Someone That I Used to Know

Song of the moment and I couldn't stop obsessing it cos it's such a major ear worm with awesome lyrics.

Don't we all have some douchebag ex who kinda fits the lyrics? I can think of a few myself...enjoy!

Poupée de cire, poupée de son

One of my favourites old French songs....

And 2 more days before the "Emancipation of Miss B" and then back home to see my folks...woohoo...

Happy Public Holiday people!

Now Playing....

Boys & Girls - Martin Solveig ft Dragonette 

Naive - Lily Allen (cover)

Young Folks - The Kooks (nice cover of the original)

Diamonds are Forever - Arctic Monkeys (at Glastonbury)

Fluorescent Adolescent - Kate Nash  

Gimme Some - Peter Bjorn and John

Mowgli Road - Marina & The Diamonds

The Sixties Music Legacy

It took the new Maroon 5's song "Move Like Jagger" to have me proclaimed that, in my book, the 60s is music's golden era where many musical legends of different genres left their imprints in history. Move Like Jagger admittedly is an ear worm I shamelessly put it on repeat but it will take more than a tattooed modern day topless rocker in nut-crushing tight pants to trump the real 60s legends.

Mick Jagger & The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and so many more that carpal tunnel would be induced if I type out every music legends of that era. You get the drift. It's Rock and Roll baby! It's Rock and Roll! Musos of the 60s, dead or alive, are irreplaceable. No doubt about it. Exhibit A: Just look at these clips of Jagger that has probably inspired Levine's song.



Bad boy rockers, screaming, crying fainting fans, genuine musical talents and great showmanship (stoned to the skull no less, just look at Jagger's glazed out eyes from dope). The allure of the 60s simply can't be replicated by our noughties music world peppered by the likes of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber whose biggest talents are probably getting caught smoking dope. It's easy to see why we have't got that many real legends these days.

That said, the musos of the swinging 60s had an advantageous head start with the 60s being nothing less of a cacophony of inter-cultural and political mishmash across the globe. Cue in Vietnam War, herald African American civil rights, introduce feminism, swallow in the psychedelic drugs, propagate free love and you get a perfect creative backdrop for hatching up music that influences this era of social and cultural evolution.

So maybe, just maybe, it'll take another round of social evolution or a couple of Bed-In for peace protests ala John and Yoko to catalyze some good music that actually lives on.

John Lennon & Yoko Uno at the Bed-In Protest

I love this so much I have a t-shirt with this picture

But meanwhile, Levine can only move like Jagger because clearly, he is definitely no Mick Jagger.

There is such a thing as Magic

I know he's been the talk of the town. You've probably watched the youtube clip, heard him sing and most likely had a tear or two welled up but I still would want to post this on my blog because it would be a shame if you miss Sung Bong Choi's performance.

Sung Bong Choi is truly inspirational. In these day and age where tragic news of human atrocities populate the media, he's definitely a bright ray of sunshine that serves as a reminder that there is such thing as magic. There are beautiful things in life after all.

His next competition is on 20 August 2011. I wonder if he'll be singing tunes by my favorite modern day muso composer Ennio Morricone like he did for his last two performances. I'm rooting for him to win and make it big!

Nina Simone

Lovely......

The Temper Trap

Love the songs....and love the fact that I actually feel like one of the boys in there running cos I'm so freaking busy at work jumping fire hoops....

Playlist

Haven't done a playlist for a while....here goes...

Listening to:

Gangsta Luv - Snoop Dogg ft Mayer Hawthorn (G Mix)
Runaway - Kanye West ft Pusha T 
Jungle Drum - Emiliana Torrini
Howling for you - The Black Keys
I miss you (Telegram Remix) - Bjork
Use Me - Bill Withers
Summer Love - Justin Timberlake
Ex-Factor - Lauran Hill
Homecoming - The Teenagers
Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

The Lonely Island

This is for a "Haha Monday" to beat the blues.....Have you seen/heard/watched The Lonely Island? If not, please do cos they're super funny and I actually think Justin Timberlake is really quite a funny guy, definitely more than just a boring pop singer for sure...totally redeemed himself...

And this Mother Lover clip has got Susan Sarandon and she's such a good sport!!

May Muse

Reading: An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin who's the actor. Father of the Bride Steve Martin. Someone told me he writes well and he wrote this book around arts and famous painting and I just have to give him a shot. Does he write well? Well, let's just say he's not the worse but I'm reading it for the insight into Arts the book offers....Oh the super gorgeous cover helps though! It's like a canvas...


Listening to: The Black Key. I've always loved them and I'm listening to Tighten Up. Love them! And they always have really funny MTV. Awesome band!


Wearing: D&G black lace dress. Super love this! Got it in Hong Kong and there're many ways to wear it! Pair it with a black slip dress underneath for a standard look. A nude slip for a bit of a twist. And wear it on its own with nice underwear for a wild night out.

Christian Louboutin Biana in nude. Finally a Louboutin! But this requires major training cos it's so high! It's the hardest Louboutin to walk in! My other two Louboutins are so much more manageable but I really love this one!!! Yet I have a feeling that I'm gonna fall flat on my face anytime.

CK One perfume....it's one of my favorite androgynous scent and every now and then, I love to revisit it when I'm in the mood for something light and as we inch towards the "oily face" weather and humidity, I wanted something citrus-y and breezy so I've been wearing CK One quite a bit. 

Using: Kiehl's Golden Berry Lip Gloss. Yummy color and very moisturising! What's there to not like? It's got the same texture as the legendary Kiehl's lipbalm #1 but with a gorgeous hint of color and shine.

Eating: Ho-e-sik  Creamy Cheese & Mushroom Spaghetti from Hong Kong...it's instant pasta and it's freaking awesome. Manufactured by the famous Doll company but it's only available in Hong Kong. I've been eating this quite a bit as supper while I was in Hong Kong and I intend to get my sister Becks to send me some cos it's super good to keep in the office. Easy to cook too!

Loving: Olympus Pen E-LP2! OMG! Super awesome camera! And I don't think I need another camera now. It's a mini DSLR with the power of big ass DSLR and I've got my photo blog up finally!! It'll be an ongoing thing for now...check out my new photo blog here! Well the next dream camera I want is the Canon 5D MarkII....okay, maybe a couple of new lenses for my Olympus first....

My new Macbook Pro 2011.....No need explanation right? Time to upgrade my old macbook anyway and I love Mac!

Lusting after: A Kindle....okay, I've expressed my disgust over Kindle numerous times calling it blasphemous to the literature purist cos when it comes to books, it's gotta be the good old hard copy on good old pulp! I want to flip the pages, smell the paper and feel the book! But then my sister Beck and my Mr Bear got a Kindle and I fiddled with it a bit and realized it's super cool. Mostly becos of the picture display with all the classic literature heavy weight authors and it looks so damn good....And come to think of it, I wouldn't mind loading newspaper like The New York Times and perhaps non-fictions since I tend to love to collection fiction....now they have a white version...dunno...maybe black still...or white? Black? White? Whatever but I'm still wondering if I should get it!

Just Ain't Gonna Work Out....

Love this song by Mayer Hawthorne and love the MTV even more.....



I was talking to Scotty the other day and we're philosophizing that elusive thing called LOVE and he said something so sad but true "...At least you know that physical material products last longer than human love does.." This is definitely Notable Quotable worthy cos if you think about it, people fall in and out of love so easily these days that many don't even bother trying to really make things work but call it quits instead...modern day love stories? Perhaps....

You and Me

I was going through my music the other day and I remember I love the song You and Me by The Wannabies and it was in the Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack, yeah the one with Leonardo Di-cappuccino, oops, I mean Dicaprio...and I love this track....here you go...

Cinema Paradiso

One of  my all time favorite movies is the classic Italian film Cinema Paradiso by director Giuseppe Tornatore and it also happens to be one of my father's favorites too (it's special to him cos when he was young, he used to go to the cinema a lot by himself). And from the movie came one of my favorite cello pieces and it's a duet with trumpet. It's a very very beautiful tune written by Ennio Morricone...it's one of the many reasons why I learn and play the cello cos it's beautiful....this one's played by Yoyo Ma and Chris Botti on the trumpet...

They Said I Said

I LOOOOVE this track by The SugarRush Beat Company...perfect happy girl power song for the gym bunnies...



I can't get the original MTV cos the embedding is disabled in most mtv clip....but I Love the SugarRush Beat Company...and they're sooooo freaking good performing live...check this out...I can't get the embedded one but it's the same song...

 

Old Time's Sake...Old Canto!

This is for all the old cantos out there, or whoever grew up with Canto songs!! I was still crawling on the floor in Hong Kong when I first heard this and she's probably my first ever idol before Madonna and Duran Duran came in the mid-80s...well, it's the Queen of Canto Pop Anita Mui!!!! And this is the song that made her famous where she clinched the winner title of the Hong Kong's prestigious singing contest. Check it out! I LOVE the song and I LOVE her voice....too bad she's dead.....the other day my folks were just making a comment that new singers these days sound alike but nobody can sound like Anita Mui....I totally agree...the video is hilarious...check out the back-up dancers' routine!!! It's so gay! Especially when the guys are wearing white tights!! Princess is now doing it in the office!!! Super LOL!



Ohhh and I totally remember having a pink feather fan when I was young to attempt the dancing bit...yes, I was once super duper uncool....that's what happened when you turned on the TV too much in the old Hong Kong...but hey back then, I think it was super cool!!!

Oh dear! Little J actually can sing!

If you're a Gossip Girl fan, you would know that Little J aka Taylor Momsen is kinda getting less and less script time...and that's not because she's been wearing really bad raccoon makeup with black lips but it's cos she's been focusing a lot on her "music career" aka her band The Pretty Reckless and her bad rebellious attitude at the set has got Tim Gunn writing her off as a diva. I've never liked Little J or Momsen and when I heard about her "band"...I thought pfff...bahhh, just another precocious teenage girl who wanna be a rock chick and I though wearing that black eye, just-got-punched-in-the-eye makeup wouldn't make you a rock star....then oh boy....I'm so wrong! I actually checked out her music/band, ready to bitch about how shit and how bad she is, ONLY to get blown away by her powerful vocals. OMG. This girl can sing and she's got a very very very good voice for rock and she sings very very effortlessly. Like a darker more rebellious Joan Jett and tons better...Don't believe? Check out her live performance...

Convinced? She totally nailed it. Hitting all the high notes well with her rather emotive voice. Very unique voice that's so totally different from her girlie Little J persona. I hate to say this but she is actually good....argh...I find it hard to give credit to celebs I don't like but well, Miss B is very fair and I give credit where credit is due and yes, Miss B approves of Taylor Momsen as a rock chick. Geez...it feels totally odd to be saying this....

Why I love Pandora

Other than the beautiful jewellery, this is the most beautiful ad I've seen. The song is called Pandora and performed by Danish artist Silas Bjerregaard.............now I love my Pandora jewellery more

Aussi Belle Qu'une Balle

Couldn't get this song out of my head...Aussi Belle Qu'une Balle by Nouvelle Vague....it lulled me to sleep last night.....very dreamy and whimsical......

Happy Candy Dandy Song

Ohhh what a happy song...California Girls by Katy Perry is the perfect Friday song....just so catchy that I'll sing along while I work out to it....



The MTV is a bit freaky though...like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory + Alice in Wonderland...and Katy Perry's cupcake bra's kinda....erm....weird....But all in good humor....

Song of the Day

I've always loved this Japanese song but yesterday Ah Meow sent me again...ohhh love it all over again...I kinda knew it existed before Lost In Translation cos I first heard in my friend Ken's place in Osaka when I was there in 1999 (omg...so long ago) but I didn't know it's a very old song. Ah Meow said it's like 30 years old....it's lovely...and a perfect song for a Friday...chill and relax....



It's called Kaze Wo Astumete and the lyric translation is something like this

As I was walking down a towering alley
In the outskirts of the city
I saw beyond the blotched fog
A streetcar still sluggish from sleep
Crossing over the sea

(Chorus)
That's why I want to gather the wind (under my wings)
Gather the wind (under my wings)
And run across the blue sky.

As I passed through a beautiful sunrise
I saw beyond the empty-looking breakwater
A city with its day-colored sails up
Moored in the port
(Repeat)

When I was killing time one morning
At an empty coffee shop
I saw through the cracked glass
The rustling of the high-rises' silken clothes
Brushing on the sidewalk