I am too sick to write in details, as usual, here are the brief points:

Case 1: 21 years old, both kidnies gone, need over RM100,000 for transplant to extend life.
Click to view with photos
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-03-18&sec=malaysia&art=0318mo20.txt 

Case 2: Fell down during bath (39 yrs), cannot move, parents over 70 years old, need work food family and medication
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-03-18&sec=malaysia&art=0318mo21.txt

Case 3: Cannot move, not conscious, need cash medication.
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-03-18&sec=malaysia&art=0318mo22.txt

How to help:

1) You can walk in to any China Press branch http://www.chinapress.com.my/contact/ , donate directly, and quote the name of the person above you want to donate to. You will get an official receipt which can be used for tax deduction.

2) Pay your cheque to “YAYASAN NANYANG PRESS (CHINA PRESS)”.
No.80, Jalan Riong, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59100 KL.

at 10pm Saturday 17th Mar.

Suan – High Fever
Hooi – Suan sms me say Hooi sick
me- vomit, stomach disorder, headache, cancelled classes and went home vomit again…

oh gosh… i am supposed to drive back to alor setar today… like right now. but i'm sick now… sick sick sick with high fever.

last week, i drove to KL for 3 days — to watch the yamaha asian beat band competition, grand final, then drove back to penang reaching 10pm and dinner.

on monday, there was a last minute work request but managed to finish it by 8pm+. got home by 9pm and dinner.

on tuesday, we got busy with wes borland clinic in penang. got home barely before 12am.

on wednesday, one of my colleagues, tendered his resignation from the company. it turned things upside down a bit where in the evening, i need to work on getting a new replacement, talk to my immediate manager and spoke to my branch manager about the new requirement. browse thru my list of available potential candidates. called the person and spoke to her and tried to see if she's interested. got home at 10pm+ and dinner

on thursday, had a chat with my collague who was resigning. he wanna move to a new environment in a bigger company. sad to see him go. i called up the potential replacement candidate again, worked all the paper forms, criteria and a few emails to get approval for a new hire from HR. interview set at 7pm at queensbay mall's starbuck cafe. she was working in prai and she got caught at the traffic. finally, she arrived at 8pm+. did the interview and spoke non-stop, setting the package/salary. then called my boss to get approval. compiled all the interviewee particular and interview rating form. sent an email to my boss again. got home near to 11pm and dinner.

woke up today, feeling like shit. compiled all the forms, fax to HQ, get approval and work throughout the day. now = sick. the last i was sick was probably around 5 to 6 months ago.

we have recently (3 weeks ago) opened up uglymen.net to allow more readers to post without having to register with us. when we started uglymen.net, we wanted to control the spams (unwanted comments soliciting for business) and contents of the posts. we have some filtering in place where comments which are too hot to handle i.e. too many vulgars, damaging slurs, distasteful comments will not be posted. we are decent people, you see? bwahahaha…

let see how it goes. you are welcome to say we suck because we like to suck… you ask ah hooi and see.

if you have news to share, or announcement to make, email to us at: all at uglymen dot net. we are especially excited if there's any development in the local and global indie chinese music scene. however, THAT does not limit to what we can post here. well… you see, if you guys have been following us for a while, you guys will notice that this website is updated almost daily. we make it a POINT to post everyday even if we are busy (unless there is a major post like report or something important, we will leave it for 2 to 3 days).

uglymen.net has become so active that if you go to www.google.com and search for “chinese hard rock band“, our website will almost always appear on the front page of google search result. and google will show you “Results 1 – 20 of about 1,850,000 English pages for chinese hard rock band. (0.07 seconds)“. it simply means that we (uglymen) is all write/sembang and no action/music.

to us, playing in this band is about making friends, sharing musical ideas, widen our friends contact. i mean, let's ask ourselves, how many new friends can we make if we just work all day, go back eat and sleep? using music and gigs, we find new friends and new friends get to know newer friends. if it happens that newer friends bring you happiness, prosperity or copulation (or some say, one night stand), we are delighted that our little band benefited you. come, suck me banana.currently, all of us in uglymen.net i.e. metal sow gay hooi, michael joe satria-lee, myself, uncle beh beh and silver isle are editors/posters and there's no limit to what posts come out here as long as they are positive and intent no evil.

p/s: let me share with you one little story which i am absolutely proud of. at first, uncle beh beh was NOT our friend. when we performed during the 90's, some of our shitty recording was put on tape and uncle beh beh was unfortunately enough picked up the tape and he liked our songs. one of the songs, sor low stuck on his head for many years.

then he saw us on one of the local band competition called “B'Beyond Band Competition” a few years later. but he didn't chat with us because we were arrogant and snobbish bastards, (yeah, suck me!). then one day (about a year later), while i was hanging out at pranging mall, i walked pass his prostitution shop and it played very loud heavy music. i liked. then i walked in and we spoke and that's how we met. but because of uncle beh beh being close to me, we shared many things like mountains, broken back etc.

then one day, he said “i got to know this guy called xxx xxx but i lost his contacts. i'm actually looking for him to talk over a business proposition”. then i realized that i have that guy's contact. i called that guy and handed over my phone to uncle beh beh. they are now happily involved in some work together. the shocking thing is — this is not a made up story but a real life event.

guys and girls, there's a job position in penang. our UGLY creative designer, W3RK is looking for an enthusiastic person to fill up the position above. i know them personally and they are a bunch of nice and cool people. for the work that they are doing, this person gotta have the fire and creative spark to fill in this position. here goes:

The Company:

W3RK CREATIVE BUREAU is an Interactive Design Firm that maintains close & honest long-term relationships with companies that are looking to improve the way their audience looks at them. We have been helping our clients communicate by sharing with them our marketing, creative, and technological insights. W3RK CREATIVE BUREAU works as the convergence of creativity, communication and technology.

Resposibilities:

1) Strong creativity and conceptualizing skills.
2) Experience in various platforms of print, knowledge in web & multimedia is an advantage.
3) Proven ability to meet deadline is a must.
4) Be self-motivated and hardworking, able to work independently, effectively and efficiently.

Requirements:

1) Candidate must possess at least a Diploma, or Professional Degree in Art & Design or equivalent.
2) Required skill(s): Photoshop, Freehand, InDesign and Illustrator.
3) Additional skill(s), if any: Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Flash & Director – bonus.
4) 1 year of working experience / fresh graduates are encouraged to apply.
5) Applicants must be willing to work in Penang and work long hours.
6) Applicants should be Malaysian citizens or hold relevant residence status.
7) Preferably senior executives specializing in Arts/Creative/Graphics Design or equivalent.
Preferably English speaking candidates.
9) Possess good communication and presentation skills.
10) Full-Time and Part-Time position available.

Please email resumes with portfolio to jobs@w3rk.com . No walk-ins. Shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Yamaha Taiwan representative with Uglymen, Ah Suan couldnt help it but asked about his Taiwanese sweetheart Karen

Taiwan's Alegu did a power-packed number

Number Two, but that is pretty good for Oceans, Well done!

Cheers to every one for making the event a huge success.

Every one is happy for Oceans

Oceans: 1st Runner Up, Best Bassist, Best Guitarist

Ocean of Fire

China (Chi Ren)

Indonesia (Rempeyex)

Poetical Kingdom

Singapore (Eskimo Pie)

Taiwan (Alegu)

Hong Kong (Pick Pak Zhai)

Wes Borland

Kozo Suganuma

All photos courtesy of Paul Ooi

10.12pm

Congrtulations to the winners

Champions:
Rempeyex (indonesia)

Second:
Ocean Of Fire (Malaysia)

Third:
Poetical Kingdom (Malaysia)

Best Vocalist: Rempeyex
Best Guitarist: Ocean Of Fire
Best Bassist: Ocean Of Fire
Best Drummer: Rempeyex
Best Keyboardist: Rempeyex

5:05pm @ Ampang by taisuan: …. u guys know how to go to sunway lagoon? i dont have a clue to go there… better get a cab.

12.39pm @ Subang Jaya by michael

Welcome to Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Grand Final (ABGF), today, i will be moving a lot and meeting up many friends and discussions. Guess I dont have so much updating time for the site. But, please keep visiting uglymen.net for latest news. Waiting for Ric and metal to come over to have lunch…

Remember, red shirts guys. RED.

Reminder:

To all friends who are going to collect tickets from me, please prepare EXACT CHANGE, as i do not have so much change to carry with for 30 tickets. I will be at Pyramid Hotel Lobby 6.30pm-7pm. Please collect your tickets there. Thanks

-michael
2.38am, Saturday by michael:

What an eventful day, starting badly but ending up nicely but extremely tired. I am going to try zzz for sure after posting this final update for Friday (Rehearsal Day). Oceans and us had dinner together with Jonathan from Nightmare Cinema and some friends at Asia Cafe. We went home around 1am. Good night and tomorrow will be another busy day for me.

Ric and me having a nap at the hotel room corridor after a tiring day

Let's go dinner, supper, what ever…

eat, eat, eat and eat…

Jonathan (far right) with his friends and us at Asia Cafe.

9.41pm, Rehearsal ended:

Final band Hong Kong (Pick Phak Zhai):

Gorgeous MC for the day…

Smoke Sound on the water.

8.55pm @ rest area beside stage by michael:

Oceans did a good job in rehearsal with some hiccups at the ending, Kelvyn's effectors had some problem and we thrashed it out back in the hotel room later.

8.40pm @ back stage with Oceans by michael:

Warming and tuning up at back stage. Doing final preparation, and let's get serious.

7.12pm, Rehearsal started, by michael:
5 bands are through with the rehearsal, as at this moment, Poetical Kingdom is performing, the Oceans lad are warming up.

first up is Singapore (Eskimo Pie):

second up is Indonesia (Rempeyex):

3rd up is Taiwan (Alegu):

4th up is China (Chi Ren):

Hybrid Plus (Guest Band):

5th up Malaysia (Poetical Kingdom):

7:26pm @ stage side by michael:
I had a nice chat with Wes Borland just a couple of minutes back. Wes's a real nice guy and is very generous to answer all my stupid questions. Wes will be sharing his creativity ideas and how he develops a song, in his clinic.

Wes is one of the judges for the big show and he is looking on creativity 'wink wink' =)
His band's Black Light Burns latest album will be released on 5th June, but not in Malaysia =( bcos our “malaysia boleh” piracy problem

All the bands are preparing for the rehearsal.

Besides Kozo and Wes, a band from Japan called Hybrid Plus will also perform as the special guests in the big show

More report to follow

7:18pm by taisuan: it's raining cats and dogs in sunway right now. extremely heavy as a pounding machine. i just called michael, he said he is talking to wes borland right now. i think he's bullshitting me.

hooi and i + yin yang are going to drive out from my “who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire” flat soon. see you guys there.

5.47pm @ Subang Jaya leaving to Sunway Lagoon:
Super heavy rain, just look at the photos, the rehearsal has been put on whole because it would be done in open air.

Heavy Rain

This island came sliding down in the heavy rain and nearly hit our car

View from 16th Floor hotel room

The theme park

Me, Wes Borland, and Licky Ric

4:20pm by taisuan: full band rehearsal this evening 6pm at sunway lagoon. here's the bands in playing order:

1 – singapore – music style: funk rock
2 – taiwan – music style: metal rapcore
3 – indonesia – music style: not sure but will probably smoke everyone else
4 – china – music style: multi instrumentalist
5 – malaysia – poetical kingdom – music style: heavy metal
6 – malaysia – ocean of fire – music style: fusion rock
7 – hong kong – music style: rockability

p/s: mike, pls help change the above band music style if i have stated them wrongly, thanks man!

3:20pm by taisuan: ocean of fire and poetical kingdom are in the News. 5 judges will pick the best of asia tomoro night.

and guess what? limp bizkit ex-guitarist is one of the judges and he'll be performing some cool stuff. check him out guys!

2:20pm by taisuan: here's an interview (with photos) with hong kong band, PICK PAK. the band has a hot chick and the leader of the band, keyboardist really prepared for this competition and he has already looked at performances of his upcoming rivals on YouTube. “They play instrumental music and they are pretty good,”

he admits.

if i'm not wrong, he's referring to ocean of fire because they are the only band playing instrumental music. i like this guy cause he is prepared for this big competition.

Updated 1.41pm @ Subang Jaya by michael:

Just taken my bath, it has been really a hot hot day. Thanks to Ric, I can travel around KL. Ric, this is for you “arh arh arh arh arh…”

Ok, back to the serious stuff. They (the contestants) are taking a break for lunch, i'll be heading to Cheras and be back at Sunway Lagoon at 6pm to help out on the full rehearsal.
Here are some photos taken today:

Pyramid Tower Hotel, all contestants stay here.

Sunway Lagoon, competition venue

Oceans of Fire in sound check

With Taiwan band, Aleigu, according to them, Formulae (2004 2nd runner-up) are still active, while Jue Jin (2004 1st runner-up) already disbanded as all members are now working full time jobs.

The ever hard-working Kelvyn, working on his chops in the hotel room after sound check

Scully reading advertisements to see whether he can find “room service”… kekeke

Jonathan telling to himself while sleeping: “fcking choreograph, fcking choreograph, fcking choreograph….

You guys dirty la, quickly go bath first la…

More updates to follow…
Updated 1.15pm @ Sunway Lagoon by michael:

I am leaving Sunway Lagoon to sort some things out, Kelvyn wil get a chance to test his guitar again. I hv ordered a custom-made 30 feet cable from The Guitar Store for Jonathan, so he can stand out to the front of the stage when playing solo and choreographing.
Off to lunch now.

Updated 11.33am @ Sunway Lagoon by michael:

after all, I still managed to watch Oceans for 10 minutes or so. The house output was nice. Chiat's rhythm was audible, Jonathan's bass added a little mid, Scully's snare drum was a little bit soft so I asked him to take off the muffler. Kelvyn's guitar was humming annoyingly and we hope to solve that after lunch.
More updates to follow.

11:00am – BIG PROBLEM – kelvyn's guitar was humming throughout the whole soundcheck. the problem is still being investigated. not sure why there's humming. pst! pst! humsup Ric said hong kong band's vocalist is so damn hot he wants to arh arh arh…

9:50am - spoke with michael. michael and ric stucked at kelana jaya. oceans of fire will soundcheck in 5 minutes time and our plan is ruined because of the bloody tag. @#$%^&*

why mongolia band did not come? one of their band members met with an accident while on the way to the airport yesterday. the person is said to be in critical condition. oh god, please help this poor soul, the whole band must be devastated.

9:30am – i got the latest news from michael. he's in a traffic jam with Ric on the way to kelana jaya. apparently, things did not go as planned because michael and ric are supposed to help the malaysian bands but yamaha did not manage to get the sound crew tag done. he's in Ric's car now 9.30am (as you read this). i'm quite disappointed actually for michael and ric need to drive all the way from sunway to kelana jaya for the sake of helping the country band. i'm pissed off cause michael has to cancel all his guitar lessons from his boss, take a bloody midnite bus from alor setar to KL and arranging Ric to take leave from work and help OCEANS today but he's stuck in the traffic now.

i spoke to chieat just now (guitarist of ocean of fire). the stage is being finalized now and crew is making sure all instruments are in working condition. for unknown reason, mongolia did not send their band to compete. here's the bands who are going to perform in order below:

1 – singapore
2 – taiwan
3 – indonesia
4 – china
5 – malaysia – poetic kingdom
6 – malaysia – ocean of fire
7 – hong kong