i would like just one really beautiful natural photograph of myself.

(something like ms b here?)

also i really hate photographs where people pose in front of useless landmarks and objects. “…and here i am next to ___”

notes:

• 小島麻由美 (or kojima mayumi) - probably the only jazz/blues influenced singer i really like, without veering too far into those genres, cos i hate jazz, really. girlish blues?
• neil and iraiza - aka horie hirohisa and matsuda gakuji. closest in style to their friend kaji hideki, but owes more to the uk than sweden. i love ny and johnny marr? albums are my favourites.
• meligrove band - okay so i downloaded a leaked copy of their upcoming album planets conspire. after not bothering to listen to them for a few years because i had too much sloan in my head, i figure maybe i should loosen up a bit, and maybe even listen to rooney, whilst resisting the call of ‘mediocre’!
• bice - having not released anything since 2002 (let love be your destiny album), i was worried she had disappeared for good. apparently not though, as she’s still performing. been listening to her music a lot to and from work on my minidisc, trying to figure out the balance of drums, acoustic & electric guitar and vocals. it sounds so good.
• at 17 - their new album bian bian bian (’change’) could be marked as ‘more mature’ - no more silly children’s ditties or the like. needs more time to digest, although the title track is already stuck in my head.

from a book my parents gave me for christmas a while ago. probably too sweet for the more average girl, but just right for a six year old.

from chara’s website:

For those fans who can’t understand Japanese, or have trouble buying her albums because they live in foreign lands, Chara wants you to know that she does think about you, and is looking at options available with the newer internet technologies to provide more music to more people. This English website is the first step in that direction…

today we got paid to spend half an hour out in the glorious sun. a suitcase was left unclaimed in the arcade, and the cops and firemen had to be called in. the suitcase turned out to belong to an, ahem, nutter guy who had inadvertently or otherwise left it there (is the concentration of crazy, homeless people higher here, or in the city?). the contents? his clothes.

thinking back to the play welcome to dullsville, i recognised the bums they photographed sleeping on park benches in their montage of amnesty statues and various other things shouting “boring”, and on that note didn’t find much of it funny or insightful and pretty much figured i was watching the wrong play.

couldn’t resist posting this because the playlist image features koshijima toshiko of capsule. and yeah, i got one of those accounts.

some notes:

• shugo tokumaru i’ve been playing because i have a bit of trouble getting to sleep initially, which is a terrible way to listen to music, but it seems to work, although there are some interesting textures in the songs.
  
• les macchabées includes stéphane plante and jean masson of les sequelles, and you know how much i like retro quebecois bands.
  
• i would buy a copy of burst city just to see the stalin perfom in it.
  
• samara lubelski sounded interesting when i read about it on the white noise records page. less downbeat, more “psychedelic” tara jane o’neil?
  
• i gave my heart to the treeberrys.
  

last night i couldn’t be stuffed eating dinner and so i drank tea, and canned coffee, and tea and canned coffee mixed together; and i stayed up until 1:30 trying to finish my shiina ringo article, and guess what - i’m still not finished. yeah, sorry eric, i still got like this much to add to the kyoiku review and then i’m done. for reals. i love doing this stuff though…

markets originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

i’ve noticed lately that when i hand my automatic camera over to some people to take a photo of the family for me, they hold the camera miles away from their face, and complain they can’t see the viewfinder. doesn’t anyone know how to use a simple film camera anymore!??!

pets originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

today i passed by the living end loitering outside their hotel on the way to buy rice milk from the korean grocery. tonight i went and saw the band i was a sort of member for about a couple of months. the change (or not change) in lineup has been good for them i guess - i anticipate they’ll be headlining their own gigs pretty soon…

meanwhile i’m budgeting to buy some very basic recording gear and instruments, and practicing clarinet again… which i haven’t touched since i quit the thing in year 11, and the case has been a doorstopper since. i haven’t been poisoned by whatever’s in the parts and case yet, so it must be okay…

filling my brain with shiina ringo (as if it’s not usually) in an effort to finish the article. i suppose shuraba is growing on me. (whoever did those wiki entries sure has a lot of patience…)

blah blah blah i have too many ideas in my head right now i need a brain dump

w&a originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

i see? originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

i heard okkervil river’s for real for the first time on the radio this afternoon, and for a minute i thought i was listening to joel plaskett. the album title is after tim hardin’s black sheep boy, of which joel did a pretty inspiring cover a few years back. similar booming production as plaskett in ‘emergency’ mode (i’m surprised it isn’t ian macgettigan behind the dials) and there’s even a line about ‘the blinding light’ in there. i didn’t pay attention when they did a split single with julie doiron last time. tis a pity they are only stopping as far as adelaide on their tour…

lily originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

things i need to do:

- record typewriter clacking noises
- buy 1 and 1&1/2 size reeds for clarinet
- copy and collate moooore zines
- sr article for the chimp
- write intro for zine
- return keyboard
- finish stina’s letter

the panic originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

next time i am in hong kong i’m going to find all the other interesting record stores i meant to look for in the first place…

the panic is on the 2nd floor (1st floor after ground for westerners) above a hairdresser. no signage or anything - i’d never have found it if i didn’t insist on going up the stairs. and i’d have missed the mural…

everything interesting is hidden up another flight of stairs or in a back alley…

lotus originally uploaded by lovelikepop.

click for larger i was so excited when i realised that i could get these at the post office. i guess being on a stamp is a kind of immortality, and recognition of his importance in hong kong music. he’s not just a “hong kong pop singer”…