it’s been a long time

i think i should start blogging again.

what do you think?

this brings back memories

nice job guys. though u should’ve gagged him. i think some of u guys chickened out once victor started shouting =P and kenny, come on la. u got exp doing all this, why la aim nipples, u should pull down his pants already

good things come in small packages

seems that brands carrying quality bass amps are going through a “nano” phase. more to come =]

iact street party

its about time another gig came by =] iact is moving to a cooler place, and we’ll (underheadlights) be playing at their launch cum street partay!!! from what i’ve heard there’s a lot of planning going down for this event so it’s gonna be huge!

there’s gonna be bands (one buck short, underheadlights, eg), even a rap group (manhand), exhibitions (it IS an advertising institute) and awareness events all placed out through the day (25th april). so mark the date down, put on your jumping shoes and come and have a blast!

save me from myself

sounds like a pretty emo title eh? you can kinda image me at the corner of my room,  dim lights with an empty bottle of heineken by my side. i’m curled up in a fetus position, a little tear in my eye. holding a razor in my right hand and my scribbled last words to the world on a crumpled paper in my left, i’m ready to meet my maker.

but we all know my emo days are over eh? heh.

do you know this face?

you don’t? ah, here are some clues:

1. he is a musician
2. his stage name is one of a part of your body
3. his ex-band is the name of a particular yellow fruit comically spelt with a “k” instead of a “c”

for the uninformed ppl who never experienced the nu metal wave that came in the 90s, this is brian “head” welch, former lead guitarist of pioneering nu metal band korn. though i’m not a particular big fan, i must say that i really love a few of their tracks, namely freak on the leash (something takes a part of me), their cover of Cameo’s Word Up and their recent hit twisted transistor.

so yeah a small conversation on korn (that’s all i’m capable of) and now head left the band some 4 years ago after he went to church and accepted Christianity into his life. and now, what we all have been waiting for is here. head’s solo project! titled… you can guess this one =]

save me from myself

i must say the few tracks i’ve listened to on this album sounds really interesting. its still very much loud, hardcore and full of screams, so don’t expect head to suddenly become steven curtis chapman aiight? if you’re a fan of loud music with that nu metal influence then go on and sample some of his tracks by clicking on the album art above.

would your mum consider this a good influence? hmm…

i think a nice controversial song he has is die religion die which he says is about how religious ppl use the bible and its content to give them “the right” to judge ppl which is quite true in today’s world. i think we have too many ppl with strong opinions who speak up too often and think they know more than they do.

here’s a little snippet of a telephone interview he did

~

You achieved an incredible amount of success while you were in Korn. You scored two Grammys, you won several MTV awards and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Can you define what success meant to you while you were in Korn, and then define what success means to you now?

To me, success meant getting a record deal when I started out in Korn. After that happened, I started making a lot of money and the success just went through the roof: I got a gold record, a platinum record, and then we hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart. You can’t get any higher than that! It was cool, but then I thought: “Is this it? I’ve reached my goal. I climbed the mountain of success, I reached the top and I hit the bell. Ding! I made it! Now the only way to go is down because I already made it to the top.” It was like, O.K., I rang the bell at the top, but it just didn’t satisfy me.

Now success is watching what God is doing through me. Jesus already won! He’s the success. He died on the cross, and it’s finished. He said, “It is finished.” So once I came to Christ, I reached the ultimate success! Now it’s both of us completing the work that we have together on earth, but that just flows and happens. [Sometimes I battle] with depression, but I don’t freak out because God is faithful. He’ll get me out of it, and it’s already done. Jesus did everything; that’s success—He’s my success!

~

he sounds so Christian eh? read the whole thing here

and just for fun, some videos!

mono m80. you know you want it.

it’s here! and yes, it is the best gigbag in the world! =P not that i have used many gigbags to date. this one just looks the coolest! now the love story begins.

looking at it, it is much bigger than my previous gigbag which was a fender gigbag that came with a bass that i previously bought. it was padded but not fully padded so it was a lot sleeker than the m80. and well, that’s probably the only think that my previous gigbag trumps the m80 at =P

the m80 has a few compartments for u to put lotsa stuff inside em. and they’re not just compartments, they have more compartments in them! the big pocket at the front end has cable management and what i think is a cd compartment. and an additional “hidden” pocket at the top of the m80 holds ur smaller things. tuners, baby wipes, screwdrivers, etc.

neck saver! this obviously saves ur neck in the event ur gigbag were to accidentally drop. but with a beauty like this, u’d never let it out of ur sight, so i don’t think it will drop much because of its hotness as well =] did i mention there’s a pick compartment at the neck saver?

strap pin protection! don’t know what that is? well, gigbags are usually put on the floor on, u guessed it, resting on the guitar’s strap pin. now what this m80 does is it instead puts the load of ur heavy 28-string bass  on the body of the bass rather than the little tiny strap pin. amazing huh?

apparently its also waterproof, but i have yet to test that one out yet =]

pads everywhere. hardcase-like protection with abs panels at the head and the body. anti-skip zippers. super plush smooth interior. strong straps and handle fastened by steel studs, so its equally strong worn as a backpack or just carried with ur hands. and have u ever had ur backpack straps dangling all over the place when u decide to just carry ur gigbag with 1 hand? well the m80 has a compartment to tuck ur backpack straps in! now talk about thinking out of the box for u.

its beauty can only be appreciated live in living colour, and by touching

to the one who got it for me. you shouldn’t have, but i’m not complaining =] thank you u!

we’re on gua!

well, its just an article. but woohoo!

i didn’t know there were any ppl from any web or watever covering the event that day. but looks like there were. and we got lucky, coz the article only has photos of 2 bands and we’re one of them!

here’s a portion of the article:

l-r: weeliem, cheemeng, joni, lenard, joshua

It’s not a new message but being there that night it was as if these young folks in bands and their volunteering friends wanted to be even more obvious about it, if only to wipe out the apathy that’s still bugging quite a number of us a little quicker (preferably before the world ends).

They’ve turned their best intentions into noble action, their way – isn’t it time to answer with yours?

~

read the whole article here.

earth hour malaysia compilation cd

earth hour gig was stellar! if u weren’t there, u missed out on something big. too bad for u =\ anyway…

oh lookie here. i’m in a compilation! woohoo! who says u need to have an album b4 u can get onto a compilation huh? =] oh yeah, its free too!

so if you don’t have one, well u have to hurry on to one of these locations today! i’m not sure where/when else they will be available. local radio stations and websites are giving them out too! just click on the pic above, and you’ll be directed to a superb site that tells u the locations =]

i haven’t heard the compilation yet, but i heard its good. apparently cds that go through proper burning for audio cd sales have a better quality compared to burning/cetak rompak that ppl commonly do using computer burners. the bands on it are great too! altered frequency, army of three, fourletterstory, pg165, scene at the movies, unabashed and under headlights (that’s me!)

did i mention its free? well, technically la. all u have to do is sign up and pledge to switch of your lights and nonessential electrical stuff TODAY from 830-930pm. easy right? u save electric, the world AND you get a free cd with good quality amazing bands. what a win-win situation for everyone =]

earth hour video, and the devils it unsuspectingly births

to think that such a noble, people-uniting cause can trigger something so meaningless, unhelpful, shallow cause. read below and be amazed:

This week CEI announced the creation of Human Achievement Hour (HAH) to be celebrated at 8:30pm on March 28th 2009 (the same time and date of Earth Hour).

Our press release described ways people might celebrate the achievements of humanity such as eating diner, seeing a film, driving around, keeping the heat on in your home—all things that Earth Hour celebrators, presumably, should be refraining from. In the cheekiest manner, we claimed that anyone not foregoing the use of electricity in that hour is, by default, celebrating the achievements of human beings. Needless to say, the enviros in the blogosphere didn’t take to kindly to our announcement.

Matthew Wheeland, an environmental journalist called the holiday “mind-blowingly strange” and pondered if Earth hour folks are including in their numbers people in countries that don’t have enough electricity to make the choice to turn out their lights. Of course, they don’t have the choice to acquire electricity whereas anyone can choose to stop using human technology if they wish…

…Green and private conservation are fine. We have no problem with an individual (or group) that wants to sit naked in the dark without heat, clothing, or light. Additionally, we’d have no problem with the group holding a pro-green technology rally. That’s their choice. But when this group stages a “global election” with the express purpose of influencing “government policies to take action against global warming,” we have every right as individuals to express our vote for the opposite

If our Human Achievement Hour is at all a dig against Earth Hour, it is so only by the fact that we are pointing out what Earth Hour truly is about: it isn’t pro-earth, it is anti-man and anti-innovation. So, on March 28th I plan to continue “voting” for humanity by enjoying the fruits of man’s mind.

read more nonsense here.

earth hour: are you part of it yet?

i’m sure u’ve heard it, but what is it? what’’s with all this buzz? how many ppl are actually doing it? and the tagline that they’ve been using pretty often: can i make a difference?

earth hour is in it’s 3rd year running, starting solely in sydney australia, spreading to 35 countries last year and growing to 82 countries this year. it’s a worldwide event where businesses and households switch off their nonessential lights for an hour.

there’s a whole lot of articles you can read about it online, but the gist is switching off things you don’t really need for an hour. its so simple. anyone can do it. everyone should do it. but knowing humankind, there is always the few that disagree.

I READ with amazement and irony the efforts of WWF Malaysia to latch on to the Earth Hour event and all the celebrities, media and corporations that have come up in support.

It is amazing that people are so easily taken in by a mere publicity stunt that fails at the very essence. Turning off our lights for one hour on one designated day of the year to save our planet surely is a PR event at best.

It shames the thousands of devoted people, government bodies, scientists and environmentalists that have for years been working on finding real solutions to address this global concern. Malaysians should see past this gimmick by international NGOs and start changing their lifestyles. Surely we can be more proactive and not be fed by an agenda of international bodies.

Why don’t we implement power conservation programmes, ride public transport on certain days in a month, car pool, etc?

It is also ironic that the organiser, WWF Malaysia, up until very recently, did not even have a climate change programme to begin with when all others (even local groups and individuals) have been persistent in their pleas for Malaysians to take action.

Remember, our leaders signed the Kyoto Protocol and there has been concerted movement towards reaching solutions. Please let us all be enlightened and move away from celebrations and gimmicks.

MARCUS,
Petaling Jaya.

some would say that switching off lights for 1 hour even on a global scale is “insignificant” and more of a publicity stunt than an actual way to safe our earth. well, i couldn’t agree more. it in fact IS a publicity stunt. the amount of energy or carbon emmissions we safe is in fact INSIGNIFICANT so to speak.

so if it is merely publicity, and insignificant in its results, why do it? i have 2 reasons for you.

1. a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step no? i can’t speak on behalf of wwf, but i think the bigger goal is to indeed aware ppl that if everyone did something, big things can change. its a simple concept that almost everyone believes but yet is a selective hypocrite to certain situations. a simple example. vitamins, exercise, even conversation. 3 things that should well cover 100% of the world’s population. take these 3 things, and isolate them down to 1 unit of each. take 1 vitamin in your whole lifetime. exercise once in your whole lifetime. have a conversation once in your whole lifetime. the result would be unanimous. they would’ve been INSIGNIFICANT things that you’ve done in your life, right? but you still do it nonetheless. why? if its insignificant, why are you still doing it?!?!? bloody cynical selfish hypocrite you are.
2. there is a certain power in masses. this is pretty simple. if you’re the only one doing it, chances are you won’t stick to it. if everyone is doing it, its easier for you to do it again, and again, and again. simple eh?

so don’t be so short sighted as to see earth hour as merely a 1hour energy saving publicity stunt. that IS what it is, but that’s not what it wants to do. i mean, they didn’t say “save the earth just this once” did they?

if you still haven’t gotten the point. wwf just wants to scream out to the whole world, much like al gore in his movie, just to let ppl know. hey, you CAN do something you know?

dear marcus,

i am deeply saddenned for the human being that you are. you sound very knowledgable yet you fail to be just a little bit more long sighted in your observations of earth hour. i may not know as much as you do, like how wwf malaysia had no climate change programme, but i know that i am happy that they are doing something now.

i would be very interested to know what do YOU do to save our planet earth. i’m guessing nothing much, since anything you do would be insignificant to our dear earth right?

you do have many interesting suggestions on saving our planet, but are you doing anything about it? are you telling everyone around you that they can do something about it? what impact has your actions done? don’t u see that we, as shallow naive human beings, sometimes DO need a publicity stunt to push us into the right direction?

nah, i guess you’re too smart for that.

~

on a more celebrative note, underheadlights will be making its debut performance of the year in support of earth hour! read all about it here!

one of our sponsors, digi will also be present there to take your pledges to switch off your lights during earth hour. if u haven’t pledged yet, come to pledge! you’ll get a free compilation cd containing tracks from altered frequency, scene at the movies, army of three, us (of course), pg165, unabashed and many more! did i mention its free? both the gig AND the cd. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t seen us live, or any of the bands performing live before, you will be blown away. literally, musically, and volume-ally =P

so come come come! and don’t come alone, let’s bring this place down! urbanattic is a major cool chillout place! =]

streamyx roxorz (part 2)

remember this? well, guess what? its the 14th already, and our internet connection is still same ole same ole. makes you wonder whether that whole cable problem thingy was real, or just another of their excuses. wire putus la. malaysians watching/downloading too much porn la. torrent users sucking up all their bandwidth la. these are the 3 that i most commonly hear. have u heard others?

the next article on them should better read something like this:

Malaysia: Streamyx broadband users will have to continue bearing with sluggish surfing speeds until you discover that you will never get decent internet speed as long as we are under the government’s wing.

TM has finally come clean to the Malaysian public after misleading them with many excuses, blaming horny porn downloaders, torrent users and even a cable malfunction which nobody could proof since it was an underwater cable.

TM also admits that they not only have never had the capabilities to deliver any of the said data rates that they promote, but also that they oversell their internet service packages which further reduces internet browsing speed to that comparable to our dial-up days with Jaring 1511.

With all that being said, Malaysia’s only hope is that the companies that have been given the licences to operate WiMax internet connections deliver upon their promises so that the rakyat may switch over and finally be able to go to google, wikipedia or xxx.com without any delays.

Bah.