Gallery

Hulk: Big , Bad and Green. I love him more as the evil monster out of control than the nice hero within.

Wolverine: With those sharp 'fingers' and even sharper wit, he is a treat to watch.


There is a point in superman history where he actually campaigns for Lex Luthor and makes him President.


This is how the sketch actually is made. The colours are filled in later based on the greyscale gradient.

Frank Miller can make kids look scary. And this is spawn.
Neat Effects. Frank is known to create superb effects with very few colours.


Spidey has been tried with various costumes. Needless to say, the original is the best.


You simply HAVE to love The Joker's guts.


Any guesses who the rider is?

Know what the difference between him and the Lantern is? He makes this look GOOD.

Tagged

Been tagged by Minnie and Ranade. Here is a list of things I’d like to say about myself..

I am a proud Saggitarian and fiercely defend the associated traits.

I hate hypocrisy though I can be a hypocrite sometimes. I guess we all are.

I can be annoyingly happy. Being perpetually cheerful is something that comes to me naturally and I wudnt change it for the world.

I do have mood swings though. Noone has probably noticed because I go sulking in some vague corner.

Im better known for my patience among friends, especially when it comes to being pushed around. But I DO lose it sometimes. Seriously. Ask my family and they’ll tell you.

I can be brutally honest with people. I simply don’t seem to know what to tell and what not to. My foot is constantly in my mouth.

I love to travel. Don’t like the trekking part of it much though. Would love to go Himalayas some day. I find myself more at home in cold temperatures.

I hate being tagged “average “ or even above average. But I am simply too lazy to fight it.

I am NOT a flirt. I just don’t see why people think that I am. Including my mother!

I believe in love and other associated sentiments but I don’t think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I can’t stand chocolaty people. I like chocolate :) .

I LOVE CHICKEN. Balls to bird flu!

Music is a must for me. I cant work/study/travel without it. I can even bear heavy metal (the music) but I can’t stand heavy metal fanatics.

I am a communist at heart. I harbor strong anti-western feelings. I hate the mall culture, though I visit multiplexes quite frequently. If confused, refer point #2. It hurts me to watch people eating corn worth Rs.4 but bought for Rs.35 just because it comes in a paper cup. I hate the fact that people visit expensive restaurants just because they are expensive and with no concern for how the food may be.

I hate it when people refuse to give alms to beggers just because they are not handicapped. If it is against your principles, do something about it.

I hate people who take credit for others’ work. I respect their talent in doing so, but I hate them.

I feel that I am duty bound to answer to people even when I have no clue about what they are asking. This might have caused me to throw a lot of crap in the past.

I am king of all that I own. I hate sharing my stuff. Very finicky about it.

I love gossip. As long as it is genuine.

I share a love-hate relationship with Ekta Kapoor soaps.

Now tagging Chand, Jeevan and Funk.

Mozilla and Money

Due to anonymous threats from opensource fans i had to include this apology here. The information in this article is not relevant anymore. Mozilla is now an independent entity. The information that I used from the net for this article turned out to be outdated. Im sorry :)

How does Mozilla make money?

An innocent question at coffee time made me investigate this fundamental question and the answers were quite surprising. Following are some facts I have accumulated from the net:

The Mozilla browser started when Netscape, the maker of the once popular browsers Navigator and Communicator, gave its code to mozilla.org. This "donation" was done so that Netscape would no longer have to spend millions on the drudge work of coding its browser. This drudge work was now to be done by unpaid enthusiasts.

Netscape is owned by the mega-congolmerate AOL-Time Warner (AOLTW). Thus, the original code that started the whole Mozilla project from Netscape is the property of a once $165 billion corporation.

Now, the licensing agreement that outlines to what extent Mozilla is open source shows that something fishy is behind the scenes. This license states that any code added to Mozilla is also open source (Section 3.2. Availability of Source Code). This assures that all new improved code that is ever made off of the Mozilla source, always goes back to Mozilla. This is a very tricky situation since the commercial Netscape browser is still downloaded and used. This new breed of Netscape browser (version 6 and the new version 7) is based SOLELY on Mozilla's code with extra commercial features that further AOLTW's grip on the Internet!!

Let's turn our attention to a browser named Komodo. While it is based on the free code done by the free programmers at Mozilla, it sells for $300 (yes three hundred) per copy. From an open source browser that obviously is free, a private company changes a few things, and viola!, a $300 browser is born!

Earlier, if AOL was used as the ISP for PCs in the US, the browser was IE which didn’t look so good. So they very conveniently shifted to the gold-mine at hand – Mozilla. What unsuspecting ‘volunteer programmers’ don’t realize is that AOLTW will sweep the code from them and use it in AOL. Let's count AOL's total subscribers: one, two, three... 34 million. At a simple $20 rate per month with the 34 million subscribers, that's $680 million dollars a month. That's at least $8.16 billion per year. Sure AOL does not use Mozilla code yet, but it will with AOL 8.0 or 9.0.

This means AOL is/will be making at least $8.9 billion per year off of code done by unpaid programmers. This figure does not count any money Netscape makes, any money that is gained by Netcape's influence, or how much third-party products such as Komodo rip off from Mozilla.

BTW, the official Mozilla statement is “Firefox generates most of its money through a tool that lets users search the Web with various search engines, and also search for products at Amazon and eBay. Firefox takes a small share of revenue through contracts with those partners.”

Mozilla makes 30 million a year like this: everytime someone does a Google search with Firefox and clicks on an Adwords ad, Mozilla gets money. Google calls this "Adsense for Search" and you can find more info about it on their website.

30 million vs almost 9 billion! Hmmm…

I guess as long as I have good looking tabs on my browser, I’m quite happy. ;)

For more, visit here.

Metal-Tikka (adj. Metallic Butt)

I hate taking sides. I don’t think its polite. Its really rare for me to root for any cause. I like to wear this superior air about me smug in the knowledge that I have the power to swing both sides and even look wise in the process.

There are those who don’t listen to music and and those who do. There are others, who listen to metal. Again, let me refer good old Wikipedia:

“Heavy metal, sometimes referred to as simply metal, is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars. “

I have nothing against metal. Infact I do like most of what Metallica and Iron Maiden make and am not quite sure if they fall into this category. But then, Children of Sodom? I mean.. even BEP’s ‘My Humps’ sounds like music before what ‘Spinter Pelvic Fury’ makes! Oh yeah.. they ARE a band and that IS their name!

There was this guy in our college who was a couple of years senior to us. His batchmates called him ‘metal’ and he used to like that. You could watch him swinging his head to and fro in all concerts in our college and screaming “AUZZZZYYYY” and “SYMPHONEEE OF DESTRUCKSHAAAANN”. I couldn’t help but pity him for the number of times his perverted neighbor would have abused him as a child.

I could never figure out the reason for headbanging, which was the reason I abandoned this primitive ritual just as soon as Metal had started showing symptoms of Psychotic Hypertrophy of the Meningial Fluid with Spasms. He would often stare blankly at requests for ‘Brain Yadams’ or ‘Wotel Caalifornia’ with sheer disbelief at this act of blasphemy and enter into a series of violent spasms of verbal abuse that would, at one shot, bring down generations to shame… even when he was not stoned!

Headbanging is a self-proclaimed art form particularly popular with people who are not very good at more advanced dancing, as the dance, which many would not call a dance but merely stomping very hard at something, while nodding fiercely for no good reason at all, is not all that hard to learn. In fact it was the only dance form I could ever master. But reason convinced me to preserve the last few traces of gray matter left in my head before I could shout ‘TRAAAAIIIN OF KONSEEEKWESAAAS’ again.

Then again, I love music. Any genre will do as long as it appeals to me. Unless it is, like my IITian friend would call it, “Slisha Cuppax!”.

Plato didn't see this coming...

Before I start, I'd like you to very carefully read this shocking piece of of information from wikipedia :

"The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th Century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino as a synonym for "amor socraticus". Both expressions signify a love focused on the beauty of a person’s character and intelligence rather than on their physical charms. They refer to the special bond of affection between two men Plato had highlighted in the dialogue, and exemplified by the affection between Socrates and his young male pupils, and in particular to the one between Socrates and Alcibiades."

Among the list of related articles was:

• Asexuality
• Historical pederastic couples
• Pederasty

Need I say more? Well I guess I will cos some people never learn! I've never trusted platonic love (in its present context) but have always wanted to believe it (I still do!) . The words " Ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahin ban sakte Prem!" in the movie Maine Pyar Kiya, which still echo in bollywood's great arenas, was very conveniently thrown from the villain's mouth to convince suspecting parents that their daughters were in good company. Millions of teenage Indian boys celebrated. So did I. I was glad that I could now be better friends with all the girls I've ever known and when my smarter than usual mother asks me, I just casually remark a "Oh, we're just friends Ma.. don't be so narrow minded!". She never bought it though.

Then as I grew older, I realised that girls take this to their advantage by turning down every guy they don't want to get too close to with "I don't want to spoil our friendship" or a very innocuous "Why can't we just be good friends?" to which the guy smiles and says "Of course! thats how it has always been, hasn't it?" while his heart melts right into his bottom. There are several variations like "I respect you a lot", etc..

I'm not saying that the only reason guys start a friendship with girls is because they are sexually attracted to them or their friends, it's just a lot more complex than that. I believe that if you have a set of friends with mixed sexes and you hang around together for long enough then you are bound to be attracted to one of them. In due time. It's quite natural.


Disclaimer: this is not the only clause. There are several if's and else's involved. Like I said, Its quite complex .. even to blog about.

Rest assured, Plato has given the world the best excuse and a weapon of unparalleled simpicity.

On Religion, War and Cartoons

I've had enough. Enough and more hatred has been spread in the name of religion.

"Currently the stereotypical muslim, as perceived by many in Europe and America, is a fanatical suicidal maniac who insists on keeping his wife locked up and who would cheerfully execute anyone who disagrees with his viewpoint that Islam is best. The reaction to the cartoons by protesters in Palestine, Pakistan or Iraq where they threaten death to the cartoonsist only reinforces this stereotype."


I am a Muslim and proud to be so. I have friends from other religions with whom I share my deepest secrets I wouldn't dare to tell anyone else and I don't hate them. I'd bet my life on the fact that they don't hate me too (atleast on the basis of my religion). Religion is a way of life that everyone chooses to follow. In my opinion every religion has something good to say and I follow mine simply because I choose to. Choice, is something that can never be taken from me. I choose not to hate. I chose to ignore. I choose to be happy. I choose to live and I choose my beliefs.

"No religion teaches violence" is a statement that, inspite of its frequency in usage, should never be considered a cliche and I as a Muslim definitely know that Islam belongs to this set. And I do not consider a Muslim anyone who thinks otherwise. A vast majority will agree with me.

I never get into arguments about religion simply because I don't know much about any other than my own. So before you start hating someone based on his beliefs, please make an effort to study those beliefs in an unbiased manner.

There is no point in hating when we have an alternative. There is no end to it. Coexist.
We all come in peace.

This is my first and hopefully one of my very few attempts at social messaging.