Music Music Music... :P

Had a great holiday (although this is only the 2nd week). Went down to Singapore to do a another project with him entitled Alice in Wonderland. Had a great 2 days of doing work although there was a lack of sleep in the end. It was fun and I really want to thank my parents for allowing me to do what I love, Varian for offering me this job and knowing that I really want to do it (although he pays me good money but that's not the actual reason why I'm doing it...honest!!!), my friends for their support for encouraging me to do what I want to do and of course my Dear Dear Dear Dear darling who knows how much I wanted to do these types of projects and as a result we have to put our holiday plans on hold for awhile.

I know some of you will probably call me a selfish jerk for not taking her for a holiday first, and truth to be told, the timing was a little crappy but we shifted our schedules around and hopefully we can be in langkawi by next week. The music job really tired me out and I am looking forward to a good rest in langkawi. I know it was only a 2 day job, but try keeping awake for 36 hours and getting your creative juices plugging into the Roland and the Mac and you can be physically drained out. I ended up sleeping in Starbucks Victoria Street while waiting for the shops to open. Poor Varian had to run out early in the morning to meet up with his boss at 8.30 am and we worked through the nite to get everything done up for the play.

I'm glad for Varian though. Hopefully everything will fall into place and he is able to do what he really wants to do and I get some of it too...hehehe. Over the number of projects I've done with Varian, I've noticed my style is getting kinda stale over the years. I suppose that's what will happen when you do too much computing studies and you get stuck with repetitiveness over and over again. Time to flush out and redo everything from the start so that when the next project comes I will have another set of juices flowing for the project.

One thing I've learnt or am trying to implement from Varian is a strong sense of respect for intellectual property or IP for short. He makes sure I get my dues from the songs that I did the last time in another project, asking from the artists permission for using his ambigram for his tattoo and paying respect and dues to the any artist (musically or artistically) for the usage of their works. It really gotten me thinking about the fact we Malaysians have still a long way in terms of respecting IP and we really need to think about it because otherwise musicians and artists in this country will run to our neighbours to make it big. Come to think about it, I think I'll do the same one day.

That's all for today. Time to play CnC 3 with the DVD Jackal bought from Holiday Plaza...cheerios!

- Written in Starbucks Taipan

Religous Tolerance?

There was an article on BBC recently on the Pope's 80th birthday that got me thinking about the sensitivity issues that plague every country since religion was founded. His Lordship was hoping that reciprocity would play a big part in harmonizing relationships between all religion although he explicitly mentioned the relationship between Muslims and Christians as a whole. Come to think about it, it does kinda make sense when we ponder over it. Why do the Western worlds emphasize so much on religion tolerance where only meritocracy plays a better part rather than religion or culture issues?

This is going to raise some hackles but another issue that was bugging the Pope and probably other non-Muslim country leaders is why must they accommodate Muslims and ensuring that they do not get offended in any ways possible but they (the Muslim countries themselves) have not ensured that they actually do the same for us? Any sane person will tell you that the development and advancement of any country is all about the productivity and and efficiency of it's citizens rather than spouting religious rhetorics and making a fool of themselves in general (Just look at the Taliban and you know what I mean). I know I may not be fair in in generalizing everyone like this but what set me off was the fact that minorities in the majority of muslim countries are not allow to profess or spread their religion or culture in that country whereas we see that Muslims are allowed to do the same in non-Muslim countries.

Just this morning I was reading another article on BBC that Islamic hardliners have killed 3 people in a Bible publishing house in Turkey. You don't see that around in a non-Muslim country all the time do you? Of course we do see cases like this at certain times but I feel it is more of redneck-ignorance that contributed to the persecution of Muslims rather than any actual religious basis. Certain political parties in Malaysia are merely paying lip-service to Islam but they are actually more concern with the survival of their own swine-skin rather than the advancement of their own people. Although Malaysia has a higher tolerance level in terms of religion and cultural mingling, I fear it is not going to last for long as we can see how Germany ended up in the early 19th century.

Musical Musings

Ever since I was a kid, I've always been a big fan of musicals and I really enjoy them whether they were on TV or in the theater. I will always remember the day I watched the Phantom Of The Opera in the Kallang Theater (the Esplanade aka Big Durian wasn't built then) and I was fascinated with the theatrics and effects that made musicals so wonderful. Of course, I have to mention it was still under the directorship of Sir Andrew Loyd Webber back then and nothing beats it like the original stuff. Pestered my parents to buy the book for me and I still have with me after more than 10 years since I've watched it.

Anyway, I've just completed downloading scrubs season 6 and there is one episode that I've never failed to watch it over and over again. It is episode six and it is special cuz the whole episode was a musical itself. Just watching it gave me the thrill, the happiness that I've never experienced for a long time in any movie or tv series. I was also sad because deep inside me that is just what I wanted to do...to write my own musical. I'm very lucky cuz my good friend Varian has given me the chance to monkey around with his projects by writing and re-arranging songs for his work and if possible I will never turn it down even if it means making the trip back to JB and Singapore from KL. I just feel a sense of loss every time each of his project is completed and I will always wish it will never end. Although it is hard work (we end up working like mad without any sleep and sad to say, we smoke like crazy too), there is nothing better than to see your work and arrangements being used for another musical, tv series and etc..

I suppose once I've earned enough moolah for all the equipment I need for my own recording, I'll outsource projects and also do my own compositions at that time. In the mean time, I'll just concentrate on my FYP and other misc stuff for the moment and hope that He will give me a chance to prove myself someday.

Muppets With Scrubs

Many thanks to my good bro here, Navin aka crimpmaster...wait i think it's cryptmaster for introducing me to the TV series scrubs. For those of you that do not know this great TV series, you do not know what you are missing. I've found a special extra that is not within the many Scrubs season that I have here. Just watch this one :

Sony M2 Card

Guess wat folks! Just won myself of a 1GB sony m2 card. Never expected to win it though...I just entered the lucky draw at CnetAsia last year around October. Hehehe...Only one problem though. I bought my 1GB card from a friend in the US recently cuz it was cheaper than the one in Msia and Singapore.

Seeing that fact that I can only use one card per time, this card would be given to my darling for her potentially new phone..the Z610. Soli lor..I can't afford to buy her a new phone yet. hehe. Gonna dump plenty of songs inside it so i can bring my music around with me. Now to enjoy my new M2 card I'm going to chuck everytime of junk i can think of inside. Adios.

3 Trees

This is a story about 3 trees. Read on...



The 3 Trees. A Nice story.



Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.
They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the
first tree said,
"Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be
filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could
be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would
see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty
ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters
and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will
feel safe in me because of the strength of my
hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the
tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People
will see me on top of the Hill and look up to my
branches, and think of the heavens and God and how
close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest
tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams
would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees.
When one came to the first tree he said,
"This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be
able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began
cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew
that the carpenter would make him into a treasure
chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like
a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the
shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew
he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was
frightened because he knew that if they cut him down
his dreams would not come true. One of the Woodsmen
said, "I don't need anything special from my Tree,
I'll take this one," and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was
made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed
in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all
what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing
boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying
kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left
alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their
dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She
gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the
feed box that was made from the first tree. The man
wished that he could have made a crib for the baby,
but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of
this event and knew that it had held the greatest
treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat
made from the second tree. One of them was tired and
went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a
great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was
strong enough to keep the men safe. The
men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said "Peace" and the
Storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it
had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was
carried through the streets as the people mocked the
man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop,
the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air
to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the
tree came to realize that it was strong enough to
stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God
as was possible, because Jesus had been
crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem
to be going your way, always know that God has a plan
for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will
give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in
the way they had Imagined.

We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We
just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways
are always best.

Please keep this moving... Pass it on, so God may
inspire more people on the way.

May your day be blessed. And until we meet again, may
God cradle you In the palm of His hand