Let's put a smile on that face...

Yup, i had a tryst with awesomeness today.


You can see me wear my Batman/Joker t-shirt. Coolness!

On the way back, i was attacked.

Readings: Greg Bear's Eon

I finished Greg Bear's Eon a few days back. I can't remember the last time i'd been so disappointed by a book. It had the best hook i'd read in quite a while, the blurb at the back, very enticing. What it turned out to be was a badly written mess with the sci-fi almost getting buried under the political crap.

The book is about this giant 300 km asteroid that appears suddenly in the Solar System. It had seven chambers inside, each connected to the next. The seventh chamber, however, extends forever. The asteroid is longer on the inside than on the outside.

Such an interesting concept, and what Bear does is bury it under some retarded US-Russia cold-war political/war crap. The US/Nato controls the stone, and gives slots to scientists from other countries. Russia gets about seven, and aren't allowed into the 7th chamber (or 6th onwards, i don't really remember). Stung by this restriction, the Russians attempt to do a hostile takeover in space. This absolutely unimaginative, dreary sub-plot takes up nearly half the narration.

Any sense of awe at what's being described is quickly eroded by the clunky prose. The charaters aren't developed at all, so you don't care what happens to them. For instance, when they do actually meet the creators of the asteroid, i couldn't sense any feeling of shock or wonder in their reactions.

So in a sense, this was pretty similar to his other book that i'd read, Blood Music, in that the concept is extremely strong, but he's unable to write "epic" in any manner.

Tattoo removal - easy come easy go...

It isn't often that i come across direct mailers that make me stop whatever i'm doing. This mailer from work-creative did exactly that. In the words of creator Chris: To promote sk:n’s world class tattoo removal treatments I devised a simple yet engaging direct mail piece. I utilised a scratch off mechanism (like you would find on a scratch card) to enable the recipient to literally remove the tattoo.

Tables on the go...

Innovative product design is alwats a pleasure to come across.
Take this table from designer Oscar Diaz, for instance - ...consists of four legs which hook onto each table top corner and are held together in tension by a strap which in turn is tightened using a ratchet to create a load-bearing structure. The table is quick and simple to set up, as it does not require any tools or fixings to assemble or disassemble. A grip on the tabletop situated at arm’s length from the front edge makes it easy and comfortable to transport, and is used once constructed, to pass the various cables through from appliances such as a computer or lamp.

Beautiful in it's simplicity. makes you wonder why you didn't think of it earlier.

...they Believe in Halo 3!

I just read this in Impact mag yesterday. I wasn't even aware the One Shows were on, but the Halo 3 "Believe" campaign won a Best Of Show at this year's One Show.

“The ‘Believe’ campaign catapulted Halo 3 from an ordinary video game into a worldwide cultural phenomenon due to its ability to build an emotional rapport with the audience,” said Mary Warlick, CEO of The One Club. “The innovative stream of interactive TV, Web and cinema advertisements was an inspired approach that successfully attracted an audience beyond the typical gamer.”

View the "Believe" videos here - http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo3/believe/default.htm or do a YouTube search.

Movie Time: Go SPEED Racer!

The father of LSD may be dead, but the Wachowskis live!

My friend got passes for the Speed Racer premiere at PVR yesterday (thnxx Haritha!), and i was pretty kicked about seeing the movie two days before eveyone else. The clock stuck 8 and i was there at the theatre. The lobby outside wasn't as crowded as i'd thought it'd be. There were a whole lot of kids though, and some promotion was on, giving away cool Speed Racer stuff, including the Mach 5 replica. I was dying to win one of those for myself, but didn't wanna rob the kids (I'm kinda feeling stupid now). A bunch of minor celebs were getting interviewed, and i was getting quite fidgety. The cold panner-on-toast starters didn't help either, and unlike the Iron Man premiere, there wasn't any alcohol being served, courtesy all the kids. Anyway, about 45 minutes after it was supposed to start, the theatre doors opened, we rushed in, took our seats, and waited with bated breath. The theatre was surprisingly half-empty. Anyway, the movie started soon, and sucked me right in...

Speed Racer was like one long drugged-out psychadelic acid trip. I mean, the colors just bled off the screen in a way i've never seen before. They must have spent a bomb color-correcting this movie, because everything is bright and neon and solid primary. The race-track sequence the movie opens with is so exhilerating and dizzying, i almost got motion sickness just watching. I almost felt like throwing up, that's how excited i was.

I almost can't believe the Wachowskis made this movie. It's not a masterpiece by any standards of repute, but it's a labour of love quite possibly unlike anything before. They've put their heart, soul, and every other body part right into this movie, and it shows. Whatta rush!

Ofcourse, looking at it a little objectively, it does have some drawbacks. The pacing is off, for one. The races at time seem waaay to fast to discern what's happening. And the parts between races at times seem to drag. They could have chopped off about 30 minutes, because it does seem a bit like self-indulgance (not that i'm really complaining).

The story also unfold in a somewhat convulated manner. I never got all the details, but understood enough of it to not go "huh?". There is a solid message behind it all, - stand up for what you believe is right, and believe in your family.

Readings: Federal Investigations, Dinosaurs and Subway Muggings

Just out down David Baldacci's Total Control. It's a story that moves on from an investigation of a plane crash to a case of industrial espionage gone horribly wrong, and moves onto a far bigger conspiracy. Anything else would be a spoiler for sure. Fairly engrossing, clocking in at over 500 pages, though it could definitely have some fat trimmed off, and made a little more taut. Not a must-read by any stretch of imagination, but not altogether too bad.

Some books that preceded this: Re-read Michael Chrichton's Jurrasic Park and The Lost World, after watching the trilogy last week. It was a nice excercise to compare the two. The books have such a lot more tham simply dinosaur-chomping action. It's overwhelming at times to think of all the research Chricton must be doing for his books. I mean, for these two, he must have at the very least studied dinosaurs, extinction theories, the functioning of amusement parks and zoos, and chaos theory (in a lot more detail than the usual "a butterfly flaps it wings.." heh). Makes me think of his novel Congo, and that travesty of an adaptation hollywood made...

Alex Garland's Coma. It's a story of a guy who's beaten up during a mugging, and lands in the hospital, in a coma. When he wakes up, he's not sure if he's really awake, or dreaming that he's awake. There are about 40 chapters, ranging from a few paras to a few pages. Each chapter has a b&w illustration accompanying it. Interesting concept, but it's too short to be wholly satisfying. An interesting experiment, if nothing else.

Logic.

I've been working on some designs for our college fest all day, which is a good thing to day as it takes my mind off the fact that while the rest of my classmates are appearing for their sem ends, i'm home for some r'n'r, having dropped my second consecutive term due to low attendance.

Which normally would mean me not getting my diploma with the rest of the class, and missing convocation day. But our new admin wants us to be done by the end of the year. Which is good, as I won't have to come back next year.

But it also means having to appear for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sem exams all together in March. Which is a total of 'roundabout 51-60 modules. Which means i'm effectively dead meat.

Working on my pitch.

It's almost 2 and I'm still at work. Well, still at office anyway, I finished my work sometime back. But we have a big pitch tomorrow. And we're waiting for all the prints and cuttings to be done. Can't leave till that happens.

This was a great pitch to work on. No ads required, only design work. A whole range of them. 7 of them infact, with me doing 2 of 'em. One of them's real neat, the other's good enough. I can see the prints being cut and shaped, from A4s to bookmarks. This feels good. If we get the account tomorrow, I'll feel a whole deal better.

Bodacious!!

A few days back, I saw Bodacious on tv, a real ball-busting bronco! He was huge! Damn, he was throwing those cowboys off like ragdolls. Heh, rodeo was never this fun for a bull. Tuff Hedeman was one of the few who could actually stay on for 8 seconds.

I always thought the two of 'em were ficticious characters. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the Ballad Of Bodacious by Primus:

Bodacious am a whole lotta' bull
over nineteen hundred pounds.
He's born in Galry, Oklahoma
and he's the baddest sonsabitch around
if a Burma bull ever were a super star
then Bodacious just might be.
He's a cream colored, beefy brawn,
full-fledged, four footed bovine celebrity.

Who's gonna ride Bodacious?
Who's gonna tame him down?
Look out for Bodacious,
he's bound to hold his ground.
Here comes Bodacious,
ya'll just step aside.
Big and bad Bodacious
takes a toll from those who ride.

Young Bo met a man named Tuff Hedeman
at the start of his buckin' spree
and Tuff became one of the few to make the whistle
bkac in Nineteen Ninety Three.

Tuff tried to ride Bo again at the finals
in Nineteen Ninety Five.
Bodacious had got a little older and wiser
Tuff barely came out alive.

Fantastic lyrics eh? Read more about Bodacious and Tuff Hedeman.

Sochne ke liye Khaana Zaroori Hai

Last evening, our client called us over to his restaurant for a meal, followed by a movie at Fame, Inorbit Mall. No, it wasn't a random gesture of generosity. It was, shall we call it, a business lunch? Except it wasn't lunch time, closer to 7, but that's just fussing over minor points. I was sampling their food for the first time, and I must say, I liked it. It's quite tasty, and reasonably filling too.

As for the movie after that, we needed to devise a campaign targeting all the cinema folks, get them to visit the restaurant. Providing service inside the theatre would be the most obvious idea, but it's taken that Fame doesn't allow that. If they did, most of the restaurants in the food court would be hawking their wares inside.

Anyway, I'm not sure how useful the cinema experience actually was, but we've come up with some workable ideas. We just need to fine tune them a bit.

Re-phew!

Last monday was my review, and I was told to use fewer puns and reduce wordplay. Hmm, I'm gonna have to work on that.

I've also completed 4 weeks at Saatchi & Saatchi. Wow, that last week went by fast. It's been a good four weeks so far. Would have been better if I'd gone to Goa, for the AAAI awards, but that didn't happen. The rest of the team must be enjoying themselves there. *Sob*

I wouldn't pick any one particular moment as a high point, but Sachin Tendulkar visiting the office sometime back was definetely a hype point. Yeah, haha. Urm, that was another bad attempt at wordplay. Nevermind. Back then, I actually wish I had a camera, to capture everyone's reactions. People were going crazy. The powers-that-be were toying with the idea of giving us the day off, but unfortunately, uncommon sense prevailed, and everyone calmed down. Damn, a missed opportunity that shall remain.

As per SIMC rules, another 9 weeks of internship remain. I'm looking forward to it.

A day like yesterday..

Wow, that was a fun shoot! All morning and noon at Film City, and then evening at the Bandra-Kurla Complex.

I was there at the helipad at 8, and the sun was already out with a vengeance. Heh, it's ok, the stars were soon to come out. Bad pun, sorry, but that's what M. S. Dhoni and Narain Karthikeyan are.

We were there under the scorching sun till 2, i believe. But i'm not complaining. I got to observe a shoot up close, and i must say it looks quite chaotic, but most things go as planned. There was a fair bit of improvisation on the shoot, with my CD and the shoot director discussing stuff, and accordingly changing the camera angles, and getting the two sportsmen to act out their parts in as many variations as possible.

Oh, we also got breakfast in thh morning - bread and jam, chocos or cornflakes with hot milk, grapes, pav bhaji and mutton kheema, idli, medu wada, and some sliced cake, supposedly from monginis. Reason alone to keep going to these shoots.

Philips loves us Advertisers

Yes, they like us so much, they've decided that the back-breaking work we do to produce a television commercial should not be wasted. They've patented a television that will prevent viewers from changing the channel when an ad is playing. Wow. I can see hordes of people fighting over a chance to buy this. Fantastic.

They must have been inspired by former television executive Jamie Kellner, who once said that people who went to the bathroom during commercial breaks were "stealing" TV.

Philips has ofcourse mulled this over, and decided that if at all you want to fast forward through the ad, or switch the channel, a nominal payment will give you that option.

Yay, more money in their pockets!

VH1 Headbanger's Ball - False Advertising or Misrepresentation?

April 7th must have been marked on a lot many calenders here in Mumbai. Atleast among all the metalheads who watch VH1. They were premiering Headbanger's Ball at midnight. I'd been waiting for it over a week, and had to miss the last song (had to go to the airport) but for all practical purposes, i could have missed the entire show.

I counted only 3 songs, just 3, that were suited for a show like this. Every other song could have easily been played at primetime or any other time throughout the day.

They started off with a very cliched song for a premiere - Metallica's Enter Sandman. Ok, it's Metallica, but this song has been done to death. They follow this up with Linkin Park. Jeez, what were they thinking? GnR's Sweet Child Of Mine is a great song no doubt, but a headbanging song it aint. Neither is Creed's What If, which if you ask me, sucks anyway.

So the 3 songs - Slipknot's Wait and Bleed, Nine Inch Nails' Pig something, and a song by Death (which incidentally didn't get its song/band/album name displayed).

There was some real bad stuff too. A horrible live performance by Deep Purple, totally destroying Highway Star, and a slow, slow, slow, boring song that I first thought was by Sade, but turned out to be something by Drowning Pool.

So what is this, false advertising? I'd be tempted to call it so, but no, that's a bit too harsh. This seems to be more ofa case trying to please veryone, as wide a demographic as possible. Creed, Linkin Park, Death, and Nine Inch Nails on the same show? That's what they're missing. Focus.

Ok, I think i'm trying a bit too hard. Over-analysing. Lets just say, I'm hoping for a much heavier show next time round.

One Night @ Saatchi & Saatchi

I love work. It gives me purpose. And purpose is what defines us.

So anyway, I just spent 32 hours at work. Wicked, eh? From 9 in the morning yesterday, to 5 in the evening today. With about 2 hours of broken sleep. We wrapped up our session (notice i didn't use the word "work", because we weren't all done) at around 6:30 in the morning, the team left, and I couldn't stay awake for much longer. Ofcourse, the night watchman was winding up his shift, and insisted on sharing some office gossip with me. I would have retained some of it if I was even halfway awake, but I was pretty much lost to the world. Staring at him with blank eyes. He must have gotten the message, I don't know, he left. I slept.

Got back up at 9, even though the team came in only by 11. Finished up work, stumbled through the day, and when I couldn't take it anymore, I left. This was just before the client meeting, but I didn't want to fall asleep in the conference room. Anyway, I hope they like our work, wouldn't wanna redo it all over.

Anti-Maria ads = Anti-sales campaign?

My mom told me about an interesting incident that happened at work. Every evening, the workers are given Marie biscuits and tea. Some days back, they refused to have the biscuits, and were giving people a hard time.

When my mom went to ask them what the problem was, they said they're not going to eat Marie any more, since the people on tv keep telling them not to have it. My mom was taken back. She tried to explain how that is just an ad, and what Marie is trying to say is that there is now a new Marie, much better than the older one.

Uh-huh-huh, they simply refused to listen, and as a result, some other biscuit brand is used.

Sometimes, agencies try too hard. Ads do backfire.

I have no idea about the future...

...because the future isn't Orange, it's Hutch.

Yes, I can see the cute doggy staring at me from those billboards. "Hutch is here." Hutch is also pink now. According to Naveen Chopra, VP-group marketing, in today's DNA, "We went through the whole colour palette but there were colours associated with other companies, so those were rejected. Through elimination we came to pink." Oh wow, morsels to a starving man?

Here's an article from the Hindu Business Line on the launch.