Dec 8th, 2006 by Ashley
Fell in love with this song in the summer of 1999. We were in Jasper, lying in bed, watching MuchMusic. The MV mezmerized me somehow and the image of the pot plant imprinted in my brain for years. I have always had a thing for Canadian Rock. Prozzak, Simple Plan… and I Mother Earth. I think it’s time to revisit Blue Green Orange.
Dec 7th, 2006 by Ashley
能說是上一次當學一次乖嗎?
心跳快停止的感覺很恐怖, 但是說實在搞定後的快感也是不錯的.
well, 往好處想, 至少這不是在昨天穿著短靴裙子時發生的… 穿那樣在一堆機器與cable間爬來爬去焦頭爛額一定更令人沮喪!
a hectic day of work…
just got home, exhausted.
reward myself with a bowl of instant noodles.
炒青菜, 洋蔥磨菇湯, 紅酒蜂蜜烤雞腿… 通通閃一邊涼快吧!
(虛脫)
明明壓力也不是很大, 心事也不算太煩亂 (是有那麼一點), 這幾天晚上卻一直睡不著. 昨天最嚴重, 今天撐到中午, 幾乎都不能 function 了, 偷偷在車了窩了十分鐘, 感覺有好些, 但到現在腦子像塊石頭壓在裡面一樣 (等下四點整昏沉馬上又要襲來, 更要不可收拾.)
昨晚在床上翻來覆去, 腦子硬是清醒的不得了, 只好起床抓了前兩天借來的連城訣, 這原本是我堅持只看一次的金庸, 但最近覺得自己要訓練面對人性黑暗面! 所以逼自己重看連城訣. (聽說余為魄的歷史武俠更加黑暗, 也許我該挑戰一下?) 扯遠了. 覺得自己沒道理失眠, 唯一能想到的是昨天晚餐的三大杯桃子冰茶. 但我一向不會被茶啊咖啡這些東西影響的啊! (倒是有喝酒喝到腦子太亢奮睡不著…) 難不成年紀真的 kick in 了嗎? 我不想變得跟雞脖子一樣晚上連可樂都不敢喝啊!!! /_\
無論如何, 至少我還是都能一覺到天亮, 也許該知足?
(最近實在有點 indie mood)
The Hush Sound (DuPage, IL)
兩張專輯都還 ok, 聽聽可以, 但沒有讓我狂熱愛上的元素.
Fratellis (Glasgow, Scotland)
Whistle for the Choir 讓我無可自拔地被 Fratellis 打動, 天真可愛直接而甜美.
Strays Don’t Sleep
與其說是一個團, 不如說是 singer-songwriter Matthew Ryan 的一個音樂 project. 清新舒服. (到現在還買不到 ><)
The Raconteurs
Jack White 與其他人的新 project, 第一次聽很驚豔, 第二次聽覺得普普, 第三次聽又很喜歡, 第四次聽又覺得沒什麼... 真不知該拿它怎麼辦. 是不是在聽 The Raconteur 的心情差很多啊, 不知道到底該不該買下手.
再來就是 Brit-Pop 板上 Hyde 大的 2006 名單. 衝動之下就下了 Islands [Return To The Sea], Destroyer [Destroyer's Rubies], James Dean Bradfield [the Great Western], Hope Of The States [Left] 與 Graham Coxon [Love Travels At Illegal Speeds], Sonic Youth [Rather Ripped], Morrissey [ Ringleader Of The Tormentors],Josh Ritter [The Animal Years], the Delays [You See Colours]. (the Decemberists [Crane Wife] 之前就聽過, 起初覺得新鮮, 但終究仍不是我的那杯茶.) 搞不好 Hyde 對音樂的口味跟我南轅北轍, 不過多聽無妨. 有些東西若非人介紹, 是怎麼也不會去碰到的. 上述幾個團吸引我的原因: Islands - 民謠風+吉他搖滾, Destroyer - 動人的吉他聲線與歌詞, James Dean Bradfield - Manic Street Preachers 的 vocal + lead guitarist, 但曲風與 Manic Street Preachers 截然不同, Hope Of The States - post-punk 搭配弦樂, Graham Coxon - blur 的前吉他手, punk + 英搖, Sonic Youth - 芭樂好聽, Morrissey - 特殊古典質感, 勃發的英搖旋律, Josh Ritter - 空心吉他, 民謠, the Delays - 平凡無奇卻又惹人憐愛的青春期心情.
還蠻期待的, 今年聽的新團很少, 大部份都是在挖老東西. 像是前陣子狂聽的 Fastball 前兩張, 不然就是一直重覆聽清爽溫柔的女聲, Keren Ann, Katie Melua 之類. 團的方面, punk 大量減少, 忽然之間 punk 有點太年輕了 (是我老了嗎?) 反倒是 alternative rock 怎麼都好聽. 以前不怎麼喜歡的 indie 也可愛了起來.
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Dec 6th, 2006 by Ashley
beautiful song I heard on my way to work. (yes, I love country music.)
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Dec 5th, 2006 by Ashley
1) got up on time this morning (would be even more perfect if I can have breakfast at home),
2) Chelsea beat Levski Sofia 2-0 at noon, scored by Sheva and SWP(!!!)
3) there’s gonna be a Xmas party and white elephant (thought there won’t be one and was depressed) after getting the email, I was super happy. couldn’t help myself but running (well, just walking very fast *_*) in the office and sharing my joy.
4) went to Club Sport and took advanced step. was warned that it’d be hard, but not feeling like running to nowhere, I stayed. It was kinda difficult as it’s my first tmie but I enjoyed it pretty much. spaed and steamed as usual. showered and relaxed on the sofa reading 連城訣 as I waited to cool off.
5) made 三菜一湯, shared with roommate. It’s nice to eat with someone.
6) Heroes was super good. (just watched it after dinner)
7) got some work done at home. (almost ran to the office because of some silly mistake, fortunately it’s a false alarm.)
8) Beaujolais Nouveau
Dec 5th, 2006 by Ashley
It’s a horrible movie in all.
I don’t like Woody Allen. He’s a weird little old man. However, I try not to discard one’s work just because of the kind of person he/she is. (不因人廢言) Afterall, I did enjoy his eccentric sense of humour in Bullets over Broadway and Scoop. (He showed us how great Scarlet Johanson can be.) But not this time. I felt sad for the 101 minutes of my life that I can never take back. Also, I highly suspect that Woody Allen made this film just because he wanted to sing.
Nevertheless, there’s always something stirred up my thoughts. Near the end of the movie, Woody Allen asked Goldie Hawn, “Why is it so important?”
Yeah, why?
We know what the right things are; we know what are essential in life. But those seem irrelevant matters to us in an irrational way. We sometimes stop and ask ourselves, why is it so important? We don’t necessarily know the answer, but it’s a living fact we cannot defy. We make our decisions upon rations and irrational instincts, or we shall say, our hearts. Our feeling is what makes us different. Without it we’re just a bunch of rules and equations, aren’t we?
It’s always a pity that you glance the possibility of life but are not able to fetch it. You feel lost. You probably get mad at yourself, or others. However, everything was rosy before the glance. You’d ask yourself what’d changed. Of course, it might break the false content you have for your life, but it can also just be something different, no more and no less. Life lives on. You’ll adjust in the process of learning to let go.
Dec 4th, 2006 by Ashley
入手. 這幾天把兩張 Fastball 都收齊了. (2004 的 Keep Your Wig On 還沒聽過 /_\)
All the Pain Money Can Buy 在車上陪了我好幾天, 聽了一次又一次都不會膩. 嘶聲唱著 The Way, 也有點不回頭遠行的意境啊, 即使只是回家的路上. 還有 Out of My Head, 跟著搖頭晃腦.
剛拿到的 The Harsh Light of Day, jewel case 十分駭人, 我以迅雷不及掩耳的速度拿出裡面所有東西, 換上本來裝 Windows 2003 server 的殼. 將 CD 丟進 player, Miles Zuniga 開始對我唱歌. Vampires 跟記憶裡一樣, 悠悠的騷動著血管. 這張專輯比 All the Pain Money Can Buy 要來得有層次, 也獲得許多樂評的讚譽, 卻始終沒有成功打進市場.
Dec 4th, 2006 by Ashley
In an episode of Shark, Stark investigated in a murder of Julie’s school friend A. They learned from A’s family that A’s been listening all the time to one mix CD some friend gave her. B’s boyfriend C claimed that he made the CD for A; however, he didn’t remember what the songs in it were. Stark went home and asked Julie whether she’d remember the songs she handpicked for someone she adores wholeheartedly. She answered, “Of course, I’ll never forget.”
The rest is not important, but her answer kept me wondering… what about me?
I came across a folder the other day, uncovered some not-so-long-ago-but-seem-distant, was-gonna-give-them-to-someone-but-didn’t stuffs. There were 17 songs. I went through most of them. They were all very good songs. But I knew I could not have remembered all of them if someone’d asked me the question. What does that say about me? I…
Forget about me. Would you remember?
Dec 4th, 2006 by Ashley
(Still playing: Virgin UK)
They just played Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol + Martha Wainwright. I can never resist duets, in Chinese or in English. DJ mentioned while the song faded that Marthn Wainwright is not going to participate in Snow Patrol’s tour because she has her own studio project to work on. Instead, Lisa Hanningan will join Snow Patrol on the tour! I was head over heels for 9 Crimes performed by Damine Rice and Lisa Hanningan days ago. It’s surely a nice surprise! (Even though it has nothing to do with me… She’s not joining them for the US tour. alas.)
So I went to check out Snow Patrol’s official site (some might wonder, why a fan of acronym kept using Snow Patrol instead of SP. Well, there’s only on SP in my dictionary and it’s Simple Plan.), saw a piece of blog Gary wrote today. He mentioned how cold it was in Portland and also a book he’s been reading Grab On to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way, which he considered his book of the year. I’ll probably check it out. Oh and by the way, Nathan Connolly’s of his own charm as usual. I still remember the way he looks on stage! (L)
feeling tired today, even though I got up around 11:45. went to church, had late lunch with R and S, shared their great news and hung a bit more.
got home around 5, felt energy-less. took a nap for an hour and then reluctantly went to work. somehow ended up at the gym, exercised a bit, spa-ed a bit, steamed a bit and cleaned myself up. headed office refreshed, found Carolyn there. kept her company (sort of) for a hour or so, left empty-stomach and headed for desert. had chocolate souffle a la mode in mind, instead got a closed sign. disappointed, went to Wal-Mart to check out something, didn’t find what i like, went home.
had Chinese pan cake in mind. had it with Mi-So soup and a glass of OJ, pairing with a dose of Sports Night. SN’s the highlight of the night. Now I know what I’m gonna do during TV hibernation period.
dont want it to be Monday tomorrow. but won’t stay up because not wanting the night to end. still got lots to figure out. still have time too.
nite.
Dec 3rd, 2006 by Ashley
It’s always nice to get back to Virgin UK. It’s been quite a while. But it’s like a faithful friend. Whenever I turn it on, it can always refresh my spirit.
Adorable song by Fratellis, active since 2005.
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Dec 1st, 2006 by Ashley
過程中我對自己說,
“慢慢找, 反正不急… 終會找到自己最心愛的酒架. 不用為了要酒架而隨便買一個. ”
“到目前唯一看上的, 竟然 unavailable.”
忽然覺得自己好像不是在講酒架一樣, ho.
偶爾會回去看看小時候的自己, 有時是不經意的晃到, 也許是在翻找雜物的過程遇到坐在台階上傾訴感情的自己. 那樣仰望著天, 笑容從眼中湧出的樣子其實是蠻可愛的, 但又會覺得尷尬. 因為那些洋溢在空氣中的欣喜 感動與不安早以被打包收好, 甚至可能揮發不見, 剩下只有似遠若近的記憶以及想像. 寬容時則溫柔回顧過去的點滴, 品嚐曾經被撩起漣漪的心情; 但當受過的傷, 跌過的跤, 那些旁人與自己的不夠美好倏地擦身而過, 僅僅只是擦身也捲起一點點難堪與不悅.
踩錯一個步伐後, 要如何面對自己是一個課題.
Dec 1st, 2006 by Ashley
The season’s here.
(playing Anthony Callea & Sylvie Paldino live version)