AD MAN

Officially an Ad man. Full-time copywriter with DDB for around five months now. I won’t be updating this blog as often. Please join me on Tumblr.

i am now working.

I’m now a freelance ad man at DDB . Been 3 weeks. Hectic, but really fun! I am loving it. Well, i WAS prepared for this lifestyle anyways. Great people all around. Contrary to what I was told, the suits are awesome to work with. Maybe it’s just here. I won’t be blogging as much. Not that I was a heavy blogger to begin with. You can still catch up on my life ( really?) via twitter.

I have also started Tumblr-ing. Why another blog? Simple. This blog is for my thoughts and shit. I don’t clutter it with images and link I come across on the web. And that is Tumblr’s job. I will post all my worthy web finds there. Links, videos, stupid images, useful sites and such. It’s not my blog, but rather a repository of “inspirational” stuff.

ADIEU!

i cook.

Baked Chicken Breast Stuffed with Spinach and Cottage cheese. I made this over the weekend. Tastes Awesome Recipe here

Will Tweet for Ticket.

Click to enlarge

Join the Facebook group

The Storyteller.

Yasmin Ahmad a.k.a The Storyteller // July 1, 1958 – July 25, 2009

I remember long back, before entering the AD world and when my ambition was to be an astronomer , watching these commercials that aired during Diwali for Petronas on TV2 ( Malaysian channel). My family would be in that Diwali mood making murrukku and me watching the marathon of Tamil movies and these ads will air. They were very different from the ones I was used to seeing on Singapore’s TV. The colors, the mood, the people and the storytelling. Theses ads pulled hearts and tears like no other. Racial harmony, unity and family values were portrayed like no Asian TVC had. Watching the ads made me appreciate what I had.

Fast forward 15 years and as an aspiring AD Man, I discovered the genius behind these ads. Yasmin Ahmad. Watching her ads, dissecting them and wondering  how she made the Ads was welcomed stress. In the second year of college we had to conceptualise a TVC for a local product. Yasmin’s style was the way to go. Or so I thought. I did a good job classmates say. But it was clearly a Yasmin copy.

Her story telling capabilities were unbelievable. I am not an emotional person and rarely shed a tear for on screen drama. But Yasmin manages to make me feel and swell up with some of her ads. The art direction and choice of music made everything so flawless. And her recent AD ” Tan Hong Ming in Love” was one of her best. This piece shows her prowess as a storyteller. No fancy setting nor music. Just the Ideas. The Big Idea. It won her a Cannes.

Discovering that she was hospitalized and was in ICU for heart and brain surgery was a really emotional moment for a lot of people. Her Facebook page was filled with well wishes and prayers. And then news of her passing made its way around Facebook and Twitter. Her page now was flooded with condolence messages. Some said prayers. Some talked about her impact on them. I posted my attempt at copying her style for my TVC . But no matter what was posted, she was loved and respected as a director and a human being who attempted to unite people. With her passing, the world has lost a General in the army against racism. Rest in Peace.

Gone too soon…

This post is my humble tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I’m a day late with this coz I was in shock and disbelief the whole of yesterday. I woke up and was sprawling on my bed checking twitter updates on my phone when I saw tweets saying MJ died. That has to be the worst alarm ever. Confirmations were everywhere, from the net to the tube. Michael Jackson died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 50. It was yesterday that I understood what fans of greats like, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and more must have felt at their sudden departure.

For someone who grew up with his extraordinary music and performances, it was devastating news.  My eyes swelled up each time I saw some sort of news somewhere that he was dead. I have never shed a tear for a non family member, but when I loaded up “I’ll be there” on YouTube, the tears just started flowing. Call me a sissy, I don’t care. It was a heart breaking day. Making matters worse were ignorant comments about his death. It’s okay if you don’t like the man, we can’t expect everyone to love him. But to diss him, on the day he died is just cheap. An all time low on the asshole list. But there will always be ignorant plankton around, so let them be the shallow maggots they are.

His tracks are being played in clubs till this day. Be it Mambo, Pop or Hip Hop session, there are bound to be at least 2 if not more of his songs which get the whole club hyped. There will always be people buying his albums, singing his songs and grooving to his music. Through his fans, he will be immortal.

Michael, We Love You.

I heart K.L.!

K.L. was awesome! Went with a great bunch of friends and had shit loads of fun. We were there for this annual event titled PORTFOLIO NIGHT. They have this in Singapore as well but we decided to kill 2 birds with one stone by having a small but much needed vacation/break away from Singapore and also try out for the agencies in K.L. And i can confidently say that that was the BEST decision we made. We got great responses from the creative directors who we met.Hopefully some job opportunities arise from this meet  It would be a blessing if I could get a job in K.L. Being in an awesome place and doing what I love. What more could one ask for? The food, the people and the night life. It’s all beckoning to me.

Only one DSLR shot, the rest are from my iPhone. I was mostly shooting with my film camera which has a few more shots left before I send it for developing . Wait for it!

Post shopping chilling at KLCC. Items bought = Brown Brother’s 2008 Cienna and Daughter’s of Shame.

Lunch @ Nando’s – 1/2 a chicken with Mediterranean rice and a side of fries. ( did not really like the sides)

Found this truck at the top of this uphill road that was lined with backpacker inns, bars and clubs. The spot was hot.

A cool joint which we checked out . We just went in for a bit coz we had not much time. Really nice ambiance, was themed after the Beatles x Maharishi x Ravi Shankar era. Funny thing was when we entered they were listening to Boys to Men. LOL! WTF!? Then they played the Beatles song and it all fell into place. Gotta check it out on my next visit.

A NIKE endorsed “kueh” I came across at a place where the coach stops to take a break.

More images of the trip can be found here = Suhaimi’s , Willy’s

Hold Em Please!!!

I am having major hold em cravings. Been a while since i played a good game. I wanna play some real games not just with chips . All equipment checked and ready to go. Just need some interested parties, a venue and some snacks!

word of mouse

this is the main deliverable of my final year project.  at the moment it works only as a interface demo. i am hoping to really take this to the next step of getting it to go live. but i don’t have the knowledge of programming and developing. i am looking for collaboration opportunities for this project. please contact me if interested . thanks

click on the screen shot to go the the demo.

concept and direction : me

interface designer: francis tan

blurb:
Wordofmouse is an anonymous web platform for people who are affected by Smoking, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Money (Debt/Gambling/Credit Card), Violence (Domestic/Bully/Cyber), Pedophilia and other uncategorized issues to submit their problems and experiences with the aforementioned issues.

Those who are not directly affected by the above mentioned issues do have a part to play in this project as well by replying to the issues posted. They can reply with advice, similar personal experiences or just a kind work.

superultimateintegrated god site in progress.

i am now building my superultimateintegratedonestop personal site. Its a one stop shop for all your Naresh needs. My portfolio, facebook, tweets and what not will all be accessible from that one god source.

after many name changes , i have decided to brand myself as nareshnaresh. alike diddy i have had gone though many brand name changes.i have listed the changes in chronological order.

morphius’ domain – 10 years back/heavy metal inspired.

artefactos – 8 years back / swiss design inspired

naresh inc – 7 years till a month back

nareshinc when through  a lot of changes. it was made on flash all the way. first was graffiti and hip hop inspired and then its was minimalist . Then it went on to be a white and gold themed site which was what i had for the last 3 years.

nareshnaresh is my new identity. its gonna be the final one. its THE one. that gut feeling of content came over me when i searched for it and the domain was available.

there are no rationales or statement of intent for the name. I really do love my name . Naresh means king or majesty in hindi

so simply put this site will connect you to the digital me. No holes barred look into my life . Wish me luck!

we want more updates!

▲ i seriously need to start updating often. excuses aside, the reason for the lack of updates is my self ruling to post updates only with an image attached. I have not shot a decent photo in weeks but have had quite a bit on my mind. SO! screw that rule. OK not really. i’ll still try to keep to that but will not let it come between my updates.

p.s. i found this▲ and have fallen in love with it. i can’t tell why. it will be appearing quite often so pardon me.

Haiku #1

A few days back, i had this “thing” to Haiku. 5-7-5 and 17 syllables . This is my first.

Gaia! I love you.

Turned off the lights at 8:32pm. Looked out the window and saw that not alot did the same. Kind of sad that alot of people don’t bother.  Reminds me of when i was doing my focus group for my thesis , alot of them said they do not care. Well I think we ought to start.

Lots of mixed opinions on this.  Some argue that when we collectively turn the lights back on at 9:30pm, the power used will be greater then what we helped save. And also alot used candles, i think that’s kinda defeating the purpose. You turn off lights and light candles and emit fumes ? Don’t really think wax fumes are Eco friendly ( might be wrong).

I personally think We  humans need saving, not Earth. So much pain and suffering caused by our own kind. As much as i did my part for Gaia, some part of me wishes for the world to end. A restart if possible.

Blog Launch!

I have fallen into the notion of Citizen Journalism. I am gonna try update this as often as i can (collective “riiiiite…” heard).

But i have issued myself a challenge, all my posts will be accompanied by an image shot/created by me.

I ate? Click!

So welcome to my blog, enjoy ur visit and drinks are on the house.

p.s. the post below are my pre launch tests to see if i would like to continue this.

1/2 of my entourage

Off to lunch! before a brainstorm sesion. I call it a headbanging session.

Shot on a Polaroid app for the iPhone.

QuadCam for the iphone!

Trying to blog constantly but school is absorbing most of my time. But loving it.

Just got this AWESOME app for my iPhone. It takes action sampler style shots. Multishots in one frame. This is my new favourite photo app. Be prepared to see shyte-loads of such images.

Christmas @ Shina’s.

The annual Christmas Dinner at my cousin’s. Awesome food and even better company. Everyone takes time off from their busy lifestyle to gather on this day. It’s something to look forward to.

More from this set here.

Rarely visited.

Entrance to Ang Mo Kio park. Even though its very close to my home, i think i have only went up the hill once.

Red Dream.

Am a sucker for classics and vintages. And a Mercedes? Wooo! Came across this beauty at my neighbourhood carpark. Damn! it’s a hottie in red.

Oh! and this is my 1st shot with the CameraBag app for the iPhone.

Hello world!

Test test 1.. 2.. 3..