Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth, V.v.19-28 (Macbeth)

Suzanne Vega's Concert

I already shared the fact that Fabchannel is a great platform and that I wish it'd be mine. I will share my favourite concerts here once in a while.

Suzanne Vega, Paradiso, Holland, 22 October 2007

A few of my favourite songs are there:
Caramel (it won't do to think of Caramel... I sing this all the time)
In Liverpool
Queen and the Soldier

and some nice songs from the new album.

September 2007 Mix

Funny how British this one is... Spot the outliers!?
Let me know if you want one!

1. Annie Lennox: Dark Road
2. The Coral: Put The Sun Back
3. The Bravery: Tragedy Bound
4. The Zutons: You've Got A Friend In Me
5. Rufus Wainwright: Going To A Town
6. Patti Smith: Changing Of The Guards
7. Tracey Thorn: A-Z
8. AaRON: Endless Song
9. Babyshambles: Delivery
10. The Tellers: Hugo
11. Kate Nash: Merry Happy
12. Turin Brakes: Real Life
13. Fooling April: Pretending
14. Hard-Fi: We Need Love
15. The Arcade Fire: Intervention
16. Josh Woodward: I'll Be Right Behind You, Josephine
17. Julie Collings: Simple Things
18. Raphelson: Temple Street
19. Handsome Furs: What We Had
20. The Innocence Mission: Happy Birthday

Vivants Photo Exhibition - Virtual Visit

Went to see the most amazing nature photography exhibition in Geneva last week called "Vivants".

A project from Yann Arthus Bertrand, Vivants captures wildlife in the most amazing settings and with incredible vividness. As for the "Earth from Above" exhibition, some disturbing facts were displayed under each picture, creating each time a contrast between beauty and horrow to make you pause and reflect.

Check the pics and the facts in the virtual gallery:

Night at the Museum

Last Monday, I went to the most unusual concert ever. Polar was playing in the Arctic Fauna section of the Geneva Museum of Natural History. If you don't know him yet, I would encourage you to check his music.

Check the pictures, you might even see me ...

Annie Lennox is back - Watch the "Dark Road" video

Are you bored or avoiding things you have to do?

I have the perfect antidote for you: check the Wikipedia Random Page Generator.

OK, you could also read this blog in full (maybe not as exciting), or check out some exciting TV series.

On my cool list:
- Re-Genesis
- Heroes
- Dexter
- House MD

Oh, you could also get my new mix...

Mix June 2007

1. Belleruche: Northern Girls
2. Money Mark: Pick Up The Pieces
3. Shannon Wright: Everybody's Got Their Own Part To Play
4. The Shins: Phantom Limb
5. Anna Ternheim: Today Is A Good Day
6. Thief: Atlantic
7. Pearl Jam: Man of the Hour
8. Kaiser Chiefs: Retirement
9. Arctic Monkeys: Fluorescent Adolescent
10. CocoRosie: Rainbowarriors
11. Amy Winehouse: You Know I'm No Good
12. Grant-Lee Phillips: Fountain Of Youth
13. Travis: Closer
14. Carla Bruni: Those Dancing Days Are Gone
15. The Good, The Bad & The Queen: Northern Whale
16. Suzanne Vega: Zephyr & I
17. Modest Mouse: Missed The Boat
18. Ryan Adams: Two
19. Josh Rouse: Domesticated Lovers
20. Pink Martini: Hey Eugene!

City Year - Inspiring!

The meeting in Cape Town finished last week. I am back home and only slowly finding my marks again.

One thing stood out in South Africa this time and provided inspiration: The City Year's volunteers who came to be part of our team.

Young South Africans (aged 18 to 25), all from different ethnic and social backgrounds, worked side by side with us and brought a breath of fresh air into our team. Their enthusiasm, motivation, candidness and sheer youth provided great inspiration to us and great service to our participants.

On the last day, we asked for their feedback and they were upfront and honest about what they enjoyed and what they did not. Among other things, they thought our team was not relaxed enough with them (we are getting old?!) and they would have wanted to know more about the end goal of their assignments. I must say, it was refreshing to hear such direct comments!

Called "Service Leaders", their engagement with City Year will last a full year. They are involved in education projects year-round, each with a responsibility to bring a better future for kids in the Johannesburg's area.

Admission into the City Year volunteer programme follows a drastic selection process and I believe the selected youths see their engagement as a privilege to serve their country. This class will graduate in November with so many dreams, added experience and the legitimate idea that they can achieve so much. Now that's something we all would like to feel again!

The Weather: Geneva vs Cape Town

Looks like Cape Town won't be such a bad place to be this week, at least compared to Geneva. Things are gearing up here...

Cape Town Update in Pictures

As promised, here's a little update in pictures. This is the hotel lobby area, very nice and modern setting. Check out the next pic and try to find Nemo ...



This is the beautiful congress centre we are working in.

Amazing monumental scenes (these won't fit in my living room...)

This is a funny sculpture. Somehow, I decided to call it "Zebra Crossing", fitting no?

And finally... We never go without food (or drink for that matter) at this meeting. Lost in the docks area of Cape Town, Panama's Jack is the place where we had dinner last night. Seafood platter with spiny lobster, calamari, shrimps, fish, mussels. Yum!

A concert with Johnny Clegg ... Who?

My next report from Cape Town. Tonight Johnny Clegg is giving a concert in the location where we are working (the big Congress Centre). We have been given 20 tickets and I am organizing a lottery as we have more people than tickets.

So my first step is to get people to tell me if they are interested in playing the lottery. That's when it becomes interesting...

Typical dialogue reproduced below:

- Hey, do you want to take part in the lottery for the Johnny Clegg concert tonight?
- Who?
- You don't know Johnny Clegg?
- Euh...
- Johnny Clegg, a.k.a. the "White Zulu", South African World Music guy, famous for putting together a mixed-race band while Apartheid was still existing.
- Sorry, no idea what you are talking about

My colleagues are either too young to know the guy or have no music culture. I wonder which ...

Maybe we'll end up with more tickets than people! Watch this space!

PS: You don't know either who Johnny Clegg is... check this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Clegg

Safe Landing in Cape Town

I am in Cape Town since this morning. For once, I managed to sleep the night on the plane. OK ... with a little chemical help and a completely horizontal seat, so I have little pride... The steward has some problems waking me up at 4.00 (!!!) for breakfast. I hope I wasn't too gruff with him.

The hotel lobby area has a wonderful tropical aquarium and the decor is really cool. Watch this space for pictures! My room is OK but nothing to write home about. Enough space for sleeping and internet access. Honestly that's all I need!

Weather wise, it's typical Autumn weather: rain, temperatures around 10 C. Oh well!

Off for a quick kip before going to the office. More news soon!

The Best Song I Have Heard in a Long Time + New "Old" Mix

Finally found a little time to explore new music again (it'd been a very long time...). And I discovered a gem tonight: Northern Girls by Belleruche. Wow!

Check out the promo video or visit their MySpace page where 4 tracks are posted.

Way cool!

Oh and below the new "old" mix:

Mix January 2007

1. Lady Sovereign: 9 to 5
2. Mika: Stuck In The Middle
3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: I'm In Love With You
4. Jarvis Cocker: Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
5. Little Barrie: Green Eyed Fool
6. The Fray: How to Save a Life
7. Badly Drawn Boy: Journey From A To B
8. Bertrand Betsch: Les vents contraires
9. Beirut: Postcards From Italy
10. Peter Von Poehl: The Story Of The Impossible
11. Lodger: I Love Death
12. Just Jack: I Talk Too Much
13. Thief: Atlantic
14. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Love Song no. 7
15. Cocoon: Tell Me
16. The Magic Numbers: Most Of The Time
17. Herman Dune: I Wish That I Could See You Soon
18. Andrew Bird: Heretics
19. The Deadly Syndrome: The Ship That Shot its Selef
20. Little: Chanson de filles

Bug Me Not (not the name of a flower...)

Peter introduced me to this cool site. BugMeNot allows you to find (and share) access information for numerous sites that require registration. By using BugMeNot, you can bypass compulsory registration and thus not have to release your personal details.

To boot, you can also create a disposable e-mail address on this site. This will allow you to register with a valid e-mail address without giving your real one. Nifty!

This saved my life today!

You must watch this. It is a real life saver on a stressful day!

'Altruistic' brain region found

An interesting article in the news today: 'Altruistic' brain region found

"... Scientists say they have found the part of the brain that predicts whether a person will be selfish or an altruist...."

> more

108 e-mails to answer (for work...)

D Day - 3 here at the office.

The Forum's general inquiries mailbox -- which I am handling just for a few days -- had 108 unread mails this morning... Just finished handling all of them. Pfff.

One of the e-mails asked an interesting question:
Is extreme human intelligence a cause of discrimination and social rejection today?
I would be curious to have your take on that!

The guy who sent that questions had a very cool website referenced in his e-mail
http://www.pandora.com/

Created by the Music Genome Project, it will suggest things to listen to based on an artist or a song that you like. Try it!

New Music Mixes ... At Last!

I finally put together a few mixes (three). Even tho' they are labelled "November 2006", they feature stuff from Summer onwards really.

November 2006 – volume 1

1. Michael Stipe: In the Sun (JAW Breakers Remix)
2. Justine Electra: Killalady
3. Gnarls Barkley: Gone Daddy Gone
4. The Long Blondes: Weekend Without Make Up
5. The Zutons: Why Don't You Give Me Your Love?
6. Paolo Nutini: Loving You
7. Asleep: I Lost You
8. Water Lily: Time To Go
9. Hemlock Smith: F = 0
10. Razorlight: In the morning
11. I'm From Barcelona: We're From Barcelona
12. Lily Allen: Alfie
13. Josh Rouse: Quiet Town
14. Vincent Delerm: Sous Les Avalanches
15. Ane Brun: Song No. 10 [Ron Sexsmith]
16. Smart Brown Handbag: Harry Larry
17. Ed Harcourt: Visit From The Dead Dog
18. An Pierlé: Jupiter
19. Jose González: Heartbeats

November 2006 – volume 2

1. The Servant: How To Destroy A Relationship
2. The Rapture: Get Myself Into It
3. Voicst: Whatever You Want From Life
4. The Pipettes: Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me
5. The Killers: When You Were Young
6. Pete Yorn: For Us
7. Charlotte Gainsbourg: The Songs That We Sing
8. Sandi Thom: I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)
9. Keane: Nothing In My Way
10. Eskobar: The Art Of Letting Go
11. Ani Di Franco: 78% H20
12. The Isles: Eve Of The Battle
13. Muse: Starlight
14. Aberdeen City: God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me
15. Junior Boys: In The Morning
16. Jude: All I Want
17. Piers Faccini: If I
18. Martha Wainwright: The Maker
19. Polar: Le Cri

November 2006 – volume 3

1. The Kooks: Jackie Big Tits
2. The Killers: Bling (Confession Of A King)
3. Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars
4. Babyshambles: The Blinding
5. The Majestic Twelve: Condoleezza, Check My Posse
6. The Divine Comedy: Diva Lady
7. Muse: Starlight
8. cirKus: Your Such An...
9. The Blow: Fists Up
10. The Morning After: Sunrise
11. Regina Spektor: Fidelity
12. Citizen Cope: Back Together
13. Scissor Sisters: Ooh
14. Hot Chip: And I Was A Boy From School
15. CSS: Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
16. The Raconteurs: Together
17. Albert Hammond Jr: Scared
18. John Mayer: Waiting On The World To Change
19. Emilie Simon: Fleur de Saison
20. Cat Power: Could We