The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Currently Listening To: Brooke Waggoner - Go Easy Little Doves

I finally bought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo bookset/The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson for RM59.90 at Popular! They were having some special offer for the New Year celebrations and it was open to everyone and not just the members. The other bookstores are either selling them individually for about RM35.90 per book, or the bookset for RM79.90, so I'd say I got a pretty good deal.

I was interested in the trilogy because the American version of the movie will be out in December, and the books are like, quite famous?

So far I'm about halfway through the first book. Don't know what to make of it yet, the story is interesting but um, I don't think it's written very well. I mean, there are pages and pages of useless information and pointless descriptions of totally random stuff. It reads more like a report of the book, rather than the actual novel.

I know it's originally in Swedish and I'm actually reading someone else's translation of the book but still, the information is the same right? Note to self: don't ever write like that. It drags everything down.

Despite that, I'm still progressing fast, thanks to the intriguing plot and the interesting characters. Can't really tell what the story's about though. Based on the description on the back cover of the second book, it looks like the story's about human trafficking? I guess I'll find out soon.

Still on my favourite topic (books books books!), I'm totally loving this blog right now:
jennysbooks.wordpress.com

The blogger's a huge Diana Wynne Jones fan, and she even hosted a DWJ event on her blog a few months back! Her first ever author's week event in fact, to encourage other DWJ fans to review her books and to spread the DWJ love. It's so rare to find DWJ fans, so I'm like in DWJ heaven right now. I even learnt new things from the blog - for example, I can't believe that I actually missed out one of her books, A Sudden, Wild Magic. Never knew it existed until I came across it in that blog.

Anyway it's getting late, and I should totally get started on watching the 13th episode of Glee Season 2 =P (and it's 1.40am!)

P.S: OMG I'm almost done with Persona 3! I guess I better finish off the final bosses of P3 AND P4 before classes start.

American Idol Returns!

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - The Only One

I never thought that I'd be blogging about this but...you know what, I am actually impressed with the first episode of American Idol Season 10.

New judges, new contestants...all off to a promising start, surprisingly!
Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are pretty decent, with Tyler being totally amusing and J.Lo actually being helpful (unlike the other three women who had graced the judging panel).

As for the contestants, well, they are finally focusing more on the good auditions rather than the outrageous ones. Or maybe America finally ran out of crazy people...? Japan seems to have invaded the AI stage though, I think that Japanese dude singing Miley Cyrus was the worst audition for today.

So...it is still way too early to tell whether the season will be good or bad, but a promising start is better than a dull one right?

BSC (Remember what it stands for?)

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - Valerie

Does anyone remember the Baby Sitters Club books?
I recently found a blog revisiting (and ridiculing) the books, and now I'm inspired to reread them!
So I rummaged around my boxes of books, and discovered that I only have 4 volumes of BSC left.
Only four!
How many did I have in the first place?
I think I gave the rest to Becky. Or perhaps my mum donated them to some organisation or something...
If I remember correctly, I only had like maybe 10 volumes? Borrowed most of it from Trix, she had like a ton of them. (I wonder if she still has them now...?)

Even though I was a bigger fan of the BSC, I seem to have more Sweet Valley books - maybe about 25 volumes? Or probably more.
So far I've only re-read Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall.
13 years later...I have no idea why I was so obsessed with the books.
I mean, the idea of a baby sitters club is not exactly...cool, so why were addicted to them when we were younger? Probably because it described the lives of American teenagers...

Anyway, I remember liking the characters for silly reasons.
I wasn't a fan of the Kristy-narrated books but I had liked Kristy because her middle name's Amanda.
My favourites were Stacey and Claudia though, Stacey because she's blonde and Claudia for being Asian lol.
Thinking back, I guess I was being kinda shallow? Like I said, silly reasons for liking the characters =P
Seriously, if there is anyone out there still reading my blog, lend me your BSC books if you still have them!

Also, I found blogs for the Sweet Valley books, and the Goosebumps and Fear Street series by R.L. Stine (I'm done with the Goose\bumps one actually), so I guess I'll be spending the next few weeks reading them all XD

And maybe it'll give me something to blog about.

Here are the links to the blogs, if anyone is interested (or too bored):

BSC
BSC 2
Goosebumps
Fear Street
Random YA books
Random 2
Sweet Valley

P.S: Somebody help my obsession with Top Chef! I'm addicted.

It's only a few days into 2011...

...but life is just too unexpected sometimes.

Today, a classmate of mine was involved in a fatal accident. I don't know the details, but I really hope that it wasn't a...painful affair.

And to think that we were suppose to celebrate our friends' graduation this Sunday...unbelievable. It seems so unreal you know?

We read and hear about road accidents every day but you won't know what it's like until it actually affects you in some way.

I may not know you very well but I do know that you'll be missed by all of us.

May you rest in peace Mun Tatt.

Introducing...

Currently Listening To: Laura Marling - Ghosts

Another relatively unknown singer I've been listening to lately: Laura Marling

December in Brief

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - My Immortal

It's the end of the year again, and I guess everyone has mostly abandoned their blogs (including me!).

So what have I been doing this whole month? Well it's holidays and...

• I had dinner at Kampachi, the super fancy (and pricey) Japanese restaurant @ The Equatorial Penang for the first time in my life. Celebrated the parents' 29th anniversary there two days ago. 6 pieces of Sushi for RM36! Seriously man.
  
• This is the second year in a row I have not been working during holidays. Sent some resumes out but no reply yet so far (probably cos I'm too last minute bwahahaha...)
  
• I've been playing Persona 4! What a fascinating game. Seriously. That game seriously has everything that's usually taboo in society. Anyone who likes RPG games should definitely play Persona 4.
  
• More house renovations, thanks to the bloody termites. Ate away the kitchen doors so now they have to be replaced.
  
• Glee's on a break! =( Although the second season is not that great, I still love the show and I hate it when they're on hiatus or something. Thankfully it'll be back in February, and Pretty Little Liars in January!
  
• It's a little over two months since Adam Lambert's Glamnation Concert in Malaysia =( Yes I'm still suffering from Post-Glamnation-Syndrome! At least I'm no longer a concert virgin!
  

I guess that's about it? Some holiday I'm having.

Introducing Mt. Desolation

Currently Listening To: Mt. Desolation - Bridal Gown

Initially I wasn't planning to listen to Mt. Desolation, since they classified themselves as 'alt-country', but after hearing their single State of Our Affairs I guess I changed my mind.

After all, Mt. Desolation is the brainchild of Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin from (my favourite band ever!) Keane so I should give them a chance, right? Well I'm glad I did cos their debut album is actually pretty decent for 'alt-country'. I can't stand wannabe-country music (blergh Taylor Swift), so I guess I should say that I'm quite impressed with the Keane boys! I mean, Keane doing country is just odd on so many levels. Strangely enough it works.

Not to worry, the band is made up of more than just the two of them. Members of The Killers, Noah and the Whale, Mumford and Sons and The Staves provide Mt. Desolation with their backing band, and there are other backup singers too (including Jesse's mother!).



I really wouldn't say that they sound very country, safe for a few songs but it's close enough with only slight hints of Keane-ish music. All of the songs in the album are composed by Tim and Jesse, so good job guys.

If you're not a country music fan, stay away from this album. If you're a diehard Keane fan, then go ahead and give it a listen. It's interesting to see them doing something different for a change.

One more thing - Tim should leave the singing to Tom Chaplin and Jesse. It's not that he sounds bad, it's just...well Tom and Jesse are the better singers. I was watching some live videos of Keane's recently completed tour to the USA and Tom is just amazing! That man has a wonderful voice with a great range and a lovely falsetto, and I really hope that one day I'll get a chance to see them live.

I can now happily cross out Adam Lambert from my 'Must See Live' list, and now the only one remaining is Tom Chaplin - both of them are my favourite male singers ever.

Overall: A much better side project than say, Chester Bennington's Dead by Sunrise or Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor, despite the fact that it's COUNTRY music. 8/10
Recommendations: State of Our Affairs, Bitter Pill, Bridal Gown, Another Night on My Side.

Glamnation Tour Malaysia 2010

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - F-F-Fever

Three days later...

I'm still hungover from seeing ADAM LAMBERT LIVE IN MALAYSIA OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAW THE REAL GLAMBERT!
That man is absolutely GORGEOUS IN PERSON! AND OMG HE SOUNDS FREAKING AWESOME!
Can you believe that I screamed and jumped like mad person in that hot, stuffy pit? Well I did! I didn't realize that there were 13000+ people in that freaking stadium. Seriously, it didn't seem that packed! But the pit was definitely cramped, I think there was at least one thousand people in that tiny area. So glad that I got in the pit early or I wouldn't have seen anything! Thank you Xian Na and her parents!
(The queue to the pit was maddeningly crazy, the seating areas were definitely less populated, sadly!)



Some photos of the concert...
(taken from Wai Yee-Sama and hotxpress.com)

Guess who was spotted at the Glamnation Tour"> ;)











To all those people who protested outside, for all your talk about bad morals and all, at least Adam respects you enough to follow your silly restrictions. You guys on the other hand, have absolutely no respect for another human being and saying all sorts of insulting things about someone you don't even know is just plain classless.

Putting that aside, I really enjoyed the concert! When he comes to Asia again, I'm so going to another country to watch it.