the perfect is the enemy of the good

HP & OOTP

2010-11-07T12:01:32Z

In huh-that's-interesting-to-me news, I'm watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix now for the first time.

How I've missed you.

ETA: Ah, my heart. The ending was rushed and too abrupt but it was lovely while it lasted.

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Dose On Fran Healy

2010-09-27T09:34:21Z

Fran Healy of Scottish band Travis is one of the greatest singer-songwriters in the world. Ever.

I have followed his band since its beginning, catching their doubleliner concert with Coldplay in July 2001. That was when Coldplay was lesser known than Travis and I believe Coldplay still hold Travis in high esteem. I chose to catch them instead of a smorgasbord of No Doubt-Beyonce-NERD-Black Eye Peas last year when they were here for the 2009 Singapore F1 Grand Prix; they were TOO AWESOME.

I always find Travis music to be aptly suited for long car rides, as the barren branches curled their fingers past your window. It's part of your journey, the missing piece to the double rainbow after a sprite of rain.

Fran Healy will debut his first solo album Wreckorder next week. It's a definite winner from past Travis history. The above music video is the first album single 'Buttercups' (lyrics here). You can also listen to his collaboration with Paul McCartney on 'As It Comes', about love and its slow loss (my fav; lyrics here) and his take on Beach House's 'Zebra'.

I'm all flaily over this. Can't bloody wait!

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Of Which I Am The Perfect Black Hole

2010-09-23T08:29:30Z

Image by jamelah

After so many days, I'm left with a week before the restart of my job. On whether that's the right decision, time will tell.

The nerdier Robot Man. I would use this to communicate how I really feel.

I'm a worrier; it's part of parcel of who I am and my job sustains this bad habit. I like this Harvard Business Review (HBR)* article as it puts it succinctly, and I believe I did that in my work break. In essence:

We have to rethink what it means to work and to be productive. We have to disentangle self-hatred from responsibility, self-criticism from self-care.

What does re-thinking mean in this case? Start thinking of being hard on yourself as being irresponsible. Start thinking of wasting half of your brain power on fantasies about your own destruction as self-indulgent. Conflate self-negativity with laziness. Start thinking of time for yourself as being responsible. Start thinking of a healthy mid-day meal as essential to your productivity, time away from your desk as productive.

Oh God, THIS. I admit, I am working in such an industry and I admit this does go on. We, inevitably, do not mostly practice what we preach. I'm open for discussions any time.

A late fan of Florence + The Machine is better than never. Watch her 'Heavy In Your Arms' below:

In conclusion, as per Inc.*, when we work for others, we want expectations, validation and belief. We are here, we matter.

* I'm increasing attached to a few business blogs these last month. I'm thinking of marking some of the main points into separate posts. I'll see.

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Linkspam: Oh Hai Work Hiatus

2010-08-30T03:05:27Z

Image by Victor Bezrukov

Though I'm officially on work hiatus for five weeks since last Friday, it only settled in today. Whee, what would I do to myself?! Happy Monday and a good work week ahead!

My interest in new music is inversely proportional to the time I have to myself. So lately, I've been digging: The princess of pop meets emo Project Bros, or something like it | THE POP anthem; this is my current broken record

Because it makes you feel fuller and eat less? Duh.

Aptly named white gold and its uses.

The greatest find in this? Making rice unsticky (and I know that's an unword).

To be the husband of a presumed nag-nag wife.

Seriously, I'd have this gifted to everyone who works in office. (via Jezebel)

Phew, what can I say, I have some work hiatus going on.

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Linkspam: For Now, I Still Want To Dance

2010-08-27T07:43:51Z

Bunker 13 by Aniruddha Bahal (2003). Design by Jenny Grigg

The matter of the thing is, although I don't blog/write/post as much as I would like to, I do read as much or as often as I can. Most of my reads are from tweeted links and random interest of the moment(s). It would be a shame to let all those reads go to waste so I'll try to compile most of them in 'Linkspam' posts.

I was to print this 2003 article for every person I know because this is who I am. And that I'm not alone and just like everyone else.

That's it; I'm want to head Down Under when this happens. I did it once before 12 years ago for Popmart and I can do it again.

Because yes, he's that hot.

I do judge a book by its cover, and the results are sometimes glorious.

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5 Things: About Inception

2010-07-15T14:35:31Z

pic by Collider

So, I watched this movie today when it just opened. The first showing of the day too. And it was fantastic.( Spoilers ahead. )

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Dennis Hopper Was Here

2010-05-31T14:32:01Z

by Live for Films

Dennis Hopper passed away on Saturday, 29 May 2010. Better and more coherent words have been said about the man, including Telegraph's obituary here.

I will always remember him as the kind man who forgave a nervous 19-year-old on her first backpacking trip to Europe, who understood her English of motioning hands and thrust-out camera, but not his name (I totally blanked out). The unrecognisable man who stood in front of me in the gelato line in Venice, who recommended his choice of ice-cream and I acquiesced, the flavour long forgotten now. He left my heart beating rapidly, my one and only encounter with Hollywood, ever.

The picture taken is still there somewhere in my collection, and for that--and putting me on a travel-high for some days following that encounter, I thank him.

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