The Devil’s Encore
He is fussy, but he has got great sparkling wine (or whatever it is one calls them);
he does the dramatic and wore a trench coat in tropical island Singapore;
he dismissed non-iPhone users, and I threw a wet straw and missed;
he does radio DJ-ing, but can he impress the pants off the live artsy audience?
Dates: 27 November – 6 December, 2009
Venue: Play Den
Website: www.theartshouse.com.sg
Showtimes: 3pm/8pm
Tickets: SGD20/28
*
‘The Devil’s Encore’ is a jazz theatre piece that presents a bitter-sweet meditation on the duality of life and death, love and loss, against a haunting medley of jazz standards.
Filed under: In This City, Live, Sightings, Singapore? | Leave a Comment
New Vids On The Bloc: #14
Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull
“Fresh Out The Oven”
http://www.jenniferlopez.com
Let’s be honest.
Jennifer Lopez became successful in the music industry during a period of overhyped Hollywood, and when the Internet wave had not washed over us, thus the in-accessibility to other forms of better, non-mainstream music. To put it in meaner words, it was a period of bobian (Singlish for no choice), at least speaking for myself. Despite that, she is still a hot Hollywood actress, just that she is said to be only good on the icing as well.
It is not that she had bad songs – she did had some hits, trashy pop catchy at that – it is just that her vocals are not extraordinary (i.e. very ordinary), and years down the road, they are not songs that one wants to remember once liking/listening to. That is generally my case, maybe everyone’s case, with Jennifer Lopez as a singer.
This Neptunes produced, Pitbull featuring track serves as a teaser for her upcoming 2010 album release, entitled “Love?” and may/will not be featured on that album. That probably will explain the somewhat repetitive style in the video, and seemingly (please clarify if I am wrong), not seeing that much of Mrs. Anthony’s face in it. Is she/her record label doing a testing on general reception to ensure comeback success?
Allison Iraheta
“Friday I’ll Be Over U”
http://www.allisoniraheta.com/sg/home
This is the second season out of the current total of 8 that I had watched most of the episodes of American Idol, the first being season 3, with the surprise early elimination of Jennifer Hudson, where her, LaToya London and the ultimate winner of the season, Fantasia Barrino, were stuck in bottom 3 during that week’s results show. My sister somewhat has an effect on me on this, herself and my niece hyping up all over Adam Lambert’s glam rock ways.
But let’s not forget the rest of them. Allison was the last female standing, coming in fourth, and also her tender age of 17 during the competition. What the Hell was I doing when I was 17? (Let me reflect and get back to myself on that, thank you very much.)
In her debut post-AI video, she couldn’t help but make me feel like she had just ripped off several acts, in a not very good way. When I heard the “Friday” in the title, I felt The Cure; when I saw the video, I saw elements of Ida Maria; when I heard the song, I felt very Avril Lavigne; when I saw her in the video, guess who came to my mind other than the first and original winner, Kelly Clarkson? But still, it is a good, fun, pop-punk rock song. And this will give her more props – I think this is a better debut single than those inspiration-driving songs that AI debuts are capable of, much seen in Lambert’s and Allen’s first singles. I feel the creeps.
Good Shoes
“Under Control”
http://www.myspace.com/goodshoes
Currently, I am writing this without watching the video, and this can be my kinda indie music, but no – I am not indie kid. Please do not associate me with that.
However, the video. A group of muscular, bikini-clanned women dance in a robotic manner, do crazy muscle flexing, tease, and even wink right before one’s very eyes. It is all very disturbing; this is not the way to picture women, very muscular women at that. They should be strangling some guys (like me) up a dirty street, taking all the money and happily fighting and kicking the victims away. I don’t know what I just typed, but I should imagine it will be something like that. The video has the effect that after watching it, one doesn’t/won’t even remember what was the song all about.
Like what I said on Twitter, for straight men who like muscles…
Valley Lodge
“All Of My Loving”
http://www.valleylodgemusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/valleylodge
Watching the following video may have the following effects/comments possibly made:
[1] “I want to have naked men furniture like that!”
[2] (can be a continuation from [1]) “Especially the lamp with the *ahem* as the switch. I will pull it all day!”
[3] “This video is very anti-gay.”
[4] “This video is very anti-gay and I will be writing a letter to sue everyone involved.”
[5] “Why is the female lamp in the video still clothed?”
[6] (can be a continuation from [5]) “I need female furniture like her. Yum hmm.”
[7] “Are they available in Ikea?”
[8] “I need overseas shipments!”
[9] “This video is an outrage! I think Singapore should not watch this.”
[10] Blah. Nothing special.
And here, on a round-up, is a video featuring Weird Al Yankovic, explaining auto-tune and possibly having the best post-Kanye West interruption ever.
Filed under: Music, Videos | Leave a Comment
Vidiscovery: #102
VIDISCOVERY
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|||||
KICK PICKS |
|||||
| Ready, Able – Grizzly Bear | |||||
| Make Me – Janet Jackson | |||||
| Must Be Santa – Bob Dylan | |||||
| Sex Therapy – Robin Thicke | |||||
| Russian Roulette – Rihanna | |||||
| Learn To Lose – Hockey (2 versions) | |||||
| Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart – Alicia Keys | |||||
| Give It Up To Me – Shakira featuring Lil’ Wayne | |||||
TW |
LW |
W# |
Video |
Artiste |
Director |
| 20 | 12 | 4 | Mowgli’s Road | Marina & The Diamonds | Chris Sweeney |
| 19 | - | 1 | Hungry For The Power | Azari & III | Alixander III and George Vale |
| 18 | - | 1 | Video Phone | Beyonce featuring Lady Gaga | Hype Williams |
| 17 | - | 2 | Chasing Pirates | Norah Jones | Rich Lee |
| 16 | 17 | 2 | Further Complications | Jarvis Cocker | Stéphanie Di Guisto |
| 15 | 18 | 2 | Reunited | Fan Death | Dandilion Wind Opaine |
| 14 | 10 | 8 | Memory | Zoot Woman | Mirjam Baker & Michael Kren |
| 13 | 15 | 6 | This Must Be It | Röyksopp | Filip and Andreas Nilsson |
| 12 | 13 | 8 | Dressed To Digress (2 versions) |
Boy Crisis | Ray Tintori |
| 11 | 9 | 3 | My Turn | Basement Jaxx featuring Dev ‘Lightspeed Champion’ Hynes | Tomek Ducki |
| 10 | 4 | 7 | Let Love Rule | Lenny Kravitz / Justice | Keith Schofield |
| 9 | 7 | 4 | Change Of Heart | El Perro Del Mar | Filip Nilsson |
| 8 | 6 | 4 | Pencil Full Of Lead | Paolo Nutini | Corin Hardy |
| 7 | 8 | 6 | Pop The Glock | Uffie | Nathalie Canguilhem |
| 6 | 2 | 2 | Bad Romance | Lady Gaga | Francis Lawrence |
| 5 | 11 | 7 | I Can Be A Frog | The Flaming Lips | George Salisbury and Wayne Coyne |
| 4 | 3 | 8 | Body Shot | Electric Six | Nabil Elderkin |
| 3 | 16 | 3 | Blonde Fire | The Hickey Underworld | Joe Vanhouttegem |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | Poison Lips | Vitalic | Julien Levy |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Watching The Planets | The Flaming Lips | George Salisbury and Wayne Coyne |
Watch The Flaming Lips’ #1 video here:
Filed under: Charts, Music, Vidiscovery | Leave a Comment
Goodbye, Hemisphere
RIP, Hemisphere.
I didn’t know how long you were since gone, as it was a while since I had dropped you a little visit of my own, be it a solo personal moment or as a group affair – I am sorry, I think I have been preoccupying myself.
*
It was a Saturday; the streets were filled with people, endless traffic flow of crowd streaming to their destination choices. Not wanting to sound like a complete sadist, but I have this love-hate relationship with crowds and people – one part of me loves to be with the crowd, be it to be there at the moment when things happened, whatever they may be; and the other part of me dislikes the crowd, ever moving and seemingly without any grace, patience, acceptance of any people that may deemed to have fallen behind, just because they are slightly a little weaker than the average. Of course, then there are the ugly Singaporeans as well – or, in general, ugly humans (not in terms of appearance).
A cancelled out shopping meet with high school friends (A + S) resulted in another solotripping within just two weeks short, but I had a goal; and it was completed at about 2000 hours sharp. Before heading for a neighbourhood dinner (A + S), I wanted to spend some quality time sipping root beer float, lazily on an armchair that probably wasn’t cleaned ever since day #1 of operations, but guess what – I am dirty like that, and I like that. My legs were beginning to feel enlightened – it was a hard day of endless walking and browsing, and they deserved a good damn break. Towering city buildings were everywhere, and after escaping Centrepoint, OG stood there, bright lights everywhere. I glanced up at the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone dining there, in Hemisphere.
Darkness; fears. Damn.
I rushed up the steps, the escalator, hoping that it was untrue. But it was; from the remains of the local design section of the department store to just the well-hidden cafe hangout, it was now dominated by children’s merchandise. The entrance to the cafe now led to hollowness and emptiness, with no sign of belongings, of life beyond the restricted area to the secret of the city; my secret of the city.
Half of me wanted to do the ridiculous and dramatic of jumping over the barrier to have a glimpse of what was the remains of it all, but the realistic half of me got the better. After trying my hardest to see that this was not a joke, and it wasn’t, and that people weren’t just hiding behind the corner/pillar to the dining/seating area in a secret thrill to surprise me, I turned and left, with the disappointment of:- (a) losing a good spot in the city to the everchanging and developing city; (b) not having my root beer float; (c) not getting to laze, furthermore, outside, like I wanted to.
You gave me breathing space; you gave me a place to rest my weariness. You gave me an opportunity to laugh at the big majesty city; you offered me comfort and disillusion, a chance to fall back and still manage a soft landing. You were like a city’s best kept secret (to me, in a small scale basis), and yet a secret to most you will forever be.
Thank you, and I miss you and I will miss you.
Just some of the few people who may/may not just miss you, as well:
(I don’t know you but I hope you don’t mind)
http://orionstar76.blogspot.com/2008/01/lunch-with-isabelle-at-hemisphere-cafe.html
http://food-for-your-thoughts.blogspot.com/2006/10/hemispheres-cafe.html
http://cafediaries.livejournal.com/
And some everlasting memories (A + S inclusive):
Filed under: A Wanderer At Heart, I Dig, In This City, Life, Pictures, Sightings, Talkings In My Head, Thank You Friends, Thoughts | Leave a Comment
Tweet-sessed Pt. II
These are my confessions.
On the last post, I declared a “Miley Cyrus hiatus” status on Twitter. And yet two days down, on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009, I resurfaced; couldn’t resist holding back my mind’s thoughts any longer. It is not as though I have something important to say anyway – most of all don’t; just that I need to… tweet… share thoughts… couldn’t resist… any… further.
This Twitter thing is serious shit.
This Twitter obsession is deep serious shit.
During the absence of posting, I even thought of hits that could have easily converted to Twitter-related topics. Like, for instance – “I Tweet A Feeling” (The Black Eyed Peas’ original), “Tweet Me For A Reason” (Boyzone’s original), “Just Tweet” (Lady Gaga’s original)… the list can go on and on, but it is that time of the night when my brain malfunctions and thinks of sleep, of dreams and of unnecessary things. Afterall, it has been a hard work week.
This could be a good song on the subject. Tonight for the night, follow for Twitter’s following. Get it, get it?
I think I better crack. I am cracking lame jokes.
Overheard, too:
Q: What type of cheese is not your cheese?
A: Nacho cheese!
I. Better. Sleep.
(P.S. I am not being a drama mama or drag queen here)
Filed under: Spent Way Too Much Time Online, Talkings In My Head, Thoughts, Virtual | Leave a Comment
