Coconut Cruncher

17th July 2018 What motivates us? To answer the first, it's easy to think of the generic statements: Art, culture, other artists, music, people, life experiences, nature etc. But honestly, it seems like a real task to stay motivated. To stay focused. To achieve 'flow' i.e: being in the zone. Today I felt a slight tingling warmth, a small burst of excitement. I couldn't point out to what it was, but I felt a vague sense of motivation.       I haven't done anything differently today. Why was I feeling motivated? Last night I watched Anurag Kashyap and Kalki's interview on TapeCast. He mentioned how he has stopped evaluating himself and comparing himself to other film makers. Whether he's great, or mediocre; instead he is focusing on just doing. Expressing, creating, failing and succeeding. It's not something I haven't heard before - me and Polo discussed the other day how it's the age of doers and not thinkers . Everyone has ideas today, bu...

7th Dec 2017 I have been thinking of making video essays for a while now, but hadn’t thought of it through fully because of work. Today I found out that ‘Every Frame a Painting’, one of my favourite channels on youtube that does video essays on Cinema - is officially dead. It was extremely saddening to hear that they have decided that this was the end for them, and that they had to move on to other endeavours. EFAP taught me a lot about film, about art, and about making video essays as well. Their article covers their journey so far, along with their learnings, challenges and rewards. I thought to myself - if they couldn’t do it, who can? But I’m so glad that something so great has been put out there that will be available to anyone anywhere - forever. I wish them good fortune and all the best the world has to offer, and a big thank-you for all the learning and inspiration. :) You can read their overwhelming article here > https://medium.com/@tonyszhou/postmortem-1b338...

It's been a while since I wrote something. I went through some old journal entries to instrospect on the kind of person I was back then. Here's one from 26 th July 2014. . . . . . We’ve been in a long on-going period of flat hunting. Now that that’s finally done, we’re all working towards getting a tenant for the current house that the guys lived in. I wonder how long it’s gonna take India to move on and let people live their lives. Basic human rights that people have are not given here. One’s right to have animals in the house; right to live with whomever you want. Right to love someone of the same sex openly, and the right to choose who to be with. Sometimes I look back at myself when I judge someone, and wonder where it’s all coming from. Was it my upbringing? The society? Was it me? There are things I still feel I need to change about my thinking and approach towards other humans. Today evening, I went to buy groceries in Hypercity; we were so out of...

Quick review of films watched last 2 weeks! Inside out: Absolutely beautiful! The design wasn't extremely unique, but the thought behind it and the storytelling was lovely! It didn't follow the usual pixar story structure with one character and his/her arc (which is also awesome), but was great nevertheless. Terminator: Genysis: I didn't have extremely high hopes for this film, but it was really below whatever expectations I had. The action was good, but they took some of the iconic shots from the originals. The storyline was haphazard and the time-travelling was so overused. The characters really needed to be fleshed out better and Khaleesi was terrible casting for Sarah Connor. She looked chubby and cute instead of badass, and trust me, I love Emilia Clarke. But no. The rest were pansies, besides Schwarzenegger of course. He never ceases to be awesome as the terminator (a.k.a: Pops) Jurassic World: I really regret not seeing this in the theatre. Lakshmi total...

8 th May 2013 As Aakash and I rode to the theatre, we chatted about work and our personal growth. “Man, I spend about 8 hours on it. I don’t even know when it’s a weekend. I thought today was Saturday. ”  “That’s it? I easily spend 10 hours on work everyday” he said. “Well, I wouldn’t mind, it’s just that it’s a different pipeline, we’re going from pixel to vector based work, and I have to learn new softwares that I find so time consuming to learn and get accustomed to. Sometimes I feel like I’m that old senior in the studio who has a bunch of good skill sets, but the newbies have learnt to do the same thing in an hour’s time instead – and you do it great alright, but you’re slower. You could learn to use the new software by letting go of your comfort zone, but you’re too old now. I used to be that way, but I’m learning how to let go and shake my ground. It’s too early for me not to learn different methods and mediums.” I said. “Exactly. I’ve been completely shak...

31st August 2013 I hate that technology can do as it pleases to us. I am an artist. I come from a very creative background. My ancestors used only their hands to do the work they do. They used pencils, charcoal, pigment colors, and papers. Today's artist uses the traditional mediums as well; but with the growing demand for digital illustration, and it's advantages of getting work done so much faster and cheaper has forced the artist to learn new techniques of producing their work. The same goes with the animator. Back in the day animators used papers (cells) and ink and paints. They used cameras to capture every frame on a reel, and project it onto the screen. So many hours went into trying to hone their skills without a preview of the animation. Previewing meant developing expensive film, and so the animator made do with flipping the sheets to create persistance of vision. We solely depended on the naked eye, and groomed it, trained it, and honed it to see art in the broade...

17 th August 2012 Today we went to a small place by FC road called Little Italy. I first went there when it had newly opened in Goa; probably in 2000 or 2001. At the time I had never tasted Italian food in my life, and I don’t even remember tasting it.  In 2011 we went to Italy on a family vacation. It was one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen. I’d say it’s my favourite amongst all the places I’ve visited.   I had never really enjoyed Italian food before I went to Italy. I found pastas too heavy, fatty and bland, and the pizzas I’d tasted at Dominos (the first and only pizza joint in Goa) were so dry and had such thick bread and less vegies that I had a strong disregard for Italian food.  Of course when I came to Pune for MIT, I tried some delicious Italian pastas at good restaraunts, although I was still not fond of all the pizzas after trying local pizzas as well as the popular pizza brands like Dominos, Pizza hut, Smokin’ Joes and Papa J...

22nd Nov 2012 I am overwhelmed. If I could ask an elder to bless me when I touch their feet, I would ask for them to bless me to get a job offer from Studio Ghibli. I can't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. The first thing that came to my mind when it started: Thumbelina. Later, I find a classic story about being brave, and fighting for the things you believe in; although truly, a love story. Maybe it's a Japanese thing, but their romance seems so beautiful and meaningful. Most of them end with the characters being separated in the end because one has to go away. But the feelings told and expressed in Ghibli movies are so true to life, and genuine, you can hear them in the voices of the characters and feel for them so deeply. The boys are so nerdy and emotionally deep. Poetic, almost. And the girls are adventurous, brave, something quite opposite of what we see in western films like all the princess stories. The worlds they create are so real and fantastic, like heaven...

4th Nov 2012 Wow, it's been a really long time since I wrote. But a lot has happened today. Firstly Pris started talkin to me again. An old friend who I thought had suddenly decided to not have anything to do with me for no reason. :| And then I went to meet Rhutu in the evening. Spent an hour alone on the beach, happily talking to myself, splashing water in the sea, drawing on the wet sand. It was getting darker. Rhutu came an hour later, with his brother and his friend. (Another joke happened. I had earlier been introduced to his brother as 'Upaashi', which in Marathi/Konkani means - Hungry/Starved. Rhutu and his funny psychological experiments. I should try some too!) I remember the first time I actually spoke to Rhutu. I saw him when Shivani was talking to him in NID, during the first Chitrakatha. I didn't pay much attention to him, because I was too busy soaking in the environment. There's so much energy in NID, it was overwhelming. I had a wonder...

30th August 2012 There is something that runs in my blood as fast as RBCs - stingyness? I wouldn't exactly call it that, because I love gifting people stuff. I guess I'm very money-conscious. I try to save every rupee that I can. I find joy in saving even a paise. So I just can't get over the fact that things have become to expensive in India - and one of the most scary things that have become expensive besides the petrol is - FOOD! The most basic necessity of our lives. Somehow everyone seems to be used to this. They're used to paying 40-50 bucks for a sandwich and 100+ rupees for every meal of the day. Tomatoes have gone from 5 to 10 for quarter kilo. A pack of 10 Good day biscuits have gone from 15 to 22 bucks. The packet is much bigger than its contents and Lays! Don't even ask about lays potato chips. They're such frauds. The contents have around 20 slices of chips, that's visually 1/4th of the packet, and it costs Rs. 10 for that! I feel I can ju...

Reality shows Here's a show that takes reality shows to a whole new level. 'Breakthrough with Tony Robbins' is a show where Tony Robbins guides people in real life traumas or problems through an extraordinary journey to rediscover themselves and their worth. When I watched the first episode I was mved to tears. I was so happy to see that there are people in this world who selflessly go out of their way to use their talents and skills to fix other people's lives - people they have never even known! Apparently this show got only a 4.8 rating on IMDB, and after its 6th episode the TRP went so low that NBC decided to discontinue it. Here in India, the most nonsensical and pointless reality shows like 'Spitsvilla', 'Roadies', 'Big Boss' and 'Rakhi ka swayamvar' get high TRPs! So why does such a meaningful show like Breakthrough go so low on audience? Amir Khan's done his own breakthroughs in India with 'Satyamev Jayate', b...

day 14 15th june 2012 Abbazia Hotel, Készthely After I go home I have to get a dental checkup ASAP! I'm really getting freaked out about almost all my teeth getting really sensitive so early in life! And I love to eat!! :( Also my foot is injured badly and I have no idea how it happened. For the past two days I haven't been able to walk at all; I've been limping around like a disabled person. There's a baddass twist right below my left foot's ankle on the left of the foot and there's a slight reddish swelling. Something has gone very wrong inside - I just don't know what to do about it. I tried putting it in hot salt water and applied balm on it. Let's see if it's fine by tomorrow. I hope I don't have to go to the doc when I'm back - I wanna keep my healthy record of about 18 years. I have another goal I want to achieve - I want to go trekking. A proper trek; like the Enduro. I want to climb 12 mountains overnight and feel the exhaustio...

13th Feb 2012 Well sitting here within this white box called MIT has been extremely limiting. It's DRAB. It's super hard to stay creative in such a boring environment. Often we look around, hoping to find something inspiring. I thought of buying a yellow lamp and making my own corner in the class with my paints and everything kept ready for me to just make heaps of sketches, but there are thieves in MIT. So I actually considered working in the confined tiny space my room provides. I will definitely try it out tomorrow - whatever works. 'The Mailbox' is going slow and directionless. The process of film-making is fun, but very scary indeed!! Today I talked to Chandan sir, asking him for help. He gave me a few good suggestions and I pinned them down. I guess I'm gonna have to go home to collect photos for my environments and make a HUGE-ASS resource library so that when I come back I have something to keep going back to. Occassionally when En and I are in a fun mood a ...

29th Dec '11 "You're waiting for a train.. A train - that will take you far away.. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't know for sure.." We discuss a lot of things with our friends, our families.. What we hear from each other and the experiences we share creates an impression upon us. We hear stories, stories that sometimes entertain us, surprise us, make us laugh or cry, or feel for a character. Some generate phobias, and some instill courage in our hearts. Stories that make us think of a 'what if'. 'What if I was in that position? What if I had to make that decision? What if I had a few months to live?' Stories define us, and change the way we percieve the world, and of-course, life, as we know it. When I think back about the choices I've made, and the friends I have, I feel glad. I saw a short on child abuse, and I felt grateful for great parents. I heard a story of two people who didn...

In one day a human being breathes oxygen equivalent to three cylinders. Each oxygen cylinder on an average costs Rs 700, so in a day one uses Oxygen worth Rs 2100 and for a full year it is Rs 7,66,500. If we consider an average life span of 65 years; the costs of oxygen we use become a staggering sum of Rs 500,00,000. All this oxygen is derived free of cost from the surrounding trees. Very few people look at trees as a resource and there is rampant tree cutting going on everywhere which should stop. PLEASE PLANT A TREE!

Super tiring day. Woke up. Gym. Breakfast at the mess. Ran to college, the juniors who're publicizing HiVE kept calling to ask me if they can put up the poster, and so did Ishan for film club. So I ran to Dean for permission to print it. He says he wants to see the HiVE. I had a few changes to be made and then when I went up to make them I realised the file was overwritten and I'd have to do it again all over. HELL. Why did this have to happen? So I started all over and Brat came to help me. Met Ogale on the way who suggested sending the HiVE to Kyoorius to print it. Agreed. Ran to the class, showed Ishan the poster, put it up. Ran to lab, finished HiVE, took a print out and went to show it to the dean. He left. Showed it to Vinayak and luckily he signed it! Thank-god. He even read a few pages and laughed! :D Finally we went to the printer to print them but the paper got over. :| So the printing's postponed for tomorrow, by which time the juniors will finish putting up the...

8:07 PM 9/20/2011 What wonderful art. The art of ratatouille will make you wanna watch the movie ten times over and totally fall in love with the characters all over again. Remy, Emile his brother, Linguini and the wonderful Collete, Skinner the villainous chef, all designed the contrast each other so beautifully. The interiors of a sewage systemn (underground Paris) so wonderfully contrasts the world above. Paris is shown as magnificent as in travel books and for real; so much, that it shows you how Remy dreams of living in Gusteau's kitchen without threatening his life. Designs which express the complexity of the character and the conflicts he faces are depicted so clearly and beautifully, keeping in mind that the audience should relate to this rat, and not get disgusted by the idea of it being in a kitchen of a restaurant. Remy has to hide the one thing he loves - cooking. It's amazing how similar cooking is to design. The tastes, the smells, colors and textures are like col...

Grey's Anatomy - season 5 episode 13, Stairway to heaven, I think its one of the best episodes yet. I didn't like izzie's story at all. Thought it was crap. But the rest of the storyline was crazy. Bailey almost losing her medical license for a boy who needs new organs, Sloan finding a decent girl, Torres moves on, and the best story - grey attending the execution of a serial killer patient. After that I finally started liking her, and I understood her. I love how Derek handles his professional and private life and I loved how Christina was there for her after that huge fight of theirs. Epic. Overall it forces humanity inside you. So I guess I'm writing this as a review. I had to. Maybe one of my first voluntary reviews. Chao.

I know It's been too long since I've been home when I see photos opf my mum wearing a new kurta that she now considers old. I know it's been long when I can't remember the last time I smelled that goan fresh monsoon smell. The scent of wet mud and sparkley green nature that's been washed after a year. I know it's been long when I can taste fish curry rice with the faintest smell of a curry leaf. I guess it's really been long.

It's not often with most people that they have a talk with a stranger and leave with a smile. Well for me it happens pretty often. Especially when I'm in the worst of moods. I have no evil intentions to get an off on things I purchase, or to just get my design approved. Today was one of those days. The best strangers to talk to are those kind of people who have nothing in common with you. Those who live different lives. I almost lost consciousness in a overcrowded bus today. There were mean with sweaty underarms and the woman on the left gave me a scowl everytime my laptop bag brushed her arm. The woman who was seated in front of me gave me dirts as I almost fell on her. It was all coming to a climax, and I was literally testing myself. Bile ran up towards my throat and I struggled to get the window's air that was hogged by the two seated passengers. I was claustrophobic now, and my motion sickness was getting the better of me. To top all of this, the bus halted for ten min...