last niiiite, she saidddd

I love The Strokes and all, but NO. Their album shouldn't be the top in NME's Top 50 Albums of the Naughties.

1. The Strokes - Is This It (gotta say, that album cover, every time it comes up on my Ipod, it makes me chuckle and look around nervously lest someone thinks i've porn in it LOL)
2. The Libertines - Up the Bracket (YES. Doherty and Barat, TIME TO BLOODY REUNITE. but agh...not that brilliant to deserve Number 2)
3. Primal Scream - xtrmntr
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (fucking brilliant debut)
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
6. PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral (i prefer Neon Bible)
8. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights (yes)
9. The Streets - Original Pirate Material (YES. Mike Skinner.)
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows (FK YES. great album.)
11. At The Drive In - Relationship of Command (wtf, no)
12. LCD Soundsystem - The Sound of Silver
13. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
14. Radiohead - Kid A (how the fk is this lower than In Rainbows?)
15. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
16. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
17. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
18. The White Stripes - Elephant (yeah i prefered stuff of Elephant too)
19. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
20. Blur - Think Tank
21. The Coral - The Coral
22. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (jiggaman :D, reprezentin on the list!)
23. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future (FKIN ACE ALBUM THIS!! so forward looking. i think i did a review)
24. The Libertines - The Libertines (*sings* can't stand me now, can't stand me noww)
25. Rapture - Echoes
26. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
27. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
28. Johnny Cash - Man Comes Around
29. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
30. Elbow - Asleep In the Back
31. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
33. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (*thumbs up*)
34. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
35. Babyshambles - Down in Albion (the one with "fuck forever"?)
36. Spirtualized - Let It Come Down
37. The Knife - Silent Shout
38. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (mehh)
39. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
40. Ryan Adams - Gold
41. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
42. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (YEAHHH :D ezra koenig is love)
43. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
44. Outkast - Loveboxxx/The Love Below (lol finally another hip hop album. one of Outkast's better ones..since they each did their own thang. I prefer Andre 3000, anyday)
45. Avalanches - Since I Left You
46. Delgados - The Great Eastern
47. Brendan Benson - Lapalco
48. Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
49. Muse - Absolution (i take GREAT offense at this. This is the album with fking T.I.R.O, Stockholm Syndrome, Hysteria and Butterflies and Hurricanes on it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME that this is not top 10, i mean, top FIVE?!?)
50. MIA - Arular (REPREZENTTT :D this is a masterpiece, in my not so humble opinion. I still remember paying my $27 for it when HMV at the Heeren still had it's urban section. It was a few days after my birthday, in year 1 of JC. Went home immediately and played it through once and was blown.away. One of my most prized possessions. )

Ok yeah so lists are usually largely inaccurate and not representitive, and no one is ever happy with them. But this is a pretty decent list nonetheless (the less American acts the better :P)

AIYA i'm still miffed about The Strokes taking top spot...would've prefered if it'd gone to the Monkeys or to my boys, Muse, yaknowwhatimsayin.

anyway, NME is damn biased and they're sellouts, and they probably rigged the list, but they're still an authority on music and I'd still read the mag. So there.

if only you could see me now

Really, there is only so much "ironic juxtaposition" a term paper can take.
But what am I to do, when there really ARE all these deliberate placements and comparisons (subtle ones too!) in the movie that I'm supposed to be reviewing/analysing?!

Waltz with Bashir. That movie's the subject of my contemplation, as of late.

I'm not condoning warfare, but today I genuinely had to ask myself if there is actually beauty in war, and whether it was poltically correct to say so.

I choose not to use the term glorification of war, instead, "stylised violence"- which is what war films nowadays essentially are.

But for some reason, this one phrase that Big K imparted to us in our final few months of study of literature, keeps resounding in my head. "Only Connect"- as said by E.M. Forster.

Writing this term paper however, has been one of the most organic writing processes I've had since school started. All the other writing I've done so far- academic, journalistic or otherwise- has felt rather forced. There was no natural inclination to push my own boundaries, which I found highly unnerving. Perhaps I let the competition get to me. I've never had to deal with this many other people who want to enter the same profession, and have followed similar "writing paths" as me before (wrt writing experience and engagement with publications).

Case in point- I haven't been blogging here either! Cos I haven't felt inspired enough, really. To put it in prose. I put it in tweets instead (omg what a sellout. i know right.)

But this term paper exercise, has got me back to my comfort zone almost. I'm not trying to impress anybody but myself. I want this to be a solid piece of work, unlike the rubbish I've been producing for school assignments prior to this. (well not always rubbish- sometimes I think I've done a decent job, but then having a tutor with a vendetta against you is not always advantageous. Apparently, she's always picked on the indians, cos she wants to see us do well. But all she's achieved with me is demoralisation- is there such a word- and an unspeakable desire for vindication. She has made me doubt my own abilities, deliberately might I add, and I will never forget her for that. I might not even forgive her.)

I'm even giving up deepavali visiting to do it. That's how much "in the zone" I am with this piece. I've missed this feeling, cos honestly, it doesn't always happen. And there's been a dry spell for the past 10 weeks.

I think I might be giving up deepavali visiting for other reasons as well. I don't care much for getting dressed up today, THOUGH i've been ITCHING to go out all week. To party, not to stuff my face with goodies and mingle with people. One of those anti-social days, yknow? Either way, there's a party at the Indian Association that we gotta attend tmr- which'll be more worth my while I think. Plus I get to lay eyes and walk on the beloved cricket pitch at the IA I once played on as a 17-year-old.

I'm fully aware how badly this is reflecting on me as a filial daughter for not making obligatory appearances at relatives houses. I never resented doing that before- why now?
Maybe cos I don't care anymore. I've become a cynic, and a prat. A cynical prat.

But this too shall pass.

I didn't respect Lady Gaga as an artist until I saw this.
Watch it quick before it's taken down!





Is it me or is there a lot of New York-centric music coming out recently? That's inaccurate, there has been New York-centric music for decades now, expressing nothing but love, really, for the Big City. The big city and it's big dreamers. The land of opportunity. New Yawk.

I need to see it for myself. Newark airport doesn't count :P

It feels damn good to be part of a team again.
A sports team. Softball, for my hall.

I can't tell if it's the exercise/pain or the endorphins that I'm addicted to. OK addicted is a strong word, but it's close enough!

The cricket training I've had helps me out in fielding and throwing..BUT, sometimes I start throwing downwards like I would when bowling a cricket ball, which you're NOT supposed to do in softball. Haha that's when I get Oi-ed at, in a playful way of course, and I literally knock it into my head to remember not to do it the next time. Frustrated lah! When I lapse into simple, stupid mistakes. Then again, this is only session number 3 :P And when fielding, I have to be conscious of the fact that I've a new appendage of sorts- a catcher's mitt. What I don't understand is that even with a bigger target (a softball is bigger than a cricket ball) and a slower pitching rate and a bloody glove to catch the thing, I'm still fumbling!! ALKSHAK:JSA:SAGSLA.

Batting on the other hand, is going much better. Golf is helping with this one haha- Where you're supposed to impact the ball, where the wrist breaks, the follow through..is all the same. Yeah Cheryl (my neighbour) was right- I'm a ball and bat person. I was rubbish at even throwing the frisbee that she'd brought along to training (lol don't ask me why she had one on hand). Now I just have to practice finding the sweet spot and pulling off the softball equivalent of fours and sixers. Actually, come to think of it, in slow pitch games, a pull shot (i dunno what it's called in softballing terms)-one that you hit hard n low, which makes it run on the ground- would be the
most effective type of shot. But nothing beats the satisfaction of hearing the ball thwack off the bat at the sweet spot- oh man, still gives me shivers. D, you know what I'm talkin about.

I remember when we played softball for PE in JC, yj and I would talk tactics and batting order during every session...especially if we were playing against A7. And you know how yj talks with his hands? Floppy arms and expressive fingers hahah. It was bloody competitive when we played on different teams. Tennis boys (joe included), tennis girl (stace), consummate sportsman (tuan),cricket girl, BRING IT ON BITCHESS!! i think we still lost to A7 lah :P :P

I must say, BenSoh was a good teacher when it came to softball though. A lot of the things he taught us have come in handy- BenSoh and that pro softballer fella we got as our sidekick PE teacher. Stance, batting technique, not so much fielding lah- that's a whole different ball game (excuse the pun). This was FATED I tell you!

Now, I just have to get my teammates to get my name right. Cos it's kinda dumbass when you're calling for the ball, or you're signalling someone during play, and you can't remember/pronounce your teammate's name- what's new *rolls eyes*. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.

we will be victorious

The Boys Are Back In Town...
May be a song by Thin Lizzy, but it is most appropriate to herald the return of the kickassest three-piece band of the 21st Century. Do not question it.

here they are KILLING IT on Jools Holland

Uprising:




United States of Eurasia:
which is STUNNING live, as well. even though it sounds far too complex to reproduce on the album.

I am BellamyGirl89, dontchoo forget that.

Depeche Mode..I mean, Muse. :P jk jk.
performing the fking ACE new track off The Resistance called "Undisclosed Desires"- easily my favourite, on my first listen through the entire album. Matt Bellamy with a Keytar. what more reason do you need to watch this video. just click play already.





I've been waiting for this damn album for a good THREE YEARS. Now that it's here..with all the hype that was built up about it, with Zane Lowe (the authority on music in general, imho. i trust his taste, i really do. though i don't always agree with it) describing the album as "A beautifully recorded, strong, sweeping, fighting, uplifting, rocking, and inclusive record about love."

I pretty much AGREE WITH HIM.
Though I'll do a proper review once I get my hands on the CD proper and listen to it a gabillionjillion times. It's my Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends of 2009, I can feel it already.

Which reminds me, I haven't listened to the 5-hour Muse Night special yet. OOPS. Why do I get the feeling that Zane will absolutely love this track as well? haha

AND AND..there's so much of a classical influence, Case in point: a three- part, count em, THREE part symphony at the end of the album. Absofuckinglutely floored by the gloriousness of "Exogenesis" and all its grandiose orchestral sounds. LOVE.

LOVVEEEE.

K I'll save it for now.

BFF

I am telling you now.

I'm going to be miserable, absolutely miserable from tmr night onwards.

Mmm whatcha say, Mmm that you only meant well?

We went bowling on National Day.

The kids were fascinated by the scoring system..even at the tender age of 6, Ishani was questioning why the score additions were not uniformly incremental- if you got a strike or a consecutive spares. Hell, even I don't know how it works. I just play to win :P

But yeah, definitely my fave niece.
(L-R) Ishani, Harini.

sunk in

The stunning, stunning Audi r8.

If only you could hear it as well.

I took this last night, while on the drive back from an interview with a civil servant for my media writing mod.

I believe the point of the exercise was to get field experience..and go through the trouble of securing an interview with people with gahmen jobs (it's harder than it looks, trust me), and deal with setbacks, and churn out concise, balanced work within a short timeframe. Whether the final piece is up to standard or not is another question, but if you happen to be the one whose name your tutor remembers and likes to pick on, you'd better damn well do a good job.

i don't really know who this person is, nor why she's pretending to be a singer

Anderson Cooper totally slagging off Heidi Montag




ROFLMAO.
Heidi got served.

I had no clue AC was so catty! But he told it like it iz, yo!
I can't stand heidi, OR spencer BRATT for that matter..they actually deserve to be shot. I'm sure you would agree with me on this if you also watch "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here"/ The Hills. (before you judge, come now. i need my share of mindless telly as well, no? this one takes the cake lah.)

ok back to the nastiness that is Speidi. They're so atrocious, they've been banned from E!. HAHAHAHAH. I'm not kidding you. Back in the day when I'd the time to watch e! news regularly, I clearly remember Seacrest putting it to a poll and asking viewers to vote on whether the couple should be banned or not. The public spoke, and we are all the better for it.

Unfortunately, these fools find nooks and crannies and keep themselves in the spotlight.
You know what?
fug it. i'm doing my term paper on Speidi..purely cos they're a fascinating case study in answering the question of the role of celebrities. and in doing so,I will unwittingly have perpetuated the spread of Speidi in my own small way.

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!

ready for the weekend

this is serisously TOO. COOL.
Calvin Harris you are my hero.

AND i frickin love this song..PIANO :D hehe

Ganesha aka Vinayagar aka Ganapathy aka Pillaiyar- is one of my favourite gods I have images of him in my room, that I wake up to every morning. There's a statue of him, much like the one in the pic, on top of my stereo. There's a lovely mother-of-pearl inlaid mahogany flat portrait of him at the front of the house, at the top of the main wall facing the front door..can't miss it. There's a minute ganesha statue just below the speedometer of the car, blue-tacked down to keep it secure.

He's a protector and a remover of obstacles..revered, loved, and accessible. The first prayer of a Hindu is usually to him.

Tomorrow it's the Vinayagar Chathurthi..a very auspicious day celebrating the birth of the elephant-headed God.

Every year, my dad's side of the family (the hindu side), has massive prayers at the temple. Every one makes an effort to turn up cos you can't miss this one. My grandparents, as heads of the family, take charge of everything. The daughters and daughters-in-law are expected to turn up the day before to cut vegetables for the massive feast that'll be distrubuted the next day. The men are expected to run alot of errands, getting supplies and ferrying people in cars. The grandkids are expected to set up and serve the food after the prayers. This involves rolling out the mats in the dining hall , laying out the banana leaves for the seated devotees, walking down the line serving the different components of the full vegetarian meal (rice, a variety of vegetable dishes, sambar, yoghurt, vadai and a sweetmeat), topping up the quickly emptied food vessels and of course, clearing away the used banana leaves one by one after the people are done eating and setting up for the next round of people. It runs like clockwork, and it's exhausting. But this is our duty to the fellow devotees and in a way, it's like serving the community because it's not only family that turns up to be part of the prayers, but complete strangers as well. People usually flock to the temple on an auspicious day, cos they want a piece of the divinity haha.

It's all good.
Share the love.

non entity

weekend update.

it's been a mad first week of school, involving an intense first day full of comms lectures -yeah so what if first week is all the intro lectures? the intro-ing bit doesn't actually last very long. they pretty much got right down to the content and threw us in the deep end haha. welcome to university, the second time round. (yeah, how many people can say that eh? crossing continents in the pursuit of education).

campus is ASIAN, humid and full of steps. i am going to comprain comprain and comprain summore, i don't care. garden campus is a pretty way of saying that it's right smack in the middle of the jungle haha. got a sweet deal hall-wise, except for the roomie from hell (actually she's from Uttarkhand) and I have nothing nice to say about her so I won't say anything at all- unless you meet me in person- then you will get an ear-pummeling, from the diatribe I aim in her general direction, about her.

my coursemates speak lovely english. it literally makes me float with happiness, cos i've been in a system of schools (not SA of course, SA was decent. or rosyth for that matter. people spoke good english in rosyth. ok so that leaves A.S.S) where they've absolutely mauled the english language with inability to construct grammatically-sound sentences. "We rox", for instance, was a common fixture of A.S.S table vandalism. yeah, bad english affects me. deeply. i do not claim to be a grammar nazi (look at my posts..i don't capitalise where i'm supposed to, and i don't spellcheck and *shockhorror* i use sms-language) nor a particularly pedantic person (neurotic, more like. :P shadup, all of you who're sniggering)

not only is their english good (what else do you expect silly, you're in a communications course?!) they're caring, accepting and such warm people as well! and some of em are hilarious :) they've made me feel so comfortable. we even have a routine, some of us, since we're in the same hall. We all have the same 9am classes (pre-assigned modules), so we meet for breakfast at 8 at our hall canteen, Golden Spoon (yes that's the name of the place lol), have our breakkie then head off to school via shuttle bus together. we sit in the LT together as well (so cliquish ah? but it doesn't feel cliquish, it's more like camaraderie- from knowing that you're with likeminded people who're in the same situation as you are. you stick together, but there're no obligations.)

it's going swimmingly for now.

other than that, this is probably the first time in a long time that i haven't been for this many gigs. and they were all within reach- i had people to go with, i had the funds, i had the time- but i just didn't go. i'm still trying to figure out why, but it's not affected me that much, really. i don't feel a deep sense of regret.

except for NIN. i might've just missed out on something massive. When i was in Sydney earlier this year, I remember one time I was waiting to cross the road outside uni, and there was this chap with the NIN tour shirt on standing in front of me, and I was throughly impressed. phwaor. in that instant, i decided that if NIN came to singapore, i'd go. I even remember telling Pre about this.

but eventually I didn't go. hmmm. something's not working up there in my head.

this is one of the songs I really wanted to hear. "Wish".
It's mostly one of my favourites cos I was so floored when Linkin Park did a cover of this song at their 2004 gig at the Padang. I was like, "FK, NINE INCH NAILS! aaahhhhhhh!!!!", cos i totally wasn't expecting it. Have I mentioned, Linkin Park was the first ever band that I watched live in concert. That I went with my friends..without parental/cousin-al guidance. so yeah, that was a milestone for me :)





at least i got to experience a teeny bit of the Lady Gaga concert though, albeit in a less than favourable but terribly stealthy and unconventional way. Lol. I exaggerate. ven and ken, you guys are LOVE.

would've liked to have been at Keane, but I dunno, I'd rather see them in a festival lineup, though i DO adore their songs. just not enough adoration, i guess.

BUT, not to worry. there will be other opportunities soon..VERY soon.

A thousand butterflies, your lips to mine

my pick for summer song. it's absolutely LOVELY.



I never knew Ed's eyes were that...blue! hahah..and i love the way he dances. that's freedom of expression right there. it doesn't look in the least silly when he moves like that, imho. but that judgement is reserved for him alone :P

i loved his shirt and how the sleeves are rolled up really high (he seems to always wear his shirts like that), his sand-coloured oxfords (boat shoes would've been more appropriate for the theme haha). I loved the dancers' billowy outifts in that amazing spectrum of rich colours. I loved the Venetian masks they had on..such a festive vibe that added to the already Carnivale rhythm :) most of all I loved the starkness of the aquamarine background and the sparse gravelly foreground.

i love how BRIGHT it is lah :D *insert smileys galoreeee*

without you it's a waste of time

JT. Third kit. Welllll fit ;)

i really like this one..i might get it!

aaaand,

Schumi returning to F1 is the best news EVAARRR!!! :D :D my F1 hero! the reason why I started watching F1! i hope he still has it :P

Aanddd this as well!

finally, a youtube version of the vid for Strawberry Swing by Coldplay. I promise you, it's one of the coolest and brilliantest videos you're ever gonna see. no really, just watch it. and in high def cos it's stunning that way. and yes, that was all drawn on the floor in chalk a la Art Attack (thanks ven ;) ), and done frame by frame.
plus, Chris is in two-toned, split down the middle, red and blue high tops (today has been a rather Converse day, eh ven?). WIN. my fave bit is him tip toe-ing *grin* the bit that makes my heart fill with the warmth that only coldplay brings though, is the confetti butterflies explosion. So many lovely memories...of blissful times.

but i hope the vid doesn't distract you from the song itself! one of the most beautiful off VVLODAHF. the kind of song you need to savour via sennheiser headphones/ at least noise cancellation ones/ alternatively, a silent room and earphones and this track on your ipod (or music device of choice. let's be inclusive about this). let the acoustics wash over you as the track's layers build and you are taken to a higher place. side effects include tapping your feet involuntarily and an unanticipated but barely noticeable smile forming on your face.