Clarity call

Beyond the hardships, better days will blossom.

Clearer ideas and relieving decisions will come to life.

Transform

The ability to change is the hardest one to acquire.

Express. Fear not.

Let us not hang on our misconceptions of others.

Wounded

Another release that craves your attention is Lykke Li‘s Wounded Rhymes.

Her latest video is such a subtly powerful expression of love it almost brought me to tears:

I’ve got the blues.

Mental soundtrack

I have been listening incessantly to Let England Shake, PJ Harvey‘s latest marvel.

Its musicality and the depth of its lyrics resound so well within I cannot help but listen to it on a daily basis.

Now the third of the series of videos made by conflict photographer Seamus Murphy has been released:

It is one of my favorite songs of the record, a true musical beauty.

Who said politically inspired music can’t be enjoyable – and I dare say, fun?

Organic Ovalle

Curitiba’s Museu Oscar Niemeyer is as delightful a visit as it is a must-see attraction.

The remarkable architecture is home not only to interesting exhibitions (though a bit cramped and random at times) but it is also a meeting point for Curitiba’s creative youth and other busy minds.

It was there that I first came in contact with Chilean sculpturer Pilar Ovalle‘s outstanding work:

Pilar’s motherly approach to wood shapes, combined with an ability to work roughness makes for breath-taking artistic impression.

The use of natural elements and an organic take on art is most welcome on our technology-obsessed world.

PS: Curitiba is one of my favorite cities in Brazil, a true gem and and a captivating destination. I love it.

Nederlands

Instead of posting pictures of another Brazilian boy, I’ve decided to go Dutch.

Love is what I immediately felt when I first saw Bastiaan Van Gaalen.

I just had to pay this tribute.

Decisions

I will buy new, nice pens.

I will not test my flexibility to the extent I don’t recognize myself in the end.

I will write more, all the time.

I will tidy up my bedroom each and every time I’m bored (and at home).

Doing productive things will keep me from getting bored.

my hand, my diary (2011)

Interpret

The lyrics for this song speak for myself.

Placebo was my favorite band some years ago.

It was so refreshing, so freeing and so relieving to know that one could be gay and still do rock.

 

Please change

I’m spending this week in a lovely Southern Brazilian capital city called Curitiba. I’ve been here many times before and always love to come back.

What I would really love, though, is to be mesmerized. By anything, really.

I am, once again, starving for novelty. Similarity is beginning to bore me beyond the unbearable.

And I’ll be completely alone during the trip. I don’t quite remember the last time I explored a city on my own, but I usually enjoy it. Hopefully surprises will find their way towards me?

I’ll let you know.

Illustration by Artaksiniya

Deer bands

It is very hard to tell which of the two bands with deer in their names I like the most:

Deerhunter

(a great fan video)

or Deerhoof

PS: In Brazil, deer is a slang for faggot. No offenses taken.

 

 

 

Because

I woke up and suddenly realized I almost don’t have any obligations for today.

Why so much worry then?

Meanwhile, here’s the new video for a band I deeply cherish:

The Kills are so clever in making darker sounds cheer one up.

Gotta love that.

True story

About two years ago I was riding a train from Warsaw to Krakow, in Poland. We had decided to take the earliest train possible for monetary reasons, meaning that we were short on cash at the time. Or that we were in a cheap phase of our trip.

The departure was so early and it was so cold and dark our brains could barely function. Just about when I was damning the axis of the earth for the freezing temperatures, the train arrived. We found ourselves in a wooden train compartment, just the two of us, eyes squinting with sleep but with enough attention to notice the scene felt like an old detective movie, from Cold War times. Perhaps the train was from those times. We closed the sliding doors and fell asleep.

At one point, I woke up and looked up (maybe in search of sunlight) and realized our backpacks were no longer where we had put them. Without the energy to move a muscle, I screamed to wake him from his sleep. He tried to explain to an employee what had happened in his beginner’s Polish but there was no solace. The backpacks were gone.

Their content: a bottle of perfume, flip-flops, a diary, underwear, toiletries, snacks, maps, dirty clothes in a plastic bag (mine); a second-hand jacket, food, a nail clipper, a book, sunglasses (his).

Looking out the window over the white-covered fields, the thought of my purple backpack standing alone, buried in the snow was too much for me. Would it ever be found? Would it be forgotten in the middle of the Polish countryside up until when, maybe one day, mischievous children running away from their parents would find it and keep it for its unusual color?

The thief couldn’t keep it, for he would have easily been caught by the train police. I guess ordinary Poles wouldn’t normally wear such an item on such an early and cheap train in the middle of winter. It would have looked suspicious.

But the backpacks were found, no Polish child would be cheered by no bright color from abroad.  The things that had been stolen: my perfume, the flip-flops, the nail clipper, a razor blade and the second-hand jacket. I thought the thief was at that moment grooming and dressing up for an early hot date in Krakow. Perhaps he needed the foreign help to look better. But that thought didn’t help.

The end.

Defenseless sexuality

I can say pretty confidently that I have always liked Lucian Freud‘s paintings.

There is a certain magnetic pain in his subjects’ expressions which have always captivated me.

In a world full of image of excessively overt sexuality, it is fascinating how fragility and nudity can be so intertwined.

Don’t you just love especially how male sexuality is portrayed in his images?

Such a strong yet defenseless sense of sexuality.

Organize

I know the weekend is over, but at times one still needs upbeat music to get the week started.

An all-time favorite will do the trick:

Hercules and Love Affair will help me put my house in order.

Their new record Blue Songs is out. Get it.

Heart Talk

Erlend Øye

Voices to soothe one’s mind & speak to one’s feelings:

Whitest Boy Alive