Nuclear Woes!

Very few things get me more excited than some good Left bashing. Consider that coming from someone who has lived most of his life in a state controlled by commies for almost three decades! The 1-2-3 Agreement, Singur, Nandigram… there is no dearth to how hard the left tries to be disliked and their ambiguous protests labeled idiotic. What befuddles the mind is that even though the lower echelons of the party are populated by blithering morons, the Left in India (like in China) is headed by some of the intellectual stalwarts of the country. Rarely do we find men of such caliber as Yechury and Karat, yet, contrary to what the so called intellectual consensus of the country believes, they will oppose it. Surely they are not that smart…I perused the salient features of the 1-2-3 agreement, and I can not fathom why the Left is so determined to oppose it. What the f*ck do you mean Muslims are against the deal? Why? Mayawati, of course, has no answer for that...

From a purely entertainment (let’s face it, that’s what Indian politics is about) perspective, the drama could not play out any better than the Samajwadi Party getting entering the scene. Will the Left fold? Will Manmohan moon Yechury and Karat? I can’t wait!

aMAD Films Presents:

Amit and I made a sequence of short movies with a math theme for fun. Here's a first look. Enjoy. If you want to watch it in high quality, you need to go to the youtube site. You can do that by just clicking on the "youtube" sign on the video. In youtube you can choose the "view in high quality" option.

Smashing M&Ms


The Mathematical Father


Professor Gone Wild

"Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!"

~ English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham commenting on a cello player's talent.

Although this is an arbitrary post to pick up after being AWOL for so long, but I really don't want to talk about life, universe, or anything else along those lines.

I have been listening to some western classical music since December last year. No apparent reason, just happened to stumble across it as I was aimlessly trying to find something interesting to distract me while waiting for a job... which, by the way, I still haven't found, so I would appreciate any help anyone could give me.

Anyway, on to the subject at hand. This is not meant to be pretentious. I am musically talentless, tone-deaf, if you will. Nor am I educated in the jargon. I don't claim to be a connoisseur, these are just some of the pieces I have truly enjoyed listening to, some over and over again in our media library selection... a top 10 pick. I have provided a few links to some of the pieces on youtube, but most are of poor quality not to mention in incomplete parts, but will give you a sense of the piece.

1. Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto#2, Op. 18
Compared to the chaps we are familiar with, Rachmaninoff is fairly contemporary (d. 1943). He wrote this piece recovering from severe depression and a particularly dirty break-up with his wife. Although not as famous as his Piano Concerto#3, this is a powerful piece and the first movement is absolutely spellbinding. A virtuoso himself he often played this as a part of his repertoire. There are lots of renditions... Arcadi Volodos, Sergei Vassiljevitsj, Evgeny Kissin, but my favorite has to be Alexis Weisenberg with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by the late (Nazi!) Herbert von Karajan. The clip is a little messed up in the beginning but it's Karajan and Weisenberg.

2. Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto#3, Op. 30
His most famous composition, and reputedly extremely hard to play well. Although, I personally prefer #2, #3 requires more deftness and technical fingering, or so I am told by resident piano experts at Hamilton. I have only heard two renditions, but 69 year old Vladimir Horowitz playing under the baton of Zubin Mehta in 1978 was absolutely spectacular. Clip of the first part of the first movement.

3. Camille Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28
Although considered repetitive or even boring, along with Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto #1, Op. 35, this is my favorite piece for the violin. Again there are many renditions, Itzhak Perlman, Jascha Heifetz, etc. The one that really captured me was 14-year old Viviane Hagner performing with the Israeli and Berlin Philharmonic in Tel Aviv in 1990 under Zubin Mehta. There was something about that performance that was just right...see for yourself.

4. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto#1, Op. 35
When this composition premiered it was major failure and most violinists of the time refused to play it, but today it is concerned as one of the best pieces for the violin and virtuosos covet to play the solo. I have mixed feelings about this. At times, it is sublime, at times it sounds discordant and scratchy, more of an experiment with the instrument than the results of success. Nevertheless, 18 year Akiko Suwanai, prize winner at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow has played a beautiful rendition. Jascha Heifetz's is the most famous, but I still prefer Suwanai. First part of the first movement.

5. Maurice Ravel's Miroirs 4: "Alborada del Gracioso"
French. In my opinion the pop star of the modern Romantic period. Ravel is the turn of the century ABBA. Upbeat, catchy, and you can tap your feet to it and you don't need to close your eyes to enjoy the music. I personally like the piano solo version, but the arrangement for the orchestra is quite good too but feels a little somber and not, well "happy enough". There's a strange piece with Bram van Sambeek doing a bassoon solo! As for versions, there's Richter (a bit too fast, I felt), Karstein Djupdal (the other version our library had) is quite good. I'm sure there are some better ones out there, let me know if you find a good piece. It's a horrible version but the best I could find on youtube.

6. W. A. Mozart's "Requiem" K626
Foggy, gloomy, surreal. Mozart's famous unfinished work. Although there is debate on how much of it was actually written by the maestro himself, it is still a hauntingly beautiful piece. The violins and the chorals... it's pretty scary. Haven't found a favorite version yet. First part of 6.

7. Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre"
Another hauntingly surreal piece. I first heard an excerpt of this as the opening theme to the British drama "Jonathan Creek" starring Alan Davies. For this composition too there are arrangements for violin and piano, but I like the orchestral version the most. There is something about the thundering sound of violin crescendos and timpani. Complete clip, good quality, Philadelphia Philharmonic.

8. Igor Stravinsky's "Petrushka" (ballet)
I wasn't sure if I wanted to add this, so I am playing it right now and I think I should add it. Petrushka is a ballet, and although it has it's moments of genius, if simply heard, rather than seen, it can feel a bit, well, "rough". Russian to the core, it's very hard with heavy, banging fortissimos. The piano arrangement that he later did for Russian pianist Rubenstein is actually quite good. I'm trying to see if I can get hold of a video, I've asked the library to order a copy, let's see. Youtube has a very dirty copy if you're interested. Piano rendition of "Russian Dance" from the first act.

9. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Festival Overture: The Year 1812", op. 49
To quote Calvin, "The fire cannons in a crowded theater... and then they say classical music is boring!" No seriously, this is as Russian as it gets, war drums, cannon fire... gotta love that. Quite different from the Violin Concerto I listed above, but equally good. And if you're Russian, patriotic to beat. If you're French, well that just sucks now doesn't it? Versions, hmm... well we have the Moscow Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic versions conducted by Ozawa. Both are good, but use synthesized sounds. I want a taste of the real thing!

10. Johannes Brahms' Symphony#1, Op. 68
I was torn between Handel's "Messiah" and this but I think the fact that Brahms took almost 20 years to write the damn thing, gives him a little more weight. We'll cover Handel next time around. The opening is powerful. It isn't overtly long like Mahler and Beethoven (Brahms was supposed to carry on Big B's legacy...) for that matter and he manages to keep it tight. He put the 20 years to good use. Right till the finale there is a sense of tension. However, even a novice like myself can hear the similarities between this piece and a mix of Big B's 5th, 7th, and 9th symphonies. No favorite version yet. I don't know how good the clip is, I haven't heard it... it's the first decent on I found on youtube.

Well that covers that for now, next time, let's see, Beethoven, Liszt and his unplayable "Transcendental Etudes", Strauss, Debussy, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Bruckner and whatever I find interesting in the interim. Maybe Paganini. I'm sure many of you have recommendations, so fire away...

"My Name is Harry Meadows, But You Can Call Me Death"

So I am doing a little news segment on Asian Affairs for our weekly Asian Cultural Society meeting. Of course, there was no way I am going to use the common current affairs material, because, like Canada, who cares. So I dug around trying to find some interesting stories from the past, present, and the foreseeable future of Asia, and I found the following stories on the BBC website of QI (Quite Interesting).

The first story is about Cats in Boxes, continuing my cat theme from previous posts:

Between 1959 and 1961, a British/WHO project accidentally killed lots of cats when treating malaria with DDT in the Sarawak area of Borneo. The DDT also killed cockroaches, which were eaten by cats, which also died and the area became thus infested with rats. Now Sarawak is quite a dense forest region and fighting rats the conventional way was problematic, so the British/WHO team decided to parachute in cats in boxes into the region to fight off the infestation. The boxes had little springs attached to them which would open the box when it hit the ground. Forget about whether it worked or not, the whole concept boggles the mind!

Second story, Adding 2 Feet to the Everest:

Radhanath Sikdar a Bengali mathematician, was the first to measure the peak as 29,000ft, but because he thought people would think he just rounded up to 29,000 feet, he "added" 2 feet to make it 29,002 feet to make it seem legitimate. This was the accepted height of Everest up until 1955, when it became 29,028ft. Incidentaly, Mt. Everest is named after George Everest, the Surveyor General of India at the time, and he pronounced his name as "EVE-rest".

On a side note, apparently the most dangerous sport in the world, purely in number of related accidents and deaths, is kite-flying! Apparently the "manja" string causes many people to lose fingers, and in a few cases, arems and heads! Falling kites have also known to fall in front of motorists causing road accidents and such...

I have a few more, but if any of you have heard anything interesting of late, let me know...

Buy My Umbrella...

How do I sell something that I do not own? You pay me the money, I buy the umbrella, and I give it to you. Simple, right? That's how all brokers work. However, what happens if the person sells an umbrella that does not exist, and the buyer again sells it to someone else who sells it someone else and so on. All the while, no one has actually seen the umbrella since it doesn't really exist, just the promise of it. Now consider everyone who has bought the umbrella had to borrow money to make the purchase and the last buyer borrowed money from the first seller. Who loses?

Exceprt: Ramblings in Econometrics; Maity, Abhishek, Pengu, New York, 2007.

Bradfinger's Shadow

I tried but I could not think of a more banal title.

This is a story, not just any story, but a story. Captain Homomorphism is there. So is Redfield, Sloth, and The Cow. Mass produced Schrodinger's Cats play special weapons. We're not entirely sure what they do, but it's pretty bad. Tamim is the retarded son of a retired triad kingpin. he has a feline fetish. The Bald Pragyan is his brother. He is bald. He wants to kill Tamim so he can take over the Triad Empire. His weapons of choice are exploding kittens. Coupled with a Schrodinger's Cat, the kittens explode, but miraculously survive to be reused. It is still in the testing phase but the manufacturer Clicheco claims it can be used nine times before it needs to be returned to the animal shelter. There is no intrigue so stupid people can read it. There are a few women with nice puns. It is a story told within a story to understand a story that is essential to the the story - take that Faulkner. There isn't a laugh track so you probably will not laugh as the jokes are too sophisticated. They may seem poor and corny - so stupid people can read it - but underneath that what is hidden lies a deeper, funnier, Woodehousian humor, several from the mouth of a nonchalant cigarette.

This is esstentially what I have at the moment. I was bored in Econometrics and didn't want to "write some emails"...

Experiment #1

Does it seem like self-help websites are getting more and more popular? It may just be me, but during my recent brain-dives into the Internets, I’ve noticed growing number of self-help websites and links to self-help articles. These articles try to inspire readers to "boost productivity” and they provide tips for “living a healthier life,” or “being more successful at _____ (fill in the blank),” etc. My question is does this stuff really work? A lot of people must think so, considering that the self-improvement market is expected to grow to $11 billion by 2008¹.

Like many other things, individual mileage² likely varies. In my case, I know that texts and speeches induce only ephemeral motivation at best. Still, I found some articles that look interesting enough, so I've volunteered myself to be the guinea-pig. I will follow the prescriptions of a few articles one at a time for at least 30 days each.

This first article is supposed help me break my habit of staying up for half of the night and sleeping in for half of the day³. I will report back within 30 days…



1. See Wikipedia link in the first sentence. It should also be noted that the revenue generated by self-help websites would only constitute a fraction of the $11 billion.
2. Yes mileage - it's slang. You can try kilometerage, but it just doesn't sound right.
3. Isn't it strange that we "stay up" at night and "sleep in" during the day. What are we staying up above or sleeping in? The blankets?

My mind says no but my body says yes

SNL has been crap for awhile now and the only saving graces are the SNL digital shorts. This is the most recent one, in response to the Iranian president's speech/comments at Columbia University. I wonder what Mahmoud would say...

The Folly of Wearing Neckties

by James Head

Every time I tie a tight and twisted tie
about my throat
I cannot help but laugh and cry
at such an action, such a rote,
for though I know that it's for a show
no longer to protect the coat
or shirt it still seems rather pert
for something once designed for dirt.

And so I use a handkerchief
when messily devouring beef;
Spaghetti sauce is often lost
and ruins silken cloths embossed,
and so I bring a baby's bib
should I decide to try a rib.
I roll up my sleeves and pin my cuffs
trying not to soil my ruff.

And it seems so absurd to me
that possibly - in a century -
humankind may live to see
a tissue (made not to be used through
normal means of wiping a face)
assume a prim and proper place
upon the necks of well dressed gents
who drape some dreary barber's capes
about their napes in order to collect
the wayward contents of their p(a)lates.

(The necktie was actually invented in Coratia as a means to stop food from falling on your shirt while eating...)

Surviving Terminal Three

I haven't written anything in a while and this one's been in the stir for a while and is still an incomplete drama, but should make for decent reading till I can get something more worthwhile up.

August 22

BA 179 touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City at nine in the evening. So far, it had been an uncharacteristically uneventful journey if you discount the Spanish lesbian couple I met in Calcutta. Immigration and customs went smoothly, my bags were waiting for me at the carousel… everything was in its right place! I was amazed.

It was going to be a wait at JFK for my connecting to Syracuse so I decided to get a hotel, but in the vicinity, there were only rooms available at the Ramada Inn… for $217 a night. Right, cheap that I am (I don’t even bother to pay $3 for a baggage trolley), I made my way down to terminal 3 to try and find an earlier flight. This was quite a quest in itself, because Delta 3 is a labyrinth of wrong directions and closed doors. Eventually I managed to discover the Delta hideout after following an itinerant group of bumped off gypsies for half an hour.

There was no earlier flight. I would have to take the 1:15 pm flight the next afternoon. Without asking Ron to do the math, I figured that was a good 15-hour wait. I needed to set up camp for the night. After several nights spent at airports all over Europe I was quite accustomed to this, nothing to take pride in, but it did take one back to the ‘hunter-gatherer’ days. First, seek out abandoned luggage trolleys to hold your baggage, and then find good shelter close to a freshwater source and a toilet. Finally, before attempting to snatch some shuteye, it is advisable to secure your baggage with off-the-cuff anti-theft systems like grappling hooks, stray wires, whatever is at hand.

Unfortunately, the Delta Domestic Departures terminal is not built to host the needs of temporary hobos like myself. There were exactly two sets of waiting seats able to accommodate precisely nine people give or take a couple, literally. Another overnighter couple had annexed one bench and I lost my seat on the other when I went to use the facilities.

For a while, I just wandered around the now closed terminal, pushing my trolley, wishing Hann were around. Hann knew, through experience, how to hold on to territorial claims and was quite adept at finding lush green pastures. Eventually I decided to build my own shelter with the parts I had. I managed to smuggle myself behind enemy lines and steal a bunch of chairs from the check-in counters. The idea was to make a bed with six roller-chairs. It was a bad idea. I fell. Twice.

I was also getting a little hungry. Rations were running low. I had one bar of Dairy Milk, a KitKat, 2 bottles of Black Label, and a jar of chili-garlic spread. The terminal would open at 5, so I had to wait another six hours before more food would become available. Restraint was necessary.

I made a makeshift weight-holder using my trolley, backpack, and suitcase. I was not a comfortable arrangement, but I was not sleepy anyway, jet lag. I killed a couple of hours watching ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ that I had downloaded for Gupta and was still on my computer and watching people come and go. I had to get up and walk around every once in a while to stop my backside from falling asleep… it had been lethargically resting for the last 18 hours on the plane.

August 23

At 3:40 in the morning, I decided to give up on my attempts to get some sleep and started writing this, boredom being my sheer motivation. I have nothing else to add right now. I will continue to relate in real time if anything worthy of interest happens…

So after six cool-mints, ten hours, and $25 in excess baggage fines later I finally have my boarding pass… six hours before departure. I sit on the floor to charge my laptop and immediately security begins to ask my complexion a serious of arbitrary questions. Once it charges up a bit more, enough to watch a few episodes of ‘Entourage’, I will go through security.

Through security. First, I eat, good old Flaming Wok, or such… Chinese fast food places all look the same. Sleepy, so sleepy, and sick… sick from apathy and malnutrition, not to mention the head pounding dhickkao dhichkao music I have been subject to all night on the loud speakers. Please *insert supreme power of religious faith here*, will you not end it soon? Can you feel the sewage in my stream of consciousness bogging down my thinking?

After making pleasant conversation with a gentleman from the Emirates, and a short nap I find out that the 1:15 flight to Syracuse has been cancelled due to bad weather! In the summer – are you fucking kidding me? They give us the choice between taking a bus to Syracuse at 2 or taking the 5 pm flight, but no one has any idea if the $25 they charged me for excess baggage will be refunded if I take the bus. I met another chap from India going to SUNY-IT also in the same boat as me. If the 5 pm flight fails to arrive, I am quite fucked. The board says flight is on time, but there are still three long, excruciating hours to go and even then, things are not concrete.

I tried to call Ashlee to let her know what has happened so far, but the machine just ate up my dollar. Bhen chod, aaj to bad luck hi kharab hai… I had to call Amit with my UK roaming and asked him to let Ashlee know. I hope she got the message.

They just announced that the flight to Buffalo does not have a functioning toilet so passengers should use the toilet at the terminal before boarding. Is it any wonder why Delta is going bankrupt? I am slowly reaching boiling point. I might lose it anytime. Will this be a repeat of Chicago? They told us we are on our own if the 4:55 is cancelled. I hate flying. Worst-case scenario I think a bunch of us will cab it… there are enough irate customers here.

September 16

Eventually we did fly out... albeit at 10pm in the evening. The tornado had subsided. But my bags were lost, and they took four days to return them, without compensation. Never fly Delta ladies and gentlemen, never. Rather wishy-washy wrap up to the story, but I can't get back into the groove...

End of the world???

What the hell has happened to this site???

Three out of five of our members were supposed to have endless free hours ahead of them. but what is this?

Is this it...the end of this world???

We need a savior!

After a long time!

Hey everyone! Sorry for being away from this site for such a long time. I was back home in Nepal and I just came back yesterday. Right now, I am desperately fighting my jet lag and trying to stay awake in my orientation-leader-training-sessions.

My trip from Nepal to Hamilton has always been exciting, for some reason. And as you might have guessed, I have a story again.

My journey started off with a blast. The flight was overbooked. But thanks to the airport staffs I knew in Kathmandu, I was able to secure the best economy-class seat for myself. However, my excitement quickly disappeared when I realized that the guy who sat next to me had the habit of slurping his drinks. And he kept on taking drinks one after another. God that was irritating! But that was a minor case in front of what I had to hear at the arrivals. Apparently, due to some technical problems, the staffs in Kathmandu had to take 1500kg (approx. 3300 lbs, for Americans) of luggage out of the plane. But the staffs in Delhi told us that it would arrive in the very next flight in the evening and that it would be delivered to our address within 12 hrs. I made the mistake of blindly trusting them, and so, after leaving my contact details, I went out of the airport to find Maity, who had been waiting for me for 2 hrs.

Not surprisingly, I didn't get my luggage that day. Tried calling them several times, but in vain. The next day when I got hold of one of the employees, he thought I am an American and tried to talk to me in an American accent. Phrases like 'Yeah, man, see ya!' and 'No probs, man!' were commonly used. It was a nice try but it sounded odd after hearing an Indian accent first and besides, I don't think it was supposed to be such an informal conversation anyway.

The following days of my journey also had something interesting lined up for me. London Heathrow welcomed me with one of the longest queues at the Immigration. Spent almost four full hours standing there. The day after, the Virgin Atlantic staffs there decided to charge me for carrying 1 kg of extra weight. I could do nothing but pay. The flight to JFK wasn't really smooth either. Frequent turbulence hits kept us awake. The best incident took place right before we landed at JFK. An air hostess was taking a glass of water to the passenger behind me. Just when she was about to pass me, the plane hit a major turbulence. And before I could react to the shock, I realized that I had to deal with another shock first. And this is not something I have ever heard or seen in real life or even in movies. She had lost her balance due to the turbulence and had literally landed on my laps. And before even trying to get up, she started giggling. Soon, the whole cabin burst into laughter. Her face was red. I must say that was an awkward moment. But I am happy that it was a cute young brunette and not a big fat guy. This incident reminded me of the Indian chewing gum ad I watched when in Nepal. I am sure many of you guys know what I am talking about.

Well! apart from that, nothing was really exciting. Came back and now I am trying to settle back at Hamilton after one full year's gap. Everything seems weird now.

Great Scott!

My much anticipated (well...maybe) first post. I thought I'd share a couple cartoons that I found on the Internets.

Since some American schools are now teaching Intelligent Design, perhaps we should explore contrasting theories in the other sciences too...

Your unborn child wants a philosopher's stone for Christmas.

Founding Fathers vs. Fox News - Round 1: Separation of Church and State

You can find more cartoons here.

Thriller here tonight

I don't know if any of you have seen these already but I saw them for the first time tonight and there are no words.

Sunlight will fall

I don't have any rants, any stories, or much of anything, really. The only reason I am posting is because I uploaded an album for someone and didn't want the link (nor the hour it took to upload the music) to go to waste. I figure you kids might be interested and if not, then oh well I suppose.

The album I uploaded is Chungking's latest album, Stay Up Forever. If you haven't heard of them...They're a British band (well, duo is more like it) with a female lead singer whose voice is very sultry, smooth, and quite unique. I would say Chungking's sound is in the category of trip-hop/electronica/chill-out. They've been compared to Goldfrapp, Morcheeba, and Portishead and I can agree with the first two but not Portishead, though, because I've never heard their music. Anyway, there's not much more I can say because you just have to listen to really understand. Thanks, youtube:

Chungking - Come With Me (From their 1st album, We Travel Fast)


Chungking - Love Is Here To Stay (From Stay Up Forever)

"Where There Is Faith, There Is No Fear!"

These words have been immortalized in the annals of movie lore as the tag line of perhaps the most monumental movie of our times, "Aap Ka Suroor".

Rant

I want to rant. It's been a long time since I've ranted. There are many things to rant about, starting with that damn HCL commercial. I want to punch that damn HCL employee and what kind of a company provides a helicopter to go overseas but doesn't provide transport to the helipad that's in the middle of the desert... and the HCL employee can't even afford a taxi and has to hitch a ride from none other than an investment banker who's driving an SUV without gas in the middle of nowehere. That's believable.



Having said that, the new Happy Dent commercial is easily one of the best ads I've seen on TV recently.



On the other hand I re-read "The Half Blood Prince" in anticipation of "Deathly Hallows"... so many questions, only one book to answer. Potter can't be the seventh horcrux can he? Less than 30 days to go!

Fairies, Claymores and Bagpipes

[I wrote this for Zorro on Doughnuts]...

First post after being a member for...I don't even remember. It was going to be on Japanese pop/rock, but Yohan's post on The Arctic Monkey's and my recent hike around Scotland and RockNess 2007 made me change my mind.

I haven't been able to find copies of all these songs because many of them I just heard live or in pubs and buses across Scotland, but you can find most of them on www.radioblogclub.com, a rather remarkable site.

Unlike their Irish neighbours, Scottish musicians have never really made a big impact in the rock and roll world. Perhaps the best known names would be Franz Ferdinand and now, KT Tunstall (who actually went to college with Snow Patrol and our good friend, Duncan)... and if you really push it, the Young brothers from AC/DC who were half Scottish. It so turns out that the tiny nation of Scotland has churned out some pretty popular music, many of which sounds too American or British to make us think that they'd be of Scottish pedigree. After all, what would we expect Scottish music to sound like? Screaming cats and bagpipes? Well, here's a small sampling, make up your own mind...

First we have Snow Patrol, a band formed in University of Dundee where Duncan went to college. These guys are pretty much like any other american alternative band, but it's worth a listen to some of their stuff; "Run", "Chasing Cars", "Signal Fire", "You're All I Have" and "Spitting Games". You might have heard the first three songs in the disastrous Spiderman 3 movie.

Paolo Nutini is another up and coming musician with some smooth beats, semi-gruff voice, and catchy lyrics. Here are a few recommendations: "New Shoes", "Jenny Don't Be Hasty", and "Last Request".

I don't know if you remember an old jeans ad with the song "pressure, pressure, pressure", but that was The Zutons. They've done some great work with "Pressure Point", "Valerie", and "Oh Stacey". Although they supposedly formed in Liverpool, Duncan claims that they were initially led by 2 Glaswegians and a prat from Edinburgh.

Before our trip to Scotland, Pragyan and I were discussing what heavy rock bagpipes would sound like and the answer to our queries were the Peatbog Faeries - another group from Skye. I don't have any particular song to recommend but you can try, "Welcome to Dun Vegas", "Wacko King Hako", and "Scots on the Rocks".

If you want to know about the McGreggor massacre or some good old Scottish folk music, The Corries would be an appropriate choice. They do a lot of great traditional songs seeped in history and lore like "Portkey Kid", "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and other patriotic songs like "Flower of Scotland".

Another band with dubious origins, Alabama 3 was formed in Brixton, England, but again Duncan claims they're actually Scots, but as long as they make good music, it doesn't matter right? They're perhaps most famous for "Woke Up This Morning" which was used for the opening sequence for "The Sopranos". I'd also recommend, "Hello... I'm Johnny Cash", and "Peace in the Valley".

Box o' Bananas performed live at the King Haakon Pub in Kyle, Isle of Skye in Northern Scotland while we were there... it's hard to imagine this tiny island in the middle of nowhere have produced some of the biggest names in Scottish modern music and also hosts the annual Skye Music Festival. Coming back to the band, BoB combines a lot of traditional Scottish instruments [read: pipes] with high amp guitars and keyboards. They're great to listen to live, not to mention bloody funny. I couldn't find anything on www.radioblogclub.com, so good luck...

The first Aberfeldy song I heard was "Vegetarian Restaurant". To be honest I really haven't heard much from these guys, but I'm looking around for some more. Radioblogclub has a limited collection for these guys. Try "Tom Weir" and "Summer's Gone".

The Proclaimers are the quitessential Scottish band. The identical twins were voted "the most Scottish band" and are perhaps best known for their song "I'm Gonna Be [500 miles]"... you know, the one that goes, "and I will walk 500 miles, and I will walk 500 more..." These guys are from the little town of Fief just north of Edinburgh and people are suprised they haven't become British sellouts! You've probably already heard "Letter From America", "Sunshine on Leith" and "King of the Road".

Another Dundee Band, The View, has also produced some decent... although certain people seem to hate them. Also accused of being American sellouts, people have called them a cross between The Arctic Monkey's and The Proclaimers, and the worst new band! Make up your mind: "Wasted Little DJs", "Same Jeans", and "Face for the Radio".

Lastly I leave you with a surprise Isle of Skye master DJ: Mylo who along with KT Tunstall was probably the biggest hit of RockNess 2007. I'm sure there are many more great bands and musicians I've missed out, but these are all the guys I know about. Enjoy! Sorry I couldn't provide the songs, but they're all there on www.radioblogclub.com.

I'll write a normal post sometime soon. I wonder where everyone else has disappeared?

Half the time we're gone but we don't know where

So I graduated.

Now what?

Who are you?

I just realized that although it has been a while since we started conversing through this site, I have almost no idea who you all are. Might be a good idea if we all introduced ourselves to one another.

OK...since I brought this up...

Me - Pragyan Pradhan from Nepal, a student at Hamilton College, New York - currently chilling at LSE for a year - hopefully will get a BA degree in Math and Economics in 2008. Had wasted more than a year after high school doing nothing - now in a four year college - which means another year down the drain (compared to three-year colleges in Nepal). Plans after graduation - donno yet - will probably do something in business. What else...oh ya...I will be teaching Hindi next year with Maity. Now isn't that ironic? I have never had a single Hindi lesson in my lifetime.