Rome - 3 (Colosseum)

Today was somewhat cold yet sunny. We went to the Colosseum area. As soon as you get out of the metro you have in front of you this 2000 years old beast: the Colosseum. It's massive and impressive. There are quite a lot of informative panels and interesting things to see and learn. Hard to imagine that this thing is still standing after all these years. Also hard to imagine that people came here for quite barbarous reasons, at least to us in this time and age. After all this walking around the place we decided to go grab a bite near. We had coffee and sandwich and of course it was expensive because we sat down (yes really, sitting down here means paying twice the price or something... dumb). Anyways afterwards we headed to the Roman forum and Palantino (which is really a hill). A lot of ruins in this area and of course a lot of walking! A lot of these places we heard about in history lessons and it's fun to see them for real. They are all quite impressive. Right now there's archeological work there so some sites are blocked off. Nonetheless it was educational. There was a small exhibit with the Chinese emperor terracotta warriors near - juxtaposition of two major empires in human history. We then decided to head to the Capitol. There was a Van Gogh exhibition but we didn't care about this since we saw his paintings already. We went to  free exhibition of some Italian actress from the early 1900s. The room was warm and that's all we really needed anyways since it was freezing today in Rome. We then went to the main building and some kind of exhibition on the Italian new republic and the Italian flag. It was more or less interesting. We then came out near the Plaze di Venezia. Finally the front of the Capitole - very impressive! Very nice ¨modern¨ building. We then walked back to the Colosseum metro and it was freezing... Came back to the hotel, relaxed a lot then went to eat. Took us 20 minutes or so to find a restaurant. There was one with a lot of Asians inside and the waiters were so lame and weird with us that we left! First thing they ask us is if we are tourists - what?!? Finally we found another nice family owned restaurant with Italian customers. Food was great as usual, wine was cheap and atmosphere was friendly. There's something about Italian restaurants and photos of Fernandel...

Rome - 2

Vatican museum - many interesting artworks by Michelangelo and Raphael. Sistine chapel was so interesting - so many paintings that we've seen so often in our lives and used in so many contexts. I felt that a lot of those paintings were actually less impressive once there - they were used so often that we'd imagine that they are huge and somehow illuminated or something to be obvious. The whole chapel was restored recently I think because they all look sharp and so colorful. The museum is huge but there aren't that many popular pieces, except if somehow I missed a huge chunk! The Saint-Peter square is huge and is very impressive no matter how often we've seen in on tv. There's a big Christmas tree and they are preparing something else near the obelisk. The interior of the basilica is grand and even though there are tons of visitors it's very calming. I'm not a church specialist but I was surprised to see how many chapels there were inside. We went in the crypt where all the popes are buried. Of course we can't see the whole thing as most is blocked from entry but no matter it's interesting. Of course John Paul II is popular (!) and apparently there's the resting place of Saint-Peter, but I think it's debatable if he's really buried there. There's also a possibility to go up the dome but we had to pay and we don't think it was worth it. Interesting how the Vatican is considered a state but there's no border or anything, only a big wall around the city-state. We attended a mass also - after all these things to see we almost forget that it's a church after all! One thing we found unpleasant there is not the place but the amount of people that want to sell us tours and crap and they are quite annoying and pushy and of course full of crap. Rome city officials should ban this stuff.
We changed money finally and the rate is terrible - we should've exchanged money in Montreal but didn't. Anyways exchange offices are terrible - we were lucky to find a travel agency that exchanged money with a decent rate (but still bad).
After a full day of walking we were quite hungry. We found a couple of restaurant but I was reluctant to go in because the staff was Indian or something and honestly I'm in Rome so what the hell. We finally found a nice family run Italian restaurant and very typical. Found was awesome and we were quite pleased. We then came near the hotel for coffee and the best tiramisu ever at Primi. By the way I don't know if it's the case everywhere but if you order cafè in Rome it means you really want an espresso - wow that really wakes you up!

Note to self: Cafè d'orzo = barley coffee... hehehe

Rome - 1

First of all some delay in Montreal because of freezing rain and\or snow. Then Amsterdam - nothing to talk about really. I think Dutch are tall people! Rome, Rome, Rome - why are you so angry? Damn I go to two currency exchange counters and both are angry, then we have have this guy trying to almost bully us into getting on a bus to our hotel for 30 euros (hello it costs 16 euros to take the train to our hotel). Then another currenct exchange counter with some guy really insulting the woman at the counter and of course me being the next customer she's angry at me. By the way I've never seen such high exchange rates in my life - screwing people 101. Good job guys, Of course it's my fault - should've changed money in another country than Italy!
Then we take the train to the nearest station near our hotel. All goes well on the train - except of course when I bought the tickets: the man at the counter was of course angry for now reasons: slamming the tickets and the change on the counter without saying a word. Sorry dude for not talking Italian because I honestly don't know why you're giving me attitude.
Then from the inter-regional train station we took quite a while to find the hotel - of course not indication whatsoever of the hotel name on the building. At least the hotel is reallly nice: modern and clean with good price. We have a big balcony but useless in this Roman winter weather.
We went to the a family restaurant around the hotel. Funny thing is the restaurants schedule: Romans apparently go to eat around 19:30 and I think restaurants close from 16:00 to 19:30 (something like that). So strange. Korean would be unhappy and even Canadians. So before dinner and because we had time we went to a really cool café (with DJ!) to drink the best caffé latté and a pretty good sandwich. Then we walked and found a family restaurant that was deserted at 19:30, The waiter was really nice to us and we had a great dinner - 1 liter of wine for 7 euros: super cheap! Good pomodoro spaghetti, veal and apetizers including squid!
Let's see what tomorrow will bring. We are right next to the subway so it's good for that.

Randomness of life

Ended up on some blogger's site - try to find the picture! And the odds of a fellow co-worker of finding me in random pictures she was looking at is so unbelievable...

http://blog.naver.com/ichufs/30094418342

Disabled kids in Korean public school

Ah Korea... It's all well and fine to have disabled kids (or mentally challenged) in your public schools but it should not be that way. For example today, some disabled kid went ape shit. He had so much anger in him and a wanting to destroy and hurt everyone. It was a non-pleasant experience to say the least. Now this kid as no reason to be in any classes since he can't follow anyways. The funny thing is that there are special classes for these kids in school - why they aren't all the time in there is beyond my comprehension. I keep getting told that parents want them to be in regular classes. What the hell? It shouldn't be their decision. The school or government should control this. There's a limit to how much someone can be part of the group even if this is Asia. I do understand that the parents don't want this though. I'm somewhat surprised at this liberty of choice regarding this matter in a country where there's such pressures to always conform to things. In this case it seems that they would want (or dream) that a disabled kid would somehow look and act like a so-called normal child. It's ok Korea there's nothing to be ashamed of - even Japan has disabled kids (yeah I had to slip that one in). Of course these kids are not always creating problems. Most of the time they are the quietest in class and also most of the time I'm really wondering who's the "normal" kid.

Insa Art Space

Great place to see lots of works of arts by new and old artists. Went there for the first time and will go back for sure!

Insa Art Space web (cool design) link

Chungmuro International Film Festival in Seoul

Went there this Sunday and saw a short films program as well as a Chinese movie (Distant Thunder) which was pretty crappy. The short film program had 2 awesome shorts: 1 Canadian (Junko's Shamisen) and 1 Swedish (Tussilago). Both were experimenting with animation and live action and I was thoroughly impressed.


For more information: link

Many pictures

Recent trip back home and Toronto: link

Kuala Lumpur: link

Singapore: link

Singapore and KL part 2! link

Random airports: link

Strange things: link

so there you have it for those that are not on Facebook

Listenings - Arcade Fire

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire (2010) There are very few albums that are as lengthy as this one (around 63 minutes) that I'm not tempted to skip any songs or hope that a particular song ends.This is definitely the best album that I've listened to this year. It's got all that makes Arcade Fire the band to pay attention to: great arrangements, lyrics that are as meaningful as we want them to be and some experiments in terms of genre (Sprawl II comes to mind - Blondie-Abba?) Lyrically, its in my opinion about the alienation that comes from living in an ascepticised planned out suburbs and at the same time it questions our modern day living. As with any work of art everyone will find its place in this album be it a place that you feel nostalgic about or that you never want to live in, this album will hopefully speak to a lot of people. "Sometimes I can't believe it. I'm moving past the feeling." 9.5/10 more info video (Ready to Start live at MSG directed by Terry Gilliam)

Blood Like Lemonade by Morcheeba (2010) First album I hear from them (which is sad since it's their 8th). When listening to this I instantly thought of Massive Attack. Electronic trip-hop rock soul-ish sang with a beautiful sensual voice by Skye Edwards. Sounds like too many styles in one but that's what it really is. It's a delight to listen to on a rainy day, wanting to relax and not worrying about anything. When done listening to the album you're left with a bittersweet feeling. Musically interesting and sang with such feeling that we feel that we came out grown up, but there's a sense of melancholy and dread that permeates the air when all is said and done. 8.5/10 more info video (Even Though)

Back in the RoK - round 2

So it seems that I'll be going for round 2 in Korea. Only time will tell if it was the right decision. Many things on my mind as to what I should really be doing here aside from the obvious which is work and making money. I'll start writing a lot more - at least that's the plan.

Inception

Inception by Christopher Nolan (2010) USA

Four weeks ago, I had never heard about this movie. Then I bough an issue of American Cinematographer (which was extremely overpriced here in Seoul) and got interested in it although nothing was said about the plot. The article was well written and very informative about the photography in the movie. I then saw the trailer and got even more interested. Now I've seen it, really enjoyed it and I don't know how to re-construct this movie so that it makes sense in my mind. Christopher Nolan played with time and space in this movie like we've rarely seen in movies recently. It's reminiscent of Memento, which he also wrote and directed.

Now for the movie; in order to understand it we must look for answers on-screen and on the soundtrack. We must also understand the logic and rules that the movie sets up, namely for sleep travelling. So you have an architect who apparently creates "dreams spaces" in reality, which are then reflected in dreams (boundaries and mazes). You need a "kick" / trigger to wake up from dreams. If you die while in a deep dream, due to heavy drugs, you'll end up in limbo and might never wake up. You can also reach limbo by forgetting that you're in a dream. If the participants in someone's dream demonstrate that they know that they're in a dream, people (projections of the subconscious) around will react and will kick that person out of the his dream state.  Just trying to figure out how these dreams function is not easy. An architect design levels (like videogames) where dreamers (subconscious) fill up the space and moreover in the case of multi layered dreams, someone must stay behind to initiate kicks and make sure that people "wake up". So the main dream sequence is constructed by Ariadne, populated with Eames, Yusuf, Saito, Fischer, Arthur and Cobb. Fischer is the only person in there that is not fully aware of the intentions of the other subconsciousness / participants and thus the team can mess around with his mind. So because Fischer is unaware of these things, all dreams are populated with thugs and mercenaries which are subconscious representation of Fischer's "mental defenses training" that prevents people from playing with his mind.

This movie could be playing with our minds for the sakes of playing with our minds and thus we cannot re-construct the movie logically. Maybe there are also keys to understanding this movie which are not so obvious on screen. I'd like to think that what we need to understand in this movie is on screen. Cobb is grieving the loss of his wife and he misses his kids. Now what he does to find his kids again is the essence of the movie. And what an adventure it is!

"Their dreams have become their reality, they come here to wake up"

It's a rare time in movie history that I'm kept wondering about what I've just seen and not having discussions about the deep meaning of it (like let's say we could do after watching The Seventh Seal or The White Ribbon). We are kept wondering about seemingly simple things like, well, "What the hell happens in this movie?" ! We want to re-construct it so that it makes sense and we're really wondering if it's all a dream. Well first of all our first reaction is obviously "Oh! Is he dreaming this reunion with his kids?" Some people find it cheap to end the movie that way. But what if it's the whole point to keep us wondering and make us feel like being in a dream like state. As spectators when Cobb's totem keeps spinning we really hope that it will fall but then Nolan doesn't give us satisfaction, just a simple wobble which unless we actually see it stop spinning it does not give us any answers. Can we reconstruct this movie so that it makes sense to us and  that we are sure beyond any doubt that some scenes are taking place in the so-called reality. Ultimately Nolan forces us to think about what we've just seen and focus on many elements of the movie, not only its story, but also its editing.

Beyond a doubt there are going to be many answers to the question of "What happens in this movie?". And many of these scenarios will be plausible since answers are not given to us implicitly in the movie. Once again maybe that's Nolan's intentions. He shows us just enough elements to create a plausible story but in reality there are not enough of them to create something that would seem true to us. I would also go as far as saying that he's playing with our expectations of what a narrative is without being too experimental and "out there" in order for the movie to be this Hollywood blockbuster. Without a doubt, it will be a success at the box office because it is after all an action movie with cool effects à la Matrix and whatnot. Nonetheless within this blockbuster format Nolan goes that extra step to create something that plays with narrative like we've rarely seen coming from a studio production. It obviously helps to have crafted one of the most lucrative movie ever (Dark Knight). But that's an whole other discussion!

Quite often we see Cobb spinning his totem and feeling relieved, like him, that it stops spinning. We would expect that from reality; this object cannot spin forever in our reality. Let's not forget that Cobb mentions while in dream state, that if the totem stops spinning it means that he's in reality! Why don't we see the other characters looking at their totems to make sure that they are in this so-called reality? Of course they aren't the main characters so it could be the reason why no importance is attached to them regarding this. Either way he does spin it in the Tokyo hotel and it stops and then calls his kids. Important scene because if this is reality then most of the movie is explainable (well not all...) I've read on some forum that paying attention to Cobb's ring is an indicator of a dreamlike state and I must say that it's true. Most scenes that we would at first glance call a dream he wears his wedding ring and then when we want to see it the most, in the last scene, we never see his left hand clearly...

Take a leap of faith: we hear this twice in the movie: once from Saito and once from Mal. Strikes me as a strange thing to say since obviously in both cases his decisions would affect his faith be it in the real world or not. Could both characters be hinting that Cobb should jump out of his dream? Jump down a building to finally wake up? Mal and Ariadne do it but he can't...

Edith Piaf's song "Non je ne regrette rien" - I do not regret anything: how fitting for this movie. Interestingly enough Edith Piaf was played by Marion Cotillard (Mal) in the movie La Vie en Rose! This song is diagetic thus heard by characters. In my opinion it's a clear sign that using this is too close to being unreal - why would they use this song in reality? Why chose a song which theme is regret? Cobb is filled with regret and conveniently enough the "kick" music is about regret. How odd...  And why would they choose a French song? I believe that this song is used in dreams and this creates an issue since its used in the Paris scene which is a scene that most viewers would interpret as reality.

Cobb can't go back to the USA because he says that "they think I killed her" (Mal). Let's take a second to think about this because it's basically Cobb's whole motivation and the main plot of the movie. Now if Mal actually committed suicide and went through all the trouble to get herself diagnosed as suicidal and basically mentally unstable, why would Cobb leave right away like this since his kids are so important to him? All these events around him seem too complicated for them to be reality! A mysterious organisation chasing him (Cobol?), a man with so much power and wealth (Saito) that makes us wonder why he would go through all the trouble to get Cobb to plant ideas in Fisher's mind? Which makes me very uncomfortable since it seems that too many elements point to the fact that this movie was all a dream! Ariadne seems a little bit too comfortable with this whole dream travel thing. Of course if the world in which Inception takes place is completely aware of these things, it would not be such an issue. This whole easy acceptance seems too convenient to be reality though. Oddly enough, it does not seem like the real world in Inception is especially advanced, in a Blade Runner kind of way, which re-enforces this notion that whatever happens in the whole movie is really a dream.

In the end it's interesting that I started writing this wanting in order to find a logical explanation to the movie and finding reality and of course saying without a doubt how it end, but all I managed to do is find that it might just all be a dream. And in the end it's similar to the events in the movie: Cobb wants to find reality (his kids) throughout the whole movie and just when he thinks he found them it might not be reality... and this is where he wakes up again on the beach and finds Saito and tries to remember why he was there! Like Escher's stairways, which we see an example in one scene, this movie could be about Cobb's endless looping dreams. As soon as he thinks that he's reunited with reality (his kids), he becomes unaware that it's a dream and keeps on dreaming since I believe that he's stuck in limbo. So it's almost beside the point that we do not see his totem spinning to the end or not in the final shot, because the totem is not important!

Parts:
1) Cobb meets old Saito
2) Cobb mission in Saito's mind to find something
3) Cobb assembling a team to complete Saito's mission (Inception)
4) Mission/Dream 3 + 1 layers

5) Cobb meets old Saito (similar to #1)
6) Cobb in airport and home

Nolan uses the oldest trick in the book to start the movie with a scene that we'll eventually see later in the movie. It's been done often, for example in Kubrick's Lolita. In relation to the whole looping of the story it becomes much more than a simple editing trick. But it's not that easy since the movie does not end with Saito but with Cobb re-uniting with his kids. So if Saito kills himself in part 5 (which we don't see), it means that he wakes up in the real world but how does Cobb wakes up? Maybe Saito shoots Cobb then himself? Pushing it a lot since this relies on too many elements not seen on screen. Anyways between part 4 and 5 how does Cobb meet up with Saito? He seems to be waking up in yet another layer. Whose dream is it though? What's the kick? Is this limbo? Mal stabs him in the 4th layer of the Inception dream. So if he dies from this wound he would go to limbo, if he decided to give himself a kick like jumping off the building he would probably not be with Saito.

Who is Saito? If Eames can mimic somebody in someone else's dream, could there be any mimics in Cobb's dreams?

All in all, it's actually hard to point at things that would be beyond any doubt what we would call reality in this movie.

Digress:
Is Saito actually Cobb's father (as a mimic) that's testing him to see if he can let go of his deceased wife to get access once again to his kids proving therefore that he's finally able to live without her?
It would be too easy to say that most characters in this movie are only Cobb's projections and thus we are left with nothing that connects us to any reality whatsoever.

Recent readings - Then We Came to the End

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (2007) The office is often an inspiration for literature and movies. This novel is about a Chicago advertising company that is downsizing and the lives of each employees and work anecdotes. What makes this story interesting is how the author catches our attention with funny as well as sad stories about each characters. The totem incident is just one example of an absurdly funny sub plot that is to be found in this book. Interestingly enough, even the sad parts (ovarian cancer) can also be funny at times and simply humane as well. Anybody who has worked, or is working in an office can relate to many incidents and anecdotes in this book. The way it's written is also inclusive (use of "we") and we're drawn more easily in the story. I will stay tuned for more work from this author.

Recent Viewings - Silmido

Silmido by Woo-suk Kang (2003) Korea Back in 1968, North Korea sent a group of commando to try to assassinate S. Korea's president at the time. They failed but were not that far from the blue house when they got caught! They were known as Unit 124 back in the North. Shortly after, S. Korean government decided to create a similar unit which they called unit 684 to try to go to Pyeongyang and assassinate Kim Il-Sung. Interestingly, unit 684 was comprised only of convicts. They stayed on the island of Silmido for years before the government decided to get rid of them by killing them! Hearing of this, they try to make their way to Seoul to probably take their revenge. They got intercepted and they were killed or sentenced to death. This movie recreates the events surrouding unit 684, their training and their demise. The movie does what it should do pretty well. Training sequences are brutal, music is there to make us feel empathy for the unit, men who are at first annoyed by each other finally bound (they don't really have a choice anyways because they're stuck on this island). It's a politically charged movie although not so much in your face as it could be. Interesting to see how the S. Korean government handled this situation and never gave the green light for the assassination attempt. This movie left me wondering what if they actually went with the mission and succeed. This part of the world would be very different right now..

Listenings - Pantha du Prince, Local Natives, Memory Tapes, Love is All

	Black Noise by Pantha du Prince (2010) I've never actually listened to a full techno album before this so I'm not even sure after listening to it what to say about it. Sounds like lounge music to me and possibly dance floor material. I'm probably going to say this quite often: this is an album that can only do it's thing as background noise, at least for me. I doesn't feel appropriate for me to review this album either. No score... more info video (Stick To My Side)
	Gorilla Manor by Local Natives (2010) Fun sounding album with little hook. At least give us one or two memorable tracks so that we could have a reason to listen to the rest. I don't want to feel like it's a chore to appreciate an album (and this happens quite often indeed). I did not have a lot of patience for this album and I wanted it to end quickly. It still feels like they're having fun on this record... although it's the kind of party that I'm not sure I want to go to unless I want to get bored. 5/10 more info video (Airplane)
	Seek Magic by Memory Tapes (2009) A one-man solo album by Davye Hawk. It's a mix of different genre: dance, eletronica and a little bit of funk and rock. It's like if Hawk wanted to put in one album all the different genre that interested him. It all flows well though, it's not a compilation of random genres. The only problem is that it never actually lifts up! It's perfect music for a relaxing sunny afternoon though and for some reason I think it would play well in a cafe! There's also an extra track on another cd titled Treeship which is 22 minutes long (somebody made a 7:30 vid). While listening to this I was thinking that somebody should make a short animated movie with this track as background music. The whole song creates a narrative with only music. Something like La Planete Sauvage would be interesting. 7/10 more info video (Stop Talking - live but not a great vid)
	Ten Thousand and Ten Injuries by Love is All (2010) Great indie pop rock (yeah I know indie and pop don't really go together!) from this happy bunch of Swedes. The album sounds great (something to do with production I guess), the saxophone is an interesting addition to what we could call a punk-revival band, the length of the album is just around 34 min. which is like the perfect timing for an album in my humble opinion. If you did not know this band start with this and listen to their previous album as well (A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night). Thoroughly enjoyed this album. 8/10 more info video

Listenings - Dirty Projectors, Editors, Stereophonics, Julian Casablancas, The Horrors

	Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors (2009) The art of making unnecessarily complex music for listeners! My first listen was pretty irritating  I'll admit and for some reason, I can't stand David Longstreth's voice. Something interesting goes on in this album no doubt: beats and melodies change in the middle of almost every song: it's chaotic and unconventional that's for sure. The indie scene needs bands like this. There are many nice guitar pieces here. At some point, the 4th track (Stillness in the Move), you have this tune that out of nowhere sounds like some pop r&b song: I was wondering if my iPod shuffled the song by itself! Give it a try, maybe it'll be the best thing you've listened to in a while. It did not do it for me though. 6/10 more info video (Stillness is the Move - yo!)
	In This Light And On This Evening by Editors (2009) I was pretty disappointed by this album in the first moments of listening: where's the familiar sounding Editors? They took a different route here, going electronica with retro 80s synthesized sounds. Well it's a welcomed new direction; can't expect every band to just continue making albums like the previous ones all the time. Tom Smith's voice is just as incredible as always and ties things together. It's a good effort. Cheers! 7.5/10 more info video (Papillon - Later w/ Jools Holland)
	Keep Calm and Carry On by Stereophonics (2009) Nothing out of the ordinary from them here. They simply mix up faster tempo songs with slower ones and it works well. They did not try to re-invent themselves on this album. Do they really need to though? I'll listen to this casually nothing more nothing less! The album titles goes well with the album - stay calm people this is not an album to get too excited about! 6.5/10 more info video (Innocent)
	Phrazes for the Young by Julian Casablancas (2009) Dissimilar to anything he's done in The Strokes. Obviously there's his unmistakable voice which I think you either love or hate but there's also a lot of electronica as well. Yet another album with a retro 80s feel to it by time. He tried to mix a lot of sounds here and it worked pretty well for most songs. I just feel though that the second half is less interesting than the beginning (isn't this the case of most albums anyways?!), 11th Dimension being so much better than most other tracks. He's taken an interesting detour with this album. 7/10 more info video (11th Dimension - great vid)
	Primary Colours by The Horrors (2009) I was taken aback when I heard this album because it's very different than their previous one and I did not know what to do of it. This album is so much more experimental, yet there are familiar sounds from them in most songs, but which so much less aggression and trashiness. An interesting listen and I think that this kind of sound is what they were looking for in the first place. For some reason, I keep picturing images of monster flicks when I hear this album... and I guess that's the idea since they're called The Horrors! 7.5/10 more info video (Sea Within a Sea - long video that reminds me of a scene in Godard's Pierrot le Fou)

Listenings - Morning Benders, B.R.M.C., MGMT, Citay

Big Echo by Morning Benders, The (2010) Atmospheric, dreamy rock tunes. For some reason, and its probably because of the cover art, it feels like surfer music at times and there's also a sixties feel to this album as well. The first song is quite beautiful - watch the video and you'll know what I mean. There's definitely something going on here I'm just not sure what it is. I have a feeling of longing for something when I finished listening to the album. Random note: Chris Chu's voice is similar to Ash's singer. 7.5/10 more info video (Excuses)

Beat the Devil's Tattoo by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (2010) This album sounds heavy, and I mean heavy in the sense that it crushes you with its heavy moody sound that can be hard to carry (listen) at times. I really wished that I loved this album more than I did but I'm somewhat disappointed. It's too long in total length and many songs are also too lengthy. There's this feeling that I've heard this stuff before with little variation now. 6.5/10 more info video (Beat the Devil's Tattoo)

Congratulations by MGMT (2010) Their first album Oracular Spectacular had some very catchy tunes. Now if you're expecting something catchy from this album forget it. It's like they decided to make an album that another kind of crowd would like. Good for them for following their ideas through and doing what they like. I commend them for going in another direction with this new album. I'm left disappointed anyways. It's a somewhat pretentious album. The last song is titled Congratulation - congratulations for listening to the whole thing without skipping any songs! 5.5/10 more info

Dream Get Together by Citay (2010) The guitar work on this album is a mix of electric guitar solos and acoustic mixed in together perfectly. There are some instrumental songs which are right at home in this work. It's like listening to one big tune separated in 8 tracks (but it's not progressive rock...) I had no idea who this band was before this album and I'm pleasantly surprised. I you need to hear some good old hard rock (!) guitar tunes, this album will be just what you need do doubt. But who needs this kind of fix!? I for one did not know that I needed it for a couple of listens at least. 7.5/10 more info

Listenings - Spoon, Gorillaz

Transference by Spoon (2010) What was good about them in their previous work, namely Ga Ga Ga and Gimme fiction, is still here and more. No bs (indie) rock and roll from this this Texas band. Even when they try writing new kind of songs (for them) like The Mystery Zone or Nobody Gets Me But You, it works great in the whole ensemble. Listen to I Saw the Light - such a great rock song. After seven albums these guys are sounding better than ever and they definitely have their own unique sound. 9/10 more info video (Written in Reverse)

Plastic Beach by Gorillaz (2010) I've never really liked Gorillaz except a couple of tracks from their two previous albums (Feel Good Inc. will forever be a great track!), too many songs don't stand out. Stylo has a good, "dancy" beat and features Mr. Bobby Womack himself (Across 110th Street). For the rest of the album though, not a lot of tracks stand out. Quite frankly it was tedious to listen to it all and Sweepstakes has got to be the most annoying song ever written! The cover's nice... 5.5/10 more info video (Stylo with Bruce Willis!)

Listenings - Frightened Rabbit, Passion Pit, Gil Scott-Heron, Slow Club, Broken Bells, Gonjasufi

I'm going to do this new thing where I'll comment quickly on an album which I've listened to once. Usually I don't like anything on the first listen... should be an interesting experiment.

	Winter of Mixed Drinks by Frightened Rabbit (2010) Decent pop rock, I usually prefer something heavier with drums that ask for you to dance but nonetheless it's good music to play as you meander through a crowded subway in Seoul (!) Beats listening to Coldplay... 7/10 more info video
	Manners by Passion Pit (2009) Wow! I had this in my iPod for a while without actually listening to it. I've missed out on one of the best albums of 2009! Catchy beats and man are the 80s back or what! Listen to the track Little Secrets and tell me if this should be playing in clubs or not! 8.5/10 more info video
	I'm New Here by Gil Scott-Heron (2010) This guy has been around the music business for 40 years now! Never heard of him before. I probably would know him if I listened to R&B and rap. Never too late though! At something like 28 minutes and mostly spoken words with low key funky beats (and some acoustic guitar), I wasn't expecting anything, listened to it all and found it was very interesting. Short and lyrically charged. 7.5/10 more info video
	Yeah So by Slow Club (2010) Ok yet another duo consisting of Charles Watson on guitar and Rebecca Taylor on drums. Pretty relaxed music (warm?). Perfect for rainy days or a very relaxed evening. They are a great singing duo. Make me think of The Swell Season. I felt bored listening to this once though... 6.5/10 more info video
	Broken Bells by Broken Bells (2010) Thoroughly enjoyed this album. Love James Mercer's voice. Feels like each track is different. Nothing heavy or slow here, just the right amount of funky beat and melody! Funny how I can't really describe this album but I liked it. 8/10 more info video
	A Sufi and a Killer by Gonjasufi (2010) Wackiest thing I've listened to in a while. This album is all over the place but in a good way. Overall it sounds like really trippy hip hop with rock, punk, electronica, 60s revival of some kind, eastern music, spacy...wow! Gonjasufi's voice is almost dreamlike and rarely goes up a notch or two. He and his collaborators must have been on some heavy drugs while making this! Impossible to categorize but really fun to listen to. This will definitely bring you to a trippy place, high or not! 8.5/10 more info video (just the song Holidays with no actual video)

Recent listenings - Blood Red Shoes, Massive Attack

Fire Like This by Blood Red Shoes (2010) Pretty good follow up to their 2008 effort Box of Secrets. Drums and vocals (Steven Ansell), guitars and vocals (Laura-Mary Carter). Angsty catchy tunes! I prefer their first album but nonetheless this one has some familiar arrangements and some new beats for them as well! Love their voices and the "dancy" drumming from Ansell. 7/10 allmusic: link

Heligoland by Massive Attack (2010) Took them 7 years to come out with a new album. Well it's here and it sounds like it's 2003 again. It's not a bad thing but I was wondering how all this time did not make them change a bit their sound or try something new. In the end though, it's electronic trip-hop at its best. A very moody and atmospheric record with some great beats. Feels like one track with different moods. I think it's great music to play in the background while relaxing or reading a book! 7.5/10 allmusic: link

Recent viewings - Goemon, President's Last Bang, Fish Story

	Goemon by Kazuaki Kiriya (2009) Japan This movie is from the same guy that directed Casshern which was, as I recall, a pretty average movie but with a unique presentation (lots of CG) and one hell of a crazy fight scene! Basically he did the same kind of movie here with a big difference: this time the story is much more interesting (in comparison to Casshern's long and winded story). Goemon is basically a Japanese Robin Hood and of course he's an awesome fighter! It's his story intertwined with  Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Hattori Hanzo. The fight scenes in this movie are incredible and like his previous work the look of the movie is unique. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. And yeah the soldiers at the end really really look like stormtroopers! 7/10 imdb: link
	President's Last Bang, The by Im-Sang-soo (2005) Korea Historical drama, with some humor, about the last moments of S.Korean dictator Park Chung-hee who was killed by his own staff during a late dinner party. Even if I'm not well versed in Korean history, this movie was interesting for it's very dark sense of humor and historical sense. I loved seeing how characters reacted to this sudden event and how the perpetrators played it cool until the end. They all knew they'd get caught but they were convinced that their action was for the greater cause, which arguably it was. Park Chung-hee was S. Korea's dictator from 1961 to 1979. Interesting quote from the assassin (Kim Jae-Kyu) who was subsequently hanged after trial: "I shot the heart of Yusin Constitution like a beast. I did that for democracy of this country. Nothing more nothing less." 7/10 imdb: link
	Fish Story by Yoshihiro Nakamura (2009) Japan Incredibly absurd story spanning a couple of generations with a band, behind a song called Fish Story, as common thread. Basically a comet will hit earth in the present time and a record shop owner plays the Fish Story album. The story is so crazy you have to just see it! One of the weirdest movies I've seen in a while; but weird in a good way! There are some slow moments (like in all Japanese movies it seems these days) but it's quite entertaining. 8/10 imdb: link

Recent readings - Curious Incident, Beat the Reaper

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003) We follow Christopher a seemingly 15 year-old autistic boy (it's never actually mentioned in the novel if he's autistic or not). He discovers the dead body of a dog and he wants to investigate how this happened. His parents are divorced and he's a maths genius. The story in itself is not that fascinating; it's how this boy handles and lives through it that is genius. The story is pretty much told through his point of view and it makes us see the world differently in ways we are not accustomed to.

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (2009) Randomly bought at Kyobo bookstore in Seoul and read it in 2 days! Fast-paced, vulgar, filled with crazy situations and unforgettable quotes. It's basically about Peter Brown, a doctor and ex-mafia hitman. He's telling us in flashbacks about his past life while in the present he's working on 48 hours shift as a doctor (on drugs to stay awake!). It's like reading a Tarantino script. Apparently if you like the tv show House you would love this book - but I haven't seen this show so I'm just quoting critics for this one! Quotes that I have to share: 1) p.110: Calling a tongue piercing "cosmetic" is a bit of a stretch, since you don't get one because it makes you look better. You get one because you're so desperate for affection that you're willing to gruesomely harm yourself to advertise how well you suck dick. 2)p.189: [During a hitman mission with a first-timer] [...] I started to feel a bit embarrassed. Like I had some office job that sounded glamorous but really wasn't, and now my kid had come to visit and I had to show him how Daddy waits all day and night in the mud and then sneaks into people's houses to shoot them in the head.

Recent readings - Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami - what a discovery! He was probably read a lot in Asia and before coming here I had no idea who this man was. I've read two novels recently and both were page turners. His descriptions of things are so vivid, there's suspense, sex, science-fiction, sheep men, Johnny Walker and so much more weird yet interesting elements. Also very interesting is how he always mentions music in his books; if you're familiar with the songs (classical or pop) it adds an element to the reading. There is symbolism to be found that is for once not annoying to me. It's pop literature at its best - and you don't need to be Japanese to appreciate it either!

	Kafka on the Shore (2002) Kafka, 15 years old, leaves his father's place to find his mother and sister. Nakata, whom we follow in the even chapters, is an old man that talks to cats and sets himself a mission to find lost cats. Both souls will somehow connect / converge as the novel progresses and we are not sure if any of it is real. Surprisingly enough, it's those moments of unreality that makes the novel so interesting. We are constantly wondering what the message is (if any!) while being entertained.
	Dance Dance Dance (1988) A commercial writer, a sheep man, a one-armed poet, a thirteen year old girl with the gift of clairvoyance, lots of sex and murder as well! Really a novel about alienation, finding love and human connection. Enjoyed it and I felt that Murakami had fun writing it too!
	Norwegian Wood (1987) Toru Watanabe hears the song Norwegian Wood (Beatles song by the way) and reminisce about the 60s and his university days. He befriended two girls, both very different from each other. One, Naoko, ends up in a sanatorium following the suicide of one of their close friend, while the other, Midori, is this girl that has no inhibitions whatsoever! A novel about finding love and the meaning of it, about alienation and sticking to your principles. There are many references to music and literature in this novel. I often felt the need to either find the song and listen to it (and believe me there are many) and also learn about some books that I've never read (like The Great Gatsby).