T – minus 1 day!
Tomorrow I will be on an AirAsia X plane (my first long haul flight on a no frills airline) to London! I seriously need this mini break, even though I am sorta ‘working’ by churning a couple articles out for it.
Of course today of all days the POUND is selling at close to 5.9! It’s ridiculous as last month it was only 5.4. When the exchange rate differs by only a few .01 it doesn’t really matter but it does show a bit of a difference It doesn’t really make that much of a difference with .1 difference. For example I changed RM1500 and got £255 – £277 if it were selling at 5.4. That’s a 22 pound difference. With 22 pounds I could buy me enough round of beers for a massive beer hangover the next day! That says a lot.
So I’m all set to see Blur. I’ve been reading reviews and I even managed to catch a snippet of their performance at Glastonbury online. The connection was slow though because I had to change IP Proxies to a UK one (proxy descrimination!!) Anywhooo…my music playlist now is arranged according to their set list. “Purists” may complain that it’s too singles heavy but seriously though – it’s a killer set and I can’t wait. 2 Nights of Blur and some pretty good opening acts.
Check this space for more updates! I’ll see if I can ‘twitter’ from London via my phone. I’m still deciding whether I should bring my lap top. Bringing it means I’m bringing my work with me, but at the same time I can choose to ignore work. Typing everything out when it’s all still fresh in my head helps. Plus my travel buddy wants his 2 mins of fame. He’s dying to get out there and get all middle earth on you!
Pfffftttt
I’ve been so preoccupied with trying to find the right “theme” for this page I almost forgot it’s not how it looks but rather what is written. It’s hard to work with 1000 ++ over posts and categorizing them. Ughhh the headache! I’ve decided to F it for now!
The big news to-date is in exactly one week I’ll be on my way to London to see Blur. I feel I’m at a buffet and got greedy with all the food and now I have too much on my plate. Forgive me for the awful puns!
I have an article to write for AirAsia’s inflight mag Travel360 about my budget travels to London on AirAsiaX. I’ve also got 2 reviews of the concert I’m submitting to two local online music/lifestyle mags. Plus a ton of stuff to settle before flying out.
My checklist for things I need to bring onboard with me on a long-haul no-frills budget airliner:
- Inflatable travel pillow
- Mouth/nose face mask
- Wet wipes
- Face H20 spritzer
- Blanket/pashmina
- Music to get me by for 14 hours
- Panadol
- Eno
- Thick socks in case it gets too cold onboard and the key to keeping warm is keeping your feet warm!
Reunited and it feels so good
FNM during their hay days (w/ Jim Martin)
Another reunion concert I would sell my kidney for is to see FAITH NO MORE again. After reading about their reunion concert a few days ago @ the Brixton Academy in London – I’m seriouslybugging out. Check out their setlist:-
Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
The Real Thing
From Out Of Nowhere
Land Of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Easy
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Midlife Crisis
Cuckoo For Caca
The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
RV
King For A Day
Malpractice
Jizzlobber
Be Aggressive
Epic
Mark Bowen
Encore 1:
Chariots Of Fire/Stripsearch
Just A Man
Encore 2:
I Started A Joke
Pristina
Seriously, gutted. Anybody that’s ever known me since 1990 would understand.
I have given myself an undercut hairstyle, dyed my hair red and have mastered the gentle art of making enemies – all in the name of FNM.
T minus 18 days till BLUR @ HYDE PARK!
Watching the interaction in this makes me all giddy! I can’t wait!
the plan
21 more days till London for BLUR and a little under 4 months till I make my ‘grand’ return back to the good ol’ USA for a week and another week in London after. What’s different this time around is that I’ve actually managed to get 3 of my friends from the States to fly over the Atlantic with me. We’re thinking about flying to Glasgow from London for a couple days cause tix on Ryan Air are seriously cheap! (GBP 2 for a round trip ticket – ur kidding me right?) I also found a pretty reasonably priced guesthouse for 13++ Euro a night. You’ve got to love the name – McLays Guest House (The cheapest way to get laid in Glasgow!)…
Obsessed with “Death”
…the White Lies song “Death” that is.
White Lies are another band I’ve recently had the chance to sit down and listen to. When I first heard To Lose My Life for the first time on 6Music some months ago, it didn’t really captivate me the way “Death” did and it was ‘death’ that brought their album into my life (bad pun #1) They are a solid band though – I will give them that – even though they get all these comparisons to ex-school mate of mine – Paul Banks’ band Interpol, Joy Division and Editors and a tinge of Echo & the Bunneymen. I mean nothing wrong with any of those bands but those are some big shoes to live up to! The other songs on the album are good but “Death” is catchy as hell (ha ha bad pun #2). I like the way the song builds up and of course the hook – “This fear’s got a hold on me“…. I think the live performance of the song is better than the album version though.
To top it off, these guys are young! I almost feel guilty for finding the lead singer a hottie and even more embarrassed I googled him to find out 
Despite this bands obsession with ‘death’ and other ‘dark’ things, they seem like really good people. Bright eyed and genuinely thankful for their success thus far. Good mannerisms too.
AMR: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
I’ve heard people giving it all sorts of praise so I decided to get in on the hype and get my hands on the new Yeah Yeah Yeah’s album It’s Blitz! I sometimes like to read album reviews only after I’ve heard the album in full (the reverse tactic makes me either really love or really dislike an album). I kinda waited after the YYY’s released their first two singles (Zero & Heads Will roll) but hot damn they should have called the album “It’s Bliss!” It’s honestly the first YYY’s record I’ve actually sat through without feeling a little antsy at one point or another. It makes you want to dance and break out in a robot whilst ripping your heart out cause suddenly you feel this sudden lovely lonliness. The more “electronic” sounding YYY’s works and they don’t lose the ID that brought forth Karen O and co. to the limelight.
BRB going to dance with tears in my eyes to Little Shadow.
Mai Picks:
Zero
Heads Will Roll
Skeletons
Hysteric
Little Shadow
Way too much time on my hands…
- I am Strider! What is this hairy monster that lies before me?
- Dare you fight thee furry beast?
*MEW MEW MEW*
Yield thy furry beast *fight fight fight*My job is done... but just to be sure....
follow the dream!
Sometimes you have dreams that are absolutely awesome because you went all out and lived like a rockstar (and survived) … but sometimes the awesomest of dreams is “cuddling” with your rock star desire. So the Mister and I were watching this “Guide to London” tourist type video (imbedded on a street map??). I thought “Damn he’s so married but can’t hurt to snuggle up to him – it’s cold, maybe he’ll appreciate the body warmth.” So I did and our hands touched under the cover and they just layed there still…. appreciating one another’s company – not saying a word to eachother (and no hanky panky either!) It’s that damn cheesy scene in T4 that probably brought this on..plus the very much desired mountain of heavenly greens… ooh
It’s MAI thing, do what I want to do…
I’ve hit a writing bug – not because I can’t but because I keep forgetting or suddenly get lazy. This is what age does to you – in all aspects. You get lazy faster physically as well as mentally. As you can see, I’ve moved servers from WordPress.com to WordPress.ORG and on to Jacques’ RichSnail server. Thanks BIL! 
I now have more flexibility to mess around with css, style, html etc..etc…
The other day I watched the most excellent ANVIL: The Story of Anvil. It’s such a heart warming, hilariously sad and triumphant rockumentary. I think I’ve heard of the band ANVIL in passing but never really heard anything by them (back in my cock rock loving days). There are so many bands that once played to stadium packed arenas and are now rockin out to small clubs/pubs. True rock n’ roll spirit right there. The bromance in that movie made me all teary eyed too. There were times that it made me question the realness of the movie (ie – turning the knob up to 11…like really?) but in all excellent and highly recommended. It’ll tug at your heart strings regardless of whether you’re a metal fan or not. I have qued to watch Heavy Metal in Baghdad next – can’t decide whether it’s something to watch socially or alone.
Interview with the director of Anvil the rockumentary Sascha Gervasi:
And of course the trailer:
Next up on the agenda is to start a PHODCAST with Ben. The first “recording” will probably be complete rubbish … excellent. Stay tuned….
