The Dark Knight epitomised superhero movies for months after it was released, eclipsing the effect of the emotional, colourful Spiderman world with its black flair, seriousness and a truly psychotic villain (Joker/Heath Ledger). Enter Iron Man—an escape from the drudgery and gritty melancholy of The Dark Knight. It was fun, it was colourful and it was enjoyably over the top.

And that’s where Iron Man 2 has a great fall, going from “over the top” to “just plain ridiculous” most of the time. Suffering from the effects of using his Iron Man suit too much (a plotline that’s just thrown at you inexplicably a short while after film starts), Tony Stark starts doing things that one would think were too crazy even for Stark. Then he also goes down a path of self-destruction, which makes you roll your eyes in disbelief at what the director throws at you. Robert Downey Jr is probably the best choice to play Stark, but even he has trouble carrying off his new personality. Where has the wit gone? Where has the fun gone? In the first movie, Stark was irresistible, threw one-liners like a pro and his cockiness was enjoyable. In the second movie, he goes from one extreme to the next. When he attempts to be the Stark from the first movie, he gets highly annoying, something you don’t want your protagonist to become. And when he attempts to draw the audience’s sympathy, well, he fails miserably. But maybe that’s just because Tony Stark’s character isn’t meant to draw sympathy at all. Also, while we’re on the topic of Stark/Iron Man, I would have liked to have seen a few more Iron Man sequences than Tony Stark sequences.

Moving on to other characters then. Mickey Rourke deserves a mention for trying to do a good job. I couldn’t find much fault with his acting, which was limited, I felt, by the role he was offered. Scarlett Johansson is flawless…in appearance. Thank you, God, for creating her. Of course, it’s another story that she comes across as robotic as possible, and her action sequences reminded me painfully of Daredevil, one of the worst superhero movies I’ve ever seen. Gwyneth Paltrow was also much more likeable in the first movie, and somehow, the chemistry between Potts (Paltrow) and Stark (Downey Jr) is unfortunately colder than the first movie, despite them finally kissing. However, hers was the character that I most enjoyed, as Potts remains true to her devotion for Stark. The rest of the cast are ok too, but I cannot help questioning the casting of Don Cheadle as Lt. Colonel James Rhodes, a role played well by Terence Howard in the first movie. Don’s eyes are far too expressive and his face is far too serious to play Rhodes. Also, I’d like to make a special mention of actor Sam Rockwell, who plays arguably the most annoying character in the film, Justin Hammer.

All in all, too many things about this movie are annoying and so far away from reality that one really needs to leave one’s brains at home. I don’t mind explosions and special effects (which are generally not bad), but I like them when they’re at least remotely believable. The quality of the action sequences places this movie just a notch above crap like Charlie’s Angels and Daredevil, which is far from a compliment.

All in all, if you are going to watch this movie expecting it to pick up where the original left off, please lower your expectations. It does not. But you will want to watch it just to follow the storyline and be in touch with the inevitable sequel. And though I hate saying this about movies, if you want to “enjoy” this one, leave your brains at home.

Rating: 6/10

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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What most bloggers seem not to do too well is to reply to the few comments that they do get. I’m going to try to make some points here about the right etiquette for replying to comments on your blog posts or stories.

1. Always reply to every comment (or commenter)…individually. You have to realise that getting comments is not your right. It’s nothing short of an honour that someone has taken time out to read your post, and then taken some more time out to type a comment on it. Unless you thank them for their comment or post a reply to their reply, they will be discouraged from writing comments for you in the future.
2. Always reply to every comment (or commenter)…individually. It was important enough to repeat as point 2.
3. If you do not want your comments thread to go haywire, try to keep spam and off-topic replies to a minimum. Of course, you cannot prevent others from posting off-topic stuff in the comments, but you can actively avoid doing it yourself. That might help.

As a writer, I love getting detailed feedback on my writing, from how the characters of my story were perceived to how the pace of the story was fine (or not fine). I try to do the same thing for others. I have, in the past when time permitted it, spent hours writing a detailed critique for others on Storiesmania. The response I usually got was what made it all worthwhile, and made it worth doing the same thing again. But I’ve also seen that sometimes when I write a good length review, when someone posts nothing but a “thanks!” in return, I never bother spending time writing them a proper comment again.

Maybe I’m just being a little demanding, but put yourself in a commenter’s position. Unless you can make the commenter feel that his comment is valued, you will not be getting any valuable comments.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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For most of this review, I’m going to compare aspects of Prince of Persia with The Sands of Time game released in 2003. This is primarily because The Sands of Time has, for me, defined what Prince of Persia is all about, or should be all about. However, I will also try to judge this game on its own merits, seeing as how it’s a completely new project not based on The Sands of Time trilogy.

Let’s start off with the basics—the story. It’s a simple enough plot. The unnamed ‘Prince’ is a common tomb-raider, a thief, who loses his donkey with a full load of treasure in a desert storm. Out of nowhere, a running Elika stumbles into his path, and the story begins. Elika is a Princess whose father has let loose Ahriman, an evil God bent on releasing corruption and darkness onto the world. It’s up to Elika, with the Prince’s help of course, to contain Ahriman and save the world. The problem is that the finer details of the plot just don’t tie up, and there is an inherent inconsistency in the story and the characters that attempt to tie it up. For instance, the Prince is portrayed as generally self-centred, mistrusting and a bit of a loner who would not go out of his way to help others. Yet, for some reason, he embarks on this long, treacherous journey with a mysterious lady with magical powers. It leaves me questioning why he would do anything for her. There’s also no major development in the relationship that the characters share, and the attachment the Prince develops for Elika towards the end of the game seems contrived, somehow. The story, when compared with The Sands of Time, leaves a bit to be desired. It doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, and the ending doesn’t quite leave you wanting more. A perfect ending to a game should leave you wanting more and yet somehow satisfied in revelling in the glory of the game. This is a feeling I’ve felt at the end of most of the truly great games, but not here.

The story, however, is just one small part of a game. Gameplay is a lot more important, of course. Prince of Persia’s gameplay can be very roughly divided into categories—platforming and combat. The platforming is solid and aesthetically pleasing. The Prince is more acrobatic than ever before and many new moves have been introduced, such as the ability to crawl on ceilings. The controls are simple and very forgiving, making the game easier than I would have imagined. There are barely any timed sequences like there were in the previous games, which takes away a fair amount of challenge from the game. Combat is interesting and fights are always against a single opponent only. This makes battles intense and generally quite long-lasting. It may take a while to get accustomed to the combat, but once you do, it’s fun to watch the Prince pull together complex combos in tandem with Elika, whose attacks are controlled by the player as well. However, because the fights are generally quite similar, it leads to the possibility of players developing a strong preference for a certain combo or two, which can make combat sequences seem remarkably repetitive and mundane. Also, the Prince never dies, never in combat and never while platforming. For every mistimed jump or overshot ledge, Elika saves you. Everytime a foe is about to deliver a fatal blow during combat, Elika saves you. Combine this aspect with the not very challenging platforming, and you have a game that, in my opinion, is far too easy. While it’s fine to have a game that embraces new players, I would have liked a bit more of a challenge. A few deaths before finishing the game would have been welcome too.

The Prince of Persia series is also known for incorporating a number of puzzles into the game. While this game continues that tradition, I personally felt that the difficulty level of the puzzles was also not too high, since I could solve most of the puzzles in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. And when I say “most of the puzzles”, it may sound like there’re a lot, but really, there aren’t too many. The boss battles, which were quite innovative and challenging in the last POP game (The Two Thrones), are not quite as innovative here. They consist of the same kind of combat that you would have been engaged in throughout the game, so there’s barely anything special about them. Each boss battle is broken into parts, probably to give the player a bit of relief to break up what could end up being very long fights, but each part is identical, unlike the boss battles from TTT that required platforming and timed silent kills to emerge victorious.

The music and ambient sounds of the game are not bad, but not spectacular either. The theme fits in very well and the atmosphere during the menus is a tribute to Elika, who steals the spotlight for majority of the game. In fact, it feels like this game is more of Elika’s story and the Prince just happens to be a side-kick. The voice acting for Elika is great, but the same can’t be said for the Prince, who speaks in a very thick American accent and happens to pass comments that are occasionally not very witty, and very frequently, typical of smartass American quips. It’s clichéd and gets old pretty fast.

However, let not my negative comments deter you from playing this game. If you are a fan of the Prince of Persia series or even if you just want to play a good platforming game, then you shouldn’t miss out on this game. The graphics and atmosphere are magical and fun to behold. The Prince’s movements and animation are smooth, and Elika is brilliant, proving to be a wonderful companion, always available for support but not once getting in your way. The Prince of Persia is a game that somewhat falls short of the promise showed during the trailers, but it’s still a pretty good game nonetheless. Go play!

Rating: 8/10

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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Since I’m a weirdo who likes doing things differently, I’ll start with the bottom-line. It’s a good movie, with good acting and direction, with good amounts of humour thrown in—a movie that everyone should watch at least once. However, if one raises the question about how effective it is at getting its message across, then answer is not very favourable.
Yes, the movie does teach stubborn parents the importance of letting their children follow their hearts. It does create a little bit of awareness that careers other than engineering and medicine do exist. But it does nothing new. This message has been being shoved down our throats in newspaper editorials and important speeches. Who has it affected? Those with an open mind continue to keep an open mind, and those with closed minds continue to listen to the speeches, read the editorials, watch the movies, nod their heads solemnly in agreement, and when the time comes, they gently continue to push their children either into the engineering or medical herd.

There’s not much I can write about the movie without giving away the plot, and I think the movie would be far more enjoyable if I leave the story-telling to the director. Simply put, it’s a movie about education…not so much about life in a premier engineering college, instead more about the education system of our countr. Rest assured there is a good enough basic plot that ties the movie together, and enough suspense to keep your mind occupied at the intermission.

The acting is top-notch, as is to be expected from an Aamir Khan starrer. I am a big fan of the way his guy approaches his movies. Apparently having lost bundles of fat and muscle to fit the look of a student, Aamir does a stellar job as an engineering student. There are very subtle things that caught my eye—his style of walking, for example. It’s typical of the way a carefree engineering student would walk, hands in his pockets, swinging his legs slightly in that energetic manner that accompanies youth. Unfortunately, Aamir’s character (Rancho) is given so much of air-time, and is portrayed so charismatically by the prolific actor, that the entire movie seems less like one with a message, and more like one made to glorify that one particular character. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi do a fine job as well and their look matches those of engineering students quite well too. Kareena Kapoor has a minor role to play, but she does a good enough job without creating a fuss. Oh, and lest I forget, Boman Irani is, as usual, fabulous as the crazed, hyper-competitive dean of the college.

Since I’ve already written the bottom-line, I’ll end this ‘impromptu’ with a simple advice…go watch this movie. It’s good, but don’t be drawn in by the hype, and don’t go with great expectations, for these might come in the way of your enjoying the movie. Go watch the movie, and look out for the review of the 2008 video-game Prince of Persia, coming up shortly.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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On November 18, 2009, in the World Cup Qualifier between France and the Republic of Ireland, 70,000 spectators saw Thierry Henry deliberately touching the ball with his hand and passing it to team-mate William Gallas to score the goal that would send France into the World Cup, and Ireland to the lowest rungs of despair. The Irish were the underdogs here, but they had fought bravely through the two legs of the qualifier and had deserved to go through, had it not been for the hand that fate played.

I was speaking about this incident with a friend of mine (Ishan), and while we agreed that Henry had in one moment fallen from his golden pedestal and had forever condemned himself to be labelled a cheat, he told me something that had me thinking all this while. Put yourself in his shoes…the stakes were so high, what would you have done? It’s understandable that he did what he did.

Is it, really?

Here comes the problem. We hold our heroes up high and glorify them because we want to be like them. We think they’re perfect, or close to perfect. We try to emulate them and celebrate their successes as our own. But when they falter, why do we forgive them?

Because we put ourselves in their shoes, and we lose the courage to live up to our ideals. We forgive our heroes, because if they can do something wrong, then it’s ok if we do something wrong too. We dislike disliking ourselves for the things we do wrong. If we can forgive those we adore, then we can forgive ourselves much easier. STOP forgiving! Stop being afraid to hate yourself for a bit. I understand that nobody’s perfect, but should we not try to get there, somehow?

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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Some of you might have attended a flag-hoisting ceremony. You might have heard a chief guest deliver an impassioned speech about the India of yesterday, the India of today, and the India that is to come tomorrow. Some of you may have watched the Prime Minister’s and the President’s addresses this morning on TV. Many of you may have received mails and forwards of India in statistics—where we’ve come from and where we are. Invariably, many of these speeches and mails end with a “wake-up call”.

Wake up and smell the coffee. We need to achieve a lot more than we have. We may have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go before we can pause for breath. The world is moving fast, and we have to run faster to keep ahead. So, wake up.

My only question is … why do we remind each other to wake up only on one (or two—counting Republic Day) day of the year? Why do we get a sudden rush of patriotism-induced sobriety towards where this country is headed only for one day? Maybe what we should really do is to stop asking others to wake up … and just wake up ourselves. Everyday.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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The next question, I guess, is how many people read these blogs. There is probably no way to get a more or less accurate statistical picture. I know for a fact that celebrities’ blogs (like Aamir Khan’s and Amitabh Bachchan’s blogs) receive thousands of comments per post, but for the average blogger like me, with nothing important to blog about, one would be lucky to receive the one odd comment every now and then. So why blog?

For some people, it’s a great outlet of expression. For many others, it’s just an online journal to chronicle their ordinary lives, and let friends and family take a peek if they want to. For many others, the idea that they’re putting down feelings, thoughts and opinions on a public domain like the internet where someone (anyone) might read them and respond is an exciting prospect.

I do it because I like the idea of blogging. I like putting my opinions and thoughts down in words. I like writing, and I’d like to think of myself as a good enough writer with a lot of potential to improve. How do I improve? Simply by writing more. The more I write, the better I get at expressing myself. Do I get a lot of readers? Actually, no. What drives me is very simply the idea of an invisible audience. Every blog post can be metaphorized as a stage performance; I am the director, and my words and sentences are the actors. The parts they play are in my hands, and the readers of my posts are an audience. A faceless, nameless group of people…quite probably, imaginary. I know of very few people who read my blog regularly, and of even fewer who bother to comment. Where, then, is this invisible audience? I don’t know, but I can tell you it doesn’t matter. When I write, I like thinking that someone’s going to read, because that’s what drives me to write better.

To the one million Indian bloggers, cheers; and to the invisible audience to which this blog is dedicated, I tip my metaphorical hat in appreciation.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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Perhaps this question can be answered by the creator of the game, a certain Mr. Jordan Mechner. In the twenty-first century (2003, to be precise), a new trilogy for Prince of Persia began with a game called Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Obviously, the series had a lot to live up to. Since 1989, the original Prince of Persia has achieved legendary status and is often called one of the best games ever released for the PC. Jordan Mechner, the architect of the original trilogy, joined the developers of the game, initially as a consultant and later as a writer and game-designer. Needless to say, the game was a tremendously enjoyable affair. Its successor, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, to which the only thing Jordan Mechner gave was permission to use his trademark, was, in my opinion, nowhere near as fun as Sands of Time. This is not to say, however, that anything Mechner touches is gold. Case in point is a game called “The Last Express“, which received some outstanding reviews for some of its gameplay concepts, but also wasn’t particularly successful due to certain shortcomings (which included glitches and some gameplay ideas that took away from some of the fun of the game). Anyway, I’m beginning to digress. Just in case you’re curious as to what goes on behind the scenes of the development of a wonderful video-game, here’s an article written by Jordan Mechner, which highlights the creative and technical decision making processes during the game’s development:

The Sands of Time: Crafting a Video Game Story

I have recently completed the second game in this current trilogy, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and am set to begin the final game in the trilogy, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. However, considering I have exams around the corner, I think I’m going to put it off for a couple of weeks. The primary reason for writing this post was just to highlight how much thought and passion goes into making video games, and how it pays off in the form of a game that is truly an immersive, magical journey.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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This leaves me wondering (ok, seriously, no it doesn’t, but “leaves me wondering” is a nice phrase to use) whether the change in the look is going to change the experience. I don’t think so (hence, the fact that it doesn’t leave me wondering), because no matter what happens, you will still have the following on orkut:

• People using scrapbooks to send each other messages, and messages to send each other scraps/forwards.
• Testimonials from friends which insult you and do more damage to your reputation than add to it. For example -
  

  awrite buddy here u go
  crazy nut head,freakin douchebag,crapy taste in music…superly gay ( as he supports Man U) and still has the balls to argue with me..thats why i think hed make a gr8 lawyer…but he basically sucks monkey ass…totally jobless ud never c him with his books but still manages to get a 75% in his finals xams..uninteresting part removed by Gurdit…suffers from an inferiority complex for some reason..weirdo.. but at times he thinks he zinadine zidane
  p.s. hes the son of one of the most influencial man in hytherbad thats why this testimonial otherwise hes not even worth my time..haha..

  Thanks, “buddy”. As the extremely cliched adage goes : With friends like you, who needs enemies?

• Invitations to join a thousand communities, all of which are “unique”, yet have the same forum games
  

  k, if u r a boy, add 2. if u r a gal, minus 2. v’ll start @ 50, letz c wether v gt 2 0 1st or 100!!! LOLZZ!!

• “hi” followed by a hundred exclamation marks. (This one scares me, so I’ll avoid demonstrating it here)
• People you know being online either on your Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger or G Talk, and still “chatting” with you through scraps.
• 7 new messages everytime you log in, 5 of which are for some poor guy or girl in the hospital whose bill value is going to be reduced by 0.50$ every time you forward the message to someone***… that guy/girl must be a billionaire by now.

(...)
Read the rest of On Orkut (341 words)

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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People also tend to make a big deal out of the symbolic end of an year, and the beginning of a whole new one. A symbolic fresh start. Forget all your previous mistakes and start all over again, with fresh hope, and fresh spirits. It makes me wonder… what if we did this sort of thing at the end/beginning of every day rather than year…

• My New Day‘s resolution is to not fall asleep in class all day this day.
• I will forget about all the bad things that happened to me last day and will try to make this coming new day as positive, fruitful, and useful as I can…
• etc.

And I guarantee you that you will start having much better days once you start this daily ritual.

Then again, who cares if the whole New Year thing is a bit over-rated? An year is a much longer period to reflect upon than a day, and any reason for the stores and homes to light up and look beautiful at night is good enough for me. And let’s not forget the end-of-year special discounts, etc etc. Even if it doesn’t make sense to give someone a gift JUST FOR New Year’s, it does make sense to take advantage of the “Special Festive Season Discount” to buy yourself that new iPod that you’ve been waiting for the right time to buy, which is now suddenly available at 50% of its original price!

Hmm… with these thoughts, I leave you now, to go to bed. Tomorrow is the 2nd of January I mentioned previously… a good reason to go to sleep before 11pm

Good Night, all… and a Happy New Year.

This post was originally published on my blog, Thought Overflow | For poetry and more of my writing, check out my website at Gurdit.com.

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