This is probably going to be my last post in a long time as I cannot say for certain how much spare time I will have on my hands from now on. I could be...busy (or worse, lazy)!
Hence I take this opportunity to dedicate this post to My Generation, to the generation of the urban Indian youth, to the generation conned into doing engineering, to the generation of brilliant brains losing a hopeless battle against drudgery and monotony, to the generation now in thralls of evil corporations that have enslaved their minds with false promises of beautiful futures...
Salutations friends...those who succumbed (most),
Salutations friends...those who fought free (Pandu etc),
Salutations friends...those hoping to fight free (Somnath, Ra, Nitesh etc),
Salutations friends...those wise enough not to be conned (Zebi etc),
Salutations friends...those who rode the demon and drove it to its end (Bakchu etc),
Salutations friends...those who showed the demon the middle finger (Bacat etc)
Salutations guys! It wouldn't have been the same without you all!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The Indian Comic Book Revolution
This is the link that takes you to a journey which promises action, adventure, ground breaking artwork, god-level production standards and torn pockets that ruefully complain the lack of companionship of jingling coins. It is the world of Indian superheroes launched by Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra and a host of artistes and designers both from India and elsewhere. The artwork, in particular is groundbreaking and way better than any comic book artwork I have encountered anywhere (yes, this includes those sleek Batman Comics and similar stuff). All of this for a price of 30 rupees an issue, which is, I think juuuust right (any more and I could not have afforded it!)
The titles are called Devi, The Sadhu, Snake Woman, and Ramayana 3392AD (yes, fellow Science Fiction freaks! Ramayana in a dystopic nuclear war devastated earth).
Though I had seen them at Blossoms in Bangalore just before I was to graduate and come back home to Lucknow, I decided to buy them when I saw them at Landmark at the East End Mall in Gomtinagar. I checked out some of the artwork, decided that Devi's was the best (it truly is! Believe me!) and hastily bought issues 2, 3 and 4. Some days later (today, that is!) I brought issues 2, 3 and 4 of The Sadhu.
I showed them to Ra (who had come over for the weekend) and Pandu and both of them agreed with me as to the brilliant artwork and the ultra high production standards comparable (if not better) to any in the world.
My personal favourite of them all is Devi. It has the best artwork and Sitapur, a random district in UP is portrayed as a futuristic New York meets Mumbai. Gawd, is it uber cool!
Check them out if you're the comic book fan. Highly recommended.
The titles are called Devi, The Sadhu, Snake Woman, and Ramayana 3392AD (yes, fellow Science Fiction freaks! Ramayana in a dystopic nuclear war devastated earth).
Though I had seen them at Blossoms in Bangalore just before I was to graduate and come back home to Lucknow, I decided to buy them when I saw them at Landmark at the East End Mall in Gomtinagar. I checked out some of the artwork, decided that Devi's was the best (it truly is! Believe me!) and hastily bought issues 2, 3 and 4. Some days later (today, that is!) I brought issues 2, 3 and 4 of The Sadhu.
I showed them to Ra (who had come over for the weekend) and Pandu and both of them agreed with me as to the brilliant artwork and the ultra high production standards comparable (if not better) to any in the world.
My personal favourite of them all is Devi. It has the best artwork and Sitapur, a random district in UP is portrayed as a futuristic New York meets Mumbai. Gawd, is it uber cool!
Check them out if you're the comic book fan. Highly recommended.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Alternative Harry Potter 7
So this is what happens. Abhishek Pathak mails "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" to a mailing list of a million people and I am included in the long list of nobodys. Being totally jobless, I decide to read it (yes, I have read the others too!).
First observation: 240 pages. "Weird", I say.
Second thoughts (?): "Nah, I'll read it anyway. The print's small, that's all!"
So I undertake a voyage I had never undertaken before, i.e., reading a .pdf while sitting in front of a computer. But anyway, coming to the main point, this two day intensive reading (and the consequent backache) left me furious since it turned out that this wasn't the complete book. So I mail Pathak and ask for the complete version and voila! the next day it is mailed to me. However, I wasn't ready for the shit!
Turns out that the new .pdf has absolutely nothing in common with the old one. No-fucking-thing at all! Flustered, I read a short intro of the first scene on Wikipedia and realised that the new version is both correct and complete. I go on to read the new .pdf and finish my misadventure.
This would have been normal had it not been for the fact that I was already wary of copycats and yet couldn't identify the fake one. It was so god damned intelligently written. And if you ask me frankly, in a couple of places better written than the original.
This is it: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (fake and incomplete) .
Yeah I know you're not going to read it so I'll give you a gist.
(WARNING: Spoilers aplenty!)
Basically this was so interesting because it had a couple of scenes of graphic underage sex that Harry indulges in! (Having second thoughts about reading the .pdf? Go right ahead and don't read what's coming on!). Plus it also features Harry in innumerable kissing, coddling, caressing and what-fucking-ever scenes (it was all so damn fucking mushy).
Quote-Unquote
Unknown Interrogator : How the fuck did you not know this was a fake, man?
I : Maine socha Harry bada ho gaya hai!
Siriusly (bad pun I know!) though I had doubts about this being THE Harry Potter book but they were proven to be short lived as they were only minor scenes (pun intended!) when compared to the overall mood/setting of the book. And Harry Potter was so much THE Harry Potter whom the readers know and Voldemort hates! Man, they conned me!
Neville kills Bellatrix in this version and himself gets killed. Bellatrix had, earlier, finished off the kid sister of Fleur Delacour (ignore spelling mistakes, if any), Lupin becomes the Head of the Order of Phoenix, Harry and Hermione become Head Boy and Girl respectively with McGonagall (refer instructions as regard to spelling above) as the Head Mistress of Hogwarts, Slughorn destroys one of the Horcruxes for Harry and dies doing it etc etc.
The fake is also remarkable in being able to anticipate a couple of developments that are actually there in the original. The location of the locket and the role of Kreacher, the funda of RAB (this one was easy!), the role of Snape (I had guessed this too!) etc were some areas in which the fake anticipates the original. It also had in plan a much larger and more important role for Dumbledore's brother (yeah, he's the Hogmeade barman in the fake too!). But most importantly it introduces the mysterious character of JULIE (yeah, Harry fucks her in a graphic scene!) and the strange cat of Ginny. Ginny herself is more mysterious and is given a stronger role.
The only gripe I have about the fake is that it is incomplete. Man, if I could lay my hands on the complete one!
First observation: 240 pages. "Weird", I say.
Second thoughts (?): "Nah, I'll read it anyway. The print's small, that's all!"
So I undertake a voyage I had never undertaken before, i.e., reading a .pdf while sitting in front of a computer. But anyway, coming to the main point, this two day intensive reading (and the consequent backache) left me furious since it turned out that this wasn't the complete book. So I mail Pathak and ask for the complete version and voila! the next day it is mailed to me. However, I wasn't ready for the shit!
Turns out that the new .pdf has absolutely nothing in common with the old one. No-fucking-thing at all! Flustered, I read a short intro of the first scene on Wikipedia and realised that the new version is both correct and complete. I go on to read the new .pdf and finish my misadventure.
This would have been normal had it not been for the fact that I was already wary of copycats and yet couldn't identify the fake one. It was so god damned intelligently written. And if you ask me frankly, in a couple of places better written than the original.
This is it: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (fake and incomplete) .
Yeah I know you're not going to read it so I'll give you a gist.
(WARNING: Spoilers aplenty!)
Basically this was so interesting because it had a couple of scenes of graphic underage sex that Harry indulges in! (Having second thoughts about reading the .pdf? Go right ahead and don't read what's coming on!). Plus it also features Harry in innumerable kissing, coddling, caressing and what-fucking-ever scenes (it was all so damn fucking mushy).
Quote-Unquote
Unknown Interrogator : How the fuck did you not know this was a fake, man?
I : Maine socha Harry bada ho gaya hai!
Siriusly (bad pun I know!) though I had doubts about this being THE Harry Potter book but they were proven to be short lived as they were only minor scenes (pun intended!) when compared to the overall mood/setting of the book. And Harry Potter was so much THE Harry Potter whom the readers know and Voldemort hates! Man, they conned me!
Neville kills Bellatrix in this version and himself gets killed. Bellatrix had, earlier, finished off the kid sister of Fleur Delacour (ignore spelling mistakes, if any), Lupin becomes the Head of the Order of Phoenix, Harry and Hermione become Head Boy and Girl respectively with McGonagall (refer instructions as regard to spelling above) as the Head Mistress of Hogwarts, Slughorn destroys one of the Horcruxes for Harry and dies doing it etc etc.
The fake is also remarkable in being able to anticipate a couple of developments that are actually there in the original. The location of the locket and the role of Kreacher, the funda of RAB (this one was easy!), the role of Snape (I had guessed this too!) etc were some areas in which the fake anticipates the original. It also had in plan a much larger and more important role for Dumbledore's brother (yeah, he's the Hogmeade barman in the fake too!). But most importantly it introduces the mysterious character of JULIE (yeah, Harry fucks her in a graphic scene!) and the strange cat of Ginny. Ginny herself is more mysterious and is given a stronger role.
The only gripe I have about the fake is that it is incomplete. Man, if I could lay my hands on the complete one!
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