Saturday, April 7, 2007
UMR changes its name
That's right, my good old University has finally decided that its time for a name change again..After the original Missouri School of Mines underwent a name change in 1964 -68 to the present University of Missouri-Rolla, its now gonna be called Missouri University of Science and Technology effective January 1, 2008. This is the result of some pretty aggresive campaigning by Chancellor John F Carney III since October 2006, who has felt for a long time that the new name will reflect the technology aspect that we stress so much on at UMR. Let's see if the name change does any good to the university..that time alone will tell
Comfortably Numb
Yeah i guess im probably the (million+1)th guy to be quoting the famous Pink Floyd song as a blog topic, but before you guys decide to just scroll down this page and pass it off as a post by another Floyd crazy person, let me tell you that my state of mind right now at 2:30 AM is one appropriately described by the Floyd song. After a compeltely gruelling and screwed up week wherein i submitted my research report, completed a long and winding homework and studied for a test which i gave last afternoon, i feel burnt out....i probably have no right to complain , but staying up 2 nights in a row without sleep is something which even my nocturnally tuned body finds weird to say the least. Sometimes i wonder why i seem to be the only one slogging my butt out trying to understand the finer points of nature (ala fluid mechanics) or trying to understand how nature manifests itself( like diffusion through the membrane of a fuel cell)while the rest of the world seems to be chilling out..my mind seems to be randomly oriented right now, with no particular chain of thought running, so to restore some sanity, let me blab a bit more of my Floyd obsession. The PULSE version of Comfortably Numb is blaring through the speakers (which incidentally, i think is the best version of this song)..its now switched to Another Brick in the wall and will be followed by Goodbye Blue sky...incidentally, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is probably the most space-music genre Floyd album you'll get to here.You actually get this feeling of an unconscious mind just wandering in space..i guess pretty much what Syd Barett saw through his LSD induced hallicunations....Other Floyd songs i love are Money(for the lyrics), Eclipse, Brain Damage and the entire Wall album...its a pity Pink Floyd won't be creating more of the progressive rock that they themselves brought to the fore, but they have definitely influenced generations from the 60s upto today and continue to do so. Floyd has been my companion through my research efforts this semester as i try to get some results for my advisor's fuel cell project. Amma loved Floyd when she was in college and recommended Jethro Tull as a follow-up to Floyd which i will explore. Anyway, i waste most of my free time because i'm too lazy to think of something to do, so this insight into Floyd and similar bands should allow me to learn a bit more about them and not get bored too!!
Will continue blogging..Coz im writing after almost 4 months, the chronolgy may get screwed up so dont mind guys..im just gonna write my thoughts as they come to my mind
Will continue blogging..Coz im writing after almost 4 months, the chronolgy may get screwed up so dont mind guys..im just gonna write my thoughts as they come to my mind
Monday, November 20, 2006
Bladerunner
Ok..Im not a big Science Fiction fan,but Bladerunner is one such movie that has made an impact on me to a large extent.For the uninitiated,Bladerunner is Ridley Scott's adaptation of Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"made in 1982 starring Harrison Ford,Rutger Huer,Edward James Alomos and Sean Young. The movie wasn't very well received initially and people did not quite like the dark, foreboding feel that the movie gave.However, in recent years more and more people have seen the movie and liked it;in fact it is hailed as a cult film of sorts.Not just the movie,but even the soundtrack composed gy Greek maestro Vangelis has been heralded as one of the greatest musical scores ever written.There is also a story around the soundtrack itself which I will get to later on..
Los Angeles,November 2019
Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, an ex-Bladerunner who's job was to find rogue replicants(androids built by the Tyrell Corporation to serve as man's slaves on off-world colonies;they were not supposed to possess any emotions) and retire (read terminate) them.The movie is not so much about Deckard's encounters with the rogues he's supposed to be hunting down or about his love affair with another Replicant Rachel(Sean Young)..when you finish seeing the film, the primary question that props up is where are we heading?Is this what our future is going to look like? Roy Batty (Rutger Huer;the rogue replicant leader) tells Deckard after sparing his life that
he wanted Deckard to experience what it feels being a slave.Replicants were designed without emotional capabilities;but the movie projects the fact that even androids can develop emotions over time. The movie was path-breaking in the sense that it has devised our present by showing it to us nearly 25 years ago. LA citizens claimed that their city can never be as dark as the movie shows it to be but surprisingly, that's how its turned out today.Bladerunner was also released with different versions; I have seen the Director's Cut released back in 1992 which raises the much debated question concerning Deckard's replicant nature.( Scott hints that Deckard himself is a replicant but Ford played the character as a human and till today, there has been no official clarification)The film also raises questions about man's domination in this world and whether it is deserved or not.Each of us can draw our own conclusions after seeing the movie and believe me, the amount of trivia that one can come across is endless...
What prompted me to see the movie was the soundtrack.My dad being(and still is) a big soundtrack collector bought home the "official" version of the music score back in the late 80s;turns out it is actually an orchestral adaptation of Vangelis' original composition. Vangelis quoted contractual difficulties at the time of the movie's release and had to to wait till 1994 to realease his work.Now people have rated his work way over the orchestral adaptation,but my ears having been exposed to the earlier version , I felt that both were equally good.Though the official release contains music that was never used in the movie, it has a nice jazz feel to it and it is reminiscent of my childhood when dad would play it in the evenings after coming back from work.(He too loves this soundtrack)Ive had a chance to listen to Vangelis' score only after coming to the US because film soundtracks for Hollywood movies arent released so much in India and it was a pleasant surprise listening to the familiar keyboard tunes of Vangelis;he's left his stamp on this movie as well and it rightly deserves the accolades bestowed upon it.
My recommended tracks from both scores:
Orchestral adaptation: Vangelis's composition:
1)Love theme 1)Love theme
2) Memories of Green 2)Tears in the rain
3)Bladerunner Blues 3)Main title
4)End Titles 4) End titles
There is a lotta trivia and current information on Bladerunner on the net.All you gotta do is google it...
Cheers
Los Angeles,November 2019
Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, an ex-Bladerunner who's job was to find rogue replicants(androids built by the Tyrell Corporation to serve as man's slaves on off-world colonies;they were not supposed to possess any emotions) and retire (read terminate) them.The movie is not so much about Deckard's encounters with the rogues he's supposed to be hunting down or about his love affair with another Replicant Rachel(Sean Young)..when you finish seeing the film, the primary question that props up is where are we heading?Is this what our future is going to look like? Roy Batty (Rutger Huer;the rogue replicant leader) tells Deckard after sparing his life that
he wanted Deckard to experience what it feels being a slave.Replicants were designed without emotional capabilities;but the movie projects the fact that even androids can develop emotions over time. The movie was path-breaking in the sense that it has devised our present by showing it to us nearly 25 years ago. LA citizens claimed that their city can never be as dark as the movie shows it to be but surprisingly, that's how its turned out today.Bladerunner was also released with different versions; I have seen the Director's Cut released back in 1992 which raises the much debated question concerning Deckard's replicant nature.( Scott hints that Deckard himself is a replicant but Ford played the character as a human and till today, there has been no official clarification)The film also raises questions about man's domination in this world and whether it is deserved or not.Each of us can draw our own conclusions after seeing the movie and believe me, the amount of trivia that one can come across is endless...
What prompted me to see the movie was the soundtrack.My dad being(and still is) a big soundtrack collector bought home the "official" version of the music score back in the late 80s;turns out it is actually an orchestral adaptation of Vangelis' original composition. Vangelis quoted contractual difficulties at the time of the movie's release and had to to wait till 1994 to realease his work.Now people have rated his work way over the orchestral adaptation,but my ears having been exposed to the earlier version , I felt that both were equally good.Though the official release contains music that was never used in the movie, it has a nice jazz feel to it and it is reminiscent of my childhood when dad would play it in the evenings after coming back from work.(He too loves this soundtrack)Ive had a chance to listen to Vangelis' score only after coming to the US because film soundtracks for Hollywood movies arent released so much in India and it was a pleasant surprise listening to the familiar keyboard tunes of Vangelis;he's left his stamp on this movie as well and it rightly deserves the accolades bestowed upon it.
My recommended tracks from both scores:
Orchestral adaptation: Vangelis's composition:
1)Love theme 1)Love theme
2) Memories of Green 2)Tears in the rain
3)Bladerunner Blues 3)Main title
4)End Titles 4) End titles
There is a lotta trivia and current information on Bladerunner on the net.All you gotta do is google it...
Cheers
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Life in Ghatkopar
Ok I have now been in the US for about 3 and a half months and if there's something I miss a lot, it is the city of Bombay( i still call it that)..I have spent my whole life in that city and everytime I see an image of Bandstand or Worli seaface or CST or Marine Drive, my heart yearns to go back there. I have a lot of memories attached to Bombay ,most of them happy and some that were equally sad...
I grew up in Ghatkopar,a prosperous suburb in the north-east of the city;part of the Central line railway network which contributes a sizeable portion (including myself , till August this year) to the city's bustling and overcrowded trains. Ghatkopar is known for its Gujarati population,most of them being involved in the Stockmarket someway or the other ;or having their own business.
The area I grewup in had a healthy mix of the Gujju crowd and the south-indian community,most of the latter crwod living in the housing societies setup by the nationalized banks in the late 60s and 70s. In fact when my grandparents bought our house about 40 years ago,barring our housing society and a couple more,Ghatkopar was actually a salt-pan land.Over time a certain Garodia family(who also run the school that I went to) started developing the area and Garodia Nagar as that locality is called today is an example of the suburban framework that is seen in middle class Bombay . I went to a Marwari family run school which had a 95% south indian faculty and an almost 100% Gujarati student population( I learnt Gujarati faster than I could learn Kannada and my Ajji used to remark that my mannerisms were also like them).The best memories i have of Ghatkopar were when I would hang out with my school buddies and play cricket with them in cramped building front yards or going to eat Laxman's Wada-pav and Bhajjis opposite Rita stores or when we would go around our localities during Diwali time to admire the bright lights and lanterns in every home ,smell the burnt firecrackers in the air and feel the atmosphere of joy and happiness around us..( I found that kind of atmosphere in Thane(west)as well near the station and near my friends' Priyanka and Sandip's houses as well).
Ghatkopar (esp the eastern side) was also the happening Garba-Dandiya place with the Somaiya grounds being the venue for people to spend nights dancing away during the navartri season to the music of Phalguni Patak and the so -called "XYZ"-Satellite Bands(never figured why they were called "satellite bands")
Ghatkopar railway station was a place where I must spent many mornings cursing my college
faculty for scheduling 8 AM classes(which meant i had to leave home at 7 to reach on time;it used to take me about 45 minutes from my doorstep to class on a fine day;bad days were when there would be no rickshaw outside my gate and the announcer at the platform would say"Platform kramak don chi local daha they pandra minuteen ushirane chalat aahe"(the train arriving on platform number 2 is running late by 10-15 minutes) and i used to groan because that not only meant reaching late but also having to bear the additional crowd that would accumulate from all stations en route to ghatkopar..but in retrospect i really miss those days when I used to wait for my friends from Thane (who would be invariably late!)and go with them to college in those overcrowded compartments(even though we traveled first class) and discuss happening events,curse the college till we ran out of swear words or read page 36 of the Mumbai Mirror...man I could just go on and on,but this post is about Ghatkopar and I will reserve a post just for my local train experiences.
Going back to Ghatkopar after a year in the US would be something i can look forward to.A chance to meet my school chums and eat Sardar ka gola at the entrance to Khau Galli or bite into the Dabeli sold on every available space on Valabaugh lane and of course taste Achija's mouth watering ,butter dripping Pau Bhaji( im a big foodie)..I know things will change and Ghatkopar is no exception to that.I already saw old buildings and the Odeon Theater being demolished to make way for swanky shopping malls and multiplexes(a phenomenon that has hit the city over the last couple of years)..Whether this will work out well for Ghatkopar is something that only time can answer
I grew up in Ghatkopar,a prosperous suburb in the north-east of the city;part of the Central line railway network which contributes a sizeable portion (including myself , till August this year) to the city's bustling and overcrowded trains. Ghatkopar is known for its Gujarati population,most of them being involved in the Stockmarket someway or the other ;or having their own business.
The area I grewup in had a healthy mix of the Gujju crowd and the south-indian community,most of the latter crwod living in the housing societies setup by the nationalized banks in the late 60s and 70s. In fact when my grandparents bought our house about 40 years ago,barring our housing society and a couple more,Ghatkopar was actually a salt-pan land.Over time a certain Garodia family(who also run the school that I went to) started developing the area and Garodia Nagar as that locality is called today is an example of the suburban framework that is seen in middle class Bombay . I went to a Marwari family run school which had a 95% south indian faculty and an almost 100% Gujarati student population( I learnt Gujarati faster than I could learn Kannada and my Ajji used to remark that my mannerisms were also like them).The best memories i have of Ghatkopar were when I would hang out with my school buddies and play cricket with them in cramped building front yards or going to eat Laxman's Wada-pav and Bhajjis opposite Rita stores or when we would go around our localities during Diwali time to admire the bright lights and lanterns in every home ,smell the burnt firecrackers in the air and feel the atmosphere of joy and happiness around us..( I found that kind of atmosphere in Thane(west)as well near the station and near my friends' Priyanka and Sandip's houses as well).
Ghatkopar (esp the eastern side) was also the happening Garba-Dandiya place with the Somaiya grounds being the venue for people to spend nights dancing away during the navartri season to the music of Phalguni Patak and the so -called "XYZ"-Satellite Bands(never figured why they were called "satellite bands")
Ghatkopar railway station was a place where I must spent many mornings cursing my college
faculty for scheduling 8 AM classes(which meant i had to leave home at 7 to reach on time;it used to take me about 45 minutes from my doorstep to class on a fine day;bad days were when there would be no rickshaw outside my gate and the announcer at the platform would say"Platform kramak don chi local daha they pandra minuteen ushirane chalat aahe"(the train arriving on platform number 2 is running late by 10-15 minutes) and i used to groan because that not only meant reaching late but also having to bear the additional crowd that would accumulate from all stations en route to ghatkopar..but in retrospect i really miss those days when I used to wait for my friends from Thane (who would be invariably late!)and go with them to college in those overcrowded compartments(even though we traveled first class) and discuss happening events,curse the college till we ran out of swear words or read page 36 of the Mumbai Mirror...man I could just go on and on,but this post is about Ghatkopar and I will reserve a post just for my local train experiences.
Going back to Ghatkopar after a year in the US would be something i can look forward to.A chance to meet my school chums and eat Sardar ka gola at the entrance to Khau Galli or bite into the Dabeli sold on every available space on Valabaugh lane and of course taste Achija's mouth watering ,butter dripping Pau Bhaji( im a big foodie)..I know things will change and Ghatkopar is no exception to that.I already saw old buildings and the Odeon Theater being demolished to make way for swanky shopping malls and multiplexes(a phenomenon that has hit the city over the last couple of years)..Whether this will work out well for Ghatkopar is something that only time can answer
First post
Ok so i've finally been hit by the blogging bug.I have wanted to write a blog for a long time,but was too lazy to start off.So this evening when I had a sudden burst of inspiration,I got down to it and I hope I can put my views across as well as I want to. I will probably write on a range of topics stretching from childhood experiences to life as I see it today to music and movies..i could write forever on the last two....and i will try my best to post as frequently as possible
A bit more about myself..I am a graduate student doing research on PEM fuel cells(will write in detail about those later) and I am a true Bombayite to the core( something i realised only after coming half-way around the world) !! I usually adopt a philosophical approach to life(something you'll get to see in the posts) and if i feel strongly about something,I will say it.
Hope you guys enjoy reading this blog
Cheers
:)
A bit more about myself..I am a graduate student doing research on PEM fuel cells(will write in detail about those later) and I am a true Bombayite to the core( something i realised only after coming half-way around the world) !! I usually adopt a philosophical approach to life(something you'll get to see in the posts) and if i feel strongly about something,I will say it.
Hope you guys enjoy reading this blog
Cheers
:)
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