IN FIVE YEARSfive people, f ive dreams

A PLAYLIST FOR DREAMERS

h t t p : / / i s s u u . c o m / l o l l a p a l o o z a

LOLLAPALOOZAi s s u e t w o

“the song that changed my life”

five people ; five songs

the lonely hearts club mix

wishful thinking

our familytw

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Rachel Eva Lim Beatrice Amanda Ong

Teo Shien-Yin Joel Kwong

Terence Ong

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editors’ letter page four

the lonely hearts club mixpage six to seven

green with envypage eight to nine

leaving on a jet planepage ten to eleven

“sometimes i think of six impossible things before breakfast”page twelve to sixteen

should be applespage seventeen to twenty

“the song that changed my life”page twenty-one to thirty-one

wishful thinkingpage thirty-two to thirty-three

change it uppage thirty-four

the last pagepage thirty-five

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We’ve reached that time of the year again; the month right smack in the middle of January and December, when the world as we know it seems to have come to a grinding halt. Put simply, there’s not a whole lot to look forward to. The merry happy holiday season bowed out ages ago, along with the tantalising prospect of a new year and a fresh start. Nothing is beginning. Nothing is ending. And so, you find yourself stationary, wanting, drowning in the fever of everything and nothing at all.

Time for a little bit of a miracle drug we like to call escapism. Its components are deceivingly simple: a sprinkle of magic dust, two tablespoons of inspiration, and a pinch of the stuff that dreams are made of. And yet, a single serving has the ability to take your mind off your worries and give your bones that little bit of rejuvenation you so desperately need.

So if you would; pause, take a beat, and fly away to anything and everything that pulls you out of your rut. Take a road trip, drown it all out with a healthy dose of music, go on a Sunday afternoon picnic with your best friends, write in your journal, wander through the curves and corners of your imagination, and don’t forget to breathe.

And before you know it, you’ll be ready to conquer everything else that comes after.

All the love in the world,Rachel and Beatrice

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JOIN USIf you’re feeling inspired and would like to

contribute to our magazine, feel free to contact us at lollapaloozamagazine@gmail.com.

We welcome articles, photographs, music playlists or anything and everything you think

will mesh well with our overall concept.

We look forward to your submissions!

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Playlists are never made neutral. Songs are meticulously selected and delicately burned into a disc (or more realistically, copied into a USB drive) of intangible melodic love, designed for that special someone. These songs are chosen because they correspond to a certain set of feelings, a unique bundle of emotions, a specific season, a secret space in time. And more often than not, they are handpicked for the benefit of a particular individual; the one who means everything, or the one who needs everything.

And so:

To every rejected and dejected individual on the planet. To those who prefer to spend their evenings solo. To the forever young. To the war weary soldiers scattered across the bitter battlefield of fate and circumstance. To all who are hurting. To the ones who manage to find beauty in even the slightest of things.

To those who live desperately. To the guilty. To the empty. To the ones who laugh in the face of defeat. To all who have lost hope. To the tree huggers and flower children of the world. To the ones who don’t know how to forgive. To those who never stopped believing. To the warriors who grab life by the balls. To all who would go to hell and back for the ones they love. To the fools. To the ones who still believe in magic, fairy dust, castles in the sky and Neverland. To those who find solace in escapism. To the few who will still love you in the morning. To all who know that there’s so much more than this. To the lovers and the leavers. To those who dream about flying. To those who are too afraid to dream at all.

To each and every member of the lonely hearts club:

This mix is for you.

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Us Regina Spektor

Don’t Hold Your BreathAthlete

Dream for MeThe Accidental

XaviaThe Submarines

I Don’t Know Lisa Hannigan

Ice AgePete Yorn

The Only Living Boy in New YorkSimon & Garfunkel

And The BoysAngus & Julia Stone

Clean White Love Lisa Mitchell

Honey & the Moon Joseph Arthur

Star MileJoshua Radin

Reason WhyRachael Yamagata

Blue SkiesNoah & The Whale

Gotta Have YouThe Weepies

I Am LeavingBlue Roses

Everything Has Changed William Fitzsimmons

Where the Road Meets the SunKatie Herzig & Matthew Perryman Jones

http://8tracks.com/lollapalooza/the-lonely-hearts-club-mix

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Envy. One of the seven deadly sins. Commonly mistaken for its more malicious counterpart, jealousy, and associated with the colour green – coincidentally, a colour that invokes the Hulk, our favourite green-eyed monster. Because to a certain extent, that’s what envy does – it’s an unbecoming emotion that brings out the ugly, insecure side of us.

Envy isn’t the most bitter or malicious emotion around, though, largely in part because of its transient nature. It’s really a fleeting feeling that washes over us, temporarily causing us to deem ourselves inadequate. Jealousy, on the other hand, injects us with an emotionally lethal concoction of spite and an overall sense of despondency.

Frankly, it would take an incredible amount of self-restraint to not feel any sort of admiration for someone else.

From the trivial (like Blake Lively and her perfectly tousled mop of hair, or yet another Eastern European model’s innate ability to make any piece of clothing fall off her leggy frame in the most effortlessly chic way) to the ego-crushing (that someone from school will always be better at you at that particular subject without trying, despite your having spent what feels like half a lifetime studying your ass off) - there will always be somebody else who possesses an attribute to which you feel inferior, and subsequently, begin to covet for yourself.

green with envyWords by Shien-Yin TeoPhoto by Beatrice Ong

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After all, we weren’t born to be specimens of perfection. If everyone on earth was a walking masterpiece of God’s creation, we would be devoid of the ability to appreciate beauty, and we’d probably be happily coexisting in mediocrity. The notion of working towards becoming better at some chosen pursuit might never have occurred to us.

And wouldn’t that be a tragic thing indeed? Whether we’d like to admit it or not, working as a means to an end actually boosts our happiness levels. The feelings of competence, self-sufficiency and achievement buoy us into feeling better about ourselves and motivate us to continue working towards achieving that feeling.

It’s perfectly normal, heck, even acceptable to feel that all too familiar sense of envy once in awhile. Just be careful to not let it cross the threshold and transform into jealousy, for you’ll never realise how bitter and unhappy you’ve become until it’s too late.

A preoccupation with poring over someone else’s state of happiness or (apparent) facade of perfection won’t do you any good. Neither will trying to recreate the person’s actions and thought process be of much help; it’ll probably only make you hell of a lot less happy than you were to begin with.

So get up and do something that you know you’re good at, even if only marginally. At least it’s a start. A person who is unwilling to make his mark isn’t going to find any sense of meaning in his/her life. It’s the ones who make the effort to set themselves apart and build their own identity that learn the true meaning of happiness and achievement. After all, as Jim Rohn said, “The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.”

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leaving on a jet planeWords by Rachel Eva Lim

Photo by Beatrice Ong

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As I write this, I am suspended somewhere over the Pacific Ocean at a scarily high altitude of around 36,000 feet above sea level. The only thing running through my mind is how all that’s protecting me from a perilous fall into the waiting mouths of the sharks below is a giant hull of makeshift metal that some like to call an aircraft. The lady to my left has been unconsciously poking and kicking me for the past hour, while an entire chorus of petulant and fussy babies are crying their eyes out a few rows down. It’s bloody freezing, all the movies are garbage, and I can feel my skin turning gross and dry from the complete lack of moisture in the air.

Welcome to my hell in the sky.

And yet, strange as it might seem, I live for this. The periods of time when I get to throw the bare necessities into an oversized suitcase, book a ticket, say my goodbyes, and hightail out of my version of reality - straight into the waiting arms of the other side of the world.

Maybe I’m just a huge fan of escapism. Perhaps I’m the kind of person who tends to run away from her problems, to the extent of putting entire continents and seas between myself and whatever I’m trying to avoid. Or, on a slightly more existential level, it could be how I’ve been stricken from birth with an incurable case of wanderlust; an irresistible impulse to travel.

But let’s face it, we all need to get away once in awhile. And rather than hole up all alone at home in a pathetic attempt to find some escape, why not go all the way?

Come to think of it, some of my best experiences and memories have been lived out beyond the confines of the place I like to call home: Running like a kid on crack through fields overflowing with dandelions and daisies in St. Petersburg, Russia; Skiing with my siblings in New Zealand’s South Island when I was barely twelve; Strawberry picking in the English countryside during the summer months; Braving a precarious donkey ride through the cobblestone streets of Oia, the Greek island, just to catch the breathtaking evening sunset; Lying face to the sky in a park in San Francisco, soaking up the city sun and thinking that life seriously can’t get any better than this.

Believe me, the list goes on.

And so, every time the prospect of another cramped and uncomfortable thirteen hour flight sends shivers down my spine, I think about all the sheer magical goodness that awaits me once I make my final descent on to the runway; adventure, reprieve, solitude, and a hell lot of fun.

The world is full of wonder and surprises.

So do yourself a favour and start exploring it.

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“sometimes, i think of six impossible things before breakfast”

Photos and Styling by Beatrice OngModels: Anna Beth Seow and Nicole Rose Mah

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should be applesWords, Photo and Project by Terence Onghttp://shouldbeapples.tumblr.com

Food is an international language, yet hardly any have taken to speaking it at home. Everyone has their reason, be it the haunting memory of disaster in the kitchen, the overwhelming demands of a recipe versus the shortage in your pantry, and my all time favourite; the need to clean up after having your fun. But as complex as a recipe may seem, it is merely a collection of little processes. Sort of like vowels in a word; essential, yet if you occasionally miss a couple, it doesn’t drastically affect anything.

Should be apples is slang for something being way too easy. But really, that’s the way cooking should be. The naked chef, Mr. Jamie Oliver, threw a line with his simple yet impressive approach to cooking, and just recently, Mr. Blumenthal also reeled me in. Somehow, these cooks at opposite ends of the culinary spectrum joined together and birthed the idea for should be apples - breaking down recipes for the household, yet producing something that will tickle your taste buds and make you salivate by merely looking at it. Indeed, cooking should be a wonderful experience; not something that has you pulling at your hair because you can’t get certain produce, or because you don’t have certain kitchen aids.

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SERVES SIX.

INGREDIENTS:

CRUMBLE MIX:1 ½ cups of plain flour90g of butter2 tablespoons of caster sugar

DIGESTIVE BASE:7 crushed digestive biscuits50g of butterCaster sugarCinnamon powder

DOUGH MIX:½ of the crumble mix¼ cup of milk

APPLE TOFFEE MIX:3 granny smith applesCandied ginger (or 5g of normal ginger)1½ cups of caster sugar2 tablespoons of water

MISCELLANEOUS:Ice cream - flavour of your choiceBrandy - or anything else with at least 40% alcoholic content

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Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

For the crumble mix, place all the ingredients into a bowl then rub the butter into the dry ingredients until a bread crumb consistency has been achieved. Place half of the crumbs onto a baking tray and bake in the oven until golden brown. Continually check the crumble mixture while it is baking to ensure that it cooks evenly. Once cooked, put aside, dust with cinnamon and let it cool.

Lower the oven to 160°C.

For the base, crush the digestive biscuits and press in the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Press the entire mixture into a baking tin, which should be around 1 cm thick.

Slowly add the milk into the remaining crumble mix, a little at a time, and stirring it consistently as you go along. Keep adding the milk until the mixture achieves a thick and smooth consistency.

Spread the mix over the digestive base and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked.

Roll scoops of ice cream in the cooled crumble mix and leave in freezer.

While the base is in the oven, dice the apples and ginger.

Once you take the base out of the oven, add the apples and ginger on top of the base and set aside.

In a pan, combine and cook the sugar and water to make the toffee mixture. Once thick and caramelized, scoop the toffee mixture over the baking pan. It should harden in a couple of minutes.

Drizzle some of the remaining toffee over a sheet of baking paper to create an edible decorative structure.

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Once the toffee is firm, cut the finished dessert into slices and serve with ice cream.

Alternatively, you can choose to leave the dessert in the fridge until needed. When serving, top it with the ice cream and flambé it. This will warm up the tart, and also compliments the ice cream.

To flambé, heat the alcohol in a small pan until the first signs of the mixture bubbling. Pour it on to the plate with the tart and light.

Essentially, what you’re looking for in this tart is a short base, a good crunch in the toffee, and a bit of an uplifting note from the ginger. Adding a few salt flakes to the toffee will give this dessert a pop rock (the sweet, not the music) effect as well. If done correctly, it can act as a tiny burst of flavour that breaks up the overall sweetness of the tart. And just for kicks, you can even make this dessert a little entertaining by dusting cinnamon powder over the flames, which will cause it to sparkle.

twenty-one“the song that changed my life”

five people ; five songs

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Name: Soong Su-LinAge: 19

Artist: John Mayer

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This song is many kinds of wonderful. It always infuses me with a new lease of life as I picture a white bird soaring across the blue ethereal sky on a clear afternoon. Among all things in the song, this line sings from my heart: “Shed this skin I’ve been tripping in, never to quite return.” When doubt, regret and denial become your second skin, you are trapped in a state of inertia, and the only way out - the only way to “fly” - is to let go of such thoughts and feelings. I know it’s easier said than done, and being the sceptic that I am, this often becomes a struggle. But as John Mayer so aptly sings, “I am bigger than my body gives me credit for.”

This song is for the broken-hearted - those who have yet to let go of something or someone from the past. One thing I have learnt is that we can’t waste our hearts away on missing something that’s already gone. It’s hard, when we remember the good moments; afraid that we will never feel the same way again, afraid that we’ve already lived it and lost it. I used to cling on to the past, allowing it to define my expectations of the future. Maybe I still do every now and again, but then I realise it only hurts yourself and those around you - it only clips your wings.

Hence, I make the effort to put the past behind and believe that there’s always something new around the corner; something new to experience, something new to love.

This song is also for those afraid of taking chances - we are like the “colour-blind,” because with everything that has happened, I’ve come to discover that when I allow these fears of disappointment to consume me, it compromises my perspective and sucks the life out of me. Life should always be about taking chances. Yes, losing your heart’s desire is tragic, but gaining it is all you can hope for. Even if you stumble and fall, you live and you learn and emerge stronger.

After all, to quote an episode of One Tree Hill, “The greatest rewards come from doing the things that scare you the most. Maybe you’ll get everything you wish for, maybe you’ll get more than you ever could have imagined.” So I take small steps, like internalising this song, praying, giving things a try. But at the end of the day, we travel as far as the legs of reason will carry us. After that, it’s simply a leap of faith.

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Name: Sherylene ChewAge: 19

Artist: Not Applicable

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Despite possessing zero affinity with any type of musical instrument and a singing voice to rival that of a dying cat, music has always been an integral part of my life. During my adolescent years, I would scrawl haphazardly across every available surface a stray lyric or two. In my more spontaneous moments, I was also prone to bursting into song; off-key, but supplemented with much gusto. In addition to a keen fascination for song lyrics, the sheer act of listening to music was a devout experience. Be it within the sanctity of my own bedroom, or traipsing merrily along bustling streets, there was always a tune stuck in my head and my trusty iPod permanently attached to my side.

The topic of “The song that changed my life” is deceptively simple, especially given that my life revolves around a self-perpetuating playlist. My initial belief was that I would find the entire endeavor to be a breeze. However, my complacency was short-lived.

The area under discussion presented to me a conundrum. I once heard a song that left me breathless and giddy with sentimentality. At times, an excess of sad music has me reduced me to a catatonic state, drowning in raw emotion. An abundance of songs have left an indelible mark on my being, but not one has succeeded in changing my life in any significant way. Even the electronic music that I love and revere has never come close to influencing my life in the very least.

Regardless of the music that we listen to, the Earth continues to rotate on its axis, we continue to live, grow old, procreate and die. These songs that we know and love, merely serve as mirrors, a reflection of past experiences, empathizing with buried secrets and the private woes of every individual.

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Name: Pattrick MoosaAge: 19

Artist: Britney Spears

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During the construction phase of this article, I decided that a title such as “The song that changed my life” could not encapsulate just any song. The song of choice had to be the sound of a generation. It had to not only have had a colossal effect on the course of my own life, but must also have rocked the foundations of this very Earth. It had to be a song so powerful, so influential, so magnificent; capable of altering the very fabric and nature of an individual’s life, while at the same time, pulsating with profound meaning and dripping with sheer brilliance on a magnitude that is unfathomable by the narrow reaches of the human mind. The song that changed my life made history with the line, “Hit me baby one more time.”

How could “...Baby One More Time” possibly have changed my life, you may ask? Beneath the beat and rhythm lay a far deeper and greater meaning within the song itself. A coded message concealed behind the arcane nature of such alluring lyrics. It was Britney’s sole intention to extend her valiant message throughout the world and the galaxy beyond. That message, my friends, was to love and to forgive. It was a message that burned through my gargantuan and ever potent brain like a galactic supernova of cerebral fire, and penetrated my soul deeper than Satsuma exfoliating bath scrub, rich in Vitamin C.

It took me nearly a decade to finally grasp that “Hit me baby one more time,” was in fact a parallel to the famous phrase, “To turn the other cheek” (If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also); a teaching propagated by Jesus and a core philosophy exercised and energised by great leaders, such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, about responding to violence with non-violence and forgiveness. This startling epiphany inspired me to change the way I lived as an individual. It compelled me to work with mankind for the greater good, and, as entirely evident from the song, that Britney’s ulterior motive and long term goal was to end all wars and work towards world peace.

Since attaining enlightenment, this song has become my national anthem, my pledge and my motto. I have lived my life according the sacred doctrine of WWBD (What Would Britney Do) and have since sworn off violence and aggression, taken up yoga classes, married K-Fed, had his babies, divorced him, checked into rehab, gained thirty pounds, was charged with a hit-and-run, lost physical custody of my children to K-Fed and got hot again.

Thank you, Britney. You changed my life.

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Name: Teo Shien-MinAge: 16

Artist: Cast of Rent

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Music may not be defined as being my life per se, but it has certainly had a huge impact on the latter. It never really occurred to me which specific song has had the ability to make a change in my life until I stumbled upon the prompt for this piece. Initially, I would say that S Club 7’s songs changed my life because they were probably the first non-instrumental band that introduced me to the term “pop music” when I was around the age of seven. I might also say that Simple Plan’s songs changed my life because the twelve-year-old version of me thought that life as a middle child was difficult. “Welcome to My Life” allowed me to feel like all the other teenagers out there who were going through the same experience were my companions in misery. However, I will never forget this one particular song; the one with the most meaningful lyrics out of every single song I have ever listened to.

The song that changed my life is “Seasons of Love” by the Cast of Rent.

Have you ever thought of whether life could be measured? If not for this particular song, I might not even have bothered to ponder such a possibility.

The songs I usually listen to are just like any other that echoes some sort of catchy beat within my head, but never really instilling the deeper meaning of the lyrics into my mind. However, this song did the exact opposite.

The way I interpret “Seasons of Love” is that the littlest things are what make our lives complete. All that we do during the course of our lives; the journeys we embark on, the people we meet, the decisions we make… they all add up. This song also made me realise how we ought to be content with whatever we have. Whether our lives are going the way we want them to or not, the clock is ticking. Most importantly, all that has happened in the past happened for a bigger purpose; helping to build us up into the people we are destined to become.

Thus, this song has made me realise that everything occurs for a reason. Everything that’s happened over the course of my existence helped measure “five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes” of my life. No other song has had the ability to change my view of life, or better yet, change my life itself.

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Name: Kenneth Felton WongAge: 18

Artist: Kenneth Felton Wong

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Firstly, music is the only field I am, and will ever be, interested in, which I suppose is partially the reason why I’m writing this article with infinitely more enthusiasm than any of my attempts at a successful education. Also, while I have close to no accomplishments which warrant my prodigious ego, I’m probably one of the most arrogant people alive. In my head, I’m undeniably the most talented person to grace the universe. This misplaced sense of self-worth has led me to write about how my very own music has changed my own life.

Yes, I am that shameless.

Anyway.

This song was written at a time when life throws you one of those bittersweet moments and you think, “Well fuck, this moment, this song, this should be on a soundtrack of The O.C.” Well, at least that’s the way it sounded before we added the drums and electric guitars.

I digress. This may come as a bit of a surprise but a spoilt little “rich” kid like me doesn’t exactly come from the happiest household, and coupled with the pressures of school, I needed some sort of release.

I started writing, and then I started playing, and then I started singing. I was ranting, I was raving, I was whining, I was screaming, I was shouting; and you know something, it felt good. I found a form of release; I had found a little niche of my own that no one could touch.

The thing about music is that it’s a two way street. Sometimes you play what you feel, and other times it makes you feel what you play. Before I knew it, something clicked in me and the lines started pouring out. Some of it didn’t even make sense, but God knows I couldn’t have cared less. Writing this song started me down a path that actually seemed to be leading me somewhere, unlike the usual aimlessness I stagger around with daily.

I’m not entirely special. Everyone’s got their song. I just like how mine is mine.

And there’s that damn ego again.

wishful thinkingWords by Joel Kwong

Photo by Beatrice Ong

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I remember how we used to get stuck in traffic jams on long holiday road trips taken during my younger years. I was never familiar with the songs on the radio, so singing along to pass time was never really an option. The snacks would deplete and the drinks began to run dry about an hour or two into the journey, so keeping myself occupied by eating or drinking was out of the question too.

Thus, we’d often resort to playing the occasional game. We would play I Spy with My Little Eye, but I never really took to it because I suspected that my parents kept changing the object they were initially spying on – such that I would never guess what it truly was.

Other than that, we often played the Three Wish Game, which was undoubtedly one of my favourites. It wasn’t exactly a game, but rather one of those things that could send your imagination on a wild chase in an open meadow.

The game allows one to wish for three things - anything at all. I would often start of by saying that my first wish was to have a thousand more wishes. It probably seemed like a really smart thing to say at first, but it got kind of childish after awhile.

And so, I would venture out into the far ends of my imagination to pick something I really wanted. After all, the whole game worked on the basis of scarcity; the fewer things there were, the harder you had to think to make sure you chose the right thing.

Most times, I’d wish for that particular toy I had been eyeing. I would wish for console games and chocolates, toy cars and toy animals, ice cream and colouring books. I would wish for something tangible. I would still smile after making my wishes.

As the years went by, the wishes changed. I’d wish for love. I’d wish for care and concern. I’d wish for attention and for freedom. I’d wish for happiness. I’d wish for you. Wishing was no longer a game. Sometimes, I wondered whether there was any difference between wishing, praying and saying nothing at all.

But even so, we still do it. Still wish when the clock strikes 11:11. Still wish as we blow out the candles on our birthday cake. Still wish as we watch everything we ever wished for slip away. Maybe it is just because we’ve been wishing too big and wishing too deep.

Perhaps now is the time to return to the practice of simple childlike wishing. Wish for something like a hot cup of Milo in the middle of the night. Wish for a bar of chocolate. Wish for tomorrow to be a nice sunny day. Wish for something that might actually restore your belief in wishing.

But then again, if all else fails, wish for a thousand more wishes on your first wish. For one of them is bound to come true.

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Trends come and go. What was in five years ago may longer be in right now. Actually, what was in five years ago is probably definitely not in right now.

You know that certain pair of jeans you have stuffed way in the back of your closet? The ones that you’d “never be caught dead in” ever again? Take them out, dust them off, and prepare to get your creative juices flowing.

Cut them into pieces, stitch them up, dye them hot pink, do whatever you please - after all, what’s there to lose?

There’s no better time than the present to recycle your old jeans, so here’s a simple idea to start you off.

Words, Photo and Project by Beatrice Ongchange it up

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the last page1. Experience a music festival.

2. Dance around in the pouring rain.

3. Write a letter to someone overseas.

4. Eat an entire pint of ice cream.

5. Wake up early enough to view the morning sunrise.

6. Streak your hair purple.

7. Tell your family members that you love them.