Two designs up on threadless!

Kickass, I got two designs up for voting on Threadless.com, for their "Threadless Loves Horror II" competition. It's a pretty tough show, and I don't have any delusions about winning, but it was a thrill entering anyway!

Design One - Don't Be Fooled By The Smile...

A bunch of smileys representing various horror monsters and icons.
Vote for it here:

Design Two - Past Its Expiry Date..

Zombies = bad blood = not good for vampires.

Vote for it here:

Tracer Bullet!

Two wallpapers in accordance with last weekend's hangover:

...

Tracer Bullet: An all-percussion symphony was playing in my head, and the acoustics were incredible.

Forgive me Bill Watterson, I mean no harm.

Smashing September Calenders!

It's a new month! Which means it's time for a new set of wallpapers! And this month, Smashing Magazine has a gorgeous set.

Some of my favourites this month:
S for September - Gorgeous! My favourite this month! Luka, do one for every month!
Prelude (I love wallpapers with a single hue or color scheme)
Upside Down World Map (again, nice colors and concept, but I didn't like the typography)
Neon House Spirit (nice minimalistic color usage)
Field of Gold (great image and placement, but bad typography)
Curiosity and the Rose (love the image!)
Smashin September (very bold, interesting typo)
Septypo (nice colors and typo)
September Colors (the colors, hah)

OrneryBoy!

OrneryBoy. What an awesome guy! And DirtGirl. Whatta babe! This is now officially my new favourite webcomic. It's got a crazy beautiful art style - vert vectorised. Which is no surprise, seeing as how the strip is actually drawn completely in flash! Which not only leads to a solid line-work and bold lively colors, but also, the occasional animated panel! And this isn'y half-baked animation really. It's very dynamic, and adds a lot to the appeal of the comic. I have hence compiled a list of every animated comic in the series:

(SPOILER WARNING - These strips are smack in the middle or storylines, so they may spoil stuff for you. I suggest you read the strip from the beginning, and use this as a quick reference guide. You have been warned!)

#255 Quick Get Some String - Cthulu monster's swaying tentacles

#257 Fountain of Filth - Stream of blood and bones

#258 Full House - More tentacles and raging sky

#269 Down The Drain - Walking zombie dudes

#270 Dance of the Dead - Zombie Headbangers!!! (my favourite)

#277 Down with OrneryBoy - Ornery falling down an open drain

#289 Who'll Fall - Hangin' Zombies!

#291 Sewer Scramble - Ornery and Zombie running!

#329 Shopping Block - Flashing Police Lights

#330 Hanging in the Balance - More Flashing Police Lights

#331 Dirty Bomb - THRESHER on the move!

#332 Explosive Payload - THRESHER's antennae, and the "bomb" explodes!

#333 Out of the Closet - Fumes and flies

#334 Bones of Contention - Dirtygirl screaming

#335 Necronomagain - Anti-zombie magic

#336 Prod Squad - Kids poke Mr. McMeddle's man-boobs with a stick

#342 Zombie Makeover - More anti-zombie magic

#344 Flames of Passion - Fire in DirtyGirl's eyes

#350 The MC stands for Melodramatic Cheese - MC Brian on the run

#356 Eye for an Eye - The cat chews

#357 Stabby-Go-Lucky - Self-stabbing action

#360 Cataclysmic Visions - Cat+flashbacks (look carefully, stare for a while)

#361 Depends on your definition - Cat pees on Ornery

#364 No Sauce Blues - Rain outside the window

#365 Soliloquy - More rain

#367 The Fellowship of the Flapp - Keyboard lights

#368 Hostile Takeover - Ornery on drums

Boli Lagao! India's first paise-auction site starts now!

My latest project to go live - designs for Boli Lagao, India's first paise-auction site. A friend of mine is a partner in the venture. I've created the logo for for their venture, and have also coded and uploaded their teaser website. Sign-up, and you can start bidding soon!

Fisichella!

Center align your webpage!

I recently designed a site that was self-contained within 950px by 500px. Looked real good as a photoshop template. Converting it to html however, was a bitch. Turns out, there's native support for horizontal centering, but no code whatsover to align the entire site vertically central!

So I turned to google, the first and obvious answer to each and every question. I got a whole lot people complaining about this, and rightfully so, but no easy solution. There were a few real complicated workarounds using a mish-mash of css, javascript, and flash, but those were a headache to decipher and adapt. I was rather surprised at this roadblock, because I was sure I'd done it before.

And then, it hit me. Flash. Hah! You see, Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash has this option where you can export your file directly as an html page containing the swf. And you can center-align the file! Awesome! So all I had to do was replace that code with mine, and I had a real easy solution to the problem!

Recapping:
1) Make a document in flash, any size.
2) Go to Publish Settings, check the html option.
3) Head over to the new html tab. Keep the "flash alignment: vertical and horizontal" options to center & center.
4) Publish the file. You'll get an html page, where the swf is centrally aligned, and a .js file.
5) Open the html file in notepad or Dreamweaver, and simply replace the swf with your desired code. Voila, centre-aligned! Works with IE, Opera, and Firefox. You can safely delete the .js file and the javascript too!

Welcome to me!

KAILASH IYER dot COM is live!

No more need to send across pdfs to prospective clients. It's all on the net!

Best seats in the house? At the Front Stall!

Front Stall Pictures is a-go!

Here's a preview of the site:

This design is a continuation of the design I used for the visiting card, meant to convey a sense of nostalgia for days of old, when movie tickets used to be stubs.

Comics for firangi desis...

Vimanika Comics gets some press.

Selections from the article:

“The thought of putting out Indian mythology to everybody in the world and presenting our forgotten warriors and gods to them in an appealing and appeasing manner inspired me to launch Vimanika Comics,” says Mumbai-based (Karan Vir) Arora. “And that exactly is our USP.”

This sounds very much like what the recently-deceased Virgin Comics was attempting. If a powerhouse like that, backed by people like Richard Branson and Shekhar Kapoor, couldn't survive, I'm a little sceptical that a smaller publisher could keep the same concept afloat.

“We have definitely had a very positive response. People are in awe of the art, colours, and the theme. It was a refreshing change for many of the comic book readers,” (Vimanika’s Philadelphia-based director of international marketing, Kanika Choudhary) said.

“For India and the US, our sales and subscriptions are increasing at an exponential pace. Over the next year, we are expecting to increase our subscription base to 20,000 in the US, which we have already achieved in India alone.” (Karan Vir Arora)

Whoop! Now these last two quotes sound a bit dicey. 20,000 subscribers in India? I haven't seen any of their comics anywhere, nor have I read about it on any online blogs till now. They've apparently got three titles so far: the “Sixth” based on Karna from the Mahabharata, “Mokshas” based on Hanuman and Parshuram and “Dashaavatar”.

They also claim that these are widely distributed in Britain and the US. While I'm all for people getting into the comics business, I really wish they'd (a) stop pandering to the NRI audiences (if there is any such thing), as itmakes them look like the Karan Johan of the 4-color world, constantly making pulp for the firangi desis; and (b) stop beating the dead horse of Indian Mythology. Sheesh. Another retelling of the Mahabharata and Hanuman and I'm gonna puke.

And the world got a little bit closer...

The greatest description for a song, ever:

31. Boney M – “Rasputin”

Possibly the greatest disco song that uses both Serbian and Turkish folk songs to outline the romance between a hemophiliac Russian queen and her mystic lover/advisor —who was famously murdered and castrated, and whose penis has its own Wikipedia page —by a group of Caribbean transplants living in West Germany and singing in English. Ever.

From here.

Russia Pics - Set 1

I though I'd upload them all at one go, but that doesn't seem to be happening. So here is the first batch of pictures.

Day 1-2 : http://picasaweb.google.com/kailash.iyer/Russia09Day1And2

Day 3 : http://picasaweb.google.com/kailash.iyer/Russia09Day3

The perils of working for Dracula

..or, the greatest Dracula comic strip ever!



Click on the 'ol image above to read the complete story!

Awesome Spidey!

This is hands down the most awesome spidey comic on the web yet! Clickity-click on 'ol wall-crawler below to bask in it's awesomeness!!

Orange circles make a table

Sometimes you look at a design so simple in idea, and yet so striking, you want to kick yourself in the ass for not thinking about it first. Ofcourse, if that idea is a furniture, I wouldn't have built it anyway, but hey, this is a beautiful, beautiful table, that I just stumbled upon while googling for, orange circle, I believe?>



Isn't it a beauty? I might make one at home. Or not.

Someone shares my love for the Watchmen movie..

I was going to post a rant about my "love" for "visionary" director Zack Snyder's "adaptation" of the Watchmen comic, but really, could I say it any better than THIS and THIS?

Back from Russia!

I got back on the 2nd, and really wished I could stay back for a few more days.

Offhand, my trip in pointers:

Ryazan is a very relaxing place, kinda like Pune about 5 years back (before it was destroyed by the malls and flyovers).

Moscow chicks are hot! They all look like cover-girls on their way to a photo-shoot. And they dress the part too (This isn't the observation of a horny male, it's a general consensus, even by the other parents in the group).

St. Petersburg is like an idyllic 18th century European city. Something out of a literary classic. There's a big river flowing through the city, with quaint, but not-so-little draw-bridges at regular intervals.

Moscow has a massive underground Metro network, with nearly 14 different lines. I got me a metro-map t-shirt.

Nowhere do you get water for free! We got free tea, coffee, beer and vodka at various places, but no free water, anywhere.

People there don't talk to anyone. Their buses, metro, and trains are the quietest I've heard anywhere.

St. Petersburg was having it's White Night! Meaning, light for 23 hours of the day!

It is absolutely legal and safe to consume alcohol in public, on the streets, and in public transportation. Infact, you can buy alcohol at supermarkets along with bread and milk.

People respect road-rules. They halt for pedestrians, no one jumps signals, no one cuts lanes. Plus, the fines are ridiculously high, and cop take a lot of money as bribes.

No one speaks English, there's no literature in that language either. Everything's in Russian. Plus, the people are fiercely patriotic.

Did I mention that the Moscow chicks were ridiculously hot?

Massive Movie weekend!

This was a massive movie weekend for me! Ijust got back from Russia a few days back, and wanted to make sure I caught up on everything I missed. So I went and saw 4 movies at the theatres!

Saturday, first up, we went and saw Ice Age 3 (not in 3D, that gives me a headache). This was pretty much as entertaining as the first two, and there was a steady stream of laughs. For a movie supposedly targetted at kids, there was a fair bit of adult, or rather, non-kiddie humour in there. Which ironically, was when the audience was laughing the most. The new character Buck, voiced by Simon Pegg, was a great addition, and along with the ever lovin' Sid, stole the show. Infact, if they had eliminated Manny and Diego completely from the movie, and focussed on Buck and Sid, I daresay the movie would have been move focussed, and a tad better. Anyway, the direction here is outstanding, the best of the trilogy so far.

We followed that up with The Hangover, and this is hands down the best movie I've seen all year. It's bloody freakin' hilarious! I mean, WHAT THE FUCk HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?? Yeah, I need a t-shirt with that line on it. I'm gonna go see this movie again next weekend.

Sunday, I ran off to the theatre a lil early to watch Terminator Salvation. I had to watch it on the big screen for the effects and the 'bots. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Infact, I pretty much enjoyed it. The fx was outstanding, the 'bots were killer, and Sam Worthington was a worthy (pun not intended really) addition to the mythos. The story did seem a bit convulated, but that wasn't why I was watching the movie anyhow. The only thing kinda off was that the post-apocalyptic setting didn't seem real enough. There were very few 'bots around, and he humans seemed comfortably entrenched. Perhaps the inevitable fifth movie will up the stakes a bit, and show us a full-fledged war, and not just a covert infiltration op. Oh, and the Arnold appearance was sweet!

I came outta the cinema and went back in to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine with my friends. This was easily my least favourite movie of the weekend. There was so much wasted potential here. So many mutants, yet most hardly had anything more than a glorified came. Liev Schrieber's excellent turn as Sabretooth totally ate up Hugh Jackman onscreen. Plus Danny Huston was good as William Cox. Overall, the fights were ho-hum, except the last one with Sabretooth/Wolverine and Deadpool, that was brilliantly executed. Anyway, I'm hoping the sequel will be better (though I can't for the life of me figure out what thet'll do in Japan), and I'm looking forward to the Deadpool movie. Gotta love the merc with the mouth.