Joujoliment votre

My first Final Cut Pro experiment

2010-04-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

After the failure of mixandmash.tv web editor to give me music, I decided to try my luck at Final Cut Pro. Happy to say that I figured out the settings and the basic how-to alone (between midnight and 4:00am). Here's the fruit of my labor.
Video shot on my mobile phone on trips between DC and NY.
Music composed online by Jason Freeman and Joujolie @ http://turbulence.org//spotlight/pianoetudes/net.jasonfreeman.pianoetudes.PianoEtudes/wordpress/

My lost Myna Egg

2010-03-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

The weather minute

2009-06-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

I'm only happy when it rains, she said, I'm only happy when it's complicated.
Shot between May 28th and June 3rd, 2009, Alexandria, VA.

Subway Jazz and Loneliness or Boredom

2009-05-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

Appropriate soundtrack don't you think?

More Subway Jazz

2009-05-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Par exemple

2009-04-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

Bonjour/toi/moi/ailleurs/bonbons/retrouvailles/circulation/matériel/emploi/martyr/artérielle/la/tension/symphonie/baroque/bourgeoisie/princesse/blondinet/valet/parking/martien/douyouspik/démangeaison/voici/moribond/foie/amertume/c'était autre chose/spleen/voilà/c'était ça/je/oui/fofolle/joujolie/ment/votre/ment/comme/elle/respire/merde/violet/indigo/go/c'est/vert/peur/erreur/machin/alors/sens/sensation/forte/fort/heureusement/chagrin/malaise/éternels/mais/moindres/périssables?/bons/fréquentable/boutons/Brel/qui/me/manque/vin/et/mots/poésie(s)

Discussing China with my roommate

2009-04-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

My current roommate in NY is originally Chinese. She's lovely. Entertaining as hell. Recently, she's had her first encounter-shock-clash with a person from Tibet. Although she is too polite to have an all-out argument, she came back home fuming: How he does not consider himself Chinese? I don't have enough background on the matter to make a decision about what is and is not right about that conflict, but I guess I did not offer the support she hoped for, when I acknowledged the fact that Tibetans want their independence. It's an affront to her Chinese pride and nationalism, this quest for independence. We've since had more talks about politics, which she admits, she does not know much about. I've been amazed by how little she knows of her own country's politics, (not that I know more, but then it is China, technically the edge of the world for me), but one thing I found very surprising, for example, was that she had not heard of the 1989 Tien An Men Square incidents (students protests) at home. She had heard of the square of course, seen it as well, but she confessed that she learned about the incidents there from an Englishman. She has not seen the famous video, or pictures of the lone anonymous man who stood facing the tanks. She asked me if I trusted the news about it. I said I did not know the details, but it was evident that there were tanks (and thus army/state action) opposing Chinese citizens. She agreed. She also exhibits slight paranoia, which apparently is shared by her her classmates and compatriots of the same age, about China being perceived as "weak". Weak? I asked, China? She seemed reassured by my incredulity. I told her most people know China's strength. She thought everybody hated China especially the Japanese. Well, they were at war. They musn't like each other much. The media in China is still highly controlled by the government, to this day. As she describes it, the media only display "the good news". I will ask her more about it soon. But I'll leave you with this, the video of the man facing the tanks, the incredibly brave act of resistance/defiance, which shook me to the core, when I was 14.

Tien an men square 4/6/1989 China

The Big Sleep

2009-03-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

Subway musicals

2009-02-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

I'm infatuated with the subway system in New York. It's not quite as friendly as anywhere else I've been in the world, but it's unique. My brother likes to call the NY subway "the Underworld", because it is a whole world, a maze of levels and layers of iron and steel... And musicians, with whom I am most (again) infatuated.
In DC, where my brothers live, the subway is civilized: Wishshshshshhh, the train enters the station, people file in and move away from the doors after waiting for the people inside to descend. Everyone has their earphones on, but there is no sound coming out from them. Civilized music levels. The doors close silently. Wishshshshh, and the train is off. The sanitized version of subway experience in suit-filled DC.
In New York, the subway is alive. The conversations abound, waiting to be eavesdropped on (see below the chica and her elvis impersonator). The city is alive, moving, bustling and kicking, over and under, not to mention the chaos which is the subway on Halloween, something I had the (mis?)fortune of witnessing this year. The artists are of all ages, races, and styles. There are the painful ones who murder their instruments and torture my ears (I wanted to snatch away a musician's violin once, the squeaking carriage was a more welcome sound). Rats scurry around happily oblivious to incoming trains. And then these musicians, who want to practice without bothering the neighbours, or make a buck or two, offer you a soundtrack to your life. Below are a few including a Christmas special that I managed to catch on my low resolution phone, and I apologise to the viewers/listeners, as well as to the artists about the audiovisual quality.

A bit of magic, courtesy of the IFC

2009-02-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

What should I be doing?

2008-12-29T03:13:00.001-08:00

If I decide on peace, have I forsaken my roots? Will my father hate me? Will he say I sided with the enemy? The enemy which stole his house and exiled him forever from the streets of his childhood? If I decide on peace, have I forsaken the struggle for justice? Will my friends hate me? Will they say I have surrendered to a sugar coated Western project?
And so I read a proverb today: If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. What should we be doing differently?
What areas are we all unwilling to consider? What are options that can change a 60 year old status quo? (Or has it been longer?)

Faithful Branding

2008-12-17T00:42:00.000-08:00

He'brew
The Chosen
Beer

Non smoking city

2008-12-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to New York
Could I see some ID please?
Take it as a compliment mam,
cause you sure don't look your age.

And I'm in New York, at 33
not quite as young as...
and I look around me
trying to find fire
in a non smoking city.

Surely there must be
a man with fire here,
surely that which you hold
is a smoking gun,
surely this is smoke I see...

And the only fire I know
is asleep, where I come from.
6:00 a.m. in Beirut.
Sir,
could you spare a match?

Confusion is a state of lights

2008-12-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

I don't think there's a single visitor/resident of New York who hasn't seen this at least once in the past week. And although it's pretty common, I think everybody pauses, takes out his/her phone and snaps a pic, because for some reason, it resonates with everyone in the same way. This is a crazy, confusing, contradictory city. (But we love it, we confess.)

Happiness at 14 degrees (celsius)

2008-12-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

I looked at weather.com and found that it was 14 degrees outside. I ran out (practically naked), to indulge in a long (complete) cigarette that did not entail my fingers freezing. I realize that I complain a lot about the weather, but really, my system was not made for this climate, and I find that as long as I manage to leave the house and fight winter depression, I've already accomplished a lot. 14 degrees! Ah music to my ears. I think I'll go out and have another ciggie.

NY story fragments

2008-12-09T01:53:00.001-08:00

Apologies

2008-12-09T01:22:00.000-08:00

For the really nasty format. The designer in me suffers tremendously, but until I learn how to do my own digital designing this will have to do. Especially when I decide to create a second blog at 3 am.

The cold part 2

2008-12-09T00:57:00.000-08:00

So I went out as usual, to smoke my cigarette.
My left hand froze, and I moved the cigarette to my right hand.
It was around noon.
I was wrapped in my best winter apparatus (yes yes apparatus,
specifically chosen, almost military defense-like).
And it was -3 degrees, -9 with wind chill factor.
And half a cigarette later, I walk back into the building.
The doorman says: It's getting cold, eh?
(I acquiesce silently.)
Winter is coming soon, he continues.
I think that's when I really froze. Winter? Ah yes! Winter!
That which begineth on the 21st of DECEMBER!
This isn't winter yet... This is still fall.

The cold

2008-12-09T00:56:00.000-08:00

The cold, the cold, the cold, the cold,
the cold, the cold, the cold, and the cold,
the cold, the cold, the, the,
ah yes! the cold.... the hunger and the cold.

NY conversation fragments

2008-12-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

14th Street Station, waiting for the L train to take me West.
Young (teenager?) Latina girl tells young black girl:
-Did I ever tell you I dated an Elvis impersonator?
- You byyaaaaaatch!

Labneh à New York

2008-12-09T00:39:00.000-08:00

Labneh. Staple of my lovely Mediterranean diet. So elusive in New York. My cousin said, I could find some, if I walk ten to fifteen blocks South. I shake my head, disappointed. In this cold?
So for the first post, here's a little story from my Facebook account, sorry for those who've read it already. This is the Lebanese Cuisine experience at Moustache:
The tabbouleh is not tabbouleh. It wants to grow up to be tabbouleh, once its ingredients mature ... and mix. But more importantly: the Labneh! The Labneh needs mili7. And the lovely blond waitress asks gently: Would you like some pita with your Labneh? - Yes! Walaw! I answer (inno duh bi shou bakela?) And so the waitress then asks: Would that be plain or whole wheat?
!!
Halla2 the upside is that I got Almaza for dinner.

Moustache: 90 Bedford St., New York, NY 10014