tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230117482024-03-23T11:00:33.598-07:00Anonymous ContentBooks, Movies, Design, Web Standards, and the Open Source RevolutionSyed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-10793125830421426422006-11-06T23:28:00.000-08:002006-11-07T00:00:09.587-08:00Some S***<hr /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Found some crap in my notes folder. Here's one. All I remember is that I wrote it in a single stretch. It's part fact, part fiction. Don't really know the why or what of this crap. Doesn't make no sense to me. If you find any sense in it talk to me.<br /></span></div><hr style="height: 1px;"><br />Most nights I lay awake pretending to sleep. Playing pretend can be a really engaging activity. Playing pretend has got to work. No matter what you pretend, it’s got to work. I mean, what’s the whole idea of pretending when it’s not logical.<br /><br />With the click comes darkness. The sub-conscious projector starts rolling the nightmare film. The film is perfect but the soundtrack always comes with an auditorium-echo. It’s like the sub-conscious is trying to up the spook factor with the echo. Most of the times, I am viewing the nightmare in sweeping wide angle shots. I rarely get close-ups, so I can’t figure who’s who.<br /><br />I lay awake pretending to sleep. In my sleep, I am dreaming. I am dreaming that I am sleeping. I love making those dreams surreal. And what’s more surreal than sleeping in your dreams that you see while pretending to sleep.<br /><br />Most nights I lay awake pretending to sleep. I don’t sleep because of the nightmares. Those dreadful nightmares. They come right when the sub-conscious starts playing the dreams. In my dreams I am always sleeping. Maybe my dreams are trying to fulfill things I can’t make happen.<br /><br />The nightmares always begin when someone switches off the lights in my dream where I am asleep. I want to know who puts them off. I want to know if it is deliberate. I fall asleep, in the dream, and there’s this sound, the click of the light switch. Oh, I hear it every time. You know, like you hear sounds yet you know that you’re asleep. These things happen to me, I don’t know if this is an isolated incident.<br /><br />Click. The light goes off. The nightmare switches on.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1765101285717888082006-11-05T02:02:00.000-08:002006-11-05T05:25:17.413-08:00Remember, Remember.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/420/2809/1600/img_8_sml.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/420/2809/200/img_8_sml.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night">Remember</a>, remember the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_November">fifth of November</a>, </em><br /><em><span>The gunpowder, treason and plot,</span></em><br /><em><span>I see of no reason why <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot">gunpowder treason</a></span> </em><br /><em><span>Should ever be forgot.</span></em><br /><em><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes">Guy Fawkes</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes">Guy Fawkes</a>, 'twas his intent</span> </em><br /><em><span>To blow up <a href="http://www.gunpowderplot.parliament.uk/">the King and the Parliament</a>.</span></em><br /><em><span><a href="http://www.bonfirenight.net/gunpowder.php">Three score barrels of powder below</a>,</span></em><br /><em><span>Poor old England to overthrow:</span></em><br /><em><span>By God's providence he was catch'd</span></em><br /><em><span>With a dark lantern and burning match.</span></em><br /><em><span>Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.</span> </em><br /><em><span>Holloa boys, holloa boys, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_The_King">God save the King!</a></span></em><br /><em><span>Hip hip hoorah!<br /><br />***<br /></span></em><em></em></div><em><span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">PS. Thanks to <a href="http://anoncon.blogspot.com/2006/11/retrospection-one.html#comment-8083432331630107456">ado</a> for reminding me.</span><br /></span></em><br /><br /><!-- <h6>Related Links</h6><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot">The Gunpowder Plot</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.gunpowderplot.parliament.uk/adults_index.htm">The Gunpowder Plot: Parliament & Treason 1605</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.bonfirenight.net/gunpowder.php">Guy Fawkes and the Bonfire Night</a></li><br /></ul><br /><br />-->Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-56970644848983390892006-11-03T06:13:00.000-08:002006-11-04T13:09:53.219-08:00Retrospection: OneWelcome Back.<br /><br />I’ve been gone long. 3 months, near about. 3 months of slack acknowledgment of life’s <span style="font-style: italic;">suckiness</span>. I am hoping for that to change.<br /><br />A lot of changes took place, yet somehow I am still as indolent as ever. Rains gave into Fall, which gave into Winter. The music playing changed with seasons – <span style="font-style: italic;">Jazz </span>for the rains, <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowcore">Slowcore</a> </span>for the fall, <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.johnnyhollow.com/">Johnny Hollow</a> </span>(listen on it) and a whole lotta <span style="font-style: italic;">Gothic </span>ambiance for the winters. The lack of good books to read was apparent in much scarce thoughts on the blog. However, I pulled myself up to read Conrad’s <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_darkness">Heart of Darkness</a> </span>and I find myself completely blown away. I haven’t read a more complex novel. The writing style, I presume, is part reason for the complexity. I also watched Coppola’s <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/">Apocalypse Now</a> </span>and it is an amazing adaptation of <span style="font-style: italic;">Heart of Darkness</span>. If you aren’t much into reading books you much watch this classic of a war movie. I am currently trying Golding’s <span style="font-style: italic;">Lord of the Flies</span>.<br /><br />A lot of pending DVDs found their way to the screen. <span style="font-style: italic;">Apocalypse Now</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Chinatown</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dead Poet’s Society</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dreamers</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">El Topo</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Everything is Illuminated</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Fargo</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span>, and some more. Many old DVDs went into a lot of heavy rotation too – <span style="font-style: italic;">Casablanca</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Godfather I & II</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Good, the Bad and the Ugly</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Good Will Hunting</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ocean’s Eleven</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ocean’s Twelve</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill A Mockingbird</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Vanilla Sky</span> and a lot more.<br /><br />So, all-in-all, I haven’t done much again. It is high time I do something worthwhile.<br /><br />There’s lot to write about but words aren’t flowing the way they used to. I feel more and more like <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Smith">Winston Smith</a> starting his diary in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four"><i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i></a>, wanting to write, afraid to write, but when he writes it seems more like babble than a meaningful discourse yet the babble makes complete sense.<br /><br />So I’ll leave you guys here hoping that at least one or two of the old readers would return. While I club my notes and thoughts for a serious introspection of the last 3 months, you keep reading and talkback on this routinely mundane post.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">PS. Took quite a part of these three months to redesign this blog. Wait and Watch. <a href="http://and-all-that.blogspot.com/">Work In Progress</a>.<br /><br /></span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1154171095885132382006-07-29T04:02:00.000-07:002006-07-29T04:04:55.896-07:00A Rush Of Blood To The HeadI am working. Working over ideas. Working on my skills as a designer, developer and a writer. I am working on giving a name, an identity to the work I do. All I need to do is try not to lose attention, it’s the only thing I am good at losing. Things are now in motion that might make some changes. Changes that might be good, hopefully great.<br /><br />Do Stay.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1153593337169908792006-07-23T00:00:00.000-07:002006-07-25T23:53:08.333-07:0024Just turned 24. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Happy Birthday</span>.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1152948980016061872006-07-15T00:34:00.000-07:002006-07-15T00:37:38.130-07:00Gone. Will Be Back.Gone: travelling.<br /><br />Be Back: July 20th.<br /><br />Until then, Check out the archives. Starting from the last post. And Comment!Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1152306328545476352006-07-07T13:56:00.000-07:002006-07-07T14:06:03.006-07:00Getting Wasted on FrankiesIt’s hard to keep up with your attendance at college when you have more important things to attend. Like attending the local fast-food joint/café “<span style="font-style: italic;">Fifth Avenue</span>”, for some quick chicken frankies. Or hatching ingenious plans to destroy the day for <span style="font-style: italic;">Badruka</span> and his cronies (snobs all of them). It’s hard to keep up with classes when you are needed at the college parking lot to carry smoked out <span style="font-weight: bold;">Javed</span> to safety. Or when you have to listen to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Savage Garden</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mission Impossible 2 OST</span> back-to-back because <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rahil</span> won’t lend the CDs to you.<br /><br />I attended the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan </span>(BVB) for a whole year. By attended, I mean that I was a student of Bhavan’s for a year before dropping it for an under-grad in computer applications. My real attendance at college was 23%. I am still surprised at how I got past our screaming principal, <span style="font-style: italic;">Kakade</span>.<br /><br />We spent most of our day in the college parking lot or the cafeteria. In case of excessive monetary funds we would be chilling out at <span style="font-weight: bold;">FAVs</span> (local acronym for Fifth Avenue) munching through Frankies and sandwiches and gulping down cold/hot beverages. I must say I have never eaten anything as HOT as a Frankie at FAVs.<br /><br />When we somehow happened upon a class it would be either QT (Quantitative Techniques) or Eco (Economics) or a language class (English/Hindi).<br /><br />The QT professor was a newbie, this job being his first-ever gig. This was about the time when that movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213890/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mohabbatein</span></a> was out. Suddenly being a Professor became cooler than those frigid tins of coke at FAVs. So the QT professor, the young chap that he was, started acting all <span style="font-style: italic;">RAJ A. MALHOTRA </span>on our collective asses. He would come to class, a sweater thrown over his shoulders like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shahrukh Khan</span>, and a pair of plain glasses on his eyes. He also wore those pleat less pants. Those vanilla-palette shirts. The poor fellow even acted as nothing was out of place with that sweater on his shoulders, keeping his back warm. Even when we tried to bring out the sweater-issue he would deviate us with some deviations questions. The weirdest part was his name: <span style="font-weight: bold;">RAJ</span>.<br /><br />Half the Eco class was ruined most of the time because it came right after recess. And we attended recess rigorously. This caused us to return to our classes a bit late, 10-15 minutes usually. Plus, there was <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rakesh’s</span> awfully distracting entrance in the class every once in a while. He used enter the class last, wearing his helmet and then would sit half-way through the lecture without taking it off. The professor who had already witnessed/annoyed/threatened over this regular masquerade wouldn’t say a word and carry on with her lecture.<br /><br />The only professors I would ever like were the English ones. Right from school, through junior college and the under-grads I had some great English professors. It is only now that I’ve realized the amount of interest I paid during those monotonous sessions of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Keats </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wordsworth</span>. I didn’t like poetry as much as the next guy sitting beside me, which would be <span style="font-weight: bold;">Javed</span> most of the time. But it would have been worth the attention that I never gave. At least I would have had a grammatically correct blog.<br /><br />It is funny how we waste our college days over these moments. These moments of convenience food and parking-lot-adventures. These moments with peculiar professors and their prejudiced remarks. These moments, they become surreal, almost dreamlike after you leave college. But they persist. Funny how these wasted days are perhaps the best days of our lives.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1152027424691363802006-07-04T07:52:00.000-07:002006-07-06T09:34:02.956-07:00Bookworming!I picked <a href="http://shoefiend.blogspot.com/2006/02/tag.html">this</a> up from <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/6188725">Shoe Fiend</a>, whose <a href="http://shoefiend.blogspot.com/">Other Shoes are Manolos</a> (Great Blog. Must Read). Since no one would tag me a meme I started a fuckin’ meme meself. This meme is all about books. I love reading. Just give me something that catches my interest and I’ll devour it once and again. It so happens that writing this meme has allowed me to look upon and review my book choices and the hidden meaning behind it. Yea, this is becoming very mysterious and not much interesting. So we’ll skip the mysteries.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">01. What is the total number of books you've owned?</span><ul><li>150-200</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">02. What are the last books you bought?</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill A Mockingbird</span> by Harper Lee<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Simple and Beautiful. I’ve been looking for it since I saw the movie. I searched everywhere, found just one last copy.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Lost World</span> by Michael Crichton<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A better sequel to Jurassic Park plus it came real cheap for a Hardback, Rs.50.</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">03. What is the last book you've read?</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince</span> by J.K. Rowling<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Some people ought to accept that Harry Potter is not just for kids. Half Blood Prince is perhaps the best written Harry Potter book till date.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill A Mockingbird</span> by Harper Lee<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >What can I say; I am inarticulate in describing the beauty of this book.</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">04. What are you currently reading?</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Fight Club</span> by Chuck Palahniuk<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Tyler Durden. Anarchy. Insomnia. Support Groups. IKEA-Nesting Instinct. BLISS!<br /></span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">05. What are the 5 books that have meant a lot to you or that you particularly enjoyed?</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Faraway Places</span> by Tom Spanbauer<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >A taut and brutally told </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Rites of Passage </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >story. Growing up in 1950s Idaho. Surreal. The writing is beautiful, wound tight.</span><br /></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill A Mockingbird</span> by Harper Lee<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >See the same in #03.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Lord of the Rings</span> by J.R.R. Tolkien<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >The most rich and most beautiful adventure/fantasy ever written.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Alchemist</span> by Paulo Coelho<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Magic and Fantasy as never before.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</span> by George Orwell<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.<br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Awaydays</span> by Kevin Sampson<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch on Steroids. Yes, I need an extra.<br /></span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">06. What are the 5 book characters that have meant a lot to you or that you particularly enjoyed or relate to?<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Atticus Finch</span> (To Kill A Mockingbird)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >I want to be Atticus Finch when I grow up. :D</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Tyler Durden</span> (Fight Club)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >The one from the Dark side.<br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Michael Corleone</span> (The Godfather)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >My favorite Sicilian.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Frodo Baggins</span> (The Lord of the Rings)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >The hobbit who became an elf. <span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Jake Weber</span> (Faraway Places)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >I want to perceive life like Jake Weber. <span style="font-style: italic;">Everything is an Illusion</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Haji Baba and Geronimo</span>. Read the book to know what I am talking about.<br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Hari </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">Ryan</span> (Five Point Someone)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >I am kind of like Hari. I want to be Ryan.</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">07. What book(s) caught your attention but you never had a chance to read?</span><br /><ul><li>All by Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Spanbauer, Amy Hempel, Hunter S. Thompson (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Gonzo</span>)<br /></li><br /><li>Some by William Shakespeare, Somerset Maugham</li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Silmarillion</span> by J.R.R. Tolkien<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Elder days. Morgoth. Beren and Luthien. Beautiful.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">American Psycho</span> by Bret Easton Ellis<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Even a great movie can't justify a book.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">A Scanner Darkly</span> by Philip K. Dick<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >The book most personal and close to the author. Weird story, drug abuse - I love that in a book.</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">08. What book(s) that you've owned for so long but never read?</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Heart of Darkness</span> by Joseph Conrad<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >I just can't read lenghty sentences. Give me some clipped sentences and choruses.<br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Brighton Rock</span> by Graham Greene<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Pinkie, ahem! No can do.<br /></span></li><br /><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</span> by Philip K. Dick<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Blade Runner. Got it for Rs.20. Surreal. Trying.<br /></span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">09. Favorite Reading Spots?</span><br /><ul><li>Bed/Lying down anywhere</li><li>Café (Black coffee and books, just perfect)</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. 5 favorite authors?</span><br /><ul><li>Tom Spanbauer</li><li>Chuck Palahniuk</li><li>J.R.R. Tolkien</li><li>Harper Lee</li><li>George Orwell</li></ul>So there it is. Passion is in the details, people. Pushing this meme to <a href="http://maroonfly.blogspot.com">Arshiya</a>. Write some, <span style="font-style: italic;">sista</span>.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1151752828944952722006-07-01T04:16:00.001-07:002006-07-01T04:24:11.956-07:00Bed-Ridden RantingYou do a lot when you are bed-ridden with a <span style="font-style: italic;">viral</span>. You get up earlier than usual. You read a lot than usual because you are nowhere near the PC. You think. You think when you are eating. You eat consciously. You come up with new ideas, new conclusions about things that doesn’t matter. You abruptly become more thankful than your average. You are thankful to Steve Jobs for the iPod, for letting you indulge in <a href="http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/vanillasky/sweetnessfollows.htm"><span style="font-weight: bold;">R.E.M.’s Sweetness Follows</span></a> repeatedly. These songs change with your mood, seriously. You are thankful to Jo Rowling for writing a much-needed dark tale; at least some kids would read, including this 23-year old “boy”. You are also thankful to Chuck Palahniuk and Harper Lee for bringing gore and beauty during this (hopefully) short outing on the bed. This also brings to your mind that some people really think that reading books is <i>uncool</i> and only geeks do that. You digress, since that’s not the case. You are thankful to the ONE EVERYWHERE for bestowing people around you who don’t implicitly worry about your slackness. “<a href="http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/vanillasky/sweetnessfollows.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">I always wonder why did we bother</span></a>” is gratefully not your case, although “<a href="http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/vanillasky/sweetnessfollows.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">distance from one</span></a>” did work out few years ago.<br /><br />Your medication includes 4 different drugs, two of which are anti-histamine and moderately sedative, which is bad since you are not able to indulge. The sedatives start to rock you to sleep in a quarter or so of an hour. The only downside is the fuckin’ weakness. You hate being weak even as you are all raving about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Superman Returns </span>and have already got the tickets for a Sunday afternoon show – <a href="http://www.prasadz.com"><span style="font-weight: bold;">IMAX 3D</span></a>. Catch you there, hopefully, <span style="font-weight: bold;">F-13</span>. This is the second movie where you got the seat #13, M:I:3 rocked, hoping the same from Bryan Singer.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1151326086575098062006-06-26T05:36:00.000-07:002006-06-28T19:39:06.393-07:00The Not-Yet Last Stand<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/x3page.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/x3page.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I made it through X-Men: The Last Stand. It was supposed to be the last X-Men movie, the trilogy. X-Men, for me is the greatest superheroes’ movie ever, apart from The Incredibles – which was the greatest animated experience ever. (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Thanks-rant</span>: I thank <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083348/">Brad Bird</a>. I thank <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/jobs.html">Steve Jobs</a> for buying out Pixar from George Lucas. I thank Javed Jaffery for an excellent dub making it the best-ever Hindi dubbed movie.)<br /><br />But back to The Last Stand.<br /><br />I am calling it The Last Stand, just like everyone at JoBlo’s does. Why? Because this is not an X-Men movie. Not for me. Not for the many movie and comic geeks out there. Hollywood is filled with movie makers who make the movies as in <i>produce</i>. They are part of a bigger creature called THE STUDIO. Now, a studio has the power to make or break a movie. It can bet huge and come out with a surprise – New Line Cinema’s greatest gamble called <span style="font-weight: bold;">THE LORD OF THE RINGS</span>. It can bet small and come out with a success - <span style="font-weight: bold;">CRASH</span>. It can also bet HUGE and fall head-first – <span style="font-weight: bold;">TROY</span> (In this case <i>heel-first</i>). All these amounts to a single most important part of movie business – creativity. Creativity in Hollywood is second only to probability of success. When quick-buck stands against a possible-bucks-in-future, the former wins hands down.<br /><br />FOX could have waited for Bryan Singer. Apparently Singer was busy in the greatest re-incarnation in Cinema History. But they were looking for some quick bucks. When they got Matthew Vaughn on board for X-Men 3 I was all ready to forgive their urgency in pushing the movie. I love Vaughn. He just directed one movie and I love it. It’s called <span style="font-weight: bold;">LAYER CAKE</span>, See it. But as luck should have it Vaughn moved out. Instead of waiting for Singer or Vaughn, FOX goes ahead and assigns BRETT RATNER. I only saw Ratner’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rush Hour</span> and I can say without any reproach that it was very bad. More so, because a mumbling Black actor and an accented-asian actor hitting out on some gang isn’t my type of movie. I saw part of <span style="font-weight: bold;">AFTER THE SUNSET</span>. It didn’t interest me much even though anything with Salma Hayek would.<br /><br />I am indignant. The Last Stand depends more on the mutants’ powers rather than the character itself. Most footage was wasted on CGI sequences and more on the various entries of characters – Wolverine jumping from the jet and using his claws to make an easy landing (Crap!). Storm changing weather because she was sad (Crap!), didn’t she felt bad/sad/angry in the last two movies. The movie was like, <i>“Alright we don’t have much to tell, so we’ll put in whatever mutants we can think of”.</i> But it wouldn’t have been that. The story was awesome. In the hands of Singer or even Vaughn the plot would have culminated to the greatest X-Men movie ever. I didn’t want to see half-assed mutants. I never want to see Storm acting up like a main character. I hate Storm. She would have been great if she died or just disappeared or whatever. I just can’t stop raving about how BAD this movie is. Not a shred of reason. No story telling at all. I don’t know how some great online reviewers found this movie good. My man, Joblo gave this sucker 5/10, which is bad but not bad enough. I can’t think of a number higher than 3.<br /><br />The best part of The Last Stand was that it was very short. Clocking a little over 90 minutes, I was happy for the movie to end. The end was a bit like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and woman). (Sidenote: I saw LXG in the theaters, first day. Crappier than X3, I was laughing even before the intermission.) With an Indian POV I can say this movie is gonna make money that it didn’t make back in the west, LXG did. We are going to have various language versions – Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and all. And everyone will rush to see <i>YEX-MEN</i> in their preferred language. I can’t believe VAN HELSING (in Telugu) is still running in some theaters here. The current craze is Underworld 2 (again, in Telugu). They even change the titles of the movies sometimes. Right now, Superman Returns’ Spots are coming on the TV and the Hindi version has conveniently bumped off <i>Returns</i> - It’s now just Superman. But whatever the name Superman is going to Rock and I’ll be there to witness the amalgamation of an iconic hero and the best Superhero director there is, Bryan Singer.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1150806528318258592006-06-20T05:23:00.000-07:002006-06-28T19:42:07.430-07:00I'm Black<div align="center"><br />I am Black.<br /><a href="http://pearljammers.com.sapo.pt" target="_blank"><br /><img src="http://pearljammers.com.sapo.pt/img/black.jpg" border="0" height="202" width="302" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;" ><br />take the <a href="http://pearljammers.com.sapo.pt" target="_blank">which pearl jam song are you?</a> quiz, a product of the <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=pearljammers"><img src="http://stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" height="17" width="17" /></a><a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/pearljammers/">pearljammers</a> community.</span><br /></div><br />I fuckin' love these lines:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, i know you'll be a star<br />in somebody else's sky, but why<br />why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine?</span><br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Courtesy: <a href="http://prodigalrooster.blogspot.com/" title="Prodigal Rooster">Nouman Mohammed Khan</a>.</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1150805592357756262006-06-20T04:43:00.000-07:002006-06-20T05:13:12.396-07:00Random Thoughts Vol.2Reasons are the same as before. Hence: Random Thoughts Vol.2<br /><br /><ul><li>Mission Impossible 3 finally arrived in Hyderabad. Saw it releasing day - Friday.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/10m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/320/10m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Awesome action. J.J. Abrams has made it to my list of great action directors. Tom Cruise, always brilliant. Hoffman came out as a great villain. The slight suspense was no surprise, already knew who was behind it before the intermission. Maggie Q - HOT. I was looking forward to see Billy 'Russel Hammond' Crudup after quite a long time in a huge movie. He was great too. A great movie. No bad things to say except the lack of THE THEME in the movie most of the time. But still, the music was good. The Vatican and Shanghai sequences were brilliantly shot. Will watch again this week.</li><br /><br /><li>Been reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird. A geniune story of innocence and human dignity. Looks like I finally found the life-changing-book after all. Will write all about it in a post quite soon. Started reading it for the second time. This stuff should be in primary education curriculum.<br /></li><br /><br /><li><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/supershield.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/320/supershield.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Kal El will return on June 30th in IMAX 3D. Book your tickets, I'm booking mine as soon as advance starts. There will be 20 minutes of 3D Supes. Can't wait. The reviews are good not excellent though. Some say it is more of a <span style="font-style: italic;">Chick</span> movie. Some say Spacey wasn't used much. I say fuck off! I say, "I HEART SUPERMAN".</li><br /><br /><li>Listening to James Blunt's Back to Bedlam. Listen. Wallow in the beautiful melancholy. Also playing all live performances by Pearl Jam. Also in the loop are the Verve, Soundgarden, Fort Minor, Lynyrd <span style="font-style: italic;">fuckin' </span>Skynyrd, Helen Stellar, My Morning Jacket.</li><br /><br /><li>Also playing Counter Strike and Condition Zero. Trying to throw a LAN party at Copy Junction, Banjara Hills. Need more friends/players.</li><br /></ul>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1149410731785372152006-06-04T01:43:00.000-07:002006-06-04T01:45:31.796-07:00Till Death Do Us PartEver read Chuck Palahniuk?<br /><br />I guess not.<br /><br />Read <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1782635,00.html">this</a>.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1149268402247581222006-06-02T08:08:00.001-07:002006-06-06T07:32:53.570-07:00Random ThoughtsDon't have anything to write about, hence: random thoughts.<br /><br /><ul><li>People are always asking me, "what are you doing?" <a href="http://and-all-that.blogspot.com/">This</a> is what I am doing these days. Go ahead and click, its an improvisation of a blogger template. It is Work-In-Progress and there's more where <a href="http://and-all-that.blogspot.com/">this</a> came from. So whenever you need a different looking blog, catch me on Yahoo! IM.</li><br /><li><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/PanLabyrinth.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/PanLabyrinth.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11492">Joblo</a> gave it 9/10 and <a href="http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=1089">Arrow</a> would butcher his family to see this again. And they saw it at the Cannes. It's my most awaited movie this year. Much awaited than Superman Returns. And I know it won't be released in India/Hyderabad. It's mucho-gloomy and uber-creepy. It's Guillermo del Toro's "<a href="http://www.panslabyrinth.com/">El Laberinto del Fauno</a>" (Pan's Labyrinth). Download the creepy trailer, already.</li><br /><li>Next in line is Richard Linklater's live-action, rotoscopic-animated sci-fi, <a href="http://wip.warnerbros.com/ascannerdarkly/">A Scanner Darkly</a>. Three Words: PHILIP K. DICK (shame on you, ignoramus). It stars some of my favorite actors, Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., and Winona Ryder and Woody Harrelson. I believe I don't have to repeat the trailer line from above.</li><br /><li>Year's biggest disappointment, <a href="http://www.southlandtales.com/">Southland Tales</a>, courtesy, Richard Kelly. <span style="font-style: italic;">I had hopes. Damn you, Richard. Please give me a Darko, again.</span><br /></li><br /><li>I am back on to music real hard, courtesy: iPod Nano. It's:<br /><ul><br /><li>The Who's <span style="font-style: italic;">Baba O'Riley</span></li><br /><li>Elton John's <span style="font-style: italic;">Tiny Dancer</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">My Father's Gun</span></li><br /><li>Helen Stellar's <span style="font-style: italic;">Io (This time around)</span></li><br /><li>Fleetwood Mac's <span style="font-style: italic;">Big Love (Acoustic)</span></li><br /><li>Pearl Jam doing the Who's <span style="font-style: italic;">Baba O'Riley (live)</span></li><br /><li>Wheat's <span style="font-style: italic;">Don't I Hold</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> You</span></li><br /><li>Lindsey Buckingham's <span style="font-style: italic;">Shut Us Down</span></li><br /><li>Lynyrd Skynyrd's <span style="font-style: italic;">Free Bird</span></li><br /><li>D-Mode's remix of Starsailor's <span style="font-style: italic;">Four to the Floor</span></li><br /><li>Led Zeppelin's <span style="font-style: italic;">Heartbreaker</span></li><br /><li>Beck's <span style="font-style: italic;">Guero</span></li><br /></ul>and more movie soundtracks and scores. I DIG MUSIC. (whoever got it, comment. hint: <span style="font-style: italic;">tiny dancer</span>)</li><br /><li>Got nothing to read. Going for book-shopping tomorrow. Looking for Harper Lee's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446310786/sr=8-1/qid=1149265394/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5303001-3831317?%5Fencoding=UTF8"><span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill A Mocking Bird</span></a>, David Vise and Mark Malseed's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055380457X/sr=8-1/qid=1149265481/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5303001-3831317?%5Fencoding=UTF8">Google Story</a> and anything minimal (spanbauer, hempel, palahniuk, coupland, camus, lee). Meanwhile, enjoying <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lord of the Rings</span> for the <span style="font-style: italic;">don't-remember<sup>th</sup></span> time.</li><br /><li><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/css.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/css.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I am also going back to my web devlopment basics. Learning CSS again. Learning Modularization in XHTML 1.1. Trying to learn JavaScript for the <span style="font-style: italic;">n<sup>th</sup> </span>time. I even have a CSS Reference on my iPod. Thanks, <a href="http://www.westciv.com/news/podguide.html">Westciv</a>.</li></ul><br /><br />That's all folks! Will return with more thoughts in the near future.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1148923580454320212006-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:002006-05-29T10:30:08.140-07:00Apple Sweeeeetness!<div style="text-align: center;"><br />Ladies and Gentlemen, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Spankin'</span> new <a href="http://www.apple.com">Apple</a> <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipod/">iPod</a> <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/">Nano</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/iPOD%201%20%2813%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 137px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/iPOD%201%20%2813%29.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/iPOD%201%20%2811%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 137px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/iPOD%201%20%2811%29.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This happens to be my first ever Apple product and I am hooked for more. The finesse, the eye for details, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steve Jobs</span> is evident in the iPod Nano. And the interface is sooooo smooth.<br /><br />My brand new iPod, in all its sleek-black goodness, holds upto 240 songs. That's near-about 1 gig. I also get a USB cable for downloading music from my PC. A soft leather-like case. A CD with iTunes 6 + Quicktime 7. And it is a <span style="font-weight: bold;">gift</span> from a great friend. Thanks man. You are making my day, every day.<br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12782384@N00/sets/72157594148660208/">iPod Flickr Set</a><br /><br /><br /></div>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1148806847919003512006-05-28T01:30:00.000-07:002006-06-12T09:39:57.563-07:00A Different BeatMusic is books for the ears. Just like any book I read, my music takes me places. Places I have been, places I want to be, places I haven’t been, places I never want to be in. It acts as the same portal that books are.<br /><br />And as with books, my music choices are a bit <i>slicker than your average</i>. Not just slicker, they are everything from rustic to fresh to all-out industrial. I am Rock. I am Pop. I am Jazz. I am Electronic. Heck, I am even Country. If there’s one genre that I am not all into, it should be hip-hop. I listen hip-hop, but it sticks to Eminem and Shaggy. People are always asking me, <i>why don’t you listen to hip-hop?</i> I can only say, <i>it’s not my kinda music.</i> They ask have I listened to 50 cent, D12, Jamelia, Kevin Lyttle. I say, <i>no</i>. And they consider this to be <i>so uncool</i>.<br /><br />Well, being <i>uncool</i> is no-problems with me. That’s part nature for a geek. What’s bad is that people presume stuff about you. They presume you want to act as if you don’t listen to what everyone listens to. You act like you are <i>different</i>. And what have I to say? For starters, <i>Yea, I am fuckin’ different</i>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/logoblack.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/320/logoblack.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/">HELEN STELLaR</a> is a great Chicago band doing some great music in L.A. I love their music. And when you go over to their <a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/">official website</a> and read their <a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/pages/about/bio.html">bio</a>. This is what they have to say.<br /><blockquote>“<a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/pages/about/bio.html">In an age where style is rewarded over content, cynicism inevitably becomes second nature. Passion and originality have given way to cut-and-paste songwriting and carbon-copy imagery churned out for commercial mass consumption. All is not lost. There is a light that still shines. This is HELEN STELLaR.</a>”</blockquote>This is exactly why I do not like Hip-Hop. There is no originality in hip-hop. Their sound, their style, even their videos are same. <i><br /><br />A Car comes the singer gets out singing. He hits a party. Hot Chicks. Ok-looking singer. Huge shirts. Huger Pants. Black-Culture-Gone-Wrong. Gasgsta Rap. Discotheques. Dancing.</i><br /><br />This is surely not my kinda music. But then you would say, <i>Ok, you are a fuckin’ Racist</i>. Racist, I am not. If you really want to listen to Black music, listen to Jazz – the original and classy black cultural contribution to Music. I listen to Jazz. To Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Dianne Reeves.<br /><br />To know what’s behind all this shit-talk, you need to know that International music isn’t easy to find in Hyderabad city. You could get the newer stuff, all those boy bands and hip-hop rappers. What you don’t get is the older music. You get Bryan Adams, you get Michael Jackson, and you get Nirvana, but not everything from them. So when I talk about Duran Duran’s Ordinary Life or the oh-so-lovely Moon River, I get a “<i>huh!</i>" People do not listen to this stuff. People don’t want to. And when they don’t listen that, they reflexive-ly do not listen to great music like Tom Petty, Elton John, Sting, John Mayer, Coldplay, James Blunt and many more great musicians and bands who are available in every record store in the city. Instead, they listen to what’s playing on Top 10. They listen to <i>whateva-lyric</i>-ed hip-hop. They hear what they see.<br /><br />It’s like they are acting <i>sheep</i>. One jumps the stick, all the others follow.<br /><br />This, however, is not a critical analysis of music choices. This little write-up is not in anyway offending the hip-hop genre or the <i>true</i> hip-hop lover, the one who’d listen to both Kanye West and MC Hammer. It’s not about people who jump on the latest bandwagon hitting the block. This is about people who jump on the bandwagon and <i>get off</i>. People who listen to hip-hop because it’s cool and would not listen to it when its off-trend.<br /><br />People don’t want to experiment. They want what is served, meaning, they don’t have a choice in the first place. I’ll talk about myself, I am no hypocrite. Most of my choices are borrowed, acquired taste it’s called. But I guess, everyone’s choices are acquired one way or the other.<br /><br />I’d never heard the <i>Dark Side of the Moon</i> or <i>Heathen Chemistry</i> or <i>Led Zeppelin I</i> or <i>II</i> or <i>III</i>. I’d never known <i>Mark Knopfler, Sting, Duran Duran </i>or <i>Jim Morrison</i>. I’d never heard <i>tiny dancer</i> or <i>Free Falling</i> or <i>Free Bird</i>. It was other people who made me listen to these records, these bands, these artists.<br /><br />Other people who might be my friends, people who put these great music into their collection, into their movies, into their car stereo and at the back of their notebooks. People I knew as friends - Rahil, Shakeel and Moid. People I know online but haven’t talked to - <a href="http://prodigalrooster.blogspot.com/">Nouman Mohammed Khan</a>, Paul Ranix, and Joe Hesketh. People who are famous like the film makers - Quentin Tarantino, Cameron Crowe, Sofia Coppola, and Robert Rodriguez. Like authors whose books I read with music playing – Tom Spanbauer, Stephen Graham Jones, Christopher Baer, Alex Garland and Douglas Coupland. I don’t know what they listen to but their work inspire me some music.<br /><br />Yes! I jump on these bandwagons, each and every one of them. But I never get off. I am a geek. And geeks by nature are fanboys. We are loyal to stuff we like, fiercely loyal. Books, Movies, Technology, Theories, Music, whatever it is we remain with them. We remain because whatever our choice is, we know, it is US.<br /><br />Music isn’t about choices it’s about feelings, emotions, ideology, perspective. Music is about you. Just like the books you read, music defines/instigates/improves your emotions. And just like books it means different to every person. It’s never the same, the music. It’s complex yet simple. It’s just like us.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">P.S. Check out <a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/">Helen Stellar</a>’s io (This time around) on the Soundtrack of Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown. Also check out some other <a href="http://www.helenstellar.com/pages/listen/listen.html">music</a> on the official website of Helen Stellar.</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1148118933885712742006-05-10T02:50:00.000-07:002006-05-20T02:59:55.870-07:00Pause<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >||</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> This is a pause.</span><br /><br />I've been busy lately. I've been writing. Two Tests. Will return, pretty soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Proximamente</span></span>.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1146601436780711862006-05-02T13:02:00.001-07:002006-05-27T03:00:07.326-07:00Intelligent SufferingOh, is it not but intelligent suffering when you read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe">Edgar Allan Poe</a> with despair and melancholia? Is it not love, when you suffer at the words of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_De_Maupassant">Maupassant</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka">Kafka</a>, out of willingness and anxiety?<br /><br />I have, in my early reading years, read through many an insomniac nights the works of Poe and Maupassant. These are two great authors who share more than their genres – the art of weaving a tale of morbid fear, gloom and hopelessness around everyday life. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe">Edgar Allan Poe</a>, I would later find was sort of an inspiration for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_De_Maupassant">Guy De Maupassant</a>.<br /><br />There is a kind of an enigma that surrounds tales of a darker nature. For me it is one “genus” that is most close to our hearts, most human. But dark for one is not exactly dark for others. Simply saying, dark is not a genre in itself. It is evident, not by saying, but by reading something that would seem dark to you. I’ve read those fat plot-driven novels, stories taken from the pages of the daily newspapers. I read the Da Vinci Code, I was ecstatic (until I read other books by Dan Brown). I read Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, I was clueless. And these are best sellers by best selling authors. Not one of the many books I’ve read had any effect on me. Alternatively, I read a short story by Maupassant. A story which has neither a plot nor a shred of reason. A story about a well-to-do French man who wanders around Paris one night and ends up starved to death. By the end I felt as if I had gone through that deadly ordeal myself. It was so powerful that I kept reading it again and again, till I lost the book, and lost the name of the story in my memory. I still don’t remember the title, yet I consider it as my favorite Maupassant story ever.<br /><br />The thing about dark tales is they are, in essence, sad and emotional. Because in the end you aren’t afraid, you are just sad. But people don’t want to feel that emotion. I look around book stores; I look at people buying books. Everyone wants a book that makes them feel happy. Ah! They so love their happy endings. Even when people go “over the edge” they buy a sappy book, books loosely written to induce emotions that are not true to the soul of both the writer and reader. People are “afraid” to read books that feel true. So, they indulge in best sellers. I do too. If I ever get to lay my hands on the darkest of tales, I would never read the best sellers. But alas, is all I can say.<br /><br />Books these days are full of cheesy plots and character-less characters that do not dwell in my after-thoughts. I mean, when was the last time I thought why Robert Langdon did what he did or why were there so many goddamn characters in State of Fear. The characters of these best sellers are just characters. What they lack is the humanness, the soul that exists in every character of a dark tale, be it French men, Princes, Hobbits, Wizards or humanoid mask-wearing villain who makes breathing sounds. And each of these characters, no matter how far from being human, is truly human.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/1600/479px-Edgar_Allan_Poe_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7484/406/200/479px-Edgar_Allan_Poe_2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>When you read <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/1epoe10h.htm">The Masque of Red Death</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe">Edgar Allan Poe</a> you can’t help but feel the movement of the story. The description, which goes from flamboyant to the darkest red, is simple and stark. The story is roughly a narrative description of a Prince’s party while the outside world rages through a plague. By the end of the short story you are as horrified as the Prince himself. Only Poe can make horror out of a series of rooms.<br /><br />I love it when it ends like this. I am no sadist or pessimist. I am just more human than human. More sensitive to emotions those are rare and sad. And I suffer out of my will, out of my intelligence. I enjoy this suffering, this feeling of despair and eventual sadness. I enjoy them in my books, in movies, music, games, and in writing. I wish every passing day, I wish I could write such tales but I digress or am afraid. Of suffering what these men have suffered to flow words that are an intelligent suffering to the rest of us.<br /><br />Franz Kafka once wrote, in a letter to his friend, Oskar Pollak<br /><blockquote>“<span style="font-style: italic;">I believe one should read only the books that bite and sting. If a book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a punch on the head, what are we reading it for? … We need the books which affect us like a disaster, which pain us deeply, like the death of someone dearer to us than ourselves, like being lost in the woods, far from everyone, like a suicide…</span>”</blockquote>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1146473179120615482006-05-01T01:35:00.000-07:002006-05-01T01:47:39.146-07:00Quoting Authors Vol.3<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />"<a href="http://www.kafka-franz.com/index.html">The tremendous world I have inside my head. But how [to] free myself and free it without being torn to pieces. And a thousand times [I'd] rather be torn to pieces than rather it in me or bury it. That, indeed, is why I am here, that is quite clear to me.</a>" - <a href="http://www.kafka.org/">Franz Kafka</a><br /><br /><br /></span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1146382746888253642006-04-30T00:34:00.000-07:002006-04-30T03:01:27.910-07:00Two Years DownSo this is becoming more of a writing pad than just a diary. I have been writing about everything except me, although you can argue that it's all me, in the end.<br /><br />This May it will be two years since I had been a <a href="http://www.blogger.com">Blogger</a>. Books, Movies, Design, Web Standards and the Open Source Revolution. I have written about them and not, but anyhow I have written. It started with an ambitious little blog, The Signs of Being. It was online in the May of 2004. I posted two short posts on it in June, maybe July. And I found out: I wasn't any good at writing, No one would read my blog, and I am no-good-lazy-ass. And so Signs of Being eventually got deleted from the Blogger server.<br /><br />Then near about a year later I came up with <a href="http://iwantdoesntget.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">I Want Doesn't Get</span></a>. I thought it was a great idea putting out your wishlist <span style="font-style: italic;">blog-style</span>. On April 20, 2005 at 11:56 PM I wrote my first post on <a href="http://iwantdoesntget.blogspot.com/">IWDG</a>. Not a great write-up, not particularly interesting, but I wrote. Another post came by six days later. And then, Period.<br /><br />It took 10 months for me to start writing again. In February of o-six I published <a href="http://anoncon.blogspot.com">Anonymous Content</a>. It was a new blog, a new beginning. I wrote my first ever nicely-written post - <a href="http://anoncon.blogspot.com/2006/02/nineteen-eighty-four.html">Nineteen Eighty-Four</a>. Since then I haven't stopped writing. I resurrected <a href="http://iwantdoesntget.blogspot.com">IWDG</a> with some serious posting and here I am two years down, a little mature, more geek-ier than ever.<br /><br />Now I write with much fervor. My writing reflects what I read. I read a lot now, more mature books, more stylized writing. A few good souls do come over to read my wannabe-mature posts. Some go a step further and comment and I'd like to thank them for their interest - <a href="http://www.maroonfly.blogspot.com/">Arsh</a>, <a href="http://www.thotster.blogspot.com/">Thotster</a>, <a href="http://sunfever.blogspot.com/">Sun</a><a href="http://prayertojesus.blogspot.com/">fever</a>, all my friends, and some more.<br /><br />I hope to continue this writing expedition indefinitely. I also hope for more readership - I will hit the 500-mark by the end of this week, It's not flattering but at least I got the facts right.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update</span>: News is, I didn't have to wait for a week for that 500-mark. I hit 518 while I was writing and posting this piece. Cheers!!</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1146170773527937712006-04-27T13:43:00.000-07:002006-05-24T23:40:21.590-07:00Man's Greatest InventionIt is “language” indeed.<br /><br />I know it’s a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_invention">Cultural Invention</a>, but an invention nonetheless. It is one invention that is used by every human being. Even the mute communicates with a language. Language breaks barriers. It breaks borders. How? I like to think it’s the human entity that drives languages. The primal need to communicate, to exchange thoughts and to emote, else there’s nothing more to humans. We are what we are because we communicate. What would be fire if the ancient men didn’t know to convey its uses? What would be the wheel?<br /><br />The magic of language is that it can be so different yet so familiar. Through language we emote. Emote happiness, emote sadness, anger, fear, joy, criticism, appreciation, we emote hate and we emote love.<br /><br />The words some times become more than just alphabets stuck together to sense. The greatest woman on earth is a mother. And mother in any language means the same. “Mother” in English is “Mutter” in German, “Madre” in Spanish, “Mère” in French, and “Mãe” in Portuguese. The semblance is just love and nothing more. You call her “Mummy” or “Mom”; we call her “Ammi” in the Urdu language or “Maa” in Hindi. Different languages, familiar sounds. These words are not influenced by English since it was used long before English came to India. I don’t know how such things happen. It seems neither co-incidental nor an influential effect.<br /><br />Very few people regard language as important. I myself believe that languages are beautiful. I love languages. The pronunciations, the exclamations. I love Persian a language that seems ancient and beautiful. I love Arabic, it’s more of an art than a language. I love Japanese, seems to me the most emotive language. The Chinese and Japanese pronunciation accords to their emotion/feeling. Urdu is my own language; it is one of the few languages that have love, respect and richness in it. It is, after all, an amalgamation of three great tongues, Arabic, Persian and Hindi.<br /><br />Language defines cultures, peoples, and societies. Everyone knows French is a very romantic speech and the French are quite so too. The language defines the people. With Urdu, it is the regard, respect, and esteem.<br /><br />The inspiration behind my love for languages is my greatest teacher. He himself was quite fluent in as many as 4 speeches, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and English.<br /><br />He is and ever will be.<br /><br />I haven’t learned any languages myself nor will I learn in the foreseeable future. It is a task too huge for me. Withal, I would love to learn a new language – Persian, Arabic, and Japanese makes my list.<br /><br />Language still remains the greatest invention ever. It permits me to learn about everything around me. The realities, the fiction, the comedies, the tragedies and the essence of being human, all of them reason enough to stuff my rack with more books. More words. More language.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">P.S.: Today I am going, yet another time, to my personal little used-book store, Frankfurt. Hoping to buy some more book, hoping to get some more language onto my rack.</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1145879979571271392006-04-24T04:53:00.000-07:002006-04-27T09:33:52.896-07:00FP BikingFirst Ever Video Post!<br /><br />Here it is some nice First Person Biking experience. I took this with my cousin. There's one more like this, a bit more aggresive. Will post later.<br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sdo0B9c4U34"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sdo0B9c4U34" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">P.S. You'll need some <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">Flash</a> power for this video.</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1145108444940824502006-04-15T06:30:00.000-07:002006-04-25T05:55:19.776-07:00The Milk of Human UnkindnessThe editorial of today’s <a href="http://deccan.com">Deccan Chronicle</a> Newspaper has quiet a nice little column by renowned author, <a href="http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/engl/">Paulo Coelho</a>. The Op-Ed page always has a Coelho column at least twice a week. The small column is only rivaled by the excellent Kushwant Singh write up, <span style="font-style: italic;">With Malice towards one and all</span>, which is a Sunday exclusive.<br /><br />Now, Coelho usually writes some homo-evangelic prose with a poetic twinge, today it was same but with a different perspective. Titled, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.deccan.com/Columnists/Columnists.asp">The Milk of Human Unkindness</a>, the write-up had something that reminded me of, once again, George Orwell’s 1984.<br /><br />Coelho writes how this Norwegian company sent him three liters of their product that substitutes milk. The company says that scientists have found that “<span style="font-style: italic;">cow milk contains 59 active hormones, lots of fat, cholesterol, dioxins, bacterias and viruses</span>”. The company’s product has its base in plants (cows get their calcium from plants), so you don’t have to use milk for Calcium. “<span style="font-style: italic;">Milk is condemned based on an endless number of studies carried out in a variety of institutes all over the world</span>” says the product literature. All this points out that milk is not good for health. Coelho says that he tried a sip of this product that <span style="font-style: italic;">substitutes the killer milk</span> and it was the foulest thing he ever tasted. As he writes about this he goes into how science and technology has changed us. How people who are now in their 50s used to drive in cars without seat belts or airbags, how children played on the back seat with no cradles or belts to bind them and how their cradles used to be colored bright that are now considered harmful because they contain lead or some chemical. Coelho says that maybe in the future scientists might convince us of the <span style="font-style: italic;">killer milk</span> and ban it and contemplates <span style="font-style: italic;">will we have to get our milk from drug dealers</span>?<br /><br />The last single line of the column reminded me of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Proles</span> from 1984. For the ignoramus, in the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, Proles are a community who are considered illiterate and live in the slummy part of the city. They live a life of ignorance and indulge in businesses like theft, prostitution and selling illegal items like shaving blades, pens, antiques and such. The milk and the drug dealer can be the perfect metaphor for the Proles. It reminds me of a future where a mere thing like buying milk will be treated as a drug deal.<br /><br />Why is it that most scientific advances have more disadvantages? Every other product born out of scientific research has much to offer – faster, easier and eventually cheaper. It also offers us a lot of free time which we end up using other scientific products. The ease is great but it is making us, it is making me lazier than ever. A very few machines/technologies come to mind when we think “<span style="font-style: italic;">no side affects</span>”. I’d like you to name some in your comments.<br /><br />The future does seem bleak when you look through this perspective. Fifty years from now we may live up to be hundred. Fifty years from now we may have forgot the taste of a mere thing say, milk. I love technology. I crave all those gadgets I see over at <a href="http://www.engadget.com">engadget</a> and <a href="http://www.hiptechblog.com/">hiptechblog</a>. I am a man. It’s built into my DNA, to love gadgets. But I’d never want to see a future where I wouldn’t be able to drink my tea with milk. I’d never ever want to eat something that has come from a lab rather than a sprawling field. Hate is a very strong word. And I hate Organic food. It tastes like dust, and I’ve tasted dust on more than one occasion.<br /><br />The future is bright. It will be. When you use a radiating nuclear powered light bulb it will be damn bright.Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1145102814349866212006-04-15T05:03:00.000-07:002006-04-15T05:06:54.366-07:00Why the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth<div style="text-align: center;">Check this out, <a href="http://forevergeek.com/geek_articles/four_reasons_why_the_geeks_shall_inherit_the_earth.php#more">Four Reasons why the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth</a>.<br /><br /><br /></div>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23011748.post-1144426847315018002006-04-07T08:36:00.000-07:002006-04-22T05:09:05.456-07:00Hapless in Hyderabad or How I Stopped Worrying and Started to WriteThe days were rocking slowly and the nights were short. The crappy speakers on the sideboards of the huge computer table were squeaking tinny sounds that heard something like Pearl Jam’s <span style="font-style: italic;">I am Mine</span>. Some days are meant to be wretched. The daily weather ticker on a local website announced the temperature. 38 freaking Celsius. It also proclaimed Hyderabad was the hottest frying pan in the whole country on that day.<br /><br />The 1984 vintage air cooler was blowing arid waves of torture in my direction. It was the year that I did nothing. And I perfectly know that the previous statement is crap because it is impossible to point out the year being pointed out. I push next on my playlist. Sting’s <span style="font-style: italic;">Fragile</span>. This one at least complemented the weather, as in didn’t make you feel more humid. I put the song on repeat.<br /><br />I have been hitting the return key for the past 10 minutes to register the results of a boring little program I wrote in PHP. I peered over <a href="http://as.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0764569740.html">the book</a> in my lap. At this pace I would develop my dream project in about 10-12 years. I slammed the book shut and opened another. It was Kevin Sampson’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0224050559/sr=1-1/qid=1144425853/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-4653738-7807920?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books">Awaydays</a>, an excellent debut novel which would later encourage me to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385002/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHNvdXJjZWlkPW1vemlsbGEtc2VhcmNofHE9SG9vbGlnYW5zfGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=22;fm=1">Green Street Hooligans</a> and read Nick Hornby’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140295577/sr=8-7/qid=1144425969/ref=pd_bbs_7/104-4653738-7807920?%5Fencoding=UTF8">Fever Pitch</a>.<br /><br />Deeply immersed in good <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/scouse/talk/scouse.shtml">Scouse accent</a>, football matches and gore I was thinking about the one thing I always think about when reading a book. I wish I could write. I wanted to write something. It could be anything, the only prerequisite was readers. It was a no-brainer that who would read my crap, no one. So there it was, always in my mind yet it never happened.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rewind << </span>I have written before.<br /><br />My first real writing was a collaborative piece of work with my younger sister, <a href="http://maroonfly.blogspot.com">Arshiya</a>. I was 9 or maybe 10. It was a short story about this guy called Massey and how he meets this ghost who shows up every now and then. Just like today the story reflected a lot of what I’ve been reading or watching. Those were the days of sci-fi and space adventures. Massey, the protagonist of our story was actually a hero of another sci-fi book we were reading. Anyway, the joy of writing a full story was great, but it was read by only two people, me and <a href="http://maroonfly.blogspot.com">Arshiya</a>. We both happened to be the only creative minds in the house.<br /><br />I close <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0224050559/sr=1-1/qid=1144425853/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-4653738-7807920?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books">Awaydays</a>.<br /><br />I think again, of writing about my life. In thinking I come up with the idea of writing about “years” past. I also come up with the format - Yearly or half-yearly set of events written under the title of a song much heard in that part of the year. And so I keep this idea in my mind and so it came to be.<br /><br />Presently.<br /><br />I write them now as I have thought it out. I have stopped worrying who would read. I still am the only creative mind in my friend circle, the only one holding creativity in high esteem. At home everything remains the same too. Still I am going to write. I will write as unbiased and as truthful an account as I can or <span style="font-style: italic;">want to</span>. I will also take the pain of offline-ing my friends who are now spread around the world, and tell them to read at least a single entry.<br /><br />It is but hope that keeps the world running and the writers writing.<br /><br />About the day described above, it was a summery day in March 2004 and today it is yet another summer day and the city has recorded the highest temperature in the country. I have just finished reading Nick Hornby’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140295577/sr=8-7/qid=1144425969/ref=pd_bbs_7/104-4653738-7807920?%5Fencoding=UTF8">Fever Pitch</a> and I am listening to Sting as I end this little write-up. And yes he is still on repeat.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">P.S.: The <span style="font-weight: bold;">7 songs</span> series is coming soon to this weblog or a feed reader near you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">P.P.S: Apart from the title and this Post-postscript the whole article is exactly 666 words. Coincidence or demonic intervention.</span>Syed Asifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077629603188582368noreply@blogger.com3