I wanted to write something depressing & etc but I decided not to as it will probably creep the soul outta people so eariler on , I was browsing though Hema's blog & decided to do something like what she did in that she wrote the what's & the know how's in 2007 .
Top 25 Music Acts Of 2007 (in no particular order) ::
These are some of the artistes I came across during 2007 . Some of them have been in the music industry for a very long time or not .
1) abingdon boys school
2) ayumi hamasaki
3) Koda Kumi
4) otsuka ai / LOVE
5) Anna Tsuchiya / ANNA inspi' NANA (BLACK STONES)
6) OLIVIA / Olivia Lufkin / OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST)
7) Mika Nakashima / NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA
8) ayaka
9) Yuna Ito / REIRA starring YUNA ITO
10) Namie Amuro
11) The Click Five
12) Muse
13) The Veronicas
14) Sweetbox
15) Jonas Brothers
16) Rihanna
17) OneRepublic
18) Linkin Park
19) Maroon 5
20) Boys Like Girls
21) Utada Hikaru
22) Bond
23) Maksim
24) Jesse McCartney
25) Daughtry
20 Albums I Got Hooked On In 2007 (in no particular order) ::
1) ayumi hamasaki - GUILTY
2) ayumi hamasaki - Secret
3) ayumi hamasaki - (miss)understood
4) ayumi hamasaki - A BEST 2 -BLACK- & A BEST 2 -WHITE-
5) Koda Kumi - Black Cherry
6) The Click Five - Modern Minds And Pastimes
7) NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA - THE END
8) otsuka ai - LOVE PiECE
9) Koda Kumi - BEST ~second session~
10) abingdon boys school - abingdon boys school
11) The Veronicas - Hook Me Up
12) The Veronicas - The Secret Life Of ...
13) ayumi hamasaki - MY STORY
14) ayumi hamasaki - I am ...
15) ayumi hamasaki - RAINBOW
16) ayumi hamasaki - Duty
17) Utada Hikaru - ULTRA BLUE
18) Namie Amuro - PLAY
19) Mika Nakashima - YES
20) OLIVIA / Olivia Lufkin - The Cloudy Dreamer EP
5 Things I Did / Realised In 2007 ::
1) I stopped listening to radio & I only tuned in every Fri night on 987FM to listen to the official countdown for old time sake . I remembered I went on 987 Control during April . Back then , I thought it was cool but looking back at it now , I cringed at it like big time . I don't have a voice for radio that's all I can say .
2) I hate War Machine & Captain America more than anything else . My hate for them grew bigger each time & everytime after I left the arcade after playing Marvel Vs Capcom . My ass got kicked by Captain America just now . Then again I never like him as I always consider him as a joke .
As for War Machine , it's a long standing grudge that I held against this bastard for a very long time . That stupid armour he wears becomes his coffin everytime I whacked & beated the crap outta him . No mercy on my part .
3) Junk food is awesome & some of my fave types of junk foods to noosh on are Koka Tom Yam instant noodles , Lays's Kettle Cooked potato chips (that's the only Lays's potato chips that I can finish a whole bag within a day & I don't find it salty as compared to regular Lays's ) , Krispy Kreme donuts (they're the sex ! Take that Missy Donut & Donut House & others in the list . Too bad I didn't managed to buy / find any when I was in Aust 2 weeks ago noooo ) , Oshi Bakery donuts (the donuts are awesome , are on par with Krispy Kreme donuts . They only cost 80 cents a pop & are 2 - 3 times bigger than a donut that you would buy from Missy Donut) , Pepperidge Soft Chunk Dark Chocolate cookies (Famous Amos can't hold a candle to them , period) .
4) I discovered that I could actually withstand pain after all after getting 2nd piercings on both my ears & at the moment , am itching to get somemore to be done on my ears . Maybe I get a 3rd hole for 1 or both my ears in 2008 ?
5) Who knew that knowing so much about the paranormal world can come in handy in the real world ? Don't ask , it's a long story .
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Ok I know this's real early & that the new year hasn't knocked on my door yet but I thought it's better to reflect the good & bad times of what I've experienced in 2007now or never . Better late than never I say .
2007 was a year where I probably experienced more lows than highs as compared to the year before . It was like I died & came back to life countless of times & the experiences that I gone though has aged the life outta me by 10 years . I sometimes wonder if my age's as real as what it's stated on my birth cert .
I drifted away from many people due to a big change of interest (change in my taste / preference in music) on my part . I discovered that people do change & sometimes at the end of the day , you have to rely on yourself to survive in the real world & that family do take priority in my life than friends . The truth's disgusting but sadly the truth always stings .
Do I want to reconcile with the people that I drifted away from , in & outside of the Uni circuit ? probably but at the moment I have no intentions to . Sure my mum & family will frown at my decision to do so but it's my life , I decide on how I want to live & there's always some limitations but I always manage to fight back to get what I want .
Bottomline's that I hate it when you help someone with all of your heart & soul & at the end of the day , that person does not appreciate on what you do & you became un-appreciated in which this's something I went though in 2007 over & over again & you know what ? I've had it & I just walked away without comforting the guilty parties .
I'm not a living doormat & I refuse to let people step over me . People , regardless of the real people I know & come across in & outside of the Uni circuit & people who lurk & read my blog on a x basis probably hate my guts . They want to pull me down with what they write in their blogs or leave spiteful messages on my blog's tagboard but they don't know & realise that at the end of the day , I can't be bothered with what other people say & think about me . I just simply delete the un-necessary comments & just move on with my life , end of story .
Not to mention , there was a period of time where I got screened & blasted at on my blog's tagboard blog entry by entry by some cheeseball just because I made some minor spelling mistakes in my entries in which I think this person's a big joke . Maybe in my next blog entry I will write in short form ala SMS style to make life hell for this idiot .
That's not to say that all of 2007 has been negative for me . 1 of the major highlights that I experienced this year & so far in my life was that I attended my 1st The Click Five's showcase & autograph session which took place at MOS & Kandi Bar respectively in Oct .
I remembered that I was so excited when Warner Music gave me a chance to go catch 1 of my fave bands in performance as I've been waiting to see them perform for the longest time & in person too & they did not fail to disappoint & I have been a fan of them , during when Eric was the lead singer & after Eric left & Kyle came onboard as the new frontman & usually I wouldn't be starstuck when I meet celebrities but when I met the whole band for a brief moment during their autograph session , I was !
& of course most recently , I came back from Aust after I last visited the place 13 - 15 years ago so that's another high point in 2007 & to study the Japanese music market for the past year & to see how things are being done & how things are being worked is also another thing as well & in the course of Jan '08 , several new releases of some of my fave artistes are being pipped out to be released , singles & albums wise & I'm so excited despite fore-seeing that I will be very broke before Chinese New Year starts but who cares man ?
I have to give Hui Li props for introducing me to the Japanese music market in late 2006 . Things soon exploded to a new level as months passed by & now at least Hui Li & I have something in addition in common to talk in our daily lives .
Like for starers , a year ago I wouldn't imagine that I would be listening to Ayumi Hamasaki , abingdon boys school , Koda Kumi , Utada Hikaru , Otsuka Ai , Anna Tsuchiya & many many more Japanese acts & who would have thought that I listened to 7 outta of the 9 albums that Ayumi has released so far in her career within a course of a year ? Madness !
Hopefully 2008 will be a year where I will experience more highs than lows but I'm happy that a chapter's about to close in the book & a new chapter's about to start when the new year rolls by next week .
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Aust was great . I thought the weather would be unbearably hot but I was proven wrong . The weather in Queensland was really nice & bearable but 1 thing I realise's that if the weather's hot , it's hot . If it's cold & windy , it's cold & windy . You get the drift .
The weather was mostly like S'pore except it didn't rained every single day when I was there for the past week . It only rained heavily when I was at Mt Nathan Winery but that's about it .
I had a good tour guide in which everything went smoothly .
Aside from the fact that I fell sick on the 1st day of the trip due to a lack of sleep on the plane , other than that , it was all good . I visited lots of places & some of them I revisited them again after 13-15 long years .
I didn't buy any clothes as I was hoping for cos the prices in Aust are even more expensive as compared to here but at least they got a much much wider range of sizes as compared to the shops in S'pore but I did bought a lot of food stuffs back home , especially chocolate . The Australians love their chocolate among other kinds of food as well .
Some of the places I revisited again were Movie World & Sea World .
The other places that I did not went before were :
- Dreamworld , where I went to visit Tiger Island among its many attractions in the theme park .
- Mt Nathan Winery , where my parents drank the free samples of wine when there's no tomorrow . I didn't tried any of the wine that was offered including the 1 of a kind honey wine that only Mt Nathan Winery makes as I was worried I would have gotten drunk but the homemade fish & chips that were served for dinner was great . Somemore I wasn't even a fish & chips person to begin with .
Since alcohol consumption in Aust is 18 & above just like S'pore , the rest of the people in the tour group who were underage were 'demoted' to feed the sheeps that're found outside of the winery . I didn't know that there were sheeps in a winery . Hui Li was pissed that she didn't got to try the free samples of the wine .
- Tangalooma Resort , where I got to feed wild dolphins at night .
- Direct Factory Outlet which was the 1st place I visited straight after I landed at the airport as it was only a 5 mins drive away from the place . I'm not sure if it's just me but either the place sinks or no one had the mood to shop especially since after everyone was deprived severely of sleep as it's practically impossible to get any or some shut eye when I'm on board the plane all the time .
- Tropical Fruit World , where I got to try Black Sapote aka Chocolate Fruit . Delicious with ice cream & I also got to sample fresh macadamia nuts that were handpicked straight from the ground . I didn't know the shells were SO hard & they weren't easy to be cracked by hand .
- Superbee , it's a bee factory in case you're wondering .
- Pacific Fair , where it's 2-3 times the size of Vivo City .
- the only casino in Brisbane , Conrad Jupiters Hotel & yes I'm legal to enter the premises as they allow 18 & above people to be let inside the casino whee . I played the slot machines & Caribbean Stud Poker . It was fun & I managed to score a flush in Caribbean Stud at 1 point & oh I love the banana cake that's served inside the casino .
Some other anecdotes from the trip :
- Plane food rules .
- Aust guys are hot , hands down . Not sure if it's because I'm not ang mo or something but you have to admit there's always something about ang mo guys that're mysterious , hot & are up there in the looks department . Well to me that's .
- If I have a super high metabolism rate , I wouldn't mind to load up on the foods that're served in Aust . The portion serving size are so big so much so that it scared the crap outta me . It's scary when a slice of cake's 2-4 times the size of a normal cake in here :S & after tomorrow , I'm swearing off all the good stuff such as fried stuff , cakes , potatoes , bacon , eggs & etc & it's no brainer , I put on weight . In fact everyone put on weight when we came back yesterday , including my dad & Hui Lin in which both of them needs to as they're thin . I don't & trust me after seeing & eating the same Western foods over & over again for the past week when I was in Aust , I don't mind Chinese food now & surprisingly my pants still can fit me after eating a week worth of food that're mostly junk .
After seeing the same 'ol stuff being served in the hotel buffet breakfast corner , I will freak out if I see another scrambled egg , bacon , sausages , pancakes again . I can tolerate it a few times a week but NOT everyday !
- The food in Aust is either very salty , very oily , very sweet or very bland & comes in Jumbo portions . & I thought the portions at Carl Jr are big & they're very generous when comes to french fries . The fries are so thick , just like how MOS burgers does .
- I'm not taking my chances to take any rides at the theme parks anytime now . After taking the pirate ship ride at Sea World in which I almost died like literally , I'm gonna lay down for a bit .
- I wouldn't need to buy tea bags anytime now as at the moment , I have a supply of tea bags which can last me for about 3 months at most haha
- Surprisingly , cigarettes are even more expensive in Aust . It cost about AUS $11 + for a 20 sticks pack which's about S$16 . That's not to say I smoke though . That's something I would never do in my life , not a chance .
- If I migrate to Aust , I would be poorer I think . The standard of living's even higher as compared to S'pore . But I like the attitude of the locals . They're so carefree , laid back , friendly & they have that relax 1 corner vibe which's something that S'poreans are seriously lacking in in which everything's all moving at a fast paced direction .
- Their version of pasar malem which took place every Wed & Fri night at the beach paveways of Sufers Paradise are so much more hip . You virtually can find anything under the sun . I picked up some cool stuff when I was there on Fri night as Wed night I was kicking butt at the casino .
- The Conrad Jupiters casino was a cool place to go & for once I don't need to sneak in illegally even though I was stopped by security on Thurs night . I wasn't stopped on the 1st day I went in with my parents which was on Wed . Sure the casino's not as big as Genting's but it's a nice place to go to . They have a nice bar , a good cafe & the works .
- The taxi fare in Aust's even more expensive . From Mantra Legends Hotel (which I stayed for the rest of the trip excluding Tagalooma Resort) to Conrad Jupiters , the taxi fare set my parents for AUS$10 (S$11.30 + ) whether the taxi is heading to Conrad Jupiters or back to Mantra Legends & the starting of the taxi meter ? AUS$2.50 (S$3.25 +) & AUS$3.80 (S$4.94 +) on another occasion & you think that the rising taxi fares in S'pore are bad . Look no further .
- Sea World loves Elmo
- always always bring up medicines up the plane especially on the 1st day of the trip & not to mention the hankies as well . This wasn't the 1st time I fell sick on the 1st day of any trip . The same thing happened when I went to Japan 2 years back . Somemore on the 1st day of the trip to Aust , when the plane was about to land , I had a severe headache in which I thought my brain was about to explode . I think it's due to the air pressure in the plane or something else . Thank goodness I didn't experienced this when I took the flight back home to S'pore .
- the air in the plane's BAD with a capital B & I'm speaking for both going to Brisbane & coming back to S'pore . My skin almost died overnight & I thought the air that I breathe in the bars/clubs that I went to prior to the impose of the smoking ban was crap . Too bad I cannot bring up bottled water sprays on board the plane .
- I discovered that I can deshell prawns with my mouth now instead of using my hands previously . I found that out when I was having a chinese seafood dinner during the trip . Pretty cool . No need to wash my hands now whenever I have the chance to eat prawns in the future . Goodie .
- The seafood in Aust is awesome & the seafood that're served in restaurants are very fresh as well .
- CDs that're sold in Aust are even more expensive as compared to what you get in HMV . But CD singles in Aust are cheap , at AUS S5 a pop .
- Didn't managed to spot any Krispy Kreme donuts shops in Brisbane nooooo :( :( :( . I was so hoping to buy Krispy Kremes back home to satisfy my cravings for it but alas it wasn't meant to be .
Photobucket Album :
You should scroll all the way back as the pics that I took from the back were from day 1 all the way to the most recent one . The above pic was the last day I took before I left Aust & that's 1/2 of Brisbane city overlooking the place where I took the picture from .
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In a few hours or so , I'll be sitting on the plane , heading Down Under . My family got up bright & early to pack our bags & it's pretty something when you pack practically everything within a day cos usually people will start packing bit by bit before you leave for a trip .
I so can't wait to head back in Austraila . It has been almost 13-15 years since I last went there & I'm definitely sure a lot has changed since the last time I was there .
I'm not really sure if I'll be able to do some christmas shopping but hopefully I can seeing that I'll be in Down Under for almost a week . I'm pretty lousy when comes to buying any type of gifts for people but somehow or another , I managed to get things right .
There wouldn't be any blog entries that I'll be posting til I get back from Austraila in which I'm coming back next Sat afternoon . Initally I thought I'll be back next Sun afternoon but nope .
Until next time .
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Wow , this's my 900th post . I couldn't believe it . Probably in due time , I will hit the 1000th mark !
But anyway , I went to watch Alvin & The Chipmunks today . A nice fuzzy & feel good christmas movie for the whole family to watch & I remembered I used to watch Alvin & The Chipmunks on TV when I was a kid so just like Transformers , Alvin & The Chipmunks was revived & being into a movie .
So when comes to both Alvin & The Chipmunks and Transformers , you can say that I was re-living my childhood all over again . In this case , twice . I wonder what's next that will be bring back to life on the silver screen ? Double Dragon ?
Alvin & The Chipmunks's a fun movie & I cannot imagine that Jesse McCartney would actually voiced 1 of the chipmunks as his voice has been helium-ised .
In this case he voiced Theodore who dresses in green . Outta the trio , I actually like Theodore the best as he or should I say it's so warm & family oriented .
Simon's a bit nerdy & geeky while the leader of the trio Alvin's too snobby & acts too cool for my liking but in general I enjoyed the movie . Luckily I decided to go & catch it .
But in the midst of all the warm fuzzy feeling , the movie also painted an ugly dirty pic of 1 of the many faces in the music industry in which it's so true in that people will resort to numerous ways & means just to milk you for all you're worth . As soon as that happens , integrity goes outta the window .
Man I haven't pack my bags & I'm leaving tomorrow night for Aust baby . I can't wait for that to happen . Just a bummer that I'm leaving tomorrow night & not on Sun or Mon as I found out that Electrico's playing tomorrow night at Barfly as part of The Cannery's 1st year anniversary .
Bad bad timing if you ask me . Oh well at most I buy something for the guys when I'm in Aust . I miss them loads & it has been quite a while since I last saw them & not to mention catch them kicking & letting loose onstage .
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Man I'm so so relieved that abingdon boys school didn't fell outta the Top10 in this week's Oricon singles chart cos I was getting worried when BLADE CHORD plummeted to no.9 on Sun but luckily the way Oricon works's pretty standardised in that they count overall sales for the week & BLADE CHORD's abs's best debut charting for a single so far , coming in at no.2 with 1st week sales of 26,922 .
I was so hoping that BLADE CHORD can make its way to the top but abs was outsold by the frontman of Southern All Stars's Kuwata Keisuke with his song Darling & this guy basically outsold abs's by almost 3 : 1 . The 1st week sales of Darling was 93,568 . I don't really know much about Southern All Stars but I do know that they're the 3rd highest selling act in Japan , after Mr.Children & B'z & speaking about B'z , no brainer , they're no.1 again in the Oricon weekly album chart with their 16th album Action which moved about 292,687 in the 1st week of release .
& the stats about B'z's crazy . They're the best selling Japanese act of all time in their home country with 75 million worth of records sold & counting & so far they have 40 consecutive no.1 singles :O . Damn scary . I'm not sure if I want to listen to B'z , Mr. Children & Southern All Stars as all of them have been around for so long , ranging from 20 - 30 years .
We'll see & looks like I might be able to get abs's debut album after all ! Ringed up HMV Heeren & they said that they'll be bringing in stock of their album but of course I wouldn't be paying S$72 for it as that's imported straight from Japan but a more modest price at S$28.50 & I think HMV's importing it from either Taiwan , Hong Kong or China since Sony BMG has no plans to release abs's album in here I think but I don't mind .
It's better to pay S$28.50 than S$72 for an album but I'm a bit bummed that I wouldn't be getting the CD + DVD version . Oh well ... but at least it's more or less guaranteed that I'll be getting my copy of abs's after waiting for almost 2-3 months .
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It was so good to see Yee Ma last night when I went to have dinner with some of my maternal relatives & incidentally today's her birthday so happy birthday Yee Ma :) .
I didn't know that there's a restaurant situated inside PSA Building prior to last night . Last night's dinner's not bad I would say .
Habour City Restaurant was serving chinese buffet done ala carte style last night & surprisely , the 1 dish that I enjoyed the most was black pepper spare ribs . I didn't really enjoyed the chinese style desserts but I liked the strawberries that Yee Ma brought back from Korea & oh of course the luscious chocolate truffle cake from The Royals :)
I don't mind to go back to Habour City Restaurant again . Aside from the fact that the venue's pretty outta place , the food that was served's pretty good . Not sure if I will ever have the chance to go back again .
I managed to write even better album reviews than before in my music blog . When I looked back at older entries in my music blog , I cringed but eariler on when I did a much better album review of Otsuka Ai's LOVE PiECE album , I felt proud of myself so don't be surprised if you don't see me update this blog as often as my music blog .
There's always room for improvement I say .
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Finally school's out , holidays are in & of course I couldn't be any more happier than that .
Somemore I have wrapped things up officially for my 1st trimester in Uni by taking the exams this week & today was my last exam & I can't wait to do virtually nothing during my holidays .
Nah I'm sure I will make full & good use of my holidays . I'm not really sure what I want to do 1st but I know I'll be visiting the dentist tomorrow morning & Yee Ma's coming back tomorrow & I'm so looking forward to see her after so long .
Tomorrow's a double celebration of sorts as it's my parents's wedding anniversary + my maternal relatives are gonna celebrate Yee Ma's birthday in advance so am psyched about it & not to mention going to have another chance to pig out during dinner .
I haven't been to the restaurant that my mum reserved for dinner tomorrow night . Hopefully it will be a good one seeing that the restaurant's serving Chinese buffet ala carte style .
I think I better start thinking on what I should bring & pack for next week as I'm heading Down Under for a week . Maybe I will come up with a list or something during the weekend & start packing my bags during early next week perhaps ?
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