The Murakami Mix

Came across this on Haruki Murakami‘s website, which showcases the range of music that he frequently references in all of his books.  It was all in Flash so yes, I typed everything out in Notepad before presenting it here to you in all of its HTML glory.

For your listening pleasure, I linked some of the tracks to videos posted in YouTube; I couldn’t find all of them, and for the classical pieces, they’re in acts or movements so you’d have to peruse the available list yourselves.

Page numbers, as the website states, refer to the Vintage Paperback editions, except for Kafka On The Shore, which in this case refers to the Knopf hardcover edition.

THE MURAKAMI MIX

Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi from La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini
Kafka on the Shore, pp. 73, 136.
version by Angela Gheorgiu

Archduke Trio, by Beethoven
Kafka on the Shore, pp. 301-303, 329-331, 334, 351, 383, 424.

My Favourite Things, by John Coltrane
Kafka on the Shore, pp. 359, 357.

Piano Concerto No. 1, by Liszt
Sputnik Sweetheart, pp. 73.

Dans un Bois Solitaire, by Mozart.
Sputnik Sweetheart, pp. 168.

Tara’s Theme, by Percy Faith Orchestra
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, pp. 278.

Alive, by Pearl Jam
After the Quake, pp. 26.

I’ll Remember April, by Erroll Garner
After the Quake, pp. 75-76.
version by Erroll Garner

Trout Quintet, by Schubert
After the Quake, pp. 117, 142.

Bags’ Groove, by Miles Davis.
Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World, pp. 362.

Watching the River Flow, by Bob Dylan.
Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World, pp. 345.

Star-Crossed Lovers, by Duke Ellington.
South of the Border, West of the Sun, pp. 94.

Norwegian Wood, by The Beatles.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 3.

Dear Heart, by Henry Mancini.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 35.

Waltz For Debbie, by Bill Evans.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 38.

Invention, by Bach.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 123.

White Room, by Cream.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 139.

Desafinado, by Joao Gilberto.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 162.

Wedding Bell Blues, by Laura Nyro.
Norwegian Wood, pp. 289.

The Flying Dutchman Overture, by Wagner.
The Elephant Vanishes, pp. 138-139.

Born in the U.S.A, by Bruce Springsteen.
The Elephant Vanishes, pp. 167.

Night and Day, by Frank Sinatra.
The Elephant Vanishes, pp. 138-139.

Give Me Threadless!

To save you the trouble of wondering what to get me for Christmas, Threadless, the only place I buy my T-shirts from, is having their annual holiday sale. Prices range from $5, $10 to $15 on selected designs, while the normal prices have risen from the original $15 to $18.

While I haven’t checked the site in ages, especially with fewer interesting designs than before, I kinda like these few that I’ve haven’t seen before. It’s obvious, really, where my tastes lie.

Vampires Beware

Slinky + Escalator = Infinite Fun

Now That’s Dope

Well This Really Just Sucks

I Can’t Draw

Have Fun

Grandpa Cassette

Three Little Pigs Mechanized Assault

God’s Facebook

Too funny. Those of you laughing too hard, are the real Facebook addicts.

Chictopia And Fashion Dystopia

Lady M of The Ladies Affair introduced me to Chictopia, a fashion-inspired social network where beautiful people show off their superior fashion sense, indulge in and perpetuate self-narcissistic voyeurism and basically are the product of a cyclic, consumerist hyperculture whose sole motivation is money, which is what really turns the cog of its elaborate economic machine. Fashion, along with pop music, are tools that the shadow rulers of the world employ to keep the masses docile and well, stupid.

Just kidding.

Some of the photos are really well-taken, and some of the clothes are quite a visual treat. Definitely a leap up from the oft-claws-out delusions-of-grandeur stuff you find in local fashion LJ community runwaycity. Plus my idea of great fashion is pairing a t-shirt with my favourite band’s name on it with well-worn Levi’s, so why would anyone take my snide comments seriously? Heh.

New fashion for mimes

Shoegaze photos: plenty in Chictopia

Gamine cut, bunny teeth, shiny pants and legs that go on forever: oddly alluring

If it were winter, this would be the perfect shot and album cover for Bon Iver’s For Emma

this dude here reminded me of Hans!

I love broad-brimmed hats. Just give it a pointy tip and the lady a +5 Armageddon Staff Of Munchkin Power!

Not all Filipinos are maids, apparently.

Fashion ninja with the high collar!

Come As You Are: U Magazine

november 2008: fourth anniversary issue

U Magazine has been around for years apparently, and I’ve just only found out about it. While the glaring truth about my parallel existence as a mountain tortoise (Hokkien malapropism/metaphor derived from a Chinese proverb) stares at me in the face, it still simply means more back issue awesomeness to catch up on.

At first glance and cursory research, it’s a webzine that Frankensteins contributions from various people, photographers and designers, all supervised into its grungy, indie beauty by resident mad scientist Romeuuu.

This shot by Jaime Rodriguez (photograher) for Te Amo (clothing; ‘I love you’ in Spanish) of Dani Shivers (model) got me from the start. Sadly, and quite infuriatingly, my Google skills meant nothing in trying to find out more about any of these individuals. While I could have done without the huge bold sans serif fonts which really ruin rather than add anything to the shot, it still possessed enough raw beauty enough to seize my eye.

Kudos, U Mag. You’ve won yourself a new fan.

We Aren’t Lazy, We’re Saving The Planet

via Yanko (more pictures there)

Designed by Joong-Ho Choi & Hyun-Soo Choi, the Pot Plate thingamajig no doubt inspired by Transformers has a lid that doubles as a four-compartment serving tray and has a X-shaped flexible (which is magnetic!) detachable pot stand.

I eat from the pot all the time whenever I whip up my signature CQYD instant noodles, so what I’ve really been doing all this while has really been helping out in the whole saving the planet thing. I save water simply from the sheer amount of dishes I don’t have to wash because I use my pot, not some wussy little bowl.

I’m doing my part. Are you?

Louise Ebel & Internet Pandoras

Far from being the cheese-eating surrender monkeys as Ennis loves to call them, the French also churn out some of the most beautiful ordinary people on this earth.

Already gaining traction in blogdom/blogosphere/whatchamacallit as a bona fide star whose celebrity was gleaned purely from the endless fields of the internet, Louise Ebel is merely, like many of her fellow teenagers, a nineteen-year-old Sorbonne art history major from who writes about her school work and well, posts up photos of herself.

Or not?

Ebel’s already been featured in a litany of fashion blogs like Face Hunter, the Street Walker, Altamira NYC and the Sartorialist, among several others, and for reasons that can clearly be seen – perhaps that insouciant French aloofness, or those Sound of Music braids, or the huge geek glasses, or the searing fashion savvy with disarming panache – ah, you know what, I don’t really care.

I’m just contenting myself with looking at the amazing way she’s captured on camera. Just beautiful.

onehundred&ten

Ross Lovegrove’s ‘onehundred&ten’ design for British luxury luggage maker Globe-Trotter is pretty nifty. Apparently made from a triaxial carbon fiber/kevlar composite, this means it is pretty much one of the baddest-ass suitcases you can get.

Pop Containers & My Searing Crusade Against Tupperware

via Yanko Design

Anyone have a set of Tupperware with the red lids? Or hated the weird smell and strange sticky texture of the plastic after prolonged use? I do. And somehow, due to the ganky smell violating my nostrils, I’ve come to associate the sight of tupperware as something both distasteful and tacky.

Well, it seems OXO has solved all those idiosyncrasies of mine at once. Perhaps now I can keep my kitchen shelves neat, colourful, pretty and fresh, at the same time.

Yanko Design was sent a set of the pop containers, which won a Red Dot Product Design Award for 2008, for review. And they say its ‘airtight, stackable and space-efficient’ (made in BPA free plastic) containers kept cereal fresh and crunchy even after TWO WEEKS.

Of course, this combination of sleek form and function does not come cheap: click here to buy!

Time For Fall

via JPG Magazine

With shifting seasons come the likewise shifting colours of the photographer’s palette. While those of us with feet in the tropical regions can only watch in wonder and dream.