Screamers, Singers and CDs

Perhaps this is not expressed in my posts, because I bitch and talk about boys a lot, but I am a HUGE fan of music. It’s not that I forgot this little fact, but of late it feels like there’s not much music worth talking about. I mean, most of it are rehashes of old songs.

The urge to blog about music came about when I was going through my CD collection (yes, I still have one of those). I was reminded of a time when 80% of my monthly allowance went to buying CDs and most of my time was spent eyeballing MTV and Channel [V]. While I have tonnes of albums, which have now been chucked in a storage box near my mom’s bathroom (thanks to my nomad status), a few artistes are capable of giving me goosebumps, even after years of not listening to them. In no particular order…well, maybe in a little bit of an order:

1. Blink-182.

The First Poster I Ever Bothered Putting Up on My Wall

I owe a lot to these guys. Thanks to them, I got out of my ridiculous post-adolescent-chin-dragging-on-the-ground phase. Seriously, how could one not lighten up after hearing a guy warble, ‘we started making out, she took off my pants, but then I turned on the TV’? To top it all off, Travis Barker’s drumming took pop-punk to a whole new level. I’m no genius, but even I knew he’s a fucking ace with his drums. They’re the reason I told everyone that I wanted to work in San Diego, and go for the Vans Warped Tour. Their music video was the reason I told my friend to get off the phone when she was calling me from Johor via a payphone. In around 2004, they decided to go on a little hiatus. Was I disappointed? A little. But then, I preferred that they went away with dignity, rather than forcing themselves to come out what would ultimately be insincere crap. In 2009, Blink-182 announced at the Grammys that they were reuniting. Guess who was squealing like a little girl in front of the TV?

2. Jason Lo.

Kuching's Rockin' Mat Salleh Celup

Bloody fucker. That’s what I thought when I was listening to his last album, ‘The Fall’. He’s been so under the radar that I Googled him, expecting to find a friggin’ obituary. This guy was my hope for the Malaysian music scene. I was banking on him to be recognized internationally, I kid you not. Three albums, and I love all of them. From what I’ve read, he’s been working with the suits and ties these days. It’s a damned shame, really. Can’t blame him though, he’s got a family to feed. I will always reserve my biggest SIGH for him.

3. Jimmy Eat World.

Proving 'Emo' is NOT Synonymous with Eyeliner

I got my uncle to buy me their breakthrough album ‘Bleed American’ (which was  renamed to a self-titled album after the Sept. 11th attacks) from the UK because there was no sight of it in KL. I even patiently waited for him to return home with it. I only stopped short of rummaging through his luggage to get my grubby 16-year old paws on it. I was not disappointed. There’s something about their songs that strike a chord (pun not intended) in my heart. Must be their choice of words, abstract enough to relate to, but specific enough to articulate a feeling. Unfortunately, after coming to Moscow, I’ve not really kept up with their progress as artists, so I’m a bit out of it with them.

4. Linkin Park.

The Band That Screamed on My Behalf

My Additional Math muses. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a complete sloth when it comes to Math, but listening to Chester Bennington screaming his lungs out made doing my homework less painful. More importantly, what I liked about them was their clean lyrics. I recall an interview with Rolling Stone circa 2001 where they claimed that the reason there was no profanity in their songs was because they wanted to express feelings with more than just ‘fuck’. Their concert in Kuala Lumpur in 2003 was the first concert I had been to, and it was on the night before my A-Levels Chemistry paper. My God, it was so worth it. Fast forward to 2007, and their album is littered with bleeps. My first reaction was, ironically enough, to exclaim, “WHAT THE FUCK??!” I was thoroughly disappointed. The band had mellowed down plenty musically, but I reckoned that was because of Bennington recovering after removing some nasty stuff off his vocal chords. Screaming can do that. This year, Linkin Park is releasing a new album, and from what I’ve been hearing, it sounds promising. I heard screaming sans bleeps, for one thing. I’m taking it as a good sign.

Seeing that my interest has been resurrected, I’m guessing this won’t be the last post about music. Yay!

Point Yet To Be Determined

Honest to God, I really want to write a proper post. I really want to blog. Unfortunately, I feel like a has-been pop-star trying to churn out anything possible just to get noticed. I have ideas for posts, but all my material is in Moscow, or the timing isn’t right for whatever I want to write. With that said, all I’m left with are randoms.

  1. My doctor has a brilliant way of saying I put on weight. Brace yourself for this one. “It’s gotten harder to find your vein, eh?”
  2. My facial wasn’t as embarrassing as it was last year. At least, this year my face was “quite okay”. Last year, the beautician was stuttering when she wanted to tell me that my face was ” actually..uh..well..um..quite..aah…not so good lah”. I’m sure what she meant to say was, ” You ogress, I’d rather exfoliate the rear end of a Sumatran rhinoceros than touch your skin.”
  3. My hair. It’s official: I need hair loss shampoo and hair friggin’ tonic. I have the hairstyling regime of a middle-aged man. Seriously, if you’re observant enough, you’ll realize that my bangs are actually a comb-over. This is called karma kicking me in the follicles for laughing at my Pure Math teacher in college and teasing Abilash.
  4. Isn’t it kinda funny how people rate one’s worth and level of integrity with the activity of their genitals? I mean, think about it. Just because some chick likes to be physical, she’s automatically not respectable? What if she helps out  charitable associations without bragging about it, or works hard to earn an honest living to support her family? That doesn’t count for anything? All that matters is that she likes to put out?
  5. How do we decide who is worth impressing and to what extent do we go to impress them? How much has to go wrong before we cut our losses and move on? Should we even bother with impressing people? How do we tell whether we are being ourselves or subconsciously trying to impress others?

Feel free to answer anything that ends with a question mark. I like answers.

Gems From The Baggy Jeans

My friend Cheryl said I should blog more often. My brain normally dispenses one-liners at its own discretion, and not many can be used to build a whole blog post. Which is why I rarely blog.

After much thought (i.e. a breakfast of store-bought Viennese waffles and Kinder Bueno), I’ve decided that maybe it’s not a bad idea to put up the kernels my mind spits out. Bear in mind, this so-called not a bad idea came about somewhere between sugar consumption and insulin release from my pancreas.

1. Have you ever been in a situation where you know you’re part of a raw deal, and as time goes by, it doesn’t get any better? How long before you just stop, turn, flip the bird and say, ” I don’t need this” ?

2. Why do people see the need to talk about others? Quite frankly, if the story doesn’t have your name in it at ANY point, by default it’s none of your damned business.

3. Sometimes we know a person well, we know how they tick. We know how they will react to various situations. And yet, we say and do things that don’t reflect this knowledge at all. Why?

4. Would it kill to pick a decision and stick to it? Wait, don’t answer that one.

5. Is it more amusing or annoying when someone is blatantly lying to your face, and they think you’re lapping this all up like a cat with a bowl of cold cream?

Surprisingly enough, this is not a bitchfit. This just may be a sign that I need a new diary. 🙂