Classics

Recently saw the Snow White and The Huntsman movie. It's a great action movie and it also serves to prove that Kirsten Stewart cannot act. She cannot exhibit human emotions. All she can do is look like she's constipated. On the other hand, Charlize Theron - still hot.

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Finally managed to go somewhere that wasn't either my apartment bathroom or my college canteen. There was this promotion at the Singapore Discovery Centre with tickets at $18 selling at $6. SDC is all meant for Singaporeans who want to know about their country and it does a pretty good job of doing that with all sorts of colourful exhibits. What makes it more cooler than any museum or exhibition I've been to is that it has its own movie theatre. That is where I saw the Snow White movie. It also has a lake where you can take a pedal boat, an army museum with a badass AV show, a gourmet restaurant, a paint ball arena, a 4D ride and the list goes on and on. Somehow Singaporean government has perfected the way to make state-owned museum exhibitions and parks not boring, something in which my home country can learn a few things about.

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One of the merits of having a great internet connection is that you can stream great TV shows and movies. Being unemployed, a large part of my day is spent watching these movies and TV shows, but only after finishing my customary, ritualistic 30 minute online job search.

Recently, 3 great TV series have captured my attention and made me addicted to them. The first one is community. It largely reminds me of my days getting a degree from a crappy college, but many episodes are also outlandish, often with ridiculous plots that are fun to watch, but are far from realistic. What I like most about this sitcom is the fact that the characters are not run of the mill stereotypes. The jokes are not about a bunch of geeks frequently made fun of their social awkwardness, or blonde women's (supposed) lack of intelligence or the Asian guy's overbearing parents. Community actually celebrates being geeky. One of the reasons I hated Big Bang Theory is the constant mockery made of intelligent sci-fi loving geeks.

The other two series being Sherlock and Game of Thrones. I like Sherlock because just because it is about Sherlock Holmes. But Game of Thrones is different. It's a fantasy that is unlike any other fantasy that has been written or filmed. It has dragons and demons and all sorts of stuff but the core of the story is about politics and that's what makes it compelling to watch.

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There is an allure to reading novels that are not from this century. Classics have something that modern novels lack and it is the language. Modern novels are easier to understand at the expense of simple language. Complex stories can be understood easily by the reader so long as it is presented cohesively and in order. But classics did not have elaborate plots of ancient brotherhoods executing schemes to expose earth shattering truths. They were simple and relatable and you can enact the whole plot with a bunch of friends without any gadgets or machines or explosions. The language was rich and long, making you read every sentence slowly, taking your time. Complex sentences make you understand that the thoughts and dialogues that characters have are sophisticated. Modern novels are more focussed on the story and you are so engrossed in it that you want to know the story more that you want to read the novel. This has happened often with fast paced novels like that of Dan Brown's, in which I skim some sentences in order to get to the twists of the story more quickly.

One other important thing I like about classic novels are that they make me sleepy. After 5 chapters I can go to bed. If I read Dan Brown or Robert Ludlum, it's always "one more page and then I'll sleep".

I'm reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. If you've read it, go ahead and ruin the ending for me. If not, lets read it together.

Ciao.

The Things We Love To Do

Losing grip. Last time I posted was a couple of weeks ago. Too many distractions and none of them worthwhile. This is the sort of time I wish I was busy rather than have all this free time.

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FIFA 12, L.A. Noire and recently, Max Payne 3 is all that occupies my time. Max Payne 3 looks awesome. Except Max Payne himself, who looks fat.

I'm worried about the impression I'm making on my new temporary roommate who only sees me either having a plate or my gamepad in my hands. I really do want to spend my time well but there is a not a lot of things an unemployed guy can do except searching for jobs. One bad thing about the Internet is that it made job search too easy - all it takes is just half hour every morning to see if any jobs matching my profile opened up. And then slowly I sink into the inconsequential and useless things that a PC and Internet offer with such ease.

But in the past few days, I've done one thing that brought back old memories and also felt like I was getting better at something real. I used to be good at drawing stuff. I even went to a drawing class to hone my skills and it did pay off; I got pretty good at freehand drawing. And then like many other classes I've gone, I've quit this class before I got significantly good at it.  From then onwards it was hard to get good practice. I got caught up with public exams in school. Then, by the time I was in college I just forgot all about it...until I came across deviantART. In my opinion it is one of the best websites for artists. I used to pass time just by browsing other people's drawings and photographs. It also inspired me into making a submission for a contest in the website (it's also my only submission in that website till now). After that I've made some effort into drawing stuff, mostly superheroes, fueled by my love for comic books. Comic books convinced me that drawings need to be original. Many comic book artists made their names by having their unique style of drawing. I usually just recreate a picture I see, but now I tried drawing new things.

Then during final year, I got caught up with placements, project, GRE and everything and since then I never had a chance to draw anything except during exams and I never took the initiative to rekindle my old flame.

But recently, one of my friend's birthday was coming up and I didn't have any way to gift her anything since she lived abroad. But there was one idea...I had drawn a picture of another friend about a year ago for her birthday as well and it came out great. So when one of them suggested that I draw her as a gift for her birthday, I was like "challenge accepted".

Initially it didn't go well. I couldn't judge the amount of space I needed to draw her features and the resulting picture came skewed and didn't look like her at all. My second attempt resulted in a person looking like Adele but I knew that this was just practice. The third attempt really paid off. I used a technique my drawing teacher taught me a long time ago to get all the features in the right place. Shading took time but I was patient, careful not to ruin a good drawing. I was finished in about 4 hours. I usually wait for one day and then see the drawing again. I do this because after putting all that work my brain convinces me that I did a good job even if I did a crappy one. After one day, it goes back to normal.

So next day when I saw the drawing, it still looked good. So I headed to the library to scan it, so I can send it to my friend through email. Once I scanned it, I compared the drawing to her face and made some changes again. Now it looked really good.

I was happy with the way the drawing came out and my friend was too. I felt really good about myself. So, doing something which I love is very rewarding for me. But it is also hard to differentiate what I love when the lines are blurred. I love gaming, but so does many other people, so it is not anything special. But not many can draw, but I am at least an amateur so that is one thing unique about me.

I don't know where this might go if I try to continue to write about this. I just wanted to get out a piece of thought that was in my mind. I hope you too have something that you are good at and I hope you have not abandoned it like I have.

Ciao.