.new glitches.

I received an E-flyer in mailbox from ElectroLab/Esplanade some time back. Secret Mommy. Hmmmm.. the flyer looks good, the word "glitch" in the description accentuated from the string of text. So I decided to go for it. All the better if I don't know what to expect. 

It was a refreshing listening experience. I couldn't put my finger to if it was mind-blowing or the kind you know you could tap your feet to. You will try, then you will miss a beat and catch on after you've synced in again. It's mind-boggling - in the most interesting ways. The kind you cock your head to like a puppy listening to new sounds from an ice-cream van, but it is also the kind that I know that THIS is what and how music is spoken - his way. 

Andy Dixon aka Secret Mommy  (as random as it can be) collects sounds. And he spins them into musical stories. From what he hears on his way to the post office or from his 3 minutes introduction to the crowd "Hi I'm Andy..I'm from Vancouver. Well I don't know.. " (loops). 

We had a mini chat after his live set, to find out hes also a visual artist, who did all his album designs and music videos. He sees music too. Way, dope.

Listening to him let me think about how most today give a lotta shit about what people think and say about their creation, so they tend to or end up creating for what people want and not themselves. I condone the rationale as it's still great on the receiving end, just that the raw beauty of creation corrodes along swiftly with this urban culture transaction when creating has become such convenience. Guess thats how I have increasing appreciation to those brave ones, who do something which sometimes they themselves don't even understand. 

Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Andy has some albums for sale on site. One which had a molar tooth on its cover. After the live set, heres the dialog i overheard:

Gal: What's this album on?

Andy.D: AWW..this album is on the dental check I last went, when my wisdom tooth got extracted. It has got the most AWEFUL sounds in it... it sounds really AWEFUL....The whole album is inspired by my whole experience on my tooth extraction.. really AWEFUL.... -pause-  But. I really love this one. You gotta have this. 

 

I like this guy. He's real.

Keep living your passion. :)

.can't wake up.

There we go again. Another incident of my escape from death of sleep.

A family trip to thailand was an endearing one. But it had to wrap up with another of my most loathed nightmare.I got "pinned down by spirits" as superstitions call.. literally got stretched out like Jesus on his cross, i was pinned on my bed with my helpless vocal chords to call out to my brother for help, who's sleeping right next to me. Forcing my lids open that shut like iron gates.

REM paralysis or Sleep paralysis as science calls. 

"The clinical name for your experience is “REM Paralysis.” Scientists have demonstrated that the brain sends commands for movement to our bodies when we dream—to move in accordance with our perceived needs in the dreamscape. The reason we don’t move around in our beds, however, is because these commands for movement are intercepted at the top of the spinal cord in the brain stem, and are not passed on to the motor nerves. During REM our bodies effectively become paralyzed, to protect our physical safety, and to preserve the continuity of sleep.

Other common sensations during REM paralysis are pressure in the chest area, feelings that you are being held down or pushed into the bed, difficulty breathing or calling for help, and also feelings that you are elevating or levitating off the bed.

As you know from your experience, however, there never really is an intruder. Instead, feelings of restricted movement during sleep cause feelings of vulnerability, which are then translated into fears of attack. Because you are dreaming, these fears become represented as an intruder in the room or house, who is about to attack, while you remain paralyzed, unable to defend yourself—or to call for help.

The cure for “REM Paralysis” dreams is knowledge. The next time this dream happens, you want to remember that you are dreaming, and that there really is no intruder. To awaken yourself immediately from this dream, try wiggling a toe or finger—some small movement that will break the “spell” of paralysis. Or, as you grow more comfortable with the dreams, simply try to relax and roll over for more sleep. Sleep paralysis is annoying, but one cure for it is to get a plenty of REM sleep, so that the body does not keep you trapped in REM—when the rest of your mind wants to awaken!"

When science has an explanation, everything seems more comforting. It must be my immense lack of sleep. 

But i am still skeptical... its too fuckin' real.

And im bed-ridden now. 

.see music.

I'm a total sucker for audio visuals. Sound is as good as it is, but sound synching seamlessly with images, graphics and colors - totally take my appreciation for sonic pleasure to another level. 

Radiohead, in this case has taken a step further in the music video venture. No cameras, lights, strolling emo-talents in a micro movie nor a band posing and jamming infront of the camera in 360 view, has worked with a bunch of computer engineers to work on their song "House of Cards". 

See music, in data. Sweet.

And oh, did i not mention that the song is fuckin' awesome. Fuckin' love it. 

Do also check out the making of "House of Cards".

And go fiddle with your mouse for a 360 view on the 3D data codes used in the music video. Screen capture the shots and use them as a desktop wallpaper as you liked.

 

.PART OF THE WEEKEND NEVER DIES.

DIESEL XXX TOKYO - Makuhari Messe Convention Centre (x 3 halls)

Fuckin' party mayhem.

.i see you.

Privacy in the digital age.

.maybe definitely.

I love the night

I hate the night

I love surprises.

I hate surprises.

I love predictions.

I hate predictions.

I love being alone

I hate being alone

I love to trust

I hate to trust

I love to sleep

I hate to sleep

i love noise

i hate noise

I love the truth

I hate the truth

I love myself

I love myself.

.We are family.

I hate cousins.

.tokyo raider.

Just got back from Tokyo. 

It was a breather. A break needed, a break indeed. 

I shall not mention that the relieve was stunted again the moment i landed back home, for some nasty news i had received along my short ride home. It's not life threatening, but it sure is like a jab to my almost rested mind. 

Though, that aside, i shall not let it tarnish the fact that it was a good trip i had in tokyo land. It is probably my 4th or 5th time there, each time hosting the irresistible agenda of ripping my pocket for the omnipresent shopping list of forgotten items. 

I was to be there for the Tokyo Game Show 2008. A family-business summon to take a peek on the preview of imminent and ever-changing gaming trends. Not my personal interest for sure. But it was still good to be there - immersing in the blasting, overlapping sound and music from hundreds of game-televisions where thousands game titles played at the same time. Not forgetting to mention some wacky Cosplay talents struggling in their oversized head and boots, and a convention filled hot "kawaii" babes posing around like race queens for the eager men to beautify their photo albums with. 

Food is great, period. I had warned myself to keep to MacDonald's and vending machine foods if i want to save more money for other imminent trips or facial packages if I wanted any. But the glutton lost the perennial war yet again. 

Didn't manage to get to the infamous Freak Town - where freaks hang out. Yoyogi park is the place where a freak themed park has free entry entitlement. I had a major party the night before so i slept till late on the only day where they cluster for a ultimate clashing, freakfashion big bang. Yea, big bang every sunday.

Talking about the party. I need to be a total schmuck at this point. Count my lucky stars, we happened to be there when Diesel xXx Party TOKYO - was happening right there right then that weekend. Madness i tell ya. 3 halls at Makuhari Messe convention hall. I think there were a good 20,000 crowd. Soulwax played a live set - and they totally blew my socks off. Fuck with the capital F awesome.

Was at Womb too. THE club to go in Tokyo.Was there for 2ManyDJ's. Who are the same guys from Soulwax, and played at Diesel XXX party the night before too. Got in late. 1 hour - made full use of it. Never too late to have fun. 

The club's interior, as opposed to my expectation, looks bare and nothing fancy - but, the people are lovely.  see the look on their face when they raise their arms in unison, their eyes squinting against the rhythmic lights and thumping their feet on the wooden flooring to sync into the heart-thumping beats. 

"Just me and my music" was that one line that beamed out from my head (or was it my heart i'm not sure) like those green laser text that gets projected out on the big big wall behind the DJ's deck. I can't be at more than a right place at this right time. I thought. The line continues to echo to the music. "Just me and my music...." 

Interestingly, there was this same wall banner at both the Diesel xXx party and at Womb, it wrote a line i couldn't stop gazing at as I stomped my 2 left feet to the happy music. "Part of the Weekend Never Dies" - it wrote. How apt. Like the effervescence pill in water, those prickly/ prickling worries started to sizzle away along with the blasting, semi-orgasmic music.

Love their super neon dancing city lights. 

Love a city that doesn't sleep. 

Love the luxury of seeing, hearing and tasting life.

Love Tokyo.

 

.wordia.

Now that we have the luxury and convenience of wikipedia, we can't stop finding a way to define ourselves.

"Words are just words" they say. Following up to the ripples of our social mutiny - "there is no right and we are not wrong", up come this new mean of re-defining our already redefinitions. 

Wordia - allows you to think up a word that has special meaning to you - and then reinterpret that special meaning via a video recording, into a word that is more special than before. Yeay.

I am pretty entertained and amused, by the capacity of the funny mammal specie called "us", constantly and more recently prolifically trying to jump in to galactic universe, like we have a serious big part in the big bang somewhat, somehow, somewhere and someday. Of course, not that I am against the beauty to this engulfment of social content, it is just intriguing enough to see how in awe one can be (with themselves) that by changing a single note in a song or paraphrasing a known statement, makes them feel like they have invented originality and that they are here for a reason. 

So back to Wordia. What does one think of the word...... Poodle? 

  

.candy flicks.

Candy-lickin' colored theatre seats at Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield in Dublin. Ireland designed by Dublin’s award-winning DTA Architects. The cinema is akin an screening-art-musuem, showing mostly independent, foreign langauge art films. One more reason to visit design city - Dublin.

.one note band.

I can't say the music is great listening - but i really like the concept.

If you find other ways to speak music, i'll like to be your friend.

.Storytelling man.

The origin of manga : Story telling man.

Freakin awesome. I wish we had a story-telling man who was pictorial when I was little. Being a very visual person, with very short attention span.

.alone.

You gave me
Cold glass love
You've got teeth for biting and you've bore a hole in me

You and me
Hot and cold
You have crossed all safely while i teeter on my rope

Better than me
And i know
You are calm and symmetry and i'm an empty hole

My envy
Of all you own
I want to be a possession you dust and won't let go

Gentlest touch
And sweetest sound
Something you'll run back in for when the house burns down

Alone
Alone doesn't feel so cold
Alone
Alone doesn't feel so cold

'Cause your arms
Your arms they don't feel so warm
So come
Come love and take me home

What i am
And what you are
Some things just don't hold the way the night has trapped a star

Alone
Alone doesn't feel so cold
Alone
Alone doesn't feel so cold

'Cause your arms
Your arms they don't feel so warm
So come
Come love and take me home.

- Trespassers William


----

So love this song.

.postcard/ post thoughts.

A 50cents postcard I bought.

.can you spell awesome?

I just have to put this up again.
blu street wall animation.

.rabid.

.Night of the Arabian.

Seduced by the colors of Arab Street. 

.butterscotch.

Sweeter.

Lykke Li - from Sweden. She's cool.

.Wooden mirror.

Now we know that anything is possible. Just like we can make new water out of sewage.

Unreflective Magnifying Mirrors - Danny Rozen’s Magic Wooden Mirror (VIDEO)

(TREND HUNTER) Get ready to see yourself in a whole new light thanks to Danny Rozen’s amazing wooden mirror. Rozen’s mirror is made up of no glass, just tiny squares of wood. Carefully constructed, the pieces of wood… [More]

.lazy dazey.

I have been exploring quite abit of new music on last.fm, like pandora (which is not available to all regions anymore), its easy to use for idiots like me, informative (if u'd like to sample listen to even the most obscure genre of music), you'll be in for some music-education. By creating your own library, It just reminds you what kinda music you already like - with the influx of indie-everything, and also suggest stuffs u never knew you'd like. Makes music sharing easy too.

Hmm.

Damn. 

I'm so lazy to do anything. 

.heavy.

I had the same nightmare again.

It's the nightmare I can't wake up to. Can't breathe, can't call for help, desperately trying to find a voice or tiny squeal so that the person round the corner can know that i'm in distress. I know i'm dreaming, but I just can't wake up.. that is what's so scary. I consciously try to force my eyes open, but my lids drop down like iron fortress gates, disallowing me to exit. Sounds familiar? I know i'm not the only one, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Coz I am still alone in my dream.

Sometimes, i think that i'm going to die in my sleep. And i am not at all exaggerating. If you have seen Nightmare of the Elm street - Freddy the nightmare, he said something like, "If you die in your dreams, you die for real." And time after time, i felt like i've had a narrow escape each time I managed to force myself to wake up from a vicious dream like this. It's too real. I felt the short of air and the unexplainable body ache after the escape, and the body being pinned down like I was on the sacrifice table. I felt like I've been trapped in a zone that I know is not real, yet I can't get out of it. And each time I did, someone in the dream would demonically whisper into my ear, "Till then..."

I had never undermined the mystic powers of dreaming. It has discreet meanings, usually trying to tell you something. It is akin a mini stage performance - the story line gathers itself from the disarrangement within your deranged little mind. Like it is joining the dots for you. It gives you a mental play back to your current state of mind, to a forecast of what you should be wary about, all in its utmost attempt to make you understand, what you don't. 

They come in varied symbols, significantly noticeable or not, they often mean something.  Try interpreting your dream next time, and link up the dots to see if they all make sense to your current state of mind and reality. You might be surprised. Go to Dream moods to retrieve a quick interpretation when you search within it's dream-dictionary, whenever you wake up with a distinctive subject from your dream the night before. Map and connect the symbols on your own - you might realized that you will be drawing more parallel relevances than you think you would.

Let's talk about "natural death". How else do you explain cases of people who just died mysteriously in their sleep? When they are mostly well and healthy with no clues and signs that their time was up? Science can give all sorts of explaination (to keep us sane and calm), but I somehow  believe that it was their dreams who took them away.

If you are sniggering at this point, you know what? To hell with you. It's fucking real. I just know it. And as much as I love dreaming, I am so fucking afraid of them. I am not trying to play gypsy here, just conveying my fear. And to keep me sane, I tend to study them.

It's not a dream. It's another dimension. 

.feed me.

Music is my soul food. Can't imagine a day without it.

It speaks to you like someone has already put your feelings and thoughts into tunes. And all you need to do, is to agree.

It actually heals.

.monocle.

If you haven't already started reading Monocle, here's why you really should. They are amazingly informative - all in bite-size mind nibblets. They cover a myriad of topics touching mostly on global affairs, business, culture, politics, traveling, and design- all in digestible mental slots, or detailed perspective reports from some {subject} gurus.

If you are into traveling and global trend updates, you must get this issue (Aug issue 15) - which talks about Global Cities. It gives quick and clear reviews on the most alluring and livable cities in the world, taking into consideration issues such as economy, transporation, crime, green-space, general disposition of the locals, proximity to fun things to do etc. Of course, we are talking about city-living, not about which farm or zulu tribe you would want to retire at. 

Apparently, Copenhagen is topping the charts now. Very appealing with its win of being the "Design City". Thus, my new-found interest and reason to visit.

Here's a snippet of the top 5 contenders (get the issue to glimpse at all top 50 - and others that didn't make it and why not.) -

Affairs Report: The world's top 25 most liveable cities - 2008

Months of good-natured, frequently late-night and occasionally jetlagged debate have resulted in this: our definitive (and a little subjective) guide to the world's most liveable cities.

 #01 Copenhagen

Copenhageners rejoice: your city (and its design) has our gold medal

#02 Munich

Pipped to the post this year, 2007's champ still charms us every time

#03 Tokyo

Behind the fast-fwd stereotype lies a big city getting the basics right

#04 Zurich

Our continental European seat still impresses but occasionally irritates

#05 Helsinki

Waterside revival, civic pride and a view to Asia bode well for the city

I'm major-ly inspired by this particular issue and can't stop raving about it - thus the need to propagate. For someone who is always trying to peek over from behind the great grey wall, it comes handy as an imminent itinerary, to-travel check list, or a compact Luxe Guide to the world - all in one issue. 

.tumbling.

Went Batam for some tumbling cable-ski action. Didn't take long to reaffirm my lost sport genes. It was raining through the day, which makes it less inviting to go out there to display my "how to fall into the waters in 101 ways" attempts. Wouldn't mind trying silly if not it was so darn freezin' cold. I felt like a wet, fur-less puppy. So i went to nap in the hut instead. 

It was a good day trip though. Had a superbly great time chilling in the hut over some beer and some random music. It was a day to go slow. And i kinda needed that. The only price to pay, its the major shoulder and arm muscle ache i've gotten from the sudden-jerk of the cable. Felt like it was a sport designed to snap your arm out of your shoulder. I speak for the beginners that is. The pros are like flying tarzans in the waters. 

There was Bob- The dog. Okay, I just name it Bob coz' it looks like one. He's a lovely lil' rascal. And there were some monkeys too, and the yelping baby monkey held my hand. :)

The ferry back was awesome. Just chilling to the breeze at the deck of the boat. That serenity and smell of sea-breeze is sensational. In the calm sort of way. 

I would wanna go back there again.