fashizzlemanizzle

So eventually, i did go and watch The Ordinary Boys perform at the Bournemouth International Centre. After much valued advice from Wandi Math-Rock Dynamite n the Hot Rod himself, i splashed out 13pounds and deprived myself of a third visit to London. Well, to those who havent heard of them, so havent i! Well they were the only recognisable act to be performing in my hometown of Bournemouth. (and also desperately trying to go to a substitute concert after pawning away my KOC tix). Alas, i guess it wouldnt have measured up to the KOC gig. Apparently their massive hit is 'Boys will be Boys' and one of their members is starring in the British show 'Celebrity Big Brother'. The concert supposed to start at 7.30pm, with 2 opening acts, but i arrived late. I have to admit, walking along one of the unfamiliar lanes alone after magrib sure gave me the creeps, forever turning my back n check blind-spot to see anyone tailing me. But eventually i arrived at the BIC where there were plenty of indie kids, and the real fashizzle Anglo-Saxon Punks (tho the one i saw was prob a married couple in their 40s in their tight denim jackets n a can of lager).

I managed to catch the second opening act, this band called The Automatics. I was only impressed by one thing abt this band : their keyboardist, who was also the backing vocals, was hyperly overly over, even prob outshining the main singer cum bassist. I mean, he was like so shiok sendiri, his keyboard parts were mere simple tapping notes, but the way he was gyrating n shaking his head, as if they were playing Rancid or sumtin. But in actual fact, their music was more britpop, at times trying to be faux-emo. He was like so freakin over, he really believed that the crowd paid to watch them instead of The Ordinary Boys. Delusional mad sailor. Even after their 30mins performance, tat same keyboardist was walking ard the hall n tryin to act low-profile n slouched n his eyes looked left n right, to like avoid paparazzis, when in actual fact, not one 14year old girl recognised who the bloody hell he was. This guy was prob a crony of the band, and out of sympathy, let him join in the act n gave him at least sumtin to do like hittin the keyboards.

Oh yea, the seats tat i paid for, the cheapest was for balcony seats. So i was seated at the top. Apparently, the standing (n more ex tix) were sold out. So eager beaver lah these fellow Bournies to see 'em. From the top, i can imagine exactly wat the crowd saw at the Indoor stadia for the Franz Ferdinand magical tour. The crowd below looked kinda wild tho. All big sized, i would have been pummelled to a pulp by 'em. The pushing looked pretty violent too, at a lot of times, bottles were randomly missiled from the crowd, either onto the stage or themselves.

So the Bhouys, supposed to play at 9.30pm, came out at 9.15pm instead. Which was good. So i tink the only tune tat I knew was tat Boys will be boys. Other than tat, i was juz swirling my head ard, trying to enjoy the music n not look too stiff, being the only single n coloured dude around. Lucky the crowd up here lesser n very relaxed, 'cept when i suddenly heard a THUMP n my chair shooked, saw this white-boy passing out at the aisle. Drunked out or sumtin. Dey, u cant hold a drink like the Tamil tigers man. But the saving grace, I was very much impressed by the sound system, which was massive. They even managed to put in echo on the mics for specific parts of the songs, which i found cool, his voice trailing off when he's off the mic. And the lighting was impressive too, choreographed neatly with the tune of the muzak, and those kinda 'radio-led' lights tat moved along wit the groove of the music.

So i'd say these Ordinary Boys (which according to drummerhead wandi, name sounded like a boy band) played, mostly britpop stuffs, wif a tinge of dancehall and ska. Apparently some people know them more as a ska band, but i certainly didnt get the impression they're a full-blown ska band fron the concert. Their last song was nice, tho i didnt get the title. They said tat they didnt bring along their brass section, so asked the crowd to shout "PA-RAM-PAM-PAM" (no reference to da legend Param ok). Now this was a gig, which bloody hell i didnt understand a word of the vocalist's stage banters, pekat lah their accent. Tho i did understand when he chidded the security people in front of the stage of manhandling the poor rowdy kids at the front of the barrier. I lost count of the number of people they were pulling out of the crowd, over the barrier, most of 'em i assume due to hyperventilation.

Thankfully they ended at 10.30 instead of the scheduled 11.30. If not, i tink really must run home liao, u know lah, walking on the streets alone close to midnite at foreign land aint such a good idea. Eventually reached home at 11.10. If u wana sample their stuff, check out http://www.myspace.com/ordinaryboys

More pics for my lovely darlings creatures of the night and fellow Endless entities.


Hello ex-Q me, Sir, may i take a picture of ur horsey, i mean u and ur horsies???



Halo halo! Ex-Q me Hallo Mister Policeman! Hallo! Wait! Wait! Oh BLOODY BOLLOCKS!



Da Buckingham Palace. QueenDopeJam aint in oh kay. Her flag aint fashizzlin.



A midget guarding the palace. On this particular day, those familiar red-uniformed guards in bearskins werent working.



Where Aslan is chilling after Narnia.



Check out the priceless faces of death look on the guy to my left. Prob he was shocked to see the flash, thinking there's lightning underground.



Where the cool-cats are at. Welcome to Carnaby Street.



Where my Vans homies are at.



This pic's for u Yun. Da London hideout. But careful, each tee cost 30pounds, can buy 3 tees in S'pura.



Da X-Large Far East posse has set up shop in London.



So apparently, no need to flag down the train.



KILBURN!

So kids, i will be flying off to Dublin on Monday, the hometown of Guiness Stout. My broinlaw will there to catch In Flames n Sepultura. As for me, i guess juz chill out at the churches n gaols. More pics will come from Doooblin. And ive got to seriously practice my gaelic. Yiddish yaddish arck arck arck.

So i guess judging from the pic above, u'd have a rough idea as to which part of the world im at. Left my place at 7.40am, walked to the train station n took da National Rail train to London Waterloo station n arrived at 10.30am. In the train (and i mean those KTM kinda trains not MRT hor) were kids who were goin to skool. Wot a pity. So far meh must go skool take train. First stop was the London eye. I guess puttin up pics would suffice any narration needed.



Travelling without moving. In da train.



England graffitti. Kinda sucky this one. Didnt get to take the nicer ones. If u can decipher this, contact me n u get a mystery gift.



Somehow, this pic reminds me of Smallville. Hey isnt tat where they found Lex Luthor?



See if you can spot Matt Le Tissier.



Me n baby parka at the London Waterloo train



My! Wat a big wheelie. The London Eye. Bloody expensive mate.



Tan de largo a los hermanos y a las hermanas de la guerra



This was actually a pic of tat guy beside me.



Post Malaysia Cup football, Sudiat Dali answered his true calling of becoming a sculptor.



The Parliament House. Thanx to Herman. Didnt even realise I was standing on the Thames river. But this building is da fashiznits. The material its made of is really one kind lah. Like very sharp sharp materials liddat.



So have you met my new fren? Ni lah dia Abang Ben. Now evryone say hi to Abang Ben!



At da Westminster Abbey wif da sista. Its a super huge church, where they hold important ceremonies like Lady Di's funeral and Prince Charles umpteenth marriage. And must pay somemore to go inside the church. Oh the blasphemy of it all.



Caught in the act soldiers 'fighting' for peace. Apparently there was a demonstration against the WAR on IRAN last last Sat at London itself. Sorry mates couldnt join in the marching. Ive had enough marching whilst at Police Academy.



Whitehall Palace. Again big up to Herman. FACT : I was actually tryin to get a picture of tat runner instead of the building.



Oh yea Herman Felani. A souvenir for ya. The Canada gate in London.



Too cool for skool.

Well well, looks like ive missed one helluva concert aye? If Su said it was one of her best concert without mentioning FF, then it must have been damn good. Alas, im a musafir for the moment, searching for the true meaning of life. And Damien rice also comin. Tsk tsk tsk.

Well over here, evrytin i touch on my rite hand, my left fingers will start to move n i kumat kamit while trying my hardest to convert mentally how much it'd cost in Sing dolars. The numbers are small, like 9 or 10 pounds, but when converted, tats a whooping S$30 at least. Sigh. I guess tis is my retribution for all those overzealous Bangkok shopping until nvr remember world.

So yea, Monday will be my maiden trip to London (tat trip from Heathrow to Bournemouth didnt count lah). So will leave home at 7am, walk to the train station n board the 7.30 train n reach London abt 9+. Will be spendin the whole day there. Catch the 9pm train n be back home by 11+pm. So yea, when my broinlaw asked wat i wana see, of coz i said Big Ben (no reference to any male anatomy here). And prob the thames n all tat shite. And soho if i can squeeze some shoppin in. And if tat aint enuff, im planning my own solo trip to London prob ard late tis week or nxt.

Oh yea, on top of UK, I will be goin to Dublin! Evrybody say YOU TOO! Well my broinlaw n sis wanted to have a holiday of their own. So the choices were Ireland, Scotland or Barcelona. They were very keen on Barcelona, for the warm weather, but due to MY budget constraints, we settled on Dublin. Cheaper lah. And abt an hr flight to Dublin from the Bournemouth airport via Ryan Air. Now tat has been schduled for 27 to 30 Mar. I'll try n see if i can bring back a leprechaun or two. Speaking of which, yesterday, Fri, was St Patrick's day. So good news to stout fans out there.

So, when u wear long johns, do u wear underwear beneath it? Will it fry the golden balls?

at ferst i wasnt quite sure wat to expect.as i settled down in my seat,i must admit that the Esplanade concert hall is a fantastic music arena. i was hopping for a hot hot babe to sit next to me but alas it wasnt to be.haha. anyhoos, the crowd steadily streamed in at ard 745,even though the scheduled time was 730pm.And the crowd generally consisted of office people with the sprinkling of expats, celebs(Fiona Xie sighting...wah sure or not she listen to KOC?) and a lot of nice kakak2 office. Erlend Oye and Eirik Boe appeared on stage shortly ard 750pm and strummed melancholically on their guitars...Erlend was clearly the wittier one, while Eirik guitar skills was brilliant.Erlend was certainly not shy of the spotlight,spouting out one liners in between songs, heck.even asked a latecomer why he was late? but their musicianship was fantastic.with the acoustics in the concert hall, the songs sounded incredible live. this two certainly know how to please the crowd, they did everything, singing a Norwegian birthday song to one lucky dude and even playing a song in the dark.lucky no one groped me during this time.hehe. but certainly with each passing minute, the crowd was entertained by Erlend's 'Napoleon Dynamite-esque' dance moves and Eirik's superb guitar plucking.They made us clap,they made us whistle, heck they even made us hum!Towards the end, during 'i'd rather dance with you', a couple of gals were pulled on stage for an impromptu dance with them which was hilarious.After the song ended, they went backstage and everyone in the hall stood up, clapping for 10mins non stop for an encore.they appeared on stage,playing 2 more songs, before 2 ushers gave them floral garlands,which i tot was quite funny. but tonight, the Kings of Convenience truly proved to the 1600 strong crowd that they were Kings. i dunno Kings of wat lah...but their performance warranted a riot on the streets opposite the Esplanade.

Elfian, wasted lah dey. U missed one heck of a concert. when u coming back? end of the month Damien Rice coming down. so many good concerts eh happening dis year.

2 things happened in the past few days that will prob shape my future. First, i experienced my virgin hail storm last fri. Was on my way to the Bournemouth Islamic centre (aka their Mosque) when it happened. Tis was bits n pieces of ice, didnt really get soaked, but i say it's quite painful when the ice hits ur face. My broinlaw said this was the first time he'd have hail here.My mum said it happened to sambut my arrival. It was freaking cold ya. The mosque is tiny, the only one here in Bournemouth. Its like an old building, makeshift into a mosque, so u've got diff floors n rooms, n i had no idea where the grand imam was. Was pretty long too the khutbah, esp when he went in Arabic. And here we pray in style, with our jackets n all. In the room i was in, all filled wif my brudders in Islam from da peace in da Middle east, wearing from trenchcoat to leather jackets n suede. Funny how there's plentiful of churches evrywhere, but its so hard to even have 1 proper mosque.

The second impt event was, it snowed in the morning last Sun. Ive lost my snow virginity. I juz woke up n was too stoned to go outside to do anytin abt it. (It was mighty freezing too).Normally it doesnt get tat cold in the mornings. It was to get worse later tat day coz my sis n broinlaw brought me to this nice kebab hashish place somewhere i dont know where but we had to take the bus. Shitty thing is, apparently Sun is like a slackday for evryone here, so the buses run like only once every hour n most shops would either be closed or opened till only 4pm. Wat a slack town! And the Asian shops would be opened till late. We workaholics arent we not. The food was nice, but i dont really fancy mediterranean chutzpah, but it was oklah. When it comes to looking for halal food, somehow middle-eastern food would always be the closest thing u'd get for it.

When going back home at abt 5, the wind was blowing quite strongly. According to my broinlaw, it was abt 2 to 3 deg without the winds itself. So wif the winds, prob it might have dipped to zero. Tat was when i tot, i should have bought the long-johns at the Coldwear shop at Suntec. Silly, overconfident me. Lucky for me the jacket i got's thick enuff. Goodenough UK.

Yesterday went grocery shopping at their own local NTUC, called .ASDA. Theyve got this great juice, a mix of coconut n pineapple juice. Apparently, its known as Pina Colada to the boozers out there, but this minus the alcohol yea.

Today, went out myself to the town area. Tink have prob been to almost evry store. Bournemouth is really kinda relax chill area, coz ive seen loadsa old people (retirees) and students, mostly oriental kids. The shitty thing is, shops here close at 5, and by 6, it was like how it'd be when Magrib in S'pura. Borders was the only shop tat would open till 10pm. Apperently here nite life starts at 7, these party people. There's bountiful of clubs n pubs here. So tis would be perfect for u party animals out there. So was walkin on my own goin back, mulut berasap (am still amazed by it hah!) n was bit drizzling.

Apparently Pete Doherty n the Arctic Monkeys are the fashiznits here in England.

And the Sun's PAGE 3 gals are fer real, dudes n dudettes. Got the shock of my life. Ive heard of it but nvr tot much abt it. So after Pool lost to Benfica, i got the cheapest paper available which was THE SUN (35p), n to my surprise when i got back home, 2 mamamamaries were staring at me. Yowzah. Imagine good ol TNP, u open the 3rd page got ur neighbour's daughter in her full glorious birthday suite.

Here's some pics for ya to feed on:


The snow tat greeted me on tat Sunday morning. (note : view is from writer's room)




After a hearty meal of some kebab thingy, made me all warm n fuzzy inside again.




Yes. It was tat cold. (note : this is not a simulated picture)




My niece, the parka gurl. Inside the second deck of the Yellow bus.





Some artsy fancy pancy shite. The town centre. Tats one of the Churches.



Trivia : Did u know they call the second floor of any building the FIRST FLOOR, and their first floor is called the GROUND FLOOR. Mat salleh british bodoh

Oh yea, today made my first shopping purchase. Bought a bleddy long-john thermal kids. Kids size somemore. Cheaper. Adults was 12pounds, kids only 6pounds.

Here's some pics for y'all...


This was taken way way up in the sky. It is, ermm....



Oh yeah, over good ol' Kabul!




Just reached the Bournemouth bus depot. U can see a wee bit of smoke from here. Im freezing to death in just tat jacket.




On the way down to Sentosa. I mean the Bournemouth beach.




Changi, i mean, Bournemouth beach. Its right behind my sis place. Maybe 3minutes walk. On the horizon is France. Say bonjour Herman!




Marks N Spencer at the town center. Its called the Square. They also have the Triangle. Such original names.




The SQUARE. Dont ask me abt the obor. Ive no idea wats it for.


On another, I have to sell off my 1 Kings Of Convenience ticket to the Quiet is the New Loud concert at the Esplanade hall for the Mosaic music festival this thurs. There ive typed it all. Hopefully someone who does a search on the net for the tix will stumble here. Its seat R11. Got it at S$32. Email me at elfian@gmail.com for queries aite. Cant possible go coz i'd be here till the nxt few weeks.

We just can't score can't we? i cant believe at the end of the game, when they showed the statistics, the number of chances we had created and still didnt score.fucking bollocks. im not sad we are out,just frustrated cause we had numerous chances to win the game comfortably and we didnt convert our chances. shite.

Dear all, praise be to Allah, Ive safely reached Bournemouth. The plane landed at Heathrow yesterday, at 2.45pm local time. Immigration was a bitch, coz there were loadsa people but few counters. Tat took quite a while. And we encountered some problems when the authorities checked our bag n we declared we got food, and they like confiscated our box of DRY shrimp crackers. My sis name was taken down n given a warning. The lady officer was quite nice, not rude, even the dude doin my passport was quite nice. But she did stress that if caught again nxt time, my sis COULD be prosecuted coz bringing in certain food items is categorized as illegal weapons or sumtin like tat lah. So now you kids know ah. If go london no sambal udang or any rendang or funny stuffs like tat. But it was a fair trade coz for tat, we managed to sneak in paru chilli, sausages and chicken nuggets. All cooked. Heh. After tat, took like a 2hr busride on the National Service, I mean National Express and reached the Bournemouth bus terminal. Once stepped down, it was the first time I saw smoke from my mouth. Jakunness. Hahaha. I was so amazed by it. It was freaking cold. But I dont understand how i saw one ang moh in like bare midriffs but she was wearing a minijacket. I was wearing my long sleeves, n on top of tat my Old Navy jacket. STill sejuk giler sey. I quickly put on my gloves, was like the only one ard using gloves.

Plane ride was terribly long. Food was terrible. Breakfast was lontong n daging kicap. wat the hell. Lunch, served at 5pm was better. Rice n fish. My niece was the centre of attraction among the stewardess. She received loadsa freebies n special treatment. As for me, there was a wailing blonde baby beside, and another wailing baby on the other aisle not too far away. Mcm nak sepak terajang Otromen je tat kid. Thruout the 14hr journey, I slept for like only 30mins, coz it was rather uncomfy the seat to have a good sleep, even tho the nite before i didnt sleep much. Spent the time playing Super Mario world 1, which was super boring, i'd prefer the other marios, and who wants to be a million air. The coolest thing i found abt flying on SQ, it provides such n extensive selection of on-demand movies and shows, and you can like watch it anytime n pause it or rewind it. Cool! Managed to catch Election, the HongKie gangster movie n Walk the Line, great great movie abt the late Johnny Cash.

It is now Wednesday 3.05pm here, so shud be 11.05pm in S'pura. Getting cold coz its slightly drizzling. Am fully clothed with long sleeve Golden mile shirt n trackpants. Prob need to put on socks tho. Thankful for all the heaters thruout the hse, which makes me feel much better than being outside. During the bus journey from Heathrow to Bournemouth, i get the impression London was such a depressing place, coz it was raining when we reached, and the weather was so dark n gloomy. By 6pm, it was like how dark it would be at 8pm in S'pura. And the weather is so wet. According to my sis, these Londoners only enjoy the sun for like 2mths of the year. Its no wonder the Ang mohs like to come to S'pura. And there I was in the bus, feeling so tired n stoned, feeling melacholic with the gloomy weather n missing My Precious, the background music in the bus was playing Kylie Minouge's Cant Get you outta my head. Oh how ironic. But it's all good. Glad that Chelsea is out.

Now c'mon pool, you north-side scousers you.

Fellow bloggers, hear ye hear ye. I will be flying off on a mission to bournemouth (pronounced BORN-MERF) tomorow. Im actually accompanying my sis n niece back there, so will hopefully make full use of my time there. Where is Bournemouth? Well, to my understanding, it's 2.5hrs away from London. Its somewhere in the South Coast of England. So my flight SQ 318 will depart Sing 9am and arrive at 3pm London time, at the Heathrow airport. From there, i'll be taking a bus down to her place and it will be one helluva long bus ride. Prob from Johor to KL? To get a clearer picture, refer here.

The weather pretty's cold at the moment, coz London itself is like 2 to 8 deg C. So wats this Malay boy got to do to hold on his own there aye. Hopefully can tahan the weather lah. Maybe there can step feeling Mulder n Scully n wear a trenchcoat, but then again, maybe not. Juz hope i dont freeze my ass off.

I will probably be back in 2 or 3 weeks time, depending on how well i cope there. And will try to drop by London a few times, much thanx and big-ups to Madhir and Herman for their guidance and bountiful of info. If i do get lost in London, I will be calling you guys. Hehe.

Pray for my safe journey n safe return. I will be posting up pics if u guys be good. Here's more links to info on bournemouth.

Bournemouth.co.uk

Bournemouth.com

Till then, be good and stay funky. And Mr Yun, selamat bertugas.

P.S : Nak kirim ape2, send loadsa pounds sterling to me yo.