28.2.08

A break from the meta-blogging

Sometimes, you come across people who will either inspire and awe you, or fill you with bouts of envy and irrational hatred.

For instance, Alfonso de Portago. One of those characters you think only belong in a Errol Flynn flick. Who just happened to be an F1 driver, won the Tour de France automobile race, rode in the Grand National twice, and was part of the bobsleigh team in the '56 Winter Olympics. All before he was 28.

...aur humne kya kiya? Ghanta.

More on such colourful personalities on this piece on the F1 drivers of yore.

16 comments:

km said...

Ding Dong.

??! said...

PLEASE tell me that wasn't a pun on ghanta-bell.

Otherwise oh baby, I will sing a song.

km said...

No flashbacks to 1980s please, I beg of you. Some of us had to grow up in those years.

Anonymous said...

Dear KM,

Don't diss the 80s. They were awesome.

There, I said it.

Regards,

Puppy Manohar.

km said...

Dear Puppy Manohar (love that name, man),

NO ONE loves the '80s. At least not if you wore acid-washed jeans and listened to hair metal. (Guilty on both counts.)

Anonymous said...

Dear KM,

What is wrong with Hair Metal, pray tell?

Do you have something against the immense wisdom contained in such songs as "Every rose has its thorn" (just like every night has its dawn), "Hot for teacher" (I think of all the education that I missed. Too bad my homework was never quite like this), "Cherry Pie" (I scream you scream. We all scream for her) and millions of others. I'm not even including cheesy shred-metal bands like Cacophony, Racer X and Malmsteen (You don't remember, I'll never forget)(Well, Malmsteen isn't a band, but still) .

D00d, the 80s totally totally rocked.

Regards,

Puppy Manohar

km said...

Dearest Puppy,

Love your taste in music and all, but don't be throwing VH into the mix ;)

And give some props to Whitesnake's wisdom please: "Are you ready to rock, children of the night!".

Sorry, ??!, we are using your commentspace like VH1 uses precious spectrum.

Anonymous said...

Dear KM,

Come on, you have to admit that every lead singer in the 80s wanted to be DLR (I am not counting the Hagar years as VH. No arguments to convince me otherwise will be entertained). Also, every guitarist in the 80s wanted to be EVH. In that sense, I consider them to be the progenitors of the Cheesy Hair Metal we know and love.

Regards,

Puppy Manohar

"Get out and push" - VH / DLR

Anonymous said...

Ok, they either wanted to be EVH or Malmsteen, or a mixture of both.

-PM

??! said...

KM:
Dude, the 80s rock(ed).

I mean, it had I-yam-a-Disco-Dancer, and The World This Week, and Karamchand, and bullet-jeans, and I-need-somebody-to-luwwwwwwww-me.

How could you NOT love them?

And please, hijack the space. Tis more fun.

PS. And waddayoo mean "some of us" had to grow up in them? Unkel-ji, hamare baal aise hi kaale nahin ho gaye.


Puppy:
VH, not Bon Jovi?

km said...

VH was really spandex-rock. They never wore lipstick, mascara, fishnet stockings or emitted quivering, shrieking falsettos like the rest of the crowd.

Ergo, not to be clubbed with hair metal :)

//Fondly remember a summer I spent listening to POISON. What was *wrong* with me?

Anonymous said...

??!,

VH vs Bon Jovi is apples and oranges. Unless you are comparing Van Hagar to Bon Jovi. In that case, I may concede that Bon Jovi wrote easier-on-the-ear songs.

KM, I will concede to that. But then, I don't think DLR stuck around with VH long enough for the whole lipstick / mascara phase. Also, no falsettos? DLR went one better - whistle register, lol. He did use it rarely, and I don't think he can do it anymore.

As is pretty obvious by now, I am an early years VH fan. I am not so much a fan of DLR, but of EVH's playing.

Regards to all,

Puppy Manohar

??! said...

Puppy,

Your assumption is correct. Apologies for not clarifying.

Also, dood, since you remember the 80s so well, shouldn't we call you "dawg" instead? Or Hound Dog, if you like that kind of stuff.

Anonymous said...

Dear ??!,

I was attracted to 80s music because I hated the rock music of my teens (the 90s, ie grunge). So yeah, I'm not THAT old.

I don't have a problem being called "dawg" or "hound dog" or any variants of them.

Thanks,

Puppy Manohar

km said...

I was attracted to 80s music because I hated the rock music of my teens (the 90s, ie grunge)

I think I've heard just about everything.

*shaking my head in disbelief*

//the 80s are fun only to the "nostalgists".

Anonymous said...

Dear KM,

You like Grunge? Alas. I'm afraid we will just have to agree to disagree.

I'm going to go home today and listen to the first VH album again. And maybe some Racer X after that, just for meedlymeedlymeee effect.

Regards,

Puppy Manohar