Great Advice

http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorials/money-mouth-paper.html

This is something all dream catchers should understand and put into action! (found it from here)

If you dream...

It's not the smartest person who endures the battle and becomes a winner, but the person who stands throughout the whole journey and never gives up on his/her dreams. It's not the extra ordinary talent but the extra ordinary perseverance that takes a person to his/her dream. And one more important thing is that you have to believe in yourself. Determination and believing yourself are interwoven so I think you have to have both, one helps the other to grow . Many times I wonder what is it that makes a person shoot into the life and makes person reach goals or dreams, not everybody becomes for example Bill Gates or may be Dr.A.P.J. Kalam or Walt Disney. I question why people did not take a course to reach his/her dream! I have heard people telling this, be aware that not everybody's dreams come true. I think what they are trying to say is that you quit, you are not one of those who can succeed. It could be shocky at times, but mind of a dreamer has to be stronger than steel, firmed and determined to face anything, even failures of reaching dream. I know we humans have social life and we have responsibilities, we cant take risks. But think what if this were told to Gandhiji and he had stopped his mission or Thomas Alva Edison and he had stopped? Life goes nowhere without taking risks, life itself is risky whether you take risk or not. So why to worry about risks?

In the end I just want to say that if you dream about a goal, dream it so hard that it runs in your blood. Your veins pump the passion of your dream. And you become so strong that all the winds in the world change to your direction. You may fall but never give up on rising. It's your determination and belief in yourself that takes you till the gate. It's not an easy path for sure, but if are determined enough, nothing can stop you. (watch "October Sky" and you will know it)

October Sky (1999)

This is one of those inspiring movies who can provide you with enough magic spinach to workout your brain and heart muscles. I really liked this movie and for the fact that it was based on a true story, that proves that it CAN happen. I really loved it because it's real and many situations, like most of the people opposing your idea or your passion because it's new, are faced by the hero, but he still has burning desire. A son of a coal miner becomes a Nasa Astronaut! Recommended watch.

My first charcoal still life

This is the first still life I did in charcoal. It was really fun, though messy. But I love the feel of charcoal and also because they can do really dark values.

I met a guy...

Being in a good college has some really good advantages. Our college arranges job fair every year bringing some of the most reputed companies and studios in the world. This time we had Blue Sky Studios, ILM, Digital Domain, Lucasarts and list goes on. I was really excited to be in the job fair, so I got ready (I used gel to keep my long hairs stick together and keep them under the ears). I knew even if I could not do anything I just wanted to talk to one studio, and that was Blue Sky studios. Wow! I was pretty excited. But when I went there, there was a long queue (of course I should expect that). But looking around other people's work and portfolios my little portfolio felt uncomfortable and so did I. But I had to talk to that lady who was sitting on the desk of Blue Sky Studios. So I kept waiting in the queue. Suddenly a boy from behind the girl who was behind me (pardon my long confusing line) told me that there is a little caterpillar on my shirt's collar. Well that was the second time I saw a similar guy on my shirt (first time it was in the morning). I guess few of them got on my backpack while was waiting for the bus in the morning. Ok so I told that boy to take it off and put it on a paper I was holding, and he did that for me. I told him to hold my place and I went out on rescue mission (that boy in the row used the word 'rescue'). And that's it, thank God that little guy got saved.

But wait! This is not about that little guy. I kept waiting in the line, few people took only few minutes few more, but now the person on the desk had changed. This person was a guy who was wearing cool shirt. (Ok I am cutting it short) Then my turn came and I shook hand with the guy and we just started talking. I took only few minutes but it was fun and I enjoyed it. So that was the story all about (boring hah?) . I met a guy from "Blue Sky Studios"! Yuhoo! :)

Books

I really love books that contains artworks or picture stories. I also love comics but when I will have extra money I will buy them.

Even though our library is amazing, it does not have some amazing books I need/want. I bought 2 such books from Amazon. I remember how eagerly I was waiting for them to arrive and how excited I was. Here are those books:

Being a great fan of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, I had to buy these 2 books. And I really really love them for highly rich contents. I love all drawings and paintings and movie stills they contain and once I open the book, I keep looking at scenes for long time. Reading and watching these books is an amazing experience.

For more on these books and other related material, you can visit following website.

http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html

Job in Jen Library

I got an on-campus job in our college's library for a week. It's really fun, but tiring as I have also started going to gym. My all body muscles are in sweet pain. But walking around book racks and rearranging books has its own fun and benefits. I get to see all the parts in library and see what kind of books are in which racks. As our library is really huge (3 storey and long floors), it's not likely that I will be visiting the every section and rack of the library. But with this job, I will visit all the sections. I have already found many interesting sections, I found a section where India and Bollywood related books are situated. I also found children storybooks section, Leonardo da vinci related books section and collection/archive of many different magazines. And some of them are full of amazing material. I want to read so many things, but unfortunately I have so many things on my todo list. So right now trying to stick to my priority list.

Children of Heavens

This film just got into my favourite movies list. Brilliantly made! I really love the story and most of all, small details and expressions even in comman activities which are captured amzingly. For example, when the other girl (whom Zahra follows) knocks her house and while waiting for door to be opened she keeps jumping. That shows how children are eager to enter the home after school. I was really amazed at how details and emotions are captured. It is interesting that filming was kept secret most of the time. So that actions captured are natural. And it showed all the time in the movie. All the actions look so natural that movie looked live. And I love all the sweet things they did and reminded me of my own childhood. When they are washing the shoes and start making bubbles out of foam was nostalgic and I really loved that scene. And end is so beautiful, and one of the best scenes in the movie. Overall amazing film.

Mostly my best friend Ami posts film reviews on her blog. And let me tell you she is really talented in writing (Recommended reading :). But I really loved this movie and wanted to write my feelings about it, so just poured out :)

Oh I forgot to thank her for telling me about this film! Thanks you very much :)

Public Speaking Class: Discussion

I really enjoy this class a lot. It's not just because it's fun, but also because it's really providing me a platform to meet people, know them, discuss with them many things from around the world. For all the speeches we do or exercises we do, we get to have a small session for comments/discussion. And I really appreciate that short period of time because I get to learn a lot and besides I can speak my voice as well. I am really impressed with the ability of US people to discuss any issue openly without getting into a fight. And important respecting others views as well. Especially I feel this from what I have seen in our class. I cannot imagine having such an open discussion in India, no matter what the topic is. We tend to loose our patience so fast, most of the time discussions result in nowhere. One of the boys persuaded us to vote and he did it really well. One main point that struck to me from his speech was that he mentioned that we the people are branch of government and we are falling behind. Now how many 1st year college kids in India would speak like that? Well just after that boy another speech followed on voting and she specifically persuaded to do better for US by voting for Barack Obama. She had already read the books by him and also done enough research that she was really confident in what she was saying.

Well I just wanted to say 2 main points,

-how active Indian youth is in thinking about Country's prospects or for that matter anything other than individual goals. How much Indian youth is thinking about India's political future?

-And how open minded are we in talking about issues or discussing them?

Certainly from my own little experience I know that our Netas(leaders) are really not powerful enough to lead a diverse country like India. Because when they start discussing they end up with either face to face quarrels or fights in parliament. And worst, fighting with chairs and speaking slang and offensive language. We are really poor in discussing issues and that's why we never come to a good conclusion (edit: Not really a general statement, some people do discuss really well, but not Netas). And that's because everybody thinks his/her alphabet is right and that of others are wrong. That's why sometimes even a common interest cannot come to any conclusion. Well I remember myself in college days and I know I had similar attitude at that time, so I would really not keep myself open to others ideas. I don't think it's general because I was that way, but because I see a lot of difference in discussions in US and in India. I think what we lack the most is the skill of listening. We are so ready to overthrow some body's point of view that sometimes we never realize what other person is talking about. And that can be one of the reasons creative fields are really not given respect they deserve. One more thing I really like in US people is that while discussing, people just do not bashing others' views, but they also appreciate any strong points in others' views. Can we really imagine in India, people appreciating your positive views or any small idea? We don't make it to the appreciation or applause until it's something "Very extra special" (we have our own definition for this and I don't like it). I now realize that in order to build a big dream, one needs to start with smaller ones. DON'T neglect the small things, each tiny bit counts in forming the large piece.

Our country is where it was, in terms of social issues, no matter what political party is elected. But we need to ask this question to ourselves, what major things we did last decade in terms of improving our country? I know my knowledge is really poor, but still I would have known. Politicians may show some statistics and yes statistics help, but don't always rely on them, esp if our netas are quoting them. I know that to run more than billion people with so many diverse people on a land size of India is not really easy. I really appreciate all the efforts went into holding it together till date, but that does not mean we have nothing to do. We have tons of issues by which our country, our people are suffering from. We should thank God or Nature for what we have and we should think about our own personal responsibilities like giving vote to a proper person, or be disciplined and honest in what we do.

Being an Artist

Some people might be waiting to see an update in my blog, so pardon me for not updating this blog for a long time. Life is on a rollercoaster lately and may be this is the first time I have faced so many new things simultaneously. And for few I was not quite ready. But anyways I just wanted to pour out how I feel about my new student life and on a way to become an artist.

People usually have misconception about animation. Many people dont see artistic side of animation and forget that an animator is ultimately an artist. And art is just not about drawing or design or animating, there is more to it. Back in India (Esp in my state Guajart) art education is something which comes lower than engineering and commerce stream and people take art when they have low %. People dont show that respect to an artist that they show to people with non-art qualification, and I really feel bad for it. Well that's the way things are setup so it's eventually nobody's fault. But I wish something can be done about it. I am no good at sensing artistic value in all kind of artwork, but I see how people put effort in their work to CREATE a piece of art. I believe art can help a person understand things about life, about people. It gives a new vision to see different and see life with new perspective.

Being an artist I feel good, I want to see life with every angle possible. I am learning that one cannot always be standing, one may fall. That's really a part of life and it's easy to accept once you know it's natural. It's possible that a person can be standing for a very long time, hit the bull's eye for so many times consicutively, but still that person has to be open minded to survive the fall. Once a person learns this art nothing can beat him/her. A person who can rise from any fall can do anything in life. I got this example from a friend (who heard this from his friend), when a cat is running after a mouse and if cat does not catch that mouse it seats down. But then it does not seat forever or change its mind. Cat will get up soon and start running after a mouse again. An artist generates an amazing piece of work, and sometimes he feels he cannt make it. This is so typical in this field that once in a while this feeling comes to almost everybody where one thinks that he/she does not feel motivated or inspired enough to come up with creative work. I have still to see and face many things, but I have made a note of this. So I will try to improve when my time comes.