Monday, March 29, 2004

race to the prize

yeah the observatory's flaming lips cover was of Race To The Prize which is off the Soft Bulletin album. anyone want to buy that for me?

Sunday, March 28, 2004

splurging again

yeah so here's what i did yesterday.

had to cover the streats laughing challenge thingy at millenia walk. thot it was gonna be a totally boring afternoon but terence decided to pop by (since after all he works at suntec) - altho pop by might not be the best of words to use since he's still got that leg brace on! - and we had a good laugh at the contestants on stage (some are very freakishly serious abt the whole show) and then i had to go do my thing (very reluctantly) and interview winners and shit like that.

we had coffee at bakers inn, and then i headed off to Tower, which was a big mistake becos i spotted Tori Amos' Scarlet Walk going for $16.50 so i thot heck just buy it. but the sticker also said, 2 for $30. so of course i had to wander around looking for something else with the same sticker. the only one i was remotely interested in was Starsailor but i decided to just get the Tori and head over to Gramophone to see what else they have there.

Big Mistake!

Why? becos i ended up getting 4 other cds. and jem has already laughed at me for revealing one of those to him so i'm not gonna tell.

so i did a whole lot of walking for about 3 hours and then headed back to marina (via city link of course) to meet Fergus for dinner.

We decided against City Link (yes back again) which had Akashi and somehow ended up at this family restaurant at Raffles City. Yep, surrounded by families and kids. quite amusing really.

so let's see. we walked around for a bit and then got popcorn etc and went to see My Girl, a thai film, which was a really sweet little show about a boy and his first love.

i definitely recommend it to everyone! must see! it was quite funny too. and the kids all acted great. er... doesnt sound like a good movie review i know but there u go. it's my off day.

Friday, March 26, 2004

local bands live

the observatory's time of rebirth concert was great!

first george chua played some weird ambient like music and the observatory came n played four songs like How's Life, Queen of Fate, Ask and something else i cant remember.

then it was throb's turn, introduced as Singapore's best funk band. They were good but i think they use too much effects for the vocals. and truthfully dharmá's vocals arent that great. but i liked their stuff. They'll be playing at the heineken thingy tomorrow.

but up after them was concave scream who were excellent and in my opinion stole the show. they were excellent. really great music, lyrics and harmonies!

the observatory came back after a 15 min intermission. played a few more songs n then finished (encore i mean) with a flaming lips cover tho i dunno which song it was now.

overall it was an excellent concert. i had a fantastic time

my morning jacket live in melbourne!



it's the setlist that my friend got off the guitarist for me!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2004

and then again

it was a temporary thing. the health kick. i've had trouble waking early to go for a jog. ok not so much with the waking early. cos i've been waking earli. just that after i wake i go back to sleep

on another note, for the past few days have been spending less time online chatting and more time watching tv. and that's not good! cos i tend to eat more when i'm watching tv!!! snack a lot... that's how pp get fat really

Monday, March 22, 2004

back at work

its only monday!!!!

how am i gonna last the rest of the week!!!!!

(i am seriously looking forward to the weekend tho) the party starts friday night with the observatory concert at alliance francaise (must see!) $15 tickets available at sistic or visit www.theobservatory.com.sg for more info.

and then sat dinner after having to do some work (unfortunately) but i am looking forward to seeing how dinner goes.... might be interesting....

Sunday, March 21, 2004

health kick

well i've been going healthy recently (three cheers)

actually now that i come to think of it, not really cos i still eat the same food and drink teh-bing and teh tarik which are always loaded with sugar, still eat a lot of chocolate, still dont eat enough fruits and vegetables.

but i've been doing some exercise! like running. and u know me, i bloody hate to run so i really deserve those three cheers.

one reason is that i bought a new pair of jeans from mango and they fit just nicely (yes very vain me) and i dont want to get to a stage where i cant wear those jeans, u know?

i've got another pair of jeans which are actually one size bigger and reflects my former size before joining streats. so here's a suggestion to anyone who's wanting to lose weight - be a journo! or get a similar stressful job which has tight deadlines, eds chasing you for more facts to add into stories, lotsa walking and taking of transport and similar shit.

i have lost weight. i dont trust my cheapo ikea weighing machine but i think its obvious. when my former colleagues saw me, the first thing they said was that i had lost weight.

i'm not proud of having lost weight, dont get me wrong. and i'm not exercising to lose weight but rather to be fitter. to well put on a bit of muscle (but not the scary type of muscle) to be more toned, is wat i'm getting at.

i want to be toned! and fit! and be able to run faster and longer.
(and at the same time still gorge on a chocolate cake when temptation calls) - which it is sorta doing right now. there's a slice of choc cake from lana cake shop sitting in my fridge. its calling my name... i can hear it....

Saturday, March 20, 2004

zzzz....

it sounds terrible but i fell asleep during the Singapore Dance Theatre's performance of Cinderella last night.

It was a little slow and the music was terribly monotonous.
And I had slept at 4am the night before and had woken at 8. (I dunno why, but I had just found myself wide-awake at that time and wasn't able to get back to sleep - dont u hate when that shit happens?)

ok so i fell alseep but it was only for a few minutes.

so i guess it wasn't all that bad!

it was very long tho that performance, with 2 intervals. finished at about 1040?? longest ballet i've ever seen. I'd rather go see the Ballet Under The Stars, which i believe is in june or july. That would be fun.

Am listening to the Ben Folds Live Cd, which is always one of my favourites. Its got such great tunes and there's so much audience interaction. Makes u feel like you're really there. But I want to be really there! I want to see Ben Folds live! well i guess i'll have to move to like the US or Canada or Australia. Just to see concerts you know. And that's all.

Am trying to see if there are any good concerts in Canada when I'll be there in May but so far ticketmaster has not thrown up anything good for May. Damien Rice is gonna be there next month and a few other acts in April or early May but nothing that interests me for May. But then again I dunno whether there's actually time to go and see a concert. We seem to have a bit of a packed schedule. Only gonna be there for 10 days after all.

Friday, March 19, 2004

did it again

i made the mistake of drinking teh tarik after 10. again.
so im awake. i'm online and the person i want to talk to on icq aint online.
:(

ah well.

instead i shall listen to some good indie music and write some stuff on the blog, which seriously needs updating anyway.

I'd just been to the Asian Civilisations Museum's opening film for An Indian Odyssey, their first film fest. The film was by the great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, called Pather Panchali, hope i got the spelling right.

the evening started with a cocktail reception. had a couple of glasses of pretty good white wine, and some Indian food. Fish tikka, Tandoori chicken, vegetable pakoras (or wat was left of it) and some other stuff.

film was kinda slow moving and didnt really seem to have much of a story! it was made in the 1950s, in black & white. revolves around a somewat poor family who lives in a village. the starting was quite bad cos i didnt see any storyline at all but towards the end it was quite ok.

after the film, had prata and mee goreng at circular road. fergus called me!! i was wondering who i was talking to (and i kept blabbing on abt wat i dun recall now) and honestly i cant really remember wat i said. i remember the gist of it but that's it. not good!

hahah... will see what happens when or shld it be if he calls me again...

anything else to update?

thurs: worked on the tekong story. finished work at 1030. dint get my byline damnit.
called the kota tinggi police, the johor police, the SAF media relations, the police media information centre (who are damn blur) and no byline. instead, for my 2 maid suspected of killing the employer story which i wrote fr a press release, i get a byline. wat kinda rubbish is that?

wed: managed to get out of doing a hotline story (phew) and instead went off early to see Untold Scandal. somehow asked sean along. dun really think it went that well! but will see how also.

tues: er cant remember wat i did on tues. was that the ballet thingy? might be.
went backstage at the esplanade theatre to interview the ballet dancer cheah mei sing who was pretty nice. edwin got some nice photos out of that. really cute fairy-costumed little girl. anyway will be watching the performance tomoro night (job perk alert!)

Friday, March 12, 2004

eh that's the singer?

went with ep to check out Fat Frog Cafe at the substation last night after we had dinner at Chjimes (restaurant called La Cave, we were tempted by its $25 3-course dinner set thing which we realised after is pretty expensive)

so we get to fat frog and hang around waiting for a couple more people to turn up. nothing happening yet except this round guy in a big yellow t-shirt fiddling with the equipment on stage

and it turns out that he was the singer han jin. apparently some guy who works in hong kong producing albums like for Edison Chen?? (dunno it true or not but it comes from someone who know someone who knows the singer so i suppose it must be somewat true)

anyway he did some pretty nice renditions of u2 songs, especially Wild Horses (which is an excellent song off the excellent achtung baby album). this caucasian guy joined him on stage and seemed to like singing Prince songs (altho i didnt think his voice was that great)

but the interesting thing was that this good voice was coming out of this round bespectacled guy in a yellow t-shirt and a black cap.

it just didnt seem to fit. i dunno why but it just didn't

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

whoo-hoo!

vivian of the observatory just called me to say they really liked my review! that it was what they were trying to convey in their music. that neverending search for meaning in life thingy!

that really made my day!

of course plus the fact that they're getting me 2 tix for the concert! hahahaha

but even if they hadn't offered i'd have bought the tickets anyway.

and really it's all thanks to jem who asked me to go to the concert several weeks ago in the first place!

Time of Rebirth

yay my first cd review is out in today's papers! i reviewed The Observatory's Time of Rebirth. The Observatory is a local band fronted by Leslie Low (Humpback Oak)
I didn't exactly know how to describe their sound so I sorta just wrote watever really.
I also got to meet Leslie and Pann (of Concave Scream) to talk about the album artwork, which is done in the style of a diary. Very cool. And unique.
The Observatory gig is on March 26 at the Alliance Francaise in case anyone's interested.
In any case, here's my review.

A worthwhile dreaminess the observatory … time of rebirth

4 out of 5 stars

THERE'S a quiet, solitary feeling about Time Of Rebirth. It makes you want to stare out the
window and do nothing.

Not that the music lulls you into a sense of ennui. Rather, it makes you want to reflect on
life as the music streams in over the headphones.

Local group The Observatory, comprising singer-songwriter Leslie Low, keyboardist-singer
Vivian Wang, guitarist Dharma, programmer Evan Tan and guitarist Victor Low, will officially
release their long-awaited debut album, Time Of Rebirth, tomorrow.

A demo album had been on sale last year but the official album comes with an additional
song, new arrangements and some unique packaging, which reflects the music's melancholic yet
subtle personality.

Time of Rebirth, which took two years, blends acoustic music with electronic programming.

It's hard to put a finger on what genre The Observatory's music fits into. Ambient?
Electronica? Perhaps.

But, perhaps music doesn't need to be squeezed into a genre. It should just be listened to
and appreciated.

And Time Of Rebirth is definitely one to appreciate.

Wang and Low share the vocals, with Wang's girlish voice contrasting and yet blending with
Low's reluctant, contemplative tone.

Low's dreamy lyrics describe that never-ending search for meaning in life, but they don't
go over the deep end and plunge the listener into confusion as some lyrics are wont to do.

The search continues.

aramaic

Feelmaa haanaa tpeelaw! Proo' lee ksef dmaa!
This film is terrible. I want my blood-money back.

Find out more here

Monday, March 08, 2004

eh really?


Green



You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.




Find out your color at Quiz Me!


Sunday, March 07, 2004

24 hrs in KL

it's crazy but i just spent 24 hrs in KL. 16 or so other hrs travelling to and from KL and getting caught in a human jam at the malaysian immigration counters....
very bad organisation there. shame on them.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

sigh....

sigh....