MIP Finished, Other Work
Today I finished the formalities of my MIP as I submitted the Phase 2 and 3 reports with all the relevant forms.
I have been doing quite a bit of photo editing recently. Soon, the Corporate Communication Group at TAPMI will be putting out their magazine called Interface, which is a souvenir for us seniors, who will be passing out of the institute soon. CCG is currently in the process of compiling all the content for the magazine, which includes write-ups about the seniors, and photographs.
Guru, Rupak, Rex, Rama, Jayesh and myself went to a place (I don’t actually know the name of the place!) about fifteen kilometres from Manipal to take our photos. We found a couple of great locations to take these snaps, and then I edited them in Photoshop. The photo with Guru, Rupak and Rex, has Rupak in colour, whereas the other two people are in black and white. The second photo (Rama, JD and myself) is entirely in black and white except for the people in it! I also added to both photos a glow that makes them look like something right out of a flashback or dream sequence scene in a soap opera. It’s a nice effect that I have been calling the "dream sequence effect".
I have also been given an additional, shall we say, "assignment", for Interface. I cannot say what it is right now, but it involves drawing. Quite a lot of drawing I might add! That has kept me busy for a while now and there is still work to do. It is fun though and I am enjoying it.
Elektra Drawing
Elektra, starring Jennifer Garner is one movie I want to see. I did this drawing on 24 January morning — started at around 2 AM I think, and finished it at 3:40 AM.
Now, the original drawing was done in my notebook, using a Cello Papersoft ballpoint pen. I’d seen the advertisements for this pen earlier on TV, and it turned out to be a good pen indeed! I bought the pen on 23rd night and decided to give it a "test drive", and this drawing was the result.
I spent about two hours now editing the scanned image in Adobe Photoshop. I first removed the notebook lines, then slightly colourised different portions of the image, mainly to highlight Elektra’s red costume. You’ll notice I also added a duplicate layer of the image to the left, and faded it, because that area was looking too empty.
As usual, the font used in the image was created by Nate Piekos of Blambot Fonts.
Enough rambling, here is the image:
You may consider this drawing an endorsement for Cello Papersoft pens. Of course, their gel ink pens are especially good for drawing!
As for the movie itself, I think the CD is currently available in Manipal. However, the movie has been getting some not-so-good reviews, and I read somewhere that Ms. Garner herself wasn’t too happy with it. Anyway, I still want to see it.
Most Anxiously Awaited Movies of 2005
The following are movies that I am really waiting to see:
Sin City (releasing April 2005)
This is director Robert Rodriguez’s film version of Frank Miller’s dark and ultraviolent graphic novel. The movie is being filmed using a “digital backlot” technique, which means that the actors are filmed against a blue or green screen and all the backgrounds are inserted digitally. I’ve seen some preliminary footage and the trailer of the movie and it looks awesome. Panels from the book have literally been translated to film! The movie has an impressive star cast as well, including Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Jessica Alba and Elijah Wood.
A Scanner Darkly (releasing September 2005)
Yet another film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story (others include Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Scanners and Paycheck). This one stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr., and is directed by Richard Linklater. This again is a unique film, because the actors are being filmed in real life, and then the whole thing is being converted to animation, due to which it looks like a comic book come to life. I’ve seen some preliminary images from the movie and they look fantastic. Oh of course, the story is amazing as well — in the future, a drug called Substance D causes people to develop split personalities. Keanu Reeves plays a cop who is also addicted to the drug, and is trying to shut down the operations of a notorious drug dealer, which is an alternate personality of his!
The Devil’s Rejects (releasing August 2005)
Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses was a disturbing movie, and this sequel looks great as well, as I could make out from the trailer. The movie seems to be bigger and more stylish than the original film. The trailer’s music is simply terrifying. The official site is here.
Saw 2: Hacksaw (releasing October 2005)
Seeing as how I loved the tense, clever and disturbing horror-thriller Saw, I can’t wait for the sequel. Of course work hasn’t even been started on it yet, though it is apparently going to be written by Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (releasing May 2005)
Without a doubt the movie I am most anxiously awaiting! I am a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ books and this movie looks like it will be awesome. Adams himself contributed to the screenplay of the movie before his demise (and introduced a new character, Humma Kavula), and Karey Kirkpatrick is the screenwriter who is bringing the book to the screen now. The movie is directed by Garth Jennings. I love the trailer, and I think the poster is simply superb as well. The pictures officially released so far also look great.
And today, I read a review of the rough cut of the movie here, at Freeze Dried Movies.
Recently released movies that I want to see include Assault on Precinct 13 (which I hear is really good), Seed of Chucky and Elektra.
Doom Review: Under Neith
It has been quite a while since I’ve done a review for a Doom level. I played Under Neith a.k.a. Neith 2 a couple of days back in Hyderabad, and here is a review.
I played the original Neith about a year ago and was very impressed with that map, which was set on a UAC tech-base built on an imaginary moon! Apart from good level design, there were a couple of aspects which made it stand out for me. Firstly, the map somehow seemed to have an "organic" shape, with curves on the walls and rooms seeming to flow into one another, unlike your typical tech-base. The map also was extremely atmospheric, and good use was made of Nick Baker’s "5th Episode" texture set.
I was therefore overjoyed when I saw that a sequel to Neith was in development. Nick Baker had also suggested an awesome name for it, "Under Neith" (since this level was to take place under the original tech-base)! I kept checking on the status of the map once in a while on WADs in Progress, but there was no news of its release. Well, imagine my surprise when it suddenly gets released one day.
I immediately downloaded it and played through it, and I have to say it’s a great level! There’s more of the same dank and dark atmosphere, more of the same unusual organic feel, and some cave-like areas as well. This time, you don’t ever get to go to an open area, as it’s all set underground. It is a pretty straightforward map in my opinion. It flows pretty smoothly (I was stuck in one place though, which I will talk about later…) leading to an exciting conclusion!
I played this on Ultra-violence skill and did not have any trouble completing the map. It is not too difficult, and there is adequate health and ammo, as long as you remember to use the berserk pack whenever you can. I remember when playing the first Neith, I was almost at the end and couldn’t kill all the monsters as I’d wasted my ammo. I was careful this time.
I got stuck for some time in one particular place — this was in getting the blue key (screenshot above). I eventually looked in an editor to find out how to get those bars to raise. Other than that the level went by pretty quickly for me.
I noticed a couple of graphical glitches in the map. There is one area early on in the map with some shotgunners behind some bars (kind of like a jail-type thing). There is also a bright red section of wall here. I saw some HOM when standing behind the bars. I played it with ZDoom only, so I don’t know whether the error appears in other ports. Of course this is not probably something you’ll notice unless you’re looking for errors!
Other than those minor complaints, I liked the map a lot, and I loved the atmosphere. If you liked Sarge’s Waste Treatment Center 911 and the original Neith, then you know what I am talking about.
Under Neith contains textures by Nick Baker and some made by Sarge Baldy himself. There is a music replacement (the MIDI from E1M6 of the original Doom) that suits the map well. It runs on E1M2 and requires a limit-removing source port to play.
Relevant Links:
Back in Manipal
I reached Manipal on 30th January after spending nearly 25 hours on various buses. Anyway the travel was worth it, because I got to spend a couple of days at home. I was also able to set up this blog, and watch a couple of good movies, and play a Doom map that I was awaiting for quite a while.
Those movies, by the way are The Butterfly Effect and The Ghost and the Darkness.
- An interesting fact to note is that the version of The Butterfly Effect that I watched was the Theatrical Edition. The CD that some of my friends watched in Manipal happened to be the Director’s Cut Edition, which has an alternate ending! I will try to track that down and watch it as well.
- The Ghost and the Darkness is a simply amazing film. Thrilling adventure, great acting, great setting, and fantastic music score (Jerry Goldsmith).
The Doom map I played was Sarge Baldy’s sequel to his earlier Neith, this one called very appropriately, Under Neith (the name was suggested by Nick Baker). I will post a review here soon.
Nasty Little Thing Productions | by Karthik Abhiram 