Sgt. Pepper Era – Concept Album of The Beatles

I like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – The Beatles’ popular 1967 album – but more on the overall concept of it rather than the individual songs in it. I thought the follow-up ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ had more songs that I liked. Yet, I’m quite hesitant to say that ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ is a better album than ‘Sgt. Pepper’, not just because it’s not a ‘popular’ thing to say, but also because of it wasn’t supposed to be a full-length album.

‘Magical Mystery Tour’ was a film that The Beatles and they accompanied the release of the film with an EP soundtrack containing only six songs. However, Capitol Records in the US released it as an LP by adding five tracks that were previously released as non-album singles – which ended up making it sound like a strong album because it’s packed with all the memorable hitters like “Penny Lane”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “All You Need is Love”.

So I’ve always have this mixed feelings on ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘Magical Mystery’s individual albums but I love them when viewed as a single ‘Era’ in The Beatles’ discography.

So I made my preferred playlist of this so-called ‘Sgt. Pepper Era‘ tracks and arranged them into this 23-track Concept Album divided into two parts:

Part 1: Paul/Ringo dominated sing-along side

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help from My Friends
3. Yellow Submarine
4. Baby, You’re A Rich Man
5. Hello, Goodbye
6. Penny Lane
7. Getting Better
8. The Fool On The Hill
9. When I’m Sixty-Four
10. Your Mother Should Know
11. She’s Leaving Home

Part 2: John/George dominated psychedelics side

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Flying
3. Blue Jay Way
4. Within You Without You
5. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
7. Strawberry Fields Forever
8. I Am The Walrus
9. All You Need Is Love
10. Good Morning Good Morning
11. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
12. A Day In The Life

Yellow Submarine was not from Sgt. Pepper nor Mystery Tour album but I feel like it fits with the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ theatrical feel of that era.

I also ended Part 1 with ‘She’s Leaving Home’. Which segues into the next part that’s more about embarking on this weird journey beginning with the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ to ‘Blue Jay Way’ to ‘Mr. Kite Circus’ to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’

So if anyone asks me what is my favourite Beatles album, I’ll just say this playlist is my favourite Beatles album.

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You can also check out my other Beatles playlist here.

Mid-Year Playlists (2022)

Since 2013, I’ve been making personal playlists every year – sort of like “albums” – dubbed “MyTracks”. You can see the “core catalogue” annual playlist HERE.

There will be my annual playlist(s) by the end of the year but by middle of the year I usually have a template or idea of how it’s gonna look like.

So for now, I have two below:

F*** It Be Happy (2022)

More towards the Pop, Indie Pop side.

1. Fuck It I Love You – Oh Wonder
2. TALKING TO MYSELF – MICHELLE
3. That’s Where I Am – Maggie Rogers
4. EXPIRATION DATE – MICHELLE
5. abdcdefu – GAYLE
6. Numb Little Bug – Em Beihold
7. Tiptoeing – Hope Tala
8. Dance Magic – Foxes
9. Party Sickness – Hope Tala
10. House on Fire – Mimi Webb
11. Head on Fire – Griff, Sigrid
12. Sky Love – Foxes

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F*** It Be Vibin (2022)

More towards RnB, Hip hop side

1. Die Hard – Kendrick Lamar, Blxst, Amanda Reifer
2. Make A Move – Yuna
3. Sink or Swim – Ella Mai
4. Cooped Up – Post Malone, Roddy Ricch
5. In The Club – Mahalia
6. Sunday – KYLE
7. I’d Do Anything To Make You Smile – Jack Harlow
8. Closer – Saweetie, H.E.R.
9. Crazy – Hope Tala
10. Naturally – Tinashe
11. I Like You (A Happier Song) – Post Malone, Doja Cat
12. About Damn Time – Lizzo

A Kanye West Epic – Part 3: Ye Era

To coincide with the release of the three-part documentary, I’m gonna post my personal playlist on the three eras of his discography (at least, that’s how I divide them). Part I of the blog post here and Part II here.

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The third and final part of the three-part documentary about Kanye West, Jeen-Yuhs, was released today on Netflix. Unlike the previous episodes, Act III titled ‘Awakening’ covers a longer period of time in Kanye’s career. That’s because the documentary director Coodie lost touch with Kanye after the death his mother in 2007. He only properly reunited with him in 2016, around the time Kanye released his seventh studio album ‘The Life of Pablo’.

There’s a nice montage of the separate lives of Coodie and Kanye between 2007 and 2016. Coodie became a father and raised his daughter while Kanye got into many controversial shenanigans. What they didn’t cover though was that artistically, Kanye went through what I believe to be his peak with two seminal albums: ‘808s & Heartbreak’ and ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ (I touched on this previously).

Random things from Act III:

• Opens with a flashback to 2002 with Rhymefest telling Kanye is not a genius yet. But it’s nice to see that Rhymefest still beside Kanye in 2020.
• Respect to Coodie for stop filming whenever Kanye starting to get unhinged. He’s not there to just exploit and film “crazy Kanye”.
• The ending felt abrupt. But then again, he had to end it and release the documentary right? If he waited for a right ending, he’ll have to wait much longer because Kanye is still up to more shenanigans up to now.
• Kanye’s dad makes an appearance!

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Now is the last of my Kanye West playlist – The Ye Era (2016 – Present).

Covers the following albums: The Life of Pablo (2016), ye (2018), Kids See Ghosts (2018), Jesus in King (2019), Donda (2021).

The following playlist contains my personal favourites from this era.

Random tracks:

• Famous – Aside from that line about Kanye making that “b*tch” Taylor Swift famous, this was one of my favourites from The Life of Pablo (TLOP)
• I love Kanye – A rap about people missing the “Old Kanye” and complaining about “New Kanye”. Kanye still have that playful side to him ever since College Dropout.
• Waves – Remember when Kanye and Wiz Khalifa bizarrely fought about the term ‘Waves’ on Twitter and it culminated with Amber Rose (Kanye’s Ex and Wiz’s Ex) to reveal that Kanye like finger up his ass. Weirdest “feud” ever.
• Real Friends – Probably my favourite in TLOP. The closest thing to “Old Kanye” in that album.
• Wolves – I remember seeing the performance of this song on SNL (back when it was supposed to be the opening track of the album) and was excited for his new album. Then he officially released it and took out Sia and replaced it with his own verse about leaving a fridge open and somebody took a sandwich or something (WTF?!). Kanye eventually reuploaded a new mix and re-inserted Sia’s part back (but still kept that sandwich verse though LOL).

• Lift Yourself – Funniest troll song. Nice buildup though.
• Close on Sunday – Funny Chick-Fil-A line aside, I like the haunting atmospheric vibe of this song.
• Believe What I Say – Nice use of Lauren Hill sample. The “Old Kanye” is still there somewhere.
• Jesus Lord Part 2 – Best track from ‘Donda’. Really good verses from everybody, backed by an addictive backing-track.

The Batman (2022) – Few thoughts

Saw the movie on Friday. Quick thoughts:

• Yes, it’s almost three hours but I thought the pacing was great that I didn’t feel the length (until maybe about the last third of the film)

• The detective story and mystery solving aspect of the story helps keep things moving and interesting.

• I think this was the best Gordon / Batman duo yet. I like how Gordon felt like a true partner here, mostly being by Batman’s side rather than just being Batman’s ‘contact point’ in the GCPD. Then again, Gordon is not the Commissioner yet so he can still go out and do some on-the-scene work with Batman.

• Despite the promos, I was surprised at how larger the roles of Catwoman and (especially) Carmine Falcone were (John Turturro was fantastic). At the same time, I was surprised on how smaller screentime that the Penguin and Riddler had. BUT whenever Riddler appears, it’s done well. Paul Dano really goes for it!

• There were not much of Alfred though again like every other characters, I like what little of what I saw of this version of Alfred. More of the ‘Batman: Earth One’ or ‘Gotham’ tv series version where he’s an ex-SAS or ex-MI6 and doesn’t take no shit from Bruce. I want to see more of him. Hopefully we get to see more of his badass side in the sequel.

• Michael Giacchino goes hard with the music score!! This one movie had the best introduction to Gotham City and Batman.

• And the Batmobile is a beast! I take back all the Fast & Furious jokes I said about this muscle car iteration of the Batmobile. The whole theatre vibrated when Batman revs up the Batmobile.

• I’ve heard about some of the criticism on the third act beforehand and I now understand after watching it. Even though the final set piece was great but I wish that it could’ve felt less tacked on. Then again, you can argue the same thing with the Harvey Dent/Two Face plot in the latter half of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ (and some have made that argument).

So which one is the GOAT? ‘The Dark Knight’ or ‘The Batman’?

For now, I think Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ is a better movie. BUT ‘The Batman’ is a better ‘Batman film’ (that title previously went to ‘Batman Begins’).

I know, it sounded like a diplomatic answer but whatever. 😅

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One more thing…

I couldn’t take one (pivotal!) scene in the movie seriously because I’m reminded of this behind-the-scene stunt fail.

World’s Worst Giacchino Scores

**UPDATE: June 2022 – From ‘Lightyear’ soundtrack**

The official soundtrack for the upcoming Batman movie – titled ‘The Batman’ – was just released. It was composed by Michael Giacchino and he has habit for naming his tracks with silly puns and jokes.

One of his trademark though is naming a track that begins with “World’s Worst…..”. It’s a tradition he started back in 2004 when he was composing for the tv show LOST. In season 1, he named a track ‘World’s Worst Beach Party’.

Since then, Michael Giacchino has been naming several of his tracks beginning with ‘World’s Worst’ in several of his projects from Mission Impossible to Spider-Man. His latest one is called “World’s Worst Translator” from The Batman soundtrack.

I counted 18 tracks in total (I might’ve missed some). So you have the ‘World’s Worst…

1. …Beach Party (LOST)
2. …Landscaping (LOST)
3. …Last 4 Minutes (Mission Impossible III)
4. …Road Rage (Speed Racer)
5. …Car Wash (LOST)
6. …Field Trip (Super 8)
7. …Parking Valet (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol)
8. …Curtain Call (Toy Story of Terror!)
9. …Animal Shelter (Zootopia)
10. Astral Worlds Worst Killer (Dr Strange)
11. …Babysitters (Incredibles II)
12. …Bedtime Storyteller (Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom)
13. …Water Feature (Spider-Man Far From Home)
14. …Worst Rideshare (Let Him Go)
15. …Landing (Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond)
16. …Friendly Neighbour (Spider-Man No Way Home)
17. …Translator (The Batman)
18. …Self-Destruct Sequence (Lightyear)

I put them all in a playlist.

A Kanye West Epic – Part 2: Yeezus Era

To coincide with the release of the three-part documentary, I’m gonna post my personal playlist on the three eras of his discography (at least, that’s how I divide them). Part I of the blog post here.

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The second part of the three-part documentary about Kanye West, Jeen-Yuhs, was released today on Netflix. Act II titled ‘Purpose’ is mostly about the making of his debut album ‘The College Dropout‘. I didnt know about Kanye had problem with Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam on budget issues. Again, even after getting signed, Kanye had to still prove to people.

Random things from Act II:

• “Once n*ggas tell u ‘you hot’, still doubt yourself” – advice from Pharell Williams
• So do we have a John Legend Get Lifted doc, Coodie? It looks like he recorded some behind the scenes stuff for John Legends debut album.
• Look at the difference in Jamie Foxx recording Slow Jamz & when he records Gold Digger. He also got a music career boost.

Jamie Foxx also previously told the funny story of his recording of ‘Slow Jamz’ when he was a guest at the Graham Norton Show in 2017:

The second part of the documentary ends with Kanye winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2005 (where he did an epic ‘mic drop’ speech):

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The final part (to be released on Mar 2) will zip through after 2005 where the the documentary directors lost contact with Kanye as he got big. The directors reunited with Kanye by 2016 when ‘The Life of Pablo’ was released.

So unfortunately the documentary is expected to skim through what I think is Kanye’s most interesting era (2008 – 2015). I call this era the YEEZUS Era and it covers the following albums: 808s & Heartbreak (2008), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Watch the Throne (2011), Yeezus (2013)

The following playlist contains my personal favourites from this era.

Notable tracks:

808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Unfairly criticized by people during release, this album holds up and probably his most influential one, paving for artists like Kid Cudi, Drake and The Weeknd among others. It is one of my favourite album of his.

• Heartless – became crossover hit, and probably Kanye’s most popularly covered song.
• Bad News – There are few nice Kanye outros and this is one of my favourite, taking up the whole second half of the song.
• Coldest Winter – Kanye mourned the passing of his mother. Powerful drums, like a lot of the songs in this album.

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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

My favourite Kanye album. Kanye already ‘graduated’ as a rap artist, took a step out of his comfort zone with ‘808’ and this was him taking on the wider pop music and art. It felt like a mashup of everything that came before (the cinematic orchestral of Late Registration, stadium arena of Graduation, the emotions of 808s)

• POWER – Still my favourite ‘I don’t give a F*ck, so F*ck you all!’ song
• All of the Lights – Kanye invited an all-star ensemble of artists and layer their vocals together to create a unique single backing vocal.
• Runaway – Only Kanye can make a highly distorted autotune voice sound emotional in the extended outro.

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Yeezus

I remember listening to this album for the first time while I went to bed. Listening to this half asleep was an experience 😅.

• Black Skinhead – Somehow I felt like this was a spiritual sequel to POWER. Love the in your face angry energy.
• I Am a God – Provocative title. But then again I also thought it was funny, there’s always some playfulness to Kanye that his “arrogance” in this song is sort of a parody to me. “I am a God. Hurry up with damn massage. In a French ass restaurant. Hurry up with my damn Croissant!” There’s a industrial experimental feel to it. The screaming and the change of tone in tail end of the song scared the crap out of me when I first listened to it while half-asleep.
• Hold my Liquor – My favourite of the album. A favourite to sing in the car too (alone). 😅

A Kanye West Epic – Part 1: Yeezy Era

So the first part of the three-part documentary about Kanye West, Jeen-Yuhs, premiered on Netflix few days ago. I thought it was inspiring and heartwarming, especially scenes with late mother. Others would’ve given up but not Kanye.

Random things I liked from Act I:

• That Jesus Walks track still 🔥 Only Kanye can rap on that.
• Mos Def speechless after that freestyle Kanye did
• Kanye excitedly tells his mother about his studio time with Jay Z
• People ignoring ‘All Falls Down’ at the Roc-A-Fella office 😅

The first part of the documentary ends with Kanye getting signed at Roc-A-Fella. The second part (to be released on Feb 23) will focus on the making of his debut album, The College Dropout, including the part where he got into a car accident and had to record Through the Wire with his jaw still wired shut.

To coincide with the release of the three-part documentary, I’m gonna post my personal playlist on the three eras of his discography (at least, that’s how I divide them).

I call the first part The YEEZY ERA (2003 – 2007) which covers his first three albums: The College Dropout (2004), Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007).

The following playlist contains my personal favourites from these three albums.

Notable tracks:

The College Dropout (2004)

• All Falls Down – In the documentary, Kanye crashed into the Roc-A-Fella office and perform this track to a few disinterested people.
• Jesus Walks – First time I heard of Kanye West. It’s loud, it’s powerful, he sounded angry but spitting facts, it’s called ‘Jesus Walks’, there’s a marching type of beat to it.
• Through the Wire – he got into a car accident and had to record this with his jaw still wired shut.
• Last Call – The second half of this song is just Kanye retelling his time trying to get signed to a label. A nice companion to the first part of the Jeen-Yuhs documentary.

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Late Registration (2005)

• Heard ‘Em Say – There’s a sweet dreamy feel to this song but the subject is kinda depressing, about the difficult life of low income section of society, especially the Black community.
• Gold Digger – Try playing this in a wedding LOL
• Diamonds from Sierra Leone – Remix – A song about the sufferings of people under the ‘blood diamonds’ mines in Sierra Leone.
• Hey Mama – A tribute to his mother who showed up in the documentary bringing warmth and wisdom.
• Gone – This became a hit years later because it was used in a viral video of this lady who announced she was quitting her job while dancing at her office after hours.

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Graduation (2007)

• Stronger – A banger of a collab between Kanye West & Daft Punk
• Homecoming – An ode to his hometown Chicago
• Big Brother – Kanye’s song about his idol, his mentor, his “big brother” Jay-Z

Updating 2022…

Haven’t touched this website in a while.

I did consider making a new site but I thought that it’s better if I updated this. Starting from scratch may not be good idea.

A big part of the “revamp” will be less focus on the blog part but more on the other personal ‘project’ that I’ve been been doing and spread out across my other social media accounts. Want to put them all here so this can act as a personal hub.

Maybe coz I’m getting old and I’ve been thinking more about what I want to share and ‘leave behind’ on the internet.

Anyway, so keep a close eye on this blog and the menu above as I’ll add stuff like my mini travellogues that I’ve posted on my instagram before; videos I edited that have been uploaded on Youtube and Vimeo before; personal music playlists from spotify; other creative writings.

Brunei Superhero story returns – New Volume/Chapters – The Night of the Weretiger

Well, it has been quite a while since the last chapter was published (two years ago).

But I’m back with a brand new Volume titled ‘The Night of the Weretiger’.

This volume has Seven Chapters. Six out of Seven has been published (the final chapter of this Volume is not ready yet).

Chapter 10: Hotel Raid

In the continuing war against criminals, Kapten Brunei and Balau Man teams up with the police to raid a criminal gang meeting. However, they run into a mysterious third player.
04 Oct 2020

NOTE: An introduction to a new character that was originally supposed to be a minor character but I’ve grown to like her. Now having all sorts ideas for her character trajectory.

Chapter 11: Sapot Lokal

Ridzuan/Balau Man visits the ‘Fandom Kingdom‘ store to meet with Adam/Kapten Brunei. Ridzuan ends up taking a short trip through the wonderful ‘local section’
06 Dec 2020

NOTE:  Chapter 11 is just me taking what was supposed to be one fun scene and went overboard, turning into a whole chapter. Sometimes you need that one chapter that you’re just writing for fun.

Chapter 12: The Weretiger

Akmal investigates a mysterious case in Tutong involving a house break-in and kidnapping by a ‘Weretiger’. Meanwhile, Kapten Brunei fights the Weretiger in Pekan Tutong.
06 Dec 2020

NOTE:  This is where the central conflict of the Volume begins.

Chapter 13: Dayang Dynamite

Liza and Balau Man fends off the Weretiger in Katok. Flashback to events at Liza’s gym – Fitness Square.
06 Dec 2020

Chapter 14: Wira Darussalam

Flashbacks to events happening to Adam/Kapten Brunei leading to the Night of Weretiger
06 Dec 2020

NOTE: Chapter 12 and 14 have characters speak in Tutong language so I had to do double translations for that. I found out that there is no correct spelling for Tutong words LOL So kalau ada salah, please correct kan saja. Hope indo salah ba’asa Tutong jayi

Chapter 15: Kediakucing

Kediakucing sets out to hunt the Weretiger. Flashback reveals Kediakucing’s backstory.
06 Dec 2020

NOTE: There’s a part here that I was actually hesitant to write at first coz it might trigger people. But it’s important part of backstory.

I’m planning on writing a commentary on each of the chapters. That will come later.

In the meantime, enjoy the story!

I welcome any comments – either on this website, or on the Reddit post, or can ask me on my Twitter.

A Walk in Central Park, New York City – December 2019

 

Sight and Sound of Central Park, New York City – 25th December 2019.

Single take hand-held (literally hand-held) video of walking in Central Park. Enjoy the sight and sound – tourists of different languages, kids playing around with bubbles, musicians playing, a wedding photoshoot, etc.

#SangalJuaTangan #NeedToInvestInCameraStick

Shot with Samsung Galaxy Note 10+

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You can check out my Instagram page for some fancy-schmancy travel photos.

Or check out my Youtube page for some of my videos (will update).