Got that Monday feeling on a Friday

“My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think… and I can't stop myself from thinking. At this very moment - it's frightful - if I exist, it is because I am horrified at existing. I am the one who pulls myself from the nothingness to which I aspire.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea



I have nothing else to add. I shall retract back into my thoughts now.

Just a dream

It feels like it all finished before it even started. And now... Now what? Back to the real world. Back to daylight, the sounds of the city, your alarm, some sun.

What happens in Berlin stays in Berlin. Because the memories are all a blur.

Let's do it all over again.

REM

A dream
(within a dream)
Sleeping in consciousness
Prolonging the manifestations of the mind
and body; this is where happiness lies
No - no - it should not end
It is far too soon
to be awake -
Too late
.

Moments of Introspection

Off to Berlin in exactly one week and one day.

Berlin has a special vibe that I haven't felt in any other place in the world. Money is not the main driving force behind the city. A combination of factors have made it what it is today: the people, the history, the music. Everything feels authentic. You don't feel ripped off in everything you do. It feels just right. You can be who you are, or who you want to be, and no one will judge you. There is an ongoing energy that makes you feel very much alive.

My Berlin Pinterest Board has been updated with new places I'd like to visit party in. I have also created a custom-made Google map, because I am a geek, which I may or may not share when we're back. I have been looking forward to next weekend for too long.

A weekend of getting lost in deep sounds and dark rooms. A weekend of getting lost in the moment (as the Innervisions crowd put it) and at the same time rediscovering yourself. It's one of the funny things about clubbing for hours - you can reach moments of profound clarity, because at the very moment that you close your eyes the magic begins to happen. It's only you, and the music, and the way you perceive it.

In a similar way, daylight saving time has prolonged the night and the hours of darkness every day, forcing us to spend more time in the dark. Ironically enough, sometimes we see things more clearly in the darkness, with our mind's eyes. Surrounded by people, yet experiencing everything alone, in our moments of introspection.

Five minutes in the morning

That's how long it takes to add some creativity to your everyday live. I had a debate with a friend yesterday, about 'losing' creativity. Creativity and inspiration are not the same thing. Inspiration comes and goes. Creativity is instilled within you. You can't 'lose' it, because it's always there. You just need to be a little patient and persistent until it surfaces.

After having read Oliver Burkeman's very interesting article in the Guardian called Rise and shine: the daily routines of history's most creative minds, I realised that most of the biggest creative minds in history had - wait for it - full time jobs. But instead of letting this get to them, they managed to somehow fit their creative sessions within their already very busy days. They did other activities (taking long walks was a popular one) to get inspired and ensured they devoted a proportion of their day to their art.

How hard can that be? If you clear your head, sit down in a self-imposed quarantine and face a blank computer screen, or a piano, or a canvas, or whatever medium you choose to use, something will come to you. And if it doesn't, it's ok. As long as you try. Don't let 'real life' get to you - let real life be your source of inspiration. Let it be what structures your day, and your week, so you can base your moments of creativity around it.

Five minutes in the morning. Every morning, before work. Or five minutes before you go to sleep. That's all you need.

Franz Kafka worked for an insurance office

Summer in the city

There's something quite magical about summertime in big cities. Everything and everyone transforms. People are happier. The grass looks greener. Ugly residential blocks of concrete suddenly glisten with pride.

And suddenly, the days are longer, the nights are shorter, but you don't need the nights anyway because you remember how good it feels being in the sun. Suddenly, you realise that maybe you already have what you need. A terrace, a paddling pool, a group of friends, music and drinks. Dialogue-free scenes from a Sofia Coppola movie, with nostalgia quietly at work.

Time slows down, it's not your enemy anymore.

Then Monday comes. Every Monday feels like a small death. Every weekend that passes, a mini-lifetime that went by in flash. How could you have spent it differently? Could you have done more? Did you waste it doing nothing, or did you make the most out of it?

Snapping out of holiday mode, you make your way to work only to sit indoors and dream about being in the sunshine again. But it's not a bad feeling, because you know this time, summer's here to stay.

For now.

f@ck yeah

That is all. I have nothing else to say.

Free chocolate milk in the morning + this = I'm happy (ish, still can't get over this week's Game of Thrones episode). I can't wait for proper European tour dates. Not Reading festival. Not Leeds festival. Give us a proper London venue, and I'll be the first to stand in line.

DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT

PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK DAFT PUNK



I mean, this is probably not even the final version. But I can't stop listening to it and thinking of the beach, the sun and having a couple of these. (if you're too lazy to click on the link, it's a recipe for a smashed raspberry lemonade cocktail. Click away)

At least this year's music is good

2013 has not been disappointing when it comes to music releases. Yes, it's snowing in April. Yes, home is going through some (serious) sh1t, but a bunch of favourite artists are keeping us company through these cold, miserable times.

First of all, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - a horrible album cover, but the music makes up for it. I can hear the dance remixes in my head:



P.S. Karen O, you are mental.


Up next, DAFT PUNK!




And, to set a more sombre tone, Nine Inch Nails. The release of their new album will probably be next year, which means 2013 will be spent listening to all the Halos and praying for a How To Destroy Angels European tour.

The smell of sunshine

I remember sometimes

Tingles of excitement

The countdown has officially begun.

Ten days until crossing over the Atlantic for a bit of adventure, a bit of tourism, a bit of partying and a lot of eating.

I am notorious for being a little, ahem, overly decisive on what needs to be seen and done on holidays. Guess it's my nature as a planner (doesn't help that I do it for a living, either). Itineraries and outfits need to be carefully planned out, but I'm willing to let go this time and roam freely. Except for our time in the rainforest.

Google maps view of the Iguazu Airport 

For now, I've set up a Pinterest board which has been taken over by meat. I couldn't help it, and I'm not ashamed of it either. 

At the time of posting...

...this video only had 2.7m views.



Unacceptable.


Layne Staley's voice is just out of this world. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but with his shades on, Staley leaves you with no choice but to open up and hear every single emotion that is carried with every word he sings.

Perfect soundtrack to a grey, rainy London noon.

Caves and Fires - an exercise in ongoing writing while working

I'm having a Nick Cave/Arcade Fire morning. No deep basslines for now, no repetitive rhythms, no pads... Just 'proper' music. Sometimes a girl needs lyrics.

This blog post will be an exercise in ongoing writing while working. I will take you through my mind. It will be like Being John Malkovich, but without going through tiny doors or meaningless repetition of words.

So, another Friday and plans for the weekend are - to say the least - exciting. I am tempted to say 'eggciting' because of an inside joke that has been going on in the office, but  I won't. I'm lucky enough to have a 2pm finish today, which means I get to enjoy being in the cold for a little bit more.

It's 09:48 and Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) comes on:

Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
That we can never get away from the sprawl,
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight,
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.



Moving on. There's something about Fridays. Like you can achieve something, your time is here. Although small achievements come on an everyday basis.

Achievements of the week:

- Made great cake as therapy for having broken my iPhone's screen (RIP)
- Reached 1,000 words in my book of short stories (est. publication date: 2041)
- Made great soup on Monday, and great soup on Wednesday
- Remained calm in times of challenge
- Went to the gym despite having the excuse of a swollen ankle (entirely my fault)

Anyway, Fridays. There's something special about Fridays. Going out on a Friday night means you wake up on Saturday morning with a feeling of fulfilment and without the pressure of needing to 'do something' for the weekend to make it meaningful. I acknowledge that a lot of people are not like that, but in the world of twenty-somethings, the weekend is that special little chunk of the week where your time is not being controlled by the hands of a clock but by how you would like to spread it out.

A taster of tonight (in a large scale version). Ellen Allien doing her thang at Fly Bermuda Festival: http://www.be-at.tv/brands/bermuda-berlin-music-days/fly-bermuda-festival/ellen-allien.go?0

So. Excited. This is what Fridays should be like.

And, tomorrow I've got my first 'solo' gig in London. 5 hours of playing the music I like (you gotta be selfish sometimes) to my friends and hopefully other people with a taste similar to mine.



Midday. Usual lunch time, but as I leave work in a while I'm going to have late lunch. For now, it's CAKE TIME! With the amazing aforementioned therapy cake.

12:37 - Armed with tea and a sugar high, it's time for that final push towards the end of the working week.

Malkovich Malkovich.

Push The Sky Away

Nick Cave!

New album!

European tour!

I'm not big on exclamation marks, but this man deserves them (and sometimes likes to use them himself).

So, while randomly browsing my twitter feed and dreaming of pancakes, I saw a teeny weeny tweet about Nick Cave. And European dates.

Nick Cave. Probably one of the hottest ugly men out there. Because he makes hot music, and he has a hot voice.

The Guardian has kindly posted a full stream of the whole album. Enjoy it here.

I think I know you from somewhere

Soooo. SUN. Finally.

Of course it's still absolutely freezing, but at least we got a little bit of a vitamin D boost. I went out for a walk and cigarette on my lunch break, and I stopped at traffic lights on purpose, although I had the chance to cross the road (twice, at a leisurely pace), so I could stand in a sunny spot for a few more seconds.



In other news, Pinterest and tumblr have proven to be great methods of procrastination, although I've been cheating somewhat with the latter, as I've only been uploading my favourite photos I took using instagram.

In O' Level Geography, back in my glorious high school days (I'm sure I'm showing my age now, which isn't that tragic, but still), we were taught about the term 'conurbation', which basically happens once two or more urban areas start developing and growing to such an extent that they start merging with each other and turning into one. I feel the same is happening with the online and social media landscape.

The big question that keeps revolving in my head is when these will stop working together and start working against each other. It may become a case of the big fish eating the small ones, or people will simply fall back into their own networks of choice.

Cravings of the day

#1

Iced latte

(current outdoor temperature: 5°C)

#2

Donuts

On honesty to ourselves and to others

How honest are we?

Do we write things because we want someone to read them? Why post something online if you want to keep it personal? How private can you be in the world of facebook, twitter, instagram and smartphones?

Constantly connected, our lives are always on display to people we have merely brushed shoulders with on dimly lit Saturday night.

Things we have to admit to ourselves, things we have to admit to others. In that order? Not necessarily.

Writing in a diary or a blog is like an exercise in honesty. The more the readers, the more difficult honesty becomes. Honesty is perceived as a weakness, when it can really be a weapon. A game-changer. The most important and judgemental reader should, after all, be ourselves.

I told a friend I was bored, and she said I should write a blog post

The truth is, a lot of side projects, big and small, have prevented me from finding the time to sit down and write stuff that other people would like to read (or maybe not).

In the months leading up to the new year, I have been mostly preoccupied with:

a) Working (because I am a human being who is slowly finding her place in the world)
b) DJing
c) Planning events for said DJing
d) Relaxing
e) Reflecting

I have also been really bad at keeping my online presence updated. I renewed my flickr subscription, but I never posted any photos. My photo a day self-assigned project on tumblr turned to a photo a month, or old batches of photos being uploaded sporadically in an attempt to keep it alive. In the meantime, I went on instagram (shame on me) and started tweeting - all acts of time-saving and simultaneously holding on to the concept of being online, being social and being discoverable (and a little bit narcissistic).

It's a free world. We all do what we can, as Cat Power poignantly sings in her husky voice. 2013 will be a year of doing what I can. It's good to try and find out how far you can reach, but it's also important to do what you do because you want to do it. No stepping over dead bodies should be involved, obviously. But writing is not lethal (though the tongue may be an unruly evil, full of deadly poison etc), and trying to keep a blog won't kill me. So I'll try. No pressure.

Point is, it's ok to let go sometimes, enjoy the ride and just do things you enjoy (within the responsible human being boundaries mentioned above), because this is a forward-moving train and there's no going back.

Exhibit A: Me, pigging out on new year's morning, at 8am, after 6 hours of djing.

Random Poetry Post: E.E. Cummings - 'pity this busy monster, manunkind'

'pity this busy monster, manunkind' pity this busy monster, manunkind, not. Progress is a comfortable disease: your victim (death and life safely beyond) plays with the bigness of his littleness --- electrons deify one razorblade into a mountainrange; lenses extend unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish returns on its unself. A world of made is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this fine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence. We doctors know a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go E. E. Cummings Make the most of this Friday, and every other day. illustration by Evan Robertson

Peeping Tom

I always had a thing about looking to see what's in other people's private spaces. The inside of bags, the inside of houses, the inside of their heads... I guess it's a natural curiosity. So, I was pretty thrilled when I stumbled upon Freunden von Freunden.

As they put it in their own words, We are an international interview magazine that portrays people of diverse creative and cultural backgrounds in their homes or within their daily working environments. 

This, in very simple terms, means hours of fun and inspiration. Flats in Berlin, lofts in New York, houses in London and everything inbetween. 

Here are a few of my faves (pics taken from the site):

  

Study time!

Time to take care of unfinished business.

http://unlike.net/berlin

http://wikitravel.org/en/Berlin

http://www.xlr8r.com/files/magazine/pdf/XLR8R_101BCG.pdf

Club der Visionaere 

Berghain

(edit from the future: no photos of Panorama bar exist, and rightfully so. You should see it to believe it)

Tresor 

(photos look great but they're not mine)

Love is a struggle

 Truly beautiful video and sounds from Soulade.

 (warning: not really suitable for work)

A glimmer of hope

Saschienne are such a breath of fresh air. Their sets come from the heart and are the opposite of calculated. Yes, the songs complement each other, but some of the choices are unexpected and that's what makes them so unique.

  Saschienne's Clubberia Podcast by Kompakt

Music to travel to

...either mentally or physically.

Moderat - Rusty Nails

Beautiful music, beautiful video.

I can't wait for Bloc.

So long, djay (for iPad)

I have a feeling this is going to be a good one: http://djworx.com/musikmesse-2012-mixvibes-cross-for-ipad/

Just another Friday night in London

Soundtrack for the weekend 9.0

Haven't posted one of these in a while. And, although it's grey and miserable outside, I am tanned and carefree. It's time for the weekend and I'm listening to this piece of genius.

Mellow times

Spring is here, though it doesn't really feel like it (thanks, England). At least we always have good music to keep us company.

Play and Eat

We went to see Zach Braff's All New People at the Duke of York's last night. Our seats were great (second row, Zach himself literally spitting on us) apart from the parts where scenes projected on a screen which meant our chins were pointing to the ceiling for short-intervals. They didn't last too long, though, so all in all it was a highly enjoyable experience. I will not ruin the plot for anyone, so all I have to say is: Go watch it.

Zach Braff wrote, directs and plays in the whole thing. Like he did in Garden State. Which is one of my favourite movies, ever. This doesn't reach that particular high, but it's still fresh, modern theatre with a plot and themes that almost anyone can relate to. The rest of the cast is great too. If it's not sold out, go watch it.

Being in the West End meant that theatre, naturally, was followed by dinner. We headed to Hix Soho, which I was very excited about. Sadly, it failed to meet my expectations. Oh well, at least pudding was nice. I might go back there to visit the bar or have wine and oysters.

(photos not mine, I was too busy watching the play to take pictures and the food was not worth remembering)

Good ol' Jack

This man is like fine wine. If he could ooze cool in bright red outfits, there's not much that can be said about him now.

Somebody stop me

I keep thinking it's Friday. This is a problem because:

a) I tend to be unproductive on Fridays

and

b) It's Thursday.

The problematic nature of point b) is self explanatory. Point a), on the other hand, means that I tend to do a lot of browsing when I'm being unproductive. Having recently joined Pinterest, I thought I'd start using it. What's better to 'pin' on your board than a bunch of wonderful(ly expensive) things you'd like to own?

I've already ordered 3 pairs of Knockarounds (I hope they arrive before my trip to Marrakech) and I'm having epic handbag cravings. Must. Resist.

Knockaround Chocolate / Amber Premium Sunglasses, $14

On their way!

Prada Tote, €1,330

Definitely not on its way.

Gastrorgasmy: Burger & Lobster

I finally made it. I have been to exclusive London clubs, I have been to expensive London restaurants, but I have never felt a place to be so close and yet so far away from me. The monstrous waiting times (my first attempt at going was cut short when the lady at the door told us we'd have to go back 3 hours later - and that was at 8pm) and the fact that I have a full-time job meant that I would probably have to wait for weeks, maybe months, until I'd make it.

Patience is a great virtue though, and so is willpower. Armed with these, and a good friend, we went, we put our names down, and headed to the pub. We were told we'd have to wait for at least an hour, so after two hours and two glasses of wine had passed without receiving the telephone call we were so desperate to get, we took our chances and headed over. Luckily, our table was just getting prepared for us, so we sat down straight away.

There is no food menu; just one for drinks, with a good selection of cocktails, spirits and beers, and a rather limited selection of wines. I was a bit disappointed with the small choice we were given for wine, especially given Goodman’s amazing wine list. You can only famously eat one of 3 things (or all of them if you feel like it) once you’re in – burger, lobster or lobster roll. We went for a lobster roll and cheeseburger, split in half. They were great. Good food makes me happy. I was definitely happy once I started eating. The food also arrived very quickly, which kind of made up for the two hours wait. The burger was fantastic, although my bun was a little bit crunchy and I would have preferred it softer. The lobster roll was delicious and highly recommended. Looking back, I’d say go for the lobster or lobster roll. They feel a little bit more ‘special’, plus you can get good burgers in many places around London, with about a quarter of the waiting time.

The wonderful lobster roll

The sexy burger (with the slightly crusty bun)

There's always a little 'but'. Despite the food (and atmosphere) being fantastic, waiting for two hours when we were diplomatically told ‘at least one’ was a bit frustrating. What was more frustrating, however, was that despite the service being excellent and our waitress being very friendly, we got the feeling we had to get the hell out of there as soon as we finished our meals or else we’d be getting kicked out. Pushy yet polite, our waitress gave us the dessert options and when we said we didn’t want any she brought us the bill because our table was about to be given away. This meant we spent two hours waiting for one hour of dining, which was not disastrous but it made the experience feel a little bit less special, which is a shame.

Was it worth the wait though? Definitely? Would I go again? Of course, but I’d give it another week. I need to hit the gym now.  

Food: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Drinks List: 8/10
Service: 7/10

Overall Rating: 8/10

Looks like originality isn't dead yet...

No need for intros, just watch:

Happy Pancake Day

Fuck that. Bring on Burger and Lobster.

In other news, I've decided to bring my tumblr back to life. A photo a day shouldn't be too hard, right?

Stay curious

The Future Belongs to the Curious from Skillshare on Vimeo.

A bit of hope on a Monday morning.

Random Movie Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Had this lying around for a while, but I want to get into the habit of writing them, so here goes:

Before I ventured on my regular Sunday night cinema session, I had come across a number of different views on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Having deliberately avoided critic reviews, I only had friends’ opinions and an IMDB rating of 8.2/10 ‘polluting’ my intention to view the film from a purified viewpoint. It was one of those rare occasions where I had not read the books (which I am ordering right now on Amazon), but, given the obsession of today’s film industry with converting books into films, it was kind of refreshing to be able to watch a movie without thinking about plots gone wrong, missing characters, cheesy scenes being added and things not going quite as I had imagined.

The movie kicked ass. Yes, it was slow at times, yes, it could have ended 20 minutes sooner, but this was a movie of subtleties as much as it was in your face. Apparently faithful to the book and the original, the plotline remained interesting despite the villain being quite obvious from the beginning. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a good, somewhat familiar story being retold by an excellent narrator.

Fincher is a notorious perfectionist, and you can see that in every scene. His direction of Mara, in particular, is astonishing. Her character is communicated in an ever so subtle yet decisive manner. In her sex scenes with Craig’s character, Mikhel, she is always on top, and makes it obvious she is there with her own satisfaction as the end goal. Rooney Mara herself has given an award-nomination-worthy performance, communicating a lot by saying very little. Lisbeth Salander’s character is disguised in a veil of mystery, and Mara’s performance lets you see through that; sometimes. We never find out where the dragon tattoo came from – there are only fleeting glimpses of it, and Blomvkist’s comment that he likes it after he spends the night with Lisbeth. We know it’s there, but most of the time it’s concealed beneath layers of black fabric and leather. Fincher only lets us look at it once every now and then, but he won’t let us get too close, in the same way that Lisbeth does not let anyone get too close to her. The only person she shows some affinity to, apart from her guardian, is Mikhel. He happens to be the only one who sees and comments on her dragon tattoo.

The soundtrack? Well, I am biased, since over the past few years Trent Reznor slowly reached a godly status for me. So, yes, the soundtrack is great. I only wish it could be louder at times, like the amazing hacking scene in The Social Network. But, given how many layers of production this movie is lying on, the music eventually is part of the whole, merging with the sounds of the whistling wind, the dialogue and the dark colours that have been cast on the snowy landscape. Apart from the stunning opening credits, of course, but everything's been said and written about them already. It's worth paying for the ticket just to walk into the theatre, salivate over them and walk out.

As the film finished, I was left feeling bittersweet. I enjoyed watching the movie, but what seemed like wrapping everything up at the end suggested that Fincher may not be coming back to direct the next two movies, if they still stay in the pipeline.  

Overall rating: 8/10

Breaking rackets

A great article was sent to me by a friend on Friday:

Of Baghdatis, the pain of losing, triumphalism and destruction

You need to watch this first, if you haven't already. In case you weren't aware of what happened last week in the 2nd round of the Australian Open, fellow Cypriot and mildly crazy person Marcos Baghdatis broke four tennis rackets in less than a minute, in a manic frenzy of anger venting.

What I would disagree with is that Binoo K John, the writer of the article above, overlooks another key point - that it's not just about winning and not losing. It's about not knowing what is going wrong, not knowing how to fix it, not wanting to take the blame and putting the blame elsewhere. Being lost in a particular moment where resignation is not yet an option but it can very soon be the only possibility.

Resignation, according to British philosopher Bertrand Russell, is not to admit defeat, but to recognise that your personal efforts can have no impact on certain events whose development and conclusion lie beyond your control and powers. No matter how much he has been criticized for this, it has been overlooked that he finishes everything off with a smile. After escaping the Bacchic frame of mind that he temporarily entered, Marcos returned to his normal disposition which is what made him one of the most likeable tennis personalities of recent years. He wins the next set but goes on to lose the match. He does what is within his powers, and then he resigns.

Thierry Henry and why going back to the past is not a bad thing

Thierry Henry proves that returning back to past is not always a sign of a retrospective acceptance of current failure. Actually, maybe that's exactly what it is. But it also shows a sign of bravery to accept that you were once happier and more successful than you are now. And you'd like to go back to that, and you accept that.

Happy New Year

 Let's sit down and reflect.

The Enchanting Element of Music

As compelling as the original video, this live performance of 'Pass This On' recreates the same conditions but in a real life situation.

This is a brilliant live act that reflects the genius of The Knife. There is an underlying eroticism in the video that almost makes you feel dirty and voyeuristic watching it.

Aural sex

Fincher, Reznor, Karen O my God.

RA Top live acts of 2011

Resident Advisor just released their top 20 live acts of 2011, as voted by fans.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1420

I have a lot of catching up to do. Especially with some of the gentlemen in the top 10. Nicolas Jaar, in particular, is going to be huge.

Snapshots of a modern revolution

I bumped into this person's photoblog today. She (I believe it's a 'she' we're talking about) has managed to get into the heart of the uprisings in Greece and capture moments of immense beauty, ugliness, pain, happiness and, above all, truth.

Find them here: http://flavors.me/murplejane#3f5/posterous

Dream-like pop sequences, warm chords and ethereal voices - the trademark sound of French duo Air, who have been commissioned to provide a new soundtrack for George Melies' 'La Voyage Dans Le Lune' (Trip to the Moon). They have expanded this soundtrack into an album. Seven Stars, featuring Beach House's Victoria Legrand, is a new song from the album.

What a treat.




(Although, I must confess, the chord progression is a little reminiscent of David Gray's 'This Year's Love')

"People just get the pentatonic scale!"

A short, fun video that made my day.

A thing of sheer beauty

Sunday music doesn't get any better than this:

The Waste Land

IV. Death by Water
Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,  
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
         A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers.  As he rose and fell
He passes the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
        Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

The best representation of Angry Birds I've seen to date

Groove Noir

Fantastic set, can't wait to listen to this on my new babies:

http://soundcloud.com/timtor/tim-tor-groove-noir-16-06-2011 by Tim Tor

The perks of living in London

You get to see bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform live.

Magic.

I was there. It was worth it. I would do it again.

London by bus

London Bus Tour from moritz oberholzer on Vimeo.

Watching the world go by from a London bus window. Just a reminder that it's not a bad idea to enjoy the journey sometimes as well.

Now that it's raining

London in 3D

An attempt to make London look much more beautiful than it actually is, whilst making an accidental homage to SimCity 3000.

This is surely fake. Where did the sun come from?

Celebrity mugshots

Endless fun not-so-suitable for the whole family:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrities

Now every average existence in the world can feel like a better person.

It wasn't just Steve who gave grads inspirational life tips

Here's Jeff Bezos' commencement speech to the Princeton University's class of 2010.



(you can skip the really long intro and go to 06:20 for the real deal)
Transcript:

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives." My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we'd join the caravan. We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.




At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"



I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, "Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."



What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.



This is a group with many gifts. I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.



Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans -- plodding as we are -- will astonish ourselves. We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life. In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications. I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton -- all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.



How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?



I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles -- something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world -- was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.



I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.



Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.



How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?



Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?



Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?



Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?



Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?



Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?



Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?



Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?



When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?



Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?



Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?



I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!

Funniest ad I've seen in a long time

BBC Live Lounge picks

The Kooks - Pumped Up Kicks Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Calm the fury in your head

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Autumn melancholy music

When you've found something special, you just know.

LFF - Tomorrow

'Tis my favourite time of year. London Film Festival = Oscar Movies.

Never gets old, never gets boring

Angry Monday music.

For IKEA sadomasochists, like me

http://www.ikeahackers.net/

You can make loads of cool stuff, like a cheese grater lamp, for example.

Innovator, Visionary, Inspirer

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html



Thanks for everything. RIP, Steve.

Apples on Fire: Better or cheaper?

This is not your usual case of David versus Goliath. Because when the two parties involved in this digital fistfight are known as Amazon and Apple, then Goliath vs Goliath is the humblest way one can describe their most explicit head-to-head battle yet.

The Kindle Fire is a small and sexy piece of gear. It's not as sleek or out there as the iPad, but it's a case of 'good things come in small packages'. The iPad screams bigger and better. Bigger screen, more space, camera, longer battery life, more apps. 3G.

So, what's the big win the Kindle Fire is going for?

Well, price of course. With the initial price tag at $199 (around £130), Kindle Fire is £270 cheaper than the lowest-priced piece of Apple tablet goodness. If you don't splash out half a grand on a piece of gear, the fear factor immediately diminishes. You use it more, you take it with you more, you don't crap your pants every time someone else holds your baby in their hands, thinking they might drop it any minute now. If your cup of tea is reading and web browsing, then the Kindle is all you need. When it comes to multimedia entertainment, however, the iPad and it's badass screen are clear winners.

An interesting possibility could be current iPad owners also buying a Kindle to satisfy their thirst for entertainment for shorter journeys where the iPad might be a bit of a pain to carry around.

Only time will tell. 40 days to go. Apple has plenty of time to react, but can sit comfortably in its throne for now. Especially with the imminent release of the new iPhone.

Beating aging

This talk by Cambridge researcher Aubrey de Grey suggests that people can extend their lives to live for at least an additional 50 years. His theory is that aging is a disease, and there are ways to cure it.

Long and dense, but interesting.

listentofeist.com

No, really. Listen to her. She's great. So is her new album, 'Metals'.

It's such a breath of fresh air to finally get a new 2011 album that doesn't bring you to the brink of fatigue when you listen to it.

Dirty rock

Great riff.

Arctic Monkeys - Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair

Nice Way to Start Your Week 6.0

Some quality house to welcome the first afternoon of the week in good spirits.

The end of the Summer

Time to meditate.

It doesn't have to be loud to have energy

Some underplayed creepiness here, masterfully delivered by the king of contrasting atmospheres, Trent Reznor and his sidekick Atticus Ross.

Beautiful Symmetries

The world is where we live from WWF on Vimeo.

An amazing short to promote the WWF.

Inside North Korea

AP Asia chief photographer and bureau chief were granted unprecedented access to parts of North Korea, in an attempt to offer a wider coverage of the nation in its isolated condition.

In some cases these can be appreciated more as artistic pieces than photojournalism, but viewing them still is a worthwhile experience.

Find them here.

There's no place like home

And there's nothing like amazing design ideas from all over the world to make you want to make yours even better:

http://freshome.com/

Sometimes I just want to go pretend-play in IKEA.

Soundtrack for the Weekend 8.0

Where do YOU want to go?

We are the generation that travels. "Moving is living", says George Clooney's character in Up In The Air, and today's youth seems to have grasped and embraced this concept more than anyone.

Travel is now a common interest, so much so that it is not even mentioned as something special by some, because it is something that should already be implied and assumed about people our age.

This infographic demonstrates this trend in a dual manner, showing the trends and preferences for young and educated people. The trends, unsurprisingly, since the majority of young people in developed countries end up receiving some kind of education (and 'education', in this case, has not been defined), are similar for both groups. The only minor shifts are noted in Europe, where distances are shorter and the Eurozone has given European youth its blessing for easier and more frequent travel between its member countries.

Curiously, the BRIC countries are AWOL.

A taste of things to come

The new Chilis single has finally been released. A couple of first impressions:

1) The guitar melodies during the chorus are great, but I have a suspicion the sound of Frusciante will be greatly missed in this album. His epic riffs during verses and the ability to twist everything he plays into something new are very much absent from 'The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie'.
2) "Hey now"? Uncanny, non?
3) The funk is very much alive.
4) Release date is August 30th - a long time away, and RHCP are usually my summer music, but since I'm stuck in rainy England in the middle of July it really doesn't make a difference anymore.

Why does generation Y buy?

Another interesting look at our generation, this time by getsatisfaction. But, FYI, not all of us are hipsters.

I think one of the most interesting points in the infographic is not given enough weight, and that is the fact that we are massive information-sharers, which, in today's age, is equivalent to the gold-miners in the 19th Century Gold Rush.

Nice way to start your week 5.0

Soundtrack for the weekend 7.0

Short and sweet

Shot entirely with a phone. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy.

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

I Need Fresh Blood

As a warm up to the first episode of the new True Blood season, and since I've been 'convinced' to wait until Friday to watch it, I found this article on Rolling Stone that will just about manage to keep me going till then.

Rainy summer days are for introspection

...and for discovering new music.

At least we've still got music to remind us that it's summer somewhere

Taken from μιτσωκαμώ σου: mojito_παραλία

Steve Bug - URB Podcast - May 2011 by R_co

Thanks Theo!

Let's get together

Creating an emotional connection with your customers is a must - creating an emotional connection between your customers, however, is a much harder thing to achieve.

The new Bacardi advertising campaign, which has to be my favourite of the year till now, seems to be doing just that.

Trent setting foundations for Oscar no.2?

Trent Reznor and Karen O cover (remix?) of Led Zep's 'Immigrant Song', taken from the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And the film will be released for Christmas. Exciting times.

"Life's too short for the wrong job" campaign

See them all here: http://www.epidemicfun.com/2010/lifes-too-short-for-the-wrong-job-cool-and-creative-ads/

When you know what you feel like...

...but not exactly.

http://musicovery.com

Retro dance summers

lateral thinking

the end is the beginning is the end

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.

Sweet as honey

The Black Keys - Act Nice and Gentle

little bit of this, little bit of that

Saturday afternoon procrastination

http://www.livincool.com/

Sweet melancholy

Richie Havens turning back the hands of time

Shake your hips like battleships

Jack White transforms energy into music.

ouch.

Advertising is all about being in the right place, at the right time.

(only in NYC)

Sometimes less is definitely more

The Four Icon Challenge aims to summarize entire books or films in just 4 images.



Check it out here.

Still a work in progress apparently, but one I'll be coming back to.

Feel good video of the month

I'm a-coming

photo courtesy of Savvas Stavrou

The Times They Are A-Changin'

I heart viral campaigns

Especially when they are promoting anything that J.J. Abrams made/makes. Like Super 8, which I'm super (sorry) excited about.

I know this great little website

'cause London's a big, scary city, and sometimes you need to know where to go:

http://www.greatlittleplace.com/

(Also, Timeout reviews mostly suck.)

Good idea, maybe a site redesign once enough info is gathered will make it more user friendly.

Wikitime?