wishing i was there...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Anna Karina - Ma ligne de chance
finally able to watch this godard masterpiece...makes me wish it was summer
Monday, February 25, 2008
La Vie en Rose
I screamed like a little girl when she won, Marion deserved to win...and she was so cute accepting the award
Be Kind Rewind Sweded Trailer
I love Michel so much, craziest ideas ever...leave it to a french man to be so great
Sunday, February 24, 2008
can't stop listening to...
Hey Eugene- Pink Martini
Those Dancing Days are Gone- Carla Bruni
Scenic World- Beruit
Self Service- Studio
23- Blonde Redhead
Don't Kiss Me Good-bye- Ultra Orange and Emmanual
Still in Love- The Stills
Too Happy- Jens Lekman
Ready for the Floor- Hot Chip
Hard Hearted Hannah- Ella Fitzgerald
Those Dancing Days are Gone- Carla Bruni
Scenic World- Beruit
Self Service- Studio
23- Blonde Redhead
Don't Kiss Me Good-bye- Ultra Orange and Emmanual
Still in Love- The Stills
Too Happy- Jens Lekman
Ready for the Floor- Hot Chip
Hard Hearted Hannah- Ella Fitzgerald
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Such a moving story and film, made me so hopeful. Reminded
me of the beauty that surrounds me every day. You must not take
anything for granted
Swiss Boarding School- Disco/Soul
I Swedish band I am loving, but can't seem to track down any of their music to purchase...
spending my day on youtube, instead of doing research as I should be doing
La Bonheur..Happiness
just watched this Agnes Varda film for the first time...
beautiful story of love, full of color, soundtrack of Mozart, French of course
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Manic Street Preachers
I love the Manic Street Preachers, they are so inspiring
Their lyrics are way beyond anything else anyone is doing
My favorite tracks are Faster, Motown Junk, If you tolerate this..., Masses Against the Classes
Sample of lyrics...
So damn easy to cave in, man kills everything
Culture sucks down words
Itemize loathing and feed yourself smiles
Organise your safe tribal war
Hurt maim kill and enslave the ghetto
Each day living out a lie
Life sold cheaply forever, ever, ever
Gravity keeps my head down
Or is it maybe shame
At being so young and being so vain
The Masses against the classes
we love the winter it brings us closer together
I am more Me
Peter, Bjorn and John
"Objects of My Affection"
I remember when, when i first moved here,
a long time ago,
´cause i heard some song i used to hear back then,
a lone time ago. i remember when, even further back,
in another town,´cause i saw something written i used to say back then, hard to comprehend and the question is, was i more alive then than i am now?
i happily have to disagree;
i laugh more often now, i cry more often now,
i am more me. but of cause some days,
i just lie around and hardly exist,
and can´t tell apart what i´m eating from my hand or my wrist.
´cause flesh is flesh, flesh as flesh as flesh, the difference is thin.
but life has a certian ability or breathing new life into me,
so i breathe it in.
it says here we are, and we all are here,
and you still can make sense,
if you just show up and present an honest face,
instead of that grin.
and the other day, this new friend of mine
said something to me"just because something starts differently,doesn´t mean it´s worth less."
and i soaked it in, how i soaked it in,
how i soaked it in and just as to prove how right he was,
then you came.
so i´m gonna give, yes i´m gonna give,
i´m gonna give you a try,
so i´m gonna give, yes i´m gonna give,
i´m gonna give you a try
I love these lyrics...so right on
"Objects of My Affection"
I remember when, when i first moved here,
a long time ago,
´cause i heard some song i used to hear back then,
a lone time ago. i remember when, even further back,
in another town,´cause i saw something written i used to say back then, hard to comprehend and the question is, was i more alive then than i am now?
i happily have to disagree;
i laugh more often now, i cry more often now,
i am more me. but of cause some days,
i just lie around and hardly exist,
and can´t tell apart what i´m eating from my hand or my wrist.
´cause flesh is flesh, flesh as flesh as flesh, the difference is thin.
but life has a certian ability or breathing new life into me,
so i breathe it in.
it says here we are, and we all are here,
and you still can make sense,
if you just show up and present an honest face,
instead of that grin.
and the other day, this new friend of mine
said something to me"just because something starts differently,doesn´t mean it´s worth less."
and i soaked it in, how i soaked it in,
how i soaked it in and just as to prove how right he was,
then you came.
so i´m gonna give, yes i´m gonna give,
i´m gonna give you a try,
so i´m gonna give, yes i´m gonna give,
i´m gonna give you a try
I love these lyrics...so right on
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Angela et Alfred
I just had to post this, Une Femme Est Une Femme is my favorite film of all time. This is one of the best scenes, Anna Karina can do no wrong in my eyes
moments of bliss
Things I'm loving at this moment:
1. Band of Outsiders suits as exibited to your left
2. Mexican spice mochas
3. Rose syrup
4. Julian Schnabel artist and director of "The Diving Bell
and the Butterfly
5. Actor Mads Mikkelsen
6. the song "Nantes" by Beirut
7. My mom's homemade apple butter
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Economist
I'm a complete Economist junkie, it comes out every friday and I have to have a copy of it, its British, its witty and straight to the point
Life may sometimes be sad, but its always beautiful...
I love Marimekko, everytime I see their bright prints I get all giddy. I love going to a shop down the street from my place called Saga Living, its owned by an adorable Finnish lady who loves playing Abba, and the store is all Markimekko stuff. Pricy, but oh so worth it...
Jamie Lidell - Multiply Live
"I'm so tired of repeating myself, tired of beating myself up...love is just a shackle i see"
sums up my life, perfect song to pull you out of the winter blahs
You Are Beautiful
I love this idea, i got some of my own stickers and put them up around the twin cities, but I need to get some more. 5 was not enough. It's a beautiful and simple idea that makes me smile
Jens Lekman -
words cannot not describe my love for this man. He makes me want to drop everything and runaway to Sweden
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Swiss Miss
This fall I will be studying abroad in Geneva, Switzerland
There I will be working on an independent research project, working on my french, interning at an United Nations agency, having many love weekends with handsome french men, etc.
Here are some images to enjoy, to fully understand swiss culture
Tyler Brule
A new yardstick for judging quality of life - the airport
International Herald Tribune
Thursday, April 12, 2007
In the months to come a select group of relocation agents, recruiting firms and real estate brands will start issuing their annual "quality of life" and "best places to live" surveys. The reading is never terribly surprising or exciting: Zurich usually ranks first, Vancouver might be up or down a point or two, Geneva will likely make top five and if Melbourne's lucky it might squeeze its way into the top 10.Recently I did a three-city tour in 48 hours (Tokyo, New York and London) and came up with a new and far less complicated formula for judging a city's livability, attractiveness and general quality of life. Where traditional indexes look at education costs, the price of a business meal for two, rental rates for a house in a leafy suburb, the price of cabs and public transport and the cost of filling a grocery cart, my new formula only requires that an inspector (in this case me) fly into and out of a city's major airport. Chances are, if a city can get its aviation hub right, then everything else falls into place.
Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, has been thinking along these lines for decades and has used Changi Airport as global shorthand for his city-state's brisk, if slightly dull, efficiency. Last month he announced his ambition to push his country to the top of international league tables by focusing on the softer sides of urban life and planning ? during his Chinese New Year speech he managed to mention the importance of alfresco dining three times. He also made clear his intention to turn Singapore into a serious tropical player to rival London or New York. Singapore's hub is a perfect barometer of how the AQOLI (airport quality of life index) works. Using a series of basic measures found in or around an airport, all is revealed about the city/ country in question.
Starting with Tokyo's Narita International Airport, there's no holding over Chiba Prefecture before the approach and on landing the door whooshes open the moment the aircraft comes to a halt. If you're lucky enough to arrive at the new south wing of Terminal 1, then first impressions are outstanding ? spotless, orderly and silent. The only drawback is that Narita, like most of Japan in winter, is overheated and could do with lowering the thermostat by a good 7 degrees Centigrade, or 13 degrees Fahrenheit. At immigration the procedure is fast and efficient and bags are on the carousel by the time you roll up with your trolley. On the navigation side, the airport is well marked for both arriving and departing passengers, so long as you read Japanese or English. The mass transit possibilities are among the best in the world and the taxis, while not cheap, do have the added bonus of lacy seat covers and trunks filled with rubber boots, buckets and feather dusters. For departing !passengers, security is a dream, with small battalions manning every X-ray machine. On the dining and shopping front, no other airport comes close for choice and quality of offers. All in all, Narita is a good reflection of Tokyo ? clean, functional, well organized, full of choice and overstaffed ? though at an airport this is never a bad thing.
Eleven hours and 20 minutes later, JFK International Airport looms into sight as the ANA 777 lines up for final approach. While there's been no holding over upstate New York, the door takes an awfully long time to swing open. Inside the British Airways-operated terminal the corridors are a little dank and drafty and nothing suggests that the terminal was, in fact, designed. At passport control staff bark over loudspeakers warning passengers not to use mobile phones, and up at the counter my Kazakhstan visa and the number of Japan stamps in my British passport raise some alarm. As security staff have been turned into navigation assistants, signage in the terminal is clearly lacking. On the catering front there's a sandwich shop and a poorly stocked newsstand. Overall there's a feeling that no one is going to stretch beyond his or her core job description to help anyone else, particularly at the security check, which in practice is a form of punishment for Americans who dare t!o go overseas and a perverse send off leaving foreigners wondering whether they should come back. According to the AQOLI metrics, JFK speaks volumes about quality of life in New York ? frayed at the edges, more than a little paranoid, not great value for money, a little arrogant and over-unionized.
Chirpy pilot chat should always be interpreted with caution, particularly when Heathrow's concerned. "It's a pretty good morning in London today, low clouds with light showers and we should have you on stand on schedule at 8:10," we were told by the captain. Twenty minutes later we were informed that we'd have to hold for 30 minutes, and when we did finally turn off the taxiway, we were told there was no one to turn on the navigation system and there were no stairs for the aircraft. Loaded onto a crowded bus, we were ushered into Terminal 4 and guided toward arrivals by a series of makeshift signs that look as if BAA, the airport's operator, commissioned them from a local Sunday school. While the immigration team was friendly enough, the luggage took 45 minutes to show up on a carousel surrounded by more dust bunnies and bits of rubbish than passengers. Customs is a pretty lax affair, just like the maintenance of the toilets. In the arrivals hall the food offer is Starbucks.!Again, Heathrow is a perfect reflection of London ? poorly managed, lacking investment in infrastructure (despite delirious amounts of cash washing in), understaffed, rotting.
Lee Kuan Yew wants to see his city- state usurp the world's major international centers and bring about an inversion of top city rankings. He might have a fight on his hands with Tokyo, but London and New York are in need of some serious attention, particularly if their airports are a yardstick.
I love Tyler Brule, he's the editor of Monocle, my favorite magazine
though I should be studying, I'm drinking wine, listening to Beirut and scanning International Herald Tribune's website...
A new yardstick for judging quality of life - the airport
International Herald Tribune
Thursday, April 12, 2007
In the months to come a select group of relocation agents, recruiting firms and real estate brands will start issuing their annual "quality of life" and "best places to live" surveys. The reading is never terribly surprising or exciting: Zurich usually ranks first, Vancouver might be up or down a point or two, Geneva will likely make top five and if Melbourne's lucky it might squeeze its way into the top 10.Recently I did a three-city tour in 48 hours (Tokyo, New York and London) and came up with a new and far less complicated formula for judging a city's livability, attractiveness and general quality of life. Where traditional indexes look at education costs, the price of a business meal for two, rental rates for a house in a leafy suburb, the price of cabs and public transport and the cost of filling a grocery cart, my new formula only requires that an inspector (in this case me) fly into and out of a city's major airport. Chances are, if a city can get its aviation hub right, then everything else falls into place.
Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, has been thinking along these lines for decades and has used Changi Airport as global shorthand for his city-state's brisk, if slightly dull, efficiency. Last month he announced his ambition to push his country to the top of international league tables by focusing on the softer sides of urban life and planning ? during his Chinese New Year speech he managed to mention the importance of alfresco dining three times. He also made clear his intention to turn Singapore into a serious tropical player to rival London or New York. Singapore's hub is a perfect barometer of how the AQOLI (airport quality of life index) works. Using a series of basic measures found in or around an airport, all is revealed about the city/ country in question.
Starting with Tokyo's Narita International Airport, there's no holding over Chiba Prefecture before the approach and on landing the door whooshes open the moment the aircraft comes to a halt. If you're lucky enough to arrive at the new south wing of Terminal 1, then first impressions are outstanding ? spotless, orderly and silent. The only drawback is that Narita, like most of Japan in winter, is overheated and could do with lowering the thermostat by a good 7 degrees Centigrade, or 13 degrees Fahrenheit. At immigration the procedure is fast and efficient and bags are on the carousel by the time you roll up with your trolley. On the navigation side, the airport is well marked for both arriving and departing passengers, so long as you read Japanese or English. The mass transit possibilities are among the best in the world and the taxis, while not cheap, do have the added bonus of lacy seat covers and trunks filled with rubber boots, buckets and feather dusters. For departing !passengers, security is a dream, with small battalions manning every X-ray machine. On the dining and shopping front, no other airport comes close for choice and quality of offers. All in all, Narita is a good reflection of Tokyo ? clean, functional, well organized, full of choice and overstaffed ? though at an airport this is never a bad thing.
Eleven hours and 20 minutes later, JFK International Airport looms into sight as the ANA 777 lines up for final approach. While there's been no holding over upstate New York, the door takes an awfully long time to swing open. Inside the British Airways-operated terminal the corridors are a little dank and drafty and nothing suggests that the terminal was, in fact, designed. At passport control staff bark over loudspeakers warning passengers not to use mobile phones, and up at the counter my Kazakhstan visa and the number of Japan stamps in my British passport raise some alarm. As security staff have been turned into navigation assistants, signage in the terminal is clearly lacking. On the catering front there's a sandwich shop and a poorly stocked newsstand. Overall there's a feeling that no one is going to stretch beyond his or her core job description to help anyone else, particularly at the security check, which in practice is a form of punishment for Americans who dare t!o go overseas and a perverse send off leaving foreigners wondering whether they should come back. According to the AQOLI metrics, JFK speaks volumes about quality of life in New York ? frayed at the edges, more than a little paranoid, not great value for money, a little arrogant and over-unionized.
Chirpy pilot chat should always be interpreted with caution, particularly when Heathrow's concerned. "It's a pretty good morning in London today, low clouds with light showers and we should have you on stand on schedule at 8:10," we were told by the captain. Twenty minutes later we were informed that we'd have to hold for 30 minutes, and when we did finally turn off the taxiway, we were told there was no one to turn on the navigation system and there were no stairs for the aircraft. Loaded onto a crowded bus, we were ushered into Terminal 4 and guided toward arrivals by a series of makeshift signs that look as if BAA, the airport's operator, commissioned them from a local Sunday school. While the immigration team was friendly enough, the luggage took 45 minutes to show up on a carousel surrounded by more dust bunnies and bits of rubbish than passengers. Customs is a pretty lax affair, just like the maintenance of the toilets. In the arrivals hall the food offer is Starbucks.!Again, Heathrow is a perfect reflection of London ? poorly managed, lacking investment in infrastructure (despite delirious amounts of cash washing in), understaffed, rotting.
Lee Kuan Yew wants to see his city- state usurp the world's major international centers and bring about an inversion of top city rankings. He might have a fight on his hands with Tokyo, but London and New York are in need of some serious attention, particularly if their airports are a yardstick.
I love Tyler Brule, he's the editor of Monocle, my favorite magazine
though I should be studying, I'm drinking wine, listening to Beirut and scanning International Herald Tribune's website...
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