Rationality ...... and the heart

Alright.... It's official now.... I can no longer claim rationality - for, beyond all reason ... I have succumbed to my urges....

Its not often that i retire to the luxuries of blogging ... and as i have already mentioned ... its only in the event when i am a seratonin riddled mess. But of late, i've come to question that . Is it really bad being seratonin riddled? Of course, someone with a stronger conviction would obviously  second the notion of the disparity in the judgement of one under the "influence" (of seratonin i mean). But then again, we are all humans and, somewhere along the line , we all falter, and we are faced with the paroxysm of conflict. We are plunged deep into the throes of that which we feared most, Only to discover that our judgement was misconstrued, There was nothing at all to fear. So is the case with the effects that seratonin and dopmine induces. It's referred to in lore as "love" . A concept that escapes the masses, but which is an excruciatingly misused term in circadian speech. A word that is thrown around with such scant regard that you might think it was something of a common place.

Oft have i expressed my hate of "love", and i was justified in my stance. Up until recently, though. A stance i've had to rethink. There is only so much i can say when i'm trying to be ambiguous.

A study of human nature revels that all men are hypocrites.(so are all women, but thats besides the point). And it is this hypocritical nature that lets us wake up in the morning and not feel guilty at the constantly wavering priorities in life. There's not more than a handful of "ideal" beings who are so absolute in their priorities that they are unmoved and unchanged by happenings about them. We usually  don't ono who these people are because they are uncharacteristically boring. I mean, lets face it... adaptability is the single most unique thing that we as RATIONAL beings posses, and to trade that  for a well-strcuctered monotonous existence just seems so mundane and IRRATIONAL ...

Well, so much for that .....
I still remember, when i first started blogging, there was so much to write about, so much to share, so much to express... But priorities change and blogging becomes a luxury .... unless of course youre an actor worth crores who can dedicate time on a regular basis
On that note, i'll take my leave.

Gaussian Curves... and random electrical noises

I am getting really sporadic with these posts here.... I always make up my mind to post with such continuum that my skills don't get sullied with time, but ALWAYS to no avail.

Anyway, I'm at home now, seemingly jobless and seratonin riddling my brain, and i have loads to say too, but i'm pretty sure i won't say them in the least bit.
Ever since 3 weeks ago my rational faculties have been in a state of struggle with my baser carnal urges.  The things I've done in the past three weeks have surprised even myself.... and the people i've met are just amazing.....

In the three semesters i've been in college ... (and thats clearly not a lot) ... working with Technites, for me , has been amongst the best experiences ever.... partly because of the things i worked on.. mostly because of the things i learnt.... i would like to dedicate a post to that .. sometime later .... so i'm just going to leave it at that....

Well, to those of them that do understand the metaphorical undercurrent of the title of the post know that 'vexed i am of late, with feelings worthy of cognizanze' and i have noticed that , the only time i retire to the comfort of my blog is when i am precisely in this state,.... seratonin riddled, confused faculties and looots of time on my hand.....
Troubled i am cause i am forced to be vague in what i'm saying.... I can't as well be brazen and state what i want to in ooohhh so many words for my twisted psychological frameworks dictates that i be discreet , non descript , on the down low about things that will most  definitely get me into trouble ...
Now i'm just rambling...

I think i'll take my leave for now and gather my senses before i can think about what to post next 

After an year

Wow... feels good to be back here.... writing again.... It's been an year almost since i last came here..... suddenly things seem very different....
An year at NITK is up.... and i can say with utmost certainty that i am none the wiser from my previous post (I am not kidding)....
Anyway, It has been a heeluva ride, this first year at NITK. The people i've met are very interesting and i am getting boring with my bland writing style.... time for some spice....

When we entered as first years engulfed in naiveté  , some more than the others, engineering was presented as a herculean task.... a challenge placed before us whose intricacies were unfathomable at the time.....

Engineering, an entity that was built up to be a monster facing whom should have been dreadful..... but surprisingly engineering is the best thing that has happened till date .....
The relief of engineers can be understood from a simple incident..... We, as 12th or 10th graders, wouldn't dream or dare switching on the TV or the computer a week before and during the exams or test..... well guess what..... At NITK, we watched an hour long episode of GOT and two other episodes of Korra the day before the Mech finals... Surprisingly it wasn't nagging at our conscience.....

Secondly, I remember when i was in the 7th grade, whilst competing with one of my best friends, i remember shedding tears for 1 mark..... Each mark lost was painful... VERY PAINFUL.... in stark contrast... at NIT, we never cared for that one mark (except for a few, who just can't be changed), all we cared about was cutoffs. Ah, good times......

There's a lot more to NITK that i haven't yet talked about.... LOT MORE..... but i am immensely tired now and sleep engulfs me..... i must retire for the day..... More to come....

Life at NITK

Ok, I promised a blogging spree, but unfortunately with all the admission process i was a little held up..... NOw that i am back..... not that i can promise a spree but i certainly might maintain a regular update..... PERHAPS.... ;)

Ok, now about NITK....... The campus is unbelievably brilliant... also huge...... And ECE HOD reckons that its better than IIT Karaghpur. There's a spectacular beach right next to the Electronics and Communication department.The Hostel Life fells weird, a little offbeat........ Since i am not accustomed to the life.... i am out on a rough start.
Cold water bath ....... one word.... weird.........
The mess is brilliant..... which would naturally imply that i like the food here..... but i think it gets a little repetitive but ....... i am not complaining.
The orientation program was oddly informative.... and the activities here are quite commendable.......... Also, it was repeatedly specified that NITK is best among the NITs so i'll take their word for it......

The classes haven't started yet.... and i have no idea how much free time i might get after college starts.........
Thats pretty much all i have to say on this matter as of now, Later updates as and when i feel that interesting things are happening............

Family Guy and Simpsons

Ok this has been a topic of debate, ever since the conception of family guy. It has been accused of plagiarism, corruption, vulgarity and a plethora of other indictments have been levied upon it. There are two factions of the internet community, one supporting each of the shows....

There are also a certain Section of the community that support both and those that don't give a damn about these shows. But what is it that makes these shows tick? Why do these shows have a special place in our heart?

Lets Look at a break down of these shows

1 . The Dads : Peter vs Homer

Well Homer and Peter are pretty much the same person, they are fat drunk blokes with the intelligence of a sea weed. What makes them lovable are their antiques. Homer is a much older essential fat bloke,Older in the sense that he came almost 10 years prior to Peter. However in my personal opinion, Homer is intolerable, his voice is very rusty and not to my taste..... However Homer's many fans are thus, only because of his voice. Peter's voice is more high pitched and more tolerable, Enjoyable even. Peter has the upper hand given that he had a plethora of famous fore fathers like George Washington Griffin (Lol....). But to choose between Homer and Peter is futile as more loyal fans outrightly refute Peter and progressionists favor Peter.

Result : Tie (although i personally prefer Peter)

2. The Moms : Lois vs Marge

Marge and lois on the other hand, are totally opposite characters. Marge is the ideal housewife, with an excruciating voice. Her voice is like a carrot grater rubbing against pumice stone. An absolutely horrid voice. She has that unbearably comical long hair and stupid idealistic point of view. Lois on the other hand is portrayed as an object of sexual desire... for both Peter and Brain and strangely also for Quagmire (Actually not strange). Lois has almost a sweet voice and is constantly the centre of attention and sexual tension. Many of my friends mentioned to me that Marge was on the cover of playboy, i say, who the hell cares, I mean come on Lois and Marge.... Theres No Battle. Lois is a more enjoyable character and Marge is insufferable.

Sexual Promiscuity vs Constant nagging house wife.

Result : Lois

3. The Sons : Chris vs Bart

Well it's pretty much a closed match here. Chris is a dumb , fat blob. Bart is the central character of simpsons ...... Many people don't know this, Homer was not intended to be the lead in the series. The show was originally meant to revolve around Bart, seeing how that didn't turn out so well, its not looking so well for Bart now. But its undeniable that he is better than Chris. Sadly this time, Chris has a insufferable voice and Seth Green made a huge mistake picking that voice. Bart is a persona in himself, he owns most of Simpsons. But he is a rowdy and his attitude frankly doesn't impress me, but we can't deny Bart's superiority over Chris.

Result : Bart

4. The Daughters : Meg vs Lisa

God, this is a tough one. Theres no story that centers around Meg, Lisa on the other hand is centre of many story lines. But lisa is annoying brilliant. She doesn't provide comic relief. She represents the flawlessness and logical intellect in the show. Seeing how the Genre of the show is comedy, I don't see how Lisa helps the show grow. Meg on the other hand is built for comic relief. She is the butt of all jokes. Everybody hates her... which provides unusually humorous situation. This adds to the humour of the show... So i guess Meg is sorta better than Lisa

Result : Meg

5. The Babys : Stewie vs that girl whose name i don't know

Is this even a fight. The diabolical matricidal boy genius, against a stupid little kid whose name i don't know, and who sucks on a pacifier all day. To top it off, Stewie is British. Come on a british matricidal super villain, Do u really want to think for another moment about that nameless kid. Stewie provides comic relief in more than way, Stewie is a closet homosexual, and his relationship with Brain is exemplary. That nameless chick has no chance here does she?

Result: Stewie hands down

6. The Dogs : Brain vs The skinny dog

Brain, whose voice is the natural voice of Seth MacFarlen, is an absolutely brilliant literate, with a college degree. Family Guy revolves around the interpersonal dynamics of Brain with everyone else. Brain is sort of a central character. That skinny boneless dog, what was its name again? It doesn't even provide comic relief. What is its purpose. Seriously the dog might as well be dead. Brian is suave and sophisticated, He has a charming elegance , a subtle grace and irrefutable panache. Brian just might be my favorite.

Result : Brian

7. The mayors : Adam west vs Mayor Quimby

Now, a perverted mayor who is always found with hookers and a paranoid mayor with weird traits.... Its a closed fight here too. Adam West is clearly the higher man ( literally, ha ha). Quimby doesn't provide many comical situation. In fact I don't even remember seeing quimby much... As a result Quimby is not a big asset in favour of the simpsons. Adam West on the other hand is a weird character. His antiquities are unbelievably hilarious. West is always high, he looks at the world in a strange view almost like a child... which makes him an interesting mayor. West is multi layered, he is complex human who is not short of using guile and deciet as seen during elections when lois stands against him. So I guess we all know, who is the better mayor.

Result : Adam West

8. Side charaters : Lists vs lists

Family guy is at a bit of disadvantage in this one, as it is not equipped with as many well developed side characters as the simpsons. The Simpsons boast of almost an ensemble cast of : Carl, Officer Wiggum, Mr.Burns, Snake, Cleatus, Comic book guy, Krusty, Sideshow Bob, Sideshow Mel, Ned Flanders, Crazy Cat Lady..... Each with an interesting back story.... But Simpson has been on so long that they could afford giving each of their cast rich back stories. Family guy on the other hand boasts a humble cast consisting of : Joe, Cleavland, the nutty Quagmire, Carter Pewterschmidt and most notably death..... These characters are not as well developed as the Simpson ensemble but thats expected, seeing how they are relatively young.

This one i have to give to the simpsons.

Result : The Simpsons

So far its not looking good for the simpsons, with a mere 2 points against family guy's 5. But there are still people who have a difference of opinion on many groups. But, it's like ive always said... "To each his own".

People seem to have a lot of respect for the Simpsons, is what they are getting at... But let me put it this way, Simpson and Family Guy is like Windows and Mac respectively, There are windows Loyalists and Mac Loyalists, but all kinds of people know which is the Better OS... Family Guy is the OS that the cool guys choose, Simpson is the OS that loyalists choose... So in the end it all boils down to taste.

I welcome comments, but i implore that no one out rightly insult either of the shows, make it more along the lines of constructive Criticism.

Cartoon Physics

Cartoons constituted an integral part of our childhood as we grew up, Especially legends like Tom and Jerry and Bugs bunny..... It was the movement more so than the plot that fascinated children.... The physical laws that children knew and believed in no longer applied in these cartoons. It has been, long since debated that cartoon physics can be used as a effective replacement for Newtonian mechanics or Einstien's theory of Relativity, Because it seems to explain working of the universe more concisely and in better terms than any other systems available today. We credit , Hannah Barbera, Metro Goldwynn Mayer, and Walt Disney for the postulation of theories in cartoon physics.

Let us look back into the important laws that made cartoons function:

• Law of infinite elasticity : This is a the most important law working behind the cartoon universe. It is a law that is exploited many a times in many a situations.
  
  
  "Any animate character posses infinite elasticity and isapparently boneless, and application of any kind of Force, sheer, stress or compression only results in the change in shape of the character in direction of said force. The character reverts to original form not immediately upon removal of force but soon after"
  
  
  As a result of this law any character run over by a bus or obstructed by a pole while running, merely changes its shape for a few frames
  
  
• Law of perceived gravity : This is also used numerous times, especially by Wile E Coyote.
  
  
  "An animate character shall remain suspended in free space until it becomes aware of its predicament, at which time, the regular newtonian rules of gravity apply"
  
  
  Corollary 1 : Certain times upon realization, it is possible that the character return to land before normal newtonian gravity apply, in case of characters like Daffy or bugs.
  
  
• Law of propagating gravity : Also used mostly by wile e coyote although is most usually coupled with the previous law
  
  
  "When newtonian gravity starts being applicable for a an animate character, gravity is now applied to individual units of the body of the character"
  
  This implies that when a body starts to fall, it falls body first, with head still in place, effectively making the neck infinitely long, until which time the head starts to fall, after which the neck returns to its normal length.
  
  




• Law of Superimposed structure : This is mostly seen in Tom and Jerry and Bug's Bunny cartoons.
  
  
  "Any moving animate character is so absolute in its momentum that any inanimate object in its path, stops the character only after the body structure of the character is indented on the inanimate objects"
  
  For example, when Tom Beats Jerry with a long pole, the outline of jerry is seen on the pole, with no physical damage to jerry.
  Corollary 1 : In case of thin Structures like doors, a moving character leaves a cut out on the body similar to the instantaneous position of the character in course of its motion.
  
  





• Law of interchangeable animation : This is applicable in pursuits,

"When an animate character trying to escape from an inanimate moving projectile, the inanimate body acquires animate characteristics, by which it can follow the character irrespective of direction change, until such time it collides with the character"

This is as seen when Tom is using Jerry as a cue ball in Billiards and the other ball chase jerry, especially the 8 ball which seem to have visual life like characteristics.

• Law of alternative gravity for anvils : This is widely used in the Looney tunes universe,
  
  
  • "Everything falls faster than Anvils"
  
  Corollary 1: All parachutes used by any character except bugs bunny are usually Anvils.
  Corollary 2: The character falls to the ground faster than the anvil, and the anvil always impales the character to the ground.
  
  
• Law of quantum visibility : This is a rather rare and less understood law, it is often seen in the Wile E Coyote series.
  
  
  • "The quantum Signatures of a large vehicle are present every where throughout the road, The moment the plotting character (eg. Wile E ) steps on to the road with plans to cross it, the quantum signatures materializes as the vehicle which inevitably runs over the character. This however is not the case for protagonists like bugs or the roadrunner"
  
  
• Murphy's Law : This is the last, and the pivotal law behind the Road Runner show
  
  
  • "Anything that can go bad, will always go bad"
  
  This is in reference to all the elaborate ruses that Coyote draws up in order to capture the roadrunner, These plan inevitably fail, and eventually backfire upon Coyote.
  This is also the case many a times, when Bugs and Daffy are in the same episode, Daffy's planning always backfire on him. Who could forget the legendary "Rabbit season, Duck season" bit.
  
  

• This are some of the important laws prevalent in the cartoon Universe. There are also a few other situation specific laws.

1. The art reality interchange : Drawings of 3D spaces can be considered real as long as the character is unaware that it is a drawing. This means a character can go rite through a drawing of a hypothetical road ( Road runner ) but it precludes the artist of the drawing, thus when coyote tries to run through, he ends up flat against the cardboard.
2. The fear pain gravity reversal hypothesis : In event of fear or a prick to the bottom of the character, Gravity ceases to apply and the character is shot yards into the air without any apparent force. The Effect of loss of colour in event of fear is also explained here.
3. Theory of multiple materialization: This is not a law, as it is not universal. It is applicable to certain main focus characters like bugs, and the road runner, who can conjure previously non existent objects from behind them. This also extends to Granny, who can draw out infinite amount of things from her purse before she finds the required trinket.
4. Theory of Instant cloth change : Certain characters can spin around and instantaneously change into clothes of one's desire as and when required.
5. Movement sound singularity : Movements are incontrovertibly associated with sounds. Bach , Chopin or Mozart most of the times.

These are some of the rules and laws that I have observed and i would gladly welcome any amendments or addendum, so please comment with anything else in mind.

Bollywood Blues

Bollywood has been a place of glory and wonderment for years ... It houses some of the world's most famous actors and otherworldly talented actors of global fame and acclaim like Amithabh Bachhan ( My dad's personal favorite ), Shah Rukh Khan, and Anil Kapoor. But what sets the Hindi cinema apart from any other kind of movies? What is it that entices the audience...... There are certain subtle nuances common to all Hindi move, especially the old ones that set them apart from other classes of movies.

Some very prominent characteristics are:

• First and foremost, the hero is always someone like a coolie or Bus driver or college student or someone without a high paying job, Cause anyone with high paying jobs can not be heroes. Also Heroes are physically gifted but most of the times they are street smart but not intellectually gifted. if they are then the movie was most definitely not a success (unless Amithabh Bachhan played that role)
• There are always burning buildings and the mothers never rescue the child, It is always the hero. ALWAYS, no one else dares touches the child till the hero arrives not even trained firemen.
• Policemen are only ever completely untouchable and beyond any suggestions of corruption whatsoever, or rotten to the core and the head of a huge organised crime syndicate, with no in-between.
• The hero and heroine never fall in love immediately, It is always necessary that they quarrel before they realize they are in love. If they do fall in love immediately then they quarrel later like Shashi kapoor and zeenat aman in that movie Satyam Shivam Sundaram
• As a rule of thumb, there are no fat, ugly or short people if there are, they are built to be doomed, Evil or comic relief respectively.
• The Hero always has unresolved father issues and most of the times his father is the villain. Also the heroine is ALWAYS born to wealthy parents, the only way a poor heroine can work is if the movie is set in a village, even in that instance she is the daughter of the village elder.
• The Heroines father instantly dislikes the hero, this can be heard from the thundering background music when they first meet. Its most possible that the heroine's father killed the hero's mother, or father or brother or something like that.
• As a rule of thumb with Shah Rukh, He never gets his heroine cause he dies most of the times, and he is always the bad guy but some how the hero....
• Murders occur only during Rain..... always no exception... if the murder is off screen its usually in the bath room.
• Easiest way to identify goons is the cut on their cheek, and unkempt hair... they are absolutely necessary.
• The hero (especially amitabh) can maintain balance perfectly and fight bad guys even if he has had a gallon of liquor.
• Graveyards always have smoke around the tombstones, this leads us to conclude that all dead bodies in the graveyard died due to degenerative lung disease caused by excessive smoking.
• If you see an actor you don't know, and has not been mentioned in the papers, he will die in the movie. ALWAYS with no exception.
• Anyone in wheel chairs are either one of the parents of the hero or the villain.
• Helicopters when used are not audible until they appear in the frame.
• And Villains ALWAYS, with very little exception smuggle drugs, or are involved in human trafficking, a movie employing any other kind of villain will irrefutably flop. Art films employing no villains also don't taste much success.

Some more marvels to look out for are :

• When a young child in a bicycle goes out of frame, the next time he comes back in frame he is an adult.... and he is the hero or hero's brother, If he be the brother... he will die in 20 mins because the hero has to take revenge against whomsoever it was that killed his brother.
• No matter how jobless and incompetent the hero was, if the heroine's father asks him to become a successful man(which he inevitably will), the hero becomes the owner of a vast business empire in under 2 weeks.
• Twins are ALWAYS separated at birth, there is no exception. And one of the twin is ALWAYS evil.
• Bollywood also has invented a strange genetic isolator employing which, the father and the son look the same.... and in such cases the father and son end up fighting and only make up in the last 5 mins of the movie.
• Comedians are always short, and heroes are always tall... Oh not to forget, the heroines, every one of them all use copious amount of make up, so much so that, when their shot is done most of them lose about 8 pounds.
• The Hero has learnt the magic of infinite ammo, cause in his possession even small pistols can shoot over 30 to 40 rounds.
• The Villain has a terrible aim and her always shoots 2 inches to the right of hero's head. If the Hero Did run out of ammo, a retinue of cops emerge from no where, with their signature "HANDS UP".
• When in a car chase and theres shooting, it is always the back windscreen that gets shattered, absolutely nothing should happen to the front window screen even if a shovel is angled right at it.
• When shot, the hero's mother, father, brother or sister can live upto eternity in wait for the hero to arrive, but they draw their last breath just before completing what they had to say to the hero....
• Professional enemy marksmen fail to hit anything other than the dirt around their target - it makes the hero look cooler when he runs away. On the other side, layabout amateur heroic gunslingers armed with a home-customised pistol in each hand are able to shoot half a dozen separate moving targets at a hundred yards while at a dead run, or possibly while somersaulting.
• Someone standing in the balcony will always be shot to the chest, and he will always fall FORWARD onto the ground, neglecting all laws of physics.
• Bombs can only be safely defused in the last ten seconds of the countdown. The timer is always accurate and the bomb never goes off prematurely or some time later than 00:00, even if it was built by the most hideous villain.
• Heroes can survive a blast of any magnitude just by throwing themselves on the floor as the bomb goes off. Bombs if meant to be diffused can be done so by cutting one wire, but which is it, the red or the blue? to think future heroes would have learnt this already from past heroes who disabled similar bombs
• There is always a free space for the Hero to park his cark, and he never locks it, Strangely however no one dares steal it. All cars that over turn explode, without exception and the hero, who usually is a good driver, finds himself in a situation where his car is heading towards a cliff, even if he isin't in a hill station, and he jumps of the car seconds before the car flies of the edge of the cliff, he couldn't have done that 3 minutes ago.
• The Villain dies instantly, and much like the super human slashers, the hero is immune to all forms of damage, and death. Unless it is meant for him to die and be reborn and kill a 80 year old man, who has lived a full satisfactory life...
• One feature that sets Hindi cinema apart from anything else is the songs. The hero and heroine are sitting in a park bench in Mumbai when they realize they are in love, the next thing you know, they are in switzerland and dancing joyously with a total of 147 costume changes in a matter of 5 minutes. No one ever interrupts them. Also they have somehow found 20 boys and girls who are willing to dance to their tune

The most important scene in any movie is the face off between the hero and the Villain(who is more often than not the Heroine's father). This scene is a matter of in depth study in itself.

• No one knows the hideout of the Villain, but the hero is intuitive enough to arrive at the right place always.
• The hideouts are always abandoned warehouses, ALWAYS ... they are not posh bungalows,they are always unkempt.
• As soon as the Hero enters, he sees the Villain at a higher Vantage point, to reach the villain he must fight of 8 batches of big goons who are atleast twice the hero's size.
• No matter how many goons the hero is fighting, they always come in line to get a thrashing, the goons NEVER double team the Hero, if at all they do so, then there are two heroes (preferably people with names like Darmendar and Jitendar).
• The Villain is an elder gentleman, but he has the fighting prowess almost equal to the hero, But it doesn't matter, cause the hero always emerges victorious.
• After the Villain is defeated, the Warehouse always blows up, even if it is a ware house of insulation material. There is a bike placed conveniently in a direction facing opposite a glass window, The hero must and should make a fancy 180 degree stunt turn in the bike and escape through the glass window.
• There is a large overwhelming blast the moment the frame changes and the hero brakes out of the window, Not a second earlier.
• The Hero as always has sustained no injury.

These are some of the features that truly make Bollywood "One of a kind".