The School of Hard Sitars

In my iPod: Ghost - Extreme
[download]
State of mind: Rocking
Location: Mumbai, India

It is very unusual for me to post up two posts back to back but I had to recap what went down today. (Okay, it wasn’t unusual for the “me” who was a blog addict a year ago but definitely not now). So it is finally Tuesday and it was my first day of my sitar class. Feeling rather like a kid on his first day of school, I have no idea what the fuck to expect. I mean for my fucking age, I would have been to school like a million times but never have I set foot in a school in India. I mean I didn’t want to get bullied or have my lunch money extorted by bigger curry kids. So I tried to dress down as much as possible: jeans, tee and a cap. I tied and hid my pony tail away; I really didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention. You know even though it was just music class and I am suppose to be having fun but somehow going to school always bring out the blues in me and to make it worse, I had to take a bus to school. Dang, I don’t wanna be beaten up by those bullies sitting at the back seat on my way to school… Anyway, class was great and in fact it was much more fun than I anticipated. Some nice punk ass kid even brought a fake Les Paul and a bunch of pedals to school, so we jammed a little after class.

So this is me in my element, playing a cover of INXS’s Suicide Blonde’s riffs.

To be frank, I was completely lost in class today. It might be that maybe 6 years of not attending any classes has rusted my brain but a little “fall behind” and rain won’t stop me from coming back again tomorrow.

This is me with a grin saying:
Night!

xniquet's journey across India

It Felt Like My Childhood Had Been Taken Away

In my iPod: Man In the Mirror - Michael Jackson
[download]
State of mind: ...
Location: Bangalore, India

After admiring the beautiful round breast and nipples of the Thai girl that starred as a hooker in Bruce Lee's The Big Boss, I was about to make an early retire to bed. This is what went through my head, how come the girls in all those 70s movie look so bloody fine while when 80s came, all the girls suddenly turn butt ugly as if they were hit by an ugly stick? Damn, I totally dig the chics in the 70s flick. Enough of 70s babes of the silver screen; as I was saying, I was about to hit the sack, old habit dies hard, I had to reload Twitter once on my mini Opera and see if there is anything new that is going on in the world right now. Usually it would be just crap at this time of the hour. but this caught my eyes:

"Oh well, he wasn't as "Invincible" as he claimed to be..."

"Yeah, nothing like a little stay in the hospital to attract some media attention to his dying popularity..."

"Hmmm....seems to be getting pretty serious..."

"Huh? you gotta be kidding me..."

"See, it could be a publicity stunt..."

"Is this for real ??? One minute he is revived , one minute he is dead"

"Alive again???"

"Alright when you see Lim Kit Siang Twittering about it, I am pretty sure that Michael Jackson's fat lady has sung. "

I know this isn't what you would expect from a Pop hater like me, but as I try to sleep I just couldn't help but to feel heavy hearted by his sudden death. All the mean things we say about him, the jokes and insults that we throw at him doesn't alter the fact that he was indeed a great artist and in some way or another, his songs has influence our lives. Have the scandals and lack of popularity of recent years overshadowed what he has achieve or is it just us trying to ignore his contribution and concentrate on his negative side? I admit that I was one that was ashamed to have my friends caught me listening to his songs while I was in college and I joined in the laughs and mockery when who would. I don't know where all this hatred started but it took his sudden death to remind me that I was the 7 year old kid who tried stealing money from my mum's purse because I wanted to get a copy of Michael Jackson's BAD cassette. Of course I got caught and was served a whooping chorus of cane noodles but only to find the cassette on my bed the next morning. We all have our Michael Jackson moments and mine was some serious ass whooping for trying to steal. As a old fart who has lived his life for almost 3 decades,I practically grew up to Michael Jackson's music and today it almost felt like my childhood had been taken away from me.

26/6 Curry and Beer

23/6 At the Hotel Gym

22/6 Curry Lobster

21/6 Luncheon with Olivia from Sg

18/6 In a bookstore, looking for Iris Chang's book

17/6 Wacthing Angels and Demons

xniquet's journey across India

Whatever Doesn't Kill You is Gonna Leave a Scar

In my iPod: Into the Fire (alternate) - Marilyn Manson
[download]
State of mind: Scarred
Location: Bhopal, India

Judging from the fucking title, you can safely assume that I have been listening a little too much to Marilyn Manson's The High End of Low. But when it comes to shinning my idol's ass, I cannot talk too much or too highly of him. But I am just going to spare you about Marilyn Manson's new CD that is due for release on the 26 May 2009. How I got this soon to be release album has a lot to do with the beauty of the internet and the people who is always thinking about others like me; a kind Samaritan has bought the pre–released CD, ripped it, placed it on file sharing site and spare me the eternal wait. Alright already, enough of Marilyn Manson; from now onwards, I totally give you my word that this post isn't about licking his ass and how awesome his new CD is.

You fucking know what, I think India has finally taken its toll on me, even though I may be diarrhea free (for now) but my fucking face is starting to show. I can't pinpoint to what directly contributed to my facial rape but I think everything sort of add up cumulatively in a gangbang way to leave my face as it is today. Fucked up complexion, gigantic and visible pores, chicken pox like tiny red dots all over my fucking forehead are some of the fucking symptoms that is plaguing my fucking face at this moment; the main one is the side of my nose; they are so fucking red that one might assume that I was using some red tone blusher to make it rosy. Fuck! Initially, I wanted to fucking blame it on not bringing my Miracle water product along, but come to think of it, it is not that. The fucking heat and amount of dirt and crap in the water here have also play a fucking good part but to top it all, I think my act of going full circle and taking a fucking dip in the world's most polluted river has sealed my fate. So yeah, I totally screw myself over and I have no one to fucking blame but myself. Yeah, go ahead, you can fucking laugh and give me the "I told you so" speech but it doesn't change the fact that I was in the Ganga and you was not!

I was so not in the fucking mood that I totally left my eye brow unattended; with a complexion like this, I wouldn't give a fuck if my eyebrow grows into a fucking bush and join in the middle. Fuck! It is days like these that I wished that it is common for a guy to carry a compact to cake up some makeup and not being look at as a fucking queer. But did I tell you that there are another 7 tracks extra if you purchase the deluxe edition of Marilyn Manson's New CD the High End of Low; which totally makes sense to do so, because the best song in the lot is found in his bonus disc. Oh, I did thought about going to get some facial done on my last day in Varanasi but with a sign like this, I would rather take my chances on just letting it be.

I left a day later than I intended because I was feeling rather frail and weak and I don't think I could go through the ordeal of being cramped inside a curry scented train compartment jammed packed with hundreds of sweaty motherfucking Indians again. So I booked a flight the next day to Bhopal. You know apart from being call the City of Lakes because of the natural and manmade lakes that surrounds it, I am not really sure what Bhopal has to fucking offer. I was told to head here first before Mumbai. So I guess I just need to open my big fucking mouth and ask around in order to find out what's the fucking deal with Bhopal. But first things first, I needed somewhere to lay my ass down for the night. I thought I would slightly pampered myself this time round; so instead of going to the cheapest hotel or inn, I opt for something a little more comfortable and comes with a clean crapping throne, so that I do not need to shit standing up.

So my favorite track to Marilyn Manson's The High End of Low is "Into the Fire (alternate version)"; anyway, back to less important things, as you can see (below), even though it may not be Hilton standard but it was much better than the last 2 hotels I have been in. The totally fake tiger skin print decoration on the wall does gives it an exotic feel but it totally clashes with the bed that comes with it. As a matter of fact, the fucking bedsheet looks like someone's Sarong. Fuck! It fucking feels queer to sleep on a sarong, especially one that looks like it was worn by a guy.

Oh…Did I tell you that you can read my review on Marilyn Manson's new CD HERE... On this part of the room, I think it is a total mismatch; rags and coffee table that could easily be passed as furniture from a 2 star hotel but they had to fucking use plastic chairs. They should totally fire or sack the room interior decorator of this establishment.

So here I am, a man without any fucking conviction or idea as to what and where am I suppose to do and go tomorrow. But you know what, it ain't all that bad, at least I don't have any fucking expectation on what to fucking expect; so I'll let this be a little discovering trip. So I beseech you to stay tune as I blog more about how totally awesome Marilyn Manson's new CD The High End of Low is and maybe if you have more time, you can also read up about what I might totally get myself into here at Bhopal.

Long Live Reverend Manson!

xniquet's journey across India

It's U2 Day

In my iPod:
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2
[download]
State of mind: Exhilarated
Location: Bed

Album cover: by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Hooray it is U2 Day!!! Well, it isn't today and it wasn't yesterday too, it was actually the day before. But I just couldn't get my dirty hands on their digital CD (when I mean digital, it means free, who the fuck wanna pay for digital stuff when you have rapid share and you can download it for free?) that is why U2 Day is today for me. You know the fucked up thing is, just within an hour on their released of their new CD “No Line on The Horizon”, link to download their full CD was everywhere on the internet but I was just a couple of hours late , almost all the links were taken down by the fucking host. But thanks to Google alert, I was able to find a fresh link and now the whole CD is playing in my iPod.

So you might be thinking if I am such a big fan of U2 why I didn't buy it instead of downloading it. Well, these days only suckers buy CD when there are just released. Let me tell you fucking why, because somewhere along the line, within 5 to 6 months, the band are just going to re-issue a special edition of the CD with extra everything and that would completely make me feel like a fucking idiot for buying the first edition CD. So you get what the fuck I mean right? I think some of you have been down that road and it almost felt like you are being butt fucked.

After 5 years, let me repeat that 5 years of wait, the greatest band in the fucking universe is back with 11 tracks. Well, some of you might think that I have a change of heart because I have always been for Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. To be frank, my all time favorite band is U2 (not Manson and Nine Inch Nails but they are very close). I never scream and shout my undying love for this band in my blog is because I never had a chance to because they never seem to come up with new stuff except for now. Their last CD “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” was in 2004 and I haven't even started blogging for fucks sake.

I practically grow up with U2 because my sister was a U2 freak and that was how I gotten into them. While the rest of the kids were listening to new wave pop crap, I was listening to Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry's alternative rock shit. I learned how to hum “With or Without You” before I could sing “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. The first fucking tune I could play on the guitar wasn't Romance d'Amore but it was the riff from “Where the Streets Have No Name”. Hey, even my first iPod was the U2 iPod but I fucking regretted giving it to one of my ex-girlfriend. Do you think it is too much to ask it back from her now?

So, I am just going to celebrate U2 day by kicking back and do completely nothing. With my ears deeply jacked into my iPod , I am going to fucking dissect "No Line on the Horizon". You know this album is just sounded so unfamiliar to me, maybe I was expecting something that sounded like the last 2 albums. I think I am just going to keep a clear mind and brood on it, maybe I will find something that I like.

The xniquet-wiki articles:

• No Line on the Horizon - U2(2009) available for download
• Review : No Line on the Horizon - U2

Raising Sand is better than 100 Nigga CDs Combined

In my iPod: Stick with Me Baby - R.Plant & A.Krauss
[download]
State of mind: Polluted
Location: Star Bucks, East Coast Mall

To me there isn't anything lame about country music, however I wouldn't wanna be could dead listening to Carrie Underwood or Garth Brooks. Alright the fact is that I have nothing against nice ol' cowfolks or their queer habit of wearing checkered shirt, jeans and boots with their ten gallon hat going all “BooYa” and “YeeHaa”. I don't question their sexuality when it comes to driving 4 x 4 pickup trucks and making out with their own sister at the back of it, or even having homosexual sex-cape in camp fires with other cowboys; it's alright with me as long as I don't get to see them in action. It is their prerogative and I am totally cool with it. There is nothing they can do that would make me lose respect for them except maybe for the stench of manure that is emanating from their body courtesy of shoveling crap in the ranch all day.

So you see I am totally cool with the country shit but I am just so not digging into the country music vibe. It is just so not me, cause I am a fucking hard rocking metal grinding rocker that fucking rocks hard and that is how I fucking roll.

*Sigh…

But something has change and I fucking hate to admit this. Every damn time I listen to a really good country song, I get all John Denver about it and it gets stuck in my head. I just couldn't stop listening to it all day long. And it will stay playing on my iTunes, iPod, in my car, in my head… until another good song comes along and save me from it. It all started with Trace Adkins' “You gonna Miss This”. I was so hooked to that song that I think I must have spread the disease to Jakarta because Cenni was plagued with that song too. And now I am stuck with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' “Stick with You Baby”. (Their CD Raising Sand is da bomb, if you like rap, this CD is like a hundred times better than all the Nigga crap put together, even though it is in the folk rock and country genre but I think you get what I mean when I say it's 100 times better than rap music.)

You know what, I think I might be of cowboy ancestry or I might have lived my previous life as a gun slinger in the Wild Wild West because there is definitely some redneck hillbilly cow-blood in me that just can't resist fucking country music.

Anyhow, it was "Make Tzyy Ling Her Tom Yum" day and after a day of scouting and hunting for all the ingredients with the song “stick with you baby” playing in my iPod; it was time to hit the kitchen. So I place the track “stick with you baby” on repeat and started working on that Tom Yum. It was my first time doing Tom Yum and I never really thought that it would be that easy. It was basically just dumping all the ingredients into a pot accordingly and wait for a certain amount of time before you dish out and served. Tzyy Ling's Tom Yum turned out pretty alright and I hope she'll likes it and would be able to follow the recipe that I posted in the xniquet-wiki.

I don't know if any of you have this peculiar way of enjoying your Tom Yum; well you see my family takes Tom Yum with Yau Char Kwai (Chinese cruller). We simply dip it into the Tom Yum soup to let it soak up and then eats it. It is simply awesome when you take a bite at the soaked up Yau Char Kwai, the soup absorbed just explodes into your mouth. It is just lovely to enjoy it on a cold night listening to “stick with you baby”. (See I just can't seem to stop getting that song outta my head).

Anyways, gotta go before some nigga pops out of a trash can and caps me in the ass for insulting their rap music.

The xniquet-wiki articles:

• tZyy Kosong's Tom Yum
• Yao Char Kwai (Chinese Cruller)
• Review: Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss