Tuesday, August 30, 2005

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

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Music is my religion and Floyd are the gods.



Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters
David Gilmour____________Richard Wright

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

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 !