Up-close and personal with Avenger Rahima & the Musketeers
The up roaring fruition of
F U L B A N U's R E V E N G E

By AES and Faizul A Tanim

Ever wonder what breed of a band will possess a name like Fulbanu's Revenge to start with? On the other hand, the concert numbers they would perform? The group actually does not need much introduction in the underground arena. The band itself has somewhat become a microcosm of flawless and spellbinding performances in the world of local music, often driving the fans into wild head banging frenzy or possessing that disco element. Their extremely versatile style of music and energetic stage performances are enough to raise the mercury in the concerts.

Brief History and Present Lineup:
Fulbanu's Revenge (as you know it) formed in August 2002 with Daniel (ex-Attempted Band), Farhan (ex-Part of The Scenery), Salim (ex-Ajob) and Sakib (ex-Limerain). "The band started out with all rejected members!" added a smiling Daniel.

In the middle Salim had to go to abroad to pursue higher studies and Ashfaque filled his shoes. Later, Saad joined as the band's guitarist. Therefore the current lineup of the band is-
Daniel -Bass
Sakib - Vocals
Farhan -Guitars
Saad - Guitars
Ashfaque - Drums

The band members added that Farhan is soon going abroad so they need a new guitarist.

What's with the name?
The name Fulbanu's Revenge itself has intrigued the fans for a long time. On inquiring about the story behind the name, Daniel answered, "Fulbanu represents or symbolizes suppressed and battered emotions, thoughts and people. The word 'Revenge' signifies suppressed emotions, thoughts, and people breaking out and fighting back. It's as if a bullied one suddenly breaks out in anger, the revenge..the protest comes into existence" He added that the name was a spur of a moment idea.

Inspirations:
The whole band is inspired by Incubus and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and individual inspirations comprises-
Daniel: Jacopastorious , Bootsy Colins,Paul Vandyke
Sakib: Rage Against the Machine, Jin Blossoms, Weezer
Farhan: REM, Green Day, Third Eye Blind
Ashfaque: Iron Maiden, Dream Theatre, Megadeth
Saad: Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani

On their music:
The band stresses that FBR does not follow any particular genre of music. The band members listen to various genres of music ranging from Alternative, Grunge, Old-skool Metal, Nu-Metal to Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz and even Hindi music therefore their compositions can be expected to be concoctions of many different genres of music. On inquiring about their song in the mixed album Din Bodol in which the vocals sounded a wee bit strange and high pitched (but still particularly good) the band replied that due to some 'dhilami' during the recording, the main vocal turned out to be more audible than the backup vocal especially during the beginning of the song. They added that there were also some problems with the mixing of the chorus.

What Makes Them Different From Other Bands
"The fact that we are the only band with the name Fulbanu's Revenge makes us different from all the other bands" cheekily replied the group.

Upcoming Ventures
FBR expects to release tracks in two upcoming mixed albums Aguntuk 3 and Lokayat. They also expect to release their first album within the end of this year. They are in addition going to release an English album from Kan and Will records in India. RS staffs, the fans, and we all are expecting the tracks in the mixed albums and their own albums to be mind blowing.

Most Memorable Stage Performance
The band's most memorable stage performance was playing in the Strawberry Field concert at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore where the likes of Bryan Adams, Deep Purple, Roger Waters, Scorpions and many other legendary musicians performed in the past.

Any Mess up or Bad Experience on Stage
"We mess up in each and every one of our performances and I am not being modest," said Daniel. The rest of the band agreed with him.

On the Current Music Scenario:
FBR thinks that the current music scenario is very promising. "There are lots of talented bands like Cryptic Fate, Artcell etc who rose from the underground scene. There are also lots of excellent underground bands namely Nemesis, Breach, dNA etc. These bands can really turn on the heat during concerts by their blistering performances," said Daniel with pride in his voice. He also added that sprouting bands like Bivishikha, Delude, The Crayons, Obhishaap, Soothsayer, Deathwish etc could go a long way.

Thoughts about the Current Concert Crowd:
"These days, the crowd is extremely knowledgeable about music. They can instantly understand when the drummer misses a beat or when a wrong note is played. Most people who attend concert also have some idea about the songs the bands cover and they are sometimes extremely demanding and expect the bands to perfectly cover the songs. That puts a lot of pressure on the bands" said one of the members of FBR. Some of the audiences still need to lose their stereotype preferences. He also jokingly added that the girls are very narrow-minded, as they never come for their autographs!!!

On Drugs and Music
FBR believes that there is absolutely no relationship between drugs and music. They stress that drugs are not needed to become good musicians and they strongly discourage people from taking drugs. They also added with a smile that if there are any queries about drugs and music people should feel free to ask their guitarist Saad.

Drawing the lines
This rock band with vibes of disco/pop has created their own sound in the local music industry. Greatly interesting are the group's refreshing, eclectic sound--a distinctive blend of pop, soul, R&B, and some retro rock, tied within their unique and expressive composition. With such a groovy combination, it's pretty evident, the group is one of the fastest Rising Stars.

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Sites Unseen

A few weeks ago, our favourite author J. K. Rowling had her site rebuilt (www.jkrowling.com). She had promised that the site would contain lots of secret information, some related to the upcoming book six. Desperately seeking that information, fans hacked apart the site looking for some hints about the sixth book. One of the fans started a well planned hoax that the sixth book would be called "Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storge" ("Storge" is latin for "Parental love").

However, Rowling simply laughed at this hoax and suggested "Harry Potter and the Toe-clippings of Icelberg" as a better name. She also said that the real name of the sixth book was somewhere in the site. Getting this enthusiasm, more HP fans hacked the site and finally came up with another, more-believable name. Later, Rowling officially acknowledged that it was the name for the Sixth book: "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". She also added that the half-blood-prince isn't Harry or Voldemort. That leaves us worrying… who the ruddy hell is the prince?
Anyway, fire up those browsers… It's surf time!!!

Stuff to discover
www.forests-forever.com
Could a website be harmonious? Harmonious? I certainly didn't believed so. How could that headache-inducing, indispensable piece of dusty machinery (a computer, that is) display anything as complex as harmony? That's what I thought before I came across this very website. It's about forests, their serenity and purity, and our connection with them. This site has the best intro animation I've seen so far (and I've seen a lot). It also has stunning pictures of forests, hundreds of them, each one, so good that you would want them as your desktop wallpaper. But with a few hundred to choose from, it's tough to decide.

Stuff to watch
www.deviantart.com
One of the coolest online communities in the net is thankfully, one of the best one out there. This website is an online community for artists of all kinds. They range from photographers to digital painters, from amateurs to world class professionals. This very website is their outlet of showcasing their art. Most, if not all, of these artworks are spectacular. Everyday, hundreds of excellent artworks are added to this site's enormous gallery. This site is definitely worth visiting.

Stuff to download
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/default.aspx
Yes, it is the 10th version of the great windows media player. Microsoft has once again showed what a digital jukebox should really be. Excellent, stunning, slim interface, great playlist system, faster music ripping and burning… and loads of other things that you would never use. Although it's still a beta version, it has been thoroughly tested and almost no errors were faces. So, I could sincerely recommend this software. The installation file size is a hefty 10 MB, though.

Get a break now
http://www.mrpicassohead.com/
Every now and then, you come across bizarre pieces of artwork: portraits to precise, featuring misplaced eyes, ears and noses. Little children just learning to use pens or pencils generally create those portraits. Other than children, famous artists like Picasso also loved to create such… ahem… "odd" artwork. Now you can too, thanks to the website I'm recommending. Unleash the Picasso inside you! Create your own painting and browse the creepy gallery. Be creative!

Then get happy
http://www.virtualinsults.com/
Should you insult your friend just to feel happier? The question may be tricky, but the answer is simple. No, you shouldn't. But would you do it if it makes both of you happier? Maybe. This site is extremely funny, and it has greeting cards for insulting purposes. Imagine receiving a e-card from your best friend that goes on like this… "A friend like you is hard to find. Thank Goodness!" or "Do you know the difference between you and a pig? I sure don't." Oh, a piece of warning: Not for people without any sense of humour.

Or get sad
www.losers.org
Losers. You know them. You've seen them on the street. You've seen them in the school. You've seen them in the office. You've seen them at family reunions. Now they're on the Internet. And www.losers.org is your guide. Yes, this very website is the ultimate directory of losers in the internet.

I don't really know, but it's just sad to see all those people out there, without a clue why others are calling them losers. They just go on doing the same old thing that earned them the reputation of being a loser, in their dark gloomy rooms, away from society, in front of their dusty PCs, mouse in hand, clicking over and over and over. Sad.

Ahh, finally the end approaches. I hope you enjoyed the sites. If you are interested about any particular subject, let me know (niloy@yours.com). I might just have a good link for you. Until then, happy web surfing.

By Niloy

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G A R F I E L D THE MOVIE

Review by Gokhra

Garfield: Voice of Bill Murray
Jon: Breckin Meyer
Liz: Jennifer Love Hewitt
Arlene: Voice of Debra Messing
Luca: Voice of Brad Garrett
Persnikitty: Voice of Alan Cumming
Nermal: Voice of David Eigenberg
Happy Chapman: Stephen Tobolowsky

Garfield is the god of all lazy creatures be it human, animal or alien. Underneath all that egotistical flair and selfish demeanor though is a character that is secretly brave, kind and has damn good conscience.

The plot: The story starts off with a totally brainless dim witted dog called Odie given to similarly dim witted Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer), Garfield's owner. The dog is given by a sexy veterinarian, Dr. Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Jon accepts trying to woo the good doctor. Garfield is shocked and astonished to have to share his comfort zone with a dog. Not only that the Odie is getting a lot of affection from Jon who is in Garfields words his "primary care giver". Garfield uses his sneaky ways to lead the dog outside and dogs being dogs Odie chases car after car and gets lost much to the orange cats delight.

Being put in a pound Odie is captured by sadistic and money hungry TV personality Happy Chapman (Stephen Tobolowsky) who used to host a how using a cat. He thinks a dog may boost his ratings and uses Odies cool dancing moves to get the ratings for his show.

Conscience has a bad habit of knocking when not needed and this happens to Garfield. Feeling guilty the lazy cat grudgingly leaves his comfort zone to rescue the dumb dog. The rest of the movie deals with Garfield rescuing Odie with the help of other furry non-animated animals, exposing Happy Chapman, reuniting Odie with Jon and of course, Jon and the hot doctor Liz fall in love.

Garfield happened to be the only animated character so it helped to keep the costs down but it did make his interactions with the other animals a little artificial. Okay, it is artificial anyways but you will get what I mean when you watch the movie. Despite that Garfield looks good for an animated character in a real world. Attention to detail is great with fur that waves in the wind. Bill Murrays lazy voice has been used perfectly to do the voiceover for the cat with stripes. The voicing is lethargic and sleepy, just what Garfield should sound like.

The movie is not really about a lot of crazy antics and ground breaking action. Its more about Garfields attitude. You could almost label it as The Attitude.

For cat lovers this seems to be a great year. First there was the swashbuckling Puss in Boots of Shrek, Now Garfield and soon you will see Halle Berry as Catwoman. But cat lover or not Garfield is a nice enjoyable movie for everyone.

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Game Review

Ground Control II: Operation Exodus

By Niloy

Rising Stars game rating: 85%
System Requirements: Windows, 800MHz Processor, 128MB RAM, 1.5GB HDD, 32MB Video Card, 4X CD-ROM

Years ago, when the concept of 3D was first introduced to the real-time strategy genre, it was a rather half-hearted affair. Games with awkward cameras, difficult to use interfaces and pointless viewpoints of the battlefield littered the market. From my personal experience, the whole fusion between strategy and bleeding edge technology didn't work until Massive Entertainment and Sierra Studios released a new game titled Ground Control. The crazy thing is that they managed to do this with quality and style. The camera worked, the units were balanced well, the 3D environment made a big difference to gameplay, and the story was interesting. Four years later, Massive and Vivendi are bringing out the sequel to that first game. With some new ideas and the same philosophy of quick thinking tactical gameplay, Ground Control II: Operation Exodus revives the series with just as much style and polish, a beautiful new game-engine, a good story, and a lot of frantic fun.

Ground Control II: Operation Exodus jumps forward in time from the original game by a few hundred years, into a time when the Crayven Corporation and Order of the New Dawn of the first game, don't even exist anymore. Instead, we're introduced to the Northern Star Alliance, a group of planets that were Earth colonies cut off from the center of human space back during the corporation wars in the first game. Sadly for them, their independence was to crumble when the Terran Empire, the new rule in human space, decided to come back and bring the lost colonies back into the fold. Rather than let these planets defy them, the Empire begins to purge them, killing millions and destroying whole cities from space. In a last desperate effort, the NSA raises energy shields to block the bombardment so the only option left to the Empire is to bring in the ground troops and take each city from the planet surface.

The story begins as Captain Angelus steps into command of units defending cities across the planet of Morningstar Prime. The story moves forward through short CGI cutscenes, objectives and updates on the battlefield using quality voice-overs. The story won't certainly electrify anyone with its less than surprising twists, but the whole package is presented well enough with fairly likeable characters and decent writing.

Visually, this game does not disappoint. The upgrades made to the game-engine help to build detailed environments that range from swamps to winter wonderlands. The environments are only made better thanks to some terrific lighting and gameplay-altering weather effects. Various environmental additions such as flocks of birds and geysers also help to build the fantasy. Units have been neatly modeled and textured. As with the first game, parts of each of the vehicles move and track targets, creating a much more lifelike battle. And once those fireworks start flying, you'll know the game has really begun. Flashy explosions and effects increase the chaos and confusion of some very fast-paced battles.

Unlike most real time strategy titles, the game features no base building or construction phase. You will start off with an adequate amount of troops. However, reinforcements can be purchased, with victory points which are earned over time by capturing victory locations and through the destruction of enemy units. Instead of sitting back and harvesting in order to build up an invincible army, you're forced to move into the field and make good use of what you're given in order to have the opportunity to build your army. Even better, the enemy will be actively trying to reclaim these areas for their own use and trying to hurt your chances of bringing reinforcements into the battle.

These reinforcements are dropped off with Dropships. You'll have to call your dropship in to drop new units off from time to time, but will also be able to take advantage of it as a weapon. Dropships can be outfitted with upgrades to the weapons, armor, speed, and so on. Then the flying fortress can move around the battlefield, destroying important targets. The big catch to this is that if you lose the dropship, you also lose your opportunity to call down reinforcements.

And you'll need those reinforcements, as there are some seriously aggressive enemies waiting for you in the single player and co-op games. The AI is under orders to kill you, and they'll try their best. The artificial intelligence could still stand for some improvement, as their tactics are sometimes baffling. But for the most part, it manages to create enough of a challenge to keep things interesting, although I'd recommend experienced RTS players to play the game on the most difficult setting.

Units are very well balanced and have pretty varied uses. Each of them has a secondary ability that you'll find yourself using quite often. For instance, the NSA rocket launchers fire rockets at vehicles in their primary mode and generate a defensive shield against rockets and artillery in their secondary mode. Both modes are extremely useful, and balancing the uses of each is a trick in itself. Add in the Viron race's ability to meld units into a different unit altogether, and you have a very active and organic battlefield that's likely to change at any moment.

I've had a blast playing Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. It's fast and fun and was certainly one of the most entertaining games that I've played in quite some weeks. The single player campaign is designed well, as are the maps for each of the scenarios. Units are balanced excellently and have enough variety and uses to keep any strategist thinking about useful combinations. AI could be a bit more creative in their tactics, and pathfinding could also be better, but it's good enough to keep the game interesting.

RTS fans haven't had anything to really be happy about in a long time. Ground Control 2 can definitely fulfill that need. If you're looking for a new strategy game, definitely give this one a look.