Death:

Michael “Wacko Jacko” Jackson died this morning at age 50. That man was considered as the most electrifying entertainer second to Elvis “The King” Presley not to mention the most controversial too. How death is so certain. No matter how popular you were or how untouchable you thought you were, you can never escape death, ever. I often wondered, what is it like to die. Is it just another phase in life like semester exams, first day at work or marriage? Would you be able to feel that same feeling that you always felt after concluding an important event? That same relief? I guess I would never know.

A friend of mine suffered that lost, as his beloved father passed away this morning. I hope everything will be okay for him. March on dude! And I quote from the Prophet, peace be upon him;

“Those who are most aware of death and prepare themselves for it, are the wisest of people”

“Ponder on death a lot. Allah opens the heart of that person who thinks about death a lot and makes death easy for him”

The Amir Erwan Trilogy:

Amir Erwan posted me some queries about making money through blog advertisements just now. It was kind of weird since he himself is one hell of an ace when it comes to computer systems, programs, gadgets and all thing cyberspace, and there he was, asking little old me about adsense. Dude, you do not need no fucking adsense when you can direct download movies in 5 fucking seconds! Yes, since he swanked about the ability of his office computer to download incredible amount of naughty movies movie files from the Internet at a super human and unreasonable speed of light, this guy has inevitably become our lightning rod of jealousy, envy and resentment. Haha.

I myself am not really that well versed when it comes to moneymaking blogs. I first found out the potential of earning extra income through blogging, when I first started my first blog, the infamous Kedai Mendownload in 2006. Yes, it was kind of late to start blogging back then, I suppose, but as far as I can remember, I was exposed to the world of blogs (the blogosphere as it is popularly and widely known) since the year 2000 but I never took the first step to start one since I am more convenient with the conventional way of writing, with a pen and a paper.

When I first started Kedai Mendownload, I studied a bit about blog advertisements and how the system works and earn me money. I tried all sorts of advertisement programs in the likes of Google adsense, Adbrite or the local Nuffnang and Advertlets. Or the online shop based programs like Chitika and Amazon. There were also link-based programs like Usercash, or Linkbucks or the infamous Text-Link-Ads. It was loads of fun. I still remember putting so many advertisements in Kedai Mendownload, it took ages for the page to load.

You can easily earn money through clicks, page views or affiliations. There is a trick in doing this. You need to disguise and cloak the ads so that it would appear that the ad links were a part of your blog or web page. The most common way to do this is by having both the page and the ads, bear the same background and font color. Camouflage them a bit. You will fool every one. As far as I am concern, you can really earn form these ad programs. You can either have them propelled by cheque via the legendary snail mail or wire your earning through your paypal account. You need to have a paypal account first in order to do that though.

The Philosophy Unleashed:

Never in a million years that I would actually see a day when a label would be interested to release anything from my black metal one man band project, Filsufatia (a play on the arabic term for the Philosophy), other than my own, if I were to have one that is. Today I opened my trustworthy myspace account to find that I got this private message from Carnage Music, a Kelantan based local independent heavy metal label, offering to release Filsufatia’s fourth demo, Immortalis and add Filsufatia into their little artist roaster on Carnage Music. Although it was not really a big deal since I really do trust that the offer was only a gesticulation of support from one Kelantanese metalhead to another, but still it was an honor that they wanted to release the damn thing through their label.

Not that I will be getting any money out of it, but I bet it would be loads of fun, at least for me, to see Immortalis being released in a much better and appropriate material even if it was only on a burned compact disc with a zeroxed black and white cover. I was made to further understand that the plan was that it would be going to be a limited release of thirty copies only. I made them an offer to add some additional tracks so that it would appear to be money worthy track wise. It would be a great experience and opportunity. Thank you fellas. All hail Kelantanese heavy metal.

John William Ferrell:

Hensem tak Abang Will?

His name is John William Ferrell. He is my favorite actor and Nina despised me for that. Why? Simply because Will Ferrell is ugly. So typical of you urban girls to only like those in the league of Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and that gay ass Wentworth Miller from the trendy ass Prison Break. These guys could not even act, well, except for Depp. Give me a break.

One of the most hilarious and disturbingly funny guys from the frat pack of Hollywood, Ferrell first started as a cast in, what I would call, the university for comedy superstardom, Saturday Night Live before going on to star in his own box office hit movies like Old School (2003), Anchorman (2004), Talladega Nights (2006) and Step Brothers (2008) and man those movies were hilarious. I could watch it a thousand more times and would still be laughing at his evergreen ridiculousness.

But Nina hated Ferrell movies for no apparent reason. She justified that Ferrell was a terrible actor and all of his movies were a pile of garbage on reels. She even dozed off to Mimaland when she was supposed to watch Talladega Nights. You slept in the middle of the movie and came back to me complaining that it was the worst movie ever. You did not even finish the whole movie.

I guess she is more into those brainer kinds of movies like Vantage Point, Righteous Kill, The Oxford Murders or even Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Yeah, try and not fall asleep watching that movie. Don’t get me wrong, I love those kinds of movies, most probably way more than you do Na, but try and give No-Brainer movies a chance especially Ferrells or John C. Rileys. Freaking hilarious.

“Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.” – Ron Burgundy.

Hannah Dakota Fanning:

Her name is Hannah Dakota Fanning. Nina always get grumpy if I happen to mention the names of my favorite actresses in the likes of Ellen Page or that girl from V for Vendetta. What was her name? Natalie Portman, especially the former. I do not know why. These people are good actresses la Na. They really are. Seriously. But the weird thing was, Nina just laughed at me when the other day I told her that I liked Dakota Fanning. An exceptional talent in a league of her own, an outstanding child actress, sending dazes with her roles in, my favorite Fanning movies like I Am Sam (2001), Hide & Seek (2005) and Dreamer (2006). She really is a good actress, no doubt about that. But it was Ninas sudden calmness and approval that left me at odds. Well, since it is OK to favor Fanning, and Fanning turned out to be one cute, hot and talented actress, I guess I have to say my goodbyes to the equally talented Ellen Page and Natalie Portman. Your girls are so 2008.

Dakota Blue Richards:

Her name is Dakota Blue Richards. Her latest movie was The Secret of the Moonacre. The movie was sloppy as hell and the rest of casts were extremely dreadful. The lines were poor and shoddy. It was like; most of it were tell-me-she-did-not-just-said-that kind of lines. Cheesy. Dreadful of the highest order it was. The movie was ghastly horrid and everyone in the movie ought to have been shot at the back of their ugly little heads, well except for Dakota Blue Richards. Good acting. Award winning performance. Emma Watson is so overrated.

I like Dakota Blue Richards because she is a very good actress. Serious Na.

The June Playlist:

GOROD – Process of a New Decline, Willowtip Records, 2009.
(French technical death metal band at its best. The songs were nothing but technical, precisely speedy but pleasantly melodic, cleverly groovy and impressively jazzy at times. Eleven tracks of pure fucking intoxicating holocaust. The vocals were kind of weak and a bit mood spoiling though. This is the third and their latest album and I am still wrecking my stereo, in full blast, with it)

KATAKLYSM – Prevail, Nuclear Blast Records, 2008.
(Canadian Death Metal. The complete fucking package. Brutal as fuck, eccentrically melodic and extremely heavy. 10 heavy and headbangable tracks. This is how death metal should sound like, junior.)

Back to my guitar practice!

Me and My Kapok Guitar Part 2:

It is already 1.00 am in the morning. I am quite still and very much wide awake. Drowsy? yeah, sure, some yawnings here and there, but still pretty much awake. And I need to drive to Shah Alam in the morning. I should have been asleep by now. But I can’t. Why? Because I am very much excited with all these cool chords I have just learned. I am currently practicing Em7, A7, Dmaj7, Gmaj7, C#m7b5, F#7, Bm, Cmaj7, Dm7, G7 and what not. Quite impressive for a beginner who knew only four chords two freaking weeks ago huh? Hell, I do not even know how to pronounce C#m7b5 correctly. Was it C sharp Minor 7 flat 5? Hahaha are you impressed Nina? I am very fond of all these chords with all these seventh in it. It sounded so beautiful and soothing. Learned some basic Blues progression too. Told you, its hard to focus when the computers on.

Hocus Focus:

I really really need to focus and with the computer still turned on, I find getting myself to focus on the thing I should be doing, a very thorny commitment and a difficult thing to do. It is hard to focus when your mind is always on blogs, myspaces and wikipedias. There are always new things to read on blogs, new bands worth checking on myspace and new information needs reading in Wiki.

Turning off the internet right fucking now!

Money, Brokers and Stock Exchange:

I have been busting my ass all day long studying the basics of investment through Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange’s website and some very helpful sites and forums on the internet. It’s a strenuous commitment but I had to do it. But the best way will always be by letting myself sink into the game, open up an account and let the dealers or remisiers (those who buy and sell shares on your behalf) do the job while I get hold of, first hand view of the procedures, actions and dealings. In the mean time I would give them curious calls asking about this and that, everything that I wanted to know about share and stock trading, just to make myself more clear and familiar with what I needed to know about the whole hullabaloo. I need to equip myself with sufficient basic and fundamental information about investments and stock exchanges, especially in Malaysia, and get myself proverbial with the terminologies, jargons and abbreviations so that I would not make myself look like a fool later.

Back to the downloaded notes I go.

Me and My Kapok Guitar:

Just bought my self a new Kapok guitar earlier this month and it costs me RM 90. I was kind of distraught with the price though. I thought Kapok guitars should have been dirt-cheap by now. Dirt-cheap my buttock lah. Anyways, I have also been extensively coaching myself how to play the damn thing by watching numerous Youtube clips and reading tips from the masters from all over the Internet. I got my first Kapok guitar when I was still a undersized little teenager back in the 90’s. Being from a religious and conservative background, my grandparents were not very keen with my new interest. Although I never really knew how to play, I still need to acknowledge and give myself a standing ovation for the fact that I have already been devising my own Power Chords formula due to the lack of the ability to play the proper chords. What an achievement for a little Kampong bugger. I never knew what power chords were until later on in life.

A friend gave me my second Kapok guitar back when I was still in the University. Well, he did not really bestow it to my altar as a present, but I would really like to think that it was a gift nonetheless. I was told that the guitar originally belongs to an Indonesian construction worker who was renovating his house, who often used it to entertain him self after a long day of hard work. One fine day the Indonesian dude gave the guitar to my friend as a token of friendship and my friend gave it to me, as I wanted to borrow it. The legend has it that the guitar became my private property ever since.

My third guitar was bought when I first felt the urge to accept as true that you do not need to know the proper chords to play the guitar, you can always create your own. That was how Kurt Cobain did it. So I bought my self my third Kapok guitar, so that I can come up with my own chords and jam with my friends just like Mr. Kurt. It did not work out too well though because I still had to figure out how to properly place the fingers to get the right sound out. I felt cheated by Kurt Cobain therefore I gave the guitar to my cousin. I also threw in a how to play book so that he could carry on living my dream and one day could teach him self how to play the guitar. No until later that I found out that the book was not really mine but belongs to a friend. I had to move out from the area and live in seclusion for a couple of years.

Thus this is the fourth attempt to teach myself how to play the guitar and I have to say that I am doing quite well. My original compositions are now more organic and varied. Just imagine if I knew more chord progressions rather then just rotating the same old chords over and over again. The fourth one is always a charmer right?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

Just bought myself a couple of bookracks. It costs me RM19 each. I got six of them already and since all of the rack spaces have been filled with either my myriad of books, which I am attempting to finish reading each and every single one of them, so that Nina wont be able to scold me for buying book that I don’t read, or my usual pile of junks, perfume boxes and DVDs, I just needed to buy a couple more so that I can turn my little room into a mini library. Impressive huh. I know it is. Wow, this guy reads a lot. Wow, you got The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Miller? You are one awesome guy. I know I am.

The urge to buy new-fangled racks had been flying in and out of my mind for a couple months already. I have this inclination of buying ornamental things in uniformity, be it of size and color, well, especially the color. I like to see to see everything, all the fixtures in my room in a standardized and consistent coloration or at least in the same tone as the principle color. The racks that I have already bought were rosewood brown in color and it was so frustrating that I had to buy 2 new ones that were not in unison with the former.

I think I was just being the perfectionist that I am. Nina called it Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. Is it a disease? A life-threatening syndrome? Syndrome? Do I have a Down syndrome? I think she just made that up. There is no such thing as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Only perfection.

Dedicated to MieMoe:

Hahaha. Click for a larger view. You'll get the hang of it Abang Fahmi and Kak Alice.

Book Review: Anvil! - The Story of Anvil:

Anvil!: The Story of Anvil, Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner with Robert Uhlig, Bantam Press, 2009.

I do not know why I had not lifted this one of the bookshelf earlier. Since that day, I made it a mission to get my hands on this book as soon as possible and 2 days ago, I finally got it. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is one hell of a read. I spent one whole day finishing this one. Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band and many considered them the first few bands whose music paved the way for the entire genre of Speed and Thrash Metal, among those in agreement are the likes of Scott Ian of Anthrax and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.

Basically this book illustrates the journey of two friends, Lips and Robbo, childhood friends who made a vow when they were fourteen years old to rock together, for ever and they meant it. It was an emotional journey. They toured with all the greatest bands ever lived. You name it, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Scorpions and all of these bands sold millions and millions of records around the world except Anvil.

It depicts a story of staying true to yourself, staying true to your dreams, not losing hope and to do things not for the sake of doing it but for the love it. When they first stormed the scene back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, everybody thought that Anvil was the band that will turn the world upside down with their brand of fast and odd timing heavy metal. Though most of the lyrics are kind of sleazy, but musically they were revolutionaries, ahead of their time. They should have made it big.

Anvil remained obscure. Nobody knows about them. But they were true to their dream to become rock stars and to become successful. They kept releasing albums and do small tours. They lived for music. It takes a heart of a lion to have that kind of dedication, my friend. This also a story about friendship, a story of two heavy metal brothers staying true to each other despite their ups and downs of life. Fighting personal demons in the shape of drugs and what not. It is an emotional read. Whether they finally achieve that dream or not, that you must find out on your own if you choose to read this book.

This book came in support of the movie, a documentary made about them which goes by the same name. I have yet to watch the movie, but judging by the power of this book and the trailer I just watched recently, I know it is a must that I go and see the movie. Even by watching the trailer almost made me cry. I am a fan.

I got my copy from Kinokuniya KLCC. Bought it when I was on my way for a meeting. This book is 313 pages thick and it cost me RM123.90. Worth ever penny spent.

Book Review: A Lion’s Tale - Around the World in Spandex

A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex, Chris Jericho with Peter Thomas Fornatale, Orion Publishing, 2008

In my book collecting (and reading) lexicon, there were only few books worth reading twice and this book was one of them selected fews. Just for the record though, Chris Jericho is my all time favorite wrestler cum entertainer. Yes, Chris Jericho is a wrestler and I am not ashamed or feel reluctant to admit that I am a fan of wrestling. I have been watching wrestling programs (WWF and WCW) on the television since I was still of very young age. My grandfather and I, and sometimes my grandmother too, would sit politely in front of the idiot box every Thursday night, equipped with a big plate of fried bananas and wach with a glass of warm and aromatic Kopi Cap Hang Tuah, cheering and jeering for the guys, the warriors in the square ring. It was a no brainer entertainment and it still is. It is sports entertainment, a soap opera for the guys, a masculine and more exciting version of Desperate Housewives or Kingdom Hospital.

This book actually illustrates Superstar Chris Jericho’s journey from being a classroom dreamer to a world renowned wrestling superstar. A classic story of an achievable dream as Jericho ushered the attention of his readers about how in his younger age, he would spend his time drawing muscled cartoon figures of his favorite wrestlers and eventually later on, as he advances with his stories and tales, was given the opportunity to work along side each and every one of them, his favorite wrestlers.

It was a captivating read. I enjoyed every paragraph and every sentence. Often I would laugh reading about his experiences roaming all over the globe trying to make a name for himself. Chris Jericho is also a true lover of everything metal and that made the read more fun and enjoyable for me. Often I was fascinated how two strangers can become best of friends just by sharing similar interest in music. Heavy Metal has always been a tribal music. You wont be friends with a total foreigner just for the reason that both of you liked MTV and Justin freaking Timberlake. In the world of Heavy Metal, if I saw you in a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt and likewise you saw me in a Deicide’s, it wont take no longer than 2 days before you see both of us again hanging out with each other checking each other’s record collection. That is the tribe of Heavy Metal for you.

I had to give Mr.Jericho here a well and deserving standing ovation for his stylish and elegant ending. His lines of attacks in wrapping up his entire journey, as far I am concern, were the best dramatic closure ever to sum up the man’s entire career towards superstardom and his entire journey, and at the same time infusing pinches of uplifting emotions and sentimental beauty that can and will bring tears to his readers. A well done job sir, a well done job.

This book is of 432 pages thick. I got mine from Kinokuniya KLCC and it costs me RM60.00. Worth every single cent spent.

Sil Khannaz Pendita Gila:

I still remember being extremely excited and thrilled about this one cassette tape I bought from a local record store when I was still in Kota Bharu many years ago. It was of a local death metal band called Sil Khannaz. What kind of band would call itself Sil freaking Khannaz? Even the moniker itself was an Arabic word referring to the devil's other name. Its like "Hello, my name is Satan but you can call me Sil Khannaz". This must be provocative and provocation was my middle name back then. It was an Extended Play; you know those kinds of tapes where you can actually buy them at RM8.90 a piece. It usually contains four to five songs and it would be the same four or five songs on each side of the cassette tape. Back then you can actually purchase a full album cassette tape for only RM13.50. Fucking glorious.

If my memory serves me correctly, I bought that EP cassette (and many other cassettes) at Pantai Timur Shopping Centre. The music department was actually heaven on earth for the younger version of me back then. They got like one whole fucking wall displaying rare heavy metal records and cassette tapes. I am talking about hundreds of heavy metal tapes dude. I sometimes would spend hours browsing each and every one of them and not once would I end up annoying the staff who usually would follow me around making sure I was not putting heavy metal cassette tapes into my pocket. “Akak, can you just stop following me and recommend me instead, the grimmest and heaviest satanic war Black Death Metal record ever recorded and distributed on this planet?” “Akak, Black Death Metal. Bukan Black Dog Bone. Itu disco!”

Pendita Gila, the album sleeve was red and white with Mr. Alistair Crowley bejeweled as the front cover. The front cover was kind of creepy with the cropped photo of Mr.Crowley staring straight into my eyes whispering his deadly admonition “Join the Temple of the Golden Dawn or I will have to eat you, boy!” although I did thought that his face-crouching position was kind of silly and funny at that time. “Sorry Mr.Crowley, you are a silly man indeed making scary faces like that”.

It contained 4 mesmerizing and heart ripping songs and those four songs altered my life forever. The throat crushing vocals seemed to gust out hypnotizing spells, sinful hymns and evil curses. It was funny to remember that I was literally frightened shitless when I first listened to Kiss of The Whisper, which later became their regular encore. What kind of vocal is this? I was awestruck. Two growling vocals, of different velocity respectively, on top of each other creating this weird spellbinding effect. The riffs were all evil and wicked as hell. Come to think of it, I have to admit, Pendita Gila was one of those rock albums that can really scare the shit out of you.

Unfortunately, I sold the damn tape to a friend of mine.