Life in Pixels

haud ignota loquor

  • Getting Into the Writing Mood Again…

    Term 1 is slowly but surely creeping to a close; a monstrous, tiresome and yet rewarding school term where a few of my goals for 2010 were realised.

    I now serve on the school’s Representative Council, and I aim to take that a step higher by contributing in a grander way to the place that I’ve known for nearly 12 years now.

    But with the end of term looming, I am excited to return to the novel I began writing in July last year (and then stopped, and began from scratch with an entirely new plot line in November). I am already over 12 000 words in (though I need about 70 000 for it to be called a “novel”), and hope to make some good progress within the two weeks of down-time that I have.

    Writing, as you’ll have realised from my blog, is something I enjoy a lot. But when I’m faced with a mammoth task such as this, the writing of an entire novel — and a science fiction one at that — it can be daunting.

    So, I’ve been following a great blog set up by the writer of another of my favourite blogs, Zen Habits, called WriteToDone. There are some great articles there on how to keep focussed with your writing, how to make writing sessions more effective, and how to get the most out of writing in your life. I highly recommend all aspiring writers to visit.

    And with that, I hope to write again in the future of more progress with this mammoth project. In the meantime, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter to get the latest.

  • As Mad as a Hatter: Alice in Wonderland thoughts

    I went to see Alice in Wonderland last night with my friends. It’s one of those movies that I was looking forward to watching for months on end, and I was really excited come Friday 5th March to see what it’d be like.

    Plus, there was that formidable partnership of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. It’s an offer even the most discerning of film buffs can’t refuse.

    So, we settled in to our comfy cinema seats, glasses on (we saw the 3D version), and tilted our necks up to see the silver screen (unfortunately we only got seats in the very front row, although we were so desperate to see the movie as soon as possible that we didn’t actually mind –  hey, if you’re a Depp/Burton fan like me, you’ve gotta sacrifice some things sometime).

    From the moment the Walt Disney logo came on, with that sweeping cinematic music that can only accompany the greatest of cinema, I knew this was going to be good. Really good.

    And that unfortunately, was the biggest problem with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. There was way too much high expectation of it. And for me, it was not all “that”, once I walked out of the cinema after two hours of visual overload.

    The graphics were amazing. This movie, like Avatar, is a showcase of the most expensive technology in the biz coming together to create the most beautiful-looking frames.

    But we all know that a really good movie actually relies on two distinct things: the storyline, and the acting.

    Burton’s Alice has a compelling storyline. It’s a fresh take on one of the most celebrated tales in our literature history. It has that perfect Disney combination: wit, moral value, family entertainment, and inspiring dialogue.

    But it was the acting that I was really looking forward to. As I mentioned earlier, I am a huge fan of Johnny Depp, and I’ve been enthralled with his performances in Sweeney Todd, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Public Enemies. But in Alice, there seemed to be something… missing in his performance. He was very bland, to put it bluntly. I felt he could’ve portrayed the eccentric character of the Mad Hatter in a far more exciting way.

    Sure, his performance from a technical standpoint was excellent. There was the right balance of emotion, gesture, and method-acting focus that we’ve come to expect from such a high calibre actor, but Depp didn’t play out the Hatter to its full extent; he didn’t push his character to its limits.

    But overall, I enjoyed this film, as a good cinematic escape. It took me to a new world, captured my imagination, and inspired me to believe that “nothing is impossible.” And so, after all, it was the story that won me over. I’d recommend you definitely see this film, as it is a benchmark in the progress of modern cinema. But be cautioned: don’t go in with the high expectations I had.

  • Life in Pixels. Reloaded.

    It’s taken a lot of hard work, sourcing the best hosting deals, getting the domain purchased, and finally installing WordPress, updating the software, and fixing this theme.

    But it was all worth it. Because finally, my personal blog, which I fondly call “Life in Pixels”, finally has its own home on the web. And the URL sounds cool too, eh? “www.rahuldowlath.com”. I’ve been dreaming of having that domain for a long time now.

    So, since this is a “proper” blog now, I’ve taken the decision to care and nurture it properly this time. The previous blog (which will still be alive, although it won’t ever be updated again) was neglected quite a few times, and I posted very infrequently.

    However, with this new blog, you can expect at least weekly updates from me, on my thoughts about the world, including some smatterings of science, technology.

    I’ve imported the content from my old blog which was hosted at WordPress.com, but this “version 2.0” blog is, first and foremost, a “fresh start” on my online life. From this post onwards, I hope to post exciting new content that reflects the person I’ve become in the last three years, with deeper insights into my opinions, and relevant news on my various projects.

    I invite you to comment on posts, and engage in discussion on the topics that I discuss.

    I’m really excited about this new website. With the perfect software powering it, and a clean, new look, what more could I ask for?

    Remember to follow me on Twitter to get all the latest updates.

    All for now!

  • 3DTV: Why It’s a Gamble (Yet Still Awesome)

    The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) held recently in Las Vegas, Nevada, had one important and exciting thing coming out of it: the emergence of 3D television in the home-theatre set-up.

    This means that we can watch big-budget, sheer-awesomness-exuding, and eye-watrering-it’s-so-beautifully-rendered films like James Cameron’s Avatar in all its 3D glory from the comfort of our living rooms. Sounds good, right? It sure is.

    What’s even more exciting is that big-name broadcasters like ESPN and the Discovery Network are planning on broadcasting content in 3D. ESPN even went on to state that they’re planning on broadcasting the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 3D.

    However, the slight snag with the onset of 3D technology – what some anticipate will be making its way onto store shelves by the end of this year – is that, like the introduction of Sony’s Blu-Ray HD technology, 3DTV will be lacking in the amount of 3D content available for consumption.

    However, according to Nic Covey, director of cross-platform insights for The Nielsen Company, “In terms of where the consumer is, over the top is where the action is going to be in 2010,” he said. “That’s what they’re looking for.” So there is in fact consumer interest in this technology; it’s just that the creation of 3D content is expensive, and as such there is not enough available for this to be viable just yet.

    ESPN, while showing interest in broadcasting in 3D, still maintains that the creation of such content for live events is going to be expensive. “We need to be able to get 2D and 3D [versions of live sporting events] produced in the same truck,” ESPN’s Chief Technology Officer Chuck Pagano said. “If we have to do side-by-side production, with two crews and two trucks, it could end up being a very long putt for us in terms of making this work economically.”

    3DTV is certainly the future of home entertainment, in the same way DVD and surround sound revolutionised the home theatre. It just needs more time to develop. And when that time comes, I will certainly be in line with my 3D goggles in hand ready to get this awesome tech.

  • Why Colonising Space is the Future

    I’m very interested in the colonisation of space, as I do believe that this is the future. Our planet has been plagued by human error in our quest to develop civilisation. Thus, it makes sense that, with our rapidly developing technologies and breakthrough discoveries in science, we can indeed “redeem” ourselves by setting up a colony on another planet.

    We have already colonised the space around our own planet, so to speak, as their are thousands of man-made craft orbiting the Earth at various heights.

    I’ve presented a speech that was quite successful in late 2009 (the transcription and a few images are available here), and the research that I undertook for that presentation really caught my attention to the fact that it’s possible to colonise right away. The problem with the methods described in my research was that the costs are insanely high, and because of the arcane nature of the project, and the volatility of such an endeavour, investors are not willing to part with their money just yet.

    Over the course of 2010, I hope to talk more on this fascinating subject. I will, naturally, be discussing the colonisation of Mars, our nearest neighbour, as its similarities to our own home are very high.

    There is a trilogy of novels written by Kim Stanley Robinson called the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars) that really captures the idea of terraforming a planet, and the scientific, cultural and social repercussions that accompany it, from a wide variety of viewpoints. I plan on reading the series this year to further enlighten my quest to understand the colonisation of space.