L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

And even though I know that there's not much love left in me, and there're odds at work, I secretly wish sometimes for her to be the one.

"You were pissed/irritated though out the day, until she showed up. And your face lightened up. And even though we were making as lame jokes or even lamer, you were happy about it. You were happy about everything and anything. That's the impact she has on you."

- A little messenger.
November 16, 2014

BONFIRE

So Bonfire, from Embers in Snow, is out, featuring Asif Ayon (The Crowd) on bass, and yours truly on the mic and a bit of penmanship to go along with it.




Bonfire

Walk away, Don't Take

This leap of faith 

You'll break

She is a beauty

You don't need a tragedy

When the flame has been put out 

When the smell of smoke stays

She hovers above you

She hovers around you

She is love, once again

Nights after work, Walks in the dark

You run from love

You don't want a false alarm

Don't close your eyes

Sleep isn't on your side

She's more than what you've known

She's more than all you've known

She is still on your mind

She hovers above you

She hovers around you

She is love, once again

You run from the flames put out

You run towards a bonfire

Bonfire teaser

So I collaborated with Embers in Snow, recently. It turned out better than expected, and will be available for download online on many different platforms from ME Label on November 20, 2014. That's 3 days from now.

Will post a link and lyrics soon. For now, we'll have to do with the teaser.

Orfred - Revel On (Practice)

The sky.

The sky today, was amazing. I was able to catch a glimpse of it. It was the perfect ending to a perfect afternoon. Some days are much nicer than others.

Stay

So this is a song I worked on with Ayruani and Avik from Webable. This is for Ayruani's Madkoffee blog and interactive platform, still somewhat under construction and testing. We hope to record the song in a studio sometime soon. 

Post by Tilok Adnan.

Pfoosh!

This website is pretty interesting. You can choose a location on a map, and find out how much impact nuclear weapons would cause on that particular area.

http://www.carloslabs.com/projects/200712B/GroundZero.html

So here's the impact of a Tsar Bomba on Dhaka

When Bonny Came

When Bonny came,
Bonny didn't know what Bonny had done,
Bonny triggered a gun.
Bonny made sense.

I felt the rush
of blood as it gushed out -
no more a stream,
but an ocean of vast tomorrows
and fragile dreams
inside a fragile being -
For the fragile being is most vivid
when in love, and
when the senses are above all

Nonsensical.
Irrational.

Dense! with idiocy

I forgot in a moment
all my woes.
Bonny made sense.

When Bonny looked away
Bonny didn't know Bonny made me sad,
Bonny came at a time I wish I never had.

Ocean

We strode off too far out at sea.
We couldn't swim.
There was fear in my heart
But I had found us alone, at last
Closer apart
Closer to heart
The drowning was a start

Tried my best to drag it this long
Maybe you tried for a while
I harnessed you in,
You tried to hold on

But in an ocean, who wouldn't have?

I was your Moses(, mouseph)
I rifted the waters and I let you go.

My manic and I

*sigh*

Sometimes you just have to hold back I guess. 

There's no more room for chaos or a leap of faith. 

You have to keep working as hard as you can, 

knowing that you're running for something bigger. 

And you have to hold back. 

Hold back. 

Just hold back. 

HOLD BACK . . . 

Orfred

Stagnant times call for stagnant measures. So this happened last month. Though there's hardly any productivity with Orfred, we were still able to chill and talk life and vision with each other.

"Rooftops and crows, and guitars, and away we go" 

Photo by: Shafkat

Unbaked cheese.

Sometimes I wonder
if you can hear me from far away.

From far beyond the apex
of the highest mountain
of that mountain range
that ends in a slope
down to a vast plain,

and even beyond,

where rocks fade to fertile lands,
but where meadows never became.

Beyond to where 

the glimmering sands

touch the sea, 

so pale and blue,

beyond the horizon

where the sun breaks through.

And somewhere beyond 

in your abode

Can you hear me there?

Can you hear me close? 

Free verse. September 4, 2014.

The greatest tragedy

Death is not the greatest tragedy,

Great tragedies begin
Where stories don't end,
In death, or in life;

In life - "what might have happened?"
is the slow poison that wears
us down, with hearts heavy
and hollow, waiting for answers
'till death.

And death is not the greatest tragedy.
Life left incomplete is.

________________________________

Eid Mubarak

Tomorrow's Eid. :) Eid Mubarak.

Insta-June

I don't instagram as much as I used to. I hardly get out of dhanmondi nowadays, and don't spend much time on the road. Here are some photos I took in June.

Changing Homes - Epoch

Changing Homes just released Epoch, the single from the upcoming EP, Sharing Spaces, from Changing Homes. The EP will feature collaborations with different songwriters and musicians, and will be loosely based on the concept of future space travel.

The song still has a few layers that need to be added. We collaborated with Shafkat Rahman, my bandmate from Orfred to write the lyrics for this song. The song was composed by all three of the members from Changing Homes.


Liner:

Epoch
Lyrics: Shafkat S. Rahman and Changing Homes
Composition: Changing Homes

> A single release from the upcoming EP, Sharing Spaces. Featuring collaboration with different musicians and songwriters.
-------------------------------
Lyrics:

I opened my eyes
to a heavy heartbeat
and the sight of a distant sun.

Stars are only beautiful
from afar.
Reminiscing,
you were right.

Would you fade away,
if I let you,
as your sails catch the light,
light years away?
And would you return
to say that you never happened?

But you were always mine.

Orfred - Boats

Boats

Some spaces are too small
The paint in the corners are
Starting to peel off
And the seeds that you plant
Break out
Legs and hands
Extend to the walls
And crack through the ceiling

Thank God, for the windows

A breath of stale air
From the river in the old town
People come and go on boats
Some leave never to be found

Pale faces always light up for a moment
As they step out from the shadows of a concrete labyrinth
Unsure of what may happen -
But some places are too small
Too crowded and cramped  for your
Thoughts to grow at all

Thank God, there's a way out

Head out to the river
Head out for the boats
Head out to the river
Head out for the boats
Head out to the river
Head out for the boats

Photograph: Rudaba Tahseen

inadequate poem

Untitled I once dreamed of cherry blossoms' end When the petals swayed to their demise - Dancing all around us When I tapped her from behind And she took her gaze away from the horizon 
to look at me, Blurred, was the bright-green grass And Greece-blue waters Adjacent to her face; Her face, unstirred It's hard to believe in imagination But there it was one day On a computer screen, Somewhere in Japan, very pink,blue and green There was a garden of cherryblossoms atop hills If you ask me why I choose to believe in that which I cannot see, It is because there is no lesser magic Than to believe in things placed right before your eyes Without surprise -Tilok Adnan finished July 11, 2014

Pleasant Rendezvous

The last time these five people gathered in one place was nearly three years ago. It's wonderful and scary how time separates us and also brings us together, to find that we've all changed, and somehow, haven't changed at all. 

doodle

Little Red Riding Hood

Friday doodles

trying to get used to drawing with stylus and intuos.
confidence level: -ve

doodle

doodle - srimongol

my confidence just went down the drain while drawing this. look's like i am not so good with details. or maybe it's just the wacom. pencil and paper suits me well.

anyways, i'd like to visit srimongol again.

"now you let me in, past the sediment"
-volcano choir

It's such a perfect day

A Designer's Tale

My former colleagues at FASTLANE Magazine were kind enough to ask me for a write up about my experience at FASTLANE, as I paved ground for the magazine, designing the first four issues. The 7th issue is out. I haven't received a copy as of yet and am unsure about any changes they may have made. However, here's the article I originally sent in. 

photo: Junaid Deep

A DESIGNER’S TALE.
By Jaman Mehedi Adnan

A.R. Rahman once stated in an interview that he takes almost no interest in sports. That may just explain his extravagantly lousy performance at the ICC T20 opening.  I’m not comparing myself to the great musician, but as an artist and designer I have also been negligent towards the world of stadiums and automobiles. So designing and initially setting some ground for Bangladesh’s first English automotive magazine was quite a daunting challenge. In fact, if you’re reading this article, I would like to let you know that I have no intention of talking about my experience with cars – although there is that one time I almost learned how to drive. Anyways, I want to go over humble beginnings and a few statements about collaboration and design.

The FASTLANE logo was custom tailored by me, and to this day it gets criticized for not being like other magazine logos out there. However, when I first made it I had no intention of changing and compromising my “art”. You see, design takes practice, understanding, and passion, and as a designer in Bangladesh I know for a fact that most of us working in this sector are self-disciplined. Therefore, we lack both practice and understanding. What we do have is the passion. So, when know-it-alls nudge me about changing my work, I’m completely unwilling to do anything about it, because even two-year-olds know how to use Photoshop nowadays. However, not knowing much about cars, and going through a bunch of car magazines for referencing I was in a rut! Most foreign car magazines are inundated with tacky, flashy graphics – providing images of half nude models as the main attraction.

Eventually, I was able to find a few good references. Yet, when the first magazine came out, I was highly disappointed with my work, and the magazine itself was scrawny and felt lighter than tissue (due to a miscommunication with the press). More importantly, my ego collapsed at seeing my flaws. So when it came time to design the second issue, I did more research and opened up to suggestions from my colleagues.

Basically, almost every creative idea is one that is derived from reference, rather than being something completely innovative - be it in Bangladesh or the United States of America. Since most of us in the country are slow to catch onto trends, afraid to take risks, and highly influenced by visuals from other countries, we don’t usually come up with bold ideas. But as a marketing student, I had to learn how to collaborate and take in good ideas, and gradually things worked out for the better. I ended up designing 4 magazines before I had to leave the company in order to focus on education. And FASTLANE hasn’t stopped yet.

The point I want to make is letting go a little ego, which comes from being passionate, and collaborating with others will usually enhance one’s work. With collaboration, I learned how to work with my colleagues towards a common goal, without having to completely compromise. And although referencing and copying has a huge role in determining design, it’s important to step out of what we consider to be the norm sometimes. I’m pretty sure that a lot of foreign car magazines won’t see the sleek and simplified designs brought to the table by FASTLANE Magazine. Many people may complain that the designs are way too minimal, but we always aimed towards a magazine that would look great not only to the “younger us”, but also the “older us”. Time to time, we also tried to bring in different elements that were funky or cool, not swaying too much from our simplified approach. Not being able to try something new is a bad habit. The Japanese are highly westernized, and yet, they continue to churn out new ideas that were only inspired by the west, but adapted so slyly into their culture. It’s important for us in Bangladesh to do the same. We have to find out own identity.

I really enjoyed my time at FASTLANE, with major credits going out to the good people who work there. I hope that one day the magazine will redefine other magazines in Bangladesh, and keep growing not only in popularity, but in thickness as well.

Insta-May

Tried to be a bit more selective. But that never works out for me. So here's the month of May.