So it says at the website of upcoming Swedish sneaker, Sneaky Steve. This is a new sneaker label that came out with their first collection just a few months ago for Fall/Winter 2007/08. According to their website, Sneaky Steve’s are meant to be the intermediary between the beautifully made but overpriced luxury sneakers and cheap but ’shitty’ local brand sneakers (by local he’s referring to Swedish ‘local’ of course’). Thus it’s designer sneakers at an affordable pricetag.

Design-wise, they claim to be “a mix of 80:s street and punk culture with a touch of preppy English mod”, which is an accurate description. To back the description up are the use of black/white leather, brogue/wingtip detailing, pointed toes and an unrestrained use of 80’s bright colours for their summer collection. After checking out the outgoing AW 07/08 collection posted on their website I also notice some semblance to the other designer sneaker label, London’s SWEAR. I am quite taken in by their mixing of elements, embodied by the “Chuck Black Patent” which combines the informality of a slip-on shoe with the oxford shoe elements of wingtips and patent leather. Also liking their hi-cut model Swap available in white leather, black leather or silver.
Pic courtesy of LifeLounge

What caught my eye that led to the discovery of this brand was the creatively-presented photo campaign of their upcoming SS 08 collection:

(Photos courtesy of Streetwear Feber)

It seems like a brazen use of the 80’s colours they were speaking of. But by the looks of it, these sneakers are meant to be fun and not to be taken too seriously. It would take a KL person tremendous courage to wear these playful high tops out (like the one in tennis ball green!) but some colour combo’s are alright. Personally, I’d wanna know more about the high-cut leather black and white velcro sneakers on picture 6. Those look cool.

The closest to get these babies are in Singapore’s Billet Doux store. Price should be not more than an average pair of Nike Air Force One’s.

I am rendered speechless by this piece of news.
So whatchagonna do, Willis?

Speechless once
and again

I got news from a blog I visited that there is going to be a music festival called Sunburst 2008 in KL this March. Check out their website here.

According to the website, the international acts confirmed are band Incubus, soul star John Legend, jazz greats Incognito, the real hip hop kings The Roots, and Indonesia’s jazz man Tompi and band Gigi.
From the local music scene are Pop Shuvit, Joe Flizzoq, Gerhana Ska Cinta, Atilia, Estranged, Tempered Mental, Hujan, Meet Uncle Hussain, Y2K, One Buck Short, Reza Salleh, Search, Bittersweet and Najwa.
It is also said that the re-formed Smashing Pumpkins might make an appearance. But I am also hoping for a talented guitarist/singer Raul Midon to confirm his attendance to this festival. The combination of his soulful voice and guitar playing skills are nuts.

Price is not too bad with the early bird discount, and I am quite keen on going. G*d*amn, I have been deprived of some good live music ever since I was thrown to the East, and that’s one small but sweet lineup international musicians that they’ve got. Acts I am looking forward to seeing the most are John Legend and The Roots. I haven’t been listening to Incubus or stuff like that for some time now, but it would be good to finally see them live. On the local front, I would like to see the much talked about Reza Salleh and Meet Uncle Hussain.

Personally, I think it is great that this festival is organized. There is definitely a dearth in terms of live acts performing in Malaysia, when compared with other Asian countries like Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. You may argue that there were many artistes who came in conjunction with our 50th year celebrations e.g Gwen Stefani, Muse, MCR but I was veering more towards the non-pop side of things, say jazz festivals and rock festivals. In the UK during the summer, the whole country becomes a musical playground with summer fests like the infamous Glastonbury, T in the Park, Party in the Park and Download Fest take place. These festivals last for a few days, and it is akin to a non-stop concert with tonnes of bands playing back to back. Nevertheless, this festival is definitely one step closer to making Kuala Lumpur “a “must go” destination in the South East Asian region by utilising a globally attractive commodity: MUSIC”, as quoted by the event organisers.

Right now, I can’t help but compare the Sunburst festival to another festival happening at about the same time in Singapore- The Mosaic Music Festival. Call it a Malaysian inferiority complex, but I guess it’s deeply ingrained in every Malaysian to see who is better- the bigger cousin or the richer cousin. But for first impressions, try visiting ‘their’ website and compare it with ‘ours’. I am not trying to draw any conclusions, because ‘our’ festival is still a baby compared to ‘theirs’- a toddler. And to be fair the Malaysian organisers must have put in a lot of effort in getting those guys to even step foot in our beloved capital.
Next, try checking out their line-up. For 2008, it’s a TEN-day festival with 70 artistes including Earth Wind & Fire, Soil and Pimp Sessions, Mum, Fujiya&Miyagi, Harry Connick Jr. In addition are Singaporean, Malaysian (including Reza Salleh, Ferns) AND Thai musicians. Covers nine genres.
Previous years have had Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jose Gonzalez, Yo La Tengo, Kings of Convenience, Montreux Jazz. The names I dropped here are those that are more commonly recognized internationally.

At present, the Sunburst festival is a 12-hour musical assault, featuring easily recognizable and commercially viable musicians from the country and overseas. I ponder, though, if the day would come when KL would play host to a 7-day music festival that features every type of musician: the commercial headliners, the alternative superstars, the indie scenesters from whatever the country, and the local and regional heroes. That’s because that is what it takes to make KL “a “must go” destination in the South East Asian region by utilising a globally attractive commodity: MUSIC”.

Music is like any other cultural element that makes up a great city. A city like New York has an exceptional live music and underground music scene from which countless talents are discovered. Tokyo is internationally recognized as one of the world’s shopping mecca. While some districts like Ginza thrive on their architectural megastructures housing various luxury brands, there is also a copious amount of street fashion subcultures fuelled by countless smaller brands. It is probably this healthy mix of the recognisable and the unique that synergize Tokyo into becoming the shopping paradise it is now.

That said, I am looking forward to the best outcome from this event and am very thankful that it’s going to happen. Whatever it is, I hope I can make it, and if I do, I hope it would be good. And lastly may the event have the staying power and not suffer the same fate as Rentak Asia.

Yesterday night over dinner, the few of us ex Glaswegians (if we can call ourselves that) suddenly got to talking about our time back in the ‘dear green place’ . We recollected various memories about our significant 12 months over in that place; the discussion started with the food (obviously), then proceeded to the places, the weather and gruesome exams, with random events that defined the year peppered in between. We noticed how the memories circa 2005-2006 were fast evaporating from our minds, as we struggled to recall street and food names.

Later that night, I decided to join my uni’s alumni group on Facebook, with which had a group called “I miss Glasgow” at its related group. The name of the group was downright cheesy and a little pathetic if I may add, but I clicked on it nonetheless.
Its description had a checklist of things you’d probably have done as an honourary Glaswegian of a semester or two. To those who were there, exactly how Glaswegian are you?
Which ones can you check off the list? Or would like to add?

The ones in bold are the ones I checked

• You know who N.E.D.s are (Lacoste! Fred Perry!)
• You know all about Posh & Becks, Jordan and other UK celebs from the tabloids (Dont care for celebs)
• Knife stabbings are normal in the news
• You stopped using an umbrella because it was ALWAYS raining
• You ate an entire pack of Digestives in one sitting
(I miss chocolate hobnobs)
• You knew who Snow Patrol, James Blunt and the Streets were WAY before all your friends back home did
• You know the proper way to pronounce the “Garage”
• You use the words “cheers” “hiya” “lift” and “queue”
• OK, Hello and Heat became substitutes for the American television you left behind
• You know what kind of music Orson plays
• You chatted with Dawn and Gary at the cart at 4 a.m. (wtf?)
• -You ate chips on the street in the middle of the night (I really miss this)
• You had to walk down a huge hill to get to a computer with internet (N/A not applicable)
• You had to walk up a huge hill to get home (it’s only bad when you’re tired or with groceries)
• You partied at the QM and the GU (We only went to the Student Union and b-lo)
• Your clothes smelled like smoke after using the dryers (This never happened fortunately!)
• You know what “Cheesy Pop” is ( I know it’s stuff I never want to dance to ever again)
• You studied in Offshore (N/A)
• You watched football in a pub (Hmm, we never did this)
• You rode the orange subway in a circle all over the city from Buchanan to West End (for Malaysian food!)
• You tried to play beer pong without Solo cups (wtf?)
• You drank Strongbow, Guinness and almighty Irn Bru (No one forgets IrnBru and its horrible colour!)
• You went grocery shopping at a Shell station (N/A)
• You ate cheap sandwiches from Gregg’s
• You rode the creepy Prestwick bus at 1:00 a.m. (We took trains, tqvm.)
• You checked the pound exchange rates daily (Amen to that.)
• You were scared to run under the river Kelvin bridge
• You had random/memorable coversations in black taxis
• You drank whiskey and ate haggis on Burn’s night (Wish I did)
• You got used to seeing bagpipers downtown
• You danced to the Baywatch theme song (Ew cheesy pop)
• You watched Big Brother, hated Nikki and loved Pete
• You knew not to walk though the park at night
• You’ve tripped on Sauchiehall street at some point
• You played in the snow after Glasgow’s huge storm
• You milked the Scottish education system for all it’s worth (Untrue. We paid through our noses for it.)

  If I may also add:
  

• You bought reduced price food for 16p in Co-op.
• You never bought a single issue of The Big Issue from the homeless fellas outside Tesco.
• You bought an instant barbecue set when the sun came out in May
• You got used to the drunkards singing outside your room at 4am on a weekday.

And despite all the little things, you LOVED IT and you’d go back in a heartbeat

And so concluded a great few days when I sluggishly got back to work today.
Fantastic Weekend of January started when my two former housemates headed eastbound to visit us poor souls still stranded in Terengganu. Arriving on a Thursday morning, these dudes spent the day visiting old colleagues around the hospital. It was great that we all got to meet up at our favourite restaurant for lunch, it was just like the old days. It has been some time since we ever had more than five people seated at a restaurant, so that was cool.

Later that night, we decided to have dinner in this local hotel that had a sushi/Japanese menu. We got to meet Alvin’s new (female) housemate, which was cool. And she brought her sister along, which was also cool. And they were cool people, which only made things, erm, cooler.

It was a pity though, that my present housemate J had to leave for KL that night to help with spring cleaning.Spring cleaning my ass la, J. So we took the photo below for remembrance…which was not that cool.

To retain our ‘professional’ image (to save face la), I have decided to do a bit of editing to the aforementioned photo.

So the next day in our favourite breakfast spot, Paung & Co., I was complaining about how after breakfast we would routinely go back to our respective houses to sleep off the heavy breakfast, then wake up in time for afternoon tea at a keropok lekor stall. To all those who have not lived in Kuala Terengganu who’s reading this: Yes, we know we live utterly boring lives here. That’s like our ONLY activity on weekends. I kept pestering for us to actually DO something, so my proposal to hop over to Pulau Kapas was approved, albeit not on a unanimous vote. Ms Utt was objecting to us engaging in any activity that involved ‘crossing water’, saying that it was bad feng shui for someone of her horoscope sign to do so. Her objections also got a few of us wavering towards cancelling the trip.
Fortunately, there was no stopping the majority, and ultimately all were coaxed into getting on that speedboat to Pulau Kapas….which was cool.

The weather was hot and sunny even though the monsoon season was still at its final legs. The sea was calm, which was cool. When we got there, some of us were astounded by the fact that even though we were at the jetty (assumed to be filthy), the water was so clear that we could see the fishies swimming in the area. THAT was cool.
Then it struck us how unprepared for the trip all of us were. If we knew better, we’d have gone there early equipped with snorkelling gear, bathing suits and packed lunches; all of which we lacked. It’s cool, we’ll come again another time, someone said.

Anyway the island was way cool because we were practically the only tourists on the island (save for four Korean businessmen in formalwear)! It was great that we didn’t have to fight for space with anyone, we could take the craziest photos without worrying about having some stranger walk in front of the camera.

Hel-lo…. Pulau Kapas!

Some fler got so excited seeing the place that he started doing cartwheels. Blimey!
He wasn’t the only one who went ecstatic…

Our official photographer, he even looks the part. Check out the calm, azure blue sea behind him. On the count of three, everybody say, “Whoa…” (at the sea, not at him, you pervert)

The planned album cover for the debut album of our band, The Farmer’s Cysts. Cool, eh?

Enough of my BS. Here’s some pics of how the place really looks like.

Best place to be for some solitude, provided you’re there at the right time.

And the sea was glittering man…

Soon it was time for the boat back to Marang and back to Kuala Terengganu just in time for our scheduled Keropok Lekor tea time.

Thanks guys and girls for being great company, it’s been a while since we had so much fun with so many of us together. Thanks to you two from up north for getting on a 9-hour bus ride to see us. Thanks to the two lengluis for driving us there with their new cars.
For the last time now, everybody say, “Cooool-ness!”

I was having a not-so-good day at work today, but I came across this video that cheered me up.
But first do you remember the girl pictured below?

Yup, that’s Robyn from the late 1990’s. The good old years when I was still a pimply school kid. The music world was so different back then, what I would consider the dark ages. Pop music was unashamedly saccharine sweet with boybands and girl bands popping out of no where, just like my pimples. Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Britney and Christina were the order of the day. No one listened to hip hop, and Linkin Park was only just reintroducing rock back into mainstream radio (although it has once again mysteriously evaporated out of the radio)

Now Robyn was discovered at a tender age of 13 and subsequently got a single released, the ubiquitously aired radio hit, “Show me love”. The song’s melody and lyrics were sweet, her voice was sweet, so were her innocent looks- what more could a screaming teeny bopper fangirl want? Thus Robyn joined the ranks of other international pop stars who rode on the wave of dull formulaic love songs, often accompanied by cheesy dance moves performed in synchrony by a group of people. Unfortunately, she isn’t the only sweet pop star in the metaphorical candy shop, so she eventually fell out of favour.

Fast forward about 8-9 years to the mid-noughties (2000’s). The pop scene is now quite different. Boybands have thankfully been swept off the face of the earth, although the odd attempts of comeback singles done by groups Backstreet Boys and Take That threaten to revert universal pop tastes back to the 1990’s. Female singers can’t even make a living without even displaying the slightest bit of attitude, case in point Gwen Stefani, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse. This is the perfect time for the second coming of Robyn. And so she grew up into this-

It seems like her years in the music industry has morphed her into a pop star of the next level. Check out her image, her song titles, her lyrics- it looks like she left her 20th century pop sensibilities where it belonged, in the 20th century. In her quest to hold her own, she set up her own record label, Konichiwa Records and created a sound that was uniquely hers. Her pop music is strikingly modern and futuristic, through collaborations with visionary Swedish producers like the Knife and Klas Ahlund (the Swedish have a notorious reputation for being unforgivingly forward-looking in terms of creating pop music).

Some Malaysians would have had a taster of her music, via the single “Konichiwa Bitches” that was released early last year but only receiving Malaysian airplay early THIS year with an obviously tampered title, “Konichiwa B****es”. It has to be said, a known fact notwithstanding, that censorship takes the fun out of everything. While the song’s original refrain goes “Konichiwa, bitches!“, the censored version that goes “Konichiwa……” packs absolutely no punch at all.

Anyway, here’s the video that I wanted to share. It’s the remix version of another fantastic song by Robyn, called ‘Be Mine!’. The video of the original song is in itself already an amusing watch, what with Robyn clad in post-modern stylings paired up with a pre-pubescent kid of African descent as her date. But the video for the remix version is also excellent, in addition to being a great stress reliever! You may be yawning around the first two minutes as they only show people doing things in slow motion, but be patient and enjoy the song. It’s in the middle of the song where you see each a boxing glove approaching in slow motion and eventually punching them in the face, rendering them almost unrecognisable, that’s where it’s at!
I just love how unsuspecting they were behaving before that, only to have their cheeks meeting an inevitable kapow!
If only the video makers punched the daylights out of celebrities, politicians or models instead of average joes and janes. It would be significantly more self-gratifying to see a bunch of people we love to hate being sucker punched, because I ended up feeling slightly sympathetic to the unsuspecting victims of the vid!

So, if you are having a bad day and someone pissed you off, just imagine THEIR face as one of those in the video, getting punched slowly by YOU. It worked for me

‘Mistaken for Strangers‘ by The National

You have to do it running but you do everything that they ask you to
cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture
as long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

This is one of my favourite tracks from the CD I just bought which is Boxer by The National.
The song sounds magnificient even before you delved into the lyrics. But the droning and slightly cynical voice of the band’s frontman is enough to pique your curiosity on the message he was trying to convey. It turns out fortunately to be a message that I could relate to.

The National is a band made up of members who were also professionals with day jobs ( in New York, according to wikipedia). This makes their lyrics more relevant to the average you and I twenty/thirty-something professionals who listen to music, as compared to listening to nu-rave upstarts like The Klaxons. The lyrics of this song particularly struck me, being someone who entered the workforce about a year ago. I see friends who turn generic and lifeless inside the rat race. It is a pity that many are of the opinion that to gain maturity is to lose their zest for life and their own identity.
Does getting a grasp of the real world require total abandonment of your own principles and ideals?
Is success merely skin deep, and more of a superficial parade of your affluence through clothing, cars and whatnot?
I was told otherwise, but I look around and my observations have swayed my judgement.

The National, as I said, is a band whose image always comes across as regular guys like you and me. Being of a more mature age, their songs also laments the perils of adulthood such as the loss of innocence, marriage, painful relationships and so on.
Listening to their songs, I hope that 10 years from now, I can still see a glimmer of youth, once abundant, in my friends from school and university. Conversely, I am worse at gauging myself than others on how much I have “turned adult”. Some may say that I have changed, but then again I find myself still trying to hold on to what I had and still have. It remains to be seen if that’s a good thing or otherwise. Until that moment comes when I have to throw them away, I will still be hanging on to it.

Phew. I thought I suffocated from all the cobwebs surrounding this blog. *coughs*

Anyway, I know I haven’t been blogging lately.
Maybe it’s because
a) I have lost the spirit to blog eversince being a member of the workforce
b)There isn’t really anything happening to my personal life
c)Nothing interesting happens where I stay
d)I can’t blog about politics.

Sometimes it seems that when you start working, it seems trivial to continue blogging anymore. I know how untrue that is, considering most of the bloggers out there also work. But my case is different since I blog about such trivial things like trends and music. Friends may come up to me and wonder aloud, “Shouldn’t you be spending your time earning your first million now?” Sheesh.

One year on as a working professional has made me realise how so many of us lose our groove when we start working. Evidently for some engulfed in their work, there isn’t any time to even think about leisure. I see how so many people of the workforce lead such generic lives (especially those in KL), that it’s rather pathetic. Don’t trust me? Try going to Mambo Jambo on Wednesday in Zouk. All look same.
Who can blame them right? It’s not as if they’ve got jobs where they can leave at 5.30pm and thus have ample time to pursue more pleasurable activities.

Me, I spend my evenings in front of my trusty notebook. With literally nothing to do in this rustic little town, I try and engulf myself in whatever snippets of culture I get on the internet. The internet is my best friend as they point to the right directions for must-see movies, must-listen bands and must-wear clothing items. And yet again I can hear my detractors asking if I am satisfied returning from work at 5pm. (Yes I am, thank you.)

Meanwhile, I have also been following Malaysian news from non-mainstream websites.
(Who reads “Si Bintang” anymore, right?)
I tend to keep that to the bare minimum, as the headlines alone are enough to anger me. I have to make sure I don’t get hypertension by the time I am 40.
These few days, I have been reading more of what has been posted on the net. Granted, so much is happening around the country lately that if you are not aware of it, you ARE some ignorant fool who only reads “Si Bintang”.
Most of all these news only gets me disgusted, confused and most of all disappointed. Some times I feel compelled to blog about it, but I know others would do a better job at it. Furthermore, I am not allowed to.

So, enjoy this music video! I hope you like it, I think it’s very unique
Title: “End of Summer”
Singer: Moriyama Naotaro

Right I know I am always behind when it comes to internet trends, but anyone with too much time on their hands and are looking for a quick ‘laff’ (as they say in lolcode) should check these lolcats out.

What are lolcats you might ask? Basically, they are macro shots of cats in funny positions, with even funnier captions intentionally written in bad internet slang. Here’s one of my favourites:

It started with just one photo posted on the web, and the whole thing ballooned into a full-blown internet phenomena thingy. That’s how websites like LOLCATS and I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? popped up with hundreds of lolcats now available for your perusal.

There are:

lolcoolcats,

the nauseated little lolcats (must have been surfing lolgays, see below),

the book type lolcats,

and my favourite type- the party pooper lolcats, amongst others.

This trend got pretty big, so much so that other permutations of the lolcats have appeared. One that appeared a few months ago was the lolgays, and most recently lolvogue for the fashionistas.

Perhaps there should be a malaysian version of this trend as well, like lollala’s or lolbengs or lolrempits or lolpolitizhuns.

I’ll leave you with a lolvogue.

Note: All pics here are credited to the lolcats website (www.lolcats.com) and Jezebel (www.jezebel.com)

“My flat is tiny yet it eats all my money
So I am left with nothing the save the world with.”

With so much furore over public citizens expressing their disdain through music, I thought I’d share a video I came across today. It is another example of people using music and a little bit of humour to voice out things that bug them.

This is the Helsinki Complaints Choir (yes, believe it) who performed a whole song dedicated to complaints. Watching this video and reading the comments made me realise a few things.

1. People always think that THEIR country has the most complaining people, because they think THEIR country has the most things to complain about. We humans are never satisfied, eh?

2.People all over the world complain about the same things.
In the song, the Helsinki people complain about long working hours. Who doesn’t?
“People only take a stand in sms-forums”. Isn’t that a very similar situation in our country too?

3.Women complain more than men. Just check out the female:male ratio of this choir!

There are some rather funny rants in the song which I spoil the fun if I just typed them out here (But my faves are around the 5:40 - 6:00 of the song).

At the end of the day, the video just goes to show that no country is perfect, even post-industrialized Finland. I mean, of course there is so (very) much that is left to be desired in this country.
But would you be able to stand the -50 degrees weather and 3 hours of sunlight a day in winter?
Some policies in our country do need major tweaking, but can you eat dimsum alfresco for US$4 a person at 4am in Helsinki?

Moral of the story: Don’t just sit there complain-complain, form a complaints choir!

Another video I thought I would share. It is guaranteed to make you all mushy inside: the Helsinki Free Hugs campaign! (I swear I am turning into a “scandinaviophile”)
And for any of my friends still suffering from Glasgow withdrawal syndrome, a Scottish version.