I was bored tonight and ended up making a quick video for the Winter. I suppose this shall be part 1, as I have plenty of winter clips left.



Music: Radiohead - I will (no man's land). This is the "los angeles version", as opposed to the original on the album Hail to the Thief.
This time I used sepia (instead of black and white :P)
So, I'm still on an Alicia Keys trip and that song Empire State of Mind refuses to leave my mind - including the version with Jay-Z. Like seriously, dude man - I had a dream last night that I was in New York. I feel like I'm reverting back to grade 11 where I used to listen to more hip hop/rap.

However! I did manage to listen to some other music despite my extremely Keysing week.
Thanks to Oficeandashes, I've been listening to Mt. Eden dubstep (a most premium DJ). My favorite track of the ones he showed me was "Sierra Leone" which features samples from the song "I'd like" by Freshlyground.



Other remixes I like by Mt. Eden are "Daniel" (Bat for lashes) and "Hide and Seek" (Imogen Heap).

Freshlyground is a group from South Africa. The vocalist has a very particular voice, which I can only describe as cheerful/slightly childlike at times, but very smooth. Some songs sound really spacy (like, I'd like from the album Nomvula) and others are very upbeat like Ma cherie, which is also closer to what I know South African music to be.


For the moment, Ma cherie (from the album ma cherie) is my favorite song. I love the beat, how energetic she is and absolutely love the horns and tingy guitar. I just can't resist that sound - it's so cheerful and summery. There's also some dancing in this live video. This music just makes me want summer sooner! :D

Here's one of my fave South African songs by Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. The video is kinda amusing.


Now, as for the next on the list of things I'm listening to - the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I was at Cafe Santropol today with a couple friends and some music was playing that I didn't recognize, but liked. When I asked the waitress what it was, she said the new "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" album. It surprised me just because I didn't recognize Karen O's voice (though I had seen them live in 2004 - shame on me...or maybe it was just too echoey in the restaurant?). But, generally, it didn't sound like their usual stuff, which is a good thing.

So, I had downloaded "It's Blitz" last year when it came out, but never gave it a good listen. Now that I have, I do like it quite a bit. The track that I had heard was "Skeleton" and it was very spacy :D



Now, who's coming?!

Feb 20 - Owen Pallett (Not going, but Paw is :D)
Feb. 25 - Vitalic @ SAT (yes!!! Ticket purchased)
March 29 - Beach House @ Sala Rosa (didn't get ticket yet, but hoping to go :D)
April 18 - Gogol Bordello + Devotchka @ Metropolis (k, dude man, this is absolutely epic gypsyness and I already got my ticket).
May (middle of) - Kinetik Festival. Paw and I haven't decided which date for sure, but would like to go.

Apart from that, there is the Montreal Highlights Festival which ends Feb. 27 with the annual Nuit Blanche. This year I'm supposed to be participating in one of the events as a performer (rather than just a spectator, haha). But that means I won't be doing much of the Nuit Blanche activities this year. So, my friends, you must enjoy it for me! :D

Finally, my new favorite soup of the moment - Carrot, ginger + sesame. I tried it at Aux Vivres on Wednesday - so awesome. I hate carrot soup and juice usually...but the ginger gave it the required bite and the sesame oil added a nice flavor to it. Today at Santropol, their soup of the day was carrot, ginger and orange. It was okay, but required the addition of salt and pepper (whereas AV's needed nothing :o). At the health food store, I found a box of carrot, ginger and cashew - so I guess that will be my final carrot & ginger trial before making it myself and making it more awesome than all the others (of course).

Also, check this out - Adobe Photoshop Cook (thanks to Cindy!)

That's it for now.
Until next time!

PS: If you haven't seen Alicia Keys singing "Empire State of Mind" with Colbert, go check it out on youtube (video quality aint' so great though). It's really funny (thanks to paw for this).
Hey peeps,

Well this is my first post of the New Year (both Western and Chinese, huzzuh!).
So, I haven't actually been checking out that much new music...just sometimes borrowing some of those "Rough Guide to..." music compilation CD's from the library.
Anyways, I don't really listen to the radio (so I never know what's going on), but one of my good friends does and apparently Alicia Keys came out with a new album called "Elements of Freedom". Typically, I just like one or two songs on her albums (for example, "No One" on the last album). Her voice is amazing, but I just don't care much for the super R&B songs. So, my friend really likes this new album and let me listen to a few songs in the car. And seriously, dude man...I think for the first time, I can say I like almost the entire album. I guess she changed her style slightly and it just works very well (this coming from someone who doesn't usually listen to this type of music...but there is no doubt, he voice is just aaaamaaazing :D).

So here are my favorite songs so far:

Doesn't mean anything


Try sleeping with a broken heart


Empire state of mind


Distance and Time


Until next time!