Sixteen rows away from Genius!

I had the supreme honour to see Beck at the Royal Theatre last night! All I can say this morning is... awesome! - which, by the way, is no exaggeration. I'm still spinning from the fact that he was even here in the first place! Now, I'm ready to find a way to join up with the band!
Not since last year's Bjork concert have I felt such an overpowering urge to create. It's always awe-inspiring when people just open the floodgates of creativity with no fear or the slightest bit of apprehension and this guy definitely has what it takes to inspire.

It makes me realize that it is all very possible to be that free! With that comes the realization that the only one holding me back from that is... me!

Now, on to the music. While the venue isn't the best for sound quality, Beck and his band (which by the way is even more impressive when you discover that his guitarist is a funky chick that really knows how to play!) exceeded even my lofty expectations. They played the whole gammit of old tunes along with a collection of songs from of "Modern Guilt" - his latest.

The band was extremely engaging and although they weren't like many of today's over-the-top "entertainers", they kept us off our seats the entire time with their understated presence and amazing tunes and lyrics. One could not have asked for more. And the screen... the screen... what can I say? I want one!

Beck, himself, is an amazing musician! I'm not sure why I was so surprised in this regard but he proved that he has such command and confidence with his instruments - they being his voice or his many stringed instruments. I'm just a little surprised that he didn't have a ukelele or an accordian. I am still blown away by it all!

I'll spare you the song by song play-by-play because he played so many of my favourites. I've still got the song E-Pro looping through my brain!

The opening act however was not even close to the spectacular and sheer genius of the headliner. (Sorry, I wasn't at all inspired to photograph them...) I've never heard of Band of Horses which is not surprising when one considers their lacklustre performance. They had this "Black Crowes vibe" that just didn't do much for me (because only the Black Crowes can be the Black Crowes). They were decent musicians but I think that they should have the keyboardist actually do the singing and perhaps drop their number to four members... In addition, I found that the drummer resembled Frank Stallone and the singer has an affinity for the expression "Wooo". (As well, if one screws up a song, they probably should refrain from telling the audience that they screwed up. My friend suggested they should have said that it was the "live version".)

It's funny about opening acts because you know that you don't want them to be better than the headliner and so, I suppose in that respect, they hit the mark. Maybe if I'd been more familiar with them, I might of enjoyed it more. But I wasn't really there to see them...

Here is what Mike Devlin of the TC said in his review of Beck live (If I could get seats that close to the front, I'd be a concert reviewer myself...) I can't say that I agree with his opinion on the opening act but I suppose everyone has their own opinion...

Anyway, I'm dead shattered so I'd better just post the tiny blurry photos I took on my mobile phone. It's times like this I wish that I had a decent digital camera that had a zoom! Cheers all and thanks to Beck for an awesome and inspiring evening!

Thanks (& admiration) go to my friend as well who is probably going to be in zombie-mode today because of even more sleep deprivation than I'm experiencing!!! I had a great time! This video is for you!

Tattoos come out of hiding in Japan...

Hmmm. I wish they had told that to the fitness company in Kyoto. The one that fired my Canadian friend on her second day for having a small tattoo that was visible when she wore her swimsuit.

Even though there is a surge in popularity of this artform in that country, there is still a lot of negative sentiment. I was especially interested in what one of the artists was quoted as saying in the article:

"I foresee a generation of elaborately tattooed homeless in the future," says Hata from Koenji's Inkrat studio, only half jokingly. "It's hard to get bank loans and rental contracts with visible tattoos. Things haven't changed much."

It turns out that things don't change so quickly in the land of the rising sun...

Amusing musing of the day!

I was thinking today that even the "plastic" girls we come across in life aren't as low-maintenance as we think they might be. They may be well-endowed in the chest department and less than endowed as far as their brains are concerned (which by the way is a myth... that kind of behaviour is just "honey" to attract the men of the world) but they certainly will require a whole lot of effort to be around.

To put it in perspective, remember this: Even inflatable "girls" have to be bathed...

I hope this isn't too offensive a commentary for my readers. I've just decided that I'm going to remove the shroud of political correctness because it bores me.

Have a great weekend!

You know, life is short and there are all sorts of things that need to be done. I can't help but feel like I am quickly running out of time. Decisions need to be made. Yet this does not allow creativity to flow like I would really like it to. It really is frustrating for me at times like this.

Scheduling is not very condusive to the nature of creative flow. There is always something like a job or laundry or even cooking that gets in the way. These days, I'm finding it difficult to balance this stuff. Mostly because of a thing called a job. It's not specifically this job, it's just any job.

Times like this allow me to live in a place where I just want to throw caution to the wind and just end my relationship with full-time and stable employment. Up until now, I've been lucky to have loads of people with the common sense gene to pull me back into reality. Unfortunately, these days there are also those who allow me to drift off into the ether of artistic expression that suppresses my desire to make a proper living. It's a dangerous time for me. Why? Because when I open that box, I'm damned sure that I'll be unable to slam the lid down again. All the control in the world won't be able to stop it.

Hmmm. These thoughts sound like my brain right now. Full of fantasy thoughts - some dream-like and others just naughty. What's a girl to do?

Needless to say I've been wrestling with some personal demons this week and fortunately that has awakened my desire to write. After all, I can do no worse than some of the people out there who've had thing published...

That said, I'm not sure that this will mean increased posting activity. Probably not. It might be focussed into literary form and it might be this week that I attempt - once again - to write that book that is trying to break out from behind the shroud of safety.

For Z!

You know, it's funny what one can see on television when you're home sick. Yesterday, I came across an interview of a rather odd bloke named Sebastian Horsley on The Hour (hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos). I had hoped to embed it in this but for the life of me cannot figure out how to do it... Anyway, this "artist and author" has even had himself crucified for his art. Both vulgar, yet sickeningly fascinating, I couldn't help from watching the interview. Who knows, now I might even have to read his book...

And just in time for the weekend, here I am posting something else I found of interest this week. It's an article in the Japan Times online regarding the use of the word gaijin and how there is no mistaking that it is a derogatory word used to describe foreigners and outsiders. It brings up some interesting points, including one that I've always thought in that even when they are visiting outside of Japan, Japanese refer to all non-Japanese as gaijin despite they themselves being "foreign". (By the way, I hate the word foreign in English as well). There are several interesting points in the article as well.

I hope that you enjoy these linke... and if you have any comments, please do give us your twenty-five cents worth!

That's it for me then. Have a great weekend all!

The day has arrived and past yet, I managed to be lucky enough for some of my friends to have the foresight to take their cameras.

The afternoon started harmlessly enough but suddenly the park was invaded by visitors from space. We later learned that they all came in peace....

These visiting creatures showed us a very good time.

They took us places...

They enjoyed the party...

They played with us....

And we enjoyed their company...

After they left, we sang, we danced and we looked upon a magnificent night sky and took in the stars.

All in all, it was a great time!

I hope that you enjoyed the photos and thanks to Ms. Slovakia for sharing them. There were others that were unfortunately too large to show you but thanks to Z for forwarding them to me.

Thank you as well to all who shared the day with me!

Birthday wishes come true!

For those of you who joined me in celebrating my birthday this past Sunday, I offer a big thank you for making the day so awesome! I am thankful to have such wonderful friends... including the one that started my day off with a text at 6:10 am (yes E, you know who you are!). I couldn't have asked for more than to have you all join me!

I don't have any visual evidence to share with my lovely readers but hopefully those who had their cameras will send me some so that I can post it for all to see. Of especial interest is our spacehopper races in the park... I'll have to inflate one and practice up for the next time (by the way... I'd just like to let Ms. Marshmallow know that they weren't the waste of money that she predicted them to be... haha). When I get some of the footage, I promise to post it!

So, I'd like to thank Z, Ms. Slovakia, Psy, ferocious_t, Ms. Aemi, Yuko-chan & her other half Steven, Martin, L & L (see you at dinner on Friday), Larissa & friends for joining me that day. Also big thanks to my text-messaging buddy E (sorry about the whistle), Romi (your message was lovely and very much appreciated), Toh (sorry that things didn't work out as planned) and those who emailed me from all over the world (Yumi-chan, Fumi, Emiko) and also my punk rock friend from Sooke Ms. L for your birthday greeting on my office phone! My memory isn't all that good after so little sleep so if I've forgotten anyone, please send me a slap by email to remind me. Oh, & thank you to Eva et al for the buns and the folks at Detour Dessert Lounge and DJ Irene at the VEMF who put on a great event this year. The beats rocked even those in our group that I didn't expect to dance (L & Psy, you were awesome!)

Anyway, I'd better post this. I hope that all is good with you all!

Peace!