The Song of My Life

A Quick Realization

2012-01-24T17:41:00.001+06:00

I just realized today that most of the people that started blogging around the time I started have given up writing totally and "moved on" to other things.

Perhaps the social networks are to be blamed.

We now see more sporadic, short expressions like status updates and tweets instead of well thought and detailed blog posts.

Even I am seeing a rise in blogging activity on my part only after facing issues with social networks.

Even this blog entry is small :-)

Which are the ten greatest songs of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr?

2012-01-24T17:32:00.000+06:00

Original

I've listened to most of their solo material, and the following list is based on my preferences. 10 songs per artist, in no particular order of preference.

George Harrison had the best solo career; each and every song he wrote after the demise of Beatles are of great quality, both in terms of lyrical depth and brilliance of composition.

Paul McCartney still writes and records, but compared to the huge discography he has managed to produce, the number of noteworthy post-Beatles material is small.

John Lennon started off in a great manner, but lost his track after a while and started producing inferior sounding experimental tracks. He came to his senses and released his last great album "Double Fantasy" only to be shot down and killed brutally.

Ringo Starr is not the star of his own show. It was quite difficult to single out 10 songs from his discography, but I could manage it somehow. Two songs stand out though, It Don't Come Easy (collaboration with George Harrison) and Photograph.

John Lennon

Imagine
9 Dream
Woman
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
(Just Like) Starting Over
Beautiful Boy
Stand By Me
Gimme Some Truth
Instant Karma
Dear Yoko

Paul McCartney

Maybe I'm Amazed
Coming Up
Band On The Run
Vanilla Sky
Live and Let Die
Another Day
C'Moon
Wonderful Christmas Time
Ebony and Ivory (feat. Stevie Wonder)
Say, Say, Say (feat. Michael Jackson)

George Harrison

My Sweet Lord
Blow Away
All Things Must Pass
All Those Years Ago
This Is Love
Cloud 9
Any Road
What Is Life
Got My Mind Set On You
Bangladesh

Ringo Starr

It Don't Come Easy
Photograph
You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine)
Back Off Boogaloo
No No Song
King of Broken Hearts
I Was Walkin
The Other Side of Liverpool
Peace Dream
Walk With You

Bangladesh Tunnel Vision

2012-01-15T12:06:00.002+06:00

I have personally felt that if you listen to the same song over and over, no matter how insipid your original reactions were, you start liking it. It means, the song has "grown on" to you. The greatest example of this phenomenon is the infamous song "Kolaveri Di". The stupidly catchy tune has managed to play in loops inside my brain more than once.

The same thing can be said about personal relationships, too. Let's say you hate a person to such an extent that even his/her shadow makes you annoyed. Let's call her "D". As you don't like D, it is natural that you will try to avoid her as much as possible. Maybe you will turn right when she is headed left, and maybe you will go to sleep when she has just awoken, etc. etc.

However, what happens when D is assigned as your boss? Or your day to day work depends on her close cooperation? You start meeting her everyday, and eventually chances are high that you start developing a liking for her (in a non-romantic way--usage of "her" instead of "him" has been emphasized solely on a random basis, and you, the reader might be a "she", too). Although you two become a good team, hints of your past bitterness and resentment stays, and sometimes gets exposed, too. However, work being the priority here makes things easier for you and you are prompt in ironing out any wrinkles that might have caused due to the unintended exposure of "true feelings"!

Logo taken from BTV Website

In a nutshell, time heals all wounds--no matter how deep they are. However, this doesn't work for me in the case of BTV; the national television channel of Bangladesh. I have desperately hated this channel from my youth, and the feeling of hatred has reached such a peak that it is now more comparable with apathy mountain and mount sympathy. Initially, it was a curiosity as to why a state run channel is so boring and lame, but then the feeling of antagonism started flowing in when we got exposed to cable TV.

Before the cable channels came in, BTV had monopoly business over TV viewership in Bangladesh. Just like many other monopolies of Bangladesh (e.g. Citycell), they took extreme liberties with what they wanted to feed the customers.

Watching a live cricket game on TV was almost always thrilling. Even though Bangladesh did not have the ODI or Test status, we still enjoyed watching our lads play against Pakistan or India during the Asia cup tournament. Also, the Abahani VS Mohammedan seasonal clashes for the Football league or Federation cup was always exceptionally thrilling. Actually, the football games were more frequent and popular back then. However, just like the perfect killjoy, BTV would step in with their stale, bigoted, biased and most uninspired brand of "News" every hour or so, effectively interrupting the live telecast.

Abahani 1 - Mohammedan 1--just 5 minutes left till the game ends. The time is 7:58 PM, and suddenly Kaiser Hamid has made a foul on Aslam--inside the D-box. Result? A penalty. Aslam is slowly advancing towards the penalty kickoff area. Suddenly, you see the "Smritishoudho" (Martyr Monument) and a music starts playing. That dreadful music....that blasted announcement of the abomination called "Raat 8 tar shongbaad". Just because of BTV, I have always hated a beautiful song like "Shob kota janala khule dao na".

My dad had a very handy AM/FM radio which would be frantically searched and activated during times like these. Sometimes Radio Bangladesh/Bangladesh Betar also betrayed--they'd also start broadcasting news. But in most cases, when live telecast was blocked out by news, radio came as the savior and instead of seeing the action, we would have to remain satisfied with listening to the commentaries from "Hamid bhai/Tawfiq bhai/Jafrullah Sharafat bhai", etc.

By the time the "news" is over, you can actually know the result of the game. BTV was not even generous enough to show the missed portion of the game later on. They would just move on to their crappy brand of drama and or musical shows pretending that nothing really happened in between.

The anchors on news at 8 were truly jokers (shongs) and they should have been removed (baad) from live telecasts. Things got really comical during the English news telecasts. Wrong grammar, incorrect pronunciations, heavy reliance on cliche and usage of archaic vocabulary made the "News at 10" a true assembly of duffers and dumb peoples. I even had to bear watching the most horrific of scenes--a newscaster picking her nose thinking that she was offline. I even got to hear another person alerting the nose picker.

Thanks to the plethora of cable channels and the blessed internet, I no longer need to rely on BTV for anything!

Recently, however, I have been forced to watch some live telecasts on BTV. Reasons? Either no cable channels were showing the game I wanted to see or those channels were not available in my cable network. I painfully realized that nothing has changed when it comes to BTV. I really feel sorry for the people who lack the freedom of choice during watching the TV.

A problem with our nation is that we are often good at doing the wrong things. When you go to a concert or any cultural program, it never starts on time. Either the musicians are too busy "jamming" or they just don't show up on time. To make things worse, sometimes the "oh so busy I can't buckle up my shoes" chief (read cheap) guest who is supposed to inaugurate the event has forgotten the day and time and forgot to show up.

These are atrocities, and they are no less in number. I am yet to see a public or private event start on the billed time, i.e. no wedding ceremony has actually started at 7:30 PM sharp, nor did it end before midnight. Also, you never work from 9 to 6, it is either 10 to 9 or 9 to 9 or some other, random, overtime filled working hour.

However, when it comes to showing us the abomination, BTV has remained super efficient. In my whole life, I haven't seen the BTV miss even a single episode of this show(!). Even when the whole nation was gloating in darkness, BTV still showed 8 tar shongbad! No matter whether it's rain or sun, or even snow(!), BTV will show you 8 tar shongbad and news at 10.

Surprisingly, BTV is very much a neutral organization. No matter whether it is BNP or AL, they still side with the government. They are the most unbiased and inelastic organization in Bangladesh. No matter what the situation demands, they will refrain from criticizing the government. They are never biased towards any political parties, they are impartial to the government.

So basically, BTV has become like Pravda, which acted as an unofficial propaganda machine of the Soviet communist party. (Joke) Nepoleon was heard saying that if he had a newspaper like Pravda, people would not even know that he lost the war in Waterloo.

By the way, BTV has a website(!). Surprise! Surprise! According to the site, their objective is:

As a state run organization, it is accountable to the mass people of Bangladesh. It aims at the development of the lives of the people and socio-economic progress through its creative programs. The core objective of Bangladesh Television is to dissemination of information, extension of education, motivation for development activities and entertainment are the major principles followed by BTV for its broadcasting. National and international news, documentary and development programs and various entertainment programs are aired by BTV. For international news BTV gets supports from international News agencies and broadcasters. On the other hand, BTV imports some foreign entertainment programs. However, for national news, documentaries and entertainment programs, BTV produces programs by itself. Besides, local production houses have come forward with their productions and BTV televises the programs on terms and conditions agreed to both.

Tunnel vision (Also known as "Kalnienk Vision") is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision. This is what is wrong with BTV. Instead of being a television channel, they have turned in to a tunnel vision channel.

Resolutions Revisited/Reloaded/Rehashed...or Whatever

2012-01-15T10:55:00.000+06:00

This link refers to a blog post I wrote 5 years ago. I wrote about some resolutions in that classic blog post. It amazes me to see how my life has changed over just half a decade. Expectations from life has changed, priorities have changed and as a whole, I am changed man. What I was doing in that blog was basically a self-evaluation of 2006 resolutions I set for myself. Won't it be fun to revisit and review those same, 5 year old resolutions? I'll write the new comments in normal font and italicize the old ones.

# I’ll learn swimming

I started, but never finished. It's really sad, because I was really enthusiastic about learning to swim. Now it's so bitterly cold that even imagining about getting inside the water makes me scared. I can swim short distances, but I haven't yet learned the trick of breathing under water.

I am as far as reaching the moon as learning to swim. I don't think I can ever get enough time to go back and complete the swimming lessons, unless there's a dramatic change in my lifestyle. Also, the swimming pool where I started to take lessons some 3 years ago has been filled up and made a commercial plot, so the only option for me to learn swimming is now not an option anymore.

# I’ll go visit Rangamati

Didn't happen. However, I went to Bandorbon instead.

Well, looking back, this should have been easily addressed. I went to many places home and abroad in the last 5 years, but for some reason, this prominent tourist location of my home country has still managed to remain elusive.

# I’ll propose someone (?!?!)

:-)

Haha, the funny one! I did propose someone and now I am a married person. In fact, 2 years have passes since me and my fiance got married. The smiley up there was a vain attempt to show the world that something mischievous was going on!

# I’ll drink Cognac (!)

I did. The experience was really nice. It's totally different from any other drink I've had so far.

Nope, I was kidding myself. The experience was not nice at all. Most alcoholic beverages I tried had a bitter taste, and this one was the worst. The acid like substance simply burned my throat while it went down and I won't ever get near that thing, again.

Just for the record, I totally gave up the minimal amount of drinking I used to do on social events.

# I’ll start my MBA

I started, and one semester is over. I really had a tough time balancing work, MBA and other stuff.

I finished the coursework for my MBA, but I am still stuck without completing the dissertation. I will get it done this year. Or to be more specific, within first quarter 2012.

# I’ll try going abroad

I went to India on a business trip. No imminent plans for permanent departure, though.

So that was the beginning of my overseas travels. I have been blessed and lucky enough to go abroad multiple times both on official and personal accounts. Since writing that blog, I've been to India 4 times, Malaysia 3 times, Nepal 2 times and to Egypt, Lebanon, Dubai, Thailand, Indonesia once each. Life has treated me well.

# I’ll try to be nicer to my friends

Am I really trying? I don't think so. Actually I've been acting very mean and weird towards my friends lately. If this goes on, I'll be losing a lot of friends in near future. Sad, really sad.

Fortunately for me, I haven't lost many friends. The few I had to let go were actually "good to go". I mean, I have been better off without them actually. I lost a very dear one, but thankfully that friendship has repaired itself. Time heals everything--proven once again.

# I’ll be a better child for my parents

I've become an indifferent child. I don't usually face my parents much. I'm either at office, or hanging out with friends, or I'm hiding in my room spending time chatting, listening to music or playing games.

I don't really want to write much about this. I am glad to see that this is still a priority for me, albeit not taken too seriously.

# I’ll become a millionaire (this I believe, will not be possible at all)

lol..what a joke! It's still a joke.

If being a millionaire means accumulating 1,000,000 Taka, I've been there and done that. But being a "millionaire" in its truest form is still far, far away.

# I’ll buy a car (if I try doing this, number 9 will not happen)

Not this year; not now. Too little too early.

Done this in 2007.It's becoming very difficult to maintain, though.

# I’ll get out of my game addiction

Succeeded to a great extent. I can spend days without playing games, and not feeling distressed.

I never actually had an addiction (grins). With renewed interest, I keep playing video games. My wife gave me an xbox360 in 2010, so now I have more options to fiddle with.

# I’ll be more honest and truthful

Others might be able to tell.

I think I am on the right track.

# I’ll write 2/3 more stories

I kinda gave up writing :(

I haven't even attempted writing a story in the last 3 years or so. All I wrote are blog posts that no one read, a few articles that got published and a lot of answers on Quora.

# I’ll read all the books from Harry Potter series

This is done. The first resolution to be completed.

I have read the books twice, except the last book--deathly hallows. Need to go through them once more. Will start on them as soon as I am done with reading the unread books I have at home.

# I’ll try to have a 3.8+ CGPA in my MBA

I dunno, haven't yet checked the grades. Will be damn challenging.

# I'll lose some weight and I'll do regular exercise

Didn't happen. Will it ever happen? I lost many things due to this, and I hear the most comments about me being bulky.

I did lose some weight, but no regular exercising. I still can't force myself to get in to an exercising regime. Too busy and occupied for that.

# No more procrastination!

This thing never gets away totally. I can only minimize it to some extent.

The situation has improved a lot, undoubtedly. Thanks to a meditation book bought from Nepal, my concentration level has increased, and I can often single out the important information from a noisy environment.

So that's it. Yet another random blog from me.

War Is Over

2012-01-11T14:29:00.000+06:00

The Bangla translation of the evergreen slogan of John and Yoko:

Pic collected from Yoko Onno's flickr account

All rights belong to them, I am just sharing a great thought.

What is My Favorite Pink Floyd Single?

2012-01-11T14:01:00.002+06:00

This is a difficult question to answer, considering the versatility and vastness of Pink Floyd's musical contribution. I have been listening to Pink Floyd on and off for the last 15 years or so, and my tastes and preferences changed as I grew up. I personally believe that really "getting in to" Pink Floyd is a very challenging task--their music, lyrics and overall style is quite complicated. They don't really have too many radio friendly love songs or happy songs that anyone can easily get into.

Saying all that, initially my favorite was Another Brick In The Wall Part 1 and 2.These are probably the most commercialized songs the band has ever produced, and without even apprehending the full context of the song, my teenage ears did not take much time to fall in love with lyrics such as "we don't need no education" and "no dark sarcasm, in the classroom, etc."

As I grew older, I got exposed to better music, and I started looking at Floyd from a different perspective. I got introduced to the concept of concept albums throughDream Theater's Metropolis II: Scenes from the Memory, and I got totally blown away. That was when I heard "Wish You Were Here (song)" and the whole album. I believe this is one of the greatest rock albums ever made, and every time I hearWish You Were Here, goosebumps go through my spines.

Other favorites include Hey You, Goodbye Blue Sky, Money, Time, Us and Them for different reasons. Hey You has the most soothing beginning and one of the most dramatic endings for a song. The lyrics is not too complicated, but the thoughts are deep and can be explained in different manners.

I won't say much about Money as the song is just another elaboration of the "root of all evil" concept. I love the saxophone solos and the tempo of the song is technically proficient and it all boils down to being a great collaboration of extremely talented musicians.

I never knew listening to a long song can be refreshing until I heard Us and Them.

As you can see, it really is difficult to single out a favorite single, but if I must, I'd say "Wish You Were Here".

Honorable mention, as suggested by Parvez Rahman Chinmoy is "Comfortably Numb". It's a great song, and can be included in any "Best of Pink Floyd" collection

Sick About FPS Games...

2011-11-16T11:00:00.006+06:00

I used to be a big fan of first person shooters, with slight preference towards arena games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. I've spent hundreds of hours playing Q3A and UT since these games came out more than a decade ago, and recently I played through the Q3A (not team arena, the original game) single player campaign once again to reinvigorate my interest in FPS (first person shooter) games. I enjoyed every minute of playing Q3A; the final confrontation with Xaero was as good as ever, but unfortunately, that's as much as I could get my teeth in to FPSs.

I thought after replaying Q3A, I'd feel more interested to play through some modern FPS games like Battlefield Bad Company 2, Duke Nukem Forever, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, etc., but I couldn't really bring myself to playing any of these games. I did install and play DNF for a while, but even the new age Duke could not interest me much. I have been reading a lot of good stuff about MW3, and I also went to the store to buy it, but as soon as I picked up the DVD box, a silent alarm started ringing in my head which said "Don't waste your money, you'll never end up playing this!".

Instead of buying MW3, I came back home, dug my classics collection and re-installed a couple of old real time strategy games that I really enjoy(ed) playing. These are: Age of Mythology (AOM) and Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (LOTR: BFME). I already finished AOM and AOM Titan's campaigns and I started playing the evil campaign in BFME, which I've always wanted to beat but never ended up doing.

I had a blast playing AOM and AOMT as I'm now an experienced gamer. When these games first came out, my primary objective was to beat them as soon as possible so that I could move on to other games. That was when I was still in my 20s. But now, at this point of time in my life, instead of having a rushed lunch, I wanted to try a relaxed meal with starters, 2nd dishes, desserts and even coffee, which resulted in a bigger and better playing experience.

I discovered a lot of optional quests, previously unseen areas, eccentricities and new ways of winning the same battles. The memory of my last gameplay was quite vague, as it's at least 8 years old, but still glimpses came back to me while I was playing, and I found some of the rather tough and irritations missions to be quite intriguing and innovative. Instead of rush based battles, I followed more turtling, and only attacked the enemies when I had a sizeable force, which means upgraded units with all sorts of armors and weapons. Previously I solely concentrated on the mythological units, but this time around, my armies were balanced and often the human units played a better part in the battles.

Both of the above mentioned games are quite old. AOM was released in 2002 and BFME in 2006. I played AOM campaign twice before (I did not finish the 2nd playthrough) and BFME good campaign twice. When I was playing BFME, memories of the movie was fresh in my mind and I just couldn't force myself to be on the evil side and watch the hobbits and the members of the fellowship die helplessly.

However, this time around, I am happily killing the good people and having a blast trying out the different unit combinations of Isengard and Mordor army. BFME was built upon a modified C&C: Generals engine, which has served Electronic Arts (EA) quite well. In fact, versions of this engine was used as recently as in the expansion for Red Alert 3, which is still a relatively new game.

Before getting in to the RTS games again, I've spent a significant time playing only RPG games. I believe I've spent the better part of years 2009 to 2011 Q2 playing Neverwinter Nights, Witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. I am still playing DA2, and even after 5-6 playthroughs, I still enjoy the battles. Albeit the story has become stale and nowadays I skip most dialogues. The new expansions (Mark of The Assassins and Legacy) are quite interesting, though.

Especially, Mark of The Assassins was a welcome change of pace and I look forward to playing it again. However, it is pretty much frustrating in one aspect--you need a high lever player character before attempting the expansion, or else you will keep on dying. Even with a healer character, all my companions died in my very first battle when I tried beating MAO at around level 5 or 6.

Unlike DA:O expansions, MAO can't be played after beating the main game. That is, you can't play it with your previous save games. Thus even if you've beaten the game with a two handed warrior before, you can't use him to play MAO--you need to start a new game with a new incarnation of a two handed warrrior in order to play it, and which also means you have to level up this new character up to at least 10-15 levels (beating Act 2 will take you there) until you get a feel of Talis, the new female companion available in MAO.

I've also bought and installed Stronghold 3, the new version of an old castle building game, and I am finding it quite frustrating. There are two types of campaigns in the game, military and economic. I started off with the economic campaign, and I had to leave the game within 15 minutes--cause a rogue bear massacred my whole city! I thought this was the "economic" campaign where I was supposed to focus on resource gathering and building, but I didn't realise that the poor villagers needed protection, too. I had the poor excuse of a lone soldier; a settler with a weird looking pike (which actually resembled a rake rather than a pike) who was killed by a solitary pawing attack from the rabid bear! Even the apple farmers were tougher, they ran for their lives and took a couple of blows before going down.

I am yet to read a review of Stronghold 3; I just bought the game because I wanted to play a new RTS game. I also bought Cities XL 2011 sometime ago, but that game didn't really interest me much due to the sub-par graphics and complicated gameplay. I found the learning curve for Cities XL to be a bit higher than my current patience level.

As for SH3, I just read the wiki and found out that the game is heavily bugged and there's already a number of patches out. I guess I should apply the patches before attempting it again.

So I guess that's the current gaming update from me. It's been a while since I wrote anything like this, and I am feeling good after getting this done.

My Short, Corporate Biography

2011-10-25T10:20:00.002+06:00

Md. Ishtiaque Khan has been working in the product and value added services area of the telecommunications industry since 2003. He loves to work on varied and challenging areas, and he also hates to confine his work by rules.

He has spent 2 years in GrameenPhone Ltd., the leading operator in Bangladesh and co-managed all the prepaid product offerings and related service extensions. In 2005, he took up a new challenge and moved to banglalink, which was the smallest operator of in the industry.

He joined banglalink's Value Added Services department, and played a pivotal part in the emergence of banglalink in Bangladesh as the number two operator. Before OTH (Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd.) acquired banglalink, the organization was known as Sheba Telecom, which was struggling from their inception.

As a VAS Senior executive and later on, Assistant Manager, Ishtiaque has launched and managed several key services like electronic topup, GPRS, customized ring back tone, fax and data, various voice and SMS related services, etc. He also launched a few low impact, low cost mobile email services which did not require the end user to have smartphones.

After successfully completing 3 years in VAS, in 2008 he went back to his original area of work--product development. Initially, he looked after the Medium enterprises segment in the post paid products area. Within this short time span, he launched a new customized tariff option for the enterprise market, which was highly praised and proved its long term effectiveness.

Eventually he took over the responsibility of heading the prepaid product development team. In the last 3 years, he and his team has revolutionized the prepaid offerings of the company with ground breaking revenue enhancement activities, usage and retention driven campaigns and micro segment based offerings.

He made sure all key performance areas like acquisition, revenue enhancement and ARPU maximization, retention and churn management was taken care of by utilizing both above the line and below the line promotions to get the maximum output at minimum input. The available resources were overstretched and excellent results were produced. As prepaid customers consist 95% of the company's customer base, it can be safely said that Ishtiaque and his team has great contribution in banglalink's positive EBITDA achievement.

He looks forward to expanding the prepaid segmentation model and getting higher market share for the company through clearly devised strategies and action plans in the coming years.

He is a good team player, and he has expertise in managing cross-functional work groups. He has great working knowledge of both prepaid and postpaid platforms, and he like designing new products and services and tailoring them according to Bangladesh market.

Blog Statistics

2011-10-04T11:35:00.003+06:00

I have been blogging since 2004. This year I'll be celebrating my 7th year as a blogger. Looking back, I found out that I wrote the most number of blogs in 2005--averaging 6 entries per month. However, as work pressure multiplied, free time for writing blogs went down like anything. I thought I'd hit the absolute downhill when I got married, but luckily, I still get the odd hours or minutes to jot down something in blogger.

This graph makes me nostalgic. It's the combined result of all 4 of my significant blogs. I couldn't add the stats for Amadergaan blogs as I did not store those entries in any other location. Due to AG server crash sometime this decade, those entries are lost forever. They weren't too special anyway. Those entries were mostly centered around life in AG--the people, the events, the little cat fights and the not so subtle "politics"!

Song of the moment should be "We've come a long, long way together....through the hard times and the good...I have to celebrate you baby...I have to praise you like I should".

So today I praise my blogs, and my blogging career. My blogs will leave a lasting mark of myself on this earth. Perhaps this is the only way for an insignificant soul like myself to leave something behind.

I hope Google will be smarter than AG, and these writings will not get lost in oblivion.

My Favorite Bands

2011-10-04T10:16:00.001+06:00

A not so comprehensive list of my favorite bands and artists:

Acoustic Alchemy, A-Ha, Aerosmith, Astrud Gilberto
Beatles, Bob Marley, B.B King, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Bee Gees, Bryan Adams
Coldplay, Chris Rea, Carlos Antonio Jobim
The Doors, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Dio, Def Leppard
Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Elvis Presley, Ennio Morricone, Eminem
Frank Sinatra, Francis Goya
George Harrison, Garbage, Guns'N Roses, Gypsy Kings
Iron Maiden
John Lennon, Jennifer Paige, Jennifer Lopez, John Denver, Julian Lennon, Joe Satriani,
Leigh Nash, Lionel Richie
Metallica, Megadeth, Michelle Branch, Mark Knopfler, Marc Antoine, Michael Jackson, Michael Learns to Rock
Nirvana
Ozzy Osbourne
Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney
Queen
Rainbow, Rufus Wainwright, Ringo Starr, Ritchie Blackmore, Rahul Sharma, Richard Clayderman, Robbie Williams
Scorpions, Sixpence None The Richer, Shakira, Santana, Sheryl Crow, Sean Lennon, Steve Vai, Simply Red, Spyro Gyra, Stevie Wonder
Travis, Take That, Todd Rundgren
Utopia
Will Smith

Greeting, not Gritting, Please!

2011-09-04T17:33:00.004+06:00

Greeting, not Gritting, Please!

Wrote this article on a lazy afternoon.

Nova Hotel Reviewed

2011-07-31T15:50:00.007+06:00

This review is about Nova Hotel; situated in Jalan Alor--the brightly lit food street of Bukit Bintang district in Kualalumpur. Whenever I am traveling abroad, I try to book my hotel through Agoda. However, this time around, despite of rummaging through the seemingly unlimited number of accommodation options available in Agoda, me and my wife could not agree upon a hotel.

So what happened is that I kind of gave up the pursuit and my wife took over. She Googled "KL Hotels" and found out about Nova hotel from a website called Asiawebdirect. After looking at the impressive photographs of the hotel exterior, room interior and the toilet, we both agreed that this is the best option within our budget. I tried booking through Agoda but although the hotel was listed there were no free rooms during our traveling time.

We booked the hotel for 2+2 nights. We wanted to do an early check in on 21st July, 2011. We were supposed to reach Kualalumpur at around 5 AM and we wanted to move in to the hotel by 9 AM. When booking the hotel, we mentioned our special requirement. For such cases, Agoda would always give us a specific reply. Usually someone from the hotel in question is contacted by Agoda and the hotel directly replies back to the person who booked the rooms. On such an occasion, I booked a hotel for my in laws and asked Agoda whether there's any refrigerator inside the rooms as my father in law has to keep some medicine inside his room.

The hotel gave a courteous reply that although they don't have refrigerators inside the rooms, they can store any medicine inside their own refrigerators if it is handed over at the reception.

However, in our case, we arrived at the hotel at 8 AM and was told that we cannot check in early. in fact, we could not check in before 2 PM, or even later. We arrived in KLIA (KL International airport) at around 4:30 AM, and could not sleep. We waited till there was some sunlight and took a taxi to reach Bukit Bintang at 8. Me and my wife both were really tired and desperate for some rest. The receptionist at Nova hotel realized our situation and instead of helping us out, took full advantage of our vulnerable state.

She instantly conjured a brilliant(!) solution. I have deep suspicion that these people get a share of the rooms they book. She told me that we cannot check in to our booked room now, but instead she can give us an unoccupied "family room". She will not charge any extra money despite of the fact that we are checking in early. Instead, she will just take the extra amount, i.e. the price difference between the room I originally booked (superior room) and this new one. Sounds like a good deal, right? Read on.

This so called family room was actually for 3 persons, or more. The room was big with a double and a single bed, but nothing more. The air conditioning was good (which we realized later) and we got 3 breakfast coupons (useless as it's a buffet breakfast anyway). However, the fare was exorbitant. It was almost double of what I was paying for the superior room. The deal was almost like blackmailing. The receptionist lady was arrogant enough to say that "you can take this deal or come back after 2 PM". She even refused to allow us to keep our baggage inside the hotel.

Had I been a solo traveler, I'd piss on their so called deal and walk away from there. However, I was with my wife who was damn tired, and our luggage was also huge. So I decided to take the "deal" and check in to the room. We took a good 4 hour nap. After waking up recharged and refreshed, we went out to explore the amenities of KL.

Sleep was pleasant at night. The air conditioning was really good and the bed was comfortable. We woke up a bit late and went down for breakfast at around 9:30 AM. The cafe is ingeniously named "Cassanova Cafe". I have read a few morose comments regarding the average quality of the buffet breakfast in travel websites, but what I personally experienced was way below "average".

The menu was poorly designed with very little variety and irrelevant and cumbersome items. Few people would prefer to have rice as a breakfast item; no matter how tasty or famous "Nasi Lemak" is. There was no proper labeling on the food, so I skipped "cocktail sausage" suspecting it could contain pork. Refilling was done very casually, too. During my short stay of about 30 minutes, a particular dish or two was not refilled at all. The cooking was dubious and some familiar foods tasted different.

We checked out after staying for a couple of days. We were allowed to leave behind some of our baggage in their store room. They only agreed to keep the baggage when I told them that I have another booking and will get back after returning from Langkawi. However, the receptionist insisted that even though I have an internet booking, I should ensure the room's availability by paying the entire amount beforehand.

Now this was a ridiculous and outrageous proposition. The website Asiawebdirect collected 10% of the total room fare and gave me a booking voucher that guarantees a room on the mentioned dates. This voucher should have been good enough for guaranteeing me the room.

Another point to remind--the website and my confirmation slip mentioned free Wi-Fi in the room, but in actuality wi-fi was only available at the lobby. When I inquired about this mismatch, the hotel staff informed me that the information in the website is backdated; i.e. they used to have wi-fi in all rooms before they "renovated", but it is no longer available

The best things about this hotel can be viewed from outside--literally. Location is the best or perhaps the only selling point for Nova hotel. It is situated at the very end of the illustrious food street Jalan Alor. In order to get to the hotel from Bukit Bintang, you have to enter this street which remains lively until the late hours of the night with roadside food stalls and restaurants. One day we had our dinner at 2:30 AM and still there were no lack of customers in the stores.

These restaurants sell mostly Chinese and Thai dishes. Traditional Malaysian food is also available, and so are a few Indian and continental items. So it is always a better option to have your lunch and dinner in these comparatively cheaper restaurants. Even if you book Nova hotel, you can safely skip the breakfast option and save some of your precious money. You can spend it elsewhere. KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and Subway are all less than 5 minutes walking distance away from the hotel.

As the hotel is in Bukit Bintang, a number of shopping malls are also within walking distance. These are BB Plaza, Low Yat Plaza, Berjaya Times Square, Sungei Wang Plaza, etc.

Overall, I had a memorable stay in the hotel, but it was not because of the hotel--it was due to the proximity of nice places and the presence of my dearest wife.

I have some photographs taken by my camera which I will add here later.

Tales of Dhaka City Roads

2011-05-15T11:58:00.000+06:00

Please check out my article in

Here's the link

or you can read it here, too:

I observed a very unusual incident a few days ago. A young guy was talking on the cellphone while riding his bike. One cannot really imagine how this feat can be achieved unless seen by own eyes. To make things more incredible, he was actually using his one hand to attach the cell phone with his right ear while trying to maintain balance with his solitary unoccupied hand. Result—he stumbled in front of a car and almost got hit by the rickshaw I was riding. The guy had a minor fall and I gave him a friendly advice – “Brother please don’t use the cellphone while driving”. My words did not register in his ears; he did not even look at me. He simply got up, set his cycle on the street, gave a meek smile and within no time, I saw him repeating the same activity. Soon he had to slow down again to avoid getting hit by another speeding vehicle.

This is an extreme example of the roadside hazards that we face everyday in our beloved Dhaka city. Thanks to the bread earning job, everyday I have to make two mandatory travels—one in the morning and the other after sunset. Apart from these, I also have to do those small strolls and extended rides to satisfy various needs during the day time.

In my opinion, pedestrians and rickshawpullers are the prime reason behind traffic jams and accidents in Dhaka city. Almost everyday, we have to exercise rock’ n roll dance moves in our car in order to save the lives of a pedestrian or two.

Let me paint an everyday picture for a better understanding. Imagine you are driving your car at normal speed on a typical Dhaka evening. Car movement is slow due to dense traffic. Suddenly you notice that there is a significant gap between you and the next car ahead. Naturally, you would want to speed up to cover the distance. However, it is almost biblical that a stray pedestrian will want to utilize the gap and run to cross the road. So what happens is that you have to break hard, make some deafening tire screeching noise and stop the car “just” before hitting the adventurous jaywalker.

Now you just stopped yourself from killing an innocent. Innocent, is he? No, he is not.

He did not assess the traffic situation before attempting to cross the road. He failed to notice the incoming, speeding cars. He is totally irresponsible to both himself, his family and everyone around. He nearly killed himself, and it is only because of your extraordinary braking skill and driving finesse he can still glare at you unharmed. It is only natural that he will shout out obscenities at you for being a “mad, people killing” driver while you will be in a bewildered state.
The pedestrian walks away unharmed, but you, the driver, continue to remain grumpy and shaken. He just “unmade” your day. For the remainder of the journey, you tend to be over cautious and slow. This causes you severe annoyance to the other drivers on the road. They get impatient by your slow driving and make it a holy quest to show you the way “it is done”. For the remainder of your journey, all you hear is deafening honking of varied horns at the back.

According to everyone’s trusted friend Wikipedia, a vehicle horn is a sound-making device used to warn others of the approach of the vehicle or of its presence. However, I am quite sure that once overused, the “warning” part of the definition turns in to “annoying”. Actually a vehicle horn becomes a sound making device that is used to annoy others.

It seems that drivers are always keeping a hand on the horns just to annoy pedestrians and other drivers on the roads. The relentless honking of several kinds of horns (ranging from hare krishna hare raam type sounds to vuvuzela imitators) will make even the most ardent heavy metal fan’s ears revolt. It is a mystery how we, the Dhaka city dwellers are still eluding deafness. Or are we? Maybe there is some unpublished statistic that shows that on average, 80% of the city dwellers are already suffering from some kind of hearing imparity.

And these are just a few examples of what goes on in the streets of Dhaka....

Life's Little Updates

2011-05-03T17:58:00.000+06:00

It's been a long time since I just "blogged away". Most of my recent attempts at blogging centered around a particular topic or theme, and naturally, most of those entries are rotting in the drafts section. You can call it a writer's block or a publisher's nightmare, but the reality is--I haven't been able to finish them and it is most likely that they won't get published anytime soon. But then again, does anyone really care to read my blog anymore? I had a circle of blog friends some time back. They'd write, I'd read and vice-versa. But most of them, just like me, have become really busy with life and they just gave up writing. I used to know some really promising writers. It's a pity now that they can't find any time for blogging.

So what's been going on with my life?

I have a very involved social life now. Since getting married in 2009, most of my weekends are now occupied with visits to the in laws or attending some social event. I have a huge extended family. My wife has numerous uncles, aunts and a plethora of cousins. My own is not little, too. Almost every month someone has a birthday, marriage anniversary, or some other memorable event where anybody and everybody belonging to the social cohort needs to attend. These just can't be avoided. And, oh, by the way, the toughest of all are the full fledged wedding ceremonies. The cousins have started to get married, and each occasion yields 3-5 invitations on different days!

While I am not averse to enjoying these occasions, it becomes a bit painful when they fall during weekdays. To make things worse, sometimes the venues are too far away and sometimes I need to spend too much time attending them. I can't complain about an event where I have to show up in time, mingle with a lot of people, have a mouthful and return home peacefully. However, the ones where I need to actively participate, arrive long before anyone is even dressed up and stay till the last guest has left and a little bit more really bores me and wears me out. I am just not that social.

I always prefer a quiet day at home or a lovely evening with just my wife against meeting a hell load of people in a cramped space with inadequate air conditioning. Summer in Bangladesh is getting bad to worse. The other day the temperature inside the car (before turning on the AC and after it had been parked under the open sky for an hour) was as high as 45 degrees (centigrade). Spending a significant portion of the day in a highly comfortable environment has accustomed me to disliking any hot place.

Yes, I am talking about my office. The air conditioning works really well, and we are hardly warm--even during the winter. So any deviance from the comfort zone just irritates the hell out of me, and survival with a sane mind gets challenging.

So today I have another invitation, and it is after work. I still have an hour or two to go before getting out of work. Despite of having a heavy lunch "oh so typical" of Bangladeshi peoples, I am feeling hungry. But going out to grab a bite is not really possible right now and I don't think I will be doing that.

I have become quite regular on twitter now. I used to have a gadget added in my blog which shows my latest tweets. But unfortunately it is no longer there. When I had the gadget, I'd hardly use twitter. Actually, I totally missed the point of twitter back then. Now I use it as a weapon of mass ranting. All my rants, whines and complains against life gets dumped in twitter.

I have 583 tweets, and I am sure at least 550 of them are rants. Hehe, no, it's not that bad. But it is still worth a laugh reading all of it.

Right now I am chewing a piece of minty gum and waiting for the time to come. The time to get out of office, that is. A new album from Andrea Corr is coming up and I can't wait to hear it. I really miss the band Corrs and Andrea's first solo album hardly filled the void.

Lifelines is the upcoming CD. I hope I will be able to get it as soon as it comes out.

Ten feet high was a good album, but nothing exceptional. She tried to sing like a popstar in this album, but she should realize by now that her fans are more accustomed to listening to her voice the usual celtic arrangements of her band. Instead of violins and cellos, this album utilizes rock guitar riffs, pop drum beats and electronic sounds. While it works in a few tracks, overall the album was not great.

However, the album blue on blue by Leigh Nash was actually a great album. Leigh is relevant because both Andrea and Leigh started their solo careers after their well known bands went in to hiatus. The song kiss me is still one of my all time favorite songs by Sixpence None The Richer.

Good news for all, Sixpence None The Richer is active again and they will soon bring out a new album.

Anyway, enough of random writing for the day. Will resume some other day.

The skin jumps opposite the impersonal convenience.

2011-01-04T17:55:00.001+06:00

The skin jumps opposite the impersonal convenience.

Drafts and Drafts

2010-11-02T22:16:00.000+06:00

My blogger dashboard is filled with drafts and drafts. I have too many unfinished pieces of writing, which are beckoning at me to finish them up. But it is either a lack of motivation or a lack of time that prevents that miracle from happening. But fear not, someday those will get published and shared all over the world wide web.

You can't take the writer out of me, ever.

LOTR Funny Animation

2010-08-19T18:15:00.000+06:00

Things You Need to Know about Fifa World Cup 2010 Part 2

2010-06-22T15:14:00.000+06:00

Thanks for reading the 1st part of this article. If you haven't read it already, it's still up for your reading pleasure. If you have read that part, you already know the most important 3 things. Here's some more "good to know" facts:

1. WAG

WAGs (or Wags) is an acronym used particularly by the British tabloid press to describe the wives and girlfriends of high-profile football players, originally the England national football team.The term came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although it had been used occasionally before that.

Fab Cap is wag-ing a war against wags

We've been hearing this term long before the Fifa World Cup 2010 commenced, because the English coach Fabio Capello banned the presence of "WAG"s near the footballers during the tournament. Few other teams have followed suit. I was quite sick and tired of reading stories involving WAGs threatening coaches and the players moaning about their absence until I read this story:

Sara Carbonero, High On Tide WAG

Sara Carbonero, a beautiful sideline reporter and girlfriend of Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas, is being blamed by some fans for Spain's shocking World Cup loss to Switzerland on Wednesday.

The Guardian reports that the gorgeous sportscaster is accused of distracting her boyfriend by being so close to the field before and during the crucial match. Casillas allowed the game's only goal, and Spanish fans are worried that Carbonero could be to blame.The Spanish beauty later shot back at critics, dismissing claims that she "destabilized the team" as "nonsense."

After the game, Carbonero interviewed her boyfriend and asked him about the team's unexpectedly lousy performance. On live TV, she asked her lover, "How did you muck this up?"

Poor Robert Green, he had to watch his girlfriend, the ball, and his place in team slip away altogether

Spain's former coach also criticized the team after the surprising loss, telling reporters that the team didn't have "enough conviction" against the Swiss. Casillas is not the only World Cup goalkeeper whose performance is said to have been affected by romantic complications. English goalie Robert Green may have been torn up by his split with a young lingerie model when he allowed an infamous goal to the United States.

Also, in a triangle love scenario, John Terry lost his English captaincy. Eventually Steve Gerrard got the arm band, but England is yet to win a game and I feel they will have to pack their bags, take their rags, collect their wags and go home early this year.

Lol, poor footballer lads. Not only do they have to perform well, they also have to put up with this kind of stupid media stories that can affect their actual performance as well as personal relationships.

2. Hublot

If you've been following the world cup games, you must have noticed that all teams are required to have a player named "Hublot" in their squad and after a certain period of game, some off-form star is taken off to bring on "Hublot" to the game. Hehe, no, that's not really the case, but me and my cousin used this story as a running gag against our WAG, ahem wives to confuse them and to get some laughter out of it.

The Fifa guy and the Hublot guy

Hublot is actually a Swiss enterprise creating luxury watches and founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. Every time a player is changed, the fourth official hoists a electronic numeric board with the name Hublot written above it and the player jersey numbers displayed below--green guy is getting in and red guy is being substituted. The fourth official also uses it to show extra time remaining.

Mr. Hublot, the most prolific player of the Fifa WC

During the first game, me and cousin were shouting out "here comes Hublot--he will score 3 goals and win the game!". Wives took it naturally. However, when we repeated the same thing in the next match, they got suspicious and commented "how come there's a Hublot in every match?".

So when you watch a game next time, keep an eye out for the Hublots!

3. Red Cards

A red card is shown by a referee to signify that a player has been sent off. A player who has been sent off is required to leave the field of play immediately and must take no further part in the game. The player who has been sent off cannot be replaced during the game; his team must continue the game with one player fewer. Only players, substitutes and substituted players may receive a red card. Law 12 of the Laws of the Game lists the categories of misconduct for which a player may be sent off. These are:

Serious foul play (a violent foul)
Violent conduct (any other act of violence)
Spitting at anyone
A deliberate handling offense to deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by any player other than a goalkeeper in his own penalty area
Committing an offence that denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (informally known as a professional foul)
Using offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures
Receiving a second caution (yellow card) in one game

In most tournaments, a single direct red card (i.e. not one received as a result of two successive yellow ones) results in disqualification of the offending player for one or more of subsequent matches, the exact number of matches varying by the offence committed and by jurisdiction. Since the red card is the main punitive instrument against unsportsmanlike behavior, recurrent offenders and team captains are often punished more harshly than others.

So basically if you get a red card, it's good bye to you, my trusted friend. The Brazillian midfield supremo Kaká received a red card after receiving two yellow cards. The second card was given for a controversial elbow in the direction of Abdul Kader Keïta. The Telegraph called the incident leading to the second yellow card "an innocuous off the-the-ball incident"

There goes Kaka

Since then, many girls are unhappy and wondering when the pretty boy of Brazil will return. Hopefully he will return on the 2nd round match of Brazil.

So that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

P.S. All linked images are property of their respective owners. I have simply borrowed them to make this article more informative. Italicized portions have been borrowed from wikipedia or other trusted online sources.

Things You Need to Know about Fifa World Cup 2010 Part 1

2010-06-12T11:05:00.000+06:00

Without being too prejudiced, I can safely assume that some of you have little clue about why these 22 people in two distinct color starts chasing something called Jambura..err I mean Jabulani after a whistle is blown by another different colored guy called a "referee". No, this referee has no business with giving out references, nor do they need any.

To the people who have recently came from Mars to visit planet Earth and has no clue about the Beautiful game, here's my short list of "must know facts".

1. Vuvuzela

What the hell is this? Is it an obscure "Jela", i.e. district of Bangladesh? I got this response when I asked this question to some of my family members. No, it is not anything like that.

"Sometimes called a "lepatata" or a stadium horn, Vuvuzela is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. They require some lip and lung strength to blow and emit a loud monotone like a foghorn or an elephant."

So it's basically a very loud horn that makes an elephant like sound. When I first heard the sound during the opening ceremony of the world cup, it sounded to me like thousands of white blistering mosquitoes are horrendously humming, but apparently wikipedia thinks it's elephant, not mosquito, and of course wiki knows better....

2. Jabulani

No it's not really a Jambura (a south asian fruit), but instead it's a football. Yeah, the football that is played with the feet, not the ones you carry with and run like crazy bulls towards other crazy bulls (rugby/american football/boring stuff/NRB wannabes, etc. etc.).

The Adidas Jabulani is this year's football. It will be used in all the matches of Fifa world cup 2010. Most of the goalkeepers think it's a terrible ball, while some famous players (among which some has Adidas as one of their sponsors) have publicly praised the ball.

How is it made? (does anyone care?):

"The ball is constructed using a new design, consisting of eight (down from 14 in the last World Cup) thermally-bonded, three-dimensional panels. These are spherically-moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The surface of the ball is textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called GripnGroove that are intended to improve the ball's aerodynamics. The design has received considerable academic input, being developed in partnership with researchers from Loughborough University, United Kingdom."

So it's a science "ball" made with a lot of alcohols and these balls are 3D! Wow, after Avatar 3D, here comes 3D balls. This is the era of science indeed.

By the way, these balls are made "in China, using latex bladders made in India, thermoplastic polyurethane-elastomer from Taiwan, ethylene vinyl acetate, isotropic polyester/cotton fabric, glue, and ink from China", so every time Messi/Kaka/Mama/Chacha/Ronaldo is kicking a jabulani, he is actually kicking an Indian bladder (lol).

3. Waka Waka

If you are not doing the Waka Waka yet, you ain't got no life, fool!

"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" in English, and "Waka Waka (Esto es África)" in Spanish is a song by Shakira featuring Freshlyground. The song will be performed by Shakira and South African group Freshlyground, at the Closing Ceremony before the World Cup Final on July 11 in Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium

"Waka Waka" was written by Shakira and John Hill and co-produced by John Hill. The track, samples the chorus of the 1986 Cameroonian hit song "Zangaléwa", by Cameroonian band Golden Sounds, features Afro-Colombian instrumentation, Soca beat and South African guitars.The song was also based on Waka Waka by the Surinam-Dutch group Trafassi. The song consists of rhythmical African sounds, and represents the vitality and energy of the host continent. Indian music composers Salim and Sulaiman Merchant also collaborated with South African singers Loyiso Bala and Eric Wainaina to record the anthem for FIFA World Cup 2010

Damn, Indians again. They are taking over the world. They want the world and they want it now!.

Anyways, it's a catchy song with a nice beat. Even if you're a heavy heavy thrash metal fan who can't walk a moment without banging your head, you should try seeing, err I mean listening to this great song by "Shake"ira. You can at least check out the videos....

That's all for the time being. More to come...

Excerpt from Fail Book

2010-05-10T18:10:00.000+06:00

Album Review: This Way by Acoustic Alchemy

2010-04-26T18:27:00.000+06:00

Acoustic Alchemy is not a very new band. They have been around for some time, and it's all good. Starting from Red Dust and Spanish Lace in 1987, the band has walked a long way. AA (Acoustic Alchemy) purists are divided in opinion in regards to their recent works. The band had a number of line up changes in the last two decades, but they always stuck to the formula of having two acoustic guitarists playing together--one with steel string (Nick Webb), and another with nylon string (Greg Carmichael).

Greg and Nick were not the founder members, but the duo has been part of the most successful period of AA. After Nick Webb's death in 1998, the band took a new direction which has divided the fans. Miles Gilderdale, a student of Greg was brought in to fill the shoes of Nick, and the rest is, in my opinion, is history.

I am using the term "In My Opinion (popularly abbreviated as IMO in the internet)" because AA purists often differ in this case. They think acoustic alchemy, as an acoustic guitar focused smooth jazz band died with the death of its original frontman Nick Webb's death. According to the purists, AA got "soldout" and diverged from the promised formula of dual acoustic guitars. This allegation might be true to a certain extent., but it lacks dept.

A listener will clearly experience the difference between the music in recent albums like "This Way", "American English" and the music in earlier albums like "Natural Elements", "Positive Thinking", etc. However, not all of these changes are bad. Acoustic Alchemy is now a modern band that can satisfy the musical needs of today's listeners without going through massive changes. The proven and tested formula has been refreshed and enhanced by newer elements; it has not been replaced. There are still two acoustic guitarists in the band, and they still do alchemy, but now the music has been enhanced with the talent of many other musicians.

Whereas past albums focused more on the sound of the acoustic guitars, new albums, including This Way, includes a wide array of instruments ranging from electric guitars, horns, saxophones to bass solos, drum beats and congo beats. Acoustic Alchemy in 2007 is very different from their 90's incarnation, but the difference is positive.

The album starts off with a lovely, soothing tune called "Love Is All There Is". The song starts with a male-female chorus which could have been left out. The tempo of the song varies, but it sticks to a slow beat. Not the best album opener, but not bad, too.

Ernie is a beautiful assimilation of reggae and latin music. The song is a tribute to a renowned Jamaican guitarist, and the tune stays truthful towards the theme. With some words spoken in Bob Marley accent (read Jamaican) thrown inside, the song is something that AA fans have never experienced before. One of the highlights of the album, but might get a bit repetitive after a while.

Who Knows is definitely one of the better instrumental pieces in the album. The song flows smoothly with a saxophone and guitar fused introduction and ends with a confused state. Yes, I thought the song perfectly portrays a confused mind, asking the question "Who knows..."

After the somewhat slow to medium tempo songs, here comes Slampop, which does not use any complex instrumentation, but constantly flows with a perfect blend of steel and nylon guitar. While Greg delivers the consistent, similar beat guitarworks, Miles pauses the upbeat song and delivers his nylon solos. Afterwards both guitarists continue to play together and deliver one of the nicest songs in the album. This truly has been the AA formula, and it works once again.

Out of Nowhere is the best song in the album, period. From the introductory guitar solo towards the drum aided middle portions and the changes of pace throughout the song is mind blowing. This is a classic AA tune and it's just too nice. The song never gets old, and it never fails to soothe the mind. Whenever I have an agitated mind, I calm myself down by playing this tune on my Ipod. This song comes out of nowhere and appeases my mind.

This Way is another beautiful song. Probably the second best song in the album. This is also a peaceful tune.

The next part of the album consists of four average tunes and a better tune. Carlos the King is a tribute to Carlos Santana. The song is played in the style of Santana's playing, but the AA condiment is also present. A great tribute from a great band to a great guitarist. Can't fail.

The other songs are nice, and grows on to you, but they are not too impressive out of the box. Egg has an interesting sound that is not too common for AA. Now I'm On My Way plays a dreamy instrumentation, but the tune isn't that great. I'd call it an experiment that did not go too well. Tied up With String should not belong to an AA album. It's not that it's a bad song, but it just doesn't sound like AA at all.

All said, this is a must buy album for any Smooth Jazz fans, and Acoustic Alchemy fans should not miss it at any cost. This Way is a pretty old album now--it came out in 2007, but still it kicks in some good songs, and you can enjoy it while driving or before falling asleep.

Rating: 8/10

Any comments will be much appreciated.

The Remastered Stereo Boxset is Finally Here

2009-11-03T01:09:00.003+07:00

I still can't believe I own the Beatles Remastered Box set. It cost me a fortune, but every penny was well spent. I am just loving the redefined, clear, breath taking sound. Will review individual songs later. Here's some pictures taken today

Ain't The CD's Pretty? Click for larger view

Remove Virus in XP that Disables “Show Hidden Files”

2009-09-23T13:47:00.002+07:00

Source of this information is this page

"There is a certain virus that prevents XP users from viewing the hidden files.

The virus meddles with the ’Show hidden files and folders’ option in the Folder Options and the option keeps bouncing back to ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’, despite repeated trials.

Here is how you can set this problem right:

Navigate to the windows registry:
Go to Start menu
Click Run
Type regedit in the text box and then click Enter.

When the Registry Editor opens, perform the following steps:

Go to the following registry key:

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then open Software.Under this navigate to: Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Explorer Then go to Advanced -> Folder -> Hidden -> SHOWALL
Delete the value CheckedValue.
(Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 2 or 0.)

Create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD).

Modify the value data to 1 (0×00000001).This should enable you to select the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option without much problem.

Do drop in comments if there are further queries and we shall try to find answers."

This tip works! In fact, it works so well, that I am posting it here in my blog for future reference. This virus has troubled me a lot, and the last time I tried fixing it, I ended up formatting my hard drive and re-installing windows.

Thanks to the original author for this great tip.

My Beatles Gadget

2009-09-10T09:56:00.001+07:00

Rock Band Beatles Instruments

2009-09-09T14:52:00.003+07:00

Aren't these gadgets simply awesome?