Filmology

A bit on recent films I caught..

500 days of summer
Quirky and Sweet! Love it, but then again I am bias - as The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian were mentioned in the film
Zooey Deschanel as Summer is soooooooooooo cute! She made Tom (Gordon-Levitt) cry..
Favourite tagline: I heart Us

Inglourious Basterds
Lengthy, dialogue based film, but I loved it! I would have appreciated it better if I'd watch/knew the spaghetti western and combat war films referenced in the movie..

Cristoph Waltz as Col Hans Landa is one heck of a superb actor! He speaks French, German, English & Italian in the movie - what a feat! No wonder Tarantino mentioned that there would not be Basterds if not for Waltz
I missed Tarantino in a cameo part though
And why didn't Brad Pitt's Aldo Raine die?! (tak puas hati :-p)

Krabi - Day 5

Day 5 –19/10/09
Bye bye

We booked the same van for airport transfer at 12pm. Cost us 600 Baht (RM7.10 / person). However, we didn’t get the same van this time – older one.

After breakfast, we went to Ao Nang beach North for our final jumping shots session. Turned out quite beautifully! Next, we took the tuk-tuk to the Tsunami Memorial , just about 5 minutes down the road. We could have walked, but since we haven’t tried the tuk-tuk since our arrival, this was our final chance! It was fun riding the tuk-tuk, although it went really slow. We took some zany poses, then it’s off to the hotel. We had 1 more hour before the van arrives, so we went for brunch at the usual stall, then the final last minute shopping. We got Krabi t-shirts for 130 Baht each (RM13). Quite lucky, as the night before, we couldn’t get any lower than 140 Baht.


Ao Nang -North

Final jumping shot

Paparazzo dlm semak

Tuk tuk

Mas rempit tuk tuk

Tsunami memorial

Then it’s time to check out. Sob sob. Time flew so quickly when you’re having fun.

Our van arrived as scheduled. At the airport, we went for prayers first (the surau was sufficiently equipped – we were impressed). We then decided to check in for immigration, then have lunch (we were hungry again already) in the boarding lounge. However, there was no café / food court there, just a souvenir and a tidbits stall. We had to endure our hunger pangs with biscuits, and later cup noodles in the flight.

Surau at Krabi airport

We reached KL at 4.30pm as scheduled. Izwan & Zu took off immediately as their drivers were already waiting. The rest took the bus to LCCT but we should have taken the red bus (it costs RM1 more than the yellow bus). The yellow bus arrived late at the LCCT, so we only reached KL Sentral almost 7pm! Lesson learnt: Always buy the ticket at the point of bus entry , i.e. not at the counter so that you can see and choose which bus would be leaving first.

Nevertheless, the little bumps did not dampen our spirits. We really enjoyed our trip to Krabi. We have our memories to treasure, and the pictures to reminisce and laugh together. Next trip awaits…

Krabi - Day 4

Day 4 – 18/10/09
Kayaking

The boys took off earlier at 8.30am, but it rained around 9am, although not so heavily. We started out for brunch around 9.30am after the rain stopped at the food stalls to the North. I had a nice padthai (like char kuey teow ) for just 350 Baht. Enough to sustain energy for a 2 hour kayak exercise!


The tour operator came to fetch us at 11am. The ride by jeepney to Ao Thalane was about 30 minutes, going through the kampungs. It was interesting to see the view. We felt pity for the tour assistant – a 15 year old boy – who claimed he has finished school and is now working. Our families are lucky that we get to finish school, then pursue higher education, unlike the boy (and many other underprivileged children around the world actually). So always be thankful, and reach out to them in whatever way you can.

The boy

When we reached Ao Thalane, we were divided into 3 kayaks – me and Mas; Zu and Zairul; while Liza as always, gets the guide :-p It was really fun kayaking actually, once you get the hang of it. Plus, the water was calm at the mangrove area.

Zu & Zairul

Liza & abang Thai

Me & Mas

Survivor!

Our first stop was the Monkey area, where we can feed the monkeys with fruits brought by the guide. The monkeys looked fierce and hungry. They tried to grab the fruits from our basket, but our guide told them off. To our amusement, they were obedient to the guide. We were told to hold out and give the fruits to the monkeys. Again to our surprise, the monkeys were gentle when receiving fruits from our hands. They weren’t really nasty after all, just hungry I suppose. Or maybe scared of the guide hehe.

Bagi makan buah

Searching for food

We then went further into the mangrove swamp. It was beautiful and peaceful in there. We couldn’t stop pitying for Razeif & Izwan for missing the awesome kayak trip. Saw mudskippers aka ikan tembakul / belacak (reminds me of Bakaugruv trip back in standard 4 – my first school outdoor trip!) I also saw a monkey swimming! Yes, swimming towards us when we stopped for the second spot.

Calm mangrove

Luckily we took the half day tour as I felt I was quite drained by the end of the 2 hours. I guess me & Mas started off with the wrong technique, that’s why we were using a lot of unnecessary energy. But then again, this wasn’t my first time kayaking hmmm…

We reached back at our hotel around 4pm, then we marched straight to the food stall for energy replenishment. Quite starved by now. We had pancakes, banana fritters and hotdogs. All fatty food. When we returned back, the guys were also back, but Razeif had already gone out to town on his own – searching for Le Sports Sacs. After showering and a bit of rest, me & Mas took the plunge again – into the swimming pool this time. There was no one around, so Mas took the opportunity to XXX (details cannot be revealed – use your imagination hehe).

Our final dinner was rather grande with tom yam, green curry, vegetable tempura and prawn in thai sauce. Splendid! All that cost us just 1000 Baht (or RM14.30/person) After dinner we went for shopping again. Then the greatly appreciated massage at Sunset as my arms were aching by now. Me and Zairul opted for the Oil Massage for 300 Baht (RM30) for 1 hour. The massage was really nice and it helped eased the ache, thankfully. The guys chose After Beach Massage (Milk + Aloe Vera) for 500 Baht while Mas and Liza chose Body Scrub (750 Baht).

Sunset massage spa

Krabi -Day 3

Day 3 -17/10/09
Phi Phi Island

We started earlier today at 8.30am The tour operator fetched us from the hotel with a jeepney. There were 8 other tourists with our group of 8, so there were 16 of us on the boat. The couple in front of me were from Germany. I think the ones in front of the boat were French.

Shane- 3rd from right

We had a lovely tour guide – Shane (I think that’s what I heard). Our first stop was Viking cave where the locals collect bird’s nest inside. We didn’t go down here, just a quick stop. First beach stop was at Bamboo Island. We stayed here for an hour. Not much marine life/fishes here, but the beach here really is sandy white!

Viking cave

Happy at Bamboo Island

Next stop was (I think it was Hin Klarng) for open sea snorkelling. Many fishes here, but too bad we didn’t bring bread to feed them. Many boats were anchored here, and many were also moving in and out, so the water was rather choppy here, I couldn’t really enjoy my snorkel. I did see a woman here who, on top of wearing a life jacket, was also wearing a (Pooh cartoon) float. Gives more security eh ;-)

We then went down to the second beach -Maya bay at Phi Phi Lay island (small Phi Phi) where The Beach was filmed. Stayed here for 45 minutes. Same here as Bamboo Island, not much sea life/fishes here, but sandy white beaches and emerald waters.



Azure / emerald waters of the Andaman sea

We were quite drained by now, so the mention of lunch perked us up. We stopped for lunch at Phi Phi Don (Big Phi Phi) island at Ton Sai Bay for 2 hours. Lunch was tom yam (just OK), fish fillet, spaghetti Bolognese, chap chai with rice. After lunch, we browsed around the shops.

Phi Phi shops

We wanted to go to the Tsunami memorial (Phi Phi was one of the affected places), but was told by Shane that it was a 2 hour walk away. She did tell us that Phi Phi had 2 bays, opposite to each other (see here) so it was swept from both sides during the Tsunami.

A banner on the 2004 tsunami

Excerpt form link: The thin, low-lying isthmus where most the development was, received waves from both directions, amplified by the two bays that sandwich it. Zairul bought a magazine on the Tsunami – it was really awful, people had nowhere else to run on the tiny island

A cute kitty in Phi Phi

From Phi Phi, we had a quick stop at Monkey Beach – to see – well, monkeys! We thought nothing much of it, but the farangs were really impressed though. They were really fascinated by the sight of monkeys.

Monkey beach

Last stop for our tour was XX (I didn't get the name – for our second open sea snorkel. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, as it has got an abundance of corals, sea urchins and fishes. The water was calm too. I snapped some photos here with Liza’s underwater camera. Glad that at least one site was satisfying enough. We were not long here though, only 45 minutes. We then head back to shore, dropping 2 of the other passengers at Railay Beach (an awesome place for rock climbing) before reaching back to Ao Nang.

Open sea snorkel

We promised to meet back at 6.30 pm (2 hour rest), but most of us were out and about soon after. Razeif & Izwan went to the North side of Ao Nang to catch the sunset there, and caught a Chinese ceremony by the beach in the process. Myself and Zu head towards the shopping stretch, but straight to the opposite lane (without stopping at the shops). Managed to reach until McD’s. Zairul & Amin also went browsing around the shops area.

After all of us met back together, we went for dinner at Aeshah’s, just beside our hotel. I had rice with cashew nut chicken. Something in the spice caused me allergic reactions in the wee hours of the morning. I woke up scratching of itchiness. I had mosquito bite-like spots under my eye and left leg. Luckily Clarinase (anti-histamine for flu) did the job to clear the allergies. Very useful!

Back to the night. After dinner, the girls had to decide what to do the next day. Razeif & Izwan wanted to do the 4-island hopping tour. The girls felt that it would be quite the same as Phi Phi island, so we decided to do something else. The caving kayak tour to Bor Thor was the most exciting, but there was no afternoon trip. (We had to wait for Zairul to send off Amin). So we settled on the half day kayak tour to Ao Thalane mangrove site for 350 Baht (RM35). After deciding what to do, we continued with more shopping. The guys & Zu retired earlier, while the rest continued until the end of the road (literally).

We turned back after that, searching for a more decent yet reasonably priced spa parlour. The one beside Best Western was already closed, so we decided to check out Sunset Spa beside it. It was much better than the seedy looking first spa center we went to. Relaxing ambient, soothing music and sweet aroma. Mas & Liza tried the 1 hour foot and shoulder massage while I opted for the snooze therapy, i.e. back to hotel and sleep ;-)

Krabi Day 2

Day 2 – 16/10/09
The Rainforest Tour

As mentioned, we booked a private van (and spanking new) for the whole day to bring us wherever we fancy ;-) We started off to Thung Thieo Emerald Pool Natural Park (or Khao Phra Bang Khram Nature Reserve) Took us about an hour from our hotel. Entrance fee was 200 Baht.

The trail

We trekked a bit (800m flat trail) to reach Emerald Pool. The pool was indeed green. Hot springs from the underground are sedimented with layers of alkaline limestone, resulting in a crystal clear large pool. Depending on the temperature and other factors, the water can be anything from crystal clear to deep green (source here).

The pool was shallow, just about the height of my neck. When we arrived, there were not many people around, so we immediately took a plunge. While we were swimming, more people came, until the pool became quite full, so we decided to leave, and it was really hot by then (it was around 11am). We decided to trek to Blue Pool next.

Emerald pool

Inside the pool

Happy bathers!

Blue Pool was a bit further inland, some 1 km away. But it was worth the trek. The water really is azure (due to CaCO3), but we couldn’t swim there. We could see the water whirling at the bottom of the pool, and bubbles coming up. The signage there was in Thai, so it was anybody’s guess whatever it was that caused the whirl (it did say there magma- hot water maybe?). I searched the net and found this: It is a hot spring originated from underground volcanic chambers. Source here

Blue pool

Video of Blue Pool:

We then trekked back to the entry point, but using a different trail which was a bit further than the first trail we took to Emerald Pool. We crossed Crystal Pool on the way, which was also not swimmable as it was full of tree debris. One starkly different thing we noticed here was that the water flowed freely all over, like the place was flooded. It didn’t seem like a river where you normally see a trough/ditch filled with water. This is water ON a FLAT surface flowing freely in all directions.

Looks like flooded area more than stream

Next destination was Bang Kram Hot Spring, a short drive from Emerald Pool. Entrance fee was 80 Baht. The Hot Spring is a natural mineral water source. The temperature is around 40-42 deg C. We took a dip in the natural Jacuzzi, it was nice to soak a bit in warm water, although for not too long, as you could feel dizzy if you stayed longer. As it is a mineral water source, I gulped in the water that I dipped in heheh as I was feeling thirsty. It tasted just like bottled water, and I didn’t fall sick after, so it was fine ;-)

Hot spring

As it was drizzling, we left hurriedly to the shelter of (what else!) a warm, welcoming food stall. We had a sumptuous lunch of tom yam (less spicy this time, to my relief hehe), green curry (yummy), vegetable soup (just OK) and vegetable tempura (which was accidentally ordered – we asked for calamari a.k.a sotong goreng tepung – but the waitress misunderstood – but it tasted really good!)

After lunch (just around RM14/person), we stopped by the airport to fetch Amin. We went to the Factory Outlet next. It just stopped raining, we were still damp from swimming, with no change of clothes and the air cond in the building was at full blast, with not much customer around. We were freezing so much (in supposedly sunny Krabi – such irony!) that we darted to the restroom for some relief. Not much to be found here though– no Le Sports Sac sigh – and the price wasn’t really cheap. However, Zairul and Liza got themselves a vest each.

Factory Outlet

We went back to the hotel next for a quick shower/rest. Then we continued back to Krabi town to the night market. We browsed around here for about 1.5hours. Not really big, but there were more variety compared to our pasar malam. They had all sorts of food, drinks (they even sell cocktails / alcoholic beverages openly at the stalls), musical bands and a stage – a small girl sang that night. They had tables and chairs at an open area for patrons to enjoy their food while it’s still hot – a good idea to emulate for our local pasar malam.

Ketupat daun palas pun ada!

Can sit & enjoy the food

Band

Girl singing

Cocktail pun ada

The others were feeling adventurous, so they tried everything from the Muslim stalls – the most adventurous being the normal/horseshoe crab hybrid (I dunno what type of crab it is really). I didn’t try it though, as I have allergies to seafood (but I ignore them for calamaris though heheh). At the night market, we saw a CIMB Thai branch across the road. Just wanted to tell that.

Not sure what type of crab this is

Tak dpt tmpt duduk...diri je

We then head back to the hotel. We were already full, except for Mas & Razeif. They proceeded to have dinner while the rest went back to retire for the day. I wanted to watch Mr Kayu (Keanu Reeves hehe) acting (on Constantine) but was too sleepy and fell asleep before the movie even started (on Filmax channel).

Krabi- Day 1

Day 1 – 15/10/09

We went during the Deepavali holiday, but a day before the eve, so the queue at the check in counter was surprisingly short, although the LCCT looked crowded (it’s always busy I suppose). We had lunch at the Kopitiam first, prior to boarding (plus one at McD’s, while another one couldn’t wait, already eaten on the bus, otw to LCCT lol!)

Lapar seh

Flight was smooth, a bit bumpy when we were arriving as we hit some heavy clouds. We reached around 2pm local time (+7 GMT). A little bit of drama when Liza couldn’t find her passport during immigration check, luckily the air steward found it, so she was back in line in no time ;-)

selamat :-)

We found a tour operator at the airport and immediately booked a full day tour to Phi Phi island + halal lunch for 900Baht/person (RM90) for Saturday. (We arrived on Thursday). We also booked a (spanking new/shiny) van for hotel transfer plus full day transportation for Friday. Hotel transfer costs 500 Baht for 7 persons (RM 7.10/person) for a half hour ride to our hotel in a comfy van. Not bad! Full day (9am – 8pm) transportation for the next day costs us 1120 Baht (or RM14/person). What a deal! Btw, there were 8 of us for Days 2 – 3 as Zairul’s husband, Amin joined us for the 2 days.

Spanking new van

After we settled in our hotel, we set out to the Ao Nang beach shopping stretch, just a 5 minute walking distance away. Well actually, the shopping stretch starts right smack in front of our hotel. Just window shopping on the first day for us, to survey the prices. My friend Miele was right, souvenirs are quite expensive here. Just bargain shamelessly, but do pick the local (Thai) shops, instead of the ones with foreign shopkeepers, they could be a little nasty (e.g. “I don’t make much profit, I’ll show you the receipt” and “I don’t need you, a lot of people come to my shop”, well not verbatim, but something along that line). The Thai ones were polite though.

Shops & souvenirs

Before sunset, we posed for pictures by the beach (more like cam-whoring) and of course, did our staple – jumping shots!! The farangs (mat sallehs) were pretty amused by our antics. Then we continued with a bit more window shopping, eating delicious, cheap pancakes in between. We found a Muslim stall (quite a big population of Muslims here, some can speak Kelantanese). Pancakes cost 20-30 Baht (RM2.50 – 3) for sweet flavours (mango, banana, banana chocolate, nutella etc) while savouries (egg & cheese, tuna, cheese etc) cost 30-35 Baht (RM 3-3.50)

Note: This is the last day jumping shot actually. Will post Day 1 jump shots later

Pancakes pancakes! We heart fat heheh..

Sunset

Not enough with the pancake treats, we had dinner later at (forgot name) halal restaurant, just beside our hotel. Food is cheap here. I had water melon juice, plain rice (yummy fragrant Thai rice!) with (super spicy hot) tom yam for only Baht140 (RM14). Nice!

But do be careful with the drinks though – they are extremely sweet! By the third day, we have learnt to ask for sugarless juice! (Quote from a waitress: “You are like European, don’t like too sweet!) I can picture Mas in her sunhat, shades & hotpants to perfectly fit the bill lol!

super spicy hot tom yam

really sweet watermelon juice

After a nice dinner, we went for spa treatment, just beside our hotel. It was the cheapest we could find, so it did look a bit seedy. Izwan, Razeif & Liza had foot massage; while Mas & Zairul had body massage (aromatherapy for Zairul). Foot massage cost 200 Baht, while aromatherapy full body massage cost 300 Baht. Zairul enjoyed her massage, despite the (ahem sleazy) façade. Myself and Zu, well, we did something, which was a wee bit painful, but very brief. It costs 350 Baht. Haha go figure ;-)

Massage

Next post: Day 2, Rainforest Tour

Note: Pix posted here are a mix from all the gang - Liza, Zu, Izwan, Mas, Razeif, Zairul & myself. Thanks y'all!

Krabi - The Details

Let’s start with the mundane details first. We booked our hotel through agoda.com (thanks Razeif!) for Beach Terrace Hotel (BT) at Ao Nang (or Nang Bay), Krabi. Costs us just RM56/person/night or RM 112/room/night. It’s a nice little hotel, room was comfy, they had drinking water changed every day, jug kettle, complimentary tea/coffee sachets, fridge and even a DVD player! Good enough for us to stay for 4 nights ;-) Oh, it comes with complimentary breakfast too.

Beach Terrace Hotel

Bfast by the sea

Walkway to bfast

Swimming pool

Towel deco in our room. Changes everyday ;-)

Drinking water. Replenished everyday too

If you want a slightly modern touch to the rooms/hotel, stay at Best Western (BW) instead, just across the street. No, you don’t have to worry about crossing the street to get to the beach if you stay at BW, because the beach isn’t really bathable. It’s better to take the island hopping/Phi Phi/James Bond Island tour to swim/snorkel/dive. Sandy white beaches there!

Best Western across the street

Flight costs us RM357/person return via AA. Make sure you pre-book your in-flight meal when you return to M’sia (as all the food were already being walloped by the incoming passengers). We were left only with cup noodles! Unless you have lunch first prior to going to the airport, you should be stuffed enough ;-) There’s not much choice to eat at the airport.

Anyway, if you’re Malaysian, you don’t need a visa to enter Thailand. The airport tax has been included in the flight cost, so you don’t have to keep extra Baht going back (unlike Siem Reap).

Some other useful tips:

-Tap water is hard water, so you’ll find your hair becoming entangled/ hard/scruffy. Hair conditioner helps.
-Wear flip flops/ selipar jepun / open toe quick dry rubber sandals for strolling around the beach / snorkelling/swimming/kayaking trips
-It can get really hot so drink lots of water & wear sunscreen / shades / hat
-It did rain too, so ponchos would be useful -Plug points are 2 pin, so bring along an adapter if your plugs are 3 pin.

10th year anniversary: Suede gig

I suddenly got the urge to write about my Suede gig (which was also my first ever gig)

1. Then looking at the date, I realized it happened 10 years ago! Hence, the post name

2. As it happened a decade ago, I can't really remember much. So I tried to google "Suede gig setlist" Guess what I found?
This
(I assume it was posted by my gig mate)

Wow, my vocab was really good back then. What happened to me? Anyway, I am so glad I wrote it and shared it with my gig mate. Because I don't remember anymore where I saved it. Heck, I don't even remember writing it :-p

OK anyway, here it is posted:

A review contributed by my fellow Suedehead.. Nurul Aida.. flashback to the year 1999..

30 September 1999, 8.30 p.m.
World Trade Centre- Harbour Pavilion
By Nurul Aida Mohd. Agil

Setlist (in order)

Can't Get Enough
Trash
She
Metal Mickey
Everything Will Flow
Down

The Wild Ones

Beautiful Ones
Elephant Man
Filmstar
He's Gone
New Generation
Animal Nitrate
Electricity (Happy Birthday to Richard)
She's In Fashion

Encore:

Savoir Faire
Lazy
Saturday Night

I went with Ric ( Me & Ric are from Malaysia, just across the causeway, for those not in the know) & his friend Niven. The friend is just a casual fan & he bought the ticket that very same evening, just 2 hours before the gig. Unfortunately, this means the tickets weren't sold out. At least the standing room did. We arrived at WTC Harbour Pavilion very late- almost 7.30 p.m. Another good friend, Shahirah (who bought the tickets for me & Ric, how nice of her ) was already queueing up with other fellow Suedeheads (they're all members of Singaporean Suede Fan Club). They were wearing black tight t-shirts written with gold dust, the words to Suede's lyrics & they exactly resembles Brett's writing.


They did those on their own & I was deceived to think that those were SIS merchandise. How clever ! When we finally got through the doors, there were so many people already. I managed to sneak my camera in and Shahirah sneaked in her walkman to record the whole gig. (But the output was disappointing- we could only hear noise). We couldn't get to the front row, which was very disappointing for me 'cos I'm vertically challenged. Heh. We waited quite long , approximately 45 minutes for those stylemeisters to come out. They teased us with blast after blast of Sex Pistols' songs. The crowd was becoming very restless

When the lights finally went off, everybody just screamed and went mad. I couldn't hear a thing except for the piercing screams. The opening song was Can't Get Enough. Everybody just jumped (Oh yes Ric, including me !) and we could really feel the hall shaking like it was going to fall off into the sea or something. Man, if you don't have enough stamina, you might not survive this ! A few girls had to surrender because it was very stuffy and they couldn't breathe.

Poor them ! By this time I was really pushed, first to the left, then to the front and I ended up at the very back of the standing room, just beside the sound engineer. I climbed the railings to get a better view of the band. Why didn't I think of this earlier ? They continued with another fast number, Trash. Everyone was singing along because they were familiar with Coming Up. The next two numbers were rockin' good too- She and Metal Mickey. I was quite surprised they played Metal Mickey because we had read in the local articles that they won't be playing any materials from the two earlier albums.

I remember a new friend (he was at the front row ) telling us after the gig that he was shouting to Brett to play Killing Of A Flashboy. But they never did ! As usual, Brett always had his stunts to entertain us with. He tossed two of the press' cameras like they were rubber balls and threw them back safely to their rightful owners. He could have damaged them. Oh, he even did the same thing to a video camera ! And while singing at that ! He was very energetic and his voice was good. He didn't get off-key except for Filmstar, I think, which was hardly noticeable.

The dress code for the Suede lads that night was black, except for Mat who wore a pink shirt. Mat was really enjoying himself. I've read that nowadays, he just remained at the back compared to the earlier years , when he shaked his bits to the hits. Well, certainly that wasn't the case that night, he was really swinging his bass. Mat changed his bass guitar for a few songs, if I'm not mistaken, using his green Fender jazz and the yellow Fender precision. Richard looked fit and his face wasn't really that round. Sorry Oakesy fans. Just kidding there. He was really good too , and he changed a few guitar bits to experiment and break the monotony. He also changed his guitar, but mainly, he used his Gibson guitar.It was also Richard's birthday due in 2 days and Brett got us to sing him a Happy Birthday after Electricity. But we didn't sing Brett a Happy Birthday because, well, he didn't ask us to. He was also not really happy when fans wished him during the autograph session , the previous night.

Simon was as enthusiastic as ever. Even though he didn't shake his hips or anything ( how can he when he's using both his hands and legs ?!), he was all smiles. His drum beats were thundering and I think the rhythm section was excellent that night. (ahem, thundering might be a little bit exaggerated, but you just have to acknowledge this man's talent). He threw his drum sticks at the end of the gig and a friend of Shahirah's got them. Neil, well, Neil was right at the front. I could see him the most clearly and he looked very tired. He was sitting all through the gig with a big fan by his side. Oh, Simon got one by his side too.He was staring into space as usual but occasionally, he flashed a few smiles. He wasn't giving attention to the crowd nearer to him, but to the sitting section, but of course, no one was sitting ! After 4 fast numbers, they played the ballads, namely Everything Will Flow, Down (which is my favourite from Head Music), and The Wild Ones. The crowd was waving the light sticks. Romantic or what ? However, I noticed that not everyone sang along to The Wild Ones, maybe because it was an older track. Sweepingly beautiful.

The crowd went wild once again after hearing the familiar guitar attack intro of Beautiful Ones. It was massive ! I think at this point, I lost my voice. 'Nuff said. Everyone jumped again and according to Shahirah, someone even stage dived! The lalala singalong bit was great fun ! As if that wasn't enough of adrenaline rush, we were treated to Elephant Man and Filmstar. No, they didn't swap instruments. We calmed down a bit as they mesmerised us with the sad He's Gone. We didn't want Suede to be gone just yet. What a relief for us to hear New Generation. Another DMS material, yeah ! Then it was Animal Nitrate and again, I enjoyed myself a lot with this. Especially for the part that goes " You're over 21!" , I signalled the numbers two and one. Rocking to the not-loony tune of Electricity it was after that. It's refreshing to hear the stripped down to basics live version.

After that, we treated the birthday boy- with "electric cakes" coincidentally, after the song Electricity. (Cakes is a nickname given to Oakes by the band). The tune of the very popular She's In Fashion was the closing of tonight's gig. Everybody was in a big karaoke session and it looked like the band enjoyed this so much that they stretched it a wee bit. In split seconds, the band was gone. We could only see smoke around the stage. So we couldn't see who left first or last. All of us chanted Encore! Encore ! and demanded for more. We just can't get enough, can we ? Well, they did come back.

They played Savoir Faire. For most of the songs tonight, Brett stuck to the original lyrics. But not this one. The part which goes "harmony and ecstasy, yeah yeah yeah" and "painted toes and soft, soft soles yeah yeah yeah" were changed to "party girls" or something like that. I can't remember, sorry. And we all know that Asians got the sanitisied version of Savoir Faire on Head Music, right ? Ahem, that night Brett crooned f***ing machine (in Singapore, yeah). Next came Lazy.

Another singalong . The last song came in the shape of the romantic Saturday Night. Again, the crowd waved light sticks and their hands , synchronised to the tune. This time, the band disappeared and did not return. That is, after fans stayed on a few more minutes to make sure the lads weren't re-appearing We still can't get enough though. All of us just rushed out to buy drinks. We were so thirsty and tired like we'd run for a marathon.

Everone just sat on the floor and I was eyeing for my friends.We were separated from the very start. We didn't get to go to the aftershow party as we didn't have passes. Anyway, for the record, they stayed at a hotel in Sentosa Island. Meanwhile, at the Suede stall , the tour books were sold out and the t-shirts (with the Head Music cover art) were selling like hot cakes.

The autograph session The previous night (29 September 1999) the FC members had the chance to meet Suede at an autograph signing session at Tower Records. They even bought a special cake for them. Unfortunately though, fans were required to buy the CDs (Head Music) to get a pass. I'm sure most of them had to fork out extra money because they probably would have bought Head Music right after it was released. And even more unfortunate for me, because I didn't get to go as I'm still stuck in Malaysia. The fans got to rub shoulders with Suede (well, not exactly ) & of course, they took pictures. This is what I got from Shahirah.

You see, the fanclub members brought their black t-shirts (the same one they were wearing for the gig ). However, the organisers supplied the fans with black marker pens. So, Shahirah brought with her a silver ink pen, so they could ask Suede to sign their t-shirts. When it was Shahirah's turn, she got to chat first with Mat, then Brett and Simon . While chatting, she gave Mat the silver pen to sign her t-shirt . Then she took pictures with Mat, Brett, Simon and Neil, I think. As she was approaching her favourite member Richard, the officials told her it was the next person's turn. They only allow one autograph or rather a signature of each member to a fan. Poor her, she had to go and she didn't even get to speak with Richard ! And her silver pen is still with Mat, or somewhere. Other fans had to get their t-shirts signed on the ' Suede' logo which is yellow in colour as they had no choice but to use the black marker pens

Everyday is like Sunday

Was stoked that Bfm 89.9 played The Smith's Everyday Is Like Sunday and Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill

Note: The Smiths are no more, but lead singer, Morrissey is still performing as a solo artiste

Gigography : Kasabian

MTV World Stage, Sunway Lagoon, 15 Aug 2009

More than a month ago yeah, but I didn't want to post this earlier.

So the story went something like this:
I was lucky to get a pass from fellow Muse boardie, Faz's fren - Zuha. I was already telling the other fellow boardies, Liz & Deb to have fun at World Stage. Then just 1 day before the show, Faz texted me saying her friend had an extra pass! (Red Pass). You cannot buy tickets, you have to win the passes by entering competitions.

So what's this World Stage thingy? Organized by MTV, it's the first time they have it in SEA. Read more here. The line up?
Estranged
Boys Like Girls
Raygun
Pixie Lott
Hoobastank
All American Rejects
Kasabian

I was there to catch Kasabian actually. Read more about Kasabian here

They didn't announce the line up schedule, but I was hoping Kasabian would be the headliner. You can guess this from the promo posters ;-)

Before going on with the gig, here's a link to the press conference prior to the show.

And here's Kasabian press conference
Oh, drummer (Ian) & bassist (Chris) already arrived the week before, Tom & Serge were stuck in Australia (quarantined for suspected H1N1)

Also, The Star's 5 minute interview with Kasabian here

An interesting interview with Serge here

Here's the Photo call

So back to the story. We arrived at around 6.30pm when Boys Like Girls were playing. (We missed Estranged). It was also drizzling. We then moved into the crowd after eating, then it was Raygun next.

Quote from Liz (fellow gig mate) on Raygun:
Was ridiculously poppy (imagine flowers of all colours lined up by the lake, nodding and swaying to the wind, like catching sunlight in a jar) that's what you get (actually I think that sounded more like a compliment, I don't think I intended it to be though lol). It felt more ridiculous watching that music video of Raygun, Just Because, repeatedly (during intermissions) and that lead singer (found out later that his name is - brace yourself - Ray Gun) is totally frolicking around with his car...?

Me: I actually liked Raygun's songs :-)

Next was Pixie Lott. Again, quote from Liz:
Aww, she was so cute! All dolled up in a feathery dress

Hoobastank came up next. Liz:
A big boo boo to the sound system though, just when Doug was about to launch into the whole male/female crowd cheering part. When the mic wasn't working, I half expected them to stop immediately and start the song again since it's for recording purposes...but nope, they just carried on and pretended it didn't even happen. That should be the way!

How adorable was that cover of GHOSTBUSTERS!?
Doug calling us ridiculous for screaming out loudly to that song, which he apologized and took back his words.
So much energy though these guys. Crawlin' in the Dark was actually a lot more fun for me than The Reason haha. I guess it's because the girls next to me were SCREAMING so loudly to The Reason. I had to strain my ears very hard to listen to Doug's vocals in this number coz the crowd literally became one with his vocals. It was interesting to observe

Then came All American Rejects (AAR) - they were the main attraction for the majority of the crowd.
Deb on AAR:
I'm happy I finally got to see All American Rejects. Had a fun fun fun suuuper fun time singing along to all their songs haha!
The songs AAR played were
1. Dirty Little Secret
2. I Wanna
3. Swing Swing (super old skool. didnt think they'd play this )
4. The Wind Blows
5. Real World
6. It Ends Tonight
7. Gives You Hell

I'm surprised they didnt play Move Along! Tyson's voice was really squeeky in real life, and he was acting a bit crazy. like he was high or something. All adds up to the energy i guess. couldnt really listen to them because the people around me (myself included) were singing word for word to their songs!

And finally...the band I was there for!

Kasabian
Once AAR was done, thousands of people left, gotta thank them becos I was able to get into the mosh pit for Kasabian :D The bouncers opened the barricade of the Red Zone at the left side of the stage, then asked us (myself, Zuha & sis) to go to the Mosh Pit, it was ridiculous that people were sitting in the pit when Kasabian were on!

Liz:
I was appalled when the crowd started leaving after AAR's set. I gave them all WTF looks lol. Do they not know they're in the running to win that Mercury Prize? But ... I owe them thank yous because we managed to get up front for Kasabian's gig too! Though only in the Red Zone area (and so was Deb)

Deb:
Tom Meighan (Kasabian singer) looked sooooo different with his short hair! Could hardly recognize him to be honest. I had to ask my friend whether it was him or not lol. Before going for MTV World Stage, I had no idea what songs Kasabian sang, and now after going for the gig, oh man, they are soooo good! Practically every song was mosh-able and jump-able, though i didnt do anything as i was already damn exhausted by then, so i just head bopped. Quality live performance from Kasabian, especially if you compared them with the rest of the bands. They all fail in comparison IMHO.

Tom Meighan, omg, he's just so smooth isnt he? So comfortable on stage, its ridiculous. They make it look so effortless, and that they're just there to entertain with their music, not with their stage antics. I love that. Puts them so much higher on the so-called MTV World Stage "hierarchy".

Liz:
Yeaaahh I noticed the short hair too! He...kinda reminded me of Rick Astley for one tiny moment, but then after he started singing... well I wouldn't call it singing actually he literally blew the crowd away! haha :S Phrase of the night is definitely, "I'm still alive!!!" in regards to his recent H1N1 quarantine!

Me:
Yeah, he does look like Rick Astley with hair slicked back & shades. But the neatness was gone by the middle of the set (by "Fire" actually), shirt already tucked out. (Unrelated trivia: He wore blue suede shoes)

Anyway, I thought the sound system was too loud, so it drowned down many of the electronica elements on Kasabian's set. But apart from that, I have no other complaints. The backdrop was brilliant though!

Liz thought the sound system was good though.
Here's her take:

Get Loose, Get loose! Kasabian is next! Imagine a hierarchy from the ancient [sunway] pyramid times. Kasabian sit at the TOP of that. Kasabian’s set was pure quality and trumped each and every other act for that night. They hardly broke a sweat too; these guys were smooth and looked super comfortable on stage. Tom effortlessly belted out “Vlad the Imapler” despite just being quarantined in Australia for H1N1.

The next few moments went pass in a blur almost in a trance (lol!), all I could remember was having a GREAT time despite how exhausted I was. The crowd showed no sign of slowing down though, despite the throng of AAR fans leaving before Kasabian went on stage. I cannot fathom how anyone could leave knowing Kasabian would be up next.

The lighting was amazing, backed up by the spot-on flashing images as a back drop, all I can do is laud MTV’s effort for a stunning stage set up along with crystal clear acoustics. The partial audio bootleg that I recorded turned out reasonably ok which goes to show the awesome sound quality from the show before being filtered through my recorder.

“Fire” dangerously licked and teased the crowd through a journey all the way to the climax of the song, before burning us all to the ground, literally. Tom was spot on that night, and he did not show a single sign of slowing down, even after performing 8 songs.

End it must, however, and so with a man-made volcano eruption blazing up the night, MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia came to an end. While the show and stage is still miles away from the standards of Pinkpop, this is certainly a step forward for the Malaysian music scene. Here’s hoping we managed to send the message across the world to other musicians, that Malaysia should not be lightly looked at (read: ignored)

For other reviews:
See here for The Star's review
Here for JunkOnline review
Here for The Sun review

KASABIAN SETLIST:
Vlad The Impaler (Live video)
Underdog (Live video)
Empire -live audio .Live video
Where Did All the Love Go? Live video
Shoot the Runner (Live video)
Fire (My fave) -live audio. Live video
Club Foot -live audio. Live video
LSF (Lost Souls Forever) with long na-na-na chorus. Live video Also video here

Short set, only 8 songs, about 40 minutes.

All live bootlegs courtesy of Liz :D
All live videos are from MTV Asia site. To view all the videos, go here
Scroll to the right under "Live Performances"

Edit:
After re-watching the live videos, I simply loved the starting of "Empire" and the guitar duel between Serge & Jay on "Empire" Also, the intense drumming of Ian, especially with the use of the giant gong on "Fire"

Arghh... cringe on the fact that Tom had to persuade the crowd to sing to the lalala tune on "LSF". Can't blame the crowd now can we, since there's no airplay for Kasabian on the local radio. (I like it that way actually, so that they won't become overly commercial)

So here are the pix: (Thanks to my Lumix!)


Err..accidentally caught Tom stretching? hehe


L-R: sessionist, Serge, Tom




Tom looking like Rick Astley. Now that someone mentioned it, he kinda looked like Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs