I AM

" I am different: I am what has never been before: I am the first ray of a new sun: I am the anti-thesis to narrow minds, yet neither am I the sort of liberal that scoffs at history and culture: I am today, and also the day after tomorrow.

I am the one who dislikes being just ordinary: I have looked into myself and found that I am nobody's slave: I am not lost because I trust the road I walk: I am not limited because I see no boundary: I have found that I am unchained, unshackled.

I am free... and I know it."

Huthuka Chishi

DANCE OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY

I know that it is much delayed but the PX100 review will need a few more days before I can wrap it up conclusively. The reason is two fold- firstly the sound seems to be changing, though subtly, so I need it to settle reasonably . Secondly I have been trying to get my hands on some rather professional grade test tracks. But expect it to be done in a few more days.

With that put aside, let me come to the subject of today's post- classical music. Not the whole synopsis of course!
I am an omnivore when it comes to music; anything from children of Bodom to U2 and Duke Ellington works for me. But for a serious session of listening I always go to classical or Jazz. The amount of detail and meat you find in these two genres lack parallel in others( I am saying this at the risk of sounding provocative and controversial).

So there's this particular piece by Tchaikovsky called 'Dance of the sugar plum fairy', that I was listening to the other day. It figures quite prominently on my Ipod's 'Classical' playlist and so of course I've heard it before. But this time I paid close attention to it and came to a very disturbing conclusion: it's beguilingly innocent title hides a very macabre quality!

The whole construct of the piece rings with a sinister and eerie quality. Now, don't call me schizophrenic, but after some substantial listening I am led to say it. This of course is my personal conclusion. That's not to say that Tchaikovsky was a weirdo, or to take it to another level, that there is a conspiracy afoot. I instead feel that this is a perfect example of music's subliminal capabilities. In the hands of a master like Tchaikovsky notes and structures become complex constructs that develop a multi-level quality.

As I listened to the piece the mental picture of a sweet looking fairy prancing on window sills changed into something quite different. Think horror flicks like ' The tooth fairy'... Tchaikovsky seemed to project something that, despite the folk storyish connotations of goodness and innocence, is equally sinister because of it's most compelling quality- it's mysteriousness. The fairy is really an unknown, or even unknowable, entity and thus one cannot be utterly sure about its intent and motives.

As the score weaves through the most eerily beautiful chords I began to imagine a beguilingly beautiful being rising and falling in hypnotizing rhythm in a misty and swampy forest: Its beauty at odds with an equally scary quality. Who knows whether the sweet fairy dances to delight and rescue the lost traveler, or to ensnare him further in magic and nightmares...

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=HSQ3ZRmkmy4

Picture credit goes to www.nihilmedia.com

RATIONING WISDOM ( OR JUNK, which of course depends on perspective!)

'The way to live a meaningful life?
Work, solitude, good communication and prayer.'

THE LONG DELAYED REVIEW OF THE SENNHEISER PX100

SO here's the long delayed review of the Sennheiser PX100:-) To start with I'll tell you why I wanted to ditch the stock apple ear buds.
1. it does not fit! This was the most irritating thing about those white cans. Firstly stuffing it into the average sized ear is a painful exercise; secondly they do not stay where they are supposed to, i.e; inside your ear.
2. The bass is all but absent by which I mean that the low end has done a disappearing act.This is especially apparent when you are listening to orchestral music and club.
3. Ear fatigue is a problem due to the over emphasized high end. An hour is the most I can use these phones before my ear starts ringing like a damned Church bell!
4. The sound stage is pretty dismal.
But strangely enough these phones have some plus points too. The mid and highs are quite OK and so acoustic music benefits quite a bit from it. In fact when it comes to acoustic I like their sound better than my Sennheiser PX100! Don't crucify me for saying that. On the acoustic guitar version of 'Fur Elise' by Beethoven for instance the guitar sounds pretty clean and musical. On the PX100 it sounds fine but the brilliance becomes a tad muffled.
Anyway beside that plus point these phones were pathetic when it came to other music so they simply had to go.
The choices I had for a replacement were three; the PX100 or the CX500 or the CX300. All by Sennheiser because I have used and broken a MX550 by them and I quite liked the sound signature. After a lot of reading on online reviews I decided that I wanted over the ear mini headphones rather than the in ear canal sort. Thus the PX100.

REVIEW:
These phones are fold able to help in portability .Out of the pack it is pretty impressive coming in a sturdy and attractive sun-glass case look alike. It feels sturdy enough and the weight is not an issue at all. The cord is longer than necessary to use with a portable but while watching movies on your laptop it's pretty handy; further while carrying it around you can coil the extra length into a pretty unobtrusive size and stuff it along with the player. The pads on the drivers are not nearly as comfortable as a full sized headphone but neither are they uncomfortable. Overall it looks and feels pretty solid, though some people make an issue of it's thin plastic cum metal band...well, dude it's meant to be portable you know, duh!

Now let's move to the all important issue of sound. Surprise! Out of the pack it sounds a little underwhelming. All those super awesome reviews do hike your expectations up to an unrealistic level. Not that it's crappy mind you. They still sounded way better than the cans I ditched them for. But then I knew a secret: headphones like any good speakers need some time for burn in.
So I played all kinds of bass heavy sounds at a considerable level for some hours and sure enough I could discern a change in the sound. Gradually it improved and now that I've been using it for around three weeks I'm pretty much sold on these! Now some would call this a mental thing, like you know how its all in my head. But believe me no company can sell so many of their phones simply because of mental trickery; and by Jove, these headphones sell!

So how would I describe the sound? I'll describe the performance of these headphones on three levels- low, mid and high and I'll deal with each in a seperate post cuz I want to do a real review.

LOW END- They blow away the stock Ipod earphones a whole galaxy away! Simple as that. Not only that, in comparison with my broken MX550 too, which were substantially better than many in ears I've used , they performed exceptionally well. The low ends are produced faithfully and there is very less bloating happening. As a result electronic and club music sounds full and lively while orchestral music sounds grand! Hip hop, trance and the other genres that emphasize low ends benefit hugely too. However, a note of caution- these cans will not over exaggerate bass so for chronic bass lovers I'd say look elsewhere. My reference track for the low ends were the whole 'Sentimento' album of Andrea Bocelli, 'All I ever wanted' by Bass hunter, 'lollipop' by Lil Wayne and 'Good Morning little schoolgirl' by Johnny Lang.

Without exception the PX100 performed brilliantly on all tracks! On 'Mattinata' by Andrea Bocelli the bass string section comes through perfectly lending just enough support to the song without overwhelming it totally. Very little, if any, bloating noise is noticed, and for a headphone this size that's superb considering how orchestral music is so notorious for being hard to reproduce accurately!

On the Basshunter track the bass sound around the 16th second mark makes a confident entrance with aplomb; this particular song on the earlier ipod stock sounded positively teeny, but on these they sound marvellous!

The next track was no less challenging because it has these very low end sounds that most bass addicts call 'boom'. On less accomplished headphones they sound like a loose rubber band but on these they sound pretty good. Now given their size one cannot expect them to give the same response as high quality speakers but its impressive that one can hear these low ends at all on a headphone this size! You can hear these low end sounds boom and then spread like a nuclear explosion even without EQs, but boost the bass using a good EQ and boy, do these blow!

Finally the Johnny Lang track. Now Johnny Lang deals with that particular brand of music that's neither decidedly Blues nor Jazz but falls somewhere in between. And we all know what Blues Rock sounds like- bass lines being prominent through out the songs. On this particular song too the bass line is present in abundance and the PX100s do a darned good job of reproducing them! Even more than in the previous songs these type of songs need a very steady grip because the bass needs to sound controlled and tight. The PX 100 latches on to them bass lines and plays them like a God Sent! Just heavenly the sound that comes out on this particular track.

So then these cans rock on the bass front but what about the mids and highs? Well, you'll have to come back for an update in my next post :-) Though I hate these delay tactics I am too lazy to finish it at once and I will not compromise on the quality of my review either by adopting a short cut. So see you then.

SENNHEISER PX100

After a humongous amount of research I finally went and got myself a Sennheiser PX100 yesterday. And I am as pleased as punch with my latest toy! On a side note the seller tried to dupe me and pass off a fake as the real thing at first, but on closer observation and enquiry he finally popped the real thing out. Needless to say there was a huge difference in the sound quality between the two. It goes beyond logic to add also that the ipod stock earphones kow tow to these new headphones.

One thing I'm slowly realizing is that ipods are not exactly the most musical sounding DAP( for the uninitiated it stands for digital audio player) around. Several other brands such as creative, Microsoft Zune, Cowon and even Sansa are claimed to handle music much better. I tend to agree with this view but I don't dislike the ipod's sound signature either; nonetheless to my ears the humble 1g shuffle sounds better than all its other big brothers; dunno what Apple was thinking... So for those who want uncompromising sound quality get the Zune or the Cowon D2 instead.

Ok, coming back to headphones again, this time I went with an over the ear mini headphone instead of the usual IEM( In ear monitors). The reason was manifold-
a) Its much more comfortable.
b) It causes lesser ear fatigue.
c) It has a wider sound stage.
d) The sound also tends to be more realistic, in that it cames from outside the ear rather than from within the ear canal.

I liked the sound of these new headphones right out of the pack but I'm giving it a few more days of play for the burn in which I incidentally believe in. I am playing a loop of Pink and white noises through it which purportedly does the work of burn in quite effectively. For more info about these colorful names google them. Since these are still in the burn in phase I cannot give a full review as yet but I'll just say that they sound much better than the ipod stock earphones. If I were to quanitfy the change I'd say its about four times as good; but mind you this is very unscientific and I'm using the very dubious guessnomics as the standard here!

As to the price I paid 2,400 rs here in India which roughly translates to around 50$ according to the current exchange rate. You may get it for lesser but ebay India retails it for 2,699 and so I think it was a good price. I'll post pictures and a full review after a few days. One more thing, the gear came with a very cool case:-) Have a great day!

MUMBAI IN CHAOS

Since my last post a lot has been happening... but none has been as dramatic and tragic as the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Till the last official release the body count closes in on 200, however, other agencies report far higher figures.In the light of this mishap my last post seems almost prophetic as it dealt with the concept of doom.

India has always taken a more diplomatic stance in opposition to its neighbor Pakistan's aggressive attitude. The role of the United States as the pacifist needs no elaboration; despite the current global movement against the US its diplomatic power is beyond dispute. It in fact even managed to stave off any reactionary actions from India's side when the Indian embassy in Kabul was bombed, and Pakistani spies were found to have contributed to it logistically.

This time however things will most probably be different if the mood of the public in general and the government in particular is any indication. In no uncertain terms Prime minister Manmohan Singh has placed the blame right at the doorstep of Pakistan, and naturally Pakistan has protested. With the elections also approaching quickly the government has the added pressure of having to perform in suitable ways; we all know how the approach of elections can make politicians turn coats.

If my recent menory serves me correctly the battle of Kargil started almost too quietly. One day things were seemingly OK and the next day battle lines were drawn. With Pakistan's threat to withdraw its military from the Afghan border and deploy them along Indian lines I gingerly await news of a fresh conflict- but this time on a bigger scale than Kargil.

No, its not that I am looking forward to it but there are certain deductions that we need to make from time to time. I sincerely wish that things would settle, yet, I also know that just wishing for an ideal state is naivety. And this time around it sure looks like India is not too keen on diplomacy alone.

A subject for thought... a muslim body has refused to bury the bodies of the terrorists slain in the encounter.

TOLKIEN AND HIS PHILOSOPHY...

I am a huge Tolkien Fan despite what some critics say about the quality of his writing. I think that some of these critics dont have a clue about what they are writing anyway. So far I have read only the ' Lord of the rings' trilogy, 'The Hobbit' and listened to an audio book of 'The silmarillion'; the trilogy has been read cover to cover three times and a fourth time is soon in order! Why I like his works will not beggar any explanation if I add that I am an overly imaginative person and think Tolkien to have one of the most fantastic imaginations- ever!

I aim to write a lot about his works and in fact even hope to write an entire academic essay on the 'LOTR' trilogy. But for today I want to write a little about his philosophy; just one actually-His concept of 'Doom'.

Now normally the word doom would carry very unpleasant images, however, Tolkien treats it rather uniquely. In the story of Beren and Luthien for instance the word 'Doom' is used to imply an eventuality that is decreed by fate and is unalterable. And so is the case in other places too that concern the eldar, the elves, the dwarves and men.

I like this idea quite a lot because it removes the dread from the concept of 'doom'. We are all headed to our doom, regardless of how much we may try to change it or struggle to escape. The onus on each one of us is then to learn enough from life's experiences to be able to face our ultimate end courageously and unflinchingly. I know it sounds very idealized but I am a tragic hero of sorts anyway!LOL.

I'll leave you with this saying that your's sincerely came up with...

" The greatest thing in life is to realize that one is not truly free and yet face life with fortitude"