Beatles Raaz
Beatle Paul McCartney had a secret dekko of Raaz in Mumbai early on this year. As also on IndiaFM. Sheesh! Here's a screamer reproduced from Google's cache of a page on Andhra Update:


Nothing can be more difficult than trying to entertain the world's greatest entertainer. And sure it is a tall task if one has to entertain former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

After holidaying in the sun-kissed beaches of Kerala's Coconut Lagoon with fiancée Heather Mills, the two spent two nights in Mumbai.

On January 20, the two stepped out quietly from their presidential suite at the Taj and went over for a special screening of Vikram Bhatt's Raaz. And that indeed was an experience worth cherishing for Mahesh Bhatt, the man who has been involved in the making of the film.

Raaz, which is being presented by Tips films and Mahesh Bhatt, deals with the paranormal, meant not just to woo the NRI audience. This "supernatural thriller" will be released soon.

While in the city on Wednesday for promo of the film, Bhatt recalled the experience of watching the special screening with McCartney. "I had met Paul once earlier. At 10.30 on Sunday night, we went over to a private theatre in Bandra to watch a special screening of Raaz. And mind you, this was the first Hindi film that Paul was watching till the very end.

Earlier he had just watched snippets on television. The fast paced narrative of Raaz impressed him. Heather was dazzled by the visual sophistication. Unfortunately, we don't have any photographs of him watching the film. Actually, Paul is very shy and secretive," he said.

But how did Sir Paul McCartney respond to a Hindi psycho-thriller? After all, the film doesn't have subtitles. "I was translating and explaining certain portions. Dino was also there. Paul was responding to the film like a child. He could follow the body language and he liked the generous use of English words in the film."

Incidentally, the catchline for Raaz "Do you want to know a secret?" is also taken from a Beatles number. It was penned by John Lennon. But what about the music? Nadeem, specially, was "flabbergasted" when he heard the news that McCartney had liked the music. Bhatt recalled, "I saw him tapping his foot and enjoying the score." Sure Nadeem Shravan wouldn't need any further complements for their score.

And what about Bipasha Basu, the star whom Bhatt describes as a "spectacular talent to walk in to the portals of Hindi cinema"? Bipasha, incidentally, wasn't present during the screening.

"When I called up Bipasha in Goa I asked her to guess who was watching her film. I told her, 'Bipasha it is Paul McCartney, I repeat Sir Paul McCartney, who was at the screening'. Paul even said that Bipasha looks like Sophia Loren!" Is Dino Morea, who plays Bipasha's husband in the film, blushing?


Hungry for more? Try a search on Google

Angry users: Yahoo's setting spam bait: ZDNet reports that some Yahoo members on Friday reacted angrily to changes in the Web portal's e-mail marketing practices, comparing the company's revised policy to an open invitation to spam.

HAPPY EASTER
The Pope's Easter Message
More information from Holidays on the Net

Obits

• Veteran Indian lyricist, Anand Bakshi,who wrote over 4,000 songs including all time hits from several Hindi films, died today at 8:45 pm IST following a protracted illness. {Hindustan Times} {Rediff}
  
  Bakshi Trivia:..."Maine poochha chand se", composed by S.D. Burman was written for Ramesh Sehgal's film. But it never got made. Later son R. D. Burman recorded it for Sanjay Khan's 'Abdullah'...{an old Filmfare article}
  


• Britain's Queen Mother dies at age 101 .. {TOI}

Persian New Year celebrations(belated of course)

Heavy showers didn't prevent me from attending the Persian New Year celebrations organized today evening on campus. There was music, food, and dancing. The music for the evening comprised two performances. The first introduced me to the tar, the tombak and the santoor (the last one, of course, was not altogether a surprise, since it is a popular instrument in India too). The second performance, after dinner, was a selection of popular songs on a classical guitar. Ali Zomorodi has more information about Persian music and instruments.

pointers and public hauls

A process of Hollywoodisation has gripped a section of Hindi cinema... writes Subhash K. Jha in Hollywood--Bollywood style! while Dinesh Raheja revisits the gentle tapestry of SUJATA



Weekend Library Haul (The books have links to their entries on Amazon.com, the CDs have links to entries in the All Music Guide and the movies link to their page on the Internet Movie Database)

• CDs
  
  
  
  • Sampradaya/Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma
  
  
  • Traditional Music of India/Ustad Ali Akbar Khan {amazon.com entry}
  
  
  • Unforgettable/Joe Pass
  
  
  • Telarc CD-80059 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.BARBER.GRAINGER.FAURE.SATIE | Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra {FANTASIA ON A THEME BY THOMAS TALLIS: (VAUGHAN WILLIAMS); Gymnopedie Nos 1 and 3/Satie; Adagio for Strings/Barber; Pavane/Faure; Irish Tune from County Derry(Danny Boy)/Grainger}
  
  


• Books:
  
  
  • The Immediate Experience: Movies, Comics, Theatre, and Other Aspects of Popular Culture by Robert Warshow
  
  
  • Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion by Mickey Hart, Jay Stevens, Fredric Lieberman
  
  
  • Planet Drum: A Celebration of Percussion and Rhythm by Mickey Hart, Fredric Lieberman, D. A. Sonneborn
  
  
  • The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
  
  
  • Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience by Steven Waksman, Steve Waksman
  
  


• VHS: The Wrong Man and Monty Python: Six and Violence. Volume 6 containing episodes 11 through 13.

Gulzar has had one of the most vivid imaginations among Hindi film lyricists. Most of his lyrics defied metre and composition and provided fertile ground for R. D. Burman to exhibit his versatility and capability as he churned out memorable tunes that carried the words flowing from Gulzar's pen. Gulzar: The Garden of Song is a very comprehensive site dedicated to this writer/lyricist/director. One of his most memorable songs was "Is mod se jaate hain" from Aandhi. Let this patient posting on RMIM help you understand the broader implications of the rather succinct verse.

Another cross-cutural eBay item

KARZ - TOP Funky INDIAN OST - BEATS & SAMPLES (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Here's another funky Indian soundtrack. The film is from 1980, so the recording technique is also excellent. Perfect for sampling, with beats, wah wah guitar, basslines, moog effects and strange melodies. Six songs, nearly all great with lengthy funk and dark trip hop suspense parts. There are extremely groovy samples with sounds you have never heard before. I don't know who's drumming here, but he's a funky drummer! Some songs of interest: PAISA PAISA powerfull funk with distortion guitars. Begins with weird Moog sounds, brass opening, drum riff. Then a disco/funk groove starts pounding, with wah wah, brass accents and hippie chorus.When you think you had everything, a groovy steeldrum solo sets in! OM SHANTI OM, starts as a Herbie Hancock tune from his "Hands" album! Relaxed Disco funk with a moog jazz solo. Than the Indian madness bursts loose, with a lot of La La La, Bappi Lahiri style sounds and a soprano sax jazz solo that provides a nice climax. Then there's KAMAAL HAI which is more "ethnic" but with heavy stoned drum/percussion groove and a mesmerizing melody. A zillion samples! By Laxmikant Pyarelal. EMI India, PEASD 2034, STEREO, 1980

Lopsided eBay auction items of the day (NOTE: discretion advised for content)

Indian OST- JUNGLE LOVE - Erotic/Nude TARZAN (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): JUNGLE LOVE: A TARZAN MOVIE - ANAND MILIND. This Tarzan movie is from 1980 so it was probably mainly an excuse to show minimally clad women. This sleeve actually shows a female nipple! This is as nude as it gets in India. Tagline for this film was: "Adventures love story of a Tarzan". How mixed up can it get? The good thing is that the music is extremely entertaining, yes, WITH Tarzan wails (AAHOEAIIIWAH), brass mimicing elephants, bongo beats, KILLER latin funk bass/drum beats in extreme crisp STEREO (on MERE MEHBOOB AAYEGA which somebody HAS to sample, loop this beat and you're halfway finished with a super dance track). Also with loud tympani/brass/violins like you're listening to a king kong disco soundtrack. There are even Indians imitating African singing. So this record is dangerously weird!!!! An exotica classic! You might find HE MAN OH MY HE MAN excellent for club play because it's dirty disco with much jazzy stuff on it and sexy singing. I think there are many samples on this album. This is your change to own a funky soundtrack of "Adventures love story of a Tarzan"! It might not be SHALIMAR but it's really good. Record and sleeve Mint-. SUPER SHFLP 11367 STEREO, India, 1980.

Indian SEX FILM EP '73 - CALL GIRL - Erotic (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Call Girl - Sapan Jagmohan. Soundtrack EP from the infamous Indian sex film Call Girl from 1973. Super obscure and rare. There are 4 songs on it and one, Jawani Mere Jara, is a fantastic mod affair. Super tight percussion, funky hammond, powerfull brass accents, sexy singing, a crazy, crazy swinging break and what more. It begins with a girl talking over a groove: "He now, come dance with me sweetheart, don't be shy love!" This copy is NM-. EMOE 2352 India, 1973

Fight Club: Trivia for the general audience (no spoilers)
{courtesy: IMDB}
The film appears to take place in Wilmington, the largest city in Delaware, where most credit card companies and 60% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated. The cities mentioned in the car-smashing scene include New Castle, Delaware City, and Penns Grove, NJ, which are all very close to Wilmington.

Billy Wilder is no more

Hollywood Remembers Billy Wilder (Guardian, UK - 6:10 29 Mar 2002)

Billy Wilder, Master of Caustic Films, Dies at 95 (NY Times (subscription required) - 0:02 29 Mar 2002)

Billy Wilder dies at 95 (Daily Telegraph UK - 18:08 28 Mar 2002)



Billy Wilder was rather popular in Bollywood: Manoranjan (Irma La Douce, although the original source was a French play), Lakhon Ki Baat (The Fortune Cookie), Yeh Dillagi (Sabrina).

"Britney Spears": Google has a nice page on the different misspellings of Britney Spears.

Pancham on eBay

RAREST&BEST Burman OST EP- GARAM MASALA (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Here's some of Burman's best music ever on record. It's between his seventies funk period and his jazz and rock oriented sixties. Best of both. It's very laid back swinging with freakishly played electric wah wah guitar, big band, treated hammond, jazz singing and wild screams! Sudden bursts of inspired and swinging beatnik suspense madness. They really arrested the groove on this session! This EP is ultra rare. 4 tracks. This one is NM- (cover and record). ODEON INDIA 1970, EMOE 2196.
BURMAN OST '73 - WILD FUNK & BOSSA elpee (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): This soundtrack from 1973 by the great R.D. Burman has three instro's! Two of which are truly, deeply disturbed! They have speedy, strange funky rhythms, crazy melodies and arrangements (much Hammond, brass and sounds from other worlds). This is very wild music, the beats are amazing. What a fat hammond sound! The third instrumental is dramatic, in a forties universal horror vein. You can easily imagine the fake laboratory of some crazy professor. There's more good news. Two songs are INCREDIBLY good and soulful. Especially one, HAN JI HAN with a laid back BOSSA NOVA groove and great instrumental Hammond parts and fender solos. Lots of loops and samples. This is one of the best Indian soundtracks that I know off and it has a beautiful painted cover. It's in NM shape



Seems like a good time to post another review of Bollywood Funk.

Amazon entry

AMG entry

Cross-cultural musical points of view on eBay

DJ SHADOW * AUTOMATOR Bombay The Hard Way CD (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): ! Bombay the Hard Way plays like the soundtrack to some imaginary 1970s B-films with names like Shaft's Bad-Ass Pilgrimage To India or Ganges Ghetto Payback. Featuring the music of Indian composers (and brothers) Anandji and Kalyanji Shah, who wrote and produced soundtracks for the so-called "Brownsploitation" films made in India's "Bollywood" during the 60s and 70s, this saffron-funk project is the brain-child of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Bay Area producer / remixer of Dr. Octagon fame, with additional beats provided by the immensely talented DJ Shadow. The end product is a potent cross-pollination of Secret-Agent-Man guitar themes, Blaxploitation grooves, jazzy horn and flute riffs, hip-hop beats and loops, and traditional Indian instrumentation. While this East meets West mixture is incredibly funky, there are few innovations or surprises within. Beyond the sweeping and intense orchestrations of the opening track, "Bombay 405 Miles," the album tends to value mood and groove over tunes. That said, there are still some particularly strong standouts. "The Good, The Bad, And The Chutney" and "Inspector Jay From Dehli" are mysterious Spy-thriller grooves, loaded with sitars, spacey synths, orchestral breaks, and DJ Shadow's laid back beats. Like much of the album, these two songs are heavily spiced Indian approximations of the cinematic funk found on Blaxploitation soundtracks by Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, and Willie Hutch. "Professor Pyarelal" is a deliciously slow Barry White-styled groove that blends funky flute, bass, and drums with atmospheric synthesizer and jazz piano. The album's only song with lyrics, "Ganges A Go-Go," features a sound straight out of the Indian quarter of London's "swinging 60s" scene. Over a driving Go-Go beat and Eastern-flavored horn arrangements, a handful of male and female singers (with cute Indian accents) belt out the lines, "I got no time to think / Cuz' I need somebody to love / Yeah! / Baby, I love you so / But you can't love me more / Why don't you hold me closer / And I'll give you more / Yeah!" With lyrics like that, this song is destined to wind up on one of my more kitchy MustHear.com mixes. Throughout the album, there are fun snatches of dialogue lifted straight out of vintage "brownsploitation" films. These digressions add to the overall enjoyment, helping to make Bombay the Hard Way a classic party record for the new millennium.


KID KOALA * AUTOMATOR * Bombay Pt 2 * CD MINT (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Title: Bombay the Hard Way, Vol. 2: Electric Vindaloo Label : Motel/ Cover/CD: Still Sealed/Mint. This is the long-awaited second installment in the Bombay the Hard Way series, the ongoing anthology of Bollywood film works by the great Indian directors and composers Kalyanji, Anandji, and V. Shah. It is reasonable to be skeptical after the sheer genius of the first volume, expecting that this might be second-rate or bottom of the barrel material designed to flog a dead horse. Nothing could be further from the truth. This collection focuses on the movies scored by the V. Shah brothers in the 1980s, when plenty of images from the gun-running, drug-smuggling, kung fu, pimp-fighting movies of the previous two decades were still used, but Bollywood had turned increasingly to crime-type syndicate films. (Why not? The mob was fronting the money for most of these movies anyway.) What had changed in Bollywood during that time was the use of technology: drum machines, sequencers, and phase shifters entered the fray with sitars, tablas, rock, funk, disco, and traditional melodies from Rajastan. DJs and mix masters were brought in to doctor these tracks a bit more because, in the 1980s, the place of incidental music had changed in Indian cinema, particularly in the masala ("mixed spice") films: Sequences were often written for the exact amount of time a sequence was on the screen, often only 20 or 30 seconds of music. The producers Adrian Milan and Christina Bates brought in the talents of Mixmaster Mike, Kid Koala & Dynomite D, Ursula 100, and many others to cut, paste, and mix tracks into coherent statements of the genius of the Shah brothers. They succeeded in spades, remaining true to the spirit of the source music, and enhancing it rather than covering it over � which is so much the wont of DJs and mixologists today. This collection retains the same punch and swagger of the original and keeps the groove rolling and the smiles coming. This is a hell of a follow-up; listeners can only hope that more is found to ship their way soon. (AMG) The setlist is: 1. Ram Balram performed by Ursula 1000 2. Bionic Hahaan performed by DJ Me / DJ You 3. Theme From Twin Sheiks (Anandji/Kalyanji) 4. Third World Lover performed by Kid Koala / Dynomite D.. Rah-Keet (Anandji/Kalyanji. Hydrolik Carpet Ride performed by Mix Master Mike 7. Bollywood B-Boy Battle (Anandji/Kalyanji8. Mr. Natwarlal performed by DJ Me / DJ You 9. Basmati Beatdown performed by Dynomite D 10. T.J. Hookah (Anandji/Kalyanji) 11. Superstar Sam (Anandji/Kalyanji) 12. Disco Raj performed by DJ Me / DJ You13. Sexy Mother Fakir (Anandji/Kalyanji14. Inspector Jay's Big Score performed by Spic-Beat-2 / Pak-Man - 15. Electric Uindaloo performed by Steinski 16. Dil Street Blues (Anandji/Kalyanji) 17. Chakra Khan (Anandji/Kalyanji).

As the Web Matures, Fun Is Hard to Find writes Lisa Guernsey in the New York Times. trolling the web is not nearly as much fun as it used to be. Reasons for the decline cited in the article include: commercialization, lack of compelling content, instant messaging, P2P, and the fact that it's been mainstream for a couple of years now. The average online session decreased from 90 (March 2000) to 83 minutes in March of 2001 {original slashdot post}

British comedian and actor Dudley Moore died at age 66 at his home in the United States after a long illness {CNN}

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is destroying the beauty of the Balgandharva theatre...{TOI article}. Another cultural landmark in Pune seems destined to bite the dust!

A pair forever - R D Burman's best soundtracks for Rajesh Khanna
...When the superstar (at the tail-end of his career as a leading man) turned film producer with Alag Alag, it was R D who tuned the songs. At a filmi do, when Laxmikant made snide remarks about R D's music in Alag Alag, Khanna nearly came to blows with the senior composer...

Musical Instrument for the Week: The Kazoo

Where may you hear it? Try San Francisco Blues on Eric Clapton's Unplugged. There's a nice little audience-wowing kazoo solo there.

The Kazoo: A Historical Perspective {from the House of Musical Traditions}

The Kazoo in Popular Music

The History of the Kazoo

All Things Kazoo

Word of the Day: oneiric

Meaning and etymology {courtesy: Merriam-Webster Online}

Usage: Cohen, who teaches at Drexel University, is less concerned with oneiric myth than with historical mythology, but she sees the idea of film as a province of exaltation--of the reification of intangible ideas...{from TNR Online}

I recently got a T-series CD combo of Pyar Jhukta Nahin (Music Director: Laxmikant-Pyarelal) and Alag Alag (Music Director: R. D. Burman). Needless to say, I got it for the latter soundtrack (which unfortunately isn't complete). I had enough punishment listening to patentable LP music (talk about dholak over-exposure) , but to top it all the male vocalist is the Poor Man's (Bad) Rafi Shabbir Kumar. Talk about capital punishment.

Don't Confuse Fans With Pirates is the title of Roger Ebert's scathing critique of Universal's music division plans to use a new copy-protection scheme that excludes its discs from being played at all on "Macs, DVD players, and CD-compatible video game consoles." {thanks to a post on slashdot}

Microsoft is out to gain ground lost to Java and Linux with students by pushing universities to use .NET code in programming courses. The Horror! The Horror! { yet another post on slashdot}

ZDNet has a page listing the top 20 IT Anthems around. {thanks to a post on slashdot}

Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity...{more}

Coming soon: A review of KHOTE SIKKAY, an ode to the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Open Problems Project records open problems of interest to researchers in computational geometry and related fields.

Phrase of the day

To have a Naipaul moment: to express majestic indifference to public and media perception of him ("à" la V. S. Naipaul)
Relevant article: Rushdie has a 'Naipaul moment' (courtesy: The Times of India)

How is one to make sense of a film whose execution is so drastically at odds with its apparent theme? asks Andrew O'Hehir in his review of I Am Sam. More food for thought on how Sean Penn made it to the Best Actor nominations.


Kind of 'Blue': In the first of a new series suggesting films made since 1968 that might plausibly be included in an All Time Top Ten, Nick James praises the first of Kieslowski's trilogy. And we also get a nice look at Kieslowski's offering.

Percussionist Nucche Bahadur Dangol says that he has been gifted his life by Late King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev...{on spiny babbler}

Isn't it great when your folks start recommending sites to you via email? I feel great today

Movie for the evening: KASME VAADE (Rose Movies, 1978)
starring Raakhee Gulzar(Suman), Amitabh Bachchan(Amit/Shankar), Randhir Kapoor(Raju), Neetu Singh(Neeta), Vijayendra with special appearances by Rekha and Amjad Khan(Judah)
Music: R. D. Burman Produced and Directed by Ramesh Behl (perhaps the only producer to stick with one music director for all his films)



extract from SCREENINDIA:
The failure of Dil Diwana made Ramesh Behl and his team sit up and pull up their socks. Their next film had to be a hit. Behl decided to direct it himself. Kasme Vaade was discussed over drinks. Amitabh was a big name then and a good friend of Behl's. He agreed to play a double role in the film. Randhir Kapoor, another good friend who till then had been cast in all of Behl's films, was asked whether he wanted to be a part of the film. He agreed. With Raakhee and Neetu Singh as their lovers, Kasme Vaade went on the floors. Amitabh Bachchan, always the professional, would race with the unit boys to reach the location first, recalls Shrishti Behl. She and Goldie played the roles of school children in the film. This was their acting debuts.
Mile jo kadi kadi... and Kasme vaade nibhayenge hum... caught the audience's fancy. Kasme Vaade was Rose Movies biggest hit.



Good hummable melodies hold up this otherwise flawed film. It could have done with a better editing job. The Big B is dependable as always. Raakhee continues to experiment with her ghastly stares and smiles. Mercifully, she doesn't have long stretches of dialogue. Moments of high melodrama inch dangerously close to (and unfortunately even over) peak. Behl could have done more with the interesting twist in the tale. Commercial concerns however far outweigh any other goals. There are ample moments of trite exchanges on human virtue and goodwill, but the conflict and turmoil of the human mind lie largely unexplored. Amjad's cameo -- a hump-backed Judah -- is interesting enough, but with very few lines and screen moments he ends up a wasted extra. It's interesting to see that Amitabh and Raakhee again play characters so close to the altar, yet so far away.

Dhadkan.com music review

Pancham on eBay

MEHBOOBA INDIAN SOUND TRACK LP(note: link will become stale once the auction is over): This is the original sound track to the Indian movie �Mehbooba� EMI/His Masters Voice India 1975. Music: Rahul Dev Burman, Lyrics: Anand Bakshi. Full of cool sitar, 7 tracks...


HINDI DVD AAG SE KHELENGE ANIL KAPOOR NEW (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Title Aag Se Khelenge Description Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Jeetendra, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor Director Bindu, Music: R D Burman Brand EROS Genre Film, Action Subtitles English Features Police Inspector Shekhar Kapoor's(Jeetendra) chief purpose is to end the wild terror that the underworld don Zaka(Amrish Puri) and his son Shaka(Shakti Kaprro) had spread. Shekhar while solving his case gets hold of Johnyy. But as it turns out Johnyy reveals that he is Inspector Ravi Saxena a Delhi cop who has sneaked into Zakas gang in the guise Johnny, small-time criminal. Johny(Inspector Ravi Saxena) explains to Shekhar that his ultimate mission is to bust Zakas gang. Shekhar suggests that they work together, under his supervision, to which Johnyy agrees. But tables take a sudden turn when Shekhar discovers from his Delhi office that Inspector Ravi had been killed six months back. Who is Johnny then? Can Shekhar sales the mystery? Watch Aag Se Khelenge... . Seems like this item didn't find any grabbers the first time.

And I just finished wolfing down a box of Tagalongs(C) Peanut Butter Patties.

Tamil auteur Mani Ratnam's maiden venture into Hindi, Dil Se did not quite cut it with the masses (although it did not do so badly with the classes). Filled with the beautiful visual moments and nuggets of conversation, staging and framing we have come to expect from Mani Ratnam, the film loses its way in the gloss generated by the stars. I think the film would have done well with less slottable lead actors. Although an interesting interpretation of the different shades of love as described in ancient Arabic literature (listen carefully to the songs on the soundtrack for hints), the film's political content and often-cliched romantic moments (although Preity Zinta lends her character the right amount of spunk) prevent it from being a Mani Ratnam winner. To read more about the film, check out Tanmay Patwardhan's fan site for the film.

Just found a page dedicated to Corrupt CDs. What are "corrupt CDs"? To borrow the description from the site (with my emphasis):
1. Prevent you from copying it for personal use or from playing it on computerized devices (computers, DVD players, game consoles like PlayStation, MP3 players, consumer CD duplicators, high-end stereo equipment and car CD players).
2. In the United States, Canada and the UK, these "copy-protected" CDs are unmarked. Once you buy it, you can only exchange it and hope that the replacement isn't garbage too.

The Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI) started in 1936 as a non-profit association of producers of sound recordings. It is one of the oldest music companies' associations in the world. It was formed to defend, preserve and develop the rights of phonogram producers and to promote and encourage advancement of creativity and culture through sound recordings. In 1994, the association changed its name to The Indian Music Industry (IMI)...{read on}

Director N. Chandra (Ankush, Pratighaat) gets sentenced to six years...{on Filmfare}

Interesting IM status message: Being ignored

Question for the day: Am I suffering from dysthymia?

Tech blurbs

• Ximian Connector v1.0 for Microsoft Exchange 2000 is out.


• Why don't Java developers spend more time fixing their code instead of writing pointless comments? asks Dr. Heinz Kabutz ...{Why I Don't Read Code Comments}


• A survey of language popularity from the Haskell mailing list {link courtesy: The Programming Languages Weblog}

Currently listening to The Planets by Gustav Holst. ("The Planets", Op. 32/Telarc CD-80133 Andre Previn/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) Here's a "young person's guide" to the first track, Mars, which served as inspiration for John Williams for Star Wars. More on Holst.

And the Oscars are over. Of course, LAGAAN didn't win, No Man's Land did, as I had expected. All that publicity helped A Beautiful Mind nip twin honours for Best Film and Best Director (Ron Howard??? Aaaaaaah! Eat My Dust!)
Sky News list of winners and nominees
From the Chicago Tribune
Hindustan Times

According to an IMDB poll, the biggest surprise at the Oscars was that The Fellowship of the Ring was largely shunned. Looks like not too many people minded Ron Howard's win. Maybe I'm just too hard on him. (After all, I had to pick SOMEBODY).

Lagaan falls in No Man's Land {rediff.com}
Well played, Lagaan XI says Bollywood.

And not to forget the complement to the Oscars, the Razzies{Official site}

Denzel Washington's feature film directorial debut to be released later this year. The film tells the story of an aspiring screenwriter who suffers an abusive childhood, joins the navy and works for a time as a security guard at a movie studio. Interesting.

Mathematical construction for the week: Pascal's Triangle
Don't forget the Oscars are on tonight on ABC from 2000 EST.

Coming soon: A review of the desi lift of The Long Kiss Goodnight, Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge

Hindi VHS for the week: Kasme Vaade, Yaadon Ki Baaraat, Khel Khel Mein, Indrajeet

Cool buys: Pyar Jhukta Nahi/Alag Alag (CD/T-series), Dil ka Darwaza Khol De/Asha sings for R. D. Burman (Tape/T-series)

Do you have a Ph.D? Sure you do, or soon will. No need for Latin, or reading fat books. No need even to know the history of your "discipline"... [more] {from Arts and Letters Daily}

Responding to spam: He actually writes back ...{the official page}
The original slashdot post about the guy who actually responds to the spam he receives.

Dirty Works is a great site dedicated to The Traveling Wilburys.

Just read something about a recent release of Kishore Kumar rarities called "Kashish". Here's the track listing for the interested ones.
1. Chanda Chhode/Khel Kismat Ka
2. Chhup Ho Aaj/36 Ghante
3. Hothon Pe Jaan/Patita
4. Kaaran Na Jaane/Kaaran
5. Pichhli Yaad Bhula/Mehndi
6. Socha Tha/Chandi Sona (which one can also find on the R. D. Burman rarities two-fer Tumse Milke)
7. Tera Chehra Mujhe/Aapas Ki Baat
8. Wada Hai Kya/Taxi Chor
9. Yeh Mehfil Yun/Aaj Ki Radha
Peev: Couldn't they have added a few more?
Kashish transports you back to the era when Hindi film music was clean, simple and beautiful, and when orchestration included only the sounds of real instruments... {indya.com review}

Sting has been a great exponent at making "odd" time signatures groovy. Check out his 7/8 excursions like "Love is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven) (Ten Summoner's Tales)" and "Straight to My Heart (Nothing but the Sun)". There's a ton of information on the rather well-designed official page.

It's Palm Sunday today, with great weather to match. I had always regretted forgetting my copy of the Bible back home -- today, I got one from the Catholic Centre at school. Nothing like a mass in the morning to get you going. And if you wanted irony, I just started listening to Ten Summoner's Tales: If I ever lose my faith in you.
Here's a transcript of the Interview Disc released for the album.

yet another weekend at the public library

Hauls from the weekend trip to the public library. (The books have links to their entries on Amazon.com, the CDs have links to entries in the All Music Guide)

• CDs
  
  
  
  • Tonight's the Night/Neil Young
  
  
  • Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy/The Who
  
  
  • Buffalo Springfield/Buffalo Springfield
  
  
  • God Shuffled His Feet/Crash Test Dummies
  {official page}
  
  • Ten Summoner's Tales/Sting
  
  


• Books: Women of Mystery: The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists by Martha Hailey Dubose, Margaret C. Thomas


• VHS: Marnie and Monty Python: Behind the 8 Ball.


• DVDs: The Avengers 1963 DVD Set 2 Volume 3: The Amazon entry. Episodes are: Second Sight, The Medicine Men, The Grandeur that was Rome. Yes, yes, I got it again. Couldn't watch it the last time.
  

Search engines can never give you all the interesting sites related to your search phrase in a single go. There's always some other query that can unearth more interesting results. Just found a nice little site dedicated to the Golden Age of Hindi film music, which includes staff-transcripts of some famous songs: Hindi Film Selections from the Golden Age

Arjun Rampal is robbing a bank again(remember MOKSH), but this time he has the big B (or the big A, the other two As being Rampal and Akshay Kumar) in Vipul Shah's directorial debut Aankhen (formerly known as All the Best). Planet Bollywood previews the film.
Related:
Up-to-date coverage from a fan site on Tripod.com.
Planet Bollywood's music review
More from Bollyvista
A ho-hum music review from BBC's Asian Network.

And on that note, a little something about Ram Gopal Verma's COMPANY.

Slashdot: Using Images as Passwords
Microsoft is looking at images rather than plain old text for enhancing security...
The slashdot story
The Reuters newsitem
Historical context: Crappy passwords are common

When Microsoft loved Unix ...{from The Register}

For Nasir Husain, entertainment was never spelt with just a capital "E", but every letter was spelt in capitals. Nasir Husain was the ultimate dream merchant, that monumental talent who made candyfloss movies the way no one else could, the man who not only defined screen entertainment but redefined it...
A tribute to Nasir Hussain (who passed away last week) from SCREEN.

Coming soon: A review of DO PHOOL.

South Park character of the week: The ribald Chef voiced by Isaac "Shaft" Hayes. More on Isaac Hayes/Chef on CNN.

the princess bride

One of the great things about THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Full title: The Princess Bride : S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure : The 'Good Parts' Version, Abridged by William Goldman) besides "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
" and iocaine is the "best parts" device employed by William Goldman. Always referring to the larger work of a fictitious tale-spinner/historian by the name of S. Morgenstern, Goldman culls together the delightful bits with everyone's tongue firmly in cheek (excuse the grammatical excursion here) from what appears to have been a thinly-veiled pretentious historical gloat (with long descriptions a la Tom Wolfe). Still think Morgenstern exists? Read Goldman vs. Morgenstern. {amazon.com entry}

For all his musical genius, R. D. Burman surely wins hands-down for some of the most incomprehensible singing in Hindi film music. This makes it possible to build up nuggets of trivia or just moments of revelation when everything suddenly becomes clear (long live headphones for that).
Trivia nugget: Listen to his opening screech on his famous duet with Asha in APNA DESH (remember the unintentionally hilarious dance sequence with Rajesh "I hate tears" Khanna and Mumtaz with garish lights and psychedelic costumes -- sheesh!) "duniya mein logon ko". Guess what? his scream is actually an effective verbal distortion (something he should have patented while he was still alive) of the simple English word 'sweetheart'.
General moment of revelation: his cross-line for the 'tum kya jaano segment' of the medley in HUM KISISE KUM NAHIN. Here are the words for the chicken-hearted who dare not venture on this voyage of discovery (titter, titter!): 'suno kehna hamara/ameeri hai sitara/gareebi ek aansoo/yeh aansoo hai mohabbat/mohabbat zindagi hai' and the rest being the easily audible 'bas itna jaan le tu'...

More on Goole and xenu.net
Google was accused Wednesday of effectively removing from the Internet a Web site that is critical of the Church of Scientology after it deleted links to some of the site's pages from its search engine...{from C|Net news}

Bollywood.com lists some classic Hindi film lines. The hyperboles are missing, but it's still a fun exercise to try and match them to the movies you heard them in.

Confused about Daylight Savings? Read this
Coming soon: a review of PARAYA DHAN(1971)

Just heard about another entrant in the search engine market. The problem: it no longer exists. InFind was one of many meta-search Web sites -- search engines that explore other search engines, such as Excite, Lycos, and Yahoo!, and group the results in one easy-to-read list...{more on ABCNews: The Death of A Search Engine}

Microcontent News is a Corante Microblog that covers what they call the "microcontent" sector: weblogs, Webzines, email digests, and the entire personal publishing sector. They also cover the business side of microcontent, including text-based microads, and corporate blogging. You can read more about their magazine here {from a friend}

Google censors xenu.net? ...{more on kuro5hin}

FIR lodged against music director Anu Malik screams the headline in the Times of India.

The Web Economy Bullshit Generator is just what the doctor ordered... a simple random text generator, it still brings up occasional gems like disintermediate clicks-and-mortar channels and embrace extensible eyeballs

The Essential Hindutva OrgChart for those "intimidated by the tangled mess of political relationships underpinning the resurgent Hinduvta revivalist movement in India and among some in the expatriate Indian community"

Peddling patriotism: Bollywood has undertaken a prolonged self-adulatory exercise which leaves little room for debate, absolutely none for peaceful negotiations, says ZIYA US SALAM in The Hindu.

Adnan Sami For Free!
For musician Adnan Sami it was a dream come-true when his favourite Bollywood star Dev Anand asked him to compose music for one of his songs in the film 'Love at Times Square'. So thrilled was the rolly polly music director with the offer that he decided to work for free for the filmmaker. "How can I charge any money from him? We all have grown up watching his films", said Sami. And this Dev Anand is a real lucky chap because it is not Sami who alone has offered to work for free for him. Singer Lucky Ali who is starred in the film will also be rendering his voice for the songs of the film and won't charge a dime for it. Another big name Ustad Sultan Khan is also involved with the music of the film. Now with so many acclaimed names coming together for the film 'Love at Times Square' is sure going to be a musical to watch out for! {from a post on RMIM}
Based on the last several 'abhi to main jawaan hoon' movies from Shri Dev, I can only cringe at the prospect.

Spielberg and Dick
Minority Report, the short story by Philip K. Dick was first published in 1956 in the magazine Fantastic Universe. The story is to be made into a film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. The budget is rumored to be over $80 million with plenty of special effects in store. Minority Report is positioned to be one of the biggest films of next year and one of the best science fiction movies of all time... {more}
Two personal fears: Spielberg and Cruise.

R D Burman, or Pancham, as he was lovingly re-christened by Ashok Kumar, was perhaps the best Indian film music ever possessed. Gaurav Sharma looks into the musical life of the maestro and discusses various aspects of his music {from the pancham Yahoo! group)

Much Ado about A Beautiful Mind

'A Beautiful Mind' Meets Ugly Oscar Tactics
John Nash says he is not an anti-Semite. He says he is not a homosexual. Nor, he says, did he try to conceal any of his deficiencies as a father or any humiliating episodes in an attempt to glamorize his life...
Nash: Film No Whitewash
Dr. John Nash, the Nobel Prize winning mathematician whose life is portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film A Beautiful Mind, denies being anti-Semitic. His wife denies he's homosexual. And a son denies he's a bad father...

Some articles from this weekend's edition of SCREEN:
Anatomy of a Hit
Bollywood dreams in the Queen's city: Andrew Lloyd Webber, A. R. Rahman, Bombay Dreams.

Kishore vs. Kishore: ...let us ponder upon something that largely went unnoticed, and certainly unwritten: about how Kishore Kumar competed with Kishore himself...
The Seventies - A Decade Of Changes {from Dhadkan.com}
Coming soon: A review of WARRANT.
Coming soon: A review of THE TRAIN

Green is the new black? We're all honorary Irish? Brendan O'Neill is fed up with the kitsch, twaddle, and tiresome hoopla of St. Patrick's Day... [more] {from Arts & Letters Daily}

the temple and the library

The forecast said it would be warm (bingo) with showers (just one itsy-bitsy drizzle!). Made my second visit to the Hindu temple.
Here are my hauls from the weekend trip to the public library. (The books have links to their entries on Amazon.com, the CDs have links to entries in the All Music Guide)

• CDs
  
  
  
  • Greatest Hits volume 2: Linda Ronstadt
  
  
  • Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994
  
  
  • In London: Ravi Shankar
  
  
  • Sitar Concerto Number 2: Ravi Shankar
  
  
  • Traveling Wilburys Volume 3: The Traveling Wilburys
  
  
  
  


• Books
  
  
  
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
  
  
  • The Bachman Books: Stephen King
  
  
  • The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The 'Good Parts' Version) by William Goldman
  
  
  
  

Spent some time at BORDERS after a long long time. The strategically placed stacks full of SPIDERMAN revival material can only mean one thing -- the movie is going to hit theatres pretty soon. Great stack of CDs on the listening stands in Blues, Rock & Pop. Personal recommendations based on what I liked and what I remember:

• The Blues White Album: Just like Beatles Go Baroque, this album has enough meat in it to become more than yet another album covering songs by the Beatles. Recommended tracks: Revolution, While My Guitar Gently Weeps


• Greatest Hits: The Doobie Brothers: What can say? Radio staples, great infectious melodies, it's all here, in yet another great compilation from Rhino Records


• Parachutes: Cold Play: Recommendations: Yellow, Parachute.

Knuth: All Questions Answered
The AMS published a lecture by Donald Knuth called All Questions Answered (pdf), where Knuth simply responded to questions from the audience.
{original slashdot post}

Religion, as ever, is the poison in India's blood writes Salman Rushdie, in an article for the Guardian on the new horrors in the name of God.

The Newsblaster project at Columbia University attempts to generate computer summaries of news articles on different web sites. Also check out what Online Journalism Review and USA Today have to say about it. {original slashdot post}

From Chris: Susan Stamberg talks with Richard Perlmutter about his CD called Beethoven's Wig on NPR.

SHALIMAR 45. Super rare Indian CAPER MOVIE! (note: link will become stale once the auction is over):Unbelievably rare 1978 single from the stable of R. D. Burman. John Saxon and Rex Harrison star in this attempted Bollywood cross-over Jalfrezi flick. Burman's finest hour gives us the dynamic funk of BABY LET'S DANCE TOGETHER as well as the crazed ONE TWO CHA CHA CHA. This piece of vinyl is so obscure that you'll be able to be able to smell the vindaloo as it spins on your turntable. The 7 inch has never been played, so it's as near to mint as any Indian record your likely to see...
Indian soundtrack/Herra Panna & Hare Rama Hare Krishna (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Indian soundtrack two-fer CD, both scores by the incredible R.D. Burman - 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' (1971) & 'Heera Panna' (1973). This is one of the best Indian Soundtrack collections available - lots of funky breaks, beats and samples, groovy psychedelic wah wah (and surfy sounding) guitar, bongos, moog, etc. 16 tracks - including Dum Maro Dum, Dance Music, Dance Music 2, Title Music, and FREAK OUT MUSIC (which sounds exactly like its title. I almost shed a tear when I heard this one). If you're a fan of funky Indian soundtracks, this is exactly what you're looking for...

Even today there is something called a Basu Chatterjee film though it might have nothing to do with the veteran director...{Chhoti Si Baat with Basu Chatterjee by Sandip Roy-Chowdhury}

Just found a Hindi poem that we studied in our school days. The poem was about Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, an immortal figure in Indian history.

Nasir Hussain created stars for more than 25 years: Arthur J Pais pays tribute to Nasir Hussain, who passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Google and Blogs
A slew of articles have just appeared describing how bloggers have managed to 'link-spam' Google. Very disturbing indeed. Here are a few pointers.

• BBC News | SCI/TECH | Google hit by link bombers: Mar 13, 2002


• Google Time Bomb | Will Weblogs blow up the world's favorite search engine?: March 13, 2002


• The Tipping Blog | How Weblogs Can Turn an Idea into an Epidemic: March 12, 2002


• Google loves Blogs | How Weblogs Influence A Billion Google Searches A Week: Feb 26, 2002

"Is Weblog Technology Here to Stay or Just Another Fad?" in the New York Times was the article that raised some initial concern about the effects of Weblogs (Feb 25, 2002).

Pancham on eBay
Indian two-fer CD/Bollywood/RD Burman(note: link will become stale once the auction is over):[YAADON KI BAARAAT/CARAVAN][CDF 120391]:Indian two-fer CD, both scores by R.D. Burman - Yaadon Ki Baaraat & Caravan. Playback singers - Asha Bhosle, Mohd. Rafi, Kishor Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar. Typicaly great Burman - wah wah guitar, surfy guitar, overdriven organ, spaghetti western trumpets, scatting. Great music to put on your answering machine!!!

In an article for SCREEN titled "Courtesan and Cinema" , Poonam Arora writes: The narratives of Pakeezah and Umrao Jaan both play out the internalised guilt of the Muslim diaspora quite explicitly...{read on}

James Henke, chief curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the help of music writers and critics, selected 500 songs (not only rock songs) that they believe have been most influential in shaping rock and roll. The list is alphabetical by artist.

Noted film producer-director Nasir Hussain, who made memorable films like Yaadon Ki Baraat, Caravan, Teesri Manzil and Tumsa Nahin Dekha, succumbed to a heart attack in Mumbai on Tuesday...{the rediff article}

The Jhap Taal is a tabla taal ('pattern' if you may) of ten beats with the beats divided in four sections arranged thus: 2+3+2+3, and used for instrumental and khayal recitals This taal doesn't seem to have been used too often in Hindi film songs. The western equivalent would be 5/4 (famously demonstrated by the Dave Brubeck Quartet standard, Take Five). I only know of the following instances (drop me a line if there are more)

• Aanso bhari hai
  
  
  
  • Film: Parvarish (1958)
  
  
  • Singers: Mukesh
  
  
  • Music Director: Datta Ram
  
  
  • Poet: Hasrat Jaipuri
  
  
  • listen online on Music India Online
  
  


• Aankhon mein kya
  
  
  
  • Film: Khamoshi (1996)
  
  
  • Singers: Kumar Sanu
  
  
  • Music Director: Jatin-Lalit
  
  
  • Poet: Majrooh Sultanpuri
  
  
  • listen online on Music India Online
  
  


• Deepak Raag
  
  
  
  • Film: Gaja Gamini(2000)
  
  
  • Singers: Shanker Mahadevan
  
  
  • Music Director: Bhupen Hazarika
  
  
  • Poet: Maya Govind
  
  
  • listen online on Music India Online
  
  

Recently, BOLLYVISTA.COM managed to get a huge song Database online. The database boasts having information on over 16000 songs. One can reach the database by going here. From a post on rmim

Boxes and Arrows, a peer-written journal, claims to be the definitive source for the complex task of bringing architecture and design to the digital landscape. There are various titles and professions associated with this undertaking�information architecture, information design, interaction design, interface design�but a �community of practice� exists with similarities in outlook and approach that far outweighed the differences.

What's better for Object Oriented Scientific Programming: C++ or Fortran 90? John R. Cary and friends provide a comparison.

Some great news from comp.lang.python: David Mertz has made drafts of his forthcoming book "Text Processing in Python" available.

Back in the Bloghouse
Andrew Orlowski writes Blogs are almost as old as the web, and I'm sure they'll survive anything...{read on}

An online friend Karthik from Bangalore has been building a list of indian film tunes inspired from/ripped off foreign sources. He calls his site I2FS (Inspired Indian Film Songs). I've been sending him stuff from time to time. My favourite inspired tune just made it to the site: The mukhda (opening verse) R. D. Burman's bhajan 'Kaahe apnon ko' from the 1972 film Raampur ka Lakshman uses the central motif in the second movement (titled 'Romance') from Sergei Prokofiev's 1934 symphonic suite Lieutenant Kijé (op. 60). The March 13, 2002 entry in the site diary has more details. He has also noted the Sting connection (related blog entry) to the same song.

"Chhorna chhorna chhorna re/Mera bhheja phorna re." Do these lines sound like a bankrupt drunkard's reflections before suicide? Perhaps, but these are actually words from a song of Sanjay Gupta's Kaante being performed by its heroes Lucky Ali (the only pro singer here), Mahesh Manjrekar, Sunil Shetty, Kumar Gaurav, Amitabh Bachchan (he can do anything) and Sanjay Dutt (he has delivered one hit already). Six stars in one song: that is an exception...{The stars are singing by Biswadeep Ghosh on Hindustan Times}

Python Plug for the Day
In case you have been nursing thoughts of becoming a Python developer (not a writer of Python code, but a contributor to the Python core), read this article by Andrew M. Kuchling.
And on that note, Mark Hammond, the writer of the Win32 extensions for each release of Python, is reported to be working on bringing Python into Microsoft's .NET realm.

The open source movement wouldn't exist without Microsoft, Bill Gates told his company's shareholder meeting...{from How Microsoft invented open source on The Register}.

For anyone interested in finding the times for sunrise and sunset in the US, check out this Sunrise/Sunset Calculator from the NOAA Surface Radiation Research Branch. For Python enthusiasts like me, here's some code from Mike C. Fletcher. Thanks to comp.lang.python for this.

More links on writing for the web. Here's a pageful from the scratching post.

Straight off Blogdex (top story there): AOL embraces Linux and Mozilla, plans to drop MS Explorer.
A nice little article by Roger Ebert on Yahoo! Internet Life titled In Cyberspace, Writing Is a Performance

It's been a while since I visited the R. D. Burman auctions on eBay. Here are the fresh hits.
BOMBAY FUNK 80's ost "Manzil manzil" (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Composer : RD Burman ; Label : "Manzil manzil" ; Label : EMI eclp5961 ; Year : 1984 ; Country : India ; Condition : cov VG+ rec VG++ ; Description : Late RD' stuff but still as good as in his early days.This one is for the Indian smurfers.You will be kicked off by the inventive midtempo disco "hey baba". There are also good loops for the beatheads and a breathtaking indian scat moment...
BOLLYWOOD LOUNGE ost "Saagar"(note: link will become stale once the auction is over):Composer : RD Burman ; Label : "Saagar" ; Label : Music India 2392470 ; Year : 1984 ; Country : India ; Condition : cov VG++ rec VG++ ; Description : Listen to the sexy lounge duet "Jaane do naa". Nothing can get more erotic for an indian boy...
BOLLYWOOD FUNK ost "Rocky"(note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Composer : RD Burman ; Label : "Rocky" ; Label : Polydor 2392209 ; Year : 1980 ; Country : India ; Condition : cov VG (the front cover is made of a kind of aluminium, so all the copies I have seen show signs of oxidation) rec VG++ ; Description : RD delivers here one of his funkiest score. For the samplers, there are several Timbaland style breakbeats (tabla, sitar, drums, strings)...
BOLLYWOOD FUNK ost "Takkar"(note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Composer : RD Burman ; Label : "Takkar" ; Label : EMI eclp5659 ; Year : 1980 ; Country : India ; Condition : cov VG rec VG (a lot of light scuff but plays very well with little noise in the silent moments) ; Description : Just check the funk bomb "Yeh tanhaya" and the moody "Duniya kya hai". RD at his best...
BOLLYWOOD CLASSIC ost "Yaadon ki Baaraat" (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): Composer : RD Burman ; Label : "Yaadon ki Baaraat" ; Label : Odeon/EMI d/moce4194 ; Year : 1973 ; Country : India ; Condition : cov VG+ rec VG++ ; Description : One of his masterpiece, as consistant as "Hare rama hare krishna".In this score of this cult movie in india, the furious indian psychedelic songs contrast with the delicate and moving tunes such as "Chura liya"...

Hindustani and Carnatic music have their differences, but there are also points of similarity. Just found this article by Rajesh Chitradurga that talks of some of the similarities and differences. I do not vouch for the technical correctness of the article, but it's still a good place to start.

what is good hypertext writing?
Just got this from a friend:There is more to writing than putting words next to each other, and there is more to writing hypertext than throwing together a bunch of links...{read on}

yo!

another weekend at the public library

Another big haul from the weekend trip to the public library after a shower that I hope portends Spring instead of typifying the unpredictability of Atlanta weather. Here goes. (The books have links to their entries on Amazon.com, the CDs have links to entries in the All Music Guide, while the movies link to the Internet Movie Database)

• CDs
  
  
  
  • Queen of the Blue/Memphis Minnie: Eighteen stellar selections recorded between 1929 and 1946 that clearly show what a potent musical force this woman truly was...{AMG entry}
  
  
  • Norway Sang: A collection of Norwegian songs
  
  
  • Live at Monterey/Ravi Shankar
  
  
  • Sitar music from India
  
  
  • African Rhythms & Instruments, Vol 2
  
  
  • Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky Cantata/Lieutenant Kije Suite | André Previn/Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra: AMG did not have an entry for it, so I have linked to the page on Prokofiev.org devoted to this album
  
  
  • Dvorák: Symphony No. 7/Overture, My Home | André Previn/Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra: TELARC CD-80173: Couldn't find any catalog entry for this one
  
  
  • Devotional and Love Songs/Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party
  
  
  
  


• Books
  
  
  
  • Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
  
  
  • Bare Bones: Conversations on Terror With Stephen King
  
  
  
  


• Movies




• Irma La Douce (VHS): Shammi Kapoor's directorial debut in 1974 titled Manoranjan was also based on the same French play as this Billy Wilder classic


• A Fish Called Wanda (VHS)


• The Avengers 1963 DVD Set 1: Volume I: Here's the Amazon entry: Episodes are The Undertakers, Man with Two Shadows, The Nutshell


• The Avengers 1963 DVD Set 2 Volume 3: The Amazon entry for a change. Episodes are: Second Sight, The Medicine Men, The Grandeur that was Rome

Did you know that the track Russians on Sting's debut album The Dream of the Blue Turtles is based on a theme by Prokofiev? Neither/So did I.
Incidentally, the Indiana University School of Music maintains a list of pointers to web resources on different composers.

One of the most satisfying books I have read in the last few months -- Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, which takes narrative crime noir and twists it around to give us one of the most tragic characters in recent times: Lionel Essrog a.k.a The Human Freakshow, a victim of Tourette's syndrome. The narrative and descriptions within the novel (his longest to date, I am told). Struggling with Tourette's and a world that fails to understand his plight, Lionel must turn real detective when his saviour Frank Minna is wasted on a stakeout. Lethem uses the flow of investigation to guide us through a maze of complex human relationships offset by the city of Brooklyn itself. Almost perfect, the novel's undoing is in the tail section, which attempts a wrap-up and engages in some unwanted prolix. But such issues can be put to rest, for this is a very entertaining and engaging read. Lethem takes an interesting concept and fleshes it out. And a nice intriguing title is only icing to the cake. {SPOILER: The title refers to the Minna Men, the orphans from St. Vincent's Home for Boys, Brooklyn}. To find out more about Lethem's work, check out 'the only comprehensive site on the web devoted solely to his works' by David Myers.

I have slashdot to thank for this entry full of links today.

• .NET, in addition to claiming to the Microsoft-heralded panacea (for what I wonder...) proves to be yet another avenue for virus writers .On Friday [March 01, 2002], antivirus companies received a copy of a worm called Sharpei, which is partially written in Microsoft's newest computer language, C#... {read on}


• The winners of the 16th International Obfuscated C Code Contest have been announced


• Just about the last thing we wanted to read: AOL Time Warner's [NTSE:AOL] Netscape unit is snooping on searches performed by users of its latest Navigator browser at Google and other search sites...{read on}


• A slashdot review of TRON's 20th Anniversary DVD

Always curious about the old look of Atlanta, I just stumbled on some postcards.

Just stumbled onto a couple of sites dedicated (albeit not favourably) to the Bank Of America. There's SYDNEY URSHAN vs. Bank of America CASE NO. LC 032948 and the Customer from Hell.

Robert Crumb's take on Philip K. Dick's 'Valis' experience. With two talents like these, how can one not be curious? A note of caution though: each of the pages can take some time to load. {read on}

Better English means better code: there's nothing so valuable as a good comment. Too bad they're so rare...{Comments on Comments}. Thanks again to the programming languages weblog.

I'm not claiming to be deep, I'm claiming to do it for fun.: Linus on software design, and the lack thereof...{the linux kernel mailing list archives}. Thanks to the programming languages weblog for this.

HEERA PANNA INDIAN OST!!!BURMAN CLUB KILLER!! (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): R.D. BURMAN - HEERA PANNA ost (ODEON/EMI, India, 1973)�Indian ost from SHALIMAR to GREAT GAMBLER always got the hype on the web during these last years. Now and because you�ve been all gentle with yo mama�your host is proud to present you another 2lust obscurity with this superb Burman�s ost!!!!Music is a mix a sitar, percussions sprinkled of lotsa nice dialogue parts but the killer is on the B-side:Freak-Out Music, as it is!!!!A PURE GIANT PSYCHOTIC MOOG, ORGAN AND PERCUSSIONS track that will kicked your mind in psychedelic spheres!!!!Perfect to jerk all night long @ drugy parties!!!!!Right up there with JP MIROUZE �Sexopolis� in my book!!!!INCREDIBLE RECORD!!!!!A MUST for DJs and producers!!!!!�..

Google is celebrating the birthday of Dutch Abstract painter Piet Mondrian. The Dutch painter Pieter Cornelis Mondrian (originally Mondriaan) (1872 � 1944) grew up in a strict Calvinistic setting. In 1880 the family moved from Amersfoort to Winterswijk, ...{more on AbsoluteFacts.com}

In a lesson for the music and movie industries, software makers appear to be winning the war against software piracy - at least among chronically offending college students, says a University of Florida researcher...{read on} Thanks to Slashdot for this.

Raaj Kumar has uttered perhaps the most recognizable lines in Hindi cinema. A post on RMIM included a link to an article on Rediff titled Raaj Kumar: The power of rhetoric in a gravelly voice. The article includes several famous Jaani-isms including the feet in Pakeezah and the glass houses in Waqt.

Back from a day in Orlando, FL. Universal was great. More on that once I get rid of this nasty cold.


Pancham on eBay

R D BURMAN HUM KISSIE INDIAN FUNK OST LP RARE (note: link will become stale once the auction is over): This is an original indian only issue soundtrack lp by "Rahul Dev Burman" and is called "HUM KISSIE HUM NAHEEN" this is a fat ass indian lp with the ill tune "chand mera dil" some mad wah wah raw drama horns and pure bollywood funk and mad synths.....next up "bachna ae haseeno" starts with a wicked mellow groove great for samples and then intosome ill drama indian music...wicked sounds.....also there are mad timbermand style samples on this indian lp along side some ill spacey and electronic solo sounds for samples....solid and rare ass lp by india's top soundtarck composser ....on the emi record label from the yeasr 1977 in near mint condition...

a tour of the washington D. C. monuments and restaurants.

My first intra-continental flight. The Charlotte airport was more open (for lack of a better word) than Hartsfield. Several ramps allowed me to have a panoramic view of the airport. Lots of bright open space and more places to eat than Hartsfield. The same can go for Dulles. Both flights were on time. Both had me near an empty seat. More later.