The Weekend Strip

Here's a long lost comic strip I made visualizing my typical weekend.

Kind of pathetic but so what?

My Review of The 2nd Law

The 2nd Law is the 6th studio album by Muse. It's been out for quite awhile now so I'm sure you've heard of it if you're a fan. Here's what it looks like:

The Front Cover of The 2nd Law

By the way, I haven't got my hands on the physical copy of the album. I've been asking and looking around at stores but they didn't have it yet. But I will get a physical copy I will assure you!

So moving on, I have been listening to this album for quite some time now, but I did this review earlier when I was listening to it for the first time. So it's like a first impression review kind of thing. I'm about to tell you what I think about each song or what the song would be like in (my) words. So here goes!

Supremacy

The intro sounds quite massive, it makes me picture this whole scene of action and coolness. Think big, think Bond. Yeah this definitely reminds me of James Bond. The Bond-ish sounds can also be heard in the chorus. A little bit at the end at there's a very exciting part and at the very end, very 'Bond' again. About the lyrics, the topics revolves around politics and conspiracy I guess, typical Muse.

Madness

This is the first single so you probably have heard it lots of time. This song sounds quite electronic with synthesizer and electronic drums. The "ma ma ma ma ma madness" part is quite different, needs some time getting used to, but the riff still sounds like Muse completely. Vocally, I think it's a new challenge for Bellamy because it's not how he usually sings. Here it's more soft and stable. Chris's backing vocal is also soft and calming. With the deep lyrics, I can definitely hear the maturity of the band. This may sound strange at first but I think the music is so simple yet so rich. This song is not the kind of song you play over and over again until your ears bleed but it's a legacy song. You'll listen to this once in a while and never get sick of it. You'll never skip it when you stumble upon it on shuffle. I like it.

Anyway you have to see Chris’s gear for their SNL gig, playing this song.

I'd love myself one of that!

Cool right? It's not like it's something new, they use cool gears all the time.

Panic Station

Now this doesn't really sound like Muse. But surprisingly, I like it! No, LOVE IT! It's catchy and dancey, heavily influenced by 80s rock I guess. There's also a little bit of disco and funk too in this song, some brass instruments incorporated, resulting into a very rich-sounding and versatile song. Also, I really like the different vocal style, the shouting and repeating. I can't say it in words, you're just gonna have to listen!

Prelude

Orchestra like. Very big. Not much to say though only 57 seconds in length.

Survival

It's the Olympics song! Okay it's way past Olympics, I can't be that excited to use an exclamation mark. This song sounds like orchestra, but catchy. The intro caught my attention but once Bellamy sings, it's not quite what I was expecting. Doesn't mean it's bad though. The chorus is very Muse for you who has been missing it. The riff reminds me of Knights of Cydonia. It's genius. And it ends with a very biiiig ending! I love it.

Follow me

The beginning is very familiar. It's tame at first, but then it picks up. The chorus is very dubstep-heavy, so for those of you who likes Dubstep, well goodie goodie. The lyrics are different, it's like an empowerment song. Actually, kind of cheesy at some point. I mean: "I will always protect you my love"? At first I was like "ugh why so lovey dovey?". But turns out the song is about Bingham, Bellamy's child so well okay, he's gonna be a good dad.

Animals

At first I thought, hey another different sounding song! But NO, it turns out to be the usual Muse I'm used to. You'll start feeling it at the verse. I like this song but yeah it doesn't really stand out. Well it doesn't have to right!

Explorers

Another calm song. I didn't like some part of the lyrics at first, but then it sinks in. The piano-play is nice, I like it. At the end, there's a shush, the lyrics are like "shush, go to sleep". Maybe it's not for everyone, but for me? I'll kill to get shushed to sleep by Muse. Well, just kidding, you get the idea.

Big freeze

I love it! Love love it! Love the backing vocals! Love everything! Suits my taste really. Nothing really different, I think that's what gets me, not very experimental. Maybe playing it safe? I don't care, I love it!

Save me

It's not my favorite at first but then I thought... okay. It needs some time getting used to. Doesn't sound like the usual Muse but hey it's Wolstenholme's song! He gets the spotlight! He leads the vocals and wrote the song. His voice is quite powerful but also calming.Overtime, this song grows on me, so I think it's good.

Liquid state

Oh rock! The god of rock blesses this song. The intro is very very rock. Bless Wolstenholme for leading the vocals. He wrote the song too. It may not be Muse's kind of rock, but it's good. Purer, instead of alternative. This is one of the biggest contributor to the diversity of this album.

The 2^nd Law: Unsustainable

Well I have mixed feelings about this. At first I thought it sounds kinda scary, no, mysterious. Also it's very dubsteppy, which I'm not a big fan of. I thought it didn't sound like Muse at all but hey, it's the new Muse right? Then there's also this woman voice quoting the 2nd Law of thermodynamics. Nerdy much Bellamy? Well just kidding, they've always been a bit nerdy I guess. Not my kind of song, but I'm not saying it's bad. But yeah I will not listen to this over and over again.

The 2^nd Law: Isolated System

Mystery like good. It's not different, not electronic. It ends up as kind of boring. 5 minutes of instruments and some voices saying "Isolated system" over and over again. I won't play it so frequently.

               

Overall

So it's alternative rock, pop, disco, dub step, orchestra, and a little bit of ska in one giant pot. The vocal is also more diverse in technique. The lyrics are not likeable in some parts for some audience. But overall I like this album. It's experimental, but good. It's good to tweak here and there sometimes to keep it fresh. To summarize:

Usual Muse: Supremacy, Survival, Animals, Explorers, Big Freeze, The 2nd Law Isolated System

Experimental: Madness, Panic Station, Follow Me, Save Me, Liquid State, The 2nd Law Unsustainable

On the verge of being boring: Prelude, The 2nd Law Isolated System

I rate this album 4 out of 5. Probably a bit biased because I just love these guys so much. But yeah listen to it if you haven't!

Almost There!

There? Where?

Graduation.

Not that close though. I'm still in my 7th semester. As a matter of fact, I just went through my 7th semester midterms and that was pretty rough. I didn't get through with a smug face, not at all. Well it seems like I never did in all my life so no surprise there!

Okay back to topic, I'm near! Less than a year to hold a bachelor degree! It's not that I'm excited because I'm not. It's just that I know the feeling of relief is somewhere in the near future. Looking back, I've been through some hardships pursuing my education here in Fasilkom UI. I'm not saying that I'm living the hardest life, no, but it's quite a tough jungle. Many bad marks, sleepless nights, working weekends, and frustrations, with not so many pay-offs. But all with good company, people I can always count on, friends and best friends. I learned a lot.

Not only academically, but also personally. Some self discovery: how I learned that I love comedy greatly. Some evolution: from a trend-hater-"because I found out first"-person to a reasonable pop culture lover. Some life lessons: on life itself. Very vivid in my mind now is how I learned that there's nobody else you can blame for your life but yourself. This is your life, take it over from destiny, lead it to where you want it to be. Make things happen, don't be satisfied with "I would have made it if I tried" because tough love, you didn't. Stop being such a bum and do something.

Okay enough self pep-talk.

So yeah I learned a lot, but I also know that I had fun. There's no regrets, I wouldn't have done anything differently. Wait... probably I would. But I'm okay with myself now. Past Shoraya was a letdown, but present Shoraya is pretty cool.

Well future Shoraya?

She's gonna be a badass.

Okay too much confidence is making me unconfident.

Maybe not a badass. But hey she's gonna be just fine.

Lucasfilm Bought by Disney

So have you heard?

Of course you had.

Well I didn't know any deal was in the works, so I was quite shocked. Although honestly my reaction was not quite as dramatic as I wish it would be because I was busy memorizing audit-ish things for my midterm when I heard the news.

I mean how could Lucas do that? Star Wars was like his love child with something called awesomeness. It's like giving up his baby for adoption when (it seems like) he can take care of it on his own. I mean sure us fans have this love-hate relationship with him which might have scared him off to retiring, but we are not that annoying, are we?

Honestly, I don't like the idea. I don't like the idea of Disney probably tweaking it even a lot further than Lucas did. I don't want it to be just another money making kingdom with 'eh' quality new products. I don't want people pushing it to have new sequels or remakes just to rip off the young generations. I mean, Disney is planning on making new features every 2-3 years. Assuming I will live for another 60 years (some wishful thinking), there will be 20 new Star Wars films by the time of my death. 20 films? How are they going to maintain the quality? And the freshness of the story? New films can easily be the next Cars 2, or Pirates of The Caribbean 4. Sure, people (and me, a seasonal hypocrite) will still see it but come on, quality over quantity Disney! You don't want us to go see a movie then immediately bitch about it, do you?

In the other hand though, maybe it's not the worst idea in the world. Names like JJ Abrams and Brad Bird have been put out to direct episode 7, 8, or 9. Good hands they have. And Lucas will still be consulted for the next movies so we can't really choose to not take a chance right? It's not like Lucas was planning to do the franchise any more good. Seeing it now, this deal can turn out good or bad, there's still no way of telling. All we can do is wait for 2015 to see how Disney set the bar for the first ever new Star Wars film by Disney.

Just to be clear, make new Star Wars all you want Disney, but there will never be any butterflies in my stomach like there were when Han said "My hands are dirty too, what are you afraid of?" in episode 5.

Just saying.