winter closet + dieppa restrepo lavender cali + boy by band of outsiders seersucker shirt
the shirt
perfect blue
seersucker material ≠ ironing
3/4 sleeves ≠ habitual sleeve rolling
cooling ≠ sweaty run to school everyday
comfortable, boxy slouch
when i left his apartment that day, i walked down three sets of dusty click-lit steps. then through a shaded hallway with dripping floors and down a stone staircase. he must have been behind me but i couldn't hear him through the roars of my luggage wheels. i waved to the gateman, who for once was not slumbering, and stepped outside the gates to greet a busy morning street.
so, so different from that one quiet summer dawn, when i woke up at 5 am to walk with him to the town's edge and the haze had faded everything to cold neutral and i couldn't believe how small his town was to be surrounded by such endless cloud-wreathed mountains. and we had both kept silent in comfortable companionship in what seemed like a suspended place and time.
but that day, as i was leaving for the final time, everything was as i came: people, buses, cars in never-ending traffic cacophony, like a million jeweled bugs gone crazy in the sun and humidity. i closed my eyes and time folded, how could two months stand between two identical settings, and then it quickened to spite me: he stepping to my side and yelling down a cab. and i putting the suitcase in the trunk and shut. there was just a moment before i closed the door and waved goodbye.
on some hot summer days, on some street corners, if i'm lucky, if the heat and gasoline smells and car honks mix just right, i would recapture that moment of splitting between his world and mine. i wanted to hug him, an altogether foreign and modern gesture (so i didn't). i wanted to tell him, tactlessly, 爷爷，我永远爱你 (but i just nodded and smiled weakly). time waits for no one, a lesson i need relearning and can only remember in desperation. remember: my body dragging my heart into the car; in the back window, seeing his small figure disappearing into the crowd.
so, so different from that one quiet summer dawn, when i woke up at 5 am to walk with him to the town's edge and the haze had faded everything to cold neutral and i couldn't believe how small his town was to be surrounded by such endless cloud-wreathed mountains. and we had both kept silent in comfortable companionship in what seemed like a suspended place and time.
but that day, as i was leaving for the final time, everything was as i came: people, buses, cars in never-ending traffic cacophony, like a million jeweled bugs gone crazy in the sun and humidity. i closed my eyes and time folded, how could two months stand between two identical settings, and then it quickened to spite me: he stepping to my side and yelling down a cab. and i putting the suitcase in the trunk and shut. there was just a moment before i closed the door and waved goodbye.
on some hot summer days, on some street corners, if i'm lucky, if the heat and gasoline smells and car honks mix just right, i would recapture that moment of splitting between his world and mine. i wanted to hug him, an altogether foreign and modern gesture (so i didn't). i wanted to tell him, tactlessly, 爷爷，我永远爱你 (but i just nodded and smiled weakly). time waits for no one, a lesson i need relearning and can only remember in desperation. remember: my body dragging my heart into the car; in the back window, seeing his small figure disappearing into the crowd.
three, korean cinema
The Classic (2003)
The movie itself is a bit melodramatic and the ending is too neat for my taste, but i do love the music.
Deli Spice - 고백 (The Confession)
Attack the Gas Station (1999)
Shell - 작은 사랑 (A Little Love)
Le Transperceneige (2012)
 |
"In a post-apocalyptic world, or what's remaining of it after a world war and glaciation, the few survivors find themselves in Earth's last remaining train, named Transperceneige. The train continues to move following a circle in a desert of snow and ice. And, while the poorest live in pathetic conditions, suffering the cold and hunger, those living in the 'premium class' lust, party and live like Kings. The Transperceneige continues to travel in this vicious circle, but one day one of the 'miserables', Proloff, decides to change status quo, discovering all the secrets behind Earth's last train." (Source) |
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*in other news, the japanese are making a rurouni kenshin live-action. yuu aoi as megumi? but she's too cute...and awkward. cannot wait to see soujirou though i know it will disappoint.
Little Dragon 10/29
Twice I turn my back on you
I fell flat on my face but didn't lose
Tell me where would I go
Tell me what led you on
I'd love to know
Was it the blue night
Gone fragile
Was it both men
In wonder
Steady gone under
Was it the light ways
So frightening
Was it two wills
One mirror holding us dearer now
Thought I had an answer once
But your random ways swept me along
Colossal signs so I got lost
With so many lovers singing soft
Was it the blue night
Gone fragile
Was it both men
In wonder
Steady gone under
Was it the light ways
So frightening
Was it two wills
One mirror holding us dearer now
I fell flat on my face but didn't lose
Tell me where would I go
Tell me what led you on
I'd love to know
Was it the blue night
Gone fragile
Was it both men
In wonder
Steady gone under
Was it the light ways
So frightening
Was it two wills
One mirror holding us dearer now
Thought I had an answer once
But your random ways swept me along
Colossal signs so I got lost
With so many lovers singing soft
Was it the blue night
Gone fragile
Was it both men
In wonder
Steady gone under
Was it the light ways
So frightening
Was it two wills
One mirror holding us dearer now
she's hearing voices
Recently I have been listening to more music with female vocals, part of my growing appreciation for our most basic instrument. A bit has to do with my taste trending towards electronic for the past two years, where the voice is usually fractured and abstracted into pure sound. A bit has to do with ingesting kpop on a regular basis, where I cannot even begin to understand (thank goodness!) the lyrics besides the standard english word throw-in. This education has over time changed my experience and appreciation of "regular" english songs. Certain voices just do it for me: modest, sweet, clear. And then there are certain songs made on that one second where her voice hits exactly the right note or where the change is exactly what you wanted, and it is absolutely delicious.
black and blue
over summer i decided to wear more black, starting with a pair of black jeans hemmed and tapered to perfection (slim not skinny), which i perused almost every day. black, i realized, was the best color for lazy people cutting down on sloppiness.
but then i received the perfect jacket: a chambray blue with a hoodie (perfect for dc's unpredictable showers) and a form which swung gently from my body. best of all was the clever inner right pocket taken from menswear. so i started thinking about blue. the most humble of colors, always easy on the eyes. a color that gently sways between emotions.
then, my best friend, who surely has esp, showed up for our day adventure in the most perfect blue outfit--loose navy grandfather sweater, white and aqua sailor striped shorts, multi-colored blue sperrys. she fit perfectly.
i like how clothing and location harmonize. i remember seeing photos from the devastation in africa (here). they are tragic to be sure and mainly meant to be informational, but i was also dazzled by the colors in their clothing, the array of colors and patterns which looked beautiful framed in rust sunsets and barren deserts. wsj did a recent article on the sapeurs of the congo (here): "kin sapeurs, they tell me, adore yohji because his style is violent and brutal, in line with the spirit of their city."
similarly, i cast cities in different colors and feel myself gradually shifting my preferences. baltimore, a city of experimentation, of neons, prints, and mix-matching. washington, shimmering white and glass-blue accented in black like the sec building i pass by on my way to school. but while i find myself dressing more formal, with less colors and less strange shapes, bits of baltimore still peeps in. recently: a beautiful mediterranean-colored scarf swimming with fishes.
