Primera’s Heavy Rotation : Dec 29th, 2009

It’s only been two weeks since my last music review and i kinda got nothing to do at work lately (it’s the end of year.. holiday, people, holiday..) So i decided to run a new heavy rotations (Usually I’ll only be doing a once a month music review).  Anyway, here it is singles you should be watching.. some of them are old news (and by old i mean been released about a month ago), or not released at all.

1. Leona Lewis – I Got You

How do you tell a song is Leona’s  ? A falsetto and Tedder-esque drum beat. Typical, i know, but this one is a very good typical . It should be the first single instead of Happy. Mid tempo pop song with a nice vocal.

Rating : # # #

2. Owl City – Hot Air Balloon

Hot Air Balloon is a track included in Deluxe Edition of Owl City’s sophomore album, Ocean Eyes. It’s a very nice summer song, just like the other track in his album (Owl City is a one man band, like Secondhand Serenade, Five For Fighting and The Rocket Summer). You should check out this hot track.

Rating : # # #

3. Katharine McPhee – How

How is the fourth promotional singles for her Unbroken album (will be released in 2010). Nothing special about the song, in fact it was boring. I just mention it to fill empty spaces. And I haven’t had any singles that I gave ratings like below :

Rating : #

4. Timbaland – If We Ever Meet Again (feat. Katy Perry)

This is the fourth singles from Timbaland’s-much-anticipated-but-turns-out-disappointing-Shock-Value-II album. I mean there’s so many big names in the album and the best it could do was spawning 3 singles in just 3 months, only to have #31 spot as its highest. This one is just as ‘average’ as the others. The only good thing here is Katy Perry’s sexy voice.

Rating : # #

5. Boyz II Men – I Can’t Make You Love Me

Yeah, you read it right. Boyz II Men will be releasing new album called LOVE (..yawn..) in 2010. Here’s a promotional single which is a cover version from Bonnie Raitt ( no idea who he/she is..). Its a boring love song and I’m so not into love now (yeah, I know its called oversharing)

Rating : # #

6. Paulini – Scarless

Nice song. Just download the song. Especially if you’re into mid tempo R n’ B song.

Rating : # #

Honorable Mentions : Joey McIntyre – Here We Go Again, Leona Lewis – I See You, Jason Derulo – Sky’s The Limit, Ne-Yo – Never Knew I Needed (feat. Cassandra Steen), Selena And The Scene – Naturally, Mariah Carey – H.A.T.E.U

Machiavellianism

Here’s a test to check if you’re one of those deceiving, manipulating backstabbing person we usually seen in Gossip Girl (I bet Georgina Sparks got the perfect scores). The test called MACH-IV test, the name came from Machiavellianism, a kind of personality in modern psychology described as “a person’s tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain”. There are 20 statements, and you rate every statements based on your opinions according to this :

A=strongly disagree

B=disagree

C=neutral

D=agree

E=strongly agree

Here’s the statement :

1). Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so.

2). The best way to handle people is to tell them what they want to hear.

3). One should take action only when sure it is morally right.

4). Most people are basically good and kind.

5). It is safest to assume that all people have a vicious streak and it will come out when they are given a chance.

6). Honesty is the best policy in all cases.

7). There is no excuse for lying to someone else.

8). Generally speaking, people won’t work hard unless they’re forced to do so.

9). All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest.

10). When you ask someone to do something for you, it is best to give the real reasons for wanting it rather than giving reasons which carry more weight.

11). Most people who get ahead in the world lead clean, moral lives.

12). Anyone who completely trusts anyone else is asking for trouble.

13). The biggest difference between most criminals and other people is that the criminals are stupid enough to get caught.

14). Most people are brave.

15). It is wise to flatter important people.

16). It is possible to be good in all respects.

17). P.T. Barnum was wrong when he said that there’s a sucker born every minute.

18). It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there.

19). People suffering from incurable diseases should have the choice of being put painlessly to death.

20). Most people forget more easily the death of their parents than the loss of their property.

Now, write in a piece of paper your chosen answer for each statements, and then count your score (see the comment below)

Primera’s Heavy Rotation : Dec 17th, 2009

Singles (and probably albums) review from me, revived !

I decided to use dates instead of numbers to mark my post, since its kinda hard to remember the last number you used for posting.

For starter, i let you guys know that i’m into mainstream music, so mostly I’m reviewing pop music with an edge of R n’ B, Rock, Synth/Electronic, Folk, Country, and anything Top 40. I kinda addicted to catchy R n’ B songs right now, but my music taste changes as often as my mood swings, and it means a lot of swings.

So, let the review begin..

1. Stan Walker – Black Box

Stan Walker is a winner of Australian Idol seventh season, he got nice loud voice, and his debut single, Black Box is a really catchy R n’ B song. Highly recommended. I’m sure you’ll be playing’ it over and over for at least a week before turning to another catchy R n’ B song.

Rating : # # #

2. Usher – Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)

After his successful Confessions (2004) and Here I Stand (2008), he attempt to reign again with another album set to be released in 2010 titled Raymond vs. Raymond (2010) . Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) is his first official single, its a mid-tempo R n’ B song, very nice song.

Rating : # # #

3. Guy Sebastian – Art of Love (feat. Jordin Sparks)

Second single from Guy Sebastian latest album (the fifth, BTW), its featuring Jordin Sparks. Its a typical perfect pop song which sounds a lot like Jordin Sparks’ Battlefield to me. Both had a similiar drum beat. But still nice to hear if you’re so into pop music and Idol thingy.

Rating : # # #

4. Jason Derulo – In My Head

New R n’ B sensation. Its his second single. Nice song, nice voice, nothing special though. If you’re into something like Usher or The Dream, he’s one of them.

Rating : # # #

5. Heidi Montag – Superficial

Another shameless attempts from Heidi Montag to stay famous, she’s releasing a single which lyrics, if concluded, are saying : People say I’m superficial because they jealous of me, I’m rich and famous. (Not gonna say anything on this one). But it’s a pretty good song though.

Rating : # #

6. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind Part 2 (Broken Down)

If you can’t stand hearing Jay-Z’s rap but love the Empire State of Mind song, here’s one alternative for you. The chorus is the same from the duet version, but with a slow tempo and the rap part is totally gone. I like this version better.

Rating : # # #

7. Chamillionaire – Good Morning

Good Morning is the first official single off of Chamillionaire’s third album, Venom. Its a rap song with a sweet chorus, make you want to sing along (only on the chorus part though).

Rating : # #

8. Adam Lambert – Whatya Want From Me

Second single from Adam Lambert, the song is written by P!nk, Max Martin and Shellback. And he sounds like p!nk in this song. Nice pop-rock song.

Rating : # # #

Also not to be missed : Tokio Hotel – Automatic, Shontelle – Licky, Alexandra Burke – Broken Heels, Sade – Soldier of Love

Sugar, Oh.. Honey, Honey..

How you ever been in this situation ?

You got plenty of work from your office that you’d like to finish at home, but as you arrive from work, you open your laptop and you realize that there’s  one tiny little file on your office PC that you forgot to copy and without it you can’t continue your work. Or maybe, you’re not the working kind of guy, but you download that illegal mp3s whenever you had a chance, either at work, at home, at bus, whenever. So your music collection we’re scattered on your laptop, PC, iPod, phone, blah3. And just about when you’re really in the mood for that catchy Lady GaGa song, you realize that it isn’t on your phone. It’s stored on your PC at work. That sucks. It happens to me all the time. Sometimes I downloaded a song twice just because I want to hear it badly.

Now, worry no more dear, cos SugarSync is coming into town. SugarSync is one of the many file synchronization manager which its main duty is, well, synchronize file across many PCs, laptops and smartphones you have.

It works over the internet of course, and stores your data on the cloud –not literally—so all your files will be available whenever and wherever you want to access it.

Ok. Sounds cool. How do I do it ?

First, you have to have a SugarSync account. It’s free for a 2GB storage, but you must pay for a storage bigger than that. Access http://www.sugarsync.com

Next, you must download and install SugarSync Manager on every PC, Laptop and Smartphone that you’d like to synchronize. For Smartphones, it support Blackberry, iPhone and probably WiMo phone. I’m sure Android support willl come along soon.

Then, put your file that you’d like to synchronize on folder called Magic Briefcase on you’re My Documents folder.

And Tadaaaaaaaa… The folder and its content will be available on all the computer that has SugarSync Manager installed. Everytime you make a change on one computer, the change will be reflected on all computer connected.

Tampilan SugarSync di Windows Explorer

One good thing about SugarSync is that its blended well with your windows explorer. So it feels like you’re working with a normal file on a normal folder. The only difference is that the icon has a little notification on the down left, green means the file is up-to-date, yellow means its still synchronizing.

I highly recommended this program. It increases your productivity.

(Probably the narratives I’ve written didn’t excite you to use SugarSync, but trust me. Its not because the program, its my writing skills.)