A Place To Call Home

Moving is a hassle.  Being in Vancouver it was, of course, pouring as I piled my things for the taxi to come get me and my life which I had packed away in cardboard boxes and suitcases.  I got to my new place though and everything was okay.  I was in love with the place.  Internet still has not been set up so the opportunity to show my parents in Singapore where I live now isn’t possible.  Instead of waiting till internet magically falls into our laps I wanted to make my apartment available for my parents to see and so I can show my new home off a little.  Might as well eh?
If you click on the pictures it will show you panoramic photos of each room in exception to my roommate Izzy’s room because that’s her space to share in her own time.  They are 360 angle photos and have been taken at my favorite time to be in the cozy new place, late at night when the night is asleep and I have a cup of chai in my hand and music in my head.

Living Room

We have decided not to buy a couch like a typical apartment, but instead we encourage people to spread out on the carpet.  Let it all hang out and be a kid again when lying wherever you please was acceptable.  Books cover the floor and bookshelf as do our records.  In the morning I commonly find a friend who has crashed for the night, this is why the living room is my favorite.

Kitchen

This room keeps being filled with the little knick-knacks that we find around the city; we just can’t stop trying to make our 50′s kitchen better.  The linoleum is cheesy with flowers and pastel tones but that was a huge attraction.  We are yet to find a table the suits the space but the chandelier has enough charisma in itself to keep the room filled with energy.

Bathroom

No shower curtains were required for us to move into this bathroom, there are glass sliding doors–it’s a wonderful thing.  We have all our basics in there along with a “Butt” magazine and a small portrait of a sea foam green duck.  When we’re home together Izzy and I have our life catch ups as we brush our teeth.  A bathroom is a great place to reunite, at least ours is.

Bedroom

This room hasn’t been unpacked completely but the fairy lights are up and most of the clothes are away, that’s enough of a start.  There are not many things that I collect in life but clothing is something that I do so the large closet that this room has is fantastic.  I have started putting up portraits on one of the walls; the plan is one day the entire wall will be covered with these portraits that I find at thrift stores or given to by friends.

Music Mash-Up

Bittersweet Dirt Off Your Shoulder Mash-up

An example of a popular music mash-up

Drux Flux

Munro Ferguson’s “Drux Flux” takes the viewer through a wild four minute ride of emotions as he crechendos to the climax of this overwhelming short film.  As I watched this I was constantly reminded of this song, or this artist, or this piece of history; no one takes the same ride.  Here’s mine:

Mash-Ups
A kind of film, music and art that has evolved through the accessibility of technology and the internet to the general public.  ”Rip!” is a documentary made recently centering on an artist by the name of Girl Talk; a man who takes popular music and composes it in a way that he makes a brand new song.  Mash-ups have become a completely new way for artists to involve themselves with each other by using each other’s music but changing it by adding their own touch to the art.
A musical mash-up that is popular at this point in time (2009, statements such as these need to be time stamped with everything changing so rapidly), is “Bittersweet Dirt Off Your Shoulder”.

Animal Collective
Mash-ups leads me to the artist Animal Collective.  They are a group that brings down many different exterior sounds along with their instruments to make music.  Drux Flux reminded me of Animal Collective’s music but more of the videos that they play alongside the stage during their live shows.   Commonly artits will have a zoomed in live video so people from a distance can see them in better detail but Animal Collective is more concerned that people hear what they are playing, so on the screens their is a colage of video being played.
The music video for “In the Flowers”:

A live show where you can see the screens playing the video mash up:

Chairman Mao and the Great Leap Forward

Of course the propoganda images that are used in Munro Ferguson’s “Drux Flux” remind me of the posters and visuals that bombarded China during the time of Chairman Mao.  Communism was trying to start up and stay a float.  Chairman Mao wanted to get more product in less time and so he started the Great Leap Forward, convincing thousands of people through his successful propaganda.  Ferguson uses powerful images like this in “Drux Flux” which alludes to technology taking over everything that we once knew, much like the sweep of communism through China during the rule of Chairman Mao.

Sixth Sense Technology
“Drux Flux” made me think about just how much we live by technology and how sometimes I am shocked at how out of hand it might get.  The latest kind of technology that is going to take me some time to come to terms with is TED’s Sixth Sense technology for phones.  It is going to be the new kind of social networking so that we can keep track of people’s names, information and how we know them.  Like Facebook, this new kins of social networking will probably be perfectly normal and widespread in a decade but for now I’m going to be a young old-fogey and say that this creeps me out as of yet: