Kill Bill vol.2

Watched Kill Bill vol. 2 yesterday, at Symphony. Its a funny movie. I liked this movie a lot better than the 1st one. The 1st one was more or less like a haphazard connection of events. The 2nd one is more or less paced more slowly & less chaotically. General mood of the movie was that of afternoon tea. I was totally surprised to see David Carradine cast as Bill, I thought this guy died a long time ago or something. One of the funniest character in this installment was Pai Mei a Kung Fu guruji with a funny set of sabre like eyebrows & fake-as-hell whispy Fu-Manchu beard. Most of the movie was kind of like Babushka doll. You had the movie poking fun at itself & all the genres it was making a tribute too. Then there was the standard pop culture reference (Superman), which is quintessential to Tarantino movies. The most overused technique in this movie was that of punching something thats 3 inches away from ones body.

If Pulp fiction was something sticky, then Vol 2. is semi-sticky & vol 1. just slipped of the pan. This movie pales in comparison to 'Pulp Fiction' & is more along the lines of 'Jackie Brown' in terms of narration. But then again 'you don't compare a Hatori Hanza to another Hatori Hanza' ( line from the movie).

Old School Blues

Offlate I've been nostalgic. It began as I was going through my stash of old games. Retrogaming is something I've alway wanted to dabble in & to an extent I have. By retrogamming I mean playing of old games, repairing relic consoles, coding emulators to capture the spirits of old hardware. To an extent I've accomplished this:

Playing- check
Repairing (read as open cabinet, clean cobwebs, resolder bits & bobs)- check
Coding Emulators - buhahahaha, I can't code for peanuts (for now atleast!)

One game that reminds me of the good old days was 'Another World'. It was & still is a classic. Minimal vector graphics & a tough gameplay. Very little music & PC speaker sound effects. The game has a very cool narrative technique & it was one tough mother of a game too.

Another World Reviewed & its creator Interviewed for those interested. Download it

Atmosphere is something that stands out in any game that Eric Chahi is involved in.

Suprisingly a new game Alien Hominid also harks back to those '80s 16-bit games. Reminiscent of Capcom's Megaman series. Everything is handrawn in this game, its very cartoony, frentic like the violent rabbit in Lucas Arts's Sam & Max Hit the Road.

The Second Free Third Dimension

It maybe easy being a pirate. But living off a pirate's loot is becoming harder by the day. I'm into 3D modelling. Offlate companies like Alias|Wavefront & Discreet are using sophisticated methods to crack down on people using illegal versions of their softwares. An advertising company in B'lore was caught & fined Rs. 2.5 Lakh. I began to think that it was the end of 3D modelling for me. Either I bust my balls to buy the software, which is like buying 1/4th of a car. I don't have that kind of money.

Searching for free alternatives I decided to try Blender3d. I tried using the same software about one & a half years back. Back then it just kept crashing no matter what I did. Well the software is more robust today. Its an under 5MB download (for windows). There are versions available for other OSes too. A great software except for the fact, of it NOT being user friendly. The documentation actually offers consolation in the vein of '3D modelling & animation is a tough field like rocket science, so u can't expect to simply pick it up & make it fly'. What!?! Yeah right!

After spending days with it, I actually found it to be a very Powerful program. Its like in those Sci-Fi movies, u have this smooth shiny surface in the middle of nowhere. Something tells u that this structure is mucho powerful & it can only be realized by getting it to open in some way...DANG! how do u get in? Maybe the future versions will focus on being a tad bit userfriendly. Till then its Beggars can't be Choosers mode for me.

Whats Cool About it:
1> Its Opensource. Its FREEEEEEEEE
2> Has features for developing Games. But right now in the Yaroze stages
3> Its FREEEEEEEEE
4> Versatility through plugins & scripts (written in Python)