I Could Have It So Much Better

Alex performing in Alexandra Palace. What a perfect matching. This night was certainly unforgettable. Not because they were so cool but I was standing in the front row, in LONDON in FRANZ FERDINAND’s gig. It was nearly suicide. I admit.

I don’t know how I got to the front row. I was tiny (well, comparatively) and couldn’t control my body at all. Their performing was definitely brilliant! But most of the time I was thinking about surviving. (It was “Oh~ Gosh! Go away! Don’t! My Ribs~~ Ouch!!” instead of “Wow~ Yeah, Alex!”) The visual was great, and the media was amazing. You must see how many cameras in front of me shooting every bit of Alex and Nick. Alex looked fab on the stage. The whole show was temptating.

I was intending to write a neat article about this gig. However, my qualifying exam came, and now I an even busier than before the exam. Let me just show the pix. Most of them are blurry. The only one recoginisable was under a balance of pressure from everywhere. (Plus it was quite painful.)


This one is relatively clear, seriously. Well do you do you do you want to...


He looked nice in shirts.


So if you're lonely, You know I'm here waiting for you...
Yeah~~ It was Take Me Out!!
I say, "Don't you know?"
You say, "You don't know."
I say, "Take me out."
I filmed this one, truly a brilliant song in a live performance. The whole venue rocked.


Let me sing a song for you. He could be sensitive.
Surprisingly, they showed emotions. This was not what I expect but made thier play more interesting. It was like I saw different them.


Alright, this was the best one I've captured that nite. I caught the right moment and shot. It seemed peaceful on stage but I was fighting for living in the real life.


After the gig. Alexandra Palace is spacious. There were one screen in the middle plus two at both sides of the stage.

See the setlist and the live report here at NME news.

Queen也不開心了

Under都回家了，空蕩蕩的LMH library，大大的沒有超過五個人。在week 9要考試的人，好像只有我。圖書館很安靜，很溫暖，很舒服。但是我突然好想念自習室那種悶悶的，擁擠也鬧哄哄，很多共筆堆疊在桌上，半夜三點還是很多人在唸書的空間。筆記有缺的就走到附近的桌子去借，大家做的筆記一定都比我的好；吃完飯聊個天再繼續唸。看著我自己在上課聽老師不知所云所做的破碎字體，感覺好寂寞喔。然後，誰來阻止我當好人的欲望，還有用好奇心殺死自己的習慣，我要簡單的生活。在台灣覺得寂寞其實不孤單，在這邊覺得被包圍其實才無助。

應該完了，是祝我幸福。不知道為什麼，今天特別動人。

Trip at Cam

嗯嗯，吃完North parade 買回來的 baguette，感覺非常滿足，可以寫一下遊記。North Parade Ave.，是這附近我很喜歡的小巷。遊記是關於~ Cambridge的同學邀請我們去玩。昨天和同學會的成員一起到Cambridge玩了一天。以前來的時候，根本搞不清楚學院制到底是怎麼一回事，對這間學校特殊的傳統了解的也不多。我只記得我有在King's College參觀，還有punting，與River Cam。這一次來玩，心情是完全地不同了，很奇妙的只有我自己才能懂得的轉變。

今天很冷霧氣很重，但是陽光充足。早上七點多我就爬起來，路上的景觀和前幾天一樣，到處都結了霜， leafy Norham Gardens，地上的落葉閃耀著冰晶的光澤，路邊的車都覆蓋上一層白霜，依然是非常寧靜。我匆匆快步走，想要趕上集合時間。我每天都想要把最近美到可以擊倒人的景色拍下來，但是天氣冷就愛賴床，我總是再最後一秒才出門，希望我總有一天可以拍下整片大草地都雪白的 University Park 給大家看。

到了Gloucester Green，我們的巴士站，看到大家冷得冒煙在等待出發，感覺真像小時候的遠足好好玩。到了Cambridge，馬上就感覺到不同。Cambridge是一個比較開放參觀，鄉村風格的城鎮。Oxford大部分的學院不太歡迎觀光客，有的學院還要收錢，進任何地方都要密碼或是刷電子鎖。連 University Park 都是晚上會鎖起來。相較之下，Cam比較開放一點，尤其是三大學院，King's, Trinity and St. John's，裡面的觀光客多到不像話。Cam也沒有什麼柏油路，都是小小的鋪石磚路的巷子。汽車很少，行人步調也都慢慢地。是一個漂亮的鄉村的感覺。

Cambridge的同學帶我們參觀了有名的三個學院，會長兼當導遊，非常專業的介紹歷史。因為我在這邊已經聽習慣了，所以再多聽一些Cam的東西，並不會感到overwhelming，但是一般人聽頭應該是會昏昏的。在King's 我很驚訝地發現以前我去過的地方，拍過照的地點，我都還記得。三個學院都很漂亮，很大，很壯觀。不過這樣太豪華了，我好想看看真正的Cambridge，學生們真正生活的地方，那剩下的二十幾個學院是什麼樣子呢? 他們的Dining Hall是什麼樣子呢? 我在回來的路上邊整理心思才感覺到。

不過我有看到John's的MCR，我們在那邊休息了一會，喝了下午茶。他們叫它SBR，應該也是為了紀念某個人。不過我私心以為，那個SBR好像也很普通 XP，我相信依照我們的John's 豪奢的風格，MCR應該是比他們厲害很多。兩間學校有很多地方都平行地很相像，不過因為我對Oxford已經有了歸屬感，這邊的景色感覺就是比較立體。我對Oxford有美麗的bias。而且我們有以 Bodleian 為首的一百多個圖書館唷。我知道口說無憑，所以我會找一天偽裝成觀光客在Oxford 做市區觀光地。今天我和同學們都在反省，我們早就該在Oxford拍下比今天更多更精采的照片才對，今天的小旅行喚起了我們的觀光魂，哈哈。

回到Oxford都已經晚上十點了，當車子開到熟悉的 Banbury Rd. ，大家都好開心。還是這邊好阿，這裡才是生活的地方，路上好熱鬧，去 clubbing 學生把市區的氣氛弄得轟隆隆。回到學院附近的高級住宅區，房子還是一樣漂亮，寧靜的夜晚突顯出我每一個腳步，回到房間的時候忍不住要說一聲たたいまー。

Sigur Rósing

Sigur Rós, the one that I anticipated most. Their gig is my favourite this year. They are real geniuses. Their music is amazingly beautiful.

When listen hard to their music, I can feel my heart bumping irregularly, blood rushing in the vessels and my mind wondering in a neverland. When turning down the volume, however, it becomes a perfect BGM. What eles can you ask for? It was cold that night. Like last Sat. I took the bus to Victoria Station again and then the tube straight to Birxton. The venue for tonight is another Carling--Carling Academy Brixton, claimed to be the "Best Live Venue" by NME.

Before I came, there were several friends including British or American, asking bands I am going to see. White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand were OK, they are quite famous obviously. Sigur Rós, in the other way, always got blank faces after I uttered the name. It was like: who are they? is it a British band? No, they are Icelanders. And then speechless... huh. But I knew this gig was going to be great.

There was, as usual, Amina before the major start of Sigur Rós. Their musik is crystal clear, made by sources you couldn't imagine. The sounds are hypnotic and cold, they are also part of the performance of Sigur Rós. Unlike the White Stripes ones, nearly everyone listen to their music. Maybe because their similarity to Sigur Rós and their good quality of music. I quite like them, but when the first sound come from Sigur Rós on the stage, I was spellbound. Suddenly I realised how good they are.

Sometimes their songs were all alike but still they elicited different feelings. Sometimes I felt welcomed, and sometimes nostalgia. I felt like flying and also I felt like dreaming. Everytime the drum started to beat strongly, my heart beats stonger. I stopped to talk with my friend, and forgot to blink my eyes nor change my gesture. I was entralled.

It is hard to delineate their performance as well as their sounds. It was like magic, capturing whole your mind. Some said this gig was more like a classical concert than a rock gig or they were like postmodern classic (what's that?). I would say they are not even bothered with those broad classifications.

The setlist was arranged to give us a journey-like feeling. It was: intro, glosolio, ny batteri, se lest, saeglopur, njosnavelin, gong, andvari, hoppipolla, med blodnasir, olsen olsen, vidrar vel, svo hjlott, heysatan / hafssol, smaskifa / popplagid. (from their website, wrote by jón þór birgisson I think. I cant recall all of them XP) It started with the introductory tracks, intro and glósóli, from the takk... album. Then gave us a mixed taste of ágætis byrjun, ( ), and takk.... It ended up with the epic

popplagið which was my favorite at the unforgettable nite. The stage was designed rather simple--only lights and white backdrop. Images projected were enigmatic but there was mysteriously close correspondence between the visual and the acoustic. The twinkling stars, the unsettled birds, and flickering images from their vids combined with the lucid vocal, guitar, bass, xylophone, violin, piano and drums... Oh it's overwhelming. I've filmed popplagið. Everytime I watch it, it still takes my breath away.

































The venue, Acedemy Brixton. The words on the white semi-circle were "SIGUR ROS" and "SOLD OUT". Most of the people waited outside in the small lane (your right hand side of this pic). It was a cold cold night. We did jumping, waving and running continually to keep warm. You can see more pix of this venue on their wibsite. The interior of the auditorium is worth seeing. It's like a Roman garden and there's even simulated moonlight. It's more like a setting for plays such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or something like that.

Seven Nation Army

還在台灣的時候，就訂了White Stripes的票。當時我不知道我隔天會有一篇 Essay 要交，也不知道我過去這一週會有多累人。所以我就在雨中從家裡走近半小時到車站，坐上 Oxford Express，包包裡還有paper，好像沒有什麼力氣去品嚐我去倫敦看的第一場gig。

倫敦嘛，不就是我四年前住過的那一個城市。但是當車子進入central London，我看到黑夜中的這個城突然百感交集。以前我來的時候總是白天到十一點，現在五點就天黑了。雨夜中人潮熙來攘往，而且他們的H&M好大間，真是個大城市阿...，我心中很鄉巴佬地這樣想著。原來我住了一個多月的城市，還真的是很小，哈。

今天表演的場地是在Carling Apollo Hammersmith，據朋友的藝術家德國人室友說，Hammersmith是 Carling 系列最大的一個場地。我很悠閒地七點才到表演場地，因為Doors open at 7，但是這一場整個就是一直Delay。混亂地經過一個很像大學生出來亂表演的小暖場團，只有鼓手兼主唱有認真在表演，一點點像Mike Skinner風格的東西。然後是比較專業的團體，有一點點 Nirvana 的味道，可是大家在他們表演完給的熱烈掌聲實在很像是在歡迎 White Stripes 出來。

然後到了晚上九點多，他們終於登場。很奇妙的感覺，Jack & Meg 竟然已經變成這麼有知名度的團體了。這點可以從黃牛的人數，票的定價，周邊的昂貴程度，還有讓我們等待的時間來斷定他們已經是有一點了不起的大牌了。我一直都很喜歡 Meg 篤定的鼓聲，也很喜歡她唱歌。Jack 歇斯底里的歌聲在某些時候也很悅耳。今天的表演不只涵蓋了Get Behind Me Satan，也有一半是來自於 White Blood Cell，Elephant 等等的經典曲目。我對他們的感情並不算很深，但是Jack&Meg 兩人表演契合的程度很讓人驚艷。不論是鼓聲，鋼琴，木琴，鈴鼓或是人聲，兩方發出的聲音，總是像在同一個頻率上，連強度都一樣地合鳴著，聽起來像是只有一個腦袋在演奏。現場只有Jack在帶領演奏的氣氛，Meg就像是他的洋娃娃一樣被牽進來表演。今天Jack White改名為Three Quid，沒有/不知道為什麼；不過他依然稱呼 Meg 為 my sister，在 In The Cold Cold Night，也靠到 Meg 身上去，雖然我覺得今天 Meg 不太想理他。

我實在是很喜歡 Meg 的表演，她坐得昂首挺胸演奏出磅礡的鼓聲，但是人卻是很自得其樂地微笑，扭腰，放鬆，彷彿無視於台下數幾千人的存在。好笑的是，每當 Meg 有 solo 的動作出現，或是唱她的那兩首 Passive Manipulation，In The Cold Cold Night 的時候，台下都會有一陣低頻的男人喝彩聲，她在台上的確是很迷人。我一直都在等待 Seven Nation Army。在這首歌出來之前，My Doorbell，Blue Orchid，The Danial Twist 等最近受歡迎曲目，還有像是 Fall In Love With A Girl，眾人合唱的 I Just Dont Know What To Do With Myself，都還不錯。只是現場買啤酒進進出出的人實在是很多，除了Stall Standing 前幾排有比較開心之外，很多人感覺都亂冷靜的，直到倒數第二首歌。前奏一出來，那著名的 Seven Nation Army 喚醒了眾人的知覺。原來 Londoner 喜歡這首歌的程度是和我一樣的。開心。

一些花絮。NME說 Led Zeppelin 的吉他手 Jimmy Page 有出現在今天的會場! 不知道他的用意是什麼，媒體好像覺得他應該是來搶風采的?! (要是這樣的話，他應該沒有成功) 因為Jack White 常常被拿來跟他比較。我對 Led Zeppelin 一點也不熟，當天也沒有看到 Jimmy Page，不過這個新聞還是蠻有趣的。會後出了Carling Apollo Hammersmith，有很多穿著紅袍的工讀生在發空白CD，用來讓我們Download 今天還有之後幾場在Alexandra Palace，Blackpool，Glasgow，Manchester 所表演的 The Denial Twist。很會賺錢。

今天的曲目很短，不到兩個小時，也許只有一個半小時吧 (真是騙錢! )，在冷冷的夜裡我腦中響著My Doorbell 不斷重複的旋律，兩點回到家，繼續寫 Essay。





我當天很悔恨地沒有帶到相機，只好用很爛的手機拍一下。這是排隊要入場的人潮，上面白色那發光的物體，理論上是寫WHITE STRIPES。排隊的人潮非常地多，繞到了旁邊的巷子，還有隔一條街的商家。但是坐在劃位區的人，到了九點多開始表演了才來的也是很多。





手機拍起來感覺好遠阿。。。依稀中可以看到Jack White，他在舞台的中間偏右邊彈吉他中。Meg後方有一個很大的聚光燈發射，所以完全看不到她。。。嗚。。。





這就是表演結束之後會場外發的免費空白片，正面一樣是白紅黑三色，背面是各地演唱的時間。當然還有讓你花錢DL的說明。

Firework

我怒了，為什麼又是這樣。外面現在在放煙火，非常大聲，我可以聽到火花掉下來的聲音。超級熱鬧。感覺很HIGH。聽同學說是wolfson college的煙火節，幾百年前大概有個爛國王死掉，在慶祝。什麼東西??

大學時期也是這樣，每次聖誕節，新年，外面都在放煙火，辦晚會，但是我們總是隔天要考試。我印象最深的是有一次聖誕夜在念解剖，我晚上才開始看，正要衝的時候，外面開始唱歌辦晚會，大聲到不可思議。好呀，我習慣了，反正每次都這樣。

What I Did

I've got to say something.

In my past two weeks many things happened. Two drafts have been written down but I can never find a time to edit them. I guess I will just leave them and never go back. Here is briefly what I did in the past week.

<Monday> 31/10. It was Halloween. It's huge in the states but not here. Oxford does not obsess about Halloween. However, we do have some activities for that, some normal ones, not like the parades in the states. Several Halloween bops were held. I've been one at St. Cross last Sat. In LMH, we had a murder mystery dessert party on Monday night. We played our own role and tried to discover who the murder was. The setting was late 19th century and I was Queen Victorian's lady-in-waiting. Everybody had to dress up for that.

<Tuesday> I had a wirte-up due this day. I wrote more than 2000 words in this one plus some graphs and excel charts. This one is all about pharmacokinetics and statistics. Full of math but I'm ok with this level of statistics.

<Wednesday> I had my second tutorial with my mentor. She said my second essay was much better than my first one. Hence I was so happy for the rest of the day.

<Thursday> There was formal dinner in St. Anne. The weather was getting cold but I insisted wearing a skirt. Heh. St. Anne is a modern one, like a vacation resort. Their in-campus accommodation looks like a hotel room, with balcony!

<Friday> Another write-up due this day. I started on it from 9am and hand it in at 4pm. 1800 words. Then rushed to high street to buy a cheap jumper. It was freezing! I went to St. Cat for another guest dinner. Cat is very different from LMH. Security here is strict and even getting out you need a fob (some kind of electronic key). But I can enter nearly everywhere in Cat without a password or key. I had a nice and long talk with a medic called Sally. Cats people are lovely.

<Saturday> It is just beginning now. I need to finish my another essay today then I can go to see White Stripes tomorrow in London. I was almost regret booking that ticket because I was exausted this week. I want to sleep I want to eat I want to listen to music I want to hang out with friends without worrying about my essaies. I want sunshine.

I've heard that it was 31 degrees in TW yesterday. Don't you really!!? It's 5°C here. I need some more clothes, seriously. Got to go back to work now. Take care~

How people dressed in the murder mystery party. We had finished the murder mystery when taking the photo.The background is our old libery, now used for gala night things I think.