Happy Holidays!

Line Rider

Line Rider is an amazing piece of Flash gaming. People have gone to crazy lengths to make the rider a skier who could win in the winter Olympics! Check this out:



- Trackback from Pogue's post.

Revenge of the auto rickshaw

TucTuc, a CNG-powered autorickshaw service is the quintessential rickshaw with a twist - it comes in different designs, and is used in Brighton, UK as a tourist vehicle (and attraction)!

Incidentally, the picture on the left is the "Burberry" TucTuc which is being repainted because Burberry filed a lawsuit against the TucTuc'ers.

Sheer madness

From the NY Times...

"The Best Buy store in West Patterson, N.J., had almost 2,000 people in line for Friday's 5 a.m. opening, many of whom had lined up starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday. ''They had turkey sandwiches,'' said a Best Buy district service manager."

I really feel sad for these losers for having missed a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with family. A blogger called Black Friday a "pagan shopping holiday". I call it insanity.

Update: For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, "Black Friday" is the day after Thanksgiving when retailers in the US offer huge discounts at throwaway prices.

A full dosage of culture

This Saturday, we attended the South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival in DC. The festival was really well organized, well attended and we got to experience quite a feast of good movies, book readings and panel discussions. Plus, there was some star power in the form of Nagesh Kukunoor and Kiran Desai. “Dor” and “Punching at the Sun” were screened as part of the festival, followed by a Q&A. I quite liked “Dor”, and I think his style of writing/direction makes you feel buoyant and cheerful about life; and makes you believe in the innate goodness of humankind. L was even slightly disappointed that the movie had such a feel-good ending; but I was quite happy with it. He even asked Nagesh the same question, and he answered “Why not? I want my audiences to leave the theater with a good, warm fuzzy feeling”. He’s really a great guy – so creative and so unassuming. No airs, no fake accents, just sincere movie making.

“Punching at the Sun” is this year’s entry at the Sundance festival about an inner-city neighborhood in Queens and a teen’s coming-of-age story. Left me wanting for more; but I think the director Tanuj Chopra had me quite entertained in the Q&A. When asked a serious question about the teen’s father and how his character was not developed, and whether that was intentional, he started saying how it was an expression of his basic theme etc. Then he just gave up and said “Oh, actually, he just didn’t show up in the last few weeks of shooting!”

The other notables were Devyani Saltzman(Deepa Mehta’s daughter) who’s written a memoir, Tarun Tejapal (really dynamic journalist and founder of Tehelka.com with a colorful personality), and Samrat Upadhyay, whose reading reminded me a lot of “The Glass Palace”.

Randomness

Can you come up with random things about yourself? By random, I mean eccentric or quirky – something random enough that it’s not an essential characteristic, but it’s still you. It’s actually a difficult Q, and I had to think hard to come up with mine. Maybe I’m not weird enough. Uff – normal is so boring.

1. I had 2 imaginary friends with really weird names. I was 9-10 by the time I realized it was probably time to let go of their friendship.
2. I press the toothpaste in the center; not from the end, and it drives L insane.
3. The clothes in my closet are arranged by color – from whites, warms to cool shades.
4. The toilet paper roll has to unwind from the top; it really upsets me if it’s unwinding from under.

And no…I don’t solve Sudoko on toilet paper!

Omkara

Watched the much hyped movie this weekend. Though I loved the editing, direction and the dialogues, the movie left me asking for more. It was probably because I was expecting too much from it. I think I should just enjoy a movie without reading any blogs/reviews about it. In any case, personally, I thought Othello’s character is supposed to be a very passionate, almost violent role; but the restrained Ajay Devgan did not do justice to the role. Though he acted well, I could not see the despair and the jealousy that the character needed to depict. Konkana Sen, as usual was brilliant; and Saif’s gaalis left me chuckling.

L and I came up with an alternate casting:
Othello: Abhishek Bachan
Iago: Manoj Bajpai

From the archives

This pic is from one of my first forays into digital art. Both the pictures were taken at the Met, and then superimposed. The background picture is the hieroglyphic from the Temple of Dendur (this entire Egyptian temple was transplanted to the US) , and the foot is early Greco-Roman.

Aah, a trip to NY just for the museums is long overdue. I am quite excited about going to the newly reopened MoMA.

Some more Photoshop stuff...

My inspiration was the cover of the Economist's "Intelligent Life".

Dabbling in Photoshop Elements

I love gifting photographs to friends and family, and nowadays, I’ve started dabbling in Photoshop Elements. It’s pretty easy to create fantastic montages, (slightly gimmicky) but cool jigsaw effects and shadow filters. Here’s how I created this particular picture:

• Start with a picture of your choice. Go to Filter > Texture > Texturizer > Load Texture (from file). Once in the folder view, pick Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 3.0\Presets\Textures\Puzzle.psd. Pick Scale and Relief values for your picture. The cool thing is that instant previews are available in the right hand side pane. I picked a scale of 150% and a relief of 6 for this example.
  
  
• Once the jigsaw filter is added, using a magnetic lasso, carve out the pieces you feel are kind of central to the theme of the picture. Once the lasso is complete, cut it and copy it on the same picture. Add some shadow effects; I typically like to “hang” the puzzle pieces and then add a heavy shadow to it.

That’s it! Feel free to add any other cool techniques you know or might come across.

Fanaa

I’m always super-excited about watching even mediocre Hindi movies, so I was really looking forward to watching Fanaa, considering I had good reviews about it. The past few Hindi movies that I’ve seen (Rang De Basanti, Hazaaron Khwaishe Aise, My Brother Nikhil) have left me with nothing with very good impressions about the new directors and the concepts. I am particularly happy with the fact that they no longer consider the average movie-goer to be an immature incapable of understanding complex feelings, plots and grey characters. This movie unfortunately disappoints.

Maybe I have a morbid sense of humor. But this particular episode in the movie is absolutely ridiculous – Rishi Kapoor plunges to his accidental death in the Kashmir valley. The scene cuts to Kajol filling water by the frozen river (why she’s doing that when her house is equipped with the latest gadgets and even a throbbing fireplace is beyond me); where she actually sees Rishi Kapoor’s body flowing underneath the icy river!

Clichés abound…a Delhi travel guide lives in a beautiful apartment complete with a patio and garden furniture. The rain song with Kajol in her drenched chiffon sari. Ee Gads! Poor blind Kajol goes about her merry life with her concept of her “shehazada”. Kiron Kher is intolerable as the overbearing mom. Not one character is fleshed out.

Weekend movies: Kontroll, Melinda and Melinda

Top 5 Restaurants and Bars

L and I came up with a top 5 list of restaurants and bars. Our lists were similar, though we did tend to get biased towards Indian sea food.

Inevitably, Philly’s restaurants/bars have a certain pseudo ambience where it’s the “In” thing to do. Baltimore, probably because it’s not trying to live up to any image tends to have bars and restaurants that exude that personality as well.

Restaurants:
1. Mahesh Lunch Home, Mumbai - Mangalorean sea food. Don't miss the prawn gassi. Drool!

2. Alma De Cuba, Philadelphia - Excellent food, beautiful presentation, very romantic ambience. Don’t miss the mojitos and the lamb merguez and fig glazed antichuchos (skewers)

3. Tapas Teatro, Baltimore – Small plates, tastefully done décor, trendy and still cozy. My idea of a perfect date is going for an indie movie at the Charles, and then to this restaurant next doors.

4. Mainland China/Legacy of China, Mumbai – Chinese done the desi style.

5. Levante's, Bethesda/Dupont Circle – The Adana kebabs are to die for. The restaurant has a peculiar “Levante’s” dish in every course.

Other contenders were The Pod (Philadelphia), El Sarape (Blue Bell), The Helmand (Baltimore). Rumor has it that this place is owned by Hamid Karzai’s brother.

Bars:
1. Continental, Philadelphia – L likes the quantity of the martinis, I love the white chocolate martinis and the “Steven Starr” kind of décor – meaning this is the place to be in the “in” crowd.

2. Brewer's Art, Baltimore – a once-grungy, now-yuppy hangout, it serves really good Belgian and German beers. Being a devout Catholic, L’s favorite house beer is “Resurrection” :) My favorite is the girlie beer - Kindl Weisse served with a raspberry shot. L’s friend’s gripe is the newly painted peach colored walls. But personally, I prefer it to be yuppier than grungier – considering my hair doesn’t end up smelling like an ashtray.

3. Not Just Jazz By The Bay, Mumbai – just love this bar’s live band. I actually recognize and love – be it the Beatles, Clapton or Santana.

4. Leopold, Mumbai – the hangout of all the characters in “Shantaram”, this is the perfect place for people-watching. Be it druggies or foreign couples with adopted Sri Lankan kids, this place is always filled with people in interesting phases of their lives.

5. Tangerine, Philadelphia

Other contenders were Peanut Barrel (East Lansing), Buddakan (Philadelphia).

Local Library raided!

Aah...the smell of books! We raided the Towson Libary today; and here's the loot:

1. Grimus
2. Satanic Verses
3. Freakonomics
4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
5. Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man

The picture on the left is slightly unrelated; but if I were to justify why it's there, I'll say that it's because it reminds me of books lined on a shelf.

Arco Degli Acetari

Arco Degli Acetari is a charming little courtyard in Rome. When gazing at the pictures, charcoal paintings and the caricatures in Piazza Navona, I chanced upon this oft-used little courtyard – bright red, quintessential Rome. So we asked this graphic artist dabbling in tomography where we would be able to see this courtyard; so we felt really proud about discovering this small neighbourhood. It more than lived up to its imagery; L captured a good picture of it – I particularly like how the light seems to almost flood one corner of the picture.

Juxtaposition

I find juxtapositions in architecture, or indeed any art form most intriguing. Post-Modern against medieval, fusion music, the suspense of a tangy mango chutney with Cuban cuisine – I believe it’s something to do some kind of sensory overload; where the first reaction is “Oh – this doesn’t fit” and finally it grows on to you, as if you think it existed since time itself.

Centre Pompidou is an exoskeleton of “inside-out” activities, meaning it has the building functions such as plumbing, escalators, heating on the outside in order to maximize space to house modern art, and is located in Paris’ medieval quarter. It’s difficult not to gasp at the ugliness of the building, but I was equally flattered by its design after walking through the building and going up the escalators.

I was less impressed with IM Pei’s pyramid in the Louvre; maybe I just didn’t get the concept of the entrance to the museum – not sure it had some subliminal message about the openness of space against the traditional architecture.

Somewhat unrelated to art but certainly within the realm of this topic is a fun place in Baltimore for Tex-Mex cuisine called Gecko’s which serves the most delicious mango chipotle enchiladas. Yum! Truly a burst of flavors.

YUVA Studio has launched.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2006

Toronto design studio launches online environment to stimulate creativity

It's Children's Day in China and Hungary, and children everywhere have something new to play, create and share with! Thanks to YUVA Studio ( www.yuvastudio.com ), a Toronto based studio with a mandate to develop products that nurture creativity in young children.

YUVA Studio's Product Design team announced today that YUVA, their premier product is ready and available for purchase. YUVA, the root of all words meaning "young", is an online environment, a creative playground for children aged 4 -10 years.

Shapes are at the core of YUVA. Co-founder Jayashri Deshmukh, refers to them as "the basic alphabet of a person's visual language". YUVA fosters PLAY with a palette of shapes. The rich environment challenges the imagination of young artists as they merge, rotate, enlarge or flip them to create a variety of drawings. "It's like playing with 2-D blocks. In the process of play and experimentation, a child makes a multitude of connections that unfold the principles of pattern, design and composition."

CREATE follows PLAY - it is a more deliberate act, one driven by intention. Using YUVA, children will be able use their original drawings to create e-cards, posters, greeting cards and even custom T-shirts.

A natural step to follow CREATE is SHARE – the act of confidently showing one's creations to others through e-cards, printouts, galleries and the YUVA Studio Merchandise store. YUVA not only makes sharing easy for children but also encourages them to solicit a response. E-card recipients can send messages to the artist. They go directly into the child's "Sketchbook" – much like signing an Artist's guestbook. The YUVA Studio Gallery is a public-facing online venue for these young artists to submit their drawings to. Soon, the Gallery will invite professional artists and designers to curate art shows and competitions.

Although YUVA's primary audience is children who have basic computer skills, the co-founder of YUVA Studio, Parth Upadhye says, "YUVA is actually for everyone, for all ages. There's a child in each of us that delights in creative play. In our product tests we found that while the children were drawing trucks and birds with YUVA, their parents were designing rugs and wallpaper! The possibilities truly are endless!"

At YUVA Studio, we can all be YUVA Artists.

About YUVA Studio:
YUVA Studio (www.yuvastudio.com ) designs and develops products that: foster play (with shapes), stimulate creativity, and encourage sharing. We have a "single" focus - that of creating products that fit this "Play. Create. Share." model of a creative process.

Contact Information:
YUVA Studio | www.yuvastudio.com | Play. Create. Share.

T: 416-607-6125 or 604-678-5764
E: media@yuvastudio.com

Enchanting Europe

L and I are back from Paris, and I cannot stop thinking about it. For the past few days, I have reliving it by writing this blog, typing long emails, talking about it with my friends and family and tagging our online pictures.

My flight to Paris from Baltimore was very eventful to say the least. I got delayed by more than 12 hours...it was really awful. The book I was reading "The Accidental Tourist" turned out to be an ominous sounding title after all. We stayed that night in Paris which was close to the Eiffel Tower, went to see the Eiffel Tower, by sunset. The next day, we went to Rome, and were floored by the Colosseum, the Roman ruins and the Pantheon. Truly unforgettable! These ruins cover a massive area, and it is not hard to imagine the kind of life the Romans lived. Palatial gardens, artistic temples, and the larger-than-life orgy that they led on a day-to-day basis.

The next day, we went to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and explored the small neighborhoods and squares in the evening. We went all the way up to the dome at St. Peter's, even saw the tiled mosaics on the dome. Really extravagant and an amazing architectural feat. What was kind of disturbing was the fact that most of the bronze, gold and marble used in the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel had been plundered from the Roman forum, the Pantheon and other pagan symbols. Sistine Chapel was really awesome, and I'm glad I took the audio guides for the explanations. There are so many parables woven into "The Last Judgement", "Genesis" and other Michelangelo frescos, that L's Sunday school teachings would not have been enough:)

Paris was a totally different experience; we hit the usual touristy spots – the Louvre, The Pompidou centre, Montmartre neighborhoods, Notre Dame, Hotel De Sully, Place Des Vosges, the Isles…I still cannot get over the fact that there was history at every corner, every square, and yet the locals seemed untouched by it all. After all, they're Parisians right?

I absolutely loved the idea of the "piazza" in Rome and the "places" in Paris. Highlights of the trip were delighting in the concept of a "caffe" bar in Rome, the inevitable "Made In China" Pinocchio keychains, gawking at the wonderfully dressed people in Paris, discovering small courtyards in the inner alleys in Rome, going all the way up to the top and enjoying the breathtaking vistas of Paris from the Georges restaurant on top of the Pompidou and enjoying the fabulous food, wine, gelatos.

We're still soaking in this unforgettable trip, and are bashing "America" for not being even close to Europe...the faux Corinthian columns adorning the office buildings and churches here are so passé.

I will try to cover each place in detail in the next few days.