[...music...]

2012-07-27

erm. remember that a-z challenge i started two years ago? it's been a big fail since i'm only at muse "absolution"... at this rate, it'll take me another two years or so to get to zwan.

also, my last blog post was from october 2011. i haven't bought much music or gone to shows since then. it makes me sad to think that i've become old and tired of music...

nostalgia: i am going through my year-end playlists, re-discovering stuff i found exciting over the years: 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007

maybe i'll try to catch up on my blogging, at some point.

~~~

Labels: other

2010-12-26

songs of 2010

it's time for end-of-the-year lists. here are some songs i liked from 2010 releases. in an order that makes a coherent playlist.

envy "last hours of eternity"

a track that makes me think of sunrises. i love the gentle opening buildup with spoken word that launches into an emotional outburst.

the dillinger escape plan "widower"

definitely the "ballad" of the album. i love how the song starts of jazz/lounge-y, giving no indication that it will transitions, rather smoothly, to vocal assault by the 4th minute. the band shows off their range.

gogol bordello "my companjera"

this may sound like an older track of theirs, but it's damn catchy.

the thermals "never listen to me"

a no-fuss song.

ted leo and the pharmacists "bottled in cork"

another no-fuss song. the official video is hilarious.

los campesinos "the sea is a good place to think of the future"

this youthful band shows some maturity with this track. the acoustic live version is nice.

xiu xiu "gray death"

the "pop" song of the album, in the sense that it's pretty straightforward, nothing too weird or experimental going on here.

how to destroy angels "the space in between"

dark, heavy, and slightly ominous...

diamond rings "wait & see"

... balanced by some cheezy synth-pop.

robyn feat. snoop dogg "u should know better"

robyn shows her sassy, tough-girl side. the snoop dogg collaboration bumps up the street cred a notch.

gorillaz "white flag"

a good mix of various genres, ranging from middle eastern orchestral to british urban.

peter gabriel "après moi"

amazing cover. the strings part in the 3rd minute kills it.

amphetamine ost "reunion"

another track with stringed instruments that is simply lovely. the part that starts at 0:11 makes me think of butterflies fluttering in the wind during a beautiful summer day.

final fantasy "lewis takes off his shirt"

when i hear this song, i am reminded of a video of an amazing live performance; worth watching until the end! (or skip to 2:38 when it starts to get a little crazy.)

yann tiersen "dust lane"

a new sound from this musician. there are parts of this track that make me think of 65daysofstatic.

65daysofstatic feat. robert smith "come to me"

i love the entire album as a whole. i pick this track for the playlist because it also features guest vocals.

massive attack feat. hope sandoval "paradise circus"

a chillout track. hope sandoval has such a lovely voice.

trentemøller "shades of marble"

perhaps the best new discovery of the year, for me.

~~~

Labels: other

2010-10-14

herbin inks

the stationery boutique at la grande bibliothèque is having a closing sale, with all merchandise at 50% off. i promised myself not to buy any more notebooks, so i got some herbin ink cartidges. they only had five colours left, so i got one tin of each: bleu azur, bleu nuit, cacao du brésil, gris nuage, poussière de lune.

they're not terribly exciting colours, they seem kind of washed-out. cartridges are a good way to sample some ink, so i'll see how they turn out on paper, when i eventually try them out. it's too bad i don't have enough fountain pens to ink them all at once

~~~

Labels: other

2010-08-12

moleskine planner

last week, when walking past multi-mags on saint-laurent, i saw that they had the new moleskine planners. a whole bunch of new colours, in an extra small size.

i went for the usual large notebook planner in red hardcover:

they have a new packaging.

~~~

Labels: other

2010-07-21

challenge (?)

since the beginning of this month (july 2010), i've decided to cut down on my spending. this means: no more impulse cd purchases. in fact, no music purchases at all would be ideal, but i am not sure i can do that.

to keep myself from longing for new music, i've decided to revisit my entire collection. starting from !!!, i will listen to every album i own (600+), until i reach zwan.

so far, i've gotten to arcade fire. i've already re-discovered stuff i forgot i used to love:
- amon tobin "foley room"
- a perfect circle "mer de nom" (i'm surprised i still remember all the lyrics!)
- arab strap "monday at the hug and pint"
- arcade fire "funeral"

... as well as some impulse purchases that i shouldn't have made:
- amiina "animamina" and "kurr"
- amon tobin "permutation"
- andy stochansky "five star motel"
- animal collective "sung tongs"

i wonder how long it will take me to get to the end.

~~~

Labels: other

2010-06-14

lamy al-star coffee

on the same afternoon in paris, we walked around in the side streets off of les champs-élysées. we happened into some random stationery store, dupré. that's where i saw the lamy al-star in a new colour: coffee!

i knew i had to get it, especially since it came to cheaper than back home, even with the eur-cad exchange rate.

now, my collection consists of some pretty serious/sad colours...

i've already filled it with some new ink that i had sitting around: j. herbin rouge bourgogne, which turned out to be a dark pink-ish colour. pretty.

~~~

Labels: other

2010-03-31

miquelrius flexible notebooks

in preparation for my easter weekend trip to nyc with some friends, i was tempted to get a moleskine city notebook. but the $24 pricetag kind of dissuaded me.

instead, i got a miquelrius flexible notebook:

i got the pocket-sized notebook that measures 7x12 cm, with 64 plain sheets. it is the perfect size for carrying around in my purse all the time. it is so small, compared to an average fountain pen:

there were several cover options. i chose the textured silver:

~~~

i am also planning a month-long trip to europe (spain, france, italy) with roxanne in may. i got another miquelrius notebook:

i went for the small size notebook measuring 10.4x15 cm, with 96 blank sheets, which is still compact enough to carry around:

the notebook is of the joshua davis line. the cover is made of a rubbery fake leather material. i love the graphic print on it:

~~~

Labels: other

2010-01-13

cd storage

i've had overflow for a while, so i finally got additional storage for my cd's.

i bought the red unit from my brother's co-worker. it's in really good condition, like new. this should last me for a while...

~~~

Labels: other

2009-12-22

end of the year 2009

i only bought 25 new releases this year.

these are my favourites, in alphabetical order.

asobi seksu - hush
song: me & mary

beirut - march of the zapotec / realpeople holland
song: the shrew

song: my night with the prostitute from marseille

beware of safety - dogs
song: the supposed common

depeche mode - sounds of the universe
song: wrong

dumas - rouge
song: un train dans la nuit

gifts from enola - from fathoms
song: weightless frame

indochine - le république des meteors
song: un ange à ma table

isis - wavering radiant
song: 20 minutes/40 years

matthew good - vancouver
song: fought to fight it

mono - hymn to the immortal wind
song: everlasting light

patrick wolf - the bachelor
song: oblivion

pierre lapointe - sentiments humains
song: les lignes de ma main

placebo - battle for the sun
song: battle for the sun

regina spektor - far
song: eet

thursday - common existence
song: last call

vnv nation - of faith, power and glory
song: the great divide

yann perreau - un serpents sous les fleurs
song: le plus beau rêve

~~~

Labels: other

2009-10-26

noodler's ink

along with my purchase of a new fountain pen, i bought some new ink.

i kept hearing about noodler's ink, with their bulletproof black. since i was running out of the parker quink that i'd been using for a while, i got a bottle of the noodler's to try it out.

i also did a rough test of the waterproof properties, comparing the two inks. the paper was submerged briefly in water:

wow, pretty good.

at $18 a bottle, i found the noodler's a bit pricey. but it turns out that the bottle is large (3 oz.), so the value is quite good, with the same cost per ml as the parker quink.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-10-22

taqwacore

on tuesday, i went to cinéma du parc with rox for the film "taqwacore: the birth of punk islam".

i really liked this film. it's amaxing to think that this whole movement started from a guy who wrote a fictional novel, a book that inspired people to make it real.

the director was there for a q&a session after the screening. i felt a bit sad that we were less than 20 people in the audience.

i'd never bought music in digital form before. but after the screening, i liked the music so much that i bought the soundtrack in mp3 form, on a usb key.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-10-21

lamy al-star purple

a shiny new toy for me! i got my first lamy earlier this year, as a self-gift for submitting my thesis, and was super impressed at how well it writes. it is a well-priced pen that writes amazingly well, with a modern design and comes in many colours, which makes it easy to collect.

last week, i had passed by the pen shop and took a look at the lamy display case. what's that i see, a purple al-star? i had never seen that colour before. it doesn't even appear on the corporate website.

yesterday, i passed by the pen shop again. i talked with the vendor, and it turns out that it's a new colour. i decided to get it as a self-gift for my birthday.

the purple is a rich grape colour. the pen is a bit heavier than the safari, is cool to the touch, and writes excellently as well.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-10-02

moleskine notebooks

since i left a pretty decent job to get back to my studies, i told myself not to mess this up.

as a motivation, i splurged, and went shopping at nota bene (what a cool shop!) to get my first moleskine notebooks.

on the right, the folio will be the main notebook, keeping track of my research. at 100g/m^2, the paper is thicker than the usual office multi-purpose, which makes it really nice to write on.

in the middle, the plain notebook will be used to scribble, to take all the messy notes during meetings with the prof. i should get into the habit of carrying it everywhere so that i can take random notes anytime.

on the left, in red, is the planner, to get organized, of course.

i know it's ridiculous, but that's $80 in notebooks. i'm usually good with money, but this was something i got to make myself feel better.

now, i am armed to tackle the phd.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-08-01

moleskine planners 2010

a recent purchase of moleskine planners: the weekly notebook planner in red hardcover, and the colour a month daily planner in 12 notebooks, which is new this year.

it's so colourful!

as for the rigid black cover, the pocket opens upwards.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-07-01

ihha 2009

last week, i was in shanghai to attend the ihha 2009 conference for work.

most of my days were spent at the convention center.

night view, front:

day view, river side:

the convention center was located in the hotel where i was staying. from my room, i also had a good view of the river:

along with the conference, there was an exposition held at another location, the soviet-style exhibition center:

the city of shanghai was gearing up for expo 2010. everywhere i went, i saw their blue mascot. what the heck is that thing supposed to be?

i had one day when i was free to do some sight-seeing. i started by visiting a pedestrian section of east nanjing road:

afterwards, i walked southwards, until reaching fuyou road, where i suppose is the beginning of old town:

i walked towards the yuyuan gardens. the surrounding neighbourhood was all pedestrian, with many shops, a tourist area:

the old style architecture seemed kind of artificial. certain sections were being restored:

for lunch, i had one of those "soup buns" i saw at many food stalls:

on my last day in shanghai, i took one last walk on the riverside promenade, next to the hotel. from there, i had a good view of the city center across the river. it was a bit grey that day:

at a nearby supermarket, i bought some snacks, some lays chips, in flavours i've never seen before:

overall, the conference was certainly an eye-opener, although i was not able to follow along with all the presentations. i will need to read the technical papers for more details.

the weather was too hot for me. good thing i stayed inside for most days.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-05-26

convocation

after two years, i got my m.eng degree today.

i got the best graduation gift from my parents.

it's a montblanc fountain pen!!!

oh wow, i can't believe i got such a beautiful gift...!

~~~

Labels: other

2009-02-16

lamy safari charcoal

how exciting. i feel like a kid getting a new toy.

i bought my first lamy safari today. decided on a matt charcoal, an understated colour.

i love it.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-01-16

ah, canadian winter

as soon as i start thinking "winter isn't so bad; why did i always complain about it in the past years?", the cold hits: for a few days, the temperature drops to -25 deg (or -35 deg with the wind) and all i want to do is stay in bed.

this morning, a water main burst, and flooded a section of my street.

combined with the -26 deg temperature, some mist was formed. pretty.

~~~

Labels: other

2009-01-11

noise

i recently came across this release:
killer bug - beyond the valley of the tapes

wah! this music makes me cry.

here is a sample track.
warning: turn the volume to minimum before playing.

obviously, i am not ready to handle this (although the more i listen to this, the less i find it shocking...). perhaps i should train myself first by going through all 50 discs from "merzbox".

~~~

Labels: other

2008-12-26

boxing day

rather than shop for clothes or for electronics today (the lines for the dressing rooms/cash registers were way too long), i browsed at the bookstore. the seasonal items were all at half price. i bought a box of greeting cards, and two moleskine planners: one pocket-size red, one large-size black.

yeah, i know, i had already bought a planner to use in 2009. these two i will use as journals; they shall join my stack of blank notebooks.

~~~

Labels: other