Zhang Xuan, Chen Shan Ni, Yui, Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen

Merry Xmas :)

Zhang Xuan (张悬) Then - Back when she was in the band Mango Runs (芒果跑).


芒果跑/畢竟

Zhang Xuan Now - A barrage of Youtubes. Coz she's cool.


張懸/無狀態


張懸/寶貝


张悬/嫁祸进行式


張懸/巷口


張懸/憂愁

Well, Zhang Xuan recently released her song 喜歡's mv and was accused of copying certain visuals from jap artiste, Yui's My Generation mv. She stepped up to apologize and pulled the mtv off circulation in a matter of hours. I believe it was mainly the fault of the mv director. Anyway, I like Yui too. As well as Shiina Ringo (and her band Tokyo Jihen 東京事変) + taiwanese singer Sandee Chen Shan Ni (陳珊妮). :O Their tubes-

Chen Shan Ni Then - 1994/11


陳珊妮/茫然

Chan Shan Ni Present - 公主


陳珊妮/醉人的詩意


陳珊妮/風景好

Both Zhang Xuan and Princess on stage together-


流浪到淡水


如果有一件事是重要的


Yui - Tokyo (live)


Shiina Ringo 椎名林檎


Tokyo Jihen 東京事変


杨乃文/今天清晨


陳珊妮/四季

Kim Deal- rock cliches and her bass playing

Part Ed/Chris/Yossarian

I want to be like Ed (from tv series, Northern Exposure), to always listen intently and learn, and know just about everything to do with movies. :)



To be like Chris (from the same show), to have his wisdom and knowledge (esp. of books and music), to be as broadly educated in the ways of the world.



And finally, I want to be a little crazy like Yossarian (from the book Catch-22). Or if you look at it in another way- to remain the sane one in this crazy, crazy world.

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed." - Joseph Heller, Catch-22

LOL

Lost In Sunrise, Yu-Xuan and Pocket-watch

Happened to watch the "frame-skipped" version of the movie Before Sunrise, starring Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy. It was supposed to be in H.264 or some weird format. Apparently my comp wasn't beefy enough to process the info. So I got a clearer picture, just not the complete picture.

Anyway, it had me comparing with another movie, Lost in Translation, which worked on pretty much the same premise- Two lonely strangers/souls met in a foreign land and the resulting friendship.

So, what made each of those movies tick? Which would I prefer? I could say Lost in Translation, but why? I found both to be pretty good. It's not like a Cat vs Dog or Beatles vs Elvis Presley thing (Tarantino's Pulp Fiction) where you could only choose one. (Dog and Beatles for me btw). I'd expect a friend Warren to choose Elvis. Don't ask me why? Maybe it's in the way he walks lol.

I like both enough I guess, just Lost in Translation a lot more. =)

Julie Delpy was brilliant, in a very real, intelligent and thoughtful girl way. Scarlett Johanssan was more or less the same, but in a sorta more regal, faraway princess-in-a-castle way. Bill Murray owned Ethan Hawke hands down of course. I think p'haps Ethan Hawke was trying too hard to put across that dumb-vocal-American thing or maybe the script required him to do so. He became quite annoying early in the movie.

Many ideas were raised in Before Sunrise vocally (through conversations) and many of them I found kinda interesting. "Sometimes I'm sick of being around me all the time. I want to go to a place that I'm not there." Lost in Translation, on the other hand, weaved a sort of silent magic. It told its story through nuances and music. The last parting scene had Bill Murray whisper something to Johanssan (the content of which the audience were never told).

林雨宣 (Lin Yu Xuan of Xin Guang Bang 3)

Often criticised for lack of power in her voice. I thought she's charming. Love her voice, nuances in her voice. As one of the judges commented, she's loads of emotions, but lacks technique. All the songs she chose happened to be songs that I like, which is a bonus of course. =) Really like this following song btw:





Christopher Walken's Pocket-watch

Sometimes I feel like that small kid in the now popular Chris Walken (as Captain Koons) pocketwatch scene in Pulp Fiction. Someone left me in front of that box (TV) and forgot to carry me away since. The captain-koons--of-this-world would then continually try to interrupt you from watching your TV, to have you listen to their captain-koons-of-this-world-speeches. It is very sad. Lol.

Faith Yang Nai Wen

Hidden Connections

Of Coincidence

Bizarre ending to Moon Palace. M.S.'s father (Julian Barber) died from tripping and falling into an open grave. Eventually, M.S. gave up his search for the elusive cave, walked off into the sun, much like cowboys do in westerns.

Not the first time Auster killed off important characters in a whim near the end. Much like Auster's other books, this one had been a bizarre journey littered with strange, almost surreal occurrences. Memorable scenes in the book - There is this one part whereby M.S. imagined his father being at several places he had been before. That he may have unknowingly ran into him on several occasions. He even 'placed' Julian Barber in Vegas, that his father could have been one of the audience of Uncle Victor's band performance. He began to see hidden connections everywhere. Another is M.S. reading off the books left behind by Uncle Victor as a way of mourning him. Also, carting Thomas Effing through the streets of New York in the rainy night to distribute money to 'deserving' strangers. These scenes will always be memorable to me.

Coincidences do happen in real life but they're often dismissed or viewed as out-of-place. You almost can't find them in an abundance in books or movies anymore. Weird coincidences do happen to all of us. Somehow the intentional 'imperfect' ending of the book takes you back to a modern reality. The world is imperfect, why should we expect logical endings in books? The world stays the same, only we have changed from experiences accrued. The journey is what counts.

No coincidence too that I tried to tackle this subject early on, made this stupid short-film back in school, aptly titled Coincidence Inc. :) These are difficult topics to explore- The effects of deja vu. How can you be certain that you haven't encountered this person before? And to merge the ideas of Coincidence with Religion.

Coincidence, Failure, the Search for (or absence of) a Father (figure) are recurring themes in many of his books. I think that is the reason why I can relate to them. Essentially, Auster is telling almost the same story in all his books.

Halfway through another book, Oracle's Night. It is an ongoing process to understand who the writer Paul Auster is. Consequently, hoping to be able to pick up pieces of myself along the way. To better understand who I am.

Of J. B. Jeyaretnam

Another coincidence that I met Mr. JBJ in person just months ago at the lift lobby of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. A pretty tall, charismatic individual. First time I've ever seen the man in person. Maybe he was there for his heart checkup. An Indian woman, in her 50s or 60s, was waiting for the lift too. She smiled, almost shyly, at JBJ. JBJ acknowledged with an amiable smile and a nod. To me, it was a very genuine smile that seemed to say, "Don't worry. I will carry on the fight for all of you." While most current government officials seemed perched at seemingly unreachable places, it is gratifying to know there is someone who stood right by our side.

I just realised that was also around the time he would be busy constructing his comeback into politics, the formation of the Reform Party. Rest in peace.

Man In the Dark - Paul Auster

Paul Auster reads from his new book, Man in the Dark. Snippets of movies referred to in the book - Tokyo Story, Apu Trilogy, Renoir's Grand Illusion, Bicycle Thief. Gotta get this. :O

Moon Palace - Paul Auster

Lovely book I picked up from the library recently. Simple words put together can be so poignant, deeply moving. A pen and a notebook. Auster's words flows naturally, is easy to read, yet beneath the calm, an undercurrent of absurd ideas and magical thoughts bounce off each other and then the seabed.

Wanted foolishly to try to retain certain experience of reading it so I have collected here a couple of passages from the book.

The Fall

"After such a promising start, it would not have been difficult for me to go on acting sensibly. All kinds of options were available to people in my situation - scholarships, loans, work-study programs - but once I began to think about them, I found myself stricken with disgust. It was a sudden, involuntary response, a jolting attack of nausea. I wanted no part of those things, I realized, and therefore I rejected them all - sabotaged my only hope of surviving the crisis. From that point on, in fact, I did nothing to help myself, refused even to lift a finger. God knows why I behaved liked that. I invented countless reasons at the time, but in the end it probably boiled down to despair. I was in despair, and in the face of so much upheaval, I felt that drastic action of some sort was necessary. I wanted to spit on the world, to do the most outlandish thing possible. With all the fervor and idealism of a young man who had thought too much and read too many books, I decided that the thing I should do was nothing: my action would consist of a militant refusal to take any action at all. This was nihilism raised to the level of an aesthetic proposition. I would turn my life into a work of art, sacrificing myself to such exquisite paradoxes that every breath I took would teach me how to savor my own doom. The signs pointed to a total eclipse, and grope as I did for another reading, the image of that darkness gradually lured me in, seduced me with the simplicity of its design. I would do nothing to thwart the inevitable, but neither would I rush out to meet it. If life could continue for the time being as it always had, so much the better. I would be patient, I would hold fast. It was simply that I knew what was in store for me, and whether it happened today, or whether it happened tomorrow, it would nevertheless happen. Total eclipse. The beast had been slain, its entrails had been decoded. The moon would block the sun, and at that point I would vanish. I would be dead broke, a flotsam of flesh and bone without a farthing to my name."

On Conversation

"As Uncle Victor had once told me long ago, a conversation is like having a catch with someone. A good partner tosses the ball directly into your glove, making it almost impossible for you to miss it; when he is on the receiving end, he catches everything sent his way, even the most errant and incompetent throws. That's what Kitty did. She kept lobbing the ball straight into the pocket of my glove, and when I threw the ball back to her, she hauled in everything that was even remotely in her area: jumping up to spear balls that soared above her head, diving nimbly to her left or right, charging in to make tumbling, shoestring catches. More than that, her skill was such that she always made me feel that I had made those bad throws on purpose, as if my only object had been to make the game more amusing. She made me seem better than I was, and that strengthened my confidence, which in turn helped me to make my throws less difficult for her to handle. In other words, I started talking to her rather than to myself, and the pleasure of it was greater than anything I had experienced in a long time." -Auster

Auster, MBV and When You Sleep

Ever had that feeling you're living through life like one of the characters in Paul Auster's trilogy? A-huh, it is that bad. :)

For therapeutic purposes = Couple of footages of MBV Live this year. Good stuff happens still.


MBV - I Only Said


MBV - Only Shallow




MBV - When You Sleep


Only place I'd rather be. And yeah, Bilinda Butcher.

Loud band. Check out the number of amps. Not an easy task to record them live lol.

Lost In Translation and MBV Reunion

Lost in Translation. Love the ending to this movie.



Just Like Honey - Jesus and Mary Chain
"Listen to the girl. As she takes on half the world. Moving up and so alive. In her honey dripping beehive."



Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine
MBV reunited and releasing a new record soon!

Happiness in spending meaningless time

Quoted from Claes in Gunslinger Girl. Just found out season 2 is out, dubbed Il Teatrino. The art, animation and even seiyuu have changed. Still trying to get used to the changes. Hope it'll be a good season.