I’m going to put this video here although I know no one else will listen to it. Just because it saves me the trouble of going to Youtube to play it over and over again.

Incidentally, this song by Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim (the pianist in the video) and Vinicius de Moraes is considered to be the first bossa nova recording ever made. Tom Jobim, together with João Gilberto (the guitarist and vocalist in the video), was one of the creators of the bossa nova style, a style evolved from samba and whose name means “new trend”. Jobim, Gilberto, Gilberto’s then wife Astrud Gilberto and jazz saxophonist Stan Getz then went on to record the veryveryvery awesome Getz/Gilberto, which has since come to be regarded as the definitive bossa nova album of all time. The title of this song directly translates to “enough homesickness” or “enough longing”. There’s a literal translation of the lyrics into English on the web somewhere and it sounds a bit corny – “Cause there are fewer fish swimming in the sea Than the little kisses I shall give her on her mouth” … er? But I’m sure in the original Portuguese meaning it is really poetic and beautiful, haha.

Give it a listen, you will like it! I could be biased but I fail to see how anyone could not like music as accessible and pleasant to the ears as bossa nova!!

On another note- I will stop posting video after video and start writing properly again after my exams, hopefully!

Here’s a beautiful worship song by Indonesian band GMB, hope it blesses you.

saat kudatang
kuhampiri singgahsanaMu
kuhanya mampu
tersungkur di bawah kakiMu
dan Kau naungi hidupku
dengan kekudusanMu
Kau buka jalan
melalui tabir diriMu
dengan darahMu
kumasuki tahta kudusMu
dan Kau curahkan semua isi hatiMu
kepadaKu
ku mengangkat hatiku
kumenyembahMu Yesus
pujian hormat, pengagungan bagiMu
jadikan aku saksi
penebusan darahMu
ini hidupku
hanyalah untukMu
s’lamanya

and my incompetent translation:

when i come
near to Your throne
i can only
fall at Your feet
and you protect my life
with Your holiness
You opened the way
through the veil
by Your blood
i approach Your holy throne
and You pour out Your heart
to me
i lift up my heart
i worship You Jesus
praise and majesty
to You
make me a witness
of Your redeeming blood
this is my life
only for You
always

N/B= Does anyone else think the lead singer kinda resembles Patrick Leong?

Watching this video moved me almost to tears and I’ll burst if I don’t share it with someone.. The emotion is just so raw and the improvisation wild and bold, but not without structure. The more airy, atmospheric bits are excellent as well in a very understated kind of way. Many label this as a marriage between classical and jazz – think along the lines of Chopin/Debussy/Satie meets Bill Evans/Keith Jarrett sort of thing. Enjoy the video, the interview at the end is also very worth watching. There are 7 parts to this documentary which you can find on Youtube.

I can be very involved in it, and also one part of my brain can be thinking about some really banal stupid shit, like I have to go the bathroom… or you know, did I leave my wallet in the hotel..

- Brad Mehldau, on what happens in him when he plays

performed by Nicole Nordeman

Full lyrics to the song

“See from His head, His hands, His feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
- Isaac Watts

Following-up from my earlier post, here’s an original scene that was subsequently deleted, it sorta gives it a proper (if not happy) ending and answers some questions, but I think the film is just as lovely without this scene. Leaves more to your imagination. (=

Okay laaa… I know my blogpost which was supposedly about MNite didn’t do justice to MNite at all. So here are video clips of a few of my favourite performances of the night (in no particular order… stop fighting and arguing, kids! Haha..)

Alan Chew – “Berhenti Berharap” The performance in which he stole the hearts of half of the audience i.e. the females, and put even a few males on the brink of tears (let’s not mention names… haha)! **MUST WATCH!**

Thriller (Ghosts) dance Woo…. did you see Chloe’s cartwheel across the stage??

Finale: Hip-hop dance Scintillating – wish I was there to catch that cap Azril threw into the audience!

Finale: Chinese fan dance Excellent choreography, three cheers for Sau Yin! And another three cheers for Wei Li’s beautiful solo! (=

Finale: the whole thing! Because you know you just can’t get enough of it… hehe. Including Ayish’s very captivating Indian dance solo. (=

Other special mentions: Jin Rong in the Thriller dance – sleek moves, fuhlamak! Ni-Tsia as the seductive/sultry/sexy/sl*tty??! secretary – haha! Sau Yin, Eunice and Chloe as the ‘aunties’ – I LOVED your scene, girls! (and I am running out of colours already…) Joo Hong, Munirah and Wei Chieh as the Malaysian Idol panel of judges – hilarious! The freshers: Faez as Zakri and Paik Gee as Anne, Logan the Indian ghost, Sue Lynn the pontianak, Colin the Chinese vampire, quirky Tok Bomoh, Selina the scheming best friend, the ever helpful and supportive Hock and Muru (loved the impromptu lines you added to the script!) – everybody!!! (=