Sarah

Japanese art-pop band cover the Wiggles!

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 01:43:03 GMT

Let me introduce you to the crazy world of Kiiiiiii , two girls from tokyo who create crazy art-pop tunes using toys, samples and basic vocals and percussion. In their own words:

"When we met each other for the first time, we were 12 years old. Since then,we have been special friends like DJ & KIMMY in "FULL HOUSE"!

++ We are Japanese.We live in TOKYO, Japan. ++We have no CD.Sorry!We've only 7 inch.

++We play songs by......The Wiggles, Chip munks, Roco's modern life by NIKELODEON, Hooley dooleys,Michael Jackson"

You'll either hate it or you'll love it just like marmite which, btw, I hate. But you can't deny their cover of the Wiggles' “Four Little Joeys” is like nothing you've ever heard before!

Fri, 12 May 2006 20:00:39 GMT

Hi flist! Sorry I haven't updated in so long but I've been busy with revision etc. Tonight I went to a BBQ at one of my Uni friend's (one of the co-director's of our film!) house where we ate lots of kebabs and burgers and drank some Pimm's punch. Overall it was a good night for socialising and eating. Now I feel a bit giddy but its all cool. Anyway guys I've started up a Last Fm. yes I have jumped on the bandwagon too! So feel free to add me if you want and I'll add ya back! It's canceled_heaven...

xxx

Wed, 03 May 2006 13:09:08 GMT

I swear studying has turned me nocturnal...

Candy Says.

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:11:41 GMT

This month's Nylon tells you how to achieve Factory Girl style make up; I'm finding the Candy Darling look a bit bizarre. I doubt half of the products work, I don't believe using a grey kohl eyeliner will make you look more like Nico. The 'Factory Girl' movie is making me cringe...Guy Pearce as Andy Warhol and Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgewick? wtf!!!

Stolen shamelessly from Teri...

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 23:50:34 GMT

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year).

List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year.

Facts
1. Slavery abolished in the British colonies (1833)
2. Ringo Starr temporarily quits The Beatles (1968)
3. Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (1989)

Births
1. River Pheonix (1970)
2. Julian Casablancas (1978)

Deaths
1. Rudolph Valentino (1926)

The only verdict is vengeance, a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:50:50 GMT

I urge you all to see V for Vendetta! It's not just an action packed adventure, it's an intelligent moving film with a strong socio-polital message. Hugo Weaving is terrific as V, the masked anti-hero, delivering his lines with incredible charisma and Natalie Portman's portrayal of Evey is emotionally stirring. At the heart of 'V for Vendetta' is not the theme of terrorism but the idea of censorship and restriction of freedom in a dystopian future ruled by a totalitarian state. Anyway it's amazing! And absolutely visually stunning!

EDIT: Any anarchist that has Cat Power on their jukebox is cool in my opinion.

AD/BC!

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 23:44:55 GMT

Remember that funny spoof rock opera featuring Matt Lucas, Julian Barrett, Noel Fielding and other famous Brit. comedians? The one that takes the piss out of 1970s religious musicals? I found it on youtube!

AD/BC!

Sleep Better

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:40:39 GMT

I swear the popcorn in the microwave is out of control! I'm about to finish watching the films I rented out on Friday from Blockbuster. On Friday night I watched this interesting film...

A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon)

Korean horror movie A Tale Of Two Sisters, is a tragic tale of guilt, regret and loss. Kim Ji-woon's moody chiller begins when two sisters who, after spending time in a mental institution, return to the home of their father and cruel stepmother. Once there, in addition to dealing with their stepmother's obsessive and unbalanced ways, an interfering ghost also affects their recovery. 'A tale of two sisters' is not simply a straight forward asian ghost story like 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge', it is a complex psycho thriller which revolves around the theme of family especially the idea of sorority. I can't say too much without giving the ending away but the ending is melancholic rather than horrific. Overall I enjoyed it especially the beautiful art direction and cinematography, every scene was beautifully composed and I loved the recurring motif of the colour red. Although I was slightly dissapointed with how the plot was slightly...skeletal. I felt that some of the sub-plots could have been fleshed out a bit.

On another note, I'm making myself a sleep mixtape at the moment to ease my insomnia. I've done about 50% of the playlist already but if you have any suggestions of dreamy, mellow songs I would love to hear them.

Asian Invasion

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:31:16 GMT

I'm really loving Jonathan Ross's 'Asian Invasion' series, in which he travels to Japan, Hong Kong and Korea to explore the world's most innovative cinema. Asian Cinema is really thriving at the moment, their approach to cinema is so fresh and imaginative compared to the countless sequels and tv series adaptions that are coming out of Hollywood currently. Not that I'm saying Hollywood cinema is bad, no! What I'm trying to say is why see some crap like 'Big Mama's House 2' when you can see 'Spirited Away' instead? :) Anyway... it's probably the first time I have deliberately set out to watch a BBC Four programme. Here's a rough guide to the series if you're interested...

Episode One: Japan

''Jonathan goes to Tokyo to see if Japanese cinema has gone off the boil, as some critics suggest. He meets directors Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus) and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Avalon) and surveys the current crop of Japanese films, including the strange tale of a giant squid turned championship wrestler.''

Some of the films that caught my eye during the first episode are 'All about Lily Chou-Chou', 'Versus' (which I think inspired Tarantino's 'Kill Bill') and 'The Calamari Wrestler'.

Episode Two: Hong Kong

In Hong Kong Jonathan meets Stephen Chow, star of King Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, celebrates Michelle Yeoh, the world's first female Asian superstar and looks back at his all-time Hong Kong heroes, including Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

Other films mentioned: 'In the Mood for Love', 'The God of Cookery ', 'Lost in Time' (which made me get all teary eyed) and 'Fulltime Killer'.

Episode Three is on tomorrow!

Coffee and TV

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:13:48 GMT

Had to copy my 'lovely' timetable down from the Media board today. Deciphering hieroglyphics would be easier than understanding the messy conflicting schedule.

I can't get the fowl taste of the University cafe's coffee out my mouth. I swear that they stew the cappacino in cigarette butts before puting it into the machine. And it was half froth. :( The coffee is slightly better in the food hall a.k.a 'Maggies'. They call it 'Maggies' to make it sound friendly and more inviting while in reality it looks like a school dinner hall. But the soup and sandwiches are very nice there. I avoid the Student Union nowadays otherwise I end up gambling all my money on the 'Who wants to be a millionaire' game machine. I always convince myself that,yes next time I will win the money back.

Now I'm off to watch telly and make some lunch but I leave you with 'el meme'. Neighbours will be on soon and Dr. Karl Kennedy is my hero. Who else can do home visits, work at the hospital, run a practice and do counciling sessions at the school?! And he still finds time for lunch.

MEME

Fill this out in my comments so I can get to know a bit more about you... yeah?

YOU
1. Name:
2. Date of birth:
3. Where you live:
4. What makes you happy:
5. Currently listening/the last thing you listened to:
6. Do you read my journal?:
7. If yes, what makes it especially good or bad?:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/do you have a crush at the moment?:
10. Favourite place to spend time:
11. Favourite lyric:
12. The best time of the year:

RECOMMEND (seriously, I've been meaning to ask this of you guys anyway)
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A band, a song, or album:

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your journal so that I can tell you what I like about you.

Films: 2006

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 02:24:20 GMT

2006 looks likely to be a good year for films *knocks on wood*. Here are a few of the films I'm really looking forward to...

Marie Antoinette: It feels like I heard about this film many moons ago but at last it will be released in the autumn! Based on Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette, a naïve 14-year-old Austrian and queen of France. Sophia's cinematography looks amazing, the dreaminess compliments the French court's decadence. Of course I'm hoping their will be a change in mood as the film develops towards the revolution. The costumes look glorious and very authentic, they remind me of 'Dangerous Liaisons'. And I like how NO's 'Age of Consent' is playing in the trailer since it hints at Marie's rebellious nature.

Cast- Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Molly Shannon, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, Asia Argento, Marianne Faithful, Aurore Clement, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston, Mary Nighy.

Art School Confidential: From the creator of 'Ghost World' comes...'Art School Confidential'. Convinced that art school will put him on the path to fame, Jerome (Minghella) must come to terms with his anemic talent, as he watches the girl of his dreams fall in love with another student. Then, strangely, he's arrested as a suspected murderer -- only to discover that crime might actually pay. A comedy/drama which mocks the art world. Cast- John Malkovich, Max Minghella, Jim Broadbent, Ezra Buzzington, Jesse Flanagan, Anjelica Huston, Joel Moore, Sophia Myles, Ethan Suplee </p>

The Black Dahlia: The Black Dahlia is set in 1940s Los Angeles. Two cops, Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and his partner, Lee Blanchard, investigate the death of Elizabeth Short, a young woman found brutally murdered. Bucky soon realizes that his girlfriend had ties to the deceased, and soon after that, he begins uncovering corruption and conspiracy within the police department. Josh Hartnett I'm really not sure about. :S Cast- Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Mia Kirshner, Hilary Swank.

And a few more...

Memoirs Of A Geisha
Zhang Ziyi is the reluctant consort of Arthur Goldman's best-selling novel, with support from Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh.

The Da Vinci Code
Tom Hanks is cryptographer extraordinaire Robert Langdon in Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's super successful book. Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany round out the cast.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Cap'n Jack's back and this time Johnny Depp's got competition as the ever excellent Bill Nighy joins the cast as Davey Jones.

Oh and please tell me your picks for 2006!

The Shining, NEW and IMPROVED!

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 22:43:23 GMT

This is hilarious! I can't stop smiling when 'Solsbury Hill' starts to play.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/shining.html

Gotta catch this in the cinema kids!

Oh and Teri, if your reading this, do you know anything at all about a script we need to write for tomorrow for vid production!?!!! ;___;

My Co-co-co!

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 23:00:43 GMT

Woooo! allmappedout a.k.a. my sister Rachael and I went to see Stellastarr* supported by The Sounds last night. And the gig was pretty kick-ass! Although the bouncers made us wait for ages outside in the cold just because they wanted to check ID to see who could legally drink or not. Once we got in I headed to the bar because I was really thirsty for some strange reason and then proceeded down to the front of the stage to stand in the second row. In hindsight I should of not bothered buying a drink since now I had a hyperactive man in front of me wearing a bin hat that made it hard for me to take a photos since he continuously bobbed his head to the music although way through the set. Despite this we had a pretty good view of the stage!

The Sounds

The Sounds, a Swedish synth pop/rock quintet fronted by the eccentric Maja Ivarsson, were awesome. Maja reminded me of a cross between Karen O and Debbie Harry, she was really working up the crowd and seemed to do this strange little applaud for herself after each song. At one point she jumped into the crowd with the mic. and suddenly pointed it at this girl and asked her if she was having a good time. The girl looked quite taken aback. Their guitarist, Felix, was so hot with his slick back James Dean hair although Rachael prefered Jesper the keyboards (part of the reason maybe to do with the fact he was wearing The Smiths, Meat is Murder vest top). 'Living in America' ,a song about Sweden’s obsession with the U.S, was so catchy! I don't know really know why so many swedes want to be Americanized because the Swedish are so fucking cool as it is!

Stellastarr*

The band we all came to see! For those who don't know who Stellastarr* are they're a indie pop quartet from New York described as being 'a band with wit, imagination and a knack for hooks shot through with enough twisted volatile genius to take them to a completely different level'. The last time I had seen Stellastarr* was two years ago so I was pretty excited to hear the new material off the second album. It was a Stella performance (hahahaha, aren't I awful) combining both the old hits e.g. 'Somewhere across Forever' and the neo gothic pop of 'In the Walls' with newer songs such as 'Sweet Troubled Soul' oh how we would all like to see the reflection of our lover in our bedroom stereo! Shawn's wailing half scandavian, half american voice was on top form especially during 'On my Own' when he started to do this little shaking movement which was quite effective really brought the emotion across better than on the album version. 'Moon Girl' a mainly instrumental track was really atmospheric with Michael's cool sonic guitar style and Mandy's low melodic bass lines. But the highlights have to be 'My Coco' and 'Jenny' which everyone sang along to. It was kinda funny to hear everyone shout: 'OH MY GOD SHE'LL BE COMING AFTER YOU IN THE SUMMERTIME, HEY HEY HEY!' during Jenny. The set list went something like this...

Lost in Time
No Weather
A Million Reasons
Damn This Foolish Heart
The Diver
Somewhere Across Forever
In the Walls
Sweet Troubled Soul
Moongirl
Love and Longing
My Coco
-
On My Own
Stay Entertained
Jenny

At the end Arthur the drummer told us that we were the most good looking audience in the UK which made me laugh. It was a fun night except for the strange dude who shouted 'If I was Jesus I would be brown!'. Shawn replied 'You are Jesus my friend!'. At the end as we left the venue Shawn was at the door talking with a member of staff. I didn't notice and my sister never told me!

NB: WILL EDIT POST LATER WITH PICTURES OF BOTH BANDS AND POSS. SHORT VIDEO CLIPS OF STELLASTARR* (if it works).

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:19:52 GMT

ARRRRRRRHHHHHH! I can't believe the lecturers resheduled the debate after making us wait an hour outside the classroom. All those hours of practice this weekend are wasted.

Trick or Treat..the bitter and the sweet.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:29:15 GMT

Just munching on some carrot cake at them moment while listening to Owen Pallett.

I saw Radio One's Zane Lowe last Friday. 'Chris' from GIG gave Shona free V.I.P. tickets again because we are fantabulous! It was interesting dancing on the tiny stage squashed tightly against strange smelling men who kept shouting 'Aye, Zane! Touch my hand!' Zane played The Arctic Monkeys, The Beastie Boys (gotta love Intergalactic) Jet and The Strokes to name a few. I left early because I was feeling tired and unwell.

During 'The Shout Out Louds' set, Stockholm's modest pop quintet, I had to sit down while Shona kindly fetched me some water from the bar. I wasn't particularly upset about missing the band because they were kind of boring. The singer was just muffling into the microphone and was drowned out by the guitars. Although I'll give them points for having a xylophone.

I tried to steal a Bloc Party poster from the wall on the way out (for my sister,Rachael) but much to my horror the bouncer at the bottom was watching me. So I pretended I was complaining about one of the staples not being in properly. My face glowing scarlet, we finally left the club. The posters will be chucked out in a few weeks anyway, what a waste.

On Monday Dr. Hepburn, told me I had the flu virus. He recommended plenty of rest. Rest on Halloween...yeah right! The Trick or treaters came that evening and waited outside the door while continously ringing the doorbell! They don't even want sweets anymore, they demand money. I missed 'Nosferatu' at the Usherhall with the organist playing the film score. Oh well, I guess there's always next Halloween.

But it's time to look onwards to Guy Fawke's Day when we celebrate good ol' fashioned terrorism!

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:48:18 GMT

So just a quick update...

Friday morning:- Mobile truely dies and decides it no longer wants to produce any sound at all. Therefore I am no longer able to hear my phone ring or hear anyone on the other end when I answer it. It also switches itself off and on. As if things can't any worse, it deletes all my text messages. The text function still works...for now.

Friday night:- V was down for the weekend so we met up. I kind of gatecrashed her evening meal with her family at La Tasca. Well to be honest I didnt really 'gatecrash' I was invited to join but I felt a bit guilty about being there. Her father was kind and bought me a drink. Anyway V and I went to 'Frankenstein's' and bought a bottle of white wine and chatted for a bit while half watching Frankenstein on the TV screen behind us. Then we headed to 'El barrio's' which for those of you who don't know is a small salsa club. I tried some basic steps but for most of the time I fell about laughing.

Saturday night:- Teri and I went out to the promo party! And drank some 'Sloths' that consist mainly of cream (by the time you get to the bottom of the glass). Our DJ was cool and had a dinky military cap on, he totally played some rockin' tunes. I have a sticker, poster, two free cool lighters and some other stuff. Rachael stole one of my lighters. There was this amazing dude there with his hair in small little blond ponytails all the way round his head. I wanted him to be my best friend,lol.

Monday:- Received an email from ''Elton John'' telling me to check out the funny video of this strange chubby man dancing to 'Ozone' into his webcam. He mimes and pouts at the screen too. Brings a tear to my eye. Apart from that I buckled down and did some important university work and kept an eye on my dad who's got a nasty chest infection. I feel partly to blame since I had a cold and a throat infection last week.

xxx.

PS I'm mixtape/cd hungry. Feed me music.

"I can't cope, all the defences are gone. All the nerves are exposed."

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 19:44:14 GMT

Fruit tree, fruit tree
No-one knows you but the rain and the air.
Don't you worry
They'll stand and stare when you're gone.

I went to the Nick Drake night at the Cameo cinema.

The documentary 'A Skin too Few' was really contrived, they filmed his bedroom window for 3 minutes with icicles forming slowly on the glass. But the end was honestly sad when Gabrielle Drake said:

"I personally prefer to think Nick committed suicide, in the sense that I'd rather he died because he wanted to end it than it to be the result of of a tragic mistake. That would seem to me to be terrible: for it to be a plea for help that nobody hears."

I think people began to cry there was a lot of tissues out at the end. Then Keith James entered the cinema with his 3 guitars. Keith James is an odd folk musician with a large goatie. I really enjoyed his version of 'Fruit Tree', it was intense but without losing any of the song's bitter melancholy charm. But he messed up 'Black eyed Dog'! He played it at twice the speed just so he could play straight into 'Three Hours'! He did 'Northern Sky' which brought a huge cheesy grin to my face but changed the tuning a bit at the chorus. Keith James did play one of his own numbers too, it was called 'Circles' and was a bit...crap. Well he sung about how a forgotten photograph was like lost gloves on a train which I thought was naff lyrically. But back to Nick, Keith played 'Day is Done' as the encore which was a really nice way to finish if not quite solemn. It was so great to hear Nick's songs played live. :)

Afterwards I went off to the cafe to get a cappucino while I waited for a lift. I couldn't get 'Hanging on a star' out of my head.

PS. I found out today that the large lump on my tongue is an 'inflamed tastebud'. Infact everything down there is still looking a bit swollen according to my dad who shoved a teaspoon down my throat.

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 18:35:13 GMT

Let me introduce you to my Sociology lecturer...Jeremy Valentine of the Cortinas! Of course he has less hair now than in the picture: http://punk77.co.uk/groups/cortinaspart2.htm
I think it was our lecturer Mark (who worked for radio 1?) who told us about Jeremy one afternoon in our Popular music seminar (last semester).

Oh if anyone's browsing ebay soon... if you see a cuddly 12" stuffed Andy Warhol/The Velvet Underground Banana that's yellow on the outside and pink when you unzip its skin, give me a shout! I so want it! Would of bought it in Stockholm but it was £40 pound. Stockholm is great for shopping or window shopping since it's so bloody expensive! I went past this music shop there and the owner, Sven, had a smashed up guitar signed by Kurt Cobain, Beatles memorabilia and a drum signed by Chad Smith (which I took a pic of). Plus in Sweden the guys dress so well! And everyone wears real vintage cowboots. In fact the Swedish have better dress sense than the Parisians in my opinion.

Ok Im gonna stop my rambling and go for a cup of tea...

Meme

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:27:20 GMT

Top 5 meme:

Ask me for "top five" lists of pretty much anything, and I will list for you my top five of that thing or things. Copy and give your own top fives.

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:05:49 GMT

I found this on a film community: http://www.kamikazegirls.net/trailerwm.html

This has to be one of the most cheesiest films to ever come out of Japan! Some of the translation in the trailer looks a little bit dodgy. But hey if it ever gets a UK release I'd probably go and see it.
I still need to see 'Battle Royale'. :(

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 23:21:37 GMT

I dont know if any of you have visited this site before.

People send a secret anonomously on a home made or altered postcard.

Some of the postcards are lighthearted and funny others shocking and sad.

I find it quite touching...

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/#112580415613763219

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:57:03 GMT

I found a stale chip among my presents. I don't think the Edgar Allan Poe action figure seemed to mind. ;)

The birthday counter is yet to change...

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 08:09:15 GMT

I'm in good company, its also River Pheonix, Gene Kelly and Louis XIV's b.days today.

At last I have a radio that works! Now I won't have to listen to the fuzzy reception on my hifi anymore. My dad programmed in Planet Rock into the DAB I think he's rather obsessed with that channel not sure why though since it only seems to play Rainbow's 'Since you've been gone'.

Thanks Shona and Rachael for your nice wishes! Tonight should be good. xxx

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:56:38 GMT

Some really strange man said 'THEEEEENGGGG!' to me when I gave him a leaflet. O.o
My neighbours also saw me and took one and I so wanted to shout 'No! Give it back its not for you!'. Who in their late 40s, all dressed up ready to go to dinner, would go and see a small unknown hiphop act?
If I see another DaBlinGz leaflet it will be too soon...

Can't wait till the 'Mighty Boosh' is on tonight. Noel Fielding looked so goooood last week. I mean in his goth clothes not as the 1950's glamour granny! That was just disturbing.

Talking of TV, Neighbours was just so hilarious. Janae is like crying and saying 'I HAVE NO FRIENDS!' then Dr Kennedy goes 'What am I then?'. I nearly snorted my tea out my nose. Especially since both of them just happened to be in the school at night. Do people not lock up buildings in Australia?

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 20:40:30 GMT

I had a job interview for clothes store NEXT. My friend suggested I apply. She came with me to the interview and introduced me to some of the staff. I didn't expect her to chum me there but she insisted and waited outside for 45 mins and drove me home afterwards which was v.nice.

The interview was hard the interviewer asked me questions such as how would my initiative help me with work and how responsible I was with money. I was a little confused about some of the things the interviewer was asking me so there was some awkward silences. I'll know by next week if I've got the job at NEXT or not. I'm not expecting to get it but hey at least I tried.

LIST (stole this from a community I'm part of, well I'm not sure if I'm a official member since I didn't get stamped but anyway...)

20 things that are on my desk!

My old pencil case. Someone has writen on it 'Sarah ate my little pony' which is a lie! I ate your care bear. ;)
My student mug
Mickey mouse pencil holder
The Left-Hander's 2005 calender
An unopened packet of californian chocolate raisins
Kung-fu Hamster! He needs batteries.
Driftwood Art Stationary Box. (just contains notepaper and envelopes)
My laptop
Various music magazines
'Movies, a crash course' book
'The Clash-Combat Rock' album
Haze Peach and Jasmine air freshener
black pen
floppy disk
white lamp
decision die (as in singular form of dice)
a receipt with the NEXT phone number scrawled on the back
20p
photo frames
a silver bracelet

You can tell a lot about a person from their desk...