Friday, June 26, 2009

IN NEWS : The King of Pop & His Path to Debacle

He was gifted. Born with an inimitable talent. A star at the age of 5. He gave the world the music that is to stay here with us and all our future generations. With albums like Thriller, Off the Wall, Bad, and Dangerous breaking world records, he'd reached the pinnacle of his career.

People close to him say he was shy and avoided getting too close to the public for fear of breach of privacy. The same people were astounded to see him rock the concerts. And, the very same people knew it very well that his lifestyle would cause him to plummet. So, while his demise might be sudden and unexpected for the rest of us, it wasn't so for the few people who knew him well.
As a child, he was often teased for his funny nose. So, he underwent multiple nasal surgeries, forehead lift, thinned lips and a cheeckbone surgery, summing up to a total of 10 facial surgeries.



His obsession worried his wellwishers. But MJ was all on his own and was heedless to any suggestions from anyone. As a result of multifarious skin treatments and surgeries, his skin grew pale and he was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus. It was apparent that his changing appearance was more than just a natural aging process and that garnered media attention to his personal life.

Jackson was utterly lonely. He did not have a group of friends to talk to on a regular basis. His disturbed childhood and loneliness piqued his emotions for children. Lately, he began to spend more and more of his time with children, perhaps wanting to catch up with his missed childhood. However, his overindulgence hit back hard on him and he was accused of child sexual abuse in 2003. The controversy proved abysmal for his public image and his career. His personal life was no longer his and was under constant scrutiny.

Jackson's turned vegetarian to attain 'a dancer's body'. Again, it was his obsession and the extremity of his lifestyle that proved fatal for him. He was reported to be visibly drowsy, lacking concentration and often slurring in his speech. His talent was not in its best of health either. Jackson failed to bring out any hits for the last 10 years of his life. Both his public as well as personal life was declining and he ran out of money. He died of a cardiac attack. His tragic end is the unravelling of a lifestyle of over indulgence and lack of foresight. He will be remembered equally well for his controversial life as for his peerless talent.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

What's it about GRE?

You won't know until you take the test. Well I didn't know until I finished taking the test and got my scores. I scored 1380; 800 in Quantitative and 580 in Verbal. I am of the kind who does not care to devise smart strategies to take the test. I'd rather study 100% of the material I have and would grab more from any and all the sources I can find. So for GRE, I studied
1. Barron's Essential Words For The GRE : There really isn't any need to rote the humongous word list from Barron's GRE. You will do good with the Essential Word list which consists of 80 word lists of 10 words each with example sentences. I knew all the words that appeared on my GRE.
2. Barron's GRE Edition 2008 : Good for the Quantitative Section. It gives a comprehensive revision of Math Strategies required for GRE coupled with Practice Exercises.
3. Cracking the GRE 2008 : The Princeton Review : Good for Vocab and Analytical Writing. Has 4 Hit Parade Lists and 2 Beyond Hit Parade Lists. I must say, they have done a extensive research in building these lists. It helps to concentrate on a list of most probable words than to rote the extraneous words from GRE Barron's which you might end up messing with. Also, it has sample issue and argument essays. The DVD that comes with this book tells you the strategies to take the GRE, the most important of which is to keep in mind that it is a Computer Adaptive Test so you do good by starting strong because the first 10 or so questions of each section weigh the highest and determine a good percentage of your score.
And for the Issue Essay, downlaod the pdf from here . This site has many more GRE preparation materials. Go through them if you have enough time.
Most importantly, do not miss to take practice tests before going for the real one.