E minor pentatonic

Hey guys,

I'm starting a new video lesson on guitar soloing. This video teaches you how to perform the basic E minor pentatonic in the box form. Hope it helps.

Guitar jamming

Hey Y'all,
This is my first YouTube video of me jamming Jump in the Fire by Metallica on my Les Paul copy guitar and Fender G-DEC amp. Rock on!

My Les Paul with Floyd Rose

My sister in law's husband in New York has helped me buy my new guitar. The Epiphone Les Paul with floyd rose tremolo. I have never had a new guitar before. My first guitar was a Strat copy and I have a Les Paul copy, both second hand. I was in college and money was tight.
Somehow the Les Paul shape is classy. Although I have written about the Dean ML shape, the Les Paul is timeless. I'll keep on practicing on my Les Paul until my new guitar gets here to Malaysia. Rock on, Man!

Playing 3 guitars???

I was doing my regular websurfing and found this guy who plays three guitars. Two of them with his hands and one with his foot. The song is a classic jazz song which I can't remember the title. This is totally mindblowing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ2L8k3sAcM

Regards,
Shaz

Macross Frontier

The latest installment of the Macross Series is coming soon, Macross Frontier or Macross F. Not sure which is it. You can check out the trailer here. The date is set at about 2070, after Macross 7 and it looks impressive although the Valkyries look a bit skinny. I guess cos of its neck. The VF-25 looks like a cross between the VF-0/1 (Macross Zero and Macross SDF) and the VF-19 (Macross Plus and Macross 7) which is pretty cool cos the F-14 Tomcat-like swing wing is there which is such an iconic feature of the Macross Series.
Also there are some scenes where they showed a front and top view of the Valkyrie which almost looks like the VF-17 Nightmare from Macross 7 although I may be wrong. If I am right then its cool cos I enjoyed Macross 7 (although not Macross Dynamite), really fun show, catchy song and plenty of new Valkyries. The only new Valkyrie after that was the Anti UN-Spacy SV-51 which was the bad guy anyway.

The show looks like a Macross 7 like theme with the Earth colony Megaload ships exploring space with computer design. Can't wait till it comes out. Cheers.

Shazli

Got emails from Vinnie and Cody

Hey guys,

I was so affected by Vinnie and Cody leaving so I decided to email them the following

Hey Vinnie and Cody,

I just got to know about you guys from several Yahoo
searches leaving, since they never showed the last
episode here and showing reruns. I've always loved
watching you guys build all the bikes from the very
first episode and the bikes were always awesome. I am
excited that you guys are following your dreams and I
am sure it will be successful. Keep those videos
coming on youtube so we know what u're up to :).

Your Malaysian fan,
Shazli

I didn't really expect any response but yesterday I got this response :

I can't thank you enough for your support and thank you for taking the time to write to me.you can't imagine how much it means to me to have so many great people behind me.The website is being worked on as we speak so please hold tight.Cody and me promise you some good stuff.We will be doing a online store as well to sell apparel.
Thanks again, Your friend
Vinnie

and another one from Cody

Thank you very much for taking the time to write us Shazli. Its nice to have people like you supporting us through our new journey.The website is currently under construction,but it should be up and running shortly so please keep watching...We will also have apperael available on the site..We promise to bring some creative new ideas to the industry!!

Thank you again for the support,
your friend, Cody
V-Force Customs

I'm really stoked about this and I'm pretty sure they'll be successful with V-Force customs. Good luck guys!

Vinnie and Cody has left OCC!

Recently I was doing my regular web surfing to the OCC website and I saw this job opening.

Job Opening - "Master Bike Assembler"

OCC has an immediate opening for a qualified candidate who would be responsible for the following:

• Final Assembly of Bike- must be able to assemble a bike from the ground up

We are looking for a professional chopper builder. The candidate must have at least 2 years of experience in the chopper industry. Prior work at other chopper shops a plus. Serious inquiries only please. Benefits and 401K available. Chance for advancement.

I just thought, " Wow! They must be building more bikes". Then, I was looking around YouTube and I just searched on OCC for the latest episodes or snippet and there was this one link with Vinnie leaves OCC. What !!!! This is surprising to say the least. I mean, he was the main bike builder for most of the theme bikes. Then I was looking at other links from the search bar and saw " Vinnie and Cody has left OCC" which was a double blow and the other discussion boards says that TLC are showing repeats of other episodes. From the YouTube video, it looked like Vinnie has had this feeling for a while and he's had enough although something must have happened on that day, either a big epiphany or a disagreement with the Teutuls, most prob Senior. Although, I could see that Vinnie and Senior just couldn't look at eachother in the eyes, kudos to them for not ripping eachother apart verbally or physically. Senior saying that "everyone is replacable" is a bit of arrogance on his part cos I don't think he would replace Junior or Mikey but this is the Senior that we all know and love. I guess the most heartbreaking thing was when video went into his truck came out again to look at Mikey and Mikey was going on his scooter cos it was emotional for him too which was sad cos Mikey and Vinnie are close and they joined OCC about the same time.

For American Chopper fans, it will be tough to adjust cos he was there from the first episode of the series ( not sure about the Jet bike episode ) and he should have been in the opening theme songs along with the Teutuls. For him to be so patient and sticking to it for the 5 years he was there was real class act. He was the one of the skills there to make the Teutuls and OCC look good. And Cody, he was there since he was 15 and grew in front of the TV in front of us. Since he was the youngest, he was the one taking the brunt of the jokes and he would have been the one taking over Vinnie's place as the senior fabricator. But just building choppers was not for him cos he does like speed with motorcross and he was doing wheelies with Vinnie. Providing that anyone else doesn't leave like JQ, Poole, Christian and especially Rick, they should at least be able to build some insane bikes although its gonna be hard to see Junior rely on anyone else besides Vinnie since they go way back when they were kids. I would still watch American Chopper since most of the entertainment come from the Teutuls anyway and if they play this angle right, it could improve the ratings. Maybe they can do like an American Idol bike builder competition but replacing Vinnie is impossible.

Vinnie and Cody do have a big loyal fan base and we're all rooting for them on the future with vforcecustoms. From the site, it still in Rock Tavern, so close to OCC so that will be weird and it looks like they will be doing more on high performance machines rather than theme bikes but since Vinnie and Cody are seasoned chopper fabricator, who knows. A TV series maybe? I would watch that but please don't do it like American Hot Rod cos the chemistry is not there and the cars look alright but nothing great. Judging from Vinnie's YouTube's, it looks like they're having fun with taking the Corvette for a spin and wheelieing on their scooter ( although they would have been impressed with the rempits in Malaysia). I guess its best for everyone that the dynamic duo left OCC since now V & C can do whatever they want and with the fan base, they should have no problems getting customers. And for OCC, rather then having 2 disgruntled employees, they have a chance to freshen up the shop and with the World Headquarters coming up they need to address this really quick so as not to lose their fan base and keeping the business growing.

So here's to the future!V&C, I'm glad you guys are following your dreams and keep us updated with what's up with you guys. To OCC...... good luck!

Welcome back to earth astronauts

A triumphant mission ends for STS-120. Can't wait for the next adventure
Discovery Astronauts Return to Houston

From nasa.gov
Image Above: Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven astronauts glided to a flawless landing Nov. 7, 2007, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After spending the night at Kennedy, the crew members boarded NASA jets for the flight back to their homes in Houston. Image credit: NASA


A day after making a perfect landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew of space shuttle Discovery took to the skies again, this time aboard conventional jets headed home to Houston.

Mission STS-120 Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli boarded NASA jets before taking off from the same runway they landed on less than 24 hours before.

NASA's Johnson Space Center planned a welcome ceremony for the crew in Houston.

The agency administrator and the astronauts said the mission's successful work on the International Space Station stood as a testament to NASA's ability to solve problems and move ahead quickly. Discovery's crew had to repair a torn solar array on the International Space Station during an unscheduled spacewalk. They also attached a new module called Harmony to the station.

"It really was a beautiful moment for NASA," Melroy said. "What you saw is who we are at NASA."

AME Motorcycle show October 21st

I know its a bit late to post this but better late then never. There was chopper show in KL and I had to go see it seeing my favourite show is American chopper. No, the Teutuls didn't come but that's ok. The hall wasnt that big and there were about 20 booths. But nonetheless, it was still awesome seeing all the choppers and got to take a photo with my bike ( yeah rite). The top right photo is me with Russel Mitchell. This is the legend behind Exile motorcycles and if you see Biker Build Off, this is the man behind the cool old school choppers. I got some pics of other bikes there. Now, I need some loose change get me one, hehe.

Washburn White Lightning. Nice ......

Funky Munky has just released the Dime White Lightning prototype. Very nice. Now I need some cash to get it so don't forget to check out the links in this blog.

Friendster, Facebooks....

I just got an invite to join Facebook from a friend and I've gone to Friendster. I'd like to know how many of these are sites are there? And which are the top ones? I'm still a noobie at this and just wondering out loud.......

My condolences to the Sheikh Mustafa family

I would like to offer my condolences to the Sheikh Mustafa family. To Sheikh Muszapha, be strong.

From the Star article

SEREMBAN: The family laid his brother to rest in the afternoon and it was a heartbreaking homecoming for space hero Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who arrived several hours after the funeral.

Fighting back tears, the astronaut hugged his father, Datuk Sheikh Mustapha Abdul Shukor, as soon as he arrived at the Negri Sembilan state mosque here from the KL International Airport.

Younger brother Sheikh Mustafa, 32, went into a coma and died at the University Malaya Medical Centre after falling and hitting his head against a pillar at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The family went ahead with the funeral after receiving news that Sheikh Muszaphar's flight from Moscow, via Bangkok, would be delayed for three hours.

His brother's remains were brought from the family home in Petaling Jaya at 12.55pm and buried at the Tuan Haji Said Muslim burial ground here after zohor prayers at 2.30pm yesterday.

Present were his three other brothers, Sheikh Ahmad, 37, Sheikh Taufiq, 36, and Sheikh Awiz, 29.

Malaysia's first man in space, who was earlier scheduled to arrive at the KLIA at 2.10pm, touched down at the KLIA only at 5.30pm.

Angkasawan waste of money? I don't think so

I need to get this out of my chest cos in the midst of surfing for Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's information on the web, I keep seeing all these negative comments on Space Flight Participant, Space Tourist, waste of money, part time model, we didn't build a spaceship so we don't need to go to space and whatever else. Everyone has their own opinions and I have to respect that but I will need to disagree on this. Please note that I am not aligned to any political directions nor do I want to. I for one am excited that we sent an Angkasawan to space.

Space flight participant, space tourist, angkasawan or whatever, somebody has to foot the bill when you go to outer space. American taxpayers pays for their astronaut, Russian taxpayers pays for their cosmonauts and ,surprise, surprise Malaysian taxpayers for our angkasawan. A regular shuttle launch is about 1/2 a billion dollars ( from what I have been told) not to mention the billions of research since the 1950's and ours is far-far less then that. We didn't build a rocket or help to build the space station yet, and therefore we have no right to send someone to space. What??? Its like saying we didn't create the car so we have no right to drive. We have worked on satellites and big planes( I know some of the engineers there) so we are building skills. This is our first manned space mission so we might as well follow the experts rather then building our own spaceship.

Doctor Sheikh Muszaphar is Medical Doctor ( an achievement in itself) , an orthopaedic surgent, a University lecturer, a volunteer for Mercy Malaysia, a part time businessman, beat out 10000 candidates and survived a year in the Russian training facility. Very impressive but he is a part time model so he is less qualified. Ridiculous. This guy is qualified to go to space and that's it.

I do hope we can continue with space research. Maybe help to build part of a space station, a probe, eventually our own manned vehicle. Another angkasawan would be nice too but we will need to make it worth our money like getting a cure for cancer, AIDS, trying to solve world hunger..... I know we are going to pay more for this but as long as we don't starve doing it, we should be alright.

So, congratulations Dr Sheikh for landing safely and throughout the whole trip, you have represented Malaysia well and to the whole team which made this possible and here's to the future..

Congratulations Dr Sheikh Muzaphar. The first Malaysian Angkasawan ( Astronaut ). Tahniah!!

From a Malaysian, we are proud of you. You are the First Malaysian Angkasawan in outer space. No matter what people say, you are a fully certified Astronaut and Cosmonaut with a year's training and performing all of those scientific experiments for the space agencies all over the world. I have been stuck at channel 588 for most of the time. I can foresee that you will receive a hero's welcome as you should.

Captain Faiz, you are also our trained angkasawan. God Willing, you will be our second man in space. The Prime Minister giving the go ahead, we hope this will happen and as a taxpayer, I would not mind my contribution for the next manned mission. Maybe you will be involved with the continually building of the ISS.

From the space race, we can see that this has made the national superpowers of today what they are and I hope this will happen in Malaysia. Hopefully, we will get excited to improve our scientific knowledge and also our social status. My imagination has run wild like making our own rockets, maybe launching our own satellites, who knows. I know this has been used so much but ...... Malaysia Boleh.

drums wish list Roland HD-1 V-Drums lite

I just noticed this new electronic drum kit.The Roland HD- V-Drums lite. Drool-drool. I know some of you will think that electronic drums are so much inferior then the acoustic version. Traditional drum kits will still be awesome but since I don't want to drive my neighbours crazy, pick from 10 kits ( though I would probably use max of 4) and fit the whole thing in my car trunk, this little fella looks cool. I've read on some reviews that it looks like a toy, to me it looks like the future of drumming.
ok ok, I haven't played or seen it live, the video demos look promising. Now, where was that stack of money to buy it. Oh yes, I don't have it ....... yet. :)

wasburn d3's

Hey guys! I'm also a big fan of music. Particularly, the electric guitar. The old Metallica tunes were listenable and the new Megadeth songs are killer. I stopped playing for about 5-7 years, mainly cos my amp broke down. Then, I bought my Fender G-DEC last year and started to play again. Man, what a thrill. My main axe is a second hand, well worn, Onyx Les Paul wannabe and I've been looking for another one. Let me stress looking as these fiddles cost and arm and a leg. Especially, if you are converting to ringgit.
However, one style has really caught my eye which is the Washburn D3 or the Dean ML. If you listened to Pantera, you'll know that the late Dimebag Darrel was a legend. 'Cowboys from Hell', 'Walk', 'Cemetary Gates', listen to tha guitar scream. Anyway, I'm more inclined to the D3 cos it looks cooler and more insane then the ML. And also, cos I saw this guitar about 10 years ago in a music store in Australia. I was in college and I was having trouble making money to eat let alone buy a brand spanking new guitar. But since I got a steady job now, maybe I can get one of these beasts over. Hopefully. I missed out on the Blue Boogiebolts but Funky Munky is coming out with the Slimebolts. So there's hope. Wish me luck guys. Shaz

anime talk

ok. ok. I admit it. I'm an amateur anime junkie. I do follow Naruto and Bleach quite closely, thanks to the power of the Internet. The top one for me now is ......... MACROSS 7 !!! I was just curious about the series since I love Robotech ( I still haven't watched the original Macross SDF which I plan to do soon ). I think I watched one of the middle episodes of Macross 7 and thought its weird that this guy goes around singing at the enemy. It turned me off for a while and I was bz with catching up on Naruto and Bleach.
Then, I decided to do a search on Macross 7 and saw the entry in Wikipedia, then I found this site
http://video.animeepisodes.net/ and after 3 episodes, I'm hook. Transforming jets, fun soundtracks, cooky characters, fun mysteries, big spacefights, what's not to like about this show. If you're into all this stuff, you should give this anime a go. Meanwhile, let me catch up on episode 12.
FIRE BOMBER!!!

Shazli

Malaysian soccer. A new beginning??

After losing 5-1, 5-0 and 2-0, the whole world know the status of Malaysian soccer. Mediocre at best. Most of the Vice Presidents has resigned and so has the General Secretary. The coach is going to go off soon. The parliament has said that this is a National issue. Some have said that it was a mistake to co-host the Asian Cup and we have made fools of ourselves. The TV screens shows the late Super Mokh, Mokhtar Dahari, the only world class striker we had in the 70s and 80s. All living to the past, still searching blindly to the future.

Personally, I feel that this is the best thing that has happened to Malaysian Football. We've finally woken up from our slumber. Finally changing channels from the English Premier League and care about the national team. Hopefully, a new FAM will emerge and set some realistic goals. We don't need to send players to the Premier League. Send them to Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and see if they can stand it. I do hope we can produce some good players. There are 25 million Malaysians, we only need 11 footballers. Good luck guys

Malaysian soccer team. What's new? Nothing much

First of all, I would like to make it clear that this is just a fan's view and I will always be a Malaysian team supporter for life. Having said that, here is the fact

"CHINA proved to be head and shoulders above Malaysia when they beat the hosts 5-1 in an Asian Cup Group C match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night." New Straits Time July 11th.

I expected them to lose but 1-5?? At home soil with 18,000 fans cheering them on?? This team did win against Cambodia but lost against Jamaica under-21 and another team which I can't recall. They should have had their tactics figured out by then. But were outclassed. This is when the other host countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand were celebrating good results.

The only game which I remember where Malaysia was exciting was when we beat Thailand 2-1 in the 2003 Tiger Cup and there was some hope for the team but it turned out to be a false dawn.

The only positive is that this is the first game. Hopefully, the manager will go on a shouting spree with the team and the team will say, " We played like *#@t tonight but were going to kick some a%$ tomorrow". Help us to help you, guys. Malaysia boleh

Feeling hungry?

Here's a twist on the Japanese classic, Tempura.
Make sure you're over 18 and are comfortable with cooking, if not, get an adult to help you.
What you need for the:

A) Sauce
1) 1/4 cup Sweet Soy Sauce
2) 1 Red Chilli
3) 2-3 Small bird eye chillie
4) 1 Lime
5) 2 tablespoons of water

B) Batter
1) 3/4 cup of flour
2) 1/2 Can of cold Ice Cream soda
3) A touch of salt
4) 2 ice cubes

C) Stuff to eat
1) Basically almost any soft vege and seafood

D) Cooking oil
1) Any cooking oil you're comfortable with


For the sauce, you'll need to
1) Cut the chilli's up finely and put them in a small serving bowl
2) Squeeze the juice of the lime into the bowl
3) put the soy sauce and the water in the bowl
4) Taste it and play around with the ingredients till u think its just right

For the batter you'll need to
5) Mix all the ingredients of B) Batter until they're roughly mixed. It should not be pasty and you don't need to break the icecubes up

For the veges and seafood
1) cut the veges to bite size pieces
2) For harder veges like eggplants, slice the up but not to the edge to make a fan
3) For fish, make sure there are bite sizes and no bones. Fillet them and slice them up to bit size pieces
4) For shrimps and prawns, take out the shell except the tail and clean them of the veins and stuff you don't need
5) For squids, calamari rings are nice.

Cooking

1) Make sure your oil is hot. To make sure its the right temperature, put a drop of the batter and it should float and bubble away. If it explodes or it gets brown in less then a second, lower the temperature.
2) Dunk the the veges in the batter and put the vege in the oil
3) Once it is cooked when its golden brown, take them out and put them on a kitchen towel covered bowl or large plate.
4) Do the same for the other veges and seafood. If there's not enough batter, make more and continue.

Serving

Put the whole stack of veges and seafood on the table and the serving sauce in a bowl beside it.
Give your guests a plate and a small dipping sauce bowl. Dip the fried food in the sauce and enjoy. Don't eat the shrimp's tale though

Regards,
Shaz

First entry, Yay!!

Peace, dudes. This is my first entry.
Introductions ! I'm a guy and what can I say. I have never kept a diary before and am a personal guy. Ok Ok, the main reason I'm starting this blog is cos I've read and heard about affiliate marketing from many places and I feel I must share this knowlege with all of you!
Let's make this first entry, a book review. I picked up Affiliate Millions book by Anthony Borelli and it got me excited about affililate marketing and Search Engine Marketing.

It is such an easy book to read and it makes it possible for anyone with a basic understanding of computers to start their own affiliate marketing business, from registering in affiliate networks to promoting them via Google Adwords and performance monitoring. And lets face it, when a guy gets a million within a year from this business, eyes become wide open,jaws drop and saliva drools. So check it out.

Regards, Shaz