Love and Peace

Thats why Sara Bareilles makes music.I have to say sorry to my blog for ignoring it for such a long time even during a holiday. Anyway, after many many hours of downloading, I got to watch Sara Bareilles perform live in the historic Fillmore. Originally I saw it in Amazon and even thought of buying it, 17USD without freight was slightly exp. Oh yea, I am a very big Sara B fan so I got really excited over it. Here's the cover and back. Courtesy of Amazon.

There's only two songs she has never officially performed before and the others were from her album Little Voice which is stunning, 4th best selling album this year. I read this somewhere and I agree, the DVD is not much different from her songs, but there's some story in between songs which she tells why she made those songs and her amazing journey. It's quite a story people hasn't known about her. My take on her based on what I saw was something very natural and extraordinary. From the way she performs, I could really see her "owning" those songs , not many artists have that. I could feel those songs when she sang it and the comfort level she was at was great.
The type of songs she sings like Fairytale, Vegas and Gravity was just so different and I just felt more in love with it. A little hiccup would be her little jokes weren't funny, lol and the use of some words which would be a bit inappropriate for some of the young people watching. "I'm f***ing with you". It definitely wasn't literal(she meant I was fooling with you) and some were a bit stunned (awkward silence)... But it wasn't going to overshadow the brilliant performance she delivered, she got a lot people teary with some of her songs...oops.....
Her band was very very enthusiastic and talented , liked it very much. Plus, a lot of insight what she does off-stage.

The list of songs she performed.
Bottle It Up - Not one of the songs I like but she rocked it.
Vegas - My favourite song in the album, she improvised and made it memorable.
Morningside - She addressed the crowd in the uplifting song.
Love on The Rocks - Her performance made me realised how good was the song. The music is just so damn nice.
Between The Lines - About liking someone and not being being liked back. Emo song.
Fairytale - She calls it a female anthem. Apparently after watching Cinderella, she imagined what happens after the story. Her imagination of what they did lead her to the song. The use of Disney characters and imagining them in the way she thinks. Funny too.
August Moon - She played the guitar on this one. First time shes performedthis.
City - She slowed things down with this.
Love Song - Who doesn't like this song. It was written in anger.
Many The Miles - Nice one to sing along.
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Originally done in 1968 by Otis Redding. Did it only by the piano.1st encore song. She also performed it during the credits with only the guitar.
Gravity - The perfect closing, wonderful.

Rating is 9/10.
You can get the mp3 HERE and the video HERE. A must watch for her fans.

Merry Christmas.
~deyao~

Amazing Taylor Swift !

Exams are done and finally I can do the review on the new Taylor Swift album. Been listening to the album since the release and oh my.... this girl is insanely good. Still days away from turning 19 and she just delivered an incredible album. I thought her debut album was already unbelievable, and now her sophomore album Fearless is at the next level and the world has done nothing wrong for doing this..

I made some screenshots from Billboard and it appeared like that.Yes, the fans all made this happen. Top of the Billboard 200? You can't be serious. I wasn't expecting that either. Now she is top of the world!
So here's the list from the album.

Fearless - The opening song and it is definitely an opening song. Great song.
Fifteen - Taylor teaching someone to love? Not a good idea.
Love Story - Romeo and Juliet theme with a happy ending.
Hey Stephen - Taylor's plain jealousy.
White Horse - This song blending with Grey's Anatomy's scene and Taylor Swift crying over the excitement her song was played, can really feel the song
You Belong With Me - One lucky guy I suppose which is similar to Mr. "Teardrops on My Guitar"
Breathe - With Colbie Caillat, but it was not quite the duet I expected. But it went well.
Tell Me Why - Probably the best song of the album.
You're Not Sorry - The title tells the story.
The Way I Loved You - Another guy...
Forever & Always - Song for that bloody Jonas guy.
The Best Day - Song for her family especially for her mum. Very sweet song.
Change - Written for the US Olympics team

Recommended: ALL tracks.
This album is arguably one of the best albums I've listened to. The songs are just very different and every song just gives you a story. The instruments in most of the songs also just wonderful. Yes, many of the songs about the guys in her life and imagine at the age of 18, there has been so many of them. Lol. I just ran out of good words describing the album...

Rating : 9.8/10

Some pictures to end.

I just can't get enough of those curls.




TAYLOR SWIFT IS TOURING AUSTRALIA !! THOSE IN AUSTRALIA, PLS GO!! I AM GOING INSANE HERE.

~deyao~

Hot N Cold by Taylor Swift

Here's a video posted by Taylor with Kate Perry's Hot n Cold.
Check the rest of her videos at her
MySpace Video Channel

They are really funny, she does really good acting. A good experience what goes behind the scenes.

You change your mind like a girl changes clothes.


Philadelphia :)


Ending part was good.

~deyao~

Who Needs Joe when You Can Have JT!

Taylor: "This makes it all better.."
Album review is coming up in a week.

~deyao~

Win or Bust November

1st quarter champions, Liverpool and Chelsea. Arsenal , six point behind. The bad news....................Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea have all played each other and Arsenal have played none of them. Bad enough.No actually, title is always decided among matches between the top four. Could it get any worse? Yes. Arsenal lost 3 matches in the entire of last season and finnished 3rd and this season they have "used" up all three matches. And lastly the most beautiful fixture list.


Stoke City - Lost
Fenerbahce - Did not win despite winning away
Man Utd - Champions
Wigan - Nothing will change if we win the Carling Cup.
Aston Villa - One of the better teams with Young, Gabby, Carew and Barry
Man City - One word : Robinho
Dynamo Kiev - Formality
Chelsea- Easiest match of the month?

November or Bust as I say. With injuries to Ade,Theo, Gallas, RVP's ban of 3 matches, and the yet to be impressive Silvestre, daunting seem a nice word actually. Not even the best players are on the pitch to save us.

Squad prediction for-Arsenal against Man Utd


Technically we're doomed. No one is going to score really unless Bendtner gets on a header or an unlikely long range shot from Nasri, Fab or Diaby. Only Walcott may deliver some surprise. Vela may come off the bench and give Bendtner some support or some miracle Wilshere(16) and Ramsey(17) come on for the match of their lives. haha.

If we do make something out of November, at least when we meet Liverpool in December it would mean something. God breathe some life into the Gunners and the suffering fans

~deyao~

Awaiting Fearless Taylor!

In a week's time, Taylor Swift would be releasing her new album Fearless, her second album. Love Story , Fearless and White Horse all have been released as singles and surely the rest would be as good. Previously in my review, I heap praises for her unbelievable debut self-titled album. She is so talented and I am very certain her album would be nothing but top notch again. Not mentioning her great personality too.
Cover of the album
I also can't wait to listen to her duet with Colbie Caillat, one of my other favs recently. It's called "Breathe". Found a pic from Coco's(Colbie) MySpace with her and Taylor during their writing session. You won't find this pic anywhere else.haha.
I love them both! Awesome musicians.

The release is on 11/11/08. Make sure you catch if you can. You are assured of great music. I'm done here......

~deyao~

Capricorn

First impressions on Jay's music always failed me. The last time I heard "Niu Zai Hen Mang" (first song from the previous album), I was like this is a complete disaster, what has happened this time. Then, at the end it turned out to be a great album. The previous album had great hits like Cai Hong, Yang Guang Zai Nan, Wo Bu Pei and the wonderful Zhui Chang De Dian Ying. I've been proven wrong many times and this time I threw first impressions out the window. I told myself, listen to the whole album first. The negative comments were there to be proven and damn hell they are all untrue. The Capricorn album is great! Every song was "very Jay" and he definitely has not lost any of it. Negatives to rest...
So here's the new addition to the collection.


His ninth album so far....erm wait.....did I lose count again....ok...it's 9!
This album has not many surprise elements, as I said it's still very Jay. Maybe a few songs might sound weird at first, but surely it becomes nice as always, don't know why.
Recommended tracks. My translations are bad, so I'll leave it.(edited: translation by JCNET)

2. 給我一首歌的時間 (Gei Wo Yi Shou Ge De Shi Jian) 4.花海 (Hua Hai) - Ocean of Flowers
6. 說好的幸福呢 (Shuo Hao De Xin Fu Ne) - Where Is Our Promised Happiness?
7.蘭亭序 (Lan Ting Xu)
8.時光機 (Shi Guang Ji) - Time Machine
And of course
9.稻香 (Dao Xiang) Paddy Fragrance -How can anyone not like this song I imagine.

The rest are not bad, but are not the ones you can sing along too, so that should be reason.
And also, my Jay collection is complete. Thanks Bin, Sylvia and Loon Hung for the gifts.

They got me Fantasy and Jay. The collection is done. Yay.Wondering how I should arrange all of them for a shot. I'll do it soon.

And finally, an unexpected addition this week.

Marie Digby Unfold Japan version. Never thought I could get it, only available in Japan. Thanks to my Ah Chi (cousin) and her connections, or else I wouldnt think of getting it. 2100yen is like Rm80. Nice booklet and pictures with a another booklet with translated lyrics for the Japan people. Acoustic version of Traffic, Spell, Miss Invisible and Unfold are included compared to the normal version. And obviously a full Jap song called "Kolewa" concluding the album. Sounds a lot like Utada Hikaru and due to her proficiency in Japanese, sounds completely like an ordinary Japanese. haha.

I might have a America's Next Top Model review when the show ends but definitely not the usual long post due to my dissatisfaction with the last season. Lauren Brie has a crazily stunning face but lacking personality =(. Astro is doing a very fine job, showing the current season, very surprising. Interesting week ahead, last week in uni sem 1, US elections, Arsenal vs Man Utd (trouble). And whether the RBA cuts the rate this week.


~deyao~

Investing in Gold

This has become one of my research throughout the year. How does a piece of metal and a world economy be linked to each other. It's quite puzzling but gold has been bought by many not only to preserve their wealth but also to make some $$.
Here are a few Q and A's you may want to know.



Q1:Why do people buy gold?

Gold is been long regarded as a safe-haven for an economic downturn or crisis when people lose confidence in equities and paper money. This is because gold does not lose much of its real value in most of the situations. Furthermore, trading gold involves only a small spread as small as 2.8 % which is attractive. Gold is highly demanded and almost anyone would want to buy gold and even have ready quoted prices for buying gold. Thus, there's little risk for holding it.

Q2: Can people really profit from buying gold?

Yes of course. Gold would be regarded as a conservative investment as people always turn to it many economic situations and demand for gold is strong from emerging countries. Gold can be quite volatile and thus if you have the foresight, you could easily make some good money.

Q3 :What affects the price of gold?

I would say three factors. The US Dollar, inflation rate and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). It's simple economics actually and makes common sense. When the US Dollar appreciates, people gain confidence in the dollar and would demand less of gold and thus its price would fall, vice-versa. Gold has also been called the "inflation" hedge. When inflation rates are high and paper money is losing its value, people turn to gold to conserve their wealth. Thus, inflation pushes gold prices up. And example is when crude oil prices rises indicating inflation, people normally turn to gold and thus these two commodities may be seen rising and falling together. This however does not always happen.The DJIA is the equity index in the US and this is also very similar. Confidence lost in the equity market, people jump to gold or cash. Of course, when money market rates are low and inflation is eroding paper money's value, gold is the option. Hence, gold rises.

Q4: You previously said when people lose confidence in equity, they jump to gold. Everything from commodities to stocks are tumbling now? How can this be right?

The credit crisis at the moment is worse then anyone could have expected and the lack of credit in markets are forcing people to liquidate anything they have. When the bailout bill was tabled, gold soared at a record overnight level because people feared for the collapse in equities and jumped into gold as safe-haven. Now, the situation is worse than expected causing central banks to bring down rates and governments to pump in money into the economy, thats how bad it is. Now, people are even selling gold to get cash. The huge sell-off is causing the huge drop in gold.

Q5: How much is gold's real value?

This should NOT be the main reason people should buy gold. But estimates based on the increase in money supply (M3) in the economy over the years, gold is worth ($20,000) compared to $ 700 now. But this is based on that measurement and it is quite impossible that sort of amount will be reached. However, this goes to show the amount money increasingly printed.


Q6: Will the price of gold go up?

The amount of money injected by governments into the economy would suggest inflation will have its place in the near future, and gold comes in again as the "inflation hedge" and a rise could happen. However, if the slowdown persist and demand is still slow, gold will not rise and we could be headed for some trouble.

Q7: Will gold match its $1000/oz record ?

Personally, the situation is terrible and I had many predictions gone wrong so I wouldn't give a yes or no. What I would say is by 2009 January , 900/oz.

Q8: Can I invest in gold by buying jewelery?

The term investing involves returns and gold does not pay any form of dividends or interest for holding it. You only make by trading. Jewelery prices are at 30% above market price for gold obviously for its premium in design and workmanship. Thus, investing by jewelery is out of the topic. People do invest by buying gold coins and bars can be easily traded with bullion dealers and banks.

Q9 : How about other metals such as silver and platinum?

I have not much knowledge about the two metals and I cannot make a fair judgment. But the fact is both of them has lost more than half of its value in the past year from their record highs and gold only lost about 20%. I hope I don't have to spell out which metal is in demand.
Here are some numbers based on 1 year
Silver : High $ 20, now 8.90, change : -55.5%
Platinum : High $ 2252 , now 798 , change : -64.6%
Gold : High $1002 , now 735, change : -26.5%

Q10: How do I track gold prices?

Most of the financial websites do quote the prices. Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Kitco are examples.

~deyao~