Novo: May 2007

Novo

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

My Music Part III

Okay.

If you dislike Metal for religious/taste/appetite/eardrum reasons. Press pause on the player.

Here goes my rep. as a choir teacher. Hah.

I am a relative late-comer when it comes to metal. I think it's a sort of music that really takes time to grow on you, and that needs alot of maturity and mental sieving to be really appreciated. This song is NOT about war (although it's amazingly angry), but about the stupidity of war - I've never heard lyrics so apt for the post 911 world we live in today, and yet this was written in 1990! The key to good metal. Directness. Hard hitting. In your face. Honest.

I know he snarls... but well...

I think those of you that know my academic background will understand why i like Megadeth. Those of you from the same trajectory as me - well... enjoy.

Brother will kill brother
Spilling blood across the land
Killing for religion
Something I dont understand

Fools like me,who cross the sea
And come to foreign lands
Ask the sheep,for their beliefs
Do you kill on god's command?

A country thats divided
Surely will not stand
My past erased,no more disgrace
No foolish naive stand

The end is near,its crystal clear
Part of the master plan
Dont look now to israel
It might be your homelands

Holy wars

Upon my podium,as the
Know it all scholar
Down in my seat of judgement
Gavels bang,uphold the law
Up on my soapbox,a leader
Out to change the world
Down in my pulpit as the holler
Than-thou-could-be-messenger of god

Wage the war on organized crime
Sneak attacks,repel down the rocks
Behind the lines
Some people risk to employ me
Some people live to destroy me
Either way they die

They killed my wife,and my baby
With hopes to enslave me
First mistake...last mistake
Paid by the alliance,to slay all the giants
Next mistake...no more mistakes

Fill the cracks in,with judicial granite
Because I dont say it,dont mean I aint
Thinkin it
Next thing you know,theyll take my thoughts away
I know what I said,now I must scream of the overdose
And the lack of mercy killings

posted by Ben Tan @ 10:18 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

3G - Nice company

Just stumbled back from the Johore Learning Journey thingee. Other than learning that kids nowadays are such whinners and that certain people are seriously good sleepers, I have realised that 3G is really nice company!

Spent most of the time on the road - started with getting a sermon/discussion about why manchester united is the best team in the universe from Chi Koong. She's the Senior Guru of Love ManU temple. She just went on for hours lar, but her knowledge of EPL is seriously astounding? After some furtive poking around at the organic farm which mostly grew dragon fruits, and hearing all that 'it's so hot, there are so many flies, the soil smells weird (DUH!)' moaning from my dearest form class, we had lunch in an aircon room. 'PHEW!'.

Our bluff game got disrupted because we were called to move to the oil palm place. Which I found seriously interesting? Of course everyone was fidgety with the billion flies that were buzzing around all their clean and scrubbed flesh. The trip home was talk talk talk time, and that's what we did. I think I did alot of talking but all the while I had this throbbing headache cos I was travelling backwards while talking to serene and grace and denise and yan tze and kelly and the guru. Then i realised like 9 out of 10 of the girls in 3G wear braces.

Is it some fashion statement?

A lot of laughter and exposing my dark secrets like the possible gulf of the salary between the P's and mine. Other things besides why slyvester is a terrific name for a hot guy. Why losers cannot be choosers. And why Rocky is not Pocky?

Between all that headache and talk. We took pictures and here's a few... (sorry for the pixelation.. too tired to do direct img src yada yada)

posted by Ben Tan @ 9:06 PM 0 comments

Saturday, May 19, 2007

My Music Part II

That voice you are hearing belongs to Lea Salonga. It is recorded 'live' and hence is without alteration. There's a little static buzz that signifies a crappo mic recording.

Yet.

She's the voice behind the stage. The relatively unseen singer. She is the one who did Mulan and Jasmine for disney. But her singing goes way back to the huge stage musicals Miss Saigon and Les Miserables. Even digging deeper, she was in fact a child prodigy who won some Filipino children's singing competition, and who was chorally trained by her father. Part of her training included singing underwater for hours in the bathtub.

Her voice is immaculately crisp and pure. You can actually hear the words she sings? 99% of them? That's intonation my friends. Her phrases are subtle but effective. She breathes at all the right spots. That's technique.

But going past her technical vocal finesse, she is just such a joy to listen to.

posted by Ben Tan @ 5:20 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 17, 2007

My music

To read this properly, you will need to crank up your speakers.

Melissa got me thinking about the music i like.

'Like' is a terrible word for me... because I can never hover around 'liking' a song/group, but usually gravitate towards either total disdain or absolute obsession.

My first forays into 'music' as we know it, were typical - all those pop songs played on the radio. I soon started regressing and liking older (and really 'emo') groups like Jason Donovan (this guy is pennultimate 'emo') and Chicago, and also dabbled abit into softer rock like that of Richard Marx and later Oasis.

All this music were like infatuation music? Everytime the teenage ben had a crush on someone (i think only 3A has the details, hahaha...), i would really listen to particular songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.... and think of silly scenarios where i am some knight in shining armour saving this damsel from some modern distress (like a terrorist attack). and of course winning her heart. *vomit

NOW.

I only like music with a message. ANY kind of music with a message. Any message; the meaning of living, expressing love, expressing affection, expressing angst against the problem of violence, aganist discrimination, and aganist general ignorance and intolerance. Any genre will do for me: Choral, Heavy Metal, Pop (sure Backside Boys too!), National Anthems. etc. Why not? Music is for the soul. Any music is potentially good, and as long as it moves me strongly, I will start listening to it. And good music has a way of growing on you. I would probably be worse off now without music from Megadeth, Franc Poulenc, and Lea Salonga . These are genre-wise, heavy metal, neo-classical, and disney-pop respectively.

MUSIC FOR THE DAY: SAVAGE GARDEN (who are gay and whose lead singer is tone deaf) - AFFIRMATION

Listen to the lyrics. I seldom hear songs that are so 'in your face' about personal beliefs and convictions, some of which i can't help but totally agree with!

posted by Ben Tan @ 7:19 PM 0 comments

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tribute to 4K07

Never gone from me

If there's one thing I believe

I will see you somewhere down this road again

This post is dedicated to 3K064K07. I know it's the midst of exams right now, and I know that this is just the beginning of the cooker called the O levels. I'll let the music and pictures do the talking. Here's to you...

If you're having problems with viewing the 'black patch', right click on the patch and press 'refresh'.

Well... it was trully a joy to teach all of you! What are the chances that someone from 3K94 would be the form teacher of 3K06, in the same school??? Although i couldn't see any of you up to your graduating year, you will always be my 1st anglican high form class!!!! I never had the chance to thank you for the massive powerpoint - but i still keep it on my desktop in my laptop!

5 more months to the inevitable. Good luck peeps! I have every confidence in each and every one of you. Do yourself proud - but come what may, remember you'll always be a part of each other....

posted by Ben Tan @ 2:08 PM 0 comments

Saturday, May 5, 2007

With Trepidation

There are times when the best words fail to encapsulate the gnawing feeling in my heart. In fact words are avoided altogether. They will reveal too much of myself to me.

'Expectations' is the darnest 4 syllable word in the english language. You gain an interest, work hard, do well in something. The next time around, you do the same. But after a few cycles of being passionate about what you do
and doing well, people around you start expecting you to produce that same result. You feel the weight of your success upon your shoulders. You lose that interest, but you continue ploughing through your task because it has become a sheer duty

It is a passion killer.

This takes many forms - studies, daily work, duties to the family, and in the closest of relationships. Remember the time you washed the dishes because you wanted to make your parents happy? It didn't seem a chore at all.

While this sense of duty is amazingly crucial to keep us on our toes. It is vital to step back once in a while, and remember that first spark, that first amazement, that first love.

posted by Ben Tan @ 12:36 PM 0 comments

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