Written by lainie at 10:37 PM on November 27, 2005 in Daily Life, Music, Links / Email.

I leave the internet alone for TWO DAYS and this SHIT happens??? Sixthseal made it to the front of some tabloid paper. Negative report. The link will take you to Sashi's site, he's translated some of it for you people that don't understand Malay, or never visited Sixthseal's site before.

Look, if anything, HB's site has more than convinced me never to do ice, yknow? The difference between talking, posturing and showing, is that HB's blog bloody showed what would happen if I touched it, whereas the only other druggies I kinda knew of were in college. And the college ones, it's a lot of posing, talking. Like, oh, wow shit, I have not slept in three days haha can you believe it, but yeah that's what doing drugs like I do will do to ya kinda stuff. But the only people I ever saw seriously fucked up on drugs were the ones that dressed in rags and looked like they were mad, walking around streets mumbling to themselves, all sorta track marks up their arms. Fuck, just walk around Sogo, that place is drug-filled creepiness.

The college druggies. I mean. They dress up. They go clubbing. They cram for exams 2 weeks in a row and get lovely grades.They look like they're doing perfectly well, drugs or no. The most I've seen is them casually shrugging while admitting that they couldn't resist yet another hit, and hey, haha, these drugs make us lose our appetite so yeay more money for us. And we have that lovely, trendy, anorexic look. You wanna talk about the negative effects of drugs, lets just say I didn't see that side in them.

[ Although some of them did rather annoy me ]

And since I can barely resist coffee.....Actually, I can't resist coffee at all.....I know what will probably happen if I ever did try meth. And I'm not exaggerating when I said HB's blog convinced me never to do ice. That shit freaks me out. And the most ironic thing? The last blog meet I went to, we all talked about Huai Bin's website, and we all agreed that if anything, reading HB's site is fantastic inspiration to not do drugs.

If the biggest factor to you doing drugs is curiosity, then seriously, let Huai Bin's site totally kill that for you.

Though I can't say I agreed with him putting up those drug-related entries............it's just so....sigh. Leave the bloggers alone, will ya? Man, I love his blog entries. Even the inane one-picture, one sentence entries. One of the first blogs I started reading (before I even knew he did drug-related entries, might I add). I am so used to the way this guy blogs.

But as for those crying out for HB to take a stand, and keep everything on his website....I must say I disagree. If it's safer for him, I'll rather the blog goes down, and the blogger remains. Yknow? I like HB, I think he's a harmless dude, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to the guy.

And what's this about people finding out where to get drugs through HB? Maybe it's my bad memory, but I read his site and I STILL would not know where to get ice from. Unless you're talking about the doctor shopping entries he wrote, whereby I am nowhere NEAR good enough with pharmaceutical knowledge to get drugs anytime I want to.

Oh and is anyone else weirded out by the idea that some govvie guy could be reading our blogs to see if there are any others promoting drugs? Especially with the "Look at my stoning face" kinda slang going around, some idiot might just go Zoinks, that guy's on marijuana right there!

[ Stoning is more like "faded" here (never mind, not the best word to use) totally exhausted, and not flying high on MJ, though yes, stoning is also used to refer to getting high. Depends on whether you can figure out the context, I suppose ]

Sashi said this:

"But these articles are way over the top - coming especially at a time when more pressing national issues need to be faced by the powers-that-be. Is this a way for the local media to distract the public�s attention?"

Which just goes to show how much faith we have in local press, really, because that's the first thing that crossed my mind (The second was, Oh no, Huai, this must be terrible for you).
Like, is this something to take away attention from all that hoo-hah about police abuse making some woman strip and do ear squats, which isn't legal (oh, haha, corrupt police shocking politicians, when the citizens aren't even surprised that police are corrupt, har har har) and was probably done just to humiliate and bully?

Like. uh, oh, crap, police force did something stupid and blogs are spreading proof everywhere....Damn damn damn need distractions fast OHMYGOD LOOKATTHATDRUGGIE! EVIL EVIL! *Flails* EVIL EVIL! *Flails and points finger* DAMN THE BLOODY YOUTH OF MALAYSIA, CAN'T TAKE OUR EYES OFF THEM FOR A MINUTE *tragic flail, waves hands about*

Distracting, isn't it?

=====

So. I went for MVA festival on Saturday. Yes, alone. Why do people seem freaked by that, is it so weird? I'm 22, for god's sake, it's alright.

Anyways, MVA (Malaysian Video Awards) was quiiiite interesting, once I got to the place. Apparently I took the wrong entrance, so I had to use some lift at the side. The moment I stepped in, the lift door started opening and closing repeatedly on my increasingly confused face.

[ The festival has a few more days to go, so you can still go peek at it, just click this link to see what events they have lined up - I overheard that the ANIME shows are gonna be quite cool ]

Nearly took off my shoulder when I tried to get out - though I eventually did. Guard looked at me and I told him something was wrong with the lift. He went in with me, and when the lift door started slamming and opening again, he just kinda pushed it close with his palms. And gave me this "There, wasn't that hard, was it?" kinda smile.

Bloody hell, I had the worst visions that I'd be stuck in the lift with the guard, the alarm button won't work, and the whole festival will go by without me as I suffocate to death with him. But that's just paranoia.

I got to the festival, right on time, slightly breathless and quite uncoordinated. I must have looked kinda frazzled as I walked up hiamIlate? and howmuchdoIpay?, whereby I got this extremely weird look which basically said, "Wot, you think anyone would still come if we charged for this?".

There were only a few people there when I arrived, though fifteen minutes later it really started. A talk by Yasmin Ahmad. It was supposed to be about script writing, but what she really did was show us how a personal touch on what we do makes all the difference.

She also went on to show us some clips from movies, highlighting what made them work, how they generate emotions, and so on. I liked her selection.

Then she did something seriously, seriously evil. She played her own commercials. Machauhai.......

Evil because er....Yknow... I'm quite emo sometimes. Well, not emo per se, but I cry so goddamned easily when I watch TV, and her adverts are evil lil emo motherfuckers. So I sat through a collection of tearjerker ads and I almost subconsiously put my palms over my heart as I drowned in bigscreen Yasmin Ahmad emoness.

Okay, fine, a tear or two rolled down. It sucks. I HATE it when this happens in public because it's so bloody embarrassing. Good thing I sat almost at the back row, so no one could see, and I have long hair, to cover up my red ears in case it wasn't dark enough. While 90% of me was trying to remain calm, the remaining 10% was bawling away inside like "Oh sweet jesus that lame boy adopted a half-blind dog bwaaaaaaahhhhhhhh blub blub blub".

I'm absolutely useless at tearjerker stuff, I tell you. I must admit though, she's made one of my favourite ads, the one where the rude guy on the LRT and won't give his seat up for anyone. And there were the funny ones as well, like the husband who gets served a football on a plate as dinner by his neglected-for-footie wife.

She was quite charming about the whole thing, it was done in a rather casual manner. Some flash-photography happy yo-yo nearly killed my eyes, and gave me rather a headache by taking SO MANY photos of Yasmin Ahmad. I don't know how she took it, I'd have used the mic to commit homocide by about the 10th time the mega flash went off.

After the talk I asked some people sitting at the front desk where I could get some water. What I really meant was "I woke up early, rushed here, met a psycho lift, had my heart jerked about by commercials which is terrible for my credibility, please point me in the direction of a cup of caffeine coffee before I accidentally kill one of the festival-goers". But water sounds better. Anyways, they were really nice about it and some Chinese looking dude with rasta hair (which actually really suits him) handed me a free bottle of water.

Free talks. Free water. Free screenings of movies. Why weren't there more people there? Am I the only freebie-whore in Malaysia? Naw. Just kidding.

Later on, Gordon Tan (some Asian rep for London film festival dude) screened award winning funny ads from around the world. Man, there were some fucking weird ass ones, but they all got a laugh from me. I love funny ads, I do.

I didn't stick around after that because I wanted to look around - did I mention the festival is at the national art gallery? So yeah, I liked quite a lot of the pieces on display, though there was some video installation there that gave me a headache because it was so loud and noisy and jarring, and I was trying to look at all these lovely, calm calm calm paintings.

I want to visit the art gallery again soon, because I didn't have much time that day since I needed to hop into a cab and meet Fip in KLCC.

=====

Fip and I hung around till about, say, 9? before going for dinner at this mamak cafe. Met up with fellow bloggees there, Iki and Eva.

Then we walked across the road to No Black Tie. Reza organised the gig for that night, Moonshine.

[ Moonshine blog entry about that day is here ]

I cannot put to words how much I LOVED MOONSHINE!! The gig, that is.

When we walked in, Zalila Lee just started performing. I loved her set. Thought to myself, right, is this a fantastic start or what. Cause fuck, this woman can sing, and the songs she writes are lovely. She apologised for her "voice" because she had a sore throat. I personally have no idea what the HELL she was talking about, because she sang so beautifully. Fuiyo.

Then Isaac Entry came on. He likes to sing about "liking expensive girls and having no money". My favourite from his set was "Lord knows what I'd do". Actually, I don't know what the song is titled. Red Bricks House? Simple lyrics, but I like the way he sings them. Quite a reggae boy. And kinda looks like a less anemic version of....er....Mark Teh. Charming guy, made the crowd laugh with his lyrics about girls, some cheering him on when he sang about what he would do for a girl if he was a millionaire.

Then Reza sang. Ahhh, that boy has a voice to make girls melt, he does. His most popular song is probably "For Her", since I saw some people mouthing the lyrics, and the crowd cheered when he started playing it.

Actually, somewhere in the middle of his set, as I was leaning against the staircase, two people behind me started talking "Oh my god, what are you doing here, no what are YOU doing here, like I came to watch Isaac, oh I came to watch Rhapsody". Like, no offense, you're kinda hot, but I didn't pay 20 bucks to listen to you socialise so not so loud please? But the girl I kinda shushed was nice about it, and shushed the friend she was talking to as well.

I was aiming for a Clark-Kent kinda friendly shh, with just my finger to my lips kinda thing, but I'm afraid it might have looked more like Wolverine. Oh well. And yes, the one I checked out as I shushed was kinda hot. Heh.

Took a fifteen minute break then. They played Joni Mitchell as background music, which, considering the singer-songwriter gig it was, didn't come as much of a surprise. Fip told me "A Case of You" reminded her of me...........Which just goes to show, sometimes you have to pay attention to the lyrics, dearie.

Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as the Northern star
and I said, constant in the darkness,
where's that at? If you want me I'd be in the bar

Look, I love that song okay. It's probably my fave Joni song (so typical, I know, shut up). But jesus, it reminds you of me? How's that a good thing??? Go to him....stay with him if you can...but be prepared to bleeEEeeed. Tori Amos wishes she wrote that song. Well, fuck, you and me, Tori.


Oh yah, guess what people? Okay that nerdwoman has stopped blogging for a lil while, but you people know Demented_kat? The one who used to be on Geocities (now Blogspot)? I saw this girl in a lil black dress walk by, talking to Reza on the way out, so I being a nosy arse sociable blogger, scampered up to Reza and asked if it was Sharon, to which he said "Ohmygod, yes!".

So I walked out after Sharon and said hi. She said she had not been blogging because she couldn't figure out her html and didn't want some premade template. Oh welllllll. Oi, perempuan, move it, I miss your blog.

And to think, I just asked [K] like a day before if she had stopped blogging. Also met Sharon's friend, who introduced herself as Fizah. Oi woman, why didn't you just give me your blog url, I KNOW IT TOO LAH!

Haha...Happy belated birthday.

Anyhow, after the set, Will Ng performed. The thing about Will Ng is, he writes Mandarin songs, and I think a lot of the crowd didn't understand what he was singing about, which worked against him because most of them had built up quite a conversation during the break and were quite reluctant to let it down.

But the amazing thing is, about his third song or so, which he described as more of a poem than a song, the crowd went quiet for a while, just to listen to what this guy singing in a language they didn't understand had to say. It was THAT soulful the way he sang, people could TELL something was going on here. And this guy is just...you know, strumming the guitar and singing ballads.

For me to understand the general gist of most of his songs, he probably wrote quite simple lyrics. But they sound good, very simple nice rhymes, and he sings them in such a heartfelt manner (and it comes off more honest and sincere than those made up boys you see on TV singing in a "heartfelt manner"). I found myself getting all oooh-ahhh as he sang. Hah. But I'm a bit of a ho for any guy who can strum a guitar and sing at the same time without falling over.

Then the last band came on. The Rhapsody. Oh, MY GOD.

I'll be honest here. I liked all the acts tonight that I will vouch for the gigs anytime. If you have to pay to go to Zalila Lee, Isaac Entry, Reza Salleh, Will Ng, or The Rhapsody....DO IT. It is well worth your money to. If these nerds EVER DECIDE TO FINALLY LAUNCH A GODDAMN CD for fuck's sake, buy it.

But The Rhapsody, oh my fucking god, could I have loved their performance more? A duo, one on piano, one vocalist, and many beautiful songs. The vocalist, she kinda reminded me of Etta James because of the way she liked to play with and tease her songs. I must say, the band was easily the most popular act of the night. The crowd kept quiet when they performed, clapped along when asked to, and cheered like mad, hooting, foot stamping and clapping so loudly whenever they finished a song. We loved them man.

Made them do an encore. Have you BEEN to any events involving Malaysians? We never fucking ever ask for encores mate, we're the most apathetic crowd you'll ever find. And we forced a band to encore? WOW, okay.

And you know what?

You guys are so lucky.

Because they have free MP3 downloads available.

Please, go download their songs.

[ Download The Rhapsody MP3s from I-bands.net ]

And then remember your manners, and come back to thank me when you do.

Because if the MP3s do any justice to what I heard that night, it'll be good, good jazzy singing.

[ If you don't know where to start, try So Scared and Breakfast in Bed. I just downloaded these MP3s. Sigh, they sound better live, louder, prouder, playful and brash.]

After the gig, it was open-mic session. A girl called Lisa went on to perform two songs. Damn, she plays both the guitar AND piano really well, and she sings in this kinda gothy style. I quite liked her first one, it sounded so inspired by Beth Gibbons kinda singing. Hah.

Then Mia Palencia performed. I guess she's the one that needs the least intro among the lot, being half of the band Double Take. The rate the crowd seemed to like her, she could have sang about tap dancing llamas in the South Pole, it'd still have gone down well.

So I liked every performer that went on. Damn, Reza, could you have organised a better night? Reza said that Moonshine will hopefully be a monthly thing. Hell, I'm game.

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