Vivek’s Blog

I finally decided to go ahead and reinstall Windows. My hard drive was full of a lot of junk and unnecessary programs. And for some reason, XP was crashing every now and then for absolutely no good reason. I mean, I know Windows is meant to do that as a reminder that you are using a crappy OS, but beyond a certain point it gets annoying. It took 3 BSODs in 2 days for me to make up my mind. I’ve seen worse with my WiFi nightmares but then those were my own doing and had a reason behind them. Besides, WMP11 Beta and Gaim made it a habit of eating up large chunks of CPU time. System cleansing was in order.

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I’m soooooo excited right now. We managed to land Floor tickets to see Tool when they play in New York on October 7, 2006. Me and friend were both trying at the same time. He got through quicker and ended up with Section C1, Row 17. I only got Section 110, Row L.

In other news, I went to the Indian Embassy yesterday to get some paperwork done. Typical Indian setup - opened late, was somewhat chaotic, too many people crammed in a small area, etc. Good thing is I handed in everything in the morning and then returned in the evening to pick it up. On the flip side, I had to wake up at 6am and catch a 7:44am train to the city. Although to while away time, we went to the ESPN Zone - awesome gaming arcade and to Toys-R-Us for a while. Fun.

Last night, I went to see A Scanner Darkly, starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Robert Downey Jr. What’s unique about this movie is that it uses rotoscoping. The movie is first shot as a normal movie would be but then graphics artists paint over EVERY FRAME using Photoshop to make it look like animation. The result is that the you recognize the actors even though they look animated. One negative to rotoscoping that I saw, was that at times, the characters and cars looked like they were floating and not actually walking/sitting/rolling. It distracted me a couple of times but wasn’t much of a bother.

So, coming to the story of the movie. It is set in the near future - like 7 years down the line - and is about an undercover cop after a group of individuals who are abusing a drug, known as substance D. But while doing so, he himself starts using the drug and his brain begins to spin out of control. He can no longer distinguish what is real and what is not real. It leaves him in a terrible state by the end of the film and the audience is then told what really goes on behind the scenes in a world where substance D is causing an epidemic. I won’t ruin the end but if you follow the story carefully, you will come to the right conclusion before the movie tells you what it is. If you don’t follow the story, then you will be surprised by the end of it.

The movie is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel, A Scanner Darkly. In the past, other works by Philip Dick have been made into movies - Bladerunner by Ridley Scott and Minority Report by Steven Spielberg were terrific movies when they came out. Richard Linklater doesn’t disappoint with this one and I think reading the book will make the movie even more enjoyable. The movie is relatively short at 100 minutes but it tells its story effectively. Keanu Reeves is perfect for this role - he has always (or should I say only?) excelled in roles that require him to act dazed and confused. Robert Downey Jr. however provides a terrific performance and Winona Ryder does her job well. If you are a Radiohead fan, then the good news is that the movie’s soundtrack features Radiohead and Thom Yorke songs. The bad news is that they only have 3 Radiohead and 1 Thom Yorke song. But whatever, it was a good movie.

Sure, it would seem that the only thing these two scientists have in common is that both introduced revolutionary ideas in their respective fields. Darwin put forth the Theory of Evolution while Einstein gave us the Theory of Relativity. But recently, both scientists have been featured in the news for different reasons.

Einstein was a hot topic a few days back after it was revealed that he’d had 6 lovers while he was married. A series of letters exposed this little secret that had been hidden so far. On the other hand, Darwin is in the news for all the good reasons. The famous finches he studied, are helping confirm his ideas by showing evolution. Yes, you got that right intelligent design advocates! The FINCHES ARE EVOLVING!!!

The evolutionary change has been the reduction in beak size to take advantage of smaller seeds. This just 20 years after the arrival of a larger rival for its food source. I wonder what ID advocates will have to say now. Maybe they’ll finally say that they’ve been trying to preach religion all this time. Or maybe they’ll say, God - oops sorry, the “intelligent designer” - gave the finches smaller beaks since He or She loves them so much. Or that the designer put a little device in them that told them to change their beaks after 20 years.

I’m eagerly waiting for the response that ID supporters will have to offer once they read this news. And who said physicists don’t get to have fun?
LINKS:

Einstein

Darwin

I’m back to doing what I do best - playing FPSes. OK, so I was exaggerating. But rest assured, what you are about to read is no exaggeration and every word of it indeed true. Go on, try it. I ain’t lying.

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