Swor Samrat Narayan Gopal's name needs no introduction to all the Nepali out there. A legend in the Modern Music's first generation (Adhunik Geet yug) was borned today, (Oct 4) in the year 1939. Marking his birth anniversary, I am here to post top ten unknown incidents in his life (taken from film maker/writer Prakash Sayami).
I always want to read top tens in everything until now that I have started writing top ten stuffs in my blog.In this post, I am putting my own best Movies of all time. These movies are not only in the top of my favorite lists, but also are the greatest movies of all time in the history of Cinema.
Chaudhary Group, one of the biggest business house of Nepal (popular for electronic products and food/beverages) is all set to enter the telecom market with the brand name CG tel.
"Web reservation quota exceeded" alert from the QFX website and huge crowd for advance ticketing in QFX for the movie Chadke, makes it already a hit movie (as written in today's Kantipur). But when you hear the viewer's opinion inside the cinema hall, then there is a different story to tell than the business that the movie does.
Chadke hyped as a story of Gangster crime based in Chitwan, has more to offer to the awaited viewers and the "bonus" (as told by one of the producer of the movie) makes people disappointed. It's not obvious that you always feel good for getting more, as in the movie the unexpected part in the later half, makes people discontent, which comes as a surprise to some and boredom to many.
First half of the movie goes pretty well in a dynamic way and the plot builds up really well, making people expect more of the climax but the second half is bit confusing, and gets an u-turn of the main plot.Chewang- the head of Royal Gang played by Robin Tamang (Robin and the new revolution) in a short role adds good weight to the movie and has played a good debut with his own style. Namrata Shrestha with her gangster looks as "Sholi" is another attraction of the movie and has kept the faith for her fan. All artists like Dayahang Rai, Arpan Thapa, Sunil Pokharel, Nikun Shrestha (DJ Phucchey), Bipin Karki have played so well, that there are no flaws from the acting side.
Saugat Malla in a completely different look is the major surprise or disappointment to many not because of his acting but due to the sequences he has portrayed. Here is a picture of him in one of the shots.
And one more thing I have found is the unbalance between the characters for the span of time they are in the frame and it's a mess if you have lots of major characters played by senior artists.
But apart from the twist and the unbalance, the movie is made well with nice cinematography, melodious music (played with traditional instruments), and a good mix of different ethnic characters not to forget the funny character "Bindu"and his dialogues. Though there are no any dull moments, people are not satisfied with the plot and the script but if you see a movie as a plain entertainment, then the movie does not fall short. And to me, the movie should have stayed with single theme, and that of Gangsters theme rather than confusing people with it .... just my thought!!!
As I am too much aware in writing this review for not revealing any major plot, I stop here to save myself from being accused of spoiling the movie. Do watch yourself to promote new Nepali movies and write comment if you agree or disagree with me.
Falgun 7- the day when Nepal was liberated from 104 years of Rana regime and the establishment of democracy with Kingship back in 1951 A.D (2007 B.S), is being celebrated as National Democracy day (Prajatantra Diwas). Last year, Maoists Government decided not to organize any events marking the day which was much criticized by the opposition parties esp. NC, UML, but the same government which is on the brink of leaving the executive power to Chief Justice (as major parties agreed to make under his leadership), is known to organize an event at City Hall (Rastriye Sabha Griha) for the D day, with an address by the PM Baburam Bhattarai. Previously, there used to be a big celebration in Tundikhel with Army march and different cultural exhibitions. Though the public holiday is still there, such official celebrations are gone as we know Maoists are on a mission to delete history and the traditional occasions due to their severe intolerance to Democracy with Kingship which was established on this very day. But in my opinion, no matter what changes we have got, history is history, we have to keep it for the generations to come.
American Rock Band The Black Keys sweeps all the awards for the rock categories in this year Grammy. They won the awards for Best Rock Song, Best Rock performance and Best Rock Album. I had even thought if the Album of the year goes to them but it did not and my best Coldplay lost in the Best Rock Album. Sitar legend Ravi Shankar's posthumous Award was received by his daughters Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. Adele who won Six awards last year, was awarded Best Pop Solo performance for Set Fire to the Rain from the same album 21. And the Record of the year went to Gotye for his amazing song, Somebody that I used to know.
Here is the complete list of winners for Grammy award 2013.
Record of the year: Gotye, Somebody That I Used to Know
Best new artist:.fun
Song of the year:We Are Young, fun.
Best country album:Uncaged, Zac Brown Band
Best pop solo performance:Set Fire to the Rain, Adele.
Best pop vocal album:Stronger, Kelly Clarkson
Best rap/sung collaboration:No Church in the Wild, Jay Z and Kanye West with Frank Ocean
Best urban contemporary album:Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
Best rock performance:Lonely Boy, The Black Keys
Best pop duo:Somebody that I Used to Know, Gotye with Kimbra
Best pop instrumental album:Impressions, Chris Botti
Best pop recording:Bangarang, Skrillex featuring Sirah
Best dance electronica album:Bangarang, Skrillex
Best traditional pop vocal album: Kisses on the Bottom, Paul McCartney
Best hard rock/metal performance:Love Bites/So do I, Halestorm
Best rock song: Lonely Boy, The Black Keys
Best rock album:El Camino, The Black Keys
Best alternative album:Making Mirrors, Gotye
Best R&B performance:Climax, Usher
Best traditional R&B performance:Love on Top, Beyoncé
Best R&B song:Adorn, Miguel
Best R&B album:Black Radio, Robert Glasper Experiment
Best country duo: Pontoon, Little Big Town.
Best country song:Blown Away,Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
Best new age album:Echoes of Love, Omar Akram
Best rap song:N****s In Paris, Shawn Carter, Jay-Z and Kanye West
Update: The ticket prices are ranged as Rs 500, Rs 1000, Rs 2000 and Rs 10,000(with signed CD's). And you can buy the tickets from all the bakery cafe outlets and the tickets are to be made available online as well so far known from the event managers.
It is known that English hard rock band Deep Purple will be performing live in Kathmandu, Nepal on 15th March, 2013. There were some rumors about the gig here in Nepal but now Deep Purple official website has published the date for their world tour and has written Kathmandu Nepal on 3.3.13 (March 15th, 2013). Here is how they had published it.
JPR Events, the even management group which brought Canadian Pop/Rock Singer Bryan Adams and Pakistani Singer Atif Aslam here in Nepal, is the organizer of this Deep Purple Concert too. And it is also known that the venue of the concert will be at Dasarath Rangashala Stadium which is only stadium that can hold tens of thousands of people. But the JPR events has not even published where can we get the tickets for the concerts and the price too.
I am keeping an eye on the places where to buy the tickets and as soon as I know it, I will update it here.
So it will be a great time watching the classic Hard rock band Deep Purple playing live in our own city Kathmandu.
Here are some of Best Deep Purple's song that I love to hear in the concert. Highway Star. Child in Time. Hush. Smoke on the water. Soldier of Fortune. Black Night. Strange Kind of Women. Perfect Strangers.
It's been long that I wanted to take a jump from a suspension bridge into the Bhote Koshi, flowing 160m below at The Last Resort located in Sindhulpalchok district of my country Nepal. The jump most popularly known as Bungy jumping is the most adventurous thing to do in Nepal and also this is one of the top 10 longest free falls of the world. Ever since my engineering graduation, I wanted to feel this ultimate experience but all the shots gone in vain. Once I was on the way to Tatopani for my office work, stopped there to get a ticket to jump but due to huge no. of bookings that day, they did not let me do it. I even waited two hours to try convince people there but had to come back empty handed.
Edge of the bridge to jump for Bungy and Swing.
I had also planned many times to book the Bungy from Kathmandu with Basu and Kiran but due to different problems we backed up. One year before Kiran ji did it with this other friends, since then I was more excited to do it as soon as possible. Then the day came when Vasek (my friend from Czech Republic) and his brother Andre arrived to Nepal to be close to the nature and attend Kiran's wedding this February, a season for marriage. Though I had already made a plan to do Bungy with them but not in the first day of their Nepal entrance and how would I miss Basu - the man who always says yes to the trips I make, even in the last minute. And that happened this time too, I had called him if he would join us only at the last minute of the booking time in TLR office, Sagarmatha Bazar, Thamel.
So next day, It was me, Basu, Vasek, and Andre travelling to The Last Resort, passing the strict Kavre bandh (strike) called by opposition parties against the Maoist government. After weighing our weight and brief instructions for the Bungy/Swing, we were divided into two groups according to our weights. 40-79 were put in first group where as 80 to 89 were in the second group. Andre, Basu and me were in the first group and Vasek made it to the second group.
We already had one more person into our group with the "guffs" we had made during the bus ride to TLR (The Last Resort), Sagar- a computer engineer student was so excited to be the first to do it as he was the lightest among the boys but they started from the heaviest one in the first group. Andre instantly changed his mind to do Swing and was the first one to do it for the day and there was another person for the first Bungy. To kill time for waiting in the bridge for his turn, Basu started playing prank on some girls and told them that one person died last month doing Bungy and I too supported his saying for fun. As I heard an Isreali girl's scary words with the stuffs Basu pranked, the TLR guys called me to prepare for next Bungy. I was seated on a chair in the middle of the suspension bridge and started putting the belts on my waist and body. Then the video guy started the shoot asking how do I feel. I really felt excited, somewhat scared too and that's what I said to him. After pulling the rope from below and video shoots from different angle, the TLR guy tied knot on my both legs and even tied it to the backup belt on my body. Then he slowly pulled me towards the edge like a scuffled prisoner and then I could hear some words from the ppl next to me but could not understand what they were saying.
I went absolutely blank, my piece of mind was empty that time, all I knew was not to look down, but to look straight and jump after the guy behind me calls 1 2 3. Then after his countdown, I made an instant jump from the edge into the air down to the Bhote Koshi. The most exciting moment was the one when you feel like flying with your arms wide open, and that lasted for just some few seconds. After the first jerk, the most scariest thing happened as every thing I see was going so round that I felt dizzy with it. Then I thought of closing my eyes but I did not for not wasting this chance to experience every bit of it. I too managed to cross my hands and put in the chest which the instruction guy told during the demo class. The thrills all started to slow down when I see a bamboo stick down in the side of the Bhote Koshi river and the rope was put down. After grabbing the stick, they pulled me to the side, laid me on a bed and untied everything on me. The view from the bed was more scary and it was hard to believe that I jumped from that high. I wanted to click a pic from there but I did not have anything on me, so I asked one guy to give me his mobile to take a picture which he did unwillingly saying its a complete waste. Told him to give me the picture with his blackberry (may be a Chinese "Khasa" one) when he would be up in TLR after finishing all the jumps. I after having some rest with Andre who was waiting there for me, started walking upwards through the stone paved way. On the way we shared the thrills/experience to the top along with another guy who did Bungy after me. After 30 minutes of walk from the river bank, we reached The Last Resort spot where Vasek was enjoying the sun. He showed me my Bungy jumping picture that he had taken with my camera which was quite awesome from the viewing point and my full expression was on it. Thanks to Vasek for this amazing picture.
And here is the video of my Bungy jump taken by TLR for the extra 1500 rupees along with a nice T-shirt.
Here is a picture of ours with the TLR Tshirt.
From Left to Right: Vasek, Sagar, Basu, Andre and me
NEA has reduced the load-shedding hours from 14 hours to 12 hours a day. This comes in effect after India continued the previously halted 24 MW electricity to Nepal. Here is the new load-shedding schedule to be effective from Magh 21 (Feb 03, 2012) which is published on Magh 19 (Feb 1, 2012). Click to download the full picture.
