Chp 306. World Cup: How to cook an octopus

This coming Monday morning/ Sunday midnight, I will be making a delicious octopus meal. Well at least metaphorically speaking. So feel free to stop by anytime. You’re all invited. As long as you support the Netherlands.

Suddenly, there is this loud buzz about Paul the Octopus, who apparently predicted the winners of all the matches so far. Well, me and a lot of friends have been predicting that Holland will win all their matches since the beginning of this World Cup, but hell, nobody listened to us or gave us press coverage. Instead, they decided to opt for a creepy slimy underwater creature that I’m sure, didn’t even go to a real school (PJ Alert!)



So do we need to have six more arms for people to start noticing us? Bollocks. Watch Paul the octopus cover his head in shame with all eight arms as he squirms in embarrassment for being wrong this Sunday night. Ah. Squirm. Squirt. Squid. Squeamish. Squashy. That’s Paul the Octopus for you.

Meanwhile, in other news today, Chuchu the rat, Dudu the vulture and Foofoo the duck-billed platypus all predicted that Netherlands will win and score at least 4 goals this Sunday while Henry the anaconda predicted that Kima will also score this weekend

Well, I’m not going to be online again till Monday morning (it’s one of those ahemzzz weekends, if you know what I mean… *wink*) so cheers to the Netherlands team. I can already picture the kinda comments that will be waiting for me here on Monday morning if Netherlands lose but that won’t happen. I trust Chuchu, Dudu and Foofoo (and of course Henry )

I have tasted dried octopus meat back in School during the early 90s. We had a couple of students from Thailand and they used to bring dried preserved meat from home – squid, octopus, shark etc. I definitely do not remember the taste now, but I would do anything to try it once more, especially if it’s Paul on my plate. Die Paul Die. That’s German for “The Paul, The”. Paul’s from Oberhausen, Germany, so he’ll understand. Die you ugly cephalopod.

Wouldn’t mind having Paul over for dinner. Provided he’s the appetizer Tandoori octopus 65 (boneless) sounds delicious. Or maybe Schezwan fried octopus noodles.

Here are some other great recipes I’ve found on Google.

Spanish Braised Octopus in Paprika Sauce

Basically you braise the octopus in its own juices, then cut it into pieces and dress it with a paprika-garlic sauce when it is still warm. This is a variant of a Spanish recipe known as "a la gallega." Any size octopus will work with this recipe. Serves 4 as a starter or tapas.

Read more at: About.com: Octopus Paprika

Stewed Octopus with Macaroni

Rinse the octopus under cold, running water and place in pot dripping wet (you don't want to dry it off - this is the moisture it will cook in). Add the red wine, garlic, onion, bay leaf and cinnamon and cover the pot. Bring to the boil over low heat.

Read more at: RecipeZaar: Stewed Octopus with Macaroni

Bon Appétit!

So I'll wish you all well (except Paul of course) and see you all again on Monday.

For tonight’s match between Germany and Uruguay for third place, I will be supporting Uruguay of course. Mainly because Paul the octopus said Germany will win. I am here to prove him wrong. Comon Uruguayyyyy! Psychic my ass.

Secondly, I support Uruguay because of Forlan. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I hate the guy because he was once a Manchester United player, scoring crucial goals against my Arsenal a couple of times. But as a person, I love him. Many of you would know the story of how he decided to become an international soccer player and become rich so that he could support his sister after she met an accident and became paralyzed, ending her dreams of becoming a model. For that, I will cheer for Forlan and the South American boys.

Go Uruguay! Screw you Paul. Eight arms you got but not one finger. Guess which finger I’m showing you right now.

Hup Holland Hup!

Chp 305. Best FIFA World Cup Anthem / Song

FIFA has its own official anthem/song every World Cup. And such songs are all about the “spirit of the game”, regardless of whether you win or lose. And listening to them usually pumps you up before any game.

For this 2010 World Cup, the official song is Shakira’s “Waka waka”, which was a real let down for me because I like K’naan’s “Wavin’ flag” so much better. But then again, Ricky Martin’s “La Copa de Vida” was the official World Cup song of 1998 and Anastacia’s “Boom” was for 2002 World Cup. Not surprising that Shakira's song was chosen, if you look at the past official songs

As my wise friend once told me, “World Cup songs must appeal to the masses, and not just football fans.”

Touché. Here, you be the judge. Purely from a football perspective (forget the oh so curved dancers and bootie shakers), which song do you think should be the official 2010 World Cup song?


SHAKIRA – Waka waka.




K’NAAN – Wavin’ flag.




To me, Wavin’ Flag is still the song I play every day the moment I reach office. The song has so much depth and intensity, coupled with emotion and passion. Plus, it really does inspire me, especially if you had listened to the original version before.


Which World Cup song/anthem is your favorite?

Mine is definitely this…

To be number one… running like the wind
Playing hard but always playing fair.

To be number one… winning again and again
Reaching higher through Italian sky.


Yup. World Cup 1990. Italia '90.

Here is the song “To be number one” by Giorgio Moroder. This is the best World Cup song in my book. I still remember listening and singing it so many times when I was in hostel during this World Cup at St. Thomas Boy’s School, Calcutta (I used to sing it as “reaching high, the BLUE Italian sky” ). Even in Mizoram, many artists sang this song before football tournaments etc. This was a very popular song back home, and it still is.



The 1990 World Cup was the World Cup my team Netherlands was eliminated in the first round of the knock-out stage by West Germany, who later moved on to win the title, defeating Argentina in the Finals.

Yup, this was what I meant by the “Dutch disaster” in my previous post. Because the Dutch had just won the UEFA European Football Championship ’88 before this World Cup, beating West Germany 2-1 in the semi-finals. That particular Dutch team was declared by many football pundits as the best Dutch team so far. They had the likes of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman and Frank Rijkaard in their roster, while W.Germany had the legends Lothar Matthaeus, Juergen Klinsmann and Rudi Voller. When the two teams met in the '90 Italia World Cup two years after that, W.Germany won 2-1.

I managed to dig out this archive from FIFA. Italia '90 Germany FR vs Netherlands. Frank Rijkaard and Rudi Voller were both shown the red card in the 22nd minute. Rijkaard spat on Rudi, making it one of those “unforgettable moments” of Italia '90



Tonight, 20 years later, Netherlands will be facing either Germany or Spain in the Finals of World Cup 2010. I really hope Germany win this match against Spain, so that they will face Netherlands in the Finals - the Oranje can finally take revenge then. Match has just started, so I will stop here.

One last point before I start watching this semi-finals (which I predict is going to be boring). Did you know that the 1990 World Cup where “To be number 1” was sang, was considered to be one of the most boring World Cups ever? It had the lowest goals scored so far, because most of the teams were playing defensively and passing back to their goal-keeper to waste time. Because of this FIFA introduced the “back-pass” rule in 1992, hence disallowing goal-keepers from catching the ball if his own team-mate had passed the ball to him. That definitely made the game more interesting and faster.

Here, enjoy one more version of this Italia '90 World Cup official song. This was performed LIVE during the opening ceremony of the 1990 World Cup twenty years ago (so don't laugh at their clothes). Cheers.

Chp 304. World Cup: Holland semi-finals

So many things to write about, but being a World Cup season, I guess I can put those off for later. Like for instance, yesterday was a Nationwide curfew, with the opposition parties forcing asking people not to step outside.

Schools, colleges and offices were all closed, with the entire transportation division shut down here in Mumbai. Vehicles and shops were vandalized. One of my colleagues Sanket who was on his way to office had his bike tyres deflated by an angry mob after they forcefully stopped him on the road. Fortunately, that was the only thing that happened to him and they didn’t beat him or thrash his bike (further).

I could write about the hardship the common man (aam aadmi) faced and the debates on news channels between various political parties. Or I could write about how I spent the entire day staying at home, cooking and watching the entire season 2 of Castle, season 1 of White Collar and the complete limited series of “The Pacific”. Ah, what a series marathon and relaxing “holiday” it was.

But being a World Cup season as mentioned before, with the whole once-in-four-years exclusivity, and with my team the Dutch progressing to the semi-finals after beating Brazil 2-1, I can’t help but write about how much closer I am to seeing my team finally win the coveted title.


[A moment in history. Ned 2 – Bra 1. Pic source: WorldCupGirls]

For 4 World Cups I have been supporting the Netherlands now. They have been rightfully called the BEST TEAM to have never won a World Cup. This time, I hope that designation will never be upon them again.

I was too young to know about the legendary Cryuff, but I was a fan of Van Basten and Ruud Gullit (not much TV access those days but I still remember reading about the Dutch ‘90 World Cup disaster, losing to W.Germany). They were the first two footballers whose posters I had, while the rest of my friends were adorning Maradona posters on their bedroom wall. And of course there were the two Arsenal legends Overmars and Bergkamp, one of the main reasons why I started supporting Arsenal, and have been a hardcore Gooner for more than 10 years now because of that. I really miss those “Bergkamp is God” days, much before anybody knew who Henry was.

Not to miss out the others like Kluivert, Seedorf, Cocu, Davids, Koeman, de Boer, Nistelrooy, Hasselbank, Van der Sar, RVP, Sneijder, Robben, Kuyt, Huntelaar, Babel, de Jong, Heitinga etc. And of course the captain Van Bronckhorst - another ex-gunner. I can bet my arse he’s one of the oldest players in the current Holland World Cup squad, or at least the most capped. He was there in the ‘98 World Cup squad too along with uncle Van der Sar

Tonight, Netherlands will be clashing with Uruguay. A team not to be taken lightly. Suarez may be out with a red card, but Forlan is still there. Gawddd I used to hate him so much during his ManUtd days. Now that there are no Manure players in this current 2010 Netherlands World Cup squad, supporting the team is even sweeter

The winner of tonight’s match will meet the winner of Germany and Spain in the Finals. Uruguay definitely has a better history when it comes to the World Cup, winning the coveted title twice while Netherlands is nil. But then, didn’t people say the same thing with Brazil too who had won five times before? And what was the result again? History is not meant to be relived, but to be written. And that’s what the Dutch intend to do tonight.

The other side of the table, I hope Spain beats Germany. Because Spain looks like an easier opponent for Netherlands. Lolz. The Germans look scary right now, especially after thrashing Argentina 4-0 with flawless counterattack (something that will forever be mentioned again and again and again in the future whenever people talk about the World Cup).

But let’s leave that aside for now. Tonight, once again I will be screaming from the top of my lungs – HUP HOLLAND HUP. And maybe occasionally exchange tweets with ladyarse, who is the only Arsenal columnist that I follow on Twitter who supports Netherlands too. It would be a dream come true to see the Oranje win this World Cup.

Plus it would be a sweet oh so sweet victory in office, as my colleagues and bosses brushed aside the Netherlands team as a mere “Underdog” team!!! Underwhaaaaa? We shall see, my dear Girija, Sukruta, Jonathan, Prakhar, Preeth, Meghana and Tarana.




NOTE: Currently there is a bug in blogger.com. Your comment will appear briefly, but once you refresh the page, it will disappear. I am sure blogger.com people are looking into this issue right now.

NOTE 2: Problem solved!

Chp 303. An ever-advancing World Cup

I thought I’ll be blogging a lot about the World Cup this year… but you know what? Screw it. There are over a billion blogs out there now, and many of them are blogging about the World Cup. The flavor is suddenly lost in the midst of this overwhelming information overload.

Back in 2006, there were at least a few million blogs. And I was one of the few people in my blog friend circle blogging about the World Cup then.

Back then, there was a big chance of getting your blog noticed through blog conglomerate sites. But soon, feed aggregators and social media killed such sites. Mutiny.in died and very recently we saw the sad closure of desipundit.com. Blogbharti.com is still barely hanging on. We have passed the era of people compiling the best blog posts manually because there are now too darn many. UGC (User Generated Content) are now the IN thing, with portals like blogadda, indiblogger etc. trying to form the new breed of bloggers’ destination here in India.

That is why this World Cup is so different from the others. This World Cup has been branded as the first Social Media powered World Cup.

Back in 1998, many of us still didn’t know what the internet was. In 2002, the most we had were websites for the qualifying teams, with info about them in basic HTML. Everything was as static as our browsers would permit it to be. 2006 too didn’t see such a great change either. Social networking sites offered a bit of interactivity through discussion topics, and there were of course blogs. In India, Facebook hadn’t really entered the market then, and it was just blueish boring fraaand Orkut group discussions for us (and a few of those on Myspace with epileptic background designs).

Now comes 2010 World Cup. Everything has changed drastically. From live podcasting and Facebook to twitter updates and other social media tools, one can get information about any match anywhere. There are hundreds of sites live streaming the matches. Discussions are highly interactive and access is not limited to your computer or laptop alone - Mobile technology has advanced multifold. Foursquare and other GPS location based SNS have also moved in… I can actually chat with my favorite player from Netherlands through twitter just before he runs into the ground to start the game while I am still sitting in the loo (provided he replies to my tweet of course).

Even television has improved (It still feels like yesterday watching the World Cup in our cranky old black and white television with a bunch of people adjusting the TV antennae on the roof to get better reception). Now we can watch the slow motion replay in High Definition, but the amount social media has advanced is incomparable to television, print, radio or any other media. Remember the popular 80’s song “Video killed the radio star”? Yeah, Internet killed that video star who killed the radio star.

2014 World Cup will be in 3D, according to many tech pundits. A few years ago I might have said bull $hit, but now I totally believe it is possible. And I can even vouch that Augmented Reality will play a huge role, with virtual 3D matches playing right in front of your computer using this technology.

See the pace we are moving at my friends?

Well, I don’t want to put such a heavy burden on your head, especially if you’re an old timer like me comfortable with how the world is/was, and finding it difficult to keep up with technology. So I will leave this subject and talk a little bit about the World Cup matches so far

Today, my team Netherlands won. Robben played for the first time and scored an AMAZING goal.



We will meet the winner of Brazil and Chile match that’s going on right now. Yesterday there were two matches. And that’s what I want to talk about.

Both matches were controversial. Lampard’s goal against Germany was denied even though it was clearly in, and Tevez’s goal against Mexico was clearly an offside.

So many people were whining about the match and suggesting that video replay technology should be brought in, à la tennis or cricket.

I say HELL NO!!!

Yeah even I was pissed off because I was supporting Mexico in that match. But you know what? THIS IS FOOTBALL. Bring in technology and you kill the very essence of football. So many times I have seen my team Arsenal go down due to bad calls by the ref. But then, that’s the game.

You may call me a FOOTALIBAN if you wish. I don’t care. I do not want things to change. Let technological improvement be a benefit for the viewers, but for the love of God, please do not change the game. Referee errors have always been a part of the game, and it should always be that way.

Plus it gives us more things to talk about at football discussion forums. The best part of any football discussion especially with our friends (who are rival fans), is the wrong call referees make. There is always something to talk about. If everything is going to be checked using technology like a third umpire and all the freaking claims are 100% correct and fair, then WTF do we talk about with our friends then?

“Urrrmmm dude, you guys played well.”
“Yeah… errmmm… thanx. Your goalkeeper wasn’t bad either.”
“Yeah man.”

*awkward silence*

“So did you see the other match after that?”
“Yeah dude. Nice game. Very fair.”
“I know.”

*awkward silence*

“So… ermmm… will you be watching next week’s match?”
“Yup… it will be a good and fair match.”
“I agree.”

*awkward silence*

“Ok bye dude. I’m gonna go home and chop off my manhood”
“Cool. Me too.”

But throw in a couple of controversial referee decisions or fouls, handballs, offsides etc that the referee didn’t see, and you will have the greatest conversation possible with your friends “Arrrgghhhh”, “Noooooo”, “F@$& dude, that was soooo unfair”, “No b@stard, that was a clear offside!!!”, “Godddd I love this game so muchhh, I will never chop off my manhood.”

See the difference? The moment you freaking make football like a tennis or cricket match, I will stop watching it completely.

Here’s to Netherlands winning in the many rounds to come. Hup Holland Hup!

Chp 302. Creative Trailblazer!

Meet the new Creative Trailblazer!!!
*Drum roll + Vuvuzela blast*

Creative whaaaa?



Hehehe… yeah that’s my new designation. Creative Trailblazer. Although I’ll still be technically under the copywriting section of the Creative department, this new promotion handed to me by our Creative Director is a milestone in our company (and probably in the advertising industry).

Kinda makes sense. We in the ad agency are all about creativity. Why have boring designations like designer, developer, copywriter, supervisor etc? Why not go all out with guns blazing like how we do during a brainstorming session?

The proposal for my designation went to our Delhi Head office, as it was something very unusual. And finally it got approved!


[My official business card]

So, what’s a Creative Trailblazer?

Basically, it means somebody with ideas that leave a trail of fire. Ideas big enough to create an impact in the market and conceptualize innovative campaigns never done before. A pioneer in creativity.

Well there had always been the age old discussion, that a mainstream Ad agency copywriter (read: Print or TV) and a digital ad agency copywriter are quite different in terms of what they do. Mainstream copywriters work on coming up with visuals and copy that catch the attention of the masses and how their copy will fit in with the visuals, whereas if you want to be in the digital industry, you have to know the digital industry really well.

For example, even though I am a copywriter, I do a lot of designing and programming based on the copy I am writing. And it is really important to know the internet audience well in order to have a successful campaign. There is no guarantee that what may work well in TV, Print or Radio, will work well online. Hence we have to keep ourselves constantly up to date with what the rest of the online crowd is doing. To suggest a concept based on Augmented Reality, we have to take into consideration how technologically feasibly the concept is and whether it is ideal for the average TG, and these are the things you can learn only if you are active on cyberspace.

As a digital copywriter, we have to plan the entire IA, sitemap and UI of a client as a part of the campaign and make everything as user friendly as possible right up to how analytics will react to the proposition.

Knowing photoshop, dreamweaver and flash is definitely a plus point if you want to be a digital copywriter. But most of all, you cannot just stop with the knowledge you have. The world is constantly changing and suddenly your friends will laugh at you if you have a 4GB pen drive. I still remember having a 1GB HARD drive on your computer was a big deal a few years ago. See where I’m getting at? There are no written rules here. Everything around you is rapidly changing and evolving when it comes to the digital world, and you can either opt to be left behind or move with the momentum. And you HAVE to move along if you want to survive.

And oh yes… being a nerd/geek scores in this industry. Slashdot FTW!

Plus I can’t wait to see the look in a client’s eye when I hand him my card on the next client meeting… Will he hesitate to ask me what the designation means, probably thinking that he might sound like an idiot for not knowing such a designation…

Coming back to the topic, I really don’t know how putting my designation as a “Creative Trailblazer” on my LinkedIn profile is going to reflect. Of course there are many people with “unique” designations, like Vint Cerf who is the “Chief Internet Evangelist” at Google and Kishore Biyani who is the “Chief Knowledge Officer” of Pantaloon Retail India. But these guys are already BIG and everybody knows who they are. Will anyone take an unknown “Creative Trailblazer” seriously? (Or as we say in IIM-B, it’s an arbit designation). Hmmm… maybe that is what I am willing to gamble on, and seriously, I believe this is the risk any creative person should be willing to take. It’s not just about the job. It’s the passion that comes along with the job.

Let’s see how this whole story unfolds. After all, the only way to know how this will perform in the digital world is to put it out here for the market to react. Working for Webchutney, the No.1 Digital Agency in India (As per The Economic Times, Brand Equity Agency Reckoner for two consecutive years 2008 & 2009) I guess this is just another way of showing you who we are. Cheers to you all.

Chp 301. Hup Holland Hup!

It’s FIFA World Cup time again, and soon, my blog will be one World Cup post after the other

I know, I know… that means fewer visitors But at the end of the day, I know it will be good to look back at this month four years from now (if we’re still alive by the Grace of God) and walk down memory lane.

This is the second World Cup my blog is witnessing. And right now, looking back at the posts I wrote in 2006 sure brings back a lot of memories. Those were the days before I started working, or even before “Delhi” happened. I had just dropped out of IIMB then, trying to get through the prelims of UPSC.

Some of my 2006 World Cup posts like Of women and football etc were cross-posted at desipundit and various other blog community forums. So much has changed in my life since then. But the one thing that never changed? I am still a hardcore Netherlands supporter, since the days of Ruud Gullit, Van Basten, Bergkamp etc (Cruyff was way before my time, so I’m not including him in the list)


[Pic source: Netherlands vs Denmark: World Cup 2010 ]

Go Oranje! I love them, mainly because a lot of them are named “Vans”. Like from the current squad: Van Persie, Van Bronckhorst, Van der Vaart, Van der Wiel, Van Bommel, Van lalruatkima. etc. Yeah, in case you didn’t know, I’m a Van too I may not come from the DeBeers family (though I wish) or have a great grand uncle who fought in the Boer Wars, but being an Arsenal fan, there is such a closeness with the Dutch, either in the form of gunners or players playing for our main rivals.



Watching the Dutch kick Denmark’s ass today was exhilarating. 2-0. Hup Holland Hup! (which means Go Holland Go!)

And that’s why I love my office so much. Sure we may work hard most of the time, but we are soon going to get a new TV in office dedicated solely to World Cup matches (that’s what the bosses were discussing about last week). And apart from that, I was watching today’s Netherlands match online with no disturbances from anyone.

And the best part? I told my boss I was coming late to office today because I had to watch the Game 5 match of the ongoing NBA Finals. And that match gets over only by 9:30am. So my boss gave me permission! See, I didn’t even have to lie. Most others would have lied saying headache or pms etc because they wouldn’t have been granted permission just because of a basketball match on TV. How I love this place!



Game 5 this morning was freaking awesome. Kobe was burning up the floor with 38 points but it wasn’t enough. Bwahahaha. Celtics now lead the series 3-2. One more win and they are the 2010 champs. Comon Celtics!!!!

I’ve always been a Lakers hater. I was too young to witness the Celtics-Lakers rivalry (Bird versus Magic) of the 80s (plus, we didn’t have cable access then ) but I was very much a part of the NBA scene from 90s onwards. Like most passionate basketball jocks, Jordan was my idol too, but my team was Utah Jazz those days. I switched to Kings followed by Spurs after that. And that is why I hate Lakers so much. They decimated many of my favorite teams like Spurs, Kings, 76ers, Mavs etc.

Celtics this year are strong. Pierce, Garnett, Rondo, Ray Allen, Perkins, Finley, Wallace, Glen Davis. A lot of old warhorses! Lolz!

The next match is at Staples Center on Wednesday morning for Indian viewers. If Lakers can come back with a win, then the Final match (game 7) will be in LA again! I hope it doesn’t go to game 7.

Ending this post with my favorite video of today’s NBA Finals – Tony Allen blocking the 7 feet tall and former Grizzlies centre Pau Gasol! Woot!!!!! What a block! Totally PWNED!



Cheers!

Chp 300. Celebration through Music

Yay. Post number 300. Another milestone reached. I haven’t written any music post in a long time (ah, those weekly Music Monday days!), so I’m going to celebrate this grand occasion with a music post.

Do you believe in love at first sight? I believe in love at first sound.

A couple of days ago, I came across a Mizo song by Ramhlun North YMA Group featuring the band SAGA. The song is called “I Phal Dawn Em Ni”. I was completely entranced by the song. It was perfect – the lyrics, the rhythm, the contemporary music fusion, the symphonic gothic ambience and the Broadway art dance performance in the background. I’ve played it more than like a 100 times since then.

With permission from ZoVidz, here is the song. It’s in Mizo, but I have written the translation below.




Beautiful, isn’t it? Of course we all have different taste, but for me, I’ll even admit that this is the best Mizo song I have heard so far.

Here are the lyrics of the first verse and chorus. As this is a YMA (Young Mizo Association) production, the song is naturally about Mizo sentiments and fueling the love for Mizoram.


Ka pian ka seilenna aw zoram nuam
sappui nun ngai lova tual kan chaina
i chhingzo ramdang awm hian ka ring thei lo
thlangkawr vai leh anpai zingah pawn e
ka chhuang thin che asin aw zoram nuam
i sakruang mawi nghilni reng ka nei ngai lo

[Chorus]
Vala tho la, i ram hi han thlir ta che
Zo lanu hmeltha, i chhingmit meng la, han thlir vel teh.


English translation:

Beautiful Mizoram where I was born and brought up
where we roam and play without envying the western world
There is no other nation that compares to you
Even when I'm in the land around us
I am always proud of you, oh beautiful Mizoram
A day never goes by when I forget your beauty.

[Chorus]
Young man, get up and look at your land
Oh pretty Mizo maiden, open your eyes, and look around…


Amazing song. Especially the part [2:55] when RK-a, vocalist of SAGA sings his own part and totally killed it. Heavenly voice huh? He’s the second runners-up of last year’s Mizo Idol contest.

Here’s another music video of SAGA I found online, called "Seed". The song is in English. You gotta give it to RK-a, it’s freaking awesome!



I really don’t know why Mizo bands like this are not known across India. The songs are in English so people can understand them. In the death metal scene, IIIrd Sovereign is still rocking but the fan following is limited. Boomarang is making noise in Bangalore and Delhi, but the rest of the nation is still oblivious of their existence.

Here is another amazing song [English] by the Mizo band DrLUKE. It’s called “I’m sorry”. Although the chorus is a tad similar to the chorus of “Stellar” by Boomarang, it definitely has a very catchy and clear rhythm. The vocals is immaculately pristine and crystal clear.



Earlier, the vocalist of DrLUKE was a guy called Andrew. The song “Home Sweet Home” [English] by DrLUKE is definitely worth listening too.



Here is Andrew again, this time singing for the gospel band called Act Of Giving and the song is called “Only You” [English].



Speaking of English songs composed and performed by Mizos, this is one of my all time favorite. It’s performed by the school choir of Home Missions School, one of the renowned schools in Mizoram. They are all kids, but what they delivered, shot right past anybody’s expectation. It’s called “Together as one”.



Mixing Mizo songs with this collection, here is a recent song by F.Laldinmawii entitled “Lung a leng em mai”. There is something about this song that pulls me right into it. Listening to it, I just feel like crying, but in a very masculine way, you know…



Pensy’s latest song “Fak zel che nuam ka ti – II” is another great song, with a really cool music video. The entire video was shot in a few takes, pretty much like “Sweetest Thing” by U2. This video was shot in Lunglei, and I can image how much the director and people must have planned to run each scene smoothly as I am sure no CGs were used in this video. Check it out:



I like Pensy a lot. I will end this post with an English song of hers called “Thank you Grandpa” which is one of my favorite gospel songs. Very touching and emotional.




Thank you so much ZoVidz for allowing me to embed most of your collection. For those of you who love music by Mizo artists, kindly subscribe to his channel on youtube.



Take care, and hope you were entertained.

Chp 299. Quit Facebook Day.

I woke up this morning and got ready for office, when I suddenly realized, “Crap, it is STILL freaking May!” Just one of those days when the month just doesn’t seem to end… Salary, where art thou?


Lolz. So, today is Quit Facebook Day.

Today is also World No Tobacco Day.

Ironic, huh? Two habits difficult to quit, on the same day. Declaring today as “Quit Facebook Day” was a really bad idea. Millions of smokers worldwide who are on Facebook would definitely need an outlet to vent their frustration for not smoking today. And where else can one do that except on Facebook?

Stuff like, “Oh I haven’t taken a single puff today! Oh the stress!!” and then a couple of your friends liking your comment as if it is some profound statement that can change the course of civilization, and a few others adding their own two bits about smoking. I mean, Facebook is perfect for this.



Twitter allows you to say the same boring self-centered stuff, but other followers cannot read what others have tweeted regarding your tweet, unless they are following you both or doing some complex search which is… complex.

Of course there are various other platforms where you can do that, but Facebook has the numbers. Ranked second by Alexa right after google.com, there are more than 400 million active users currently.

I’ve been following the “Quit Facebook movement” quite closely the past few days. The May 31: Quit Facebook Day Facebook fan page had around 25,000 members yesterday. Today, on D-Day, there are around 5000 members. So is it safe to assume that the other 20,000 people actually left Facebook? Wow, that would be like… 0.005 percent of Facebook members… Ooooh, scary. Did you feel the tremor? I thought I did, but then again, maybe it was the beans I had last night.

I was following this movement just to see if people are actually going to do it. Of course I’m not that jobless to track each and every l’il person to see if they had really quit or not. It’s interesting because it’s something like a suicide pact, you know. You get together with your friends and make a promise to end your lives together. First guy drinks the poison. Second guy follows. So does the third guy. And then your turn comes and you suddenly chicken out… “Err… guys, actually I’m… having second thoughts about this… gotta go, bye…”



I find this whole drama of creating a Facebook page to quit Facebook really corny. It’s like somebody barging into my house and telling me he doesn’t like living in my house even though he doesn’t even pay me rent. And then he and a couple of other people squatting right inside my house shouting slogans and proclaiming how much they hate my house. Seriously, you don’t like it here? Then get the hell out.

People are complaining that Facebook can delete your account or page according to their Terms of Use. Like the recent controversial “Draw Mohammad Day” page on Facebook which had been removed [Digital Journal] – that eventually led to banning of Facebook in Pakistan etc. Ah. Free speech and the Wild Wild West. It is indeed difficult to draw the lines when you are brought up in such a culture I guess.

Writing an angry post about a product you’ve just bought is different. In this case, you have actually paid for the stuff. As a consumer, you are not happy about the product, so you have every right to write a negative review about it. And other people may read what you’ve written and follow suit. But in case of Facebook, you are not even paying for the service directly and if you are worried about electricity bill or internet bill, then please, it is so simple to NOT visit Facebook.

I’ve been reading a lot about why people are leaving Facebook. One of the reasons is that Facebook doesn’t let you design your own page – lolz. Damn myspace users. Go back to myspace if you want to personalize your page. I loveeeee this comment by a user called Eulatos on gizmodo.com

(Regarding the reason) “And, yet, somehow, I can't even change colors or apply themes or do anything to make my page look personalized”, I’ll put this succinctly and clearly for all the myspace people in the back.

I dont fucking want to see your awesome customized yellow type on a a neon green background, I dont want to hear your fucking shit music and I dont want to see your fucking shit videos when I load up your profile.

I dont want to look at your 75 layers of unorganized trash you have flopped here and there all over the place. The one redeeming quality of FaceBook is its lack of customization. Most people dont have the eye for design, and letting every asshat who thinks they are an artist customize their page and font colors and backgrounds made myspace a completely useless place to go.

And I’ll quit facebook the second they allow people to start doing that. It's why I use desktop or phone based twitter clients, because I dont care about your fancy godawful background.

*BOWS*

Yup, even I will quit Facebook the day Facebook allows personalization. It is simple this way, and easier on the eyes. As a UI designer (ok fine. As a person who works daily with UI designers ), visiting sites like myspace is the worst nightmare one can possibly have. Arrgh, the horror!

Here are three articles you must read (there are many others out there):

• 10 reasons not to quit facebook by smemon.com


• 10 Reasons to NOT Quit Facebook by David Lee King


• The 5 reasons I’m not joining Quit Facebook Day by Avery’s Diaspora News

Overall, hey, I am no fan of Facebook. But the reasons stated above says it all, why I will not quit Facebook. Remember Orkut? Yeah, back in 2004 when membership was strictly through invitation only, it was quite fun because it was exclusive then. Although there weren’t that many Indians around those days, I found a lot of new friends and eventually formed a bond we preserved even till today. And then came the mass exodus of new fraaands and orkut sucked eternally after that.

With Facebook, sure there is the issue with privacy that many people are complaining about, but considering the amount of things we can do on Facebook, both personally and professionally, I think it is a small price to pay.

Seriously, if you feel so deeply about privacy, then simply don’t share private stuff. Worried that your wife may find out about your Facebook mistress? Then stop mailing her on Facebook. You should know that there is no such thing as a 100% privacy once it’s up on the net. There are always ways to hack things and obtain information, and if you don’t know this, then maybe you shouldn’t be online at all. Stick to the good ol snail mail. At least in that case, the post man is the only dude who may read your letters.

I will not rant on why I love Facebook because the three links given above says it all. I am no big fan of Facebook either. It’s just that, there is so much potential with Facebook, especially in my line of work – digital advertising. Dumping Facebook just because of a few privacy issues and other minor flaws when there are no promising competitors around, is really not a good idea. And making such a loud noise about leaving Facebook is stupid. 400 million plus users. Seriously, nobody gives a crap about you or me. Stop trying to sound really important.


Update 21:30 IST: Yup. The Quit Facebook Day today was a failure as expected! I will post the links tomorrow as the news coming in today are still vague (it is still evening in the US, so the numbers can change. But judging from the trend so far, it’s going to be a big flop).

I wonder what those brave 20,000+ people who had quit are going to do now? I mean, if they are truly dissatisfied with this whole social networking and privacy issue etc, then they will not join again. But for those real networking junkies, they will definitely come back to Facebook. Lolz. I wonder if they will change their names when they sign up again? Even at a community site we run misual.com, there had been many instances of members leaving the site and deleting their account due to issues with the admins. They storm out, abusing the admins and other members, but most of them always come back, and we just grin at them from behind our computer screens as they sign up using a slightly altered username… as if we can’t see their ip addresses.

Cheers, and hope you weren’t one of those who quit Facebook today… hihihi…


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Chp 298. Writer’s block

Lolz. Wrote this really trashy poem last night. Published it. And then deleted it. One of the silly things bloggers do on a full moon night, I guess.

But then, those who had subscribed to my feeds received this post on their mail and reader, and questions came flying back to me. So here it is again... huizzz.


            Thinking,
            Scratching,
            Nothing but blank.
            So tough it is to resolve
            this tremendous writer’s block.

            Feeling,
            Caressing,
            Nothing but crank.
            So hard it is to dissolve
            this enormous writer’s cock.


Ok ok

Yeah, that was gross. And crass. And way below the belt. Literally speaking.

Sorry if that offended you. I just thought maybe I’ll take a different approach and let my mind go crazy, you know. Write stuff that I normally don’t write here. Be wild. Let the little head do the thinking for a change.

And of course I know you’re picturing it right now. Sorry once again. My bad. Don’t picture it. Ok, please stop it now! Seriously, stop. I have a girlfriend.

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Ahem. Coming back to the topic now...

I don’t have exactly what you call a writer’s block. I’ve been extremely busy the past few days with work. Hence it is really difficult to think of something to write about with all the distractions and deadlines.

Soon I will post about what I’ve been working on during the past few days. But until I get the green light from my boss, I must keep mum. So far, everything in my life seems to be revolving around work. We even had our Annual Appraisal review meeting today, and I’m grinning right now from ear to ear. Know what I mean?

Meanwhile, this post is just one of those posts I’m gonna wish I didn’t publish when I wake up tomorrow.

Ah screw it. It’s not like I am all sugar and spice and all things nice anyway. Just like you, I have a lot of dark secrets or desires, sometimes. It’s just the way we are. Maybe it’s high time we stop being such a prude and express our feelings outright. Or maybe I should just stop now.

Cheers. And Happy Geek Pride Day everyone! There’s always a little geek within all of us. Well, in my case, it may be a 12" geek. But still, a geek is a geek. Bye bye.



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* Disclaimer: This post is written by the blog owner Kima. The size mentioned in this post may or may not be factually correct. Blogger.com is neither responsible for service offered nor are they liable for any defect or shortcoming of the specified size mentioned in this post. All disputes relating to size, performance, service or quality of the “thingie” will be strictly between the blog visitors and Kima. Any dispute regarding the size, performance, service or quality must be addressed in writing, by the blog visitors directly to the blog owner Kima, and blogger.com will not entertain any communication in this regard.

Chp 297. Rest In Peace Ronnie James Dio

One of the bands I grew up on in the early 90s was DIO. And today I learnt that Ronnie James Dio is no more. He passed away on May 16 2010. Cancer.



I still can’t believe it. I have been playing DIO songs non-stop for the past 8 hours in office now.

I must admit, I never really noticed him that much when he was in Black Sabbath and Rainbow. And then came the song that really really really made me go wow and move into this whole Metal genre – Holy Diver.

One of the first albums (read: cassettes that are manually rewind using a reynold’s pen so that we can save the battery life on our walkman) I ever bought was “Diamonds: The very best of Dio”. I feel in love with each and every song.

I don’t wanna say much in this post. I just feel sad knowing that the person who had shown me so much is now at the Otherside... Rest In Peace Ronnie. I’ll never forget how much you have changed me. Rock forever \m/ Cheers.

Below are some of my favourite Dio songs. Do enjoy them in this hour of darkness.

Holy Diver




Rainbow in the dark




Sacred Heart




Don’t talk to strangers




Rock and roll children




Hungry for heaven