1974 ad performed their reunited concert at St. Xaviers ground.

After getting Firoz Syangden back, 1974 ad - the popular rock band of Nepal performed their reunited concert at St. Xaviers Ground, Jawalakhel in the chilled Saturday evening of Dec 29. This is their biggest concert since Rock Yatra which happened 10 years ago. Though the turn out was not that great as I expected, the concert was one of its kind as promised before by the band and all the audiences were true fans of 1974 ad who stayed till the last minute of the performance and proved that they really want their favorite rock band to be intact for long.

They kicked off the show with Bacha ani bachana deu and continued almost all of their popular songs. The concert started a bit late with lazy opening band, but it was worth the wait. Audience grooved to the rocking performance of the band, being together after 4 years. The band even dedicated the song Samjhi baschu to Firoz syagden saying they missed him when he was not with the band here. They performed improvised version of Pinjada ko Suga and it was awesome. The folk rock  Chaubandi choli and Gurasai fulyo garnered big woos from the crowd that made them dance to the Madal beat and they even performed Lekali ho- a popular folk song as a big surprise. 

Nirakar Yakthumba and Manoj Kumar KC

Other surprises include Adrian singing first line of Metallicas Nothing else matter, a zip line performance by a girl carrying Nepali flag during Yo man ta mero Nepali ho song and previous band member Bhanu A performing together for the last song Mayalu le. The light works and the displays in the back drop was also one of its kind that was well synced with the amazing performance.

Adrian Pradhan and Firoj Syangden

Sanjay Shah from Hello Paisa - the organizer of the concert and a new shared mobile banking platform, demonstrated how to send money through mobile and even transferred thousand rupees to a random audience from the crowd. 

All in all, a nice blasting evening to watch one of my favorite rock band's performance united after a long time.

Here is a performance of the band from the reunited concert, for the song Parelima.

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Dhanda Nepali movie review: Simple yet brutal.

Dhanda is a story of a simple village teacher and his dream of living better life by earning money abroad. Being a temporary teacher and his utmost desire to earn money, Arjun - the protagonist manages to pay huge sum of money to get the ticket to Amrica despite having a tough father and the risk of sinking his family. Arjun, falling prey to an overseas company who assures him of giving the visa and ticket once he pays the nine lakhs rupees, looses his sanity after being beaten near to death for asking his money back but the seriously wounded takes brutal revenge to all those involved, even with full covered stitches. The movie is quite simple in the story line but the unfolding of the story and brutal scenes that comes alive are the most worth watching and that's what perfectly done in a Nepali movie. That I think will open up a broad vision in movie-making in our country other than limiting themselves to old fashioned thoughts and story line.

Arpan Thapa- the lead role who does not speak while taking revenge, has well played the character made by himself-being the story writer/screenplay of the movie. The hard works by make up artist Nima Lima and actor Arpan Thapa for tolerating the hour long make up, to make look dreadful is worth applauding. Samuna KC in her first movie, has even managed to act perfectly in the house wife look. Director Sudharshan Thapa has well directed the movie and the plots look connected. 

When I first saw the trailer of Dhanda, I was quite shocked with the thrilling clips that projects more of such in the whole movie and that's why I was excited to see the movie. Now that after watching the movie in a new Cineplex named F-cube Cinemas located in the sixth floor of KL tower, Chabahil, I have found that the thrills are only confined to the protagonist's look/the killing brutality and no more thrill sequences other than those seen in the trailer. Though there are many sequences that are of cinematic excellence and the movie encourages other to put their works on new genre, the movie is not up to the level that I had expected. There must have been more twists, thrills and bangs in the movie to make a worthy thrilling experience but still a nice effort in giving a change in Nepali cinema industry. Lastly I don't recommend to all those who are fond of watching old-fashioned formula movies and I doubt they are reading it now. 

Here are some stills from the movie.

Dhanda 1: Arpan Thapa deadly looks

Dhanda 2: Kamal Mani Nepali

Dhanda 3: Samuna KC and Arpan Thapa

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New Loadshedding schedule effective from Dec 26 (Poush 11).

Nepal Electricity Authority has further increased the loadshedding hours from 69 hours a week to 84 hours which is exactly 12 hours per day. The new power cut schedule will be effective from Dec 26, 2012 which is Poush 11, 2069. Due to dry season, and problem in a turbine of a Hydropower Plant, NEA has already been cutting the city supply for two hours more than the specified schedule (which was 10 hours before) from last week. Fearing more criticism, they had not informed public about the two hours more power cut.
Though Prime Minister had vowed to keep the loadshedding hours less than 12 hours, its is expected the power cut hours will go up to 18 hours due to the long dry season.

Here is the new loadshedding schedule, effective from Dec 26 (Poush 11, 2069). Click to enlarge.

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1974 ad reunited concert in St. Xavier ground.

After Firoj Syangden's come back, the popular rock band of Nepal-1974 ad will be performing live in Kathmandu at St. Xavier ground on 29th December. Four Years back, 1974 ad was without Firoj Syangden when he went to US for the search of his career there. Despite Firoj's departure, the band continued their concerts in Nepal/abroad and even released an album named "Ath Athara". 

Today the band appeared in a tv show in Kantipur Television to promote the reunited concert which according to them is once in a life time concert here in Nepal with best sounds, incredible lights and for the first time a 40 ft display screen. The concert is gonna be biggest of all since their Rock Yatra concert in Dasarath Stadium, 10 years ago. The concert is presented by Hello Paisa in association with Annapurna Post.

Skeptic of the band being intact after the show, TV presenter Suraj Singh Thakuri asked if the band is coming together only for this show and then going their own way as most of them are having their solo career. The band tried to convince people that they will be performing together in/out of the country and will be releasing singles after the concert. Nirakar told that there is respect among the band members for their preferences to do works other than the band and that is what keeping the band intact for such long-18 years.

Here is the performance of 1974 ad reunited in Call Kantipur.
Parelima.

Formed in 1994, now 1974 ad band members are:
Firoj Syangden (vocalist/guitar), Adrian Pradhan (vocalist/drums), Manoj Kumar KC (Rhythm Guitar), Nirakar Yakthumba ( Bass Guitar) and Sanjay Shrestha (Percussions/drums/Madal).

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Chadke releases another theatrical trailer.

Chadke- the much talked Nepali movie before its release, has unleashed second theatrical trailer after the "Ek ekan dui" song and the first look. This two minute trailer is more funny than the earlier one. Funny dialogues and acts made me rethink if the movie is more of comedy than the bloodshed gangstar action and intermingled plot. The background song in the trailer even sounds awesome and unique that I want to know if the songs are of full length in the movie or just the snippet. The movie has already made big news in the media regarding the purchase of its copyright by an Australian event management company for 1 year. The movie is scheduled to release in February 2013, and Falgun 11, 2069 to be precise date.

Two hit duo from the big hit Loot are also featured in the movie, one duo being the producers Narendra Maharjan+Madhav Wagle and another being the actors Saugat Malla+Dayahang Rai. Written and Directed by Nigam Shrestha, Chadke include other actors like Namrata Shrestha, Robin Tamang, Arpan Thapa, Sunil Pokharel, Pratik Raj Neupane and more.

One dialogue from the movie trailer is getting more popular among public which is "Mr. Chulbul dherai chulu bulu nagarnu hos, hamilai thaha cha ki kaha bata chadna parne ho, kaha bata padhna parne ho... yi..... (dhwak)". You can see the dialogue in the 1:08 of the trailer shown below.

Chadke- second trailer.

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Golden Globe 2013 Nomination list and prediction.

Golden Globes 2013 Movie Awards Nominations are out!!. The 70th Golden Globe Awards for excellency in television and film for the year 2012, will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California on 13 January 2013.

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln leads the nomination with seven nods including best director, best drama and best actor. Ben Affleck's Argo and my best Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained comes second with five nominations each. Ang Lee's Life of Pi gets three nominations, and the bond theme of Skyfall gets nominated for Best Song category with Adele voice.

Here is my predictions for the 2013 Golden Globe in movie section only.
The bolded ones are my prediction as a probable winner.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Bill Murray, Hyde Park on the Hudson

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Maggie Smith, Quartet
Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Alan Arkin, Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Best Director

Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Quentin Taratino, Django Unchained
Chris Terrio, Argo

Best Foreign Language Film

Amour (Austria)
A Royal Affair (Denmark)
The Intouchables (France)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
Rust and Bone  (France)

Best Animated Feature Film

Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

"For You," Act of Valor, Monty Powell & Keith Urban
"Not Running Anymore," Stand Up Guys, Jon Bon Jovi
"Safe and Sound," The Hunger Games, Taylor Swift. John Paul White, Joy Williams & T Bone Burnett
"Skyfall," Skyfall, Adele & Paul Epworth
"Suddenly," Les Misérables, Claude-Michel Schonberg & Alain Boublil

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
Alexandre Desplat, Argo
Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, Cloud Atlas
John Williams, Lincoln

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How to know shutter count of a camera?

I happen to hear sometime before that there is some life of a camera be it Point and shoot or DSLR but I was not clear how and why the camera life degrades until recently. Camera's mechanical part especially Shutter actuation have some normal life before it starts to show some abnormality. I used to do burst mode shots for panning and even take lot of shots for the same landscape. After knowing this, I have started saving some shots for my Nikon D5100 whose shutter life expectancy is believed to be 100,000 and I already have 31262 in just one year span. Now the question you may ask is how I counted your shutter actuation. Actually there are many methods (different for different camera types) using different applications or websites.

Cannn: As Cannon does not store the shutter release number in the EXIF data, you need a program to check shutter count. EOS info is one of the most used program to check the shutter count. After downloading and Installing the program, connect your camera with the computer using a cable and

run the program to find the total Image count. You may even try Camerashuttercount.com for your canon camera.

Nikon: Nikon does store the shutter release count info in the EXIF data. So to get the image count,you

can either use My shutter count or use Opanda IExif.

For Sony cameras, if you have not reset your file name, then the file name has the number of image it has taken. Otherwise there is no guarantee of using other means to get the shutter actuation.

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New loadshedding schedule effective from Mangsir 23 (Dec 8)

Nepal Electricity Authority has released a new loadshedding schedule today in which there will be 70 hours power cut per week. Earlier it was 56 hours per week just changed last week (Mangsir 13). They cited decrease in water level in rivers and reservoir being the reason for such increase in power outage . The whole outage period is of two shifts in a day, which sums up to 11 hours, 10 hours and 9 hours, in average its 10 hours power cut per week.
Here is the new loadshedding schedule as published in NEA website, effective from Mangsir 23 (December 8), Saturday. (click to enlarge).

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Narayan Gopal's 5 interesting facts: Death Anniversary Special

Today is the death anniversary of most popular singer of Nepal, Swar Samrat Narayan Gopal Guruwacharya, died on Mangsir 19 2047 ( December 5, 1990) at an age of 51. Marking his death anniversary, here is what Poet/Film maker Prakash Sayami had written in his Status for five unknown facts in Swor Samrat's life.

1. His own father, Asha Gopal Guruwacharya was his first teacher and the other teacher was Manikratna. He sang his first song in the music of his friend Prem Dhoj and his own Guru Manik Ratna.

2. Swor Samrat Narayan Gopal first gave his name as NG in radio Nepal and later established himself as Swor Samrat (Emperor of Voice).

3. Swor Samrat and musician Gopal Yonjan were first introduced by Gopal Yonjan's first love Madan Pradhan. Nagendra Thapa was the man who build their good friendship and Ishwor Ballav Bhattarai made them special friend (mit) by lighting fire on Makal on March 1965 at Darjeeling's Mahakal Dada.

4. Swor Samrat being the director of Sanskritik Sansthan sacked 25 artists including Sushila Rayamajhi, Shridhar Poudel, his own guru Manik Ratna, Hari Bansha Acharya, Madan Lama etc.

5. Swor Samrat studied music at Maharaj Firdaus Sangeet Vidayala in Badauda,India. He dedicated a song entitled Chinari Hamro Dherai purano rahe jhai lagdacha to his first love Pamela Lama, the song was written by Nagendra Thapa.

Credits: Prakash Sayami.

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Congratulation Pushpa Basnet for getting CNN Hero 2012.

Its a matter of great joy and pride for all Nepali to hear the news of Pushpa Basnet awarded CNN Hero 2012. Pushpa Basnet, a 29 year old nepali women supports and takes every care of Children living inside jail with their parents, was a main contender among TOP 10 CNN Heroes 2012 declared this September. She was named CNN Hero 2012 in a special event at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. 

Those Children who had no choice but to live inside the prison with their incarcerated parents got their "Mamu" in 2005 when she started a day care program for them, taking out of prison every day and returning them back to the jail. Now she even has a residential home for such children and has helped more than 140 children through her Non profit organization Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC). 

Pushpa Basnet CNN hero 2012: from CNN

She bagged the award through a nine week public voting on CNN.com and received $250,000 + $50,000->($50,000 is for all Top 10 heroes) to continue her praiseworthy efforts. She in her award winning speech even forwarded her message to her children, and all those who voted her. She said "Mamu is going to take you out from the prison, and you are coming to my place. This is for my children and back to my country Nepal. Thank you so much everybody who voted for me and who believed in my dream."

This is the sixth Hero awarded by CNN and a second one to our country Nepal, first being Anuradha Koirala, a social worker from Nepal (the founder and executive director of Maiti Nepal)- CNN Hero in 2010 for her drive against women trafficking to brothels. 

It was a star studded night including movie stars like Susan Sarandon, Adrian broddy, Mario Bello, Viola Davis, Harvey Keitel, Rap Star Fifty Cent. There were also musical performance from American Idol Philip Philips and Grammy winning Ne Yo.

Proud of being a Nepali is what everybody felt with her win but I think there is an indirect message to all Nepali is that you don't need any post or power to start good things. You can start from very little and keep on doing it, there will be helping hands for your good cause and finally you will be recognized for your good not only in your country but in the whole world. Hats off to Pushpa Basnet. You deserve it. And I am  so overwhelmed with your speech today that I listened to it many times. Here is what she said being awarded CNN Hero 2012.

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Big boss Main house and Mud house to be merged.

In a surprise twist to the Indian reality TV show Big Boss, they are going to merge the two houses: Main house and the mud house, later was created just two weeks ago. Though it was already in the media, the merger is confirmed in Dec 1 show that is showed in the snippet of the next days show. Even Salman talked the possibility of the merge earlier but it was not clear. 

Modern house has 10 inmates whereas Mud house (padosi ghar) has just 4 contestants. With this merger, 14 contestants will be in the house and it is also known that all contestants will be nominated for this week show, out of which 3 contestants will be evicted. Now that's what i call "Alag chee", Big Boss 6 is now getting back to the track for all the actions and twists. 

With this merger, it will be fun to watch people who got evicted and had a close eye on the main house from outside, back in the house. It will be more interesting to see how most of the inmates team up to gun down Imam- a moron or a stupid fellow. If there is great loss with this merger, then that would be for Urbashi who showed her bitchy heart to the Aashka, Delnas, and Shana team. Regarding the eviction, I think one of the inmates would be Nirauha and how could I forget Imam - I am sure he will be out of the house this week. Karishma who is not doing anything inside the house, has also great chances of getting eviction.

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Aatif Aslam performed live in Kathmandu

Dasarath Stadium, our very own football stadium witnessed some of the best concerts in the history of live performances in Nepal. Among them, International rock/pop singer Bryan Adams Concert and Nepali Band 1974 A.D Rock Yatra Concert are the ones that made it record for the people turn out and the   amazing lively performance. When I first heard of Atif Aslam live in Kathmandu, I had imagined of the similar turn out (as i know there are many crazy fans of Atif here in Nepal though I am not of their type, I know some of his melodious songs like Doorie, Abh to Aadat and Woh Lamhe). 

Atif Performing Live in Kathmandu Photo courtesy: Raw K.C.

Atif Aslam- the Pakistani singer (former Jal band frontman) and now a Bollywood sensation performed live in the Dasarath Stadium- Center of Kathmandu in the Friday Evening November 30, 2012. The Concert organized by ODC entertainment (which brought us Bryan Adams and Michael Learns To Rock) gathered less than 10 thousand enthusiastic people which is not any way comparable to the previous record making concerts there. Though his juvenile performance managed to get big woos from the spectators, the sound system did not live up to the international standard sound quality people had expected. 

He performed some of his record breaking Pakistani/Indian Rock/Pop and Bollywood songs like Aadat, Doorie, Tu Jane Na, Woh Lamhe, Piya, Pehli Nazar mein to name a few. Bollywood crazy fans were singing along with the singer for his melodious filmy songs, and the female fans were more satisfied with his performance who were repeatedly chanting "I love you" to the Pakistani Singer. 

I too enjoyed the songs like Aadat , Doorie for which I was there. Unexpectedly, I was too much overwhelmed with his performance in the song "Piya" (Video posted below). All in all, a melodious cool friday night in Kathmandu makes the crowd esp. Nepalis who listen bollywood music, remember this concert for long. 

Here are some of the video clips from the Atif Aslam Concert in Kathmandu.

Piya re Piya.

Abh to Aadat

Doorie

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