Made a new video last night with the song Zina Marina by Gogol Bordello. Not at all what I had initially intended to use as a song, but I think it's more appropriate :)
I think this video has more appearances than any of the others ones. It is also the longest.
Yeah, I'm on some kinda blog roll today. But this is short!!
Vampire Weekend released a new song called 'Horchata'. Now, the drink (which is a type of mexican rice drink w/ spices), is AWESOME. The song is pretty catchy too :D
On a side note, I finally had some time to make another apple dessert (up to now i've only made pancakes and bread). It's a type of German Apple cake called Einfacher ApfelKuchen, the recipe for which I got here Though, I used rice milk instead of milk and reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup from 1 cup.
Dude man, I can only describe this as a combination of egg tarts and apples in taste (both of which I love :o).
Mine turned out like this (I think you have to flip it, but I didn't, haha. I think it's good either way):
Also, on an entirely different note, I would like to see this movie:
I heard about it while watching Oprah (my mom called me from my room to see) and I understand why she did :) I have done many of the processes that he talks about in the movie (or at least from what I can see in the trailer). Some of which are really damaging to your hair and scalp (degrees of which depend on your hair type). So, for those of you who don't know much about how people with curly hair style their hair...here's a bit of info.
Here's a timeline of what I've done and I've included photos of all the corresponding hair pictures I could find: Braid extensions total (since 2001): 14
Weave total = 4
Relaxed hair periods total = 4 Total treatments (virgin hair + touch ups) = 10
What follows is the explanations for some of them.
RELAXERS: a creamy product used to permanently straight your hair; its active ingredient is usually a strong alkali (like Sodium Hydroxide, pH of about 10-14). Sometimes a weaker alkali is used, such as Ammonium Thyoglicolate (I think a pH of 8-9). The natural pH of your hair is about 4.5-5.5, which means it's slightly acidic. So, the base a relaxer penetrates the cortex layer of your hair and breaks the bonds that give your hair is curly pattern. The relaxer stays on your hair for a certain amount of time (usually 20 minutes from the time of application), then it is rinsed and neutralized. There is also something called a texturizer, which is a weakened version of a relaxer. So it just loosens your curls rather than straighten them completely. But, I think it contains the same basic ingredients.
Some problems: 1) People often leave the relaxer on for longer than 20 minutes (i.e. after all of it has been applied, then they count 20 minutes). This can result in chemical burns (it's very important to protect your scalp as much as possible when doing a relaxer, especially with a more alkaline relaxer). In fact, relaxers can generally lead to hair loss due to the application of such harsh chemicals.
2)Improper care of your hair after relaxing: As your hair is a weakened state (its bond have been broken), you have to continuously maintain it by always moisturizing and applying deep conditioning treatments. You also can't tie your hair too tightly as it will promote breakage of your hair. Without proper care, your hair will dry out and break. Hair breakage happens especially at the temples and around the nape area of the neck (at least in my experience - though it can be generally widespread). In fact, hair breakage often occurs at the junction between your relaxed hair and new growth because the textures are so different. You try to detangle your natural hair and then reach the bone straight hair, and snap. That usually means you need a touch up on your new growth.
4) Your hair texture might not be suitable for relaxing: This is my case. My mom's hair is fine and wavy. My dad's hair is coarse and very tightly curled. My brother got coarse + big curls. I got fine + very tightly curled hair. So, after trying relaxers of various strengths a number of times , I've determined they never work for me. My hair breaks without fail, despite my attempts to properly maintain it.
5) Relaxers stink: When you're having the process done, dude man, it stinks...like 100 stink bombs. That's probably enough to deter me from doing it again, too.
Also, by the way, if you want to go back to your natural hair after relaxing...you have to grow it all back again :P Which means, grow out the relaxer and chop off the straight stuff (or just let your hair progressively break off...which is what usually happens to me. Except the first time, my mom chopped it off...not so cool for an 8 year old to have 2-3 inches of strangely styled hair).
Other ways to straighten curly hair: Blow dry + flat iron. The problem with doing this on a regular basis is that after a while, your hair will eventually either i) lose it's ability to curl in the same way ii) have general heat damage, leading to extreme dryness and breakage.
Non-chemical styling methods:
EXTENSIONS 1) Braiding: Braided extensions can be a great way to add length and color to your hair without the need for any chemicals. The stylist will basically add pieces of hair (whether fake or human) by braiding it with your own hair. You can have either single braids or cornrows (or combo of the two). I've had both done and generally liked them.
The problems: i) You can't exactly wash your hair properly. Washing your scalp is entirely possible. But your hair is trapped in more hair and it's hard to completely wash. Though, i've had better experience washing hair with cornrows. ii) Traction alopecia: more hair loss! The reason is that when you add extensions to your hair, especially if the stylist braids tightly, stress is applied to your scalp. Over time, with continual use of braided extension styles, your hair starts to thin in that area. I'm trying to remedy that problem!
2) Weaves In this process, the stylist cornrows your hair either in concentric circles or just in horizontal or vertical rows, then sews on tracks of hair (either fake or human - human looks nicer and lasts longer/has less of a tendency to tangle). You can either have a full weave (covering your entire head) or a partial one while integrating parts of your own hair (usually the front). So, here you can have wavy, straight, super curly hair. Whatever you like and it's not braided.
Problems: i) The hair washing thing again. Though this time, you have an even harder time accessing your scalp since it's all covered by hair. It also take a while to dry. ii) Hair loss!: the first time I had a weave done was in fall 2004, by the suggestion if a stylist after she noticed I had some thinning in the front due to doing single braids many times. She said it would give my hair a break. My initial impression of weaves was not so great - I felt that it made me look strange, as if I were wearing a helmet and then hair attached on top of it. But anyways, at the time, it did help my hair - I noticed less thinning following that style. My latest weave style was noticeably less helmetty (done by a different lady) but, I've experienced more thinning - which is rather upsetting :( So weaves = hair loss too.
There are a number of other natural styles people can do, like twists, afros, dreadlocks (though be careful with stress too...kind of like the single braids). You can also add clip on hair pieces to your hair.
Through all my hair experiments, I've definitely had regrets (that last relaxer in 2005-06 shouldn't have been done :P), but I've learned something from each of them. I would like to try to work with my own hair (so as to minimize hair and scalp damage), but I've found it hard to find something that's relatively simple to do and that looks nice. So the quest continues.
Anyways, following that lengthy text about hair styling - all this to say, I think the documentary would be interesting to see :D
I stumbled upon some new music in the last week and a half or so. While I haven't had a change to listen to everything, some songs have really stuck in my head.
The one that really stands out is "Voggubarnsins Mál" by Smárakvartettinn Á Akureyri. It was included on a compilation disc by Jonsi (from Sigur Ros) & Alex (Jonsi's boyfriend) called "Raindown My Favorite Songs".
It appears to be an icelandic hymn. I find it very soothing and peaceful - perfect for this weather (which happens to be cold and damp). I wish I could find a clip on the internet for it, but it seems to be rather obscure...
The rest of the CD is alright. There are some nice songs on it, though the above is still my favorite. Not all the songs are like this. In fact, I find the mood changes from one song to the next. Some are really old, like "Moon River" by Audrey Hepburn, "I can't believe you're in love with me" by Billie Holiday and "Parlez-moi d'amour" by Lucienne Boyer. I really like the Lucienne Boyer song as well...very old style french music :)
Other things that I have listened to recently:
Vitalic - Flashmob: yay! Vitalic has a new album out. I don't find that it sounds like their previous album, but still good electronic/electroclash music :D
Memory Tapes - Seek Magic: I've been listening to this one a lot lately. It falls into the same category as "Washed Out" for me - mellow electronic with some vocals. I like the CD on the whole, but I think my favorite song is "Run Out" (which I can't find a clip for either :( ).
Anyhow, as the rainy, autumn days are here, I think listening to Type O Negative's "October Rust" would be fitting. Here's ending my post with my two favorite songs "Love you to death" (I particularly like the ending where he repeats "am I good enough"):
It has been a while since I posted and the time for pretty leaves has come. Fall is one of my favorite seasons as it's the time for premium sweater weather, nostalgic music listenings, the smell of burning (around halloween, it always smells like that), and crunchy leaves to play in.
I'm also pretty happy that classes have started because the summer was pretty boring (nothing much to do at school w/ it being so empty and all). Hopefully things shall continue to improve :) I have signed up for Portuguese lessons as well. It's a pretty convenient time to learn it, as it coincides with my Brazilian drumming. Perhaps I'll actually understand what the wednesday teacher says to some of the Brazilians sometimes :) But, I'm just generally excited about learning another language and I'm hoping i'll catch on easily as I know french and some spanish.
Speaking of things related to Brazil, I'd like to share this Capoeira video with you guys. I have seen Capoeira being done before, but I like this song and I rarely see people moving this fast + check out the head slide.
I'm not nearly bouncy enough for it though. I shall just observe :D
On a similar note - a friend of mine posted a cool karate video on Facebook about the style of Karate I practiced. Now I only wish my classes were that cool. It's pretty inspiring how they seem to move so easily with such sharp techniques.
Now it has come to my attention (whilst walking around downtown a few weeks ago) that Montreal has a cheesecake restaurant. This is exciting! I haven't been there yet, but I have been to the cheesecake factory in Boston. So one day I will venture there and explore their various selections of confectionary goodness.
In terms of music stuff, I haven't been to a concert since Osheaga and probably won't be at one in the forseeable future. There is not much coming around and nothing I particularly want to see. Kind of a musical low time you could say. I haven't been listening to much new stuff either, but I will list a few things I have been listening to lately.
Brazilian stuff: Putumayo Presents: Brasileiro I particularly like the songs "Canto das Tres Racas", "Danca de Solidao", "Visgo de Jaca" Cartola - Cartola (1974) Alvorada, Preciso me Encontrar, Minha I found out about this dude because of the Cidade de Deus soundtrack (which is also quite good. The movie is excellent) Here's a song from the movie:
Os Partideiros de Pla - Metem Bronca Arengueiro, Tem capoeira, E poeiro E po
Compilations: Putumayo Presents (in general - been trying out a lot of the Putumayo Compilations lately): French Caribbean Ayiti Bang Bang (that's the song that plays with the capoeira video), Mandolin, Rete Mexico This one is awesome because it's totally old style Ranchero music: El Tecolote (you can't help but love the laugh at the beginning), La Bruja, Ranchu Gubina
Gypsy Caravan Diri Diri so kerdjan, Movi Shej sabina Actually, Gypsy Beats and Balkan Bangers Vol 1 and 2 are also great Gypsy CD Compilations :)
For non-compilations: Lately, I've been listening the new Placebo (Battle for the Sun), Muse(The Resistance) and Islands (Vapours) CD's. I really like the first track from Vapours.
There's a band I just discovered called "Washed Out" and I really like the feel of their music. Kinda 80s lo-fi/mellow electronic or so.
He has a cassette called "High Times", but for the moment it's sold out and it's not on the internet either as far as I know...hopefully it'll pop up some time. I would like to hear it :)
And now to end, a blast from the past that I just heard recently:
While listening to "Sunflowers" from the Everything is Illuminated soundtrack, I started fiddling with some clips I have and ended up making an impromptu video. So here it is:
I do enjoy the old film look...probably a bit too much :P
I went to see Beirut on Saturday, July 11 with Paw and another friend as part of the indoor Jazz Fest line up. It took place at the Metropolis and was a sold out show (when they played 2 years ago at Sala Rossa, it was also sold out. However, Sala has a 250 person capacity, whereas Metropolis has almost 10X that capacity. Way to go Beirut). Apparently, we were also in the company of Win Butler of the Arcade Fire.
The opening band was the Dodo's and I didn't know anything about them and hadn't bothered to look up any of their music prior to attending the show. They did not disappoint though - very good band! During one of the songs, they were joined by Zach and one other person from Beirut to play horns. Also, major props to the drummer who was sick and feverish (the singer said he was shivering in the morning).
Later, Beirut came on stage. As expected, they played a great show. Two things that make me really happy are accordions and horns and they were there in abundance :) The ukelele is also pretty cute :P I don't recall the entire setlist and I am also having some difficult tracking one down...but from what I remember, they played (in no particular order): Nantes The Shrew Elephant Gun La Javanaise from Serge Gainsbourg A song in Italian Postcards from Italy A Sunday Smile Scenic World After the Curtain Mount Wroclai Cherbourg Guyamas Sonara My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille La Llorona (for the encore)
I'm sure I'm missing some, but I probably should've written this right after the show and so my memory is a tad fuzzy. In anycase, I loved the entire show - but the highlights for me were "My night with the prostitute from Marseille", "Cherbourg" and "The Shrew". The first and last one, because they're from the new split EP. In addition, the first one, on the EP is largely electronic, but when they played it live, they managed to arrange it so that it could be played on the accordion and it was just a really cool arrangement.
The Shrew is my favorite on the "March of the Zapotec" side and I really enjoyed how in the second half of the song, everyone was clapping. It made it really festive. As for Cherbourg, it's the song I've been playing most by them lately. So yay. I was also happy for Scenic World, as it's one of my favorite songs in general :)
The crowd was generally funny. At one point, someone held up a sign saying "Marry my Zach!" and he was playing the trumpet and tried not to smile. But he quirked his brows. In addition, someone in the crowd yelled "You're so sexy when you sweat!!!"
Here are some pics from the show, courtesy of Paw :D :
The only bummer about the night was the fact that it finished so early. This is due to the Jazz Fest programming, because another act was scheduled to play at midnight (Artist of the Year). So, they couldn't really stay and play more (their set was only about 1.5 hours at most). Hopefully next time they come they'll be able to play longer. All in all though, it was a great show, we had great spots and I now have a new band tee-shirt :P
I recently finished reading a book called "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson. Basically, a journalist for the National Post living in Toronto embarked ona 366 day mission to make one "green" change each day. The book is about 270 pages and is quite cleverly written, making it quite an enjoyable and easy read. For each month, she lists all the changes she made and goes in detail about some of them, as well as the accompanying experiences.
While doing the challenge, she kept a blog called Green as a Thistle, which she still runs today. While some of the changes are definitely hard to do (unplugging your fridge and not using your oven, especially if you're not living alone and the rest of the inhabitants refuse to play along :P), others are quite do-able. There were also things I didn't know about at all, such as this great site called Free Rice. You basically play a word game and for each answer you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to countries in need. I linked you to the FAQ, so you see how it works :)
What was also great about the book is after ending her challenge, she decided to see how many changes she kept - which was about 75% of them. This means that it may not be so hard to incorporate some of these into everyday life (which is quite inspiring :D at least to me). While I already make some effort to greenify myself/surroundings, I definitely think I can do more. So, I'll try and use some ideas from her book to see what else I can do. Here is the total list of things she did. Of them, I currently do (some of hers don't apply though - for example: I do not have an electric heating pad o_O): 64 which is about 18% Though, I'm thinking of the applicable ones, I probably do at least 30% :P Anyways, we'll see what can be incorporated :D Should be fun :)
Onto LiveMocha: It's a site that provides 21 free language courses (and other courses you have to pay for). In addition, for the writing and speaking exercises, they are peer reviewed by other users from around the world. You can do the same. So, since signing up yesterday, I've greatly enjoyed helping people out with their English and French. I also enrolled in a Spanish, German, Russian and Portuguese (Brazilian) course. The first 3, I've had some exposure to. The last, none at all - which explains why I suck in it :) I've also noticed that the Brazilians really like correcting people (or at least me), because my audio submission received 53 comments (of mixed rating :P). I had to turn off the comment notification because my inbox was being massively flooded. I do thank them for their eagerness in helping. The other language submissions received on average 3-4 corrections (though, I got no help from the German speakers :P).
You can also add friends and check others' profiles n such. Oh yeah, and do live chats, if you so wish (I haven't yet).
The site can be rather addictive (well, if you like languages and helping people out). So make sure not to spend too much time on it :P
So, that's it for today. If nothing else, I encourage you guys to play Free Rice :)
While matlab does some optimization for me, I figured it'd be a good time to do a little update, as it has been a while.
About 3 weeks ago, the drum school I joined in March had a show celebrating the 4th anniversary of its existence. I'm really happy I went because prior to that I hadn't really heard how all the instruments sound together (well, when the people are playing well. In class, everyone is learning, so you're not so sure...haha). They were joined by other artists who either played with them (guitar, singing, etc), or played when they were taking a break. I only recall Isaac Neto. It was very enjoyable. Everyone at Club Lambi was dancing (and very well I might add). Definitely a good way to get into the festive summer spirit (eventhough it's not summer just yet...)
There were two songs they played that I recognized, as did two friends that joined me that night. So, out of curiosity, I searched for them when I got home. 1) Sergio Mendes - Magalenha
2) Mas que Nada which was done originally by Jorge Ben Jor and later covered by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66', and later by Sergio Mendes with the Black Eyed Peas quite recently.
The following week, I participated in a 4 km walk with them supporting the Societe d'Alzeimer's in the South Shore. It was my first time ever performing with them, but I'm also really happy I went (despite being quite nervous). I was able to follow for the most part, though there were some things I hadn't learned yet. My teacher was really cool about it, showing me some things along the way, or just saying not to play something when we clearly hadn't covered it (everyone else there had started before me...at least in august, or before).
The only thing about walking and playing is the drum tends to bump your knees and produce bruises :P but it's ok, they go away and I've had worse injuries, bahaha. I was also happy to meet other people in the group that practice on different days :D Also, the walkers seemed to really enjoy the music. So, good news all around.
One thing that I was told not to play, but that I found cool - I later found out was also done by Sergio Mendes and brasil 66' in a song called Batucada (Batucada = a drum troupe):
Only the part before 1:00 was done, or at least part of it...where basically the head teacher did a beat and then the drummers had to respond. The crowd also had to respond by clapping. :D
Another interesting thing about this song -> I tried out this class on Sunday called Zumba - it's a mix of aerobics and many dances, such as salsa, merengue and a bunch more(I'm trying to get back into physical activity, eventhough the doctor said it'll take a total of 10-12 weeks for my ankle to heal -> 5-6 weeks left or so. But anyways, this isn't too high impact. I tried to do some karate stuff at home...and yeah, not such a good idea >_< it hurts quite a bit, lol :P)
During the class, the girl happened to play the Carnaval Batucada song, but the part after the drums :P Actually, the website lists all the songs that they use during the work out, which is awesome! So one other song I have in my head because of it (I'd heard it back in the 90s, but had no idea what it was - super catchy):
Carrapicho - Tic Tic Tac
The class itself is pretty fun. I wonder if she'll ever do the dance they do in that video though, haha.
My final music related thing - I've been listening to this song for a little while now: Passion Pit - Little Secrets. It's really dancy :D I learned about them while browsing one of the music blogs. It said if you like MGMT and a few other bands (i forgot), you should like them. And I definitely like MGMT, so I gave it a shot. This song has some elements that remind me of nintendo games. It's definitely upbeat. I see where the MGMT reference comes from, but they don't sound as disco (at least not as disco as Electric Feel). :)
The rest of the CD "Manners" is not bad, but Little Secrets is definitely my favorite song.
Apart from drumming, optimizing and music listening, I've also been watching "30 Rock" - my new favorite show. Now I have nothing left to watch because I finished season 3. So I'll have to start watching something else, haha. It's awesomely quirky. I just love Kenneth and the dynamic between Liz Lemon and Jack.
Here's are some of my favorite parts from the show: "Midnight train to Georgia" (yes, Gladys Night happened to appear on that show)
"The Best of Liz Lemon" (Paw showed this to me just before I started watching the show)
And some stuff from Kenneth:
and last but not least, I saw "Sin Nombre" last Thursday. It's a great movie, albeit depressing.
Here's the trailer:
The music in there is quite good. However, the soundtrack only corresponds to the instrumental stuff...and I'm looking for the non-instrumental (it had accordions!!). Hopefully a song list will appear soon.
