kuruimizu

Background Music: Pig Destroyer - Loathsome

every time i meet people i haven't seen for two weeks or longer, the first thing they do when they see me is smile and say 'hi! how have you been? how's your Masters work coming along?'

i could say:

• oh, i'm currently fulfilling my dreams of travelling around the world taking in new sights, sounds, smell, and people. it's effin' awesome!
• oh, i've decided to do another degree in journalism and photography! it's the best thing i've ever done!
• oh, i'm now spending my days at Starbucks writing a book about a couple who aren't really in a relationship but they still have mutual feelings for each other and its set in a backdrop of a huge unnamed city! it's pretty damn awesome!
• oh, i'm working on a comic about a couple who aren't really in a relationship but they still have mutual feelings for each other and its set in a backdrop of a huge unnamed city! its tough, but its really fun!
• oh, i'm just your average Joe by day, but at night i put on my underwear outside my pants, put on a cape with a lemur logo on it and fight crime! its really crazy, but its totally cool!
• oh, i'm on tour with my band, the Wireless Modems, right now around bars and clubs in the outer-rim of Brickfields. its hectic, but we're having a blast!

but i can't.

hell to pay

i don't know if it's a mental defect or anything, but usually i don't flinch when i hear news or stories of human suffering - the kinds like war, natural tragedies, petty squabbles, and even famine. this kind of comes as a natural response to me because i guess i see humans as beings that are able to defend for themselves - i.e. they are able to prevent the things that happen to themselves.

but when i come across images like this - especially if it involves dogs - i am overwhelmed by feelings of heart break, disgust, anger, and pity to the highest degree.

the story goes about with some crazy dude who thinks it is fun to chuck a dog off a bridge. that last image of the dog already landing on the ground below is so heart breaking that i wonder if this guy is even human. to drop a poor helpless dog down a bridge and think of it as something you do for fun is truly something only a non-human would do.

this video shows the whole ordeal - but i don't have the stones to watch it, let alone open the page. because i find it utterly revolting that a person could commit such crimes towards animals - and especially to dogs. the poor thing couldn't even defend itself. if he were to throw some other idiot down the bridge like you would see in those video recording shows of idiots doing stupid stunts, i couldn't even care less, but he crossed the line when he even thought about doing this to the poor dog.

and i thank God that the poor dog survived the fall - albeit with multiple fractures - as reported here. but the damage is done - this really is some of the worst things i've seen on the internet. i presume the guy who did this won't be doing time in the slammer for more than a couple of months, and it pains me that justice isn't meted on to this sonuvabitch.

Source

Best Albums of the Aughts: 30-21

30. Yann Tiersen

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

[2001]

the story of Amelie and her amazing adventures are captured with great charm and beauty in Yann Tiersen's work. watching the movie, the music compliments the story very well - but listening to the soundtrack itself is also equivalent to the movie experience. there is wide-eyed adventure, love at first sight, heartbreak, and hope in Tiersen's music. a wonderful listen in it's own merits.

29. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

[2009]

a perfect pop record, made by kids in the midst of finding their own way in the world - but centering a lot on the subject of love and fleeting relationships. the music sounds polished and shiny, but the band tries to cover it with a layer of noise and some shoegaze (but not a whole lot, really). a simple, yet refreshing listening experience.

28. Gorillaz

Demon Days

[2005]

Demon Days is a melting pot for every kind of music style - but this mish-mash of music doesn't make the record sound messy and unfocused. there's a whole lot going on in Demon Days, and Damon Albarn has the stones to make it all seem like a cohesive piece of art. it comes off as a tad self-indulgent at parts, but the overall sound is a great piece of art.

27. Akira Yamaoka

Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtrack

[2001]

for the record, i will always prefer the first Silent Hill soundtrack over this one. even so, this soundtrack carries on some of the industrial noise found in it's predecessor - albeit much more listenable. but the core of this record is the trip-hop infused ambient tracks that create various moods of melancholy, despair, shades of doom, and preciousness. it sets the overall tone for the game very well, and it translates equally as well as a stand alone soundtrack.

26. Sigur Ros

()

[2002]

pretty much everything about () depends on the listener. you either embrace the usage of vocals as instruments for the overall music, or you scratch your head over the wonky concept but still embrace the beautiful music. Untitled 1 is creepy yet precious - minimal as it is, it says a lot for the band's music. the closer, Untitled 8 has the band's biggest crescendo and it gives me goosebumps everytime Jonsi makes that squealing falsetto before the cymbals start crashing in. beauty juxtaposed with the not-so-beautiful - makes for pretty good music.

25. Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles

[2008]

most of the music here is ferocious and moves like a typhoon, but it wouldn't really matter if you didn't have a vocalist like Alice Glass. her voice is crazy and sexy, and she works around the moshpit of 8-bit blips to add some sort of cartoon violence into the music - which sounds really weird when i try to describe it, so maybe i'll just stick with ferocious.

24. Death Cab For Cutie

Transatlanticism

[2003]

music-wise, Transatlanticism is probably the most focused out of all the DCFC record's i've listened to - but it goes without saying that the lyrics are what truly appealed to me. tales of lost love, and the matters of the heart of a soft-spoken, sensitive young adult as he falls in and out of love. i guess Ben Gibbard's words and his presentation is what drew me to this record so deeply. so it sounds like a pretty personal record to me, but in fact it is.

23. The Decemberists

Picaresque

[2005]

if the world was perfect, you don't need genres like rock, metal, eletronic, rap, or country. you just need pop music. and yes, in a perfect world, you'll probably have bands like the Decemberists churning out record after record of pop masterpiece. Picaresque is a perfect pop record - albeit inclined more towards the narrative-seeking nerdy folks. if the world was perfect, it'll be ruled by the nerds.

22. Boris

Pink

[2005]

pop in this record, and you will be treated to a barrage of drones on track one - Farewell takes its time and it builds up to a tension point, and that's where track two begins and the rest of the record begins. Pink is a whirlwind of awesome riffs infused with the spirit of punk, but heavy like Black Sabbath. tracks like Electric and Pink illustrate the punk aesthetics with riffs that speed-along with lots of heavy.

21. Air France

No Way Down

[2008]

No Way Down is pure sunshiny bliss. i haven't heard a record as sunny as this (ok, maybe the Pet Sounds, but i'm still working on it) and it has a lot of tropical and foreign sounds that adds that all-round natural feel to the record. the layers of samples seague together so naturally and it feels like every track is part of the other. what a great record to listen to on a sunny day!

Best Albums of the Aughts: 40-31

40. My Chemical Romance

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

[2004]

Three Cheers encapsulates the colourful palette of comic drama and violence with a dash of over the top punk sounds - the record's speed and pop-ish violence creates as interesting vibe and its kind of hard to ignore how the record seems to pull of glam rock as much as punk rock altogether. for all that it's worth - Three Cheers was the only screamo metal record that mattered at its time.

39. The Boy Least Likely To

The Best Party Ever

[2005]

i love how innocent this record is - the sound and lyrics are so lively and vibrant. the child-like innocence and ignorance makes the songs that much more charming. banjos accompanied by xylophones, juvenile vocals coupled with sweet innocent lyrics, and the overall feeling of the record will definitely put a smile in your face.

38. TV On the Radio

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

[2004]

this is TVOTR's rawest, yet most diverse and memorable record. the way i hear it, this record contains deep cuts of atmospheric cool and funky-ness. the overall vibe of the record gives me the chills - the vocal harmonization layered with fuzzy basslines and overall creepy atmospheric synths makes it worth several visits.

37. Beirut

Gulag Orkestar

[2006]

Gulag Orkestar has that sound i'm familiar with, and yet its not the type of music i listen to often. maybe its the familiarity of something foreign, or the way the sounds mesh together to create a world of familiarity. even if the type of music is foreign to my ears, it feels like i've listened to kind of music all my life.

36. Hercules and Love Affair

Hercules and Love Affair

[2008]

there are moments in life where you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard a very awesome record. for Hercules and Love Affair, i was right here in front of my un-Macified PC going all WTF when i heard Antony bellowing his lungs out to a disco beat - only to be called by Sid to go DVD hunting. there were many other awesome records thereafter, but nothing that left me remembering photographic moments like this.

35. System of a Down

Toxicity

[2001]

thrashy riffs, throaty growls, sharp lyrics, funky beats, laugh-out-loud moments - Toxicity doesn't disappoint when i first gave it a spin. and though i was still years away from listening to my first genuine metal record, i could make out how heavy Toxicity was and the thrash metal sound didn't deter me from giving this record two thumbs up because i knew exactly what to make out of this behemoth.

34. Battles

Mirrored

[2007]

unlike Toxicity, i didn't exactly know what to make out of Mirrored when i first heard it. sure, Atlas was that monolithic uber awesome track, but what about the rest of the record? Mirrored isn't your conventional record you can just put in and expect to be dancing all the way through - there's some form of thought of have to put into it, and once you've failed to discover the answer, you just dance anyway.

33. The National

Boxer

[2007]

i like this record for its melancholic atmosphere. even if the beats and guitars sound a tad upbeat, there is a very strong presence of longing, conformity, and sadness in the songs and the overall sound. tracks like Ada illustrate that feel very well, and Apartment Story is melancholic despite its beat-heavy backing. a great record to listen to on that long walk back home through the city late at night.

32. The White Stripes

Elephant

[2003]

if i had to choose one White Stripes album to bring to a deserted island, Elephant is my choice. it has Seven Nation Army and the Hardest Button to Button - simply two of the best tracks the White Stripes have written. it also has a ditty in it where Meg White sings so melancholicly and sweetly. somewhat a step up in diversity and sonic assault compared to White Blood Cells, but Elephant keeps the White Stripes formula intact, and gives it a whole new layer of sheen.

31. Madvillain

Madvillainy

[2004]

Madvillainy is the first rap record i truly accepted as art. MF Doom's oblique and abstract rhymes make the record mysterious and inaccessible, and yet it makes you come back to it just to get the gist of what's going on. Madlib provides mad beats culled from cartoons, and it makes the rhymes all the more dense and interesting. Madvillainy shines because it doesn't rely on typical rap gimmicks - and this is what makes Madvillainy a real rap record.

Next --> [30-21]

Best Albums of the Aughts: 50-41

the aughts was that period of time when i truly refined my individuality - especially when it came to music. for the better part of this decade, i experimented in many different kinds of music, and though it was a daunting and slow process, i came to realize the kinds of music i truly enjoyed. the latter half of the decade i spent refining my tastes, delving into the slightly obscure but not too deep as to come off as a fanboy. nevertheless, i present to you my 50 favourite records of the aughts.

[40-31]

[30-21]

50. Porcupine Tree

Deadwing

[2005]

Porcupine Tree push the envelope with their most progressive effort in this new millennium - composing intricate suites with songs that are melodic and entrancing, i.e. the piano-driven Lazarus. opener Deadwing is Porcupine Tree's most ferocious track and it shreds with layers of sound that leave the listeners breathless.

49. Coldplay

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

[2008]

the band had always been labeled as boring, but with Viva La Vida, the band's sound palette is widen and their experimentation yields an interesting listen, albeit a little less accessible. whether this is the band's Kid A is still up in the air for debate, but for a band that is known for their trite and sappy songs, their approach to new music making is rewarding.

48. Kashiwa Daisuke
Program Music I

[2007]

this is music micromanaged in an intricate miniscule scale. every sample, blip, and sound collage is stitched together in a beautiful montage of sound that will delight and intrigue. despite all the digital manipulation, Kashiwa Daisuke manages to make a very natural sounding record - like an orchestra of glitches and nature.

47. Kamelot

The Black Halo

[2005]

in a nutshell, the Black Halo is dramatic and a tad overblown. but the music is crafted wonderfully and it tells the tale of love and betrayal. Roy Khan has the best vocals for the job and his bandmates deliver an astounding job of making the songs sound majestic and larger than life. literally.

46. Opeth

Blackwater Park

[2000]

regarded as the band's magnum opus - and definitely one of the decade's best progressive death metal record. beauty is juxtaposed with the ugly, Blackwater Park has Opeth's most intricate moments of melancholy, and also brutal passages of complex progressive tracks, courtesy of Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.

45. Mastodon

Crack the Skye

[2008]

for some reason i could never get into Leviathan or Blood Mountain. and for some reason, Crack the Skye really showed the band's prowess for progressive psychedelic metal for me. i chose CTS over the other two merely because the tracks have more focus and variety, but they still retain their progressiveness and brutality.

44. M.I.A.

Kala

[2007]

influential at its own merits, but Kala is no doubt a fun listen all the way through. moments of awesomeness ooze from the record, from the bass friendly Bamboo Banga, the retro hindi sampling of Jimmy, and the ultimate Paper Planes. it leaves a strong impression and it makes you want to revisit it over and over again.

43. ALI PROJECT

Erotic and Heretic

[2002]

the band makes wonderful use of Middle Eastern musical influences, adding some beatific dance beats and melodrama to make a catchy progressive dance pop record. the record has exotic beats and sounds that not only intrigues, but is catchy as well.

42. Muse

Absolution

[2003]

for me, this is the perfect Muse record - it is progressive, heavy, apocalyptic, sensuous, intimate, and dark. tracks like Butterflies and Hurricanes exhibit Muse's artistic merits for crafting progressive rock tunes while still maintaining their accessibility, and Falling Away With You is a the band's most intimate and beautifully written song. the tracks are dynamic and are tied together tightly in an apocalyptic sound that is real and doesn't come off as gimmicky.

41. Mutyumu

Il y a

[2008]

i admit that i haven't heard anything as crazy as Il y a up to today. this record left a huge impression in me for its brutal usage of black metal sounds that is wrapped together with the beauty of operatic vocals and music composition as dense as the best post-rock record. the blend of musical styles is enough to impress, but the execution leaves you breathless and speechless, gasping for air in all the tension and density of the wall of sound.

Next --> [40-31]

snake eater

Background Music: Guilty Gear XX OST - Noontide (Sol vs. Ky)

for the past few weeks i have had to deal with this one nagging question every time i pull out of the drive way and wait for my cousin to close the gate during noon.

where are we going to eat today?

as of late i've been hankering for some variety in my daily gastronomical excursions - only because we boys don't cook that we are forced to drive around asking ourselves that cursed question every single day. as the days go by, my list of usual spots for dining becomes even more shortlisted, and it leaves us in a sort of bind which ultimately leaves us with two options - either find a new place to eat or repeat the list from eating place number 1.

here i am watching AFC and attempting to skim through food blogs for something to whet my appetite. AFC or the travel channel works well for inspiration, but it ultimately proves to be pointless - it merely works merely as a temporary solution. alas, food blogs are wonderful for ideas but there are too many sushi-related entries.

and it irritates me a little to see all these yuppies take pictures of their dining experience at these fine restaurants. its not the pretentiousness i'm irritated at, but the fact that i'm here in front of my unMac-ified PC reading their entries and not trying out their reviews bothers me a little.

so maybe i'll try to step in their shoes for one entry and show the world my pictures of food! maybe someone out there reading this will feel that irritation i once felt while browsing through food blogs.

1. Chili's

2. Hai Thang Steamboat, Bukit Serdang

3. Crabs at Seremban

4. Roti Tisu at Original Kayu, SS2

5. Crepes at Equatorial Hotel, Bangi

and this is how i choose to tell the world that my diet plan has long gone out of its tracks, crashed into a nuclear power plant, burned into a nice black crisp, and is now currently radioactively slowly poisoning the neighboring fishing village.

The Beatles In Mono Boxset

look what came in at the record stores today!

1. a simple yet elegant packaging

2. houses the entire mono Beatles catalogue

3. 13 discs of mono Beatles music bliss! (plus a booklet)

4. album sleeve is a replica of the original vinyl release

5. awesomely awesome album sleeve!

6. sits nicely in my shelf along with the stereo boxset

i guess my only gripe is how much lower the retail price is compared to Amazon.co.uk! at least RM550 cheaper, for chrissake! that's not even including the bloody tax!

i'm glad we waited for the local retail release - it's still a UK import. and this is the way the fab four's songs are meant to be listened - albeit sans the I've got blisters in my fingers bit. can't complain.

Paranormal Activity

earlier this year, i spent many late nights in the lab trying to complete my final year project. i've never spent the night in said lab, but i've stayed in there late enough to justify feeling a little bit scared of the surroundings - albeit there being an urban legend about ghosts haunting that particular floor late at night and tales of seniors feeling spooky chills as they pass through that floor on very late nights. the point of it all is that the fear of the unknown is what makes us shake in our drawers and lose all rational thought.

this is how Paranormal Activity works - it taps in deep into our subconscious, our deepest and most primal fears of the dark, the unknown, and the unseen. there isn't much going on-screen, but when they do, i tell you, it will scare the shit out of you.

the movie tells the story of Micah and Katie, and their encounters with things that go bump in the night. on paper, the nuances that happen seem like nothing compared to your typical Asian horror movie scares, but it is the impression that will ultimately leave you clutching your blankie so tightly with fear (i admit, i was clutching mine real tightly throughout the paranormal activity scenes). as you all probably should know, the movie is shot using a handheld camera - albeit something much better than the one used in Cloverfield. the amateurish handling of the camera adds a raw feel to the film and a tad bit of authenticity a la that reality show on TV - Ghosthunters. the camera is placed in a tripod and is left to roll throughout the night, and this is when things start to get creepy.

i don't want to give away the scares, because i highly recommend that you watch this movie for yourself, but even simple nuances in the beginning of the film like the door opening slightly ajar and moving back to its original position later is creepy enough to send signals into your subconscious to be very very afraid. the execution of simple scares has that much more effect, what with the cleverly set up setting. and even as i braced myself for the bigger scares as the film progressed, the film tops the previous scares with something even more scarier, but never resorts to shock tactics or gore, a la Asian horror flicks and slasher films. most of the time, you don't see anything but you know that something is happening, that's what makes this film so scary because it taps onto our fear of the unknown. even at a running time of 90 minutes, the film feels long because the scares lingers in you long after the scene is over. it wants to really dig into your mind and scare you so much, you will genuinely feel scared long after you've finished watching the movie.

as of now, it is 2.01 am - hardly the time for any sort of paranormal activity to happen (funny that it usually occurs around 3.00 am, even in the movie) - but i'm feeling a little creeped out by the random creaks of my bedroom cupboard, that clanking sound of my glass cabinet, and an irrational fear of my bedroom door suddenly violently flinging open. i don't even dare to step outside of my bedroom for a cup of water.

i'm generally quite creeped out, at this moment.