London by walking in 3 hours ++ (jalan kaki sebanyak mungkin selama 3 jam kota London) PART ONE

lots of photos post.
intro-
Kota London ni sangat mahal giler. Tapi dah sampai UK nak tengok Iron Maiden, tengok band lain main kat Download Festival Donington Park, Derby dan tengok Bon Jovi main kat Villa Park Birmingham, jadi rugi rasanya kalau aku tak tengok Kota London ni walau ia cuma tempat persingghan dan transit ke bandar2 lain.

Kira beberapa stesen keretapi besar kat London macam Paddington, St Pancras, dan Euston aku kena pergi la pasal semua aku guna keretapi dorang gi Bandar Birmingham dan Derby, jadi dapat tengok la kawasan2 tu jalan2 kejap.
Separuh hari aku dah gunakan untuk pergi Stadium Emirates, pasal aku gatal miang nak jugak sentuh rumput tempat pemain2 Arsenal main walau bucu tepi je. (Walau herannye stadium Aston Villa yang aku dapat bebas diri kat tengah padang masa tengok Bon Jovi main).
Jadi aku ada dalam kurang 4 jam, aku dah la tak cukup tidur baru tengok Maiden main kat Frankfurt semalamnya, lepas tengok Maiden main kat Frankfurt, aku mandi, terus pergi airport, nak tidur kat airport aku takut terlajak so aku tahankan mata, pagi2 naik kapalterbang gi London. So penat, tapi gagahkan diri pasal aku ada dua misi sebelum bertolak pergi Derby naik keretapi, aku nak tengok sebanyak mungkin Kota London dan nak tengok sendiri ASHBURTON GROVE, walau aku miss Highbury.

Aku memang backpacking budget ikat perut, jadi aku dah plan aku cuma jalan kaki sahaja merata London, siap pakai selipar Jepun untuk keselesaan. Aku main redah aje kota London tu jadi ni apa aku dapat selama3 jam lebih.

Mission - To see as much of London city as possible in a very limited time
Time Available - Less than 4 Hours
Budget for this mission - S$/RM - Zero. Strictly Walking.
Necessary items - Flip-flop slippers & a digital camera


this is the route I took. The map I coloured it in blue.
1. I started from Victoria Train Station, which is quite near to Buckingham Palace.

2. So ok, this is Buckingham Palace..The Queen... Not my most favourite Queen in England, because my favourite Queen is always Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN indeed.

2. At Buckingham Palace you can see a huge park called Green Park, I cut across it, and suddenly... PICCADILLY area... So you can see the Japanese Nippon Flag. Their embassy. 

3. So I just walk along PICCADILLY and suddenly....

Piccadily Circus with all the neons huge signage on all the buildings surrounding it.

ok, lots of Policemen.

It was the Queen's , I mean Queen Elizabeth 60 years anniversary celebrations then...

RASA MEMANG JAKUN SANGAT.

3. So I see a lot of roads leading away from the circus, so I got confused, and lost 

So I just choose one road. Shaftesbury Avenue or something.

Oh, I made a good choice. I came across what I guess is called the West London area that is full of live Theatres, Culture, the Arts, the Broadways, the Performing Arts and whatever you call that.

There is the London Theater. THIS IS THE NEWS NOW isn't it? Some parts of the ceilings collapsed or dropped on the audience.

michael jackson thriller

agatha christie mousetrap at st martins

les miserables''

and so on..all big famous arts, stage performances, songs and dance presentations..

4. And I walk and I walk and I walk...and continue walking and marvelling at all the sights.

To be continued..

cover majalah Manja bulan Januari 2014 - Ramli Sarip dan dalam ada 6 pages full color interview dengan dia. PENGSI.

Dari majalah fanclub Iron Maiden terbaru ke majalah Manja edisi JANUARI 2014.
Baru keluar la.
Ramli Sarip front cover. Cehhhh, so selalunya kalau majalah ni cover band rock nye orang baru baruuuu aku beli...which is like berapa tahun sekali? hahahaha.

PENGSI KAN COVER DIA??? lawa...warna warni gitu...



Dalam 6 mukasurat pasal Ramli Sarip ngan foto2 dia terbaru yang pengsi2 lawa2 aksi dan gaya nya. Aku suka.

Jugak cerita pasal dia dapat datuk kat Malaysia. Portdy mesti suka baca... cehhhhhhhhh..

Ok, korang nak baca review Lefthanded main kat Melaka tu hari sila gi blog Portdy.

Tengok sini -> http://nemutnemut.blogspot.com



Portdy ko ada bootleg tak Lefthanded nye show????? aku nak satu....................................

Ooo they asked Ann Hussein about Ramli Sarip.
Ann Hussein LEGEND jugak...sama2 legend la dorang...


Korang jangan tanya aku selain dari ni 6 pages apa kandungan Manja kali ni...
Aku tak tengok pun.

Nak baca kalau, sila la beli secopy....  Support local talents and local products. hahaa.

Maiden's Christmas Card 2013 design and Fanclub magazine number 97

The Iron Maiden Christmas Card for 2013 and fanclub magazine number 97 arrived two days ago.

I really like the Maiden's xmas card design for this year,
Its very pretty.
Seventh Son of A Seventh Son album cover with a Festive Season upgrade with Santa Claus and everything and its snowing....
and the word play based on Moonchild's intro.

The inside.. with each band member's greetings...

I don't really understand Steve Harris message.
"looks like rain dear", maybe its raining when they were signing the card? haha.

The Magazine is as usual SUPERB!!. Lots of articles, interviews and photos about the band, the crew, all the behind the scene infos, facts and thingys and their fans.
Seems its really getting more and more a "FAN" magazine. Its interesting and wonderful to read about Maiden fans from all over the world and their adventures, experiences and everything else.
(as usual click anything to enlarge)

Here is a little bit of the content of this edition's mag.

I like to read all these trivias information..

Interview with another crew member who is also a member of the opening band Voodoo Six.
Caught them twice in Germany opening for Maiden, not exactly my cup of tea from first hearing.
But they are good live, and I kind of enjoy their short set.
Maiden have recently keep getting their families and friends bands to warm up for them.
I would want to see Adrian Smith's son band next haha.

On every edition of the magazine, I always look forward to the "from the rear, Nicko McBrain in action" photo. Ogling and scrutinizing everything that's in the photo HAHAHA. ooo there's Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson in the picture too.

Low...One day I think he's going to sit on the floor...hahahaha...

 
Janick Gers grace the backcover for this edition..

Dave Murray.....  ahhh.............

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ok ok, enough oglings of these pretty pictures.... now back to the real world hahaha...

My Photo Of The Year, fajar & mee rebus (kuah asingkan)

Banyak benda nak berbual...

I wish I can do a round-up for the year.
So lets try with episode one.  I snapped countless photos of anything I fancy for 2013 using mostly my handphone and also digital camera.
I think this is the photo I like most, because it has a lot of things happening and kind of meaningful to me.
So I choose this as my self-taken 2013 photo of the year.

Hands and even legs tumbling all over the place, Iron Maiden is playing on stage, at the most legendary of hard and heavy rock place that I ever know of since a young boy, Castle Donington. A place all my life that I was wondering how it feels like to be at.

I thought I was standing in quite a safer place away from the eye of the storm, though its still packed like a can of sardines.
Holding tight to my handphone while taking a photo, afraid it will be knocked out of my hands and I don't think I can retrieve it if once it drop on the ground haha.

Until I saw the pro-shots of BBC broadcast which shows Maiden playing and I realised how many people were at Main Stage and where I was. (Oooo if I got to go to the gents hahaha!!!)

A printscreen from youtube. And I realised, my goodness.
It was cold and raining on and off, with some in full raincoats, and windy, and slippery and squeezing but it was great as where I was the sound was awesome.
Really different contrast with the green fields and hills behind the Main Stage.

next,
Something calm...

I was just looking at these buildings, then from a distance I saw a bigger bird than normal...soaring and flying continuously. Very majestic.
So I kind of like it... and I take out my handphone and snap it.
Thru the hustle and bustle and human beings going about their work in the city, and you have an eagle, flying about. I kind of guess its one of the local eagles.

The eagle is somewhere on the left of the photo haha..

Besides it being a Helloween "Eagles Fly Free" moment, but more of a late 70s Malay Language Religious Theme Song instead.
Hidayah - Fajar (dawn breaking, first signs of the sun is appearing)
Though the Photo I took was during Maghrib I think (sunset).





Food, Glorious Food time,

This is Mee Rebus (Takeaway), literally translated from the Malay language as Boiled Noodle, or something like that, Most famous in Johor (Southern Malaysia) and Singapore. Love by people from all ethnic groups.
Seperated the gravy till you want to eat it, so you don't add the gravy in advanced or it will make the noodles become soggy..

(MEE REBUS kuah asingkan kalau tak nanti dah kembang, dah tak syok)..

Aku pernah makan kat satu kedai ni kat KL, dah macam Mee Taugeh, taugeh punya banyak berbanding ngan mee kuning dia...
Well............ Tahniah la Melayu tuan punya kedai tu.. Tak tahu apa strategi korang, atau apa yang kelakar korang nak buat, atau korang ingat orang tak pernah makan Mee Rebus ke yang datang kat kedai kau, tapi panggil kedai nanti marah lak, so panggil Restoran...Harga memang harga restoran la, semoga cepat kaya.

Seriously, as far as I am concerned, nak makan makanan berunsur Melayu yang  sedap dan enjoy, tetap kena gi Pusat Penjaja, atau warong/gerai tepi jalan...

hisap shisha, get fuzzy dan 666 registry errors

(1)
Lets not talk about hisap shisha dan kebaikan/keburukkannya , kelebihan/kekurangannya hisap shisha terhadap orang2 MELAYU, baik dari segi jasmani atau apa pun la.
Korang semua ada otak. Kat rumah, aku boleh cakap pandangan aku la.

Tapi dari dua sudut pandangan "background story" ni, yang aku tengok nama, dan sapa dorang dari segi kepentingan shisha ni, dan dari dua ni punye ayat, aku suka satu cakap.

Aku tak cakap aku sokong sapa, pasal, setiap kita ada otak sendiri nak nilai kebaikan keburukkan shisha, aku cuma suka satu dari pandangan je.

(2)
drum roll Rush nye drummer...

HAPPINESS...

I was a little bit late in getting the latest Treasury but at least I got it before the next treasury comes out which I hope in early 2014. - 
(treasury edition is usually a bumper collection and for Get Fuzzy cartoon strips Treasuries - its a combination of each set of the previous two books compilations that were compiled from newspapers releases).

I find purchasing Get Fuzzy TREASURIES helps me to budget my spendings for my earthly pleasures of which are many. Though I got itches everytime the thinner and more frequently Get Fuzzy books compilations got released with some crazy lunatic covers artworks..

I think I will write more about why I love some cartoon strips more than the rest.

(3)
Aku log-in nak buat post ni...
Korang tahu la, komputer kalau dah guna untuk macam2 benda, abis la ada program yang kita taknak pun tak install tetiba termasuk sana sini, kalau tak teruk sangat masalah dia, biarkan je la benda2 ni...

Sekali aku tengok, EH?? 666 la... haha. Setan betul benda2 ni kalau pop-up haha. Sajak la tu.

2 Raksasa 2011 live - Sweet Charity & Blues Gang - boxset 2 dvd + 1 cd

Ni kira boxset jugak la ye, “dua raksasa 2011” Sweet Charity dan Blues Gang live konsert 1hb Oktober 2011 Stadium Merdeka. Dalam ada 2 dvd, 1 cd.

Aku enjoy kualiti video dan angle2 kamera2 video yang disajikan.  Sound pun baik. (MATAKUCING, if you are reading this, AKU TAHU KAU BOOTLEG NI SHOW!! AKU NAK AUDIENCE FAN-RECORDING SHOW NI!!!! KASI AKU RECORDING KAU PLESSS, aku nak unedited, the genuine truth, warts and mistakes and all. ).
Video dia Terang ler band2 yang main, audience shots banyak dan menarik, memang terhibur la tengok, aku rasa korang semua mesti suka.
Ok ni packaging dia...

Lepas bukak, mula2 aku pasang dvd 1, Blues Gang. Ok, aku tengok sikit, skip, skip,tengok sikit, skip, skip, skip,skip...tengok lagu Mak Siti lama sikit, skip skip, Apo Nak Dikato, skip skip, Khatulistiwa, skip, Mama Saya Mau Kahwin..
Ok... done!!! I am not a big fan of Blues Gang, ok aku tahu la lagu2 dorang sikit2, certain more famous songs.
Lepas tu aku pasang dvd 2, Sweet Charity... Wahhh ada satu video shot, akak tu singalong Sejuta Wajah ngah dukung anak dia...caught on camera. Now that is a fan.
dvd kedua fokus pada show Sweet Charity ni, alrite la pada aku.. Terusssss..aku skip sampai part Jangan Tunggu Lama2/Jangan Tak Jadi... pasal...last two shows Sweet Charity main yang aku pergi tengok PWTC KL, dan Esplanade Singapore dorang tak main Jangan Tak Jadi.
Jangan Tak Jadi...what a song... Favourite la kira.  Anyway, Sweet Charity is superb on this dvd from my quick browse thru of the second dvd.

Ok...third disc ialah dalam bentuk cd, 12 lagu campur2 sebahagian persembahan dua2 band malam tu.
Ni senarai kandungan kedua2 dvd dan satu cd tersebut.

Anyway, ni aku baca paper Ramli Sarip nak buat shows satu Malaysia ye? I think he is doing his part untuk Hamid Black Dog Bone..


Cakap pasal band2 otai lama gini....band2 yang members dia dah menjangkau sekian2 umur...
Masa aku nengok Maiden kat Frankfurt malam kedua, aku borak2 ngan satu peminat dari Jerman ni. Dia bukak story pasal dia dah beli tiket untuk tengok The WHO main kat Wembley Stadium sebulan lagi. Tiket yang dia beli ialah paling mahal, pasal dia beli tiket khas untuk dia berada paling depan pentas, dan jugak dia dapat akses ke soundcheck The WHO sehari sebelum dorang main kat Wembley tak salah aku. Tiket eksklusif gitu. 300 atau 400 euro kot tiket ekslusif? Lebih kot...aku dah lupa.. 
Jadi bila dia dah tahu lepas tu aku nak backpack gi Donington Park, dia cakap aku, APASAL minggu tu aku tak pergi tengok The WHO main kat London O2? Pasal minggu Download Festival tu The WHO main London O2 dua malam. Dia cakap aku, ni la antara kali terakhir boleh tengok The WHO. The WHO ni, aku bukan tahu sangat, walau antara peberet aku Steve Harris ialah dia main My Generation. Tapi dalam klasifikasi muzik rock omputeh, The WHO ni main live ni, macam legend la.
Orang Jerman tu cerita la, pertama kali dia tengok The WHO main, bila The WHO nye gitaris Pete Townshend start buat aksi “windmill” dia, dia bilang tu paling best la dia pernah tengok orang buat persembahan live gitu.. dan dia tahu mungkin The WHO lepas tu tour takkan main live banyak2 lagi... dah la dorang tinggal dua je hidup...bassist ngan drummer dah takde.

Tapi aku cakap tak la, aku dah siang2 buat program, lagipun aku budget semua dah ngam2...planning semua dah aku tak boleh tukar dah... Gigit jari je la, walaupun peluang dah ada...tapi rasanya sold out kot dua2 malam London 02.

Tu la, bila band2 gini dah berumur, dah on the last lap gitu...Peminat betul2 raikan, betul2 make an effort to see them, the survivors, play..
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Anyway, kalau korang minat la lagu2 Melayu, tak kesah la korang peminat Blues Gang & Sweet Charity atau taka tau suka dengar lagu rock atau blues Melayu atau tak, aku rekemen beli boxset ni...
Ni cam aku rekemen korang beli May punye 25th anniversary boxset yang hebat giler tu terutama buku kat dalam tu, bukan peminat rock pun takpe...tapi nilai kandungan tu memang terbaik untuk dihargai.