Icelandic pop singer Bjork backed independence for Tibet during her concert on Sunday in Shanghai, eyewitnesses said on Monday. She shouted “Tibet, Tibet!” followed by “Raise your flag!” towards the end of her final song, “Declare independence.”

quote from shanghaiist.

we were there and it was really at the end of the concert. i had to ask someone beside me if she actually said “tibet! tibet!” because i guess my ears didn’t quite believe it too.

“It’s unlikely Bjork will be performing again in China any time soon, if ever. Bravo.”

quote from danwei.

eheh, at least we were there! :)

(image by mulder)

you know love
causes such misery and pain
i guess i’ll never be the same
since i fell for you

oh i guess i’ll never see the light
i get the blues most everynight
since i felt for you

“I used to know this girl named Suzy Montelongo. And her brother’s name was Joe Montelongo. Joe always wanted to kill me. He sang in a band called the Rodbenders. Suzy Montelongo used to wear these angora sweaters. I’m crazy about angora sweaters. I guess it’s kind of a hang-up of mine. She had angora socks, and angora shoes. I believe she was originally *from* Angora. I don’t know where she is anymore, but every time I see an angora sweater, I think, maybe, *inside* will be Suzy Montelongo. Eh-he-he…”

mr. tom waits, in repeat mode.

find out on this brilliant piece by the washington post. it’s big, but it’s well worth it.

i got mine on xmas, and before i owned one, i used to think shuffles were… well, weird. i thought i needed to choose what i wanted to hear or to see what was playing at the moment. i wanted control.
but as i found out, i don’t need it. some things are just meant to be enjoyed and with the shuffle you can do just that: relax and listen. i love it precisely because they made it compact and light, and nonetheless, easy easy.

anyway, there’s continuous and shuffle mode, and you can always skip songs, or go back to the beggining of your playlist. or fill it with another playlist when you get bored of feel like shaking your bootie. with 1gb there’s plenty of room for many songs or audiobooks and the battery holds plenty morning jogs or train trips.

then there’s the apple details, the simplicity that makes a difference. there is a little dock, which you plug through a usb cable to your mac/pc. the shuffle fits the dock through the headphones hole (one plug less) and there it is, charging, or ready to take some more music (just itunes required).

but what i love the most about it is the clip. bigger ipods or other music players are usually heavy or otherwise noticeable. you have to be careful in which pocket you put it and you cannot take off your jacket with your headphones on. impossible to wear on your pijama while you vaccum clean.
no problem for the shuffle. clip it on your tshirt (or pijama) and do everything without having to notice it. it’s just so portable and easy to carry around that you feel like you never need to take it out or otherwise worry about it. and now they even have it in 5 different colors.

two not-so-pleasant points though. if you’re a last.fm fan, the shuffle won’t scrobble your tunes (hardware incompatibility) and also, if you wear it on your belt or trousers, careful not to bump against other surfaces, you might scratch it. it’s not exactly fragile, it won’t break, but you tend to forget it is there quite easily.

truth is, i love mine. it feels urban and very very “me”. :)

these days my head is filled with network quirks, calculus, emails and the omnipresent countdown.
i still find time to obsess over little things. naturlijk.
little things like emiliana torrini. i stumbled accross her heartstopper video on youtube, and the video is so delicate that i think i instantly fell in love with this fragile creature, pulling the strings of the puppets. half-icelandic, half-italian, she sings surrounded by acoustic guitars, accordeon and the occasional boat creeks… but what really stands out is her voice, her accent, her peculiar way of saying words, not losing syllables on the rush of getting to the end of the sentence.

anyway, i found a few of her songs on itismusic.org, from a session she did in january, 2005, i think. give it a try.

on one of the last weeks in groningen, i was listening to “adventure.exe” by owen pallett while writing the neverending thesis. i had found the song on a orange commercial, some time ago and then fell in love with it…

anyway, if you’ve heard anything else by owen, you’ll know he’s a violin player and well there isn’t much violin on this song… it’s more of a guitar solo and some instrument i can’t recognize, playing towards the middle of the song… and there is rain in the background and a sort of scratching sound, if you hear carefully. those scratching noises were intriguing me for some time – they sounded familiar.

and then it hit me. because it’s something most people don’t do everyday or never even heard of it, and because i was damn happy and proud of my minute of geekness, i’m going to tell:
he’s scratching rosin on his violin bow. over and over again. sometimes on the edges, sometimes across the full length of it. and sometimes he blows the excess off.
the noise is so familiar, i must have done it hundreds of times before. :) can you hear it?

he did get the violin in the song afterall. owen rules.

more:
* orange videoclip, though you can’t hear the sounds there.
* adventure.exe comes on final fantasy album “he poos clouds”.
* violin bows and rosin.

* i’m almost back :)

and all the girls in every girlie magazine
can’t make me feel any less alone…

(death cab for cutie, on repeat around here)

i’ think i’ve always listened to it lower than most people. and most of the time that i’m wearing my headphones, i’m not listening anything. they’re just there, to help me concentrate. it works.
lately, subtly, it corners and surronds me, makes me tumble on new people… and changes everything. music.

(the title is from fontgarden)