Conjuctio anima est cognatio

Now, paying my tribute to a music genius whom I listened to while growing up. The fact that I am studying at an Islamic university should have discount me as an apostate because whenever I look at my friends in the university, they all had a religious background; they all came from a religious family, who practices religion religiously, who are clean from all kinds of sin - whether they have never done it, or have never even heard of it in the first place. Let alone see one doing it. Not me. My family is not what you call religious (but not that they do not perform religious duties at all), I am not that religious myself, and I have in fact committed a number of serious sins myself. So, I am probably not His favorite son. Not that I have been anyone's favorite son either way. My background has been full of music; the first music that I listened to, I think, was when I was five or six. Since then, music has become a part of my life. In fact, if anyone were to dissect my body, 70 percent of the mass would consist of music, while the remaining 30 percent would consist of food and philosophical theories and ideas. One artist who had been a staple until before I reach maturity was M. Nasir. He is this musical genius, a visionary, a talented writer, a delightful producer of amazing melodies and tunes - a singer-songwriter unlike no other. 

The thing that struck me the most about M. Nasir is his music. While his music has certainly changed over the years, moving from (sort of) rock n roll to ballads to ethnic music-infused pop to traditional music, the essence still remains the same; the spirit of love and harmony between man and earth, among man themselves, and man with God. 

So, I decided to do a feature on M. Nasir in parts, and the first part starting with the rock n roll days of a young M. Nasir. Then will be followed by the power ballad days which I think is the most popular of them all (because I have to admit they all make a good sing-along material).

Ah fuck, now the blinking cursor is gone. First the songs, now the blinking cursor. After this what? My blog?

When you read a recent poll that says only 28% of young Malaysians are satisfied with the current situation in the country while the remaining numbers are not satisfied with the economical and political situation, you know now where this country is heading towards: down and dirty. After the so-called hell of a tsunami in the last general election, I thought the ruling party, BN, is going to heed to the voice of discontentment by the public but no. Instead they went on to practice their power over the country by dishing out wave after wave of political issues that only serves to their personal interest. First it was Pak Lah's poor showing as the head of the country, let alone his personal problems which is far from what anyone would have expected to come from the Prime Minister which then became a national joke. Then it was Anwar's and the opposition coalition's effort to topple BN and Pak Lah from administration - again, this year's biggest blockbuster hit, overpowering other blockbuster hits like The Dark Knight and Iron Man and Sepi. Then it was the sensational 'pengakuan bersumpah' by Raja Petra on the involvement of Najib and his wife, among other, in the case of detonating a Mongolian bombshell on a hill. Sounds like a good premise for a pornography film. Then another extra spicy sensational police report by a former aide in the form of a college dropout named Saiful Bukhari on the allegation of sodomy towards Anwar. To me, this is a revisit to the 1998 hit play which also involves Anwar and Mahathir. Now Pak Lah is becoming a sorry, passive bystander as the media are playing out the Summer Slam of between Najib "the Explosive Mongol" and Anwar "King Sodom".

Yawn.

To anyone concerned, none of which I have mentioned above floats my boat. The only thing that I am thoroughly concerned with is where this country is heading towards. We are in the midst of a financial crisis of some proportion. Not just that; we are in the midst of a financial, political, social, ecological crisis of Godzilla proportion. Is the government doing anything about it? As far as I'm concerned, none. First they raised the petrol price, which prompted the raising of price of everything, including a glass of decent sky juice. Then the Terengganu government bought 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressor as official car to replace their fleet of aging Proton Perdana which they claimed cost more in maintenance than Mercs do. Of course, Protons have their spare parts made in Sweden or Iceland. Or Alaska, in those snow-capped mountains. I thought the opposition coalition, who made up the state government for 5 states would be sort of like a silver lining in the clouds but I was wrong again. They may have made some minor impact in those 5 states they are governing but overall, they too are having their hands tied politicking. First of all, the marriage of DAP and Pas in a single entity would never go down as a marriage made in heaven, and PKR's existence in the fold is like those dried chilli you can find in the can of Ayam Brand's Chilli Tuna; the chilli did not make the tuna any hotter than my armpit. So, Pakatan Rakyat is a coalition look set to fall apart before they could reach their mutual goal together: to topple the current government. PKR is busy in the Anwar's war against Pak Lah and Najib, DAP is busy moaning about Pas, Pas is busy about having talks with UMNO on Malay and Muslim unity. So, as a citizen of Malaysia who wants to see this country prosper and move forward, who can I truly rely to in this trying times of self-absorbed politicians and non-thinking politicians?

And a shitty internet connection. Nice fuck.

Yes, yes, as you can see I went to the 'almost' heavenly Tioman island.
I went with two mates. On the bus, somewhere in deep Pahang, 2:30 am.
Another mate, sleeping like a baby.
Finally after six hours of torturous ride, we finally made it to Mersing. (I only got two hours of short, often interrupted sleep).
Then we got on the ferry at about 7:30 am.
And took some more photos.
And a lovely view.
And a lovely view.
And finally, the island.
Got off the ferry. Head still wobbly from not having enough and proper sleep. Cheese.
As you can see, the view is just simply breathtakingly majestic.
More view.
Postcard perfect view.
Delirious.
A view from our chalet's window.
We did quite a few activities there, like fishing and swimming. We planned to do snorkeling but it's just simply too expensive. Let alone snorkeling. There was no motorboats around. Not enough strong wave for surfing. A lot of strong wind though but nobody did wind surfing. Of course there are no photos of us taking a swim because we took a swim nude beach style like.
Just kidding.
Waiting for our lunch at an extremely windy street side cafe.
Nice sunset.
Next day, fishing at the jetty.
You can see the fish biting the bait.
A Chinese couple joined us as well. Threw bits of bread to attract the fishes.
Caught a colorful fish.
Then at night a fishing boat docked at the jetty, unloading their catch of the day.
And took this picture of this (something) thing.
Friday morning, light drizzle. 8 am, waiting for breakfast.
Our breakfast. With bread. (Oh sorry, I forgot to rotate the picture).
While waiting for our ferry to take us back to mainland, another round of fishing at the jetty.
We can only dream of catching a black marlin.
I want to come back to Tioman.
On the way back, a French family sat next to us. Their daughter, a cute little girl which I have forgotten her name sang a few songs to me which I'm not familiar with. I thought it must have been some French kindergarten song or something. Since I was sleepy at that time, and I can't speak French, I just smiled at her while she sang happily at me.

First impression: Ooh, Sigur Ros has released a new album just last week.
Second impression: The title is awfully long and impossible to be pronounced and remembered. Unlike Takk..., or ( ).
Third impression: Why is there naked people featured on the front cover?
Fourth impression: I thought Coldplay was the only one who had gone mad with Viva La Vida but Gobbledigook is just about as weird. Delightfully weird.
Fifth impression: There is even more naked people in the single's video clip.
Sixth impression: Viva La Vida sounds like a must buy because the song of the same name is just too weird for a Coldplay. This new album by Sigur Ros seems like it is going to be on my must buy list as well because I've never seen a band who made such 'happy' songs that everyone starts to take their clothes off. Freak Naturalismo?

I think Radiohead has got to be one of the band whose entire music career is near impossible to be summarized in a convenient thirteen track best of compilation album. I don't suppose anyone would be delighted to hear "The Bends" after "Pyramid Song" in a single listen. Not that "Pyramid Song" or "The Bends" is a bad song but as much as how Radiohead is not an album band, their entire collection of released albums does not sum up into one cohesive unit. Each album stands on its own; it has its own qualities and sound and trademark. Listen to 'Amnesiac' on its own and its a very dignified and rarified (I coined this term) or exotic album; compare it to 'The Bends' and it quickly becomes a cold turkey. I have in fact been thinking about the possibility of EMI releasing a greatest hits sort of collection for Radiohead for the past few years and I've even jumbled up a few tracks to see if it is a plausible idea - so far, I am drawn to a blank. Where to fit in "Paranoid Android"? What about "My Iron Lung"? What is the best track for the opener? Should it begin with the rockier early Radiohead, the neurotic middle age Radiohead, or the weird later age Radiohead? The other problem is that every album serves for a very specific kind of listener, for a very specific kind of listening. If 'The Bends' are listened to while moshing, then 'Kid A' are listened to while masturbating. Or something. Point is: don't buy this recently released best of collection of Radiohead. The recording company is desperate for money. For Radiohead purists like me, the title 'Best of' on the cover reads bullcrap.