Still Singing

…and those annoying Smiley ads! Thanks to Kimi who introduced me to this video.

Click here to watch.

Seems like more and more people are shifting their blogs away from Friendster. For those of you still maintaining your blogs here, I salute you for having godly patience and tolerance for Friendster’s characteristic traits.

I’m now proudly a member of the Blogspot community. This post is to repromote my new blog at http://karljam.blogspot.com/ . Better, bolder and yes, I’ve learnt to capitalize my sentences =P

Drop by sometime and sign my guestbook! See you there!

for my 100th entry here, i will recollect how i spent my holidays, which has been almost two weeks:

1. playing the guitar. a lot. so i have improved somewhat. at the same time, i also have improved my singing. i used to think vocals and instrumental skills are not important compared to the content and meaning of the lyrics. but now i realize that if you don’t have those, people would not even listen to the song in the first place!

2. lots of time to think up song ideas. though nowadays i am more critical of the songs i write, and often kill it down before i even write it. the song is either too simple, too cliched, too ‘easy’, too pop, too whatever-you-can-think-of… yes, it’s true we are our own worst enemies.

3. blogging and reading other people’s blogs. some of my friends really write well!

4. i have improved my driving. it used to be quite difficult for me, but i have determinedly overcome it. unfortunately, i still don’t have a car. and even if my parents bought me one, i don’t really go out that often. my brother will steal it. and if i want to prevent that, i could drive it to uni and park it there, but then what’s the point anyway? this is one minor disadvantage of studying so close to home. (close = 10 mins drive)

5. i have improved my sense of direction too. this also is quite difficult for me, but i believe nothing is beyond reach if we believe we can.

6. read Da Vinci Code, and found myself very enthralled by Dan Brown’s writing style.

i have achieved so many things in the brief span of two weeks. would i have done so during lecture weeks? hmm, i don’t think so — i would just be wasting my time.

i’m now half awake in a daze. i should be asleep, and would be — if not for a single problem: i no longer can sleep at this time anymore. and my mind is playing tricks on me. i have some sort of happiness in me — rest assured i did not take any drugs nor any stimulants. but this is some sort of… weird feeling inside me. very blissful, very much in comfort.

my eyes are not fully open — but that’s okay. i see perfectly enough already. nights of intentional sleeplessness has taken its toll on my eyes. but that doesn’t matter.

i am in my songwriting mood, yes. my mind drifts high above my physical being. i become just another entity. yes. this is blissful. i might soon have to return, back to earth and get myself chained to reality. but i will as easily break the chain and hover back up.

i don’t mean to offend you, if i have. i don’t mean to freak you out, if i have. i don’t mean anything. these are all a play of my imagination — one which i have carried so far to thin the lines of reality.

lately, i’ve not been getting much comments on my posts, even though the click rate is still high. and i know why. i am aware that my blog does not have the elements to generate the interest of the masses, for example: humour, frank opinions on politics and sex. this is because i have in mind my diverse range of potential readers, from the very naive immature to the very experienced. i also note the fact that these brilliant individuals — who are not bored to death by my often self-indulgent rambling, and in fact survive to return for more — represent an unclear cross-section of the community.

as a result, the topics i decide to elaborate on here are subconciously vetted in my head for multicultural sensitivity, gender neutrality and age transcendence. and i think that’s exactly what’s wrong with this blog.

for the sake of not stepping on other people’s tails, i take the path of avoidance. for the sake of protecting the feelings and anonimity of persons who inspire me in my daily life, i take the path of poetic ambiguity.

which is not a bad thing, really. but that explains the lack of comments and leaves me with little interesting anecdotes to chronicle my life, and that really sucks.

with a brief lash the tide comes in again
unannounced
and brings with it a wave
straight to my face
it’s a nice feeling
calm, serene
a sort of uncontrollable urge to be joyous

and yes, it is joyous
as i try to hold on to this high
smiling, face down
arms nearly folded
staring into sand
i try to keep it from escaping again

no, i must not try too hard
nor make my bliss too obvious
i might lose this tide
i might lose this feeling
i might lose this touch

oh please
i beg of you
to do it again

Here’s a cute photo of Avril Lavigne and Heather the possum, whom she voices in Over The Hedge. Click to enlarge.

For more photos click here.

the first time i heard my brother play James Blunt’s song Wisemen (from his debut album Back To Bedlam), i was reminded of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer - one of Elton’s early songs in the 70s, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin - due to the similar melody and chord progression in the chorus. i have forgotten about it until i read some forums on Blunt. this is because at that time i had brushed the song off as a mere "copycat" song.

Also, some forumers are claiming that the intro to You’re Beautiful is stolen from the Lonely Man theme at the end of The Incredible Hulk. well, that’s quite intriguing. i’ve never heard the latter song so i can’t confirm as yet. i am actually more interested in the false start during the intro when Blunt sings "My life is brilliant". my guess is that Blunt started too early, but decided to leave it there.

if anything, song plagiarism is harder to judge and pinpoint compared to print media; but the proposition that James Blunt could not be entirely what the marketing hype is presenting him as would not be so unacceptable (as is true for any artiste, actually). after all, Blunt had enstranged his former producer Lukas Burton, whom had helped Blunt during his early days. for Blunt to just, in Burton’s own words, "severe ties" with his former collaborator just because he was "advised to", doesn’t speak very highly of the artiste. to authenticate his claims, Burton posted three demos that he had done with Blunt, all of which appeared in Blunt’s studio album. i only managed to download the demo for "I Only Want You", but am hoping to obtain the one for "Goodbye My Lover" just to discover how different it sounded back then. *curious

this dispute reminds me of a similar situation before with Avril Lavigne. Songwriting team The Matrix, who co-wrote and produced some tracks in her debut album Let Go, claimed they were undercredited in helping her write her songs. in response, Avril said that she has been writing since she was very young and severed ties with The Matrix. one point to note is that no other collaborators has enabled her to match her initial success.

the journey to success would undeniably be filled with numerous people who help us along the way. it would not be right, after achieving our goals, to disclaim those people who had helped us get where we are.

i’m so glad exams are over. i’m having a wonderful time checking… no, check that… discovering new movies and songs. not just new songs, but new genres of songs that i wouldn’t have thought i’d liked. Andrea Bocelli, well i checked what’s his genre actually cause i couldn’t really pinpoint but it’s classical. wow his voice is just marvellous. i don’t know, real words fail me how to describe it. it’s like, even singing Can’t Help Falling in Love forced me into oscillations in my chair with the intense energy he exudes with his tenor, that i keep hoping no more no more, yet enjoying every bit of it. he’s blessed, totally.

uh… well MI:3 is great too. you should watch it. highly recommended. i don’t know why but i do notice that i "highly recommend" everything nowadays. hmm… maybe it’s because i’m now more open and more receptive to enjoying the creative energy around me, rather than take a defensive stance and say, hmmph i could have done better. there’s no need to now. i have become more comfortable with who i am, enough to not be swept insecure with gusts of brilliance and blessings in others.

about time too, since i’m turning 21 soon. my parents ask me what i wanted for my birthday, and i said well nothing material actually. i got this trait from them, definitely. both my parents are very practical, down-to-earth, simplistic type of people — which i am aware that "simplistic" can hold both good and negative connotations, but that’s what it is. i tried to crack my mind thinking up a gift for my mother, until i could stand thinking no more and asked her straight. well you guessed it, she asks for nothing… material.

i’m feeling very warm and fuzzy… plenty of positive vibes in me — must be all that James Blunt and Andrea Bocelli i just savoured