50 Excellent Photoshop Tutorials

See what Callum Chapman has listed here
http://sixrevisions.com/photoshop/top-50-adobe-photoshop-tutorials-of-2009/
What a wonderful collection! Enjoy.

How to Create Heros?

Lately I was struggling through my latest script trying to make the hero more likable. Looking through my class notes I gathered the following:

• Determine the key strength and weakness of the protagonist. Weakness can be a flaw or fear.
• The protagonist should have a good motive (for his/her actions) too.
• Remember no one is interested in just reading/seeing someone become rich etc - if however you make the protagonist struggle through for someone's cause (like a loved one, or the ailing grandma or the friend who lost his limbs etc) then it makes it interesting.

I found these links good: Hero's qualities and Create likable heroes

Make heroes believable, likable (give good qualities), larger than life (must do great things that many never accomplish) and desirable (give some special charm).

Different Strokes - Fred and Marley

Today Fred Rubin who wrote and produced such iconic TV shows as "Night Court", "Different Strokes", "Archie Bunker's Place", "Mama's Family," "Step by Step" and "Family Matters" visited DeAnza and lectured us about writing the sitcom spec script and writing jokes. He was really really good and shared with us the methodology he has been using to generate new ideas.

We where also joined by Fred's wife Marley who produced for the Emmy winning show "Home Improvement" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" for a podcase which is available on iTunes U (tune to Hollywood North).

They both discussed on breaking into the business, how TV show gets made from writer's room to studio floor, and the future of television, etc

On the whole it was a great night - good choice Barack (Goldman) on bringing Fred and Marley.

Beaten -a short

Checkout this short: http://vimeo.com/5350719

Awesome iPhone applications

Again I am amazed by what WebDesigner Dept has published.
Check out:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/04/40-awesome-iphone-application-websites/
I really love the ones they have picked - hope you do too.

Painting with Light

Have you ever wondered why certain movies carry that ominous, eerie feeling right off the bat? Why was Children of Men so dull and depressing? What about Matrix? Confessions of a Dangerous Mind? It is the lighting. I had not paid close attention on the deliberate lighting decisions and the kind of mood that it can set until now. Will update as I learn more on this.

In the meanwhile if you are interested read these books:

• Matters of Light and Depth by Ross Lowell
• Painting With Light by John Alton
• Motion Picture and Video Lighting by Blain Brown
• Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook by Harry Box

There is bunch of more recommended books at Bill Zarchy's Web site.

A Few Good Movies

One of my friend asked if there are any movies that I would recommend him to watch, and hence this post...

• Paycheck (2003)
• Gloria (1980) - You can find John Cassavetes' stamps everywhere. Almost all scenes are filled with some kind of uneasiness or conflict - whether acute or mild. These kept me glued to the couch.
• John Carter (2012)
• The Fountainhead
• Aeon Flux (2005)
• King Kong - Peter Jackson's wonderful creation.
• Shooter - Good pace all through.
• The Birthday Girl - The script and screen play closely matched the footprint of a good Hollywood style movie.
• Grosse Pointe Blank - The screen play exactly matched the definition of a good screen play (as taught at my film school).
• Short Circuit - Somehow the director (John Badham) had succeeded in creating in us an emotional attachment with "Number 5".
• Stakeout (1987) another one by John Badham; very well done. 
• The Holcroft Covenant - Typical Ludum - came through quite okay.
• The Bourne Series - The pace, action, editing and of course the story.
• Matrix (all of them) - Wonderful concept; as a computer engineer I totally admire it and relate to an OS. Cool editing, FX, action.
• Star Wars (the original one) - Some how it transported me to a magical era.
• I, Robot
• Clear and Present Danger
• The Fugitive
• Indiana Johnes - series
• Unforgiven
• For a few dollars more
• A Fistfull of Dollars
• Pale Rider
• Dirty Harry - You must have guessed - yeah I like Clint Eastwood :)
• Gentlemen's agreement
• To Kill a Mocking Bird
• The Good, the bad and the ugly
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) - My all time favourite novel - kudos to Alexandre Dumas. I guess, probably that's why I like this. Or probably the ending.
• Cool Runnings - Hilarious. Nice screen play (again following the blue print of a perfect Hollywood movie).
• 6th Sense - I simply loved it. Very nice screen play or was it the way it was presented...?
• Where Eagles Dare
• Guns of Navarone
• Runaway Jury - Very nice; what a controversial subject for a movie - and what an ending.
• Flash of Genius - Very nice screenplay for a movie - and again a good ending.
• Ivanhoe (1952) - Neatly done. I liked the way Walter Scott had crafted Bois-Guilbert and how it came out on the screen. You know he is the bad one, but can feel bad for him on his love for Rebbecca!
• High Heels and Low Lifes - the script adheres to the formula. Good.
• Casino Royale (2006) - Good editing.
• King Solomon's Mines (2004)
• Hostage (2005) - Good script. Like the "love triangle" there is a"need/want triangle" in the story - wasn't expecting that.
• Terminator Salvation (2009) - How do they get this look? There was this another movie that spoted similar dark look - Death Race (2008) - though didnt like Death Race the looks was good.
• The Russia House (1990) - Very nice camera work.
• Push (2009) - Taught; kept me watching till the end.
• U.S. Marshals (1998) - Fast paced and good!
• Metro (1997) - Prety good; nice script and good direction. Wonder why it didnt make money at the box office..!
• The Driver (1978) - I liked the direction and editing.
• Eragon - I liked the screen play a lot - it was very familiar to Star Wars - the original one. I was further astonished to learn that the author of the story Christopher Paolini was born in 1983!
• Walking Tall (2004)
• Dejavu - Nice script/story
• The Scropion King
• Robocop - liked the script
• Home Alone2 - made me laugh like hell
• The Musketeer (2001) - quite a good screenplay
• The Karate Kid (2010)
• Jack Reacher (2012) - need the bad guy's motive to be a bit more compelling. 
• Happy accidents
• Trams-Siberian 
• Oblivion (2013)
• Kick Ass (2010) - How did I miss this?
• Allied (2016) - Very nice. The performance of the heroine was too good.
• Two days in the valley - too many loose ends. But stil it was watchable. 
• Probably not in the above set; but still some elements were good:

• Klute (Not a strong story - but very good direction)
• Blind Horizon (2003) - Nice direction and editing.
• Hidalgo - Could feel myself rooting for Hidalgo! I wonder how they succeeded in making that horse limp on its right-front..? It was a pleasant surprise to find that Robert Dalva was the editor. He had come to my film school and spoken about Black Stallion(s), Jurassic Park III etc.
• The Da Vinci Code - Why here? I really really liked it all through - but probably something - I dont know what... didnt quite make it.
• Nadine - Reasonably good script. Probably the stakes should have been a bit higher.
• Munich - Why here? Somehow... something... probably the script didn't quite make it.
• Million Dollar Baby - Don't curse! I put it here because it is so sad. But for this, the movie is too good.
• Live Free or Die Hard - Quite good overall - I need a bit more of a twist in the script. Another reason why this movie is here...is... ta..td... Go De Anza (Len Wiseman graduated from here)!!
• Keeping Mum
• The Illusionist - I liked it a lot. I feel like putting this in the top buckett; but it is here only because I would like to have the character of Crown Prince Leopold a bit more strong, more evil so as to justify being tricked.
• Elektra (2002) - Good camera work and special effects.
• CQ - I really thought that is was a movie released in 1969.
• The Client (1994) - The was almost perfect - I would want some more conflict as to the ending; right from the start I was sure that the kid is gona make it throughout.
• The Italian Job (2003) - Neat. Good start. Few blotches of less than perfect direction - for example Donald Sutherland merely says that he loves Mark Wahlberg but it is not shown in actions. This is one of the gotcha's my Screen writing proff used to talk about so often!
• Romancing the Stone - To me this movie had a great script but was directed to be on the mild side - the director's choice on the look and feel and over-all impression dampened the movie's overall impact.
• The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - Quite taut.
• Sahara (2005) - Very nice movie; I would have put in the top bucked but for the climax. Somehow if felt a bit dragging at climax - seemed like the script writer struggled to tie all loose ends and also to bring to an end with a bang. The stunts were too good.
• Undercover Blues (1993) - very nice.
• Shoot'em Up - Stylistic; I liked the characterization.
• Phantom (1998) - Just took me back to my childhood days! Liked it a lot - nice 1930's feel.
• Devil's Own - Good conflict.
• A History of Violence (2005) - Neat story line. 
• Tooth Fairy (2010) - I could see the script adhere to all the beats. If you are an aspiring screenwriter then learn from this.
• The Island
• Green Lantern
• Contraband (2011) - good twists; but hero gets a lot especially the adventure in Panama and the painting
• Trouble with the curve (2012) 
• The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - Philip Dick is cool! The visualizations are nice but somehow I felt that the ending lacked some punch.
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - probably one of the earliest movies about after life and fighting your way back (which has been done so many times in Tamil). Loved the logic Michael Powell had nicely intertwined.
• The Longest Yard (1974) - Very nice! Was not expecting this to be so good.
• Jericho (2000) - Liked the twist/mystery. But movie was a bit dragging in the middle however this gave it a feel of late 60's movie.
• The Tourist
• Stand Off (2011) - the comedy was good
• Masterminds (2016) - watchable
• Carlito's Way (1993) - why has this not been made into a Tamil movie yet? Very nicely made. Characters and motives are well formed.

Movies that I want to see

• Experiment in Terror - I saw few clippings when some elements were taught at school. Seemed to have been crafted by a good director (Blake Edwards).
• Primer (2004)
• Stalker by Tarkovsky 
• Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972)
• Prisoners

Elements of a Good Movie

How to shoot a movie so it engages the audience?
There a re a few tricks, apart from having a good theme, script and actors, you need to know which scenes to shoot how. As a director when you read the script you will be able to identify scenes that need to be shot in a particular way to engage the audience.

Any movie will have the following three kinds of shots:

• Voyeuristic: In these kinds the director will try to convey the grandeur by use of elaborate sets and also will try to convey the experience of the character - say in The Last Emperor, the opening sequence where the little boy is made to sit on the throne, who jumps up and flaps his arms when he sees a cloth flapping in the wind (and who then walks through soldiers).
• Vicarious: The second kind is to make the audience feel the character's emotional turmoil. This involves using POVs heavily. Care is taken to show that character thinks, weighs options and makes decision.
• Visceral: The third kind is to put the audience right in the middle of the action. If this happens to be an action sequence as in Saving Private Ryan, then the geography of the location is established and number of characters participating with their position is established, then the audience is put right in the middle of the action by taking care to even direct the sand and gravel! This does not involve POVs but action punctuated by suspense and suspense punctuated by action.

On the whole, any movie theme should be packaged like a chase so the audience is left engaged.

Movie is a Character's (protagonist) journey (plot) towards a Goal which the character desperately wants against all odds (antagonist).

Make sure to have a singular protagonist, antagonist and a singular goal to make the movie effective.

Editing Exercise

Recently I edited a bunch of sample video footage from the Highlander serial. You can see the final result at YouTube 

The emphasis was on editing action sequence and building tension. One thing I should have done is to introduce camera shake which would have made the final output much much better. Probably next time! May be I should have shortened the quickening at the end and also should have shortened the post-quickening scene.

How to Act?

Assume that you have a script and a (screen) play written etc etc... now how would you go about and prepare to act?

• First understand the back ground and the context under which the play-write wrote it. Understanding this is very critical - this would help you to bring out the very essence that might not be available in the script/play itself. For you to act well, finding this is like finding the undercurrent that a Salmon uses to shoot against the flow of the current.
• Next do your homework - ie understand your character well, you should be able to say even to the extent of what happened to that character when she was say 12 years old, who were the best friends, what was the outlook on life - how it evolved etc etc
• Then understand the goal of the character. (The goal might be influencing the goals played in each scene). Find the sub-text.
• Prepare GOTE sheet - you should prepare one for each scene. Write down who else in the play/scene can help that character or hurt that character. What are the deepest fears and how can that be played in the scene. Remember the fundamentals: any change in goal or tactic forces a change in motivation.
• Find out what in the character's nature that would make you choose the tactics in the scene.
• Break the scene into beats and units and explain the motivation for each beat or unit from the angle of the chosen character. If any character enters or leaves the frame/scene then that automatically constitutes the start/stop of an unit. There may be many choices that might be "right" but remember to find the choices that are the most exciting.

That's it now get on the stage or set and give your best :)

Here are some very important tips:

• Never play a part pitifully - we root for underdogs; so look for the driving force to bring that edge out even if you are playing a very miserable part.
• Also if you have to play a negative role, find a more vulnerable reason to justify your actions on the stage.
• Now get ready for the most important one: Bring out conflict - conflict should always exist. Even if you are playing a dry scene try to inject conflict. Example: if you are just talking - a real boring speech - add a dimension of conflict to it - be it as simple as struggling to unscrew a Coke bottle.

Wind power augmented bicycles...?

Today I stumbled upon the crazy yet interesting discussion on building a vehicle which propelled by wind can go faster than the wind itself. See http://karmatics.com/dwfttw for a detailed discussion on this topic. Also checkout the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsXcHoJu-A on YouTube. If we can find a way to direct this energy (or release it is a direction we would want to) and augment this vehicle with a bicycle like pedal power we could have an interesting clean/green vehicle.

Tamil (ThoopuKaraNam) = SuperBrain Yoga

ThoopuKaranam is a Tamil word which refers to a particular act of worshiping Lord Ganesha.

Let me try to explain this process. This involves holding your left earlobe with right hand (thumb holding the front of earlobe and index finger folded and placed behind the earlobe to hold it with a moderate pressure) while the left hand holds your right earlobe in a similar fashion. In this posture, arms will be crossed over at the chest. Now while holding earlobes so, lower yourself a bit by bending at the knees and then stand straight; repeat this 'bend and stand straight' routine a few time while holding your earlobes.  Few folks follow this with a couple of gentle taps with knuckles on the head (probably just where the hair line ends) at a spot right above the end of the eyes.

You would have practiced/performed this at schools as a punishment (must have been an old practice at the schools) if you were unable to answer the pop quiz in the class; or dozed-off after a heavy lunch when your Math/History teachers exhibited their monotones vocal qualities.

Now this ThoopuKaraNam has been found to be the best Yoga for the Brain - check out the SuperBrain Yoga Web site!! I do not know how far this is true. And I am not associated with these guys either! I merely found this an interesting coincidence :) I say coincidence because I have read somewhere that in olden times piercing on earlobes to wear an ornament was believed to keep the vision perfect!

May be our ancestors who lived so long ago really had some strong understanding on everything and passed those on generations after generations; and we managed to loose all those and start to reinvent the wheel!

Graphic Design: From Paper to Web

Art and its various forms always interested me. I am really amazed at what creative people can do. With Web graphic designers have put CSS to real good use.
The other day I was looking for some cool CCS tricks and found WebDesignerWall. I liked almost all the works listed here. So many creative minds! Checkout the one site listed there that has clouds that move; and these clouds were not done using Flash!
One of my other favourite site on CSS design has been CSSZenGarden. You have to see all the designs loaded here - some of them are so so but most are really good.
Keep up the good work all of you creative folks!

Collage and Montage

I am more and more inclined to think that a montage is very much like a collage.
When young, I used to paint and then I moved on to sketching; somewhere in between I started to explore moderns art and discovered collage. Oh boy it was like love at first sight! Collage is pure creativity and freedom. To me it is a very powerful art form. I wish I had more time to explore it more - or probably more money to just focus on it instead of the rat race.
Now I am feeling that montage is similar to collage... probably I do not refer to montage in its true self when I compare it with collage, yet it is - I think you get it.

Points to Bear in Mind while Editing

I stumbled upon Oliver Peters article which inspired me to write this post - to highlight the following which resonate with me:

• Avoid Dragnet Edits
• Match Action
• Cut for Eyes

I should also say that Oliver made this interesting recommendation on using 3 shots (not 2 or 1 but 3) for inserts and cutaways. Never paid attention to this - have to experiment on this.

While we are on this topic checkout Ken's review of Michael Whol's book (which by the way was the text book we used).

Pecking Order

We played an interesting card game today...at school :)

Only one suite of cards was used (actually the suite does not matter) and Ace was eliminated too. So cards from 2 to K were used - 2 being the lowest and K the highest.

Each of us wore a head band to hold a card - the owner did not know which card was on our forehead; but others could see; also they could not say it out. The objective was to interact amongst others, treat individuals according to the card on their forehead and in the end we had to find out what was the card that was placed on our forehead.

We played this to understand status and how it can be effectively used when acting. Our instructor sneaked the Joker and it turned out to be pretty interesting round. The point he made was that with comedy/jokes one can level out the status or its difference. He drew connections to how in medieval ages the jester was the one who could freely express opinion to the kind and still manage to be alive!!

The art of film editing

I have been reading the book The technique of film and video editing (theory and practice) by Ken Dancyger. Ken shares some nice insights in this book. I liked the material in the book that I decided to post a summary of the interesting learning from that book - of course with my own perspective and additions.

Goal and role of an editor

As anyone would agree, I strongly feel that film editing is more of an art than science. Editing is similar to music composition. Finding the right rhythm and seamless juxtaposition of shots that clearly and dynamically convey the story to the widest group of audience is the goal of an editor.

I feel that the editor plays a pseudo director.

Montage

Sergie Esenstein and theory of montage.

• Metric montage: this is achieved by cutting shots according to set time or in other words based on set number of frames; cutting to next frame no matter what is in the current frame.
• Rhythmic montage: achieved by leveraging the movement in shots and how they relate or affect those shots.
• Tonal montage: juxtaposing shots to evoke desired emotional tone. As this creates an emotional feeling the effect is stronger than the above two techniques.
• Overtonal montage: using the above three techniques to create a much complex, stronger, abstract effect on audiance.
• Intellectual montage: conscience creation of new ideas by using shots in which the meaning does not exist.

To cut an effective montage, pick a perfect symbolism that is poetic and also pick an effective ending.

My Prof. at school talks about Hollywood Montage and European Montage.

Hollywood montage is the style of montage used to bring out the character traits and used as a mechanism to progress the narration - without really narrating. Good example is in God Father - the baptism sequence.

The European montage creates the mood or sets the attitude. Good example is in the Color of Money when Tom Cruis shoots some pool.

Techniques employed by prominent directors

David Lean's technique

• His artistic sense in using time, place and character in Lawrence of Arabia
• I particularly like Lean's perspective that events and behaviour are noble; while nature and fate play significant role sometimes cruel.

Hitchcock

• All his films start with the protagonist set in a wrong place in the wrong time.
• His use of chase in North by Northwest in the corn field
• Dream scene in Vertigo, Spellbound

Akira Kurosawa's treatment of truth and how it is relative to the character that expresses it in Rashomon.

• Similar treatment by Tamil writer Sujatha in his novel EarakKuraia Sorgam - simply superb.

Truffaut and his use of jump cuts and camera movement in Jules et Jim.

Style

MTV style

• How to create the MTV style look and feel? Remove the context of time and place (or change the conventional sense of time and place and create a dream state) to make the film more of an artistic adventure! What this style focuses to bring out is the feeling and a defined emotional state.
• The feeling state can be deep and sharp or dreamlike. If used effectively in a feature film, this style can cause a few sequences of shots to be memorable but would not raise the arc of action characteristic of the narrative film. This style can be employed when the plot is put-down - not that the plot is less important, but merely a choice by the film maker.
• This MTV style can be very effectively used when the main character in a standard narrative style might look reactive, immature, rootless and without a goal by easing the audience expectation by employing the fragmented narrative. The audience acknowledge that what they are watching is not real and hence they are tolerant can accept such range of shifts in feeling etc.
• This style has been effectively employed in Natural Born Killers, Slacker etc.

How to achieve this MTV style through editing?

• Use many more closeups than long shots to withdraw visual context
• Emphasise foreground over background to withdraw visual context
• Use lighting choice that moves away from realism
• Use jump cuts to obliterate time and place
• Overuse pace and camera movement to obliterate time and place
  

Editing for genre
Action
Emphasis on identification, excitation, conflict and intensification

• Identification: Use close-ups and point-of-view shots; decide if pov should be set at eye-level or higher or lower.
• Excitation: is achieved by movements within shots (pan, tilt, zoom), motion in shots (tracking, dollying, hand-held etc) and variation in length of shots (pace).
• Conflict: Achieved by crosscutting.
• Intensification: Achieved by varying the length of shots. Changing the behaviour of characters also causes intensification.

Dialogue

• The most important thing to bring out when editing a dialogue is the subtext.
• A piece of dialogue that advances the plot or reveals the key information about the character requires a closeup or other shift in pattern of shots to alert the audience of the importance.
• If the dialogue provides comic relief or masks character intentions then the reaction of the listener may be important.

I particularly liked the scene from Experiments in Terror where Kathy talks to the FBI agent in his office.

Comedy
This is one of the difficult genre to both direct and edit. Pace is very important.

• SitCom: Editing centers on timing
• Satire: In this case editor has a huge scope to be creative
• Farce: Highlight absurdity

In all these cases the editor must highlight :

• the source of humor (cut to highlight the source of humor)
• the target of the humor
• reaction shots/cut-aways to highlight surprise
• build scene to a surprise for comedy to be effective
• look if there is a possibility to juxtapose contrasting stupid/absurd activities on foreground and background

Principles of Editing

• Continuity
• Coverage
• Matching Action
• Preserving screen direction
• Setting the scene
• Matching tone
• Matching flow over a cut
• Change in location
• Change in scene

• Timing
• Rhythm
• Time and place

Slumdog Millionaire

I have been hearing a lot about Slumdog Millionaire lately - two of my friends at film school said it is a must see movie. Generally I don't heed to such statements, but I happened to stumble upon the Apple trailers page and checked out the trailer. The camera work is amazing! I was totally impressed with the details, movements and color.

So I started my digging and found that more than 60% of the movie was shot in digital format using SI-2K and SI-2K Mini. And the rest on 35mm and (I guess digital) still camera in burst mode too!!

I think the photographer has done a tremendous job.

I haven't seen the movie yet; but I will. However all those who have seen this movie (including news paper reviews in India) say that this movie portrays a very poor and sorry state of life in India; though the conditions are not like in USA, it is not pathetic in India. When would such movies portray living conditions in India properly?

Spring + Hibernate + Google Web Toolkit

I have been trying to use Spring, Hibernate and Google Web Toolkit (around June 2008) but was unable to for some crazy reason or the other. Now I just stumbled on these tutorials... wow!!

• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2007/10/well-this-tutorial-aims-at-helping.html
• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2007/11/hibernate-spring-google-web-toolkit.html
• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2008/02/hibernate-spring-google-web-toolkit.html
• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2008/05/source-code-available.html
• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2008/09/hibernate-spring-google-web-toolkit.html
• http://eggsylife.blogspot.com/2008/11/hibernate-spring-and-gwt-for-gwt-15.html

UPDATE: I had been using AppFuse and wanted it to work with GWT. One helpful suggestion from Matt Raible is to use Enunciate or to use GWT_Maven with AppFuse. My first impression on Enunciate after reading the docs is good; will let you know after I use it first-hand.

Also checkout Dustin Breese's blogs at http://dustinbreese.blogspot.com/2008/01/enunciate.html and http://dustinbreese.blogspot.com/2008/02/enunciate-and-rest-with-bt-sdk.html for litle more on Eucinate.

If you're looking for info on using AppFuse, check out the QuickStart Guide or Ryan Withers' Igniting your applications with AppFuse.

On parser for Tamil & linguistics and mathematics...

I think that Tamil is probably the only language that is grammatically sophisticated and yet simple. Many would agree...I even found this writeup: http://tamil.berkeley.edu/Tamil%20Chair/TamilClassicalLanguage/TamilClassicalLgeLtr.html. Wow!!

A few years ago I stumbled on this article http://www.infitt.org/ti2003/papers/19_raman.pdf which discusses how to build LALR parser for tamil "venba"s!!

Isn't that cool! Based on this one can provide natural language interface for conversing in venbas with a computer... lol... or probably build a "sanga palagai" that can expand if a proper venba is recited...

Another related fact is that Chomsky proved that linguistics and mathematics are related; if you cant find the original article read discussion in the book "Mathematics: The science of patterns - Keith Devlin". It is really a cool book - not into overly complicated expressons; very lucid.

If you are interested in similar topics I was told that "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" is a good book. I have to check it out.
UPDATE: I got hold of this book and am reading it now. Somehow this is not as impressive as Mathematics: The science of patterns; I find many material that I had seen in other earlier books. :(

5 things you do not know about me

Have you heard of meme travel? Seems to be an interesting "game". Checkout: http://www.soloseo.com/blog-tag-tree.html where it all started
Looks like the above link does not work any more (I checked it on 11 Sep 2012) :(

Ok - It is called meme travel;  here is how it goes: You have to tell 5 things about you and then tag the next person that should tell about them (Need not be personal or anything unknown to others - just 5 things that you feel like sharing now).