Color Me Red, Please

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: Stadium Arcadium
Producer: Rick Rubin
Album Length 2:02:41
Release Date: 5 May 2006
Country: United States of America
Genre: Alternative, Rock
Band Members:
Flea - Bass/Trumpet
John Frusciante - Guitar/Background Vocals
Anthony Kiedis - Vocals
Chad Smith - Drums


Disc One: Jupiter
1. Dani California
2. Snow (Hey Oh)
3. Charlie
4. Stadium Arcadium
5. Hump De Bump
6. She's Only 18
7. Slow Cheetah
8. Torture Me
9. Strip My Mind
10. Especially In Michigan
11. Warlocks
12. C'mon Girl
13. Wet Sand
14. Hey

Disc Two: Mars
1. Desecration Smile
2. Tell Me Baby
3. Hard To Concentrate
4. 21st Century
5. She Looks To Me
6. Readymade
7. If
8. Make You Feel Better
9. Animal Bar
10. So Much I
11. Storm In A Teacup
12. We Believe
13. Turn It Again
14. Death Of A Martian

When Foo Fighters released In Your Honor in 2005, a double disc album - I thought it sucked. Mainly because they tried too hard, and after the first few songs, the album starting to sound too blatant. Every song sound the same, a repetition it's almost like they have recorded a bunch a song, and decided to put it in one album, without filtering out the bad ones, and hence a mundane record. Sorry, sometimes double-album just doesn't do it for me, and the conclusion I have is - don't make a double album unless you can fill the two album with good songs.

Unlike the Foo Fighters or any other double album out there, Red Hot Chili Peppers pulls it off with their most ambitious work yet of their twenty-three-career, Stadium Arcadium, the twenty-eight-song-double disc extravaganza - their most accomplished follow-up to their California recordings.

It's not hard to understand their intention with Stadium Arcadium. Red Hot Chili Peppers have come a long way to reach their status today. When formed in 1983, Red Hot Chili Peppers were a Hollywood band, and after releasing their first 4 miserable album, theme revolves around hard drugs and pathetic sex accompanied by utter chaos and tuneless vocals of Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers were not million-copies-selling material. Following the death of their funding guitarist, Hillel Slovak, found overdosed in 1988, they traded their Hollywood dreams for the California dream. It was in 1991, they released Blood, Sex, Sugar, Magik under the producer Rick Rubin, the Chilis finally immersed from under the bridge to mainstream market. Gone are the days of socks hanging on their willies, Red Hot Chili Peppers work their way to a define their music, and finally succeded in 1999's Californication, making them the household name in United States. By 2002's By The Way, they already conquered the world selling millions of copies, picture one in every 35 Brittons own a copy of By The Way. And their latest release, Stadium Arcadium is their attempt to consolidate everthing they have done in the last decade, from Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik to Californication to By The Way. Produced by same longtime Red Hot Chili Peppers producer, Rick Rubin, Stadium Arcadium spread out over two hours of joyful listening pleasure of two disc, first named "Jupiter" and the second named "Mars", which each contains 14 songs. This album is a testament of what they do best; a psychedelic mix of spacial guitar-bass breaks with funky and physical arrangements that boost every track so effortlessly.

Much of the credit for this album's success goes to guitarist John Frusciante. Since being told by Kiedis "clean it up, Johnny," and making a come back in Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers took a new turn in their music path, and in Stadium Arcadium we finally see them in full bloom, and noticed spotlight shifted from lead singer Anthony Kiedis, to John Fruschiante. If anyone loved the almost orgasmic solo by John Frusciante in "Scar Tissue", "Otherside" and "Californication", be prepared to hear the even more orgasmic solo in Stadium Arcadium, thanks to the brilliant arrangement, Frusciante was given a slot to showcase his talent in almost every single track. In fact it's not too exaggerating to dub John Frusciante the best living guitarist, because he is simply a genius. From near-fatal drug addiction to rehab and to the hero in Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante finally able to redeem his spot as a guitar master, and he just can't wait to do it. In the opening track, "Dani California", he showed off his talent with the amazing Jimi Hendrix guitar solo style and then did it again in "Wet Sand". His beautiful and immaculate style creates a new depth and dimention to each track, and hence producing the complete, almost perfect Stadium Arcadium.

Of course, Red Hot Chili Peppers are a true band, where everyone plays their part, and no one is ever replaceable. Bassist, Flea, regarded as one of the world's best bassist is in full bloom too, totally taking control of the mostly bass-driven "Tell My Baby" then moving to the funky-franting-popping bass in "Toture Me" and "21st Century" it's a true joy for the listeners. And then there's Kiedis, the lead vocal showing versality throughout the album, from singing with shouting and slurring to his original roots of rap-rock, he embrance each track and layer them with his deep emotions. And last but not least the drummer Chad Smith, beating the drum hard core like there is no tomorrow, creating head-phone candy arrangements that the listener could only enjoy with a pair of high-end headphone, or a sub-woofer.

Now lets start with the content, Disc 1 dubbed Jupiter is unquestionably the side that contain most of the best songs, and I bet most of the singles would've came off Jupiter. Dani the girl.. (By The Way) appeared for the third time in "Dani California", the opening track, also the first single of this album, is probably the popest, and catchiest song in Stadium Arcardium and sure to be another summer anthem. "Charlie" is another powerful gem, starting with monochromatic guitar breaks, and suddenly bursts into the crazy falsetto harmonies of Frusciante's guitar solo. Glimpses of By The Way and Californication influence is evident in the rather mid-tempo tracks "Slow Cheetah", "Strip My Mind" and "Wet Sands" which are equally infectious on it's own way. Omar Rodriguez of Mars Volta made a guest-appeareance on "Especially In Michigan" playing the solo, apparently because John Frusciante appaeared on one of the track in Mars Volta's debut album, De-Loused In Comatorium.

Moving on to Disc 2, the one called Mars, presumably because it's a bit further, and hence harder to reach. While I haven't throughly listened to Mars, there are some worth mentioning highlights include "Desecration Smile", which retains the feeling of "Scar Tissue" and "Californication". "Turn It Again" is a perfect blend of the four-piece, with the spatial bass breaks of Flea, the yearning vocal of Keidis and finally ends with the almost two-minute intricate-final-crushing-mind-blowing guitar solo of Frusciante, this is one of the true gem in the album. Finally, the Chilis experimented a little in "Death of A Martian", the closing track for Stadium Arcadium, revealing the softer side of Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the almost psychedelic bass chanting alongside with Keidi's vocal.

Stadium Arcadium would probably recieve two extreme critique, either very good, or mediocre. For die hard Red Hot Chili Pepper's fans, Stadium Arcadium could probably be their best album to date. For Red Hot Chili Peppers dummies, this album would probably be the best to summarize their musical journeys in twenty three years, and for strict music critics, they would probably think Red Hot Chili Peppers played it way too safe and stayed in their comfort zone. Nothing groundbreaking. Some might say the Chilis could have done better if they narrowed down to few good tracks and working on the strong points instead of working with mere 30 songs and produced a 28 track album. Where I am neither of those, I think Stadium Arcadium is neither about making statement, or breakthrough. Stadium Arcadium is Red Hot Chili Peppers at their top of their game, at their state of total indulgement and freedom, almost like their California-dreams-came-true-moment. Out of 28 tracks of Stadium Arcadium, there are at least 14 stand-out singles, while more songs could possibly grow on the listener, Stadium Arcadium is the 21st century's answer to the period of Queen, Led Zeppelin and Guns 'n' Roses. Stadium Arcadium is an epic.

Beaker's Verdict: A+

Trivia; Stadium Arcadium sold 442,000 units in its first week of release in the U.S alone (2002's By The Way sold 282,000 copies in its first week), and after it's first week of release, it sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Currently Stadium Arcadium topped album sales chart in 24 different countries, making it their most successful album to-date.

Feelin' Rather Ripped

I remembered I picked up Da Vinci Code back in mid 2004 when I was in Wellington. Before that, I have no idea what the book is about. The cover looked boring, and all I know is that I remember seeing it on top of every best-seller shelf every bookstore I went. I found myself picked up the book and read the plot summary on the back cover. What's the fuss? It's just another fiction, but I bought it anyway because I have a 12 hour train ride for me to read when I leave Wellington 4 days later. As soon as I start reading, holy oh my god, it's like so so interesting, I mean,... well anyway, I ended up staying up late, finishing the book in 3 days, because I was simply too obsessed with it and I don't even want to put it down because I just had to know what happened next.

So after almost two years waiting for the movie to hit the big screen, it comfirmed the exciment as well as my fear; it did not live up to my expectation. What I find amusing about the original fiction is that it is so full of adventure and the detailed description of how the codes are being cracked, and how Dan Brown has so richly potrayed each character in the book. And these are exactly what the movie lacks of. Picture this, Ron Howard decided to take the 400 pages book to a butcher shop and had it chopped to pieces. "Wait a minute, how about Leornado DaVinci? I can't possibly butcher him man," says the butcher, and Ron Howard would reply "Don't worry about that, I am sure my viewers had read the book with all the reference books available out there". The movie fails because it left out the most interesting thing the book offered; the meanings behind Da Vinci's work, and the mythologycal background associated with the master himself. Having said that doesn't mean Ron Howard (or the writer for that matter) disrespected the book. They probably have too much respect for it to follow it so faithfully that the movie had to have everything that was mentioned in the book, and that is the reason why it loses so much vital information. For those who went to Venus for vactions, ie, those who had not read the book, they would either find the movie amusing because they don't have the expectation/pressure after having read the book; or totally hated it because they have no fucking clue to what is going on in the movie. Holy Grail? Mary Magdelene? Jesus's Wife? WTF????????? I mean how could a movie that provide so many clues could remain entirely cluesless? Are the viewers supposed to crack the Da Vinci Code themselves? I don't think so.

** Warning: Spoiler Ahead**

So to elaborate where I am coming from, first of, when Langon arrived at the magnificient Lourve, Captain Bezu mentioned about the mysterious 666 pieces of glass used to construct the glass pyramid. Great piece of information huh, probably too great to elaborate further, Langdon rushed to the crime scene where the Lourve curator Jacques Sauniere was killed and had left a weirdshit symbol on his body, some absurd numbers, and some nonsence clues on the floor. Immediately, Sophie came into play and says "It's fibonacci sequence". Then come Robert Langdon, who happened to have just read "O Draconian Devil" written on the floor concluded "it's anagram" and so clever-ly rearranged to word and BANG! "Leornado Da Vinci!!" . So, wow, Fibonacci huh, Anagram huh? Cool, now let's assume that Fibonacci and Anagram has to do with Leornado, so why not go and have a look at the Mona Lisa for some clue? Hmm, probably not, it's just a painting, well, let's move on to the Madonna of the Rocks. Nothing, oh ah, the police is chasing us, we'd better flee the Lourve.

Run Run. Que. Opus Dei, Opus Dei and Opus Dei. Cool. Before the viewer even know what Opus Dei is, comes the death. Well it doesn't take Pentium 4 to process it. It's some religious extremist because where there is Opus Dei, sure we expect to see death. Hmm, wait a minute, what the hell is the thing Silas is wearing? Oh why is he beating himself up? Oh hang on, what does it have to do with Leronado DaVinci then? Pick up a book or maybe sit in the cinema for mere 120 minutes before the movie finally revealed that Opus Dei, is actually an extrimist sect of Catholic and that Silas is actually cleansing his daily sin with those bondage looking tools.

Another problem with the movie is how the characters are being potrayed. I certainly do not question Tom Hanks's (or Audery Tautou) ability to act and I think they suit the characters just fine. But watching the movie, I can't help but to feel an utter disguist to the poor character development and the zero chemistry between them. The plot is not driven by it's character but by the over fast-paced need to find a solution, moving quickly from one scene to another resulting a painfully blatant presonality. But I do praise Ian McKellen for playing the character Leigh Teabing. He is the only character in the movie that actually performed better than what the book described.

Last but not least, I also have problem with the flashbacks to ancient biblical and medieval historical religious wars in the Holy Land and Europe. C'mon, what are you thinking, they look like pieces taken from Kingdom of Heaven oh-my-god. I did expect these flashback and was actually pretty excited as how it will be done in the movie. However, what I did not expect is how poorly it's done. It was just seconds of glimpses accompanied by Robert Langdon's speech about the history, and trust me it's really not convincing at all.

Anyway, this movie is neither bad or good, it's like a religion. Either believe it or not. Watch it and decide for yourself

I Am Confused.

So Rei and I are going to watch Da Vince Code on Saturday since everyone else who is doing design is kinda stressed the hell out of themselves, I am rather excited. It has been released today, which makes NZ first country in the world to premier the movie. However, I checked on rottentomato.com, 24 reviews has been officially posted and 19 out of 24 says the movie sucked. So what the hell? I am confused, will the movie actuall kill the book? Or maybe because people just hated the book because all the fuss it has been getting lately. I am still excited.

想起聽王菲的日子.

無常
曲/詞﹕王菲

夜風微涼
樹搖月晃
雲兒在飛
我在想
水流
花兒香
一片夜色放心上
喜中帶憂
暗中有光
怎麼度
怎麼量
田野
山崗
美麗之下的淒涼
無常
你看那山色湖光
你看那藍天白楊
看不到一絲渺茫
你再看海天碧浪
你再看晚霞曙光
禁不住匆匆忙忙
把希望留給失望

浮躁專輯(1996)

A Little Indie and A Little Metal

Album: Grand Unification
Artist: Fightstar
Release Date: 06 March 2006
Genre: Emo-rock, Metal
Country: London, United Kingdom
Band Members:
Alex Westaway (vocals, guitar)
Charlie Simpson (vocals, guitar)
Dan Haigh (bass)
Omar Abidi (drums)

Fightstar is a rather interesting band. If you have heard of Busted,the teen-pop band and totally hated it, there'd probably be a prejudice about this band because Charlie Simpson used to be in Busted. But then I didn't know when I listened to Grand Unification, and only to found out soon after it. Lucky that I didn't, I find this album surprisingly pleasant. I was mostly intrigued by the album artwork, provoking a sense of doom, dark and mysterious, so as the album.Listening to this album is like being educated in Fightstar's own theories, from opening interlude To Sleep to closing track, Wake Up, Grand Unification is a pretty consistent album which is why it is pleasant. Though it lacks of surprising moments, this album has it's own hiddem gem. Waste a Moment and Open Your Eyes are infectious in it's own way while Grand Unification Part 2 is the song that shows Fightstar's strength, from the message it's trying to say to how they uniquely presented the song. Perhaps Busted would be the reason that killed the hype Fightstar should be getting. Grand Unification is definetly not a masterclass release, moderate at it's best but other than that, the album is very successful in creating the mood for listeners, totally transform the listener into their Grand Unification project. From start to end, this album is worth a listen.
:: Beaker's Verdict: B-


Album: As Fas As The Eyes Can See
Artist: People In Planes
Release Date: 28 March 2006
Genre: Indie-rock
Country: Cardiff, United Kingdom
Band Members:
Gareth Jones (vocals)
Peter Roberts (guitar)
Kris Blight (bass)
John Maloney (drums)
Ian Russell (keyboard)

As Far As The Eyes Can See is one of my favourite album so far in 2006. From Cardiff, UK, People In Plane's debut album is an unique indie album that has been much under-rated. Generally, people can say this is an indie album but really, there are several noticeable genres in this album that it's much more than indie. And this is why this album is so brilliant. Their ability to blend their musical instruments with their vocal perfomance to create songs heavy with atmosphere and complex with melodies is where they come out different than any other indie bands. As Far As.. is a good album full of hidden gems, and the listener would be surprised to find out what the album has to offer songs after songs. The highlight of the album would probably Token Trapped Women, from the words to the guitar riffs to the vocals, this song is a almost a perfection. Falling by the Wayside is also another gem. The vocal performance was stunning accompanied by dark atmospheric slow acoustic guitar riffs. "I'm losing control, falling by the wayside, I'm losing control, falling by the way side.." there is just something painful and gloomy about the way he sings it. Fire would be my ultimate favourite of this album, it's slow and it's dark, the lyrics are brilliant. "The flower grieves the wall..." a sorrow way to kick off the song, and slowly, infecting my ears and then my mood. It's almost like I could feel the pain of the song. Closing track, Narcoleptic is their most ambitious attempt on this album, a blend of blues and rock, this song is unique at it's own right. This album by comparion, quality wise, is a very close follow-up to 2005's The National's third album, Alligator which was also no.3 in my 2005 favourite albums. It's very mood manipulating, and most importantly, People In Planes does not sound like any other bands out there. They've created an album that is pretty honest to themself, as well as to the listeners.

::Beaker's Verdict: A+

Album: Murder Nature
Artist: Head Control System
Release Date: 04 April 2006
Genre: Experimental, Metal
Country: Portugal, Norway
Band Members:
Daniel Cardoso
Kristoffer G. Rygg

I am pretty unfamiliar with heavy metal genre so I don't really know what makes up of this album to be considered as good. I was simply attracted to the title: Murder Nature and hence made an effort to listen to it, and really I quite like it. It's just my instinct that I think this album is pretty good. Kill Me, Rapid Eye Movement and It Hurt are some of my favourites.

::Beaker's Verdict: B

Comfort of Friends

I have a big fucking family - on it's 4th generation of Lim. The oldest in my family is of course my grandmother (Grandpa died before I was borned). I have 3 uncles, 8 aunts and more than 30 cousins. See that's fucked-up factor one. Then, I am the fucking asian which made it fucked-up factor number two. Having said that, asian families are generally fucked up, purely because being asian means holding on to the asian traditional values.

The word family scares me for some reason which I can't quite put it to words. And honest to god I hate it. My family is basically a big fucking drama, just like those prime time soap opera. See, the problem with having a big family is that there are too many people you have to answer to. When something happened, the phone just wouldnt stop ringing, one by one calling just had to know what happened. The words travel fast, and in almost every single case, the story will lost in translation, form bad to worst. Then comes the part everybody love to watch, the blaming game; you blame me, I blames you, she blames her and he blames him. Then after everyone had done some blaming and been blamed, there comes the cold war of prying eyes. They start to talk about you in your back, smile when they see you, then talk about you again. It's almost like it's never going to end.

For me, relying on your family is like walking into a lion's den and being eaten alive. I don't trust my family (again, except my actual family - mum dad bro sis) and I fucking hate them. They just simple don't fucking understand, and I am so fade up of living up to their expectations. I mean, they treat me like I am a fucking dream factory, like I can manufacture dreams for every single one of them, but sorry I am not. When I first told them I wanted to do architecture, non of them said anything (or perhaps they did behind my back) but if I were doing engineering or medicine, I'd probably be the star of the family. I don't know how they could produce so much disguist towards architecture. My uncle was like "Why can't you study architecture by yourself? A lot of architects don't go to university. You can just get books and study it. But it's different with engineering because it is so much harder and you have to go to university" (BTW he's an engineer and a fucking prick) I felt insulted and I felt like spitting on his face. One of my cousin is actually doing bio med, and I think they have no idea what that means and I suppose they assume it must be something bravo like doctor and guess what, they think she is fucking brainy. Why are they so fucking naive. Why are they so shallow. They're adults and they are supposed to know better than me, but obviously they didn't.

Words travel fast in my family, secret leaks and gossips travels. I know my aunts are saying that I am useless because I spent so much money studying architecture, almost spending all of my parents money. Somehow the words got to my mum and she was upset, and I felt guilty. One thing if they talk about me and just me, but I hate it when they talk about my mum. We are a fucking family for fucks sake and this is what it is being a family, talking shits about each other. Fuck them. When I got awards and shits, they didn't even care. All they see is the bad side. Like me smoking, big fucking deal. It's almost like 7 out of 10 architecture students are smoker. Then of course fucking naive old asian cunt, once they thought of cigaretts, instantly, they will relate it to drugs. Yes, they think I am doing drugs and so so so much more it's take me the whole day to list it out. Point is, in my life, I have been trying so hard, so hard to prove that I am not useless. I force myself to indulge in studies and get results and graduate but do they even care? No they don't. All they care is how bad things look and just how good they are at making things look even worst.

That is why, I find comfort from my friends. I am lucky because whether I am back home in M'sia or New Zealand, I have friends that I could find comfort from. People who don't judge me, people who accept me as it, and had never expected anything out of me or the friendship.

Few nights ago, I was having a conversation with Sajeev and Muy in the studio about this particular topic. I don't know how we even go to this conversation but just like me, they are having the same issues with their family, and we came to the conclusion that we are asians and that asians family are fucked up. Life is an utter chaos, I am fucked up, my family is fucked up but it's not the end of the world because I am not alone. Just like Sajeev said "You have to take control of your life". Yes, it's cliche but it's working. For now I manage to convince myself not to give a shit what my family have to say, and I want nothing to do with them, ever. I am taking control of my destiny, not them.


Meanwhile, I really wanna see Rooney playing in World Cup. Fuck Chelsea.

Autumn ' 06

: : : Life is beautiful when you guys are around.

I Wish I Knew How To Quit You

I have four reasons to be upset tonight;

1.I am leaving Miri today,
2.I am leaving my family, again.
3.I am leaving my friends, again.
4.I am going back to live my shithole life in Auckland. AGAIN.

And yet I have hundreds of reason why I shouldn't be.

Almost 4 months back home, almost everything has been strangely fine. Everything I needed, family, friends, cheap cigs, cheap movies, and ASTRO. I like it when I lose track of what day it is, I enjoy just talking to my friends, I enjoy catching live Manchester United matches with my friends, I enjoy having a car to drive and knock down a lakia motorcyclist. But yet, the feeling of loosing these things is just too hard to comprehend. I know it's not the first time, and I should've get used to feeling this way by now but truth is I'm not. I'm feeling even worst now than it was last year to begin with. I am just human, and it'd be weird if I hasn't felt anything at all because it has really been a ride for me, emotionally. I don't know why this thing is affecting me.

Well, actually, I do.

It's because after all this year, these bunch of people I call friends, or to make it cheesy, my brothers has been really really great to me. These bunch of people fits perfectly into one of those cliche "friendsip moments". They're always there when I needed them, they held my hand when I am lost yadda yadda. I can honestly said I have learnt a great deal of stuff from them and their company meant the world to me.

But,

To be honest, I felt our relationship drift apart everytime I came back. It's not between you and me, or him and him. It's like between you and me and him and you and him, like all of us all together. If that make any sense. Everyone goes on with their life, setting their own priorities. But then I am not worried. When I look closer deep down, our bond did grew stronger, maybe not so much on the physical side, but mentally yeah, I'd think so. So many things had happened over the years, from Jeffery's never ending story, to solving everybody's cinta scene, what we been through together is pretty amazing.

It's almost 4am now and I will be leaving in another 10 hours, but I feel like I need to get this off my chest before I go to bed.

I need to gather myself up. I wish leaving could be easier. I wish I don't have anything that's keeping me here. But what I have here is one of the most important thing to me. I felt upset and I am not going to deny it. I am grateful for what you guys have done to accomodate me when I'm back, and likewise, I hope my presence in this few months had meant something to you all.

Bye for now.

Recurring Dreams

"Recurring Dreams"

He has been sitting in the dark all night long,
Looking out at the flickering street lamp down the lifeless street,
He has been wondering how his life would be,
Traveling through this ghost town all alone,
He have been feeling nothing but fear,
Afraid that tomorrow is way too far,
So he lits a cigarette and let it burn,
Because it reminds him of the fire that's still within him.

But they don't believe him,
But they stand in his way,
Veils is all they could see,
Lies is all they could hear,
They throw him with their fabricated dreams,
They drown him with their manufactured accusations,
On and On, they turn their back on him,
On and on, he's sick of trying.

So he crawls into the shadow of doubts,
He dwells in the infinite measure of uncertainties,
Because darkness is all he wanted to see,
Because his heart is all he wanted to hear.
He want to leave everything behind and never return,
Because he thinks everything that mattered has long expired,
But when he lets his soul break free,
He knew that the dream is all he have,
And it's the only thing that is worth holding on to.

So he allow himself to breakdown and cry,
To wash away what he has become,
And when the tears run dry,
He stood up and sought for light,
This is his final waking hour,
He is reaching for the door and walk out from the dark,
He is going to take the wheel and forget his way back,
This is when he understood the meaning of his recurring dreams,
It isn't about the changing lanes of the passing dreams,
It isn't about how many detours along the way,
He is no longer thinking about the shortest possible routes,
He is no longer afraid of being overdue,
All he wanted is to reach and make believe,
Someday, somewhere,
The place only in his dream is just right below his feet.

Bucky Done Gone

American Idol Top 8 Elimination Show
Official Results
Bottom 3: Ace Young, Bucky Covington, Elliot Yamin(wtf!!??)
Eliminated: Bucky Covington & Ace Young

So I am pissed and my annoyance threshold has officially been breached because Elliot was in the bottom 3 again. WTF?, But thank godness, after like 10 weeks overdue, America finally sent Bucky back home. Ace in the bottom three doesn't surprise me and in fact, he will be going home next week. I mean let's face it, I never once watching that show thought Bucky had a great vocal to begin with and Ace is playin the all-American attaboy which it really gross. Honestly though, I am kinda satisfied with the result show tonight because Bucky went home and Ace in the bottom 3. I would be perfect if Chris Daughtry was in the bottom 3 instead of Elliot. Elliot has something almost everyone lacks in the competition, his humble and genuine personality. Unlike Ace who looks like he's pouting and going to throw up everytime Ryan announced the votes. I mean is he really that clueless? He really isn't that great. Or maybe he is just too confident, or maybe he is a fucking great actor, making that silly face trying to win more votes from silly school girls next week. Duh.

This will be the last time I can catch the show live because I am going back into reality, so I'll have to find other resources or just hope Elliot and Katherine did well in it. Honestly, I don't see Elliot or Katherine winning this competitione but I'd be glad if either one of them is actually the American Idol. There will be no reason to watch American idol without them both but there will be a million reason why people should watch if Ace or Chris is not in the competition. After Bucky's gone, Chris will be my next big dislike.

Red is the New Black

:::Rocking your ass May 9th 2006

[Music] The Gathering - Home [2006]

Artist: The Gathering
Album: Home
Genre: Experimental rock,
Release Date: 18 April 2006
Country: Oss, Noord Brabant, Netherlands

Band Members:
Anneke van Giersbergen - Vocals
René Rutten - Guitars
Marjolein Kooijman - Bass
Hans Rutten - Drums
Frank Boeijen - Keyboards
 

Read more »

Arty Beaker

You scored as Art. You should be an Art major! How bohemian! Art 100% English 100% Sociology 92% Dance 83% Philosophy 83% Theater 83% Journalism 83% Linguistics 75% Anthropology 67% Psychology 42% Biology 33% Mathematics 8% Chemistry 8% Engineering 8% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

I got this quiz from Theresa's Blog which is rather interesting.

United 93

This is the controversial official trailer of United 93 (perviously named Flight 93), a real time story of 9/11 event about United Airlines Flight 93 plane, one of four which were doomed that day, and will be the first movie in the history to tackle the 9/11 issue head on. Even after five years, New Yorkers think this movie is too soon that they are not ready to watch this horrible event being portrayed on screen, and many audience found this trailer disturbing. Currently, one movie theater in New York has pulled this trailer off the screen due to complaints by audiences who were shocked to see it. Directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy), United 93 is having its world premiere Apr. 25 as the opening night selection at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival--an event created to help Lower Manhattan recover from the 9/11 attacks--and is scheduled for USA nationwide release on Apr. 28.

[Music] Bands of USA

Album: The Black Magic Show
Artist: Elefant
Release Date: 18 April 2006

Country: New York, USA
Members:
Diego Garcia - Vocal
Mod - Guitar
Jeff James - Bass
Kevin McAdams - Drums

From New York, Elephant delivers The Black Magic Show, their second recording studio album after their debut album Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid in 2003. On fisrt listen, I would've thought this band could have been from Great Britian because they have a more British pop sound then Americans, and The Black Magis Show sounds like a mixture of British bands like Editors, Starsailor, Keane with the ever so haunting gurtar riffs of Interpol. Although The Black Magic Show does not have anything new musically, but it's is a very solid, all round good package for the band. The music are just simply sincere and captivating.
Beaker's Verdict: A


Album: Everything All The Time
Artist: Band Of Horses
Release Date: 21 March 2006

Country: Seattle, USA
Members:
Ben Bridwell - guitar, vocals
Mat Brooke - guitar
Chris Early
Tim Mienig
Joe Narnone

Band of Horses copied My Morning Jacket, their music is entirely unoriginal, but just like Jessica copied Britney, Ashley copied Hillary while Hillary copied Avirl, the only difference is My Morning Jacket is perhaps the good choice to copy while omg-Britney-Jessical-Ashley-Hillary is totally not cool no matter who imitated who. Anyway, point made, Everything All The Time is those album that will eventually grows on you the more you listen to it because it's just the way it is. Some really good songs like The First Song, The Funeral, The Great Salt Lake while other are just ho-hums, not that appealing to me. Suitable for listening on some lazy breezy sunday afternoons, god, that rhymes.
Beaker's Verdict: B+



Album: She Wants Revenge
Artist: She Wants Revenge
Release Date: 31 January 2006

Country: Los Angeles, USA
Members:
Justin Warfield
Adam 12



She Wants Revengs is the latest branch from the Interpol-wannabe family tree, after The Bravery and Editors in 2005, music almost close derivative to Interpol, then the lead vocal Justin Warfield trying sing like the next Paul Banks, and whats even better, they just got their name into the Worst-Band-Name hall of shame. It's harsh I know but it's okay because I totally dig this genre. She Wants Revenge IS the parody of Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights mixed with the Remixed-Antics and if that's not enough, they decided to take it further by adding Spoon's Gimmie Fiction. She Wants Revenge is only good for a certain period and it won't be surprising if it's disposed to the 5 dollar bin next year
Beaker's Verdict: B

Laughter: The Universal Language for Annoyance

Actually I just got back home from a rather horrid movie experience. Well I just watched the supposedly funny Ice Age 2: The Melt Down with couple of my friends and the movie was actually pretty entertaining, I mean it kinda funny, you know, with enough laugh-able moment but apparently for other audience, it was like a like nut-busthin, jaw breaking, salive bursting omg, omg it was sooooooooooooo funny, omg, omg, I can't stop laughing flick. Puh-leeeeeseeee peoples.

Before the movie started, I was like yay Ice Age 2! Ice Age 2!. I was actually pretty excited but somehow, maybe not even more than 20 minutes into the movie, my enthusiasm just slowly dissipates like the melting ice. You see, very unfortunately a bunch of retards people who happened to sit somewhere behind us just couldn't stop laughing and I literally mean they just won't stop laughing. The movie was funny alright, but honest to god I didn't think it was THAT funny to deserve the over-manufactured laughter. Those idiots basically laughed their shits off the entire movie from start to end, well, maybe not the entire movie, I mean how could anyone?, but it was close. Hello? Was my sense of humor not functioning tonight? I don't think so. What really got on my nerves was their never-ending-ever-so-coherent-synchronized-laughing and their ever so permanently surprised by the movie woo-wah sound. For instance, Scrat secene 1 - HAHAHAHA, Scrat scene 2-HAHAHAHA, Scrat scene 3-HAHAHAHA, ice-crackin WOOooOO, Crack the possum - HAHAHAHA, Sid swimming - HAHAHAHA, The fugly alien-crocs - WOOooOO it's almost like the whole think is a joke, uh how pathetic. Seriously, have they never watched any funnies before because everything just seemed so god damn funny to them, or maybe they were just a bunch of clueless error-404-page-not-found nerds who don't get the joke but laughed to everything to save the embarassment for not laughing when the crowd thinks it's funny. Duh peoples, please laugh when it's funny, giggle when it's kinda funny but not really funny or pretend to laugh, but not too loud if you don't get the joke but people around you are laughing and simply just shut the fuck up when no one think it's funny.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry just got waxed.

Joining his brohter at the Madame Tussaud's in London, and man the wax model looked so real. So real!

[Music] The Living End - State of Emergency [2006]

Released: February 4th, 2006 (Australia)
Recorded: 301 Studios in Byron Bay, Australia, 2005
Genre: Punk rock, Rock, Rockabilly
Length: 51m51 s
Label: EMI (2006)
Producer(s): Nick Launay
Members
Chris Cheney- Guitar, Vocals
Scott Owen -Double Bass/Vocals
Andy Strachan -Drums




Ok so here's the deal, we've listen to wannabe rockers from the States like Yellow Card, All-American Rejects and yadda and we've listen to the Brits rocking the same shit since yester-year and now we've got a band from Melbourne trying to brand themselves as the next Greenday. True not. But for now, let us forget about the Americans and the Brits and focus on this Australian product because I personally think that State of Emergency is a very strong release from an Aussie band, mainly because I haven't heard many GOOD Aussie bands, or maybe from what I've heard so far, they bore me to the grave. The Living End are 3 very passionate lads from Melbourne Australia who made this very exciting State of Emergency and the passion is infectious that a listener will listen to the album with full of passion and excitement too.

Now this album is not a very typical generic punk rock album. I'd say its a mixture of both Punk and Indie, which most bands like to do these days. The opening track, 'Till the End is a perfect example to what I said. The song starts off like a live perfomance click-click-click the drumstick, but imediatly flows into spacious guitar breaks and then solo, which is quite breath taking really. The chorus is infectiously energetic 'til the end, 'til the end, although lyrics like "im never gonna give up, not gonna stop till i try, not till i satisfy, till i get what i want, till i get what i need" is kinda cliche sometimes but nevertheless it's a good start for the album.

My favourite song off the album, also the personally I think the best song off the album would have to be Wake Up. The lyrics is not genius but close, "Suicidal Education, it got sold to our generation. Wake up to the Manipulation, Wake up to the Situation"-Attacking the social issues as well as politically ambiguous. Cool not? The sound is catchy from start to finish. The song finishes off with kids chanting at the back, which is pretty cool, a little too serious for me though.

Black Cat is not a great song, neither is a bad song, but why the fuck would I even bother writing about this song? Well it's because approximately 2minutes 35 seconds into the song, I found the rhythm quite similar to one of Franz Ferdinand's song which I can't remember the title because their song just sound just the same to me.

There was one thing I hate about the band, though it has nothing to do with their music. I don't know if it's their idea to imitate Greenday or it was bad marketing. I mean come on, dyed-red hair with spray paint in the hand and red graffiti on the background, this is just so no original.

Nuff said, State of Emergency is pretty amusing to listen to, especially when you need some energy boost or when you're feeling angry, there are some really good songs to sing to. The album is unpretentious and at the same time impressive. This is a brilliant album from the Aussies and a pretty damn good album so far of 2006 too. hmmm...INXS who?

Beaker's Verdict: A-

[Cinema] Rent [2005]

Director: Chris Columbus

Producer: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Robert De Niro

Written by: Jonathan Larson (play)
Steve Chbosky & Chris Columbus (screenplay)

Music by: Jonathan Larson

Starring:
Rosario Dawson
Taye Diggs
Wilson Jermaine Heredia
Jesse L. Martin
Idina Menzel
Adam Pascal
Anthony Rapp
Tracie Thoms


Rent, directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter), is a movie based on award-winning Broadway Musical of the same title. Rent, the musical first opened in New York City on April 29 1996 at the Nederlander Theatre and is the seventh longest running musical in Broadway and had won Tony and the Pulitzer award.

The original idea came from playwright Billy Aronson, who was inspired by Pucini's opera La bohème to create a contemporary musical set in the noise of modern New York. In 1989 Jonathan Larson, a 29-year-old composer, got together with Aronson to swap ideas and Larson came up with the title and suggested downtown New York, where he lived to be the setting. In 1991, he asked Billy if he could use the original concept on which they had collaborated and make Rent his own. Agreement was met.

Jonathan Larson lived for Rent for several years, making several rewrites and changes and writing hundreds of songs for the show- 44 are in the final version. Even as the show solidified, it proved insanely popular. Unfortunately, Larson would not live to see its true success: he died from an undiagnosed aortic dissection in the early morning of January 25, 1996, just a few hours after the musical had its final dress rehearsal at the New York Theatre Workshop; the show was to open that very day.

The show did premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop the very day Jonathan Larson died, January 25, 1996, upon the request of his parents, who were flying in anyway to see the show. That Opening Night show, according to first-hand accounts of cast and audience members, began as a simple sit-down performance, but around the part "La Vie Boheme A", the cast began to do the full performance. It was so popular that a move to Broadway was inevitable; it premiered at the previously-derelict Nederlander Theatre, at the time the only Broadway show south of 42nd Street, on April 29, 1996.

Like the original musical, Rent follows the lives of a handful of New York young astists over the course of a year as they struggle with the purpose of living, housing, relationships, loss, and AIDS.

Characters include Roger, a musician suffering from HIV and recovering from heroin addiction; Mark, a struggling film maker; Maureen, Mark's bisexual performance artist ex-girlfriend; Tom Collins, a teacher at New York University (NYU) who is HIV-positive and a friend and former roommate of Roger and Mark; Angel, Collins' drag queen lover, also HIV-positive and a street percussionist/musician; Benny, an old friend and another former roommate of Mark and Roger who later became their landlord; Mimi, an HIV-positive dancer and heroin junkie; and Joanne, a Harvard-educated lawyer and Maureen's girlfriend.

Production began March 15, 2005. The film's limited release date in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto on November 11, 2005 was cancelled, and the official premiere was at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre on November 17, 2005.

In the 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the character Yitzhak is seen wearing a Rent shirt, and later announces his intention to play Angel in a Polynesian production of Rent. The 2004 movie Team America: World Police included a parody of the musical entitled Lease, the portion depicted in the film being a showy song entitled "Everyone Has AIDS," a parody of the movie's message with the piano bassline of La Vie Boheme.

Many film critics felt the movie had captured the spirit but not the energy of the live show. Others felt that Chris Columbus had not been able to make the show translate well to the screen. There was a feeling among them that Columbus did not understand film musicals as a whole and was not the right person to direct.

Many RENT-HEADS were upset about many of the changes that were made to the film in adapting it from stage. Primarily the biggest complaints were about the cutting of the second two-thirds of "Goodbye Love" and "Halloween", both of which were filmed, and "Contact" and "Christmas Bells", which were not. The cut material is considered by some to be among the most popular pieces in the show.

Scary Funnies

The Son in Queue

One very very reason why I listen to songs, all kinds of songs is that sometimes a song can leave such a profound mark in your life, that very unique but remote connection that is ever so mysterious. For instance, a certain songs can represent a certain period of my life, or a certain experience that I have been through, and for some reason, I find the idea calming because it is always comforting to know, out there, someone writing these songs, have the same experience, and that is why it is such a powerful medium. Through the lyrics, the remote connection became vital, and inevitably became a part of my life. And one of the song that have a magic of this kind on me is Simple Plan's Perfect. It's not the band that I like, and it's certainly not the kind of music that I dig, but it's ever so straight-forward and honest lyrics and the desperation and the anger in this song that moved me.

And here, I am going to admit for the first time the no holds barred relationship of me and my father. Since I was young, I never really recall any good memories about me and my father doing things together like a father and son should and even if there are any, those memories are vague. I remembered my father used to teach me how to draw and that was the only thing that I can clearly recall. I dont know what went wrong really, but my father and I never had a good relationship like other people. I mean it's not terribly awful like he'd hit me or anything like that, but it wasn't all that great either. There was one time, last year, my father was really mad at me because I crashed his car. He was yelling at me and slammed the metal door, in my face and luckily it didn't hit me. That was the closest thing to violence he'd done to me, and that was the first time too I saw him totally lost it. It was scary and I was realy upset because -- it was an accident that I crashed his car. That is why people call it accident. I ignored him for a couple of days and I guess he realize that he'd gone over the board on that matter, but he never said anything about it, not that I expected it anyway.

Over the years, I have noticed that we drift apart and the rift between us is beyond repair but I never really want to admit this to myself although the thought has been haunting me for the past few years. My father, in my perception is nothing more than a father, period. I have never thought of him as a friend, as much as I would like to, it just never happened. He potrayed an image that intimidates me, almost scary. He never really literally taught me anything, other than homeworks and I learn by imitating what he does. We don't talk about unnecessary things. We do not converse about our daily lives. I could sit in the car the entire ride without even uttering a single word to him vice versa. I remembered in my secondary school years, my father used to pick me up from school every afternoon, and often the ride was filled with silence.

You know what saddens me the most is that his actions made me feel ignored. For instance, his relationship with my sister. Am I jealous? I guess I can't be bothered to, although I wish I had that kind of connection with my father. I remembered reading some article from Reader's Digest about family relationships. A father usually favours daughter while a mother usually favours son. I guess that saying does apply in some level on the surface of my relationship with my father because my brother too is not that close to my father. And I said it applies on the surface because with my sister, it's a totally different story. You see, my father never really listens to what I have to say. Whenever I tired to have a decent conversation with him, he either never took it seriously by ignoring me or gave me a shortest answer he could, and that really leave me with nothing to continue the conversation. With my sister, my father seemed to be very interested in everything she said. The things they talked about during dinner would probably be equal to the total amount to time i attempted to talk to my dad in a week. And time after time, I have come to a conclusion that this is the way it should be because it has always been like this. I guess my father never realizes that I felt this way, or maybe he knew but choose to ignore it. Either way, I could no longer care but I am not going to deny the fact that it bothers me.

You know, what actually inspired me to write about this was actually something I noticed at the dinner table last night and it put me off ever so strongly. It happenes all the time, but last night was like a snap to reality, I could no longer ignore the feeling, and I can no longer bring myself to look away. Last night, usual dinner time, my mother would finish first and that left me, my father and my sister. At that point my dad was talking to my sister about how the car should be repainted, about the latest buffet deals Park City is offering, you know topics that I never see my father and I would ever talk about. But anyway, when my sister was done with her meal, my father just stood up and went to the kitchen and came back with more rice in his plate, then asked if I wanted more. That was the only thing he said the entire meal, and that's when I realize I could no longer bring myself to ignore the one thing that has bothered me for so long. The person I sought for affection, that person I soungt for approval, and that person I sought for love; my father.

Hey Dad look at me
Think back and talk to me
Did I grow up according to plan?
And do you think I’m wasting my time
Doing things I wanna do?
But it hurts when you
Disapprove all along

And now I try hard to make it
I just want to make you proud
I’m never gonna be good enough for you
I can’t pretend that I’m alright
And you can’t change me

‘Cuz we lost it all
Nothing lasts forever
I’m sorry I can’t be Perfect
Now it’s just too late
And we can’t go back
I’m sorry I can’t be Perfect

I try not to think
About the pain I feel inside
Did you know you used to be my hero?
All the days you spent with me
Now seem so far away
And it feels like you don’t care anymore

Nothing’s gonna change
The things that you said
Nothing’s gonna make this right again
Please don’t turn your back
I can’t believe it’s hard
Just to talk to you
But you don’t understand

Simple Plan - Perfect