This update will primarily talk about the movies I've watched since 11th August, and also discuss the Doom stuff I have been working on.  First the Doom news:

• Mapping: I started an as-yet-untitled Doom project at TAPMI, and as I mentioned earlier it is going to be a collection of small maps.  The current position is like this - I have almost completed MAP01 (textures have to be fixed, detail has to be added, some monsters and tricks have to be put in... otherwise it's done), and started MAP02.  MAP01 basically has a Plutonia influence on the style.  For MAP02 I decided to do something different.  It has a Wolfenstein theme, which means it uses a lot of Wolfenstein textures... but then it has Doom-style layout and monsters.  You might say it is a Wolfenstein map done in Doom style.  I know it's difficult to explain.  It's not the first time I'm blending different styles, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it too - so I hope it turns out well!  This map has just been started and I've only built a few rooms until now.
• Demos: Maikl Novikov continues his alphabetical-order demo-ing of Ultimate Doom maps from the /idgames archive.  He reached the C's recently - and in the batch of demos that Opulent uploaded to his Doomed Speed Demos Archive on 23rd August or so, Maikl's demo of my map Chaos Punch was there.  The demo is 5:28 long and is good fun to watch (as Maikl's demos usually are!).
• Other stuff: I got to play some of the recently released levels (some three or four weeks worth).  I also keep going back to Erik Alm's superb Scythe, and I love MAP19: AD for it's cool design, look and music!  In the past few weeks there has been lots of praise for the new editor Doom Builder and I must try it out.  This will be one of the things I will take back to Manipal with me!

Now, we go on to a set of short reviews for all the movies I watched recently...

• Koi... Mil Gaya (15 Aug): I wrote a post about this.
• American Wedding (17 Aug): This is the third movie in the American Pie series and it was a fun movie.  Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) want to get married, and their friends decide to help, resulting in all kinds of complications.  Not for the easily offended, definitely!
• Freddy vs. Jason (31 Aug): Two legendary horror movie villains, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) and Jason Voorhees (here played by Ken Kirzinger) are brought together in one movie!  The film dispenses with logic early on, and quickly brings Jason to Elm Street, where he starts his usual killing spree.  Meanwhile, Freddy tries to regain power and invade the dreams of Elm Street's teenagers again, through the fear created by Jason.  In the final act of the film, we have the long awaited Freddy vs. Jason fights!  The movie has plenty of splatter and violent murders, and creative death sequences... in other words, just the kind of film that horror fans will like.  Very creatively made by director Ronny Yu (who directed Bride of Chucky also, which I haven't had the pleasure of watching).
• Boom (9 Sep): Kaizad Gustad's gangster movie which involves, of course, gangsters, stolen diamonds, and three supermodels.  Very stylishly made, with some good action sequences, a warped sense of humour... but at the end of it all it seemed to lack flow and coherency.  This could be due to the fact that I watched a "Working Copy" which was shown in the video theatres at Manipal - the film's official release date is 19th September!
• Girl Friend (13 Sep): I watched this on the bus ride from Manipal to Hyderabad.  The guy showed two Telugu movies, this was the first.  The only good thing I can say is that the CD quality was decent.  The movie itself was terrible.  Two and a half hours of scenes linked to the typical "guy meets girl and decides to marry her" theme.  I think it was supposed to be some sort of comedy.
• Nijam (13 Sep): The second Telugu movie shown on the bus trip from Manipal to Hyderabad.  This one was a good movie.  A young man's father is killed by corrupt cops and gangsters, and when they push him too far, he decides to kill them all.  This violent and bloody revenge saga stretched credibility during it's last hour or so, but was overall well done.
• Project A Part II (14 Sep): The sequel to my favourite Jackie Chan movie is equally good!  Dragon Ma is put in charge of the West Side Police Department, where he must clean out corruption, deal with gangsters and also a small group of pirates who want revenge.  The movie has terrific action, is very funny, and looks great.  Excellent movie.  Samo Hung and Yuen Biao are not to be seen, though!  I asked my mother to record this when STAR Movies showed it (Sep. 1) and watched it on 14th.
• Slugs the Movie (16 Sep, 1 AM): Directed by J.P. Simon, this is a horror movie about oversized man eating slugs terrorising a small town.  The icky stuff is decently done but it features some bad acting and bad dialogues.
• Dead Awake (16 Sep, 2:30 AM): Stephen Baldwin is a businessman who doesn't sleep at night - he goes for long walks and meets eccentric characters.  He sleeps during the day (he can sleep with his eyes wide open!).  On one of his night walks, he sees a murder being committed.  The movie is told in a flashy style, and has good music.  Directed by Marc S. Grenier, written by Terry Abrahamson.  Not bad at all.
• Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (16 Sep): Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara return as the Spy Kids Carmen and Juni Cortez, and this time they must recover a "Transmooker" device that is somewhere on a strange island.  Of course, they are not the only ones after the device, and there are also strange animals on the island (created by a Dr. Moreau-type crazy inventor, Romero - played by Steve Buscemi).  I loved this movie, it was probably even better than the first one.  Edited, photographed, produced, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez (the man behind Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn).
• Assassins (17 Sep): Sylvester Stallone is hitman Robert Rath, the best in the business.  He is assigned to kill Electra (Julianne Moore), who possesses a disc with some secret stuff.  Antonio Banderas is Miguel Bain, who wants to prove that he is #1... as events turn out, he is soon contracted (by Rath's boss) to terminate Rath and Electra.  A well handled action movie (director is Lethal Weapon's Richard Donner) featuring an excellent performance by Antonio Banderas.  I was pretty surprised to see the writing credits at the end of the movie - the story is by none other than the Wachowski Brothers, who also wrote the script, with Brian Helgeland.

Before coming home for my Term Break, I was determined to watch Pulp Fiction again, and I did on 16th night.  This is one of my all-time favourite movies, so it's no surprise that I watched my favourite segment from it, "The Bonnie Situation" again the next day.  Not only that, as you would have read, my father also bought me the movie on Video CD, which I am going to take back to Manipal.  As we would say at TAPMI, I have totally "internalised" this movie!

On September 12th, Robert Rodriguez's latest film, Once Upon a Time in Mexico was released in the US.  This is the third film in his "El Mariachi" series (the first being El Mariachi, and the second, Desperado), and I can't wait to see it.  I hope I will be able to see it soon after I return to Manipal!