Friday, May 7, 2010

Procession moves on, the shouting is over.

EDIT: I restored my system before posting this blog, and due to some sort of mess up, it shows that i posted this on May 7th. I, actually, put this one up on June 4th.

Hello all,

Time moves with a strange speed after all, very similar to a journey in an airplane: You look out through the window and all you see is the landscape beneath you barely moving. But in no time, you're far away from where you started!

The last few months have been quite eventful on many fronts. All my exams are finally over, with shockingly mediocre results which, definitely, are not going to fetch me the best colleges in the country. I flunked IITJEE (the seven hour long test). However, the colleges i'm eligible for, aren't so bad either. I hope to get myself into Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS.)

On the non academic front too, things have been moving well. Soon after I had my Seagette External Drive installed, I got a Western Digital 1TB Drive. I haven't installed it yet since I've a lot of space inside my PC, and very little outside.


My Sony Ericsson G502 went into serious trouble and began hanging and restarting about five times a day. With it's timely entry came the saviour: It's evil twin! Yes, I now have a Sony Ericsson G502, a black one this time with a few improved features and a more sensitive keypad. I've been lately clicking a lot of pictures using it. Those who have added me as your friend on Facebook can have a look at it.


I've been a lot into movies lately, exploring across various genres from film makers like Kubrick, Tarantino, Tom Tyker, Linklater and Scorsese. I also happened to watch this Anime series called DeathNote and really liked it. I further borrowed a few episodes of GetBackers and Neon Genesis Evangelion from a friend of mine, but they don't seem to work very well on my PC...need to find a more versatile media player.

Rant on DeathNote

EDIT: Not exactly a rant...rather the opposite of it.

Talking about DeathNote, it's got one of the most ingenious plots and a very interesting concept that's partially based on Japanese mythology of death Gods or the Shinigami. The series opens with Light, a high school boy who tops his class, is popular with the ladies and the son of a cop, stumbling upon a notebook. He further comes to know that the person whose name is written in the notebook shall die.


The anime on the whole revolves around the two ways of defining justice. Light, believes that criminals should be punished, and hence goes on to use the DeathNote to kill the criminals. On the other hand, L, a mysterious but highly successful (claimed to be the world's best) detective believes that every criminal should be given a chance to start over with their life, and hence works towards stopping Light, pronouncing him a psychopath murderer.

DeathNote contains a wonderful story with a very tight plot that leaves no loopholes and questions the intellect of the viewer at certain instances. L is also portrayed as an individual with strange characteristics like holding objects as if they were contaminated, and having an extremely sweet tooth.

Another good feature about the anime is its Original Soundtrack. The set is peppered with musical masterpieces which have influenced my guitar playing a lot. Tracks such as L's and Near's theme are intriguing and set a good mood. That friend of mine who recommended the anime to me listens to L's theme every time he gets stuck with an integration problem!

--

Talking about music, as I always do, I've been exploring new bands. Most of them have been from the British music scene, although I've also tried a few American/Canadian indie bands.
The ones at the top are Arcade Fire, Joy Division, The Smiths, Dirty Projectors and Pavement. I don't have much to talk about each of the albums in detail, but I'm sure each of them a must-listen to every indie rock lover.

Apart from that, I also continued with my as usual deep digging of Radiohead and listened to their B-side and EP tracks. Many of them are quite good enough to be placed on the regular studio albums. Others have interesting tunes, but pathetic with the sound quality. The rest are just repetitive. Moving out of the Radiohead's works as a band, I've also been listening to the member's solo works. Jonny Greenwood's OST for the film Bodysong is an excellent piece of art with loads of experimentation and continuity between every two tracks. One can find a lot of jazz and electronica elements in the album.

A few weeks back, I had spent sometime in Bangalore in the name of vacation, and had a chance to visit this music instrument store called Furtados. The shop is heaven for anyone who's looking for music instruments, and has knowledgeable attendants who are ready to give as much information as possible than just simply waiting for the customer to either buy or leave. I suggest all my guitar-loving friends to check this shop out. They're a chain of shops across the country and have branches in all the metropolitan cities.

--

I've not been into books lately. I last read the the legendary sci-fi novel called 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C.Clarke. Really impressive. As suggested by my friend, I also read The Firm by John Grisham. Reviews to come soon. I've a stash of books waiting for me to read, only that I don't find much time for those.

I think I've covered most things that I've been playing around with. Can't think of more. I believe I'll be more regular with blogging now that my crucial exams are over.

So Cya all until my next blog,
Templar AKA Sumanth

P.S.: I've already told this before, but for those who are bored of reading long blogs like this one, you can receive short and quick updates here: http://twitter.com/templar165

P.S. 2 (not the playstation, you dumbo): To keep up with the name of my blog, here's an interesting site that you might want to check: http://www.geekologie.com/image.php?path=/2009/07/22/computer-hardware-2.jpg
Have fun =)

5 comments:

viveckvivu said...

You now have to same phone, but a new one? :P

Try Alfred Hitchcock movies.

Death Note, what can I saw about it!! It's indeed the best anime I have ever seen. Kira and L. Unforgettable characters!

You came across the black mysterious object in 2001??

Sumanth said...

Yeah, strange. Although, I'll get a new wi-fi enabled one when i join college.
I'm planning to watch Hurt Locker tonight...or may be tomorrow.
Oh yes, DeathNote is probably the best...which is why I didn't like the other anime much. But as people say, I haven't checked Bebop yet :P
Yeah, I did come across that one...i could then understand your influences. =)

Saki said...

Ooh I heard about that Neon Genesis Evangelion! =O
& Death note is awesome,
you described it really good and clearly(:

And omg, your taste in music ;D
I love indiee

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! ^^
xx

Reeteshifier said...

That Sony design seems like it was ripped off from Nokia Phones :P I have EXACTLY same looking WD HDD, but its 1.5TB.

The thing about 2001 is that the movie and book came out in the same time, its a different kind of project. Pretty cool. Gotta watch the movie soon.

Trying to get into BITS Hyderabad?

Sumanth said...

@Sue -- Thank you =) DeathNote is awesome...although people still disagree. NGE and Bebop are apparently better. Gotta check them out.
Indie is one real good genre...although I also like Grunge, BritRock and Jazz. =)

@Reetesh -- Well, that one is a swedish instrument...an outdated one there, in fact.

I need to check the movie out too...I'm gonna 'get' it soon. =P

Yeah, I think I'll get a couple of courses in BITS Hyd and Goa (Pilani is mostly ruled out..unless I want something like an BE/M.Sc dual degree in Bio informatics, or a B.Pharm degree). Apart from that, I'm also applying for NIT Warrangal and a few colleges in the south. Oh yes, will check the EAMCET results as well, when they're out!