I've got it - November's Chopin!

Imagine my shock when we were all falling in for book out and my handphone rang. The number didn't look familiar, and I was so curious that I answered the call tactically.

"Hello. We'd like to tell you that the Jay CD that you pre-ordered has arrived and is ready for collection."

I was so ecstatic, I was shouting around and telling everybody that I was going to get my copy of the freaking CD. I just could not stop exclaiming that his 6th album has been released and that I would listen to it till... I go deaf probably. Unlike the previous album, Qi Li Xiang, I liked every track the moment I heard it and despite the many layers of Ye Qu (as described by MB!), I loved it the moment I heard it. Okay, maybe the lyrics struck a chord with me too.

Anyway I went to take the CD from TS and I've heard it approximately twice. I'm going to get my Zen Micro to play it all through the night while I sleep and let the music diffuse into my brain! I'm going to do a track-by-track review of the song tomorrow because I can hardly keep my eyes open for now. Every track is a gem, and I know that the slow songs that usually appeal lesser to me (ie 9/10, and while the rest of the album tracks don't get a single mark less than 11/10) will be appreciated by others. I can conclude that there's a song for everyone in this album. Also, Jay has seemed not include any chinese musical instruments in this album as compared to his previous ones, which had things like Long Quan, Ren Zhe etc.

There's a lot to explore on this album. Unlike any other artists, the lyrics are actually very meaningful and have a lot of depth. In fact, they are sometimes even challenging to understand. Jay does not attempt simplicity just because it'd appeal to the masses.

I'll be pitting my comments on some of the songs with what I have available from MB, who hasn't got the album yet (thus no lyrics cos no album sleeve!). She's the expert on Jay and she got me more crazy about Jay than I could be without her! Haha... It's insane. It's insane.

It's insane!!!

More on that tomorrow, but for now, here's some of Ming Boon's comments on November's Chopin.

November's Chopin - title of jay's new album.

when i first read the article, jay mentioned that he admired chopin and his innate musical composing ability mirrors chopins, like a role model. so i went to download some of chopin's pieces and my hairs stood.

jay plays some of the nocturne tunes randomly during interviews. he played nocturne in e minor(i think) during a old clip of him cameo-ing as a wannabe accordian performer before he went into the music industry.

the familiarity of the songs shook me. it sounds so familiar but i've never heard them before. but after listening to Ye Qu, jay's new song, i realised, i've been hearing bits of chopin in jay's songs all along. especially in jay's ballads - the more 'Romantics' genre of piano pieces. and it was a deeper insight towards jays music and his song, and i was glad... jay celebrated chopin in November's Chopin like how he celebrated his mother in Ye Hui Mei. it was almost like a form of gratitude.

with this regained understanding, i thought jay being brought into the limelight and pop culture like it is today... i thought it was pretty insulting suddenly.

its okay if jay doesnt film so many commercials anymore. its okay if jay is not as popular as before - rain is taking over. but he has to write songs. its time he rolled off his peak onto the safe platform where he started during his first album, where music is THE THING.

Now she is a true fan.

I was quite surprised when I read that she actually downloaded Noctourne and listened to it. I myself have played a little bit of the piece she mentioned - Noctourne in E Minor. I never really got to learning the entire piece, but I have a deeper impression of the piece than most people have. Also, I'm really impressed by MB's interpretation of music and her comments have so much depth with regards to Jay and Chopin.

As I dwelve deeper into Jay's songs, I realise that there is indeed a bit of Chopin in his songs and the musical accompaniment has always been complicated and mirrors the great composers of the past.

It makes me wonder if Jay's music is going to last forever.

Jay Chou - November's Chopin

I've pre-ordered Jay's 6th album. Humungous poster included.

Have you?

Exercise Wild Cat

Okay, this week in the army has been mildly interesting and not the least classified so I think it's okay to pour a bit of my current life into the blog. I don't exactly enjoy typing about army stuff. Since when has army stuff been enjoyable anyway? Well, apart from the company, volleyball sessions etc.

On Monday and Tuesday, we had range. ATP. It's basically a test where we take our M16 rifle and shoot targets at a range. There're 16 in the morning, 12 at night.

We set off at 930AM, which was like 2 hours behind schedule because the FUCKING bus decided not to turn up and make the whole company sit at the companyline to stone for 2 hours, waiting for the buses. Well, it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't have to book in on Sunday night, because we were SUPPOSED to have moved off at 730AM, which made it too late to book in on Monday itself.

I wonder how many people understood that statement, but just understand that I was pissed. Luckily, our PS is a jolly-good-fellow and allowed us to go back to bunk for to rest instead of sitting under the sun. Unluckily (or luckily) enough, the bus came after 15 minutes. *blood boils*

We got to practise a bit of shooting, I managed to pass and I got a decent 18 out of 28 shots on target. It was pretty boring because there was plenty of waiting around. I had to wait for my turn to shoot the targets and then wait for nightfall and the journey back to camp was a good 45 minutes. We only got to sleep at 130AM and had to wake up at 5AM to prepare for Tuesday's range - the actual test. I was pretty much zoned out from the lack of sleep and the lack of warm up due to not doing any zeroing of the weapon. I went on the get a miserable 5 shots out of 16 for the day shoot and had to get 9 out of 12 for the night shoot. Simple maths tells me that I could only miss 3 shots or I'd fail the entire thing. Passing is 14 out of 28.

First target, at 50m, prone position. I laid on the groudsheet, which got wetter and wetter as the water from the surroundings entered the depression that I made. Thus, in that uncomfortable position, I managed to get 2/3.

Second target, also at 50m, kneeling position. I told myself I had a chance. I got 2/3. I became a nervous wreck. I could only afford to miss one more.

To cut the story short, and to take out a bit of the drama... I only managed to hit 1/3 for the third target. Which meant that I had failed, even before I attempted the 100m illum target. BOO.

I was kind of pissed after that. Oops. Did I say pissed? I meant majorly disheartened. I went on the get 0/3 for the 100m target. And thus my total score was something like 10/28. Dismal. Complete rubbish result compared to the day before. Let's not even talk about getting marksman (which means getting a badge and 200 freaking dollars in cold hard cash). I didn't even bloody pass. It made me wonder what the fuck I was doing at the range on 4 hours of sleep, and the time I spent cleaning my rifle etc. etc. And the money I wasted on the food from the ninja van. Well, it did have good tau huay, mee pok and all. Bah.

We had a major rest session in Wednesday but were deprived of nights off. Well, even if there was, I might not have left camp. It's just that the idea of having it means a more relaxed time in bunk and that we had some freedom. The most important thing we did was to prepare for Exercise Wild Cat.

Cold joke by Sgt Gary - Do you know why the navigation exercise is called Exercise Wild Cat? Figure it out, the answer will be at the end of the next paragraph.

Yeah, my group consisted of Jeeveraj, Chia Keat, my buddy and Jeffrey, and of course myself. The plotting and calculating of eximurth yadda yadda was done by Jeevaraj and CK with plenty of helpful advice from Sgt Wei Zhi. I tried to make myself useful by getting the signal set, providing bootlace and basically playing assistant. These preparations were the reason why we couldn't book out. On the bright side, we escaped a 5km run.

And the answer is: The cat is getting out of hand.

Moving on, we set out for Lower Mandai at about 7AM or so. The night before I was determined to try carrying the signal set. I've always heard from BMT commanders that the thing was a killer so I decided to set my mind to carrying it. It was sort of a challenge that I set for myself. I told myself that I would try carrying it till about 12noon, and drilled the thought to my brain. Sure enough, I managed to do it (with the help of my detail-mates who helped carry some of my field pack items), but a headache told me that it was time to pass it on.

It wasn't as light as a normal fieldpack that was for sure. It did take some determination to carry it for as long as I did. However when I asked who would be so nice as to take over the signal set, it didn't take 2 seconds for my buddy replied, "Buddy, I help you take." My buddy is a fantastic guy, although he has a reputation for being rather slack. So it really meant the world to me when at that critical moment, he'd volunteered and saved my ass.

He's the kind of guy who, when he puts his mind to something, will accomplish that something easily. Like during endurance runs, he can't be bothered to run while I always run till I'm half dead at the end and of course finish at the front. However he'd kick my butt when running 2.4km, even with me running with my bestest best effort.

Anyway, later he asked how I managed to carry the signal set for so long; yes it was freaking heavy and I was glad he understood what I went through. I wanted to carry the signal set again after we had a break but he was determined to continue taking it.

That to me is the greatest thing I've gained from the entire trip for Ex Wild Cat. To know that I've the best buddy that I could ever have.

Moving on, this navigation exercise had us bashing through the forest of Lower Mandai and for most of us, it was a tad challenging but a dream come true. You know, kind of like a childhood image of soldiers bashing through forests, looking for stuff in movies, having to deal with vegetation, the weather (it rained in the afternoon), heavy fieldpacks and of course, playing around with the map, pacer and compass to find their way around. We felt like real (infantry) soldiers during the exercise. It wasn't something that we'd like to do any time soon, but you know how guys like to pretend that they're heroic and tough soldiers when they're kids? It's kind of like a mini I'm-a-tough-soldier dream (for 10hours) come true.

It wasn't that bad but I banged into twigs just 2 cm above my groin and that hurt a lot. There were plenty of leaves in my face just walking through the forest. In fact there were leaves everywhere so walking through the trees was pretty much like being molested by a thousand hands. Okay, a bit of exaggeration there but it was pretty weird having so many leaves brush my face, my body, my legs... Every imaginable place. Then there are the thorns. We knew we had to do it, so we just bashed through them bravely but... thorns, being thorns, aren't that easy to get through. They hooked onto my uniform and I had to disantangle myself from them.

My detail spent 4 hours looking for a checkpoint that wasn't there. It did plenty for the morale.

Anyway, that's basically what happened for Exercise Wild Cat. Memorable. Adventurous. Of course there were the unglamorous parts like having to wait for a freaking long time to load stores and waiting till the sky turned dark for the tonner to pick us up and send us back to camp and that our detail and another one were deprived of the chance to go back earlier for dinner and taking the air-conditioned bus. Not worth mentioning, and it's something I take in my stride.

Then there was a mega punishment which was kind of dramatic over a missing bendable antenae (can't be bothered to spell that right), which was found in the end. Bottomline: Stores are important.

On Friday, the bigshots were late because they were busy attending some important stuff so all of us (midgets, small fries) waited an hour plus before beginning the outcamp 5km run at Mt Faber. Waiting. I do not wish to comment on waiting because that just triggers endless vulgarities from inside of me. Uncontrollably.

The run was good actually. I enjoyed the uphill and downhill track tremendously although the pavement was only wide for a person or three at a time. The scenery was gorgeous as well. My PC made a good conducting. Ooh, and he's going to be promoted to Captain. Our platoon is very excited for him (and of course for ourselves hopefully) and extend our heartiest congratulations by cheering when it was announced in the RO. The other platoons just sat in silence. Tuh. Where is the love?

Well, it was a pretty happening week, and as tiring as it was eventful. That's pretty much the reason why I looked forward to this weekend to chill out, relax and escape. And I'm looking forward to the public holidays as well. More time to enjoy and let my hair (despite the lack of it. hmphe) down. YAYNESS!

Pic of the Week

Muahaha! Managed to get this from TWJ's flickr! Isn't it so unfair that after a year that this photo was taken that I've only just laid my eyes on it? Gosh. This is a photo of us setting up our equipment for Woodstock last year.

Woodstock '05 was an initiative by TWJ and he really put in a lot of effort and time into making it a success and for letting people in NYJC to have a go at performing, and giving them a chance to be on stage. I could still remember how pressured he was by the teachers and the other performing groups, from performing time slots to the set up of everything. Then there was the problem of whether we'd want to invite people from outside to attend and perform at what is basically a school thing. And he did it all with minimal help from everyone else. It was kind of exciting having to make morning announcements for Woodstock and putting up fliers around the school to inform everyone of the event.

Okay, so it's not as if the whole school turned up for the performance, but there was a decent number of people who did. There was a test for the J1s the day after, so not many of them came. However, the spirits were pretty high for those performing especially the six of us. TWJ, David, me, Meizhen, Lim Yang and Kherray. We kept thinking of a name for our band, but just couldn't find one that would stick. Anyway, we spent a crazy amount of time rehearsing for our songs, including our June holidays. It was all great fun because other than slacking in the band room and sometimes incurring the wrath of the school band, we were pretty serious when it came to practising but at the same time, didn't forget to have a good time.

I saw a photo of myself (which looked fucking horrible that I'd burn the computer down if I ever see it again), but it was a pretty cool experience. In fact it's one of the most memorable things that I did last year. When the time came to perform I was pretty nervous but everything just went along pretty smoothly (although my on stage presence when singing was less than desirable) but I think I sang decently, not out of tune and erm, well, it wasn't bad I'm sure. Eek. Thinking about it now still makes me nervous. And I wasn't wearing specs (for freaking vanity reasons so there) so I couldn't even see the audience. I ran out of contacts and didn't bother to get them! Argh.

I still get very high when I hear the songs that we perform. Well, perhaps with the exception of Hoobastank's The Reason. I almost busted my throat to reach those notes. And we did a nice twist to it by making it a duet as well. Ooh, and my false deep-rough voice when I sang Wherever You Will Go was kind of funny. But most memorable of all must be the Jap songs that we performed, because that was when our true synergy came out. The first song we ever performed together was Do As Infinity's Yesterday and Today, the song that didn't win us Talentime (which is still pissing). Ooh~! And we did a freaking rocked up version of Guang Huai Fang Shi. I bet it shocked the audience. Now that was done in a moment of inspiration when we were rehearsing and damn, it sounded good.

Speaking of rocked up versions... we did a rock version of our school song during Talentime.

Like the rising fountain
Our ardent hopes reach to the sky
But the fountain stands alone
Though not you and I

For together we plan
Together we build
A film foundation is our stand
United our cause
Forward we march
Our College's name proclaim

Damn, I can still remember clearly in my mind when Kherray asked the principal for permission to do that rendition and egged the audience to stand up and sing along. Oh man!

Yeah, I do miss days in NYJC, and now I can only look back in nostalgia. Boo.

JKYH Top 10 (17)

01. Over To You Now - Britney Spears (2) 5

02. Hung Up - Madonna (+1) 2
03. Push The Button - Sugababes (-1) 4
04. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas (2) 7
05. Song 4 Lovers - Liberty X (3) 3
06. Turn Your Car Around - Lee Ryan (+4) 2
07. Photograph - Nickelback (+1) 3
08. All About Us - T.A.T.U (-1) 3
09. Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson (-3) 3
10. Stikwitu - Pussycat Dolls (NEW)

Pic of the Week

Was raining today, so we didn't get a chance to go swimming. We ended up having McDonalds' breakfast at Northpoint and took this photo there. It was kinda deserted so, all the more less embarrassing. Bah!

Going Zhicong house to play mahjong le. Yay!

Replyin'

Th3odor3: ahh you got stunt meh i think i pull off more than you lo
Okay lar, you haven't been pulling off that many stunts lately. In fact, I can't even remember the last one you did! :p

bert: then- there's always botox.
Funny... I always thought I wouldn't consider having it, but now that you've mentioned it...

mbies: everyone will have their down times occassionally. it'll blow over soon enough when something good happens. don't brood over things too much or you'll have wrinkles on ur forehead. ^^
Yeah, I know. It's just sadded! But there are important things in life to look forward to yeah. Jay's new album is available for preorder! YAY!

bert: *patpat* i know what you mean about not writing about your own feelings. it's like you're not even sure what you're thinking anymore. hung up rocks my wurld~
That's exactly what I meant! You can read minds or something!

Sid: hey dude.relax k.take things in ur stride. take 1 step @ a time. if nid anybody tok to, my fone is always on 24/7.taKe care! =)
Hey... haha, that's just what I need to do. Take care too man!

angie: cheer up *hugs*
Thanks. *hugs*

mbies: at least u got your wallet back. but oh well. JAYS NEW SONG ROCKS LIKE SHIT.
And I haven't heard it yet. Can the world be more unfair?

mbies: curse whoever who stole your wallet! may him eat and get diarrhoea, may he drink and choke to death and may him slp and fall off his bed and hit his head and kena concussion.
Yay! Thanks for adding on more curses for me. I really hope it comes true... man, that guy...

bert: i love tintin. ron weasely is arglee. army-bleagh.
Yeah. Ron Weasley is looking a little under the weather. Not very good, but still, he might be good in the movie. Well, as a part of it I mean.

fi5h: Sushi Buffet... i want... sobs... hmmm and well her blog.call me old fashion or what, but i find it disguisting to use blog as a publicity tool.
Maybe not disgusting, but it is kind of weird to use a blog as a publicity tool. But I admire that fact that she's made something that she likes doing as something that she can rely on to make a living.

al: anyway i think i saw her at jurong point on thurs on some nights out...
al: what's up with xiaxue...stop the atrocious act...anyway that's alot happening after the bbq
Yeah. Been thinking about the Sentosa thingy. Will ask you guys out for it again bax! Asked David le, he's interested! So... we'll see.

Th3odor3: the gays were here
Gaylord.

mbies: JAY IS RELEASING HIS NEW ALBUM!! XDDDD
And we all heard it from Ming Boon first. Your ever-reliable source of Jay news.

chelsea: waz up
Waz up.

mbies: i'm going to steal your fotos k... if not no foto how to blog abt class bbq! n u haven send me yet!
mbies: chey. i tot u gg soon le. i'll send u an invite for gmail. just ask! hahas. bloody funny la they must check ur ic until lidat. i wanted to watch tt show with my fren but she flew to london le. T-T
Yeah. I'm going to Brunei in December! And I lost the entire set of class photos already, because my com reformatted and for some reason those files weren't backed up. I'm pissed. But there's still Sabrina and Wee Lee, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm booking in today (Sunday) instead of the usual Monday because there's range tomorrow. Please everyone, wish upon the first star you see tonight that I will do well for ATP and get marksman, which in turn will generate an extra $200 in income for me and so I just might be able to get Christmas presents for everyone! *oops* I did not just say that. I still cannot get over the fact that I'll be booking in at 8PM tonight. Boo.

This weekend is a rather quiet affair except for yesterday where I went with Sidney for a jog! It's pretty cool, kind of like we've known each other for a long long while already, which is kind of true, considering that we msg each other often and all. It's great to know there's someone living nearby. I slept away the entire afternoon yesterday after he messaged me that he wanted to go for a jog, and we did about 4km! Was pretty pleased that I managed to get some exercise during the weekend because we haven't been running as much in camp recently. Had a good chat with him and went up to his room again to check out some stuff, which included a how-to-use-starch-on-uniform session. Hope we'll get the chance to hang out again soon!

Ooh, I spent 12 bucks on the Jolin Tsai concert DVD. That isn't very extravagant, is it? It's pretty good actually, because I know most of her songs and she is one hell of a performer. I watched it after booking out from camp on Friday. I don't think there's any other chinese female artist capable of doing what she does with such great showmanship (just a little shy of Britney, who does everything like clockwork, but that's because she does like a 100 nights a year while Jolin just does one in Taipei), except perhaps maybe S.H.E.

This week was pretty okay training-wise. We had topography where I got lost with my buddy and CK, but they were both pretty good so I didn't really mind walking longer with them or anything like that. Next week will be a real killer because the topography of the area will be many many times that of rambutan hill, and it'd be in Mandai. Also, we had IMT where I got a disgusting score of 8/28. So I'm a pretty bad shooter. But that was just the first time! At least I got 17 on the second time. Which pretty much means that I could probably get 22 tomorrow and get my marksman and 200 bucks! Argh! Ooh, we also managed to play volleyball once this week, and I ate canteen on Thursday night. The food was bloody good and it made me so full I almost puked.

Ooh, and I'm aware the Britney picture for Over To You Now was a bit much. Even Britney herself said she'd never do anything like that ever again. It was from a photoshoot for Esquire magazine in 2003. It sorta made my blog look like a porn site. But it's all good.

I'm going for a swim with Uncle and Daniel, but it looks like it's going to rain, so we're probably going to go for a Mcdonalds' breakfast instead! Muahaha! Then we'd be going to Zhicong's house to play mahjong. Not that I know how to, but that isn't very important is it. The most important thing is just to have a good time! Yeah!

JKYH Top 10 (16)

01. Over To You Now - Britney Spears (+1) 4

02. Push The Button - Sugababes (+1) 3
03. Hung Up - Madonna (NEW)
04. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas (-3) 6
05. Song 4 Lovers - Liberty X (2) 3
06. Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson (+1) 2
07. All About Us - T.A.T.U (+2) 2
08. Photograph - Nickelback (2) 2
09. I Said Never Again(But Here We Are) - Rachel Stevens (-3) 10
10. Turn Your Car Around - Lee Ryan (NEW)

Madonna - Hung Up

Madonna's back! After her last album American Life released in 2003, she's decided that she's better off returning to her disco roots instead of making commentary on George Bush and the war, but that's besides the point. Making Confessions On A Dance Floor was probably the best decision she's ever made, as the tracks featured are set to wow critics and bring her fans back with her, as she sets her visions on getting people off their butts to dance.

For the raging single that's set to kick this album to #1 around the world, Madonna had to write a letter to ABBA songwriters, asking for permission to sample one of their hits, Gimme Gimme Gimme. They had only given permission to one other artist prior to Madonna, but at her request, they approved and the world sits in awe of this new single.

This is what Madonna said in a recent interview with Attitude magazine:

"I had to send my emissary to Stockholm with a letter and the record begging them and imploring them and telling them how much I worship their music, telling them it was an homage to them, which is all true. And they had to think about it, Benny and Bjorn. They didn't say yes straight away. They never let anyone sample their music. They could have said no. Thank God they didn't."



When Pop's biggest creators come together, there's no expecting anything less than a record so massive that its impact cannot be ignored. Be it on Motorola's new commercial where her Madgesty squeezed in a phone booth while the ringtone of HU was playing or in upcoming CSI episodes where new remixes of the track will be played, there's no denying that this will be a track that you'll never be able to escape from.

Now I have been a big fan of Madonna since I actually started listening to radio, which was perhaps back when I was in P5, about 1998 or so. During that time, she was huge with her album, Ray of Light which boasts singles like Ray of Light, Frozen and Drowned World/Substitute For Love. I've been a fan of her work ever since. I don't think there are many artists who have managed in the space of the last decade (well perhaps Spears) to be so consistent with the hits. From soundtrack songs of American Pie and Die Another Day , as well as songs off her later albums, Music, Don't Tell Me and American Life, she has hardly ever been absent from the music scene. Innovation and her power to shock and get people interested in what she's up to has always been her greatest strength. You could say that she counts on plenty of publicity to sell albums, but that won't work if you're selling poop for music either.



Back to the song itself, I must say that it's cool. As I've mentioned previously, it's the kind of song I like - one that'll make people get out of their seat and dance. It's unpretentiously dancey, without meaningful lyrics (although those can be found on the rest of the album) and she isn't playing her own instruments in there but no one's going giveadamn about that, are they? I can't stop listening to it, and it's been on repeat for like 2 hours already. Seriously addictive stuff, with the ABBA sample being looped continuously during the chorus, it's a song that I haven't been able to get out of my head. Endearing? Check. Tasteful? Check. Accompanied by a bloody cool video? That's yet to be seen as the video is not out yet, but she's a confirmed performer for the EMAs on the 3rd of Nov, and I'm betting my chickens that she'll be performing this song!



Here's the lyrics of Hung Up:

Time goes by so slowly ( repeated 6 times)

Every little thing that you say or do
I'm hung up
I'm hung up on you
Waiting for your call
Baby night and day
I'm fed up
I'm tired of waiting on you

Time goes by so slowly for those who wait
No time to hesitate
Those who run seem to have all the fun
I'm caught up
I don't know what to do

Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
I don't know what to do

Every little thing that you say or do
I'm hung up
I'm hung up on you
Waiting for your call
Baby night and day
I'm fed up
I'm tired of waiting on you

Every little thing that you say or do
I'm hung up
I'm hung up on you
Waiting for your call
Baby night and day
I'm fed up
I'm tired of waiting on you

Ring ring ring goes the telephone
The lights are on but there's no-one home
Tick tick tock it's a quarter to two
And I'm done
I'm hanging up on you

I can't keep on waiting for you
I know that you're still hesitating
Don't cry for me
'cause I'll find my way
you'll wake up one day
but it'll be too late

Every little thing that you say or do
I'm hung up
I'm hung up on you
Waiting for your call
Baby night and day
I'm fed up
I'm tired of waiting on you

Every little thing that you say or do
I'm hung up
I'm hung up on you
Waiting for your call
Baby night and day
I'm fed up
I'm tired of waiting on you



21 years into the business and the lady is still doing her stuff. Confessions On A Dancefloor will definitely outsell American Life (which was the lowest selling album of her career), and looks set to give her one of the best albums this decade.

Last of all, here's the press release for Confessions On A Dancefloor from www.madonna.com, where the Queen of Pop shares her vision for the upcoming album:

"I want people to jump out of their seats." Never one to understate, those were the exact words Madonna used to describe the songs on her upcoming album, -"Confessions On a Dance Floor". The 12 delicious tunes of pure 'unapologetic dance music' including the single "Hung Up" (out Oct.17th) is scheduled to be released on November 15th on Warner Bros. Records. This time out, the original Queen of Dance Music returns to where she began and kicks it up a few extra notches.

"It's in her blood" says Madonna's co-producer/partner in crime, DJ and Madonna musical director, Stuart Price. "She has a dance halo over her head. We made this record without any preconceived notions. It was straight from the gut - unencumbered -not over edited - very spontaneous, concluded Price.

If 'Confessions' were equated to a new dance step, it would a stunning blend of musical styles with one foot in the roots of early disco (a la Girogio Moroder/Abba on ecstacy) and the other foot gloriously ensconced in the future of music - a dance step that could only be accomplished by one artist.



Confessions on a Dance Floor is all about having a good time straight through and non stop." says America's ultimate Dancing Queen.

All hail the Queen.

Down

I've been feeling kind of down lately, and easily pissed off. Yeah, I suppose I am feeling kind of lost and everything because it seemed that an angel has decided to shine less brightly on me, but I think the best that I can do is just be around silently instead of causing more conflict.

I need to go reflect on what I've got to do with my life. It seems that all of a sudden, I'm as lost as a soldier in a forest without a compass, or an ant with its nest destroyed.

Oh man, it has been too long since I've really written about my feelings and I've just lost touch with myself even. I don't know what I'm doing any more. I don't know I do what I do... To achieve what purpose, to fulfill what objective... Damn.

This week in camp isn't too tough. Except today a blunder caused me to be punished. It was one of the few times I actually pulled a stunt and I couldn't help but be angry at the person who caused it. It could've been avoided. But no, what a useless, incapable dick he was. Fucked up.

Gosh. Heard Madonna's new single Hung Up last night when I was laying on the bed in camp. It's a pretty cool track, and it'll so totally explode on radio! It's the kind of song I like - one that'll make people get out of their seat and dance. Don't give me the pretentious shit of being meaninful, and playing own instruments yadda yadda yadda. I just wanna hafagoodtime.

I think I'll write more during the weekend, which is like only 2 days away! Despite keeping myself occupied, I can't help that feel that something is missing. I'll just have to take this time to rebuild back a part of my world...

The Cranky Trio

Oh right. Today I woke up 4AM++. I think I'm a pretty disturbed boy. Anyway, I slept at 7PM last night because I had nothing better to do and I was feeling kind of sleepy. Was mercilessly woken up from my sleep by my mother at 11PM to have my dinner. Gosh.

Anyway, went online before meeting Daniel and Sern Hong at Yishun Safra. We went swimming and I think I got a slight tan after being in the sun for less than 2 hours. We had fun playing with the mini-slides (which has inspired me to ask the platoon if they'd like to go to the Jurong Swimming Complex next week), and chatted about the usual stuff. Army guys who can't stop talking about army. It was fun though.

After washing up we had a very long chat with the receptionist there. I had to get a replacement for my SAFRA card because I lost my wallet.

OK. I digress. I just got back my wallet from LTA Melvin, raped, and devoid of cash, my cousin's library card, my POSB card and SAFRA card. Seeing the wallet in that state ripped my heart apart. I hope the fucker who did it dies tomorrow. No wait, that's just too easy. I hope he trips over three drains in quick sucession, gets kicked in the groin by the girl he accidently touches while trying to regain his balance and gets knocked down by a truck when he crosses the road and that the respirator breaks down within minutes of him getting hooked up to it when he's at the hospital. I'm about to curse his parents, but since it isn't their fault directly (except that they raised the nasty little motherfucker), but I'm sure these mishaps are enough toture to them as it is. Damn you, asshole.

Moving on, we bought 25 dollars worth of BK voucher for 20 bucks, so I'd probably be eating BK for the next few weeks. We also helped fill up survey forms and such and it essentially made us late for our Kbox at Suntec! Bah!

We were walking bloody fast from the MRT station to the KBox that I almost had cramps in my legs. Anyway, we reached there at 1145, and of course started singing immediately. Arh! I had a hell lot of fun. Missed going to KBox a lot. Sang a lot of songs that I wanted to sing (plenty of which did not suit my range... boo!), and had sambal chicken rice there. It didn't taste as good as the curry chicken, which was not available today anyway! Ooh, sang a great variety of songs and shockingly enough, about 20+ Jolin songs! After that Sern Hong had to rush off for his stuff so we took a few photos including the ones you see above!



After that Daniel and I went shopping before going to Burger King. We were pretty hungry because of the swim still. I had a Big Fish burger and it tasted exactly the same as Mcs Filet-o-Fish. Boo. Had a long talk before returning to BODS and I decided, after a lot of contemplation that I would get a new shirt! Muahahaha! In my opinion, it looks fantastic. So there! It was great of Daniel to put up with my PPMM. The shirt was supposed to be super tightfit and I wasn't quite comfortable with that so I got an L instead. The packaging and everything was good too.

After that we both took a sleepy train ride home. *yawn* I'll be having an early night tonight. Tonnes of lectures for navi tomorrow!

Extremely Random Stuff

Sushi Buffet



The four of us went out last week (Sunday) for a buffet. After that we went to take a walk around before playing pool. It was pretty fun, although we do see each other all the time in camp!

My brother

I've just seen his results for his prelims. He did shockingly (insert most negative descriptive word here). He failed every single subject except for English and Maths, for which he got 50 and 51 respectively. What a joke. I think he should just get geared up... for another year of secondary school education.

Blogs

Xiaxue's blog has gone through a makeover and it's looking good! Her writing is still as entertaining as ever and with people sponsoring her stuff to do adverts for them, she looks like she could be the first Singaporean to make a living from her blog! I know a lot of people can't handle the way she writes, but that just make them pretty sad. Take everything with a pinch of salt, and enjoy.

Oh, and I've come across newsreader Timothy Goh's blog at Live Journal. It looks pretty cool and there are pretty deep insights about the world as well. And I think he shares the same birthday as me! Wow! I'd like to be a newsreader one day too!

Then there're two JC students' blogs which I read. I don't know them personally either. But when reading their stuff it's as if I was reliving my years in school again. Arh! There's Yishengo, whose blog is a bit cranky at the moment and _coldsilver_ , both in J2 I think, and both of them write pretty well.

Survivor

It was a good show yesterday. Pretty much. Blake, the "golden boy" got voted out. For a moment there I thought Brian was going to get out. It was nerve wrecking. Brian was pretty much the manipulative-inside-but-postiviely-nice-guy whom I thought played the game well. You can visit the Survivor site here to read up on what you've missed out and look at some of the photos. I can't believe it's the 11th season already.

The best part of the whole thing was what Brian said to the camera when he voted Blake out.



"You may be golden boy, but I'm platinum!"

Into The Blue



What can I say? I went to watch it last week with Vanessa and it was just entertaining. It was pretty watchable. No, wait, when you have actors like Paul Walker and Jessica Alba, anything'd be watchable.



The underwater scenes were all pretty fantastic and in terms of a cinematic experience, it was very good. However, it was driven by an average plot, and that's where the weakness of the movie was. It was easy to be distracted by the lack of a solid plot because of the aforementioned Walker and Alba and also Ashley Scott and Scott Caan. There was also the beautiful view of shark-infested ocean off the Bahamas.



In addition, there're some clubbing scenes and lush resorts and swimming pools. This is a movie that's easy on the eyes, moderate on the suspense, forgettable and only entertaining for the moment.

Army life

This week I had orderly with Sgt Shawn on Monday, and then 16km route march on Tuesday. After that, the week passed quickly. Yayness! There was a 4 x 2km power run on Wednesday afternoon, after which we had dinner and Daniel and I played Volleyball! We didn't go for nights off at it was already too late. On Thursday evening, Terence, Daniel, Shawn, YC and I played volleyball till almost 10PM. Daniel Chan, Sern Hong and Guo Fei joined in at some point or the other too. The 5 of us tried to keep the ball up for 25 hits (originally 30) and it proved to be real challenging.

Arh. I love volleyball. It just makes being in army worth it.

Did I mentioned that I absolutely detest my hairstyle now? I will try my best to stay away from the camera till some semblence of my former self shows up.

On Friday we had outcamp run at Fort Canning. It was a pretty good run despite the un-dry weather. There wasn't a downpour, but steep and wet slopes don't exactly make fantastic running tracks. After that the platoon split up for dinner, with Guo Rui, Sern Hong, me, Zhi Cong, Yun Shen and Daniel going for Burger King. Terence, Shawn and YC joined us a bit later while the rest of them went to Mcs.

Played DDR with Sern Hong. Had the time of my life. Spent some time stoning around in the arcade with the rest of them but that few minutes on the DDR machine was enough to make me high for a long long time!

Vanessa

Thank you for everything. For celebrating my birthday with me at the Sky Garden last Sunday. For the fantastic shirt from Topman. And especially the thing you made for me... That's the most special thing I've received I think. Ever! Oops.

*shy*

Tintin and Harry Potter

Tintin is all the rage in my bunk. Well, maybe not. I don't know. I brought along another tri-story comic of Tintin (which is the ONLY comic I've ever touched) to read during orderly duty. It's been in popular demand with my section mates and especially so my buddy, who laughs out loud while reading it. He's as comical as the book!



Hmm, the QM Sgt and PC2 borrowed it from me during my duty. And then it's being passed around in the bunk. I remember how I had the whole set and lent it to almost everybody in class when I was Primary 3! Okay, I was a kid then and having that collection of books made me feel like the popular guy in class!

I can't believe I said that.

Well, years since then, the love of Tintin has yet dimished as shown by all of us. It's a great read. The guy who wrote it is extremely talented.

Also, we're all going nuts over Harry Potter. I finished the fourth book, The Goblet of Fire on Friday, and I only started reading it on Wednesday!



It is (to me) by far the best book of all. Except perhaps maybe the last book. The movie will be out next month to thrill fans all over the world and I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for it. Ooh, and everyone in bunk's reading Harry Potter too. The Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban , the Half-Blood Prince etc. etc. Yay to HP Fever!

Pic of the Week

This is probably a photo that I feel is best kept hidden and buried FOREVER! Ooh, I look a bit Harry Potter-ish here. Well, maybe not. This was a significant day in my life - the day I was enlisted. Apprehension. Fear. And those ugly specs. Yuck! =P

JKYH Top 10 (15)

01. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas (3) 5

02. Over To You Now - Britney Spears (2) 3
03. Push The Button - Sugababes (+3) 2
04. Long Hot Summer - Girls Aloud (+1) 5
05. Song 4 Lovers - Liberty X (+2) 2
06. I Said Never Again (But Here We Are) - Rachel Stevens (-2) 9
07. Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson (NEW)
08. Photograph - Nickelback (NEW)
09. All About Us - T.A.T.U (NEW)
10. Get Your Shine On - Jesse McCartney (-6) 5

Last Week:
01. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas (2) 4
02. Over To You Now - Britney Spears (+3) 2
03. I Said Never Again (But Here We Are) - Rachel Stevens (-1) 8
04. Get Your Shine On - Jesse McCartney (+2) 4
05. Long Hot Summer - Girls Aloud (+4) 4
06. Push The Button - Sugababes (NEW)
07. Song 4 Lovers - Liberty X (NEW)
08. Mu Nai Yi - JJ Lin (-5) 6
09. No. 89757 - JJ Lin (-5) 7
10. Someday (I Will Understand) - Britney Spears (2) 14

Steamboat @ Marina

Oh man, I had a lot of fun yesterday but I don't know if I have enough time to blog it all down! Arh!!!

Okay, for a start, we were supposed to meet at Dhoby Gaut MRT station. Zhenhui was early and so was I. Shuming, surprisingly, was late by 4 minutes! Which was contrary to the last time we went out where she was the only one on time while ZH and I were freaking late! Oops.

We went to get our tickets for The 40 Year Old Virgin and they demanded an I/C. It was then I realised that I didn't have my 11B with me and they almost didn't give us the tickets that SM had bought online. In the end they gave us the tix but told us that the guys at the cinema would have every right to bar me from watching the movie. The three of us brainstormed stuff such as me holding SM's I/C and hoping they wouldn't realise the photo was of a girl; going in with the crowd so they wouldn't check and throwing ZH's 11B out to me once he entered the cinema.

We were fretting about what to do as we entered the megastore (of which I can't remember if it's Giant or Cold Storage or whatever), and bought Lemonade, mineral water (and not the anal Evian one), Pockey and clorets. I saw Jun Qi and his girlfriend along the way. But didn't say hi. Oops.

Well, luckily enough, the guy didn't check for our identification. Hey, it's not as if I'm underage okay! It's M18 and I've just turned 19 so there! We were all so freaking relieved that we could go in together. I was almost jumping in joy, but tried my best to hide my excitement. Like going to an M18 film was an everyday thing for me. Gosh. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I was the only one left outside. The ticket guy was bloody friendly and he was nice enough to let us out to the toilet without bringing out tickets with us and saying that he could remember our faces. Such fab service. Such a nice guy!



As for the movie, well, it's just so porn. Well in fact they showed porn in the movie. There was plenty of boobs and there was also the licking of nipples. Of the boobs. Essentially a feel good movie, because the poor guy lost his virginity in the end, the jokes are pretty much slapstick. Not that slapstick isn't good of course. It's high in entertainment value, memorable because of it's absolutely SEX moments and it gives the viewer a take on the very sexually-driven part of human beings.

Okay, so that's about it for the movie. We actually planned to go to Marina for steamboat but due to my fear of hot places (after standing for hours in the sun for parade rehearsals and soaking my uniform during guard duty), we decided to go somewhere near beach road to look for a place with steamboat and air condition. Man, I should've brought my new smartest 4 along to sew up the name tag and the badge. However after walking there, we realised that Marina was still the best place to have steamboat so we took a 6 dollar cab ride there.

It took us quite awhile to find seats as it was super crowded. Ooh, and saw Mei Zhen there too. We finally found a place and while sitting down and waiting for the waiter to help turn on the gas, we took a couple of photos.





Right. I look pretty dark here. No, not tanned. Dark and black. That's what 3 days of parade (rehearsals) can do to you. I kind of like my face dark BUT there's that FUGLY V-shaped tan line down to my chest (which I flashed at SM and ZH. *gasp*). And they agreed that it looked pathetic. SM actually asked me why I wore a V-neck shirt to tan. Boo!

We went to take food, and mainly chicken. Which makes me wonder how many millions of chickens are killed everyday because I think I've seen so much raw chicken these couple of days (like last week's BBQ) that I'm beginning to think that chickens are having it bad. Anyway, we started cooking our stuff...



And the oil was jumping everywhere. On our hands, and worse, on our faces. It almost hit my eye a couple of times and I was wearing contacts! Well, it was partly my fault that I put a bit too much of margarine and the chicken was practically swimming in oil. *defensively* At least none of it got stuck to the aluminium foil. However when I was eating, oil was literally dripping down my chin! Man, I have got to play a lot of volleyball this week!



Enough about the oil already! We were all so busy trying to cook up a storm that we didn't really have the chance to talk to each other! Being preoccupied with saving the chicken from getting chao tar is a huge mission. Ooh. I had the chance to cook up a good soup (courtesy of my shifu Mak =P) by dumping bits of vegetables, red dates and the like. That was the most fulfilling part of the whole thing for me. It actually tasted pretty good. Okay, so it didn't take much effort, I just dumped everything into the soup!

We decided that we had to have a good old bitching session after that so we tried to think of a place to go. Eventually we decided to go to Harbourfront since it'd be easy to get home for them and I. However, we were SHOCKED that all the cafes were closing by the time we got there, which was almost 10PM. Harbourfront center was almost deserted. All the shops were closed and all. BOO. It's a freaking weekend! The place ain't never gonna be popular if they ain't gonna open it till late ya'll!

It was then that we stopped to take a couple of photos that they presented me with a small piece of cake!



Can you like, see the tears that are coming out of my swollen eyes? Kidding, kidding. I think I'll have it for breakfast later.

I was superbly surprised because I really did not expect anything at all. They kinda paid quite a bit today for the movie and the steamboat (although I did pay for some stuff like the drinks and some of the cab fare)! I was really touched.



Anyway, we had a hell of a time photo-whoring and I suppose though me and ZH were a tad rigid we still did some pretty good poses. Okay, I'm delusional. Whatever! It was kinda fun.



After that we decided to go back to PS (where we watched our movie earlier in the day so it was like travelling merry-go-round Singapore). And I couldn't believe it when I saw Bao Xin there! Haha, we were kinda stunned to see each other and he sort of gave me a mini-hug before rushing off for a midnight movie. I was like, "Don't need to study arh!" Hope he does well for his A lvls that guy!

We sat at Rocky Master and ordered a couple of drinks and had a long chat. Chatting about having a stead, about life, about friends, about ex-11/03 (or what I used to call the original 11/03). Time passed by shockingly fast and when I saw my phone that it was already 12midnight (the clock showed 0000!), we almost ran to catch our last trains respectively! It was insane. I still had 7 minutes to mine (but scared that I would miss it because the station was deserted), while I think they had 1 minute for their train to arrive.

I think we don't chat because we've got miserable stuff or we'd like to hear that. For me, it's out of concern and the feeling that someone's there to hear me out and that's good enough. Really. For me, if my friends are happy and I hear that they're happy, I'd feel happy for them too. Simple as that. I know some people who are too self-centered to feel happy for people around them. They just can't. But I suppose it's different for me.

I feel happy when I see others happy.



You guys were great! ROCK ON!

PS I'm so fucking in trouble because I'm already late. Got to go beach road to settle the uniform, meet 3 army guys for sushi buffet and my girlfriend later and I need to cut my hair. *DIED* Will update tonight if I have the time, which is like, not possible. Haven't packed my stuff for tomorrow's book in. And I have orderly tomorrow. ARH!!!