This is basically my boyfriend every time he plays a game.
Category: Reviews
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Ilo Ilo afterthought/gush
Yesterday i spent the afternoon – my avowed off-time – watching Ilo Ilo.
Not sure why it took me this long. I’ve been excited to watch it once it was out, but just never got around to doing so. It’s only when you have everything else to do when you find yourself with the motivation to do anything else that isn’t what you should be doing.
You know what i mean. The clean your room when you have a paper due in 10 hours syndrome.
I’ve been warned that it does not live up to expectations (which warped my expectations thereafter HMMM) but WOW i loved every bit of it. Wanted to watch it in 2 segments, but finished it in one sitting. This is of much significance because my attention span is perversely SHORT. Only good books draw me in deep enough for one-sittings, but this.
Most of all i loved the smallest things: that one movement, an item quietly present but meaningful, the small affix to the end of a phrase. They say Anthony Chen is a stickler for details, i’d say he’s a genius of details.
Was especially in awe of Yeo Yann Yann and Chen Tianwen’s effortless acting. Natural in a way so rare of Mediacorp (and actually everything on TV) that it was deliciously refreshing. It was akin to watching a living breathing family through a peephole and it was g o o d in all its voyeuristic brilliance.
Ok, enough of the gushing. I’m probably very late and all of you must have watched it already. Not very sure why everyone thought of it as overrated. Have our local tongues been desensitized to the salt of Mediacorp over-acting and scripted pathos? Although i’ve come to quite enjoy that flavor in a twisted ironic kind of way: my Sgpride is strong.
This was as good as its initial hype promised.
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yugen
One of my favorites. Reminds me of how vast and incomprehensible the world is, how trivial we are, and how infinitesimal a dent we make on universe in its entirety. It’s almost beautiful, the way everything is actually nothing.
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Toffee Nut Latte + Jude Young
Christmas is magical.
Even if it’s just hype, I can’t help but feel all fuzzy and warm and happy when it’s near.
This year, Jude Young’s (formerly Yuquan) acapella rendition of All I Want for Christmas reaaaally put me in the mood. Also the way he looks at you when he sings MY HEART CANNOT -fangirls-.
But yeah on a serious note I’m really very proud of him! This cover is almost as magical as Christmas is for me, so I wanted to share it with all of you.
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Frederick Seidel, Collected Poems 1959 – 2009
Early back in 07 (?), a friend sent me a soft copy of Seidel’s Ovid, Metamorphoses X, 298-518. I loved it and kept it for a couple of years until my digital migration in 09. Afterwards i tried desperately to find it online, but couldn’t.
Recently, in an abrupt and consuming lust for nostalgic poetry, i picked up Seidel’s Collected Poems (40 years worth!) and slaked my need for Ovid.
Since then, the first thing each morning would have me browsing through a few of his poems — am finally done today! I wouldn’t ham it up and say he’s stunning, but is definitely a good read. Personal favorite remains Ovid.
People like to think of Seidel’s ‘brutal sexual imagery’ (forgot where i read that) as his signature, along with his self-portrayed hedonism (his love for motorcycles and fucking). Pinning that as the locus of his poetry would be missing the point, though. Seidel does allude rather casually to vaginas and humping, etc., but it’s really nothing new. Also, the materialistic mien seems more of a conscious construction to.. throw us off guard? idk. He just does it for fun or self-referential mockery perhaps.
Surprising to me, and contrary to his commonly regarded persona, is that he is genuinely astute in his socio-political commentary (as opposed to orbiting around his self), and also unusually empathetic.
By empathy, i mean that in its barest definition – less of compassion than the ability to cast himself as the other.
He writes of James Baldwin’s escape to Paris:
‘How lonely to be understood
And have to kill, how lovely.
It does make you want to starve. It makes an animal kill
All the caring-and-sharing in the cage.Start with the trainer who keeps you alive
In another language,
The breasts of milk
That speak non-leopard. Slaughter them.What lives below
The surface in a leopard will have to live above
In words. I go to sleep
And dream in meat and wakeIn wonder,
And find the poems in
The milk
All over the page.’Racial themes, again, in ‘Boys’. This time he sheds the use of allegories and goes straight into it with blunt rhymes typical of his poems.
‘So it was a jolt, a jolt of joy,
To hear him cut the shit
And call a black man Boy.
The white-haired old Negro was a shoeshine boy.
One of my sovereign experiences of my life was my joy
Hearing my father in his fury call the man Boy.’In context of the entire poem you see how complex his ‘joy’ was, a secret thrill that hidden racial prejudices of his usually immaculate father slipped to the surface, that the hypocrisy he may have detected with a child’s instinct was confirmed.
Curiously, he also likes referring to the death of dogs.They make me incredibly sad. Firstly because i have issues with canine suffering (when watching The Artist, Cel and Becks wept away when the protagonist was about to kill himself, but i remained stoic until his pet dog sacrificed his life to save him, where i promptly burst into tears).
In his shorter poems, on the death of a pet dog Spinach:
‘Love is a cup that spilled him.
Spilled all the spin that filled him.’I loved his narrative pacing and style in Ovid. It starts:
‘A daughter loved her father so much
She accused him of sexual abuse.
But I am getting ahead of my story.’‘Muse, put your breast in my mouth
If you want me to sing.
(Fuck the muse.)’‘She had a noose around
Her neck attached to nothing,
Which is a metaphor for love.’Seidel also writes quite a bit on political stuff, which (being politically apathetic), I skim through without much interest. All i can say about them is that they are varied and genuine.
I like Frederick Seidel’s flexibility and variety. I like that he can vary between detached and distanced to more invested and personal (without coming off as maudlin). I like that he does an entire range of themes – political, social, personal (on age [‘I rot before i ripen’], on love, on sex [and sex, and sex]).
Even his voice is nuanced. Each poem can differ so much in its style I’m not sure if i’d be able to identify each one anonymously as by the same poet. It may require a level of familiarity with Seidel’s work to identity that blunt self-assurance that is the point of convergence in his repertoire.
This is typified, i think, in ‘Snow’:
‘Snow is what it does.
It falls and it stays and it goes.
It melts and it is here somewhere.
We will all get there.’He cares, but genuinely. His poems stand at a balance – subtly sincere without being cloyingly ardent. And oftentimes rather funny in his whatever-lah-just-say-anything-also-can Seidel style.
This is good for Political Science majors who secretly want instead to do Literature. Which is a large part of the local Political Science community.
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Miles Davis & the Modern Jazz Giants
When it comes to music, I’ve always preferred for words to be subordinate. It should enhance, not distract. This is why i’m downright inept when it comes to remembering lyrics, because to me their function is decorative. It is also one of the reasons why jazz appeals to me. Scat singing exemplifies the spirit of music first, words as a complement. Pre-scat bebop usage of words can be quintessentially found in one of my absolute favorites: Dizzy Gillespie’s Salt Peanuts. He literally yells SALT PEANUTS SALT PEANUTS in intervals. The meaning attached to these words become irrelevant, but the vocalizations are sublime paired with the music.
K that was a rather digressive aside.
I’ve been wanting to briefly share some jazz pieces/players here but didn’t know where to start. Justin has given me the perfect opportunity:
In it, The Man I Love (Take 1 and 2) – which i’ve never heard before; Swing Spring, Bemsha Swing. Miles Davis on the trumpet, Monk on the piano, Milt Jackson on the vibraphone, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. It also includes ‘Round Midnight (!!!) which i really like, with Coltrane on the tenor sax, Paul Chambers on bass, Red Chambers on piano and PJJ on the drums. All in all an impressive line up.
My first comment when Justin popped the CD into his player and started The Man I Love was that it doesn’t do Thelonious Monk any justice.
First off and more obviously, he seemed muted throughout the piece. Secondly, even when his sound was discernible in the foreground, it wasn’t the usual charming Monk-spasmodic, but an uncertain-spasmodic. I apologize for my embarrassing lack of technical knowledge lol. Monk always plays lurchingly – and i mean that in the most reverent way possible (i love dissonance in music). It is a deliberate lurching, with characteristic pockets of sudden withdrawal and then a (very pleasing) burst of self-assured playing. In this recording of The Man I Love it sounded more timid than anything.
Percy Heath on bass, though, was great. I love the sound of bass and it’s always what stands out to me in jazz, and it did especially so here. Also, watch out of the vibraphone – whenever it came on it did an excellent job pulling everything (including the sidelined Monk) together.
At home i listened to Take 1 and 2 more closely. Miles Davis’ trumpet solo is much more captivating in Take 2 – harsher, cleaner – with the space more effectively shared with Milt Jackson’s vibes.
Monk comes back with a piano solo in Swing Spring and is par excellence on his usual form, and he doesn’t break the trend in Bemsha Swing. His comping for both trumpet and vibes in Bemsha Swing, particularly, was beauty.
‘Round Midnight features a different set, with Coltrane on sax and Chambers on bass – sans Monk, the original composer. Which i thought worked for this version. Monk with Coltrane did much justice for ‘Round Midnight but with Miles Davis thrown into the mix as well, Monk’s healthy dissonance might be thrown into confusion (Monk coupled with Gillespie, though, did such a breathtaking rendition).
This is a nice mix with classic tracks and beefy solos. My only gripe is that it lacks cohesion. Sometimes within each piece, but more distinctively as a compilation. Some albums give a strong sense of each piece being chapters to a unified whole. Each chapter unique in itself, with nuances in ambiance, but coming together finally so you feel that satisfaction of having finished something truly great. Still, there are enough moments of incredible solos that make this gift very worthy (thank you Justin xo!)
I recommend this album for that time of the night you realize you’ve tripped too far past bed time to be sleeping at all. When fatigue gives up on you and a light-headed, giggly kind of energy starts creeping in. The music here becomes brilliantly suitable, where discordant transitions from piece to piece will match your manic progression throughout the night. It will go down well with a strong, nasty brew of something heady like ginger ale. Slightly uncomfortable but exciting and secretly loved.
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Spiced Pumpkin Muffin Tops
Baking requires so much precision I’ve never trusted myself with an original recipe. But I felt like experimenting, and my grandma presented me with the perfect opportunity when she asked me to whip up something for her karaoke class (of mostly the elderly) with some pumpkin she had brought home (my grandma loves bringing home fresh produce and coming up with new ways to cook them). A core ingredient and a specific demographic group to feed was the ideal challenge so naturally I took it up.
…and came up with this!
Spiced Pumpkin Muffin Tops, with cranberries and chopped almonds!
I wanted something soft, easy and familiar for digestion but exciting on the palate (with more sophisticated spicing than decadent sweetness) in the form of finger food perfect for pre-karaoke snacking. And also health conscious because of their age.
Personally I was pretty satisfied with the taste and fragrance – a good blend of sugar and spice and fruity-nuttiness, but was more like a dense kueh bahlu than the chewy soft gooey desserts I like heh… BUT it was a hit with the old folks and everything was snapped up and da-bao-ed so YAY~
Recipe!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
- 3/4 c. brown + 1/4 c. granulated sugar
- 115g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 medium egg + 1 yolk
(Extra yolk if you prefer it dense > fluffy) - 1 c. pumpkin pureed in agar-agar amount of coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
(*IMPT*: do NOT sub with baking soda, because pumpkin and coconut milk are both basic, b.s. will make batter bitter w/o acids to balance it out) - Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
(Above three can be subbed by 1 tsp of All-Spice) - 1 c. mixed dried fruits and nuts of your choice!
1. Butter and egg to room temperature, butter softened almost melted.
2. Preheat oven to 190 c. (But adjust according to your oven’s temperament, did mine at 170 c. because it gets overheated a lot)
3. Measure flour spoon and leveled, sift, then mix in baking powder.
4. Steam, boil, or bake pumpkin until soft, and puree. Cool to room temp.
You can try steaming or boiling the pumpkin until almost cooked, then simmer in coconut milk. This enhances both flavors super well. (Don’t boil it at high with the milk because coconut milk curdles.)
5. Chop up whole almonds/whatever nut by putting it in a baggy and pounding with whatever! You should get some sizable, visible chunks, slightly smaller chunks, and grounded. Separate these.
6. Cream melted butter before whisking sugar in until lumpy bits are gone, add in eggs one at a time.
7. Add pumpkin puree and mix until all combined. Add in vanilla essence, salt, cinnamon and all the spices. (I think some people add it into the dry mix but I think the flavor is more even this way.)
Add in ground almond/nut!
8. Add in dry mix and combine well.
9. Fold in smaller almond chunks and dried fruits!
I chose cranberries and a leeedle bit of leftover prune slices. Pecans and walnuts will work really well too I think. Maybe dried apricots and raisins, etc. Leave some dried fruits along with the visible almond chunks!
10. Drop 1 tablespoon each onto parchment paper, as you would with wet cookie dough! It should be a fairly peaked lump, not spread.
Decorate top of batter with the leftover dried fruits and larger almond chunks!
11. Bake in upper or middle rack for 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
But again I’m super agar agar when it comes to this lol so I rly don’t know the perfect timing. Just poke around and try la.
12. Leave in for 10 minutes after cause it will continue baking, then cool on wire rack.
Makes about 30 smaller sized, or 18 normal sized Muffin Tops!
I love what the spices and coconut do to the pumpkin flavor! It’s balanced out with the sweet dried fruits too, and almond adds nutty fragrance and texture.
Fun part was definitely choosing from various fruits and nuts, if y’all have any suggestions on nice new combinations lemme know! WHOO DOMESTICGURL93 pride of my Grandma~
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Precursor
It began in 2008 when i came across a jazz recording somewhere outside, and fell into such crashing love with the double bass (tbh i didn’t know what instrument it when i first identified its sound) (also i’d never listened to jazz voluntarily). I found out what it was (through shameless inquiry), this:
My first love and always one of my favorites, Mingus on double bass.
And then i dove right in and haven’t gone back up for air since.
I’ve never liked limiting myself to a preferred ‘genre’ of music, to me there’s only good music or bad music (and even then based on the individual). But jazz, but jazz. I’m obscenely partial to it. To me it’s the purest, most distilled form of music.
There’s a whole literature and science on it and also ridiculous variety given its history, but i mainly stick to bebop and cool jazz, occasionally nujazz (mostly japanese ones). Also i love the ones without emphasis on lyrics/with just nonsense lyrics. Better yet if it does without completely (yah i’m pretty much off scat singing).
I’ve always remained vaguely embarrassed about it, i’m not sure why. Not the same embarrassment i feel for secretly liking Alt-J (a brassy, see-if-i-care, omg i’m gross kind), but a shadier, more private one. It may have been because i never bothered to share it with anyone initially, because i knew none of my friends listened to it. And when someone did accidentally stumble across me listening to jazz one day over the phone, he asked “um… why are you listening to sex music?”
But sometimes it gets a little lonely it’s just such, such a lovely world that it seems to me a pity more of my friends aren’t into it. And not because they won’t like it but probably cause they never tried?
So i’m gonna do a series of recommendations (hence the title) of my favorites, cultivated over five years (with lackluster knowledge of the technicalities of which there are a lot, i should warn y’all). Half of you will be bored to death the other half will skip them. But maybe just oneee person will like at least one of the recs and i’d be rlyrly happy with that.
Ok but another day because i’m hungry and shleepy rn also i wanna read bye.
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Soft
If asked the question, which one person do you most want to hear live, the answer will always be Monk
Always
Q 