Cloud number Nine /Bryan Adams [ Cloud Watching ]

 

I have been watching the sky. More specifically -clouds. No, I have not turned into a soothsayer, not yet. And yes, I am aware of the fact that I was not the only one watching -but I was the only one with camera taking snaps of the beautiful tapestry drawn up above.

The snaps were taken with my trusted camera phone showcasing what high quality gadgets you can buy these days. But this post is not about gadgets, I promise. For now, enjoy these thumbnail assortment and let me know if you can spot that elusive cloud number nine.

Heroes /Megadeth [ The Best Game Ever ]

 

Heroes of Might and Magic series is the best game ever. period. Nothing more to say. I have spent countless ages enchanted in the dpeth of the beautiful game and I played all its iterations, from Kings Bounty to the Tribes of the East. It is linked up deep within my soul.

To think of it, when I first bought Heroes of Might and Magic III: Restoration of Erathia and fired it up in my pc -I was not impressed. What is this carotgrapher type of game?! So I uninstalled it and left the disk to rot in a corner of my room. After six months, when there was no new games to play, I decided to give it another spin…and then I was mesmerized. The enchantment was complete with breathtaking graphics, the maps were dazzling and full of adventure and legendary creatures -and the battles were spectacular to say the least. The game never left the confines of my hard disk and I began my quest of ogling up any Heroes title I could find.

Now in the end of its fifth iteration, at the hand of a new producer and developer (Ubisoft and Nival Interactive), I am sure my beloved series future is bright indeed. The HOMM V set up a high bar of turn-base strategy games which other venerable titles like Age of Wonders, Disciples and Warlords (is it still alive?) will be hard pressed to meet. The interactivity with the gameworld and the players have increased due to fluid 3d animations and gorgeous visual effects. The gameplay remains the same at core with innovations that were required to increase the depth of the game to even a greater degree. I would put it up nearly on par with HOMM III (the best of the series, imho). The latest expansion pack Tribes of the East (HOMM V: ToTE) is the best version of the fifth installment. With alternative unit upgrades, it has changed the strategic layer of the game. One gripe I have is that the alternative levels renders some units totally useless.

I would and do recommend Heroes of might and Magic to any person looking for a fun, indepth, engrossing strategy game with roleplaying elements. It simply cannot get any better than this. However, I do hope they beat event his standard in Heroes of Might and Magic VI. Long live Heroes. As tuned in by Megadeth -Heroes never die -

Money For Nothing /Direstraits [ Budget 2008-09 ]

 

A long, boring, put-me-to-sleep speech in June marks out that YES! this is that time of the year again. Budget! People!! Budget!!!. Honestly, I guess the common folk was so tired of all the ‘excitement’ that even the anxiety of the people seemed to have gone numb. And when the Finance Advisor claimed inflation in Bangladesh was 6.9% (?!!!?) I knew we are staring at the wall…again.

A budget of taka 999.62 Billion -Â its not that there were no points to be satisfied about such a huge budget. For the first time in many a years did we see the Govt. trying to trim down its Annual Development Plan (ADP) budget. And why not? If we look at statistics of percentages of ADP actually being expensed (I am talking ‘expensed’ people, the point of actual ‘utilization’ is still far off) is embarassingly low. Which brings us to the logical thought of incompetent people tasked at doing their job properly.

I also see the need for taking out the VAT and certain other taxes for intermediary products. It was a long standing, valid demand from the business commuities, especially benficial for industries just starting up.

What I don’t get is the need to give this 20% raise/(you can call it whatever) to Govt. employees. The amount will be so low for most of the 3rd and 4th level public servants that this will do very little for them in the scenario of inflation, 13.2%Â as judged by Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB). Increased domestic borrowing to meet the need for this huge budget is not going to be of any help as well.

Grudges aside, the most important point which really needs to be addressed asap is that when an elected form of Government will arise to implement the later six months (provided if everything goes according to the publicly stated plan) will they do it? All these money talks and long debates and comments are of no use if the plan is not implemented!!! It is Money for Nothing actually. So let me go and jack up to the Direstraits tune while those of you interested can go and check out the speech here. A brief can be checked up here.

Enter Sandman /Metallica [ Best Metal Album. Period. ]

 

1990. I was an average school boy with my music experience as deep as John Denver’s country songs -that too limited to one cassette which I could only gulp down to track four ‘High Calypso’. Thats when I saved enough money to buy my second cassette, boy was I excited! After half an hour of searching I came up with this album of a half-naked, unbalanced blind lady, failing measurably to hold the scale of justice in her hand (She should have used both hands imho). I took the album, plugged it in the cassette player -and my life changed.

No, this is not about ‘..And justice for all’. Yes, this is about that band. This is about the album that to mind, showcases the strength of the legendary epic band Metallica -The Black Album. I do vouch that all of its songs are epic in their proportions. The composition, the lyrics, the growling, the tone -and yes, I am getting ecstatic to write about them.

Sure, this is not speed metal at its finest. Ofcourse Metallica have made better Heavy Metal albums. But this is not about being heavy metal individual songwise. This was being an all encompassing album turning Heavy Metal into an art form. This may not be raw Heavy Metal, but this was vintage Metallica -a treat to its fans for its epic talent and diversity -yet comprised in a solid, all star album. And frankly -nothing else matters!

Heaven /Bryan Adams [ Meghalaya... ]

 

A few weeks back I had the fortune of taking a sudden decision to visit Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya in India. The journey by road was breathtaking to say the least -you get it all starting from long expansive roads on the plains of Bangladesh with rivers crisscrossing to the trek up the hill as you climb up to Meghalaya.

Meghalaya – justly named by Rabindranath Tagore, the greatest bengali poet that ever lived, is a land of mysticism and enchantment. Drizzling rains and evergreen foliage and the pines will mesmerize any visitor. I do not understand why people compared it to Scotland though, to me, Shillong has an entirely different appeal than the Highlands.

This is one of the best picture I have taken in that memorable journey. No, this is not from inside Meghalaya, as the plains of my motherland justifies – but still it gave me the first glimpse of Meghalaya -the home of the clouds – as it truly is.

Heaven is one of the most, all time, romantic songs sang by Bryan Adams. Meghalaya, in the same tune, can be termed as heaven.