laughing with geeky bliss June 29, 2009

My reading list for the holidays:

Guess how much each book costs?

…….

……………

…………………

RM 5.

That’s right. Five friggin’ ringgit for Murakami and Palahniuk and the works, thanks to Carrefour Seberang Jaya’s clearance sale.

x)    that’s right, tis’ a state of blisssssssss.  I don’t know how I can go back to the usual routine of scrimping  together RM 32.90 for a  book every now and then, sigh.

***

currently listening to: Regina Spektor-Laughing With

Regina Spektor’s latest single isn’t exactly an abrupt departure from her previous style- to me, this song is reminiscent of Samson music-wise, or even Tori Amos’ Winter.

Some quick Googling will lead you to laments all over the Internet/blogosphere on how Regina Spektor has “mellowed out” with her latest offering ‘Far’, how Regina has lost the quirky charm of hers and how the songs sound too watered down, formulatic,VH1-esque, like something playing in the backdrop of your local Starbucks outlet, and so forth.

“Laughing With”, especially, has been the target of many derisive reviews. The seemingly God-centered theme of its lyrics has led to accusations of the song being ultra “preachy”, or too self-righteous.

Like all various forms of human expression of emotions, the beauty of lyrics lie with the fact that no two people ever harbour the exact interpretation of a song or a poem; it may still harbour a different meaning to others as much as clearly as it means something else to yourself.(”Hey Jude” may be an ode to Paul McCartney’s d*ck  just as it may be a song about this dude named …Jude, but I digress, haha)

To me, “Laughing With” is an observation of people and how conflicted they can be, when struggling for hope in the face of turmoil. What makes it even more powerful is that the inherent,underlying fear of loss is left unsaid, amplifying the raw, real emotions that clench the soul like a pulse that beats on grimly when the heart wants to stop.

The lyrics may be stark (“No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake” ../…”No one laughs at God in a hospital/No one laughs at God in a war”) , and Regina’s tone is coolly detached, but it drives the bitter, faintly cynical tone right home, punctuated by Regina’s quietly sarcastic “ha ha’s”.

It’s a non-judgemental take on people, and how we react, and honestly, I don’t see how Regina Spektor is in any way trying to impose a “righteous” moral on her listeners:

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they’re about to choke

God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

I’ll stop here before this post morphs into a whole critical analysis…but I think this song strikes a chord with agnostics like me, for those times we feel like we’re grappling for a resolution when truth is something that transcends us all.

P/S: although I cleary love Regina Spektor, what I’ve written here isn’t mean to be, in any way, a valid review of her album. That said, get your copy of Far today =) .

June 22, 2009

currently listening to: To Have Heroes-Reasons

Penelope was airing on StarWorld last night. (Watched it mainly to ogle at James McAvoy, I must admit.) The movie was a sweet, confetti-ish trifle, nothing close to Burton-esque proportions like Big Fish but sweet enough in its own way.

I like fairytales – I’m an unabashed romantic when it comes to that. There is something hauntingly beautiful, knowing a happy ending awaits after some dark and perilous journey.  Granted, it gets pretty cliched after a little while. Most of these tales stick to the tried and tested formula, involving creeping vines,crumbling castle walls, villian-with-funny-name-harbouring-diabolical-plans and a few ancient curses thrown in for good measure…and of course, the happy ending.

currently listening to: To Have Heroes-Reasons

Penelope was airing on StarWorld last night. (Watched it mainly to ogle at James McAvoy, I must admit.) The movie was a sweet, confetti-ish trifle, nothing close to Burton-esque proportions like Big Fish but sweet enough in its own manner.

I like fairy tales – I’m an unabashed romantic when it comes to that. (In my defense: I grew up on a staple diet of Disney before I discovered Angela Carter’s…darker takes on my childhood favourites and the wonders of Norse/Celtic/Irish/Chinese/Indian mythology,lol. )

There is something hauntingly beautiful, knowing a happy ending awaits after some dark and perilous journey.  Granted, it gets pretty cliched after a little while. Most of these tales stick to the tried and tested formula, involving creeping vines,crumbling castle walls, villain-with-funny-name-harbouring-diabolical-plans and a few ancient curses thrown in for good measure…and of course, the happy ending.

…that’s the Western take on it, of course. Asian fairy tales are more diverse, I’d like to think.

Snippets: village folk being blessed after severe hardship with an overwhelming, abundant supply of rice….wrongful spilled blood that bleeds white (Mahsuri) , the ever enigmatic  moon ladies of Vietnamese and Chinese mythology, a sky with multiple suns being quenched of their fiery heat by the arrows of the archer Legolas Hou Yi…

I can’t recall them all, but some of my favourite Asian tales when I was much younger used to be:

-The Japanese legend of the monk who beat his tummy as a drum alongside a band of Tanuki, with a haunted temple in the backdrop. I tried to use my dad’s stomach as a drum after that but he wasn’t impressed.

-The mangled version of Hikayat Malim Deman, where the princess was the one from the kayangan above and Malim Deman ended up with two wives. It was like a Malay version of TVB’s Heart of Greed!

- The Thai legend of the origins of lightning and thunder. Up in the heavens above, celestial beings are caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse: genie chases princess and roars (thunder), princess holds up magic crystal ball which blindens and thus hampers him (lightning).

- Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai aka The Butterfly Lovers. Tragically stark imagery at the very end, when Liang Shanbo’s grave of earth splits apart with a crack as the bridal procession passes by. In the midst of the chaos, the latter leaps into the unknown dark abyss below, and the pair re-emerge as butterflies. Even though it may seem a tad dramatic to some, I think it beats Romeo and Juliet any day, ending wise.

P/S: That’s right, this entry was just a ploy for more unabashed googling of James McAvoy.

yellow brick road June 3, 2009

currently listening to: 

I remember the days when we talked for hours

And we were young; we thought we had superpowers

-Raine Maida, Yellow Brick Road

The best thing about the A-Level days is that it’s a haphazard mix of the most ridiculous, utterly silly things ever that make up the good times. Reading Jason’s and Jo An’s latest blog posts makes me realize that yeah, goodbyes are rarely ever easy. 

Recalled in no particular order, a mix of do-you-remembers that I hope I’ll recall long after:

- “Bhangra dancing only needs two steps.” *proceeds to flap arms like a chicken*  - John Paul, while walking to catch the bus to the jetty.

- Pocky, Halls candy, salad chicken rice, Northam Beach, KFC, New World Park …addictions and haunts, ah.

- those late night conversations with Regene before one of us would eventually fall asleep midway

- Dillan sleeping during Lit ( I can’t figure out how he does it, he just hangs his head between the knees and bam! he’s snoring peacefully) 

- working on the business studies project, and feeling like crap cos’ other groups had darn canggih Ferrero Rocher roses/ real flowers to sell while we sold pasar malam nail polish with the consistency of UHU. Joel bought all his own products and gave them to his girlfriend hahaha! 

- Halfway during The Dark Knight, where Chunn went “Eh is Bruce Wayne=Batman? o.O” . LOL.

- Boon Wei’s humongous music collection, never ending slew of lame jokes and never ending money-making ideas.

- The beach BBQ, the steamboat….movie nights..tong yuen nights..

- squabbling over inane things with Jason: 

Me: “Eh where is Lorong Seratus Tahun?” 

Jason: “Beside Lorong Sembilan Puluh Sembilan Tahun, hahaha!” 

Me: -_________- 

(Oh and Nooby! “We won’t see each other again” sounds so melodramatic you noob! Then again, I’ll probably miss your tendencies to make a soap opera out of everything, heh heh.)

D’you know what the saddest farewells are? It’s those shaped by what’s left unsaid. The petulant longing for something more, on the edge of another bend in the road. And yet you wait, you wait and watch until the last ebb of laughter dies out, breathless and bubbly, until the residual silence clings on,forming your collective past. 

But I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

If I knew now what I knew then,

I’d back up do it all again, 

I’d take a bow, take it real slow,

Take a ride down the yellow brick road

currently listening to: 

 

“I remember the days when we talked for hours

And we were young; we thought we had superpowers”

-Raine Maida, Yellow Brick Road

The best thing about the A-Level days is that it’s a haphazard mix of the most ridiculous, utterly silly things ever that make up the good times. Reading Jason’s and Jo An’s latest blog posts makes me realize that yeah, goodbyes are rarely ever easy. 

Recalled in no particular order, a mix of do-you-remembers that I hope I’ll recall long after:

 

• “Bhangra dancing only needs two steps.” *proceeds to flap arms like a chicken*  - John Paul, while on the way to the jetty
• Pocky, Halls candy, salad chicken rice, Northam Beach, KFC, New World Park …addictions and haunts, ah.
• those late night conversations with Regene before one of us would eventually fall asleep midway
• Dillan sleeping during Lit ( I can’t figure out how he does it, he just hangs his head between the knees and bam! he’s snoring peacefully) 
• working on the business studies project, and feeling like crap cos’ other groups had darn canggih Ferrero Rocher roses/ real flowers to sell while we sold pasar malam nail polish with the consistency of UHU. Joel bought all his own products and gave them to his girlfriend hahaha! 
• Halfway during The Dark Knight, where Chunn went “Eh is Bruce Wayne=Batman? o.O”.  LOLness!
• Boon Wei’s humongous music collection, never ending slew of lame jokes and never ending money-making ideas.
• The beach BBQ, the steamboat session….movie nights..tong yuen nights….
• squabbling over inane things with Jason: 

Me: “Eh where is Lorong Seratus Tahun?” 

Jason: “Beside Lorong Sembilan Puluh Sembilan Tahun, hahaha!” 

Me: …. right.

 

(Oh and Nooby! “We won’t see each other again” sounds so melodramatic you noob! Then again, I’ll probably miss your tendencies to make a soap opera out of everything, heh heh.)  No wait, I’m going to miss all of youuuu,though I’ve got no idea where I’m going next!

***

D’you know what the saddest farewells are? It’s those shaped by what’s left unsaid. The petulant longing for something more, on the edge of another bend in the road. And yet you wait, you wait and watch until the last ebb of laughter dies out, breathless and bubbly, until the residual silence clings on,forming your collective past. 

But I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

 

If I knew now what I knew then,

I’d back up do it all again, 

I’d take a bow, take it real slow,

Take a ride down the yellow brick road.

May 31, 2009

currentllistening to: John Mayer-Belief

20 May 2009 – General Paper

28 May 2009 – Contract Law

1 June 2009 – Tort Law

4 June 2009 – Eng.Lit -Paper 7 (Comment and Appreciation)

9 June 2009 – Business Studies Paper 3

10 June 2009 – Literature in English (Shakespeare + 20th Century text)

Currently watching mindless E-News while awaiting breakfast, I must be the laziest creature this side of the planet. -____- . Caryn’s away at CF Camp, she’s been messaging me inane

currently listening to: John Mayer-Belief

My syok sendiri exam timetable to cross off when I’m done mwahaha!

20 May 2009 – General Paper

28 May 2009 – Contract Law

1 June 2009 – Tort Law

4 June 2009 – Eng.Lit -Paper 7 (Comment and Appreciation)

9 June 2009 – Business Studies Paper 3  (I’ll be very very happy with a good pass for this already, oh gosh.)

10 June 2009 – Literature in English (Shakespeare + 20th Century text)

I hate exam seasons; it’s when I manage to be most distracted and start to gather tons and tons of music to listen to/inane things to read/get addicted to TV shows that have been around forever…you get the drift.

I mean, in the past week itslef, I have added four records to my collection (and they’re not even new releases or anything, cis) :

• Jason Mraz-Live at Java Joe’s: ‘After an Afternoon’ is the song you want playing with the sand between your toes, with the beach, the waves.. and just about all of eternity outstretched before you.
• John Mayer-Continuum: ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ , mmm. I love this album. Why did it take two years for me to finally get a copy of  it haha.
• To Have Heroes-EP: ‘Reasons’ and ‘Better Day’ are among my favourite tracks. ‘Reasons’  reminds me of Caleb Kane’s ‘In Your Own Way’ somehow.
• Blue October-History for Sale: For the record, the bonus acoustic version of ‘Calling You’ is worth hunting down the album for!

Alright back to awaiting breakfast and studying. Sighhhhhh.

…nerdy ranting, pardon me. May 17, 2009

My first paper would be General Paper on Wednesday; heaven knows why I decided to take it independently. (Oh right,now I remember-I decided to take a risk, in a moment of  ignorant,misleading bliss after AS results were released.)

But woe woe woe! I have discovered that my “general knowledge” consists of bloodystupidngghgah! weird facts and irrelevant pop-culture trivia like:

• Bastet was the Egyptian Cat goddess.
• Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell went holidaying in the Bahamas together at some point in their lives.
• Frankenstein is not the said legendary monster, he was the scientist who created Frankenstein’s monster.
• Anne Boleyn was rumoured to have six fingers and a mole on her neck. Oh, and a number of statues on Easter Island have six fingers.
• Imogen Heap is signed to the same record label as David Cook.
• Plato wrote The Republic. Ryan Tedder is the lead singer of OneRepublic. Indonesia is a republic. 
• Balut is fertilized duck egg, a delicacy to the Filipino people, and a supposedly potent aphrodisiac.

 Tell me how do I write an intelligent,analytical, thoughtfully derived essay like that?! Tell me! Tell me! T_________T