My two newest projects have just been finished and can be seen on the Projects page (check the tabs!).
It's been an exhausting few days but I'm more than satisfied with the end products. Hopefully I can keep this going and not go back into a creative slump once my college semester starts.
I'm even thinking of trying out 8 bit / electronic music.
After a tiring day of shooting the video for "Hidup Tanpamu" and withstanding the freezing cold Indiana weather, we found a perfect spot to cover Kodaline's All I Want - on the top floor of a parking lot stair case. We just couldn't resist as the echoes made it that more epic.
With the coming of the new year, it's time to say goodbye to 2012.
And what better to send it off than to list the best songs I've heard from the past year.
Note that these songs aren't necessarily published in 2012; they might be from a movie I've just recently watched or maybe from an album or a band I've never listened to before this past year.
And it's going to be a classic top 10 :)
Enjoy as I repeatedly overuse adjectives.
#10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop
Now here's a song that just makes me want to dance. I don't usually enjoy songs that have gone mainstream, but Thrift Shop is just something else: pure, creative lyrics with a natural and catchy beat. Kudos to the duo for making it to the top of the itunes album sales charts, an amazing feat for an independent act. Sure some people blame the declining overall album sales, but it still takes something special and Macklemore is definitely that.
#9 Muse - Panic Station
Yes, Muse's sound has changed a lot with 2nd Law, and I can't say that I enjoy every song in the album. But Panic Station is incredible; proof that Muse still has potential to churn out hard hitting songs. I'm no expert, but I can definitely hear a heavy Queen influence in the bass licks and vocals, something that I welcome very much.
#8 Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil & Gene Pritsker - Cloud Atlas End Title
I'll be honest here: definitely an epic movie, but not the best I've seen by a long shot (it has the best trailer ever though). Yet the soundtrack just blew me away. Just the pure simplicity of it, the way it radiates love and desperation, without trying too hard to impress. Whenever I listen to this, I feel inspired to take the leap and be brave for once, and embrace life as it is a beautiful thing.
#7 Andrew Bird - Imitosis
This song led to my discovery of the song-writing magician Andrew Bird. His original sound and the fact that he is a very capable multi-instrument musician just furthers my awe of the man. Definitely one that deserves more recognition than he is getting.
#6 Joe Hisaishi - Spirited Away Reprise
The way I found this movie was by an amazing stroke of chance: I was searching in the discount bin in Blockbuster as a young lad and happened to come across this gem. It was definitely fate. The genius of Miyazaki's animation paired with Hisaishi's brilliant scoring is a match made in heaven and this masterpiece is definitely one to savor. I put this in the 2012 charts because I only recently found the reprised version of the main theme, with a melody (0:01-0:33) that I've been looking around for for a long time.
#5 Punch Brothers - Clara
2012 was definitely a year for my discovery indie folk, catalyzed most probably by this song. There's just something about folk music that just hits the feels for me. Maybe it's the smooth and sultry lyrics, or the creativity in the music. Any way or another, I've become a huge fan and am definitely remaining one for a long time.
#4 The Killers - Miss Atomic Bomb
The Killers never fail to impress. This song is another recent gem that gives epic a new meaning. Sure, you could say otherwise, and maybe my definition of epic isn't as demanding as others, but Brandon's vocals and the delicious use of the floor toms make for an amazing song. Apparently the video acts as a prequel to Mr. Brightside, and if you listen carefully you'll hear the riff from Mr. Brightside in this song.
#3 Mika - Elle Me Dit
I'm never one to be too critical of an artist's sound change, but Mika dissapointed me with his latest album. I miss the days of Life in Cartoon Motion where you could listen to the whole album without needing to skip songs; it was that brilliant. Nevertheless, this song is a representation of the Mika I love: a massive vocal range, a catchy chorus, and great music to match
#2 Kodaline - All I want
This is a gem that definitely deserves more recognition. The emotion that this song channels really touches you deep, before hitting you with a finale that will give anyone an ear-gasm. I really hope to see more from this band, especially if every song is going to be this good.
#1 Jukebox The Ghost - Schizophrenia
Jukebox the Ghost is hands-down the best band I've ever accidentally discovered.Their combination of creative piano riffs and unique vocals encapsulates nearly everything I hope from a band's sound. I had to choose a favorite out of many great songs, so I chose this one as it best represents what I love so much about Jukebox the Ghost. As one anonymous youtube user once put it: it just shows what pop music can achieve if some effort was put into it.
Honorable Mentions
I made this list out of pure randomness, so there are a few that I'm sure that I've missed. But here are songs that were brilliant but just missed the cut.
Imagine Dragons - On Top Of The World
The Lumineers - Big Parade
Garry Schyman - Trip The Light (feat. Alicia Lemke)
Jason Mraz - Frank D. Fixer
Linkin Park - Until It Breaks
Alabama Shakes - I Ain't The Same
New Heights - Time
I love it when I get a new project. And this is my newest one: An Ibanez SA electric guitar that I got for $80.
It's far from being in perfect condition, and I have to polish and fix everything back to its prime. I'm even thinking of painting the guitar a deep red to cover to cover the cracks on the sides.
I've never done guitar restoration before (I've never even owned an electric guitar), but there's always a first time for anything :)
Rather than do what I should be doing now and that is studying, I decided to go absolutely bonkers and randomly spam everyone on twitter and facebook with this amazing meme of Mr Shaquille O'neal.
Go ahead, copy the URL and spread Shaq-happiness to all your friends!
NY Giants tribute to Sandy Hook Elementary School on their helmets
For my research paper this semester I wrote about gun control in college campuses and how the legalization of guns brings many consequences to society. In the process I learnt about the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Having to write about the tragedy made writing the paper that much harder.
I feel bad for not praying that it wouldn't happen again.
The worst thing about Sandy Hook is not about the deceased. It's the people who have to live with the tragedy The schoolteachers who have to go back to work. The parents who lost their children and are afraid to let the others go. The kids who had to see their friends die with their own eyes. You can't really justify pitying the dead; those who live with what happened have it worse.
But I'm not one to comment, I can't relate. I lost a friend* when I was a senior in high school, yet his death - as tragic as it was - cannot be compared with the maliciousness of a school shooting. The emotional burden is much, much worse.
And I feel sorry for Mr. Obama. Watching him on the news, I could see the emotional burden he is carrying after having to deal with so many shootings and killings, each one happening so soon after the one before. Maybe now they'll be some sort of gun control. But honestly, I really doubt it.
Nevertheless, these things happen everyday. Not just recently, mind you.
You cannot escape the fact that thousands upon thousands of innocent people both young and old have died in Gaza. Don't try to find a difference between what happened at Sandy Hook to what is happening in Palestine. Nobody has a death wish. I don't wish at all to get political or spark debate, but I wouldn't be human if I'm to ignore this fact.
Yet Sandy Hook still remains a terrible tragedy no matter what. My prayers go out to the deceased, and more importantly the living who are shadowed by the trauma.
*Al-fatihah to my friend Engku who passed away sooner than anyone could have hoped
These days, I have no clue what to blog about. And to makes things worse, finals are coming up so I have don't time to ponder on about it. So instead I'm posting some songs that are accompanying me through these exam blues :)
"He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a
hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come
together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter;
distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody
appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no
more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming
to the sabbath... Roar of delight at her arrival... She joins the diabolical
orgy... The funeral knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance
of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae."
An excerpt from an analysis ofBerlioz's "Symphony fantastique mvmt. 5" for the final music exam.
Yes you read that right. Diabolical orgy. Honestly, it's the last place I would expect to find the word orgy.
As you would imagine, I didn't understand what in the world I was reading, and, instead of pushing on to achieve success, I just flung my notes aside and threw my fate into the wind. The exam itself was epic. I don't think I did well, mind you, but it was epic nonetheless. Exams are the only time that the music class is full. Nobody really goes to the lectures; I myself haven't been to any music lecture in 3 months. When all the students were in and ready for the test, the professor smiled and said
"To most of you, welcome to Music 005."
It hurt, but damn right I laughed.
The questions were the usual mix of easy and hard, but the bonus question made my day.
It's a listening test, so what you do is listen to an excerpt and answer the appropriate question. The bonus question was:
Who wrote this piece?
a) John Cage
b) Somebody I can't remember
c) Somebody I don't know
d) Some Russian Guy
Okay, I can only remember the first name.
Everybody waited for the music to play, literally at the edge of their seats.
Total silence.
At first I thought it was a technical error, but then the professor just said there and watched the bewildered faces.
Suddenly, I realized the trick question.
It's John Cage's 4'33''.
Just wait for the bass to drop
Which is one of the most arse-faced moves in the history of music. The silence is the song. Imagine paying top money to see your favorite artist just sit there and not do anything.
The only reason I knew this piece is because YouTube had a tribute to John Cage after his recent passing.
No offence to the guy but it's the most I've ever benefited from someone's death.
Mr Cage.
After two sessions of silence the professor told everyone to hand in their papers, much to the dismay of many who waited for something to play.
Sure, the exam sucked. But my day was still made :)
I just realized that the blog design looks different on different resolutions, so if you an't see Paul you're going to have to zoom out a little. I know this sucks but I guess that's just one of many Blogger's limitations. My laptop runs 1920x1080 so any smaller you won't immediately see the design.
The final product should be this:
By the way, I'm working on the design on Fatin Syahiera's blog "Fingerprints" and hope to have it done soon. Watch this space.
I've been mucking about with it since last night and I'm finally happy with it now.
Since I don't know how to actually draw and lack the tools to do so, the cartoons you see here are off the internet. I just changed them a little and gave them personality :)
The header is my 'Stamp of Approval' (as if anyone needed my approval for anything). I know it's a bit vain having your own stamp, but indulge me will you?
The background design I think is brilliant *pats own back*. The chicken in the background, who looks over the blog, is Paul the Rooster - because all chickens (should) have human names. And I decided to go with a winter theme because over here in State College it's the winter season. Which means a heck load of snow very soon.
The last repeating date. It's not like I'm going to have a second chance to blog on another repeating date, eh? (Unless of course, I live up to 107) So here's my best attempt to conjure up a post without much inspiration. Actually I don't have to 'conjure' up anything because I found an old poem on my profile at the Young Writer's Society website. I think this is the perfect poem for the moment as I miss Malaysia so much, and because it reflects my love of folk music. Enjoy!
The market is bustling.
Rows of stalls, gleaming bright lights,
Cries from vendors, buyers alike,
Smoke rising, filling the still night air,
Food made and sold nearly everywhere.
One Char Kuey Teow, maybe some apam too,
Wrapped in newspaper, just for you.
Whatever the want, whatever the need,
Nobody lost in the jungle of greed.
The busker stops and lays down his hat,
Pulls out his guitar and takes a step back.
Almost invisible, lost in the crowd,
Nobody notices as he starts to sing out loud.
He sings in time with the strumming of his guitar,
Songs found locally, songs from afar.
Melody and harmony, with poise and grace,
The busker sings every word with a smile on his face.
A man and a woman could not help overhear,
The beautiful music ringing in the air,
They stop upon seeing the bright young man,
Appreciating the talent shining in front of them.
Soon more people stop and a crowd begins to gather,
The Busker's hat heavier than ever,
Vendors stop working to join the crowd,
As the Busker sings even more loud.
For that one moment, the market is quiet,
No more chaos, no more riot.
Everyone listening to songs of love and peace,
Their hearts calm, their minds at ease.
But all good things do not last long,
And the Busker starts his final song.
A song about wars and cries unheard,
Finally, the Busker sings the final word.
He stops and smiles, and clapping ensues,
whistles and cheering, cries of ' I love you '.
But soon the crowd reduces in size,
As people return to their daily lives,
And after the Busker shakes hands with the final fan,
He scoops his hat and counts the money in hand,
Again he is invisible, lost in the scheme,
As if nothing had happened, as if it were all a dream.
For Natasha's commercial project I decided to do a commercial that promoted the use of LionChat, a made-up messaging service not dissimilar to email.
The idea is to show how long the message would take if it were sent traditionally by mail, in this case symbolized by a travelling envelope.
The end product was far from perfect (this is my first try at stop motion), but considering that we finished it in under an hour without any time for retakes or planning, I'd say it's good enough - at least for a good grade in English Class.
The song is "Someday" by Hundred Little Reasons, a song made famous by the "I am Maru" video on Youtube.
By the way, please ignore the quite obvious black string. Oops.
Especially in kampung where I would wake up for Subuh (Morning prayer) and everything would be dark and cool. But it was never quiet, there were always the sounds of crickets and toads playing the morning symphony and footsteps shuffling around on wooden floorboards. If grandma was up she'd be making breakfast in the kitchen while the adults would be making trademark teh tarik in plastic flasks. Bubbles the cat would also be up at this time too, lying on the cool concrete kitchen floor. She's there waiting for food as usual.
An image of a village mosque in Malaysia. I don't own this image.
I would take wudu' with freezing cold water, but it feels good so no hurry in wiping it off. I need every help in keeping awake anyway; all I would think about is sleep and the comfort of the couch in front of the TV where'd I'd normally sleep. I used to sleep with my parents in the room, but because I'm all grown up I get to choose where to sleep. But I didn't sleep there because of the TV. I wanted the big fan that was nice - if you had a blanket to keep warm.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullah
Sometimes after salam I'd sit there and stare outside through the cracks in the shutters. Not I could really see anything, it was really dark. But if I looked carefully I could see the silhouette of the coconut trees dancing in the breeze.
After prayer I would drift back to sleep, not knowing that I would one day miss this routine.
Why? Because I love cute cats. And have the balls to say so. Deal with it.
I used to have up to 35 cats in my house, but then my mom decided to sell nearly all of them. To be fair, she was the reason we had 35 cats in the house in the first place. It got up to the point that everyone else in the family got immune to seeing a new cat in the house. We didn't even stop to ask "Who the hell is that?", which was the normal reaction for the first ten cats.
Now I'm left with two. It would have been three if my favorite cat Ryan didn't die. The worst part is that he died so untragically that I kind of feel that he died of out of pure bloody laziness. But I still miss him. He was a cat version of me: lazy, uninterested and but snugly as hell.
I now present to you the only two cats left: Sharpay and her son Liam.
I have no idea why the have human names; my little sister names them -___-'. I would honestly have preferred more generic names such as Snowball or Cuddles. Or maybe Cat.
I should point out that I'm not at home right now, and I'm only going to be able to snuggle these furballs next year in May when I head back home :)
I was at Redifer Commons for dinner when I bumped into a group of saxophonists playing a lovely tune. The recording quality isn't that great due to the microphone quality, but believe me it was quite beautiful.
This makes me really miss my old orchestra days, when every night was filled with music and joy :(
And just to make this post longer, here's a picture of McElwain Hall in the snow.
