let's all pray

ah hooi mother was involved in an accident this morning around 7am+. a car crashed into her. she had injuries to her left leg and head. she's in a coma until now (8:45pm). her brain is bleeding and doctors are trying to get the blood cot out — she is on a life support system.

ah hooi and i went to rush several things… and it's been tiring for everyone. his mother is in alor setar general hospital, same as my mother. my mother was admitted to this hospital on 31-december-2006 for a bleeding ulcer due to heart medication reaction. after a week, she got better and was about to discharge from hospital, she was down with jaundice — infection to the liver. my dad drives to the hospital twice daily to bring food to her. its kinda weird that at 12pm, i went to see my mom, then i proceed to see ah hooi's mom.

at this point, we are waiting for doctors advice to proceed further. today is a holiday (awal muhharam celebration) and there's not many doctors on duty. ah hooi's family may decide to send her mom to a private hospital in penang (where i'm currently working) where there's a brain surgeon available. in alor setar, there's no brain surgeon, only general surgeon. let's pray for her fast recovery.

THE BIG FOUR SHOW DOWN

Come tonight and tomorrow are the BIG FOUR of world club football show down.

Unpredictable Liverpool face fading champions Chelsea on Satruday

Thiery Henry-inspired Arsenal come head to head with Red Devils Manchester United

my predictions are:

Liverpool vs Chelsea ~ draw
Arsenal vs Man Utd ~ eh… i wanted to say draw, but I like United, so, United WIN!

Sharing Musical Ideas @ UUM 7.9 Music Training Camp

I always feel honoured and really happy when invited to give musical talks / seminars to all music lovers. These seminars make me learn more, and give me the opportunity to share my musical knoweldge. Most importantly, I get to know how others think about my ideas and in fact, at times, the audience would become my teachers as I absorb what they tell me about their musical ideas.

One of the talks i enjoyed most is the annual UUM 7.9 Musical Training Camp, this is the 3rd consecutive year I spoke at the camp. Every year there will be new faces coming in and I am really delighted to see these Uni students gathered to make something good both for themselves and others, that is ~ music creation.

A brief introduction to UUM 7.9 club. The club comprises many music enthusists and they come from all over Malaysia (Uni student studying in UUM). They organise weekly music gatherings, annual music training camps, and also song creation competitions and so on. One sad thing is 7.9 is not officially recognised by UUM, thus, they faced problems when organising events, trips, and many problematic incidents has happenned… which i will NOT disclose here, or else my post will be deleted again by the SSH cencor board. Inspite of all the trouble they faced, 7.9 is one club which i truely respect.
Salute!

The day was cloudy, windy, very nice weather, as I drove from my house to about 20km away to Alor Janggus. The venue is located deep deep inside from the main road. A small, narrow but very long road lead to the place where I was going to speak.


You can see the house where I was driving to, far far away from here.

After driving (slowly) about 5-7 minutes from the main road, the narrow road between the padi fields lead you to the seaside.

There were quite a number of stalls selling food and some groceries which i did not take any photo, since i was driving. The road was already so narrow, the stalls there adding to the absolute congestion where I had to reversed my car a few times to let on-coming cars passed by before i can proceed.


This photo was taken when i was on the way back, earlier it was packed with people, relaxing under the roof, puffing, chatting…

And, another 4 minutes of driving finally brought me to the exact place.


I was late by 20 minutes and everyone was already waiting, so sorry
Any familiar faces in the above photo? Jan2, Sheh Hwa, Adrian….

I must admit i am not good at remembering faces which I just saw once, in addition, there were over 30 people since last year at the previous camp. So, i could hardly recall some names though they looked famliar. The members there consists of both seniors and juniors.

The topic of the day was only one ~ How / Ways of Composing Melody.

I decided not to include music arrangement and basic recording as i had bad experience in the last two years running way over 3 hours from the allocated 2 hours time.

I tried to involve every one in the program, made them interact with the flow and i truely enjoyed my time there, and am sure they had a good time too.


This one for the club ~ All the Best in your Music (actually is kesi kesi promoting Uglymen, shhhh…)


Glad you guys enjoyed it.


One thing i always like to stress on is to pickup music theory. Although it is not a must to learn it in order to write a song. But the advantages of knowing it is countless. Many juniors who joined the club having zero music theory knowledge were having problem to understand when i touched on chord progression, hook, key, lyric synchronizing…

 

The talk ended in singing Love Bubble Tea, I divided all the members into 3 groups, and each group making a sound of percussion insturment, mouth as Bass drum, claps as snare, and mouth as hi-hat. It was simple, but they did it really nicely.


and 7.9 handed their club T shirt as a gift to me:


I have 2 of their T shirts which i never wear, bcos…… i am too fat la.

Thanks to everyone at the camp, and let's get a big one for the album:

Went back at 1.45pm. See you guys 26th January 2007.

1 TV series about Bruce Lee AND 1 movie by Bruce Lee

i look like bruce lee The Hong Kong actor who played a Bruce Lee look-alike in the comedy “Shaolin Soccer'' has landed the lead role in a new Chinese television series on the late kung fu star, newspapers reported Saturday.

Chan Kwok-kwan got the role because Lee's wife and daughter, who were consulted on the casting for the series, were impressed by his physical likeness to the late star, the Apple Daily said.

In the Hong Kong martial arts comedy “Shaolin Soccer,'' Chan played a goalkeeper who sported Lee's signature yellow track suit and had the late star's gestures and expressions. Chan has also played Lee in television commercials.

Chan said he worked out and learned Jeet Kune Do _ or the Way of the Intercepting Fist, a fighting style pioneered by Lee _ to show his determination to get the role in the new TV series, the Ming Pao Daily newspaper said.

Danny Chan, not Bruce Lee

He has even sent monthly tapes of his kung fu classes and clips of him mimicking Lee to Lee's wife and daughter, the paper said.

“I'm really very happy that I got the lead role. This isn't about the money. I'm really excited to play Bruce Lee,'' the paper quoted Chan as saying.

The mainland Chinese television series will tell Bruce Lee's story in 40 episodes, and is due to begin filming in February, the Apple Daily said.

source: IMDB

Well known movie maker, ROB COHEN is directing a new bruce lee movie by the late mr. bruce lee himself. what the ??!? bruce lee is going to be revived digitally in a movie called “RAGE AND FURY”. impossible? read on.

Movie in cinema: The Guardian

Yesterday i went to the cinema for the first time since 2001 (watched Spiderman with Uglymen, Ric in Bukit Jambul).

I watched this movie called “The Guardian”. I wanted to wacth a horror movie initially but have none on show, so we chose a movie by title. Surprisingly, this movie starring Kevin Costner, one of my favourite actor (Robin Hood, Dances With Wolf…)

The movie is about US Coast Guard's challenges, how they train, work, and in action in real world rescue operation. Off course, like other movies, some love stories has to be included in the movie to make it a “movie”, and when i watch till half way. I talked to my partner, if I'm not wrong, this story will end like this… like this…. (i am not gonna elaborate here just incase you guys havent watch it) let you find out yourself.

Bottom line is, the story is some wat predictable, still, it's a good movie to watch in your boring day. I had a great time with my partner enjoying the movie. Costner and Kutcher performed really well in the film and that's the plus point. The moral value of the movie is really good, dutiful, responsible, contribution, sacrifice and off course…. like in every movie, love and care.

I'll give a “B” to the movie for its almost predictable story line and ending… (similar to Armageddon, Deep Impact, Titanic, get what i mean?)

and this was jan 2006… Hiii Singapore, We are coming again feb 2007…

 
Photo taken @ Esplanade 11th January 2006

Yes, the “new” Uglymen is one year old liao… i

Hope to see everyone who can make it at the Esplanade again during Chinese New Year 2007

We are planning some never-seen-before stage antics, and sure to make you laugh BIG TIME, whether is our jaw-dropping deterioriated performance standard or our changed new style… kekeke.. if not funny oso kesi kesi laugh la :-)

See yeah!

More details soon

what's so special about today? its our birthday!

exactly a year ago, on 14-january-2006, we were performing for a 2-night gig at the esplanade singapore and we had decided to become 3-piece band (instead of 4 persons uglymen, we are becoming 3 persons band). eventhough we had a blast performing at the esplanade, a series of events seriously prompted us to move on to greener pasture (we did not anticipate any misfortune then, well… read on everyone). on a positive note, we were even filmed interviewing and performing live for MTV THAI that night. honestly speaking, it was OUR best performance to-date. the feeling was both exhilarating and

sad knowing that we were going to be weak minus an instrument in our line-up. but eventually, we have to bite the bullet and moved on. i still remember the look of mike's face which will haunt me for many years to come. it was extremely heartbreaking to see him extremely sad and f* up. i haven't seen him so devastated before. ah hooi was lost of words and saw blanks. i was shattered = think of myself as being gang-raped. inadvertently, we “had” to go 3-piece.

3 Gay Men
after all these days, weeks and months, being a 3-piece band brought us heartache (also headache) cause we love playing in this band so much we made huge sacrifices such as spending time and money into the band. we had to make 2 more new sacrifices i.e. losing a good rhythm section (rhythm guitar and solid drums) AND losing the our live interaction with the crowd. nevertheless, we moved on with thick faces and iron hearts. ah hooi still *thinks* that we should get another drummer. that's how bad i play… :(

we performed badly, had horrible gigs and lost credibility in our musicianship. we had to start all over again, literally. ah hooi and mike suffered the most cause they have to practically bear with me during band rehearsal cause i can't play a decent beat. those who managed to see us perform as 3-piece would know what i'm writing here. we always heard these comments when we performed as 3-piece:

- hmmm, something is missing from your band

- well, it sounded ok… but i loved 4-piece uglymen

- go get a new drummer la…

it was heartbreaking to hear the above even though we are practising our butt off. but BUT BUT, we will pull it off one day, for sure. i'm confident we will not be branded as “lame band“. i have devised a training for myself to get me in shape with ah hooi and mike. i considered myself still behind. but i'm getting there soon… just to be on par with ah hooi and mike. i'll be there soon, very soon. one day in future during our band rehearsal, i will be able to screw them “what the f*** are you playing? you didn't practise your shit ah?”. kekeke…

ah hooi and mike are two of the most patience persons i have known to stick with me for a WHOLE damn year playing with a bad drummer. funny thing is, we kinda happy to be able to share this unfortunate musical misadventures with you guys cause we just loved you guys for still believing in us especially uncle beh, silver isle, ric, my cousin cowboy lai, ah leow, ex-rhythm-guitarist ah leong, alex fleaman, my trusted right handman boo boo, tua pui yin (many kisses), uglyboyz and all you guys out there whom we missed out your names. you know we love you.

we are coming back with a bang! happy 1st anniversary to 3-piece ah-gay-men!!!

2 man band

i had a short jamming session with michael yesterday just before his class. michael teaches guitar, piano and keyboard. so, before his student arrived, we jam a little bit on our new songs for the singapore gig. ah hooi did not manage to come back as he was busy with work. the company which he works now has just implemented a new system and they are at the first week of supporting. according to him, he's busy as hell. i want to know how busy is hell actually.

michael is playing in another band in alor setar. this band used to be professionals and they were like legends. their band is called “Lao Lang Band“. michael is playing the guitar as well as singing a bunch of beyond cover songs. i believed that the band is going to perform at jalan putra in alor setar on the evening of 11-february. the whole jalan putra (new street) will be closed for some festival. too bad that uglymen is not involved in this activity.

i am currently digging some old records which were extremely popular during the early years for us to play. i have discussed with michael and he gave me the nod to play these songs but it must be after the singapore gig as he has too many songs to cover currently. it will be a BIG surprise for us to play these songs cause i do not see these songs being played live anymore. i heard karaoke version and they are crap.

my cousin, ah lai the bass-man has migrated to penang to work with a high profile dumb-ass company who cuts his salary by 10%, broken promise to provide him accomodation + getting him to work half day on saturday. on the bright side, he got to play in a country band with some good musicians. i believe his band is called “Lao Lang Cowboy Band

“.

ah hooi is in talk with a friend to get us to play in taiwan, but chances are slim as we do not have any good contacts in taiwan to help bring us in. being busy as he is, ah hooi still manage to hook us up with a rocker from singapore to get us play in a music festival in … in … in singapore again. :)

Manchester United 3 Villa 1

Villan shot down for the 3rd time in as many weeks

Goal number 1, super Park Ji Sung, surrounded by 5 defenders, no prblem, slide, turn, shoot, GOAL!

Michael Carrick hits number 2!


Who's the best striker in the Premiere League? Ah, forget about the strikers, winger Christiano Ronaldo scores his 13th Goal of this season and is the joined top scorer with Drogba.

United has scored 52 goals this season with 14 different players!

Chelsea couldn't overtake United, so they cried out in their official website

Chelsea, the fading defending champions, whose success were brought with the endless cash of Abramovich, failed to catch up with Manchester United in recent weeks as they drew so many games.

Frustrated with United's continuos winning streak, they spit everything in their official website. Contents including buying Larsson is a waste (oh, he just need 60minutes to score his debut goal, eh.. hello Chelsea, how long did Ballack and Schevchenko needed to find their scoring boots?) And the writer also said United is heading into a seires of loses and also will not win the FA Cup tie with Portmourth in Old Trafford, because the “country is hoping Man United to falter”

haha….  talking about heading into trouble, they almost forgot Mourinho having head-on collission with the cash men… kekeke,,,,

Oh, they say MU waste money loaning a 35-year old Larsson, they forgot how much money they spent this term with almost nothing in return:

Andriy Shevchenko ( 30M )

Shaun Wright-Phillips ( 21M )

Ashley Cole ( 20M + Gallas )  **HAPPY** :-) For Arsenal Fan

John Mikel ( 18M something like that ) ** HAPPY** :-) For Man utd Fan

Michael Ballack ( Free )

All these players are not playing well as they can

Chelsea's offcial website report:
http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid=%7B83A644F4%2D1A7E%2D48B9%2DAF95%2D4605613A9A18%7D&newsid=393717