30/9/2003
Starting tomorrow, yours truly will officially be stepping into the
next phase of life – working life. Yes, so I've finally found
a job. I'm gonna be working as a writer with PC Magazine Malaysia.
What do I really do then? I review PC products, fiddle around
with gadgets, attend product launches, report on technology conferences,
etc. In other words, uber-geeky tech stuff. Not something that I thought
I'd get involved with, but it's one foot in the door so I ain't complaining.
Yet.
It's kinda scary actually. On the one hand it's good that I finally
have a routine in my life again instead of just getting up and wondering
what to do for the rest of the day. On the other, this routine is
gonna last me my whole life. It's the proverbial rat race from now
on.
Last weekend was pretty sucky. I missed the Jazzy Jeff
gig completely cos the two friends that I was supposed to go with
copped out at the last minute. Bastards. Apparently the KL crowd was
pretty bad; people started leaving the dancefloor halfway through
Jeff's set cos he played lots of old-school stuff and relatively obscure
hip-hop. Sigh ... that's the clubbing crowd in KL for you.
It's been ages since I tucked my shirt in. Wish me luck as I gallantly
head off to join the white-collar lemming march.
26/9/2003
Wow ... I so updated.
Attended another interview earlier this week. Went pretty well, better
than the last. I've my fingers crossed for this one.
Thanks to Michelle,
here's what I bought from Djangos:
Matmos – Civil War (on the strength of the
track played on the Four Tet Breezeblock mix. Speaking
of which, go check Aural Prostitution out) Pretty Girls Make Graves – New Romance
(quite liked their first album, hope it isn't as short though) D.M. & Jemini – Ghetto Pop Life
(released on the Warp hip-hop offshoot label Lex; should be good ...
?) The Decemberists – Her Majesty The Decemberists
(this is a longshot) Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In
People (I have this on MP3, but I really like the band and the
album, and I wanna support them, so there) Dosh – Dosh (umm ... this is on Anticon,
but it's instrumental so hopefully it's a safe bet)
Happy happy joy joy!
A couple of friends and I went up to this hill resort called Genting
Highlands last weekend. The last time I went up there was almost 10
years ago so I thought it'd be nice to see what the place looks like
nowadays. There are theme parks and stuff but the real attraction
is its casino, which is probably where 95% of the resort's revenue
comes from.
Here's what I observed from my trip. There are three major groups
of people in a casino. First you have the players. Middle-aged men
and women, Asian tourists and the smattering of rich, young males
with trophy girlfriends, all replete with hard game faces who look
like they've got something against everyone else in the place. Simple
rules to follow for a convincing game face - when you place your chip
on the table, don't lay it down. Push it with one finger. When you
lose a round, blink once and stare away slowly. When you light up,
don't inhale the smoke, breath it. And when you exhale, do
it through the corner of your mouth. Secondly you have the croupiers.
Slick haired, bow-tied and silk-shirted. At your service to either
make or break your life and who probably don't give a damn if you
lose your life savings cos it's not part of their job to care. And
finally, you have the likes of me who take their places behind the
tables, observing every show of cards, flick of the croupier's wrist
and turn of the roulette, all while gawking at the insane amount of
money that gets exchanged every second. The whole place was just one
Robert De Niro short of a scene from a movie.
Tomorrow I see Jazzy Jeff spin at the Hard Rock Café.
Yes, that's Jazzy Jeff as in 'Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince'.
But don't let the Will Smith association fool you. Jeff has been instrumental
in a lot of stellar hip-hop and R&B releases, responsible for
people like Jill Scott and one of the members of
the Philly neo-soul movement which includes people like Dwele,
Vikter Duplaix and Slum Village.
For once, a local club night which I'm genuinely excited about.
Apparently my boxes have already reached Malaysia so here's hoping
that I'll get to see my beloved, shiny little discs soon. My precioussssssss
...
16/9/2003
Just quickly - I've finally updated my Aural Prostitution
section with something new. Any self-respecting jazz/soul/funk fan
shouldn't pass this up. Over and out.
13/9/2003
Everyone else is doing it, so why can't I? I'm sure a lot of you out
there are dying to profess your admiration for me, so to make things
easier, you can now comment on every post I make on my blog. Yes!
The future is now! Unbelievable isn't it, how quick technology progresses?
So get typing already.
11/9/2003
I don't believe it. Kreidler, a Pitchfork-worthy
band that's been dubbed 'Germany's Tortoise',
is actually gonna be performing
in KL! It's part of a local German cultural centre's effort
to promote, well, German culture and Kreidler, apparently, represents
what Germany has to offer in terms of music. Weirder things have
happened, but this comes close to topping the list. I am so gonna
be wearing my Neu!T-shirt
to the gig!
10/9/2003
Has anyone noticed that the iPod is becoming the new Bentley? Mary
J. Blige has one in the video for 'Love At First Sight'.
Even 50 Cent rocks one in 'P.I.M.P'. If Mr Cent
had known when he got shot nine times that he'd survive to own an
iPod one day, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded getting popped a
couple more times. What's next, Snoop Dogg rapping
about his new PC?
3/9/2003
Did a search for my name on Google (as I always do, cos I'm vain
like that) and found out that Artnet.com
in New York used a couple of my Banksy
pics without my permission. I think I'm gonna sue. After I remove
this little picture here on the right ...
Anyway, having grown used to sparking conversations with random
strangers in London, I had all but forgotten how socially inept
a large majority of Malaysians are. My first week back in KL I nearly
slipped and fell at this restaurant. I thought I'd make a joke out
of an otherwise embarrassing moment and told the nearby waiter (in
Malaysian pidgin English), "Dude ... your floor nearly killed
me!" All I got in response was, "Yeah." It was so
icy-cold that it's probably the reason why I slipped in the first
place.
Last weekend I hung out in Bangsar (a sorta mini-Soho in KL) and
I was walking back to my car. The place is horribly packed on weekends
and parking spaces are scarce. If you wanna park anywhere remotely
near to the nightspots you'd have to circle the area like a vulture
and hope you don't have to beat the crap out of someone for a space.
Or for that matter, get the crap beaten out of you. Okay, it's not
that bad, but you get the picture. Horribly packed. So. I was walking
back to my car and this guy was approaching in his. I thought I'd
be nice and tell him to wait for a moment cos I'm getting out soon
so I waved and pointed at my car repeatedly. Stop he did. Not to
wait for my space, but to stare at me like, "You gotta problem?"
And he sped off. My friend who was with me asked me what I did that
for.
"What, that waving and pointing?"
"Yeah."
"I was just trying to tell him to wait for my space."
"You probably freaked the guy out! If you did that to me, I
woulda thought you were either drunk or just plain weird."
"Oh."
