Young Hearts Run Free

Now this is what you call a cover.

I Won't Give Up

Petter Hollens is awesome. That is all.

Go! Gogogo! Gogogo!

I think the direction for this video is tasteful and polished.

BTW, can you spot Elvira Arul?

Pure Win

Good Morning World

Heard this on BFM89.9 just now and thought it was an interesting take on the famous Bond song. Apparently Sir Paul himself chose Duffy to cover it.

Am I really who I was?

Home

There is something about this girl. Seriously.

In Your Arms

Kina Grannis and director Greg Jardin worked for 2 years to create this video clip. Talk about dedication. This is for SKR.


Check out the Making Of video here.

EPIC

Too good not to share. Found via Calvin Wong.

It's Not Where You Go, It's How You Get There

Sounding the call for change

Free wheelin'

Sharing the experience

Ceci n'est pas une walkway

Still brings a smile

Semalam

Just finished reading 'The English Patient' yesterday. Great stuff.

I'm wondering whatever happened to Sean Ghazi. Ayone has a clue? If there's any justice in the world he should be famous by now. Sigh.



How have your Chinese New Year celebrations been going? Well I hope. Honestly, I am just.so.not.in.the.mood this year. I just feel so tired of the world right now. Weltschmerz as the Germans call it. Don't ask why. I don't really know myself.

I hope you feel perkier than I do.

P.S. Congrats too Boo and Chloe on their new baby girl!

All Good Things

Roses fade,
Plays end their runs,
Coklat habis kena makan,
Long days out come to a close, 
Concerts stop after the encore,
And bank accounts eventually dry up...
but memories, well, they last a little longer, thankfully.

It was a good, nay, wonderful holiday.
I did much that I had wanted to do, although of course not everything that I had wanted.
Alack, tomorrow, I put on my rat suit again.
At least it'll be December, a (reputedly) relaxed month.
Christmas, then Turkey (the country, not the bird).
Must keep those things in mind. Must.

And here's a little musical distraction from my current indie It Girl Yuna.


Bon Nuit, peeps.

Yes Please!

Unfortunately for me, and all other Malaysians who enjoy music not found on the American Top 40, many great albums are not published in "Malaysian Editions" and sell for RM50 and above per CD. And you wonder why piracy flourishes?

As for some of the albums below, heck, I'd be lucky to find any edition in the stores.

Mumford & Sons
Sigh No More


Rufus Wainwright
All the Days are Nights: Songs for Lulu


Ray LaMontange & The Pariah Dogs
God Willing & The Creek Don't Rise


Arcade Fire
The Suburbs


Scissor Sisters
Night Work

Bilalah rakyat Malaysia akan dapat nikmati Amazon.com.my?

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sondheim!

Stephen Sondheim turns 80 today. The Broadway composer and lyricist has been a huge influence on the way I see musical theatre: that it doesn't need to be camp and obtuse, but has the capacity to be cerebral, challenging and artistic. This post is dedicated to the awesomeness that is his genius.

Did you know he wrote all the lyrics to West Side Story? The New York cast is coming to KL soon, by the way. If you are going to watch it, please don't tell me, because I'll probably hate you forever.


Mr. Sondheim isn't famous for simple, hummable tunes nor simple, family friendly musicals. His oeuvre covers many challenging, disparate, and at times unpleasant themes. "A Little Night Music" is about unfaithful aristocrats in turn of the century Sweden.


In "Sunday in the Park with George", he studies through music the struggles of a socially inept artist, George Seurat, trying to connect with the world and realise his creative vision as he paints his masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte.


He's also done killer barbers and cannibalistic pie bakers. Yup, he wrote the words and music to Sweeney Todd, which Tim Burton turned into an awesome movie.


In Company, the lead character is a commitment-phobic 30-something, Bobby.


He also wrote the music and lyrics for Dick Tracey's soundtrack.  Here, Ol' Madge sings "Sooner or Later" with flair at the 1991 Oscars.


This is just a small snippet of his work (19 musicals!), but he is, without dispute, one of the greatest composers and lyricists of musical theatre history.

Sooner or Later...

W says: [...] its a cut-throat race to the top
J says: [...]
J says: yeah it is a race
J says: a rat race
J says: but even if you win it
W says: [...]
J says: you're still a rat
W says: yup, but you can be a rich rat
W says: and have lots of power to step on other lesser rats
J says: [...]
W says: then again the cat might go for the biggest rat first



Have a rat-free week guys.
Algy

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho

Work begins tomorrow. I both loathe it and long for it, because my CNY "break" (an utterly inappropriate term) has been at various times frustrating, tiring, lacklustre and at one moment downright depressing. I hope you had more fun.

Enjoy this song, to all those who are returning to work with me tomorrow morning.

Cold Cold Hamburg

For SKR.

Angel

I watched Talentime on DVD recently, and this song has been stuck in my head since. It's written by Pete Teo and recorded by Atilia, (Pamela Chong plays Melur who sing it in the movie). Yasmin Ahmad truly was an angel, and it still saddens me she left us so soon.

The movie was a joy to watch, and unfortunately for us, we can only imagine what other stories Yasmin would have continued to tell had she lived on.

I have one HUGE problem with the DVD though: it has absolutely no subtitles! Now, the fact that it has no extras and no chapter divisions is already really bad, but having no subtitles is utterly ridiculous considering the movie has about 6 spoken languages and sign language as well. If you ask me, it makes no economic sense (how to export la?) and is a disfavour to Yasmin's legacy. Grand Brilliance, you are going to hear from me about this soon.

How Fragile We Are

We do indeed forget how fragile we are, but losing an 8 year old friend is probably the most painful way to be reminded. Wei Xiang's passing is still in the back of my mind.

Irreplaceable

I wonder, if he were still here, what sort of music he'd make, how many more hearts he'd touch, how he'd live his life. I guess I'll never know...