As most of my friends and acquaintances know, I recently schlepped all the way from my comfy, loveable hometown of Kolkata to something a little less familiar. This was the first time I was leaving the city, let alone the country. Terrifying, exhilarating, stressful and so much more. The journey in this new strange land has only just begun.
Ferry ride along the Hamburg shoreline
It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Business reports, presentations, German bureaucracy and apartment hunting has kept me on my toes, amongst other commitments here and there. It’s been a continuous hustle for the months I’ve been here and the ones leading up to the flight here. Exhausting is the least I could say about it, but every once in a while there is a moment. That inexplicable moment that strikes at the most odd times. I could be doing my groceries, walking around the city or sitting in the train and then….it hits me: “I’m here aren’t I? I wanted this and I achieved it.” It usually happens when I’m exhausted or doing the typical uni kid calculation on how I can afford groceries for the rest of the month. Then when the moment strikes, it reminds me to be grateful for getting the opportunity to be here.
The previous year or so has been a shitstorm for everyone, not just me. But with both my parents being sick for the majority of the year, all of us coming down with COVID, my parents testing positive for the second time and the general depression in the news, I guess it was about time I started cherishing the happy moments.
Konigsee surrounded by the Alps
It’s been around 5 months since my move here and life here is still just starting. The hustle has just begun, with work, classes and the insatiable urge to travel around this gorgeous continent. I have spent every waking minute in some activity or the other because at times I feel like this is a dream and I’m not ready to wake up yet. Travelling, socialising and sight-seeing are just the moments worth for the ‘Gram. The bureaucracy, the apartment search, the adulting and much more are all below eye level. BUT, I came here for the entire package and I’m enjoying every bit of the challenge.
Berlin
There’s so much more to talk about, the struggle to come across, Europe during in lockdown, watching India implode from here, learning a language here, the gruelling job market and a host of other things that I could go on about. But for now, I just wanted to share a surface-level insight into how life’s been going. Until next time….. auf wiedersehen.
Ever since the release of the first ever gaming console, console designers and game developers have ventured on a journey of perpetual improvement. The Playstation One release of 1994 began the war between Sony and Microsoft that would result in both companies pushing each other to the brink for the next 2 decades and more. Nintendo has had a say in the industry but has mostly derived profits of their exclusive rights over favourites like The Legend of Zelda, Mario and the Pokemon series.
Pokemon Lets Go is the latest hit from the franchise on the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo has continued to milk these franchises with multiple game installments through the years with minor graphics and game-play improvements. The major learning point here is, instead of focusing on making games where the characters slowly looked more and more realistic, they stuck to the cartoon-ish, lovable blueprint. The release of the Nintendo Switch in 2017 marked a one-of-a-kind device that not only combined portable gaming with a gaming-rig setup, but also began the era where traditional flagships from PC, Xbox and Playstation also became playable on this Nintendo. Suddenly, hits like The Witcher 3, Overwatch and FIFA were all playable on a Nintendo device. This however did not dampen their resolve to steam ahead with more releases on their exclusives and why is that?
For starters, Nintendo understands that by being one of the first companies to enter the industry in the ’90s, they managed to set the stage of what story-lines and characters would be like. Thus, they immediately endeared characters and games from their exclusives to the hearts of gamers everywhere when video gaming was just becoming a phenomenon. As a result, Nintendo understands that the market runs on a certain amount of nostalgia and they have stood by their exclusives all these years and have made profits out of them simply due to the fact that the average gamer was willing to buy the latest Nintendo along with their primary gaming device just so that they can enjoy playing games that bring back memories of a happier time.
Fall Guys gameplay
In 2020, a company named Mediatonic decided to take a page out of their book and aim to make a game that was fun without the burden of forcing designers to ensure a characters had unique moles, coloured eyes and other high-detail aspects to their appearance. Thus came Fall Guys. The game is made of lovable jelly-like people that don’t converse in any language but just make “coo”-ing sounds while hopping about.
The game is like a digital version of Takeshi’s Castle(or Wipeout for those not familiar with this) where 60 players begin playing different rounds of obstacle courses, team building exercises and more with eliminations taking place in each round until there is just a rag-tag bunch of few survivors who compete in a final obstacle course to capture a Crown to be declared as the winner.
Players compete to survive in order to claim the crown in the final round
The game employs basic physics, frustratingly competitive tasks that seem easy and the most minimalist controls to ensure the game is just fun for everyone. Of course the game does become oddly toxic at times, which is common with multiplayer games, it still has an addictive nature to it that will keep you playing despite repeatedly dying or being pushed off a ledge by a chaotically evil competitor.
Mediatonic has surely hit a home run by steering towards a flagship that is based on just joyous game-play instead of overly-complicated story-lines. To put this into perspective, Fall Guys got 1.5 million players in the first 24 hours of its release. They even sold 7 million copies on the game library Steam as of August and have smashed the record to become the most downloaded Playstation Plus game ever.
Fall Guys sticks to simplicity when it comes to game-play as well with just 5 action controls and 2 communication-based controls
Fall Guys has surely worked its way into the history books and they have done this by working well with the basics to keep players entertained, something more developers should understand is the need of the hour.
It has been a bumpy ride for the DC Extended Universe in their bid to catch up with Marvel’s throne as the number one comic-based movie franchise. Even the most die-hard DC Comics fans, like me, have a hard time making a point for DC when it comes to this particular sector of DC-Marvel rivalry. Ever since the Dark Knight trilogy was concluded, DC Comics movie releases have been tipped to be a flop rather than expecting them to reach for greatness.
Deadpool & Wonder Woman recently engaged in banter during the trailer release of Deadpool 2. Source: Movie Crow
What DC fans fail to realise at times was that the Dark Knight trilogy was a dramatic masterpiece. Christopher Nolan was against the idea of directing a stereotypical superhero movie but wanted to frame it as a crime drama instead. Thus, the accompanied grittiness and “darkness” of the movies fit right in. Unfortunately, when DC decided to begin a journey into an extended universe of movies, similar to Marvel, most of their movies were a swing-and-a-miss. Man of Steel gave the franchise a good start but the anti-climactic nature of Batman vs Supermanresulted in more memes than praises.
The Wonder Womanmovie smashed the Rotten Tomatoes ratings but it still fell short of getting worldwide acclaim from viewers like some of the Marvel masterpieces like Captain America: The Winter Soldier. DC then became mocked for making their movies unnecessarily dark and dingy, while every Marvel movie was light and easy on the eyes. The grand finale to this unsuccessful run was in the release of the much-awaited Justice League movie during Fall 2017. Zack Snyder, the man behind all the movies until now, had to step down due to personal reasons towards the end of the production. The mantle was then passed on to Joss Whedon for post-production edits and more.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is still widely acclaimed as the best MCU film. Source: Entertainment Weekly
Whedon would then go on to scrap multiple scenes, redo certain parts and condense the previously 3-hour long movie to 120 minutes. He is also credited with adding the lighter tone to the movie, with multiple quips and one-liners sprinkled here and there to hopefully render the same reaction the public had formed towards Marvel. With an estimated budget of 300 million dollars, the movie went on to bomb at the box-office and set back Warner Bro’s a good sum. The failure of this was then pinned on the fact that Snyder was unable to complete his vision and all the work that he had put into the previous movies before this in storytelling was thrown to the wolves when Whedon stepped in.
The failure then marked the campaign we now know as “Release The Snyder Cut”. With the campaign even having a website of its own – www.snydercut.com. Fans and members of the cast began voicing their support for the release of the Justice League movie as Zack Snyder intended it to be. After much campaigning, it finally got its green light in February 2020 and will be aired on HBO Max with a September 2021 release decided upon.
It is set to be released as mini-series named Zack Snyder’s Justice League and will be 4 episodes long, each running approximately for an hour. Finally, 4 years after the release of the poorly assembled Justice League movie of 2017, DC fans can now be excited once more to feast their eyes on a long-overdue epic.
Poster for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Source: The Verge
Hollywood is a wasteland with many careers left to rot after poor mistakes. Zack Snyder on the other hand has been given a second chance, something that is unheard of in this part of town. The mini-series is tipped to tie up multiple loose ends, like how Aquaman got his armour and quindent as well as retell a key Batman Vs Superman scene.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League isn’t the story format the fans deserve, but it is the one we NEED right now. It will not be the movie we hoped for that would put up a fight against the Avengers movies, but the mini-series aims to be the cinematic masterpiece that can hopefully repair some of the damage that DC movie disasters, most recently Shazam, have left on the hopes of the fanbase.
There is not a dearth of comedic series for us to choose from these days. Netflix has ushered in a new era of shows that combine comedy with other genres and easy streaming from anywhere. These shows break the trend of slapstick comedy and laughter soundtracks that were the mainstay of the ’90s and the ’00s. Steve Carell’s latest show – Space Force, is one such new entry to the comedy realm that pushes the limits of a typical comedy. This new age has ensured that fans of the genre, like me, always have a plethora of options to choose from. One such modern-age-comedy series is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show has gained a loyal fan-base over its 7 seasons of broadcasting. In fact, when it was cancelled after the 5th season by Fox, there was an overwhelming show of support by the fan-base on social media, such was the effect the show had on its fans. Quite logically NBC picked it up the very next day and they have not looked back ever since.
I’ll admit, I was a huge critic of the show early on. How could a cop show be categorized as a comedy? I grew up watching Hawaii Five-o, CSI Miami and Criminal Minds. Each of them was more gritty than the other. The “softest” cop show that I had watched until then was Castle. I was a big fan of the light entertainment genre due to my love for The Big Bang Theory, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother and Community. I was so in love with this category that I would even binge on shows that were painfully average(at best!) like Melissa and Joey and Hot in Cleveland. The former 4 shows were all watched by me during my final years in school and through college, so they quite obviously moulded my affinity towards the genre. But with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I felt this was yet another swing-and-a-miss by Comedy Central when they had started airing the show.
The friendly mentor-mentee relationship between Andy Samberg and Terry Crews is often visited for its chemistry
Even watching a few episodes here and there, when nothing else was on, could not sway my judgement. There was one thing that drew me to the show ever-so-slightly however and that was Andy Samberg(and partially Terry Crews). I was already familiar with his teenage-clown kind of comedy from his time on Saturday Night Live, so I finally decided that if the protagonist of the show was to be an SNL veteran, then I should give it a shot. What I missed out on noticing before blacklisting the show was that Michael Schur was one of the creators. The man who was also behind Parks and Recreation as well as the all-time great – The Office US. Once I learnt about that, I decided to watch the show and do it the right way, i.e. binge each season in one sitting.
One of the most highly rated cold opens in the show where Jake asks suspects to sing “I want it that way” by Backstreet Boys and he gets carried away in the excitement
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has proven to be a subtle masterpiece. It takes an acquired taste, for sure, but it has a truly addictive nature to it. Friends whom I have introduced the show to have immediately binged season after season once they got a whiff of it. The show has the jackass-light-hearted comedy that keeps viewers smiling, with the office quirks and Andy Samberg’s immature character. But the show stands for much more than quirky cold opens. Journalists and bloggers call out shows and movies each day for either a lack of diversity or for forcing diversity. This however, comes naturally to Brooklyn Nine-Nine with its main cast evenly spread out without forcibly trying to shove minorities down your throat. To put it into perspective, Captain Holt is a gay-black captain of the NYPD, Terry Jeffords is an African-American sergeant, Rosa Diaz is a Mexican-American detective who dresses up like every female character from a steampunk novel and is later revealed as bisexual, Amy Santiago is a cuban-origin nerdy character who plays by the book, Gina Linetti is an Italian-American assistant to Captain Holt. Charles Boyle, Michael Hitchcock and Scully are white Americans and finally Jake Peralta is a Jewish-American detective that leads the line for the cast. This evenly spread representation of different groups and the easy-to-follow interactions of the show don’t push the agenda by force but instead makes it look effortless.
The main cast of the show
The humour of the show comes quite naturally as the writers use office shenanigans, immature behaviour and innuendo to deliver the laughs even though the show is based on a police precinct which is generally one of the most tense environments a person could be in. The show tackles issues like institutionalised racism that is prevalent in the police body of the USA; one such example is an episode where Terry is profiled by a white uniformed officer while wandering around his neighbourhood. The show also subtly talks about the difficulties faced by trans people. An example of this is an exchange between Jake and a prison warden where they go from comedic banter to a sidebar where they gently just push in a few dialogues acknowledging the brutality of prison life for a trans person.
With the story of Captain Holt, the series sheds light on the blatant racism that was prevalent in the NYPD through the ’70s and ’80s. This is done via mutliple flashbacks to Holt’s time as a detective where he was repeatedly marginalised by his fellow officers. The homophobic aura that was ever-present in the ’70s was also visited in an epsiode where Holt’s husband and Peralta discuss about the discrimination Holt was subjected to for being a gay man in an era where people were not welcoming to the LGBTQ community. Another big moment for the show was when it visited the overwhelming pressure that comes with explaining your sexuality to your parents. In that episode, Rosa comes out to her rigid parents as bisexual. They end up resisting at first and giving her a hard time, but the writers don’t give the episode a fairy tale ending and instead leave it on the note where her father agrees to slowly understand her perspective even though this notion was strange to him. To many bisexual and gay people out there, this is one of the most stressful moments in their lives and acceptance for who they are is all they crave for from the people they love.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine uses the theme of office camaraderie to help each character share the spotlight equally and venture on missions in different pairs so as to easily keep the audience riveted by the changing chemistry between pairs. This also helps the flag-bearers of each group to get a fair share of the limelight to narrate their story. The show is easy to watch, with some lovable recurring characters like Doug Judy aka The Pontiac Bandit. The show also shatters the stereotype of the muscle man in the police squad who is the no-nonsense tough nut. Instead, they took Expendables 2 actor Terry Crews and put him into a role where he goofs around, talks about his children all the time and acts as a fun-loving yet strict father figure to the squad. On the contrary, the tough nut here is Rosa Diaz who carries way too many knives and has overtly-sadistic solutions to regular problems.
Typical goofy moment at their favourite bar – Shaw’s
Charles Boyle is the epitome of a loyal friend who stands by Jake in every decision he makes, work or otherwise, and Jake reciprocates the same. The repetitive Die Hard references made by Jake, helps the viewers to think of him as a real-life fanboy of a movie and leads to a better connection with the audience. Andy Samberg while doing an interview on a talk show has even gone on to plead Bruce Willis of Die Hard to make a guest appearance on the show. Most of us are hardcore fans of a singer or actor or sportsperson, so we can all understand where Jake’s obsession comes from.
The series has been covered and referenced in multiple forums such as transgender support, LGBTQ support and Black Lives Matter forums. This just goes to affirm the more-than-a-show effect it has on viewers. The show has multiple quips and references to many serious issues of our day but the way the message is delivered helps keep the show light and breezy for the viewers. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has surely worked its way into my heart after being detested by me for months after its premier, so if you haven’t watched it, you are surely missing out on a treat. Seasons 1 through 6 are available on Netflix with season 7 yet to be added to the streaming platform, so you can started bingeing the first 6 at least right away. This new age cop show will surely go on to win many more hearts over the next few years and its about time you opened yours to it.
There are much more instances of course where Brooklyn Nine-Nine deviated from the “normal”. Comment on this post with the one that was your favoruite.
Unfortunately for Ingraham, this did not go down well with the public and this phrase had gotten blown out of proportion. Later that year, the Showtime network released a 3-part docu-series entitled “Shut up and dribble”. The series aimed to shed some light on the growing influence black athletes have off the court and their changing role in the cultural and political landscapes.
Shut Up & Dribble on Showtime poster. Source: IMDB
The year 2020 has seen some of the most massive protests in multiple countries against the mistreatment of black people after the death of George Floyd. Those 8 minutes and 46 seconds that police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the hapless George Floyd’s neck would trigger a tsunami of outrage with people demanding reforms to weed out institutionalised racism that exists in our society. Countries united to denounce what had happened and people were finally fed up of the way this community has been berated for years now. You would expect aggressive changes brought about by the governments, especially that of the United States of America in order to purge this evil. You would expect police departments to keep these so called “few bad apples” in check for a short while at least.
Sadly, that was too much for us to ask. On the 23rd of August, barely 3 months after the murder of George Floyd, another black man named Jacob Blake was shot in the back 7 times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with 4 of the bullets colliding with him. This left Jacob Blake with the need to be hospitalized. This was yet another incident where a defenseless black person has been the victim of excessive force by the police. It was safe to say that this sparked another flurry of protests across the country. The exasperated feeling among the general public is growing ever-more-stronger with each incident. Minorities are gunned down, beaten with batons and attacked by the people who have sworn to protect them each day and every time reforms are called for, nothing happens.
There is no denying that top athletes have a cult following. Athletes like Lebron James who have gone above and beyond the call of duty by giving back to the community in every way possible have earned the respect they hold right now. James has regularly made humongous donations to charities that support black people and has set up foundations to cater to the nurturing of black children as well. He also set up the Lebron James Family Foundation to help children in the classroom.
Foundation started by Lebron James to help children.
Coming back to the Jacob Blake shooting, the American sports leagues that had just resumed over a month ago, were not having any more of this. NBA teams would wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts to their games when the NBA bubble had started in order to show the unity in the league for this cause. On August 26th, following the shooting, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their NBA playoff game. This move was widely respected by the league. The Houston Rockets, LA Lakers and others then followed suit. The league even held a vote regarding the continuation of the playoff rounds to which the LA Lakers and LA Clippers were reported to have voted against it.
This act of solidarity did not stick to just within the NBA as the Women’s NBA was the next to follow this boycott. Slowly, every major team in every major league announced that they would boycott their games that day. This resulted in a nation-wide boycott of sports in America’s major sports leagues. This move was symbolic of the message the players: Enough is enough. Multiple players across the leagues have come out on social media and in interviews to talk about the problem. Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder issued a statement that said: “We (are)just tired of seeing the same thing over and over again and everybody just expect(s) us to be okay just ’cause we get paid great money. We’re human. We have real feelings”. This sentiment was widely the theme of what all the players were trying to say. Ryan Tannehill of the Tennessee Titans(National Football League team) gave a powerful message saying, “We’re tired of seeing black men and women die in situations where they should be walking home and spending the night with their families”.
Every major sports league in the USA, except the NHL(National Hockey League), boycotted their playoff games
Athletes work in the entertainment business and thus have gained the admiration of millions throughout the world. If we want a change to happen, we need these idols to use their demi-god-like positions in society to be the voice for change. There is reason to believe they could bring about change successfully as well, just as seen in Lebron’s charities. To give you perspective, in a different sport, Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United attacker, led a campaign to overturn the UK Government’s decision to stop daily meals during the lockdown. The support was so overwhelming that the campaign was successful and the decision was overturned. This was just a testament to the sway athletes have in the world right now and a potent example of the change that can be brought about by them.
Marcus Rashford was a one-man army to get free meals back for the children
This act of solidarity by the American sports fraternity is one that will go down in the history books and should be the beginning of better things. If a 22 year old Marcus Rashford could sway the UK government, surely the American sports body can together bring about the change they, and we, wish to see in society. No longer will basketball players “shut up and dribble”.
History has been riddled with psychopaths who have left a trail of blood behind them. Most of the serial killers of yesterday have become a part of our folklore with stories, dramas and movies aiming to capture the essence of the story. These serial killers have ended up as a mainstay in pop culture references due to their heinous crimes. Each had their own reasons and their infamous reputation has ensured they are immortalised in remind us of the monsters that live amongst us.
Some of them are driven by lust, others are just madmen who want to watch the world burn. The most famous and widely “loved” on-screen serial killer, the Joker, helps us get a glimpse into the mind of an anarchist. Performances by Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix have endeared this Agent of Chaos to us. Such is the charm of a good serial killer story – it appeals to the latent sadist in us.One thing most of the serial killers of our world had in common, they targeted the common man. For them, it was a numbers game and they’d pick out their victims from the masses. These were people with an insatiable bloodlust, not terrorists, they didn’t care about famous names on their list of victims. This is what makes Andrew Cunanan stand out.
Joaquin Phoenix after winning an Oscar for his performance as The Joker. Source: Reuters
Andrew Cunanan was a gay prostitute who most famously murdered Gianni Versace, the legendary founder of the luxury fashion brand of the same name, who had publicly come out as an openly gay man to the world despite the risk to his business in order to help other young men stand for who they are. What makes the story even more peculiar is that this was not a random pick out. Andrew was obsessed with Versace long before he could murder him. His unhealthy obsession with the fashion mogul sparked his madness which lead him down the path of killing 5 people, the last of which was Versace.
Antonio D’Amico(Versace’s partner) and Gianni Versace. Source: Foxnews
Andrew was a prolific liar and would do anything to get out of actually working hard. He was a textbook narcissist who looked for a shortcut in everything he did. He was always comfortable with his sexuality as a queer man and would not try to hide it. Andrew was classically handsome and didn’t need to work hard to lure a partner. Andrew was quite often the centre of attention from closeted, rich men who would look for exactly what Andrew possessed – a smooth talking personality and a gorgeous face. Andrew used this to enter the gigolo business to make quick and easy money. It was safe to say that he found this business quite suitable but he did it by being a stay-home partner for rich, old men and would get a monthly allowance from them. This way, Andrew successfully entered upper society as he wished and had piles of money at his disposal.
Andrew had an admiration for Versace’s work and when he finally got the chance to meet Versace, he hoped for a romantic relationship and once his advances were rejected, his obsession was triggered into a more toxic nature. When his luck ran out, he took a flight to visit the man he claimed to love, David Madson. On this trip, Andrew bludgeoned Jeffrey Trail(a common friend of theirs) to death using a hammer, right in front of Madson, in David’s apartment. He then murdered David while they attempted to elope, followed by Lee Miglin in Chicago who was a big-time real estate developer.
The nature Miglin’s murder gives us a glimpse into the spiralling mind of Andrew’s at the moment. The 72 year old man’s head was wrapped with duct tape and his hands and feet were tied. His body was found in his garage with 20 stab wounds from a screwdriver. This was no normal “burst of anger”. This was a man who wanted his aged victim to suffer. His next murder, that of William Reese was of a random nature, with the victim shot in the head with the same pistol used to murder Madson. On June 12 1997, Andrew was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, just as he reached Miami, the site of his final crime.
Cunanan was rumoured to have Lisa Kudrow on his list as well. Source: Radaronline
Andrew Cunanan was driven by envy. He felt he was similar to Versace, possibly due to his Italian roots, so he bore great jealousy of Gianni’s success. He felt he was better than Versace and he deserved the latter’s riches instead. This jealousy combined with his numbing to murder propelled him to stalking Versace’s house for days to look for the right moment to kill him in cold blood. On the morning of July 15, Andrew shot Versace just at the entrance of the celebrity’s mansion on Miami Beach.
On July 23 1997, Cunanan’s body was found on a houseboat after he had shot himself in the head. The bloodlust of the killing spree had finally worn off after he had managed to murder his prime target. The numb sensation towards death and murder dissipated and he would have felt the walls closing in on him. The madness of the episode and the complexity of the man is quite beautifully captured by Darren Criss(the Glee star)who turned out to be the spitting image of Andrew in the FX Adaptation – The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace(right). Andrew Cunanan original photo(right). Source – Vulture
Andrew Cunanan’s story is one of more than a serial killer. His killings spanned a paltry 3 month period where he travelled freely and participated in parties and sexual intercourse. The man was not a psychopath, but he did portray all the traits of a sociopathic specimen, one who felt no empathy for the pain brought to others as long as it benefited himself. This nature was built up over years, including his childhood days. He felt untouchable and that he deserved the world but was not willing to put a shred of work into it.
His friends and schoolmates have come out to say that Andrew would repeatedly bring up Versace’s name in conversations, thus showing further proof of a deep-seated obsession with the icon. Andrew, while growing up, behaved like he was famous and would always be famous and remembered just for who he was and his behaviour. He didn’t care about achievements, he was too self-absorbed for that and believed his behaviour was enough for him to be remembered.
Tom Cruise was rumoured to have been his next victim on his list. Source: Express
We may never know how many more would have succumbed to his blood rage had he not spiralled with guilt, with reports later stating that he bore a similar obsession towards Lisa Kudrow and Tom Cruise. Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace’s names will forever be entwined in the history books. One was a man who revolutionised the world of fashion, the other was a man who went on a blood-thirsty rampage. Their achievements are poles apart, yet their names are stuck together until the dawn of time with the only thing similar between them being their sexuality.
Video games have well and truly evolved from a pass-time for children to a much needed stress buster for adults at the end of a tough day at work. The gaming industry has become such a lucrative one that it boasts of some of the most valuable organisations in the world like Electronic Arts, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ, that has a current valuation of $5 billion at the time of writing. This explosion of the industry, which was once considered doubtful due to the rising rates of piracy in the 90s and 00s, has forced many a people to sit up and take notice.
The gaming industry is fiercely competitive with names like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and many more, all fighting to gain the attention of a fickle-minded audience. Innovation has gone hand-in-hand with success for the industry. When CD games started getting pirated, developers turned to online purchase and mandatory sign-ins to play games. Unavoidably, many were unable to fork out the cash to play their favourite games, this lead to the birth of free-to-play games. Today, a vast majority of the most successful games of our time are free-to-play titles like Fortnite, PUBG(booming especially in South Eastern Asia), Hearthston, Apex Legends and League of Legends.
The juggernaut of free-to-play games absorbs players who are interested in high quality titles but have tight pockets. These games turn out profits by in-game transactions like skins, battle passes and loot boxes. Just in the year 2019, free-to-play games have raked in $87.1 billion in revenue globally, thus accounting for digital game revenues. This is a staggering number and is a testament to the stature of the industry presently.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen regular crashes in servers of Call of Duty: Warzone due to the soaring number of players online at a time. While the world’s businesses bleed money during the pandemic, the video game industry is showering in cash as a result of being the prime source of entertainment for people stuck at home. The appreciation for video game consoles is even mentioned in the autobiography of legendary Italian football, Andrea Pirlo, who wrote “After the wheel, the Playstation is the best invention of all time.” The man is famous for saying how he had played on his playstation during the afternoon of the world cup final against France, which he then went on to win while playing a starring role for his country.
Despite all the love for free-to-play games in the casual and competitive world of gaming, there is one game that has fused the world of “buying games” and in-game transactions to become one of the most mightiest forces in the gaming scene – Overwatch.
Overwatch was released on 24th May 2016 by award-winnning developer Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard was already boasting of an envious inventory of games spanning a variety of genres. They were one of the most respected dev in the business due to their eye for details, quest for perfection and class-apart innovation. Blizzard would tend to set the gold standard in the genre they would enter. Their motto of perfection is best captured by the fact that they pulled a completed game before release, Starcraft: Ghost, because they felt it wasn’t their best work.
Thus began the era of the team-based shooter, with other honourable mentions playing their part such as Team Fortress 2 and Paladins. Overwatch had innovative battlegrounds, a futuristic setting and crisp animated graphics. Ever since its release, it has maintained its position of one of the most truly enjoyable games of this decade. The game draws 40 million users worldwide as of a 2018 report. The genius of Overwatch comes to the fore in its rise in competitive eSports. There is no doubt eSports is now becoming a massive movement and Ninja’s recent buyout gaming platform Mixer at $30 million is a clear sign of the colossus of competitive gaming.
Overwatch has sparked multiple competitive tournaments over the years but has now taken the form of a proper league with established franchises competing against each other while hoards of viewers cheer them on. Overwatch has established a tier-based system with Overwatch Contenders Trials followed by Overwatch Contenders and finally the big league – Overwatch League. While there are other major eSports tournaments in existence like the Call of Duty League and League of Legends World Championship, none of them attract fan-fare on the same level as Overwatch League.
Just like any other sports league, there are franchises that compete each other. These are not just any free-to-sign-up franchises either, it takes a fee of $20 million to just own a franchise. This astronomical number for young industry was still not a deterring factor as the 12 franchise spots up for grabs to participate in the first-ever Overwatch League were quickly snapped up. Many famous personalities and sports barons have taken up ownership of these franchises, like Los Angeles Gladiators who are owned by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment who own a flurry of sports franchises like Arsenal, Los Angeles Rams and Denver Nuggets. The faith shown by massive business owners who own vastly successful sports franchises in established leagues is a great backing to a growing industry like eSports.
To drive up viewership, the league has shifted to a tournament format for the year 2020. The drama of a knockout competition is sure to add another dimension to the competition. In its first year of inception, 2018, Overwatch League was already on course to become a billion dollar tournament, something that would surely please the big boys at Blizzard. This craze has also resulted in an obvious war for viewership rights. In January 2020, Alphabet’s Youtube struck a deal with Overwatch League to capture the exclusive streaming rights on Youtube Gaming for around $160 million. Alphabet had also struck a similar deal with Call of Duty League.
Esports is expected to generate revenue worth $1.7 billion by 2021 with a projected viewer growth 39.5 million in 2018 to 580 million. This exponential rise has seen more familiar faces like Michael Jordan, Jennifer Lopez and most recently, David Beckham, take up ownership of eSports teams. Beckham has jumped on the Overwatch League bandwagon and taken up ownership Guild eSports who will follow an academy structure and was one of the 8 new additions to the league in its second season.
Overwatch League franchises for Season 2. Source: Reddit
Overwatch has been at the epicentre of the sensational rise of competitive eSports and we can only expect greater things from Blizzard(who have made a mess of games in recent years though) who are looking forward to a sequel with the original Overwatch rumoured to becoming free-to-play to boost user base. In true Blizzard fashion though, they will do something that was never done before and introduce cross-version gameplay, where Overwatch 2 and Overwatch 1 players can play together online.
If you wish to read more about eSports, you can check out my other post on this topic here
There is a fine line between each extreme and quite often, we are left toying with the same. Scenarios in life throw us into a moral dilemma where we need to choose whether we are willing to cross that line and venture into the dark side of things. The siege of the WACO compound by American law enforcement managed to bring the extremism of 2 different topics to the forefront of the public.
The event was yet another dark chapter of the 90s and was heavily scrutinised by the public and media. In fact, the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, two years later, is said to have been instigated by the poor handling of the WACO situation by the FBI and ATF.
The episode was a 51-day siege by the FBI, ATF and Texas rangers on the Mount Carmel Centre which was being used as a compound by the religious group of Branch Davidians. This group was said to be an offshoot of another congregation called the Shepherd’s Rod who were a product of the Seventh-day Adventists. The Branch Davidians were led by a controversial, self-proclaimed prophet called David Koresh who had twisted the ideals of Christian teachings to form his own sect and brainwashed his congregation with far-fetched claims.
He had got the entire church to move into the Mount Carmel Centre where they would live together and prepare for the second coming of Christ. Law enforcement first got involved when they got tipped off that David was illegally stockpiling weapons in the compound. Apart from this, David Koresh had sexual relations with many minor girls of his congregation and bore multiple children with them. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives(ATF) would then begin an inquest after multiple complaints and after getting a variety of testimonies, they obtained a warrant for the search of the compound and the arrest of David Koresh.
On the 28th of February 1993, the ATF planned the raid of Mount Carmel with the strongly-ironic name of “Showtime”. The ATF officials were surely in for a show, just not the kind they would enjoy. When the officials proceeded to attempt to search the compound, the Branch Davidians opened fire on them. This lead to 4 ATF agents being killed and another 16 were wounded. This attack on the ATF prompted the FBI to get involved, especially with the news of child abuse coming out of the compound.
On April 19, 1993, hundreds of FBI agents, ATF personnel and Texas Rangers surrounded the compound and commanded the Branch Davidians to surrender and David Koresh to submit himself for arrest. Eventually, the FBI launched and assault and tear-gassed the compound in order to smoke out the Davidians. But soon enough, the Mount Carmel Centre was engulfed in flames and this fire resulted in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians including 25 children, two pregnant women and David Koresh himself.
The killing of civilians and the army-like tactics that were employed in this case drew widespread criticism. Media and the public were crying for the heads of law enforcement for this unjust strategy. The use of incendiary tear gas were labelled as the match to the flame and the FBI should never have been authorised to use a weapon that is not allowed to be used in war according to the Geneva Convention.
The Justice Department of America then launched an internal investigation that was concluded many years later in 2000. The panel of investigators concluded that the Davidians were responsible for starting the fire, contrary to popular belief. The intense tactics employed by law enforcement like ramming the building with tanks and a tear-gas assault can still not be overlooked, despite the panel’s report. Tear gas launched at women and children and using aggressive negotiation techniques while having the knowledge of civilians in the compound could never be endorsed by the public.
The other evil that this story exposed was the dark side of religion.The girls were being abused by David Koresh illegal weapons were being assembled for the “second coming of Christ”. These practices were normalised by David Koresh who passed himself off as a prophet of God who would lead them out of suffering. His charismatic demeanour and powerful public speaking ability helped him ingrain these twisted ideals into gullible men, women and children. He managed to take the most followed religion on the planet and create a sect of his own where he was the messiah and parents were to consent the abuse of their children at his hands.
The undeniable grossness of David Koresh has still not been dismissed as the ramblings of a madman. Instead an altar has been erected in his honour in Waco, Texas with a wooden cross beside it. His deranged preachings that he was the messiah sent by God still lives on in the minds of the survivors of the cult. The preachings of the man who was labelled as a mocked-child-turned-manipulative-adult still live on today in his followers and the power he weirded in controlling the way these people thought is truly terrifying. The real question is, if not stopped in 1993, would he have gone on to wreck even more havoc?
The NFL has had its tryst with bad boys over the years. The Superbowl(the annual final of the NFL season) regularly attracts record-breaking numbers for both attendance and worldwide viewers. The league also boasts of some of the biggest names of the athlete world and regular features in the Forbes list of richest sport stars. Whether you are familiar with the league or not, the majority of us have heard of top names like Tom Brady and Odell Beckham Jr.
Despite the glitz and the glamour of the sport, there have been moments where it has been associated with some sordid memories. The most famous incident that comes to mind is the murder lawsuit against NFL legend, O.J. Simpson. In recent years, another dark chapter has unveiled itself in the form of New England Patriots tight end, Aaron Josef Hernandez, and his multiple homicide cases. Aaron was found guilty of the murder of Odin Loyd, who was dating Aaron Hernandez’s girlfriend’s sister at the time. The incident occurred on June 17, 2013 in Attleborough, Massachusetts.
Aaron Hernandez playing for the New England Patriots. Source: USATODAY.com
Aaron Hernandez was a bright prospect in his high school and was tipped to become an NFL star from his younger years. There was a secret though that none of his close ones were aware of, he was a closeted gay man. The secret was laid out bare for the world to know when his jailhouse lover opened up to the media and reporters to talk about their relationship.
Aaron came from a Puerto Rican-cum-Italian descent. He grew up with a brother and the two of them were constantly physically abused by their father. Alcohol related issues were the cause at times and a number of times there was no reason at all for the violence. At an early age, Hernandez knew he would need to hide his sexuality from his parents and the people around him for the fear of being shunned by his family and society as a whole. This resulted in Aaron amassing negative feelings and resentment for people around him while he slowly developed into a man and thus, could be credited for his sociopathic nature.
Aaron was always a loose cannon and when he went to Florida State University, after his father’s death, the boy would run into trouble there as well. One of the earliest instances was when Aaron and his college teammate, Tim Tebow, had visited Swamp restaurant in Florida and after ordering drinks, Hernandez refused to pay the tab, got into an argument with restaurant staff and punched the restaurant manager which lead to a rupture in his ear drum. Since Aaron and Tim were both minors at the time, the restaurant authorities wished to put the scene behind them instead of involving legal proceedings.
The cherry on top of Aaron’s misdemeanours was when in the early hours of July 16th, 2012, Hernandez pulled up near a car in South Boston and opened fire on the 2 men inside before speeding away. In the car with him was a man named Alexander Bradley who was known to be a scum of the Earth himself. Bradley was involved in drug dealing and other sorts of illegal activities and was clearly not the name a future NFL star should have been spending his time with. The record shows that Bradley reprimanded Aaron for the hit-and-run incident. To protect his name, Aaron drove him to an empty parking lot, shot him in the head and sped away leaving Bradley to die. Unfortunately for Aaron, Bradley had survived this surprise attack. When the police questioned him about the suspect, Bradley refused to give Aaron’s name because being a Man of The Street he wanted to get even instead. Once he was discharged, he gave Aaron an ominous phone call that left the Patriots boy shivering in his boots.
This lead Aaron to get involved with more shady characters like Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace. It is debated that this was a strategic move by Aaron to get some protection from a dangerous Alex Bradley who was out for blood. The sheer cheekiness of the entire Aaron-scenario is visible in 2 incidents:
The hit and run coolness
After Aaron Hernandez murdered two immigrants in cold blood at a traffic stop in South Boston on July 16 2012, Aaron showed no remorse for the killings and the motive behind the murders was a spilled drink at a nightclub that caused him to follow the victims in his car and shoot them at a traffic stop. Days after this, on August 27th 2012, the Patriots awarded him a $39.58 million contract extension for his great performances until then. The police found no leads at the scene of the crime and Aaron went on to play in that season’s NFL without having to suffer and repercussions.
Sociopathic response to Odin Loyd’s murder
When Aaron Hernandez had murdered Odin Loyd at a short distance from his residence, he had just set up surveillance cameras in and around his house at the time. The footage from the cameras, though attempted to be erased before the police could arrive, served as evidence for law enforcement bodies. In this footage, they found Aaron portraying no signs of nervousness or stress which should be common with a law abiding citizen who had just committed a murder. He was seen playing with his baby daughter, hugging and high-fiving his friends in the hours after he had killed his former friend.
Aaron went on to be convicted of the Odin Loyd felony and the police managed to tie him to the South Boston hit-and-run case as well. While he was serving his sentence for the Odin Loyd murder, during the hit-and-run trial in 2017, Aaron’s new attorney, Jose Baez, managed to get him an acquittal. There are images of Aaron crying in court when the decision was announced. What happened days after his acquittal, stunned the world. Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in his jail cell. He left behind 3 notes, one for his wife, the other for his daughter and the last one for his attorney.
Aaron did this for love because despite being acquitted in the second trial, his career was still over. He found out that if he died during the appeal, the murder suit would need to be dropped and thus his wife and child could receive the money from his Patriots contract so that they could be taken care of. It was later learned that Aaron had the worst kind of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy(CTE), which was common amongst NFL players due to repeated and massive blows to the head.
It is said that this condition had rendered him emotionless and could have altered his brain chemistry. This apparently explains the sociopathic and brute-like behaviour that he displayed. If this is true, it is time the NFL takes a long, hard look at how they intend to protect their players because, if proven, this trauma could cripple and ruin multiple people’s lives and result in more gut-wrenching incidents. Aaron Hernandez did what every father would do at the end of the day, when he sacrificed his life so that his family would be taken care of financially, and this shows there was still goodness in him.
The story of the Jeffrey Epstein case is truly remarkable. Jeffrey was a multi-millionaire who partied with the rich and famous and abused and trafficked underage women during his private time. Events of the saga often make your stomach turn but it helps to push past the disgust and learn a little more about the truth of the entire fiasco. For those who have not kept up with this particular story, you are forgiven because conspiracy theorists will justify this ignorance with 101 arguments ranging from COVID-19 being a tool to distract the masses to stimulus cheques from the US government acting as a lollipop for the unsettled mob.
Jeffrey Epstein was this Gatsby-like figure who live in a 7 storey mansion on the upper east side of Manhattan. Just knowing this immediately informs you that this man was one of the country’s wealthiest. This was just the tip of the iceberg though. Mr Epstein owned multiple jets, giant compounds in different cities across the US and Europe, like Florida, New Mexico and Paris. These weren’t apartments or tiny houses, they were all massive compounds. The peak of his wealth can be fathomed in the fact that he owned an entire island in the US Virgin Islands which became an important part of the scandal. That plot came to be known as Pedophile Island.
Jeffrey Epstein is described by witnesses as an introverted figure who revelled in being an enigmatic mogul. The man was in close company with big names like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz(law professor at Harvard) and Harvey Weinstein(producer). By profession, Jeffrey Epstein was a financier and claims to have made his riches that way. But quite intriguingly, his career started out as a school teacher. He then managed to bluff his way into one of the country’s largest firms – Bear Sterns. The man did all of this without a college degree. These were just initial signs of his deviousness and manipulative power.
Jeffrey Epstein used the money and connections that he amassed during these years to become an untouchable figure of power, who could do as he pleased. With this immovable power, Jeffrey would lure teenaged girls using the promise of education, career and a better life and then abuse them in despicable ways. Epstein had a right-hand man in the form of his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell who carried out his bidding. Jeffrey would talk to these girls occasionally and Ghislaine would mostly do the reeling in part as well as talking the girls into carrying out their sexual demands.
Jeffrey had set up what seemed to be like a underage-sexual pyramid scheme at his Florida residence where he would offer girls $200 for massages and would ask them to invite their friends to give him a massage for which they would be paid $200 once more as a “referral bonus” When law enforcement found out about this and started tracking down the spider web of victims, they discovered what seemed to be a never-ending list. During these massages, Jeffrey would ask the girls to undress or remove whatever was covering him and start pleasuring himself while the girl was massaging him.
He would also force the women to have relations with his friends. The most public case of this was of the victim Virginia Giuffre who claimed to have been forced to sleep with Prince Andrew. She even produced a photograph of the 2 of them with Ghislaine in the back where Prince Andrew has his hand around her waist. The Prince was also spotted on pedophile island, by one of Jeffrey’s workers, with the same girl.
Left to right: Prince Andrew, 17 year old Virginia and Ghislaine. Source: Insider
With the number of complaints escalating at the Palm Beach Police department, they slowly built a case with the help of the FBI. But after a little digging, the FBI stopped responding to them. The lawsuit that was filed with the US Attorney for the district of South Florida, Alex Acosta, seemed to be an open-and-shut case with Jeffrey seemingly having no way out of it. Then Mr Acosta turned the case into a shush matter where a secret court hearing was held without the prosecution and victims being informed and Jeffrey was handed 18 months jail-time. As if this was not insult enough to the victims, Jeffrey was given an entire wing of the prison as a private area and was allowed tons of privileges like leaving on business and meeting with his attorneys on a regular basis.
This was a testament to how the rich disregard the laws that we need to abide. But karma was going to have its day. On July 6th, 2019, the FBI managed to draw together a case in secret without anyone from Jeffrey’s circle getting to know. They arrived at Teterboro airport in NYC waiting for Jeffrey’s plane to land after a trip to France. He was immediately arrested and taken away. The attorney to the victims, Brad Edwards was informed and the victims who were willing to face Jeffrey, flew down to New York. This was their moment when they would finally see the demon that haunted them be brought to justice. For many, they were subjected to over a decade of trauma, with dozens of ominous phone calls from Ghislaine and suspicious people following them and even stalking their houses at night. The mental torture was now finally about to end.
The man was to be put away for life, but just 4 days after his arrest, he was found dead in his jail cell. The reports said that he had made a noose out of his bed sheet, tied it the edge of the bed and leant forward to asphyxiate himself. The victims were enraged, they felt they were robbed of justice, they lost their moment in the sun. The untimely death though is not accepted by all. Not the least by Jeffrey”s brother, Mark Epstein. Mark campaigned for an investigation into his death. Days later, in a raid of his Manhattan property by the FBI, they found cameras in each and every room linked to a master surveillance room. This meant he had video proof of all the heinous acts that his “circle” were up to under his roof. This gave him dangerous leverage over each one of them.
Thus, this springs up the question, “Was he murdered?” A private pathologist hired to study his death, Dr Michael Baden, says there is evidence towards a homicide. He points out that the suicide story does not align with the injuries to his neck. The hyoid bone, or u-bone, near the Adam’s apple showed 3 fractures along with several broken bones in his neck. This was unusual of a suicide but common in a homicidal strangulation. This helped fuel conspiracies further.
Epstein’s cell pictured after his death. Source CBS news
Right now there are 3 possibilities
1) Jeffrey Epstein was murdered by one of the people in power whom he had leverage over. With many supporters voicing the “Epstein didn’t kill himself” movement, this seems the most widely accepted. 2) Jeffrey Epstein’s death was faked and he has been shipped off to his island or elsewhere. This is supported by the fact that all his wealth was transferred to the island 2 days before his death. But this seems highly unlikely. 3) Jeffrey, who was 66 at the time, in fact took his own life. He was not going to be free again in this lifetime by the looks of it. This was his way of escaping the humiliations of trial and thus justifies his victims calling him a coward.
The truth remains that people like Epstein need to face the music. The justice system putting him behind bars tells us that there are still a few good people out there who are willing to stand up for what is right. Hopefully, the other vermin will be brought to justice as well.
Marlon Brando as the Godfather has become a cult figure in pop culture since the immensely successful release of The Godfather. The chilling, all powerful and suave character that Marlon Brando portrayed turned out to be the example that a generation epitomised of a big-time criminal. There have been many criminals that have won the audience after that like The Joker played by both Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger, but these were of a different genre altogether and none can challenge the cult hero figure of The Godfather.
Netflix’s most recent short series on true crime, Fear City: New York vs The Mafia intends to introduce the viewers to the real-life Godfathers that ruled New York City with an iron fist. The story of the Mob is one told and re-told, dramatised and documented, such is the intrigue of this organisation. The Mob, or better known as the Mafia, were a number of crime families involved in everything from white collar crimes to cold-blooded murder. The major crime families which were controlled by the acclaimed Godfathers were the Bonano, Gambino, Colombo, Lucchese and Genoveses families. The crime family ideology has been used as a source of inspiration for many tv series and movies since the 1980s to depict an all-conquering, despicable group of people.
In essence, all crime families followed a similar structure. It started at the top with a Boss, the man who was pulling the strings. Then just beneath him was the Underboss who would communicate or order the others so as to keep the boss from being seen with the general scum. Beneath the underboss were the Captains, who would lead a team of Soldiers to do the loan-sharking, managing their prostitution rings, murders, choking out gambling money from debtors and any other crime you could possibly think of. If it was illegal, the crime family had someone participating in it.
The beauty of it all was, the families were run like institutions, where the boss was like the CEO. The boss would have meetings with his subordinates, decide agendas and the captains and soldiers would get it done. The show begins in an ominous fashion with a clip from a news report where the anchor points out that New York would initially be branded as Fun City but in the 80s the police and firemen were starting to call it Fear City due to the killings and illegal activity that was rampant at the time. Blood and dead bodies were often found on the streets, the city was an unsafe place and was being run by the Mafia.
The Mob was an organised crime unit like no other, the mafia heads made their mountains of money from illegitimate and legitimate sources. This blending of illegal work with the legal is what helped them cover up their income and their acts. The term money laundering in fact came from the time Scarface would invest his drug money in setting up laundromats, these were legal small businesses and served as a place to turn the dirty money into clean money, thus the term “money laundering”. But that’s a story for another day.
A creative passed around during the 80s. Source: The Guardian
The series depicts how the mafia infiltrated every industry and sought to gain out of every possible opportunity. The Mafia consisted of families of Italian-American origin but that did not stop them from taking advantage of fellow Italian-Americans. A participant in the docuseries recollects that when his father opened up a barber shop, few henchmen from the mob visited their shop once it was doing well and demanded a 30% cut otherwise he, his son, his family or his shop were going to take a beatdown. This was a typical bully move by the mafia to make the small bucks. The real genius was them taking charge of the unions. The mob ran the restaurant union, the labour union and the garbage disposal union amongst others. They would strategically place their soldiers into these organisations and slowly take control of the unions. Their idea was “you control the union, you control it all”.
This plan worked out flawlessly and was talked about in the docuseries where they would get the garbage management personnel to demand higher fees from the local businesses who had no option but to bend to their demands due to the lack of a competitor and fear for their businesses and lives. From this increased fee, the mafia would get its cut, thus becoming yet another stream of income.
During the 1980s, New York was booming, with skyscrapers being built everywhere. It was a brilliant time for the construction industry. The mafia controlled each of the major cement makers and each of the top 5 mafia families were involved in each of the major construction players. They would threaten and oust any independent company that tried to take any construction job of a value over 2 million.
Although there were many other crime families throughout the country, the Bonano, Colombo, Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese families were the ones that were run by the Godfathers who in turn ran the country-wide Mafia. Once again, this was not a rag-tag group of bullies, the soldiers were there for the dirty work, but this was a well-organised system. The five Godfathers of these families were called The Commission and any significant act of the Mafia had to be agreed upon at a meeting of The Commission. This was what separated them from other crime and terrorist groups. Their organisation was impeccable.
The producers managed to get 2 ex-mafia men to participate in the docu-series as well, Michael Franzese and Johnny Alite. They were there to give the viewers an insight into the opinions of the other side. They talked about how they would respect the FBI for doing their job and how their boss Paul Castellano had once defended an FBI agent when he and his men had found out that the agent was meeting with his maid and getting information out of her. The news had incensed the thugs and they suggested getting the narc out of the picture but Mr Castellano defended him saying “he’s just doing his job”.
Paul Castellano after being arrested by the FBI. Source: Mafia Wiki
The mafia had an understanding that the world was a cat and mouse game, the cops’ job was to catch them and their job was to not get caught. Law enforcement had it even tougher because of a strong code within the mafia. Michael Franzese, one of the ex-mafia members who participated in this docuseries, recollects how during his initiation, there was a ceremony where he was required to swear in blood. His finger was cut and the photograph of a burning saint was placed in his hand and he was told that if he ever betrayed the mafia, he would burn in hell for all eternity just like this saint. Moreover, the ingrained loyalty of the members assured each other that none would fold and betray the other.
The mafia may have been this well-oiled business that ran on solidarity, but the docuseries also talks about the event when after the FBI rounded up the Godfathers to be arrested, the “boss of bosses”, Paul Castellano was shot dead in cold blood by 3 soldiers minutes after he got out on bail because the Mafia bosses were dead against dealing in drugs and would kill any member that got involved in it and during the trial, tapes were about to be revealed where these soldiers, namely Johnny Alite, Joe Ruggiero and John Gotti(who then went on to become boss of the Gambino family) were caught on record discussing their drug peddling that they were carrying out on the side.
The series was more about shedding some light on the real life mafia family, the godfathers like Fat Tony and Paul Castellano and their tactics in raking in hoards of cash than about the major plot of the FBI taking them down. It almost seemed that the sub-plot of the mafia’s life and methods had stolen the spotlight. The brave efforts of the FBI, elaborated in this docuseries, is narrated on how they took down what seemed to be the heads of an immovable monster. The victory was a resounding one, but the mafia still lives with a new generation of bosses. Law enforcement can just hope that their tentacles don’t strangle the different facets of society once more like they would.
P.S. – For those interested, the Italian Police managed to get a Mafia Oath on camera for the first time ever here
Through great pain did I decide to write this post. I am not one to share stories from my life for the world to read or hear. I am a strong pioneer of “keeping private things private”. This on the other hand, is something I feel needed to be shared because it could help someone out there and in turn help out an animal as well. To brief you on context, I am a pet owner and on the 27th of July 2020, I watched my cat struggle to stay alive while slowly inching towards her last breath. The motive of this post is to respect her memory and help people reach out to other animals.
I have 3 cats, the one that sadly passed away was the middle one. Her name was Nala Jr(her mother being Senior) because of my fondness of the Lion King franchise. Raising pets are one of the most fulfilling experiences in life but keeping a pet is making a commitment. It’s all fun and games when you’re playing around with them and making funny stories for the ‘gram but it’s when things take a turn for the worse that you need to stand by them more than ever.
The best part of social media, some would say, are the adorable pet videos we see of puppies running around and cats cuddling with their owners. If you ever see one of these and think “I want one of those”, do understand that apart from the evident joys that they bring to your life, you must be willing to put in the work to care for them just like a family member. That means vaccinating, grooming, potty training and most importantly, caring for them when they are sick. Animals are in greater danger of falling prey to diseases because they simply cannot express “my tummy hurts” in words.
Nala jr was attacked by a neighbourhood cat while she was a kitten and I remember the nights just calming her down by soothing her because she couldn’t move and feeding her milk with a dropper. This event scarred her and she stopped interacting much with other cats after that. In a way, she grew deep trust in me and my parents for the care she received. When she was a year old, she gave birth to a litter of her own but every last on died in a few days’ time. This is when she took in an abandoned kitten and nursed him. He is still with us to this day and is fondly called Simba by us all.
Shortly after this, she caught a severe cold and needed to be taken to the hospital twice a day for almost a week for saline and medicines. This was by far the toughest time for me because even though the human race has come so far, most of us still lack empathy. When I’d say I couldn’t make it somewhere because my cat was sick, I’d be on the receiving end of sarcastic jibes. This meant I needed to balance time at work and other commitments to ensure she got the treatment she needed. She came off of this strong and I was just in awe of this cat’s mettle.
But then, one final time, she fell sick, refused to eat and vanished from her natural area where she’d spend her time. I found her after searching around the building and noticed she was just skin and bones. I did my best to hydrate her with water, milk, electrolytes and even give her a multivitamin. I’d hoped the fight in her would win again this time, but this morning I woke up to find her collapsed on the ground and panting for breath. I rushed her to the hospital. The sight of her in an oxygen mask that covered her entire head and saline needle jabbed into her arm while she lay almost lifeless on the stainless steel platform is a picture, I feel, will haunt me for the rest of my life. I brushed her fur in intervals, telling her I was there until the end. Her body was weak, her fur was shedding, she was panting to breath even in the oxygen mask, the doctor told me survival was unlikely but I wanted to try until the end. She had come through before, why not this time?
Eventually, the breathing stopped and I just sat and stared while the doctor tried to administer CPR. She was gone, a lifeless husk of the creature I cared for with all my heart. This cues the pain, the relentless tides of sorrow that leave you drowning in an ocean, kicking and struggling to come to terms with it. Your colleagues and classmates most often don’t understand the grief and you are left to deal with this alone while going on with life as though a chunk of your soul was not smashed into a thousand pieces.
I am happy Nala Jr is now in a better place and her suffering has finally ended. I love her enough to let her go and I am happy I was there for her last moments, as excruciating as they were for the both of us. I wish to continue caring for animals in her honour. I will miss her tippy-toeing towards me when I’d come back home or her habit of sitting and staring at me while I cook or her jumping onto my bed to snuggle with me while I sleep. She has left a void for sure but if I had a chance, I’d do it all over again. Nala, wherever you are – heaven, limbo or reborn as a kitten, I hope you get all the happiness that you deserve and all the belly scratches and treats that you desire. You were one of a kind and will always be with me in my heart. My only regret is that I could not tell you that I loved you in your last moments, so sudden was the instance we lost your pulse, but I’m glad you could feel me brush your fur one last time and know your buddy was there with you. I love you and hope to see you again one day, wherever that may be.
The tale of Manchester United over the years has been a sorry one. Too many throwbacks and recollections of past glories have been needed to cheer up a growingly distressed fanbase which was turning toxic at a fast pace. The banter on social media was going a bit too far, boos would ring around Old Trafford during half-time and full-time whistles. A community that had grown so accustomed to success over the span of 2 decades was now in turmoil. Ever since the teary-eyed departure of the old, faithful Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United has looked a sorry state.
A team that finished in the top 3 in every season of the new version of the English Premier League until Sir Alex’s retirement, now saw themselves struggling to make 4th place. The humorous barbs thrown at Arsenal over the years, calling them the “4th place specialists” were quite ironic in the current state of affairs. The prodigy in the form of David Moyes was not to be, he lacked depth and creativity and the pedigree required to run an organisation as large as United. Some fans argue that, given more time he might have achieved as much as the other “failures” did, but the accelerated fall from grace just the season after claiming a record 20th league title was a tough pill to swallow for everyone associated with the club.
Then came Louis Van Gaal, with a stellar World Cup performance by the Dutch national team under his guidance to boost the fanbase’s confidence. This seemed like a man with a Fergie-esque aura, who would continue the dynasty-like grip that the Red Devil’s held on the throne. The so-called “maker” of modern day juggernauts Barca and Bayern Munich, he needed no introduction. Unfortunately for old man Van Gaal, even his Gaalacticos could not save his job. The biggest positive of his reign was the introduction of Martial and Rashford as well as the elusive FA Cup that United had struggled to claim for over a decade. To his credit, he helped Carrick and Rooney round off their trophy cabinets with this piece of silverware.
Louis Van Gaal with 2 out of 6 big signings in his first transfer window. Source: 90min
Enter, the Special One – Jose Mourinho – the one the fans were crying for, the man “made for Manchester United”, two giant names with one goal – this was a match made in heaven. His first season brought 3 different pieces of silverware, one we’d never won before. In his second season, a runners’ up medal in the league. But this eventual meltdown came in the third with him being fired mid season.
Now we come to the present Act, the story of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, a United legend and novice manager, with a coaching staff comprising of other alumni like Michael Carrick and Mick Phelan. Their motto – inject the United DNA in the squad. In his first full season, peppered with ups and downs, he has managed to claim a podium finish in the form of 3rd place. His signings have born fruit, they have blended well and majority of them seem like a positive to the squad, which wouldn’t happen necessarily with his predecessors.
Manchester United coaching staff with ex-players like Michael Carrick(second from the left) Source: Manchester Evening News
He has forged the perfect starting 11, but lacks talent outside of that. This transfer window will be of paramount important to add quality depth to the side so that a fixed starting 11 isn’t fatigued over a 50 match season. A third place finish means nothing if you can’t build on it, so if United don’t mount a considerable challenge for silverware next season, there will be plenty of questions asked. Now that Champions League participation is secured, inability to lure high-profile signings in the form of Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho will through a huge blanket of doubt over Old Trafford over the potency of the current management.
If United wish to be a force to reckon, a Director of Football and strategic signings that improve the squad are the major areas Ed Woodward and Ole need to look into. The club has always been in good hands on the commercial front with Woodward, but squad improvements have always been dodgy. It’s about time we see a string of improvements in different areas with dead weight heading for the exit at the same time. Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard have been great servants of the club, but they lack the calibre required of a player that helps a Premier League winning squad to the throne.
Ole sure has his work cut out – win the Europa League in August and get in a right winger, midfielder, left back and centre back in order to challenge for the league next season. He just needs to look at the Liverpool squad to get a hint. Klopp can choose amongst Minamino, Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum and Keita to set up his midfield. This means he always has 2 quality players to rotate. The story with their forward line is a similar one.
It’s time United returned to the top, we can only wait and watch to see how Ole goes about the task at hand.
The 2019/20 football season has been quite a peculiar one for many reasons. For starters, the English Premier League season ending on 26th July is something we never saw coming on the first matchday of the season. Liverpool may have run out convincing winners in this topsy-turvy variation of the premier league but there are numerous subplots that should serve up a tantalising new season.
The current battle for Europe
The Champions League and Europa league have introduced a World Cup-style knockout tournament in order to complete the competitions. One should not be surprised if this threw up unlikely winners much akin to Porto in 2004. This additional factor will introduce a new-found grit amongst the current competitors and should serve up some interesting games that decides who goes into the next season with the best momentum and bragging rights. The Liverpool example is one clubs should follow, who won the UCL and carried that confidence into the next season to finally claim that elusive Premier League title.
The English premier league resumes on 12th September. Source: Sky Sports
Quick start to next season
The new season in Europe’s top leagues will be resuming in the month of September with the Premier League announcing a 12th September return. This means putting in a good shift in European competitions in August for the likes of City, United and Wolves will mean that they go into the new season just a month later buoyed by a gain in confidence. The teams that enjoyed a strong restart to this season like AC Milan, Arsenal and United will be licking their lips at picking up from where they left off. Strong performances have given the squads a morale boost and they will be raring to go in September so that they can grab the new season by the scruff of their neck.
Chelsea’s quick signing of Timo Werner should serve as a signal of intent from Stamford Bridge. Source: Crossbar
Action-packed transfer window
Managers have had 2 spans of time, pre and post-lockdown, to judge their current crop of players this season. This will help managers identify the areas they need improvement and players that need to be moved on. The quick return of the leagues also means that managers would like to wrap up their transfers as quick as possible in order to get a short pre-season before entering the new league seasons. For the current European survivors, this would mean their managers will need to work overtime in order to get their team ready for their next games while working hard in order to get deals across the line. This period will truly test the mettle of the managers of Europe’s elite.
New challengers to the throne
If this season has taught us anything, it is that the old guard is being challenged. Juventus have enjoyed a less-than-comfortable run to the Scudetto this season with Inter and Lazio giving them a run for their money. Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig have all displayed the flair needed to overthrow Bayern finally. Liverpool managed to end 30 years of hurt and put their name on the new English Premier League title. There is a tide of change sweeping through football and this serves up quite a prospect for the new decade. There could very well be a new dynasty in town
The conclusion of the season this time around is not met with the sorrow of no football for a couple of months. Football will keep coming thick and fast and the commencement of the new season will almost seem like a continuation of the current one. Either way, football fans are in for entertainment each month.
Religion has always been the dividing and uniting factor for the masses. No matter how unwilling we are to accept it, religion plays a major role in politics, wars and even friendships. But every alpha needs an omega and this is where Atheism comes into the picture. Many characters that we see on the small and big screens have turned to atheism due to their “analytical” or scientific approach to life. These characters are usually those that possess a high level of intellect, less-than-mainstream approach to problems and an emotionally distant personality. They usually leave the audience in a state of admiration and despite their obvious quirks and originality, there is one thing that unites them all- They’re all atheists.
This infographic gives us an insight into where most of the worlds atheists live. Source: The Independent
Atheism has often been glorified on social media and pop culture because it is “preached” as an intellectual elevation of one’s self from the mortal need of a religion. Make no mistake, this blog is not aimed as slander to atheists but serves more to question the glamour of it. What makes atheism have this aura that pulls the youth towards it like moths to a flame? 85.9% of the human race is said to be affiliated to some religion or the other. This means that a vast majority of us are born into religion, raised by our parents based on the guidelines set by that religion and when we reach an intellectual crossroads in our late-teen years, we either choose to continue following that religion or we renounce the same. Today, many young adults you would find online on social media sites, proudly announce themselves as atheists. Is this because their teachings have helped them see through the need for a religion or is it because of peer pressure?
Since a human being denounces their association with a religious community, does this make them less of a human? Do they lose their right to enjoy the freedoms of society? An atheist does not believe murder is right for the same reason religion teaches us that it is a sin- because it is inhuman. An atheist does not inconvenience people with malice of forethought because years of evolution have ingrained in us what is wrong and what is right. The same instinct that teaches animals to help each other also teaches us empathy to our fellow man.
The fact of the matter is, as much as you choose to deny it, atheism is a religion. It is a movement, just like Christianity or Islam. This statement might come off as an oxymoron but when you reflect on it, why do most atheists choose that path? The majority of the time it is because they feel they do not need a higher power dictating what is right and what is wrong because they have learnt what the world has had to teach them through education and personal experience. You do not believe in the existence of a God(s) but you DO have a god – You. You are the sole decider of your fate, master of your universe, rule maker, judge and jury. Atheism does not make you a murderous juggernaut because you use logic to differentiate. Good and bad are like the binary system of the world. You use logic while making decisions based on what you believe is right and wrong instead of looking up a prehistoric book that has guidelines set in stone.
Religion in essence, is a set of guidelines that teaches you good morals. Every religion teaches goodness in different ways. Christianity teaches you to love thy neighbour, Sikhism teaches you to feed the needy, Hinduism teaches you to treats guests like a deity. The atheist, does not believe these to be a sham, the atheist understands these are the essence of a good human being and could possibly include these in their own doctrines.
Pop Culture figures like House MD, Sherlock Holmes and Sheldon Cooper are all portrayed as exceptionally intelligent and they all carry the banner of atheism, making it the New Normal. These characters have created the impression that “atheism = cool” and thusfurther contribute to the stigma that if you are an atheist, you’re one of the cool kids. Religious teens and young adults are often ridiculed and struck off as lesser beings due to their theological beliefs. The world needs religion as much as it needs atheists, but there is no room for this stigma. You could very well be the pace-setter in your field while adhering to a certain theology. Whether that is one you set for yourself or one that has existed for centuries, that is for you to decide.
The story of the O.J. Simspon murder trial is something the United States of America still reels from to this day. The sheer dramatization of the episode has etched itself into American folklore and is still brought up time and again. The famous moment when the glove found as evidence did not fit OJ when asked to try it on by the prosecution has become a regular fixture in pop culture. This case divided a nation that was already licking its wounds from massive race riots and the defense team’s strategy stirred the pot of dissent even further.
For those who are not aware about the entire saga, here is a way to put it briefly – Orenthal James Simpson was like a God in the NFL and his fame overflowed into movies, endorsements and much more. He was this admired figure of the sporting world that everyone wanted to emulate. On June 13, 1994 O.J. would murder his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman. Once the bodies were found and upon a preliminary investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, they found a blood-stained glove in Mr Simpson’s compound as well as blood-stains on his SUV. This resulted in an arrest and a trial that lasted 11 months with OJ finally being acquitted.
This turned out to be the most publicized event in American History and was dubbed The Trial of the Century. The court proceedings were broadcasted on live TV and even before the trial could begin, there was a low-speed pursuit when OJ was on the run in his friend, Al Cowling’s SUV and TV channels interrupted the NBA finals in order to broadcast the car chase with around 95 million viewers watching events unfold.
The evidence was abundant, all the fingers pointed at OJ, there seemed no way out for him but the case was turned on its head when his lawyer, Ben Shapiro decided to not just assemble a team of all-star lawyers like Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz but mainly because of Johnnie Cochran being roped in who was a vocal celebrity lawyer who was waging a personal war against the LAPD over racial discrimination against the black community. The idea was simple – Make the case ABOUT RACE. In Johnnie Cochran, they had acquired an eloquent crusader of the black community who appeared on talk-shows regularly to speak out against racism by the police. His comfort with the camera on him and the fire in his belly made him the perfect trump card.
This was a pivotal moment in history because for the first time, the issue of a black man being framed by the LAPD was to be publicized in such a manner. This began a labyrinth of claims against the LAPD and what helped the defense was that the detective that found the bloody glove, Mark Fuhrman, had a history of racist comments and behaviour with records of him using the word “nigger” and graphic police brutality. This was to be just the tip of the iceberg with the defense and prosecution using sly tactics to get prospective jurors of specific genders and race to be selected on the jury. The sheer longevity of the proceedings and the media circus that surrounded it would also go on to leave a stain on the name of Judge Lance Ito, who was presiding over the case.
When OJ was finally found not guilty, America was divided more than ever, with the black community rejoicing that their Greek God had defeated the police department and the rest of the country were sick to the stomach thinking a murderer had been set free. The world was not going to be the same for the celebrity, OJ Simpson. He was shunned at many locations by the citizens that still held him guilty of the murders and to this day, he is heckled at restaurants and other public gatherings.
The underlining statement of it all was that a murderer was set free because the race issue was brought into a sphere where it had no place and was used to twist the truth beyond recognition. So was this a victorious moment for humanity or a sick corruption of a social issue? Did OJ Simpson really defeat corrupt police officials or did a murderer escape by playing the victim of racist treatment.
Today, the Black Lives Matter movement is at its peak, with peaceful protests being carried out throughout the world. Racism is a demon in our society that we are still battling and the man that knelt on George Floyd’s neck might just be one of many Mark Fuhrmans present in the justice departments of the world. But with power, comes evil. Race should not be used as a victim card to let off criminals. Race should not be used as an evasive manoeuvre. The police are not our enemy, the governments are not our enemy, racist people are our enemy.
George Floyd being killed by a racist white cop will resonate with all the O.J. Simpson sympathizers and they will tell you that this was another example that should fortify the claim that OJ was innocent. Whether he is guilty or not, that I leave for you to decide. To get a better insight into the saga, you could indulge in the series The People vs OJ Simpson which is available on Netflix. The series shows intricate details on both sides, thus telling an unbiased story of the events that occurred between 1993-94.
At the beginning of the 2010s if someone told you that Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Jordan would invest in competitive gaming by 2020, you’d probably have called the hospital on them. Professional gaming was a concept which sounded much too surreal to the casual listener. “You can play games and earn money?” “Why would anyone watch others play games?” are a few of the common questions that were floated across any individual that prioritized gaming to become a source of income. Now cut back to the present and Esports is booming like never before and is a massive multi-million dollar industry employing business representative, HR personnel, nutritionists and psychologists aside from others. Whether you wish to accept it or not, this is now a full-fledged industry.
But what brought about this boom? What was the catalyst for it all? If you look back to the mid 2000s, the gaming industry was in a bit of a purple patch with Call of Duty, Counter Strike, World of Warcraft being some of the most common names among gamers. But what stirred this frenzy of competitive gaming was this tiny little modified map on the Real-time Strategy game called Warcraft 3. Warcraft 3 in itself was a hugely popular game since its release in 2003 for its Local and server based multiplayer. Due to this massive popularity, the creators of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment, decided to allow users to create custom maps for the game that they could play with their friends. This got the creative juices flowing in many gamers who formed various kinds of PvP and Tower defense maps. Then came along this group called IceFrog that designed a mod called Defense of The Ancients.
This map involved players controlling one player each(a hero) instead of controlling an army which was the usual in Warcraft. This was a blazing success with the map growing popular in the community. This concept had slowly morphed into one of the most popular genres for its individualistic flair, team strategy and competitive nature. Soon enough, another developer called Riot Games swooped in to take advantage of the growing popularity of the genre and released an independent game called League of Legends. On 27th October 2009, League of Legends(or more popularly known as LoL) was released to the public as a free-to-play game. Thus began the era of dominance of MOBAs.
Soon enough Dota 2 was released by Valve and all the Dota-loyalists from its initial days quickly jumped on board. This was a shrewd decision by Valve because they basically improved the graphics and released a game that had loyal players even before it was released. This lead to a flurry of other developers releasing their own versions of MOBAs like SMITE and Heroes of Newerth. None of them however could come close to the dominance of Dota 2 and LoL.
The exponential rise in popularity of these 2 games was music to the ears of game developers and the first dota 2 international championships were held at Gamescon in 2011. The prize money of this event – a staggering $1.6 million. This massive sum and the growing number of gamers and spectators meant that the snowball effect was well and truly in motion. The Internation(Dota 2) has since become an annual event and has been graced by the greatest professional players without fail.
Another example of this genres popularity was at display when the creators of Warcraft 3, Blizzard Entertainment, decided to release their own stand-alone MOBA called Heroes of The Storm. Dota started as a part of one of their own games, so this was a no-brainer. Heroes of the Storm changed the style up a bit with multiple maps with objectives instead of one static battleground. The game was made more fast-paced than others and required more teamwork over individual brilliance. Though the game did not manage to reach the heights of Dota 2 or Lol, Blizzard announced an esports tournament called Heroes of the Dorm where teams would represent different universities and the winning team would be awarded with their tuition being paid in full by BlizzardEntertainment. The fan-fare, viewership and participating was greater than expected with the team from Arizona State winning the first edition. This game and tournament turned out to be the catalyst for collegiate level esports much like Dota 2 and LoL on the world stage.
These gigantic fan-bases, massive online playing community and high-value competitions resulted in developers using the same blueprint of tournaments and ranked play in other games like Overwatch(a first-person shooter) and Hearthstone(turn-based card game). Today, there are multiple professional leagues like Overwatch League with franchises, just like the NFL and NBA, that are backed by A-list celebrities.
To this day, Dota 2 is the game that brings in the most prize money to gamers with 1400 tournaments and $225,366,331 in prize money. If not for the emergence of this genre, the industry might not have existed today and would not have created so many jobs for people around the world. This is still the beginning, at this rate we will see professional gamers in the same light as professional football players in terms of earning and status quo.
The following is a short story that I had got published in the first edition of the Computer Science department magazine at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata called “X-Cryptus”. You can find the link to the pdf version of the magazine here. The purpose of sharing the same on this blog, with a few touch-ups, is to make the article more accessible to people who wouldn’t necessarily read the college department’s magazine.
Decades have passed since our planet was united as one and the boundaries and governments of nations have withered away. We are all just a bunch of coded districts now. The identities and cultures of these countries have dissipated into the sands of time. Generations have come and gone, with lesser knowledge of their ancestors being passed on. Traditions don’t exist anymore and religions have been destroyed. We have reached our goal, one which our ancestors were mislead into believing would be for the betterment of their children and grandchildren. An organisation called F.E.A.R. now controls us, some call it a government others call it a religion.
People resent their oppressive rule, but F.E.A.R. is indestructible. Cocooned in a 19th century-like empire with minimal technology and an unlimited arsenal, mutinies ended before they started, crimes were solved before they were committed, such is the short leash F.E.A.R. had on its pet, mankind. There was only one thing F.E.A.R. was afraid of, science. Research in the field of technology was made a taboo ever since F.E.A.R. took over. They knew that a machine with a brain of its own could aid mankind in overthrowing them. Since then they have been ruling with an iron fist, walls, soldiers and cameras kept the people in check.
A hundred and three years after the formation of F.E.A.R., the messiah was born, Xeron Raymane. As a child, his mother taught him about the ways of the Wild West. She passed on whatever she had learnt from her grandmother, of her native Texas, to her little boy hoping to raise him with the same values she was taught as a child. As his mind matured, he started to notice the pain around him. He slowly started resenting the system himself, but this was the norm. Who would have thought he and his childhood friend, Jim Crast, would embark on a journey to deliver mankind from this oppression. While growing up, they learnt the ways of the system and the laws of the land. At school, Xeron, with the swashbuckling blood of a Texan in him would protect his genius buddy, Jim, from bullies. One day after having drowning himself in a ton of research, Jim rushed to Xeron’s house. He entered breathing heavily, his face glowing and grabbed Xeron by his shoulders and whispered, “I did it! I found the solution.” Puzzled at what his friend was talking about, Xeron asked, “And what exactly did you solve?” “The solution to our problems, the solution to F.E.A.R,” said a visibly excited Jim. Xeron’s face immediately lost its colour, he said, “What the hell do you mean? How can there be a solution to a corrupt governing body?” An evil grin slowly spread across Jim’s face, “We destroy them,” he said.
Was Jim crazy? He was never wrong, Xeron never doubted his decision making, but this was bananas. What did Jim have in mind, a full scale assault on the F.E.A.R. army? Jim then unveiled some old files that were in his backpack and presented them to Xeron. As the lad flipped through the pages, he felt a chill down his spine. Did Jim just stumble on F.E.A.R.s best kept secret? The date on the file read 2020. Xeron immediately got the word out that a rebellion was at hand, his calibre was enough to convince people to side with him along with the added assurance that arguably the most intelligent person of their generation was assembling a secret weapon to assist them in finally overthrowing the hated rule of F.E.A.R. .
The word had finally reached the top cats at F.E.A.R. who ordered sweeping of the streets for any potential threats and for conducting trials and interrogations. The rebel forces often clashed with F.E.A.R. patrols, but this was all done to buy Jim some time to complete his weapon. On the one hundred and twenty third anniversary of F.E.A.R.’s rule, a grand parade was organised outside the headquarters. This was the rebellions moment, the rebels marched forward towards the parade, exposing themselves as a unit for the first time. They were surrounded by F.E.A.R. armed forces but didn’t flinch. The Commander of the F.E.A.R. forces laughed at the folly of the rebels and was raising his hand to give the command to fire when his hand was chopped off by a frisbee-like blade that disappeared in the blink of an eye. Blood was everywhere and nobody saw anybody near the Commander. Panic started to spread, the rebel forces just calmly separated and there in the middle were a battalion of Metal Soldiers driven by artificial intelligence and a limitless armoury. Xeron then screamed, “ Attack!” and the robots charged at the F.E.A.R. soldiers, hacking, slashing, blowing up and shooting each and every one of them till none were left. As Xeron, accompanied by a droid, made his way to the F.E.A.R. control room, the President was making a last transmission to the people. Xeron ordered, “Sir, this doesn’t have to end with bloodshed, put the microphone down and….” “Oh yes it does”, said the android standing behind him, who then hacked him into two. The President, still holding the microphone for the transmission, stared at the robot in fear while covered in blood splatter. The robot snatched the microphone from him and slowly said, “F.E.A.R. has been destroyed, the Rebellion is dead, you can never win your freedom, you cannot escape us, you can’t outrun TRUE FEAR!”
The truth is, we are the masters of the machines, we should not empower it to the extent that they escape our control. Machines are made to serve us, the moment we empower them with exceeding might and intelligence, mankind will suffer. The lack of technology under F.E.A.R. kept us ignorant and on stumbling upon an endless fountain of power with the machines, we dug our own grave.
There is a fine line between a genius and a madman. One man’s hero is another man’s villain. Take Brutus; some will forever call him a hero for bringing an end to the tyrannical reign of Caesar, but to others he is the man who opened the door to a greater evil in the form of Augustus, let alone the heights of his treachery to Caesar who treated him like a son. ‘Frame of reference’ is a very important concept that can turn an argument on its head. As children, our first run-in with ‘Frame of Reference’ is in 8th grade Physics. Maybe a concept with such real-life applications should be introduced to children earlier?
In the Netflix series Manhunt:Unabomber, the show quite beautifully captured the oxymoron that is the Unabomber. The story is depicted in an unbiased way, delivering the ideas of the man himself while also trying to help the viewer fathom the destruction and the pain of which he was an agent. By the time you reach the final episode of this real-life dramatization, the intellectual in you will sit up and say to yourself, “Jesus, he’s right!”.
The FBI famously struggled for years to hunt this man down, not because he was a disgruntled handyman, but because he was a man with an IQ of 167. This was a man who held a Phd in Mathematics but struggled with basic human emotions. The story goes that with each bomb that was mailed to a pitiful victim, there were cryptic letter that accompanied them. Finally, he wanted to publish a paper he wrote called Industrial Society and its Future, which became famous as The Unabomber Manifesto. He wrote to the Washington Post and The New York Times to publish the same and after the FBI were informed about this, they gave the green signal to The Post to get it published in order to use forensic linguistics to try and crack down on a way to pinpoint a suspect.
The entire saga is a joy to learn about because this wasn’t a thug who was dealt with tear gas and guns, this was a battle of wits between the FBI and a man that gave them the run-around for years. To this day, his manifesto is available online as a PDF or a copy of it can be purchased as a paperback from Amazon. It is odd to see law authorities allowing the words of a criminal to be so easily accessible but one can truly be grateful to be able to access this astounding work.
This manifesto, though published in the early 90s, still resonates today. It states that we have developed technology and enslave ourselves to it. When you stop at a red light on an empty road, you are no longer acting based on free will, you are acting based on the orders of an LED. The manifesto also states that the populace will consist of conformists majorly who will label the intellectuals who challenge authority as lunatics and put them in cells. This too has an eerie resemblance to what we experience today. The world is run by the un-remarkables with politicians and celebrities lacking the understanding of 5th grade science. These same un-remarkables vilify the people of knowledge when they are presented a concept that they cannot fathom.
The world’s most text-heavy app, Twitter, is populated with public figures who lack grammatical and logical strength of any kind. The Unabomber was eventually right, wasn’t he? Make no mistake, none should sympathize with a serial killer who devised his bombs to be more lethal each time they were placed in a brown box to be delivered, but was this just a by-product of his social awkwardness and lack of empathy? The man built a cabin for himself in the woods and lived there in order to stay away from not just technology, but people as well. Ted Kaczynski‘s tale should have been a greater warning towards the perils of not nurturing basic human communications at an early stage in a child’s life but that aspect was quite easily pushed under the rug.
If Ted was counselled, taught how to deal with his emotions, guided on how to voice himself and live in society, he might not have lashed out by sending bombs to innocent people. He might have harnessed his intellectual prowess, while maintaining his anti-technology stance and used it for good and not anarchy. The Unabomber saga teaches us a lot of lessons that we as a race should learn from, Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto should not be dismissed as the ramblings of a mentally unstable person but embraced for its intellectual value that it holds.
You can find the Unabomber manifesto as a paperback here and as a PDF here. I encourage everyone to read the manifesto with an open mind. Wipe out the memory of the Unabomber for a moment and read the manifesto as a paper published by Ted Kaczynski, The Mathematician. Once you do that, you might just appreciate his ideas.
One cannot sympathize with the Unabomber, for he is a criminal, but in the year 2020 we are so much more dependent on technology that we give credit for, maybe his paper published in the 1990s holds more meaning in modern times.
I always believed that every good comeback story deserved an equally good prologue. But does that prologue truly define the comeback?
In short – I had fallen out of love with writing. Call it the hustle-and-bustle of life, or my undiagnosed ADHD, I haven´t really felt that spark over the last couple of year.
However, getting back to this, and writing in general, has always flirted with my mind along the way. I can´t piece together yet what it was that kept holding me back, but my best guess is that my mind was just exhausted from handling the chaos in my life. Jumping from crisis to crisis kept my engine runnning and never credited me with downtime to let the creative juices flow.
Can I conclusively say that I´m now healed and out of this rut? Probably not. But I can say that I now have the impetus to start rediscovering things that once brought me joy – hopping online on a video game that I haven´t played in a while, shooting hoops alone in a solitary basketball court, hammering away at my keyboard in a coffee shop.
I will get to documenting my life now in a bit – the journey I´ve been on, the growth I´ve experienced, the progress I´ve made, the awareness that has dawned upon me, the gratitude for where I am, the appreciation for the fleeting moments, and so on.
But for now, I´m drunk with nostalgia and I don´t want to stop chugging at this intoxicating mead-of-the-past. Gazing upon this relic of a time that now seems rosy(whereas it was probably FAR from it), I have no doubt that my life right now is miles better than it was the last time I was dilligently churning out blog posts.
The more I recollect, the more the darkness dawns upon me. The bleak prospects, the haunting thoughts, the fear of the unknown, and the restlesness of uncertainty. The rose-tinted shades almost slip down off the tip of my nose and I see the carnage of what was. I have influences and influenceRs(the people around me, not the social media kind) who deserve the credit for me calling my life better. But now, a new exercise of mine is to take the time to reflect and give myself the pat-on-the-back I so dearly craved.
This was just a harmony of thoughts puked onto a page. But I guess I´ve got to start somewhere. Will this be a blip in the timeline? Or the match that lights the flame, acting as the harbinger of my path back to writing professionally and personally?
We Need To Talk 
