bukó revelation

There was one time when one of my sisters, Ate Julie, when I was about 10 or 11 and she in college, was obsessed with the movie "Fame", Irene Cara, and her song "Out Here on My Own".  I was still in elementary school then and have not heard of the movie until she told me about it.  She had a radio with her and she turned the station dial relentlessly until she found a station that played the song. What was memorable about it was that before then, I never saw her passionate and excited about anything at all.  She's always kept to herself.   I never saw her reveal so much of herself after that, either.

Satisfied on finding and hearing the song at that moment, she let me in on a something even more precious to her:  she said much as she loved the song,  there was another in the same movie that she loved even more.  I remember her trying afterwards to play down how much she loved it, which only made it obvious that she did.   She had a girly crush and she told me about it!

Today, as everyone in the family has their heart and mind with her, I looked up the song and found the video, above, which appears to have been filmed a couple of blocks from where I first lived in New York.

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going to california

well, not yet. just found the vid and thought i'd share it.
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frei aber froh

no, my german has not improved at all.  it's got something to do with the music accompanying this letter (you'll have to play the music above).  johannes brahm's musical motto for this symphony Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90  (3rd movement, poco allegreto) consisted of the notes F-A(flat)-F, the first letters of frei aber froh.  and no, i have not suddenly become a music expert either, i just read it somewhere else.  why frei "aber" froh (free "but" happy), you might ask, not frei "und" froh (free "and" happy)?  supposedly it's in response to the composer's friend's motto of frei aber einsam (free but lonely).

what about this music then?   not sure.  i think this is supposed to be meadows and creeks and flowers of spring, but somehow it gives me all sorts of feelings - at times confused and indecisive, bouts of resolve and brief periods of peace, sometimes hopeful but nothing more. it stops short of a conclusion, as if happiness or whatever resolution there is to be had lies after the last note.  i was listening to this when i was thinking of my last year in berlin and somehow it just fits and i couldn't get it out of my head.

i read somewhere that real happiness is that moment when you are faced with the promise of being happy.  i'm hoping the same is true about not being happy - that the worst one can feel is when one fears the possibility of not being happy - because if it's true, then the worst is over.

anyway, i should hear from my lawyer anytime soon. today is the court hearing for my divorce.


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riding for the feeling

,

"in conclusion... leaving is easy
when you've got someplace you need to be..."
- bill callahan

hmmm.  lately these letters seem to be like a countdown of some sort, don't you think?  give me until first week of september and i promise i'll snap out of it. in the meantime here's some more depressing sad music.


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antony and the johnsons

another charlie - well, this one's a "charles", a friend who lives near you actually, says a lot of the music i listen to are very depressing, sad music.  i guess it's true. here's an example. antony and the johnsons.  again, not my favorite among their songs but the only one they have with a proper video.

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dylan leblanc

this isn't my favorite among his songs, but this is the only one with a proper video... so here you go. dylan leblanc

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micachu and the shapes

while searching for podcasts about san francisco, i came across this npr's sxsw podcast of micachu (from 2 years ago! how did i miss this? she's adorable) and ended up downloading everything micachu from itunes and watching everything micachu on youtube. i'm hooked.

if you go to her rough trade records website there's free download of her songs.

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eddie vedder's "ukulele songs" released today

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banana pancakes

i don't usually listen to the words of a song when listening to music so i was surprised that this one, from one that i've had for a while now,  registered:

"just so easy

when the whole world fits inside of your arms

do we really need to pay attention to the alarm

wake up slow, mmm mmm

wake up slow"

it struck me as something so simple and yet so endearing (not that i like romantic things. ok, maybe a little).  granted it doesn't say anything about "the whole world" NOT feeling like your arms was all it took to make him happy - what with all the events he wanted to go to because he read that that's what everybody else was doing - or the holidays his colleagues have gone to and that he has to do himself - or that you were not supposed to have any "lesser career" than in architecture, among other things.  but of course that's another song altogether - and one that frankly i wouldn't want to hear.

so yeah, thanks jack johnson for "banana pancakes".  i would've loved to have known the song under different circumstances, but it made me smile nonetheless.

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Our Story Now Begins

© Joselito Briones

Yep. Finally happened. I got my copy a couple of weeks ago. Have a listen.


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Portrait of a struggling singer/songwriter

© Joselito Briones

The struggle, in this case, is internal. Not being able to sooner put out something that he knows he's perfectly capable of making, having opted to rely solely on himself to complete his project, not being able to constantly muster discipline to regulate the progress.

He's really good at it too, I heard one of his tracks and was really impressed. One that he has since discarded as unusable. I thought it perfectly good, if technically wanting polish (he made it a few years ago). Reminded me of a more layered "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)" by Aqualung.

I hope for his own sake he finds direction sometime soon. One can get lost in a struggle for a lifetime without realizing it. Then it's too late.


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Ika'y kaibigan ko

© Joselito Briones

Here's a videoclip of a number some of my nephews and nieces did in the last family christmas party we had in Carmona. I thought Krisi (guitar) looked really great in this clip. With her are Omar (drums), Mark (bass) and Jane (vocals). The number they're doing is called "Kaibigan ko" (My Friend). The sound and video quality is awful, of course, but until I get myself a proper videocam, this will have to do.


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I guess it's never easy walking in somebody else's shadow

© Joselito Briones

Well now, I get low and I get high,
And if I can't get either, I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes,
I'm a dancin' man and I just cant lose.
You know it's all right, it's OK,
I'll live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The New York Times effect on man.

- BeeGees, "Staying Alive"


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Pop Quiz: New Voices

© Joselito Briones

Can you guess who sang what?

"I got all the right clothes to wear, but I just want to cry now..."

"...Yesterday was easy, happiness came and went..."

" I can have another you in a minute, in fact he'll be here in a minute"
(ok, this one's not a new voice, but I thought I'll put at least one give away)

"Oh you're a stupid girl, oh me, oh my, you talk
I die, you smile, you laugh, I cry..."

"The world just chewed her up, and spat her out "

"Drinkin’ tea in bed, watchin’ DVD’s
When I discovered all your dirty, grotty magazines..."

"B-b-b-baby, I think I'm going c-c-c-crazy
And why should I be sane without you?"

"See I buy my own bags, my boots, my jeans
Wear La Rok with my Rebel Yell underneath"


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Picture, above, was taken in Ulrich and Christa's garden. And yeah, this one's prepared-in-advance, a filler... Too busy now preparing for the trip to Hong Kong and Philippines, doing things that needs taking care of this year, arranging meet-ups with friends, etc., to post something new.


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Back to Basics

© Joselito Briones

Back to Erlangen, and back to experimenting with digital pics. This one is taken in the Bamberg train station... I was trying to create an old-world, hand-colored character to it.

MTV: In constant rotation nowadays is Christina Aguilera's "Hurt", from the album "Back to Basics", really well made, the make up alone when she's sitting down crying is flawless and a pefect fit to the video, it must've cost a fortune. Also, among the top British MTV's dance videos is the one that Frieder produced, "Dance for Life". And I happened into MTV2's Barrio 19... wow! How could I have missed this show before?


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How stupid of me

© Joselito Briones

...I just wade the tides that turned
Till I learn to leave the past behind...

...Press my face up to the window
To see how warm it is inside
See the things that I've been missing
Missing all this time...

-Beck Hansen, "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
(from "Sea Change")


How could I have mistaken this song for something from an eternal optimist? I guess it's not hard, if you just listen to it while doing something else, it's easy to see "It's only lies that I'm living, it's only you that I'm losing" as someone saying there's a lot worse that could happen, he could brave anything. I've been listening to this song for years without really knowing what it meant. Today I got tired of listening to my German Language audio lessons from my iPod and decided to switch to music, the song came up, I guess I was still in "pay attention" mode and heard differently from the other times I listened to it. It's sooooo depressing! How could someone who wrote such songs as "Sexx Laws", "Loser", and "Where It's At" write such a downer!

Hmmm... now that I think about it... maybe I just haven't been really listening to those other songs. I don't really want to find out later that they're just as tragic, so I'll just keep on listening to them while multitasking. Meanwhile I'll just keep on picking this one song apart, after all, who doesn't like lingering on miserable songs?


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P.S.

Googling Beck, I found out that he released a new album last month, "The Information"... and it's supposed to be as dark and moody as "Sea Change"... can't wait to get my hands on it!

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Too bad he didn't get there first

© Joselito Briones

Heard of the latest James Blunt clone? He's not as extreme, and will not make you cringe when he does the high notes. He's actually good, Paolo Nutini. Depending on what he sings, his voice sometimes veers towards a sound-alike of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and often Ray Charles-ey. It's also obvious he can pretty much imitate Blunt's voice if he try. It's a good thing that he doesn't. His music can be sampled by downloading this week's free iTunes song "New Shoes" or from his own website "Loving You (Live)".


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P.S.
I've always thought of Blunt as the aural answer to hyperrealism (a visual style)... it's like now that there's so much out there, and the average attention span of an adult is shorter than a blink of an eye, it makes sense that one needed to be exaggeratedly emotional (or exaggerated anything) to be noticed.

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Smokes

© Joselito Briones

Image 3 from the "Everwhere Things" series... this is a cigarette vending machine. I had to take this picture really quickly, because in order to get the whole thing in the picture, I had to stand in the middle of the street and dodge cars passing by.

Am not sure what to write with it, so I'll just put a song with it: From KD Lang's "DRAG"






Hain't It Funny?

We made love last night
Wasn't good wasn't bad
Intimate strangers made me kinda sad
Now when I woke up this morning
Coffee wasn't on
It slowly dawned on me that my baby is gone
My baby's gone

Guess I shouldn't be so shocked
I guess I shouldn't be so surprised
Guess i sorta noticed the sadness in your eyes
All this time together
And I still feel so alone
Two of us together couldn't make this house a home
My baby's gone
My baby's gone
Oh so long

Umf maybe I'm a little bit relieved
Maybe even a little bit glad
Now that you're gone maybe I won't feel so sad
So I'm packing your things and
Leaving them outside and
Neighbours can talk themselves up into a storm I'll survive
My baby's gone
My baby's gone
Oh ... so long

Did you forget something my love
I see you're back outside
Looking at your suitcases looking oh so surprised
Hain't it funny
One of life's little jokes
Thought you'd gone for good
But you'd only gone ... for smokes

(-Jane Siberry )


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Songs on a Rainy night in the Autobahn

© Joselito Briones

Nothing better than a long drive (Erlangen to Mannheim) to get reacquainted with classics.

After half an hour of listening to Ray Brown Trio's jazz versions of standards, I've decided to put on something that'd wake us up somehow. The first song in the complilation CD that I put on more than woke me up though, it made me hyper. The Knack's "My Sharona". I haven't heard the song for a while, but everytime I hear it again it never fails to lift up my mood. I don't even know what the song is about, all I know is it makes me want to bounce off my seat.

At the last hour of the drive, it started raining quite heavily, and having exhausted all the upbeat songs in the CD's that I brought, we agreed to play George Michael. Yes, every card-carrying friend of Dorothy has to have his CD on rotation, or the all-time favorite OST from "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", or of course, any of the tragic divas, else our membership is in danger of being revoked.

"The first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command...my love "

-Ewan McColl

For this drive, we had "Songs from the Last Century". I've forgotten how much I loved his version of "Roxanne" and "Miss Sarajevo", and how pointless is his cover of "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face". I still think this song has one of the best words ever put to music, and nothing will ever surpass Roberta Flack's crisp voice in delivering it (Johnny Cash' version is too devastating).


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Theme

CD cover of "Kick, Push"

I've been thinking of a song to go with my letters to you, a theme, if you must. I've considered plenty of songs which I really like, but none seem to describe perfectly the state of mind I'm in the past few months, until I saw this video on TV.

The title of the song is "Kick... Push", by Lupe Fiasco. It's about something else altogether, skateboarding, in fact. But after listening to it a few times, I find that this is exactly the mood that I've been in for much of this year (and maybe last year, too). Sometimes I think it's a bit too late in life to be feeling like this, but at the end of the day, it is how it is. The only reservation I have for this song is that it might be just a bit too cool for these letters.

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P.S.
The very close second choice, which I decided not to go for because it's a bit too obvious, was a song by The Beastie Boys.

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