Abir Chowdhury's personal website.

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  • Honesty & ADHD

    I find it difficult to stay still.

    I’ve been this way ever since I was a child. In school, at home, or at the park – you’d always find me fidgeting in my seat, talking back, or running from equipment to equipment.

    ADHD is the reason.

    I only got diagnosed this year, by a psychiatrist (best person to do it) named Dr. Murugesh Nidyananda.

    One of the only mental practitioners who actually listened to me since I started dealing with them in Year 12.

    I’m doing better now.

    *After leaving two jobs and almost losing my house.*

    I really, really regret not getting diagnosed earlier. I wasted ten years at university. A further four-and-a-half afterwards working. More than fifty thousand dollars in HECS-HELP debt ensure that I never forget my inability to be organised and productive in the way that society expects. I don’t wish that on any of you.

    Anyway, thanks for reading.

    Also, this is the first real blog post that I’ve written in more than four years. I wrote this as part of my CopyThat copywriting training at Retain Media.

    It’s a great company to work for.

    If you want to support me, you can do this: follow me online (I will NOT bother you) then choose to listen to my podcast (SCREENCHEATS) on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Amazon Music Unlimited. Then you can follow my work, listen to my work, or ignore my work. Whatever you want. After that, you never, ever have to think of me again. Unless you want to.

  • Rest in Power

    Rest in Power

    Throughout our lives, we look at certain figures as inspiration for the type of person that we want to be. For me, one of those people is King T’Challa from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was brought to life by actor Chadwick Aaron Boseman and, now, his family must lay him to rest after the veteran actor lost his fight against colon cancer this week.

    He was only 43, but in his short life, he already told the stories of many famous African-American legends on the silver screen. As baseball vanguard Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013), funk pioneer James Brown in Get on Up (2014), and legal trailblazer Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017); Boseman already familiarised important black figureheads for a new generation of youth, but his depiction of King T’Challa – the Black Panther – in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is what he will be most remembered for.

    A screenshot of a Twitter/X post about Chadwick Boseman visiting a sick girl at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
    Source: Chadwick Boseman on Twitter/X.

    Obviously, I don’t know much about Boseman’s personal life, but his public persona exuded the charisma, poise, and passion of his regal counterpart. He had been battling colon cancer for years – enduring treatment and impaired health – but continued to train, rehearse, and film as well as make countless visits to hospitals to cheer up sick children.

    Boseman was T’Challa in real-life. He was a black superhero without a high-tech costume – his suit was the strength that he carried himself with throughout his final years. I, and many other people of colour, will remember Boseman as the leader that he truly was and always will be.

    Rest in Power, King.

  • Finally Getting ‘Round To It: Mass Effect 3

    Alright, I LOVE the Mass Effect series. I even preordered the N7 Collector’s (no pun intended) Edition of the game despite the fact that I could’ve gotten the regular edition imported for less than half the price.

    I looked forward to Mass Effect 3 like a little kid does to Christmas and hot damn was I excited to finally finish my version of Shepard’s story that I had started two years earlier. And then I played the game and after a few hours, stopped playing…

    It was a combination of three things:

    1. I didn’t know if it really was worth saving the galaxy. After all, when Shepard helped defeat the Reaper Sovereign in the first game he returned in Mass Effect 2 to find that the whole event was covered up as a terrorist attack by the Geth, and in Mass Effect 3 Shepard finds himself court-martialed and left ship-less despite the fact that he led a suicide mission to destroy the Collectors. Was it really worth saving the lives of those who would never acknowledge Shepard’s actions? I figured that it was a question that would never provide me with a satisfactory answer and that it doesn’t matter what became of my story so long as I would save help save billions of innocent lives.
    2. I thought I couldn’t get the best ending without playing multiplayer. I guess I read too much into what people were saying about how the “Galactic Readiness” level was what determined the final outcome of the story. I had replayed Mass Effect 2’s final mission in order to save everyone in the crew, and also replayed the entirety of the original game just to save Wrex: the “best” ending was what satisfied me the most. NB. I wasn’t one of the people who complained about the endings themselves. I figured that BioWare made the game the way they saw fit, and that it was them who put in all that time, money, and effort to crafting such a beautiful series – NOT the pricks who felt that they were “owed” something by BioWare. Seriously, if you didn’t like the endings then that is fair enough, but don’t go demanding the developer make changes just to appease your mismanaged expectations. Making a series where decisions from earlier games are brought into current ones is a difficult task in and of itself, and players would be kidding themselves if they thought that every single permutation of every save file would have its own specialised ending. We just don’t have the technology to pull of something like that, and I think players should’ve known better. Either way, it was just a game after all right? Hmm, that kind of contradicts my previous dot point, doesn’t it?
    3. BioWare gave in. This broke my heart. I got over my indecision to save the world, and I had learned that I could maximise my readiness by complete side-missions, but reading Dr. Muzyka’s defeated blog post was the last straw. It put me off of Mass Effect 3 and made me lose faith in BioWare. I dismissed the “entitled” players that complained about the endings, but I hated the fact that they had won. They got what they wanted, and brought an established studio like BioWare to its knees. In September, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuck left BioWare, the company they had founded together in 1995.

    Image 1

    So why am I playing Mass Effect 3 now, almost 10 months later? A) Because I want to be able to listen to the Giant Bombcast without having the game’s story spoiled, B) I’ve heard that the From Ashes and Levathian DLC add a lot of worthwhile content, and C) I REALLY love Mass Effect.

    Mass Effect 3 deserves another chance, and I will make sure to play through the game to completion (without the Extended Cut endings), and enjoy myself while doing it. I’ve heard a lot about the two DLC packs, and will include them in my playthrough (though From Ashes was already included as part of the Collector’s Edition).

    I will post updates here as I continue through the game so be sure to check back from time to time. You may even find some of it on Doublejump so keep an eye out on there too. Anyway, it’s late and tomorrow’s going to be an eventful day (I’m going to see my girlfriend yay!) so good night, and happy new year if I don’t post before then. 🙂

    This post was originally published on Tumblr.

     

  • My Halo 3: ODST first impressions

    The latest game that I have been playing is Halo 3: ODST, I’m only a couple of hours into the campaign and have been enjoying it so far. I don’t actually own an Xbox 360 so I have borrowed one from my cousin. I figured that if I am to write about video games for a living I should probably familiarise myself with all three major consoles and not just my PC.

    Anyway, Halo 3: ODST is actually a side-story to the main Halo series of first person shooters. Its events run concurrently to those in Halo 2, but instead of playing as inter-galactic badass Master Chief you play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper or ODST. ODSTs are an elite arm of the United Nation Space Command and are used to complete difficult and high-priority missions. They are deployed via drop pods that are released from large warships in our atmosphere, similar in manner to the way paratroopers were deployed from aircraft during World War II. Your character is “Rookie” and after a failed “drop” you find that you are separated from your squad and that you have actually landed in the middle of the Covenant invasion.

    The game’s narrative is told primarily through a series of playable flash backs which are triggered by Rookie finding clues about his squadmates eg. finding the black box from a fallen surveillance drone or a squad member’s helmet (spoilers). It is a refreshing take on the typical story-telling methods employed by modern games that rely heavily on large set pieces depicting cities being blown up and army men yelling military catchphrases left, right, and center. Okay, there are a few of those in this game but I just find them funny. I guess I’m just used to hearing them really.

    Image 1

    Speaking of audio, one other departure from typical Halo games is the soundtrack. It doesn’t feature the iconic strings and defined drum beats of the series’ main theme, instead opting for more nuanced and emotionally resonant themes that play off of the game’s noir-esque atmosphere. My favourite piece so far features strings that are accompanied by a piano playing a haunting melody while you search the streets of New Mombassa in the Rookie segments. It does add a sense of unease because your character doesn’t have the super-human strength or advanced MJOLNIR armour of the Master Chief.

    In fact, you don’t have a shield or a motion tracking system – not even regenerating health. Instead you have a stamina meter, a full-sized map via a menu, and rely on good old-fashioned med kits to replenish health respectively. Alright, the systems aren’t exactly innovative but they do provide a noticeable change to the regular Halo gameplay formula. Another key difference is the HUD system called VISR (Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance) which boosts the brightness of the scene in front of you and outlines every single object with colour: red for enemies, green for friends, and blue for weapons on the ground, and (I think) a bright yellow for interactive objects like computer terminals.

    Image 2

    Oh, and did I mention that the entire time you are playing as Rookie you are being watched over by someone (or something) called the “Superintendent”? Whatever it is it uses environmental objects such street signs and ringing phone booths to direct your path through the ruins of the city. It is all very creepy and I have the sneaking suspicion that the “Superintendent” is not actually a human being… or maybe it is? I don’t know, I’ve only played a couple of hours.

    Okay, I do not intend this to be a proper review so I’ll just say a couple of things in closing: the gameplay is fun and you can actually employ a stealthy approach to enemy encounters, the graphics are pretty decent for a 360 game, cut-scene character animations can be exaggerated in a way similar to Robot Chicken, and that this is a genuinely great game even without the Halo connection

    You know what, I may actually end up reviewing this game. 😉

    This post was first published on Tumblr.

  • Thirteen Days…

    It’s been three weeks since my girlfriend has been out of the country and man, it doesn’t get any easier. I miss her so much and even though we chat with each other and speak to each other every other day it just isn’t the same. It makes me appreciate just what we have when we are together in person. Distance doesn’t do any relationship favours, but what I’ve found is that our fights are resolved much faster than usual. I guess it’s because the distance makes things hard enough and so we don’t want to add anything to. She’ll be back in thirteen days and I can’t fucking wait til she is back in my arms!

    —

    The music school I attend is having a showcase concert tonight with the theme of “Australiana” ie. songs by Australian artists. I’ll be performing “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS; one of favourite my songs and something that is really powerful. I hope that I can do Michael Hutchence justice, either way it’s a bloody fantastic song and it’s a lot of fun to perform!

    Oh and I will be posting my initial experiences with the Nikon F4S either tonight or tomorrow. I’ve taken some photos of the camera so all that is left to do is write my impressions. I will also try and get my photos developed and scanned so that I can upload them for you guys to see. Most of em probably look like ass but I don’t care, it’s all a learning process after all.

    On a side note, Google Plus looks like a pretty comprehensive alternative to Flickr as a photo-sharing hub. It presents its albums nicely and the uploading process is painless. I’ve actually been using it to host the images on this very blog. Anyway, that’s all for tonight folks. Good night. 🙂

    This post was originally published on Tumblr.

  • Film, film, film, film, film photography…

    Fuck oath I’ve been obsessed with film photography this last week. First I bought a used Nikon F4S (more on that soon) on the internet, then I borrowed a 50mm lens and some film from a friend and have been thinking about (if not actually shooting) film photography. I have a few books about photography in my collection, with two more added just yesterday, and have taken one of them with me when I am house/cat-sitting for my girlfriend.

    Man, working in a second hand store really does have its perks!

    I am now planning to purchase the lens that I have borrowed, and also a 24mm prime lens in addition to some proper graduated ND filters for landscape shoots. I’ve always been keen to shoot landscapes but have used a telephoto zoom lens because I like the perspective you get by using one – that and I have always sucked at composition using a wide-angle lens.

    I also intend on getting my hands on some Fuji Velvia slide (positive) film as I have been told that the colours you can get from that film are phenomenal!

    I really, really want to get the photos that I have already taken developed, printed, and scanned so that I can show you guys something instead of just blabbering on about it.

    Anyway, that’s enough from me for tonight. I really need to brush my teeth and get back to Batman (our cat).

    Good night people.

    PS. I’m sorry if what I wrote yesterday came off a bit brazen, I really was not in the best of moods.

    This post was originally published on Tumblr.

  • First!

    I made this blog on a whim. I have made blogs before but haven’t really committed to them. I wanted to make a blog that looks nice and that will make images and videos look nice. I’ve seen tumblr before but had always dismissed it as a site for just relaying other people’s work and not really showing off anything that is your own. Then I saw a few blogs that use tumblr that are mainly text based and made me consider tumblr as the suitable place for my idle thoughts and proclamations, hell, even photos that I take! And on top of that, I too can relay interesting thoughts, pictures, and quotes that I find on the intertubes.

    Yeah, I may end up being like every other blogger out there but I seriously could not give a fuck. I started shooting photography on film, fuck you. I mainly play games on PC, fuck you.

    Oh that reminds me, I’ll post some stuff about my new camera soon. I’ve had it for just over a week and I love it. I’m looking forward to seeing how my photos have turned. It’s pretty exciting if you ask me. 😀

    For those of you who have managed to make it this far, hello and welcome to my blog. I trust that you will enjoy my ramblings and may even like some of the photos I post here. Thank you for reading this inaugural post and good night. 😉

    This post was first published on Tumblr.

  • Idorus and Kameras

    I just started reading Idoru by William Gibson. It’s the second book in his Bridge trilogy of Sci Novels. It’s started off in typical Gibson style: someone looking for work, others getting into things way over their heads, and a shady corporation that will inevitably end up hunting them all. I know that I make it seem a bit formulaic, but trust me, it isn’t.

    Gibson’s depictions of the future are eerily accurate, and kind of depressing. Things are usually fucked; either technology has developed to a point of replacing reality for a lot of people or natural disasters have resulted in people rebuilding, and repurposing, buildings, technology, and even culture.

    He, like my two other favourite authors J. R. R. Tolkien and Philip K. Dick, creates a world that is both interesting and amazing but not somewhere that I would like to visit. Okay, I would probably visit Middle Earth if it existed.

    I guess that should provide some insight into my literary background.

    After watching this video my interest in shooting using film cameras has been rekindled. I have shot using film before, but seeing how every hipster douche said film was the “only way to shoot” – it just put me off. I don’t want to be a hipster nor indulge in any facet of their culture. But now I’m thinking, film cameras existed before hipsters, photographers shot from the hip before hipsters so why should I let something so superficial get in the way of me honing my craft?

    I understand that by shooting in film you start to appreciate the convenience of digital. Unlike digital, you’ve only got a small amount of exposures per roll of film so every shot requires a lot more thought and preparation. I’ll aso hopefully better understand the relationship between shutter speed, ISO, and aperture.

    I own a Nikon D5100. It’s DX format camera but I do own an FX (full 35mm equivalent) format lens: a 50mm f1.8G. I’ve been looking into getting a Nikon F4 as it works with almost all of Nikon’s lenses – from the 50s to even my ‘G’ lens. 😀

    Getting a F4 means that I don’t have to worry about what lenses I am using as they will all, most likely, be compatible. Oh, and metering will work properly – thank god!

    If I were a Canon user, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this so I consider myself lucky for investing in Nikon. 🙂

    And no, I’m not a Nikon fanboy. Canon makes some brilliant camers, especially for video, and Sony have been making great strides with their NEX range.

    Though personally, my next digital purchase would be a D600. The most affordable full frame camera that Nikon produces.

    PS. I don’t know if anyone would really be interested but I have uploaded the short radio package that I recorded for my journalism assignment.

    Enjoy:

    This post was originally published on WordPress.com.

  • #TeamBrad

    Another day spent in bed being down.

    I didn’t go to uni because I was going to “do my assignment”.

    Why do I kid myself?

    At least I kept sane by watching Giant Bomb’s Brad Shoemaker play through the final levels of Doom II, and talking to my girlfriend.

    I wish I was a productive member of society, I feel like a bum again.

    Enough of this depressive shit, hopefully I feel better tomorrow. I’m having lunch with the missus.

    Can’t fucking wait!

    PS. They sure don’t make games the way they used to. I know it doesn’t seem like much today, but the original Doom would’ve fucking BLOWN minds when it first came out! Imagine finally playing a game in first person when everything you had played before that (okay, Myth did it first, but c’mon) took place in two dimensions! I guess my generation is the last to have experienced that revolution, man I kind of feel sorry for the kids growing up today. God dammit, my kids will be educated about this shit! 😀

    PPS. Doom is still scary.

    This post was originally published on WordPress.com.

  • The day before Manoranjan

    It’s the day before Manoranjan.

    We’ve got the final (and only) dress rehearsal tonight. Last Saturday was meant to be the first dress rehearsal but the organisers decided to let people miss it.

    Most of the acts were not ready anyway and a lot of them still require a bit of work and polish.

    Anyway, I know I haven’t written anything in a long time, I guys ever since the other guys thought it was a waste of time to write. They don’t understand the importance of practice and polish but what can you do. They haven’t really followed other sites and productions like I have.

    I should really stop people getting to me. Sometimes although the person saying it may be a good friend, their opinion should not always be listened to.

    I’m learning as I’m going. Isn’t that the point really?

    That’s enough from me for now.

    PS. I am really liking journalism, hopefully I don’t Fuck it up.

    This post was originally published on WordPress.com.