Teddy Bear, how long you been out there?

Yesterday I decided that in-the-oven Nova needed to be properly exposed to all things Meat Loaf, so I loaded Bat II and later Bat I to sing along to while I iced my hands (that's another post). Then I went looking for any Meat Loaf tour dates, just for the heck of it (Why is he spending the first half of August, Sept & October in Blackpool UK??): that took me from the official Meat Loaf fan site to the *real* Meat Loaf Facebook page, which featured two songs from his latest album HANG COOL TEDDY BEAR which came out last May.

Wait, whattt? Meat's got a new album out? Where was I?

Oh. I was doing my Malaysia/Singapore trip, nursing a sprained ankle, etc etc.
Not a real excuse, but I'll take it.

I have since "liked" the real Meat Loaf on FB, so I should be on top of things, yay!

And I'm now debating getting my hands on the album. Well, the CD, anyway. I'm old-ish school, can't imagine just buying the MP3s... there's something about a complete album: not just the individual songs, but how they are arranged and the larger story they tell...

Anyways, so Los Angeloser is the song that got me all anguished over having missed out on Mr Loaf's latest album. Today I looked for/found the official music video for it. Umm... I don't quite get it... lots of eye candy if you're a guy, I guess. Still a great and funny song tho.

(the type of car he drives? A *shit* car. just fyi)

And now I'm leveraging YouTube for songs from Teddy Bear to give me an idea of whether I really do want to Hang Cool with it or not. And just because, here's a list of links for you, dear reader, in case you too are interested (most of the "vids" are just the album artwork with the track playing).

1. Peace On Earth
2. Living On The Outside
3. Los Angeloser
4. If I Can't Have You
5. Love Is Not Real/Next Time You Stab Me in the Back
6. Like A Rose (feat. Jack Black) (starts off sounding like You Gotta Fight for your Right to Party)
7. Did You Ever Love Somebody
8. Song Of Madness
9. Running Away From Me
10. Let's Be In Love
11. If It Rains
12. Elvis In Vegas

(NOTE: The import / special edition / explicit albums have an additional track: California Isn't Big Enough ... imo it's so NOT worth shelling out the extra dough for the one song... esp when it kinda riles up my prudishness :p "I can barely fit my dick in my pants"? Really?)

So, about the overall story of the album... Meh... Right now I'll say it starts off just okay, picks up once you hit Los Angeloser, but a few songs later it flounders a LOT before starting to pick back up in the last two songs. The jury is still out about whether i *really* want to own this album, or actually go the cherry picking route.

What about you?

Musical Interlude: The Rasmus

I know I know, I've not continued with my Cat Tales ... I will, I will... but in the meantime I thought I'd share something that's got me kinda irritated at myself ... You see, back during a difficult time in my life, I was vacationing in Switzerland and happened to be in a place (NOT my grandmother's obviously, LoL!) that had not just a tv, but cable, and I had MTV on ... There were four songs songs/videos that were played over and over and over...

• Clocks by Coldplay - never liked it, much to Kosh's dismay, LoL!
  
• Some dance number by some european rapper or dj - I really liked it, surprising myself b/c that music's not really my style (obviously I didn't like it enough to remember it tho, despite having the CD b/c my brother actually went out of his way to hunt it down, LoL!)
• Heyya by OutKast - somehow the song didn't click with me then, but I remember the "shake it like a polaroid picture" part of the vid! Love the song now, can't help but sway and sing along, right?
  
• In the Shadows by The Rasmus - there was something about this song that so resonated with me, I know I pretty much stopped whatever I was doing whenever this song came on, and just let it wash over me ...

... so here's the irritating thing ... a pal posted this video on FB:



but it's not the version I remember ... I think the bank heist storyline would have detracted from the song, frankly, so I'm glad Swiss/European MTV wasn't playing that version ... wanting to refresh my memory for the version I DID know, I looked around for the other version ... turns out there are THREE versions. That bank heist one is known as the Bandit version, and was their first, Finnish video.

Next came the Crow version:


Hmmmm.... not quite familiar (wouldn't I have remembered the feathers growing out their arms?), so I moved on to the third one, the Mirror version:



TOTALLY unfamiliar. I'm sure I would have remembered the overlapping timelines and Take On Me similarity of being pulled into an alternate world.

So I guess I did watch the Crow version. I'm just a bit disconcerted about not remembering it better. Like I said, this song totally resonated with me at the time. I also love music videos, although by this time (2003) I hardly saw any anymore. Having totally loved In The Shadows, I went ahead and bought The Rasmus' Dead Letters album, which had In the Shadows, and TWO other majorly-talking-to-me songs: In My Life and Time to Burn.

Enjoy! And have a gr8 weekend!

Chronic EarWorm solved!

What's an EarWorm? In a nutshell, it's a song that you just can't get out of your head. I've had a case of chronic earworm for many years now, where a song I used to love almost a decade ago but haven't heard for many years -- therefore have forgotten lyrics and singer, but not the tune! -- would keep popping up in my head at odd times over the past few years: I would get a snatch of the tune here, or a tantalizing snippet of almost-lyrics there.

Last week the earworm struck again, and this time I decided to enlist the power of Big Brother Google. It started with keywords 'Indonesian song, cinta [Eng: love] (because every song has that word, LoL!), 1999 or 2000' which brought forth Anggun, whom I had also forgotten but wasn't who I was looking for, but it helped loosen my memory somewhat because 'pergi saja [Eng: just go (away)]' sidled itself into my brain -- finally, a small part of the earworm's lyrics! Adding that to the mix, one or two searches later Big Brother Google pointed me in the right direction.

Here's what's been haunting me for so long... (you don't have to watch the video, it's ~so~ dated-looking, and kinda distracting from the haunting song itself)


Here are the lyrics for you to sing along to :)

Kris Dayanti's Menghitung Hari song lyrics from LyricsBay.com
If you follow me on Facebook you might have seen the cry for help regarding one particular word from the above lyrics, and the many (sometimes contradicting) replies from my Malaysian pals. I explore putik vs putih a little more at a malaysian abroad, do drop by, k?

So now I have the identity of my chronic earworm solved! Doesn't mean I've gotten the song out of head: if nothing else, I've only made it worse, because guess what was playing non-stop while I initially typed this post last week? :p

Hey, at least the earworm will no longer be a memory of a haunting melody but instead can manifest loudly with voice and lyrics!

Wait, is that really a good thing?

Aaaarrgh?!!

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25 days to 2010: Rachel Guerzo is "Just Friends"

I'm so proud of, and for, Rachel Guerzo! My junior from high school, Rachel always did have a great set of pipes and lungs on her, and over time has established herself as pretty much the female jazz vocalist in Kuala Lumpur. And now, Rachel is finally releasing her debut album entitled Just Friends.



Here's her official biography:

Born into Malaysia’s most influential music family the Solianos, pianist and singer Guerzo has emerged as one of the most exciting and innovative jazz musician in her own right, honing her craft and playing to discerning live audiences over the past two decades. Influenced by consummate performers such as Shirley Horn, Tania Maria, Diana Krall and Eliane Elias, she both learned from them and gradually discovered her own unique voice.

In addition to playing regularly with her father, saxophonist Salvador Guerzo, and her uncle, drummer Rizal Soliano, Rachel has worked with some very fine musicians such as Michael Veerapen, Steve Thornton, Valtinho Anastascio, Pascoal Mirelles, Lewis Pragasam and Farid Ali. She headlined the Sunrise Jazz & Rhythm Festival in 2007 and her début album will be released later this year. In April 2010 Rachel will make her debut at the prestigious Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS as part of its Spotlight: Jazz series.

.
You know what, I might just make my way back to KL to catch her DFP performance next April! No kidding. I'll see what I can do to set those wheels in motion.

In the meantime... ... I've hunted high and low for a good vid to post of Rachel's live performances, to no avail: you can check them out for yourself here. Instead, I humbly ask you to click on through to Rachel's site on AMP (if it's down, try back later, k?). There you can listen to her covers of What are you doing the rest of your Life? and Only Trust your Heart. I hope you'll agree that's one amazing youg lady!

Hope you have a great week! (Mine started out white!)

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Blast from the Past: Boney M!

Music has always been a HUGE part of my life, especially in my early childhood and teenage years. I grew up immersed in the sounds of The Beatles, ABBA and Boney M, the latter two being quite different yet the same in terms of disco Euro-pop bubblegum sweetness. Surprisingly to me, Kosh hadn't heard of Boney M.

No Brown Girl in the Ring,
... no By The Rivers of Babylon,
... ... no ra-ra-Rasputin,
... ... ... no Daddy Cool,
... ... ... ... no Bahama Mama!
OMG has he been missing out!! :D :D :D

I've been craving Boney M recently, no idea why.

Rhapsody helped a bit, but I notice I've got a total of 25 free plays. Blah. Besides, they didn't have one particular song I remember from the Boonoonoonoos album, the one vinyl my parents have of them, that stood out in my head and gave me goosebumps every time I heard it.

Thank goodness for YouTube!



I'd recommend you not pay attention to the visuals, and just close your eyes and let the music take you away. Kinda like what I did perhaps 25 years ago, over and over and over... it's called Ride to Agadir.

... for the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons ...


Found out one really amusing fact when wikipedia-ing Boney M. ... Turns out that a guy called Frank Farian (does the name sound a wee bit familiar?) was behind the group, creating both the low deep voice and the female falsetto voice and mixing them together to get the Boney M sound back in the mid-70's. He then hired a few people to be the "front", to be the face to the sound he had created (any of this sounding familiar at all?). This group then lip-synched their tv performances (c'mon, not familiar yet??), although it seems that for live performances, they did actually do it live, for real. Since lip-synching was common practice in the 70's, people didn't really care... but when Farian did the same thing in the 90s, he got totally canned. 90's. Lip-synch. Ring any bells? Yes, he's the guy behind Milli Vanilli! Imagine that!

Fake front notwithstanding, I really did enjoy Milli Vanilli's songs, and I didn't care that the two (gorgeous) guys weren't the actual singers. Never bothered to pick up the album by "The REAL Milli Vanilli", however, LoL!

Anyway, to end this post, here's another song from the Boonoonoonoos album that also struck a chord with me. Enjoy:

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I was never a huge fan, but ...

... for some reason, the news that the Spice Girls are reuniting and touring somehow brings a smile to my face :-)

There was something so infectious about so many of their songs, they certainly burrowed into and claimed a [small] place in my heart :-)

Girl power, indeed!

My fave spice gal? Eh, I suppose Melanie C. [sporty spice] irritated me least of all, Lol!

Anyways... so above was Spice Girls at the height of their popularity... here's how they Spice Girls Women look like now:(L-R) Posh, Sporty, Ginger, Baby, Scary.


At least TWO have had their boobs done!

Sampaikanlah salam,,,

(Thanks to Adam for the heads-up)
Requiescat In Pace, Loganathan Arumugam, fondly known as Loga, of Alleycats.
Here's Alleycats' Sampaikan Salam [slightly crummy/crackly sound, but still a great listen] [check out the afro, LMAO! if that doesn't date them, I don't know what will! btw - both Loga & David were vocalists, so who's doing the singing here, anyone know?] [careful - it's LOUD!]:



So went searching for other Malaysian artistes on YouTube... couldn't find a nice version of Search's Fantasia Bulan Madu.... Wings' Sejati pun tak de... Zainal's Hijau... Nothing worth using on Sudirman... and oops that about covers it heehehee okay so I never got into the Malaysian music scene that much... but... here's one the first Malaysian rappers... those who know me from TRU days will know why this is up here ;-) [crappy pixelated image tho]


Okay let's see how *else* I'm gonna waste time today!

"no one's gonna eat your eyes"

So I stumbled across this song / video a while ago... finally remembered to share it with y'all:



I just love this part:

"All we want to do is eat your brain!
We're not unreasonable, I mean,
no one's gonna eat your eyes."

More by Jonathan Coulton here.

Dunno about you, but the day I found this song, I kept playing it over and over and over and over and over and over.... tell me how *you* like it!

... as redundant as a "PIN Number" ...

... but a LOT funnier!

What am I talking about? The recent ads / previews for the new episode of Monk have been quite funny. Well, *i* LOL every time I've seen it, to the amazement of Kosh, who only thought it was funny the first time around, teeheeheee! So Monk gets introduced to the 'net and e-mail and all that stuff, and they have this blurb where he says something makes him "LOL out loud". Brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department! Haahahahaaaaa!!! :-D

- - -

Netflix sucks! Or rather - the Customer Service of Netflix sucks!!! I really love the concept, and love the selection of DVDs they have... but omg if you run into even a small bump and try to get them to see what you are talking about, you get lame-ass responses from Customer Service representatives who don't seem to have read your complaint because they certainly do *not* address the issues you bring up but instead they just provide a lame-ass assinine useless reply.

What's got me so riled up? Well, let's see... a DVD that was supposedly sent out on Feb 6th [with an estimated arrival date of Feb 9th! that's already pushing their "within about one business day" delivery promise!] only arrived like FOURTEEN DAYS later. Yes, it took half-a-month to get here, thus gypping me big-time: I'm paying for 3-out-at-a-time but was essentially only getting 2-at-a-time! So I wrote in telling them that [at that time] it still hadn't arrived *and* please could they compensate or make up for it somehow...

And what do they reply?

"Our records indicate there is still a DVD that was shipped on 02/06/2007. This DVD still shows as being outstanding. If you are experiencing difficulties with your rentals, you may report the problem via Rental Activity section. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us."

Wow... useless buggers... I was writing to not just highlight a problem but to also ask for resolution and compensation - and they reply with a useless "if you are experiencing a problem, please tell us".

Buggers!

- - - -

Still relating to the tv scene; not sure what bug bit my dear Kosh, but he decided to upgrade our cable tv plan a few days ago, so we've got like SEVENTY additional channels to flip through before deciding there's nothing to watch, LoL! But seriously - we now have access to the Sci-Fi channel, not that I've watched anything on it yet! And I realise that The Dresden Files clashes with the Fox Sunday night Lineup that we usually tape [&watch later while fwding past them commercials, teehehee!], so we've got to figure out how to address that.... but but but but but ... the best part of all these new channels?

VH1 and the VH1 Classic channels!

They play songs & feature countdowns of songs of "my era" and "my type of music". So much so that sometimes I feel I'm transported back to my first year in the U.S. [1990 - 1991] where if I had control of the tv, it would be on MTV [yes, MTV still was decent back then!].

Really enjoyed catching The Shat counting down the 100 One Hit Wonders [even had Kosh hooked enough to join me on the couch: we stayed and watched the entire countdown till like 3am, LoL! The #1? Macarena]

Then the other day, I stumbled upon a multipart pseudo-documentary HEAVY: The History of Metal [or something like that]. Wow, that was really educational! I knew of most of the names of the groups featured, but I didn't know which came first, who'd influenced whom, who'd sung what song, etc etc etc. And boy it was great to hear even just those little blurbs of guitar riffs and tunes and ahhhhhhhhh, just brings back memories :-)

I grew up a fan of The Beatles, ABBA, and The Sound of Music soundtrack, and was pretty much a goody-two-shoes. Kinda. I always possessed a rebellious streak, but I kept it very much in check. But Oh-My-Gawd, the first time I heard that opening guitar for Sweet Child of Mine.... my dark side was finally represented and could manifest itself!!! Another, bigger, influence at that time was Def Leppard: the Hysteria album at that time seemed deliciously heavy yet polished/melodious. I drank in those heavier sounds that my psyche seemed to have been thirsting for for so long! Faith No More's Epic will always have this hold over me, even if I can never get the lyrics, LoL!

Didn't mean I swung from a goody-two-shoes to a punk-rocker-groupie though. Perhaps if I'd been in Europe/USA I would have, but where&when I was growing up the best I could do was sport a mullet [also known as "rockers' hair"], and just listen to the radio [The Blue Network / Radio 4 - remember?] in the hopes of getting a song or two of the good stuff mixed in with the sappy pop tunes [which, I admit, I appreciated too... just nowhere near as much lah!!]

Well, hey I'm really all over the place, eh? I may try to explore this more in another post... after all, music was a very very very important part of my life while growing up: I'd throw myself into the music, I'd have the radio on through most of my waking hours, the only reason I didn't have a walkman or equivalent was I couldn't stand any sort of earphones in/on/around my ears!

In the meantime? It's past 1am, and I have to be awake, showered and out of the apartment in 7hrs. Time to sleep?! but there's this Top 20 Countdown of Best Metal Bands on!!!!! I know, I know, I'll catch it often enough, since these channels have a limited amount of new shows, and repeat ad nauseum the shows they *do* have, eh?

g'nite!!

interlude #2: the magic iPod meme

Ever since we got Meat Loaf's Bat III, I've pretty much adopted Kosh's iPod Shuffle as my own, to accompany me to the gym. A few days ago I expanded the playlist to include stuff beyond Mr Loaf, and figured I had enough of a variety to finally go ahead and "play" what I call the magic iPod meme.

Here goes [seen at many blogs; this version taken from SnglGuy from a long time ago]:

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

How does the world see me? : Original Sin, by Meat Loaf
LMAO how appropriate! I'm looking for self-satisfaction while others [read: parents? Malaysians in general?] would view my actions with horror? "There'll be hell to pay someday So put it all on the bill 'Cause we'll always be paying And paying until We're beyond expiration With a license to thrill" I'll drink to that! ;-)

Will I have a happy life? : Fine Line, by Paul McCartney
Heh another good one that starts off "There's a fine line between recklessness and courage it's about time you understood which road to take" - this answer is essentially your life is what you make it to be - my sentiments exactly.

What do my friends really think of me? : This Never Happened Before, by Paul McCartney
"This is the way it should be for lovers, they shouldn't go it alone, it's not so good when you're on your own" Errr, so my friends are happy I'm finally married, is that it? LoL!

Do people secretly lust after me? : Paradise by the Dashboard Light, by Meat Loaf
LMAO!! I won't argue with that answer!!

How can I make myself happy? : House of the Rising Sun, by The Animals
"Oh mother, tell your children Not to do what I have done ..." ... so I can make myself happy by not perpetuating the mistakes of my parents, or repeating my own?

What should I do with my life? : Midnight at the Lost & Found, by Meat Loaf
"Have a double, it's gettin' late, you'll get home, just rely on fate" Yeah! That's kinda what I'm doing right now, anyway!!

Will I ever have children?: Where Angels Sing, by Meat Loaf
Wow. I love this song, but in conjunction with this "question", it kinda gives me the shivers. "I get so weary on this troubled road Unlock these chains and gently rock me home Beyond the clouds and the rain" A song about someone who's been hit hard by life, and is finally getting to let go and rest....

What is some good advice for me? : Blind as a Bat, by Meat Loaf
Heh, this could be interpreted in so many ways....

How will I be remembered? : It's All Coming Back To Me, by Meat Loaf featuring Marion Rav[e]n
I have a huge impact, perhaps an ultimately destructive impact, on people? but try as they might, they can't really block me out and I get to them anyway? Kewl!!

What is my signature dancing song? : Poison, by Alice Cooper
"... I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name" wow does this mean I'm a killer on the dance floor??

What do I think my current theme song is? : Wake Me Up Inside, by Evanescence
"Wake me up inside. Call my name and save me from the dark. Bid my blood to run. Before I come undone. Save me from the nothing I've become." Heh, so I think I'm "nothing", do I?? Well, I call it "being in limbo" and that's gonna be for another 6 months or so, so there!! :p

What does everyone else think my current theme song is? : Goodbye to You, by Michelle Branch
"Goodbye to you, goodbye to everything I thought I knew, ... the one thing that I tried to hold on to" awwww don't worry, I may be out of touch and halfway across the world but that doesn't mean I'm "gone"...

What song will play at my funeral? : Not A Dry Eye In The House, by Meat Loaf
Okay so I HOWLED with laughter when this started playing, gotta love the title as the answer [gotta ignore the fact that the song is about a betrayal in four acts]; besides, I'd prefer to have everyone celebrating my life rather than mourning my death...

What type of men/women do I like? : The Razor's Edge, by Meat Loaf
wow, isn't this the one where in the video Meat's in a straightjacket?? LMAO!! Yeah baby, yeah! I like my significant others to be slightly demented, who "don't roll over, don't play dead"? Sounds about right! :-)

What is my day going to be like? : Monstro, by Meat Loaf
Heh, anyone wanna help translate for me [babelfish didn't translate completely - what the heck is a "ladron"?] I love the sound and feel of the song, tho, if that means anything. Besides, the day's pretty much over [past 9:20 pm!].

Okay, just so you know, the playlist has 93 songs, of which 35, or 38% are Meat Loaf songs. They just happened to come up more often (60%!?) than non-Meat songs for this meme! I suppose that's a sign... just dunno of what, LoL!

Anyways, I sure had fun with this, hopefully *you *weren't too bored with this Me!Me! post :p

Ciao, and have a great weekend!

This and that

So I walk in to the apartment, only to spy with my little eye something on the living room floor starting with "p", courtesy of the cat.

p as in puke.

grrrrrr!

Getting myself *out* of the apartment was a joke and a half too! Kosh had asked for me to be on standby to head over to the hospital so we could have lunch together; his window of opportunity was between 11am and 2pm.

guess when he called? 1:52pm.

Anyways, so I make my way to the meeting place, but he wasn't there. had to page him, and he took a few mins to call back... said he'd be there in a few minutes... well i wasn't wearing my watch so I can't say for sure, but it was probably at least 10mins of waitin before he showed up! Headed to the cafeteria for some quality hospital grub [he had to answer at least 2 pages during that time], and then I headed back to the apartment.

To find said present from the cat.

Yum!

* * * *
H/T: Eden at so anyway...

I've written before about the classification of my personality from the Myers-Briggs angle.

I'm amused that I just got it "reconfirmed", with a Harry potter twist:


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.


* * * *
Hey remember Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"? It was choc-full of names that you may not have heard of, or didn't know what face to put to the name... well fret not! Someone with waaaaay to much time on his/her hands decided to help us all out. Check it out here. I was LOL-ing through most of it, be warned!

* * * *
How's this for a gag gift idea? It's like Twister, with a twist! A sexual twist. Imagine having a sheet which tells ya where to put your hands / feet / knees / butt in order to get into one of the Karma Sutra positions. Guess what it's called?The Karma Sheetra, what else?

* * * *
This Saturday should see me exploring the Chicago Transportation system, making my way to a local library where a meditative yoga class is being held. I was introduced to this specific "school of thought" around 2002 while in Malaysia, and it jived with me,,, but I was very much a slave to the work at the time, and therefore was barely able to find my way to just two intoductory classes before work pulled me under again. Practiced the little I'd learnt for a while, but slowly, I got lazy / stressed / distracted... Now that I pretty much have all the time in the world, I might as well get back in touch, eh?

* * * *
More wish list items:

• Johnny Cash Live At Folsom Prison - the one with the extra tracks. I remember listening to this on cassette, and really liking the 25 Minutes To Go song (then later the same title would get usurped by that gawdawful MLTR song!) specifically and all the songs in general. I was suring around for other stuff and stumbled across this at amazon: did you know that this item is #25 on its Top Sellers in Music chart? Amazing :-)
  
  
• Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell III. If you recall, I found out that Bat III was not only in the works, but was going to be released in Sept 2006. Looked it up today, and found that it's now scheduled for release on October 31st, 2006. A Halloween release? go figure, LOL! Lookin forward to Mr Loaf's latest!! Whoohoooo!! :-)

* * * *
Whoohooo! I got a reply from snopes!! Okay so it took them 4 months to reply... but perhaps they needed those months to conduct their own experiments? Here's their verdict. See here for my mention of the microwaved water science project thing.

Oh Ireland, how I cry for thee...

"What did I have?" said the fine old woman
"What did I have?" this proud old woman did say
"I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, they fought to save my jewels
They fought and died, and that was my grief" said she

"Long time ago" said the fine old woman
"Long time ago" this proud old woman did say
"There was war and death, plundering and pillage
My children starved by mountain valley and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens
My four green fields ran red with their blood" said she

"What have I now?" said the fine old woman
"What have I now?" this proud old woman did say
"I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
In stranger's hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once again" said she

Lyrics from makem.com HERE

The above is one of the most touching, sad, yet inspirational songs out there... if you were to hear it, it will haunt you...

The "old woman" of the song is Ireland.

I can't sing along to this song without getting choked up.

g'bye 2005!

How we are celebrating the end of 2005 & ushering in 2006:

Staying at home,
pigging out on chips & dip,
watching tv,
reading SK's It (me) and playing with shreddage (Kosh).

Huh? Shreddage?

here's the story: We ordered Magic: The Gathering Betrayers of Kamigawa Rat's Nest Theme Deck from a place called trollandtoad.com less than a week ago. It arrived today.

And what was the packaging material used to stuff the box it came in?

Their own shredded paper! And it wasn't even cross-cut either!

And what has Kosh been doing since the package arrived?

Piecing the long pieces of paper together.

Ah, I am unworthy! I thought *i* was the master of procrastination and time-wastage, but boy was I wrong... :p

Jokingly, he said he was going to mail the put-together pieces back to the company with a suggestion that they not use their own shreddage for packaging; or at least make sure there's no risk of identity theft... I'd do it. After all, it looks like there may actually be some credit card numbers on some of the pieces of paper!

~~~

Oh, it was really weird yesterday: we were at Kosh's office for about an hour yesterday evening. It was cold but no indication of any inclement weather.

We came out to see BIG FAT SNOWFLAKES falling: there must have been about half an inch of it everywhere!

So we got in the car and drove, barely able to see anything, and the car threatening to slide around on the extremely slick surface, and headed to the library to pick up some stuff. From the library, I look out and don't see no snow falling no more; whoohoo!

But then we realise it turned to rain instead! ugh!! So we run through SLUSH back to the car.

We then drove to the bbq place for ribs. When we got outta there, it was snowing again, but this time nothing but very light & small bits of snow.

Later that night, it turned to heavier rain. So there was NO snow at all this morning: if we hadn't been out at that time, I wonder if we'd have believed anyone if they told us it had snowed at all!

~~~

Currently listening to: The Rasmus' Hide from the Sun
(yo, bro: that's your b-day present to me, btw. Thanx!!)
It sounds slightly darker/heavier than Dead Letters; a few tracks seem to stand out; still too early to tell whether this surpasses Dead Letters... need more listening time :-)

Also just received F.R.I.E.N.D.S Season 10 DVD.
I suppose it turned out well that they were late releasing Season 10 on VCD in Malaysia, so in the end I didn't get around to buying it. So now, for the season that matters most (well, just because it's the LAST season), I have it on DVD :-) Along with a 45 minute gag reel and whatever other special features they have there. Whoohooo!

Of course, one slight blemish on the above: our DVD player is starting to run amok! Most of the time it refuses to load the DVD, making weird noises that make us cringe instead! Sometimes it loads the disc, only to say "wrong disc." It's getting really frustrating! My quest to re-watch my Babylon 5 DVD's has been put on hold because I'd start to get really mad at the absurd situation.

The player was a cheapo free gift, so maybe it wasn't designed to last more than a year?? I'd rather fix it than buy a new (and branded, more reliable?) one: as far as possible I don't want to be part of a "throw-away" society... but then again, getting it fixed in this country would cost a lot just for labor charges, so it's probably more worth it to just go ahead and get a new one. Sigh.

~~~

New Year already happened in Malaysia and that part of the world...

we're about 3.25hrs away, if I have my math right. I'll be getting offline, and fixin myself a drink or two soon...

On a related note, here's Modern Drunkard Magazine Online's 86 rules of boozing.

Have a good 2006, everyone!

Is the wind blowing?

Yeah, I guess the wind *is* blowing, my friends, cos here are some answers:
(Thanx, Bob Dylan!)

The recent Poser Schmoser #1 asked how you would feel about someone who was sweet and charming to you and you only, and gruff and rude to everyone else:

I used to date someone who was like that.

He wasn’t a *bad* person; in fact, he was the one who first who helped me really understand and “live” by the “no use crying over spilt milk” outlook; otherwise I’d be racked by guilt and/or worry and agonizing over things I absolutely could do nothing about. On the other hand, as far as he was concerned, he was always right and everyone else was wrong. In fact, everyone else were idiots unless proven otherwise.

I oscillated mildly between "a" and "b" during our time dating.
If I were to come across someone like that now, I'd probably distance myself from him big-time tho, LOL! Or I'd actually bring up the topic of what his behaviour signals to me: arrogance, and an unhealthy antagonistic outlook on life.

What these artistes have in common
This is a much older post, but I didn’t get much response. If you don’t remember this, go ahead and check it out before reading on?

It’s just a click and a new window, maaaah..

Done?

Okay you'll need to add Jimmy Buffet
(just realised I'd missed him out from the original list)

Got it? Good.

Answer: I’ve seen ‘em all in concert.

Okay, I excluded Anggun cos she only did a “showcase”, and she sang to a Minus-One track anyway… and I included The Rasmus cos even though it was a “showcase” of maybe 6 songs, they did it completely live at the HRC KL, and it was really rocking, and I consider THAT a concert.

~~

Today has been a great day: spent a solid hour at the gym (~500 cals) PLUS the 50mins walk to/from the gym, PLUS a hearty salad with two slices of chipotle smoked turkey breast... I'm feeling good.

(LOL cat just jumped into my lap LOL can hardly type she's head-butting my arms LOL she is demanding attention!)

The weather's pretty good today, tho I had to walk thru a wall of leaves that were being blown around by strong winds! Rain expected tonight, though, and tomorrow will signal the start of "seasonable" temperatures, bummer. I like this unseasonably warm weather we're having here!! Once it cools down I'm gonna be really challenged to keep up my gym visits.

More reasons I'm feeling good today:

• Kosh should be back tomorrow
  
• did my last kitty litter duty today
  
• while I *have* had chocolate in the last two weeks, I have NOT succumbed to tempation and bought/consumed ice cream or DQ blizzards or cheesecake or cream cheese danishes or donut holes etc. I have yet to fulfill that craving for a chewy gooey brownie a la mode either!

Have a good weekend, y'all!

the mind is a wonderful thing

Me & Kosh were at the gym about a month ago, getting ready for a round of racquetball, when this song started playing on the building's overhead speakers:

I got a little change in my pocket
Goin ching-a-ling-a-ling
Wanna call you on the telephone, baby
Give you a ring
But each time we talk
I get the same old thing
Always, "No huggee, no kissee
Until I get a wedding ring."
Oh, my honey, my baby
Don't put my love upon no shelf
She said, "Don't hand me no lines
And keep your hands to yourself."

Me: OMG!! This song!!!
And proceed to sing along, wide beaming smile on my face..

B-b-baby, baby, baby
Why you gonna treat me this way?
You know I'm still your loverboy
I still feel the same way
Thats when she told me a story
About free milk and a cow
She said, "No huggee, no kissee
Until I get a wedding vow."
Oh, my honey, my baby
Don't put my love upon no shelf
She said, "Don't hand me no lines
And keep your hands to yourself."

I felt like I was back in high school!
I really loved this song - the drawwwwl of the singer, the hick guitar...
I think the music video featured a shotgun wedding or something, too!

Now.. if only I could remember who sang this song!!

See I wanted her real bad
And I was about to give in
Thats when she started talking about true love
Started talking about sin
I said, "Honey, I'll live with you for the rest of my life."
She said, "No huggee, no kissee
Until you make me a wife."
Oh, my honey, my baby
Don't put my love upon no shelf
She said, "Don't hand me no lines
And keep your hands to yourself."

My mind musta been working on that question subconsciously... cos a few days ago, I suddenly felt like the answer was at the tip of my tongue.. then out of nowhere, it popped into my head. Incredulously, I said it out loud:

The Georgia Satellites!

No I know nothing about that group. But it's nice to know that little bit of information about them and that one song I know is still stored somewhere in my brain.

Even if it *did* take a few weeks to get to it!

blogworthy tv

Two noteworthy, or at least blogworthy, things I watched on TV recently.

1. Online predators @ Dateline

It featured a setup where people posing as teenage boys / girls alone at home while the family is out of town get propositioned by guys in chatrooms, and these guys actually end up coming to the house for sex… only to find the Dateline guy there, camera and all, everything on tape… I bet their balls just totally shriveled up once they realized they were * not * getting that night of sex with that teenage boy/girl!

Is it a sign on my cynicism and world-weariness that I am not surprised that many of these people were so-called pillars of the community? A rabbi & a special-ed teacher were among those who turned up at the house.

And what about that guy who, as requested by the “young boy”, stripped nekkid before entering the house? He said this was the first time he’d ever done this etc etc (yeah, uh-huh…), and was so relieved to get outta there… then guess that? The next day, he’s on the prowl again! So they set up another meet again, this time to meet at a local McD… I would like to know what was going through his mind when instead of the yummy boy he “ordered”, he once again came face-to-face with the Dateline guy. “Man, I just came here to get something to eat!” he kept saying. When he already knows from the night before that they had the printout of the (s)explicit chat he had had setting up the “date”.

I was wondering about the state of this country (and the world to a lesser extent), where you can have NINETEEN “hits” over the span of three days: nineteen different people in one area of Washington (I think) eagerly turning up at a house in the hopes of getting sex with a teenager.

How many predators are out there in the whole country?

And how many real teenagers find themselves in situations which then scar them for life?

And, while the target audience for this episode was probably the parents of teenagers, I wonder just how internet-savvy the parents are, and whether the contents of this episode were actually new to them.

And, I wonder how many parents actually have channels of communication with their children that would enable discussions relating to what is/isn’t allowed for the kid, internet-wise.

Oh, and another thing about this episode of Dateline: they blatantly showed the faces of the people who turned up at the house. No protection of their identity. No pixelation of faces. No messing with their voices. Nothing. I’m just curious, in this country steeped in protecting the rights of everyone, is this actually allowed??

So. While I’m not shocked per se by the episode that was aired tonight, I certainly wonder just how many predators are out there… how do we stop, or at least reduce, the number of predators out there… and I don’t mean simply finding/jailing them: while needed, that’s just treating a symptom… what has caused these people to have these deviant sexual urges in the first place? How to we put a stop at the true root causes? There’s that whole nature vs nurture thing, but I think a lot of it is nurture, how they are brought up, what happened to them in their formative years, how their parents interacted with each other, how the parents interacted with the kids, etc etc etc…

And how do you go into every family and tell them that they are raising their kids right/wrong?

I think so many of us are walking around with “the sins of our fathers” on our shoulders, with emotional baggage we sometimes don’t even realize we have until something triggers us to behave in a certain way, and you are shocked at how you respond, but it takes only a moment of reflection to figure out why you did what you did. Chances are it’s a behaviour of your parents’ you swore you would never emulate, yet, you just did.

So. Yeah. If you have teenagers, and you have yet to talk to them about the very real danger of sexual predators prowling around chatrooms, please do so, okay?

2. Get Up Stand Up @ PBS

This was a 2hr show about protest songs & music, through the times. Started with folk-type songs describing the work conditions of early workers being taken advantage of by the large rich barons. Then the Civil rights movement. Anti-war protests wrt Vietnam. Anti-establishment. All these featured specific songs, as well as singers/personalities strongly tied in with the movements (there were so many I didn’t know from the older era; others would be Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, John Lennon).

More recently, there were benefit concerts (Concert for Bangladesh, Live Aid, Farm Aid, Artists Against Apartheid, AIDS) for all sorts of causes, but to me we are lacking true “protest” songs. We * do* have the personalities like Bob Geldof and Bono, I suppose. I felt so out of touch with the world when watching that segment... so many of these things happened during my time, but I was a bit too young to know what was going on, plus living a very sheltered life dictated by both my parents AND the Malaysian government.

There was also a section on hip-hop & rap, and how that is the expression of the black voice. That was about the only segment that I could have done without: I just do not relate to that genre… I listen to Eminem, yes, but many argue that he’s not black, so his is not a true “voice”. Yeah, whatever. HE has a melody somehow somewhere (plus a brilliant sense of humor. In a sick kind of way).

And they briefly touched on how there has been practically silence wrt 9/11, a silence broken by Bruce Springsteen’s recent release. Speculated about not wanting to “offend” the thousands of people affected by the 9/11 tragedy. I dunno, I think it’s probably more on not knowing which side to take cos they’d get flak from the other two or three fronts (we shall overcome vs f*ck Bush vs kill all Muslims vs it’s all a conspiracy), and maybe not wanting to be visited by Homeland Security agents? Idle speculation, of course :p

... one of those things ...

My fave beatle is Paul McCartney.

Paul, or Macca, has a new album out, and is currently touring the U.S.

On Thursday 27th October, he will be performing in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kosh is in Iowa City for his current ENT rotation.

Des Moines is 2 hours away from Iowa City.

Looks like tickets are still available.

(ranging from USD150 - USD432 on ticketTriangle.com)
(strangely enough, Ticketmaster doesn't have Des moines on its list of macca's venues)

So looks like I may actually be able to see my fave Beatle?

NOPE.

I'm arriving in the U.S. 9pm Thursday October 27th.

An hour after the concert starts.

Oh well...

Of course, I *could* try to change my flight to a day earlier... or at least 3 hours earlier out of DFW! I wonder about flight availability PLUS penalty for changing at such short notice... expedia, here I come....

but then, seeing as how kosh is being kept real bz there at Iowa City, no guarantees that he'd be free to leave by 6pm on Thursday at the latest to get us there on time anyway.

*scrunching up face* oh boy are these grapes sour!!

... what do these artistes have in common?

I'm listing them in approximate order, or at least attempting to group them by "era"....

Hall & Oates
Richard Marx
* Sudirman

Vanilla Ice
Nelson
Debbie Gibson
* Search

Steve Miller Band
Def Leppard
Billy Joel
[jimmy buffet] [added/remembered later!]

*Zainal Abidin
The Rasmus
Linkin Park

Meat Loaf

(NOTE: * is for Malaysian artistes)

~~
Do give me your guesses in the comments section, okay?

macca newsflash!

omg omg omg ... paul's got a new album out! And if I wanna believe the one article I read about it, it's supposed to be good, his best ever since his time with The Beatles!!

It's entitled Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

I *really* liked the Flowers in the Dirt album... that's when he collaborated with Elvis Costello, and boy did it prove that Paul needs a partner in order to produce good stuff!! Pity that in 1989 I didn't have a CD player, so I got it on tape, and now I have no idea where it is; and even if I did find it, it's probably unplayable anyway... :-( I can still sing some of the songs on that album from memory, but it would be nice to get my hands on a CD...

(okay, so my tale of Cleveland is interrupted by this macca newsflash, sowwy... will continue with that tomorrow... in the meantime, here's something to chew on: I am typing this while in St Louis, Missouri; in the campus of Washington University! How did I get here? stay tuned!!)

… a big man with a big voice who sings big songs and has big hits …

The man (and group with the same name) with the most profound influence on me, whose songs have stuck a chord deep within me that no other singer or group can achieve…

No it’s not The Beatles’ Paul McCartney…

Keep guessing:

My first ever exposure to him was when Tini visited me in Dec ’90 in Oklahoma, bringing a tape of assorted songs, including one I immediately loved: “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad.” I didn’t remember the artist’s name then, but the song stayed with me…

It was a ballad about what goes around comes around… about having something done to you, and being totally devastated by it, and yet later finding yourself doing the same to another person. Perpetuating a harmful pattern… profound…

“I want you, I need you,
but there ain’t no way I’m ever going to love you;
don’t be sad, cos two out of three ain’t bad”

aduuuuuh…. Sedihnyeeeeeee!! : ( (

Fast forward to Fall ’91, my freshman year in college, pledging a professional chemistry fraternity, whose ‘unofficial house song’ was “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Me being me, I threw myself into the thick of things, and borrowed the album “Bat out of Hell” to ‘study’ the song, but got hooked on so many of the other songs on there. They were not songs as much as ‘rock operas’… whole stories were told in one song, which may last between 6 to 10 minutes (as opposed to the usual 3 – 4 minutes).

And the play of words and innuendos: *so* totally up my alley, as those who have had exposure to my work will know…

“…you took the words right outta my mouth; musta been while you were kissing me…”

“…for crying out loud, you know I love you…”

“… I bet you say that to *all* the boys…”

“… can’t you see my faded Levi’s bursting apart…”

So much that can’t be captured in one line, you’d need to listen to the entire song to appreciate it… for example Bat out of Hell itself, and Heaven Can Wait, and Crying Out Loud, and omg just about every song on that album!!

Of course, Meat Loaf (just Meat to his fans) didn’t write these songs: that credit goes to one Jim Steinman. Consider songs like Air Supply’s “Making Love out of Nothing At All”, Bonnie Tyler’s “Looking Out For A Hero”, and Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”: these are some commercial hits you may know that stem from Steinman. However, despite low commercial acclaim, IMHO the Meat & Steinman combo is the best.

After all, to be honest, Meat has had more misses than hits, but his 2 (out of 3 so far) hits are albums produced with Steinman: Bat out of Hell and Bat out of Hell II.

Most people may have first heard of Meat by the hit on BatII: “I’d do anything for love (but I won’t do that)” with everyone having their own opinion on what “that” was! It was okay (if nothing else it was OVERPLAYED!): I was keen on many other songs in there, no matter that they did not get any airtime:

My absolute fave was a reluctant love song, that once again was *so* up my alley:

Is this a blessing? Or is it a curse?
Does it get any better? Can it get any worse?
Will it go on forever? Or is it over tonight?
Does it come with the darkness? Does it bring out the light?
Is it richer than diamonds?
Or just a little cheaper than spit?
I don’t know what it is but it just won’t quit

Another songs starts off with words that will always haunt me:

You can’t run away forever
But there’s nothing wrong with getting a good head start
You want to shut out the night
You want to shut down the sun
You want to shut away the pieces of a broken heart

I can’t do justice to the “guitar monologue” even if I reproduce the entire thing: imagine it having “… a heart of chrome and a voice like a horny angel…” and “...the blood of the guitar was Chuck Berry red…”

Other noteworthy lyrics:

“… Life is a lemon and I want my money back…”

“Somedays I pray for silence, somedays I pray for soul
Somedays I just pray to the gods of sex and drums and rock n roll”

“… can you colorize my life I’m so sick of black and white?”

“… who am I, why am I here?
Forget the question someone gimmie another beer!”

“… Don’t worry about the future – sooner or later it’s the past
If the thrill is gone then it’s time to take it back…”

“... they’ll never let a night like tonight go to waste
and let me tell you neither will you…”

This album was also cool for me because it featured artwork by Michael Whelan, some of which I recognized from the covers of Piers Anthony’s On A Pale Horse, and many of Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince & Dragon Star series (fantasy books, in case you're not familiar with these authors)

Meat’s latest album, Couldn’t Have Said It Better (CHSIB), was released in 2003… it was not a Meat/Steinman collaboration, but oh my, what an album!! I stumbled across the music video of the title track on the plane in Sept 2003 and liked what I heard, and finally found an expensive (SACD) CD a month later… but hey it was worth it! Listening to it for the first time sent shivers up my spine, and I got goosebumps all over! No kidding!!

And strangely enough, my life around that time took a sudden turn, and in certain aspects seemed mirrored in many of the songs on that album!

Some noteworthy lyrics, tho, as I said before, you would need to listen to the whole song to truly appreciate its beauty:

“… I’ll get the lights; you get that smile…”

“… And you say nothing at all; Well I couldn’t have said it better myself…”

“… the truth is hard to swallow when you’re choking on your pride …”

“… wish I could love you out loud, but I’ll just keep it to myself …”

“… this is big time, this is larger than life …”

It also includes a heartwrenching sequel of sorts to BatI’s “Two out of three Ain’t Bad”:

You know that I want you
You know that I need you baby
You know that I love you
So why isn’t that enough?

So, dear reader, if you feel that the current pop scene is just too ‘fluffy,’ or you just don’t relate to the hip-hop/R&B/whatever crap that seems to be on the air nowadays, why not check out Meat? I truly believe that you will not regret it.

Cheers!

btw: one huge disappointment I had was was finding out that Meat would be in Australia a month after I would be there for the Oz Tennis Openin Jan '04, and that that was his "Asian" leg of his world tour... sob sob!

However, it looks like he is touring this summer!! In the U.S.!! Kosh, make sure u r free, we are G O I N G !!!!!!!!! Malapetaka: he's gonna be at YOUR place on July 20th!

For those who wanna surf more, here's the Meat Fan Site.

(note: lyrics are shared here for educational purposes; any infringement of any copyright is unintentional. Please contact me if there is an issue. The email address is provided on the top of the page)