dikhabarkan

i've been told many things. i've been told that man cannot fathom the vastness of space, i've been told that there are lives at stake when one loses faith, i've been told that you cannot feel what another can face, and all and everything in between. i've also been told that i cannot write in a foreign language. i tried writing in (what little smattering of) french last week, and i found myself very much wanting. it has been an interesting experience, though - one that i intend to keep to myself because french is such a puzzling language! i cannot understand now how it can be so romantic, yet when i try for and towards such things, all i can see is eyesore. so, today, a little bit of malay:

dibuahkan hujan seribu bahasa,
mencari peniti melangkah jambatan;
dikhabarkan padaku seribu binasa,
biar padamu aku doakan.

janganlah dendangkan selamat tinggal,
lagu sumbang menyingkap sanubari;
dikhabarkan padaku benang sepintal,
membuat teman mengganti mentari.

mencari ratu sehingga syria,
biar terpaksa menerbangkan takhta;
mengenang hati dan mata si dia,
dikhabar lagi warnanya raksa.

janganlah khuatir tentang persoalan,
bermain di minda bermadah bicara;
khabarkan padaku buatmu sialan,
dalam hati ni sematkan segala.

khabarku padamu, padanya, padaNya; tiada erti coretanku lagi,
namun begitu dikhabarkan pula, tak pernah merasa pun hatiku ini.

going solo like a baws

i wanted to post a list of the most awesome guitar solos of all time, but then i realised that my coverage of music is somewhat limited. instead, i'll post some of my favourite guitar solos (and some not-so-favourites, but just because they're awesome). i need to find some peeps with more varied musical inclinations so that i may sample better auditory hallucinations. only once you've drunk from the seas of rhye can you judge the bitterness of ambrosia!

10. thank you for the venom by my chemical romance
my chemical romance was one of those bands that defined my university years. don't get me wrong, nobody's being an emokid here (well, maybe a little bit), i just liked their music. past tense being the active word here. i still listen to 'three cheers for sweet revenge' and 'the black parade' on the occasion, but their latest album (of which i cannot even recall the title. edit: it's 'danger days') delivers mostly in disappointment. this solo is performed by ray toro.


9. knights of cydonia by muse
another cult popular band is the british trio, muse. at first, i must admit, i did not like muse. when my friends were going crazy over 'plug in baby', i thought their music to be too unrefined and raw. only later did i start liking this kind of music, and by that time, muse had moved on to more harmonious (if you can call this genre of music anything of the sort). check out the official clip, i love it - it's hilarious. and while you're at it, check the base on 'hysteria', which i've also included below. the solo is performed by matthew bellamy.
knights of cydonia because embedding has been disabled, boo.
hysteria, also because embedding has been gg'd.

8. monsters by matchbook romance
i've talked about this band before, and this song is exceptionally awesome. one of my all-time favourites. this solo is performed by ryan 'juda' depaolo
monsters: more disabled embedding.


7. talk shows on mute by incubus
no elaborations needed here. incubus is my second-most favourite band of all time. mike einziger rocks the guitar solo here like it's his little female dawg. their latest ablum, however, is lacklustre. but they always experiment with new stuff, and i'm willing to let this one slide, and keep waiting for the next album.


6. november rain by guns n' roses
for those who have never even listened to gnr, the name is still a hallmark of rock-idolatry, living in the fast lane, burning hard, lighting up, kickass music and flambouyant performances. axl rose is one of the most iconic frontmen of all time and they have this lead guitarist whose name, if i mention here will just burn through your monitor with awesomeness. it's slash. he does this (and many other solos) like a true guitar legend.


5. be yourself by audioslave
i guess that since were' down to the top 5 now, every guitarist i mention henceforth should be at least known to the masses. tom morello is no exception with his very technical and experimental riffs. i would talk about this superband in more detail, but we're only concerned with guitar solos today, so have at ye, tom morello!


4. stairway to heaven by led zeppelin
two words. jimmy. paige.


3. hotel california by eagles
eagles was a band that defined my father's 20's, and hence defined my childhood. back in the day, my dad would rock up some tequila sunrise on his vinyl with the turntable. my brother and i got used to changing the pinheads to make the sounds less distorted - we even had a couple of pins reserved for eagles. then my dad got cassettes and we listened to eagles every day after school. no doubt, we had memorised most of the greatest hits' lyrics (if not all). unfortunately, i cannot remember more than maybe half a dozen songs, now. less words. more listening. no particular person performs this solo, they do it as a group.


2. sweet child o' mine by guns n' roses (slash is such a baddas mofo)
because slash is such an epic guitarist, he made it twice into this list. initially i thought sweet child o' mine would be a most definite pick for my top spot, but after deliberating, i've got something else in store for you.


1. i believe in a thing called love by the darkness / don't stop me now by queen
i wanted to write something quite elaborate here. however, i think i've written too long and my time is short. you may have noticed this, as we progressed down the list, my paragraphs have shortened substantially. if not, then now you realise. anyway. it's a tie here between the darkness (3 solos in the same song! which are conducted by justin and dan hawkins, and frankie poullain); and my favourite band of all time, queen (whose solo is rocked up by brian may)



enjoy!

Fe2O3 like hell

i was rummaging through some old files today to get rid of unwanted and outdated stuff on my (relatively new) computer. i found a huge pile of letters i was trying to send to fermina, but never had the guts to send. needless to say, i revisited them and broke down into a puddle of tears. well, not really, but that would be the sentimental thing to do, and in the stead that i cannot do that, i will write as if i did. a couple of things i forgot that i did were: 1) i wrote her ever day we were apart (and since we were just friends, this phrase is literal in the most platonic way, at least for her), and 2) wow, i was really blind back in the day.

here's a sample for half of you to go 'dawwwww' and the other half to laugh at. and maybe the other half to /facepalm.

i swore to love forever more,
for mountains high and chasms deep;
of stereotyped lines of four,
for heartless lovers oft to keep.

and swore again to love you still,
through aeons after death has died;
with nothing more than hardened will,
let unmet promises abide.

it still, was not to be enough,
of this, of you, i cannot blame;
like diamonds shining in the rough,
my own mistakes are my own shame.

of fault and fate, and ridicule,
from demons low, angels above;
for all to see i am a fool,
if for nothing more, than for love.

i lie prostrate in front of God,
and beg and pray he beckons come;
still now, i find this to be odd,
and weird, and tasteless, and then some.
how never would i wish for you,
if by this meant it would not be;
profound from hearts that speak so true,
instead forced unto you from me.

but how could i live not in pain?
and speak of wills that are lived free?
while preach to others naught in vain,
while in plain sight, i lie to see?
that in my stead you ‘ready chose,
a soul of bliss, eternal shines,
like maroon origami rose,
of his, of hers, of yours, of mines.

i cannot fib unto my own, and even moreso upon you;
so here i beg you claim this wish, and make this love at last come true.

such a dsck

henry miller wrote that there are only three things you can do with a woman. you can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature. a lot of people interpret this as that to get over a woman, you pen her down, and drown her in pages of silent sorrow. i just interpret it as miller being a total dsckfaes. he has no idea what he's talking about. and neither do i.

in bloom

a couple of weeks ago i travelled about 600km north of where i live, along with my parents, to enjoy some time away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. when i say big, i fail to mention that perth is just the right size of a city for my taste. possibly even slightly bigger than what i would prefer. but never you mind that.

in any case, the objective of the trip was to spend a few days away from it all (not really in the outback - still in a relatively acceptable slice of civilisation), and as per my father's wishes, view some rare australian wild flowers. now, it may seem mundane to most of us (i say 'us' because it's not my cup of tea to begin with), but apparently, these wild flowers don't bloom too often. once a year, in a window of a couple of weeks during the spring rains. i guess, for my father who had lived in australia for many years, this was something that brought back fond memories of his life here, and though i cannot say i could re-live his experiences, i am more than happy to accompany him on his vicarious pursuit of what is lost and stored at the back of his mind. in return, i hope that my children allow for the same; amidst bickering between the yet unnamed kids, and continual questions of 'are we there yet?', although i reckon that them not knowing this will make it entirely irrelevant.

so, we set out with a beggar's plight. dad, mom and i, accompanied by an aunt and cousin, on a sojourn of sort to see the various facades of the australian outback - from arid deserts to lush canyons (that sounds so counterintuitive, but there you have it), and most importantly to glimpse some desert flowers. i should remind myself here that the australian outback scene is very monotonous (and monochromatic). a red-brown hue as far as the eye can see, separated by a baby-blue sky by the horizon with nothing to see in miles. hence, even driving at speeds of 80 - 130 km/h, one can easily spot said flowers from a distance. the reds, oranges, whites and yellows stand out like phosphorescent fireflies on a calm, velvet night. which, if i may run off on a tangent, is eerily beautiful. i totally have this romantic setting in mind when it comes to fireflies in the night. except that it's usually accompanied by very humid and warm air, making me sweat and get slightly hot and bothered. although, that might be the whole agenda of setting up the frolicking with fireflies. oh yeah.

ahem. anyway, here's some pictures of flowers that we (might have) seen. i really cannot remember them all, and knowing me, i don't have any personal photos anyway.

p/s: god, not having written in ages makes me cringe when i read what i just wrote. so disorganised. deal with it.