Sigur Rós live in HK? I'm so yesterday

Yes, I'm so yesterday, I've only received the news today - Sigur Rós live in HK (7 April 2006), is it true? I still can't believe it.

Yes, I'm so yesterday cos' I still live in yesterday. The first time I saw Sigur Rós was 5 years ago, the time when I studied in UK. They were supporting Radiohead in Newport. I remember I had to rush back London after the gig as there was an examination the day after. Their performance was absolutely mind-blowing. I didn't know them much at that time so I didn't expect such wonderful experience.

How time flies! 5 years have passed! (I've aged 5 years!!!) I know there's no more yesterday now. I was called as weirdo and "gwei-pau" by ex-colleagues, I was very introvert (no, they didn't know in fact I'm a bit schizo), a freak liked to eat baked bean and spread on bread (they didn't know it used to be my usual meal). No more weirdo now, I'm eventually localized - glad to watch TVB series every night (how a soul degenerates!)

The Conformist

Office activities - the ones you want to avoid but you can't cos' you have to. I am the wage-slave. I am chained, shackled, caged in the big white cube. Shameful! Especially for the one who claims to be nihilist and anarchist (haha). Sometimes such compulsory activities are not that bad if they are referred to the activities carried out in last Saturday. Me and the crowd went to the memorial of the Patriotic Man (which is located near my home but thanks to the excellent taxi driver, I had a chance to travel to Yuen Long first and then back to Sheung Shui with the bill of HK$200). I quite like the scenery there, remote and a bit ruined.




The most handsome guy in the mentioned office activity. He is definitely cute!

The return of laddishness

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

Raw and spunky, gritty voice, songs about pub going, drunkedness, trouble with police, trouble with girls, absolutely no ramblings of dreamy poetic reverie, no androgeneous image, no homoerotic element. This is a 100% laddish album. This is a 100% hyped up band. Don't get me wrong, I don't hold anything against the lads. In fact I quite enjoy their classics "I Bet You Look Good ..", "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Mardy Bum" and "A Certain Romance". But just like what they said, "Anitcipation has a habit to set you up for disappointment..." To rank this album as one of the Top 5 of All Time Most Important Albums is a bit too much. Will Alex Turner be clever enough to see that media is also one the Vampires as in their song "I don't want your advice or your praise .. cause all you people are vampires and all your stories are stale" (Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But ..)? Like the title of the album, I hope in their 2nd album they'll have something more behind their sheer laddishness.

Side issue: how many Libertines-related reference in the whole album?(no, not necessarily related to the Libs, just me as an over-sensitive freak and think Alex as an ex-Libs fan should write something about)- "trilbys", "truncheons" "classic Reeboks knackered Converse", "boy in bands" and actually the song A Certain Romance even reminds me of the whole rise of (and now fallen already) the London music scene after the Libs.

Natural High

Alex stood on the drums set

Blimey! 3 drums players!

Yes, the photos already show that my seat was at the "peak"

What a brilliant night! My toes are still aching because of such dancing night. I always thought the songs of Franz Ferdinand were too calculated, too perfect indie pop rock (ha, are they indie?) but I must say tonight gig was absolutely wicked, feel like just having dozens of shiva!!!

Used to be a sweet boy

Used to be a sweet boy
Holding so tightly
To Daddy's hand
But that was all
In some distant land
Blazer and tie
And a big bright healthy smile
Used to make all
Of our trials worthwhile


bilo, no more eating in the midnight, please?

He will fall

Some say he's cute
Some say he's too indiscreet.


He was arrested again.

Sweet melon

Sweet maiden sips the tea and shows me her melon
shoelace fastened she no longer affords a free fall stumble
for a very long time.
Sit up, heave up, straighten up
your joy I shall never fathom
glancing the paper in the corner
"Clap hands and say yeah"
For your courage and commitment.

I've just been informed by my friend that she was pregnant. Brave girl. She's a bit mental, ...hmm, but I think she will be a good mother (because she is a cancer girl).

What the heck!

It's pathetic that my boss said my behaviour is like that of 臘筆小新 today, though I really like this cartoon character. It's strange, I never talk foul, never twist bum, of course have nothing to do with that little bb like 小新. Maybe that's becasue of my childish talk/thought. One thing for sure, I should never enter the field of legal robot, for being a legal robot, you are supposed to be professional, sophistiscated and confident (may I call it pretentious and bluffing). Somehow, I do enjoy the nature of work as I'm a drafting machine. But no, to be a successful legal robot, you are not necessarily good in language and analysis, but you have to good in presentation. Anyway, too much rolling n' rocking in my blood, I'm condemned to be 臘筆小新!

First Impression of the new strokes

The Strokes - First Impression of Earth

First impression is mostly unreliable. I knew this 3rd album of The Strokes would sound different. I've made the necessary mental preparation. However, on the first listening, I still couldn't quite shift myself away from the Is This It?/Room on Fire expectation, so I just found it sort of OK. Things began to change after the 2nd and 3rd listen. The more I listen by now, the more I'm hooked to this album. The length of each track is double or even triple of their previous songs but somehow the songs are cleverly structured. Emotion of the songs are built to explode at last ("Juicebox", "Vision of Division", "Ize of the World"). The first song "You Only Live Once" is the only song which sounds like the old Strokes, very catchy. Julian's voice was obviously affected much by his over consumption of alcohol (so some may say his voice is horribly scratchy). I think it quite matches with the heavy music and lyrics. I can't understand why people keep complaining of the obscurity of The Strokes' lyrics. It is very explicitly dark. It's strange for a newly married man to write such dark lyrics. Julian was (is?) like a man on the verge of nervous breakdown. My favourite tracks are Heart In A Cage, Vision of Division, Ask Me Anything (there's no guitar, just melatron, wow), 15 Minutes, Ize of the World, Evening Sun and the last one (well, almost all the songs). This album is clearly not everyone's cup of tea like Is This It?, but it's definitely one of my favourite in 2006.

cliche no.2

I once mentioned to Secret J to have my own so-called best of xxx 2005 chart but u know it's so cliche and more importantly, it's already the 2nd week of 2006, it's so bloody delayed. The problem in composing such My Most Favourite albums of 2005 is that I haven't bought many cds in 2005. It's so strange. When I was much younger, I bought loads of cd albeit my financial strait. Maybe that's because I'm older now (my heart, colder). No!!! Anyway, I intended to complete this cliche, so I will say:
My most favourite cds in 2005 are:
1. The Rakes - Capture/Release
2. Babyshambles - Down In Albion
3. Black Wire - Black Wire

The Rakes are not "just another hyped-up indie boys band". Capture/Release is intense and bleak. Their lyrics relate much to my suicidal working/office life, I like it. It also reminds me of my horrowshow experience in Amsterdam, the sound of this album turned into something African, you know the state I was in.

Down In Albion. What can I say. Most of the tracks are "taken" from the Babyshambles Sessions (without any credit to Carlos)! Listening to those beautiful songs in Babyshambles Sessions were being twisted! I know Pete tried hard to turn a new page of his life, forming a new band with different style. I know I am biased. I can never be fair to Babyshambles. The new Stix & Stones is just boring. Having said that, I like the new version of killamangiro and albion. Of course I can't resist the anthemic Fuck Forever.

I also like The Cribs' The New Fellas when I downloaded it, but it's become boring when I bought the official copy (so the lesson is: don't buy official release, ha!)

cliche

It's still the first week of 2006 so it is not too late for me write something about new year resolution. Looking back, (surprisingly) I've fulfilled much of the new year resolution of 2005, they are:
1. To find a new job
2. To read more books
3. To save more money without reducing my enjoyment of life

"I was looking for a job and I found a job", ha, don't sing the following line, I really don't want to be as unluck as Morrissey. So, I've changed the job and Madam To Ming just asked the same old question today. What can I say? Am I the ever-whining soul? Am I lacking the essential working spirit and capacity? Or it is true that this job nature is not so suitable for me? (Yes. The firm name having "music" element is actually nothing to do with music!!!) New year resolution of 2006, well, yes, still
3. To read more book,
2. To save money without reducing any fun of life
1. change job? I feel confused.

Other resolution:
Pick up guitar (oops, I hardly remember how to play it)
Update my web (yeah, inspiration, where have u gone?)

Happy New Year!

Let there be love, mates!

Pissed off baby

Current mood (or I should say "constant mood") :



Always want to:



It was a nice surprise when I went to see Rent in HKAPA, I was told by my cousin that there was an exhibition of Yoshitmoto Nara in the hong kong arts centre. I love nara's little violent baby. She is so innocently evil, always pissed off, despise everything. She is like my subconscious ego, only I don't have the guts to show my real feeling and have to put on the bloody smiley face (so fake, little violent baby despises it!!! No, I don't want to .... This self-conversation turns me into nervous breakdown >_<) Talk about Rent, Karen Mok was surely a flaw, organiser should bring the whole new york team rather than let a HK star to ruin the production. "La vie boheme" Making something out of nothing The need to express To communicate, To going against the grain, Going insane Going mad To loving tension, no pension To more than one dimension, To starving for attention, Hating convention, hating pretension (sadly this bunch of boheme either died of aids or no money to pay any rent, no no no, me as a (wanna be) beheme don't believe it)


The Pao Gallery

Everything goes but the feeling

Email him, wish him happy and healthy. My mind goes with the shambolic baby in every christmas until the death of me/him.

I won the so-called big prize in office Christmas party - a very big vase, actually no use for me.

Wired

Wow, what are they?



Yes, the wires that make me wild (haha, no, I'm not wild at all)
This device look so strange, like a monster crawling on my head, or it looks like some kind of ancient equipment for torture. Ha, I know I'm having too much hallucination.


It's quite torturing indeed, I couldn't move and I had headache the day after.

Cool place

Today's special

Two writing in a day?! cos today is special. Today is the office gathering, i.e. dinner tonight together with mahjong playing and karaoke. I'm not keen on those two items, what shall I do? Can I just disappear without anyone's notice?
And today is appraisal day. Result: Pass

Lennon Remembrance

He's witty
a non-conformist
humanist
good/bad/father/husband
once a hippie
always naughty
and a walrus
He left us the idea to fight for a better world
and he left on this date 25 years ago

Picture of you

Dear Mr Barat,

Must show you and your pretty missus this picture if I can see you again in UK (hope you still hang around Trash even if Dirty Pretty Things becomes big and famous). Thank you for bestowing your beauty and charm upon my grey working life. It's wonderful to know I can always see the pretty boy just round the corner.


J. Linderberg, The Landmark, Central

It is very boring indeed

As per the request from several "concerned parties", I now show you the pictures of my office, i.e. the confinement which I'm condemned to.


It looks messy, though not many documents, cos' I'm messy, shambolic, kittyshambles yeah!


Look, there is a newspaper hanging on the notice board by my boss before I came here (the date is 29 July 2005). The newspaper is already yellowed but I still haven't put it down, I'm just too lazy and do not have any attempt to try to decorate this cubicle. Let it yellow, even brown, and decay. In fact this notice board is good for pinning up some of my idols, but I don't want to bring any of my favourite items to office. They will be contaminated. No bearbrick. No Libertines. Don't make yourself at home in office. Don't grow your root in office. Office should be boring. You should just work work work (or dream, go internet, phone friends) in the office. Time's up, go!
By the way, I hate these big windows (no, they're not windows, they can't be opened, just the transparent squares) on the partition wall. All people can see if I fall asleep or go internet!!!


Boss' room (with big window) behind me. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING ME!!