My thoughts on Man of Steel

For me Man of Steel is a really entertaining and thought-provoking movie. Let me make it clear that it’s not the greatest comic-book movie (like many might be expecting). Great comic-book movies for me are V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Dark Knight Returns - Part 1, Batman: The Dark Knight etc.

So I’ll try to analyze the story and break it down.

We know the Superman Story far too well already but in Man of Steel we are given a story in microscopic detail about what happened to Kal’s parents and how Krypton was destructed.

I came across an an article about Man of Steel’s screenplay in WhatCulture. One thing I found interesting was this-

"It’s a well-known screenwriting trope that you should try to set up your story and introduce your protagonist as soon as possible – lots of screenwriting gurus will tell you that it’s best to do that within the first 10 pages, too, because that’s the point at which most people decide whether or not they like the movie that they’re watching (adhering to the fact that 10 pages roughly translates as 10 minutes of screen-time . So although the prologue in Man Of Steel is a necessary part of the Superman story, it’s still a prologue, and in this case, it’s far too long."

Source: http://whatculture.com/film/10-screenwriting-lessons-you-can-learn-from-man-of-steel.php/3

My thoughts exactly. I wan’t able to connect deeply to the story. Maybe it was the length but I’m not sure. Nevertheless it’s a really good detailing of the events before Krypton’s destruction and adds great depth to the Superman Mythos. These events  prove to be important later in the movie as they form the character arc of the villain. 

The best part about Man of Steel is Clark Kent’s angst and his troubled childhood. Its great to see how Clark suffered as a child because of his “Gold-like” powers. Here, Johnathan Kent (Clark’s Dad) clearly plays a huge role in shaping Clark’s ethical and moral values which help him to decide the kind of person he wants to grow up to become. 

Coming to the action, its HUGE and EPIC! Set to Hans Zimmer’s score, the CGI action is simply astounding. The Superman Vs. Faora fight scene is killer! But the way Superman fights makes me wonder if he actually cares about humans, because the amount of destruction is frankly not necessary in my opinion.

Of course, there’s also the clearly visible symbolism about Superman being shown as a certain God-Like figure (insert Jesus). This is too obvious but not an issue for me. The creators of Superman are from America which has a majority of Christians. So the influence cannot be ignored.

So that’s all I have to say basically. There are plot-holes and “a few weird plot conveniences” but the strong emotional moments and the grand action sequences cover the negatives to a certain extent (although not completely).

It’s supposed to be a summer blockbuster for Gods-sake!! Don’t expect deep ideologies or complex Inception-like story line!!

Finally, it was worth my money and time, and I liked it. 1000 times better than watching any recent or upcoming high-budget Tollywood/Bollywood trash. 

I'm Now A Drummer

I know I need to make blogging a habit but habits have always been hard for me to form. And blogging has always been a sort of a summer-vacation-after-school sort of thing.

Its interesting to see how things have changed. There's always a radical difference from one post to the next. And now suddenly I'm so bored of posting something. But I will persist this time! I will make sure I blog something significant.

So to fill up some space I will talk about drumming. Its been a sudden revelation. I do drum pretty well. I still am an amateur but I'm probably an  above average amateur. And its not like I didn't work hard. It took me around 6 months to get the basics right, I still have plenty of room for improvement.

Initially I started out with some small Electronic Drum Kit. I don't even know what its called. [Will update here again as soon as I find out]. Then after a few months I moved to a Yamaha DD65. I must say its a great piece for a beginner like me. I can do tonnes of experiments on this one. Although it doesn't give the feel of an actual acoustic drum, I love my electronic drum set!

This is what it looks like.

Sound quality is pretty decent. Works swell for old classic rock songs and even many modern rock songs too. Will post some videos soon. Till then, cheers!

My thoughts on design as a process of evolution

Being a newbie to the concept of "Design", I must say it is a very captivating subject. But at the same time, the idea that the objects/products I've used  from the time I was born till the present moment were designed to make my life function smoothly somehow makes me feel quite small!

Of course that's not entirely true! The world since the beginning of time has continuously evolved and reached its present state. Even man-made objects and environments (Apartments, Offices etc.) have evolved over time to reach this current form.

So we are not exactly living in a "designed" world, but we are living in a world that is designed to continuously evolve. The products that we use right now like MP3 Players, Smartphones and Toothbrushes have been re-designed over many years to reach their present form. And as we proceed into the future they will continue to evolve (thanks to designers).

Anyway, I'm glad that this subject caught my fancy because I now look at everything in a newer light. Why were some objects were specifically designed in a particular way?

For example- Why do we use a round lens on the camera for taking a photograph that comes out in a rectangle? Why not just a rectangle lens?

How did the keyboard come to be designed in such a way that all the letters are jumbled all over the place?

Answers to these questions are already available all over the internet, but that's not the point. Once you start exploring the answers, the joy of discovering something interesting or new is what makes the adventure more exciting!

Contrast

Black and white.

Positive and negative.

The dual-nature inside me.

The negative side- brooding and shapeless.

The positive side- white and pure.

I believe there is nothing purely negative or purely positive in this world.

We are all part of a world which is has a spectrum of emotions, ranging from the extremely negative to the extremely positive.

For me life is all about balancing myself on that metaphorical tight-rope.

I cannot be extremely positive or extremely negative for I will surely loose my balance.

Let me experience this dual-nature inside me, instead of embarking on a pointless quest to get rid of my negative emotions.

Achieving my childhood dreams (or rather on-my-way)

This video has inspired me in ways I cannot describe. I have my childhood dreams and I want to achieve them desperately. But in the last few years, I have simply let my dreams bury themselves and die a slow death right in front of my eyes. Immensely disappointing and frustrating. 

Bullshit-thinking like its too big a dream or not having financial support didn't help improve my situation. Although some of it may be true it doesn't inspire hope. But all this ends. I will do whatever it takes to achieve my childhood dreams. 

I will list my childhood dreams and do whatever it takes to achieve them.

1. Become an Astronaut- Or to put it realistically experience zero gravity. Let me add here that this dream wan't inspired from the video. I always wanted to be an astronaut. I knew it was not practically possible all along... but hello, Thats why its called a dream people!! Until... I realized that I could experience zero gravity as shown in the video here.

2. Draw cartoons and make an animation movie.

3. Skydiving.

4. Explore the jungles of Amazon in a boat.

5. Make a nature video for Discovery Channel or National Geographic Channel.

6. Perform in a rock-band on stage.

These are humanly achievable dreams. Not some sci-fi fantasy stuff right? Lets see how things go. :)

Pigeons in the air- Cinemagram

Please bear with me because this GIF takes sometime to fully load. :)
It's a GIF I created using an interesting tool called Cinemagram available for iPhones.
The location: This place is called Chintalbasti, which is situated between Khairatabad and Banjara Hills.
All areas I have mentioned above are located in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

Created with cinemagr.am

There's this place in ChintalBasti where all the pigeons of that area gather for a feast. One shopkeeper daily throws a huge bag full of seeds for them. Really nice of him.

Upon analyzing this situation I realize that the shopkeeper is also intelligently avoiding a huge problem. Pigeon droppings. I have a theory that birds (like all species on earth) never defecate near the same place they eat.

I also intend to prove this theory and have sufficient and unarguable proof to back my claims. I have observed the same behavior in *drum-roll*... HUMANS!!

I really am a genius.

Cloud Atlas is classic

Aaahh finally!! I saw Cloud Atlas! Ever since word came out about the movie I was terribly excited. Desperately waiting for its release.

But when the movie finished and I stepped out of the cinema hall I felt disappointed. Even though the concept was amazing and the way the film-makers wove 6 stories together was mind-boggling, in the end there was still an odd feeling. Something felt missing.

I'm sure I will never know what that odd feeling was but after a few days I realized that I was thinking about the movie more and more and was beginning to like it. Now I'm considering watching it again.

But again, I know that I will be disappointed. Its that recursive effect that the movie creates. Like an endless cycle. And that is what will make this movie a classic. Overtime it will surely become a great movie that everyone will come to appreciate the grand nature of this movie.

I'll make sure all my friends watch this movie too. Not just because it is a mind-boggling film but because of the ideas presented in the movie. Its just pure cinema. Something that we rarely see in Hollywood.

I genuinely bow down to The Wachowski Brothers and Tom Tykwer for making this epic. And I just can't wait to read the book now!