Muse Blows.

Muse, consisting of vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard

Its not often in your life that you meet something that just takes your whole essence of your being away. I would stop short of worshipping this band, but they are seriously freaking talented with insane stage presence, if everyone didn't know that already.

So I'll say again, Muse blows. When I first heard Starlight, probably their most commercially successful single, I simply thought "hmm decent band, decent song." So I started exploring their works. And the more I explored, the more gems I dug up.

It isn't often that you can find a band where every song is actually worth listening to again, and on the first hearing too. And even scarier is the fact that their live shows actually sound better than their recordings. That means that they are really freaking genius because on a live show, you can't do all those studio manipulation things.

Plus the fact that on live shows they add improvisations that aren't found in the recordings, which few bands nowadays dare to do, because if you screw up on a live show, the impression left on the fans is indelible. Check out the Butterflies and Hurricanes piano solo on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTd6nyHuPdw. And take note this is a live show. The bass is fantastic too.

How is it possible that just 3 people can make songs like Butterflies and Hurricanes, Stockholm Syndrome, Supermassive Black Hole and Bliss is totally beyond me. Most people unfamiliar with Muse would probably only know about their latest album, Black Holes and Revelations. No doubt that is one fantastic album, but listen to those songs I've just listed. They will change your opinion of Muse.

People have dissed this band as being a clone of Radiohead, but doing so is to ignore that fact that there are actually 2 great bands here, Radiohead, and Muse. They may share similarity in style, for example the use of high vocals (although Matt's is a lot higher than Thom Yorke's), extensive keyboards and in their themes, but the more you listen to their music, the more you realise that they are different. People who diss one band or the other usually don't know enough about both bands, and I would say that Muse certainly has a distinctive sound, very different from Radiohead.

Anyway, I'll end this post with the lyrics for Starlight, because their other lyrics are a little more emo and I don't exactly feel emo right now.


Starlight (2006) by Muse

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

Starlight
I will be chasing your starlight
Until the end of my life
I dont know if it’s worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to
Hold you in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to ignite
All the cells that would die just to feel alive

I’ll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away...

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to
Hold you in my arms

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

I’ll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away...

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to
Hold you in my arms...

Explore Singapore Part Two: Day at the toy museum

A museum for toys. Sounds improbable? Well, here's something that may seem even more improbable. There is such a museum in Singapore. Here's the proof

I was thinking if I was too old to be looking at toys, until I realised that the toys featured are those that my parents and grandparents played with. So age wasn't really a problem here. However, I got a little trigger happy in there, and 5 minutes into my visit, my camera ran out of batteries. Now, I believe the staff remember me as the young man who went into the museum, and reappeared sheepishly 5 minutes later asking "Where's the nearest 7-eleven? Uh I kind of ran out of batteries"

Ok this post will be mainly pictures and captions because like I said, I was trigger happy, and also because there isn't really much I can say about this place except through the pictures.

At the entrance
GAWD. Look at how Batman used to look. No amount of photoshopping can save you from a costume that ridiculous.

The directory. This will give you an idea of what I'm talking about on each level.

Starting from level 5 - Outerspace

Millions of robots, of every shape, colour and size. Its not very well taken because they wouldn't let me use flash in here and the lighting of this corner wasn't very good. Zzz.

The poster for the first Star Wars. An eye-opener.

At level 4 - Characters
Awwwwwwww. Now get back to chasing each other already.

Tintin and Snowy running off on yet another mission. I loved the comics, but Tintin needs a better hairstylist.


More Tintin! My favourite character from Tintin is actually Captain Haddock because he's an incorrigible drunk sailor who uses ridiculous curses like "Blistering barnacles", and because he's just a lot funnier than omg I'm so seriously smart Tintin.

Popeye the spinach eating sailorman. One of my childhood favourites, although I never could understand why he liked spinach from a can.

Oh yeah Superman. Way to go red undies.

Level 3 - Childhood favourites

Some really ugly looking Mickey Mouses. Check out the one on the right. The teeth! THE TEETH! And the BEADY EYES! And the misshapen ears! And the NOSE HAIR OMG! The one on his left in the back isn't much better either.

Check out Mickey Left's super long nose hairs.

We all know where this is from. If you don't, here's a clue. Count the number of dwarves.

Level 2 - Collectables
The Beatles. I can't really tell who is who, but at least they got the number of bandmembers right.

A large remote controlled peacock. Hmm...

A random scenery shot of level 2 to let you know what the museum kind of looks like inside.

Ok judging time!

Appeal - This museum has well placed exhibits and a nice decor, so visually it scores quite well. Only problem is there really isn't any reason to come back here a second time after you've visited it once because there isn't really that much to see, and you can finish touring it under an hour. I'd give it an 8/10.

Staff friendliness - Well the staff were nice enough to direct me to the nearest 7-eleven, and they never stopped smiling, so I'd give them 8/10

Cost - The admission cost of this museum may seem rather high to you if you're unaccustomed to paying 10 dollars for entry. However, they are having a promotion till Christmas that will allow you to enter this place for $7.65, so if you want to visit this place do it now. 7/10

Overall interesting-ness - This is a feature of Singapore that is definitely worth one visit. And no more. 23/30

Explore Singapore Part One: Little India

While in the midst of this project, I met a little obstacle. I had originally intended to visit Sentosa, but the weather was rather unforgiving. So I had an epiphany, and went to... Little India. Don't ask me why.

Upon alighting from the train station and entering Little India, I just had to visit the most famous place there.

Mustafa Centre, which can be found in Little India, a part of Bangladesh.

This place is amazing because it seriously sells almost everything you can imagine, and in the most crazy variety. You haven't seen how much they can pack into this unassuming building. And I don't mean Banglas.

Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside because they had half a million security cameras, and lots of staff watching my every move. Every time I tried to line up my camera to take something inside somebody would start walking towards me, so I stopped trying. There certainly weren't many Banglas in there though. I think they were all on construction sites when I went there.

One thing you quickly learn about Little India is, when you are there, you do as the Indians do. In India, the pedestrian is king. You don't need traffic lights. So when you are in Little India, you are expected to jaywalk. Here's some prime evidence.


Traffic lights? Who needs traffic lights. Look at them go.

Almost every shop in Little India falls into 4 categories. It either sells gold jewellery, sundries, textiles, or it is a restaurant. Basically Little India is a row of shophouses selling these 4 things, so every 4 stores you'll run into a jewellery store, and the delicious smell of curry never ends because the curry radius of the restaurants more or less intersect. I'm using stupid mathematical terms but you know what I mean. Now and then you get the odd store that sells something different, but otherwise its just these four things.

You might almost be mistaken into thinking that Indians only need these 4 things, until you realise that for everything else, there is Mustafa, so perhaps they are better off just doing their thing.

Some other interesting things I saw in Little India.

Look at all those boots. Bangla working armour in assorted colours.

Well, duh. I couldn't help laughing when I first saw this though. I think it's the spelling. Makes it look kind of ridiculous somehow. Sounds like something along the lines of Doodoo.

That's one saxy Santa. Now who's been naughty this Christmas? Ho ho ho.

I don't suppose they sell military garments. What a name though.

Even the Coke machine has gone Indian. A good example of savvy marketing.

Ok now for my favourite part. Time to rate the places.

Appeal - Little India scores average here. It really isn't anything spectacular visually, and there is nothing much here for the tourist either. 5/10

Staff friendliness - The staff were actually very friendly. Almost overfriendly, like the moment they see you step into the shop they move towards you, even if its obvious you're not going to buy anything. I think its the competition. I didn't ask anything much because they didn't look like they'd be much fun. 7/10

Cost - Don't worry about this. If a bangla can afford it, so can you. Almost every sundry shop here has a banner that says "Cheapest prices in Singapore!" Only problem is you may not be able to find anything you want to buy. 8/10

Overall interesting-ness - About a 20/30. Unless you're a tourist, you probably shouldn't bother with this place much.