My sister's boyfriend, D, is a good guy.

Wow that coming out of me huh, ha ha, as much as I hate to affirm that. I overheard D on the phone with his dad. Of course in broken English, duh, Singapore- "dee ah, cannot lie ah.. if you havent eaten, come and have lunch with us."

If he doesn't stay over so often, I might actually take a liking to that fella.

"I've always been obsessed with the beauty of sign language. The movement and expression just appears, to ignorant-hearing-me as a dance... a beautiful, emotive dance. But the real beauty is that, hidden in these perfect shapes, is communication."'

If you don't find this beautiful, you're... you.. ah, just go listen to your old Backstreet Boys album. I first heard Sia's Buttons & liked the way she played with toy-adverts sorta melodies but didn't seek to turn Sia's music inside out. I found the above video a little late but I'm glad I did. Check out the original mv here. She's auzzie w/o the weight of her accent. Definitely an artist of her own sorts- picture brilliance & eccentricity making love, Brilliance got pregnant and Sia popped out of her 9 months later.

Also, dog-lovers looking for a good emo cry, watch Air Traffic's Time Goes By. Also they're a great band.


Have to go back to e-tutorials again :(

Mondo was sharing his opinions on "Indie" just the other day.. how he thought indie to be a label used to define "better" cos it's different-er. He also mentioned something about indie bands being financially independent people who have full control over what they want to do and not by some sort of management. Therefore, they're like TOTALLY AWESOME not cos of other awesome people but because of their own awesomeness. Get it?

Man of opinions, he is. The thought of musicians wanting to differentiate themselves by claiming a genre has never crossed my mind once. Maybe except when I see/hear local players. Bwahaha, but believe me that's another story to tell. I am an avid listener of indie/alternative music. It's a preference thing for me but I'm not wearing no chastity belt to rule out the charms of mainstream. They're pretty great themselves be it image-wise or solely talent-wise, how else would they be crowned as mainstream? ( :

So we spam each other with youtube links. Could've gone on forever, really. I felt young though, knowing that Arctic Monkeys were rubbish to him :'(. I however, found Rootless Trees by Damien Rice breath-taking.



I sighed when they finished. So beautiful. "Fock yewww...."

"oh, man... suisse francs?! i gotta do even more math now? switzerland, you are so very crazy. with your suisse francs. & your blue lizards. we have no idea how much to charge your lovely people for a CD now. it's almost like money shouldn't even exist, so as to be done with such "conversion" nonsense, yes? no bother, w..."

Hong & Gui kia crashed my place for the night recently. We ATTEMPTED dancing to OkGo's A Million Ways To Be Cruel. I thought it'd be easy but... nah- uh-uh. It was much fun though we gave up and proceeded sliding between the lame but competitively stimulating game Icy Tower, & watching G rolling on the floor to demonstrate/parody Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. The videos above and below were some we watched that evening.

It's not hard to tell which is for reminiscing & which is for appreciation. Unless you're a hardcore plant enthusiast or hardcore opera singer. Kidding. Don't you guys miss flame wars? So secondary school : )
( Read more... )

I appreciate having the ability to tie random thoughts together and then find a chapter dancing in my head. How many times have we met people who defines "a life well-lived" as just doing what you like?

Conversations are intrigueing sometimes, even with a boy suffering (ha ha) the unpredictable rapids of puberty. Amidst our usual bouts of rubbish talk on MSN a few nights ago, I brought up the topic of "people with depth" as a casual taunt if i remembered right, driving Royce into a seemingly resolute intention of proving that he TOO is a person of depth. Awww. woah, if he reads this i'm soo dead btw.

He has more ideas than most his age but when I probed on about how he defines a well-lived life, he went,

"Uhhh... I don't know man. Having lots of friends. Being happy... Succeeds in his career?"

Typical. Not wanting to break his little i-got-depth-too bubble, i too began with, "I don't know man...

... sometimes I see a singing hobo and I feel like he's happier than a lot of people."

"But they're not," Royce interjected.

And our conversation went on with more requests for philosophical questions, each lasting 5minutes. Ha ha, ah well he'll grow to be more in depth. In time. Good kid & friend though.

What I'm trying to pin on was that Royce doesn't seem to see the bendable lines connecting "Many friends" with "Being Happy". So what if you've many friends? Are all your 30 new buddies that you've bonded with during camp even going to make you a mixtape when you're feeling suicidal? Well, maybe not all but a substantial number. Hard to predict with that much people in your hands.

For me, I define a well-lived life as being appreciated doing what you love to do. Simple.

On another recent occasion, Aif asked "Are you happy with your life now?" Yeah, she's like that. We're like that. Anyway, I said "Yes why not." Guess what I'm trying to say is that I've not yet succeeded in any aspects (YET. yes, YET) but I know people I can trust & have a heck of a time with. They're not many, but just the way I like it.

Though I still don't like the idea of growing up even though I'm supposed to have already "grown up". Here's a great song by Hugh Coltman called "Sixteen". It's about having to grow up and be mature even if the fact is it sucks.
 

Woah, i've finally gotten the hang of arranging my priorities. Its a Thursday, and that's No-school-day for my final sem (WOOHOO). Gy and I are meeting for a swim soon (actually 10mins ago) but I found a sense of time that wasn't in me the past 19 years-- I finished my calendar designs  & sent it to Bryan, printed my tutorials & lectures for tomorrow's scheduled lessons.

All hail the new and improved P.Y2009.

I've been rabidly tubing these guys since I've lost touch with Dexter & Nippy episodes but I'll catch up soon. I love the different classes of funk presented by Ok Go and Cage The Elephant.

Ok Go is a four-man band, quirky with their image & acts, bewitching in the tunes they invoke. I remember hearing "Here It Goes Again" eons ago but never realized the talent behind those beats. Anyone's life CAN get better with Cable TV, sigh. Check out their budgeted but intrigueing dance video. (IT ROPED THEM IN TO FAME!)

I honestly want to learn those moves! There was an OkGo youtube dance contest yeeeears back, dang! But I've got a quad crew in mind just for fun, heh.

And next, there's Cage The Elephant. A delightful name in my humble opinion. They're much like Foxy Shazam, one of my favourite bands, but not as fun. The lead singer, Matt Shultz, shakes too much like its a syndrome. Eric Sean Nally from Foxy on the other hand, really looks like he's enjoying the music when he shakes. & he doesn't shake that up-down way like Matt Shultz, like he needs to pee or something. A youtuber also commented that CTE's rhythm guitarist looks like he's cumming all the time, lol watch it here. Always fun to read the comments ;) Here's another below:

NAFA students; filming for a module project . Title-Miss, Understand?

Gah, the holidays are over. But the final semester is here yaaaaaay!

Here's one for lingering nightmares:

My cat is possessed.

At least it seems very much that way. Bebe has been chasing her tail and madly hissing at it like she just realized her tail actually exists (after 5 years), growling loudly at nothingness, her skin rolling underneath her thick black fur ("skin-rolling disease"- it does exist) and according to my sister, chasing unseen adversaries, holy crap. The above mentioned behaviors are symptoms to what is known as Feline Hyperesthesia (FHS), a mental disorder associated with stress and paranoia. & believe me, watching my cat behaving that way is heartbreaking and terrifying even because she's like the feline version of the girl in The Exorcist.

I shan't go much into paranoia since Bebe has been an extra nervous one since she was a little girl. Stress, her stress could be derived from 3 ensuing events lately:

1) Middle-age man committed suicide 2 levels above my unit, breaking my living room window in the midst of his fall
I'm having the shivers writing this point no.1 now. Yes, even I may be suffering from paranoia and trauma. Bebe happened to be in the living room (omg i realize the irony now, living room) during the crash.

2) Bebe was strangled by the drawstrings of a bolster's end
This was totally unintentional on the defensive mark of my sister & I. We were playing with Bebe using the drawstring, she got less amused with the string, therefore deciding to enter the looped strings with HER HEAD  (STUPID CAT!). We tried to remove it but she ended up struggling and attempting to run away from us, causing the loop to become tighter & her neck smaller. Sigh.

3) She heard various cats hissing on Youtube
My sis and I were skyping with bro & for some reason, we were sending funny cats video links to each other. The audio was on close to maximum & Bebe was chillin' under the bed which had the laptop and us sitting on it.

On that very night, awhile after the lights out, Bebe began on her series of loud growls and satanic hisses, waking me and eventually my sister. We had to calm her down for an hour on and off or more before she got quiet for 4hrs to allow us sleep time. I was bothered by the first bout of cuckoo but thought it'll pass. Well, it didn't. It happened again on the second night though not for that long a duration. The third night it happened made me very worried. I went on a Google rampage with Cassie while Bebe was in her own kind of rampage. Discovered FHS, realized a match of the symptoms & texted my sister.

I pointed out real-life accounts which mentioned cats biting an inch off its tail, exposing the bone & even worse- cat owners returning home to find their beloved cats sitting in a pool of blood with a broken tail. OMFG RIGHT?! I KNOW! That double triple quadrupled my sister's approval to bring Bebe to see Dr Au.

We brought Bebe to the vet at Serangoon Brighton Cres today. Dr Robin Au doesn't seem very equipped with the knowledge of FHS. I can confidently put out that I know more than him when it comes to FHS since I spent a lot of time reading on FHS. I was a little annoyed at that observation but I can't blame him since FHS is a rare condition & his humble clinic is located in the heart of where wealthy cat & dog-owners thrive. He was however, very expressive & comprehensible when he warned us about Cat epilepsy. He did a very unflattering facial and hand montage of a seizure. That took me out of my tension, ha ha.

Bebe's on anti-depressants & nerve-relaxers now. That seemed to help her sleep more & hiss less. We mixed the drugs with her dinner since we weren't exactly good at force-feeding with a syringe. It's 1am as I'm typing and she's playing with a packet of tissue now, quietly. I'm both relieved and hopeful now. Everyone pray for Bebe's sanity!!!

Cat lovers or owners might want to learn more about the symptoms, prevention & treatment of FHS here.

That's some pretty cool shiez right? Deniece showed it to me via fb, so nice of her. The video is super edgy even though its first person approach has a high risk potential of turning out boring. What better way to grab attention than adding a bit of sex-y, crime & blood. Keep the cool vids coming, Deniece :)

Swam some 10 laps today. Soaked up the sun. But all my efforts at weight loss went down the drain when Shy and I went for a night feast at... well, Changi Airport's Popeyes & Ya Kun. We went into self-denial for awhile by walking from T3 to T2 and back to T3.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: giggly

Ah, Garage rock revival.

I love how holidays are like. I LOVE getting bored doing nothing and in a perverse way, I enjoy suffering the wrath of insomnia. Though not so much when seeing dark rings appear. Sigh, blame it on bad family D.N.A. I met up with Collette today for lunch and a movie (The Ugly Truth; witty humour btw), and I realized that I'm less vertically challenged than before! Or could it be Collette's gotten shorter? Hmm. Nah, I'll stick with the prior. Since I'm on it, tall or short Collette's still pretty. Good skin, baby smooth complexion and a tiny face. Tsk. Mah, Dah, why didn't you guys bestow me with better genes?!

I just hit the big Two-Zero anyway. It is a little tough getting used to the idea of being a step closer to adulthood. Wait, I am an adult. A young adult. Still, "a young teenager" does have a nicer kick to it. Ah well, my turning 20 wasn't all fancy with balloons, pretty dresses and cakes spiked with alcohol. It was a simple get-together at a cheap restaurant with fittingly cheapo friends & Inglourious Basterds at 2am. & stuff.

Life is good, for now despite having a stranger crashed on my window on his hurry to end his life.

Loy POPeed and we finally caught up with each other after >=2 months. That's like one sixth a year. To think we used to see each other every other day. I found Loy's company delightful despite the notable pause. He filled me in with Tales of Tekong and it was on the contrary, rather entertaining.


Us, 2 years back. The other pictures weren't much presentable, tee hee.

The standard account of Army-ish events is (often, i observe) a monotonous chatter of choked up hokkien vulgarities. The widely-used noun which can be an adjective AND a verb is "cheebye" a.k.a the lady berry a.k.a look-it-up-yourself. Loy however has the ability to illustrate in a gentle manner, painting a clear picture enabling you to feel what he had felt but still keep you within your comfort zone. Okay, let me give you a real-life example, say... when ANANAS (alias, duh) spoke of her unearthly sexual voyages with the matrep, she'd share it in excruciatingly crude details like "I told my boyfriend to take his **** out cos I had to pee" 

It started off a tad awkward in the beginning, with us remarking on each other's appearances then we took off in a series of thought-provoking topics like "Race is a definite barrier in a romantic relationship. Elaborate," and etc. Oh gawd, we sound terribly low-life and nerdy! (insert appropriate emoticon here.) On top of GP associated topics (lol), we talked about each others shortcomings in life of course in animated & accented style *wink*, etc. We criticized, ridiculed but surprisingly laid off the mild taunts at innocent path crossers. We had poor people's food: Prata at Simpang and later tauhuay for dessert at our little hangout corner close to home.

Tonight wasn't memorable but that is the very reason why I've decided to write about it. It's ordinary meet-ups like these that are worth remembering sometimes.

This is one awkward female lead singer.



This MV has a great level of potential but dang, look at the lead herself! Sure, she's blonde, she's pretty, she's cute but I can't tell if the intended self-portrayal is cutesie, punk or slut-sexy cos she sure looks uncomfortable taking on all these labels. Pseudo-sexual, that's what's been described of Emily Haines to redeem her awkwardness. Shrugs. Maybe. Not making that judgement solely on the style of this video (it's interesting!) but only after viewing Metric's other music videos. Metric's quite fanciful & Haine's a good songwriter, yes, but i wish it had more style. A differentiated one. No sweat though, they're pretty damn popular already.

They're a Canadian Indie band btw, catchy upbeat music- might just be worth your time :)

FIRSTS

Yup I finally wrote my first script in 2 hours, based loosely on my friend Jeremy. Ok, EXTREMELY loosely. We're both first-timers, him- acting and me- directing/scriptwriting etc so do not expect anything epic. We had a lot of fun though, maybe not so much on Jeremy's part since 3 quarts the time he was going,

"omg so weeeird..this is sooo hard.... *whines*"

Mostly done on tripod but played around with angles towards the end

Had 1 regular pizza each that day. (for real)

So 'zhnged' right? Even A WEE BIT pro-looking, no? 

Truth is, we were faking this. These shots (&more) were taken only after filming. The entire set looked like that except for the flash unit attached on my camera & the laptop was facing Jeremy & I wasn't wearing any earphones. 

Since it's a first-time solo project, everything has to be done on super budget. 1 actor, 2 accessible locations (J & my place), 1 camera. It's a monologue, 8 pages in length, 4 hours of fun filming Jeremy in his gayest for a mere 5 minute screen time.

LASTS






My nocturnal friends have all spent their last days as non-NS men on a fairly good note. Jeremy with a fking lousy movie Blood Ties but great parody & heartscratchy sessions & Les with August & friends. Ah nights will surely be different. Virtual & Real-wise :(

MGMT reeks the smell of talent. They get inspirations from the sounds of nature, specifically mentioned by them were "insects". Who knew insects were capable of such funk. They've always been hippies as proven by this video taken in 2003. It isn't difficult to tell that they weren't so much high on anything yet.



They looked so happy and full of life then,right? Their live performance however, doesn't seem as good as before. Even a lousy portable radio can be employed to spice up their music & it works so fine! Let's take a look at them in the now.



You'll tell the difference.

And yes, they don't say much clever stuff but after a taste of their music, their attitude marks as less annoying :) MGMT ftw! I thought I'm not cut out to dance pretty much at all, but after seeing this, I realise I can do all those moves.

in Porn-ish & brutal epic film:
GAMER

Ho hyeah I shall address the "Porn-ish" first. Expect swarms of teaties n ass flashes & split second fillers. Maybe people like "S" would appreciate these light kicks but frankly, I found its manner of appearance a tad abrasive. Overdone maybe, for my taste. "Brutal" for its sharp & cleverly devised gore scenes. A head-blown-off scene from Gamer EASILY pwnzs Final Destination IV as a whole.

'Gamer' is the latest budget roll-out of Neveldine Taylor, directors known for their low-cost films built with quality and edge. Gy and I reckoned that this time they invested too much on Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall, resulting in the bulk appearances of amateur pornstar-looking casts. I feel Crank was a better movie than this latest installment by N&T. The movie concept is mind boggling- a new world where virtual reality meets the real reality. Woah doesn't that sound like Sandra's kind of world :)

Good portrayal of the "Society" world (humans controlling humans behind a computer) but somehow i think it could be better. Excellent performance by Michael C. Hall as crazy, rich & evil Billionaire prodigy Ken Castle. Worst performance has to go to Kable's daughter with only 1 failed expression to offer in her thankfully few appearances. If the trailer had included the "Society" world, even a few seconds of showcasing its flamboyant style, Gamer might attract/trick more people into watching.

Check out Gamer's behind-the-scenes video. I should get a pair of rollerblades too! 

Most of you would know that my twin brother & I are worlds apart not only in terms of fronts & mannerisms but also in taste. He just got off the internet, leaving me with a link to Priscilla Renea's Hello My Apple, probably thinking that since she's holding a guitar, I might dig her. Ha ha, well of all the links we've shared with each other, this song's A TEENY BIT similar to the type of music I'd listen to (:

Hello My Apple


Creatively complicated set huh! I find her stare at the camera creepy though,

Current Mood: amused

& 2 voices
comes heartwarming duo, Vandaveer:

I got to know about them from I'm Waking Up To...

Its musicians like them that make me want to be breathe the air they breathe. The way Mark Charles Heidinger plays at his guitar like its his most effortless calling.. & how his voice blends so charmingly with the strings. What better way to crown the music to perfection than by sweetening it with the vocals of his sister/friend Rose Guerin.

Vandaveer belongs to the Folk music genre but I hear subtle Pop-ish elements in their compositions. It's beautiful & makes you (or maybe just me) want to set up a fireplace with them and roast marshmallows forever whilst watching/hearing them perform.

I've been reading (alot) on Vandaveer and it didn't take me long to realise that Rose's quality isn't much credited for. There's a lot more hype on Heidinger than her, even in album reviews, Rose Guerin only receives a 1 sentence sort of credit. Sad! I love her voice. Maybe she doesn't have the prettiest of pretty faces but she has a quirky style of her own. I shall put an end here with


I have a feeling a substantial amount of their tracks will be on my retirement soundtrack haa hee hee.

Not everyone loves a mellow day at home, starting late in the day (13:00). A blurred method to operate a life and body. Well, from an on-the-edge-of-hardcore idler's point of view, this custom can be practised but only in moderation. Repeat, only in a moderation. Blah blah blah I'd like to go on explaining in depth my opinion on the issue of Screwed Up Bodyclocks but Naw; noone even the pruned-face future me & my 9 kittens on a couch with a touch-screen macbook air, would be interested much. I don't know about you but I for one, would like to remember what the media had fed me in the September of 2009.

He he, I have a vibrant life ;)

Phoo, what a languid & mouthful piece of introduction! Anyway I've been feeding my visuals & jellifying my brainjoose with lots of online stream TV since the holidays.. At one point, a very.. i must add, sad point, Ifang introduced me to a Korean Drama series called The World They Live In. I endured 2 episodes (let me hear some applause), before something powerful in me gripped me by the shoulders and warned me, "Py, you have.to.stop." So i stopped; I steadied my form with several episodes of The Simpsons, and went on a Tudou rampage with Nip Tuck. Then you have it, I.AM.BACK!



NIPTUCK; I'm sad you know, that there aren't many religious NT followers I know of. One of the many bright things in life (for me) is to have someone whose as excited to talk about a movie/tv show as you are. Don't make me dig out your rolling eyes now. Anyway thank you Ifang, I know of your kind intentions when you introduced the drama to me cos its about filming crews & such but... but. the Koreans did it wrong again!

Been thirsting for a good comedy series since How I Met Your Mother ended. I loveee comedy sitcoms for many reasons, one of which, I don't have to eat with nothing on the primary agenda! That's.... that's sad right? No... no it's perfectly normal.. (laughs manicly) I'm clinching on these 2:

Wish i had the time to photoshop my face there.

Shoot a 30s short film with Raymond. Later on at night, I wasn't really playing mahjong at my friend's family chalet, I was editing the video at Mcdonalds. Ok more like, R did the editing.

Everything went better than I thought it would since the night before,there were no finalized arrangements except the time & location (12pm, MRT station) for meeting, which was postponed to 3.30pm on Saturday itself. Strangely, there weren't any expressions of urgency or anxiety. Maybe that works the trick sometimes. It was only after we met that we begin the location scouting; settled on a nice field-with-road-alongside corner along Loyang farmway.

Tsk, so much for all the research done on "abandoned places in Singapore". The weather baked my skin to a deeper tan and uhh, i'd rather not go into the sticky & clammy details. We stopped to marvel at the scenery for a bit before slooking into the hardly-a-storyboard. An ugly pink unit caught my eye and we later decided on using that brick-ish place for the vid too.