Because The Night

For those of you who ever listen to Singapore FM stereo during the early 90’s, you might remember the show ‘The A-List’ on The Perfect Ten 98.7FM. At that time, format radio was just taking off in Singapore, model after the Fox station in Australia (from which I think the current Astro radio channels follow, too). At that time, format radio was not heard of in Malaysia yet, we were still stuck with Janet Ambrose on the Blue Network / Radio 4.

In the post grunge era of the early 90’s, ‘The A-List’ (hosted by the laidback Suresh Menon) focused on an emerging sub-genre called ‘modern rock’, a term that still survives today, although it refers to something a little different now.

I didn’t catch that many episodes of that radio show, it came on at a weird time of 7.30pm on Sundays. But they played mainly what was perceived as modern rock at that time – Soundgarden, Manic Street Preachers, Blind Melon, Smashing Pumpkins, you know the ilk.

But one song from that show really stayed in memory was 10,000 Maniacs’ “Because the Night”. Simply loved Natalie Merchant’s take on that the classic by Patti Smith. From that song, I started to explore some of the Maniacs’ older music, but I still felt that was the pinnacle of their long career.

Merchant left the group soon after that, and released a solo album called ‘Tigerlily‘. Didn’t really like it. She’s had quite a few since then, i heard.

Technorati Tags: Janet Ambrose, Soundgarden, Manic Street Preachers, Blind Melon, Smashing Pumpkins, 10, 000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, Tigerlily

50 Questions

Saw at Visithra‘s. Enjoyed it so much i nicked it for my blog! She got it from Dreams & Sugar and then from BawangMerah, so it’s a bit of a read and pass it on, eh.

1. FAVORITE MOVIES? Too many. If i were to name the first few from the top of my head – Kramer vs. Kramer, The Breakfast Club, Good Morning Vietnam, Moulin Rouge… My problem is that i don’t watch movies more than once, even if i find it very good. Once is enough, and i remember it forever.

2. DO YOU OWN A GUN? Nope.

3. WHO IS YOUR BIGGEST ENEMY? boredom. with nothing to read.

4. FAVORITE SCENT? Deep fried bacon in the mornings.

5. DO YOU LIKE HOT DOGS? Not so much.

6. WHAT DO YOU PREFER TO DRINK IN THE MORNINGS? Do you have to ask? Coffee. White and sweet.

7. DO YOU DO PUSH-UPS? Not since secondary school. Or did you mean the type of bra?

8. BROTHERS OR SISTERS? One of each, i think.

9. WHAT’S YOUR MOST LIKED PIECE OF JEWELERY? I used to wear 2 silver crosses around my neck. Not so much into bling-bling these days.

10. WHAT DO YOU TAKE FOR PAIN RELIEF? That white tablet from the KK (Kementerian Kesihatan).

11. WHAT IS YOUR SECRET WEAPON TO LURE THE OPPOSITE SEX? Brutal honesty.

12. DO YOU OWN A KNIFE? Yes, it’s in the kitchen.

13. MIDDLE NAME? What am I, American?!

14. NAME 3 THOUGHTS AT THIS EXACT MOMENT? I’m hungry. I’m hot. Trying to answer this question.

15. NAME THE LAST 3 THINGS YOU HAVE BOUGHT? Neil Gaiman’s Sandman book two. Breakfast. A can of Lime 100 Plus.

16. NAME 3 DRINKS YOU REGULARLY DRINK? At the risk of repeating myself, here goes – Coffee, 100 Plus, Tea.

17. WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP TODAY? 6.25am. It’s an unholy hour, I know.

18. CURRENT WORRY? Medical checkup.

19. CURRENT HATE? Arrogant people. But ‘hate’ is a very strong word, no?

20. YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE? Somewhere on vacation.

21. LEAST FAVORITE PLACE TO BE? work.

22. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO? Next? Hong Kong. In the longer future? London.

23. DO YOU OWN SLIPPERS? Of course i do. Go everywhere with them, except work and church.

24. WHAT TOP ARE YOU WEARING? I’m a guy la. I wear T-shirts. White only.

25. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR? Bright red. And yes, I am Chinese.

26. LAST TIME YOU HAD AN ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Chinese New Year. Some red wine during our dinner. More of a wine guy.

27. WHAT SONGS DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER? I don’t sing. Neither do I shower, I use the pail and bucket, like most Malaysians. Okay, like most old-fashioned Malaysians.

28. WHAT DID YOU FEAR WAS GOING TO GET YOU AT NIGHT AS A CHILD? Nothing much. But I always disliked exams.

29. WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKETS RIGHT NOW? Nothing. Except some lint.

30. WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD? Dislocated my thumb and fractured my finger during basketball.

31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PET? The old dog, passed on now.

32. HOW MANY TVs DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR HOUSE? One and only one.

33. WHO IS YOUR LOUDEST FRIEND? None, we’re all well-behaved. Relatively.

34. WHO IS YOUR MOST SILENT FRIEND? None, they all speak at some point.

35. DOES SOMEONE HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU? How would I know? I’m married!

36. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Not really. With the pollution around here these days, you don’t really see stars anymore…

37. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? Don’t have one, but if pushed to name one, the good book has to be it…

38. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Chocolates. No question at about it!

39. WHAT SONG DO/DID YOU PLAY AT YOUR WEDDING? Some wedding march. But in my mind, Love of A Lifetime by Firehouse is the theme song to my wedding…

40. WHAT SONG DO YOU WANT TO PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Face to Face by King James. I knew it immediately after hearing the song.

41. WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT 12 AM LAST NIGHT? Blogging. But usually i’ll be watching the idiot box.

42. WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU THOUGHT OF WHEN YOU WOKE UP? Gotta get to work… gotta get to work… repeat ad nauseum.

43. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE CHARITY? Yes, my kids.

44. DO YOU LIKE RAIN? Yes, but only if i am indoors, reading a book.

45. WHAT DO YOU SMELL LIKE? a musky mixture of hyacinth and witch hazel in the November dusk. No, really.

46. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BE IN 10 YEARS? No idea, but preferably on permanent vacation wondering what to do with all my money.

47. DO YOU BURN OR TAN? Not really, although in my line of work i’m in the sun a lot.

48. LAST TIME YOUR CELL RANG? this morning, in the office. A call from someone downstairs!

49. WHAT IS YOUR GPA? at graduation? 3.50 plus i think. Although it means jack squat after leaving uni.

50. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? Nope. Sleight of hand, diversion, yes, magic no.

Top Ten Signs That It’s Getting Too HOT In Malaysia These Days

Man, it’s hot these days. I can’t sleep at night without sweating, and my colleagues don’t go out for lunch anymore because ‘it’s just too hot’.

I dunno, global warming is one thing, I feel like I’m living in a microwave these days.

Top Ten Signs That It’s Getting Too HOT In Malaysia These Days

• Even the tudung-clad makciks selling nasi lemak outside my office under the hot sun are wearing miniskirts.
• Even the Bahrain Formula One GP is now branding themselves as ‘The Second Hottest Race On Earth – There’s No Way Our Desert Is Hotter Than KL!’
• Malay stall operators start flipping burgers on the bonnets of their modded Proton Wira’s to save on cooking gas.
• Speaking of Proton, the latest line of cars to be released this year has only two settings on the air-conditioning – ‘OFF’ and ‘3’. Nobody ever uses 1 and 2 anymore.
• KL roadside rats start migrating to Genting and Camerons for the summer during March to September.
• Speaking of Genting, they have changed their concept of the theme park rides to ‘Desert Heat Adventure’, ‘Tropical Jungle Cruise’, etc.
• For the fashion-conscious – White is the new black. It also attracts less heat.
• These days, at McDonald’s, soft drink refills are still free, but tube ice costs 50 sen per cup.
• Latest drink at the mamak – Ho Yan Hor Ais Limau.
• I stop eating curry mee during lunch. Serious.

If You Are SERIOUS About Exercising (Single minded tenacity)

My have lots of fond memories about my uni days, but one of my roommates is NOT one of them. Back in our day we all stay in the dorm (unless you were filthy rich) and the our rooms numbers and roomies were chosen for us, but usually we ended up with our coursemates, so we can ‘study together’ (yeah right).

Anyway, one of the years, i was paired up with this guy i wasn’t really close with, let’s call him Joe. He was a bit of an introvert and loner, his social skills went as far as poking the girls from the back and asking, “What your name ah?”

I didn’t really get along with him well (it’s a miracle how i spent close to 19 weeks in the same 18′ x 12′ room as him and NOT talking much), i knew that he was an excellent athlete. He plays badminton every week, basketball almost every other day (i played with him often – he’s the type that never passes the ball and shoots at every opportunity)…

As much as i didn’t like him, that guy had drive and tenacity, man. One the day after coming back from our semester break, he said to me that he had put on a few pounds (although i couldn’t really care less) and he wanted to go jogging every morning before classes. Yeah, right, i said, like hell you’re gonna do.

Guess what, he actually did. Every week day morning, he woke up at 7am, went jogging, came back at 7.30am, showered, and went with me for our 8am class (he always hitched a ride on my bike). Saturdays he slept in, Sunday he cycled to church.

Every morning – for 7 weeks. I can vouch for it, everytime he woke up, he inadvertently wakes me with him with his noise. Talk about single minded tenacity, man. One day during the study week before the finals, he said he had enough, and then he quit.

Everyone someone tells me they have no discipline to go to gym once a week to get fit or lose wait, i can only remember my old roomie Joe. Single minded tenacity, man…

Technorati Tags: losing weight, exercising, fitness, jogging

I Lift My Eyes To The Hills

Dedicated to the families and friends of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psa121

Technorati Tags: Virginia tech, virginia, Va. tech

“Air Mata Kucing”

This joke I read in Gila-Gila many years ago:

Boy 1 is drinking something from a glass labeled ‘Air Mata Kucing’. Boy 2 looks on.

Boy #1: “Saya tak faham la…”

Boy #2: “Apa tu?”

Boy #1: “Macam mana mereka buat kucing menangis…?”

Boy #2: *bengang*

Or something like. You had to be there to find it funny. Okay, fine, Gila Gila was never as funny as Mad Magazine, but it had it’s moments.

Second thought of the day:
Maybe it’s called ‘Air Mata Kucing’ because it is popular with cops from that East Malaysian state capital.

Yes, it’s corny, but today’s Wednesday.

Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

First notes – i used to have a book blog, but i’ve decided to stop maintaining it since last November. The whole idea of having a book blog in the first place was to motivate myself to read books, at least 2 or 3 every month, and maybe once in awhile post some literary-related news. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out – i’m no bibliobibuli, reading a couple of books a month was tough enough, and then i was mostly unmotivated to write a review about them. But so, i decided if i ever wanted to write any other book review, i’ll post them here in my primary personal blog, and leave that book blog with the mothballs.

Anyway, here’s a book i just finish today after dinner.

I’ve been a Gaiman fan for a long time, bought this book on another whim, but kept in a backburner for more than a year. Last week, i decided to start it again, and i pretty much ate it up in a few days.

American Gods is a book about road trip, both physically and spiritually, for the central character Shadow. He gets released early from jail because his wife is killed in a car accident. He then meets a strange old man on the flight back to his hometown, who turns out to be an age-old god, who hires him as a bodyguard / errand boy and together they traverse America.

I won’t go much into detail of the story here, but basically Gaiman weaves his magic on the subjects he knows and loves best – mythology, fantasy, and a vivid storytelling laced with dark humour. It is obvious he has put in a lot of research in unearthing some of the gods and demons and folktales of various cultures that emigrated to America long ago, and he has embellished them with his own imagination to fabricate an intricate story for us.

The ending, although not entirely unexpected, can’t be faulted much, although there are quite a few layers to it because of the complex storyline.

The book works probably because Gaiman writes as an outsider to America, and maybe thousands of his ancestors had emigrated to the new country and have brought with them their gods which have been forgotten over the years. As he says, America is ‘good for the people and bad for the gods’.

I liked the book, maybe a little too long, and some of the ‘coming to America’ snippets could have been left out, and i may just pick up the sequel ‘Anansi Boys’. If i see it on sale, that is.

Technorati Tags: books, Neil Gaiman, American Gods, reading, Gaiman, Sandman

If This Was My Last Post…

AhPek tagged on this really interesting one.

The original meme was started by this dude called Urban Monk as part of a initiave called the Blog Apocalypse, and he will donate some money for every blogger who follows this thread and links back to him.

The scenario is this…

Bloggers: The blogosphere is coming to an end.

What is the one last gem that you want to leave with your readers?

Hmm… the concept of the blogosphere ending is a little harder to visualize, unlike global warming. What would cause this apocalypse? An international ban on free speech? A self destruction of the medium brought on by over commercialization? I dunno, let’s just assume the Internet has run it’s useful course and resources are low, and the powers that be decided that blogs have to go since they use up a lot of bandwidth and probably ‘not important’ as other websites (like p0rn) so blogs are going to be killed off…

So here goes nothing.

My last blog post:

Ladies and germs, it’s been a fun ride. Blogging was cool (and is pretty much still cool) and now it’s gonna be killed off, but i’m not too distressed about it. Although through all these years, i have met a lot of new friends, made some money (actually, a LOT of money, but let’s go with ‘some‘…), and generally had a blast writing, expressing myself and reading lots of fun stuff.

But life isn’t all about the Internet (believe it or not), and it certainly isn’t all about blogging only. There’s so much to do in life away from the PC – books to read, people to talk to, places to see, food to taste, so much more in this wide world that people have slowly forgotten about.

So, once i close my wordpress tab, and shut down the PC, i’m gonna take my beautiful wife and two angels, and probably go and eat our ‘sang yee phin‘ (snakeskin fish slices) at that famous restaurant in Seri Kembangan.

So long, it’s been fun, and thanks for all the fish.

End of transmission.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, bloggers, blog apocalyse, tag, meme

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage

I’ve just finished the second season of Black Lagoon, called The Second Barrage. Actually, it didn’t really seem like the second season to me, I watch all 24 episodes of the 2 seasons in one long continuous stretch, over a slow few months.

First off, for those who haven’t watched Black Lagoon, it’s anime about the a pirate torpedo boat and it’s 4 crew members, Dutch, Revy, Rock and Benny. It’s a modern-style anime, with good 2D and 3D animation over what looks like watercolored background. The important thing to know is that the series is pretty violent – it isn’t something you’d see on Saturday morning cartoons on RTM2, there’s lots of swearing, lots of guns and blades, severed heads, bloodshed and all that jazz that get our moral guardians in tight knots.

Season two has only 3 story arcs, the first one is about the murderous Romanian twins (‘Bloodsport Fairytale‘ Ep#13-15), the second is the one with the counterfeiter girl (‘Greenback Jane‘ Ep#16-18), and the last one is the pretty long one about the Japanese Yakuza (‘Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise‘ Ep #19-24).

The first thing I notice about the progression into the second season is the growing significance of two characters into the storylines – Eda from the Church of Violence and Balalaika from Hotel Moscow. In comparison, there is less emphasis on uber-cool Dutch and Benny, who hardly even feature much in some episodes. The last story arc excludes both of them almost completely.

Eda is appeared in only one or two episodes only in Season 1, here she’s added as more of a comic relief, playing Revy’s ‘friend’ and accomplice mostly, as much of a ‘friend’ Revy can have. She’s quite funny at times, and not too shabby with the guns, although not as deadly as Revy, of course. Miss Balalaika, mostly client to the Lagoon Company, plays a key role in the storylines here, and quite a bit of her history is revealed towards the end.

Black Lagoon is, at the heart of it, still the Rock and Revy show. Rock is still philosophical and human as ever, but I still feel that his character is still not entirely believeable as a member of the crew, how do you keep that shirt and tie clean and uncreased all this time?! Revy, on the other hand grows in character and yet remains a loose cannon as before, the way we all like it.

I found the Romanian Twins storyline a bit too much, even for a matured anime. Rock’s justification at the end of the arc didn’t save it for me, however you look at it. It’s also a little unbelieveable how a couple of pre-pubescent kinds can be so well-skilled with an axe that’s probably heavier than them, but then again that’s fiction.

At the end of the season, everyone comes back to Roanapor, and nothing much has changed for the city and the characters, probably paving an easy transition into Season 3. And Eda’s probably relieved that Revy still hasn’t ‘done it’ with Rock yet…

Technorati Tags: anime, Black Lagoon, second barrage

My Favourite Bon Jovi Tracks

I didn’t realize it until the other day, I’ve been listening to Bon Jovi for more than 22 years. They started off as a poodle rock band out of Jersey, with their big hair and make-up that was the look at that time, through the maturing 90’s and right up until today where they are almost coming to the ‘aging rockers’ category.

Bon Jovi had always been the epitomy of good time rock and roll for me. A little less decadent than Poison and Motley Crue, but I think their music stands up much better over time compared to their long gone peers (Ratt? Winger?).

Anyway, i have most of their albums, and over the years have some of my favourite songs, here’s my list (it’s important to note that while songs from some albums are significantly missing here, it doesn’t mean i don’t like the album):

Living On A Prayer
What can I say? The first Bon Jovi song I heard, and the first one I fell in love with. The perfect hair-metal song that captures the mood of the era, wasn’t it? I love the working class story of getting by…

“It doesn’t matter if we make or not, we’ve got each other, and that’s a lot for love…”

Ironically, Bon Jovi would mention Tony and Gina again in another song 20 years later, I bet you know which one.

I’ll Be There For You
This is actually from their New Jersey album, the difficult one after ‘Slippery When Wet’ made them famous. I thought this was one of their best ballads, especially compared to the crappy ones from the 90’s onwards.

Dry County
One of the rare BJ songs with a message, it’s also only a few tracks I like from the Keep the Faith era. For some reasons, the lyrics remind me a lot of the Scorpions ‘Under the Same Sun’. Keep the Faith isn’t high on my list of BJ albums, maybe because of the direction of music they had decided to take at that time, but this track still hums in my mind sometimes.

It’s My Life
A true return to form for the boys from Jersey. Bon Jovi obviously know only too well that in the new millennium, they will never be as famous as they once were, as the reality and evolution of rock music mean that their fans are already middle aged housewives, and the rock kakis (fans) are now probably nearing forty. But in the age of Linkin Park and Nickelback, Bon Jovi released a really fantastic record, and this single really showed that they still mean business.

Blaze of Glory
Not strictly a Bon Jovi, this was released by Jon Bon Jovi as a solo singer for the Young Guns soundtrack. I absolutely love this song, I remember always playing it on the jukebox at the Malay stall near my house. If that’s not enough, the video was superb, too.

Notable mentions:
You Give Love a Bad Name
Miracle
My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms

I’m thinking BJ will still rock on for some time, even if they aren’t the biggest live draw anymore. But you as they say, rock lives on…

Technorati Tags: bon jovi, music, rock