life is just moments strung together

at 10pm, after a long day at work fueled by half a skimpy meal, a few small things can make a nice difference:

- as I hit the logoff button, a friend from work who I hadn't talked to since she finished her internship two weeks ago IMs and we catch up for a couple of minutes: good for the morale
- exiting the building, I go to the corner pub out of habit, but the place is mostly empty: good for the liver
- during my 1 min stay in the pub the bus doesn't come, in fact it pulls up to the stop just as I get back: good for the nerves

Tomorrow means having to be at work at 7:30am, but at 11am I'll be on my way to Gatwick, and then on a plane to the South of France to spend the weekend. If that's not something worth rejoicing about, I really don't know what is.

summer water

as has now been custom for the past few weeks, we went to play football with a few of the guys from the office after work. Oddly enough what was originally a contingent of 14 (based on yesterday's response to the email asking for participants) soon turned into 10 as the weather got uncooperative this afternoon, until finally it was 6 of us in the lobby at 6:40pm. Which isn't nearly enough to organize a football game, so we quickly found another bunch of guys who were playing near our usual Speaker's Corner area. As soon as we started our game a torrential downpour started, and we thus found ourselves playing in conditions reminiscent of mid-November Northern Scotland weather. Which is actually pretty damn fun, once you get past the first 5 minutes and your shirt has become like a soggy second skin. The other guys were pretty good too, so there was a bit of a challenge compared to our usual intra-office matchups. And you know how us guys like our competition. So there were plenty of sliding tackles, wild shots and even several made passes. The score was kept, but that wasn't really the point.
And when we finished playing, and the skies opened up for some much-deserved sunshine, a massive rainbow appeared in the Hyde Park horizon, as fitting an ending as ever could be. Well actually not technically an ending, since I then went back to work to finish some things up. But at least for 90 minutes all the tedious stuff was forgotten, just a bunch of grown-up kids in the park, playing footy in the rain.

watershed

we're barely halfway through the year but already it looks like it's gonna be a tremendous one for rock. I was recently ordering my iTunes library and noticed how many great albums I have listened to this annum (in no particular order):
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Editors - An End Has A Start
Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
The National - Boxer
Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
Eluvium - Copia
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters
Paramore - Riot!
Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times

And that's before giving a thorough listen to Ryan Adams' and Interpol's latest efforts. Looks like the annual top ten's gonna be a tough one to make this year.

a couple of doorsteps away

while the UK does not have quite the level of coziness found in French vacation laws, the paid leave regimes are still more than decent here, especially compared to countries like the US or worse, Japan. I once met two Japanese girls on the train to Versailles who explained to me without any sort of resentment that they had six days off per year, so in effect their three-day weekend to "visit" Paris represented half of their yearly allotment. Yikes indeed. At my current job I get a yearly equivalent of a little less than 4 weeks (having joined mid-year I obviously will not get my full due in 2007), which is plenty enough in my present lifestyle.
Still, this summer will be the first time since graduation that I won't be taking some sort of extended vacation. For one I feel I'm still in a learning stage at work, and would rather soak up as much of it right now as I can. And secondly even should I have the potential for more time off, I don't have any interesting trip ideas anyway at least with travel-mates involved. I've traveled solo in the past, and it's fine, but I'd like the next sojourn abroad to be a shared experience, which means some measure of planning that wouldn't allow for a last minute decision. There might be a road trip of some sort next year, but for 2007 I will probably keep things close to these shores.
To that effect I've booked 3 weekends (an average of 3 days each) to spend in various locales and with different family members this summer:
- next week in the South at my uncle's, aka the official first beach outing of the year, aka AWESOME
- mid-August at my parents' in Brittany, aka I like change, but not too much
- late August at my grandma's in Brittany, aka crepes-r-us

These trips might not have too great of an effect on my British Airways mileage count but I wouldn't exchange them for a trip to a more tropical destination for anything. Sometimes the simple choice really is enough.

it's never over

after three months at my new job I managed yesterday to accomplish a feat I hadn't even come close to doing since starting work: go straight home on Friday night without stopping by the pub for "a quick one". Hanging out at the pub on Thursday (which I did do this week) and Friday has been a great way to get to know people at my company, and I've definitely been active on that front since joining the company. But yesterday I just felt like I needed an early exit, and try for some peace and quiet. So I left a little after 6, went home, called up a few friends/family, watched some Planet Earth while eating seedless grape and had an all-around most excellent evening. I love my new working environment and the people I've met, but I have to admit a mellow evening can be the best thing in the universe once in a while.

However because I hadn't finished all the stuff I wanted to do this week I had to go back for a few hours today. Just like going to the corner pub, clocking in on Saturday is a thing I've done pretty much every week since starting, mostly because when time comes to leave on Friday evening I always feel there's a few things I would like to finish up. And Saturdays offer up the perfect opportunity to do them, what with the central location (I'd be less motivated if the office were in Canary Wharf, that's for sure), an office that's uncharacteristically quiet and my actual bona fide excitement for the job. Oh, and on my desk I've got this:


Which means I can do this:
The real connoisseurs will recognize that this is, in fact, a French jar of Nutella, not one of the clearly inferior local products. Don't ask me why, but it just tastes better. And that's not just my arrogant French side talking, I've put other world experts to the test, and my claim won hands down, Pepsi challenge-style.

Anyway as scheduled I went into work around lunchtime today, but on my way there got a little sidetracked as I kept remembering stuff I had to buy. Thus did I end up making one of the most eclectic unplanned shopping errands in human history. Check out the booty:
- The Guardian
- guitar strings and a capo (now if I could actually learn to play the damn thing)
- a tennis racket
- a shirt from Gap
- a nice bottle of single malt whiskey for my dad (delivered to Paris so he can have it on his birthday)
- a DVD (Heat, bought for the third time)

All this in the span of about 45 minutes, now that's some pretty efficient, if random, buying.
After these numerous stops I finally made my way to mi segundo casa, armed with some oh-so delicious EAT soup (discovery of the month, for sure) and worked until 5:30pm, when I took the bus home like it was any other weekday. Now the only problem is that whenever I get home from work on the weekend I tend to be a little sapped of energy, if only mentally. I've got drinks in Soho semi-planned in a few hours, but I don't know if I'll make my way there yet. Which is where the Thursday night corner pub habit comes in handy: even if I stop going for some pints on Friday evenings as much as before, there's always the previous night. So I'm calling it now: Thursday's the new Friday.

first impressions

despite being pretty open-minded when it comes to my music tastes, classical music is never a genre I have ever delved into very much. I like a few random tracks (Das Rheingold's Vorspiel, the 1812 overture, Barber's Adagio For Strings), and from time to time I'll put on France Inter's classical music program as I get back from work, and leave it on for 10-15 minutes to unwind, but that's the extent of it. Part of it is due to an already crowded listening schedule, but it also might be due to hearing so much of it at home growing up that I might have soured on it at an early age. I do know that because of this, I will never be able to hear harpsichord and truly relax, as it will always be the epitome of cloying to me. And I've heard plenty of tracks where I totally couldn't relate to the melody, which is a non-negotiable breaking point for me.
But maybe what I need is to go see a performance to gain a better appreciation for the genre. After all I really got into rock once I started going to concerts, and I haven't looked back since. The problem is I tend to be lazy when it comes to pushing myself into entirely new cultural forms. I have the same issue with theater, where I tend to enjoy it when I go, but I would never think of it, while I could go to the movie theater on the smallest of whims. So until a friend forces me/provides support to go to a classical concert, I'll probably stay on the sidelines, wondering what all the fuss is about. That is, whenever I'm not busy listening to one of the 127 other music styles I try to keep up with in my leisure time.

such a scene

because Sunday night often ends up movie nite for me, I thought I'd post some scenes from my favorite movies. Mild spoilers included, naturally.

heartbreaking: Ben Chaplin gets a letter from his wife in The Thin Red Line


inspired: the dance scene in Bande A Part


cringe-worthy/hilarious: Jon Favreau being answering machine-challenged in Swingers (something most guys know all too well)


thrilling: the shootout scene in Heat, as shown in countless home-theater sections in electronics stores


deep (or not): the opening scene from Contact

one nation army

OK, so much for rocking out at 4 and being anti-corporate, as we ended up leaving the office round 7:15, which means we pretty much went just for the two main acts of the day, Queens Of The Stone Age and The White Stripes. To be honest that really was our objective for the event. Since Modest Mouse had cancelled their appearance I wasn't too interested in the other supporting acts, at least not enough to leave early from work. When we got to the all-the-way-on-the-other-end-of-hyde-park entrance (so much for working 5 minutes away) QOTSA had started shredding and we came across some sort of large tent stage where Air was playing. While I like Air on CD, I'd come with the intention of listening to some rawk, so the chilled-out sounds of Versailles's favorite electro tunesmiths weren't exactly cutting it. After about 2 very mellow minutes I told my friends, who were very content to stay there, I'd see them later and made my way to the main stage area. QOTSA had been playing for a while apparently, and were in fine form. Frontman Josh Homme was in pure rock mode, playing up to the crowd and unleashing his short but brutally efficient guitar solos while his bandmates did their part to prove rock is still alive and well in 2007. Particularily thrilling was the final song, Song For The Dead, with a monstrous drum intro that had me forget where I was for a moment. That song was a top 5 concert moment for me, no doubt. In all I probably caught 15 mins of their set, but they were so good I did not feel the least bit frustrated. I then wandered around for a bit, with a definite non-highlight being the 02 "VIP" area whose main interest was that the toilets weren't portable. I did cross paths with Noel Gallagher, and a lone papparazo, while I was traipsing on my own, so that's always something I guess. Having rejoined with my compadres, who apparently quite enjoyed the Air gig led me to try to describe the intensity of the performance I had just witnessed but I didn't manage to elicit their interest. We were in a hurry to catch the White Stripes thus didn't spend too much time talking about it, so the following day I mentioned it again to my friend at work, thinking he'd be more apt to realize the error it was for a rock fan to have gone for lazy electro instead of pure rock, but the conversation went something like this:
Me: "dude, you totally missed out"
him: "nah, Air were incredible"
me: "but, like, that last song was a.ma.zing, on some pure rock hardcore stuff"
him: "dude, Air played 'Sexy Boy' last, that was amazing"
me: " 'Sexy Boy' ?!??"

Needless to say this was not one of the prettiest arguments, lucky for us it was not had at a bar or things might've gotten messy (well not really, I'm just trying to sound tough). Anyway sensing the impending start to the White Stripes set we tried to get as close as we could to the stage, but the crowd was so packed it got hard very fast. We then ended up disseminated through the crowd as "some of us" (ahem) could not handle the cramped quarters and 'preferred to watch things from the back'. I ended up near the middle and overall enjoyed a solid yet unspectacular performance from Detroit's favorite combo. Part of my enjoyment did come from the stellar form the crowd was in. Lots of singing, dancing, and all-around good moods made for a festive time in the audience. Okay, and there was a fair share of drugs involved apparently, but this was a rock festival.
After the performance we stayed a short to soak in the decidedly upbeat atmosphere, suprisingly-affordable pints in hand. Upon exiting the premises we then decided to head to our usual corner pub near work, where we bumped into more than a few of the regulars. So in a way the evening ended like any Thursday evening, with the bartenders urging us to finish our drinks so they could close up, and I taking my normal bus home. Not much originality there, but after a few hours of eardrum shattering, familiarity was just what the proverbial doctor ordered. McDonald's maybe not so much, but we'll just pretend that it was the only place open at King's Cross.

Bonus footage: it's like you were there too!

silver lining

tomorrow is a joyful occasion, for it is the start of the four-day O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. I work about 5 mins from the location, and got tickets to the first day, when The White Stripes and Queens Of The Stone Age are headlining, so essentially I'll be Joe Conscientious until 3:55pm, then BOOM, rocking out at 4.
Naturally, the weather has decided to not cooperate, but that should only be a minor impediment to such a great day. And one more advantage to working close by is that I can leave some fresh clothes there, and even take a shower should things take a class-A downpour occur. Who says the corporate lifestyle has to be the antithesis of rock n'roll?

Loney update

the other day I heard a Loney, Dear song while waiting for my drink at Starbucks. Instead of viewing this as a sign of impending indiecalypse (aka not being cool anymore) for the smooth Swede, I prefer to see it as just one notch on what I hope will be a success-filled year for Mr Emil.

les professionnels

yesterday was the first round of the Parliamentary elections in France, which saw Nicolas Sarkozy's party take an impressive lead and with it the prospect of having a massive majority in the Assemblee Nationale. This was to be expected. By electing Sarko with such a wide lead during the presidential elections in May, voters had shown they were looking for a new and strong government, and this election was for many simply a confirmation of that choice.

One thing that did come to my attention was that most of the members of the new government were told by their new boss to uphold their candidacies in order to win a seat in the assembly, apparently to show that they had the confidence of their constituents. That even goes for government chief Francois Fillon, who handily won reelection in his native Sarthe. Now campaigning for your party "friends" I can understand, but when you've just been chosen as government minister, what's the point of being a candidate to a seat which you will not occupy if you do get elected? I mean Frankie boy, you're the newly designated Prime Minister. Of the entire country. Seriously, don't you have other things to worry about than making sure yours and your ministers' names are on the winning lists?

The main argument that was presented by Fillon and Sarkozy was that this election would provide their new government members the opportunity to partake in a referendum of sorts on their legitimacy. But they've only been in place for a month, at most, so it seems a tad early for voters to have any kind of informed opinion on what kind of job the government is doing. And if these ministers are going to let their second in command seat at the Assemby anyway (ministers are forbidden by law to hold more than one seat), why go through the travesty of presenting themselves as the main candidates, and have people vote for them? Can they even pretend the election means something? Personnally I'm more interested in learning what sort of solutions to the many problems facing France this team will come up with, than in hearing about their performance in an election that generally feels like an afterthought following the Presidential one. This is probably more of a PR move, to put government members in the best possible light before the sure-to-be tough months laying ahead, but like all campaigns based on image, the underlying message rings disheartingly hollow.

neon

ever since its unveiling last week, the official logo for the 2012 London Olympics has been the subject of much ridicule, heaps of scorn and lots of bemused head-shaking. I haven't seen or heard a single positive thing about it, and I can't say I'm shocked, considering how laughingly bad it looks. Supposedly representing the youthful spirit of the Games, the logo was designed by branding agency Wolff Olins for a reported £400,000, which is fast looking like the biggest waste of money since Brewster was given all those millions. The thing is so ugly, even Klaxons fans wouldn't approve. And they wear Wake Me Up Before You Go Go-style tee-shirts, so that's saying something.

To add to the ridiculousness it was reported late last week that the video ad for the Olympics which was posted on the official website contained scenes that had caused seizures for several people suffering from epilepsy. Not a great way to pull back opinion in your favor, that's for sure.
And since the Brits are generally a cheeky bunch and are quite good are poking fun at themselves (the source of many 'We're not in Kansas anymore' moments for me since moving), the email forwards have been plentiful on the matter, with people everywhere trying their best to make fun of the ill-fated design. Personnally I liked this one:

The furore has reached such proportions that's there now a backlash to the backlash, consisting mostly in newspaper columnists using the argument "well, it's not that bad", without sounding very convinced themselves. While I think this whole matter isn't really that serious to begin with, I just hope that the world will not evolve to the point where in 2012 this logo is considered good taste. The 80s happened once, and humanity managed to get past it, so let's not revisit it too much, shall we?

And in another piece of news about dubious use of money, artist Damien Hirst has created a £50 million artefact: a diamond-encrusted skull. Apparently it's supposed to bring joy to the world or something. I really don't have anything to add to that.

tourist at home: the Tate Britain

when it comes to the London museum scene, the Tate Britain is kind of like the sleepy kid who doesn't say much in class to get himself noticed yet is consistently on the honor roll. And like many things that are solid and unremarkable, this establishment is often exactly what one needs to quench a craving for art when Sunday rolls around. Sure there's tons of edgier choices (Shoreditch art galleries) and the big 3 (British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern) are always good for a stroll, but I have to say that over the years the "other" other Tate has fast become one of my faves. Of course a lot of that has to do with my personal tastes, which tend to veer to the classical and expressive, but there's also a tranquil serenity one feels when walking through the halls of this place that isn't always found in major museums.

As far as its permanent collection, there' s a good mix from masters of British painting like John Millais, with a particular highlight being the prodigious Turner collection, the biggest in the world. And there's one of my all-time favorite paintings, a depiction of the Channel under a particularly resplendent sky, of which I can never seem to recall the creator, but that I've never failed to stop by on my visits to the TB. Many of the works are grouped by theme and historically, with generally insightful commentary on the signs that gives some clues as to what symbolism was placed by the artist in the work in question, which is always good for neophytes like me. One minor quibble I have is the languid heat that reigned in some of the rooms (isn't it kind of bad for paintings to have too much heat and/or humidity?).
There's also generally an exhibition for which admission is paying, whereas for the permanent collections it isn't. Right now there's one about British photography, which I would've loved to see as a big fan of photography but we preferred to spend more time in the general wings, since the friend I went with had never been to the museum.

Overall this is a museum I like going to because I always seems to discover new things each time, even though its collection is far from massive. It might not be for the more contemporary-inclined (although right now there's a couple of more modern pieces, like Mark Wallinger's recreation of the Parliament Square protest camp), but if you've got an itch for the classics and think bucolic portrayals of typical English life in the XIX century are nice to look at, you can't go wrong with this choice.

sack full of dreams

so this just happened:


disclaimer: the second apple pie was graciously offered by the cashier because I had to wait 5 minutes. What was I to do, spurn his excellent customer service skills and refuse it?

sound advice 4 - Mumm-Ra

as far as naming a rock band goes, taking your cue from the titular villain in an 80s-tastic sci-fi cartoon might not seem like the most logical of choices, especially when said name sounds like the latest addition to the British Museum. But none of that matters with Mumm-Ra, because they've got the musical chops to make you remember them for more than having an unusual name. Having made noise last year with a few singles that did pretty well in the NME-MTV2-XFM universe, they released their debut album, These Things Move In Threes, last month to mostly good-to-great reviews. The first few months of 2007 have already seen a bunch of really good releases by young British rock acts, among which Fields, The Maccabees or The View, but I have a feeling that this particular band will manage to avoid getting lost in the glut thanks to their confident mix of catchy hooks and peppy guitars.
The album starts off strong with two of the best cuts, Now or Never and 2006 semi-hit Out of The Question back-to-back. The following four songs keep up the same level of intensity , and it isn't until the seventh track that things slow down a bit (but not too much). Out Of The Question, in particular, sounds even better than the already impressive version released last year, with the band clearly in no mood to take things as they come. Of course, this being yet another Brit guitar band, nothing feels truly original, but the energy and wide-eyed lyrics ( "If i failed to deliver/if the world left you bitter/if waitin and prayin hasnt led to you payin/of course i will care") are enough to listen to the entire album without ever feeling truly weighed down or bored.
If anything, the only reproach might be that some of the material feels a bit "too" honest and innocent, both in the lyrics and music, for the experience to feel memorable. While Out Of The Question manages to avoid the artificial feel many of the arena-hits tend to have (The Automatic's 'Monster', anyone?), some of the songs toward the end of the album do sound like they're on the wrong side of the mainstream-anthem debate. Take 'Starlight', which typically sounds like the sort of song that could be featured on an episode of Grey's Anatomy, meaning superficially it's got some of the rock edge, but in the end it's a bit too glossy to be considered anything more than just decent. Snow Patrol does this sort of thing really well (and live they are absolutely killer), but there's a reason why it took them a while to find their successful formula. Mumm-Ra seem like a band that's got the requisite punch and skills to last, let's hope this first release is a harbinger of good things to come for them.

Official site
Myspace
Youtube: Out Of The Question video

previously:
Sound advice 1 -Arcade Fire
Sound advice 2 - Loney, Dear
Sound advice 3 - Jeremy Larson

hello sunshine

let's see:
- got sunburned while playing football for 3 hours in Hyde Park yesterday
- just bought a couple of shorts from Gap
- booked some plane tickets to spend a few weekends with vacationing family members
- Hollywood has unleashed its usual blockbusters on the unsuspecting mass audience (Spiderman 3 suuucked by the way, except for those few scenes with "suave" Peter)
- the other day I had a sudden craving for gelato

yup, it seems that after some hesitation, summer has decided to grace us with it presence. If that's not worthy of three cheers, I don't know what is. Of course this being London it doesn't mean we'll get 30°-days for the next 3 months (Thank God, say the Tube commuters), but the overall trend is appreciably bullish.

sonic moods - 04/06/07

nkotb: fennesz+sakamoto

where have I been: The Beatles-Rubber Soul

still going strong: Eluvium

one and done: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, The Used - Lies For The Liars

blast from the past: Raphael's first album

next concert: Andrew Bird, tomorrow @ Scala


find out more on my last.fm page

tourist at home: the Cabinet War Rooms

with a rainy bank-holiday Monday came the perfect opportunity to take things underground and visit the Cabinet War Rooms in Westminster. Recently renovated, this museum is comprised of the actual rooms used by a cadre of British political and military authorities, as well as a support staff, during WWII. Designed as a bunker with a heavy concrete protection to prevent damage from the heavy German bombs, the entire complex was very extensive, and housed up to 500 people. The CWM are just a small part of this, but a major one in terms of historical significance. Indeed right at the start of the visit there is the actual cabinet room, where Churchill and his cabinet met to discuss war matters. One of the great things about the museum is how well preserved things have been kept, as though nothing has been touched since 1945. The living quarters, in particular, present an interesting personal side to the place. Seeing Mrs Churchill's bedroom or the tight quarters shared by the staff secretaries remind us that personal comfort was not really an option in these times of war. I also hope Mr Churchill's detectives (his security guards) didn't dislike each other, because that was one small room they shared. Besides the cabinet room, the map room is a tremendous showpiece, giving visitors insight into how these rooms were at the center of the war effort.
To accompany visitors there are free audioguides which explain what the purpose of the different rooms were (like the BBC communications center or the transatlantic telephone room). These are mostly well made, even if the reenacted scenes featuring actors can get a little overplayed. The guy "playing" Harry Truman was particularly overdoing it, to our great amusement.
During our dwell I remembered my dad once mentioning that my great-grandfather, who was living in London at the time, had a run-in with a V2 during one of the bombings, though it was thankfully inconsequential. The CWR is another reminder of how many sacrifices were made by our elders during those times. This abnegation is especially amazing if you consider the type of lives many of us are leading now. Not to say I embrace a fully idealist and sepia-tinted view of this chapter of history, but I think these museums are a good way to ensure future generations acquire some measure of knowledge about it.

Adjacent to these rooms is the Churchill Museum, which covers his entire life. Admission is included in the general ticket price (£11 full price, £9 for students), but lacking time we did not get to visit it. Overall I found this visit quite fascinating, as someone who's always had a thing for this part of history and would definitely recommend it, even on a day when it isn't raining cats and dogs.

Got To Get You Into My Life

here's a few facts about what may be the best TV show ever:

• lasted just 19 episodes in 1994, when it was cancelled due to middling ratings
• was later broadcast on MTV, which means it was shown 47 times per week at one point, which is how I came across it
• starred a then unknown skinny and unconventionally pretty actress, who became a style icon in the post-grunge world
• had one of the more realistic portrayals of marriage on a TV show (some good, some bad, a lot in between)
• featured one of the first non-cliche gay characters on a TV show
• had a terrific theme song by the TV composer, WG Snuffy Walden
• included the presence of a heartthrob character so emblematic, millions of women everywhere will forever refer to Jared Leto as "Jordan Catalano"
• is now available on DVD as a wide release in the UK, after years of online petitions
• is the TV show equivalent to Death Cab To Cutie to me: it gets sad and emo at times, but never pathetic, and more importantly, feels pretty true to life. Which isn't what I generally associate with TV programming