Blue Man Group

Sunday, December 16^th saw us at the Blue Man Group show in Chicago. It’s amazing how they have combined music, color, theatre and electronic multimedia to create a unique entertainment show. The show began with a rather long interaction with the audience through electronic message boards, where people were asked read out the displayed lines congratulating some people for their recent feats or suggesting someone how to kill his headache. It felt a bit stupid to me but the enthusiasm, with which a large part of the audience reacted, may be it was a good stunt to gear up the viewers. Through out the show, the music was awesome. The common act of beating the drums was elevated to a superior level with different colors and strategically placed lights.

The mime was good. The visual presentations through different forms served well as breaks between the main acts. Audience interaction was a very important part of the entire show. They often came out to the general sitting area, connected to the people and selected individuals to be parts of their acts. An old lady was invited to their dinner table while a young man was used to make an ultra-modern art, which involved painting him blue and smashing him against a canvas. The lady must have enjoyed it. I hope the guy enjoyed it too. The most hilarious part of audience interaction for me was when someone entered the show late. The on-going show was halted; electronic sign boards declared that someone came late; one of the blue-men focused a light on the late comers; cameras tracked them and there was a background song saying “You are late … you are late” in an opera style. You should have seen the expression of the late comers. At a later stage, rolls of white ribbons were put on the audience along with a great show of lights. The moves of rock n roll were fun and exciting too. However, the best part for me was playing the pipes. Below is a video from the youtube. It’s from a different show, but it’s similar.

Overall, the evening was a delight. Even more as we got tickets for $30 instead of the normal rate of $60 being students. So don’t forget to take your student ID if you are one.

(The pics in the post are courtesy http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/blue-man-group-puts-on-incredible-show-in-las-vegas/ You are not allowed to take pictures or videos inside the hall)

Going Home, Hating Mondays

In school, the holidays always started on the last day of the exam. We used to have the exam in the morning and by the time it was over, the campus was crowded with parents to take their boys home. If you were there in the hall till the end of the exam, you could hear the parents greeting their children or calling out loud a last minute instruction before they leave for home. It was tough seating there and revising your answers or even finishing the unanswered ones with the event of going home so close at hand. Naturally, the last exam was always a bit messed up. Things were a bit different in college since by then students went home on their own and no parents were to be seen (except for a few cases and those students inevitably were labeled as grown-up-looking kids). Still, you couldn’t miss the going-home-excitement in the air. Given the background, you can easily sense the thrill of going home after one and a half years, that too for the first time after coming to a place 7998 miles away from the home town. That’s something you feel just once in your life time. However, the sad part is that I booked my ticket quite late and all the people I know, have already left or will be leaving soon for India. Though it’s worth the wait, it’s kind of frustrating to watch people leave while you are stuck. Like the last exam in school, I don’t feel like working in these last two weeks before I fly home. Unfortunately, people in my research group aren’t going home. They got work for me. How sad :( It makes the Monday even more wearisome, even more unwelcome than a regular Monday. I will hate to wake up tomorrow morning.

Graduate Student after 3rd Semester

The third semester of my graduate studies is almost at its end. I am going back home in two weeks after one and a half years. I have been out of home since I was nine, studying always in boarding schools. But it was never for such a long stretch. Naturally, I am excited. However, right now it’s not only the excitement creeping in my mind; it’s also the uneasiness of a graduate student in one’s second year. To be honest, I have no idea where my research is heading. In the past one year I have learnt things, understood concepts and become more confident. But I doubt my abilities to conduct research on my own. So far, whatever I have achieved has largely been a favor from my senior in the lab. Unfortunately, he is graduating soon and soon it’s going to be a one-man-show, that one man being yours truly. It has got sort of an uncanny feeling when you know that you got no one for ready support. As far the advisor is concerned, I think other than some lucky graduate students, it’s hardly a factor save for the final stages when you need contacts for a job. From an optimistic perspective, hopefully it will help me grow as an independent researcher. Well, let’s put it in different words. It will be a test for me whether I can be independent and whether I can be a researcher, because so far I have been neither.