Out of harm's way

The Libyan unrest will forever be etched into my memory, because for me and my family it was personal. My dad was evacuated from Libya only two days ago. Thankfully, he left Zawiyah just before things got worse. Not that things were good before he left; in fact, when I called him up two days before he left Zawiyah he told me that he could hear gunshots outside his house. I was so scared I thought it was best if he just stayed inside the house; getting out of the house even for evacuation could be dangerous. But yesterday's news showed what would've happened if he had stayed there any longer - dozens of civilians were killed.

Dad's evacuation would've been painless if his bag wasn't stolen on his way to Tunisia. Dad and his Indian colleagues were to go to an airport in Tunisia to take a flight back to India. The Indian embassy sent buses and trucks to Zawiya. People would take the bus, and the luggage would be brought in trucks to Tunisia. At the Tunisian border, he had to give up his simcard and his phone! This meant he wouldn't be able to contact us until he reached India. On reaching Tunisia, he found one of his two bags missing -- the bag that had his laptop (months worth of research!) and all the cash. His bag was stolen. Dad was now rendered phone-less and penniless. Dad could manage just one call back home explaining his situation and that he had a few friends helping him out. He stayed in Tunisia for four days until his name turned up on the roster of evacuees. By then all his friends had already been evacuated. His stay at Tunisia, however, seemed pleasant because he and all the evacuees were accommodated at a three-star hotel and were provided with free and unlimited food (both veg and non-veg) throughout the day.

On the fourth day, he boarded EgyptAir (apparently Indian Airlines wasn't the only carrier bringing back Indians) which brought him to Mumbai with one stop at Cairo International airport for refuelling. At Mumbai, the embassy gave every evacuee a free air/rail ticket to anywhere in the country along with Rs.2000 so they could reach home comfortably. Dad was given a 3AC ticket to Chennai that evening. He reached Chennai the next evening. My mum, sis and I were at our native place (Berhampur, Orissa) for my cousin's wedding ceremony all this while which, of course, we couldn't attend. We reached the morning after dad reached, but boy were we relieved to have him back and safe.

Dad is very upset about losing his laptop and all his research work in it, but he sure has kind words for the way the Indian government handled the evacuation process. Mum also agrees that the officials were very supportive when she had called the control centre at Delhi to find out what and how things were being done.

Technopop, anyone?

Made another track. Not too bad I think. But it's ironic that I ended up making exactly the genre of music -- techno -- that I'm not really fond of.

Melody #3 by ManaMalipeddi

Phineas and Ferb

Cartoons are the best thing that happened to mankind. After music, of course.

"Mom! Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence"

Phineas and Ferb is the Tom and Jerry of my adulthood and I have every reason to believe it might soon be the Tom and Jerry of the new generation. I haven't seen a funnier and wittier animated series in recent times. Even the new Tom and Jerry series aren't as much fun. Quite frankly, I don't even like the new Tom and Jerry series. They've turned too violent for my taste. And that is true for most cartoons on TV today. Well, at least, the shows on the cartoon channels in India viz., Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Animax and Hungama. Pogo and Disney/Disney XD are probably the only channels that have good, healthy, fun and mentally stimulating shows for kids. I personally am of the opinion that there is a limit to schadenfreude even when it is a cartoon.

And that is why Phineas and Ferb is such a great show. There are lot of good things about the show, apart from the neat flash animation (If I'm not wrong I remember reading about the show winning an award for the best flash animation) and great comic timing. You see, Phineas and Ferb are step-brothers and they make a great team. The show takes place during their summer vacation and the duo wants to spend their vacation productively. Nothing is impossible, but nothing happens by magic either. And everything they do is for the benefit (or fun) of not just themselves but everybody in the neighbourhood. They don't cause harm to anyone, neither does Candace, nor Doofenschmirtz (thanks to Agent P aka Perry The Platypus). The dialogues are clever and witty. No lowbrow humour. It has also got catchy musical numbers, my favourite being Gitchee Gitchee Goo and Backyard Beach. So you see, it's the perfect show.

Perry The Platypus fights Doofenschmirtz, who wants to destroy the entire Tri-State area

Heinz Doofenschmirtz is my favourite character. His antics are so endearing, not to mention his accent (voiced by one of the creators, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Dan Povenmire). Wait. I think I like Candace more. Especially that wicked laugh of hers when she thinks her brothers (Phineas and Ferb) are "busted" for sure. Or the cute little noise that Perry The Platypus makes. And the way Isabella says, "Hey Phineas, Whatcha doooin?". Ah well I can't decide who it is. The entire show is just so wonderful. 

So, go on then. If you aren't a fan of the series yet, watch the show and join the club.

Motion Graphics #1

First one. So don't be too harsh.

Double Trouble from Manasa Malipeddi on Vimeo.

Wait. What? It's gone?

Wow. It's the end of one whole year. One whole year gone by in the blink of an eye. It feels like only yesterday that I graduated from college, that I moved into this house, like Avatar released only a week ago (2010 started with Avatar, for me). It's hard to believe that one year has passed. It's already time to replace that calendar on my cupboard. It's already time to retrospect and introspect while I feel like the year has only begun. It feels like nothing much has happened this year, yet I can talk for days about all the events that have happened in life this year. The realization that this year is at its end feels weird. Really weird. Like this is a dream. Like I'm in the "matrix".

Anyway, fact is a fact, no? 2010 has ended and it is time to look back at those resolutions. Now,

• Did I write that song or poem I wanted to write? Hehehe. That's a joke, right? Of course not. But I made music. That is something, isn't it? 
• Did I stop eating biscuits and maggie? Yes. I'm now eating more Dairy Milk Roast Almonds, more pizzas, more Chinese noodles and more roommate-made delicious food. Call me lucky for having a roommate who is about to get married and wants to "practice" cooking. 
• Did I learn to find the greater of two given fractions? Yeahhh. Yay to me. 
• Did I learn to lie? Well, not really, but I've been told I exaggerate a bit much (In my defense, doesn't exaggeration make a boring incident more dramatic and interesting?)
• Did I learn a new language? There was too much choice... Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Latin, Russian, Italian, Gibberish... I couldn't pick one.

As for my new new-year resolutions, here they are --

• Make more music
• Read all the books I bought last year
• Buy more books
• Draw more
• Make at least 20 elaborate 3D models
• Aim high, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing
• Do not get married

Looking forward to the new year. I'm excited. And a little apprehensive. A decision needs to be made. A decision will me made for me. Nonetheless, I know it is going to be a very interesting year.

Happy 2011, everyone.

Superrhero, Superrflop

Dreamworks is outdoing itself. Everytime. As if How To Train Your Dragon wasn't good enough, enough to make me want the movie to win the Academy award this year, now comes Megamind (released in India last week after an agonizing wait). I've heard Tangled is just as good, or some say it's even better than Megamind (I've read reports of Megamind underperforming, and Tangled toppling Harry Potter at the US Box Office). Now I'm not so sure which movie will win it. All the movies in the fray this year as just as good as the other. These movies just keep getting better. And my excitement keeps increasing every time I hear about a new animated movie release.

And now for my brutally honest rant.

I watched two movies back-to-back yesterday, one of which was Megamind and the other an Indian animated-cum-live-action movie Toonpur Ka Superrhero. I decided to watch Toonpur Ka Superrhero to know how far we've come. It's been a while since I last watched an Indian animation movie. While on one end of the Indian animation spectrum we have Alpha and Omega (which did fairly well abroad), on the last picometer of the edge of the other end of the spectrum we have Toonpur Ka Superrhero. I'm no longer going to accept the excuse of Indian animation industry being in its nascent stage after Alpha and Omega and Tinkerbell which have pretty decent animation. Just because these animation movies are targeted at kids, doesn't mean one can throw any crap at them and they'll enjoy it. Kids are not stupid. Toonpur was a pain to watch. The story -- Kid calls his actor dad a fake hero. Dad is hurt. Some cartoons kidnap dad into their "Toonpur" to fight a bad guy. Dad is successful. Dad becomes "Superrhero" in his kid's eyes -- brainless; and the characters bordering on the obscene.

This movie makes me wonder if the people who worked on this movie have ever seen a Pixar or a Dreamworks movie. The characters in these movies are so beautiful, even without a story, I can bet that these movies will still be able to stand only on the strength of their character appeal. Ok, maybe not. But look at Megamind's "beautiful" Roxanne, and Toonpur's "Miss Toonpur" Loveena and you'll know what I mean.

Indian character designers need to understand that female characters can be made to look good/sexy without giving them a huge bust.

What I find ironic in our animation is that while our country is basically colourless (look around, count how often you find colours other than red, yellow and dark blue, besides black and white), the environment in our animated movies are full of mismatching, blindingly bright colours. This is not specific to this movie, but in almost all the animated shorts created by students, that I've seen. I can't think why.

As long as we've got these basic fundamentals of animated movies wrong, Indian animation can never compete with the international releases. They say the Indian moviegoer isn't ready for animated movies yet, but I'm sure if we give them movies that are at least as entertaining as the movies he/she is watching right now, he/she will be ready. And once we get this right, we can then talk about animation boom in the country.

Another Day, Another Melody

This time a little longer, and hopefully, a little better.

Melody #2 by Manasa Malipeddi

The Sound Of

Music. My music. My first ever. Composed on FL Studio.

Melody #1 by Manasa Malipeddi

Music Animation

I've finally learnt how to move to the music. If you're watching this, watch it in HD. It looks so much better in HD.

I will probably replace the previous 'rock' video with a HD version, if that's possible.

Rock

Learnt something new today -