Saturday, 31 January 2009
Esprit muss es haben.
Loving this video. Even though it has a subtle disturbing element to it.
I need scarves, woollen hats and socks. I'm going to Stockholm next Thursday and I need tipps.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
This is the aural phase ... it's menacing.
"So I'm on BBC 2 now,
telling Robert Rotifer
how I made it."
Alex Kapranos,
sublty altering lyrics
In other words: Franz Ferdinand yesterday were absolutely fabulous, as were the Rakes, and even Deichkind were relatively enjoyable. I really do not regret spending so much money on the tickets, they've obviously still got "it", and I can't wait to get my hands on their new album. I'm listening to it right now on myspace, re-animating pleasant memories from yestereve. I think my favourite song might be "No You Girls Never Know". Closely followed by "Bite Hard". No actually, I can't make up my mind.
The weather outside my windows yesterday:
Meanwhile, my mood is dangerously close to what I'm not sure I dare call serenity. Maybe it's the weather these days. Maybe it is some weird mixture of denial and coping. Maybe my Samaritan complex has been triggered and I'm just on a sort of moral high from having a mission to fulfill. It might be any one of these, or all of them, or something else. Maybe I should stop psychoanalysing myself? Nah, never!
Oh no, I scared the fawn.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
In defense of letters (against technology)
Alexander von Humboldt to Aimé Bonpland:
"I entreat you to send me, in a letter, and soon, your beautiful face, drawn with a drawing pencil for a Louisdor, nothing but a sketch, the profile. I will refund expenses (in a tender way). Not a Lady, but the king desires it. He is having a Chimborazo-picture painted. We are in the foreground, I with a sextant, you sitting on the ground, sorting plants. Likeness is wished-for, the smallest drawing is enough. Don't you forget it. You are, as justified, on the way to immortality."
(Forgive the translation, it was done in a rush. I am not quite sure what he means by refunding expenses in a tender way? I'll leave it up to your interpretation. Haha.)
Hell yes! Back in the day people knew how to write letters. (They were also all completely gay. Of course. But that is irrelevant now.)
This is just an ordinary, everyday note, dealing with business, actually, though between friends. Nothing special at all. Still I'd probably sell a number of valued possessions if in return, I could get hold of someone who'd send me letters like that. Or any letters at all.
This century is despicable, in that respect. We're so lazy, so impatient: text messages, emails, skype. Bah! Takes away the sweet pleasure of anticipation when you walk downstairs in the morning, open the post box, find a letter. The unparalleled feeling of - gently - opening the envelope, and holding a physical piece of paper in your hands, a letter, much more permanent and reassuring than the ephemeral email, which disappears so easily, at the press of a key. The letter remains. You can smell it and touch it and press it to your heart, let your tears fall on it and smudge the ink. Carry it outside and read it on a bench in the garden. Keep it in your notebook, to re-read whenever the fancy strikes you. Until it has gone dog-eared and soft from so much use. Then place it in a secret drawer and forget about it, until you are old, and wise, and stumble across it some day, looking for sealing wax, and the ancient, yet familiar words will unearth some nostalgic emotion in your heart, and kindle a flame that interferes with your pace-maker and finally kills you. On a sunny day in June, outside, on that aged, greying bench in the garden, that aged and greyed with you. And you die. But happy.
ALL BECAUSE OF LETTERS!
Tell me a similar story that involves e-mail. See? No chance.
"I entreat you to send me, in a letter, and soon, your beautiful face, drawn with a drawing pencil for a Louisdor, nothing but a sketch, the profile. I will refund expenses (in a tender way). Not a Lady, but the king desires it. He is having a Chimborazo-picture painted. We are in the foreground, I with a sextant, you sitting on the ground, sorting plants. Likeness is wished-for, the smallest drawing is enough. Don't you forget it. You are, as justified, on the way to immortality."
(Forgive the translation, it was done in a rush. I am not quite sure what he means by refunding expenses in a tender way? I'll leave it up to your interpretation. Haha.)
Hell yes! Back in the day people knew how to write letters. (They were also all completely gay. Of course. But that is irrelevant now.)
This is just an ordinary, everyday note, dealing with business, actually, though between friends. Nothing special at all. Still I'd probably sell a number of valued possessions if in return, I could get hold of someone who'd send me letters like that. Or any letters at all.
This century is despicable, in that respect. We're so lazy, so impatient: text messages, emails, skype. Bah! Takes away the sweet pleasure of anticipation when you walk downstairs in the morning, open the post box, find a letter. The unparalleled feeling of - gently - opening the envelope, and holding a physical piece of paper in your hands, a letter, much more permanent and reassuring than the ephemeral email, which disappears so easily, at the press of a key. The letter remains. You can smell it and touch it and press it to your heart, let your tears fall on it and smudge the ink. Carry it outside and read it on a bench in the garden. Keep it in your notebook, to re-read whenever the fancy strikes you. Until it has gone dog-eared and soft from so much use. Then place it in a secret drawer and forget about it, until you are old, and wise, and stumble across it some day, looking for sealing wax, and the ancient, yet familiar words will unearth some nostalgic emotion in your heart, and kindle a flame that interferes with your pace-maker and finally kills you. On a sunny day in June, outside, on that aged, greying bench in the garden, that aged and greyed with you. And you die. But happy.
ALL BECAUSE OF LETTERS!
Tell me a similar story that involves e-mail. See? No chance.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Everything you need.
People tend to be slightly bemused when they come to my flat and find out that I don't have a full length mirror. That means that when I want to see myself in all my glory, I need to step up on a stool, and the bathroom mirror is just sufficient.
I'm currently caught up in a lot of uni-work, and Everything You Need by Adem.
but what do you do when your heart's gone
with everything you need?
It's at that point you've got to choose
to stay or go you're bound to lose
everything you need
Oh Laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day
You got your stuff you packed your bags
You checked your things made sure you had
Everything you need
You upped, you left, you went away
To love, to fight another day
'gainst everything you need
Oh Laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day
You severed your ties
Left us all behind
You said all your goodbyes
To everything you need
You severed your ties
Re-forge them make it right
Come back with open eyes
To everything you need
'Cause moments they can turn to dreams
And hopes and wants can sometimes seem
Like everything you need
But treated bad then left alone
You cried, we said to come back home
To everything you need
Laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day laa daa day
You severed your ties
Left us all behind
You said all your goodbyes
To everything you need
You severed your ties
Re-forge them make it right
Come back with open eyes
To everything you need
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Monday, 19 January 2009
One of those realities ...
Jon Brion - You Can Still Ruin My Day
Isn't this excellent? I like the lyrics. They sound very true, just maybe not quite yet.And the video really makes me wanna ride my bike through soft spring sunshine.
Edit: I found another one that needs posting:
It's something unattainable
That you can't live without
And now the unexplainable
Has you riddled with doubt
Things begin Things decay
And you've gotta find a way
To be ok
But if you want to spend the day
Wondering what it's all about
Go and knock yourself out
Why we're put in this mess
Is anybody's guess
It might be a test or it might not be anything
You need to worry about
But if you're still in doubt
Go and knock yourself out
Break.
I got up at 7 today. There was blazing sunlight.
I felt sterile and slighly embarrassed, as usual when I "get over" a period of enhanced emotionality. Something had dried up, shrivelled up in me. The feeling of resignation.
The sunlight, and the thin, melting layer of ice, snow, winter, under my feet had a sort of kathartic, cleansing potential. I felt precarious, poised, slightly fragile, but under control. Maybe the thing that needed controlling had flown away.
I went to one lecture, but decided that there was not much point in staying for the other one, as the slightly oppressive atmosphere and lack of natural light in the auditorium were weighing down both my eyelids and my mood. I broke out of it, and went for a walk instead.
I don't know if this is something that only works for me, but if I am sad, and feel unwell in my own skin, I go somewhere I have never been before. It doesn't have to be spectacular. It's enough to take a slightly different route through your own district on the way home. You can find extraordinariness while filling in blank spots in your cerebral cartography. The city makes the start, and the light will do the rest.
Exist solely in the things you observe, turn yourself inside out, and purge the inside completely.
It's interesting how only being alone, and completely by yourself gives your the opportunity to get real detachment from your self.
When I returned home, the door to the attic, which is right next to the door of my flat, was open. I could not resist, and had a look. If I could, I would move in there, despite the dust. Madwoman that I am, I need an attic of my own.
I felt sterile and slighly embarrassed, as usual when I "get over" a period of enhanced emotionality. Something had dried up, shrivelled up in me. The feeling of resignation.
The sunlight, and the thin, melting layer of ice, snow, winter, under my feet had a sort of kathartic, cleansing potential. I felt precarious, poised, slightly fragile, but under control. Maybe the thing that needed controlling had flown away.
I went to one lecture, but decided that there was not much point in staying for the other one, as the slightly oppressive atmosphere and lack of natural light in the auditorium were weighing down both my eyelids and my mood. I broke out of it, and went for a walk instead.
I don't know if this is something that only works for me, but if I am sad, and feel unwell in my own skin, I go somewhere I have never been before. It doesn't have to be spectacular. It's enough to take a slightly different route through your own district on the way home. You can find extraordinariness while filling in blank spots in your cerebral cartography. The city makes the start, and the light will do the rest.
Exist solely in the things you observe, turn yourself inside out, and purge the inside completely.
It's interesting how only being alone, and completely by yourself gives your the opportunity to get real detachment from your self.
When I returned home, the door to the attic, which is right next to the door of my flat, was open. I could not resist, and had a look. If I could, I would move in there, despite the dust. Madwoman that I am, I need an attic of my own.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Too long now
My life is somehow running through my fingers.
If I manage to piss a single more aspect of my life up the wall, and lay another brick of humiliation upon my heart, or hang it from a hook from the skin underneath my eyes, I'm going to break.
I lack any more words.
If I manage to piss a single more aspect of my life up the wall, and lay another brick of humiliation upon my heart, or hang it from a hook from the skin underneath my eyes, I'm going to break.
I lack any more words.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
None of the above.
I love this song. It's spot on, and it's got some of the most beautiful imagery and words ever. Ignore the "video". Just listen. It tends to hit the tearjerker-button underneath my sternum quite ferociously.
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Tube shoes!
Check out Above and Below London's Recycled Shoes - made from old underground train or railway seats (and also, old rubber tyres!) How absolutely cool!
There's various prints from various lines:
Bakerloo
District Line #1
District Line #2
But actually, I think I like the Central line one best. The colours are nicest.
There's various prints from various lines:
Favourites:
Central
Bakerloo
District Line #1
District Line #2
Naturally, out of principle, I'd have to have the first District line one, which is of course famously featured in this painting:
But actually, I think I like the Central line one best. The colours are nicest.
Monday, 12 January 2009
You've touched my heart ...
The time slot between Zyklus I and Iconography is just long enough to cook some delicious brokkoli and cheese pasta, and to post some pictures from the concert at the B72 yesterday:
Hjaltalín (Iceland)
It was a wonderful concert, not least because I was surrounded by a number of much liked people, and of course, fuelled by my renewed Iceland obsession, I was full of euphoria (even though their lyrics are, sadly, mostly in English) just because they were there!
Listen to some of their songs: http://www.myspace.com/hjaltalinband
They're excellent. Their album is out some time in February, or was it March? I've got it already. :)
Unfortunately there are no pictures of the wonderful support band (or artist) Effi, who is from Graz, and makes lovely, sweet, heart warming, and enthuseating music using a loop thingy! (As you perhaps know, everyone with a loop thingy doesn't have to try very hard to win my heart).
Some voices were heard stating that Effi was indeed more happifying than Hjaltalín themselves. I almost dare say they had a point. So for lack of pictures, check out his myspace instead: http://www.myspace.com/effimusic
Hjaltalín (Iceland)
It was a wonderful concert, not least because I was surrounded by a number of much liked people, and of course, fuelled by my renewed Iceland obsession, I was full of euphoria (even though their lyrics are, sadly, mostly in English) just because they were there!
Listen to some of their songs: http://www.myspace.com/hjaltalinband
They're excellent. Their album is out some time in February, or was it March? I've got it already. :)
Effi (Austria)
Unfortunately there are no pictures of the wonderful support band (or artist) Effi, who is from Graz, and makes lovely, sweet, heart warming, and enthuseating music using a loop thingy! (As you perhaps know, everyone with a loop thingy doesn't have to try very hard to win my heart).
Some voices were heard stating that Effi was indeed more happifying than Hjaltalín themselves. I almost dare say they had a point. So for lack of pictures, check out his myspace instead: http://www.myspace.com/effimusic
Friday, 9 January 2009
Put your lips to my ear, turn your scream to a shout!
"Yes I can, yes I can!"
I've got new Final Fantasy songs that I've never heard before! :D
This turns my day into a smile.
And I feel like going on a road trip.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
One year from now?
The year went out with a whimper, like it had started with a bang.
These are just ghosts that broke my heart before I met you.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Alone we stand, together we fall apart ...
Today, I'm feeling like one of my favourite words: facetious
I'm determined to make fun of everything and everyone, in the face of even the gravest adversity and depression. I'm sick of wallowing.
I'm practicing a little more old-lady-dom, spending quality time with cats and knitting yarn:
(Blur due to excessive love.)
(It's so much fun to knit in 2 colours! I love it.)
And now ... back to the city. Back to amazing academic achievement! Ha! Hahaha!
I am inspired by James Cook. I shall take the world.
I'm determined to make fun of everything and everyone, in the face of even the gravest adversity and depression. I'm sick of wallowing.
I'm practicing a little more old-lady-dom, spending quality time with cats and knitting yarn:
And now ... back to the city. Back to amazing academic achievement! Ha! Hahaha!
I am inspired by James Cook. I shall take the world.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
More than January.
Thanks to everyone who voiced concern about my health (i.e. Alex), I'm feeling much better now, although the cough prevails. Apparently, I must've run a pretty high fever on Thursday, but never knew because I don't have a thermometer in Vienna. But when I came home to my parents' on Friday night, I still had slightly raised temperature, even though I'd been taking antipyretic stuff for two days. Wtf. Bodies are odd things.
I've been mostly reading and sleeping, and getting rather depressed and sick of the country.
Counter-measures are: coffee from the George-Clooney-machine, watching the ski-jumping (I'm getting a taste for it too. Apparently a disproportionately large percentage of ski-jumpers have amazing soa. But why are there no female ski jumpers?), starting a new phone-sock while watching the ski-jumping, and then going ice-skating on the lake.
The light was amazing, unfortunately the battery was too low for auto-focus.
I can do pirouettes. (Well.)
I've been mostly reading and sleeping, and getting rather depressed and sick of the country.
Counter-measures are: coffee from the George-Clooney-machine, watching the ski-jumping (I'm getting a taste for it too. Apparently a disproportionately large percentage of ski-jumpers have amazing soa. But why are there no female ski jumpers?), starting a new phone-sock while watching the ski-jumping, and then going ice-skating on the lake.
The light was amazing, unfortunately the battery was too low for auto-focus.
I can do pirouettes. (Well.)
Thursday, 1 January 2009
2008
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember making any. I don't remember keeping any, either.
My top resolution for this year is to stop smoking. Predominantly because it's such a archetypical resolution, and I like archetypes.
There are other things about my life that could do with some improvement, but any actual plan in that direction would be pretty delusional
What countries did you visit?
Germany- 3 times
Berlin
Munich
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
I made amazing new friends who succeeded to turn my life completely upside down, in a - largely - positive way.
I joined a band and played on stage.
I did not drop out of university.
What was your biggest failure(s)?
Being stuck in a certain rut for almost 8 months. The inability to regard this as a complete failure.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Austrian voters'. My own.
Where did most of your money go?
Cooking and baking for friends:
Travelling.
Concert tickets.
Compared to this time last year,
My life is fuller, more confusing, and more varied.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying. Tagging along like a puppy dog. Spending endless amounts of energy and hope in vain pursuit of an unattainable thing. Wasting time. Eating. Smoking.
How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home with my family, it was the most unromantic Christmas ever. I don't know why, but the magic seems to have gone out of it, pretty severely.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hard to say. I can't say any of the new bands particularly blew me away, although some of them are nice to dance to.
But there are a couple of bands who I'd known before, but got to know better, and learned to love 'em and stuff. Most notably: Radiohead, Tocotronic.
What book(s) did you like most?
I spend most of the year reading Restoration Drama, and art history literature. I think Tale Of Two Cities was read in the course of this year, I really liked that one.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
22. Lisa organised a small party at her place, made dumplings and Sauerkraut. We all watched Kevin behave strangely due to his birthday-madness.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I don't know - is there a concept?
Apart from the accumulation of colourful tights and berets, and more skirts and dresses than my wardrobe can hold, I don't think there was a thought-through concept.
My personal fashion concept probably looks rather boring from the outside anyway. But I do not care ...
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've really sort of grown out of this. I don't even know who's out there doing stuff at the moment.
Of course I'm still wildly in awe of Graham Coxon. And also Owen Pallett. And also Jonny Greenwood. And Dirk von Lowtzow.
But none of this happened with the dedication that I managed to muster years ago.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably the political dead end that is this country.
And Sarah Palin, the woman who manages to make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. But is she a political issue or does she, as an issue, already surmount the domain of politics? I don't know.
Who do you miss?
I don't know. If I do miss somebody, I'm kinda too busy to notice.
Who was the best new person you met?
Max.
And the band.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
The greatest wisdom in the world is held in the skype logs of aimless twenty-somethings in urban student flats.
WHAT?
What were you expecting?
I don't remember making any. I don't remember keeping any, either.
My top resolution for this year is to stop smoking. Predominantly because it's such a archetypical resolution, and I like archetypes.
There are other things about my life that could do with some improvement, but any actual plan in that direction would be pretty delusional
What countries did you visit?
Germany- 3 times
Berlin
MunichAnd France: Paris!
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
I made amazing new friends who succeeded to turn my life completely upside down, in a - largely - positive way.
I joined a band and played on stage.
I did not drop out of university.
What was your biggest failure(s)?
Being stuck in a certain rut for almost 8 months. The inability to regard this as a complete failure.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Austrian voters'. My own.
Where did most of your money go?
Cooking and baking for friends:
Travelling.
Concert tickets.
Compared to this time last year,
My life is fuller, more confusing, and more varied.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying. Tagging along like a puppy dog. Spending endless amounts of energy and hope in vain pursuit of an unattainable thing. Wasting time. Eating. Smoking.
How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home with my family, it was the most unromantic Christmas ever. I don't know why, but the magic seems to have gone out of it, pretty severely.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hard to say. I can't say any of the new bands particularly blew me away, although some of them are nice to dance to.
But there are a couple of bands who I'd known before, but got to know better, and learned to love 'em and stuff. Most notably: Radiohead, Tocotronic.
What book(s) did you like most?
I spend most of the year reading Restoration Drama, and art history literature. I think Tale Of Two Cities was read in the course of this year, I really liked that one.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
22. Lisa organised a small party at her place, made dumplings and Sauerkraut. We all watched Kevin behave strangely due to his birthday-madness.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I don't know - is there a concept?
Apart from the accumulation of colourful tights and berets, and more skirts and dresses than my wardrobe can hold, I don't think there was a thought-through concept.
My personal fashion concept probably looks rather boring from the outside anyway. But I do not care ...
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've really sort of grown out of this. I don't even know who's out there doing stuff at the moment.
Of course I'm still wildly in awe of Graham Coxon. And also Owen Pallett. And also Jonny Greenwood. And Dirk von Lowtzow.
But none of this happened with the dedication that I managed to muster years ago.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably the political dead end that is this country.
And Sarah Palin, the woman who manages to make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. But is she a political issue or does she, as an issue, already surmount the domain of politics? I don't know.
Who do you miss?
I don't know. If I do miss somebody, I'm kinda too busy to notice.
Who was the best new person you met?
Max.
And the band.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
The greatest wisdom in the world is held in the skype logs of aimless twenty-somethings in urban student flats.
WHAT?
What were you expecting?
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