Play Pong in Dreamweaver!

Want to play a quick game of Pong in Dreamweaver?

1. Save your work and close all files.
2. Restart Dreamweaver.
3. Create a new HTML file.
4. Type any text in the document in Design View.
5. Select some text.
6. In the properties panel locate the color value box.
7. Type “dreamweaver” (without quotes) in the color value box and press Enter.
8. Pong should begin (with sound!). Use the mouse to move the bat.
9. It is Game Over, if you miss. A sound comes from internal speakers.
10. Sometimes, Dreamweaver hangs when the game ends.

I played it I did, many days and nights
Merry went the hours and merrier were the fights

Few games since then got it all quite so right
I think of OMF now and a few words I write…

What is One Must Fall: 2097?

‘OMF 2097 (or simply 2097) is the best fighting game ever made for the PC, made in 1994 by Diversions Entertainment. It features an innovative pilot/robot combination similar to the Bushido Blade system, a completely unique RPG-like tournament mode, and oodles of secrets. (Not to mention a catchy soundtrack and 90-foot giant robots!)’

- Robyrt(robyrt@marney.org, http://robyrt.coolserver.net)

Back during the days when I was putting myself through a formal multimedia course, I’d happened to come across a few of my fellow students playing the demo version of OMF.

At first I was drawn to it due to my interest in animation and game programming, not to mention the terrific game title.  Later on though as I started playing the game I began to like it for the gameplay and music as well.

The storyline for the game went something like this: In the far future (2097), the world has changed as we know it. Governments are puppets of multinationals conglomerates. World Aeronautics and Robotics (WAR) is one such conglomerate that has decided to use Human Assisted Robots (HARs) to colonize Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon). WAR has decided to conduct a tournament of HARs to find out which of the executives will get the chance to lead the colonization.

The game has a series of competitions that progressively unlock powerful HARs to choose from. Each HAR has it’s own unique strengths and special moves, which are revealed through a combination of key strokes during combat. The best part of the combo moves is that, unlike other combat games, the key strokes are rather simple to remember and use.  This however doesn’t bode any good for the keyboard and my friends and I are guilty of ruining many a good keyboard in pursuit of this mad game. : P

A few of my favourite HARs included the Jaguar, the Thorn, Katana and the Shadow. I particularly liked the Jaguar and created a 3D model with a few animations of my own as tribute to the HAR. ; )

Though we initially played on the demo version a lot, we later got to play the full version thanks to it’s creators – Rob Elam and Ryan Elam of Diversions Entertainment, who released the full game as a freeware in 1999.

Being a die-hard fan of the game I have collected a few links and videos for you, dear reader, to enjoy and perhaps induce you into downloading the game and playing it as well! :D

OMF official site

Robyrt’s OMF Site

X-BoT’s OMF Universe

Quick Gun Murugun (Dr. Rajendra Prasad),  what do I say about this daring South Indian Cowbhai movie?

It has everything.. action.. camedy.. sangs..and lats and lats of balls.. sorry bullets I say!

Our hero is yeverything that yany decent south indian school-dropout would dream of becoming. His bullets speak when his words fail him. His words of wisdom and love for the locket lady brings tears of joy and fills the heart with warmth of passion.

Rice plate Reddy (Nazar) is the arch villain wanting to dominate the world with non-veg dosas from his evil McDosa corporateion. Helping him in this evil endeavour are such stalwart cohorts like Gunpowder, MBA Rowdy and Dr. DJango.  He’s unstoppable.. that is until Quick Gun Murugun steps into the scene.

Our heroes quest to stop RPR brings him across the scintilating and wannabe Miss India.. Miss Mango Dolly. What may her hobbies be one wonder’s?
I will tell you what they are. They are Cooking and Secretly loving QGM!

The movie has a love triangle and a mother (anni) angle and a trip to heaven on a modified motocart to boot!  I will keep my silents on our heroes re-entry on earth.

All in All..I can canfidently say that ..Yany Yindian who has drunk tha cow’s milk will go watch this movie I say!

PS: It’s worth watching once , but leave your thinking/critical cap outside the theatre. Mind it. ;-)

Today people urge you to be enthusiastic about everything. It is fascinating for me to find out that such a common word as enthusiasm has a topsy-turvy history behind it.

The word enthusiasm comes from Greek and has a religious angle to its meaning which is very nicely hidden under the surface. For a certain time, enthusiasm was used in a negative and derogatory sense. This is certainly one of the words that has now undergone a complete transformation.

Enthusiasm – en·thu·si·asm   (ĕn-thū’zē-ăz’əm)
n.

1. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.
2. A source or cause of great excitement or interest.
3. Archaic.
   1. Ecstasy arising from supposed possession by a god.
   2. Religious fanaticism.

[Late Latin enthūsiasmus, from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein, to be inspired by a god, from entheos, possessed : en-, in; see en–2 + theos, god.]

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,” said the very quotable Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also said, “Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm.” These two uses of the word enthusiasm—one positive and one negative—both derive from its source in Greek. Enthusiasm first appeared in English in 1603 with the meaning “possession by a god.” The source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective entheos, “having the god within,” formed from en, “in, within,” and theos, “god.” Over time the meaning of enthusiasm became extended to “rapturous inspiration like that caused by a god” to “an overly confident or delusory belief that one is inspired by God,” to “ill-regulated religious fervor, religious extremism,” and eventually to the familiar sense “craze, excitement, strong liking for something.” Now one can have an enthusiasm for almost anything, from water skiing to fast food, without religion entering into it at all

It connects neatly to another word that appears in Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance. Gumption.

If you’re going to repair a motorcycle, an adequate supply of gumption is the first and most important tool. If you haven’t got that you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away, because they won’t do you any good.

Gumption is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going. If you haven’t got it there’s no way the motorcycle can possibly be fixed. But if you have got it and know how to keep it there’s absolutely no way in this whole world that motorcycle can keep from getting fixed. It’s bound to happen.Therefore the thing that must be monitored at all times and preserved before anything else is the gumption.

You can of course replace motorcycle maintenance with whatever you happen to be doing right now. You should watch out for gumption traps. These are the things that drain off your gumption reservoir preventing you from reaping the benefits of aligning with your work.

A delightful short movie from Pixar.

Partly Cloudy is a delightful interpretation of the clouds and storks story of where do babies come from…

I have always felt that short 3D animated movies are the real gems to watch out for in the land of 3D animation. While the big budget, massive full length movies spread into the awareness of the masses, it is the short, sweet, powerful doses that Pixar delivers periodically that I look out for. From The Adventures of André and Wally B (remember Autodesk3DS2?) to the latest Partly Cloudy, it is like a time-line of how the art and craft of 3D Animated Movies has been pioneered and spearheaded by Pixar.

Partly Cloudy is a delightful interpretation of the clouds and storks story of where do babies come from. Gus,the lonely, insecure, dark cloud and Peck, his loyal delivery stork partner are two more delightful characters that Pixar has brought to us. The “dangerous” babies are a treat to watch. I loved the baby crocodile and the baby porcupine. Priceless!