June 2005 Archives

Being confined to rest (mostly) at home today, I upgraded both the iMac and PowerMac to iTunes 4.9, and entered the world of Podcasting. So far so good, the only thing limiting me is download speed and VanPod's capacity.

VanPod, in the meantime, threw a tantrum and rebooted constantly while docked. This was after it took eons to complete a self-scan (CD/magnifying glass icon). Checking an iPodlounge forum thread, I ran Disk Utility and put an end to the madness ... for now.

Those new colour iPods sure look good. Mmm. *Wishes VanPod died, again*

But there are other gadgets higher up in priority. Like my PowerMac's RAM upgrade. The family package upgrade licence to Tiger (OK, I just want the widgets and bragging rights). The compact Ixus 7 megapixel camera (because it is not glamorous lugging around a black bulky prosumer Olympus C5050 while wearing an evening gown and heels at a posh wedding dinner). A whimsical upgrade to Reason 3.0 which sounds really kickass. After all these things, comes the colour iPod.

My wrist sprain got worse after a heavy duty choir rehearsal yesterday. I think I'm going to insist that other people help me move our company's Yamaha Clavinova, because it made my backache recur a few weeks ago and had now excacerbated my sprained wrist. What good is an injured pianist?

So my posts will be quick and short, until my wrist recovers.

It's late, Kim Clijsters has been beaten by Lindsay Davenport, I have watched 2 hours of CSI in a row and now the news is out: Recording Industry and Moviemakers, 1; file-sharing networks, 0. Here's what the Beeb had to say about it.

Somehow I get the impression that a few other court decisions cited in the article didn't make the most sense, but of course I hardly know the details on any of them.

Off the top of my head, I predict the following to happen: Massive downloading of MP3 and movie files by users, before the lawsuits and injunctions fly in and file-sharing companies shut down or modify their business practices.

Anyway, you can read the decision here on the Supreme Court website, or on the BBC mirror. Wonder if Professor Lessig will have anything to say about this.

VanPod had the closest thing to a heart attack just now - multiple times. I docked it to my PowerMac and it kept on restarting. Which is exactly what happened to my sister's 15GB iPod which I bought for her. 2 AppleCentres quoted a high price to fix the problem, which was apparently quite serious. (She ditched it for a new iPod instead)

VanPod is back to normal now - I managed to eject it without problems. But it's made me wonder, is it something we've both done to our iPods, that made them behave this way? Is it a setting in our power supply?

:-(

The concert went well. Frankly the reverb was so great in the hall, I could barely hear myself on the piano, so it was just 'hit and go'.

Me at the piano, playing Blue Rondo and So What.

I've walked to the other end of the stage, switching to a keyboard, playing my own song, Restless in Rio.

The whole band - Me, Amos on drums, Ben on bass, and Marcus on synths.

Thanks to those who turned up to give support! And an even bigger thanks to my Maker, to whom I dedicated this performance.

[Might I add that, the night before the concert, I was too fidgety to sleep until 3+am. I decided to do a little Bible bedtime reading. Holding my copy of the NKJV, I called out, "Lord, let me flip to a chapter about music." I expected to get something from Psalms because that was all I knew. Little did I expect to flip to 1 Chronicles 25! The title in my bible said, "The Musicians". Verse 8 refers to students and teachers being selected 'the small and the great', by lot, to perform. Which is very close to the situation in my music school, where both groups performed together. We had young children up to senior citizens up there! What a pleasant surprise to put my mind at rest, because the big guy's watching and he's a pretty good sport! ]

I slipped and sprained my wrist this morning. A day before the concert. I ignored the slight pain in my joint until late afternoon, when I decided to get a wrist guard and ointment.

However I didn't want my band members to get more worried than they needed to be. My bassist (who happens to be the manager of the school) was fretting (ha ha bad pun) about a speech he had to make tomorrow, so was a little off-rhythm last night. And there I was, telling everyone not to worry, and I went and injured myself.

My fears proved unfounded, however, as everyone else in my band is male, and therefore did not notice anything amiss during our 3-hour rehearsal. The confidence level is now fairly high, and I stressed that whatever mistakes happen, just KEEP ON PLAYING. The audience won't know you've screwed up, unless you totally stop.

I got to hear several other acts tonight. I particularly admired Sean, a visually disabled boy who plays wonderful, flowing music on the piano. The lead guitarist for youth band, Frequency, is very good - on time and passionately, screechingly loud when he's required to be. Didn't spot any outstanding bassists as they all need to keep time, and sound more 'punchy'. I'd like to think my drummer's one of the best. The other bands' vocalists range from slightly off-key to good. As for other keyboardists, well I'm too biased to comment on that! We're all amateurs and students anyway.

In a previous rehearsal, I also heard an Indian rapper who writes and produces his music on a Triton Lite, and he sounds so good you'd think he was one of the rappers you hear on the radio or on MTV. The unusual part is that he mixes ethnic sounds into some of his music.

Other notes: It is impolite to make lots of noise and test out your equipment, when other people are performing a couple metres away from you, and everyone's supposed to be listening. Didn't happen to me, but to the visually disabled boy and a few other people. Them youngsters should show other people more respekt!

I just watched 'Batman Begins'. Apart from certain criminals, a few innocent citizens and Batman himself, another thing that needed to be suspended way up in the air, was my disbelief. Spoilers ahoy.

I'm watching Wimbledon live, hence this late post. Was lukewarm to seeing Tim Henman make it past the first round. I felt his Finnish opponent put up a good fight but ran out of steam, which is kind of funny seeing how Tim is 7 years older than him.

It was disappointing to see one of my favourites, Justine Henin, get knocked out so early. Perhaps it is the 'curse' of the French Open - Rafael Nadal got knocked out of his first grass competition after his win, and Justine followed suit at Wimbledon.

I'm now watching Angela Haynes, small black girl, put up a big fight with powerful Amazon, Serena Williams. I quite like babyfaced Angela, even though I've never seen her before. She's feisty, but I fear Serena's experience and power will eventually prevail. It's been an hour into the game and they're still fighting for the first set!

Update @ 1.53am: Angela won the first set! What a match! I'm so psyched up I can't sleep.

Update @ 2.00am: It looks like Serena's back to her normal self. I'm going to sleep.

I've decided to stave off my perturbing desire for a new iPod, because my PowerMac needs more RAM. To borrow the tone from my previous post on this, "I've decided not to take on another mistress because the children are starving."

It's so exciting that I'm finally using Logic for more serious stuff (apart from making chipmunk sounds).

The thing is, my usual AppleCentre is offering S$599 for 1GB of RAM and a lifetime warranty. That's like buying a brand new iPod! Currently I have 512MB of RAM and I'm thinking I can get by with adding 2X512MB slots. That's 1.5GB of RAM in total. I'll be doing sound productions most of the time, and the occasional home video for family members, e.g. Mother's Day.

Questions for the more experienced Mac gurus out there: Is it more worthwhile going to Sim Lim and buying the RAM instead? And if so, what sort of RAM do I need for a PowerMac G5?

[Update: Thank you so much everyone. This is the first time I've heard of SGL Marketing but I am definitely going to check it out. Just did some Googling and found out exactly how to find the shop. ]

I'm back from Kuala Lumpur after a 6 hour coach ride, through the 2nd Link. I heard that some friends in another coach had their chewing gum confiscated! Overall we had a lot of fun. I enjoyed the food but was careful not to overeat, and looked at a lot of shops, but as usual did not buy much.

I picked up a few tops and 3 Jazz CDs (Miles Davis and Gil Evan's Porgy and Bess, Bill Evans' Paris Concert, and a compilation of his works in the 'Quiet Now' series). They were about 35 ringgit only at Tower Records. Apart from that, almost everything was as expensive as in Singapore!

We painted the town red on the first night, going on a Hawker food crawl to eat the famous Hokkien noodles fried with absolutely sinful pork lard and black sauce, oyster omelette, fried mee hoon and fish noodle soup. At Suria KLCC we had a great lunch at Madam Kwan's, where you have to try the assam fish head curry. If you like Penang Laksa, you'll like the taste of this dish.

We did however experience two near-incidents of cheating. We foolishly lined up for taxis at Suria KLCC, not knowing that only bodoh tourists do that, singling us out to be 'ketoked' (cheated) with exorbitant fares.

Our first mistake was getting into the taxi before checking that 1) the driver was using his meter, and 2) that his meter was working in the first place. As he drove off, we noticed the meter wasn't activated, and asked about it. The driver said it was broken and it would cost 20 ringgit for a ride that, according to our tour guide, should only cost 3 ringgit.

We demanded him to send us back to the mall so we could take another taxi. So he did. But as he reached the taxi stand, he changed his mind and offered to take us to our hotel for 15 ringgit instead. We eventually settled at 10.

The next time we went to Suria KLCC we skipped the taxi stand, stood on the main road and caught a taxi using a meter. The price? Only 2.70 ringgit. And to the folks reading this in the States or UK or Japan, yes that's much less than the flag-down rate you probably pay back home. And you don't usually tip drivers in Malaysia. No surprise that some of them try to make more money by 'ketok'ing gullible tourists.

The next incident occurred when one of our travelling companions wanted to get a spare battery for her Casio Exilim camera. It's a squarish battery and she said it only costs S$10 back home. One shop in Suria KLCC offered to sell it to her for - get this - 300 ringgit! When we expressed our shock, the explanation was that it was a long-life battery. We walked out.

No, I did not spend all my shopping time at one mall (though I did have fun at the Petronas Exhibition, which has given me some ideas for my work). It was great as fathers got in free that weekend! We also took the Monorail to Sungei Wang and Lot 10. The trip was cheap, clean and efficient.

We also made a day trip to Bukit Tinggi, which is a total waste of time, because if you really want to see a French castle in a French town, you go to France, and if you want to see a nice Japanese garden with Koi fish, you go to Japan. If you want to see swans, go to Perth or some other nice temperate area where there are lots more of them. If you want to go to a nice part of Malaysia where the air is cooler, then just stick with Frasier's Hill or Genting Highlands!

At the mid point "French town" zone, where our coaches deposited us, we also got annoyed as nobody seemed to care about queueing up for the 'buggies' which would take us further up to the gardens. After missing a few buggies because hordes of people dashed in front of us, with officials standing by not doing a thing to regulate the crowds, we decided to do the same.

Overall, the trip was fun because the travelling companions were sporting, and our KL hosts were most gracious and knowledgeable. I'm simply logging down the less satisfying parts for your reference, so you know what to do.

I'm off to Kuala Lumpur for 4 days. See ya later.

Dear VanPod,

You've been married to my ears for over a year now. I don't know why, it feels like I've owned you for 2 years. Maybe this just isn't working out.

Truth is, I sometimes wish you were dead. Kaput. I mean, I loved the size of your mammaries - I mean, memory. That's a big reason why I chose you in the first place, let's be upfront about it. And whenever we synced, be it on the old PC or the PowerMac or the iMac ... no matter where we did it, we could just 'connect'. Or, as Singaporeans like to say, we 'clicked'. Sure, there were problems, but we always got through the hard times, for better or for worse.

I knew where to go, what to do, and depending on my mood you whispered and cried out the things that I wanted to hear.

I bought you lots of pretty things you could wear out to dinner. They looked really good on you.

I introduced you to my other best friend. You both got along splendidly, though eventually you found being with him physically draining.

Now, when I look into your eyes - I mean, your reflection of me - things aren't so clear anymore. Mostly due to my neglect. And the way I left my finger marks all over you. Why does your back bruise so easily?

Lately, after we connect, I can't even eja - I mean, eject you. That didn't happen during our honeymoon.

When the new models came out, I swore not to be tempted by their allure. I recently laughed at the iPod Photo, thinking it was too fat for me. I held out for a long time, really.

There were times I cheated on you in my heart. Once, like Hugh Grant, I even wondered what it would be like to be with a black model. Some respite was found through other friends' happiness - those who had yet to find a soulmate were introduced by me to slimmer, younger versions of you.

Some liked them more petite and nubile - I mean, mobile. They liked them dressed in pink and blue and silver and green. It wasn't pimping really - so far everyone I've matchmade is happily married. And that's how I wanted to be with you, really.

However, your behaviour has been erratic. I've been faithfully replenishing your energy whenever you've felt depleted. But, darling, being charged for several hours and only lasting minutes, sometimes even seconds, is embarassing. I can no longer take you out in public and show you to my friends, because I never know when you're going to fall asleep as we connect. (Yes, I like them to watch.)

I hear there are some operations for old models like you. Plastic surgery: Some chemicals applied to your exterior to remove your light scars. Or, some fancy new skins we could wrap over you. You could also get your, um, stamina replaced.

But the fact is, some new models are on sale now and I must confess, I may be visiting them soon. I hear some of them can last 15 hours per session!

If I do make the decision to take on a new partner, be assured you will still be my first love (though never my last), and for alimony you will get to reside in the Bose SoundDock for the rest of your (possibly short) lifetime.

I hope you understand.

Help. I still haven't chosen a band name and the concert flyers etc are being printed very, very soon. We don't even have a poster, unlike the rest of the bands, because even though we've taken photos, we don't have a name!!!

These are suggestions I've just emailed my band members:

Revival (which is how I see our rehearsals as things are just getting better! Also a more subdued reference to the Resurrection which is something we all believe in. As for my initial suggestion, Episcopalians, that's out now. Don't know what came over me. Yeurgh.)

Funktion (err but we gotta sound more funky first). Or add on, Funktion Four. But then we may have a saxaphonist joining after the concert ... change Four to Five later? At least we keep the alliteration.

Big Ben Band ... because the best-known member is our bassist who happens to manage the school. (ie. Don't play play)

Three Men and a Lady...

Take Four. (Later if more members are added, we can change this to Take Five, Take Six, and if we're all not around, TakeAway) I like this one ... it emphasises we do jazzy stuff and we are a relatively small band compared to the rest of the bands in our music school.

The ___ Quartet (insert name. I'd like to use my own since I'm supposed to be the leader. Then again, I'm the youngest, probably the newest student, and also female. It feels weird. Then again, I'm sure Sade didn't feel weird. But Sade's Sade and I'm just ... me.)

Fusze. Emphasis is on fusion. Sounds kinda ... electronic.

DeFunkt. When we are out of fashion.

PhazzJazz. (Trying too hard am I?)

May The Fours be with you!!! (Return of the Jazz-Di?)

[Update: After some deliberation with the band, I have chosen Take 4!]

A hearty congratulations to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) for developing what is probably the Singapore Government's first AAA-rated website.

Go on, take a look. It doesn't look too bad either, contrary to what some might expect. Their site conforms to three international standards.

I attended the seminar organised by Design AFA and supported by the Disabled People's Association today at Harbourfront Spinelli's and it was a positive start. I can understand how Government agencies are targetted first, because it's less likely that a private company here will bother to expend more time and money making their website accessible, where it is difficult to establish an increase in return on investment.

We live in exciting times.

I just Blacklisted three comment spams in a row. Their titles were 'Buttocks', 'Panties' and 'Nylon Sports Pants' respectively.

Now I'm sure if I somehow combined all three spams, I'd actually get a pretty decent-looking comment.

Just had a smashing good time at Jazz at South Bridge Road. Surprise surprise, Anne Weerapas was singing. I was telling my friends that she had a CD and Lush 99.5FM was playing her music as well as other local jazz singers'. Just then, she announced her CD was on sale at the club, and if you bought it now, she'd autograph it. So my friend S bought me the CD and I now have Anne's birthday message to me on it!

There was also a Japanese female jazz pianist, Aya Sekine, who was smashingly good. She could play any style and switch modes, make jibes and rap in a mix of English and Japanese. Very funny.

Anyway, on the second last set, Anne re-joined the band and announced that this song was dedicated to someone ... birthday gal, Vanessa! My friends clapped and cheered. They did a funky riff, then proceeded to belt out Somewhere Over the Rainbow, hip-hop rap style. In fact, both Anne and Aya were rapping, and a Japanese member of the audience was shouting in time with the beat, so it was quite funny and entertaining. I asked my friend S if she had asked Anne to sing it for me, but apparently she hadn't, so that was very sweet - thank you Anne!

Time to sleep ... nighty night.

[Forgot to mention that PC and R also gave me a pressie at the club. PC, who is a classical and not a jazz fan, prayed to make the right choice for me, then picked a few CDs, listened to them, and selected a Dave Brubeck CD I didn't have. First track? Blue Rondo. Ha ha. That's good, I have to listen more to him so I can understand his playing style. Very good gift. See what you can do with prayer ;-) ]

The order for lunch today, was caprice. My ingredients:

1. 3 buffalo tomatoes
2. 2 round blobs of mozarella cheese
3. A cluster of basil leaves with stalks (already removed in the above photo)
4. Black pepper
5. Olive oil
6. Balsamic vinegar

Now I have no recipe for caprice to go by, but since I've seen and eaten lots of it at different restaurants all over the world, it was instinctive.

I washed the basil, towel-dried it so the leaves wouldn't stick to my knife and hands, and sliced off the stalks. (An annoying little fruit fly started hovering around the basil at this point, probably because of the scent given off by cut leaves. Shoo!)

Then I sliced the tomatoes laterally, removing the stalks. It was a shame to throw away the top and base of each tomato, when the parts around the core were actually edible. So I put them aside.

I arranged 4 slices of tomatoes on each plate, then put some basil leaves on top of each tomato. If the leaves were too big or curled up, I'd tear or cut them up.

Next, I sliced the cheese. This was tricky as it gets more wobbly as you cut more of it away. (Oops. Okay, that accidental sliver goes onto my plate. Oh what the heck, I'll eat it now. Mm.)

I put the cheese on top of the basil which was on top of the tomatoes. Then I chopped up most of the remaining leaves and used them as garnishing.

Suddenly, it occured to me that the 'reject' tomato slices could be diced up with basil leaves, and marinated in vinagrette. I did so, then put the diced tomatoes in the centre of each plate. Voila!

And this was how it looked like (with pepper seasoning and olive oil drizzled on it). Bon Apetit!

Porn websites now have a new domain extension - xxx (why are we not surprised).

But I've felt all along that nobody really uses these fancy suffixes - I've visted a few .tv sites (which have nothing to do with the actual country, Tuvalu), and now there's going to be .jobs and .travel ... but who needs those when you already have sites like monster.com and condenast.com?

Whatever needs a website, already has a website, and it's most probably found at a familiar .com, .net or .org. Of course, this won't stop people from rushing to register new names, domain squatters and legitimate trademark owners alike.

Ultimately, it's the content that keeps people coming back to a site. I don't consider getting first-time visitors to the site as the ultimate achievement in online marketing - but getting them to come back again and again and actually buy your product or service.

Which is why I hate spam, but that's another story.

I just turned on the telly (after a practice session of Blue Rondo, of course *angelic glare*) and caught a glimpse of MTV's Punked, which essentially is "Celebrity Saboh*"

I caught Salma Hayek with friends (Penelope Cruz?) at a club. They go to the bathroom and see an unimaginably huge turd in the toilet bowl. They giggle and shriek and Salma flushes the toilet, causing it to overflow. The girls run back to their table, still laughing.

Meanwhile, another customer sees them and complains to the management, who then confront Hayek and friends, who are in denial. After a while, Salma is told she's been Punkd. Penelope and friends were part of the act!

Then a Desperate Housewife got Punkd in a fake police hold-up. And an R&B artiste got falsely accused of sexually harassing an old white lady. He got Punkd.

Now they're showing a dating game, DisMissed. A hunky guy dates 2 pretty girls who seem overly confident of their chances of being chosen by him. They seem happy slagging each other off, behind each other's backs. Amusing.

It's time to get back to practice.

*Saboh = Sabotage, as in, play a trick on someone.

... an FBI agent I've never heard of before. Well, at least that answers one of US politics' greatest mysteries. As a student of American history that was something I and my classmates always wanted to find out, in our lifetimes.

Now all that's left is to find out who really killed JFK!