Ne-Yo in KL

The Ne-Yo concert last night was amazing. It was my first real concert and I must say that it was worth attending. Ji Ding and I had been wanting to go to a concert together, but somehow our plans failed to materialize, until the end of last year when she asked if I want edto see Ne-Yo live. Of course I jumped at the opportunity.

We stood in line at around 6 pm. We were only allowed to enter the concert venue at 8 pm. The 2 hours of standing in line was quite tiring. Not only were we sandwiched amongst sweaty bodies, we also had to endure cigarette smoke swirling around and also someone complaining loudly for a long time behind us. Oh, well. We entertained ourselves by people watching, talking, and taking a few photos. We instantly regretted not borrowing someone's camera when we realized that we could've brought one in. :( Ahh, what to do.

Anyway, the opening act started at about half past 8. The crowd was trickling in and getting hyped up. After five songs (if I remember correctly), the crowd was hyped up and ready to see the man himself. The hosts came out and entertained the audience for a while, getting everyone to chant Ne-Yo's name. Once the crowd was sufficiently geared up for what we had all gone to see, Ne-Yo walked onto the stage, causing a mad wave of screaming to ensue. It was then that I realized why it feels so great to be at a concert to watch an artiste that you really like perform. I was positively euphoric throughout the first song, Because of You.


Everyone was sweating buckets but no one seemed to care once the show got rolling. I do not remember the set listing, but I do know for a fact that his performance was really entertaining. He not only sang, but also got the crowd ooh-ing and aah-ing at the littlest things. In between songs, he interacted with the crowd and got everybody hanging on for more. The crowd was mad.

The concert ended around 11.15 pm after he performed Closer, which I think is a brilliantly fitting end to the night, what with the choreography and excitement level at the time. We left Sunway Lagoon, we were like ecstatic little girls who had been given a free lifetime supply of Barbie dolls. Walking out of the Purple Zone and turning back to look at the stage, all I could think was WOW.

I loved every single bit of the concert. And I am glad that we went to the concert, even if it meant sweating like I'd run 6 laps, worrying if waterproof make up really does its job well (it did - whoever invented waterproof make up, thank you so much), sleeping at 3.20 am (after supper and a period of a big adrenaline rush) and waking up at 6.00 am today to come back here. I walked into the hostel area feeling dog tired but still excited. And thank goodness for caffeine that gave me just the right boost that I needed to keep me going until 12 pm. Much to my own surprise, I only caved in and paid off my sleep debt at almost 3.00 pm.

Here's a big, big thank you to Ji Ding for the hospitality and awesome company. Also, not forgetting our patient driver, Kingston, who waited and waited as the crowd went by without signs of us anywhere. (Kings, we told you to go there later ma. Hmmmh.) As a treat, I let him listen to a minute or two of the concert through the phone. (I still think he should have just bought the ticket and came with us.. Hah!) And thank you to Jonathan for his softer hair which I loved and his same ol' sarcastic remarks (and should I say inability to pick up hints?). You all made my night!

It was one of the best nights I've ever had. :)

Because I love John Mayer

You know those typical "personal surveys" that ask you what you'd pick between chocolate and vanilla ice-cream? (Oh, chocolate all the way, of course!) There are also girlfriend/boyfriend types that ask you what you look for in your partner through questions like whether or not you'd rather have them be short or tall. There is almost always a question that asks if you'd like them to be able to play a musical instrument or to simply be musically inclined in some way.

Truth is, I can't see how a girl cannot fall helplessly for a guy who sits on a stool with his guitar in hand, his face full of concentration. He's so caught up in the moment as he sings in that captivating voice. I mean, come on, seriously, how can you not love musically inclined guys? Unless they are just off putting in other ways.

And I'd always thought that the electric guitar is kinda sexy, but this clip showed me how it is actually really, really sexy:



;)

Real food and ear food

I unintentionally skipped lunch today. I had a large meal at 4 pm to make up for the no-lunch suffering. And then I was too full to take dinner at my normal time of either 6 pm or 7 pm. So now I might have to make up for it by having some red beans buns, hot Milo, and umm.. some Twisties. Such an unhealthy diet, I know. But I didn't mean to skip lunch! (I don't look like someone who crash diets, do I? Duh.) My lunchtime was taken up by a university briefing.

This couple of weeks have definitely been occupied by a lot of university stuff. Which university to apply to, what are the requirements, what courses must we take, what other majors or minors can we take, which professional papers do the universities prepare us for, what is the campus environment like... The questions just never seem to end. Every university representative I meet (regardless of whether the university offers my intended major) gets the same questions from me. Aiyo. I'm getting kinda bored parroting the same questions. But this is a necessary step in my decision-making, whether or not there is someone pushing me from behind, stage-whispering, "Ask something la!"

Here's something completely unrelated. I've been listening to a lot of John Mayer, Marie Digby, and The Fray these days. And I looooove Kelly Rowland and David Guetta's When Love Takes Over. *insert rockin' emoticon*

Okay, back to what I'm supposed to do. Chemistry time!

Music

It figures that having been quite lazy to blog as of late (I chalk it up to lack of interesting stuff in my routines and well, plain laziness, duh), it just figures that I have to feel like blogging at 1.24 am on Monday, when I'm supposed to be sleeping. Yeah, I've returned to my normal sleeping patterns. No more sleeping at the stroke of midnight! (Also, no more midnight Milo. Boohoo) No more sleeping before my normal bedtime! (Uh-oh, Mummy won't be too happy to read this... Heh...) Also, no more late-night episodes of The Nanny and MTV Made. I got so addicted to these two shows during the holiday. Now I really miss them. And Psych too. I miss laughing at Shawn and Gus' antics of busting criminals out of the blue, unarmed and without a plan. Psych rocks! (Now if only someone else in my circle watches this too. Boohoo)

A few hours of my night was spent working on my music presentation slides and making another photo collage for one of the slides. Here I have to say: I love Photoscape - it's so user-friendly and it yields satisfying results. Good for the uninitiated in Photoshop like myself! Okay, back to what I wanted to say. While working on my slides, I realized how much I've been influenced by mainstream music. I love pop music and I say that without shame. I know that many people knock manufactured pop music and diss it for being shallow and superficial. But I beg to differ. Not all pop songs are all bubblegum and happiness. Not all are made up of tunes that just anyone can compose. Not all are meaninglessly written to feed the mass audience's tastes.

That does not mean, however, that I do not respect other music genres. In fact, I'm quite big on RnB, rap, (and the occasional dose of modern rock). I'm quite put off by people's dismissiveness when it comes to genres such as rap and hip-hop. Not all such music is infused with negative elements and ought to be ignored. Some songs can show us how talented some songwriters are in rhyming and weaving their words together. How many people can do that? Plus, sometimes we all need some upbeat tempo and rockin' tunes in the music we listen to.

Some consider people like myself uncultured, but I don't think that's the case. Who says that culture is restricted to only "high class" things such as Broadway shows, operas, and ballet performances? Who says that to be cultured, one has to don suits and gowns and attend lavish events? Culture covers such a wide scope of everyday things that make us who we are. That guy breaking his moves on the dancefloor, that girl standing in the corner, strumming her guitar with her eyes closed, that woman singing a self-composed song onstage in a bar, that man playing his harmonica in his old store - who says that they are not cultured?

So what is culture to you?

Beau Bristow Live

On June 4, Thursday, Beau Bristow performed in INTI. The event was organized by the college's CF. The night before the concert, I checked out his website to listen to his songs. (Obviously, you won't want to go to a concert without knowing any of the songs performed, right?) I instantly fell in love with a few of his songs. The best one for me the first time I listened, though, is Stand.

Before the concert, we saw Beau in the dining hall. And then while Olivia and Wendy were eating and I was busy talking, Olivia said she saw him coming out... from the INTIMart. HAHAHA! No, I don't know what he bought in our little convenience store from where I get my phone reloads and emergency cough syrup. :P

Anyhoo, the CF band opened with three songs that got the crowd into the mood for more music. It was a good opening, I think, especially with the uptempo tunes. :) After that, the emcees gave a short introduction of Beau himself (his real name is Donald and he is 28 - AND SINGLE! - as the male emcee very enthusiastically pointed out to the crowd). A few free CDs were given out to the lucky draw winners too. (Why didn't he pick my number, 104?! *sniff*)

The first song that he played and sang is Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. He mentioned that he likes to open his gigs with a song that the audience is familiar with, and then continue with his own songs. His rendition of Chasing Cars impressed me a lot. I really enjoyed the song not only because it is a song that brings back a lot of good memories for me (ah, the night something shifted in me...), but also because of Beau's own touch to the song.

He's awesome on the guitar - that's enough to melt my heart. But what's even better is that he used a guitar pedalboard all throughout his performance. When he first used the guitar pedalboard towards the end of Chasing Cars, I was befuddled as to where the background music came from even when he wasn't strumming the guitar anymore. Afterwards, he explained that the pedalboard functions to record what he chooses to record and then play back. Aaaah. Cool, isn't it?

Most of his songs are reminiscent of a cross between Jason Mraz and Rascal Flatts. Before he played the second song, Look At the Stars, he explained that it is a song that tells about having a good night after a bad day. That made me smile because it was exactly how I felt at that moment (for a while, it was easy to ignore my problems because sometimes we just have to let go and remember to live, don't we?). Sign Me Up, he said, is a song that he wrote for a girl whom he was into. How sweet is that? :) Tell Me Something's Wrong is inspired by his grandfather who suffered from cancer.

Don't Get Too Close to Me is about distancing yourself from others because you don't want them to see what's really inside of you. When It's Gonna Change takes a larger perspective on life; it is about how broken the world is. I Can Walk Through the Rain is an inspiring song that talks about finding hope in times of adversity. I don't know why I can't remember what Fighting Wars is about (sigh), but it's a nice, slow song with reflective lyrics. He ended the night with an uplifting song from his latest album, Standing. Still., I'm Gonna Love.

After that, there was a small meet and greet session. We purchased his CD for RM25 and lined up (okay, more like sandwiched ourselves among many other people) to meet him. It took a while to actually get in front of the line and when I was already there, many people kept on popping up to have photos taken with him. (Okay la, sometimes good things take time, don't they? Hmph.) He signed our CDs and talked to us briefly. He seems very down-to-earth and friendly. It was nice being able to shake his hand and tell him what a great show it was because I really enjoyed his performance. It's been way too long since I felt that way. :)

By the end of the night, I couldn't have been more glad to have decided to attend the concert. Earlier in the day, when I asked around, no one was free to attend the concert with me. Wendy was the only one who wanted and would go with me but had to leave early. But Olivia gave in to my persuasion and said fineeeeeee, she'll go. Hehhh. Good thing she ended up being happy she went. Phew. :P

Click here for more on Beau Bristow. (Stream the songs and enjoy!)

:)

PS: I shall be writing a more formal review of the concert for the next issue of the Orion (college newsletter). Copies are available at SAO and INTIMA office.

Sneak peek

Beau performing I Can Walk Through the Rain.

I'm Gonna Love

I shall blog about this wonderful gig soon. Patience! :)

Melt alert

Today, I fell in love with Falling Slowly all over again thanks to Kris Allen’s wonderful performance. :D

Enjoy (note: you may need to turn up the volume a bit):

Alright then. Back to the summary notes on everything from ethnocentrism to secularization, latent functions of schooling, modernization vs dependency theories, popular culture vs high culture, theories of prejudice, sexual issues and controversies, and the like.

I'm experiencing near info-overload. WAAAAAA. Hungry lah. Haiyo. I've come to the conclusion that I get hungry really fast when I'm absorbed in mugging.

Why ah?

Sigh. :[

TWO MORE PAPERS! (faster get this over and done with laaaaa)

PS: I didn't know the video would appear that small when I picked the dimensions. Sorry. :P