Adventure Time!

It's been quite a while since I have gotten this excited over a cartoon, especially one that is currently airing on Cartoon Network or "CN" as it is called now. The good old days of the brilliant toons are long gone. What we have now are those crummy little Japanese cartoons (which probably are good in their own language) dubbed in Hindi. It just does not contain the fun and mystery that most of the original Cartoon Cartoons had. The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, I am Weasel, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, The Cramp Twins, oh the list is endless.

So I came across this cartoon "Adventure Time" by a freak accident. I was searching for a ton of new comics to read online, like the Uncanny X Force etc and came across a site which listed "Adventure time 10" as a must read comic. I downloaded the comic (from number 1) and then fell in love with it, downloaded the TV series and its freaking fantastic.

A ton of crazy characters from the Land of Ooo

This is probably the best cartoon I have come across since Foster's home for imaginary friends. The two main protagonists are Jake and Finn, a mr fantastic version of a dog and his friend Finn the human. They live in a world called "The Land of Oooo" which is set in a post apocalyptic era where the Mushroom bombs have already been set off.

The short episodes are both hilarious and dark to an extent dealing with death , magic , love and craziness. The character design is exceptional as well since each and every character is different having a completely different personality, I am only a few episodes into season one and have been hooked onto it. The every bubbly Princes Bubblegum, the Vampiress , The  notorious Ice King, there is too much god damn goodness in just one cartoon.

I thoroughly recommend everyone to watch at least a few episodes to get a feel of what a real cartoon should be like. It's like we are back in the golden era of cartoons from the 90's. This is one adventure that you surely should not miss. 

The chase for the elusive Magnum

Every once in a while there comes a trial which every mortal must pass. Taste what success feels like and then have it cruelly taken away even though you are just inches from the prize that you seek.

Thanking the Lord above, I have been blessed. Traveling to a lot of destinations means only one thing, stuffing yourself with what you don't get in India. Dubai, Bangkok, London etc, I have been able to taste some of their delicacies and some of their "street" food. "Street" food for me does not necessarily mean the roadside shanty outlets but often them ice cream karts.

On a trip to Phuket, I walked into a small 7 - 11 store and decided to try out an ice cream. A Magnum bar was placed right at the top of the pile in the freezer and not thinking twice I picked it up. At the check out counter the price listed was 25 Bahts, that is a lot of money for a chocbar. 

One bite into the bar and heaven was found on earth. The bar is made of the best damn chocolate coating I have ever tasted and the vanilla ice cream inside is to die for. When I visited Dubai a few months back, the only ice cream I stuffed myself was with em Magnums. They had even come out with an Almond coated variant and a dark chocolate one.

Unfortunately this ice cream is not available in India or so I thought. Outside my complex I found this rare ice cream kart of "Cream Bell". Normally a Walls kart is parked right outside the complex but seeing this kart a few days in a row I decided to try out a Cream Bell. I always take one of them Feast bars so I tried to find the substitute for the same in the Cream Bell chart.

My eyes could not believe it when I saw an ice cream bar named "Maxxum". I thought aloud, it can't be a Magnum, it can't. Priced at 40 bucks, it was a Magnum , well close to it actually but it was friggin awesome. I was chuffed to bits as I walked home after a day in office , ice cream bar in hand and a smile as wide as the grand canyon.

I told my parents about the Maxxum and made it a habit to eat as many Maxxums as I could. Unfortunately since that Maxxum I have not been able to get even close to a damn Cream Bell kart. The kart which used to come in front of my house has stopped coming, even though its the summer and its the perfect time for an ice cream. This may be irritating and frustrating but what really gets my goat is the strategically positioned karts which are littered all across the city.

When I travel back home, I cross no less than 3 karts which are all placed in such a place where the car cannot be parked and I can hop off for an ice cream. Its like I am being taunted and teased into thinking that the ice cream is there but its not for me. Its been 4 days in a row where I have found a damn Cream Bell kart only for the signal to turn green or the kart taking a left while I have to take a right.

Its one thing to not give a man what he wants but its another thing to ensure its right there and still far from one's grasp.

Well played fate, well played.
 

Knock knock knock

Supernatural. That one show has rekindled my belief in ghosts and well anything even remotely close to "supernatural" elements. Sam and Dean Winchester might have fought hard, brought back the dead, been poisoned from birth by the Devil's blood, been to hell and back and well saved the world from the Apocalypse while constantly beating and outwitting ghosts, vampires, shape shifters, werewolves and demons.

The show is excellence par none and its a marvel , well at least the marvel lasted till the 5th season. I have not been able to go back to the show post the 5th season as you cannot beat the apocalypse and then have one of the brother's back, alive and kicking while the other brother is leading a normal life but enough about one of the best shows ever, readers beware you are in for a scare. Goosebumps, I know.

We have this beautiful cottage hidden in a far off town of Raichak. Its a 2 hour drive from the city and the cottage is in the middle of nowhere, it has a few houses next to it and its in a well guarded complex but in all seriousness its so quiet and peaceful there and so sparsely populated you could count the number of people in a square kilometer on two hands.

Recently we (my parents and my cousin's) took off for Raichak to spent an extended weekend there. We are lucky to have two floors to just freak out there, running around and doing nothing but relaxing and idling away the hours. Luckily we had a brand spanking new LCD TV set there with a Tata Sky HD hooked into it and again fortunately they had the sports package subscriptions (YAY!).

The confederations cup was on and Italy were to play Brazil. Everyone in the house went off to bed , even the caretakers who resided in the adjoining house retired for the night except the football freak within me. Now this TV was set up right next to a few large windows which overlooked this amazing huge garden which was the size of a few tennis courts filled with a lot of foliage and wildlife. The same evening I had seen a couple of large bats flying around and perching themselves on a couple of trees in the garden, vampire , check.

So as the game kicks off, I peer outside through the window and I see nothing but pitch black. The TV room was illuminated quite well and a few lights were reflecting off the window pane. At around 2 in the morning, when its eerily quiet and lifeless everywhere I hear someone knocking on the glass pane of the window.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

In a rhythmic manner, the timing between the knocks were absolutely identical, like a metronome onto which a pianist would play. Scared shit out of my pants, I decide to act tough and trudge on watching the game. Then the next set of knocks come again from the window pain exactly 10 minutes from the first set of knocks ( I was watching the footie game so I had an idea of the time). The brave me first thought "Screw you guys am going to bed" , then for some stupid moronic reason I switched off all the lights in the hall and now only the tv is on with any kind of illumination in this huge house. Maybe the thing outside would not see me if I switched off the lights, idiot.

And then the icing on the cake, exactly 10 minutes later we hear the 6 knocks from hell again
 KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

6 knocks, 3 times, in a space of 20 minutes. 6 6 6, enough of this shit. Switched off the TV and somehow stumbled upstairs into my room. Jumped onto the bed and hid under the blanket , somehow slept and woke up the next morning telling my tale to the rest of the familia there.

While my parents weren't sure of what it was outside, my cousins were sure the place is haunted (since no one actually resides in that house). The caretakers said it could have been a woodpecker ,wait, woodpecker at 2 in the morning  having a pretty decent sense of timing and knows how to count?

Right.