Of apples and songs

I'm amazed at how certain ads can catapult an artiste to fame. You don't need to slog it out in the music scene, counting pennies and the days to your next bar gig. You just need to get your music picked for an advert.

And then you're more famous than the bar you last gigged at, the one where the waitress was hitting on your drummer.

I'll focus on Apple ads, given the company's knack for effective advertising and their ads' widespread reach.


Caesar was a Swedish band that was relatively unknown outside their homeland. When their song, Jerk It Out was chosen to go with Apple Shuffle's ad in 2005, the band finally got the worldwide exposure they were looking for. Until now, the band's most famous track is still the song made famous by Apple's iconic dancing silhouette ad.



Australian band, Jet was introduced to the US through an Apple iPod ad which featured their hit single, Are You Gonna be My Girl (Vodafone also used the same song in their ad). Thanks to Apple, Are You Gonna Be My Girl was nominated for Best Rock Video, Best New Artist and Best Editing in a Video for 2004 MTV Video Music Awards.



Even when the company changed the concept for their iPod ads, the powerful influence of the ads never stopped.


Canadian singer-songwriter Feist was just another obscure name in the industry, playing from band to band, and then releasing LPs that only received attention from the genre's audience. When her 1234 (not to be confused with Plain White T's 1234) got selected for Apple's 3rd generation iPod Nano ad, 1234 instantly became a surprise hit, reaching No. 8 in the US on download sales alone - a remarkable but rare achievement for an indie musician.



Then last year, Apple's 4th gen iPod Nano advert did the same thing for a Brooklyn band, Chairlift. The band was initially a project between two of its original members to create background music for haunted houses (?!!!). Now, on their Myspace page, Bruises, the song used in the Apple advert, has logged 7.7 million plays. What's more, they are also nominated for MTV VMA 2009 Breakthrough Video Award.




So go get your song on an ad!!!

Steve Jobs!!! Here's my demo!!!!

Ops Tersalah Dengar

I'm bad at picking out lyrics. Either I swallow the words or replace them with stupider ones. And sometimes the lyrics come across as outrageous or outright confusing, cuz I get it all wrong.

Why you so obsessed with me
Boy, I wanna know
Lying havin' sex with me
-Mariah Carey, Obsessed-

Why you so obsessed with me
Boy I wanna know
Lyin' that you're sexin me

Okaylah...quite close jugak.

I sold 3008, you sold 2000 and late
-Black Eyed Peas, Boom Boom Pow-

Poor Yen Peng was really really confused about all that selling going on.

I'm so 3008, you so 2008

They paid paradise,
Put up a f**king lot
-Counting Crows, Big Yellow Taxi-

Why didn't they censor that?!!

They paved paradise,
And put up a parking lot

Young girls, who ain't got no panties
Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground
-Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road-

I was like, dude I thought Elton John was gay?

Mongrels who ain't got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you

Ohh...

It's like I checked into rehab,
Cuz baby you're magazine
-Rihanna, Rehab-

I'm a blank page whenever it comes to deciphering that line.

It's like I checked into rehab,
Cuz baby you're my disease

Wait, there's some more in the song.

I don't want else to walk on cigarettes no more

I don't wanna smoke all these cigarettes no more

Our legs are seal

There's a happen, that we misuse
In multiplex, sire knit
-The Gogos, Our Lips are Sealed-

Aku tak paham langsung.

Our lips are sealed

There's a weapon, that we must use
In our defense, silence

Since you've been gone, I can breathe for the first time
I'm so damn alone...yeah yeah
-Kelly Clarkson, Since You've Been Gone-

What contradiction.

Since you've been gone, I can breathe for the first time
I'm so moving on... yeah yeah

Hey how long till the music drowns you out
Don't put words up in my mouth
And dance to your boyfriend
-Ashlee Simpson, Boyfriend-

Hey how long till the music drowns you out
Don't put words up in my mouth
I didn't steal your boyfriend

So now you know it's not too wise to ask me about lyrics...

Random

Aboard the Superman ESCAPE.


Me: So are you local?
Australian Man: Yeah, this is my first time on this.
Me: (Pfft?)

Both: WAAAAA!!!!

And the next 7 seconds were just sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, ground....

My Ultimate Desire Right Now

...is an 8GB MEMORY STICK PRO DUO...

...for my PSP dearest....

...for up to 7 GAMES....

...and I finally beat all FIVE CHALLENGES OF HADES!!!...

...and I get a mean looking Kratos in red hair and red beard and a GREEN SKIRT!!... (it's a kilt)

He looks 30 years older in that awful get up. Don't mean to insult the Scots, but McKratos? Wha?!!

From zero...

to Hero... (or is it the other way round?)

Give me back the original, sexier Kratos.

All the shit you have to remember for SPM.

This is how I do it.

F**king Chris Brown in apartment
Fluorine Chlorine Bromine Iodine Astatine (Group 7)

Lazy Sarah Palin regrets canceling her facial
Lithium Sodium Potassium Rubidium Cesium Francium (Group 1)

Stupid mother always scares poor starving children away
Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulphur Chlorine Argon (Period 3)

His nanny always keeps x-ray
Helium Neon Argon Krypton Xenon Radon (Noble Gases)

Corrected:
KeNa cuba makan ayam chicken zoo, freakin snake probably hates consuming hideous assholes
K, Na, Ca, Mg, Al, C, Zn, Fe, Sn, Pb, H, Cu, Hg, Ag (reactivity series)

There's a lil something inconsistent with the electrochemical series. Our syllabus states that Calcium is AFTER Sodium, whereas various images yielded by Google search show that Calcium is BEFORE Sodium. So which to believe huh?

PVB - Perverted Bastard
Pressure indirectly proportional to Volume - Boyles' Law

TVC - TV Channel
Volume directly proportional to Temperature - Charles' Law

PPT - Powerpoint
Pressure directly proportional to Temperature - Pressure Law

King Philip Couldn't Order Five Good Sandwiches
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

IS - is - Iodine for Starch
GB - gigabyte - Glucose + Benedict's Test
PM - prime minister - Protein, Millon's reagent

Errr... I'll think of more?

ICSAS Installation 2009

Stepped down today! Didn't cry!!!! Yay!!!!

The installation was a bomb. Out of the 3 installs I attended this year, this is the best. Proof that the upcoming BOD, no, the current BOD is a bunch of energetic, talented and capable people. I'm proud of the great work they've done for the install.

Some aspects of the event were imperfect, and there were insults directed at certain parties, but all in all it was really good.

So paiseh of me to continue standing on the stage after giving the medal off to Joshua! I honestly did not know! Wye Hong said I just couldn't let go of my post. Pffft.

Like Vishal said, "Hey my medal is GONE!" Yes, our medals are gone, and are in younger hands right now. Better hands, I'm sure.

And I already miss my IU Bible, the precious blue KDU book with all the important details of IU Day. It's with Joshua now. Hope he does not throw away all the IU junk that Priya, Brandon and I have passed down to him. It's like a special IU legacy thing going on.

And I finally can send my well-worn blazer off for dry-cleaning. I have never washed it since the tailors delivered it to my school.

And I can call myself EX IU Director. Oooh....

And I shan't take it so hard.

And I shall treat myself tonight for all that one year's worth of hard work. And start studying (Oh my God!!!!!).

No more Interact for me. And don't you even dare congratulate me on my stepping down unless you want to be cursed at in German.

Pre-Install Blues

I'm banned. From the computer. For five days a week.

I. Can only use. The computer. For 2 days a week.

And in case you're thinking, hey that ain't so bad. That's 24 hours there. All I can say is, I wish.

I'm actually starting to write to-do lists before I come online, to maximise the very little quality time I have with pc dearest. I sound so desperate.

Installation's this Saturday, and I'm feeling a little blue. As much as I want to let the new BOD take over, I feel sad that my time is up. I can't let go. I really loved being the IU Director. It gave me a sense of purpose, to organise the IU Day, to try to exceed previous IU Days, to fill me up. When IU Day was over, I felt empty. Relaxed, but empty. And now that it's time to step down, I feel even emptier.

During the interview with Carol's BOD when I was running for the posts of IU Director and Community Service Director, they asked me a lot of difficult questions.

Which post would you prefer?
I was full of doubts on whether I could really handle the job of an IU Director. I'm okay with both. If I don't get IU, then I'm happy with Comm. And vice versa.

Which would you put first: Scouts or Interact?
Scouts. I was really convinced that Scouts was first, since it was the first thing I joined in Form One.

How wrong was I. When I got the IU Dir post, priorities changed. IU was FIRST. IU was second to NONE, not even studies, sleep, homework, scouts, English Language Society, etc. So began my slipping away from scouts, and I confess, my half-heartedness in running the ELS. And I was seriously very irritated with Quek's persistence in the same shit question Carol asked me: Scouts or Interact first?

I really wanted to just slap him and say, None. IU first.

And now with this upcoming Installation, the thing that I've been breathing will be taken from me. My heart is heavy, but I know it is the way to do things.

When Hon Zhen asked me, "Are you ready for install?" I couldn't say anything. I know I'm not ready. I still can't let go yet. I'm not thrilled of being relieved of another burden. I feel like Ahmadinejad and Mugabe (or Samy Vellu), I just can't seem to let go.

I just hope Joshua will enjoy himself as much as I did, and wish him all the best. When I hand over the blue IU book that has been my companion in organising the IU Day, I know it's really over. The end. Game over. Go and study.

Yours sincerely,
Soon-to-be Ex-IU Director