This year sums up

I always like to sum up my favourite albums at the year end but this year, I don't have many that I really love (maybe only the Toy one). It doesn't mean that I do not enjoy the music scene this year, on the contrary, I have some EPs and singles that I like very much.  Thanks to the smartphone, I also spent more time on radio, so maybe I should list out my favourite tracks instead.   Because, I know if I don't jot them down, I will probably forget some the names next year.

1. Husbands/I Am Here - Savages
2. 1998 - Peace
3. Stranger - Dead Mellotron
4. If Only We Remain - Two Wounded Birds
5. Dead & Gone - Toy
6. Aching Bone - Nadine Shah
7. Who Is The Hunter - Liars
8. Bubblegum Trash - Crocodiles
9. Sweet Jesus - White Manna
10. I Follow You - Melody's Echo Chamber

It's not over yet

Clockenflap @ West Kowloon Cultural District, 1-2 December 2012

For the wee bit chilly weather and the drizzling, puddles everywhere, I could imagine it was a music festival in UK, but hey it was held in my hometown, the place notorious for its hideous music scene. So let's say a big Thank You to Clockenflap, it did consistently accomplish some kind of mission impossible.

This year my festival began with Lucy Rose in Time Out Stage. Although I feel grateful for the organizer, here I must urge it to rearrange the location of different stages . The acoustic stage was too close to other stages that I could hardly hear any music from Lucy. I felt sorry for Lucy as it was so embarrassing and also unfair (while she also said she felt sorry for us the audience and invited us to her hotel rooms instead).

Lucy considered if she should continue or not because of the lousy sound system

My discontent was soon disappeared when it was time for Primal Scream, as I then became higher than the sun. Primal  Scream was in fact the reason I was there.  They nearly played whole of the Screamadelica (yeah! but without Higher Than the Sun, oh no! And not enough songs of Xtrmntr!!!!). Bobby was supercool, always love his tender voice and dream-like demeanour.

Bobby this charming man

On Day Two I only wanted to watch Alt-J and Klaxon but I arrived a bit earlier so I watched a bit Jun Kung. I don't know much about his music and this was the first time I saw his live. He seemed to be a good vibe-lifter, the crowd loved him and guys even waved roses to him (but he was scared and demanded a bottle of vodka instead).

Jun Kung

I don't know why there are so many Alt-J haters. Because of their arrogant comparison to Radiohead? No, I don't think it's the real reason. Actually I think their music is alright and they deserve to win the Mercury Music Prize. After seeing their live set, I think I know why. The vocal (very often the focal point of a band) Joe Newman looks so criminally normal, it's not the usual normal such as the "next-to-your-door guy" look,  it's the vulgarly mediocre, un-rock n' roll look.  

Alt-J, the office worker look

The last act was the Klaxon. I admit I was a big fan of their debut album. This was the second time I saw them, and like the first time in Reading, I expected I would enjoy their set and I was so willing to immerse myself to their music. But the fact was, I JUST COULDN'T.   For the Reading, I blamed that I stood too far away from the stage so I couldn't feel the vibe. But this time, I was standing in the front row, but people around me was just standing still, at the front row(!)  They seemed they didn't know their song while me like a mad woman singing aloud and jumping hard among them, humm, very exhausted but not high. The best part was the last song, It's Not Over Yet as it summed up my feeling for the Clockenflap. Yes, albeit my series of nagging, I still love Clockenflap and of course it's not over yet.  Next year, I will be back!

the girls standing behind me kept shouting sexy boys to the Klaxon, really?

that is so true

Those were the good old days

Wai Che Printing Company in Wing Lee Street, Hong Kong

I felt lucky but also sad to attend the very last Word Jamming Workshop in Wai Che Printing Company. Due to the crazy rent market, Wai Che will be closed very soon (yes, we are glad about the so-called revitalization and redevelopment of Sheung Wan that many cool shops, cafes and galleries were opened there but we are unaware that all these moves will wipe the small old business out). Mr. Lee, the owner of the company and a printer for life, was zealous to share his knowledge in typography and moveable lead type printing in that tiny time slot. Of course we could hardly memorize the history, special jargon and skill as introduced by Mr. Lee. This is the cruelty and nonchalance of the passing of time, just as his grand Original Heidelberg Cylinder, lying idle and rusty in the corner of the shop. The good old days are gone.



 the grand printer


 
Mr. Lee doing his labour of love



they are space and lines




words in random, beautiful pattern


... hmm, mr. lee disapproved someone's work.

where I can meet the past pay it off and keep it sweet

Isn't it just like the feeling 10 years ago?  The free impromptu gig, the crazy search for the news, the small venue, the singing crowd, the aftershow chase and meet-and-greet, like the storm sweeping through my small humdrum town, leaving bits of magical arcadian glitters.  Yes, I am under that spell again, like what I was 10 years ago.  I know it may wear out by my monotonous existence again, but at least in this moment I cherish and savour this delectable bliss.

It was a surprising news that Carl Barat, Gary Powell , Anthony Rossomando and Callum Ryan would come to my town for the grand opening of the flagship shop of Burberry on 1 November 2012.  The ecstatic news was then turned to a wave of whine from all ship members of Albion in my hometown as it was a private show only (from high to low).  But then we found out that the boys indeed listened to our words and our prayers were answered, they gave us a free gig (from low to high), though from the moment of saying farewell to the boys that my sadness began to breed (all the highs and the lows and the to's and the fro's, they left me dizzy).

The show was flawless, maybe Carl's stage charisma was much stronger in small venues so he was very delicious (?!) throughout the night.  Too many unforgettable moments, I could hardly take any pictures, not to say any videos cos' I wanted to savour every moment completely without disturbance. What a Waster marked the perfect finale (an ending fitting for the start).   Bang Bang and my heart was also feeling bang bang oh it's end.  Hearing the songs from the good ship albion, I thought, life was still good.




 The burberry shop grand open @ Pacific Place 01.11.2012- the unprivileged class watching tv outside

Carl Barat, Gary Powell , Anthony Rossomando and Callum Ryan @ Beating Heart Studio, 8/F Cheung Fat Building, Hill Road, Hong Kong on 02.11.2012

The Magical Night (hope the fellow ship members don't mind I disclose you)

the nth times soliquoy

I become silence again.  This year my entries for this blog are reducing.  Maybe I no-longer like to play this game of self-indulgence (i.e.pretending to be poetic and cultural and then blah blah blah).   Words are limited, misinterpreted and useless.   I just saw a butterfly trapped within the glass corridor, it is so much like me, and my city.

Out of focus

I am not unhappy, but also not happy, maybe that is normal.

I am feeling very idle recently, or that is my constant feeling, maybe this idleness will be with me all through my life.  Of course sometimes I idled away my time happily, but now I feel kind of unproductive.  I know there is no rule that we have to be productive or purposeful, but I strongly feel that I am wasting my time.  I lack the spirit, strength and courage to quit it all and start again, or simply reality has taught me considerable lessons.

Frankly I have no complaint to the current state, I love steadiness and I become very money-minded (or in fact i always am).   Thinking if I have the amount of $$$, I can be ............... whatever I want.  That the thought I have had since I graduated but sadly it still remains a wishful thinking.

My friend disappeared for a few days.  I think I sort of understand his reason or feeling.  Of course if I decide to disappear, I will never leave any farewell note on facebook.

My summer album

What is the taste of your youth? Sweet or bitter or bitter-sweet?  What does it look like?  Full of sunshine or grey skies?  Being extremely shy and reserved, I was never the sunny kind of people.  I might be one of those typical youth that we describe as "miserable green" who like to whine (very often for trivialities in the eyes of the grown-ups), inexperienced, unsophisticated and diffident.  I suddenly remember my younger days because of my recent favourite - the debut album of Two Wounded Birds.  Their songs are nostalgic (or some people may say it's cheesy, no), those 50's beach-boys-like pop songs.  Catchy and haunting, about the feeling of being young, feeling hopeless and wasted, the unwillingness to grow up and face the real world.  Oh yes, that is the album for me.  I know, I know these are the lyrics that will make any grown-up roll their eyes and I know To Be Young sounds so much like The Pretenders' Don't Get Me Wrong, still this is my favourite summer album.  It reminds me of that old feeling I always have, feeling of the insecurity and hopelessness, in the perfect pop tunes (so may I say that I'm still young at heart? but the said fact is, youngsters are allowed to be insecure and hopeless, while the old people like me will only be categorized as a loser).

There's an empty space inside my heart

Radiohead @ Nangang Exhibition Centre, Taipei 25.07.2012

 

I did not plan to go for their Taipei gig but due to some unpredictable reasons, I got the chance to go (thanks secret j).

I actually feel quite blank about the gig.  Don't get me wrong, it was a very exciting and brilliant gig.  There were some touching moments and vibrant moments and I began to like The King of Limbs after the gig (as I was not that into this album before).  Magpie, Feral and Little by Little were much more powerful in live.  But the more I tried hard to memorize every lovely moment of it, the more it slipped away easily.  The night was just too fast, too short for me.  Of course it was not short at all for it lasted for almost 2 hours but, yes, I was always greedy and insatiable.

Radiohead was a very personal band to many people and I am one of them. There is always an empty space inside my heart for them.  Maybe that explains why I feel so blank when I have to share it with thousands people.  Having said that, I am still hoping to have the 6th counter with them in London this October but my financial condition tells me that it is very unlikely.


How coincident! Rainbow over Nangang Exhibtion Centre.  

***********************
There was simply "too much" sunshine in Taipei.  Initial plan was to go to the middle part or eastern part of the island but finally I just idled away in Taipei (cos' I was paralysed by the sunshine and the heat).  I declare that I should only go to Taiwan in winter.  But it is still a good place. Good people and good food everywhere.

finished product

The sample shown on the package of the wool is much more cute, mine is not that cute.  It looks stressful and confused, like me.


I like needle felt as it doesn't require any skill.  My mind would just go blank in this mechanical action of needling.  Be a robot can be boring, but it can also be a relaxing spaced out, except some occasional woken up by the bloody and mindless stings.

unfinished business

got a pack of wool again, humm.... i actually do not have much spare time after work but i still love to waste time on making junks.

soliquoy

Overwhelmed by routines and trivial troubles, totally uninspired.  It was strange that I did not make any entry about my (not so) recent trip and also the (not so) recent gigs, for those were the things that I always liked to flaunt write about here. My change is intriguing, maybe I become more mature and modest, or maybe I'm really half-dead that even vanity does not appeal to me.


It was absolutely unintentional to catch the last train, I mean, to catch the last glimpse of the Girls.  I did not expect Girls would call it a day so soon so sudden, though people may say so long as Christopher Owens is still making music, it doesn't matter if there is Girls or not.  But I still wish Chris had stayed in the Girls, for his rare androgynous temperament of fragility and sensitivity, his bestowal of series of flowery memories, it's perfect for Chris to have the alternate name as Girls.  Oh it's all history now, anyway it's just my two pennies worth.

My hometown is as depressing as ever.  Flew from the land celebrating its diamond jubilee to land mourning the June Forth anniversary (and that mournful atmosphere extended to the July 1 anniversary), from the very high to the very low.  I numbed myself in work, in routines and now involuntarily in the trivial troubles.  It's like the totem spin in inception, never stops.


 
london is .... always some nice surprise around the corner, i suppose i'm not yet tired of it (so i'm not yet tired of my life :)   )

Forever

 Ai Weiwei - Forever Bicycles @ Taipei Fine Arts Museum


We are moving,
or just an illusion?
We are one,
or every single different one?

We once rid on the street of Beijing carrying
hopes and dreams,
fears and despairs.

Crushed.

but we're named forever,
 we're sometimes hanged in galleries
and always in memories.

spending warm summer days indoor

After nearly 24 hours queuing, it's finally uploaded here, yeah!

testing, testing

This is my first post written by my mobile. Yes, I finally submitted to the public pressure by giving up the reliable and still-running-good-albeit-nine-year-of-using my 2G nokia and shifted to a smartphone, what a wimpy conformist!  I admitted that I felt so uncomfortable and diffident when I had to pick up my 2G nokia in the public.  Now, I can be like them, the anybody them, comfortably possessing an item identifying me one of the members of this society.

Sounding cynical over triviality? Yes, that's exactly me.  While tolerating the overpriced monthly fee and reducing my time for reading (too bad), I can blog more conveniently (not only in the office for the sake of procrastination).  And I can take sneaky picture, that's so immoral and I actually don't like it, but somehow I just can't help it, such as a couple of days ago, a usual boring and sleepy morning on my way to work, I was suddenly woken up by a "bad guy looking" person (i.e. tatooed chest and dyed hair) sat in front of me.  He has a peter tee that I've never seen before, actually I never met any person who wore a pd tee  in the Hong Kong. 

ranked 412/1000

when i came home today the doorman handed me the cylinder parcel and I wondered what I haven't made any ebay order recently but yeah i really forgot I've so-called pledged it.

my hand, my friend

I just had a minor operation on my right hand a few days ago and I am now having a bit handicap in everything and only from now on I realize how clumsy my left hand is. It can't write properly, even for some simple action like washing face and brushing teeth, it needs extra effort and attention. Of course for these few days of intense training of my left hand, I'm looking forward to having a more developed right brain (i.e. more aesthetic and creative) but having shown the clumsiness of my left hand, I suspect that my right brain is very under-developed and that's.... very depressing. For the bandage around my right hand now looks like a big rice dumpling, I actually shouldn't spend time to type my blog, ...err but i do not want to read the documents on my desk (see, how cruel the world is, I still need go to work after having operation...)

Whine not. We should be glad for our continuation of daily routines, no matter how boring or meaningless they are. My words sound very cliche. But this is what I think for this moment. I got a friend that I always secretly complained about, for her becoming a bored person, degrading herself by not knowing anything new except the taiwan pop idol, no reading no hobbies no interests no point of view. I'm harsh and arrogant I know. I sometimes wondered what life changed her or wore and tear her to such uninspiring state. I sometimes suspected it was her real self and her younger self was just a pretender. She is my old friend, one of my best friends. I have many "once in the lifetime" experience with her. As we grew older, our paths separated. Different priorities and commitments. Our schedules didn't match. Or we just lost interest to each other. We didn't bother to ask or invite each other to attend events. I tended to go to gigs or travel by myself. It sounds like I become independent (but also a loner). I can't judge if it's blessing to have friend(s) with you on the road. Of course to be alone sounds very pathetic (oh I quite enjoy it) but you can be sure that your feeling will remain intact and will not be affected by others. To have friend(s) you will have sweet memories of share laughter, follies and adventures. But I don't know if such sweet memories will some days turn to be a sigh. I hope my friend can have a very quick recovery. I said to her that she would be alright to attend the tat ming pair gig, am i a blind optimist?

yes, i talk incoherently, my usual ramblings.

Copy

因為是那麼複雜矛盾的生活，我的心理，人格等也是各種分子的衝突下存在。我是頂年青的，我愛太陽，愛火，愛玫瑰，愛一切明朗的，活潑的東西，我是永遠不會失望，疲倦，悲觀的。對一切世間的東西，我睜着好奇的，同情的眼，可是同時我却在心的深底裏，蘊藏着一種寂寞，海那樣深大的寂寞，不是眼淚，或是太息所能掃洗的寂寞，不是朋友愛人所能撫慰的寂寞，在那麼的等候，我只有揪着頭髮，默默地坐着，因為我有一顆老了的心。

－我的生活，穆時英

How keen are we on survival?

"I have become so depressed by the fact of my mortality that I have decided to commit suicide." - 4.48 Psychosis, Sarah Kane



TR Warszawa’s production

Maybe it's because of my usual sobriety or my lack of imagination, Sarah Kane had never shocked me when I read her plays. But to see it performing on stage was a completely different matter. I was speechless after the show, for I could hardly distinguish if it was a play or a reality, if it's the words of Kane or it's also my own thoughts. To see the play was like an encounter to your own notion of self-destruction. Was it a life that I want to live? It's particularly painful to watch the main character chanted a series of general desires like "to achieve goal and ambition ... to overcome opposition ... to receive attention ...to belong ...to communicate .... to be loved, to be freed". They are so basic, but also so hard to obtain.


The production of TR Warszawa was definitely terrific:
- The sound effect (constant industrial humming, the dreamy and david-lynch-like "when i fall in love", both so illusory and disillusioned).
- The lighting (i especially like the last scene that the main character was gradually engulfed and eaten by the darkness, with a strange non-stop number-counting voice which only grew louder and louder).
- The scene settings (several scene that i love: "the meeting with a female lover" - I interpret that she was her ideal self, the one that she would never have; "the presence of a child" - the original self, or the childhood that lives within oneself, the one who was not aware that what oneself would become; "the naked old woman wandered around the stage" - the decaying self, what one would become if one continues to live)
- and the main actress (she must be very professional to perform it every night without breaking down).

Dark silhouettes collapse into dream

The Horrors @ KITEC 16.02.2012

It was a strange trip to and fro the dark dreamy labyrinth and the bright dazzling azure. I was almost too absorbed into the atmosphere that I could not divert my attention and took any picture. I just wanted to memorize every moment of it. Though they didn't play their early stuff like the excellent Excellent Choice, I was chuffed that they played my favourite Scarlet Fields and everyone's favourite Sea Within a Sea. It's perfect to end in Moving Further Away, while we were all feeling elated and elevated and moving further away in the sky, they moved away and left us the desire to want more. We could only continue to chant "oh I surrender, this is it". (what a coincidence with my feeling towards Yuck several weeks ago). A clever band, you cast a spell on me that I promise myself I have to see you again.




Definition of cool, end of.

on the other side

If Radiohead said "everyone can play guitar", then how about "everyone can be an artist"? I know the elitists must hate this statement, but for the commoners like me, it's such a great declaration to satisfy one's vanity. A few weeks ago I finally finished the Sketchbook Project just before the deadline (thanks for my usual procrastination). It's the project that everyone can take part in so long as you pay for the sketchbook, draw or make whatever you like with your sketchbook (under a certain theme that you choose) and then post it back before the deadline. The sketchbook will be exhibited and toured(!) among various US cities. Isn't it fun and wonderful just to imagine it?! Err... of course there will be millions of sketchbook in the library and it is doubtful if my sketchbook will be dug out by anyone to read. But hey, as I still haven't travelled to the other side of the world yet, and now my sketchbook is on the road on behalf of me, it's still an exciting idea!


Frankly I don't have any skill or training in painting or drawing but i think painting or drawing is an basic instinct, everyone can draw/paint (humm... but whether it's good or bad, that's another story ;p)

Break it down and then break it up again

Yuck @ Hang Out, Hong Kong 26.01.2012

Oh, that was the guitars sound that I missed so much. The sound that transcended you to a little sublime noise heaven. The sound that made you shaking your head and body automatically and uncontrollably. When I looked around, not many were electrified like me, they all seemed enjoying the music (calmly), but who cares? Though Daniel Blumberg looked very stoned and spaced-out, he still managed to give us a very good show, or it was due to his intoxication that he could deliver that special sense of oblivion to the audience. There was a few magical "my-bloody-valentine" moments, especially for the last song Rubber, waves of white noise, flashes of white light, we were all blinded and stunned by the music and we realized, "Yes, I give in".

tick tick tick...

It is to dedicate to the ones who have difficulty in social interaction, especially for those who are shy and reserved but at the same time with a big me me me ego. That's my excuse for my usual silence and the awful awkwardness in any kind of social gathering with more than three persons.

yes, I'm doodling here and talking nonsense again as I'm waiting for the clock to strike six, no working mood, just waiting for the little holidays (and the lunar new year, that means, there will be many more social gatherings to come, oh my)