A holiday review

Number of good books read- 0, number of old books reread- several, Movies watched- few, Internships completed- one, really painful internships completed- still one, blogs posted- a couple, new blog resolution-dont belt bk.

For the benefit of the utterly dumb who didn't realise this from the previous paragraph, my internship is finally over. However the wounds are still too raw and the pains fresh that I wont speak about it during this post. I have been looking forward to and dreading this week basically because it would mean the end of my internship as well as the end of my hols. I am getting back to college this weekend so I guess its good bye to the blog again for atleast the next four months (this semester, in total contrast to the last one, is ridiculously short..and so I am guessing would be the holidays in November). I have been trying to find out if I have done anything even remotely useful this summer. I dont think I need to tell you my conclusions. But anyway, again for the benefit of the utterly dumb (if you are still with me), I will.

I tried quite a few new books this summer, mostly fanatsy. Its a general rule in fantsay fiction that you have to get through loads and loads of useless drivel (that reads worse than shashi's musings scribbled in class) to actually find a decent author. I read a series called Belgariad trilogy (fantasy authors have no imagination..they always think in terms of threes) which came with good recommendations. Wait a minute, it was recommended by gulati who said some friend of his had liked it. A friend of gulati's...hmm...let me rephrase, dubious recommendations then. It sucked. Big time. I am sure only the utterly dumb would have liked it. And maybe my ex-boss (it feels soooo imba to say ex-boss, instead of boss :P ). One of his many wierd theories was that kid's books are enjoyed more when you read them as adults. Totally true..if you are an utterly dumb adult who still hasn't grown up (thats a contadiction right? anyways I dont want to scare away the utterly dumb ppl who are reading this post. It might reduce my readership by half).
It was the story of a Hero, a Quest, an Item and an Enemy. Not to mention the old Wizard who guides the Hero. And the really-trustworthy-friend-who-turns-out-to-be-a-doublecrossing-traitor. And the hero-triumphs-over-evil-though-he-sucks-coz-he's-so-(relevent emoticon)-goooooood. Sounds familiar? No? Bugger off, BK and shag wowwiki.

I reread A song of Ice and Fire and thought it was really good, and replaced WoT with this series in my top fantasy books. George Martin sure can write epic fantasy that is also realistic and his middle ages europe reconstruction in ASoIaF is splendidly done. But then, I read WoT again (The Wheel of Time, for the uninitiated) and put it right back at the top of my favs list (next to ofcourse LoTR..that goes without saying). For those who enjoy heroic fantasy even if its a wee little too predicatble, David Gemmell is a great option. Especially his Draenai saga. Inspite of being able to guess how most of the stories are going to end, he could still keep me interested enough to finish the books. I realised that this genre is actually one of the most toughest to write in. Apart from requiring loads of creativity and imagination, you need to do a colossal amount of research about a great host of topics. And possess a good bit of writing skills too. But authors of fantasy are often dismissed easily and are not even taken seriously by most 'book-lovers' who always seem to prefer more 'mature' books (which somehow always have won either the Booker or some other equally boring prize) which cater to people with better 'taste'. Taste, my arse. I read books for entertainment. Ofcourse I like authors who have a good writing style but a good plot (have you guys heard of that word??) is also often a requisit. And one that is sadly lacking in all those 'better taste' books.

If any of you guys enjoy comedy in fantasy I suggets you give Samit Basu a try. He's written an extarodinary comedy series that parodies...well, pretty much everything :P. His sense of humor is excellent and his digs at popular Indian culture apart form his natural flair for comedy writing make his books an unforgettable treat. If you bought your copy of HP7 at Odyssey in Chennai you would hav probably got his book free with it. I thought this series was so bad they couldn't get it off their shelves any other way and so had decided to give it free. But I was far from right. So if this copy is gathering dust somewhere on your bookshelf my advise to you is to get hold of it and read it right now. Trust me, you wont regret it.

The only good movie I watched this hols was Get Smart. Since the only other movies that Igot to watch were Dasavatharam and 21, there wasnt much competition. But the movie was pretty good and Steve Carell was brilliant, as ever. When I was comparing my what-did-I-do-this-holidays notes with other friends from college, I found that the one main thing that was lacking in my list was wow-shagging. Not because I am against it. I'll explain why in detail. There are three kinds of people who play wow. Those who think that all there is to the game is hand-eye coordination and click their way to lvl 70 (gulati doesnt seem to be aware of the existence of the next two categories). Then the group who realise that there is some room for strategy in the game and develop their talent trees in a planned manner (and not based on the click-on-the-talent-where-your-mouse-points system popularised by BK or the i-dont-give-a-damn-i-need-to-call-my-girlfriend-up which is vicky's fav) and try to put some thought (and not just time) into their games. In the middle of playing if you look up wowwiki for tips and info, its a good, healthy practice. However (the third type) if you spend all your holidays memorising all the spells and auras used by all classes and try to mug the names of all items dropped (dont believe that it can be done? you obviously haven't met BK then) then the only thing you would be doing while playing is the same as the first group: hand-eye coordination. Everyone gets bored of every game sooner or later (everyone except Ari that is. A fundamental assumption while talking about getting bored is that you are human, and more importantly, you have a life. Goodbye, Ari). It seems like these guys are trying to bore themselves of wow sooner rather than later.
I am beginning to see double on the screen. Always a good reason to shut down the comp and sleep. I'll complete this later. So good bye, half-my-readership and the utterly dumb. Damn, I'll have to try harder to keep my resolution next time.