skullblog is the work of kalavinka, a californian with roots on both sides of the pacific. see more.
July 2008
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Another "project" of mine is to minimize my life and I'm starting off by selling (and a few trades) most of my music collection. For now I am only listing about 200 pieces at a time, otherwise it becomes too much to deal with. If you do not see what you are looking for, then email me which band you are interested in and I'll see if I have what you're looking for. half.com, ebay, amazon.com, lala.com

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no geta for me [screaming]

i have always wanted a pair of geta of my very own, you know, those wooden japanese sandals. there were a couple pair at my grandmother's house in japan and when i lived there i would wear them for walking to the corner store and short walks like that. i bought my own pair on sunday and wore them for the past few days after work. i'm sad to report that they have already broken! i was looking forward to wearing them at various japanese-american events (i need to get a yukata for summer) but i'm not sure if i want to get another cheap pair that will just break again all too soon.

geta.jpg
getas come and getas go

cool laptop [geeking]

over the weekend i bought something for my laptop that has been on my list of things to get ever since i bought my laptop 4 years ago. it's the belkin laptop cooling pad and boy does it do wonders. it's a little laptop stand with a fan underneath powered by usb. you just set your laptop on top and plug in the usb fan. then it keeps your laptop (and your lap!) much cooler than if you were to not use it. i can't tell you how many times i have burned my thighs or become really irritated from all the heat my laptop generates. now i can sit there cool, calm, and collected instead of being a raving bitch. my entire online persona might completely change thanks to this purchase! .... or maybe not.

la soledad para siempre [thinking]

i was going to post something along these lines a couple days ago but now i think it's completely true. in the past year or so i've noticed that all my friends (with the exception of perhaps one) have done one of the following (if not more): got engaged, got married, had a kid, bought a house, and that kind of "grown up" activity... things against my code of life. (i used to say that if my friends got married or had a kid i would stop talking to them but it only happened with one because we never really had that much in common to begin with.) so it seems that that old cliche of getting older has hit me now. that "everyone but me" thing... truly youth has left me now and there's no going back. in some ways it makes me want to completely shrug off this old life for a new one but the new one will be the same because no matter where i go, everyone my age will be in the same position. they are shacking up and settling down. i don't know how long i can live by the ideals i set for myself as a teenager; as a young adult they were altered a bit though still on the same trajectory. i guess i just have to along with the changing tide of life and learn to adjust or drown in it.

june netflixes [watching]

this month i didn't watch too many movies from netflix. i guess that shows how busy i've been after work and on the weekends although i can't really point out all the reasons why i was occupied with stuff other than netflix! anyway, here's my monthly summary.

cat people / the curse of the cat people - after reading "kiss of the spider woman" by manuel puig, i wanted to watch "cat people" because it's described in the book. did i even blog about reading this book? no, i didn't. anyway, so to prepare for my south america trip i wanted to read famous authors from each country so i would know something about their literary heritage. my local library however isn't so keen on south american authors. i checked out more than i could read of course. the other book i read was by another argentine author, "shadows" by osvaldo soriano. they were both ok, just light-hearted stuff even though they deal with bigger issues. as for the "cat people" movie, well of course i saw the 80s remake but i don't think i had seen the 40s original. the sequel, forget about it. don't waste your time. the original though, it's worth it if you are into that sort of thing just to say you've seen it.

saudade do futuro - shake your forro! as a documentary, this isn't the greatest. but as a document of nordestinos in são paulo and showing the music as gorgeous, this film is a definite winner. i had a forro cd before and i didn't like it. it was called "music for maids and taxi drivers" and i really didn't understand why even though it explained it in the liner notes. watching this film, it really puts it together for me. the music was incredible. the dancing was intense due to the quick tempo at which they shake their butts. i don't know how they do it. they must be part rabbit down there.

tetsuo: the iron man - utter crap. so this is the kind of shit gaijin like. goddamn.

4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days - romanian abortion. this is a really good movie if you can get into it. in fact, i shouldn't even have mentioned romanian abortion. just watch it and let the characters develop.

rififi - amazing jewel heist that will wow you. seriously, i'm slapping myself over how is it that i've never seen this before. how could i have taken so many film classes and never seen this movie!??!!?

frances - lobotomy! i wanted to learn about frances farmer, especially after the nirvana song, so there i went and watched this movie and read online the differences between her life and the film. it's a bit long and drawn out but not so bad.

slammed - sports bloopers, ow! i was watching a different netflix disc and this was in the previews and it was so freakin' intense that i immediately added it to my queue and put it at the very top because damn, this is just intense! to watch surfers, skaters, snowboarders, bmx and those type of guys go for the tricks and make it is amazing but when they mess up you feel their pain. watch it and get slammed.

orwell rolls in his grave - honestly, this was so ho-hum that i don't remember it to write about it. i think i just felt it's stuff we may already know or new things entirely but told in an uninteresting way that it brings down the level of enjoyment and usefulness.

malice - this is a kinda cheesy baldwin/kidman movie that you should only bother with if you're at home and bored and it comes on tv.

restyle your life [living]

i'm kind of a natural high of being excited over my workspace. i rearranged my setup at work by just a little bit and finally got rid of boxes that had been cluttering my space ever since we got moved around. i have seen some photos of clean cubicles online and it inspired me to make my own space nicer. now i'm excited about decorating my work space as i've never ever done that before. i always say i'll bring in pictures but if anything has ever decorated my desk it's been the trinkets that co-workers bring me from their vacations.

that natural high of excitement over my workspace was brought home to my living space. i feel really excited and motivated to get this place in order. i had been in the winter doldrums due to it being winter (i know it doesn't snow but cold/dark can still bring you down) and the whole getting laid off thing and new job with a lot of red tape gets you down too. i've been unorganized for too long and i'm ready to do something about it. it's gonna take time. i keep saying i'm going to do this but finally i really feel it.

one thing that i had been putting off was cleaning my car which i did today inside and out so that feels great. however, today you could say either was a minor setback or the first project got started. it's not a project that was on the front of my list but rather the back. i started going through my old photos and i was really surprised at some of the ones i found. i started scanning the ones of my dad and our family when i was little. i was shocked that there was a picture of all of us, our little family unit together. even my mother was shocked that such a picture exists. we didn't think one did at all. i'll probably put these in an album or back how they were so i don't get too distracted and move on to some bigger projects that will be much bigger visual impact on my living space. i have managed in the past month to clear off a shelf of dvds by selling them so i'm proud of that. it's a small shelf but still an accomplishment. i need to tackle now bigger chunks of my living room and bedroom.

nylon summer music tour [listening]

last night we went to see she wants revenge. there were 3 opening bands: the switches, the virgins, be your own pet. it was under the banner of "nylon summer music tour" and it was at the wiltern. it's the first time i wore zouri/chanclas/flip-flops to a concert and i'll never do it again. i was so tired standing there that after the first opening band, i went upstairs to sit down through the next two bands before heading back to the main floor to watch she wants revenge. and even as i was standing there for the main act, i kept fantasizing of going back to the seats!

what was good about the show was that the band played some different songs that what we have been seeing. they even opened up with a different song. what was bad is that i still have issues with the singer live. he just can't pull off certain notes and should really stop trying. when he tries to sing them, his voice becomes super nasally and it's like listening to someone with a cold who can't sing. it's very simple, catchy music, but i like it a lot in the car or on headphones. i was disappointed with my shitberry as a camera phone because everything was too blurry so i deleted it. i thought getting 1 more megapixel would have been better but we were just too far away from the stage i think.

setlist:
sister
red flags, long nights
these things
what i want
broken promises for broken hearts
save your soul
someone must get hurt
sleep
this is the end
true romance
disconnect (the song that splits the show like an encore)
a hundred kisses
she loves me, she loves me not
written in blood
out of control
tear you apart