On Leave

Yes! Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta, here I come!!! By the time you are reading this, I should be in Jakarta right now. I took the early flight to Jakarta on Sunday morning, where every people just woke up, doing some stuffs (reading newspaper, watching animation, and etc.)

I will post some of exciting and challenging(probably) moments in Jakarta.

Talking about Hard Rock Cafe, I have been starting to collect HRC stuffs since high school. As well, I promise to myself that I hope to visit every HRC stores in this world. Umm, how many I had visited so far? Jakarta (this will be my third), Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,Bangkok, and Paris. How about the merchandise? Umm, as far I can remember, it starts from Jakarta,Bali,SIngapore,Kuala Lumpur,Bangkok,Hong Kong,Shanghai,Tokyo,Uyeni-Eki Tokyo,San Fransico,Hollywood to Paris. Can someone help in my collection, if you know what i meant hahaha?

yeah!! I managed to get my Tom & Jerry McFarlane Toy

Yeah!!! I managed to get Hanna-Barbera's Tom&Jerry (Rock) at Simply Toys, Suntec City. Despite its expensive price (40dollars), I guess that it is worth the money. I had tried to find it from the Internet and Singapore's local figurine store. One store in China Square Central will only sell it with other items (from same series) with the total of 150 dollars. From Ebay.com, the shipping fee costs more than the item itself (20 US dollars shipping fee as opposed to 10 dollars for the item).

Well, thanks to my dear. She bought it for me (Yay!!that's the best part, of course). Thanks, Dear!

Yes, I have been starting collecting Music Figures. So far, I have only Kurt Cobain and Slash. Upcoming music figures that i will be aiming are Bon Jovi (out in August 2007 from McFarlane Toys) and AC/DC (out in June 2007 from NECA)

Starbucks' Experiences

I has just finished reading this book. Well, I proudly to announce that I managed to read the whole book in two days for 200++ pages. (well, my biggest achievement is still reading Harry Potter book in two days for around 700+). Basically, the author states that there are give underlying principles that have contributed to the success of Starbucks. They are

• Principle 1: Make it Your Own
• Principle 2 : Everything matters
• Principle 3 : Suprise and Delight
• Principle 4 : Embrace Resistance
• Princicpe 5 : Leave Your Mark

All those explanations can be found at some those management studies on Great companies. However, the author has done a great job through the usage of examples of how Starbucks applies those principles. At least, it won't bore those non-management audieence. It allows me to visualize how Starbucks apply those principles in their life. What strikes me of course the fourth principle. Let's be honest. People dislike criticism. Thus, I re-read that particular chapter, in order to grasp their view on criticism and etc.

In the beginning of chapter, the author has borrowed one unknown author's Quote (my guess that this guy who quotes is not famous enough to be officially quoted)

"Don't mind criticsm. If it is untrue,disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation;if it is ignorant,smile;if it is justified,it is not criticsm -learn from it."

As well, i would like to take out the excrept from the book (page 144) on how then Starbucks CEO,Orin Smith, admits the mistake

"With the grace of competent leadership,Starbucks did not seek to scapegoat or place blace on the store partner who made the errant decision in an unimaginably stressful situation. Instead, Orin Smith understood something that most great leaders appreciate; when you are wrong, admit it, fix the problem, and stay the course in areas where you are making positive difference."

I hope that the company lives to what the book has stated. I just feel that it is hard for some people to admit their mistakes, esp top management.

Linkin Park's Live at Rock am Ring 2007

On my previous post about the cancellation of livestream for Linkin Park's concert at Rock Am Ring, MTV Germany has , at least, shown some of their concerts (small portion, if u know what i meant) [could be MTV Germany paid more?]. They are : No More Sorrow, Numb,Breaking the Habit,Crawling, and Faint. I had managed to download those videos. Contact me if you want them. Thanks

The full setlist is:
01. One Step Closer
02. Lying From You
03. Somewhere I Belong
04. No More Sorrow
05. Papercut
06. Points Of Authority
07. Given Up
08. Don't Stay
09. From The Inside
10. Leave Out All The Rest
11. Numb
12. Pushing Me Away
13. Breaking The Habit
14. In The End
15. Crawling
16. What I've Done
17. The Little Things Give You Away
18. Bleed It Out
19. Faint

Linkin Park is bowing to Warner Bros

The darkest day for Linkin Park (LP) fans yet to come, but the cloud has shown the sign that Linkin Park has started to ignore their base fans. This is what some Linkin Park fans (hardcore?) claim of what LP have done. From the release of Minutes to Midnight (MTM), fans had already lambasted Linkin Park for ignoring their old sound(nu-metal). The new sound is categorized as too commercialize.

The recent incident is LinLP's Live at Rock Am Ring 2007 (Germany). Initially, it was announced that the concert would be available via LiveStream. Suddenly, It was cancelled for no apparent reason. Some fans claim that It was based on the decision by Warner Bros Music to "ban" Linkin Park Live via internet ("ban" is emphasized by me). If it is true, then I start to wonder why.

However, based on the abovementioned issues, I still respect Linkin Park for what they have done till today. The reason why I like Linkin Park (I avoid to usage of IDOLIZE, as I don't want being branded as teeniebopper) is they have "revolutionized" their approaches to thank their fans,:

1) Their appearance in Linkin Park forums and chat. Well, you may have seen some bands or singers who have own blog (like Mobey). However, Arguably, Linkin Park should be considered as one of the first ROCK bands who did that. In the early 2000, LP would go to LP forums, posting some replies to fans' enquiries. As well, they will appear in chat occasionally, addressing queries directly with fans.

2) Meet and Greet Session. Until now, they never fail to set up Meet and Greet session with Linkin Park fans for every concert they have. Due to their big success, It is now limited to Linkin Park Underground members, with subject to the availability. They have no choice but to limit number of ppl for the M&G show.

3) Their big support for web design!!!. I guess that I never seen a lot of rock band who dedicate their time on website design. It is different from Linkin Park, as Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn have background in art. Thus, those arts in their albums are mostly done by them. As well, they provide those images for us (esp for me)to use for our web design

Linkin Park's MTM Special Edition is finally... available!!!

YES!! You heard it. Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight "Special Edition" is finally available in Singapore. The price??? 39.95 dollars in HMV, but i got it at cheaper price due to my kiasuism approach.

Just buy it at Gramophone. The original price is 44.95 dollars. As Gramophone is currently having storewide sale (20% discount for CDs, while 15% for DVDs), you can get it at 36 dollars.

Yes, i am a cheapskate kiasu. At least, it saves me 4 dollars by waiting the availability of this CD at Gramophone. HMV had already released it last weekend, but Gramophone only released it yesterday. FYI, I bought it at Gramophone Ngee Ann City. So, don't kill me if you cannot find it at other Gramophone outlets.

Umm, is it worth?? To tell u the truth, only for Linkin Park fans. The DVD itself contains Videos of "Making the album", "What I've done", "The making of What I've done" and plus some goodies,such as toolkit to build Linkin park's website, wallpaper, and etc. If u are not keen on above stuffs, just buy the normal edition.