~* NOW PLAYING: The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars *~

Found this nice acoustic version of The Kill which was performed by 30STM at AOL Sessions...

THE KILL

by: 30 Seconds to Mars

What if I wanted to break
Laugh it all off in your face
What would you do?
What if I fell to the floor?
Couldn’t take this anymore
What would you do, do, do?

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you

What if I wanted to fight
Beg for the rest of my life
What would you do? (do, do)
You say you wanted more
What are you waiting for?
I’m not running from you

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

I tried to be someone else
But nothing seemed to change
I know now, this is who I really am inside
Finally found myself
Fighting for a chance
I know now, this is who I really am

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you, you, you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

Come break me down
Break me down
Break me down

What if I wanted to break?

~* 30 SECONDS TO JARED LETO *~

Jared Leto: From My So-called Life to rockin' 30 Seconds To Mars

So I just found out that Jared Leto was actually the vocalist of 30 Seconds to Mars when I chanced upon an E! celebrity feature on Cameron Diaz early this January (he used to date Cameron). I was surprised to know that coz I've been digging 30STM since last year! And frankly, my only vivid memory of Jared Leto was from the Claire Danes TV series "My So Called Life" which I used to watch back in my highschool days. I don't even remember seeing him in Panic Room nor in Fight Club (must be too much Brad Pitt eyeballing)!

Anyway, I first got into 30 Seconds to Mars' music last year when I saw them as one of the nominees in the MTV Video Music Awards -- mentioned pretty much in the same breath as Panic! At The Disco whom I also love. And so, I can't believe how a Hollywood actor can actually rock! NOT a lame attempt at all! The band has enough street cred since their single "The Kill" rose up the charts. He can actually sing... I saw this one interview in youtube and he was fooling around & singing in a Sinatra kind of way-- so unlike the screamo vocals on A Beautiful Lie [album]. You know how screamo-alt-rock their music is? I was listening to their album in my Winamp at the office the other day and my boss actually asked me to tone down my music. Heh. Probably way too much of Jared's screamo-emo :p Favorite tracks from the album (aside from The Kill which was my first love): A Modern Myth [loved the violin tracks here!], Attack, From Yesterday, Hunter [a cool Bjork cover!], The Fantasy... Well actually the entire album rocks :-)

The band's drummer, by the way, happens to be Jared's brother Shannon. Their guitarist Tomo actually started out as a fan and then later auditioned as a replacement. (No interesting footnote about the bassist. Heh.)

the 35-year old eyeliner-wearing hottie as he appears in 'the kill' vid

I've been youtube'ing and I've seen funny interviews of the band and live performances. I love their acoustic performances... most of the performances were just with Tomo & Jared onstage and in those stripped down arrangements, it's amazing how Jared's voice is actually nice in a soothing, breathy, semi-gravelly kind of way. There are some Daily Download videos on youtube which had Jared & Tomo accompanied by this string section which resulted in a gorgeous version of The Kill. In the funny interviews, Jared's facial expression [when he amps up his humor] reminds me of Jim Carrey. And one interviewer actually introduced him as "singer/actor/hottie." And hottie indeed he is. He's got those pretty intense eyes and killer lashes, virtually perfect teeth and those lips that curl at the corners.

Been surfing up some bad press about him though... this thing about his fight with Elijah Wood and this blogger/press writer... his dating habits... etc. And do you remember that infamous pic of him kissing Scarlett Johansson wherein he was actually checking his phone WHILE kissing her?! But anyway, strictly talent-&-looks-dept. only, I would chalk him up beside Brandon Boyd of Incubus ;-)

~* HAPPY B-DAY MOM! *~

Twas my mom's birthday Jan 7th so we treated her out for a nice yummy dinner at Seafood Island (Market Market - The Fort) last Saturday night. Haven't eaten crabs for a long time so I pigged out on the Salt & Pepper Crab... in fact, that was all I ate (okay, and some oyster rockefeller. Mmm!)

with the bday celebrant

yum yum boodle feast et al. and the *very* nice lights on one corner of the resto

~* NOW PLAYING: LOVE WILL TEAR US APART by FALL OUT BOY *~

I have Nouvelle Vague's lounge-y chill-out version and I have recently stumbled upon this awesome punked out acoustic version by Fall Out Boy over at Multiply. Ooh I just love cover versions. This is originally done by Joy Division (uhh, Joy who? hehe.) back in the 80s.

When routine bites hard
and ambitions are low
And resentment rides high
but emotion won't grow
And we're changing our ways,
taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold
turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed?
our respect run so dry..
Yet there's still this appeal
that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings exposed
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good...
Just can't function no more?
But love, love will tear us apart again

~* NEW YEAR, NEW YOU, LET'S MULTIPLY *~

It's a brand spankin' new year so I was inspired to change my template and finally displace some of my houndstooth pattern fixation ;-)

Last week, I just saw this certain postcard from PostSecret which totally got my attention. It read "Everyday I am asked to be a magician in a world where magic doesn't exist." And then somebody emailed a reaction about the postcard and Frank posted it too. I love the inspiring/empowering words of the person who reacted: "You aren't the magician, you are the magic." Wow. Very concise but it had such a big impact on me. And that's how my new template theme was born.

~*+=+=+=+=+=+=+*~

I believe Abbie has beat me to it (she texted me about it yesterday) but I'm also gonna rave about Multiply. At first I was just using it for the photo albums but when I was told that I can search for music there, I was in love. I am a big mp3 junkie and I have started with winMX back in 2001 and then switched to Kazaa, shifted to Bearshare and lately, I have been using Sharezaa. But now, I think I'm gonna stick with Multiply for my mp3 needs. I swear, you can find almost anything there! From really old 90s Pinoy rock.... to band covers of pop songs... to the Lacoste (touch of pink) perfume commercial soundtrack. There are just a handful of elusive tracks that I have not yet found so far like Nadege's version of Heart's "These Dreams", Agot Isidro's "How Can I Be Sure", The Party's "Where is My Romeo", Tribal Fish songs, "Black to Gray" by I'm-not-sure-who but it's OPM -- Skychurch or something and Saga's "Berto." I'm also eager to upload and share some obscure and lesser-popular songs so watch out ;-) I've already uploaded two playlists as of now so feel free to download! :-)