met mitchell at govinda’s this afternoon.we talked, ate, laughed, walked past the sneaky sound system’s performance on the mall, and parted at the end of the mall, across the road from the treasury casino.

shuttle back to kelvin grove. it’s a festitive time here this week/end, with the brisbane writers festival and the valley fiesta happening in and around central brisbane.

when i was a child, my mum always thought that i’d be a poet. i really don’t see it happening now, sadly. i’m a professional student. however, aesthetics is one of my fundamental values in life - and art is very important to me in various ways. it’s probably because art, as Huizinga says, is deeply rooted in the primaeval soil of play; “play” is my motto.

i played at the brisbane writers festival for the first time last year. i learned a lot, and learning is what i (must) do as a professional student ;) anyway, i’m going to stop here with a little piece by li-young lee, a great poet in my eyes and heart. my friend asako introduced me to the world of li-young lee. at first i thought he was korean because of his name, but later found out more about his family/cultural history, which was quite interesting. i found “rose,” his first book of poems hidden in archives. i bought it for someone but read it first. i loved it. anyway, here’s the second poem in the book, also one of my favourites:

The Gift

To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.

I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.

Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.

Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.

oh, and i’m trying to get hold of bronwyn lea’s “flight animals.” i got to read a few poems over lunch with oksana, and was very much impressed. there was a particular one that i really liked, but unfortunately i can’t remember the title. i’d like to read it again and the whole book but i’m not sure where i can buy it. if anyone knows how to get hold of this book, please let me know. (edited: got a copy now. thanks to lovely siall)

had a few celebratory reasons and i’ve been pretty interperesonally-lazy to my sister, so we went to mondo organics for dinner last wednesday. we got there a bit early but it was a warmish brisbane winter evening, so we didn’t mind chatting outside while everyone was busy getting ready inside.

mondo’s been here for quite a few years now. i think they first opened when i was living in hill end - i was an undergrad student doing multimedia at griffith uni, and was living in a little studio near the river. i used to like having coffee alone at mondo, but i didn’t really eat there. i can’t remember how things were price-wise, but at the moment their mains are pretty expensive compared to other restaurants, especially those in west end. we had these:

• wine: chrismont ‘lazona’ pinot grigio (2005)
• appz: antipasti of roast pepper harissa, baccala, almond verjuice pesto & ciabatta bread
• main: gnoccho fritti w sage pesto, roast vegetable & ricotta almond cannelloni, tomato passata // sicilian cinnamon spiced fried tofu, sweet potato panelle, mixed leaf salad,agro dolce dressing vegan
• dess: vanilla pannacotta, passionfruit gelo, caramelised apple, almond crostini,honey saffron syrup

i think red would’ve been a smarter choice for the food we had, but i’d been meaning to try the wine for a while so i was happy. mondo is the very first licensed organic restaurant in australia, so you can be assured that the actual ingredients are nice and healthy. our appetizer had cod in one of the dips (baccala) so it wasn’t a completely vegetarian dinner, but we had a fabulous culinary evening. i’m a semi-vegetarian (or a fake vegetarian as someone once insisted); i eat veges and eggs and sometimes seafood. i don’t eat meat unless i’m accidentally given. for example, if someone’s prepared a meaty meal for me without realising that i don’t eat meat, then i wouldn’t say anything and eat it. but on a few occasions, i have consumed meat. for example, i ate a whole steak with tears in my eys after a breakup last time. there’s something cathartic about crying and eating steak at the same time.

anyway, i absolutely loved the sicilian tofu - the smokey aroma gets quickly dispersed in your mouth with soft tofu texture, which is nicely contrasted with the crispiness of the fried tofu on the top and fresh salad on the bottom. amazing. it reminded me of the time i tried brazzo mercedes at sprout for the first time. that impressive dessert was so sexy i thought i was going to faint. the vanilla pannacotta we had at mondo was really nice as well, not as miraculous as brazzo mercedes, but very tasty. coffee was as excellent as i remembered. the girl who served us was very friendly and efficient, and extremely cute. my sister wanted to know where she’d got her hair done (my sister’s doing a hairdressing course at the moment), and she very kindly explained where and how to get there.mondo also runs a cooking school. one of my friends has done it once and highly recommended it, so i think i’ll definitely try this month.

the bill was pretty demanding as expected, but there are some other cheaper options available. i’d really like to try their soup (A$10), which is actually one of the entrees but it’s huge and there were quite a few people having it as their main. i’ve been in my soup mode for a while now, and been trying different soups at different places, so i’d really love to try mondo’s - i have no doubt it’d be really nice. highly recommended if you’re relatively flexible financially.

Mondo Organics
166 hardgrave road
west end
+ 61 7 3844 1132

there was a new toby wren trio cd launch at the brisbane powerhouse museum last night. amidst of all the papers and preparations for conferences and the new semester, i decided to go as 1) i was a piker last time, and didn’t want to be one again so soon 2) i felt like a drink or two, and 3) i’ve been feeling in need of new music and inspirations and the event sounded like a perfect opportunity to achieve that in terms of the content and the venue.

oksana is always a lovely company. we - luckily - made it on time after parking happily on a god-knows-where street, mistaking a huge apartment building for the powerhouse. it was dark, after all… we got there, met with the other exciting ones, and even had enough time to enjoy the photography exhibition and get an asahi.

there’s something about boys in suits. there’s something more about boys in suits with musical instruments. there’s even more about boys in suits with musical instruments in pink light. when the music is good, it signals the beginning of a wonderful night. with asahi in your hand, that’s it, you’re there already. i enjoyed every tune. they do have a few mp3 files available for download on their website (http://www.tobywren.com).

i bought their new cd for a jazz lover whose birthday is coming up soon. (he wasn’t a virgo as i thought… nevertheless->) i’m sure he’ll appreciate it. if you’d like to catch them performing, go to one of these:

• July 30
  The Brisbane Festival, Spiegeltent
  King George Square
  2-5pm ($15/$10)
• August 27
  Jazz on a Sunday Vibe
  The Zoo, Ann St Fortitude Valley
  8pm ($15/$12)
• August 8 & 15
  Ric’s
  9pm

Happy listening-

i found this fantastic little animation titled “animator” on my friend iain anderson’s website (funwithstuff.com). brilliant stuff. check it out!
iain is a multi-talented man, always creating stuff, working with stuff… and having fun with stuff :) he’s also the creator of this excellent animation called “airport,” which was shown in the Sydney Film Festival 2005.

anyway, enjoy-!

walking into jocelyn’s provisions is absolutely joyful. it feels warm, delightful, calm, yet playful, and genuine. there’s a feeling of wonderful wintery warmth.

it’s undoubtedly the best patisserie in brisbane.

i only discovered jocelyn’s about five years ago, but it’s been around for about ten years now. i used to have this weird aversion for carrot cake - i couldn’t comprehend the concept. what? carrot? cake? together?… sort of thing. plus, every carrot cake i had tried was bad without a single exception. this was instantly fixed by jocelyn.

/magic/

everything’s absolutely beautiful - apart from the muffins. i’m not a huge fan of soft-top muffins (edited: found out that now there’s only one type of muffin, which i haven’t tried yet, so i can’t make any judgements about muffins at this stage - looks good though. i’ll try it next time). my favourite used to be the fruit and nut loaf, which sadly is no longer available. but once again, everything - apart from those muffins, but they’re not bad or anything; i just personally don’t find them as good as the others, that’s all (edited: again for the same reason) - is great.

i highly recommend the almond croissant, savoury pies/tarts, as well as those beautiful looking and tasting cakes. and of course, the absolutely sensational mini strawberry tart, which is only available for a very limited time each year. in fact, so far i’ve only had it three times, and every time it was so unbelievable i almost cried for joy.

more than anything though, the thing i love the most is looking at the faces of my loved ones when they walk into jocelyn’s for the first time. and at their first bite, when their senses start to play inside… i love sharing that moment.

fantastic.

thanks to jocelyn_

Jocelyn’s Provisions
Cnr Dogget & James St
Fortitude Valley
+61 7 3852 3777

// ok. had the muffin today. very nice_ (20060526)

I am leaving today - no more to say
You can find yourself some
hooker if you really need a lay
You can keep your dope and
whisky and your chain-smoker’s cough
And just wallow for eternity in liquor and slot
– youn sun nah 5

i thought i should be a nice sister at least once in my life, so the other night, i cooked fantastic dinner for my sister and took her to youn sun nah 5 at the brisbane powerhouse. i really like the brsibane powerhouse. it doesn’t seem to be attracting as many people as it should, which is a shame, but there’s always something going on. we should make more frequent visits to the powerhouse, brisbanites! :) besides, the food at Watt is pretty nice, and it’s right next to the new farm park, so really, you can easily have some seriously fun multiple sensory experiences at any time of the day/night.

the concert turned out to be a very interesting one. youn sun nah 5 consists of four men and one female - the vocal, youn sun nah:

Youn Sun Nah – vocals
Benjamin Moussay – piano
David Neerman – vibraphone
Yoni Zelnik – double bass
David Georgelet – drums

you can find some more info at the Australia Northern Europe Liaisons website.

i quite liked youn sun nah’s voice - it sounded a lot like a good mixture of yoshie nakano (ego-wrappin’) and sora lee, and at certain times it remined me of bjork in a very subtle kind of way. nevertheless, it was quite unique in its own way and sometimes was really exciting when she wasn’t being shy or quiet. the music was great - not a conventional jazz type; nah even (very joyfully) rapped from time to time.

what i found interesting about this band was that the members were actually all from different cultures. french, hebrew, british, korean etc. they met at CIM in france, so they’re still based there. nah sings in korean, french, and hebrew as well, but mainly in english. so all these multi-cultural aspects are blended in musically, lyrically, and visually as well, which is great. i noticed how those songs in korean were mostly really sad, slow, repetitive and quiet - i almost cried listening to one of the songs - those in english, on the other hand, were more lively, daring, fun, sometimes cutesy, and in faster beats. i wonder why. i’m really curious how differently she feels when she expresses herself artistically in different languages.

i definitely have different approaches to communication when i speak in different languages. ok, no, i don’t intentionally pause and think “oh, i’m going to speak korean now so i should communicate this way” but changes just come naturally. and i tend to behave differently depending on which culture i’m in. so jaz, or hee-jeong, in korea would probably be very different to jaz in australia. but still, this is all on a conversational level - so i really wonder, for an artistic work to have a global appeal, what is needed? are there any core elements that make something more communicatively effective and appealing across various cultures? we’re living in a culture that’s overflooded with shallow formulaic products - yes, i’m generalising and i am aware of some ridiculously fantastic cultures happening in many corners of the world, but one can’t deny that what adorno and horkheimer claimed fifty years ago is still happening (no, i don’t agree with their totalistic macro-approach but i do definitely concur with many of their concepts): the manufactured souless culture may in fact be demoting our opportunity of enlightenment to babarianism.

i’m a big believer of aesthetics. i believe that there are core elements of aesthetics that can be communicated across any culture. this is definitely one of the areas that i’d like to study more in the future. at the moment i only have some vague assumptions.

anyway, youn sun nah 5 wasn’t the best musical collaboration that i’ve ever encountered in my life, but i did think that they had some of those core qualities of aesthetics in different ways, and i immensely enjoyed their performance. it was their last concert in australia this time, but if you do have a chance somewhere else in the world - i think their next destination is china or singapore - do check them out. it’ll be a fun night for your senses in a quiet yet exciting way.