Romeo, Juliet, and Solid Snake

If March had been merely busy for me, April soon came around and decided to turn it up a couple of notches.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, Carrie, Annette, Chow Shern and I helped out with a Universiti Malaya production called Ju & Meo.  First, a little background.  Megat, a student at UM, had to direct and produce a theatre performance as part of his evaluation.  The story (written by another UM student, Nur Ahmad) was a novel take on the famous Romeo and Juliet tale, imagining what it'd be like if, after snuffing it, Romeo and Juliet's spirits continued to roam the world together for 500 years in a never-ending honeymoon.  Apparently, 500 years of ghostly romance bores the shit out of people, so the play explores how Ju and Meo¹ cope with their lives metaphysical existences.

So, the four of us YKLS peeps were to provide ambient music and/or chanting, depending on the mood and flow of the story.  To prepare for this, we had between two to three practices each week for slightly over a month before the show opened in Istana Budaya.  Thankfully, the singers and other musicians (there was a cellist, two pianists including Chow Shern, and a guy on the sax) didn't have to do too much; most of the heavy lifting were done by the lead (also the only) actor and actress, Amri and Mardiana.  Needless to say, they had a crapload of lines to memorise.

Stolen from Picture courtesy of NST Online

Chow Shern

To contrast the white costumes of the leads and to create a deathly mood, we were given rather interesting costumes to wear.

The saxophonist buat hal.

Aku pun boleh buat hal.

It was quite an eye-opener performing for this play, with the script being especially intriguing due to the language; they made the Malay sound contemporary at the same time completely avoiding the use of English².

************

And now, for my story on Video Games Live.

A little bit of background first; you can say that I'm sort of a video game music enthusiast.  Unfortunately, since I can't play any musical instruments, I have resigned to merely being a listener.  It sort of began when I was studying in Singapore, and I needed music to keep me awake on all those late nights I sometimes spend mugging.  When it was time to pack up my belongings and leave the hostel for good, my iPod (may it rest in pieces) had over 700 Final Fantasy songs in it⁴, as well as the discography of several other games.  I really liked listening to them because having played those games, the songs sometimes gave me that goosebump-inducing nostalgia that could sometimes beat coffee at prolonging my lucidity.

My sister, also an avid gamer, was naturally a fan of video game music like me, too⁵.  She was the one who, about two months ago, told me that Video Games Live will finally be coming to Malaysia on 17th April.  As soon as tickets went on sale, I got ourselves some RM71 student-priced ones (though I've graduated, my card's expiry date has yet to lapse).

And then one day, at Chamber Choir practice, Tracy sat us down for a briefing.

Tracy:  So we've got two upcoming gigs to prepare for.  I've got a friend from NSO (National Symphony Orchestra) who asked me for a favour, since they're just the orchestra and they don't have a choir.

She proceeds to write the number 1 on the whiteboard, then 7, after which I prayed out loud "Please, please, please not April"... And then she wrote April.  I sighed and let her know that I've already got prior plans.

Me:  What time is the gig?  I've got an appointment in the afternoon, so if it's at night I might be able to make it...
Tracy:  It's for the entire day, they're doing two shows.
Me:  (Sighs again)  Where is this going to be?
Tracy:  At KLCC.
Me:  MPO (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra)?
Tracy:  No, KL Convention Centre Plenary Hall.
Me:  Huh?  But on that day Video Games Live is happening at the Plenary Hall-
Tracy:  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, we're performing for Video Games Live.
Me:  HOLY CRAP!

I totally did not expect the briefing to end that way; in one night I went from being a mere ticket-holder into concert-performer.  Also, I actually spurted many other expletives, but you get the idea.  It's not often that shit like this (the good kind) go down in your life.  Thus, I was justifiably jubilant (awesome alliterations, Batman!).


And so, that's the story of how I became part of the VGL Choir that performed on 17th April.  Because over half of the Chamber Choir members couldn't make it due to prior commitments, Tracy brought in her students from SMK Damansara Jaya as well as some of Susanna's Malaysian Institute of Art students to fill in.

Together, we sung the songs from Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Sonic (we just sang the chords for "Sega", that you hear at the beginning of the games), Warcraft/WoW, Guitar Hero (we just yelled "Jump" throughout Van Halen's song), Halo, and the perennial crowd pleaser, One-Winged Angel (incidentally a very easy song to sing).  My sister was so jealous of me.

We took a picture onstage, because we're hardcore like that.

It's also times like these that I'm so thankful that I'm in the Young KL Singers; it has given me the opportunity to do so many things that I never thought I'd ever do in my life.  Singing the Lord of the Rings Symphony, backing up for Sarah Brightman, and now this.

I wonder what other surprises lie in store for me at YKLS in the future.


Footnotes:
1 - You have no idea how fitting the Malayanised names of Romeo and Juliet are; "Ju & Meo" sound right just about right.  The same could be said about the show's subtitle, Cinta Agung Melayu; not "Grand Malay Love", but "Grand Love Wilting", as in Me-Layu.  Of course, I didn't get it at first, and I doubt anybody would have unless explicitly told so.
2 - There was an exception, though, when RoMeo sang a song called Aku Playboy Suci. For serious.  The song was a fun, uptempo jazz piece composed³ by Chow Shern based on the original script.  One of the themes of the show was that despite being unfaithful, Meo is so pure and loyal that he will return to the arms of the one he truly loves.  I wonder with whom did he cheat on Ju with, actually... other ghosts?
3 - Every other song sung/played in the show was adapted from varied composers such as Faure, Debussy and Evanescence.
4 - Once again, for serious.  The runtime is almost 8 hours, and the files are just over 3GBs.  Of course, some songs are rehashes, remixes, orchestra versions, piano versions, etc.
5 - This is probably the first time I'm plugging her blog.  She blogs a lot more consistently than me, and she even did the skin for her own site.  She's got mad skillz.  She's even a Grade 8 pianist while I... sing.  I'm still cooler, though.  Unfortunately, the title of the coolest sibling in the family probably has to go to my hip-hop dancing brother.  I just take pride in the fact that my England is better than his.  Thing is, he can converse in Mandarin and Cantonese, whereas I can't (without sounding like a rambling idiot), which makes this point somewhat moot...

Handicraftin' for some lovin'

I suck at coming up with gift ideas, but every once in a while, this little light bulb goes off in my head, usually followed by a sleepless night of cutting cards, pruning paper and sticking sthings stogether.  The last time I did something like this for the girlfriend was back when we were only about one month into our relationship; that time it took me about seven or eight hours of trial and error before I managed to come up with this little beauty:

 

  

 

 

This was the second pop-up card I've ever made, and since then I haven't bothered making more because it takes forever.  And if I made them too often, it gets old really fast, too.  Anyway, I'm still really proud of this one, though.

On the other hand, I got a major epiphany for what to make as a belated Valentine's Day gift for this year.  So, last Friday night, after testing a modified version of Kyle Sanchez's Bant Mill deck until 2.30am for Sunday's Grand Prix: Kuala Lumpur Trial (holla if yer a Magic playa!¹), I started working on my next project; a mix tape (or in this day and age, a CD):

 

Front cover

Back cover

 

Side A

 

Side B

For those not in the know, this was a reference to our favourite musical, Avenue Q².  There's this song in there called "Mix Tape" which was, for the most part, a list of songs from a mix tape.  So, from the vast, powerful pool of knowledge and piracy known as the internets, I procured the playlist and pressed my own CD.  Of course, I've already done this long before I started working on the CD cover.  With such projects, I usually begin with an idea, go out and buy the materials, and then figure out the specifics.  Needless to say, I made a couple of errors along the way, but thank goodness I didn't screw it up too much³.

In any case, the CD cover project took slightly over four hours.  I ended up sleeping at 7am, and then waking up again at 9 because I was gonna meet her at 10⁴.  And if you're wondering why the hearts on the CD covers are orange (I know it doesn't exactly look like orange in the photos but I promise you, it does in real life):

And now you know!

Footnotes:
1 - My testing went to waste somewhat, as I audibled after watching Tom Ross's Naya Boss being shown on Deck Tech.  Obviously, at least six other people thought likewise for the tourney.  Oh, and I went 4-2, placing 9th and missing the Top 8 due to tiebreaks.
2 - Have you heard of the song "The Internet is for Porn"?  The one that became a smash YouTube hit? It's from Avenue Q.
3 - For example, I needed the "C" on the orange heart about half a centimetre to the left.  Unfortunately, I used double-sided tape and thus couldn't redo it.  Pros of double-sided tape: Neat.  Cons: If you screw up you're screwed.
4 - It was quite an epic weekend; in between testing and playing Magic, visiting Carrie's relatives, choir practice, etc. I had only nine hours of sleep over the course of two days.  It's not as crazy as my times back in Monash, but it's actually nice to feel positively alive every once in a while, even if it means sleep deprivation.

In the Heights, I can't survive without café

If you've seen the season six premiere of House, you'd probably know Lin-Manuel Miranda as the manic-depressive rapper, Alvie, who became our doctor's roommate in that episode.  Me being me, I had to turn to Wikipedia to find out more about the actor.  Imagine my delight¹ when I discovered that Mr. Miranda was quite a name on Broadway; he won a Tony Award for composing and writing In the Heights, which itself won Best Musical for the 2008 season.  It didn't take long before I proceeded to downl obtain through perfectly legal channels the cast recording of the show.  And man, was I blown away.

Note that my perception of the musical is based almost completely on the music alone, since I've not actually seen the show (duh, we don't all live in New York), but man is the music fun.  Oozing with Latin-American influence, some of the songs here you can actually dance to, in a non-choreographed, lyrical kinda way; think along the lines of embarrassing dance moves you'd see in a club.  I may also be somewhat biased² due to the amount of rapping in the musical, but hey, that's what happens when the guy who wrote it is a rapper.  If you liked Rent, you'd probably like In the Heights (Lin-Manuel himself admitted that Rent was a major influence on his work).  But hey, enough chatter-whatter, let's let a video do the talking (ignore the flashes of Alec Baldwin and Judi Dench):

Unfortunately, Carrie thinks that the musical's far too noisy (there are ballads too, y'know!), so for the moment In the Heights is my personal guilty pleasure.  Attempts to convert people have largely failed, though, but likely not for long!  A film version, starring most of the original cast, should be making its way to cinemas before the end of the year.  You heard it here first!

Eventually, I started obtaining through perfectly legal channels the cast recordings of other musicals, including:

1. Stephen Sondheim's esoteric Into the Woods, based on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
2. You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, a funny, family-friendly piece based on the characters of the Peanuts comic strip.
3. Urinetown, a very unconventional musical about people paying for the privilege to pee.
   
4. Chicago.  'Nuff said.
   

If you'd like to listen to any of the above (and a host of other musicals), you can obtain them through perfectly legal channels by way of me.  In short, just pass me a thumbdrive, or shoot me up with an e-mail or Facebook message.

Oh, and before I end this post, there's also something else that you might like to get from me.  This one goes out especially to all you choir peeps; first we had Glee, now we have The Sing-Off!

I wouldn't say that they're the best a capella groups I've ever seen, but the show sure is fun to watch!


Footnotes:
1 - Delight comes in many forms, but an example of the Zhen way to show it can be seen in the following photo:

2 - The very first cassette I bought, back in Form 2, was Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP.  I listened to nothing but rap music for almost two years, and friends used to make fun of me for that.  Surprise!

Guess who's back?

Hello and welcome to my new blog!  It's about time I changed, though.  Much as I loved the old layout, there was just too much baggage for me to update the html layout to xml, so I figured that the easiest way to start anew is by, well, starting a new... blog (har har).

So, I thought I'd start this new blog off with a big one, especially since the last time I actually blogged proper was back in April.  That's almost seven months worth of updating, so I'm gonna get started without further ado¹.  First of all, I must admit that my final semester at Monash wasn't as exciting as I hoped.  It was pretty much more of the same, actually.  There was the Monash Music Festival that had great bands coming to play, and not forgetting too Peck Yun's mom's surprisingly awesome kebabs.

From Leanne's Facebook photos

This was followed by the annual MUISS Cultural Night, wherein I performed a little something-something (naturally).

From Victor's Facebook photos

And finally, after more than a year's absence from Chiling, the MNSM peeps raided the poor waterfall again.  Sadly, the usual suspects of Leanne and Cze Wien weren't around to liven things up.  Izuan wasn't on camera duty either, hence the dearth of pictures (even on Facebook).

From Ying Xuan's Facebook photos

Some time later I helped emcee the Dance Fusion club concert, though I can't seem to find any pictures of me online.  I also emceed the Monash University Medical Student Society's "Shave Me, Save Me" event, which was a resounding success despite the simple premise of collecting donations to get your hair cut/shaved (they raised RM35,000!).  Icky, who was my partner in crime, even took the plunge that day, shaving his top for RM100!

From Victor's Facebook photos

And that was it, as far as Monash events went.  However, what came after was probably the most fun I've ever had studying for my exams (srsly).  This semester, I decided to join Izuan, Kenzie, Jerry, Desmond and the rest in studying til late at night in uni, invading classrooms and camping there.  The latest I ever stayed was until 1am, I think.

From Ju Li's Facebook photos

One day, we spotted a tower crane at the construction site next to Monash being raised.  Haven't you ever wondered how a tower crane's height is raised?

From Izuan's Facebook photos

And then there were the many ways we wasted time, one major culprit being Plants vs. Zombies, over here being played by me and projected onto the screen in front of the class we were in.  Sometimes we'd freeze the screen and leave the projector on despite nobody playing it just to discourage other students from entering the class!

From Izuan's Facebook photos

One day, Izuan and I stumbled upon games from our days of yore; Choujin Sentai Jetman and Contra, courtesy of an NES emulator (although, back in the day, we played them on Micro Genius clones).

From Izuan's Facebook photos

Of course, since we already waste so much time not studying, we had to come up with a method to save time.  What we discovered was that we spend too much time deciding on where to eat, so one day we came up with a brilliant idea: We do it randomly.  It started with Izuan writing down a list of places to eat and then using a calculator's random function to determine it.  Eventually, he even wrote a simple program to do it, and we called our new 'religion' Listology and the calculator/program the Deus Ex Machina (okay, maybe I was the only one who called it that, the rest just simply called it God).

Aaaaaaanyway...

I did okay for my final semester, netting a High Distinction, two Distinctions and a Credit.  Was hoping for better but what can you do, eh?  At least I made up for it by pulling off an awesome stunt at my graduation ceremony.  When I went up on stage to receive my scroll, I shook hands with the chancellor, Alan Larkin...

...and then I faced the audience, held my degree high up in the air and yelled "I'VE GOT THE POWER" in the best, booming voice I could muster.  And most of you (all three of you who read my blog!) know how loud I can get.

If you look closely, you can see the senior lecturers on the back LOL-ing.  The look on Alan Larkin's face as he turned back to look at me though, is priceless.

So that's about it for my final semester at Monash.  I have to admit, my three years of uni were some of the best I've ever had in my entire life, and had a lot to do with shaping me into the person I am today (ask almost anybody that knew me in high school; I've changed a lot).  I was so reluctant to leave that the week after my final exam, I started working at Monash's International Students Office, a gig that lasted from July to September before quitting to look for a 'real' job.

But first, an aside.  Some of you guys may know me for being quite an avid player of Magic: the Gathering.  On the 4th of July, I participated in my very first Malaysian National Championships.  I never thought I would do well enough to compete in the Nationals, but this year I managed to qualify (yes, you have to be qualified).  To my own surprise, I managed to go undefeated in the first day of the competition, eventually making the Top 8 out of 84 players after 12 rounds of competition.  Very few people manage to make the Top 8 on their first Nationals appearance, so I guess it was only appropriate that I got knocked out in the quarterfinals by another National Championship virgin² ,Bryan Chen.

From QJ Wong's blog

Nevertheless, I finished 6th and won myself a cool USD350 for my efforts, vindicating the time and money I've poured into the game (a hell of a lot more than USD350, though...) for the past 11 years.  I can't ask for much more than that.  Rest assured, I will be trying much harder next year!

Back to work.  Work at the International Students Office was interesting, as I had full contact with the students, many whom were friends and acquaintances.  Additionally, part of my job entails going on trips to the airport to greet and guide new students through immigration³.  At the same time, I was able to meet up with Izuan, Desmond and the rest during lunch and whatnot.

But of course I didn't intend to work at that office forever.  After much encouragement from my mother (read: nagging... oh, hi mom!⁴), I spent an entire month shooting my resumés out for consideration.  I almost became a bank employee, but instead I took up an offer at IBM.  You probably can't go wrong with an MNC (or as they like to call themselves, a "globally integrated enterprise") for your first "real" job, I guess.  In fact, so many Monash graduates had the same idea that my 20-person department has two other Monash graduates.  By process of exaggeration extrapolation, I conclude that there are approximately 3,974,201 Monashians in IBM (and growing by the hour!).

So, my studies... Magic... Work...  That leaves me with choir.  Rhythmic Roots, our annual production, happened during my second week of work (also the second week of November), pretty much throwing a massive wrench into my biological clockwork.  I work from 6am to 3pm because I service Australian clients, you see, and having to shuttle between One Utama and Lot Ten (heh, shuttling from One to Ten) every evening for dress rehearsals and shows and only going to bed at 12 seriously messed up my health.  I've had a cold and had been coughing up phlegm for 34 days (yes, I counted) now, and if you were wondering, yeah I'm still kinda sick.

But this year's show was totally off the hook, though.  The choreography was sweet as, courtesy of the insanely talented and insanely funny Lakshman "Lex" Balakrishnan, plus we were directed by the legendary Joe Hasham.  If you missed this year's show, you suck!  Damn right, son.  I hope I get access to the video recording of the show soon, though.  We didn't really have an official photographer come in this year (at least, not that I know of) so all you get are stuff ripped from the pages of Facebook.

From Alvin's Facebook photos

From Alvin's Facebook photos

From Carolyn's Facebook photos

The girlfriend and I are still going strong by the way, thanks for asking.  In any case, you (all three of you) are now officially updated on the life and going-ons of Zhen for the better part of 2009.  Let's just hope that I find the drive to keep updating this blog on a regular basis from now onwards.

It's the home stretch for 2009, guys.  Let's make the last weeks of the last year of this decade an awesome one!


Footnotes:
1 - It's "without further ado" and not "without further adieu."  Ado means fuss or delay, while adieu is French for goodbye.  It's one of my English pet peeves that I sometimes can't bring myself to correct lest I seem like a douchebag.
2 - You might say that Mr. Bryan Chen (the guy in the photo) deflowered me.  That sorta makes that photo porn, doesn't it?
3 - New intakes of international students aren't allowed out of the airport unless they have a representative from their college/university to clear them through immigration.  For me, driving to the airport takes only about an hour, so I can make it there in a jiffy in the off-chance that a student appears in Malaysia too early due to changes in flight plans.  But what about colleges in, say, Melaka?  There have been so many cases of students getting stuck in the airport immigration office for days on end when they fail to contact their agents.
4 - The three people who read this blog are my sister, my mom, and you, whoever you are!