The art of sound engineering

Sound Engineering - I amn't talking about the stuff that deals with audio mixing, acoustics, reverberation et. al. It is what we've named the act of mis-interpreting words others say. Over the years in Pilani, some of our guys have been identified as and were attributed the tag "considerably deaf" people (Irony being I was one among and myself writing this!) and the things wrongly interpreted and heard by them made way into the "Sound Engineering" notepad file, officially updated by me daily.

These people aren't actually deaf :P . They always seem to be in a bit of a hurry, and in that hurry, they don't quite concentrate on what the other guy said and end up saying another thing. The "Sound Engg" file has grown larger and larger. Hundreds of entries were entered. Whenever, some 5, 6 or more guys put up a latcha session, it always happened that more than 10 new entries always made way.

Of all the hudreds of entries, some made me laugh my arse off. And I thought its worth putting them here. These actually were "Buzz of the day" sm times at college.

All this may sound a bit idiotic, but worth a post.

Read "Originally said --- Interpreted as --- The guy"

Catcher in the rye --- Catch an NRI -------Gova
Females ------------- Free Meals ---------Vishal
Shivji ---------------- Citizen -------------Ujjwal
Charger ------------- Tarjan --------------Ramcha
Catch 22 ------------ Cast away ----------Gova
Polka dots ----------- Gold spot -----------Gudumba
SMPS --------------- Next Sem PS --------Imran
Bits Street ---------- Discrete -------------Pai
Incredibles ---------- Intrabits ------------Gudumba

Happy Birthday 'Sten'

The 'Master blaster' turned 33 today. It has been a career which has spanned 17 long years and a few more years to come along!

He's still the same curly haired baby face to all of us, who beckoned to the world that it's the beginning of his era. I wish it is the year 1989 again. We would have a chance to start all over again.

Like any of the millions of this maestro's fans, I get fascinated by his game too. The elegance he displays while batting, his on-field attics and the off-field behaviour, the demonic avatar he attains when he needs to tear the opponents' attack and his attitude towards the game as a whole; Everything about this hero has always left me spellbound.

This great man has 10469 runs, 35 centuries & 14146 runs, 39 centuries in test cricket and ODIs respectively, credited to his name and this fact itself captivates me.

Byfar, he's one of the best (and probably, tops the list) I've ever watched to hold the willow, with Brian Lara, Viv Richards & Sunil Gavaskar being the other names.

Mind you, this is my list.

On this day, let's wish him a very happy birthday and pray that he would get back to his old roots and have a bright career ahead.

Sachin, India looks upon you. We await your come back.

Stats courtesy: Cricinfo

A great day for freedom!

What a great day yesterday was. The 12th of March, 2006.

It certainly needs to be marked and should go into the dairies.

It was a feast for an absolute sports freak like me and the enthusiasts all over. A perfect day to sit back and enjoy. Sundays were never too fun!

The day's sporting events (in chronological order of the start of the event)
And check out the purple links for more.

India doing an early damage to put England aback

Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.
Though, this one is no where a near proximity in the level of excitement the other events brought later in the day, it's worth cribbing a couple of lines. And by the time I posted this, India pulled off a victory!


The Aussies' massacre and the Proteas' reply

New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

What a batting track that was at the Wanderers.

Many a poor 5.5 oz weighing ball had a tough time yesterday getting slammed into the stands and running all over across the lush green to the ropes.

Credit to the kangaroos, for I saw what I thought I'd never see. A team surpassing the 400 mark in a LOI.

More credit to Smith's men, for they generated a fever which wracked our nerves, watching it live.

Never did I saw a team chasing such a massive total, playing with such levels of confidence the South Africans displayed.

The way the Proteas took on the Aussie bowlers was truly glorifying.

Poor Lewis have had his worst day...113 off his quota of 10 overs!!

The Red's back on the podium

Bahrain GP, Sakhir, Bahrain.

It's basically Schumi's sport. A few call it Formula 1 though.

An amazing start for the Ferrari team with a 1, 2 finish in Saturday's qualifying.
Poor Massa messed it up and didn't do well in the race;
Schumi was leading till half-way when he had to stop in the pits and clocked 8.7" while Alonso had it done in a second less.

A fucking second made all the difference; 1/86400 th of a day costed the all time great Schumacher 2 points.
But the race was thrilling over all with Schumi trying desperately to pass the Renault car and finished a close second.
Anyway, it was amazing to see the master back on the podium and reckoned that he'd be back there again. Watch out for the next one in Kuala Lampur this week-end.



It's United all the way

Old Trafford, Manchester.

The Reds started off with a blitzkrieg, with Rooney scoring two goals in a span of 5 mins.
At 12', Manchester Utd. lead Newcastle Utd 2-0.
Though, Fergie's men had a few chances later, they didn't score and had to finish 2-0.

The day would have had a perfect finish had Liverpool's Steven Gerrard didn't make a blunder passing it wrong to Arsenal 's Thierry Henry. It was a give away lollipop to Henry and he did convert it in style. Arsenal finished it off 2-1.

The 12th of March, 2006.

Pigs will fly.

For half-an-hour on July 2nd, 2005, Pigs have flown. Pink Floyd have re-united.

This date will forever be treasured by me and Pink Floyd fans the world over.


Floyd's performance at Live 8 could be downloaded here.
http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/

How to leave Planet Earth?

An excerpt from the outrageously hilarious book H2G2.

How to Leave the Planet

1. Phone NASA. Their phone number is (713) 483-3111. Explain it's very important that you get away as soon as possible.
2. If they do not cooperate, phone any friend you may have in the White House (202) 456-1414, to have a word on your behalf with the guys at NASA
3. If you dont have any friends in the White House, phone the Kremlin (ask the overseas operator for 0107-095-295-9051). They don't have any friends there either (at least, one no. to speak of), but they do seem to have a little influence, so you may as well try.
4. If that also fails, phone the Pope for guidance. His telephone number is 011-39-6-6982, and I gather his switchboard is infallible.
5. If all these attempts fail, flag down a passing flying saucer and explain that it's vitally important you get away before your phone bill arrives.

Douglas Adams, LA 1983

Music is my religion and Floyd are the gods.

Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters
David Gilmour____________Richard Wright

The Floyd Syndrome

Well, I finally decided to have a blog of my own after having spent the whole of an another jobless day Orkutting and reading several blogs. Initially, I didn't give much thought on what to title the stuff that I write. The first thing that immediately striked my grey cells was Pink Floyd. So, I thought to go on ahead with it. So was Comfortably Numb and so is the first post. As you might have got it by now, I am so obsessed with this Pink Floyd thing.

My first encounter with Pink Floyd was way back, four years ago. I don't want to get into all that now. But, I have been an ardent Floyd fan since that day. Floyd has always been a constant companion for me throughout Engineering. There were many times I was at an emotional low, and I couldn't find a better companion to cheer me up than Floyd. I've always played Floyd esp. when we wanted to get on a high. 

You can like some bands in bits, but with Floyd, you either love them or hate them. "Once a Floyd fan, always a Floyd fan" goes the punch line of our Floyd fan club at college. I also know of some of people who dislike them, hate them and some who even despise them, for glorifying psychedelic rock and what not. But rather than arguing with them, I prefer to ignore them, dismissing them as naive. As it is rightly said, It takes all sorts to make the world.

What amazes me most is the long yet not boring instrumentals and the phrases they use in the lyrics. Some of them which impressed me the most are

"Through the fish eyed lens of tear stained eyes, I can barely define the shape of this moment in time" ~ The Final Cut

"Strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet and I am you and what I see is me" ~ Echoes

"For long you live and high you fly, Smiles you give and tears you cry, All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be" ~ Breathe

These subtleties, ofcourse can best be enjoyed when listening to the track as a whole and not in a review or a passing reference. Of all their master piece albums, DSOTM and The Wall remain my favorites. However, The Final Cut takes the piece of cake for lyrics. For the uninitiated, DSOTM stands for Dark Side of the Moon. If you didn't knew this, you better not be here.

I possibly can't imagine a life without Floyd, and it has and will be my constant companion throughout life. You are never too young to listen to Floyd, never too busy to miss their music, never so stubborn as not to listen to, never so disdainful as to scorn at their music, never too oblivious as to miss them totally and never too old to begin listening to them.

Go. Acquire the syndrome, which thankfully has no cure for it is the only syndrome, which, if acquired, can give you immunity against all evils.(Atleast, I've thought so).

Pink Floyd. Phew, what a name to go through life with !