A Night to Remember....
There are moments in life which you carry with you forever...The concert in Delaware day before yesterday was one such...The greatest reward for a band or for a musician is the appreciation the people give...Not every show does a band get a standing ovation....
The Oct 11 show in New jersey was also well recieved...but due to poor audio engg the first half show was a mess...though we got out of it and made the 2nd half of the show great, the shadow of the first half loomed large on our heads...we needed one opportunity to break out of it...we did it in the TAGDV (Delaware) show and we did it in style....
The show scheduled to start at 7 PM started at 9 PM, thanks to some lengthy speakers who were eager to get their share of people's patience...They tested our patience too..but I think we owe a little thanks to them bcoz the more they made us wait, the more we were pumped and eager to rock...so when "finally" it started we went through 19 songs NON-STOP in one amazing flow....there was stunning energy frm all the singers n instrumentalists....the flow was so gr8 we did not even bother to stop n get ourselves introduced...of course who would want an introduction when music is all the identity there is...
The show ended shortly before the hour n minute hands met...It was amazin how people stayed till the end of the show and even after we were done the crowd jus stood there applauding and giving a standing ovation...elated is not the word...that is when a greatest sense of achievement sinks in and you feel happy to be just a part of the entire thing how big/small your contribution is....
our official blog: http://blog.jerseyrhythms.com/
Other Videos of the concert @ http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=151701B035CEB386
Looking forward for another such experience at Harrisburg this coming weekend...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Its been a long time since I put in a post...my last entry was after Fed lost Wimbledon...Not that it had anything to so with my not writing though....Too much of work and too much of making "a mountain out of a mole" things took up most of my time during last couple of months...Well now having addressed most of my professional commitments for now I have some time in my hand left so I am using to write this post...of course both time and the hand...Here are some crucial updates from my side since my last post
- Roger won the US open...yeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!
- fell in love
- my parents came down to visit me....
- Trips to Niagara, NYC and DC with mom n dad....gr888 time...
- work pressure mounts...
- fell out of love
- my first concert in NJ...second in US (1st was in NYC)
- Project delivered successfully under tremendous pressure....
- way back into love...
- mom n dad left bak to India (miss em a loooot :( )
- managed to get rice....(to those who dont know too much of demand for rice here)
- celebrated Diwali with friends....
Well u can count out the ones with "love"...jus added them as fillers...else the list seemed small...
- Roger won the US open...yeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!
- fell in love
- my parents came down to visit me....
- Trips to Niagara, NYC and DC with mom n dad....gr888 time...
- work pressure mounts...
- fell out of love
- my first concert in NJ...second in US (1st was in NYC)
- Project delivered successfully under tremendous pressure....
- way back into love...
- mom n dad left bak to India (miss em a loooot :( )
- managed to get rice....(to those who dont know too much of demand for rice here)
- celebrated Diwali with friends....
Well u can count out the ones with "love"...jus added them as fillers...else the list seemed small...
Sunday, July 06, 2008
The King...Forever...
Words falter...A battle that lasted for 4 hrs 50 mins and as the cruel gameplan of fate unfolded, the world witnessed the defeat of the greatest tennis player ever who ruled the Centre court...I really did not watch the match completely, to be honest I could not...I had to deliberately switch channels just to avoid witnessing the defeat...
Roger Federer - The name rules tennis courts..Even the players idolize Him...His play is flawless...He is a champion even though he lost today...The fact that he battled 2 Championship points and fought to win 2 sets with tie breakers proves the material he is made of...This loss just proves one thing...That he is a human...Noone denies that...But he is the King and shall reign forever as one...Afterall one lost battle does not prove otherwise...
Words falter...A battle that lasted for 4 hrs 50 mins and as the cruel gameplan of fate unfolded, the world witnessed the defeat of the greatest tennis player ever who ruled the Centre court...I really did not watch the match completely, to be honest I could not...I had to deliberately switch channels just to avoid witnessing the defeat...
Roger Federer - The name rules tennis courts..Even the players idolize Him...His play is flawless...He is a champion even though he lost today...The fact that he battled 2 Championship points and fought to win 2 sets with tie breakers proves the material he is made of...This loss just proves one thing...That he is a human...Noone denies that...But he is the King and shall reign forever as one...Afterall one lost battle does not prove otherwise...
Monday, June 23, 2008
Dasavatharam...
Firstly let me put in a disclaimer that I am not a movie critic and have no intentions of putting down someone else's hardwork. Having said that, I take the liberty of penning my opinions of the movie Dasavatharam as a regular movie watcher.
Before I could say anything else, hats off to Kamal for daring such a movie. His performance is excellent in the whole movie especially in the roles of Poovaragan, Balran naidu and to some extent in Fletcher's role. The voice modulations, accent and body language are more than impeccable. The other roles I felt were overkill mainly Kalifullah, Patti and Avatar Singh, aleast the make up part of it.
Kamal as an actor is brilliant as ever and has put in a great deal of hardwork. It is evident from the way he has metticulously portrayed each role with great attention to minute details. That is all the more the reason why I feel he should have restricted himself to that area which he does the best. Agreed he is a great script writer and director which he established in movies like Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam. However just because he is all over the movie in 10 different roles it is hard to do justice to each area and there he fails.
The movie starts with Kamal's speech about Chaos theory. To be honest I got the wind that the movie is based on the theory before I actually watched it and had built an expectation. May be that is the reason for my disappointment but then again I was prejudiced. The 18th century nambi is tied to Vishnu idol and drowned in the sea. People say this is the initial condition for chaos that resulted in Tsunami in the last scene. My question is the role of Nambi in that. I feel Nambi's presence or absence neverthless would have resulted in the idol being pushed in sea. So the significance of that role is not justified.
Chaotic systems are dynamic systems which evolve dynamically with the progression of time and are sensitive to the initial conditions. Having defined that, my question is what is the chaotic system under question in this movie. Tsunami?? In that case the movie just shows the initial condition of the Tsunami (if you can accept that an 10 feet long idol can cause plate tectonics to change to trigger an earthquake and eventually a Tsunami). After that nothing in the movie really shows the evolution of that chaos. To make it simple, none of the events happening in the current state of the movie per say affects the happening of Tsunami. We cannot just say its chaos just because it is sensitive to the initial conditions as many dynamic system (tending to infinity) can be built based on mathematical model which can be deterministic and need not end in a chaos.
The events that go on with present day Kamal seem to be more a stochastic system rather chaos. Even if it can classified as chaos what is the relation between the Tsunami and this. Just that the time of both these chaotic systems converges which more simply can be referred as coincidence. There are such loose ends which is little haunting considering the intellectual movie maker Kamal is.
Again I'd like to reiterate that it is one of the good movies released in the year (not just because others were bad) and a very brave effort. But the screenplay is too soggy and is surfeit with complications. Though Kamal's 10 different roles were innovative and a treat to watch one fails to understand the rationale behind doing so with such a storyboard.
Firstly let me put in a disclaimer that I am not a movie critic and have no intentions of putting down someone else's hardwork. Having said that, I take the liberty of penning my opinions of the movie Dasavatharam as a regular movie watcher.
Before I could say anything else, hats off to Kamal for daring such a movie. His performance is excellent in the whole movie especially in the roles of Poovaragan, Balran naidu and to some extent in Fletcher's role. The voice modulations, accent and body language are more than impeccable. The other roles I felt were overkill mainly Kalifullah, Patti and Avatar Singh, aleast the make up part of it.
Kamal as an actor is brilliant as ever and has put in a great deal of hardwork. It is evident from the way he has metticulously portrayed each role with great attention to minute details. That is all the more the reason why I feel he should have restricted himself to that area which he does the best. Agreed he is a great script writer and director which he established in movies like Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam. However just because he is all over the movie in 10 different roles it is hard to do justice to each area and there he fails.
The movie starts with Kamal's speech about Chaos theory. To be honest I got the wind that the movie is based on the theory before I actually watched it and had built an expectation. May be that is the reason for my disappointment but then again I was prejudiced. The 18th century nambi is tied to Vishnu idol and drowned in the sea. People say this is the initial condition for chaos that resulted in Tsunami in the last scene. My question is the role of Nambi in that. I feel Nambi's presence or absence neverthless would have resulted in the idol being pushed in sea. So the significance of that role is not justified.
Chaotic systems are dynamic systems which evolve dynamically with the progression of time and are sensitive to the initial conditions. Having defined that, my question is what is the chaotic system under question in this movie. Tsunami?? In that case the movie just shows the initial condition of the Tsunami (if you can accept that an 10 feet long idol can cause plate tectonics to change to trigger an earthquake and eventually a Tsunami). After that nothing in the movie really shows the evolution of that chaos. To make it simple, none of the events happening in the current state of the movie per say affects the happening of Tsunami. We cannot just say its chaos just because it is sensitive to the initial conditions as many dynamic system (tending to infinity) can be built based on mathematical model which can be deterministic and need not end in a chaos.
The events that go on with present day Kamal seem to be more a stochastic system rather chaos. Even if it can classified as chaos what is the relation between the Tsunami and this. Just that the time of both these chaotic systems converges which more simply can be referred as coincidence. There are such loose ends which is little haunting considering the intellectual movie maker Kamal is.
Again I'd like to reiterate that it is one of the good movies released in the year (not just because others were bad) and a very brave effort. But the screenplay is too soggy and is surfeit with complications. Though Kamal's 10 different roles were innovative and a treat to watch one fails to understand the rationale behind doing so with such a storyboard.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Walking in the rain on a drizzly evening
First drops of rain hitting the ground,
Like jets of silver lilting down,
People around rushing for shelter overhead,
I start out my stroll in the beauty ahead.
Heavy droplets of rain falling with verve,
Yet so gentle not to make me wrench,
Like the care of a mother this rain descends,
Even in the might, its love transcends.
Through this runny curtain with head high,
Tiny droplets kissing as they drop-by,
With the trees swaying in the occassional wind,
The black clouds making the vista much more adorned.
Each droplet in itself purity personified,
Despite the humble sources from it has been drained,
These waters from heaven fervent to cleanse,
Dirt in air, land and minds alike.
Walking through this bliss of harmonious chords,
I feel like wordsworth, just without the words,
Realize there are miles before I sleep,
But I'll take a minute, for this moment to seep...
First drops of rain hitting the ground,
Like jets of silver lilting down,
People around rushing for shelter overhead,
I start out my stroll in the beauty ahead.
Heavy droplets of rain falling with verve,
Yet so gentle not to make me wrench,
Like the care of a mother this rain descends,
Even in the might, its love transcends.
Through this runny curtain with head high,
Tiny droplets kissing as they drop-by,
With the trees swaying in the occassional wind,
The black clouds making the vista much more adorned.
Each droplet in itself purity personified,
Despite the humble sources from it has been drained,
These waters from heaven fervent to cleanse,
Dirt in air, land and minds alike.
Walking through this bliss of harmonious chords,
I feel like wordsworth, just without the words,
Realize there are miles before I sleep,
But I'll take a minute, for this moment to seep...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Mood Kaapi....
I am one great personification of mercurial interests on the face of this earth...My interests shift between poems, technology, books based on time...even in books I oscillate from Relativity to Robin Cook...
Having said that my latest pick is carnatic music although I should admit music has been my one greatest love throughout....Carnatic music as opposed to common notion is a delight to learn...It has so much intricacies in it that you might be overwhelmed at times or worse demotivated....However it is arguably one of the best schools of music...
Coming to the topic under study...I was listening to Mood Kaapi orchestration by Illayaraaja yesterday and obviously I was very much heaved into it...Kaapi is a raaga derived from the Melakartha raaga called Karaharapriya...The whole family of raagas branched out from Karaharapriya are very expressive and has that emotional touch...
The signature of the raaga is S R2 M1 P N3 S.. S N2 D2 N2 P M1 G2 R2 S...In Raaja's composition I hit across a particular alaap of swaras which goes something like R R G R M G R G G M G M G R...I found this not right as according to the signature of this raaga, G should not follow R and M after G...However considering the novice I am in carnatic music I am not sure if my judgement is right...I doubt if Raaja has diverted from the raaga which is not unusual in film music or is the pattern right....Any inputs will be greatly appreciated....
I am one great personification of mercurial interests on the face of this earth...My interests shift between poems, technology, books based on time...even in books I oscillate from Relativity to Robin Cook...
Having said that my latest pick is carnatic music although I should admit music has been my one greatest love throughout....Carnatic music as opposed to common notion is a delight to learn...It has so much intricacies in it that you might be overwhelmed at times or worse demotivated....However it is arguably one of the best schools of music...
Coming to the topic under study...I was listening to Mood Kaapi orchestration by Illayaraaja yesterday and obviously I was very much heaved into it...Kaapi is a raaga derived from the Melakartha raaga called Karaharapriya...The whole family of raagas branched out from Karaharapriya are very expressive and has that emotional touch...
The signature of the raaga is S R2 M1 P N3 S.. S N2 D2 N2 P M1 G2 R2 S...In Raaja's composition I hit across a particular alaap of swaras which goes something like R R G R M G R G G M G M G R...I found this not right as according to the signature of this raaga, G should not follow R and M after G...However considering the novice I am in carnatic music I am not sure if my judgement is right...I doubt if Raaja has diverted from the raaga which is not unusual in film music or is the pattern right....Any inputs will be greatly appreciated....
Monday, March 24, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Of Audio interfaces n MIDI....
I am not sure how helpful this stuf will be for everyone but am pretty sure someone out there is desperate to get this done...so for that sake and to avoid anyone from going through sooo much pains that I went through am gonna elaborate on how to get audio outta MO...
MO6/8 are the line of synthesizers from Yamaha with pretty good features...It has one of the best sequencers I have seen...All said once you are done with sequencing a song you would want it to be transferred to your PC/MAC....Here is where you will have the problem...The USB interfaces in MO synthesizers are not capable of transferring audio data...The only output you can take out of the USB port is MIDI and that won't be good enough if you want the exact replica of what you sequenced on your keyboard...
The one main feature missing from MO that is present in MOTIF is resampling...In MOTIF you can resample your song or pattern to a wav file and tranfer it from the USB port....However I have found couple of work-arounds to get the exact song as it was sequenced to your computer...
First, you can record take the phones output and give it to the Line-In of your system...Using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) you can record the sequenced data from line in....The second option if you are not a fan of analog recording MO does have a digital output....Jus hook up a co-axial cable and plug it to the SPDIF Input of your sound card...But note not all the sound cards will have SPDIF In....
Worse is if you have a laptop, chances are the onboard sound card will not have a Line in....I had the same problem...How do u overcome...2 ways...One is buy an audio interface (M-audio has some pretty good ones for not so high a price)...or if u wanna notch it up a bit buy an external sound card..I bought an Audigy 2 NX and the recording below was through it...u have additional advantage of having a 5.1 DTS splitter in my case :)....
Happy recording....
I am not sure how helpful this stuf will be for everyone but am pretty sure someone out there is desperate to get this done...so for that sake and to avoid anyone from going through sooo much pains that I went through am gonna elaborate on how to get audio outta MO...
MO6/8 are the line of synthesizers from Yamaha with pretty good features...It has one of the best sequencers I have seen...All said once you are done with sequencing a song you would want it to be transferred to your PC/MAC....Here is where you will have the problem...The USB interfaces in MO synthesizers are not capable of transferring audio data...The only output you can take out of the USB port is MIDI and that won't be good enough if you want the exact replica of what you sequenced on your keyboard...
The one main feature missing from MO that is present in MOTIF is resampling...In MOTIF you can resample your song or pattern to a wav file and tranfer it from the USB port....However I have found couple of work-arounds to get the exact song as it was sequenced to your computer...
First, you can record take the phones output and give it to the Line-In of your system...Using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) you can record the sequenced data from line in....The second option if you are not a fan of analog recording MO does have a digital output....Jus hook up a co-axial cable and plug it to the SPDIF Input of your sound card...But note not all the sound cards will have SPDIF In....
Worse is if you have a laptop, chances are the onboard sound card will not have a Line in....I had the same problem...How do u overcome...2 ways...One is buy an audio interface (M-audio has some pretty good ones for not so high a price)...or if u wanna notch it up a bit buy an external sound card..I bought an Audigy 2 NX and the recording below was through it...u have additional advantage of having a 5.1 DTS splitter in my case :)....
Happy recording....
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Nothing
I think the creativity bug's bite has healed offlate coz I am spending so much time to think of writing something and end up without anything...My mind seems to be in a steady state of void without much fluctuations (not to be mistaken with yogic state)...So much that I couldnt get a topic for my blog entry and gave it nothing after spendin more time than it needed....
All said one could write about something as I am doing now coz there is no such thing as nothing and nothing in itself could mean lot of somethings...Anything and everything can be something and sometimes something can become everything....I know this won't make an ounce of sense coz it doesnt to me...
My this state can be attributed to the sole reason of striving for individuality....May be I am over ambitious to create a mark for my individuality and there by failing disastrously....I always dream of writing without thinking much....It should be more like a poetry and poems dont come when forced...According to me words should flow like a melifluous tone or like tranquil stream trivial but at the same time glorious in its own sense...
Talking about glorious I have come to realise that everything in this world has a reason to exist however small or large they might be..At the same time everything might not be exactly what it seem to be...If you start wondering the realms are limitless....Scientifically speaking Hydrogen is a highly inflammable gas....where as Oxygen supports combustion but not in itself combustible or else one spark n the whole world might blow up....yet the mixture of these two gives an anti-flammable energy more commonly known as water...same is the case with Sodium n Chlorine which are highly toxic to us humans...even in minute dilutions it can be fatal...but still the combination of these two becomes a vital part of our gourmet..nothin but common salt....
I can go on...but I think I made my point...There is no major conclusion as such if you are looking for one and it was never the intention of this blog...jus that there is a reason for everythin...the reason you exist...the reason you are reading this...
I think the creativity bug's bite has healed offlate coz I am spending so much time to think of writing something and end up without anything...My mind seems to be in a steady state of void without much fluctuations (not to be mistaken with yogic state)...So much that I couldnt get a topic for my blog entry and gave it nothing after spendin more time than it needed....
All said one could write about something as I am doing now coz there is no such thing as nothing and nothing in itself could mean lot of somethings...Anything and everything can be something and sometimes something can become everything....I know this won't make an ounce of sense coz it doesnt to me...
My this state can be attributed to the sole reason of striving for individuality....May be I am over ambitious to create a mark for my individuality and there by failing disastrously....I always dream of writing without thinking much....It should be more like a poetry and poems dont come when forced...According to me words should flow like a melifluous tone or like tranquil stream trivial but at the same time glorious in its own sense...
Talking about glorious I have come to realise that everything in this world has a reason to exist however small or large they might be..At the same time everything might not be exactly what it seem to be...If you start wondering the realms are limitless....Scientifically speaking Hydrogen is a highly inflammable gas....where as Oxygen supports combustion but not in itself combustible or else one spark n the whole world might blow up....yet the mixture of these two gives an anti-flammable energy more commonly known as water...same is the case with Sodium n Chlorine which are highly toxic to us humans...even in minute dilutions it can be fatal...but still the combination of these two becomes a vital part of our gourmet..nothin but common salt....
I can go on...but I think I made my point...There is no major conclusion as such if you are looking for one and it was never the intention of this blog...jus that there is a reason for everythin...the reason you exist...the reason you are reading this...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Freedom of Expression ??
I have been wondering if Freedom of expression includes the Freedom to dress according to your wish...That of course assumes the fact that the dress actually sheathes the region it is supposed to...If so then some of our so called political leaders should be put behind bars for intruding into the democratic right of a citizen say Shreya Charan..
I read this story couple of weeks back about Shreya's inappropriate wear causing lots of wear n tear and I really did not know how to react...I kinda wondered is Shreya's attire the most pressing national issue today coz it seems to be so by the way some people are reacting....To all those guys I would like to say just one thing "Dude..get a life"....
As per their statement it is against Hindu culture...I dont think there are any references to the way we should dress anywhere in our vedas...Besides I would like to pose a question to these guys who are taking Hinduism for their support, Do you really follow all the Dharmas Hinduism talks of...As far as I remember Hindu religion just talks about how you should lead your life and you people dont seem to follow the important ones atleast..2000 or 3000 years ago there werent pants, shirts or even for that matter sarees...
Besides who made you guys "cultural cops" proclaiming to clean up the society...if you have so much free time it 'd be good if you did something better like feeding the poor, bolstering unfortunate or educate unsupported children rather than ogling at shreya, analyzing her dressing and tell us where it is revealing (like we dint know already )...
I have been wondering if Freedom of expression includes the Freedom to dress according to your wish...That of course assumes the fact that the dress actually sheathes the region it is supposed to...If so then some of our so called political leaders should be put behind bars for intruding into the democratic right of a citizen say Shreya Charan..
I read this story couple of weeks back about Shreya's inappropriate wear causing lots of wear n tear and I really did not know how to react...I kinda wondered is Shreya's attire the most pressing national issue today coz it seems to be so by the way some people are reacting....To all those guys I would like to say just one thing "Dude..get a life"....
As per their statement it is against Hindu culture...I dont think there are any references to the way we should dress anywhere in our vedas...Besides I would like to pose a question to these guys who are taking Hinduism for their support, Do you really follow all the Dharmas Hinduism talks of...As far as I remember Hindu religion just talks about how you should lead your life and you people dont seem to follow the important ones atleast..2000 or 3000 years ago there werent pants, shirts or even for that matter sarees...
Besides who made you guys "cultural cops" proclaiming to clean up the society...if you have so much free time it 'd be good if you did something better like feeding the poor, bolstering unfortunate or educate unsupported children rather than ogling at shreya, analyzing her dressing and tell us where it is revealing (like we dint know already )...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Stars...
Stars as believed by some are known to influence course of life, astrologically speaking...I also have started believing in it the only difference is that they are not quite the same stars...I watched the movie Taare Zameen Par (Stars on the ground) couplea days back....I guess now you know which stars am talkin abt...
For those who havent watched the movie its about a kid who has difficulty in reading and writing and how he overcomes his inabilities with the help of a teacher...
The movie is a beautiful rendition of a poetic ode on a boy's difficulties and how he manages to win over them...I can be honest when I say its been a long time since I saw a movie which excelled in all parts like direction, screenplay, music, lyrics and importantly acting....The kid Darsheel who has done the part of Ishan has simply lived the character...As a matter of fact every actor in the movie dont seem to be acting...Its like thats wat their innate characters are to start with...
The music and the photography add beauty to an already elegant poem...Hats off to Aamir for his great direction and Amol for his great script...the movie is fulfilling in all aspects...I find it difficult to express the overwhelming feeling I felt towards the end of the movie which in a way in itself is an insinuation to the strength of the movie...
For people who havent watched the movie go ahead and watch it if you want to get in touch with your inner self...I wouldnt be overstating if I said that the movie is a heartwarming tale that can radically revolutionize the way you see things...
Stars as believed by some are known to influence course of life, astrologically speaking...I also have started believing in it the only difference is that they are not quite the same stars...I watched the movie Taare Zameen Par (Stars on the ground) couplea days back....I guess now you know which stars am talkin abt...
For those who havent watched the movie its about a kid who has difficulty in reading and writing and how he overcomes his inabilities with the help of a teacher...
The movie is a beautiful rendition of a poetic ode on a boy's difficulties and how he manages to win over them...I can be honest when I say its been a long time since I saw a movie which excelled in all parts like direction, screenplay, music, lyrics and importantly acting....The kid Darsheel who has done the part of Ishan has simply lived the character...As a matter of fact every actor in the movie dont seem to be acting...Its like thats wat their innate characters are to start with...
The music and the photography add beauty to an already elegant poem...Hats off to Aamir for his great direction and Amol for his great script...the movie is fulfilling in all aspects...I find it difficult to express the overwhelming feeling I felt towards the end of the movie which in a way in itself is an insinuation to the strength of the movie...
For people who havent watched the movie go ahead and watch it if you want to get in touch with your inner self...I wouldnt be overstating if I said that the movie is a heartwarming tale that can radically revolutionize the way you see things...
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