And now, for the second instalment of the Guess That Trashcan series.
Again, the first person to answer correctly will be pimped in my next blog entry, with at least one paragraph.
Trashed Can
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Category Archives: Pictures
That Rock Chic Gig
And now, for pictures from the Rock Chic’s Night Out, ‘A Celebration of Rock Ladies’, a rock gig featuring female performers, on the 12th of May 2006 (see I updated within this month!)
Rhapsody was first, with their non-rock inclinations leading to samba and jazz stuff. Nicole’s powerful voice and stage presence is indeed captivating.
Dipha on guitars isn’t part of their usual lineup. Sadly, I think the guitar amplifier was too loud, and his classical guitar plucking was honking in my ears.
(Irrelevant pictures might get downsized, like Lainie‘s chicken chop. Yeah, she’s the man, she orders chicken chop during a rock gig.)
Plush was next. Credits to Jasiminne for this shot of Melina and a Flying V.
The bassist looks awfully like one of my friends. (I shall start abusing Hue/Saturation/Lightness effects from this point on.)
So does the drummer Stephanie. Well, maybe.
Izwin sings alternative rock songs.
(Beer and women. Happiness.)
Jack the shredder is given a few bars per song to solo! This was the first time I’d seen Tempered Mental do that.
Melina plays bass and sings over complex time changes in what else but progressive rock. Funky thin neck effect was accomplished with slow shutter speed and flash.
Applecreed was next. Check out the lyrics!
If you run out of space, write them on the other hand.
Nah, she wasn’t referring to her arms at all. I see a place where she could write a whole song on. 😉
Blunt does No Doubt covers and ska anthems.
Yes, you can be fashionable in black and white.
Candy is a band that has been around and has had a hit single Akan Ku Tunggu.
They’re serious, with serious, non-girly guitars like this Paul Gilbert Model Ibanez.
Spot the POD! No, not an iPod.
They did some hard rock, and sadly relegated to covers, e.g. Marion Raven – End Of Me, Cranberries – Zombie and Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit. However, they rocked harder than any other male-membered band who ever tried to cover those songs!
I wonder if this is what becomes of bands that don’t retire – they probably play in pubs and hotel lounges. Paul thinks they’re MILFs. 😀
The sweet (Candy) bits were when they did Guns & Roses – Sweet Child Of Mine, wailing solos and all, and riffed together to heavy metal instrumental, Iron Maiden – Transylvania! Jangan tak rock.
The emcee was Juliana of Fly FM, and she was telling lame jokes. Yeah, your jokes don’t fly!
More reading material is at Lainie’s, like lyrics and pictures and videos!
Can Guess Trashcan
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner for the inaugural Guess That Trashcan competition!
I present to you Stephanie Foo, regular reader (and first time commenter) and shisha-stoning buddy! She is cool, she knows people I know, she doesn’t know the difference between Chinese Tea and Teh O but I know some cool people who don’t, either.
To achieve the effect, I adjusted the levels on an infrared picture so the shadows were cyan and the highlights were still purple. I then used Hue/Saturation/Lightness to further break the face into more regions of saturated color.
P.S. If it wasn’t this Stephanie Foo who commented… uh, identify yourself more distinctively next time. 😛
Raid I
Since you guys enjoy looking at various parts of my body, I shall enthrall you with another shrunken picture.
If you can’t read the text on the image, it says, “My camera’s red eye reduction is not working.”
I’m being emo, with the realization of it all, but find no time to blog about it, rambling otherwise over random chords which will be forgotten. Electrical energy from the brain triggers chemical energy translated into kinetic energy, and then to heat energy and sound energy on guitar strings, and…
Whoa, where does the sound go? Does it heat the walls?
Oh, speaking of questions, I watched the fictional Da Vinci Code movie. I quite forgot who was who and who worked for who and who was whoever’s master on the Opus Dei or Priory Of Scion. However, I did Google The Last Supper, and hey… that’s not supposed to be Mary Magdalene; it’s supposedly John. If Mary was there, wouldn’t there be 14 people in total, instead of 13? (Jesus, 12 disciples including Judas, and Mary.) Quite annoying was the super big apertures used, like in the scene where Professor Langdon gets in the elevator, and the camera is rolling its manual focus in and out all over the place. It was as if the scene was created just to show that effect!
I reckon they might’ve gotten some F1.2 lenses to play with. 😮 The extreme macro effect was apparent when Sophie was about to be ambushed by the baddie lurking in the background, even more blurred out than in any other movie. Understandably, the moviemakers probably were not allowed to install lamps all over, so they had to use extra big apertures to shoot in natural light. (I’m just guessing here.) Despite that, the faces were rarely completely, sharply focused.
Which runs back to me being emo. Do you want to know the truth, or continue living the happy lie?
But enough of that! I hereby announce the all-new Guess The Trashcan series. Guess where this trashcan was from! The first person to answer correctly will be pimped in my next blog entry. I promise at least one paragraph.
Here’s an easy one.
Stadium Arcadium In A Box
My favorite ever band is back after four years!
This was RM99.90 at Victoria Music, on special offer.
The limited edition boxset has two audio CDs, one all-regions DVD, a 3D ‘layered’ cover, a bigger lyrics booklet, a notepad, a small wooden top with cardboard planets which can be put on it, artwork by each member, and…
The most interesting memento that came with it was… marbles! Unfortunately, the yellow one was already cracked.
This was probably the artsiest I could bother making the marbles look.
Of course, some of you might just go for the DVD, which is worth the price alone; it has the making of the Dani California video, the Dani California video itself, and a commentary of 25 songs. Interestingly, there is no interviewer during the commentary; Anthony and Flea are sitting on a sofa talking to each other about the songs, and Anthony tells Flea what each song is about, and Flea goes, “hmmm yeah that was what I was feeling, even before reading the lyrics“. They also talk about which songs they didn’t like at first. In the hall (I presume, the house they recorded Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Stadium Arcadium in) John and Chad talk about beats, grooves, and John occasionally picks up a guitar to show a riff. I wish they’d put a little sound clip for each song commentary, as I’d have to refer to the lyrics to see which song it was.
If you’re a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ later stuff, get the double CD album; a true fan would get the box set.
Funny how Incubus followed a similiar path; start heavy with funk rap metal, make a sober mainstream album (Californication or Make Yourself), make a melancholic sleeper (By The Way or Morning View) and hit everybody back with the best of their styles (Stadium Arcadium or A Crow Left Of The Murder). The boys have a new winner, with a double CD the price of one CD.
Click here for the review of the two CDs, on freshly fresh-looking Xfresh.
On a side note, check out what I found on Rick Rubin, producer extraordinaire! He is going to produce:
- Untitled – Justin Timberlake (2006), produced by Timbaland, Will.i.am and Rick Rubin (The Neptunes are not on the list, sadly… but Rick Rubin knows his rock and hip hop, so I’d expect something rather interesting from this tattoo-collecting bad-boy-becoming… boy.)
- Untitled – Linkin Park(2006) (Another very interesting prospect; he might steer them into credible nu-metal. I didn’t care for them much other than Hybrid Theory and Meteora.)
- Untitled – Slayer (supposed to launch 6–6–2006)
- Untitled – Metallica (2006/2007) (Goodbye bass-playing Bob Rock. I reckon he’d let Kirk Hammett solo again.)
- Untitled – Kid Rock (2006/2007)
- Untitled – The Faint (2006/2007)
- American VI – Johnny Cash (possibly 2007)
Man oh man, am I excited.
Sucker For Massage
So I was bored, after getting a 1 Gigabyte Dual-Voltage Reduced-Size Multi-Media Card for my Nokia N70, and so I went to get the foot massage I intended to get sometime back. Yeah, no more freeloading off OSIM chairs; I wanted to try the real thing!
I walked down the famous Bukit Bintang Road, with all the foot massage parlors. Old ladies with laminated sheets called out. “Want foot massage? RM20 half hour.” they said. Some also said, “Young lady massage. Very nice wan.” I didn’t want any of that. The pictures also showed vacuum tubes and candles. No thanks.
I walked around, and none of the shops looked less seedy than the last.
And so, at the end of the block, I went to the other side, facing BB Plaza. Same rates, same look.
Up the curve, near The Chicken Rice Shop, however, was a Malay foot massage stall! It was open air, so no seedy business. I didn’t see any candles or needles or vacuum tubes, so I sat down on one of those vinyl-strung beach chairs.
A friendly-looking, slightly built looking Malay man attended to me. “Pertama kali?” (First time?) I said yes.
He convinced me to take the one-hour package because apparently, the half-hour one was only on the foot and didn’t get rid of the wind in my legs. Okay, whatever that meant.
He unrolled my trousers up to my knees, poured lotion all over, and started his work. I only cringed when he kneaded the bones with his knuckles.
Halfway through, he brought out a few bamboo-made cups (the size of a coffee mug) with Chinese insignia on them. Eh? He took out a fire torch, dipped it in a bottle of kerosene and lit it with a lighter!
Holding the cup upside down, he put the flaming torch inside the cup (presumably to create a vacuum) and swiftly cupped the cup on my knees, calves and base of my foot. He placed about 10! The torch was a bit too close, so I said, “errr jangan bakar bulu ya…” (don’t burn my leg hair okay?)
Apparently the longer the cups stay, the more wind I have in my feet. Some dropped off sooner than others, presumably it had finished draining the wind? I don’t know.
He timed it just nicely to finish by one hour. He eventually popped off the leftover cups, and the ‘windy‘ spots were red and sore. Massaging them stung a bit.
When I thought it was over, he then reclined my chair all the way. “Releks sikit“, he said.
He then put his legs around mine, as if to ride me like a horse! I instinctively covered my groin.
(And this is where one of my MSN nicknames came in…)
And then he got on top of me and said, “control pisang“.
He then massaged my thighs. I controlled my pisang alright. He then inclined my chair and finished with a short back massage. He also told me not to bathe for that night to keep the warm effect of the massage.
Me, being polite Albert, did not take any pictures of the process, or how cool the cups looked sticking onto my feet. However, I took one after, at home.
I shall hereby give you ample warning for a horrible picture involving my legs and sore bumps.
(See I even shrunk the picture to reduce the traumatizing effect on you readers.)
Troubadours This May
And now, for a trip down Changkat Bukit Bintang, for the Troubadours gig at La Bodega KL on the 7th of May 2006. This marks the first time I use slow shutter speeds with flash (instead of the default 1/60 seconds) at this venue, always getting frustrated otherwise. (Jamasia has colored lighting, so it’s not so bad.)
They started with the open-mikers first, like Jay, the guy I once said sounded like Billy Corgan singing Kurt Cobain, which I missed. Why? I went to pee at the male toilet upstairs, and couldn’t unlock the door! A guy climbed in from a panel above to break open the handle and unscrew the bolt, but that didn’t work either, until he used the handle to open it again. I came out to some cheers. The guy who was stuck in the toilet!
I came out in time for Khai-Lee who might’ve found it a bit dark to find the guitar frets. 😛
I think this dude was Imam Piko (thanks Mung for the correction!) He received roaring applause. The best display of shared sarcasm. 😀
I think these dudes were Chi Too and Hon Mun on the right. (And yay he can sing.)
I think his name was Amin Hakim (Freedom Film Fest 2005 award-winning filmmaker for Romantik ISA, thanks Mung again!), and he sang bluesy love songs to Azmyl Yunor. (Though I think there are better excuses to get free entry to his gigs. :P)
Mekarnya Satu Matian read some poems, and some could sniff his rapperness from a mile meter away.
Estrella, oh how pretty and sweet voices they had to jazzy beats.
A haw-haw-hawt chick makes up one third of Oddstars.
Alang of alternative-ish grunge unit Men Under Zero Effort is the other third.
Headliner Broken Scar, featuring Zalila Lee on percussion, Jerral Khor on guitar, Kevin on guitar and vocals, and Alda on bass. Subject to change; parts may vary.
Besides singing soundtracks for documentaries that were recently banned despite approval, Zalila also supplies beats.
Justin Wong is recognizable with his black Suzuki acoustic guitar.
Shock System had the white political rap sound. Great guitar riffs and song dynamics. I thought they’d sound like Rage Against The Machine on electric.
Zalila and Jerral back Nicole of Rhapsody for an Alanis Morissette cover. Gig old-timer Peter Hassan Brown then joins for the cover of Time After Time.
Azmyl Yunor takes the after-headliner open mike slot because nobody else wants to play.
These church guys are fantastic, (plus they got stage performing stool persona) and they’re later joined by who I assume is a church girl.
Damn my memory, must be all those drinks people ask my assistance to finish.
Com-Plain Roti None
Some ex-colleagues rave about the food in my office cafeteria, finding excuses to come over for the classic Chinese Fried Rice. Some current colleagues can’t stand the food here and complain that it never changes.
Till one fine day when we got a memo via email about the new Tandoori Chicken with Roti Naan. Being the Cheese Naan and Tandoori Chicken lover I was, I had to check it out. Besides, where else would you get it during lunch hour? Normal naan-providing eateries only open in the evening. (However, they only served it on Mondays and Thursdays.)
I eagerly awaited Thursday for the debut of the meal set. Sure, the plate isn’t appealing, but which is more important: The tea you drink, or the cup you drink the tea in?
The chicken was excellent, juicy with the right amount of exaggerated crisp. Satay isn’t satay without burnt carcinogens, yes? The mint sauce looked like peppermint with chocolate ice-cream but was good anyway.
However, that was no roti naan – that was a chappati! It sure looked and tasted like the flat, dry bread.
And so, I did something Malaysians would not do.
Complain to the right people.
From: (me)
To: (the sender)
Subject: RE: Cafeteria Special
To: (the sender)
Subject: RE: Cafeteria Special
Hi
Cutting (Glass) Edge
To fix the short-sightedness of my infrared-cut-filter-removed Fujifilm Digital Q1, I needed to place a similiarly sized glass in front of the CMOS sensor, where the infrared cut filter once was.
The closest I could get was this; while it was a tad over 1mm, I could salvage this to make a 9x9x1 mm sized glass piece. Yes, I bought it just for this purpose at SnJ, Avenue K. The other piece of glass could be used for stop-motion photography from under the glass. 😀
I also bought safety goggles and gloves.
…and a tungsten carbide-tipped glass cutter.
I marked the line to be cut with cellophane tape, using the original infrared cut filter to measure. I then scored across the line repeatedly with the glass cutter, so I could easily snap it.
…whoops. I guess I didn’t score it enough.
Never fear! I then used one of the shards, cut it twice, and managed to get close to the size.
And here it is, before reassembly.
The result? Landscape still is out of focus, and its macro is not focused either. 🙁 I’ll just wait for Fazri to find that glass shop.
Long Hair Can Do
And now, for something different. Albert talks about shampoo!
Ever since I dyed my hair blue, I was not to ever use regular shampoo; I was supposed to use color-lock shampoo.
And so, I bought Sunsilk’s color-lock shampoo, a red bottle of shampoo. What a sham. It wears your dye out faster than you can say ‘senile peacock‘.
It wasn’t until I was wandering around aimlessly in Jaya Jusco Kepong that I called Leech to ask what color-locking shampoo she used to keep her then wonderful purple streaks. She said Loreal. (The voice in my head said, “Because you’re worth it.“)
And so I went home, and upon opening it, I immediately smelled the difference – it was citrus-ish, and yet, strangely appetizing. I applied it to my hair. It seemed to just… absorb into my hair!
Even when washing it off, I could feel the difference. It was silky! It was smooth! It was coated… unlike the Sunsilk one, which just seemed to wash off hair oils, leaving my hair frizzy and unable to hold any position (e.g. tucked.) Plus, after washing off the Sunsilk shampoo, I could see the suds on the bathroom floor stealing my hair color. 🙁
And oh, the smell! As long as they make shampoo smell this good, I will never get to have dreadlocks. (My original plan was to dye my hair, then grow it long and make a mess out of it, getting natural dreadlocks, then going bald.)
The best thing about the shampoo, however, is its fragrance – I just came back from drenching my hair in cigarette smoke at the-now-paying Twilight Action Girl at Zouk, and it managed to get rid of the smell! I usually take two washes to stop smelling like an ashtray.
If you think I’ve gotten a newfound girly fetish with hair, well it is not the shampoo models I covet. My inspiration for my style, long and straight comes from these macho rock bands:
Left: A screen capture of Extreme – More Than Words, featuring vocalist Gary Cherone and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt in a tender ballad, an escape from their funk metal tendencies. Don’t listen to Frankie J‘s version; he made it too much of a vocal showoff, losing the tender acoustic vulnerability of the original. Plus his vocal histrionics made it sound damn gh3y.
Right: A screen capture of Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge, featuring vocalist Anthony Kiedis in this confessional ballad about losing a guitarist to hard drugs, an escape from funk rap rock. All Saints did a good cover of it; they didn’t overdo the vocal histrionics.
Yeah, I think you can see what I’m getting at – strong features with past-shoulder-length hair. I knew my hair was long when I could tuck it under my shoulders.
Yeah yeah so Anthony didn’t dye his hair then; he left the hair-coloring to Flea, who probably never had the same hair color in consecutive music videos! But Flea is blonde, and bleaching his hair would turn it white, so he could have proper blue (like in the By The Way video.)