Recent Happenings…

Well, as yet another summer vacation comes to an end, i find myself back on campus. So, am i looking forward to another sem? (you know, in an academic kind of way) Well, sadly, no. For one thing, a certain course which i plan to take has a prof about whom people have been highly critical about, and i cannot NOT take the course. For another, being in ECD forces me to take honours, increasing the workload to the point that i actually have to put in some effort to scrape through. You know, effort – not sleep in class, take notes, study for more than a few days a year, blah. For yet ANOTHER, given the horrendous grades the ECE course profs have been dishing out, the downward slope on my cgpa graph is bound to get even steeper.

The Mumbai Floods

Yes, the floods. The same which caused mass confusion, mayhem and deaths last year. While not as severe as last year, there apparently have been places which have been badly hit. Why apparently? Well, no floods near home, in Navi Mumbai. Very little water-logging, in fact. But the bad thing is that to get to anywhere else in the city by a vehicle (on road, i mean) is a difficult task. Using the local trains is even more difficult given they come once every hour or so due to water-logging in some areas. Thus, i was stuck at home with a TV, an internet-enabled computer and a few novels. Not that im complaining much, mind you.

Some super jobless people waste time orkutting or hi5-ing. Others people surf through DC to watch all movies and TV shows. What do people like me who have not (yet) crossed that thin line of super-jobless-ness do? Well, we spend time Wiki-ing, Stumble-ing or Youtube-ing. And in one such session i actually found an entry on Navi Mumbai. Not just on Navi Mumbai, but on its local areas and schools too. And people still waste time orkutting. hmph!

The Blasts

Well, its been quite some time since local terrorism made such major news. Well, quite some time, since those bus blasts i mean. And then nearly everyday you read about some or other b****** blowing people up in J&K. So, lets see what happened -

• some as-yet-unknown dumbass decides to blow up people in trains,

• intelligence failure allows the above mentioned dumbass to actually carry out the bombings, killing ~ 200, injuring several more and disrupting millions of lives.

• the police issue the standard dont panic statement, while trying to do what they can

• the people living in the worlds rudest city try to help each other out, unlike in other places where the first sign of a breakdown of law and order meant shops being looted and people being mugged.

• the local politicos surrounded by their Z-level security put up a fake face which they hope shows people that “they care”

• people and institutions in other countries extend their “moral support“

• the pakistani officials “condemn” the attack, and “categorically deny” the involvement of terrorist elements on the pakistani side, even going so far as to say “Pakistan does not tolerate terrorism“.

• the almost-a-puppet PM we have says the bombings are “shocking and cowardly“

• then, the police go out and detain loads of people for questioning, with the Maharashtra CM supposedly hoping for the people responsible to be apprehended “soon“

With local intelligence agencies supposedly sure that theose b******s from across the border had a hand in this, what is our response? we cancel peace talks with pakistan, while saying it is possible they could resume at a later date. thats right, we CANCEL PEACE TALKS. oh joy! NOW we really showed them, didnt we? is that a bloody tough stance or what?

do there actually exist people who give a rats a$$ for peace talks? heres an idea we can borrow from our neighbours when we find the guy(s) who are responsible – stick something big up their sorry a$$es while denying any knowledge of it, and then condemn it. That should keep us free of any “mis-treatement of prisoners” cases.

The World Cup

Spain and England left early. Setven Gerrard did not really take it by storm. Way too much diving, and YET another reason to hate C Ronaldo. VERY scrappy matches after the group stages. Disturbing refereeing. Too much long-ball play. Italy would possibly not have been in the final if it wasnt for Grosso’s dive against Australia. A disgusting match between Portugal and Holland. And in my endeavour to see all the matches, i had to lose hell of a lot of sleep. So, how would i describe the World Cup? Dissapointing, with a dash of ugly and mind-numbingly boring. The teams which could do well the next WC? Germany and Argentina, whose teams have reasonably young players in their starting line up. I wonder how badly France will do now that their golden generation is retiring.

Well, what about the Zidane incident? Forget that, what about Materazzi? This guy should be banned.

The best games? i liked Germany-Italy, Argentina-Mexico and Germany-Portugal, for the quality of football, if nothing else. And most of the matches invloving either of Ghana and the Ivory Coast were surprisingly interesting. This is EXACTLY why i say the Champions League is not just better, but is on a whole different level. They have better balanced teams, good tactical battles, more attractive football and are a lot less scrappy. Might put out a whole post on this later.

Liverpool

So, with the World Cup conviniently out of the way, the new EPL season is to start in about a month. Liverpool have already signed Gabriel Paletta, Mark Gonzalez, Craig Bellamy and Fabio Aurelio, with atleast two of them being first choice in their respective positions. Given that they have enough options for the left and the centre, and are still in the market for a first choice right winger (and possibly another striker), i suppose with a couple more players, they could be called “championship contenders“.

Well, heres hoping the superstars of Chelski start in-fighting, ManUre drown in their own debt and Arsenal go on a 38-match losing streak. The team(s) to watch next year? Tottenham should do better as their players mature, and if Portsmouth and Wigan spend their money wisely, they too could get themseves into the UEFA cup, if nothing else. And its pretty sad that all three of the newly promoted teams are spending sparingly.

-> Badrinath S

P.S : Just downloaded the Prey demo and played some of it. You know, Prey – supposedly the next generation FPS? Well, next generation FPS? ballz! im not much for FPS-es, dont like them much as a whole. this one does nothing to change that. and with all the hype it generated, you would think it would be pretty decent. it isnt. just another FPS. atleast the demo is.

EA announced The White Council (first impressions here and here) supposedly a next generation RPG. while i’d love to get my hands on the game, i suppose EA is just trying to milk the LotR franchise to the max.

The Dungeon Siege II expansion releases in a couple weeks. Whee!

P.P.S : and in other news, each day when i wake up in the morning, if i try to take a whiff of the fresh morning air, i’ll end up smelling what i ate the previous day. yes, my new room is right next to the toilet. oh well, atleast it is right next to the WLAN access point.

P.P.P.S. : a glorious middle finger to terrorists, dumbass politicians and autocratic faculty (you know, what with all the new “rules”).

Next Posts Include

• Fans and Fan Clubs – Just How Pointless Are They? (just cant seem to get down to this)

• The Anti Ragging Squad(E) – Over-Zealous dumbasses who dont know what ragging is? (should be the next post, with a different title, of course)