Live Wild

Three quotes from the Johnny Depp letters to Hunter S. Thompson:

"He did what he did because he knew it was the wrong thing to do."
-Lord Buckley on the Marquis de Sade

"Cultivate what the audience doesn't want."
-Jean Cocteau on the essence of moviemaking

"Who is the happier man? He who has braved the storm of life and lived? Or he who has stayed securely on the shore and merely existed?"
-Hunter S. Thompson, age 17

JJ - Baby

The weirdest thing about covers is that any artists' cover is presumably just what they hear when they listen to the original. So just imagine that when Swedish artist jj heard this song, she heard the whistful, gorgeous song above, and decided that it is actually about a "baby." That's amazing, but too bad she cut out the Marty McFly reference at about 0:38 in the original. (via Prefixmag)


by the way, the video is directed by Marcus Söderlund

Art of Noise

Listening to the mixtape made by your favorite artist is just great.

I've listened to the mixtapes made by Jens Lekman and Air France.

I got to know so many good bands that I didn't know before.
Anyway, download this. This stuff is gold, if you like Air France.

mp3: Air France: ‘Art of Noise Mixtape’ (right click and choose “save as…”)


Bill Withers : ‘Lovely Day’

Can liven a funeral, I tried and It worked. Makes you move on.

Museum of Bellas Artes: ‘Who Do You Love‘
They will run this show in a few months. They released their first single some days back.

Lemonade: ‘Big Weekend (Delorean remix)‘
Sets us tumbling down heights every saturday. Makes you feel good looking and drink faster.

Walker Brothers: ‘Make It Easy On Yourself‘
Breaking up is hard to do. A friend of a friend’s ex-gilfriend always send a tape with this song instead.

Ilona Staller – ‘Pane, marmellata e me‘
Sophisticated Italian 70s dub and giggles.

Yppah – ‘Gumball Machine Weekend‘
No fucking clue who this is, but it sounds like a Japanese Lo-Fi version of Saint Etienne’s “Nothing can stop us now”, innit?

Altered Images: ‘I Could Be Happy‘
Maybe this years best evening so far must have been when we put this on at Old Blue Last and David from Sic and his wife Melissa danced like two teenagers in love and the last sunrays slipped in through the windows and covered them in the warmest light you have ever seen.

A.R. Kane: ‘A Love From Outer Space‘
I think Tahiti 80 did a great version of this too some years ago. It’s the feeling you get when you land a girl that plays in a completely different, and better, league.

CFCF: ‘You Hear Colours‘
I have had this in my head for a while now. Really suits days when the flowers on my balcony dies after too much rain and nothing seems to happen.

Sylvie Vartan: ‘La plus belle pour aller danser‘
Some days you just want to die and wake up in Paris in the 60s.

Break Up

原來，我心目中的金童玉女也分手了。

Johan 一直都是我很羨慕的人。他有三個團，名叫Acid House Kings, The Legends, 跟 Club 8。每個團的音樂都不一樣，但都是我最愛的音樂類型：indie-pop、shoegaze 跟 electro-pop。同時他也是我心目中最棒的音樂品牌 Labrador 的老闆。另外 Club 8還是他跟他女朋友的團。可以跟女朋友一起組個團，做出這麼好聽的音樂是多麼棒的一件事。

不過那是過去式了，他們分手了。不過 Club 8還在，明年也會推出新專輯。這個消息是我看了這篇訪問後才知道的。當然不是剛分手，只不過我到現在才知道。所以我想到了一件事，就算兩個人有很多共同的興趣，彼此的想法很像，也不能長久的在一起。這當然不是我剛剛才知道，自己親身經歷過就已經知道了。

看看今年的新電影，(500) Days of Summer，男主角也曾經以為他這輩子不可能真正的快樂直到他遇到了那個「對」的人。事實呢？就算遇到了，也不會快樂的。就算我們都愛 The Smiths，也不一定能一直愛著對方，但我會一直愛著 The Smiths。所以我說，我這輩子不可能真正的快樂。而我這輩子也不會找到一個能真正跟我分享的人。因為 I'm an island of such great complexity。

還有看完訪問後，我發現Karolina是個很酷的女生。
我好喜歡她躲在我耳機裡，輕輕的唱歌給我聽。

2012

你相信2012是世界末日嗎?

這部片做得非常成功的一點，就是過度利用人類文明的signifier。
真的是過度濫用了。這招對某些人或許有用。但是對我沒用。
從這部片的一開始，就利用了人類最具話題性的馬雅預言的世界末日。
電影裡更有許多象徵人類文明的東西一一被摧毀。
連Michelangelo那幅"亞當的誕生"中間一陽指的地方也要被地震撕開。
連巴西那個耶穌雕像也要碎掉。
真是夠了。要煽情，也不是這樣搞得吧？

劇情也是走一貫的災難片公式。

壞的說完，說好的。
我會去看這部片，有80%是因為 John Cusack。
雖然我知道這幾年，他拍了很多爛片，可是我還去給他捧場。
還有特效。真的還蠻驚人得畫面。可能我太久沒看這種商業片了吧。

結論就是：如果2012真得是世界末日。我想我是不會逃的。
也逃不了啊！又不是在拍電影！

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash

聽完這張後，我更可以確定他們是世界上最棒的樂團。

我還沒有聽過他們全部的作品，不過慢慢的一張一張的在買。

一邊聽這專輯，一邊看內頁的介紹，還有搞笑的notes。
真的是把我逗的超樂的。這絕對是聽 mp3 沒有的樂趣！

這張的The Replacements真得是超熱血也白目到爆！
像是 I Hate Music，Paul 怎麼會這麼天才寫出這樣白爛的歌詞？
I hate music　Sometimes I don't
I hate my high school　Sometimes I went
Tommy says so　Tommy says so
Tommy says so　Tommy says so so so so what

還有 Johnny's Gonna Die...
每次聽到他唱 Na na na na，就會忍不住笑出來。
明明就是一首 heartbreaker，為什麼要唱 Na na na na?
我想這就是我愛他們的原因！

因為我買得是 reissued 的版本，裡面多加收了幾首值得推薦的。
Customer (Alternative take) 真的超瘋超酷的！
我最愛 Paul 黑白亂唱了！

再來就是感人到不行的If Only You Were Lonely。
他們怎麼可以這麼狠，出的每一招都是我的要害！

下面是1981 年的他們。Paul, Bob 跟Chris 都二十歲上下。
但是Tommy 才十四歲多。So What?

The Big Lebowski

I think The Coen Brothers is good at making comedies.

Both The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading

The characters they created are just amazing...

Amazing because they make me laugh so much

And these characters are played by really good actors,

such as Jeff Bridges, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Goodman,

John Turturro, and Steve Buscemi.

Also, Flea and Aimee Mann also played cameo roles as Nihilists...

This is really a classic dark comedy! Fucking hilarious!!!

Watch this...

Lebowski Jesus

Long Live The 'Mats

Arthur Russell - A Little Lost

"I'm a little lost
Without you
Or that could be an understatement
Oh now I hope that I have paid the cost
To let a day go on by and not
Call on you

'Cause I'm so busy, so busy
Thinking about kissing you
Now I want to do that
Without entertaining another thought

Out on the ocean surf
I'll have to pull myself together
Now it's harder I'm not on my turf
Just me and me and those big old waves
Rolling in

'Cause I'm so busy, so busy
Thinking about kissing you
Now I want to do that
Without entertaining another thought

It's so unfinished
Our love affair
A voice in me
Is telling me to
Run away
I hope your feeling isn't diminished
I hope you need someone in your life
Someone like me

'Cause I'm so busy, so busy
Thinking about kissing you
Now I want to do that
Without entertaining another thought"

beautiful song with a beautiful video...

Creedence Clearwater Revival

最近買了 Creedence Clearwater Revival (簡稱CCR) 的精選輯 Chronicle, Vol. 1: The 20 Greatest Hits，聽到他們的歌感覺好像找回了失散多年的好友。雖然之前沒有去找他們的歌來聽過，可是他們的名字我已經看過好多次了，包括 Nick Hornby 的 A Long Way Down。他們的歌應該也在一些電影配樂裡聽過，這些包括 Almost Famous 跟 Woodstock。還有別人翻唱他們的歌曲裡聽過。不然我不會覺得這麼熟悉。

翻開 Chronicle 的內頁，看到他們的搖滾生涯，真的蠻令人震驚的。最震驚的一定要屬於 CCR 在 1969 年的成就。這一年內，連續發了三張白金專輯，另外四首告示牌排行榜前三名的超級單曲。同年也被 Rolling Stone 選為最佳美國團體。老實說，實至名歸。不過，再過三年後，CCR在主唱 John Fogerty強勢的主導下無法再做出能媲美之前輝煌時期的作品，而宣告解散。短短的六年生涯，應該很少搖滾樂團會像他們那樣。

不像當時紅極一時的 Beatles 或 The Rolling Stone，他們的歌一直都是同一個調調。Rock、Rockabilly、Blues、或是Funk都是他們擅長的。他們的音樂一直都是充滿活力，非常純樸直接的，完全不會做作矯情。或許，這是我很喜歡他們的原因。他們的吉他獨奏也是一絕。還有 John Fogerty高亢有力的嗓音，非常的搖滾。我個人覺得，他唱歌的聲音在某種程度上，象徵了六零年代。他們好聽的歌很多，這裡先貼兩首我很喜歡的。Proud Mary 跟 Have you ever seen the rain?

我不賣身，我賣子宮

我個人覺得這是少數好看的華語片之一。

記得幾年前，在 youtube 上看到整部的「性工作者十日談」。那時候，看的時候就覺得這部電影很棒。很少有電影這麼有種，把他們的生活赤裸裸的拍出來。大部份有關性工作者的電影都是關於他們如何翻身，如何遇到一個真心了解她也愛她的有錢男子，把他們救出火坑。對，我想到得是 Pretty Woman。不過導演邱禮濤，則選擇把他們所有面貌都呈現出來。

同樣是性工作者的話題，但在這部片裡，邱禮濤導演放進了更多不同的角色，讓觀眾有更多角度去觀察不同的人。不管是染上毒癮的流鶯，從內地嫁到香港的孕婦，懷有社會階級歧視的保險業務員，或是天真想要記錄體驗社會的攝影師。這些人彼此之間的互動，是這部電影最棒的地方。現在的社會有太多各式各樣的人，所謂社會階級也讓人與人更疏遠。對於別人怎麼過生活的，我們一點都沒有興趣。我們只在乎甚麼東西是對我們有利的，就像黃秋生演的保險業務員一樣。我覺得他的角色很棒，因為他代表了大部分的 middle-class people。

同時，這個標題也丟給我們一個很尖酸的問題。這個問題跟愛沒有關係，而是跟生活有關係。有些女人賣身賺錢過生活，而有些人為了生活嫁給有錢人生小孩（根據電影的說法：賣子宮）。而我們該用甚麼眼光去看待他人？而我們有甚麼絕對優勢去鄙視他人？

我覺得很棒，因為至少導演給了這部電影一個好的結束。這是一部讓人相當悲痛的電影。但看過之後，應該會了解這部電影主要的訴求只是一個很簡單但卻也很偉大的東西－人性。

延伸閱讀：
我不賣身、我賣子宮:: 痞客邦PIXNET ::
我不賣身我賣子宮True Women For Sale

Memento

This is such a cool film!

Definitely original and innovative.

I like the dialogue a lot. So does the story itself.

Guy Pearce gave a very convincing performance of this Leonard guy who has short-term memories loss.

No wonder this film is right up there along with other great ones.

Christopher Nolan is a great director. His new film is Inception, and expected to be out next year. The cast looks very attractive to me...Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Michael Caine... hmm, nice!

Memento (2000)

Loved-Up Playlist

I thought I should post some fantastic songs I have been listening to over the last two weeks. They are mainly electro pop. These sunny music really get me into the mood of summer. Enjoy!

Air France | gbg belong to us - new song dedicated to their city Gothenburg. Free download from their website. Part I is a tour guide to Gothenburg. Part II is where you can download the song.

Saint Etienne - Spring (Air France Remix) “This is the answer to our prayers. ‘Spring’ is the song we fucked to when we were eleven and took rohypnol raw”

Miami Horror | Sometimes - This is truly one of the best single of the year! When I listen to the song, I cannot help singing the chorus, also linking the music with this beautiful music video. God, I wanna go to the beach again... These guys are from Melbourne, Australia. New album will be out next year.

The Millioners | My Great Regret - I actually don't know much about these guys. But their album Most Sexist Music sounds good.

The Embassy | It Pays To Belong - Awesome Swedish electro pop band. Already released two albums, Futile Crimes and Tacking. Both are magical. They also released some other singles/EPs through their label Service. I haven't got my hands on those... but I will!

The Embassy | Stage Persona

Lake Heartbeat | Mystery - I've posted them before. Anyway, their album is definitely one of my top albums of the year.

The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa | What's - I don't know much about them either. Shoegaze, dream/noise pop. This is the openning song from a four-track EP called Pigment. Please do yourself (or me) a favor and check out this phenomenal piece of music.

The Studio | West Coast - Maybe this video really got me hooked with The Studio. I mean their music is like a perfect pop soundtrack, but nothing like the pop music you have heard. Blending the good pop elements with experimental approaches. Very cool stuff!

Saint Etienne | Only Love Can Break Your Heart - from St. Etienne's classic album Foxbase Alpha. All the songs on the album will be remixed by Richard X, and will be released soon in an album called Foxbase Beta. I'm not sure why they wanna do that. Foxbase Alpha is already flawless...

Last thing... about the photograph above. It's a cover of a single called Loved-Up by Korallreven. This song is all that Korallreven has ever released under Service label. "The sounds of Korallreven's tropical shoegaze can be found at the battle front between civilization and nature." I can't wait for their debut album, which will be released in spring 2010. By the way, I still think buying mp3 is such a weird thing. You paid, and you get something in ones and zeros...

A Letter To You

Hi, how are you?

I'm feeling okay, but a bit stressed out, because of the exam tomorrow. But that's not what I want to talk to you about. I wanna talk about how we met. Oh yes, I remember, we never met before. Sometimes, I wonder why that is. How come I have never met you before? There are so many people I meet everyday, but I never talk to them and they never talk to me either. I wish I could talk to you right now, but I don't even know who or where you are. That's why I'm writing this letter to you. Hope you understand.

I don't know what I will talk to you about, but I can guess what we will talk about. About my childhood, my dreams, my collections of music, my love for movies, and maybe some other unimportant stuffs about me. Though I have told the same stories of me to different people, but I really don't mind telling you again. And maybe you'll tell me about your relationships, and how your best friend broke your heart, maybe even your beloved grandma. You know they all sound very lovely, and I will love to hear them all. You'll be surprised that I'm quite a good listener.

After seeing Groundhog day, I actually thought a lot about my life. Maybe all my life is repeating the same routine time and time again. There is no significant difference between yesterday, today and tomorrow. Everyday is all the same. Then what makes our life special? Nothing special really. You live just like another person on the planet. But thankfully we have memories. We remember the tiny little things happened in our life, so we can go tell everyone we know about it. Isn't that wonderful?

Regards

fuse

We Love Swedish Pop

Pop music is a strange little thing, isn’t it?

Swedish music is really popular these days; American magazines write articles about Gothenburg, Air France get to tour in Russia, English kids write about The Tough Alliance in their blogs, journalists write about the Swedish renaissance in pop.

Where do you think acts like The Embassy, The Tough Alliance and Studio got their inspiration from? That’s right. England. Madchester, Post punk, indie pop, acid house – all British influences.

So, it’s kind of strange that Swedish bands listened to English music originally, tried to sound like them, and then some years later the English found Swedish pop music and fell in love with it.

Read more Nya Vågen (or The New Wave)

This Must Be The Place

其實聽那麼多歌，真的很少有一首歌的歌詞是我全部都喜歡的。不過最近找到了這麼一首。This Must Be The Place(Naive Melody)。這首歌收錄在Talking Heads的第五張專輯 Speaking in Tongues，詞曲則是David Byrne一人包辦。不過，在先聽過Miles Fisher翻唱的版本，我真的覺得講話頭的版本真得有點舊掉了。或許，應該說Miles Fisher不但沒有浪費寫的這麼好的一首歌，而且還把歌曲變得更有流行感。是個非常成功的cover！

對我來說，我想我在聽這首歌我自己對這首歌的解釋應該跟普通人不太一樣。不過，再看完Miles Fisher拍的音樂錄影帶之後，我更確定我個人的解釋應該跟他的還蠻像的。至於跟David Byrne原本寫這首歌的意思一不一樣我就不知道了。去找線上別人的解釋大部分是說這首歌是講＂真愛＂。歌詞像是：Never for money, always for love；you'll love me 'til my heart stops等都暗示著真愛。可是我的解釋卻是完全相反的。

我覺得這首歌裡的＂家＂其實就指女生的私處。而整首歌，聽起來對我而言，就像是一個男子述說著自己的愛情觀－簡單說就是性愛。I come home, she lifted up her wings，I guess that this must be the place不知道為什麼這句話在我腦袋裡浮現的畫面就是女人躺在床上兩條腿張開高舉的畫面。然後在下一段，唱到I'm just an animal looking for a home，Share the same space for a minute or two，要解釋成做愛應該也不難。另外我也很喜歡這一句歌詞，I feel numb, born with a weak heart，I guess I must be having fun。或許這麻木不仁的一切也是一種樂趣？而歌詞像是Never for money, always for love；you'll love me 'til my heart stops，是完完全全的反諷。或許，這個男子知道這女人只是為了錢而不是為愛而在一起。或許，這個男子知道這一切只是暫時空虛的滿足。不過如果他能一直活在這空虛的滿足裡，對他來說就夠了。只要能回到"家"就好了。基本上這跟真愛差的甚遠。真愛需要彼此了解，而The less we say about it the better正好不是相反嗎？

整首歌充斥了一些奇怪句子的樂趣，像是我有很多時間而你眼睛裡有光芒，打我的頭之類的。這混有白目和尖酸幽默的歌曲，讓我每次聽都可以心情變好。讓我感覺比較無所謂。愛情，也不過就是這樣。

按這裏去Miles Fisher網站免費下載。

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb, born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground, head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

Hey, I got plenty of time
Hey, you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money, always for love
Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight

Home is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home, she lifted up her wings
I guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be, where I'll be

Hey, we drift in and out
Hey, sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you'll love me 'til my heart stops
Love me 'til I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head
Ah ooh

WE

MIGHT

AS

WELL

BE

STRANGERS

Groundhog Day (1993)

Wonderful story and script! Just so lovely to see a great film.

Trapped in the same day is such a clever idea.

This is a film that has different messages at many levels of life.

Humorous. Smart. Heartfelt. Moving.

I absolutely adore this movie. Bill Murray is just wonderful.

IMDB

Do What You Wanna Do

Acid House Kings - Do You Wanna Do

Verse D(G), chorus D Bm D Bm G A.

I've been heading home
I've been going wrong
It's been this way for so long

Let me hear you say it
(I've been heading home)
Let me hear you say
(I've been going wrong)
It's been this way for so long
(It's been this way for so long)

You do what you wanna do
And say what you wanna say
So, come on and be my light
Come on and lead the way
And people speak I hear them saying
You won't last another day

You keep me hanging on
I won't ever be gone
We know that something is wrong

Let me hear you say it
(I've been heading home)
Let me hear you say
(I've been going wrong)
It's been this way for so long
(It's been this way for so long)

You do what you wanna do
And say what you wanna say
So, come on and be my light
Come on and lead the way
And people speak I hear them saying
You won't last another day

You do what you wanna do
And say what you wanna say
So, come on and be my light
Come on and lead the way
And people speak I hear them saying
You won't last another day
You won't last another day

Certain Things

據我的觀察

會去卡拉OK唱林俊傑跟李聖傑的歌的人

大部份他們通常都是同一種人

就像會聽My Chemical Romance的歌的人一樣

他們大部分都是同一種人

很不幸的 我這兩種人都不是

Fanny and Alexander

Bergman... you've killed me again...

You made me cry again...

You've done it again...

IMDB