AVATAR – A Milestone in Movie Making !

// December 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Film, Reviews

Hi all,
There is always a film which will rewrite the way films are made. There is always a films which will set the benchmark standard for the next generation films. There is always a film which will turn the course of the whole film industry. Avatar is the movie which does all the above…..

Let me break it in the beginning… Don’t expect arrows or bullet to come near you or any flying objects whistling past you. This isn’t “My Dear KutiChathan ” type 3D movie ! James Cameron has made sure his way of 3D is polite and doesn’t interfere the story too much or spoil his dream world – PANDORA!. He uses 3D excellently. 3D movie at its very best. From the first shot where our hero is lying in the long space bed vault, till the end of the war you will love Cameron`s 3D. The 3D won’t be more than few seats from the screen, but see closely on the screen, the depth of 3rd dimension is enormous. You will realise it in each shot how well he has handled the 3D. You will notice the dance of the grass as that future helicopter descends down on that pandora….

I usually don’t like to tell the story; I don’t want to spoil the fun for those who are going to watch the movie. Instead I usually say the best things in the film… technical, sound, graphics, acting stuff.
The level of graphics is enormous and you will realise it when you see the Pandora in 3D. Cameron has handled the 2D and 3D in a neat way. Not all scenes are 3D. If you take you glasses and view… You will know that few scenes are 2D and there will be very neat transformation going from 2D to 3D as the images will start to blur and double… He makes us think the whole movie is 3D, but it’s not so. For me Wall-E had a great graphics, the metal layer and Eva`s shining body made me think “Can anyone beat this level of graphics?”, well Avatar just did it and its miles ahead of Wall-E!  The skin texture, facial expression, the level of detail of Pandora , the sculptures in the film , water fall are all extraordinary and you will remember it till eternity. Few minutes into the world of Pandora, you will think that it’s all real, but in reality it’s not!

Story wise, i wouldn’t say its ground breaking or new, the usual story, but that’s were Cameron shows he is the KING! He takes a normal story, when we see the story from his view, it just appears spectacular. There are many things said in the story , like united society and integration and realisation of the true power of nature,corporates ruling , industrialisation , ruthlessness against life forms just for the sake of natural resource. you will realise it when those big machines run and destroy the lovely Pandora.

The background score is really well done and isn’t too much noisy.Actually its is very much underplayed but utilized perfectly in right areas. It doesn’t hurt your ears like in some Tamil movies or even in few English movies like transformers 2.

The way film is shown is very neat and doesnt lag or deviate too much or makes us bored! This film which took James nearly 6 years to get completed is something to be marveled at. He wrote its scripts in 1994, he then perused the top theatre owners in America to invest in 3D equipments; James was so convinced that 3D is the future of movies. For this movie he along with his photography friends developed the new 3D motion camera where people have to enter the world which are pre rendered with powerful computers , actors have to wear equipments all their body which captures each and every motion and also their facial expression , there by bringing the real expression of the humans to the screen . Usually CGI created characters lack in expression or the look very pale! but in Avatar , you will feel each Naa`vi character. James Cameron had a large area to play with, since it’s his world and his technology, he has surely shown what a director could do with right technology!

Did you guys know that the language spoken by Naavi is totally created by language specialist and it took nearly 6 months to form all the words? Actors were to recite them with proper expression. Imagine spelling “aguminitnop” and giving a expression of smile… That’s tough … Real tough! Actors have done well.Thats not that only things , the trees , animals are all invented and Hierarchied them. He wanted to top what Lucas created … Whether he won or not is still yet to be seen if avatar has sequels.
There is also a cute thing…. the subtitles for the Naavi language will appear in 3D and you will know how cute it looks. These are small things which shouldn’t be missed. It will take at least 3-4 times seeing the movie to fully see the level of 3D and details in this spectacular movie

The movie isn’t without faults , many times the 3D is out of sync causing blurred movie instead of 3D , that’s because the technology used in the film is not perfected , may be future movies with this technology would be much better. The story might be the weakest link here , but that doesn’t show that much as you will enjoying you time in Pandora!

Little advice if you haven’t seen the movie

1.) Watch it in 3D! Surely this film will run for the next 2-3 months in Satyam or Inox , so even if you can’t get the ticket right now , you will get after few weeks. So better see it in 3D… You will be mesmerized!

2.) While you watch the movie, never concentrate on the details behind… Read this article http://www.inquisitr.com/53141/how-to-avoid-james-camerons-3d-avatar-headache/

3.) Try to grab the whole world of Pandora as much as possible… Definitely don’t miss the BIG TREE!

May be I am wrapping this article too early, but more into the article, I might spill out few spoilers. I don’t like it. So let is end here.

Finally …Will this film change the way future films are made? Will this film set a new standard in film making? Will this film be a technological milestone?

!!! YES !!!

My Rating :

-Urs Siva

A Walk Into The Future !

// December 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Outamamind

Hi all,

Its always easy to predict future on a vast scale. But predicting events to the exact day is something of a mystery and i dont believe in it.Everything around us is based on interaction of NUMEROUS factors, not just your decision!Anyway , I will try to put stuffs which are sure to be a part of the future… shall we take a little ride into the future?

Entertainment is where whole lot of happening will take place and new improvements will be deployed. With recent film like Avatar shining the lights on the future films , we will never know what films will look like in the future. 3D is one thing which will be employed/developed /improved in the future. Imagine your empty room been filled with holographic images of a beautiful island or think where holographic picture will put you right in the war film , where are all fighting  and gun shooting will be whistling past next to you and did i forget to mention the 360 degree holographic projection ?

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

This is just a single point 3D holographic display. Think of a projector hanging from above the ceiling , a small one , just like a web cam and the moment you switch on it will transform your plain white painted square or rectangle room into a place where you wish to be. and dont worry the room scanner and automated distance finder will set the correct level of depth and volume for your room size , let it be as a big as a theatre or as small as a bathroom. Couple this with next generation audio of more than the current 9.2 surround sound, Tomorrows film will be realistic to the core.

There will be one speaker which will radiate sound waves around you , its currently in development. Its a pinpoint sound wave , particularly focused to your ears alone. this way you can hear to a particular sound without a headphone while a person sitting next to you wont hear a tiny bit of the song/radio you are listening to, but if he comes into the line of focus of your pinpoint sound wave , he will hear it. This tech coupled with other audio technology will considerably enhance the way we hear to audio in next generation movies. Just think all you need to is paint the wall white and just turn on “Centralised Control” – which manages all your entertainment from songs to movies to Tv programmes to even e-newspaper. you switch it , the projector turns your living room into anything you wished for. This can also be enhanced with motion technology where these holographic images will respond to your input,ie these motion detectors will detect your hand , body , face , eye movements and will input these to the system which is managing the projection of the holographic images, so the end result will be a 3D image in the air interactive medium!!!Ever wished you would check your mail just a little bigger , say of size of 50″ TV ? you will be able to do it in the future. Ever wanted to play games just like you will do it real life ? couple all the above said technology , you will have one exhaustive interactive gaming experience you will even encounter , transforming your simple room into a multiplayer arena , couple this with broadband connectivity and all your friends can be joining in for a total showdown against AI bots in the game.
Think , at present you web chat through a tiny window. With holographic projection and increased broadband bandwidth , who knows you might be sitting next to your loved ones who is 1000 miles away from you.

Lets take a little detour to the field of medicine….

Nano technology. !

Nano technology is the one which will have significant impact in the future. Nanobots – Nano sized robots ! Lets take a little example. A patient is diabetic and he needs insulin or other oral hypoglycemic drugs on a regular basis. what if he misses one ? yes surely there will be problems ? what if the drug he takes is inappropriate for the level of glucose in his body ? he will land up again in the problem. These are tiny changes in the molecule level , which no layman will be able to see or measure. this were nanobots will come into play. Once injected into the body , they will constantly monitor the blood glucose level and will release insulin at sub-micro levels to adjust to the normal range. So patient doesnt have to worry on what he/she must consume or how much he needs to maintain. all those things will be maintained by these smallest programmable robots. Also this will help relieve the patient who are on daily Inj of insulin, because once injected these nanobots will stay there in the body and release required amount of drug and eliminate the need for inj insulin. Once the job or their life gets over , either they will disintegrate or be excreted via urine. This is many years from seeing light , but nanotechnology is a fast growing field and has loads and loads of potential in it. This is not the only one. They will be programmed in such a way that any abnormailty like hypovolemia in case of accident or cardiac arrest , these nanobots will automatically call your doc and inform him the GEO-LOCATION(GPS) of you for immediate medical care.

Nanobots in the future can also be programmed to work as a antibiotic. Just like a antivirus for our computers , these nanobots will be programmed to destroy the pathogens invading the body. New variant of Flu ? just update your nanobots signature(codes) , that will take care of the new variant.

Next we will sneek peek into the world of communication…shall we ?

….to be continued in Part II

If you like this first part , please leave your comments and thoughts..

-Urs Siva

You know 3D … What about 10D ?

// December 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Nothing/Something

Hi all,

Few months back i saw a video in Youtube regarding dimensions. We know 1 D , 2D and 3D .. They were explaining 8th Dimension in that video. I was able to cope up with 4th dimension and after that it was just puzzle all the way.

Yesterday i was visiting a site and there they were showing a gift which was a cross section of the 10 th Dimension.

here is the picture

This was the explanation given

According to string theory, space-time is not four-dimensional as you might expect, but actually 10-dimensional. The extra six dimensions are believed to be compactified or rolled up into such a small space that they are unobservable at human scales of sight. Their size and six dimensions make Calabi-Yau spaces difficult to draw. But, this model shows a three-dimensional cross-section of this likely space to reveal its structure and shape

So just awe in wonder the cross section of the 10th Dimension !

-Urs Siva

Siva`s Recommendation : Must Have Softwares !

// December 6th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Nothing/Something, Tips

Hi !

Usually I find that many don’t have the very basic essential Software’s installed in their system or they would have installed a crap-ware or bloatware .. or a software which have seized to exist years back. Software is an area where there is a constant upgrades and new innovative features are introduced . Its always vice to stay updated. This topic/article after a year or even after few months may become obsolete. That is the nature of the software.

Many years back i was a big fan of Norton Anti virus(AV) , and used to wait for hours to get update (which where usually on Tuesday/Wednesday) , simply coz it was fun but now i would say a big “NO” to Norton AV. It was a bloated software at that time.. but we didn’t have many option. Other Av include Mcafee and Panda AV.
Fast-Forward 5 years … We now have hefty number of AV`s and each touting to be the best. I usually follow the AV comparison done on various reliable website. Each time a comparison is on the air , each time a new winner arises. Last time when Arstechnica did a comparison test , a new winner rose to the top spot and previous winner where around in 8th spot. But AV department is somehow complicated and with rising number of different worms and Trojan , its difficult to be on top.

Lets take another example, Video Player. 6 years back I had very few option like WMP or Reaplayer or Inter video Player. time zap to 2009 you find Video players in hundreds. And few software’s like Netscape ( Once top browser like Firefox ) have vanished.

Lets cut to the point. If you are new to the PC world and have a fresh laptop or PC , here is my recommendation of software which will help you a lot . I have worked around with many software and this list is the best as far as i know.

Media Player :

This is were many have different opinion , Few like Real player because it helps in Youtube downloading. But its a bloatware and there are many alternatives to it. Take it or not here are the best player at present

1.) VLC Player :

Why ?

It is very light weight and can handle nearly all music / video file formats. If you are interested , you can skin them too….

Where to Download ?

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

2.) K-Lite Codec :

Why ?

This is the codec pack to play nearly all existing video/music file on earth ! Even though support to RM files is poor , but still who uses the crappy RM files nowadays ?

Where to Download ?

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm

Install these two software and you will have nearly all music and video file playability!

Browser :

Again many think Internet Explorer is the one and only and most reliable Browser , for your kind information , IE is a bloatware and no knowledgeable internet user use IE !

Firefox :

Why ?

Firefox is simply the best and almost 80% of tech savvies use Firefox. Firefox is first of all a open source software. and secondly mainly because of it hundreds of useful add-on which make ones life pretty easy on net , Many prefer FF .

Where to Download ?

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Chrome :

Why ?

This is the new iteration from Google and currently gaining a good momentum with recent opening of the Add-on feature in chrome , Many have seen chrome as a good contender for Firefox . But still i would suggest all to go for Firefox !

Where to download ?

http://www.google.com/chrome

Worth mentioning Software :

Opera :

Why ?

Opera is the best browser in the area of fast page loading , if you using airtel gprs or bsnl or whatever , just install opera and enable ” Turbo ” mode at the left bottom , and see the speed increase !

Where to download ?

http://www.opera.com/

Anti-virus

This is a controversial area and suggestion is based solely in the performance of the software in the recent times. No AV is prefect and cant detect all virus/Trojan/worm. and there are always new worms and Trojan for which there are no signatures and no removal tools ! That said , protecting yourself at least against the current database should be the prior intention. Always install a AV and a firewall ( if you are on Windows 7 or vista , you can omit installing a firewall as the default one is pretty good ! ) if you going to hook your system to internet !

Kaspersky Anti-virus / Internet security :

Why ?

Kaspersky has shown a good result in recent comparison and its one dependable company . Go anywhere on the net and ask for a advice on AV , they would simply say kaspersky , even though it paid software , its not that costly either.for 500 Rs you get 3 license key which you can share with your friends for 1 year ! Thats a good deal if you ask me .More over the detection rate is pretty good . And constant updated also helps you in tackling the latest virus and other malware.

Where to download ?

This is trial version : http://www.kaspersky.com/trials
For Original : Get it from local dealer.
My best advice is to run the trial version for one month and as the month gets over go to the nearby dealer ands get the key and install , this way you will get 13 months of AV , instead of 12 months !

Worth Mentioning Softwares:

AVIRA AntiVir
G DATA AntiVirus 2010

These two are also good ones. Avira is a Free version (Personal Edition Alone )

Download Manager:

Download Accelerator Plus is good software , but its free version sucks a lot. Its best alternative are Orbit and Flashget Downloader. Both are free.But Flashget is pretty better than Orbit Downloader

FlashGet:

Why?

A Decent Download Manager with feature like inclusion within the browser , make youtube downloading easy.

Where to download ?

http://www.amazesoft.com/index_en.htm

Torrent Client :

Torrent is current hot topic in all colleges and among young teenagers. There are many option in this area

UTorrent :

Why ?

For starters to get started , this is the best one.It resembles a download manager and simplifies all the procedure for you. With under 500 KB size , this is the lightest app around !

Where to download ?

http://www.utorrent.com/downloads

Worth Mentioning Softwares :

VUZE :

Touted as “King of HD(High Definition) ” this is for more advanced users and for those who seek High definition.Its user community has loads of High definition contents from music videos to trailers to podcast , its fun filled community. If you want to expand your reach in HD , try VUZE!

Few other software’s which must be installed or worth installing are

[NOTE:All the download links are given within the Name , Click on the below names to download the softwares]

1.) CCleaner :

Helps in cleaning all those unwanted stuffs which gets piled up after some month of usuage !

2.) Auslogic Disk Defragger :

As time goes , the hard disk gets cluttered with data scattered all around making the Operating System and the Disk reader longer time in fetching the files . Use this software to increase the speed .. Useful after few months of usage ! not intially and also how much you store and delete stuffs from hard disk

3.) Foxit Reader :

Forget about Adobe PDF Reader , its a Bloatware , Install Foxit Reader which is free , open source and fast !

4.) Burnaware Writer :

If you think Nero is only burning software , you are wrong. Burnaware is a free software and does all the work nero does .Nero takes nearly 1GB of space and it consumes huge amount of memory . Give Burnaware a try and reply back …

5.) SUPER © :

If you ever thought that converting video to mobile , look no further than this software . This software supports wide range of inputs and can spit it into anything you want. just add the Video you want to convert and set the output at the top and this will do the rest. Even though the controls and UI are little complicated , feature wise its superior than the usual crap Xillisoft software. I will try to write a guide on how to use this software in near future..

6.) MyphoneExplorer :

Exclusively for Sony Ericsson User . This free app , is the best SE phone manager. It can do all the wonders . just connect your SE phone and sit back and do all the things from your PC / Laptop. Write msg , send it to multiple friends , start music player , transfer files , install java apps , backup phone books , check the battery status etc etc..

I have tried my best to stay on with free apps so that you wont need to spend money or uninstall after some trial period gets over.
If you are person who cant spend , they definitely choose the software which are free. Google is your best friend. If you are trying to install a app , just Google about it and see if there is any better free alternative to it . this way you can know that you wont be having trouble later on. My advice is always try to use Free- Open source software’s .Its always better on the long run.

Even though i have missed many useful softwares , i dont want to trash all the software on the system . Not many PC/Laptop are high end and installing too many apps will only make it much slower.

This is not a complete list . These are basic software you will need. A Antivirus ,Browser, Music/video Player , PDF reader , Video Converter, CD/DVD Writer , Phone Manager , Torrent Downloader and Download Manager

If i had missed anything , please do mention it in the comments below , so that i can add them.

Thanks again for reading through ..

-Urs Siva