পৃথিবী/Pale Blue Dot

পৃথিবী

গোলাকার এক পাথরে চেপে বসে আছি সবাই
ঘুরছি ঘুরছি দিন যায় দিন .. ঘুরছি সবাই
হাসি কান্না সুখ দুঃখ ভালবাসা ঘৃণায়

পৃথিবী

মানুষে অমানুষে মিশে মিলে সবাই
করি ভেদাভেদ অর্থ, রং, ধর্ম, রাজনীতি মিলায়
টানো দাগ আজ হয়ে যাক মিটমাট টানো দাগ

পৃথিবী

গ্রহ নক্ষত্র ভাসছে ভাসছি সবাই
লিখে চলি অদ্ভূত গান জেনেও যে গাবেনা সবাই
আমি তুমি তোমরা ... .... আমরা সবাই

পৃথিবী

Commentary by Carl Sagan
[as read on Wikipedia]

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

[gratitude: Khaotic Mind]

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Live Games: A Walk to the Bank

DISCLAIMER: This won't make any sense if you'd never taken a walk down a Dhaka city area. :D

Sure, its not a catchy title like "Halo" or "Wolfenstein" .. but its every bit as thrilling and challenging as those games.

Your Mission: Walk to the bank on Kemal Ataturk Ave. to pay off Credit bills, or else you get charged with a Late Fine! oh crap! Start from Bonani Road 4. Sure, tis a small walk, but just as deadly as Operation Desert Storm.

Your Obstacles:
Potholes: It has rained last night, and unlike the visible gathering of rain on roadsides due to bad drainage, these potholes are cheeky, take your head off the road for a sec, and you could get your leather footwear all dirty, and maybe smelly too!

Rickshaws: Incoming and sneaking up behind you... they're like playful little puppies running down the streets, left, right, and barking, but make no mistake, they are not sweethearts. Get out of their way with a ninja's agility to preserve your life force.

Smell: Oh, whats that smell!? Block your nose with your hands within a second of detecting that perverse smell of a mixed bag of rotten things. If you don't do this within a second, because of your attention getting focused on other simultaneous obstacles, you lose your life-force every second that passes!

Manholes: Round deathtraps and sometimes they are also disguised as squares! Make sure you don't get your feet in or worse while watching a rickshaw or the occasional pretty girl crossing the street! Focus! Come on!!!!

Pedestrians: May as well call them Zombies, for they won't budge from their routes. So jump left and right to avoid them and make your way to your destination.

This is your challenge and you have to accept it. Why not put on an imaginary virtual reality headgear and visualize your life force and controls you have to use to get your bills paid or go get some lunch! ...if you're not driving that is, or taking a rickshaw (better be on the offensive eh?)

Just another perk of an overpopulated city.

Cheers!

PS. This idea is borrowed from the scene in "The Beach" where Leonardo di Caprio is going through some similar visions while going nuts alone in the jungle.

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Oscar Wilde's Website

What an interesting world we live in! Or die in!

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Paris, je'taime > New York, I Love You

I thought Paris, I Love You was a brilliant film, and it came at a time when I was finding it hard to find the attention span to watch most movies. The concept of having film makers work on short films around a subject itself was brilliant, and the result was really excellent stories told without any unnecessary elongation.



Now, I just found out that a New York, I Love You is going to be released also! Looking forward to that!

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Rock 303, Buy it? Take it?

Finally, my band Rhee has gotten somewhere, and that is at the 13/14 place on a CD that was released on the 19th of September, 2009. This was a marvelous effort from Jewel of Miles/X Factor fame, who is a brilliant guitarist and producer. In a rush, he accepted 120 demos, and then chose 32 out of them primarily, and recording was arranged for them, and based on the quality of the song and recording, 28 bands got published in two albums: Rock 202, and Rock 303. These are a followup to his first arrangement Rock 101. But already, the consensus is that Rock 202/303 is the best rock compilation to have ever been released so far.

A lot of people were asking however, whether the songs are available online, or if I could pass them a copy of the song. One asked specifically, are you getting anything out of it? If yes, I'll buy the CD, otherwise I'll download it. The truth is, the band doesn't have any formal agreements about with the producers of this album. Donno if any of the bands do! All we get out of this is publicity (*?), and the recognition. It does feel good to be picked, and seeing all the bands around, you know exactly how you need to improve, step up your game, get serious.

I think theres a bad cycle involved when it comes to Rock and other subgenres which are loud, and edgy. There are artists like Momtaz, Asif, Habib, Balam, who enjoy a larger audience, and thus have a lot of sales and make the executive producers, labels happy. My theory is that their demographic also has the least amount of downloaders/freeloaders. And they also enjoy additional demand from tv, and movies etc. For Rock music, already with a marginal audience, has the most amount of people who download, listen to mp3 and thus share more. Also, there is the mixed feeling about whether the money spent on the CD is actually reaching the artist(s).

* The rock bands and other artist of such genres also have their works released to no efforts at publicity on the part of their labels! its mostly a lose - lose situation for the artist, with only the satisfaction of having released something to be gained. What do the labels gain from this? They must gain something out of it, my theory is that its not enough (according to their profit accountants) to pass on to the artists for them. My theory is that the fans of these bands need to 'create' a favorable market for their favorite artists by buying their albums and making sure, others around them are buying them. That's my theory. Whats yours?

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Kado Bangali Kado!

Wah! AL whenever it comes to power, does some branding gimmicks. It tries to name everything after the leader's father and her other relatives' names! Well, there was really no reason to have thought this time would be different, even though with the way the elections came about, I was almost convinced they had realized there were more urgent matters at hand.

The one I thought was sad was -
The Bangladesh - China Friendship Conference Center, which was changed to "Bangabondhu Memorial Hall" ... undermining the goodwill shown by a fellow country, the result of which was this beautiful convention center (really one of a kind in terms of space and design in dhaka, or maybe just a few grades above the Osmani Milonayoton Hall, tho the latter's auditorium has better acoustics).

Aug 15 was declared as a national day of mourning, which is fine, and then the month as the national month of mourning! And so in lieu of that started the now power blessed AL's programs... which apparently included covering up the gate to the Banani graveyard with posters of Sk. Mujibur Rahman, and to put up banners everywhere with the words "Kado Bangali Kado".

The show of respect from any sane person I thought should have differed from this. The graveyard has graves of many people, and to cover up its gate with the pictures of one person no matter how great he might be, is really sycophancy to the extreme - in my opinion, breaking the sanctity of a graveyard.

I found the statement "Kado Bangali Kado" quite interesting also. Our grief regarding the country's welfare, and political situation is heavy, to the point that people laugh about it, suggesting no real solution exists, and the laughter to an extent has elements of mad despair. To a level, I even found the statement insulting... how dare they?

All night long from the night of the 14th, someone started playing Sk. Mujib's powerful speech that really shook the nation's consciousness before our liberation war. They put out mics and broadcasted it all night! The love and respect that people feel for the man, and the power and strong nationalism that was in that speech, I think they both get diminished with this kind of display. People are trying to sleep and someone is blasting that all throughout the night. If they arranged a hearing of the speech instead, at the Ramna park from morning, so that people could gather in one place and listen to that speech, it would have been more appropriate, and maybe would have rekindled someone's sense of nationalism*. I would say that would have been a more sensible way of paying respect to the man, and his words.

Alas, its difficult to judge how much of this is actual paying of respect, and how much of it is just a vulgar display of power. Some women will say that they dress for each other, comparing styles of clothes or make up or whatever ... observing the power play between BNP and AL kinda gives you some understanding of that... Khaleda Zia really started having big bashful birthday parties (even 5 year olds would be jealous) ever since Aug 15 was declared a day of mourning! (More related to this here) And I laugh everytime I pass by Crescent Lake (Chondrima Uddan) thinking how the AL govt. moved the bridge from that venue when a bridge in some village broke to replace it! Every member of both parties... take a bow! Really!



* Nationalism, the way I see it around me mostly, is just about saying some things, and singing some songs, and other forms of ritualistic showings, without any commitment to actions that help the country or society.

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News!

Back when i was in school, we first started getting CNN. Cable tv was not there at the time and we used to get free broadcast of CNN for some portion of the morning in the same stream where our national tv would start broadcast at around 5 pm everyday.

Now, with cable tv everywhere, CNN can be seen in a new light. I have to say first of all, that I am not sure, whether programming is different in other parts of Asia or what, but I start comparing CNN now, mainly because I have Al Jazeera to compare with! BBC could be compared in the same light, they were once a good source of news, still not too bad.

Now, the channel of choice when it comes to news is Al Jazeera, and while watching I always get this in my head "Hmmmm, I wonder what CNN is showing!". This is how I found out 2 mornings ago, that Michael Jackson had died. Sad news, but also, the ONLY news almost for the whole day on CNN on that day! I guess I also don't compare BBC that much in these scenarios, coz of the way my tv is programmed... Al Jaz and CNN are next to each other, a click away.

CNN feels the need to be able to entertain with their shows, more than really covering what is happening in the world. They bring what is happening in the USA to the world, and nothing to take back I guess.

Al Jazeera has news of every country's elections, and sometimes has people with conflicting views on a single program that really help to show the two sides of the coin. Their music shows, go all over the world, and bring you really interesting views of all kinds of music scenes from around the globe, their philosophies and struggles and does not only focus on the best selling music category. Their show about movies is the same and has really great interviews.

CNN's news has lost all appeal to me, and the time I watch CNN is to catch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, who is really funny, and his show is brought to CNN courtesy of Comedy Central!

For Some Other Viewpoints:
Is It Al-Jazeera Or CNN International?
CNN to Al Jazeera: Why Report Civilian Deaths?
CNN's Anderson Cooper: What’s up with Al-Jazeera’s phone?

Jon Stewart:

(Thanks to Rajiv bhai for the lead on this. Apparently, the show Crossfire shut down after Jon Stewart's appearance and critique!)

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Word of the Day: Impugn

impugn \im-PYOON\, transitive verb:
To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.

Perfect for the way parliament is shaping back to its old days of mud slinging. All hail the golden goose of democracy, blind leading the blind.

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Target Group: Generation Halum

Went yesterday to buy a phone. I'd say it like that and not "went to buy a Nokia E63", thats how I am. Anyway, when i reached Shopper's World where Nokia has their sales center, I saw a big line of people standing outside! Today is the launch of the Nokia 5800, and they have all come for it! I asked one of the Nokia staff if I could go into the shop, and as they said, I'd have to stand in line! So, I did what my logic told me was right, Come back in the evening.

The shop was quite quiet in the evening, with the Nokia staff hanging around, young kids wearing cool Nokia uniforms, not many customers in sight. So I grabbed one of them and asked if I could see a Nokia E63, the young kid replied that they didn't have any, and that he could show me a brochure. Then he told me they are only selling Nokia 5800s today! What?! That didn't make sense and was a little infuriating for me, after all, its my second trip to that same shop in one day!

This is a post where I am ranting, and the major cause of that is not because of what I described above, but because of the following. I had approached the sales staff in Bangla, coz, thats the language that is spoken in Bangladesh! That's where we were, and the kid was replying me in English every time! I could have talked in English to him fine, but I just kept talking in Bangla to see how long exactly he'd keep it up, and he went all the way. His english wasn't all that great to suggest thats his first language, or his very best second option, but he did it. Maybe he'd be fired otherwise? I don't know, but I think its because they were instructed to do so. I imagine they had a big meeting beforehand, where they brought out statistics and discussed their target market for the Nokia 5800, the group of young people, who are cool, dress in the latest (or a decade old in USA or Europe) fashion, and talk in english, cuase they are smaart (!@#!@%!%)... or whatever! haha... shit, i matched most of that description didn't I, except I was talking in Bangla, and I found it quite insulting that a sales force could be trained to ignore Bangla like that! Sheesh!

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Political Role Model for 3rd World Countries?

Local newspaper "The Daily Star" had a title on the front page yesterday, something to the effect of "A US lesson for Bangladesh in positive politics ". While I myself admire the political attitudes as reflected through their presidential debates, their speeches and the focus given to the 'issues' at these times, politics is much more than speeches and elections*.

In terms of choosing a role model for politics, shouldn't we rather go with UK? In recent turnouts, there is the Economic Breakdown (was that a headline...? maybe it was termed differently), and that led to an Economic Bailout (definitely a headline). Apparently, the govt. hired private companies to handle the plan and there were no conditions given to the receiving banks, which led to some of them planning expansion with that money, and some to plan executive bonuses. Read More Here. In contrast to that, the UK bailout plan had necessary measurements to protect the taxpayers' money.

I recently caught Sicko on tv, and there was some scenes of patients waiting for treatment outside a US hospital, not unlike the horrible scenes at the DMC here! There is this whole hodge podge of health insurance and whatnot. Why strive for that when we can strive for universal healthcare** like the NHS in the UK? Its taken out on taxpayers and everyone gets free medical treatment, and almost free medicine. Even tourists there don't have to pay for healthcare!

My final point is that of a demand on the part of media and the people for accountability of the political offices. At the time of the wars on terror, one has to say Bush had smooth sailing if we compare what Tony Blair had to do for supporting that war. He had to appear before a committee and defend his decisions and that was broadcast over the news channels. Even when I happened to be there (December '06), there were posters all over London announcing another such session.

All 3rd world countries probably hold USA in high esteem, and frankly, we don't really see much of anyone else from here. USA's media exports are ubiquitious, unlike any other country. During the election, all news except the US election went to the ticker scrolling at the bottom of the screen. But, really, if we are looking for a political role model, we should really look around a bit more.


* You should remember the time when Al Gore lost in elections under some strange circumstances. The events were dramatized into a movie called Recount.
**US is supposed to be the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare.

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Mike Myers for pres

Y'day McCain was on CNN describing his plans for rescuing the financial institutions and the US economy from their downfall, and all the while, i kept thinking that his manner of speaking resembled someone. All the thinking led to the character of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series of movies! :) Its mostly how stiff his upper body is and his arm motions when he is stating points. The voice too I think.

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Spike Lee Joints are great

after a winding day at work (on a weekend), i came home pretty tired and listless, and luckily i had a movie to make it all better - Inside Man. the movie started off with a hindi song!!! and then the words "A Spike Lee Joint" flashed on the screen... and that just made my day.

Its not the first Spike Lee film i saw, but it was the first time this line amused me so much. i have to say, i forgot all about it. inside man wasn't the greatest spike movie, but it had that style, the urban soundtrack, and occassional pipes, the brilliance of Denzel Washington, and Clive Owen etc.

My favorite Spike Lee movies have to be Mo' Betta Blues and He Got Game though.

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Sports Car

Ha ha ha
i laugh at u people
with sports cars in dhaka
stuck behind a rickshaw
zero to sixty
only in your dreams

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Junk Mail Greatest Hits

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Sightseeing: Paris, France.

Summer 2006, me and Fuad went on a trip to France (Paris, Varseilles, and Carcassone) and Spain (Andalucia + Barcelona and Madrid). This video is of the sights i recorded while in Paris, with my sony dsc-s40. thus the video quality is not soo good.

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Today is...

I have added the "On This Day" feed from reference.com to my iGoogle page, and everyday (everyday that i remember to check it) that tells me something that happened on that day. Also, each day they give you a stark reminder of how time passes:

Today is Tuesday, April 8, 2008. This is the 99th day of the year, with 267 days remaining in 2008.

What am I to do!?

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Our Right to Information Ordinance (2008)

From the Daily Star I learn today that the government is taking views from the public about the proposed Right to Information Ordinance (2008). The Ministry of Information has a website, and they are supposed to provide the information there about the ordinance, and other things, and the Daily Star has published a list of emails where people can send in their opinions:
www.moisecretary@yahoo.com
addsecmoi@yahoo.com
isadmn_moi@yahoo.com
jsdev_moi@yahoo.com (jsdev = javascript developer?!?#$!@)
jsbmoi@yahoo.com
The site works on IE, and on my firefox (iceweasel) I saw
<%@ Language=JavaScript %>
But all you firefox weasels, you can still ‘view source’ and get the info if you really want to know what the govt. is upto. To save some trouble, here are the links:
http://www.moi.gov.bd/moimenu.htm - Links relating to MOI. Here you will find a link to the ordinance. Its in a .doc format, and in Bangla, which I couldn’t open to view.
http://www.moi.gov.bd/left_menu.htm - Various Links (includes BTV, BD Betar, FDC etc.)
http://www.moi.gov.bd/Footer.htm - Will reveal who is responsible for the atrocity of a website.
http://www.moi.gov.bd/telephone.html - Their 'Contact Us' page, very elaborate with even the home addresses of their members! Not too smart.

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Corruption: Overrated

Underrated: Lame Bureaucracy (or a very Lame Work Culture)

"Why do it today, when there is tomorrow?"

"I must send an official letter to my boss, who will send a letter to his boss, and then his, and then the approval must come down the proper channels before I can give you your birth certificate"

"Its procedure"

"Please have a seat while I talk to my cousins on the phone about the birthday party last night"

"Lets have many meetings and not really do anything"

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Women's Day

(Photo Credit: Istela Imam)

It maddens me when I meet some people in my country who by default undermines a woman's ability to do a certain job. It is unwarranted. So, when my father and I were waiting for my mother and sister to get registered as voters, we met someone like that. As it happened, male operators were taking care of the male voter wannabes (unsuitable? probably), and female operators were taking care of the female wannabe voters. As it also happened, my father and I were done in a jiffy, and had to wait quite a long time for my mom and sister to come out. I asked a male guard there why it was taking so long, and it was then when he made his remark about women. I told him he was wrong, and that there was no reason that it should take so long, just because the operators there were women. I thought I had made my point. Then again, I didn't know that our wait was to be a lot longer still.

I asked them when they were finally done "what took so long?". So, as it happened the operators were slower and did take longer! That made me realize, that a woman's ability is still not a question here. I think society's treatment of women also play a large role here. If girls grow up in an environment where nothing is expected of them, they will not grow to explore their potential, or be aware of it. The 'default undermining' is our society's view of women, and that largely affects the outcome of the women workforce. Its not uncommon to find women with engineering or medicine or other educational qualifications just doing nothing afterwards. The expectations sometimes are that they will be educated but not needed to work. The demand/supply of arranged marriages play a strong role in this situation, or simply rather loose hypocritical viewpoint of the educated parents.

Whatever, it may be, I know there are women out there who are offering so much to this society and the world at large, and I hope the future 'woman' chooses the right role model and gets to see that there is much they can do.

Lastly, a few links:
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Is Islam Really Stuck in the 12th Century on Women's Rights?

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Rives Def Jam

Poetry from the school for the deaf

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Cholochitro.com

Finally, found a website that is keeping the glory days (or sane days) of Bangladesh's cinema catalogued. Do have a look.

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Fair Enough?

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LLLogic

Something is better than nothing, but nothing is better than the best!
Then, something is better than the best! Then nothing must be better than the best.

I guess the only illogical concept here is that of 'best'.

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Strictly Stupid

If someone asked me at 13 for what pops up in my mind when i hear "rules", I'd probably say "Rules were meant to be broken". Its a knock off of "Records were meant to be broken" I suppose, but it was very popular at the time when breaking rules at school seemed like the logical choice.

Now, in the real world, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I still find people clueless to the whole purpose of rules. People are breaking rules that matter and abiding strongly to little ones that defy reason. Very little thought goes into achieving efficiency.

Last time i faced such nuisance was when i ordered a cake from Coopers. I wanted a two story chocolate fudge cake (yes i did) and they showed me a brochure with pictures of three white and blue wedding cakes and i chose one as a model to follow for my cake. I soon realized from talking to the Coopers guy that they plan to cover my chocolate cake with white icing and pink flowers to look exactly like the one in the pic. Why? Its a rule. I tried to reason with him, that i didn't want white and pink on my chocolate cake (that should be a rule), you can just do without it and put chocolate shavings on as decorations the way they would if i order it just flat! No can do. Was it written in stone? I guess it was and used as a foundation to the building Coopers existed in.

People limit themselves everyday, following baseless rules. Our government is quite famous for it, their bureaucracy or red tape. I say, its time to break these rules. Lets think for a minute why we do what we do!

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Sunday Bloody Sunday

My XMMS shuffle played Sunday Bloody Sunday today, and I realized, it is sunday. For a person who often forget which day he is living, it comes as a nice surprise at times to find out which day it is. The song had these lines:
"When fact is fiction and tv reality" (full lyrics)

and it made me think of the movie I watched last night called Wag the Dog. It started with a silly question of why does the dog wag its tail or something... and it finished all of a sudden but in between it was total amusement and grins. A president is accused of improper sexual behavior by a girl just 11 days short of the election and its upto Robert De Niro to save him. He takes the help of Dustin Hoffman and his colleagues who work in hollywood to stage a distraction for the public. The distraction in the form of a ghost war with Albania takes the heat of the issue of sexual allegations.

This movie was made in 1997, but watching De Niro and Hoffman plot the war will make you feel like this is where they got the idea for the Iraq war and the last threat on Iran. I see from IMDB the movie is based on a book. The movie is a political satire, and made me laugh. But there is also a hint of a feeling of desparation as I feel that this is how the world works these days in the age of high powered media.

Also starring: Woody Harrelson, Anne Heche, and Willie Nelson!

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New Heights of Vanity

Pimped water? Bling H2O? you are a unique snowflake.. yes you are!

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Buy Nothing Day!

Just found out another 'day' is out there. It was started in Canada as a day to raise awareness about over consumption, or over-consumerism~

The Horse's Mouth

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Write

I envy those who write
Write so well
Even if no one else reads it, it is there for themselves to look at. Later
The instruments are the pen and paper and things stay once put out
I wish I could make the music stay
Between my fingers and the strings, the things that come out flutter
Then its gone.
Later I struggle to remember, that chord, that note, the pull, that slide and the strum, and the beat that was in my head
A recorder could be my paper
But it isn't as white
And not as inviting

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তানিম ভালই অাছে

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Speaking of Ironies...

Equal opportunities is a big deal. The awareness however outside the seminars and talk shows are probably not so high. I guess so, since this happened -

Female equality ombudsman gets lower pay than male predecessor

Of course, it could also be bad timing... and she joined right in the time of budget cuts.

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Unplanned crash

It was one of those nights, when I had the sincerest intention to go to sleep early, and then the movie channel that almost never plays any good movies starts playing that movie I have been planning to see one more time. Crash. It is such a brilliant film, and takes you through a whole range of emotions - sadness, anger, triumph, hope, happiness. It is also a beautiful film, especially near the ending with the burning car. Brilliant.

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Children's Stories

Not everyone's stories are told. Some have their stories told over and over again.

www.picturebalata.net/

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Aha

'Aha' is an expression in bangla that is used to express sadness. When someone says that so and so had an accident, you can make a face and say 'aha'. Enamul Karim Nirjhar's film is titled 'Aha!'.

This is not a mainstream movie, thus, those who don't like 'slow' movies can just exclude yourselves. For those who can take the right mood to this movie, it will be enjoyable. It has good characters, and a marvelous old house in Old Dhaka whose history is now forever tied to this movie. It was demolished soon after the shooting of the movie was complete. It would have been destroyed sooner otherwise. The only two characters that didn't sit well with me is Ruba, the daughter of the owner of the house (played by Tariq Anam) and Asif, a distant nephew of the Tariq Anam's character played by Dhaliwood film star Ferdous. It is poor casting anytime this guy is put in movies like this. I fear though it has to do with promoting the movie to the usual movie goers or calcutta audiences (It could even be that my personal dislike for him is causing me to speculate too much :) ). Fazlur Rahman Babu played his part as Soleiman, the caretaker of the house, with extreme accuracy. He portrayed the simply complicated nature of interactions that a majority of our countrymen display. Maybe the fine moment was when he refuses to let a bunch of architecture students (interested in the old architecture of the house) to enter the house. Humayun Faridi was brilliant also as Kisslu (or Kissy Kissy Kisslu), a middle aged man who spends his days doing nothing, and has an underwear collection of bright colors.

There are many conflicts in this movie, and not all of them wrap up in the end, and the story survives as long as the house is standing. Within that time however, portraits of everyday life issues are painted.

@IMDB

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Note.

We nearly hit a rickshaw, and in the aftermath nearly hit a curb. The hired hand behind the wheel still speeds on. I don't say anything. How often do I get to speed home like this? Its after the holidays. Its always a bit different after this holiday. Things will be back to normal right after this weekend. Even the wind feels cool and fresh thanks to the recent rainfall.

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Neuz & PS - Man of the Year.

Summer Camp Teaches U.S. Teens To Fight Israeli Style

Nigeria fights Pfizer in court

PS. Saw a wonderful movie last night, called Man of the Year starring Robin Williams and Christopher Walken. A summary would be that a comedian runs for the presidency. Its surreal, sure, but if you are an idealist, you'll see the ironies.

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Visa? Not TODAY!

Just came back from the embassy for the dreamland, land of oppurtunities and whatnot. Our mother-ship there wanted some of us to go there to be part of a few conferences she is arranging. But it is not to be. For some arcane cosmic reasons, its not happening TODAY! thats what the lady at the counter told me and two of my colleagues. The word "today" is interesting cause it suggests that maybe we picked the wrong day to apply! Maybe tomorrow would work?

We got handed to us a piece of paper listing reasons for which our visa applications may have been rejected. None of which make sense considering the amount of paperwork we took with us. That is still okay. What is not okay, is being told "Its very hard to get a visa to the USA". That really doesn't work as an official reply! Is this some kind of rule? I am sure it makes sense in their heads, but in mine, it doesn't! :)

All I want to say is that, i don't want to deny them the right to reject these applications, but i wish i could deny them the right to treat us like fools. Give me a valid reason or just don't say anything! dandy!

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Govt's Bright Ideas

Or, Things that make you ummmmmm.....

Crackdown on internet users in Bangladesh

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Freedom King Burger Fries with Mustard and Mayo

Go watch a video?

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Term of the day

Military-Industrial-Media Complex
Came across this term in an article in alternet.org.

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DRockstars 2, The End!

When I first heard of this event, I was really skeptical and wholeheartedly believed that the winner will some spinoff of the great bands of the mid 90s: LRB, Nogor Baul, Winning, Miles or such.

The surprise came at the moment of the winner being announced. Two standing finalists on stage were Powersurge and Radioactive. Both had 55/60 from the panel of judges, and the rest of their 40 will be achieved through sms-es from the users of DJuice, who launched this whole competition. Even at this point, i thot popularity will definitely be with Radioactive. Their music is straight up rock, a vocalist that sometimes sound like Hasan (of Ark fame), and sometimes (astoundingly) like Sebastian Bach (not the classical composer, but the singer of the rock band Skid Row from USA). They have the general likability factor, unlike Powersurge who is definitely aptly named and follows the thrash/speed metal bands and in that way, they also put up killer performances with headbanging and great loud guitar solos and growling.
So it was a great surprise and a happy moment when the winner turned out to be the latter! Congratulations to the winners Powersurge.

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Open Source

Found a page listing the variety of open source and free software that one can use, e.g - Sun's Star Office is very reliable if you are looking for a free alternative to something like Microsoft's Office (Word processing, spreadsheets etc.); or one could use Gimp for graphics tasks instead of something like Photoshop and if the needs are for 3D, there is Blender which personal friends of mine highly recommend.

See list here, courtesy of John Hopkins University.

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Quote of the Day: Robert Frost

And were an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own.

I would have written of me on my stone:

I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

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Playing on technicalities

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Flood

So it has happened again. The waters have risen to make the lives of some people really difficult, with houses submerged and people made homeless, and without the basics. Diarrhea is widespread.

Dhaka till now has been spared and a lot of people has taken this opportunity to raise money to help out in these matters. The money can be sent out in different channels, I am laying out here before you some of the options I am aware of:

The Prothom Alo Fund
http://www.prothom-alo.com/issues/flood-2007/

The Chief Advisor's Fund
http://www.bangladesh.gov.bd/
http://www.sonaliexchange.com/
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/08/10/d7081001097.htm

Hunger Project
http://www.thp.org/flood
Financial Statement

Bandhan
http://www.badhan.org/flood.html
Past Activites

The Music Fest that is going to be held this weekend (17 and 18) in Ashulia, will also donate from their earnings to this cause.

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Movie Moment: The Third Man

''For 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love and 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.''

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Of Protests

March in protest
A keen view of protest marches, if it is a useful tool today, and if not, how could it be?

Article by Matt Taibbi

That of course is talking about the situation in USA. Bangladesh has a totally different culture of protest marches. Its mostly the political parties, their followers and their hired followers who march around (and break things). The citizen will usually stay away from it all, the issues, and the politics. Unless its talking about it over a cup of tea.

Sing in protestFrom the Guerilla News Network, via Save the Internet, it is known that a webcast of Pearl Jam's concert underwent some censorship in the hands of AT&T. It was however, not any profane slang as such, but the words: ‘George Bush, leave this world alone’ and ‘George Bush find yourself another home’

Link to Save the Internet article

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StumbleUpon Website of the day

Arrow of Time

http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html


" ... every year, the family goes through a private ritual... "

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Quote of the Day

"The title came to me in the shower, which is where most of my ideas come to me. That’s why I’m so clean."
- Christopher Hitchens, Author.

[Source]

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News. Is it Funny?

I woke up this morning, and while my eyes browsed some news of cricket, I realized I don't know who won the world cup this year!

But aaaanywaay.... Reading the news is always such a chore. Its fun sometimes tho. Not 'fun' as in haha, being on a merry go round feeling happy way... but in a desparate, sarcastic way. The news most of the time gives me the impression that something is really wrong with the world, and it just surpasses common logic and thus appears 'funny'.

Of course there is nothing funny about war, and people dying of forced circumstances, but there is something funny about people reinforcing those circumstances, and defending those circumstances. There is nothing funny in hearing that Suu Kyi's house arrest has been extended.
And that the champions of democracy are really not too bothered about her. Lack of 'interests' you see.

It is definitely a chore when there is nothing funny, just the deaths and the violence. And you see countries put up against countries on those headlines. Israel - Palestine - USA - North Korea - Iran - Syria - Lebanon - Afghanistan. Its not funny. An entire country feeling hostile against another? Or is it just the government, and the ignorant or selfish portion of a population? I wish that a distinction could be made as such, but its next to impossible, unless the portion opposed to the atrocities, or plain outrageous 'circumstances', come out on the streets, on the blogosphere, the media to show their opposition or disgust.

Last night I read something funny.

The US govt. is now fearing the growing military powers of China! Thus, the pentagon calls for greater transparency from the Chinese govt. on that matter! How now brown cow?
And who remembers the US spy plane that was caught flying over China's airspace?
I am fondly taken back to childhood memories of being concerned if a friend had a better matchbox model than me.

The bbc report states that they have missiles with ranges that cover the entire United States, and submarines that carry nuclear weapons.

The US govt. has always had a fear of China. The govt. of Nixon in 1971 hesitated to acknowledge Bangladesh as a free country due to political reasons to not make Pakistan .... unhappy. "Kill as many as you like ... We are friends" says Mr. Burns. They considered Pakistan to be the one that was preventing China from being more boisterous in that region at the time.

Now, China is one of the big boys in the "market place" (aka. The world as we know it), and they are one of the nuclear powers.
N u c l e a r
This is again another one of those 'funny' areas. Who shall have some? Who shall not? Who shall decide? And, Who shall not be allowed to care of others' opinions? The only way I see fit to balance things is to either to all have it, or all not-have-it. What about the one country that has already used it? Shouldn't they be definitely not allowed? "You had your fun boy, now gimme that" ? There is also the no-first-use treaty. What can I say, my face is breaking into a smile already! Maybe its just me, when I think about our defense budgets, our gun makers, I cant help but smile in disbelief. 'Funny' is definitely the wrong word here.

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Chelami Chelami Chelami

Khaleda will go to S'pore for treatment
BNP discloses formally, seeks govt permission for 15 leaders to see her off

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Signature from R S Thomas

I have been using someone's poetry as a signature on my emails since when I first opened my first email account. And till today, i never bothered looking up where I found those lines, and always put [unknown] as credits for it. Today I took the initiative to find the author, and it is one R S Thomas, who lived between 1913 - 2000, and is Welsh. I found one similarity with him, both our dads were sea captains, and needless to say, lots of differences - he was a priest and also nominated for the nobel prize! meanwhile, I am I [another stolen phrase, credit Queensryche].

Here

I am a man now.
Pass your hand over my brow.
You can feel the place where the brains grow.

I am like a tree,
From my top boughs I can see
The footprints that led up to me.

There is blood in my veins
That has run clear of the stain
Contracted in so many loins.

Why, then, are my hands red
With the blood of so many dead?
Is this where I was misled?

Why are my hands this way
That they will not do as I say?
Does no God hear when I pray?

I have no where to go
The swift satellites show
The clock of my whole being is slow,

It is too late to start
For destinations not of the heart.
I must stay here with my hurt.

Poetry and facts lifted from Poem Hunter dot com

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gastrophysics

3SE635-91 was not spared.
Beth was. For the moment.

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Ctrl A

What is it you hoped to find here?

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Things to Do...

Go to Flickr.com and search everyone's photos using "wtf".

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How was thaaaaaaaaaat!?

Well, for those who missed the game last night, or any other nights... i found this website hosting some of the highlights of Bangladesh's plays from World Cup Cricket.

http://www.amadervideo.com

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Guns Vs Stones

Lebanon, originally uploaded by AnomalousNYC.

I usually write/rave on about music a lot.

So, this is not about the Stone Roses, or The Rolling Stones, and not about the Guns n' Roses either.

Click on the pic and check out the work of AnamalousNYC, and read. Check out his photography, which i think is absolutely sweet!

Related:

http://iknowimnotalone.com

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tft

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I realize...

I have a predilection for crime and punishment on tv.

Firstly, I don't mean a show by the name of Crime and Punishment. Just the theme of Crime and Punishment. Shows like CSI, Law and Order and all that. But recently I have also been tiring of them, mostly because of the USA bravado on display in these shows. What was interesting about CSI to begin with, however, was their simulated show of events happening. Like any crime novel character, they also describe what they think happened, but thanks to the cgi available today, they dont have to settle for showing the detective walking up and down describing his theory, let the animation do the talking. Having watched that for a long time, I developed a condition whereby I also ran simulations in my head when for example I would hit my knee on the corner of a table ... I would imagine in my head the corner of the table creating a dent on the surface of my knee cap in slow motion. I actually stopped watching CSI once to get rid of this condition!

Anyway, last night I was watching a show about law, and the lawyers and the cases they fight. A neighboring woman of one family stole their son and put him in her car's behind (where the spare tire stays, I can't recall what this part of a car is called!) where he died. Now, lawyers are fighting for each party.. the grieving family, and the accused woman. But what is amazing about these kind of shows is how they show the lawyers fighting the cases. It has all gotten refined to strategies. You do a serious crime, then you "go for the insanity defense", and da da da.. some jargon I can't remember. Or, you "go to the press" with your case, in an attempt to fight the case "outside the courtroom" by manipulating public opinion or something of the sort. Guess, its kind of a game (only in the tv as people might correct me).

A Strategy is an important thing I suppose. I guess everybody wants to win, or be on the winning side. On "60 Minutes" a news-kind-of show was showing how terrorists (need i say islamic/muslim/fundamentalist) are using the power of the internet to further their cause of (here comes the rhetoric for me westerners) Jihad and fighting the USA, trying to get more people in on it. To discuss it all they had a loud mouth, eager-as-a-buffy-workout-guy trying to sell gym machines on tv, general of the usa army. He was totally excited (seemed to me in the wrong way) about the websites and their methods. But what really made me say "ummm?" was his closing statement "Its a war of perceptions, they understand it, and USA needs to understand it". Really?!


On a similar note, here is Tool with Vicarious:
Eye on the TV
Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor
It happens to be

Like:
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison and in his tea
and kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story.
It's no fun 'til someone dies

Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother holds her child,
Watches him [dying;]

Hands to the sky crying,
"Why, oh why?!"

Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too - don't lie.

Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit,
We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'
Neither the brave nor bold
Will write as the stories told

We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'

Blood like rain, come down
Drawn on grave and ground

Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Stare at the transmitter
Synched to the death rattle...

La, la, la, la, la, la, la-lie (x4)

Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men.
Pull your head on out
Your head please and give a listen,
Shouldn't have to say it all again.

The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive
So it is, so it's always been ...

We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I.

[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]

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Radio Foorti

For all deshis who are missing some Made In Bangladesh music being outside ... Bangladesh's newest radio station by the name of Radio Foorti has released their online version:
http://www.proshikanet.com/radiofoorti/index.html

(The website is full of non-working links and
I could only get the Low Speed-version of the radio to work )

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The Hurricane

While shuffling through the channels I suddenly thought of the movie The Hurricane. I remember watching it years ago, it had a good soundtrack and style. Strangely, it was on in one of the channels. And hence stopped by browsing. I watched it again. I think I have to move this movie to my favorites list. Or one of those movies I can watch over and over again. Among those ranks are also High Fidelity, School of Rock and Fight Club.

Featured in The Hurricane soundtrack is this song by Gil Scott-Heron:



The Revolution Will Not Be Televized
1972

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox

In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.

The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.

The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.

NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.

The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.

There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.

There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.

The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.

The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.

You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.

The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.

The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;

The revolution will be live.

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Cultural Apartheid

[via The 3rd World View]

"Bangla is a language of 230 million people. Of which about 140 million people reside in Bangladesh and almost all the rest resides in the state of West Bengal of India. Being a neighboring country the language and the culture are similar between West Bengal and Bangladesh. But sadly the cultural exchanges are diminishing to an alarming extent. ..."

Link to Post

Link to News [in Bangla]

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How to Create a Sexy Pop Star [served from Youtube]

Clip from the documentary "Before the Music Dies"

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Banksy - a link.

I have been thinking about the walls of Dhaka and how they were spread with posters (which i dont mind) and also messages praising some political leader or some bullshit religious message (one once saying something about 'beporda' imams on tv channels being hellbound or something). While that was inspiring me to some acts I wont detail here, I came across this artist during some class discussion that i can't remember. Later on I saw some further presentation of his works during the ARS Electronica festival in Austria last summer. Well, instead of talking further, i'd like to present the url to his website, so the interested can take a look.
Website

Related

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-1 Unread Mails

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Made In Bangladesh

This is not from a tag of a t-shirt at some market in USA or UK, or anywhere else in the market. Its the name of a movie recently released in Bangladesh. The protagonitst of the story played by Zahidur Rahman repeatedly uses the phrase when introducing himself to others in the movie. The first quarter of the film holds not indication of what the story will to turn out to be.

The movie seemed to me to be a tribute to all things bangali when it comes to nationalism and politics. Zahidur Rahman's character reveals a long list of demands he would like the government to fulfill for the betterment of everyone's lives, and that leads to the other characters, who happens to be all people of position that deal with policies and issues, to stand up and praise him and make suggestions, even though they are his captives.

A lot of the wrongs of our politics is displayed in this satire, though i cannot yet envision any politician seeing the movie and making any amendments to his ways. The movie hopefully will make more people aware of the wrongs that we all have in our own ways. Especially the ability to not only say, but to listen as well, and to say not just for the sake of saying something, but to think before saying it. The two arguing politicians from two parties (ruling and opposition) in the movie display this point very well. What appears comical and produces a smile in this movie is to me ironically also a point to be embarrassed about.

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Quote of the day

"As stone is to a sculptor, so time is to a
musician"

-- Stephen Nachmanovitch, musician, artist, author of Free Play

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Remember Cat Stevens?

Though he was away from the music scene after his conversion, he has made an album now as Yusuf Islam, which is who he is now...

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Oxymoron?

Free and Fair elections?
To choose which corrupt unruly party gets to rule us for another period?

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Stickin it!?!?#@$?!%@

Feels like i am blogging after a long long time. Didn't think it'd be after watching Stick it. So it is. It took me right back to the school sports meet for the year I was in class 8 or 9. We were to compete, two senior classes together, in a 100m sprint, and we just didn't want to. So we planned something else instead, and jogged across the track like old men and crossed the ribbon together, as together as possible. It was hard to choreograph, but it was hard for the judges to get to a decision also. In the end, they made us run the race one more time!

The movie just brought that memory back! How we were laughing when we crossed that finish line.

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Link to Pranab Kairy

http://www.freewebs.com/pompuspb/index.htm

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Makes me wanna....

Almost forgot about this photo that i had taken at the ARS Electronica this year! It was a photo booth that took a photo of you if you screamed loud enough. Whereas kompis Fanouris had two shots taken of him with two successive screams, I had some trouble. I did not have the nice loud overtone-filled scream that was neccessary to operate the camera, luckily the attendant there gave me a hack, i clapped both hands near the mic while just putting on a screaming face. The website for that project along with some others are pointed out below.

Scream Point
Stencil Board
Memento [see vdo content]

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Deshi Holiday!

Today i got news of a website in the making, called bdholiday.com. As the name says, it has many of the destinations in our country that are good to go to. Many people with money are traveling to near about asian countries like thailand and malaysia, but there are lots of places within our countries worth the while. We should just learn to rough it and think differently about taking holidays, shifting from the comforts of luxury hotels to that of just getting to see what the other parts of the country looks and feels like.

anyways, the site developing company is looking for advertisers to support their cause and I hope they find each other. If anyone in blogger community should like to get in touch with them, let me know or contact through the website.

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News

(From New Age's Music Supplement)

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Invisible People

A story from Drishtipat.org, by one Saif Ahmed.

- excerpt:
Too many people told me that my money's gone for good. If it's gone, it's gone, it won't make me much poorer. I paid the taxi owner his money. Now I can put my blinders back on and live my comfy life. Tea has arrived. On a clean tray in nice bone china with hot milk and sugar with nice cookies served by someone of whom I know very little besides her name and that of her immediate family. I'm listening to music on my ipod (price Tk 29,000) and typing this on my computer (price Tk 60,000). It's a good life.

Full Article

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what a Nobel thing to do.

Yesterday in class, we were asked who won the nobel prize for literature. No one knew except the professor since it was announced just minutes ago and he was the one who checked it. I for one didn't know the Nobel prizes were being announced. Then he asked us who we would suggest for this category. At first I couldn't think of anyone, but later managed to remember one name - Arundhati Roy. Then now I remember I would also like to nominate Percival Everett. That would be two authors, from whom I have read more than one book (=2). Oh, that would also bring in Robert Ludlum and John Grisham in the race. Frankly, I should not be asked such a question.

Anyway, just minutes ago I also found out that the Nobel Peace prize was announced and its Dr. Younus and his Grameen Bank who are the winners! That is mighty nice to know. Good intentions should always be acknowledged.

Meanwhile, via email, i received a report on the corrupt millionaire ministers of the land - You may read it here.

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MySpace.

Out of all the 'community' sites that came out, none got the coverage myspace got. Its talked about on cable tv, its become quite iconic of the new media culture. Yet, I fail to see why. The interface of myspace is one of the bad ones, its uncomfortable to use. To customize its templates takes painful amounts of time, and more importantly, the mail system has failed me always. 'New Messages' it says when i log in, but my mailbox is empty. I get emails now and then to join MySpace Groups! Sometimes from unlikely stuff like 'Sexy Singles', and all invite links from the email led to MySpace saying "Invalid Group ID". Well, I am totally not satisfied with the experience i am having with myspace, of which i have two accounts, and that too because the convert to artist (musician) profile feature they have did not work, i had to open another so i could showcase my music. tsk tsk tsk.





And everyone is on it! I found Joe Satriani there! Found Disco Ensemble, the coolest band at Hultsfred music festival this year. And even Cryptic Fate who just released their third, extraordinary album titled Danob.

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Random

Patriotism
has a loud voice, but no strength in its heart.

Its an agenda that wins elections.

Its a festival that comes maybe twice a year.

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24

The number of hours in a day. Cut out the neccessary 6 hours of sleep (or so i heard, 5, 7 and 8 are also good candidates) that is healthy then you have 18 hours or so. I am coming close to regarding myself as a slob of the highest order when I think of how I spend those hours.

First I guess i should mention the little assignment we got recently for a course. One of the requirements of the course is to catalog or record basically, a 24 hour period of our lives from this week. I started mine at 12 AM (a few hours ago). I decided to record on a 24 hour timeline a few things i consider are variables of my life - the band i am listening to at a point in time, the clothes i am wearing, the food i am eating, something I am reading (website, news, books etc) and a person i am talking to.

Now that I am writing down at the precise moment I am for example starting to read something or change the music to a different band, I am realizing that I am reading 3 things at the same time, and the urge to change a song when it hasn't even reached halfway is immense. I cannot focus on one thing for a considerable amount of time to let it sink in. Writing down as i am doing now however has served to raise my consciousness and thus I am fidgeting less tonight. I hate to think how i go on about things usually. As of a few seconds ago i was reading a Daily Star article on the rich - poor gap in our society, "How to Create Timelines" at a opensource project website, and John Maeda's book Simplicity. John was saying something about complexity and simplicity being on a cycle of their own, coming and going with equal portions of stay and thus creating a balance of things. I need that balance. The cycle I am on has square wheels.

As much as I had loathed the beginning of this assignment, it has been nothing short of an eye opener for me. 24 hours could be put to so much use.

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Hollywood comes to town

I wondered for a long time whether entertainment was not the biggest export from USA, and today i bumped into a blog that followed on that. [To anyone venturing on to the link given, do read through all the comments too]

Hooray for Hollywood - Richard Walter

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Comedy

Uh oh...
I am getting hooked up on the comedy available on youtube. U can find lots of stand-up performances there, such names as jerry seinfeld will get you results, but best just go and search for Comedy or Comedy Central to find acts from a broader spectrum.

I really got to like (late) Mitch Hedberg's kind of comedy. His laid back attitude, lazy style of delivery and content that does not attack any race or group is remarkable.

He made one joke of those who catch fish for sport (just catch them and then take them off the hook and put them back in the water) where he said that some people don't want to eat the fish they catch, they just want to make them late for something. That also got me thinking about what that experience might be like to a fish! Well, mostly I wonder if they use alien abduction theories to explain it. What if our alien abductions were like that? Someone's is fishing up there for sport?!

They took her and ran experiments on her, and then brought her back here. She was never the same!

Other comedians I liked were:
D C Benny &
Omid Djalili

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ARS Electronica trip photos

+ the stopover at Berlin for two days.... @ Carl's website.

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ARS Electronica

From Austria with Love....


The Festival

The Grafiti Research Lab

Convivio Networks

The Scapha

OpenFrameworks

Kottke

Runme.org

Gary Chang, Architect

Ciao.

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Gothenburg - Paris. 8th August

2 a.m. Bus is scheduled for Copenhagen 2:25 a.m. I am sitting at the station being asked the time every minute or so by a drunk kid. His bus leaves at 2:20 a.m or something, and he is afraid he might just miss it. He is drunk, but sensible.
2:15 a.m. I get on my bus. So far, most of my experiences on buses from Gothenburg has been of traveling in a bus half full or less. Today is different. Luckily I get a seat midway. I want to be close the the door so I can get off fast at the airport, which is one stop before the final destination.

Later there are people sitting and sleeping in the middle passage.

6:10 a.m. I get a call from Fuad, who says he is 10 minutes away from the airport, I think I am too, I tell him. I drop off at the airport a little after I finish talking to him. I see Fuad at the check-in line. He almost has no hair. A haircut! Good for him. Though he looks too thin now. This is it then. The beginning of our trip. Pretty soon, we shall be in Paris.

On the plane, Fuad starts chatting with the lady beside him. She is from USA, and a trainee sculptor. Then he drags me in to the conversation saying I am an artist. I fumble to disagree, and go on to tell her that I am only studying a little about art at so and so in Sweden. We have a pleasant conversation. She likes the idea of 'Art and Technology' even though I am nowhere-near-enthusiastic. She gives us pointers on the accent of the people in Barcelona. Apparently, they pronounce the 'C's as a
slippery "th" (for example on 'Gracias' [I think i noticed that later on in Barcelona]).

It is now sometime after 8 a.m. First thing I notice coming out of the plane is the cold wind. At the airport, we wonder how to contact Fuad's friend who said will pick us up. Fuad steps out to find a payphone, and steps back in a few seconds later with another guy. This is our contact in Paris, Sylvant. He drives us to his home in the suburbs [metro stop Les Vesinet - Les Pecq]. I sleep most of the way.

They have a very nice home, well kept and decorated. Well, I suppose most houses with families and conscious singles even have their homes that way, but being the mess that I am, I find it very pleasant and absorb it in. They have old fashioned furniture and souvenirs, turns out they have a history with Tunisia. We meet Sylvant's parents, Florence and Jean-Cristoff.

We only stop to drop our bags off and we are ready for action. We hit town.

We land in a small area in town near about the St. Michel sculpture, known to be a spot popular among students. The idea is to get lunch, cheap. Over lunch we ask Sylvant about Paris. We are sitting overlooking a Tunisian sweet shop and pretty soon all 3 of us are agreeing on getting dessert from there. The sweets look familiar to the sweets and pithas we have at home in Bangladesh. After lunch, Fuad and Sylvant pick the same sweet (a square thing, like a piece of brownie), and I choose a long thing that remind me of a pitha I like but cannot quite put a name to it. We take the sweets with us on our walk, so to not waste time in the process of eating. The sweets are just way tooo sweet and I think if I ate the whole thing my throat would be burning from it. We are soon standing outside the St. Michel monument, and Sylvant explains that the good saint once slaughtered a dragon. There are book shops and cafes on the sides of the road that lie on each side of the monument. Its on an island if you like to think of it. There is people all around it, a busy part of the city. I have been trying to look at people and trying to figure out which are the Parisians and which the aliens. Fuad and I of course also stand out, weirder than aliens maybe, and there are some people watching us. Sweet.


The truth is, people are not easy to make out here. France has a pretty large community of citizens who came in from other countries. Its less in Sweden and its easy to make out the Swedish face. I have however spotted some faces similar to the ones I know (like of Cecil, Freddy, or Sylvant, his mother or sister).

We walk over a bridge to go see St. Notre Dame’s Cathedral. Crossing the bridge took us to L’ile de Cite – an island. The cathedral’s outside is swarming with tourists and cameras. We walk towards the gate avoiding as best we can getting inside someone’s picture. The inside is enormous, quite dark and also very crowded. Did I miss beautiful? It is. The soft light also helps it. Some of the people are walking around and taking pictures, and some are actually sitting down and trying to get a moment of penance or thought or something. We were the former, and feeling sorry for the latter. Sylvant did a lot of explaining about the saints, and the biblical scenes that from the artwork.

I had a tour plan with me (Thank your Cecil for that), and on top of that, Sylvant too. So the tour was feeling very guided. We decided next to go get some ice cream, as Cecil had suggested (actually, maybe her mother) on the plan. We stop in front of Glace Bertillon. It’s a really small shop, but we start a queue, and soon there are many people in that queue. Business is good. With our ice cream we continue walking around and end up sitting on a wall by the side of the road. The road is on one side, and river Seine on the other. I enjoy the moment, the houses are really different from the ones in Sweden, the colors are nicer I think. Lots of windows and balconies are decorated with plants. The rails on the windows and balcony are designed nicely. Our next destination is to be the Musee d’Orsay. On a Tuesday, this is the only museum that is open in Paris, and it is a good museum for paintings of the impressionistic movement.

The walk has been long and we are still not there yet. The Louvre is on our left, across the river. I see two girls with the big round and flat hats that I have known to be typically French. They were also wearing white and black horizontal striped tops! I think that also holds popular here traditionally.

Musee d’Orsay has glass doors. Anything more was hard to see for the crowd in front of it. The line for tickets was really disheartening, and the closing hours on top of that did not present a good possibility for us at the time. Sylvant has to leave us now to go meet a friend of his, and the two of us decide to go see the Eiffel Tower.

We get off at the destined metro stop, and take the steps to get to ground level. I spin around searching the sky for the tip of the tower. Where I fail, Fuad is successful, and he points me in the right direction. I follow his lead through zebra crossings and narrow streets and soon we are near enough to the monster. It is huge, and I have to bend my head pretty far to see its highest point. We sit on a grass area and just relax for a while. I am a lazy person and wonder why anyone would think of building such a thing! Fuad points out that at least its handy for setting up telecommunication hardware.

Later we are tricked by our tired brains maybe, and find ourselves in the queue for the ride up to the top of the tower. Well, from then on, standing in line was the thing to do, every time the lift had to be taken up, or down. The whole standing in line was such a bad experience, it took out any possibilities of joy there might have been in the actual act of looking down from such heights. I am not even going to talk about it, except to say that the whole ordeal took more that 2 hours.

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Status of

Since coming back from the 15 day trip through France and Spain (23rd of August), I have uploaded some of the photos from my trip on my flickr site. I did write a bit during the tour, and I shall put some of that up on here soon i think. Right now i am on some overhauling on my laptop. Meanwhile Thom Yorke is keeping me company.

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News from the Sky

Galloway.

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I reckon... [Re: Miscrosoft Word]

... using MS Word is like driving through bad traffic on the streets of Dhaka!

Why would they have Ignore Once on the menu? They just could not be so kind to also have Ignore Thousand Times in there now could they?

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I realize...

...that it may be dangerous to climb up a hill and think "What would Rambo do?".

[PS. to friends and family - don't woryy, i didn't do anything that smart!]

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