Bangla
Rocks 2003
By
Marwa & Rashaam
2003
was probably one of the best years for bangla music lovers. Some of
the newcomers have made a grand entrance into the music world, while
most of the already popular bands have not disappointed the millions
of fans. Due to limitations in space (and my knowledge), I will review
only a few of the albums that have been released in the year 2003.
Utshober
Pore by Black
Black released their second album 'Utshober Pore' towards the end
of the year. It was obviously an instant hit, due to the innumerable
fans it gained with the release of their first album. I personally
liked it a lot, even though there were mixed reactions to it. First,
the cover was amazing! It is extremely creative and probably the best
album cover in 'Bangla Band' history. It has 16 tracks of which '?,'
'o,' Porahoto, Iccha, Onukkhon, Utshober Por, Shlok, Chhoi-e-September
and Prakritic have definitely left a lasting impression on people's
minds. Some claim that this album has the same kind of music as the
previous one. Rapping towards the end of the album disappointed a
lot of people… they think Prakritik would have sounded better without
the rapping. And then, of course, there is the common complaint… 'Jon
sings bangla songs with an English accent… Betake Bangla pronounciation
shikte bolo.' I think he has a jose voice and it is his voice,
so let it be his choice of accent. Besides, there is thing called
poetic liberty. Opinions do matter, but an artist should be given
the freedom to try stuff he or she feels is appropriate. All the songs
have great music, compositions, good lyrics and all the other elements
of attracting a lot of attention.
Dhrubok
by Aurthohin:
Aurthohin's Dhrubok contains songs that satisfy all kinds of music
tastes. It has the soft, melodious songs and some additional heavy
metal numbers. Overall, it can be called a soothing album. It has
a controversial song, Jaite Paro… some say it is a stupid song while
others claim that the grunge 'rockish' song is fun to listen to. People
loved the distortions in most of the songs. The two new members, Rafa
and Shishir have proved to be assets to Aurthohin… Shishir with his
impressive talent of playing the keyboard and guitar simultaneously,
and Rafa with his voice. Oh yes! Chakafied people will love
listening to this album! Hehehe!
Onnoshomoy
by Artcell:
You will either love them or else hate them. There is, unfortunately,
no middle ground. Artcell's Onnoshomoy impressed their fans a lot.
Bhul jonmo, Poth chola and Obosh onubhutir deyal are songs loved by
almost everyone. Bhul jonmo has impressive bass work, while Obosh
onubhutir deyal has catchy drum work and excellent vocals. I guess
I love Poth chola the most simply because it is so addictive. The
only song that did not live up to the mark was Kritim Manush. (I don't
know if some of you like it). Heavy metal fanatics love Rahur Grash.
However, the last track, Olosh shomoy pare has the best lyrics.
Moharaj
by Warfaze:
The legendary Warfaze seems to have gone through a slump with their
'not up to people's expectations' album, Moharaj. The fans were disappointed
this time, even though songs like Hariye tomake, Shopno tumi nao and
Moharaj are quite decent. Moharaj is a hard rock number with good
lyrics. 'Bangalira aar koto dekhbe' has been named the worst song
of the album by many. I guess the new line up of the band has great
individual talent but the net output was, quite frankly, disastrous.
Let's just wait and see if their next album is successful and worth
listening to.
Ohom
by Watson Brothers:
The band has taken everyone by surprise. It is a new band but their
album 'Ohom' is simply great! It has everything starting from alternative,
blues, to heavy metal and what not! The songs follow a sequence… it
builds up slowly with songs like Akash, Chaya, and then reaches a
climax with Shonket, Jhor and Pracheer. Then it cools down gradually
with Shanti and Shoray darao shesh barer moto. Rong is probably the
best song of the album… it is the type that you listen to at full
volume on a long drive. Amar notun ami and Ohom are really catchy.
It seems like it took the band members a lot of hard work to come
up with such compositions. It's just a blast!
Ojana
Oddhay by Metalmaze:
This band has been around for a long time, but their first album came
out in 2003. It is evident that they put a lot of effort into it.
Ishot kalo, Nirobe and Hay amar prem are the best songs of the album.
Hay amar prem is a soft song… it is kind of acoustic or unplugged,
and definitely different from all the other tracks. Nirobe has the
best lyrics of the whole album. Kono ek rate falls under the 'not
so good' category. Overall, the album does not have much to attract
our kind of tastes. However, it has been a major hit in places like
Chittagong, Jessore, Khulna and Bogra.
Krishna
composed by Habib:
This album is a unique collection of folk songs featuring Kaya. The
songs include Krishna, Doyal baba, Ami kul hara, Kemone bhulibo ami,
Kala, Gaan gai amar, Din gelo din and Aaj pasha. In my opinion, the
best among these are Krishna, Doyal baba, Kemone bhulibo ami and Aaj
pasha. The album probably received such wide acclaim throughout the
country because of its one-of-a-kind composing and programming. Hats
off to Habib!
Agontuk
2 produced by Shumon:
First thing's first… this album has a great cover! (Sorry if I sound
obsessed with them!) Nemesis, Breach and dNA have made themselves
known outside concerts with this album. Pioneers like Aurthohin, Artcell
and Black also have their tracks. Here, Aurthohin's Juddho has been
called their best song ever. Teenagers love the different approach
to this song and are greatful to Sumon Bhai for singing with his tattered
and torn vocal cords! None of the fans complained about Artcell's
Chiley kothar shepai. In fact, they loved it a lot. But then again,
some say that the song had greater potential. Shokarto upokul by Black
is great. I guess one needs to 'acquire' the song after listening
to it twice or thrice. It doesn't grab your attention at once. Some
strongly believe that Nemesis' Obocheton is the best song of the album.
Zohad's voice is worth listening to and the drum work is great. Breach
has taken everyone by surprise with their song Shada. It has great
guitar and drum work. Cryptic Fate's Prem makes the album worth buying.
The distortions throughout the song, vocals and drum work are at par
with each other. It is just fantastic! dNA have made themselves popular
with their track Shopno. Apparently, it 'rocks' in concerts. Artonad
by Arbovirus rules as well. Nishshash by Dethrow, Shish by Kral and
Kritodash by Reborn are also quite good. Odrishsho by Stentorian,
as the name suggests, is heavy metal. All in all, Agontuk 2 is superb!
Even though there
were more albums I would have liked to review, I will limit myself
to these only. Music tastes of course differ, so my likes don't necessarily
have to the same as everyone else's. If you haven't bought these albums
yet, you better do it fast, 'cause you're missing something!
The
Arrival of
Audioslave
In the hard rock
world circa 2002, one of the most highly anticipated releases was
the debut recording of Audioslave, a band comprising former Soundgarden
singer Chris Cornell (b. 20 July 1964, Seattle, Washington, USA),
and ex-Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello (b. 30 May 1964,
New York City, New York, USA; guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and
Brad Wilk (b. 5 September 1968, Portland, Oregon, USA; drums).
After
long-time Rage Against The Machine singer Zack De La Rocha announced
his exit from the band in late 2000, rumours began circulating that
Cornell (who at the time was attempting to establish himself as a
solo artist, in the wake of Soundgarden's 1997 split) was going to
replace De La Rocha. With all members of the proposed new group keeping
a tight lip about what was going on, the quartet wrote and recorded
tracks throughout 2001 (with renowned rap/heavy metal producer Rick
Rubin handling production chores).
Fans began referring
to the band as Civilian (a name supposedly considered by its members,
but ultimately rejected), and in March 2002, it was announced that
the quartet would be touring as part of the year's edition of Ozzfest.
Less than a week after the tour's announcement, another press release
was issued to the displeasure of fans, that Cornell had abruptly quit
the band (reportedly over a disagreement over their inability to agree
on a record company/manager).
The
band's recordings were going to be issued anyway, but in May 2002,
early versions of the album's tracks were leaked online. The saga
of this still unnamed band took another bizarre turn in September
of the same year, when it was announced that Cornell had patched up
his differences with the other members and had rejoined. The band's
official name, Audioslave, was finally divulged and they released
their excellent self-titled debut in November, and followed it up
with a supporting tour. In less than a month it was already on some
critics lists as the album of the year.
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
first came to the attention of film audiences when she starred as
Tai, one of Alicia Silverstone's airhead friends in the 1995 comedy
Clueless. After making her name as this dim bulb character, Murphy
went on to prove that she was anything but clueless with a number
of television and film roles that gave expression to the scope of
her talent and versatility.
Born
in Atlanta on November 10, 1977, Murphy was raised by her mother in
Edison, New Jersey. A precocious child who began putting on shows
when she was a toddler, Murphy was acting in regional theatre productions
by the age of nine. Work in various commercials followed, and in 1990
she landed her first television role, on the sitcom Blossom. She then
went on to a lead on the short-lived sitcom Drexell's Class in 1991,
and the following year she made her film debut in the dysfunctional
family drama Family Prayers. Murphy's talent for portraying all sorts
of dysfunction was further exhibited in such films as Clueless; the
Reese Witherspoon trailer trash odyssey Freeway (1996); and the made-for-TV
David and Lisa (1998). Murphy won particular acclaim for her work
in the last film; the story of two emotionally troubled teens (Murphy
and Lukas Haas) who reach out to each other allowed the actress to
prove herself in a purely dramatic role. In 1999, Murphy could again
be seen portraying an emotionally damaged character in Girl, Interrupted,
in which she played a patient at a mental institution. That same year,
she explored the collective insanity of the beauty pageant world in
Drop Dead Gorgeous, playing a pageant contestant who'd rather be living
it up in New York with her cross-dressing brother. On the small screen
that year, she switched to much darker fare with the Holocaust drama
The Devil's Arithmetic. With her plate increasingly full moving into
the new millennium, Murphy could be seen in the both the Michael Douglas
thriller Don't Say a Word, and alongside Drew Barrymore in Riding
in Cars With Boys in 2001. Cast opposite Eminem in director Curtis
Hanson's 2002 /drama 8 Mile, Murphy provided a compelling performance
as an aspiring rap star's unapologetic muse before starting 2003 on
a lighter note with the /comedy Just Married.
In
addition to the praise she has received for her film portrayals, Murphy
has won a different sort of acclaim for the work she has done on the
animated TV series King of the Hill. As the voice of the Hills' beauty
school sex kitten niece Luanne, the actress earned the kind of recognition
that can only come from an animated character who was named one of
the sexiest women on television by a major men's magazine.
Facts
about
Pokemon
By
Neaz Nasir Chowdhury
This
article is for all you poke freaks out there. Pokemon are tiny creatures
created by the Japanese company, "Game Freak". It was established
in 1996.The first game was sold in May 30 in 1996.It was a super hit.
There are many strange and unusual Pokemon that make up the game,
show and movie. And the questions to this challenging and complex
game and the never-ending monsters could go forever. I gathered the
most common questions that we get about Pokemon and answered them
below.
1) How do you
pronounce Pokemon?
-Poh-Kay-mauhn.
2) When and where
did Pokemon debut?
-27 February 1996,Japan.
3)What is the
story behind the Pokemon craze?
-In 1996 Pokemon debuted as a Game Boy game in Japan and quickly became
the highest selling game in the Japan's history. The little monsters,
some nice some mean, started appearing on glasses and clothes; and
puppets and dolls of the characters were also created.
On September
8, 1996, the Game Boy game arrived in the United States along with
an animated series. The main character, a human named Ash Ketchum
and his Pokemon, Pikachu became a hit.
4) Who is Ash
Ketchum? Ash Ketchum?
-Ash Ketchum is a 10-year-old boy from Pallet Town. He is on a quest
to be the greatest Pokemon player ever. He stars in the Pokemon movie.
5) How many Pokemon
are there?
-There are (according to the new version) 468 different types of Pokemon.
6) What is the
object of the Pokemon Gameboy Game?
-Pokemon is a role playing game in which players have to get all the
Pokemon (depending on the version) to complete a Pokemon reference
book. Each game has different Pokemon, which have varying, unique
powers that are connected with the elements of earth, wind, fire and
water and many more. Players, known as trainers, are supposed to capture,
teach and care for their pet monsters. Trainers also compete in Pokemon
battles with each other. Players can trade Pokemon characters with
their friends by way of a hook up cable. This is the only way to capture
all 150 Pokemon because there are five versions with varying monsters
on each one.
7)
What is the Pokemon trading card game?
-Pokemon is a highly strategic game that involves trading cards of
the Pokemon characters.
If you need any information or want the pictures of all the 468 Pokemon,
just e-mail at: Nomercy_nnc@hotmail.com.
PC Game Review
Beyond Good & Evil
Beyond
Good & Evil is a console-style action adventure that puts you
in the role of Jade, a young woman who, along with her humanoid pig
uncle, Pey'j, runs a lighthouse on the planet Hillys. Hillys is at
war with an alien force known as the DomZ, and an elite squadron known
as the Alpha Sections protects Hillys from the alien threat. Or does
it? An underground rebel organization known as the IRIS Network charges
that the Alphas control both sides of the equation. IRIS is essentially
a rogue news network, informing the people via a newsletter that strives
to expose the link between Hillys' protectors and the alien menace.
That's where Jade, a photographer-for-hire when not tending to the
lighthouse, comes in. You quickly hook up with IRIS and spend the
bulk of the game infiltrating Alpha strongholds, camera at your side,
in search of the truth.
But you won't go at it alone. The game gives
you a companion most of the time, and many puzzles will require you
to get your associate to do things. The AI of your partner is usually
pretty good.
Most
of the game's interior sections have you out, on foot, and in search
of photographic evidence. You're looking for specific pictures, and
the areas of interest are marked on your map. The game does have combat
without excelling. The real meat of the gameplay comes from its puzzle-solving.
Almost every room will require you to do a little thinking. Sometimes
it's as easy as using your projectile attack to push a button on the
other side of a force field. Sometimes you'll have to find fuses in
other parts of an installation to power elevators or other equipment.
Software
Review
Poser
Azhar
Chowdhury
Wicked! The most wonderful yet complex part of 3D animation is human
modeling. It is quite hard to make each part in a detailed way. If
we do make every single body part, it can be quite aggravating to
find that these are not linked. As an example, when we move the finger
of our model, the palm is likely to remain intact. However, the powerful
and user-friendly human animation software Poser has devoured all
these snags.
Those who have
used previous versions of Poser must know that it makes human animation
easy enough to be picked up by anyone. But after the creation of Poser
4, MetaCreations sold their software to Curious Labs who instantly
began to develop the not-so-realistic aspects of the software. And
bingo! Along comes Poser 5.
Basically
Poser would allow you to develop on the body parts in a very detailed
manner, but the hair and clothes seemed rather robotic. In Poser 5,
however, two new tools have been initiated which tears down the major
problems. The Dynamic Hair ® is a unique tool which can control
your model's hair in every way. You can choose the total number of
hair in particular areas (side of the head, upper head, etc.), whether
that is 1 or 10,000. Then you can apply the hair length according
to your choice with Hair Length, and make them more realistic by varying
their length with Length Variance. To make the hair fall downwards,
the Pull Down is required to be increased, while Pull Back is there
for the airy back brush style. Clumpiness allows you to make the hair
have that wet look of gel, or the dry shampooed appearance. You can
curl or straighten the hair with Kink Scale and Kink Value, while
customize the thickness of the hair with Root Width and Tip Width.
To finish off with a completely real hair, you can apply any color
or materials, or even make it unrealistic-yet-cool by applying some
transparency or reflection.
The Dynamic Clothes
® option lets you develop on your model's clothes. You can bring
in folds, flows, rumples, and etc. which were not available on the
previous versions. You can make the scene look windy by making the
clothes heavily wrinkled, or reduce the gravity to make it rise upwards.
The Face Room
has also been introduced as a new weapon for achieving realism. You
can actually come close to making your own face by putting your front
face picture and side face picture. Then you can set the color and
shape for Age, Gender, Ethnicity (South East Asian, European, African,
etc.), and other particular points like the Brow Ridge, Cheeks, Chin,
Jaws, Temples, Nose, Lips, etc.
Recently, a Miss
Digital World Competition has began worldwide. There Curious Labs
Poser 5 is being used most widely to create the new virtual beauty.
Whether you intend to create a glamorous model or a grotesque monster,
Curious Labs Poser 5 has the answer. If you can increase your RAM
to 256 MB or above, you will be able to use all the functions, but
with 128 MB RAM you can get the basic functions as well (although
it will be rather buggy). Nevertheless, once you are under the spell
of Poser 5, you will certainly end up saying, "Wicked!”
