I want to be swept off my feet again

One fine day, i would want to watch this show live again. To experience the visual and musical effect in the Majesty Theatre of London, to be wowed by the grand stair case for Masquerade, to be awed by the cinematic feel of the entire stage musical.

One day, the time will come. It's a love for which I have held on so strongly, and i still ain't over it yet.

Marvels of Mechanical Music

I always have a soft spot for music boxes. In fact, a mechanical music box is one of my favourite things - one which does not run on battery, made of metal pieces and purely mechanical. It is such an ingenious tiny article, the creation of mechanical wonders, converting the energy into beautiful sounds of music.

The most fascinating part of the gadget is perhaps the metal cylinder with lots of tiny tangible dots, akin to the Braille. When the cylinder is rotated, each studded dot comes around and lifts up the metal tooth on the comb. And as it leaves, the metal tooth will snap back, and this delivers a precise note of music.

This is the simplest, and perhaps also the earliest form of mechanical music, dated way back before the creation of the more sophisticated organ or piano. It doesnt take a musical maestro to make this musical box work. All you need to do is just turn around the lever, at your own tempo. You are your own musician - wind it fast and the music plays on an allegreto mood, or go slow to create an adagio piece!

Playing and listening to these mechanical music makes me think about places like Salzburg and Cologne. These are the land of music, the historical places of world's greatest composers like Mozart and Beethoven. Music has been something which i grew up with, and it takes passion to keep it glowing.

In short, I feel that these mechanical music boxes are so magical that when one listens to it, he or she is in fact listening to the history in the form of music, experiencing the wonders of inventions of man. It is a dream of mine to have a collection of these music boxes from all over the world; though I have only a couple of them right now, I treasure each and every one which I already have. :)

When September Ends

Summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends...

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are...

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends...

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends...

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are...

Summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends...

"Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day