Boulevard of Bitching

2011-11-10T09:07:00.000+08:00

I'm convinced that you aren't much of an interesting person after all.

Being Mean

2011-11-08T16:02:00.001+08:00

I feel like being mean to someone, but burning bridges ain't good either. I shall hold it in then.

2011-10-12T18:56:00.004+08:00

I don't care how talented, beautiful, good-looking you are... if you can't keep an appointment and cancel it last minute, you lost my respect.

It means you have no regard for other people's time and it also means you're a complete asshole!

2011-10-10T18:10:00.000+08:00

Bodoh. I have to cut down mistakes when doing things fast.

2011-02-10T22:58:00.001+08:00

When intentions are not known, misunderstandings are inevitable.

Keeping An Appointment

2010-08-29T15:41:00.003+08:00

Always keep yourself occupied with something productive when waiting for someone to show up. At least, if the person didn't appear, your time isn't exactly 100% wasted.

Also, if you can't keep an appointment, don't make one! You never know how precious the other person's time is. Sometimes he/she makes time out of his/her hectic schedule to meet up with you, and you cancel it at the last minute.

Damn, I'm not gonna make another appointment with that person.

Meh

2010-08-28T12:45:00.002+08:00

Fatigued. The earliest I slept this entire week was at 2am. Thursday work ended at 5am, slept by 6am. Friday work ended at 4am, slept at 5am. Thank God the public holiday is just around the corner.

I need a break!

2010-08-21T03:19:00.002+08:00

I'll do whatever it takes to get there. At all costs. Then again, after attaining my goal... so what? King Solomon was right - everything is meaningless.

Sure, I love what I do, yet sometimes I feel tired of living this thing we call "life."

2010-08-19T05:48:00.000+08:00

Someday, this whole all-work-no-play routine is going to pay off. Hopefully, I haven't collapsed by then.

2010-08-12T12:31:00.001+08:00

I may have failed, but I'm no quitter.

My Home Studio

2010-06-14T15:04:00.002+08:00

... is looking more and more complete now. Woots!

Unpredictable

2010-06-12T02:26:00.002+08:00

Hahaha... I like it when people tell me that they can't read me. It has been mentioned to me a few times, by different people, so it can only mean that I'm unpredictable. :)

Thankful

2010-03-02T02:23:00.002+08:00

Another eventful day. Tracking is so hard, but I will pull through. Thank God for patient mentors. Without them, I surely wouldn't amount to anything.

It's Inevitable

2010-02-06T04:28:00.001+08:00

I think I'm slowly, but surely, turning into a workaholic. Haha.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's all good!

Surprised

2010-01-09T21:19:00.000+08:00

I'm amazed about how some people can be so self-centered and hypocritical. Like whoa.

I'm Feeling...

2009-12-30T03:08:00.002+08:00

1. Slightly flattered for the compliments I have received recently.

2. Blessed for everything God has bestowed upon my life.

3. Thankful for family, friends, and the people who believe in me and have faith in me.

4. Excited about 2010.

5. Relieved that the recent SIB KL Church musical theater production, Season Of The Year, turned out alright. I was *this* close to having my head on the chopping board.

6. Excited about tomorrow. Another on-location recording gig to do.

2009-12-22T17:57:00.001+08:00

I'm sincerely tired.

Hearing Deterioration

2009-12-19T17:12:00.002+08:00

I can't hear from 17kHz-20kHz. Should I be worried? Another engineer friend could hear a sine wave at 17kHz, but I can't hear a thing.

Dang.

The good news is, I still can hear 30Hz-16kHz.

Nothing In Particular

2009-12-17T14:01:00.003+08:00

Everyday is packed to the max. 3 more days to the mics bump in, I'm starting to feel the pressure already. Haha. It's all good, just gotta love the feeling.

On a side note, my friend, Wai Nyan, who recently turned 25 recently, called to wish me happy birthday. He said, 'Welcome to the club!' In response I said, 'Yup, we're a quarter century old. Here's to another 25 years... Cheers! I'll see you at 50!'

Hahaha.

Crazy Days

2009-12-13T23:50:00.002+08:00

Just gotta love the feeling of having so much to do, with so little time. Oh, and the pressure and expectations of delivering a technically and emotionally perfect show.

Do you know what it feels like to be running behind time trying to troubleshoot stuff, time is ticking away and people are just waiting for you to push buttons? Man, I hate that feeling. But hey, it's all part of the job!

Lessons Learned

2009-11-20T01:21:00.002+08:00

So many things learned about mixing, refining my aural perception of the elements of a song, and gaining a better understanding of the "feeling" side of things... all in one night. And having someone willing to educate me.

Priceless.

You Belong With Me

2009-11-14T23:01:00.004+08:00

by Taylor Swift...

The more I listen to it, the more I analyze the song's arrangement, instrumentation, the musicians' playing and mixing decisions, I realize that it's such a brilliant song... brilliant production.

There's something about the arrangement and instrumentation that supports the song so nicely, complements it, sounds so complete, and yet never for one moment steals the limelight from Taylor Swift's vocals. Even the guitar solo played never grabbed the star status of Taylor Swift within the same song.

No matter what the musicians played, somehow my ears kept tuned in on Taylor Swift's vocals... following the performance dynamics as the song progresses. I had to force myself to block out her voice and try to listen to what the musicians were playing exactly. It was hard not to want to listen to her sing.

And Taylor Swift's delivery of the emotions of the lyrics is amazing too. I would probably think it was the producer's music direction, so all credits to him for drawing out the best performance out of her. You'd hear from song's first verse, it sounded as if you heard her thinking to herself... then it progresses to her venting her frustrations aloud, as the sounds and vocal performance gets more intense in the chorus.

Is it any wonder that her album went platinum?

Her voice isn't as bad as what some music critics made it out to be. Most pop album productions these days are heavily processed anyway. If you want to listen to good singing talent, without the use of Autotune or Melodyne, go listen to audiophile CDs instead.

Just my 2 cents of this song.

2009-10-30T18:11:00.002+08:00

I learned today that no matter what we do or say, we'd invariably piss people off along the way. Ah well.

As much as I don't like pissing people off, if I did, it was totally unintentional... and I was probably oblivious to it. I'd just apologize, and move on. Frankly, it doesn't really bother me.

What happened today was a reminder to myself that I should be patient and tolerant with others, just as others have been patient and tolerant with me.

2009-10-15T23:41:00.002+08:00

I believe that I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My search for the escape route may finally come to an end.

I can only hope.

Cute

2009-10-15T21:45:00.003+08:00

This is the actual size (click on image to enlarge). It may look like a toy piano, but I find its usability very appealing - perfect for MIDI data entry for my music work. Priced at RM300 and I'm really contemplating on buying it.

Rant Of The Day

2009-10-09T10:39:00.004+08:00

Have you ever met someone who only can manage to reply "Oh I see", "Ooooo" and "LOL" to every single thing you say? I know I have, and still do.

Could it be, that I'm having a myopic view on this? Maybe I'm THE boring conversationalist.

And to those people who chat on MSN, who perpetually OVERUSE the term "LOL" after every sentence, and use it as the one and only reply they could think of. I mean, is everything so funny that you're "laughing out loud?"

"I had McDonald's for lunch today. LOL"

"I was late for class again. LOL"

"I just got back. LOL"

That is so retarded!

Ahem. At least, say something that's genuinely funny before throwing out the proverbial "LOL."

Let me share a joke with you to end this post.

"A doctor of psychology was doing his normal morning rounds when he entered a patient's room. He found Patient #1 sitting on the floor, pretending to saw a piece of wood in half.

Patient #2 was hanging from the ceiling, by his feet.

The doctor asked patient number 1 what he was doing. The patient replied, "Can't you see I'm sawing this piece of wood in half?" The doctor inquired of Patient #1 what Patient #2 was doing. Patient #1 replied, "Oh. He's my friend, but he's a little crazy. He thinks he's a lightbulb." The doctor looks up and notices Patient #2's face is going all red.

The doctor asks Patient #1, "If he's your friend, you should get him down from there before he hurts himself"

Patient #1 replies, "What? And work in the dark?"

LOL!

Those Were The Days

2009-10-09T09:44:00.002+08:00

Come to think of it, I kinda miss the playing experience... and what more with some of the best musicians in SIB KL like Weng Onn, Esther Gong, Chris Wee, Rudy and Chris Chew. And the singers? These guys are the best - the people who made up the E06 Conference band.

Music Notation

2009-10-08T08:39:00.002+08:00

This week, I had to notate my composition for copyrighting purposes, and it's my first time writing music notes in 13 years... Took me a blardy looooong time to get it down.

That's the equivalent of putting your speech into writing for the first time in 13 years.

Fail la, like that.

GASP

2009-09-24T14:26:00.002+08:00

Mannnnn, I wannit!

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=48&langid=100&itemid=39631&INTCMP=DD-BN-11R11

Woohoo!

2009-09-16T14:15:00.001+08:00

Yes... it's done! And approved! Production credits are all mine! Hahaha.

How to Avoid Sounding Immature

2009-09-15T01:16:00.004+08:00

Here is something I read which I found to be quite amusing, and I have to share it with you.

I beg your indulgence while I get a personal gripe off my chest. Once done, I won't, like, mention it again in, like, this whole book. Can you, like, guess what I'm talking about?

Yes - the ubiquitous, overused, distressing, hackneyed, cliched "like." To me, the word sounds like fingernails on a blackboard or a cat in the blender.

Just a few days ago, I was in the mall waiting in line to buy a DVD. Two girls behind me were gabbing away like squirrels on speed. Practically every word they said was like. Sadistically, I decided to count them. I looked at my watch. It was 5.25 on the nose. I heard one girl say, "I was, like, bummed out. I, like, actually saw him with Cierra."

"How? Where were you?"

"Right here, I was, like, having my nails done at that salon over there."

"Oh no, Tina, I would have been, like, totally destroyed."

"I know, it was soooo weird. She's, like, the last girl I'd expect to see him with."

The likes were flying at me so fast and furiously I couldn't continue to count. My watch said 5:25:20. I did the math: in one minute, I would hear their favorite word twenty-five times. I calculated if I were sentenced to listening to them for an hour, I would hear "like" fifteen hundred times!

What Were They Really Saying?

Everyone knows several synonyms for "like," such as "similar", "resembling," and "comparable." As I drove home, I sarcastically asked myself:

Was Tina bummed out or just something similar to being bummed out? Did she actually see her boyfriend with Cierra or something akin to seeing him with Cierra? Was she really having her nails done at the salon or just doing something comparable to having her nails done? Was Cierra really the last girls she expected to see with him or just someone resembling the last girl she would expect to see him with? In other words, she really wasn't saying anything real.

Reflect for a moment upon our valiant leaders in the twentieth century who have stirred the hearts and upheld great ideals in the face of grave challenges - the figureheads who have led nations to new frontiers. What if they had spoken like Tina?

Imagine John Fitzgerald Kennedy's inaugural speech, January 20, 1961:

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can, like, do for you. Ask what you can, like, do for your country.... With, like, a good conscience our only sure reward, with history, like, the final judge of our deed, let us go forth to, like, lead the land we love.

Enough said?

Incidentally, Tina might not feel so cool and au courant when she learns that the slang use of like originated in the 1930s - along with "hepcat" and twenty-three skidoo." Don't let your vocabulary be, like, whoa...whatever.

*Taken from Leil's Lowndes's book, How to Instantly Connect With Anyone.

Great Friends, Great Time

2009-09-06T22:19:00.006+08:00

An entire Sunday afternoon spent catching up with Cindy and Phing.

Friday Evening Fun

2009-09-05T16:26:00.006+08:00

Caution: Sound geek talk ahead.

For the first time yesterday, I got to use a Neve Portico preamp and Lavry converters/mic pres. The sound quality of these units are wayyyy AMAZING! I fell in love with the sound when I first heard it. And I got to try out Pro Tools HD 8 too. Mannn, I'm missing out on A LOT of features compared to Pro Tools LE.

The particular Lavry unit I got to try.

Neve Portico preamp. Sounds huge and warm!

Pro Tools HD 8

Had fun miking a grand piano, jamming around with the producer/engineer and artist, trying out his expensive gear, listening on a real fine set of speakers... Solitaire speakers btw... wow, they just sound so good!

Komplete Me

2009-09-03T21:28:00.008+08:00

Oh man, I'm kinda lusting for Native Instrument's KOMPLETE 6. About USD500 only.

And this.

Church Service

2009-09-01T19:23:00.000+08:00

I've been serving in church all my life, since 12 years of age, playing music and being responsible for live sound mixing mostly. And really, it was the most enjoyable thing ever.

But for the first time, I'm currently not attached to any form of church ministry and the feeling is just great! Lemme list some of the things I enjoy about not being attached. Pun intended, of course.

1. Not having anyone to report to.
2. No responsibilities.
3. Not having to worry whether my team members scheduled for the weekend will turn up, and turn up on time.
4. No meetings.
5. Not having to worry about recruitment, training, volunteer turnover and continuity of the team.
6. Not spending countless hours in church.
7. Not having to meet expectations, personal and from others.

Hence, having more time to myself.

Being responsible for a group of people, a team, is tough stuff... if you wanna do a good job. I didn't shy away from responsibilities, but rather, work took up considerable time on my schedule. So for now, it's "either-or", not "both-and."

Don't get me wrong, I'm eternally gratefully for every single opportunity God provided for me to serve in His House. The experience gained, skills honed, lessons learned, and friendships made are priceless.

Just that, not having to do any of the items above is a nice and welcomed change indeed.

Check this out!

2009-08-31T17:27:00.000+08:00

A Malaysian Chinese song. So funky, man!

What?

2009-07-09T21:43:00.000+08:00

How is it possible to produce an EP of 5 songs for Rm1800? Totally unheard of. Unless everything used in the production is super lousy.

Bands: Casiopea

2009-05-11T12:06:00.000+08:00

Just gotta love their brand of jazz fusion music. I'm so hooked to it. Btw, check out Galactic Funk, the first vid... there's some real funny stage act during the keyboard solo!

Frustration

2009-04-22T21:03:00.000+08:00

I somehow feel like ranting a lot these days.... feeling a great deal of frustration lately. Sigh.

Smaart Live 6

2009-04-19T09:24:00.001+08:00

Smaart Live 6 training and certification is coming to Singapore! I really want to go for it, but it'll cost SGD350 for the 3 day course. Still contemplating about it....

Lindsay Lohan eHarmony Spoof Ad

2009-04-15T16:37:00.000+08:00

Hahaha... she's funny!

Jazz Guitar

2009-04-15T14:48:00.000+08:00

Mannnnn, learning to solo through the changes is so hard!

Bodoh

2009-04-13T16:45:00.000+08:00

Dear Mr XXX,

YOU ARE SUCH A WASTE OF MY TIME!!!

Network Marketing: A Pointless Rant

2009-04-02T17:05:00.000+08:00

To me, it's nothing more than seeing how many suckers you can prey on whilst selling substandard quality products. Those on the top of the food chain will prosper greatly, and just in case if you got sucked into the whole scheme, you might wanna find more victims to join you on your glorious route to financial freedom.

On 2 separate occasions, I had 2 friends whom I've not kept in touch for such a long time, contacted me and said they wanted to "meet up for old times sake". So beware, if your friends, especially those who never made the effort to stay connected with you all over the years, suddenly become all friendly and nice.

Luckily, my friend spared me the hassle of meeting up with her by telling me the name of the network marketing company that she joined. Claiming that it was her business (and rightly so, it is), she said that it was an e-commerce and networking business. Hahaha... right... Thank God for Google, I searched it up, and walla... it's a network marketing business.

This is why I'm not interested in your business, I just don't see the point of all this. Heck, if you wanna be rich, go sell fantastic nasi lemak or char koay teow! But hey, if you sincerely wanna meet up, why not?

Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen

2009-03-02T06:29:00.000+08:00

Check out the movie trailer. I just found out about it, apparently it'll be released middle of this year.

Don't forget to watch it full screen mode, this is a hi res version.

2009-03-02T02:14:00.000+08:00

What an excellent read! For Rm76.77, I think it's worth every penny.

How To Piss Off A Telemarketer

2009-02-27T07:27:00.000+08:00

WARNING: It's a complete waste of time, but hilarious nonetheless!

People: Ida Funkhouser

2009-02-04T02:38:00.000+08:00

Man, this lady can play a mean funk bass line! But more importantly, look at that bass amp by TC Electronic... so tiny, and sounds pretty good!

People: Tal Wilkenfeld

2009-01-20T00:34:00.000+08:00

What an amazing bass player! And only at 22 years old, she's played with some of the biggest artistes/musicians around.

With Jeff Beck and Vinnie Colauita.

At a Bass Day 2006 Clinic

1 More Week To Shoebox Tales DVD Duplication

2008-12-31T01:39:00.000+08:00

So, it's not really over, after all. The producers set the DVD release date on the 15th Jan 2008 (tentatively), and only 200 copies will be on sale apparently. So, when it's ready for sale, be sure to grab as many copies as you can for yourself (I'm planning to get 10 copies). Haha.

So it's one more week of touching up. Then I can forget about it once and for all. Seriously, I think I've watched the movie at least 30-40 times, front to back and back to front....

I need a break.

It's Over!

2008-12-21T19:11:00.000+08:00

Here's an update to the final 5 days of the audio post-production process of the Shoebox Tales film. So I received the final picture edit on Thursday 11 Dec 2008, and I only had till Sunday to finish it as I was going to attend the NST STAND Camp at Bukit Tinggi on Monday afternoon. And man, Merlvyn and I basically just worked as fast as we could. And I gave the film director a preview on Sunday night itself, and continued to work to make the amendments till Monday afternoon. Then I passed the session files and hard disk to Merlvyn on Monday afternoon, so he could go through the audio and fix any boo-boos I made (which I did) and send the mix off to the film editor the next day.

So, that was the end of it... not for long...

I came back from camp on Thurs to discover that the producers weren't satisfied with certain elements of the audio, so I made a last ditch effort to patch things up... finished the mix on Friday morning, which was the show day (haha), sent it out to the film editor (again)... and tada, we have a film to watch by 8.30pm. Phew.

To be continued...

The Last Five Days

2008-12-09T11:01:00.000+08:00

Alright, pressure is mounting... 5 days to go to the film deadline. At the moment, the final picture edit isn't done, audio post-production is 60% done and the scoring is somewhat done... but still needs another recording session, apparently.

*breathe in* *breathe out* *breathe in* *breathe out* *breathe in* *breathe out*

Panicking is not an option.

An update, at last.

2008-11-07T12:36:00.000+08:00

I guess this blog needs an update. Obviously, it has been stagnant due to 2 reasons:

1. I am too lazy to update/write.
2. I was, and still busy. Busy as a bee, as they say.

Anyway, my hectic schedule accompanied with frightfully tight deadlines has been good. Recording is done, editing is almost over and my mixes need a little more touchup... then it's gonna be rockin, man!

That's only half the story... there's more work to be done with the film editing and mixing process. Audio cleanup lah, ADR lah, sound design lah... and dubbing (the good stuff, not to mention fun). So, it's 3 more exciting weeks before the deadline - the film's first edited cut is delayed, which only adds more challenges for Merlvyn and I.

Oh God, I hope I don't pass out.

Tagged by Em

2008-07-26T16:05:00.000+08:00

1) At what age do you wish to marry?
- When I have sufficient funds to do so.

2) Where will you go if someone sponsors you a tour ticket?
- US.

3) What's your favourite thing to do?
- Reading and making music.

4) Do you think money can buy happiness?
- I know that I can't possibly be happy not having a single cent in my pocket, and trying to survive by digging rubbish bins and selling aluminium cans. So to a certain extend, yes.

5) Do you believe you can survive without money?
- No.

6) What are you afraid to lose the most?
- Family.

7) If you win $1 million, what will you do?
- Buy a darn nice house for my parents, take them for a vacation around the world. And invest the rest.

8) List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you.
- Em Lee
(i) Good singer - has the potential to be a recording artiste in the future.
(ii) Fun to talk to.
(iii) Bakes great cakes.

9) If you have only one wish, what will you wish for?
- To live my dream.

10) If you could rewind time, would you?
- I would. To revisit childhood memories.

11) What's your ambition?
- To be a Grammy award-winning producer/engineer.

12) What's your favourite song at the moment?
- Kenny Loggins - Alive & Kickin'

13) If you can teleport once, where would you go?
- Back to KK.

14) What do you think is the most important in your life?
- God and family.

15) If you could undo one mistake in the past, what would it be?
- I don't regret making mistakes. Hmm, maybe take my Physics lessons in high school more seriously.

16) If you have a chance, which part of your character would you like to change?
- Lots. :)

17) What music have you been listening to recently?
- Kenny Loggins

18) What is the one thing you cannot do but wish you could?
- Engineering Math.

19) Sushi or Steamboat?
- Sushi.

20) Malaysia or New Zealand?
- Mmm, maybe NZ for a change. I'm getting bored.

SIBKL Parents' Appreciation Day Production 2008, "Father Me"

2008-06-28T22:37:00.000+08:00

A 30min church production that I was involved in and was sound engineer again.

To be honest, I totally hated setting up and tearing down all the instruments and audio gear just to meet the goals of the production - it was such a tedious process. Thank God for teams. Thank you Mezvic, Sherman, Daniel Lo and Kieran for being part of the audio team. I greatly appreciate all of you. Every single one of you.

But in the end, I can say that I did had fun mixing the show. It's definitely a step up in quality compared to my work for last year's Parents' Appreciation Day production.

Great singers, great band, great production team... they definitely played a significant role in ensuring the final audio output sounded great.

Keep Ketuanan Melayu out of East Malaysia

2008-05-01T16:08:00.001+08:00

Posted by Raja Petra

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Once harmonious social fabric of Sabah torn to pieces by BN

Dear Pakatan Rakyat and all concerned citizens,

I would like to convey my deep frustration with what is going in the state of Sabah, my home.

I was born and raised in Kota Kinabalu. I am a half KDM guy, but I mainly identify myself as a Malaysian and a Sabahan, however I still am a very proud of both halves of my ethnicity. My dissatisfaction arose beginning 1994 when Sabah fell to BN in the most dirtiest disgusting manner: when BN bought over elected MPs from PBS to cross over to BN following their loss in the election. Thus began the UMNO chapter in the political history of Sabah. Or if you like, the Sabah chapter of UMNO.

At that time, the BN coalition consisted a number of parties. I do not recall all the parties or the number of seats they obtained in the election. Then came the rotation system. Every 2 years a representative from 3 communities, namely, the non-Muslim Bumis, Muslim Bumis and the Chinese take turn to govern the state. Soon, UMNO began taking most seats in the states. Finally, it was decided that the rotation system would end, with Musa Aman conveniently at the helm of the government. He has been the CM for 5 years already, with unbelievably, no apparent dissent at all. Even ex-CM Chong Kah Kiat seem to have endorsed this idea.

There are actually many issues bugging me right now, but shall only express one that has been bugging me the most. We all know the central ideology of UMNO is 'Ketuanan Melayu', the racialist belief that the Malays are the boss in this land. Historically, this idea seemed to apply only in Peninsula Malaysia in tandem with the Social Contract. However it seems this idealogy has appeared to have reached our shores in East Malaysia. As you might know, there are not many ethnic Malays in East Malaysia, and they are not normally regarded as being indigenous to Borneo. However pockets of so called Malay communities does appear in southern Sarawak, who are often linked to, or associated with the Melanaus, and also in Sabah, who typically identify themselves as Brunei Malays.

Before I carry on, I strongly believe that Ketuanan Melayu (KM) is an egotistical propaganda created to further the agenda of UMNO to suppress the non-Bumis, in many aspect of life. This is the UMNO version of KM. However, I do also believe in the existence of an alternative and milder definition of "Ketuanan Melayu", whereby the special rights of the Malays, such as having a Malay Agong and sultans in Malay states, the supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia, and perhaps also having a Malay PM, are protected. The UMNO version of this ideology is more extreme, in that, it seeks to extend Malay supremacy in almost every arena of governance and even social life. For example, that the head of judiciary, head of police, head of military, head of major corporate companies, even principals of secondary schools, et al, has to be Malay. I can subscribe to the milder version of KM (at a national level, not state level) but I cannot subscribe to UMNO's version of it.

Going back to Sabah, I have actually witnessed that many Muslim Sabahans are beginning to identify themselves as Malays. These Sabahans could either be Bajaus, Bugis, Suluk, Malay, even Kadazan Muslims, etc. How it all started I'm not sure, whether certain Malays from Peninsula wanted to extend their sphere of influence by proposing that they are also Malays and that they should begin seeing themselves as Malays, or whether the Muslim community themselves who thought it is the next logical thing to do. I think it is the former which is the more plausible explanation. My question is WHY? They already have so many 'identities' to hold for themselves: a Sabahan, a Bajau, a Muslim, a Malaysian, a Human. Why must they also be a Malay? Its not really a big problem for me if they want to call themselves "Malays", by all means go ahead. But when they begin to shout 'Ketuanan Melayu' here, then it shows an ulterior motive in the adoption of this new identity, which I am against.

As if this is not enough, they have also begun acknowledging immigrants from Indonesia and perhaps also Philippines as "Malays". I have heard a lot about this 'conspiracy' called "Project IC" a.k.a "Project M", but I never brought myself to 100% believe in its truth since most of the things I heard about it is just hearsay. But attitudes of UMNO members of late made me believed more in the existence of Project M. But a statement floated in by one Malay forummer in an online forum recently, where he suggested we embrace these immigrants as our brothers provided they adopt Islam and Malay, is the one that confirmed my suspicion on both counts. That is, that Project M exists, and Ketuanan Melayu is a racist propaganda that has reached Sabah and has been entrenched in the minds of some Sabahans here. (for more information please read "When States Prefer Non-Citizens Over Citizens: Conflict Over Illegal Immigration into Malaysia" written by Professor Kamal Sadiq of University of California - Irvine)

Malay is clearly defined in the constitution as a person who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay customs and professes Islam. Clearly as a KDM, I am not a Malay. Though UMNO sometimes insists that we are also Malays which is plain bullshit. Seriously, who are they trying to bluff. So what is the result of this? Soon, the Muslims in Sabah may unite under the Malay banner and we are no longer seen as brothers in this land of ours. KM is slowly turning the Muslim against the non-Muslims. A clear example of this is the 1986 riots around Sabah. The rioters were seeking to oust the appointment of Pairin Kitingan. Why? Did he cheat in the elections? No. The only reason this riot happened in my opinion is that because Pairin is a Christian. Of course, upon being provoked by certain leaders.

We have always been multiracial yet united society in Sabah. That is why since our independence we have had KDMs, Bajaus, Chinese, Suluks, Malays, etc. (or Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian) as Chief Minister in this state. Compare this to, say, Johor, Terengganu, or Penang, which only had a CM from one particular race only. But ideologies such as KM is destroying our unique open social mentality. We could have been a role model on how racial relations should work in Malaysia. Sadly, communal mentality has seeped into the mainstream society of Sabah. We never cared much about race, but now it seems we must bow down only to Malays. We are also told to fear the Chinese as they are only interested in stealing our money and exploiting us. Is it a coincidence that both Sabah and Sarawak have Muslims and somewhat "Malay" person as the CM? When in fact there is a significant population of non-Muslims (mainly Dayaks) here? I seriously don't care if Malays (from Sabah) get to be the CM of Sabah, but when they are impliedly telling us that from now on only "Malays" can be the CM, then you are no longer welcomed in Sabah. Sabahans should not bow to anyone. If one day a KDM leader should declare that from now only a KDM can be a CM, and that central ideology of the state is "Ketuanan KDM", I would strongly oppose this as well, even though I am a KDM, because this is bullshit.

The recent election is strongly influenced by money politics, desperate need for development, poverty, lack of education, lack of exposure to the alternative media, loss of hope, weak opposition, and phantom voters. Sabahans also easily fall for superficial developments which does not even bring in much benefits. Intangible developments in the form of education, moral, and ethics, are often overlooked. I do not believe that the true people of Sabah have freely sanctioned Barisan Nasional to govern this state.

I hope you get the message I am trying to convey, and not dismiss me as a racist. It is the KDM who are on the receiving end of racism. Even the Bajaus are feeling the heat and are fearing that their identity would soon be usurped by another "Malay" identity. The KDM are too soft and scared. The leaders are only interested in their own personal gains. UMNO is dividing and destroying Sabahans. They are flooding the state with immigrants and christening them as Malays and Bumis to distort our demography in their favor. So my appeal to Pakatan Rakyat is: PLEASE SAVE SABAH BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. Put your differences aside for the sake of the rakyat in Sabah. For now, we need a strong viable opposition which is currently non-existent in Sabah. Even though you are a Peninsular-based coalition, we are putting our faith and trust in you. We need CAPABLE and GENUINE Sabahans regardless of race to lead this state. Give us back our autonomy and other rights enshrined in the 20-point agreement. The 20% oil royalty would be a great icing on the cake. God bless Sabah. God bless Malaysia. God bless Pakatan Rakyat.

Dissatisfied Malaysian

http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/5987/84/

Resonate Weekend

2008-03-17T09:33:00.000+08:00

Had a great time doing some live sound mixing at Resonate, SIB KL Church's trans-generational service. I believe I'm one step closer in achieving the sound I've been looking for. I had a quad-channel dbx compressor at my disposal this time round and it did a pretty good job on the kick and snare drum, bass and acoustic guitar throughout, delivering a nice punchy sound. Although I wished I had an extra aux send for delay effects... it would be interesting to hear Christine's vocals through some delays for the slower numbers.

The Resonate band kicked ass as usual, and this time with the inclusion of Wai Yi... man, she can really play piano... and in a way that complements everyone else's playing. Really good stuff!

2008-03-05T18:15:00.000+08:00

You lousy piece of crap... I know you're trying to take advantage of me because of what I know. You're looking to get free services in exchange for peanuts. What do you think I am? A monkey? And you're very unlikely get anything for free unless I volunteer to do it. Dude, you can forget about it. I'll tell you soon anyhow... Ha!

2008-03-05T01:18:00.000+08:00

If accounting is common sense, then why isn't it apparent to me? Mannnn.....

2008-02-25T22:43:00.000+08:00

I sincerely think smokers are incurable imbeciles... Not only they jeopardize their own health and pollute the lungs of those around them, they also defile the environment needlessly and dispose their cigarette butts on the pavement and roads instead of throwing them into the trash can. Seriously man, the government should continue to raise taxes on tobacco...

To conclude my rant, smokers aren't really smokers.... In actual fact, the cigarette is the one that smokes. The person, who holds the smoking cigarette, sucks on it. So, if the person sucks on it... what is he?

A sucker! XD

Hmm, so-called "smokers" are the bane of my existence.

Tagged: Random Quiz

2007-12-13T20:14:00.000+08:00

List Out 5 Presents You Wish For:

1. 2 Mackie Onyx 8 channel preamps
2. A new Intel Quad Core computer
3. 2 Rode NT-2A large diaphragm condenser mics
4. An iPod Nano 8GB
5. McDSP Emrald Pack Native

The Person Who Tagged You This:
Emmeline Lee

Your 5 Impressions About Her:
1. Short... I meant, petite
2. Great smile
3. Talkative
4. Hyperactive
5. Cute

Most memorable things she has given/done for you:
Letting me try her apple crumble cake - which tastes superb!

Most memorable things she has said to you:
Never mind. Whatever. Nothing. And just lately, I'M SO AWESOME. >.<"

(Em, you must have fallen off the chair laughing as you're reading this... hahaha!)

If she becomes your lover, you will:
Cherish her. Love her. Treasure her.

If she becomes your enemy, the reason will be:
Betraying me.

Pass the quiz to 10 people that you wish to know what they feel about you:
1. Melissa Lim
2. Daphne Lew
3. Sum Yee
4. Ps. Dan
5. Shammie Ng
6. Siew Kwan
7. Clara Wan
8. Dan Lo
9. Vincent Tan
10. Bernice Voon

2nd part of this questionnaire, I'm just too lazy to answer... maybe later.

Digidesign Eleven Is Here

2007-11-20T20:21:00.001+08:00

Features

Create highly realistic mic’d guitar amp/cabinet sounds within your Pro Tools, Avid, or VENUE system
Choose from a must-have collection of vintage and modern amp, cabinet, and mic models to create your own signature tone, or use the customizable presets to instantly re-create a classic sound
Achieve multi-dimensional guitar tones complete with power amp sag, ghost notes, cabinet resonance, and speaker cone breakup**
Innovative amp cloning technique delivers the sound and feel of classic tube amps by emulating each component to behave like its hardware counterpart
Convolution-based speaker cabinet and mic models provide incredibly rich tones, and include on- and off-axis mic positions for more tone-tweaking flexibility
Supports 96 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 48 kHz, and 44.1 kHz sample rates

Guitar Amp Models*

The amp models in Eleven are based on the following original vintage and modern guitar amps (Eleven also includes two Digidesign custom amps):

’59 Fender® Bassman®
’59 Fender® Tweed Deluxe
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® Normal Channel
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® Vibrato Channel
’66 VOX® AC30 Top Boost
’67 Fender® Black Face Twin Reverb®
’69 Marshall® 1959 100 Watt Super Lead Plexiglas Head
’82 Marshall® JCM800 2203 100-Watt Head
’85 Mesa/Boogie® Mark IIc+ Drive Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Clean Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Crunch Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Overdrive Channel
’92 Mesa/Boogie® Dual Rectifier® Head Vintage Channel
’92 Mesa/Boogie® Dual Rectifier® Head Modern Channel
Digidesign Custom Vintage Crunch
Digidesign Custom Modern Overdrive

Speaker Cabinet Models*

The speaker cabinet models in Eleven are based on the following original speaker cabinets:

’59 Fender® Bassman® 4x10” with Jensen P10Qs
’59 Fender® Tweed Deluxe 1x12” with Jensen P12Q
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® 1x12” with Jensen P12N
’66 VOX® AC30 2x12” with Celestion Alnico Blues
’67 Fender® Black Face Twin Reverb® 2x12” with Jensen C12Ns
’68 Marshall® 1960A with Celestion G12H “Greenbacks”
’06 Marshall® 1960AV 4x12” with Celestion Vintage 30s

Microphone Models*
The microphone models in Eleven are based on the following popular mics:

Shure SM7 Dynamic Microphone
Shure SM57 Unidyne III Dynamic Microphone
Sennheiser MD 409 Dynamic Microphone
Sennheiser MD 421 Dynamic Microphone
Neumann U67 Condenser Microphone
Neumann U87 Condenser Microphone
AKG C 414 EB Condenser Microphone
Royer 121 Ribbon Microphone

2007-11-20T20:15:00.001+08:00

A MESSAGE TO USERS OF CRACKED AUDIO SOFTWARE

There are several good reasons why you should NOT use cracked audio software.

1. The penalties are high. You may be liable for many times the purchase price of the software. You may even be imprisoned.

2. You are putting your business at risk. You will incur damage to your income, reputation, and legal standing.

3. You are putting your clients at risk. They may also be subject to litigation.

4. You are putting audio software engineers out of work and preventing the development of future audio software technology.

5. You are competing unfairly in the marketplace, and exploiting the honest people who buy their software.

Popular Myths About Music Software Companies

2007-11-20T20:10:00.000+08:00

"The music software companies are huge"
First of all, stealing from a big company is just as bad as stealing from a small company. Many of our members are tiny operations and the loss of income from piracy hits them especially hard. With just a few exceptions thevast majority of our members have less than 20 employees, quite a few are 2 and 3 person operations. The impact of software thefton these small companies is immense.

"Software costs nothing to make - a CD, manual,box"
That's like saying a record costs nothing tomake - just a CD, insert and jewel case. The fact is it costs money to make software because the companies have to pay the developers a salary. There is also major capital investment involved in having an establishment set up to develop software. Anyone who can't understand that there are costs above and beyond the physical CD is looking to justify their illicit behavior.

"Stealing software is not the same as stealing a bottle of Coke"
Stealing is stealing. Thou shalt not steal doesn't come with an escape clause. Stealing software is stealing. Because software can be copied and a bottle of Coke cannot doesn't mean that it's somehow morally permissible to steal software. Software is protected by law just like that bottle of Coke is. If it came right down to it, the law sees no difference.

"Companies release buggy software anyway, I need to use a crack to see if I like it"
We are not going to become apologists for software companies with buggy code. However, it is not unreasonable to expect that a program with tens of millions of lines of code may contain a few bugs. Even cars roll off the assembly line with bugs that are fixed with recalls. The fact that a software program has a bug, or several bugs, doesn't justify stealing it, anymore than stealing a car that's the subject of a recall.

Many people do indeed use a crack for a certain amount of time and some of them do indeed go out and buy the program but the vast majority do not. Let's face facts - a musician using a pirated copy of a software program, especially to make music [intellectual property], for any significant period of time is a sign of moral bankruptcy.

"My one crack copy doesn't add up to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things"
Let's extend this kind of thinking to the entire potential customer base. The software that you are stealing is financially supported exclusively by people who pay for it. These people feel, correctly, that they should pay for the software that they use and choose to buy. Why not make your contribution instead of getting a free ride? If everyone thought this way the music software industry would fold up and dissappear.

"Everybody is using cracks, why shouldn't I? "
Just because everyone is stealing something makes it right. There was a time when just about everyone was OK with drunk driving, did that make it right? 20 years ago no one was recycling garbage - did that make it OK? Ike is famous for saying he beat his wife no more or no less than the average man. Does that make it right? 200 years ago slavery was OK too, right? Software theft is a damaging social ill - the fact that everyone is not educated and not socially aware of the negative consequences doesn't make it right.

"The software companies are charging too much"
Every manufacturer has a right to set prices.
To justify stealing software because the manufacturer is "charging too much" is yet another sign of moral bankruptcy. Is it OK to steal a Ferrari or Mercedes Benz because, in your opinion, the manufacturer is "charging too much"? The fact is there is a vast selection of cars out there. If you can't afford a Mercedes then buy a Ford. Similarly, there is a vast selection of software tools ranging along a full pricing spectrum. If you cannot afford the "expensive" programs buy something you can afford. If you can't afford anything at all then you should do without and not resort to stealing.

A sequencer replaces a recording studio costing tens of thousands of dollars. It brings music making technology to a price point where the vast majority of creative people can have access to it. It once required hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a professional quality recording. Today the average working musician can access this technology at unprecedented and affordable prices - something musicians just 10-15 years ago could only dream of.

The vast array of virtual instrument costs 5-15%of the actual hardware equivalents just a few years ago. How can anyone claim that software is expensive? It is actuallyinexpensive by ever comparative analysis. An FM7 retails for 10% of what a DX7 did.

2007-11-06T21:18:00.000+08:00

I find that Malaysians generally mispronounce these 2 words the most: "colleague" and "lounge."

For a start, some people pronounce "lounge" as "launch." And pronounce "colleague" as "ke-lick."

Haha, trivial I know.

Late Nights

2007-09-20T19:35:00.000+08:00

Man, not another day spending extra hours in the studio. Bah. These last few days, I only go home to sleep at night.

Products: Apogee Duet

2007-09-16T21:08:00.000+08:00

The latest 2-channel firewire audio interface from Apogee. Stunning simplicity & aesthetics.

Some pics from Frogway...

2007-09-16T20:45:00.000+08:00

At The Actors Studio, Bangsar.

Group Photo with Cast, Musicians, and Crew.

Crew Group Photo with Music Director, Saidah Rastam.

At The Cast and Crew Party @ Alexis Bistro, Bangsar.

Harith Iskandar and I

Vince Chong and I

Elaine Daly and I

With Elaine Daly and Marielle Fabregas

Chelsia Ng and I

Marielle Fabregas and I

Thor Kah Hoong and I

With ma mates (L-R) - Ee Jeng (2nd keyboards), Eddie Wen (trumpet) & Julian Chan (sax & flute)

And lastly, this is my workspace. :)

My First Experience With A Digital Live Console

2007-09-13T06:37:00.000+08:00

...with motorized faders. Used it during Frogway The Musical. I loved the feature set as well as the functionality... it's a real pleasure to use. :)

Logic Pro 8 Is Out!

2007-09-13T05:41:00.000+08:00

And the best part is... it's part of an absolutely massive software bundle called Logic Studio. Priced at USD$499, I think it's a bargain!

Logic Studio comprises of Logic Pro 8, Mainstage, Soundtrack Pro 2, 40 Virtual Instrument plugins, 80 effect plugins and tens of thousands worth of Apple Loops, sound effects & instrument samples.

Omigoodness... that's quite a lot of features for USD$499!

www.apple.com/logicstudio