Matahari Meletup Part the 2nd Review.. of sorts

Where do I begin? Where do I begin? My neck hurts like a bitch, my voice is partially gone, I'm officially burnt out and I hold KoRn liable for all these. Not like I'm complaining. But more on that later. Lemme begin from the beginning, which was Sunburst 08.


One year ago, during the first Sunburst, my friends and I made the pilgrimage to Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club. But not before some dramas and detours. A journey that started at 230 when Greg picked me up from my place. Along the way, we decided to drive all the fucking way to Seri Kembangan to collect some tickets from Sudar's friend. And when we finally get to Bukit Kiara at around 4 or 5 (I cant recall), it was raining pretty heavily and Sudar made the mistake of winding down Greg's car window which could not be wound back.



So, we headed out from the car park after 10 mins and paying 10 bucks and went to Plaza Damas to try and fix the window. We finally gave up and Greg took the car to the mechanic and came back a few hours later. All these were last year.




This year's Sunburst had some drama too. From friends who pulled out last minute, same friends who were supposed to buy tickets from some of us, to... well just that la. Friends who were supposed to buy tickets but pulled out last minute. Anyhooo, this time around there were only four of us who made the pilgrimage; Greg, Ronald, Kenneth and I.





We got there at 7pm, peak concert hour, and were in time to watch local act Estranged perform. Well, nothing much to say for Estranged as they performed some really nice songs which varied between fast and slow songs. I entered my first mosh pit for the day. Right after they finished playing, Indon band Nidji were next at the stage next to it. (6 stages in all, main stages were Sky and Sun) Nidji are what I would call a disco rock outfit. Jumpy riffs and dance-able songs. And in case you think they sound familiar, their song Shadows is the promo song for Heroes.



Me, Greg and Kenneth left Nidji when we thought they were at their last song and went to the Sky stage next to it to wait for possibly the best band in Malaysia, Butterfingers. After waiting for Nidji to finish a few more songs, Butterfingers came on. Needless to say, they rocked the crowd that day... NOT!!!



Butterfingers played a very very disappointing set. Only one or two songs were fast and the crowd were not even moshing. And when the crowd requested for Chemistry Between Us, Emmet refused by saying that they played the song only last week at Istana Budaya. What the fuck man?!! So, after a disappointing set, the four of us leave to makan while this band called Agrikulture (origins I dunno) played some pretty kewl 80s disco shit.



When we got back, it was time for NERD and needless to say, they rocked the crowd. For fuckin real. I was pleasantly surprised at the energy of the songs and band which got everyone moving. At one point, Pharell Williams sounded a photographer for pushing back the crowd and threatened to get off the stage if he does it again. And what they did next was just plain kewl. They called up a number of guys from the crowd to "lose their minds" on stage with them. And then after a few songs, they called up the girls. This guys really know how to entertain a crowd so hats off to them tho I dont listen to their songs.




A few songs before NERD ended, we left Ronald again to the Sun stage where KoRn was set to play. After waiting for about 15 mins after NERD finished their set, KoRn comes on stage and starts kicking things off. The fuckin crowd goes fuckin wild and everyone starts moshing and headbanging. I was fighting back tears for the first two or three songs, as I was pretty overwhelmed and still could not believe the fact that I was watching KoRn in KL. KoRn performed mostly their old songs, namely, -in no particular order- Clown, Faget, Shoots and Ladders, Right Now and the usual crowd faves, Freak on a Leash and Blind. After a massive one hour set, Jonathan Davis said goodbye and promised that it wouldn't take them another 15 years to come back here.





Now, a note to politicians. You say you still need to govern us according to our races?? I say you should have been at Sunburst when I had a Malay and a Chinese guy next to me, hands on shoulders and headbanging together. No, I'm not making that up. It happened quite a number of times. And after every moshing and headbanging, those involved hugged another person regardless of their race, colour, religion or whatever. Everytime I go to a concert, I see the true face of Malaysia when people regardless of ethnicity mosh and have fun together. So fuck you.




ps: Greg and I pwned the mosh crowd at Sunburst due to our experience in the more violent mosh pits of Rock The World. All you get in Sunburst is pushing and shoving and you can last as long as the mosh goes on (which is very short by the way). RTW on the other hand, everyone goes legs and fists first and you can barely last a few minutes in the mosh let alone for an entire song.



pps: Here are some pics of the night. And a video not taken by me.





Kenneth, Greg, and me.





KoRn live a Sunburst KL 09.


Ronald, Kenneth and me







KoRn performing Freak on a Leash. Not great video quality but you can hear them. :D

A treat to those of you who were there and for those who were not. I did not take this video. I took a video of the beatbox part on Freak on a Leash but it has no sound when I play it on my pc. I'll try to post it up soon.

Review: Star Wars Force Unleashed

I duno if many of you know that I'm a Star Wars geek. Now you do :D But not ultra geeky la. I'm a fan of the movies and the games. And this being sem break, I have been spending some quality time on the PS 2 and the computer and in Bangsar.

One fine day, I got bored and I put on Star Wars Force Unleashed into the console of my PS2... Okay okay I'll get on with the review.

Star Wars Force Unleashed (here onwards will be known as... ermmm... FU? Yea, FU) was released in September of this year and is the latest SW (that's Star Wars la) game to hit town. Basically, the game connects the older trilogy and the new one. Means it connects the 6th movie and 1st (wtf haha).

It tells the story of Starkiller (sooooo original la) a boy who serves THE GREAT DARK LORD (no not Voldermort) VADER. He is taken in when he's a kid by Vader after Vader kills the boy's father and is trained by Vader (wow so many Vaders already) and sent to do his bidding.

Here's the thing. I know many of you are not prolly gonna play this game, so I'm telling you the story. SPOILER ALERT!!!!

So, Vader tells the boy to go kill some Jedi who are hiding (survivors of Order 66) and then tells him it's part of the plan to overthrow the Emperor. The Emperor is the ultimate villain la if you dint already know. After that, Starkiller is sent to gather a rebellion, with Senators Organa Bail, Mon Mothma, another fler who's name I cant remember and Jedi Master Rahm Kota. When Starkiller manages to group them, Vader says "hahaha dumb fuck! Im Vader! And I wont overthrow the Emperor! Not till I have to save Luke in the 3rd movie!"

He doesn't say that la but yea, he backstabs Starkiller and then Starkiller has to fight Vader and then the Emperor. Butttt, you might be wondering, where the hell was Starkiller in the movies. Sorry but Starkiller dies after defeating the Emperor and destroying the Death Star (told you his name wasn't so original).

That's the end of the story. Now for the gameplay.

It's easy as fuck. Seriously. A 5 year old kid can play this game with no difficulty AT ALL. Boss Battles are really easy. Except for Vader and the Emperor. No wait. It's easy too, only it takes longer to kill em. Boss battles have the press-the-buttons-you-see-on-the-screen when the boss' health is low. Kinda like God of War, only the kills aren't brutal.

Since the name is FU, you can have massive fun with the force powers. I love the standard push and another one called the Sith Barrage or something. It's the push and ends with a lightning blast. Sexy :D

Graphics-wise, it's the standard PS 2 thing you see. The facial expressions are awesome because the developers used the facial expression thingy on the actors. Forgot what it's called.

And the story is really not bad. You finally know what happens between the two trilogies and know that Starkiller was the reason the Rebellion began.

I give this game a 3 outta 5. Could have been better if it was harder. With puzzles instead of just killing everything that comes at you. And outta the 3, the game earns 0.5 on the merit that you get to play as Darth Vader in the beginning of the game.

God of War still rocks. 6 outta 5 :D

Look at me Ma! I can stop Star Destroyers with one hand!

Best part about being a Jedi. I get boobies!