My top 10 for Eurovision Song Contest 2013 – Malmö

I’m no expert when it comes to music and all I do is determining whether I like a song or not and I don’t even have the skills to identify a song’s genre but most of those songs which I happen to like are categorised under pop. Moreover, I've never even been a bathroom singer nor have I ever wielded a musical instrument.  I’ve never bothered about the language of a song and in fact, prefer songs of a language which I don’t speak and even in case of English songs, I’ve never bothered too much about the lyrics. 

This happens to be the fourth Eurovision Song Contest I’m following and despite the fact that I’ve no power to influence the contest in any way whatsoever since I live in a place miles away, even from the nearest eligible country, which I guess is Lebanon. But I’ve still had the interest in the competition, owing to such enthusiastic performances and also, most songs sung in this contest happen to suit my interests

A blog post may not be the best way to put up a top 10 list, especially when this is a not a music blog (nor shall it ever be) but I don’t happen to have the ‘technical know-how’ to personally compile a video with excerpts from each song. The list has got nothing to with public opinion or trends, it is solely based on my liking and nobody shall dictate which song I should like and which one I shouldn’t.

So, here it begins: -

10. Greece – Alcohol is Free by Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis

The pace, at which the song goes, is not usually something that represents my liking but for the strangest of reasons, I liked it. Their voice, their attire in particular and by the way they go about it, I guess the song’s lyrics are funny. I felt it deserved a mention, and hence, I gave it the last slot in my list.

09. Malta – Tomorrow by Gianluca Bezzina

I liked the voice of Bezzina, sounded like some young boy singing. Was one of my initial favourites but as more and more countries declared their songs, they just happened to gazump the Maltese entry.

08. Slovenia – Straight into Love by Hannah Mancini

Sung by the ‘American girl popular in Slovenia’, which happens to be what Mancini says about herself, has created a standard pop song with her team. Good song, which immediately got into my ‘Best in the Library’ playlist.

07. Sweden – You by Robin Stjernberg

The hosts, the incumbent, many tip Sweden to win the contest again but I think this is the proper place for the song in my list. When I first heard it, I didn’t particularly like it, but this song went the opposite way, in comparison with the Maltese entry, gradually rising up the ranks in my list. Certainly not my choice for a victory but is an excellent song and if I give it some more time, it might well go into till the fourth rank in my list.

06. Austria – Shine by Natália Kelly

Loved the song, when I first heard it, I thought that this was going to be my favourite in the contest but, unfortunately, there are better entries.

05. Denmark – Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest

I wanted Denmark to finish in the top three in the last two years, that is, the songs New Tomorrow by A Friend in London in 2011 and Should’ve Known Better by Soluna Samay for 2012. But I don’t think neither of them even came close but this time, public opinion seems to be strongly in favour of de Forest, especially when she is performing at Malmo, which is effectively a home advantage considering Copenhagen being the nearest big city. Moreover, even the Nordic voting bloc might be in her favour.

The song was good, I especially loved the flute (or however THAT particular instrument is known as) but the live performance should be a little better.

04. United Kingdom – Believe in me by Bonnie Tyler

UK grabs the fourth position. When I came to know that Tyler was going to be the representative and considering her age, I thought it was going to be yet another horror of a performance, like Humperdinck’s performance at Baku. But, this was more suited for the present day, and I’m surprised that she has maintained her voice even at 60+. Great song!

03. Azerbaijan – Hold me by Farid Mammadov

Another brilliant entry from Azerbaijan! A wonderful ballad and though, is not very highly rated video in Youtube’s various ranking videos, but I often contemplated giving it the first spot in my list. Can Azerbaijan have their second win in three years?

02. Russia – What if by Dina Garipova

Russia finished second last year with Buranovskiye Babushki’s Part for Everybody but I was disappointed with that song. Didn’t suit my interests at all, but this one from Dina is appropriately soft, slow and although I’ve never bothered about it much, I liked the lyrics of the song – going with the motto of this year’s contest, We Are One.

01. Iceland - Ég á líf by Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson

My favourite, by a significant distance from Dina’s What If. When I first looked Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson’s picture, his hairstyle indicated that he was another one of those Nordic cacophonic heavy metal musicians but his song turned out to be a pleasant surprise – soft and melodious. Incidentally, this happens to be my only other foreign language song in the list, other than that of Greece, which is quite unusual.

I’ve missed out on three highly rated songs, that is German, Norwegian and Dutch entry but I consciously left them out as I didn’t like any of them much, and at most, Germany could’ve made it into my top 15 list. But as always, my ratings are always a way off from the reality: 2010, my favourite entry was Slovakia’s Horehronie sung by Kristina Peláková but it didn’t even qualify for the final; the next year, 2011, at Dusseldorf was a little better, with my favourite entry, Paradise Oskar’s Da Da Dam representing Finland coming at least to the final, but was ranked beyond 20; and 2012 wasn’t any different, with Hungary’s representative, Compact Disco whose song Sound of Our Hearts also ending up with a rank beyond 20 and I believe even Iceland would only suffer the same fate.

Looking forward to the event, and luckily, it is one day after my exams get over!

The 20th Century by Terry Deary – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘The 20^th Century takes you from the last days of the vile Victorian Queen right up to the nostalgic Nineties, with all the amazing changes and incredible inventions that happened in between … and it’s not even over yet!

Want to know:

·         Who shocked the world by showing her knickers?

·         How two monkeys and a dog became astronauts?

·         Why a posh London restaurant served stewed car?

From the suffering Suffragettes to Bill and Ben, from Charlie Chaplin to Margaret Thatcher, this is horrible history as you’ve never seen it before – because you’re part of it! History has never been so horrible!’

The 20^th Century is a part of the Horrible Histories series written by Terry Deary, with this book being a special edition. It contains a summary of the entire 20^th Century, covering one decade in each chapter.

This book contained elements of a typical Horrible Histories book, with a timeline, interesting illustrations, diary entries and also some excellent handpicked events – making history rather interesting. My expectation on Horrible Histories novels have always been high, as I’ve learnt more about World War II or Egyptian history from the Horrible Histories novels than any history textbook and with that said, I’d have to say that this supposed ‘special edition’ was rather disappointing.

First, it is not very wise to cover the entire 20^th Century in 176 pages and thus, the content was inevitably less, very less, in fact. The author did bring out the gradual transition in the way of life, pretty well, but it was mainly, only the British way of life. Moreover, the author’s primary aim was only to make this book interesting than informative – there were several interesting incidents narrated by the author such as the story of Adrian Carton de Wiart or that of Lucky Lord Lucan but they are not of much historical significance, in my opinion, especially, the latter. Out of 176 pages, I guess a chunk of it was occupied by the stories on the South Pole explorer Robert Scott and the next generation Scotts (though I liked the anagram in Loch Ness’ scientific name Nessiteras rhombopteryx).

To sum it up, I would have liked this book, had there been a little change in the title of the book – ‘Britain during the 20^th Century’. The Author mainly concentrated only on British inventions, British achievements and British glories but it hardly went beyond Britain (probably the cover story is the only aberration) and is best suited for Brits who are interested in learning about their recent history. What I understood after reading this is that Horrible Histories is more suited when it is particular about something and not generic, like in the case of this book. This is the first horrible histories book that I’m reviewing but it certainly is not the first book of the series that I’ve read and after the expectations those books had set, this disappointed me.

I’d give it a rating of 4/10.

Rating: 4/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Shiva is gathering his forces. He reaches the Naga capital, Panchavati, and Evil is finally revealed. The Neelkanth prepares for a holy war against his true enemy, a man whose name instils dread in the fiercest warriors.

India convulses under the onslaught of a series of brutal battles. It’s a war for the very soul of the nation. Many will die. But Shiva must not fail, no matter what the cost. In his desperation, he reaches out to the ones who have never offered any help to him: the Vayuputras.

Will he succeed? And what will be the real cost of battling Evil? To India? And to Shiva’s soul?’

The Oath of the Vayuputras is the final book in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy. This book too, like The Secret of the Nagas, starts exactly where the prequel stops. So, don’t read this as a stand-alone before reading The Immortals of Meluha or The Secret of the Nagas, the reviews of which are available in this blog.

In this, Shiva’s quest for evil is complete after the reunion with his friend Brahaspati. The reasons for the plague in Branga, the birth of Nagas, had all been brought to light – and the reason is what is said to be the greatest invention – the Somras – the potion which extends the lifespan of a person (I’m not spoiling anything here, it is revealed within the first 40 pages). Shiva decides that Somras is evil and it has to be removed from the world. However, he has obstacles in his way – the actual beneficiary of the potion, the Meluha, doesn’t accept Shiva’s position, and Shiva himself is seen as he was never nominated by the Vayuputras, a tribe who were supposed to choose the Neelkanth. War is inevitable, and it has to be won.

The first thing I could notice in this novel immediately was that Amish’s writing has improved, A LOT. While the language in the first was rather amateurish, and in an attempt to make it better, the second book was highly laboured but the final instalment of the trilogy is natural and the author has largely stopped using modern slang but I’d reiterate that this is only a case of improvement and doesn’t necessarily mean that the language and presentation is noteworthy. Another interesting aspect of it was the global element of it – if you take a present day political map, the story revolves around in India, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh and Egypt. Coming to the story as such, the important part of it, the war strategies of both the sides was brought out well. The characters had become complete now and now the reader can easily judge the reaction of a character based on her/his personality, which was one of my major complaints with the first book. I loved the character of Kali in particular, which was somewhere close to my own line of thought, such as her open criticism of paramatma (supreme being / god) owing to the unnecessary suffering of the Nagas for the mistakes of certain Meluhans; I was immediately reminded of Austin Dacey’s fifth argument in favour of atheism and against god, that is, ‘The existence of gratuitous / pointless evil and suffering’. The story got into the crux of the plot, immediately, and that page was well maintained throughout and the only complaint that people could have regarding this is that there was no element of mystery involved, unlike the first two books, nevertheless, it wasn’t devoid of twists and turns. The allusions that the author makes to the Zoroastrians and the Buddhists was also quite interesting, something which most could easily relate to.

This book also had its flaws, starting with Kartik. The kid, I guess, was a six or seven year old at the beginning of this novel and although it is said that he is a prodigy when it comes to wielding the sword, no prodigy could even thinking of leading an army of hundred thousand against a ferocious force. So, his intellectual thoughts and his role are highly inconsistent with his age. Like in all the other books, the excessive usage of the ‘respect pronouns’ such as your highness, my lord/lady, etcetera was quite annoying. The sudden patriotism of Amish was also quite strange, considering how he had started referring to the land as ‘India’ and similar to how the author only referred to west Asia as Mesopotamia and not Iran / Iraq is because these name didn’t exist back then and the same applies for the name, India as well. While I liked the strategies that were formulated for the war, I was disappointed with the actual wars, as each of them, were highly one sided, either in favour of one or the other. Moreover, while the ending was good, but I don’t think any sensible person would regard Shiva as a great person, considering what the means he had employed to attain his ends. The author did a commendable job in covering up most of the loose ends but I found one significant loose end, that is, the murder of Sati’s deceased husband Chandhadwaj. The reasons for the same could be presumed by the reader but, Daksha, while thinking about it personally, comes to a conclusion that he was party to it, but it happened because of an act of omission on his part although the reader is kept in the dark as to what was that omission.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel very much, much more than the previous ones. I don’t consider the Shiva trilogy to be a series per se, rather, the same book broken into three parts and hence, I’d also consider working on a review and a concluding summary of the novel, soon, and the latter would definitely contain spoilers.

The author did suggest his next work towards the end of the novel – a similar genre, based on Mahabharat. If it happens, it would not add versatility to his name, but I do understand that it has the potential to generate a lot more money and I hope he does a good job in writing that book.

Coming to the rating of this book, although this is much better than The Secret of the Nagas, the book still doesn’t deserve a rating of nine. I’d award this an eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Dark Pool by J.E Fishman – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Three men's lives on a knife's edge...

Shoog Clay: The nation's winningest inner-city high school football coach resists pressure to move up to the college level because his kids in the Bronx mean everything to him. But more powerful people won't take no for an answer.

Antwon Meeps: One day Harriet Tubman High School's star running back is a shoe-in for a college scholarship. The next day he's accused of a rape he didn't commit, his life begins unraveling, and he doesn't know how to stop it.

The Mean: This incognito Greenwich hedge fund manager is so rich he keeps a giant sea creature as his pet. But a risky investment threatens to ruin him, and a stubborn high school football coach holds the key to his redemption.

Soon a tragic hanging in the school gymnasium will lay bare a secret force that none of these men understands. In a "dark pool" marketplace, insatiable Wall Street players have wagered everything on certain real-world outcomes. When fortunes hang in the balance, financiers cloaked in anonymity won't hesitate to pay off their claims with the blood of others.’

The Dark Pool is a thriller novel written by J.E Fishman featuring a young sportsman, his coach and an anonymous hedge fund manager. The young sportsman, Antwon Meeps, a student at Harriet Tubman School in Bronx, NY, at the start of the story is at Somerset Lake, Georgia, spending his Christmas Holidays with his aunt and cousin. Along with his cousin’s friends, Antwon too, is accused of rape, something to which he was merely an eyewitness and he is bailed out of Georgia by a lawyer – for a consideration that Antwon would help him on his demand and he has no idea what he is getting into. On the other side, there is Jonathan ‘Shoog’ Clay, an American football coach at Harriet Tubman School and he sees his pupils as his own children. But, he is offered a job to coach a college team, and the ones who have made the job offer are not willing to appreciate his perseverance. Things turn upside down, when a student, a member of Clay’s team, is found hanging causing serious problems for both, Antwon and Shoog. And the hedge fund manager, The Mean, is somehow connected to all these events is facing the risk of losing his fortune.

I liked the diversity in the plot, involving a kid, whose dreams are shattered, a coach who’d do anything to save the kid and the investors in the Dark Pool, who are concerned only about one end, that is, an increase in their wealth and for which, they’re willing to take any dire step. The pace was another aspect for which it ought to be appreciated, with the author getting to the crux of the plot from the very first page, till the end, without any sub-plot. The author also did an excellent job in character building, and how, each one of it undergoes a significant change, as the events unfold. Initially, I was worried a little, for a reason that I had no idea about American Football and if this had been based on the sport, I’d have surely close the book halfway but here, it is only a story on events surrounding the two who are involved in the sport. The only thing one would probably miss is the ability to understand the sport analogies of Shoog Clay, and someone who follows the sport might enjoy it (or might not, I’m not sure).

The only problem I had with this book was that I found Antwon’s escape from the prison in Georgia was flawed – however influential the lawyer who came to his rescue might have been, this case was supposedly reported in the papers and how, one of the accused assailants could just walk out, scot free. Moreover, those characters were completely ignored after Antwon’s escape – the author could have added a line in the epilogue on what happened to that case. One could also have a contrary opinion that the entire Georgian episode was just meant to destroy Antwon’s dreams of becoming the first person in his family to go to a college, although, I personally don’t subscribe to this view.

To conclude the review, I enjoyed the mix of this novel, where lives of two ordinary people are turned upside down in a matter of weeks in a matter of weeks, by rich and influential people in the financial circle. Being a student of finance myself, I particularly enjoyed the financial aspect of it. The most important aspect of any thriller novel, in my opinion is the end, and I felt it was satisfactory, except where the Georgian episode didn’t have a proper closure. Considering the plot, pace, the characters and the end, I’d award this book a rating of eight.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Interrogator’s Notebook by Martin Ott – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Norman Kross is a career interrogator who has worked covertly in some of the most dangerous places in the world. He returns to his Los Angeles home contemplating retirement and coming to terms with his past. He may be a master at unlocking others’ secrets, but he is blind to the truth of his deteriorating relationship with his wife, to take on one last assignment, to interrogate a character actor who may be responsible for the death of a director’s daughter. The secrets he uncovers are far more terrifying than any battlefield, any windowless room, any passage in the notebook he feverishly writes in to make sense of what men are capable of behind their masks.’

The Interrogator’s Notebook is a psychological thriller novel written by Martin Ott; a poet who has successfully trespassed into the thriller genre. It features a former army interrogator, Norman Kross, but doing a much lighter task now, that is teaching. However, he couldn’t stay away from his profession for too long, as he accepts to do one last assignment, interrogating an actor, who is suspected by the famous director Owen Arnold, of murdering his daughter Natasha.

Norman Kross – his unique character was a highlight of this novel with his seemingly unconventional techniques of interrogation, his totally messed up personal life, the squabbles with his father in law, and his complete devotion to his profession. I liked the introductory pages of every chapter where the Norman narrates his past experiences and also his approach to interrogation. The balance too, was proper, and nowhere did I get a feeling where the story regarding his personal life is merely a sub-plot. The antagonist too was an interesting character, the actor George Stark, who managed to keep Norman under threat – something which he had probably never felt, even at Fallujah. The USP of this novel is that it is straight from the horse’s mouth, with Martin Ott, himself being a former interrogator and the book that I read, is probably even a collection of his own experiences – which was suggested, I guess in Lesson 10, where Norman states that if he has to compile his experiences, it would probably be presented as a fiction. The only significant drawback I felt was that the pace that was required for a thriller novel wasn’t present in this plot, although that didn’t in anyway made it dull. For casual readers, this might not be so easy read; taking a gist of paragraphs after a couple of glances won’t help you and if you’re intrigued by this review, I suggest you read this book without skipping a word.

When I came to know  that this book was categorised under Psychological Thriller, I was quite sceptical about the whole thing as the only psychological thriller I’ve read so far is the famous Russian novel, Crime and Punishment and I was utterly disappointed with it but this book has helped to dispel that scepticism on this sub-genre. I had an enjoyable experience reading this book, and I felt that this was one step ahead of a good book, and therefore, my scale would award The Interrogator’s Notebook a seven on ten.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘I’ve waited a long time for young criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl to meet his match. Finally, it’s happened.

A second juvenile genius has discovered that fairies do exist, and she is determined to capture one for scientific study. And not just any fairy. The newcomer intends to trap a demon – the most human-hating species unknown to man.

Only an ancient time spell separates the demons from mankind – and Artemis must prevent it from unravelling. If he fails, the bloodthirsty tribe will re-launch their quest to wipe every human from the planet. Because that’s what demons live to do.

The can only be one winner – and this time it might not be Artemis Fowl.

Take nothing for granted.’

Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl octet. The reviews of books; 1, 2, 3 and 4 are available in this blog and in case you haven’t read one of them, don’t continue reading this review.

Coming to the crux of the plot, another person has come to know about the existence of fairies, that is, the eighth fairy family, the demons. And this ‘another person’, is very similar to Artemis; another juvenile genius, Minerva Paradizo. But, Minerva is similar to Artemis’ older self, who wants to exploit the fairies for her personal gains and Artemis has got to stop her, and it is not going to be easy. 

The Lost Colony’s plot was excellent; with the highlight being the intellectual confrontations between Artemis and Minerva, both trying to outwit each other. The demon world, their attributes and attitudes were brought out well by the author. The elements of Artemis Fowl novels were ever present, with the degree of sarcasm only increasing in this package. This could have been the best novel in the book; hands down, had it not been for the extremely boring, last quarter of the novel which happens in the demon world. Yes, Artemis’ intellect was put to good use, but in many cases, Colfer was simply pulling a rabbit out of his hat, to make the situation favourable to Artemis.

It is a pity that I can’t rate this book as high as any of the previous novels, notwithstanding the fact that I enjoyed three quarters of this book more than any other Artemis Fowl novels (including The Time Paradox and The Atlantis Complex), the last quarter was boring, dull and childish. I’d award this book a rating of six on a scale of ten.

Rating: 6/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Sutherland's Rules by Dario Ciriello – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘All Christian White wants is a quiet life. But between the FDA threatening new regulations which would bankrupt his business, and the challenges posed by his open marriage to Carol, his attractive, younger, bi wife, peace isn’t anywhere on the horizon. And when he receives a letter from Billy, his old chum and sometime guardian angel from their hippie days, asking him to come to London and help him collect a forty-year-old IOU, Christian’s other problems start to look insignificant. Because the IOU is for two hundred and fifty kilos of charas, high-grade hashish from Afghanistan. And Christian owes Billy too much to even consider refusing.’

Sutherland’s Rules is the first thriller novel, or, in fact the first work of fiction written by the author Dario Ciriello. This story features Christian White and the character after whom the book is named after, Billy Sutherland, who are very close friends and are in their sixties now. Christian is leading a relatively peaceful life, running a legitimate business in New York but is threatened by the new regulations imposed by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But, things change, when he is invited by Billy Sutherland to join him in one last mission, a highly dangerous one. An IOU that Billy signed with an old farmer at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, forty years ago was about to mature and was for 250 kilos of hash (cannabis). Despite all the perils at going for it, the two decide to take the change to ‘reminisce the days of their youth’ and they’re to bring the stuff back to the United Kingdom, against all odds.

The best part about the book was Billy Sutherland himself – a person with a very high IQ but has used it all along only to smuggle drugs, that too not usually for sale; made his profile very interesting. The way in which Billy planned the entire operation was the highlight of the novel. The friendship between Christian and Billy was brought out well and I was also pleased with the character building, even with that of the antagonists – the immigrants serving for the British Police force – Detective Inspector Amir Khan and his sidekick, Vladimir. The element of ‘unseen character’, often used in sitcoms although I’ve seldom seen it being used in a book, was used well in this novel – fitting Barraclough into that role, Amir Khan’s superior. Although Barraclough was never involved in an actual conversation, I believe the reader could still easily make out how he’d react in either of the cases – Khan’s success / failure in nabbing Sutherland and his friends. The tiny sub-plot was also a useful digression in the story, that being Christian’s discussions with the CEO of his firm regarding the new FDA regulations. The global element of the novel was enjoyable, with the story going through three continents over two hundred pages and – particularly, the part where it takes place in Afghanistan was my favourite which brought out the author’s diligent research on Afghanistan, their culture and their current plight. I enjoyed the description of Afghanistan and also the author’s take on some of the issues – two which I believe are worth sharing in this review:

‘The terrorists had won. No two ways about it: when a handful of semi-literate cavemen several thousand miles away could upset the lifestyle of an advanced society of hundreds of millions of civilized people, they'd won. Game over. And how? Because we'd become so soft, so afraid, so dependent on faceless structures and institutions to tell us what to do, how to act, what to think, that we actually deserved to lose’ – Page 25

‘”I think (there) will come the day when there are no foreigners, and Afghans rule all Afghans, But, peace, I am afraid that we will not have. For peace, we need more than democracy – we must all be beyond the tribe, beyond religion. This is why the Europeans no longer fight wars against each other. Until we overcome these thing, there cannot be peace”’ – Page 95

This is one of those very few books where I loved both the protagonists and their counterparts; while the former had not been doing anything so honourable, the way in which they approached the same was what made it special. Even the two police officers were good and totally workaholic and took lots of effort in the Sutherland case despite their boss being more concerned about some Estonian gang. A pity that you can't have both the sides winning.

I had wanted to read Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner for two reasons: one being the author’s citizenship – for the reason that most books in my shelf are that of the authors from the British Isles and I wanted to add variety to it by adding books of American authors; and the other one being that I wanted to read a story that takes place in Afghanistan, even if only a part of it takes place in that location. This book, satisfied both those intentions of mine even before I got my hands on to The Kite Runner although as far the first reason is concerned, it is a little complicated in this case, with the author of Sutherland’s Rules being London born, currently living in US and of Italian descent.

To sum it up, I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience reading this book and I’m sure most thriller lovers, too, would love this book. It had a well-written story, moving at the right pace and with a fitting end, which, in my opinion, are the most important aspects of the thriller novel. Going by that, I’d give this book a rating of nine on ten.

External links:

Panverse Publishing

Amazon link

Have a nice day,

Andy