Music Review For The Weekend

Static-X Cannibal

Track Listing:

1. Cannibal
2. No Submission
3. Behemoth
4. Chemical Logic
5. Destroyer
6. Forty Ways
7. Chroma-Matic
8. Cuts You Up
9. Reptile
10. Electric Pulse
11. Goat
12. Team Hate

It's curious what Static-X were thinking when they released their fifth full length. On this year's "Cannibal," the Los Angeles-based quartet's sound is basically the same as it has always been, only this time, they opt for much more stripped down, simple, bare-bones, and almost punk-like approach than their previous efforts. Ultimately, though, this approach mostly failed, because it is too simple and familiar-sounding for its own good.

Lyrically, this is about as repetitive and uninspired you'll find, and quite frankly, a lot of these lyrics are flat out moronic! Elsewhere, the drums are so basic that they're not worth commenting on, and most of the guitar work is pretty infantile, too. No, Static-X have never been anywhere close to being technical (can you name any "nu-metal" band that is?) but this is simple even for them. A lot of these "riffs" consist of just one or two notes or power chords repeated over and over again for the duration of the song. And what's worse is that they're not even semi-aggressive, chunky, fast, or heavy most of the time! The album's only sonic bite comes from Wayne's abnormally sharp, high-pitched, and in-your-face screams, and even their novelty wears off after only two or three tracks.

To be fair, every song on "Cannibal" is nice and listenable, and there are a few decent or good songs here, even if none of them are actual highlights that stay with the listener for more than a few minutes after hearing them. "Behemoth" sounds like vintage Static-X (circa the "Wisconsin Death Trip" era), whereas the next track, "Chemical Logic," is a thrasher with speedy guitar leads and a noisy, shredding solo. Also of note, "Destroyer" sports a fairly fat bass riff in its chorus; "Forty Ways" is a very hooky toe-tapper which has the potential to be a dance floor hit really soon; and "Goat" is a trippy, synth-driven number. For the most part, though, the songs just ain't there. Several of them (see "No Submission," "Chroma-Matic," "Electric Pulse," and "Goat") would be totally unremarkable if not for loud, moderately cool solos. And then there's "Cannibal" and Reptile," two extremely boring and vapid tracks that practically have "filler"and "waste of time" written all over them.

Am I being too harsh? Maybe. If you listen to "Cannibal" with an open mind without thinking too hard on it, and realize that the band meant it all to be in good fun, you could get quite a bit of enjoyment out of this disc. Even still, it's too hard to escape the feeling of coasting -- Static-X were clearly on complete autopilot when they made this record, and it sounds like they could have recorded it all on the spot in the studio in less than a day. So, in the end, "Cannibal" may be a fun, catchy listen, but it the lacks punch, innovation, urgency, "meat," depth, and good songwriting needed to be at all memorable, satisfying, or powerful. All in all, a highly skippable release for everybody except for the band's absolute most diehard fans.

What a Day~~

Had a great day today. Was able to finally meet our famous Blogger who tends to tell the whole world that he has circumcised his little brother Jason Phoon and friends.

First off I went to pick up Kif from my neighborhood and we drove down straight to the Curve to meet up with Evelyn. We're supposed to meet up at 12:30pm but guess what? Being a Malaysian we're proud to inform you that We always arrive out of time! wahahha I do too admit that I was running a little late and of course, outside of The Curve, I had came across some car problems...sigh.

So anyways, as we met up at Kim Gary, Evie told us that Kurt would be joining in as well. Cool huh? So yea there were like Kif, Evie, Farah, Kurt, Jason and myself. Cool huh? Thought so :P So yea as we arrived, Jason greeted us with his sexiest my-look-after-cutting-off-the-skin-of-my-dick smile on the camera... Don't believe me? Check this out...



Hehe told ya....

I had to leave them for a while as I have an eye checkup appointment to go to. And yes it took hell a long time coz of some tests that I kinda find it pretty hard to get by. But yea the nurse was very patient and nice and she was like doing that eye test over and over and over and over again. phew~~

So after my eye checkup, I came back down to hang out with them all. And guess what? Yea pictures as usual LOL...


Kurt, Farah and Jason


Hot momma Evie~~~

We chatted and chatted for a while till Kurt, Jason and Farah had to leave coz they have other appointments elsewhere. You know, famous people tend to have loads of appointments, I understand. :P

So what did we do? Kif , Evie and I ended up walking Cine leisure while waiting for time to pass. wahahaha. We saw that there's this haunted house thing going on there but here's the catch. We need to spend RM50 on a single receipt so we could redeem 2 tickets to enter this stupid thing. Well you know us, nothing better to do and then what? Evie and I ended up in SaSa to purchase something....anything that worth RM50 (each) just to get like 4 tickets to enter the house.

Evie got herself Paris Hilton's Lulu perfume (bleah). I have nothing against the smell though, just the name is like as if saying that "Oh I'm a hardcore fan of Paris!!" And I got myself sigh... yet another perfume... Hugo Boss XY...



Thanks to Evie for her taste of fragrances she told me that this is the best so far amongst the ones I picked =.="

Yup we got the tickets alright, so we decided to head off the the haunted expedition of ours. Mwahahaha. Apparently they allow people to go in by groups. BUT, unfortunately, 3 of us are the only "group" they have. So yea we're all on our own...

Honestly speaking, I wasn't so scared about the thing until we enter this dark and ermmm dark tunnel... They closed the door behind us and I couldn't see a damn thing. Evie was gripping on to my arm and YES!!!! SHE WAS FREAKING SHIVERING!!! kinda got me scared too though hahaha.... We stood still there at the entrance, doors closed and locked behind us, while listening to someone talking through the sound system sinisterly....

I was like, "Hey if you guys are scared should we just turn around??"
Evie: You sure?? I'm a bit scared leh~
Kif: Yes this place is a little freaky...
Me: Well if you wanna turn around and go out, lets go... (yes thanks to evie's shaky hands I kinda lost my macho-ness =.=")
Evie: Let's go la...

She tries to budge the door open, but it couldn't. only a small gap was able to be made for her to call out........ HELLLOOO~~~~~~

hahahahaha that voice and that tone of hers was PRICELESS I tell you!

A lady opened the door and assured us that it was nothing and further down there'll be light so we could see... I told them I don't mind going as somehow I managed to gather my courage once again :P

So yeap, we went in... got through the whole course with people wearing masks scaring us till we almost shit in our pants... We made it through the exit door and guess what? The door was closed and locked! Some jackass sneaked next to me and gave me a scare and yes, in split seconds, I saw him, and I decided to let out a weird obligated scream.... and you know what???

EVIE SCREAMED AGAIN!!! And yes another priceless experience from her!! wahahahahaha...

The door opened and there was this security guard standing in front of us and laughed his ass off! Probably there was this speaker outside the facility that actually records our conversations and screams =.="

Man I tell you that place almost killed us both in scares and humiliation! Walked out of there, saw a banner of that place and we decided to take a picture of it... :P


Evie and Kif


Myself trying to act scared shitless ~

Hehe time was up then and Evie had to get going so yea we decided to call it off and went back on our separate ways...What a day....



Side note: I should have brought in a voice recorder so I could post up what actually happened in there. Damn it was hilarious!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

First of all, let me greet all of you.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yet again it's the time of the year where people greet each other the coming of a new beginning, the coming of a new year and of course for us to feel much older of ourselves and start writing down new year resolutions that they wanna do for the coming year... I'll post up my resolution soon. When the time is right. :P

So what I did last night for as a celebration?? Well a few friends showed up at my doorstep last night inviting me to join them to go to this place call Point View in Cheras. Apparently they said that we could view the whole of KL from that place. But before that, I actually planned to stay home and laze my ass around for Christmas eve. Actually, more like waiting for some news to come.... Sigh but the news never came... Don't ask what news I'm waiting for, I'm never gonna tell bleah~

So here goes, some of the pictures I took of that place we had our drinks... Non alcohol drinks ok! Don't believe me?? Here's the proof....


There you go. I had only Coke with Lime in it...

So about this place I was talking about....











The whole place looks pretty lit up though. Full of lights with different colours and so on. definitely a good spot where couples should hang out... Damn I should have paid attention to where they were driving so next time I could bring someone up there....

Oh yes, the view of KL City is beautiful. We kinda arrived a little late therefore we missed the the view of KL and it's fireworks all around it. Damn. Wanna know why? Coz of that freaking jam we had in Subang!




Yes yes...it looks nice and all. But somehow I feel that it's not really enough coz the way I see it, KL really lacks of high rise building to me it look perfect... Check out Hong Kong for instance, The view looks absolutely breathe taking....


See the difference? Sigh I miss Hong Kong....

Anyways, So as usual, everyone who goes to places with me and IF I have my camera along, They'll bound to be my whore objects to take pictures at.... wahahahaha


My first camwhore subject. :p


This picture really looks good. It's in the middle of the night but somehow it looks like it's during the evening... The guy in the middle bought a Canon 350D as well.... so that makes him a photographer in the making wahahaha...


Sorry bout this pic. It actually looks nice but I kinda shook a little. I was holding my camera which was attached to the tripod. Was about to go back so I was kinda lazy to take my camera out that time. :P but yea, they were trying to look hip... Trust me, they TRIED REAL HARD!

So that's all for today. Thank you Thank you. :P

Music Review For The Weekend

Sorry for the late entry. I have been rather busy today as it is my last day in work hence I did not have much time on my PC to write about today's review... So let's proceed, Today would be just 1 review as I did not have much time to review other albums. hehehe Sorry yea?


Michael Bublé - Call Me Irresponsible

Track Listing:

1. The Best Is Yet To Come
2. It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera)
3. Me And Mrs. Jones
4. I'm Your Man
5. Comin' Home Baby (duet with Boyz II Men)
6. Lost
7. Call Me Irresponsible
8. Wonderful Tonight (duet with Ivan Lins)
9. Everything
10. I've Got The World On A String
11. Always On My Mind
12. That's Life
13. Dream

Though the ghosts of Frank Sinatra and Peter Allen still battle for his soul, in his new CD "Call Me Irresponsible" Michael Buble has finally found his own voice and personality. For those who doubt that his channeling Harry Connick Jr. channeling Frank Sinatra schtick is done, jump to his rendition of the Sinatra signature song "That's Life" and listen to his unaffected vocal amid the combination of both gospel choir and big band.

Looking for other sources of inspiration has led Buble to Billy Paul for "Me And Mrs. Jones" which is done in a more matter-of-fact manner than the hand-wringing original; to Jack Jones for the title cut "Call Me Irresponsible" which is more laid back than the original despite the big band arrangement; to Eric Clapton whose "Wonderful Tonight" becomes a lovely Latin love song with assistance from the great Ivan Lins; and to Willie Nelson whose "Always On My Mind" is a beautiful song which gets the beautiful voice it deserves. A wide variety of sources and styles that Michael masters and makes his own.

Two polished diamonds that cement the new identity are "Everything" in which all previous influences are absent and it is Michael Buble emerging as his own man and the tender and laid back "I'm Your Man."

Special mention must go to the arrangements which swing when they need to and modulate for the tender moments such as "Lost." The upbeat arrangements of "It Had Better Be Tonight" (which can only be described as big band Italian salsa) and "Comin' Home Baby" (with it's backing vocals from Boyz II Men) are just brilliant.

A must for fans and a step towards world dominance by this Canadian superhero, this is a wonderful leap forward for an artist who in the past has been weighed down by his influences. But as he warns us all with the CD opener, "The Best Is Yet To Come."

Bonus:

Some people use to ask me what do I do in work? Wanna know the answer? Here goes...


Sleep on my desk whenever I have the chance


Act like a ghost all day

What a great life huh? No wonder this guy leaves his work... Anyways yea it's just random pictures A friend shot me while I was getting ready to leave office for the day.


This is my workstation that I work on. Cool wallpaper huh? And yes, my desk is kinda messy so pardon me... :P


There you go. The phone is important to me for work coz I get loads of calls to work on this work on that bla bla bla all day long. And there goes my name above to prove that this desk is mine. hehe

So That's it for today. Enjoy yourselves for a good weekend and yea yea! Merry Christmas Everyone....

2 More Days Till CountDown

Yet another 2 more days marks the 3 months long wait to resign from my current company. I've been with Prudential Services Asia (PSA) for like 2 and a half years now. There were good times and yea there were bad times of course...

The hardest thing I face for leaving PSA is actually leaving the people there, not the company. Without these people who works in there, as in the non management staff, my colleagues, Life would really take a toll in me. In shorter words, I'll die of boredom and stress. SERIOUSLY.... I'll stress myself to death.

For over a year I have been having lunch with the same group of people, everyday. That itself had born a beautiful friendship between us. We not only spend time in office and lunch, We even go out together during off office time.

This post I would like to dedicate to ALL YOU PSA STAFF WHO HAD BEEN WITH ME ALL MY YEARS WITH THIS COMPANY....


My Department: ServiceDesk


My Department: ServiceDesk

Thanks to all of you. A lot of you had known I had gone through a very rough year this year. Yet you still cared and stood by me when I'm down, Be my pillar to lean on, Be someone whom I could tell my problems at ease.


Company Outing @ Melaka


Company Trip @ Pangkor

Yes it does look like an emotional entry doesn't it? hehe. I'll try to loosen things up. Err... We'll still meet up as usual, go for drinks, movies and most of all... CARL's JR!!!! Dun care!! Do keep in touch and yes, I would continue blogging and make sure you guys do too. So I would have something to read all the time when I'm bored in my new job...


Cycling Trip @ Botanica Garden


Cycling Trip @ Botanica Garden


Japanese Day @ Jing's Church


Wilda trying to tie my hair @ Kuching


Cave pic @ Kuching


Eat out @ Old Klang Road

They Say....

They say that everyone has a limit to their tolerance. Do you agree? Some people have a higher level of tolerance where as there are people who could not tolerate much. Well I say that every 2 individuals are like an Emotional Bank Account.

What is an Emotional Bank Account? The Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor describing relationships and the P/PC (Production versus building Production Capacity) balance for interdependence. It describes how trust is built on a relationship.

Positive behaviors are deposits building a reserve. Negative behaviors are withdrawals. A high reserve balance results in higher tolerance for our mistakes and more open communication.

There are six major deposits we can make to the emotional bank account:

1) Understanding the individual. An individual's values determine what actions will result in a deposit or a withdrawal for that individual. To build a relationship, you must learn what is important to the other person and make it as important to you as the other person is to you. Understand others deeply as individuals and then treat them in terms of that understanding.

2) Attend to the little things, which are the big things in relationships.

3) Keep commitments. Breaking a promise is a major withdrawal.

4) Clarify expectations. The cause of almost all relationship difficulties is rooted in ambiguous, conflicting expectations around roles and goals. Making an investment of time and effort up front saves time, effort and a major withdrawal later.

5) Show personal integrity. A lack of integrity can undermine almost any effort to create a high trust reserve. Honesty requires conforming our words to reality. Integrity requires conforming reality to our words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.
The key to the many is the one, especially the one that tests the patience and good humor of the many. How you treat the one reveals how you regard the many, because everyone is ultimately a one.

6) Apologize sincerely when you make a withdrawal. Sincere apologies are deposits, but repeated apologies are interpreted as insincere, resulting in withdrawals.

So when 2 people keeps on depositing positive deeds with one another to the bank account, eventually their relationship will grow stronger and of course trust, commitment and communication would gain to a better level of mutual understanding. But it would work the other way around as well when 2 people do too much withdrawals from their emotional bank account.

Some people keep asking me, "How could you be so cruel / ruthless to certain people?" People who knows me, they know that I'm very jolly and down to earth kinda person. BUT only when good emotional bank account has been kept.

I do tolerate people very well but there are a minority that would end up hell with me. Why is that so? Disappointment is the key. Every relationship you have with friends or other more than friends, there is a certain level of expectations you would expect from them. We're humans, many times we would fail to meet up to people's expectations.

True some people may say, we're just friends why should you expect so much? Of course that I would agree. But what of those who are more than friends? Your partner in a relationship per SE? Each human surely would have expectations with their girlfriends or boyfriends. What if they do not meet up to your expectations? Naturally forgiveness will kick in. What if over and over again he/she fails to meet up? That's withdrawal of your emotional bank account.

When the account is empty, then what? Chaos would kick in. Vengeance and hatred would come in as well? Obviously no couple would want to end up like this. It is due time then that the couple should start all over again and deposit into the bank account, so that things would get better. Unfortunately it's not that way for someone that I know. Despite how many times she had withdraw from the account, none had been deposited back in. Hence that is one of the many reasons he have changed his attitude towards her.

Many times he told himself not to be so, just try to chill, try to forgive. But each time he manages to tell himself so, Withdrawals will kick in again. Frustrations! Many times he had tried to move on, but she still tries to gain him back. When he returns, she is back to her withdrawal rally!

How could someone be like this? How could someone takes a relationship for granted like this? Seriously it's a pain to my eye. Stress kicks in all the time. He had a bad mood every morning when she calls and talks. The whole day ruins for him. From what I heard, He has from a good health to a mild hypertension now. Sigh this is a very good example of people taken another person for granted. Try to make things better will ya? Good relationships are to find let alone maintaining it. Understanding is the key people!!

Note: Definition of Emotional Bank Account was sourced by 7-habits

Music Review For The Weekend

Note: HEAVY MUSIC LOADING. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR SPEAKER IF YOU CAN'T TAKE MARILYN MANSON ELSE HIS MUSIC WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL.... :P


Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me

Track Listing:

1) If I Was Your Vampire
2) Putting Holes in Happiness
3) The Red Carpet Grave
4) They Said That Hell's Not Hot
5) Just a Car Crash Away
6) Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
7) Evidence
8) Are You the Rabbit?
9) Mutilation Is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery
10) You and Me and the Devil Makes 3
11) Eat Me, Drink Me

This is the latest album of Manson's work thus far and the 2nd album released after he has parted ways with Jeordie White a.k.a Twiggy Ramirez. At this album, John 5 is no longer in the band as well. Honesly, this album in a way was out of my expectations. I have this view that Manson's music has a heavy touch of industrial genre but this album has kind of gotten mellow.

There are some good songs like Putting Holes in Happiness, Evidence and Heart-Shaped Glasses but in a way, It doesnt seem much like Manson's best work. Songs in there are mostly pretty low on drums and clashes. Manson is known for heavy style of music but in this album, I don't really see it that way. But of course, It's Manson, So for those fans out there, You can go ahead and grab this album


Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age of Grotesque (Japan Edition)

Track Listing:

1) Thaeter (Manson, Gacy, Skold)
2) This Is the New Shit (Manson, Skold)
3) mOBSCENE (Manson, 5)
4) Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag (Manson, Skold)
5) Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth (Manson, 5)
6) The Golden Age of Grotesque (Manson, 5)
7) (s)AINT (Manson, 5, Skold)
8) Ka-boom Ka-boom (Manson, 5, Skold)
9) Slutgarden (Manson, 5)
10) ♠ (often called "Spade") (Manson, 5)
11) Para-noir (Manson, 5, Skold, Gacy, )
12) The Bright Young Things (Manson, 5)
13) Better of Two Evils (Manson, 5, Skold, Gacy)
14) Vodevil (Manson, 5, Skold)
15) Obsequey (The Death of Art) (Manson, Skold)

Bonus Tracks:

16) Tainted Love
17) Baboon Rape Party
18) Paranoiac

This album I got it off eBay and all I can say about this album is AWESOME! In a way, I'm addicted to this album. This album unlike the above one has more similarity to Manson's work. This is WAY heavier than the above album.

It's pretty similar to Mechanical Animal. Both heavy with industrial genre. The AntiChrist Superstar is Manson's Album but heck, to me, This is good. But yes, I still like AntiChrist Superstar. (note that I am not an antichrist)

Great songs to look forward to in this album is basically This is the new Sh*t, mOBSCENE, (s)AINT and Slutgarden. These songs are great to hear. Heavy though but well, What is Manson if it ain't heavy right?

Manson works together with John 5 and Tim Skold. Hence, that explains why this album has a different touch. Skold makes the editting or the music much at a very different pace. In a way, he's like Twiggy, these guys are the main foundation in Manson's music. Kudos to MANSON!!!

Stomp It Out!

Stomp (dance troupe)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stomp is a renowned non-traditional dance troupe (originating in Brighton, UK) that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a percussive physical theatre performance. Their musical origins owe heavily to the work of Einstürzende Neubauten and Savage Aural Hotbed.

They developed from the London Records band The Yes/No People, who were known for Mr. Johnson and Some Things Are True on the Giant compilation. Since becoming Stomp, they have released music and starred in television commercials. HBO also produced the DVD Stomp Out Loud, which features the group members producing percussion out of normal household items, even in a junk yard.

The term may also refer to a distinct sub-genre of physical theatre where the body is incorporated with other objects as a means of producing percussion and movement that has echoes of tribal dance.

They appeared on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, where Space Ghost thought the name to be "Artsy Fartsy". The New York cast of Stomp was also featured in the pilot episode of Cyberchase (The Poddleville Case), in show's Cyberchase: For Real live-action epilogue segment hosted by Kareem Blackwell. Early in their career, they performed the theme tune for Blue Peter.

Stomp was parodied on an episode of Saturday Night Live through the false name of "Clappin'".




All I can say are 2 things....

1) I really have no idea what to blog mainly coz I've been looking up this group and watching them.
2) They are really GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!

7 Facts About Me.

Sigh. I've been sick for like 4 days now and I haven't got any inspiration to write anything on my blog. But... This Evie, HAD to tag me.... Well I know, it was my fault first to tag her with my so-called authored tag. :P So yea I guess I should do it. Else she'll kill me....

Rules
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, to let them know that they have been tagged and to read the blog.

1) Calv was born with Cataract on the left eye and had to undergo surgery when he was 3. Turns out that the cataract was removed but only left with a lazy eye. Hence he is only 1 sighted and had to live his childhood being called mata sepet or cock-eyed =.="

2) Calv have Astigmatism so he has to wear glasses while driving at night (which he rarely does). Why? Coz he looks weird wearing glasses. There's someone who saw him wearing them and she laughed non stop seeing him in glasses =.="

3) Started smoking when he was 14. He thought it'll be cool then with his reputation and all but ended up stuck with it. Tried to quit 3 times in his life. First attempt was a success for 2 years then due to some issues, he started smoking again. 2nd and 3rd time was due to the cig's price going too high but ended up he couldn't give a fuck. Might try for the 4th attempt again but will see how. :P

4) Calv used to be a very shy guy during his school days. He could barely hold a conversation with any of his female school mates. Calv HAD to write notes on a piece of paper just to pass it to his friends to pass it to a girl just to hold a conversation. Ended up Calv got a reply note saying that she would prefer to talk face to face instead of writing notes like these... Calv chickened out then....

5) Calv lost his virginity in a very strange way. He was overly drunk one night in a club celebrating the end of his college examinations. He woke up in his hostel room NAKED with a girl next to him. Apparently the girl said she had a good time. Calv brought her to lunch after waking up, sent her off to a cab then only remembered he had not her number!! What a jerk who fuck and don't call back.... =.="

6) Calv used to be called a faggot for listening to boybands when he was younger. Not his fault actually, so happened there was a song that he kinda liked back then. Hence he was labeled a fag for a moment.... So now Calv does not listen to boybands though he may know how to sing some of those songs, He still prefers to shut his mouth.

7) Calv is on a frenzy to collect heaps of stuff. From transformers figures to spawn to Coca Cola from all over the world to Cigarette boxes which looks fancy. He also started collecting hard to find CDs and in a way addicted to ebay... :(

So there you go. I've done the tag. I would love to tag some people but I have learned the hard way that these days people don't really do tags. Ended up not many people will do the tags when I asked them to do. So I'll just keep this space empty and please do the tag when you feel like it. TQ TQ.

Goodness I wonder how some people will look at me a very different way when they read all those =.="

Music Review For The Weekend

John Mayer - Room for Squares

Track Listing:

1. No Such Thing
2. Why Georgia
3. My Stupid Mouth
4. Your Body Is A Wonderland
5. Neon
6. City Love Mayer
7. 83
8. 3x5
9. Love Song For No One
10. Back To You
11. Great Indoors
12. Not Myself
13. St. Patrick's Day

John Mayer has a voice that captures the sultry sound of Seal and recalls the crisp rhythyms of Dave Matthews. Take a listen to this CD and you will notice the influence of many genres and musicians: jazz, blues, R&B as well as rock. Mayers muisc is mellow enough to listen to when you are working and up enough that you will find yourself dancing in your chair without realizing it.

He is a classic songwriter... in what is a nice contrast to much of the mainstream music, his lyrics are not a streaming jumble of verbiage leaving you nothing but a vague sense of frustration, but words to relate to. His songs are truly artistic and expressive, showcasing the sometimes meloncholic beauty of life. His subject matter is of a wandering soul, for whom every experience is a new one. I could have skipped "No Such Thing" because I twitch whenever I hear the words "high school" but his point is a good one- draw your own lines, there is no real world. Likewise, all his songs are effective at delivering a message. In the catchy "Why Georgia" the message is a question we all ask, Where am I going? Life, "am I living it right"? Ever say something you wish you could take back? Johns answer is "My Stupid Mouth". If you are a woman, you wish you were facing Johns singing, "Your Body Is A Wonderland" (me, personally, I'm jealous of whoever that might be). You'd swear you've had "Neon" in your collection forever, with a natural melody and an R&B/jazz feel that will have you singing along. If you can't relate to these songs, you just aren't human... "City Love" conveys the excitement of a new relationship, "83"- stolen innocence, "3x5"- a long distance relationship, "St. Patricks Day"- overrated singlehood and the dating scene. "Great Indoors" is Mayers version of yelling, 'Carpe Diem!' as well as suggesting we look inside ourselves. I did. Hearing one song, "Love Song For No One", made me buy this album... I recommend you do the same.

If you like Train, Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel, Sister Hazel or Seal, there is very good chance you will like this CD. And it will definitely leave you with a smile.




Safri Duo - 3.5

Track Listing:

CD one
1. Rise (Leave Me Alone)
2. Ritmo De La Noche
3. All The People In The World
4. Amazonas
5. Fallin' High
6. Moonwalker
7. Marimba Dreams
8. Agogo Mosse
9. Laarbasses
10. Bombay Vice
11. Prelude
12. Knock On Wood

CD two
1. Visit From The Zoo (Safri Duo Medley)
2. Ritmo De La Noche (Extended Version)
3. Rise (Leave Me Alone) (Extended Version)
4. Rise (Leave Me Alone) (Atn Remix)
5. Rise (Leave Me Alone) (Airbase Damage Remake)
6. All The People In The World (Copenhagen Clubbers Remix)
7. All The People In The World (F & W Remix)
8. Fallin' High (Artificial Funk Remix)
9. Fallin' High (Steve Murano Remix)
10. Fallin' High (Groove Electronic Remix)

The album is a good album, but it seems like it branches into too many genres of electronica that Safri Duo have previously not dablled in AT ALL. This is in my opinion to the detriment of the album. I come from a breaks/trance/techno perspective, so the forrays into pop on this album greatly annoy me.
Here are the songs each with some thoughts:

Fallin High: Good song. Not bad.... but, it seems like it could be more. Starts out with a little vocal drum loop to start things off with, but too quickly it falls into a daft punk/fatboy slim type of loop for the melody. I find it a little bit boring for the rapid and exciting drum track that goes along with the song. 4 of 5

Moon Walker: Eh. Takes too long to get into the song. Distorted voice saying "Moon, Moon walker" covering up a lot of the interesting parts of the song. Repetitive bassish line. Kind of a laid back funk song. 2 of 5

Rise: Best song on the album from my limited experience. Starts out with a hook that screams progressive. Progressive beat with various percussion instruments hitting all over the place. Leads into a nifty strings melody line. Good stuff. Nothing that detracts from this song. Has much better flow than the other songs on the album. Starts with drums, breaks to the strings with just the kick, then adds in various bongos and bells and whistles with each journey through the string refrain. Good flow. Did I already say that? 5 of 5

All the people in the world: This would be a great song except for the lyrics. Has a breaks feel to the song. Hit on the one and then congas hitting all over the place. Really neat third beat riff feel to it. Does the two thirds beats and then flys on beat three. Really cool feel to the song. Unfortunately the vocals are a bit "peace on earth/save the world" styled. Also, the 'Safri Duo' hardly speak english so you know any overly vocal song isn't really completely their brainchild. Still the variety and style of the breaks save this song. 4 of 5

Marimba Dreams: Does what it does well. Flowing marimbas with a minimal worldish background. Doesn't really display their incredible talent on percussion instruments, but it sounds nice. 3 of 5

Amazonas: Good song. Kinda confused as to where it is headed. Starts building up some saw synths only to drop them out midway through the song to be replaced with a purely jungle beat mix. Brings them back into the song to break it down, but still a little melodically unfulfilled in the end. 4 of 5

Agogo Mosse: Starts out sooo well, but not my thing anymore. Just a cool jungle arrangement that falls back into the laid back Daft Punkish vocals. Not a bad song, I just wish I was hearing more Safri Duo, and less of this odd medly of pop electronica. 3 of 5

Laarbasses: Again. Fun instrumentation, but this time they are trying to do an RnB song. Male refrain, female verses. Hip hop, not my thing when I want to hear some awesome percussion instrumentation. Not bad, but again not what I expected. 3 of 5

Bombay Vice: This is a bit more of what you got on Safri Duo's last album with 'Snakefood'. Kind of a middle east sound that never rises much above the soundtrack for some guy charming a snake. At least, that is my opinion... A little experimentation, but nothing that stands out too much. 3 of 5

Prelude: Starts out with them hammering out some tunes alone. Falls into an industrial sound, and then goes back to the hammer keyboards and then goes into a progressive sounding bit and then leads out with just the mallet instruments again. 4 of 5

I give the album a 3 of 5. Not really impressed. I did get a lot of what I wanted in this album, but if there was more two guys from Holland on some drums, and less random electronica in the mix I would have been very pleased. As it is, it is a somewhat oddly rounded album with some value.

Biggest Burger in the City!

Wow.... Finally, after long anticipation, Carl's Junior had finally opened its first franchise in Mid Valley. I've been wanting to eat that burger for a long long time. Last I had it was when I was in the States. Man those burgers are out to kill!

Those burgers indeed are huge. Crazy. Any normal Asian girls would not be able to finish them. Well I'm only saying those girls who order a plate of rice and can only able to finish half of it, Trust be, you need another partner to finish the whole set.



I ordered this Double Western Cheese Burger... Damn it taste so good. The burger was huge till they had to cut it to half so it would be easier for me to hold the damn thing. Wahahaha

Price wise I think it's rather expensive. But hey it's twice the size of McDonalds so I think it's fair enough coz it costs twice the price of McD.... Definitely a hearty meal. I personally would wanna label Carl's Jr. The Best FastFood Chain in Malaysia. Kudos Kudos...

Side Note:

Somehow I just love English. A friend and I had a MSN conversation and here's how it goes...

Me: Wow your DP (display picture) looks nice.
Girl: Yea, I seldom take pictures of myself.
Me: Well, we're almost alike. I suck at camwhoring. (some of you people knows that as a fact) I can't camwhore to save my life.
Girl: I suck in front of camera....
Me: o.O???? Wahahahahahahahahahaha

I can't stop laughing the whole night I tell ya...Damn that was the best joke I've ever heard!!

FINALLY!!!!

Side Note: Pictures of the Blogger's gathering @ Marche can be downloaded here....

OMG OMG OMG!! Finally I found the action figures I've always wanted to collect!!!

I hereby present to you.......DC UNLIMITED: World of Warcraft: Series 1

All I can say about the artwork is. MARVELOUS!!! Details of these guys are near perfection and yes it's pretty much hard to find in Malaysia. I was walking into Comics Corner this morning and I came across these babies. Damn, with an instance I grabbed the whole set and placed it on the counter.

The lady was like "Wow, you're getting the whole set??" And I went like "Yeap!" with a huge grin on my face. Yes I look like a kid then but who cares? I am who I am and so happens, I like these guys....

Wanna see how they looked?


BLOOD ELF ROGUE:
VALEERA SANGUINAR Collector Figure


DWARF WARRIOR:
THARGAS ANVILMAR Collector Figure


UNDEAD WARLOCK:
MERYL FELSTORM Collector Figure


ORC SHAMAN:
REHGAR EARTHFURY Collector Figure

Ok so in a way I'm pretty much satisfied for today. Normally I don't blog in the weekends but this is really an exceptional case! wahahahaha....