Sounds Of The Universe - The New Album

Depeche Mode's latest album was finally released on the 20th of April. 'Sounds Of The Universe', which entered the UK charts at No. 2 and went straight to No.1 in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Mexico, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland with more charts yet to come. I'll have to be honest here, I'm not impressed. The first single ,'Wrong' rubbed me the 'wrong' way when it was released as a prelude to the album. But after a few hearings, I'm beginning to accept it a little more. Then when I received my copy of the album, my heart sank once again. The band seems to have lost its bearings somewhat. Some of the tracks start very promising, but just after the first couple of bars, the character of the song is revealed. And it's downhill from there. Take 'Hole to Feed' for instance, the percussion like intro sounds like the beginning of one of their older haunting sounds. It all crashes down the moment David Gahan starts with the ridiculous 'We are Here, We can Love, We share something. I'm sure that You Mean the World to Me.' Then there's 'In Chains'. That sounds more like something from Erasure. The melody is so babyish! So is 'Peace'. Is Vince Clark back in the band? In a way, those among us who have been with the band since the very beginning expected this to happen eventually. Since 1995, when Alan Wilder left the band, it was inevitable. He was the workhorse of the band. He inspired and introduced powerful sampling formats to the band. Something that was clearly heard throughout their earlier albums (after Vince left). Think Blasphemous Rumours and People are People. Or how about Personal Jesus and I Feel You. Once his departure, you could clearly hear the void left by his absence. In June 1995, Alan Wilder announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode, explaining, "Since joining in 1982, I have continually striven to give total energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the furthering of the group's success and in spite of a consistent imbalance in the distribution of the workload, willingly offered this. Unfortunately, within the group, this level of input never received the respect and acknowledgement that it warrants." Well, that pretty much sums it up. Depeche Mode did OK with Barrel of a Gun and It's No Good from the next album 'Ultra', but that was about it. Hell, don't get me 'Wrong', to me their songs are still way better then most of the crap that's on the radio (that's why I never listen to ANY of the radio stations. Lousy local DJs with that fake accent ). And to me they are still the best band compared to anything else out there. So as long as they keep playing, I'd keep listening. Because I know, somewhere along the way another haunting, dark, deep track with those unbelievably beautiful lyrics will come along and all the DM fans will crawl out of their lairs in the dark of the night to once again create the freakiest storm this world has ever seen.

F1 Tickets for This Years Race

Quite a few of my friends have been asking me about this years race and the ticketing. Well we all remember the big hoohaa Singtel created last year. Though personally it didn't affect me. Their whole system couldn't keep up with all those inquisitive people who needed information and tickets. It eventually came to a crash. Well I'm, ( and I'm sure everyone else is too), glad to say we don't have any such problems this time around. I guess they fixed that little Gremlin in the system real good. I got my tickets on the 1st of April. I was among the lucky ones who were given the option to buy the tickets early. Something to do with me being a previous customer. They were doing this to test the system before it was officially launched to the public. Hey, you don't have to invite me twice. I jumped right in! I did some basic research and found what I believe to be the better seats for me. ( Damn Paddock Club would be the bestlah but I'm not a millionaire, , . . . yet.) Simple layman like myself, Bay Grandstand enough lah right? And besides my fiancee may not be coming with me this time. 1 I need to convince her again (though that is the easy part) and 2 she might not get time off work. So that's a bumber for me right there. Never mind, still got to go. I read through the net about some other F1 fans and their thoughts on this years race. Most of them were foreigners so I thought I'd help give them a heads up on whats happening here. We F1 fans must stick together lah. Most of them, in fact almost all, were quite responsive (though there were a couple of snobs, but never mind them). I am in fact very happy to say I've made some good friends through our common interest. We might just meet up at the tracks. For those who have yet to buy the tickets, I'd suggest you hurry up. In fact, to date, all early bird $168, 3 day walkabout tickets and the early bird Esplanade tickets have already sold out. Just days after going on sale. You can still buy the remaining 50% of the 3 day walkabout but at a price of $188( the normal price) and the remainder Esplanade tickets at the regular rate of S$598. But don't expect them to be around very long either. The cheapest Grandstand, The Marina Bay Grandstand is also selling fast. They would be opening block B soon. That means the upper tier (row 45 to row 69), You'd be further away from the track but if you choose your tickets right you might be in for a treat. When I bought my tickets, I did it through the phone. I was very fortunate to have spoken to a very kind (and pretty sounding) lady. I was able to converse with her in Malay and we ended getting friendly. ( not in any funny way ah! ). We chatted for quite a while and she said the computer does all the choosing of the tickets. She offered me a yellow sector row 5 (or was it 6) . I declined as I knew from last years experience that if you get too close, you really don't see anything! And the worst place to be is where the cars are at full throttle. They just zoom past you. So that means the yellow sector was out for me. I asked that new lady friend if she could help me out a bit. She thought about it for a while and then she agreed with a little giggle (I don't know if she thought I was flirting with her). She even agreed to let me have aisle seats! The best seats you can get are where the cars slow down enough to make their corners and then full blast their engines as they move away. That way , you can really enjoy a proper look of the car. These spots also do great for amateur photographers. Remember, even at corners the cars are doing around 80 km/h! So if you want to see them, get to the corners. Another thing I wanted was the mega super-screens. That way you can keep track of whats going on around the circuit. Get a seat right in front of one and where your line of sight is parallel to the screen. Once again if you sit too near the track you'd need to constantly look down at the track and then up to the screen. Both ways you miss the show. Down cars too fast , up screen too high (actually I checked, it's not too high but still not comfortable and the fencing will block you anyway). The last thing and really important to me was I wanted a seat right above the tunnel at the Marina Grandstand (turn 18 ). I want to feel the roar of the monsters under my butt. Can you imagine what that would feel like!? To literally have the ground move under you!! Anyhoo, I got my seat, thanks to the lady on the other side of the phone, and THAT IS where I'm gonna be! Light green sector, right in front of the screen and right over the tunnel. The best part, I would probably go up to the top to watch them come back out the other side. Now that would be so Cool! Just as long as I don't drop my camera on them. That would not be cool.. . You can now purchase the tickets via three channels: online (http://tickets.singaporegp.sg), the ticketing hotline (+65 6738 6738) as well as SISTIC and SingPost outlets island wide in Singapore. Good luck.

F1 Singapore 2008

Here are a few more photos I took at last years Singapore F1. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we'd get this near to the action. And the champion holding up her 'trophy'! Wait a minute, that's a mineral water bottle! So they ran out of those Mumm champagne bottles did they? Nice one Ling! I know a friend who's gonna get pretty envious of this one. Have wheels, will travel. Pity these guys, They would have been leading the championship had they not sold the team to Ross Brawn for $1.oo. They must really be kicking themselves in their butts right now. Hell, I wouldn't mind paying a dollar just to watch them do that! But seriously, I do feel very sorry for them. Most of them got laid off from their jobs after the take over. Geniuses @ Work. Do Not Disturb! But hey, they kept smiling at us as we kept clicking away. Good on you lads! And the sound those wheel guns make is unbelievable! Watch the video at the end of this article.

A million points for you if you can guess what lies below. Lewis Hamilton doing his walkabout. We met him again later when we took that photograph with him. He is really a very nice and friendly person. Mark Webber doing his version of a walkabout. In fact most of the drivers we met were doing the same thing. Aren't these guys suppose to be loaded. Can't they afford a decent grandstand ticket. Why join us mere mortals with a one day walkabout ticket?

Ok that was my lame attempt at a joke. They are actually walking the ground to study the track. Every little bump, every corner, every inclination. Espescially since they've never driven on this track before.

Current leading driver Jenson Button on a 2 wheeler instead of his usual 4. He smiled at us, gave a little horn and then rode off. We had a super great time and a real adventure. Meeting all those drivers was a super bonus. We'll be there again this year. We've got our tickets booked, we're ready and we're willing. And we'll see you there!

Here's the video of Toyota's engineers at what they do best. The sound of those wheel guns is deafening! Really! ( Forgive my shaky camera, a little nervous. Especially when that big bald guy turned around and looked at me. I thought he was going to swing that thing at me and tell me to get lost. But then he only smiled. Phew..that was close!)