Weblog | ManjitBedi.com | Manjit Bedi

chilling out, thoughts on code and food

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:44:35 -0700

Been taking it easy for the most part today. The jet lag is definitely having an affect on me.

I did not touch any code so far today. I did update a task list, answered a few emails and made guacamole.

I am going to a Japanese Izakaya with some friends tonight. I was taking about food with Konstantinos last night and he knows Japanese food quite well. He was asking me if izakayas are popular in London; my reply was not really. London does have them but I think most Londoners are not familiar with the concept. There is a lot more Japanese food in London due to restaurants like Wagamama, Wasabi, and the Japanese canteen. To be honest, a lot of these place in London are hit and miss. I must ask some Japanese friends in London their honest opinion of these places. Izakaya's are one my most favourite things on the planet Earth. The concept is like tapas with Japanese food - it's a winner!

http://hapaizakaya.com/

And last night, I had a really good burger thanks to Konstantino & Eri. A good burger that you could actually hold in one hand; we went to Romer's burgers on Fourth. We had the hockey game special which was a burger, half order of fries and a beer. And actually a half order of fries was plenty. When we left the restauarant, I actually felt quite good; it was from eating good quality food and not over doing it.

making a music app

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:26:56 -0700

I am currently making an iOS app. for my friend Kavita. I have the basic app. working.

It is the interesting & challenging part of the project now to make it more interesting visually. I have some design sense and I can give art direction but I have no designer. It is up to me to realize the concepts.

Taking what is in my mind's eye and transferring that into code and bitmaps and colours to appear in the app.

One particular feature of the app that I have been pondering is the photo gallery. At the moment, I am using some rather good open source code called FGallery.

Here are some screen grabs of work in progress.

in Canada

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:18:02 -0700

Well, here I am in Vancouver for a few weeks. A short little post to begin with.

I have some downtime between work. I worked quite hard getting an fairly big iPad app made for a creative agency in London. And then I spent about a month working for a code shop on an iOS project.

Now is the time to resume some work on various project. One of them is a music themed app for a friend. I have implemetned a simple photo gallery using some open source code from git hub. But and I mean but, I want to do something more visually elaborate.

And when I am not coding well, I have been loafing and not really trying to adjust to the time difference… meaning sleep when I am tired.

But I will be going out soon to sample some of the finer Japanese food in Vancouver. I am looking forward to going here in a few days.

http://hapaizakaya.com/

Work, my oh my

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:10:35 -0800

Well, I have been quite busy the last few months. Changes are afoot. Suffice to say there is a tricky road to work between following one's professional position against getting a job done in a less than practical way.

If you have an opinion, do send me an email. I am very curious to know if anyone is actually out there. :-)

More mobile apps

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:12:35 -0800

I am busy which is good. I am wasting a bit of time which is bad. Been getting distracted by unnecessary things.

Some of the new projects I am working on are going to be pushing what I have done on the iOS (iPhone & iPad) more then in the past this is a good thing.

I am 80% sure that I am doing some app work for a festival in the U.K. There are details to work out; it is an excellent chance to do some really good work.

And there has been a steady flow of freelance work. I am glad that I have been working with some good people and good companies of late.

Getting a bit technical. I am looking to do some work using animation and the AV foundation framework in the iOS. I have read the documentation and studied up on it. Now, I need to crack some code. Must focus, must focus.

Manjit

Drinking Tea - re-edit

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:57:59 -0800

Here is another version of the short film that I worked on some time ago. I adjusted a few parts and now put it up in Vimeo (GULP).

I would very much to do more work on it.

http://www.vimeo.com/19360277

What do you think? Send me an email; I would like to know. Manjit _at_ manjitbedi co uk.

Thinking about music

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:21:33 -0800

I have been listening to music the last few days. But I should add, I am actually just listening to music not listening to music while on the bus or doing work. Just listening. When was the last time, you just sat on the sofa and listened?

I have mainly been listening to the Beatles and this was before the announcement of the the Beatles music finally being available on iTunes. I have many of the Beatles albums already on CD. I did go and buy the digital download of the "Magical Mystery Tour" Album from iTunes.

The music fills my head with all the neat flourishes from the production of it all.

I don't think of the Beatles as a sixties band as much as they are a band from the sixties.

My mother used to play the Beatles records when my brother and I were growing up. I knew many of their hits as a result. As an adult with some decades on the planet, the lyrics have become more meaningful. There are emotions being expressed and not always just love and happiness; there is unhappy side of life in there as well.

Motion

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:14:32 -0700

I think I have done enough thinking about code for the last few days. Time to do some animation and video editing.

A friend is doing a DJ night in London in early December and I am going to help him put together some visuals. It is a Japanese music night called "Gogo Mini Mini Yeye".

I am doing some experimenting with motion graphics using Quartz Composer.

Some thoughts about movies and stuff

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:01:01 -0700

I am taking some time out at the moment. 2010 is almost over and looking back, I have been incredibly busy at times. I am doing some reading and coding at a leisurely pace. Just recently, I took a transatlantic flight a few days ago and I watched a few movies.

It was quite interesting to me to see how some plot elements were common to the 3 films I saw. I watched "The A-Team", "Robin Hood" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

The first two films followed very similar plots - there is the introduction of the heroes. The heroes are outside the "law" and are in a few predicaments and ultimately they save the day to clear their names, and achieve a positive outcome so to speak but are betrayed by the "powers". The films are the origin stories leading to adventures that follow.

With "Robin Hood" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo". The lead male characters have flashbacks to childhood memories. As the memories are explained, they are significant as plot devices leading into what follows; interesting coincidence.

Some thoughts about iPhone projects

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:22:40 -0700

Making an iPhone app. can be quite a challenge. Initially learning the iOS SDK will take time; it can be quite mysterious at first. It does get quicker and quicker as time goes on. I have used many parts of the SDK now and there are few areas that I have I not worked with.

What I have experienced with many recent projects is that technical details are implied by the design. A client does not necessarily perceive what is difficult. It is important to be realistic about how long certain features will take to implement. As well, there are things to consider like memory use and the way content feeds are handled. On a very recent project, there was an XML feed and also images in the data. A simple caching system was implemented to handle the image downloads. More time should have been available to tune this feature. The visual design which the client signs off on does not account for such "under the hood" activities. And these are very difficult item for a client to acknowledge. They cannot see the code. One needs to communicate the essence of the task. There is the potential blinding of the client with science. I personally try to avoid that. I have seen many developers go into technical detail at a meeting and no one really knew what the developer was saying aside from other developers.

Where has the time gone?

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:51:19 -0700

Where has the time gone?

Well, the year started out fairly busy. I have been working non-stop since January until about July. I went to Argentina for 10 days in around the end of February and into March (I was still doing bits of work while there which was fine). I was just chilling out in the heat in Buenos Aires. It was so good to catch with up with old friends and make new ones.

I was really busting a gut on some iPhone projects; doing a bit of volunteering at the Shunt lounge at London Bridge which has now since closed and move to a new location.

I sprained an old injury which really slowed me down and limited what I could do for a while. The injury is such that I need rehabilitation done on my leg. And I will probably be getting an MRI scan done of injured area around my knee.

There are no comments at the moment, the system I was using is no longer available.

Tell me should I use WordPress? I would be be blogging more if I did (I promise).

"Chord" by Conrad Shawcross and the Kingsway Tram Tunnel

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:36:43 -0700

I got to do something unique a recently on Friday October 23rd; I went to see an exhibition of modern at by Conrad Shawcross in an unused tram tunnel in central London; I went with a friend Emily who is an artist and quite familiar with the of works Conrad Shawcross. The tram tunnel was part of London's only tram line that was in use from 1906 to 1952. I have walked past this tunnel entrance in the past and was kind of curious what it was - now I know.

Kingsway Tramway London

This tunnel has been used for movie sets. In some of the photos, you can see the London underground symbol that would have been put up there for a movie shoot.

We were told not to touch the walls of the tunnel as there was a good fifties years of grime on them. Otherwise, the tunnels were remarkably tidy. The location has been used for storage.

Measure web-site

The art piece we saw is called "Chord"; it was is marvellous contraption that is making rope. We were not permitted to take photos of it but you can see a photo of the rope making machine here:

Tumblr web-site with a photo of Chord

We were only allowed half an hour in the space as people were only let in groups of 20 at a time and the tickets are booked over the internet (it was free to get tickets). It would have been good to be able to spend an hour or two down there with some tea in thermos and just contemplate Chord as it went about making rope. It was an excellent installation to see; it touched on many things: the underground part of a city one normally does not get to see; the manufacture and creation of fantastic machines; a history lesson; observing an action with a temporal quality and art.

Time to think

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:21:25 -0700

After a really busy and productive summer, my working life is slowing done for the moment. I have time to think and pick up the pieces on various things.

I have been thinking about Japan for many reasons recently. I have on and off been working on a writing project with my friend in Osaka Shu Nakajima. I need to bring some of the material up to date and publish it. I may post the first piece here in this blog. Here is a photo to tease you with what we have been talking about.

http://www.shunakajima.com/

Continuing with the subject of Japan, one of my favourite web-site sites from Uniqlo (a Japanese clothing company).

I am also doing some more editing on the short film I made back in May (has it been that long already?). I need to shoot a few new scenes. One scene in particular is not working the way I would like; it is unintentionally funny. I also have been in my mind's eye thinking about animating tea cups. Hmm, I do like it. I need to find images of tea cups and tea leaves. Hmm. there may be some 3D modelling involved as well.

I have am also slowly updating my portfolio. My resume as a text based document does not truly realise what I have been doing all these years. The portfolio has images which are important considering how much of my work is visual.

It has been a long summer

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:08:22 -0700

It has been a long summer. I have been working almost non-stop; seven days a week at times. Finally, a result - an iPhone project that I worked on has gone live.

Drinking Tea - short film

Thu, 21 May 2009 02:30:29 -0700

I have done it; I have made a short film; it is the first one in a concept that I plan to develop. My friend Marco is graciously hosting the download. The file is 50 megabytes in size.

"Drinking Tea - film short"

I would really like to know people think. Send me an email.

Manjit

April 2009

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:43:43 -0700

So much for a re-design to the web-site. I have been busy (he says).

I have making iPhone software and working on various things.

It was a rather sunny day yesterday and I went for a good long walk around the canal network in Limehouse with some friends. The walk was organised by Gordon Joly.

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2142520/

Amongst other things, my short film project hit a few breaks in the road and got stalled. It is back on course now. I have revised the idea for the shoot and I will be doing a treatment and making some new storyboards.

Ok, more to post soon.

Manjit

Hmm

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:34:23 -0800

Hmm, I have not been working on the web-site like I intended of late. I do have a bad cold which has really come at an inconvenient time (when is being ill ever convenient).

I have been keeping moderately busy with learning to how make iPhone software. All going well, some applications could be on the iPhone app store in the New Year.I am working freelance again and rather busy getting some projects happening. I have been discussing various projects by phone, email and in person. I hope to get some definite idea sooner than later which projects are actually going to be "real".

I have also been working on a short film idea. It is going to be quite a low budget/ no budget short to begin with. Ideally, some acquaintances will do the acting. It is quite enjoyable to apply myself to this and has been a long time coming. But I need to have the money side of things bringing money in first.

It is a balancing act making a living and pursuing creative goals.

Culture

Last week on Dec. 15th, I went to see a demonstration of Japanese Wood block printing at the British Museum.

Web-site changes are a coming

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:06:32 -0800

I am going to be re-designing my web-site over the next few weeks.

It has been ages since I have done any posting and I still have some writing to do.

Also, if you are using RSS to get to the blog - this location may be moved so come back sometime in December.

Meanwhile, I was recently in Barcelona to see a friend. It was a short trip but a good one.

Having some cocktails in the Gimlet bar in the Born district in Barcelona.

Tapas

Recently in London

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:38:36 -0700

I am really quite tired at the moment. Work has been good but relentless of late; I was up against a crunch period to get some demo-ware done for a trade show. I did my best. The last night and working weekends really takes it out of you. I have not felt so exhausted in a long time.

Now, I am taking some time off to relax but I am not being idle. I have some visuals to put together for the guys at Urban Visuals. And I have just started doing some volunteering at Shunt. What is Shunt you may be asking? Shunt it a theatre troupe that operates a lounge/performance space under London Bridge Train station. It is simply an awesome place; I had sort of a role in a performance piece called "The Peoples Republic of Shunt"; it was inspired by the film "The Lives of Others". People who come on these nights may get detained interrogated and invited to do secret agent training. My role is a tank mechanic but last night, I was more doing recruitment for secret service. I also got to spend time in the VIP Red Room with Commandant Eleanor. She did say I have to toughen up on letting people have access to the Red Room it is very exclusive.

Looking back - trip to Mendoza in November 2007

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:01:27 -0800

Back in late November 2007, I went to Mendoza with Gina. Gina is fellow traveller that I met while in Argentina.

I have been wanting for some time to go to Mendoza to see the bodegas (vin-yards) and also get closer to the Andes. This was going to be a bit of a special trip to go around and spend a few days with the main intention eating good food and especially drinking wine. Some years ago, I went to the Torres Bodega just outside Barcelona. It was a very enjoyable and memorable day trip and going to Mendoza was a chance to do the same thing but on a bigger scale.

The city of Mendoza is about 1000 kilometres from Buenos Aires; it is located in the province of the same name. You could either fly or take the bus. It is quite a long bus journey about 14 some hours. That is an awfully long time to be sitting on a bus. But in Argentina, you can take buses overnight which have special seats that flatten out like beds; they are called "camas" in Spanish. It is the same idea of flying first class but much cheaper. There is an attendant on the bus who serves food and drink to the passengers just like on airplane. The journey from Buenos Aires to Mendoza was Ok; in fact we did not book the correct seats and got what was a semi-cama; seats that partially recline; we did ask the agent at the booking counter that it was full cama; strike that one up to limited Spanish.