humble coordinators felt the need to lay the facts bare. Also prevents lawsuits by disgruntled sponsors.

Feistember: Hints at the spirited participation from the fairer sex. Idea axed due to bureaucratic disapproval.

Feastember: Idea that came up during debate over the food court issue. Tiruchee Mess Annas’ Welfare Socirty vetoed the plan.

Heptember: Suggestion by alumnus Biggus Dickus based on his Roman origins. It is purported to be the spiritual successor to the Fest in September.

Pestember: Suggestion by NRIs taking inspiration from the biological diversity on campus.

Sleptember: Name coined by participant when asked to comment on Workshops @ Festember.

Cryptember: Meant to be a burial for the entire concept. Blamed for wet dreams of number-cracking nerds.

Festember run-down, v 2.0

2009-09-06T16:36:00.000+05:30

As I've mentioned earlier, spending long periods of time at my college can induce displeasure. The most ugly kind. Add to this a fistful of half-brain idiots and you're nowhere near euphoria. This would, incidentally, be the worst moment to be asked to write a happy, cheerful article about a college fest. Topic of the day: Workshops, Festember '09.

I hope I have redeemed myself sufficiently.
Here's to joy.

It is common to speak unrelentingly on topics that you know little about. There is a lot of change in our professional and personal lives. Most of these involve the year-old secretary and her month-old lump. Opportunities come and go but regrets about safety and protection remain impregnated in the mind. What is familiar is now obsolete. Like the urge to hook up. Sometimes, it pays to stop and smell the roses. Usually, it gets you in trouble. Workshops, are thus held. They unite mind, body and soul in pleasurable (caution suggested) recreational activities that require nothing more than interest, whole hearted participation and some common sense when it comes down to playing it safe. They provide a chance for participants to revitalize themselves, even if it is only to be spent at the end. Participants are also urged to discover hidden talents and spots. Each year, the workshops bring alive what a large section of the populace have always wanted to do at some point in their lives. Last year, we had Salsa, which we disguised cleverly enough to convince the admin that the boys and girls wouldn't break taboo (like touching hands, or looking at each other). We also had Debilitative Writing, Potting, Crossword, word puzzles, words and other related wordy-things solving and Overall ishtyling workshops. This year wanks off nothing less and is all set to be a bang!!!11one

Dedicated to '09 inductees of the Writers' Circle.

Head over to the less entertaining version of the Workshops post here.

Tune In, Drop Out and some more LSD references

2009-08-16T14:36:00.000+05:30

Its that time of the year when we must all pore over dictionaries and word lists to find the most apt synonyms - words that carry the message as clearly as before and yet pack a punch that was hitherto unseen. Yes, its that time when we transform last year's brochures with carefully edited lines that sound fetching, glorious and solid and mean just about the same thing they did last year. Its also that time a fest is held. But who cares about that anyway?

This year, the fest, as always, promises to take you soaring through the clouds and give you a whole new high. Chasing the dragon is recommended procedure. With a participation of over 3,000 candidates and about 300 real ones, the cultural extravaganza promises to drown you in a flood of excitement and leave you wet and moaning. Moving from last year's wonderfully suggestive theme of "Tune in, Drop Out, Get Laid", we bring you "Rewind, Press my Buttons, Behind" that is a bit less suggestive and a lot more fun. With students from all over the country turning up because their boy/girl-friend asked them to, the diversity can be sniffed, much like glue. With events ranging from the formal inauguration and guest performances to the less formal tango dances to the barely legal Beat-Sastra-guys-up event, the three days are the best fix you can get. So, don't miss out on the enjoyness! *Hic* (No, I'm not drunk; That was just to make it all politically correct.)

Side note: Sorry Nittwitts, I used up all my patriotism yesterday. Got nothing to spare for the college.

And if you're really interested in knowing about Festember '09, head to the website. What's more, you can even read an article by me on the blag there.

Yours hypocritically,
Me

There and back again

2009-08-14T15:10:00.000+05:30

It's alive! It's alive!! (cue lightning)

Oh wait, false alarm.

I make my reappearance following a stint (yes, that is precisely what it was) as a student for two harrowingly long weeks. The fortnight was not devoid of fun though; The last two days at college saw the 'outbreak' of piggy flu and the subsequent cancellation of classes (w00t). The icing on teh donut was that none on the campus had a confirmed case and most of it was based on panic generated by an angered (well, we were denied a holiday) crowd trying desperately to develop some incident of interest in the otherwise drab desert. Suffice to say, I loved it.

Coming to more serious matters, I think its about time that something was done to this blag to make a it a wee bit more productive. You know, something more than just a color touch-up. Given my extensive reader base (of 6), this can only be a good thing. To begin, I'm planning to finish all those articles I promised. Here's to the next few entries :D

Oh, and I've heard alcohol is good for swine flu. Apparently, it eases the symptoms. I'll tell you how effective it is in a week.

And into asylum

2009-07-17T12:44:00.000+05:30

So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good-bye.

It has been a long summer. With Neil Gaiman and Randall Munroe for thought, FB and Orkut for the rot, and an assortment of movies from TPB, and a lone project with an end that is still elusive, the summer draws to a close. Another year dawns where we learn about the wonders of instrumentation and the scarcity of girls. One can but hope that the winds of change bring with them a few good faces.

With this, I reach my monthly quota of 6 blag posts and feel a pressing need to give something back to you guys as my third not-really-succesful-but-fun-all-the-same month of blagging ends. Considering my love for lists, I thought I would drop a few suggestions based on what I have been doing these holidays. Be it an alternative to fly-swatting or deep ideas for enhancing your knowledge, I trust you would find them amusing, if not overwhelmingly phenomenal.

To counter boredom - nitrome.com (best.flashgames.ever), icanhascheezburger.com ('nuff said)

Reading - Sandman (Neil Gaiman), one of the best stories ever crafted

Webcomics - xkcd, toothpastefordinner

Gaming - Gunbound, NeoSteam (Both are MMORPGs)

Movies - Gran Torino, Memoirs of a Geisha (still haunted by the soundtrack...)

I was hoping to write reviews for most of these but didn't really get down to it. Expect more on this in the future as I foresee no work over the next few months.

Getting back to the farewell, it is only temporary. You can stop crying now. Although my college is technologically challenged, I promise to put stuff up somehow. If you want to say anything (which I doubt, since most of you are people who will be at said hell hole with me), send a mail.

Coherence in this post is very poor since I'm finishing it in a hurry and am slightly depressed over leaving the climate, good food and the internet behind as I head to college. So long, guys, and thanks for all the kitsch.

Pramod

P.S. W00t, I actually signed it...
P.P.S Readers, thank you. You guys are teh best <3

Advice on the interweb

2009-07-10T15:41:00.001+05:30

T-Shirts, Self Help Books and the Internet have been the predominant sources of knowledge since the turn of the century. With the first two discounted due to child labour concers and scientific studies, the wild, wide interweb is where people seek answers. People with queries have been visiting the likes of Y! Answers hoping to resolve questions they were too scared to ask their parents. Personally, my experience with such sites has been limited as I, being sort of well-read when it comes to the internet, do not trust people online. More so, when they have names like Dr.FixIt or MJlives (no self referential pun intended...).
Through a weirdly humourous twist of fate, I ended up browsing one of the Y!Answers pages today and actually enjoyed the experience. Given my love for sharing information, even the mildly funny bits, I decided to blag about it. The topics ranged from simple relationship advice to serious questions regarding pubic shrubbery. Here are excerpts from the various pages I visited over half an hour of enthusiastic clicking:

Q) I have been together with this girl for 3 years now, (...) don't have a job, still with my parents (im 15) and i tried not calling her but text her often, then one day she asked why i havn't been calling and i explained, but she got mad
A1) that is so swee... wait, how have you been dating a girl since you were 12?

Q) I'm 17 and like this 15 year old girl who lives opposite me. We've never spoken to one another. Now I wanna just ring that doorbell and start a conversation (when her parents aren't home) Any ideas what excuse I could come up with?
A1) when he rparents aren't home ? what are you hoping will happen?
A2) pretend you're selling something? or ask for donations and if you get it -- really donate it.
A3) (...) Or if you're a real creep just ask "does this rag smell like chloroform to you?" Good luck.

Q) Girls! How often do you want to have *** with? your boyfriend? And does he want it as much as you? Or does he want less, or more?
A) breakfast lunch and dinner

Q) Please tell me what to do if i accidentally broke some wine bottle in some wal-mart? please tell me
A1) run
A2) announce very loudly: "spill, spill, spill, wine spill in aisle number 4. emergency cleanup crew lay to aisle 4 with a mop."
A3) Hi from France ♫ Do nothing ! Just take another !...

Q) I penetrated my girlfriend and my **** was kinda wet... but it was only for a min.. then i retrieved it!! will she get pregnant?? should i get her a pill?? please help....!!
A1-9) Random useful answer
A10) Good thing you retrieved your ****, you could have lost it! Also, no, your girlfriend won't get pregnant. She already is!

As you can see, asking the netizens might not be the brightest thing to do, but if occasional humour is your kind of thing, sign up immediately. And drop me a message.

BTW, I'm down with the flu. Revenge of the fallen pigs.

Fun at IIT

2009-07-06T17:00:00.000+05:30

We wonder, at times, how different our lives would be if we studied at a better institution. These thoughts grow with our realisation that we are studying in a college which has the large vacation period as its strongest vouch. Forced into the projects by overzealous parents, a batchmate and I forayed into IIT hoping to add a feather to our hitherto unremarkable resumés. The project is running smoothly (with no end in sight...) and we devote some of our time thinking about life at IIT. Life is not fun enough as it is. We came up with a few really interesting things to do there. Here are a few of the mentionable ones:

NOTE: Appreciation requires some knowledge of IIT-M and related geography

1) Remember the elephant circle at the middle of the campus? We planned on taking photos sitting on them. Only, with a sniper rifle. Nobody would dream of seeing a sniper there and it would prove to be the perfect vantage point. Cover does leave you wanting, but hey, if you get him before he sees you, how does it matter?
2) The buses for transportation inside take time. A lot of time. A simple plan born out of necessity involved car-jacking. I, being the thin, defenceless one, would distract the driver while my physically more (marginally) intimidating friend would yank the driver out. I would then proceed to jump in pretending to wrest control from him but my lack of counter-terrorist combat knowledge would lead to the accelerator being pressed.
3) This one was his idea. Well, its inspired by him, at least. Not satisfied with alcohol, he decided to completely destroy his liver. Three bottles of beer, one of whiskey, one of apple vodka and one of vanilla vodka. Once you're sloshed, stock up on paracetamol and take one an hour for the next twenty four. Give the devil our greetings when you get there.
4) People take videos/photos of the campus every now and then. Walk into one of these naturally, then, turn around suddenly, face the camera, wave wildly and shout "Hi, mom!". Blame it on the study load and Kapil Sibal.

If you are an NITT-ian who, like the rest, turned up at IITM for your project, support our cause. We need more volunteers to fund the sniper rifle.

When pigs fly and chennai gets wet

2009-07-05T17:26:00.000+05:30

I love the weather when it rains. Not that I like getting wet. But it certainly is the type of weather that I like doing things in. Like MMORPGs. Or girls. Well, at least MMORPGs, looking at my luck these days. Going to the beach in a mild drizzle and soaking up in the seaside moisture are excellent ways to spend a Saturday evening. I would include Mozzarella cheese, Vodka and Rum, but I might lose readers if i did.

Getting to the matter of that Saturday evening, I was quite enjoying it. The wind was blowing at the beach after a year. There were girls (real ones; not the Red Bull types). People I knew were present. People I knew but would rather not weren't. Oh, and the weather. Blue sky, easy breeze and a patch of sun. I knew having things this good meant trouble. Or fun. I must admit I didn't expect both.

As we, a group of three, struck up conversation (put here oh-so-ever subtly by one of them), the first plops started. With our skills of premonition, science and plop direction study (one for each of us - "Dude, I think its gonna rain", “Don’t you remember tenth geography? Sea breeze, da!” and "Its increasing! Run for shelter!"), we decided to move. Sadly, debating had given us a late start and most of the nearby spots of shelter were filled with people that trusted their common sense and did not have learned, questioning friends to argue with. We plodded on to a small restaurant at the end of the beach that had shelter, girls and other nice smelling things. Only, we were short on cash and had to give up the latter and be happy with a shed outside that gave us a roof. A small shed, mind you ("This looks like a cow-shed!"). Soon, the number of people in our little cow-shed soared with an increase in the intensity of the downpour and we were left in the middle of it all wondering how to prevent being pickpocketed or felt up. Anirudh, arguably the one with the spontaneity, spoke up.

You must understand that I love pulling pranks off. Not the small banana peel types. What we got as a suggestion was brilliant. Anirudh had a cold; The world had swine flu; And we had a plan to make some space. He sneezed, I exclaimed "Dude, you have swine flu!". Eyes turned, heads lowered, whispers ran and one or two smart ones smiled. The crowd did ease a bit, but it should probably be attributed to the rain and not our genius plot. Nevertheless, it was fun. We had a good laugh over it while some of the duller ones cleared the wool from their eyes. Anirudh and I decided to write about it (I swear I thought about it first...) and this is the result.

I still plan on pulling off more pranks at the beach. Some of it targets the smokers. Some, the Red Bull girls. If you are interested, do give me a ring :)

Oh, and the topic of swine flu and panicking people brought this to mind.

Happy weather and paranoia!

At the end of the rainbow

2009-07-02T20:40:00.000+05:30

A happy, love filled article to launch my new not-so-gaily designed blag :D

Activists in India went wild today as news leaked out of the High Court ruling to decriminalize homosexuality - less than a week after the 40th Stonewall anniversary. It seems like the recent pride parades (which also saw some sad attempts at translation to appeal to the locals) garnering the support of 2,000 people have worked their magic. Barely a day after our prime minister called for better understanding and treatment of the community, the landmark ruling breaks the law of 150 years that was yet another hand-me-down from the Brits.

I was happy to read news about the judgement. I'm not gay, mind you. But I do have friends that possibly are and it would be nice to see some out of the closet. At the same time, I also have friends that aren't comfortable with homosexuality and find it as unnatural as a spider monkey in a Russian swimming pool. The week ahead is going to be fun with hundreds of people posting (like me) about whether or not this decision is a step forward. The ones that disagree seem to have some divine voices on their side - The first voice of dissent was from India's Catholic Bishops. Even though they did not challenge the ruling, they classified the behaviour inethical, unnatural and immoral. The head cleric of the Jama Masjid followed suit saying they would not accept any such law. Quite bold about it. What surprised me the most was that the BJP, which showed its displeasure at the parades, remained silent. That too with a law changed by the UPA. Is the saffron party finally showing some signs of growing up? As much as I would like to believe that, it is probably their news feed running a little late and missing this entry.

You can read BBC's article here.

As icing on the cake, I got to modify Wiki's page on the Indian parades and add the details of the ruling apart from modifying some of the lines (which conveniently missed the Chennai part of the parade). And this time, I had my references ready. Me 1 - Wiki 0.

Firefox 3.5 is out. Hail Open Source.

2009-07-01T16:44:00.000+05:30

What is that in the air? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its your mom setting the record for the fastest fat object in the stratosphere.

As a side note, Firefox 3.5 was released yesterday. Not quite as interesting as flatulence in the upper reaches of the sky, but it does promise advances in the interweb.
Technicalities first. Built on Gecko 1.9.1 and lots of open source love, the latest run of the fox supports HTML5, Theora, and other nifty new technologies that are -still- unheard of in IE, chrome or safari. A new JScript engine, Tracemonkey, also makes its operation smoother and faster. Of course, if you aren't into hard tech, here is the same in english for you:

1) New JScript - Faster, much faster. Ten times faster than Firefox 2 and twice as FF3
2) Theora, HTML - Opening the way for viewing videos without plugins! Plus, quality improves even for playback at the same bitrate.
3) Private browsing - Ah, chrome did leave an impact. This new feature (possibly adapted from incognito mode in chrome) allows you to browse without cookies or history. Your mom will never know what you did last summer. Or this one, for that matter.
4) Available in 70 languages including 10 Indian ones! Sadly, telugu is on the list.
5) Reduced memory consumption - now better than everything except opera.
5) Downloadable fonts, offline app storage and a multitude of other tweaks that make it even better than FF3

All things do have a streak of slime. Here are the problems I found/faced with 3.5
1) A big, fat, plus symbol telling you to open a new tab. Just like in IE. Disgusting. I don't care if it is more user friendly.
2) If you have NoScript installed (you should, actually - excellent protection from clickjacking and malicious java code), some of the cookies were messed up with 3.5's enhanced protection. If you are a newbie, this could leave you without access to sites like blogspot :|
3) Wee problems with flash cookie storage

On the whole, the community (open source ftw!) has improved upon FF3 by a mile. Combined with the previous innovations of 'Recently closed tabs', the present avatar is a very strong message on standardizing web formats (and returning to regular HTML). With its ginormous add-on database, the fox seems to have a good lead in the browser race. On top of being one of the best browsers for developers, it retains much of its user friendliness and has even added to it. Go on, get it. Join the open source revolution ^_^

Father's day

2009-06-22T17:11:00.000+05:30

Just thought I'd put up an ad I came across for Durex

Go fish. And stay out.

2009-06-22T12:22:00.000+05:30

It took a lot of restraint to avoid "fishy" jokes when I wrote this.

I'll be honest. I don't like the smell of fish. It stinks. Worse than a rotting piece of vermin on the streets. And I was one of the many that rejoiced when the move was made by the corporation to displace the big, fat meen market from the main road (which contributed to traffic congestions, apart from nasal ones...) and relocate it to one end of the beach, earlier this year. All that joy seems short lived now, with the erection of a training depot that is going to double as a sales point. Right in the middle of the Besant Nagar residential area. Right on my street, to be precise. They started out with promises that it would only be for training the fisherfolk. A day later, they said they might sell fish once in a while. The next day, they said they had orders from above that it would be a full fledged outlet for sale as well. All this, and more, approved by the Tamil Nadu fisheries development board, apparently. Overseen by none other than her glorious highness Kanimozhi.

Understandably, the residents of the two streets that the 'fishery' oozes its dead offspring into, caused a stir today. A gathering of about 20-strong decided to meet the heads of the setup (which now sits on the remains of the horticulture department's shop that served the locality for years) and ask them to move. Politely. Or so was the plan. It should be noted that a similar gathering had, 3 months back, lobbied for the closure of a new CCD outlet that had opened a street away. But then, that was a private enterprise; neither endorsed nor promoted by the loving, secular government. The meeting did not go too well. Among cries of religious oppression (unnecessary, but somewhat justified given the history of the road I live on) and calls for a dharna, some information was obtained. It was not going to end with a sales outlet; they would build a restaurant with a bar attached. Come now, the people need their fix, don't they? Where better to have the next TASMAC than the middle of a nice little housing society? Who cares about the people that live there? They're just brahmins, after all. The noble, higher caste. They trod on us a gazillion years back. Its our turn.

If you think I'm being a bit too caste-ist, look up papers and reports roughly 40 years back. The comments that were received when the allocation of the houses here was complete should shed some light on exactly how pleased the governement was to see a large population of Iyers take the houses. Disappointment, to say the least, was not concealed.

Getting back to the situation at hand, it looks like a dharna is looming in the horizon. The initial response was only from those that live right next to the building. With word of a bar popping up (despite my interest in alcohol, I must say I was terribly upset at having one in a residential area), there are bound to be more protesters joining the fray. It looks like an eventful week I have ahead. Oh, and if you agree with the ideals in question, turn up for the demonstration. Hold your nose, though.

The last few days and pronunciation

2009-06-18T12:43:00.000+05:30

No updates. No news. No attacks from deranged alien spider monkeys.
Information, yes. Level of interest from reader, unsure.

My project at IIT-M has been going at full *cough* throttle and I haven't quite gotten around. With a professor that disappears often on trips to Kathmandu and resurfacing every 5 days to tell us to keep up the good work, I can't say with conviction that he's justified. Or that spider monkeys like attacking the earth. It would be fun though.

Outside the mundane journeys an engineer is expected to take before graduation, I have been living a life. And what better way to spend my time than improve my communication skills, yes? Deciding to look up a few words that I had forgotten to pronounce, I hit dictionary.com. (And it works!! Thanks, dictionary.com, you have changed my life and I can go there with new courage and determination!! Order your copy today.)
Back to the words. Here are a few things I found:
1) f*ck is actually pronounced with a UH sound over the asterisk. I still prefer A as in the first a of balanced
1.5) nice is pronounced nahys. Not nice-uh. Like I care.
2) sure is actually pronounced close to sh(u)ore. Not SHOERR or SHAAR or SOOR MACHI
3) zomgwtfnowai does not have an IPA code. Its not even in the dictionary.com databse
4) genre is pronounced zhahnruh. or joan ra with joan like in the joan of arc campaign in AOE 2
5) #FF20AK is pronounced gullible
6) kthxbai is kay-thenkz-bye. dictionary.com didn't list it but we know to trust icanhascheezburger.com

Haf a nahys dey.

Follow the seeder

2009-06-11T23:08:00.001+05:30

And no, I will not follow your blog. Likewise, don't feel obliged to follow mine ^_^

The gunmen from Somalia aren't the only pirates in trouble. For the web savvy out there, the on-going trial of the owners of The Pirate Bay website is not news. After a 9 day trial under a judge with an alleged bias, they were fined the tune of 2.5 million GBP. Quite hard on the piracy thing these days, aren't they? And things were going quite well for the IFPI and the other plaintiffs in the suit until one of their own broke step. Advance Patrol, a latin hip hop group (they sound something like Shakira after a night of hash and gin) pulled out of the affair. What's more, they said they never wanted in in the first place. The IFPI apparently dragged them in claiming one of their albums was leaked and this was in their best interest...
AdPat didn't just leave the issue there. With all the vigor of their newfound love for copyleft (and maybe their hate for the impulsive IFPI?), they released their latest album, El Futuro on Pirate Bay. Apart from being a slap on the face of the prosecution, it also rose to the top of the downloads for the week and had about 500 active seeders (If you aren't familiar with the slangs of P2P file sharing, look it up. Or take my word, that's a huge number). Advance Patrol also issued a statement - clearly stating that they wanted music to be free, like it was meant to be; not bound by what they felt were the crushing restrictions of a copyright industry striving to save the wealth it had amassed.
Its not like I support illegal downloading or breaking of Intellectual Property Rights, but this move by the band has come as a big surprise. Naturally, I downloaded the album immediately. I can't say I enjoyed it; hip hop was never my style. But it was much more about supporting the movement than the music itself. If you have some time, download the album; run a search for Advance Patrol on thepiratebay.org. Can't help but appreciate the guys for what they've pulled. More on copyright and freedom when I get the time.
Oh, and about my previous post, I swear to the nearest polite god I'm not racist.

Gultis and the world

2009-06-10T22:19:00.000+05:30

Let's be clear on one thing. I'm not racist. Whatever you think this post advocates, it is not discrimination. There is a world of difference between calling a pig, swine, and adding the adjective stinking. Or eating it. That was a disclaimer, by the way.

Oh yeah, about Gults. . .
It began with the IPL. They said it was only the beginning. Problem was, they meant it. With a victory charged with everything the Deccan could pack, it started. A small task for a force so vast. They advanced in waves so fierce that any resistance offered was crushed. Or absorbed. One can still hear the cries of those that lost their minds to the thundering chants of "Ekkada ra?". Every syllable carried with it the preachings of the tribe. The movement slowly spread. Slowly, not because it couldn't. Slowly, because it wanted to savour its victory. A victory that was its by right. A victory it had been denied all these years. And now, it would take the unbelievers by storm. A storm so swift that it would wipe them before they had the chance to say "Ra!". Or even blink, for that matter. And they will be yummy.

Also, Italian is known as the Telugu of the west. Wouldn't fancy seeing myself in the foot any time soon.

Faces and cookies for the server

2009-06-09T12:13:00.000+05:30

Elo again!
Yesh, it's been about a week since I held my head above the bush for the passionate skeet shooting that is referred to here as commenting. Of course, I'd call it trolling. But let's leave that for another day.
Since I haven't ranted in a long time, this is probably the best opportunity to let the heat out. Come on now, everybody needs some cooling in the summer. No need to worry though, I come in peace. Since people have actually started reading what I'm writing, I can't possibly start slinging mud at anyone around. So, I've decided to flame the next best thing - communities of such people. No, I do not plan to be racist. What I was referring to was Fa(e)cebook. There is only about so far you can take online socialization without indulging in name calling or predatorial tactics. Apart from being a breeding ground for online bullies and 40-year-olds wanting to be your friend, the site seems to serve no purpose.
I joined Orkut about 2 years back, and hey, it was a big thing for me then. I had only heard of FB in brief mentions and finding it lacklusture, I pledged my support for the new "in" thing in Indian culture. My infatuation barely lasted a month. I stayed on though, lurked and posted every now and then. It became an old flame that I started avoiding with increasing frequency. Thankfully, unlike other past flames, it didn't haunt my dreams. About a month back, with my return to Chennai I was coaxed to join FB. With my existence a month long, I find it poor - and that is to say the least. The interface is worse than Orkut's (I did hear it was better at some point in the past) and the funcionality dismal. With little in the way of notification settings, it proves as irritating as, if not more than Orkut. A recent post by a friend of mine christening it Quizbook seems appropriate. Besides, I don't even have the sympathy I had for Orkut because of its parent group.
Even if this is to be a standard rant, I can't leave out all reason. All steam and disappointment aside, the movement of people to FB from other places is an interesting phenomenon. Sites such as Hi5 deserve no less, while Orkut does seem to be an unintentional victim. The migration of a large part of the Orkut community to FB is by no means mere chance. It is much more a matter of timing, and westernization.
That's right, I'm blaming this one on the ape-effect. When Orkut was released back in whenever, it was something cool for all the students/kids to join and they could run around asking people if they were on and feel superior when answered in the negative. This culture pretty much carried on until these kids grew up and started meeting more people - some of whom had FB accounts and informed them how much bigger it was and how much cooler it was to be a part of something that was so American. Orkut was from the west too, but the scales tipped against it once the rapid multiplication of Indians on it started. It remains, to date, filled with Indians - with a population constantly vying to be in the top 3 on it. Filled with fellow citizens who weren't as cool as the dudes from Facebook, Orkut was abandoned like an old toy with the fascination, freshness and cool factor of FB raking in the users like a swarm of flies. On a psychological level, this event is but an example of people moving from one group to another in the hope of appearing at a higher stratum of society after having seen some proof of the shift. This may have come in the form of cousins/friends/NRIs insisting it was much more in.
I've probably drawn the ire of FB fanatics with this, but I do stick by my point. As local and useless as it may be, I stand by Orkut. Personally, I find no difference between the two. As I mentioned, both suck. And badly, at that. At least I don't get invites to play Travian on Orkut.

Out for the month~

2009-05-29T19:06:00.000+05:30

The interweb just doesn't want me here. First, my net usage limit shoots through teh roof with an overrun of about 2GB (~1600 rupees...) and then my mouse goes haywire (imagine sudden scrolling in/out. 10 times a second ). Maybe I should take this as an omen and stop blagging...

Updates

2009-05-27T23:32:00.001+05:30

1) My project at IITM on microcontrollers has finally started and my blagging intensity should drop (as it has over the past two days). I'm probably going to have to work my shinbones out to finish this thing T_T
2) The QFI Open quiz is on June 7th. Its to be held at Egmore museum and there will be two quizzes - SpEnt (2 in a team) and General (3). If you're in town, don't miss it!

Spam going Oink! :@)

2009-05-24T23:21:00.000+05:30

Hurrah, it's time for another news update!

Those of you that follow the *technology* article that pops up in The Hindu every sunday should have seen this already; everyday spam that includes suggestions for enlargement products seems to be evolving - at least the part of it that tries to catch your attention. The latest subjects are not about the cheapest new drugs from Pfizer but about pop idol Madonna sneezing away with a swine flu infection. All you Hard Candy fans out there needn't worry though; the queen of pop is fine, a bit blue over the use of her name, if anything. She isn't the only one though; with names running from Sarah Palin to Pam Anderson, a few clicks seem to be occuring if Symantec figures are anything to go by.

The reason I bring this is up is not to warn you about the new threats. Heck, I couldn't care less and I do trust most of you empty the spam folders without a second's glance. I decided to write about this because I found it funny. Some of the quizzers out there might have already hit this, but for those that don't rummage through Wiki, here is a little about the history of spam:

The term is common now with its liberal usage in mainstream media (which pretty much amounts to spam itself) but all of it originated some time in 1970. Yup, before internet and Sildenafil products were commonplace. During the British food rationing during World War II, one of the few meats excluded was a processed meat product that contained pork shoulders and some ham - and called spam. As the people tired of it, a group known as Monty Python made a sketch for TV revolving around spam taking over the menu in a restaurant. Taking off from here, the term had its circulation and eventually entered the digital world where it came to stand for the e-mails that are hated today.

The whole thing is funny when you think about it. The pork and bacon in the beginning, and the eventual emergence of the spam going Oink! Full circle, eh?

Case closed?

2009-05-23T15:53:00.000+05:30

Its not everyday that articles in the newspaper catch your attention. The past few months have been rather uninteresting (to us normal students, at least) as the papers spoke of little more than the recession and the cruise of the obamobile through a country to the west. However, with the recent hunting of tigers in Sri Lanka, some juice had entered the print. Not that I love blood or anything, but something happening closer home is certainly much more thought provoking.

I was reading through the newspaper today when I came across an article which reported that Veluppillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE had his body 'reduced to ashes'. That's right, its been just two days since he was found (dead) and his body has been burnt already. Had this been a regular soldier of the Eelam, this action by the Lankan military might have been considered standard procedure and dismissed without further ado. But, with Prabhakaran being the head of a terrorist organization that has assassinated an Indian prime minister among other things, a few questions were raised about the whole mission.

As soon as the first reports came in about the slaying of the LTTE chief, loyal voices dismissed it as a ploy by the Lankan military to assert its victory. As photos of the felled tiger were printed, conspiracy theories started claiming it was a double. And as the day passed, news descended that LTTE lieutenants had confirmed the authenticity of the body found. The Indian government took this as the proof it needed to close the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and chop the warrants issued for Prabhakaran's arrest. DNA tests carried out on the body are said to have matched the samples from his son (shot; body recovered the previous day). This is where the tale ends if you are satisfied with reading the english dailies.

Controversially, this is where it all starts for the tamil weeklies. A particular weekly carried a report today from a retired DGP (if my memory serves me right) about the procedures to be followed when bodies are recovered - especially those that are of some importance. The bottom line was that they are to be preserved, not reduced to ashes. An example stated was that of the hitherto unidentified man that was responsible for the suburban train hijack-cum-crash that occurred a few weeks back; since he could not be identified, his body, under court order, was to be preserved for a year. This is the point where the conspiracy theories start to kick in again - now ranging from a mere coverup to a coordinated plot for the LTTE chief's escape with a government hand in it. What made matters worse was the discovery (reportedly) that there was no centre in Sri Lanka capable of carrying out DNA testing - which served as the gate to close the issue. Also, such testing generally takes around a week. Facts do differ depending on the publication - the article in an english daily claimed he had no cyanide capsule on him (which is mandatory for the tigers) while the tamil weekly put the number at two. Truth would be hard to glean from the papers alone. The hurry with which the Lankan administration finished everything and the eagerness of the Indian government to close the related cases seems a tad suspicious.

Then again, conspiracy theories aren't my cup of tea; So, I'll just leave it there. Maybe he is alive and maybe, some of this was planned. Without any evidence, it wouldn't make sense to delve into this any further. If the Indian government sees fit to close the assassination case, nobody is going to stop it. Besides, it doesn't really affect us now, does it?

Oh noes -_-

2009-05-22T23:55:00.000+05:30

Even if I have gallantly marched into the blagosphere, it takes more than plain desire to chew up the word-space they offer. I don't really plan on going crazy with the whole package but this should prove fun enough for me to fill up the time I have in my holidays (one of the few reasons we still haven't blown up our college).

Since the next two months will see me gaming, reading xkcd (more on this later) and scouting for girls at the beach, expect to read about these soon ^_^

Oh, and yeah, it is blag. There is no other way it can be written.

2009-05-22T23:36:00.000+05:30

Konichiwa! (TL: Elo ^____^)

Yay! I'm finally back to blogging after a failed blog and a three year sabbatical! Not that my keenness or interest blagging improved tremendously - I've just decided to spout the rubbish here instead of writing it on Facebook and Orkut (Forgive me father, for I have sinned...) for all to see.

I just hope this isn't the only post you see -_-;