Am I awful?

Here's round two of trying too hard. Me and fashion. (Consider my eyes rolled.)

There's more to life but pink and green, but not much more:



I actually hate to combine pink and green because it's much too obvious and really trite. But I like these tights. I blame it on the shoes that the whole outfit doesn't work. And maybe on the shawl, which robs me of any neck I might ever have had. It seems I really have a tendency to be frightfully unoriginal and monochrome but I think it works better just like this:



Not least because it makes me the personification of this album cover:


I think I'll launch a series of outfits inspired by album covers. That should be interesting.

Because I am a conceptual person, I sometimes want things just for their name. That is why I bought the weird port wine like stuff that was called Lacrima Christi. That is also the reason why this unearthment overjoys me and why, despite the very strong likelihood that the drink is really disgusting, I really wanna try it:

La pastie ...

Colle de mon age.



It seems all I'm posting these days are Youtube videos. That's because I don't leave the house and have nothing to take pictures of, but myself, which I don't see a reason for. But I have been researching The Monochrome Set, so here's the cream of what can be found on youtube for you:
Jet Set Junta
(I wanna be the tamburine woman on the right!)


Jacob's Ladder

This is from their 1985 album. It's stylistically so very different from the early stuff I knew previously, that I first doubted that it was the same band. Maybe this was their mid-decade sell-out album ... the Monochrome Set Parklife.
It's still good, despite the Gospel backing vocals. It's also a pretty spectacular video if you ask me.

Eine Symphonie des Grauens

Early! Gloomy! Mumbled incomprehensible lyrics!
There are some parallels to Franz Ferdinand, I suppose. And his way of gazing into space/at the audience sort of resembles that of Alex Kapranos.

Argh, it makes me uneasy to try and write about music, and pretend I know something more about it than that I like it or don't like it. I don't! I am simply NOT an authority in this field. :(

So one must talk and risk lying?

I was just interested in Anna Karina's hair-cut but I found this amazing piece of Vivre Sa Vie. A discussion that is very much in the vein of some of my own thoughts at the moment ...

Purgatory.

I was just looking through old files in my Photobucket when I stumbled across this gem:



Well, being an NME reader did have its occasional upsides.
One thing it did for me was keep me up to date with what was happening in the world of pop music. I liked reading the reviews - I never thought much of their actual evaluations, but somehow it's nice to know what's going on out there, and also what the sort of "official" opinion on some music is. I'm not sure why I care, but at the moment I've just lost all orientation in terms of pop music. The way I feel now, in terms of music, is sort of like - warning, extended metaphor following! - you're walking through a new part of town, and you're looking around and liking it there, seeing all the familiar chain stores and coffee-shops you love, but actually you have no idea where you are, and wouldn't be able to pinpoint yourself on a map, and wouldn't know what direction to go in order to get to another part of town. That kind of thing always makes me nervous. I find it extremely reassuring if I can pinpoint myself on a mental map. I don't know what that says about me.

I need more time & I need to make a to-do list.

Toby, take a bow.

I love Casiotone.
I love this song.
I love the little boy dancing like Morrissey.

I've never seen you so awful
I found you at the bottom of a russian novel
Gold medal and a crown
A cardigan and a frown
All maladjusted and clever
The greatest smiths fan ever
Your picture in the papers
The captions shout
"There is a boy and he never goes out"
That same song on repeat
You haven't left the house in weeks
Won't even come out for dinner
Toby grace, world record winner
I guess you thought it'd make you feel better somehow
But heaven knows your miserable now
Heaven knows your miserable now
Heaven knows your miserable now
So toby take a bow.

Fish in the lake.

Fogos oder Zander

Here comes the shame ...

... and the sudden and urgent desire to emigrate to Australia.

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE AND BRILLIANT TRUTH OF THE DAY:




And an important video:

Colour me pinkly.

Johnny Flynn (and The Sussex Wit)



I first heard of Johnny Flynn about one and a half year ago - or should I say I just heard him - without the preposition? One of his tracks - Tickle Me Pink - was on one of those NME compilation CDs, and I loved the song. I did check him out back then but didn't find much as he was still pretty new. I kinda forgot about him after that, but yesterday I remembered the song and had a look around on his myspace and on youtube. And lo and behold, now the boy is signed to Vertigo, has an album out, and an impressive number of videos up on his "official" youtube account.
There is now a new version of Tickle Me Pink, as well. It's much poppier and sort of radiofied, I like it though.

Old version:




New version:



I'll order his album.

Chicken with its head cut off.

It was Roman Polanski's birthday yesterday. Long live Roman Polanski.

Vicious red ants:



Human life is confusing. I seek refuge in zoology.

I've just had a violent attack of perspective. It's not pleasant, it takes all the meaning out of what you have and value and stuff. I cannot help it, though. It's all so very ridiculous and I'm the most ridiculous of all.

Olympic heroisms ...

Everybody here is fangirling Usain Bolt for making a show of his breaking the world record on 100 m. Yes, very cool, but my heroes of the day are Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, the Danish 49er sailing team. The discipline alone is worth admiration. The boats are totally mad constructions, and my uncle (who is something of an expert in sailing) said that they tend to capsize even when there's no wind at all. Imagine what it means to sail them in a storm with waves that rise 6 feet high! (I might be exaggerating but the sea was certainly turbulent!)


Here's their story:

Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen borrowed a Croatian boat when their mast split on the way to the start.
[...]Warrer and Ibsen, leading their nearest rivals by 11 points, returned to the dock, swapped boats and raced it back to the startline. Croatia had already been eliminated from the competition.
Fierce gusts and choppy seas contributed to a dramatic medal race in which nearly all the 10 boats capsized at least once and two boats failed to finish.
The Danes finished seventh, nearly 12 minutes behind winners winners Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez, but that was enough to provisionally deny the Spanish defending champions gold by three points on their accumulated points total throughout the event.
(source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/sailing/7566734.stm)

Apparently it's still not clear whether they will keep the medal, because of some spoilsports' complaints. I'm certainly rooting for them, because a) fuck Spain and b) omg! Improvisation in the face of adverse circumstances! My heart be still.

Year supply of fairy cakes.

(Life is completely insane.)

We made a picnic in Laxenburg today. There is a huge park with a mock-medieval castle built by the Emperor Franz II around 1800.



The whole place looks like a fairy tale world. Appropriately we had made the kitschiest fairy cakes (with blue butter cream icing and golden and silver sugar pearls and loads of colourful sprinkles. They were slightly disgusting, but oh so lush.

Tomorrow I will be like totally serious and grown-up and productive. But tonight I will probably watch Annie Hall again and giggle myself to sleep.

British Invasion School Movie Music

Rushmore Soundtrack ... fucking brilliant.



Romantic, pre-cynicism sixties music ... fucking brilliant. Each song is like a holiday in a dream world.

This is not on the soundtrack but it's still excellent! I've heard of canned laughter, but canned squealing? Excellent!


Lovely, sweet song. Insert superlative.

I feel like that ...

... and the rest of the time I feel like Bertha Young.

I should sleep tonight, but I think I'll watch videos instead.

ANNIE HALL

What a brilliant film!
I love what both Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are wearing throughout the film. I think I'll make another post with my own screen caps some time or other, but these have to suffice for the time being.







Of course now I have this song on loop in my head. (Nevermind the slightly crappy video.)

Annie Hall leaves New York at the end
Press rewind and Woody gets her back again.

Have you ever thought about how now that tapes are being replaced by disks and chips, the concept of rewinding will slowly disappear from our collective minds and become obsolete as a metaphor?
Isn't that sad?
Says someone who is in need of a metaphorical rewind button all the time.

Der Abend geht bergab.

Yesterday, among other things, was the Shelter with Der Nino aus Wien, Liger, Poly Kommune and 2 unmentionables.



And, of course, highly mentionable: dj nicedayforamood.
Needless to say, I danced my feet to pulp. What else could I have done?


This songs belongs to a previous chapter of my life (not entitled San Francisco) which has very recently and very idiotically been revisited. Let's hear it then:



Why are there no 'official' Lucksmiths videos?

I would ideally like to be there with Peter Licht's Stratosphärenlieder as soundtrack:

Black&Whitest Boy Alive.

Picture: http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/07/you-little-stin.html

I want one. I am aware of the possible downsides of such a pet. But look at it! Love wins over reason.