ingridmak.net

I tweet.I blog.I tell my story.

Social network being a very potent force in communication, I think the only way to continue being anoymous is not to get involved in the first place. With all the various platforms, it was certainly overwhelming when I first started. However, being on these social media platforms really allowed me to engage in (almost) real-time learning opportunities and a chance for networking. Not a single bit of regret !

There are times when my parents would ask who on earth will read my blog or follow my tweets. I asked myself the same questions and came to a conclusion. In this sea of information, people (including myself when it comes to choosing who to follow) are looking for 3 main things within the content :

Entertainment

People likes to be entertained – be it youtube videos, music, comics, funny sites that can help to keep their days easier to get by. I certainly hope and prefers to fall under this category, to be a provider of entertainment value. That probably explains why I really enjoy looking for my AOTW features and sharing them with the rest of the world. Getting positive feedback and exchanging words with the various (wonderful) artists really kept me going.

Information and Opinions

I love to follow people who can provide me with great articles that feed me with facts and trivia. I think I’m quite an information junkie, I like having data and interesting insight to keep my mind active. Twitter/Plurk, in specific, is like a social community which allows users to interact and seek for assistance when you need to do some problem-solving. It is much quicker to sift through responses and source for what you exactly need. For example, I tweet and ask my followers to recommend a dining place instead of searching all over google for various reviews. Not forgetting, that’s how I usually get my latest soccer match updates via twitter too ! (Go #MUFC!)

Personal Touch

I have read in a couple of articles that recommended online presence should be professional aka ‘no-nonsense’. I beg to differ, I think my online presence should also give people a sense that they actually know me. It is all the ‘insignificant things’ that defines me to how others view me as. Maybe it is not important to anyone whether ‘I really love Glee’ and thinks ‘Johnny Depp is the most gorgeous man on earth’ or ‘prefers my steak to be medium rare’ – But I think being myself is what draws people to listen or draws them to my ‘social circle’ because they either can identify with you or like you for being you !

At the end of the day, with each virtual update, I am sharing my life story with someone else – almost like an 140 character autobiography each time. Therfore, I take it like a step in developing a relationship or a connection with my readers/followers.  Hopefully to widen my social circle with like-minded people who shares my interest or opens up the door to other exciting opportunities in the future.

Tags: anoymous, aotw, artists, autobiography, blog, comics, communication, community, content, data, entertainment, feedbacks, Glee, information, information junkie, ingsight, johnny depp, MUFC, Music, online presence, opinions, personal touch, plurk, problem-solving, professional, relationship, soccer, social circle, social circles, social media, social network, twitter, videos, youtube

AOTW [21] : Axis of Awesome

This is brilliant ! How they put together a history of pop songs by using just 4 chords.

The Axis of Awesome may not be the best singers around but the stuff they do is really awesome, imo at least.

Makes me really wanna catch them live ! Really hiliarious people they are.

Can you figure out all the songs they sang in this ? =)

Doesn’t it make you feel that music songwriters/producers should come up with better songs or be more original ? lol

Tags: 4 chord classic, aotw, axis of awesome, Benny Davis, comedy store, Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo, Music, pop, sydney

AOTW [14] : Jason Derulo

I was chatting with the boyfriend yesterday about how Imogen Heap‘s “Hide and Seek” is a really good song, legendary in fact ! It’s so good that the song has tons of covers and Jason Derulo has a remix version of it, well in a way it’s considered remix to me, called “Whatcha Say”.

Despite being a ’88 baby, he’s doing really well in his songwriting-singing career ! Typical Pop/R&B/Hip Hop music that is always high in demand in the market. I thought his remix version of “Hide and Seek” was not too bad but I prefer the original by Imogen Heap of course ! What do you think ? (It’s #10 on the billboard chart by the way!)

Whatcha say – Jason Derulo

wha- wha- what did she say
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmmm that it’s all for the best?
of course it is

I was so wrong for so long
only tryin to please myself (myself)
girl, i was caught up in her lust
when i dont really want no one else
so, no i know i should of treated you better
but me and you were meant to last forever

so let me in (let me in) give me another chance (another chance)
to really be your man
cause when the roof cave in and the truth came out
i just didnt know what to do
but when i become a star we’ll be living so large
i’ll do anything for you
so tell me girl

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say)
Mmmm that it’s all for the best?
of course it is
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say)
wha- wha- wha- wha- what did she say

how, could i live with myself
knowing that i let our love go (love go)
and ooh, when i do with one chance
i just gotta let you know
i know what i did wasnt clever
but me and you we’re meant to be together

so let me in (let me in) give me another chance (another chance)
to really be your man
cause when the roof cave in and the truth came out
i just didnt know what to do
but when i become a star we’ll be living so large
i’ll do anything for you
so tell me girl

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say, whatcha say)
Mmmm that it’s all for the best?
of course it is
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say, whatcha say)
wha- wha- wha- wha- what did she say

girl, tell me whatcha said (said)
i dont want you to leave me
though you caught me cheatin
tell me, tell me whatcha said (said)
i really need you in my life
cus things aint right, girl
tell me, tell me whatcha said (said)
i dont want you to leave me
though you caught me cheatin
tell me, tell me whatcha said (said)
i really need you in my life
cus things aint right

Cause when the roof cave in and the truth came out
i just didnt know what to do
but when i become a star we’ll be living so large
i’ll do anything for you
so baby watcha say!

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say, whatcha say)
Mmmm that it’s all for the best?
of course it is
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say, (whatcha say, whatcha say)
wha- wha- wha- wha- what did she say

Tags: billboard chart, boyfriend, career, covers, hide and seek, hip hop, imogen heap, jason derulo, Music, pop, r&b, remix, singing, song, song writing, whatcha say

AOTW [13] : The Sunstreak

This NY-based band, The Sunstreak is not exactly a new band – they have been around since 2005 and technically this is not their debut album BUT the first album under a major label. Their new album “Once Upon A Lie” features the single “Until I Met You” will be available on 16th October.

Their music style is quite similar to Lifehouse and Jimmy Eat World which is more inclined to rock/pop. I think their songs are pretty catchy too !

One thing I liked about the band is their passion in music, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wasting your time. Take it from us, if you are struggling, you’re probably doing something right. And never give up and always be thankful. Just to be given the chance to play music is a great thrill and honor.” This was from one of their interviews when asked to give advice to bands who are hoping to be signed and make a living out of music career.

Enjoy their song ! I really like the lyrics =)

I once believed that there was no one for me, until I met you,
But I couldn't see how happy I could be, until I met you,
Until I met you,
Met you

Standing alone, no one to call my own, until I met you,
All on my own, and I was colder than stone, until I met you,
Yeah, yeah

Until I met you my world was empty,
Until I met you the sky was grey,
And everything I thought that I believe in
I can feel it all slip away

That was up until the day,
Until the day I met you

I'm fighting this battle with you by my side
I know that I need you
And I've got nothing to hide

I'll stand by you always
I'll want more to ride
I'm here in this moment
I'm shedding my pride 

Until I met you my world was empty,
Until I met you the sky was grey,
And everything I thought that I believe in,
I can feel it all slip away

Until I met you my world was empty,
Until I met you the sky was grey,
And everything I thought that I believe in,
I can feel it all slip away

Until the day I met you
Met you

Until I met you my world was empty,
Until I met you the sky was grey,
And everything I thought that I believe in,
I can feel it all slip away

Until I met you my world was empty,
Until I met you the sky was grey,
And everything I thought that I believe in,
I can feel it all slip away

That was up until the day,
Until the day I met you

Tags: aotw, band, career, debut, jimmy eat world, lifehouse, Music, NY, once upon a lie, passion, pop, rock, the sunstreak, until i met you

AOTW [12] : Quebec Antique

I have just started school this week and woah, it has been a crazy start to my 3rd year in university ! (Ok, just an excuse for the lack of entries..I’m honest!)

To start things off on the right track again, here is this week’s Artist of the Week featuring Quebec Antique ! They are a pretty newly formed ambient electronic band who pretty much reminds me of The Postal Service alot.“The Abbey Tapes” is the debut effort of British born musician Andy Dollerson and Canadian singer/instrumentalist/songwriter Michael Blake. Fantastic dualism !

Some of you might have heard of them from thesixtyone.com (which is a really cool website that features alot of indie music by the way – will blog about it next time!) So far my favourite track is “Almost had you” – what about yours ?

Tags: almost had you, ambient, aotw, debut, electronic band, indie, Music, postal service, quebec antique, the abbey tapes, thesixtyone

Heineken Green Room : Trip the Light Fantastic !

Heineken Green Room is indeed a pushing music boundaries event – I didn’t quite expect myself to enjoy the event this much ! As mentioned in my earlier post, I really find it hard to enjoy the “diu diu diu music” but surprisingly, I had a great time and Moderat was just mindblowing !

Joshua and I made our way to Tanjong Pagar Distripark and first look of the event venue was pretty cool, a very unique/underground industrial feel. Thank goodness we were quite early so there wasn’t much of a queue. We were then ushered into this huge cargo lift with glowing green light (duh, it’s the color of Heineken and it’s not called Heineken Green Room for nothing!), I like the feeling of “godknowswhat it’s going to happen next!” while waiting for the lift to reach the party location. Being a cargo lift, the door really opens up slowly but that added on to the effect in a good way – you see lights and smoke from the tiny little gap and viola, it opens up to the dance floor with DJ Cherry already playing on the main stage ! She’s pretty cool – I always have a thing for female DJs, girl power ! (lol)

Since it was still early, Joshua and I had the chance to walk around the area freely. There was this interactive area where guests get to be their own DJs and do their own mixes via the iPods and Korg kaossilators which were pretty cool. It took us awhile to figure out (we must be really dumb) and I was wondering where’s the instructions – but who the hell reads instructions at a clubbing event right !? -slaps forehead- Pardon me, it is obvious that I’m no party animal ! (Haha) We then moved on to grab ourselves a Heineken each at the long bar which was so much better than event bars I’ve been to, no long queues and quick services. One downside to it was that, by the end of the night, the floor was wet from the ice and people were littering their bottles everywhere. Poor cleaners but I guess it happens at all these clubbing events.

I love the lights and visuals we were surrounded by, Joshua was telling me which patterns and how he has done the light effects for one of our school events. You can’t blame the geek/nerd in him, can you ? It was a good thing that the smoking area was out of the party area so I didn’t inhale any 2nd hand smoke at all ! The crowd was pretty much a disciplined mature group (there’s a reason why it’s exclusively by invites only!) and I didn’t see much drunkards around, especially with the amount of security lurking around. Afterall, people are really here for the music ! (Well, some are here for the girls…Joshua and I were observing how some guys were trying to hook up with the Heineken girls who were walking around to take polaroids for the guests) I had fun with Joshua nonetheless !

Speaking of music, Moderat was really awesome ! I’m totally sold by their live performance and the stunning visuals. Still quite head-bobbing but it was quite adrenaline rushing ! I managed to snap a few (bad) shots and the starting sequence on video – the sound quality was quite disappointing though. (Will some kind souls please sponsor me a proper video recording+picture taking gadget or something ? hur)

Moderat_02 from Ingrid on Vimeo.

I enjoyed myself alot, especially when I got to meet a couple of my friends there ! Had a great date with Joshua and it was a brand new experience for me. Although I have to admit that I went home with a bad throat after all that yelling over the music and blocked ears, thank god I didn’t drink enough to get any hangovers.  It was a fabulous “trip the light fantastic” indeed !

Tags: cargo lift, cherry, diu diu diu music, dj, exclusively by invites, heineken, heineken green room, interactive area, ipods, joshua, korg kaossilators, lights, live performance, main stage, moderat, Music, music boundaries, party, polaroids, security, smoke, stunning visuals, tanjong pagar distripark, trip the light fantastic

(AOTW) Artist Of The Week : Never Shout Never

As a Campus Radio DJ on SMU Campus Radio for coming 2 years, I have always been actively promoting local/myspace artists on my radio shows. My co-host from my most recent show, Rachel and I  decided to feature one myspace.com artist per week for our listeners and I really enjoyed doing that because sharing is always fun ! Not only do you get to “interact” with your listeners but you also have the “power” to “force” your listeners into listening to your current playlist. (Haha, Just Kidding!)

I blogged about blip.fm earlier on  where I share my music picks on a regular basis, but it is getting frustrating with the preview clips and youtube videos feature. So I decided to bring the artist of the week (AOTW) segment to my blog instead ! I will feature either a myspace or local artist each week  (but I will keep things short and sweet), so stay tuned !

To start things off with a happy note (no pun intended, you’ll understand later), this week I’m going to share with you this 6 people band “Never Shout Never“.

You can read more about them from their myspace profile. One thing I’ll like to highlight is 18 years old Christofer Drew (vocal) has a really unique voice, it really caught my attention when I first heard their songs.  (And he looks really cute with his ukulele too ! Click here to watch him LIVE *warning : crazy fans screams and shakey hands*)

Here’s my favourite (and their latest single) “Happy”, I was telling Daryl (who also have his  “Music Mondays” )  that I really liked the lyrics. One of those “puts a smile on my face” songs. In fact, their EP will be out soon and their songs are all available on iTunes, do check them out if you like their music !

< Never Shout Never – Happy >

You make me happy, whether you know it or not
We should be happy, that’s what I said from the start
I am so happy, Knowing you are the one that
I’ll love for the rest of my days,
(for the rest of my days), yes, all of my days!
you’re looking so cool, you’re looking so fly,
I can’t deny that when I’m staring you down
right dead in the eye, I wanna try to be the person you want,
the person you need,
it’s hard to conceive that somebody like you,
could be with, somebody like me

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that we
could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.

Ooh ooh,
you’re looking so fresh it’s catching my eye,
why oh why, did I not see this before,
the girl I adore, was right in front of me.
and now I’ll take a step back,
and look in your eye and ask why,
It took so long for me too see, we’re meant to be.

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that
we could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.

On the good the bad the ugly,
the smiles the laughs the funny,
oh all the things we put each
other through, it’s for you, for you

You make me happy, whether you know it or not
We should be happy, that’s what I said from the start
I am so happy, Knowing you are the one that
I’ll love for the rest of my days

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that we
could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.
Ooh Ooh

—

If you know of any good myspace/local artists (or if you’re one of them) and think I should do a feature, just drop a comment or  email to exit18 (at) gmail (dot) com ! Looking forward to hear from you guys !

Tags: aotw, artist, artist of the week, blip, campus radio dj, christofer drew, crazy fans, daryl, ep, happy, itunes, local, Music, music mondays, myspace, never shout never, playlist, puts a smile on my face, radio, smu campus radio, songs, ukulele, youtube

Not ONE but TWO All-Time-Fav Rock bands !

In response to Daphne‘s question “What’s your favourite rock band of all time?”

I really had a hard time deciding since there are really alot of good bands out there (which I love equally), but I guess I shall not be too greedy and just settle on these two – Coldplay & Travis.

I was never an English music fan till secondary school days – yes, the glory girl/boybands days and pop music from Aqua, Toybox etc (Gee, I’m embarrassed)

Following the bands came Justin Timberlake (whom I still consider a rather good performer) , problematic Britney Spears and  Christina Aguilera.

It was till later years when I developed a liking for bands like Bon Jovi , Death Cab for Cutie, Snow Patrol,Yellowcard and of course the mentioned two.

Then again, I’ve always preferred to look into the songs rather than following one band solely when it comes to music. Lyrics is a more important factor when it comes to liking a song.

Coldplay is definitely one of my favourite since polytechnic days with their hit singles such as “The Scientist”, “Yellow”, “Speed of Sound” and “Fix You”.  I never quite like their music initially till I saw their live performance on TV. Chris Martin is a charming performer, his voice just has this strange magnetisim that draws you to him.  The lighting elements in the live performance? Always spectacular, great use of visual aids ! Their latest album “Viva La Vida” is not my favourite as compared to the previous albums but their songs represent so much emotions and meaning in them. Plus, alternative rock is always good music !

According to their twitter, the band is releasing a live CD of their Viva La Vida tour, “LeftRightLeftRightLeft” as a free download from their official website from 15 May ! I’m looking forward to that !

Here’s my all time favourite from them (despite being overplayed), “Yellow” live in Sydney 2003.

Not forgetting Travis, another of my favourite ! Songs like “Closer” and “Love will come through” are the top of my list.

As well as the following song, ” Flowers  In the Window” Acoustic version !

You can definitely hear alot of Coldplay and Travis on my campus radio show (totally biased when it comes to music selection. HAHA), although now I try to feature more local bands and talk about the local arts and music scene more. Speaking of which, I hope to start on my “project” soon..stop procrastinating, Ingrid Mak!

So repeating Daphne‘s question : “What’s YOUR favourite rock band of all time ? “

Tags: aqua, art, bon jovi, boyband, britney spears, campus radio, chris martin, christina aguilera, closer, coldplay, daphne, death cab for cutie, favourite, fix you, flowers in the window, free download, justin timberlake, leftrightleftrightleft, local bands, love will come through, Music, rock band, snow patrol, speed of sound, the scientist, toybox, travis, viva la vida, yellow, yellowcard

Your own radio station ? Holy Blip !

I’ve joined blip.fm since 17th Sept last year and so far, I’m really loving it.

I meant to blog about blip ages ago and go into details but let’s just keep it short and simple.

8 reasons why i love blip.fm :

1. It is like the best bit of  last.fm+twitter all rolled into one.
2. It has a realtime feed of what other “DJ”s are listening to.
3. It is personal/interactive because you pick the music for your playlist and you get to reblip others.
4. It encourages “value-system” – it requires contributions from its members in order to benefit from the others in the society.
5. It has an idiot-proof interface and system – just search and *tadah*, there you go!
6. It has a built-in virality and a good feedback system.
7. It has alot of “undiscovered” artistes, oldies and radio hits shared by others.
8. It is addictive – it’s almost becoming a habit for me to share my music pick everyday.

What I really liked about blip is that it directly updates my tumblr and twitter to allow others to see what I’m listening to.

Most of the time I’ll also plurk about my blips as my “music of the day” plurk. I guess it’s a good way to share great music found online and so far I spend at least half an hour on blip.fm to look for good songs and am getting props/positive feedbacks on my music taste – which really is quite an ego booster. (HAHA)

Sure, there are many music sharing sites out there and probably better ones. But Blip.fm is still my favourite as of now. Do give it a try (c’mon, it’s not like you don’t have 9867545122 different accounts out there already) and let me know what you think about it ?

Speaking of music, I’m planning on adding a new “element” to this blog. Keep a lookout for my little project! =)

Tags: addictive, blip.fm, built-in virality, dj, iammyy, indie, interface, last.fm, Music, playlist, plurk, props, radio, tumblr, twitter, value system