hey, hi, howdy, hello
there’s hardly any chance that i could be enjoying this summer more.
it consists of reading, listening, watching, thinking, working (in moderation), and more thinking.
I’ve learnt a lot about random things. figured out just how much love i loudspeakers and hifi equipment – and how much more i love television.
so, here’s just a run down of some things i’ve had the chance to enjoy. music and other
Burn Notice

There is no greater badass than Michael Westen. Seriously, there can be no bigger badass than that dude. And the character is played perfectly by Jeffrey Donovan. I know this show ain’t high drama but it’s an amazingly executed show. The show has a very particular visual style that has matured and is gorgeously produced this season. There are hiccups with the HD broadcast but they aren’t so distracting that you’d be pulled away from the magic of our super spy in his quest to help himself but, first, help others. Honestly, early on this show was just a passing distraction – it was visually appealing but the storyline wasn’t pulling it’s weight in the first half season. It’s turned into this smart and wry tale about a man that really is trying to do the best he can in some very strange situations. It’s worth checking out and, I’d say, getting hooked.
Hulu (here) the latest 5 episodes – new ones show up with a week’s delay -
Ha Ha Tonka’s Novel Sounds of the Noveau South

Southern Rock. It’s something. This album and this band are news to me. I’d heard of them in passing – with a Kings of Leon reference in tow and passed on listening to them. Forgive me, I loved Kings of Leon way back when but the wheels came off that wagon a while back (like what happened to Oasis post-Morning Glory) . This is an album that has almost everything I look for in pop music – smart songwriting, well-done vocals, and beautiful production quality. It might run low, as a whole, on innovation but “Hold My Feet to the Fire” in itself makes up for that lacking in the any of the other songs.
Bluray

I think fidelity to recordings is the most important thing when presenting any media – a movie, a song, or a television series. Bluray is as close as we are to getting absolute fidelity in AV terms. Sure, there’s better resolution stuff that will come – oh, I’ll tell you easily that I know all too well the limitations of bluray – but it’s the best we’ve got right now. And, boy, is it something. It provides the best sound out there - in fact, what little it lacks in it’s capacity far as video quality is concerned it more than makes up for in it’s capacity to provide near-perfect information when encoded correctly.
I’m not championing running out and buying an expensive system – in this economy I’d be a douchebag to suggest that (disclosure: I haven’t made any hi-fi related investment for myself recently either). I’m saying that when you get a chance go and grab a well priced player – and don’t buy discs right now, go get a Netflix subscription if you don’t have one. Disc prices will come down and I’m going to recommend waiting the year or two to start amassing a size-able collection. However, it’s easy to see that player prices are going to plateau because we’re already hitting remarkably low prices – the tech in more expensive players is better but it’ll become available at a better price point soon enough. So, invest in a cheap player for now and pass it on in a few years – it’ll definitely keep for two years if you buy anything slightly above the lowest end of the market
Here are two very capable players around the $200 price point on amazon: Samsung BDP-1500 and Panasonic DMP-60. Here’s an LG that gives you the ability to stream Netflix titles that are available to watch instantly – a slightly higher price point but still well under $300 – LG BD370. Oh, and for those that may dare and have the accompanying equipment to really use such a player, I’d say get the Denon DVD-3800BDCI (it is surely in a higher price range and not for those faint of heart in hifi matters) – it’s Denon’s flgaship and is most definitely prosumer King of Bluray Players right now (also, I’m in love with this machine – it performs as well as something three times as expensive far as audio quality is concerned. It’s way more than a Bluray player – it’s a bluray/cd/dvd/dvd-audio player that can really do it all exceptionally well.)
You don’t even have to go out and buy an HDTV – you can enjoy the upscaling of DVDs (that almost all players now do in a competent, if not always remarkable, manner) and enjoy bluray discs sized to fit your resolution since players will generally play nice with non full-hd tv’s through HDMI, RCA, or Component video connections.
Hell, I’d say wait till christmas and get a small HDTV/Monitor to boot (not even necessarily something 1080P) – size really isn’t everything and, in all honesty, having the utility of hooking up something around 24 inches to use as a laptop/computer monitor and as a reasonably sized TV is just better sense than investing in tech that might not be worth the investment since new standards in display technology are around the corner (well, post-recession corner, anyhow).
When, and if, you do take the leap, I’d suggest you check out a few discs to see the magic of Bluray – “Wall-E”, “Casablanca” (yes – that Casablanca with Bogie and Ingrid Bergman), “Mad Men: Season 2,” and “Spiderman.”
there are other things that have kept me busy – one has been an obsessive pen-and-paper approach to designing a useful interface for an online publication. more on that, and other stuff, later.
for now – enjoy,
tanmay















