A Spot of Banter

My pick for 2010's ALBUM OF THE YEAR. What's yours?

2011-01-01T19:55:00.006+08:00

Yet another year has ended.

And I’m also sure, it’s that time of the year when many music aficionados like yours truly, will sit down and deliberate what the year’s highlights in music were.

Best record?

Best single?

Best up and coming act?

I’m sure most have got their own “best of” charts with an array of categories. For me, I don’t actually have permanent set of “awards” to hand out every year. But what cannot go missing is my own ALBUM OF THE YEAR award.

See, I’m a fan of music in album form. I appreciate the art of compiling songs into a fully fledged music album. It’s one thing to write several good songs. It’s another to write several good songs that will make a good album.

There are many good bands out there that are very obsessive in their song orders – sometimes at the expense of good songs that eventually will not make its way into the album, but in a future B-sides release. That’s why I enjoy listening to an album from start to finish in its proper order.

Anyway, before I move to announce my 2010 ALBUM OF THE YEAR winner, just a bit of explanation of the award’s “criteria”.

Most important criteria: album must be a 2010 release. Now this is important because in many occasions, you would think: “This is the best album I’ve listened to in the year 2010.” But if the said album was released in 2009, or 2008, it cannot be “album of the year”, can it? That’ll be more like: “album most enjoyed in that year”, thing.

It is this particular criterion that disqualifies many good albums from making it into my “list”. For example, I spent a notable amount of time listening to Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug in 2010, mainly because I only bought it in 2010. However, it was released in 2009 so I had to omit it from 2010’s nominee list, despite it being an excellent album.

Another thing to note, my ALBUM OF THE YEAR selection is not what I will argue as what should be; everyone’s album of the year. Remember, I do not have the luxury (or willingness) to listen to every single album produced in the world, so I am likely to miss out on many good albums out there.

However, I own a good number of albums, good enough that I can produce such a list – and narrow them down to the best of the rest.

To put it in a nutshell, this ALBUM OF THE YEAR award of mine simply goes to the best 2010 release that I own; and listened to in the year 2010.

If that makes things clear, without further ado, here’s a list of 2010 albums that I “owned and listened to in 2010”.

(Arranged in alphabetical order)

That’s a pretty diverse list for 2010. Barbara, Diamond Eyes and Invented are what I call “follow-up albums”, because these are records by bands that I have followed for a long time and I have owned more than one of their previous albums. Their albums are usually judged on whether they actually surpass the potential they have shown in preceding albums.

New music for me comes from Arcade Fire, Brandon Flowers and the collaboration between Nick Hornby and Ben Folds.

Arcade Fire may have been around for some time, with The Suburbs being their third offering so far, but this is my first venture into their music.

Flamingo is Flowers’ (of The Killers fame) first attempt at going solo. Meanwhile Lonely Avenue is an interesting album, as Nick Hornby – one of my favourite authors – ventures into music by collaborating with Ben Folds.

So which is the best of the rest? My vote this year goes to:

Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs

As mentioned earlier, it is my first foray into the Canadian sextet’s (I think there’s six of them, could be more) music. The Suburbs is a solid album. An adventure of its own – this is the kind of album that takes you into a different world – an unknown suburbia, in this case.

There’s no one song that stands out – that’s because the songs are intertwined. It’s like, instead of being an album of many good songs, this album is actually one very long good song – with many different parts. The beauty of album music!

Other mentions for 2010 that shouldn’t be missed: Deftones for returning with an outstanding album in Diamond Eyes, and Coheed and Cambria’s excellent Year of the Black Rainbow.

On that note, 2010 will also be remembered because I watched Coheed live in KL – dream come true! – and also the year when I bought concert and flight tix to catch The Killers in Singapore, only to know it was cancelled two days before! Also, Feb 2011 must come soon because Deftones will be coming by as well! Have you got your tickets?

Anyway that’s it from me. Before that, I’ll end this with a list of ALBUM OF THE YEAR winners from previous years.

2009 – Journal for Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers

2008 – Only by the Night by Kings of Leon

2007 – In Rainbows by Radiohead

2006 – Sam’s Town by The Killers

2005 – Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

Hi, there.

2010-03-25T18:01:00.000+08:00

It's been awhile, I must say.

The 1Malaysia Formula 1 team, or 1MF1T

2009-09-28T19:48:00.006+08:00

A model of the 1Malaysia F1 team, after a few spins in the washing machine
with some coloured boxers.

1MF1T (I'm fit). Deliberate or accidental?

Anyway, speaking about the name of Malaysia's new F1 team -- 1Malaysia Formula 1 team -- well... I think it does not intimidate one tiny bit, and it certainly gets a kick in the arse by tenacious and macho-sounding names like Brawn or Red Bull. And that's by name alone, belum lagi ajak race. Ferrari, Mercedes or BMW -- names of well established and renowned car brands, already macho in their own rights. Toro Rosso -- man that sounds like a menacing Torres-Zorro hybrid.

Hey, even India's F1 team has a more powerful-sounding name, Force India.

By the way, check this out. A reader of Singapore's The New Paper made a suggestion in the paper that if the Singapore were to come up with their own F1 team, it should be called... wait for it...

SINGA LION.

Yes.

SINGA LION.

You know, good to know that this bozo isn't a Malaysian, or he would've came up with HARIMAU TIGER.

This commenter must have been smoking some thing really bad. This particular commenter.. wait.. he actually left his name and his.. HAHA, CHECK THIS:

From: Chester The Great, Sweet 16, Joker And Manchester United Fan

I think that was quite self-explanatory!

I'm not the new Xabi Alonso - Lucas Leiva

2009-09-16T05:11:00.002+08:00

"...anyone who knows football knows I am not the same player as Xabi,"
Lucas Leiva, Liverpool midfielder and former Brazil under-20 captain

When it comes to making statements, you can be rather spot-on, Lucas.

...

Okay, jokes aside, go out there prove 'em wrong, lad.
Go break a leg!
Err, I hope he doesn't take that literally.

Stuff dreams are made of

2009-09-16T04:53:00.005+08:00

In my blog post yesterday, I mentioned how Roger Federer's amazing between-the-legs return shot overshadowed a certain budding tennis star's remarkable achievement of making his first Grand Slam final against five-time defending US open champion, after beating Rafael Nadal.

Boy, was I to be surprised. The certain budding tennis star went on to crush Mr. Fed Ex to clinch his first Grand Slam title at the age of 20.

"When I was lain down on the ground,
a lot of things passed through my mind.
First of all, I thought of my family and my friends. I don’t know how I can explain this victory, it was my dream.
My dream came through.
I am going home with the trophy and this is the most beautiful sensation I could have ever had in my entire life" -
Juan Martin del Potro, US Open 2009 Men Singles Champion

How many S. Subramaniams are there in all??

2009-09-15T06:08:00.010+08:00

"MIC former vice-president S. Subramaniam joins PKR"

So said a text message I received from a pal, some time last July.

I re-read the text. S. Subramaniam? Isn't this the friendly MIC Youth guy, who always sends me and my colleagues SMSes on their latest programmes?

No, this is definitely not some "youth" fella, because he is a 60-plus veteran guy - my friend replied.

I thought that was it. I thought I had it solved. I thought it was all fixed, that there are just two MIC guys (well, one is a former now) who share the same name S. Subramaniam.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not long after, during one of my Net-trawling moments, I stumbled upon Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam, who is the current Human Resources minister, and is also from MIC.

Well, not too much to fix in this one I guess, we can all remember that there are just THREE S. Subramaniams. 1. MIC Youth S. Subramaniam. 2. Former MIC now PKR Datuk S. Subramaniam. 3. Human Resource minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam.

Note that the minister guy has a "Dr." added to his name, which makes it, well, just a little bit easier.

Not so hard, three different people only right?

And then...

And then and then and then and then and then and then...

...several Frankie D' Cruz MIC articles later, there's this rather famous Datuk S. Subramaniam, who's the then Sec-Gen of MIC, who's battling to topple MIC supremo Samy Vellu, who's vying for a Deputy President's post.

Wait a minute. Isn't this the same guy, who is the Human Resources Minister?

No, that's Datuk DR. S. Subramaniam. This is Datuk S. Subramaniam, without a DR.

And by the way, the old man who joined PKR, is also a Datuk, which also makes him Datuk S. Subramaniam. But you add another S to the S before Subramaniam, which makes him Datuk S. S. Subramaniam. By the way, I also found out that Samy Vellu's name is actually Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, with an S before Samy.

God, I'm confused. I wonder if you are too.

Alright. Let's fix this, here goes:

The unofficial guide to the many S. Subramaniams in Malaysian politics.

1. S. Subramaniam, MIC Youth social and welfare bureau chief.

2. Datuk S. S. Subramaniam, former MIC vice-president, now PKR member

3. Datuk DR. S. Subramaniam, Human Resources minister and *new* MIC vice-president

4. Datuk S. Subramaniam, former MIC Secretary-general

I've also come to know that there's a P. Subramaniam in MIC Youth, but I think I'll just ignore him for now. In the meantime, let me set the record straight with who's who and which S. Subramaniam is which.

Phew!

Roger Federer's "greatest ever shot made in his life"

2009-09-15T05:06:00.004+08:00

The latest teenage (not so teenage, actually) sensation of the tennis world 20-year-old Juan Martín del Potro achieved a new milestone in his career when he made the final of the US open after stunning Rafael Nadal -- a former teenage sensation himself -- to a crushing straight-set defeat in the semi-finals.

However, his achievement, which he quickly hailed as "the best moment of his life", was to be overshadowed by another achievement on the same night.

Roger Federer, who is del Potro's opponent in the Final -- which is also currently in progress as I am typing this (Federer's leading BTW) -- made the "greatest shot in his life" during his semi-final match, which followed soon after the del Potro-Nadal fixture, against Novak Djokovic.

Roger Federer's "greatest ever shot in his life", in HD

A bemused Djokovic, who could only stand still and watch Federer's shot whooze past him, said after the match: "The shot he hit.. how can you explain it? What can you do?"

I guess some incredible feats that occur around us in our lives just don't need any explaining. Let Federer make more of those shots. Let Usain Bolt break more 100m and 200m records. Let Alain "Spidey" Robert climb more skyscrapers only with his bare hands.

Some incredible things should just remain unexplained, if we really want to believe it is incredible.

Royal Rumble: Malaysia & Indonesia

2009-09-14T02:24:00.009+08:00

So this is what recently happened in Jakarta, INDONESIA.

INDONESIANS SWEEPING ~~FLOORS IN MALAYSIA~~ MALAYSIANS.

SEP 8: Armed Indonesian Nationalists Block Road In Hunt for Malaysians - The Jakarta Globe

-----------------

The start of the outrage -- which ultimately led to a series of Anti-Malaysia protests by Indonesians, can be traced back to the Pendet dance controversy issue.

Aug 24: Metro News TV: Malaysia accused of 'staking a claim' to the Pendet dance -- a traditional dance of Bali origin -- when Pendet dancers appeared for 2 secs in a "Malaysia-Truly Asia ad" on Discovery Channel.

Which later, turned out NOT to be a Malaysia, Truly Asia ad, unlike what was claimed by the Indonesians. Tuwaw twaw twaw..

LINKS:
SEP 12: Discovery Channel: It's NOT Malaysia's fault - New Straits Times
AUG 26: KRU STUDIOS: We only did the documentary, ad was done by Discovery - Malay Mail

------------------------

Unsurprisingly, the Jakarta protests have left many Malaysians unamused, with many Malaysians taking the opportunity to conveniently label their South East Asia neighbours (or dare I say, sibling, taking into consideration the ancestry of both countries?) as "stupid" and "bodoh", while there have even been calls from certain quarters for Malaysia to declare war against their neighbours.

--------------------------------------

Now just as I was about to hop on the "Indonesians-are-stupid-let's-bash-them" bandwagon, this is what recently happened in Shah Alam, MALAYSIA.

AUG 28: Sec 23 Shah Alam Residents march with cow head during protests against relocation of Hindu temple amidst their homes. - The Malaysian Insider

A video of the protest march, to which the protesters claim was a "peaceful" march and was only directed at the state government, not on Hindus.

The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have also asked Malaysiakini to remove this video off YouTube because they deemed it to be "provocative". Man, Malaysiakini must be like this dope news site who upload fake news videos, starring themselves.

A dialogue session -- organized by the State government on SEP 5 -- was held to settle the temple relocation issue between the "peacefully"

But the following video shows how the residents perhaps had "better" intentions during the rowdy dialogue session.

Here's for those who missed the chair-pulling trick.

Indonesia bodoh?

I prefer to stay out of this.

FA-Q

2009-08-05T19:13:00.004+08:00

I was browsing through the FAQ section of the Immigration department website, and this was one of the questions.

Dimanakah orang tahanan di tahan? Wow, SOME question eh.

Where are detainees detained?
Detainees are detained at the detention center.

We are essentially, living in a men's world.

2009-07-23T06:01:00.012+08:00

*from Malay Mail, Wednesday July 22
by JOSEPH KAOS JR

PETALING Jaya police picked up 15 guest relation officers (GROs) during a raid at a karaoke lounge in Damansara Utama at 9pm yesterday.

The GROs, comprised eight Vietnamese, three Chinese nationals, two Cambodians, an Indonesian and a Thai, all aged between 20 and 30.

PJ district deputy police chief Supt Mohd Shukor Sulong said the karaoke lounge started providing GRO services to customers a month ago.

The GROs operated from the VIP lounge rooms, situated on the upper level of the karaoke lounge, where they would wait for customers to select them.

"The raid was conducted after police received tip-offs from the public on the club's activities," Mohd Shukor said.

The detained women had entered the country using social visit passes, he added.

___________________________________________________________

My Tuesday night assignment.

It was not the first time I was involved in an anti-vice raid.

My first one was at a Klang hotel back in May. 20 prostitutes; most of them Indonesian, plus a few Chinese nationals, were nabbed in the hotel raid.

The women will then spend nights behind bars, before they are charged.

But what happens to the men who patronize these establishments, who are responsible for creating a demand for this filthy trade?

They get their statements recorded, that’s it. How unfair, shame on you, men.
And the clubs, the hotels, the spa centers that are involved?

They continue their operations. At most they get slapped with a fine, nothing close to hefty, not even close to what they earn. And by time, when the dust appears to be settled, they are back at it again.

Let’s either combat the vice trade by hitting the establishments, the pimps, the customers hard, so hard they will think twice to do it…

...or instead, we don't combat it, but we turn Kuala Lumpur into the new Amsterdam! Then vice will cease to become a problem.

Now that would be something!

How Man Utd fans got owned by an LFC fan.

2009-07-22T05:26:00.007+08:00

Last Thursday, fans of Scum Utd camped outside the Malay Mail office as early as 9am to redeem the free tickets to watch the Scums vs Malaysia on Saturday, which MM gave away to the first 100 people who came with newspaper coupon cutouts.

Maybe the sight of just too many glory-hunting scums got me in such an upbeat mood, I decided to pull off something naughty. Just for fun's sake.

Equipped with a Liverpool FC scarf and one cracking voice (pun not intended), I entered the Devil's den and belted out a Anfield's church hymn, You'll Never Walk Alone.

Not entirely sure how I managed to survive unscathed, especially considering how my little feat might have evoked good old memories (or bad old nightmares, if you're a scum) of March 14th when Liverpool FC trashed the scums in their backyard.

Even sat myself next to one sleepy fan (on my left), and a thoughtful looking fan (right), who must be counting how many times the Scums have won the European Cup. Nope mate, it's not five, so try again next time. Dude seated fourth from left must be itching to get his fists in my face, if only he could get off his place without having dude seated fifth from left stealing his place in the line.

Here's a video recording. Enjoy!

The man behind the bitchin'

2009-07-05T12:57:00.001+08:00

So who in the world is this Joseph Kaos Jr?

1986, the year when a Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina football squad won the World Cup in Mexico. In the same year, controversial boxing star Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history after flooring Trevor Berbick. Also in the same year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs bought Pixar Animation Studios.

In the same year, Joseph Ruffus Kaos Jr. was born.

2009, Diego Maradona now manages the Argentinian national squad, which is in danger of not qualifying for the South African World Cup in 2010 after two shock defeats in qualifying rounds -- 6-1 to Bolivia & 2-0 to Ecuador. In the same year, Mike Tyson, a retired boxer weds for the third time -- ten days after the tragic death of his four-year-old daughter Exodus. Also in the same year, Pixar released its latest offering Up, which tells the story of an old man who flew to South America by floating his house by attaching helium balloons to it.

In the same year, Joseph Kaos Jr entered the career world as a reporter for Malay Mail, a popular local tabloid daily.

What a strange journey it has been for this 23-year-old young man. Growing up in the seaside town of Miri, in Northern Sarawak. He traveled across the South China Sea to West Malaysia to study before eventually finding work in the Klang Valley, where life is much more hectic compared to at his hometown, where people go home from work at 4pm and have already had their dinners by the time Buletin Utama airs at 8pm.

Would one have also imagined, that this man was once a naive boy with odd curly hair who read maps at the age of six, read Sherlock Holmes at the age of 11, and once memorized every single player's name in the Sarawak state football during the days of legendary Australian coach Alan Vest. He doesn't have a clue who plays for the current team now, and hardly has much of that curly hair.

He grew up to love the great English football team, Liverpool FC, and on November 30, 2008, his lifelong wish to visit the hallowed grounds of Anfield was fulfilled. It was followed by his first ever matchday experience, Liverpool FC vs West Ham FC, but unfortunately no goals were scored. A return to Anfield in the future is yet to be ruled out.

He also learnt to love rock music. Today he actively plays in a band, formed by four buddies with a common love for music and football. Currently owns a cream-coloured Squier Telecaster Classic Vibe, with an Ibanez TS9 Tube-Screamer pedal and a Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb pedal to accompany his amateurish yet enthusiastic guitar playing. He has watched Incubus, Korn and Muse live, and dreams of attending the Reading music festival someday in the future.

And not to forget, he bitches A LOT. Complaining is to him, second nature, as he banters and banters and banters on various topics under the sun. From football to politics, from stupid KL drivers to door knobs that won't unlock in a snap. From poorly made films to the irritating singing voice of Akon.

This, dear readers, is a the official public and live chronicle of banters by the man himself.