The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning

Ramadhan has been a bliss so far. What more to add to all the goodness than having a videocam falling (not literally) out of nowhere? Heh. Ayah played his best 18-holes ever and that bagged him the Sony Camcorder. We're lucky that my step-siblings in Damansara are not into photography (no wonder no one complained about me having the IXUS all to myself for 2 whole months) or videography. Whee.

So there I was last night, gleefully fiddling and tweaking with it when suddenly Fuzzy decided to sneak out -in a sudden crave for fried chicken- and dragged me along as well. It was a pleasant drive all the way to PJ's A&W Drive-In. I haven't felt so comfortable talking to anyone. Everything was, in order. Since the Drive-In hour is up, we ordered a take-out and ended up having DriveIn-g (Geddit?) all the way back through Federal Highway. Fast forward, she dropped me off at home and (probably) joined Shorty and mates somewhere in 15. Thanks again for the joyride, dear.

For the first time in 8 days since my homecoming, I had to be awaken by Ibu's alarm clock-like yell. Ah, yes. We're doing a lil' Raya shopping in Sunway Pyramid today. I need a new shoe. Badly. Sad news is that I can no longer be seen with a pair of Converse prancing the streets of Subang. They no longer have 12s for both Chuck Taylor and Jack Purcell. Shoot. Good news is that I now have my first Camel Active shoe. It was up for stock clearance at only RM99. Neato. I forked out 40 buckeroos from the ATM spending it on guitar strings alone. Eventually it caused Akim to run to Ibu for extra cash since the whole thing costs RM62. Ouch. Dropped by at Fantasy and was a bit delighted there's a lot of new stuff displayed on the racks. I sampled Bjork's Medulla, The Stands' All Years Living and 22-20s' self-titled. Medulla does'nt sound anything like what she has churned out for the past decade or so. It's a very 'reinventing' album. The rhythm track provided by Rahzel is, incredible. I can't really distinguish Rahzel's beat and Dokaka's beatbox since Fantasy's Listening Station has a decently crappy CD player but Dokaka sounded magnificent on 'Oceania'. The Stands is like a UK version of Beachwood Sparks only with monstrous dosage of commercial viability. The vocals echoed Noel Gallagher but a glimpse at the credits, they mentioned his name. Influence. Very strong influence. Perhaps after Blur gone blurry that signalled the end of Britpop, these guys are attempting a revival. But not a very good one I reckon. Galaxie gave the album only a sympathy star out of five. But then again it was reviewed by the mercilessly unapolegetic Edward Gomez. Maybe two out of five would be decent enough. 20-22s sounds like a sad attempt to emulate Jet's success. I mean, it's not that obvious that they're trying to bank in to the Australians rock & roll revival formula but they sounds suspiciously so.

We were at Aunt Norma's when Izzat buzzed me. Adam wanted to buy something in Subang Parade so I was cordially invited to tag along. The thing Adam wanted was'nt available (it's Gerhana Ska Cinta's brand new LP, The New Authentic by the way) so in the end it was me buying a PS2 game and a DVD (Barbershop 2!) and Izzat, well, 3 PC games and 3 DVDs.

I've never enjoyed watching a movie as much as I enjoyed both Barbershop and Barbershop 2. It's black humour at it's unprovoking best. I actually felt connected with it. In Barbershop, Calvin Palmer Jr. (played by Ice Cube) took over the barbershop from his father Calvin Sr. after his passing. He was young, hot headed, and restless. He was so eager to make his life better that he's willing to go to an extent where he's potentially jeopardizing the life of others who depended on the legendary barbershop (apparently, it was the only shop that was 'untouched' during the riot in '68). Luckily there's Eddie (played by Cedric The Entertainer), the longest-serving barber to keep the shop crackin' and to constantly knock some sense in Calvin's frownin' noggin. Calvin almost lost the shop but a series of events later, everything's -as usual- back in order. Things got a notch better in Barbershop 2: Back in Business. All original casts retained, there's growth in the key characters, new characters fit in like a vinyl glove, the profanity intersperse by Eddie is better than ever and oh, wait a minute. There's a new threat in town. Quality Land Development or specifically, Nappy Cutz. A black man's devillish answer to Supercuts. It's off the chain. They even have a basketball court in the shop! Though they almost fall apart from all the (internal) rivalry pressure and whatnot, they kept their heads together and people came flocking in to Calvin Jr.'s Barbershop soon enough leaving Nappy Cutz, crappy. There's got to be a third Barbershop. It's the shiznit.

This entry ain't about me getting down with the ghetto brothas and sistas nor it is about latest records, a new gadget or a shopping spree. It's about how my life is a roller coaster right now. Everything's so volatile. So, worthwhile.

Thank you, You.