Amanda Righetti

Friday, November 17, 2006

Lasse Gjertsen - Amateur


Thursday, November 16, 2006

Topher Grace on Venom


Hmm...


Everyone loves MySpace. Well, almost, lah.

So as some of you guys might know. I oversee like 3 bloody accounts, Aging Youth’s, The Lard Brothers’ and The Love Experiment’s. Interestingly, I’ve gotten an add friend request recently from this local band The Question Fades. This is their site. And I click on it to see who the hell they are and what they play. So the music genre is Christian and rock. So I rolled my eyes and read through the bio. More eye-rolling. Sorry, doodes, Christian rock and me are mutually exclusive subsets.

Then they said on their bio that it was an all-girl band. Wooo… interesting.

So I clicked on their pictures to take a look and saw this and this. They were all in their CHIJ uniforms cause they have to wear it every morning!!! As some of you might know, I’m quite partial to the uniform since I’ve worn it last year for Halloween.

Somehow, I feel slightly guilty for adding them. I’m not sure if you guys’ve been to The Love Experiment’s MySpace page but take a look at our Top 8 Friends.

I feel like I’m corrupting the young… Sigh. Just when I’ve so many friends who are paid monthly to do that as an occupation.

Star Wars: Fix You




Got this off Billy too. A mash-up of Coldplay and Star Wars. A TV advert for an upcoming Star Wars marathon. It just shows how brilliant a man George Lucas was 30 years ago and how much he has fallen since then...

Hustler - Simian Mobile Disco




From Billy. Gets better towards the end. I'm already there for the after-party!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Venom


What nice teeth you have...

Yes, apparently, that's him...

The true story of Mansun




Got this from Yeeyong.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The Divine Comedy - To Die A Virgin




A fan video which was made to join a Divine Comedy video competition. Very nice.

The Divine Comedy - Absent Friends & In Pursuit Of Happiness (live at the Palladium)




Neil Hannon is truly our generation's Scott Walker. Amazing show. Brian Wilson will approve...

Thirteen Senses - Do No Wrong




Thirteen Senses again. I like this song quite a fair bit 'cuz guitarist Tom Welham layers all these reversed guitars. Looc etiuq.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Horn OK Please


Check this out.

Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut U Down


Gay rappers




Got this video off Rizman's blog. Very interesting.

Friday, November 10, 2006

New Spiderman 3 trailer


What's he looking at?



Still no Venom though...

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire




One of Max's favourite bands, Thirteen Senses. Pretty decent and of course, they sound like Coldplay. Who doesn't like Coldplay? Fuzz, DO NOT bother to reply in the comments thread...

Best of Borat


Wednesday, November 08, 2006

I love the Internet!!!


I was talking to Fuzz online when I saw this little advertisement on the bottom of the window.

"Can you swim during your period? Find out now at beinggirl.com"

So I did.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Shows…


Not feeling too well. Running nose and feeling slightly feverish. Must be the late nights I’ve been keeping these days.

Workplace is being fumigated and there’s like a thick layer of smog… Making me feel worse.

In any case, some of our friends (yeah, I can count them with just one hand) have asked about The Love Experiment’s album. It seems to me that it’d be placed on hold yet again. Sigh… But it’s just as well. Not that anyone really gives a shit anyway.

On a brighter note, The Lard Brothers are almost done with the first track ‘Democracy’ with me and Max recording his vocals overnight at his place. I think we’d need one more set of vocals and we should be done. We started a little on the George Michael tribute song ‘Monster’. Max was guffawing all the way, “This sounds like a gay anthem…” Should be good. I hope we can sell the song to Georgie

Supercar - White Surf Style 5




Joe Foo keeps sending me weird videos from this Japanese band Supercar. The music's pretty decent but not groundbreaking (Who is, these days, anyway?). But their videos are pretty kick-ass...

The Album Leaf - Always For You




I love the band. Any acts using the Fender Rhodes and Mellotron. I is hearts big time!!!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Hmm…


I’ve just noticed this. The hit counter rate is actually quite high. I’ve about 120 – 150 unique hits a day for this blog. So I’m thinking in terms of sales strategies. You call up 10 guys for an appointment, 3 would be interested to meet up and only 1 would take up the offer. So it’s a great opportunity for me to slut certain things to the masses if you'd consider 120 -150 people the masses.

1) Based on the abovementioned sales strategy, only 10% will take up the offer. So I’d see at least 12 of your asses next Monday at Bar None for The Love Experiment’s show.

2) If every reader were to contribute 10 cents to me on a daily basis, that’d be around SGD3.00 a month from each of you guys. 150 x SGD3.00 = SGD450.00. Which is quite a bit of money. These are the few options which I can spend the money on.

a. Taking more girls on more expensive dates. Oi, you at the back, stop sniggering. I saw that!

b. Get more gear. I’m thinking of getting a 41 key MIDI keyboard controller. Do I know how to play the keyboards? HELL NO!!! Would playing and serenading a chick with Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ score you immense brownie points with her? HELL YES!!!

c. If not, there is always other gear to get on a monthly basis. I need a new guitar amplifier for starters.

Okay kids, let’s get this ‘Donate 10cents daily to the Evil Lair’ fund thing started already!!!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Brett Anderson and Suede


Brett Anderson - Scorpio Rising



Got it from Billy. Apparently, he's releasing his solo album, (imaginatively titled) Brett Anderson. It was a pity that The Tears didn't live up to the hype...

Here's one of my favourite Suede song 'Europe Is My Playground' which was from the post-Bernard Butler and was co-written with bassist Mat Osman. Gotta love replacement guitarist Richard Oakes' e-Bow parts...

Suede - Europe Is My Playground

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The Love Experiment @ Bar None


Click on image to see the full image

We'd be playing at Bar None on Monday 6 November at 9pm. We'll be playing with ETC and our good friends Fishtank. Drop by and say hi. This will be our last show of the year before we go up deep into the mountains (probably, just Bukit Timah) and find a sifu with long flowing white beard to impart us new songwriting skills. These songwriting skills will prep us for our 3 shows next year in January.

Monday, October 30, 2006

The Love Experiment @ EarShot


Photos courtesy of Tim. Thanks doode!








Bryan's rig

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan


The Love Experiment loves EarShot


We are playing another acoustic show this Saturday 28 October at EarShot @ The Arts House at 8pm. We’d be opening for The Very Serious, Joe Ng’s new outfit. Bryan will be helping us out on electric pump organ, accordion, trumpet, spaceship sounds and any other assorted weird effects sounds, courtesy of his Roland guitar synth.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Google vs. YouTube


Film Threat ran an article about Google buying over YouTube. Okay, Film Threat is not exactly like the expert in the whole corporate takeover business. In any case, I was reading an Forbes article about the founders of YouTube Chad Hurley and Steven Chen and the rise of the video sharing phenomenon. There was that Forbes 400 as well which states Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page as the No. 12 and No. 13 richest men in America. All from setting up a search engine. Gawd... Cannot take it.

And of course, there's that tasteful article about a very distasteful man Donald Trump. His daughter Ivanka's pretty hot though...

Monday, October 23, 2006

Supercar - Be




Got this from Joe Foo. Quite funny music video. Not work safe, doodes...

Mr. T - Treat Your Mother Right




Love those camou shorts, dahling...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

What I did over the past weekend...


Last Friday, I was out attending Huixian’s company’s anniversary party with some friends. They threw it at Top 5 which is situated at Orchard Towers. Yes, the Four Floors of Whores. I love that name! Damn catchy! Pretty interesting place. For once, the male topless dancers looked a hell lot better than the female pole dancers which looked like Filipino maids. Quite an ugly sight. Here’s a photo of the pole and some dancers. Some of Huixian’s coleeagues started humping the poles as well.

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The stage looks like a mini-MediaCorps production with a LED backdrop. Nice. I like that. The entertainment was more cabaret like with people dancing. Pretty interesting and different from my usual fare of bands and DJ music. A very much welcomed change. Had to rush back to work.

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Leslie of The Observatory had his acoustic album launch on Saturday at The Arts House. Was there with Ian, Sujin, Yeeyong, Fuzz, Weiyuan and Bryan. Met Adlin who was there for some work stuff. It was nice to see him but he hardly has any time for us when he’s in town. Boo hoo…

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In any case, it’s pretty inspiring. I think everyone should release their own solo acoustic albums as well! Heh...

Friday, October 13, 2006

Stompcast


The video is up here. I thought the uncle drinking the mineral water was the funniest. Hehehe...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Documentary In Amber




They've finally placed a track on their MySpace page here. Great guys and certainly a more "happy shiny bunch of people" since they booted their old guitarist out. The new dude Dakai is a hoot. However, all their band photos are shrouded in shadows and all. What's up with these post rockers dudes? Seriously...

Stompcast gig pictures










More more pictures from Tim who came down last night. Thanks a bunch, dude!







The gig was pretty bad actually. The stage level for the laptop was insanely loud. I was so paranoid that the sound would be thrown out to the audience. Anyhow, when I started fucking up in the first song, the whole thing just went downhill for me. I could literally feel my balls shrinking. I was just glad that the whole thing was over. It was nice that many people recognised the cover of Humpback Oak's 'Circling Sqaure' though I screwed it up.

But our friends were nice and gave us 'friendly friend' comments. Well, the video should be coming out soon. Gawd help us all...

Grind House trailer




Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodríguez's new gore flick. Looks pretty funny.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hmm...




furniture's Ronnie's side project. Apparently, they all performed in baju kurungs and do noise rock. During Medeka Day (Malaysia's National Day), they were the invited guest band at Adlin's house party. These crazy Malaysians... What will they think of next?!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

STOMPCAST


Clare actually bothered to do up a banner for us and Lunarin. Much love goes out to her.

Monday, October 09, 2006

JUNK launch video


Force Vomit - Siti


Saturday, October 07, 2006

Hmmm...




Somehow, it seems very much like a Daft Punk video but tamileh style. Jay-S and Gracie, for yo' reference!

Ghost Rider




Still doesn't really look promising but I'd still catch it. Wassup with the movie font? Looks like turd...

Friday, October 06, 2006

The Love Experiment loves the Orchard Library...


I really do! I always go to that library to borrow graphic novels to read. I have borrowed Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' (ace stuff!), Jeff Smith's 'Bone' (I love it!) and many others. I just hope those guys who have borrowed 'Concrete' can return the series soon.

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Anyhow, we are playing with our sista band Lunarin on Wednesday 11 October 2006 at 7pm. Since they will be playing an acoustic set, we thought we might as well join in the fun.

Agilan will be away teaching drums in southern Thailand. I think it's a missionary trip or something. I'm not too sure. Hopefully, no run-ins with the military insurgents though... We need our human metronome back in one piece.

Well, since he's away, we'd be playing as a 4 piece (2 acoustic guitars, a bass, a keyboard and a laptop - yeah, we keep up with the times. We know it's oh-so Spring 2004 to do the whole laptop thing. But what the hell?). Come down and check us out if you are around the area. Will Weiyuan fuck up playing the MIDI controller? Will I stumble on the lap steel as usual? Will Yeeyong whip out a harmonica and give us a collective blowjob on a piece of steel? Will Alvin strip down to his boxers to perform again? Questions which can only be answered if you catch us at the Orchard Library...

In addition, we'll be playing yet another acoustic set with Joe Ng's new project Very Serious which apparently is a spin-off of Localbarboy on Saturday 28 October at the Arts House. We start at 8pm. This time round, Alvin will not be joining us as well. Cell group meetings. Anyway, knowing Joe, it's probably gonna be a beer-fuelled orgy...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Hahahaha...


Got it from Joe, TLE's mixing engineer. See what context the clip is used for here. Best review I've ever read.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Iron Man


Guess who will be the doode behind the helmet? Check it out here. Fucken excellent choice and I'm finally excited to catch this movie. It just might not stink as much as it would.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Extras




Guest star: David fucken Bowie

Ben Folds - From Such Great Heights


Got it from Billy. I love The Postal Service and I love Ben Folds. Though Ben Folds is starting a bit like Elton John. Hmm...

Hmm...


Got it from Weng. Good read.

The fallout from the Thai coup is yet to hit Singapore's Madame Ho, writes Eric Ellis.

THAILAND'S military junta has gone out of its way to assure that it's business as usual in Bangkok.

The baht has wobbled, likewise the stock exchange, but neither with symptoms to have neighbours sniffling with the contagion they caught here during the late 1990s financial crisis. The coup has been smooth as silk, as Thais like to say.

But there is one woman in Singapore who desperately hopes the generals are as good as their word, the person whose dealmaking with Thailand's ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, precipitated the coup.

Her name is Ho Ching. She is chief executive of the Singapore Government-owned Temasek Holdings, which controls a $100 billion-plus portfolio, including Optus.

She bought Thaksin out of his family businesses, Shin Corp, in March in a highly questionable $4.5 billion transaction that outraged Thais.

The Singapore company bought the Thai leader's controlling half share in Shin Corp and then quickly snapped up most of the rest on the stockmarket. Temasek now controls 96 per cent.

As Thaksin banked Temasek's tax-free cash, Thais burnt Madame Ho's effigy on Bangkok streets, traducing the reputation created for her by Singaporean spin doctors as a safe pair of hands. It was, at best, a spectacular misjudgement.

Far from being the great buy Temasek claimed, the deal ignited six months of political turmoil, culminating in the coup. Thais stopped using the television, airline, finance and technology businesses Temasek bought.

Now Shin buyers wear a $US2 billion ($2.6 billion) paper loss on the deal after less than six months.

As Thai regulators deepen their probe into the transaction and Thaksin's "rampant corruption", Temasek and its partners reportedly face fines of up to $US2 billion if it's proved, as many suspect, that Thai licensing laws have been breached. Or have the deal declared illegal, the assets nationalised.

Coups d'etat tend to arouse shrill demonstrations of nationalism; Temasek is the convenient foreign villain, its predicament entirely self-inflicted.

In these post-Enron days where blameless corporate governance is paramount, if the chief executive blows $2 billion in six months, the bloodletting in the boardroom would be swift and brutal. But even if her Thai adventure worsens, that seems unlikely to happen to Ho, who is the wife of Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong; the daughter-in-law of the nation's long-time strongman, Lee Kuan Yew.

At 54, Ho is no Singapore Girl. Dour and grim, with a penchant for unflattering grey business suits, she's be! en Temasek's unsmiling CEO since 2001, presenting as an untouchable corporatedominatrix protected by the formidable Lee family edifice.

The Lees, as compliant Singaporeans famously know, don't make mistakes. Any questioning of their methods - as bankrupted opposition politicians and the foreign press have frequently discovered - hazard libel suits heard in Singapore's courts, where the Lees' history of success is unparalleled.

Not that the Singaporean media does much questioning either. The day's newspapers after the coup did not report Temasek's obvious dilemma, odd given that ultimately it is Singapore taxpayers' money Ho has hazarded.

It was left to a sole letter writer, presciently published a week before the coup, who suggested that an alliance with the much-hated Thaksin might not be a wise risk for the national nest egg. "Hitching our investment bandwagon to the first family is a double-edged sword," wrote Danny Chua in Today.

"We can go higher with their rising star but when they fall, we can fall too. Our investment must stand up to scrutiny in the eyes of the law. There must be compliance with corporate governance and transparency. We must be able to sleep peacefully, knowing that we have done the right thing."

Singapore loves to control and, when it can't, to quietly work its power relationships behind the scenes. Temasek claims to be independent of government but often seems to follow government policy in its investment portfolio, spending to boost neighbours.

And in Thaksin, Singapore found an autocrat after its own heart, rare in a region where mostly-Chinese Singapore isn't much liked, derided though grudgingly admired as rich and arrogant.

Thaksin was a big fan of the Lee's long-ruling People's Action Party and its compliant "Singapore System". Thaksin and Lee were allies in pushing EU-style ASEAN integration and there was resentment in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur of a supposed Singapore-Bangkok axis within the group. Not any more.

Serious questions abound for a Singapore that likes to lecture the world about "best practices" of corporate governance it supposedly employs.

Temasek is suspected of funding Thai partners in the Thaksin deal, the implication being to avoid breaching foreign investment laws.

And where did Temasek pay Thaksin? Thailand's central bank limits personal cash transfers to $US1 million a year - thus it would take about 2000 years to transfer Thaksin's pile - and needs special permission from the central bank to go higher.

But Thailand's central bank governor is seen as a cleanskin, and a contender to be appointed caretaker prime minister by the generals.

Thaksin presumably knew that so it raises questions whether Temasek paid some of the funds offshore, in a foreign tax haven perhaps, avoiding Thai rules altogether.

And then there's impact beyond Bangkok. Economic contagion seems to have been contained but the bloodless ease in which Thaksin has been removed, the popularity of the coup, has been noticed in Jakarta and Manila, both struggling to secure their own democracies.

Temasek is in serious trouble in Thailand. It's suddenly friendless, losing its main political ally in Bangkok and his cronies, and runs the risk of having its assets seized as the Thaksin probe deepens. The deal itself is a fait accompli; Thaksin banked his $US2 billion months ago and, now in gilded exile in London, is unlikely to offer to return Temasek's cash.

If Temasek and Thaksin fall out, the legal implications are fascinating. For the moment however, the silence from Temasek has been deafening. It simply says it is "monitoring events". With $4 billion of other peoples' money in the balance, it might've added "anxiously".

Eric Ellis is South-East Asia Correspondent for Fortune magazine.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

New songs to download


Filipino band Bamboo’s just released a compilation in June and this is the Singapore single ‘Truth’. I like the organ sound in the track and how lead singer (well) Bamboo’s phrasing in the chorus. Their 1st single (ever?) ‘Mr. Clay’ is pretty good as well. Generally, nice vibes.

Everybody loves some melodrama in their lives. Bamboo left Rivermaya quite a couple of years back which they carried on. ‘Balisong’ has this great falsetto from singer Rico Blanca and nice tinkling on the piano. I think the radio stations are playing their hit from last year ‘You’ll Be Safe Here’. You write songs like these to get laid ALL THE TIME!!! I bet that Rico dude is getting laid by the minute! Max, go and download this right now!!! It’s a damn pussy song; you’d love it!!!

Improve your Mandarin


Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Macintosh killed my inner child


Grace, this one's for you...

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Hmm...


Friday, September 22, 2006

300


I think Billy will like this...

Children Of Men





Looks very interesting. Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine and directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

The plot: In 2027, as humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction, a disillusioned government agent agrees to help transport and protect a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her child's birth may help scientists to save the future of mankind.

Tenacious D: Pick Of Destiny



Suicide Girls


Napolean Dynamite?

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Hear Jessica sing dirty to you...


Just got this off the JUNK website which I’m helping to contribute once in a while.



I <3 Jessica Simpson. She has a nice chest.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Extras


Got these YouTube links off Billy's blog. Ricky Gervais who did 'The Office' a few years back has a new series 'Extras'.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Extras,Ricky Gervais’ much-anticipated follow-up to The Office, is a quieter affair, and a little less accessible that its award-laden predecessor. But across the six episodes on this first season DVD set are several episodes that will richly reward repeated viewings.
Gervais plays Andy Millman, an actor whose roster of jobs seems to consistently consist of extras work. Each episode follows him on a different production, and also brings in a notable guest star. Lining up throughout the series are the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller. And while their presence undoubtedly adds something to each carefully crafted episode, it’s perhaps those with the lesser names that show the programme on top form--certainly the appearance of Les Dennis makes for an excellent half hour of comedy-drama.

At the core though is Gervais’ Millman--a far easier character to warm to than David Brent--and Ashley Jensen’s marvellous Maggie Jacobs. It’s these two who consistently provide the show’s highlights, and while the headlines have been generated by the all-star roster of names attracted to appear in Extras, it’s the two less showy characters who work the best.

Extras isn’t a show full of belly laughs, and its fanbase is likely to be smaller than that of The Office. But it’s still a quality creation, properly crafted, with an awful lot to it to enjoy and appreciated.--Simon Brew


Though somehow I think 'Extras' will suit Singaporean tastes more than 'The Office'...


Guest star: Daniel Radcliffe


Guest star: Patrick Stewart

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence




Well, his most well-known tune but beautifully rendered here...

Radiohead - Creep (live at Summer Sonic '03)


Feist - Mushaboom (live in Paris)




I didn't know she was such a feisty (sorry, I couldn't help it) guitar player as well...

The Album Leaf - Making of Into The Blue Again documentary


I love The Album Leaf but HMV's price for the album is $28.50 which is too steep for a broke person like me. I'm gonna get it prolly online even though I've the entire album. Yes, even if you can get free mp3s, you'd still buy the album to support the acts you love.

Enjoy.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I Was A Lied Groupie...


Was up last weekend to hang out with Adlin, Sen Kiat and Matt and have some fun in KL.

Grassland coaches suck goats' balls. There were no food and worse, no personalised DVD players!!! I was aghast to say the least. Luckily, I brought my own entertainment. Finished 2 books on the way there and back: Chuck Palahniuk's 'Invisible Monster' and Robin Epstein and Renee Kaplan's 'Shaking Her Assets'.

First stop off the coach: Zouk KL. I've gotten directions on how to take a train to Zouk KL. I managed to stop myself from taking some photos of the monorail to avoid looking like an absolute tourist.

Lied which won the Heineken Thirst Rock Band category was performing with the other Thirst finalists. Sen Kiat's other band, Supabar was playing before Lied. I swear, all these Malaysian indie kids play in at least 3 bands each! I heard Ronnie of furniture has a side project which the entire band dresses up as Malay girls in tudung and baju kurung and plays improv noise!!! I'm still waiting for pictures from Ching for this band.

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Lied at Zouk

Anyway, back to the story. Here's a picture of Adlin serenaiding one of the many chicks with 'Oceans Part' when he walked up to them. I call it the "Bono syndrome" when you sing the chick song in your repertoire to well, chicks. Very sly. Very sly, indeed.

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No wonder he's KL's sexiest man...

After the show, we were hanging out at The Loft which I think Twilight Action Girl (KL's version of PopTart was playing. Adlin's 2 friends Kim and Nadia were there with the intention: "Let's make the Singaporean drunk!". Being very young girls, they proceeded to challenge me to drink that last third of a Long Island Tea jug which I did. After 30 minutes later, when I went to pick up a new pack of cigarettes, I returned to 2 very drunk chicks.

Me - 1, Just legal girls - 0.

It was very strange to drink with 18 year olds... I felt 10 years younger though. Hurhur...

Since I was crashing with Adlin, I went with the band to their guest band slot at an all-boys Catholic school's 'Battle Of The Bands' the next day. It was interesting to see a pretty bad Iron Maiden cover band with all their friends headbanging at the front while there were 12 year old boys running around chasing each other.

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Meet Chak, singer of Supabar.

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We were looking for a place to smoke and decided to go up to 'rokok' in one of the classrooms instead. Damn rock'n'roll, I know...

After dinner, Adlin, Sen Kiat, Matt, Kim and I popped down to The Attic for one of their friend's birthday celebration.

In the car, Matt switched to his 'Jessica' mode when there was an awkward silence, asking me, "Would you like to touch my cock?" Of course, he kept up the entire gay thing until we stepped into The Attic and he realised we were in a gay bar.

Sen Kiat, Matt and I were having a smoke in the balcony. You can't smoke in the lounge. Yeah, what the fuck, right? One of Sen Kiat's ex-colleague Jason floated, yes, floated over (he's a ballerina, apparently) and said hi. He was telling me in a conspiratorial tone that he used to call Sen Kiat his 'little monkey'. To which, Sen Kiat laughed it off and retorted, "You only patted my head..."

At this point in time, 'Jessica' was shrinking literally and looking very uncomfortable. He excused himself and went into the lounge. Inside, he was rather panicky and kept saying, "Hey, let's not send out any wrong signals here."

But you are 'Jessica' what...

"Yeah, but these guys are for real!"

We left after a while. In the car, 'Jessica' returned in full force with the whole gay trash talking. For a gay poseur, gay bars were his Kryptonite. Pretty hilarious.

We went to this supper place for barbequed stingray or ikan pari as the locals call it. In memory of Steve Irwin, we decided to have 4. According to Sen Kiat's reasoning, "they took 1 of us; we are taking 4 of them. This is for you, Steve." and chomped down a piece of stingray.

Took a coach back home on Sunday. It was a pretty fun weekend. In fact, I'd really felt like a tourist when we went around Sen Kiat and Matt's places to pick them up. Prolly will go up again in a few months' time: either to crash out at their places or hopefully, play some shows there.

The guiding lights in my life...


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Russell aka Yang Yang (left) and his younger brother, Royston aka Ren Ren (check out his hair! It's a hoot!) trying to be all gangsta...

More.. much more than meets the eye


One more from Adlin.

Monday, September 11, 2006

More than meets the eye


Before I blog about my KL trip, these are such design pictures which Adlin sent me. Somehow, I reckon Billy and Max wouldn’t be too impressed with these designs of the Autobots and Decepticons from Michael Bay’s live action take of my favourite cartoon as a boy: Transformers.


Face of Bumblebee


Full body Bumblebee


Megatron.


Megatron again. I know the design sucks. He’s going to be an alien jet which is fine by me. But the design?? Man…


Starscream


Optimus Prime. Yay!

The rest of the pictures here.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Beck - Where It's At (live)


It was just as well that he was a failed breakdancer. Amazing show though.



Edit: Terence saw the video and said that Alvin should start breakdancing during The Love Experiment's shows. Don't fucken put ideas in his head!!! He's already played a show with his T-shirt as a cape and only in his boxers!!!

Beck - Nausea


New single, new single! Yay! Though Guero wasn't that hot...

Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancing


Woot! I love them!!!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

I feel you...


Interview with Jimmy Tamborello, the other half of the eminent Postal Service at Pitchfork.

Pitchfork: Have you guys started sending tracks back and forth? Is it still the same style?

JT: Yeah. We're still doing it that way, except this time we know how to use YouSendIt.com. Doing stuff online is a lot easier now. So we probably won't be using the actual mail.


Hehe...

Hmm...


Went for the Heineken Green Room focus group discussion on Monday. Was quite interesting. Met a bunch of folks there, namely Wayne from JUICE, Amanda from Electrico and DJ Feng. Was introduced to music producer Case who did an electronic album with Kit Chan, I believe. Since he had been recommended by some friends, namely Fuzz (if I can remember correctly), I asked him if he did mastering as well. He started bitching how Don Bartley ex-chief mastering engineer of Sydney's Studio 301 really screwed up Concave Scream's Horizons. He made a very interesting point about how all the local albums still sound softer than their international counterparts and how that really pisses him off. It really makes the Singapore acts look amateurish and bad. Interesting.

However, there was this chick from a PR agency who was all out to impress the Heineken brand managers at every opportunity she got. She kept praising the team about how good the Green Room Sessions were and how glamourous the events were. Fucken bitch sounded like she was going for a job interview. Probably, she was, considering the fact that she admitted earlier that she would bring shitloads of namecards to network at parties.

Me? When they handed out a survey form, I placed the most important reason for being at the focus group: Money.

By the way, The Lard Brothers (which Jason Ong has been asking what the hell this is all about.) is finishing up an original track 'Democracy'. Weiyuan'd be probably recording Max's final vocals over the weekend. Gotta check with my colleague Andrew to see if he'd be scratching over the track. We'd be starting on a new track 'Monster' soon. I'm thinking of doing it ala George Michael as a tribute tune. Well, I've been listening way too much George Michael these days... that and DJ Krush. Kinda weird though.

Thankfully, The Love Experiment will finally start recording next week if nothing goes wrong. Hopefully, the album will be completed before our 30th birthday... Heh.

Help save a man's life...


Please do. Click here.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

We Are That Old Skool...


Look out for this cassette in all good record shops soon!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Asia Pacific Breweries tour...


The aftermath. We finished at 1030pm and hung out and talked shit till 11+pm. Then I went to meet Amelia to drink somemore. Truly, all my friends are alcoholics.


Edwin, me, Ian and Weiyuan

Friday, September 01, 2006

George Michael - Shoot The Dog




So I'm a huge fan. Shoot me...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Exciting times…


We are well in progress with recording with Max who is coming onboard as Bob Ho, the resident vocalist of The Lard Brothers. The 1st track is around 50% done. Just need to add the bass and Weiyuan aka Bob Seng would add in some synth bits. I’d probably pass it to my colleague Andrew to scratch over it. Hopefully, by mid September, we’d be done.

I should be going up to hang out with Adlin the 2nd weekend of September. The Lardies would be remixing Lied’s ‘Binky’. They’ve 2 versions of the tunes. Nice. The rock version is more urgent and well, “rock-ier” than the electronic version which I like as well; sounds like Nine Inch Nails. I was thinking of turning it to sound like a swing number. Don’t think I’m up to it.

Lied, which is the winner of the ‘Rock Band’ component of Heineken Thirst 2006 competition, would be playing in Zouk KL on Friday 8 September. It’d be good to meet the rest of the guys: Wan, Sen Kiat (KL’s 2nd sexiest man, after Adlin, of course) and of course, Matt who is as known widely in KL as Jessica. Seriously quite disturbing...

Monday, August 28, 2006

Ebichu the Homekeeping Hamster


Linda send me the link for this sexually perverse cartoon. Linda: "Why would I watch a cutesy cartoon?" Me: "Hurhur... Catholic girls are indeed over-sexed..."

Enjoy...

Friday, August 25, 2006

I wish I were a gamer...


... cuz this game looks too cool!!!

STOMPCAST




Rizman of Tiramisu's turn. He's quite serious but it's quite a hoot to see him teach students how to mosh... and the toe socks as well.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Fiona Xie vs. Ronin


Ronin + Fiona Xie

Cock-rockers, Ronin has recorded a duet with Fiona Xie. While more well-known for her mammary glands and perky personality, she makes her singing debut here. Pretty decent effort. Low zand raspy. Pretty fitting for her sexpot image.

Download the song here. Apparently, it's to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation and the Joan Chan Trust Fund. Hmm...

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

War Machine


Rented Will Farrell's 'Anchorman' last weekend. It was fucken hilarious. I loved it. It's akin to Ben Stiller's 'Zoolander' which is a satire to the fashion industry. 'Anchorman' was a send-up of the television journalism industry in the 70's. Of course, the whole gang showed up for a cameo: Vince Vaugh, Ben Stiller, Luke Olsen (I guess Owen wasn't free) and even Tim Robbins whom I didn't realise was that tight with them.

I can't wait for 'Talledega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby', his latest film. Hopefully, it wouldn't stink as bad as Jack Black's 'Nacho Libre'.

Lunarin is our bitch... as usual


As Linda declare so lovingly in her blog. There are some disturbing photos in that thread.

Monday, August 21, 2006

The Love Experiment @ HOME Club


The bunch of bi-ped mammals also known collectively as The Love Experiment will play at HOME Club this Saturday 26 August. HOME Club is opposite the 7-11 across the road at Boat Quay. I think tickets are S$12, inclusive of a drink. Showtime is 8pm. I sure hope it starts on time. I've to go back to work after that.

We are playing with our friends Ugly In The Morning, The Super Illegals, Al Grande Terrorismo, Documentary In Amber and Sleeve.

Cheer Chen




Cheer Chen (aka 陳綺貞)'s as cute as a button. This song sounds exactly like Coldplay from the 'In My Place' drumbeat to the 'Yellow' chord progression. The fucker from Mayday (which I never even respected) has a cameo.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Camra is our bitch!


Just uploaded Camra's 'White Hearts Lane (The Lard Brothers' New Shop Mode mix)' here for a while. We'd be getting a friend to master the thing. We know jackshit about mastering anyway.

We are going to start work on a new tune soon. Just waiting for Max to get back to us on how we can tweak the song before we start recording his vocals. Hopefully, it'd be done by mid-Sept.

Porn foley artist


Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Outkast - Idlewild


The hillbilly duo also known as Outkast streams their new album Idlewild in its entirety on their MySpace page here. Chekkit chekkit, yo!

Stompcast TAG24




This is a series of vodcasts where the STOMP team follows our own rock stars around for a day to see what makes them tick. Last week featured David of Electrico and his pooch, Schloof (hilarious name).

This week features Linda from Lunarin or also known as Lindarin The Slut/ Whore (hey, it came from her!) in her bedroom (Don't start beating your meat... It's a family show. No porn here. So don't get your hopes up.), her work as a lawyer and her bandmates Eng Teck and Kah Wye. Fuzz makes an appearance.

Next week's Rizman (of Tiramisu)'s turn. He's awfully serious in real life (even though he's a performance artist.), compared to his over-the-fucken-top stage persona. But then, it should still be fun.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Radiohead live...


Got the link from Sujin. 28 live fucken songs, mates!!! ENJOY!!!

The sexiest man in Kuala Lumpur




Adlin and his friend on the extreme right. Check out the cutie in the middle. That's We Are Scientists' band manager. Yeah, I couldn't be bothered to post their pictures.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Hurhurhur...




Picture of me and James, taken by Linda. I look like an extra in a Wong Kar Wai flick. Well, that's probably about it. Just an extra.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Please Just Buy…


An idea popped into my head that day while I was in the toilet taking a dump. All my good ideas do when I’m on the bowl anyway or in the toilet having a shower. The toilet: a true place of inspiration, indeed.

Maybe, The Lard Brothers could write an “anthem” i.e. something similar to ‘We Are The World’ or ‘Voices That Care’ but targeted at promoting Singapore music. Something like those cheesy 80’s anthems which are in support of world peace, etc. Then the idea is to get everyone to sing just one line each and to chip in the chorus. And it must have a 80’s-style heavily reverb-ed drums and a guitar solo straight from a cock rock track.

Sample chorus lyrics would be “Please just buy…/ Just this one time/ I know, you don’t really care/ But please just buy.”

Lesson learnt #3: Always bring reading material to the toilet. It prevents you from thinking nonsense.

The Love Experiment has new friends...


As with our tradition, we change our Top 8 (well, 7 actually) friends on a regular basis on our MySpace page. Yeah, I'm that free. So check out the latest 'cute girls' series here. Next update would be the 'porn queens' series. No shit. We've got Jenna 'I was a firefighter' Jamerson as our friend!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Aging Youth issue #25


Friday, August 04, 2006

OK Go - Here It Goes Again


They've done it again!!! On treadmills this time. Their music is okay, I guess. Just straight forward powerpop in the veins of the earlier Fountains Of Wayne. But Goddamn, they can DANCE!!!

Amen...


I've used this drum break in some of my early tracks before when I started trying looping and using samples a few years back. Cool! Thanks to Iliyas for recommending the video.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

DVDs


When I'm broke, I rent DVDs and stay home to watch them over the weekend.

Over the past 2 months, I've caught quite a few flicks at the cinema. Honestly, most of them were quite disappointing. 'Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest' (Where was the fun factor? They took themselves way too seriously this time round. This is a popcorn flick. Not an introspective flick about wars, famines, etc.), 'Superman Returns' (I thought it'd stink. It stunk a little but not that bad.), 'Nacho Libre' (Great concept! Low on laughs. Hot looking nun though!) and 'How Much Do You Love Me?' (The only thing I love more than Monica Bellucci is a naked Monica Bellucci. Even that can't save the show. It was overtly absurd though I read somewhere it's supposed to be a sex satire. Hey, what do I know?)

So, I was very much pleasantly surprised at how all the 3 DVDs I rented turned out to be pretty good. In order of viewing:

1) Hellboy
I watched this when it came out (2004? 2005?). It still holds up to repeat viewing. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more the 2nd time round. Great show, great fun. Ditto 'Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl'.

2) The Cooler
Always wanted to catch this in the past. William H. Macy does his forlorn "I'm-a-perennial-loser" schtick yet again. But he does it damn well. Great support from Maria Bello and the excellent Alec Baldwin as the film's heavy. You don't usually associate Alec Baldwin's acting with excellence in the past. Heh. But he's really good in this one. This one's about a guy (Macy) who is so down on his luck that he acts as a casino's 'cooler' to make casino guests to lose their luck at the tables. Until he falls in love with one of the waitresses (Bello). His boss (Baldwin) refuses to let "the best cooler in the business" leave him.

3) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The best one amongst the 3! The movie is hilarious! Directed by Shane Black who wrote the original 'Lethal Weapon' flick. It stars frequent drug addict Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan (who was in the last 'Mission: Impossible' flick). Basically, it's about a petty thief (Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation, along with his high school dream girl (Monaghan) and a detective (Kilmer) who has been training him for his upcoming role. Robert Downey Jr. has always been brilliant and reliable as an actor, whether dramatic or comic. The chemistry between him and Val Kilmer is great. Val Kilmer delivers an amazing performance in his role as Gay Perry, the, well, gay detective. You could probably forgive him for the piece of turd also known as 'Batman Forever'. Michelle Monaghan has struck me as pretty bland and nothing really impressive or interesting in 'M-I:3'. However, in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', she was irrepressibly cute and was rather credible in her role. Quite a perky character as the show develops. And that's not all which is perky for her as well. Hurhurhur...

The funniest thing...


Edwin aka Ed The Tech Guy being the person of unsavoury character that he is got Mogwai to autograph his concert ticket; addressed to one of his many monikers: Tan Ah Seng. I bet those Scottish laddies didn't know what they were getting themselves into...

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Lessons learnt...


I went to catch Mogwai at the Esplanade last night with Yeeyong, Alvin, Fuzz, Bryan and almost the entire Singapore indie scene and half of the KL indie scene. Was hanging out with Marvin at Pearl’s Centre (the CD shop stocks the harder-to-find shit at a low price. I rikesss…), waiting for Mervin to pick us up. While walking over to his car, I misplaced my footing and twisted my ankle. So, I was pretty much in pain during the show. The concert was pretty decent… and well, loud. At least, I can say I’ve watched Mogwai live before. Good to see Billy, Grace and Jason Siau after such a while.

After the show, Marv, Merv and I went to Harry’s for the obligatory post-gig beer. Jesseca (Not sure if I got the spelling right), Tim and their friend Sage joined us as well, followed by Dionne.

Lesson learnt #1: 3 pints of Kilkenny can’t numb the pain of a sprained ankle.

Max was there last night as well. He gave me a sheepish grin as he mentioned his newly secured (yes, that’s the new term) girlfriend, showing me a photo of her with his dog on his mobile phone. And that’s when an epiphany hit me.

Lesson learnt #2: When you want to do some recording with Max and especially when he’s pumped up for it, do it FAST. And I mean, really FAST. So, him getting a new girl means the Novak project is on indefinite hold once again. There's only 3 guys I know who are huge fans of Bernard Butler. Yes, especially the pussy (read: whiny, love-lorn acoustic) stuff: me, Max and Billy. Ah well.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

If I had moves like him...


I'd score all the skanky 'hos, yo! Got this off Grace's blog.

The Dark Knight


Yesh, that's the name of the sequel to Batman Begins. And yeah, Heath Ledger will be the Joker. Read about it here.

Chicken Chop For The Soul


Lied's Sen Kiat's personal blog here. A riot!!!