HD-licious is a new section to spread the HD Love. Of late, I have collected quite a lot of HD resources which I want to share with everyone. This section will have a lot of visual show-off of the High Definition kind.

And what better way to start this new section with Avatar; James Cameron’s Magnum Opus, releasing this December. Oh yes, click the images to get to the Full HD screencaps. Obviously, I could not include the High-Definition screens directly on here. Just feast your eyes darling, at the H-Delicious Nom Noms.

**** HD Screenshots of Avatar ****

**** Lots more HD Screenshots of Avatar after the Jump ****

Jake wakes up!

Green Na’vi

Na’vi tail..or is that a…????

Jake Happy for transplant..and to get the tattoo

Jake gets wired up

Wakes up once

Wakes up twice..in blue

Jake likes the body blue tattoo

Enter Na’vi..the forest edition

Do NOT piss the locals

Do NOT mess with the monsters

Serena Williams is a global fashion icon..in Na’vi

Glow worms of the Future..err..Na’vi Land

Is there a Sigourney inside you?

Reminds me of ID4

Sunny Deol calling!

Return of the Scream!

Oh GI Joe…oh wrong movie

Fight in the Skies

Told ya..Falling in Love..is hard on the knees

And the Locals are waking up

C’mon Baby Light my Fire!

Love will conquer all

Do NOT forget the Date of release. See you there!!

Ladies n Gents, Boyz n Gals, make room for the Rock to hit you, coz here they are: Wagon Rags to knock your socks off with their rock and well make Bollywood remixed bitches eat dust. But well, Mr.Lead Singer, Jh**ga (though he specifically mentioned his displeasure over being referred by this name and that Jh**ga is not derived from Abhishek JHA but from his affinity to prawn dishes) would put it otherwise. (I asterisked the name coz my chicken platter is at stake) He says, Wagon Rags aren’t here to compete or battle against any form of music. Wagon Rags are just here to belt out their music and sweep the crowd off their feet. Ok, I know Wordsworth said “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. And well, “A little of Self Promotion is SuJOY forever *wink*”. First, lemme introduce the band before I go into the intricate details of the seven hours in Sound Ideaz Studios of Pune where we witnessed a nine month old tune take its shape, riff by riff, solo to solo and beat to beat.
Drum Rolls: Dheessh!!!!!!
Dean on the Bass.
Gyan on the Drums
Vatsal on the Guitars
Parag on the Lead Guitars
Abhishek on the Vocals.
The Band: Wagon Rags . First Single: Devil’s Ride
In a way, it makes sense that the bands Rhythm guitarist:  Vatsal Raicha is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Surathkal. But then, he has lost all of his mechanical gyan of IC engines, and that now all he knows is screw up the nuts of his project teammates (he is a project lead in an respectable IT Firm ). And well, to say that Wagon Rags has anything to do with Mr.Raicha would just be cool for the sake of it. That is so not how it happened. Wagon Rags emerged as the winner over such great ones nominated as “Marcoly’s Punch”, ” Pure silver Brutal Farce” and well the one suggested by me – ” Paanch Badan Ek Jaan” (5 bodies, one soul). Clearly Wagon Rags seemed logical to them, but well I still think Paanch Badan to be a clear winner.

BAND PROMOTION PICS FROM RECORDING ROOM AFTER THE JUMP

Venue: Sound Ideaz Studio run by Nitin Joshi
The band is already there since 3 pm trying hard to put together the drum setup. But then, the mixing of Brute Force’s next track is on. So plans are a bit postponed. And then, the clock have now been set up to start ticking at 4:20 pm. Nice choice. Drums setting up starts. The quest for the perfect bass, and THE sound on the tom is on. Muting, tuning, taping, cushioning with extra pink pillows, tightening of screws (or screwing em up) and getting rid of the extra toing. It takes an extra hour and it  almost consumes three hours to get it done right (not to forget, we had a fun jam inside the studio and then finally realised that we were being charged by the hour, and that before we could actually settle down and record a thing, the Rags are already been charged a cool 1000 bucks). But then, the Rags wont stop until the perfect sound is achieved. Such a bunch of perfectionists. (A slight element of promotional stunt, given that these guys are my close pals, but what the heck, they even made me a pseudo publicist and promised me two meals of chicken for this post).

Drums all set to roll. Gyan takes his Throne. Headphones on. Mirrors tilted to see the reflection from the mixing room. Nitin on the Mac. Guys ready with their instruments for the demo take. The plan was to go one by one. The order to be followed was: Drums >> Bass >> Rhythm Guitars >> Lead Guitars >> Vocals . Gyan gives the cue, and we ROLL. A taste of the lyrics is given below.

Worlds movin, but on really slow feet
tryin to keep time, its missin a beat
an ol black n white
I wanna paint it, i wanna paint it in speed

I dont even let the wind set the pace
gonna overtake the storm and set the chase
gotta make every moment a raceday out here
i leather my skin, i get ready to race

(pre-chorus)
and theres that sign ahead that says go slow
never cared to know what the fuck that means
have seen them lights all red n yellow
but i dig only … i dig green …

(chorus)

I…. get on the devils ride,
kick up dust … leather my stride
blazin wheels … better watch your side
coz I…. m doin the devils ride

First take of drums- a bit flawed. First take was a bit of a disaster as everyone didn’t seem ready. The guitars went out of control and so everyone was shut down. But surprisingly, the tempo is a bit on the higher side than the one in the rehearsals. And it sounds GOOD. Gyan hits for take 2 and it goes goo..oood until the last 20 seconds when his headphones fell off. Take 3..and we are done with the drums. Best part in a band is when everyone knows his flaws through and through. We listened the entire drums track closely and carefully, and couldn’t deduce any flaw until Mr.Gyan pointed it out. And with some help from Nitin’s mixing skills, drums are served on the platter. Next up :Dean Vaz on the Bass (try to say it as a rhyme).

Dean on the bass, goes easy and smooth. Just a bit of improvisation required and with instructions from Jhinga, Vats, Parag and Nitin, job is done. And yes, it looked as easy as it sounds here. Very smooth.
And we are almost four hours into the clock. Now the debate for recording the rhythm guitars:- whether to go for direct Line Out Recording, or go for the Amplifiers. Vatsal knows it best. Amps it is. And we enter the studio again. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Gyan is already out of the room, and is puffin some smoke of the tobacco kind.

Vatsal settles down, overcomes his stage fright, leaves all his worries of Project deadlines and attritions behind, and gathers the confidence to PERFORM. Must be the Hide n Seek and Cashew Nut Good Day that he ate (You guys I spent 25 bucks  on that). First take- Vats not satisfied. Second take : went well until he looked up through the looking glass and saw Alice…no I meant Jh***a. Third take: Job Done…or was it the seventh? Parag is in next. The Rhythm parts to be filled first. Done. Solos in the verse part, Done. Intro Solo..one take ..Done. Outro Solo..Done. The solo part where the spotlights are to be on on Parag..3 takes. Done.

Last but not the least, Mr.Jh***a  (Abhishek Jha) takes control of the microphone. He entered, he made some mistakes, he corrected em and was then beaten to pulp. Why do I keep deviating? Must be too much of Korean gore that I have been watching lately. The recording on the other hand went smooth, quite.
And then, it was up to the Man to make the pieces fit perfectly. Mr. Nitin Joshi. And so he did. With regular inputs on the volume levels, the punching in and punching out,etc. after almost 5 and a half hours of clock time, Devil’s Ride was ready to ROCK THE WORLD. Go here to the Myspace Page of Wagon Rags to listen to the Track. I have the MP3 but they won’t let me upload it here for download.

Bonus Track :Live recording in two takes: Tie Your Mother Down: Original Artistes- Queen
Long story short: Signed, Sealed ,Delivered. Hear me in the Chorus. LOL.
CD Burned: Thanks Steve Jobs for the Mac. Thanks Sujoy for the cookies. Thanks Nitin Joshi and Sound Ideaz.

PROMOTIONAL PICTURES AS PROMISED ABOVE:

The Pseudo Band Manager / Publicist

Photographs Exclusive to : OneKnightStands

CONTACT for Band: wagonrags [at] gmail [dot] com

MySpace Page: myspace.com/wagonrags

In the words of the great Scorpions, “Here I am, Rock you like a Hurricane”. This is it, January 3^rd of the year 2008, when One Knight Stands a.k.a. OKS goes live and all ready to kick butt. OKS is where you will find Movie reviews like never before, Music finding definition in words, popular culture being questioned and Breaking News being dumped-all under the same roof. Yeah, of course with a tinge of my personal spices and some sprinkled sauces of rumors. It has been a tiring journey so far to set up the blog, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my very good techie friends- Ashwin and Ravindra. Special thanks to Brajeshwar for the help he has extended to me right from buying the domain to hosting it to even answering my silly queries.

Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without some powerful forces who keep my lamp burning. My Inspirado- Sujoy Chatterjee, my parents who couldn’t understand what I was upto but are supportive nonetheless, and my badass roomies who keep asking for the hit counts everyday.

Thanks for visiting OKS and Seasons Greetings for a prosperous New Year. I hope you enjoy the ride. Security, where are the belts?