The New Voice of Nightwish

revealed! the new vocalist of “nightwish” was revealed today!

now, if you do not know who nw is, shame on you! they are (like) the most popular symphonic metal group in the world! forget hip-hop, forget rap, pop or reggae music. majority of these songs are crap anyway. if you want to listen to REAL music, listen to metal, either symphonic, power, goth or death metal. and among the various groups occupying this unique genre, the finnish super group nw stands out as one of the best…

(to get an idea of how they sound like, think evanescence but with better vocals, more intelligent lyrics, far more creative & brilliantly over the top musicanship! then you will get a rough idea of how nw sounds like.)

since firing their original lead vocalist during the latter part of 2005, they searched far & wide for a replacement. they even called for & received over 1100 demo recordings which were gradually whittled down & sorted out during a long & tiresome selection process. finally, after months of searching, nightwish decided on a new singer, one who’s identity was kept under wraps for nearly 4 months until it was unveiled today!

(drumrolls please…)

introducing the newest member of nightwish. she is…

more

The Great Divide

two humorous stories i picked up last week. (appropriate changes have been made & i dedicate this to all the dissapointed man u. fans out there…)

why men have better friends,

friendship between women:
a woman didn’t come home one night. the next day she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend’s house. the man called his wife’s 10 best friends. non of them knew anything about it.

friendship between men:
a man didn’t come home one night. the next day he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend’s house. the woman called her husband’s 10 best friends. eight of them confirmed that he had slept over and two claimed that he was still there.

his & her diaries,

her diary:
saturday night i thought he was acting weird. we had made plans to hook up at a bar. i was shopping with my friends all day long so i thought he was upset at the fact that i was late, but he made no comment. conversation wasn’t flowing so i suggested we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. he agreed but he kept quiet & absent…
i asked him what was wrong. he said “nothing”. i asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. he said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry. on the way home i told him that i loved him, but he simply smiled & kept on driving. i can’t explain his behaviour. i don’t know why he didn’t say “i love you too”. when we got home, i felt as if i had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. he just sat there and watched T.V. he seemed so distant & absent. finally, i decided to go to bed. about 10 minutes later he came to bed and to my surprise, he responded to my caress and we made love, but i still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else. i decided that i could not take it anymore, so i decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. i started crying and cried until i too fell asleep. i don’t know what to do. i’m almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. my life’s a disaster.

his diary:
today man u lost, but at least i got laid… 

5 Hours of Boredom

went to a “function” today. a gathering of so called “relatives” & “family”. it was all in aid of…hmm, how can i describe it…something like a christening? for me at least though, it felt like attending a funeral – being surrounded by a collection of people, majority of them unknown, wearing uncomfortable clothing & wishing i was some place else…

my mum loves occasions like this, a place where she can gossip or gather the “dirt” on wayward relations to her hearts content. call me anti-social but me, i’ve never been comfortable at events like this. in fact i would rather be at home, doing stuff like surfing the web or visiting various forums instead of being stuck in a place where the only questions you are bound to get asked are as follows,

1. where are you working now?

2. are you still in the same place?

3. how’s the weather over there?

4. any difficulties finding this place?

5. shagged anyone new this week? (just kidding on the last one!)

as expected, the entire event turned out (for me at least) to be one big drag. nearly 5 long and i do mean LONG hours of sheer boredom. nothing much to report except i did get a brief glimpse of a cute girl (wonder who she was…). was genuinely happy (relief is the better word) when it became time to leave the place…

Procrastinator!…Procrastinator!

i didn’t get much sleep last night. except for a short 25-30 minutes snooze i was up all night finishing up my assignments (i work part time as a graphic designer, remember?) so that it could be ready for delivery the very next day.

i don’t know why but i’ve always been a big fan of procrastination. when there’s an assignment or some work to be done, most of the times i’ll wait until the last moment to finish it off. for example the graphic designing assigment(s) mentioned earlier. i received it last tuesday, spent wednesday, thursday, friday & part of saturday (i had that clean up thingy on saturday, remember?) in the “planning” (read goofing off/procrastinating) mode & only seriously started to put the “mouse to pad” from sunday onwards. the work was usually expected to be completed within a week’s time so as u can imagine, sunday & monday turned out to be two hectic days!

some may argue that this is an unhealthy situation or that procrastination is a “bad” thing. i look at it in a different way. it may not be an ideal habit but the way i see it, since “all work & no play makes jack (or anyone else) a dull person”, procrastination is vital to keep yourself from becoming blah or jaded. sure, when i was goofing …er, in the “planning” mode for 4 days, i did not get any actual work done but i did get a chance to chill out, relax & brainstorm about the artwork that needed to be completed. the results turned out GREAT! in fact, far better than the work generated when i stuck to a rigidly planned schedule.

it may be that procrastination, instead of harming actually enhances your skills & energy levels by recharging your batteries & giving your mind a chance to relax, absorb & generate new ideas. that’s my theory anyway. the only downside to this is the fact that some late night, burning the midnight oil stuff will be needed to complete the work required in the limited time available.

(just do what i do. put some heavy/symphonic metal music on & staying awake the entire night will not become an issue!)

Spreading “Freedom & Democracy”

watched On Assignment: Month of Mayhem on the idiot box today. it showed the suprisingly candid reports of a CNN journalist on assigment in iraq for 32 days. watching it, i wondered whether the iraqis realize how lucky they really are? sure, the countrys’ in a mess right now, suicide bombers, insurgents & fanatics are roaming the streets killing dozens of coalition forces & iraqis by the thousands and there’s a good chance that soon u or someone in your family might be kidnapped, tortured & finally blown to bits but hey, aren’t these difficulties a small price to pay for the “price of freedom & the gift of democracy” bestowed by george “dubya” bush & his coalition of the well hung?

before the invasion of iraq, the country was ruled by a despot who didn’t allow democracy to flourish in the region. saddam was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, and according to “dubya” and “b-liar”, he was harbouring al-qaeda terrorists & also had an arsenal of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” at his fingertips. thank god for “dubya” and “b-liar”. while others were dilly dallying, they alone saw the dangers posed by the iraqi strong man & took pre-emptive action against it.

iraq today is a shining example of progress for the entire region. it finally has a democratically elected government, a government by the people for the people (no matter that the majority of them are virtual puppets of the americans), brand new utilities & infrastructure being built at a steady rate by foreign contractors (no matter that it’s been built by the very same administration that destroyed them in the first place), saddam hussein & his henchmen finally held accountable for the hundreds of killings & other crimes commited during their rule (no matter that a far larger amount of people are being killed today due to the direct result of the iraq war & it’s aftermath), al-qaeda now on the run in iraq (no matter that they were never really there to begin with). the coalition never did find the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” but hey, even “dubya” and “b-liar” are allowed to make a “small” mistake or two…

“dubya” and “b-liar” should be nominated for the nobel peace prize. their method of spreading “freedom & democracy” should be emulated around the world. now for a spot of “regime change” in iran…

Cleanup Day!

“cleanup day” scheduled for today. busy as i am these past few days this chore had to be done. cleanliness is next to godliness as they say and when u go as much as 2-3 months without having a MAJOR cleanup, stuff (and a whole lot of dust) is bound to pile up. among the items thrown away today, loads of old newspapers & magazines, (pointless) visiting cards, old receipts & invoices, faulty & worthless floppy disks & old CDs, electronic crap like batteries, circuit boards, wires, faulty chargers, bottles of Ferric Chloride (don’t ask…), countless amounts of scrap paper & containers of various sizes & shapes. i also threw away this wonderfully “small” cardboard box (see below), the one in which the new CD from “Within Temptation” arrived via amazon.com…

after all the unwanted items had been removed, it was time to start dusting & sweeping/vacumming/cleaning! by the time it was all over the place looked absolutely spotless. it was fit for human habitation again for at least 2-3 months, time enough for me to get rid of the sniffles caught today & to start collecting junk once again…

Weather – Cold or Warm?

i’ve never been a big fan of warm weather. (which right minded person is?) hence, i’ve never understood why there are people out there who go around the world in search of the sun. (they are known mainly as “tourists”) now before any of you start judging me just hear me out for a sec…

i’m a guy who would rather prefer dying due to hypothermia than due to heat stroke, dehydration & stuff. this attitude is perhaps born due to the fact that here, there is no cold weather per say. except for some mountainous regions where you do get a sprinkling of cooler weather, overall in my country the weather is, in majority of the times, always hot & (extremely) sunny. safe to say, there are only 3 seasons in effect here, warm, warmer & warmest! hence when there is a spot of cold weather (like in the past few days when it’s been raining heavily) it’s (for me) a moment to savour.

no weird feelings like your head has been stuck inside an oven everytime you go outside, no sitting inside a stuffy room wearing your shorts or your pants & sweating heavily while doing your work or using your computer, no frequent openings of the refigerator door to get a (false) sense of air conditioning or no running to the bathroom 2-3 times a day for a cooldown! in short, cold weather makes me happy!

from those who leave their countries during the colder months to go & visit places with warmer climates, i ask what is the big attraction? sure, the thrill & the excitement of travelling to strange & exotic locations maybe a big factor but chances are all you will be acomplishing during your trip is spending all your hard earned money on frivoulous things & getting sun burnt in the process also. perhaps it’s just a case of “the grass is greener on the other-side syndrome”. if i was born in a country with a colder climate, would i also be thinking along the same lines?

Blue Tuesday…

felt blue the entire day today. it all started with my mum giving the extended unabridged version of “what are you going to do with your life?” speech…

even when i was employed at a private firm for the past 5 years, such comments kept surfacing at least once every week! now that i’m unemployed at the moment (except for some part time graphic designing work), it has increased to around five times every week.

i left that previous company because the division i was in was downsized and my work became routine, boring & soon (just like homer simpson’s) it became just another dead end job. quitting, at that time, was the right thing to do. but now i wonder did i do the right thing?

i took a big risk by leaving. unlike some other countries, there are no viable job centres & benefits here for the unemployed. i did the job interview touring circuit a few times but so far no luck. what would happen if this glut continues? what would happen if my money runs out?

thinking about stuff like this (& my mum’s constant nagging) really does drag you down the entire day.

sorry for the tone of this post but hmm…..oh well, lets hope i’m in a better mood tomorrow.

Headaches Courtesy of Bill Gates & Co.

it had to happen sometime…expecting a microsoft product to operate flawlessly for 3 months continuously was to expect the impossible. after nearly 2.5 months of relatively perfect operation, windows XP, the world’s buggiest operating system, finally decided to inflict some misery on me & my computer yesterday.

i had to spend a good part of yesterday & today immersed in mundane tasks like formatting my hard disk(s), re-installing windows XP & other user softwares & also downloading various antivirus, spyware & firewalls programs into my computer. as a result of such activities though, some portions of my data has also been erased & there is no way to recover it as i didn’t care enough to back up last week’s data. oh well, one of the joys of using the world’s most popular operating system i guess.

now unlike some idiots out there i’m not a “windows junkie”. infact i have another operating system installed into one of my partitions to play with. (a far safer & far better one called “ubuntu”) unfortunately though, since most/many graphical softwares out there are still not compatible with ubuntu, i would need the necessary evil called XP to still become my primary operating system, problematic though it may be.

where the hell is that jar of asprin?…

Cricket World Cup & Terrorist Aerial Attacks

whatever free time i had these past few weeks was spent watching the cricket world cup on the idiot box or on my computer, getting sleepier by the minute as owing to the time difference, the matches ended at around 3.00 a.m. local time!

anyways, after nearly 2 months of competition, dramas, scandals & intrigue involving 51 games & 16 teams, the cricket world cup finally came to an end with the final being held last saturday. the teams who qualified for it were the defending champions Australia & my home country of Sri Lanka. initially, the national power grid must have been streched to the limit as virtually every sri lankan who was near a television, radio, computer etc. was following the game live. (it was not the case later as i will explain at the end of this post)

due to problems weather wise, it began 2 hours later from the scheduled starting time. Australia won the toss & decided to bat first. they started slowly but soon they went on like a house on fire, blitzing the strong sri lankan bowling attack to all parts of the ground. it was pure mayhem with a bit of luck added also. and, at the end of their alloted time the aussies amassed a huge total on the board. it was then Sri Lanka’s turn to bat & to try & overhaul Australia’s massive score.

Sri Lanka also started slowly but confidently and the game seemed to be on track for a close & exciting finish. and then the wheels fell off for the Sri Lankans, both in the West Indies & in Sri Lanka!

in the West Indies, Sri Lanka found themselves getting unstuck against the excellent Australian bowling attack with the weather also taking a turn for the worse. in Sri Lanka, fans especially those from the commercial city of Colombo, suddenly found themselves without power as tamil tiger terrorists decided to launch an aerial attack at vital installations close to the city at that exact moment. as a result the powers that be decided to shutdown electricity to “safeguard the entire area”.

fortunately the terrorist attacks didn’t inflict much damage to the targeted areas. unfortunately, due to the blackout, thousands or perhaps millions of red eyed fans were deprived the chance of watching their heros live in action for a good portion of the innings. it was only thanks to humble instruments like pocket radios (my mobile has a built-in radio so i used that!) that they managed to keep their sanity! still, many spent the time venting their anger & frustrations by cursing at the terrorists, the power company officials, even the president of Sri Lanka (who found the time to leave the country to go and see a cricket match in far off west indies even though there are far more serious issues in the country, both security wise & economic wise. a classic case of playing the fiddle while rome is burning!)

around 2 hours later power was restored, which allowed us the chance to watch the last moment(s) of the match. Sri Lanka fought to the bitter end but Australia’s superior firepower overwhelmed them and finally the aussies were crowned as the new world champions. not the result hoped for at the beginning still, mighty proud of the lads. they managed to reach the final of the cricket world cup only to lose to a team some are saying as the best cricket team to walk this earth.

anyways,

congrats to Australia
well done Sri Lanka
fuck off u bloody tamil tigers

also:

tamil tiger air raid

world cup final

(originally posted 30/05/07)