What happens when you have to bloggers sit down and talk about blogging? Well first off, they both start off with a thorough analysis of each others writing styles, then they both defend their own respective writing styles, which then proceeds to become a nuclear explosion which sends the world into darkness and chaos... or just absolute silence.
Fine maybe that was over dramatic but that's what it felt like earlier tonight when Emily, the love of my life and I started re-reading each others blog and commenting. We didn't plan to go on such a warpath but like all things in this life, it just happened.
We were originally discussing our wedding plans and we were looking through some of Emily's blog posts on A Journal For Two for some ideas to resurrect because believe me we've had tons of ideas that we've shelved or rejected which was well documented in Emily's blog. I have to say I enjoyed reading her blog and it was a nice walk down memory lane.
The trouble came about when I said " I'm going to have a look at my blog and just see how my own writing style looks like."
To which she replied "Yours is so candid and all over the place."
huh? candid? All over the place? Ok I know it sounds like an insult in black and white but her tone was more of a professor analyzing a thesis or something of the like.
So I proceeded to defend my writing style and I said " well yours seem kind of rigid then."
I didn't really mean that and like most arguments the one that is caught off guard is always the one left to scramble and see what blanks they can turn into bullets.
"It's not rigid, it's well thought out! I actually think about what message I'm trying to get across." I have to admit she looks so cute when she's angry. kind of like a pink angry teddy bear. See all over the place!
" Yeah I tend to write from the heart" very cliche I know but like I said I was trying to turn blanks into bullets. I'm crap at arguments with a girl, I'll tell you that. "what's in my head goes straight through my lovely fingers and tap, tap, tap... oh look a post! And it's real thoughts."
"And my stories aren't real? It's about us most of the time, just tell it cleanly and present well."
So as you can tell we went back and forth for a good ten minutes. We weren't really angry at each other or neither were we yelling. Just two artistic individuals defending their craft. So we actually ended with a pretty good conclusion.
Our verdict was that she writes like a novelist. The focus is on the story and how it flows. As well the facts are easily identifiable. In short, She should write a book and make millions one day.
I, on the other hand write my blog like how a TV host/Emcee type of person would write a blog. I tend to want to interact with people rather than convey a story. Not that I don't want to convey a story but I want to interact with people more than I do with the story. My posts become a sort of conversation and thank god for the invention of the comment box, it's not a one sided conversation.
Then we proceeded to agree that our styles are completely different and so is our approach. I guess opposites to kind of attract, hence why love is so explosive.
Oh yeah and she mentioned that I was long winded........................ Am I?
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
"Recording Session: The Beginning" blog post extracted from Moe Nasrul.com
Alright so the band split and I guess when all the members told me they wanted to venture off and do their other projects it did throw all my plans into a blender. Then it dawned on me that I have been wanting to do a solo project for a very long time. There was just a lot of things I wanted to try and experiment with from a musical stand point, that I just could not do with a straight up Hard Rock band. As much as I love the screeching vocals of Axl Rose and Bob Halford along with the riffs of Agnus and Slash, I wanted to see what would happen if an unlikely marriage were to take place. What kind of baby would pop out? Metaphorically speaking from a musical stand point of course.
Another problem came about when I was thinking about the studio bill that would follow such an experiement of sounds. I mean in Malaysia recording an album is not cheap especially if you want to spend hours and hours just playing around with effects or lack of effects and see what would happen if you stuck a microphone down a toilet and flush it down while singing in D minor... not that I would actually do that but you get what I mean.
The solution came about when I was just standing in my room and just standing in front of my Behringer Mixer with it's mesh of wires going all over the place and my two microphones just sitting on top a my computer table. You see I've had purchased this exact mixer with a fantastic external sound card which allows me to hook up to my laptop with the intention of using it for my podcasts on my blog, Moenasrul.blogspot.com. But that idea faded quite quickly and I decided to make the best of a situation and use it for live recordings of my band jamming or record our live performances at gigs. I was practically the only vocalist who always brought around a huge bag of wires and what most people would call "gear". Guitarists and Bassists were notorious for lugging around huge cases of effect pedals and other funky devices but vocalists were free radicals so to speak. All they had to bring was themselves and at most a bottle of water. I guess you can say I was the odd one out. However it had it's advantages, I made friends alot easier than most vocalists with the sound guys. Mainly because I was usually the guy asking if I could share a multi-power plug point with their system or if they could help me hook up my mixer to their main board or if I could place the mics near their deck cause that happened to be the sweet spot and so on and so forth.
There I was just staring at this boxy apparatus with multi-colored buttons, I had decided to experiment in my room. That lasted only a few days. I mean there was only so much screaming that I could do in my room at 3AM in the morning before my house mate sends me an SMS saying "Dude... Too loud."
It was pretty obvious that my experiment with sound was going to be loud and I needed a place where the volume wouldn't be a problem. This actually took awhile.
So lets fast forward to a few days ago. I was discussing with Matt who is my Personal Assistant/Best Friend/"Substitute mother when I'm acting like a 5 year old"'s cousin who is the guitarist for a Metal Band called A Ruthless Cleansing about our individual solo projects. Matt wanted to do a solo album as well because just like me there was alot of material which he had that he couldn't play with the band because it had a different sound or style that just didn't mesh with the bands sound. During this extensive conversation that lasted close to 8 hours and involved alot of shuffling back and forth on his iTunes and discussing the different styles of mixing and mastering done by various bands from U2 to White Snake, to Meatloaf to Van Halen, we decided that we could use Cheryl's vacant guest room which was on the third floor of her place. After imitating a yoddling Ricola advert we found out that the room had good acoustics and was relatively sound proof due to the amount of stuff stored in the room and the thick curtains that lined the windows. We instantly asked Cheryl in the most adorable way inclusive of baby language, if we could use the room to which she agreed. As long as we cleaned up... to which we had no intention of doing right away but figured that we would settle it all someday in the distant future to fulfill our end of the bargain.
Two nights later, the room was filled with miles and miles of cable, Speakers, Amps, Effects pedals, Microphones and two guys jumping around belting out random riffs and tunes. I'd have to say it was a very productive night. We even had occasions where Cheryl and my other Personal Assistant/Friend Shiela come in and take photos and videos of us recording to which I would never post online. If your curious why, well... lets just say the air condition in the room wasn't all that powerful and at one point Matt and I had to strip down to our boxers to continue our experiments. That and my boxers happened to be pink... yes Pink, like the song by Aerosmith. Maybe one day when I have the courage, I may just post it up, but for now it will forever remain in a memory card buried deep into the earth in some random vacant graveyard where it will never see the light of day.
Another problem came about when I was thinking about the studio bill that would follow such an experiement of sounds. I mean in Malaysia recording an album is not cheap especially if you want to spend hours and hours just playing around with effects or lack of effects and see what would happen if you stuck a microphone down a toilet and flush it down while singing in D minor... not that I would actually do that but you get what I mean.
The solution came about when I was just standing in my room and just standing in front of my Behringer Mixer with it's mesh of wires going all over the place and my two microphones just sitting on top a my computer table. You see I've had purchased this exact mixer with a fantastic external sound card which allows me to hook up to my laptop with the intention of using it for my podcasts on my blog, Moenasrul.blogspot.com. But that idea faded quite quickly and I decided to make the best of a situation and use it for live recordings of my band jamming or record our live performances at gigs. I was practically the only vocalist who always brought around a huge bag of wires and what most people would call "gear". Guitarists and Bassists were notorious for lugging around huge cases of effect pedals and other funky devices but vocalists were free radicals so to speak. All they had to bring was themselves and at most a bottle of water. I guess you can say I was the odd one out. However it had it's advantages, I made friends alot easier than most vocalists with the sound guys. Mainly because I was usually the guy asking if I could share a multi-power plug point with their system or if they could help me hook up my mixer to their main board or if I could place the mics near their deck cause that happened to be the sweet spot and so on and so forth.
There I was just staring at this boxy apparatus with multi-colored buttons, I had decided to experiment in my room. That lasted only a few days. I mean there was only so much screaming that I could do in my room at 3AM in the morning before my house mate sends me an SMS saying "Dude... Too loud."
It was pretty obvious that my experiment with sound was going to be loud and I needed a place where the volume wouldn't be a problem. This actually took awhile.
So lets fast forward to a few days ago. I was discussing with Matt who is my Personal Assistant/Best Friend/"Substitute mother when I'm acting like a 5 year old"'s cousin who is the guitarist for a Metal Band called A Ruthless Cleansing about our individual solo projects. Matt wanted to do a solo album as well because just like me there was alot of material which he had that he couldn't play with the band because it had a different sound or style that just didn't mesh with the bands sound. During this extensive conversation that lasted close to 8 hours and involved alot of shuffling back and forth on his iTunes and discussing the different styles of mixing and mastering done by various bands from U2 to White Snake, to Meatloaf to Van Halen, we decided that we could use Cheryl's vacant guest room which was on the third floor of her place. After imitating a yoddling Ricola advert we found out that the room had good acoustics and was relatively sound proof due to the amount of stuff stored in the room and the thick curtains that lined the windows. We instantly asked Cheryl in the most adorable way inclusive of baby language, if we could use the room to which she agreed. As long as we cleaned up... to which we had no intention of doing right away but figured that we would settle it all someday in the distant future to fulfill our end of the bargain.
Two nights later, the room was filled with miles and miles of cable, Speakers, Amps, Effects pedals, Microphones and two guys jumping around belting out random riffs and tunes. I'd have to say it was a very productive night. We even had occasions where Cheryl and my other Personal Assistant/Friend Shiela come in and take photos and videos of us recording to which I would never post online. If your curious why, well... lets just say the air condition in the room wasn't all that powerful and at one point Matt and I had to strip down to our boxers to continue our experiments. That and my boxers happened to be pink... yes Pink, like the song by Aerosmith. Maybe one day when I have the courage, I may just post it up, but for now it will forever remain in a memory card buried deep into the earth in some random vacant graveyard where it will never see the light of day.
 If you want to know all that goes on during Moe Nasrul's Solo project check out Moe's blog on Moe Nasrul.com |
| If you want to know what goes on behind the scenes during Moe Nasrul's Solo Project Check out the dedicated blog on Moenasrul.com |
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Empty Roads, The Gym and the idea of celebrating Raya in the Klang Valley.
Having spent the whole day doing a billion and one things work related and personal errands related I had the sudden urge to go to the gym and work out. Well more like I realized it was Tuesday which was core muscle and back work out day.
I sent out what I like to call a beacon out into the world via facebook pondering the possibility of being stuck in a jam and being put off from going to the gym. A friend once told me that when comes to working out getting there is the hardest battle. It's always that voice in your head that says "ah screw it, I'm gonna watch a movie." or "my god this bed is so comfortable...I'm gonna take a nap." It's always the voice and the voice is the main obstacles.
So I headed out to the gym and I was surprised to find that the roads were amazingly clear around 6:30pm which is usually the apex of the rush hour.
So there I was at the gym and the thought of tomorrow being Hari Raya Haji hit me. Funny how random thoughts hit you at random times. Does that happen to you?
Well anyways, I realized that I will be spending Raya here in the Klang Valley because my grandmother and aunties decided to come to KL and celebrate the festive holiday due to a sudden need for a change in scenery. I'm completely cool with that because it means less traveling for me and I get to sleep in my own comfortable bed the night before raya instead of the usual guest bedroom which have become a stable standard for the last ten years of celebrating Raya in Malaysia.
So here I am with aching muscles and so far a very good night on my plate... I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :D
I sent out what I like to call a beacon out into the world via facebook pondering the possibility of being stuck in a jam and being put off from going to the gym. A friend once told me that when comes to working out getting there is the hardest battle. It's always that voice in your head that says "ah screw it, I'm gonna watch a movie." or "my god this bed is so comfortable...I'm gonna take a nap." It's always the voice and the voice is the main obstacles.
So I headed out to the gym and I was surprised to find that the roads were amazingly clear around 6:30pm which is usually the apex of the rush hour.
So here I am with aching muscles and so far a very good night on my plate... I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :D
Monday, November 15, 2010
Donation Update for My Pledge
Hi all,
I'm so sorry I've been away from blogging for so long. I know, I know, the word "Busy" is just too over-rated.
As you can recall, the official date for me to bring Izzul to ride the Cable Car at Genting Highlands were October 23rd, two days after the closing period for the donation (October 21). Unfortunately, the Genting Highlands cable cars were closed to public due to maintainence from seven weeks and would only be available for rides from November 21st onwards.
A little hiccup there. Therefore, the pledge were postponed to December 11th 2010.
So as promised, here is the list of donors and the amount donated. A huge thank you to my friends and family who sharing my pledge and to make it come true :)
Donors:
1. The charitable Ismail sisters--Alina, Emily and Emilia Ismail: RM 150
2. Ong Bee Kim: RM 50
3. Martin Chew: RM 50
4. Gooi Yi Ling: RM 50
5. Alex Ooi Beng Keat: RM 20
6. Urbane Ethos: RM 100
7. Arif Alias: RM 50
The grand total for this pledge is RM 470, that was collected within 14 days. The collection will go to Izzul's Genting Trip. After the trip, I will blog about my day of fulfilling the pledge and how the money was spent. The rest of the donation will then be channeled to Rumah Aman through TLC.
Again, thank you Alina, the twins Emily and Emilia, Mrs. Ong, Martin, Yi Ling, Alex, Arif and Urbane Ethos for sharing this pledge to fulfill Izzul's wish to ride the cable car.
I'm so sorry I've been away from blogging for so long. I know, I know, the word "Busy" is just too over-rated.
As you can recall, the official date for me to bring Izzul to ride the Cable Car at Genting Highlands were October 23rd, two days after the closing period for the donation (October 21). Unfortunately, the Genting Highlands cable cars were closed to public due to maintainence from seven weeks and would only be available for rides from November 21st onwards.
A little hiccup there. Therefore, the pledge were postponed to December 11th 2010.
So as promised, here is the list of donors and the amount donated. A huge thank you to my friends and family who sharing my pledge and to make it come true :)
Donors:
1. The charitable Ismail sisters--Alina, Emily and Emilia Ismail: RM 150
2. Ong Bee Kim: RM 50
3. Martin Chew: RM 50
4. Gooi Yi Ling: RM 50
5. Alex Ooi Beng Keat: RM 20
6. Urbane Ethos: RM 100
7. Arif Alias: RM 50
The grand total for this pledge is RM 470, that was collected within 14 days. The collection will go to Izzul's Genting Trip. After the trip, I will blog about my day of fulfilling the pledge and how the money was spent. The rest of the donation will then be channeled to Rumah Aman through TLC.
Again, thank you Alina, the twins Emily and Emilia, Mrs. Ong, Martin, Yi Ling, Alex, Arif and Urbane Ethos for sharing this pledge to fulfill Izzul's wish to ride the cable car.
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