Me, Music and Michael

It took a while for me to understand the significance this guy has had on my life. When I first heard the news, my first reaction, I will painfully admit, was “He had it coming… “. But then in one of my day-dreams I thought back to my kiddo days.

For all the Mettallica, Linkin’ Park and Limp Bizkit songs I have heard, I know that they were all just passing phases. Their songs sound fake at best and lacked any real quality. They were somehow always second best.

Its hard to quantify what exactly the parameters are for making the list of the 2 most influential music-makers in my life. I can’t number them 1,2. They made songs which I remember and sing along with in my sleep.

They were there with me in my darkest hours of teenage life. Both literally and figuratively because I used to listen to songs when I went to bed everyday. I had a small tape-recorder which I would plug in by my bedside and would listen to the songs till I drifted off.

The first name I got as soon as I thought back. Bryan Adams. He was the first musician who I really followed. I had all his songs at one point – every one of them. He was a genius – though he was a bit old. I just generally like his voice and his songs.

Thought as I might, I couldn’t get another name. Mettalica was too commercialized and I couldn’t relate to their latest songs. Linkin’ Park was all screaming and manufactured angst. Eminem was more of the same. Limp Bizkit have made just 1 likeable album and don’t look like they are going to bring out another Choclate Starfish. Which brought me back to ol’ Michael.

I have never bought Michael Jackson songs ever. Back in the days when music was on tape and not too expensive, it was pretty weird. I loved every single one of his songs on both Bad and Dangerous. Both albums were with cousins of mine and I had copies. I danced to his songs and I sang along with them. Black or White, Smooth Criminal, Beat It, They don’t really care about us, Dirty Diana, Man in the Mirror … I guess its just that I never had to fast forward any song from his 2 albums.

Maybe if I were a bit older I might say the same about Off the Wall and Thriller. The beat of They don’t really care about us still rings fresh in my mind and as childish as it was this was the song that ran through my head during the days of anti-establishment (read school) thoughts…

Well, I think the time was right for his death whatever people may say. From a music industry PoV, MJ saved their ass once with Thriller when the sales were drooping. Now with file-sharing ending the industry as we know it I wonder who is going to save the day…

Laptop Day 3 – Why I am sad on Windows

I installed almost all the things I need on the system. Windows is not bad and feels fine. I installed all the free solutions to all my entertainment needs. I installed VLC Player for my videos. I still have to install Real Player though. I wonder why VLC can’t play .rmvb…

Then there is the one thing which I missed on my years on Linux – uTorrent! It is by a long long way the best torrent client to date. Its sad that they haven’t released a Linux version yet even though they are open source…

Songbird – a Mozilla based music player had taken my fancy on Linux and the Windows version of it is lighter and easier.

And Mozilla! How I hate IE! I actually gave IE a chance but grew very frustrated by the default settings. Maybe I should give Chrome a chance…

I’ll end by giving 2 very basic reasons about why I liked the Linux I had over the last 3 years.

1. Whenever I had an issue, I felt almost certain that someone else must have had the same problem as me. I would check on the forums and inevitably there would be a solution. When there was no solution you could post it and get an answer in under a day.

2. The best part, though, was that all solutions are free. When it came to reading of awkward formats like .djvu and .chm there were available add-ons (not even separate programs) which I could install with a few clicks (not even commands) and get the job done.

I miss both of these dearly. But anyway I guess this will do for the time being.

After Long

I’m going to blog now after a long time. In all this ‘gap’ time lots has changed. I have a laptop which has now all but replaced my gigantic desktop. That would be the biggest change you can see in the room.

A while ago I had promised myself that I will blog only if there is something to write about. I guess this pretty much breaks that promise. But maybe this post is about how I just can’t keep promises to myself…

Windows Live Writer

Well, here goes! A test post from Windows Live Writer.

Coraline - Some doors should never be opened

I have to say that I am surprised i hadn't heard about this movie. It released in the US in Feb 2009, but it was only a couple of weeks back that I first saw it when searching on top ranked animations on imdb.

There are very very few movies which fall into the category of children's horror. Unlike most kids movies these days, this spends time on scenes and is not about running from A to B saving friends.

This movie is based on a tremendously spooky book by Neil Gaiman of the same name. Though they have made changes to the book, not least in the location, which has been moved from UK to Oregon, it retains the dark & spooky feel.

It is the story of a girl who finds a secret passageway in her new home to a parallel world in which everything is "better" - her parents care for her, the food is tasty and life is always interesting. The only hitch is that everyone there has buttons for eyes. She gets attached to that world but it has many dark secrets...

It was a 3D release and managed to do fairly well at the box-office. The animation isn't Disney regular and is stop-motion. An absolute must-watch. I can't recommend this movie enough. 

A DvD-Rip is available on thepiratebay.org - here.