People are talking

You know how these things happen when you least expect, right?

You return from a horrible and drawn out campaign of terror to put down that insurgency in the Caucasus to find out that her heart has turned colder than the Siberian winter.

Your first instinct is to call the Okhrana on all your bastard ministers and torture them till they confess. But then you sit down, pour yourself one and listen to some Lorde (because that's what royals are to do nowadays).

When people are talking, people are talking

Let 'em talk

Oasis

This has been lying in an xcf (GIMP) file on my hard-drive with a last modified date of 03/03/2012, but is probably much older. Instead of completing it using GIMP as I must've originally intended, I shifted it to a vector graphic project due to my current love affair with Inkscape, and finished it off in a few hours today.

The original concept was much more ambitious, involving a lot more drawings and stuff, but in the months following the initial draft things happened and this seems more suitable now. :)

Lyrics by Noel Gallagher.

The perfect social network

...is not Google+. Har Har. ;P

Years after the party ended, and everybody had left, I joined Last.fm back in March. It's pretty neat. It stores records of all the music that you listen to quietly in the background and gives a running commentary on your profile page. Everything is neatly categorized, and every artist (even the more obscure ones) have an artist page. It's kinda a wiki, in that it allows users to tag artists and put up descriptions. And for old time music fans, it's a place for you to discover that the kid with a nice voice you're listening to from back in '66 just died a few months ago. :/ (I personally found of about Gerry Rafferty and Alex Chilton through Last.fm comments)

But seriously, for such a small time social network, the programmers have paid enormous attention to detail. Every little stat or arrangement you can imagine is available. It's a geek's dream. For someone who's trying to build a social network of sorts, it's an eye-opener about how creative you can get with a few more lines of code. For example, you can look at someone's library, go to an artist, and go to a particular album by that artist and look at their listening trends on that, like so:

The title track is amazing. And too short. :/

And Last.fm doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It's not Facebook pretending to be Twitter, or Google pretending to be social (don't kick me off G+, Sergey and Larry!). It's always been about the music. And they say the best way to discover good music is to look through someone else's library, and Last.fm allows you to do that in every way you can think of, without being an annoying babysitter. Power to the people, yo! :)

Not-so-lilac skies, and the beginning of December

A sequel of sorts to Lilac skies and the end of November

(Two years later...)

:P

I took a look at the blog archive and noticed that November is usually a very busy month around these parts. Not so this year, COZ SAI IS BACK! Woohoo! :D So we've been on all sorts of trips around the place, including a secret Negombo beach trip that my parents know nothing about. ;) Yes, I'm aware that I'm writing this under MY OWN NAME and that my (pretty internet savvy) mom could be reading this. So let's just call it Schrödinger's trip. Since nobody observed it, it simultaneously could have and could have NOT happened. :P

But here's a panorama from Rathnapura, where we stayed at my place all by ourselves for two nights. Fun story: We almost lost Sai to the angry waterfall. Good times. :')

In other news, things have been ORSUM. And I mean that. I think my life is finally getting back in order (knock wood) and things will hopefully get orsumer and orsumer now that Makuluwo is back on holiday! :D

Going to finish off on a random music-y note, and no, I'm not going to post Oasis here like I've been spamming my Google+ with. But seriously, Noel ILY!!! We owe you big time for making guitar bands cool again. Like I said once, I quite like SoKo, and I love Cornershop, and two days ago in Kandy (in a moment of total randomness) I discovered 'The School of Soul E.P.'. What a gem! :D

On a side note: Is it just me, or does the original 'Brimful of Asha' not have a bassline? :O

How Laura Marling broke Charlie Fink's heart, and other stories

When I first heard 'Blue Skies' on PseudoRandom's blog, I had no idea that this was one of the few uplifting songs in an album about a breakup. I listened to that live version a million times, fell in love with it, but didn't do much follow up with the band. I didn't even discover 5 Years Time, their big hit from the debut album. Oh the shame.

That first album, that big hit, has backing vocals by Laura Marling, whose own debut album was produced by Charlie. A great load has been written about their break up, but nothing more powerful than their second album, "The First Days of Spring". An album written and recorded when the pain of heartbreak was so raw, that Charlie apparently broke down the first time he heard the album in full.

Two years after the release of TFDoS, Noah and the Whale are back with "Last Night on Earth". I first heard "Life is Life", but didn't like it much. But then I heard L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N., a song that reminded me of Get Back by the Beatles and Oh! Sweet Nuthin' by the Velvet Underground, and I so began the listening on loop.

And then, I listened to a couple of more songs and decided to download the entire album, something I seldom do. But ukulele fans be warned, Noah explores new sound in this record, and electronic music does creep in. But it has been used with discretion, and class. Seriously, this record is awesome. Favourites include "Tonight's the Kind of Night", "Give It All Back" and "Waiting for My Chance to Come". But my pick of the lot? This absolute beauty:

Well I've always had a wild imagination,
And a see-through heart,
Which I know can be, a wild combination,
Like a flame forms from a spark,
But don't be shy, be brave little champion,
It's better to live than to hide...

Happeh!

This is going to be nonsensical, but I'm mentally prancing around in joy. This week, everything from Monday onwards, has been awesome. Lectures got cancelled Tuesday (Pirith at uni) and we got tomorrow off as well (research symposium at uni. HA!) and I wrote a report I had no idea was due today in like an hour, got it printed and handed it in as well, and to add to that, I helped out a friend who couldn't make it, made his report look fabulous (note to Meshak: you sent it as email text... aneyyy babo! :P) with my customary formatting (wink wink... look at the design of this blog... imagine that minimalism in a word document. People who've had the (dis)pleasure of working with me hate me with a passion for messing with their formatted headings and painstakingly tabbed indentations) aaaand printed it and handed it in too and I did all of that and I got out of the building just right on the dot at 5 when I told my father that I was coming out and I fully appreciate how much I love my mom for the first time in years and I ate so much food today and had yoghurt and cookies and I'm hiiiiiiiiiiigh...

I told you it was going to be nonsensical. I swear it's the gotukola and all that lime acid talking. :D

But yes, moving on to the more serious part of my post, one of my oldest and bestest (suck it spellcheck, that word exists!) friends, who's also a budding veterinary student, is starting out a small foundation for pooches, that aims to do big things. So if you're inclined towards animal welfare, and would like to learn more, please visit their blog at http://thepoochfoundation.blogspot.com/ :)

Soooo, to end my happy, high, high post I shall leave you with a gig played in the sky (or on the rooftops of London) and the longest microtonal lick George Harrison was ever forced to play by one Sir James Paul McCartney. It last from 1:22 to 1:26 in the video and I think it beats the one in Helter Skelter by a mile, but my ear hasn't been tested recently so can't be sure. ;)

P.s. A note about everyone who's complaining in that video: They got to hear the last gig ever played by all four Beatles together. Imagine what that must've felt like after a good few years! :D

This guy's got talent!

I really love this song ('The Lion Sleeps Tonight') and that style of African a cappella music (he does it nicely in solo voice though...). Check out some of his other videos.

Thanks for the link, Sai! :)

After Hours

I've been thinking (oh noes!)... The lower your expectations are in life, the happier you are going to be. Does that mean that you won't be giving it your best? Stretching yourself to the maximum possible? Yes, or maybe. Does it really matter? Not if you stop, take a look around, and enjoy the little things in life... :)

(One, two, three)
If you close the door
the night could last forever
Leave the sunshine out
and say hello to never

All the people are dancing
and they're having such fun
I wish it could happen to me

But if you close the door
I'd never have to see the day again

If you close the door
the night could last forever
Leave the wine-glass out
and drink a toast to never

Oh, someday I know
someone will look into my eyes
And say hello
you're my very special one

But if you close the door
I'd never have to see the day again

Dark party bars, shiny Cadillac cars
and the people on subways and trains
Looking gray in the rain, as they stand disarrayed
oh, but people look well in the dark

And if you close the door
the night could last forever
Leave the sunshine out
and say hello to never

All the people are dancing
and they're having such fun
I wish it could happen to me

Cause if you close the door
I'd never have to see the day again
I'd never have to see the day again, once more
I'd never have to see the day again

This Ad...

...actually made me think twice about who I'm going to support at the upcoming presidential election... ;) I just loved, LOVED the tune! :D

A Day in the Life

Days when your internet access is limited are... strange! (to say the least) And since I've been downloading a 2GB file for the past two days my adventures across the tubes have been few and (waaay too) far between (not to mention painfully slow!). So I've been playing and trying to win this Crimson Skies mission, again and again and again... Everytime you shoot down all the planes you either get shot at the last minute or crash into a Zeppelin... woe! :(

And in the house is no longer a receptive place for life, all the junk that had accumulated during the last 16 years are being thrown out by the boatload, and yours truly feels like he might be the next to go! ;) The fact that I spilled half a bottle of Elephant House milk (yummy btw) in the car doesn't really help my fate either... My mom gave me the look after I started laughing at myself! :/

"The Look"

OK, my torrent's done downloading! I'm off to play some Sims 2 then... ;D (You see how I play the latest games na! Kinda like the dude here... lol)

Right then, going to finish this off by linking to this song I've been falling in love with... enjoy! :)

Shut the door
Cut the light
Davy won't be home tonight
You can wait till the dawn rolls in
You won't see our Davy... again!

P.S. Imagine the smell in the car in a coupla days! "you won't see our Davy again" indeed! lol ;)

Fukitol

I Need You is a song off The Beatles' fifth album, 'Help!'. Written by George Harrison it was prolly meant for Pattie Boyd, his (and Eric Clapton's! what was it with her and guitarists? lol) future wife whom he was trying to date (apparently unsuccessfully) at the time... good song I must say, they all look like they're freezing in that video though! ;) I can't also figure out what all the tanks/army dudes are sitting there doing! are they gonna bomb the fab four or something? O.o

So, one of my best friends knows about the blog now... wazzup Sai! :P :D

anyways, posting this coz I've kinda gone AWOL from the twittersphere and stuff... not to worry, I'm still alive and well... ;) *cue groans*

I was reading some of my older posts, and it occurred to me that this is not the first time I've found it hard to update my blog because I think too much, so I'm just gonna take my 'fukitol' pill and be normal again! :D

by the way, where have Harumi and MTC disappeared to? :S I totally miss you guys and your writing!

p.s. this better not get posted on the thread Sai! :P ;)

Assumption Song

this made me ROFLMA(?)O :D

also: 50th post! a big thank you out to everyone who kept me blogging by taking time to leave a comment! THAAAAAAAAAANKKKKK YOUUUUUUU!!!! :D

I also noticed that I haven't written a proper post (like about what's going on around here... not that anything interesting ever happens! lol) in almost a month... should do that again sometime... :)

I will never love you more!

I like SoKo... something about her makes me want to... I dunno, it's complicated. She's cute!!! :D (and somehow reminds me of John Mayer! hmmph)

If you prefer the live video:

I will never love you more than the drummer of flaming lips
I will never love you more than Woody Allan movies
I will never love you more than the White album of the Beatles
I will never love you more than God only knows

I will never love you more than DVD's night with my girlfriend
And we talk about stupid things like feelings and men
I will never love you more than my boyfriend when I was 14
Even if he's now an asshole, I will never love you more

And you say, you love me more than everything
And compared to me everything is nothing...

I will never love you more than meeting Paul McCartney
And we asked him to play a song on my Ukulele
I will never love you more than Scandinavian Tour
Which was more than paradise we shall remember it too

I will never love you more than dancing to Phil Spector
I will never love you more than my Casiotone keyboard
I will never love you more than Daniel Johnston himself
For me he's more than God, I will never love you more

And you say, you love me more than everything
And compared to me everything is nothing

Ohh this is sweet, I just wonder what it means

You say you love me more, than all the girls you have before
Even more than music, even more than yourself
Even more than everything, but it's just a lie
So I will never love you more, than anything

I will never love you more than singing in the shower
I will never love you more than my Mac computer
I will never love you more than having a daughter
I will never love you more than peanut butter

I will never love you more than kisses all day
I will never love you more than cuddles all night
I will never love you more than kissing girls lips when they're really pretty

I will never love you more
I will never love you more

p.s. twitter should stop going down like this! curse the idiot behind these attacks! :@

I'm a Boy!

A work by Pete Townshend, musician, primary songwriter for The Who, creator of the greatest Rock Operas ever, and all-in-all bad boy! :)

One girl was called Jean Marie

Another little girl was called Felicity

Another little girl was Sally Joy

The other was me, and I'm a boy

My name is Bill and I'm a headcase

They practice making up on my face

Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear

Spend ages taking hairpins from my hair

I'm a boy, I'm a boy

But my ma won't admit it

I'm a boy, I'm a boy

But if I say I am I get it

Put your frock on Jean Marie

Plait your hair Felicity

Paint your nails, little Sally Joy

Put this wig on, little boy

I'm a boy, I'm a boy

But my ma won't admit it

I'm a boy, I'm a boy

But if I say I am I get it

I wanna play cricket on the green

Ride my bike across the street

Cut myself and see my blood

I wanna come home all covered in mud

I'm a boy, I'm a boy

But my ma won't admit it

I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy

I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy

I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Disease has a post dedicating all the bloggers a song each, and it reminded me of this old thing that I had posted sometime back on facebook, something like what Messiah of Madness did in this post. So since you're supposed to "Tag 10 friends." I tag all my fellow bloggers who have enough time to do this thing... and I know most of yall do! :P haha

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag 10 friends.
5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.
6. Have Fun!

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
9999999 tears - dicky lee

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
name - goo goo dolls

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
revolution - the beatles

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
i'll be back - the beatles

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
speed of sound - coldplay

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
one tree hill - u2

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
complicated - avril lavigne

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
dare you to move - switchfoot

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
breathless - shayne ward

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
shiver - coldplay

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
money, money, money - abba

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
i will follow - u2

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
heaven forbid - the fray

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
rain - breaking benjamin

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
voodoo child - jimi hendrix

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
collide - howie day

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST??
what is life - george harrison

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
mrs. robinson - simon and garfunkel

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
rain - the beatles

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
peggy sue - buddy holly

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
the shock of the lightning - oasis

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
knocking on heaven's door - guns n' roses

And guys! No cheating ah? :D

Get On Your Boots & Get Down To TRALE!

Well, watched a bit of the video for "Get on Your Boots" from U2's upcoming album, sounded a bit like Vertigo without the nice melodies... These guys seriously need to get some new riffs... :)

Anyhow, I hated Coldplay's "Violet Hill" when I first heard it, but it turned out the "Viva la Vida" album was anything BUT Violet Hill-ish... and in my opinion, it WAS the best album of 2008, and probably the 2nd best by Coldplay after Parachutes... (yea I know a lot of people might disagree with me on that one, but there's some quiet haunted feel to Parachutes that always makes me feel good...)

And on a completely unrelated note, all you Miniature Railroad and Aeronautical buffs are warmly invited to the TRALE '09 exhibition that opened yesterday. Today's the final day (it'll go on till 9 PM), so if you have some time to kill, and wouldn't mind all the little kiddies running around from one exhibit to another, I suggest you head down to the Small Club Grounds at STC Mount Lavinia.

Cheers!

and the Oscar goes to...

So there I was, watching Bill O' going on and on with Dennis Miller... and what struck me was these guys' pure contempt for Slumdog Millionaire. and they made no secret of it either, I had heard Bill on a previous occasion (I think before the Golden Globes) saying something about Slumdog not deserving the best picture win. Do I smell racial Supremacism?

On a completely unrelated note, check out Roadie #42's blog at the Coldplay site. looks like everyone at the War Child charity concert got a lot more than they bargained for...