On the Borderline - Sally Seltmann

I love The Hype Machine. Great place to score new Indie music.

On the Borderline - Sally Seltmann

Here's a girl that caught my attention while I was listening on the radio, and it was this song that got me interested.

On the Borderline is one of the songs from Sally's new album, Heart That's Pounding which was released on April 6th 2010.

To those who don't know, Sally Seltmann is a singer-songwriter based in Melbourne. She used to perform under the alias "New Buffalo" until 2009. For more information on her, go here.

Here's what I think:

The song starts off with a nice gentle, calming tune. And that's what it is - gentle. I find her voice so melting, so pure. Every note she sings seems heartfelt. In this song, Seltmann sings about getting on with life (assuming after a break up with a boyfriend).

In every note she sings, it is as if she is singing to a friend, consoling the friend and encouraging her (or him, but I'm going with a her) to move on in the gentlest way possible. She reminds me a little bit of Feist, whose song 1234 was co-written by her.

So from the sounds of it, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say you can expect soft, gentle and mellow tunes in the album. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm definitely gonna try and give it a listen. :)

Rating: 8/10

Mind Your er... Branding

Last I checked, eyeshadow isn't meant to make you manly....

If I were to buy eyeshadow, I'd want it to make me look feminine, not masculine.

I remember you

I remember you.

You, always with a smile,

On your bright happy face.

I remember you.

You, always happy.

Always joking. Like everything in life was contented.

I remember you.

You, always worried if we didn't have anything to eat.

I remember you.

You, who saw me like your own daughter.

I remember you.

You, always understanding.

Always offering fatherly advice.

I remember you.

You, always generous.

Always giving.

I remember you.

You, and your hugs.

I remember you.

You, welcoming us at the laundromat.

I remember you.

You, whom I miss.

I remember you.

You, who left without a word.

Silently like a cat.

Quickly, like lightning.

I remember you.

You, my dearest Uncle Simon.

Happy Birthday.

I remember you.

You, always.

Let's Take a Moment...

Now doesn't this remind you of a Lady Gaga performance?

But that doesn't look like Lady Gaga, does it?

So who IS this person who is leeching off Lady Gaga's style?

World, meet Jelena Karleuša.

A Serbian pop singer.

Not only is she unoriginal, she lip syncs. At least that's how I see it.

I'm pretty sure she can't really sing.

If a person NEEDS to lip sync, it just goes to show how horrible you are in singing.

Hence the need to lip sync.

Now, boys and girls, say it with me,

COPYCAT!!!!

Why I Don't Believe In Internet Dating (part 2)

I was just going off to bed, when I had this sudden urge to check my Ymail account.

I hadn't looked into it for weeks cos I don't normally use it anymore.

First message I saw, was this:

(click to enlarge)

Wah.

She made it sound like I proposed a relationship with her.....

"I am sorry for your concern with my Proposal for a relationship with you"

Uh... No need to be sorry, I am not concerned, neither did I propose anything to you.

"but I know that it will grant my request in good faith and understanding,"

So you're just gonna take up any proposal lah? Even if it's non existent? You might want to check out this dude. He'll propose to you in the next message.

"But bear in mind that Love has no colors barrier, no educational back ground barrier, no socio-economic Barrier, religious, linguistic, the nationality or distance barrier, the only important thing is love."

Uh... Okay. For one thing woman, I am straight....

For another thing, I didn't realise that you could fall in love with a person's email address, causing you to magically fall in love with the person as well. I know my email address very sexy la but tone it down, will ya?

I don't know which is freakier, this chick, or this dude .

I don't even know where she came from.

Or how she got a hold of my email, cos I never give it out to anyone unless I know the person.

Or it could be a spam mail. Yeah, let's go with that.

It's an obsession

Guilty as charged, I am a chocoholic.

I love chocolate.

If I had no fear of obesity, it'd be my staple diet.

If I were to go on a diet, the number one temptation would be chocolate.

If I were really sad/hyperventilating, it calms me down.

I doubt anyone would hate chocolate. I mean, HOW CAN YOU?

Such goodness, such sweetness, mm.

Especially those imported Belgium ones.

I tasted them before and it was like heaven in my mouth.

The chocolate literally melted at first bite.

Mmm.

Oh Lord, what wouldn't I give to taste it again?

Yes lah this is a very meaningless post.

I'm bored.

Where IS the Music Industry Headed?

Now can someone PLEASE explain to me WHY they kicked him out?

I don't follow the AI series that much (my schedule is borderline crazy. So it's a privilege if I get to watch anything on the television), and in this season, I only managed to watch the first episode.

This was the ONE guy who made me actually go WOW.

If it were humanly possible to melt just like that, I would have.

Out of all the contestants I watched in that episode, he was the one I remembered the most.

Because of his great voice. His ever so melting Oh My Great Granny voice.

He IMPROVED Joan Osbourne's "What If God Was One of Us".

In my books, you had to be really really good to surpass the singer of a good song.

And I thought hey, this guy has talent.

Despite the fact that he still needs to learn to control his voice, the fact remains that this dude has raw talent.

Few more lessons and he'd be mind-blowingly great.

So when I got the news from a friend yesterday (yes lah I live in a cave), I was pissed.

Because they kicked him out for a stupid reason.

They. Freaking. Edited. His. Video. And. Made. Him. Look. Like. A. Diva.

Idiots.



Not many singers can carry off "Man in the Mirror". All along I thought only Michael Jackson could do it.

Till Jermaine Sellers came in. (Not saying he's greater than MJ. MJ is unbeatable. Yes I'm biased)

This guy has the potential to improve the musical industry.

With so many digitally enhanced voices out there, it would really help if we had more "solidly original" voices.

Am I the only one who notices how different singers sound compared to their recorded music and onstage?

I can already list down a few....

Lady Gaga and Avril Lavigne are just two examples. (I'm not saying there aren't any "original" singers out there)

Now Jermaine here, with his talent he doesn't need his voice to be digitally enhanced.

Just a few voice lessons will probably do.

And just a few weeks ago I thought he'd go far.

And they dropped him like a bomb just like that.

It's sabotage I tell you.

My friend showed me one contestant who managed to remain on the show.



And I went hey good job dude, you managed to turn an okay song to a completely horrible song.

Then I read the title -

Lee DeWyze - Fireflies (American Idol 9 TOP 16)

And I went: WHAT?? This guy made it to the top 16??? ARE THEY INSANE?

I was even more pissed.

Dahlah I was stressing over my assignments at the time.

In case you were wondering, music is something I take very seriously.

And as an on again, off again American Idol follower, seeing talent like that being beaten up by people like that, seriously turns me off.

Am I disappointed? Oh you have no idea.

Insecurities

Though this may be a bit too far...

Word of advice, guys: be careful of what you say to your girlfriend.

The "Anything Lah" Persona

I love people with opinions, don't you?

I mean life would be so boring without them.

You can argue and debate them.

Which is why I like opinionated people.

They have minds of their own.

They think differently.

Mereka mempunyai PENDAPAT.

I have this thing, when I start talking to an unopinionated person, and when the fella starts agreeing with everything I say, I'd get irritated.

I mean, if you really do agree with me on everything then fine la.

I'm talking about people who don't give an opinion every time, even when they're asked for it.

Like in a discussion with teammates, you turn to everyone after making a long winded speech about Why Pig Can Fly, and ask: "Am I right???"

All of them say, "YES YOU ARE SO RIGHT I AGREE COMPLETELY!"

Okay maybe this isn't such a good example.

But what if after that you continuing by saying how you think the pigs can fly, and the ways you think they can do it.

And you turn to them and ask: "what do you think?"

And they say: "Oh I dunno. Whatever you say."

And they say the same thing to every topic you have.

I don't know about you, but I found it very annoying.

And boring.

I mean, don't you people have any suggestions?

Any "actually, I think...."?

No?

It's like talking to robots.

No thoughts.

No feelings.

Got la, but they follow everything the first person says.

Like a flock of sheep, really.

There's got to be something more up in that noggin' RIGHT??

Isn't that what the human brain is for (I am not saying that they are stupid, please don't take this personally.)?

If we were all under the oppression of some ruthless leader then I can understand.

But we're not.

We happen to be (almost) free individuals with the ability to think and speak (well, with limits) freely.

So isn't there anything that you people can have an opinion on?

It's okay to be neutral.

I'm not saying being "flexible" isn't okay.

All I'm saying is that we each need to have some sort of opinion on things.

Not to say you MUST have an opinion on EVERYTHING lah.

But I'm sure that when someone starts a debate, you'd have an opinion on SOMETHING right?

So, speak your mind.

No one's gonna kill you for it.

Well, unless you do it at the wrong time or to the wrong person.

That's a whole different thing.

Even speaking your mind needs a modicum of tact.

Spotlight: On Yuna

Alright, it's a Malaysian singer.

I don't normally listen to Malaysian singers, but this girl totally got me hooked.

I couldn't believe that she was a Malaysian singer.

Deeper Conversation was the first song I ever heard from her.

And from then on, my perception of Malaysian artists changed.

Yuna, whose actual name is Yunalis Zarai, was born on November 14, 1984.

Her birthplace is in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia.

She is an independent singer/songwriter who has been writing songs since she was 14 years old.

Her first performance of her own songs was when she was 19.

On a side note, Yuna was also a law student at Universiti Teknologi MARA.

She completed her studies in 2009.

She also owns a blogshop (iamjetfuel.blogspot.com) as a side project.

Yuna's musical influences come from a few of my own personal favourite artists such as Feist, Coldplay, Bob Dylan and The Cardigans.

Her music is pretty much between easy listening and a bit of jazz.

It's the kind of music you'd wanna listen to in a cafe, if it were a live performance it'd be even better.

Yuna describes her music as "a cross between Mary Poppins and Coldplay".

I'm seeing the Coldplay part, but I don't get the Mary Poppins area.

It was due to the strong following she gained in MySpace that Yuna rose successfully in the Malaysian Indie scene.

Her band members are Farhan Fadzlishah on guitars, Efry Arwiz on bass, and Adli Ali on drums.

Though I doubt Yuna would make it to the international scene (unless she migrates), I do believe she has some promise in Malaysia.

But then again, indie isn't meant to be famous. It's meant to stay untapped, untouched , original and definitely NOT mainstream.

But if you're into indie, this is definitely a girl you wanna watch out for. :)

What Happens When People Market a Movie Wrongly: Part 2

Last year, I posted up something about Bandslam.

So I finally got my hands on the movie and made myself watch it, just to see if the information was correct.

And boy, was it ever.

Not only did they project the image of this movie wrongly, they also managed to churn it into a High School Musical copycat. As if that was gonna sell.

They appealed to the HSM/Disney fans who (I bet) were probably largely disappointed when they got out of the cinema because they were expecting a HSM/Camp Rock-ish movie.

But no, they got a quirky, unique, Juno-like film about a boy who obsessively writes letter to David Bowie (and never getting an answer).

And the target audience that they SHOULD be appealing to, were probably already largely turned off by the poster.

These people sold the movie a la Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka - Big mistake. Hudgens and Michalka were only side characters. The person in the limelight was Gaelan Connell, the guy who plays Will Burton.

And they made the supporting actresses seem like the main characters.

And hello, Vanessa Hudgens played a goth girl. WHY IS SHE SMILING SO HAPPILY IN THE POSTER IF SHE'S GOTH??

I'll admit, despite finding all that info about the film, I was skeptical (can't be too careful these days).

So I half expected some character to suddenly burst into a song a la a musical.

But no one did, unless the band was playing (it's a movie about a battle of the bands competition so go figure).

Plus, due to my perception of Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka as "Disney people", I doubted that they could pull off an indie film (that is not to say that they are horrible actresses).

To my surprise they managed to pull it off. Well, Aly pulled it off better than Vanessa. Vanessa looked like she was trying too hard in the beginning. To me lah.

What Bandslam really is, is an Indie film in Disney-fied clothing. It's actually very Juno.

The plot was.... predictable, yet not all that predictable at all. Which was something I liked.

You could see where the story was going, but there were a few twists.

And the music was surprisingly good.

Dear Rob Freidman, just because you have two very famous actresses, doesn't mean you can always use their star power to bring audiences in. There is always a better way to market this.

You're bringing in the wrong people, which can kill a good product.

I think it's a waste that a pretty good movie got butchered just 'cos of the lousy marketing. It's a shame, really.

You Take My Breath Away

Check it! it's Rachael Yamagata's newest song!



You Take My Troubles Away by Rachael Yamagata and Dan Wilson.

Part of the soundtrack from Dear John. :)

This song has a very light and easy tune, a huge difference from Ms. Yamagata's last duet with Ray LaMontagne.



Duet, from the New Moon soundtrack, which has a very sorrowful tune.

I actually expected You Take My troubles Away to be about as emo as Duet, but I was wrong.

Old words
when there's so much to tell,
and I don't know when I'll be there again.

In life, when you're driven away,
Will you recognize the one who returns?
Sweet one,
the beauty that you are in the dawn
Dear love,
all I ask is that you hold on.

Nonetheless, it is still a beautiful song.

However, I don't really hear much of Dan Wilson's vocals.

It was more like Rachael's voice was highlighted throughout the song,

And Dan Wilson was more of "background music".

Or it could be because Rachael's voice is very distinct.

Other than that I have no problems. :)

From the moment I heard about it, I've been searching frantically all over Google to have a listen at this song. Needless to say, I wasn't very successful.

That is, until Chester posted it up on my wall for me.

For that I am very grateful indeed. :)

Project Mad Hatter

Ladies and gents, I bring you the sculpture model for my Visual Communication I final class assignment.

Look familiar?

No shit, the Mad Hatter CAN look madder.

Or evil. :)

Thanks to a bit of photoshopping, this guy got a fright job.

He is gonna take up 70% of my time, and will probably be the cause of me losing 10kgs at the end of the project.

I know it's gonna be hard, but you have no idea how psyched I am to complete this.

It's gonna look so cool! Wish me luck! :D

Go on, Move on

A few days ago I was working on my Contextual Studies essay.

We had to pick a stereotype, and analyse it thoroughly.

Then provide our own opinions.

My topic was Homophobics.

Gay bashers.

Which was a very interesting topic.

Due to its psychological background, I ended up writing an entire thesis on it.

There was another stereotype I wanted to work on, however.

The stereotype of gender roles in Saudi Arabia.

A few days ago, I was reading this book.

It was a biography of a Saudi Arabic princess.

Now, this Saudi Princess had many privileges.

She had servants at her every beck and call.

She had her pick of whatever clothes to wear.

If they weren't enough,

She could always buy more.

She had everything she wanted, as long as it didn't go against the rules of her religion - rules of her country.

Which was fair enough, I suppose.

I mean, every country has to have its rules.

And I'm pretty sure Islam isn't a bad religion.

I mean all religions teach us to be good.

So it's a good thing, in a way.

If there were anything bad, it'd be because the people who practiced it twisted its meaning.

The princess had a life of luxury.

But she was not free.

You see, being a woman in Saudi Arabia,

You were subjected to be obedient.

You had to obey the men.

No matter how much of a bastard the man is, you had to obey.

You couldn't stand up for yourself, no matter how much you wanted to.

The men could beat you to a pulp, and you had to take it.

That was how it was.

Women had very little rights.

There was one story in the book,

It was about a 13 year old girl.

She had just begun her teen years.

One night, her parents went out and left her brother in charge of the house.

The brother invited all his friends over to the place and had a grand party.

They turned the music up at full volume, smoked, had drugs and drank booze.

An illegal thing to do in Saudi Arabia.

Now the little girl was trying to sleep at the time.

Her room was one floor above the party place.

Because of the loud music, she couldn't sleep.

So she decided to go down and ask her brother to turn down the volume.

She was in her nightdress.

She poked her head through the door of the party room.

She yelled for her brother, but he didn't hear.

So she decided to look for him.

She slipped in, and in the process, got herself gang raped by her brother's friends.

Because the men thought she was a prostitute of some sort, hired to bring entertainment.

She kicked, screamed and yelled that she was the daughter of the owner of the house.

But none of them listened, obviously.

When they realized who she was, they bolted out of the house.

The girl got pregnant, the boys made up a story saying that she enticed them to have sex with her.

The religious leaders and the girl's father refused to listen to her story.

They thought the men were right.

So the girl was stoned to death for her "sins".

After she gave birth to her child.

Now I'm not too sure how much has changed in Saudi Arabia now,

'Cos the book was published back in the 1990s.

But I was definitely very shocked when I read it.

I hated how the women were so mistreated.

How they had little or no rights at all.

I honestly can't see how they could treat women the way they do.

It's barbaric.

How can a country be so rich, yet still so backward?

Why I Don't Believe In Internet Dating

Because you meet guys like these.

(Click to enlarge)

I honestly have no idea who the fella is.

But I figured, since the guy managed to muster up the courage to ask, I should at least reply.

(Click to enlarge)

Apparently he didn't get the message that I'm dating someone.

And he is serious about it.

And is he really so socially handicapped that he doesn't even know how to get to know a person?

So I checked out the guy's profile.

I found that he has only 2 friends on his profile.

And he is desperately searching for a girlfriend.

He even posted up his phone number just so the girl (whoever is desperate enough) could call.

Last I saw his status message, he was complaining about how God made girls ugly and boring.

Bitter much?

This post isn't meant to bash him la....

Although it's probably headed in that direction.

But I seriously could not believe how desperate the fella was.

I reread the message like 10 times.

Then print screened it.

What if I did accept him though?

I bet he'd turn into those ultra psycho possessive boyfriends.

The kind that is so insecure,

He must know everything about you, EVERYTHING.

From where you are in public to which room you are in in the house.

He'd be texting me 24/7.

Like non-stop.

Must tell him everything I am doing up to minute detail.

"Dear ah, I'm at One Utama."

"Dear ah, I'm walking to Cold Storage."

"Dear ah, I'm walking one step forward."

"Aiyo dear, got someone cut me in front, must walk one step backward."

"Dear, I am showering."

"Dear, I'm brushing teeth."

"Dear I'm digging my nose."

"Dear I just farted."

If I don't tell, he will go,

"YOU DON'T WANT ME ADY IZZIT?? THERE'S ANOTHER GUY, ISN'T THERE???"

Pssshhhh.....

I cannot imagine living my life like this.

It's like having a CCTV follow you every second.

Or like having a GPS tracker pinned to my back.

And on those nights when I am rushing my assignments,

How the hell am I supposed to do them with Mr. CCTV watching my every move?

I don't understand internet dating though.

I don't trust it.

No human contact whatsoever aside from that flat screen and keyboard.

How do people bond like that?

I don't deny that there are cases where internet dating does work out,

But it's just not meant for me.

I really can't seem to trust it.

No offense whatsoever meant, just my two cents. :)

I shall end this post with an extract from one of my favourite songs:

Over there stands my angry angel

And he's shaking his head, in disgrace with me

Yeah over there stands my angry angel

And he's frowning like hell, but i'm not feeling guilty

-Angry Angel, Imogen Heap

Analytics

I was checking out my Nuffnang account, when I came by this.

(Click to enlarge)

A bit disturbing.....

Kinda makes me wonder what that person was REALLY searching for.... -.-

Or maybe I don't want to know.

The Art of Procrastination

We've all done it before.

Perception

There's this particular time on Chinese New Year,

Celebrated by the Hokkien-s.

They call it "Pai Ti Kong".

Meaning, "praying to the sky god" (direct translation)

It's a time dreaded and anticipated.

For a very good reason.

For one thing,

At this time the fireworks (and firecrackers) come out at full force.

For hours on end.

Leaving people (such as myself), who want sleep,

Very much sleep deprived.

And when you have an OCD dog,

That's even worse.

The dog will get scared,

Bark the life out of you,

And nothing, I mean NOTHING can calm it down.

However if you're one to watch pretty fireworks,

You might love this particular day.

Because you'll see them all over.

Especially if you live right in front (or behind, or anywhere near) a field.

You'd have a spectacular display.

And if you happen to be a photographer,

That's even better.

You'd have your pick of fireworks to choose.

You'd whip out your SLR and start snapping gleefully.

I suppose it all boils down to perception.

How you see things.

One person sees a particular thing differently from the rest.

Like a pencil.

Some see it as nothing more than a pencil,

But to an artist, it is a tool.

A tool used to make a masterpiece.

So it got me thinking,

What if people could see things from another's perception?

We'd have less wars.

We'd understand each other better.

If we'd just take the time,

Imagine what we could achieve.

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen,

I give you,

My Tumblr!

A Chocoholic's Tumblr

When I'm not updating this blog, I'm posting stuff here. :)

What Works For You

Back when I was in primary school,

I was about.... 9 to 11 years old.

I remember I was asked many times by the people around me,

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I said, a teacher.

That was because my mum was a teacher.

Also because at the time, the people I looked up to were teachers.

Coming from a Chinese school,

we were taught to respect our teachers at all times.

We were made to bow to them in respect.

If you didn't bow, you'd get a whacking.

At least, that was how it was in my school.

Then I went to secondary school.

My perception changed.

We got the shittiest teachers on earth.

Teachers that pissed me off.

So that killed my interest then and there.

I decided to become a zoologist.

Because I love animals.

Then I discovered I had no interest in science (the biological science).

So I thought of becoming a psychologist.

Then my relatives discouraged me in a fear that I would go mad within a year.

It was years before I discovered how stupid I was to believe them.

Then I thought, why not be a professional violinist?

I mean, my entire family was filled with musicians,

Starting from my great grandpa (he was an opera singer as well as a lion dancer).

Besides, I loved playing my violin.

But then dad discouraged me.

Because he'd seen how long the professionals practiced, and I wasn't even up to par.

7 freaking hours. I could only manage 5.

I wasn't even that good.

I knew where my limits were.

If I wanted to be good, I had to go to Vienna.

So I thought, why not go into design?

I could draw well.

I had... Ideas.

Being naive back then, I had no idea how hard it was to come up with a good design.

So mum suggested I take an advertising course.

At least I had a hand in everything.

So I could decide on which aspect to go into, as I pleased.

I've never regretted that decision. Not even once.

Because as I learned I discovered so much more.

It takes more than drawing and ideas to make a good design.

It's much more challenging.

Advertising, though it may seem glamorous to some,

Isn't as glamorous as it seems.

You do get the glamor.

But you get a whole lot of hard work to go along with it.

And dammit, you work hard.

unless you want to be stuck as a junior for the rest of your career.

I can't say I've had very much experience in the advertising world,

But I can say I've seen enough to know how it is.

So I have found my passion.

I will work to get that scholarship to Australia, or England (I still can't decide).

I will work to get myself an advertising job in New York.

And that's where I'll be.

So for those of you who still haven't decided on what you want to do,

Find your passion.

Everyone has one.

You just need to know more,

to research.

Find out what works for you.