My 18th Valentine's day spent alone, and I don't really care. Somehow that in itself sounds really sad.

Been chilling out, just searching for album art for my iTunes library so I don't get "unknown album" icons popping out on cover flow. I must say Apple's stuff looks good, hogs RAM and still has bugs. Lots of 'em. Both my iPod and my sister's had exactly the same problem, the iPods completely hanged. We (read:I) bought them in November about 2 weeks apart, I had my problem 2 days after I started using it, and my sister just recently had the same problem. The iPod decides to stop responding to anything, and connecting it to the computer doesn't help. Solution? Let it run out of battery and connect it the next morning, i.e. it goes out of commission for a few hours. Don't know whether this problem is endemic to only 4th gen 16GB iPod nanos or not, but it's still a little disappointing (not to mention panic-causing).

Then of course piracy isn't rewarded by iTunes. No way to use the iTunes store service to search for album art, usually there's little or no album info on the file, thus a lot more work involved in getting good album and artist info and album art. And it's especially a nightmare for Chinese songs with unreadable fonts, lack of Wikipedia entries etc.

But I'm pretty satisfied, most of my 2500 song library is up to standard. And I realised I've got 2 versions of Sweet Home Alabama (one the original by Lynyrd Skynyrd and the other a cover ostensibly by Green Day), Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and All Summer Long by Kid Rock that sample and rework the classic. Plus Terry Jacks' and Westlife's Seasons in the Sun (which incidentally was from a French song Le Moribund which i can't find) and 2 versions of Leaving on a Jet Plane. And 3 versions of Change the World, all of which feature Eric Clapton with different artistes. So many duplicates-lah.......

Then I find that I really only like listening to about 500 of those songs. I've got stuff like 50 Cent, Kanye West, 30 Seconds to Mars, AC/DC and various soundtracks that I barely listen to. And too many Rascal Flatts, Snow Patrol and Black-Eyed Peas songs. A dilemma, here. Though if I need to 30 Seconds to Mars would be the first to go. A Beautiful Lie was rubbish. The guitars were drowned out by over-enthusiastic bass and drums. Throw in a vocalist (Jared Leto) who has a limited range and loves screaming with an absolute lack of melody and you get crap. They can't hold a candle to the Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Foo Fighters, or even the formulaic Fall Out Boy. Bah. And to think a friend actually recommended this.

I'm pretty happy with my current library, but I think any additions in the near future will be more likely to be older songs. Songs that have evergreen melodies, or are classics in their own right. Songs like Love Me Tender (can't believe I don't have that). I've got a feeling that most new songs are decent, but are becoming louder and louder, with a beat, but with less focus on a simple melody. And anything with potential to be great becomes so overplayed that it loses all novelty and attraction. Like say maybe David Archuleta's Crush. I heard that song 4 times in 2 hours on the car radio. It's okay, but not that deserving. No song is that deserving, simply because no song deserves to be overplayed.

And to think that 2 years ago I barely listened to any music.

Then there's stuff I wouldn't have on my playlist even if you handed me an autographed copy. Stuff like Fahrenheit, . I find that most of these bands sound the same, all have pretty boys/girls who can barely sing in tune, who all have dance choreographers coaching them as opposed to having a smidgen of dance talent. Good thing about Western boy/girl bands, most of them flop and dissolve after the 1st album (not talking about the 90s here, obviously)

And Mandopop is seriously down the drain now. Random people keep coming out of the woodwork with coloured hair and marketing agents. All formulaic and pathetic. Can't anyone come up with something other than R&B or ballads? Seriously, man, you would have thought that people would stop supporting such crap by now. Leehom becoming a rocker? Epic Fail. Rock doesn't mean funny lyrics with a guitar playing in the background. Rock means having a melody behind all the bass, with guitar solos meant to be guitar solos, not for you to sing along to. One of the lines from his new single goes: "What's wrong wiiiiiiith me" Yeah I want to know too. At least Jay Chou has some variety on his albums, with a rock number and a rap number along with his R&B, which is still of pretty darn high quality.

Wow. This must be my longest blog post ever. And I could make it longer by throwing in some recommendations and my Valentine's Day playlist. I think I'll just stick with my recommendations.

Pop/Rock----------- Franz Ferdinand FTW. Beats Gavin DeGraw and Good Charlotte anytime.
Blues----------------Eric Clapton. No way you can go wrong
Mandopop---------- Do I need to say this? JAY CHOU
Mandarin hip-hop -- Da Mouth. Interesting band. No match for the Black-Eyed Peas yet, but decent
Metal--------------- Disturbed's pretty good, not too heavy. Dragonforce for awesome guitarwork, Nightwish for good melodies
Country------------- Keith Urban's good. Rascal Flatts for lighter stuff.
Comedy------------- Weird Al Yankovic. The ultimate shoo-in. Amish Paradise and White & Nerdy are funny as

Update (at last)

Arrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh

Maybe I should just delete this poor excuse of a blog which is currently only functioning as a dust-gatherer.

I'm just frustrated with a lot. 1st 2 weeks of work was promising, now it just sucks. Got nothing to do AT ALL. Which is why I'm here typing this out.

Throughout these few weeks there have been a few things I have a bone to pick with. Let's see:

1) In a time of economic disaster comparable to the Great Depression, our government implements a stimulus plan. Yay!! It's going to save us all!! Not. Only 70% of the stimulus has been freed up for use, in other words 70% of the plan is actually in cash. And the problems? Most of the stimulus is shady and given to Government departments to implement projects. What projects? Nobody knows. And most likely they will be construction projects which wont help a bit because its not generating the flow of cash needed. The economic problem is mainly caused by a lack of credit, so what's the solution? Obviously to get money moving again instead of stagnating in bank accounts. Reduce taxes, possibly duties as well, give loans to businesses that need them, give loans to new startups, pump our R&D (hopefully our unis are up to scratch), etc-lah. But nooooo........, we get money flushed down the black hole that is the Class F contractors' mouths. And a mysterious 2nd stimulus to be announced.

2) Party-hopping is the in thing now, it seems. Limited to only the upper echelons of society (read: politicians in power), thus depriving us poor citizens of the chance to keep up with the latest trends, is blatant disregard of the principles of proper governance. Who knows who their assemblyman or MP is? Malaysians vote for parties, not people, unless you're a screw-upper like Datuk Seri SV, who helps out the opposition as much as they can. Democracy, my foot. Penalising any member who does not conform to the party's stand means that only the opinions of the party leaders count and everyone else is there to make up the numbers.

3) Victoria's on fire. Hope it gets better.

Work's only good for giving me time to do a few things I never really got down to doing, like downloading the Inauguration Day edition of Spiderman with Obama on the cover. Also I finished writing 2 passages of fantasy, one of which is still on paper, so I can't be bothered putting it down here. Might just expand one or both of them to short stories or even novels, if I get the inspiration. Here's one (written in 5 minutes, proud of that although it sounds like I'm ripping off Philip Pullman):


“The knife appeared as if it was merely some toy of some nobleman’s scion, but upon closer inspection one realizes that it is a weapon with no equal, save Excalibur itself. The handle was intricately carved, runes etched into the ebony forming a grip for the wielder. The blade was silver, with delicate designs running its length, bright as the day it was forged although it was a thousand years old. One’s eye would then be drawn to its edge, so fine it appeared to meld into the air itself. But most of all, one could feel that this knife could slice its way through anything its master wanted, be it god, man or demon. Only one person had ever mastered this weapon, though many had wielded it, and that person was the great hero, Ainion the Fair. ”

There the wizened storyteller paused to draw breath. The sudden lull, in which no sound could be heard save the breathing of the listeners, was short-lived, with a fount of questions from the eager young devourers of tales bursting forth.

“Ainion? I thought he wielded a sword?”

“Did Ainion use this to slay the dragon?”

But above all, “Tell us more!”