ياللهول
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Check the comments left by students on this university announcement :D
Secret of the Runes
Friday, May 12, 2006
This is the name of a music album released by Therion in 2001. Therion is remarkable Swedish metal band that used to play heavy metal since 1987, but turned in 1996 into playing symphonic metal; a wonderful subgenre of metal music featuring orchestral elements such as cellos, violins, choirs, flutes and horns.
I found out about Therion while playing a collection of gothic rock/metal songs that I downloaded recently. The collection had a very nice song called “Ljusalfheim” from Therion’s “Secret of the Runes” album. At first, I couldn’t collect any of its lyrics because it sounded much like Latin for me. Later, I googled and got the lyrics that -to my surprise- turned out to be English! I must say I started to like the song even more and kept playing it over and over.
Soon after, I downloaded the whole album and did some research. Secret of the Runes is a concept album based on Norse mythology; that of Scandinavian people. In Norse mythology, the world is divided into nine different realms: Muspell the realm of fire, Niflheim the realm of ice and cold, Asgard and Vanaheimr the realms of gods, Hel the realm of the dead, Álfheim realm of the Elves, Niðavellir realm of the Dwarves, and Miðgarðr which is the world as we know it. Therion devoted a track for each realm, picturing it through lyrics and melodies. Runes shown on the album’s front cover are Nordic runes from the Elder Fuþark alphabet, each rune is a symbol for a song. It’s also worth mentioning that every song in this album is in a different language!
Therion have their lyrics written by Thomas Karlsson, a college student with an interesting background on mythologies, magic and stuff. The whispers you hear in Ljusalfheim are his own. Karlsson, though, was never regarded as a band member.
This album is a musical and conceptual work of art. I’ve uploaded Ljusalfheim and posted its lyrics below so you people can check it out. Enjoy!
Download Therion – Ljusalfheim.mp3 (5.4 MBs)
Ljusalfheim Lyrics:
Solar glare from Lord Frej,
the Shining One,
in Ljusalfheim he's King of elves.High above the rainbow
and in the tarn deep in the wood
you'll find the elves.Follow their light
it's brighter than the sun
it makes you fly...In the realm of Alfheim
you never know what you have seen.
A pale mirage?Beauty make you sunblind
it fills your mind
you fly away and lose your hug.Fly with their wings
they make you feel so free
but you may fall...Flee from their light
they'll maybe drag you down
or make you fly...
Sources: Wikipedia, and various Internet web sites.
Blog Updates
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Hi All! Today I made two interesting updates to the blog!
1. Broken Links Fixed:
Download links on this blog, which have been broken for months, are now up and working! I kept moving my files over the Internet because I couldn’t find one good file sharing server. I spent months looking for a reliable service, and I think I finally found one. Links allover the blog should be working now, please report if not. I’ve also updated my music selections' list with new songs you may find interesting!
2. Comments Enabled:
When I first started blogging, I decided to disable commenting and make my blog look and feel like a personal web site. I posted about things I thought were interesting without letting readers respond, argue, or post any suggestions. I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to read and reply to their comments!
Another reason that kept me from enabling this feature is that I don’t tend to argue much nor have debates over my own thoughts! I always had the attitude of keeping what I think for myself, and express my opinions only in few occasions. I love to engage in meaningful scientific discussions that are purely a communication of facts, while on the other hand I hate struggling with people who think of a discussion as a matter of forcing opinions.
Anyway, looking now at others blogs I think I’ve missed a big deal of what a blog is about, so I decided to enable comments for a while and see how it goes. I believe it’ll be a lot of fun, and am anxiously waiting to read your first comments :D
I’d like to emphasize that any impolite comments will be strictly dealt with, and in most cases the commenter will be punished (ra7 a7o6 rejle fe ja3ooro lamma ashoofo). That would be my one-line commenting policy!
Blog now open to your comments :)
1. Broken Links Fixed:
Download links on this blog, which have been broken for months, are now up and working! I kept moving my files over the Internet because I couldn’t find one good file sharing server. I spent months looking for a reliable service, and I think I finally found one. Links allover the blog should be working now, please report if not. I’ve also updated my music selections' list with new songs you may find interesting!
2. Comments Enabled:
When I first started blogging, I decided to disable commenting and make my blog look and feel like a personal web site. I posted about things I thought were interesting without letting readers respond, argue, or post any suggestions. I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to read and reply to their comments!
Another reason that kept me from enabling this feature is that I don’t tend to argue much nor have debates over my own thoughts! I always had the attitude of keeping what I think for myself, and express my opinions only in few occasions. I love to engage in meaningful scientific discussions that are purely a communication of facts, while on the other hand I hate struggling with people who think of a discussion as a matter of forcing opinions.
Anyway, looking now at others blogs I think I’ve missed a big deal of what a blog is about, so I decided to enable comments for a while and see how it goes. I believe it’ll be a lot of fun, and am anxiously waiting to read your first comments :D
I’d like to emphasize that any impolite comments will be strictly dealt with, and in most cases the commenter will be punished (ra7 a7o6 rejle fe ja3ooro lamma ashoofo). That would be my one-line commenting policy!
Blog now open to your comments :)