Maki's Youtube Heroes Part 1 ~Kyle Landry & Matt Roy~

You know Maki has had too much Internet when she starts a series of blogposts called Maki's Youtube Heroes. Anyway I have for the longest time, wanted to start a series of Youtube features on my blog, featuring talented Youtubers. The first I wanted to start with is katethegreat19, because I've been a huge fan of her work. However...

I just stumbled upon a really cool video on Youtube, and I still haven't gotten over it for the past 48 hours so I'm gonna feature someone else first. Sorry Kate, you're my number 1, but you're gonna have to take a backseat to my current obsession!

If you guys hung around me long enough, if you remember 2 years back or so, I had this song for my text ringtone on my Motorola phone (yeap, right before I lost the damn thing). Wasn't a monotone, it was this actual mp3.

Now you don't actually have to view the whole video if you don't want to, because it's just music, and it's pretty repetitive. I just ask that you WATCH ONLY THE LAST VIDEO til the end. And piece of trivia, this mp3 is the song that sparked my first conversation with Amir and Daren lol.

This song called Dearly Beloved is from a video game called Kingdom Hearts. Okay now most of you are already going to dismiss this post the minute you see the word 'video game'. Chill, I'm not done. Don't worry I'm not gonna give you some nerd-geek propaganda or something, I'm just sharing what I found on the INTERNETZS.

When Kingdom Hearts II, the sequel, came about, the composer Yoko Shimomura did another rendition with orchestral help from orchestra master Kaoru Wada. Again, this is pretty repetitive, you don't have to listen to it til the end.

And then I found this genius, Kyle Landry (a.k.a. kylelandry) on Youtube, and he is an amazing pianist. He's famous on Youtube for doing piano covers of Disney songs, movie OSTs and video game and anime songs. He writes a lot of his own compositions and he's really good. 

So I stumbled upon this epic cover of Dearly Beloved by him and another great pianist, Matt Roy (a.k.a. spookyman89). They did a duet, and what I'm impressed with is, the both of them managed to create such a brilliant duet cover, spanning 7 minutes, of a song that pretty much repeats the same few notes over and over again. YES THEY IMPROVISED AND DEVIATED, and we all can use a little deviation in our lives. >8D

Another thing that impresses me is the notion that when I watch and listen to Kyle's stuff (I haven't checked Matt's other stuff out yet), I know that there is talent out there, with their baseball caps on, going to school or college, doing homework, and this talent equals that of famous composers and musicians, that may even rival the talents of Mr. Hans Zimmer himself (Oh Hans how I bow at your feet). An average Joe may be the next Beethoven, you never know.

Anyway on to this video by Kyle and Matt. You are not obligated to watch it til the end, though I do ask that you do, because they are truly talented people and they deserve all the credit they can get. PLUS, something interesting happens towards the end. They ended this duet of theirs in a rather....interesting way. 

"Unfortunately the climax gets cut short in a rather comical matter. I hope you still enjoy. We decided to post it because we did our best in this video regardless."

8D It never fails to capture me every time. The music is still beautiful so please give it a shot. ^^

I will make a more detailed feature of Kyle later with more videos of his other work, INCLUDING his original compositions. 8S Til then, toodles!

Pic + Vid post, SOUNDWAVE 2009 and my room in Adelaide

Favorite picture off the album. A gathering of Chucks = a gathering of people off to see a rock concert! (only the one at the bottom is mine). 

Soundwave 2009 was held the day after the opening of the Fringe festival. There was much partying and fighting and noise, everything a wild festival should be. Needless to say as Phillip and I walked to Ian and Bob's place in East terrace from West terrace early the next morning, it seemed like I Am Legend.

Bonython park is absolutely huge, and the six stages were huge. They were scattered all over the park and sometimes you'd literally have to traverse from one stage at one end of the park where you were at, to the other end of the park to see another band at another stage. There were many food stalls and free water stations too.

We saw Underoath. They didn't play Reinvent Your Exit, I am appalled.

Underoath - In Regards To Myself

And Anberlin. They are really good live. And they performed their song Adelaide. How fitting.

Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus too. I managed to get a couple of recordings before the mosh, affectionately dubbed "The Sandstorm", destroyed my camera.

We saw a lot of other bands, but the highlights of my day were New Found Glory and most of all...Jack's Mannequin. They are just as good live as they are in the recording studio. My dream to see them live came true. Karen, suck on this.

Andrew McMahon, vocalist and pianist of Jack's Mannequin and now-defunct Something Corporate. I want to have this talented bastard's babies.

Jack's Mannequin - La La Lie

Jack's Mannequin - Crashin'

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Also, I found that being the only girl in a bunch of boys at a rock concert may seem lonely...but photographing boys at rock concerts can be very amusing.

 

Check out the bottle in between Ah Mai's legs.

Ian said, and I quote, "I taste metal."

This was really cool, a giant tent, devoted to selling sweaty rocker dudes and chicks band tees and other Soundwave merchandise. I couldn't decide whether or not to get a Jack's Mannequin tee. I bought a ticket to their signature session, so it would be fitting to have them sign it, but then I bought a ticket for New Found Glory too, and I had nothing for them to sign (I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE HAVING SIGNATURE SESSIONS, if I knew i would've brought more shirts!). 

So I got a Soundwave 2009 shirt, as a memento, and so both bands could sign them. Ian was pretty indecisive about his tee too. He thought of getting everything from Lamb of God to NFG and finally settled with an RJA shirt.

Before the signature sessions.

After. I got signatures from Andrew McMahon and everyone from NFG. My life is now complete. I AM NEVER WEARING OR WASHING THIS SHIRT.

In other news! I moved into my new place!

My desk. I personalized it, as I do everything.

My bed. I love the quilt cover, it's pretty for something that cost only AUD20. It only came with one pillowcase so I scoured the stores for something that would match, and I found it! <3

TV area and very comfy couch.

Awesome fully-equipped kitchen! Well not fully-equipped, I helped equip most of it, but it came with an oven, so I'm happy.

Blogger's being a bitch. It took me forever to do this.

MOMMY~! + International studies is AWESOME

MOM'S HERE~! *gleeeeeee*

Yeah my mom's here, sleeping in my new room, new bed with nice new *coughcolor-coordinatedcough* sheets, quilt and pillow-cases!

It's so cool having her here, cos' I'm showing her around, in a place she's never been to, and it's pretty fulfilling. I'm adjusting quite well, despite the fact that I've only been here a month.

She brought me clothes that I did not manage to pack here the first time, and bought me some new things, like shorts, jeans, shoes and A NEW DARK KNIGHT T-SHIRT!! 8D 8D 8D Batman is kicking Superman's ass when it comes to things I own. If Marvel made clothes, I would buy out all their X-Men and Avengers stuff.

By the way, Rayne Summers (the guy who's dreaming he's Batman) is my new hero. He is random, weird, genius, crazy, reckless and stupid all in one, and all he has on his mind is sex. He's effing funny. He's been keeping me occupied, because Least I Could Do gets updated everyday, unlike VGCats or NoPinkPonies.  (check links to the side for wit and humor you won't find elsewhere).

Anyway, mom is here. What we did today was.....well, she wanted to do the touristy stuff like go wine-testing in Barossa Valley and visit Hahndorf. But it's a little rushed and she wants to keep it for when dad, Eric and Ash come over during graduation, so she says this is entirely a shopping trip. So we went shopping in Foodland for basic stuff I need for my new place, then she bought Phillip, Vincent and Jen dinner in Chinatown. Then she bought us coffee at Cocolat (OMG I FOUND PRETTY CUPCAKES!! YUEN, SICK 'EM, GIRL!!) on Rundle Street. We're going to Glenelg tomorrow just to check it out, and on Sunday we're going to Harbourtown.

She likes my new place and she was a little surprised that I cleaned it so nicely. She was even more surprised that I have become so particular about certain things. I have different colored cloths for wiping different things. And if she misplaces them or uses them to wipe the wrong things, I get mad. She called my dad and he couldn't believe it. I mopped the floors twice after sweeping AND vacuuming it, wiped every inch of the kitchen counters and tables and I arranged everything in my wardrobe in compartments. I'm quite proud of myself.

Yeah I guess depending on myself and being independent really comes with being away from home.

I will take pictures of my apartment soon and post them up. I'll also get my camera back from the shop, along with the pics and vids from SOUNDWAVE 2009. >8D

I'll even post up the pic of the Soundwave tee that I got signed by Jack's Mannequin and New Found Glory! (I'm never ever wearing or washing this shirt)

In other words...

Class has been really interesting. Other than our Advertising class which came as a must in our Communication program, we get to choose two minor study courses, and I'm really glad I picked International Studies.

We learn things from History....

"The contemporary international system emerged sometime in the 16th century from the Treaty of Westphalia, and replaced the Holy Roman Empire. After protestant kings challenged the right of the church to rule over them, it collapsed into a thirty-year war which began in May 1618, also known as The Defenestration of Prague."

...to Economics....

"Reaganomics (economics during President Ronald Reagan's admiistration) involved large unfunded tax cuts for the rich, a huge increase in military expenditure and extensive deregulation."

...to theories of realist and liberalist standpoint in war and international relations!

"In liberalist view, while the sovereign state is still the referent object of national security, there are other actors that play an important part, as opposed to the realist view which states these actors are insignificant."

I LOVE THIS FIELD OF STUDY. <3

Even though I need to brush up dramatically on my war and political history to keep up in class discussions. I wouldn't say class gets very confrontational, but discussions often turn to debates in class (that Adam Simpson, my lecturer, ends up having to interrupt or cut).

Oh-Em-Eff-Gee-Double-U-Tee-Eff.....I'm moving out.

You know what's creepier than Britney Spears getting 35956872944906q274 tummy tucks? 

I live in a dorm, with many other international students, most of them being Sarawakian Chinese, except for a few from Peninsular Malaysia and some students from some other countries (Albania, Kenya and Brazil to name a few). And the floor I live on, is an all-girls floor.

So what's creepier than Britney Spears getting 3534695798236593468 tummy tucks?

You're showering in your hostel common bathrooms at 11.30am, you hear a someone go into the stall next to yours and the water's turned on. Then you hear a male voice, and I'M DAMN SURE HE'S CHINESE.

"You in there?"

Then a female voice. I'm damn sure she's Chinese too.

"Yes."

Then you continue to shower, until you're done. Then as you're putting on your clothes, you hear the girl in the shower next to yours turn the tap off. Then that male voice again.

"You still in there?"

"Yeah."

No-brainer, if the guy doesn't see her come out, it's obvious she's still in there.

Then the guy, wherever he is, starts to sing a crappy version of The Ting Tings's That's Not My Name, and the girl starts to giggle. Then.

"I go wait in your room la."

"NO, wait for me!! *runs out of the shower stall, drops something on the floor* SHIT!"

I waited a whole minute before coming out of my stall to proceed to my room silently.

I know people get clingy and mushy when you're together and stuff, but please maintain some civility please? D8 You're waiting for your girlfriend to come out of the shower in a GIRLS' BATHROOM. If you're horny, you shoulda waited outside her door from the very first place.

And it was so stupid, because after that, nothing happened. I thought the guy would get some but as I was walking back to my room, I saw the guy talking to the girl outside her door.

"Okay, I go back now. You okay or not?"

"Yes I'm okay, you go back to your room first la."

"Okay, goodnight."

WTH. I know that guy, you don't live in this building, you live in the other one, you purposely came all the way here to wait for your girlfriend to shower?! What, were you hoping to protect her in case any ninjas show up to kidnap her and use her as a bargaining chip in their war with the stormtroopers?

Okay, it's not creepy, it's just weird now. HOW CLINGY CAN YOU GET?

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In other news, I AM MOVING OUT OF THIS GODFORSAKEN PLACE. 

I will no longer live on a hill: 

• Where I have to take at least 20 minutes (regardless by foot or by bus, inclusive of time waiting for the bus) to get to the nearest anything 
  
• Where I pay hefty ransoms for Internet access 
  
• Where I feel isolated by my own kind (most of them at least, Malaysians here, yeah, NOT FRIENDLY)
  
• Where I pay extra rent for free food I don't eat most of the time (not my fault, I'm out all the time)
  
• Where I have to share the bathrooms and showers
  
• Where I live in a box (literally my room is the size of a can of sardines)
  
• Where everything smells like someone's grandmother, everything is so dusty, and where bugs can somehow manage to get into your room despite you blocking all means of entrance.
  

I will live in a cool apartment:

• With my own room
  
• With a housemate (I honestly don't mind)
  
• With a kitchen, with an oven!
  
• With a TV, and couch, proper dining table and living room
  
• With a bathroom (I share it with the housemate, but yeah at least I don't have to share it with like thirty other people....and their boyfriends)
  
• With a vacuum cleaner!! (ZOMG!! DUST-BE-GONE)
  
• With neighbors I can tolerate and can share groceries and have cook-offs together (Yuen, Jay, Thomas, Kien, Reagan and many others)
  
• With my own Internet (if my housemate has already gotten it, I don't have to, and we split the bills! Plus, we don't get charged by downloaded volume like Hosanna does)
  

Basically it's a proper living space. I may seem a bit spoilt, but I don't care. I don't like this place, and I'm paying more for this dinky little place when my other friends are paying less for their own private spaces. 

So yeah, I'm moving from Hosanna Heights, to Lorne Avenue student apartments! It's homier, cosier, and much more attractive. And it may seem that I'm not being friendly, choosing to move to a place which is inhabited by oodles of my friends from back home, but I tried to make friends in Hosanna, and I only end up with a handful, and who says I can't make friends in Lorne? I haven't even met my house-mate, she and I may turn out to be great friends!

Plus, if I wanna learn to live on my own, having Hosanna spoon-feed me all my meals, pay for all my water and electricity bills won't really teach me shit....other than the art of staying away from the Internet or else your bill skyrockets, which I have not mastered yet.

I am gonna miss the friends I met at Hosanna though, Sanjeet, Nevis, Douglas, Rbi, Pearl, Ida, Lalita and many others (most of them being students from countries other than Malaysia...lol like I said, many Malaysians in Hosanna, yeah NOT FRIENDLY). Just cos' I moved to another place doesn't mean I left the country, we can still hang out. ^^

Oh yes, I'm proud of myself today. I bought, on my very own, for the very first time, a quilt, a quilt-cover set with pillow-case, and sheets for the bed at my new place! It's a first! And I got it at a steal too! I asked Vincent how much he bought his stuff for.

"Rough estimation...Quilt, AUD50. Set of fitted sheet + quilt-cover + two pillowcases, AUD35, at Target."

I got my quilt for AUD30, and my quilt-cover and pillow-case for AUD20, at Harbourtown! Fitted sheet for AUD3 and extra pillowcase for AUD1. My mom was shocked at the bargains I got.

What the hell, I love Harbourtown! I'm gonna go rub this in Vin's face tomorrow when we go to Glenelg..............again. Hopefully the weather is warm enough (fucking cold winds lately) for me to wear my new bikini before it gets even colder now that Fall is starting.

Soundwave 2009 was EPIC.

FUCKING AWESOME. 

So awesome, that the next morning, I woke up not only extra tired despite the 12 hours of sleep, but sick, eyes red, voice gone, head pounding and joints aching.

I went with Phillip, Bob, and Ian, and we met up with Justin and Mai later. I felt really good about myself that day because first of all, I felt proud of the fact that I was the only girl in the group, and also we tried to count the number of Asians present, and we rounded it up to....ten, including us six? At most fifteen? Out of like a million people? Like Bob said, "we are the few. The proud."

This was the most times I have moshed in a single day (the only time I moshed before this was at Good Charlotte, and their music sucks now, I don't even know why we were moshing), jumped in a single day, screamed in a single day, and threw crowd-surfers in a single day. I wanted to do that too but security guards caught all of them and they might've been kicked out.

All I ate for 12 hours was a corn dog, and I didn't go to the bathroom for 10 hours.

This is also the first time I went to see the most bands in a single day. There were in total 55 bands spread over 6 stages in Bonython park, Port Road Adelaide. But I only managed to see... *counts*

• All That Remains
  
• Anberlin
  
• Billy Talent (fucking awesome)
  
• Emery
  
• Finch
  
• Forever The Sickest Kids (pretty good, despite their music getting pretty mainstream and played over and over again by Malaysian radio to the point it's almost becoming annoying pop rock)
  
• Jack's Mannequin (highlight of my day)
  
• New Found Glory (had awesome fun moshing)
  
• Nine Inch Nails (FUCKING EPIC)
  
• Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (D8)
  
• Saves The Day
  
• The Subways
  
• Underoath
  

Dammit. I didn't see Lacuna Coil. I didn't see Less Than Jake. And I wanted to catch a couple of recordings of Silverstein for Eric. 

Which reminds me. 

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus killed my camera.

The first song they played was In Fate's Hands and the crowd started moshing. I must've been really stoned on Red Bull or something, because I didn't see it coming, and was halfway through a recording when the Sandstorm (our nickname due to massive amounts of kicked sand) started. My camera pouch was flung somewhere (I managed to recover it) and the flap that seals my battery and memory card in the camera broke off, totally exposing them. And my camera just won't come back to life. I tried recharging the battery (it still works according to the charger) and I think the memory card is safe. Now all I need to do is take my cam to the doctor's.

Edit: You know what, I think I'm pretty grateful that my camera was all that was hurt during the moshing lol. I saw some guys bleeding in the lips, I have a cut on my finger from it (real tiny one), and Justin had dried mud all over his face afterwards. I'm pretty glad I'm okay lol, considering people have died and gotten trampled while moshing (like the Smashing Pumpkins tragedy). But I still want to crowd-surf once before I die.

On another note, I bought a Soundwave 2009 shirt, and got Jack's Mannequin and New Found Glory to sign it. >8D Dreams really do come true, especially the part about seeing Jack's Mannequin in a concert.

Shut up, I am a bit excited, because Malaysia doesn't get rock festivals, not even that many *coughgoodcough* rock concerts. This is my first time experiencing a concert in a new country, and it's a rock festival to boot! My first of many to come in future I hope. There was booze, moshing, crowd-surfing, food, punks, goths, emos, cops, and free titties too.

The night before, I was at the Adelaide Fringe Festival opening. Many of you guys back home will remember this festival because we had to write a news article for it for Reporting For Print remember? >8D

It was really cool, the whole of Adelaide was in the city, there were oodles of street performances, there was a parade and a concert, and yeah other things. Will update when I salvage pics from my camera and phone.

And the night before that, I went for an Orientation drinking and clubbing session at PJ O'Brien's. Vodka for only ONE DOLLAR, even converted to Ringgit, you can't get that fucking deal.

Now you see why I'm so effing tired?

Anyway, I crashed at Vincent's after Soundwave last night, and when I got back to Hosanna this morning, I ran into Sanjeet and Arbi by Sanjeet's car. The first thing Sanjeet said to me was:

"Why do you look so messed up?"