Wikipedia- The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit [Note 3]

Since it has been nearly a year since my last update, and since I've already been making blog posts for Valonia, I thought it was only sensible I posted those ones of my blog posts over here. My first one was Love it. Change it. Leave it. Here comes my second blog post for Valonia. This time, it's on Wikipedia.

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As students, if you ever have to make a report or write a presentation in school, or even in college, chances are high that the very first link you open is the Wikipedia article on the topic. Isn't it?

Started in 2001, the website has quickly grown to one of the world's largest, ranking at 6th for the past few months.[1] With articles on literally almost everything, [2] Wikipedia is increasingly used by students and researchers alike as a primary source of information. But how is it written?

The short answer to that question is "By everyone". Yes, literally. The more detailed answer is that Wikipedia has a number of dedicated volunteers and an inbuilt policy structure that takes the best of every edit that is made, and aggregates it together to make the articles you see everywhere.

So basically what are these policies? While Wikipedia has literally hundreds of policies[Note 1], it eventually boils down to five basic ones, called the Five Pillars. [4]

In their order, they are-

1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia

2. It is neutral

3. It is free, and anyone can edit it

4. Everyone respects each other

5. Rules arent carved in stone

Enough of the policies. What do they have to do with what I read? Literally everything. In Wikipedia, everything is decided by consensus, and everything you read, from whether Askai Chin is a part of India, to whether "Star Trek: Into Darkness" should have a colon, is affected by the same policies. [Note 2] Every editor either follows these policies, or gets blocked by the community.

So is it true that everyone can edit? Or do anyone who disagree with the "official version" simply get blocked? Yes, it's true that everyone can edit. Throughout the years, Wikipedia has seen editors across age barriers, academic backgrounds and nationalities collaborate. Experienced researchers often edit Wikipedia, and so do teenage students. And we're always searching for newer editors to join.

So what stops me from writing my name on the "List of Indian Billionaires"? Nobody is going to check that, will they? No, nobody stops you from doing that. But please don't. For one, nobody stops others from reverting you. And for the second, you'll be probably blocked immediately. After years of experience in dealing with such incidents, Wikipedia has an army of vandal-fighters and bots[5], who can efficiently check for any edits made in bad faith, and can revert you in just a moment's notice. They are so efficient that often Wikipedia reverts vandalism in a matter of minutes.

So how does Wikipedia manage it's quality? The way Wikipedia works is that every edit goes towards making the encyclopedia better. One person writes an article, and then another person good with editing fixes Grammar and other errors. Then someone else comes along, and adds another viewpoint on the article. Over time, the articles gets better and better. That's the point of collaborative writing, you get to keep the best of every edit made.

So what happens if I don't write to improve the article? Or if someone disagrees with me? Then we have our own ways to deal with disputes. When editors cannot mutually decide on a topic, the community weighs in, where other editors help judge the issue, based on which is the more balanced side, and whether it adheres to the policies required.

Is a traditional encyclopedia not better? Well, it depends. For example, Wikipedia has much more information, close to 60 times that of Brittanica.[6] Likewise, a research done by Nature in 2005 concluded that Wikipedia articles were almost as accurate as the corresponding ones in Britannica, indicating that the Wikipedia setup does work reasonably well. [7]

Want to edit Wikipedia? Feel free to join in. Create an account, and just start editing.

References

1. Alexa.com

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_to_Eye_(Taher_Shah_song)

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:RULESPAM

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ClueBot

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Size_comparisons

7. "Internet encyclopaedias go head to head", Nature 438, Giles, 2005

Footnotes

1. So much so that it even has a rule about having too many rules. [3]

2. Obligatory xkcd reference http://xkcd.com/1167/

3. The text on this particular blog post are relased under a CC-by-SA license.

Coming soon - "Wikipedia - The not so free encyclopedia" 

- From A Wikipedia Editor

Entry 3

ENTRY 3 – 13^th November 2012.

Today is apparently the ‘Festival of Lights’ here- Diwali. The victory of good over evil, truth over deceptiveness, righteousness over unrighteousness.  While the world celebrates the festival of lights, I here try to find my own section of solace in the Darkness. The truth is, I always have been much more comfortable with the dark than the light. But apparently, my basic right to switch off the lights has been suspended for one night, leaving me no option but to weak sunglasses over my eyes, lest I should be blinded by what I see.

While the world celebrates good, it’s certainly puzzling how they have managed to not figure out one basic thing – Everything in the world brings into existence its own opposition. Good would never have been good without evil. It would become so common that nobody would ever know it was there. It certainly doesn’t mean that evil is good, but evil may not be so evil either. Especially when we try to look through the looking glass into what’s evil and what’s good.

Having worn no glasses in my life before without having a headache throughout half the movie, these glasses sure are heavy for me. But the keep all the dazzle and daze away from my eyes, allowing me to see things in a much more barer form. Things are what they are, not exaggerated by looks, nor underappreciated by the dullness of colour. It may not give the best view, but it certainly allows a lot more clearer view deep inside what we perceive as bright and care and dare not to go deep into.

Of course, there is one major drawback with wearing these sunglasses. Nothing I see is in true colour. Every little thing in the world is tinted with a mix of other colours, as if I am seeing things through someone else’s eyes.  The true colour, is always hidden on the other side of the glasses, not open to my eyes until I finally take them off. I find it quite discomforting after a while, prompting me to take them off.

And that’s when things start to go a little bit off. Even after I have taken off the glasses, things look a bit off from reality. It simply isn’t what it looks like. The feel of the glasses is still on my nose and ears, even though my brain knows its off already. Actually it’s only my brain which makes me believe that I have no glasses on my eyes. Is this really the short aftermaths of wearing the glasses for some time, or was I suffering from the aftermath while I was feeling uncomfortable when these glasses were on? I do not know. All I know is that not both of these views are true. Maybe neither of them is. But I would have never even imagined there to be a second possibility of reality had I not seen it for myself.

It is in this queer quandary that I think to myself and my life in the recent path. What have I been doing, and what am I going to do? There is something about the story when you are wearing the glass, and when you are not. We scarcely believe the Macbeth’s stupidity at not having seen his ruin coming forth. We scarcely believe anyone could be this stupid to not see it coming. But were we in his place, would we have seen it coming? I doubt it. There is just something about the glasses we put on when we are “in the situation”. Certain things become clearer that way. Others, when we see the big picture.

What we need to see is not just “Who is wearing the glasses?” but “How many are?” Surely the villains in our stories and even our lives were not aware of what they were doing or whether they were actually evil or how many chances are left for them, or whether they have already lost to life. But were they the only ones wearing glasses. By telling ourselves that they were evil and we were good, are we not trying to fool ourselves? Nobody is good or evil. Everyone is good and evil. Then how do we go about labelling some people as good, and others as evil? More so, are they actually evil in the first place? If you ask Raavan, maybe he would have a different version of the story that we already know. Which one of the realities are true? Are there any realities which are true at all? Maybe none of them are true. Maybe all of them are.

Entry 2

Really Sorry!!! Lost time of when the week passed... Posting 2 entries at once.

ENTRY 2 – 21^st September 2012.

Once upon a time, Akbar asked Birbal – “Tell me something which will make me happy during sad times and sad during happy ones.” And Birbal replied – “This time too shall pass.” I do not know if the story is true or not, but the meaning behind it – I definitely know that it’s true. It is interesting to see how many of us keep on saying ‘Change is the only constant’ but we fail to realise the inner depth and meaning of the saying. We fail to realise change when it happens to us, and fight it to the fullest. What we do not see if that if we swim upstream, we may reach somewhere in the best case scenario; but even if we actually do, that will leave us tired. Whatever you do, there are some things you can choose to ignore, resist or override, but its best you accept it. That is the only way that does not leave scars on anyone.

- This transmission was irrevocably interrupted, and could not be retrieved – 

Entry 1

Sorry for the delay everyone... Just forgot about posting the stories.... Anyways, here they are - 

Disclaimer - 

These stories are just the thoughts and actions of the writer and may or may not be correct, though very likely to be the former. The reader is advised to exercise caution while reading it and have an open mind to try and understand what is written in the words, and figure out the underlying meaning behind it. Most of all, it is all about looking into yourself and truly find the meaning of life.

The writer does not take any responsibility for your ability to comprehend things, and you shall understand only what you can. These stories therefore, will only be as good as you can understand them. What the writer has written is actually very good. What depends is whether you like it or not.

All the thoughts may have inner meanings which may or may not cause insanity and/or invoke deep unheard-of thought processes in the minds of the reader.  Use caution.

ENTRY 1 – 20^th September 2012.

Subtle Subtle Subtle... One word that I have been fascinated with in particular in these days. Part of it is because the word itself is quite interesting, but more so because it itself is quite Subtle. Very often we look deep into things to find out the true meaning of things. I know I have. Books, movies, people, incidents... They all have influenced me in some way or the other. One tiny weeny little push that has brought me closer to what I am today. Now. This very moment. Some pushes have been greater, others not so big. But every little thing has indeed done something or the other to bring a change in my life. In my way of thinking. In my ideologies. Every single damned thing. And believe it or not, I treasure every one of them. Even the time I fell into that nali by the side of the road, or the time when I got thrown into the dustbin. Especially those times. Why? I have frankly no idea. Maybe because it was something different – Something special.... Something not filled with the dreaded monotony of the world. Maybe it was something else. Who knows. Maybe there ought to be no reason for what I do, who I am, where I go, or what happens in my life. I am what I am, and nobody, not even me, can change that.

Hardly 10 minutes ago, I had been watching a movie – ‘Smurfs’. For those of you who wish to know, it was an animated movie. If I look at it from the critical way that I judge all movies, I don’t think it fared any better than the other movies that I always see. Predictable plotlines, Normal storyline, and the very same kiddy-cutey ingredients that make up any and every single movie that has the tiniest bit of cartoon in it [To James Cameron, if you’re reading this – No. Avatar does not contain the kiddy-cutey ingredient, but if you look into it, all the rest of the details pretty much remain the same – The sense of mystery, a world and its people different from our own, and the long overdrawn process of self realisation and looking into oneself as one gradually feels at one with those new people (Whether deliberately or otherwise is another question) and the final climax where  everything that has been done in the movie comes together for one final single showdown. So there it is. I made my point.] Back to the topic – the movie was actually very averagey normal. But I somehow liked it.  Why - I am not exactly sure (Even I don’t have all the answers to all the whys I ask.) But still, I liked it.

More importantly, I came to realise how many stories and movies of today do the very same thing- Create a story that we feel with, but is different from our own life in one crucial aspect. Then ask the pertinent questions of life and humanity, and go across on the process of self realisation with the viewer or reader. Because (s)he feels with the movie, they will actually understand the questions. But since there lies a major difference between that story and ours, we are comfortable with it. Here comes my question - Why?

Why is it that when we watch a movie that is based on someone else’s life, we understand, but if it so happens to resemble our very own story, we shy away? Why is it that we find it easier to find the answers to life, universe and everything [Not the 42 wala answer. The philosophical one re.] when we look outside and externally, than within us or internally?  [At this point some of you may claim that this does not happen to you. I agree. Fair point. But this very much does happen to me on a very large scale and I see no reason why it should or can not happen to anyone or rather, everyone else. Yet if you choose to claim it does not happen to you, I really don’t have a say in it. Your choice.]

I think that there is something inside us which stops us from looking inside, than outside. Its as if we as a human race, are designed to do that. We will go to the moon before going inside the Earth, or within our own bodies. Maybe that’s how we are. Maybe there is something more. Whatever that maybe be, one thing is for certain – We definitely will prefer to hear someone else’s story than our very own. Why, I simply don’t know. Even I do not possess all the answers to all the whys. Maybe if we look into ourselves and truly find out the answer, we just might. Maybe...

Welcome back

Welcome back nahi beta, I am back bolte h!!!! 
-Ooookay!!!!

After more than an year of being off the grid, The Original Soni returns back to the blogosphere!!! Yay!!

So what happened?

Well my blog was blocked due to being spam [I can see how they mixed my writing for crap there] which led me to unsuccessfully try to get it back and edit Google's wikipedia pages in vengeance, without much success. Even facebook and microsoft failed to answer to my plans [from the yahoo account, lest my mails be filtered] to gang up against it, and bring the evil corporation down!

But nearly a year after I forgot all about it, I found this guy as having commented on my report to help me get my blog back. So I commented back, and found that he had forwarded my request to blogger.com to get it reviewed, and that they got it back! Hell yeah!!!


Since nearly half a year has now passed since I made my last post, I shall not be posting in a similar fashion again now. My next posts shall be talking more about thoughts and actions than events... Hope you shall enjoy it!!!

Oh and did you read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality? Its only my favorite book! If not, do so today!!!

Cheers,
The Original Soni
25th of November 2012

P.S. - I shall now be posting weekly, once every Sunday. So be waiting for my first post within the next 24  23 hours

Pt - 78

Apparently our school celebrates it Platinum Jubilee (75 years) this year in December. (Or so says the wikipedia article, atleast) So here is a blog post in memory of the Platinum Jubilee.

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Firstly, the one news that had me laughing smiling in the assembly FOR 10 minutes (see here and here) The news that was announced in the assembly was - 

(in my own words)

This time the Platinum Jubilee is a huge celebration and we will be having a number of celebrations uptil 9th of  December - the foundation day. Committees are being formed for this, and soon students from Class 11 and 12 shall also be taken into the committees. On the last day of school, ie on 18th May, there will be a joint meeting for all the committees....

The events will be ..... On one of the days, we are looking at the possiblities to have Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam here. We are still talking with his secretary though there is a chance of him becoming President and all, so we can't yet confirm it....

(No wonder I was not listening to what was being said after that -  I was too busy smiling - For 10 minutes)

Dr. Kalam is definitely the most only well known scientist of India, and therefore it is natural that a total science freak will literally freak out at the chance of having him in our school. Plus, we happen to be the top science batch of our school, and I happen to be the biggest science freak of them all ;) So no wonder I am hoping for a five minutes special encounter with him of sorts :)

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Next, a dream that I had one of the past few days-

The Platinum Jubilee celebrations were going on, and we had invited Mamata Didi to our school. But it so happened that when she came, there was hardly anyone to welcome her except AP and me (That was said to be explained by the fact that they must have been parking their vehicles!!!)

Since we had to entertain her, we first started talking to her, and them I pulled out a pen and paper, and started by helping her solve some trigonometry questions! Though the questions were quite simple, she did pretty well in all the questions, except one question, where she could not get the "sec x + tan x" that she had to get to get the final answer (Yes, I remember that too!) Though I realised she could have got that one easily if tried from another way.

Anyways, thats how the dream about Mamata Di ended, as I quickly flitted over to another dream

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And now the final post about the celebrations- this time related to the Committees - 

It was May the 18th and nobody had yet been selected for being in any committees (except the 10 school office bearers, who were sure to be in one committee or the other). And there was no news either of anyone being in any committee or having any news of the same.

And I was really hoping and wanting to be in some committee or the other.

And then it happened. CR (one of the office bearers, and a good friend of mine) was called out by one of the teachers. We all knew what was that for. In the next 20 or so minutes, boys had been called out of classes by several teachers, and were asked to wait after school for the meeting. It was just like the Pheonix Club from The Social Network - Everyone was receiving their invites from everywhere else.

After the dust had settled down, here was the scores -

Out of the three of us (me, PR and AP- the three "brothers" as I consider us to be) two had received the call. PR was in the magazine committee with me, and it was natural that he was selected for the committee. AP, on the other hand, particularly despised being in the committee, and said "No" straightaway to the teacher who asked him. And I was deemed too 'volatile' for being selected for a committee!

And so it happened.

[This is the remnants of an unfinished message which could not be completed before my account was blocked]'

Update : No Mr. Kalam is not coming to our school. Soni saaddd :(

Update 2: The science seminar (See here and here) finally DID happen, if only a year late. Me and AP gave it; and it was fun!!! I did stumble in the beginning quite a bit, but by the end, I was too good to be there ;) Every single person who met us after that used the word "awesome" or "great" atleast once!! :D

Clippets from my life

Heyyo readers,

Here are a few moments frozen through space and time, and brought out to you in a plate - An assortment of the not-so-average ones of my memories.... Hope you like it!

"Chemistry everyone can get for research but Physics and Maths are hard. You and AP must be for Maths and Physics research. Not for engineering. Engineering those boys go who do not have the capacity to learn more..."

These were the actual words of my class Chemistry teacher and my class teacher to me today. I guess the words speak for themselves. Period.
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Language class - Prepositions

Question - I shall beat you _____ the top of the hill.

Answer 1 - "At"
Answer 2 - "With"

Period.
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RP: "You know what is a classic moment? I was playing Led Zeppelin on the speakers in my room when my grandmother entered the room. She simply asked 'Which song is this?' and I told her it was Led Zeppelin. She closed the door after she said 'Its a good song'. Now THAT'S a classical moment "
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Today our school was visited by a few people from the High Court (Rumour has it that it was because our school was open before the vacations even though almost all other major schools in the state had been closed)

(Before the assembly started, mockingly, unknown voice) "If he (the Principal) comes out in handcuffs, I will lead the school cheer"

Period
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Computer class, Computer Lab, earlier today, from out Computer Sir:

"Boys, take out your copy and write a program (in Java) to rearrange any number in descending order without using array or any sorting algorithms"

(Fifteen minutes later)

"Submit your copies now. You two start collecting the copies from these 2 rows"

(After the collection of the copies)

(Smiling) "The program was written there on the white board right in front of you"

Colon D

AAMOF, nobody ever noticed the program written on the white board until it was told to them. Period.
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Later in the day, as I was coming out from tuitions-

Me: (to a girl coming out of the tuitions along with me) "You were supposed to go to the MUN na? WHich MUN was it?"

"What is a MUN?"


What?

"You said na last class that you won't be attending the next Physics class since you will be at the MUN?!"

"No. I don't know what a MUN is."


Is the genuinely serious, or is she just messing with me?

Her: "Maybe it was NK"

"Wait. Aren't you NK?"

"No. I am AW."

(referring to the faces I remembered) "But aren't they the same? I remember both the faces as same"

"No. NK and AW are not the same."

And FYI there are no more than 28 awake and 1 sleeping student in our tuitions batch who have been in the same batch for about 1.5 years. And I remember almost 16 names, out of which 10 are matched correctly with their faces.

*Facepalm* Period.
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Computer class, yesterday, computer lab-

Sir- "Type the infix to prefix program that you copied in your exercise books yesterday and compile it"

Two minutes later, I had located the very same word to word (Sorry ASA) word for word program on the net and was sending the program to everyone else in the class. How?

"See. Line 13 is  System.out.println("Give an expression. Example (13+2*(8/3))");
So just go to Google and type Infix "13+2*(8/3)" You will get the exact same program there."

(AP starts rolling into laughter by now)
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A week ago, Literature class: Four boys forgot to bring their text books.

Sir: "So you did not bring your exercise books today?"

"No sir."

"What is the chapter?"

"Sir Rattrap"

"Go outside the class, make a rattrap and come!!"

What?!!!

Whats even weirder is that after thirty minutes they actually came back to the class. With a rattrap. They even demonstrated their rattrap in class. It was actually nice, and involved a principle through which the rat was catapulted in the air if it stepped on the trap

Period.
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Class orientation, one week ago:

Everyone had to speak something about themselves for two minutes.
Some excerpts-

RR: "I am the only son of my parents.... Oh no no..... I have a brother"

Me: "My name is Soni and my favorite numbers are Pi and 67"

GH: ".... my favorite memory will be when I was caught by the Chinese officials for crossing into the Chinese border when I was at Nathu La!!!"

Period
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At home with nephew:

Him : "Where will I get a Submachine gun?"

WHAT!!!!

Me : "What!?" 

"Arrey that game is saying I should kill one enemy with a submachine gun"

Oh!!

"Submachine gun is the same as SMG"

"Okay. Got it" (runs away)
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Library period, 6 days ago:

AP forgets to bring library book, so he is standing near the library door, albeit inside the library. The rest of us were sitting in our allotted benches.

He and NC (another boy who forgot to bring the book) see there is nothing to do while standing and come to browse the library books. (The shelf where the library books are kept is so placed that its slightly away from the rest of the library - Perfect place for timepass, gossip, (or in my case) passing through the 18 cm gaps between the shelf and the wall)

Seeing the situation, I also decide to go there as I was getting bored while sitting in my place. (Even though I had issued my library book already)

Sir comes after some time "AP, what are you doing here?"

Me: "Sir searching books so that he can issue them next library class"

AP: (trying to save the situation) "Sir searching book so that I can read now (in the library period)"

Sir: "Go back now. And Soni, what are you doing here?"

"Sir searching books for AP to read"


Colon P.

Later during the same period, I was getting bored so I decided to join the boys who were standing. [FYI that place was my spot for the past two weeks due to my silent behaviour]

End of period, Sir comes: "Previously there were 3 boys standing. Now there are 6. All of you are for not having your library books?"

Them: "Yes sir"

(Sir looks behind and finds me pretending to browse through a pile of books looking for something)

"Soni what are you doing here?"

"Sir searching for books here"

"If AP comes you have to be here na?"

"No sir"

"Next day, I'll send you to the terrace of the school"

"Sure sir?"

"Yes"

"Thank You, Sir"

(I have never been to the terrace during my 5 year stay in the school)

Period

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In another instance last year , i wanted to check whether or not Sir actually reads the reports he corrects. So I put my idea to the test.

Now my copy holds a report duly signed and ticked  by Sir, which ends in the following lines-


He is an alcoholic, but otherwise he is a very decent boy. He will surely succeed in all his future endeavours.
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At home with sister, 8 days ago:

Sister: "Now that you have told him (nephew) the password, he will surely change the password"

Me: "Relax. No need for tension. He uses only Windows XP. I work with Windows 7. He won't even find where to change the password"

"But at home he has an entire laptop to himself. We also dont know what all he does there"

"I said na. No tension. He is still 8 years old"

Five minutes later, I go to the room where he is to check up on what he is doing at the laptop. I see that he is - wait for it - CHANGING THE PASSWORD!!!

Period.
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The words of my Physics teacher earlier today in class, after distributing the exercise books of the boys that had been submitted for correction

(Definitely pointing at me) "Some boys are there who do all the sums but whose copies are without a single sum being done in them. And they explain the sum written on the board to the other boys"

All he said was completely true.. Period.
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This Monday, I bunked school to meet the doctor. Leave was granted after my sister went and talked to the Principal after waiting for 40 minutes for being late by 15 minutes (I told her that was going to happen). The Principal has a great impression of her, thanks to a starkly contrasting not so great impression of mine, and there wasn't a lot of problems giving the leave.

After she came home, we called up the doctor to find that the appointment had been... wait for it...... CANCELLED.

Period.
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Since my Monday was now so free suddenly, I decided to- well- see "The Avengers"!!! :P Loved the film. It was simply great- with the action and the one-liners. Only problem was keeping pace with its fast dialogues but I managed somehow. Should have seen it in 3D though.

My favorite lines from the movie -

(Fighter jet about to shoot Hulk) "Target in sight.... Opening fire...... Target Angry! Target Angry!" (Jet goes down)

Thor: "But Loki is my brother"
Fury: "And he killed 80 people in the past 3 days"
Thor: "He was adopted"
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Hope you enjoyed reading them..

See you next time

Au revior!!!
The Original Soni
17th May 2012