May 2016

The Jungle Book (2016)

May 19, 2016 Movies

The Jungle Book movie was an enchanting showcase of technology-meets-human experience. The live action/CGI depiction of the characters is a daunting task for a 105 minute movie when you are bringing an animated version alive on the big screen for the first time. Apart from the brilliant storytelling, there was some degree of fear and discomfort felt while watching The Jungle Book on the big screen versus a TV.

As I mentioned, since I was coming to the cinema from a TV experience of the animated version I was expecting to be enthralled by the cuteness of the characters. Shere Khan wasn’t looking so horrible in the animated version. Kaa was not so fearful and scary, in fact, she was Mowgli’s friend and mentor from reading the books. The beauty of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book is that despite the inherent qualities of the ferocious animals they are still believable and adorable. No matter how beastly the behavior you could still love them with all your heart.

The only way in which Shere Khan could instill fear and dominate the animal kingdom was through his roaring voice. His horrid appearance went overboard in the movie. Or maybe it’s the traditional movie stereotype of making a bad person look monstrous too. Kaa’s entry was the scariest moment as she almost strangulates Mowgli with her coil. You know how it feels in 3D to have a snake look into your eyes that closely. Snakes are awful in appearance but not Kaa from the book and Disney’s cartoons.

In short – Bagheera was the hero of the movie, Baloo was cute, Raksha was amazing, the jungle was depicted quite nicely, King Louie was funny, and the bee stings on Mowgli disappeared sooner than I had expected in the next scene. Was that a blooper? Anyway, the movie has reignited my interest in the animated version and that’s what I’m looking forward to. Art is immortal.

Further Reading:
The Jungle Book (2016 film) – Wikipedia
The Jungle Book (2016) – Rotten Tomatoes
The Jungle Book (1894) collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling – Wikipedia
The Jungle Book (2016) official SuperBowl movie trailer – YouTube
Information on the Tiger species – WWF

Uncharted 4 – A Perspective

May 18, 2016 Design Photos Technology

It’s the last installment in the Uncharted series of Nathan Drake’s treasure hunting adventures and gun fights, and this time, Naughty Dog has pushed the gameplay and the graphics beyond imagination. The hype was on a mammoth scale for the final farewell to one of gaming history’s most exciting franchises. By the way, this isn’t a review for Uncharted 4, it’s just my perspective on the gameplay and the graphics for the title. It also made me go for my first PS4 – the Limited Edition Uncharted 4 bundle.

I just finished Chapter 8, and there was plenty of energy, mind-boggling puzzles and enough stress for surviving in a fighting situation, an anticipated feature of the gameplay anyway. Collecting hidden treasures of course (and fretting over the missed ones usually) but I’ve somewhat become a pro at this one. Apart from the intense gun fights Uncharted 4 has added an exciting crouch-movement in stealth mode too. The stealth move was present in previous titles too but has greater significance in Uncharted 4. So when you are surrounded by tall grass you can remain undetected to a group of mercenaries and take them down quietly to avoid a full-fledged gun battle. Watch for the stealth meter as it fills from White (about to be detected) to Yellow (something suspicious and investigating) and finally Orange (you’re screwed, dude!).

Uncharted takes you on a virtual holiday around the world and I absolutely can’t wait to play the next chapters in Uncharted 4 to see how the adventure takes me to other locales — I know the Madagascar map is awesome from the promos. When it’s Uncharted it’s been a norm to play the title more than once to absorb the story and the gameplay.

I just wish that this isn’t the last title in the series but that seems likely. The Internet is talking about Naughty Dog’s willingness about the development of the Uncharted series with a different studio. A serious gamer once told me the series would continue but with a new character. I don’t want to speculate though I wish Sony doesn’t pull the trigger on one of its most successful titles.

Finally, I will post some Uncharted 4 game screen captures. Enjoy the vivid landscapes while it lasts. The graphics quality is just jaw-dropping.

Also, au revoir to Nathan Drake!

Uncharted 4-1

Uncharted 4-3

Uncharted 4-2Uncharted 4-5Uncharted 4-6Uncharted 4-7

 

Further Reading:
Could Uncharted 5 Actually Happen? Here’s What The Director Says
Naughty Dog Creative Director, Neil Druckmann, weighs his opinion on a possible fifth franchise title. Interesting read.
A Brain Dump of What I Worked on for Uncharted 4
Ming-Lun Chou worked on the programming of Uncharted 4 at Naughty Dog. This is a brilliant post on the behind-the-scenes of the game (to avoid any spoilers, I will read this after I complete the game). You can also see some game graphics in his blog post.

The Fun of Building A Lego

May 16, 2016 Design Photos

It’s been a dream to experiment with Lego. It brings pleasure for me to build something out of pieces of colourful plastic — ‘bricks’ as they are lovingly referred to by enthusiasts. So I picked up my first kit to begin with a majestic 578-bricks Fire Plane from Lego’s ‘Technic’ series.

With great help from my significant other, it took us just a day to complete the construction and by that, we exceeded our own expectations. Truth be told once I started the construction brick by brick there was no stopping. The exercise required time, focus, logic and tons of imagination. The manual was very straightforward with vivid visuals. Although I found a typo on the colour of the pins I was so much into engineering the plane that I figured out the right way.

It’s a fabulous product and you can see the structure details in the picture. The rudder, the flaps, and the elevators tilt up and down when a small lever is pushed (see the upright handle pointing up right in front of the tail-wing). The fan rotates when you move the plane, the engine looks so much real too (behind the fan, you can see the yellow piston). Below the fuselage there’s a small cargo hold for the ‘water’ consisting of blue button-shaped legos and controlled using a lever system again (the pearl head grey button on top of the cockpit). I must appreciate the design team at Lego for imagining the details of this plane, it must have been tedious work. I could see a lot of creativity-meets-architecture with solid product design strategy. This was just a beginning for more Lego adventures to come. So keep watching this space.

Lego Fire Plane

Lego Fire Plane built from 578-pieces.