The Hobbit: An expected journey into Pete's mastery

I watched the Hobbit in 3D. My 3D glasses were dirty, and I had to repeatedly wipe to get the stain off, although unsuccessfully. I should have checked before the movie started. I didn't want to go out to change for a better one. But even that didn't make the movie experience any less enjoyable. The visuals were great. Tolkien's masterpiece has been taken to another level by Pete & Co.

Watching the production videos on YouTube before the movie came out got me all the more excited. The hard work they put in to shape a fictional story may seem meaningless to some. But once in a while, you need someone like Peter Jackson or James Cameron to show grandeur through cinema. These are the people who take the cinematic experience to the next level.

Being a big fan of the LOTR movie franchise, watching the Hobbit first day was a must. I did, and I love LOTR franchise even more. This movie is a wonderful addition. That I have to wait one more year to see Smaug (though I have a feeling I won't see him until the third movie in 2014) is a little sad. I had only read about 50% of the book before I went to watch the movie and was afraid the movie would reveal the mystery. The movie hasn't even covered 35-40% of the book. The screenwriters have made changes to the sequence of events as well, but it was necessary. Thorin does not look like a dwarf to me, but I guess it was important to distinguish him from the others, him being the King and all.

Go watch the movie and you'll thank yourself for that. The visuals are a treat for your eyes, and the score for your ears. Little song interludes are awesome, too. On the downside, it is long. I had expected this to be a masterpiece of Peter Jackson, and it is one. Thanks, Pete.

Fiction

I often ask the question to myself: why I can not write fiction? Is it because I don't have interest in stories? Is it because I dwell too much on reality that I don't want to "imagine" fiction? Is it because I'm scared that my "fiction" maybe some one else's "reality" and I hurt them by pointing this out in writing?

I don't have an answer. I like fiction. Very much indeed. It takes such a detour from reality that it is so unbelievably wonderful and I'm left wondering how on earth can somebody "imagine" a world like this: I can only give two examples, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings. Maybe in the reverse order -- but since I read the former, I would like to rank it that way.

I like fiction also because it sticks so close to reality and you wonder how it is not real. Many of Scorsese or Eastwood movies are great examples. The Godfather as well. I haven't read Mario Puzo's book, sorry.

Fiction involves lying. You lie and make others believe it's not a lie; or that it's a superficial lie and make others fantasize on your lie. Both ways you succeed.

I remember the first story I wrote when I was in the fourth grade. My friends and I -- three of us -- wrote short stories and exchanged and fought whose was better. They were all great for that age. We were all nerds. The other two went on to become Engineers and I am on the verge of becoming a scientist.

I would like to think of it -- writing -- a natural act. Come on, how many of us can "write" in such tender age? I'm not talking about western schools where you're bound to write a LOT. We hardly had exams that we didn't know what was coming on. We were so well prepared we were given the exams beforehand and were asked to prepare for it.

Again, I would like to think I can write fiction. Everything needs training and only training that makes one perfect. I wouldn't dream to be a perfect writer in my first story, but I would like to start better.

I'm preparing. I'm surfing the web for writing classes, workshops, and fora. I would like to see someone helping. I do not have a rich vocabulary or strong grammar. But I want to try. Hope I find something. I have always been good at Googling stuff.

Good luck me.

January 4, 2012

Ah, they've finally declared. Australia. Vs India. On day 3 of the second test. They have been piling up so much runs, even the Australian fans started feeling they should declare already. That is supposed to be my break when I would write today's blog. India will lose this game, but how humiliatingly is what we have to see. On the other side of the planet, Sri Lanka is being punished by Kallis & Co. Bad time to be an Asian. At least Sri Lanka have won their previous game quite decisively.

Cricket apart, how was the day today? I would say it was much better than yesterday. Not that I accomplished much, but because I made efforts. I locked myself in the XRD room and I did all that I could to solve the crystal structure. Everything was so frustratingly difficult. I don't know how I got into this. Apparently I'm someone who knows more than anybody else in the group about crystallography, but that isn't enough. We look for easier problems. We do not have an experts on our midst who could teach us or at least point us in the right direction for finding the solution. Anyhow, that's how it went. It was crystallography all day. Did I learn anything new? Not really. I found out that I have overlooked some important points before finishing a structure in the past. When we started using this instrument, we were so amazed how good the software was at guessing the structure for us, we missed out on some important information: 2 theta. We never really checked what 2 theta was. It was also because I hadn't really "finished" a structure for publication on my own. Now that I had, I look at all the information before writing a structure off. This blog has become increasingly and vaguely technical.

After buying the camera, I have started looking at things differently. Everything that pans out in front of me becomes a photograph. I start to "compose" the scene in my mind, and calculate all things that would favor and work against a good photo. Our University Tower at night is a fine example. The admin has installed new focus lights and now the whole tower sort of lights up at night. I imagine to take a picture of this beautiful tower, but all the other street lights would definitely spoil the scene. I should give it a try one day, I mean, one night.

January 3, 2012.

I speak to myself a lot. Being in an alien land helps the cause. It's holidays and you can't really take a holiday -- that helps too. Everyone else in your apartment building, in the university are gone home for the holidays. That helps. You live near the university, and it's holidays and guess what, nobody's here. That helps too. The point is, I speak to myself a lot. Not only in holidays, but most of the time. I wonder why I did something so freaking stupid. I wonder a bit loud so I can hear myself. Oftentimes, I become two -- One and Two. Mostly it's One that does all the talking. Gives a lot of advice. Free, you see. Two almost never listens, but sometimes decides to speak up. Dares up to One, and says, you're wrong. So it goes. I know, you must be thinking I'm such a lon(s)er. You're probably right.

In any case, such an occasion happened a while ago in the shower. One decides that he should write about the day that went by. Two asks, "Why?". One retaliates, "Well, the day that went by went not so well. I want to know why and I also want to put this in writing. I'm going to write a blog post about today" .
"Who'll read such a blog", says Two.
"Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm my own editor, publisher, and of course, reader. I don't care who reads my blog", replies One.
"In that case, why do you even bother writing? you can keep it to yourself", continues Two.
"You see, that's your problem. You never want to speak up. You have always been so pessimistic. No wonder the maximum number of blogs you've written in a year is 12", complains One.
"Whatever. What are you going to do?", gives up Two.
"I'm going to blog whenever I feel like it and whatever I feel like writing", One concludes.

As a result of this above argument, I, comprised of One and Two, have decided to blog about the glorious day that I had the pleasure of living by.

The day had a disappointing start. Not that the part of the Earth I live in was disappointed at the time the Sun decided to show up. Puerto Rico should be happy, after all. This is January, and the Sun had decided to even show up and embrace ever so gracefully. Cliches apart, the day's start was disappointing because I didn't hear the alarm, and ended up sleeping off most of the morning. By the time I got to work it was almost noon. The result of the previous day's experiment waiting wasn't very pleasing. It would have been pleasing 3 years ago. Now any new result yields only fresh (!) frustration, for it is another NEW thing that I should pursue while there are million others that need finishing. This frustration makes the rest of the day even worse. A two-hour long lunch with a friend. By the time I got back to work in the evening, it was, well, evening! I had the pleasure of helping a colleague providing my wisdom, and in doing so, I learned something new: How to get the angle between two planes (dihedral angle) in a crystal structure using the MPLN command with XP from the SHELXL package.

I got back to my apartment, and the second day of the test match between India-Australia had started. I watched the game, wondering why India even bothered to travel Down Under. Damn ICC. Humiliation from all directions is due. I wouldn't worry too much about it. In less than 3 months, IPL will start, and we will forget all about this humiliation.

Anyhow, this was an attempt to record the events and see if I could write. I have been doubting myself. By the way, there are new resolutions: I should start to organize, clean up, list down and jot down. In less than 5 months, I should be outta here. Good day.