Red Hot!

Was clearing junk from my computer a little while ago when I bumped into this Stadium Arcadium review I’d done some time back for our website. Since I’ve come to the [not so] devastating conclusion that the website won’t up any time soon – or may be not at all if my partners in crime and I keep deconstructing it at the rate we are going – I thought instead of letting it rot, why not post this thing up here and compare notes with other Red Hot Chili Pepper lovers even though the album's no longer on the 'new arrivals' list. So here it is.

THE FUNK IS BACK!

I think that would be an appropriate intro for Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s ninth studio offering. The unmistakable funk style that has become RHCP’s trademark [which, by the way, was pretty much missing in their 2002 By The Way] is gloriously back in this double CD album. The CDs named ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Mars’ justify the arena-size album title – it’s got 28 catchy ear-candies, peppered with generous doses of funk.

The album kicks off with the very catchy Dani California, the first single off the album. It’s a song about the early death of Dani California [the same character from 2002’s By The Way], a small town girl who becomes a bank robber and lives a hard, fast and lonely life.

Before you are through savouring this one, the quartet hits you with Snow [Hey Oh], a slow ditty with some great melody, and Charlie that has guitarist John Frusciante lending singer Anthony Kiedis his falsetto harmonies and simultaneous guitar solos. The title track, Stadium Arcadium, is slow and melancholy, a sharp contrast, at least in terms of energy levels, to the next all out funk track Hump De Bump.

She’s Only 18 proves that even though on the wrong side of 40, Kiedis can still sing about undies, a la Blood Sugar Sex Magik days, and make it sound good. Torture Me starts off with Flea’s solid bass line and Kiedis sounds like he’s in a frenzy here. Flea delivers great bass line again in Especially In Michigan, another great song on the album. The funk is put back on the spotlight with Warlocks while C’mon Girl is one of the ditties with a catchy chorus.

Tell Me Baby, on Disk 2, is an interesting super-catchy Pepperisque song that starts funky and then goes melodic. Hard To Concentrate is a wedding proposal set to music, written by Kiedis for bandmate Flea and his new wife. A slow but interesting number that has muted bass, layered guitars and hand drums doing a perfect slow dance.

The first thing that you notice about 21st Century is Flea’s bouncing bass attack. It’s definitely Flea at his best. Another bouncy track is Make You Feel Better, a somewhat sixties influenced pop tune. An energetic track, So Much I has Frusciante going absolutely bonkers, and with good results. Another not-to-be-missed number is Storm In A Teacup, a full frontal funk attack. Fun and catchy, it’s undeniably old school.

Stadium Arcadium is definitely not for those looking for aggressive music and it requires a couple of listens before you can appreciate it. The feel is mellow throughout the album; it’s some good unpretentious music that gives you the feeling of being free. That description would sound ironic if you remind yourself that the band often communicates ideas of confusion and uncertainty, even chaos!

The Verdict: It’s not RHCP’s best album but still it’s damn good. Spend some quality time with this giant of an album. A good set of headphones recommended.

Rockstar: Supernova ~ Week Four Elimination

I say what the fuck! Did they just choose Zayra over Phil? I know both of them would be going home any day now but at least there should be a rule or something here which says contestants should be made to go home according to how bad they suck that particular week.

At the bottom three this week were Patrice, Zayra and Phil. If you recall my previous post, my pick for this week's bottom three were Josh, Zayra, Patrice, and Storm my choice for the encore. I think I’m getting better at this. *wink* But what beats me is why the hell was Josh not in the bottom three!

Last night Patrice was told by Dave Navarro that her performances were getting to be quite boring, and I found myself agreeing totally with Dave. But tonight, for the first time in this competition, I actually liked what Patrice did with Radiohead’s My Iron Lung. A tough song to score but she did a neat job. And that scream at the end was awesome! After that performance, it was pretty much obvious that she was going back to the safe zone. And she did.

Gilby Clark told Zayra last night she was totally pop, which is not what the band wanted. After finding herself at the bottom three once again, Zayra picked I’m Not an Addict by K’s Choice [a song ignorant me had never heard before]. As a preface to her performance, she announced, “I’m a music addict.” I say, send her to a friggin' rehab already. The song’s mellow as they come, her diction was poor and her performance nothing to write home about. Since she didn’t “bring the rock”, which Supernova so badly wants the contestants to do, I was pretty much sure she was going home tonight.

From day one, Jason has been repeatedly telling Phil to go heavy when he is clearly an alt-rock guy. So Phil went heavy tonight with Smoking Umbrellas by Failure – I’ve to admit I’d never heard of the band before, let alone their music – and he did a pretty good job. This was the heaviest he’d ever been on the show. After Phil’s performance, I even let out a premature sigh of relief, pretty much confident tonight was the last we’d have to see of Zayra. But what happened next was totally unexpected.

The band questioned Phil’s motives, if he really wanted to be a part of the band or just win the competition, and on that flimsy ground they gave the guy the boot! That left me questioning the band’s integrity. Isn’t it ironic that Supernova wants the contestants to do ‘their’ kind of music [whatever their kind of music is!]; and when the band’s advice is taken by the contestants, their motives are questioned and they are rewarded with elimination!

Isn’t it so very obvious they kept Zayra because she keeps the show interesting with her verbal sparring with the Supernova guys and also with her weird wardrobe selection! Now whose motives should I be questioning?

Rockstar: Supernova ~ Week Four

Okay, let me start off my week four Rockstar: Supernova recap by dissing Supernova a bit. Why make up a list of songs – including those from Blind Melon, Nirvana and Live – for the contestants to pick up when Supernova is [I think] not going to sound like those bands? If the band really wants to know whether the contestants can or cannot do their kind of songs, they better give them a choice of songs that sound similar to the kind of stuff they are gonna do as Supernova.

Several contestants have changed their style to fit the band and the outcome hasn’t always been good. In this week’s reality segment of the show aired last night, the contestants claimed to have finally got the feel of what Supernova will sound like. Tonight’s performance did little to substantiate that claim as far as some contestants are concerned.

Tonight’s performance episode started off with one of my favourite contestants [Lukas Rossi] doing one of my favourite songs [The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony]. On the Hotness Meter, Lukas was scorching. I’m downloading that performance for sure. On last night’s show, he had totally nailed the chorus writing bit. Dear ol’ Chucky has a wicked song sense!

Zayra, this week, was ready for X-Men 4 in full body blue latex tights. I really do hope Brian Singer/ Brett Ratner were watching this show because, as Dave Navarro commented, she was ready for an ‘intergalactic travel’, not a Supernova world tour. Oh just in case for some strange reason you want to know what she sang this week, it was Blondie’s Call Me, and the performance was pretty much like her Kink’s act on week two. This goes out to Singer or Ratner or even ET – please call her and take her off this show. Pleeeaaassseeee!

Dana Andrews finally nailed it tonight with Nirvana’s About A Girl. Phew! That was some major transformation from ‘Celine Dion extravaganza’ to brooding rocker chick. By the way, is there an unwritten law somewhere that if you want to be accepted / commit suicide, you should pick up a Nirvana song? I love Nirvana but can we please have a Nirvana-free week sometimes?

I don’t know why but I’ve never really liked Patrice. And to me it seems like she’s doing the same thing over and over again, week after week. I was not at all impressed with her rendition of The Black Crows’ Remedy, a song that used to be continuously on my playlist during the last decade. But I have to agree with Patrice here; this girl is in serious need of some remedy.

Toby Rand’s rendition of Billy Idol’s White Wedding this week was good. The judges loved it but I can’t say I loved it though it was way better than last week’s Runaway Train. I like this guy; he’s got strong vocals but tonight it seemed more like a cover act to me.

I know this is total blasphemy but I’ve only heard The Wallflower’s version of Heroes, not David Bowie’s. And I liked Magni’s rendition of the song though I felt he needs to chuck that guitar and work the stage instead as usual.

The judges went gaga over his stage performance tonight but personally I didn’t like what Ryan Star did with Live’s I Alone, vocally that is. Though the guy was grinning a lot this week and even claimed to have enjoyed doing the whole thing, I’m yet to be convinced. I just can’t shake the feeling that he’s oh-so-unhappy and uncomfortable with only-he-knows-what.

Jill Gioia had the opportunity shine with The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar this week with Gilby Clark joining her on guitars. Instead she chose to go for sexy posturing. Gilby was right on the mark when he said her gyrating on him during the performance was unnecessary and she should have relied on her vocal abilities instead of pulling off such cheap antics to garner attention. When people try too hard, they come off as fake; it made Jill look desperate.

Next on was Phil Ritchie with The Wallflowers’ One Headlight. He pretty much did what he’d done last week. Though they had loved it last week, it didn’t sit too well with the judges this time. The guy’s okay but just not right for Supernova. He needs to form his own band and do some alt-rock kind of stuff.

Time for another confession. I have only heard Matchbox 20’s version of Time After Time, not Cyndi Lauper’s, and Dilana did the Cyndi version. Perfect song delivery. I’m impressed as usual, though I don’t get her fashion sense!

Josh Logan really needs to go home. I know there are a lot of people who love this ‘soul’ guy but he doesn’t belong here. If Shannon Hoon hadn’t died from a drug overdose, he would surely have died tonight of heart failure. Once again Josh successfully massacred another song – No Rain – from one of my favourite bands. It’s not sane to keep him in the competition, folks!

I loved Storm Large’s performance of Anything Anything. Vocally, she did nothing different – even the facial gyrations seemed like a carry-over from last week – but this song really suited her. And ooohh… I loved the stage dive she did at the end. That was totally unexpected and awesome. I think tomorrow’s encore is hers.

Picks for the bottom three – Josh, Zayra, Patrice. Well, Zayra is still my pick for the contestant who seriously needs to go home, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the last of Josh either.

MUTE!

This is what I think of the proposed Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill of 2006 drafted by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry.

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And if there's time to spare, A History of Censorship in India published by Business Standard is a must read.

Week Three ~ Judgment Day

From Dr. Feelgood to Hatchet Man? Quite a transition there, don’t you think? Anyway, I feel sorry for Tommy Lee. It’s been three weeks in a row that the world has witnessed Lee doing a balancing act between retaining his badass status and playing the butcher-cum-nurse to the unlucky contestants. Must be so confusing for him. Give the guy a break before he reaches his breaking point. We seriously don’t need another blabbering, slobbering Paula Abdul on the show. Why can’t Gilby Clark or Jason Newstead take the honour of wielding the axe sometimes? Why heap the entire unpleasant task on Tommy all the time? Tommy, I empathise.

Before I go any further, I seriously need to know this: what kind of people actually like Zayra’s singing and vote to keep her on the show? I can’t believe she wasn’t in the bottom three! I remember one of the guys on the judges’ table say this to one of the contestants – “The idea is to have character, not make a character out of yourself.” Where the hell was Zayra when this was being said? And I’m also kinda surprised that Magni got the encore tonight.

Keeping in mind the above comments I just made, I gotta ask one more question. Is there something wrong with my ears? Or have a good portion of the reality-show watching population gone deaf?

Okay, back to business. In the bottom three this week: Jenny Galt, Dana and Josh Logan. No heartbreaks there for me. So what did the rockers sing tonight to save their asses? Read on if you missed the show.

Jenny’s pick for tonight was Stone Temple Pilot’s Vaseline. It was a weak performance, and her voice lacked the edge. It was obvious that Jenny was giving her all to make it work; however, her best wasn’t good enough.

Next on was sweet little Dana. Seems like all the criticisms from the judges and fellow contestants did this girl some good. I finally saw her rocking with some obscure ‘underground’ song. Major improvement. Having said that, I don’t think she’s gonna be here much longer. You either have it or you don’t. And you can’t keep on the act of being someone you are not forever.

Gawd, no! That’s what I said when Josh stubbornly announced he was gonna do another Nirvana number. Is he trying to prove something here by doing Nirvana covers two nights in a row? This better be good. And guess what, he did a pretty neat job with Heart Shaped Box. Okay, Josh I forgive you for last night’s massacre of Come As You Are. Your balls are safe... for now. But I got one question for you – how long can you keep forcing that rasp out of your larynx? I foresee a serious case of laryngitis coming on here.

So no prizes for guessing who went home. Yup. Jenny Galt and her Les Paul. Back to Canada.

But how come Zayra was not even in the bottom three! What the hell is wrong with these people! Hey, wait, I’m feeling sleepy! What the hell is right with me tonight?

Week Three Rawked!

Last week sucked but tonight was definitely different. Seems like the ‘rockers’ have finally decided to pull their act together. Most probably they were made to sit down and watch a rerun of last week’s Rockstar: Supernova performance episode. Well, good for them, and good for us too because things were definitely looking and sounding better this time around. However, let that statement fool no one because not all of the performances were kick-ass.

After a catfight with Jill, Patrice got Helter Skelter. The fight for the song was passionate, the performance itself was not. It was not a bad performance, but it wasn’t anything that would make anyone sit up and take notice either.
Verdict: Lukewarm

When I saw Josh bent out of shape to get his hands on Nirvana’s Come As You Are, I panicked! Josh and Nirvana? I grew up listening to Nirvana; I own every single Nirvana album [as well as some bootlegged ‘rare’ numbers]; I was devastated when Kurt Cobain blew his brains out; I hate people who cite Nirvana as one of their favourite bands when the only Nirvana music they’ve heard is MTV Unplugged, and may be Smells Like Teen Spirit; and I definitely hate people who mess up a Nirvana song. I’m sorry I watched that performance. It was a total disaster, a catastrophe. What was that forced raspy sound all about? I just hope Kurt didn’t see it from wherever he is.
Verdict: Freezing! Get off the fucking stage and go home, kid. You don’t belong here. And if I ever happen to run into you, I’m gonna chop your balls off!

Why does Storm remind me of Ginger Spice? Her rendition of Just What I Needed was nice. Neat job. But still I don’t see her as fronting Supernova. And I also feel all that facial gyration was unnecessary.
Verdict: Warm

Lukas Rossi. Ah! This guy and Dilana are in a league of their own. He let other contestants get into catfights and brawls during song selection and settled for Let's Spend the Night Together – a ‘leftover’ nobody wanted. Then he put a punk spin on this Rolling Stones classic and totally nailed it. I don’t care if the guy’s not exactly a looker, not to mention rude and arrogant. I’m in love.
Verdict: Damn Hot!

I know that ‘great things come in small packages’ adage is clichéd to the core but hell, Jill makes me wanna say it. This girl can sing. That Hole debacle last week was just a nightmare. She sang All Right Now and I couldn’t help but agree. Yeah, Jill baby, you’re all right now.
Verdict: Hot

Ryan Star. CCR’s Fortunate Son. Why do I get the feeling that the guy’s struggling within every time I watch him perform. He sings well but something is so not right about him.
Verdict: Lukewarm

Tonight Phil gave his best ever performance with White Rabbit. I was surprised, I have to admit. With Jason Newstead himself on the bass tonight, he could have been easily overshadowed. But he was not; he held his own. Not that I adore this guy but I’ve a newfound respect for Phil now.
Verdict: Warm

Dana. Dana. Dana. I really feel bad for her. She’s got good voice – great in fact. But she’s like a lost little girl here – trying to be something she’s not. That rendition of It’s My Life was the worst I ever heard.
Verdict: Cold

Toby, you disappoint me. That was a pretty lifeless performance of a hella good song. C’mon, Runaway Train is one of the classics from the grunge era. Though I liked the way he wrapped up the song.
Verdict: Cold

I loved Stone Temple Pilots. I totally loved STP’s Core back in the 1990s. I do not love Magni because his rendition of Plush made me cringe.
Verdict: Cold

Oh gawd! It’s that time of the show again when Zayra shows up and does something strange! This time she does something strange to REM’s Everybody Hurts. The arrangement is like totally weird. But the last few seconds of the song are actually good. I don’t know whether to kinda like the performance or completely loathe it. Tonight she was a cross between Bjork and Sinead O’Conner. I don’t really understand what’s the deal with this chick! And I don’t know what’s the deal with Supernova either. Did they say they regretted saying she should have gone home last week instead of Chris?
Verdict: None. I'm still in a shock!

Jenny from Canada does Incubus’ Drive. By the way, I totally love the video for this number. Yeah, I’m a total sucker for illustration and animation. Okay, back to Jenny and her guitar, and a few pitch problems. Totally unimpressive.
Verdict: Zzzzzzzz

When they said The Cranberries’ Zombie was on the list, I was hoping Dilana would pick it up. And she did. Among the thirteen, only she could have done justice to that song. She put on her own spin to it and did an amazing job. Dolores O' Riordon would have been impressed too. This chick is fucking amazing – awesome raspy vocals, great stage presence. She’s the only ‘threat’ to Lukas in this audition.
Verdict: Scorching!

Dilana and Lukas to the finals!

Dark Times

01 ~ Uncomfortably Numb
It’s like something inside you has been yearning for a release. Yet you ignore its plea, choosing to cloak yourself in a blanket of numbness. It’s so much easier that way... to delay the pain, delay facing the truth. Escapism? Maybe. Convenient? Definitely.

I was brought out of this numbness I’d been harbouring for months today by a pinprick of a stupid novel character who uncannily resembled me – strong exterior, hollow interior. As the fictional character struggled with the immense task of making the right decisions, those concerning her personal and professional life, I relived my misery with her. I laughed when she shot down anal retentive people with a retort and felt a dull pain in my chest when she tried to find answers to life’s questions at the bottom of a tequila bottle.

I felt the pain. I was filled with empathy. After god-know-how-long I could feel something warm trickle down my cheeks. Was I crying? Yes, I was. Isn’t that good – letting pain just flow out of your system? But what’s this! I expected at least a tsunami to break open the emotional floodgates. And what do I get? All the intensity of a leaking tap squeezing out the last remains of a 99.9 per cent empty water reservoir! Fuck, I can’t even cry properly! What kind of a loser am I?

02 ~ The best position to lay in bed when depressed
Fetal position’s the best when you’re lying in your bed, feeling yourself sink deeper and deeper with every passing second. You know why? Because when numbness fades away and the floodgates of emotions and dark thoughts suddenly break open, you can always hide the waterworks within yourself. Of course, the strategy’s a total crap - it’s like an animal sticking its head in a burrow and thinking no one can see it now - but still staring at the ceiling while tears gush forth from that lonely cavity within doesn’t seem very nice. It makes you feel empty – no, make that emptier than ever. Still worse is inanimate objects staring at your from either side of your bed; makes you feel like your existence is a joke. Hence, shut everything out, feel the pain and get over with it.

03 ~ No Lithium :: Shower Therapy
I dragged myself out of bed about an hour ago. Yes, I am a certified depressive who goes through frequent bouts of mood swings. I had to force myself to take a shower. I believe in shower therapy. It usually works, that is if I can manage to drag myself out of bed. So I took a shower. Oh, I’ve already mentioned that. But the shower pulled a fast one on me. Mid-shower, hot water ran out. So I guess the therapy kinda lost its impact gauging from my current mood.
Mood: Definitely grouchy to say the least
Caution: Stay away, might bite

It's not the end of the world

… that’s what the Bald Headed Hermit tells me. “No, it’s not,” I make a feeble attempt to give a nod to that statement. Come to think of it, it certainly isn’t the end of the world. After all, how big a deal is being denied access to your own blog? I mean with all the problems afflicting the world right now, my so-called problem is not even a small deal.

How can I possibly be so melodramatic about not being able to view my own blog at blogspot.com when innocent people are being blown to bits by some fuckheads? People are being killed in cold blood, for no fault of theirs, and here I am crying foul over not being able to view a page full of nonsense, mostly my own.

Yes, there are so many reasons why I shouldn’t be whining at all. Yet there are so many other reasons why I should. Like I said here yesterday, not being able to view my own blog feels like being locked out of my own place. And being forced to use anonymous proxy servers feel like being forced to sneak into my own house through the backdoor! Now that’s not a very pretty feeling.

But it’s just a stupid blog, some might point out. Yes, it’s just a blog, and a stupid one at that; but it’s mine – both the blog as well as all that stupidity therein – and nobody’s taking it away from me! Of course, unless it’s a matter of national security [yeah, my blog is peppered with vital information, such as where the cat poop bombs are hidden in my house. I guess that's enough info to seriously jeopardize peace and security of our great nation if it falls into the wrong hands!]

I hate the violation of my basic human right to read and write. Over the past few months, I’ve met many like-minded bloggers on blogspot and made friends with them. I hate the thought that I’ll be cut off from them. I also hate the thought that I'll be left with no option but to start blogging somewhere else all over again. But what I hate the most is not knowing why this is happening!

It’s not without a reason that weblogs have been hailed as the most democratic form of publishing. After all, barring these crazy blog sites, who would even be remotely interested in allowing some wanna-be writer to use their site to publish her thoughts on her newly acquired pooch or her recently dumped boyfriend! One might not exactly be a publisher’s dream but hell, if people got things which they feel needs to be heard – or read in this case – blogs provide the tools and the platform. And it sucks when someone sneaks up behind you and yanks this platform from under your feet.

Blocked out of my own blog!

It feels like being locked out of your own place. Since last evening, I cannot access any of the blogs on blogspot, including my own. Every time I enter a URL ending with blogspot.com, all I get is a ‘Request Timed Out’ message.

With panic mode instantly on, I hoped and prayed it wasn’t virus running rampant in my PC. Then followed a thorough virus scan. A ‘No virus found’ message flashed on the screen and the panic mode was auto turned off. After yet another fruitless attempt, I felt unjustly denied access to my own multi-purpose blog, so I put on war paint and entered the forums.

Seems like I’m not the lone warrior. A lot of people, all from India have the same complaint – they can go to blogger.com, log in, get to the dashboard, create new post and publish. The only problem’s they can’t view their own blog or any other blog on blogspot.

There are even speculations that the Indian “government might be playing some hanky panky with blog sites”, which is funny keeping in mind that I keep getting comments on my posts from fellow bloggers living elsewhere in India. If the Ministry of Communications had indeed issued a directive to block the blog sites as some bloggers are claiming, wouldn’t they ensure that it was a blanket block!

Thus far, no one really seems to know what’s going on. But to be forced to use anonymous proxy servers just to view our own blogs – now that’s frustrating!

Speak!

Supernova ~ Two Down, 13 To Go

So who got the least number of votes this week on Rockstar: Supernova? Oh, I know the answer to that one: it was Gill Gioia, Chris Pierson and Zayra Alvarez. And who eventually was sent back home? Chris Pierson.

Ahh… Seems to me I’m losing my touch! I’d said in my previous post it would be Zayra to get the boot this week, followed by Chris Pierson. Obviously it was a small miscalculation on my part because Chris Pierson got the royal boot, not that strange thing in black.

Jill redeemed herself this time with Evanescence's Bring Me To Life and I even found myself forgiving her for yesterday’s Courtney Love debacle. I know I got a big heart. Apparently so do Super-dinosaurs; they let Gill off the hook first.

So what does Zayra have this time to redeem herself? The Kinks’ You Really Got Me, the same song she performed the night before! Can you believe that? Well, neither could I until I saw her do it one more time. Only she made it sound even worse, if that’s possible going by what she did to the song last night.

Chris decided it was the perfect time to show Tommy Lee & Co. his ‘other side’ and sang Tonic’s If You Can Only See. Well, the rockers obviously saw whatever there was to see and obviously didn’t like what they saw. So they sent him packing. Last night, Chris had sang Take Me Out and the voters had obliged. A perfect case of imperfect song selection skills, don’t you think?

Performance-wise, Zayra deserved to pack her bags, and her diapers. This girl seriously has no idea what she’s doing here. But the unholy trinity decided to keep her one more week. They know they’ll be letting her go next week; they know she sucked tonight as well but they kept her just to watch her make an ass of herself one more time next week. Sadistic old jerks!

As the dinosaurs went through their expected “Hey buddy, we love you so much but still someone has to go, so this week it’s you” routine with Chris, I was thinking “Never take for granted the horniness factor when it comes to pretty girls and aging rockers”. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m sure it was Zayra’s ‘willingness to learn’ that saved her from elimination, at least for one more week. First she tries to make amends for her last night’s comments. Then she brings the whore on and tells the guys “You can teach me”! What a suck up! And I mean that figuratively as well as literally!

No, I wasn’t sorry to see Chris go, though he’d done a better job than Zayra. I’m just sorry I’ll have to watch that girl rape and murder another song next week.

Supernova? Maybe. Rockstar? Hah!

What is a supernova? Okay, I admit to having skipped most of my classes when I was in school, but this much I know: a supernova is the death explosion of a massive star; this explosion results in a sharp increase in its brightness, followed by a gradual fading. In with a bang and out with a whimper, huh!

Well, that’s how I felt as I watched the second performance episode of Rockstar: Supernova tonight. If I was impressed last week, this week I was like “What the hell is wrong with these people!” It was a complete waste of time… well almost. Average performances, lack of intensity, a total yawn-fest.

Magni from Iceland kicks off the show with The Who’s My Generation. Better performance than last week but I wouldn’t say it blew me away. Yawn… Next on is Jenny Galt whose rendition of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love is boring. Yawn…

Before I can close my mouth after yawning, something tiny in white scares me. Hell, it’s Jill Gioia, and I tell you people, the Corpse Bride never seemed so much sweeter before. Dressed in a babydoll wedding dress, complete with a handful of roses, li’l Jill takes on Hole’s Violet and my senses instantly feel violated. If only she could redeem her outrageous outfit with her singing but that was not to be. She screams her way through the song. Okay Jill, mission accomplished. You scared me. Now back to the coffin! Oh, and one more thing – never take your style hints from Courtney Love, and when you’re caught ripping off someone else’s style, try not to get into a scream-fest. It damages your credibility.

Zayra Alvarez. She does The Kinks’ You Really Got Me. Yes Zayra, you’ve really got me thinking. How the fuck did you get past the auditions and make it to the final 15 list! Baby, you sucked and are going home this week.

After making it to the bottom three last week – that is after he messed up Sting’s Roxanne, Chris attempts to woo the voters with Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out. Sure baby, the voters will take you out of the show… soon. After Zayra gets the boot, you’re next.

Five performances. Complete yawn-fest till now. Now that’s got me thinking, have they started a 'save the best for the last' policy? Next up is Dilana who’s taking on Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. Let’s say it’s not as hot as last week, but still good. Honestly, I wasn’t so keen on it this time. Something is so not right tonight.

If I liked Josh’s rendition of that Counting Crows number last week, this week he left me squirming in my seat with his creepy rendition of Creed’s Arms Wide Open. If I liked him last week, this week I wanted to send him to American Idol. Case closed. Next!

Phil. Last week - Cult of Personality. This week - If You Could Only See by Tonic. Better than last week. But no stage presence. Total lack of personality. Next is Storm Large, the girl with a powerful voice and an extra powerful name. This week, it’s Cheap Trick’s Surrender for her. Though I didn’t exactly surrender to her vocal prowess, she did better than last week, but still not a whole lot better. Her name makes me think ‘Oh, she should join the X-Men or something’.

Why pick up a Nirvana song if you can’t really rock it? I want to ask that question to Patrice, yeah that girl who seems inseparable from her guitar. Her rendition of Heart Shaped Box was alright, just alright.

For me, tonight’s major letdown was Lukas Rossi and his rendition of Coldplay’s Don’t Panic. How the hell can I not panic when one of my favourite contestants just makes a bloody mess of the song when he could have easily done it so much better! Can we call it ‘The Curse of the Coldplay’? Matt. Yellow. Elimination. Get it?

Just because there’s a Star in your surname doesn’t mean you’re gonna be a rockstar. Ryan Star attempts Rolling Stones’ Jumping Jack Flash. A huge improvement compared to last week but still not good enough. Pretty dull, if you ask me.

She looks like young Drew Barrymore and she’s got a good voice. Dana takes on Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild and executes it well. But like Tommy Lee says, she’s born to be mild. I think she can never be dirty enough to front a band like Supernova. And for her own safety, I pray she doesn’t win the competition. I don’t trust aging rockers with pretty young things! Next thing we know, Dana’s suing rest of the band for sexual molestation.

The last on the line is Toby Rand from Down Under with Killer’s Somebody Told Me. This Aussie rocks. I’ll be keeping an eye on him. And oh, by the way, when I started writing this, it was still yesterday. But the date on my desktop calendar changed before I could finish wrapping up this piece. And I honestly don’t think I have enough energy left in me to change all the ‘tonight’s with ‘yesterday night’. So if you’ve actually bothered to read all this shit till here, please remember to make the changes yourself.

Peace.

Mental Blog

Mental: 1 old use Affected by a disorder of the mind. 2 colloq foolish; stupid

Mental block…
Mental blog…..
Mental movie poster…

I’ve Had A Bad Day

Do you have the time to listen to me whine - about nothing and everything all at once? I am one of those melodramatic fools, neurotic to the bone no doubt about it

This Green Day number pretty much sums up my current state of mind. I am pissed; sure as hell I’m pissed. Though good sense tells me to stop right now, just stop whining, I can’t, try as I might. Anyway, what good is a keeping a journal if I can't vent out.

The day started off bad. My digital audio player slipped from my hand and went kaput! Just like that! To add insult to injury, the butterfingers syndrome struck again and I dropped my recently bought [and prized] Wolverine Giant Super Special issue and broke its spine. Now the cover’s come off and the book has disintegrated into several pieces.

To ruin the day further, someone told me that I wasn’t very good at what I do best. Incidentally, the person who told me this is not-very-good-at pretty much everything. And while an acid-tongue is not going to make me feel inadequate – I know my own strengths and weaknesses damn well – I do not appreciate people taking liberties with my patience.

If imitation is the best form of flattery then I’m feeling like a celebrity – please note the sarcasm here. As if I wasn’t feeling irritated already, I was told today that some punk ass has been posing as me, which sounds to me like a serious case of identity crisis! Normally, I’m a pretty reasonable person, willing to overlook a few character flaws in people. But today is definitely not normal. And on a day like today, I refuse to find as normal some anonymous person emailing people – those I particularly do not care to keep in touch with – in my name!

Now how irritating is that!

A muffled cry for freedom

Barbedwire fences disappear,
a hammer and sickle now adorns the hands of democracy.
Guns lower themselves,
a reverse gun salute to resumed Border Trade.
Two giants embrace;
enmity shoved under the snowy rug.
Hidden from flashing cameras and flourishing pens,
trampled underneath a ‘historic’ event,
ignored by champions of freedom,
a lost nation cries.

Forty-four years after the Sino-India war of 1962, border trade was resumed between these two countries through Nathula in Sikkim on Thursday, 06 July. This was the culmination of years of diplomatic dialogue between these two countries.

It’s amazing how no one thought it necessary to include the Tibetans in the dialogue since the trade activities will be taking place in their homeland – now known as the Tibet Autonomous Region, not mainland China! What a crying shame!

They Rawk!

When I saw the promo for this year’s Rockstar: Supernova, I was like what’s with aging rockers and reality show auditions? And when I heard Supernova was the unholy trinity of Tommy Lee [former Motley Crue drummer/ former Mr. Pamela Anderson], Gilby Clarke [former Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist] and Jason Newstead [former Metallica bassist], first thing that came to my mind was “the show should be renamed Rockstar Dinosaurs”.

I really had no plans to watch this one, this ‘I need a reality show to pick and choose a [wo]man to front my band’ thing. But then, when you’ve got only two options – watch the soaps or watch a reality show – watching aging rockers act like they're still super-cool seem like a healthier option!

So what have we got here:
* The three dinosaurs we discussed earlier.
*Some beautiful, scantily clad female host whose name I forgot because it was not worth remembering anyway.
* ‘The producer of the year’ - Mr. Butch Someone. Damn, I’m so bad at remembering names!
* Dave Navarro [ex-Jane's Addiction/ Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist] who’s probably there to offer his opinion on the beautiful curves of a curvy contestant – no, Mr. Cheeseball was referring to that Les Paul being strummed by the contestant during performance, not the contestant herself, as he later clarifies!
* And, of course, 15 contestants from America, Canada, Australia and Iceland.

So am I gonna talk about all 15 performances here? Hell, no way. I was not even gonna write in the first place. My blog had almost ODed on American Idol Season 5 recaps recently and I wasn’t going to repeat that mistake. I was just gonna relax, watch the show and forget about it till next week until the next episode. But you see, things don’t always go as planned.

Somewhere between the first and the fourteenth performances, I saw the phoenix rise in all its glory and I instantly forgot about all the performances I’d watched so far! This fiery-haired, pierced and tattooed Dilana sure is a force to reckon with. Her rendition of Nirvana’s Lithium [one of my all time favourites] is simply stunning. For the first half of the song, she stands motionless, staring into the camera. Hell, she even looks scary! Then suddenly it’s all frantic fury working the stage. She is insane; she is I.N.T.E.N.S.E., and she’s one talented singer. After her performance, I had to pick up my jaw from the floor. I was awed! I guess that’s why I didn’t forget her name.

Another name I didn’t forget is that of Lukas Rossi, the Canadian who says he’s here to win. Last on the list to perform, Lukas bears an uncanny resemblance to Chucky the killer doll, and he can kill you with his song, and I mean that in a good way. He does an awesome job with Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell [though not one of my all time favourites] and shows he’s a born performer. This guy can deliver.

What about the remaining thirteen? Most of the Rockstar: Supernova contestants are good. In fact, they are way better than this year’s American Idol Top 10 finalists. But then, being good is not good enough, one has to stand out. That what Dilana and Lukas did – they stood out without making an effort, grabbed the judges/ audience by their whatever with their awesome renditions of great songs and equally awesome performances, and made everyone stand up and take notice.

I got one word for both of them:
Respect.

It’s raining comic books, hallelujah!

Insomnia sure has its plus points, I must say. The all nighter I pulled with my PC last night somehow landed me in this happy place loaded with an entire issue of Virgin Comics #0 – that is 24 pages of prelude to Virgin Comics’ Devi and Ramayan Reborn. The storylines and characters for both these titles are based on ancient Indian mythologies.

Ramayan Reborn is a hot piece of work, both in terms of artwork and storytelling. Ravana, or rather his headgear, reminds me of Magneto. Similarly, the origin of the ultimate bad guy in Devi draws a close parallel to Lucifer’s pride and his rebellion.

The artwork is cool. No wonder the team’s headed by Jeevan J. Kang, he of the Spider-Man: India fame. The Virgin Comics team boasts of names like Deepak Chopra, Shekhar Kapur, top brass from Gotham Entertainment Group [read Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman, the names we pay homage to every time we flip open the cover page of Gotham publications], among others. Snakewoman and The Sadhu are some of the other titles from the Virgin stable, as per ign.com and virgin.com.

Come July 12 and these monthly comic magazines start hitting the stands one by one. Now if only I could get my hands on ‘em [which I probably won’t keeping in mind it’s pretty hard to get new comic books here]. Bangalore is so goddamn blessed! I’m greener than Hulk with envy!

Trouble on Four Paws

It was a cold day when one pretty-looking, though skinny, cat came to our door and gave her best meow ever. Being suckers for tiny little buggers on four legs, we let her in, knowing little what we were getting ourselves into. After a month or so of proper feeding and care, she turned into an adorable she-cat. ‘Fluffy’ we named that pretty bundle of fur who elicited more than a healthy dose of petting and ‘oohhhhs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ from our friends and relatives.

We were more than excited when Fluffy gave birth to her first kitten. It was as adorable as its mom. Four months later, Fluffy ushered in four more kittens into this world, proving that she was capable of giving birth to more than one kitten at a time and the first time was just a demo!

As soon as those four “trouble-on-four-paws” turned a month old, I realised with much dismay that they could now move around and do whatever they want. For example, they could enter my room and try their tiny paws at playing Tarzan. Playing is good, playing is very good, I agree. The problem is after they are done, the curtains in my room have their threads coming out and the room resembles a war zone.

I have this nasty habit of leaving my stuff, including magazines, newspapers and other important papers, lying about practically everywhere, which is just a nice way of saying I’m a slob who dumps things everywhere on the floor. Taking advantage of this, those puny demons decided one fine day that those papers would make a nice replacement for their litter tray.

So one fine evening, after I came home and entered my room, I felt like I’d stepped on something mushy. A look at my right shoe and everything became clear and at the same time nauseating: cat poop was squishing from the sides of my shoe and the whole room was reeking of ammonia. The putrid smell turned the insides of my guts. Only a quick scan of the room was required to see that those tiny monsters had laid nice sized land mines and piss pools all over my room taking special care not to leave anything untouched that remotely resembled paper!

As I looked around for those tiny buggers to teach them a lesson, Mom interfered, “That’s because you don’t keep your room clean.”

“Yeah, wait till they start doing that in your room,” I retorted. Incidentally, they soon started doing that not only in her room but anywhere that took their fancy.

Besides taking their potty breaks in my room, they also soon realised that my freshly painted walls would work nicely as emery paper replacement to sharpen their claws on. “You know when cats sharpen their claws?” I asked them with an unmistakable tinge of contempt in my voice, “When they are ready to go a-hunting. You guys are no bigger than over-fed mice and you think you can take on a sewer rat! Now that’s funny.”

Despite those insults, they surprisingly exhibited no signs of anger; they didn’t sulk, neither did they relieve themselves in my room that day. Maybe they’ve realised they shouldn’t mess with me, I gloated at the thought. That’s where I went wrong, as I was to find out later.

After a particularly tiring day at work, I came back home, picked up a tee-shirt lying on my bed, put it on, and started channel surfing. It took me only a couple of minutes to realise the kittens had taken a pee break somewhere nearby. The only problem was that I couldn’t identify the exact spot. I checked all the rooms but couldn’t find the mess. Wherever I went, the stench followed me. Realisation then dawned – the stench was coming from nowhere else but my tee-shirt! The puny Beelzebubs!

When it comes to being anti-establishment, cats are pretty hardcore. Don’t believe me? Wait till I send the feline demolition squad over to your place.