Alien Trilogy - 1996 studio recording (A brief soundtrack review)

Unlike the Alien Resurrection soundtrack, this album has mostly active pieces, meaning that the music can stand on its own without the visuals.

Both the "Main Title" tracks from Alien and its first sequel Aliens (and especially the latter) are subtle, haunting and ethereal. These need to be listened to in an absolutely calm environment.

"Futile Escape" projects the overall character of the second movie (which, unlike the first movie, is more action than horror).

"Bishop's Countdown", which possibly may have started James Horner's long and productive career in Hollywood, gets your heart rate going. If I am in traffic, I have to ultra-concentrate on my driving.

The last three tracks, "Lento", "Candles in the wind" and "Adagio" (from Alien 3) sound right out of an orchestra. They are melancholic, inspiring and at times evoke strong feelings of agitation. "Adagio" especially ends with a premonition of disconcerting events to come.

This soundtrack can be obtained here.

Incidentally, this is my 50th post on this Blog. Right. Lets have a party.

The Benoit factor

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070626/ap_on_re_us/wrestler_dead

Who knows why someone would kill a 7 year old like that (personally I don't give a crap about the guy or his wife). A couple of summers back, one of my friends' wife jumped from their 21st floor apartment in downtown Boston. She took their toddler with her. I think I know why she jumped but could never figure out why she took the baby with her.

I don't have any of the issues apparently people like these have. Nor do I have any intention of screwing up my life. If I have to, I will deal with problems but I will shy away from putting my head in a lion's mouth. My resting heart rate is around 55 and I aim to keep it that way :)

My last post was a rather angry (and disappointed) look into the human need to reproduce. Given the disparate types of violence we see around us every day, I can't help but feel we are walking into a major quagmire of sorts.

6.5

Planet's Population Hit 6.5 Billion Saturday


Tony Blair and Co.

While I understand the instinctive need for humans to bear children (after all, we are animals too), I cannot quite agree that everyone is supposed to have children. As Gretel Ehrlich, while trekking through the glaciers of the southern Andes, writes in her wonderful The Future of Ice,

"I don't have children. The man I am with wants children. Isn't all this beauty enough?"

We have the ability to literally lighten the load on planet Earth. But the majority doesn't give a f*ck. They preach but, at the end of the day, are really only concerned about their wealth and their "traditions". I am not against material wealth. Far from it. I firmly believe that one should be able to take care of oneself and not rely on others. But if we consider ourselves higher than other animals with the ability to surmise and suppose (not to mention the ability to preserve entire ecosystems, if we so desired), then the "instinctive need theory" becomes merely an excuse...an excuse to fill an otherwise empty life. As Butters' dad remarks in an episode of South Park,

"Well, our son is a perfect void-filler!"

261 people are born every minute...

The Queen (A brief movie review)

Helen Mirren was pretty good. But then I have always had a thing for her. No, really.

I like elegance and class in general: dining in style, the feel of a good suit, dignified bearing and conduct, choice of words (when not on weed) and all that. So that and a deep interest in history have always drawn me to the sumptuousness and lifestyles of the British monarchy. To be honest, I have never been interested in Diana or the antics of Prince Charles. My interest has always been the Queen and her interaction with parliament. So naturally I decided to watch this movie.

Its a good movie. It plays out during the first week immediately following Princess Diana's death. The guy portraying Tony Blair was very good. He resembled the real man too. I wouldn't call Helen Mirren's portrayal riveting although she was outstanding in some of the difficult scenes such as when she greets some mourners publicly (I thought that I was watching the real Queen). Some of the supporting characters (such as the Queen's private secretary) and her husband (played by the ever versatile James Cromwell) stand out. Others like the guy playing Prince Charles don't. To be fair, he didn't have much to do anyway. We hardly get a glimpe of the two Princes. I didn't feel like missing anything though as my interest in the movie was only relegated to the "relationship" between the Queen and the British Premier. The tight script admirably sticks to the Queen and "Yo, Blair".

Cape Cod Trip

Ok. So I went down to the Cape again. Big deal, man. I took last Friday off on a whim and joined Sudhakar and Dan down in Eastham. We bummed around for two days. The weather was beautiful!

Click pictures below for a larger image.


Some dude was out on one of the numerous (kettle?) ponds in the area.


Almost all of the rail trail (some 25 miles or so) has been repaved gradually over the last two years.


Rock Harbor in Orleans was at really low tide. My spirits on the other hand were at an alltime high.


I did my thing at the amphitheater outside the Salt Pond Visitor center. It did not draw in the crowds. Maybe I should have taken my clothes off. But I wasn't wearing any lingerie. So...yeah.


Ah, finally...the victory pose.


Buttonbush Trail. A brief hike around Salt Pond...did not prove to be our undoing.


Buttonbush Trail.


Buttonbush Trail. I trailed behind Sudhakar and Dan most of the time...and for good reason: such shots became possible. The trail itself was no sweat but then we were only out for a pleasant ramble.


El Diablo.

The ride back to Boston was a breeze.

Cutest Movie Line

Aanchal and Meet in Masti.

In the movie, Masti, the clingy and possessive Aanchal (the super-cute Amrita Rao), calls up her husband, "Meet" Mehta (Vivek Oberoi), on the phone every half hour and gushes, "You miss me, no?"

Sprinting for life

Well my sprinting program is coming along just fine. I can feel myself tightening up all over. There is no more pain behind the knees since I changed my sprint technique a bit. Rather than trying to move as fast as I can, I've been concentrating purely on, well, technique. And bringing my rear foot to my glutes took care of the really sore upper calves issue. In time, I will get faster (as I get stronger on the movement).

I recently bought compression shorts and tried them out for the first time last evening. They made quite a difference when I sprinted last evening after class (I actually had a mid-term; couldn't wait to finish it and get out on to the track). There was a good bit of light remaining and it was a good session. I left feeling refreshed (always a good sign). Now I can't wait for my next session, probably this weekend.