The Simpson Iyers

Sasank Gopinathan, who is working as a Product and Automotive Designer, was approached for a custom saree design.  He was asked to modify the Simpson Family to look like they are South Indian Brahmin family.  I liked his work so much and asked his permission to reproduce that in my blog. Sasank kindly agreed.

Sasank has done so many projects which are worth viewing.  You can follow Sasank on his Behance profile.

The Simpson Iyers!

 

Bart Iyer is wearing a kurta and pajama with sandals. His Iyer vibudhi (holy ash) mark is visible on his forehead
 

Homer Iyer is wearing a Veshti in tamil brahmin paalathaal style. His sacred thread is also visible, and so are his Iyer vibudi markings on his forehead and arm

Homer Iyer dozed off after eating his favourite vadai with chutney

Lisa Iyer is wearing a typically south indian paavadai and dhaavani. She also adorns jimiki earrings

Maggie Iyer sports an adorable paavada blouse, a little loose for her maybe. She also has a mole drawn on her cheek, something that parents tend to for little kids in India.

Marge Iyer is seen wearing a saree worn in traditional tamil brahmin 'madisar' style.

Marge Iyer wearing another saree, this time a kancheepuram silk saree worn in the more common style.

Final Stop in Atlanta - CNN

The last place we visited in Atlanta was the Headquarters for CNN.  You all know that CNN (Cable News Network) is a popular television station that is broadcast all over the world.  At their headquarters location, they conduct a 55 minute tour eight times a day.  The tour starts on the 8^th floor after you cross a security checkpoint on the ground floor. 

 

Now how do you get to the 8^th floor of the CNN Center in Atlanta? 

Elevator?…nope!  Good guess though.

Stairs?  Heck NO!

Maybe an Escalator?  What…are you kidding me!  Really?  An escalator?

An escalator that goes up to the 8^th floor from the ground floor with no stops in between?

YESSSS!  This is the world’s largest free standing escalator (according to the Guinness book of World records) and the only way to get to your tour.

 

 

CNN was founded by Ted Turner, who was the owner of Turner Broadcasting System which is now part of Time Warner.  CNN started operating at 5 PM on June 1, 1980.  Turner’s intent was to provide fierce competition to the three TV news networks that were dominating at that time (ABC, CBS and NBC).

 

 

On this tour, we could see in detail the Control Room Theater, Special Effects studio, and the Interactive News Desk section.  We were able to understand what all it takes to produce a newscast.

 

 

At any given moment there are 99 cameras in various places in the world ready to be shown as news.  Now which one will they show for the TV viewers?  The Programming Director decides that…and makes quick decisions if there is breaking news at any time.

 

What if another news network breaks the news first?  Oh yes, CNN is also monitoring/watching the other networks…just in case someone else gets the jump on CNN when a developing story occurs that CNN also should report on.

 

We were also able to see how tele-prompters work and how the news anchor is able to read the news while staring into the television camera. Watching how the weather anchors do the weather is also pretty cool (no pun intended). 

 

What we see at home is the weather anchor standing in front of the weather map and giving us a weather forecast.  That is not how it works in the studio.  The weather board is somewhere else and the weather reporter is standing in front of a plain green wall.  Somehow, due to the technical magic of television, we watch the reporter right next to (or in front of) the weather map on our TV.  Cool stuff.

 

Why Green? Well…

 

When applying artificially created backgrounds or effects, two separate series of images have to be combined. The technical term for this is 'chroma key'. Any color can be used for the background that will be 'dropped' but the two most popular choices are Green and Blue - this is because these two colors are the most unlike skin tones and will not cause problems when removed.

 

Did that make sense?  Or was that explanation as clear as mud?

                                                          Flags from all the countries

                                                                          Newsroom

 

 

 

 

 

Tidbits from Atlanta

Next post will the last on our Atlanta visit.  It will be about our tour of CNN Headquarters.  I think I have bored you all enough.  However, I have a few tidbits to share from our visit to Atlanta. 

 

We stayed at this name brand hotel.  They have a nice customer service.  If you are going to a touristy place (like CNN Headquarters), the hotel van will drop you.  When you are ready to return to the Hotel, call them and the van will come and pick you up.  One morning we were boarding the van to go some place.  The driver is a black gentleman.  My wife (LG) boarded the van first and she was going towards the back seats.  I asked her to sit in the front seat.  The driver heard this.  He told my wife:

 

Please sit in the front madam. Those days are OVER.

 

He was very emotional and the way he said “OVER” was louder and more pronounced.  (Remember Rosa Parks' story? She refused to sit in the back of the bus in South when non-whites were not allowed to sit in the front seats.) (I had a chuckle.)

 

Remember on the last day we were held up in our hotel room and could not go anywhere because of heavy snow and ice storm!  That evening we went to the hotel lounge to have a drink.  How long we can stay in the hotel room?  (We later found out that the Police Officers working in that area could not go home due to heavy snow.  They were put up in our hotel with an instruction that they are on 24 hour duty.)

 

We entered the lounge and sat in a corner.  We saw about 10 Police Officers nearer to our table and drinking orange juice.  I originally that it was vodka and orange juice.  I had an eye contact with one of the officers.  He smiled.  That is enough for an extreme extrovert like me.  I smiled back.  And, I said: Hey guys, this is the safest place in Atlanta now.  They had a question mark in their faces.  I said I am glad Atlanta’s finest is here to protect us. Full of smiles all over.

 

Then I offered to buy them a beer.  One of the officers said: “Thank you sir.  But we are on duty now.  May be some other time.”  I replied: Yeah sure.

 

I want to end this post with a photo.  So here is a photo of Georgia Dome, the home of the Atlanta Braves, a professional American Football team in Atlanta, Georgia.  I know, unless you are a die hard American Football fan, you won’t give a damn about this.  Seating capacity: 74,228.  This is the largest indoor sporting facility in the United States.