after an extended weekend of pleasure also known as: (amusement, blizz, comfort, contentment, delectation, delight, desire, diversion, ease, enjoyment, fancy, felicity, gladness, gluttony, gratification, indulgence, joy, revelry, satisfaction, solace, thrill, titillation, want, will, wish and other such extemporaneous events) i have returned at last.

j.w goethe was a smart man.

"In the colorful reflection we have what is life."

for isabelle

the word of the day:
t w i t t e r p a t e d

. . .

i saw this on my morning walk to school today...the first snow of montreal was falling, officially signaling the end of autumn. and i thought to myself that it is nearly the end of another year...the year 2005 in fact. since 2000, what have you done? really, it is a good question, in the last five years, where were you? where have you gone (not just physically but mentally/emotionally/spiritually/all of the above)? did you fall in love? did you fall out of love? how many times each? did you dream? did those dreams come true? there is so much more tied to this question that i feel as a burning sensation within me...i guess this is a good sign, to know that in the last five years i still feel burning sensations...in fact, i can say for the first time in the last five years, perhaps, i feel it more than ever. and for this, i am very happy.

moleskinerie-ed!

a few days back i got a curious looking email asking for my permission to use a sketch of mine...then i realized it was the moleskinerie site! wow...i am without words...oh happy day!

revelation.

the revelation came to me in a moment of cleaning, well procrastinating more like it. anyhow...do you remember the movie gattaca? one's life is pre-determined by one's genetic make-up. your occupation, your house, your wife...all of this can be read in a single strand of hair. i was thinking that this is what our modern day music playlists do to some extent. we read into the other person, determining compatibility of friendship/more, or just how "cool" is a person, based on the songs which they are or are not listening to at the current moment. what is in their itunes, or playing on their ipod, this is the main factor, and god forbid they don't even have an ipod! in the movie, irene takes a strand of hair from jerome to see if he is all that he is said to be (genetically speaking)...ashamed and guilty for reducing him to a single strand of dna, she offers her own strand of hair to him...i'll give you my playlist if you give me yours? hmmm...just something random to think about. as quoted from the movie, "there is no gene (in this case playlist) for the human spirit."

30 cities in 365 days

so i decided to go anyways.

105 songs for a cold (as in sniffle, sniffle) weekend

la noyée, carla bruni
hide and seek, imogen heap
dance with me, adam green
(you can't blame it on) anybody, phoenix
the dumbing down of love, frou frou
retour a vega, the stills
autumn sweater, yo la tengo
ladies & gentleman we are floating in space, spiritualized
this is not a love song, nouvelle vague
the shining, badly drwan boy
the nearness of you, norah jones
everything is everything, phoenix
the past and pending, the shins
take me somewhere nice, mogwai
run run run, phoenix
fumble, architecture in helsinki
the last goodbye, nicholas payton
advisory committee, mirah
it's good to be in love, frou frou
falling away with you, muse
love will tear us apart, nouvelle vague
transcontinental, pedro the lion
neighborhood #1 (tunnels), the arcade fire
new slang, the shins
quelqu'un m'a dit, carla bruni
trading air. athlete
goodnight and go, imogen heap
???????????????, aprils
still in love song, the stills
i come.com, miss kittin
ruby, my dear, thelonius monk & john coltrane
everybody's gotta learn sometime, beck
i know you are but what am i?, mogwai
baby lulu, stereolab
in the backseat, the arcade fire
the fox in the snow, belle & sebastian
rae, autechre
kissing the lipless, the shins
where is my mind, pixies
julie and candy, boards of canada
priests and paramedics, pedro the lion
etoh, the avalanches
this modern love, bloc party
pokubornin, blindfolf
diving station, boards of canada
montserrat, orquestra del plata
willow weep for me, billie h oliday
i melt with you, nouvelle vague
be here to love me, norah jones
one of these things first, nick drake
brownie a la mode, nicholas payton
call and answer, barenaked ladies
try, nelly furtado
in the aeroplane over the sea, neutral milk hotel
golden porsche, mogwai
i do, pedro the lion
how does it make you feel?, air
hand to phone (cordless mix), adult.
le soleil est près de moi, air
yousay, amp
i love, athlete
tonight may have to last me all my life, the avalanches
corc, autechre
certain things you ought to know, destroyer
detroit twice, el michels affair
goddam right it's a beautiful day, eels
feel it, black eyed peas
holdin' on together, phoenix
make up, elefant
star guita, the chemical brother
banquest, bloc party
pick up, bonobo
y tú qué has hecho?, buena vista social club
yoshimi battle the pink robots pt.1, the flaming lips
locusts, the frames
you do, aimee mann
le toi du moi, carla bruni
don't leave me, the all-america rejects
bottle up and explode!, elliott smith
the upsetters-lover's skank (spangler's club), bill laswell
suffer in silence, the frames
la dernière minute, carla bruni
reasons for living, duncan sheil
all the things you are, charlie parker
let go, frou frou
where do i begin, the chemical brothers
fold 4 wrap 5, autechre
blue mon, chick corea & bobby mcferrin
night of the iguana, the cinematic orchestra
shadowtricks, bonobo
el carretero, buena vista social club
what's on my mind, the cranberries
i'm missing you, badrye
take five, the dave brubeck quartet
here i dreamt i was an architect, the decemberists
no cities left, the dears
raphael, carla bruni
the sound of setting, death cab for cutie
call call, the faint
notorious lightning, destroyer
not in our name, dj spooky & saul williams
embraceable you, charlie parker
your lucky day in hell, eels
...
yes. i am bored.

ugh...this crappy immune system of mine decides to break down at precisely the moment of parties...maybe it's for my own good...i'll spend the weekend in bed with merleau-ponty and reuniting with my laptop instead...can't believe i've wasted the whole day away drinking fluids, making soup & music playlists...hehe...i've officially mastered the art of procrastination without the tv being a factor...amaaaazing.

for the to do list

wishing i could have written this as a mission statement for my thesis...

"We experience life through encounters, images of varied, mostly irrelevant, short experiences: new images, new flavors, new sounds, new touches, & new smells. Yet in their irrelevance they shape the way we think and how we see the world...Actually we are all tourists. We are all part of a new ritual or religion, which is to believe only in what is known and this is what we are told is true. We don't know who we are, and we need to be told where to go and what to see. Museums show the familiar because people seem no longer to be attracted by curiosity or mystery, the unknown or the underground. I remember when I was a kid we used to wander & wonder if we were stepping into a spot in the woods where noone had ever walked. We had this craving to discover the untouched, the unknown. I think we all still have this craving but we cannot satisy it for fear of stepping off the given path of making a mistake. I intend for this exhibition to allow the viewer to enter into a known world to find the unknown, or maybe the other way around, to enter into and unknown world to find the familiar, the known. This dialogue between what is familiar and what is unknown opens & enriches our lives. This show is about experiencing visions and offers the opportunity to reflect and understand the meaning of these visions, but not before your gut has told you something about your experience, which only you can know. A mediated world with mirages, tricks, and look-alike miracles is a difficult world in which to find unique experiences and places. Through media, we are able to be in the same place looking at the same sights, all at the same time everywhere. ..however, (it) aims to be like the woods where we wish to find a spot where no one else has ever been. This discovery is of course an illusion; it is a fiction; and yet this illusion and this fiction can make out lives worthwhile...what is familiar becomes universal. Maybe through this metamorphosis of the familiar into the universal we discover the core of our contemporary existence."

excerpt taken from (p.15-20) an introduction to

"universal experience: art, life & the tourists' eye"

exhibition curated by: Francesco Bonami, Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Tricia Van Eck

published by: museum of contemporary art (chicago, illinois) & d.a.p. (new york, ny) 2005

teatime.

i am so tired today. maybe i slept too much. or perhaps it is the thoughts of reading all night with no one but my yellow book at hand. the next work of tackle: jonathan crary's "techniques of the observer". i have been wanting to read this book for such a long time, but now that the time has finally come and i am pressured to finish, it seems like such a task.

something must have been wrong and at odds in the universe the other night. so many people had worried, or angry, frustrated voices coming to me thru the phone. all i could do was listen and try to be sympathetic. there are so many times when there is nothing to be done but just look into the eyes of the other and be.

i am thinking of tea...the warm, soothing calmness of it, the destroyer of my laptop (which by the way, i still haven't gotten back yet, argh!)...i will soon venture out from the library (maybe my third home away from home after laika)...eesh...the autumn air seems like it will welcome me tonight, a breath of freshness that is very much needed. ok, off into the wind and falling leaves i go.

i've found it...the teapot that i want and desire. at long last. simple, elegant, pure...now to figure out how to get it from new york. for now i have too many books to buy...maybe this can be a little christmas gift hint...hehe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

notes to self for thesis:
November 22, 2005 thru December 10, 2005

One - Guerrilla Tea features a new series of photographs by the performance artist and photographer Pierre Sernet. These photographs feature randomly selected guests, from various cultures, sharing a bowl of tea with the kimono-dressed Sernet. For each ceremony, a conventional teahouse has been replaced with a portable cube to create a "conceptual space" that bridges cultures and environments. (Photographs: Pierre Sernet copyright 2005)

@ Felissimo Design House 10 West 56 Street New York, NY 10019 800-565-6785

at laika again...

another morning of sleeping in late...waking up to a cold air of morning and wondering for a moment where i was for a brief while. not realizing that i have been living in a dream...a dream filled with moments and sips of coffee, of little treats of painted graffiti on the walls of back alleys, of mustard yellow walls that are made of squares, of nights of street wandering made reflective after the rain in puddles...i miss the comfort of my own couch and table and the familiar sites of my beloved candles...there is my blue bike which i have not gone on 3am adventures with...i wonder how will be the reuniting with such objects. if the meeting will be sweet or sour...bittersweet perhaps as a are most partings and meetings....the only things which remain from such moments are the smell of a sweet perfume, the glimmer of a smile, the special gaunt of a walk.

borges as my midnite friend

i woke from a nap at 9 in order to prepare for my lengthy encounter with borges tonight...tomorrow i will moderate a seminar discussion. long nights lie ahead of me.