These are the blogging tips I compiled based on my understandings on Mr. Danny Choo's Blogging Workshop held last year. Its main goal is to draw as many visitors to your blog.
1. Please install Search Engine Optimization (SEO) if you don't have the feature and if you have access to install it in your blog. If you have it, please utilize the feature to its fullest. Or at least give your articles/posts a proper and most descriptive title as well as tags and most importantly, do not abuse tags.
2. Be more consistent on your blog content. Random posts/rants just simply won't work. You may write about anything in your blog but put some ways to relate them to one main theme. Remember, not many people like an unpredictable or inconsistent person because by being so gives you an impression of being unmanaged or fragile.
3. Be passionate on what you are writing/posting. Talk less about yourself but emphasize/focus more on the subjects. If possible, please refrain from using the word "I", for instance, "I this/that..." when describing or explaining things. Do it as if you are writing a book, not a diary. Believe it or not, people are looking on how you demonstrate your passion.
4. Make your content as much as original as you could, which means do not just rephrase what others have already did. Be yourself, be creative and openly express your ideas rather than just mere opinions.
5. Work with other bloggers. Do not hesitate to appoint contributors for your blog or if possible, proactively share your sources/users with other blog owners.
6. If you have to copy-pasting from external sources, make sure to provide credits for those copy-pasted materials.
7. Your blog doesn't have to be entertaining all the time. It will always be attractive as long as your content are informative, innovative and creative. It doesn't have to be visual presentation that matters, but the way you deliver the content to the visitors, ie. writing your articles with some twists.
8. Don't forget to update your blog regularly. Take advantage of the future/backdated post feature wisely.
Tip no. 3 is quite true. For example, this blog of mine which is more relaxing in term of contents have less visitors compared to my other blog (http://blog.yougotta.co.cc) which is more serious and heavy themed, despite it was established much earlier and hosted at the well known Google's Blogger. Not to mention the Tip no. 2, where I always apply it to my other blog too, by relating all my posts (almost) to philosophy.
Monday, February 23
Friday, February 20
A Piece of Mind (5:2009)
1. People keep telling me not to post lengthy messages in forum but these people themselves always give or quoting/copy-pasting wikipedia references, which is always the the long articles itself too. What's the difference then? At least I am able to rephrase things in my own words according to my understanding on things. Yes, I prefer to use my own words to explain things instead of just quoting/copy-pasting from external sources, to show that how I understand things. If it is just copy-pasting, even kindergarten kids also can do that. However, it seems that some people are unhappy with what I am doing. They are annoyed of it for no solid reason, which makes me wonder why should they feel like that? Maybe they envy me who can explain things without relying too much on wikipedia, perhaps? Who knows?
2. Everything is data, categorized into two; physical data and virtual data.
3. One of the stupidest visual 'invention' in this decade: High School Musicals, Camp Rock and the likes. I mean, what's so great about those musicals? Maybe I can just say musicals are the worst artistic invention of all time.
4. I don't mind being bored of silence with the right person because talking to the wrong person may be as much boring as well.
5. Robots won't evolve as fast as real living creatures. That is why it is stupid to think that robots may rule human in the future, as if human won't evolve to be better anymore to keep their superiority. If evolution really leads to that, those lab rats would have destroyed us first before the robots do, because we always 'sacrifice' them in the name of science.
6. It is not cigarette, it is cancer stick. It is not understandable that why people still stick to smoking although it is not a myth that they are hazardous.
7. I rather receive low payment for doing something I like than receiving high payment for doing something I hate.
8. It is perhaps very unacceptable for the males to cosplay female AMG characters. By the way, male AMG characters these days most likely have become more feminine or even too feminine at least in their appearance. If not, why the girls didn't hesitate to cosplay them?
9. I have too much (anime) to watch, too much (manga) to read, too much (games) to play, too much (music) to listen, too much (web) to browse. In other words, I have too much (stuff) to download.
10. I believe that whenever there's a chance, there's a hope. But when there's a hope, it doesn't mean there's always a way.
2. Everything is data, categorized into two; physical data and virtual data.
3. One of the stupidest visual 'invention' in this decade: High School Musicals, Camp Rock and the likes. I mean, what's so great about those musicals? Maybe I can just say musicals are the worst artistic invention of all time.
4. I don't mind being bored of silence with the right person because talking to the wrong person may be as much boring as well.
5. Robots won't evolve as fast as real living creatures. That is why it is stupid to think that robots may rule human in the future, as if human won't evolve to be better anymore to keep their superiority. If evolution really leads to that, those lab rats would have destroyed us first before the robots do, because we always 'sacrifice' them in the name of science.
6. It is not cigarette, it is cancer stick. It is not understandable that why people still stick to smoking although it is not a myth that they are hazardous.
7. I rather receive low payment for doing something I like than receiving high payment for doing something I hate.
8. It is perhaps very unacceptable for the males to cosplay female AMG characters. By the way, male AMG characters these days most likely have become more feminine or even too feminine at least in their appearance. If not, why the girls didn't hesitate to cosplay them?
9. I have too much (anime) to watch, too much (manga) to read, too much (games) to play, too much (music) to listen, too much (web) to browse. In other words, I have too much (stuff) to download.
10. I believe that whenever there's a chance, there's a hope. But when there's a hope, it doesn't mean there's always a way.
Saturday, February 14
halfey: The Message of Revelation
An interview with a man greater than legend
(This is a virtual interview compiled by me based on real questions asked to me in real life)
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: My name is Akmal Rizal Shah Putra Mahayuddin bin Hariffin Shah Putra Jammalullail. I was born on January 19, 1983. I am the second child to an Iban father and a Malay mother. My father is a descendant to the local Iban tribe, with a recorded history (genealogy / family tree) traceable back to as early as the 15th century. The lineage record is still be kept continuing today by all descendants including my family, written in various language including English. I will too inherit the record someday in the future, and surprisingly the one that my family have is well written in English, inherited from my father’s father.
My father is a Muslim convert. He was among the first Iban community to receive Christianity, until he converted to Islam when he was 18, three years prior to his marriage with my mother who is one year younger than him. He once called ‘Kid’ by the British missionaries in his village, which was later adopted as his Christian name for a few years even after he embraced Islam. His present Muslim name is given by my mother’s father right before the marriage.
Unlike my father’s properly recorded parentage, my mother’s ancestry is more complicated. Her name is Hatiyyah or Mahni binti Abdul Ghaffar Shah. It sounds like a Persian name because her father has Persian ancestor. The ‘Shah’ in me and my grandfather’s name is indeed from the Persian origin. It is like some sort of surname though we have nothing to do with the Shah dynasty that was once ruled Iran before the Iranian Revolution.
My grandfather’s full name is Abdul Ghaffar Shah bin Uzaid Shah bin Wahablani Shah. Wahablani himself was a Persian merchant who traveled here for business in the late 19th century, eventually married to a local woman and settled down here. He was born in a town near the Hellenistic historical site Persepolis, and he was born to a Muslim Iranian Aryan father and a Muslim convert Palestinian Jewish mother, which makes me having the blood of both Aryan and Jew flowing inside my body. In other words, I am related to Adolf Hitler in some ways, which were thought to have killed more Jews than any other people in the modern world.
My mother’s mother, on the other hand has Brunei ancestry which explains the practices of some unique customs and rituals that continues to run in my family until today. I was told that there are even taboos that must be complied as well. Anyway, this is the information I have gathered since more than 10 years ago. Although my lineage is quite complicated, I am proud of it because not so many people today have the opportunity to dig up detailed history of their own ancestors. My complex family tree must have motivated me to like the subject of history and humanity.
Q: You seem to be well versed with Christianity even though you are a Muslim. Will you convert to Christianity in the future?
A: I will just say no on that, because I don’t believe in things like “we are sharing the same God” or anything similar. For me there is only one true way of worshiping The Almighty and I see it in Islam.
I think my knowledge in Christianity is contributed by the fact that I have close Christian relatives. My father was once a Christian himself in his earlier life. Not only that, I am deeply ‘in love’ with the history of the Roman and any person who learn about them can never escape from learning about Christianity as well. Like I said, learning about ancient Rome will require you to master the Latin language to a certain degree, and believe it or not, I learn Latin from original biblical Latin texts.
(This is a virtual interview compiled by me based on real questions asked to me in real life)
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: My name is Akmal Rizal Shah Putra Mahayuddin bin Hariffin Shah Putra Jammalullail. I was born on January 19, 1983. I am the second child to an Iban father and a Malay mother. My father is a descendant to the local Iban tribe, with a recorded history (genealogy / family tree) traceable back to as early as the 15th century. The lineage record is still be kept continuing today by all descendants including my family, written in various language including English. I will too inherit the record someday in the future, and surprisingly the one that my family have is well written in English, inherited from my father’s father.
My father is a Muslim convert. He was among the first Iban community to receive Christianity, until he converted to Islam when he was 18, three years prior to his marriage with my mother who is one year younger than him. He once called ‘Kid’ by the British missionaries in his village, which was later adopted as his Christian name for a few years even after he embraced Islam. His present Muslim name is given by my mother’s father right before the marriage.
Unlike my father’s properly recorded parentage, my mother’s ancestry is more complicated. Her name is Hatiyyah or Mahni binti Abdul Ghaffar Shah. It sounds like a Persian name because her father has Persian ancestor. The ‘Shah’ in me and my grandfather’s name is indeed from the Persian origin. It is like some sort of surname though we have nothing to do with the Shah dynasty that was once ruled Iran before the Iranian Revolution.
My grandfather’s full name is Abdul Ghaffar Shah bin Uzaid Shah bin Wahablani Shah. Wahablani himself was a Persian merchant who traveled here for business in the late 19th century, eventually married to a local woman and settled down here. He was born in a town near the Hellenistic historical site Persepolis, and he was born to a Muslim Iranian Aryan father and a Muslim convert Palestinian Jewish mother, which makes me having the blood of both Aryan and Jew flowing inside my body. In other words, I am related to Adolf Hitler in some ways, which were thought to have killed more Jews than any other people in the modern world.
My mother’s mother, on the other hand has Brunei ancestry which explains the practices of some unique customs and rituals that continues to run in my family until today. I was told that there are even taboos that must be complied as well. Anyway, this is the information I have gathered since more than 10 years ago. Although my lineage is quite complicated, I am proud of it because not so many people today have the opportunity to dig up detailed history of their own ancestors. My complex family tree must have motivated me to like the subject of history and humanity.
Q: You seem to be well versed with Christianity even though you are a Muslim. Will you convert to Christianity in the future?
A: I will just say no on that, because I don’t believe in things like “we are sharing the same God” or anything similar. For me there is only one true way of worshiping The Almighty and I see it in Islam.
I think my knowledge in Christianity is contributed by the fact that I have close Christian relatives. My father was once a Christian himself in his earlier life. Not only that, I am deeply ‘in love’ with the history of the Roman and any person who learn about them can never escape from learning about Christianity as well. Like I said, learning about ancient Rome will require you to master the Latin language to a certain degree, and believe it or not, I learn Latin from original biblical Latin texts.
So you think you know music very well? (part II)
(The article below is written in response to this article)
Why do you expect me to answer your so-called quiz for only 3 days without an agreement with me? Isn't that is like you're playing an unfair match on an uneven field with condition was set by you to always favor you? Even you also took almost a week to make your counter post which I didn't mind about the time lapse at all. Besides, I was able to write comment on your article without quoting them, which gives me a 1-0 win. This is a blog, not a forum after all. If you asked me the 'quiz' to demoralize me, then I can just say such attempt to demoralize me is failed.
I was replying to your previous article because it is clear that the nature of the article has this feeling of despising anything Malaysian BY DEFAULT. You know what? For you, any Malaysian who play guitar as good (or close to the level) as Yngwie Malmsteen will be labeled by you as Malmsteen copy-wannabe, but if it happens to be a Japanese or some X country guitarist, I think you'd say they are Japanese Malmsteen or that X version of Malmsteen.
Now you are asking me the difference of certain music genres? my friend, you are like a cook who gets mad when a kindergarten kid complained that your cooking tastes bad. I am talking about music right from my heart. It does not matter if you know millions of music genres because it is not a benchmark of how well you know music. I can also say there is a fine line standing between knowing and understanding. Music is universal and general. If music is only for specific groups of people, it is not a music anymore. What's the point of knowing much music genre if you can't explain how music evolve from simple assembly of noise and sound into a real work of art, how those classical, pop and rock emerges or descended from those simple sound and noise. Think again.
Man, I could have using personal assault on you like what you were doing on me but I am not that desperate to resort to that to tell you that you were wrong. I am not overreacting. Overreacting is this situation is when a person feels his ideas are threatened by a comment more influential than his, thus he responded to the comment in hope that the public opinion would once again turning to him. For you, I am not overreacting ONLY IF I were agree with you.
People make mistakes, I know that too but to despise people because they are deemed wrong is not a right thing to do. Bjork and those Icelanders you said? Excuse me man but since you think you know music better than I am, how about giving a chance to geography and history too. Icelanders are European descendants. Oops! Sorry, they are Viking descendants (but Viking are European too, and Russian are also Viking descendants, rooting from the Kievan Russ Viking tribe). OK, those Icelanders are isolated from Europe by the vast ocean. Wait! They are much closer to Europe than the Malacca Strait. I can see why they are more 'musically' literate than Malaysian. You want me to compare Bjork with Malaysian artists of today? Sure I'd say ours are bad but can you read again my article? I was referring to our retro-classical musicians, which means you can't make me comparing Bjork and Sigur Ros with them.
You said my comment was like no impact or nonsense to you but ironically you still tried to undermine the 'weak' comment of mine. You were selfishly claimed that my points make no sense to you, although you still choose to reply to that nonsense comment. What I can see is it was you who fail to explain why Malaysian music sounds bad to you. You were only expressing about how bad is Malaysian music but the man who think he know music better than me failed to detect the rooting reasons that lead to this problem. instead, you were just repeatedly saying that Malaysian musicians are failed imitations of their foreign counterparts.
A lawyer can still fight to win in a forensic crime trial even if he knows next to nothing about forensic crime investigation, or rather anybody may involve in politics without having a degree in politic science. I other words, it doesn't require me to become a musician myself in order to see what is wrong in your article. I agree that music is meant to be listened but music can also be perceived even by a tone-deaf person. To say that a non-musician should not criticize a musician is like saying a non-musician has no rights to enjoy the music or simply has no rights to deserve a better music. Even babies also know to complain (by crying) if they don't like the lullabies sung by their mother.
Since when music is exclusive to musicians only? I'm sorry but that is the impression of your counter post, or should I say your earlier article too. You say you know music better than me but surprisingly the term 'musicology' (research on music) appears foreign to you, as if you never heard about it before. You were sarcastically referring to that term in your post, which sounds like you are mocking the term musicology itself.
If I were you, I would have just say thank you for something new like that rather than comparing myself to other people who deemed' musically' inferior. What a shame for a so-called musician to insult the music knowledge. No, it was an insult towards the knowledge itself, which is a no-no and immoral or disrespectful act. Knowledge is to be respected. What kind of artist who pay no respect to knowledge? Imam Shafie would just say 'I don't know' for things he can't answer and he would add 'ask those who know'. That is why I never compare myself with you by asking things like, for instance, 'Can you explain how Hyms evolved into commercialized music as we know today' or asking anything similar in the demoralizing way like what you did on me in your reply. That is also why I didn't use the title 'So you think you know music better than me?' because I know my position in 'musicability'. However it doesn't mean that I can't tell which part you were wrong.
Even you yourself did not acquire your 'musicability' in a formal way, which makes you no different than me. Even if you DID formally acquired it, you still not better than me either. I know by now that there are things only you know and there are thing only I know. However I managed to 'find gems in a dung hill', and I am proud of it despite my not so great knowledge in music compared to one self-proclaimed musician. No, I'm not saying if you know music well you'll definitely find a gem, but IF you really know music well, you won't just despising people like that. Craps do exist among treasures and treasures do exist among craps, for there is no such thing as 'absolute treasure' or 'absolute crap'.
I must say that we have the similar amount of music exposure to make us 'even' except for the fact that you are more exposed to instruments than me. However, instead of just despising local music BY DEFAULT, I choose to not to be a fan of any artist/musician because in this case we will never have a fair judgment if we already have somebody in our mind, as if we already siding with them by default too. I don't care for where the music comes from. What's important to me is, as long as they sound like music to me and not just sound and noise, they are acceptable. It gives me freedom to do research and analysis on music without being biased. It also provides a clear view to me on why Malaysian music are inferior to their foreign counterpart. I can't just allow you to freely despising local music without telling people how they become that bad. Such action is like a programming using variables without declaring or defining them beforehand.
I never say that I am genius as you blindly assumed I did, based only on the word 'stupid' I used. Saying such thing to demoralize me doesn't make you any better person than me. You were replying to my comment like you are not happy with them rather than dissatisfy with my points. Can you expect me to see strong points from your laid-back style language?
Anything that in opposite to your ideas may be deemed as 'overreacting' by you. Funny isn't it to see someone who 'know' music well are 'overreacting' to a comment from somebody deemed as 'musically' inferior. Maybe you don't mind if they were Malaysian version of L'arc en Ciel or Ali Project?
Music is not all about entertainment my friend. It is also about business these days. It has been a lucrative and profitable business since the commercialization of music. That is why I never really look down on our retro and classic music between the 60's and the 80's since I know why they sound like that. They were appear the same with their western counterparts. You can't deny that on that time, global music was dominated and defined by the love-slow-ballad or heart-broken-themed songs. It is like saying the World War II erupted because it WAS ERUPTED in its time, not because it is occurred recently. You get what I mean? You may give alternate suggestions for things you despised but you SHOULD NOT despise things without analyzing the rooting problem at all. Even art has its own science of analysis and sources of problems. If you think you are an artist, you should know that already.
Why do you expect me to answer your so-called quiz for only 3 days without an agreement with me? Isn't that is like you're playing an unfair match on an uneven field with condition was set by you to always favor you? Even you also took almost a week to make your counter post which I didn't mind about the time lapse at all. Besides, I was able to write comment on your article without quoting them, which gives me a 1-0 win. This is a blog, not a forum after all. If you asked me the 'quiz' to demoralize me, then I can just say such attempt to demoralize me is failed.
I was replying to your previous article because it is clear that the nature of the article has this feeling of despising anything Malaysian BY DEFAULT. You know what? For you, any Malaysian who play guitar as good (or close to the level) as Yngwie Malmsteen will be labeled by you as Malmsteen copy-wannabe, but if it happens to be a Japanese or some X country guitarist, I think you'd say they are Japanese Malmsteen or that X version of Malmsteen.
Now you are asking me the difference of certain music genres? my friend, you are like a cook who gets mad when a kindergarten kid complained that your cooking tastes bad. I am talking about music right from my heart. It does not matter if you know millions of music genres because it is not a benchmark of how well you know music. I can also say there is a fine line standing between knowing and understanding. Music is universal and general. If music is only for specific groups of people, it is not a music anymore. What's the point of knowing much music genre if you can't explain how music evolve from simple assembly of noise and sound into a real work of art, how those classical, pop and rock emerges or descended from those simple sound and noise. Think again.
Man, I could have using personal assault on you like what you were doing on me but I am not that desperate to resort to that to tell you that you were wrong. I am not overreacting. Overreacting is this situation is when a person feels his ideas are threatened by a comment more influential than his, thus he responded to the comment in hope that the public opinion would once again turning to him. For you, I am not overreacting ONLY IF I were agree with you.
People make mistakes, I know that too but to despise people because they are deemed wrong is not a right thing to do. Bjork and those Icelanders you said? Excuse me man but since you think you know music better than I am, how about giving a chance to geography and history too. Icelanders are European descendants. Oops! Sorry, they are Viking descendants (but Viking are European too, and Russian are also Viking descendants, rooting from the Kievan Russ Viking tribe). OK, those Icelanders are isolated from Europe by the vast ocean. Wait! They are much closer to Europe than the Malacca Strait. I can see why they are more 'musically' literate than Malaysian. You want me to compare Bjork with Malaysian artists of today? Sure I'd say ours are bad but can you read again my article? I was referring to our retro-classical musicians, which means you can't make me comparing Bjork and Sigur Ros with them.
You said my comment was like no impact or nonsense to you but ironically you still tried to undermine the 'weak' comment of mine. You were selfishly claimed that my points make no sense to you, although you still choose to reply to that nonsense comment. What I can see is it was you who fail to explain why Malaysian music sounds bad to you. You were only expressing about how bad is Malaysian music but the man who think he know music better than me failed to detect the rooting reasons that lead to this problem. instead, you were just repeatedly saying that Malaysian musicians are failed imitations of their foreign counterparts.
A lawyer can still fight to win in a forensic crime trial even if he knows next to nothing about forensic crime investigation, or rather anybody may involve in politics without having a degree in politic science. I other words, it doesn't require me to become a musician myself in order to see what is wrong in your article. I agree that music is meant to be listened but music can also be perceived even by a tone-deaf person. To say that a non-musician should not criticize a musician is like saying a non-musician has no rights to enjoy the music or simply has no rights to deserve a better music. Even babies also know to complain (by crying) if they don't like the lullabies sung by their mother.
Since when music is exclusive to musicians only? I'm sorry but that is the impression of your counter post, or should I say your earlier article too. You say you know music better than me but surprisingly the term 'musicology' (research on music) appears foreign to you, as if you never heard about it before. You were sarcastically referring to that term in your post, which sounds like you are mocking the term musicology itself.
If I were you, I would have just say thank you for something new like that rather than comparing myself to other people who deemed' musically' inferior. What a shame for a so-called musician to insult the music knowledge. No, it was an insult towards the knowledge itself, which is a no-no and immoral or disrespectful act. Knowledge is to be respected. What kind of artist who pay no respect to knowledge? Imam Shafie would just say 'I don't know' for things he can't answer and he would add 'ask those who know'. That is why I never compare myself with you by asking things like, for instance, 'Can you explain how Hyms evolved into commercialized music as we know today' or asking anything similar in the demoralizing way like what you did on me in your reply. That is also why I didn't use the title 'So you think you know music better than me?' because I know my position in 'musicability'. However it doesn't mean that I can't tell which part you were wrong.
Even you yourself did not acquire your 'musicability' in a formal way, which makes you no different than me. Even if you DID formally acquired it, you still not better than me either. I know by now that there are things only you know and there are thing only I know. However I managed to 'find gems in a dung hill', and I am proud of it despite my not so great knowledge in music compared to one self-proclaimed musician. No, I'm not saying if you know music well you'll definitely find a gem, but IF you really know music well, you won't just despising people like that. Craps do exist among treasures and treasures do exist among craps, for there is no such thing as 'absolute treasure' or 'absolute crap'.
I must say that we have the similar amount of music exposure to make us 'even' except for the fact that you are more exposed to instruments than me. However, instead of just despising local music BY DEFAULT, I choose to not to be a fan of any artist/musician because in this case we will never have a fair judgment if we already have somebody in our mind, as if we already siding with them by default too. I don't care for where the music comes from. What's important to me is, as long as they sound like music to me and not just sound and noise, they are acceptable. It gives me freedom to do research and analysis on music without being biased. It also provides a clear view to me on why Malaysian music are inferior to their foreign counterpart. I can't just allow you to freely despising local music without telling people how they become that bad. Such action is like a programming using variables without declaring or defining them beforehand.
I never say that I am genius as you blindly assumed I did, based only on the word 'stupid' I used. Saying such thing to demoralize me doesn't make you any better person than me. You were replying to my comment like you are not happy with them rather than dissatisfy with my points. Can you expect me to see strong points from your laid-back style language?
Anything that in opposite to your ideas may be deemed as 'overreacting' by you. Funny isn't it to see someone who 'know' music well are 'overreacting' to a comment from somebody deemed as 'musically' inferior. Maybe you don't mind if they were Malaysian version of L'arc en Ciel or Ali Project?
Music is not all about entertainment my friend. It is also about business these days. It has been a lucrative and profitable business since the commercialization of music. That is why I never really look down on our retro and classic music between the 60's and the 80's since I know why they sound like that. They were appear the same with their western counterparts. You can't deny that on that time, global music was dominated and defined by the love-slow-ballad or heart-broken-themed songs. It is like saying the World War II erupted because it WAS ERUPTED in its time, not because it is occurred recently. You get what I mean? You may give alternate suggestions for things you despised but you SHOULD NOT despise things without analyzing the rooting problem at all. Even art has its own science of analysis and sources of problems. If you think you are an artist, you should know that already.
Sinful Valentine
February is deemed to be the month of love. Many boys took the ‘opportunity’ to screw the girls in that month, and also in the same month, many girls lost their virginity to some boys who probably have popped some other girl’s cherry, perhaps just one year earlier. Funny isn’t it, seeing those people confused between love and sex? Sex is not the declaration, celebration and confirmation of love. Sex is not for those who need it (lover couples). It is only for those who are allowed to do it (married couples). Sex neither must not be bought by money nor by love but it must be obtained through a legal marriage. Marriage for love, not love for marriage. The idea of marriage developed when humanity become more civilized. Therefore, if people today think that marriage is unnecessary, it is like as if they are reverting to primitiveness. Morality developed alongside humanity and it is not developed in a century or two because it is developed through collective experience. Free will does not always lead to rightfulness. That is why morality exists as a counter measure to balance it by binding human free will with restrictions. Yet these restrictions imposed by morality are not contradicting but totally compatible with human nature. Therefore, even if marriage seems to appear restrictive, it is still comply with human will and nature.
Tuesday, February 10
The Melancholy of a Yaoi Fangirl (or a Yaoi Hater?)
I am writing this because I need help in relationship. Last Saturday, my girlfriend lent me her laptop (because I don't have one of course). This is not the first time I borrowed it from her since our relationship was established on 'without prejudice' basis. In fact, the laptop she bought is the one that I recommended.
On that Saturday night, my curiosity lead me found her yaoi manga collection in her hard drive. It really shocked my nerves and I 'told' her about it (well, with a bit presence of anger sure it does). It appears that she forgot to erase her traces in the laptop as usual after reading them before she handing over the laptop to me. Just like that, she accused me of violating her privacy or intruding her private life. Then we have a fight and now we are having a hard time facing each other. Even during the Chap Goh Meh festival last night we rarely talk to each other, as if there is an invisible wall between us. Her father also suspected that we were having a fight although both of us tried our best to hide it because we don't want to hurt his feelings.
Maybe I was wrong in this situation and maybe I am the one to blame, but I think it could have been more acceptable if they were 'just hentai'. She did once gave me an eroge after all. Anyway I am now thinking of fixing things even if it was not my mistake. At this rate of our relationship, I think I don't want to lose her. I started as a guy pretending to be her boyfriend but after many years 'pretending' I am now used to have her being on my side. Perhaps I have developed the feeling 'love' in my heart unknowingly but believe it or not, this is the first time we have a real fight after so many years being together as 'lovers'. I don't know how much longer we are going to be like this but I hope to see things will get better soon.
On that Saturday night, my curiosity lead me found her yaoi manga collection in her hard drive. It really shocked my nerves and I 'told' her about it (well, with a bit presence of anger sure it does). It appears that she forgot to erase her traces in the laptop as usual after reading them before she handing over the laptop to me. Just like that, she accused me of violating her privacy or intruding her private life. Then we have a fight and now we are having a hard time facing each other. Even during the Chap Goh Meh festival last night we rarely talk to each other, as if there is an invisible wall between us. Her father also suspected that we were having a fight although both of us tried our best to hide it because we don't want to hurt his feelings.
Maybe I was wrong in this situation and maybe I am the one to blame, but I think it could have been more acceptable if they were 'just hentai'. She did once gave me an eroge after all. Anyway I am now thinking of fixing things even if it was not my mistake. At this rate of our relationship, I think I don't want to lose her. I started as a guy pretending to be her boyfriend but after many years 'pretending' I am now used to have her being on my side. Perhaps I have developed the feeling 'love' in my heart unknowingly but believe it or not, this is the first time we have a real fight after so many years being together as 'lovers'. I don't know how much longer we are going to be like this but I hope to see things will get better soon.
Friday, February 6
So you think you know music very well?
(The article below is written in response to this article)
Honestly speaking, you are being unfair to the local rock legends of the 80's. You said they should have worked something different (of which you referred as the so-called "stepping off the prototypical lame-deredere-slow-rock-whatever and we-tried-so-damn-hard-to-sound-liek-our-heroes mould") You gave the examples of The Police and The Cure but even those examples of yours are hardly well known in their time, compared to the rest of other western rock legends. Our rock legends were just following the trend of slow love ballads since we were still too early to set our own style, now you are still putting the blame on them? Can you tell which western rock bands were not in such trend? Bad Religion? Bad English? Bad Company? Deep Purple? Guns 'n' Roses? Aerosmith? You name it, all of them were also in the league. I am not saying you were ahead of the time, but actually you were out of that time. What a pity. From your article, it feels like you are showing that as if you know music more than other people, but have you ever learn, or at least read about musicology, the evolution of music and the birth/origin/emergence of music?
Malaysian still don't have much of what it takes to master the commercial music because our exposure with modern music only started less than a century ago, which is long after music was made commercial in the western nations. Commercial music was 'invented' during the neo-classical era in the Europe where orchestra concertos were first held and people (audiences) were first being charged to listen to those music (had to pay when attending those concerts). In fact, the Japanese have learned the commercial music directly from western musicians at least one century earlier than us (during the Meiji Modernization period) thus they have mastered it long before us. It is no wonder now they have better domination in music than us.
Anyway, just being a musician doesn't mean you know music well. Like we don't need good hearing to enjoy music (as long as we have the ability to 'feel' music is enough to enjoy it) I don't have to be another musician to say that you are wrong. Feel the music, you ask? Even Mozart still managed to produce great masterpieces after he turn permanently deaf. That is what I mean by 'feeling' the music. You get it?
Honestly speaking, you are being unfair to the local rock legends of the 80's. You said they should have worked something different (of which you referred as the so-called "stepping off the prototypical lame-deredere-slow-rock-whatever and we-tried-so-damn-hard-to-sound-liek-our-heroes mould") You gave the examples of The Police and The Cure but even those examples of yours are hardly well known in their time, compared to the rest of other western rock legends. Our rock legends were just following the trend of slow love ballads since we were still too early to set our own style, now you are still putting the blame on them? Can you tell which western rock bands were not in such trend? Bad Religion? Bad English? Bad Company? Deep Purple? Guns 'n' Roses? Aerosmith? You name it, all of them were also in the league. I am not saying you were ahead of the time, but actually you were out of that time. What a pity. From your article, it feels like you are showing that as if you know music more than other people, but have you ever learn, or at least read about musicology, the evolution of music and the birth/origin/emergence of music?
Malaysian still don't have much of what it takes to master the commercial music because our exposure with modern music only started less than a century ago, which is long after music was made commercial in the western nations. Commercial music was 'invented' during the neo-classical era in the Europe where orchestra concertos were first held and people (audiences) were first being charged to listen to those music (had to pay when attending those concerts). In fact, the Japanese have learned the commercial music directly from western musicians at least one century earlier than us (during the Meiji Modernization period) thus they have mastered it long before us. It is no wonder now they have better domination in music than us.
Anyway, just being a musician doesn't mean you know music well. Like we don't need good hearing to enjoy music (as long as we have the ability to 'feel' music is enough to enjoy it) I don't have to be another musician to say that you are wrong. Feel the music, you ask? Even Mozart still managed to produce great masterpieces after he turn permanently deaf. That is what I mean by 'feeling' the music. You get it?
Monday, February 2
de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.
*Compiled from lipsum.com
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.
*Compiled from lipsum.com
Sunday, February 1
An Interview With The Audio Legend
This is the original footage from the recent interview with Mark Levinson by CHIP Malaysia team during the LG Perfectly Tuned at Singapore. Mark Levinson, also widely known as the "Golden Ear" among the industry for his ability to hear higher scales and identifies the sound more accurate than specialized machines. He has established a collaboration with LG Electronics to tune up their audio products to achieve the ultimate and perfectly tuned audio system design. Let's hear what he has to say about sound and music.
(CHIP: CHIP Team)
(ML: Mark Levinson)
CHIP: How did you get the Golden Ear moniker?
ML: It's like anything else, you need to practice and there is no substitute for experience. When you do something for plenty of years, you'll eventually be good at it. In my case, I'm using my experience as a musician, as a recording engineer, a mastering engineer to audio design. The idea of Golden Ear can be positive but it can be negative. In fact, you don't need great hearing to enjoy music. It's not about your ear, it's about the feeling to feel music. That's the most important thing.
CHIP: Do you think that this system from LG tuned by you will become staple in homes?
ML: I cannot control of that but in my opinion, this system is a beautiful thing. The good thing about this collaboration is the concept. We now have a way to produce beautiful sound, practical and affordable music system to the masses. LG has made a great contribution by doing this and I am really privileged to be part of this. I'm happy to lend my experience and my skills in this collaboration.
CHIP: Does LG restrict you in any way when tuning their audio system?
ML: LG gives me complete freedom to suggest any changes and it's a great relationship. I enjoyed it. It's not a marketing thing. They just don't put my name on it and make it. They only use my name on my permission.
CHIP: What do you think of the devices that plays the music these days?
ML: There are no problems with the devices. The real problem is the content. You can always make better players for sure but if the contents are bad, there is no point in having a great system. I'm interested in the content side to improve the quality of the file because most MP3 files are just not good enough. We've proven that we can radically improve the quality of the MP3 files and the main thing to do now is to take this to a larger scale.
CHIP: On what basis do you tune a device?
ML: The fundamental basis to me is when the musicians play, you record them and you play them back. No post production, no EQ, nothing. If it sounds like what the musicians played, the device is tuned perfectly.
CHIP: Are you working on something similar for other devices like a notebook or mobile phone?
ML: A laptop is a laptop and a mobile phone is a mobile phone. Some things don't add up. If you want great audio quality, spent a few hundred Ringgit and get a proper pair of speakers. It'll definitely be better than the puny speakers on a laptop.
CHIP: People are more demanding in terms of what they listen and what they see. They have finer tastes these days. Does this make your job harder or easier?
ML: If you think that the LG FB163 is good, then my job is easy. Oscar Wilde once said "I have the simplest of taste; I'm always satisfied with the best". Quality speaks for itself.
CHIP: What is good music to you?
ML: Good music touches your heart. If it doesn't touch your heart, it's just sound. Music is communication. If music has nothing to say, nothing to touch you, nothing to change you in some way, then it's just noise. There's enough noise in the world, why add more noise?
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