there was a prominent figure of a man with outstretched arms atop a cliff in an apocalyptic setting on the inner wall of the nutella jar. it's really prominent so you can't miss it. perhaps it's one of those signs you're suppose to constantly find throughout your life that mean something. or perhaps it's just my dad (who has a knack of cleaning the walls of the jar so that not a smudge of chocolate goes to waste), who, in a twist of creativity, leaves the man in his euphoric stance (i had my staple b'fast of this today and the man was still there, but the cliffs and mountains were not as pronounced). i haven't got the chance to ask him this.

i got my first swiss knife-like bottle opener from the management yesterday, like everybody else. it's probably nothing special but i was the cat on something strange with this device. i thought it looked like a mechanical parrot from a "ghetto robocop war zone"*.

i had an ear to thom yorke's track titled jetstream complete with subtitles and an enormously haunting resonance which draws you in to a kind of controlled delirium. and also, the track he did for mark mulcahy's tribute album (and a benefit for the loss of mark's wife, leaving him with their two baby twin daughters) was sincerely heartfelt. ciao my shining star would be an honour to own. jules' phrazes are already out locally, tegan and sara's sainthood shows a level of musical growth from their previous studio recordings and i'm silently hating the relation of new moon (solely for its popularity, nothing about the film) to the collection of effing ace tracks that includes thom, anya marina, black rebel and bon iver & st. vincent. alex desplat has really got the tastebuds.

while plainsunset's collaborative ep with sheikh haikel and amanda ling could be a local jem, vampire weekend's contra and b-quartet's they do not talk are tops in my anxiety list.

 

mabuhay. pinoy talk with rallan on a brief overview of manny pacquiao over waiting duties. unmindfully popping orange tic tacs, rescenting with paul smith man and the occasional swig of ice water are all in a night's slog. a mister ravi commented rather haphazardly how my coif wouldn't suit his face.

i've got a piece of concave scream's latest offering in the form of a storybook by way of seri, who finds it a needless bulk in her room. and we're still in the hunt for the ko trio admission cards (quick ad: if you ticketholders change your mind, find us! we will help you.)

i don't know how i came about to reminisce on local/regional golden era of football, remembering the feeling of my young self's blind enthusiasm on the passionate conditions of footballing imagery, until i reached the scene of lost playing figures of michael vanna, yap wai loon, alistair edwards and scott ollerenshaw.

i will not argue about how the tickets were snapped up, how could i, i've already foreseen this predicament. wasted my morning only. the news of cat power, muse and the killers almost neutralise this sunken feeling less for the tinge of bitter aftertaste. perhaps i should quit the whole hoohah of these celebrated performers and pretend to be oblivious to the whole thing. you think? but then perhaps you don't know the magnitude of missing out a prancing karen o in her christian joy so i will tell you/remind me that we will miss a great deal. a great deal.

though i'm not too sure if a seated venue is one for the yyys.

but i know i'll have the december sunsetboys date to rock out to with friends!

the sounds in the room was made up of a deafening silence as its base, layered with the oblivious reverb of the tv set (with audio from nanni moretti's caro diario) and regular wind whispers and mechanical vibrate from the oscillating vertical fan. the quarter-left coke can fizzed out its gases like a ceasing chorus. this, just as the natural morning light took over the daily shift of the fluorescent halo overhead.

this observation somehow reminded me of the wire's article about the nihilist spasm band, i realised, with no direct relation.

i went direct and found out the programming lady had tried to get regina to play here two years ago for mosaic but wasn't successful. i replied her i'll bug respekt herself and i just did. with the hope that it's really her that my message was sent out to, of course. perhaps i should probably dangle the carrot that is chan marshall and andrew bird's january show here to her as a just-so-you-know kind of information.

meanwhile, with the funds all checked i'm planning to do a hello kitty-craze type of waiting for the yyys ticket after getting the code from the informant. a camp-out plan is not ruled out.

oh and i'll be missing out on another of mux's performance today because of work.

i saw the birmingham-man city game on telly and was convinced that seb larsson is the deal. i still think spurs winger david bentley is a gem of a player, just that he hadn't had much luck to prove himself(great technique in the free-kick taking against arsenal by the way). these are probably the more exciting duo from the arsenal youth system. and birmingham played phenomenal football by the way. they looked like the everton of 2007. i'm all for the underdogs!

my pants was returned at the exact place with no need of any of my banksy bombs. the message was probably delivered via our chirping staff. i guess my cheap deodorant is still very applicable to the thief.

ahaha mae is so cute 'cause she is a cartoon nerd! how cool.

the mini reunion over coffee and tea with yun and pat after a year or so was nice. it felt like school days again. i better work on my digital clicker in four years for that beach nuptials. pressure, but good pressure.

the karen o trio tickets will be released on november 11, but i will not predict an instant snap-up of these because it will happen (i'm still reeling from the dcfc tragedy). i will have to prepare my funds accordingly, and you do too.

the sharks are quick to sniff out blood and i'm losing limb after limb, albeit in suspended time. i shouldn't have been in the sea for too long. the distant boat earlier turned out to be a divine hand from the skies.

someone from work stole my pants today. i'm going guerilla advertising/spamming on everyone's locker. and the thief is going to pay (yes, i do possess the passion of artful revenge), probably not soon, but someday. and my brother, who recently disowned himself from the family (but still hold the keys to the house. disownage with benefits?) stole my shoes. i'm taking it as borrowing without consent but if it's long enough, believe me, something's going to move. 

grim, grim, world, huh.

i faced this conversation with mom and former army colleagues every time. 

i joined the other birds only recently with twitter to follow the gods' going-ons. this should be way earlier but mr. koenig's reply to a follower's question—"prepare yourself for a revolution in boat shoe technology!"— is nostradamic. i believe espadrilles will have their moment soon. they'll pimp it up with killer (or hideous) graphics for a brief fashion fad (how's that for a minuscule prophecy).

sorry kean, i decided to keep the vintage saint laurents (i figured i could fit them) when i saw this sharp old guy on a bicycle sporting them on the sartorialist. but i'll give it up if you can convince me with serious conviction of not leaving them for dead.

esther was amused at the sound sample part of mylo's sunworshipper. she'd probably never heard of something like this, but it'd be cool if she consider experimental music for the restaurant (won't see this happening even in the next life!)

the moment that made me smile the broadest was probably when clifford wrote "new order" with a permanent marker.

in an unexpecting scene i found out echo's name origin. and that she's still going for creative dessert-making classes. i guess i asked her because she brought out this behemoth of a piece made of chocolate, inspired by a cyclone with sucked-in forks and spoons, which i thought was amazing.

jules casablancas upcoming album, phrazes for the young should be something to anticipate for, especially since he's been off the radar for quite some time since the strokes' last record. if you've seen the trailer it has got this visual similar to the album art of first impressions, and a sound more associated to the futuristic vision from the eighties. vampire weekend's sophomore album, contra would be available in the us/uk in january. listen and download one of their releases horchata on their site!

sometimes i wish tattoos are just banned from a long time ago that will be lifted soon.

friday's f1 rocks gatecrashing was pretty easy to begin with, considering the rather tight security. thanks loads to obliging and (i'm not mocking this) gullible tag holders. we came for no doubt who, the last act for the night, performed really really well and countless tracks off their collection of past records. good thing the reportedly poor sound system of earlier shows were rectified by then.
i feel that if you've paid for the ticket it would still be effing worth it, all the more that we got in gratis! thanks to shammie, shammie's bf, khai and zu for this.

tonight, come down to lasalle's 15 minutes for a live perfomance collabo consisting of speakcryptic, mux, vj jun and dj nomsta. love is a dog from hell is a poetic tribute/homage to the poet charles bukowski, i'm expecting artistic flair from b-quartet's bani haykal & gang and fawesome visual projections from jun!

and i've already been thinking of acts for esplanade's mosaic team to invite through frantic pleas. they include throbbing gristle, the very best, regina spektor and, probably... sun ra.

i can't quite fit in these vintage saint laurents.

my intention to promote bicycle culture in singapore would seem pretty odd especially if i don't own one. just imagine a secondary transit network (second only to our rail system) that builds around human-powered(you know what i mean. turning on the ignition of a car does not count) vehicles such as the bicycle, tricycle, unicycle and such. the main idea, apart from staying healthy, is to cut down on carbon emission. i'd get me a bike if i have the funding but this, by all means, can serve as a straight-up plea for anyone to donate me their bicycle (any extras?), used or unused, reluctant or willing.

i am full of something yet i am nothing. i derived this from a complex line of the same nature from a film i am currently watching. this is the case, because of the excitement of one idea when clashes with the next, and this multiplies upon further researches till i go numb. this calls for composure. *sigh* ah, knowing, or identifying the root problem is half the bout won.

sometime just after the turn of the later half of yesterday i received an invitation to cooperate with a band of(rather amateur, hopeful) gatecrashing carry-outs with today's  f1 rocks event made their focal interest. i boldly okayed to this, now, will i live to tell this tale... 

oh ya, i should've mentioned a few posts back, that i appreciate kanna (neighbourhood football buddy)'s instrumental assistance in bringing back my second batch of stuff from my camp with his drive. this was the day i ord-ed! i actually enjoyed the late night lepak at upper peirce that evening with him, ashok, shukor and jin(i think, shukor's partner). so, thanks!

the abrupt sneezing took place in a bus on a red light from a guy who sat right in front of me on the window seat. the funny part is that, in the van right next to this sneezer was a tissue box, in all its grandeur, sitting pretty on the dashboard of the passenger seat. but unfortunately i don't believe he noticed this.

the concave scream set was great, with a nice radiohead cover at the end. the observatory's final hexa show the following day was immense, though a little loose compared to their first, which i thought was tighter but this one's got an awesome visual works. i've got to concede that my attendance was (primarily) for their opening act, b-quartet, who performed four immense tracks from both their current and soon-to-be-release albums. although not in full-force, they did great. i guess they'll keep winning fans with every set! hoping for another great album launch set for the next record.

the new gap campaign looks hauntingly similar to american apparel's. hmmm... and i wonder if gramaphone's tagline was taken off empire records...

after laying off bringing books home (i realised it's some kind of penalty to myself for previous late returns) i came across a couple of books (this is usual) that this time around, convinced me to resume the routine. this was when i found out the machine noticed me an excellent piece of information: i could borrow two audio/visual articles without being a premium member! hou hsiao-hsien's café lumière intrigues me with its japanese setting, much like おくりびと(okuribito or, departures) and lost in translation, which makes you want to experience japan. i didn't quite worship withnail and i (probably it reminded me of quadrephenia and a clockwork orange) but shinji aoyama's eureka was excellent. 

there are a few titles i could finally watch including those by bergman, fellini, kurosawa, antonioni and other criterion collections and perhaps those restricted(?) ones like bottle rocket and requiem for a dream.

"thank you, library-- finally."

the observatory's sixth hexa tour this weekend should be extra awesome with one of our most brillant bands b-quartet opening the show for them(plus its free!).

and concave scream plays tonight for their album launch!

chey. i now figured the rumoured nenek kerepok i encountered previously was actually a local catwoman. spooky.

aboard the public rail today was a random guy in an az alkmaar away shirt (rare and he doesn't look like a tourist, how cool), a blonde singaporeanized caucasian teenage girl and the continued read of my monocle.

i went to this place the following day where i saw this joss sticks and offerings in a couple of mcdonald's regular drinking cups which i thought were quite interesting to shoot but it was gone, trampled on by the roadside.

i saw the film a mighty heart with angelina jolie innit(she looked beautiful with nude toned makeup) very basically about a journalist kidnapped by terrorists. i thought the nouvelle vague track, in a manner of speaking was fitting for the heart-rending scene where the rescue team broke news of her husband's beheading. what a track.

it didn't seem like record attendance for last weekend's eighth annual baybeats festival as reported, but still it was great to have it back. love me butch was my priority and they kicked-ass. i saw moon at the picturehouse yesterday, after remembering reading about it in monocle. it's a great movie(my opinion, perhaps influenced by a positive one-sided video review of a fan), duncan jones' first film about an astronaut miner based on the moon whose hopes of returning back to earth is dashed by an accident. i thought the robotic gerty voiced by kevin spacey sounded a little too human but sam rockwell did great and the overall movie scores. i like how the t-shirt slogan ("wake me up when it's quitting time") is an indirect message to rockwell's character's, um. demise. if you have a choice to watch any movie pick this one. i thought the promotional poster would make a good t-shirt design, so i guess i'm on it. tarantino's inglorious basterds is almost here, and so is adventureland.

and i think i saw an e-flyer of mocca's 10th-anniversary shows with a stop here sometime end september. yuna and a few other bands will feature as well, so look out for that. plus concave scream's new sound with a show mid-sept is going to be something too.

uh, entertainment updates.

random thought: i think the bicycle culture in copenhagen, france, china and santa cruz among others is a great solution to getting motorists off the road. we should really adopt that, you know, reducing carbon emissions in every way we can. like how i read of a city with a bicycle-renting system where there's a sort of a booth in a lot of different locations to pick up or drop off a bike. you know, that, or make hybrid cars really affordable.

i want a bicycle