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The Mad Capsule Markets‘ ‘Gaga Life’ is such an awesome video – I love it!:

They’re also mainly what I’ve been listening to this past week (along with the now-usual Black Flag, Rage Against the Machine and Presidents of the USA).

I’ve also been listening to The Kominas‘ ‘Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay’ album. Ayesha is one of my favourite tracks from it. Luscious Jackson’s ‘Fever In Fever Out‘ is also really beautiful and chill and always reminds me of New York City at night. Here is Under Your Skin from that album which also happens to be a cool video.

Destroyx.com is damn inspiring – I love her fashion + design sense, her updates about Angelspit on tour and her awesome new jewellery line!

Animosity & Drumcorps – Altered Beast (full download – free): Excellent, high energy music. Can you really ever say no to free music (especially when it’s this good?).

While we’re on the topic of excellent free music, today I’ve been listening to Geocode’s ‘384.790′ which you can download for free at noumenon & phenomenon.

Notes on Breakcore is damn good stuff! I saw it yesterday:

As always it makes me feel good to know that there is such awesome music in the world out there, somewhere  You can of course get it on TPB.

China’s Empty City – The Ghost City of Ordos:

I’m not sure what I find so appealing about ghost cities but man… I’d love to go there and take pictures!

And finally, Coilhouse Issue 04 is out – I got mine in the mail in the last week or so. It is of course absolutely wonderful and I can’t figure out how they keep managing to outdo themselves every time.

Photos I took in America in '96

Hands down the best thing about this week is this – that I finally have secured a flight to the United States for January next year. I can’t really put into words how I feel about this – nor do I want to. It makes me feel really, really good to even just think about returning – just seems like an incredibly comforting thought to return to what is so far my favourite country EVAR. Also – I actually fly in to Los Angeles this time and will be spending a few days there before continuing on to New York City. So if you have any recommendations about what I should see in LA or even NYC, tell me!

Apart from that, these two videos from TED India really made my day. Both are incredibly inspiring. First is Devdutt Pattanaik’s ‘East vs. West – The myths that mystify‘ which contrasts Eastern and Western mythology and how these myths affect how different societies act, react and interact. Personally, because of my totally weird cultural background (being a mostly-Indian, part-Eurasian, growing up in mostly-Chinese yet English-speaking Singapore) I feel really caught between both worldviews. What’s truly amazing to me about this video is this – it made me consider that the world is big enough to accommodate points-of-view that are diametrically opposite to each other. Which to me basically took a lot of pressure off trying to conform to somebody else’s idea of what is, and instead leads me to search further for a worldview that inspires me most. I swear that this search is exactly why I wake up every morning.

The second video is Pranav Mistry’s awesome demo of Sixth Sense technology! Bringing the human-ness back into our interaction with technology.

I love my new glasses!:

The importance of feeling good now by Abraham-Hicks always gets me back on track. Every time I listen to them everything becomes much simpler!

Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette:

The beauty of this film is quite astounding. The production design & cinematography are gorgeous but I think the soundtrack is really pure genius (Aphex Twin and New Order!). There are some indescribably beautiful moments in this film – this scene in particular: (though I can’t stress how much it needs to be seen on DVD at the very least!)

And finally – I love these photos:
Chicken Man and Chicken Man & Crabby by SpecialKRB.
my kinda skyline by Luna Park.
alright by Gala Darling.
13th Street by Lush Photo.
Pfeiffer Arch Portal – Big Sur, California by Kendra Karr.

Perhaps the most significant thing that happened this week was that my MacBook Pro kinda died on me. I was really worried and wondering if I’d have to buy a new one and how much the repairs would cost – but I found out today that it was actually on a 4-year warranty, so I don’t have to pay a thing! I’m ridiculously thankful for that of course, but in the meantime I’m computerless. I can’t do anything in Photoshop or edit any video… so I’m gonna do all this uh manual life-stuff this week. Should be interesting.

I’ve also been feeling really happy about the things I’ve been creating! Namely the two graphics above plus this awesome shoot we did this week. Here’s a photo from that:

I love both the song and video for Tegan and Sara’s Speak Slow. They’re too cute & their music is beautiful. I also think that this live video of Fugazi’s Waiting Room is amazing – and it’s even more amazing to me that it’s from 21 years ago! (Also while you’re at it check out this live performance of Turnover!)

Google Chrome for Mac OSX is pretty awesome. I’ve been searching for my dream browser for quite some time to replace the newer, clunkier Firefox and a few seconds of using Google Chrome made me realize that this is it. The only thing I need to figure out now is how to enable colour management on it (or if that’s even an option). Either way, I really like it.

Skype chats with Carlos of TransAlchemy: one of the most brilliant, amazing and inspiring people that I know (who also gives ridiculously good advice).  His dedication to and passion for his work is totally inspiring to me. Check out his latest video – The All-Seeing AI.

Although I still haven’t really got into Throbbing Gristle at all these little Gristleisms are ridiculously cool! Check out the excellent packaging design variations here and here. And of course, the video teaser:

Gristleism Teaser from Chris Carter on Vimeo.

OMG I made it on time! Finally. So this week:

I haven’t been able to stop listening to both Fugazi and M.I.A. (I’m pretty sure Ian McKaye is always on my TILTs in some form or another!). This week I’ve been listening to Fugazi’s ‘Red Medicine’ and ‘13 Songs’ – both are excellent, but the latter is absolutely brilliant in my opinion. I also finally got M.I.A.’s first album, Arular and have been listening to that along with Kala.

I got to watch American Hardcore. It was pretty damn inspiring, if a little depressing towards the end. Great energy.

I ordered the new platEAU album, Gort Spacebar – I blame the insanely awesome Gort music video for this. That in addition to the beautiful cover art kind of rendered me powerless to Subconscious Communications. I got to listen to 2 tracks from the new Download album Helicopter (Pilots Requiem & Propeller) and was totally blown away so I will get that next week! Anyway, here’s the cover art I was talking about, I wish they had desktop wallpaper-sized downloads somewhere!:

And today I finally finished reading Jonathan Mead’s wonderfully inspiring free ebook – The Zero Hour Workweek. I’ll let the text from that speak for itself:

“This may seem kind of crazy, but I think the world actually needs you to get paid to do what you love…

I believe it’s our personal responsibility to help shift the paradigm of work to a new definition. One of meaning, contribution, sacredness, and enjoyment.

So, I don’t think what we’re really looking for is a four hour work week, automated income, or early retirement. Those things might be nice, but they still don’t get to the point.

That’s because they reinforce the idea that we need to escape from work, when all work really is is the exchange of value with others. We obviously need to contribute and provide others with value to get paid, and to live, but that’s only part of it. Deep down, we all desperately want to contribute. We want to participate. We want to help. We want to be heard. We want to be involved, immersed, and we want to share with others.“

Timing hasn’t been one of the better things in my life lately – however here are some of the things that have been:

The Presidents of the United States of America

Music: The Presidents of the United States of America & RUN-D.M.C. – God, I love the Presidents! It’s hard not to be happy listening to their music. Also, my brother passed me a RUN-D.M.C. album and I just couldn’t stop listening to Beats To The Rhyme. I also love Run’s House (WHOSE HOUSE!?? RUN’S HOUSE!!).

Taqwacore is incredibly inspiring. Am reading Michael Muhammad Knight’s book The Taqwacores on which the film is based – the first work of fiction I’ve read in a very long time.

More of messing around on my iPhone with Photoforge, Brushes & Melodica. Photoforge is awesome (since Photoshop is currently not available in Singapore) because it makes my commute just so much more bearable. I’ve gone through hellish commutes actually feeling happy because I have photos to edit.

Messing around in Brushes

NYC street art, edited in Photoforge & taken with iPhone

Times Square, edited in Photoforge & taken with iPhone

Melodica is cool because it’s the first time I’ve used anything that even vaguely resembles a Tenori-on. I’d heard of it before, but I never really got how it worked. It’s pretty fantastic – such an intuitive way of making music. Anyway, a more affordable orange Tenori-on will be released in January & I’m quite keen to get my hands on that.

Lastly, I’m incredibly grateful for more free time in my life after two months of hard work. I’m actually extremely grateful for the amount of time I have to do things that I like.

Gah, maybe I should call this Things I Love Saturday… For the record, I started a draft of this post on Thursday! So it’s at least an attempt to be on time.

Nitzer Ebb: Love the new tracks on nitzerebbicp.com, which kinda prompted me to start listening to them again for the first time in months. I’m also reminded of what an awesome/hilarious video Fun To Be Had is. (I still want to remake it on my camcorder shot for shot one day, srsly). I keep listening to ‘Warsaw Ghetto’ over and over. Also, young Doug McCarthy is cute!

TiltShiftGen & PhotoForge: Photo editing on the iPhone is a ridiculous amount of fun! I’ve spent many a boring/hellish commute totally absorbed in these apps this week. Some attempts (you can check everything I edited & uploaded out here):

Harlem, NYC

Chinatown, NYC

NIN's stage setup in Singapore, Aug 10th

NYC street art - edited with PhotoForge

Also, I figured out the ultimate thing to do when feeling stressed out or overwhelmed: watch a slideshow of Hubble images set to one of the Solfeggio frequencies (this one in particular – 528Hz: Miracle/DNA Repair – is my favourite).

I love the hilarious birthday video posted by Coilhouse last week:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COILHOUSE! from Coilhouse Magazine on Vimeo.

Finally, and on a related note, here’s a totally amazing photo of Zoetica (and her awesome glasses) by Lou O’Bedlam:

Zoetica Ebb is ridiculously inspiring. I’m not sure how she manages to do so many awesome things (like be a talented photographer, illustrator, magazine editor and have a killer fashion sense all at the same time), but I definitely want to be like her when I grow up! Haha.

Here’s another recent photo of her that I absolutely love:

PS. I can’t believe I left this out the first time! But what I loved more than anything else this week was this: planning my return to NYC! There is no city in the world I love more than New York and just thinking about it makes my heart happy.

Also (and this is really the last thing for real this time), this quote:

“I am that, you are that, all this is that and that’s all there is.”

(Originally read this while skimming through Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and for some reason it brings to mind the Beastie Boys’ song ‘That’s It That’s All‘.)

Okay, I’m well aware it’s Sunday and this is several days late! I figure it’s better late than never though. This week was over so quickly I couldn’t believe it:

The single photo I took on my iPhone while on retreat last week.

1. Last week I spent about 3.5 days on retreat in Malaysia near a place called Kuala Kubu Baru. It was really good to get away from the city, to forget my camera, to have no mobile coverage or internet, to have my iPhone run out of battery (so no music either) and to have electricity for only 5 hours a day. Also, I got to swim in a real river for the first time in my life which was wonderful. Coming back into Singapore was a real bummer, even though I was really excited to see how my life would change and in a few days there have been some major changes already. It’s really interesting how things are progressing.

It was also good to realize what was truly meaningful to me in life. At the end of the day, it’s really just the basic things – nature, good people, good food and a freedom to appreciate and celebrate life.

Things are in constant flux. I’m quite excited to see where they are going, but at the same time I remember to be in the present and not get ahead of myself.

Mates of State

2. God I love Mates of State! I’ve been listening to them a lot this week and I’m quite convinced it’s impossible to feel unhappy listening to them. I love the melodies and how some of it sounds like circus music. In fact I believe that was my initial reaction their music when I first heard it in 2001 – ‘WTF IS THIS CRAZY CIRCUS MUSIC!?’

3. This quote, which caused a shift in my thinking & feeling:

“Just because someone does not love you the way you want them to, does not mean that they do not love you with all they are capable of.” – Inquisitive Love

4. Remember these two things.

5. This crazy laughing yogi guy. I think I’m going to watch this every time I feel down.

6. This quote from The Science of Sleep (which is also a wonderful film!): “Things will work out exactly the way you want them to, if you would just stop doubting that I love you.”

7. New shoes and leggings that I got earlier in the week!:

8. Cutting together some beautiful footage of PA & NYC, from my last weekend there in late July. Here are some stills:

Driving around PA

Returning to NYC

•    Music: The Evens (seriously I am so inspired by Ian McKaye and his awesome musical talent – the Evens have such great melodies and such a wonderful, mellow mood), Boards of Canada, The Cardigans (because Nina Persson is an amazing vocalist), platEAU, Diesel Boy
•    Solfeggio frequencies: Discovered this early in the week and I’ve been listening to them literally every day. Here are the frequencies and what they represent:

UT – 396 Hz – Liberating Guilt and Fear
RE – 417 Hz – Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change
MI – 528 Hz – Transformation and Miracles (DNA Repair)
FA – 639 Hz – Connecting/Relationships
SOL – 741 Hz – Awakening Intuition
LA – 852 Hz – Returning to Spiritual Order

I love the videos & accompanying ambient music based on the frequencies that this youtube user has posted. Here’s one in particular that I listen to often:

•    platEAU – GORT (dance mix) music video. I find this ridiculously inspiring! Must go Tokyo NOW!:

•    excellent company that I’m surrounded by: It’s great finally coming into contact with so many people that are intelligent, compassionate and offer good and relevant advice.
•    getting to try out emwave Mac yesterday – really amazed by this technology and how it enabled me to observe how thinking certain thoughts would actually affect my readout onscreen.
•    Abraham-Hicks: I’ve been watching their videos on youtube all week. In particular I like this one on unconditional love.
•    taking a break – going on retreat for the next few days out of the country. Finally some time to be AFK. Will return with photos & maybe text. Very thankful for this – couldn’t have come at a time when I needed it more.

So I’ve decided to follow Gala Darling in doing this weekly. For a couple of reasons. Firstly because I’ve really started to notice lately how easy it has become for me to dwell on the negative – even when most things in my life are actually working out really well! Secondly because gratitude can really work miracles – when practiced as a habit, it actually helps shift your focus on what isn’t working to what is (and as you know, perspective is everything). So, yeah. Here are some of the things that made me happy this past week:

'Basilica' by Gary Tonge | www.visionafar.com

•    Gary Tonge’s amazing space art! This guy is so talented. Some of the most inspiring space art I’ve ever seen – let’s just say that if I was really an alien from another planet, this is what my home world would look like.

Rainbow at Stonewall Place.

•    receiving email about ‘our summer in New York’. The photo above was taken on my iPhone just after the pride parade and on quite literally one of the best days of my life.

•    Osho Zen Tarot cards – my favourite tarot deck. I use it almost every day. This page generates a random card.

•    Excellent music I’ve been listening to this week: The Donnas, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, Fugazi.

•    Marion’s speech from Wings of Desire: it’s interesting revisiting films several times over the years. I often think this is a good way to see how much you’ve grown. The last time I saw this film, I couldn’t relate to her words at all – and yet this time, they were spot on. So exactly describing where I’m at in life and what I want in terms of relationships at this point in time. I’ll just post the whole speech here, even though it’s lengthy – it’s worth it.

“It must finally become serious.

I’ve often been alone but I’ve never lived alone. When, I was with someone, I was often happy but at the same time it all seemed a coincidence. These people were my parents but it could have been others. Why was this brown-eyed boy my brother and not the green-eyed boy on the opposite platform. The taxi driver’s daughter was my friend but I might as well have put my arm round a horse’s neck. I was with a man, in love and I might as well have left him there and gone off with the stranger, met in the street.

Look at me, or don’t. Give me your hand, or don’t. No, don’t give me the hand, and look away.

I think tonight is the new moon. No night more peaceful. No bloodshed in all the city.

I’ve never played with anyone and yet I’ve never opened my eyes and thought: Now it’s serious. At last it’s becoming serious. So I’ve grown older. Was I the only one who wasn’t serious? Is it our times that are not serious. I was never lonely, nor alone, nor with others. But I would have liked to be alone at last. Loneliness means: I’m at last whole. How I can say it, as tonight I’m at last alone.

I must put an end to coincidence. The new moon of decision. I don’t know if there’s destiny, but there’s a decision! Decide!

We are now the times. Not only the whole town, the whole world is taking part in our decision. We two are now more than us two. We incarnate something. We are sitting in the place of the people and the whole place is full of people who are dreaming the same dream. We are deciding everyone’s game!

I am ready. Now it’s your turn. You hold the game in your hand. Now or never! You need me. You will need me. There’s no greater story than ours, that of man and woman. It will be a story of giants, invisible, transposable, a story of new ancestors.

Look, my eyes, they are the picture of necessity, of the future of everyone in the place.

Last night I dreamt of a stranger, of my man. Only with him could I be alone, open up to him, wholly open, wholly for him, welcome him wholly into me, surround him with the labyrinth of shared happiness. I know it’s you.”

•    Having work that I enjoy: Seems rather mundane to list this, but I really hated most of my life in the Singapore school system. I can’t put into words how much I hated school all the way from Primary 2 up to university. So it’s actually finally feels quite amazing to actually be looking forward to the next day for me at this point. It took a lot to get here, but I’m glad I’ve finally arrived somewhere I can be content.

Ines; awesome stylist at WIP-Hairport | Photo: www.hairport.pt

•    WIP-hairport: This unbelievably amazing hair salon in Lisbon, Portugal. Seriously I would love to get my hair done there someday! I usually check out their Flickr photostream for hair inspiration. I’m really impressed by how creative and original the cuts and colours are.

•    My own new hair! It’s Special Effects Nuclear Red & I just got it done today.