I’ve often been asked which my favourite games were and I’ve always responded by saying that there are too many to list. But today I thought I might write down all the games which I thought were good and I was surprised to find that there were only few games that I genuinely enjoy playing and wouldnt mind playing again. I might have forgotten a few games so I’ll try and update this list whenever I feel the need to.

1. Half Life 2

Words cannot describe the sheer level of awesomeness of this game. Before I bought this game, I did read that it got many awards and such but never expected it to be so amazing. The entire gameplay experience is just perfect with a deep and involving storyline, superb graphics, the best AI enemies ever, characters who you start to relate with and the list goes on. I cant honestly point out a single flaw in the game, and if any game deserved a 10/10, it would be this one. The episodic content definitely improved the story and I cant wait till Episode 3 is released. It is probably a sin to say that I havent finished the original Half Life, simply because I cant stand its graphics after having witnessed the amazing graphics in Half Life 2 but hopefully, the BlackMesa mod should fix this.

2. Max Payne 2

Another legendary game by Rockstar. One of the first games to incorporate ragdoll models in games which resulted in very realistic models and shooting experience in the game. The story of the game is insanely good and when combined with the classic traits of Max Payne improved with better technology, it provides for what can only be called as a too awesome to be true gaming experience. Once again, everything was just so perfect in the game, the characters, the sounds, the presentation, the details in the maps, its just overwhelming. Max Payne 2 left everyone wanting more but I doubt a third one will be released anytime soon.

3. Grand Theft Auto III

Even though I’ve played GTA IV which has been touted to be one the best games in the history of videos games, I dont think it has the same charm as GTA III for some reason. I cant pinpoint the reason why I like GTA III so much, I just guess its the atmosphere and the feel of the game which I fell in love with. The characters of the game are some of my all time favourites and even though the protagonist couldnt speak, the game ensured that you felt like you were in the Liberty City yourself. The leap from the topdown GTA 2 to GTA III was immense and the level of change is probably something that the gaming world may never witness again. GTA III will definitely remain as one of the games had a huge influence on the world of 3D games.

Honorable Mention - Transport Tycoon Deluxe

I’ve probably spent about a year of my life just playing this game. I can still remember the days when I used to sit in my school computer lab when I was 7 years old and watch my teacher play the game. I eventually convinced him to teach me how to play it and after that, there was no looking back. My dad used to sit up nights with me while we played the game together, trying to maximize revenue while minimizing cost. Those days did disappear after awhile but I’ve had a renewed interest in this game over the last few months and have once again got addicted to it. You can download the game for free from here.

If anyone feels like this list needs any additions, please feel free to list your favourite games in the comments.

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After having bought myself a Flickr PRO Account a couple of weeks ago, I decided to upload my 365 Day Project to Flickr so that I can share it with the Flickr community. You can view all the photos in a set here and view a slide-show of the photos here. And you can now keep updated with the photo of the day by subscribing to this exclusive RSS Feed which will notify you when a photo is uploaded onto the set on Flickr.

I came across this highly amusing image of why you shouldnt piss off a engineer, take a look at it yourself here.

Another very witty article I read was about the 8 different types of annoying people you’ll find in Starbucks. I found the list to be quite accurate, read the article here to see if it reminds you of a trip to Starbucks.

People just come up with all sorts of crazy but innovative ideas these days. This list of the most awesome business card designs I have ever seen, reinforces that statement.

Viral marketing is the latest thing for all companies these days, Levis has done quite a good marketing campaign for its jeans with this strange and funny video of guys jumping into jeans.

For all those ardent web designers out there, here is a compilation of useful resources for both experienced and amateur web developers.

If you have vertigo, this photo is probably not for you. Its a photograph of the view from the top of what is currently the world’s tallest structure, the Burj Dubai.

Barack Obama seems to gaining more and more popular support day by day, and his increase in security proves it. Click here to view some amazing photographs of Barack Obama’s Security.

Luigi Colani has designed some of the most extravagant and ridiculous designs which have to be seen to believed. Take a look at them here.

And for the funniest story of the week, officials at Japan’s Narita airport have lost 142gms of cannabis after having placed it in a random passenger’s bag to test their security dogs. As fate may have it, the dogs were not able to sniff out the drugs and the officer has forgotten which bag he put it in.

And thats all for now folks!

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3 exams finished, only 1 more left and I’ve got a week till that one so I’ve got some freedom till then. My Politics exam went on well but the real kicker is the Statistics exam which was really good considering the fact that I had only one to study for it, the subject that I dislike the most.

I’ve been getting lots of things done over the past week, things that I’d wanted to get done for a long time so it was good to get all of those off my mind.

I was browsing randomly around a couple of days ago when I came across this article which talked about a man who took a Polaroid everyday for 18 years of his life right upto the day he died. After having tackled about three fourths of my 365 Day Project, I know how demanding it can be on some days to get a photo done. And this is only 257 days in for me, he took photos for 6,697 days from 1979 to 1997. It is quite a remarkable feat and I truly respect for having the determination and courage to go through it for 18 years. Thats more than my age. I have been contemplating undertaking a similar project and I’m still continuing to contemplate it, I havent really made up my mind yet. You can read the article here.

I’ve been reading about some photographers lately, the ones who really inspired me were Michael Muller and Platon. Michael Muller shoots celebrities and promo shots for high profile movies, the latest and most famous one being Iron Man. He has a very impressive portfolio and has done portraits of the some of the most famous celebrities out there.

I felt Platon is a bit more ‘legendary’ than Michael Muller since he is the one who photographed the leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin himself, for the cover of TIME Magazine in 2007 and also won the World Press Photo in 2008 for Portraits with that photo.

His interview about the photoshoot is very powerful and he talks about his experience, I feel every photographer should listen to this, to know how it feels to photograph one of the most powerful men on earth. You can watch it here. (Click on 2008 Interviews and then click on Putin’s photo) The interview is about 10 minutes long and definitely worth listening to.

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Following several weeks of lusting after Biryani and curries with my English friends, we finally decided to go for an Indian meal a couple of days ago. The restaurant we decided to go to was aptly named ‘Curry India’ and was located at Crouch St. in Colchester. The first impression of the restaurant was good, it had good ambiance, a delicious smelling aroma greeting us and seemed posh.

There were 8 of us, and funnily enough, I was the only Indian in this gathering. The restaurant had a set dinner meal which the waiter tried to market to us but I wasnt falling for his tactics, we said we would order from the menu instead of this so-called “set dinner meal”. The menu was extensive with several obvious spelling mistakes, some of the more prominent ones were Masala being spelled Mosalla and Biryani spelt as Biriany. It did annoy me slightly but I thought it was permissible since they were about 5000 miles from India.

I did lower my expectations before ordering so that I would not be disappointed with the meal. Being the Hyderabadi that I am, I ordered Persian Chicken Biryani since I thought it would bear the closest resemblance to Hyderabad Biryani. My friends were a bit more adventurous ordering things varying from Mushroom Biryani to Gammon Steak.

The ambiance of the restaurant was pretty good, there was old Hindi music playing away in the background as we have in the Dhabas by the highways. The lighting was dim but yet not too dark which allowed me to have proper conversations with my friends across the table without having to squint to see who I was talking to.

The service was decent with seemingly enthusiastic waiters although we did have to wait for an unusually long time for the second round drinks that we had ordered and had to remind them before the got us the drinks.

The food arrived fairly quickly, it looked and smelled wonderful and all of us couldnt wait to start munching. As for my Biryani, it was quite disappointing because it wasnt even Biryani. It was what I would called fried rice by Indian standards. I did eat all of it, mainly because I was quite hungry.

What I expected -

Hyderabadi Biryani from Paradise by jennn

What I got -

Okay, maybe the pile of rubbish is probably exaggerating it but the meal definitely wasnt the authentic Indian food that I had come for. It could probably pass off as Indian food to the English but they werent going to fool me. Of course, I do have to consider the fact that the majority of the people in the restaurant were English and believed that this was real Indian food and appeared to be quite satisfied by it. They also probably dont have the same ingredients as one would get in India but whatever be the reason, I wasnt pleased. If it wasnt for the great company provided by my friends, the entire night could’ve been ruined. I definitely had a good time, but mainly due to the social factor and slightly due to the food. However, I have to say that the social factor was also probably influenced by the good ambiance so the restaurant did provide to the good evening if not directly.

Final ratings -

Ambiance - 7/10
Food - 4/10
Service - 7/10

Overall rating - 6/10

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We had our first exam at University yesterday, Introduction to Economics, which went remarkably well. The exam procedures were more or less the same as school, the only difference being that there were about 400 students in one hall as opposed to about 125 in school. The size didn’t really make much of a difference in the exam but they took a hell a lot of time to collect all the papers at the end. Next exam is next Tuesday, gotta start studying.

I’ve been looking to get a medium format camera recently, because I want to venture out into new forms of photography. After several hours of researching online instead of studying for my exam, I came to the conclusion that for a person who is taking his first step into Medium Format, a folder camera would be ideal since it isn’t very expensive but gives good quality images and is compact when compared to the other alternatives.

I did stumble upon a few Bronicas on Ebay, it was quite tempting to get one, but I had to refrain since they would be an overkill for me and were also slightly expensive. After more hours of hunting, I came across several models of folder cameras such as the Agfa Isolette which seemed to be the most popular and various different versions of the Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta.

Zeiss Ikonta by Ray Pempengco

In order to get a hands-on experience with some of these cameras before buying one, I decided to visit a secondhand camera store in London. So yesterday, right after the exam, I went to London and spent about an hour lost trying to find the store, and I finally managed to find it. I wouldn’t exactly call it a store since they are a mail-order business and don’t have a store front for customers. Its more like a office room filled with all the classic cameras you can dream of. I was initially overwhelmed by the amount of cameras they had in that space and spent a good 10 minutes just looking at the huge collection. The store owners were very friendly and allowed me to handle various cameras. After some drooling and handling of some of the best medium format cameras in the world, I decided that I would get a Zeiss Super Ikonta and if all goes right, I should probably have one with me this time next week. And if anyone is looking to get a classic camera, I suggest you look at their extensive online catalogue, but act quick since they sell like hot cakes.

Here are some links which I found very useful containing more information about the world of Medium Format Cameras -

Introduction to Medium Format Photography - Ken Rockwell

Medium Format Guide - Cameras.co.uk

Choosing a Medium Format Camera - Philip Greenspun, Photo.net

Medium Format on a Budget - Peter Williams

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Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had meetings for the various clubs and societies at University and I was duly elected President of the Gliding Club, President of the Photography Society and Vice President of the Politics Society for the next academic year. I’m quite thrilled by these posts which I have undertaken and I shall do my best to ensure that I help all the societies equally.

I successfully spent the International Shutdown Day without using the computer all the day. I had to take photos of sports for most of the day so it was bit easier to refrain from using the computer since I had something to keep myself occupied with. I did feel the urge to use it in the night after I’d finished all my work but I managed to keep myself under control. And I hadn’t really missed many happenings on the internet as I saw on the next day.

Thanks to a friend, I finally got the chance to play the most coveted game of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV. I played the game on a Xbox 360 but I didn’t really care which I console I played it on as long as I got to play it. My first impressions of the game was the highly improved graphics from the previous games and the physics. Enough cant be said about the new physics engine which is very realistic and gives a whole new feel to the game. We also played the Multiplayer for sometime which was great, we had a bit of a lag but otherwise had a new and exciting experience. I tried to do a mission and I almost completed it when I got killed at the very end. I just cant get used to the dual joystick use in consoles since I prefer PC gaming. Regardless, if you’re going to get only one game this year, make sure it is GTA IV. You can watch a very good 10 minute video review of the game here.

I’ve made some changes to my wishlist, I’ve now amended it to include items that I actually want as opposed to things that would simply be nice to own. Take a look at the updated Wishlist here.

After many months of thinking, I bought myself a Flickr PRO Account yesterday. It offers unlimited upload of photos along with several other incredible features at a very reasonable price of approximately $2 a month. I shall be embedding the Flickr Gallery into the site soon. You can take a look at my Flickr Stream here.

We’ve got exams from next Monday and honestly, I have hardly studied anything. I really hope I get things done soon.

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We had planned for months to watch the movie in its day of release and successfully stuck to the plan by going to the evening show on Friday. I also got a chance to use my free ticket which I got at U2 3D to watch the movie.

The movie was totally awesome, it is one of more ‘manly’ movies I’ve watched in a long time. There werent too many scenes with Iron Man in them but that also kept us anticipating his appearance more. The story is quite good but it could’ve been improved, I guess thats what sequels are for. The story wasnt smooth in its progression, as in, it had moments where everything seemed to happen quickly and times when it was slow. But that was only a small drawback in the movie.

The character of Iron Man/Tony Stark was very well portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., he seemed to fit into the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man perfectly. The humourous side of him combined with a serious business outlook and the charm of a playboy all went well together and the performance by Downey has to be applauded. Iron Man is shown as a ‘cool’ superhero who can pretty much achieve anything he wants.

The quantity of visual effects in the movie is probably less when compared to other modern movies but the quality is impeccable and well executed. The action scenes make you feel right inside the movie and have an excellent soundtrack to back them up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and will probably watch it again given the chance. And also make sure you stay right upto the very end of all the credits for a scene with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Tony Stark. The movie gets 8.75/10.

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