ABC tag......(sounds cheesy as hell!)

Overtagged.....by Shriniket and Pratik. Indulging in a little (ok...a whole lot of) narcissism.

1. A – Available/Single? Single, but not available..........:)

2. B – Best friend? Too many to name......

3. C – Cake or Pie? Cake

4. D – Drink of choice? Milk

5. E – Essential item you use every day? Cant imagine a day without "The Indian Express"

6. F – Favorite color? Black and red.

7. G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? What the fuck are those?......:)

8. H – Hometown? Kolhapur

9. I – Indulgence? Calligraphy and poetry

10. J – January or February? January

11. K – Kids & their name? Nein.

12. L – Life is incomplete without? Heavy metal music.

13. M – Marriage date? #@#YY$*@($&@#&*

14. N – Number of siblings? One Bade bhaiyya

15. O – Oranges or Apples? Oranges

16. P – Phobias/Fears? Of growing up.

17. Q – Quote for today? "What is true power other than the complete knowledge of ones own self?"

18. R – Reason to smile? Any reason is good enough

19. S – Season? Winter.....Summers are getting harsher and hate monsoons cause they create puddles and dirt all around.

20. T – Tag 3 People? Dunno.

21. U – Unknown fact about me? I have actually known what i was going to do with my life since the 6th std. Having met a lot of people to date i have come to realise that this is not as simple and common as it sounds.

22. V – Vegetable you don’t like? Karela/Bitter gourd

23. W – Worst habit? Swearing........i feel like its healthy but people around me tell me otherwise.

24. X – X-rays you’ve had? Left foot and right hand (twice)

25. Y – Your favorite food? Ghar ka khana........

26. Z – Zodiac sign? Sagittarius.

I will tag Dreamcatcher, Indrani and Deepak Iyer. But very very very bleak chances of them writing any such post about themselves. Still , if they do, it will be great.

Please be seated........somebody is watching!

Amidst all the heavy metal tumult and VLSI silence, i took some minutes to free my mind. Wandering into the living room, where the tube was transmitting some people screaming. And i thought, "Oh great. Thats what i wanted." Since we have only Doordarshan at our place (yeah....thanks), it was the Question Hour from Lok Sabha being thrust onto our eyes and ears and minds (optional.....but we are so very susceptible). Being so desperate for a change, i decided to bear with that stuff for a couple of 60-seconders.

There was Minister, presumably for the Medicine and Health ministry trying to read something from a ragtag chit in his hand and answer somebody's query. And there was the din of a zoo all around.The camera swung to show the Opposition chip munks on screen and i could not believe my eyes. There was like earnest protest from 2 member of the Opposition. The rest of their kin
was just standing in the background and grinning from ear to ear as if a child is eying a great bar of Toblerone. Boisterous to the extent of irresponsible, they just did not let the proceedings of the House go in any direction but dead South. And Mrs. Meera Kumar, with all due respect was the proverbial fish out of water. Nothing she did would pacify these idiots (not that she did much anyway, just an occasional nod of the head, stare from above the glasses or a wave of the benighted index finger of her right hand) and so the respected Minister had to sit his jolly ass down. And the Opposition grins grew wider, spilling out of their faces onto other peoples faces.

This was disgusting. No let me put it as it is. Debauchery and depravity on National Television, broadcast live to a billions viewers (rather to whoever who cared to watch or people like me looking for a refreshment and who were trapped).I agree that debate and argument is necessary, to peruse an issue at hand, look at it with a keener and clearer eye. But this was rape of whatever we know as healthy debate in the interest of the people.

P.S.: Please tune into Doordarshan at 11am, weekdays, to watch it again.

Itinerary......

The train whistled its way through the bleak and cloudy night. Cutting a tunnel through the chilly air. He peered hard through the window bars to look out. Searching for something that was unknown to him too. The landscape was dotted with innocuous little lights.Marking the scene not unlike stars on a clear cloudless night. The light bouncing off the slightly perplexed surface of waterbodies, revealing an almost divine shimmering quality. The absence of any human features was almost mollifying. No begging hands, unheeded sympathies. No unwanted prolixity. The fact that the train was still moving, unbalked, unhindered towards the next mile and indeed the next dawn made him uneasy. If life was made of small moments, little incidents stitched together, why could it not be the same moment repeated over and over again? A flash question, he pondered over it for a while, smiled at the answer and then lost his conscious self in the blanket of sleep with the wind brushing his face softly.

Going Under...........

It has been going on for so long, that it now actually puts him at ease. An analgesic feeling of relief spreads like wildfire in his body. The descent is rapid. Things are hazier than a blur. But what does it matter? Its the same all over. And whenever there is a prick of conscious guilt on the inside, he tries to hold on. To the stony walls of the chasm he was tumbling down into. Scratching and bruising. Leaving meaningless marks of his transient presence. But the action, the adrenaline dies down rapidly. In vain. The space is cold. Numbing his periphery. Less work, he thinks. The beginning is like a little spot of light in the distance. The end is dark and endless. But for eyeslids closed tight, these are a cipher. Where does it stop? Does it matter even if it does? What after it does? Is there enough strength left inside to fight the smoke in his head and search for a crack which leads him to a life giving ray of light? Or just be the proverbial voice emanating from the floor of the well? And what when the voice silences down?

Very Large Scale Irritation...........

Structured ASIC design (also referred to as platform ASIC design) has different meanings in different contexts. This is a relatively new term in the industry, which is why there is some variation in its definition. However, the basic premise of a structured/platform ASIC is that both manufacturing cycle time and design cycle time are reduced compared to cell-based ASIC by virtue of there being pre-defined metal layers (thus reducing manufacturing time) and pre-characterization of what is on the silicon (thus reducing design cycle time). One definition states that

In a "structured ASIC" design, the logic mask-layers of a device are predefined by the ASIC vendor (or in some cases by a third party). Design differentiation and customization is achieved by creating custom metal layers that create custom connections between predefined lower-layer logic elements. "Structured ASIC" technology is seen as bridging the gap between field-programmable gate arrays and "standard-cell" ASIC designs. Because only a small number of chip layers must be custom-produced, "structured ASIC" designs have much smaller non-recurring expenditures (NRE) than "standard-cell" or "full-custom" chips, which require that a full mask set be produced for every design.[citation needed]

This is effectively the same definition as a gate array.


Courtesy : Wikipedia

Consolations.....

Yeah, the latest DT release had me so down in an emotional abyss, that i started surfing the net like a someone in the Sahara searching for lemonade. And got rewarded for this madness. More than a cheer up, these two tribute albums do more than enough justice to the original Creations and Creators. Representing the original styles of these respective bands and still being a fitting tribute to Maiden and Metallica, these albums are a must listen for any metal fan.


Tribute to Metallica

01.- Seek & Destroy (Primal Fear)
02.- Fight Fire With Fire (Therion)
03.- Whiplash (Destruction)
04.- Phantom Lord (Anthrax)
05.- Fade To Black (Sonata Arctica)
06.- Master Of Puppets (Burden Of Grief)
07.- My Friend Of Misery (Dark Tranquility)
08.- One (Crematory)
09.- Eye Of The Beholder (In Flames)
10.- The Thing That Should Not Be (Primus)
11.- Harvester Of Sorrow (Apocalyptica)
12.- Battery (Die Krupps)
13.- Wherever I May Roam (Sinner)
14.- Motorbreath (Rage)


you can download all the tracks here


A Tribute to Iron Maiden

01. Prowler - Black Tide
02. Remember Tomorrow - Metallica
03. Flash of the Blade - Avenged Sevenfold
04. 2 Minutes to Midnight - Glamour of the Kill
05. The Trooper - Coheed and Cambria
06. Wasted Years - Devildriver
07. Run to the Hills - Sign
08. To Tame a Land - Dream Theater
09. Caught Somewhere in Time - Madina Lake
10. Wrathchild - Gallows
11. Fear of the Dark - Fightstar
12. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Machine Head
13. Iron Maiden - Trivium
14. Running Free - Year Long Disaster
15. Brave New World - Ghostlines

The album is available here

Black Clouds and Silver Linings.....

Yes, thats the name of the latest Dream Theater creation, a potpourri of the many styles of musical influences these guys bring in. And that is where the adulations will die down. I do not wish to be obtuse and also "judge" this album. But, the lack of innovation and novelty is the stuff that famines are made of. Dont get me wrong again. For an album, this is brilliant. Six tracks, 4 of them lasting for the better part of 10 minutes. There is a deluge of solos and collective virtuosity from Rudess, Petrucci and LaBrie (surprised?). Some very distinct points :

1. Opeths influence on DT shows up blatantly. The first song, "A nightmare to remember" starts of like an Opeth song, "Demon Of the fall" i think.

2. Notes and beats per minute wars are back on. And this is just exposed since there is nothing new to look at.

3. Lyrics are second rate. But, being sort of well versed with DT's discography, lyrics have hardly ever been their strong point.


Every album, is invariably compared to its predecessor. In this case, i would prefer Systematic Chaos to this any day. It just is much much better even though old.

But as a cheer up, do check out the cover songs and the instrumental versions of the main tracks on this album. Those are fabulous!!!!!!


Track Listing:

1. A nightmare to remember 16:10
2. A rite of passage 8:36
3. Wither 5:25 (My favourite song on the album)
4. The Shattered Fortress 12:49
5. The best of times 13:09
6. The Count of Tuscany 19:16

Covers :

1. Stargazer (Rainbow)
2. Tenement funster, flick of the wrist and Lily of the valley. (Queen)
3. Odyssey (Dixie Dregs)
4. Take your fingers from my hair (Zebra)
5. Larks tongues in Aspic part2 (King Crimson)
6. To tame a land. (Iron Maiden)