Touched up full pic of the sketch already up… better photo too, methinks.

Most people think that comic books equal superheroes. They couldn’t be farther from the truth. Super heroes is a genre. Just like drama, action, horror. Comic books are a medium. A very under-appreciated medium at that. Every single genre from horror to romantic comedy, from espionage to science fiction, from drama to social commentary is being covered in the medium right now. The Graphic novel influx in India has just begun, and the quality of the literature being published in the genre, as a whole, is arguable never been better. What is a Graphic Novel? The wikipedia has some interesting informationor you could take one minute and read this far more entertaining definition by artbabe. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Back? Right, then. Like I said, there’s a graphic novel/comic book out there for everyone right now, they just might not know it yet. I believe that is the case with videogames too, but the spread across all genres in videogames is not so varied or dense. Plus the fact that all of you, whoever is reading this, you read. Which automatically means if a graphic novel is from your favourite genre, or is suitably well written and presented, you are more than likely to get entertained by it.

Sample this: in any given month, the number one selling book sells at most 250,000 units. In it’s opening weekend, something as universally panned as Catwoman sold 1,670,000 tickets. I think this is because most people are not aware that there exists material that would entertain them more than the latest syrup coated family wedding flick.

Though I am a misanthropist when I want to be, I refuse to believe people are so stupid that they will shun Sin City for Aashiqui Banaya Aapney. I don’t believe that at least a third of the people who watch Law and Order wouldn’t enjoy Gotham Central. I don’t believe for one second that one Lord of The Rings fan out of ten wouldn’t enjoy Conan. Likewise for George Romero fans and The Walking Dead. You can’t tell me that at least 10 percent of Ludlum fans wouldn’t enjoy Sleeper or Queen and Country. What about movies like Lost in Translation? Wouldn’t one person out of a hundred who liked the movie enjoy something like Blankets?

Not to mention older fans. People who just stopped reading comics after the superhero glut. They might be persuaded to pick up Transmetropolitan, and see that spandex and tights are not the be all and end all of comics. Won’t an old Superman fan love to see what they did in Red Son or Birthright? Or a wouldn’t Spider-man fan like to see the new Ultimate Spider-man line, and see what they’ve done to their favorite character?

If they were aware of these books.

This is where it all boils down, the point of the whole thing. Comment to this post, and I will recommend a Graphic Novel for you. If you think I don’t know you that well, please tell me three things from different genres, irrespective of media, that have recently caught your fancy, or that you like/love/enjoy a lot. If you don’t know how to get your hands on it, I will tell you.
One of you, and I mean a sum total of one from here and my LJ, gets to win a GraphicNovel I recommended to them, either digital or dead tree, depending on my poverty levels.

And the people who are even better read than I am (*cough* beatzo, gotjanx *cough*), start talking to your friends. Ask your pal who never misses an episode of CSI if he has heard of Gotham Central. Tell your girlfriend about Sandman. Tell your office mate who loves noir about Sin City. Tell your sister brother about Bone. Tell anyone about Planetary. Help me out with this post, let people know.

There is a comic book out there for everyone, and I want to help anyone interested enough to get started. If you’re still not sure about anything, email me at trceuvw02@sneakemail.com. I’ll be more than happy.

Next, videogames.

And I don’t mean Hellboy. I mean a comic book that poeple in my country can relate to. Something that doesn’t have spider-man in it, and is exciting, fresh, cool, and fun to read.

I want to write one. I want to write one, and have brilliant people illustrate it. But most of all I want people to be able to buy it in huge numbers, so that I KNOW that a lot of people are reading what I wrote.

Ideas?

You know its been a long time since you posted when pun23 raises from the dead and make posts about Joe Orez, the badass actuary.

Ahem. So apparently, contrary to what you thought, dicks are always surrounded by nice people. beatzo, thyla, and arunjeet have chosen to buy/send me cool things, despite me being, well, me. They rock, and you should read their journals, and always remind me to make sure they’re safe when Armageddon comes in about 14 months.

I am going to catch Spider-Man 2 the first day it hits India, and that rocks as well. Of course I’ll let you know of my unwanted opinions on it, but I suspect on a scale of one to sauce the movie would be fucking ravioli.

Which is all the more reason for me to treat with cynicism, trepidation, and horror, the travesty that is called Pavitra Prabhakar [read Beelzebub's son.] Consider this part of my post, “mere ko gussa kyon aata hai” part the second. First the names – they sound like some bad Shiv Sena joke about Spider-Man, not to mention reek of unoriginality. If the head honchos at Gotham are chuckling at their own brilliance, I really pity them, and their sense of humor. Second the redone origins (Sadhu baba, if you didn’t know) – utter, pure hatred seeps from my very soul at the talentless fucks who decided to write this comic. Not a single trace of originality is visible in sadhu/tantrik/mystic dude ‘granting’ spider-like powers to a boy. The art, then, in chronological order – isn’t so bad. Its been lambasted as mere poster art(which it is), and spitting copies of Romita Jr and Alex Ross artwork (thats a bit iffy, but I can see that too). But if whatzizname Genius Chang something can draw good, coherent sequential art, (no proof yet on either camps), at least it won’t be an utter failure. But, BUT the dhoti sucks ass. We hatess it. Nasssty dhoti. Not only does it make as much sense as foreigners wanting to see “Hungry India, Poor India”, it also seems highly impractical for an superhero to wear a tight fitting jersey or something on top, and wear a loose flowing cloth for pants.
Some people are very, very opposed to the whole transcreation, Indian translation bit in principle. These are probably the same people, who say, “Yuck! Hindi Movies?!” at the barest mention of catching a flick in their own mother tongue. I would very much like a good Indian superhero comic. And if all your originality peaks at Nagraj, sure go ahead and create an Indian spidey. But make it well. Brian Michael Bendis was given the task of creating a spidey for the new generation of comic book readers, a today hero. Well, Ultimate Spider-Man happens to a triumph, in my books. Since genetic experiments make more headlines than vague radioactive ones, the origin was modified. A school kid as a photographer was a bit tacky, so they made him a web designer at the Bugle. These, and more such choices in all the super funky issues make the new transcreation a thoroughly enjoyable, as well as a very successful franchise. Makda Maanav is meretricious, and you know it.

Still on comics, but away from my object of cynicism – Gotham finally started The Ultimates. By the time they catch up with my reading, though, it will be another year. Along the fun ride that I know you’ll have, there is a discussion about which actor would play which Ultimates member in a Hollywood adaptation. Funny, considering the entire series is an experiment in cinematic storytelling in comics. Ironic, really. The funniest part is when Fury contends that he’d like Samuel L Jackson(THE man) to play him. If you look with one eye closed and the other gazing lazily, even then you’d be able to make out that the artists have draw, colored, inked Nick Fury in the image of Sam Jackson. Maybe this is some post modern shit that I can’t get (this ain’t video games, honey.) Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that Val Kilmer would make a good Captain America, Michael Jai White should play Nick Fury, Johnny Depp should (please) play Tony Stark, Quentin Tarantino as Bruce Banner, and Viggo Mortenson as Thor. There you go, that is what I call a blockbuster. Oh, and Ashton Kutcher should play the dumb civilian who gets squished when the Hulk squats to take a dump.

I put in Michael Jai White as Nick Fury instead of Sam only because I prefer Gaiman’s interpretation of a hard as nails, muscular Fury from 1602 over the attitude over action one in the Ultimates. Neil Gaiman course being one of my favorite comic book script writers, as well as, uh, authors. I’ve read a lot of books by him lately, and of them, American Gods is a book that has become so personal, I don’t even know or care if you’ll like it. I like it, and thats that. Coraline, Stardust, and Good Omens, however, I can recommend with ease and quite a bit of confidence. Books remind me – ! heads up. Bill Bryson’s A short History of Nearly Everything is out in paperback. Its been out for some time now(a month, I think), but then its been more than that since my post, eh?

I have also finally converted all of my regular LAN party people to Battlefield 1942. *takes a bow*. The game is frantic, and huge scoops of fun, and all of you who don’t play it really should. If you’re in India, you can get good pings on Kawabonka, you really must try. The best part of course is Indian players NOT sayin things like, “ur a fagat. fagats dont go to heaven.” when you kill them. Ragnarok Online has also started their India servers. Its no World of Warcraft, but its better than nothing. Its free these days, and later the monthly fee is 250 INR. People with sucky PCs have a chance too, now. Go here, and they’ll actualy send you a free disk. And you should all start saving your money to upgrade your sorry machines. Doom III cometh.

Its been a long time since I wrote with reckless abandon, the kind of thing that would have made any web page recognizable as my handiwork. Careful, measured prose is all fine and nice, but writing like I treat my vocabulary as a wherewithal to form a bulwark against the withering sanity that people around me thrust down my throats, thats what I miss. A fight for my sanity, is what it is. This is going to bore you if you’re reading this, and you’ll want to stab your brain if and after you finish. Fair warning, this.
I’ll be in trouble when my noesis will be taken over by my inert state of being. That it should happen is my worst fear, and that it WILL happen is a reality I have form a defence against. Its not about whos to blame, its about protecting my creativity against the immense geek hubris that threatens to take over my art of the cosmos.

GIVE IT TO THEM YOU MONSTERS!

After having had time to savor LoTR:RoTK, and after seeing my heart leap with joy (not literally, of course, I haven’t seen anybody’s heart leap with joy or anything else for that matter, its just that feeling my heart leap with joy would have been kind of an oxymoron, and don’t even ask me why) when they actually GAVE the Golden Globes to Peter Jackson and friends, I think they have a shot at the Oscars. And I want to them to win, not because these awards are some meaningful representation of cinema, in fact they’re quite the opposite, I mean the movies make unhealthy amounts of money, the actors take home inhuman number of them rupees, and you still have to watch them gloat in front television once a year over a gilded statuette, which half of the people sitting watching the whole gala feel they did not deserve. I want them to win, because for once, the fat, evil people behind the whole charade have a chance of recognizing good work, regardless of its non-pseudo-intelligent-arthouse-cinema roots. Its a good piece of cinema, and finally someone has a fighting chance to get back at those maniacs for all the unfair praise that they have handed out in the past.

WHEN IN ROME, PLAY COUNTER-STRIKE

I don’t like CS. Not anymore at any rate, especially since it has been played, replayed, hacked, cheated, and done to fucking death by all the world and their cousins. It is a fine game, but time has come for it to move over and create room for more worthy successors like Desert Combat(BF1942) or Natural Selection, hell even Day of Defeat. I’d like to play these mods, make a map or two, you know stir some shit up. But noooo, the only mod people in my office are willing to play is fucking counter strike. And that is where it irks me the most. I have a lot of fun. I forgot how much fun a non cheating server of CS, incidentally in the same geographical location as all the players, essentially what has come to be known in common gaming parlance as a LAN party, can be. I still crave for some NS, and they do, in all fairness indulge me in some UT2003, CoD, and NFSU from time to time, but CS remains the official game of the office, and my only complain is I have nothing to complain about(CS! Man, how can I not diss CS?).
Plus my bi-weekly bouts of Halo show a sign they might continue, which is a cool thing. I’d also like to mention that the most you can make of your online time is by playing some Enemy Territory, but since there aren’t enough takers, play what you can get your hands on. And if your machine sucks ass, there is always Gunbound. I guarantee, regardless of the time of the day, you’ll find a Korean to kick your ass to kingdom come. Its free, fair, cheat-less, and oh so detailed. I’ll even be nice to you and add you to my buddy list if you come on a Sunday.

FIGHTS OF THE OLD RPG

While on games, I finally played through KoTOR, and I’m going to play through it again, this time as a good guy. So is it better than Deus Ex 2? Yes, most definitely. My thing is, if you are making a sequel, by all means improve on the original, but always, always, respect the source on which you base your present work. Look at Thief II, Fallout 2, System Shock 2, even Tribes 2, the veritable titans of modern gaming culture, and no I don’t care if you were born before their originals came. Invisible War(And thusly is DX2 known), is scrumptious to say the least, but it disrespects the source material, which as we all know was something that deserves to be put in a time capsule alongwith other stalwarts for the future generations to marvel at, much like how you gape open mouthed at renaissance artwork. Part two is a game well deserving of your time and attention, and you will be richer for the experience, trust me its an excellent RPG, but it is not deserving of the words preceding the ’2′ on the box. Anyhoo, KoTOR. It is exhilarating the first time you play it, and the finer plot intricacies (which are really not that fine as intricacies at all, but you do tend not to notice some points since you’re playing through at a blistering pace), are much more pronounced when you start sipping the smooth, sweet honeydew that is the story that illuminates the solid gameplay, one more time, this time promising not to give in to the trappings of the dark side. I’ll let you know how it goes, but my money is on another road well traveled.

SAND-WITCH, UMMM… SANDWICH

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time has also merited a sequel at Ubisoft, and I am elated. PoP: SoT is a game you need to put inside the coke coaster of whatever machine you get your game on, and bask in the ethereal light it emanates. I shit you not, my PC is positively glowy after having installed it. The levels, the artwork, the puzzles, and the graphics are all top notch, and much like Max Payne, there is a cool thing that will elevate the already solid gameplay above all things that are simply solid and awesome. Apart from freezing enemies, going into slo-mo much like bullet time(only not, since bullets are conspicuous by their absence in a game set in some B.C. shit), and doing awesome cool combo tricks on combat, you can turn back time. Verily so, you can abuse your boss or mother-in-law and then just turn back time, only remember not to run out of sand.
I am yet not decided on whether these games that we have talked about can still, with all their light sabers and daggers of time intact, surpass the sheer experience of having played Call of Duty (twice!). People say it was not a good year for PC gaming. I say if all I get to play is classy entertainment like this, albeit a little less times a year, I think I can make my peace with it.

MEDIOCRITY THOU HADST FUELED AND FOOLED ME

Yes, indeed. EVERY single book I have picked up very recently has had all the trappings of a good mistress, only to reveal a cheap whore at corners, and you wonder what to do with a book which is not really polished turd, but also not really a gem. What has my taste in books come to? Or have all writers come to the conclusion that one listless, mediocre title will slip past unnoticed? Surely you remember Frank Herbert? His son is actually shitting on his begetter’s work. Da Vinci Code was an excellent read. But behind that piece of prose is a stumbling, struggling work by Dan Brown called Digital Fortress. I have had the (mis?)fortune of finding out. Simoqin Prophecies could have been a great book, worthy of timeless appreciation, but inspiration and pilfering have a thin line between them, and dancing on that line is not a good idea. Siege of Mithila is trying to lengthen a pretty straightforward epic,and has no even pace, but a trot reminiscent of a camel. So I ask you, must I always look at reviews and the ridiculous star ratings at Amazon and the like to pick up my books? Can’t all these people just write something cogent and good, (I also picked up Lirael and Sabriel) and just be done with it? Nevertheless, I can’t complain that I was bored, since they are pretty entertaining on their own right. Ok, The Butlerian Jihad sucked, but the rest were actually good. I guess I have just been waiting for a book to overwhelm me like other mediums I have shown interests in.

JASSI JAISA KOI NAHIN

I have always refrained from commenting on anything remotely smelling of political undercurrents, since such commentary should be limited to people who know what they are talking about. But this has spurred my interest like no other. This means someone has a clear chance of starting a game development studio, or an application software development house, and probably succeed. The only resources required, apart from tangibles like a solid revenue model, are acumen, spirit and diligence. But this also smells of a government sponsored sop that will attract voters by the drove, as well as be abused by the very same people. A clear cut opportunity will be turned into an exploitative and exploited venture, and I will hate everyone with all of my angst and misanthropy, and the latter I have in liters.

GRAND THEFT OTTer

There are many reason why you should ostracize me, but being a gamer is the least of them. I am sure you are even vaguely aware of this. Then why must I wear my ‘Fuck You’ shirt and start defending my hobby like a crazed maniac when someone irresponsible and deranged decides to do something about his not liking the smell of his school bathroom by pumping a few bullets into his teachers head? You have heard so many defenses and allegations that

whatever I might have to say will sound jaded to you. But really, all people like Leiberman need to understand is that those people are MAD. Off their rockers. Or just plain evil. More people play games than you’d know, and even more watch Jerry Bruckheimer movies. If I have to listen to one more person telling me games will make me into a blood-lusting monster, so help me, I will take my hand, put it through his eyes, into his brains, swirl it around, and take the grey matter out of his nose till he is brain dead. And I’ll claim I did this because I saw it on fucking FRIENDS, and Lisa Kudrow showed me how to do that. What? I told you I hate people.

THE BASTARD CHILD OF THE HERO

And while on the general waters of misanthropy, I also dislike militant open source evangelism, so quit waving your yellow flags already. I am all for the ‘OSS revolution’. But newly converted fucktards just have to make it their business to tell me how much good their shit is, and how I am Bill Gates bitch because I use Windows 2000 to play my games, which he doesn’t yet have an answer for, not yet anyways.
I have a friend. He installs Linux, runs stuff on it, experiments with it, and generally tells people how good that makes him feel. That is a good thing. He is not sitting on forum boards replacing MS with M$ and telling everyone why they have to use ONLY firebird.
On the other hand are people you meet once in a while who just thrust their fucked up browsers or email clients on my face, and tell me its good because its open source. Fucking hippies. They don’t even know the first thing about the open source movement. There are people wasting their sweat and blood for no monetary gains just so you have a choice, and these hippies just give them a bad name. Its not about sticking it to Bill Gates. Its about everyone having a choice, of having the power to switch to something more stable, and feature rich, if they want to. I use Opera and Eudora. They are by no means open source, or even free. But they are way better than all the options I have tried, including open source stuff, and more importantly demonstrate my exercise of choice. As long as you know and respect that, I’ll hear your case. But if all you want to do is smoke pot and make sex noises insiniuating how M$ is screwing the world, I suggest you move your sorry ass out of my face. Because I have a Sushubh and I’m not afraid to use it.

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great time… I will too, I promise.

anupma is probably(pleasantly) surprised with the lack of geek/gamer posts I’ve been doing lately. Never one to disappoint, here goes another:
So this weekend I got in quite an intense round of Halo multiplayer, close to six hours at a stretch actually, playing against 15 of the 1337-est, meanest fraggers around. Of course they don’t call me 53r10u554m for nothing… I finished in first in all but two matches, where I finished 3rd and 4th. Not too bad, I haven’t rusted all that much. But despite the intense LAN party, I was left wanting a little more. One, because gearbox decided to do away with the co-op mode that really made the X-Box version shine. Frag fests are all fine and dandy, but I am a sucker for co-op matches. I admit I’ve snuck in a few NOLF co-ops and absolutely loved it. Too, because I’ve been too used to fast paced UT2003 bouts, and comparatively Halo is a tad slow. Three, the maps. Gearbox snuck in a grand total of 6 PC exclusive mutiplayer maps, which were moslty made with race or CTF modes in mind. Free for all slayer modes, which seemed to be the flavor of the day at the LAN party, get a raw deal when it comes to these maps. You don’t know how highly unsatisfying getting a frag after running around the beach side for a good 5 minutes can be.
Don’t get me wrong though, I had oodles of fun, and since LAN parties/multiplayer matches in relatively broadbandless India are few and far between, it was bound to be full of raw adrenaline pumping through the air, the very atmosphere of the place was intoxicating. Fun fun fun. I have another 3-4 hours lined up this night, I’ll let ya know how it goes.
The stoopid map review: Timberland was nice, I guess. CTF was a blast, but Slayer is wasted on Timberland, what with humongous outdoors of foliage to cross, in order to reach the central lake structure. Death Island was kinda like the Silent Cartographer level, and like anybody who’s played that will tell you, its huge! And not to mention utterly stupid for non CTF/KoH modes. Gephyrophobia, I didn’t play much, which is sad because though its basically a race mode map, it lends itself to some pretty mean games of free-for-all action. Danger Canyon was very llinear and very fun. Especially satisfying is using the melee attack to push a guy off the cliff. Its a loooong fall. Ice Fields, I absolutely detested, because I finished in my lowest ranking. Heh heh, but personal prejudices aside, this is one mean map for Slayer as well as KoH modes. I have to get in some more practice for this one. Infinity is a very cool map. Its a giant 8, which makes it challenging for CTFs, and very cool for race modes. Also the terrain is varied and very conducive for cheeky Slayer matches. Coolio.

Halo @$$-kick@ge aside, I also found a very nice book store which had some awesome out of print collectors edition comics, and some great new DC novellas. I know, I know, I’m a self-professed Marvel guy, but sometimes you gotta take what you get. So Narnia set(all of them!), and although I restrained myself for a while, I know its gonna be difficult for me to stop myself next weekend.

Life update: Having done the right thing still kinda sucks, but I’m down with it, yo! And if anybody in Delhi/Noida/Faridabad wants a Touchtel DSL line, sushubh‘s got one that he has to let go of. You’ll save around 2 grand on the installation bit, and its very broadbandish.