Writing a quick review here, if I wait to write a full review it will never get done. The author has done a good job fitting into Arthur Conan Doyle’s shoes and his world. It is easy reading and the tone and phrasing of the book is very Doyle. This is its downfall, in my opinion. For people who have read the Holmes volumes end to end, and people who have had exposure to crimes much worse than what Doyle had written about, the mystery starts to flag as one starts to anticipate what is to come. Maybe the book is longer than it needs be. Maybe its the story. Maybe it is a bit too much homage to Arthur Conan Doyle. Whatever the reason it left me less impressed than I had anticipated. Still a good book to have, and if the author is allowed to add his own voice there might be better stories coming out of this stable.

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[Edit} Read another, more comprehensive review of this book by Poonam over at http://alchemistpoonam.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/book-review-the-house-of-silk-new-sherlock-holmes-novel/ [/Edit]

Is this the competitive push I need?

Photo ████ on Flickr is ████ #SOPABlackout
#DarkenFlickr j.mp/ydCOEx flic.kr/p/aHE9sH—
Brijesh Kartha (@brijwhiz) January 18, 2012

good idea.

Wikipedia has gone on a blackout for 24 hrs, and so has Boing Boing. In fact WordPress.com itself is self censoring the same way scribd had done some weeks ago. Props to Scribd in taking a step and doind a bit of active protest.

Wikipedia Blackout.

Boing Boing blackout.

Craiglist Blackout

WordPress protests.

Will all this bear fruit? Frankly, I do not know. I am not entirely sure that the tablet, smartphone and app loving public really care about the freedom of the internet. Still hope reigns supreme and in this case I really really hope that we dodge this bullet.

Closer home, I am less optimistic. Our government seems hell bent in becoming a China, N.Korea or Libya. 

Really enjoyed this book. That was actually a bit surprising to me as I have never been a Rolling Stones fan, more cause I have never really heard a lot of their music. Except for a slightly dragged start it was quite a fast read.

While his drug adventures did not make the most riveting read, he did leave me a bit confused. I assume at the end of it all he does look down on drugs but his overall attitude towards it was not black and white clear, in my opinion – which was not what I expected in these politically correct days.

However I really enjoyed the chunk of the book. Whenever he speaks about his music and his tools of the trade the book takes on a whole new feel. It is pretty evident, even with the help of a ghostwriter, that his music is very important to him. His reggae influences, his rock and roll and blues background, almost all these points are touched upon.

The other area which was interesting was the material on the people in his life and his interactions with them. Obviously his interaction with Mick Jagger figures prominently, but I was happy that he did not harp on it more than needed. A pleasant addition was putting in quotation from others who added other perspectives to episodes in his life.

All in all a nice autobiography. It has made me really interested in the man and his music and I see myself listening to a lot of Rolling Stones in the future.

A small point which might have influenced me positively towards this book is the fact that I am learning how to play the guitar presently. So reading a master of the art talk about some of its dark secrets was both educative and inspirational.

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A really nice reference book for the guitar. In addition to pages on iconic guitar makers and players it has multiple useful charts on scale, chords, progressions etc. A must have for anyone who loves this instrument.

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Smule has a lot of interesting apps around music, most of them made for iPhone (but works decently in iPad too). My favourite as you must have surmised is “Magic Piano” Read the publishers notes here.

This is a free app. Essentially, as advertised it is a piano, with a twist. It has modes and in three of the modes which show the actual piano, the keys are laid out in different ways. In one the keys spiral in, in the next mode it is laid out as a normal piano and in the third mode the keys are laid out in a circle. You can zoom in (with lesser and broader keys) or zoom out (with more keys which grow significantly narrower the more you zoom in) You can also drag across the screen to change octaves. All in all a software piano app, to be frank there are better piano apps if all you want is a copy of the piano to play on. I do find the circular and spiral pianos interesting in that it could make a lot of sense in a device with restricted screen space, viz. an iPhone. However on an iPad it is just a curiosity.

So apart from the free part why am I so excited using this app when all I seem to be doing is deriding it? The magic my friend is in the fourth mode. In this mode the piano keys disappear and you have a black blank screen in front of you. Any touch invokes a tone, multiple touches are allowed and more often than not what you play is melodic. As long as you are dragging you finger or playing in the areas nearby the tune you make is always melodic. Kids would love to play around in this mode. It is truly a freestyle mode.

As you can see I *like* the freestyle mode; a lot. However that’s still not the reason I love the app. So having pointed out that the four playing modes (all in Solo section) do not flutter my heart could it be the World section which does it? Well that section is interesting as it plays random tunes as being played by people around the world. But what they are playing is the heart of the matter.

They are playing out of the main section – “Songbook”. This section has a large library of tunes from “Fur Elise” to “Walking in Memphis”, from “Toxic” to “Piano Man”, from “A Whole New World” to “Yankee Doodle” There is a free tune you can download daily and for others you pay a virtual currency called Smoola. Of course you can buy these Smoolas with hard cash, though you do start with a some Smoolas.

Once you download you can play it, as simple as that. The notes drop from the top in a beam of light and you tap on the screen, the note make a sound and pops and you move on to the next one. Very reminiscent of Guitar Hero except for the fact that there is no competition, even with yourself. The note drops and you play it at your convenience, you do not even have to press near the note, anywhere on the screen will do (though it will throw up a message if you are too far away) If you do not touch the note will wait for you. So in short it is not a game. What it is, is an interactive music app. As a user you try to hit the notes at the right tempo to regenerate a classic piece of music, or a tune you love. Instead of listening to the music passively, or learn an instrument for 10 years to play the tune, you just hit notes on the screen and enjoy the music created. My writing skills (or lack thereof) prevent me from painting a more detailed picture so all I can do is suggest that you download the app and try out the songbook. I believe you will find it revolutionary, in a very emotional and visceral sense.

One great thing is that the folks at Smule keep making the app better. One such much need change was to introduce a listening mode. So if you press the headphones icon on any song you own the app will play through the music. This is great for situations where you do not know the tempo of the music. Another such positive change was the introduction of challenge level. So at easy you only use one finger even for chords, while in medium you use two and in difficult you use four fingers for chords.

Also about the Smoola, earlier if you spent the free Smoola it was not refilled unless you bought it. However in the recent update they have added a kind of adsense scheme where they will offer to show you a video (normally an ad for another app) against which you will get five free Smoola.

I think this is one of the best apps in the iOS universe. I normally start my day playing on it. Thanks to Mahendra’s great series on Western Music I am enjoying it even more, as many of the free downloads are of classical work. Hope you are as crazy as I am and love this music app.

To get an idea of what the app can do hop over to his old video on youtube. ( I had thought of making a video but that would take 6 more months ) The video is quite dated so rest assured that the app is even better. Maybe I will actually do a video sometime soon

Thanks for your time. Happy listening, and playing.

Another facet is the passion with which she goes about this activity, despite having done the same thing hundreds of times before.

As I was ruminating over her kitchen dance, the following words came to my mind, to the tune of Time (Pink Floyd)! Go figure.

Anyways here’s a mini ode to my beautiful and passionate wife.

Slaving away the moments that make up a Sunday,
sweating away over the stove, tempering her way;
Swishing around the onions till they fade out,
Till finally the oil leaves the ballet.

And now the aroma wafts all over,
While she smiles with satisfaction;
Tadka is ready, will be packed when cooled,
And that makes her week’s backup ration.

No one told her this needs be done,
Just her own passion!

—–
End mini ode

And then I sat me down to eat

Today I was trying to remember some of the songs I heard at that age and ended up creating an interesting playlist (at least I think so) Maybe you may like it too

http://www.youtube.com/p/565864247DDD81D1?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1