Tag: Design

the eight wonder of interwubbing

The Sin City team of Frank Miller and Robert Rodrigues are set to bring Will Eisner’s The Spirit to the screen. Miller categorically states that the film ‘won’t be nostalgic’. Great! Both directors have a penchant for highly stylised, graphic moviemaking. If they approach it like Sin City then you’re sure that Eisner’s ridiculously good panel composition will be brought over to the screen, and that the pulpy, hard-nosed style of the comic will be kept intact. If it was any other director, they’d look at all the suits and the fedoras and immediately it would be tinged with nostaliga and caricature to evoke what someone from our time would make of the period.

Who would play the Spirit, though?

Mike Mignola’s poster for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Can we get these two to work together on everything? Please?

I’ve noticed that regular action figures in store are getting much, much worse than when I was a boy. Now I know why: they’re making all the good stuff in a separate line aimed at geek adults, and charging like crazy. Look at that Jack Sparrow — does Tussauds have a better one?

Also check out the Shaun of the Dead toys (and some spiffy steampunk ray guns). I want.

Speaking of Team Shaun (Wright, Pegg, et al), here’s a poster of their new film, Hot Fuzz.

Heath Ledger’s been confirmed as the Joker in Chris Nolan’s Batman Continues, now officially titled The Dark Knight (I wonder if they’ll chicken out and re-title it Batman: The Dark Knight later). Heath Ledger has been one of my favourite actors ever since the days of Roar. You just took one look at this guy and went, “Yeah, this is a star. More, please.” Seeing his interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime — perhaps the first actor to come to the role with no manic/crazy/funny roles in his career so far — is going to make the ride doubly interesting. So far, barring Catwoman, DC and the Warners have been treating their core franchises well (come on, they have Joss Whedon doing Wonder Woman!). Always been a DC fan myself. Also, they have the Vertigo line, and I’d give a million spandex Marvel movies for one Fables or Swamp Thing or Transmetropolitan.

What a coincidence. I was just thinking of shopping around for a render farm. Of course, with my budget, I’d be happy to afford an Intel graphics card.

Forget goatse and tubgirl (warning: do not google the previously mentioned terms), this is the creepiest thing ever. (Safe For Work, not really disgusting, just creepy.)

This device brings up an interesting philosophical point. Is delaying the reward of the candy by placing a claw game between you and it negated by the enjoyment of the claw game? Ponder this as you waste precious pr0n time trying to grab the elusive bar of Snickers.

I have a strange feeling that these models are based on the actual 3D meshes from Ocarina of Time. Not that it would in any way take away from the sheer awesomaliciousness of the work (there, I was stuck for a word. Solved it. Welcome to the world of the speculative fiction writer, kids).

Yeah, well, you’re all still just going to end up playing Scorpion anyway.

Hyper Scan! <sarcasm> Isn’t it just the coolest thing ever! </sarcasm> When I was 8-12, we left the collectible card games to the sweaty Magic: The Gathering geeks (because anything with unnecessary usage of colons must be treated so), and kept our game consoles safe and sound so that they could process Street Fighter 2 and Shining Force in peace. Nowadays everything has some kind of collectible crap and a bad anime show attached to it.

Yet another example of why Terry Pratchett is a shining example of humanity (I’m referring here to his answer, not simply the duck on his head)

On that note, I have to announce that I have a sudden, uncontrollable urge for an overcooked, salty omelet with green chillies and bits of onion just like they make it in India. It’s 3 am. There aren’t even any eggs in the house. What’s a boy to do?

the six shrines of interwubbing

The pilot episode of the animated version of The Amazing Screw-On Head is here. Watch. Now. NOW!

The poster for The Fountain looks good. In this day and age, we really should be getting more medium budget science fiction and fantasy films like we did in the 70s and 80s. Confession: I have never seen a Darren Aronofsky film. Anyone?

And here’s the impressive poster to Crank, which I’m surprised to say I’m looking forward to a lot (well, mostly because Jason Statham has so far never failed to deliver in an action movie).

Some of you may know that the Standard Operating Procedure for me regarding movies I actually want to see is that I try to stay as far away from all trailers as I can. American movie trailers suck. They give away everything. Most aren’t crafted with any verve or style, and they have a knack for making brilliant films look like crap, and vice-versa. I may watch 30 second teasers, I may drool over posters, but unless it’s going on in the theatre right before the movie starts, I stay away from all trailers. However, if you want to see the trailer for Magic Batman Vs. Magic Wolverine, go here. Apparently it’s very good.

Mazda is using some mighty special stuff to make their cars these days.

Yet another example of the urban Indian’s need to have all their shit noticed and hence validated by the White Guys.

Coming Soon: the Atkins DVD-R. 50TB? Is there anything but porn in that quantity?

Remember Boring Boeing? Sort of still there, but now with totally pimpin’ wings.

The Bodyflik. Because for every thing you can otherwise just do with your own hand, there must be a plastic tool.

In these days of tilting, twisting, vibrating analog motion-sensing wands, nothing elicits more lust than a well-crafted digital pad.

Of course, this thing elicits lust of a different kind (no, not that kind!!)

Brolly lights. I think I preferred the ones in Blade Runner.

Somehow the fact that right now there are fifty-three memory card formats out there and a reader for them doesn’t even faze me as much as it should.

This reminds me a lot of that Monty Python sketch from Michael Ellis.

In order to cut down on electricity consumption, the UK is outlawing standby modes. Hmm, I wonder how this ruling will affect those new ‘instant on’ computers that essentially use standby modes?

Not quite Sharks With Frikkin Lazers, Man! — but it’ll do for now. Anybody else somewhat nostaligic about the 80s G.I. Joe/M.A.S.K. style design and painted implementation of the graphic (compared to today’s 3D and photoshop monstrosities)?

I never really got into playing videogames so much as to require this place, but recalling how generally obsessed I was with the industry and game design in general back in my teens, I can understand why it exists. Also, I’m thankful that my motor senses aren’t so finely honed that I would consider playing and beating Halo on Legendary difficulty in one sitting, and that I now relegate myself to playing an hour of Final Fantasy X every other day. Of course, even if I did have the necessary motor skills, I wouldn’t really want to torture msyelf by playing through the design travesty that is Halo. Once — with cheats and trainers — was bad enough, thank you.

Team Fortress 2. Other than the fact that this game has been in development forever, finally, Finally, FINALLY someone breaks out of the gunmetal grey, uncanny valley to bring us an FPS with some really interesting graphics. The No One Lives Forever series is one of my favourites but still tries to have realistic character models, and while TimeSplitters was halfway there, and Painkiller was good but still not crazy enough, this is more of what I’d like to see in the uber-serious world of First Person Shooters. Good stuff.

And finally:
Speaking of the FPS genre, it is already rife with sexual symbology what with the constant representation of large disembodied guns waving around the screen, but this just takes it to a whole new level. (somewhat NSFW)

five fabulous flavours of interwubbing

It seems that Mumbai, as usual, just keeps on ticking. Trains services are back. Schools and Offices are open. People who don’t want to use the train are apparently being offered lifts by just about anyone on the street with a car or bike. The city was last on a list of ‘Politest Cities’ just a couple of weeks ago.*

* – This was based on three tests, apparently. Seeing if someone kept a door open for you, if someone picked up a paper you dropped and returned it to you, and if a store clerk thanked you for your patronage.

…Sigh…

Look, it’s a culture thing. In Mumbai — especially Mumbai — we consider that if you are able enough, you can and should be allowed to take care of yourself and your stuff, whether it’s a door or a piece of paper. Personally, I have seen both the first two events occur so many times in the city that I don’t even notice any more. It’s not special if someone leaves it up to you to open you own door, it’s not special if someone does it for you.

As far as the last test goes, that is something I find quite annoying, because over here in the ‘civilised world’ I get it at every single PoS, and it is always fake, Fake, FAKE. It was in the training manual for the poor minimum wage guy. It was drilled into his/her head. If anything, I feel sad that people are reduced to a set of rote instructions and actions that are supposed to denote politeness.

Give me the quick eye contact, the half nods, the silent, non-codified,non-standard, unique-to-every-transaction and person and place methods we use in Mumbai. Because that, for us, is genuine. No nakhra. We’re from Mumbai, we despise nakhra.

I think yesterday’s incidents prove beyond a doubt that when the shit hits the fan — really hits the fan — the people there would do things for each other that probably everybody should, but sadly nobody would. Forget that, even during very day life without the backdrop of tragedy, people you have never even said two words to will just do stuff for you that takes your breath away.

So, to conclude, Life Goes On. And so should we. Links:

Up Periscope! Is there a hybrid version with flexible solar-panel skin and regenerative braking systems?

The self-stirring mug. Does it come in an anti-clockwise version for the southern hemisphere? My main problem with this one (other than the obvious point that spoons give you so much more flexibility), is that it takes 2 AAs to power, and still only stirs. Fo that energy cost, why can’t it keep the beverage warm too? How about a frother attachment? My 5 dhiram drink shaker from Daiso has more features, and it doesn’t even require a battery!

When the travel tripod met common sense. Granted, a good solid tripod is an essential, but methinks kit like this will become essential for photographers who like to click stuff off the beaten path, or are just in a hurry (as most photographers usually are).

M$ nixes Win98 support. I still use it. It works okay. The trick is to use it as your OS and then only use Open Source software on it to avoid viruses and stuff. Loaded Xp on my work comp a month ago and it’s a really problematic system at the best of times, but some new software just only works with it right now. When I actually don’t have any projects pending that necessitates having productivity software on hand at all time, I’m going to have to comprehensively switch to Linux. Already use a liveCD of Mepis when I take my netcomp’s disk over to the other one to transfer files and clean it up, since XP won’t let me load new hardware easily.

This is cool in the dangerous-enough-that-no-helmet-can-save-you kind of way. Forget the snow, I want a road version!

Like the Irishman said, “I thought you were after the 100 pounds in my shoe!”

This billboard is quite nice. Of course, in this part of the world McDonalds isn’t considered a place to eat before lunch time (and their menu reflects that), so I still find the concept of breakfast there — especially the “breakfast burger” — disturbing.

And finally…
The Most Memorable moment from the Biggest Event in the Entire World.

…Now in playable form!

the third coming of interwubbing

Apparently Vin Diesel is not going to be Silver Surfer. That’s a relief. I have nothing against Diesel — I’m one of the few who actually liked The Chronicles of Riddick — but he was just the wrong choice. Look, just because someone is bald and has muscles doesn’t mean they’re a shoo-in for Silver Surfer. I imagine that a hyper-intelligent intergalactic herald of a planet-swallowing dude should be played more like Sonny from I, Robot (that was done by our beloved Alan Tudyk, y’know, and was the highlight of an overall enjoyable film).

In the same article they mention that Eric Bana won’t be coming back for the new sequel/remake of The (INCREDIBLE) Hulk (Sometimes referred to by the cool name Hulk Smash!). Bana is a good actor, but is not the best firt for the Hulk character, either in the first Ang Lee movie, or any more comic-like re-imagining (Eric Bana was the only thing worth watching in Troy, and I was quite interested to see him as James Bond, even though of all the hopefuls Daniel Craig was and is my favourite — have you seen Layer Cake?).

Perhaps it is time to go the Routh/Jackman route and get an unknown? Or, better yet, get Bryan Singer to cast any and all superhero movie characters. He has only made one bad decision (Halle Berry as Storm, but then, Halle Berry as Catwoman or Halle Berry as Bond–um–Person didn’t work out well either), and the rest of his choices have seemed daft to begin with but worked out fantastic in the end (McKellan as Magneto instead of, say, someone like Rutger Hauer).

Remember what I said about Betley SUVs? I was right.

While this mockup is very pretty indeed (and in a decade or so when self-lighting plastic displays will come in, it will be feasable for the mass market), it looks far too good to be a Mac. Sorry folks, they may be generally well designed, but they’re always completely boring to look at.

On the PC end of the spectrum, there is this. Hang on, wasn’t this what Plug & Play was supposed to be? I like the form factor, and as long as the thing runs alright I wouldn’t have a problem with such modular designs, but seeing that early GeForce FX cards required two AGP slots (and Dual Card SLI interfaces are the current hot thing) how long would it be before such a rigid system would be outdated purely because the volume and cooling requirements of the chips would not be met by the form-factor?

And finally…
Erm. Right. There’s so much Freudian stuff one can read into that one.

venus de monkey wrench


I did this illustration a while back, but somehow never got around to posting it up here (I’m going through what can only be described — politely — as ‘a bit of a phase’).

It was an editorial illustration on the back page of an industrial company’s newsletter. The article (by Samir) was about plumbing in ancient Rome. Yes, I realise that the Venus De Milo is actually from ancient Greece, but hey, I’m an illustrator, not a historian (more on the Amputated Aphrodite here).

Did it in inkscape. I seriously can’t imagine going back to Adobe Illustrator anymore.

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the cock, the otter, their stein and its beer

Almost forgot, but a while ago I finished up the Kamon (Japanese family/house crest) for Dan. It’s not the Heraldic crest he initially requested, but during my research into the subject I was intrigued by the minimalist style and thought it would be a good starting point for teaching myself this kind of illustration, which I’ve never done before.

I’m 60% happy with it. I like the otter and the general yin/yang effect between it and the cock, but I’m not happy. The design of the cock bothers me (stop giggling!) and one day I’ll refine it. Now, however, I have other things to move on to, not the least of which is the heraldic crest, which I realise is going to take quite a lot of effort to get right, and I don’t just want to palm off a shoddy product because I think I’m not good enough.

The other day my brother was discussing a design with a client who mentioned that it was far too good for what the thing was, and he replied that doing a bad job was not an excuse just because the people who would see it didn’t know any better, or he wasn’t getting paid much for it, or for whatever reason.

There is a lot to be said taking pride in one’s work (frankly there isn’t nearly enough), for getting things done to the best possible level you can achieve. I’d like to live my entire life that way.

Hence, the cock still bothers me.

I said stop giggling!

grunt work

I’m typing up entry pages for my work — illustration, photographs etc. — which is taking a bit longer than I expected. Coming up with something to say on each page is a bit of a strain. I may just leave some blank (i.e. with just the work) if it means getting it done quicker.

Getting the blog to work with the new template is also going to be a bit of a chess game. Don’t be surprised if you turn up at the blog and it looks all crazy. When it’s done to my satisfaction I’ll put a post up to let you all know, and no cracks like “so when’s it really going to be done?” shall be entertained.

Well, they might. 🙂

After that I have to tackle the other big web project, i.e. My sister’s wedding photo site. I’m not the biggest fan of web design, but I’m learning to like it. As long as you put off Internet Explorer and base your implementation on a CSS compatible, standards-compliant (which, apparently even MSIE7 — seven! — won’t be) browser, it’s a pleasure.

Needless to say, allVishal is best viewed in Firefox. Like every other website. Well, maybe not MSN.com, but who on earth goes there?

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typophile

I don’t think I’ve ever put up any good photos of my typewriter. It’s a Remington Rand which I found on ebay in India a couple of years back. Fully working, great unevenly inked text, round keys, good satisfying sound — everything that screams “typewriter!” in big monospaced fonts.

As for nanowrimo, I didn’t even make a dent it in (7500 words), and this was not just because of my laziness and indecision vis a vis plot, but also the untimely appearance of some deadlines (at least they were paying projects). So, I may not have bragging rights for another year, but I have one more novel to write.

That brings me up to around 3.7 lifetimes-worth of work left to do.

Five more pictures after the jump. Click ‘read more’ kids.

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¡viva la revolucion!

Have you seen these two V for Vendetta posters? Even if my inner Alan Moore fanboy was not doing cartwheels right now, my graphic design fanboy would be. I want these on my wall.

I must have them!

So far, this movie seems to be doing everything right. Bring on March Madness.

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argh, my eyes, part two

Ladies and Ladas, this is why I became a designer (some pics contain “only your boss will freak out at them”-class nudity, so probably not safe for work). I actually used to own a couple of catalogues from the eighties that were like this, only by then everything was shit-brown in colour with grey ersatz metal stereo equipment. Thank god we had Transformers, and this generation has cool accessories for their loved ones.

Like this.

(links via the ever excellent screenhead)

bad hair day

Well, major modelling is complete on what has come to be called Ripley; my first-ever 3D character model. I’m not at all happy with the hair; it’s a simple extruded loop mesh, far too many polys, far too complex looking for this character (the character’s body, btw, is around 870 polys unsubdivided — A PlayStation One could handle those!). I have an idea as to a v2 hair which I’ll work on tomorrow.

Rigging the model with a skeleton was time consuming, especially assigning the vertices, but once you keep yourself calm, clear and methodically checking every step you do (and saving often!) it soon becomes, if not second nature, at least an enjoyable exercise. I only had one mistake; a single stray vertice unselected in the lower thumb, which caused the whole thumb to warp when I moved any part of the palm or arms. Fixing it was a ten second process, but I’ll tell you, the first time I rotated the arm and watched the thumb stretch and squeeze like chewing gum, my heart sank a litte and I wondered how I was ever going to succeed in 3D.

Tomorrow I should finish the hair, and get working on a simple dojo for the character to muck about in. There’s an animation challenge I’d really like to get something done for.

To think that up until a week ago I knew next to nothing about Blender (Samir has been tutoring me at every step), and already I’m considering animation (something even Samir knows nothing about vis a vis Blender)! Oh well, only way to learn is to stick both feet in.

kiss me you fool!

I’m working on something 3D this weekend. Blender is a lot more logical in its modelling workflow that any other 3D application. The staggered nature of the process (and the lack of an easy UNDO) makes it the equivalent of the QWERTY keyboard for typewriters. It forces you to think your steps through, and in 3D, that’s a very important thing.

More as it happens. I’m very satisfied with it so far.