Hello invisible readers. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that I managed to procure a can of compressed air and blasted any and all dust from within my laptop. It took a while and there was a lot of dust but it seems to have been worth it. For the past 7 hours, I have not heard the laptop fans kick-in even once. The system is running fairly cool and lag is currently not an issue. I will need to probe further by stressing the system with the help of graphics-heavy applications and games. Maybe I will finally get to play Quake 4 and complete The Chronicles of Riddick. I also need to reinstate my Audigy 2 ZS Notebook card which I took out believing it to be the cause of my problems.

I would also like to inform you of how cold it is out here in New York. Consistently below freezing.

Now that my laptop seems to running “fine,” I was able to run Yahoo! Messenger webcam/audio chat without issues. But what irony! The connection on my parents’ side decided to usurp this excellent chat. Maybe you will find this interesting: There was a lady buying an original copy of Windows Vista at the computer store where I bought the compressed air. Lunch was good.

Thank you for reading this!

Regards,

Me.

I managed to see a lot of movies this year but missed an equally large number, courtesy a full course-load. But, I still saw enough to complie this list.

5. Strangers With Candy

A small indie movie that was a prequel to a TV series of the same name. A very limited release and a surprisingly low 60% on RT meant that the movie slipped under everyone’s radar when it came out this past summer. Even if you haven’t seen the series, the movie is still a rib-tickler with some terrific acting by Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris. Plays out a lot like a run-of-the-mill teen movie but is a billion times better in the quality of the script and the freshness in the comedy. Fans of the series will adore it and comedy lovers will love this movie. Highly underrated.

4. Snakes on a Plane
Thank You For Smoking

Surprised to see it at #4? So am I. But the ones to follow were better movies overall. SoaP had the fun factor and all the hype. Oh, it also had Samuel L. Jackson a lot of muthaf’ing snakes on a muthaf’ing plane! One thrill ride this. Cheesy, B-grade movie credentials be damned - the movie was extremely enjoyable. Unfortunately, the hype wasn’t enough to ensure success as the movie more or less bombed at the box-office. Watch it noentheless and see what all the fuss is about!

Yes I added a second movie at #4. Only because I totally forgot about this one. A scathing satire on tobacco lobbyists, Senators, and Hollywood, this movie was hilarious. The book of the same name was excellent too and really fleshed out the characters a lot more. Aaron Eckhart was pretty much born to play the role of Nick Naylor, the tobacco industry’s top spin-wizard. Must-watch!

3. The Departed

A movie by Martin Scorsese with a cast of several talented actors and a strong script. An out and out action thriller, this movie was definitely one of the best action films of the year. Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen team up with a surprisingly mature Leonardo Di Caprio and Matt Damon to serve up a delightful treat in the acting department. Everyone is fantastic and the movie moves with a good pace in spite of the length. Oh yeah, by the way, the movie is about the Irish mafia in Boston and the cops after them. There’s double agents on both sides and everything ends well, albeit in a rush of deaths.

2. Little Miss Sunshine

It’s unfortunate that LMS ended up not being my top movie. Here’s a great movie to watch - probably not with family because of the language and some content. Funny and sensitive at the same time, the story is about a dysfunctional family that tries to come together so that little Olive can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine contest in California. The movie stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette, and Greg Kinnear - all three turn in stellar performances. This is a small movie that made it big. Made on a modest budget and initially a limited release, the movie was overwhelmingly popular and forced the studio to open it to a wide release. The movie ended up making more than $50 million at the US Box Office and is an absolute delight!

1. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

I didn’t have to check the accuracy of my memory even with the ginormous title that this movie brings to the table. Such was the wondrous work of Sacha Baron Cohen. An absolute laugh-riot chronicling the adventures of Borat and his producer Azamat who come to America from Kazakhstan to understand some of their culture and subsequently use it to better Kazakhstan (hence the title). Rude, loud, and extremely offensive only begin to describe what this movie is about. No point in me wasting more words here - go read my exclusive post on the movie. While short at just under 90 minutes, this movie is well worth your money, whether you see it in the theaters or on DVD.

I ended up with three comedies on that list. Compare that to just 1 last year. There were disappointments this year as well. Here they are:

Pirates 2
X-Men 3

Both movies were hyped beyond belief but suffered from weak scripts. Pirates seemed slow and Depp not as good as in the first. Pirates 3 needs to be better. X3 threw in a boatload of mutants but was a bit of a mess. Cyclops and Professor X killed off? And what was up with Magneto feeling sorry at the end? Brett Ratner was a poor choice of director I say.

Other Good Movies that just missed out:

MI:3
V For Vendetta
Inside Man
Slither

Others I wanted to see but couldn’t:

An Inconvenient Truth
The Descent
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
This Film is Not Yet Rated
United 93
Casino Royale

I played a lot of games this year but not nearly enough new ones. But still, I played a good number of new games and so here goes my best of list.

5. Prey (PC)

All right, I’ll admit that I didn’t play the full game but I needed something in 5th place and the demo was long enough to give enough of a feel for the game. I didn’t get it because this was right about the time I started having all my PC troubles and that is why there is no other PC game in this list. Prey is well-done as far as shooters go. Gorgeous graphics (built on the Doom 3 engine, pales in front of GoW), solid gameplay, some weapons innovation and a good soundtrack make this game a must-have for FPS fans with machines that can handle this game. Of course, you could also get it for the Xbox 360 but I haven’t tried it out on the 360 as yet.

4. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo DS)

Think you’re smart? How about you beat my brain weight of 1774g! Big Brain Academy is essentially a collection of mini-games that get your brain working fast, or so they claim. You can practice any of the mini-games or jump into a full-scale test that takes about 5 minutes to complete. You are tested on various things like your Computational skills and in the end, your score is tabulated in the form of the weight (mass!) of your brain. The average human brain weighs 1400g so anything above that number is a job well-done. A great pick-up and play game and with wireless support, you can slug it out against 1 or more opponents to see who has the biggest brain!

3. Castlevania: Portriat of Ruin (Nintendo DS)

The 20th Anniversary Castlevania game is terrific. Last year’s Dawn of Sorrow, also for the DS, set new standards for the DS is terms of gameplay and graphics and this year’s PoR applies some tweaks to shake things up a little. You can now control two characters with abilities split between the two: Jonathan is the weapons guy while Charlotte is the magic girl. Together, they can be a handful for the enemy. You need to combine their skills in order to beat the game. I’m still trying to beat it and it had so far provided over 25 hours of thoroughly engaging gameplay. The side-quests and secrets really stretch the life of this game. If you liked Dawn of Sorrow, this one’s a no-brainer. Pick it up and relive the experience again. While some might be disappointed that there haven’t been significant improvements, it’s important to realize that Dawn of Sorrow was already a brilliant game.

2. Wii Sports (Nintendo Wii)

The game that changed the way we play sports games! It’s the one game that gets people up from their couches and jumping around like idiots trying to beat the simply setup but extraordinarily addictive games. While Tennis, Baseball, and Bowling are extremely enjoyable, the Boxing and Golf are not quite up there. Still, the different gameplay modes including Fitness and Training let you have fun while working those lazy muscles. Everyone knows you don’t quite have to move the Wiimote quite as much as the real-life equipment, but it’s infinitely more fun that way!

1. Gears of War (Xbox 360)

A few posts back, I did a long story titled Finals. No, it wasn’t about my final exams except for that postscript at the end. It was about Gears of War. It is THE game to own for the Xbox 360 and you’d be silly if you haven’t already played it in spite of owning a 360. Mind-blowing graphics coupled with excellent gameplay make this game the shooter to beat in the coming months. Single-player is short on Casual difficulty but try Insane if you want to spend more time with the game. I beat it in Casual mode over 3 days of scattered gaming sessions (interspersed by restlessness and an incurable itch to get back) and managed to clear two Acts on Insane before finals took over. Of course, right now I’m back home with no 360. So beating the game in Insane will have to wait a few weeks. But beat the sucker I will. And oh yeah, multiplayer on Xbox Live is great. Make sure you have a headset so you can coordinate with teammates.

Yes, I know what some of you will say - Where’s Zelda? Sorry Nintendo fanboys, but I didn’t play the game. I watched my roommate and a friend play it and I was impressed with the gameplay. But never having owned a Nintendo console, I haven’t played any Zelda games and as such, they don’t hold much attraction for me. But, I can clearly see why so many people like the game so much. Within its genre, I don’t think many games come close.

The only game that could have also made it here was Mario Hoops 3-on-3. It was fun until you got to the harder difficulty and realized how clunky the passing system was. It was a nightmare on some stages and as a result, Mario Hoops is not on my list. Damn, I didn’t play too many PC games this year, did I? All thanks to my ever-unstable system. It seems to have stabilized now but needs more looking-into before I come to any conclusions. I did mange to get through FarCry and play a lot of FIFA 2006 and UT2004 before my PC went bonkers. I hope 2007 brings a better year for PC gaming - I still need to get through Quake 4 and The Chronicles of Riddick which are gathering dust in a drawer in my dorm room.

Movies are up next. That will be a good list to compile. The Music post now has an entry at #5.

So, Happy New Year. We’re here in 2007. Wii.

I got back from a short trip today. Went to Ganganagar and Bikaner for a couple of days. And we’ll be heading out to Mumbai this Friday so that will be a second trip in the space of a week. I have a bunch of blog entries planned including a tech-review and a return to the Best Stuff post I had last year. Music, Movies, and Video Games will be covered like last time. I might add more if I can think of something interesting. Oh, and maybe now (or maybe in a few weeks), I’ll post pics from my little trip so watch out for those.

So yeah, Happy New Year. Resolutions are for pussies. Remember that.

The Nintendo Wii has been out for a while and it has taken complete control of our lives. and we’ve seen the first round of games. With a few exceptions, the launch has been a little underwhelming. I guess developers are still trying to get a handle on how to best use the unique controls. Or they’re looking for fresh ideas to develop into games that will stand out and make the Wii a must-buy. Fear not! I have some ideas!

1. Drum Hero

My friends and I were talking about the possibility of Donkey Konga on the Wii. But I’d like to go beyond that. How about a drumming game akin to Guitar Hero? You can use the Wiimote and nunchucku (or two Wii motes) as drum sticks on a virtual drumkit. Furthermore, the game developers could include attachments for the feet in order to control bass drums and other foot-operated parts. Tell me that wouldn’t be fun! As it is, I love drumming away with virtual drumsticks or my hands/fingers, it would be great to actually have a game that will translate my movements into some kind of music. You could start off with a simple drumkit and once you master it, you get a better one. For added oomph, they could actually get licensed kits from well known drummers and their brands of choice. Now, I don’t expect the game to train you into becoming the next John Bonham, Neil Peart, Danny Carey, or Mike Portnoy, but you get the idea.

2. Wii Cricket

Come on, this one’s obvious. They already have baseball. All they need to do is tweak the controls to incorporate the different styles of batting and bowling, expand the fields, and change the rules to those for cricket. From personal experience (addiction), I can say how good Baseball already is. Sure it gets real hard as you improve your ranking, but it’s fun to play. Training modes can teach aspiring young cricketers correct technique and give them some sort of experience.

3. A Good FPS

We need an FPS that makes you do all sorts of crazy shit with the Wiimote. For example, your Wiimote acts as a gun, or a sword, or a wheel to drive ground vehicles, or as a device to pilot airborne vehicles. It might be a little difficult because the nunchucku will be pretty much useless when it comes to driving, but it shouldn’t be a big issue. I know Red Steel already does some of this, but it’s a poorly made game. It looks like it was rushed out the door to make it on launch day. Some quality was sacrificed in order to be the first FPS on the Wii. I’m sure developers are working on newer, better FPSes and they need to make sure that they get things right. Wii don’t want another Red Steel.

A lot of the other ideas I had are already in development and there are going to be some great games for the Wii like Smash Brothers Brawl and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Besides, there’s going to be a Super Mario Strikers, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 and other fun games. The good times are just beginning!