My Neighbour, My Creator

Instead of contemplating the vagaries of starting college tomorrow, I should be at Lollapalooza right now cheering on Wye Oak & their beautifully honest, indie music. Even though we've just returned from taking a Europe backpacking tour, I can't help but think of the hundred possible trips I want to make in the future. The first on the list would be going for massive music fests in the US & UK; Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading, Coachella, Wanderlust, Vans Warped Tour, Summerfest, Pitchfork... days of interesting crowds and music and magic. All a bit risqué, but well, a girl can dream.

For consolation, I AM catching Two Door Cinema Club this week, who are coincidentally one of the few UK headlining bands at Lollapalooza this year. Also, Brooke Fraser is on Friday, and I'm so incredibly excited to watch this gig, you will not believe. At the very least, the thought of these two concerts will get me through my first week at university :/

Tributes & a Reality Check

Writing posts and reminiscing about Europe is all well and fine, but I thought it would be good to talk about real-time stuff for a bit. Life, unfortunately, does go on. Uni life starts next week and I have no idea how I should feel about that. Mostly, ambivalent. Anyway.

Besides watching lots of The Office & basically bumming around a lot at home, I've been catching up with old friends through lunch dates and movies and sleepovers. Which is nice :) Caught Bridesmaids, which was so hilarious even though it got so much bad press here in Singapore (Sure, The Hangover is fine but when women do it...)

Finally managed to watch the final installment of the HP series today! It was wonderful, except for the bit at the end when all of them returned as middle-age versions of themselves. Drawn-on crows feet does not make Emma Watson an old lady, just saying.

It's more than amazing to see how these characters and the actors themselves have grown; more so because we have grown up with the books and the movies. I remember receiving the first four novels as a gift from an aunt in the late 1990s, who had bought the set abroad and sent it back to Singapore, where it wasn't popular yet. From then on, it's just been one long, wizardry craze. Reading the subsequent novels in single sittings, doing HP trivia with friends, or watching the movies with the same friends and crying our eyes out. Or worst of all, remembering the feeling I had, upon not receiving my Hogwarts notification when I was 11.

Harry Potter has and continues to be a great part of my childhood and without doubt, millions of children and teenagers across the globe today. As J.K. Rowling said in her speech at the premiere, the legend that is Harry Potter does not end with this movie, but lives on in readers' hearts forever.

It's been a great ride, potter heads! Mischief managed :)

Poets, entangled

"What is it my dear?"

"Ah, how can we bear it?"

"Bear what?"

"This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?"

"We can be quiet together, and pretend - since it is only the beginning - that we have all the time in the world."

"And every day we shall have less. And then none."

"Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"

"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere."

A.S. Byatt
'Possession'

Of Princes & Princesses

People think it's a fuss, but I love British royalty. From the elegant & ethereal Princess Di, right down to the tip of Queen Elizabeth's 85-year-old nose. The royal wedding was magnificent! Oh grumpy girl and future heart-breaker page boy!

One more Prince up for grabs. And it's the hotter, non-balding one.

Oh Prince Harry!

Maybe I'll break your heart

'When do I get to be upset? When do I get to be anything other than me?'

I've seen the season 5 SKINS trailer and the only redeeming factor is that it was set to Arcade Fire's 'Ready to Start'. How I miss mysterious effy, JJ and his ukulele, and Naomi Campbell already.

We'll see next January :D

A take away show

Phoenix's music, along with the French music site La Blogotheque pretty much got me through last week's hell. The Eiffel tower, the back of an open-aired bus, the echoes under a bridge... Paris is where everyone wants to be.

La Blogotheque hosts The Takeaway Show, a simple concept which entails following indie English acts such as the Kooks or Bloc Party, far flung American-based bands such as Vampire Weekend and home bred (and internationally well-known) groups like Phoenix, for as long as a whole day. And this doesn't only happen in Paris; The Takeaway Show brings it's thousands of subscribers to San Francisco CA for a day to catch Lykke Li belt out 'Somebody's baby' with El Perro Del Mar, or as far as Bamako (Mali) to see Sidi Touré walk through the streets of Western Africa with his acoustic guitar. Postmark-international, indeed.

It's a simple yet beautiful idea, which showcases artistes in the most ordinary of places, capturing them in all their spontaneous glory. Acoustic sets, percussion on elevator walls combined with beautiful Parisian scenery is hard to beat. Especially when it's Phoenix :)


You can watch part 1 and part 2 of Phoenix's Paris Sojourn here.

Hello, propaganda

Also, if you're a fan of the of the original British 'morale' slogan, you can have a laugh looking at these. I must say, November is particularly true for me...

More here.

How the British do it.

Very applicable to pre-As jitters.

Sometimes you can still hear the ringing

I've been reading my The Clash Biography the past few days (the original price sticker said 45 quid, but I bought it for twenty bucks at a booksale) and this pretty much sums up their music. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones wrote some pretty controversial punk music in the 1970s, along with the the Ramones, the Smiths and the Buzzcocks. How I would love to alive half a decade ago and go for non-commercialized gigs which didn't blow a hole in your pocket. Where you could still smell the sweat.

The era of the Runaways, Velvet Underground and Patti Smith!

Anyway, this whole spiel on 1960s/70s music comes from what happened earlier today, when I was cabbing home from a 'study' sleepover with tag team Dayna and Clare. I was obviously half-dead from 'studying' all night and looking like death in my crumpled Rolling Stones magazine shirt (which sported a mean shot of the Eagles), and thinking about how my mouth tasted like a skunk had crawled innit and died when the raw power of Iggy Pop started to blast through my cabbie's stereo.

Pretty epic.

So anyway he was pretty impressed with my shirt and I checked out his dashboard decals. There were magazine cut-outs and old album covers all over the place. And we had a rather heated debate about whether the Clash or the Sex Pistols were better (as a devoted Clash fan, I gave it my all, but the Pistols have Sid Vicious. No fight there. After all, they were the ones who started the whole scene...) and other stuff which lasted the time it takes to get from Thompson to Bedok.

Turns out I was short of two bucks, which he waived off. And even gave me a Rolling Stones b-side!

I'm just really glad that even in Singapore, there are still people who are big fans of the 60s punk scene and are willing to fork out moolah to get original records instead of bootlegs. It really made my day :)

So I declare this week UK PUNK MUSIC week. Will stop myself from raving on about bands that have widely faded in the memory of people today and fall asleep to the riffs on Honky Tonk Women (thank you cabbie!)


I end abruptly here.


Now you can see why I don't study much at all

Poetry at its simplest

The Orange
by Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I brought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave
They got quarters and I had a half

And that orange it made me so happy
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It's new

The rest of the days were quite easy
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I'm glad I exist.

The English Way

1. My Yard - Jamie Cullum
2. Help! - the Beatles
3. You Made your Bed - You Me at Six
4. Lost in the Supermarket - The Clash
5.Tired of England - Dirty Pretty Things
5. Orange - the Filthy Youth
6. Alice Quays - Jamie T
7. A Well Respected Man - the Kinks
8. Great DJ - the Ting Tings
9. I Found Out - the Pigeon Detectives
10. Little Miss Pipedream - the Wombats
11. Moth Wings - Passion Pit
12. Bomb - New Young Pony Club
13. Girlfriend in a Coma - the Smiths
14. Don't Upset the Rhythm - the Noisettes
15. The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle and Sebastian
16. Five Years Time - Noah & the Whale
17. Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
18. What became of the Likely Lads - the Libertines

This is why UK > USA.

La-la-la-la life goes on!

This combines two of my favourite things in the world: Ukuleles and the Beatles

We hope that you enjoy the show!

WOW okay no this is more awesome because....

a) It isn't Kelis related.
b) Hello, it's the Beatles!
c) Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney forever, boo to John Lennon and his geeky specs.

They have got no alibi

I didn't ever think that there would ever be an ugly SKINS cast. I was wrong.

Miss you madness

Well if you're asking,
yes I do think back,
back to the days
when it was you and I
and to the special place
we reach for inside.

So you ask,
hey honey, don't you miss it?
A flicker,
here and there,
my love.

Candy-coloured skies
dancing on the green
I remember a time
where people used to dream in reverse

So well,
if you're asking,
yes I do miss you.

____________________________________________

I have only one thing to say.

The Office, is just about the best show EVER.

Well, after SKINS and Little Britain and Glee.




Haven't been jamming, doodling and having a life lately with exams. I am just so relieved that ELL and CSE are over (I swear I almost suffered a brain stroke from the 6 hours of worth of papers in sweltering hear) and there's only GP left before holidays. Hell yeah!

And there's cycling tomorrow with the class! A way to get fit and also more a photography trip. Hello polaroids, kodak vintages, blackbird fly and the good ol' diana.

By the way, I'm all for Team Bowersox. Sorry Lee, it was a great run.


That's definitely more than one thing. Goodnight everyone :)

Good evening Brighton, we are the Stiff Dylans

'Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with? Spurn my natural emotions, feel me feel like dirt, and I'm hurt.'

I think I'm going into the Angus, Thongs phase all over again.

Love the Stiff Dylans and all the wonderful brit bands and smexy accents that come with it! And thank you The Buzzcocks, for the words.

Oh Aaron. Why did you have to get hitched to a woman that could be your mom's age? Give us a chance, won't you?

Blow bubbles with their gum, take photographs for fun, have fun.

Note to self;

1. Get magnetic poetry, well, because our fridge magnets all need a little spice.
2. Buy dress for Daniel&Yvonne's wedding this Friday, get shoes and accesories, get currently-ghastly-and-amazingly-out-of-shape-hair CUT.
3. Send letter to Mel. Pronto.
4. finish math prelim papers Ignore any form of homework, coursework, projects till coming Sunday night.
5. Buy Ukelele and form ukelele band with nick glascow. Utmost importance.



Also, SKINS fever is all the rage! Half of the literature workshop today was spent having passionate talks on Tony Stonem, Effy, and the like. And well Max, as a response to your question, here are my top five favourite SKINS characters from across the seasons.

5. Effy Stonem a.k.a Kaya Scodelario

The only character to surf through all four seasons and still have viewers lapping the opal-eyed, freckled girl's scenes.

And she's smokin'. I guess that's reason enough for the lads.

4. Maxxie Oliver a.k.a Mitch Hewer

Skins portrayal of gay characters remind me very much of 'Perks of Being A Wallflower's Patrick. So, Mitch isn't a dangerously fantastic singer or actor, but by jiminy, he can DANCE. Doesn't hurt that he is sex on legs. (Teehee)

3. Freddie Mclair a.k.a Luke Pasqualino

'He was a sk8r boi, she said see you later boy.' You're good enough for me, Freddieeee. R.I.P.


2. Naomi Campbell a.k.a Lily Loveless

Two hopelessly hilarious names, crazy hippie clothes and a mess of white blond hair later, you get Naomi. From the time she gets Cook to show everyone the oh-so-lovely tattoo in the first episode, till she cries her heart out during the drug-episode with Sophie, there's not one moment you stop loving her.

That, and the Naomily couple *winks


1. Cassie Ainsworth a.k.a Hannah Murray

The psychotic lass. Says 'Wow' and 'Oh, Wonderful!' alot. Beautiful, but in more ways than meets the eye.

More likely you remember her as the 'Girl who never f*cking eats' (for three days so she could be lovely!). In all four seasons, there has been no other character quite like Cassie, whose eccentricities make her the very embodiment of a modern day, Jerry Spinelli 'Stargirl', or Truman Capote's Holly Golightly.

So, boo to Scotland and bulimia and trying to kill yourself over pathetic sodding Sid, we want Cass back!


SKINS FOR LIFE.

Today's Lit WS was bullpoopy. Thank God I had a reasonably sane group. Out with Suat and Kai later on! Lost jackets and chasing Jack Neo+wife around Cineleisure (I kid you not.)! Fun times.

Finally meeting SRAH G tomorrow. Stoked for AliceInWonderland and also Marche<3

Na na na na na na na naaaa!

This is awesomeness in the form of a chart.

So, today was nice but not so nice.

I had no idea my mom, aunty anna, vanessa and mel (well actually i knew she was) were so bitchygossipy!

I suddenly feel like watching a musical, but then again I always feel like watching musicals. 'Chicago' is finally finally coming to singapore thise year AND LIZZEH IF WE DO NOT GET OUR STUDENT PRICED TICKETS SOON WE WILL REGRET IT LIKE HOW WE REGRETTED YYYs D: and here's to 'Wicked' coming our way. Soon.


Currently plugged into Gallows' 'Grey Britain' record and Modest Mouse' 'No One's first & You're Next'! I'm sorry but I have a soft spot for brilliant brit bands.

So 'night! Have a good one :)

Pretty. Reckless.

Andrew de Torres of The Scene Aesthetic :)

2nd last week before promos has been absolute pig swill. Project work worries, unbearable teammates and a ear-infection that simply won't go away (yuck, i know.)

Jen was a real peach and loaned me her Ipod for the week, which has been the ONLY saving grace. So muchos thanks to her :) I have been going through piles and piles of my old CDs, and my room looked a bit like a war zone the past few days, but its been great. Three days without a plug-in, it's like real death (BIRKIN REFERENCE! BIRKIN!)

On the playlist this week is TSA (cal's unwanted E.P. turned out to be tops for me), lots of the Beatles and old Cobra Starship songs, which are still the best :)

A string of conversations with Ken and Kai about the fabfour revealed something rather shocking about 'The Genius', who said that Paul M looked like Joe Jonas. Needless to say, I was aghast. Paulie, is legendary! Si?

The new Beatles mania is wonderful but disheartening at the same time! D:

Also, saw a recent clip wherein Vicky-T was singing Leighton Meester's part in GGGB live, for obvious reasons. And some dork said 'Who is that random girl?! Leighton's so much better!'

Oh giddy aunt. Awesome keytarist of the band itself, need I saw more.

I miss this like HELL (where's sid?! Wait, I don't care.) but the 4th season is coming out soon, joy for all! Wicked clothes, too.

Midnight. I should be exhausted from staying at the airport for 486284 hours with Tiara AGAIN (Met XQ too, loud much?). Tomorrow's the end of the week and one more day closer to promotionals good grief.

On a brighter note, 3 MORE MONTHS TO CHRISTMAS! let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!