Science Fiction Blitz

Childhood’s End - Arthur C Clarke

Nightfall              - Isaac Asimov

The last few days, my waking time has centered around two things. Losing myself in the worlds of Clarke and Asimov followed by a post reading hangover thinking about what I just read. These books transcend ordinary science fiction and focus more on the human element of the stories.  Coming under the category of social science fiction, these books showcase reactions of humans (or equivalent races) to ingeniously defined scenarios.

 Childhood’s End describes the coming of age of the human race while under the control of an alien civilization and delves into the psyche of prominent humans in the age that follows while at the same time describing the reactions of the human race as a whole. The description and subtlety with which the book deals with the politics of taking care of a civilization as random as the human race, from the perspective of the overlords ensures that the reader is never sure which civilization he would rather side with. The book has several overlapping themes including science (obviously), philosophy, politics, psychology and surprisingly even spirituality, Para physics and mythology. Clarke manages to maintain suspense in the book with the plot shifting in ways that are unimaginable and ends on a very refreshing note being neither optimistic nor pessimistic.  It leaves the reader thinking of how we are tuned to only certain cues and never manage to be completely open minded even on things which we have never thought of or experienced.

“"You will find men like him in all the world's religions. They know that we represent reason and science, and however confident they may be in their beliefs, they fear that we will overthrow their gods.”

Anime Review - Shingeki no Kyojin

Shingeki no Kyojin literally meaning attack on titan is an anime that describes the fragility of human society.

Placed in a post apocalyptic era where the last remnant of human society tries to survive against huge human-like monsters called Titans.
The plot of season 1 starts off simple and reminds one of old school anime like Tengen Toppa but mid way through the series, it attains a life of its own and ensures that you can never guess what will happen next.

The best part of the anime though was the fact that it laid bare human feelings. Fear, Hate, Despair, Rage, Greed, Helplessness, Loyalty, Love, Friendship, Hope, the entire spectrum. The anime is soaked in blood and you feel the pain of loss at each instance and you pray for the survival of each character.




The characters are well drawn, extreme but realistic. They remind you of the extremes of emotions that humans are capable of when they pass through intense terror. While the characters are portrayed, you learn of their history and their nature seem plausible and you connect with each character. The main three characters Eren, Misaki and Armin each have their strengths and weaknesses and by the end of the season, you realize the role of each in the Anime. The support characters are as well described as the main characters. One of the themes of the anime is the mercilessness of the world and is amply shown throughout with no character being spared, you can never guess the next character who dies.

The Graphics and Drawing are well made with special attention on expressions on people. They highlight emotions of the characters as they pass through hell. The action appears in quick, intense bursts that leave the viewer gasping. The deaths, while not stressed upon, make an impact by sheer number. The music adds the the ambiance at various points but the viewer will almost never focus on it since the anime itself will hold the attention and never let go.

Fear and Hate more than anything is the driving force behind the characters of the anime and the various characters respond differently to it. The truly unique point about the anime is that it ruthlessly shows human nature in all its shades.

An anime that combines the best parts of TTGL and Code Geass, and makes you think. A anime that deserves a 25 episode marathon watching session.

The Sunset Limited - A Review

Recent movies all have a protagonist and an antagonist battling it out over plains and mountains, in rain and snow with modern technology at their beck and call, with the antagonist trying to end the world and the the protagonist trying to save it. It ends with the the world safe and the protagonist in the hands of his love.

This movie steps away from the norm, it relinquishes action, and instead fills it with substance. The movie is a debate between black and white. With themes varying from religion to death to existentialism to perception and the purpose of life. It is a philosophical movie which is not everyone's cup of tea.

Black represents the theological, religious force who tries to save White, the scientific, agnostic professor from committing suicide.The entire movie is a one act play and takes place in the setting of a room in the downtrodden parts of the city and is a debate between Black and White. The movie progresses slowly from theme to theme, employing humor and domestic activities to indicate transitions. Each conversation can be taken independently or as part of the whole. It also tantalizingly hints at the happening of something paranormal that has lead to this conversation.

The narration of the movie is such that the audience is forced into the thinking the pros and cons of each argument made and comparing it with the values they hold. This is especially true when the movie steps into the high momentum discussion on existentialism. This slow paced movie ensures that there is always a gap after a high intensity debate so that the implications sink in and these pauses prove very important since that allows the required time for contemplation. It leaves the viewers changed.

It is a must watch movie for anyone who is philosophically inclined and wants to watch a movie that stimulates them mentally instead of pumping adrenalin. For my comments on the content of the movie, please keep reading

 --- Spoiler Alert ---

Microsoft Windows 8 - A review

Heya folks, first off, i'd like to apologize for the long gap, but i've been keeping busy this last month, and you can expect a whole lot of posts trying to sum up the experiences.

Anyway, Back to the subject of this post, As a student of BITS, we all get a licensed version of windows 8 free ( :D ) and earlier than the official release. So, I installed on my laptop and this is a summary of my experiences with it.

Laptop Specs:
processor - i7 2670QM
Ram - 8GB
Graphic card - Dedicated Nvidia GT540M 2GB

The first time i booted up windows 8, i was a little confused by the layout and had trouble finding my way around. It Basically has a start menu which occupies the whole screen and offers an entirely new way of interacting with the computer. The live tiles allow quick access to most regularly used applications.

Another important difference is that while the main UI is the same as that of windows 7, the Modern UI ( The start menu ) is meant more for touch devices , and allocates more importance to the mouse, specifically the right mouse button ( which is for the most part ignored in windows 7 ) is used a lot to navigate around.
The corners of the screen are used for navigating the UI and once you get used to it, it seems almost intutive that this is how a  UI is to be navigated. ( The start button is removed and the lower left corner takes it's role )

The fact that all drivers and applications designed for windows 7 seem to work on windows 8 makes this upgrade less of a hassle and a natural upgrade. The battery life remained almost consistent with a slight increase after shifting to windows 8.

But despite all that, the OS is a mixture of two entirely different ecosystems and the continuous shifting between the two isnt the most pleasant and the fact that there is a lot to learnt to learn before shifting entirely from windows 7 to 8 might be a putoff for a many.

All in all, i'd recommend an upgrade since even though its a chore to learn the nuances of windows 8, it makes sense once you start using it and the look of the modern UI more than makes up  for the trouble.