Academic freedom and the corporatization of University

So how is market democracy diluting the traditional values of universities inherited from the fusion of Newman, Humboldt and Jaspers? The attached video is a public lecture given by Professor Noam Chomsky on the issue of academic freedom as a result of neoliberalism economic paradigm.

Brutal Deathgrind anyone?

Severed Records, an indie label based in the US is very well known for their signing of serious deathgrind bands all over the world. Recently, i bought two CDs through their online store. Those two CDs are from Decaying Purity (turkey) and Hiddeous Deformity (norway). Those two bands are so underrated but their musical arrangements are so unbelievably awesome.


- Posted using BlogPress my iPhone

Playlist December 2011

For this month, Ulver and Shining dominate my playlist. Not a very traditional old raw black metal that we all used to be very familiar with Ulver style back in early 90s but they are evolving from one album to another. More ambient kind of feeling for this album with electronic mastery. Shining in contrast, is a hybrid of jazz and black metal and they are becoming big in Norway nowadays.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Latte obsession in Melbourne

One thing that i enjoy very much here is the cafe culture in Melbourne. There are small cafes everywhere at the city centre. A cup of latte is a must to start my academic ritual everyday. It'll cost me 3.50 AUD for a cup which resembles the size of a teh tarik back in Malaysia. Worth it :-)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

AGG242

I have not driven a car since 2 september 2011!! The reason is because i left my car back home in Malaysia and is being taken care by my brother. Hopefully she is well and safe. No one knows or cares more about her than i do.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

December 12 2011

JB hifi, one of the biggest CD outlet in melbourne, is throwing a big sale! They'll just throw in everything from folk, pop to metal. Everyday, there are different titles on sale and seriously those CDs are dirt cheap. I dont want to pay for their retail price, especially metal CDs, brand new releases can fetch up to 35 aud which for me a bit ridiculous unless if those CDs are rare and hard to find, otherwise i'll rather go for second hand CDs :-). Look, what did i manage to find? Wormrot, Keep of Kalessin, Hate Eternal, all priced at 7.99 aud. What a bargain :-) I'll be waiting for the boxing day sale next!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

December 12 2011

I always have a soft spot for electronic music. Other than metal, electronic bands excite me too. Probably groups like a-ha, depeche mode, chemical brothers, pet shop boys (i dont bother even one of its member is a gay) and mum are always in my playlist. Yesterday, i discovered another fantastic duo, ironically this group is from Norway. ROYKSOPP and they just released an album with a title 'Senior'. Good one though :-)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

December 11 2011

still in


bed n probably will be in office by noon today. Top of 20 celcius today in melbourne


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Last Meeting with the Rector

This morning all the KPs sit in a meeting to verify exam results before it can be announced to students. I took the chance to take photos with the rector. He said 'u nanti kahwin dgn org denmark le ni'. What the fish.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Addition

Damnn it inverno mahkota parade! 'hello u punya CD suda sampai'. There goes my hard earned RM186 for all 3 CDs! Mum, Behemoth and Paradise Lost. Three different genres of music. Electronica, Black metal and psychedelic metal. Hmm promise to myself to start saving for hari raya


but to no avail again.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

vesak day

woke up at @1pm and it is a public holiday. A nice scene in melaka today with tourist all around the place


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

ARADIA 'Draconis Eulogy" - I DONT GIVE MY CONSENT ON THIS

Thanks to Dr Ibrisam for this review written on his blog and i republish it again here and you might want to get my point of view as an ex member of this band so please find it here :-)
I have to agree on his point, as an ex-member of this band i have a strong reason to be proud of its heritage and tradition of upholding the true musicianship of semi complexity and semi technicality kind of music with strong and sharp melodic lines along the way. But a point to consider here is that the product actually reviewed here is NOT the actual product or to be precise, it is not available in your favourite CD store nationwide because the real mixing or final mixing of this recording has been MODIFIED and ALTERED without getting consent from me and our ex-guitarist Jeff or Trismegistus. The final result is a total disaster! Sorry to say, we (me and Jeff were so demotivated at that time knowing that the modified version was used and mastered and sold to the public!) decided to put an end to this ego-centered irrationally behaviour of certain party from the band itself and there it goes from there onwards. I would like to write more on this but having a second thought, it is a waste of time. Nevertheless, good luck.

Aradia telah mendapat tempat dalam hati aku semenjak mengenali mereka di dalam kompilasi Storm Of Nebiula lagi. Kelahiran album ini selepas album live pada tahun 1998 memang dinanti-nanti.

ARADIA tidak pernah merilis album yang proper selain dari album live tersebut. Itu agak pelik. Tetapi memang banyak kepelikan yang ada dalam 'industri' ekstrim Metal tempatan.

ARADIA di dalam kelompok muzik Black Metal tempatan mendapat tempat di hati ini disebabkan merekalah yang berani saya katakan the real deal. All in one package.

Pertamanya, tahap musicianship memang tidak boleh disangkal. Sungguh mantap. Lebih-lebih dalam album ini, segala stroke dan skil yang terpendam diusaikan secara menyeluruh.

Yang keduanya, disebalik teknikaliti dan tahap musicianship yang tinggi, sense of melody mereka juga sangat tajam. Dalam keganasan ada bunganya. Ambil sahaja mana-mana lagu, pastinya sebab pertama dan kedua pasti ada dianyam sekali.

Produksi juga mantap walaupun boleh diperbaiki lagi. Tapi memang begitulah tahap produksi di negara kita, walau sebaik mana pun pasti kita akan rasa semacam satu dua rempah yang tak cukup. Cuma bolehlah dikatakan bahawa, antara yang terbaik, produksi album masuk dalam alumni tersebut.

Untuk mereka yang baru mengenali ARADIA, mereka memainkan muzik Black Metal bermelodi yang banyak condongnya kepada rentak yang dipelopori oleh klan dari Sweden. Muziknya adalah laju pada kebanyakan masa tetapi tidak juga melupakan alunan yang lebih perlahan pada satu dua tempat. Muziknya kompleks dan memerlukan skil yang bukan biasa untuk mendapatkan apa yang dimainkan oleh mereka.

Kekuatan ARADIA terletak pada melodi di dalam ekstrimiti dengan skil permainan instrumen yang boleh tahan dahsyat, sesuatu yang kurang didapati pada band tempatan sekarang ini.

Journal article

Business Management Quarterly Journal has accepted my paper 'Revisiting and redefining the concept of retakaful and the viability of its model in malaysian takaful industry'. Alhamdullilah and this will be published in volume 2 issue 4 December 2011. Hope more ideas will come as i am in the mood to write.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kickstart your day with a teh tarik

A teh tarik, roti telur n the star to start my day and it is sunday so why need to be in hurry? Yeaaayyy



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Brand new world 2011

Come and join me here and thanks for following. The journey commences and hopefully 2011 will be kind to us insya allah

Blogging on anything

It is easy nowadays, anytime and everywhere i am able to publish my thoughts to the whole world. When i started blogging a few years back, i had to be in front of my pc and a minimal connection of internet was a must and it was trully a dreadful experience to get it updated. But now? with a single tap and thanks god with the invention of iphone's virtual tiny key and maxis's 2GB data plan, everything is possible and i am now free and in liberty to update this piece of literature on the go :-). it sounds great doesnt it? So feel free to browse through if you have time to do so. Cheers and wassalam.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

alien invasion???