Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Ad Ovo?
My, time certainly flies by, doesn’t it?
I kid.
It will finally be over this Friday. Of course there is more to come – but who ever said stupidity knew mortal boundaries?
RJC Batch 2003 reunion was last Saturday. I frankly did not expect much of a turn out. More people came than I expected, and it was certainly illuminating to meet some of them again after these years. I will say, however, that what Weibin says has a certain grain of truth in it – the fact that we will, up till now, still meet up and organize things among the people whom really matter to us, and no reunion will ever be able to emulate that sort of honest reunion. But it is also true that it compels some of the lesser socialites and overseas scholars to actually make a rare appearance once in awhile, and it is endearing to see some of them once again. Props to the council for organizing such events – I must say that I appreciate the work and effort you’ve put into it, and I hope there will be more to come, regardless of what anyone else says. I believe that you will be the last bastion of any semblance of unifying force that still exists, to bind us together once in awhile, to see how each of us have grown (and not), over the years.
Watched Initial-D as well. I’m sure you’re well aware by now that I am an insane, hardcore Initial-D addict. I have pursued the comics and cartoons for longer than most of you have heard of its existence. I knew the concepts of oversteer and understeer, footbrake drifting and inertia drifts before some of you even knew what a clutch pedal did. Anyway – the show was amusing. It’s not going to win any Oscars anytime soon. But it was, especially for a fan like me, an interesting experience to see some of our favourite characters and scenes brought to life from our imagination. The plotline was weak, I felt – they took far too many liberties with it, as ZH mentioned. However, there is no denying that the action was totally, 100% awesome. They missed some of the best driving lines, which I found a bit odd, but still forgivable. To see the drift stunts brought onto screen really gave me goosebumps. Unforgivable though: Keisuke was taken out of the movie, with Nakazato taking on the ‘brotherly’ figure. Totally unforgivable. Keisuke and his yellow ‘bananacar’ FD are irreplaceable. I can only expect a sequel to focus around Project D, Ryousuke’s so-mentioned ‘dream team’ at the end of the movie – but I can’t fathom how they will pull that off with the exclusion of one of the two aces-in-the-hole, the uphill driving expert, Keisuke Takahashi. Any attempt as such would be no less than a butchering. Let’s hope it does not deteriorate to that. Otherwise it would become vaguely the same class as those B-grade ‘PUSH NITRO AT THE RIGHT TIME!!!’ shows. *cough*
Popped by Memphis, the CD place near my house, for the first time in a long time. I’ve never really spoken with the proprietor, but I did today. And goodness, he’s the friendliest, most knowledgeable CD-shop owner I have EVER known. I actually stood there for half an hour talking to him about everything music. He explained to me how recording companies worked, how various companies forced certain artists (with examples) to push out CDs due to time constraints, and actually hurt themselves in the process. He started telling me about histories of different albums, artistes, what was going on in their lives now to affect their style of singing, so on and so forth. He asked me what I liked, and through our conversation, having mentioned a variety of styles like big band, jazz, swing, electronica, rock, funk, progressive rock, hybrid, what not, he was totally taken aback. Between all our discussions of Coltrane (thanks Mr. Lim!), U2, Liquid Tension, DWB, Cranberries, Garbage, Prodigy, Ray Charles, Coldplay, Jamiroquai, Chemical Brothers, Buddy Rich and Count Basie Big Bands, musicals of the old and new, various instrumental bands, fusion bands and about a zillion other examples, he said that I listened to an outstanding variety of music, and deduced that I must have been a drummer, and therefore I hated all boybands, R&B, Rap and Hip Hop. Amazing. Do drummers really have such a reputation? It’s a very interesting observation. He gave me about a dozen other recommendations, gave me more history and info, and I ended up walking out of these with an armful of CDs, several extremely rare drumming dvds, and felt extremely pleased about it. Now that’s a salesman I can truly respect – a person who can not only withstand my nonsense for a good 30-45 minutes, but actually outtalk me and trump me every direction I turn. I learn something new everyday. I think I made a new friend today!
Interestingly, I pissed off Nas today as well – he was playing random music from his iPod in the afternoon and I was naming most of them within seconds, and starting out with, ‘hey, I’ve got this album…’ and soon it degenerated into ‘hey, I’ve got…’ ‘SHUT UP!’ I’m so damn annoying. Finally, I succeed at something in life.
Jammed with Jiajun for the first time in a long time today. He has improved by leaps and bounds. Truly impressive. For the first time in months, I felt confident today. In between jamming NSB pieces, Linkin Park with our awesome bass guitarist and singer, I realized that my groove control has grown abit since last time. I can maintain steady, hard-hitting grooves now – but that comes with a cost – I now totally suckass at fill-ins. I’m having problems doing like sec4 fills or something. Depressing to the max. Even Arvin was laughing at me. I need to work on my stuff more – but how will I ever break out of this mentality of self-berating? It is a heavy price to pay, being in the company of some of the greatest drummers I know.
Now, an unrelated topic. It frightens me. Now that serious steps are being taken, I actually feel afraid in someway. Yet I know I must go through it. I don’t talk much about this, not even with my close friends. I have mentioned it once in awhile, and people have asked me, much to my evasion – I appreciate the concern. I am truly thankful to have such friendship. But this is something I must go through, by myself, for now. Surgery scares the living daylights out of me.
Anyway – STOMP is coming to Singapore! They nearly made me wet myself back when I was Sec 2. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hope everyone who reads this will at least consider going! It’s not to be missed. They’re one of the most amazing percussion entertainment groups I have ever bore witness to, with their strange fusion of everyday materials, tap-dancing, ridiculously complex cadences, and a sheer nonchalance and sense of nonsensical fun in all their performances. I will be thrilled to be able to catch them live again. It’s being held at Esplanade Theater, 27th September – 2nd October. Prices range from $50, $70, $90, $110, but I’d advise getting $110 tickets if possible. There is no compromise for sheer perfection. I’m sure you will agree, once you see it for yourself.
Time for Mike Portnoy’s drum clinic! Until later!
Paranoia out.
I kid.
It will finally be over this Friday. Of course there is more to come – but who ever said stupidity knew mortal boundaries?
RJC Batch 2003 reunion was last Saturday. I frankly did not expect much of a turn out. More people came than I expected, and it was certainly illuminating to meet some of them again after these years. I will say, however, that what Weibin says has a certain grain of truth in it – the fact that we will, up till now, still meet up and organize things among the people whom really matter to us, and no reunion will ever be able to emulate that sort of honest reunion. But it is also true that it compels some of the lesser socialites and overseas scholars to actually make a rare appearance once in awhile, and it is endearing to see some of them once again. Props to the council for organizing such events – I must say that I appreciate the work and effort you’ve put into it, and I hope there will be more to come, regardless of what anyone else says. I believe that you will be the last bastion of any semblance of unifying force that still exists, to bind us together once in awhile, to see how each of us have grown (and not), over the years.
Watched Initial-D as well. I’m sure you’re well aware by now that I am an insane, hardcore Initial-D addict. I have pursued the comics and cartoons for longer than most of you have heard of its existence. I knew the concepts of oversteer and understeer, footbrake drifting and inertia drifts before some of you even knew what a clutch pedal did. Anyway – the show was amusing. It’s not going to win any Oscars anytime soon. But it was, especially for a fan like me, an interesting experience to see some of our favourite characters and scenes brought to life from our imagination. The plotline was weak, I felt – they took far too many liberties with it, as ZH mentioned. However, there is no denying that the action was totally, 100% awesome. They missed some of the best driving lines, which I found a bit odd, but still forgivable. To see the drift stunts brought onto screen really gave me goosebumps. Unforgivable though: Keisuke was taken out of the movie, with Nakazato taking on the ‘brotherly’ figure. Totally unforgivable. Keisuke and his yellow ‘bananacar’ FD are irreplaceable. I can only expect a sequel to focus around Project D, Ryousuke’s so-mentioned ‘dream team’ at the end of the movie – but I can’t fathom how they will pull that off with the exclusion of one of the two aces-in-the-hole, the uphill driving expert, Keisuke Takahashi. Any attempt as such would be no less than a butchering. Let’s hope it does not deteriorate to that. Otherwise it would become vaguely the same class as those B-grade ‘PUSH NITRO AT THE RIGHT TIME!!!’ shows. *cough*
Popped by Memphis, the CD place near my house, for the first time in a long time. I’ve never really spoken with the proprietor, but I did today. And goodness, he’s the friendliest, most knowledgeable CD-shop owner I have EVER known. I actually stood there for half an hour talking to him about everything music. He explained to me how recording companies worked, how various companies forced certain artists (with examples) to push out CDs due to time constraints, and actually hurt themselves in the process. He started telling me about histories of different albums, artistes, what was going on in their lives now to affect their style of singing, so on and so forth. He asked me what I liked, and through our conversation, having mentioned a variety of styles like big band, jazz, swing, electronica, rock, funk, progressive rock, hybrid, what not, he was totally taken aback. Between all our discussions of Coltrane (thanks Mr. Lim!), U2, Liquid Tension, DWB, Cranberries, Garbage, Prodigy, Ray Charles, Coldplay, Jamiroquai, Chemical Brothers, Buddy Rich and Count Basie Big Bands, musicals of the old and new, various instrumental bands, fusion bands and about a zillion other examples, he said that I listened to an outstanding variety of music, and deduced that I must have been a drummer, and therefore I hated all boybands, R&B, Rap and Hip Hop. Amazing. Do drummers really have such a reputation? It’s a very interesting observation. He gave me about a dozen other recommendations, gave me more history and info, and I ended up walking out of these with an armful of CDs, several extremely rare drumming dvds, and felt extremely pleased about it. Now that’s a salesman I can truly respect – a person who can not only withstand my nonsense for a good 30-45 minutes, but actually outtalk me and trump me every direction I turn. I learn something new everyday. I think I made a new friend today!
Interestingly, I pissed off Nas today as well – he was playing random music from his iPod in the afternoon and I was naming most of them within seconds, and starting out with, ‘hey, I’ve got this album…’ and soon it degenerated into ‘hey, I’ve got…’ ‘SHUT UP!’ I’m so damn annoying. Finally, I succeed at something in life.
Jammed with Jiajun for the first time in a long time today. He has improved by leaps and bounds. Truly impressive. For the first time in months, I felt confident today. In between jamming NSB pieces, Linkin Park with our awesome bass guitarist and singer, I realized that my groove control has grown abit since last time. I can maintain steady, hard-hitting grooves now – but that comes with a cost – I now totally suckass at fill-ins. I’m having problems doing like sec4 fills or something. Depressing to the max. Even Arvin was laughing at me. I need to work on my stuff more – but how will I ever break out of this mentality of self-berating? It is a heavy price to pay, being in the company of some of the greatest drummers I know.
Now, an unrelated topic. It frightens me. Now that serious steps are being taken, I actually feel afraid in someway. Yet I know I must go through it. I don’t talk much about this, not even with my close friends. I have mentioned it once in awhile, and people have asked me, much to my evasion – I appreciate the concern. I am truly thankful to have such friendship. But this is something I must go through, by myself, for now. Surgery scares the living daylights out of me.
Anyway – STOMP is coming to Singapore! They nearly made me wet myself back when I was Sec 2. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hope everyone who reads this will at least consider going! It’s not to be missed. They’re one of the most amazing percussion entertainment groups I have ever bore witness to, with their strange fusion of everyday materials, tap-dancing, ridiculously complex cadences, and a sheer nonchalance and sense of nonsensical fun in all their performances. I will be thrilled to be able to catch them live again. It’s being held at Esplanade Theater, 27th September – 2nd October. Prices range from $50, $70, $90, $110, but I’d advise getting $110 tickets if possible. There is no compromise for sheer perfection. I’m sure you will agree, once you see it for yourself.
Time for Mike Portnoy’s drum clinic! Until later!
Paranoia out.
# posted by Paranoia Incarnate @ 6:49 AM 
