Enjoy @ TARC

Today is been a pretty fruitful day for me in college, though I'm totally exhausted right now.

Last night woke up sharp at 4am, it was too hot to continue sleep, and coincidentally the match between Man Utd & Barcelona is happening at the moment. I didnt turn on the TV as I just cool myself down with few glasses of H2O, then back to bed.

Have to wake up earlier than usual today because I'm going to McD to collect free burgers for friends as today is the last day to collect free burgers (courtesy of school admin lol). Was caught in a slight jam on MRR2, apparently there's a serial accident happened on the opposite direction, which of course, cause massive jam on the opposite road. From what I observed, I'm glad that no casualties are reported, just that I'm sakit hati to see Mercedes and BMW are crashed in the front and rear.

Surprisingly for me, it took 5 mins to get the burgers, way faster than previous days when I've to wait 15 mins to get the burgers done. I also ordered apple and banana pies, which I find it taste very, very good!

Pies!!

Sausage McMuffin for Hong Liang, Chie Guan & Ivy.

Hahah the McD junk food taste very good! I rarely take fast food and I still find that McD still keep up their good food quality (compare to KFC, which I commented their chicken size is shrinking everytime I try it). The pies.... ah glorious pies! :D

(I teased Tiffany in the lecture hall, and now she's taking revenge on my in her blog, hahah!)

Mr Low, our beloved Chemistry lecturer, didnt failed to make us 'getting more and more interested' in Chemistry.... Now we're on comparing acidity of ethanoic acid, phenol, wather & ethanol.... kinda confusing because you've to take into considerations of the nature of the substituting groups. EDG and EWG..... @__@

All of us are cracking our head during Pure Maths lecture. Mr Teo the temporary replacement lecturer, spent 50 mins just to answer a Differential Equation.
(x²+1)² dy/dx = y³+8 is the question, looks simple and innocent right? Wait until you solve it one by one.... to our horror. We're doubtful whether the standard for the exam will really came out tough questions like this, or it's just an imaginary out of Mr Teo's brilliant mind? Then again, to me he's a historian who's teaching us Maths, unfortunately.

During lunch break I didnt went to TBR as usual because my gang are having their MUET practise. Spent the whole hour in canteen 1 chatting with friends.

Yu Lee's nice file cover. Made by CQ as her birthday present.

Playing with CQ's Nokia 5200.

The last lesson of the day is Physics lecture. Ms Ong paused her normal lecture to discuss past year questions with us. I'm still waiting her to discuss year 2007 papers as I dont have the marking scheme yet.

Finished lesson, I went to CIT lab with Martin to kill some time before heading to the futsal court. Thanks to the absence of most diploma students, the internet speed is significantly faster than normal. :)

I played football by myself while waiting the guys to turn up. To my dismay, the ball suffers from its first bruise when I hit the ball around the court. The ball Teamgeist Glider, is definitely not a ball for futsal as it bounces a lot and it's heavier. I understand that this ball is actually meant to be played on grassfield instead of astroturf.

A short clip, my mate Martin flicking some tricks.

Many people turn up for the game, far more than I expected. All of us enjoyed the game, though it's obvious that most of us are driven into exhaustion due to the excessive gameplay, or maybe is the fact that many of us haven't been exercising for some time. It's understandable that playing under shiny weather is much more exhaustive than playing in the rain.

The reason why I'm pushing myself to my physical limits today is because at least I can wake up late for tomorrow, it's a public holiday. Some people forgotten that April has only 30 days instead of 31, and 1st of May is Labour's Day. :)

That's it for the update, I've used up my last remaining energy to finish off this post.... Time to sleep!

Camera Photos....

Recently took quite a lot of photos, decided to post some of 'em up here.

Footballs! Gotta love them! 3 Adidas Teamgeist Glider and a Nike T90 Swift.

Love these colours! RED!

Mr Chu's retirement banner.

With Mr Chu, now retired principal of Chong Hwa. Compare this pic with this one.

Blue Porsche Cayenne S with a nice carplate, 888.

Dissected mouse, showing its internal organs.

A light micrograph of a lung tissue, showing the alveoli and bronchiole.

Green coloured pandan tau-fu-fa, taste artificially to me.

Rainbow lighting effect in Resort Hotel lobby.

First World Hotel, as seen from my hotel room.

Genting Hotel partially renovating.

Kenny G Live in Genting!

Ah, another fruitful trip up to Genting! This time I went up there to enjoy some nice and relaxing saxophone pieces by the man who brought saxophone to fame, Kenny G himself!

Before the show starts, I've managed to get his new album "Rhythm and Romance" for RM 30, and to my surprise Kenny himself is just a few steps away sitting there signing autographs!

Crowds lining up for Kenny's autograph.

Kenny G up close.

Blurred pic, oh well.

Signed album cover!

From my experience coming to Genting watch concerts, this is the first time I've seen the artist did such thing! Usually the artists will be hiding backstage preparing for the concert, but Kenny turns up near the entrance to entertain the fans, which is great! Apparently he went to prepare himself 5 mins after he signed my album (lol lucky). He's a man full of surprises, as he said he'll be continue signing autographs for those who got his album after the show ends, great for those who missed his autograph session earlier.

I noticed there's 2 yellow-ribbon sofas placed in the centre of the first row VIP seats. I knew some royals will turn up for this concert. Well, guess who's here tonight, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the King of Malaysia and his consort is here! This is the first time I came close to a Head of State, he looks far younger than I thought, well of course he's just in his mid-30s.... usually the Kings are quite 'aged'. Anyway waiting for the King delayed the show for 20 mins, it's still acceptable I guess.... any delay goes beyond 30 mins is outrages in my opinion. No pics of the King, he sits too far beyond my camera range.

Kenny start the show with an unusual move, when the band plays on the stage, he appears out of nowhere from the entrance, playing his sax while walking down towards the stage. He paused in between the seats, and I'm lucky as he paused and played just a few seats from where I'm seated. Another close up with Kenny! :D

Kenny performing in the midst of the crowd.

Kenny up front!

Best pic of the day! :D

All right I'm done with the pics now. Here's a short videoclip I managed to capture....

According to Kenny, this is his 2nd time performing in Malaysia. He tried to converse in Malay but he keeps on forgetting what he memorised earlier. In the end he take out a piece of paper and read it out straight from it, funny. For a westerner like him, he speaks pretty good Malay, especially his clear pronunciation. I'm pretty sure the King was entertained by this as well.

Kenny and his band performed some familiar pieces like "Silhouette", "Sentimental", and"Havana" (my fav!). He also played samples from his new album. Many are familiar with his pieces, especially when he played "Moon Represents My Heart", a well-known Chinese ballad.

His band did an awesome job for putting the music together so well, and the audiences are overwhelm with their performance. Gotto love the muscular & energetic percussionist who played a few solo pieces while Kenny's preparing at the backstage.

The concert lasted for a good 2 hours, and his encore pieces included "My Heart Will Go On", and his trademark "Songbird".

None of us are disappointed with the concert, everyone is delighted with it and for me, it's one of the best concert I ever attended so far! :D

I regret that I didnt bring my camera along.... those pics are taken with my Nokia 5310, at least I still able to capture some nice pics, because who would've thought Kenny will perform right in front of you? Hahah, Americans are full of surprises....

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MAESTRO: Yanni

Yanni, a Greek contemporary musician whom composes and performs his works in piano, keyboard and synthesizer, notable for his style of blending various instruments together and create a masterpiece.

It was sometime ago I got to really know this guy Yanni. One of his song hits me hard and from that onwards I've become a follower of his music.

Yanni, as seen in "Yanni Live! The Concert Event".

His style differs from any other composers you normally sees. He's a genius in mixing different instruments together, and the end result is superb! He's working together with some of the best instrumentalist around the world, namely Pedro Eustache, the master of woodwind instruments, Karen Briggs, the violist in red etc. Both of them are exceptional in contributing to Yanni's success.

My favourite of all is "Nightingale", an oriental flavour piece Yanni composed inspired by the bird nightingale while he's in Italy. Gotta love Pedro Eustache playing the chinese flute 笛子, he really brings the spirit out of the flute! And not to mention the great string chambers which make this piece a big success. East Asians would definitely love this piece!

Yanni - Nightingale

"The Storm' is the newest instrumental piece Yanni composed for his 2005 tour. It is a composition based on Vivaldi's Four Season "Summer".It's a fast-paced piece, nicely mixed with some instruments that you dont usually see playing together on the stage. Credits to both violinist too, Samvel Yervinyan & Sayaka Katsuki!

Yanni - The Storm

"Playtime" is a composition Yanni actually composed more than a decade ago. He brought up this song again changes it's elements, turning it into a modern and lively piece. Again, Pedro Eustache plays his role in the saxophone, the core instrument in this piece. I like the mid part where the keyboard player Ming Freeman plays, and yea the finale was perfectly combining violin and saxophone together!

Yanni - Playtime

Some people may prefer Yanni's more quiet & slow pieces. Well for me, I particularly love this piece, "Enchantment". Yanni plays the piano, accompanied by occasion violin, and slowly the piece brought into life as the piece proceeds further.... You do the judgement yourself!  ;)

Yanni - Enchantment

Also another piece I'd like to mention, is the song "Felitsa" Yanni wrote as a tribute for his mother. The piece is named after his mother, Felitsa. It's very unfortunate that his mother passed away sometime ago. Glad that Yanni managed to create this wonderful piece for her. It's a composition with a strong emotion in it, I can felt the music as if he's describing his mother in the song. The song is played softly, and yet you could feel the determination and effort Yanni "injected" into the song.

Yanni - Felitsa

There's still a lot more Yanni masterpieces but I dont think I should put more vids in here. I guess post the video links are better though.  :)

The following titles are some other pieces from Yanni which I like:

• Tribute
• Waltz in 7/8
• Whispers In The Dark

Yanni is currently working with his new album, a totally different approach as now he's inviting vocals into his compositions. You can read more about it here, Yanni Voices Part I & Part II. Heh, I cant wait to get his new album when it's out!   :D

Next on MAESTRO series, Joe Hisaishi!

TARC as it happens

Quite awhile I didnt write bout things happening in college. This week was fun, especially the advertisement diploma students came up with the fantastic campaign to promote some brands like Getsby, Loreal, J.Co Donuts etc. There's the the free-for-all games, getting freebies, and if you're lucky enough you might won some nice prizes.

After Friday GP class I planned to goto CIT lab to online while waiting for the last Bio lecture, but Bryan asked me bout the lecture whether it's cancelled or not. I went to ask Mr Low the admin instead. At that time I realised Mr Low is using the same phone I'm using now, same colour too, just that he bought it much expensive than I did. :P

Well, the last lecture was cancelled because Ms G fall sick. Heh, the students joked she must be ill from marking our Bio P2, which she said marking the papers are much stressful than studying for master and degree in university lol.

I'm not going CIT then, instead I goto Canteen 2 to join friends for the advertisement campaign there, enjoy all the games hahah. It was fun, getting all those freebies as well as entertaining ourselves with those games.

Chipster

Walls ice cream

Old Town Kopitiam

Justea

J.Co Donuts

Loreal

Getsby

Moos ice-cream

Casting the votes here, poor thing.

I just get few nicky snacks, but my friends got quite some good stuffs there. Li Hong & Shindy both won a J.Co Donut, Yew Lee won a "The Forbidden Kingdom" cap, and many more. I didnt see it all as I left earlier...

Here's some random pics from college.

Miau Lik with his PSP, easily got distracted when he plays it.

Fume chamber in Chem lab. We use it when we're dealing with highly volatile compounds.

White mice, waiting to be dissected. Sacrifice in the name of science!

Blood smear slide, clearly showing red blood cell and white blood cell.

Some microscopic slide samples.

Tang Yang's shirt, I see dumb people. LOL!

MAESTRO: Maksim

Maksim is a classical-crossover pianist hails from Croatia, a well-known young piano player who plays in flamboyant style, unlike the traditional classical pianist you seen anywhere else.

Maksim is one of the earliest artist that I came across when I'm starting to build up my musical senses. I heard about him back in 2002 as he's releasing his debut album "The Piano Player". It wasn't until 2003 when I get the chance to listen his songs, and started to love it from that onwards.

Cover for Maksim's 4th album Electrik.

One of my all-time-favourite songs is "Croatian Rhapsody" he played, absolutely love this piece! I think that this piece displays a strong emotion in it, as Maksim learn his piano in the earlier days under shelter while the Croatian civil war is going in in the early 90's. It isn't easy to live a normal life, and yet he managed to train himself at that time to become one of the most promising pianist today we've witnessed.

Croatian Rhapsody MV, live from Roundhouse London.

Maksim - Croatian Rhapsody

Many people recognise Maksim's style of playing from his debut single "Flight of the Bumble Bee", which is a lively piece and yet hard to play it perfectly at such pace. It is also one of his earlier works to turn a classical song into a modern-classical piece via his crossover style.

Flight of the Bumble Bee MV.

Maksim - Flight of the Bumble Bee

Following his success with "Flight of the Bumble Bee", Maksim played another fast-paced piece in his 2nd album "Variations", called "Kolibre". The nature of the song is different than the bee song, and I think Kolibre is much livelier than bee song. :)

Kolibre MV

Maksim - Kolibre

Maksim's new approach on classical music greatly lifts the younger generation's interest in classical music. I for one, greatly impressed by his styles & skills, and not to mention the composer who's helping him to compose many great songs like Croatian Rhapsody, a fellow Croatian Tonci Huljic.

Now I'm waiting for his 5th album "Pure" to be released in Malaysia. There's lots of problems for that album and the release has been delayed..... I'm definitely will be getting it to complete the album collection, it's just a matter of time when the album will reaches our shores here.

Next on the list.... Yanni!

MAESTRO introduction

I've been thinking of writing about those musicians I adore, I wanna share the joy of listening to some of the best contemporary music pieces around while everyone's going for the mainstream musics, which I personally doesnt really like it that much. Well, I dont see any much potential artists that could suit my musical taste bud, so at times I still prefer the elder generation, even if the musicians themselves are no longer here.



I may have spoken bout my interest in music, that I'm more into instrumental and orchestral pieces. I only listen to those songs with singers (vocals) if I think the voice and the melody is good, in my opinion.

I'll be posting the sample of the maestro's songs in the form of Youtube videos.
I think for one to really enjoy the essence of a music piece, one not only have to listen to the piece, as well as witnessing how the musicians came up with the song from their instruments. It's magical....

These are the following artists that I will be covering in the Maestro series blogpost...

Maksim Mrvica

Yanni

Joe Hisaishi

Nobuo Uematsu

Hans Zimmer

Kitaro

Kenny G

Jim Brickman

DJ Tiesto

Emil Chou 周华健

Jay Chou 周杰伦

Teresa Teng 邓丽君

Vitas

It'll take some days for me to complete the whole series, so stay tuned!

Adidas Predator PowerSwerve RED!

Now, this could be the only reason why I would continue wearing Predator series boots..... RED!!
(click for larger view)