Help! Again

2 comments
I ask for you help. Again.
You may have checked out the song sample I composed and uploaded earlier this month. Well that one's almost done. A few final finishing touches and it'll be a free mp3 download:D.
But in the meantime, I was also working on another song. It was originially meant to be a grand ballad, for a fallen hero or something, but now I don't really know. I just can't get the lyrics to gel properly with the music. So I've uploaded just the instrumental, karaoke, if you may. It'll give you a general idea of the rhythm of the song, so that you can help me with the lyrics. Complete lyrics, incomplete lyrics, ideas, praise, criticism, advice, everything is very welcome. Click on the link below:
newsong2full.wav

Here's your chance to get your name up as a lyricist if I ever become a major star :D...

Some Seinfeld?

4 comments
Cutting straight to the chase, I watched Seasons 1 to 7 of Seinfeld in the past week, apart from all the Euro matches. I'm rooting for Spain because Fernando Torres plays for Spain. I like Torres because he plays for Liverpool. I like Liverpool because Manchester Untited hates Liverpool. And I hate Manchester United because, well, I don't really know. I faintly recollect that years ago, my brother and I would play FIFA 98 multiplayer, and I'd choose Man U, and lose most of the time. Then I started playing with Liverpool, and what do you know? One win after another.
And I love Seinfeld. I don't love Jerry Seinfeld, like I don't love any other men, I just love the show. That's why I watched seven seasons in seven days. And that's with a day of rest in between. I watched two seasons yesterday. And like you might have guessed, I have them all on DVD, well all save one or two episodes, which I have already watched on Star World. How I came into ownership of such a veritable treasure is a long story. One of my friends, who lives in IIT Kharagpur, incidentally, brought what he claimed to be all of Seinfeld, in high quality video back to college after the second semester break. Unfortunately, the idiot didn't know how to use DC++ and seasons 1,5,7,8,9 were .dctmp files, partially downloaded, that is. So that left me with seasons 2 to 4, thankfully in high quality video.
Now I was desperate for high quality video, that is 170 odd mb to an episode, as almost everyone already had the low qualtity 30 mb episodes, in which Kramer and Seinfeld look the same, and George is distinguishable because of the baldness. So I searched for high quality videos for a full semester, in vain. I came home dejected, and what do you know, an old friend of mine had them all, well except the final season. I could download it, but I already exceeded my download limit here and torrents are banned in college. And I'm sick of using limewire to download episodes one by one. And I'm sick of sitting in the library all day.
So this is an appeal. If anyone has, or knows someone who has season 9 of Seinfeld in high qualtity, please burn it on a couple of DVDs and send it to me. If you live in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Chennai, Trichy or Trivandrum, burn the DVDs and stay where you are, I'll come and get it.
Please!

An Excerpt from Hardy Potter's diaries

9 comments
(Hardy's adventures so far- episode 1, episode 2, episode 3)


So here we are, Trichy, India. I had a rough time in the bus to NIT, and somehow, I feel that it's going to get more hostile. Nancy is drpping with sweat, and that's washed away all her makeup. She looks like Emma Watson now, yeuch.

Anyhu, we entered the gates together, only to be stopped by a strange khakhi clad man with a huge potbelly and a bigger moustache. He looks at us and asks, "Thambi, which year? Which state? Which hostel?"

I looked at Nancy, alarmed. She nodded assuredly at me and started speaking, "Sir, the year is 2008, we're from California, and we don't live here. We just came to investigate the possible extinction of humankind." She gave him one of her 'thankyou' smiles.

The man did not understand a word. He just stood there and looked at us. More at Nancy than me. I was considering punching the guy in the face and running, when someone behind me spoke.

"Is there a problem?"

It was a tall guy sporting a t-shirt that had weird figures on it and a caption which said "Something, somewhere went terribly wrong". He seemed to be our age.

"Yeah! This guy won't let us in. He doesn't understand what we're saying," I said.

"I'll speak to him," he replied, and turning to the weird man, he said something in the same loud, nasal dialect that we had heard so much ever since we reached here.

"He says ok. Let's go."

"Thanks!" said Nancy.

"You're welcome!" he said, blushing slightly. What is it with Indian men and blond chicks?

"Let's catch an ice cream while we talk, shall we?" he suggested.

"Sure," I said.

So he led us about a kilometre into the wasteland, where a group of shabby shops had sprung up, not unlike an oasis. There was an ice cream place there, and I was amazed at how they got a huge bull to guard it. But then I remembered, hey, these buggers worship them. Probably returning the favour. We walked in and sat down.

"You guys didn't introduce yourselves, I'm Siddharth Mahesh, but my friends call me Mapute, or just Mapu."

We mumbled introductions, but I was curious about his nickname, and I asked him.

"Oh! It's a long story. But it has a nice tribal zing to it, doesn't it? Anyway, let's order."

We walked up to the counter and saw the menu. Very imaginative spelling. They somehow seemed to convey that they were special, not like any other ordinary ice cream place.



So we had our ice creams, and Mapute paid for us, despite my protests.

"Hey," he said, "I'm an NRI! Let me do my job!"

I didn't know if that was National Resources Institute or Negative Refractive Index, but neither seemed to make sense. I didn't enquire.

...to be continued.

Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of Mysteries-Episode 3

4 comments
Click for episode 1, episode 2.

Our teen super sleuths now landed in the strange faraway land of Trichy in their two seater supersonic jet. Potter opened the door, and the two spoke simultaneously,

"What heat, we'll get fried!"

"What stench, we'll probably die!"

And so started their sojourn in Trichy.

Now they had picked a random spot to land their aircraft, which turned out to be near the central bus stand at Trichy. They got out of the plane, an noticed a huge congregation of people of all shapes, sizes, colours and ages staring at them and speaking with each other in a loud voice in what seemed to be an almost completely nasal dialect. Bewildered, they walked towards the first person they saw, a short, stout man clad in an bright orange shirt and a very long waistcloth with a flowery pattern printed on it.

"How can we get to NIT, Trichy?", asked Carpenter.

The man looked at her, with a dumbfounded expression, screamed out "Enna, enna ithu? Paithyam, paithyam!" and ran away.

Two more people they talked to reacted in a similar fashion, so they gave it up. But as luck would have it, they spotted a bus with NIT written on it, numbered 128.

"Hey!", said Potter, "Let's get on than one!"

"Ooh! What an awesome sixth sense you have!"

"Awww, it was nothing!"

Everyone in the bus stand had to close their eyes for a while- two buses collided with each other and two hundred people were badly injured. The government was blamed, and a movie star, affectionately called 'chinna thala(small head)' by the people rose to power.

"Let's get going then,"said Potter.

There wasn't place to sit, even to place their feet properly, and they struggled for half an hour. Finally, a woman did get down, and Potter jumped and grabbed the seat. His muscles were only relaxing when he saw everyone in the bus staring at him suspiciously. The conversation of two men standing nearby, translated to English, is as follows:

"The nerve of that guy, sitting next to a woman in public transport."

"Yeah man. Who does that? Don't they know that only married couples are allowed to sit next to each other?"

"Of course! That's how we have kids right?"

"Of course man! Who'll pay for the Doctor now? And of course he'll have to marry her."

"Of course, that's the decent thing."

Now, the conductor was yelling "REC, REC, NIT!!"

"I think we get off here," said Carpenter.

"Oh! Ok then." Potter smiled and nodded to the woman next to him. She looked at him, terrified. Bewildered, Potter got out of the bus with Carpenter.

The two men who were conversing earlier broke into an angry dialogue:

"Man, we have to report him to the police!"

"Right! The guy took advantage of an innocent woman and abandoned her!"

The bus sped off, and Potter and Carpenter were stood before the gates of NIT, Trichy, unsure of what dangers would come their way inside.

Will the heroes find Lord Nag inside? Or will this journey be nothing more than a wild goose chase? Find out on the next episode of Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of Mysteries!

Eyes wide open

6 comments
Today has opened my eyes to many things.
  1. It's extremely hot at one in the afternoon in Delhi.
  2. A Maruti Zen is an extremely stubborn car.
  3. It is very difficult to push a stubborn car almost two kilometres in aforementioned heat.
  4. There are nice people left in the world.

As you might've guessed, our Zen broke down about two kilometres from home at one in the afternoon. If a Delhiite's reading, it broke down near the embassy of Qatar and we live in SP Marg (near the Taj Palace, incidentally). Since it was too close to home to abandon it there and too far away from a garage to call for help, in a moment of madness, we decided to push it as far as we could.

So began the first effort. We went probably 700 metres, looking into each passing automobile with pleading eyes, but to no avail. The next stretch was a climb up and we were bracing ourselves for a heculean effort when my eyes were opened.

A man in a scooter appeared out of nowhere and offered to help us. So there it was, my dad steering the car, the guy in the scooter riding behind us with a foot pushing the car forward and me trying to keep up with them on foot. I gave up the chase after a while, opting to walk home, rather than amusing passers by with my catching up act.

So I had to cover about a kilometre and a half on foot, in the sweltering heat. I consoled myself- hey it's better than pushing a car the same distance. Still, it was demanding work, and in seconds I was dripping with sweat. And then my eyes were reopened.

Out of nowhere came two men with plastic tumblers and buckets of cool sherbet. They walked straight towards me. One handed me a tumbler and the other poured sherbet into it.

My initial impulse was to tell them that I had no money (it was all in the car). But as though they understood my expression, one of them said.

"Pi lijiye bhaiya, garmi mein aa rahe ho."(Drink up, brother, you've been walking in the heat.)

"Thankyou ji," I said and gratefully drank up what was offered.

"Thoda aur piyenge aap?"(Will you drink some more?)

"Nahi Bhaiya, Thank you."

And I walked away, homewards, with my eyes opened twice by complete strangers, who, on first sight, we would have dismissed as inconsequential, even petty. I know I would've, and I've been proved wrong.

Thank God for the good people left on earth. But for them, I might've been too weak to type.

Ironically, I don't even know their names.

Rating please!

3 comments
Hello good people! I recorded a song of sorts- at least a sample. Please have a quick listen and rate it! Click the link below. Let me know if I can improve it. The audio quality's a little bad, recorded using my comp's internal mic. You may have to turn up the volume a bit. (For those who want to know, I used audacity and the recording is in 5 channels).

newsong.wav

Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of Mysteries- Episode Two

6 comments
If you missed episode 1, click here.

"So, what do we do now?", asked Potter.

"It's time to open the box", was Carpenter's reply.

"No! Not the box!"

"Yes! He would've saved it for such a calamity."

Now, as we saw in the last episode, their mentor, Dr. Bumblewindow had died. He had left them a strongbox, which said, as usual, "Do not open!"

"If you say so. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Cautiously, they approached the box. It was a large wooden crate with no latch, secured by rope tied around it.

"Well go ahead, open it, what are you waiting for?", asked Potter.

"Duh! I'm a lady. You open it!"

"Duh! You're my sidekick and you do what you're told, now open it."

"I help his solve mysteries and this is what I get. I'll start my own agency after this."

"Bullcrap. You can't live without me."

Crackle.... Reception lost for a while

"Ok. where were we? Ah, yes the box. Open it."

Carpenter undid the knot and opened the box. They found nothing but a single envelope inside.

"That's strange. Such a big box for just an envelope?", asked a puzzled Carpenter.

"Where are your sleuthing brains? The larger the box, the tougher it is to steal. So whatever's inside must be really valuable."

"You're so clever!"

Crackle... crackle...

"All righty then. Oops, almost forgot about the envelope. Wonder what's inside..."

"I'll take out my trusty letter open from my trusty kitbag."

"And kids," said Potter, staring at the camera, "that's why you should have a super hot sidekick with a trusty kitbag!"

Carpenter tore open the envelope and exracted a single A4 sized paper out of it. She read it once, and then, bewildered, passed it to Potter.


Potter stared at the paper with furrowed eyebrows. "What could this possibly mean?".

It was Carpenter's turn to explain a few things now. "I draw the following conclusions from this:

  1. It is clearly originally from a computer lab, where people where asked to keep quiet.
  2. The appaling grammar and the use of the rupee currency clearly proves that the author is from India, and most probably from the state of Tamil Nadu.
  3. And of course it is in a college, which can be inferred from the statement "trouble maker account will be disabled and fine Rs.500".
  4. Now, there are only two colleges in Tamil Nadu where the notices are printed in english, or at least they call it that.
  5. We can safely rule out the first one as there are only geeks and freaks there. So that narrows it down to one college in Tamil Nadu, India- NIT, Trichy.
  6. So we have to head to NIT, Trichy to locate Lord Nag."

"You never fail to amaze me!", said Potter.

Crackle... crackle...

So what do our super sleuths find lurking in the wasteland of Trichy? Will they find Lord Nag or is this all a big joke? Find out on the next episode of Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of Mysteries!

????????????

4 comments
The lines you see below are the lyrics to Porcupine Tree's song called 'Nine Cats' from the album 'Insignificance'. Prizes for paraphrases. And ooh, a bonus video at the end.

The butterfly sailed on the breeze,
Past a field of barbed wire trees,
Where golden dragons chased around,
Pampered poppies on the ground.
Two silver trout sat way on high,
And watched a royal samurai,
Plant two black orchids in a box ,
And strap it to a laughing fox.
A minstrel bought a crooked spoon
He gave it to a blue baboon,
Who filled it full of virgin snow
And watched it in the afterglow.
Fat toad stood in his ballet shoes,
Teaching sixteen kangaroos,
How to skip across a lake.
They found it hard to stay awake.
A pharaoh played a merry tune
And watched nine cats dance on the moon.
I didn't know what all this meant,
I didn't know why I'd been sent.
I threw 5 clocks down on my bed,
The chimes danced out on golden threads
And turned to footprints on my wall
Sequined tears began to fall.


Caught on tape...

2 comments



The first videos I made with my new guitar. Not very good, but not very bad either. I'll be posting more soon, so watch out!

Arbit

3 comments
Little Kenny thinks a penny
Is too steep for these lines.
I tell him sonny, don't be funny,
Or I'll stop being nice.
"You're really bad, I'll tell my dad!",
The imp, he says to me.
"Run home and tell, I'll show him hell!",
I yell defiantly.
So the yellow laddie gets his daddy
To throw a punch or two.
But the stupid git just couldn't hit,
He didn't have a clue.
One punch I threw, it went straight through,
And hit his solar plexus.
He fell to the ground, victory I'd found.
Then I went home in the next bus.

P.S. And hey, check out the cool Simpsonmaker widget right at the bottom of the page, and also the wordfinder widget. Nice huh?

I, Ibanez!

3 comments
Whoa!


I can hardly say anything else. I now own an Ibanez V72E acoustic guitar. You'll probably see it splashed all over my orkut account, and I've even made it my gtalk custom message, but the fact remains that I now own an Ibanez, which is light years above the Givson 150 that I used to play on. It cost me INR 8650 for the guitar plus the works- gigbag, capo, strap and an extra set of authentic D'Addario bronze strings. A fortune, I agree. But I'm not complaining.




About this particular guitar, it has a spruce top, mahogany back, sides and neck, and a rosewood fretboard. It comes with a handy on board tuner.

And I've found out that a list of famous Ibanez users include:

  1. Michael Einziger of Incubus
  2. Gareth Davies of Funeral for a Friend
  3. Brad Walst and Barry Stock of Three Days Grace
  4. Terry Balsamo of Evanescence
  5. Chris Broderick of Megadeath
  6. Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park
  7. Mike Deowolf and Steve Richards of Taproot
  8. Ed Faris of Adema
  9. Tom Fischer of Celtic Frost
  10. Martin Hagstrom of Meshuggah
  11. Dexter Holland, Greg K and Noodles of The Offspring
  12. Steve Holt and Mike Whitney of 36 Crazyfists
  13. Sean Kipe of Course of Nature
  14. Munky and Fieldy of Korn
  15. Mike Mushok of Staind
  16. Josh Rand and Corey Taylor of Stonesour
  17. Matt Roberts of Three Doors Down
  18. Mike Thomson and Paul Gray of Slipknot
  19. Dave Weiner, and Steve Vai himself!
  20. David Williams, with Michael Jackson
  21. and a lot more.

Here's hoping that some day, someone buys an ibanez and makes a list like this and it has my name on it, cheerio!

Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of mysteries!- Episode 1

2 comments

"Guitar string.... number 5.... Karuna Musicians... world... end... die... aaaaargh...." were Dr. Bumblewindow's final words.
Teen super sleuth Hardy Potter and his faithful sidekick Nancy Carpenter stood by him and watched him die. It was a painful moment for both of them. Dr. Bumblewindow was like a father to them. Like all other fictitious teen heroes, Potter and Carpenter were orphaned at the age of two, when their parents were dismembered and disemboweled right before their eyes by the evil villain Lord Nag. Bumblewindow took under his wing and nursed them. He watched them grow from toddlers to brave, adventurous teenage sex symbols, with considerable pride.
But now, our teen heroes did not have time to mourn their saviour's passing. They had to save the world from Lord Nag's evil scheme. And Bumblewindow's cryptic clues didn't make sense either, until Nancy suggested, "Hey Hardy, I have Karuna Guitar String Number five in my trusty kitbag!"
"Excellent!", replies Potter, and adds, staring into the camera, "And kids, that's why you need a super hot sidekick with a trusty kitbag."
Carpenter turns pink and gives Potter a loving punch. (The rest of this scene is cut out in theatres, for the general public, but can be caught on youtube, at least till before they remove it, or on rapidshare.)
Our exhausted young detectives now try to fathom the Doctor's clue. "Hmm... I wonder... aaah!", says Potter.
"Are you onto something?", enquires Carpenter.
"Not yet, but maybe looking up 'immitation' in Sleuthing For Dummies may help."
"Good idea. You're so clever!" (try Youtube or Rapidshare again.)
The next morning, Potter is at the breakfast table with his newspaper and his cereal, and Carpenter makes her entry.
"I just borrowed Sleuthing for Dummies from Holmes and Watson next door", she said.
"Such a cute couple they make, don't they?"
"Yeah. And they're strangely indifferent towards Brokeback Mountain."
"I know. Watson says it doesn't have enough... umm... passion. He pored through Youtube for weeks, and then through innumerable blogs searching for rapidshare links, but couldn't find one, you see, for the missing links."
"Oh... I see. But hey, look up that word now."
"Oh yes, the word... hmmm, aaah! Here it is."
Immitation- from "imminent" and "castration", meaning imminent castration. Will lead to the destruction of male population, ergo eventual extinction of humankind.
"Oh no!", cried Potter. "We're done for this time. Nag will destroy us!"
Carpenter, however, had a determined expression on her face. "Not yet, Hardy. Not while we're there to ruin his plans of world conquest."
Will Lord Nag succeed in immitating the world? Or will our superheroes be able to, once again, foil his evil scheme? Find out on the next episode of "Potter and Carpenter, and the Mystery of mysteries!"