Jeans Lover

I discovered a band from Dundee, Scotland, called The View by chance when listening to XFM London. Their song, Same Jeans, caught my attention because I thought one of the band members was from another old band called The La's hailed from Liverpool and I actually loved the melody & the lyric. Yeah, the song sounds like an upbeat version of a song by The La's.

The song titled "Same Jeans" is meaningful to me because I am a jeans lover. I think most of my friends who know me well are aware that I hate formal wear. Thank goodness, I work in a company that allows me to wear jeans to work daily. Any function that jeans is not allowed and if I can be excused for not attending, you won't see me there for sure. For a person that wanted to wear jeans on his wedding day, what do you expect?

I treat my jeans like a life vest because it saved me from being bitten badly by a dog when I was a teenager. It also saved me a couple of times without seriously injuring myself, when I fell from bicycles during my teenage years. When I was in the computer lab, sometimes accidental scratched against the machines could caused bloody marks on the skin without the protection of jeans (I often have to squeeze myself in between machines to pull/plug wires...yeah, I have to be avoid becoming too fat to fit in between the machines too). Unlike formal clothing, jeans can still be worn after it is torn and old. Usually a good pair of jeans can last me about 10 years or more. My favourite jeans is from Levi's. Most of them I bought in U.S. about 6-8 years ago. I still keep one or two in new condition in case I am allowed to attend any function that permit jeans but not old and torn ones. I guess I may need a new pair of jeans pretty soon as most of them are close to 10 years now. I wonder how much is a pair of Levi's jeans in Malaysia!!!

Here's a link to the video clip by The View called "Same Jeans" dedicated to all the jeans lovers around the world:

Same Jeans by The View

Lyric:

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

Life's one big circle
And it doesn't end
When it ends
Will you still be my friend?

I'm not making a fool of myself
Oh tell me
I'm not making a fool of myself

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Oh That's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

I take my hats off to the busker man
When they drown all the sorrows singing songs
Now everything has worked out to plan
But believe me it started as long as it can

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Now put your feet back on the ground

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

My minds not perfect but it's sincere
You'd be amazed at what you can achieve in a year
And you try so hard
But your hearts on a switch
And I know you try so hard
But your hearts on a switch

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

Same Jeans on for four days now
Everybody's dressing up I'm dressing down
I'm not making a fool of myself
Now believe me lady I can't tell

Same Jeans on for four days now
Everybody's dressing up I'm dressing down
Im not making a fool of myself
Now believe me lady I can't tell

Sound of the 80s in Today's Music

I realise the music in recent years has moved backward to the sound of the 80s. It's applicable for both mainstream and underground music scene. In the mainstream music scene, we have Kylie Minogue and Madonna as examples. In the underground scene, we have Metric, Cansei De Ser Sexy, Mgmt, The Music, Ladytron, The Charlatans, Peter Bjorn and John, etc. New wave & electro-pop have become a trend again in 21st century. Just like fashion, music often look back at the history and revive the old sound. I guess in the world of art, old stuff does not die like technology. Old art could revive in a different form whether you like it or not.

Here are some samples of the sound of 80s still living in today's music:

Metric: Poster of A Girl (Live)



MGMT: Kids



The Music: Drugs



Cansei De Set Sexy (CSS): Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above



Ladytron: Seventeen

Peter Bjorn and John

Scandinavian countries often produce talented musicians. The music scene that has been very interesting for decades. Thanks to the Scandinavian governments for encouraging music exports. I am pretty sure everyone knows ABBA that hailed from Sweden. Those who were teenagers in the 80s know A-Ha from Norway and those turned on the radios in the 90s probably know Ace of Base. In my opinion, there are even more Scandinavian talents which may be overlooked by majority of us, Malaysians.

The Metal music scene from Scandinavia has been very strong with bands such as Entombed from Sweden, Children of Bodom from Finland, Nightwish from Finland, etc. Yeah, there were a lot of hoo-has created by various narrow-minded Malaysian authorities about Metal music for decades. If I keep writing about them, I will end up cursing them for their stupidity. Well, those stupid idiots even categorised indie music as Black Metal. My goodness, where are their brains? The government should send them for music lessons before making all the noise!! Ok, I am almost going out of the intended topic now.

In the indie scene, we have The Cardigans from Sweden, Ida Maria from Norway, Popsicle from Sweden, The Wannadies from Sweden, Bjork from Iceland, The Raveonettes from Denmark.... This morning, while listening to XFM from London via internet. I came across another interesting Swedish band called Peter Björn and John. The band is named after the first name of each band members. Very simple name for a band! It consists of Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriksson (drums, percussion and vocals). They had a hit in the U.K. with the song, Young Folks, in 2006. Yes, I discovered this band late but it's better late than never. The song also features Victoria Bergsman who is a former member of The Concretes. The Concretes is another Swedish band well known in the indie scene. The vocal of Victoria reminds me of a guest vocalist of a song by a British trip-hop band, Tricky.

Here's an animated video clip of Young Folk by Peter Björn and John:



Lyric:

If i told you things i did before
told you how i used to be
would you go along with someone like me
if you knew my story word for word
had all of my history
would you go along with someone like me

i did before and had my share
it didn't lead nowhere
i would go along with someone like you
it doesn't matter what you did
who you were hanging with
we could stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

usually when things has gone this far
people tend to disappear
no one will surprise me unless you do

i can tell there's something goin' on
hours seems to disappear
everyone is leaving i'm still with you

it doesn't matter what we do
where we are going too
we can stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you
talking only me and you

talking only me and you
talking only me and you

Telok Bahang

Most of my trips to Penang are usually quite boring - visiting shopping complexes, coffee shops and staying at home. It was my first trip to Telok Bahang last weekend. I like the view of Telok Bahang because it is more remote and looks like a smalltown that I am originated from.

Based on recommendation of some experts, I decided to convert the photos to black and white. Simplicity is beautiful sometimes. I am not sure whether these photos are beautiful or not as I am struggling with the camera. I still damage 90% of the photos. This time I spoiled them because I was still crap at taking nightscene & the raindrops on the camera lens screwed them up.

September Gurls

September has just passed by a few days ago but I decided to check out a 70s band greatly praised by my friend, Joe Kidd, many years ago. The first song that caught my attention was "September Gurls". To those familiar with the band, Teenage Fanclub, it's very obvious that they are influenced by Big Star. Many artistes today still claim that they're influenced by Big Star. I love the melody of "September Gurls" which is simply amazing and beautiful. It is a very well written song.

Big Star was formed in 1971 when I was still a toodler sucking my thumb. They were not really big stars then. The band splitted up in 1974 when I didn't even know ABC. A new line-up of Big Star featuring original members Chilton and Jody Stephens was formed in 1993, and released a new album in 2005 called "In Space". I have yet to check out their new album but I will surely do so in a matter of time.

Here's a video clip of Big Star's "September Gurls" and the lyric:



September gurls do so much
I was your butch and you were touched
I loved you well never mind
I've been crying all the time
December boys got it bad.

September gurls I don't know why
how can I deny what's inside
even thought I keep away
maybe we'll love all our days.
When I get to bed
late at night
that's the time
she makes things right
ooh when she makes luv to me

Crappy External Portable DVD Writer

My entire Raya holidays were spoiled because of the purchase of a stupid external slim portable DVD writer. My wife was the purchaser but I was the one who had to struggle troubleshooting it. I was disappointed and didn't have a good feeling that she came home with Panasonic DVD writer instead of LG or Samsung one.

The exact model of the portable DVD writer was Panasonic SD-100A. Initially, the drive could not be detected, so I blamed it on the USB2 hub. After connecting directly to the laptop, I managed to install some software but when Nero CD supplied by Panasonic was used, it failed to read. The Samsung DVD writer of my PC had no problem reading the Nero CD though. When I tried accessing the CD with the portable Panasonic DVD writer, it failed again and again. However, after several attempts, it managed to read. When I was trying to install Nero happily, it hit I/O (input/output) error. Being dissatisfied, I tried with another software CD. When installing half way, it hit the same I/O error. It was very obvious that the CDs used were ok but not the portable DVD writer.

As a conclusion, Panasonic SD-100A is a crappy product. I discourage anyone from purchasing it. My wife sent the DVD writer back for exchange but the same problem occurred for the second DVD writer too. She will be sending it back to the shop again tomorrow. Since the shop only has Sony and Panasonic products, I hope she will come home with Sony one, although I am not a Sony fan either.


Latest Update As of 4th October 2008:
The shop exchanged for the same model of DVD player. Surprisingly, it worked this time. The differences we noticed with the previous 2 players were the torn boxes and even the Nero CDs provided were different. Probably someone had rejected them before. The current one has a new box in good condition coming straight from their store. I am not sure whether the product has bad quality control or the shop was trying to get rid of rejected players. I am a bit doubtful that it's due to bad quality control because it's a Japanese product and the Japanese are generally very strict about it. To be safe, I would still encourage people to stay away from this product. It's a lesson for Panasonic to be careful of selecting their vendors if it's not the fault of their product. Even though the shop had no problem exchanging the goods but exchanging it three times is unacceptable. Please bear in mind that our grandfathers do not sponsor petrol and parking fees!!