Someone once said, "You learn something new everyday!" I don't pretend to know that fine gentleman personally, for I have unfortunately never had the chance to share a brew or a couple of badly timed and obnoxious high fives with the said gentleman (would've been fun though).
But the bottomline here is that that man, whoever he may have been, knew what he was talking about! If ever there were a competition on knowing what you were talking about, needless to say, our gentleman would surely have my vote, for he, in fact, did really know what he was talking about. This, of course, is a refreshing change from and quite unlike a few others who apportion a phenomenal chunk of their time to being existential and conjuring up rhetoric quotes like "Money can't buy happiness".
Well, anyway, getting along with the tale here, I find the quote on learning something new each day quite apt. Each day is a fantastic new experience, a door opening into an infinite, nebulous world without. I learnt something new today myself - "Kotov Syndrome". Now this is a very interesting development! Many people have often reiterated that you'll learn nothing listening to music and that it's just a way of squandering time away. Well, perhaps they're right! But then again, I came across the expression "Kotov Syndrome" in a song by alternative/punk band Rise Against, and so "Ha!"
"Kotov Syndrome" is a coinage accredited to the Chess Grandmaster, Alexander Kotov, who in his book "Think like a Grandmaster", descibes the Kotov Syndrome as a situation wherein a player takes far too long to think of a move and then finding himself uncomfortably low on time and still miles away from figuring out an appropriate solution, makes a poor move, usually a blunder! Nasty, yes! But it does happen! And that's when it struck me - that's my average workday in a nutshell! I spend all day thinking of what to do, and by closing time I realize I really haven't done anything substantial. So, the last hour of each day is spent panicking and squabbling, and primarily engaging in damage control.
All those of you who can relate to that, say "Aye!" And for those of you who cannot, say "Aye!" anyway! Why do you want to be left out? There's comfort in numbers, or so they claim!
And now the music update! This update is overdue by over a year. Not cool, I know. But, as we've always maintained - "Better late than never!" Everyone's always out to find the best song ever. Legend tells of many great, fearless men who set out on a voyage towards unchartered territory in search of that one song. They tried to cover up the mission by claiming they were going to discover new lands and countries or trying to prove the earth is round, but underneath the charades and veneer we all know they were only looking for that one song that would change the world forever! People have scaled the Himalayas to find saints who they believed had the answer, but they were almost always unsuccessful.
But I have a brilliant and startling new announcement to make, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I have found that song. I kid you not. For those of you who've spilled their beverage while reading that last line, feel free to wash and clean up and get back in a bit. For the rest of you who're still staring at the screen with disbelief or incredulity - without much further ado, I give you - "Eyes as Candles" by Indie rock band Passion Pit! The song is perfect by all means. It's got a fantabulous intro, superb vocals and music, brilliant/contemporary lyrics and to top it all off an ingenious video. A perfect 10! Sadly though the song hasn't received any of the recognition or acclamation it so deserves. Heck! The video uploaded on Youtube even has the name of the song keyed in wrong! But afterall as they say - Virtue is it's own reward! So the lads of Passion Pit should feel pretty happy and smug about putting such incisive and brilliant music out in the world! Huzzah!
Song of the Post:
Wild Nothing - Chinatown
(Beautiful tune! Calm and serene...mesmerizing!)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Return of the Dragon / Commercial Success
Dear faithful readers,
To begin with, I'd like to extend my sincere apologies to each and every one of you for this long, indefinite, unplanned, unannounced sabbatical I've taken from blogging. No doubt a lot of you may have been rendered incapacitated without your daily dose of ATH wisdom.
I'm afraid long hours at work have bogged me down all this while. The old ATH spirit and fervour I fear to admit has not been up to snuff these last few weeks. But you needn't worry! Your beloved, friendly neighbourhood ATH is back. Quite like a Phoenix that rises from its ashes to soar yet again into the wide, open yonder like an eagle (or rather a Phoenix), I'm resurfacing into the wide, open space that is the internet.
This reminds me of a curious incident that involves a certain gentleman I had the pleasure of making an acquaintance with a while ago. Now this gentleman, a father of two and a husband of one (we suppose), suddenly vanished one fine morning and wasn't heard from for 3 strainght days. Three days later he shows up at home, where his wife and kids are worrying and panicking over his mysterious disappearance, with a "What ho! Lovely day out there today, isn't it? How's everyone doing?" A brilliant idea, I figured. Keeping it fresh! Gives one a chance to collect oneself together, get one's bearings, have the old bodily fluids flowing again as per heavenly design. Unfortunately though, this particular gentleman's wife felt otherwise. Apparently, he's now on the street, divorced, paying heavy alimony and a chronic alcoholic. To this day, no one really knows where he was those 3 days. Many suspect he was frozen in a time capsule. I personally beg to differ. I mean, if you are going to freeze someone in time, it should be atleast for a few decades to make the return more dramatic. Freezing someone for 3 days is as effective as 1 push-up in a lifetime is to your physique.
Well clearly that's not the most ideal way to "keep things fresh"! Make sure you think your plan thoroughly through prior to execution. But still here I am - back for good with truckloads of updates and tales to share. I will be blogging more frequently and that, my good friends, is the ATH promise. I should warn you though that the ol' ATH promise is not and will probably never be as reliable and impeccable as the TATA Promise, but nevertheless it's indubitably something you can put your money on, rest assured. So you could look forward to the upcoming posts.
By the way, for those of you who are wondering what the title signifies, it's based on the 1972 Bruce Lee film by the same name, which seems to succinctly summarize my reemergence to the blogosphere. Besides dragons are just plain awesome \m/ !!!
I've come across some brilliant commercials of late! These ads are absolutely prefect by all means - creative, innovative and ingeniously humourous. This surely bodes well for the field of advertising that most people feared had saturated and could no longer instigate novel and impactive ideas. I've added a few commercials below in the reverse chronological order that I discovered them...
1. Malibu Rum commercial - "Sunshine"
2. Fosters' Beer commercial - "GPS" and "Yoga"
3. Vistaprint commercial - "Make the right first impression"
Song of the Post:
Captain - Keep an open mind
(Amazing tune, catchy chorus and the video's not too bad either)
To begin with, I'd like to extend my sincere apologies to each and every one of you for this long, indefinite, unplanned, unannounced sabbatical I've taken from blogging. No doubt a lot of you may have been rendered incapacitated without your daily dose of ATH wisdom.
I'm afraid long hours at work have bogged me down all this while. The old ATH spirit and fervour I fear to admit has not been up to snuff these last few weeks. But you needn't worry! Your beloved, friendly neighbourhood ATH is back. Quite like a Phoenix that rises from its ashes to soar yet again into the wide, open yonder like an eagle (or rather a Phoenix), I'm resurfacing into the wide, open space that is the internet.
This reminds me of a curious incident that involves a certain gentleman I had the pleasure of making an acquaintance with a while ago. Now this gentleman, a father of two and a husband of one (we suppose), suddenly vanished one fine morning and wasn't heard from for 3 strainght days. Three days later he shows up at home, where his wife and kids are worrying and panicking over his mysterious disappearance, with a "What ho! Lovely day out there today, isn't it? How's everyone doing?" A brilliant idea, I figured. Keeping it fresh! Gives one a chance to collect oneself together, get one's bearings, have the old bodily fluids flowing again as per heavenly design. Unfortunately though, this particular gentleman's wife felt otherwise. Apparently, he's now on the street, divorced, paying heavy alimony and a chronic alcoholic. To this day, no one really knows where he was those 3 days. Many suspect he was frozen in a time capsule. I personally beg to differ. I mean, if you are going to freeze someone in time, it should be atleast for a few decades to make the return more dramatic. Freezing someone for 3 days is as effective as 1 push-up in a lifetime is to your physique.
Well clearly that's not the most ideal way to "keep things fresh"! Make sure you think your plan thoroughly through prior to execution. But still here I am - back for good with truckloads of updates and tales to share. I will be blogging more frequently and that, my good friends, is the ATH promise. I should warn you though that the ol' ATH promise is not and will probably never be as reliable and impeccable as the TATA Promise, but nevertheless it's indubitably something you can put your money on, rest assured. So you could look forward to the upcoming posts.
By the way, for those of you who are wondering what the title signifies, it's based on the 1972 Bruce Lee film by the same name, which seems to succinctly summarize my reemergence to the blogosphere. Besides dragons are just plain awesome \m/ !!!
I've come across some brilliant commercials of late! These ads are absolutely prefect by all means - creative, innovative and ingeniously humourous. This surely bodes well for the field of advertising that most people feared had saturated and could no longer instigate novel and impactive ideas. I've added a few commercials below in the reverse chronological order that I discovered them...
1. Malibu Rum commercial - "Sunshine"
2. Fosters' Beer commercial - "GPS" and "Yoga"
3. Vistaprint commercial - "Make the right first impression"
Song of the Post:
Captain - Keep an open mind
(Amazing tune, catchy chorus and the video's not too bad either)
| Captain - Keep An Open Mind .mp3 | ||
 | ||
 | Found at bee mp3 search engine |  |
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