New Blog :)!

Hey guys, thanks for visiting my blog. I'll be henceforth posting on this squeaky new blog :)

http://thedandelionhead.blogspot.in/

The Classic Recipe

With a long weekend ahead of me I was eager to extend its pleasure by kickstarting it off Friday evening. And what could be a simpler solution than a film. But it seemed that I had exhausted my collection so I began re-looking old folders hoping to surprise myself with a find in some corner. The only titles around seemed so promisingly boring that I quickly got onto IMDB to check whether any of them had the potential of not being an evening spoiler.

And thats how 'Sunset Boulevard' happened. The extravagantly vintage sounding title held a 8.7 rating on IMDB. What could be more inviting!

Briefly the film is a crazy little drama about a once popular yesteryears silent film star (played by Gloria Swanson) now in her fifties and yet not in terms with her waned fame, a young jobless film writer (played by William Holden) who by chance intrudes upon her property and what happens when the two get involved. It is also about the extravagant lives Hollywood stars live and the fame that surrounds them, one moment at high tide another moment all ebbed away.

You did say that that sounded like a familiar Hollywood plot. Well then this film made in 1950 and directed by the brilliant Billy Wilder from the 'golden age' of Hollywood is probably the inspiration for them. What got me hooked all the more was that most of the script drew inspiration from real life occurrences to weave in its details. Now thats a real gem. The more you can dig out of a film the better it gets. From the lead actress Gloria Swanson who nearly plays herself, to Buster Keaton and Cecile Demille, many actors in the film play themselves. Gloria is seen surrounded by her very own pictures and also watches her own films through the movie. An interesting fact to note however would be that in real life Gloria Swanson was pretty level headed about her rocketing and plummeting Hollywood fame.

Now thats a great film to kick start your friday. And don't forget to read through the film's Wikipedia site once your 'done' watching it. And do write in if you know of another great weekend kick starter !

Iss din ka mann nahin karta

Ki woh jage, angdayi le

Ki woh aankhein khole

Aur saapnon se dhoond ko neechode

Ki abhi naiya ne raat ke sagar ko par karna hai

Usmein behti gutthiyon ko suljana hai

In gutthiyon ka jawab bas kuch meel door sagar ki tat par hai

Iss din ka mann nahin karta

Ki woh aankhein khole

Ki gutthiyon ka jawab ab bas mutti bar door hai.

Christmas time! Home Decor

Really enjoyed doing up home for Christmas again. Its such a must to bring on the seasons flavours. Mom started with cake baking and then we did up the house together. From putting up the Christmas tree to mom's innovative crib making styles, they'll all a part of treasured growing up memories for me.

1. The Christmas Tree

2. The room from behind the veiled curtains

3. The tree to the right corner of the room and the crib to the left

4.The crib

5. The angel over the crib

6. The king who lost his balance :)

7. Red lamps and wine and fairy lights

8. Sequenced velvet red cushions to go with white laced sofa covers

9. Stockings, snowflakes and fog curtains

10. Santa sits alongside the bible on our red Christmas tree skirt

11. Santa sits thinking on the tree. He's joined by one of the camels of the three kings

12. Red christmas ornaments and paper cut flakes swing above the head.

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You Rock Mr. Jobs!!

This article shall hold the dearest place on my blog for a long long time. Firstly, coz its about one of the greatest design thinkers of the 21st century and secondly because the article throws light on the importance he gave to design thinking. Also I can't resist mentioning that he is such a fine example of handsomeness and brains. He sure was some deadly man!

Steve Jobs' Legacy: Design Your Own Life (By Nilofer Merchant - Harvard Business Review blog)

While there are many things worth celebrating of Steve Jobs' life, the greatest gift Steve gave us is a way to design our own lives.

Steve Jobs was known for being a design god who sweated experience, and pixels and, well, everything. "Design," he once said, "is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it's how it really works. You have to grok what it is all about."

In our society, thinking for ourselves is not highly valued. Our education model was designed with the 19th century more than the 21st century in mind. It reinforces fitting in and suppresses much of the natural creativity we start with. That's how we go from drawing and acting and make-believe to PowerPoint. If we allow creativity at all, it is limited to arts and sports. "Real work" has us looking like a Dilbert character. Between the pressures of our teachers, parents, and ultimately co-workers, we often give up any search for personal meaning as we aim to belong to a tribe. After a while, we may not even believe we have something unique to offer. Rather than figure out what we are each about, far too many of us live within the boxes others define.

But when we define ourselves by what others want, we are trying to kiss a moving butt. To live in a box defined by someone else is to deny our uniqueness. Each of us is standing in a spot no one else occupies. That unique perspective is born of our accumulated experience, perspective, and our vision. When we deny these things, we deny that which only we can bring to the situation, our onlyness. And that is surely not the way the world is made better.

I'm reminded of the ad copy Steve initiated when he returned to Apple:

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. (Apple Inc.)

The problem with being a rebel, a misfit, a troublemaker is that the masses will not be cheering you on. Rosa Parks might be a heroine today, but at the time, she lost her job. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr both had huge dissension within their own communities. It took Jobs years to come up with a turnaround strategy that showed what Apple could do. People forget the years between 1996-2001 where much of the market called him more insane, than insanely great.

But he knew that his journey was to apply what only he could — from his meticulous design methodology, to reimagining computing, to building a different type of company. He realized — and showed us — that our real job is not to conform to what others think. Instead, we need to recognize that our life's goal is to find our own unique way in the world, to find the way that we move from being kiss-ass to being kick-ass.

That is the fundamental gift of Steve Jobs. His insane greatness was to find his own journey and to live his life this way. He didn't worry about being weird; he only wanted to be himself.

I have been in love with Apple products since my first Apple II, which I practically bought with quarters and nickels earned in small increments. I grew up picking apricots on the property where Apple buildings now stand. I worked at Apple during the "dark days," as alumni refer to the years between Steve Jobs' departure and then his much-needed return. He was competitive, sure, but mostly against himself. And that, too, is a lesson for us. It has been an honor to use his products, and it was an honor to work at his company. But the greatest honor has been to emulate what he showed us by his life. That each of us must find our own path. The unmarked path.

So I ask you to join me in honoring Steve's greatness not by trying to be Steve, but by trying to be your greatest self.