Definitive Line of the last Century

Said Mr.T to Mr. Rocky (w/ mock vehemence) in one of those forgetable Rocky sequels:

" You call yourself a Fighter? Prove it Now! "

Wah! Wah!! Gold inlay in marble stuff, I tell you.

Olde Stuffe

Some things old, some things very old:

History of Robots in the Victorian Era
Vintage Toy Robots
Vintage Test Photos
Pop Cult

All links via The Cartoonist

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali readers.

Shaun of the Dead - Shavathu Kuthaley

Today I hit the local theatre for a movie called 'Shaun of the Dead'. The first 20 minutes of it was shot in an interesting manner: The camera followed Shawn around pretty closely. Coolest bit of the movie was whacking up a zombie in synch to the beats of Queen's 'Dont stop me now'.
Avoid movie, its bollocks.

I Arrive

I've landed in Dubai. This place is like Kuwait except that it is spread across a large area.
Somethings that struck me were:
1> Horrible Traffic.
2> My finger tips feel numb most of the time. I believe its something to do with shuttling between air-conditioned & non-ac-ified environs.
3> I'm totally lost & need to find my bearings.
4> Too pooped to do anything at the end of the day.
5> MCM, a French Music, is getting too weird. Try listening to Rain' B Fever's 'Un Gao a Oran'.
6> Can't seem to read at all.

I Leave

Yes people I'm off to Dubai.
Bangaloreans Bye Bye.
Its been wonderful.

Kill Bill vol.2

Watched Kill Bill vol. 2 yesterday, at Symphony. Its a funny movie. I liked this movie a lot better than the 1st one. The 1st one was more or less like a haphazard connection of events. The 2nd one is more or less paced more slowly & less chaotically. General mood of the movie was that of afternoon tea. I was totally surprised to see David Carradine cast as Bill, I thought this guy died a long time ago or something. One of the funniest character in this installment was Pai Mei a Kung Fu guruji with a funny set of sabre like eyebrows & fake-as-hell whispy Fu-Manchu beard. Most of the movie was kind of like Babushka doll. You had the movie poking fun at itself & all the genres it was making a tribute too. Then there was the standard pop culture reference (Superman), which is quintessential to Tarantino movies. The most overused technique in this movie was that of punching something thats 3 inches away from ones body.

If Pulp fiction was something sticky, then Vol 2. is semi-sticky & vol 1. just slipped of the pan. This movie pales in comparison to 'Pulp Fiction' & is more along the lines of 'Jackie Brown' in terms of narration. But then again 'you don't compare a Hatori Hanza to another Hatori Hanza' ( line from the movie).

Old School Blues

Offlate I've been nostalgic. It began as I was going through my stash of old games. Retrogaming is something I've alway wanted to dabble in & to an extent I have. By retrogamming I mean playing of old games, repairing relic consoles, coding emulators to capture the spirits of old hardware. To an extent I've accomplished this:

Playing- check
Repairing (read as open cabinet, clean cobwebs, resolder bits & bobs)- check
Coding Emulators - buhahahaha, I can't code for peanuts (for now atleast!)

One game that reminds me of the good old days was 'Another World'. It was & still is a classic. Minimal vector graphics & a tough gameplay. Very little music & PC speaker sound effects. The game has a very cool narrative technique & it was one tough mother of a game too.

Another World Reviewed & its creator Interviewed for those interested. Download it

Atmosphere is something that stands out in any game that Eric Chahi is involved in.

Suprisingly a new game Alien Hominid also harks back to those '80s 16-bit games. Reminiscent of Capcom's Megaman series. Everything is handrawn in this game, its very cartoony, frentic like the violent rabbit in Lucas Arts's Sam & Max Hit the Road.

The Second Free Third Dimension

It maybe easy being a pirate. But living off a pirate's loot is becoming harder by the day. I'm into 3D modelling. Offlate companies like Alias|Wavefront & Discreet are using sophisticated methods to crack down on people using illegal versions of their softwares. An advertising company in B'lore was caught & fined Rs. 2.5 Lakh. I began to think that it was the end of 3D modelling for me. Either I bust my balls to buy the software, which is like buying 1/4th of a car. I don't have that kind of money.

Searching for free alternatives I decided to try Blender3d. I tried using the same software about one & a half years back. Back then it just kept crashing no matter what I did. Well the software is more robust today. Its an under 5MB download (for windows). There are versions available for other OSes too. A great software except for the fact, of it NOT being user friendly. The documentation actually offers consolation in the vein of '3D modelling & animation is a tough field like rocket science, so u can't expect to simply pick it up & make it fly'. What!?! Yeah right!

After spending days with it, I actually found it to be a very Powerful program. Its like in those Sci-Fi movies, u have this smooth shiny surface in the middle of nowhere. Something tells u that this structure is mucho powerful & it can only be realized by getting it to open in some way...DANG! how do u get in? Maybe the future versions will focus on being a tad bit userfriendly. Till then its Beggars can't be Choosers mode for me.

Whats Cool About it:
1> Its Opensource. Its FREEEEEEEEE
2> Has features for developing Games. But right now in the Yaroze stages
3> Its FREEEEEEEEE
4> Versatility through plugins & scripts (written in Python)

Flashy Sites & Funny Songs

Stumbled across these 2 sites:

1h05
tokyoplastic

You'll need a flash plugin to view these sites & don't forget to switch on your speakers or connect your headphones.

3 Funny Songs:

1> Friday Night (by The Darkness)
2> Rubber Bullets ( 10cc)
3> Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag ( Marilyn Manson)

Now to catch a few ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ22222222----........

Its Here!

I've been planning this for quite some time. Its THE HALL OF BEARD!

Currently only one person has been inducted into it.

Back from Calicut

Posted some pictures I created a long time ago, while in college.
Take Me Home, Daddy!

Motto

Thought of this on the bus to Calicut:

Let it Grow
Let it Flow
Let it Show


Applies to Hair, Love etc.

Exodus

Bob Marley sang " Exodus, movement of Jah people".
I realized my batchmates from college are all on an Exodus. I only realized this after sending off Srikanth today evening. Srikanth's off to Texas for his PhD.

Heck! I too will be leaving in a few weeks time. It feels kind of weird. Its like in those detergent ads when they show stain blobs being yanked off fibres by super duper detergent particles. Only in this case you feel sad for the stain blobs. Maybe us blobs are off to face brighter prospects & maybe some of us are just simply going down the drain. Lemmings aaaargggghhhh!

Whatever it maybe, I can only sigh & say what I told Srikanth before he left " Remember man, always wear clean undies & drink lots of beer".
Best O' people.

Lemmings

Way after 80s acid-trippy Pacman, an awesome game landed on earth sometime around '91. Lemmings by DMA Design is one of those games that still shines today. DMA Design was also responsible for Grand Theft Auto. DMA Design is now Rockstar North.

Getting back to the game. Its all about a bunch of suicidal munchkin like creatures who are trying to exit the level. Your job is to get a bunch of them across obstacles & out of the level (without much casualities). There is a DHTML version of the game available online. DHTML Lemmings

The game speaks for itself. Old schoolers get nostalgic.

But what the heck is a 'Lemming' anyway?

The Radio Lobe

I'm convinced that I'm a mutant. My mutation being an extra lobe of the brain which I dub as the 'radio' lobe. Just as the rays of the early morning sun stimulates the pituitary gland, this lobe too, tunes into some obscure radio station or your old playlist (which no longer exists). The radio lobe just about defines your day. It may play an irritating song & make you feel helpless or stud music.

Today I woke up feeling like a Decadent, 70-year old Drag Queen. Yes! I woke up with 'Diamonds are Forever'-Shirley Bassey, ringing melodramatically in my head. FYI:its the title song to a James Bond flick of the same title.

Bad news.... Good News... & later a foursome D&D(Dinner & Drinks) ritual. High. Sleep.....ZZZ

A Rocking Playlist (Whats Good About It)

In no particular order:
song (artist)

1> Sex Type Thing (Stone Temple Pilots); The unplugged version of this song is great too. Loud & great.

2> Mother[Live] (Danzig); Live version is the best & its best sung to, when the gangs' drunk

3> In a Gadda Da Vida(Iron butterfly); Psychedellic rock at its best with a wicked riff (step aside prog rock!)

4> Starfuckers, Inc.(Nine Inch Nails); Nobody can program a pounding & crunching beat like NIN or Rob Zombie.

5> Wells Fargo(Babe Ruth); Initially it sounds like the music from a '70s porno flick, then it sounds like the soundtrack to a car chase scene from a '70s movie.

6> Blue Monday (Orgy); A nice hard cover of a song by 'New Order'. Sounds better than the original.

7> Inertiatic ESP [Live](The Mars Volta); A fresh sound. But It'd sound a lot less fresher if I told you that it reminds me of Led Zep.

8> Moonchild (King Crimson); Acid rock classic.

Whats good about it? well you've got to listen to it first. Adieu

An Apology & A Useful House Keeping Tip

Firstly I'd like to apologise to Jubilant- Dude your friend's software wasn't bogging down my system. It was something else (read on).

I have this favourite font called the '20th Century Poster' & I managed to lose it. I searched high & low for it. Gathered a lot of fonts from people around me. But it was useless & now I have around 11,400 fonts. Then I thought to myself (like a prick) now that I'm into graphic designing, I might want to use these fonts. So I installed all of them. Ever since then XP took about 4 minutes to boot up! Any attempt to uninstall them caused my PC to gag & hang (or is that hang & gag?)

Well it took me abt 4 days to figure it out. So there you have it,

House Keeping Tip- Don't install all your fonts i.e, if they number more than 150 & you are runnin Windows XP.

In case you don't wan't to install all your fonts & still want to see what they look like, use this freeware. It lets u look through fonts that are installed as well as uninstalled fonts (that exist on u hardisk). Nice.

Red Pill? or the Blue?

Click me

Omen ( and I don't mean the movie)

While walking back home on Monday. I saw something weird : A large bark brownish toad just pops out of the gap between two granite slabs that cover the gutter. It was followed by an equally brown rat. The rat was trying to nibble the toad's behind & the toad just kept jumping away. The toad jumped on....the rat followed, untill they both disappeared down another gap. The whole episode lasted about 40 seconds.

Back in the old days, folks would have called this an omen. So I interpret the omen thusly:

1> If I were the toad, there is someone out there determined to get my ass.
2> If I were the rat, I'll never get any ass.
3> No matter what I am, I'm going down.

If you see something else? Warn us OH! PROPHET(/ESS) O' DOOM or whatever.

Navel

Sunday, I had been on a long walk with Anjalie. It has been a while since our last aimless walk. Just got me thinking about how busy I'm now (& how jobless I was, back then). Somewhere along the way I came to a conclusion that I will not die, instead I'd implode into my own navel. Maybe our navels are actually portals to another dimension!! All one has to do is 'implode' into one's navel and....

QUISSZZOOP!!! One is on 10" tall daisy covered hills that roll off to infinity. But something this good always has a catch. I figure that it woul'd be walking about with your insides out.

The Sunday evening sky was pretty clear & blue with scattered clouds. The clouds looked like white cotton (Lot of volume there). OR as we usually refer to it - the cotton transport truck just lost another load.

Being Boring

I have this peculiar thing going on. Whenever I listen to a good song & 'connect with it', the hair on the back of my head stands up, or I get goose bumps followed by going numb for 3 seconds. This is something I haven’t been able to explain. By ‘connect with it’ I’m referring to the phenomenon wherein music & lyrics go hand in hand with mood I’m in, and I experience some weird kind of epiphany. Quite a lot of Pet Shop Boys songs have had this effect on me.



I am a Pethead and for the uninitiated that’s a fan of the duo Pet Shop Boys. The following – powerfully orchestrated, pop, dance, witty, wry, absurd, profound, ironic, melodramatic at times, are some of the tags I would attach to their music. I ‘ve listened to most of their albums & can’t quite tell which one I’d swear by. Every album is as good as the other except for their first release (‘Please’). 'Please' sounds kind of dated, but the songs still retain their je ne sais quoi.

So its 4am & I just woke up with the strains of ‘Being Boring’ in my head. I still can’t put a finger on this one. I can’t figure out what these guys are talking about. It’s a haunting song. Got online to check out what it’s all about & then came across this very beautiful & minimal site. This site does a good job of trying to disect the song down but is still unsuccessful. The Black Holes of the Universe can be explained in time. But 'Being Boring' is as elusive as an intergalactic outlaw's cruiser that has managed to perfect the science of travelling through wormholes of the universe.

The uninitiated might wan't to buy a Pet Shop Boy's latest 2 CD compilation album called 'Pop Art'. You don't know what your missing out on.

Songs of Fela Anikulapo Kuti

The Devil only knew how many songs were being mixed into old school rap songs in the 80s. One fine day a singer decided to sue rapper Biz Markie. The sueing later screwed Biz Markie through & through. Since then then record labels have been scrupulous when it came to acknowledging artistes who were being sampled. Tapes & CDs came with inlay sleeves that were a mile long & contained crap loads of fine-print. Most people tend to overlook this part of the album. I personally found it to be a gold mine of info like no other. Using these sleeves I've been able to find unheard of (at least by me) sounds,singers & bands. Some of them suck & most don't.

One such artist I came across was Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela is to Nigeria what Bob Marley was to Jamaica. Together with his band - Africa 70, he generated hard hitting music which could be best defined as drum & horn driven jazz-funk explosions. It kind of sounds like a military band got a snort of coke & let lose their fury. It also reminded me of Eddy Grants own brand of reggae - Ringbang. In short its funk drenched with syncopated rythms, lavished horn blasts. Songs are sung by Fela in pidgin english and are all about military oppression of Nigerians & other Afrocentric issues. But like most good music about serious issues, the issues take a back seat when u listen to them.

Some must listen numbers include:

1>Zombie
2>Lady
3>Confusion
4>No Agreement
5>Original Suffer Head
--------------------------

I'm not crazy about winamp skins. But this has me blown away. Try it, the graphic equalizer rocks.

That Awesome Line

I just love this particular line. Problem is I keep forgetting it. I first heard it from Sarun. I remember writing it down on a napkin, in a pub. But I couldn't find it later. Almost a half year later (last week), I met up with Sarun at the same pub & wrote the line down yet again on a napkin. I fear that I'm going to forget the line again or lose the napkin. It has to be uttered exactly as it is written. Its a line from a Neruda poem, which one? go figure. Those fortunate enough to be trained in the 'Guru's patented technique de seduction' will find this as useful as boxer finds a rabbit punch useful. Use it wisely. And the line.....

" I want to do to you what spring does to the cherry tree"

Defunct?? ?? ??

Major upheaval on cards.

Who is

Came across Googlism.com at Potpourri of Thoughts. If u r looking to know urself better & don't know better & where to start, check this site out.

So Who the fuck is Vipin? Look no further,

vipin is a committed and highly organised management consultant and an effective trainer and facilitator with strong people work skills
vipin is an established trainer
vipin is a fellow member of the institute of chartered accountants of india and associate member of the institute of company secretaries of india
vipin is a member of institute of chartered accountant of india and institute of cost and works accountant of india as well
vipin is short
vipin is upset with gangu for revealing to the cid that he works for him
vipin is a
vipin is doing a sushmita sen number on stage
vipin is the expert at breaking jffs2
vipin is
vipin is capable of playing well his lack of practice could make this team an
vipin is an experienced and successful it professional
vipin is known for his pioneering work in the area of parallel and distributed computing
vipin is a remote sensing and arms control specialist at sandia
vipin is my room pataner as well as uncle as well as friend courntly he is his job as a teacher of geography he is also help me and suggest in write way click
vipin is gespecialiseerd in het combineren van de ict functie met de organisatiestrategie om zodoende sterke business value te kunnen leveren
vipin is an it professional with 7 years of experience in computer services operations
vipin is also an accomplished filmmaker
vipin is currently the project leader and principal investigator of research projects in intrusion detection and mobile agent security
vipin is back
vipin is ok
vipin is in bangalore
vipin is it possible sweetheart that we can atleast spend time together? you know why?
vipin is a delhi police commando and his uncle satvir is a constable in the same force
vipin is now in the gulf
vipin is working in itil
vipin is currently the principal investigator of research projects in intrusion detection and mobile agent security
vipin is a very capable programmer

Well thats me in a post!

Moonjungle's Gallery

I have a new gallery a.k.a. photoblog at Moonjungle's Gallery. It currently features a small drawing rendered using MS Paint,for now. Its called 'Thinking Hmmmm'. U HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Corridor reviewed

The Book: Corridor
Author: Sarnath Banerjee
Publisher:Penguin Books India

Who is the Author? Back in the 90's an awesome magazine called 'Gentleman' was revived. It died mysteriously in 2000. Towards the end of its life, the magazine had introduced a page, which was illustrated by Sarnath Bannerjee & it had an interesting male take, on city life. Well our dude finally got around to doing a graphic novel.

It was marketed as India's first graphic novel. It got a lot of good reviews but I beg to differ on various points. Firstly it isn't India's first graphic novel. What is a graphic novel? Imagine a comic book. Usually each panel has simple depiction of scenes. In a graphic novel each panel goes thru a special treatment at the arists hands. I have read a few in which each panel was painted. Basically a graphic novel is a very artsy fartsy comic book. In India we've had things come close to this genre of art/literature. We've had Mario Miranda's heavily illustrated travelogues. We've got graphical adaptations of epics & histories a la Amar Chitra Katha.

Coming back to 'Corridor'. The book has no particular style. Bits of the book r superbly illustrated & inked exquistely. Some of the panels r over inked though. Some pages look like Mr. Banerjee forgot to ink them & the pencil lines & shades can be seen. Somewhere inbetween the novel a clutch of pages have been coloured (albeit badly). Some pages r a collage of calender art, photos & illustrations. So art wise the book has no consistent style. It feels as though the book was a hurried job & Penguin India offered to colour a few pages for the author if he could deliver earlier. Our chap had an awesome pen & ink style going on in the beginning (which he should've stuck to) but then bad colouring, collages came in & had a vulgar dance.

What is the 'graphic novel' abt? Its abt drab city life; Its highs & lows from the perspective of different characters. The book is as aimless as city life. U have a guy who is trying to figure out how screwed his relationship is & screwing it up even more, u have a chap whose having wet dreams abt an IT job in the US & a chap trying his best to liven up his love life. The last panel in the book gives us the impression that the whole graphic novel exercise was a part of some kind of therapy to get over the author's last lover. Certain bits of it r entertaining, some panels profound. The book adds to what Desmond Morris said abt human beings i.e, We r not animals living in a concrete jungle but animals living in a concrete zoo. While reading this book I was reminded of the movie 'Bombay Boys'( by Kaizad Gustad). The 1st half of the movie was really entertaining. Afterwards it nose-dived & u could smell its corpse.

In conclusion, the book read like a radio being tuned. Amidst a sea of noise & blips one hears a good song & that too briefly. A little funny here & a little existential loneliness there. Artwise this book SUCKS! Don't bother w/ this book. Contact me if u wan't to read it anyways.

List of Gaphic Novel's that I like:
Ronin - Frank Miller
Sin City - Frank Miller
The City - James Herbert
Le Monde d'Edena: Les Réparateurs - Moebius
Call of Cthulu - H.P. Lovecraft, Illustrated by John Coulthart

The Marriage Reception & after

The Marriage Reception:

Had loped of to Cochin on Friday for Anju & Zabil's wedding reception. It was held in a hall saturday, afternoon. Anju was wearing this brownish silk saree. (Did I see a hint of red somwhere? I can't tell) The Zari work was dazzling & not to mention exquisite. U could trace the pattern w/ ur pinky & not bump into other elements of the design. Nice!!
Our man, Zabil was looking sharp in a black, well cut suite that made him look a lot taller. It was a small gathering. Spotted a few familiar faces of which 25% I recognized, the rest where a tangle of names & familiar faces. Met Neck's brother too. Neck is trying for some advanced course in medicine. Its scary to think abt Dr. Neck starting practise. It was nice to see ppl remembering me as that bearded chap & funny uncle.

After the function I had a shit load of time on my hands. Wandered around a 5km radius around M.G. Road. This happens to be my 3rd visit to Cochin. Wished Caviar was around. Had around 5 hrs to kill. Came across a book exhibition & bought 'The Story of Painting -from the Renaissance to the present". A nice book on art history. Thought I'd grab a beer. But the afternoon sky was dark w/ rain threatening to pour. So I decided to get a rum & coke & another rum & coke from a seedy joint where the lighting made cockroaches look like peanuts. Gulped my drinks & got the hell out of that hole. Made it to the hotel room, ate a lot of hot,mucho delecioso vadas & spent my time channel surfing w/ a fuckole remote. The high hit me before I grew tired of channel surfing.

I was staying at the Udupi Ajantha Home. Its an old building gone through a series of renovations. The bathroom had green brass taps one for hot & another for cold, a gleaming white sink & black ceramic tiles. gr8t. I like the colour of verdigris.
I could have stayed in there for days.

The Ride Back Home:

All the luxury buses out of Cochin were booked solid for 2 days. So I decided to catch a KSRTC bus back home. I got seat number 2. I recommend it coz u can stretch ur legs out. And u have a nice view of the road up ahead. Only fuckup was when the bus stopped, u had to draw ur legs back in lest they get trampled to pulp & oncoming vehicles w/ headlights on high beam. Man can those things tattoo ur retina.

On the journey I realized that there existed only 4 kinds of animals on the road:
1> Roadkill - those animals hit by ur vehicle.
2> Potential Roadkill - those animals asking for it.
3> Roadkilled - the ones the vehicles before us, beat us to.
4> Roadhogs - human bastards that wanted to outrun u for no apparent reason.

Reached Calicut in 5 & 1/2 hours! Passed Mysore, The roads over there r gr8t & the road to Bangalore had a lot of jackfruit vendors. Those things where the size of Mysore durbar bolsters. Reached B'lore at 12pm. EOF

Realized

Just...

...Realized how neck deep I'm in work. Good thing I can swim. I'd like to swim in Beer right now. Beer....mmmmmmmmm...

...Realized how much of a visionary Alphonse Mucha was (Check out the links in the (DUH!)links section on the right side of this post).

...Realized how important French curves are to me.

...Rrealized how much mediocre my work is.

...Realized how fucking lazy ppl r getting at Planet Moon Studios. Their latest offering lacks the freshness of 'Giants: Citizen Kabuto'. Their animated interludes make me want to wretch. But the gameplay & humour r top-notch as always. Nick Bruty I salute u w/ my middle finger.

...Realized I'd rather spend my life as a collector & that too w/ another collector.

...Realized Gen-X sport sims rock.

Song for the day - Magic Moments (by Perry Como)
Song at the moment - She's a Lady (by Tom Jones)

Blog Alert!!

Stumbled on a blog Intelligent Artifice. Its abt the video game industry...game design .....anything related to gaming.

OSusk

Back from the Dead. Feeling like a mouldy, dank tapestry i.e, lots more mysterious layers to go thru to get to the big picture.

Susk is thinking of designing & implementing an OS. It looks daunting to me. So does climbing the Everest, but a crap load of Sherpas seem to be scampering abt that one. This post is dedicated to 'THE ENIGMATIC SUSK'

First of all I believe we should clear the slate. Think of empty space. Fill it w/ mobile phones - a Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Seimens & a sadha (normal) telephone. Which of these is the easiest to use. Well....the good Ol' telephone ofcourse. But u can't lug it & the address book around. So enter the mobile phones.Of all the mobile phones available the easiest to pick up & use is the Nokia. I know owners of other brands would beg to differ but I have had 'hands on' experience using the other mentioned phones. Most hand sets required me to get used to a system of operating. Yes Nokia too has a system but u don't notice it. Nokia UI(user interface) is intuitive.

Next...THE TRADE OFF:
I've been using Microsoft Paint,Corel Photo-Paint & Photoshop for some time. I still love MS Paint coz even a kid can use it. Its easy as drawing on real paper! But the other 2 packages r far more powerful because they pack in more tools & effects. In other words they r more complex. With levels of complexity these softwares r harder to pick up & use. Corel Photo-paint beats photoshop in the UI dept. But I still tend to use Macromedia Fireworks to tweak & optimize image dimesions & formats.

Then there is Maya & 3ds MAX. Both of them r awesomely powerful programs that let u make cinema quality stuff. Both r not as user friendly as the Nokia UI or MS Paint. Then there is Bryce 3d that is a powerfull program w/ an intuitive AI. BUT...
here r 2 supremely intuitive programs created by Takeo Igarashi that is similar to MS paint-

Teddy
Smooth Teddy
Use it & u'll know how things ought to be.
Should complexity mar the ease of a programs use? (Read as- don't be cheap get a designer to design the GUI!)

Susk man, I don't know how these things r going to help ur OS. But a few things r certain:
1>I don't wan't to learn to use the OS,I know where my penis goes!
2>Troubleshooting is like visiting the govt. office.Go to this dept that dept. & finally download the latest service pack or drivers from the company that made ur cards. I feel that if the Indian government actually patented the way they ran their offices, they could sue Microsoft.I don't wan't help files that r like windows help files.
3>Linux is for the programmer types. Give the common man a tool.

Monkeys & Rapists

The day-after my sis leaves for Delhi. Delhi reminds me of monkeys, rapists & obnoxious ppl. Obnoxious ppl- every city has its share & HECK! I might be one myself. But what abt Monkeys & Rapists? How do we get rid of these menaces?

I strongly believe that all is fair in love & war (no matter how shit one might feel). Think of human rights as a powerful underwear stitched in heaven, countries/ppl wear it to suit their own needs. Some Sharia laws r rather useful in enforcing laws. If one is caught stealing - OFF! w/ his/her hands. Now when this is publicized like say after Friday prayer, u can enforce laws easily. Singapore caning, works on similar lines.

Monkeys trouble ppl, govt. shoots down a few of them. The more severe the method of killing the more they'll fear humans. This removes the problem of poisoning, neutering them etc. If PETA cries, ask them 'If they enjoy having their babies faces lovingly scratched or chewed?'

For the rapists we could still use Aversion Therapy. Just as w/ monkeys the harsher the punishment, the better it is for society. Televised hangings of rapists is the ultimate in aversion therapy. Administering lethal injection is like giving the offender the easy way out & it has the least of visual impact. I can think of many other ways to off these guys but all of them r too dramatic. Eg- Put a guy in a room w/ bullet-proofed, see-through walls - Next give him a weapon (handgun or knife) & shut the door. Now it'd be inhuman to let him suffer in isolation. What would the human rights ppl think. We'll play a little radio for him - tape plays screaming & howling of women. Open after he has killed himself or dies of starvation.

Barbaric acts deserve equally barbaric reactions.

An Evening with Skinny Alley

Yesterday I had a Great evening at shitty Zero-G (decor sucks). If u r into 60’s pop, 70’s rock (& R&B) & yet don’t have a favorite genre- if u love Steely Dan- if u like virtuoso guitaring a la Santana, jam bands & live music; Then Skinny Alley is a home-grown band for u. Calcutta based musicians have been doing the scene way before I was born. They had released an album ‘Escape the Roar’ last year. A video of the song ‘Fence’ can be still be sighted, from time to time, on the Zee MGM channel.

They kicked off w/ a song called ‘Hey, Hey’. Describing the show & how the band played is well, pointless as it is one of those should’ve-been-there affairs. Highlights:
They did 3 Steely Dan numbers- Cousin Dupree, Green Earrings & Reelin’ in the Years. The latter was rendered much more up-tempo than usual with an unheard of guitar solo. The Drummer who looked like Sylvester Stallone in the ‘70s flick ‘Serpico’ sang a few songs too. The vocalist sang w/ gusto & engaged the crowd w/ good humor. The band also did a version of Hendrix’s Voodoo Child & a Flora Purim song. They also covered Audioslave's 'Light My Way" & a song by John Mayall. At the end of the evening they had gone through a gamut – Indigo Blues, Delta Blues, Jazz, Funk and so on. The guitar solos where MUCHO AWESOME!

Mostly they stuck to their stuff which was like a mixed bag. Their songs had some really wicked riffs & had that I'm-a-stud-in-a-muscle-car feel. They had a few a songs abt social issues like relegious strife & children giving birth. But those songs r the last thing u ought to perform at a night club & they smoothly (yet sadly) glided over most aerodynamically shapped heads, including mine. YAWWWNNN. Also there was a very pyschadelic pop number which they said is going into their second album. The singer sang w/ feeling & the band was one cohesive unit - all very seasoned & professional. The guy in charge of the sound system & mixer did a great job too. Overall it was 3 hrs of sound entertainment. Music was mature & devoid of punk-rock droppings. BUY THE ALBUM!

If u guys missed it & still want to see them in B'lore- They r playing at Landmark, The Forum (Koramangala) today (26th April) at 6:30pm.

Antharagni

Anjalie got us a few tickets for a concert at some God-forsaken college called PESIT, Located at Banshankari. Unfortunately she couldn’t make it. The band – Antharagni, genre – fusion (or so they claim).
When we (Srikanth, Susk, Roshan & me) arrived PESIT’s band- Phenome was opening. They did a few gimmick-laden numbers including a Dream Theatre cover. Overall not bad, but could be better. Antharagni takes over. The band consists of a violin, bass, acoustic & electric guitar and of course percussion. The percussionist – Gopinath looks like I.M. Vijayan (FC Cochin fame) dressed up like a vellichappadu. They played quite well. U had the usual folksy songs getting the fusion treatment. The transition from the violin bits to the electric guitar bits wasn’t smooth, which left me w/ a conclusion that the band needed one more violinist to smoothen transition. Apart from the many numbers they did, they played 2 great instrumental pieces. The latter one was the highlight. After that piece, there were 4 more songs all upbeat & top-notch. The band was good & the line-up reminded me of an Acoustic Alchemy album – Arcanum. The violin did give the band a unique sound. It was an evening well spent.

A Novel Approach

Ever come across some interesting movie while channel surfing? U stop to watch, then it gets a bit boring & u get back to surfing. Then after a few weeks u r back at it (surfing) again & u come across another program. But this time u figure out that this was another scene from that movie u saw the other week. This continues over 2 months or so & HEY PRESTO! u r able to put 2 & 2 together. Its like the movie ' Pulp Fiction'. U take a movie, beat it to pulp, slice & dice it & then watch the bits after calling the random function.

Most Hallmark channel movies r best viewed in this manner. Hallmark movies r usually long & drawn out dramas. I usually get put of by their length & I also noticed that most movies I saw the 'novel' way were Hallmark movies. Even movies that u have watched the normal way come off totally different.

Altered States

This just in, for fans of cryptic crosswords - Altered States

Kinder Eggs & Röyksopp

Been listening to a couple of songs by Röyksopp & Lunatic Calm. Lunatic calm has some hard hitting dance numbers leaning on the Acid House genre. Röyksopp has been spurning hit singles from their album Melody A.M.. I'm sure most of u must've picked up their catchy electronic music from the air waves. Videos of some of the singles r also great to watch. It consists of a series of animated schematic diagrams. It reminded me of these chocolate eggs we used to get when I was a kid, back in Q8. These eggs were called Kinder Surprise Eggs. It consist of a brown chocolate egg that tasted of hazel nuts (besides the chocolate). Below this brown layer was a shell white chocolate. If u shook the egg u'd hear something rattling in there. The rattling bit is a yellow plastic capsule, which housed plastic parts of a toy. Also in the plastic egg u'd find a schematic for building ur toy. I have had many awesome toys, but these eggs always came w/ the best! Most of my lunch money was surreptitiously on this addiction.

Last April I came across these Kinder Eggs in the last place u'd expect to find them - IN REMOTE SIKKIM!! And I bought 4 of them for old times sake. The chocolate bit was Deee-liciouso....mmmmm......mmmmmmmmmmm... The toys & the process of building them were as fun as ever & time stood still (or did I go back in time?). I still wish I could meet the chap who thought of the Kinder Egg idea. Infact I'd kiss him to death.

Some of the coolest egg toys I have found & built:
-A '30s Grand Prix racing car. Complete with a gear driven mechanism.
-A Jigsaw crocodile. The crocodile consists of plastic jigsaw pieces. U could also rotate certain pieces, to make the crocodile stand in a particular pose.
-A small viewer with a crank that u wound to watch an animated clip through an eye-piece
-A Magnifying glass, w/ a series of lenses to look at bugs
-A small bird that flew. It ran on a twisted rubberband. U should've seen the bugger go, when all wound up.

Every batch of kids has its craze. For us '79ers (back in Q8) it was kinder eggs, kites, water pistols & rubber toys that grew ( more on that in another post). And its true, they don't make them like they u used to.

Moonjungle recommends these songs
Röyksopp - Remind Me
Lunatic Calm - Leave You Far Behind
Lunatic Calm - Metropol
Momus - Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

Geronimo! Harpy

I was preparing a study for a painting. The idea was to prepare a flat barren landscape. One thing led to another & I got this thing I call ' Stormy Seas'.

Stormy Seas

How to get this affect:
1>Click the brush tool & set it to ' Loaded Cover' & Draw.
2>Click the effects tool & then choose 'Smear Tool'; Then choose 'Thick Smear'. Let loose the fury over painted area.
3>After smearing around for sometime u'll get funny ideas. Carry on from there.

Whats shit abt this picture is that it doesn't have any balance. If u rotate it once, clockwise - the middle black region is suggestive of a Harpy hurtling downwards. Maybe I should title this one ' Geronimo! Harpy'

Mean Machine

Were u lucky enough to watch Maradonna's HAND OF GOD in the World Cup, Mexico 1986? Were u lucky enough to witness the fine goal he scored after the ruckus the 'Hand of God' caused? Well if u didn't thats sad. Atleast u can look forward to the next Halley's Comet sortie (Incidentally that too was last sighted in 1986).

Well I'm getting all nostalgic abt the great footie games I saw way back. I just finished watching a movie - Mean Machine. Its abt a footballer (played by Vinnie Jones) who is sent to jail & is forced to play a match against the guards. Its a very clichéd prison movie. But the match is shot really well. Infact u'd wish that every football match was aired in such a fashion. Unfortunately it isn't so, heck play ur FIFA 2003 for a similar 'with the player' effect. The the manager of the prisoner's team is a black guy called ' Massive'( Vas Blackwood) who is pretty funny. According to him 'Massive' is Ironic. But he isn't given enough time or oppurtunity to be funny as much of the match dominated the movie. This guy & Vinnie Jones also appear in the movie - Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels ( & also in Snatch!). In it, Vas Blackwood plays a very deteremined drug lord, with an afro & a big, fast mouth. One of his famous lines:

" If the milk turns out to be sour, I ain't the kinda pussy to drink it."

Movie recomendations:
1> Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
2> Snatch
Watch Mean Machine if u've got nothing to do/ like watching football/ want to learn to foul.

No News & Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Just up after a few odd winks. Turn on the TV for a daily fix of news. I just missed headline news- that some other guy from the Hamas outfit was exterminated by the Israelis. Crap, so over to NDTV to hopefully catch more details on this interesting event. NDTV had a reporter outside a hotel waiting to talk to elusive Indian Cricketers, as if those fucks were involved in the Israel-Hamas thing. It seems the cricketers were going back to their homes w/ spouse & kids in tow & were being secretive. Somebody ought to shoot the NDTV crew in cold blood. Nah better still batter the crew w/ cricket bats & pour the pepsi over them. WE NEED NEWS, don't tell us that no news means stalking cricketers. Hats off to Aljazeera , they seem to be doing some serious reporting for the rest of Asia.

I've been reading Kurt Vonnegut Jr. for quite some time now. U could say I am a fan, although his sarcasm (in certain novels) made u want to through the book away from fear of turning ur brain into tofu. He has written an award winning novel called 'Slaughterhouse 5', its abt the fire-bombing of Dresden during WW2. Its partly ( How much?, I don't know) based on his life as a P.O.W. But in my opinion his greatest book (I hope not) is 'Bluebeard'. Its abt an artist. No more- read the book its worht it! I came across this American Magazine w/ glaringly un-American views - In These Times. In it I found a few articles & interviews by Vonnegut Jr.. Ta Da....

Kurt Vonnegut vs. the !�*!@
Dear Mr. Vonnegut
Strange Weather Lately
Knowing What’s Nice
State of the Asylum
False Advertising

His official site vonnegut.com

Still chanson de jour - She's a Bad Mama Jama (by Carl Carlton)

For those hard days

Somedays its very hard to get by. Thoughts of it come flooding in. If ur lucky enough to forget it; be warned it'll come back to haunt u. To borrow a clichéd line - u can run, but u can't hide. U might be in the midst of something important like writing a test or giving a presentation & there it is once again! Its THAT song u heard in THAT movie! U've no clue what it is. The credits roll by too fast or they r not at all clear. IMDB gives u the middle finger or leaves u only w/ the OST producer's name.

Here is a little site that should help u to kill ur curious cat:
Music from the Movies

Saving souls from nameless songs, Adios.

Song of the moment: She's a Bad Mama Jama (by Carl Carlton)

What is Good RnB music?

Its pretty simple. Take any word (for example - ' Baby' or ' No'). Repeat it 4 times like, ' baby,baby,baby,baby' or ' no,no,no,no'. Now if the uttered line makes sense like a sentence, then the song is sung by a good artist. Depending on the artist :
' baby,baby,baby,baby' => Baby, I miss u
' baby,baby,baby,baby' => Baby, fucking get out of my sight
' baby,baby,baby,baby' => I'm a dog in heat
etc, etc, etc.

Now the music depends on the guy who is cutting the mix. Rule of thumb- if its mixed in a studio in the U.K., u've a potential hit on ur hands. Some how the mixers & audio engineers there pocess a certain amount of (much needed) pop sensibility. Also if any off the following ppl r involved in production - Todd Terry, Dust Brothers & Nellee Hooper; U've got to listen to it.

Anything else is too substandard for Crap.

Nicotine & Gravy

Q: Hey whats catchy & once caught, is hard to get rid of?
A: Any Beck song

Lyrics to Nicotine & Gravy

Approved by the Dental Association

I needed it & while shopping for Visu, I picked it up. But before the choice was made I had this two & half metre tall rack towering over me. I'm talking abt toothbrushes here. Gone r the days of good old Rs11.50 toothbrush. Nowadays toothbrushes have stopped looking like the classic ones instead they remind me of Reebok sportshoes - cool design, sleek & yet chunky. And just like u've got running, walking..... shoes, the range of toothbrushes is just as varied. They come w/ joints at strategic locations, they can flex- microbristled- funkily angled handles- zig-zagged bristles -gay coloured like aqua & pink. Brushes that fight plaque & other diabolical stuff - mechanized brushes - whitening agents etc. I wonder if they test them out in wind-tunnels. Some of them looked so weird that I wondered if they were intended for the mouth!

The next best thing in space-age toothbrush technology according to me:
1> Brushes w/ little brush weilding Munchkins, tied to the bristles like Joan of Arc. Just put it in ur mouth & see the little buggers go!
2> Brush-Breakfast combo. It allows u to brush u r teeth & doubles up as breakfast after. Todays menu - toast, coffee, dosa, upma & cornflakes.
3> The sonic brush. Put it in ur mouth & get a dose of teeth rattling death metal. All songs approved & performed by Dental Association Quartet.

Finally I picked up a Prudent something & a few hours later I regreted it. Its a capitalist scam. Give me the good old ummikeri*.
Happy Visu everybody.


* Ummikeri is charred rice husks. It cleans great & as u use ur fingers to brush, ur gums get that much needed massage.

Tanked-up weekends

My weekdays: Studio 3-4 hours of animating & my brain is shot. After a lot of sponging I return home for lunch & then its back to the grindstone again. Past 2 weeks were busy & it was only on friday that I realized, I was working way too much. Haven't played a single game.Haven't read anything new other than manuals & how tos for various softwares. I must take a break as us slackers must never take it too hard. Heck! everyone I know has flown the coop for Easter. What to do? What to do? Headed to G$s on Friday & got wind that Sood may(/not) make it to B'lore. Got introduced to a new watering-hole for the hardcore types called Dewars. Great atmosphere & it got me all nostalgic abt Bombay Hotel, Calicut. Old world charm, mesh, spiders & communist posters. Scary menu though.

Dewar's started a 3-day long binge. Sood did come down. Spent a nice evening w/ Sood, G$ & a couple of his friends. More drinking. Tasted a great whisky. Got a few crazy ideas while I was there. Now back in that old, familiar, comfortable, lethargic mode albeit a little dehydrated.

Note to self- must do a qualitative analysis of chikkis- buy photopaints- nail that storyboard- get back to Srikanth's page- get cigarette paper

Horoscope-Travel on the cards.
Fuck me!

WHY DO I DO THESE THINGS?

Last Friday I molested myself. I got a haircut after 2 yrs, 1 month & 9 days. A record for me. I used to pop in at the barber's for a beard trim now & then when things got a little out of hand. The lecherous bastard use to eye my hair everytime & then he'd smile and ask if I needed a haircut or modest snip at the ends. I bet he got his kicks when he hacked off a sizable portion.
To guage the damage:

Before (Thats a Green Glass Bottle)
After (Thats a home-made Candle*)


* To purchase home-made candles contact me. For scented candles I suggest this DIY technique- Burn candle & smoke incense sticks simultaneously:)

Grim Fandango

From time to time we hear of ppl talking prophetically abt the future of games. They talk abt virtual environs in which one can feel textures & smell burnt flesh etc. Unfortunately, today, we r far away frm those wet dreams. But ever so often comes a game that gives u a total sense of immersion & is awesomely entertaining to boot. It leaves u wanting for more in the end & in a mournful state, when u realize that there aren't any sequels in the offing. One such game is 'Grim Fandango'.

The game borrows a lot from South American folklore. Especially the part abt journey of the soul after death, in the land of the dead. When a person dies he has to pass thruough the land of the dead to reach heaven (or something like it). The land of the dead is comprised of regions through which the soul must pass through (this includes the infamous Petrified Forest).

The games tagline reads: "An EPIC tale of CRIME & CORRUPTION in the LAND OF THE DEAD". U control a character called Manny Calavera, an agent for the Dept. of Dead (DOD) in the Land of the Dead. Ur job is to dress up as the Grim Reaper & harvest souls. Then u sell them a travel package depending on the sins they've commited. If u r a saint-type u get a golden ticket on the No.9, a fantastic train. Its the easiest & coolest way to heaven. U don't have to go through the torture of walking through many regions of the land of the dead that r akin to hell. Now for the Crime & Corruption part- some devious chap is selling these golden tickets to nefarious types while the deserving souls go through hell! Its upto Manny to get to the bottom of things.

The game uses Lucas Arts's SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system. Which basically is a interface system for
point-and-click adventures. CABAL::SCUMM
U use ur character to go around the land of the dead (rendered in 3D) collecting clues & stuff to solve them. U get to interact w/ a rich variety of characters. All the characters look like paper skeleton dolls (that r known as Calaveras in Mexican). Then there r demons that do menial jobs like sweeping, cleaning, repairing etc. The game has lot of references to that noir classic - Cassablanca. The buildings, streets, objects have this Art Nouveau touch abt them. Everything reminded me of Victor Horta. Victor Horta: Nouveau Monster
The game has also won numerous awards for its art.

The voice acting is impressive as in most Lucas Arts games. the soundtrack is mainly awesome swing & bebop tunes frm the Big Band era. Infact if ur upto it u can download the soundtrack here: Grim Fandango OST: Big Bands, Bebop, and Bones
I recommend the track "Hector Steps Out".
The humour in this game is great. Some of the dialogues r profound. One of my Favs:

Membrillo (a coroner in the Land of the Dead): I'm up to my ass in azaleas.
Manny: Do you ever worry that your job is getting to you, Membrillo?
Membrillo: Well, forensic botany is a trying job, Manny, but have you ever spent much time here with a florist?
Membrillo: In life, they became florists because they loved flowers, but here.......a flower is a symbol of pain, of death within death.
Membrillo: Their conflicted feelings build and build, and eventually they become quite mad.
Manny: Thanks for the tip.
Manny: I guess I'll send balloon bouquets from now on.
{Note: The villains in the Land of the Dead use a gun that shoots bullets that sprout plants on impact. These plants bore their roots into the bones. and that folks spells death for the Calaveras}

For screenshots & more stuff check out Grim Fandango Network

Mairan Gana' Gandharvan

While in Kerala last week I came across a cartoon panel: A Mother is standing outside a closed bathroom door & is asking her son (who is in the bathroom) to stop singing the song & hum it instead because they'd be in trouble if Das ettan (Brother/Bhaiya Das) might hear them. OK I wish I had cut-out that strip as cartoon readings r pretty dum.

The particular ' Das ettan' they r reffering to is the famous malayalee singer- Dr. K.J. Yesudas. He is also the dude who sang the songs in the 70s Hindi movie 'Chit Chor'. Yes folks Yesudas is following the patented western technique of patenting anything & everything under our noses & the sun. Remember the US-basmati Rice & the German-Neem extract fracas? The renowned Gana' Gandharvan has been copyrighting famous classical songs & ragas left, right & centre. This means that every student of classical music would owe Das ettan a small thuga (amount). Some of these songs r centuries old & has shaped the present classical music scene. Copyrighting such works & that too something that he has not written is criminal. What is the world coming to?

So the next time u buy an Yseduas CD or tape, pirate it & distribute free copies to near & dear ones for the sake of propagating our rich musical heritage. Viva la Revolucion!

New Look

I've always felt that this blog wasn't easy on the eyes. So I took the initiative to save the eyeballs of a few gloryhole visitors. The phosphor green romance continues. There r a couple of adjustments left. All in good time. Just let me know if u guys r having trouble viewing it on any of the browsers you use. IE -check!

Villain Vijayan

Work on my 2D animated demo has begun. Its 30 seconds of 2D action- Thrills, spills, chills et al. Most of today was spend boxing around ideas for characters & the story. Storyboarding is yet to start. Here is the 1st of 3 characters. He is the villain & he is known as "Villain Vijayan":



I have great plans for this dude. He is armed w/ a sharp & curvaceous sabre. The eye-patch is something I'm not considering on including as it makes him more pirate-y. Also the cape has to go (This version is a beta release). Pirates r cool, but villains ought to be despicable & not to mention devious.And so he shall be!

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

Wah! What a movie. Just finished watching this great movie called " Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" or simply "Amélie" for short. Its a french one with subtitles in english. In the beginning the rapid-fire french narrative interfered w/ reading of the subtitles. But I caught on. I'm a damn slow reader as it is; Still it felt as though the subtitles where trying to keep up w/ the narrator. I don't want to describe this movie (too much) as watching it is like going on a journey & making startling discoveries. The movie is shot somewhere in France. There r a lot of old buildings, wrought iron gates n' railings, acordian music, dull yet rich wallpapers. Everything is enhanced by a blue filter (I'm guessing here- I think there is another colour also filtered). I bet if u cut the movie up into 4 minute chunks & played pop tunes in the background it'd come of as a music video. a la Björk, maybe? Somewhere in there Amélie (the protagonist) finds love. Then, logically speaking, this movie is abt finding love! But wait a minute, its not like the usual girl/boy sees-meets-falls scenario. Its weird & gave me one of those weightless feelings u experience whilst peering into a kaliedoscope (for hours on end). In the end I felt like rewinding & watching the different layers in each scene once more. This movie is an audio-visual treat as there r a lot of references left abt in different scenes eg- an Edith Piaf song played in the railway station.

So whats the movie abt? Like I said its a discovery of love & a lot of other things. If u r a guy & can't figure out how the strange minds of women work, this movie isn't going to make anything clearer. Blame it on their cycles/moon/evolution!

This movie also reminded me of another love story called "Lucky Jack". Lucky Jack is abt an unlucky Jack who gets lucky. This movie isn't offbeat, its quaint & good. Jack is portrayed as this hesitant person who loses out on a lot of opportunities. He finally meets this woman. Overcomes all the unnecessary circumstances or rather chucks it all away & gets his girl. I never saw the starting credits roll & hence didn't know the movie title. But I guess they titled the movie so aptly, as u'd find urself saying 'Lucky Jack' at the end.

Inspirational Rot

Yesterday was one of 'those' days wherein I was so full of inspiration that I couldn't do anything. All that this feeling does, is fill me up w/ ferral energy & soon I find myself pacing in the bedroom; All the while making plans for world domination in a truly inspired fashion. Then I decide to jot down all the ideas that had occurred to me while pacing (I even a have book & a word document for it!). Within the first 5 minutes I lose interest, chuck it all away grab a paper & sketch/doodle as I may please. Whats actually cool abt 'these' days is that those ideas lodge themselves firmly in my head & start to rot. Then one fine day these ideas & other residues come together & a spanking new picture/animation is created. Then the orgasm i.e, a sense of achievement.

Sunday took that step towards organizing my music collection. Thank u Srikanth. Bought a CD wallet. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.
Speaking of music I'm on a major 80's trip:
-I feel for You :Chaka Khan [An awesome cover of a Prince song of the same title]
-Running in the Family :Level 42
-She works hard for the Money :Donna Summer
-Shopping :Pet Shop Boys
-Happy Hour :House Martins
-Juice (Know the Ledge) :Eric B. & Rakim

It was tragic how Shaikh Yasin was assassinated. He was in a wheel chair when the rocket hit him! R.I.P. Its sad that the Israeli's can get away with it. Well now they can't get away from bus bombings can they? Talk abt asking for it. The whole rocket-wheel chair situation reminded me of the Duke deathmatches in the LAN back in C.R.E.C. It'd be cool to have a wild card mode in FPSs (First Person Shooters). Say that each player gets 3 chances to spawn. Somewhere hidden in the map would be a wild card that enables u to spawn a 4th time but only u'd be in a wheel chair & without any weapons! Mow them down if u have to. Others can kill the wheel chair bound dude only w/ a rocket.

Links for the day:
Aljazeera (english)
Croteam - the guys responsible for Serious Sam

Hokusai & How he did it

I've been fascinated by printing techniques. Unfortunately this fascination hasn't been strong enough for me, to get into the DIY mode. The interest has been dormant for quite awhile now. Last Friday I had been to the Chitrakala Parishad (an art academy in Bangalore) for an exhibition of students work. I thought I'd be lost in the gallery for atleast a good 3hrs. Unfortunately the exhibition was a wash out & it felt like only the painting dept. had something substantial to exhibit. There were some art-for-art's sake installations strewn around the place including a particular ugly one made from a ripped up motorcycle & a shitload of wires. Someone activated a sensor in it & the bloody thing kept beeping for an hour.

I saw a couple of interesting etchings & linocuts out there. Etchings r prints made from etched zinc plates. Linocuts r prints made from linoleum sheets with designs cut into them.

Which brings me to Hokusai.
Hokusai was an 18th century Japanese artist who is known for his wood block prints (Edo Period). I've always wondered how he incorporated colours in his prints. So one thing lead to another & presto I found a couple of informative links.


What is a Print?

The Technique of the Colour Wood-Cut

Jim Breen's Ukiyo-E Gallery - Hokusai

For the love of Tux

In the Pantheon of the most irritating cutsey mascots on earth, the stoned penguin- Tux (Linux fame) occupies the throne. The following picture was from a series of tortures I submitted the little bugger to.

TUX SUX

It was originally titled 'Tux Impaled & Splattered', B-man & I settled for the shorter 'Tux Sux'. Rendered using the evergreen Paintbrush programme on B-man's PC in 2001.
Tux Sux!

Max Payne 2 reviewed

Just finished playing Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. A choc full it was, but not a patch on the 1st version. Here r my 2 bits on this game

PROS: Max looks more like a cop w/ balls in this new outting. Earlier he had a smug wiseguy look. All the characters where fleshed out much better thanks to good voice overs & real-life stunt guys to simulate realistic reactions. Graphics wise this game was pretty good. Twists & turns in the story r dropped on u at the right moment. As a result u've this strong urge to know whats next & this adds to the ferocity of ur fire fights.

CONS: Quiet a lot actually. Horrible level design. Remember the subway & last few levels in Max Payne? U got shot most of the time just coz u had no idea of the orgy that was waiting for u at the next turn. Plus u ended up using the bullet-time feature in tight spots. In the sequel the levels consisted of small rooms & the occasional grandiose halls. No brainer- Open door fling grenade-step in finish left overs. Bullet time was something u used if u have the lousiest aim on earth. Alternatively u could walk in & shoot away (while praying that the chap w/ shot gun isn't quick & close enough).

Max Payne had the noire thing just right. There were little humorous things abound in the form wise cracks frm Payne himself, T.V. programmes etc. Max Payne 2 felt like u where playing one of those TV programmes. Horrible monologues, it almost felt like I was playing a pathetic spoof of the 1st game.

Overall: The story & action combo was superbly entertaining. The gun fights could have been more intense. But I expect they wanted us to play in harder difficulty settings. But once u've finished the story what more is there to it?

The most awesome part abt the game was this song called 'Late Goodbye' by Poets of the fall. U can hear it when they roll the credits at the end of the game. The song goes hand in hand w/ the end. Singer sounds like Michael Stipe (R.E.M. vocalist) but w/o his peculiar style of vocals. The music on this is a classic example of balance between all things acoustic & electric. Try downloading it of a P2P file sharer or something.

Lyrics of 'Late Goodbye'

Additions

Yo ppl, I've been a busy man for the past one hour. On the right side of the blog u have a couple of additions. There is list of blogs I read ever so often. Just below that there r a couple of links dear to me. Enjoy them.

Clean shaven freaks, do the rest of the males a favour & visit the beard related link.
Viva La Revolucion!

NM 156

A concept for the upcoming website is crawling albeit slowly, out of the primordial soup that is my mind. Artwork is not going to be a problem but executing special effects is going to be a challenge. Getting grips w/ Macromedia's Fireworks. Macromedia products r good, the ease of use couldn't be simpler. Editing images isn't going to be a problem anymore. I thought hard abt accesibility issues: For a smashing good site I'd need to use flash. I expect increased load time, but w/ my initial experiments things seem to be cool. Some viewers out there would be left in the dark. Heck get w/ the times! Lets see how it all works out later.

Queensrÿche's first album offering is looping in winamp. The whole album is abt a fucked up future. A very odd song in it has caught my attention. The song is called 'NM 156'. NM 156 is abt this man-machine thing thats sent out to kill ppl in a bid to control society. The song is written from the 'man' side of the man-machine monster thats still trying to fight 'logic'. Interestingly this album sounds like Judas Priest only diff being that the singer sounds like Bruce Dickinson. Its unfair to classify these geniuses as a Bruce-Priest monster. Their albums always had this concept thing going on (OK frm this side of the millenia these concepts r a bit overused). Rock? They Do!

Anyways top 5 songs on my winamp:
1>Wells Fargo (by Babe Ruth) [Genre:Rock]
2>It Must be Love (by Madness) [Genre:Ska-Pop]
3>One Angry Dwarf & 200 Solemn Faces (by Ben Folds Five) [Genre:Pop]
4>Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder) (by Maxwell) [Genre:Neo-Soul]
5>So Danço Samba (by Wanda de Sah) [Genre:Bossa Nova]

In continuation w/ the sea creature fetish:
Caribbean Reef Squid
Whats cool abt octopi, squids & cuttlefish is that they almost look alien. There is a certain sense of grace to them.

FYI - Ajay John Kulangara has left for Bristol.

The Horrible Haiku & Deep Sea Creatures

Pussycat sits glum
London revisited
Freddie Mercury dead

-Guru


By popular demand my works (not shitty haikus) will be hosted on a weird gallery like website. Work under progress. NKV Rao kindly hold onto ur panties.

If u r fascinated by deep sea creatures check this site out
Harbor Branch Oceanographic

Cocktails & Gift Wraps

Yesterday I had this wonderful drink called the 'B-52' at G$'s place.
B-52 Recipe
And if u've ever wondered what that tasty looking drink Jeff Bridges's character kept sipping in 'The Big Lebowski'. It called the 'White Russian'.
White Russian Recipe
Note: 'The Dude' also had a small dose of NyQuil in his White Russian. 'The Big Lebowski' was one of THE BEST Coen Bros. movies I've seen.

Friday I was out shopping for a Birthday gift. Getting the gift was not as hard as finding a decent gift wrap paper. I searched high, low & not to mention everywhere for that elusive gift wrap paper. Its akin to finding a woman in B'lore. All the good ones r already taken by some lucky guy or other. Geez! I'm starting to come off as a loser.

Also this weekend I got my grubby hands on 'The Bestiary of Flanders and Swann (& Extiary)'. A collection of witty songs which r accompanied by the piano.
Flanders & Swann Online
Some classic stuff here. Check out their lyrics section to get a hint of what u r missing. Here r a couple of lines from 'Twice Shy':

He's shy, he's shy,
Though he wears a fluorescent tie.
With a deep-down need to assert himself,
We know the reason why:
He's shy, he's shy
Give him another try:
When you hear his voice in a crowded room
And that laugh (Ha! Ha!) like a sonic boom,
Go right on over to meet your doom
'Cause underneath he's shy,
He's really terribly shy.

Swipe Me on a High Tide

SWIPE ME ON A HIGH TIDE

A small painting done in 7min using Corel-Photopaint. The painting started of as picture of a Llama & eventually got transmogrified into a piece inspired by the nose-bleeds I used to experience when I was a kid. The nose-bleeds got worse w/ the onset of high tide.

@ G$'s Abode

It was relief to know that G$ wasn't down & out. Had been to his place in the evening. Susk made finding his place an utter fiasco. Anyways we sat around, talked abt 'paras' yet to be commited & getting Susk drunk. Jenny & her mom were playing an odd looking card game. She said it was something along the lines of Patience. G$'s orangey cat made its presence known by going around the den a couple of times stopping at my foot twice. It had a nice soft coat & didn't resist in any manner when I stroked its head. Cool Cat!

Preparations for the IBM try out has started earnestly. I feel a lot is riding on this interview. MEL (Maya Embedded Language) looks too daunting. G$ says don't sweat it as the guys at IBM r clueless as anybody else in the world. Hope thats true. I still can't figure out why IBM is looking for animators. Kittyal Kitti, Alangil Chatti! (Roughly translated from Malayalam : If u get it, u got it, otherwise clay-pot).

Earlier this afternoon I had met up w/ Srikanth. Conversation drifted over to forms of Idol Worship by religions that r against Idol Worshipping (as if we didn't have anything else to talk abt!). In their defence I came up w/ a definition for an Idol -

" An idol is a physical manifestation of a mnemonic representing the abstract concept titled God.". How fucking smart.

Harry Pottan

Saturday Higlights - Lunch w/ Mom at one of my favourite restaurant- Noblehouse. I recommened the Honey Prawns. Its sounds like an odd combo but I guarantee u'll hit heaven & beyond w/ one bite. Mmmmmmm...Mmmmmmmmmm

Rest of the day was spent bored to death. No-one would come out & play w/ me :( Earlier that morning I decided I would not sit at the PC. I was sick through & through modelling a 50s style robot & almost killed myself trying to texture it the day before. So I thought I'd curl up w/ a book. I wanted something light. I picked up my sis's copy of 'Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix'. I didn't sleep that night. The book is like an eel, its plot keeps twisting & turning. The author sure knows how to write a soap opera for kids (& bigger kids like me). I noticed a pattern- the characters mostly interacted in 3s. No dialogues only trialogues. A says something, B says something else & C is too distracted. Later on it seems B was right, A agrees that B was right & C says "Shit! we r all wrong" & then they bark up another tree. This narrative mechanism doesn't make the book a bad one. Infact its a good old fashioned, entertaining yarn. I suggest u pick it up, however u'd be left in the dark abt certain goings on, so try laying ur hand on the 3rd & 4th books (FYI '...Phoenix' is the 5th installment).
At certain points in the book I had to shout 'oooooooooh, not that number'.

Home-Made Explosives & Shootings

Day 3: Finally finished a 2 second shooting cannon sequence. 15 drawings in all- the cannon cocks up, shoots a cannon ball (duh!), does a jump for a recoil & falls apart. This would have been a flash if I had used a Flash MX (PC program). But when it comes to pen & paper its like manufacturing a cannon. The scene showed the cannon centred & lenghtwise; it had a wheel too. The fuse burns out, the cannon cocks up in a staggering fashion & shoots wonderfully... Look Ma no hands! But the X-Factor that screwed this piece was the wheel. The wheel had to respond to the cocking cannon by squashing itself, this took a day to get right. I found that sqashing & skewing it corrected the problem. Next phase recoil. For the recoil I had to rely on my sense of timing, i.e, "BE ONE WITH THE CANNON" (echo effect). Got that part fantastically wrong. The cannon looked like it floated back along an arc after shooting. So I had to decrease the arc radius & VOILA!! cannon shoots & recoils!

A line test is a preliminary movie of the rough drawings, that comprises the animation. Line tests save a lot of time & pain when it comes to getting the desired actions right. Sometimes the actions look almost right but ur eye lingers on this one 'thing'. U play the footage at different speeds & still don't get a clue abt whats going wrong. This explains the 3 days for the 2 sec cannon blast.

Next comes the part that sucks. Clean up! Its a painstaking process of neatly tracing out the rough drawings for the final shoot. We had this instructor, Sudeep. He claimed that he sucked at clean-up & hired people to do it for him. In his words " For this u need patience. Its a womans' job".

Concentration is tantamount. Tomorrow, must remember to kick Vikas's ass before beginning drawings. He happens to be the local hyperactive pest. Speaking of kicks, have u noticed that Charlie Chaplin movies had awesome kicks. The kicks where normal but the affect was devastating on the big brute's posterior. What actually happened was this, the actors acted really well, they had to exagerate actions as it was a comedy & u had no sound for the movies then. They kicked in such a way it compensated for the lack of sound too. But what made it funny was the reduced frame rate. The time delay between kick & effect on ass was very small. This also explains the walks in those movies, they were fast. Accepted frame rate today is 24 frames per second i.e, 24 drawings or stills per second.

Hail to 70s Porn!

Yup there has never been anything rawer than 70s porno flicks. Women with feathered back hair & John Holmes. No Twiggy wannabes (ironically the Twiggy phenomenon took hold during the late 70s). Voluptuous women (in case u can't visualize it anymore, think 'fat' in all the right places). Call me a sexist or by any other anti-feminist label, I give a rats ass. Bad lighting & ancient cameras added that certain je ne se quais. Some of them are down right haunting. The thin line between softcore & hardcore porn is more or less a recent invention. None of that new fangled chicken choking, its 70s porn for me all the way !

Best where the spin-offs from this industry. I remember watching a great movie *ing Richard Dreyfuss, I believe the movie was called 'Bits'. Dreyfus plays this porno movie director, who has a romping time w/ one of his starlets. The movie today would be 'a month in the life of a decadent director'. The movie goes into dealing w/ his sex-life, experience w/ drugs & ofcourse the mediocrity of being a porn movie director. It gives a bottom of the barrel perspective of life as an artist in the 70s.

For the buffs, uninitiated & simply curious :
X-Rated Posters
British Girls Adult Film Database

Another great movie revolving around the 70s scene is 'Sunset Strip'. This comedy/drama was released in 2000. Its abt a couple of individuals, to be precise, 24hrs of their lives in 1972 on Sunset Strip. Nick Stahl (Guy who plays John Connor in T3) is an upcoming guitarist. Then there is this alcoholic, loser song writer who has been unfortunately eclipsed by one of his hits & is trying to turn the tide (in a stupor). His friend, a colour blind photographer who happens to be the closet-freak of a lover, of this female who dresses up rock stars. A small time Penny Lane muse thing going on there. The Comedy is subtle & it has a nice happy ending which leaves u with a "Good for them".
Peace. Out.

NURBS & Nobel Prize Winners

Its been exactly 2 years since I last cut my hair. This day, that year I had vowed to accomplish a few things in a years time! Year 2 & all I can say to myself is 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Pathetic Pathiyil...as Pandi would have put it. Anyways the show must go on.

Spent most of the morning (erm afternoon) modelling w/ NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-plines). A fancy term for curved lines whose curvature is controlled by a set of control vertices. The key to modelling as any policeman would politely tell u is to think like a sculptor. It takes quite a lot of patience to sculpt a face using NURBS. Especially if u have to deal w/ a weird middle mouse button. The damn thing just doesn't work when held down, so tracking through a view easily, is impossible. Also I found that Maya (the software) kept crashing on my system. Which has left me to suffer an unwanted 'system suffered a crash' notification whenver I boot up. This got me thinking abt & drooling over alias wavefronts sketch book. This gizmo is an Electronic sketchbook, a perfect device for uber-lazy people like me. Heck, I bet that baby crashes too! Gravity u just can't escape it ^_^

Also finished reading the 'Everest Hotel' a very good book. A few books actually gave me a sense of being there - Marquez's '100 Years of Solitude'. In '..Solitude' I could actually smell Macondo (a village) in all its funk & splendour. '.. hotel' too evoked similar sentiments. Another great book along these lines which was a great read was Naguib Mehfouz's Sugar Street trilogy. Both Marquez & Naguib r Nobel Prize winners! They say that the Nobel Prize is rigged, but I still say that these guys r good.

I once saw a documentary on Naguib Mehfouz. He was shit old & sitting on a park bench. He was recovering from a stabbing. The stabber was a fundamentalist fanatic. It was a documentary on Belly Dancing & its decline in Egypt. Egypt had one of the best schools in Belly Dancing. However that mantle, now, is held by a school in Tunisia.

Trivia: Tattooine scenes in the Star Wars Episode II was entirely shot in Tunisia.
Known Fact: That movie is the ultimate crap ever made!!

THE GAME !!

I remember cribbing abt not having encountered that ultimate entertainer of game a few weeks back. Well I found it, its called 'Kirby 64- The Crystal Shards' (N64 platform). U play a character (Kirby) that looks like pink bubble with stubby hands & funky red shoes. Character is rendered in the Chibi format & awesomely animated. Violence takes on a cutesy turn in this baby. To kill enemies u suck them up. u can swallow them or spit 'em out. Now if an enemy has some power & u swallow the bugger, u accquire them too. If u swallow 2 powerfull baddies u get a hybrid power, this feature rocks!! Eg - Boomerang ability+electric shock = light saber a la Darth Maul.

In essence this game is a platformer, but the 3D level design gives it an awesome edge (pun intended). U walk along paths that wrap up mountains & the camera follows. The World is luscious w/ cutsey baddies & Crayon Sinchan style backgrounds. Music is Sonic-esque. People at Nintendo sure know how to make fun games. I love these guys.

On the design front, been sifting through my noodle for logo ideas. I have to design a spanking logo for the Island Motor Racing Club. This one is a good karma assignment. So far I have 3 mediocre designs on paper. Not satisfied, anways deadline is tomorrow 10am & the night is still young. Most of the morning & a good part of the afternoon was spent at the studio. Today was on of those perpetual hard-on days. Boxer shorts leave me horny ad infinitum. Frustrating part of the day wasn't trying to satiate desires, but coping w/ the horrible line-test machine which seems to have gotten worse after the repair. Interstingly, Shilpa one of the students out there, thought I was somebody else. Only after 5 hours did she realize it was me!! The wonders of the beardless state.

Had a dream, a very satisfying one, wherein I was kicking the asses (verbally) of people who bug me. Need more dreams like these.
Plans of drinking w/ ' Whiskey' G$ & ' Lime juice' Susk got killed. Susk is still slaving at the office.

Masochistic Nuns & Copy Controlled CDs +

I've been reading I. Allan Sealy's 'The Everest Hotel'. I'm half way through the book & its abt a lot of things. One of which happens to be the way an 80 yr old man relentlessly (term used loosely) tries to break the wa (inner harmony) of a nun. Anyways it got me thinking ......nuns r the biggest masochists on earth. They must be a frustrated lot, dedicating their lives to an abstract concept. The priest r lucky, they r always backed by altar boys. Sick! Speaking of nuns, I was reminded of 'Nuns on the run' an 80s British flick abt bank robbers who dress up as nuns & survive in a convent school for girls. Good movie w/ a nice ending.

Borrowed Enigma 5: Voyaguer from Susk. Its a copy controlled CD (CCCD). What sucks is the whole system. The damn thing expects windows to be installed & what not. I bet that if one is against piracy & bought a CCCD, one would rip it instantly for the heck of it!! In case ur wondering how they do it, check out

volition.vee.net/archives

Keep on making. Keep on breaking.

Past few hours have been spent trying to device a new peg bar arrangement that would do away with a need for a special paper punching machine. I ought to be animating & have 2 tasks more to finish but the tinkerer side of me begins to takeover. The Peg bar would ideally hold 15 sheets & save me a lot of headaches in dealing w/ the fools managing animaster.

Meanwhile an idea for an exhibition of my works (Ha Ha) has been fermenting in my mind. Ishraq sort of seeded the idea. But priority as of now would be to get my on-foot portfolio ready ASAP.

Sleep patterns have been derailed over the past 1 week. Sleep (when I do get it) is peppered w/ turbulent dreams. I'm conscious of the fact that I'm dreaming. While I'm dreaming I seem to be talking to myself. More like commenting eg, 'Eda u should be writing this down, it'd look good in a book' etc.

Been trying to finish Dungeon Keeper 2 since last sunday. Srikanth! Blood!!!