Due to logistical reasons, I have mostly been staying out of my apartment over the last couple of weeks. When I came back this evening, I was struck by the funky smell that greeted me as I opened the door. It could only mean one thing: I forgot to take the trash out before I left home. Turns out that was only half of it. There were unwashed dishes with some of the remaining oatmeal I had for breakfast last week in the sink. Only this time, the oatmeal moved. The nutrients on the oatmeal must have acted like steroids to whatever organisms that were living on it. It's actually one of those sights that makes me go Steve Irwin: "Crikey! Isn't she gorgeous, mate! What a beauty!" I shall never look at oatmeal the same way again.

I actually took a photo of it before washing it away but I'm stopping short of putting it up here as it might seriously jeopardize whatever chances I have left for any relationship with the opposite sex.

The tracks on this mixset are somewhat dated but I've grown fond of this mix as this was one of the first mixes I've ever done back in 2004. And by hand too (this was way before I got to know about Deckadance or Ableton). I'm putting it up here as the external hard disk that I use to archive my materials is beginning to go wonky already. My balls have shrunk as a result of that. So get it while you can (the track, not my balls).

Tracklist: Mr. Dabada (Carlos Jean), Ya Mamma (Fatboy Slim), Supermokhtar (Tyco/KRU), Magic Carpet Ride (Philip Steir feat. Steppenwolf), Funky Shit (The Prodigy), Morning Lemon (The Chemical Brothers).

[mp3:phuturetronica.mp3]

Download: Phuturetronica (~13MB)

This is one heckuva way to get engaged. Then this is one helluva way to have the first dance.

I'm getting ideas.

I broke my comb when combing my hair this morning, which means one thing: time to get a haircut. I'll replace the comb when I hit the grocery store on my next trip. Meanwhile, brace yourselves for bad hair days from yours truly in the coming days.

And that concludes our transmission for today.

Having missed out on Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical, I vowed not to miss out on P. Ramlee: The Musical this time around. I almost did. And after watching it this afternoon, I was glad and thankful for not missing out on this wonderful production by Enfiniti. Like many Malaysians of my generation, I only know the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee (who incidentally died exactly two years before I was born) through his timeless songs and movies. This musical attempts to show the personal side of him, i.e. his life, the loves and the inspiration. I shan't elaborate on the storyline but I shall say that I thoroughly enjoyed the production, from the cast and ensemble to the sets (check out the locomotive and the cabooses during the train station scene!) to the choreography (dig that clog dance during Ramlee's and Junaidah's wedding scene) and especially the music (Gelora's percussion had my head bopping like a hip hop producer at the mixing desk and Dick Lee's numbers were really moving). Favorite scenes for me have to be Ramlee's marriage to Junaidah and Ramlee's courtship with Saloma which had the elements of humor that we all know and love P. Ramlee for! The only niggling points for me have to be Melissa Saila's singing (a wee bit uncomfortable to the ears in places and her voice was quite hoarse this afternoon) but she made up for it with her powerful acting in that intense breaking up scene. The other being the prolonged scene of Singapore breaking out from Malaysia (could use more of the clog dance in that Ramlee and Junaidah's wedding scene!). Overall, it was a wonderful and enjoyable performance! Kudos to Datin Tiara Jacquelina and Enfiniti!

I'd like to thank Pat Ibrahim (choreographer of the musical) for slotting me in to this afternoon's show. I also had the privilege of meeting up with Chedd Yusoff who plays Sukardi (Ramlee's best friend) after the show. He had earlier pimped that mashup I did of Siti and Snoop Dogg to Siti (who plays Azizah) herself. Needless to say, I had to be gone before any talks of potential lawsuits could ensue.

Beyonce decided to cancel her performance in Kuala Lumpur citing protests by Muslim groups a scheduling conflict and will be performing in Indonesia instead. Meanwhile, belly dancers from the Nancy Bakhshy Belly Dance Group of Iranwill be performing here as part of the annual Hari Raya celebrations.

Tickets are priced at RM140, RM160 and RM180.

When I'm not writing stuff here, I read stuff that's out there, mostly the ones that I'm subscribed to via Google Reader. I thought it'd be an interesting afternoon exercise during this Hari Raya break I'm currently on to churn out some code that is able to consume the feed provided by the Google Reader Shared Items and display them within these webpages (which is all custom coded, by the way. Real geeks code, others rely on plug-ins) for a change instead of mashing up music. I'm just glad to know that I still got some of my programming mojo left so that I can keep my day job. I know my friends in Facebook have seen these before (via the recently rebranded Feedheads application) so I thought I'd extend it here as well for the benefit of my non-Facebook friends ('cos you're still my friend!). Enjoy the brand new Livelinks page, people!

Raya is really becoming a routine affair for me the last few years. From the sequence of events, to the food being prepared and consumed, the time the food is prepared and consumed, the order of homes visited, etc. have been exactly the same. Then, there's that classic question of "When are you gonna get married?" that's been asked year after year after year. So much so that it has made it into the series of routine question and conversation when I go from one relative's house to the other. I really feel like making a quip comeback (or confuse them with some Web 2.0 gobbledeegook response) whenever anybody asks that question but then I'll risk having to routinely answer to my relatives in the future for causing all the cardiac arrests in my grand relatives during that fateful string of raya visits.

So yes, it's been a another routine raya affair for me this year. Somebody please help me break this sequence. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can talk about the latest in Martian exploration or stem cell research or even Erra Fazira's latest husband-to-be with my relatives during Raya for a change.

Iftar or the breaking of fast throughout Ramadhan for me this year has been rather minimalistic. If I'm not breaking fast in the car due to bad traffic, most of the time, I'll break fast at home on my own:

Sahur or the pre-dawn meal is a hit or miss (mostly the latter) affair. Anyhow, with Ramadhan coming to an end and Syawal just peeking around the corner, allow me to wish everyoneSelamat Hari Raya, mohon ampun maaf zahir batin atas segala salah silap perilaku diri selama ini. Have a good Aidilfitri celebration and please don't be part of the statistic in the annual Malaysian Balik Kampung Road Massacre.

PS/ Oooh! A Malaysian made it to space tonight!

My last mashup effort got a bit of attention and I owe it a lot toSashi and Sultan Muzaffar for pimping it. Word has it that Datuk Siti herself has heard the track. I hope the smile on her face as described doesn't mean "Hmmm... potential lawsuit!"

Which brings me to my next point. Many times over, I've managed to come up with stuff that people say as interesting, cool, groundbreaking, ahead of its time, etc. etc. in the areas that I've been able to get my hands on since my college days when I show it to people. However, most of those things end up being in places where dust and mites create colonies which other people eventually catch up with to milk its worth dry. In other words: I suck when it comes to marketing. It doesn't help that more often than not, I sell myself short too. At least that's what I've been told by someone whom I worked with recently.

So if you happen to know (or be) anyone who can pimp my cred, have him/her sent my way, please? Hopefully it'll turn out like how the lyrics to Opportunities (Let's Make Lot's Of Money) by the Pet Shop Boys goes. But please, nothing like Abang Best, alright?