Fun facts about New Year!

My 1st post in 2011 about the history of the day we are celebrating today!

         The first day of the year was fixed as January 1 by the Gregorian calendar, adopted by Pope Gregory XIII on February 24, 1582. The purpose of introducing a new calendar was the need to regulate Christian feast days and festivals. The year shown on the original document is 1581, because at the time it was signed, the new year did not begin until March. Some European countries adopted January 1 as the first day of the year, but in England the new year continued to begin on March 25, until 1622.

Facts About First Footing:

First footing is a New Year tradition, practiced mainly in Scotland and Northern England, when a dark-haired man has to knock at the door just after midnight, so he is the first person to enter the home in the New Year. If the first visitor of the year arrives without bringing a gift, this will bring poverty to the household in the coming year. The first footer therefore offers a piece of coal, peat or wood, to represent the necessary warmth of a fire, and a piece of oatcake, shortbread, or a spicy bun, as a symbol of sufficient food.

Facts About Scottish and Welsh New Year Traditions:

New Year is a bigger celebration in Scotland than Christmas, and Scotland has an official public holiday on the first two weekdays of January. The Scottish tradition of celebrating Hogmanay its roots in the pagan midwinter festival, when it was the practice to worship the sun by starting fires. The name of Hogmanay possibly comes from the Gaelic - Oidche Challainn - meaning "the evening of the oatcake".

In some regions of Scotland, an ancient tradition involves young men or boys disguised by wearing cow hides. They circle a house three times, and strike the walls, to offer protection from harm to the family within. They must shout and demand to be allowed into the home, and can enter the house after each has recited a special rhyme. Inside the home they must be offered food and drink.

A similar tradition in Wales involves a hobbyhorse, made from a horse skull fixed to a pole, with false ears and eyes, bells and ribbons attached. A man under a white sheet operated the jaw to make it open and close. At each house door the men recite a rhyme to request entry, and a rhymed response from inside refuses to let them in. This can go on for some time, until the men are invited in and offered food and drink.

Facts About Auld Lang Syne:

Auld Lang Syne is now sung around the world, often by large crowds gathered for New Year celebrations, while joining hands at the stroke of midnight. The words are in the old Scots dialect and were adapted by Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, from traditional verses, and the melody comes from an old Scottish folk dance.

Facts About The Month of January:

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of gateways and doorways. Janus is associated with new beginnings, having two faces, one looking back and another seeing forward. The Roman calendar just had ten months, and each new year started in March.

For the Anglo Saxons, it was the month when wild wolves were most likely to enter villages in search of food.

Diary of Jane on Guitar!

Aarohi'11-The Annual Cultural Fest of VNIT!

HIMYM Season 1 Goof-Ups!-Part 1

I was recently going through season 1 episodes of the infamous sitcom(one of my favorites)-How I Met Your Mother and observing closely, I found out many goof-ups in the continuity between shots. Also, there were some character mistakes. And so, I am going to share the season 1 goof-ups with you all but in parts.
Goof-Ups for Season 1 Episodes 1 to 8:

Pilot (season 1, episode 1)

 Continuity: When Marshall and Barney are talking in the back of the cab, the red-edged black book on the dashboard moves back and forth between shots, though the cab is stationary.

 Continuity: When Marshall is pouring champagne, the amount poured is much less than that shown when they all raise their glasses.

 Continuity: When the group are at the bar, just as Ted asks Barney's opinion, Marshall's beer bottle goes from at his mouth to on the table in a second.

 Continuity: When Ted tells Robin that he loves her, Robin's hair jumps from behind to in front of her ear between shots.

 Continuity: When Robin steps out of her front door to give Ted directions, she wraps her cardigan around herself. In the next shot the cardigan is instantly open, and she wraps it around herself again

Purple Giraffe (season 1, episode 2)

 Continuity: After Ted's Saturday night party (second of the three), when Ted, Lily and Marshall are sitting on the couch, numerous things change or suddenly appear behind them. Clothing is instantly on the back of the yellow chair and black chair, a wood chair appears, furniture moves, etc.

Continuity: When Marshall runs after Ted to tell him to get French Onion Dip, his robe keeps changing from crossed over 
his chest to straight down.

Continuity: In the closing scene at the bar, the level of beer in Marshall's glass goes up and down without him drinking any. Also, the glass goes from in his hand to on the table in

 Continuity: In the opening scene at the bar, when Ted is debating whether or not to ask out Robin, Marshall's beer is in his hand when the camera is on him, but on the table when 

 Continuity: In the opening scene at the bar, the level of beer in Ted's glass goes up and down between shots.

Continuity: The morning after the second party, the items on the coffee table change instantly between shots. Several beer bottles and blue cups vanish, whilst a red cup and red bowl appear.

Continuity: At the third party when Lily sits Ted down to talk to him, Marshall stands behind Ted with a beer bottle in his hand. The position of Marshall's hands on Ted's back changes between shots.

Sweet Taste of Liberty (season 1, episode 3)

Character mistake: After learning that the guy who he thought was hitting on Lily is gay, Marshall says "I've never been in a fight". However, in Season 4, "The Fight", he states that he has been in plenty of fights with his brothers.

 Continuity: When Marshall is on the phone to Barney, the green highlighter jumps back and forth from on the desk to on top of the open book.

Return of the Shirt (season 1, episode 4)

 Continuity: When Steph is telling Ted that she used to star in adult films, we see her pick up the mini corn with her chopsticks from one angle, then the shot changes and she picks it up again.

 Continuity: In the final scene at the bar, Barney is seen eating the olive from his drink and discarding the stick. A second later, when the shot changes, the olive and stick are back in his glass.

 Continuity: When Robin is talking to her boss about his dog, the pens and pencils in the holder on his desk change depending on the camera angle.

 Continuity: After Natalie throws spaghetti at Ted, the amount and position of the spaghetti pieces changes instantly between shots.

 Continuity: When Barney is crouched down, leaning against Robin's chair, the money in his right hand vanishes between shots.

 Continuity: When the gang are discussing what Ted should say to break up with Natalie, the amount of beer in Marshall's glass goes up and down between shots.

Okay Awesome (season 1, episode 5)

 Continuity: In the opening scene at the bar, Ted's beer bottle moves from in his hand on his lap to on the table between shots.

 Continuity: When the bartender holds up the napkin with the price of the drinks on it, he is holding it straight. The shot cuts to the view from behind, and the napkin is now held at a clear angle.

 Continuity: When they first arrive at the club we see Barney, in close up, undo some of his top shirt buttons. A few seconds later, he is seen in the background with his shirt buttoned.

Slutty Pumpkin (season 1, episode 6)

 Character mistake: Robin says in this episode that she never played team sports and was always a loner. However in a later episode, (The Prom episode) she mentions she missed her prom due to field hockey nationals.

 Continuity: At dinner, Robin starts eating the ice cream sundae and knocks the cherry off the top. In the next scene, when she passes the sundae to Mike, the cherry is back neatly on top and the sundae looks untouched.

 Continuity: At the bar, when Robin is telling the gang about Mike, Marshall's beer moves from in his hand to on the table between shots. Also, the amount of beer in the glass changes frequently depending on the camera angle.

 Continuity: When Barney arrives at the apartment in his Top Gun outfit, we see him hang his sunglasses off his collar twice without removing them in between.

 Continuity: When Barney is at the apartment in his Top Gun costume, the position his helmet is in on the coffee table changes between shots. Sometimes the front of the helmet faces the camera, at other times it is sideways.

Matchmaker (season 1, episode 7)

 Continuity: When Marshall comes out of his room with the book about the Roswell Incident, he's holding the cover and first pages bent under the book, next shot he's just holding them normally, then they're bent again.

 Continuity: In the opening scene at the bar, when Ted and Barney are discussing the idea of going to visit a matchmaker, Ted's beer glass suddenly goes from being about a quarter full, to being nearly three-quarters full.

 Continuity: In the final scene at the matchmaker's office, the tub of Haagen Daaz on the desk turns around between shots. Sometimes the brand name is visible, but in other shots the logo is facing away from the camera.

 Continuity: When Ellen takes the clipboards, she first holds one in each hand, then the shot changes and both are in one hand.

 Continuity: At the matchmaker's office, when Barney is saying he just wants someone to hold, Ellen is seen putting her pencil down on the desk but in the next shot it is in her hand again.

The Duel (season 1, episode 8)

 Continuity: At the Sci-Fi themed restaurant, the straw in Robin's date's drink keeps changing position between shots. Sometimes it points straight up from the glass, other times it is angled towards her date leaning against the side of the glass.

 Continuity: When Ted, Lily and Marshall are discussing the coffee maker, Marshall changes between shots from having a mug of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other, to having both hands around the mug.

The Duel (season 1, episode 8)

 Continuity: When Lucy is sitting on the bed in hospital, the straps on her vest keep changing position on her shoulder without her adjusting them.

 Continuity: When Barney, Robin and Ted are at the bar, the blue stirrer in Robin's drink keeps changing position between shots without being touched.

The next part from episodes 9 to 16 will be coming soon. If you have any other knowledge about HIMYM goof-ups, you can mail me at adityaa.vnit@gmail.com or post it in form of a comment. This you should do as sharing is sexy!!

HALLOWEEN!

Scary Wallpaper!

Electro-Ween!-The Trical Dg'10

                                   Electro-Ween : Electrical Departmental Gathering 2010.
                                                     Created by Me(Aditya Agarwal)

List of Events @ Consortium'11

LIST of EVENTS in CONSORTIUM’11

• E-Summit : Panel Discussion and Networking among various dignified personalities from all walks of life and students.
• B-Plan : Business Plan Event.
• Sosyal Manoos : Social Entrepreneurship event. Plan for social development.
• 24 : Crisis Management Event.
• Bizmantra : Marketing Event.
• Sansad : Mock-Parliament targeting political management.
• Max-Pro : Maximum Profit and Cost Optimization.
• Radio-FM : Auction and Bidding Event.
• Kaizen : Inventory and Lean Management Event.
• Corp-Wars : A run to be at the top of the Company.
• HR Management
• Entrepreneur : A short game targeting all entrepreneurial skills.
• Carnama : A short game targeting planning and gambling skills.
• EPL : Football Team Manager.
• Advertising : Outdoor Media and Publicity Management.
• Informals : Stress-Busters.

Constitution in VNIT!

VNIT's Technical Festival, AXIS CORE SELECTION PROPOSAL :

The procedure of selection of the core team will be as follows:

Stage 1:

Any student who has worked for previous year’s AXIS can apply for the position of Axis  Core. The interested candidates will have to fill a form which will be scrutinized by the previous Axis Core members along with the Event Managers and suitable candidates would be shortlisted. Shortlisted candidates would then be eligible for Stage 2.

In the event of any student being dissatisfied with the results of stage 1, he can appeal again and his plea would be reconsidered by the Technical Secretary and the General Secretary.

Stage 2:

All the candidates selected for Stage 2 will have to go through a personal interview.

The panel will consist of:

1. Dean Student Counselling
2. Prof-in-Charge (2)**
3. Ex-Prof-in-Charge
4. Technical Secretary, Student Council
5. General Secretary, Student Council
6. Previous Axis Core (7)**

**The numbers in bracket indicate the number of people belonging to that category

The panel would judge the students based on various parameters some of which are listed below

• Leadership Skills
• Speaking and Presentation Skills
• Managerial Skills
• Time and Crisis Management Skills
• Multi-tasking Ability
• Resource Allocation
• Man-Management

The panel would be selecting the core comprising of seven members.

The panel will ensure that there is no criteria or reservation on the basis of caste, creed, religion, sex, ethnicity, and place of belonging, native state and or anything as such which would contradict the very governing principles laid down by the constitution of India which clearly empowers all its citizens liberty, equality and fraternity.

Once enforced, this system will be transparent and hopes to bring out the deserving candidates for the Axis Core Team.

Technical Secretary,

VNIT-Nagpur.

Welcome to the 3rd post on photoshopping...

Since I got my Macbook Pro, I haven't got a chance to buy Adobe Photoshop. So, I the image I am posting was created almost a fortnight ago with Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Here you can see the changes that I have made.
1. The back wheels are rotating (Radial Blur was used)
2. There is white smoke rising from the back wheels(Used some smoke brushes)
3. The most easily visible blue coloured smoke and antique page effect!

Hope you guys like it!

EBRU-An Amazing Turkish Art

Consortium'11 Promo Video...(Created by me)

HIMYM Season 6 Episode 1 : Big Days

I've started on season 6 of HIMYM (greatest sitcom ever). A short synopsis of Episode 1 is as follows:

Ted reunites with Cindy (Rachel Bilson), a girl he had a bad date with and who is also the roomie of the future Mrs. Ted Mosby. Lily has a problem with Marshall telling everyone their decision to have a baby. Robin deals with her and Don's break-up, while Barney deals with the end of "the season of exposed skin".

This was a pretty good start to the season. I feel like we are getting closer to finding out who the mother is, which I am really excited about. I know once the mom is revealed, there won't be much more to go, but I feel like it's about time Ted finds the "One". Barney had a great episode, but then again Neil Patrick Harris always makes me laugh. I am glad Robin and Don broke up, I like her better without him(and his undies of course). Marshall was also pretty funny this episode, but I hope he and Lily don't argue about whether or not to have a baby any longer. I miss them being funny, rather than arguing. The ending with Cindy was pretty funny (She kissed a girl Ted wanted to hit on) and we learn that Ted meets his future wife when he is best man at a wedding. Overall, I am pretty excited about this season, it looks promising.

Funniest Quote of the episode:

Marshall : Lily, we have been looking forward to this magical, special night for two weeks now ans, sweetie, during that time I have been, umm, how do I put this delicately...saving all my love for you.

Lily : I have read eleven books on conception, I have cut out alcohol, caffeine and sugar, I take my temperature every hour but, good for you for not playing with yourself ! :D

Midnight's Children Book Review

A friend of mine recommended it to me saying that it's a fantasy novel but I found it otherwise. Many incidents in the book are for real. I would like to call this one da de facto diary of a schizho. It is so twisted and smartly written you will just be lost in the story. A very powerful and politically inclined narrative, this could have easily been the heroes of the old times. Every page is a predictable gripper and you will want to read more as you find out that the author is letting you take a lead on the story. The beauty of it all lies in it being a story full of how such common occurences of your every day banalities of life blend under the cover of a dark and unspoken era of political turmoil and unspoken injustices on human freedom, exodus' and mass killings, the plot unfolds the sheer will of four hundred something child prodigies born at the hour on the midnight India attained its independence, with supernatural abilities conspiring to have under the powers of it's leader and the main character of the book Mr.Saleem successfully united after 31 years of awaiting, having unfolded many a unbelievable feats through it's telepathic midnight congressional communions and a skeptical stand point on the regress of a disillusion that subtly sinks into reality as Saleem, the vanguard of the army of midnight children, the unspoken covenant a victim of holocaust reveals to the comfort of a stabilizing 3 decade era from the night of independence the new generation of prodigals in his son and in successors of the missing age revolutionaries who fought and stuck to their ground and fought it out with governments ruled by royals with dark sides to their apt descriptions. The book is a lovely read through time as the reader will find himself geographically moving north and northerly around the subcontinent visiting the oldest cities crossing the largest rivers and the highest mountains and the meanest marshes with forests breathing their breath taking magic on a lost undercover troop, through beautiful ice clad valleys to intoxicatingly intense vast fields and beyond. A marvelous journey through spaces history unfolded itself and stands witness today. A snake charmer and his super prodigal son with ears used to uncommon sonic manifestations pristine. On his acquaintances with new found virtues Saleem himself with unusual nasal powers that sniff out emotions and color, the very human expression has to relieve his time finding humility in such a beautiful succession that has set the juggernaut rolling for a crave that will surely supersede any reader’s appetite for a complete entertainer. 

You will particularly enjoy sections of the book where the nasal revelations start to direct the story in a different dimension and the midnight confessions start coming in with such well thought of fluency that every time you will turn a page you will be taken by the events as if you picked the right time to read this book as these events start superseding you as if it were to be following a phase, unless you can relate well to a schizo the main character of the book, it’s a classic work of literature very few with such accurate exploitation of language almost as mystical to its content as to it’s implications through the narrative, only a very pensive and collective historian could have pieced together events of unspoken times and substantially created a fabulous art of fiction as a inspiration of sorts
Now this is what I call clever writing. It's not a page turner, it's a line tuner, if there exists something like that.

I mean this guy(Salman Rushdie) can leave his reader's anticipating for every single line.

If you are a regular reader, you will see through his narrative though. Midnight's children is about a guy who was born at the strike of the hour on the midnight of India's independence. Though I found a striking resemblance in his narrative style with that of Robert Ludlum( Author of the Bourne Triology), as he talks about a whole new legion of post-indipendent India's children just the way Ludlum has his 3rd reich in the Holcraft Covenant.

But Rushdie is predictably imaginative. There is extensive use of Hindi(My mother tongue) and this is not the kind of book you would like to stop looking for words, or you will loose the flow.

The subtle message lying underneath this compelling story telling style is to highlight the socio-political changes that were happening amongst the masses in India as she was basking in the glory of its independence.
The bottom line is probably that this is an excellent novel but one that I didn’t like it as much as I would have hoped to. Maybe this was due to the fact that it felt a little boring in the beginning. So, if you get through the first 80-90 pages, you will want to finish the book asap!

Gadgets and Gizmos

Nokia E7 SmartPhone with Video

What a Phone by Nokia! This Nokia MobilePhone comes up with 4-inch “Clear Black” display with the full QWERTY slider.

Here are the detailed description/features of this SmartPhone:

Dimensions:

• Size:123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6 mm
• Weight (with battery): 176 g
• Volume: 97.8 cc

Keys and input methods:

• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Home key, Power key, Lock key, Camera key, Volume key
• Finger touch support for text input and UI control
• On-screen alphanumeric keypad and full keyboard
• Possibility to use capacitive stylus
• Full screen handwriting recognition

Colours:

• Dark grey
• Silver white
• Blue

Display and user interface:

• Screen size: 4″
• Resolution: 16:9 nHD (640 x 360 pixels) AMOLED
• 16 million colours
• Capacitive touch screen
• Orientation sensor (Accelerometer)
• Compass (Magnetometer)
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light detector

For more details, visit Nokia’s page. See the below video of this “Ultimate Business Smartphone”:

Photoshopping is back!!

My 2nd post on photoshopping...

Remember what I told u in my 1st post??..about using your own photos and editing them...thtz wht I did here(used a photo of myself). I used many layers in photoshop CS4 here. 

     This is a line art illustration. The concept of line art uses different densities of crosshatching to simulate lighter and darker shades of grey. Now, I went through some steps to have the desired effect. These steps   can be altered if you have something else in mind. But, the following steps will atleast give you the transition my photo has undergone. 


The steps are:

1. Open the photo you want to work on

2. Download brush set from

     http://inobscuro.com/brushes/view/35/

and download a suitable texture that you want to use.

3. a) Duplicate the layer.

    
    b) Apply Smart Blur: Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. In the pop-up mode set to Edge Only. This will       produce an inverted line art effect. Invert: Image > Adjustments > Invert. Hide this layer, we will use it later. Create a white layer above the original background (face)

4.  Create 2 different patterns.

a)  Create a new document with a with background

b)  Draw a 45 line on a new layer

c)  Use: Alt-Shift-Command+the right cursor to create a copy of the line to 10 pixels to the right. Continue until you get a set of strips.

d)   Merge the layers

e)    Select a square area

f)     Create the pattern: Edit > Define Pattern

g)    Name the pattern stripes 1

Now create a second pattern

a)    Reflect the strips horizontally

b)  Repeat the process from letter e

c)  Name the pattern stripes 2

5. Create the first layer of shadows line art

a)    Duplicate another layer of the background

b)   Apply Threshold: Image > Adjustments > Threshold

c)    Move the threshold level so you get the layer areas of shadows

d)   Open the Layer Style and apply Pattern Overlay

e)    Select the first pattern you created

f)     In the blend mode of the dialog box select Lighten

g)    Scale the pattern till you like it.

h)   Convert this layer to a Smart Object: in the layers dialog box select Convert to smart Object

i)     Set the blending mode to multiply

Similarly create a second layer of shadows line art and set the blend mode to multiply.

5. Bring back the edges

a)    Move to the top of the layer stack the Edge layer created in step 3

b)   Set the blending mode to multiply

For darkest shadows:

a)    Create another copy of the original layer

b)   Apply threshold

c)    Set the level so you only get the darkest shadows

d)   Be sure that this layer is on top of the layer stack, set the blending mode to multiply

6. Background Paper

a)    Open the texture file

b)   Drag and drop it to the main file

c)    Place the layer above the white and below the shadows line art

d)   Select the eraser tool, select a small brush with a 30 % opacity

e)    Erase some areas inside the face like the cheeks, it doesn’t has to be perfect we are emulating ink coloring

f)     Now increase the opacity to 50% and erase the external part.

Your Line Art is ready!!

Tell me how whether you liked my 1st tutorial on photoshop or not.

Linkin Park-A Thousand Suns

Linkin Park - The band that inspired me to get into metal and rock music. The first metal song I really liked was (and is) Numb from the legendary album Meteora released in 2003 following Reanimation.


Three years after its last effort, the back-to-basics Minutes to Midnight, nu-metal band Linkin Park returns with the politically-driven A Thousand Suns, an album that is, in many ways, a step forward for the band, and in others, a step back.

Linkin Park's first two albums, Hybrid Theory and Meteora, are primarily well-produced ventures into the realm of teen angst. The band's third album, Minutes to Midnight, attempted to diversify the band's lyricism, with the political "Hands Held High." Such diversification has not gone unnoticed, and the new album is political at heart. The quality of the lyrics have tightened up. 

However, if there's one aspect of Linkin Park albums that have made the band stand above the other rap-rock albums, it's the production quality. Unfortunately, in Minutes to Midnight, the band ignored the fantastic production quality that Meteora had and attempted to go back to the basics. This may have been the band's single greatest mistake. Linkin Park is forgettable at best when attempting classic rock. Minutes to Midnight was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, who proved he makes mistakes.

Although he returns to produce A Thousand Suns, he's clearly recognized the error of his ways; the production on the new album shows a drastic change from the previous album, one that is more in line with the first two albums. Synthesizer dominates the soundscape and piano is used to a more brooding effect than in previous albums. This helps to create an album that is significantly moodier than LP's previous efforts, which were more about rage than melancholy.

The album is full of short vignettes(depictions) that help listeners move from one real track to the next. "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" is a minute and a half of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking as his voice gradually becomes distorted to the point of sounding like Megatron from Transformers. In fact, if you removed these tracks, you'd be down to a mere ten full-length songs.

There are several stand-out tracks on the album. "Wretches and Kings" is the album's most aggressive song, with a crunchy guitar, heavy hip-hop beat and bitcrushed chants of "Hey!" in the background as the band lays down some of the best verses on the album.

"The Catalyst" is the album's next-to-last track and serves as a fantastic synthesis of everything the listener has heard thus far. The song begins with ominous synths and gradually becomes more and more intense, adding on layers of stuttered beats, guitars and harmonization between members Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington.

There are other notable moments on the album. "When They Come for Me" has a tribal beat and Shinoda asserting, "I am not a criminal, not a role model, not a born leader; I'm a tough act to follow." "Waiting for the End" has a beat that sounds uncannily similar to Jay-Z's "99 Problems" (also produced by Rubin).

A Thousand Suns is unlike any album Linkin Park has released, due to the nature of its lyrics, structure of the album and its fresh production from Rick Rubin. It's a pleasure to see Linkin Park pushing the envelope sonically again, rather than regressing as it did in its last album.