Say Goodbye To Those Who Knew Me

SPM’s next week hoooo, and I just got a new modem after frying one last week. I need to repel from the internet

More dark-sounding stuff from the Arctic Monkeys (Humbug is a tasty album, I must say)

The Jeweller’s Hands

The Fire and The Thud

Have I ever mentioned that I love Mulan? It has always been my most favourite Disney film ever.

Ah..Disney used to sound so good before the raid of Miley Cyrus and co.

Aggravate the ice-cream man

Something which I could listen to for a whole week:
Arctic Monkeys – Crying Lightning

Sounds kinda “dark” but I like it. Even bought their album because I know that these monkeys can create interesting chord progressions.

(+) Lady Gaga looked like a walking work of art at the Video Music Awards ‘09. I mean it in a good way. And “All The Single Ladies” as the Video Of The Year? Nonsense..

Where ART thou?

I have been away for to long and it’s August already (MegaSale month!). A summary of what I needed to talk about:

one I finished my Home Theatre model for Art (Paper 3) less than a month ago.

Absolutely not the final product!

When I received the question paper back in February (or was it March?), I remember telling myself “If can, I’m going to add a lighting system.”

And so I did.

This isn’t exactly the final product either. It’s just missing some speakers, that’s all.
If you are a fan of Monkey Island, you’d know that the drawing on the TV (yes, it’s a drawing) is based on the scene outside “Planet Threepwood”.

Also, the TV can swivel to the left or right.

You can jolly well bet that the whole model itself costs more than RM200.

To tell you the truth, the making of the circuit required 99% improvisation (the worst part is that I had no internet connection, and that means I have no where to refer to). In the end, I killed about 3-4 light bulbs.

Behold! The circuit.

Lightbox thingy! I didn’t glue the box properly, as you can see.

This be Yvonne’s model. The SpongeBob is hand-drawn, yes.

One of the decorative lamps she included

This is Farisha’s. Best model ever, hands down. FYI: Her dad is an architect.

two On the 22nd of July, I (and many others) missed the solar eclipse! They say that it was supposed to appear around 9-something in the morning. We had our Biology paper at 9.10AM. Aiyah, even if we didn’t have the exam, I don’t think it’ll be easy to spot the eclipse due to the cloudy Malaysian skies. The next night, however, I saw this:

Close enough lah.

three Went to play paintball on the 24th. Got shot at the neck and I felt so negative about life. Dementor’s Kiss hahaha. The mark even looked like a hickey that day! :O

four Malaysia will be hosting MTV World Stage somewhere this month (not that I’m a fan of MTV)…but I heard that FRANZ FERDINAND MIGHT BE COMING. Might be only lah — They’re touring around in the US at the moment, if I’m not mistaken.

…I guess there’s no chance of them coming, eh? Even if they are, my mother wouldn’t allow me to see them by using H1N1 as an excuse. If I get to see them [and at the same time if I actually have a high chance of dying], I get to die happy knowing the fact that I met them, right? Haha.

five It’s probably old news now but the saddest news since last week is: Yasmin Ahmad passed away on the 25th She was 51.
She was responsible for the Petronas ads we see on TV, and not to forget Sepet! She will always be remembered as the story teller; the best film maker Malaysia could ever have. Her films can really make you (or at least, me) do a lot of deep thinking. Although some of her films are considered “racially controversial”, it speaks a lot of truth. Like in Sepet, there was a line (spoken by a Malay character) which went like “All Malay men are lazy”.

Rest in peace, Kak Yasmin.

PS: I have never attended a funeral before.

Franz Ferdinand – Can’t Stop Feeling

One too many things for me to say about this video!
1. Finally, a Franz Ferdinand video which is back to what they used to be like years before– CREATIVE AND RANDOM! The presence of the jelly baffles me.
2. At the beginning, I sense that there’s a hidden message. Greeting people in Thai with that “Sawadeeka gesture”? Mosquito/fly-smacking in a certain rhythm is fun? Nyeh.
3. According to many, Nick’s wardrobe is a bizarre place. Proven @ 0:13, but I love the white cardigan (can be seen pretty often throughout the video)
4. Nevertheless, Nick is still awesome.
5. Nick is not only a guitar God, but he’s now a JUGGLING GOD as well. (I fail miserably at juggling three objects all at once)
6. Paul combing his hair, in-sync with the music = PERFECT
7. Bob has such a cherub-like face. See 0:57. Aww.
8. They’ve mentioned a lot about using the Doppler Effect in their new album. They achieved it by using a swinging microphone. Revelation @ 1:20.
9. Alex and his dancing @ 1:27 is pretty addictive to watch HAHAH. Fancy those kicks.
10. I think this is the first time I’m seeing a dancing Bob.
11. 2:16 = THE WOW FACTOR.
12. Hot iron, anybody? 2:41.

No You Girls

Here be a new Franz Ferdinand music video! No You Girls is their second single and bingo, it’s one of my favourite tracks. There’s a funky bass line in this song

(0:46! 0:46! 8O)

Ok lah, it may not be their best video, but I still love this song

Oops! Wrong ghost.

For one reason or another, horror films never seem to scare me much. Maybe if I were still a kid, there’s no doubt that I will be afraid. Now now, we’re talking about the present. I hardly watch horror films because I’m not easily amused by this genre; not because I’m a scaredy cat or anything (You can try to make me watch a horror film all by myself — It’s very unlikely that I will scream either )

Earlier today, I watched They Wait with some of my friends in a local cinema. (Hold it, wasn’t that film released in 2007?)
I was in between two of my friends who were covering their ears, almost throughout the whole film . That, I can understand lah…we all know how drastic the changes of music will become when a ghost appears out of nowhere in a flash.

My verdict?

It wasn’t scary at all. I failed to scream. Most of the time, I was telling Elena, who was shutting her ears so tight, that it was “Nothing one, laaah”. It also my first time seeing a wee bit of comical elements in a horror film. The only part which makes me feel uneasy was when a character started to vomit out bones — It’s not scary; it’s just sehr disgusting and sick! Things got worse when she started to vomit out a long one, and that’s when I covered my eyes in disgust for a few nanoseconds.

(Fact: The sound of a person throwing up is voted as one of the worst sounds ever)

In conclusion, you could say that ghosts are something which I don’t fear. What I am really afriad of are cockroaches, butterflies, getting robbed, and who could ever miss this out — Losing my loved ones.

 Whenever I watch a horror flick or enter a haunted house in some carnival, all that the voice in my head says is this: None of these are real. (That’s how my mind works. I’m such a non-believer.) Plus, did you know that the word gullible does not exist in the dictionary?

Another thing’s for sure: I have no trouble sleeping. No sir

Le Fantôme de l’Opéra

I caught the Phantom of the Opera fever (again!)

After basking in the goodness of the PotO music which was played by some children weekends ago, I had the urge to rewatch the 2004 film. And so I did. The first time I watched it was in school, and that was back in 2006. It was part of our Form Two English syllabus. As of now, The Phantom of the Opera has to be the best literature I’ve studied in school, hands down. Last year, we studied Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but honestly, I never finished reading the book

No point typing out the storyline right here as I assume that everybody knows the plot..

PASSPORT PHOTO HAHAHA.

Gerard Butler as The Phantom = Epic win. He was the first phantom I’ve seen in action. I’m not a fan of Mr. Butler himself, but I am a “phan” of his version of the character..although I do think that Mr. Butler looks better clean-shaven (*nudge* remember my personal theory about serious-looking British men?)

I’ve also learnt about Michael Crawford, the one who acted as The Phantom back in 1986. I managed to listen to some of his singing through the bonus features from my DVD.

Mr Crawford, the dude on our Form Two PotO text book cover

Butler and Crawford were very good and yet very different. Butler has a rich, smooth and flexible voice + a bonus Scottish accent. Gives me the goosebumps. His character looks a lot younger than Crawford’s. His mask looks better, too. Crawford, however, had a very different body figure, which made him look rather old. His voice made him sound young, as it was slightly higher than Butler’s. Nevertheless, Butler’s portrayal as The Phantom was my cup of tea

Interesting character, The Phantom is. He’s got the skills in just about everything, not to forget the usage of his signature weapon, the lasso. I don’t look at him as a cold, distorted murderer. The world didn’t show any compassion to him, that’s all. Have you ever wondered how he managed to get furnitures in his lair throughout the years in hiding? Thank goodness that The Phantom does not sparkle. His dignity is saved. Bob bless him.

“who knew King Leonidas could sing!” – A random YouTube-er’s comment

(Fact: It IS true that everybody sang their part by themselves, except for Minnie Driver who played La Carlotta)

I thought that Joel Schumacher (the director) made a very good decision: He wanted young actors. Mind you, the cast from the 1986 version looked old to me. Sarah Brightman (as Christine Daae) in her pre-cosmetic surgery days was scary. The dude who played Raoul had a mullet

Click!

I have been doing some Phantom PhanArt lately and after some time of studying his face, I came to realize that he can have two distinguished facial expressions at once, but this does not apply to the one above. His masked side of the face looks angry and yet seductive when he gives backward glances; His normal side of the face could be neutral, sad, or simply happy. It’s a cool thing, though. As long as his mask is on, we’re all happy. I never really understood why Christine took his mask off in front of everyone in the Opera House. Playing with his patience? Oh well, at least Mr. P was still alive in the end. His rose on her grave showed one great deal of an unrequited love. I would have cried after watching the film, but apparently I did not — Maybe we’ve studied the story way too much back then, which was a bit of a spoiler in disguise

“Yet in his eyes, all the sadness of the world…Those pleading eyes that both threaten and adore…”

Personally, this is one of my favourite scenes, which is really heart-breaking:

It feels like there’s a meaning to the part he climbed onto the statue of the angel. He, himself, is the Angel of Music after all.

Another favourite scene; I really liked the part when he starts singing “No doubt she’ll do her best…”:

As for the other characters…

Emmy Rossum, who played Christine, was about 16/17 years old when it was filmed and my God, her voice was amazing (the vibrato especially) Probably the first teenager [at that time] I’ve heard who could sing opera. Raoul was played by Patrick Wilson and his singing was excellent as well, but frankly speaking, he really looked like a woman with that hairdo.

I liked the Masquerade scene, the prelude to Act II. Monsieur Firmin’s and Monsieur Andre’s voices were harmonized nicely. The dancing was synchronized, although I nearly had to laugh because their dance moves were so prompt. Like dancing exclamation marks. The crashing of the chandelier + stage on fire scene [somewhere at the end of Act II] was indeed real.

“After all, we really do burn the opera house down and there aren’t many opera houses around the world that would allow us to do that”

Learnt that from the DVD’s bonus feature. That scene was rehearsed repeatedly before actually using the chandelier. No special effects were added by the magic of computers. Got to see how they build the sets as well, and it was beautifully done. Strange as it may sound, but I think that the cemetery scene looked fantastic. The faceless statues of winged angels and other human figures haunts me a little but I believe that they are supposed to depict serenity. Somewhat nice to look at but it’s not the kind of thing I’d like to have in my bedroom..

Once again, Andrew Lloyd Webber has done a great job at composing the music (not the lyrics) My favourite songs include All I Ask of You, Music of the Night (I had always thought that it was some disco music before listening to the song HAHA), Point of No Return, and of course, the infamous theme song. The funny thing about the theme song sung by The Phantom and Christine is that it sounds like it was from the 80’s. Nonetheless, good lyrics.

Some technology they had

The film was sad, indeed. Perhaps, meaningful. I just love these kind of films which keeps your mind occupied for weeks. And you know, I think that everything wouldn’t have happened if the former Opera House director, Monsieur Lefevre, did not resign/Raoul did not become the new patron of the Opera House. Heheh

What say you?

Send that coke bottle back to where it belongs

Yesterday night, I watched an old film named The Gods Must Be Crazy which dates back to 1980. It was recommended by my mother, and she said that it was a funny film which she watched back when she was the same age as I am.

The Gods Must Be Crazy did not even have a God featured in it. Nobody gets offended

Anyway, I thought that it was an innocent comedy film. It was basically two lines that intersect one another at a point: Line A and line B. The settings: Botswana and South Africa, I think.

Line A shows a bushman named Xi from Kalahari (where his fellow bushpeople have clicks in their language; think of Russell Peters). An empty coke bottle was magically dropped from the sky and landed right in front of Xi [pronounced 'Kee'] and he believed that it was a God-sent gift. Xi brought it back to his home and shows it to the rest of the clan. The bushpeople were very civilized; they knew the meaning of happiness, and they do not wish for anything more — for what they have, they have enough of it. They soon learnt that the magical bottle had many uses. Eventually, greed, anger and hatred existed among them since there was only one bottle and they did not wish to share it. Xi was not happy about that and he then believes that it is an evil thing.

He threw the bottle back up to the sky to send it back to the “Gods”. Innocent Xi did not know about gravity. What goes up must come down. The bottle nearly hit the poor guy. Apparently, the “Gods” did not want it back.

Line B was about a romantic scientist named Andrew Steyn, who was sent to fetch Kate Thompson, a village school teacher. Mr. Steyn encountered a lot of problems along the way, especially with his lousy Land Rover nicknamed The Anti-Christ, and he also claimed that he turns into an idiot and his brain simply turns off when he comes face-to-face with a lady. Clumsy and nervous, yes he is. An interesting psychological phenomenon

Line B meets with line A when Xi stumbled over Mr. Steyn, his accomplice M’pudi, and Ms. Thompson. Xi wanted to get rid of the evil thing and offered it to them. There was also another line, line C, which intersected the first two lines. Line C was mainly about terrorists that commit hostage-taking. With all of the three lines intersecting one another, the whole show became a comical twist.

There was a part where Xi immobilized a goat because he was hungry and he told the shepherd that everybody could share the meal. Not being able to understand the clicky language, the shepherd ran off in fear to inform some people about what happened and Xi thought that he went to call other people who could join in for a feast. As I said, he was innocent.

Another thing I liked about this film was its use of fast-forwarded frames an a comedy effect. This effect was used in parts when something goes wrong, or someone is just in a rush. The terrorists were sitting in a Jeep that stopped way too quickly that one of the terrorists actually rolled off the Jeep (ja, inertia)

Those who have watched the film (Coke-bottle sender/God knows if there’s any) might want to view this to recount the funny bits: Things I learned watching Gods Must Be Crazy

On a completely different note:
one Today is Nick McCarthy’s 34th birthday. Long live the guitar God

two Photos! (+4)

Light info: Study lamp on the right and handphone’s light on the left
(Nein, not the screen light. It’s the one that comes from the back of the phone which serves as a flash)

Ja, I really took this photo. With my trusty 18-200mm lenses.

There it is, Rekha. My did-not-get-to-use sandals/slippers

Used a circular polarizer to cut off a bit of Bob’s reflection on the left mug
(and yes, it’s supposed to form one picture, like a puzzle)

three The gold(s) of the month: Igudesman and Joo. They’re a brilliant musical-comedy duo. You must watch their videos below, or thou shalt regret for not doing so
Piano Lesson – Slapsticky

Rachmaninov had big Hands – Joo has an interesting invention which solves the problems of small hands

I Will Survive – Just when you thought that Igudesman is a noob who does nothing, look at what he can do. I like his jolly face, that Russian chubster

When November Comes..

First of all, Happy Halloween to those who celebrate this day of pumpkins, bats, witches, fancy costumes, buckets filled with sugary sweetness and booming tooth fairy business It’s not a very clever idea to go around trick-or-treating over here, and it’s not a major celebration either. Almost every house has a gate and strangers aren’t always welcome. With the existence of kiasu people (like most of us are), treats won’t be given out so easily. Heh.

[No, I did not make this gem]

one I have photic sneeze reflex, which means that I sneeze when I look at the sun or some really bright light.

“You’re allergic to the sun?” - Farisha

I already knew that I have this condition long time ago, but I didn’t know that there’s a name for it. About 17%-35% of humans have this condition, says Wikipedia. What about you?

two A few weeks ago, my piano teacher told me that her professor’s teacher’s teacher is…

Frederic Chopin! One of the most famous composers from the romantic period. The dude responsible for those lovely nocturnes, waltzes and etudes. I guess that I am an indirect student of him According to my teacher, Chopin attached bars to the arm of his students to keep their arms stay at a certain position so that their fingers can voice out the melody nicely. Yes, piano-playing is not only about how your song sounds like, but it’s also about the tone, touch and technique.

three A few random photos taken a few weeks back:
[Note: They are all not doctored by Photoshop!]

A very yellow afternoon with a touch of the spectrum

My nearly-successful shot of a lighting. Bulb mode. Was too lazy to go outside

Bench for two, beneath a tree

Spying from afar…a community gathering
(I woke up when I heard them playing “Help!” by the Beatles)

four Fun with Photoshop after a very long time:

Nick McCarthy, he is. I’ve never seen his eyes so blue like this before, and I was tempted to digitally paint his eyes. As you can see, I got lazy to continue the rest of the face The eyebrow isn’t exactly the same, but it’s quite a killer to do.

five J.K. Rowling vs. Stephenie Meyer. I don’t read the Twilight series but I read the summary instead. The thickness of the books, I heard, are filled with love, love and only love. Predictable. Edward Cullen was modeled as a perfect character, and he’s too perfect that I can’t be convinced. I just read a wonderful 1-star review of Twilight, recommended by my friend. Give me some time to discuss more of that in the next post.

Get your burning pitchforks ready.

Enunciate

one I was thinking…Since I could play a variety of instruments, I might as well try to make a cover. Yes, every instrument of the song, recorded one by one. I can’t provide great vocals though, and I don’t like it when my voice goes through some electrical device (hence, making me sound like I’m on helium).

Plus, it’ll be great if I didn’t live in a noisy environment. The ever-ringing house phone. My mother and her handphone conversations. My brother and his legs knocking against a furniture. The neighbours and their screaming little kids. At times like this, I wished I had a basement. Even the neighbours can’t hear what I’m playing.

two Did you know that I still buy toys? I thought that you could actually make a little adventure out of them. Something random for the lot of ye:

There’s more to come, when I have the time to direct those two inanimate fellas.

three The school’s belated Gema Merdeka (Independence Day) celebration will be held on the 10th, which is a Wednesday. My class + some students from other classes will be singing “Here In My Home”. It’s a good song, but it’s going to be scary if we’re using the school’s sound system (since we’re going to perform at the courtyard). I’m providing some guitarishness. Synchronizing with the crackly sound system isn’t going to be easy. I’d do anything to get the class to NOT use a recording, because live music simply rocks. I even managed to get this tube-like-maracas-thing and a tambourine to add the percussiveness.

This is the original music video:

four A new lens is coming this way. I can smell it.

five I Am The Messenger is an interesting book. Nah, it’s none of those vampiric romance nor chick-lits. Really, you should read it. I’m currently doing a fan art based on it. Good things give a good impact on me, and then a piece of art based on it is produced. It always happens.

six I’ve watch the following video countless of times already.