Walking...

One thing I know I'll always enjoy no matter what...is 'walking' ;)
I still remember the induction training we had when we joined our 'first company'...And as part of some introductions, we were required to speak about our hobbies.....I remember this guy who said..."I like to walk" ;)

Silly and weird as the above statement might sound...I am sure everyone enjoys walking....in some form or the other.
Either its those "damn, I gotta shed some pounds!" morning walk...or a casual evening walk....a walk with your sweetheart..whatever it is, I guess everyone enjoys this simple pleasure of life...

So here I was, today evening....desperately wanting to go out...take a walk...feel alive. I hadn't had lunch either (it was 5PM ;) and was too lazy to cook...But it was snowing as well. So what? A decision is a decision....I went walking ;)
Out in the US, this feels weird....coz nobody really walks much...definitely not when it snows! But who gives a serious damn. If you enjoy it, why even bother? ;)
By the by....the above pic was shot while walking back..

...and, while the walk was difficult (the ice was slippery and the wind was cold)...it was enjoyable....and I didnt break any bones ;)

Speaking of simple pleasures, I discovered some interesting things you can do in the shower ;)
Nah, aint what you are thinking....;)
This is what I am referring to.

Simon, Garfunkel and the Graduate

Strange as it may sound, I've never really listened to Simon n Garfunkel....not once ;) Well, maybe I have...and dint like what I heard...
Either way, I was seeing the movie 'The Graduate'...and was pretty 'affected' by the soundtrack...all courtesy Paul Simon n Garfunkel ;)


The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair and Mrs Robinsonv are a MUST HEAR!!! I've been listening to em songs over n over again....for quite a while ;)

...and here's some interesting trivia bout Simon n Garfunkel off wikipedia
"The duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are American popular musicians known collectively as Simon and Garfunkel. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat)."
Oh, what a way to meet and start a music band ;)

Clicking Away

Yaaaaaay....finally got my Rebel XTi....after years of wondering "should I buy an analog SLR? A compact ? A prosumer ? a dSLR?"...;)
And finally a month ago, I decided to loosen em purse strings for a while and splurge...get a dSLR...Hmmm, I know there must be a lotta ppl now saying "Nah, this aint a splurge...the worst is yet to come!" ;)
And then, the last month was spent in pretty frantic research...late nites researching the relative merits of the D40, D40x, D80, XTi, XT....and finally...thanks to lots of good inputs from all my camera crazy friends (TS, Nambi, Haris, Lijesh...so many)...came to a decision...haavoo..

Here are some fresh (and steaming ;) pics from today morning...Woke up lil early and took a walk in the snow....

This one was shot right outside our apartment complex...as I started walking...I guess people thought it was quite crazy. Walking in the snow is really quite stupid I must say ;)....the roads are so damn slippery, I was just too lucky not to fall flat on my back with the dSLR to support the fall ;) In fact, walking in the snow is easier than walking on em roads. When you are trudging through the snow, it caves in...yes...but with a kind of crunch, crunch sound....almost like you were munching away ;)

Hmm, this one was shot near this lil bridge somewhere along the way. There is this nice trail from my apt...which goes along beside a golf course (now all snow covered), extends along this bridge and stuff...and finally just ends ;)











More at Snow White

Sigur Ros

This is gonna be a very small post I guess...I just wanted to put up a post about 2 things....an interesting band...and an interesting site...

The band's name is 'Sugur Ros', a band from Iceland....a kind of experimental rock or trance or psychedelic stuff...but definitely good....
I'd recommend Glósóli and njosnavelin. Incidentally, the second song featured in the Penelope Cruz n Cameron Diaz starrer Vanilla Sky (and Tom Cruise as well ;)).
All Icelandic words n lyrics as well....n of course, dont make any sense to me...but the music is nice...Glosoli means 'Glowing sole' in Icelandic...not like that helps any bit ;)
It can't be dejavu...but, I have this feeling I've see the Glosoli music video somewhere...maybe some ad.

And the interesting site...www.hypem.com. As the site intro says "The Hype Machine follows music blog discussions. Every day, thousands of people around the world write about music they love — and it all ends up here."
Its an interesting site for those who want to look out and listen to new artists, new songs...

oops...its 5 in the morning...I'd better get some sleep :D

Heard Melodies are Sweet...

Hmmm...the last time I blogged about unheard melodies being sweeter, I wondered if this were indeed true...today is one of those days when I must disagree...
Nah, its not that I've decided to disagree to everything today :D

Well, been listening to some ol' mallu songs...Onnaam raagam paadi, Eeran Megham, Padam Pootha Kaalam , Nee en Sarga Soundaryame, Poo Venam, Thamarakkili Paadunnu and others...and I must say the nostalgia switch just tripped off ;)

Incidentally, I am reminded of this conversation I had a few months back where I was going on n on about being so much in love with this land, its music n all...and I was told...'u are really prejudiced'....haha, I wonder...is Kerala so beautiful...its life so rich...its music so full of life and feeling...Or is it just that everything about it is wired to some nostalgic figment of my memory ;)

Here are some pics that I clicked the last time I was in Kerala....

Well, this was shot on the train while travelling on to home...
A lil kid standing outside his home, watching the trains go by....watching the people travel by....

Aaaand...this was shot right outside my home in Trivandrum...
Hmmm, it was raining so nice...I guess I miss the rain..

You can find more pics at Kerala Travels ;)
ps. Special thanks to those nice fellas who uploaded these songs on youtube for everyone to enjoy!!! I can't imagine uploading so many MBs/GBs of music/movies just so that others may see ;)

The Need to Connect...

"Tom Hanks with his companion, 'Wilson' the volleyball...from Castaway"

Human beings are so very interesting...in their strengths and weaknesses...
There are times when they wish away society and everything in it....wish that they could just be on an island all by 'emselves doing what they wanted to...nothing less, nothing more...(er...maybe the island could do with a nice chick as well ;)

And other times...when they yearn so much for the 'human connection'....the want to reach out to another human being....to relate to the rest of the population...
While its probably a good 'built-in feature' ;)....I wonder why humans were created to be so dependent...so linked to feedback from other beings....

aaah, I feel a want tooo...for some coffee/juice ;)...here I go!!!

Unheard Melodies....

'Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter...'
Maybe true....maybe not...I can think of reasons to agree...and to not agree ;)

Anyways, here are some new songs I listened to on the radio...
and yet again, I cant but thank the internet and youtube....for leading me on to the songs that I just heard on the radio and desperately want to hear again...
Haha...nice songs that you heard on the run...are something like beautiful gals that you run into...;)
Gals that make you go "omg" for a while and wish you run into em again...but unfortunately, that never happens ;)

Thankfully, songs aint that way :)

So, here are some picks...and yet again, those are from artists I didnt know rocked...much less, even existed!!! (with the exception of A-Ha)

• Colbie Caillat - Bubbly
• Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah
• Plain White T's - Let Me Take You There
• A-Ha - Take On Me

Well, among all the clicking and loitering around on youtube...I was just seeing this trailer from We own the night which hits the theatres is a coupla weeks...and I was thinking...what is it about these trailers and movies that really turns us on...from the aural perspective alone...
Try viewing that trailer...there are these distinct bassy sounds and so on...that strike up the pace...and instantly give you those lil nice goosebumps or lil-shivers-up-or-down-the-spine...;)
I am sure everyone's had this feeling of some sort of elevation that comes with slick trailers....Infact, not only do they excite you...they even make you feel charged or whatever...

Try listening to the Carmina Burana. Not sure whats the actual name...I guess we all know it as The Old Spice Song. The youtube video is a lil gruesome, lemme warn you...so dont see it over lunch ;)
Coming to the point....there is something about this song that instantly charges you up....

I am not sure...but I guess there must be people out there researching about the effect of different sounds or frequencies on humans...ya, take theta waves(not theeta ;) for example...
Maybe there might also be people who take this research further to introduce those 'magic notes' into trailers and movies to really spark up people....
Come to think of it....a trailer, just like an ad, has very little time to speak up for itself...the sights...and to a very large extent, the sounds...decide on how the audience is impacted...how they are pulled in...to get the cash registers ringing ;)

Time for lunch....adios ;)