K-Pop Heal the World 2011

I know that I'm one week late but it wouldn't hurt to update about it heh.

Got our (complimentary) tickets for the concert and had an invite to the exclusive Meet & Greet before the concert.

They re-used the wristband for the previous day's Meet & Greet lol.

Anyway, it got pushed back from 2.30pm to 5pm then to 6pm. So when we were there at 5pm..well let's just say that it was a complete waste of time. The blazing sun definitely didn't help. We spent the time camwhoring and running around to find the place for the meet and greet.

The Meet & Greet was basically a scam because unlike what was stated on the website, we did not get to take any photos, much less with our idols, did not get to interact with them, did not get any autographs from them, did not get our snacks and drinks, and it did not last 2.5hours.What a bummer. And too think we were so excited for it. We just sat there and watched as After School and MBLAQ stayed on the stage for awhile. It was like a freaking press conference. Pfft. We didn't even get to see T-ara! Keith and I were prepared to shout 'Eunjung neomu yeppeo'... :(

But I did win After School's autographed Virgin album and the HTW poster signed by them too. I guess it made up for the the failed Meet & Greet.

And because we were not allowed to take photos, this is only one we took LOL.

Then came the concert. Max Pavilion is a so much better venue to hold concerts compared to any of the EXPO halls. I remember K-Pop Night. Such horror. Anyway, our seats were at the back right hand corner of Cat 1 but we still got a reasonably good view.

And the order of appearance of artistes were: Orange Caramel, T-Max, After School, MBLAQ, T-ara. They were really strict with compact cameras though. No matter, pics next! Really lackluster - I must warn you.

Found lots of pics of MBLAQ on Tumblr.

The part where fangirls went mad.

Whoever took this, you are awesome! Cheondong!

Joon in unripped clothes.

G.O!

And then, it was T-ara who gathered the most screams! EUNJUNG!! Stef said out of all the artistes I shouted loudest for her. LOL I was really crazy by then.

It was definitely a fun night apart from the fail management and security and staff. The artistes' awesome performances made up for it!

Next stop, Paramore! (Or maybe Korean Music Wave if we're lucky again, heh)

On a side note: I'm so broke! But I am gonna buy my Dr. Martens this month no matter what. And I bought a tee from Paul's line of clothing too. Check his webby out here.

I'm so damn excited for it to arrive! Thank you so much Jet! Paul would be proud of me. :)

All Time Low 'Dirty Work' Album Review

Gonna try writing an album review. Don't be harsh yeah? Lol.

___________________________________________________________________

Not gonna lie, I'm a huge fan of All Time Low and I was really stoked for this fourth studio album. This is also their major label debut (Universal).

Let me first compare this album to the previous album. In my opinion this album is more pop-pish than Nothing Personal, but still pop punk nonetheless.

1. Do You Want Me (Dead)?

Simple plucking of an electric guitar at the beginning of the song while Alex starts singing. And just like any typical pop punk song, the drums and bass come in and the lead singer goes one octave higher. Short (it's only 2:46mins long) but great song to start the album.

2. I Feel Like Dancin'

The lead single from the album with a distinctively more pop-pish sound as compared to their usual stuff. Written by Alex Garskath and Rivers Cuomo (the lead singer of Weezer), it definitely has a different sound from their previous single, Lost in Stereo from their Nothing Personal album. Not all ATL fans will dig this song but I love it! I love the little random dialogues in the verses. Since when did pop punk start using words and phrases like, 'shawty', and 'everybody getting kinda crunk, I think some dude just grabbed my junk' though? But I'm not gonna deny, that's my favourite line in the whole song. Lol.

The music video for the song is really entertaining too and just like the song itself, it has lots of pop references, from Katy Perry, Justin Bieber to Lady Gaga, mocking the major sellouts in the pop industry. And it is so funny that Jack was totally agreeing with the 'selling sex' part but he gets the men instead of the women. Hahaha poor Jack! Really glad the boys are having fun doing their thing though!

P.S. Alex looks hella sexy at 1:25 and I really would buy that product. Hahaha.

3. Forget About It

Okay the guitar melody of this song has been stuck in head since I listened to it. This song's really catchy and there's this part after the second chorus where Alex speaks LOL I'm such a sucker for dialogues in songs. I immediately fell in love with this song once '1, 2, 3, 4!' came out. One of my highly recommended tracks from this album.

4. Guts

This song features Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds who does the harmonies in the song. I love it when bands with a male lead singer does collabs with a female singer but she seems a lil redundant in this song lol, just like Taylor Swift in Two is Better Than One. It's just that kind of song that All Time Low can perform without even needing to have a female singer with them, unlike Remembering Sunday.

And yup, as the title suggests, the songs kinda about courage (from what I understand by looking at the lyrics) and it's a good message so props to ATL for that.

5. Time Bomb

This was the first track that was leaked off the album! Alex leaked it onto the net and said that 'the sound is a bridge between Nothing Personal and Dirty Work'. This one is one of the stronger songs in the record and it still leans towards the punk rock genre. I really don't have anything else to say about this song except I really like it a lot.

6. Just The Way I'm Not

A typical crowd pumper song with 'Woah-ohs' and 'No-ohs' where the audience can sing shout along. I like the whole song in general but the bridge of the song is a bit of a letdown. I don't know, it just doesn't seem to match up to the rest of the song. I still think it's a good song though!

7. Under A Paper Moon

One of the more 'rock' songs in the album but not one of my favourite tracks. I'm just not really digging the tune of the song. Good job to Rian on the hi-hat there though.

8. Return the Favour

Has a similar sound to that of Under A Paper Moon but I kinda like this one, especially the acoustic guitar intro and the piano outro. It sounds like a song that I know though but I can't put a finger onto which song it is. Uh well.

9. No Idea

A string orchestra intro. Classy! I like the song in general but the pre-chorus sounds like the chorus of Maroon 5's Never Gonna Leave This Bed. I swear when I first heard it I almost sang to Never Gonna Leave This Bed. If I had to compare this song with one from Nothing Personal it'd be Too Much. Just one complaint, 'no idea' is sung wayyy too many times in the song. Gets a bit boring after a few listens.

10. A Daydream Away

The only ballad in the whole album. And I love it! I'm a sucker for ballads and I wished this album had more ballads. I really love this phrase 'I'll keep you a daydream away, just watch from a safe place so I never have to lose'. So sweet! Good song, but it definitely still loses out to Remembering Sunday. That's arguably the best song that All Time Low has.

11. That Girl

My favourite track of the album! It's catchy and it always makes me bop to it no matter how many times I listen to (I think I have listened to it at least 30 times today). I love how the song can still sound so happy even with a drug name and the word 'bitch' in there. And I can totally picture a music video for this song. I hope this song will be the next single. It deserves it! It is too cute! Heh.

12. Heroes

Okay the beginning of this song reminds me of F.T. Island's Marry Me. I love the changes in drum beats and rhythms, especially the second part of the second verse. Love the use of the toms to create a forward-driving kind of feel.

13. Get Down on Your Knees and Tell Me You Love Me

LOL okay am I the only one who thinks this title sounds a bit..wrong? Heh. I love the chorus of this song. Looking for something to headbang to? This is the song. Nice guitar/bass solo at the beginning too!

14. My Only One

I don't love this song but I don't hate it either. Really neutral to this song but I like the chorus :) And the hur-hur-hurt part before it. LOL.

15. Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass

HAH. I love the title. And true to its title, yes you can hear sleigh bells in there. A really catchy song. And I cracked up at the end of the song where there is dialogue. I really love it when bands inject humour and fun into their songs :)

Yup so I guess that's that. Not a better album than Nothing Personal but still a good one on its own. You can see how hardcore Hustlers are, ATL beat Adele on the iTunes charts! Sick!

And I really wanna see them live. Alex, Jack, Zack, Rian please come soon :'(

고백합니다

Happy 4th Anniversary to my favourite K-Pop band, FT Island!

It just seemed a while ago that I got into K-Pop and although they were not my first biases, my love for them skyrocketed after Rachel introduced their song 'Barae' to me. And after that I just started getting all their old songs and also getting to know more about the members. I remember Stef giving me a lesson on recognising them too hahaha.

I don't really have a lot to say, just that I wish them all the best. FT Island will never be complete without the emotional voice of Hongki, the awesome guitar skills of leader Jonghoon, the soothing vocals of bassist Jaejin, unique rapping of Seunghyun, amazing drumming skills and aegyo of maknae Minhwan, and of course, not forgetting ex-member Wonbin.

Stay happy forever OT5! :)

Current favourite jam from them:

My favourite K-Pop song. And they are not hand-syncing here yayy!

Their best ballad in my opinion.

사랑해 에프티아일랜드! 화이팅!

We're Gonna Give It A Jumpstart

It's been a really long time since I blogged properly so I figured since I've nothing to do at work now apart from listening to Classical music, I'll do a little update.

Okay actually what I really wanna update is getting to see Simple Plan on Thursday! :3 Rach and Stef went with me to see the boys for a surprise performance at the Music Matters Live at Clarke Quay event. They came up after a band called These Kids Wear Crowns, but more about them later.

Simple Plan was perfect (pun intended)! They played Shut Up, I'd Do Anything and a song from their new record coming out soon, Can't Keep My Hands Off You. I wish they sang Jet Lag but seeing them in front of me up close was so damn awesome. PIERRE GRABBED MY HAND OMGOMG (haha fangirl moment). David was so cute! And Chuck's gotta be the sweetest one around. He stayed to take pics with fans and I got autographs from him too! Not to mention, he replied me on Twitter. Hahaha officially my favourite member. Bro says he looks creepy though. Just a few pics next!

Pierre Bouvier! ♥

Sebastien Lefebvre on guitar!

Lead guitarist Jeff Stinco. He replied and followed me on Twitter hurhurhur.

David Desrosiers on bass

He is really photogenic!!

Chuck Comeau on drums. One of the better shots of him lol. He was derp king that night.

AND ISN'T THIS THE CUTEST THING EVER?! Ohgawddd Pierre!

Picture with Chuck! I look damn cui...

Spot the siggies :)

They came up on stage and just started playing without any soundcheck or rehearsals. And they were using the previous band's instruments. Old school! And that brings me back to These Kids Wear Crowns. Just like Simple Plan, they are from Canada. Their manager is Jonathan Cook, the lead singer of Forever the Sickest Kids. And I highly recommend checking them out! Really catchy songs and they are so good live. Lead singer is so charismatic!

I've heard of them before since they tour with Faber Drive but never really took notice. I wish I had earlier now though. Better late than never still :)

Favourite song from them.

Alexander Johnson. He sweats a lot.

Alan Poettcker on bass. HE IS REALLY CUTE. And he can sing too!

Matt Vink! Rachel's guy ;)

Joshua Gypsy on guitar. He is adorable!!

Joseph Porter on guitar. Cool dude!

Josh Mitchinson on drums! He's really nice!

/above photo credits to Rachel

And apparently after Thursday we didn't have enough of them, so Rach and I headed to Se7en 1nch to watch them play their last show in Singapore. They were all so friendly and they stayed to chat and take pics with us. Except Alan though. No idea where cute guy went to. Hurhur :/

Josh promised me he will ask Faber Drive and FTSK to come to Singapore hehehe nice guy. That's it, I guess. These past few days were awesome. :) To end off the post: a pick from Gypsy! Heheh.

Have a great week ahead! x

Long Live

Well it's been a really long time since I updated this space. Will give a full update once we celebrate Jean's birthday on Friday. Hahaha ciao!

The Time Of My Life

I haven't posted anything here in more than 2 weeks so I thought I'd stop by.

The start of internship; this two weeks have been nothing short of fun, fun, and well, more fun!

23rd April was my first ever clubbing experience and what made it so awesome was that it was a K-Pop with none other than Brazil's DJ Masa! Whenever popular tunes the whole club immediately becomes a flash mob hahaha too hilarious! That aside though, Rach, Keith and I had meet and greet tix to meet the man himself. We took pics and talked to him. He was so nice! Had a great night in all thought I wished he had played more current songs hahahaha I'm a K-Pop noob.

♥

Really nice photo but stupid camera couldn't focus :(

Fuck my life, seriously. Lol.

Happy fangirls!!

Caught a night film, Norwegian Wood on the following Monday with Rach and Keith as if we had no work the next day. All I can say about the movie is...Idk, man. LOL I guess I just can't appreciate artsy or poetic movies. I'd stick to my chick flicks, comedies and action movies heh.

The past two days have been really long with late nights because I had lobangs for a couple of events. The first one was a street art event called Face Off where two teams would compete with each other to draw anything of their choice and the winner will be the artwork which gets the most votes. I was there to sell overpriced drinks lol. It was a pretty good experience, though! The final artwork make me feel like drawing heh. Oh and there were free drinks for me ;D

Huge diamond ring. Lol it's ice btw.

The finalised artwork! I personally prefer the second one. Love the use of curves. And it feels dark, and I feel like I can relate to it better. :O

The DJ there was Korean! He was spinning some nice tunes and he was really cool with the turntable!

The next event was the DBS Black Top Party for the black cardholders. Thanks to Stef for bringing Jon and I there! We were there to work and help out but we had lots of fun no doubt! I love working for events because it gives me an opportunity to speak to many people and I love it when people are really happy when I go the extra mile for them. Hehe.

It was at a really cool rooftop bar but the reception was at the loading/unloading bay so that's were Stef and I hung out for like 2+ hours? Excitingly warm. Oh and one of the guys brought down Whiskey Dry so we were like drinking in the carpark. How suitable huh.

Yup anyway there's gonna be another one of this party in June again I don't mind helping again. The next venue is a bigger area hehe and free drinks, why not?! Hahahaha.

End of 2 weeks of internship! 22 more weeks! Fighting!!!

Looking Back I See It All

I realised that I am one day late for this post but heck. I've been so busy PWI-ing recently that I haven't been taking time off to update this space.

___________________________________

Three years ago, 12th April 2008. That was one of the most memorable days in my life.

Though this wasn't exactly a package that could live up to the show in 2006, I must admit it still gave me goosebumps will watching it. Those goosebumps must have came from our execution of our drills, music and gimmicks. Seeing the outcome of our few months of hard work or memorising our steps, music and making sure we do everything with precision makes me feel really proud of myself because I knew that I gave it my best and it was my best (I didn't make any mistakes hehe). And I guess our 2008 French Horns can pride themselves in successfully pulling off what I could call the most difficult repertoire as it had really high notes here and there and we managed to play it so awesomely. I mean like, hello, who plays high B-flat during outdoor performances??

I was really proud of my juniors. I felt so proud of them that they put in their best, and put up a spectacular performance even though there were screw ups. You can't fathom how much I love them, seriously.

So when the results came, TK was announced to have got a Gold With Honours. But when Deyi got it too, my heart totally just sank. I knew something bad was coming. I was prepared for what was coming next, but I totally could not control my emotions and tears when the emcee said, "And the Best Display Band award goes to....Deyi Secondary School!"

I don't think I had cried so much before. Seeing my juniors and batchmates crying around me made me cry even more. I was crying because of the hopes that we had pinned on that title which had accompanied us through 10 years. I was crying because it just disappeared like that. I wasn't crying, though, because of disappointment. There was nothing to be disappointed about, for we had done our best. It just wasn't enough.

But looking back, my stint in TK Band was definitely the most memorable in 2008. It was also the most agonizing year. But we had our fair share of fun. Being in TK Band is an experience that can never be surpassed or replaced. It was the place where I spent the best four years of my life, and I never regretted going to a school whose cut-off point was 14 points below my PSLE score just because I wanted to join the band. (I saw them in 2002's SYF and since then I've set TK as my ideal secondary school) Who knew that 4 years, and 6 years later, I would be part of the show in the band that I had watched when I was Pri 4 at the National Stadium?

Mr Azlan once told us, "No Regrets", and that has been my motto for everything that I do ever since. Those two words led me through the whole of my band life in TK and even till now, before every competition, I still tell these two words to my juniors. Cliche as it may seem, the title really is not everything. The saying that "the process is the most important" is so true, at least to me. I will never ever forget the scoldings from my seniors, me scolding my juniors, all of us having fun marching on the field and playing music together, getting punished together, all the motivational talks and lastly, but definitely not the least, the band spirit.

Alas, changes do happen and the culture of TK Band now and then is totally different. I miss the old TK Band.

To the juniors who took part in the recent SYF, don't let a Silver put you down. Learn from this. Lose the ego and arrogance and learn how to lose. Never over-estimate yourself because you will only seem like a douche to others. Only then, can you taste victory.

One Band One Sound. Anoneh Pakukeh.

30 Random Facts About Me

I know I was supposed to sleep early today, but I'm waiting for my hair to dry and I'm so bored so I thought I'd do this. Yup, 30 random facts about me.

01) I live for three things -- my loved ones, food and music.

02) I am awkward when it comes to expressing myself through words, so I prefer to use actions. For example, I have difficulty saying the words 'I love you' sincerely to anyone (aka, I am unable to say mushy things)

03) I have had so many near-death experiences that I am really not scared of death anymore, which is why I am willing to put my life on the line for my loved ones.

04) I tend to think a lot more than necessary when I'm alone.

05) If I had known about Singapore Polytechnic's Music Technology course thingy I wouldn't be in CMM now.

06) I can cook and do housework well but I'm always so lazy to do any of those.

07) I am no social butterfly but I really love company. I hate to miss outings or gatherings.

08) I am not afraid of pain and blood but I freak at the sight of needles.

09) I once had a cockroach on my shoulder and I did not panic. Unbelievable.

10) Nothing makes me smile more than children :)

11) I've always did mediocre in school but always had one of the best aggregate points in whatever school I was posted to next.

12) I absolutely hate theory.

13) I trust people too easily, which is why I got 'betrayed' quite a number of times. All these incidents have minimized the number of people who I 'tell stuff to'.

14) I hate feeling left out.

15) I love to doodle. I used to be really good in art until technology took over my life.

16) I actually like dancing a lot. I choreograph my own dances to my favourite songs at home, all the time.

17) I have anger management issues. I usually let out my anger by punching stuff. And usually, they are hard solid surfaces like the wall. Ouch.

18) Nothing irks me more than arrogant people who think they own the world.

19) I can play many instruments but I'm not awesome in any of them.

20) I started playing the piano at the age of 5. It's been more than 10 years and I still suck at it.

21) I can only study at night. Unfortunately, it is the time of the day which has the most distractions.

22) I am fit but my immune system sucks.

23) My memory is failing me.

24) If you had a tour in my brain, you'd see me in a very different light.

25) My actions are childish but my thinking is not (unless my emotions get the better of me).

26) I love intellectual and mystery games, like Cluedo.

27) I love taking care of people, and being taken care of.

28) I lack patience.

29) I pick up skills really fast but I forget them fast as well.

30) I love sports, and anything rough ;) HAHA

Yup, that's that. Maybe you learnt something new about me, maybe you didn't. I can't believe you just spent these couple of minutes looking through these lame facts.

Goodnight! :D

Pessimistic

Okay so I'm gonna spend my 300th post ranting that I am really scared that my current condition will get worse because I've already had a sore throat for close to a week and it is getting worse.

Started out as a normal sore throat that I always get then suddenly on Day 4 I started losing my voice (which is hella scary since the day before, which was April Fool's, I tricked a few people that I lost my voice). Right now as I'm typing this I still have that 5% of voice left with a very painful throat. What is making things worse is my right ear. From yesterday it felt like there's something stuck inside and it was really uncomfortable but now it just hurts like mad. Mum said it is probably throat infection since the throat is linked the ear ugh. Omgosh what if I have to go through some operation or worse, if I lose my singing voice ahhhhh omg *touchwood*

I don't even wanna talk right now, let alone sing and it is getting really unbearable. Gonna have an early night today and wake up at 8am to go to the docs. Sucks that I have to go to school for SIP briefing tomorrow too. Take care guys. Ugh this is NOT FUN AT ALL.

Reminiscence (and a bit of the present)

So, I went back to TK with Vinnie and Brian after about 8 months of not going back. Honestly I was great to be back, but it was obvious that there were so many changes in TK Band, whether it was the people, management system, etc: basically just the overall feel. Somehow it felt kind of familiar yet distant.

So, my section (French Horn) all along, prides itself as one of the best sections in the band, whether it is in terms of music or drills. I remember our seniors always pushing us and me pushing my juniors too, so they will always be up there. Somehow, it was the batch two years older than mine who pushed us and it was the batch two years younger than me who I put all my energy on.

Even though my seniors were strict, I never did dislike them. They did not instill fear in me, but they gained my respect. In fact, I looked up to them so much that even when I got scolded, I'd really reflect on what I had done wrong, and worked even harder to prove to them that I can do it, so that they can't find a reason to reprimand me. They were like my parents and I was an like an innocent child who knew nuts about outdoor bands (except that it was pretty darn cool).

During Sec 3, we had to fill the spaces that the Sec 4s left behind because they were busy studying for their O's and always having remedial lessons and what not, so naturally, we had to take the lead. The Sec 1s then became our first priority because we knew that they had to get the basics right from the beginning. And they became just like our children, who we groomed, who we scolded if they made a mistake, who we praised if they did well, who we looked out for, who I loved so much.

All of us immediately became closer in 2008 when the band got to go to KL together and the section stuck together for the four days like super glue. Spending the days practicing and spending the nights in each others' rooms just chilling, playing games, and talking about anything. I really felt like a parent who took care of her children (I even packed up Vinnie and Wenhui's room and washed all their used utensils because I couldn't stand the messiness LOL). That trip was definitely the highlight of 2008. Oh gosh, the things I would do to go through it again..

When my 'child batch' became Sec 4, it was heartening to see how much they've grown. Musically, and also mentally. Really, nothing beats seeing your hard work become your pride. They were just like a reflection of myself. Seriously, it feels so awesome.

Anyway, going back with my children today made my heart break when the band instructor scolded the French Horns. I swear, it was my first time hearing our section get shouted at. I was angry that it happened, not at the juniors though, but at the instructor. He shouted at them in front of other bands. What were you trying to do? You just busted their morale 8 days before their SYF. Good on you, dude who is wanting to desperately to get Gold With Honours. If you want them to improve so that you can get your award, teach them properly, and learn how to control your temper as well. Hopefully they weren't too discouraged. A text from one of them made my heart sink really deep.

Keep your chin up, guys. I've got faith in all seven of you.