Hurts invaded Mist Club in Bangsar on 6th May and boy, was I glad I made it just in time for the start of TOPSHOP X Junk By Demand presents Hurts in KL!

It looks like it's raining concerts galore in KL for the next few months, and while most of them don't quite catch my fancy, there's one that I'm really looking forward to - "Topshop x Junk By Demand presents HURTS"!



I blogged about their debut album "Happiness" a few months ago [here], have overplayed that CD in my car and had a few interesting dreams about Theo Hutchcraft (mostly involving a chair, pudding and some form of rope wtf). So it's quite a surprise when I heard they were making a stop to KL.


As I mentioned in my review of their album, "Happiness". Hurts is one big gumball of 80's synthpop with a juicy mellow centre. Their songs have great build-up with some sweeping grand moments, and then mellows down to a rather trippy chill-out ending. "Silver Lining" is still one of my favourites till today.

I know a few friends who are now fans of Hurts after giving their album a go, and if you think that listening to them live would seal the deal for you, here are the ticketing details for their upcoming concert!

Normal tickets are priced at RM130 (excluding RM3 processing fee), but thanks to Topman, Fashion Fast Forward members can purchase concert tickets at only RM105 (at all major Topman outlets in Klang Valley).

I am a Fashion Fast Forward member. Trade you loan of my card for a Milo ais ;)

But, if you feel that just watching Hurts perform live doesn't fill that void deep within you, how about a Meet & Greet session with Theo and Adam instead??

There are 10 exclusive Meet & Greet passes to be won, just for Fashion Fast Forward members! All you have to do is buy a special ticket package which has a Hurts concert ticket and Music Ticket+, for RM147 at Topman outlets, and you'll immediately be in the running to win those Meet & Greet passes.

In case you're wondering what in the world is Music Ticket+, it's a collectible music download card that gives you access to exclusive music content. So together with the concert ticket, you get to choose and download 5 Hurts tracks that can't be found anywhere else. There's even a live performance thrown in for good measure.


I'm definitely going to be there and I can't wait to just stare at Theo's well-oiled hair and take in that sweet deep voice live right in front of me! It still feels a little surreal that they would even come all the way down here. Time to make the best of it and put on my fan-girl face!

Tickets can be bought at RedTix, Rock Corner, Victoria Music and Topman outlets (only for the special F3 member ticket price and Music Ticket+ package).

I wrote to you and for you :) I chose my words and it said what I wanted to say, and felt how I wanted to feel.

I read it, breathed it in and read it again.

Then I hid it away somewhere I could quite possibly forget.

There's just something about classic fairytales that always gets even the most cynical person wondering about the power of unconditional love and whether it exists in this day and age. So I expected the modern day version of "Beauty and the Beast" in the form of the movie "Beastly" to be an interesting watch.


The story revolves around Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer) who is everything you'd love to hate in high school - handsome, rich, popular, a huge jerk and has the whole world at his feet with just a smile. He offends a witch (Mary Kate Olsen) and she decides to teach him a lesson by turning him into a hideous monster with insane facial piercings and bad-ass tattoos that look like the tattoo artist had sneezing fit during a tattoo session. He has a year to reverse the spell and he'll need the help of an unlikely friend, Lindy Taylor (Vanessa Hudgens) to do it.


The pace of the movie was generally rather slow. There wasn't much of a climatic build-up, even for important scenes that should have been pretty exciting. And there were plenty of those. The chemistry between Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer is a little questionable, and she seems to slur her words at times.

But they do make an adorable on-screen couple. Extremely pleasant to look at! Yum.


Mary-Kate Olsen as the witch, Kendra Hilferty, was fun to watch. I think it was very convenient that they chose an Olsen twin for the role since her wardrobe for the movie remained pretty much the same as in real life. Except with less crazy hair.


My favourite character of the movie was Kyle's tutor, Will Fratalli, played by everyone's favourite tv bachelor, Neil Patrick Harris! Stole every scene he was in and cracked me up everytime his face came on. I'm beginning to think that Neil really does naturally act like Barney because it felt like I was watching a random episode of "How I Met Your Mother" with his wit and punclines.


Overall, "Beastly" wasn't too bad. It's got enough romance for the hopeless romantics out there and plenty of cute scenes that'll make you swoon. It did rather follow the story of "Beauty and the Beast", but not completely. There wasn't much sense of urgency throughout the movie, but it was fun to watch the relationship between Kyle and Lindy develop.

Plus, you learn things like how beauty is only skin deep and you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. But I'm sure they don't already need to tell us that ;)

Sometimes, all you need to know and believe in, is yourself :)


Things will fall in to place.

Happiness is a warm pillow. Or a a glass of warm milk. Or warm hands.


Changes. This should be good :)

Some things, some people, are like an old habit that never truly goes away. You think you've done well burying it under a layer of nervous experiences, fresh flames, a trail of unsteady hearts and renewed resolutions.

But all it takes is a damn fine sense of timing to sweep everything away like a thin layer of dust on a long-forgotten diary. You twist the key in that little lock, excited at reliving the things you remember smiling about. You turn the pages and relish each memory that hits you like a wave. Only to realise once you've opened it, that those were the very things that made you put everything away in the dark in the first place.


And with other things, I wish I didn't have to hit a wall everytime I try.


For now, let's just cross bridges as they come along.


Stuck in my head - "You and Me" by Olivia Ong

There are a lot of things I'd want to say and even more things I should say about how 2011 threw me off a proverbial cliff and I wish I could be bothered, but not right now.

Random twitpic spam update!!



I've been having far too many late nights. But if the late nights make for a good start to a great day in the morrow, I can take the sunrise bedtimes.

Except for that one time where I was sick as a dog. Bad idea.



Holy chocolate orgasm, Batman!! Chocolates, bananas and ice cream, these are a few of my favourite things. Deep-frying it in batter is just a sweet, sweet, artery-clogging bonus.


I had my face read too. I like to think of myself as anything but an open book, so I'm pretty skeptical of such things. But it was free. And the dude was there. I take all lemons that come my way.



It's just been a whirlwind. 2011; One foot forward, both eyes closed. Let's see where this goes.


Stuck in my head - "Miserable At Best" by Mayday Parade

Keep telling yourself something often enough and pretty soon, your head starts to believe it.

But lying in the dark usually unravels all of the mind's good work in seconds.

Then the heart takes over.


Stuck in my head - "Rocket" by Mae

If words like "CIA", "Bush", "Iraq", "WMD" and "Aluminium pipes" gets more than a raised eyebrow from you, then the movie "Fair Game" just might be your thing.


"Fair Game" is based on the true story and memoir of CIA agent Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) whose status as an agent was leaked out by Whitehouse officials to the public to discredit her after her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn), wrote an article to the New York Times about how the Bush administration manipulated intelligence information they gathered about weapons of mass destruction to launch an invasion on Iraq.


If you're not politically inclined and clued-in on the situation between USA and Iraq, you'll be hard pressed to find this movie enjoyable. It's pretty intense as you follow how Valerie and her husband cope with suddenly being thrown out to the sharks, but don't expect an action-packed spy flick.

Watch if you have some idea about what's going on about the Iraq invasion. Don't watch if you're expecting someone to get shot during the movie.

Anyhoo, I've been scouring pharmacies for a new sunblock replacement because my usual go-to is on its last legs and I'm the most brand un-loyal person in existence. Had the chance to try some sunblock by this new brand that's hit the shelves called Ocean Potion and despite it's high SPF and creamy texture, it doesnt turn my face in to a ball of grease (number one priority for any facial sunblock). They have a pretty extensive sunblock range too for different skin types, so it's worth checking Ocean Potion out if you're the fussy sort.

Many thanks for the movie tickets Ocean Potion :)

I don't think I've ever talked about the story of how monumentally pathetic my first ever "official" part-time job was. I think I'm old enough to face my demons. The scars from a few years ago have been sufficiently covered up with official paychecks, age and a strange obsession with Starbucks Christmas-edition tumblers.

I think I was either in my final years of secondary school or my first year of college when a question wormed its way into the back of my empty head: "Most of my other friends had a part-time job during their school holidays. Will my future be ruined forever by my lack of pre-adult menial labour in comparison? Will potential employers use my resume as kitty litter because I didn't know how to wait on tables and sell washing machines over the phone?"

It was decided that necessary steps should be taken for me to equip myself with some ammunition for a dark dark future ahead. I told all of my closest friends that if there was word out on the grapevine that there was a part-time job out there that suited my non-existent skills, count me in!

I should have known better then, than to count on friends who were the same age as I was.

Soon enough, one of my friends told me that someone, who was separated from her by 3 degrees, had a sales promoter gig for 3 days. Being sales promoters were all the rage back then, and since I didn't have the necessary height/physique/socially accepted facial bone structure to sell cars or thumbdrives, I took what I could get. What sealed the deal was the fact that it was in a supermarket that was about 10 minutes away from my house. It wasn't walking distance, but at least I had lesser chance of being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I was terrified, I'll admit. But I had long accepted the fact that the more terrifying something is, the more it'll be good for you if you do it. Since it was during some sort of school/college holiday, I decided I could spare 3 days of not watching Spongebob Squarepants reruns on TV and go to Work.

The job? I was to be a sales promoter in a supermarket for.... MILK! Boxed milk, to be precise. The sort where they come in 6-packs with flavours like chocolate, strawberry, et al. On the way to work, I realised "I can do this shit. I like milk. How hard can it be to convince people to buy milk? One taste and they'll be hooked!"

How very wrong I was.

My first few hours didn't really go too well. All I had were some vague instructions given to me in Cantonese by a supervisor. I was then told that I was dressed wrong for the job and they would have to make do with giving me a worker's tag so that I wouldn't get kicked out of the supermarket. I didn't know what to wear, so the night before, I asked a friend who had some Work experience what was suitable work attire.

Lesson of the day: People who work in offices don't get dressed to sell milk in a supermarket.

Once the paperwork had been sorted out (I had to fill up Forms ZOMG!), I was given a clipboard, a pen, several sheets of stock forms and was led to what would be my post for the next 3 days, 11am - 9pm. I totally knew how the setup was going to be like. I'd get a small booth, stacks of paper cups, maybe a ridiculous hat or apron, pour some milk for people to try, shove some 6-packs under their nose and beg them to buy it. Of course I know how it goes.

Next lesson of the day: You never know how it goes.

Instead of a position in the middle of the supermarket near the frozen dairy section, I was led to the deathly quiet milk and cereal aisle. Instead of getting a booth to give out milk samples, I was given a spot to stand at. I was just told to try and sell milk while standing in the middle of the aisle empty-handed, in front of the shelf where the brand I was working for displayed its products.


At the end of every shift, I had to make a note of how many 6-packs I managed to "sell", and replenish the milk stock. My shelf had about 200+ milk 6-packs, so it ought to have lasted a few days.

Right now, I would have questioned my then supervisor about the logic of the job I was assigned to do. But back then, I thought that Work meant having bosses giving you impossible tasks and you just do it without killing anyone. So I just nodded, said bye to my supervisor and was left alone for 10 hours in the middle of the milk and cereal aisle. Before he left, he told me that someone would come by to check up on me the next day.

The first few hours were uneventful. And awkward. I didn't know what to do as I just stood there smiling at people who walked past with their trolleys. It was a weekday morning, so there weren't a lot of people around. I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I rearranged the milk aisle. Once I was done with that, I rearranged the cereal aisle. I didn't know what to do with my feet, so I walked up and down the aisle repeatedly. I didn't know what to do with my eyes so I read the labels on cereal boxes, milk powder and muesli bars. I didn't know what to do with my mouth either, so I talked to the janitor and the people who came by every few hours on forklifts to stock up the shelves. I spent most of the day getting in the way of people's shopping trolleys too.

Once in awhile, I would somehow manage to convince people to put a 6-pack milk into their trolleys. I like to think that most of it made it to the counters, instead of being stuffed behind the instant noodle shelf 3 aisles away. A ton of people asked me why I didn't have samples to give them if I wanted them to buy the milk. I don't know what I answered to make them take the milk from my hands, but it would have been short of grovelling on the floor, clutching the hem of their pants and spilling tears, mucus and my hopes and dreams on their shoes.

At the end of my first day, I managed to move about 15 milk 6-packs.

On the second day, I had my first taste of what it felt like to be jaded and stoned at work. I had become a corporate zombie. I dreaded going to that aisle. I counted down the minutes till I could clock out. If I had colleagues, I would have been complaining about the long hours, low pay and lack of dental plans.

I had long exhausted my list of things I could have done to make time go faster. Within a few hours, I was bored out of my mind. I started making conversation with condensed milk tins. I thought up adventures I could have in Cap'n Crunch Land. I came up with recipes using milk powder, muesli bars and strawberry jam.

But there were still people shopping for groceries in the supermarket, and I had my fair share of questions and "selling" to do. Since it was a quiet day, I took a slightly extended lunch break and got to my post a little later than usual. I was such a rebel.

When I got back from lunch, there were a few people in the milk aisle and lots of screaming children. I hated dealing with children then (that has not changed). A young couple were staring and poking around at the milk shelf I was supposed to be taking care of. Since I never had people actually willingly take interest in the product I was "selling", I didn't know how to respond to this.

So I did what any self-respecting promoter would do - I stood awkwardly at the end of aisle and hid out of sight until they went away.

The problem was, they didn't go away. Not as fast as I would have liked. And I didn't want to look like I was going to steal the baby from the shopping trolley parked next to me, so I went up to them and alerted them of my presence. I was immediately bombarded with a barrage of questions about the milk from my shelf. I mumbled, shrugged, grunted and snorted my way through the dairy interrogation. Eventually, they took a few packs and left. Crisis averted. Life saved. Some milk sold.

It was an exceptionally slow day and in the evening, my supervisor came to see how I was doing. He had a few choice words for me, and they were not what I wanted to hear. Apparently, the dairy FBI I encountered earlier were not the ordinary shoppers I thought they were. They were some pretty important people who were Not Pleased with my performance. If it sounds like I was in trouble, I probably was.

I panicked. 2 new situations in one day was too much for my brain to process. After moping about miserably, a switch clicked in my head. I was determined not to go down without a fight. I was going to be the best milk promoter on this side of town. I rolled up my sleeves, rearranged my shelf, yelled "THIS. IS. DAIRYYYYYYYYY!!" (ok the movie hadn't existed yet, but if it did, that's what I would have shouted) and for the next 2 hours, became a lean, mean, milk-selling machine.

At the end of my second day, I managed to almost clear my entire shelf (only because I couldn't reach the ones right at the back). Almost 200 packs of milk were gone and there was a void of 3 levels of empty shelves in the milk aisle.

Later that night, I got a phone call.

I didn't have to go in to work the next day.

People tend to say a lot of stupid things on a pretty regular basis. Most of the time, I hardly have the privilege of listening to the stupid things they say and I try not to let too many people listen to the stupid things I say as well (and I do say some ridiculous things). But thanks to our favourite social media tools like Facebook status updates and Twitter, the floodgates of stupidity have broken and it's been quite entertaining. Oh, how beautifully entertaining it has been.

There are a lot of things people say that Don't Make Sense. Right up there at the top with "It doesn't hurt at all." and "It tastes like chicken." is the, now too often used, saying "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

God I hate it when people say that.

I don't find anything wrong with saying something that isn't nice, especially when it's a comment related to whatever it is the person you're aiming it at is talking about. If everyone listened to whoever came up with that phrase, no one would have an opinion and we'd all be stuck using a square wheel.

Some people seem quite unable to cope with negative criticism or comments and their only defense is to keep chanting "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." over and over again with their hands firmly clapped over their ears (ocassionally accompanied by random "La la la la la la" and head shaking). It's even worse when people get their friends/die-hard supporters to mindlessly chime in and say the same thing too. If people say your face resembles the rear end of an elephant, well what can you do?

If you put something out in public and expect the whole world to agree 100% with anything you say, you might want to go back to Pleasantville and go back to sleep. People have an opinion and they're entitled to tell you about it whether you like it or not (it's usually more fun if you don't like it). I don't see anything wrong with having an opinion. What's wrong is that a lot of people are being mollycoddled by other people who blindly agree with everything they say and when one fine day, some brave soul dares to comment otherwise, worlds are shaken, eyeballs pop out of heads, pillars crumble, veins throb, plates are smashed and complete and utter denial of an opinion other than theirs makes someone look like a Very Ignorant Person.

Of course, this applies only to comments/opinons that are related to the topic at hand. A comment of "Your face!" to a blog post about "Why rabbits are better for cooking in stews than badgers" doesn't really help anyone and is pretty unnecessary. So really, don't say anything at all if you don't have anything that remotely makes sense to add to the conversation.

Perhaps the phrase should be changed to "If you don't have anything constructive/makes sense/related to the topic, don't say anything at all." It's a mouthful and may challenge the intelligence levels of some, but it would do the world a whole lot of good.

And maybe people can stop using that damn phrase again.

After almost killing the CD player in my car with non-stop multiple sessions of their previous album "Only by the Night" and much out-of-tune personal karaoke moments, the latest album by Kings of Leon, "Come Around Sundown", looks like it's going to do the same for my vocal cords and CD player again.

It's a good thing I usually drive alone in the car because my voice is really something.


"Only by the Night" was a huge success for Kings of Leon (if all you music purists can count winning a Grammy award as "success"), and it introduced a lot of people to their brand of Southern rock music. A lot of their fans are calling their latest album a little too mainstream for their liking, but I really don't think it matters as long as there are people who can still enjoy the music.

The Followills (Nathan, Caleb, Jared, Matthew - 3 brothers and 1 cousin) have been at it since 1999, so they've been around the block for awhile and it seems like they've finally decided that an arena rock sound is what suits them the best. And I think it works really well. "Come Around Sundown" has this stadium feel to it, like every song was written just so it would sound it's best at a live concert or music festival with thousands of people singing along to Caleb Followill's twangy Southern tunes.


The album starts off with the ironically-named song "The End". It's rich with a teasing guitar sound following the whole song with some synths thrown in for good measure. It's a good introduction to Caleb's voice that just warbles on consistently in every song.

The first single from the album, "Radioactive", is full of energy and gets me a little too excited in the morning. The guitar riffs are fast, catchy and fun. It builds up towards the end as a gospel choir joins in with Caleb letting loose with the hypnotic lyrics. Another song that has almost the same energy would be "No Money" and although the guitar riffs feels a little similar, it's more upbeat with a guitar solo that would no doubt inspire plenty of air-guitar impersonations. But it's all in good fun.


Things slow down abit with songs like "Mi Amigo" which is a rocking ballad with a hint of the blues and "The Face" which sounds all full of sadness, amplified by a haunting guitar hook that matches Caleb's melancholic voice perfectly. "The Face" is one of the highlights of this album for me.


One of the songs that latched on to me and immediately staked its claim as my personal favourite is "Mary". I love it! I'm not too sure why, but it's pretty catchy. It's a blues rock ballad that won my heart over with it's anthemic guitar riffs and vocals that just pleads for me to give it a chance.


If this album sounds like we're being tricked in to listening to country music by the Followills, songs like "Back Down South" and "Pickup Truck" will reaffirm that suspicion for you. It's all full of Southern twang, complete with some cowboy imagery randomly running through your head. The former even has some people whooping and cheering at the end, like they just finished playing in a barnhouse party.


Overall, the album is pretty good. It's easy to listen to, won't confuse you or make you feel like you're listening to an obscure brand of music that only the hipsters like. Caleb's sweeping voice can come off as a little high and nasally if you're not used to it, so maybe try not to listen to the whole album at one go on your first try. The songs are grand and Caleb's voice echoes nice and clear in most of them, giving most of the album a "live" feel. I think Kings of Leon are going to win a lot of new fans over with "Come Around Sundown".

Plus, I think they all look better with less hair altogether.

If you want more information about this album or any of their previous ones, check out Sony Music Malaysia on Facebook/Twitter.

It's time to get my most trusted and accurate mystical decision maker device!

Oh great Magic 8 ball, which of these make up palettes is the fairest of them all?



Headaches and online shopping and mighty fine packaging, these are a few of my favourite things!

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  Hsu Jen
  jen2wyvern@hotmail.com
  
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