Warm Paw played Keane on repeat. Why hasn't the mellow Britrock scene all slit their wrists and died an automatic death?

The answer is simple. They are all manufactured... robots! Remember Gorillaz? If these songs were written by humans, they wouldn't have kept a blade away to last a whole album's worth.

You guys should've seen it coming with William Hung. He's the man. He's the engineer. He engineers. He's not the best engineer, especially when it comes to the biomechanical facial skeletal expressions of Chris Martin and Thom Yorke. He could very well be creating Britrocking robots, perpetuating a strong sense of low self-esteem in the oodles of self-righteous "this is real muse-ic" fans. Think MUSE. Even Coldplay hinted at their robotic true self in their videos (plus their monotonous rhythm reinforces that).

The Americans are real rebels, though. They are angry! Do upon others harm; it is better than doing upon yourself harm. Which is really what I think I should be doing.

P.S. This blog entry and its style has been greatly inspired by a fellow Trekkie. You know who you are! ;)

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I'm just going to randomly refer to the picture above in this narration segment of Glaring Notebook's blog.

Friday

I headed out to Low Yat to get myself an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton (333Mhz FSB and 512KB L2 cache) (and some thermal paste in case). Soon, I would have two independent computers again, once I bought Alex's 17" monitor. (Top-left is the old; top-right, the new.)

I took a cab home, out of feeling paid (the salary was in that day itself!) At times like these I wish the front passenger side had an emergency brake for the faint-hearted. He was speeding and squeezing. On a jammed flyover with two lanes on our side, the cars were such that an ambulance had passed on the left and made way, and he drove coolly through that!

Sadly, my old Asus A7A-266E did not like my returned 512MB 400Mhz Kingston Value RAM or an old stick of 32MB SD RAM. It only detected my 64MB SD RAM stick, and my plans to install Windows XP were stalled.

Saturday

I headed to Sunway Pyramid, then to the Sunway/Monash Multipurpose Hall for the Shout! Frequency Cannon And Friends gig. Azrul the bassist greeted me with a stamp. I felt obliged to write a review for getting press entry. Isabella came later and looked disapprovingly at a freeloader. I held on to the balcony railings for dear life (it was the 4th floor).

I entered. Of all days to forget my digicam! The place was huge. It had a huge white board to project stuff onto (though sadly it wasn't used!) The lighting was strong on stage, and it wouldn't be blur on my digicam! Plus, the college crowd was sitting, and there were no stage barriers, making it even more photogenic!

Argh.

To compensate for lack of pictures, links will have to do.

Anyway they all rocked, and the sound was excellent... till a guitar amp malfunctioned during Frequency Cannon's turn. In a brilliant flash of showmanship, Yu-Ri the electric-less guitarist crooned the solo Jack Black style and danced about, already dressed Blink 182-ish, despite the fact that he was as old as the other dudes in the band. Oh and Y2K featured Manshaan on drums (a first - a male drummer for Y2K) and of course the funny Justin Guber.

I bumped into Leech and Dee. Sadly, Scherzquin had to leave when it was getting really interesting - Furniture (formerly known as Rush) reminded me of Damn Dirty Apes, except that Furniture coolly sat on furniture and had less fuzz/distortion and more mellowdy.

The gig ended at 9:50pm, unlike stated as 11pm or expected as 12 midnight as most gigs go, but kudos to the organizers for excellent stage, excellent sound and excellent punctuality (okay the gig started an hour late but that's alright by Malaysian gig standards...)

Sunday

At 9:50am Jay called. "Where's the National Science Center?"

I was supposed to be there 20 minutes ago on duty, for the smallest official Xfresh gathering ever on conjunction with The Nobel Prize Centennial Exhibition. Of course, it was also Cheer 2004. Science versus skirts.

At least Jay drew her trademark zebra on my hand. (Refer to picture.) It looked good and smelt good, too. To the left of the zebra would be from top, Syefri, Shaz and Jay.

We bummed around, getting puzzles like the one on the far left of the picture and to the right of the zebra (and a new cheapo Rubik's Cube!) This puzzle, I feared, would break anytime, like the Rubik's Snake (yes they bought over the snake puzzle too!)

But hey! At least I made a performance with a paper/wood guitar. Behind is a air-conditioner unit posing as an amp, blasting out watts of noise as well. Refer to picture below:

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As everybody left, Redphayze sent me to Ikano to collect her contacts and meet up with William there. I then found out plans were cancelled, and so I walked to One Utama (refer to picture below zebra). Yes that was the highway, and it was so bright I could take a picture while walking without worrying about it being blur.

I resigned to just walking aimlessly around One Utama, but I bumped into Nisa and Tiara, and we went to Giant so I could get a drink. That was not all we got; after sampling some milk and cheese, I blurted out "come let's go around looking for more samples!" How lucky we were then, since there were at least 10 booths. As I carried Campbell's mushroom soup in an ice-cream cup, paying for my water, I bumped into Davina! (Yes her name is never pronounced with a full-stop.) "You crazy bugger!" "I'll hug you later." I said. She looked disapprovingly at the freeloader. I beamed at her the smile that said "hey you encouraged me to freeload!"

I sampled Tongkat Ali icecream on the way out. I didn't have the cheek to sample at least 3 flavors before buying, like Davina! did. It tasted like cold apple-flavored wasabi.

I then headed to some hip-hop shop launch and saw an excellent freestyle battle. I saw DJ Fuzz (bottom-right picture) and I asked him to take me to The Rebel Scum. That was how I got to meet the famed Penyangak. The picture to its left was a very neat afro, like a professional microphone.

Anyway, Shaz brought one of those Andrews and I to Centerpoint McDonalds, and we spotted this furniture shop to the left of the afro picture, saying:

Pusat Perabot Hantat Furniture

The temptation for a spoonerism was too strong. Husat Ferabot...

Sleep-catching advice: Do not sample too much coffee. Refer to picture above the Pusat Perabot sign; that was Meet-U Kopi Tarik, a most excellent powdered coffee mix. I did not sleep till 6 am.

As of late, I have been changing my MSN Messenger nickname. (Of course, I also reversed it.)

Before this, it would always be Glaring Notebook. Now people are telling me they almost deleted me from their friends. (Well yay then the unobservant deleter won't bug me.) Or they go "who is this?" and start cursing. (My nicknames are hardly offensive, though a bit odd... plus I don't use horrible fancy characters.)

Gee, I don't delete friends with strange nicks (can't you read my email, even if it is backwards?) I don't know if people who change nicks all the time get deleted either. I thought nick-changing was commonplace, especially to lyrics. If it's not lyrics then it's some gothic depression expression.

Oh, right. I'm supposed to add my old nick to it, but that would spoil the reversed cuteness of having a nick like reebtoow dna sregrubma now wouldn't it?

No wonder the chords to Cast A Shade were familiar; the first three are very much like the verse chords to Stone Temple Pilots - Plush! He too took a descending chromatic line (D to B) and used chords around them.

e|-3-3-3-3-
B|-3-2-1-0-
G|-0-3-2-0-
D|-0-0-0-0-

I'm not even going to try to figure out how to spell each chord, but they are pretty funky inversions. Then, he does a descending line again, from G to E, like in my song! Of course, I also do a B to D on two octaves after that, so I shall smirk proudly in my own chord math. :)

I swear I was not inspired by Plush; I was inspired by Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven and Kashmir. Stairway To Heaven's intro riff for one has a descending chromatic bassline. Very neat.

Of course, there are other lesser-known inverted chord mathemagicians, but I shall only proclaim my love for those who made their alternate-voiced chords on radio, like um Stone Temple Pilots, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Incubus and um Eric Clapton to some extent.

I'll be damned.

Stairway To Heaven reversed.

Now usually what I do is scoff it off as a doctored fake, but today I took the time to cut 4:20 to 4:40 of the song and reverse it in Cool Edit Pro 2. It sounded like the Flash file, but clearer!

Hey, if you call me and I don't pick up, you get to hear a reversed message too. Had it quite a while though. Very cool since I sounded German there.

Bintang Walk, and a few roads off it, had its busiest Monday, and it was not a public holiday. The cause of traffic jams that was of no consequence to me? HELP Institute's Fete De La Musique 2004.

This shall be an exercise in linking as much as I can, perhaps in parody of link-everything-overinformatively blogs and websites with too many sponsored links.

I headed there with digicam, printed schedule and map, to Berjaya Times Square first, bumping into Alda and the rest of Dragon Red, including extended family members like Debbie. Syefri was there too, awaiting his turn to not follow schedule.

I headed to Sungei Wang to meet up with Hanna and Carolyn. There wasn't much there after the Dancing Queens, and so our legs took us through air-conditioned conditions to BB Plaza and then Lot 10 and KL Plaza, bumping into KJ the retired porcupine hair bearer. KL Plaza held no promise, as we headed down Star Hill lane to lead up to Music Exchange. Despite its "Closed Mondays" sign, Hanna left with 7 CDs.

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We rushed back for Dragon Red, followed by Syefri's band, Service Provider For The Poor. (The picture above shows SPFTP, and to many it would the first time they'd see Syefri on stage without an afro.)

By then, we had missed Az and Shelley's performances. We then wandered around looking for the other stages. (Yeah the map wasn't clear in grayscale print.) Little did we know we had to pass Jalan Alor to get to the jackpot of four landmarks in a row - Old Siam, Jiak Guan, La Bodega and Allson Genesis Hotel. Wow. I never knew of these places in Bintang Walk (and there I was thinking proudly that I knew Jalan Walter Grenier!) The people there, they were happy. It was probably the smirk of accomplishment, having discovered these places. It was then elementary to follow the lost people and head to the main stage in Changkat Bukit Bintang, bumping into ever lickable Jay. She dragged me across zebra crossings to BB Plaza, where I won this:

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This, for knowing what HELP stood for. Ironically, I wasn't wearing a free T-shirt; mine was a Incubus - A Crow Left Of The Murder one bought from Syefri.

Back we went to the main stage, to bump into a capoeira-crazed Jin. Carolyn, Hanna, her sister and I then headed to KFC (with food vouchers in hand) where a tissue-selling little boy sold three packs of tissue to Hanna (and transferred poverty to her as well!) In my defense, I was staring at the free serviettes throughout. Tech finally dropped by at KFC after unsuccessful handphone contact.

The rest was more road traversing, ending at:

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I cared not for the art form but for the savory sight of the participants.

Best part of the whole escapade? I only forked out cash for the taxi ride home.

P.S. Added the amazingly-quickwitted Justin Guber to the links in my About Me! page. Nope he did not get to play. A victim of the circumstances.

Shaz, Alex and I were at A&W Drive In, PJ for our own ice-creamed waffle escapade. I forgot to whip out my digicam for this round (Alex took pictures though). It was good minus the fact that I did not get my cheese!

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Sorry for the badly lit picture of the receipt.

I went to college to find my lecturer still in her hometown, with a blur-as-heck collegemate going "I think next week got class lah..."

Ah well, no use slitting wrists over that, I said, and walked over to A&W KLCC. I ordered a coney dog combo with root beer float, and a waffle with butter and syrup. I put the tray on the table and went to the sink to wash my hands. As I walked back, they brought a waffle with icecream and strawberry syrup!

"Eh I ordered with butter and syrup!"

As they left, I realized that my tray already had butter and syrup. Damn, wasted a chance to have free icecream and strawberry syrup.

My intention was to put butter, then syrup, then fill the waffle cells like honeycombs with icecream from the float, like so:

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Notice on the right that there was more than enough leftover float. :) Yes that is how I eat my waffles uh-hyuk.

Oh, and I've updated my Quotes with:
"The darker it is, the more powerful the effect of the flash."

I was soaking in frequencies from a cannon when like kapow! weirder than cucumber-drenched mustard, the manager-like lady she came, and she said she spun Rubik cubes too. "What, can't anybody figure it out in two days?"

This was cause for further investigation, and so we went down. I diagrammatically showed the processes I learnt from manuals for anything beyond the first layer (as opposed to being completely self-taught!) All she did was wave her hands in the air.

After the jam was over, we all bummed around a bit, with me wishing I bothered with the voice recorder. Hung around a bit too long we did, to the ire of those waiting for us.

I'd think it was least to my fault, but alas, his account was that a chick came and I led myself away. "But she was like saying Rubik's Cubes and I wanted to get free tickets"... and that was like kapow Zoltan! etcetera. I swear upon all my excuses before that it was true.

I now carry a cube with me in my bag at all times.

Once, there was a bassist named Syefri, who could not count time or read notes. He could not frag well either.

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They finally caught him. The MMU police. Cut your afro off, they said. (As if it was hard to find a dude with an afro...)

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That was the expression on everyone's face, as well. There is now an empty halo around his head.

Hopefully, it will turn out for the better - he might just get the guitar shredding skill of Joe Satriani, and the airborne railgun accuracy of Quake 3's Xaero.

Baby shine on me your pot of gold
From the mountains up so cold
When the sun shines I am too yellow
To embrace upon your radiant glow
Why don't you ask, "Why is this guy blue?"
Can't you tell green is another hue?
Until I'm done cycling in red
I will make you cast a shade

(I've actually recorded a demo song with this. Ask me! I have no professional training.)

I have a digital camera. I will now brandish in a cam-boy pose:

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(Yes, I won't be putting ALT parameters on my pictures for this particular blog update.)

I bought it second-hand from Smashpop one Thursday night.

On Friday night, I was off to Ikano again, for Az's performance with Shelley Leong.

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(Oh look you can click on him!)
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Double-tapping on an acoustic!
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It was the first time I got to see both play guitars at the same time (Az on lead, how neat is that?)

Shelley sent me to Hartamas so I could get a cab, and Projet Destina was filled with Honda Jazzes! (Cue call MW to find her brother's car and take pictures of it.)

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I dub it the Honda Jazz Festival.
On Saturday, I went to Sunway Pyramid a bit too early; 9:30am to be exact. I heard a piano playing, and it was:

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Jenifer playing the piano that was just there in the middle of Sunway Pyramid!
I walked around the IT Center, and bumped into:

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Douglas, the guy who sold me the 128 Megabyte Transcend xD-Picture flash card. I was no longer limited to 16 MB!

I then headed over to DJ Phuturecybersonique's crib and got quite a view.

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The view.
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A yellow... Mercedes, parking below, as seen in his balcony.
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Dry Ice in water. Jakuned I did!

I then packed oodles of currypuffs and fried(?) chicken home. My family feasted on the leftovers.

That night, I walked to the clock tower to wait for my bus; on the way there, a wee bit off Masjid Jamek, I saw this:

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Hmmm.
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How did it get there?

On Sunday, I watched Shrek 2 with the photogenic Lazing Eye. We found:

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A teddybear that looks like Corinne!
I gathered the 4D puzzles that I got Scherzquin hooked on to, and took this:

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My brother and I have a zoo
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This poor defective elephant had a twisted foot

Also, while passing by the Lipton Express Yourself tunnel in KLCC today, I found that this was now unmoveable!

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16 pictures and 156,107 bytes later, I'd hope you'd forgive me.

I was hanging out at a mamak in Hartamas with colleagues (after a frag session) when the subject of male-to-female ratio came up. Statistics say females currently outnumber males.

The magic of my associative brain brought back Biology lessons - the male determines the gender of the child. A guy can marry as many wives and still be cursed with only daughters (before you stamp [SEXIST] on my forehead, I say they would cost more to raise!)

At first I figured that the chromosome that says "bear plenty bosomfuls" would not be passed down, since the female's genes would have no say in the child's gender. This would thus increase the probability of males.

That last sentence was in contradiction to the case.

The mom would still pass down her dad's "bear plenty bosomfuls" to the sons she might have.

And so, I have no conclusion.

Flashback to another Hartamas night, where we were introduced to this girl who, if she had a son, would name him "Q-Tip". Yes "Q-Tip". My colleagues asked, "would you marry her if you knew she wanted a son named Q-Tip?"

Perhaps, if I knew it was in my genes to "bear plenty bosomfuls". I knew it was unlikely, as my mom had five brothers and one sister, while my father's father's lineage was MFMF (Male-female-male-female). My father-side cousins were MM, MF and M. My mother-side cousins were FM. I'm the first M in my dad's MFM. Hence, the son-making XY factor would be strong in me.

And so I said, "no, I would not marry you". Pity then, she was cute. :)

And now, for the answer to the question girls like to ask: How many children would you like to have, and in what ratio?

I like them MFM, like how it is now. Or more practically, MF. Having FFM would make for a effeminate son, like some people I know. MFM would churn a slightly tomboyish middle daughter like my sister, but I figure tomboys wouldn't go for expensive clothes, and they would be... independent? Plus, they would kick ass and I would feel safer letting them go out.

I've never had so much last-minute hooha for an assignment but here goes.

I couldn't take the cold radiance of my monitor at 3am, and I left it like that halfway, copying the files into my newly acquired digital camera (yes yes I was supposed to post about that one week ago but I was busy). I figured I'd finish it in the office six hours later.

This morning, as my mom dropped me off, she asked to borrow the digicam. I forgot that my assignment was in it (I guess I wasn't used to associating it with due-at-6pm-assignments!)

As I write this, I not-so-eagerly await my mom's call - whether she'd drop the digicam by the office (and face scolding) or save her the trouble by going home after lunch, finish it there, head to college, and then face scolding at home (at least I'd be free-from-assignments!)

What else do I have pending outside of work? Three articles promised ages ago. A visit to Low Yat Plaza to get an AMD Barton 2600+ and check out RM400 19" CRT monitors. (Yes, like WHOA!)

Call it the inefficiency of my grey matter to process matters that are black and white screaming "hurry up alright!", but I tend to shuffle priorities. Yes I have a big project to finish, but everytime I look at it I get stumped, and so I finish off the other tasks of much less priority. At least I'd feel like I accomplished something.

What dairy product are you?


Yoghurt

People perceive you as stubborn and thick. Some find you're too sour to handle but with the right amount of sweetness, you can be a truly delectable person to be with! Mmmm... look at all the different flavors you come in!