visions of clarity...do as infinity

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

On a macabre note, I might well have found the poem I should have read at my funeral. Now to look for one that's heck of a lot less depressing for my wedding =P

There's a poem for every moment in life. For every event. Every mundane errand. Every celebration. Every mourning. Isn't it amazing how we can relate to poetry that has been written by someone years and years ago in a different time, place and situation?

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Next to Normal OST]
[mood : sleepy]
[food : ONIGIRI!]

Labels: poem, thoughts

Thursday, October 21, 2010

咏怀

咏怀

阮籍

夜中不能寐，
起坐弹鸣琴。
薄帷鉴明月，
清风吹我襟。
孤鸿号外野，
翔鸟鸣北林。
徘徊将何见？
忧思独伤心。

Had to interpret this poem for class... (in English obviously =P)

Translation by Charles Hartman:
Poems Expressing My Feelings

Deep in the night and unable to sleep
I rise and sit to play my singing lute,
thin curtains mirror the bright moon
clear breezes tug my lapels

a single swan shrieks past the fields
hovering birds cry in the north woods,
pacing round, what is it that awaits me?
anxious thoughts alone that hurt the heart.

Translation by Greg Whincup:
Expressing My Feelings

In the night
I cannot sleep.
I rise and sit
To play the singing lute.

Through light curtains
I watch the bright moon.
A fresh breeze
Blows at my clothes.

A solitary wild goose
Calls in the wilderness.
Circling birds
Cry in the northern woods.

Fretting and pacing,
What is it I expect to see?
With sadness and grief
I am alone.

It's amazing how both poems are translated pretty similarly... And the only things that really differ are about the birds and about the curtains and the moon. But that's about it. Even the original is pretty simple except for words I cannot read =P

Ah. Poetry.

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : 星语心愿张柏芝]
[mood : tired]
[food : pumpkin cheesecake + vegetables!]

Labels: poem

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Dream Setlist: Gackt

Hello

Having not kept up with Jpop world in basically forever, during class today, in a fit of determination to stay awake in class (regardless of whether I was listening), I decided to go check up on Gackt and see what he's up to! (Like if there are any awesome new CDs of his I should get...)

And discovered this:

What songs would your ultimate GACKT setlist consist of?

If I were to pick a dream list of songs I want to hear live, I would surely pick every single song that I love (and there are a ton of those!) but I guess that's not the only important thing.

Gackt's concerts (whether you notice or not) are all built and orchestrated in a very specific manner in order to tell a story or transmit some kind of principle that he has to share regarding the theme of the concert. "Requiem et Reminiscence" for example (it's the most recent!) are all about life and death through the lens of soldiers caught in what is probably World War II (cue German style uniforms and various references to Germany and Japan - the Axis powers! Woohoo, I haven't forgotten my history...). And there are specific songs he picks to suit this "world" that he wishes to build through the concert - specifically those from Rebirth and Re:Born. Of course, having a brain the size of a pea and the memory of a goldfish, I can't actually remember off the top of my head all the subtle nuances that he dramatically inserts into his live performances. What I do know however, is that he breaks up the concerts into different sections that have different nuances.

Saying all that however, I really suck at putting together playlists because I'm really bad at determining how each song flows into the next one with a nice transition that isn't too jarring. I'll imagine how the song goes and think, "oh! it's perfect with the next one!" when really it isn't because of other parts of the song I have forgotten to take into consideration...

So I guess I'll just revert back to shallowness and create a playlist by determining the selection solely by whether I like the song or not. Also, I've split the list into sections based on his concert performances and how I liked how the song worked in different sections~

1st Arc
Ares (from MARS)
Cube (from 君のためにできること single)
uncontrol (from Rebirth)
seven (from Rebirth)
Nine Spiral (from Secret Garden single)
絵夢〜for my dear〜 (from MARS)
Mizerable (from The Sixth Day & Seventh Night DVD or CDTV live performance)
Journey through the Decade (single version)
In Flames (from Re:Born)
月の詩 (from Crescent)
星の砂 (from Crescent)

2nd Arc
Ghost (from Re:Born)
Birdcage (from Crescent)
Maria (from Rebirth)
RETURNER～闇の終焉～ (single version)
Doomsday (from Moon)
Oblivious〜顔のない天使〜 (from Re:Born)
Rain (from Moon)
Missing (from Moon)
Memories (from Moon)

3rd Arc
Suddenly (from Re:Born)
Faraway ~星に願いを~ (from Re:Born)
dears (from MARS)
野に咲く花のように (single version)
Last Song (acoustic piano version)
U+K (from MARS)
君のためにできること (single version)
12月のLove song (from 12月のLove songs ~Complete Box~)
再会〜Story〜 (from The Sixth Day: Single Collection)

Final Arc
Flower -ЯRII- (from Re:Born)
哀戦士 (from 0079-0088)
Love Letter (from Love Letter)
君に逢いたくて (from Love Letter)
雪月花 -The end of silence- (single version)
届カナイ愛ト知ッテイタノニ抑エキレズニ愛シ続ケタ･･･ (from Diabolos)
鶺鴒 ~seki-ray~ (single version)
オレンジの太陽 (from Crescent)

PS: I threw in オレンジの太陽 because HYDE will obviously feature in my dream Gackt concert =P And yes, I'd rather have HYDE over Wang Lee Hom any day...

PPS: I included the source of each song because Gackt has released different versions of some songs over the years and thus I chose the version that I liked best.^_^"

PPPS: If this entire playlist were to be actually performed in one night, I swear Gackt would probably faint dramatically multiple times, and we will never be able to leave the performing venue. Hence dream list. =P

And there you have it. My dream setlist by Gackt~ What's next? Alice Nine. perhaps?

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Glee! + moumoon]
[mood : tired]
[food : 抹茶チーズケーキ

Labels: Dream Setlist, Gackt, music

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Winter 2010!~

Hello,

Yes yes, I know it is fall but feels like summer and is the furthest we'll be from winter this year but... I thought I'd jump ahead and look forward to one of my favorite seasons! ^_^

Words: In the depths of winter, I discovered in me an invincible summer. (Albert Camus)
Font: Nylya (or something like that... It's from the school's PS CS5.)
Brush: School's PS CS5
Photo: Mine
Template: Winter 2010

As you can see, the words hark to winter, but the leaves acknowledge fall's presence, and the Sun is the invincible summer in our hearts. Well, that emerges from the image to me anyway... Where's spring you may ask? The blaze of summer, the magnificence of fall, and the dearth in winter, I think, cancel out the subtle glow of life that emerges in spring. But I always look forward to the tulips anyway. ^_^

So ever since I heard this quote, I have been extremely taken by it and needed to pay tribute to it somehow... And then I went ahunting for a photo to match the phrase... But I am terrible, simply terrible, at taking winter landscapes even though I love it so. Thus there were none to be found in my collection... Snow is extremely difficult to capture with much feeling (not that my photos have a lot of feeling in the first place but I can only do my best ;_;) and thus I decided on a somewhat wintry scene~

This photo was taken up in the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) by Lake Superior in the town Paradise at the dawn of a new, and very freezing, day. And thus it ~sort of~ evokes winter?

Here's to another season.

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Meditation from Thais]
[mood : zen]
[food : pumpkin!]

Labels: template

Monday, October 04, 2010

Another Opus

Hello

So I've started posting on my other blog, marginofabay.wordpress.com.

That is not to say this blog is being abandoned... On the contrary, I feel like they have different messages to put across. (Not that messages from me would be very important but anyway...)

Still, to have more reading material (something I know can be rather necessary in the mundane world of being a student trying to procrastinate), I suppose this is another method. ^_^"

Another place I post would be witchstone.tumblr.com.

Again, a different message, a different site.

I wonder why I do these things. Doesn't it make life more difficult for everyone including myself...? Haha... -_-"

Recently I've been reading 2 manga on drinks: Bartender (about cocktails) and 神の雫 (Kami no Shizuku or Les Gouttes de Dieu - about wine). Honestly, I think that apart from the fact that I cannot taste the actual product, I'm learning wayyy more about cocktails and wine from these 2 manga than I could ever have just tasting everything on my own. (And anyway, tasting everything myself is so fattening -_-" I think reading is good. Plus it's expanding general knowledge hurhur.) Would it be way too noob if I bring notes from the manga to a bar or restaurant in the future? Haha...

Alright... Time to work on building a sense of accomplishment this week!

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Lapis~prologue~ Gackt]
[mood : calm]
[food : 锅贴!!!]

Labels: misc

Welcome

visions of clarity...do as infinity
by witchstone

My Emotible!
starry-eyed: filled with such youthful hope and optimism that one's eyes twinkle even when it's dark

Wish List

ie: motivation to save money!
- clothes
- shoes [heels! boots!]
- the perfect tote
- coats/outerwear! [Soïa & Kyo, Burberry...]
- Gackt - nine*nine
- Gackt Photobooks:
1 The Gift The Sixth Day & Seventh Night Tour Document (2004)
2 Crescent Photobook (out of print)
- Cookbooks!
1 Thomas Keller The French Laundry Cookbook
2 The Nobu Cookbook
3 Emily Luchetti A Passion for Desserts
4 Alice Medrich Pure Dessert
- Anime/Manga
1 Rurouni Kenshin
2 xxxHOLiC
3 Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-
- Proficiency at Japanese!
- Learn French for Food!

Links

My Flickr Page
spoonerisms*inc a food blog (by wendy & I)
my translation blog

witchstone...

follow me on Twitter

Checklist: EAT!

The Common Grill, Chelsea
The Black Pearl, Ann Arbor
Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes, Detroit
Bella Ciao, Ann Arbor
Craft, NYC
Momofuku, NYC
Alinea, Chicago
The French Laundry, California
Goto, Singapore

Tagboard

Twittering~