Monday 31 August 2009

D.N.A Singapore 828 & 829

Watched my 4th and 5th D.N.A concerts over the weekend in Singapore. Needless to say both concerts were equally enjoyable and ran till 12:15AM! They must've taken note that many fans were upset that initially Mayday had only announce that the 828 show was gonna run till past midnight.. so they decided to sing past midnight on both nights.




Having attending all 3 nights during the first leg of D.N.A in HK a couple of months back, I was looking forward to hearing them sing the older songs from their debut album (828 being the 10th anniversary of their 168 concert) It was good to hear I LOVE YOU無望 and 志明與春嬌(bossa nova version) on 828. Masa sang 明白 beautifully on acoustic guitar on 829. My personal favourites, 憨人, 垃圾車 and 終結孤單 were also added in the setlist

Mayday's new drummer



Ashin's voice sounded a bit 'off' during the concert and they must be so tired cos I've never seen Ashin sitting down while singing during a concert. When Monster saw Ashin sitting, he went to have a sit as well.. LOL! Ashin sang a couple of songs sitting down and this was by far the funniest was the slow R&B-ish rendition of 戀愛ing. Too cute!






All in all it was two nights of great fun.

Next stop: D.N.A Taipei.. counting down 23 days!

Monday 24 August 2009

Unfair 828 concert?

Some Mayday fans are feeling rather disgruntled about this Friday's D.N.A concert in Singapore, citing that it's unfair for the 828 concert to run until midnight when they cannot sing overtime on Saturday's concert (as the stage has to be dismantled by noon the following day for another event)

FC and Sistic started pre-booking the 29/8 concert back in December 2008, way before announcement of the D.N.A World Tour. Subsequently in June, as response to the pre-booking was overwhelming, an encore concert was added for 28/8. By then, most fans had already secured tickets to 29/8 thus foregoing 828.

During Mayday's recent concert promotion, they had promoted 828 and promised to sing until midnight. To make up for teh shorter concert on 29/8, they are gonna pick 50 lucky fans to take photo with the band backstage (which isn't much of a consolation)

The way I see it, if they can't sing overtime on Saturday, why not start the concert earlier?

Sunday 23 August 2009

DNA World Tour update

Two new Mainland dates have just recently been added to the D.N.A World Tour for the month of October.

● 2009/05/20、21、22 Hong Kong
Time: 8:15pm
Venue: Coliseum

● 2009/05/28 Melbourne, Australia
Time: 8:15pm
Venue: Hisense Arena

● 2009/05/29 Sydney, Australia
Time: 8:15pm
Venue: Sydney Entertainment Center

● 2009/07/03、04 Shanghai, China
Time: 7:45pm
Venue: Hongkou Football Stadium

● 2009/07/11 Beijing, China
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Capital Indoor Stadium

●2009/08/01 Harbin, China
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Harbin Convention Center

●2009/08/21 Hangzhou, China
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Hangzhou Huang Loong Stadium

● 2009/08/28、29 Singapore
Time: 8:00pm
Venue: Indoor Stadium

●2009/09/24、25、26、27 Taipei, Taiwan
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Taipei Arena

●2009/10/06 Nanjing, China
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Nanjing Olympic Arena

●2009/10/17 Foshan, China
Venue: Foshan Stadium

●2009/10/31 Chongqing, China
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Datianwan Football Stadium

●2009/11/03 Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Zepp Tokyo

Saturday 22 August 2009

The flood

What a crummy week.

My dehumidifier busted some days back and caused a mini flood in my room. The calcium chloride liquid seeped through the shelf (ewwww..) and into my of CDs/DVDs/books!!! Thankfully most of my stuff escaped unharmed as they were sealed though sadly there were a few unfortunate casualties. The only saving grace is that the casualties weren't OOP items, so replacing them won't be too difficult a task [hopefully]

The calcium chloride liquid had a greasy feel thus cleaning the spillage was a bit of an arduous task.. and the residue left behind doesn't seem to be drying up, even after 2 days!

Will need to air out the flooded area and my stuff before I can pack them away again. My CDs and DVDs are now homeless until I can sort out a home for them. Sigh.

my Mayday CDs are now homeless!!

Wednesday 19 August 2009

The unlikely Inspector Ashin


In a recent interview, Mayday disclosed their childhood dreams and Guan You's biggest dream was to be a pilot. Ashin revealed that despite his poor academic record (scoring only 5 mark in a Math exam..), he had harboured dream of becoming a criminal police [LMAO], inspired by all the police movies he had watched during his childhood.

Masa was quick to interrupt Ashin and pointed out that it was impossible for him to become a police cos 'Ashin will faint at the sight of blood' hahaha!

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Preventing H1N1

The following email was forwarded from a friend today. Not sure how effective it is, but there's no harm in trying. Prevention is better than cure!

------------------------------------------------------------

With the constant fear of H1N1 symptoms, the following measures can be practiced by one and all. This is an information which I just received from my father who is a Consultant General Surgeon & Gastoenterologist, based in India and I do hope it could be beneficial to the students and their families alike.

Tamiflu does not kill but prevents H1N1 from further proliferation till the virus limitsitself in about 1-2 weeks (its natural cycle). H1N1, like other Influenza A viruses, onlyinfects the upper respiratory tract and proliferates (only) there. The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/ throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almostimpossible not coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact withH1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order toprevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections,some very simple steps - not fully highlighted in most official communications - can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unlessyou want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and showcharacteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water.Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasalcavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cottonbuds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and othercitrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it alsohas Zinc/bioflavonoids to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

All these are simple ways to prevent, within means of most households, and certainly much less painful than to wait in long queues outside public hospitals.

I do hope, this information could be passed on to one and all, for a healthy and H1N1 free environment.

Cigarette Smoking Monster

puff puff
My friend took this pic of Monster over the weekend.. I couldn't resist not posting it here cos he look so cute in those glasses with that fag hanging from the corner of his mouth XDD

Mayday have been busy all weekend. After participating in Taiwan's fund-raising event for victims of Typhoon Morakot, they performed at Summer Pop Live in HK before heading to Shanghai for 百事群音

Friday 14 August 2009

[D]at [N]ight in [A]ugust


... is happening in exactly 2 weeks time.

There's been so much hype on the upcoming 828 concert which will mark Mayday's 10th anniversary of their 168 concert. There are numerous interviews and articles on how far they've come since that concert. Despite having only one album back then, they had played to a crowd of 10,000 fans. A decade later, after having released 7 studio albums and a series of world tours, the stage has gotten bigger and better and Mayday still play music with the same burning passion they started out with. Which is why we all love them don't we? ;)

*ee* told me this morning that the 828 DNA concert will run till midnight ;)

I can hardly wait!!

Thursday 13 August 2009

Kasabian lead singer has H1N1

Some of us are looking forward to this weekend's MTV concert and watching Kasabian perform for the first time ever in South East Asia.. you lucky ducks, I didn't managed to get tickets :(

Bad news for Kasabian fans, Tom Meighan has that dreaded H1N1 flu! So it looks like Kasabian may not be performing at the MTV concert (though it was reported that the band are hopeful that Tom will recover in time for the MTV gig... eikkkk... dear Tom please don't spread your virus to us XD)

The news was only reported in The Sun today though Tom had contracted the flu earlier this week..

Tuesday 11 August 2009

天佑台灣

Typhoon Morakot wrecked havoc across Taiwan over the weekend, claiming lives and leaving parts of Taiwan in mudlside.

As with any natural disaster,, efforts are being made through various channels to appeal for aid for disaster victims. Jay Chou who was in the US (finalising the Kato deal..? or attending crash course English classes XP) donated NT$2 million. Mayday's B'in Music also contributed NT$2 million with Ashin contributing additional NT$500,000 through STAY REAL.

A prayer for those whose homes and lives have been devasted by the typhoon

Sunday 9 August 2009

Jay Chou is Green Hornet's Kato

I could not believe when I read news that Jay Chou has been casted as Kato in the upcoming Green Hornet movie. The role which was played by Bruce Lee in the original TV series was supposed to have been played by HK actor Stephen Chow who was also to have filmed the movie but he walked away and passed the job to another director.

I don't think Jay even speaks English.. so I'm guessing he'll either pick up English or the movie will feature voice-over for his character. Either way, this is a good opportunity for him to gain recognition outside Asia.

Thursday 6 August 2009

Scorching DNA

Rain or shine, Mayday never fails to deliver ;)
It was reported in the news today that Mayday's scorching performance at last weekend's Harbin D.N.A concert had melted the ice there. And now the lads are gearing up for extreme temperature change in the upcoming Hangzhou D.N.A stop.

To prepare themselves for the scorching heat, the stage team have prepared all the necessary props to keep Mayday cool during the concert, including large sized buckets of ice and electric fans.. and the funny thing is, the Hangzhou concert will be held at Huang Loong Stadium, which is an indoor venue with central air-conditioning!! (makes me wonder how hot exactly it is over there..)

The organiser also stated that Mayday have requested for 4 boxes of instant noodles (specifically braised beef flavour only) per person for their supper during rehearsals. That is a heck lot of instant noodles for 2 days of rehearsals!

Mayday are big on cup noodles

ATM woes

I need to rant. And no, it's not about Mayday :P will get to that in my next post ;)

This is not the first time it has happened to me. I went to the ATM today on my way back, and there were a few people before me in the line. The lady in the front took forever to withdraw her $$ and the fat bloke just before me also took forever when it was his turn at the ATM. He inserted his card twice. Probably couldn't figure out why there's no money left in his account.. He didn't withdraw any money in the end and he left without collecting his receipt which by the way, showed 'insufficient balance'. How many times have I seen those 'insufficient balance' receipts lying around ATM machines. Do these people expect the ATM to miraculously dispense money when there's no money in their account??

T Music Festival

The rumour about David Tao performing in KL on 12 September turned out to be true afterall (thanks Yen Lee for the heads up!) except it's not part of Live & Loud KL, but Galaxy's T Music Festival. Hmm.. is this a maiden show? Don't recall any previous T Music Festival (or have I been living under the rock for too long?)

The 5 hour marathon concert will happen at Bukit Jalil National Stadium and features a whole load of artists: Joey Yung, Justin Lo, Kay Tse, Khalil Fong, Kenny Kwan, Jade Liu, Ocean, David Tao, Power Station, Sam Lee, Gary Chaw and others.

Despite the long list of performers, there isn't a single artist that I'm interested to go watch (other than DT) so I am gonna give this one a miss.

Wednesday 5 August 2009

Handprints for charity

POPRadio FM91.7 is running an online auction at Ruten with proceeds going towards a good cause, for charity to raise fund for schoolchildren meals ... and items going under the hammer include.. *drum roll please* HAND PRINTS by Mayday!

Ashin with the Mayday sign
is Masa affixing his handprint or kneading dough? 
another one working hard in the kitchen kneading dough
Ryan's peace sign.. cool! 
I contemplated bidding.. but whatever am I gonna do with it if I should win (highly unlikely looking at the current price) It'd be too awkward to display that handprint in my room and someone will probably pass some remark that it look like a prop from Planet Hollywood.

Mr Auctioneer
buy one free one?

Fish and Masa.. the saga continues


This is a really juicy piece of news. lol

Fish and Masa.

It's an old gossip that was revived when Fish had announced her marriage recently. It was reported in Sina yesterday that Fish is having an upcoming concert in Chengdu and amongst other things, the article talks about how Fish is trying to lose weight for her big day and her relationship with Masa.. that she had no sense of security being with him, her desire to get hitched [to him] but Masa was committed to his work and after some dispute the couple ended the relationship..

Not quite sure how true the news is, as you know tabloids have always been good at making up/ exaggerating stories.

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Poetry of the day.. 10 months after

The album 後。青春期的詩 [Poetry of The Day After] has been out for awhile now.. 10 months is a pretty long time in mandopop world. I got a signed mini poster during my HK trip in May and have only just found a decent frame to house it.