"Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids"

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap," were the first words to leave my mouth after seeing Florence + The Machine with my great friend Molly last Tuesday (August 10) at Challenge Stadium in Western Australia.

Their music is just so fierce and powerful that I could still feel it resounding throughout my entire body after the concert had finished. And Florence Welch has such a mighty voice I doubt she even needed the microphone. This is someone who knows the mechanics of their voice inside and out.

The opening act was POND, a local jam pop band who, Molly says, sound like The Flaming Lips. They were surprisingly cohesive and ... well, good considering the number of people in the band. And they even had their own dance, Jeremy, all decked out in a tie-dyed shirt and filmy purple material waving from his wrists.

Here's the setlist:

Drumming Song
My Boy Builds Coffins
Girl With One Eye
Cosmic Love
Howl
Blinding
Florence says "Hello" to audience
Between Two Lungs
I'm Not Calling You A Liar
Hurricane Drunk
You've Got The Love
Strangeness & Charm
Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)

Encore:
Heavy In Your Arms
Kiss With A Fist
band introductions
Dog Days Are Over

I did manage to get some photographs of the concert - we had epic seats in the reserved seating section, second row on the right - but the guy sitting next to me just couldn't stop feeling the music by tapping his legs continuously, so a lot of my photos make it look as though there was more than one Florence on stage.

The opening act POND. I cannot get over how much the guitarist on the right looks like Jack Hodgins from Bones.

Isabelle at the keyboard, not Florence.

Not in focus, but too wicked-looking to not upload.
Reading: Dead Air by Iain Banks
Listening to: "The Dance" by Charlotte Martin, Florence and The Machine's Lungs

Under Postmodernism's Spell

Classes started back up last week, so I'm back to finding a balance between university/readings, work, and leisure. And it is my last semester of university, so I have to find that perfect balance between studying and not going insane. I'm overloading this semester because the one creative writing unit (I think American universities call these courses?) I wanted to take is worth more credits than I need to finish my degree. So that calls for a little more work this semester. Oh, and I'm back to studying postmodernism. Lord help me, one semester of this is bad enough but three years? Oh dear.

I've been slightly more interested in food lately, in cooking rather, and attempting to take food photography (albeit low-level photography). At work I generally just have a sandwich or buy a spinach and ricotta pastry roll for lunch, but last Wednesday I decided to splash out and get sushi for the first time in months. An interesting lunch and a quiet day at work led to my camera being used.

Lunch: Iced coffee and assorted roll sushi.
I fancied Mexican food on Saturday for lunch but I didn't want my usual nachos. For some reason I felt like a tortilla, and cooking one. So I went out and bought polenta and cooked my very first tortillas. They were quite yummy as chicken burritos, if I do say so myself.
It's about 3.15am now and I couldn't sleep (despite having woken up at a normal time - 9am - yesterday) so I decided to get some studying done. I find I work better at the edge of night, between 2am and 5am, which doesn't let me fare well during the day but it does allow me to get work done without any disturbances from everyday life. There's just something peaceful and light about doing anything during this time.


Reading: Dead Air by Iain Banks (almost finished it)
Listening to: 2008 Rent soundtrack (particularly "Goodbye Love"), "The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe, Jack's Mannequin's "The Resolution"

A Wicked project

Well, it was my sister's birthday last Sunday and I wanted to do something extra special for her since we don't really do the whole 'cake-and-a-party' thing like normal people. Since our reawakening of musical interests, I wanted to do something Wicked-related. I did get her The Grimmerie: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical from playbillstore.com, which I found out later she had been eyeing for quite some time. Plus, I kinda wanted it too, so win/win.Anyway, about a month ago while browsing the aforementioned online store, I happened upon the Wicked original Broadway poster, and the cogs started turning. Instead of just buying the poster, why don't I paint it for my sister? Thus began the planning for my first major painting project.

I had to sketch it out on the canvas first, erasing most of the pencil until it was just visible so it wouldn't show up on the final piece.

And after 4 late nights and half a day of painting, this was the final product.There's another poster which has G(a)linda - the white witch - with the flesh colour of her skin painted on as well, but I didn't have that colour and I like the stark contrast between the black/green and the white. The original Broadway poster has Elphaba with a more rounded face, but I wanted a more elongated look like (former Elphaba) Eden Espinosa's face (who I believe has one of the most perfect Elphaba 'looks' once she's 'greenified,' that is). I was looking for an image I had seen before to show this, but then I realised it was a still from a YouTube video. Skip ahead to 2:42 to see the still I'm talking about.



Reading: Dead Air by Iain Banks
Listening to: 2006 Spring Awakening original cast recording, (and something totally different) "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry

We're perfect together

Yes, I think I must finally admit it. Here. I ... am a shoe whore. I've bought 3 pairs of shoes in the past 2 and a half months. It's as though I'm making up for lost time after having been a tomboy growing up. The whole interested-in-clothes thing is very recent, so I'm still in that new phase where I'm in awe of everything I see, in terms of fashion, and experimenting with my own clothes. I used to live in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, so anything is a step up, really.

This was a pair I ordered from Forever21.com (a site which I online window shop at all the time). They're 5 inches which, I've found is the highest heels I can walk in. I wore them (for the first time!) to Rock the Ballet, which I saw with my mom and sister a few weeks ago.
These are the second pair, bought from Cotton On in Australia. It's the Arizona boot in Chalk, if you're interested. They remind me of witch's boots, and seeing as how I'm still loving Wicked, they're perfect.The third pair was suede black flats, nothing really special.

Needless to say, I have not bought anything in a few weeks because a) if I keep spending my money, I will have none left; b) I only buy something if I've been eyeing it for at least 2 weeks (and haven't seen anything I've really liked in a while), and; c) I have been too busy with work and other mind-occupying things to look at anything.

Reading: Dead Air by Iain Banks
Listening to: 2003 Wicked original cast recording, Jack's Mannequin's Everything In Transit

Wicked Love

My latest obsession: musical theatre. It's not something exactly new to me, to be honest, having seen Fame as a kid. But it is as though a volcano erupted. I guess my interest in musical theatre was always there, waiting for the day when it could come tumbling out, unexpected. Now it seem as though my days are full of musicals. My favourites so far have to be Wicked, and Rent, but I so desperately want to see Spring Awakening and Les Misérables. I've only seen the Rent film, and since the show's now closed I doubt I'll get the chance to see it live.

Of all the women who have played Elphaba (of Wicked), my favourites would have to be Idina Menzel, Carmen Cusack, and Eden Espinosa (in no particular order). So I thought I would share some of my favourite Wicked-related performances of theirs.

Idina had mono or some other kind of illness while performing this ("Defying Gravity") at the 2004 Tony Awards, but she was still amazing considering she had about 2 seconds to get into character.

I love Carmen's expressions throughout this song ("No Good Deed"); she just shows the desperation, anxiety, and eventual Wicked-ness needed for this song. Not to mention the fact that she has a fantastic voice.



And finally, Eden Espinosa's version of "No Good Deed." Best "Fiyero!" belt at 2:08 I've ever heard. Girl's got some pipes.



Before this becomes just a post of YouTube videos, I shall end it here by saying I had no idea how many lines of dialogue from Wicked could be used in everyday life. My sister and I have been having fun using them, sharing secret smiles around our mom who has no idea what we're talking about.


Reading: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Listening to: 2003 Wicked original cast recording, 2005 Rent soundtrack, 2006 Spring Awakening original cast recording

Goodbyes

On Wednesday 9 June, I spent the day out with one of my best friends Molly. She would be leaving for her month-long European adventure on the Sunday, so I wanted to hang out before she left. We had to go to our university first because Molly had an interview for an Arts program there (which she did awesome in, so we're now at the same university together again), and I had to hand in an assignment, but then it was off to the city for lunch and to visit the Art Gallery.

We had lunch at Pancakes & Grill and were very naughty - we had pancakes for lunch.

Molly had the Brandied Apricots.
I had the Blueberry Heaven.
There was a new exhibition at the Art Gallery that we wanted to see, the Patricia Piccinini Relativity exhibit. It was just amazing, and so realistic, and ... frightening in a way. My favourite sculpture was The Stags 2008. The only thing that dragged the day down was me, literally. I still couldn't walk properly after injuring my foot, so I was limping around everywhere and Molly had to walk slower because of it.

The weather took a cold turn that day with Winter finally setting on (notice the matching blog template change). And the perfect way to stay warm on a cold day is ... coffee. Or a cold drink, as Miss Molly decided. She's nutty.

Here's Molly checking out my Wise Blood book.
By that time it was already past 5 o'clock, so Molly drove me the short distance to where my mom works in a business district and I got a ride home with my mom. I love being out at night.

This is the view from mom's 14th floor office.

When I got home I got a nice surprise: Jill over at the now finished blog, Today I Saw, had sent me another postcard. I feel so lucky to have gotten two from her considering she only sent out one postcard a day for a year.

Pretty good day.


Reading: Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler (want to read more non-fiction these holidays)
Listening to: "All The Right Moves" by One Republic, "Monster" and "Dance in the Dark" by Lady Gaga, "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult" ("More cowbell!") and "Don't Fear The Reaper" (cover) by The Mutton Birds (from one of my favourite movies The Frighteners), and "Automatic" by Tokio Hotel (seriously fascinated by these guys)

I wish that I was Jessie's Girl

What an eventful week. It's the last week of semester and I have been running on adrenalin and coffee. I'm going to be feeling this later, I just know it. I will probably be found sprawled out on the floor somewhere in my house, away with the clouds....

The week started off with an Irish coffee. Things were going good. I was doing an assignment, writing about a university reading. I was in the mood to do the assignment. There was some great music playing on my computer. I stopped for a moment to stretch my arms. And managed to pull a muscle in my right arm. I'm right-handed, so my left hand can't type well without its beloved other half. See, assignments can hurt you physically.

My job requires me to have two working hands. I'm a clothing alterations assistant and need to prep the clothes to be altered. Unpicking threads is my main task. Boy, is that difficult when you have limited mobility.

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I ended up going to sleep at 5am on Wednesday. The hours around midnight are when I'm at my most motivated, unfortunately. And assignments needed finishing and editing. So, I was awake late.

Somehow I woke up at 8am that day to research another assignment, on postmodernism. I also decided to make cookies for my class that morning. Cookies from a boxed baking mix though. Class did start at 10am after all.

Not only did I bake cookies for my morning class, but I came back home during my break to make brownies (from a baking mix) for my afternoon class. I stayed awake for that afternoon class because of drinking about four cups of coffee throughout the day. (And I was supposed to be cutting back on my coffee intake.) Call me crazy, insane, nuts, to say the least.

I think wearing my red high tops all day yesterday caused me to walk abnormally: I may have pulled something in my left foot. Man, do I injure myself in the strangest ways or what? And it's the second time I hurt myself the day before work. I do like my job, honestly. I would have looked a right site hobbling around my workplace today (no, wait, that would be yesterday because now it's 4.31am) but I was in too much of a good mood to care.

One more class later this afternoon, and the semester will be over. And two essays after that, I will be on holiday for two months or so. I will probably spend most of that time working and sleeping. Sleep, what's that again?

This was written on my bus stop's schedule. I know it's graffiti, but it's also sweet.

All that remained of the cookies and brownies.

The sky around 5pm. Now that it's Winter, the sky is pitch black by 5.30pm. I adore Winter.
A face to go along with the words. I'm part-Indian, part-English (and part-Irish, according to my sister, but that hasn't been confirmed). Yes, my room is slightly untidy. In my defence, this was before I cleaned it up.
(About this post's title: When I was a kid, I used to think that was the lyric in "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield. Well, it made sense in my five year-old mind. I really wouldn't mind being Jessie's girl now - he sounds like a nice lad.)


Reading: Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Listening to: "Baker Baker" by my favourite redhead Tori Amos (seems appropriate), "Love" (live version) by Sugarland, "Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen