Drowning Shadows

So what is Drowning Shadows? It refers to the name of the longish novella that I’m currently working on. Pretty excited about it I am, and it’s turning out to be quite interesting. One of my more amazing friends (SR) was good enough to go through what I’d written so far, while she was on a plane to London, and liked it. So the story’s on the right track!

Ze Germans are coming!

First of all if anyone hasn’t seen “Snatch” then get out there and see it! What the hell are you waiting for?

Excellent observations by my friend there! I’d love to see an Argentina – Brazil final! England is as overrated as anything, and well my beloved Les Bleus (only because of Henry!!) are going to falter sooner rather than later. And absolutely dead on about Ericcson too, he picked a rubbish team, he plays a rubbish team and he can’t coach. Lampard is out of form, and should be replaced by Lennon. Walcott should be played and Defoe should have been in the squad.

On to what shall happen today, although that’s not what I’m supposed to do sitting here at the office!

Ze Germans versus the Argentinians should be a great game. Somehow I see both sides canceling each other out, the German grit taking on the brilliant flair that has been on display by the South Americans. Of course, those that saw Holland vs. Argentina will know exactly what I’m talking about. I say 2-1 to Argentina. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Ze Germans, buoyed by their home crowd sprung a surprise!

The other one? Italy vs. Ukraine… Lucky Italy. Need I say more?

I’d rather talk about Angeltere vs. Portugal! England were rubbish except for one kick by Beckham against Ecaudor, and they should really have lost. Portugal though, put out Von Persie and Holland… and they were quite good. Very good in fact. Figo seems to be coming back to form, and the king of step-overs (Christiano Ronaldo) is doing pretty good too!  England? Well, it will be nice to see new ways of how Frankie Lampard shoots abysmally wide of goal. He’s a great player, but is sadly out of form, and should not start. Lennon. Let’s see if Erickson is as brave as he tries to be.
My prediction, Portugal 3 – England 2.

And finally my apologies to Ronaldo (the Brazilian) fans all over. I said he was over the hill and fat and what not. He has ensured I eat my words. He’s playing pretty well now, and its Ronaldinho who has done anything but light the tournament alight.

Now, you must go… for Ze Germans are coming! 

Vive Les Bleus!

This was it! Arguably one of the best games in the tournament so far! Les Bleus took on the Spanish, and it was a real pity that we had to see one of the two teams go out so soon. Spain had the magnificent Fabregas, Torres, Alonso and Garcia; while Les Bleus had Henry (the MAN!), an aging Zizou, a wayward Ribery and an out-of-form Vieira. Spain despite being the favorites, ended the night on the wrong side of a 3-1, loss, which flatters the French to be honest. After all, Spain started brilliantly and took the lead, but the French responded and really controlled the second half. Ribery showed why he is in the team, while Vieira showed that he’s getting back to his best. Zizou too, rounded things up with a well taken goal. Of course, I never expected them to win, but win they did and it’s the quarters now.
So, Brazil next, and that should be end of that! Unless monsieur Henry performs some well needed Va Va Voom!! He’d better really… but I feel that Henry needs Saha in front to partner him. That would give them a bit of sting up front.

The quarters have thrown up some nice games, Argentina/Germany should be nice, Brazil/France, England/Portugal, Italy/Ukraine.
Of course, Italy is very lucky to be where they are.
My predictions, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Portugal in the semis, and Brazil to win it! You read it here first!!

Imogen Heap!!

All right! So I’m a fan now! I’d heard Frou Frou’s unique sounding album (called Details), thanks to the friend with the great music taste, and had been enjoying it massively, when I saw a live performance on Jay Leno by someone called Imogen Heap. Here was a cute (if a little fruity) female, who had a keyboard-thing in front of her and mixing equipment to her left; who was alternating almost seamlessly between live vocals and keyboard, and the pre-recorded mixed stuff. She had a remarkable air of cute eccentricity about her that was just brilliantly refreshing! It was one of the most amazing and assured single-handed performance I’d ever seen, but what surprised me most was that I kept thinking that she sounds remarkably like Frou Frou! Later on I was to find out how right I was…

Anyhow… great song, Goodnight and Go (which by the way has the amazing Jeff Beck – another Imogen fan - on the guitar!); great performer, Imogen Heap! She’s going to go places!

Whatever happened to Blogspot?

Yes… so I used to be on Blogspot… not anymore. I can’t access it myself… eitherway, I’ve re-blogged most of my posts from there to here (below) and this is where I’m at now! Blogspot not, WordPress yes!

1-0 to the Arsenal!

February 23, 2006 

First leg score, UEFA CL, Real Madrid 0 – Arsenal 1.

Magical night in Madrid it was. Unfortunately prior to the start it just got horrid for me personally. Having waited for the game for 3 years, the irritatingly idiotic WorldCall made sure that I would miss the viewing of arguably one the greatest night’s in Arsenal’s history.

But anyways, the boys produced a masterstroke and it made up for everything. What a performance! Arsenal started the game with Reyes, back from his injury, left on a 5 man midfield with Henry up front. Rather defensive, some would say. Another interesting decision by Wenger was playing Hleb in place of Pires. But when you are without the likes of Campbell, Cole, Bergkamp, Van Persie, Lauren… and the rest are not particularly in good form, perhaps being defensive was the thing to do.
Especially at Santiago Bernabeu. Home of a team with one the greatest European pedigrees.

A word has to be said about the genius of Wenger, for the formation was not totally defensive. It became a fluid 5-4-1 in defense, with Gilberto trotting back, and a magnificent 4-3-3 in attach, with Ljunberg, Hleb and Fabregas joining the excellent Reyes and the magical Henry upfront alternatively.
There was really nothing defensive about last night.
Wenger magnificently got Reyes to utilize the space that Cicinho leaves behind when he rushes forward, and it almost paid dividends.

But the bigger credit has to go to the team, who picked themselves up as if they were still the invincibles of a coupe of years ago.  In a horrid year, beset with injuries and poor results… no one had given us a chance. And I kept thinking that if there’s any team in Europe that we can beat and get some measure of confidence back, they are Madrid.

The final word to King Henry. He who proved all doubters wrong. He who scored a simply sublime solo goal to make sure that we got a historical away win in spite of all the wasted chances. What a player. And truth be told, we should’ve won 3-0.
But then we are still the only side from England to have beaten Madrid, in Madrid!

         

The away leg beckons in a couple of weeks, and whatever happens, we have shown the world that we can be a force in Europe. That too with a young team whose true potential is yet to be unlocked. Hopefully this can be a springboard to help us get fourth in the league and go past Madrid in the home leg.

All hail the magnificent King Henry!

U2 Sweeps the Grammys!

Friday, February 10, 2006

5 Nominations, 5 wins! Including Record and song of the year! Takes them to 6th on the all time list of Grammy winners with 22 awards.
And what a performance, Vertigo and then One! Sensational.
Now the nominations for Record of the Year included Kanye West’s Late Registration and The Gorillaz, both of which I think are tremendous records. Especially Kanye’s album is a true epic to listen to. But if anyone deserved to beat him, it was Bono and the gang! How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. And how apt for “Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your own” to win performance of the year. A song which Bono sang for his dad who passed away.

Here’s hoping that U2 shall turn Karachi into the City of Blinding Lights real soon!

Just to rewind a bit, my top records for last year,
1 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – U2
2 – X&Y – Coldplay
3 – Hot Fuss – The Killers
4 – Late Registration – Kanye West
5 – Demon Days – Gorillaz

Musings, Links and the Idealistic!

February 7th, 2006 

Apparently two of my earlier posts got deleted…

Anyways, here is the link for the full text of Chaudhri Rehmat Ali’s “Now or Never”.

The new issue of Netexpress is out with some articles and interviews conducted by yours truly! Online version is at http://www.netxpress.com.pk

What can make you just utterly laugh out loud? What can end the most ridiculous of days in a smiling way? To have a most amazing conversation with a great friend. Someone who shows you that there is still hope; that there are still people out there who will not lose sight of their ultimate goals no matter what happens; that there are still people out there who will not get cynical even if the world around them forces them to be that. People worth taking inspiration from. One such person is FJ.

“What is a cynic? Someone who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde. 

Psychology of Mad Men 

Been an interesting month… no rhythm to anything, sporadic ups and downs. Incredibly weirdness and unseen-before highs (I HAVE stopped jumping around!) Heres hoping some sort of order will begin to prevail now.

Forgettable hourlies having been left behind, three news items have caught me eye. Firstly the furore over the anti-Prophet cartoon published in Europe. They say its freedom of speech, but its idiotic. Wheres the moral decency? The social responsibility? Freedom also gives mulsims a right to feel secure.. and such cartoons can only encourage semi anti-muslim behaviour. And of course, the radical islamists behaviour… at least the UK papers showed some sign of intelligence by choosing not to publish the said cartoons. But France’s La Monde paper? Apparently they intend to run a story tomorrow with the cartoons explaining how it all began… idiots. All for just a little more sales. From their point of view… you can make fun of anyone and its ok, but make fun of the Prophet and we ‘over react’. An email sent to Sky News from some bloke in Karachi said it best, “If it was Jesus in the cartoon, we’d still be protesting.”

India lost… Asif was born… Pakistan did the impossible! So much already said! Most memorable moment of the series for me was Kamran Akmal’s 100 in the Karachi test and the image of the once mighty Tendulkar almost on his knees having been bowled by Asif.

The other this that caught my eye was this website I ran into while doing research for this article I was doing. The site ran the entire text of Chaudhri Rehmat Ali’s pamphlet, “Now or Never”, which came up with the name ‘Pakistan’ and talked about our freedom. It was a very powerful read. I shall reproduce the link shortly.

Arsenal meanwhile are being decimated… Sol Campbell…

A highly hilarious thing I was just reading in the Guradian, where the writer was talking about how we copy certain people. He talks about how Roman Abrahamovich, the Chelsea benefactor would be copied:”How would you even begin to “do” Roman Abramovich? All we have to go on is that glazed facial expression, the look of a man with a brain-curdling hangover who has just stumbled out for a can of Irn-Bru and found himself trapped in a three-hour lecture on quantum mechanics. “
Brilliantly hilarious!!

And of course, Bryan Adams! Bryan bhai!! Did his bit… brilliant show. As someone put it, he came, he saw, he sang! The best concert I’ve ever been to, and the most smoothest. Great day for Karachi… and the fireworks in the end were tremendous. As if to show the celebration of Karachi at being a World city once more. 

Idiocy Abounds

Got this from ‘The Spin’, a cricket newsletter printed by the Guardian. Goes to show the lack of intelligence that abounds…
“I reckon they’ve picked that Monty Pasannah to please the Muslim community” – a member of the public on London underground’s Jubilee Line explains why Monty Panesar, a Sikh, was picked for England Cricket team.

And it is unceasing, the frustration and anger one feels at the sheer stupidity, lack of understanding and lack of morals of the Danish and European press over the handling of the cartoons. At least the UK press have so far chosen to stay away from re-printing the cartoons. But the extremist elements who have been using the muslim protests as a bandwagon to churn their hate propoganda are just abysmal. The philosophy appears to be: “If they are worse, we will get even more worse, then they will go one step lower, and so on and so forth.”
Religion and freedom should be about tolerance, not to breed hate.
Islam should not be allowed to become a hijacked vehicle.
But I will say this again, nothing beats the sheer stupidity of re-printing such volatile cartoons. It’s like taking an ax and chopping of your own feet. Danish feet, i.e.

A Question of War

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Heard a talk by a left wing peace activist from England today at me university. He spoke of mobilizing public opinion and convincing those whose opinions matter about the idiocy of war.
I kept thinking, but what if there is one bully who wants to rule the playground? What if there will always be that bully? What if that bully is very powerful and keeps turning a deaf ear to what others say? What then? What future will be left for us? For our children…
Can there ever be true peace? Lets hope so. 

A question about Self

Who are you really? Who do you become? I’ve always thought it natural that we pick up, or rather absorb traits from people we surround ourselves with. How can you be unique then? How can you be yourself? Is it possible that in the absorption, you lose out on what you bring yourself? Could it be that in becoming an amalgamation of different people’s personalities, you forget your own? Each is still unique… because each has a singular way of representing the amalgamation of personalities that each picks up. But is it natural? I’ve begun to realize that even though it is natural, it is not forever. Even though we learn to be who we can be at the best of times, and even though we keep learning till we die, we must manage to realize who we are, rather than what we have become. I think once people start becoming comfortable and secure with who they are, they will finally bring out the truth about their own personalities. Finally they will become who they were supposed to be.
Discover our true selves. All of us do end up with who we are…

How to dismantle the ‘mair

Saturday, January 07, 2006

It’s very easy. Just follow the steps…

1-Give him flu!
2-Give him the 6-4-2 treatment!
3-Give him freezing cold weather(well it’s relative)!
4-Give it all in a wonderful package in the first week of the year!

I think that settles it… what a way to start the year!