Lelong lelong!

A pair of A*Mei concert tix for sale! Sat 30 Jan 2010, Block A15 Row 11, Seats 5&6. S$342 inclusive of Sistic fees!

I'm unable to make it, hence the sale of tix!

Hope some kind souls will not let these precious tix go to waste!

I'm willing to waiver off the sistic fees of $6! ($3 per tix)

LELONG!

Permalink

Woot! What a day! What a day!

Nope, not talking about Jay Chou's b'day....

Heard on 933 that MAYDAY WILL BE HAVING A "D.N.A. Encore" CONCERT ON 17TH APRIL 2010!!!!!

It's a good thing I'm not an S.H.E. fan

Their concert is on the same day, only at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. So there I was, listening intently and praying hard that Mayday's one won't be at the stoopid Singapore Expo (totally bad place for concerts of their calibre!).

So when Cruz announced that it will be at the Padang, I was like "whoa!" Outdoor location! Full of charged energy and adrenaline! Plenty of place to jump! But I must prepare suitable wear and bag for that day.

#1 Preparation for rain - Umbrella is a no no if I wanna jump and move about freely
#2 Small bag - Heavy bag too much of a burden, will hamper my jumping!
#3 WATER! - Warning, much shouting and hollering and screaming to the music expected.

I was just lamenting to my fellow Maydayians that we don't know when will we see them again as it will be AGES until their next album (他们的饭碗主要是靠演唱会的) and now POOF! News of their D.N.A. Encore is here! They must have known we are suffering from withdrawal symptoms...

On another note, heard that Mr Jam Hsiao will be having his "Mr Rock" concert on the 13th March but I haven't heard any details of ticket sales yet. However, this time I REALLY cannot find anyone to accompany me for this concert... haiz....

Had a super good time at Crowd Lu's gig last weekend! It's amazing how this geeky looking "ah boy" can attract soooo many people (youngsters especially). You can see his evident enjoyment in his music and his bashful ways that endear him to us! It's a good thing people are more into substance and not looks now, otherwise he would not have managed to make his mark!

Looks like it's gonna be another blasting year!

Permalink

It's been a whirlwind 2009, I've never thought that time can speed so much, it kills seconds! Ok, cold joke, haha

Can't say which year is the best year, coz in the end, it is how best we can make it be. Life's all about making lemonade out of lemons or nice bittergourd soup out of bittergourd :P

I had a pretty interesting year in the sense of doing what I like, jobwise is just stable, now looking for a new path to take.

Wonder where 2010 will lead....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Permalink

Finally.... THE album of the year is here... rounding off the end of 2009 nicely, sort of an early Christmas present...

Behold



100 Days by Jj Lin, released in Singapore on 18th December 2009.

I was praying very hard that day, as I know usually for new releases, there may be the unavoidable delay due to 101 reasons (Crowd Lu's album "7" is one such case).

Dory and I were frantically calling any CD-Rama in the areas that she/I will pass by and keep getting news that it has not arrived/will not arrive. What was worse was the service by the Bukit Panjang Plaza Popular bookstore staff that Dory got, but let's not bring up the past unhappiness anymore =)

Towards the evening, I was doing my work as usual and my handphone rang, with an unrecognisable number. I answered it with anticipation, crossing my fingers hard that it was good news and YES! The lady who took down my number informed me that the albums have arrived at the BPJ store! I quickly called Dory and since she will be there earlier, she will be the buyer!

We had arranged to meet at Taiwan Xin Wang Cafe (My most fave restaurant after Marutama) and I can tell you I was scuttling towards her as fast as I can, my eyes already eyeing the album!

Don't really know why I'm so excited this time round... was it because I had heard some of the songs online and loved them? Or it has been too long (more than a year) since his last album? Or maybe it's been sometime since I heard a very very good album that I can put on repeat mode without the worry of feeling bored. Admittedly though Sixology was good as well, only a few songs made it to my permanent list of all time listens. Such as Red Cliff (醉赤壁) or 黑武士.

Perhaps what my good fren Lemon say is true... she finds his songs nice, but not nice enough in the sense to make you go "WOW!" I suppose he had been earnestly trying different things and all, but when a song is written just earnestly to express something, the effect will turn out differently. Which is why usually songs written to express rather than show off, will leave a deeper impression on me. For instance, he had been through some rough times in the past year and from there, the feelings just come along and is penned into a tune. Voila, a great song is born!

As Vivien mentioned last time, good music can be everywhere, but music written to express one's thoughts and feelings, is REALLY good music that is a rare find.

Had listened to the entire album through and through, the following are my thoughts about each track

X - A Mandarin version of "Still Moving Under Gunfire". Not in my list of must-listens

100 Days (第几个100天)
When I first heard the chorus as part of the preview, I didn't think much of it, but I thought hey, let's hear the whole thing before saying anything. I was hooked. The music arrangements, melody, the feel of the song, I keep putting it on repeat more than any other tracks. The music arrangement is done by Mr Goh Kheng Loong, one of the few talented musicians I admire greatly. The whole orchestra sound, the works, he truly is a music genius!

加油! Go! (Feat. MC Hotdog) - A motivational track, lyrics and music all covered by Mr Lim himself. It's a very nice upbeat song with good music mixes. Me like =) I even put it as my computer start up song!

Twilight　（曙光) - a 45 second saxaphone solo by Fabian Lim, acts as a prelude for the next song... nice seductive tones

Obsession (无法克制) - A moderately fast number that is slightly jazzy and bossa novaish. Wonder what will the MV be like? Another one arranged by Goh Kheng Loong =) My fave track (out of so many, ha!)

Back to Back (背对背拥抱)- a very karaoke friendly song, but surprisingly I'm not bored of it. The climax of the song is all there, so it's very good to sing when you wanna pour out your emotions!

Copycat (跟屁虫) - Can't stop laughing silently (coz i'm still at work) when I first heard this! Jj's trademark at speaking with Indian accent, remind me of my own regular customer and I can make a pretty mean imitation of the Indian accent too! Talks mainly about the piracy issue in the retail and music industries.

One, By One (一个又一个) - I super super love this song (after 100 days). First jazz number included in his album and the very good lyrics written by Rynn Lim! I enjoy listening to this especially when I'm driving in the rain, makes you think about life...

Love Chronicles (爱不会绝迹) - a theme song for an animation, the genre is a bit different from what Mr Lim usually does. =) Music arrangement can be better though

The One (转动) - a song written in memory of the great MJ. People who didn't know might think it's about his other half! We can see the impact MJ has on lots of people. He had his glamourous times, but behind every success, there will be those who are there to strike you down with malicious intent no matter what the reason behind. Being a celebrity can be a very lonely experience, one of the lyrics really rings true
"他们总爱流言蜚语言不由衷, 突然我明白你有多孤独慌恐" a very poignant song

Naruwan (妈妈的娜鲁娃) - Another genre that has not been tried before, very tribalish (Dory's words) song. Simple tune yet quietly moving =) Another one to the "must listen" list

Still Moving Under Gunfire - I always liked Jj's English compositions... he's like the english version of Lin Xi or Fang Wen Shan =)

Show Your Love (表达爱) - This track was released previously, a duet with a Taiwan lass, nothing biggie to me to be honest. I only like the harmonizing part haha!

Whoa, longest post by far. Guess it's easier with a album to review =) I have also heard FIR's latest album online but it was quite disappointed compare to their last album which was oh so good!

Lemon recommended Aoyama Thelma to me and her "Diary" album is really nice! Thanks Lemon popo!

Looking forward to Mayday's album like, oh I don't know, in 2020? Kidding, it's not that long, but with the concerts they hold, dunno when either =(

Over and out!

Permalink

Whoa, been so busy the past month, didn't have time to blog.

Where do I start? Well it's not anything big since November 1st, but somehow the time flies anyway. Mainly busy on weekends, always meant to wanna have a proper rest but never got down to it. It's like making New Year Resolutions and breaking them!

Now that Christmas is nearing, it's that time of the year again to spend even more on presents than the usual days. I do love Christmas, the atmosphere is so full of warmth and cheer... don't understand why grouch exists!

I'm offically done with the vocal classes, now just concentrate on my 古筝 and try to practice more... sigh! Time is never enough for all the things I wanna do!

I'm gonna try out something this year... hope it works! Well 2 things la not just one... I have my niggling doubts about the things but just brush it aside and give it a shot, after all, we'd never know till we try...

Permalink

这首歌一直在我脑里不断播放着... 词,真的写得很好,写出我常想的东西...阿信,谢谢你

如烟           (演唱: 五月天          词:阿信     曲:石头)

我坐在床前
望着窗外回忆满天
生命是华丽错觉
时间是贼偷走一切

七岁的那一年
抓住那只蝉
以为能抓住夏天
十七岁的那年
吻过他的脸   就以为和他能永远

有没有那麽一种永远
永远不改变
拥抱过的美丽
都再也不破碎

让险峻岁月不能
在脸上撒野
让生离和死别都遥远
有谁能听见

我坐在床前
转过头看谁在沉睡
那一张苍老的脸
好像是我紧闭双眼

曾经是爱我的
和我深爱的
都围绕在我身边

带不走的那些
遗憾和眷恋
就化成最后一滴眼泪

有没有那麽一滴眼泪
能洗掉后悔
化成大雨降落在
回不去的街

再给我一次机会
将故事改写
还欠了他一生的
一句抱歉

有没有那麽一个世界
永远不天黑
星星太阳万物都
听我的指挥

月亮不忙着圆缺
春天不走远
树梢紧紧拥抱着树叶
有谁能听见

耳际眼前此生重演
是我来自漆黑
而又回归漆黑
人间瞬间天地之间
下次我又是谁

有没有那麽一朵玫瑰
永远不凋谢
永远骄傲和完美
永远不妥协

为何人生最后会像
一张纸屑
还不如一片花瓣
曾经鲜艳

有没有那麽一张书签
停止那一天
最单纯的笑脸和
最美那一年

书包里面装满了
蛋糕和汽水
双眼只有无猜和无邪
让我们无法无天

有没有那麽一首诗篇
找不到句点
青春永远定居在
我们的岁月

男孩和女孩都有
吉他和舞鞋
笑忘人间的苦痛
只有甜美

有没有那麽一个明天
重头活一遍
让我再次感受
曾挥霍的昨天

无论生存或生活
我都不浪费
不让故事这麽的后悔
有谁能听见
我不要告别

我坐在床前
看着指尖已经如烟...

Permalink

Phew! I promised myself I meant to blog a bit more regularly but some how promises are there to be broken! Haha!

After the Mayday concert, I went for a holiday to Hokkaido with my daddy dear. It is still different from Tokyo, so no internet for me to upload my photos at super fast speed. Ended up I had to upload the photos in Facebook in phases and yesterday only did I manage to upload them! Selection of photos is a headache too, everywhere is so beautiful in Hokkaido I just had to keep taking shots which looked almost the same but I took anyway!

How is it that the skies and landscape over there are so much nicer? Even when they had construction going on in Sapporo, Otaro etc... the place is so bloody CLEAN! And they have those cone thingys in different animal shapes, so cute! One thing though, it's hard to find a dustbin over there, and when you do, it is different bins for different kinds of rubbish.

I'm so glad I went over there during autumn... the turning point from summer to winter, the leaves changing colours and add special touch to the view. I had the luck to see 2 couples getting married/taking wedding photos as well =) Ah God bless them!

After coming back from a short (to me lah) holiday, there's work to be cleared. I was supposed to rest on the Friday which I took leave but went to attend the unplug performance by AMPs at night. Following Sunday, I went to help out at an event at Jurong Point FairPrice Xtra early in the morning. But when I headed home was caught in a terrible jam! And the sun was practically burning down on us! Sigh

Last weekend went to KL with Dory and Rongma for this Mid Autumn Festival performance (needless to say, Mr Lim was one of the performers). Jade Liu was there too! Woot! Really looking forward to her album =) We went to KLIA to receive him at the airport and I managed to pass him the music box I got for him from Hokkaido (Got a golden retriever on top of the box). Happily, he held onto it himself instead of passing to his assistant. I was surprised to know there was only one exit for all arrivals, kinda sad case!

The following morning after, we went to send him off (wee hours, urgh) and we must have looked like the most zombied group there. He didn't look any better, haha, it took him a while to notice we were there to send him off!

Now this weekend a company retreat to Bintan, then Charis's wedding next Sunday, I'm gonna be the emcee speaking in Mandarin. Whoa, first time, hope things go smoothly.

All right, gotta eat lunch now!

Permalink

Most disappointing

Went to have a look at the list of nominees for each of the categories and to my utmost surprise, Jj was only in 2 categories! What the...

I do often wonder how are the nominees selected for, say Best performer (最佳演绎） or best Producer/production of album? It seems so so odd that every year, it is just those few same artistes who are in the list... I really don't understand! Sixology is a good album, but it didn't get nominated??? %()#@*^%)#*&%^)@#&*%

I'm not the judge, but I'm a keen listener and isn't good music about able move the listeners, to bring out what the song is about etc etc?

As the years go by, looking at the awards, I stopped bothering altogether cause in the end, it is still prone to a certain extent of biasness. Awards are, after all, created by humans and how objective can a human be? Everyone has their favourites... so how can we expect fairness?

For the Taiwan Golden melody awards, there was a lady who always gave her vote to Jj, but is sad to know in the end he didn't get nominated. Haiz... They say getting an award is a sign that people are recognizing your efforts and talents, but is it really? Out of all those award winners, how many are really there for that true reason?

*Shakes head in resignation* Congrats to Mayday though, their "Poetry of the Day After" is really good, we all know Ashin has his standards in lyrics composing, though I noted that the fast songs sometimes have a certain lameness in the lyrics. Otherwise, other good numbers such as "你不是真正的快乐“，”如烟“，”知足“ etc are all very very good. My personal favourites are still ”生命有一种绝对“，”如烟“，“我” and “倔强”。

Jj, 加油! It doesn't matter how many awards you get/get nominated at this point in time of your career. You have always been number one in our hearts and forever will be =) 我想，这比得任何奖项更重要，更珍贵，更值得珍惜吧！ =D

Urgh, a bit mushy hor? :P

Permalink

Sigh, feeling the beginnings of the fatigue that comes after a weekend's worth of excitement. I couldn't get to sleep last night, try as I might to just shut my eye and snooze but sleep just won't come. I even woke up not feeling tired though I only managed to catch 2 hours of sleep. But now... a rainy, gloomy afternoon after lunch, Mr Sleep has come to bother me!

Still reliving the concert moments, especially for the first night... personally I preferred the feel of the first concert... very moving indeed. It was the first time I heard them sing "天天想你", which was arranged to be sung between "温柔" as a short bridge. I really love this song, I suppose it is more meaningful for Stone coz it was at one of their concerts when they sang it, he proposed to his wife in front of everyone! And now they have a cute son =)

I also, for the first time, threw caution to everything else and took off my slippers so I can jump properly (feet were sweating, so hard to jump). Soon, I noticed the fans in front of me took off their sandals too! Haha!

The most 温馨and lots of 感触 was when they sang "憨人" as the last song where towards the end, it's mainly humming. After Ashin finished singing, we were, as one, still humming "la, la la la~~~", to which they stood together in a row, shoulder to shoulder and gave a deepest bow to the audience. Even as we applauded, we continued to hum and hum and hum... we can see they are containing their feelings inside, 有心里的挣扎, 感动的控制着自己的情绪. Monster and Stone were a bit teary even, which is a rare sight.

What a long way they have come all these 10 years and I do look forward to more decades to come... for their music is always a reminder to be ourselves and never forgetting our dreams, to follow our ideals and never give up!

Permalink

Phew.... what a whirlwind weekend it has been... Previously this weekend seems so far away ever since the announcement of Mayday concert tix as early as January. And then followed by the news that a 2nd concert tix sale is out. Now that it is over, there's that wistful feeling again after having a hell of a good time!

First, the friday concert was better in the sense that we don't know what is there in store... and although some songs are left out, but those songs have been sung before in last year's JUMP concert. The song list has gotta change, of course, there are some classic hits that have to be sung, songs that describe the hopes and dreams we all have in our hears.

Thought the beginning video was a tad too long... could have squeezed one more song haha! But I know they wanna built up a story line, adds meaning to the concert.

This is my first time attending 2 concerts from a band in 2 consecutive days... it's tiring but the experience is definitely memorable and I can say I would do it again. There are people who cannot understand or find it too expensive to go concerts, well, everyone has their own hobby and what they are more willing to spend on. I just simply love music, love to go for great performances and admire the hardwork these people have put in to present the best they have to give. Their efforts are priceless.

I'm still reliving the concert moments... and looking at the videos I took as a memory diary, the feelings still live on in my heart. Every lyric that Ashin penned, every tune that brought out the message of the song, just beautiful! Even Jj's concert, especially Tales of the Red Cliff that was performed alongside with his family, brings a warm, fuzzy feeling inside me.

Thank you, Mayday
Thank you, Jj

Permalink