Welcome to Darkside Daily

When I'm not writing about my experiences in this journey called 'life', I'm singing and uploading my own interpretations of modern music. Click on "Cover Songs" to hear them, or on the YouTube logo on the right to see my YouTube channel.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Melomanic Sessions: June 2nd!

The Melomanic Sessions are back, people!



I've blogged about the Melomanic Sessions before, but in case you haven't heard of them - it's a relaxed evening of acoustic music and good company. These will be the fourth such 'sessions', and believe me they have only been getting better!

As always, the entrance fees are of your choosing; all of it goes to the Warehouse Project for their charity events, so whatever you feel you are able to contribute will be more than fine.

Bring your friends and relax, we've got a fun lineup as usual, from Asela's cool vocals to Kei's breezy ukulele, as well as Cynosure, Salvage and Not Another Metal Band playing some easy listening acoustic set

So bring your mellow self to the Warehouse Project, Maradana this Saturday at 6:30pm, and tell a friend too! Click here to go to the Facebook Event page, and click here to join the group!

Here's the lineup for this Saturday's show (courtesy of T's post):




See you there!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

When Words Are Not Enough

My world makes no sense to me, and unlike before, my words are unable to encapsulate this and present it as a witty commentary on this blog.

I used to be able to express myself in song, but now I can't find anything that accurately expresses what I'm feeling.

It's moments like these I simply raise my hands in surrender.

This song helps me do that.



Monday, May 21, 2012

The Avengers Was Bad, But Not For The Usual Reasons

Have you seen the movie "Get Shorty"? If you haven't, go watch it now; it's an excellent comedy starring Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito and that guy from "The Sopranos". In it, Travolta plays Chili Palmer; a mob collector who somehow comes to Hollywood to collect a debt and gets entangled in the movie business.

One of my favourite scenes in the movie was when Chili Palmer, who is an avid movie fan, goes to see an old Orson Welles movie "Touch of Evil". He sits entranced and alone, quoting the dialogue by memory, and at the end of the movie he taps the person in front of him and says, "Incredible, huh?", with obvious awe in his voice.

That was probably the exact opposite of my latest movie experience.

So finally, I managed to go see "The Avengers". Granted, it's no cult classic (yet) but it was a big movie that was creating a lot of hype, and I was expecting to enjoy it very much. Unable to get tickets for the 3D Cinema, my friends and I booked balcony seats online for Savoy for the traditional 2D experience.


Before I get into the movie itself, let me just say that the whole show was pretty much a disaster from the get-go. First of all, the ushers had given our seats to some other people, leaving us fuming in the aisles while they tried to relocate them. Then it turns out some people had come in using the previous day's tickets, so now the ushers started checking all the tickets again. By the time we were seated, I had missed the first ten minutes.

A further ten minutes into the movie, I realised that I had managed to get seated in the worst possible place: right next to two rather easily amused girls and right in front of a row of some tragically unfunny funny-men, who proceeded to make a comment on every single aspect of the movie.

Yes, I was watching The Avengers with a laugh track and DVD commentary.

Lets start with the girls; clearly they had little or no idea of what was going on in the movie, because while the movie definitely had its funny moments, it didn't have this many! Captain America, precariously dangling off the edge of a building? Fits of laughter. Samuel L Jackson, looking into the camera after making a realisation? Laughter. Robert Downey Jr raising his eyebrows and ending a sentence with a slight inflection? Rolling on the floor.

As for the witty, wise-cracking wankers sitting behind me, I won't even torture you with some of the jokes that were coming my way. However, if you've seen the movie, allow me to give you an example. Remember how towards the second half of the movie, there's a very somber scene? You know, all serious and panning between the different Avenger's reactions? Here's what I hear from behind me: "Machan, awkward silence! Machan, machan! Awkward silence, get it? Haha awkward silence...!"

At this point, I couldn't take it any longer, so I turned around and got his attention.

Me: Hey, you; come here.
Dude: Huh?
Me: You're jokes? They're not even remotely funny...
Dude: I wasn't telling for you okay??
Me: .. No, you don't understand. They're really not funny! If you want to make your comments, save it for when you're watching the DVD in your basement alone, okay? Thank you.


After that? Silence. Not the awkward type; just silence for the rest of the movie.

As for the movie itself, well I really liked it. Mark Ruffalo played an excellent Bruce Banner, and almost stole the show from Robert Downey Jr. The story line was well told (even if a bit nerdy) and somehow the movie managed to give equal screen time to the many characters involved, even giving them some sense of character depth despite sharing the screen with so many others. Scarlett Johanssen played a believable Black Widow, Robert Downey Jr. was excellent and witty as usual, and as I mentioned earlier, Mark Ruffalo was excellent as Bruce Banner.

Even if you're not a comic book nerd, you will enjoy the movie, given you've at least seen two of the three films leading up to this one ("Iron Man", 'Thor" and "Captain America"). If you are a comic book nerd, then you'll absolutely love it. So far I've only read positive reviews (except for one bizarre review questioning the geo-politics of it all - don't ask) and it's definitely a must-see summer blockbuster.

Just make sure you're not seated next to morons, like I was.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Sight-seeing In Singapore

Thanks to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and Sri Lanka's general reluctance to work, I had a solid 12 day holiday in the middle of April, and it's about time I blogged about it! While I was more than content to laze around at home and devour whatever my mother cooked up, my parents decided to organise a small trip to Singapore to coincide with one of Dad's business trips.

I'm sure many of you have been to Singapore, as it is one of the more popular destinations within South East Asia. I've only been there once back in 1999, which meant this trip would basically be a second 'first' time.

However, I know a lot of you will testify that going on a vacation overseas is extremely different when you're doing it with family. There are less adventures and more tours, less exploring and more shopping, less drinking and more eating. Needless to say, my brother and I was slightly wary of this trip to begin with.

Anyway, here are a few of my thoughts on the more 'interesting' points of our trip.

The Flight

We left Monday morning via Sri Lankan Airlines, flying direct to Singapore. Thanks to Dad's miles, we were in business class, and me and bro used the opportunity to finally watch 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows', in spite of the pitifully small screen and poor quality. The movie was excellent, but nothing beat the hilarity that ensued when my father, headphones firmly clasped on his ears and oblivious to how loud he was, turned to my mother and said in what he thought was a discreet whisper, "Oh look, that stewardess spilled the whole thing on him!". Sure enough, the stewardess in question stopped mid way through her attempts to clean off the juice that had spilled on to the passengers lap, and gave a rather un-airhostess-like stare at my father. It's been 3 weeks and my brother and I are still laughing about that one.

The Hotel

The hotel we stayed in was a good, 4 star hotel right along the famous, and very expensive, Orchard road. Bro and I were sharing a room, and for some reason they had booked us as Mr. and Mrs,. However, this wasn't the biggest surprise we had in store for us.

While the room was nice and looked extremely comfortable, the bathroom left me feeling quite the opposite. Sure, it was very plush and well lit, but for some reason the wall separating the bathroom from the bedroom had a large 6 foot tall glass window in it.

"You missed a spot..."

Yes, this meant that whoever was in bed at that time could watch the other person showering. I have no idea why they would have this 'facility' in a regular room (and yes, it was a regular room and not a honeymoon suite) but at least they have a waterproof curtain that could be rolled down for the less adventurous. Bizarre. Bro and I refused to discuss it.

The Shopping

One of the only items on our Singapore agenda that was written in stone was a trip to the fabled Mustafa's Shopping complex.

Shopping at Mustafa's is a singular experience that can't be replicated in Sri Lanka. I'm not exactly a shopping 'expert', but I've never been through anything quite like those 4 hours we spent there among the mountains of goods laid out before us. It was shopaholic-heaven, and consequently, our worst nighmare.

Oh dear.

That is kind of what shopping at Mustafa's is like. It's a two building complex with 3 basements and 3 floors, designed to be so maddeningly confusing that once you enter it, you're almost compelled to buy something just to distract yourself from how lost you are. They not only have everything, they have a lot of it. We were completely overwhelmed with it, so much so that it was almost impossible to pick anything, due to the vast array of choice available to us. Shoes? Sure, just this way sir; we have millions of shoes all stacked one on top of the other. Electronics, sure we have all of them in this entire floor ranging from cell phones to 3D 50-inch TV's. Food items, perfumes, curtains, watches, ceramics, jewelry, footwear, computers - it was just too, too much for us to handle. After Bro and I wandered around bewildered for a while, we managed to find a few sunglasses and a pair of shoes, but in the process we had managed to get ourselves completely and utterly lost. So, we did what anyone would do in this situation: we ran in every direction as fast as we could, screaming for help. Well, not screaming, but we just randomly ran up and down stairs and along corridors until we finally found the exit to the road. Then we realised we had somehow crossed over from one building into the other across the street! To this day we have no idea how this happened, but luckily we managed to get to the road and send a text to our parents to meet outside.

Guitar Heaven

We stumbled on to some 'unconventional' stores too. Read carefully.



Universal Studios

The weather cleared up for the one day, and we were lucky enough to be spending it at the Universal Studios theme park in Sentosa. After two days of shopping, my Bro and I were looking forward to some enjoyment. Frankly, Universal Studios blew our minds! The park was so well done, with the themed sections being unbelievably detailed. There was a Hollywood section, complete with a Hollywood walk of fame and a sound stage with a video intro from Steven Spielberg. Then there was "Madagascar", themed after the animated movie, and "Far Far Away" themed after Shrek. Till here it was very low key and interesting, but I was psyched about the next section - "Waterworld", themed after one of my favourite 'bad' movies from back in the 90's. We were just in time to catch the live-actions show, which was 15 minutes of a small enacted and choreagraphed scene from the movie filled with jet skis, boats, explosions, fights and some very cool stunts.






From there we moved onto the Lost World section, and then moved to Egypt section. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.






After a good lunch, we went through 1940's New York, a Sci-Fi section, and of course the famous 3D Transformers ride. Honestly, I don't have words to describe how great that was; it was so amazingly real, and done so well that the transition between real walls and the 3D screen lent the ride a fantastic feeling of reality. Being hurled through buildings by Megatron and falling out of the sky, only to be scooped up at the very last second by Bumblebee, talking to Optimus Prime - all done to perfection. Easily the highlight of the day.







The People

I found the people of Singapore rather interesting. Here they were, surrounded by all this wealth and affluence, and yet most of them were eager to complain about government taxes and increasing prices. Our cab drivers, quick to spot we were tourists, were an abundant source of information and witty humour regarding the state of the government, often lamenting how expensive it was to buy a car or cab in Singapore.

And yet, after all the complaining, one cab driver had to admit that he was still able to take care of his family and his children quite comfortably. After all the deductions, he said he takes home SGD 5000 per month, which in Sri Lankan Rupees is roughly Rs. 500,000! As for the price of vehicles, one can only imagine the wealth in the country when we saw four Lamborghini Gallardo's, a McLaren F1, and at least 10 Mercedes AMG's in a span of 3 days.

Yes, Singapore seems to be a vibrant, modern city, as is evidenced by the crowds of fashionable, well dressed men and women on their streets, clutching their expensive handbags, wearing their slick suits or rushing in their bright red high heels or bright red Mercedes. Yet, I seemed rather unnerved by the lifestyle here. I wasn't there long enough to be sure, but there seemed to be a strong materialistic aura that hung around most people I saw, especially the women. While many of my friends told me there would be lots of "eye-candy", I was slightly put off by the over-dressing stiletto-wearing girls I happened to notice. Personally, I see no reason for Asian women to be envious of the freedom Singapore women live under; while they may be able to wear and do most anything they choose to without condemnation, to me they seem to be living under a different type of bondage all together.


Yes, so that's my wrap-up of Singapore, finally! It was definitely a very interesting visit, and I am quite looking forward to visiting again. Perhaps when I do my Masters? Time will tell.





Sunday, May 13, 2012

Love

To you,

The lines of communication between us have not always been open. I remember a time when I would shut my heart and my head from whatever you would say, choosing to paint your words as an annoying empty tune on repeat.

How things have changed; coming home is no longer complete without sitting in the kitchen with you, listening to you speak into my life. Speaking words of life, of hope, of strength, and of steel.

We have both come through the wars, and I see now that whatever semblance of 'strength' I can claim as my own, originated from you.

I salute you, and I honour your sacrifices, and I am forever in awe of your toughness and character.

Before our worlds end, I pray I make you proud.

Happy Mother's Day.
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