Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Stuff.

I wanna say stuff. today I downloaded 18 new songs!! :D I went on Jango and turned on Adele Radio, and a lot of good songs came, by many artists, just the kind I like. Now I'm listening to the top100. My new favourite song right now is Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey. It's so nice! :)
Yesterday I was there in the inaugural dance of a Cultural Exchange at school. The theme of the dance was 'Good over Evil' And I was an 'evil person'. My hair was braided, and  I had red and black paint on my eyes and cheek. I looked REALLY creepy. I haven't got a photo yet, but when I get it, I'll post it, I promise. :)
Byebe

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

This is my favourite book. Now let me tell you how I ended up reading it. There was a Model United Nations going on in our school. And one of the committees was called 'The Pakistani All Party Conference'. And the agenda was about Afghanistan. So, while researching on Afghanistan, one of my seniors commented that 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' was a brilliant book relating to the stuff we were researching. So I decided to buy it, as I had heard of it before too. And thus I found one of the most beautiful books ever.
Mariam is a the illegitimate child of Jalil, businessman in Afghanistan, and she lives with her poor mother. When an  untoward incident leaves Mariam motherless, she is sent to live with her loving father, his many wives and her half-siblings. Soon, at the tender age of 15 (I'm 14 :O) she is forced to marry Rasheed, an middle-aged man in Kabul. The other protagonist of this book, Laila, is the daughter of one of  Mariam's new neighbours at Kabul. I will not say more about the storyline. Basically, after this, the Taliban take over Afghanistan, and the rest of this book comes to life, in the most brutal, heart-rending, and realistic way possible. This is not one of those books which will leave you thinking 'Oh, why did soandso have to die, the ending is too sad, boohoohoo'. No, it does not end in a happy way. There are graphic injuries and deaths, tortures, pain, and injustices of every kind. But let me tell you this, the ending will leave you with one thing. Hope. Hope for the world, hope for the real women over the world, who face such monstrous lives, simply because they are women. And, may I slip in, a smile.
Other aspects of the story are just as brilliant. The colourful, lively, descriptions of the bazaars, the food, the places, the hills, the deserts, you can see it in front of you. You can smell the kebabs, you can feel the wind, you can feel Hosseini's Afghanistan.
I am hardly a book critic. I am a teenage girl, who has seen the horrors of the world only on paper or on screen, and has pitied it. But this much I can tell you. 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' has left an impact on me unlike any other book has. Khaled Hosseini, I thank you for writing this book. It has truly changed my life.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Thought#1.

1. I don't understand a lot of people in my school. All they do is wear weird or expensive clothes which don't suit their age, make weird faces at the camera, (for instance:- 'duckface', 'pout'). And they are brainless people. One of them thought that a hybrid car is one where you can charge your phone. Yes. And they wear more make-up than a celebrity wears. And they are the most popular, amazing, 'hottaaaay', 'prettttay' girls that existed. Wow. 

Friday, July 13, 2012

My Other Favourite Musicians (few of hundreds more) :)


Top row from left: Mozart, Beethoven, Coldplay,  Whitney Houston
2nd row from left: Rihanna, Kings of Leon, Celine Dion, ABBA
3rd row from left: Taylor Swift, Dido, Bruno Mars, The Carpenters
Last row from left: Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Queen

#5. Frédéric Chopin

He is my most favourite composer. Ever. Mainly a pianist, Chopin is the composer closest to my heart. His compositions are absurdly, ridiculously, breathtaking. Whether it is a Waltz, a Mazurka, a Polonaise, a Nocturne, or a Ballade (which he himself invented as a style of composition, or even a Prelude, or an Etude or a Sonata, each and every one of Chopin's pieces tell a story. One of pain, melancholia, sadness, yearning, anger, jealousy, occasionally happiness or joviality  and so much more. All through 10 fingers striking a maximum of 10 keys at a time of an instrument. He died at the age of 39, and I shudder to think if only he lived longer. How many more masterpieces would he have left behind. My favourite Chopin pieces are ( I hate to choose, there are so many), Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Op. 23Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, Op. Posth.Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1Waltz in C-sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2 and Waltz in E-flat Major, Op. 18 "Grande Valse Brilliante".

#4. Tchaikovsky

I know I've suddenly jumped a huge time period back. Tchaikovsky is my second most favourite composer. If you're one of those people who are looking away from this right now 'cause it's 'some old classical dude who only made music without words' think again. Tchaikovsky's music, without any real visual or writing, gives you the exact image of what he wants to express. The mixture of the various instruments in such a melodious manner is truly phenomenal. It is hard not to enjoy his music. My favourite Tchaikovsky opuses are Swan Lake Ballet Suite, Opus 20: I: Lake in The MoonlightNutcracker Ballet Suite, Opus 71a: 7: Dance of The Reed Pipes, Nutcracker Ballet Suite, Opus 71a: 3. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Marche Slave.

#3. The Beatles

Left to right: George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney
These dudes were epic. Right from the beginning to the end. Their voices were playful, soulful, jolly, sad, whenever needed. They are one of the most amazing bands. Such a long time ago, their music truly was amazing, and still is today. Those cute haircuts and adorable stage performances were hard to resist. Even when all of them grew beards or mustaches, the voices remained the same, and the songs almost became better. Among the billions of songs they have written and performed, My favourites are Let It BeLucy in The Sky with Diamonds, and Yesterday.