The Jungle Crows won us the u-14 rugby world cup. Bravo!
I look around and find the cities breeding mostly pansies these days; and they can fry in the lard of their burgers for all I care.
Go crows go!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Here come the jungle crows
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Kiai Master vs MMA
Everything I ever had to say about MMA being the real deal is expressed best by this laugh riot of a video. I was rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-my-ass-off at the antics of the old geezer and how the MMA guy sticks it to him big time.
Steven Segal, the quintessential Hollywood bone breaker made much of his Aikido and his exotic martial art training in Japan. The buffoon once challenged he could get out of any hold using his mastery of Ki, the energy force, a la master Yoda of Star Wars. A judoka, a stunt extra on one of his sets took up the challenge and applied a hold that had Steven not only passing out but passing out so bad he lost control of his sphincter, ending up in a shitty mess. So this poor kiai master is not the first one to have dug his own grave. I wonder if years of dishing out the baloney and a bunch of sycophantic followers (like those twisting and tumbling students of the kiai master) these guys really start to believe they are worth anything against those who really know how to throw and take a punch.
A real fighter is like this, Fedor Emelianenko. He is the best in the world today. Respect.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
How to dismantle an atomic bomb.. kind of
This post made me ponder over a possible solution to stop the self destructive march of mankind - what with the humankind having found little else over time besides killing in one way or another to keep itself busy with. Wars and genocides are pretty much all that we have to show for our history. It's funny really to think of how minuscule our existence is in this cosmos and yet in our miserly little world we live with missiles pointed at each other. Like it was a game to avoid grand boredom out of so much loneliness in our seemingly lifeless stellar neighborhood. For such a stupid world, what could possibly be a reason to stop the madness?
The answer, perhaps lies in UFOs. Not ordinary UFOs, but hostile ones. Beam images of unfriendly alien ships descending, kidnapping and killing earth-folk and you would stir the collective fears of all earthlings. In the face of a bloodthirsty alien, threatening all human existence, the human race would band together like a bunch of frightened sheep. And there will be forced amongst the peoples of the world, discussions for strategies to counter the common enemy. An existence saving inter-galactic war would seem very imminent, encouraging or forcing, as the case may be, the people to live together and look at the earth as a common resource in the everlasting preparation for the star war(s). In such a situation, people would perhaps realize it didn't matter where the individual countries' borders stretched or what religion was supreme. If not forgotten, such issues will at least be relegated to a secondary status to the need for preserving the human mark in the universe.
Ender's Game?
The answer, perhaps lies in UFOs. Not ordinary UFOs, but hostile ones. Beam images of unfriendly alien ships descending, kidnapping and killing earth-folk and you would stir the collective fears of all earthlings. In the face of a bloodthirsty alien, threatening all human existence, the human race would band together like a bunch of frightened sheep. And there will be forced amongst the peoples of the world, discussions for strategies to counter the common enemy. An existence saving inter-galactic war would seem very imminent, encouraging or forcing, as the case may be, the people to live together and look at the earth as a common resource in the everlasting preparation for the star war(s). In such a situation, people would perhaps realize it didn't matter where the individual countries' borders stretched or what religion was supreme. If not forgotten, such issues will at least be relegated to a secondary status to the need for preserving the human mark in the universe.
Ender's Game?
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Take heart, take heart, O Bulkington! Bear thee grimly...
Here's how Herman Melville proceeds with making a point,
1) I must state an important fact which everyone should be aware of.
HM:
In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell eloquently upon his cause--such an advocate, would he not be blameworthy?
2) Coronations of Kings and Queens in certain countries involve anointing the important person's head.
HM:
It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be a castor of state. How they use the salt, precisely--who knows? Certain I am, however, that a king's head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery? Much might be ruminated here, concerning the essential dignity of this regal process, because in common life we esteem but meanly and contemptibly a fellow who anoints his hair, and palpably smells of that anointing. In truth, a mature man who uses hair-oil, unless medicinally, that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general rule, he can't amount to much in his totality.
3) The supreme quality coronation oil comes from the sperm whale.
HM:
But the only thing to be considered here, is this--what kind of oil is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar oil, nor castor oil, nor bear's oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils?
4) We whalemen are in a noble profession.
HM:
Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!
And people question me why I haven't yet finished reading Moby Dick. By the time I finish reading and actually understanding it, I'd probably have read the six hundred pages four times over. As is evident, only for literal meanings (like the one liners I have put up above) Mr Melville wouldn't have spent such effort on the intricacy of this prose. That adds another direction to think of all the time.
Blink, and miss it. Fun.
1) I must state an important fact which everyone should be aware of.
HM:
In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell eloquently upon his cause--such an advocate, would he not be blameworthy?
2) Coronations of Kings and Queens in certain countries involve anointing the important person's head.
HM:
It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be a castor of state. How they use the salt, precisely--who knows? Certain I am, however, that a king's head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery? Much might be ruminated here, concerning the essential dignity of this regal process, because in common life we esteem but meanly and contemptibly a fellow who anoints his hair, and palpably smells of that anointing. In truth, a mature man who uses hair-oil, unless medicinally, that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general rule, he can't amount to much in his totality.
3) The supreme quality coronation oil comes from the sperm whale.
HM:
But the only thing to be considered here, is this--what kind of oil is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar oil, nor castor oil, nor bear's oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils?
4) We whalemen are in a noble profession.
HM:
Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!
And people question me why I haven't yet finished reading Moby Dick. By the time I finish reading and actually understanding it, I'd probably have read the six hundred pages four times over. As is evident, only for literal meanings (like the one liners I have put up above) Mr Melville wouldn't have spent such effort on the intricacy of this prose. That adds another direction to think of all the time.
Blink, and miss it. Fun.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Google sees through you
A report on a randomly chosen AOL user divulged the following internet searches the user carried out - "termites", "tea for good health" and "mature living", all within a few hours. Well, makes me wonder how intimately a person may be known given one's internet searches. Such a life sketch they are - from the mundane interests, pleasures and irritants to the deepest secrets and desires. All revealed by those little phrases we punch away in the Google search box.
Gives me an idea of a dating site that matches people based on their internet searches. Should work - given people's inclination to meeting people as like minded as themselves.
But I'd like to make it better by having it match people such that certain areas of disagreement, perhaps a little more profound than things like favorite color, remained. Complete agreement makes for dull conversation.
Gives me an idea of a dating site that matches people based on their internet searches. Should work - given people's inclination to meeting people as like minded as themselves.
But I'd like to make it better by having it match people such that certain areas of disagreement, perhaps a little more profound than things like favorite color, remained. Complete agreement makes for dull conversation.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Sunshine girl
Here's another soul looking for some salvation from corporate mornings. But I wonder why an epithet like "Sunshine Girl" doesn't seem ominously portentous to him. Unlike him, I use the company bus to travel to office. Though glad to not have to negotiate Hosur road in my own car (something that brings dangerous things like inevitability of death and meaninglessness of life to my mind), this little luxury has cost me dear. I have been invountarily subjected to the Sunshine Girl treatment for some time now. There's no escape as the radio onboard the bus, but for Radio City, tunes into only extraterestrial noise.
Now my problem with the sunshine girl is that she bears the burden of having to live up to the title by sounding really really happy and cheerful at all times. I can bet my pants there isn't a person in the world who feels that cheerful everyday. And Vasanthi must be no exception. Hence, the forced happiness and choir girl cheeriness facade she puts up really rankles me. Then there are grim mornings (we're talking really early mornings here) when you'd give anything to savour some silence but a character like that yapping pointlessly on air is a source of great misery. Especially when there isn't really anything smart or funny that she ever has to say apart from a lot of "Great"s, "Wow"s, "GGoodd Morrrning"s and other crappy smalltalk. If it weren't for the usual Nazia Hasan kind of retro numbers the show would be absolutely trash. Vasanthi's voice does have a beautiful timbre, but I would trust her little for anything more than talking back to me on my telebanking number. I demand more from an RJ than voice harmonics.
I haven't heard an RJ that really interested me in quite a while. The last really good one I can recall was Shamsheer Rai Luthra from my days in dilli when FM radio had only just arrived. Easy going, witty and fun. Very alike to a relaxed chat with buddies on vacation mornings. And a playlist where you could as much expect a Nusrat classic as a Mika or a Metallica number - deftly interwoven with the agendas of the meandering talk.
Oh, and by the way the Sunshine Girl's show also features a zillionth spin-off of Lola Kutty - Lingo Lila. Suffer her and you'd wonder what the whole fuss about chemotherapy is.
Now my problem with the sunshine girl is that she bears the burden of having to live up to the title by sounding really really happy and cheerful at all times. I can bet my pants there isn't a person in the world who feels that cheerful everyday. And Vasanthi must be no exception. Hence, the forced happiness and choir girl cheeriness facade she puts up really rankles me. Then there are grim mornings (we're talking really early mornings here) when you'd give anything to savour some silence but a character like that yapping pointlessly on air is a source of great misery. Especially when there isn't really anything smart or funny that she ever has to say apart from a lot of "Great"s, "Wow"s, "GGoodd Morrrning"s and other crappy smalltalk. If it weren't for the usual Nazia Hasan kind of retro numbers the show would be absolutely trash. Vasanthi's voice does have a beautiful timbre, but I would trust her little for anything more than talking back to me on my telebanking number. I demand more from an RJ than voice harmonics.
I haven't heard an RJ that really interested me in quite a while. The last really good one I can recall was Shamsheer Rai Luthra from my days in dilli when FM radio had only just arrived. Easy going, witty and fun. Very alike to a relaxed chat with buddies on vacation mornings. And a playlist where you could as much expect a Nusrat classic as a Mika or a Metallica number - deftly interwoven with the agendas of the meandering talk.
Oh, and by the way the Sunshine Girl's show also features a zillionth spin-off of Lola Kutty - Lingo Lila. Suffer her and you'd wonder what the whole fuss about chemotherapy is.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Chakk de India?
With great repugnance I have been watching the promos of this new shahrukh khan movie. Everytime I see visuals of Sharukh Khan wearing the irritating smirk, doing the bollywood patented slow motion strutting accompanied by the seedy theme song, I develop a strong urge to throw up or bang my head against the nearest wall. It really gets my goat to see bollywood trivialising rampantly and constantly feeding us such melodrama.
Sharukh says this is a movie that breaks stereotypes - why? - because it's about hockey; it's about women's hockey; it's about Indian women's hockey led by a muslim coach. Ugh, this is anything but breaking stereotypes. I have lost count of how many earnest muslim police officers I have seen in bollywood. I have already watched lagaan. The theme song might as well be any of those that play in karan johar's mind numbing movies when the tommy hilfiger clad hero lands in amreeka. It's absolutely in the same mould of the terrible bollywood formula. I am irked because this time it's being done to the thing I love - sports.
I can predict how superficial the movie would be but as we all love to wear our patriotism badges high, when the movie is released viewers will no doubt say how uplifting the movie is because the Indian team comes out trumps in the end. The predictable denouement having occurred through little more than a series of songs and superfluous dialogue would not seem to bother too many since we, Indians are not really sport lovers. We lack the ability to recognise and understand the sheer mental and physical investments athletes make to perform at the international level. So, watching real sporting performances can never generate genuine admiration from within us.
One day cricket works because it's another form of an Indian movie. However, even that is not saved from the unique Indian attitude. What else would explain pot-bellied slobs questioning Irfan Pathan's lack of pace, or junta labelling every Indian loss to "paise khaye hue hain". No Sir, don't expect too much from us. We are happy with the king khan of plastic smiles telling us about one of Indian sport's finest achievement and how it was accomplished.
I would, however be glad to have the Indian audiences prove me wrong. If the promos are an aberration and the film proves me wrong, better.
Update
I saw the movie today. The movie did not turn out as bad as I expected. I liked the fact that hockey and the girls took centerstage and not Shahrukh. Also, it was good to see the movie bring out the widespread ignorance of the Indian junta to what sport is, with the news media only making it worse. Shilpa Shukla, wow, fine acting.
Sharukh says this is a movie that breaks stereotypes - why? - because it's about hockey; it's about women's hockey; it's about Indian women's hockey led by a muslim coach. Ugh, this is anything but breaking stereotypes. I have lost count of how many earnest muslim police officers I have seen in bollywood. I have already watched lagaan. The theme song might as well be any of those that play in karan johar's mind numbing movies when the tommy hilfiger clad hero lands in amreeka. It's absolutely in the same mould of the terrible bollywood formula. I am irked because this time it's being done to the thing I love - sports.
I can predict how superficial the movie would be but as we all love to wear our patriotism badges high, when the movie is released viewers will no doubt say how uplifting the movie is because the Indian team comes out trumps in the end. The predictable denouement having occurred through little more than a series of songs and superfluous dialogue would not seem to bother too many since we, Indians are not really sport lovers. We lack the ability to recognise and understand the sheer mental and physical investments athletes make to perform at the international level. So, watching real sporting performances can never generate genuine admiration from within us.
One day cricket works because it's another form of an Indian movie. However, even that is not saved from the unique Indian attitude. What else would explain pot-bellied slobs questioning Irfan Pathan's lack of pace, or junta labelling every Indian loss to "paise khaye hue hain". No Sir, don't expect too much from us. We are happy with the king khan of plastic smiles telling us about one of Indian sport's finest achievement and how it was accomplished.
I would, however be glad to have the Indian audiences prove me wrong. If the promos are an aberration and the film proves me wrong, better.
Update
I saw the movie today. The movie did not turn out as bad as I expected. I liked the fact that hockey and the girls took centerstage and not Shahrukh. Also, it was good to see the movie bring out the widespread ignorance of the Indian junta to what sport is, with the news media only making it worse. Shilpa Shukla, wow, fine acting.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Us vs Them
"Programmers are in a race with the Universe to create bigger and better idiot-proof programs. The Universe is trying to create bigger and better idiots.
So far, the Universe is winning."
- Anon
So far, the Universe is winning."
- Anon
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Interesting
Jules Verne’s description of a futuristic society where culture has declined to abysmal levels:
A Man walks into a store and asks for the complete works of Victor Hugo.
The man behind the counter in the store asks “What did he write?”
Are we there ?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Mrs Robinson
The famous words "I am not trying to seduce you. Do you want me to seduce you?" belong to Mrs Robinson. I didn't know that before I saw the movie, so when the magic words escaped Mrs Robinson in her sultry voice it had my hair rising. With my watching of this movie, Mrs Robinson's enchantment of me is complete. Anne Bancroft has done a stellar job of playing the seductress - the kind of performance that sets archetypes - a huge achievement in that people's viewing of your performance limits their ability to imagine if it could be delivered any better. Oh, I am in love with Mrs Robinson. Simon n Garfunkel' s haunting music is no help either trying to get over the movie experience. "The sound of silence" continues to ring in my ears, the words "are you going to the scarborough fare", and ofcourse "god loves you Mrs Robinson.." simply refuse to go out of my head. Benjamin Braddock's character connected with me as a drifter. Atleast a few times a week I am a drifter. I'm sure there are others out there who found this movie to be a trip; a marijuana high. Also, I equally understand why for some it'll remain inexplicable that the movie connected with the youth of its times, heck, even these times. Mrs Robinson, I would like you to seduce me...
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Discovered Bonnie Raitt...
As I fished around for great blues music I have discovered Bonnie Raitt. Been digging the track "Black Velvet" and it continues to grow on me. Looks like she started out with a pure blues sound and gradually moved to a more conventional poppish sound, but it's her earlier blues heavy music that amazes me. Blues always brought the likes of Clapton, Allman Brothers, Muddy Waters, CCW and ofcourse BB the king to my mind and their sound was what defined Blues in my head. But now I listen to this female and realise it's so different yet very truly blue. This is definitely another dimension to Blues...
There's been legends like Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin before, but she latches onto me like nothing else and then she does her guitaring herself...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Couple of good movies
Murderball
This documentary follows over a period of time the lives of a set of guys involved in "Murderball", better known with the more marketable name of Wheelchair Rugby or Quad Rugby (Quad deriving from quadriplegic). As a rugby player I know what it takes to play the game so watching the quadriplegics playing it with such intensity was inspiring, moving, and an adrenaline rush for me. The label Murderball depicts most aptly the death metal (metal , literally) flavor of rugby this is. It's full contact - hard and uncompromising. Infact the vigor these guys emanate is enough for you to forget the disability aspect of their lives altogether. On the contrary that they are on wheels seems to be what makes them superioir to the other normal guys. These are tough nuts that need no pat on their backs or sissy sympathies towards their disabilities.
There are parts to the documentary that you would understand better if you are yourself an action junkie. Not one of those who sit around watching TV calling all the skateboarding, mountain biking, x-gaming kids idiots. It takes that to understand how the motocross racer disabled from an accident feels when made to understand that his body may no longer allow him to continue dirt biking. How it would feel to sit in a wheelchair and get wistful looking at the dirt bikes in your garage. How it would feel to see the family making *arrangements* - a handicap sign for your car, a modified loo - for you. And finally, how quad-rugby could bring back the promise of a real life back to a guy who lives and breathes the motorbreath.
Best to be seen and experienced.
Good night, and good luck
As I watch the news stations today covering the "AbhiAsh" wedding, I can't think of a more fitting discourse as in this movie - taken form the actual speech delivered by Ed Murrow - the character this film is based on. I'll word out the extracts verbatim here, they say it all...
About the content of television media he says thus,
"Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live."
And this, is his reply to those that believe that trivia and senseless entertainment is all that most public demands and real hard-hitting programming has no takers..
"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."
The current state of our media especially television really does need drastic changes. The news channels are currently the worst examples of crass commercialism and third-rate journalism.
I hope some of those dimwits watch this movie and get some sense driven into them. That the television can communicate with the unlettered is a huge opportunity for a country like ours. Perhaps the current lot of them is useless and we just need a fresh dose of young journalists to create the content that would indeed matter and make a difference to the lives of the people.
This documentary follows over a period of time the lives of a set of guys involved in "Murderball", better known with the more marketable name of Wheelchair Rugby or Quad Rugby (Quad deriving from quadriplegic). As a rugby player I know what it takes to play the game so watching the quadriplegics playing it with such intensity was inspiring, moving, and an adrenaline rush for me. The label Murderball depicts most aptly the death metal (metal , literally) flavor of rugby this is. It's full contact - hard and uncompromising. Infact the vigor these guys emanate is enough for you to forget the disability aspect of their lives altogether. On the contrary that they are on wheels seems to be what makes them superioir to the other normal guys. These are tough nuts that need no pat on their backs or sissy sympathies towards their disabilities.
There are parts to the documentary that you would understand better if you are yourself an action junkie. Not one of those who sit around watching TV calling all the skateboarding, mountain biking, x-gaming kids idiots. It takes that to understand how the motocross racer disabled from an accident feels when made to understand that his body may no longer allow him to continue dirt biking. How it would feel to sit in a wheelchair and get wistful looking at the dirt bikes in your garage. How it would feel to see the family making *arrangements* - a handicap sign for your car, a modified loo - for you. And finally, how quad-rugby could bring back the promise of a real life back to a guy who lives and breathes the motorbreath.
Best to be seen and experienced.
Good night, and good luck
As I watch the news stations today covering the "AbhiAsh" wedding, I can't think of a more fitting discourse as in this movie - taken form the actual speech delivered by Ed Murrow - the character this film is based on. I'll word out the extracts verbatim here, they say it all...
About the content of television media he says thus,
"Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live."
And this, is his reply to those that believe that trivia and senseless entertainment is all that most public demands and real hard-hitting programming has no takers..
"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."
The current state of our media especially television really does need drastic changes. The news channels are currently the worst examples of crass commercialism and third-rate journalism.
I hope some of those dimwits watch this movie and get some sense driven into them. That the television can communicate with the unlettered is a huge opportunity for a country like ours. Perhaps the current lot of them is useless and we just need a fresh dose of young journalists to create the content that would indeed matter and make a difference to the lives of the people.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
Wishlist...
I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could - go off.
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on,
I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up,
I wish..
I wish...
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on,
I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up,
I wish..
I wish...
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monsters of rock...
1991 was a time of turbulence in Russia - at the time USSR. Gorbachev was pushing reforms that were not welcomed by hardline communists including the KGB. The situation boiled over when in August '91 the hardliners attempted a coup against Gorbachev's government. During the coup when the KGB forces attempted to take control of parliamentary buildings, young Russians came out in their defense. The buildings were symbolic of the Russian peoples' right to freedom and democracy and the youth were not prepared to be mute spectators as KGB took control over them. In the ensuing clashes, many of the young defenders lost their lives. In the end, the coup failed and the sacrifice of the kids who died - choosing death to a life of subjugation and propaganda - etched into the hearts and minds of the Russian public the preciousness of their hard won democracy.
One month later, in the September of 1991, a one day rock concert was organised at a huge airfield Tushino, just outside Moscow. Though this was said to be part of the Monsters of Rock European tour, this particular concert was made special by the circumstances that had just preceded the event and for the fact that it was free - open to everyone. For the first time there were western bands, particularly American, playing in Russia to salute the spirit of the youth and what they had stood up for.
I laid my hands on the fantastic video coverage of the event. That this DVD is out of print makes it a collector's item for any music lover worth his salt.
The concert received around 500,000 in audience. But as though a shadow of the era that had just passed, truncheon weilding police are seen deployed at the concert to keep the crowd "in check". The show starts off with images of the police beating up the young rockers trying to have a good time; perhaps, because such an outward show of youthful celebration as displayed by the rockers was never witnessed in Moscow before that day. However as the concert proceeds, and as the music and vodka continues to flow, the police eventually throw away their batons, rip off their uniform coats and sway to the music right along with the crowd. Wow! now that's what I call a rock concert.
Musically, there's Pantera, Metallica, AC DC, the Black Crowes and a Russian band EST on the show. Being aware of what the guys in the crowd had been through , one can make out how all of the bands play their heart out for them making sure the crowd have the time of their life. Perhaps some of the best live acts from Metallica and AC DC are on this video.
High points for me are the performances of "Everybody must get stoned.." by the Crowes (the crowd getting stoned on the music, liquor and God knows what other shit), "Creeping Death" by Metallica (five hundred thousand humans chanting "Die") and I must say the whole set by AC DC - the final act of the show. If Maiden have Eddy, then AC DC have Rosie - she comes up as a backdrop blow up on "A whole lotta Rosie" and on "Highway to hell" complete with the devil horns. Now I know what "whole lotta Rosie" refers to - a whore with an ample body :). AC DC sets a standard of live performance I've hardly seen anyone, really, anyone match. On the song "For those about to rock, we salute you.." Brian Johnson builds up to an earth shattering 21 gun (firework) salute to the crowd and Angus Young simply lets himself loose on all the tracks pulling off some of the fastest ass kicking riffs. Loved it!
I spent the two hours or so headbanging away to the great music on this DVD - a wonderful catharsis for a shit week gone by. It continues to amaze me how powerful this kind of music is - filling in for that what people find incomplete in themselves or for what they lose to the toll that life takes.
Woodstock '69, Live Aid, The Rising; now I have one more added to the list - Monsters of Rock '91.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Krakatsunda
For the curious, this title of my blog comes from a Sanskrit word which means "Destroyer of cyclic existence". Why did I name my blog like that - I don't know, I just felt this was a wonderful Sanskrit word with an even more inspiring meaning.
I leave it to the readers to figure what my sign off name Vipashyin stands for. Yes, it is Sanskrit.
I leave it to the readers to figure what my sign off name Vipashyin stands for. Yes, it is Sanskrit.
300
I watched the movie 300 with much awe. It was not the special effects that put me in awe, it was the heart and courage of men of battle that took me in. The battle at Thermopylae pitched one man's courage against another. I have been reading more and more about the Spartan culture these days impressed by their ideas of dignity, bravery and their ferocious spirit of independence.
In fact I have always been a believer that there indeed are two kinds of people - those that uphold their principles and dignity above anything else and would literally make it as the basis of their life while there are the others for whom material gain is all that matters or they are just happy to exist from one day to another. The world of the battles was the world of honour, respect and dignity - a world run by warriors. The world of today is run by businessmen and politicians, mostly spineless creatures.
Sometimes I wonder if today we really are better off than before. Taking for instance the case of India, values of the aryans - their patronage of knowledge, art, spirituality and valour are mostly forgotten. Mahabharata and Ramayan are nothing but odes to men who stood up for what they believed was their Dharma and took on overwhelming odds to come out victors as much due to their valour in the battlefield as to their deep belief in doing what was right. Unfortunately, these aspects of the epics have been forgotten and such human values as those enshrined in them are almost lost.
It is the world of back stabbing, self gain and exploitation now. If you just imagine that somehow we were to be returned to those times of the past where men had to stand up in battles for their families and clans you would not take long to realise that the breed of businessmen and politicians currently in power would be the first ones fleeing a battlefield because there would be little by way of their physical condition, bravery and inner uprightness that could keep them holding their ground.
Not too far back in history, considering that I started off with the battle of Thermopylae, 480 BC, right here in India we had Shivaji and his fearless warriors that we can look back to. In almost similar circumstances as the battle of Thermopylae, in the year 1660, Baji Prabhu Deshpande a brave sardar of the Marathas, held up a huge army sent by Adil Shah at the Pavan Khind pass to allow Shivaji to retreat to the Vishalgaad fort where he could regroup his men to set up an attack in return. Baji Prabhu Deshpande took on an army of 10,000 with 150 men. He fought with such bravery that it's now one of the greatest testaments to Maratha courage. He held off the whole army with his men and even with fatal injuries kept fighting, giving up his life only after he heard the canons at the Vishalgaad fort go off, signalling the successful escape of Shivaji.
For men of such constitution I don't think any corrupting influences exist. It's men like these and their values that we have lost. And probably, in the process much more that we can not comprehend.
My belief in warrior culture has just been re-enforced.
Baji Prabhu Deshpande
In fact I have always been a believer that there indeed are two kinds of people - those that uphold their principles and dignity above anything else and would literally make it as the basis of their life while there are the others for whom material gain is all that matters or they are just happy to exist from one day to another. The world of the battles was the world of honour, respect and dignity - a world run by warriors. The world of today is run by businessmen and politicians, mostly spineless creatures.
Sometimes I wonder if today we really are better off than before. Taking for instance the case of India, values of the aryans - their patronage of knowledge, art, spirituality and valour are mostly forgotten. Mahabharata and Ramayan are nothing but odes to men who stood up for what they believed was their Dharma and took on overwhelming odds to come out victors as much due to their valour in the battlefield as to their deep belief in doing what was right. Unfortunately, these aspects of the epics have been forgotten and such human values as those enshrined in them are almost lost.
It is the world of back stabbing, self gain and exploitation now. If you just imagine that somehow we were to be returned to those times of the past where men had to stand up in battles for their families and clans you would not take long to realise that the breed of businessmen and politicians currently in power would be the first ones fleeing a battlefield because there would be little by way of their physical condition, bravery and inner uprightness that could keep them holding their ground.
Not too far back in history, considering that I started off with the battle of Thermopylae, 480 BC, right here in India we had Shivaji and his fearless warriors that we can look back to. In almost similar circumstances as the battle of Thermopylae, in the year 1660, Baji Prabhu Deshpande a brave sardar of the Marathas, held up a huge army sent by Adil Shah at the Pavan Khind pass to allow Shivaji to retreat to the Vishalgaad fort where he could regroup his men to set up an attack in return. Baji Prabhu Deshpande took on an army of 10,000 with 150 men. He fought with such bravery that it's now one of the greatest testaments to Maratha courage. He held off the whole army with his men and even with fatal injuries kept fighting, giving up his life only after he heard the canons at the Vishalgaad fort go off, signalling the successful escape of Shivaji.
For men of such constitution I don't think any corrupting influences exist. It's men like these and their values that we have lost. And probably, in the process much more that we can not comprehend.
My belief in warrior culture has just been re-enforced.
Baji Prabhu Deshpande
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