Archive for September, 2008

becoming the king of the world

Sep 28th

there are many ways in which one says they’re the king of the world. reaching a world record. winning a world tournament. reaching a world no.1 spot. and many other things that have ‘world’ in the title. watching 2 men hunched over their arcade machines in the back of a garage somewhere.. attempting to hit a record score, is something in itself.

i have never been a great gamer. i game, but not to levels of perfection, not as a very good one. there are 2 types of gamers: the casual uninterested, aka average gamers. and those who know intuitively when the next monster will attack you. or the next disaster will hit your civilization. aka, the great gamers. me, i need to replay levels over and over.. and i eventually figure out what comes where. i have replayed battles 7 times over, in an attempt to get through it perfectly. and even then on the 8th time will screw up completely. ‘max payne’ is great that way, you can enjoy the different variations of slow motion more everytime. ‘far cry’ is not, the enemy is too smart to repeat itself
meanwhile, my friend has finished both ‘half-life’ and ‘half-life 2′ in that time.

Read On… »

why game? aren’t games for kids? that depends. kids can game, but can only game well once they hit a stage where they can obsess about it. they need to feel the pain when the guy dies by sniper on that fatal screen of the game. they need to feel the blood when the guy manages to overcome seemingly impossible odds and beat 20 guys off. they need to feel desperation when the next health kit is 2 seconds away, but the guns do not stop firing. kids think its fun. gamers think its life. there’s a difference.

i have a psp and a laptop for gaming. i necessarily check out both sections at gamestop. they are different levels of gaming, ideally, i should have given up PC gaming. but its not like that. PC gaming is where it began for me. the first time i played wolf 3D and managed to strafe thru to the 5th level. the first time i managed to achieve the impossible target of a released bomb and the bomber in paratrooper. the first time i won a match in hard mode in PC cricket. the first time i managed to see a finish screen in half-life. these are epochal times in memory. PSP gaming is more about the fun. somehow, not having to manage 30 different combinations seems to remove the challenge.

i can still boast about how many versions of cricket i own/play. every single one released, mostly. allan border, graham gooch, brian lara, kapil dev – versions of low level PC cricket that took a particular ball outside offstump to be bowled out. brian lara cricket, international cricket captain, cricket ‘97,’98,’99,’00 (world cup),’01,’02,’03′,’04,’07… they never really managed to capture the game in any of them very well. the key combos got more and more weird, the gameplay captured one type of essence, but not the other. i had fun playing them though. not so much when you realize that you have to play with a generic indian called ‘tendeha’, but still. its an obsession.

regardless of the platform though, reaching the end of a game is awesome. its a level of accomplishment. it feels great. you’re on top of the world.

and then you start the next game.

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felt

oh, you love me.. you really love me!

Sep 27th

Posted by SEV in staying.general

4 comments

once upon a time, long long ago, in blogland… a misguided soul was misguided enough (obviously) to appreciate other souls who, well.., blogged.

because this is what is done in blogland. you blog.

now the misguidance of our aforementioned soul was true misguidance. it wasn’t guidance under a false name, false address and fake social security number. this is was real, hardcore, full-blown misguidance. (note: that most of those adjectives have ulterior meaning has not escaped my attention. the reason will follow soon.)

and so, as is to be expected, the bloglanders (not bloggers, you poor ~~misguided~~ unfortunate souls)… well one of them anyway was jerk enough to ignore the appreciation. and ignore the ensuing sacrilegious booing that followed. he was a jerk. such people do not deserve awards, or even appreciation.

even when it comes as a result of misguidance.

however, people can change. even in blogland. this bloglander was shown the error of his ways. suffice to say it did not involve unspeakable things to do with transformers, electronics, and other… toys. it did not involve cream and jell-o and other… items. there was some beating around the bush (figuratively, not literally), some turning of the tables (again, figuratively) and some possibly undoable actions involving… blogging.

*shudder* (note whether in pain or in pleasure is left out due to a discerning audience)

the error has been seen. the light has shone down, and angels have sung.

i shall officially accept galadriel’s brilliante weblog premio award (awarded to me roughly a month ago). i understand that acceptance construes bestowing it ahead on another 7 of my ilk.*

this is not easy. i am not sure that 7 people exist who (a) follow this blog regularly, and (b) have not previously received it (y’see, it would be nice to have others see the light), and (c) it involves some amount of my appreciating others. i have seen the light, yes… but this step actually involves coming into the light.

the actual award(ing) function shall hence happen in a second post. it means i get to drag this out a bit more; clearly, a month is too short a timespan. and of course, if there are people who believe they should receive it (you and you don’t count.. not because you haven’t received it, but because i am still a little bit of a jerk), by all means, leave a comment. it means i will get another comment for my blog posts. score.

*and since it is galadriel, the usage of the above adjectives can be understood. if not, see here. and here. and here. and… you get the idea now, right? no? how dumb are you? i refuse to have anything more to do with you. go on, get off my blog. click the close button on top. dum dum, navigate away from here now! i can’t be seen with you on my page. go away.**
**no, actually, wait. please wait. please please. you are actually reading my blog. don’t go. please. i will give you an award. right now. a BWPA. its awesome. you get to post about it and everything. its brilliante. its an award. you’re not dumb. you’re brilliante. me, i’m just a jerk. what do i know? don’t listen to me. leave a comment. have an award. don’t leave. please?

oh, and before i forget, thank you, galadriel. very much. see ? i’ve improved even more.

blogging, tags

kmhk part deux: now with extra color!

Sep 25th

Posted by SEV in staying.aside

3 comments

2 interesting things can be noted from this article:

kmhk is to finally have colors other than black, white and grey.. something i overlooked in my initial impression of the show. no more dark brooding shadows for our real true men.
putting aside ektaaaaaa’s reasons for not unveiling her stars so far as being ektaaaaa.. it is now ok to reveal that the only reason they have been in dark brooding shadows thus far was to ensure that only stars(?!) with the 6-pack get to the final cut. get the golden handshake. are allowed to “shake” with.. um.. fury.

i’m getting obsessed with this show.

maps + ups tracking = um…

Sep 24th

Posted by SEV in staying.general

3 comments

can anyone tell me why one of my 2 purchases (same day, same receipt) follows one route (blue) to come to me from california, while the other (red) has its own ideas ? they’re both from newegg, and coming via UPS..

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boredom, random crap

kahaani hamaaray mahaabhaarat ki: 300 meets (sher)kar raj

Sep 21st

Posted by SEV in staying.reviews

3 comments

the k’s and the a’s have it: ektaaaa kaaapooor has done it. she has reinvented the greatest epic of our time. to the greatest maahaaa epic of our time. the wikipedia admits it: the six-pack, the half body armor, the musculature have been inherited, nay, evolved from 300.

our story begins in a galaxy far, far away.. where dice is played by men. we know they are real, true men as they all flaunt six-pack flabs, and stare moodily into space while dialogues are screamed. the skies scream, whether in protest we are not informed, but they scream. a real true man acting like a half-gay hyena (shenzi, banzai or ed?) – read shakuni – cackles in glee when he lands a 2 and a 1 with some ancient looking dice. a real true man broods moodily, rather.. continues to brood, while words are screamed at him. a hand comes into focus… and our new sherkar – read duryodhan – gestures in his direction.

one listens for the ‘govinda’ chant.. but then we get ahead of ourselves.

Read On… »

we arrive in draupadi’s boudoir, fashioned in the latest stylings of the last historical movie from hollywood. sarees on the walls, and the red stains the screen.

draupadi appears. a draupadi who defies convention. a draupadi who flaunts a tattoo of the sun on her shoulder. a draupadi who dons a cowboy skirt and sings ‘ding dong ding’ with the producers brother.. er..

events follow in quick succession. vain attempts are made to show cleavage; successfully in the case of our real true men.. unsuccessfully in the case of draupadi. our brooding man appears to be emraan hashmi going sick due to all the kissing. draupadi rants about how there are no real men yelling ‘this is sparta!’ around anymore, even in hastinapura. draupadi then rants about how in hastinapura, there is a real need for men who will shout and scream for her sake, maybe words like ‘this is sparta!’. draupadi starts screaming about how men nowadays in 5000 b.c. … um..

meanwhile we are treated to shots of a man attempting not to look at the bulging female navel on show, instead pretending to look upwards at some kind of band around his head… he could be blind, or he could just be rambo. we are treated to dark ~~brooding~~ ominous shots of 4 men standing in apparent rage. it is possible that the hands tremor in the nether regions while draupadi bends over are due to more…innocent reasons. draupadi screams. more hands clench. our emraan-bhai turns away to hide his…shame. draupadi screams. further attempts by our ‘blind’ man not to see. draupadi screams. more hands clench. clothes are now piling up, very like a video i posted about earlier. i awaited the arrival of the black bars. draupadi screams.

we zoom out through the quantum tunnel that led us to 5000 b.c. this is the phenomenon that needed a large hadron collider to be built. one assumes than an experiment in progress has led to the creation of a boson (note similarity to another cleavage related word) which spins through the tunnel.. and emerges above everyone’s head. reminiscent of an african sun. stupefaction ensues. however, our dark ominous real true men continue…brooding, for lack of a better word. it is hard to get out in the middle of it after all.

to everyone’s possible chagrin and disappointment, draupadi manages to regain clothing. dushashan collapses before anyone else, revealing the true reason that they started developing aphrodisiacs more earnestly. our boson travels back, but too late for scientists to realize what has been accomplished, leading to more disappointment.. but of a different kind. there is always another day.

we will not know the identity of the true real ominous men who brooded for the whole episode. we will not know whether our blind rambo managed to ensure that his eyes do not pop out. we will not see draupadi attempt to cheer up our emraan by singing ‘ding dong ding’ with him too. we will not know whether duryodhan managed to piss off his chanderbhai, or whether chander ever discovered his animalistic or homosexual tendencies.

we remain with the image of the storm finally breaking.. as the camera pans to a wild desert.. where 2 men face each other. a stick is shifted from one side of the mouth to the… erm.. a pail of water is shifted around. eyes are closed up on. in case we forget the 2 men, cameras pan in from all possible angles, including from underneath the body, with a close up of the nether regions. more eyes are shown.