Tinker Tailor

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy turned out to be a riveting watch. The performances, the cinematography and the editing are top notch. The movie doesn't spoon feed you and is a slow burn but man it's nice working things through. Gary Oldman is a legend - I seriously hope he gets an oscar for this role.

We finally won our first soccer match in social soccer. It is such a brilliant feeling. We came so agonizingly close so many times over this season and it was nice finally getting past the finish line as the winners.

I've ordered a pair of Vibram Fivefinger Komodo Sport and looking forward to receiving them soon. My current set of sports shoes have lasted me 3 years and are just starting to show the wear and tear, so it's time to try something new and try out barefoot technology.

That's me for now.
Amit

Live

The main page has been redesigned and is now live. What I like about it is that it is simple, elegant and visual compared to the cluttered interface of the previous version.

I am close to finishing off my subsite and it should now be done within a couple of days.

Check out the main page at UNKREATIVE ARTISTS.

Amit

Diving from the skies

Saturday was stunning and with the weather forecast looking good, I drove up to Kerikeri on Saturday for the skydive booking for Sunday morning.  It turned out to be an awesome trip about great conversations, fantastic food and ofcourse the 16,000 ft skydive.

 

Kerikeri Farm Hostel is an awesome place to stay and I love it because it is so nice and you are always sure to have good conversations with fellow travellers. To top it off it is quiet and also super tidy with lots of character.

 

Sunday morning had an omnious start with overcast skies for miles and miles on end. I didn't have any breakfast incase it all came up when jumping down.I got to the skydive zone bright and early but the weather forecast wasn't looking too flash since I was in the first batch that was supposed to go up at 9, they asked 5 of us to stay there incase the skies cleared up while all the others booked in for jumps afterwards were told to chill out in town and come back later.  It wasn't until about 1.00 in the afternoon that the pilots and the tandem masters all agreed that it was good for a jump.

I'm not really feeling that confident but Brent does

Flying in a small plane is definitely out of my comfort zone and jumping out of it even further still. I was nervous to say the least but Brent, the tandem master who I was going to be clipped to, assured me that it'd be an awesome experience if I relaxed and also didn't waste unnecessary energy and breath by screaming my lungs out. And I took that advise to heart, even though I got more and more nervous as we climbed up past the clouds.

The plane climbing altitude

It's kinda scary the plane going up at that angle

Is it time to jump yet?

What? We are only at 12,000 ft. OK then - will just have to wait then!!

Nothing like some deep breaths to ease off the fear

When the other 2 people jumped before me, I was really tense seeing them disappear in front of my eyes but once Brent pushed us to the edge of the plane, my brain kicked into gear trying to remember what I was supposed to do with my body position and all. Once out of the plane it was sheer joy - I loved every moment off it and it was hard wiping the grin off my face. 

Off the plane

Can't wipe that smile off my face

1 minute freefall is a long time

Loving it!!

Brent does his 360 degree spins and it is trippy 

We are so close to the clouds

That was until Brent pulled the parachute open and then handed the reins to me to navigate a bit. I was nervous about that because I didn't want to be responsible for navigating - especially since I didn't know what to do. But Brent kept giving instructions and I soon got a feel for it before Brent took the reins back and got us back to terra firma. 

Chute is opened

After a few 360 spins with the parachute open

Oh Shit!!! I'm controlling this thing, really?

I get it now

Enjoying the parachute navigation

Ah we are close to landing

Happy to be alive

It took longer to climb up towards 16,000ft than coming down - atleast that's what it felt like and it is so beautiful looking at things from above. I think I'm definitely keen for more jumps in the future. The experience itself was fantastic with Claire being an awesome manager/front desk person with the whole team being so professional and chilled out.

 

I tried 2 new eating joints while I was there - one for dinner on saturday night and the other for lunch on sunday afternoon and both of them turned out to be absolutely amazing. Cafe Jerusalem is israeli/middle-eastern food and I had a metuvlun in pita bread it was just amazing. The atmosphere is vibrant and the service is fantastic and the food is well-priced, so definitely check it out if you are that way. Food at Wharepuke turned out to be a stunner of a restaurant - set admist a serene garden and surroundings, the staff were super friendly and attentive plus the food was just divine. It's the best steak that I've had ever and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. If you only had a chance to eat at just one place in Kerikeri- this would be it.

 

A little more exploration around Kerikeri and then it was back to Auckland. I'm still buzzing from the jump and I figured out a few more things about myself, so all in all a very successful trip out of Auckland.

Amit

Hectic Times = Fun Time

WOW - Jan has really sped away but it's been a productive month so far.

As part of the new changes at Unkreative, I decided that the main page needed a re-design and instead of doing a hodge podge job myself, I asked Ellen  - a good friend of mine, for some design ideas and she did an amazing job. The design is done and now just waiting on the last bit of coding refinement from xhtmljunction.com and it should be done soon. As part of the whole gig, Ellen also created new business cards for me and I had them printed from Moo.com. In the meantime I bought Freeway Express and started re-designing my personal website and it was a steep learning curve, so the implementation on that is slightly slower and that should be ready in a week or so.

After a lot of consideration and useful advise from Dr. Shuchi Kothari, I finally applied for M.A in Screen Production with specialization in Screenwriting at University of Auckland. Screenwriting is one area that I need to improve myself so I can tell more streamlined and powerful stories and it seemed like a logical step in my development as a film maker. The challenge was that I didn't have a B.A in a similar field and it was always going to be touch and go whether a place was actually offered to me. Thankfully they took into consideration my strong resume and offered me a place on the course and I've accepted the place, so it should be a great year for immersive story writing and learning.

One of the business ideas I have is to conduct film-making/drama directing workshops in India. They'll be  2-day intensive weekend workshops and the plan is to conduct one each in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. David Samuel, has come on board as well to teach a few modules that are related to film, business and human relationships and I think it'll be a huge benefit for anyone attending those workshops as he is an amazing person and an even amazing teacher. So a good chunk of time also went into developing the outline of the workshop and just waiting on feedback from one of my close friends in India, to see how we can make this a reality.

Fitness took a back seat this month but I'm back to it with a vengeance from Feb. I've got a few personal training sessions lined up to align myself back again and work towards my goal for the year.

I managed to watch Alien, Aliens, Hugo & the second series of Sherlock. Alien was a great horror movie, even though it had some flaws, Aliens was a balls to the wall action flick and the two movies couldn't be much more different. Hugo was an amazing movie and it has to be seen in 3-D- the film is visual poetry. The second series of Sherlock was an amazing watch and I guess will have to wait for an year and half or two before they make the third series - which I hope will be the last one. They've created something special with these 2 seasons and hope they don't dilute that something special with a weak 3rd season.

More to come later.
Amit

Summer

Summer is finally here - 2 days of sunshine and it feels great.

Amit

Dragon Year

It's year of the dragon and that alone tells me that it's gonna kick all kinds of holy arse, after all  dragons are cool, majestic and amazing (not that i know one personally).

I started the new year by screaming through 100 odd pages of 'Story' by Robert McKee and it is mind blowingly good. Do you find that sometimes you buy books and never get around to reading them? This was one of those books for me. It only took 3 years to get to it but I am glad that I picked it up, especially now. Highly recommended reading for screenwriters as well as directors.

I'm really looking forward to this year with all the exciting changes on the horizon. This year onwards it is about creating value for others and finding ways to help people achieve their goals. It is also about focussing on telling stories as that's what we humans do to give meaning to life.

Here is to prosperity and strength for everyone in this coming year.
Amit

New Beginnings

So I've put in my resignation from my current position at TVNZ today. It is sad because I love the company and the people but unfortunately some of the new shift patterns don't quite agree with me or my body, so decided to take the leap into the unknown.

TVNZ has been very supportive and have offered me freelance work - which is fantastic as it gives me the initial stability and also will stabilize my work hours a bit. This is great as it gives me time to pursue various business interests and opportunities that I wanna explore in this coming year.

Freelance work starts mid-Jan, so if there is anyway I can help anyone with their business, let me know. Here is to the universe - for taking care of me.

Amit

Tongariro Crossing

What a weekend!!! The weather over the past week and half over New Zealand has been crap but since we'd booked the trip a couple of weeks back there was no backing out, especially since this was my 4 day weekend stretch.

Zoe, Katie and me got down to Tongariro National Park in Zoe's car while Simon drove Glen and Una. It was a slow journey down as the rain was pretty bad. We stopped at Tamaranui for some fish and chips and had them while looking at a billboard of Tongariro National Park.

Brief respite from rain

Zoe driving pretty seriously

Katie enjoying the back seat

The weather forecast for Saturday wasn't looking great but it did say that the weather would clear up over the afternoon, so I was pretty hopeful that the weather Gods would help us out with the trek.

There is a storm coming

As we drove into the lodge we booked ourselves at I realized that I'd been there before in August 2005 with Lance and Anabel and Tarikh. The Lodge itself looked the same but there were huge improvements on the inside and it was definitely an awesome stay. Once Simon and Glen and Una joined us we called it a night around 10PM hoping that the weather would clear up for Saturday. The good thing was that our shuttle wasn't coming through until 7.45AM {they cancelled the 6.45AM shuttle because of the weather} with the decision whether the trek was gonna go ahead or not reserved till 7.30AM. It meant an extra hours sleep in - which was fantastic considering my sleep depravation situation because of overnight shifts the week prior.

Unpacking (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Saturday morning wasn't looking too bad with overcast skies but as soon as we got to the start of the trek it started raining, so everyone put on their wet weather gear. There were a couple of other girls travelling in the same shuttle as us and it was funny seeing them start of the trek with a super-sized can of 'Red Bull' and a cigarette.

Overcast Skies

I'm ready for the trek (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Una, Glen, Katie and me

Tongariro crossing is one of the best one day hikes in New Zealand and I had no idea what to expect from the hike. The start of the trek wasn't bad- we saw a little bit of blue skies and were really hoping that the clouds would clear up.

Start of the trek

Only bit of blue sky we saw the entire trek

Onwards and upwards

Me - right behind are Lorianne and Caroline - the red bull girls (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

After this stage it was all downhill, so to speak. The rain started and it became colder and the wind picked up and combined with the uphill climb it was a hard walk. The worst thing was that taking photos became virtually impossible and a huge task. On top of that I managed to loose my rain hat somehow.

Mt. Ruapehu in the distance covered by clouds

Into the clouds 

Una waiting for me to catch up

First break near Soda Springs

Zoe helping Katie while Una and me catchup with the gang (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Glen trucking along even though his hands were starting to freeze up

The walk wasn't hard in itself but the wind made it hard. The visibility was poor and there were no real views to be had, so we just put our heads down and kept walking. Simon, Zoe and Katie had screamed ahead, while I started doing good pace once I stopped taking photos and left Glen and Una behind.

Walking in South Crater

Climbing towards the red crater

A french couple walking through the red crater

I guess one of the good things about doing the trek in such conditions is that you have photos that no one else has and you also don't meet many people on the trek. On a good summer day the number of people who do the crossing on any given day is about 900-1000, but on a day like this it was just the french couple and the red bull girls who were doing it in the same direction as us and we crossed paths with maybe 12 other people doing the trek from the opposite side. I caught up with Simon, Zoe and Katie near Emerald lakes as going downhill was easy because of the walking stick.

Simon, Zoe and Katie at Emerald lakes

Unreal landscapes and smell of sulphur

Passing the emerald lakes

After passing the emerald lakes the rain just got worse and everything was soaked - even though things were water-proof. I wonder how the rain got through the water proof stuff.  Anyway the stop at Ketetahi Hut was great. We met a whole heap of people there - including a bunch of american kids doing a photography course, who had started the journey from the other side but decided to flag rest of the walk as it was just terrible weather.

Steam rising from Ketetahi Hot Springs 

All of us took an hours lunch break and warmed ourselves up and dried out our essential gear like beanies, socks, gloves as much as we could. It was a temporary relief as it all got soaked again as soon as we headed down. I was one of the last ones of our group to leave but soon found a good pace and the 1 hour solitude in the rain did me good as I was able to think some things through.

Waiting for the shuttle (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Glen and Una make it down as well (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

The whole group finished the walk in 7 hours including the 1 hour lunch break but had to wait another 30 minutes before the shuttle came and picked us up. A hot shower and a meal later, we all dug into the secret theatre at the lodge and watched 'The Dark Knight' before calling it a night.

Sunday was a stunning day but the number of people doing the trek on Sunday had increased manifold as well. We took a stop-start drive to Tokaanu to enjoy the thermal pools. The stop-start was because I kept wanting to take some photos on such a nice day.

Mt Ngauruhoe

Mt Ruapehu covered in cloud

A Hut

Tongariro crossing in the distance

A marae in beautiful settings

Zoe, Katie and Simon enjoying a laugh

Natural Thermal Springs at Tokaanu

Magical Landscapes 

Glen, Una and me in the hot pools (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

The hot pools were nice and were a soothing balm to all those tired muscles. After a brief lunch stop in Taupo and a coffee stop in Cambridge - we were back in Auckland.  I loved the walk and compared to climbing Mt. Ruapehu or Mt. Kota Kinabalu - this was nothing but I'd like to do it again on a nice sunny day, so I can take some nice pics and take in some of the stunning scenery.

If you are thinking of doing the trek and not sure - don't think about it - do it!!!

Later,
Amit