Pantone Has Just Published Their Colour Of The Year, And It’s Classic Blue

Posted by & filed under Art.

Written by Evely Tan

American colour company Pantone has announced their chosen “universal favourite” Classic Blue, or Pantone 19-4052, as its colour of the year for 2020. 

As interpreted by Pantone, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is of instilling calm, confidence, and connection. The timeless indigo hue is elegant in its simplicity. Suggestive of the sky at dusk, the 2020’s shade brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit offering refuge. 

“It’s a colour that anticipates what’s going to happen next,” said Laurie Pressman, the vice president of the Pantone Colour institute, which selects the Colour of the Year. “What’s the future going to bring as we move into the evening hours?”

Will you be using the calming colour to start your year 2020? 

The Creator Of Keluang Man Has Just Passed Away

Posted by & filed under Features.

Not many recognise the talents, the work, and the progress that our designers, animators, and production have put into it to further progress what our animation industry can do, and without Kamaruddin Ismail, shows like Ejen Ali, BoboiBoy, Upin dan Ipin, would have never existed in the first place.

A pioneer in the digital animation industry, Kamaruddin, better known as Kamn has passed away at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre from heart attack and a several other complications. He passed at the age of 63. The prolific animator was also the creator of old time fan favourites, ‘Keluang Man’ and ‘Usop Sontorian’ of which the latter was more widely recognised as Malaysia’s first animated cartoon series, providing us with good fun and memories as we’d frequented TV3 to catch the latest episode of the show.

He will be buried in Bukit Tandang Muslim Cemetery in Petaling Jaya.

 

Baby-G Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary By Featuring Pikachu, The 25th Pokemon In The Pokedex

Posted by & filed under Lifestyle.

Written by Evely Tan

Casio’s BABY-G celebrates their 25th anniversary this year with Pokémon Company on a special edition watch inspired by Pikachu, the 25th Pokémon in the Pokédex. 

This special anniversary model uniquely features Pikachu reflecting the style of the original Pokémon Red and Blue video games released in 1996 in an edgy way. 

The watch features details like “0:25” on the band loop, while on a black base, the watch band is decorated with neon, polygon-style Pikachu lighting marks, and Poké Balls. The design of the dial took on the original game screen, giving it a very 90’s feel alongside a polygon-style Pikachu appears when the EL backlight is turned on. Additional details include an engraving of Pikachu’s rear view on the back cover and the packaging is specially shaped like a Poké Ball. 

The BABY-G Pikachu collaboration model is now available at all G-Factory stores and authorized dealers, retailing at RM579. 

Kali Uchis’s Latest Single Features Cover Art Designed By A Malaysian

Posted by & filed under Art, Music.

I’m sure all of you know Kali Uchis as the prominent feature in “See You Again” sung by Tyler, The Creator. Feature artists no longer, as Kali has grown to be a full blown superstar, who’s single now embraces her Latin roots.

Her first bilingual track kicks off in Spanish, before alternating back to English and back with a hook that instantly catches your groove. An underlying reggaeton beat provides the foundation, accentuated with spaced synths and Uchis’s soulful vocals finishes off the track in a classic meets modern affair.

Which then brings us to the cover art. A somewhat Addams Family outlook by the singer, Malaysian artist Muntasir Mohamed has designed the cover art and along with photographer Brandon Bowen, has resulted in an effortlessly eerie vibe that looks like it came from an early 90s telenovella horror.

Solita is available now at all streaming platforms.

Off-White Releases A Regional Exclusive Capsule Collection Called “Yours Truly”

Posted by & filed under Fashion.

In another playful iteration of the brand’s staple pieces, Off-White has release a regionally exclusive collection titled “YOURS TRULY.”

Comprising of solid colours in black, white, and salmon, classic staples such as the hoodies and T-shirts get reworked and are emblazoned with the phrase “YOURS TRULY” on the frton and detailed with colourful tape. The collection also includes soft denim shorts in a black vintage wash that features the arrow print, individually labelled sandals and a bucket hat rounds off the collection. Prices range from RM 990 to RM 2690.

Peep the lookbook for more information. The collection will be exclusively available in Singapore, Taipei, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur on the 10th of December.

Meet The Faces Behind JD Sports Malaysia

Posted by & filed under Featured, Lifestyle.

Since 2016, JD Sports has been nowhere else but up. From its great success here in Malaysia, the brand has now reached into Singapore and has just recently opened its 21st store in Siam Paragon, Thailand. We managed to catch the diverse team who made it all happen in just a short span of 3 years. #KingOfTrainers #JDSportsmy

The Yeezy Slide In “Bone” Will Be Dropping Tomorrow

Posted by & filed under Sneakers.

Picture Credits: Sneaker Hack

If the Yeezy Foam Runner is the full blown foam model akin to Final Form Frieza, The Yeezy Slides are one step below in the evolutionary phase. Nevermind the analogies though. If you need a simple, no frills slide, but still says hey, I know my shit because I wear designer slides, this is the slide to have.

The Yeezy Slide comes in only 1 shape with no discernible panels, or seams. The only other odd shape on an otherwise smoothly curved silhouette is the bottom, where it’s riffed to provide grip in most urban terrains. And that’s about it.

The Yeezy Slide drops tomorrow online at 12 PM here in adidas.com and at adidas Originals Suria KLCC for a price of RM 240.

 

 

 

東南亞CINA Pays Homage To The God Of Night Foods, The Mamak And Ramly Burger

Posted by & filed under Music.

The cornerstone of every neighbourhood. The go to place for late night lepaks and drinks. The gossip central, and the food joint that has almost everything you need for a satisfying supper. The ubiquitous mamak and the accompanying Ramly burger stall has served a multitude of people, young to old, race to race, starving to full, and often has become the epicenter of various discussions, night outs, and sports gatherings.

And it’s only appropriate that this humble abode deserves a song of its own.

Enter 東南亞CINA, a Chinese rap group who did just that. Watch the video above and reminisce the good times you knew you had at the mamak.

According To Trophy Knives, Here’s Why Punk Rock Will Never Die

Posted by & filed under Music.

Cover photo credits: Unite Asia

It’s an unspoken fact that the pre-millennials around us will somehow end up to listen back to punk rock when we feel the need to reminisce the old days, that first crush, and screaming your lungs out in frustration, exasperation, often in the name of love . There’s just something about venting it out to no one that resonates so well to us. Take for instance, “Only One” by Yellowcard. There’s nothing more to say after that really.

Trophy Knives is in the same cohort, singing about honest problems, sung and played by honest people who just want to be heard, and they’re doing a damn fine job at it. Coming back from their album launch at Urbanscapes, we managed to catch them and talk about who they are, their album, and why punk rock in an era where hip-hop and R&B are thriving the most.

Who are Trophy Knives? 

Vinesh: Hi, I’m Vinesh. I sing in the band.

Syamir: I’m Syamir. I play bass and we sing together.

Sani: I’m Sani. I play guitar and sing.

Ryan: I’m Ryan. I play drums and buat hal!

What genre do you guys play?

Syamir: Essentially we’re a punk rock band. I’ll call it stadium arena punk rock because we’ve got big choruses but still with the punk rock essence in it. That’s I guess if you want to break down so many things but it’s punk rock in general.

So what was the thought process and inspiration behind the name?

Vinesh: I’ve been asked that question heaps of times, I wish I actually had a proper answer. Hahaha

I guess it’s one of those scenarios where we had a bunch of songs written prior to having a band name and I’ve always loved  band names like Sum 41, Green Day and NOFX,band names that never had a specific meaning but somehow those names represented those bands perfectly. So I suppose that is why we settled for Trophy Knives,it just sounds like a punk band,plus the name Trophy Wives was already taken, unfortunately.

So why specifically punk rock? 

Syamir: We didn’t really choose the genre. We jammed together as friends a long time ago and we never made  conscious decisions like  “I wanna sound like this”, or “I wanna sound like that”. It’s basically all those influences over the years  that we’ve had on our Walkmans,and our computers. Trophy Knives is a product of all of our youth, put together in songs.

Who writes the songs? 

Vinesh: Our song writing process is pretty interesting.

Usually, I’ll come up with a chorus idea on an acoustic guitar,and bring it over to Syamir, and once Syamir and I are happy with the melody of the chorus,we’ll bring it over to Sani’s studio and we’ll add beats and samples, over the demos. Once we are done with that,we’ll bring it over to Ryan and only then do we jam said track as a band for the very first time.

Ryan: It’s an interesting process for me because it’s basically reverse engineering. I mean most commonly drums are the one being laid out first and everything gets built on top of that. Slightly different here in the sense that Sani kinda has a base layer of drums for the song and then I take over after that and I put my take on it.

So you guys cited Billy Talent, Alkaline Trio as some of your inspirations. How do you incorporate those elements or rather their style of music into yours?

Vinesh: I suppose we are what we listen to! We absolutely adore Billy Talent,Alkaline Trio and bands like that,but I have to say collectively,we sound nothing like them and we definitely have our own unique stamp on our tracks.

In a world currently dominated by rap, R&B and pop. How does this punk rock scene stays afloat? 

Syamir: So I believe, I really believe, that punk rock will never go away for that matter. It’s only who takes the spotlight at the very moment. It’s all about striving in your own environment. Who’s to say that there is no punk rock scene out there? I really believe like in the air of all these major, major genres, there are pockets of music that are still thriving and I think it’s a cycle. I really think, give it a year or two, punk rock will come back to the radio. And I think after a while, the kids will realize that punk rock is just more relatable. Pop and all these SoundCloud rap, is cool, and it sounds great in the club and all but does it really relate to you in a sense? Do you think it will be there for a long time? It really won’t, but this stays, I guess. You know? And anything that’s written in an honest way in the form of punk rock which I believe we believe so, it will sustain the test of time. There are times where it will just be in the background,but it’s absolutely going nowhere.

What are some of your favourite local bands?

Vinesh: Daighila is personally my favourite local band. There is a method to their madness and their live shows are absolutely stunning. Besides that, I affectionately call these bands “The Class Of 2017”,because we all started playing shows around the same time in 2017, Milo Dinosaur, Berdosa,Sweetass are fantastic bands and I’m extremely glad that each and every one of these bands are finding success in their own way. 

Ryan: I agree for the most part, I also really enjoy Bittersweet and Seven Collar T-shirt. These are all bands that I discovered pretty late in my life. I spent a lot of my high school years listening to whatever was fed to me on the radio and only discovered X FM. X FM also was fed to me a lot later! So I basically lived on X FM and I heard everything I wanted to from Malaysian music, but the ones who stood out were always those two.

What does your music speak to the audience, what kind of message do you guys want to deliver?

Vinesh: I guess it’s just honest music written by honest people, and I guess we needed an outlet as individuals, as friends, and as a band. I feel like people that want to listen to these songs will go out of their way to listen to these songs.

Syamir: We don’t want them to feel anything, we just want them to know that we are like them, you know that daily struggle that is in the blue collar white collar line, and it’s not all fun and games like what you hear on the radio hahahaha. The songs that we write are what we feel on a daily basis and I feel that they feel the same as well, so we like to think that we’re almost speaking on their behalf, voicing their anger, concerns, empathy, sympathy, and that’s what we wanna do, we wanna connect with them. We’re all friends here!

Explain to us what Glass Ceiling is all about.

Vinesh: We’ve been in a band for 3 years and it just feels right to put out a full length right now.The title ‘Glass Ceiling’ just fits with the situation,we were extremely frustrated with the lack of shows offered to us so we went out of our way and booked an Australian tour,we all worked extra jobs just so we could go on tour,and when we were touring Australia,we realised that if opportunities weren’t given to us we’ll carve our own path and do things our way.

Syamir: Don’t get us wrong, we’re a punk rock band and all that, but we do want to appeal to a bigger audience, and I feel the title is so apt for that, we’re shattering the glass ceiling above us, we’re breaking the barriers we thought people built around us, and we just need to push through. We need to find the next level, and this album is the next level.

So what’s in store for the band in the future?

Vinesh: We can’t give too much away yet,but I can confirm that we will be touring China,Japan and Taiwan in 2020!

As a band, how do you guys survive in order to keep making on the music that you love?

Ryan: We have jobs. The music dream is pretty much a dream unless you strike gold with luck and the people you meet and the situation that you’re in, but the honest truth is that you have to work for what you want. So if you want music to be a part of your life, you have to work at it, regardless of whether your work is music or a 9 to 5 job. That’s how most of us sustain.

Vinesh: Yeah, for the most part, most of us have 2 – 3 jobs at any given time, just to fund this dream.

Sani: Yess, we have day jobs, 9 – 6, and we do jobs on the weekends too to buy more gear and do more cool stuff on stage and try to be a cool of a band as possible.

Syamir: Batman didn’t have unlimited funding did he? All I’m saying is that he had a job. Hahahaha. And Alfred. We all need an Alfred.

Vinesh: I think it’s essential that any band that takes this seriously has to go through the work, and understand that it is what it is,it’s hardwork and it’s definitely not for the faint hearted. You have to pay your dues. Unless you’re William Hung, you better pay your dues.

What do you think of the music industry here and its apparent lack of support in the underground scene? Do you think it should stay that way in order for the artists to flourish or should the higher ups lend a helping hand by way of creative funds such as CENDANA?

Vinesh: I guess for us as a band, we understand that the struggle is part and parcel of being in a band, but at the same time if someone is willing to help you out, and as long as our creativity and integrity is not compromised, then we absolutely would welcome a helping hand. CENDANA was essential to us during the creation of this album and we are extremely grateful for the experience.

Ryan: It’s a perceived lack of support right? Because I’ve met with a lot of people who are just afraid to ask, like if you need help, you ask for help. If you want something, you gotta ask for it, and the worst thing  that can happen is that if you don’t get it. And the best that can come out of the worst situation is that you learn from it, and you learn to do better the next time. I do not think that there is a lack of support

 

Move Over One Plus, The Realme X2 Pro Is Your New Flagship Killer Phone

Posted by & filed under TECHNOLOGY.

 

A new contender in the market, realme has just launched its flagship model, and it packs quite a punch for what it’s worth. Let’s start with the highlights of its newest model, the X2 Pro.

Starting off, the phone is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 Plus, which in comparison to other flagships, is a notch higher in performance as compared to the Galaxy S10, P30, and iPhone 11. While most other phones come with 3 cameras, the X2 Pro comes with 4, the additional lens to support Night Mode. It comes with 50W VOOC charging that juices up the battery to 100% in only 35 minutes. It has a headphone jack still, and in a world of Bluetooth earphones and earbuds, it’s a welcome addition. 12 gb of RAM is more than most computers, and 256 gb memory is more than you’ll ever need in a smartphone. The screen runs at 90 hz by default, and a 4000 mAh battery ensures you’ll never run out of battery whenever you need it most. The casing too, is made entirely out of glass and metal, for a premium, weighted feel.

All of it sounds well and good, and it is. Very good in fact, because while similarly specced models are expected to be priced at around RM 3000 and above, the X2 Pro comes in at only RM 2388.

The camera for instance, contains a 64 megapixel main lens that’s capable of 20x hybrid zoom, and is flanked by an 8 mp 115 degree ultrawide, and 13 mp telephoto lens. a 2 mp portrait lens supports the phones night mode feature called Nightscape.

Truly, a phone that’s capable of everything, and at a bargain price such as this, it’s a no brainer.

Two colours will be available, Neptune Blue and Lunar White. Both colourways will be releasing on the 5th of December on Chup Dulu Lazada while physical sales will begin midnight on the 7th of December at DirectD Petaling Jaya. Will you be getting one?