Posted in Funny, Islam, Poems on March 31, 2008 by smoothcriminalmagic
Salaams!
Howdy people (pronounced: beebol)!!
How’re you?
I’m pretty much half dead, but then again, I got my latte so I shant complain
Alhamdulillah, latte
Oh, before I continue.
This post was brought to you by:
*Coke Zero, because it being black, white and red are reason alone to buy it.*
Anyway, this isn’t going to be long because I have a presentation to get started on. That’s right, the life of a geo student!
*Sigh*, I love it but it’s alot of work.
Well, what isn’t, sah (‘right’ in Arabic)?
My cousin has retired to my brother’s room to play the PS2 and entertain himself since his ‘busy’ cousin has to work…but he’s busy practicing magic!
:s
Oh boy.
ANYWAY!
I’ll get right on my presentation just after I post this…and watch a couple of Youtube videos on magic…
Hey, they’re loading already anyway!
Hehe
Oh check this out!!!
*Stainless steel playing cards*
Is that WOW or what!?!?
They’d be lethal if you threw them!
Anyone got a spare £150??
* * *
Ok, so check it out, this is my philosophy:
*Hey, it’s true.*
And I wrote a poem about the nimrod below.
It was weird. I wrote half of this poem whilst studying for my animal test about a week or two ago, don’t ask me why or how, it just came to me.
So, I hope you enjoy it, it has some deep meaning to it. We’ve all had our encounters with the cunning Devil…but ultimately, it takes ‘two’ to tango…we can always say ‘no’.
It’s up to us, isn’t it?
Whispers come in left and right,
Good ideas and some so bright,
A chance for you to get what you desire,
Blissfully forgetting about the hellfire.
.
You follow along,
the whispers don’t seem so bad,
what could possibly go wrong?
How could this end up sad?
.
Slowly but surely,
The whispers take effect,
He has thousands of years experience with this,
a science he has had time to perfect.
.
One whisper leads to another,
But you didn’t see it like that.
The evil was undercover,
What was innocent…was bad.
.
Then it happens,
and the whispers come to a halt.
For it is then that you realize,
that it was all your fault.
.
You then come to see the truth,
with full vision & clarity,
He does not force you to do these things specifically.
No.
He merely whispers,
promotes,
and encourages,
your stupidity.
.
Stay safe everyone,
And don’t let your stupidity get the better of you!
Posted in Funny, Music on March 28, 2008 by smoothcriminalmagic
Salaams you sneaky blog reader you,
What are you doing here huh?
If you’re in my course…and you’re on this blog…shame on you…shame on you
You guessed it, we’re swarmed with work!
Yay!
In a sad and sadistic way, it feels good to be this busy again
But I think the majority of my happiness now is derived from the fact that my precious gem of a mother is back safe and sound.
Alhamdulillah
And she brought Burger King
THAT and she surprised us by bringing along one of my cousins to spend 2 weeks with us.
So since I’ll be busy with work and entertaining my good guest, you can expect a lack of activity on this here blog.
But worry not faithful Smooth Criminal Magic Blog reader, I am not gone, just occupied
Oh yeah, don’t worry, I shall bring my cousin to UBD, so all you women can see what a true tall, dark and handsome Yemeni Arab is supposed to look like, unlike the pathetic excuse of an Arab am I
Heh, compared to all my cousins in S’pore, it looks like I came out in the ‘reject’ pile
But it’s cool.
I can do magic
So…
You tired?
Sleepy??
But ya got work to do???
Here’s some ‘pick me up’,
*Just click play, there’s no video, just audio*
I love this song, it’s a happy tune and an awesome remix because it minimalizes the tune, allowing you to hear the base and heart of the rhythm.
It provides me with some nice ‘pick me up’ when I’m drained
Posted in Booga, Poems on March 26, 2008 by smoothcriminalmagic
I miss her.
.
I miss her alot.
.
I miss her smell.
.
I miss her softness.
.
I miss her cheeks.
.
I miss her warm embrace.
.
I miss her words of comfort.
.
That’s right ladies and gentlemen…be prepared to roll your eyes…
.
I miss my mummy
.
*Booga!!*
.
I’ll admit it proudly just in case you are unaware, I am very much a Mama’s boy. Nothing warms my heart more than to see her smile.
And she’s so small!!
*Sigh*
Alhamdulillah, she is alive and well, Alhamdulillah.
It’s just…
I miss her.
She’s in S’pore now, well, she was in KL a couple of hours ago to visit my grand aunty, so yeah.
She’s been gone since last Thursday…and she should be back this Friday Insha Allah.
Please pray she arrives home safe and sound!!
Actually, this time around, my missing her is not so bad, perhaps it’s cos I have alot of things on my mind, but I do feel an emptiness in the house. The lack of hugs and kisses is of course noticeable!
I remember how bad it used to be when I was younger, like when I was 7 or so and my mum had to leave, I’d always fall sick…somehow or another. It sucked because I was staying with family and it sort of troubled them, but yeah, can’t help it right?
It got really bad when I had to go to Singapore for my National Service. The first 2 months were the worst.
I remember the pain I would feel inside…being in a place I didn’t want to be…away from the people I loved and away from what I’m supposed to be doing…
I was so depressed and I felt so lost…eventhough Singapore is where I was born and the majority of my immediate family is there…I felt like a stranger in another country.
I grew up here, in good ol’ Brunei.
Brunei is home
Singapore was just…a mad rush poorly disguising itself as life.
Living there, I remember not a day went by that I didn’t miss her. As a result, I called her pretty much every day. That phone call, I reckon, was the only thing keeping my sanity in check.
Needless to say, my phone bill was close to $300 every month.
Money well spent, says I.
Living in S’pore drove me nuts…literally. To hear her soothing voice at the other end of the line was something I always looked forward to.
I remember not having a proper place to stay during my first few weeks there…the only ‘home’ I had initially was the Police Academy…sounds weird right?
My Dad wanted me to ’stand on my own 2 feet’, something I rather appreciate now, looking back.
But such lessons aren’t learnt without costs.
It was really painful to be so alone and unloved, when just a week before you were surrounded by the people you love and got a warm embrace every time you left your room.
I remember sitting on top of my bunk bed in the barrack at night…writing this poem for my mum in my little notebook.
.
Throughout my life, you’ve been by my side to help me and hold my hand.
But now the time has come for me to go alone, to face life, its pains and joys, all by my own.
I love you more than any words could come close to describing and yet, I still feel that you need to be loved more.
Just like our Prophet, when God put you on this world, He not only did this world a favor, but mankind as well.
But to me, He gave me something so priceless and precious that I doubt I could eat, sleep, live or breathe without you.
I hope and pray that the time when we meet again will arrive sooner than we think, and the time we are together is as long as eternity itself.
I love you my dear mother and I want you to know that you are the air that fills my lungs, the substance that makes my heart beat, the life that flows through my veins.
Without you, for me, there is no life.
So lifeless I will be,
until we meet,
again.
* * *
.
I remember weeping in the dark as I wrote that.
Melodramatic huh?
Well, when your parents divorced when you’re young and your mother brought you up single-handedly, teaching you everything you know…making you the man you are now…perhaps then you would understand, just how important she is to me.
Looking back at my writing in my little notebook…I still get a lump in my throat…I can see the pain in my handwriting…if that’s possible?
Heh, I remember typing all of this out when I got out of the Academy and sending it to my mum, after printing it on a fancy piece of paper.
4 years ago, I sent it to my mum.
.
4 years ago, my mum read it and loved it.
.
4 years ago, she pinned it on her board in front of her study desk.
Remember when I said that I considered myself ‘old fashioned’?
Looks like I’m not the only one
Now all you young whipper snappers may not know who they are. That is Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire. Rita is the beautiful woman in the dress just in case any of you were confused. Great dress right? Neckline is a bit…yeah, but the rest if great! To be honest, Rita looks like my Grand-Aunty when she was young
Fred, is of course, a wonderful dancer. In fact, he was Michael Jackson’s inspiration! I love watching old clips of Fred, I’d watch them again and again and again.
This one is my fave! (Don’t worry, it’s a short 1:18 long clip) Fred does a magic trick in this one, see if you can catch it.
AMAZING RIGHT!!!
I love the sound of tap dancing shoes!
Did you catch the magic trick he did?
Here’s something you can note, whenever Fred dances, the camera doesn’t cut (or after a long time it does). This is because he wants it that way, makes it more wholesome, you know? I think he just loved dancing and didn’t want to stop when the director yelled ‘Cut!’.
About the first clip…I just got all soft inside when Rita sang those words, to tell Fred that she was old fashioned too…Wow…
I need me some of that
Anyways, apologies for the lack of a proper post, but I have a truck load of work to get back to.
Stay safe everybody,
I’ll just stay old fashioned
Aman
P.S.
Here’s a sweet jazz version of the song, ‘I’m Old Fashioned’ by Sara Gazarek, trust me, you will like.
*sigh*
I’m old fashioned
But I don’t mind it
That’s how I want to be
As long as you’ll agree
To stay old fashioned with me
So awhile ago, my cousin forwarded me a link to a Youtube video and he asked me to watch it. What I saw absolutely appalled me.
It wasn’t exactly what I saw that was appalling…but it was what I heard. It was a music video. I shall not state the name of the song nor the name of the singers because quite frankly, they don’t deserve the celebrity.
The lyrics were horrible! What was that?! The graphic lyrics were about the ‘nasty things’ only married people should perform. At first I thought this was a joke…but no…this was an established group! They made CDs! They made music but…this wasn’t music! This was porn!
The last time I checked, you write lyrics with your heart, mind and soul…not with some other part of your anatomy!
I honestly felt that I should be wearing a condom listening to that rubbish.
Needless to say, I closed the window before the video had gotten to the half way mark.
What is the world coming to?
Is this music?
Is this what a timeless art has been reduced to?
People who know me well…know I do not listen to the radio, well, not by choice anyway. And that song I heard on Youtube just proved my point.
There is very very little good music out there today, so little in fact, that I’ve given up turning on the radio anymore.
ALOT of the music coming out now is either about sex, ideas pertaining to the Black culture of America or just general brain-dead music.
And what is brain-dead music you ask?
I got 2 words for you:
Teriyaki Boys (Met loooooves them)
People always ask me…why do you like Michael Jackson so much? He’s a freak! He’s weird!
Well, maybe he is. But at least he knows music. At least he knows entertainment value. If you don’t appreciate the person behind the music, fine, we all have our flaws…but at least look at his art!
I mean, like him or not, he DID make music what it is today…seriously. Without him, black artists might not even BE on MTV. MJ was the first black artist to be aired on MTV, prior to that, MTV refused to air black music videos. MJ fought for that right, paving the way for the future of all black artists on MTV.
Not only that, but his music was amazing! Just the OPENING segment of Billie Jean creates an excitement and mysterious aura no other song has been able to match, Thriller made you want to do the iconic dance that goes along with it, Human Nature makes you sway to its sweet melody, You Are Not Alone becomes an anthem for all the lonely people, Smooth Criminal makes you think of me , Beat It is a song you just can’t help but sing along to and They Don’t Care About Us is a song with a beat your feet can’t resist tapping to.
And his dancing? Forget about it!
So why do I love MJ so much?
Why FREAKING not?
It’s like, if you have found the best…why settle for anything less?
That’s the way I see it.
Alright, alright, we get it, so MJ is the King of Pop, but what about the others Aman? Is all other music condemned to hell?
Haha, what a silly question.
The answer is of course, yes.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
KIDDING!
Good music is not rare…it just doesn’t exist in large quantities in the present as it did in the past. Think about it:
* Nat King Cole
* Dean Martin
* Frank Sinatra
* Johnny Mathis
* Louis Armstrong
* The Righteous Brothers
* The Bee Gees
* Ray Charles
They all were HUGE back then, and their music still stands strong today.
Too old for you? Yeah 1960’s is a bit…yeah, ok.
Slightly more recent artists I think make good music:
* Nirvana
* Foo Fighters
* Josh Groban
* Sting
* Elton John
* Andrea Bocelli
* Eminem (yes…but only some songs)
Just to name a few.
Check out this old band my Dad introduced to me…Bread
Yes, there’s a band named Bread.
CLICK PLAY!
You’ll thank me later.
Lovely, no?
You can thank me now
See?
See?
THIS is what music should be like!
Teriyaki boys, please take note,God damn it.
And listen to this:
This one made a lump magically appear in my throat…it described how I felt at one particular time, a long time ago.
The lyrics…told a story… in sheer poetry…
THIS is what music is meant to do! Music is supposed to touch your heart, make you think and feel and cry…
I’ll tell you something.
Most of today’s songs become famous/popular by relying on a catchy beat…not the soulfulness of its lyrics and not the genius of it’s musical intricacy.
Such cases include the ridiculous Teriyaki crap, the annoying ‘I’m Blue’ song and the (Astaghfirullah) stupid, stupid, STUPID ‘Crazy Frog’ song.
WHAT.
IS.
THAT?!
These songs are ridiculously brain numbing, I reckon my brain cells die a horrible death whenever such songs are aired.
Crazy frog?!
What?
Someone please put this mentally deranged frog in an asylum before I dissect him!
And yet…
People like them.
Know why?
It’s the beat…the underlying beat is infectious…doesn’t make it good music though, it just makes it…how to say, ‘easier’ to swallow? Because it digs into the recesses of your mind and stays there, FORCING you to like it by running itself over and over again in your mind.
Ever wonder why a beat just won’t get out of your head…? It has been engineered to do just that.
Anyway, that crazy frog and the blue alien thingy can get in the teriyaki mobile and bugger off for all I care. Will.I.Am and his ‘Got it from my mama’ song can tag along too.
For me, it’s like comparing a movie with QUALITY acting and dialog to a movie with crap acting…but lots of naked scenes and violence. They’ll both be popular for sure…but for different reasons. They would attract different crowds…
As I said in my ‘About’ page…perhaps I’m just old fashioned. I’m not of the ‘younger crowd’ that finds such noise (I refuse to call it music) ‘nice’. I just can’t appreciate new music…I’m sorry.
Perhaps that’s the explanation to all this then?
I’m just old fashioned
But we KNOW good music exists.
So why can’t they make it anymore?
Well, they DO…as I said, it’s just rare.
Perhaps I haven’t been listening out for new music enough to be sure.
Perhaps I just haven’t been open-minded enough.
Perhaps…
But I’m happy and content, looking in the past, for good music.
All of what I’ve said earlier is not to be applied holistically on all new music, it’s just highlighting the general (descending) trend in the quality of music coming out now.
Remember: The latest isn’t always the greatest, but the classics are called classics for a reason. Think about it.
And I reckon everyone should, at least once in a while, try to look where music came from…what music was…before they can truly evaluate what music should be.
