Let's say at this moment I'm very excited after having watched a certain movie, and plan to recommend it to you. If I told you that the movie employed absolutely no animation or computer graphics techniques, would you still watch it? If I then added that none of the characters in this movie utters a single profanity, would you believe me? And then would you still watch it? Of course, then I proceed to inform you that there is not a single woman featured in it over its entire length, leave alone beautiful models, sexy babes, skimpily-clad ones or even housemaid types. Would you still want to watch it? I press further, and claim it is shot completely in black and white. Would you still be listening to me at all? If you are, then I try again and add that the lion's share of the movie was shot in all of 21 days in a 16x24-foot room in -- get this -- 1957. Would you still feel a bit of curiosity, or would you sock me in the face and run out to rent a DVD of Shrek?
Well, my friend, I watched just such a movie. And that movie is "12 Angry Men". It is, quite simply, a masterpiece of movie-making. Shorn of all the grandiosity that we have all come to associate with the silver screen, it is a matter-of-fact movie that has you rivetted with its quaint yet engaging, edge-of-the-seat treatment of a seemingly timeless subject as relevant today as it seemed to be half a century ago. It is too nice a movie to spoil by reviewing, so I will just say this: walk over now to your nearest mom-n-pop video outfit and pick up a copy. Treat yourself to what you've been missing out on while you were busy making generous donations of your time to poor excuses for B-grade flicks.
Why don't they make such movies any more? If in *1957* they could gather 12 actors into a small room and shoot an Oscar-nominated masterpiece in the time it takes for most of us to read a couple of books, why is it that multi-million dollar movies starring a few Pentium processors or a couple of fancy graphics programs and targetted at Gen-Y'ers are barely making a blip on the box-office radar? Why is it that a five decade old movie is still used in management schools to teach students about the spectrum of human personalities and people management skills, whereas today's Oscar-winning magnum opus succeeds only at showing what we humans cannot be or do?
Anyway, there are movies, and there's 12 Angry Men. Watch it, and you'll understand.
Who'da thunk the "serious" subject of physics and the "frivolous" subject of video gaming would ever intersect and coexist in perfect bliss? Well, physics is now a pervasive aspect of gaming, and a 3D video game without a so-called physics engine is not taken seriously any more.
What is a physics engine? Well, it is basically software code that, among other things, enhances the dynamics of moving objects within games. If you have noticed how enemies roll down staircases when you blast them to kingdom come, that's the physics engine working for you.
One of my favorite games of all time is, of course, Halo on the XBox. It is a marvellous example of in-game physics. If you are curious about some of the cool things people out there have coaxed out of the physics engine, look no further than here. And this one is definitely my favorite!
Game on!