YUNA - "DECORATE" - my money was well spent

I glanced at the CD at 7-11 while trying to get change for parking. Autopay machines do not receive RM50 notes. DAMN. Anyway i glanced at 3 cd's, Yuna's Decorate, Seven Collar T Shirt and the 3rd i couldn't recall. And I took the Seven Collar T Shirt cd from the CD holder, but nah...wasn't too impressed with their first album which i bought almost 10 years ago. And then i picked up Yuna's cd...familiar...but nah...no cigar.
The next day, at a guitar store, i saw Yuna's poster at a guitar store, an ambassador for Godin guitars. And Colin told me that she is really good. Wow. A local artiste as a guitar ambassador, interesting. I mean it's been a while since Tempered Mental came up with another cd, perhaps it was time to check out another one. And then we were discussing how she sounds like over Skype the next day.
That night, I browsed her music on youtube.
Safe to say, i bought her album the next day without much thought and it was RM27 well spent :)
haha....Forgive my ignorance for I only found out about her achievements much later on. By then, i was already hooked to her music.
And driving to the Court of Appeal with the album looping over and over further enhanced my interest.
Listening to Rocket while driving on the empty, clean and beautiful streets of Putrajaya made me felt like i was driving on a lazy Sunday. It wasn't a lazy Sunday but it felt like it. :)
She really has a nice voice, reminscent sometimes of Bjork, sometimes Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer and Ellie Goulding, maybe a little bit of Zee Avi put together. And sometimes, so raw but yet poignant.
Her music also sounds simple, but yet, the harmonies and tones are rich so that adds boost in her songs. And her songwriting, though mostly about love and relationships, is also quite credible and yet touches the soul.
Well, its a good thing for Malaysia that we have talents who can make it and deserve to make it. Till her next album, it is much awaited.
Anyway, here are some of the favourite Songs from the album and one from her EP. I will be looking for it soon at the music store. Hope I can find it. Meanwhile, enjoy Yuna :)

2010 - in retrospect - 2011 - a prospect

This is the last post for the year 2010. And what a year it has been. A friend of mine mentioned that it was a roller coaster of year. I can perhaps identify with that.
It’s been one heck of a revelation, this 2010 is.
I went to perhaps one of the most memorable concerts I have ever been to, in the guise of Pink Martini. I have found love, I have lost love. I have savoured the victory of some cases won and to review the cases which ended in defeat (of course not in the main roles but some important contributions nevertheless). Been to Sri Lanka, a place I have never dreamt i would go to. Malaysia won the AFF Suzuki Cup, also something of a surprise really considering they were never given a chance in the tournament after the first game thrashing of 5-1 in the hands of the eventual finalist losers, Indonesia.
I also need to make groundbreaking changes in terms of my health, some say that it’s good that it didn’t lead to more complications or that may be life threatening, either way, it’s ironic and perhaps a little depressing even. But life does go on despite everything I have mentioned, no qualms about that.
These are lessons learned and 2010 has provided many lessons and new and interesting experiences as well.
Whats in store in 2011? I wished i knew. But there is always a hope of a better year, but good or bad, I'm sure it would be another interesting and challenging year. haha....looks like my challenge ante has been raised to a higher level for next year prior to the events of 2010. And may His promises be fulfilled in 2011, I don't know what yet, but i shall be seeking them :)

Goodbye 2010, and I usher in 2011.

Happy 2011 everyone. Lets get the ball rolling.......

Doom and Gloom never sounded this good

Was running through my mp3 list.
And then I ran through my "P" playlist.
I scrolled till I found Portishead.
I clicked on "Sour Times" and i remembered how I fell in love with that song back in 1995. On a dark, rainy day and alone at home. No lights, no electricity, only a radio running on batteries.
And i heard the wonderful melancholic, gloom and doom music that this band from Bristol played. Weird, atmospheric, sad, creepy and something to immerse yourself in such a gloomy atmosphere.
5 years later, i read a review of their self titled album, Portishead describing it as a cabaret from the dungeon. Nice way of putting.
Well, perhaps the best way to listen to Portishead, is to imagine yourself, being in a vast and empty landscape, without light, except a faint aural glow, alone, all by yourself, no one else, or rather no one left in this world and overlooking....emptiness..nothingness...
best way to enjoy Portishead...:)

doom and gloom never sounded this good...



Below are the links to the some of Portishead's work...
Enjoy





Oh....and another oddity in music...Bjork....

that would, perhaps, be a post for the future..

I Can Only Imagine

Kendrick chose this song sometime back for worship. When I first heard it, to get myself into the song before we practice, i was dumbstruck by the progression of it, cause I thought it was really good. And then I listened closely and read the lyrics of the song, and I thought, wow, this is really an honest song and perhaps a song which will reflect the genuineness of my emotions when I do meet my Maker when that day comes.
And when I stand before Him, I can only imagine what I would do, cause I wouldn't know what may happen. And I thought that this is really a good song to share with the people around me. And here I put forth the lyrics for your personal reflection perhaps and for you to imagine, what it will be like when you stand before Him. :)
As Celynn once puts it, "An emo song for an emo moment" :D
Herein are the lyrics:-

I can only imagine
What it'll be like
When I walk
By Your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

(chorus)
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus
Or in Your honour of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing Hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine, I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
When I find myself
standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus
Or in Your honour of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing Hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine, I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship You
I can only imagine...


The music and lyrics can be found here
Though the version that I first heard was from Soul Survivor and I thought that it was absolutely incredible. :)

Buy Elections and Shoot-Outs

The Hulu Selangor By Elections; was it an expected result?
To many, it was perhaps an expected result though not an anticipated one.
The Hulu Selangor Buy Elections is what its considered to be to put it more appropriately.
I was particularly disappointed with the results, not so much that Zaid Ibrahim lost, but that once again, money seems to be the greatest motivating factor. Well, at the very least, they tried to with the Chinese voters; see the pledged funds for the Chinese medium schools in Bukit Beruntung and Rasa.

I wish that much money was given to my alma mater, St Michael's Institution.

Should't parties have expenditure cap for by elections? Perhaps this is something that the EC over-sighted. After all, these are 'donations'. Come on, seriously, why 'donations' at this hour? Unfortunately we have accustomed ourselves to accept this as 'election campaigning propaganda'.
A friend of mine said, that it is a good thing for the chinese schools. I agreed. But it is only a temporary gain, and not one in the long run. Unfortunately, this is a referendum that money still buys into the hearts of people. That our politics, is still race based, no thanks to MCA and MIC for upholding that fact. And then you have PERKASA, making racial statements all day long without going unpunished. Punishing the Chinese for not voting BN by not fulfilling the pledges that were 'pledged'? Punishing under what circumstances and under whose authority?! COME ON?!!

My friends, such is the sad state of our politics in this country.

With the personal attacks on Zaid Ibrahim's 'alcoholic problems', it goes to show how hypocritical politicians really are. I'm sure all the other politicians have lived absolutely perfect lives.

So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her - John 7:8, King James Version

Perhaps that above sums it up appropriately :)...and yet they continue to cast the stones...

It is a sad day for the rakyat as a whole once again.

And to compound perhaps a week of general misery,once again, we have news of the nation's police force once again, being all too trigger happy. The shooting of Aminulrasyid Amzah will once again bring Malaysian minds where, too often, the police have acted as the Judge, Jury and Executioner. Aminulrasyid never even had a chance to appear before any juvenile court for his offense (driving without a license) which seems to me, now, carries the death penalty. It's simply too tragic and crazy.
To the family of the deceased, the RM10,000.00 compensation(how little the life of a young boy seems to cost)is nothing compared to the trauma that they go through at this very moment. The loss of life and the loss of a son.
I only hope that the Bar Council's push for a public inquiry on this does not fall on deaf ears as we so often have seen in the past...

This is another blow to the image of the civil defense service, and I mean the police here, if it's not tainted with doubt and distrust already.

If anything, it further makes a mockery of 1Malaysia...

Poetry and Prose

Was listening to Tourniquet's Vanishing Lessons just a while ago. It was a piece of good music and i was reminded of an excerpt in the interlude of the song, quoted by....I don't know...Vincent Price maybe? But it was from Edgar Alan Poe's Masque of the Red Death, a symbolic tale of the Black plague if I'm not wrong...

"There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless, which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost , to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made." - Edgar Allan Poe, the Masque of the Red Death

This is a random post...or is it?

Oh The Wonderful Cross

As we go through the season of Lent and this week in particular, of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, let us just remember the journey of Christ, from the time of the Passover Feast(the Last Supper) to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, to the events when Jesus was betrayed and sentenced to be crucified, and yet all this was done, for the salvation of you and I. At the Cross He died, so that we may live. The Death was not in a glorified fashion, for anyone would know or perceive, that the crucifixion was a devastating and gruesome encounter. But it is His death for US, which makes His resurrection even more so glorified.
Thank you for the Cross.
As we reflect on this time, let me just share this song, which has been a constant comfort in needful times for me. :)

WHEN I SURVEY

WHEN I SURVEY the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Oh, the wonderful cross,
Oh, the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find
That I may truly live.
Oh, the wonderful cross,
Oh, the wonderful cross,
All who gather here by grace
Draw near and bless Your name.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Music: Lowell Mason (1792-1872)