Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Prose II
Wouldn't it be crazy if one day I wrote a love song about you? Not one of those Juliet and Romeo allusions, just plain I. Wish. It. Didn't. Hurt. So. Much. We're going through this not bothering to calculate how much it will cost in the end. How much debt we owe the world in the end. Don't ever pop my bubble darling, try not to, because beneath this layer of scent and protective shield is just air. That's it. Air. Do I really need to tell you what fills it?
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Jazz and Haruki Murakami
I've never really taken a special interest in jazz before.
Sure, I could listen to a few Yoko Kanno fusions, a little bit of Jamie Cullum, but that's about it. Anything other than that was incomprehensible, like someone telling you how to amazing liver pate tastes, and you just don't get it 'cos all you taste is... well nothing. It was tasteless.
When I was younger I was an N*Sync fan. Yeap. Hardcore stuff eh?
Then as I got older, I decided I was really into rock, real rock. Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, you name it, I'm game for it. I was also into modern rock, Paramore and Switchfoot were at the top of my list.
About two years ago a friend introduced me to the great (late) Jeff Buckley. I've never looked back since. And I realized no other music that did not have the same calibre as he does would never satisfy me. Some songs are just ear candy, like Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz. They're great, don't get me wrong.
But Jeff Buckley is just out of this world. There will never, ever be another Jeff Buckley. Everyone; from Coldplay to Oasis, took inspiration from his music (mind you, there was only one album that he finished just before he died).
And now, I've decided
that I love jazz.
I first got into it when I listened to Stacey Kent's "Breakfast on the Morning Tram" album. It was pure perfection, her voice cuts through your soul like a solid Japanese knife, and it sticks there. It was haunting, doused with sugar sweet vocals. I couldn't get enough of it.
Jazz I realized, is a little different than other genres. You have to really listen to it. As in sit down with a cup of tea or coffee in a quiet room and just let the music take you away, to places you've never been before, to make you discover feelings you never thought you had before. It needs your full attention, or you just might miss the little things that makes it. You've gotta close your eyes and savour it wholly.
My other favourites are (of course) Frank Sinatra, Micheal Buble, Jamie Cullum and Louis Armstrong. I'm sure there are many others out there, but I've yet to explore it.
Haruki Murakami and Jazz are the perfect fusion. And it is no surprise, seeing as he did open a jazz cafe before the success of 'Norwegian Wood'. After that he closed it down and started to take writing more seriously. And I'm glad he did. But still, I feel sometimes that he misses his life with his little known jazz cafe, he writes of his love for the genre in most of his books.
His writings flows through just like jazz, it enthralls you, grabs you by the collar of your shirt and demands that you read it thoroughly. And you happily oblige.
His writings are very American, slightly influenced by the Beatnik movement, but overall he is deemed as the successor to Franz Kafka. I normally dismiss American literature entirely, which is really quite snobbish of me, but really, I didn't like Steinbeck. I stopped reading Hemingway halfway. I didn't enjoy much of Poe's short stories, although I adore his poems a lot. But if Murakami saw something in it, then I think maybe one day I'll give it another chance.
Even though his writings are as tough talking and straight to the point as his predecessor Jack Kerouac, and his analogies very similiar to that of Truman Capote, it remains very much Japanese at the core of it. It deals with the internal struggle of loneliness, and the leading of extremely unsatisfactory lives. They hardly ever get what they want, the protagonists.
I have an extreme love hate relationship with his books. It's so beautiful I can't put it down, but the ending always makes me want more. It's like dangling a candy in front of kid, and snatching it away from him as soon as he tries to make a grab for it.
He sometimes deals with the supernatural, but he does it in such a tasteful manner. You can clearly see his fascination with quantum mechanics, as his protagonists struggles with their inner demons, wishing they were on the other side. On the plain parallel universe that theoretically, exists.
I recommend Sputnik Sweetheart and After Dark, but I guess if you've never read him, try Norwegian Wood.
I could go on and on about jazz and Murakami, but I'll stop here.
Sure, I could listen to a few Yoko Kanno fusions, a little bit of Jamie Cullum, but that's about it. Anything other than that was incomprehensible, like someone telling you how to amazing liver pate tastes, and you just don't get it 'cos all you taste is... well nothing. It was tasteless.
When I was younger I was an N*Sync fan. Yeap. Hardcore stuff eh?
Then as I got older, I decided I was really into rock, real rock. Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, you name it, I'm game for it. I was also into modern rock, Paramore and Switchfoot were at the top of my list.
About two years ago a friend introduced me to the great (late) Jeff Buckley. I've never looked back since. And I realized no other music that did not have the same calibre as he does would never satisfy me. Some songs are just ear candy, like Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz. They're great, don't get me wrong.
But Jeff Buckley is just out of this world. There will never, ever be another Jeff Buckley. Everyone; from Coldplay to Oasis, took inspiration from his music (mind you, there was only one album that he finished just before he died).
And now, I've decided
that I love jazz.
I first got into it when I listened to Stacey Kent's "Breakfast on the Morning Tram" album. It was pure perfection, her voice cuts through your soul like a solid Japanese knife, and it sticks there. It was haunting, doused with sugar sweet vocals. I couldn't get enough of it.
Jazz I realized, is a little different than other genres. You have to really listen to it. As in sit down with a cup of tea or coffee in a quiet room and just let the music take you away, to places you've never been before, to make you discover feelings you never thought you had before. It needs your full attention, or you just might miss the little things that makes it. You've gotta close your eyes and savour it wholly.
My other favourites are (of course) Frank Sinatra, Micheal Buble, Jamie Cullum and Louis Armstrong. I'm sure there are many others out there, but I've yet to explore it.
Haruki Murakami and Jazz are the perfect fusion. And it is no surprise, seeing as he did open a jazz cafe before the success of 'Norwegian Wood'. After that he closed it down and started to take writing more seriously. And I'm glad he did. But still, I feel sometimes that he misses his life with his little known jazz cafe, he writes of his love for the genre in most of his books.
His writings flows through just like jazz, it enthralls you, grabs you by the collar of your shirt and demands that you read it thoroughly. And you happily oblige.
His writings are very American, slightly influenced by the Beatnik movement, but overall he is deemed as the successor to Franz Kafka. I normally dismiss American literature entirely, which is really quite snobbish of me, but really, I didn't like Steinbeck. I stopped reading Hemingway halfway. I didn't enjoy much of Poe's short stories, although I adore his poems a lot. But if Murakami saw something in it, then I think maybe one day I'll give it another chance.
Even though his writings are as tough talking and straight to the point as his predecessor Jack Kerouac, and his analogies very similiar to that of Truman Capote, it remains very much Japanese at the core of it. It deals with the internal struggle of loneliness, and the leading of extremely unsatisfactory lives. They hardly ever get what they want, the protagonists.
I have an extreme love hate relationship with his books. It's so beautiful I can't put it down, but the ending always makes me want more. It's like dangling a candy in front of kid, and snatching it away from him as soon as he tries to make a grab for it.
He sometimes deals with the supernatural, but he does it in such a tasteful manner. You can clearly see his fascination with quantum mechanics, as his protagonists struggles with their inner demons, wishing they were on the other side. On the plain parallel universe that theoretically, exists.
I recommend Sputnik Sweetheart and After Dark, but I guess if you've never read him, try Norwegian Wood.
I could go on and on about jazz and Murakami, but I'll stop here.
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