Its all new..

Over the past month, things have changed. For the better obviously! When new things come into your life you expect life to change drastically or not, I don't know. But I know for sure that my life has changed due to these new things that have come into my life....... Ok, enough of non-sensical bullshit and down to the point!

The New Things:

1) New Cell Phone: Oh, this upgrade has been long awaited. The stupid stupid stupid MotoRAZR V3i was chewing my brains slowly, and well it finally chewed off the part which had the memory of it(the V3i). And I'm glad. Then came in the smart, sleek, powerful, inexpensive Nokia N73! Oh what a relief.. Such a brilliant phone. It is exactly what I needed, not too small, and not too big! And, this one is the N73 Music Edition, which means additional space of 2 GB! I've been longing so badly for a S60 Nokia Smartphone. So.. even though the network of the service which I'm using sucks badly the phone covers up for it! Ahhh... Moving on...

2)New Bike: Well, this was expected to come in sometime but I didn't know it would come so soon! I needed a bike ya.. I look so god damn huge of that Dio! It's a brilliant lil scoterette nonetheless, has got lotsa power, and has served me good without any problem for about 2 years I think.

Ever since it was launched, I had my eye on the Pulsar 220 with the eagerness of buying it and devouring it "oh so nicely"! I loved everything about it. Its big, powerful, got loadsa gadgets and gizmos and looks muuuuuch better than the Karizma! But its released only in a test market, introduced in small batches. This makes me doubt the reliability that Bajaj advertises. So, no, the Pulsar 220 was out of question.

The thing was convincing those people who reside the Master Bedroom in my house. Mon parents. I was exremely happy when Dad brought up the topic of buying me a bike! He said, you buy the......... Hero Honda Splendour! I was like wtf??? Is that anywhere near being sensible?! Puhleez.. The Dio kills the Splendour in everyway.. And WHY am I even talking about it?? So, moving on.. Dad didn't want me to buy the 220 anyways. Too powerful he says. I hadn't given up hope. So, I put up one last session of reasoning with Dad and he came to the new Pulsar 180.

So, I told him that there is a Pulsar 200 also! Just for a couple o thousand bucks extra! Better mileage, better power, better handling. He was impressed and convinced by my presentation skills. So you know what happened next right?

The next day, when I'm in college, he made a few calls and after college me and mom went to Bajaj Pro Biking and book a blue Pulsar 200. And within 3 days, I got the bike. It is sooo beautiful! Amazing power, amazing everything! Can't describe.. Its just the 6th day and I've already completed 305 kms! Its still breaking-in though so I can't really use all its power.. The detailed review will come later.

3) New College: I've been academically inactive for a year and trust me, its absolute torture! I took admission now in Interior Design Diploma in SIT. And I must say, thats the best decision I've made recently! I love it there, love everything about it. The campus, the the faculty, everything.. Its exactly what I wanted.

Ahhh... Life is good!

Stupid Bentleys..

Ah! They look sooo lovely don't they?? Especially when in white! Elegant, huge, spacious and expensive. But they are so damn stubborn! Give loadsa trouble. Basically I'm talking about the Flying Spur(or is it the Continental GT), same shit! Those bloody huge masses ain't fit for our roads! And they are so undependable... Stupid Bentleys.. Here's one broken down on the road towards Mahabi..

I'm alive!

Yes yes.. I haven't died, I haven't been mentally ill and neither has my laptop been taken away! I dunno what to write! Tell me tell me...

The two most essential wierdos in my life...

Thats Bhakti and Aksha! Known these two for like 6-8 years, been through all the bloody ups and downs with em. Its been a real pleasure knowing these and I consider myself damn fortunate. Individual blog entries for these two comin up soon! :-)

Dreams do come true...

We(Hoggers) have always dreamed of things like a House made of chocolate, a pardi with never ending Momos, and have always wondered if these dreams will ever come true. Well, here is a Chocolate Fountain courtesy Mainland China saturday buffet!!

Well, this one is not a dream come or anything, but it sure does look like a pardi with never ending momos!

Updates of the Main Gates

Well... I wanted to get over with Gates yesterday but I was way too bored to do it! So, last night I put on Return of the King Extended Edition and started work on the gates. The basic structure is done only the detailing is left.

Minas Tirith Project: Main Gates

Came back from jogging and a Vaishali breakfast to sit down and get the Main Gates done! But its 10:45 pm and its still a WIP. Took me 6 hours to do this!... But anyways here are the pics...

I got ma Tickets!!!

I didn't have enough patience to wait for TicketPro's confirmation e-mail about my tickets. And we had booked our flight tickets already, so if by any faint chance we couldn't have managed to get the Maiden tickets, it would've been a simple Bangalore vacation or waiting outside the Palaca Ground Gates and listening to the hum of Iron Maiden. So, when the call came from Planet M saying the tickets have arrived, we rushed there and got em! Here they are...

Let the Eddfest begin...!

I haven't been a hardcore Iron Maiden fan but been listening to a lot of their songs but none of the album that they're promoting!(A Matter of Life and Death) And, I'm a hardcore hard rock fan! So, when I heard at CRI that Maiden is coming to India, I knew I couldn't let this pass by me! Today I just confirmed my flight tickets with Indigo Air. Me, Karan, Shreedhar and Vedant will be off to Bangy on the 16th. Yeah baby!



First thing on the list: Listen to A Matter of Life and Death! :D


FTN is gonna be playing too, and those guys were amazing as well!
Ahhh... The Moshpit awaits me...

Project work has begun!

I couldn't wait... I just COULDN'T wait. I took some reference printouts and took my laptop and was off to start working on Minas Tirith! Regular Updates will start once I start some concrete work...

Previous Project: Helm's Deep

As I said before, my love for Miiatures started when I first saw Helm's Deep and decided to make a Miniature of that. Now that time, I hadno experience, no idea how to work it out n all... I actually finished the project. I had kept in the top lobby near the terrace. During our building's renovation, the workers decided that it was a piece of junk, and broke it and threw it away! I was bloody mad at those b******s! Anyways, I still have photo evidence! ;-P

But I don't have any photos of the completed model. These are WIP photos... And you might find that it is a bit rugged and not well cut, but then thats how its supposed to be considering that its a supposed 1000 year old or so Fort..... Gawd I called it a "Fort"...

Minas Tirith: Previous Photos

As I said before, I had initially started making Minas Tirith starting from the Main Gate. While cleaning up my room, I stumbled upon the Model I'd made before. It ain't come that great but it was a good try for sure. The finishing isn't good because it was a work in progress and touch ups weren't given. Comments welcome!

About time

Well, its about time I went on a diet! So when I was talkin to KK today, he mentioned something about the GM Diet. This diet was created especially for General Motor's(GM) Employees. So I searched for it on the internet and got this Indianised verion of the American GM Diet.
____________________________________________________________________


GENERAL MOTORS WEIGHT LOSS DIET

The following diet and health program was developed for the employees and the dependents of General Motors Inc., US of A. The program was developed in conjuration with the grant from the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. It was field tested in the Johns Hopkins Research Center and was approved for distributed by the Board of Directors of General Motors Corporation at a general meeting on August 15, 1995.
General Motors Corporation wholly endorsed this program and is making it available to all employees and families. This program will be available at all General Motors food service facilities. It is the Management’s intention to implement a welfare and fitness program for everyone.
This program is designed for a target weight loss of 5-6 Kg. per week. It will also improve your attitude and emotions because of its systematic cleaning effects. The effectiveness of this seven day plan is that the foods eaten burn more calories than they give to the body in caloric value. This plan can be used as often as you like to without any fear of complications. It is designed to flush your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well being. After seven days you will begin to feel lighter by atleast 10 pounds. You will have an abundance of energy and an improved disposition.
During the seven days you must drink 10 glasses of water each day.

DAY ONE: All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consist of all fruits you want. It is suggested you consume lots of melons the first day, especially watermelon and cantloupe.
DAY TWO: All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat all raw and cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount of type. Avoid oil and coconut while cooking vegetables. Have large boiled potato for breakfast.
DAY THREE: Any mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity. No bananas yet and no potatoes today.
DAY FOUR: Banana and milk. Today you will eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. You can also have 1 bowl of vegetable soup.
DAY FIVE: Today is feast day. You will eat 1 cup of rice. You also have to eat about six whole tomatoes and drink 12 glasses of water today to cleanse your system of the excess uric acid you will be producing.
DAY SIX: Today is another all vegetables day. You must eat 1 cup of rice today and eat all the vegetable you want cooked and uncooked to your hearts content.
DAY SEVEN: Today your food intake will consist of 1 cup rice, fruit juice and the vegetables you care to consume. Tomorrow morning you will be five Kgs lighter than 1 week ago.

If you desire further weight loss, repeat the program again. Repeat the program as often as you like, however, it is suggested that you rest for three days before every repetition.
We followed the program as described here, but made our own adjustments like eating guacamole as one of the vegetables. Probably not a good choice, but it tasted so gooooood. On day four, we made a vegetable soup with onion, green pepper, tomatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Something similar to Manchao soup that you get in “Indian Chinese” restaurants. Also for day five, we made tomato soup instead of eating raw tomatoes.
I lost 7 pounds in a week and the wife lost 4 to 5 pounds. My knees are thankful as they have a little less weight to carry around. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
___________________________________________________________________

The above article is sourced from the following website:
http://www.parablog.com/wp/2006/11/16/gm-diet-details/

Height of embaressment...

Had gone to FC road to meet up with Sanna and Gauri yesterday and had taken my car. Well... No moment with these two is ever normal!

They were sitting in my car's boot with the window open on FC road, waving at people passing by! And well, that ain't all... We went for a drive with them sitting there all along making wierd faces at people... Oh goJ!

Heights of the walls...

I tried, I tried and I tried.

I just couldn't get the heights of the walls in correct proportions as I wanted. The only reference I had about the height of the Miniature made for the movie was when Alan Lee had said in one the documentaries saying "it stands 7 metres tall". Now, what I didn't know was whether that included the tower or not. I just couldn't get it right...

So I wrote an e-mail to Pier Pjanssen asking him what measuremts he took and what project I have undertaken. He replied, but he thought I was asking for a render of the whole 3D model he was making. But I replied saying, that I just wanted the heights of the separate walls. But his next reply was really amazing...

Return of the Pakshi...

Sometime back I'd posted about that undiscovered Hogger friend of mine. I was under the impression that that talent she exhibited was because of her Tuesday fasting... but I was wrong.





She insists her identity remain undisclosed!


Notice the increase in the amount of food in front of her..

Minas Tirith Level Plan

I do want to start another blog dedicated just to the Minas Tirith. But since the project is still in the basic stage, there is no use to it.

Anyways, with the help of Pier Pjanssen I've made a map of all the levels of Minas Tirith.

L1, L2 etc. indicates Left level 1, Left level 2 etc.

R1, R2 etc. indicates Right level 1, Right level 2 etc.

M-7 indictes the main top 7th level which includes the courtyard, The White Hall and the Tower of Ecthelion(if I'm not wrong).

The house(or a certain group of houses) will be given a certain number. For eg. a certain house on the left level 1 might be L-1-20.

Since we do not have an actual idea of how big Minas Tirith is, in the real sense, we can use this to scale depending on how big we want the model to be. To get the idea of the scale and proportions of the heights of each level and the walls, I'll be posting another image later on.

I still don't have a team people!

Minas Tirith Project

I've been a Tolkien enthusiast since the past 6-7 years. My love for making Miniatures started out because of The Lord of the Rings movies. My first scale model was that of Helm's Deep. When finished it turned out to be around 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

After I saw Minas Tirith in The Return of the King, I knew I had to make it. I started out with making the Main Gates, and I thought I'd go up from there on. But as the inner buildings progressed and as I started to research more into the details, I realized that the scale I was using was making the model to turn way to big to fit into any room. It was coming taller than 8 feet. After a few calculations to make it smaller, I came down to 7 feet tall by 14 feet. At that point I realized that it was no 2 month job! So I gave up...

But I now want to do it. I want to build Minas Tirith! I won't be taller than 7 feet. But then, if I am to make to make it smaller then the amount of detailing you can put into it reduces. And I believe that the beauty of the model lies in its details.

I invite any of you. 3D CG modellers, Miniature artists, LotR enthusiasts to join me in making this model. I will obviously be investing my own money into this, so money ain't the factor. I need a team!

Maximum 3-4 hours should be good enough. Anybody intereted, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

My e-mail: alok.thakurdesai@gmail.com

Orkut scrapbook: http://www.orkut.com/Scrapbook.aspx?uid=1653705757330494710

Put up a comment in this blog entry also if you may...

I know its a very big Idea, but I know its possible! Critics are welcome to put this concept to dump but I ain't gonna budge.

Check out this forum link to get an idea of the project, and an attached image:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=153431&page=1&pp=20

The whole thing:

Talk about apetite!

I'm known as the Momo King and am proud to be a part of the Mainland China hoggers here in pune. Every weekend we meet up at Mainland China and make the most of the Unlimited Buffet! But, I never expected hogging talent would be right next to me all the time and go unnoticed! It was on a Tuesday Dinner at Polka Dots with THAT friend... THAT undiscovered hogger.

I ordered a small chicken tikka Kathi roll for myself. But what my friend ordered was something that even I couldn't manage eating at that point. I'll let the the pictures speak for themselves... They have come a bit blurred though, but you'll get da point...!

SHE ATE THE WHOLE THING...... BY HERSELF!

For all those who'll get the hint, some of us call that friend "Pakshi"...

The Meal

Before

After

More...

Uppal leading and KP behind him...

A UG3 in my rear view mirror...! And I'm riding a Dio!

Uppal, KP and me...

KP and Me

We found this bridge on the way... Very nice!

More Random pics...

Where was he standing??

"Is this OK? Or should I move a little more behind?"

North?

Lavasa Ride photos...