Bloggertoon on Blogspot

One more ..

BloggerToon

I recently came across this awsome tech humour site:
http://blaugh.com/

Viva la YouTube !!!

In the space of just 6 months YouTube has not only overtaken Yahoo Video as the most popular Web video-sharing service on the planet, but it's now approx 3 times as big as Yahoo's product!
In the following graph clearly demonstrates YouTube's spectacular growth trends compared with those of Yahoo! and Google services.

As a matter of fact my past few postings have been making extensive use of videos provided by YouTube.
YouTube presents videos from a wide range of subjects, from popular music to personal cam captures. You can even find a good collection of hindi movie related stuff too.

The growing popularty of YouTube has led to its banning from certain corporate network, a final clinching proof of its popularity. :)

Tags:

• web2.0
• community
• video
• news
• YouTube

.. And when will I ever learn??

Featured here is Eric Clapton's Old Love from his MTv unplugged session.
Apart from great lyrics and singing, I really loved his Piano man's solo.

This song appeared first in his Journeyman album with Robert Cray.



But the question still remains .. When will i ever learn?

Yeh Hai Meri Kahani : Zinda

The Pakistani band Strings are the slickest Hindi singing Indi Pop band in the current times.

They are hugely successful as well with one after another singles hitting the charts with a bang. Their track : Naa Jaane Kyon from Spiderman 2 OST was a huge hit.

I had a chance to see them perform live in Bangalore where they performed with Indian Ocean as part of the Unity Concert. They performed very well and have a very polished sound and look which contrasted sharply with Indian Ocean which has more earthy and punchy sound.

Strings is unusual too becaues they only have two members with no drums and bass. They used drum machine and I think Midi sequences to get the full band sound.

I like The Strings for:

1. Perfect marrige of Hindi lyrics with screaming guitar sounds and steady rock beats.
2. Nice vocals.
3. Very slick videos

Recently they were featured in the Soundtrack of the movie Zinda in this punchy song : Yeh Meri Kahani. The song has actors Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham helping out on vocals. I love the song and the video.

Learning to walk : Lessons in Walking Bass

Answers.com defines  'Walking Bass' as :

In jazz, blues, ragtime, ska, rock, Baroque music, and other musical genres, a walking bass is a bass accompaniment generally consisting of unsyncopated notes of equal value, usually quarter notes (known in jazz as a "four feel").



This surely does sound a lot boring than the real sound of walking bass.



I have long been fascinated by it but without any understanding of the how's and why's involved, it always seemed rocket science to me.



Kevin Van Sant  explains the concept  involved  in a  video  lesson. I 'll try to  add notes  to  it  as  i  understand  more of it  in following  blogs.

The amazing Ella Fitzgerald video on UTV

I have been a huge Ella fan for quite sometime but i had never seen her singing.
Featured here is the amazing Ella Fitzgerald singing along with Nat King Cole.

Digg overtakes SlashDot

It was the writing on the wall, finally happened. 3 Cheers! for Digg and web2.0

read more | digg story

Round-up of 30 AJAX Tutorials

There are quite a few AJAX demos and examples on the web right now. While these are invaluable to learning AJAX, some people need a bit more information than just a raw piece of code. This is a list of the best and most helpful AJAX tutorials that have been seen over the past year.
I think its a must read for those looking to build or improve AJAX skills

read more | digg story

SqueezeMyLemon

SqueezeMyLemon
This is one true blue blog for the blues lovers.
Fantastic readings along with videos and mp3 links.

Most interesting, a video featuring the legendry Bessie Smith singing St. Louise Blues in flesh and blood. If you are a student of blues then you just cant miss this one.
There is another one featuring John Lee Hooker.

Fantastic blog!!

Keep the good work Lemon!!
More ... more !!

Affirmations

Ive made this as my morning song, If you stay close to my home and hear a racket early in morning, Well Its alright …

If Dylan Harrison and co thing that way, who am I to complain??


Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
Well it’s all right, doing the best you can
Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring
Maybe a diamond ring

Well it’s all right, even if they say you’re wrong
Well it’s all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well it’s all right, as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well it’s all right, everyday is judgement day

Maybe somewhere down the road aways
You’ll think of me, and wonder where I am these days
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze

Well it’s all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it’s all right, if you got someone to love
Well it’s all right, everything’ll work out fine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line

Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive
I’m just glad to be here, happy to be alive
It don’t matter if you’re by my side
I’m satisfied

Well it’s all right, even if you’re old and grey
Well it’s all right, you still got something to say
Well it’s all right, remember to live and let live
Well it’s all right, the best you can do is forgive


Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
Well it’s all right, even if the sun don’t shine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line

Wishes

Ol' catfish in the lake, we called him Big Jim
When I was a kid, my only wish was to get my line in him
Skipped church one Sunday rowed out and throw'd in my line
Jim took that hook pole and me right over the side
Went driftin' down past old tires and rusty cans of beer
The angel of the lake whispered in my ear
"Before you chose your wish son
You better think first
With every wish there comes a curse"

I fell in love with beautiful Doreen
She was the prettiest thing this old town'd ever seen
I courted her and I made her mine
But I grew jealous whenever another man'd
Come walkin' down the line
And my jealousy made me treat her mean and cruel
She sighed, "Bobby oh Bobby you're such a fool
Don't you know before you choose your wish
You'd better think first
'Cause with every wish there comes a curse"

These days I sit around and laugh
At the many rivers I've crossed
But on the far banks there's always another forest
Where a man can get lost
Well there in the high trees love's bluebird glides
Guiding us 'cross to another river on the other side
And there someone is waitin' with a look in her eyes
And though my heart's grown weary
And more than a little bit shy
Tonight I'll drink from her waters to quench my thirst
And leave the angels to worry
With every wish...

Amazing collection of downloadable music

Happy 2006!!!
Here’s my New Year gift for anybody who is interested in downloading free rock music.
http://www.shorey.net/Music/ contains awesome collection of Rock music. I hope it is available for long (at least till I download some of this stuff).

Testing the blogger

Testing the blogger plug in for MS- Word.
If this works then my blogging blues are over since Im not able to save my posts on the web.

Kite

Rock band U2 has always intrigued me. They are allways there in list of Tops. Top annual earners, popularity, even guitar world’s most important people blah blah..... What is wired about them is that they are not your traditional blues based rock. Hell, there is hardly ever a showcase shining long guitar solo which make gives rock and rollers most of their guitar gods!!

"So what makes U2 great!". I asked this question to Oliver, the most vocal U2 fan I have ever met. He said for one they are great because they managed to stick together for more than 25 years. I’m sure he had told me more but the conversation got washed in Beer and come to think of it, its more than 5 years since we had this talk.

Personally I have never been a U2 fanatic but you'd always find U2 songs in my play lists. Over the years I managed to come out of Joshua Tree fixation and got more of their music. One reason I love them is same as most of other people in world: BONO, The way he writes and sings the songs, there is simply nobody else like him.

Aah the songs.....Which brings me to the question what’s your #1 U2 song?

For me for a long time it was With or without you. Then it was One from Actung Baby. Really awesome song. If you disagree then just sing along with it and you will see my point.

..And then The Kite flew in, and blew me along with.Here's how the song goes ..

from the Album: All That You Can Leave Behind

Kite

Something

Is about to give

I can feel it coming

I think I know what it is

I'm not afraid to die

I'm not afraid to live

And when I'm flat on my back

I hope to feel like I did

And hardness

It sets in

You need some protection

The thinner the skin

I want you to know

That you don't need me anymore

I want you to know

You don't need anyone

Or anything at all

Who's to say where the wind will take you

Who's to say what it is will break you

I don't know

Which way the wind will blow

Who's to know when the time has come around

Don't want to see you cry

I know that this is not goodbye

It's somewhere

I can taste the salty sea

There's a kite blowing out of control on the breeze

I wonder what's gonna happen to you

You wonder what has happened to me

I'm a man

I'm not a child

A man who sees

The shadow behind your eyes

Who's to say where the wind will take you

Who's to say what it is will break you

I don't know

Where the wind will blow

Who's to know when the time has come around

I don't want to see you cry

I know that this is not goodbye

Did I waste it

Not so much I couldn't taste it

Life should be fragrant

Rooftop to the basement

The last of the rocks stars

When hip-hop drove the big cars

In the time when new media

Was the big idea

What was the big idea

It’s unfair for me to try writing anything about this soaring giant. I will rather quote what others are saying (Taken from www.songfacts.com)

The Edge considers this his favorite song on the album. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Bono also mentioned that "Kite" was his favorite song on the CD. He also referenced the death of Michael Hutchence, former singer for INXS while discussing the song.

On the the Elevation tour of 2001, Bono said this was "about saying goodbye to somebody you don't want to say goodbye to."

On their performance at Slane Castle in 2001, a few days after his fathers dead, Bono dedicated "Kite" to him... And in the line "I know that this is not goodbye...", he was crying. I'm sure everyone had a lump in his throat at this time.

- Marius, Lüneburg, Germany

Paul in alt.music.u2 calls it greatest U2 song ever, I can’t agree with more. Here is what he has to say:

Well, my soft cell has never been so affected by a song before (And perhapsI said the same thing with the Fly back in 92:), but nonetheless.It's raining in Tucson today, that drizzly non-stop Seattle kind of rain,not that normal Tucson monsoon stormy kind of rain, "Rain without Anxiety":) Took Kite out for a spin, and all I can say is between the rain, the citylights, the memories of all I can't leave behind, I cried tonight listeningto that song for the first time in a year.

This song once again reminds me of that evocative journey that I used to betaken on with U2, and all I can say to the guys is thanks.You have started to turn a year of my life haunted by sickness, death andpain, and made me believe it all wasn't so bad in the end.

Kite is magic, there is no doubt an enchantment was imbued on this song.

It is Glorious! I cannot think of a better word in my vocabulary to describe it.

So true!!!

Recently I came across this nice video for the song and I just had to add it to the post.. kewl

DocNRoll

Ndoc is a nifty tool to generate documentation for .net projects. It is very easy to install and equally easy to use. Here is what you have to do:

1. Download the installer from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ndoc/
2. Install the program. You need to have HTML Help installed in you machine. You can download it from http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/hwMicrosoftHTMLHelpDownloads.asp
3. Start nDoc application.
   You can open a new project. There is option of opening a visual studio project as well.
   Use add button in Select assemblies to Document section to add assemblies. I did not user Visual studio option and manually added the assemblies I used in my project.
4. Set properties of documents as you want them. You can change HtmlHelpName property to set the HTML Help Title. I chose the document type to default MSDN.
   
5. Control + Shift + B will build the documentation.
   
6. Viola you have a .chm (Compiled Html File) as well as Web version of Documentation.
   Ctrl + shift + V will display it for you.
   

That’s it fellows. Rest of the time can now be whiled away in writing Blogs :)

The House of the Rising Sun

The song was surely on my mind when i had seen this building for the first time.
It is located at the edge of Hill leading to Powai facing east. I always imagine seeing sunrise from this place. I have seen Sun rising from far east from top of the hill at IIT and it was something i will always remember. The building is appropriately called Sun City
Recently my friend Rohan brought a flat in this building. Last Saturday I went to hang out with him and oversee the work of fitting accessories to the flat. His flat is on 12th floor. The view from nice french windows was fantastic. It faces west and overlooks glowing Heeranandani.
We then went to the Top Floor which is still under construction and the views from the TOP is nothing short of mind blowing.
I only had my cell camera to take the pictures. These pictures have been published in previous posts.
One of these Mornings will find me there with a nicer camera very soon. Inshallah!

Here the proud owner of the lovely flat :)
Bird

Bird

Over the Hills and far away
Bird