Music Videos to Cherish - 3

Various themes in this post: let's start with drama, gotta love drama.

Remember Pardes? Even if you don't this song will remind you; it's you regular pre-climax dramatic recap that brings you up to speed with the movie just in case you've been dozing off. Although, with Pardes you probably weren't, at least not for the songs. The music in this movie was probably one of Nadeem Shravan's best work, in my humble opinion. Parts of the movie were shot right here in Vancouver, but portrayed as LA (like, whatever.) and this song itself along with the subsequent climax was shot in Fatehpur Sikri, built under Akbar (yes, the Great) and nearby in Agra is the Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal alongside the Agra Fort, I think. Don't believe me, click on the links to trusty Wikipedia. :) I have a fascination with these places and practically jumped out of my seat when I saw Hrithik, in the movie Jodhaa Akbar (linked later on), sitting on what I recognized as Shah Jahan's jharoka in Agra Fort. Had I taken Indian Art History back when I saw Pardes, I'd be pretty excited to see this song too.

Anyway, I especially love the dialogs in this one (seek to 2:40ish for them):

Arjun: vahin par ruk jao Ganga, aur apne ghar vaapas laut jao (stop right there Ganga, and go back home)
Ganga: chali jaungi, sirf ek baar kehdo ke tum... *shies away* ke tum mujhse pyar nahi karte (I will, just say it once that you don't... *shies away* you don't love me)
Arjun: nahin. main tumse pyaar nahi kerta. (no, I don't love you)
Ganga: tum kerte ho! (yes you DO!)

-- love this! :D replays:
Ganga: chali jaungi, sirf ek baar kehdo ke tum... *shies away* ke tum mujhse pyar nahi karte
Arjun: nahin. main tumse pyaar nahi kerta.
Ganga: tum kerte ho!
-- ahem, okay back to sequence.

Arjun: *frustrated* Ganga yeh theek nahi hai! (this is not right Ganga!)
Ganga: haan to phir yeh kaho na ke theek nahi hai, yeh kyun kehte ho ke tumhe mujhse pyar nahi hai... (then say its not right! why do you say that you don't love me?)
Arjun: *taken aback**recovers* nahin main tumse pyar nahi kerta. bilkul nahi kerta. (no I don't love you. I don't love you at all.)
Ganga: *recoils*
Arjun: samjhin! tum apne ghar vaapis laut jao. (do you understand! go back home now.)
Ganga: *hurt*
Arjun: *scolds*jao! (go!)

aw.

I enjoy this stuff way too much. You have to understand that I am only procrastinating. I feel too guilty to read past the prologue of The Gathering Storm, but somehow blogging feels okay. Anyway, here is the video:

nahi hona tha, Pardes (1997)
singers: Alka Yagnik, Sabri Brothers, Udit Narayan, Hema Surdesai
music director: Nadeem Shravan
lyricists: Anand Bakshi
actors: Shahrukh Khan, Mahima Chaudhary, Apoorva Agnihotri, Alok Nath, Amrish Puri
movie director: Subhash Ghai


Oh, Subhash Ghai does know how to entertain people for sure. I am very tempted to watch the movie again, just for the scenes that follow this song. I still remember them, they were pretty entertaining. :D Here is a link if you want to see SRK fighting to the track in the next few scenes, and then some acting by Amrish Puri (and overacting by SRK). Seek to 6:00 to the end of the song; the next videos on the playlist are on the right.

Doesn't Mita Vasisht just blow your mind sometimes? (She's the woman in yellow insisting "nahi hona tha!"). Speaking of Mita Vasisht, I remembered the following music video of Shubha Mugdal's man ke manjeere; it is just a-mazing to watch and Shubha Mugdal's voice rocks my world with inspiration. The album was released by Breakthrough, a non-profit organization aimed at human rights and awareness. The song is the voice of a woman who breaks out of an abusive marriage and builds her own life:

man ke majeere, Man Ke Manjeere (2000)
singers: Shubha Mudgal
music director: Shantanu Moitra
lyricists: Prasoon Joshi
actress: Mita Vasisht
movie director: Subhash Ghai


Shantanu Moitra made a good track, Prasoon Joshi deserves appreciation for the lyrics, there were definitely inspirational and hats off to the rest of the crew. Especially though, the song would not be what it is without Shubha Mudgal and Mita Vasisht, who were impeccable choices for this song, methinks.

I'll lighten the mood a bit, moving on to comedy and cuteness, otherwise known as Ranbir Kapoor. :)

prem ki naiya, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009)
singers: Neeraj Shridhar and Suzanne D Mello
music director: Pritam
lyricists: Irshad Kamil
actors: Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif
movie director: Rajkumar Santoshi
choreographer: Ahmed Khan


This one follows, and is just as cute:

agar main kahoon, Lakshya (2004)
singers: Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik
music director: Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy
lyricists: Javed Akhtar
actors: Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta
movie director: Farhan Akhtar
choreographer: Bosco, Prabhu Deva and Vaibhavi Merchant (don't know which one in particular)


I love the "agarrrrr main kahoon..." right after she asks him to "ghuma phira" whatever he is saying so plainly. :D oh Hrithik, where art thou? Just give us Kites already!

Lakshya, despite the long, drawn-out war scenes, was a pretty good movie. Of all Hrithik movies, this is the third one I have watched the most (the first being Kaho Naa Pyar Hai, the second being Mujhse Dosti Karoge, and the next on the list would be Dhoom 2, but only for Hrithik) (I've also repeatedly watched parts of Jodhaa Akbar and most people can guess which ones =P). Points to note, Lakshya was also directed by Farhan Akhtar! He is not really the kid that he seems to be eh? I was so wrong about him. And choreography by Prabhu Deva! I bet he is responsible for me esa kyun hoon. One can just tell:

me esa kyun hoon, Lakshya (2004)
singer: Shaan
music director: Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy
lyricists: Javed Akhtar
actors: Hrithik Roshan
movie director: Farhan Akhtar
choreographer: Bosco, Prabhu Deva and Vaibhavi Merchant (pretty sure Prabhu Deva for this one)


On second thought, maybe not so much Prabhu Deva. Hmm... Yes folks, this is how our heart-throb behaves :D

Dream sequences are just amazing aren't they? Another Farhan Akhtar-Hrithik Roshan dream sequence is baawre from Luck By Chance (2009). Another Hrithik-Carnival theme pair is dil na diya from Krrish (2006) (yes, Priyanka ca be unbelievable annoying but I could not find a better quality, so seek to 1:34 to skip her unbelievable annoying-ness).

Dream sequences (if only for a lack of better term for it) bring me to this next video, performed fantastically by Vineeth and Vidya Balan and sang phenomenally well by MG Sreekumar and Shreya Ghoshal. I'll end with this, it is definitely one worthy to end a Cherish post with:

mere dholna sun, Bhool Bhulaiya (2007)
singers: MG Sreekumar and Shreya Ghoshal
music director: Pritam
lyricists: Saeed Qadri
actors: Akshay Kumar (the doctor), Vidya Balan (the wife/dancer), Shiney Ahuja (the husband/king), Vineeth (the neighbor/dancer) and more...
movie director: Priyadarsan
choreographer: Pony Verma (uncertain)


This song never fails to give me the goosebumps, even if I am just listening to it. It becomes so trance-like towards the end. Sreekumar and Ghoshal make it worth a while, and you gotta give it to Pritam, who just seems to output one melodious track after another (albeit who knows where they cam from). The movie Bhool Bhulaiya is a remake of a very popular Malyali movie Manichitrathazhu, which has been remade more than just this once. To be honest, I wasn't entirely happy with Bhool Bhulaiya, especially Akshay Kumar's acting, but this song and Vidya Balan won me over. Although I've been told the original performance is much better and I intend to check it out soon.

That's all for now,
Juhi must study :(

The Storm and The Body Thief

I got the email from the library today telling me that The Gathering Storm is ready to be picked up (finally!). For those of you who don't know, it is the long-awaited twelfth book in late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It is the first of two books that are to be completed by Brandon Sanderson in place of the late author.

Before I can start the book, I have to get the prequel under my belt. It is sitting on my desk and I haven't been able to start it for the fear that I would not do anything else until I'm done the book. But now that I've got this library notification, I am pretty much screwed. Since there is a wait-list for it, I can't renew the Gathering Storm so I have to read it - that's my excuse anyway. I could technically skip the prequel, which is probably what I'll end up doing, but that won't help much - the Storm is at least a week's worth of reading, and that is if I am still as fast a reader as I was last summer.

All complaining aside, I am totally excited and I would be squealing if I wasn't in class (yes, I am blogging from class the really good student that I am). I can't WAIT to read about... whatever that will happen next. I actually don't really remember the details, so I have been reading the summaries of the eleven books I read last year, just to be up to speed. Oh but I am SUCH a sucker for drama and fantasy and magic that I know I'm going to be in an awesome, separate, little world of Jordan/Sanderson for the next week or so. :D

Only if the book was available during spring break... le sigh.

The other book that I'm going to pick up today is Anne Rice's The Tale of the Body Thief. I wasn't able to get through it the last time but hopefully I will feel more tolerant of Rice's digressions after I've read the Storm and am in want of more reading. I want to get through the Body Thief so I can move through Rice's Vampire Chronicles and get to The Blackwood Farm, which connects to her Lives of the Mayfair Witches - what I am really after. To prove how much I love the Mayfair Witches, here is a family tree that I made, and want to update after reading Blackwood Farm. In my defense, one really does need a family tree to keep track Rice's story lines.

Music Videos to make you Cringe - 2

This one deserved a post all to itself:

sun re, from Sun Re (2005)
singers: Abbas Ali Khan


I was looking for the video of this song to add to a Music Videos to Cherish post, but I thought this one might have been a fan-made video. But after some confusion as to why this video was appearing on most of the entries, I saw the whole thing and the singer's lips, to my surprise and eventual almost-devastation, were matching the lyrics.

"Bling!!?" was my reaction after I had stared at the screen for a while. "Epic Fail" is what my brother would say, and I would not hesitate to agree. I spent about half a second to consider that maybe this was a new, artsy way of contrasting different styles of video but I gave up that idea in the other half of that open-minded second.

This is just outright injustice. I can't even point and laugh at the video because I love this song. This song was in my feel-good playlist. I listened to when it rained softly and I was feeling emotional. When I missed someone, when I felt lonely. Now I have bling and smoke and jokers burnt into my memory. :(

Amplifier for Everyone

I was looking for ways to procrastinate and came upon Imran Khan's song Amplifier from album Unforgettable (2009), and I thought I'd translate it so everyone can appreciate the humor of the baby Amplifier remix. Don't worry, I'll include all the related videos, you won't miss out on anything. :)

So here is the song:


LOL right? Yes I know. Moving on, here are the lyrics and translation:

"
kaaliyan baariyan we gaddiyaan nu mein lawaan - I buy cars with black-tinted windows
speed mein 220 di chalaan - I drive at a speed of 220
police de samne mein nai rukhda - I don't stop for the Police
i am a knight rider - I am a Knight Rider

breakaan maar maar tardi mein chiekh kad da - I hit the breaks and the tires screech
sari loki takde we ki hogeya - Everyone looks my way to see what happened
lagda we injh mera dil rukda - It seems as though my heart stopped
unu mein puchda - I ask her:

ni gaddi sadi beja ni jattiye - Get in my car O Jattiye (Punjabi (Jatt) girl)
ni door tenu lehja we arriye - I'll take you far stubborn girl
ni woofer tu meri meri - You're my woofer
mein tera amplifier-fier - I'm your amplifier
(x2)

gaddi meri tenu wi awaaz mardi - My car calls out to you
black leather seetaan uttey aah bendhi - Come and sit on the black-leather seats
tenu weh main ser karawanga ni - I'll take you out on a ride
puri dunya di - of the whole world

kendi garmi we lagdi weh seene ni - She says she's hot around the chest
pijh gai weh kurti paseene di - and that her top is drenched in sweat (Ew?)
challi digrees di tooph pendi - and that its a 40-degree sun
on kar AC - and to turn on the AC

ni gaddi sadi beja ni jattiye... - Sit in my car O Jattiye...
(x2)

jaandi eh club das tere ki erade - Come to the club, what do you say?
DJ nu puch ki lewa main tere gaane - I'll ask the DJ to play your songs
lehja mein lehja tenu jithe we tu chaawain - I'll take you wherever you want
ekh waari aawe moodh banawe - Just get in the mood to come with me
(x2)

ni gaddi sadi beja ni jattiye... - Sit in my car O Jattiye...
(x4)

meh tera amplifier-fier - I'm your amplifier
(fade)
"

The video is making more and more sense isn't it? =P

Here is "the baby Amplifier remix":


ROFL right? I know! =D

I stole this video from Saquieb Khan, who probably stole it from someone else, but I thank S. Zaman for giving me this opportunity to procrastinate. I also thank Salman Rizvi (and let this be noted) for translating most of the song.

Thanks to the reader for staying with me through the post. :)
I am now getting my bum back to work.

Music Videos to Cherish - 2

I felt like I owed it to my blog to finish at least ONE of the drafts that have been sitting around waiting for me. Well, now that I have an assignment to do, here I am! This is a classic (although not a very efficient) example of "Structured Procrastination," but maybe more of that in another post. Out of the three drafts, I had most videos lined up for this one, the theme being heart-felt tragedy, or at least sorrow if not tragedy.

Tragic songs must be tricky to film. On one hand there is the simplicity of stage: one doesn't need a fancy backdrop, choreography, or wardrobe, although they can be used to contrast the solemn mood. But on the other, the video has the danger of being plain boring. So the director has to set the mood in the plot, and has to facilitate the viewer to feel emotion with not much happening on the screen.

Not all tragic songs are low toned, simple, and sorrowful however. There are some that are more intense, more angry and maybe even able to inspire a stronger emotional response from the audience. If you think about it in terms of Rasas, while the former inspires only Soka, the other arouses a combination of Soka and Krodha. Hmm, did I just get a bit carried away? I might have, and I blame my Asian Studies professors and the general awesomeness of that subject.

I'll start with a perfect example of a song where not much happens but is, given the right mood, hypnotizing to watch. I feel the need to point out that as good as Herman Baweja did in the movie as a whole, this video owes the magic to Priyanka Chopra, the object of the singer's attention. She is so simple here, straight hair, soft colors, big teary eyes, so still. This movie made me think more than once: how can he walk away? But I guess a man looking for a wife will choose against complications if he had the option, and who can blame him? Still, it's just so heart-breaking to watch.

bikhri bikhri, What's Your Raashee? (2009)
singer: Sohail Sen and Marianne D'Cruz, music director: Sohail Sen, lyricist: Javed Akhtar
actors: Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra, movie director: Ashutosh Gowariker


~

Sonu Nigam knows how to sing all kinds of songs, but he does so great in this mood. Add Aamir Khan to the mix and it's not so unnatural that you'd get a video that I'd post on a blog like this. We hear at times of being alone in a crowd, but do we really imagine it? Or the disappointment and despair, perhaps helplessness, that characterizes the period where a person realizes that life must go on. On the brink of accepting the end of something that had the potential to bring to one's life happiness. Or maybe the stubborn dedication to move on with life, but only to be hindered by the acute feeling of loneliness that was never there before.

tanhayee, from Dil Chaha Hai (2001)
singer: Sonu Nigam, music director: Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, lyricist: Javed Akhtar
actors: Aamir Khan and Preity Zinta, movie director: Farhan Akhtar



I just realized that Farhan Akhtar directed this movie, and I am surprised. He actually did a pretty good job. I always thought his debut was Luck By Chance, but I guess he is an older player that I had thought. That reminds me, sapno se bhare naina from Luck By Chance (2009) is another great composition by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy worth listening to many times over. The lyrics are worth a thought too: eyes full of dreams, no sleep, no peace (by Javed Akhtar, surprise?).
~

Let me introduce MM Kreem as he was introduced to me: Jism (2003) and Dhoka (2007) both great albums, turns out composed by the same man, Kreem. Other popular albums by Kreem include Paheli (2005), Rog (2004), Sur (2002), Zakhm (1998) and Criminal (1994). Are you seeing what I saw? MM Kreem is a tortured soul it seems, and his music is just so perfect for this post. I wonder what he is up to now, I can't wait for his next composition.

If John Abraham ever did a good job, it was in Jism. Amit Saxena, the director of the movie, must therefore be really talented; hats off to Amit Saxena. The movie starts off with this song, and so it doesn't really need an introduction but if curious, watch the movie. It is worth it: the music, the story, the direction, the acting, everything was good.

awaarapan, Jism (2003)
singer: MM Kreem, music director: MM Kreem, lyricists: Neelesh Misra and Sayeed Quadri
actors: John Abraham, movie director: Amit Saxena



Some songs of Kreem that are worth a mention in particular are roya re from Dhoka (2007), khoobsoorat hai vo itna from Rog (2004) and aa bhi jaa from Sur (2002), among others.
~

Anyway, I seem to only remember the sad songs at the moment. But I promise to come up with angsty songs with great videos as well, sometime in the future. Maybe it is just harder to make amazing angsty videos; they do seem to tread a finer line. Pritam's bheegi bheegi from the movie Gangster (2006) is a good, heart-wrenching, tear-provoking, sad yet intense, perfect example of my kind of song. But while James did an outstanding job as a singer, and the music composition was absolutely fabulous, somehow the video wasn't able to compete.

Some other great songs unfortunately paired with not such great videos include saathi mere (horrible, horrible, horrible video) from Kumar Sanu's Kehna To Hai, kaho na kaho from Murder (2004) while not a complete disaster could have been better (although gotta love the ending), and venturing into old times, ab tere bin from Ashiqui (1990).

On a side note, here is the original, Arabic version of kaho na kaho. And a link to Ashiqui's songs, that's a great album right there.

That's all for now folks.
Still thinking of a pen-name, this is Juhi, moving on to her asignment.

Music Videos to make you Cringe

As I vaguely mentioned in the post "Music Videos to Cherish", here is a post with some of my favorite songs that were brutally murdered on-screen. The short list of credits before each video tells you the artists (singers, music directors, lyricists) whose work was killed, those who are to blame (movie directors, choreographers) and the perhaps innocent and definitely ignorant victims (actors).

By far, the First prize goes to:

saaki saaki, from Musafir (2004)
singers: Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan
music director & lyricist: Anand Raj Anand
movie director: Sanjay Gupta
choreographer: unnamed, maybe he/she is hiding?
actors: Sanjay Dutt, Koena Mitra and a bunch of minions


Its like Sukhwinder poured out his soul only to have gold-toothed Sanjay Dutt laze about on a swarm of women and play with his pocket-knife while Koena Mitra has a seizure on the floor. Well, to be honest, the atmosphere is there: the set is intriguing and at times Koena does somewhat resemble the temptation of saaki. But while Sunidhi goads and teases Sukhwinder, Koena Mitra has a seizure on the floor. I can go on about this, but I won't of course, there are other videos to criticize yet.
~

The next song is downright painful to watch:

mind blowing mahiya, from Cash (2007)
singer: Sunidhi Chauhan
music director & lyricist: Vishal & Shekhar
movie director: Anubhav Sinha
choreographer: Remo and Rajeev Goswami
actors: Ajay Devgan, Shamita Shetty and a bunch of minions


I understand it must have been hard to get Shamita Shetty to dance, and Ajay Devgan to look good during his unfortunate just-shaved/sideburns phase, but still.. come on. This song could have been so much sexier. Bubbly idiot and intense walk don't go hand-in-hand, you know?
~

The next video won't make you cringe per say, it is actually a good one to watch for time-pass, so think of it like a break from the other Cringe-assured videos. Still, I fail to understand how it relates in any way to the amazing track playing in the background. It irks me, what could have been a heart-wrenching, tragic sequence, brilliantly wasted on this meaning-less walk down the runway:

mar jaawaan, from Fashion (2008)
singers: Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant
music director: Salim and Sulaiman Merchant
lyricist: Irfan Siddique
movie director: Madhur Bhandarkar
choreographer: unnamed
actors: Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut, among others


When compared to the catwalk on the track fashion ka jalwa, this song is ridiculously unsuited for this. I do have some complaints about the other video as well (as that too is one of my favorites, and it had a flare, thanks to Sukhwinder, that the video lacked) but it wasn't bad enough to put on this list. The second part of mar jaawaan is a little better filmed as there is some tragedy and drama involved when Priyanka walks down that ramp despite whatever it was that upset her. But this post is about bad videos, so effectively, the second part wasn't included up there.
~

I know I said that saaki saaki took the prize, at least in this post, but that was only because it is one of my all-time favorite songs; more so because of Sukhwinder Singh, whom I would Hero-worship if I were into that kind of thing. It was actually watching the murder of saaki saaki that first irritated me and turned me into such a crabby critic when it comes to music videos. It also inspired my love for the good videos, and made me first think up a dream career (as a director), even if it just remains a fantasy.

Anyway, the murder of saaki saaki was personal, so it had to take the Cringe-prize. Still, this next one is the rotten cherry on this spoiled cake, and I don't think I need to explain why:

one love, from Rakht (2004)
singers & lyricists: Shaan and Blue
music director : Anand Raj Anand
movie director: Mahesh Manjrekar
choreographer: unnamed
actors: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and minions



For those who don't understand why this video should make you cringe (and you know who you are), there is little hope for you. But it's there, the hope, you just need a little help is all. My dear friend, if you are reading this, I am only kidding. It was good to remember this high-school argument, and I couldn't resist but mention you.

Anyway, we've cringed enough for one post, so until next time,
(and until I come up with an uber-cool pen-name)

this is Juhi, signing off.

Upcoming this Fall

It seems that everything good, big and worth waiting for comes out at the worst time possible: end of the Fall semester. But yet we eagerly await these releases, not keeping in mind, or maybe avoiding to consider, the fact that we're going to have to stuff more of this stuff in our already much filled lives.

Among all the activities, friends, school-work, home-work, lab-work, last-minute projects, last-minute studying, fixing that insignificant but still unavoidable technical-problem that will invariantly come up with the new iPhone update, computer software, or another electronic device, we will now be able to look forward to evenings with the following, starting on:

Monday, September 14 at 9pm Gossip Girl season three premiers on The CW and starts off the school term nicely.


Exactly a week later on Monday, September 21 at 8pm Heroes season four premiers on NBC forcing GG fans like me to turn to the internet to watch both shows.


Sunday, September 27 at 9pm on ABC Desperate Housewives season six premiers, that makes three shows per week as midterms approach.

sorry, no teaser to be found :(

Tuesday, November 17 whenever stores open Assassin's Creed 2 is out for all XBox Assassins out there; practically the worst time to start playing a game.


First show at the movies on Friday, November 20 first show New Moon is available for all Twilighters to line up for, even if its for just those first and last moments with Edward.


Ruining my thread of complaints is the release date for Sherlock Holmes, Christmas day, Friday, December 25, perfect for everybody and not just those of us whose Semester was laced beautifully with bad-timed releases.


What makes this perfect is that Aamir's next big movie comes on the same day. 3 Idiots, while failing to come up with a trailer, will probably haul in more watchers than other heavily-advertised movies. It is apparently the first of the top ten most anticipated Bollywood films of the coming year according to a January 2009 Bollywood Hungama survey.



Straying a little from our topic, or perhaps continuing the theme, next semester starts off with Hrithik's 10th anniversary as an actor on Friday, January 15 next year, marked nicely with the release of his latest, and much awaited (by me at least) film Kites.


It seems that October has been forgiven. Yay, midterms might still be saved! :)

The New Age

It's not a new concept that we live in the New Age. But do we ever stop to think about what that actually means? Do we pause at times and wonder how much the world changes with the passing day?

It is an amazing thought, for example, to realize that everything we see around us today--from shacks to skyscrapers, from skateboards to airbuses, from pencils to computers--comes from nature. Every atom we see transformed into giants of technology existed once as a molecule in the ground, the water, or the air. We are, quite literally, a remixed version of history.

While humans are the lords of evolution, do we realize that we have caused the evolution of our species to stop? We have stopped before we can reach the pinnacle. Will we start to evolve again in the face of a new stress? Will we adapt to, say, global warming? What would have happened if we never started food-production and never created medicine? What if only the fittest survived? Would I be here today then? Would you?

The society that is now ruled by institutions--by laws and documents, by science and invention, by education and jobs--is the descendant of a society of hunters and gatherers. I wonder, were they happier then us? Did they have, in the true sense, innocent's bliss? Once our goal was survival, what is our goal now?

Anyway, what started off my pondering on the subject was this amazing Youtube video someone shared on Facebook. Researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman, The Progression of Information Technology (2008):

Assassin's Creed 2

For those of us who can hardly wait until the Assassin returns, here is something to make is worse. :)



Lesson of the day: never taunt the Assassin.

Here is a game-play walk-through:


Another lesson of the day: somethings are worth the wait.

Music Videos to Cherish

If I was fearless and had lots of money at my disposal, I'd be a movie-director, just like I've written somewhere on my profile. But what I want more than to make a full-length movie is to create videos for songs that I love, more so Hindi songs than any other.

The moment when Bombay Talkies changed into Bollywood was probably the same moment when Maroon velvet movie direction slowly started to mutate into Pink plastic. Somehow, the music seems to have adapted better. As a person who not only appreciates the beat, but also the lyric, I have a hard time watching music videos that have nothing whatsoever to do with the song. I will refrain from pointing out some of these songs (only to list them off in another post in the probable future), but I would like to share some of the videos that do touch my heart.

I hope this to be the first of many posts to come where I will embed a video that just popped into my head. For this reason, I won't worry too much about the fact that I can't remember more than just a couple of videos right now. Most of these are just my favorite songs with videos that match the quality of the music. If there are any suggestions, just let me know. :)

I'll start with a video that is still fresh in the memories of almost everyone who enjoys Indian cinema, and a composition made by a man who is known to even those who aren't very familiar with Indian music. An emperor who seeks to understand the magnetism of Krishna, for whom his queen sings with such devotion. He is drawn by her voice to the moment when he sees her face for the first time, the same moment perhaps, that he falls in love with her. How can I not love this video?
~
man mohana, from Jodhaa Akbar (2008)
singer: Bela Shinde, music director: AR Rahman, lyricist: Javed Akhtar
actors: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan, movie director: Ashutosh Gowariker


___

Next, a song sung by a man whose voice, quite literally, has the power to stop me in my tracks, only to hear it more completely. She listens to a composition made only for her, by a man who is not her husband. He is the object of temptation in the absence of prying eyes. Mmmm... justice was done to this song.
~
chal chal mere sang sang, from Artitva (2000)
singer: Sukhwinder Singh, music director: Sukhwinder Singh, lyricist: Shrirang Godbole
actors: Tabu and Monish Bahl, movie director: Mahesh Manjrekar


___

Lastly, a song that is probably forgotten by most of us. A woman consoles her lover when he feels that he has come short. Innocent's bliss, so perfect.
~
sona nahi na sahi, from One 2 Ka 4 (2001)
singers: Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan, music director: AR Rahman, lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri
actors: Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan, movie director: Shashilal Nair



___

Mayfair Family Tree

I just finished reading the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and I couldn't have loved an author more. The thing that most surprised me about Anne Rice was that her attention to detail failed to make me want to drop the book. I am usually a skipper, I hardly read all the words in a book. But if there is a book on the words of which I doted, it was The Witching Hour. Lasher was the least captivating of the trio and took me the most time to get through, but Taltos was finished before I realized that I am getting through the book faster that the last two.

Still, I can only retain so many details. To keep track of the family members would have been a chore if I had not began to make little diagrams of who belonged where on a scrap piece of paper. One thing led to another, and I now have a full-fleshed Mayfair Family Tree documented by the help of MS Publisher.

A JPEG image of it can be found at my DeviantArt gallery. If you are as obsessed about the Mayfairs as I, and note omissions or mistakes in the tree, please let me know. More about the series can be found on our very trusty Wikipedia.