7:58 PM, Bangalore

Last week was wonderful. I finally worked up the courage to cook chicken at home and decided to try my hand at some chicken curry. There's this lady called Meenakshi over at HookedOnHeat and she has some of the best Indian recipes around. Really simple and delicious!

Things started out in a fun way as I left the chicken out on the counter to thaw only to read online after a while that its the worst possible thing I could have done short of murder. Apparently I had provided bacteria a fertile breeding ground by leaving the chicken out and would probably repent for this sin. I rushed about to rescue the situation - by thawing the chicken in cold water. Now that things were back to normal I went ahead and created my masterpiece. Have to admit it tasted lovely once it was done! Don't really know if it was my ego or my taste buds. :)

Also, managed to lay my hands on the Die Hard quadrilogy! It was awesome fun reliving the maverick moments of John McClane as he single-handedly hands out large portions of whoop-ass to the baddies! Yippie Kay Yay Motherfucker! I really think Die Hard 2 has one of the best climax sequences of all action flicks!

Theo, a friend and fellow animator over at DreamWorks has promised to get me GTA4 for my PS3 tomorrow! I've been dying to play it!

The only downer this week was that we lost to Liverpool. Of all godforsaken teams to lose to. With an own goal to boot! We played awful football. That's all I have to say about that. Dismayed as I am, I feel Villareal had better watch out.

Also, there are a lot of things in life that I want to buy so if anyone has a million odd dollars lying about that they're looking to get off their hands, no questions asked - I'm your man.

Recommended Listenting - Be Somebody - 3 Doors Down

7:36PM, Bangalore

The past couple of weeks have been quite eventful - we returned from a fun vacation in Thailand, had a minor flooding incident at home, got a new PS3 from my wife, got her a new scooter, broke a toe-nail and worked on my first DW project!

Pattaya's Walker's Street is a must-visit destination for all sorts of tourists, more so for young men wanting to get laid (for a price of course!) with its myriad collection of a go-go clubs, strip bars, roadside cafes, street performers and a genial holiday mood prevalent throughout.

I loved the signs on hotels proclaiming rooms were available for "short-stay (2 hours)"!
I loved the big bikes available for rent!
I loved the cute Thai girls!
I loved the prices of clothes and shoes!
I loved seeing a Lamborghini parked next to a McLaren SLR in a dingy garage on a lowly side-street!
I loved the Italian food (yes, you read that right)!
I loved the way Thai people call 15 "one-tee-five"!
I loved the way a calculator was used as a bargaining communication tool!

I hated the hot and humid weather.
I hated the grasshoppers, bugs, slimy worms and other equally gross stuff available as fried snacks. Yech!

Bangkok was primarily our destination for shopping. We just roamed around aimlessly; never realised it could be so much fun! Experienced shopping from both ends of the "hipness" spectrum - visited massive malls adorned with Prada, Giordano, Versace and the like and also shopped along the street markets which were reminiscent of home.

Couple of days after returning home, we had a burst pipe in our home, leaving Uma and me in ankle-deep water. Fortunately, nothing major was damaged. Except a carpet. And a mattress. The house did end up getting spring-cleaned in the aftermath!

On our first anniversary, she got me a PS3 while I got her a scooter (disc brake and all!). Now I dont have to drop her off on saturdays anymore - instead I can play video games!
While unpacking the damn thing I managed to stub my toe against some furniture and ripped a toe-nail half off! Highly unpleasant experience - I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
I will recommend buying a full HD LCD TV and watching Blu-ray movies on it through a PS3. Very pleasant indeed!

Finally, got to work on some stuff at work that'll actually be used. Can't really disclose details but it was really satisfying to stop practising and actually start working! Hope to see it in India to earn boasting rights!

10:34AM. Bangalore

I've updated the site to have a wider view and better color harmony. Big thanks to Derek Anderson for his help!

If anyone has any inputs about this please let me know and I'll see if I can change things.

9:48AM. Bangalore

Last night United took on Portsmouth in the most uninteresting match on the English football calendar: the FA Community Shield at Wembley.

Nonetheless, the chance to watch United in action again after a long layoff since the end of last season was a welcome change!

United won the match 3-1 on penalties after creating a slew chances. No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson is looking out for a striker. With all due respect to other Portsmouth players, it has to be said that the match was more like David James v United! The man was inspirational and single-handedly kept Pompey in the hunt for well over 90 mins.

Portsmouth seemed to have understood what it takes to keep United at bay. This match was reminiscent of the FA Cup match last season at Old Trafford where United must have created at least 20 chances and still managed to lose.

Fletcher and Nani were brilliant in mid-field along with Tevez delivering another monster performance. The defence was hardly troubled and it was good to see Gary Neville back after forever. Nani's play reminded me of Ronaldo's game 4-5 years ago when he had joined United and I'm relishing the prospect of Nani blossoming into a more mature and controlled player in the weeks to come.

Frasier Campbell got a run-out and looked promising as well. Hopefully youngsters will find a way into United's first team starting lineup for a few games this season to showcase their talent.

The match was by no means United's best performance but a win and an unbeaten pre-season will help the team's confidence with 5 days to go to for the Premier League start. United take on Newcastle on 17th Aug. If last year was anything to go by, expect a flood of goals from Man Utd!

5:48PM. Bangalore

Cristiano Ronaldo is staying at United. I am glad that saga is over. A visit to the dentist is less painful than watching players and clubs hold each other hostage. Still, I feel Ronaldo will not be the same player he was the past two seasons. Hope United bring in Benzema or Berbatov at the least to bolster the weak strike-force.

I'm waiting for Diwali to buy a new motorcycle. I've always loved bikes and cannot wait to get my hands on a new one! Wife wants a scooterette but that has never stopped me before. Probably cause I never had a wife before. No, honest. Had almost decided on the new Apache RTR FI but then heard that TVS is bringing out a new bike this Diwali called the Menace! If the new Apache is anything to go by, the Menace will be a beast and a looker!

Vacation time! The wife and I will be off to Thailand for a vacation next week! She needs it more than I do, seeing how my life has been a vacation since the end of May when I joined DreamWorks. However, things are looking brilliant on the job-end, what with new CP work headed our way. I've been out of production too long and am looking forward to the new challenges.

More after the break.
Recommended Listening : All Fall Down - One Republic

5:14PM, Bangalore

The offices of DreamWorks Animation India were officially opened today! The entire team of the Indian, French and American artists and managers were present. There was a sumptuous breakfast followed by speeches by Joe Aguilar and Erik Vignau. The day was ended with a traditional ceremony to bless the facility and bring us good luck for the future.

We have some outbound training and orientation programs planned for the rest of week and should start on some production by the beginning of next week.