Ok some super nice feel good news - I'm playing in Sydney next week.
Got invited to play for the Malaysia Fest 09 Gig, an annual student organised event held at Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park ages ago but wasn't sure if it was gonna happen till the happy people at @MAS and @MAStravel came in as sponsors. Caya lah.
Yea so me, the lovely Liyana Fizi (of Estrella), fellow singer-songwriter Rashdan Harith and high-energy rockers One Buck Short will be gracing the stage and generally having a good time. People of Sydney be kind!
Oh and the 2nd super nice feel good news is that the generous people from MAS have decided to give someone a chance to win 2 tickets to follow us there. All you have to do is use your FB profile pic to win. Details here. Go!
How not to love it? This is Riley, the 8 week old baby girl of former fellow xanga blogger Warnjai. Sha you did well. High5!
2. This umbrella
The Unbreakable Walking-Stick Umbrella is sturdy enough to be a walking aid, kungfu enough to chop a watermelon in half, stealth enough to bring anywere AND umbrella enough to protect you from rain. Awesome! Watch the vid with the watermelon here.
3. This music vid
Watching the MJ tribute on the VMAs reminded me of this uber cool vid featuring Jacko and his 'fierce' sis Janet. One of my fav vids of all time.
4. This photography series
By Patrick Elie, it's both surreal and disturbing. Brings history a lil' closer to home and in a good (albiet twisted) way, the heart. (via weburbanist.com)
5. This writer
Hugo and Nebula award winning writer Orson Scott Card wrote the 2 books I finished this past week (with a 3rd one being read now). Author of the sci-fi Ender Series (written in the late 70s - yea I know I lagging), he illustrates such intensity and depth in his characters, forcing you to know them and understand as they go through almost impossible scenarios. Set against futuristic backdrop, the first book (Ender's Game) explores the title character's beginnings and is more of an 'art of war' story. The second (Speaker for the Dead) takes a more philosophical route and sets itself aside as quite the anthropological sci-fi mystery/whodunit novel. I love it. Reading the 3rd one (Xenocide) now. Many thanks to songbird Mia Palencia for introducing me to the series.
6. This photographer
Totally stumbled upon him online. Ryan McGinley was the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was also named Photographer of the Year in 2003 by American Photo Magazine.In 2007 McGinley was awarded the Young Photographer Infinity Award by the International Center of Photography. There's something about the quiet, colourful and at times kinetic nature of his pictures. The pics above were taken from his website here. I especially like his potraits (check out James McAvoy, Paul Dano, Sienna Miller, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Ellen Page above)
7. This culinary invention Bacon powder! Are you serious? I thought at first this would be the greatest rival for my eventual invention, Halal powder but then I read on and was stunned to find out there no actual PORK in it? For real? Halal Bacon Powder??? Haha couldn't resist the urge to post this. (via thinkgeek.com)
8. This site
Abadonia.com helps facilitate the nostalgic past time of playing really old games. Truly a pot of gold for the hardcore 80s/early 90s gamer, it's actually been around for ages but recently scored major points with yours truly coz I found this awesome no-where-to-be-found game I played when I was like 13 (Ultima 8: Pagan). The site is also quite comprehensive, listing requirements for each game and even providing links to programs like DOSBox and VDMSound to help facilitate your SVGA gaming experience. It even goes as far as walking you through (newbie friendly!) what needs to be done from start to finish. You gotta love'em.
9. This meme
C'mon I'm sure you've heard about this.Kanye West interruped Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the recent VMAs leaving the poor lass with a system shutdown face and celebs gasping and confused. He ranted about how Beyonce's vid was the best and left the stage (and the show soon after that) and was instantly catapulted to the douchebag hall of fame. Granted he had an application pending but hey I guess you were in a rush huh? =) Later on the queen of class herself Beyonce unshattered Taylor's night by inviting her up during her own acceptance speech to finish what Kanye stopped. Tabik puan. Anyway a new meme was born and various examples can be seen here. If you malas to cari your own Kanye pic the nice folks at Junk can help you out here. The above is my own contribution =)
10. This couple
Esam the super cool muso cat (the man behind the Stoned Revivals) and Aimee the bombshell model got married recently. Congratulations you two! Confirm anak cun!
+ Saw some old friends from my council days in Sunway for buka puasa the other day. Had way to much to eat and way too little time to catch up. Dammit 2 out of the group were already married (one of 'em is expecting a baby come Raya time) and 1 more in the process of getting hitched. Feels like only yesterday we were organising a college ball like it was the biggest thing in our lives.
"Wah you guys still hang out?" said my sister as I picked her up from work before heading to The Curve. She was impressed. Heck I'm impressed. We still see each other (although just once in awhile) after 9 years. Who would've thought?
Update:// Suffered severe case of sakit perut, jamban tourism and praying to God for relief. Not sure if it was caused by food from last night as so far no one else kena.
+ Speaking of old friends, I chatted with Pri the other day, a girl haven't seen in more than 10 years. Through mutual friends our introduction included her buying me at an auction and some school event when I was 14. Fun fact about Pri: She was the Toys 'R' Us kid, the who swung the bat at the end of that famous ad from the 90s.
+ Why didn't I listen to the whole of OK Computer earlier? I absolutely love it. I find that certain records work for me at only certain times of my life. OK Computer is now.
+ Mia passed me Ender's Game, a book by Orson Scott Card, and it is superb. Best read I've had in awhile, the kind where I have to bring it everywhere with me and try to read it while tengah traffic jam. Can't wait to get the rest of the series. I especially like how timeless it turned out seeing that it was written in '77.
+Is our faith so thin that we feel threatened by the presence of a temple near our house? These were sentiments put forth by one Hazidi Hamid in regards to the whole cow head affair through an e-mail I received (via mailing list Artis Pro Aktiv). God knows how disappointed I am with recent events but he also knows that it's nothing new la. It's just that it's easier to hear a lot more about what goes on these days. People who love this country, stay the course!
+ I found RM1600 in my room the other day. +10 markah.
+ Decided within 10 minutes that I was going on a 2 week trip to Australia with Melina, Zalila and Mia in Jan next year. Tis going to be major good times.
+ Started my (late) day with a trip to the vet for Janggo. He's old enough to get his shots so today signified round one. He was super nervous coming into the clinic with its odd smells and sounds but survived the ordeal. Doc gave him a deworming tablet so he might crap worms in the near future (ugh).
+ Was supposed to see Subi and teman her shopping but she got overtaken by a room cleaning frenzy and a...nap. Suffice to say we didn't make it lah :-p
+ Buka'd with Mak at home with some nice chili chicken stuff from Village Park. We wanted their super famous tempei gorent ikan bilis dish but it was sold out =(
+ Managed to catch the latest Naruto. So glad it's picking up again. Also started watching the Fullmetal Alchemist reboot aka Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
+ Watched State of Play at Laych's and I must say I enjoyed it. The pacing was good, casting and character dynamics stellar and the twists lasted till the very end. Also as usual Rachel McAdams is such a visual bundle of sunshine. Watch it specially if you're a journo or if you have a passion for the newsroom. Also borrowed The Reader, Red Hill 1 and 2 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Lent Laych half of my Studio Ghibli box set.
+ Performing later! No Black Tie 930pm with Amir Muhammad, Rehman Rashid, Rafique Rashid, Brian Gomez, Haseena and Alfian Sa'at.
