Tech retrospection

This day, a decade ago, I did not have a cell phone. Two decades ago, I did not know what the internet was. Just about six years ago, I did not know what a smartphone was. While, it would seem that my personality has not changed much over time, my lifestyle has been undergoing a massive transition over the last decade in quick jumps to become a lot more minimalistic. I have had a sweet affair with minimalism, at times with borderline OCD-level tendencies to organize and use one tool to its death. This is my love letter to all the technology that has made my life today.

The extremis Iron man. Except it is me.

While I have always stayed regularly updated on tech news, my fanboy tendencies have not involved much purchasing. Somehow the purpose has always been to become an informed buyer, so when the need arises the geek-gadget bought is one that will last its true life with minimal upgrading (and my handling); a long-term release. So when cellphones became commonplace at the start of the millenium, I bought one four years later when multimedia cellphones were being perfected. The main priority has mostly been, to avoid a prototype and find a smooth and lasting experience. My favorite tech picks:   

PSP: I bought a Star Wars: Battlefield limited edition PSP-2000 in winter 2007. I did not want to use my computer for gaming and I was looking for something versatile. I still use the PSP for most my gaming. The experience has not slowed down over the years and some of the titles (GTA: Chinatown wars, LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet and Clank: Size matters) have had tremendous replay value. The portable media capabilities alone would warrant the buy. Just a great piece of hardware that has lasted its value and more.

Macbook pro: Child please, I am not a mac person or something. I just want a device that works smooth and lasts long with minimal maintenance. The Mac experience has been a hard one to beat. I have used this one for five years and it still has not become crusty despite constant use and abuse. It tend to use shell-scripts and home-made scripts often and the unix base has cooperated well. Zero virus issues, mostly bug-free, fast-enough load times - it has allowed me to focus more on what I am doing rather than how.

Nexus: I was fooled into trying out the Motorola Bravo device (awful at best) before I found the Samsung galaxy nexus a year ago. Most cell phones have a very short half-life and the nexus is not one of them. I am a heavy google user; I had my contacts organized on google since 2006 with no idea that this device would someday import and synchronize them; a very pleasant surprise. This device is my mp3 player, gps, organizer, running planner, accelerometer and reading device. It makes a decent communication device too. A lot of my friends and family live far away from me and this device has allowed for smooth, bug-free distance bridging. If only I had more friends using google+.

Google: What can I say about google that has not already been said? I wrote a bit on it some years back. I do not think that google wants to take over the world. They have a bigger agenda than that. I love having synchrony across platforms and devices. 

Wii: When is it OK for the minimalist to have a second gaming device? When you get the second one for free. Babysteak gave me his device, with some excellent titles - Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario galaxy, Kirby's epic yarn. I love the backwards compatibility and the innovative design, well, in games that use it properly anyway (The legend of Zelda: Skyward sword). Just watching my mom beat me and others at video games is a sweet experience. 

I have a draft on the crazy awful side of technology that I will someday publish. Today the world is just beautiful.  

Commencement

August 15 2008

Rob walked in with a gimpy dance and an impish grin.

"What is it?"

I grunted tiredly. I did not want to stare away from my computer screen.

"Apparently it is the Indian independence day today. But I know one indian that is still ruled by a brit!"

Rob's eyebrows arched as he awaited my reply. But the right look was sufficient. A snort later, I was back to my real space tour through the AAV surface landscape.

**********

April 27 2012

Her excellency, the Indian ambassador to the United States had been droning on for about 25 minutes. 'Wrongest person for a commencement address ever' I thought as I zoned in and out of the speech to grab random words about India, Indira Gandhi and something about a golden sparrrow. Where was that Steve Jobs material? It did not matter; I was getting my forty winks for the day. It was excusable though. The one thing I had developed through graduate school was a large attention span for dry talks. If her excellency was able to lull me to static, she deserved to.

Just as I zoned in one last time, she had to talk about how the british were driven out of India. I felt a nudge on my left rib. It was Rob. He smiled and released an invisible bird from his hand. I chuckled. He turned back to the her excellency but I kept staring at him and Mavis on his side. This smile will not leave.

Oh James

Lucy in the sky with Darbari Kanada

A lot of people do not choose to attach a genre to their favorite music simply because of a seeming disparity observed sometimes. "I just like to listen to anything good that my friends bring to me". Cool. My girlfriend once told me that she has an eclectic taste in movies. She likes Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd and The Nightmare before Christmas. I suggested to her that she probably would like the Corpse Bride too, because she just described every trademark Tim Burton movie this side of Batman (Interestingly she had never bothered to check on who the maker in every one of these movies was). The point is sometimes it can be fun to explore what common thread links your taste, just so you can explore better on your own and find new treasure.

However some threads are a bit more elusive that just a surprise common maker. I have always identified two broad genres to define my primary taste in music - heavy metal (with its allies - grunge and punk) and carnatic classical music. Yeah, Metallica and MS, Nirvana and nadaswaram. There is something of a superficial disparity in the matter but I insist that it is not difficult to pick up the general equation to this. I will use the Chala Nattai raga as an example in this.

Here is a standard carnatic classical piece in Chala Nattai. Ilayaraja has been a genius in the use of this raga here and here. A. R. Rehman added some Oscar glory to this (and this) and world audiences noticed. Some more work from "machans" Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy gave them stardom. Finally some talented youngster came up with this and we have hit mainstream psychedelic rock. So what has really changed beyond the beat and some mucus in the voice?

What was psychedelic rock when Black Sabbath and Led Zep started was derivatized to metal after gaining blues rock influences. A decade or so later Grunge was created. And that, is the linking thread.

Waitaminnit!? Am I daring to reduce pure carnatic music to something that people listen to while smoking pot? Is that all carnatic music is? Psychedelic rock? No. But it is definitely psychedelic! And that is what I am talking about. Every so-called rock song composed by Ilayaraja, who had such profound carnatic influences in all his songs, has been a bluesy psychedelic rock piece.

So, fellow explorers, stereotyping (if that be the word for it) may not always be a bad thing if it allows you to identify and understand some fundamental links in the theory of music to make one a better listener. Listening to music is after all, an art.

Trippiness

Since I don't do drugs I did these today.



City of Blinding Lights - U2


Kula Shaker Govinda
Uploaded by ronaldmacdonald33. - See more comedy videos.

Govinda - Kula Shaker



Reptilia - The Strokes



Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins



Pottu vaitha - Singaravelan

Dedications

Since i found out that I am a extremely self-centered person today, I am going to keep this post about some of the other people in my life; so I may feel better about myself. Music video dedications will be made to them, in the lines of MTV select - meaning it may be about them, it may relate to them, it may be songs I sing with them or it may just be something random that I feel like hearing right now.

Yeah, its still about me and I. Whatever; onto the dedications.

Snowie - for being a girl

Gautam - for being the jackass that called me out for the last many years

Archana - for being positive control

Blue - for energizing

Dennis - for bringing cool back

Affi - for sharing the treasure

Scoobie - for being master and commander of the far side of the world

Pa and Ma - for being different

Al Gator - for being leader of a religion of choice

Audi, Nayan, Geetha, Sridhar and Mumbai - for not changing

Matt - for crossing lines to pull over

Pammi - for keeping it real

This one is not a song but it fits here better than everything else I came up with

Subbu - for being the bitch partner

Manohary - for being special

Vid - for teaching without trying

Ibt - for important lessons

India - for some right decisions

Adi, Abi and Vaishu - for being friends

And finally music - for empowering

"Your favorite song comes here"

Of Tolkein's realm...

Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo!

(A star shines upon the hour of our meeting!)

Imagination is a talent of which Tolkien had achieved beyond mastery. How would one have thought that a simple tale of a small halfling who had an unexpected tea party would have unfolded (and still unfolding!) into an entire universe of breathtaking detail - with even languages, and lineages and creation and evolution! Tolkien's wizardry (for that indeed it can be called) is still in the process of being understood - as descendants, researchers, purists and fans are doing their best to understand his middle earth and the other realms of that world.

I was, but a boy of eleven, when I first read The Hobbit. It was a simple tale of a short, stocky and content fellow - who suddenly found a bunch of dwarves walk into his house under the instruction of a troublesome, tall, Grey-cloaked old man with a tall staff - and then ended up in an adventurous trip from home to far west and back again. It was surprising - how a small little "thief" like him could evade goblins and curious mountain creatures, slay spiders and even muster a straight conversation with the dreaded Smaug (the Magnificent). He returned rich - not just with experience, tales, songs and friends but also with gifts from the dwarves - gold and more, a mail of moria silver and a helm to go with it, a fine blade of elvish make and a number of other small items....including a simple round ring of invisibility that he found on an encounter of riddles with a curious creature that called itself "my precious" and make a horrible swallowing noise that gave it its name. He made a rich account of his travel - There and back again - and the settled down and lived happily ever after. I shut the book with a smile and went on with life...a nice read it was...I liked it...

But there was more to it than met the eye...

In my early teen years, I stumbled upon a book - The Lord of the Rings. Catchy title, I thought. What was more - it was a Tolkien story. Hoping to relive the simple pleasure of that adventure from the eyes of a small hobbit (There And Back Again), I started reading it. The first page surprised me. This book was starting again, where the Hobbit had stopped - I was taken... The first chapter came with elements that relived the joy of meeting old friends, the content of an adventure far behind and the sarcastic and dry humour that I was so familiar with from 'There and Back Again'. But then it shifted...

The world was bigger, more cruel than before, there were orcs - not simple goblins - and more fell beasts. Evil was afoot and the dark tower was stretching its evil hand over the world. The race of men had failed and the world as we knew it was coming to an end. The elves were leaving Middle Earth for the undying lands. All old alliances were lost and the fate of the world hung in the hands of young Frodo Baggins of Bag End and the ring in his possession...

This book was like a travelogue, similar to The Hobbit on that, and yet it was different. A lot of people I knew then and I know now, still are unable to get past the initial chapters of the book - not because it was complicated or difficult to read - but just because it was a travelogue that could get tiresome after a certain point. But then, I was familiar with Tolkien's narration and sustained that patience; I slowly got lost in the book. When I finally finished the book, appendices and all, I had seen the book for what it was - a sacred monumental saga of more sorts than one. It had become my Bible and Geeta.

I read it thrice more in the subsequent weeks; I had to know everything. It was but a peephole into middle earth and a lot more trespassed in Tolkien's world than it spoke about. I had to learn the languages of the high elves (and men and dwarves and orcs and the black speech!); to speak a fairer speech in fell days. I had to know the history of middle earth and all its unspoken and unfinished tales. I had to live it.

I picked up more of his work and devoured them wholly. 'Tales of the Perilous Realm', 'The Silmarillion', 'Lost tales of Middle Earth'. Tolkien's world was exploding in my head like a brilliant fiery sun. I finally was satiated to a good extent by Peter Jackson's epic (I use a poor word here) work. I would laugh at every movie and I cried for these. Subbu still recollects the day I walked into class after watching The Return Of The King in a maniacal stupor. I was way beyond 'in love'... It was not the cinematography or the effects and graphics or the stunts that were the achievement. It was Jackson's ability to understand Tolkien's world and also the minds of the purists that made him produce a heavenly vision of the trials of the second and third age.

Jackson had shown Tolkien's mind and its elements -

It was the sadness of the end of the third age and the final establishment of mortality in middle earth, yet the joy of the end of darkness; the fear of the ever consuming evil, yet the courage of the weak who stood against it; the sorrows of the evils that had eroded and scarred the past, yet the inspiring memories of alliances and courage and songs and purity of heart and spirit; of planning, hard battle, strategy and survival, yet of innocence and simple needs and humor. There were tales of malice and hatred and yet of a friendship and a love that survived it.

I still quiver and tremble when I hear lines from Tolkien's works and verses from his songs. Tolkien's narration, to me, has become the voice of Eru. I have felt god many times over...

NamaarieAa' menle nauva calen ar' ta hwesta e' ale'quenleLissenen ar' maska'lalaith tenna' lye omentuva!

(Farewell

May your paths be green and the breeze on your backSweet water and light laughter till next we meet!)