I have moved.
http://syamroslan.blogspot.com/
Cheers!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Muhammad Hasfi Bin Buhary, you can simply call him Fi, or to some of us he's known as Bu. One of my best friends since secondary school. Ex-classmate, ex-bandmate and ex-Sea Sports teammate. This is the guy that inspired me to pick up the guitar in secondary school, and he's still one of my idols. I have been playing for around 7 years now, and I still can't match up to his skills and expertise that he already had since those days.
But away from music, he is one of the most awesome person I know. Loyal, trustworthy, humble, and pure respect for everyone around him. In short, there's no way to hate him since he possess so many positive values.
I don't know if you will come across this post, but if you do, here it goes.
I know we can't go back to those days when we're still close, when life is so carefree without a worry and all we wanna be are rock stars and play at Baybeats. I know the past few years have been rough on you, it's unfortunate you had to go through so much at an age when we're supposed to be out, enjoying life, enjoying the last few years of being a teenager. But always remember you have 10 other bros who still care, still worry, and still curious about your well-being. It hurts to know that you're suffering, and the fact that I can't do anything about it, it hurts a lot.
Us lads, we're still tight, still meeting up every week and every time we ask the same thing, 'Fi amcm ah? Fi mane ah? Fi ok tak?' Don't ever think that you're forgotten. When you're better and you're ready, we will welcome you back with open arms, trust me. We're still the same people you've known since the old days, only our outer appearance have changed. Also don't think that you can only come to us when things are better, we will always be there for your bad days as well, you can count on that. Be blessed that you have a lovely family that cares for you, especially your mom who's an amazing person.
The people around you will always hope and pray for your well-being man. As for now, we'll just keep waiting, patiently, however long it takes, we'll wait. :)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I don't know how many times have I mentioned this, but Twitter and Facebook really, REALLY kills the need to blog, post, update etc. But I guess when I have the time, and the mood like now, I'll do occasional updates here. :)
Ok, so 2010's coming to an end, and I must say it's been a very 'safe' year for me personally. But there are a couple of major milestones I've reached. Here we go.
1. GRADUATION.
After 3 years of education in Temasek Polytechnic's IIT School, I finally graduated and I'm now a diploma holder in Internet & Multimedia Development. Some interesting facts regarding this chapter of my life is that I almost didn't get to pursue this course due to my partial color blindness. However, after meeting with the course director, they decided to accept me and the rest is history. Another thing that people might not know is that I almost quit the course halfway after being disillusioned and also due to a lack of interest, expertise and passion for digital media. But after a private talk with Ms Nat, I decided not to and I never regretted it since. I put my head down, worked hard, and finally graduated. Even if my GPA's were never gonna be enough to enter a local university, I still felt accomplished and I have serious intent to pursue a degree in a private institution after I complete my National Service.
2. THE MISFIT RAMONES.
As some of you might know already, I have been fronting a local punk band called The Misfit Ramones. We played our first show in March 09 and have been going strong since. 2009 was a fruitful and eventful year for us, playing around 5 shows, released our first compilation EP with other great acts, had an EP launch, played with the mighty Brader Bo of Ria's Vicious Volume and Chugga Ritual fame etc.
2010 however, just takes things to a whole different level. Here are some of the achievements we had.
- Radio airplay
(Kerenah Raya and Part-Time Soldier was played on Ria 89.7fm's Vicious Volume)
- Gibson support deal
(A Gibson Singapore representative approached us online and declared interest in supporting us with their gears)
- First overseas show
(We landed a spot to play at JB, Malaysia's Embrace Hall)
Others include being no 1 on Soundclick.com Punk Charts, being mentioned on Today and Straits Times, memorable show at Scape where we shared the stage with accomplished acts like Baybeats alumni, Cockpit and Thambi K Seaow, who were named as 2009's Singaporeans Who Mattered Most along with Electrico, Joanne Peh, Jamie Yeo, Fann Wong, Sezairi etc. Sharing the stage with these acts is already a dream come true for me. But for everything to happen in such a short amount time of a year, still feels surreal to me.
I come from a very humble music background, only being part of a couple of obscure sec school bands and now to be known as a member of The Misfit Ramones, simply said, it feels good. It was important for me to move on from being that guy who plays guitar in sec sch to a more respectable level. My friends who have been with me from the start knows that, I live and breathe playing music. It's probably the only reason for me to go 4 years being single and still be okay with it. Haha. With that being said, we are here to stay so look out for 2011. Someday, Insyallah, we will target KL, Jakarta and Manila to bring our special brand of punk over. :D
3. THE LADS.
The most important fellas thats been with me for the best part of 8 years. And I'm proud to say, we're still going strong, although some have fell off the wagon, which is a shame really. But I am sure if we were to meet and hang like the old times, there won't be any awkwardness. Because that's the beauty of our bond, we forgive and forget and don't hold grudges easily. We had 5 of us going to KL, and that's one of the highlights of the year for me definitely. 3 of us went to Tristan Park for dirt biking, and even though I came back battered and bruised, it was very worth it and an amazing experience. Here's to more overseas trips in 2011! Although that would be kinda hard since everyone is serving NS except for Wan. Haha. And this brings us to the next topic...
4. NS - CIVIL DEFENCE.
I finally received the dreaded letter to be enlisted into the SCDF, and entered on the 2nd of November. Amazing experience during BRT (Basic Rescue Training) period. I unfortunately was given a PES status of C2L9 due to my night blindness, and as a result I only had to serve 5 weeks of modified BRT (no physical training among others) with 42 other 'Ayam Saket (Sickly Chicken)'. A shame really, because I feel like I'm missing out on a lot valuable lessons. But the people I met inside were awesome. What I love about being a recruit, is that you really feel a sense of bond and belonging with everyone. You eat together, sleep together, go through shit together, get mad at each other, then be happy and celebrate together. A whirlwind of emotions which I probably will never be able to experience.
After passing out of BRT, I was selected to joined the Clerk Course to be a clerk (there isn't much vocations available if you're in PES C2/C9) and after passing out of that, I was posted to SSU Office in CDA (Civil Defence Academy) at Jalan Bahar. Posting? Commander's Secretary. I also work as an attendance and roll call clerk and possibly in the future, be the PO (Purchasing Order) guy. Not gonna complain and sulk, will just take whatever they throw at me and do the best I can.
5. K-WAVE.
This may come as a surprise, but 2010 is the year I got swept by the K-Wave and never recovered. It all started with We Got Married early this year, and I started watching other variety shows like Family Outing and Invincible Youth and I was hooked, bad. It got so bad that I had to give up shows that I used to follow like Chuck just so I could accommodate more Korean variety shows or K-dramas into my schedule. And it was all that I watch. Korean dramas, Korean variety shows, Korean music programs, Korean movies. I thought it would just be a phase but it's not. It's like when one show ended, another popped up and it's an endless cycle.
Korean entertainment is amazing, but its an acquired taste. If you don't like it, however hard you try to like it, you still won't enjoy it. What I personally love about K-Variety is that, everyone is the same. They look the same, they speak the same language, so if Yoo Jae Suk or Kang Ho Dong, two of the most popular MCs right now, says something funny, everyone gets it. Everyone laughs, everyone can relate to it, and it's beautiful to watch such a unified culture.
Some K-Wave recommendations:
K-Pop - Big Bang, 2PM, Super Junior, SHINee, Girl's Generation, After School, Kara, Wonder Girls.
K-Drama - Kim Tak Gu, Personal Taste, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Pasta, Oh! My Lady, Dream, God of Study, Full House
K-Variety - Family Outing, Invincible Youth, Happy Together, Oh! My School, Strong Heart, We Got Married, We Are Dating.
K-Movie - Vengeance Trilogy, Brotherhood, Sex is Zero, My Tutor Friend, My Sassy Girl, Windstruck, Daisy, Silmido
So here you go, my 2010 in review. Thanks for reading. Hope 2010's been amazing for everyone and if its not, don't worry, come 2011, forget the bad moments and start afresh. Plus, I've always believe that hardships are essential to make us stronger and better prepared for what's to come next. So yeah, cheers everyone, and a Happy New Year! :D
2010 however, just takes things to a whole different level. Here are some of the achievements we had.
- Radio airplay
(Kerenah Raya and Part-Time Soldier was played on Ria 89.7fm's Vicious Volume)
- Gibson support deal
(A Gibson Singapore representative approached us online and declared interest in supporting us with their gears)
- First overseas show
(We landed a spot to play at JB, Malaysia's Embrace Hall)
Others include being no 1 on Soundclick.com Punk Charts, being mentioned on Today and Straits Times, memorable show at Scape where we shared the stage with accomplished acts like Baybeats alumni, Cockpit and Thambi K Seaow, who were named as 2009's Singaporeans Who Mattered Most along with Electrico, Joanne Peh, Jamie Yeo, Fann Wong, Sezairi etc. Sharing the stage with these acts is already a dream come true for me. But for everything to happen in such a short amount time of a year, still feels surreal to me.
I come from a very humble music background, only being part of a couple of obscure sec school bands and now to be known as a member of The Misfit Ramones, simply said, it feels good. It was important for me to move on from being that guy who plays guitar in sec sch to a more respectable level. My friends who have been with me from the start knows that, I live and breathe playing music. It's probably the only reason for me to go 4 years being single and still be okay with it. Haha. With that being said, we are here to stay so look out for 2011. Someday, Insyallah, we will target KL, Jakarta and Manila to bring our special brand of punk over. :D
3. THE LADS.
The most important fellas thats been with me for the best part of 8 years. And I'm proud to say, we're still going strong, although some have fell off the wagon, which is a shame really. But I am sure if we were to meet and hang like the old times, there won't be any awkwardness. Because that's the beauty of our bond, we forgive and forget and don't hold grudges easily. We had 5 of us going to KL, and that's one of the highlights of the year for me definitely. 3 of us went to Tristan Park for dirt biking, and even though I came back battered and bruised, it was very worth it and an amazing experience. Here's to more overseas trips in 2011! Although that would be kinda hard since everyone is serving NS except for Wan. Haha. And this brings us to the next topic...
4. NS - CIVIL DEFENCE.
I finally received the dreaded letter to be enlisted into the SCDF, and entered on the 2nd of November. Amazing experience during BRT (Basic Rescue Training) period. I unfortunately was given a PES status of C2L9 due to my night blindness, and as a result I only had to serve 5 weeks of modified BRT (no physical training among others) with 42 other 'Ayam Saket (Sickly Chicken)'. A shame really, because I feel like I'm missing out on a lot valuable lessons. But the people I met inside were awesome. What I love about being a recruit, is that you really feel a sense of bond and belonging with everyone. You eat together, sleep together, go through shit together, get mad at each other, then be happy and celebrate together. A whirlwind of emotions which I probably will never be able to experience.
After passing out of BRT, I was selected to joined the Clerk Course to be a clerk (there isn't much vocations available if you're in PES C2/C9) and after passing out of that, I was posted to SSU Office in CDA (Civil Defence Academy) at Jalan Bahar. Posting? Commander's Secretary. I also work as an attendance and roll call clerk and possibly in the future, be the PO (Purchasing Order) guy. Not gonna complain and sulk, will just take whatever they throw at me and do the best I can.
5. K-WAVE.
This may come as a surprise, but 2010 is the year I got swept by the K-Wave and never recovered. It all started with We Got Married early this year, and I started watching other variety shows like Family Outing and Invincible Youth and I was hooked, bad. It got so bad that I had to give up shows that I used to follow like Chuck just so I could accommodate more Korean variety shows or K-dramas into my schedule. And it was all that I watch. Korean dramas, Korean variety shows, Korean music programs, Korean movies. I thought it would just be a phase but it's not. It's like when one show ended, another popped up and it's an endless cycle.
Korean entertainment is amazing, but its an acquired taste. If you don't like it, however hard you try to like it, you still won't enjoy it. What I personally love about K-Variety is that, everyone is the same. They look the same, they speak the same language, so if Yoo Jae Suk or Kang Ho Dong, two of the most popular MCs right now, says something funny, everyone gets it. Everyone laughs, everyone can relate to it, and it's beautiful to watch such a unified culture.
Some K-Wave recommendations:
K-Pop - Big Bang, 2PM, Super Junior, SHINee, Girl's Generation, After School, Kara, Wonder Girls.
K-Drama - Kim Tak Gu, Personal Taste, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Pasta, Oh! My Lady, Dream, God of Study, Full House
K-Variety - Family Outing, Invincible Youth, Happy Together, Oh! My School, Strong Heart, We Got Married, We Are Dating.
K-Movie - Vengeance Trilogy, Brotherhood, Sex is Zero, My Tutor Friend, My Sassy Girl, Windstruck, Daisy, Silmido
So here you go, my 2010 in review. Thanks for reading. Hope 2010's been amazing for everyone and if its not, don't worry, come 2011, forget the bad moments and start afresh. Plus, I've always believe that hardships are essential to make us stronger and better prepared for what's to come next. So yeah, cheers everyone, and a Happy New Year! :D
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
If Laurent Blanc can axed his entire French World Cup squad to begin a new chapter after their shambolic and farcical World Cup campaign, why not England? Here's my opinion of what their lineup should be at their next international fixture.
GK: Joe Hart (Man City) - Age: 23
DR: Micah Richards (Man City) - Age: 22
DC: Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City) - Age: 22
DC: Phil Jones (Blackburn Rovers) - Age: 18
DL: Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) - Age: 20
MR: Adam Johnson (Man City) - Age: 23
MC: Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) - Age: 18
MC: Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur) - Age: 23
ML: Theo Walcott (Arsenal) - Age: 21
FC: Andy Carroll (Newcastle United) - Age: 21
FC: Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea) - Age: 20
Youthful, exuberant, lively, entertaining and most importantly, hungry. That's what the England team lacks, hunger. Then again, what do I know right? All I've done is played Football Manager. Maybe I can set myself apart from most counterparts considering I started way earlier when the game was called Championship Manager in 98 (Hahaha). But we did see the German kids light up the stage at the recent World Cup, demolishing teams such as England and Argentina with their brand of lightning quick counter-attacking football. There's a saying 'Don't fix something that's not broken' but surely something needs to be done with this English team now that the much hyped 'Golden Generation' is well and truly over?
GK: Joe Hart (Man City) - Age: 23
DR: Micah Richards (Man City) - Age: 22
DC: Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City) - Age: 22
DC: Phil Jones (Blackburn Rovers) - Age: 18
DL: Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) - Age: 20
MR: Adam Johnson (Man City) - Age: 23
MC: Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) - Age: 18
MC: Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur) - Age: 23
ML: Theo Walcott (Arsenal) - Age: 21
FC: Andy Carroll (Newcastle United) - Age: 21
FC: Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea) - Age: 20
Youthful, exuberant, lively, entertaining and most importantly, hungry. That's what the England team lacks, hunger. Then again, what do I know right? All I've done is played Football Manager. Maybe I can set myself apart from most counterparts considering I started way earlier when the game was called Championship Manager in 98 (Hahaha). But we did see the German kids light up the stage at the recent World Cup, demolishing teams such as England and Argentina with their brand of lightning quick counter-attacking football. There's a saying 'Don't fix something that's not broken' but surely something needs to be done with this English team now that the much hyped 'Golden Generation' is well and truly over?
Monday, June 07, 2010
Top 10 Most Epic Songs Ever
Epic. Alot of things can be considered epic. The nerds came up with Epic Fail when someone 'fails' miserably, or when we see an awesome live performance on youtube, we go 'EPIC!'. This could be due to their fans singing along in unison which create this special atmosphere or just the band going crazy on stage.
But when I think of epic songs, I think of the songs taking me on a journey. When you listen in the bus, you start imagining the band in your head, with you in the crowd. And when they reach that climax part of the song, you can close your eyes, and smile to yourself. That makes a song epic to me. These songs are also timeless, which means in 5 or 10 years time when you listen to it, it doesn't go out of style. These songs have taken me on a beautiful ride everytime I listen to them.
Epic doesn't restrict to just a particular genre for me, say Post-Rock. It doesn't have to be anthemic and atmospheric to be considered epic, as long as the sound touches somewhere inside you, that's all that matters. Which is why I try to come up with a list as diverse as possible. To come up with only 10 is crazy as there's alot of songs that are special to me, but I love reading and making lists anyways, here you go. My top 10 most epic songs ever.
10. Rise Against - State of the Union (from Siren Song of Counter Culture)
Siren Song of Counter Culture will always be one of my favourite albums of all time because it is one of the first albums I can listen to its entirety, without skipping a track. How many people can say genuinely say they love every single track on an album these days. State of the Union is the opening track, and my, what an opener it is. It is such a short, powerful, in your face song with honest anti-bush lyrics and killer riffs that will leave you breathless at the end of the track by the sheer intensity and brutality of the song. It's angsty, short and sweet, yet so clean and precise in every department unlike your typical punk song. Perfect combination.
9. Finch - What it is to Burn (from What it is to Burn)
What it is to Burn is one of those tracks where when the song reaches its climax, everything else doesn't matter and you get absorbed so much into the song you can even forget your surroundings and the people around you for a few seconds. I'm talking about that moment when Nate Barcalow screams 'SHUT UP!' in the song. I get chills every single time I hear that scream. Brilliant track.
8. Bloc Party - This Modern Love (from Silent Alarm)
An absolutely timeless romantic track from UK's post-punk darlings, Bloc Party. I love everything about this song, how it started with the guitar, soft high hat playing from Matt Tong, who really shines here in my opinion, Kele's hauntingly soothing vocals, and how Russell added the delightful touches with his lead playing. But most impressive about this track is its lyrics. Masterpiece really. Lines like 'You told me you wanted to eat up my sadness' and 'Do you wanna come over and kill some time, throw your arms around me' are seriously brilliant lines. Beauty redefined.
7. 65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat! (from The Fall of Math)
The only instrumental post-rock track in the list, and one of my favorite songs of the genre. The best thing about this track is that it stirs up your emotion without any lyrics at all. The instrumentals really hit the spot in creating the uplifting atmosphere and there's so much hope in the riff. Post-rock usually follow the soft loud soft loud formula (Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai) but I like that this is loud from start till the end. Mind-blowing.
6. Oasis - Champagne Supernova (from What's The Story Morning Glory?)
Running at over 7 minutes, this is arguably Oasis's greatest song in my opinion along with the underrated Don't Go Away. Noel Gallagher showcases possibly his best guitar work in his career with a brilliant solo hook to go along with it. What a shame that he left the band already, but that's beside the point. There's really nothing much to say about this track. It's a beautiful song from start to end. 'Where were you while we were getting high?' Classic.
5. Envy - A Far-Off Reason (from Compiled Fragments 1997-2003)
You may not understand a single word of Envy's songs since they're in Japanese, but you can easily relate to the music. Tetsuya is one of the best screamers I've heard and in this track, you can really hear his pain and sorrow despite the language barrier. Screaming with beautiful post-rock background music? Envy does it best. Love the intensity and emotion of the song. Heart wrenching stuff.
4. Stone Sour - Zzyzx Rd (from Come What(ever) May)
Corey Taylor in Slipknot is amazing, but Corey Taylor in Stone Sour is a whole new beast. Everything about this song is perfect. Beautiful piano playing, amazing vocals, but the highlight would be the ending solo which goes for around 1 min and 20 sec. I love it when guitar solos are not mindless shredding or 'Look, I can play this at 1000bpm, can you?'. It's stupid and it's not music. In my opinion, Zzyzx Rd's guitar solo is one of the greatest, but underrated solos ever written. It seamlessly connects with the rest of the instruments going on in that climatic part of the song, and boy, does it really hit the spot. I don't think they can write another song that can top this.
3. Metallica - One (from ...And Justice for All)
One of the best songs by legends Metallica and my personal favorite. To be honest, I was first introduced to this song while watching MTV Icon - Metallica in 03, and this song left such a huge impression on me that I decided to check out the original and it changed my life forever. 'One' is special to me because this is the song that made me want to listen to Metallica and Metal music as a whole. Everything about this song is perfect. The storytelling, melody, the progression and of course, THAT SOLO by Kirk, which have been named 7th in Guitar World's '100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time'. Immense.
2. Coldplay - Fix You (from X & Y)
This song is absolutely magical. Uplifting and positive, this song has the power to make a bad day seemed decent after a listen. Beautiful vocals by Chris Martin, brilliant lyrics and words can't describe how much I love the guitar riff. Hell, it's such a simple riff, yet it fits the mood like a glove. And when all the members sang together from 'Tears streamed, down your face...', that's the best part of the the song and I feel like everything's gonna be alright for 4.55 min the song is playing. Never a huge Coldplay fan, but this is an ode to how much I love this song that I put it as high as no 2. My go-to song on a bad day.
1. Weezer - Only in Dreams (from Blue Album)
Surprisingly, I didn't have that much of a trouble picking out my no 1. The reason is that from the first time I've listened to this song till now, I am still in awe. The reaction after listening to this song till now is still the same. 'I wish I could write a song like this'. Even though this song is over 7 minutes long, it's not your typical progressive or experimental song. What I love about the song how simplistic it is that I can't emphasise further how simple yet powerful this song is. Rivers Cuomo genius ability is on showcase here on the outro solo. Again, the solo is so simple, yet so melodic that it's orgasmic. There are occasions after the solo ended, my eyes are still closed and I slightly smiled, a satisfied customer. This song is exactly what I was talking about at the start about a song, taking you on a journey. The slow start, the build up, the climax and the ending, leaving you wanting for more. And that's how Only in Dreams ended up being my number 1 most EPIC song ever.
Epic. Alot of things can be considered epic. The nerds came up with Epic Fail when someone 'fails' miserably, or when we see an awesome live performance on youtube, we go 'EPIC!'. This could be due to their fans singing along in unison which create this special atmosphere or just the band going crazy on stage.
But when I think of epic songs, I think of the songs taking me on a journey. When you listen in the bus, you start imagining the band in your head, with you in the crowd. And when they reach that climax part of the song, you can close your eyes, and smile to yourself. That makes a song epic to me. These songs are also timeless, which means in 5 or 10 years time when you listen to it, it doesn't go out of style. These songs have taken me on a beautiful ride everytime I listen to them.
Epic doesn't restrict to just a particular genre for me, say Post-Rock. It doesn't have to be anthemic and atmospheric to be considered epic, as long as the sound touches somewhere inside you, that's all that matters. Which is why I try to come up with a list as diverse as possible. To come up with only 10 is crazy as there's alot of songs that are special to me, but I love reading and making lists anyways, here you go. My top 10 most epic songs ever.
10. Rise Against - State of the Union (from Siren Song of Counter Culture)
9. Finch - What it is to Burn (from What it is to Burn)
What it is to Burn is one of those tracks where when the song reaches its climax, everything else doesn't matter and you get absorbed so much into the song you can even forget your surroundings and the people around you for a few seconds. I'm talking about that moment when Nate Barcalow screams 'SHUT UP!' in the song. I get chills every single time I hear that scream. Brilliant track.
8. Bloc Party - This Modern Love (from Silent Alarm)
An absolutely timeless romantic track from UK's post-punk darlings, Bloc Party. I love everything about this song, how it started with the guitar, soft high hat playing from Matt Tong, who really shines here in my opinion, Kele's hauntingly soothing vocals, and how Russell added the delightful touches with his lead playing. But most impressive about this track is its lyrics. Masterpiece really. Lines like 'You told me you wanted to eat up my sadness' and 'Do you wanna come over and kill some time, throw your arms around me' are seriously brilliant lines. Beauty redefined.
7. 65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat! (from The Fall of Math)
The only instrumental post-rock track in the list, and one of my favorite songs of the genre. The best thing about this track is that it stirs up your emotion without any lyrics at all. The instrumentals really hit the spot in creating the uplifting atmosphere and there's so much hope in the riff. Post-rock usually follow the soft loud soft loud formula (Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai) but I like that this is loud from start till the end. Mind-blowing.
6. Oasis - Champagne Supernova (from What's The Story Morning Glory?)
Running at over 7 minutes, this is arguably Oasis's greatest song in my opinion along with the underrated Don't Go Away. Noel Gallagher showcases possibly his best guitar work in his career with a brilliant solo hook to go along with it. What a shame that he left the band already, but that's beside the point. There's really nothing much to say about this track. It's a beautiful song from start to end. 'Where were you while we were getting high?' Classic.
5. Envy - A Far-Off Reason (from Compiled Fragments 1997-2003)
You may not understand a single word of Envy's songs since they're in Japanese, but you can easily relate to the music. Tetsuya is one of the best screamers I've heard and in this track, you can really hear his pain and sorrow despite the language barrier. Screaming with beautiful post-rock background music? Envy does it best. Love the intensity and emotion of the song. Heart wrenching stuff.
4. Stone Sour - Zzyzx Rd (from Come What(ever) May)
Corey Taylor in Slipknot is amazing, but Corey Taylor in Stone Sour is a whole new beast. Everything about this song is perfect. Beautiful piano playing, amazing vocals, but the highlight would be the ending solo which goes for around 1 min and 20 sec. I love it when guitar solos are not mindless shredding or 'Look, I can play this at 1000bpm, can you?'. It's stupid and it's not music. In my opinion, Zzyzx Rd's guitar solo is one of the greatest, but underrated solos ever written. It seamlessly connects with the rest of the instruments going on in that climatic part of the song, and boy, does it really hit the spot. I don't think they can write another song that can top this.
3. Metallica - One (from ...And Justice for All)
One of the best songs by legends Metallica and my personal favorite. To be honest, I was first introduced to this song while watching MTV Icon - Metallica in 03, and this song left such a huge impression on me that I decided to check out the original and it changed my life forever. 'One' is special to me because this is the song that made me want to listen to Metallica and Metal music as a whole. Everything about this song is perfect. The storytelling, melody, the progression and of course, THAT SOLO by Kirk, which have been named 7th in Guitar World's '100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time'. Immense.
2. Coldplay - Fix You (from X & Y)
This song is absolutely magical. Uplifting and positive, this song has the power to make a bad day seemed decent after a listen. Beautiful vocals by Chris Martin, brilliant lyrics and words can't describe how much I love the guitar riff. Hell, it's such a simple riff, yet it fits the mood like a glove. And when all the members sang together from 'Tears streamed, down your face...', that's the best part of the the song and I feel like everything's gonna be alright for 4.55 min the song is playing. Never a huge Coldplay fan, but this is an ode to how much I love this song that I put it as high as no 2. My go-to song on a bad day.
1. Weezer - Only in Dreams (from Blue Album)
Surprisingly, I didn't have that much of a trouble picking out my no 1. The reason is that from the first time I've listened to this song till now, I am still in awe. The reaction after listening to this song till now is still the same. 'I wish I could write a song like this'. Even though this song is over 7 minutes long, it's not your typical progressive or experimental song. What I love about the song how simplistic it is that I can't emphasise further how simple yet powerful this song is. Rivers Cuomo genius ability is on showcase here on the outro solo. Again, the solo is so simple, yet so melodic that it's orgasmic. There are occasions after the solo ended, my eyes are still closed and I slightly smiled, a satisfied customer. This song is exactly what I was talking about at the start about a song, taking you on a journey. The slow start, the build up, the climax and the ending, leaving you wanting for more. And that's how Only in Dreams ended up being my number 1 most EPIC song ever.
Here we go. The last installment of the KL Trip with the Lads.
PART 3: SUNDAY
1. Times Square - We were supposed to take our bus back to Singapore from Times Square at 7.30pm, and just to be safe, we left the hotel at 2pm, and went straight there. Some of the things we noticed is that Chinese taxi drivers are more honest over there, charging us the exact fare on the meter, a measly total of RM11, compared to the Malay driver who drove a longer route, charged us an extra RM5 from the start due to an additional passengers (despite it being a 5 seater cab in the first place) and finally charging an extra RM4 for service charge upon reaching destination. It's not about the fare, after all, what's an additional RM9 right? But it's more about the respect and dignity. But I'm just glad we didn't run into anything that could put us in danger there.
Times Square, just a typical shopping mall i guess. Only bigger than the usual malls and there's a mini theme park in it, with a roller coaster. Pretty cool.
2. The birth of Wan Ong - While waiting for our bus to depart, since we have a few hours to go, we decided to go bowling at the alley in the mall. For those who don't know, Wan used to be in MJC's Bowling team. And to no surprise, he pretty much raped us in the game. There's no question that he would be in first place, so the rest of us treated the 2nd place as a first place as well. He even got a Turkey (3 strikes in succession) with ease and ended the game like with 230 pts, while the rest of us were just aiming to complete the game going over the 100 pts. I nicknamed him Wan Ong, after Singapore's Remy Ong of course.
3. Kenny Rogers - This was our last meal in KL before. Sticking to the theme of eating something that couldn't be eaten in Singapore due to the absence of the Halal cert. Good stuff.
4. RESHUFFLE! - While on our bus back from KL to Singapore, the bus we're on played some movies for all to watch. One of the movies was a Japanese show, called Kaiji - The Ultimate Gambler. Not sure about the rest of the passengers, but the 5 of us were following the movie closely, amusing ourselves when one of the characters jumped on the table and screamed 'RRRRRRESHUFFLEEEEEEE!' with the thick Asian accent. At the climax of the movie, the most important part of the show, the DVD got faulty and the show stopped. Fucking hell, we even told the driver to try play that part again, but he insisted that there's nothing that could be done. Yas ended up downloading the movie just to watch the final scene that we missed. Hahaha.
So that marks the end of part 3 of our adventure in KL. Next destination, who knows? Realistic targets for now would be Jakarta, BKK etc etc. But if we wanna be ambitious, there's only 3 place I wanna go and mark my words, I will make my way there sometime in the future if God willing.
Melbourne, London and Seoul. :)
Cheers!
PART 3: SUNDAY
1. Times Square - We were supposed to take our bus back to Singapore from Times Square at 7.30pm, and just to be safe, we left the hotel at 2pm, and went straight there. Some of the things we noticed is that Chinese taxi drivers are more honest over there, charging us the exact fare on the meter, a measly total of RM11, compared to the Malay driver who drove a longer route, charged us an extra RM5 from the start due to an additional passengers (despite it being a 5 seater cab in the first place) and finally charging an extra RM4 for service charge upon reaching destination. It's not about the fare, after all, what's an additional RM9 right? But it's more about the respect and dignity. But I'm just glad we didn't run into anything that could put us in danger there.
Times Square, just a typical shopping mall i guess. Only bigger than the usual malls and there's a mini theme park in it, with a roller coaster. Pretty cool.
2. The birth of Wan Ong - While waiting for our bus to depart, since we have a few hours to go, we decided to go bowling at the alley in the mall. For those who don't know, Wan used to be in MJC's Bowling team. And to no surprise, he pretty much raped us in the game. There's no question that he would be in first place, so the rest of us treated the 2nd place as a first place as well. He even got a Turkey (3 strikes in succession) with ease and ended the game like with 230 pts, while the rest of us were just aiming to complete the game going over the 100 pts. I nicknamed him Wan Ong, after Singapore's Remy Ong of course.
3. Kenny Rogers - This was our last meal in KL before. Sticking to the theme of eating something that couldn't be eaten in Singapore due to the absence of the Halal cert. Good stuff.
4. RESHUFFLE! - While on our bus back from KL to Singapore, the bus we're on played some movies for all to watch. One of the movies was a Japanese show, called Kaiji - The Ultimate Gambler. Not sure about the rest of the passengers, but the 5 of us were following the movie closely, amusing ourselves when one of the characters jumped on the table and screamed 'RRRRRRESHUFFLEEEEEEE!' with the thick Asian accent. At the climax of the movie, the most important part of the show, the DVD got faulty and the show stopped. Fucking hell, we even told the driver to try play that part again, but he insisted that there's nothing that could be done. Yas ended up downloading the movie just to watch the final scene that we missed. Hahaha.
So that marks the end of part 3 of our adventure in KL. Next destination, who knows? Realistic targets for now would be Jakarta, BKK etc etc. But if we wanna be ambitious, there's only 3 place I wanna go and mark my words, I will make my way there sometime in the future if God willing.
Melbourne, London and Seoul. :)
Cheers!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I know I promised to update part 2 soon, but the past week had been busy with mini revamps around the house. Imagine reaching home from KL, only to be greeted by 3 tins of Nippon paint in the kitchen. Ok, painting is pretty much straightforward, but the troublesome part is moving all the furnitures out, cleaning all the dust collected at the back and corners of the room, screwing out all the nails on the wall, with my room filled with Ikea racks and shelves and guitar hangers. Needless to say, I took all day, from 9.30am - 7pm to finished up revamping my room last Wednesday. But I must say, I'm liking the color on the wall of my room. Peppermint green, feels refreshing. Other days were spent painting Mom's room and reshuffling of furnitures in the living room.
Ok, my K-Pop playlist on iTunes is played, and I'm ready to go. (Big Bang's Haru Haru and After School's Because of You slowly climbing up my Top 25 most played along with Brand New, Ace Enders, Sam Sparro, Julian Casablancas etc).
PART 2: SATURDAY
1. Top of the World - This is the day where we felt absolute power, confidence and flawlessness if there's such a word. How we walk around, feeling better than everyone else. How everyone looked and stared at us everywhere we go. Even though the locals were dressed to impress (seriously wtf is up with the shirt, tie and leather jacket in such blazing weather!) and we're at our slackest best (most in tshirts, bermudas and slippers), I dunno, we still feel like we're better than everyone else. Mat was the most confident, carrying around a can of coke into the train and LRT. Also, there were female Adidas fragrance promoters spraying their new products at us, and Yas actually raised his armpits for them to spray it on with a voguelicious pose. That's how confident we are the whole day. Hahaha.
2. Guy going to town on GF's ass - At Pavilion in Bukit Bintang, we sat at Coffee Bean. So we all have been noticing this particular lady, more notably her ass. It's like round and perfectly shaped, on a white mini-skirt, simply irresistable. Ok that's where the description ends. The most amusing thing was that her BF was beside her, and while they were going up the escalator, he put his hands on her hips, and we're like, 'CONFIRM NAK PEGANG PANTAT'. And guess what, he did. It's not how he just touched her ass, it's how he grasp, grope, even inserting his fingers slightly to her hole. In public. No complains from us though! Keep fighting the good fight old man. :)
3. Waitress at Coffee Bean - Ohh, and there's this hot waitress at that Coffee Bean we sat. Yes, they actually have waiters and waitresses, giving you the menu and bringing the drinks to your table. But there's a service charge included of course. All good things comes with a price I guess. She's wearing a white long sleeve shirt, so her black bra is pretty visible. Boys, will be boys. Hahaha.
4. Doppelgangers! - While we are there, we saw a lot of doppelgangers! Hilarious stuff. Like in the LRT, we saw a girl who looks like Sakina. Again, with our newfound confidence, Wan said loudly, 'Korang bebual pasal sape? Pompan blakang aku per?' And of course, she looked damn paiseh. Hahaha. Acting like freaking matreps in a foreign city. We are seriously asking for a beating. Then, in the same LRT, we saw someone like Naqiah, who is pretty infamous in our gang for reasons that won't be revealed. Lastly, while watching Gol & Gincu in our hotel, we saw a character who looked like our junior, Faris Zaki, who's probably famous in Facebook for being a fan of a million profiles (it's 'Like' now). Hahaha.
The funniest thing is that, we realise at the end all this people have little to zero significance to us. Hahahaha.
5. London Reflexology - While we're at Bukit Bintang, a couple of us, especially Mat, wanted to go for a massage. Since Zai had been to a massage parlour there, he led us to a place called London Reflexology. It was the best RM40 I have ever spent. Me, Wan and Zai had a foot massage, while Yas and Mat had a neck and back massage. It was really good and my feet felt a little lighter after that, I didn't mind it was an apek that's massaging for me. Apparently the experience wasn't too good for Yas since he complained the whole time after that how much his body hurts. It was funny seeing him whining about the pain. But I can somewhat understand because we all can hear how his back was getting a beatdown from the masseuse. It was seriously really loud, compared to what Mat got. LOL.
6. Petaling Street - What is KL without visiting the famous Petaling Street? Putting your bargaining skills to test, see who can get their fake/authentic lookalike item at the lowest possible price. Everyone pretty much got what they wanted so we left when we're done since it's not the the most convenient place to walk around at. People always say that when you have bargained, and got the price you both have agreed, DO NOT WALK OFF, or else they will get nasty. And Mat got a small taste of that, with the seller throwing all kinds of profanities, repeatedly saying 'LU KENCING AH!'. Hahaha. Luckily we left unharmed.
7. Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts for supper - We were already tired from walking around the whole day and since Star Movies is showing P.S I Love You (ooh yea Hilary Swank), we decided to take away food from Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts from KLCC and bring back to the hotel for supper. Before that, we had hotplate for dinner there at the foodcourt above. Good stuff. Considering that we all watched the movie in its entirety, with no one falling asleep, I guess it's not that bad. But the admiration for Gerard Butler and other Irish guy gets a little embarassing at times. Hahaha. The Dunkin Donuts were a waste though. We bought a dozen and more than half were thrown away the next day since we were all too full.
8. Happenings at KLCC - While there, trying to get our food and drinks to bring back to the hotel, a couple of unforgettable incidents. For instance, at Dunkin, we were supposed to choose 12 donuts, the annoying thing is everytime someone wants to choose theirs, someone else would shout 'DA 12! DA 12!'. Fucking annoying hahaha. We spent a long time deciding on the donuts because of that.
Then there's a lady at a booth who was squatting and her longkang were for all to see. Then comes 4 Chinese girls, all in short dresses. Seriously, they were all so hot that me and Zai didn't know who to pick as the hottest.
While walking, we realised that Wan and Mat were left behind. Turns out they were semi-flirting with a girl from a bra shop, exchanging smiles. Hahahaha. I mean seriously, these are stuff we wouldn't do in Singapore, further emphasising the newfound confidence I was talking about earlier.
9. Burp Wars - The day before, we had room wars. The next day, we had the burp wars. Hahaha. I didn't remember who started it, but remember Yas and Mat exchanging burps to each other while watching P.S I Love You. Burp, then blow onto the other person's face. And stinking up the whole living room in the process. The childish things we still do. Haha.
That's it for Day 2. This is one heck of a long post, so don't hold your breath for a Day 3 post tomorrow. Will update as soon as I can find time. Cheers!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Twitter and Facebook kills the need to blog. But this, this I gotta update.
Went to KL with some of the lads, Yas, Wan, Zai and Mat last Friday and safely got back home at 2am last night. Being best of friends for over 8 years now, we have always envisioned having a holiday or a short getaway together outside of Singapore for the longest time, but never materialised due to various reasons, main one being the lack of funds and time since we're still students and all. But now that some of us have gotten the dreaded enlistment letter, we had the mindset of 'Die die must plan!'. And thus started our detailed planning during weekly meetups at Starbucks or Coffee Bean at Tampines. Credits to Yas for booking the hotel, the coach and drawing up a mini itinerary. Hahaha.
Will be blogging our trip in 3 parts, each part for each day we were there and this will be the first part. Will only be focusing on the memorable moments there.
PART 1: FRIDAY
1. A&W and Subway - Our main purpose visiting KL is to eat the food that are either unavailable or not Halal at a way more affordable price. A&W was heavenly, the root beer float, the curly fries, the ice cream waffle, CLASSIC. And it certainly helped that we were starving since we were on a bus ride for 5 hours with a pitstop for a measley 10 mins for toilet break. And Subway was, i have no words to describe for it. 4 of us got the footlong sized sandwich and needless to say, we went to town with the damn sandwich.
2. Cikgu Balqis - There were limited channels on the TV in the hotel, although all Malaysian channels are available so we made do with whatever that's available. Bought food and drinks from nearby Suria KLCC, which is just a 10 min walk btw, and just chilled in the hotel at night. Being the guys that we are, we would stop channel surfing and watch a show if there's a hot girl in it. And we were blessed with a character called Cikgu Balqis from a show I don't a remember the title from TV2. We even took pictures from the TV screen. Hahaha.
Yes, we ate snacks and smoke like nobody's business while watching a Malay show. LOL.
3. Zai's Sea Monkeys - Ok, some description first of the hotel room we got. It was a suite, with a living room, a kitchen and 2 bedrooms with bathrooms in each room. For only 5 people, it does feel quite luxurious with all the space. Although there's 2 bathrooms, one of the rooms is not equipped with the water spray thats usually beside the toilet bowl, so to do our big business, we just settled for the other room. But that's not the end of the problem. The toilet bowl's flushing system were pretty 'old-school' in a sense that after you flush, it will take a while to fill up the bowl with new water. So Zai had to go right after Wan and as a result, his shit was floating in the bowl. And thats when Zai said his 'Sea Monkeys' were floating around. NASTY.
4. Room Wars - Funniest incident for me personally. There were 2 rooms, so me and Mat shared a room, while the other 3 occupy the other. Thus the room wars starts. It was SO HARD to sleep since it's the first day and we're still excited, but we just tried anyways since we planned to wake up early for breakfast later. Me and Mat decided to just lay on the bed and talk between ourselves to sleep. And we finally managed to get our eyelids heavy, until we heard laughter from Zai in the other room saying 'HAHAHA WAN GOSOK GIGI SIA!'. And me and Mat just instantly burst into laughter. Hahaha, Wan is so annoyingly proper, brushing his teeth before sleeping. And me and Mat went over to their room since we couldn't sleep after hearing the commotion in the other room and annoy the hell out of them. Then we went back, tried to get some sleep, and they decided to ambush us with Wan using the torchlight and saying 'Kamu telah ditangkap basah!' or some shit like that. And we replied with our ambush on them, with Mat saying 'APE INI? SEKS RAMBANG!' and calling Wan their 'Bapak Ayam'. It was so fucking hilarious and super annoying cause the ambush happens when each of us is just about to go to sleep. And the room wars continued with the final one being us coming over to their room with our camera phones and saying 'Kami dari Syarikat Rakaman Jizzhut (a porn site btw), ingin melakukan talent scouting di sini.' But they were too tired to entertain us so we just had a few more laughs and went back to our room and finally managed to get some sleep.
5. Mat's 'Ikan Tamban' - Arguably the most infamous and unforgettable incident of the day. This happened during the Room Wars. I was annoyed with the other room's ambushes that I took my pillows and went over to their room and decided to stay and sleep there to stop them coming over to our room. Mat then entered the room after I did, smiling, putting his hands on his waist. We were all wondering why is he doing that pose and then it sank in. HE HAD HIS FUCKING COCK OUT OF HIS BOXERS HAHAHAHA. We were all just went WTF and screaming and laughing and crying all at the same time. It was Mat's attempt for the other room to stop their ambushes on us. Then he lay on their bed, face front without keeping his dick. But the real joke was how tiny his penis is and he had the nerve to call it his 'Anaconda'. Instead we named it 'Ikan Tamban', a small fish bigger than ikan bilis, but smaller than ikan sela kuning. Hahahaha. Talk about rock out with your cocks out!
That's all for part 1. Part 2 will be up by tomorrow. :)