Euro 2008 final !!

So I m back after a break.. Today I witnessed one of the most one sided finals in soccer history..

Spain had gone close twice before the goal from Torres.

Torres showed what a dangerous finisher he is after 33 minutes. Philipp Lahm appeared to have Xavi's through-ball covered but fractionally hesitated as he hoped Lehmann would reach it first and that was all Torres needed as he sped past him then cleverly lifted the ball over the advancing keeper.

Spain's precision delivery earned them several more half-chances early in the second half but none were taken and Germany, never a team to give up on a trophy without a fight, raised their game but still one of the most boring final clashes I have ever seen.

As Germany pressed, for the equalizer the gaps opened and Torres almost broke clear twice more. In the end, though, his early effort proved enough to clinch the trophy for Spain 1-0.

Cheers:)

Anurag

When you try too hard!!

Well thats what happens when u try too hard...it starts all in front of a drawing board with a desire and later transforms into frustrations and then the next act comes into play...COOL down...hehe...

Cheers:)
Anurag

Where thoughts are reborn and dies in matter of seconds!!

A day in my office. After a long time they finally took me off from the animation team and gave me an opportunity to try my hands on some core graphic designing stuff. I was asked to submit a logo and banner design for a funky highway transit on bhopal-indore highway. So I put it off for a while; played with some different ideas; spun my wheels; and eventually put together some rough scribbles here and there.

I have seen times when you get loads and loads of ideas at an instant and you are not able to interpret them to the mark. Even their are times when you go totally blank and try to relocate set of old ideas but finally you end up with some wierd stuff. Actually its quiet a common phenomenon for me and happens almost everytime I sit to design, don't know whether it happpens to other architects and designers....even engineers..

"If the idea is good it’ll come back to you". It’s a great way to reduce idea overload and ensure high quality.- said by a faculty member of our architecture department.

I will say that although I think it turned out tight enough, the idea isn't that strong - and I wanted to tweak the letters and add some layers of pattern behind it...something related to highway and activities taking place there.

The cabin which they allotted to me is something like a box having two openings - one rectangular window opening to the exterior and one circular window just in front of my drawing table opening to the interior office space, according to them designers can extract ideas by observing activities goin' on in office space...wat a nonsense, I would call it more like a disturbing element seeying people roaming around in front of you...it would have been far better if they could have simply put up a nice portrait...even a mirror will do the trick...

I think I gotta figure out some way, if you are getting new ideas every now and then.....you should even learn how to manage them and use them effectively in future. Let me know if you have something to add to it - some effective tips.

Cheers:)

Anurag

Road-trip became a boat-trip!!

Day: Wednesday

Sky was sunny and finally the weather gods thought of giving some relief, the pouring of rain got stopped here in bhopal….The weather was pleasant with a tint of cool breeze and diffused sun, a perfect stage set up for a travelling enthusiast like me… So I packed my bag, took the car, went to a food court n packed some refreshments. My destination…well a place called sehore, a city at the outskirts of bhopal. Takes about 1 hr long drive here from bhopal. I usually visit this place atleast twice whenever I come to bhopal. I like this place because of its lush green outfields, big farms and good amount of small hills where you can climb and get the bliss like feeling!!

Its been 30 mins. I started driving, half the way through and another half to go. After another 5 mins or so, I got stuck up in a traffic jam, 10 mins passed…20 mins passed….30 mins passed, it was enough for me to get curious about the whereabouts of the traffic. Then I came to know national highway vehicular movement was suspended for 10 hrs or something… it seems there is a flood kind of situation 3 kms. away from where I got stuck. I have never seen a flood in my life, according to me it was an opportunity to go and explore, so I parked my car in a field nearby and started walking towards the flood affected area. After an about 20 mins walk, I finally reached the site, standing water level was about 4 ft.. Sight was pretty disturbing but at the same time I was able to figure out some interesting stuff ….

Found fishes swimming in national highway, fisherman with their boats catching fishes, traffic lights in the middle (most probably directing the boat traffic…lol!!), houses partially submerged and the families standing on their terraces….Got a chance to help some school children cross the lane..

After spending some time there I decided to return back to my car before something worse occurs. It was totally a new experience and now after seeying a small scale flood I don’t wanna see it again in the near future. Neways its still a secret, not for you guys…my mom dad would never had allowed me to go there.

CAUTION: Never try this alone, it may result in serious consequences…

Cheers:)

Anurag

My first official blog post

This is kinda illustrated blog u'll be seeying throughout my blogging....last one was more kinda essay-types, I wanted to write about the topic creativity and its forms from quiet a long time and as an introductory I wrote on that...hope u'll enjoy that one as well.. I'll b back again tomorrow with some more interesting stuff n illustrations..
Cyah.

Cheers :)
Anurag

Wats this creative crap?? I'll take you inside!

First of all, let's remember that although we use the word "creative thrust", it is not something you can put in the drawers of your house or sell in a bottle- it is a nominalisation, and that means it was taken from a verb which describes an activity and frozen into this nebulous noun.The verb literally means "to create".In essence, this means "to make something", and that's our first stop on re-defining creativity.

1. You can't be "creative" unless you are DOING SOMETHING - CREATIVELY.
This is really important to understand because the word is so terribly misused all the time.Being creative is something THAT YOU DO when you engage in the act of MAKING SOME THING.

2. CREATE SOME THING with a purpose is what it means to be creative.
That's another place where people really lose it on this topic.
That could be some thing that solves a problem, has an effect on society or on reality in some way, or on yourself.
3. In order to be creative, you do NOT have to "invent something new"
Creativity and innovation are TWO SEPARATE TOPICS, that's very important to understand.A lot of people mistakenly think that when they explore their creativity, they WILL have to come up with something no-one, out of all the billions upon billions of people on this planet in all the hundreds of thousands of years of human history has EVER thought of.That's NOT creativity! Creativity is when a little kiddo works out for themselves how to get at a toy on a high shelf with a stick.Happens to virtually EVERY kid, it is THEIR CREATIVITY, their marvellous experience and their REWARD.

Opening the Doors To Creativity

The No. 1 obstacle to creativity and flow is FEAR.

Art and engineering Solutions & Creativity
Instead of asking, "What's wrong with me?" and painting the answer in words or colours or structures or circuits, over and over again, we might ask instead, "Give me something that will heal me ..." and wait for the mind to present something. Jus wait and I m sure u'll get something.
That is THE most extraordinary moment of turning away from old stuck "pain screaming" and beginning on a whole new exploration of the processes of creativity, and the PURPOSES of creativity.

What questions would YOU ask of your own creativity?
What contributions would YOU like to make to the world, what legacy would you like to leave in pictures, sounds, in systems and structures that YOU CREATED?

"Give me something that will make the people who see/hear/touch/use this feel ..."
Feel what?
Happier? More hopeful? Less sad? Less angry?
But as an artist, architect or an engineer, this is up to you.
You can CHOOSE to choose differently. If you want people to feel even worse than they already do, disgusted, more angry, more desperate, that TOO is in YOUR POWER .

Creativity Explored
It is EASY to ask ourselves a question and receive the answer, as easy as it is for me to say to you, "Remember a time when you saw a dramatic sky that was like a symphony or a flamboyant dance? What did it look like? What were the colours? Tell me about it ..." - AND FOR YOU TO ANSWER MY QUESTION, as best you can.
Do this every day and your vision become richer, deeper, more satisfying, every more astonishing, ever more wonderful.
In the process of this active use of your creativity, you will LEARN about your creativity. You will learn how it works, become more comfortable and assured as you begin to really UNDERSTAND how you create the answers to your questions, and you remain absolutely IN CONTROL of these processes of creativity, all the way.
YOU choose where to take this; YOU are in charge through the questions you ask before the stream begins the answer.

Long live CREATIVITY and its everchanging forms..>>
Cheers :)
Anurag