Scream of Consciousness

A Runescape Christmas!

2009-12-31T22:38:00.000-08:00

I came across a cute little glitch on Runescape today. A player named Sylphiel had a snow imp following her around. Unfortunately she couldn't see it herself so this is to show her.

Coincidentally, there were two players dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Clause right there when I saw it. What are the odds?!

Screenshot starring:
Master52589 as Mr. Clause
Rock2Star as Mrs. Clause
Sylphiel as herself
Marcus the Snow Imp as himself
Omzig89 (me)

Untitled

2009-01-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's snowing.
Fat flakes gently land all around me. It's totally quiet.
My shoulders are heaving under the weight of my pack. It was a good catch.
I am warm under my coat.
I stop to admire a frosted tree. I move on.
I hear a familiar barking and a wagging tail appears. It's good to see him again.
The cabin in the distance is closer now. Someone important is waiting inside.
I am a few more steps from the door. Something smells delicious.
The door swings open and suddently, I am caught in her snug embrace.

I'm home.

Google Chrome Woes #1 #2

2008-11-29T19:08:00.000-08:00

The title sucks because it doesn't explain the kind of frustration I feel with Google Chrome. What if I told you that I hate Google Chrome because it is the most perfect browser yet but not quite 100% good? This browser is such a capable platform! Every little convenience is available to users of all tech levels and it's a Google product for goodness' sake! Why isn't the whole world caught up in every detail of this project's progress? Anyway, what are my #1 and #2 woes with Google Chrome. I think it would be appropriate to note here that I'm using an XP SP3; 1.5GB; 1.86GHz not that it matters in this context anyway.

#2 No addons like my favs for Firefox
Yea... no Adblock plus, Mouse Gestures, IE Tab (for annoying Microsoft update websites), or themes. Apparently, Java doesn't work in Google Chrome either. I haven't tried, but I'll be pissed to fire up a firefox process just to play a daily 30 seconds of Dragon Court or just to log into Runescape to satisfy the itch. The one redeeming value is the smart design choices that went into Google Chrome. Features like "most visited site thumbnails" on new tabs, the download progress shown in the status bar as opposed to a dialog box... These were all features I had loved since Opera 8 and Firefox 1. Google really knows how to find out exactly what people want and so they can focus on delivering the best product.

#1 Facebook doesn't work properly on Google Chrome!
I tried posting a photo on my Facebook wall but clicking submit didn't do anything! BAD! But I kinda like how instead of a text field to type in a filename, I got a button saying choose file that went directly to an explorer dialog. But then again, I don't use that particular feature much and Chrome is still in BETA, so I shouldn't be judging too hard here.

Overall, I hope my tone was "they got so close to perfection that experiencing that level of software satisfaction made using other browsers seem... painful." Chrome's like a solid roof above your head with a tiny hole in it right above your head and it's raining damn hard. I don't expect anyone to quite understand my thoughts on this.

Minnalgal Koothadum (மின்னல்கள் கூத்தாடும்) from Polladhavan (பொல்லாதவன்)

2008-02-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

My most important comment on this video is about the motorbike - it's a Bajaj Pulsar. Kollywood has really caught on with product placement but I think fans are mostly unaware of what's going on. I first noticed it in the movie "Ghajini" but it's starting to become very apparent in most new Tamil movies.

As for the music, what can I say? I'm a sucker for mellow duets like this one. I love the audio but the visualization is so-so. Here's "Minnalgal Koothadum" (min-null-gull koo-THA-dum : "lightning dances") from the movie "Polladhavan" (poe-LAH-the-vun : "an atrociously wicked man"). I'm fairly confident about my translations this time because I found a great Tamil-English online dictionary.

Anticipating the Release of Kanthaswamy (கந்தசாமி)

2008-01-31T06:34:00.000-08:00

I just got done looking at a fan site for the Tamil movie Kanthaswamy (kun-the-SVAW-mee) and I can hardly wait for it to come out. The stills and trailers from the movie are nothing short of orgasmic. The movie's main actor Vikram (விக்ரம்) does an amazing job molding into several different types of costumes.

Another thing that really drew me in was a TV interview with Susi Ganesan (சுசி க்ணேசன்), the director of Kanthaswamy. If you understand Tamil, I highly recommend that you watch this video. Ganesan speaks very thoughtfully about the widening gap between the rich and the poor in India and practical remedies to the problem. He seems to be a firm believer in hard work (aka Capitalism), but he also talks about helping those in need (as in Socialism).

Oh, did I mention that Shriya Saran (ஷ்ரேயா சரன்) looks absolutely stunning in this movie? This is one movie I really wish I could watch on the big screen back home in India. I will miss the noisy theaters full of roaring Vikram fans.

First Impressions about Bheema (பீமா)

2008-01-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/v/7H2PerXfYP4

I've been looking forward to Bheema (பீமா) ever since the audio track for "Mudhal Mazhai" (முதல் மழை) came out. I finally got the chance to watch it today and I just got done with it.

As with most modern Tamil (read thumill) movies, this one just mushed together a bunch of generic story elements common to most Kollywood movies. As usual, there was plenty of bubbly romance, situational comedy and awkward fight sequences. Parts of the story seemed to be inspired by movies like Ghajini (கஜினி), Saamy (சாமி) and many others. However, the ending was unexpected and discomfortingly different from what I'm used to seeing in Tamil movies. Overall, Bheema was pretty good.

One thing I didn't like was that the heroine (played by Trisha) was introduced pretty late - about 15 minutes into the movie. Also, the video for "Mudhal Mazhai" did not measure up to what I wished for ever since I first heard the song. I will be writing an entire entry on how bad I felt about that alone. However, the thing I liked least in the movie was the ending because it was so unsettling.

The last five minutes of the movie were so shockingly different from what I've seen in other Tamil movies and what I was expecting to see here. Even now I feel a little overwhelmed but I just get attached to characters more than the average person would. Also, the plot leading to the ending is pretty awkward. If you want to know what happens, read past the spoiler warning.

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All the main characters that you may become somewhat attached to like I did and care about in the story get killed in the last five minutes. The only reason I could see for that was because the director felt like sharing a moral with the audience. That moral was that all violence leads to a tragic ending even when the intentions behind some violence is good. The moral is told in a really thoughtful way. So I won't write it here even though I already spoiled the ending. Watch the movie!

Kids in Afghanistan

2008-01-21T02:06:00.000-08:00

I read an article in Time magazine today about the Hazara people of Afghanistan and the life they live today in a society that hates them. It stirred up a lot inside me. One thing in particular, a photo of a 15-year-old schoolboy just burned into my eyes.

There wasn't anything especially saddening about his appearance. I don't want to sound heartless, but he wasn't severely famished, orphaned or maimed. What caught my eye was the intensity and focus in his eyes to succeed in school and rise above the socio-economic barriers holding back his people. It totally renewed my mental picture of what determination looks like.

Looking at the picture, I felt disappointed in myself. It seemed like I never fully took to heart what my parents used to say about their struggle to become who they are today. It took a picture in a magazine to help me connect the dots: hard work = success.

Here I am, the average college student in the United States living my comfortable life and complaining about upcoming midterms. What is my goal in life?

Life gives you a finite amount of time. Ultimately, we each have to die. So what do I want to be remembered for when I've passed on? I've got some thinking to do...

Indian Film Remakes

2008-01-13T05:35:00.001-08:00

Well, what I heard about Pokkiri being an almost identical remake of a Telugu movie was absolutely true. No really, see for yourself! Observe and you'll see everything from the bandanna around the wrists and the "just cream" line. I can't help but mention though that modern spoken Telugu has far less English in it than spoken Tamil.

Tamil: http://www.youtube.com/v/jOrDQJimkD8

Telugu: http://www.youtube.com/v/t1zAWAmsOUo

Pokkiri (போக்கிரி - "rascal") - The Elevator Scene

2008-01-13T05:11:00.000-08:00

I recently watched this Tamil movie called Pokkiri (read POE-ki-REE). I hear that it's pretty much a scene-by-scene remake of a Tollywood¹ movie, but whatever. The guy is Vijay and the girl is Asin. These two are among my most favorite Kollywood actors at the moment. Listen for the amount of English used in everyday Tamil. Anyway, the clip:

Well, the embedded Youtube video probably won't survive the import to Facebook, so here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOrDQJimkD8

¹Tollywood = Telugu film industry

First Day Back at the U

2008-01-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

It's already the morning of the second day! It's so good to be back. My lucky bamboo died while I was away on holiday because I was retarded. And there's an annoying ladybug in my room - I took a picture. Oh yea, about school - I liked my lectures and I'm looking forward to another good quarter in terms of academic enrichment. Although, I'm not too happy about the number of hours I see myself spending in the basement of the CSE building doing work for my Data Structures class.

Ubuntu Gutsy - Compiz + ATI + No XGL

2008-01-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

Ever since I upgraded to Gutsy on my laptop, all the pretty desktop effects stopped working. I'm not really sure why it happened but most people using ATI video cards had the same problem after Gutsy. I've been frustrated for several months because I grew really dependent on Beryl. It's one of those things that you start using and wonder "how did I live without it?" Come on who wouldn't become totally obsessed with wobbly windows, transparency, desktop cube, application switcher, negative colors etc. etc.

Most solutions I came across told me to apt-get proprietary ATI drivers and install XGL. But I already know XGL has major memory leak issues. I've seen XGL fire up initially uses around 30 megs of RAM. Twenty minutes later, memory usage magically climbs up to 60 or 70 megs. So XGL was definitely out of the question.

I'm still pretty new to Ubuntu so I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong. There seem to be so many places things can go wrong - incorrect device drivers, kernel options, xorg configuration etc. It drove me nuts.

But today, all that changed when I found this blog. From there, I just clicked links and followed instructions until I got Compiz Fusion working. I'm not quite sure where I found the solution that worked for me or at what point my problem was really solved, but I'm just happy to be done. I'm not liking Compiz as much as Beryl but I have wobbly windows again! =D

Mudhal Mazhai (முதல் மழை) from Bheema (பீமா)

2008-01-04T03:37:00.000-08:00

I've probably listened to this one about 8 times in the last hour alone. I'm starting to get really hooked on Kollywood soundtracks again - especially albums composed by Harris Jeyaraj. To the best of my knowledge, he is human. Seriously, think back to "Suttum Vizhi" (சுட்டும் விழி) from "Ghajini" (கஜினி) or "Vaseegara" (வசீகரா) from "Minnale" (மின்னலே) and you might wonder how he does this over and over again!

The video probably won't show up on Facebook, so here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDrU-dw56tc.

How Most Of My Childhood Was Wasted

2008-01-03T02:52:00.001-08:00

I used to spend a disgusting amount of time watching cartoons as a kid. I regret it on those days when I get all introspective and self-critical. But hell, it must have been fun back then. Thankfully, I only recognize a few of the cartoons in this video. It made me pretty nostalgic though. I'd walk home from school as fast as I could to watch every single minute of Pokemon including the intro and outro songs. Good times, I guess.

Tamil Film Industry aka Kollywood

2008-01-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

At home, the only thing my folks seem to watch is Sun TV. It's a hugely popular television network in southern India and watching it here really helps us stay connected to our culture. I grew up in India in a state called Tamil Nadu (read thumyl naadu) speaking a language called Tamil (read thumyl). Every time I come back home from college, it's great to see the city I grew up in or the streets of Chennai I was walking around in last summer. Somehow, watching Sun TV makes me really homesick but it also helps me ride out the months until my next visit. It just got me thinking "I should share my culture more."

The video below is a good example of what's going on in the Tamil film industry aka Kollywood. Notice the production quality of the music, video editing and sets made for the video. (Aplogoies, this upload on Youtube has terrible video quality.) Most movies in India have 4 to 5 songs made just for that particular movie. The songs are placed into the movie with their own music videos featuring the main characters dancing to them. I have no idea why it's that way, but that's how Tamil movies have been made for a long time. It makes Kollywood that much more interesting.

Currently, there's been a trend in Kollywood of remixing songs from movies several decades old. The following is a remix of "Ponmagazh Vandhaal" (பொன்மகள் வந்தாள் - "a golden woman came") from a movie called "Sorgam" (சொர்கம் - "heaven") made in 1971. It appeared in the 2007 film named "Azhagiya Thamizh Magan" (அழகிய தமிழ் மகன் - "handsome Tamilian").

Another trend is placing Rap music inside of otherwise trendy-sounding Pop songs. I'm not a big fan of this because those rap lyrics usually make very little sense. I think it's just meant to sound enough like Western Rap because Indians seem to really like all things Western. If you didn't know already, most of India's 1+ billion population speaks English. There are actually more English speakers in India than several Western nations combined. But I doubt most people there can pick out individual words in a Rap or understand them in the context that they're used.

This particular example is no exception. It just doesn't make sense how the word "whinin" made it into this song - either the writer didn't know what it really meant in the "Rap" context or knew that the people listening might not hear/understand it. I'm sure this will improve as the years go by.

Anyway, I loved watching this on TV and I just had to share when I found it on Youtube!

It's 2008! Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T02:55:00.001-08:00

Some thoughts on my mind about 2007:

Damn, that year went by quick!
Those were good times!
I did some stupid things this past year.
I've learned so much.
I've made so many friends and changed a lot of lives.
Could do better next year both at school and at work...
Haha! Those were last year's resolutions?!

BTW, if you're making resolutions, try making SMART goals. If I've learned anything in over a whole year of Army ROTC classes, it's that goals need to be:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound

Example "Dumb" goal: I want to lose weight and get fit this year.
Dumb goal made SMART: I want to lose 5 inches around the hips within the next 3 months by waking up at 6 each morning to go running and to do Yoga and Pilates.

See the difference? You get the point. Again, Happy New Year!!

MS Word 2007 Annoyances

2007-12-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

MS Office 2007 has been a refreshing change from the older version and I really liked how they made features previously hidden under some obscure menu or dialog box more accessible. I generally use Open Office because I'm an Ubuntu (Gutsy) user, but due to a battery life problem under Gutsy, I've been booting Windows (read Wincrap) a bit more than usual on my laptop. Back to MS Office: I was working on a resumé today, when a couple of things really started to piss me off.

Every time I make a text selection and hover the cursor over the highlighted text, a translucent formatting toolbar pops up making it difficult to select text right above the current selection. Another thing that really made me want to pull my hair out was that changing the style of a portion of text cannot be undone using the Undo button. Several times, I accidentally clicked the wrong Quick Style button and lost several minutes worth of careful formatting choices. To make matters worse, the style applies to text at all sorts of random locations besides the selected text. Argh! It's a resumé and every little thing takes so much effort to place! Using Word 2007 for this project was a cruel experience.

The last and probably most annoying thing about MS Word 2007 is that I am now forced to boot Windows whenever someone sends me a file saved in the new .docx format. I might just be reinstalling the old MS Office pretty soon. Or hopefully, someone will figure out why battery life sucks so much ass on the same hardware under Gutsy.