Ear Candy of the day – Rhythm Bandits

Rhythm Bandits by Junior Senior.
What a fun song! Cute video too! I feel like doing cheesy dance moves already! Woohoo!

Random Page from my Doodlebook

The Killers – Day & Age

Got my hands on a copy of The Killer’s latest CD, Day & Age. It’s FANTASTIC. Okay okay I know, CDs are for suckers, you can get anything for free by leeching off cyberscape and all. But hey, this just goes to show how much I love this band. I rarely even listen to whole albums, but I do for theirs.

Their sound in this album is pretty different from their previous two. Their second, Sam’s Town, was the one that got me hooked on them initially. Then I started listening to their first album, Hot Fuss, all over again (when Somebody Told me and Mr Brightside played on Mtv I thought they’re just another American punk wannabe band) and realised how much a genius Mr Flowers and his mates are. And for a Las Vegas band, that they sound marvelously English! (BTW, what’s with all the Pearl Jam / Creed -style growling that almost every American band vocalist imitates now, huh?)

Okay, on with my comments on Day & Age. The difference between their sound in this album compared to their sound in Sam’s Town is bigger than Sam’s Town compared to Hot Fuss. So I figure some of their fans might turn away because of this direction they’re taking, but again the album may garner new fans. Madonna had changed her sound a thousand times within the last 2 decades and she’s got no shortgae of fans. The album has a much euro/electro/synth-pop sound and less your typical indie-rock. The sound reminds me a lot of Duran-Duran in the 80’s, with all the synths and minimum guitar rocking and even sax solos that further reminds me of the decade I was born in and also Spandau Ballet in their “True” period. Sure I’ll miss their earlier sound but this is amazing. Their frequently-aired single “Human” is a good sample of the album’s sound and feel. Other tracks that I find a delight are “Spaceman” and “Joyride”.

I think The Killers sound more mature in their second album, and in here I feel they are even more certain of the direction they are going and how they should develop as a band. All in all, AWESOME. I hope they exist through the next century.

I have a few gripes, though.
One, there are only 10 tracks in the album – too few to satisfy my ears. I want more out of this album!
Two, there’s no indication they’ll be dropping by the region, or Singapore in particular, in the near future.
Three, I think Brandon looks cuter with the moustache

THE Coloring Book for Everyone!

Doodles: A really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book

by Taro Gomi

I went to Kinokuniya after work yesterday and picked up this really AWESOME coloring book by same author who did “Everyone Poops“. Yes. It’s a coloring book. It’s mainly for pre-school children. But it’s so fun I overcame my embarrassment of picking it out of the coloring book shelf in the pre-school section of the bookstore. The pages of the inch-thick book is filled with Gomi’s unfinished drawings along with instructions such as “Draw fruits on the tree”, “Draw hands on the robot”, “Draw people to help in this tug-of-war but don’t draw a tractor!” or “Draw a dead person”. Of course, you can draw anything but fruits on the tree, and use anything from pencil, paint, cutouts, and lipstick to draw. I couldn’t put my pencil off the pages of the book! It’s perfect to help you get your creative juice flowing, and it’s a big enough book for two people to draw in at the same time. It’s more fun that way anyway! I recommend this book to anyone who can get their hands on one, anyone who doodles, and those who need that little nudge to create something today.

Look inside the book and read the review at Amazon.com

In The Shopping List

and

spend spend spend!!!!!

Bunch o’ Bulbous Behinds

I was walking through People’s Park Complex in Chinatown last evening and while descending on the escalator my eyes were met with a very unpleasant surprise. This little shop offers some sort of magical therapy for haemorrhoids. And to prove how effective their method is, they decided to put up dozens of photos of their patients’ blooming burgundy buttholes. Most of them are Polaroid-size closeups, but some of the photos also featured people pulling their cheeks apart to reveal the whimsical wonder hiding between.

I almost lost my dinner.

But I do wonder, how did they manage to take all those pictures? “Thank you for visiting, Sir. Before we cure you from your case of piles, would you mind bending down, pulling your butt apart, and let us take a picture of you and your swollen hole so we can paste it up on the window for everyone to see?”

What About Secularism

From The Treasure Trove that is YouTube

I present you this gem, a clip from the movie “Telaga Angker” starring the late “Queen of Indonesian Horror”, Suzanna. I keeled over laughing. In awe at her entrance into the scene. Amazed at the creativity. See, it seems that back then they know how to entertain. And ghosts being ghosts, do out of this world things, like pedal backwards, or puff smoke through unusual orifices. Ghosts and spirits in horror movies nowadays are represented badly, with just one gory scene after the other and one shock after the other. Thanks to the lax enforcement of copyright laws in Indonesia (if there exists any – I’m not even sure who holds the copyright of these movies now. ), I can now enjoy such entertaining flicks on YouTube such as “Sundel Bolong“, “Jaka Sembung“, and “G30S/PKI“

p.s. Although they showed the G30S/PKI film on TV every year in my childhood, I’ve never watched it due to certain traumatic school excurcions. We visited Lobang Buaya in grade 3 and I had nightmares of bloody dead generals for months following. Do NOT bring your kids there. Not until they’re old enough to drive themselves there.

Guess Who’s Coming to Town?

CATS!

Those Jellicle cats!

The musical!

Andrew Lloyd Webber!

The longest running musical in Broadway history!

I so gotta watch this!

10 April – 3 May 2009!

Get your tickets here!

More People Should Know About This Place

The NUS Museum.

Yes, NUS has a Museum. For those working or studying in NUS and still now realise that the campus has a museum, go there now!

It’s located inside the University Cultural Centre Building, which also happen to house a theatre with a Conservatory located right next to it. The building is located at the first entrance to NUS from AYE, you can’t miss it.

The museum has three levels of exhibition galleries (again, not many people realise this). The street level main gallery currently houses great example of Southeast Asian art, including paintings, prints, and sculptures. There are also 2 other galleries adjoined to it, each housing running exhibitions.

In the bottom level you can see a collection of historic chinese artifacts and also gifts & donations, most of them chinese calligraphy. The top level of the museum houses Ng Eng Teng’s sculptures, displayed chronologically from his early years up to his latest works.

A nice find is La Libreria, a small cute bookshop behind the frosted glass doors on the top level. The bookshop features limited edition artist books and book arts. They also run a bookbinding workshop every Saturday.

It’s a pity that not many people realise the museum’s existence, as it is located quite far from major art schools or gallery clusters. For those who’ve not been there, go there. For those who’ve been there, go more often!

Exhibitions currently displayed at the NUS museum:

Lee Kong Chian Collection: ways of seeing Chinese art
Ng Eng Teng Collection: sculpting life
South & Southeast Asian Collection
Archives & Desires: selections from the Mohammad din Mohammad collection
Mapping the Corporeal: Ronald Ventura
Bound for Glory: Wong Hoy Cheong

My Funny Friends and Me

My little circle of friends and I always exchange random emails to keep each other entertained at work. As common office workers we tend to need distractions to keep us alive in the course of our day. It’s like a mini exclusive mailing list. The emails ranges in subjects, from political commentary, viral videos, dream interpretation, or just an I’m-having-a-bad-day email. This particular exchange today cracked me up:

Abis nengok blognya <someone>… Jadi orang tu kaya gitu, jangan kerjanya ngomongin hal2 ngga jelas kaya kita Kapan tajirnya. Kapan kita bisa achieve financial freedom to live a beautiful life?

I tot we already hav…

have what? what do we already have that <he> doesnt have?

T*t*t yang panjang….

Tetet yg panjang? Apaan tuh?

Bukan tetet itu tau, tp tatut. Tatut yg berkepanjangan.

Stupid Anti-smut Bill Passed by Stupid People

The Indonesian house of representatives passed the controversial anti-pornography bill at the end of last month. It’s indeed a sad sad day, and I’m disappointed of Indonesia. Won’t go the length to say I’m embarrassed, anyway the country’s part of my identity and I’m still proud of my heritage.

The final draft of the bill in Indonesian here.

Some of the points that irks me most:

Article 1: Definition
Pornography is drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, texts, voices, sound, moving pictures, animations, cartoons, poetry, conversations, gestures, or other forms of communicative messages through various kinds of media; and/or performances in front of the public, which may incite obscenity, sexual exploitation and/or violate moral ethics in the community.

So let’s say I get turned on listening to SBY delivering a speech addressing the nation on poverty, this means the Indonesian President’s speech is pornography!

Article 14
Production, distribution, and consumption of sexual materials are allowed for the importance of and has the value of:
a. art and culture
b. local customs, and
c. traditional rituals

Now I wonder, where’s SCIENCE in the list? This means human anatomy diagrams in biology books will be banned, doesn’t it? They’re pictures of naked humans afterall, and who knows what high-school kid masturbates to pictures of reproductive organs in their textbooks.

And of course, the biggest concern to many who opposed it is that the bill endorses individuals and groups to take initiative in enforcing the bill.

What saddens me most here is how narrow-minded people are. A common opinion supporting the bill is that by eliminating pornography from the face of Indonesia will somehow prevent corruption and prevent Indonesia from falling further in the downward spiral, and this bill is the correct first step in “fixing the country’s moral”.

“This is what we need to fight pornography. This law will complete our legal system to protect us from pornographic materials,” Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni said.

“If our husbands are (exposed to) pornography then our families will be destroyed.”

“Now our children are safe,” said Lasmiantini, chairwoman of Salima’s Bekasi chapter.

I’m lost there. Why should we be protected from pornography anyway? Pornography isn’t doing anything to us, it’s our own responsibility not to access it if we’re offended by it! Maybe Mr. Basyuni needs the bill to help him with his porn addiction. What’s next? Making pork illegal so we can be protected from pork? And who guarantees that banning pornography will turn your drunk and violent husband from further destroying your family or raping your own daughter?

I really have no idea how a pornography ban will magicamally turn the poverty and corruption stricken nation 180 degrees into a polished first world country.

Or maybe in the land of crazies I’m the retarded one. Maybe the bill can somehow actually eliminate poverty and hunger. Maybe I’m just not wise enough to understand how.

*a big sigh*

Singapore’s First English Animation (or is it?)

So we’ve been bombarded by posters at bus stops and TV commercials and trailers in cinemas and repeated ads on the radio of the latest proudly true blue 100% got warranty Singaporean production, Sing to The Dawn, a 3D animation feature based on an award-winning children’s book. So Singaporeans should be really proud of this production, especially since the last two local animations flopped at the cinemas. (Legend Of The Sea and Zodiac: The Race Begins)

Or should they really? Let’s see who worked on this animation:

• The author of the original story is Minfong Ho, a Myanmar-born Chinese American,
• about a girl in Thailand.
• The movie is directed by Phil Mitchell, an Indonesian-based Canadian,
• with Indonesian animation crew,
• working in Infinite Framework Studios in Batam, Indonesia.
• The team also includes UK’s Stephen Read, who worked in Happy Feet.
• With Singaporean cast, backed by Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and MediaCorp’s Raintree Pictures (Singapore).

So I consider it more of an international effort, rather than Singaporean. Or Southeast-Asian. Or maybe Singaporean-Indonesian. My evil nationalist twin would say it’s a truly Indonesian effort, with funding assistance from Singapore.