Managed to catch a bit of Glenn Terry's brilliance at Barefoot on Sunday afternoon. Refreshing no doubt :) |
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Glenn Terry in action
Monday, 8 December 2008
Friday, 28 November 2008
Friday, 21 November 2008
Extinguished fire
This turning into a recluse business is hard work. But, i've mastered the art of not stepping out of the house for 4-5 days at a time, preferring to live out my days (and nights!) in hadu tshirts and boxers alone. I probably get out maybe a couple of times a week. Once for the week's paper, the second maybe to meet a friend or two. And the rest of the time I'm cooped in front of my comp trying to pay attention to useless procedural laws. What a rubbish life! |
Monday, 6 October 2008
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
30076 Sujeewa, I wish you were dead
I just got a ticket and it wasn't my fault! Ok, i'm sure plenty of people have used that excuse, but hear me out! |
crafted by Confab at 15:28 11 musings
Friday, 19 September 2008
Tony Blair on Jon Stewart
One of the funniest talk show hosts meets one of the few respectable politicians of our time. Watch it here - you won't be sorry. |
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Home
It was 6 months out in a place I had only ever been to once before, that when I was 3. |
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Singfest - Day 1
crafted by Confab at 23:38 0 musings
Labels: Gigs, live music
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Forks in the road on a dark knight
The proverbial fork in the road is right in front of me, and although I'd bet my last pair of underwear that it was never there 2 seconds ago, now I can't avoid it much like a driver who wakes up a few feet before a lamp-post. The thing is, I had expected to be cruising along for a long while before I came to the fork, but i must've accidentally stumbled upon the shortest short cut ever and now it's too soon to decide and I can't decide. The surprise shocked; it appeared at first to be a dead end. But it wasn't, though I never really recovered from the initial shock although I kept a deadpan face. Then the two roads at the fork appeared. That too shocked. Too soon. Too soon. But one seems the obvious choice, but it wasn't on the cards. The other was what I was expecting gladly, although I wasn't expecting it to be peppered with pot holes and speed bumps as it is going to be so now I'm not so glad. On another note, for those Batman fans out there, Dark Knight is a great movie. I think the Batman series has made the best superhero movies by far, when compared with spiderman, superman, the fantastic four, hulk, etc, etc. Well, catch it, and enjoy! |
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Roo Radio
I stumbled across Roo Radio (possibly here too) purely by accident yesterday, while looking for something to listen to as my external hard drive that my music is stored on is completely buggered. Hopefully trusty Chaar-max will fix things for me when I'm back home:) |
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Legal Jargon
It's public knowledge now that the powers that be want to impose that the Law College is to conduct all its courses and exams in only the English medium. As to be expected, there's been plenty of ha ho about the whole darned change with plenty of people opposing the reforms. But I for one think that it is a good move (one of very few exercised by those in power!), mainly because currently exams and lectures are only conducted in English or Sinhalese. No points for guessing what's wrong there. Secondly, I think it will eliminate the language barrier at least in the legal profession. To me, that's a huge start, and one that's long overdue, for I firmly believe that the language barrier was the cause of our problems and is the obstacle to our solution. Living in Singapore has opened my eyes to a few things. All this hue and cry back home about safeguarding the language of the majority is a load of bollocks. Chinese make up 75.2% of Singapore's population, followed by the Malays, Indians and Eurasians. However, since independence, Singapore maintained English as its main language, and this has definitely helped bridge the races and attract expat workers like ants to honey. So hats off to them law pundits. |
crafted by Confab at 15:00 1 musings
Labels: Government, Laws, Sri Lanka
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Beach Touch!!!
I have just woken up the morning after, my skin is stinging, my legs are like lead and there's sand in my hair! |
Friday, 27 June 2008
What I would do for some crack!
The book I'm currently reading is disgusting, interesting, sickening, beautifully written, heart wrenching and captivating, all at the same time, not forgetting controversial. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey may be a memoir that is not genuine as the author would like it to be, but it does drill in to you the dangers of excessive use of drugs and alcohol. I'm glad that it's not genuine in a way because I wouldn't want to believe people actually go through the hell that recovering addicts in the book go through, although I'm sure in reality there are those who have. My question is this. In the book a counsellor named Sophie insists that addiction is a disease. According to her, addiction is an incurable disease and one that can be hereditary. What do you think? Do you know any addicts? |
Saturday, 21 June 2008
53A at Timbre @ the Substation
I've heard alot of good things about Timbre, but i've never really managed to head out there. So finally found the time to go there and boy was it worth it. |
crafted by Confab at 10:12 4 musings
Labels: live music
Ode to Rambukwella
If what the Sunday Leader says here is true, and I'm convinced it is, Keheliya Rambukwella is an idiot. Ramith, or whatever his son's name is, and a couple of his mates broke into the office of the Senior Games Master of Royal College and stole a couple of files relating to their disciplin. However, the idiots got caught. Rambukwella junior is a fucktard So Ramith decides to deny the whole incident. What he didn't realise is his dear friends, who obviously don't have parents who are celebrities in the tale of our banana republic, confessed to the incident and even concurred that Ramith broke the lock. Rambukwella senior is a disgrace So College institutes disciplinary action against the students. However, Old Rambukwella decides to pay a visit to the principal and threaten a fundamental rights petition against the principal for taking disciplinary measures against his kid. Now, if i'm not mistaken, this guy has lived abroad. He is also the defence spokesperson for the government and the Minister of foreign employment. What faith can we as a people entrust in a leader like him when he threatens the process of justice? How dare he even try to initimidate the school authorities? If I was principal I would've kicked Ramith and his accomplices out of the school! While I'm proud to be an old boy of the school that is unting to stand up against the pressure exerted by the Government, my pride to be a Sri Lankan diminishes with every passing day when I hear of such incidents. When an educated, exposed member of Government cannot comprehend that his blood is in the wrong, then how can I expect much more from his colleague Mervin Silva? How I pray for the day where the "big" people are made to eat their own shit. |
crafted by Confab at 10:09 2 musings
Labels: Government, Royal
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Here goes.
In my absence from the blogging world, apart from preparing to take the plunge, Chaarmax has tagged for a number of bare-all experiments. So, in the true spirit of things, I shall take this opportunity to bear all while I type the 7 random things about me. |
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Catching Up
After weeks of leaving it for later, I finally took the plunge today and had my keyboard replaced. 100 bucks and a couple of hours later, I’ve got a fully functional keyboard (no more start menu pop-ups!) and an extra stick of RAM (it was a long time coming). What prompted me to take action was something that happened last night. Now, for a few weeks I’ve been using an external keyboard and not touching the laptop’s keyboard, which worked fine. But for some reason, while chatting to the missus last night, the damn start menu popped up from nowhere. That was that! No more procrastinating. So it’s done and I’m glad. Enough about that. Over the last month I’ve had quite a few visitors. Firstly Jim (remember him from the band?) and Lindsay arrived. Got to spend some time with them which was good, cause I’m not sure when our paths will cross again. Then the missus herself came, and we had a blast for a whole month. Somewhere during that month my cousin arrived. So all in all May was a good month. May was also the month that the Lanka Lions toured Kuala Lampur. Lanka Lions is a cricket team in Singapore made up of mainly, you guessed it, Lankans. However, the team also has a couple of Indians and even a Chinese guy. The first team is arguably the best in Singapore and features quite a few national players. Now obviously I don’t play for that one. I play for the second team, which plays in a far more relaxed league and the games are fun. So both teams (minus the national players who were playing some ICC tournament) along with Russell Arnold, who incidentally joined us for the tour, set off for KL by coach. We were to play 2 matches in KL against the Royal Selangor teams. We lost both, although the matches were close. In our defence, playing cricket while severely hungover is harder than convincing Hillary to give up her campaign (btw congrats to Obama!). However, Mr Arnold lived up to his name, taking 4 wickets and also scoring 54, which was not enough to pull it off for us unfortunately. Oh well, good times. A couple of weekends on, the missus and I went down to Sentosa island to check it out. Fuck the cable car ride to the island was super, although I must admit I was shitting bricks at first. When we got to the island, I knew that I had to be on the Sentosa Luge. The luge involves going up over trees and a hill in one of em skylifts used by skiers to get to the top of the mountain. You know where you sit with your legs dangling? Now that was some freaky shit too. I was scared my slippers were gonna come off. I was scared to even look back coz we were going up the mountain. But it was quiet the view from up there, well the bit I dared to look anyway. Coming down the hill was more fun I thought. We had to get into these lil motor-less go carts and speed down the hill, much like sledding but with wheels and steering. AwesomeJ Last Friday, went out to Novus, which is the bar at the National Museum in Singapore, with a few colleagues to say bye over drinks to a couple of lawyers. The setting is beautiful, situated in a courtyard which has been done up with flowing water, candles, white canopies and low lighting. Apart from the 1 for 1 drinks offer before 9, the two piece band was super!! They were playing all the hits from the 70s and the 80s and it was great. After that wound up, went and plonked myself at Sex and the City with friends and it was rubbish. However, it was strange to hear the audience oooh-ing and aah-ing each time carrie bradshaw came out in a new outfit. “OMG Look at her shoes. They are gorgeous aren’t they lah?”. Agh. That’s when I decided that it’s time to take a nap. Time in Singapore has gone by super fast. Almost 4 months done, and I’ll be back in the sunny(er) shores of Sri Lanka soon. Too bad I’ll miss the season where all the bloggers will be in town. Don’t drink too muchJ |
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Back from hibernation.
So the comp is usable thanks to an external keyboard. Hence, I can finally catch up on all the blog posts I've missed. Also, I can finally blog about the many things i've wanted to, such as my friends being robbed in the beautiful Unawatuna, Novus lounge bar in Singapore, the last month with the missus, KL with the Lanka Lions and Russel Arnold, food picture posting bloggers, and much more. |
Saturday, 17 May 2008
hiding under a rock
ok i can explain my absence. cant do it in many words though. |
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Choices
I was just reading Gutterflower's latest post, and it reminded me about something i've been thinking of lately. It's a concept that's hard to explain, but it involves choices, space, personal idiosyncrasies, personalities, social groups, religions, age and basically everything else that makes each of us so very different to the other. |
crafted by Confab at 17:41 10 musings
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Can I see some ID please?
Ok, so I have this issue that keeps bugging me now and again, more so out here in Singa-land. See, I'm in my mid-twenties, having turned 18 a little after the y2k season. But people keep thinking I'm around 20 years old, and, while that would've been great if I had been a girl, I'm not sure that's such a great compliment for a guy. Is it? ...do I not look 24 to you? |
crafted by Confab at 05:21 13 musings
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Drastic Fantastic - Singapore
(photo by loh_junwei) I had a few issues about going alone for a gig. But I'm new to Singapore, so from the few people I know, I couldn't find any who liked KT Tunstall enough, or knew who she was for that matter, to go for her gig. So it was decided. I'm going solo and it'll still be a blast. And it was! I thought it was going to be a pretty intimate gig with maybe about 500 people. But boy was I wrong. The Suntec City Convention Room 603 had been transformed into a gig-hall complete with seating for 2250 and standing capacity for about 500. However, although the gig was scheduled to get on the way at 8, when I got there at 7:45 the place was almost empty! So I was thinking "poor KT Tunstall, she's never gonna want to come here ever again!" But I was wrong. At 8:30 when the gig actually kicked off, the place was full, and it actually was a room full of KT Tunstall fans...I sure wasn't out of place:) As soon as KT took the stage, the crowd went nuts! She played right into the hands of everyone there that night. The sound was brilliant, the band was tight and not flashy, the back-up singers were hot, the lighting was mood-friendly and KT Tunstall was amazing and lovable! What a combination! Moreover, what a talent she is! She went through the slow acoustic numbers and the fast rocky songs with equal intensity, keeping the crowd focussed on her music more than anything else in such a way that there was pin-drop silence amongst 3000 people. Between songs she'd talk to the crowd and crack jokes, making us all laugh. She'd also explain what her songs are about, for instance "Funny Man" is about a friend of hers that lost his mind, Black Horse & the Cherry Tree is about good and evil, which made the whole thing very personal. KT really won the hearts and minds and, possibly, a few thousand extra CD sales from, the entire audience. She was truly lovable. The highlights for me were firstly, her solo version of Black Horse & the Cherry Tree, which I had been dying to see live ever since I caught it on youtube, Funny Man, her version of Walk Like an Egyptian and Suddenly I see. What a night. 3 Thumbs up! Btw, she did mention that it's a fact that when you take all the people who lived on this planet ever, there's only 9 dead people for every live person. Is that true? |
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Arey Raptha-raa-ra-rah!
Here's wishing a great time to all those who celebrate the Roy-Tho spirit. It's undoubtedly going to be a great party back in Colombo for the next 3 days, and I'm sad to be missing it. But I hope the weather holds up and the cricket is captivating, at least until the alcohol starts to kick in. May you drink warm arrack shandied with cream soda for 3 days whilst you have a blast! On a side note, go Royal! |
Converse loving ants, and other stories.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
The night that Light Grenades went BOOM
Might I warn you, this has not been love. This has been infatuation. I first came across Incubus some time in 2000, when I heard "Drive". Back then I didn't even know who they were, let alone the fact that they'd been around for about 7 years by then. But the song was an instant favourite with me, as it was to a bajillion others. I loved the sound of the funky acoustic guitar riffs coupled with scratchpads, weird noises, great drum and bass, and a beautiful voice! And that was what sparked it. Then I did what every right minded Asian kid did back then, back when downloading wasn't big, especially in Sri Lanka on dial-up. I went and bought the CD "Make Yourself" for 150 bucks from Majestic City. I didn't listen to anything else for weeks. Months even. To-date it still ranks as one of my top picks, and it would be with me on the dessert island, should I end up on one. Some of my favourite Incubus songs ever is on that album, such as Pardon Me, Make Yourself, Stellar, and Drive. This was one fucking great band. Back in 2002, the Lady gave me "Morning View", and it wasn't from MC, so I was in my element! From start to end it was a brilliant work of art. It was definitely not a powderpuff. This was a heavyweight. Packed with a variety of songs such as the red-bull-like "Nice to Know You" and "Aqueous Transmissions", the super-massive hit "Wish You Were Here", "Mexico", "11 AM" and "Warning Signs" amongst others, the album changed the way the world saw Incubus. Or at least they changed my world. But that sounds corny. Nevertheless, this album is what officially made them my favourite band. Although "A Crow Left of the Murder" did not receive rave reviews, to me it was a great album. I had been starved of new Incubus music for a while, so when it was released I headed down to MC. By the time "Light Grenades" came out, I'm happy to say I had a stable broadband connection:) So you have obviously gathered by now that I have been dying to see them live for a long time. I missed them in the UK twice because, first I was broke, and then the next time I was in Sri Lanka on holiday. Sigh. Having finished 3 years in the UK, when i returned to Sri Lanka I was pretty convinced that I was destined never to see them. Mind you I had seen a gazillion of their gigs on screen. But I used to think that they'd probably break up before I can manage to find myself at a concert of theirs. And then there's fate! 2 Weeks after signing on to a new job which was to send me to Singapore for 6 months on work, Incubus announced that it would be playing Singapore on the 7th of March as part of the Light Grenades Tour. I hadn't even started work, but I bought my ticket in December. I wasn't sure who else was going or whether i'd know anyone there, but i didn't care. This was fate, and I wasn't going to play around with a chance like this. However, B, also a die-hard fan, got tickets too. So we planned to do this right. Having found myself in Singapore, one of the first things I did was pick up my ticket. When I did, I breathed a sigh of relief. On the day, I was excited, but still I couldn't believe that I was actually going to see the band of my dreams live! Unfortunately I was hounded with work, so I only managed to leave office at 6pm. The gig started at 8. I made it to Fort Canning Park by 6:30pm, by which time there was already a kilometre long line to get in. But the queue moved first, and I managed to position myself in the middle, where I had this view. I wasn't far from the front, so I wasn't disappointed. The plan was to be close enough to the front to be able to wringle my way through as far as I could go;) Saosin, dubbed as one of the hottest bands making waves now, opened with an hour's set. To be honest, I hadn't heard their music before, but judging by the crowd's reaction, they were pretty darn popular. Most of these kids knew every word to their songs and were already moshing and bouncing off ppl! I, on the other hand, was saving my energy for Incubus. The crowd went wild when Incubus came onstage. Chris Kilmore kicked things off by setting off some eerie melodic sounds which was to be the start of "Quicksand" off "Light Grenades", the first ever song I'd ever seen/heard Incubus play live. Thank god they started with a quiet one, cause the energy in the air could've been cut with a guitar fret board. The mellow beginning only lasted for a few minutes, as they quickly lashed into "A Kiss to Send Us Off", and that was it. The sweaty bodies moving, swaying, jumping as one had begun, and it was to last for an hour and forty minutes. Oh man, from that point on it was all a blur to me. I mean, I can remember everything, but it's beyond description. There was so much energy, so much intensity, so much talent on stage, and not enough water. I can't tell you how many songs they played, or in which order. Some highlights were definitely the whole crowd of probably abt 2500-3000 jumping up and down together for Anna Molly and singing the words to Drive with Brandon and only Mike on guitar. What am I saying, the whole concert was one big highlight. B and I were jumping so hard our bodies still hurt. It was so hot that we had to take off our t-shirts just so that we could breathe. It was just one mass of sweaty bodies, and had the attention not been on Incubus, I would've had a problem with that. When they played the opening chords to Megalomaniac, I dedicated that moment to Mahinda, and then went nuts. I was thinking earlier today that it was real, I was there, and I have lived. Now, when will I see them again? |
crafted by Confab at 17:10 2 musings
Labels: Gigs, live music
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Belated Greetings from Singapore 2!!!
So I have been meaning to do this for a while now! However, I had net issues. Blogger is blocked at work, which means I can't even read blogspot blogs while working either! Secondly, I thought I was in luck when I found an unsecured network in the apartment complex, yet that turned out to be very very sporadic to the extent that i'd be walking around the house with laptop in hand trying to get connected, and then when connected i'd try and finish as much as possible on the net before I get disconnected, which wasn't very long at all. Sigh. More on the Lanka Lions, Lisa Fitzgibbon at a very unfriendly Prince of Wales pub in Little India, soon. |
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Greetings from Singapore
Hello and welcome to Singapore! |
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Sunday Jams
Sunday is a night i'd want to relive in my memory forever. |
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Sunday, bloody Sunday
So we're gigging again, but I gotta tell you, it's damn hard work! It's doubly hard this time cause we're doing an entire show by ourselves, which involves preparation for 2 sets over 2 hours! Good lord! |
Monday, 4 February 2008
Download Link
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Watch out for Independence day
Another weekend getaway to yet another beach. Went down to Beruwela this time, and by golly it was packed! With foreigners too! Never have I seen a Sri Lankan beach with so many foreigners! But the fun is over, the sand has been washed off, Djokovic just won in Melbourne, and now the things-to-do list is staring at me on the eve of the first 5 day working week in 3 weeks! |
Thursday, 24 January 2008
I want you back...KT Tunstall style
Good lord, she only keeps getting better! Armed with her acoustic guitar, a tambourine and her trusted Akai E2 Headrush loop/sampler pedal (just discovered that today!) this is KT taking my breath away! Again! |
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
If I Was Prabhakaran...
...I would be thinking to myself that this armed war type of thing has been going on for a while with not much success. I must prove to those southern buggers that I'm a nice, like-able kinda guy. Cause if the South believes I'm a trustworthy, decent chap, they might actually consider me as a plausible alternative to dearly beloved Mahinda. |
Friday, 4 January 2008
Running Late
You know it's not your day when you over-sleep not once, but twice, and then go on to ruin surprise birthday parties that aren't yours in the first place! |