Castle Walls

Christina Aguilera seems to had a pretty terrible year. Her album Bionics was a huge letdown and disregarded by the public. Her attempt to reinvent herself landed her criticism for trying to be like Lady Gaga. (Have you seen her video "Not Myself Tonight"? It was horrendous!!!) Then she went through a divorce. And last week her acting debut in Burlesque was released in theatres--it's not doing as well as expected either. BUT her latest song "Castle Walls", a collaboration with T.I., is pretty catchy!

T.I. feat. Christina Aguilera - Castle Walls

Although the two are wading in the wake left by Eminem and Rihanna in "Love the Way You Lie" (the songs are produced by the same producer), I can't stop listening to "Castle Walls"!

I Cried for You

Katie Melua - I Cried for You

A mesmerizing video.

Cosmic Love

I will be at her concerts in spirit.

Latest obsession: Florence + the Machine

Florence + the Machine - Blinding

Winners everywhere!

What a great week for some of my favorite artists. My last post was dedicated to Sofia Coppola, the winner of this year's Venice Film Festival's top prize--the Golden Lion--for her newest film Somewhere.

Last night, Lady Gaga won multiple MTV's Video Music Awards(almost every category she was nominated for) for her videos Bad Romance and Telephone. Yay for Eminem's wins as well. Before his latest album, Recovery, I did not like him for the most part. But I feel like he has emerged this year with more maturity and humanity (at least with the two singles released so far).

And lastly, The xx won UK's Mercury Prize beating 11 other nominees.

P.S. Lady Gaga's meaty dress has been done before. In 2002, contemporary Chinese artist, Zhang Huan, wore a meat suit in his performance art piece My New York. The idea was quite similar--post 9/11, Huan walked through the streets of NYC in a muscle/meat suit to symbolize the strength of New Yorkers.

Between the Bars

The best cover. So heartbreaking.

The xx

The xx has so many good songs that I had trouble deciding which song to post. But after knowing that Stars hasn't been released as a single (Crystalised, Basic Space, Islands, VCR have been released as singles), I think it's quite worth the recommendation.

Stars is slightly slower in beat than all the other singles and is perhaps the moodiest of all the songs in the album.

a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin

Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago isn't the latest hit album nor recently release. But, I just can't get over it. Released in 2008, the two best tracks in the album, For Emma, Forever Ago and Skinny Love, are just so perfect for play in a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin during the winter with lots of snow and a crackling fireplace (and hot chocolate and s'more and a warm blanket). Wouldn't you agree? =D





The cinematography as created by Vincent Moon for Le Blogotheque makes the whole thing even that much better.

The Greatest

The Greatest is featured in Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights that I reviewed before. When combined with the saturated scenes of MBN and the film's pace, The Greatest creates a synergy that has so much feel and mood.