Sweet Must-Have

Now... not that i want to do free promotion for Canon, but look at that!!! Seriously... a digital camera in HOTHOTHOT RED?!?! now, that's a must-have! a die die must-have! How often do we see a commercial camera that comes in red? and at 12.1 MP, that camera can freakin capture every f**kin' pore on my face. Woah! (Haha, although that shouldn't be something to be excited about...) When i first saw it in commercials, i thought to myself that I GOTTA have that! although the first reviews for the camera wasn't that great, being the non-tech freak that I am, the appearance of it is probably more important to me... Hey, it was the HOT-RED color of it that caught my attention here N I saw we have a winner here!

Nerves and Vampires

Alright, so the other day, i was like sitting in front of my computer and typing something. it was like in the late morning i think and i heard this: OK, 谁要做 Vampire? .... 谁要做 Vampire!?!....

And i was like 'Whudd the Blah' is going on? and i looked out the window and there they were.... kids playing catching.... twilight style. -_-' Really now... Is there a necessary for such things?

ANNNNDDD my 2nd driving test is coming up.... Next Friday. 17th, i think? from my last test up til now, i haven't taken any lessons yet. next week, i'm going for three more lessons before taking the test. and i swear to God, the nerves are killing me. K I L L I N ' me. i was lying in bed a few days back, and i thought about the i m p e n d i n g test and dread drew over me. HEY! i love driving man. How can one failed attempt to PLEASE and SATISFY an old foggy in a car PUT ME DOWN? man...

What's Hot Right Now:

I'm a Reader.

Oooo... I love the smell of new books. Ironically, they smell like old paper, like something ancient, something with an abundance of knowledge to impart. That's the beauty of books. I'm sure i'm not the only one with a fetish for the smell of nice books though. You know who you are... ^.^

(my BRAND NEW copies of New Moon + The Reader!!)

I just picked up two new copies of fresh read for the following weeks to come, given the bad relationship i have with public libraries and my outstanding fines with them. And these two books can't be more worlds apart - New Moon and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. One of them, i know beyond a doubt, that it'll be a good read, just based how much i liked the film adaptation of it and the other, i am so sure that I'll be cringing at every flip of the page, based on how cheesy Twilight was. Really, how much more different can they be? And i don't really know which to start with. Should I indulge myself in my favourite, The Reader, first or get New Moon, over and done with first? Pardon me, but the only reason i got New Moon was because of all the hype it was getting and of my desire to find out what happens before the movie came out, not that Stephenie Meyer is a terrific author.

I can't stress enough how much I loved the film adaptation of the Reader, with Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes being so awesome in it. Really, when Ralph Fiennes sent those voice tapes to Kate Winslet's Hanna, that scene was so touching, it moved me.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure i'll enjoy it.

Merriweather?

Singapore is experiencing the equivalent of what others would call 'Summer' in the seasonal parts of the world. And everytime, for me, it's a love and hate affair going on, between me and the weather. I love to feel the warmth of the sun in the early morning and late afternoon; i hate the scorching heat in the mid-day. I love to feel the sweat and the intensity of a good run or workout; i hate the constant moist layer of perspiration covering me from head to toe throughout the day. I would love to get a tan, given the abundance of the sunlight nowadays; i would hate to look like a f**king lobster without slathering on some SPF 50.

and i'm having a hard time keeping my face matt, as the heat just keep making my face oilier and more sheen. And now at most, i can only put a small amount of moisturizer on my face, because if i put on too much, i'll break out. Unlike in the past few months, i've no problem putting on a thicker layer of moisturizer cream.

And i'm feeling pretty bored lately. I've been cooped up at home, as i scrapped my knee pretty badly last week. Which i absolutely hate. Scrapped knees always meant: i can't bend my knees, walk with a limp, and trying to avoid getting water onto the wound (which is a near impossibility for showering). and to make things worse, i injuried my left foot (YES, the same leg as my scrapped knee) a few days back. (don't ask me how, i just did)

But thank GOD. my scrapped knee is ALMOST healed now. I've been feeling pretty excited today because i just got a copy of Daniel Merriweather's new album, Love and War. Right now, i'm still listening to it. the first single of this album, Change (feat Wale), was played on 987FM a while back. but then, I still didn't know who this guy was. And a while back, i heard his duet with Adele, Water and A Flame. i thought i was pretty nice, but still i didn't pay much attention to him. AND today, i stumbled across his name while googling, and VOILA! i'm falling in love with his music.

Here's a link to his second album, Love and War, scheduled to be released on April 27, 2009 in the UK. (for preview purposes only. buy it if you like it ^o^) (password: warez)




i pretty like the cover art for Love and War. which makes me all the more want to get the hard copy asap. And who is this Daniel Merriweather, with his funny last name and all, you ask? Well, he's a 26 year old R&B singer/songwriter who best reminds me of a cross between James Morrison and Robin Thicke, both of whom I'm HUGE fans of. The first single off Love and War, Change (ft. Wale), is very James Morrison-hy. Very. It's pretty decent. Probably a good single material. And i like it much. But the REAL to-die-for single is Water and A Flame. Smoky, sexy, jazzy, together with Adele's voice, it's hauntingly sad, that you will love instantly. The best track in the entire album, WHICH by the way, is produced superbly, thanks in part to Mark Ronson, who produced the numerous hits of Amy Winehouse.



(nice tatt there Daniel!)

Dum vita est, spes est.

Alright, i'm just gonna do a short update on my current job-seeking, as of the moment. I was pretty excited today, as shortly after i sent out my resume to two potential employers, i received a phone call from one of them - Recruit Express. Normally, Recruit Express wouldn't be the employer; they're like an agency that helps companies source out potential candidates. But in my case, i wasn't so sure - I was applying to be a Temporary Consultant. Basically, the job scope would be to interview to job-seekers and match them to the clients, in addition to the regular office admin stuff, i suppose. *Wow, sounds like something i'd LURRVE to do* And so in the sweltering heat at 2 plus, all decked in my interview executive wear (which i've decided, would be my best chance to nail this interview and also to cover up my tattoos), minus my ear piercings, I went for the interview at Ngee Ann city. And omgosh, today was my second time there - to Recruit Express - but yet somehow i still manage to get lost there, while going to the offices. I simply couldn't find the right elevator. Oh yeah, in front of the plaza, coincidentally, i saw one of the girls from PJC whom i've had a huge crush on. I still remember her name - first name only though - and she looked chic and all dressed up AND with her boyfriend. a new one though, a different one from when she was in PJC. OK, thing was, i didn't notice her until she was like two metres from me, but on the other hand, she didn't seem to notice me. Oh well.

I would have to say the interview went superbly well. at least IMO. i was nervous and all, not because I naturally will, but coz' i was so intend on saying what I PLANNED. i actually did a script as to what i would say during the interview. Yep, in a way, i was lying. about many things. but i shall not delve into it much. Ok, the thing is, just before this post, i went back to check on the Job post by Recruit Express ( i had no idea why i did though), only this time round i couldn't find it. i clicked on the exact link in the HISTORY tabs, only to find it replaced by another post, by the SAME CONSULTANT. for what reason? i've no idea. what i do know is that normally they do not edit nor delete nor replace their posts i.e. the posts stay there for months. Why i'm so psyched and excited by this is, hopefully, no one is applying for that post anymore (or should i say able to) and at last count, the consultant said only one other person has applied. And hopefully, she was impressed by all my lies that i will be able to get the job. Cheers ~~

Top Reasons to Watch Movies in 2009

1) Fast & Furious (Mar 27 / April 3 - CANADA / U.S.)

Wow. I've always been a fan of The Fast and The Furious, and 2 Fast 2 Furious, with the original cast of Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez. And when Tokyo Drift came out, I was like "WHAT>!?!" How glad was I when i learnt that the original cast are going to reprise their roles in a 4th sequel. Hopefully, this is not the last though; it shouldn't be. Fans of flashy cars, turbo-charged, adrenaline-pumped high-speed racing will definitely love this installment. I know I will.

Brian's R34 Skyline GT-R and Subaru Impreza WRX




Dom's 1970 Chevelle SS



Some other flashy cars from the movie:




The HOT Paul Walker in a still from the movie:



The Theatrical Posters for movie:




2) Terminator Salvation - May 21, 2009

I've always loved the 1st and 2nd Terminator Movies and i think it's definitely the right move to make the 4th Terminator movie a sequel to the first two. I think this is going to be one of my favourite Terminator movie ever: 1) Christian Bale as John Connor? Hell yeah. I've loved him since Rescue Dawn. He was pretty much amazing in it. 2) Linda Hamilton aka the ORIGINAL BONA FIDE Sarah Connor - narrating? This is double orgasm. She may be too old to do action films, but to hear her voice again in this movie, is a fitting tribute to her touching portrayal of Sarah Connor in the previous T-films.

The Theatrical Posters for Terminator: Salvation
(I like the first one better though)

The Actors in Terminator: Salvation
Christian Bale as John Connor
Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (a decommissioned Terminator)

3) Transformers - Revenge of The Fallen - June 24, 2009

This has got to be one of the most anticipated movie of the year but out of the three, I don't really feel anything for this - it doesn't have any of my favourite actors in it, nor was i a big Fan of Transformers as a child. And considering the jerky camera movements and barely distinguishable action/fight scenes of the first Transformers movie, i don't really know what to expect from this sequel. Well, i'm definitely glad Megan Fox is going to be back for some eye-candy, but hopefully, this time around, we'll be able to enjoy the action scenes more clearly.

The Theatrical Poster:



Being the Transformers non-fan that i am, i can't tell whether this is a autobot or a decepticon...



This is EXACTLY what i mean by a "barely distinguishable" action scene: Most of the times, the action scenes are just a jumbled mess of metal. sometimes, i don't even know who is fighting who.



OMG~~ Wonder why Megan Fox is crying here~ Hopefully Shia LaBeouf gets killed off here. =)

Run Babies run ~~~

I getting all Hot N Cold...

Nope. I'm not grovving to Katy Perry but I'm feeling Hot N Cold. Literally. and I'm gonna blame it all the weather. So these couple of days i 'm in my tank top, since it's so damn hot in the day. but then, it'll be like all cold all of a sudden. and before you Know it, it'll be freakin' hot again. either my body system is all screwed up or our earth is.

Damn. I'm bored to hell at home. Meanwhile, i've been trying to find work but up till now, there's been no luck. Wow, i mean, i really did learn a lot just going through the process of job searching. I'm planning to do a full blog post just based on that only. But I think i'm only going to do after i've landed a job. And i've got a LOT to share, man. Meanwhile, a lot of stuff have happened these couple of days.

First things first, BoA's Debut English album came out on Tues, March 17. Yeshh!!!! I wanted to do a post immediately after listening to it on that day, a first-hand review, but procrastinated. but anyway, i'm going to do that later on. First, let me get to American Idol.

These week was Grand Ole Opry week. Ok, actually i learnt about this week's theme from rickey.org quite some time ago.... or was it votefortheworst.com... can't remember for the life of me. these two sites are so similar. Ok, my first reaction was WTF was "Grand Ole Opry"?!?! but then i looked at the songlist... Martina McBride... Carrie Underwood... Garth Brooks... and after reading some of the comments by visitors, i realised it was country, which in American Idol history, it hasn't come down too good many times before. However, surprising, the performance night wasn't too bad. No one did particularly bad, though there were a couple or so standouts, such Kris Allen's and Matt Giraud's. Matt's cover of Carrie Underwood's So Small was particularly memorable and emotion-invoking. His bluezy, smoky, rough coverage contrasted with Carrie's silky vocals. Whenever a performance cause the hair on my body to stand on ends, i would know that it's a great performance. and matt's So Small did just that.

Here is his Studio recording of So Small:

Now the frustrating part. Dirty Diana a.k.a Alexis Grace got the lowest votes for the rendition of Dolly Parton's Jolene. Now the EVEN MORE frustrating part: the Judges mentioned right before Alexis sang for her life, that she was the one (between her and Michael Sarver) the judges would consider saving using the Judge's Save. That got Alexis' hope and you could see while she sang, she was on the verge of tears, desperation, her voice was breaking. She really wanted it bad. And I thought she would deserve another chance. After all that, the judges REFUSED to save her, with Simon putting it simply: It was good, it just wasn't good enough, EFFECTIVELY dashing her dreams. WTF! ok, she had a bad performance (and it wasn't that bad actually) but i think she has one of the most promising potential among the top 11, and she didn't deserve to go home just yet. f*ck, she will not even get the chance to go on the AMI summer tour because she's not part of the top 10. WHAT?!?! first Joanna Pacitti got axed from the Top 36 and now Alexis Grace?! Man, i'm not watching this show anymore (the thought of seeing Danny Gokey every week turns me off)... ok, i'm just kidding.

Next, seeing how there isn't many reviews for BoA's new english debut out there, i'm going to do one.

Tracklist:
1) I Did it for Love (ft. Sean Garrett)
2) Energetic
3) Did Ya
4) Look who's talking
5) Eat you up
6) Obsessed
7) Touched
8) Scream
9) Girl on Top
10) Dress Off
11) Hypnotic Dancefloor

My First Listen Impression: Not Good. i would give it a 3/5 rating. BUT considering that i'm a HUGE BoA fan, i'm going to be srsly biased here. OK, on first listen, it just wasn't working for me, as an entire album packaging. sure, there were some standout tracks, but the entire album just doesn't cut it. I've been listening to American pop music for quite some time now and when i first considered the idea of the american public listening to this album and getting to know this artiste, BoA, just based on this one album, i don't think it's going to make any big impression on them. Furthermore, in comparison to some pretty strong recent American pop artistes i.e. Britney Spears, Rihanna, BoA would really pale out.

Now the Second Impressions: (after listening to it more)
1)I Did it for Love
I've loved this track right from the start that it was released. There's really nothing much to comment on this track really. Brilliant. Dance. Track. I still can't figure out whether this is the second single or Look Who's Talking is. But if i were to choose, this would definitely be a stronger second single.

2)Energetic
the title of this track caught my attention, considering how i like grovvy tracks and Lady GaGa's Just Dance and Poker Face immediately came to my mind. course, that was before i listened to it. really great as well.

4) Look Who's Talking
One of the standout tracks. Courtesy of Ms. Britney Bitch herself. she co-wrote this song. of course, it feels very britney-ish. especially in the chorus. think Circus or If U Seek Amy.

7) Touched
this isn't a standout nor is it one of my fave. in fact, i quite hate this song, due to the fact that BoA didn't actually really sing the chorus, if i'm not wrong. At first, i was shocked when i heard this song, because it didn't feel like BoA at all (after listening to her for 8 years now since her Jap debut, i would definitely know) I was positive she didn't sang that song. when i listened closely, i realised the chorus was sung by background singers (most probably) and BoA was doing all these vocal theatrics (as i would like to call it). So, in a way, the roles were switched and i didnt like it. This is one of the controversial songs for me, in a way.

8) Scream
Ok, by the time you reach this track, if you listened to it in chronological order, you would probably realise that she sounds slightly different on every single track (thx to the vocal tweaking), every single track FEELS (i'm not saying SOUND) the same and you can't really tell what the heck BoA's singing (hey, she's Korean, but really, who will care to listen to the words?). Although i have to give her credit for the tremendous improvement in her English. So in a way, what i'm trying to say is that Scream just feels like the other songs on this album, but nonetheless, i quite like this track.

9) Girls on Top
I was quite a fan of the Korean album with the same name, due to the fact at that time, BoA broke away from her squeaky clean image as this silky hair lass and following her My Name album, she continued to give this edgy, rock-ish, dancey look which reflected in her music as well. So i was particular glad to hear that this american version didn't butchered the original song. in fact, it sounded great and better, i would say. i was worried i would be a little squeamish to hear her sing one of her old songs in English, but it wasn't as bad as i initially thought it would be.

10) Dress Off
~ so all u wanna do is take my Dress Off ~ take my dress offfff ~ dress offff ~ offfff ~
one of my FAVE tracks in this entire album, mainly because of it's ADdictive, Catchy, Grovvy, Electrosynth sound. LUrves it. and considering that the lyrics are so flirty and dirrty, it's no surprise it's gonna be one of my faves.

My Final Verdict: 4/5
on my fourth or fifth run through the album, i can't believe that BoA actually just sang an ENTIRE album in English AND it actually sounds AWESOME. it's not like those previous English covers of her own songs, where u will get squeamish listening to how bad her English sounds. Ok, considering that I can get over how MUCH they tweaked Britney's voice in Circus, I am definitely lurving this album right here. Of course, the comparison is there, BoA has long been hailed as Asia's Britney. In the past, i couldn't see the similarities but now i Do. Hello? Bloodshy & Avant were one of the producers on Britney's Circus and by recruiting them to produce on THIS album, we couldn't make them sound more similar. In fact, BoA SOUNDS so much like Britney on this album on SO MANY tracks. But if it's a sure-formulae to success and they want to reproduce it on BoA, i certainly wish her the best. Depending on how the critics see it, they could churn out either very positive reviews or pan her down. (again, it's whether they will compare her to Britney's Circus) I've always liked BoA for her dance tracks, her energy in her dancing and her unique voice. So in this album, i'm getting only the first two. I don't really know whether to love or hate the vocoder in the album because it took away the voice that I lurved so much since ID; Peace B.

Remember to grab your copy. It's worth it.