Songs with pictures

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Who cares about my life? Let's talk about music. When someone I recently met proudly proclaimed that she sends "songs with pictures", the eager beaver music monger in me became at once amused and ashamed. And so now, in order to maintain my one-uppance, I include fully solicited and wholly necessary commentary!

Usher f will.i.am 'OMG' (video)
This is my Ah Beng Guilty Pleasure *SLURP*. You can hear a gaggle of them chanting in the background. No-brainer sure-fire chart-topper. will.i.am bestows upon Usher his highly successful boom-pow outer-space aesthetic. I love his incredible adaptability as a producer, unlike

David Guetta f Kid Cudi 'Memories' (video)
the Guetta, who although bears the sound-of-the-moment, is quite one-trick, and so should not last for long,

Kelis 'Acapella [sic]' (video)
yet I must say his work for Kelis has produced the coolest song this year (so far), accompanied by the coolest video this year (so far).

Cheryl Cole 'Parachute' (video)
Another mark of will.i.am's versatility is his work with Cheryl Cole, their "3 Words" being for me last year's coolest song with coolest video. This new single was co-written by Ingrid Michaelson! Plus 20 points.

Chris Brown f Ester Dean 'I <3 U'
Barn Dance Everybody!!!

Pink 'Glitter In The Air' (video)
If you haven't watched both Pink's 2010 Grammys and 2009 VMA performances go and hunt them down now! I love her voice. And her fearlessness.

Laura Izibor 'If Tonight Is My Last' (video)
She looks kinda like Alicia Keys, sounds kinda like Alicia Keys, has Irish and African heritage like Alicia Keys, is here mixed by Alicia Keys collaborator Krucial...

Justin Nozuka 'My Heart Is Yours' (video)
The new album is "You I Wind Land And Sea". This is its happy-go-beachy first single. Upbeat Nozuka = Mraz.

Sugababes 'Wear My Kiss' (video)
This is my Ah Lian Guilty Pleasure *SLURRRPPP*. Sugababes haven't had a song this catchy in half a decade.

Christina Aguilera 'Not Myself Tonight' (video)
Christina Aguilera goes electro-Dirrty, but comes nowhere near the edginess the lead single of an album called "Bionic" should have. Polow Da Don sounds dated, rips off Timbaland circa "The Way I Are". This comeback single is kind of a letdown, but it'll do.

When all you need is a knife

This is a bunch of words at the end of a deceptively long day of a not-very-eventful life. I guess we can call it forced vomit. Day started off with a flash mob (of sorts) for Rashidah at Clarke Quay. Lunch afterwards made me late for Kevin-Xu Zi rehearsal at PA. Looking back I should have just squeezed in an Ah Then class. Vetting for Labour Day Istana show was followed by vetting for Danz People recital. Clement and Chun were great; I saw half the item live, and the other half later on video. Pat cheered like I had never seen, or had not seen in a long time. Esther's equestrian costume for Mash lacked only a whip--I loved it. It was strange not having all three lawyers around for the first time. I floated in, and floated out. I just saw the music video for World Expo. I wish it wasn't so National-Day, even if the occasion is very National-Day. The various elements and segments also seem disparate, bound only by their National-Day aesthetic. But the main thought watching the video was that it was a good call to turn down the Singapore Arts Festival.

Platform went very well. I think it went better for those who came to support me (or those who dropped by) than for myself. I don't think my choreography was particularly amazing. But I'm glad it worked; it flowed, it connected with the music, maybe even furthered it. If only I could start on time or end a little later, I would have liked to watch, and to block. The response again indicates that what I'm best at may not be what I love doing the most, the other instance being funk jazz. Or maybe I'm just masochistic. Platform ended the post-graduation season of choreography, which began with the rehashing of all-girl items for a Blast show and CFA Open House. Looking back the money should have just gone completely into the concert fund. Speaking of which, as most have heard by now, our tenth anniversary, and hence also my collaboration with Chun, is postponed to next year, a forever-amusing outcome of the Tau Huay Talk between Kelvin, Esther, Magnus, Poonie and myself after vetting last Saturday, henceforth known by me as the 5-6-7-9 incident.

Emotional rollercoaster of emotional rollercoasters, although it is a slow and a slow-changing one, and includes middle-of-the-road sentiments such as casual bewilderment, frigid emptiness, and general epistemological crisis. I don't want to smudge your life. (Nobody likes a nasty breakout.) I'm masochistic but I'm not sadistic. Collateral damage is no fun. I've always thought my history cyclical. You prove me wrong, many times, many ways. I'm hoping you prove me wronger. I have more than I ever asked for. Dare I ask for more? And to the reader, if my blogging has become too cryptic for your taste, (a) Blame Poonie, and (b) Try Poonie's. Haha.

Cue go

Blink
It was a great privilege to choreograph for both Blast and Ensemble's EMCCs this year. I'm proud of how both items turned out, even if the Ensemble one was less rehearsed, more confused, more laboured (a series of failed experiments, both with choreography and lights). My anti-CYC light designs turned out well for both (Chun expressed great pride on Thursday!). I discovered the beauty of aperiodic flashing washes, learnt the power of old-school faders (Mazlan), the importance of scene change and light movement (Chun). The Blast item ended a resounding success; it became what it was meant to be. Candy, Daryl, Wei Zong, Jennifer, Pao Yau loved it. And I'm always very heartened when Pat expresses his approval of my work. The Ensemble item remained on shaky ground, falling this way and that. My dancing for the concert only shifted into the right gear during bump-in. Up till then I was slightly regretful of giving up Choreographers' Ball. Many memories were made within the last week--among these, rehearsals at Temasek Labs both in the night and in the day, the incredibly provocative character of a lighting designer, Sharon bawling, Bao Wei bawling, Steff bawling, ...

Smile
Casio Edifice win. Calvin Klein T-shirt win. Bershka vouchers win. Choony Catcher bear win. Guanaja cake from Rive Gauche win. Coffee cake from The Icing Room also win. And of course, verbal vomit always wins.

Exhale
It's been an eventful and lovely journey since I plunged headlong into dance in 2007, when I danced for Chun, for Hamzah, for Joo Teng, for Xiao, for Pat, choreographed with Xu Zi, and learned much from E-Chiing. In 2008, I danced for Ryan, for Esther, for Ahmad, for I'dil, for Fredy, for Xue Hui, Gin, An An; in 2009, for Zaini, for Fangqi, for Juli and Nazri, for Zaki. This year, I've danced for Kevin, for Wei Long, for Koustav, for Mazlan, choreographed my first two dances for stage. There are no withdrawal symptoms. I move on again. I have Platform two Wednesdays from now--come!