I found something startling the other day as I was watching Batman Begins. You know, that movie which gave us hope that the Batman franchise was still alive? That one. Apparently, Chris Nolan stuck Bane in the movie, and hoped no one would notice. Nolan always repeats his supporting cast (Tom Hardy was Eames in Inception) so I thought he put in Hardy just for the heck of it. But now, I find out that Hardy is Bane. I’m pretty sure The Dark Knight Rises will feature Bane coming from Arkham Asylum.

The scene: Batman has just decapitated Dr. Crane and his fellow goons and his rushing through Arkham, when he chooses to open the door of one the cellmates. He says, “Excuse Me” (or something like that). And we see this.

Here’s Tom Hardy.

Tom Hardy

And here’s Tom Hardy (the guy on the left).

Tom Hardy in Batman Begins

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that looks exactly like Tom Hardy. Well done, Chris Nolan. Well done.

Here’s a clip from the movie. All rights belong to Warner Bros.

As usual, I turned up at school punctually – fifteen minutes late, which is natural. Saw this kid named Shubham, who went with us for VB programming, going again just for the heck of it. His classmates scared him that they’d tear his certificates and break his award. So he’s like 1955’s original George McFly. I wonder how long it’ll take Darth Vader from Planet Vulcan to meet him.

Darth Vader from Planet Vulcan. Also, Van Halen ftw

Now that we knew that majority of the quiz questions were taken from already-existing archives, we wanted to study. Unfortunately, I was too busy proving f(x)=|sin x| + |cos x| is periodic with π last night, and Saumey was reading from Vidit’s archive (which Arnav later informed me, had been pulled from gyaan.in). But I was more interested in reading from my TCS archives over the past three years. Surprisingly, they were no longer available on MediaFire! Strange.

So anyway, we were just talking about a lot of other stuff (other than the quiz, that is) on the way to Apeejay. As usual, the kids were making a ruckus in the car making the journey even more tedious. Somehow I can’t recall some of the finer details about the journey probably because it was uneventful this time with Jyot Singh having no problem in finding the school today.

We reached at exactly 9.04 AM and the quiz was scheduled to start at 9. Auditorium was really quiet and the first person I saw as soon as I entered was Arnav, listening to his iPod. There really was no Prempal today, so we had a reasonable shot. But we did know, however, that Arnav was a pretty damn good quizzer on any given day, considering that he qualified for TCS once and won the Japan Quiz this time.

The quiz began about ten minutes after we finished with registration. We could choose our places randomly and judging by the huge screen, I chose to sit at the seat farthest from it – team 6.

The quiz began with a dry round with infinite bounce system. Apparently, the quizmaster was dreaming about going back to bed, by forgetting the most basic rule of infinite bounce – the team next to the tem which correctly answered the question gets it.

Round one was pathetic was me and Saumey. We were stuck at zero while others had some points. Arnav was at his usual flamboyant self, of course.

Next round featured negative marking, and we got -10 for getting Camel Case wrong (I confused it with tOGGLE cASE).

It was like that for a while, when the connect round came around. There were five points for identifying each picture and ten for the connect with the scoring being same for all. We managed to scrape together some measly five points in some questions, and boy did it go a long way.

The quizmaster was definitely not paying attention this time as when we answered “This is the first player YouTube used to stream videos” it was not accepted, but when the next team said “This is the first player YouTube used to stream videos online using Flash”, they got it. Another instance was Arnav saying essentially the same thing about some “tables” (something to do with guessing hash keys while guessing) and it was not accepted, while the next team’s answer was, even though it was essentially the same.  Arnav almost looked like he’d found out that Vader was his father.

I think I exaggerated that one a bit. NOT.

Then came the big mega connect for us. We had to connect Nupedia, Jimmy Wales (photo), “quick” and Julian Assange. Of course the connect was Wikipedia and we garnered a lump sum of thirty points. This was crucial to the quiz at it changed everything.

Or so I though. Until the buzzer round spread its wings to cover us all in its mighty wingspan.

Or more appropriately, cover us in its poop.

The main idea of the round was flawed. In buzzer rounds, you’re supposed to see the question and immediately strike the buzzer to answer it. It’s not the vastness of the knowledge that’s being tested here, it’s how quick you can recall it. They didn’t have “quizzing-grade” buzzers installed here; they wouldn’t break circuits. Nor did they use Exun’s strategy of recording it and playing in slow motion. They did have spotters, but that path is never devoid of controversy, you know.

Arnav went totally bonkers here, hitting the buzzer before the question was completed, getting -20, hitting it again for another -20. Even we got a -20, but we covered up with some great answering.

Suddenly at the end of the round, we were with our noses ahead at 80 and others in mid seventies.

My knees started shaking at the prospect of actually winning the first quiz of the season, when the next round showed up. I’d like to call this little tyke “Deux Ex Machina”. Here are the rules

• Plus fifty for the correct answer.
• Minus twenty for the wrong answer.
• Plus thirty for a passed question

See what just happened there? That’s like giving Stoke City a fifty point boost if they score a goal in their last game. This is madness.

So the round started with a tough one (in my opinion) and it got easier later on. Almost all the questions here took up entire slides. Suddenly, we were fourth. The last question of the quiz went to us and it was like requiring four runs of one ball with one wicket remaining.

It was a huge quote about a person “responsible for getting the computer to the masses” speaking about his life-changing experiences with the Homebrew Computer Club.

And guess what. I forgot. I panicked there and knew we had lost it. But Saumey stood there like a white knight in shining armor braces.

“Bhaiya Steve Wozniak bol do. “

“I don’t think that’s right.”

“Arre maine iWoz mein yeh padh rakha hai.”

It was difficult to trust him as he was responsible for that -20 in the buzzer round and another question to which I knew the right answer.

But then, quizzing is all about trusting your partner and we went ahead.

It was right and we WON. Boy was the adrenaline rush massive. Went down the stage feeling like a boss. From -10 to 130 is no mean feat, guys. The win was slightly unconvincing, because of that stupid buzzer round (although it was responsible for saving our skins).

Lots of questions were from Vidit’s book, Saumey and Arnav told me. This was funny as Vidit himself didn’t qualify. BTW, there was one question he could definitely have answered as it was in German and Vidit knows German.

More results started pouring in, and we were quite sure of winning the overall trophy with the first position in the PowerPoint presentation on corruption the kids made, second in LOGO Programming and some other event, and third in some robotics event and VB programming.

When we went on the stage to collect the overall trophy, what we didn’t know was that we had also won a printer! And when we opened it in the Qualis it turned out to be an HP All-in-One which we decided to put in the secondary lab. Now two labs have photocopy machines.

Meena Ma’am didn’t accompany us today and was absolutely astounded at the news about the overall trophy and the printer. We all were.

So a good day for ze Converge Clan. Not a waste of time at all (hope you’re reading this, Dad).

P.S: Anyone has those TCS archives? Please mail: a.crystalunicorn@yahoo.com

Let’s back track a bit. Force Fest was held at Apeejay Sheikh Sarai (I’ve never heard of it before). When the invite first came to school, Meena Ma’am handed it over to His Majesty, the righteous, trustworthy, amazing, perfect and brilliant Shikhar Gautam (who’s also incidentally Head Boy, and many sixth grade kids’ idol “Mein aapki marching se bahut inspired hoon”).

So Shikhar talks with me about this recent development and decides not to go. Which means, we actually had to work hard in the event he isn’t going for (for some context, refer to previous CSR posts and search references to “god”). See, he’s missed lot of school due to VMC’s morning classes. So he figures he can’t afford to miss more.

So anyway, I volunteer to go for the quiz, and Saumey tags along too. I really didn’t expect all the major schools to turn up as well. I did get a hint when Prempal asked Vidit whether they had transport to offer for their school. That was two major quizzers here already.

Eight other kids were accompanying us on Day 1. We were going in our regular good ol’ Qualis.

Getting there was a nightmare. The school seemed light years away from ours and extreme heat only caused that time to expand. Moreover, Jyot Singh had forgotten to service the car air conditioner, which he claims, can chill the entire car within minutes.

Predictably, we got lost and out came everyone’s cell phones with Google Maps. Unfortunately, n00b kids didn’t know having a “maps” icon on your phone doesn’t necessarily mean GPS. An eighth grader got really excited when Google pointed out his location accurate up to five hundred meters. When Vinamra (the only other twelfth grader) were seriously considering to “screw this” and go watch Source Code at PVR nearby in Select Citywalk, we finally found Apeejay… in Saket.

So here’s a question this ignorant author would like an answer to. Which darn school opens two branches within walking distance of each other? (Conditions apply: “walking distance” depends upon one’s physical fitness and may range from a few centimetres to many miles).

Funnily enough, some students were standing near the entrance gate (and we assumed they were welcoming us). What I felt was, presumably, they were actually there to tell others that this was not Apeejay Sheikh Sarai. So after making a phone call to Aditya Kumar of DPS Vasant Kunj (who didn’t have a clue about the directions) we reached the correct school after winding through some really kacha roads.

We were led to the auditorium (which looked really nice). It was a lot like cinema halls in the sense that you sit in the front if you’re the last to come. Since we were behind the chief guest, we were supposed to keep our trap shut. Apparently, the inauguration had already started and the intro video was shown as soon as we entered. No comments on the video (wasn’t really paying attention; was tweeting), but others claim it was “inspired” from ours. (Just a note, Shikhar made the Gateway intro video in one night). The chief guest was someone called Aditya Berlia. Not a spelling error. Or maybe it is, but it’s definitely not Birla. He spoke with an Americanized accent and claimed to be from Stanford. He also spoke a lot about his parties with Facebook’s founder, Orkut’s founder, why the Orkut doesn’t work well anymore (“They’re (founders) are both equally smart. Well Zuckerberg’s a bit smarter actually”). But irrespective of all this, it was the most engaging chief guest speech I’ve ever heard. Aditya asked us about topics ranging from 4chan (/b/ specifically) to cloud computing to Pirates of the Silicon Valley.

Quiz prelims then began, and all major quizzing schools seemed to be there. We were led to some lab with PCs running Windows 2000. I instantly fired up Minesweeper and began, er, sweeping. Papers arrived and we were blown away. Remember my TCS archive (which Shikhar helped in making. Man, he’s everywhere)? There was a question about LinkedIn, and I had included Giri’s quote about it in the question. The question appeared as it is with the quote. I am not kidding. Vidit’s latest book on tech also became the source for some questions (which, thankfully, Saumey had read). Quiz wasn’t that tough; it was made up of questions I was sure I’d read before but couldn’t remember. Like a word involving Monty Python’s Flying Circus (it was “spam”). Once again, Saumey’s tukka of the day did it for us. Apparently, “Elograph” is now known as touch screen. And the boy guessed it. So we totalled up to about thirteen. Then we talked for sometime, and then added more answers (which we later forgot to include in our scores). So thirteen was the official score, according to us. New Era got 18 and Vidit from Manavsthali had 15 with them.

We went back to the audi contemplating the results and watching really boring presentations on corruption in India. (An enthusiastic girl claimed Suresh Kalmadi was recently arrested by the CBSE. Oops CBI.) Results came in, and we qualified along with (apparently) no DPS and no Manavsthali. Montfort, Air Force, Mother’s International, New Era, and some other school got through. Vidit was furious and demanded to know the marks. The quizmaster re checked his paper, and got fifteen. He asked if we were sure with our scores and were okay with disqualification. Of course, I wouldn’t agree to that! Last year of school quizzing here. So he did go and recheck our paper again and informed us we had sixteen. We won fair and square. (High five)! Prempal and Arnav were equally shocked at Vidit’s non-selection (though all of us were secretly happy at getting a good shot at the top prize).

Vidit was sad, but hey, stuff happens. Sorry, Vidit. I might have got a little too selfish there.

Vinamra couldn’t go through to the next round of gaming (Unreal Tournament). He said he forgot to click to respawn, and eliminated in a tight round. We finally made another tedious journey back to school in the sweltering heat. Now for day 2.

P.S: Prempal told me New Era often refuses to provide transport to them for quizzes. Why? Aren’t they like quizzing superpowers? Don’t they win nearly anywhere they choose to put their feet? Arnav said they take sweet revenge by refusing to hand over the overall trophy to their school.

P.P.S: Before we knew his name, we used to called Arnav Mario. Fact. Don’t mind that, Arnav.

Here’s a list of films which you may have passed off as worthless (probably because of the title); but I found these to be genuinely good and would definitely watch them again (and again). While not over-the-top like many films in the recent past, these go for subtlety and not extravaganza. Do read, watch and tell me how you liked them (in the comments section).

#5: Do Dooni Chaar (2010)

I’ll be frank: I wasn’t too excited about Do Dooni Chaar. It was produced by that long-haired management guru and was distributed by the geniuses behind Hannah Montana. Even the trailer looked like it was going to be a cheap comedy. But when my aunt (who’s an avid Alfred Hitchcock fan) recommended this to me, I was initially surprised. And when the movie was shown on Star One, it erased any doubts about the film’s credentials. Do Dooni Chaar accurately portrays an average middle-class household who wants to buy a car, but can’t afford it on a teacher’s salary. What follows is a rush to collect money for buying a car. One of the film’s greatest achievements is the great attention paid to the tiniest details in the backgrounds. The family’s house doesn’t look like a set at all. It looks… lived in for years. Despite the slightly disappointing ending, it’s one of the greatest films you’ll ever see.

#4: Kaminey (2009)

I don’t know how to put it, so I’ll just come out and say it. Kaminey is the best Hindi film in the past decade. It stands out for its fantastic originality and bold premise. The reason it’s not in the top three in the list is because some people actually went to watch it, although it was overshadowed by the much-less deserving 3 Idiots. Vishal Bhardwaj brings a Quentin Tarantino-esque madness into the film and even (somehow) molds Shahid Kapur into delivering a splendid performance, essaying a double role. He plays both: Charlie, a gangster, and Guddu, the st- st- stammering guy whose lives entwine as a result of wacky situations. Packed with many surprises, Kaminey elevates your soul to a new level, taking you to where you never thought was possible with Hindi cinema. Add to that an addictive soundtrack, and that just sweetens the deal. (Note to self: must find Kaminey Blu-Ray). My only grouse with Kaminey is some of the songs which I thought were dulling the film’s pace.

#3: Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006)

Jaideep Sahni’s epic script combined with Anupam Kher’s and Boman Irani’s superb acting skills turn this black comedy into a laugh riot for even for those with little knowledge about realty (read, me). Anupam Kher plays Mr. Khosla, whose land has been taken over by Khurana, and the film’s premise revolves around getting it back playing a well-engineered con. Khosla’s USA-bound son helps him to achieve this. This films marks the directorial début of Dibakar Banerjee who would later go on to make gems such as Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Love Sex Aur Dhokha. While it did do marginally well at the box office, it has since enjoyed many television reruns, and I make it a point to catch it when it’s on.

#2: Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009)

Image via Wikipedia

I know, I know. It is a Ranbir Kapoor film and oh boy is it good. In his best (yet most understated) performance yet, Rocket Singh stands out as one of the most sincere films in Hindi cinema. Another gem by Jaideep Sahni and director Shimit Amin sees wonderful characters developing enough to make you actually care for them. Never quite exploiting the ‘sardar’ angle (and thankfully so), Rocket Singh delivers thanks to compelling performances by an ensemble cast. Once again, the details here are too hard to ignore. Office parties with booze flowing in plastic cups and music playing from computer speakers are just few of them.

#1: Mithya (2008)

Surprised? Then Mithya has already succeeded in doing what it does best even before you’ve watched it. I’m willing to bet you haven’t heard of it. I wouldn’t have been lucky enough to witness this gem of a film if it wasn’t for good ol’ Jet Airways. Mithya was the only film I hadn’t watched from their in-flight movie collections, and boy was it awesome. Ranvir Shorey plays a struggling actor who bears and unfortunate (and uncanny) resemblance to a don, whose character he has to essay in real life. Packed with lots of little turns and twists and punctuated by stupendous performances from all the actors, Mithya delivers much more than it promises. Speaking more about it would be doing injustice to the entire movie-watching experience.

P.S: Welcome To Sajjanpur was left out because of too many songs.

P.P.S: Don’t expect this to be the first of a long series of posts. My blogging will remain as ‘frequent’ as it was in the last year. Sorry to disappoint!

P.P.P.S: Please leave some comments! And thank you for not unsubscribing.

I’m sorry I’m not regular enough, and I’ll promise I wont be blogging anytime soon too. Lots of studies coming up and going on.

This year’s quiz was good. The bar was finally raised, and congratulations to Prempal and Anshul from New Era Public School for winning it! I didn’t even make it to the 7th or 8th position, but boy was the quiz great.

As I type this, Shikhar is working furiously on an archive of the finals.

TCS IT Wiz 2010 Delhi Quiz Prelims (~670 KB)

“क्या में आपको जानता हूँ? “

“नहीं.”

“तो?”

“मेरी माँ कहती है कि कोई भी शुभ काम करने से पहले कुछ मीठा खा लेना चाहिए.”

*gives piece*

…

“वैसे तुम कौनसा शुभ काम करने जा रहे हो?”

“मैं सोच रहा था कि आपका सर फोड़ दूँ.”

*

This because

a) It’s getting to me

b) I’m using this:

This ridiculous software has ruined my life.

Yo Ankur! I’m really happy for you (and your Emma Watson GIF) and imma let you finish, but this GIF is the best of all time!

GIFs Can Get Better Than This

No offense, though.

Yeah, so let’s come to the point. I’ve used it to play a lot of games. And here are short reviews of each, in the order I played them.

Burnout Paradise (The Ultimate Box)

The Burnout series of games by Electronic Arts is hailed as one of the most innovative and fun games ever made. With Burnout Revenge!, and Burnout 3: Takedown hitting it big across the world, and Burnout Dominator failing to, emulate that success on a large scale, EA returned with Burnout Paradise. And boy what a return it was. Brilliant visuals, superb car modelling and even bikes as a DLC!

The entire game is set in the fictional Paradise City, named after Guns ‘n’ Roses‘s hit song of the same name from Appetite For Destruction. The game always starts with this great song, but the soundtrack does remain a problem for the rest of the games, as it recycles tracks from earlier Burnout games. In Burnout Paradise, you’re supposed to take up challenges like takedowns, races, burning laps, etc. to climb through the achievements and earn your “driving licence”. Despite awesome crashes and challenging races with fiery opponents, the game starts to feel repetitive and you soon get bored with it. Climbing from a Class E to Class A requires more than a hundred races to be completed, leaving you bored midway. It’s like a toy you’d play for a while, and throw it away.

Rating: 8.6/10

Call of Duty : Modern Warfare

Image via Wikipedia

Call of Duty has always been about gut-wrenching blowing up of bad guys and have plots which may be good for some B-grade war movie. Modern Warfare is only slightly different. Only engaging in bits, Modern Warfare does surprise you in some portions, especially in the ending. The graphics are pretty good, but nothing extraordinary to blow you away. I wasn’t very impressed by this over-hyped game. Although the game makes it up with an extra-ordinary ending, I was like “What Modern Warfare? What’s so special?” Trouble is, the single-player campaign gets over in a blink. I was able to do it in really short time of about a day.

But you know what really saves the day? Multiplayer. It has a great multiplayer mode which does make up for the single player campaign. It’s exhilarating, and fun.

Rating: 7.8/10

It’s not that short games can’t be fun. Especially if you’ve played…

Portal

When the Orange Box debuted, a small insignificant game based on the Source Engine was released, known as Portal, along with the much more anticipated Half Life 2: Episode Two and Team Fortress 2.

Portal was instantly the surprise favourite of everyone. It is easily one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life. I took about five hours to complete it, and that is quite long by any standards.

The great thing about Portal is the wacky sense of humour it packs in, along with an engaging gameplay. GLaDOS and the Companion Cube are lovable creatures too. Although the single-player campaign is short, it’s so enjoyable, that it has an immensely high replay value. Few minor bugs occasionally spoil the fun, but the mind-boggling puzzles make you want to come back for. Finishing the game may get you a “Portal hangover”, where you’d want to create portals to various places instead of traveling there.

Rating: 9.5/10

Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2

One of the most anticipated games of all time, I finally got my hands on the reason I bought Eddie. After the disappointment that was Modern Warfare, it’s sequel takes the game to new heights where no game has ever been before.

Like it’s predecessor, it has a small single-player campaign, but it is much more sweeter, and has a darker and more powerful plot. The graphics are also significantly improved, and the controls seem much more easier to use. What makes it distinct from Modern Warfare is that it doesn’t feel repetitive at all.

The variation in gameplay is so amazing, it’ll blow your head off. Be it driving snowmobiles in freezing temperatures or “earning Makarov’s trust”, Modern Warfare 2 is a game that is sure to stay etched in your mind eons after you’ve played it.

Rating: 9.3/10

Assassin’s Creed II

There was no game ever like Assassin’s Creed, and boy there won’t be any like it. Upon it’s released, Assassin’s Creed II was called as the game the first one should have been. Based in the 1480s, you play Desmond Miles/Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who’s a total vagabond. He loves spending his dad’s money and enjoys with the girls. But his father and brother’s death changes him forever as he vows to avenge his death.

What makes Assassin’s Creed II distinct from any other game is its emphasis on non-linear gameplay and the importance given to character development. The graphics are superb, especially in the places where Ezio dives in the water. His clothes actually look wet.

The problem with the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II lies in its DRM protection. Skidrow claimed in his .nfo file that he thanked Ubisoft was such a challenge the game posed for him and his team to crack it.

Unfortunately, the game suffers from a really long plot length. Despite some awesome characters such as Leonardo Da Vinci himself (who makes a “flying machine” a.k.a hanglider), the game suffers from being very repetitive. It’s got its heart in the right place, but just gets a few things wrong. When you reach the end, and defeat the main villain, you’re really bored and don’t care any more. What could have been a spectacular achievement just ends up being fairly awesome.

Rating: 8.8/10

Mass Effect 2

Hardly ever has game been made which is so diverse, so imaginative, so… real. Commander Shepherd is back in Mass Effect 2, and Electronic Arts has done a marvelous job of putting together one of the finest games in recent times.

Commander Shepherd is back, and immediately killed due an attack on his ship, the Normandy, but soon resurrected at an astronomical cost by pro-human organization Cerberus, that has some shady origins…

The game is placed well into the future, giving you the liberty to navigate your spaceship to different galaxies, and explore new planets, and even mine them for new minerals. These minerals help you research new technologies for your weapons, or armour or biotic powers.

But what really separated Mass Effect 2 from the rest is the extreme emphasis on non-linear gameplay. As Shepherd you decide how the game should go ahead, and the game travels willingly based on your decisions alone, seriously impacting the story line. This is managed by a well established (though occasionally tedious) planet exploration activity to mine minerals.

While certainly one of the best games ever made, Mass Effect 2 suffers from an awkward and slightly unbelievable plot line. The wide variety of missions did put me off on many occasions, but that’s probably only me. But one thing’s for certain: Mass Effect 2 has an immensely high replay value.

Rating: 9.2/10

Batman: Arkham Asylum

I thought I had seen it all with Mass Effect 2, when Batman: Arkham Asylum came over and swept me off my feet. Batman: Arkham Asylum is that kind of game that you’ll hardly ever see.

Such a superhero game has probably never been made before. Ever. Superhero games don’t actually have a history of doing great with the critics and the masses (remember Superman 64?)

Following its release. Batman: Arkham Asylum has received massive critical acclaim and does so from me too. Set in Arkham Asylum, the institution set up for the mentally insane, the game starts off with Batman transporting the Joker to Arkham (who submits too easily). What Batman realises is that the Joker planned to be caught, and there was a much darker plot afoot.

The boss battles, though numerous, never bore you for once with the sole exception of Poison Ivy. You’ll face the Scarecrow thrice, and the others like Killer Croc, the Joker and Bane as well.

The tone and color of the game is so well set and the graphics are so beautifully merged with the storyline and gameplay, that it is difficult to set your hands off the keyboard. You’ll always be hungry for more and will come back all the time.

Be it Joker’s crazy sense of humour, Batman’s brilliant martial arts assisted with fluid controls[video], or gliding seamlessly over Arkham’s dark landscape with the skyline of Gotham in the view, Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the most perfect games ever created. I’m only disappointed with the font in which “Batman” is written on the box art. Looks a bit weird, if you ask me.

Rating: 9.8/10

So what did you feel about my views on these games? Let me know in the comments section.