A couple of months back I discovered an artist named Talib Kweli. It wasnt a discovery per se since I already vaguely knew him and listen to one (or maybe two) of his songs.
During my last "raid" on the music folder of a friend, which was a great raid during which I get over 40GB of music, his albums made it up onto my HDD.
So I gave the last one a try. The title is "Ear Drum". And I must say, this is one of this gem you wish you had discovered before.
Talib Kweli is a polically engaged hip-hop singer with songs with lyrics that actually SAY something.
As usual, if you wanna know more about his life and work, just href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talib_kweli">click here.
So here is a sample of the last album "Eardrum" released this year (2007).
The title is "Give 'em Hell" and its one of my favorites.
You can find the lyrics here (click only after u click on play lol).
I would like to quote this part
"Trying to get to God but ended up doing the work of Satin
Religion create the vision
Make the Muslim hate the Christian
Make the Christian hate the Jew
Make the rules of faith
That you condition to and to you gotta follow
And God forbid you go to Hell
But if you ever walked through any ghetto then you know it well"
The second song is from the previous album "The Beautiful Struggle (2004)".
I dig the title of this album, it's a very good and accurate description of Life down here.
The song, With Marie J blige in featuring, is "I try", I really like the beat on this one, but of course the lyrics are great too, so Press Play
I know the post is already long but I couldn't resist my will to add a sample of the lyrics
"Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some shit
To BANG in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight
Lord knows I try"
The complete song lyrics are available here.
So what you think?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Electric Wires In Bangkok: An Horror
Since I'm on the topic of Bangkok city, I feel the need to speak about what makes this city's streets simply UGLY most of the time: The electri wires everywhere!
For a reason yet to be discovered, you dont have one wire, or a set of wires neatly joined together, but rather a hard to describe jumble pack of uneven wires.
It really uncomfortable to have one of those wires loosely hanging at few centimeters of you when you are taking one of thesebloody bridges you are force to take when you want to cross a road (but I'll blog about it later).
You don't really feel secure, trust me.
Since a picture worth thousands words, I let you have a look.
Leave your comment by clicking on the blue hyperlink showing "n comments" (n being the number of comments currently on the post lol).
For a reason yet to be discovered, you dont have one wire, or a set of wires neatly joined together, but rather a hard to describe jumble pack of uneven wires.
It really uncomfortable to have one of those wires loosely hanging at few centimeters of you when you are taking one of these
You don't really feel secure, trust me.
Since a picture worth thousands words, I let you have a look.
Leave your comment by clicking on the blue hyperlink showing "n comments" (n being the number of comments currently on the post lol).
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pictures of Bangkok
When people take pictures, they tend to take pictures of the most beautiful spots.
If you are in Bangkok for just a couple of weeks, it makes sense to focus on the Wat Po, the Royal Palace and other touristic attractions.
But I think that to really know how Bangkok looks like, you need to go beyond that.
That's why I've started to take casual pictures of BKK streets, to show a more "connected to reality" view of BKK streets.
So I've opened an album on Picasa which name is "Pictures of Bangkok" (how original is it? :D )
This is just the beginning, more pictures are to come.
So stay tunes
If you are in Bangkok for just a couple of weeks, it makes sense to focus on the Wat Po, the Royal Palace and other touristic attractions.
But I think that to really know how Bangkok looks like, you need to go beyond that.
That's why I've started to take casual pictures of BKK streets, to show a more "connected to reality" view of BKK streets.
So I've opened an album on Picasa which name is "Pictures of Bangkok" (how original is it? :D )
This is just the beginning, more pictures are to come.
So stay tunes
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Pictures from Ko Samet
And now let get in the heart of the matter.
First the beach, the sand is soft, feels like a comfortable mattress.
The water is crystal clear, I was simply amazed.
We went from Ao thian to Ao Wai and, WAOH, the beach was even more beautiful and there was absolutely nobody. So basically we had the entire beach for us.
Say it was great is not enough. I was playing like a little children.
Since I'm a good guy (!) I had a (quick) thought for my friends in Europe which are in the middle of the autumn. And then I jump in the sea :D (yeah life is unfair what were you thinking).
Feel free to watch the slideshow embedded below or click on it to go to the album.
There are not that many pictures, sorry I was too busy actually enjoying the sea,sun (damn where was the sex? lol) to take a lot of pictures.
Feel free to comment as usual ;)
First the beach, the sand is soft, feels like a comfortable mattress.
The water is crystal clear, I was simply amazed.
We went from Ao thian to Ao Wai and, WAOH, the beach was even more beautiful and there was absolutely nobody. So basically we had the entire beach for us.
Say it was great is not enough. I was playing like a little children.
Since I'm a good guy (!) I had a (quick) thought for my friends in Europe which are in the middle of the autumn. And then I jump in the sea :D (yeah life is unfair what were you thinking).
Feel free to watch the slideshow embedded below or click on it to go to the album.
There are not that many pictures, sorry I was too busy actually enjoying the sea,sun (damn where was the sex? lol) to take a lot of pictures.
Feel free to comment as usual ;)
Trip to Ko samet (Thailand)
I blog about this quite some time after the trip but I was a little bit busy working on re-creating a software ecosystem for blogging.
Ko Samet is an island 3h hours away from Bangkok.
The bus ticket is 178 bahts (roughly 4€) one-way.
The bus leaves you in Ban Phe. From there you take a boat to cross the sea.
The cruise last roughly half an hour.
The boat ticket is around 100-150 depending on which Ao (meaning Bay) you are going to.
The boat left us at the northern part of the island (we arrived late so there was no other option).
We had to take a taxi to get to Ao Thian which is the southest part of the island.
we were looking for a beach as remote as possible to avoid the crowd. And Ao Thian looks like a very good yet affordable spot.
The taxi doesnt come to cheap (keep in mind it's an island). We shared the taxi with two other people who were not going as far as we were but it helped keep the price reasonnable, understand 300 bahts (for 2).
Ko Samet is, as a whole, a national park. I don't know what exactly they mean by that but I do know that it reduced the content of my wallet by 400 bahts EACH (9€) just to get on the island.
The "trip" to get to Ao Thian is quite long especially since the roads are the worst I've EVER seen in Thailand (and also the worst I've ever seen in the world).
This explains why all the taxis are Toyota pick-up. And since you sit at the back of the cab you better be free of any back aches whatsoever (at least when you get in the cab)
For the accommodation we choose a nice hotel just in front of the beach. We went for the VIP room (yeah I know life is cool sometimes) with a very nice bathroom, AC and TV (pretty much worthless unless you speak Thai)
That will set you up for 1200 bahts (28€).
I dont remember the name of the hotel, it was Coconut something.
We ate at the hotel restaurant. The food was GREAT and of course quite expensive (remember its an island!). But I must admit the prices are fairly decent.
Overall getting to Ko Samet is quite easy, the trip worth it and for the pictures check the next post.
For 2days, I would suggest to budget around 3000 bahts (roughly 65€) if you are looking for something in the mid-range.
Ko Samet is an island 3h hours away from Bangkok.
The bus ticket is 178 bahts (roughly 4€) one-way.
The bus leaves you in Ban Phe. From there you take a boat to cross the sea.
The cruise last roughly half an hour.
The boat ticket is around 100-150 depending on which Ao (meaning Bay) you are going to.
The boat left us at the northern part of the island (we arrived late so there was no other option).
We had to take a taxi to get to Ao Thian which is the southest part of the island.
we were looking for a beach as remote as possible to avoid the crowd. And Ao Thian looks like a very good yet affordable spot.
The taxi doesnt come to cheap (keep in mind it's an island). We shared the taxi with two other people who were not going as far as we were but it helped keep the price reasonnable, understand 300 bahts (for 2).
Ko Samet is, as a whole, a national park. I don't know what exactly they mean by that but I do know that it reduced the content of my wallet by 400 bahts EACH (9€) just to get on the island.
The "trip" to get to Ao Thian is quite long especially since the roads are the worst I've EVER seen in Thailand (and also the worst I've ever seen in the world).
This explains why all the taxis are Toyota pick-up. And since you sit at the back of the cab you better be free of any back aches whatsoever (at least when you get in the cab)
For the accommodation we choose a nice hotel just in front of the beach. We went for the VIP room (yeah I know life is cool sometimes) with a very nice bathroom, AC and TV (pretty much worthless unless you speak Thai)
That will set you up for 1200 bahts (28€).
I dont remember the name of the hotel, it was Coconut something.
We ate at the hotel restaurant. The food was GREAT and of course quite expensive (remember its an island!). But I must admit the prices are fairly decent.
Overall getting to Ko Samet is quite easy, the trip worth it and for the pictures check the next post.
For 2days, I would suggest to budget around 3000 bahts (roughly 65€) if you are looking for something in the mid-range.
Song of the day: Raul Midon
Raul Midon is one of my last discoveries over the last two months.
Let me put it in a simple way: The man is a genius.
He plays guitar incredibly well and his has a beautiful voice.
Did I mention he is blind? More on him and his life after the jump
The song title is "Sunshine" and for me it is the best song of the album with "If you're gonna leave" (which will be embedded in another post later :) )
I saw him for the first time on "Taratata" a french TV emission on music.
I was amazed by his performance. So, although I dont like to embed videos (yeah not everyone has a broaband, high-speed connection) I think this one worth the trouble.
So just press play and enjoy
So, any comment?
Let me put it in a simple way: The man is a genius.
He plays guitar incredibly well and his has a beautiful voice.
Did I mention he is blind? More on him and his life after the jump
The song title is "Sunshine" and for me it is the best song of the album with "If you're gonna leave" (which will be embedded in another post later :) )
I saw him for the first time on "Taratata" a french TV emission on music.
I was amazed by his performance. So, although I dont like to embed videos (yeah not everyone has a broaband, high-speed connection) I think this one worth the trouble.
So just press play and enjoy
So, any comment?
A market on the train rails
Yesterday I was browsing and happened to pay a visit to the blog of my friend Max and I find these amazing videos.
Basically it's a market set up on the way of a train. Well words are not enough so here are the two videos.
Now a question: How crazy is that?
Feel free to leave a comment
Thanks Max for this one.
Basically it's a market set up on the way of a train. Well words are not enough so here are the two videos.
Now a question: How crazy is that?
Feel free to leave a comment
Thanks Max for this one.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Song of the day: Corinne Bailey Rae
It's been a long time without any song so I know you miss it.
Today let me introduce the wonderful http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
I embed two songs which are among my favorites. Needless to say that the whole album is a gem.
It's for this kind of album that I bought my Shure 210 (will blog on them soon btw).
Listen to that album is just a wonderful musical experience. This is what i'm talkin about when I say real music
Ok enough talking, here is the first song: My choux pastry Heart
The second one is "Till it happens to u". A beautiful song too (and I mean it)
Let me know what u think in the comments
Today let me introduce the wonderful http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
I embed two songs which are among my favorites. Needless to say that the whole album is a gem.
It's for this kind of album that I bought my Shure 210 (will blog on them soon btw).
Listen to that album is just a wonderful musical experience. This is what i'm talkin about when I say real music
Ok enough talking, here is the first song: My choux pastry Heart
The second one is "Till it happens to u". A beautiful song too (and I mean it)
Let me know what u think in the comments
Funny thing in Thailand
While browsing, I stumbbled across this funny pic:
Yeah, I told you, life in thailand is full of funny surprise.
The Original post is here.
Yeah, I told you, life in thailand is full of funny surprise.
The Original post is here.
MAC Lover
Needless to say that since I have a MAC, like most of the switcher, I'm in love with MAC OS 10.4.9 (named Tiger).
No more bugs, blue screen of death (you know the blue screen you get when WinXP totally screw up). After weeks of use, it's just what an OS (operating system) is supposed to be.
Actually I came up with a slogan for MAC: "MAC, it just WORKS".
Another thing, are the ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) times I have when I'm talking with my friends and that they complain about Vista or about some viruses on theirs PCs.
Guess what I tell them then, yeah u have it right "Get a MAC" lol.
I also happened to see one or two weird .exe trying to install themselves on my MAC, I couldn't be more amused.
Guys, dont u get it, they are virtually no virus on MAC so stop trying lol.
Ok, I gotta stopped, I think that my friends can't take it anymore. Here is my 2 cents to them: "Try it and we'll talk about it after that ok?"
I can't let you without a small pic:
This is what I call real MAC love, what u think?
No more bugs, blue screen of death (you know the blue screen you get when WinXP totally screw up). After weeks of use, it's just what an OS (operating system) is supposed to be.
Actually I came up with a slogan for MAC: "MAC, it just WORKS".
Another thing, are the ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) times I have when I'm talking with my friends and that they complain about Vista or about some viruses on theirs PCs.
Guess what I tell them then, yeah u have it right "Get a MAC" lol.
I also happened to see one or two weird .exe trying to install themselves on my MAC, I couldn't be more amused.
Guys, dont u get it, they are virtually no virus on MAC so stop trying lol.
Ok, I gotta stopped, I think that my friends can't take it anymore. Here is my 2 cents to them: "Try it and we'll talk about it after that ok?"
I can't let you without a small pic:
This is what I call real MAC love, what u think?
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