Sick About FPS Games...

I used to be a big fan of first person shooters, with slight preference towards arena games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. I've spent hundreds of hours playing Q3A and UT since these games came out more than a decade ago, and recently I played through the Q3A (not team arena, the original game) single player campaign once again to reinvigorate my interest in FPS (first person shooter) games. I enjoyed every minute of playing Q3A; the final confrontation with Xaero was as good as ever, but unfortunately, that's as much as I could get my teeth in to FPSs.

I thought after replaying Q3A, I'd feel more interested to play through some modern FPS games like Battlefield Bad Company 2, Duke Nukem Forever, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, etc., but I couldn't really bring myself to playing any of these games. I did install and play DNF for a while, but even the new age Duke could not interest me much. I have been reading a lot of good stuff about MW3, and I also went to the store to buy it, but as soon as I picked up the DVD box, a silent alarm started ringing in my head which said "Don't waste your money, you'll never end up playing this!".

Instead of buying MW3, I came back home, dug my classics collection and re-installed a couple of old real time strategy games that I really enjoy(ed) playing. These are: Age of Mythology (AOM) and Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (LOTR: BFME). I already finished AOM and AOM Titan's campaigns and I started playing the evil campaign in BFME, which I've always wanted to beat but never ended up doing.

I had a blast playing AOM and AOMT as I'm now an experienced gamer. When these games first came out, my primary objective was to beat them as soon as possible so that I could move on to other games. That was when I was still in my 20s. But now, at this point of time in my life, instead of having a rushed lunch, I wanted to try a relaxed meal with starters, 2nd dishes, desserts and even coffee, which resulted in a bigger and better playing experience.

I discovered a lot of optional quests, previously unseen areas, eccentricities and new ways of winning the same battles. The memory of my last gameplay was quite vague, as it's at least 8 years old, but still glimpses came back to me while I was playing, and I found some of the rather tough and irritations missions to be quite intriguing and innovative. Instead of rush based battles, I followed more turtling, and only attacked the enemies when I had a sizeable force, which means upgraded units with all sorts of armors and weapons. Previously I solely concentrated on the mythological units, but this time around, my armies were balanced and often the human units played a better part in the battles.

Both of the above mentioned games are quite old. AOM was released in 2002 and BFME in 2006. I played AOM campaign twice before (I did not finish the 2nd playthrough) and BFME good campaign twice. When I was playing BFME, memories of the movie was fresh in my mind and I just couldn't force myself to be on the evil side and watch the hobbits and the members of the fellowship die helplessly.

However, this time around, I am happily killing the good people and having a blast trying out the different unit combinations of Isengard and Mordor army. BFME was built upon a modified C&C: Generals engine, which has served Electronic Arts (EA) quite well. In fact, versions of this engine was used as recently as in the expansion for Red Alert 3, which is still a relatively new game.

Before getting in to the RTS games again, I've spent a significant time playing only RPG games. I believe I've spent the better part of years 2009 to 2011 Q2 playing Neverwinter Nights, Witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. I am still playing DA2, and even after 5-6 playthroughs, I still enjoy the battles. Albeit the story has become stale and nowadays I skip most dialogues. The new expansions (Mark of The Assassins and Legacy) are quite interesting, though.

Especially, Mark of The Assassins was a welcome change of pace and I look forward to playing it again. However, it is pretty much frustrating in one aspect--you need a high lever player character before attempting the expansion, or else you will keep on dying. Even with a healer character, all my companions died in my very first battle when I tried beating MAO at around level 5 or 6.

Unlike DA:O expansions, MAO can't be played after beating the main game. That is, you can't play it with your previous save games. Thus even if you've beaten the game with a two handed warrior before, you can't use him to play MAO--you need to start a new game with a new incarnation of a two handed warrrior in order to play it, and which also means you have to level up this new character up to at least 10-15 levels (beating Act 2 will take you there) until you get a feel of Talis, the new female companion available in MAO.

I've also bought and installed Stronghold 3, the new version of an old castle building game, and I am finding it quite frustrating. There are two types of campaigns in the game, military and economic. I started off with the economic campaign, and I had to leave the game within 15 minutes--cause a rogue bear massacred my whole city! I thought this was the "economic" campaign where I was supposed to focus on resource gathering and building, but I didn't realise that the poor villagers needed protection, too. I had the poor excuse of a lone soldier; a settler with a weird looking pike (which actually resembled a rake rather than a pike) who was killed by a solitary pawing attack from the rabid bear! Even the apple farmers were tougher, they ran for their lives and took a couple of blows before going down.

I am yet to read a review of Stronghold 3; I just bought the game because I wanted to play a new RTS game. I also bought Cities XL 2011 sometime ago, but that game didn't really interest me much due to the sub-par graphics and complicated gameplay. I found the learning curve for Cities XL to be a bit higher than my current patience level.

As for SH3, I just read the wiki and found out that the game is heavily bugged and there's already a number of patches out. I guess I should apply the patches before attempting it again.

So I guess that's the current gaming update from me. It's been a while since I wrote anything like this, and I am feeling good after getting this done.

My Short, Corporate Biography

Md. Ishtiaque Khan has been working in the product and value added services area of the telecommunications industry since 2003. He loves to work on varied and challenging areas, and he also hates to confine his work by rules.

He has spent 2 years in GrameenPhone Ltd., the leading operator in Bangladesh and co-managed all the prepaid product offerings and related service extensions. In 2005, he took up a new challenge and moved to banglalink, which was the smallest operator of in the industry.

He joined banglalink's Value Added Services department, and played a pivotal part in the emergence of banglalink in Bangladesh as the number two operator. Before OTH (Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd.) acquired banglalink, the organization was known as Sheba Telecom, which was struggling from their inception.

As a VAS Senior executive and later on, Assistant Manager, Ishtiaque has launched and managed several key services like electronic topup, GPRS, customized ring back tone, fax and data, various voice and SMS related services, etc. He also launched a few low impact, low cost mobile email services which did not require the end user to have smartphones.

After successfully completing 3 years in VAS, in 2008 he went back to his original area of work--product development. Initially, he looked after the Medium enterprises segment in the post paid products area. Within this short time span, he launched a new customized tariff option for the enterprise market, which was highly praised and proved its long term effectiveness.

Eventually he took over the responsibility of heading the prepaid product development team. In the last 3 years, he and his team has revolutionized the prepaid offerings of the company with ground breaking revenue enhancement activities, usage and retention driven campaigns and micro segment based offerings.

He made sure all key performance areas like acquisition, revenue enhancement and ARPU maximization, retention and churn management was taken care of by utilizing both above the line and below the line promotions to get the maximum output at minimum input. The available resources were overstretched and excellent results were produced. As prepaid customers consist 95% of the company's customer base, it can be safely said that Ishtiaque and his team has great contribution in banglalink's positive EBITDA achievement.

He looks forward to expanding the prepaid segmentation model and getting higher market share for the company through clearly devised strategies and action plans in the coming years.

He is a good team player, and he has expertise in managing cross-functional work groups. He has great working knowledge of both prepaid and postpaid platforms, and he like designing new products and services and tailoring them according to Bangladesh market.

Blog Statistics

I have been blogging since 2004. This year I'll be celebrating my 7th year as a blogger. Looking back, I found out that I wrote the most number of blogs in 2005--averaging 6 entries per month. However, as work pressure multiplied, free time for writing blogs went down like anything. I thought I'd hit the absolute downhill when I got married, but luckily, I still get the odd hours or minutes to jot down something in blogger.

This graph makes me nostalgic. It's the combined result of all 4 of my significant blogs. I couldn't add the stats for Amadergaan blogs as I did not store those entries in any other location. Due to AG server crash sometime this decade, those entries are lost forever. They weren't too special anyway. Those entries were mostly centered around life in AG--the people, the events, the little cat fights and the not so subtle "politics"!

Song of the moment should be "We've come a long, long way together....through the hard times and the good...I have to celebrate you baby...I have to praise you like I should".

So today I praise my blogs, and my blogging career. My blogs will leave a lasting mark of myself on this earth. Perhaps this is the only way for an insignificant soul like myself to leave something behind.

I hope Google will be smarter than AG, and these writings will not get lost in oblivion.

My Favorite Bands

A not so comprehensive list of my favorite bands and artists:

• Acoustic Alchemy, A-Ha, Aerosmith, Astrud Gilberto
• Beatles, Bob Marley, B.B King, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Bee Gees, Bryan Adams 
• Coldplay, Chris Rea, Carlos Antonio Jobim 
• The Doors, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Dio, Def Leppard
• Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Elvis Presley, Ennio Morricone, Eminem
• Frank Sinatra, Francis Goya
• George Harrison, Garbage, Guns'N Roses, Gypsy Kings
• Iron Maiden
• John Lennon, Jennifer Paige, Jennifer Lopez, John Denver, Julian Lennon, Joe Satriani,
• Leigh Nash, Lionel Richie
• Metallica, Megadeth, Michelle Branch, Mark Knopfler, Marc Antoine, Michael Jackson, Michael Learns to Rock
• Nirvana
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney
• Queen
• Rainbow, Rufus Wainwright, Ringo Starr, Ritchie Blackmore, Rahul Sharma, Richard Clayderman, Robbie Williams
• Scorpions, Sixpence None The Richer, Shakira, Santana, Sheryl Crow, Sean Lennon, Steve Vai, Simply Red, Spyro Gyra, Stevie Wonder
• Travis, Take That, Todd Rundgren
• Utopia
• Will Smith

Greeting, not Gritting, Please!

Greeting, not Gritting, Please!

Wrote this article on a lazy afternoon.

Nova Hotel Reviewed

This review is about Nova Hotel; situated in Jalan Alor--the brightly lit food street of Bukit Bintang district in Kualalumpur. Whenever I am traveling abroad, I try to book my hotel through Agoda. However, this time around, despite of rummaging through the seemingly unlimited number of accommodation options available in Agoda, me and my wife could not agree upon a hotel.

So what happened is that I kind of gave up the pursuit and my wife took over. She Googled "KL Hotels" and found out about Nova hotel from a website called Asiawebdirect. After looking at the impressive photographs of the hotel exterior, room interior and the toilet, we both agreed that this is the best option within our budget. I tried booking through Agoda but although the hotel was listed there were no free rooms during our traveling time.

We booked the hotel for 2+2 nights. We wanted to do an early check in on 21st July, 2011. We were supposed to reach Kualalumpur at around 5 AM and we wanted to move in to the hotel by 9 AM. When booking the hotel, we mentioned our special requirement. For such cases, Agoda would always give us a specific reply. Usually someone from the hotel in question is contacted by Agoda and the hotel directly replies back to the person who booked the rooms. On such an occasion, I booked a hotel for my in laws and asked Agoda whether there's any refrigerator inside the rooms as my father in law has to keep some medicine inside his room.

The hotel gave a courteous reply that although they don't have refrigerators inside the rooms, they can store any medicine inside their own refrigerators if it is handed over at the reception.

However, in our case, we arrived at the hotel at 8 AM and was told that we cannot check in early. in fact, we could not check in before 2 PM, or even later. We arrived in KLIA (KL International airport) at around 4:30 AM, and could not sleep. We waited till there was some sunlight and took a taxi to reach Bukit Bintang at 8. Me and my wife both were really tired and desperate for some rest. The receptionist at Nova hotel realized our situation and instead of helping us out, took full advantage of our vulnerable state.

She instantly conjured a brilliant(!) solution. I have deep suspicion that these people get a share of the rooms they book. She told me that we cannot check in to our booked room now, but instead she can give us an unoccupied "family room". She will not charge any extra money despite of the fact that we are checking in early. Instead, she will just take the extra amount, i.e. the price difference between the room I originally booked (superior room) and this new one. Sounds like a good deal, right? Read on.

This so called family room was actually for 3 persons, or more. The room was big with a double and a single bed, but nothing more. The air conditioning was good (which we realized later) and we got 3 breakfast coupons (useless as it's a buffet breakfast anyway). However, the fare was exorbitant. It was almost double of what I was paying for the superior room. The deal was almost like blackmailing. The receptionist lady was arrogant enough to say that "you can take this deal or come back after 2 PM". She even refused to allow us to keep our baggage inside the hotel.

Had I been a solo traveler, I'd piss on their so called deal and walk away from there. However, I was with my wife who was damn tired, and our luggage was also huge. So I decided to take the "deal" and check in to the room. We took a good 4 hour nap. After waking up recharged and refreshed, we went out to explore the amenities of KL.

Sleep was pleasant at night. The air conditioning was really good and the bed was comfortable. We woke up a bit late and went down for breakfast at around 9:30 AM. The cafe is ingeniously named "Cassanova Cafe". I have read a few morose comments regarding the average quality of the buffet breakfast in travel websites, but what I personally experienced was way below "average".

The menu was poorly designed with very little variety and irrelevant and cumbersome items. Few people would prefer to have rice as a breakfast item; no matter how tasty or famous "Nasi Lemak" is. There was no proper labeling on the food, so I skipped "cocktail sausage" suspecting it could contain pork. Refilling was done very casually, too. During my short stay of about 30 minutes, a particular dish or two was not refilled at all. The cooking was dubious and some familiar foods tasted different.

We checked out after staying for a couple of days. We were allowed to leave behind some of our baggage in their store room. They only agreed to keep the baggage when I told them that I have another booking and will get back after returning from Langkawi. However, the receptionist insisted that even though I have an internet booking, I should ensure the room's availability by paying the entire amount beforehand.

Now this was a ridiculous and outrageous proposition. The website Asiawebdirect collected 10% of the total room fare and gave me a booking voucher that guarantees a room on the mentioned dates. This voucher should have been good enough for guaranteeing me the room.

Another point to remind--the website and my confirmation slip mentioned free Wi-Fi in the room, but in actuality wi-fi was only available at the lobby. When I inquired about this mismatch, the hotel staff informed me that the information in the website is backdated; i.e. they used to have wi-fi in all rooms before they "renovated", but it is no longer available

The best things about this hotel can be viewed from outside--literally. Location is the best or perhaps the only selling point for Nova hotel. It is situated at the very end of the illustrious food street Jalan Alor. In order to get to the hotel from Bukit Bintang, you have to enter this street which remains lively until the late hours of the night with roadside food stalls and restaurants. One day we had our dinner at 2:30 AM and still there were no lack of customers in the stores.

These restaurants sell mostly Chinese and Thai dishes. Traditional Malaysian food is also available, and so are a few Indian and continental items. So it is always a better option to have your lunch and dinner in these comparatively cheaper restaurants. Even if you book Nova hotel, you can safely skip the breakfast option and save some of your precious money. You can spend it elsewhere. KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and Subway are all less than 5 minutes walking distance away from the hotel.

As the hotel is in Bukit Bintang, a number of shopping malls are also within walking distance. These are BB Plaza, Low Yat Plaza, Berjaya Times Square, Sungei Wang Plaza, etc.

Overall, I had a memorable stay in the hotel, but it was not because of the hotel--it was due to the proximity of nice places and the presence of my dearest wife.

I have some photographs taken by my camera which I will add here later.

Tales of Dhaka City Roads

Please check out  my article in


Here's the link

or you can read it here, too:

I observed a very unusual incident a few days ago. A young guy was talking on the cellphone while riding his bike. One cannot really imagine how this feat can be achieved unless seen by own eyes. To make things more incredible, he was actually using his one hand to attach the cell phone with his right ear while trying to maintain balance with his solitary unoccupied hand. Result—he stumbled in front of a car and almost got hit by the rickshaw I was riding. The guy had a minor fall and I gave him a friendly advice – “Brother please don’t use the cellphone while driving”. My words did not register in his ears; he did not even look at me. He simply got up, set his cycle on the street, gave a meek smile and within no time, I saw him repeating the same activity. Soon he had to slow down again to avoid getting hit by another speeding vehicle.

This is an extreme example of the roadside hazards that we face everyday in our beloved Dhaka city.  Thanks to the bread earning job, everyday I have to make two mandatory travels—one in the morning and the other after sunset. Apart from these, I also have to do those small strolls and extended rides to satisfy various needs during the day time.

In my opinion, pedestrians and rickshawpullers are the prime reason behind traffic jams and accidents in Dhaka city. Almost everyday, we have to exercise rock’ n roll dance moves in our car in order to save the lives of a pedestrian or two.

Let me paint an everyday picture for a better understanding. Imagine you are driving your car at normal speed on a typical Dhaka evening. Car movement is slow due to dense traffic. Suddenly you notice that there is a significant gap between you and the next car ahead. Naturally, you would want to speed up to cover the distance. However, it is almost biblical that a stray pedestrian will want to utilize the gap and run to cross the road. So what happens is that you have to break hard, make some deafening tire screeching noise and stop the car “just” before hitting the adventurous jaywalker.

Now you just stopped yourself from killing an innocent. Innocent, is he? No, he is not.

He did not assess the traffic situation before attempting to cross the road. He failed to notice the incoming, speeding cars. He is totally irresponsible to both himself, his family and everyone around. He nearly killed himself, and it is only because of your extraordinary braking skill and driving finesse he can still glare at you unharmed. It is only natural that he will shout out obscenities at you for being a “mad, people killing” driver while you will be in a bewildered state.
The pedestrian walks away unharmed, but you, the driver, continue to remain grumpy and shaken. He just “unmade” your day. For the remainder of the journey, you tend to be over cautious and slow. This causes you severe annoyance to the other drivers on the road. They get impatient by your slow driving and make it a holy quest to show you the way “it is done”. For the remainder of your journey, all you hear is deafening honking of varied horns at the back. 

According to everyone’s trusted friend Wikipedia, a vehicle horn is a sound-making device used to warn others of the approach of the vehicle or of its presence. However, I am quite sure that once overused, the “warning” part of the definition turns in to “annoying”. Actually a vehicle horn becomes a sound making device that is used to annoy others.

It seems that drivers are always keeping a hand on the horns just to annoy pedestrians and other drivers on the roads. The relentless honking of several kinds of horns (ranging from hare krishna hare raam type sounds to vuvuzela imitators) will make even the most ardent heavy metal fan’s ears revolt. It is a mystery how we, the Dhaka city dwellers are still eluding deafness. Or are we? Maybe there is some unpublished statistic that shows that on average, 80% of the city dwellers are already suffering from some kind of hearing imparity.

And these are just a few examples of what goes on in the streets of Dhaka....

Life's Little Updates

It's been a long time since I just "blogged away". Most of my recent attempts at blogging centered around a particular topic or theme, and naturally, most of those entries are rotting in the drafts section. You can call it a writer's block or a publisher's nightmare, but the reality is--I haven't been able to finish them and it is most likely that they won't get published anytime soon. But then again, does anyone really care to read my blog anymore? I had a circle of blog friends some time back. They'd write, I'd read and vice-versa. But most of them, just like me, have become really busy with life and they just gave up writing. I used to know some really promising writers. It's a pity now that they can't find any time for blogging.

So what's been going on with my life? 

I have a very involved social life now. Since getting married in 2009, most of my weekends are now occupied with visits to the in laws or attending some social event. I have a huge extended family. My wife has numerous uncles, aunts and a plethora of cousins. My own is not little, too. Almost every month someone has a birthday, marriage anniversary, or some other memorable event where anybody and everybody belonging to the social cohort needs to attend. These just can't be avoided. And, oh, by the way, the toughest of all are the full fledged wedding ceremonies. The cousins have started to get married, and each occasion yields 3-5 invitations on different days!

While I am not averse to enjoying these occasions, it becomes a bit painful when they fall during weekdays. To make things worse, sometimes the venues are too far away and sometimes I need to spend too much time attending them. I can't complain about an event where I have to show up in time, mingle with a lot of people, have a mouthful and return home peacefully. However, the ones where I need to actively participate, arrive long before anyone is even dressed up and stay till the last guest has left and a little bit more really bores me and wears me out. I am just not that social. 

I always prefer a quiet day at home or a lovely evening with just my wife against meeting a hell load of people in a cramped space with inadequate air conditioning. Summer in Bangladesh is getting bad to worse. The other day the temperature inside the car (before turning on the AC and after it had been parked under the open sky for an hour) was as high as 45 degrees (centigrade). Spending a significant portion of the day in a highly comfortable environment has accustomed me to disliking any hot place. 

Yes, I am talking about my office. The air conditioning works really well, and we are hardly warm--even during the winter. So any deviance from the comfort zone just irritates the hell out of me, and survival with a sane mind gets challenging.

So today I have another invitation, and it is after work. I still have an hour or two to go before getting out of work. Despite of having a heavy lunch "oh so typical" of Bangladeshi peoples, I am feeling hungry. But going out to grab a bite is not really possible right now and I don't think I will be doing that.

I have become quite regular on twitter now. I used to have a gadget added in my blog which shows my latest tweets. But unfortunately it is no longer there. When I had the gadget, I'd hardly use twitter. Actually, I totally missed the point of twitter back then. Now I use it as a weapon of mass ranting. All my rants, whines and complains against life gets dumped in twitter.

I have 583 tweets, and I am sure at least 550 of them are rants. Hehe, no, it's not that bad. But it is still worth a laugh reading all of it.

Right now I am chewing a piece of minty gum and waiting for the time to come. The time to get out of office, that is. A new album from Andrea Corr is coming up and I can't wait to hear it. I really miss the band Corrs and Andrea's first solo album hardly filled the void.

Lifelines is the upcoming CD. I hope I will be able to get it as soon as it comes out.

Ten feet high was a good album, but nothing exceptional. She tried to sing like a popstar in this album, but she should realize by now that her fans are more accustomed to listening to her voice the usual celtic arrangements of her band. Instead of violins and cellos, this album utilizes rock guitar riffs, pop drum beats and electronic sounds. While it works in a few tracks, overall the album was not great.

However, the album blue on blue by Leigh Nash was actually a great album. Leigh is relevant because both Andrea and Leigh started their solo careers after their well known bands went in to hiatus. The song kiss me is still one of my all time favorite songs by Sixpence None The Richer. 

Good news for all, Sixpence None The Richer is active again and they will soon bring out a new album. 

 

Anyway, enough of random writing for the day. Will resume some other day. 

The skin jumps opposite the impersonal convenience.

The skin jumps opposite the impersonal convenience.

Drafts and Drafts

My blogger dashboard is filled with drafts and drafts. I have too many unfinished pieces of writing, which are beckoning at me to finish them up. But it is either a lack of motivation or a lack of time that prevents that miracle from happening. But fear not, someday those will get published and shared all over the world wide web.

You can't take the writer out of me, ever.

LOTR Funny Animation

Things You Need to Know about Fifa World Cup 2010 Part 2

Thanks for reading the 1st part of this article. If you haven't read it already, it's still up for your reading pleasure. If you have read that part, you already know the most important 3 things. Here's some more "good to know" facts:

1. WAG 

WAGs (or Wags) is an acronym used particularly by the British tabloid press to describe the wives and girlfriends of high-profile football players, originally the England national football team.The term came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although it had been used occasionally before that.

Fab Cap is wag-ing a war against wags

We've been hearing this term long before the Fifa World Cup 2010 commenced, because the English coach Fabio Capello banned the presence of "WAG"s near the footballers during the tournament. Few other teams have followed suit. I was quite sick and tired of reading stories involving WAGs threatening coaches and the players moaning about their absence until I read this story:

 Sara Carbonero, High On Tide WAG

Sara Carbonero, a beautiful sideline reporter and girlfriend of Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas, is being blamed by some fans for Spain's shocking World Cup loss to Switzerland on Wednesday.

The Guardian reports that the gorgeous sportscaster is accused of distracting her boyfriend by being so close to the field before and during the crucial match. Casillas allowed the game's only goal, and Spanish fans are worried that Carbonero could be to blame.The Spanish beauty later shot back at critics, dismissing claims that she "destabilized the team" as "nonsense."

After the game, Carbonero interviewed her boyfriend and asked him about the team's unexpectedly lousy performance. On live TV, she asked her lover, "How did you muck this up?" 

Poor Robert Green, he had to watch his girlfriend, the ball, and his place in team slip away altogether

Spain's former coach also criticized the team after the surprising loss, telling reporters that the team didn't have "enough conviction" against the Swiss. Casillas is not the only World Cup goalkeeper whose performance is said to have been affected by romantic complications. English goalie Robert Green may have been torn up by his split with a young lingerie model when he allowed an infamous goal to the United States.

Also, in a triangle love scenario, John Terry lost his English captaincy. Eventually Steve Gerrard got the arm band, but England is yet to win a game and I feel they will have to pack their bags, take their rags, collect their wags and go home early this year. 

Lol, poor footballer lads. Not only do they have to perform well, they also have to put up with this kind of stupid media stories that can affect their actual performance as well as personal relationships.

2. Hublot

If you've been following the world cup games, you must have noticed that all teams are required to have a player named "Hublot" in their squad and after a certain period of game, some off-form star is taken off to bring on "Hublot" to the game. Hehe, no, that's not really the case, but me and my cousin used this story as a running gag against our WAG, ahem wives to confuse them and to get some laughter out of it.

 

The Fifa guy and the Hublot guy

Hublot is actually a Swiss  enterprise  creating luxury watches and founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. Every time a player is changed, the fourth official hoists a electronic numeric board with the name Hublot written above it and the player jersey numbers displayed below--green guy is getting in and red guy is being substituted. The fourth official also uses it to show extra time remaining.

Mr. Hublot, the most prolific player of the Fifa WC

During the first game, me and cousin were shouting out "here comes Hublot--he will score 3 goals and win the game!". Wives took it naturally. However, when we repeated the same thing in the next match, they got suspicious and commented "how come there's a Hublot in every match?". 

So when you watch a game next time, keep an eye out for the Hublots!

3. Red Cards 

A red card is shown by a referee to signify that a player has been sent off.  A player who has been sent off is required to leave the field of play immediately and must take no further part in the game. The player who has been sent off cannot be replaced during the game; his team must continue the game with one player fewer. Only players, substitutes and substituted players may receive a red card. Law 12 of the Laws of the Game lists the categories of misconduct for which a player may be sent off. These are:

• Serious foul play (a violent foul)
• Violent conduct (any other act of violence)
• Spitting at anyone
• A deliberate handling offense to deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by any player other than a goalkeeper in his own penalty area
• Committing an offence that denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (informally known as a professional foul)
• Using offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures
• Receiving a second caution (yellow card) in one game

In most tournaments, a single direct red card (i.e. not one received as a result of two successive yellow ones) results in disqualification of the offending player for one or more of subsequent matches, the exact number of matches varying by the offence committed and by jurisdiction. Since the red card is the main punitive instrument against unsportsmanlike behavior, recurrent offenders and team captains are often punished more harshly than others.

So basically if you get a red card, it's good bye to you, my trusted friend. The Brazillian midfield supremo Kaká received a red card after receiving two yellow cards. The second card was given for a controversial elbow in the direction of Abdul Kader Keïta. The Telegraph called the incident leading to the second yellow card "an innocuous off the-the-ball incident" 

 There goes Kaka

Since then, many girls are unhappy and wondering when the pretty boy of Brazil will return. Hopefully he will return on the 2nd round match of Brazil.

So that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

P.S. All linked images are property of their respective owners. I have simply borrowed them to make this article more informative. Italicized portions have been borrowed from wikipedia or other trusted online sources.

 

Things You Need to Know about Fifa World Cup 2010 Part 1

Without being too prejudiced, I can safely assume that some of you have little clue about why these 22 people in two distinct color starts chasing something called Jambura..err I mean Jabulani after a whistle is blown by another different colored guy called a "referee". No, this referee has no business with giving out references, nor do they need any.

To the people who have recently came from Mars to visit planet Earth and has no clue about the Beautiful game, here's my short list of "must know facts".

1. Vuvuzela

What the hell is this? Is it an obscure "Jela", i.e. district of Bangladesh? I got this response when I asked this question to some of my family members. No, it is not anything like that.  

"Sometimes called a "lepatata"  or a stadium horn, Vuvuzela is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. They require some lip and lung strength to blow and emit a loud monotone like a foghorn or an elephant."

So it's basically a very loud horn that makes an elephant like sound. When I first heard the sound during the opening ceremony of the world cup, it sounded to me like thousands of white blistering mosquitoes are horrendously humming, but apparently wikipedia thinks it's elephant, not mosquito, and of course wiki knows better....

2. Jabulani 

No it's not really a Jambura (a south asian fruit), but instead it's a football. Yeah, the football that is played with the feet, not the ones you carry with and run like crazy bulls towards other crazy bulls (rugby/american football/boring stuff/NRB wannabes, etc. etc.). 

The Adidas Jabulani is this year's football. It will be used in all the matches of Fifa world cup 2010. Most of the goalkeepers think it's a terrible ball, while some famous players (among which some has Adidas as one of their sponsors) have publicly praised the ball. 

How is it made? (does anyone care?):

"The ball is constructed using a new design, consisting of eight (down from 14 in the last World Cup) thermally-bonded, three-dimensional panels. These are spherically-moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The surface of the ball is textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called GripnGroove that are intended to improve the ball's aerodynamics. The design has received considerable academic input, being developed in partnership with researchers from Loughborough University, United Kingdom." 

So it's a science "ball" made with a lot of alcohols and these balls are 3D! Wow, after Avatar 3D, here comes 3D balls. This is the era of science indeed. 

By the way, these balls are made "in China, using latex bladders made in India, thermoplastic polyurethane-elastomer from Taiwan, ethylene vinyl acetate, isotropic polyester/cotton fabric, glue, and ink from China", so every time Messi/Kaka/Mama/Chacha/Ronaldo is kicking a jabulani, he is actually kicking an Indian bladder (lol).

3. Waka Waka

If you are not doing the Waka Waka yet, you ain't got no life, fool! 

"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" in English, and "Waka Waka (Esto es África)" in Spanish is a song by Shakira featuring Freshlyground. The song will be performed by Shakira and South African group Freshlyground, at the Closing Ceremony before the World Cup Final on July 11 in Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium

"Waka Waka" was written by Shakira and John Hill and co-produced by John Hill. The track, samples the chorus of the 1986 Cameroonian  hit song "Zangaléwa", by Cameroonian band Golden Sounds, features Afro-Colombian instrumentation, Soca beat and South African guitars.The song was also based on Waka Waka by the Surinam-Dutch group Trafassi. The song consists of rhythmical African sounds, and represents the vitality and energy of the host continent. Indian music composers Salim and Sulaiman Merchant also collaborated with South African singers Loyiso Bala and Eric Wainaina to record the anthem for FIFA World Cup 2010

Damn, Indians again. They are taking over the world. They want the world and they want it now!.

Anyways, it's a catchy song with a nice beat. Even if you're a heavy heavy thrash metal fan who can't walk a moment without banging your head, you should try seeing, err I mean listening to this great song by "Shake"ira. You can at least check out the videos....

That's all for the time being. More to come...

Excerpt from Fail Book

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Album Review: This Way by Acoustic Alchemy

Acoustic Alchemy is not a very new band. They have been around for some time, and it's all good. Starting from Red Dust and Spanish Lace in 1987, the band has walked a long way. AA (Acoustic Alchemy) purists are divided in opinion in regards to their recent works. The band had a number of line up changes in the last two decades, but they always stuck to the formula of having two acoustic guitarists playing together--one with steel string (Nick Webb), and another with nylon string (Greg Carmichael). 

Greg and Nick were not the founder members, but the duo has been part of the most successful period of AA. After Nick Webb's death in 1998, the band took a new direction which has divided the fans. Miles Gilderdale, a student of Greg was brought in to fill the shoes of Nick, and the rest is, in my opinion, is history.

I am using the term "In My Opinion (popularly abbreviated as IMO in the internet)" because AA purists often differ in this case. They think acoustic alchemy, as an acoustic guitar focused smooth jazz band died with the death of its original frontman Nick Webb's death. According to the purists, AA got "soldout" and diverged from the promised formula of dual acoustic guitars. This allegation might be true to a certain extent., but it lacks dept. 

A listener will clearly experience the difference between the music in recent albums like "This Way", "American English" and the music in earlier albums like "Natural Elements", "Positive Thinking", etc. However, not all of these changes are bad. Acoustic Alchemy is now a modern band that can satisfy the musical needs of today's listeners without going through massive changes. The proven and tested formula has been refreshed and enhanced by newer elements; it has not been replaced. There are still two acoustic guitarists in the band, and they still do alchemy, but now the music has been enhanced with the talent of many other musicians.

Whereas past albums focused more on the sound of the acoustic guitars, new albums, including This Way, includes a wide array of instruments ranging from electric guitars, horns, saxophones to bass solos, drum beats and congo beats. Acoustic Alchemy in 2007 is very different from their 90's incarnation, but the difference is positive. 

 

The album starts off with a lovely, soothing tune called "Love Is All There Is". The song starts with a male-female chorus which could have been left out. The tempo of the song varies, but it sticks to a slow beat. Not the best album opener, but not bad, too.

Ernie is a beautiful assimilation of reggae and latin music. The song is a tribute to a renowned Jamaican guitarist, and the tune stays truthful towards the theme. With some words spoken in Bob Marley accent (read Jamaican) thrown inside, the song is something that AA fans have never experienced before. One of the highlights of the album, but might get a bit repetitive after a while.

Who Knows is definitely one of the better instrumental pieces in the album. The song flows smoothly with a saxophone and guitar fused introduction and ends with a confused state. Yes, I thought  the song  perfectly portrays a confused mind, asking the question "Who knows..." 

After the somewhat slow to medium tempo songs, here comes Slampop, which does not use any complex instrumentation, but constantly flows with a perfect blend of steel and nylon guitar. While Greg delivers the consistent, similar beat guitarworks, Miles pauses the upbeat song and delivers his nylon solos. Afterwards both guitarists continue to play together and deliver one of the nicest songs in the album. This truly has been the AA formula, and it works once again.

Out of Nowhere is the best song in the album, period. From the introductory guitar solo towards the drum aided middle portions and the changes of pace throughout the song is mind blowing. This is a classic AA tune and it's just too nice. The song never gets old, and it never fails to soothe the mind. Whenever I have an agitated mind, I calm myself down by playing this tune on my Ipod. This song comes out of nowhere and appeases my mind.

This Way is another beautiful song. Probably the second best song in the album. This is also a peaceful tune.

The next part of the album consists of four average tunes and a better tune. Carlos the King is a tribute to Carlos Santana. The song is played in the style of Santana's playing, but the AA condiment is also present. A great tribute from a great band to a great guitarist. Can't fail. 

The other songs are nice, and grows on to you, but they are not too impressive out of the box.  Egg has an interesting sound that is not too common for AA. Now I'm On My Way plays a dreamy instrumentation, but the tune isn't that great. I'd call it an experiment that did not go too well. Tied up With String should not belong to an AA album. It's not that it's a bad song, but it just doesn't sound like AA at all. 

All said, this is a must buy album for any Smooth Jazz fans, and Acoustic Alchemy fans should not miss it at any cost. This Way is a pretty old album now--it came out in 2007, but still it kicks in some good songs, and you can enjoy it while driving or before falling asleep. 

Rating: 8/10

Any comments will be much appreciated.

 

The Remastered Stereo Boxset is Finally Here

I still can't believe I own the Beatles Remastered Box set. It cost me a fortune, but every penny was well spent. I am just loving the redefined, clear, breath taking sound. Will review individual songs later. Here's some pictures taken today

Ain't The CD's Pretty? Click for larger view

Remove Virus in XP that Disables “Show Hidden Files”

Source of this information is this page

"There is a certain virus that prevents XP users from viewing the hidden files.

The virus meddles with the ’Show hidden files and folders’ option in the Folder Options and the option keeps bouncing back to ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’, despite repeated trials.

Here is how you can set this problem right:

Navigate to the windows registry:
Go to Start menu
Click Run
Type regedit in the text box and then click Enter.

When the Registry Editor opens, perform the following steps:

Go to the following registry key:

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then open Software.Under this navigate to: Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Explorer Then go to Advanced -> Folder -> Hidden -> SHOWALL
Delete the value CheckedValue.
(Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 2 or 0.)

Create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD).

Modify the value data to 1 (0×00000001).This should enable you to select the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option without much problem.

Do drop in comments if there are further queries and we shall try to find answers."

This tip works! In fact, it works so well, that I am posting it here in my blog for future reference. This virus has troubled me a lot, and the last time I tried fixing it, I ended up formatting my hard drive and re-installing windows.

Thanks to the original author for this great tip.

My Beatles Gadget

Rock Band Beatles Instruments

Aren't these gadgets simply awesome?

9/9/9 : Beatles Day

Yes, soon this beauty will be mine. I have asked a friend of mine to bring the whole stereo box set for me. It might cost me $180 or more....but I don't care about the cost. I just need to own this. After buying the remastered boxset, my next target will be to get hold of the rock band beatles game. Unfortunately, I will also have to get a current generation console (PS3 or Xbox360) in order to play the game. There's no PC version yet. I wonder why they are not thinking about a PC version. I think most Beatles fans (maybe everyone) owns a PC which is capable of running the game. Also, as far as I know, most of the accessories (the guitars, drums, mics, etc.) are USB compatible and can be used with computers easily.

It's a shame....

By the way, today's 9/9/9...9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year of the century. Considering the number of activities related to 9 and Beatles, this can surely be called Beatles day. The ones that I know of:

The song Revolution 9
The song Cloud 9 (George Harrison Solo)
One after 909 (song from Let it Be album)
Launch of Rock Band Beatles
Launch of the remastered catalog of Beatles songs (all albums)

Need anymore reasons to make 9/9/9 the Beatles day? No.

PC User VS Mac User

Lol poor Mac user!

Revolution

You Say you wanna revolution?

Rock Band Beatles is going to be the biggest video game, ever.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

This is a great song. It blew me away when I first heard it. The lyrics is unlike any other song. The song was first released in the Beatles white album, which in my opinion, is one of the better Beatles albums. However, I did not hear the Beatles version first--I heard the George Harrison solo version from the Concert from Bangladesh LP. I loved the concert version more, but later on I started to like the album version, too.

There are some good covers and bootleg versions available, too. The Jeff Healey cover is very good, and the alternate version in Anthology and love album is also nice to hear. I like the anthology version in particular as it slows down the tempo to a great extent.

To be honest, While My Guitar Gently Weeps doesn't sound like a Beatles song at all. The introductory guitar riff was written by no one other than the great Eric Clapton; a close friend of George. George wanted to make the song sound less like a Beatle tune. If you even compare the song with his other efforts in white album, i.e. Piggies, Savoy Truffle, Long, Long, Long; it sounds quite different. It's a fast song with lots of guitar solos and nice lyrics.

More Pics from Beatles Remastered Catalogue

Mono Box Set

Remastered Box Set

I'd so love to get hold of these! I have been a life long Beatles fan (almost) and I hardly pass a day without anything Beatle in it. People who know me personally knows how much the band and their music means to me.

Beatlemania resurrected!

The Beatles Remastered Box Set

The Beatles remastered stereo box set. and Mono Box set (Copyright Apple Corps Ltd.)

First look at The Beatles remastered box set

Resurrection of My Writings

It's been a while since I wrote my last piece of writing. I feel I am not doing justice to myself by remaining absent from the writer's world. Actually, a tremendous increase in work load, personal priorities, resurgence of video gaming as well as lack of inspiration are all the resultant forces behind my absence. However, topics never cease from hitting my brain, and one such topic is "Favorite pop videos". This topic struck me on my way back to Dhaka from Cox'sbazar. I was watching the video for "To Brazil" by Vengaboys in my ipod touch, and I thought I should make a list of my favorite videos and write something about them in an episodic manner. I am not sure whether I can do that, but I can at least make the list. So here goes the list, in no particular order:

1. November Rain - Guns' N Roses
2. Real Love - The Beatles
3. Free As A Bird - The Beatles
4. Take on Me - Aha

Wait, is this what I wanted to write about? Not really...I wanted to write about "Videos that you love but never admit doing so", and the top of the list video was going to be "To Brazil" by Vengaboys and "Barbie Girl" by Aqua; followed by "Who Let The Dogs Out" by Bahamen.

I have been haunted by a deep desire to write a story regarding the death of John Lennon. It will have a style similar to the one I applied in my sole, full fledged work--"Lunch is Beautiful". In order to do so, I did some research on the whole death incident. I got a lot of information which I can use in my story. I am writing it down here as I don't want my idea to go in to oblivion--I want it to stay documented. This blog will act as a reminder to me to start working on the idea. I have a very basic framework in mind, but I haven't really decided upon the details.

John Lennon and His Killer, M.D.Chapman

I got engaged last month, and life is quite different now. Also, I am now leading one of the most important departments of my organization, and hence work load and responsibility is sky high. I have very little personal time which I can utilize to write stuff. It is unfortunate, but life is like that. Nothing much is there for me to change it....and maybe I am liking it this way?

I do miss writing often, though. There were times when I would keep on writing pages after pages, without even bothering that no one might even read it.

Imagine is one of the greatest songs ever. I so love it