Music Monday: in Paradise

I've just come back from a weekend vacation to Pulau Tioman, a tropical island off the East Coast of Malaysia. I know that I already live on an island in the tropics, Singapore, but it's just not tropical enough. The beach scene is quite lacking here, y'know? So I set off with two friends to Johor Bahru, just across the strait, to catch a regional coach to Mersing and then a boat to the island. All that travel time was definitely worth it.

Tioman is your stereotypical tropical island. On approach, the first thing you see is the massive mountain covered in jungle descending into the ocean, with waves crashing against the rocks. This gives way to long stretches of sandy beaches, lines with palm trees and hammocks. We spent a lot of time in those hammocks, actually...

We were afraid that the weather would be sour, as the forecast was calling for heavy rain all weekend. Luckily, we were spared. The downpour didn't start until this morning when we were getting ready to leave, and it put even the Singaporean rain storms to shame. There were a few panicky moments where we were afraid that the ferries would be cancelled.

But back to the beach. I have never seen water so blue in my life. It was like a tanker carrying blue food colouring sunk nearby. And the water was incredibly clear, too. We went snorkelling and saw tonnes and tonnes of fish. They are very social. And curious. More than a few decided to offer my cleaning services, or peck at my mask. I was literally part of the school of fish. Also, I came across a reef shark. It made my day much more rad.

So, this is a Music Monday post, and I do have a song, video, and download for you. I'll keep it quick now. The song: "Paradise" by Norwegian Recycling, a mash-up group who offers all their songs for free on their website. The video is below for your listening and viewing convenience. Cheers!


 all photos by me

I be Versatile

I've recently discovered that, every now and again, Bloggers like to pat each other on the back. "Congrats!" on blogger friend or stranger might say. "You succeeded in not looking like a middle schooler's Geocities page!" I realize I may be dating myself with that comment...

Well, the other day one such bloggy friend saw it fit to throw one such accolade my way, in the form of a Versatile Blogger Award. The catch is that I now have to do stuff.

Task one: thank your awarder. Thanks, Elo! Task one, check.

Task two: share seven random facts about yourself.

1. After I graduated from high school, my birthday and Christmas wishlists were suddenly full of kitchen appliances. Because I am an adult, or something like that, I guess?
2. I brought Mukmuk to Singapore.
3. Every day I wear two necklaces, one with a coin from some miscellaneous East Asian country that is probably defunct, and another with a charm carved by an child in Kenya.
4. I strongly dislike Glee.
5. One week of Cyrillic cursive made me forget years of English cursive. I now have trouble writing even my own name in cursive.
6. Regardless of age, I call all dogs "Puppy."
7. I re-read books a lot. As in there are some book series on my shelf that I've read three or four times.

Task three: pass it along.

Hmm... I don't wanna repeat what Elo has already done, but I would pass it off to Marc and Burndtree. Well, I guess recognition shall go to Ana Cristina and Dru, then! Congrats!

photo by cdwaldi

a Bit of Bolly

Last night I attended the opening of the Bollywood film "Ra.One," starring Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, two big names in India. That's the poster there on the right, and it's definitely not what you would expect from Bollywood. To be honest, I'm reminded of the cover art for classic PC games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. That said, "Ra.One" is definitely not like other Bollywood movies.

To date it is the most expensive film out of the Mumbai-based industry, as well as the most widely screened. It's one of a few new superhero-type movies, a genre borrowed from Hollywood and given an Indian twist. You can see clear influences not just from Hollywood, but from Hong Kong as well, with choreographed fight scenes involving superhuman feats of grace and agility.

But how was the film itself? I'd say that I liked it. I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, as the genre conventions of Bollywood are quite different from their Hollywood counterpart, especially in this newly developed genre and style. For instance, if I were to compare this film to Hollywood, I would say that visually it's "Tron: Legacy," "Fantastic Four," and "Iron Man," but it has the narrative conventions of a kid's action film such as "Spy Kids." Granted, I watched the entire film in Hindi without subtitles, so the only humour I got were the visual gags, usually to do with getting hit in the balls or air humping. Mature stuff, y'know?
The storyline was really simple, though, so I didn't have much trouble following along. I went with a friend from Delhi (and a huuuge SRK fan), so she explained a few of the cultural references that were made. For instance, the names of the main protagonist and the antagonist are puns, with the name Ra.One (the villain) pronounced Ravan (a Hindu antagonistic figure in legend) and G.One (the hero) pronounced Jeevan (Hindi for "life"). Savvy?

So with a feel much akin to Hollywood superhero movies and a visual style mixed with Hong Kong cinema, the sole thing that makes this film stand out is what makes the heart of Bollywood cinema: song and dance numbers. Despite being an action film, "Ra.One" had two dance numbers in the film itself and another in the credits, and a few more songs as well. These were my absolute favourite moments, I think, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't search down part of the soundtrack.

It has some very modern moments, again something I didn't expect from a Bollywood film. One of the songs is even in the newly popular dubstep style, with lots of wubwubwub instead of unstunstunst (among my friends, that is a perfectly valid way of communicating musical style).

What's really funny, though, is that not all the songs are by Indians: two are sung by Akon. Yes, Akon. In Hindi as well as in English (though he still finds time to throw in a "shawty" or two). I'm not too sure how often an American music star teams up with an Indian production, but based on what I think is a pretty solid assumption I think we can chalk this up as another of "Ra.One"s firsts. And no, I'm not counting that Pussycat Doll remake of "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire."

I think I've written more than enough, so I'll leave you with two videos. Up first is one of the trailers for the film, which I chose because of the variety of action shots and cinematographic techniques it shows. Second is one of the songs by Akon and the official music video, which is comprised of various shots from the film where SRK lip syncs Akons lyrics. It's quite the sight!



all photos by Eros International Ltd. and Red Chillies Entertainment from the film Ra.One (2011)

Music Monday: Kiwi Recommendation

This artist was recently recommended to me by one of my music friends, someone who has a similar taste and is a rather reliable concert companion. Her advice was spot on with Kimbra.

Hailing from New Zealand (beeteedubs, congrats All Blacks!), Kimba has been described by others as fusing indie, jazz, and soul. I'm not really one genre conventions, but whatever she's doing I love.

So today I'm passing on the earlier recommendation, though with the song "Cameo Lover" in mind. Why? I love the various sounds and styles in it. I love the simple strength of the music video. I love how it's a good sort of catchy.

As with the last few weeks, I have a music video ready for this one, too. I'm thinking that including videos will become a regular feature, when I can find them that is. If you want to take a listen to the track on it's own, or explore the rest of Kimbra's discography, wander on over to last.fm. For the video, just look below. If you have any musical suggestions for me, please let me know! I'm always looking to expand my collection.

a Photoblog: Slice of Paradise in the Sky

all photos by me