My animation#2 [IPL on SET MAX--Bowls you over!] !!

After making the animation involving a table lamp and a ball and watching it come alive with the background audio, I felt it has to be uploaded to YouTube here just before the IPL starts on march 12, 2010. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, proving yet again that there is so much more that we can do with Maya.

Since the video was a kind of short 21 second promo for the IPL on SET MAX, there was lots of excitement about it, what with the frenzy building up all the time.

As IPL means a carnival of sorts from SET MAX, the background score should also reflect the carnival mood. And while I was searching for the right audio, I settled for the A R Rahman track from the Couple's retreat, which was long-listed under the Best Original score for Oscars this year, but unfortunately didnt make it to the final nominees list.

Personally it is a very energetic song with very peppy-foot-tapping tunes and goes like "say na na...". Rahman's dexterity and mastery of tunes alongwith constant rhythm needs no special mention as he is a legend in himself!

I am not sure how many in India have heard the song or even known about it, but its worth listening it here for the magnificient energy that it sends out!

Like most Rahman's songs, it may not strike you at the first time, but will slowly grow on you with every consequent listening.

Coming back to the making of the IPL on SET MAX promo, it could have been even better if I had created the audio first, felt it and then created the video later! Suggestions from the audience on the video also showed that there could have been more anticipation and exaggaration[both being important principles of animation] of the table lamp's behaviour.

I will surely make the improvements in my major project by making the background score first and then video later.

So looking forward to the project work on Avatar-2 now and expecting a greater and bigger product! And for now, bye..tc

With love..
Anil

First experience of creating animated movie!

When the first shot of the ultra short-4 second video unfurled, it can be called a dream come true! Always wondered how a simple lifeless object in maya can be brought to life to entertain viewers across the world! Yesterday was the day when the complete process presented itself to me when I made this short video just for a demo purpose and the world of possibilities that lay ahead in the road laid out by the amazing software called maya!The video just shows a kind of large reptilian bird[or a kind of flying dino as you may call it] approaching the camera, hitting a billboard in front of 3 sky scrapers, and going away.Next was finding the right audio for background, and luckily a tiny part of Avatar's trailer soudtrack suited it pretty well!Of course Maya is just a tool whereas the real creator is within ourselves-- The amazing thing called "creativity"!No doubt the final demoreel/[or project as you may all call] product is not going to be easy, what with lots of things to be learnt in the ocean called with a simple word "Maya"!Its mind boggling to imagine how the creators of Avatar imagined all the characters and brought them to life on the super big screen, even though the motion was handled by all those cameras and huge performance capture systems. Video is available on YouTube here



With love..
Anil

Story of a Tea Cup

Story of a Tea Cup

"There was a time when I was just a dumb lump of red clay. Then one day my master came. He took me, brought me home, rolled and pounded me on a wooden table. Again and again, he poked his fingers into me until finally I yelled out: 'Don't do that! Leave me alone!' But he only smiled and gently said: "Not yet!"

Then, whoommmm! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly spun around and around and around until I lost all my sense of direction: 'Stop it; don't you see that I'm getting sick? Quickly, take me from the spinning wheel!' But the master only nodded in understanding and quietly said: "Not yet!"

Then he placed me carefully into an oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door: 'It is hotter than hell - I'm burning to ashes. Please get me out of here before it is too late.' I could only read his lips as he shook his head from side to side and silently pronounced, "Not yet!"

After I had cooled down he carefully picked me up, looked at me and brushed some dust away. Then he brought the colors! The fumes were horrible! 'Please... you have no mercy! Please, Stop it!' But he only shook his head and said: "Not yet!"

An hour or later he came back and placed a mirror before me and said: "Look at yourself!" And I did.What I saw amazed me. 'That's not me!' I said. 'It is too beautiful...' With a very compassionate voice he spoke: "This is what you are meant to be," and then he explained: "I know it hurt you when I rolled and kneaded you on the table. But if I had not gotten the air out of you, you would have broken. I knew you must have lost all your sense of orientation when I was spinning you. But without this you would never have come into this form. I know the fumes of the colors were intolerable when I painted you all over. But if I had not done that, you would not have had any color in your life."

God is the potter and we are the clay. He will mold us and will expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we will become a perfect piece of His liking.

--Anil

Beautiful Message..

Regards,
Friends of Lord Krishna (FOLK)
ISKCON, Bangalore

Visit us at
www.folknet.in
www.iskconbangalore.org

Best Regards,
Anil [http://anilreddy12001.blogspot.com]

Don't Interrupt Others or Finish Their Sentences

Another nice message from ISKCON Bangalore:

Don't Interrupt Others or Finish Their Sentences

When you interrupt someone, or finish his or her sentence, you have to keep
track not only of your own thoughts but of those of the person you are
interrupting as well.

This tendency (which, by the way, is extremely common in busy people),
encourages both parties to speed up their speech and their thinking. This,
in turn, makes both people nervous, irritable, and annoyed. It is also the
cause of many arguments, because if there's one thing almost everyone
resents, it's someone who doesn't listen to what they are saying.

Once you begin noticing yourself interrupting other, you'll see that this
tendency is nothing more than an innocent habit that has become invisible to
you. This is good news because it means that all you really have to do is to
begin catching yourself when you forget. Remind yourself (before a
conversation begins, if possible) to be patient and wait. Tell yourself to
allow the other person to finish speaking before you take your turn.

You'll notice, right away, how much the interactions with the people in your
life will improve as a direct result of this simple act. The people you
communicate with will feel much more relaxed around you when they feel heard
and listened to. You'll also notice how much more relaxed you'll feel when
you stop interrupting others. Your heart and pulse rates will slow down, and
you'll begin to enjoy your conversations rather than rush through them.

This is an easy way to become a more relaxed and loving person.

--
Regards,
Friends of Lord Krishna (FOLK)
ISKCON, Bangalore

Visit us at
www.folknet.in
www.iskconbangalore.org

Develop Your Compassion

Today, I received this beautifull mail from ISKCON Bangalore..

"Compassion is a sympathetic feeling. It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it's like to be in someone else's predicament, and simultaneously, to feel love for that person. 

Compassion is the recognition that other people's problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own---often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our own hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.

Compassion is something you can develop with practice. It involves two things: intention and action. Intention simply means you remember to open your heart to others; you expand what and who matters, from yourself to other people. Action is simply the "what you do about it."

Compassion develops your sense of gratitude by taking your attention off all the little things that most of us have learned to take too seriously."

***********************************************
Best Regards,
Anil [http://anilreddy12001.blogspot.com]

Full text of Pranab Mukherjee's Budget 2010-11 speech

IBNLive : Full text of Pranab Mukherjee's Budget 2010-11 speech : Print Page

***********
Enjoy..Anil

Wild Family "Cheetah Blood Brothers" on Nat Geo Wild---Amazing!!

Yesterday's documentary about "Cheetahs--Blood Brothers" on Nat Geo Wild was an amazing experience! Its an endearing program about how cheetahs' life and the heart touching story of cheetah brothers/cousins. Its amazing how they manage and cooperate within themselves!
The two cheetah brothers waiting in vain for their elder brother was particularly touching! Also the shot where the two brothers stay close while drinking water[so as to protect themselves from any attack] was superbly taken! Kudos to the makers for this amazing piece of documentary!! I strongly recommend this show, as well as the movie Duma [coming soon on WB and HBO] for those who love wild life films!!

With love..
Anil

Check out Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=-358487566719608936821

"Gulliver's Travels" now live in the Kindle Store!!

The legendary book of Gulliver's travels is now available at the kindle store

here

..

Just login at the site : https://dtp.amazon.com

With love..
Anil

An upgraded Sun Direct STB Software!!

Seems like sun direct is improving with time! On the mahashivaraatri day[12 Feb 2010], I was surprised to see a banner while watching a maa tv program. It said something like "download happening" or an 'update beginning..", and automatically restarted the STB.
It took just over 6 minutes to complete setup, showing statuses like 1, 2, 3,...and "f"[for finishing].
Once it started, it was a pleasant surprise as to how it looked!
Its something like the brand new bright blue hotmail compared to the previous windows 98 like boxy design!
Looks apart, there is a new feature which enables us to edit our favorite channel numbers individually while still watching the channel and sort them by name or by number. This is really handy which was missing in the previous software.
We can also see a small suggestion box at the top right when we type channel numbers, which makes it very easy to use.
One modified feature is that despite showing the help channel at startup, it remembers our previous channel which we were viewing before turning off the stb.
All we have to do is press the recall button after startup.
One thing that they can do well to improve connectivity with the consumers is the communication of any new channels or any info/latest offers through mail. This is very important especially when a new channel is added, when a recharge has been successfull, or a new add-on pack is added to your account.

This can keep us in a much better touch with sun direct. Hope IBM, [who handles the customer management services of sun direct] is listening.

Right now, we have to depend on the internet for latest news on sundirect.

Anyway the improvements are good. Sun direct probably has more business news channels in the basic pack than any other service[ndtv profit, utv bloomberg and ET Now], most number of movie channels in basic pack[utv action, utv movies, world movies and wb], the only service that provides a world class international news channel BBC World News in its basic pack, and the only HD DTH service in India as of 14 feb 2010.

My first poetry book at Amazon!!

I am happy to know that my first e-book of my poetry[Titled: World of Poems] is now online at Amazon!
Link to the e book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037265RU
Hoping to publish many more books soon!!
With love..
Anil

మొదటి పుస్తకం!!

అమజాన్ లో నా మొదటి ఆంగ్ల పుస్తకం ప్రచురించాబాడటం ఎంతో సంతోషంగా వుంది. ముందు ముందు చాలా పుస్తకాలు ప్రచురించాలని వుంది.. చూద్దాం! పుస్తకానికి
లింక్: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037265RU

My Passion... Poetry

Dont remember exactly since when, but poems never stopped amusing me!

Below is one of my poems that came to me spontaneously on a gloomy morning the day after the deadly Mumbai Terror Attacks[Nov 26, 2008]. Not a drop of ink was used while penning this as I wrote everything in my mobile! Its smaller compared to others written by me, but the intensity if emotions involved in writing this makes it an important one. It expresses a hope that we will rise from the situation and ensure justice to every victim of this shameless act by the enemy across the border.

RISE WE WILL

To thwart the venom of cross border enmity,

with our immortal ocean of spirit,

and the mighty power of steely will,

To beat the gloom of domination

with the bloom of Akhand Bharat,

To chase away the evil chill,

and break the devil's grill,

Rise we will...

Saluting the army and police for their ultimate sacrifice during the Mumbai terror. We owe them a lot.

JAI HIND

- Anil

Wonderfull lyrics from Godavari!! Hats off to Veturi!

I was just listening to this beautiful song from "Godavari", penned by Veturi.. The beauty is the lyricist mentioning the Swayamvaram episode in Ramayan and how Sita feels when she couldnt find Rama. I especially like the lines I gave in blue, which means the same Lord Rama who lifted Shiva's bow[said to be so heavy that no king/warrior[including Ravana] could lift it with all their might] with his left hand, can He lift the plaited hair of Sita while tying the knot!! This depicts a beautiful irony in the mind of a girl who couldnt make her dream boy marry her/like her, however powerfull he maybe!

రామ చక్కని సీత కి

"నీల గగన ఘనవిచలన ధరనిజా శ్రీ రమణ
మధుర వదన నలిన నయన మనవి వినరా రామా
రామ చక్కని సీతకి అరచేత గోరింత
ఇంత చక్కని చుక్కకి ఇంకెవరో మొగుడంట
రామ చక్కని సీతకి...

పుడత వీపున వేలు విడిచిన పుడమి అల్లుడు రాముడే
ఎడమ చేతిను శివుని విల్లును ఎత్తిన రాముడే
ఎత్తగలడా సీత జడను తాళి కట్టే వేళలో
రామ చక్కని సీతకి...

ఎర్ర జాబిలి చేయి గిల్లి రాముడేడని అడుగుతుంటే
చూడలేదని పెదవి చెప్పె చెప్పలేమని కనులు చెప్పె
నల్లపూసైనాడు దేవుడు నల్లని రఘురాముడు
రామ చక్కని సీతకి...

చుక్కనడిగా దిక్కునడిగా చెమ్మగిల్లిన చూపునడిగా
నీరు పొంగిన కనులలోన నీటి తెరలే అడ్డునిలిచే
చూసుకోమని మనసు తెలిపే మనసు మాటలు కాదుగా

రామ చక్కని సీతకి అరచేత గోరింత
ఇంత చక్కని చుక్కకి ఇంకెవరో మొగుడంట
రామ చక్కని సీతకి...

ఇందువదనా కొండరదన మందగమనా భామా
ఎందువలన ఇందూవదన ఇంత మదనా ప్రేమ?"
--వేటూరి



మీ అనిల్

iPhone Nano & iPhone Shuffle!!..Crazzzy folks!

Seems like the world just couldnt get away from the dazzle and over-the-top hype of the iPhone. Now they started speculating about new iPhone variants on the lines of iPods!!--iPhone Nano, and iPhone Shuffle!!
Below is the photo that they manufactured and a short description below:

 The Authors of the post say:
"

iPhone Nano

All a cellphone needs is a phone, Web, and E-mail. That’s right: no SMS, no iPod. Of course, you can take pictures, notes and change the settings, if you really want to. No SMS: First mix E-mail with SMS and than make SMS disappear. In Japan, mobile phones just use E-mail. It’s cheap, simple and obvious. No iPod: keep it as a mobile phone, keep the mental model intact. Why does it feel weird to use a mobile phone as an MP3 player? Isn’t it nice to have everything in one device? No it’s not nice. It’s weird. The mere idea of listening to music on a phone makes me feel uncomfortable.

iPhone Shuffle

Just phone, mail, and the time. If you turn the device, you can read the mails. This little guy probably needs advanced speech recognition to add numbers, find your contacts quickly and write mail. Use side buttons to go through your library. You deal with the settings by plugging it into the USB port of your computer. If you’re bored you switch into shuffle mode to call a random dude. ;–)

"
Hahaha..Agreed that the iPhone do look cool, but it lacks basic features[No full bluetooth, no sms forwarding, no video recording, etc..]. Neither is it the first phone to have convergence of music, video n phone in one nor the first to have multi-touch screen. All the marketing gimmick can create a kind of hysteria that makes us believe any ordinary thing with some popular brand stuck on its face. Crazy people!!

G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs on a Disc

Just came across a news that GE has created a new lab produst that can store 100s of DVDs on a normal size DVD using holographic storage technology.
As a new york times report says:

"In G.E.’s approach, the holograms are scattered across a disc in a way that is similar to the formats used in today’s CDs, conventional DVDs and Blu-ray discs. So a player that could read microholographic storage discs could also read CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. But holographic discs, with the technology G.E. has attained, could hold 500 gigabytes of data. Blu-ray is available in 25-gigabyte and 50-gigabyte discs, and a standard DVD holds 5 gigabytes."

The first research papers were published in the early 1960s but no major company has produced a labs version of it yet..
Wonder where the levels of storage is going!!
More on this news here!

With love..
Anil

Amazing Portraits!!

Beauty can never be defined in discrete terms..Its beautiful simply because its beautiful!! Just came across these portraits that will mesmerise anyone!

 The clarity and smoothness in this photo is breathtaking!! 

 This has an unmistakable air of mystery and mystic feel around it!!

Have a look at my "Angels of Joy!!"

Today I created and dedicated a new blog to the angels that I admire and love..
They have been with me through the ups and downs and always created a joy when the chips were down.
They have so much positive energy around them!! For instance, while talking on phone this morning, I happened to see one "angel" moving around gracefully near me! And that cheered me up!! A simple glimpse is enough to light up the mood!! So have a look of my all new space dedicated to them here..Just love them!!


With love..
Anil

Brand called MTR-- Mavalli Tiffin Room!!

Today while reading an article on the 50 best restaurants in Indian Metros, it was such a pleasure to see the name of [MTR, Lal Bagh road] of Bangalore also being listed!! It brought so much nostalgia to the fore that I decided to put it in this public blog! MTR has always been a hallmark of quality, and the brand name that it gained largely through word of mouth is simply amazing to say the least! It is and will always remain my favourite brand in instant mix!
And the most interesting part is that I was not aware of its full name till I read the article in a magazine called "More"..!!!..It's Full name is "Mavalli Tiffin Room" which started off a s a small tiffin centre and now is a household name all over!!
Talking about brands, sometimes people go purely by brand name, which is not right. It has to come with that special mark, trust and class, just like MTR, Sony etc...[varies from person to person though!]




As always, With love..
Anil