A night to remember - Bryan Adam's Concert

One of the most awaited concerts of Pakistan finally happened - Bryan Adams performed live, in Karachi! Any amount of words could not express how wonderful the event was. It was awesome!

Tickets to Rock!

Price: Rs 3,500 each
From: ARY Cash n' Carry

I bought the tickets on the last day as I was not sure about who else was willing to accompany me, so I had to wait till the last hour. The tickets cost Rs 3,500 each (I ended up buying a deal on one ticket, where the ARY folks were offering six months paid Warid postpaid mobile connection for Rs 1,000 extra). I bought the tickets at 2:30 PM on Sunday (on the day of the concert), and I came to know that the gates of the venue will remain open from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. So I had to hurry!

On my way to the concert!

The venue: Arabian Sea Country Club
Location: Unknown

I had just a vague idea of where the AS Country Club was - somewhere in Defence, near the Golf and Creek Club. Anyhowz, I chose to go there through cab, called up White Radio Cab, and had a cab waiting for me within 10 mins. I left my home at 5:15 pm.

Even the cab booking guys knew about the concert:

Me: Yeah, I need a cab.
Operator: What's the destination?

Me: Arabian Sea Country Club
Operator: Concert mein ja rahay hain?
Me: jee

=D

And while in the cab, I found out that the Club is not in Defence, but in Steel Town. The cab driver down found it out by communicating over the radio at their HQ:

Driver: Sir, which Arabian Sea Club they wanna go to?
Sir: Woh concert hai na ... angraiz aa raha hai jahan pe ... Steel Town mein.

loll

Firefox 1.5 Officially Launched with New Site Design!

Mozilla has officially launched Firefox 1.5. Finally, after three release candidates we have the final version of Firefox 1.5. And what better way to compliment the event than a brand new site and design @ www.mozilla.com!

I love the new site. It looks cool! Even the FF extensions page https://addons.mozilla.org/?application=firefox is awesome!

Overall, I am upgrading to the new version. Get it!

read more | digg story

Jilawatan - Call's debut album

Call, the rock/alternative rock band of Pakistan, is ready to hit the market with their debut album titled Jilawatan.

The album is being released nation-wide (in Pakistan) by BMN Records. Cassettes and CDs will be available on the 20th November. No information has been provided for any International release yet.

Album Launch Event

The album launch event is scheduled for 19th November, one day prior to the album release. The launch event will take place in Lahore, and following are the details:

The Venue will be Alhamra, The Mall, Hall Number 1

For Tickets and Further Information please contact
0300 4507357 or 0333 4237530

New Video

A new vdo will also hit the channels on their album launch - "Sab Bulla Kai" is the song, which will be directed by Sohail Javed, who already has many good vdos to his credit. So looking forward to the vdo as well, which is set to hit on the music channels on 25th November!

You can check out their website @ http://www.thebandcall.com.

Waiting anxiously for their album! ROCK ON CALL!!

Vdo :: Sali by Shehzad Roy

No no, we are not talking about Shehzad Roy's 'sali' (sister-in-law), but rather about his new song titled Sali.

The Roy boy is back after a gap of over three years. A lot of things happened while he was away. First, Ali Zafar took over Roy's crown as the solo Pop icon of Pakistan. Following that, Atif dethroned Ali Zafar and is now crowned as the king of solo Pop in Pakistan. So while the cat (Shehzad Roy) was away, the mice (Ali Zafar and Atif) played, and took over as well.

So what Roy boy has come up with this time? Judging from the song and video of Sali, we are going to witness a rejuvinated Shehzad Roy, all ready to claim his throne back.

Sali is a hip and masti number. But what does the word - Sali - itself mean? Sali is a slang, kind of a gaali (swearing) here in the subcontinent. The word actually means sister-in-law. Roy claims that he has not used it as a slang, and that sali refers to the theme/story in the video - he's calling someone's actual sister-in-law in the video as sali. So is he trying to say that he wrote that song based on the video (that is, the video/story was made first and THEN he penned the lyrics)? But surely that's not the case. The story of the video was created as such, so as to i) make 'sali' appear as referring to a relationship, ii) to avoid censorship of his song, iii) AND to avoid ruining Roy boy's goody good image into a bad boy. But the hidden truth definitely is that sali is uttered as a slang.

Coming to the video, it's not much to write home about, except for Shehzad Roy himself. Roy has acted pretty well. He is looking quite young (younger than before), with short hair. Different style. Looking good. Danced well. Performed well. It won't be a surprise if girls tear off posters of the Atifs and the Zafars from their rooms and adorn Shehzad Roy once again.

I won't dare compare him to Ali Zafar coz Shehzad has been here since 10 years. But yes, his antics - his style and appearance - does appear to reflect that of Ali Zafar (a la Rangeen). Nonetheless, Shehzad has got his own style, and he even looks and performs better than Ali Zafar (in my opinion).

The video is directed by the Ahsan-Amena duo. Javed Shaikh is also there, playing an important role.

And the song ... it's a hit already!

The album is also out! It's called Buri Baat Hai. Released by Sadaf Stereo in Pakistan. Finally, the barren land of Paki Pop is again bearing fruit after a long dry spell (bcoz of the raids on Audio/CD/DVD companies here).

Video Rating Below Average (5.5 out of 10)



Song Rating Good (7 out of 10)

Great Logos

In my zeal to find great (website) designs and anything pleasing to the eye, I came across Miš i Pile a small logo designing firm from Croatia. Small is an under-statement for this design firm, headed by two people (spouses), specially after looking at their portfolio of 200+ superbly designed logos. Each logo distinctive from the rest, and each one logolicious.

Designing a logo is certainly a tough job. One requires not only a creative mind, but also the ability to get inspired. I mostly tend to play with fonts whenever I try to create a logo. Nonetheless, one does need a graphical representation (an icon of sorts) in a logo to depict the whole concept of your product or brand in one single element.

Here are some logos of Miš i Pile that I am showcasing here:


Love that combination of fonts - such contrast.


Very nicely designed. A ruby colored sky with
stars and a moon ... looking marvellous.


Oh this one has a guru, may be I can get some inspiration
from this one for my own logo.


Another diamond design, and again it's the font that is having
such an effect, with that perfectly placed diamond.


Nice, simple, and getting the message across very well.


The coolest thing about this logo is that the clock is showing
24 past 7, depicting 24/7.


A logo for a night club - funky, trendy, colorful.


Seems like the title logo of a sci-fi movie.


University. Students. Community. A logo to represent that all.

---

So any ideas for how should I go about designing my logo for Guru's World? Any ideas? Inspirations?

Jashn-e-Azadi Mubarak

Happy Independence Day everyone :). Here are some images that I took on 13th and 14th of August.

The Spirit of Freedom

It's such a nice feeling to see everyone being so patriotic, from the little kids, who put up a small flag on their bicycle, to the fruit selling carts, and the best of cars, decorated with a Pakistani flag.

Buildings decorated with lights. Houses and flats decorated with flags of all sizes.

And then finally at night, as August 13th changes to August 14th, it's gathering time for the Karachittes at Seaview. Hundreds of thousands of people rush to the seaview to celebrate Jashn-e-Azadi.

However, the bikes, and the bike riders, are a total nuisance and they do nothing but create immense noise pollution (as they take the silencers out of their bikes), and the way they drive - wrecklessly.

But overall, the night is filled with josh, excitement and patriotic fervour.