Stuff - The Good And The Bad

GOOD

1. My new Keane forum avatar, design inspired by "Spiralling" cover artwork -

2. Old songs I recently downloaded -

• David Bowie - Let's Dance, Starman and Magic Dance
• MJ - Beat It, Billie Jean, Thriller
• Phil Collins - Strangers Like Me
• Spandau Ballet - True
• Madonna - Vogue
• Aretha Franklin - Respect
• Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hills
• Sting - Fields of Gold
• The Jackson 5 - ABC, I Want You Back
• Gladys Knight and the Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia

3. The new Keane board - I'm getting used to it! :)

BAD

The latest look of Windows Live Messenger. Hideous.

Free Song Download @ Coldplay.com

Coldplay puts up another song for FREE download. No I'm not kidding, it's totally OFFICIAL, and it's absolutely F R E E. Come to think of it, many major (UK) bands are doing it right now... putting up songs for free download. A very generous gesture, and a clever marketing ploy. This is a feature that I think we should thank Radiohead for.

Withouth further ado, the link. And this time you don't have to go through all the trouble of opening your e-mail and copying+pasting the link (Remember the problem tonnes of people had with Violet Hill download link??? The problem that shouldn't have occured if those people had read the instructions carefully!), you can download the song on the spot.

The song is called Death Will Never Conquer. Ok what's this thing Coldplay has for life and death??? It's kinda creepy if you ask me! Although the song has a creepy ring into it, it actually sounds... joyful. And the weirder thing about it is... it sounds like a church song! Very un-Coldplay.

JUST DOWNLOAD IT FOR PETE'S SAKE. It won't hurt you to download anyway since it's effin' FREE OF CHARGE. XD.

Peace.

Everybody's Screaming For UPDATE!!!

And an update you shall get!

So... I've been confined in this wretched place I call home, although technically I've never lived in this town, for a good 3 months now. It's been one helluva boring summer break but time seems to pass by so quickly.

The highlight of my holidays is probably me being accepted on to the Student Exchange Programme a.k.a. mobility scheme for A FULL YEAR!!! That means I'm gonna spend +- 10 months in the UK. WOOHOO. But it's not all fun and games. Preparing for my departure was hell. I had to apply for student visa (this on itself is enough to drive me off of my seat), book a flight, apply for accommodation, and rent out the 2 vacant rooms in my TTS house. Not only was I busy doing my own business, I also helped some of my friends on their visa application too! Luckily one of my friend helped booking the flight so I didn't worry much about it.

I got my visa and my flight is confirmed. Accommodation matters are pretty much settled save for the part where my dad has to sign a guarantee form or something. And I got 2 people to rent the 2 rooms in TTS for the first semester. I'll let the others do the worry for the second semester. Haha. I'm only joking, I'm not that evil :P

Keane's New Promotional Photograph
taken from Keane's official Facebook page

So what else is new? I'll tell you what's new... KEANE! My favourite band is back with a vengeance! They *finally* finished recording their 3rd album, entitled Perfect Symmetry, to be released on October 13th 2008. The 1st single, Spiralling, was made available for free download at their official website on August 4th for 1 week. Spiralling is a 'download-only' single, meaning that it won't be released in CD form.

"Cover" Artwork For Spiralling

Spiralling was described by Tim Rice-Oxley, the band's keyboardist/pianist/mastermind, as "an excessive 80's groove". The song is very different from their previous works, but nonetheless refreshing. I admit that I need to take a break from the Keane "signature sound". While Keane might have lost some of their old fans, they also gain new fans. But as Jo Whiley revealed in her "BBC Live Lounge" radio show, the new album will also feature the "old Keane sound" and some GUITARS! And not forgetting groovy bass lines by guess-bassist Jesse Quin.

Following the release of the single, the band announced the album's tracklisting, and the release of their 2nd single, The Lovers Are Losing, on October 20th. The single will also be the album's first full single release.

Album Tracklisting:

1. Spiralling
2. The Lovers Are Losing
3. Better Than This
4. You Haven't Told Me Anything
5. Perfect Symmetry
6. You Don't See Me
7. Again And Again
8. Playing Along
9. Pretend That You're Alone
10. Black Burning Heart
11. Love Is The End

Not long before the release of their single, Q magazine revealed that Keane will do an EXCLUSIVE GIG on September 29th in London. I'll already be in the UK by then so I hope I can get myself a ticket to watch my *1st* ever Keane gig! Wish me luck! :-)

Sewn, Helicopter and Colder

Move over Tim Rice-Oxley, and make way for Fran Healy (and Chris Cron)!

Now, who is Fran Healy?
- He's the frontman of the band Travis (Yes it's the name of the band, not the frontman. The same goes to Keane. Savvy?)
- He's an adorable, and he's Scottish (Which makes him more adorable!)
- He's my new *celebrity* crush.

Francis "Fran" Healy
Photo from www.virginmedia.com

Another one of my *celebrity* crush is Chris Cron. He's the frontman of the *American* alternative rock/piano rock band Melee. This band is not as famous as Travis or Keane, yet. There are more to this band than "Built To Last" and "Can't Hold On" (although they are, I have to admit, probably the 2 best songs of the record), so people, keep your ears tuned!

Chris Cron
Photo from www.daylife.com

Lately I've been listening a lot to The Feeling's Sewn and Helicopter, and Travis's Colder (hence the title of this blog entry).

Sewn is The Feeling's first ever single, taken from their debut album Twelve Stops and Home. To date it remains the band's most successful single. The music is kind of mellow, heart breaking, and sentimental. From what I've gathered Dan Gillespie Sells (the frontman) wrote this song about himself, which can be seen from the first two lines of both verses:

First verse
Danny boy, don't be afraid to shake that ass, and misbehave
Danny boy, I know you got time, but what are you waiting for?

Second verse
Danny boy, don't be a fool, take upon to break the rule
Danny boy, you're looking so low, you're looking like the dead grown old

Helicopter is another song from the same album. The song is more upbeat yet the lyrics emit a gloomy aura. And... um... the words, they don't exactly fit together but they sound really really cool! It's not everyday you can find someone who can relate 'helicopter' and 'ocean liner' with 'unrequited love' (my guess). Just check out the quirky lyrics of the first verse:

My piano's out of use, I wish it wasn't
I wish that you were mine
I wish that my heart was stronger
My piano's out of use, I wish it wasn't
I wish we had more time
I wish that my world is softer
And I want a helicopter

Last but not least, Colder by Travis, from their fifth album The Boy With No Name. Quite upbeat, however not as upbeat as Selfish Jean, but mellow and sweet. Fran Healy sure knows how to work his charms on every single song with the combination of his pillow-soft voice and heart-touching lyrics. The chorus goes like this:

The sky is falling down
And there's an angel on the ground
It's getting colder
I'm standing looking down
But there's no sound around the town
It's getting colder

Also watch out for a harmonica solo at the end of the song!

2 Days To D-Day

I can't believe it's just a mere 2 days before my first paper! I have been unproductive this past 5 days. VERY unproductive. I don't really know what's gotten into me but the lazybug have bitten me so hard in my arse.

I AM SO DEAD

This sem was soooo hectic and I only had little time, or, should I say, I spared myself so little time, to catch up with my studies. I was so busy with Annual Dinner that I had to stay in uni from wee hours of the morning to late in the afternoon. I only came back home for dinner and to sleep. All the hard work and all the time sacrificed did pay off, though. The Annual Dinner was the highlight of the year. Yeah, I know that most people think that the Annual Dinner is just a huge cam-whore convention, but let me tell you it's more than that. People pay a little over RM100, you don't expect them to ignore everything that they've already paid for. Just wait until the event is over and THEN people will shower you with comments on the food lah, on the venue lah, this and that lah...

Luckily for me, and the rest of the committee, this year's Annual Dinner went smooth as satin! I even couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all the programmes running just the way we wanted them to be. Me and the others were like "If those people give us negative feedbacks, screw them... This is the best Annual Dinner ever!". And surprise surprise, we received almost none! Most of the students who went gave us positive remarks like "The food is not so great, but it's okay lah. Better than last year!" or "JASON LO ROCKS!!!". Well, to sum it up, they all agreed that this year's Annual Dinner's improved by A LOT.

After the Annual Dinner left us in awe, it's time to get back to reality.

OH SH*T... Reality struck me like a blazing thunder sent down by Zeus! I've got 2 courseworks due AND 1 test the following week! Thermo coursework went just fine, also me (and of course, my comrades) rushed until the very last minute because there had been a slight misunderstanding on one of the bleeping questions. Maths test, let's just say I screwed it. I did good, but not up to my standard. And my standard is high, for most people, to be honest. Lastly, my PEP report. I completely SCREWED it! One day prior the due date I almost didn't sleep at all! I was trying to get bits and pieces of the report together in such short period of time and I...uhm... managed to write some crap. Crappy crap, not the type of crap that usually gets me high marks. Ah hell the crapping parts only make up about 30% of the report anyways.

All the stress triggered an outbreak of pimples on both of my arms. Yes. Pimples on my arms. If you don't believe me you can Google down "body acnes".

And here I am now, 'preparing' for finals. I don't know HOW THE HELL am I going to cramp in all the 12 weeks worth of lectures (multiply them by 4 1/2). So I'm down on my knees, begging you to PRAY FOR ME so that I could save my own ass. I've got 3 things at stake: 1. my scholastic award grant (BIG money), 2. my uni 'scholarship', and 3. MY MOBILITY PROGRAMME APPLICATION. I emphasised on the latter because I want to go to UK reeeeeeeeeeeal bad!

It was nice having had a chance to catch up with you guys. It's time for some shut-eye. Ciao!

I Am Tagged...

This is my first post in... uhm... more than a month now :P

Real name: Maria Stephanie

Nickname: steffi, tepot, tepi, stef, step, maria (i dislike this one very much thank you)

Married: not yet

Male/Female: female

High school: SMA Bopkri 2 Jogjakarta (Indonesia)

College: The University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus (don't you just hate the last 2 bits?)

Short or long hair: SHORT HAIR RULES! period.

Are u a health freak: yes.

Height: 172cm/5'7"

Do u have a crush on someone?: Yes

Do u like yourself: More than anyone else

Piercings: Nil

Righty or lefty: Righty


First....

Surgery: When I was 3

Piercing: 4? 5? I completely forgot.

Person u see in the morning: Po Yoke.

Award: 1st Runner Up, STTB-LIA English Listening Comprehension Competition (what a competition!), when I was... 17?

Sport u join: Swimming

Pet: A dog

Vacation: Singapore and Bali, when i was 2

Concert: None yet

First crush: ANP, when I was in 4th grade


Currently...

Eating: Potato buns I was forced to buy because Trixie took three packs, while I asked for none!

Drinking: Water

I'm about to: Snooze


Your future...

Want kids: None, if possible. Our growing population is a serious threat to mother nature. And she needs a serious break. I dunno, I'd probably opt for adoption.

Want to get married: Like DUH

Careers in mind: Eco-warrior.


Which is better?

Lips or eyes?: Eyes

Hugs or kisses: Hugs

Shorter or taller?: Definitely TALLER. Given that I'm already tall, for Asian standards.

Romantic or spontaneous: Spontaneous

Sensitive or loud: Depends on the situation

Troublemaker or hesitant?: Something in between :P


Have u ever....

Kissed a stranger?: No

Drunk bubbles: No

Lost glasses/contacts: No, I'm not that stupid.

Ran away from home: Yes

liked someone younger: Kind of

liked someone older: Most of the time

Broke someone's heart: Yes

Been arrested: No

Cried when someone died: No


Do u believe in...

Yourself?: More than anyone else

Miracles: I'm a living proof

Heaven: Yes

Santa Claus: Once upon a time there's a jolly old fellow called St. Nicholas. And once upon a time later, someone twisted his life story to make it look as though he's a supernatural being with the ability to fly around the world in one night, from one house to another, to distribute presents to decent (read: nice) little kids. I'd like to belive him as a normal human being rather than a mythical creature.

Magic: Yes

Angels: I'm one :P *lame!*


Answer truthfully..

Is there someone u want to be with right now?: Yes. Badly.

Do u believe in God?: I believe in a higher power. That's about it.

Single Awareness Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Being single most of my lifetime means that Valentine's day is nothing special for me. I went through 1 Val's day with a guy, whom I dated for all the wrong reasons. That was the only time I 'celebrate' Val's day not alone.

Val's day is celebrated with roses, chocolates, romantic dinners, yadayadayada. Or so they say. I once used to give out chocolates to my close friends and my crushes for Val's day, but then I got tired of it. Well first, I think it's just a waste of money :P, second I just don't see the point in celebrating love only on this one day of the 365/366 days a year!

But this night, me and my friends did something a bit special. At first we wanted to watch Jumper. But then we figured that the cinema will be packed with people celebrating Val's day, so we put the idea behind. Just 2 days ago me and my classmates agreed to have a "singles only" dinner at my place.

The 6 of us singletons had a lovely steamboat dinner this evening. And I have to say this is the best Valentine's day I've ever experienced! Here's a pic of my friends doing the steamboat

Left to right - Roey, Dexter, Riccardo, Po Yoke and Trixie