Hello, good morning, how you do?

February 2nd, 2008

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Lucky me got a free Switchfoot concert ticket. A Media Pass actually to be specific. So i get to walk around acting like some reporter-wannabe. It was kind of cool.

U2 3D Movie

January 26th, 2008

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Bono, Edge, Adam & Larry does it again. Turning heads and breaking into new grounds. This time, in 3D!  Namely U23D. It seems that this movie will usher in a new era of 3D concert films. Probably they might have some really super out-of-this-world effects to cater to such expectations. Released two days ago on the 24th of January. Reviews and comments about the show are all over the internet. A pretty personal interview with producer/co-director Catherine Owens can be found at U23D’s blog right here.

Too bad there is no screening in IMAX at Times Square in Bukit Bintang. I’ve always always wanted to go to a U2 concert. When will they have their stop in Kuala Lumpur? It seems like big bands prefer to stop at our neighbors rather than around here. I wonder why. I seriously wonder why.

Questions on commercialism in work

December 7th, 2007

Pink Darth Vader

As spontaneous as it may sound, I wrote my thoughts on what I feel about commercialism & consumerism in less that 10 minutes and this came up;

“I begin to feel a sense of regret; watching 5 movies in the cinema isn’t really a fun thing to be done weekly:

I’m afraid that I might have lost the sense of having the emotive enjoyment act of commercialization in enjoying the movies I look forward to. Besides, walking in guilt of enjoying movies such as Beowulf further complicate the situation.

Am I then, a self-professed individual who is just trying to be enlightened under the lamps of anti-commercialization? I hate almost everything played on HITZ FM. I pick my clothes based on their less-availability most of the time. Perhaps, in due time, I might pick the Backstreet Boys as an inspiration to keep in-touch with more people; instead of enjoy hearing them singing on air waves, just in case we both can make some extra cash in the return.

Talking about design; I rather speak to designers about Armin Vit rather than David Carson. I would prefer to denounce the usage of Geometric shapes, Grey color and Minimalism.

I rather keep silent my ambitions to play like Steve Vai or have hair like Slash. I’m pretty happy to be speaking about Robert Lockwood Jr or John McLaughlin over Jimi Hendrix and BB King. Of course, Anthrax over Nirvana.

In a few days later perhaps, I might change my mind and enjoy listening to remixes of Sean Kingston’s latest hit. Maybe even collecting Manga comics or Levis jeans. Maybe, if I watch Hitman today, I will like. Perhaps on Wednesday, it will suck.

Am I the only person involved in this issue? I wonder.”

(Taken from my blog post on Facebook)

Beowulf is Hulk

Am I the only one stuck in this pool? I never enjoyed staying static in a certain game, practice, discipline, etc. I rather move on from that zone and do else. Be it an ugly statement or whatever, I just want to keep moving on. As disturbing it might be, you still have got a mission to do besides keep on going:

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Applying that to design, I always try to avoid working on something of the same look as a previous project. This is certainly disturbing as I don’t think I’m capable of repeating myself regularly in various projects. As much as I enjoy doing minimalist a while ago, I enjoy filling up white space nowadays. As much as I like to propose a toned down idea those days, I give my later proposals a louder shout and a bigger bang to the face nowadays.

Does making people happy with recycled ideas makes my time and effort worth it then? Does art directing like Roger Black help? Or perhaps, get inspirations from Bill Cahan?

A while ago, I lessen my playing to very basic rhythm lines, appreciating the space between each instrument. I find this extremely challenging and appreciated the importance of details. Last weeks band practice, gave me a 52 bar solo and I filled up the entire song with guitar licks, trading the silence for melody.

By practicing this, is it unhealthy for a designer? Or a musician? Does it spoil or take away professionalism from us? Is this cruel? Is Darth Vader willing going pink for a global cause. Or is this constant innovation? Feeling like Beowulf lost in the city. Is this unwise or just plain human ego? Pardon me, I need some time to meditate:

Slash in the water

DARK FOREST!

October 31st, 2007

I’m very very busy with the Kancil Awards website now. Work for the Kancil Annuals have not started yet.

Just click on the link below to listen to a song that expresses my current feelings:

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It’s all guitars.

Edit: I realized I forgot about the bass guitar for the song.

Latest guitar teacher

October 27th, 2007

Meet Dave Weiner, my guitar tutor for the past few months. Dave has been touring with Steve Vai for the past 8 years upon Steve’s request and has been making wonderful music since.

After realizing that I couldn’t really commit myself to attend lessons, I realize I needed to do something before my hobby goes down the drain. I turned to Dave’s Riff of the Week using ITunes to download these weekly Podcasts. They have been of great help in refreshing on the basics and kerning beats and notes on the fretboard. I don’t really follow every lessons thought directly but they do keep my mind fresh about how things should be approached in music.

Upon getting an old nice and sweet sounding Yamaha F-20 guitar amp last week, for only RM180, I’m recharged after not having an amplifier for the past 4 years.

Last week, Riff of the Week saw it’s 100th episode on-air.

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P.s: Other that Riff of the Week, I also subscribe to Typeradio and have discontinued some other subscriptions due to limited space on my Mac. :(

Aqualung

September 24th, 2007

Aqualung, Cinderella  (Memory Man)

I’m on a roll, Everything I touch turns into gold…

I caught me hooking on Aqualung

Guitar World Magazine October Issue

July 25th, 2007

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This is probably the coolest issue for this year other than the David Gilmour issue. You can check the preview of the October issue DVD here.

So cool.