NICKELBACK: "Photograph"

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

THE WOLF BANES: “As The Bottle Runs Dry”

Is the glass half empty or half full? is a common expression, used rhetorically, to indicate that a particular situation could be a cause for optimism (half full) or pessimism (half empty); or as a general test to simply determine if an individual is an optimist or a pessimist. The purpose of the question is to demonstrate that the situation may be seen in different ways depending on one's point of view and that there may be opportunity in the situation as well as trouble.

U2: "New Year's Day"

Happy Chinese New Year!

恭喜发财 (gōng xĭ fă cái)

MODERN TALKING: "Words Don't Come Easy"

Entre los labios y la voz, algo se va muriendo.
Algo con alas de pájaro, algo de angustia y de olvido.
Así como las redes no retienen el agua.
Muñeca mía, apenas quedan gotas temblando.
Sin embargo, algo canta entre estas palabras fugaces.
Algo canta, algo sube hasta mi ávida boca.

(extract from "Poema 13", Pablo Neruda)

PUSSYCAT DOLLS: "When I Grow Up"

Growing “up”? Of course! How to grown down?!

JOHNNY CASH: "Folsom Prison Blues"

Its days are counted. It’s holding on, but knows that soon it will be taken away. It looks out of place now, unfit with the landscape. The old track it was guarding is covered with a fresh tarmac layer, as if somebody found it too ugly to be exposed any longer. Very soon, no one will remember that ever there was a railway here, guiding carriages from somewhere to somewhere. I never saw any train passing by, though. Grass had gradually covered the sleepers; the steel rails had become as corroded as corroded can be in this ever-humid climate. Yet the tracks had always been there, like a silent witness of a long-forgotten past. The grey, old village fool who will only be missed on the moment he’s no longer around. A lonely train crossing light, patiently waiting for the inevitable.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING: "Superman"

"The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his action." (Confucius)

張惠妹 : 兩端 (A-Mei: Distant Love)

Beijing (China)

VILLAGE PEOPLE: "Give Me A Break"

…like a deck of cards, they give you another 365 days, and before you know, 20 of them have vanished already. There’s an incredible pace catching up on me, and words seem to be slower than my mind can carry their weight. There’s no time to predict the weather if tomorrow has passed before yesterday has ended. I sip from my vodka like a child drinks a lemonade.

There are clouds, there is earth and in between is us. The best way to climb a mountain is to go up in circles. Organize your life like a sequence of projects and it becomes bearable. The intangible becomes tangible; liquid becomes solid. Plans for the future grow like yeast in dough. Have patience: dreams are grapes ripening in the vineyard. Caress the twigs as gently as a lover would stroke a lover’s spine. Divine.

Open the brackets. Open the door. “I am busy” is in, “I am fine” is out. Close the door. Close the brackets. “How are you?”
Curtain down. New deal.
Reveal.
Unveil.
Sail.

Where are the shallow waters? Where can the exhausted swimmer stand, pause from peddling? Only in the past or the future can he escape from the current. We seek shelter in our memories, we seek refuge in our dreams. And what is a breakwater more than a misleading villain? Water can not be broken. How to get rid of it, ever? Give me a break.

BOYZONE: "No Matter What"

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

CARLA BRUNI: "Il Vecchio e Il Bambino"

If you would have known then, what you know now, then you would not have known now, what you didn't know then.

DADDY YANKEE: "Dale Caliente"

It’s funny how food plays a role in the feeling of coming home after a holiday. Eating a local dish is like part of a ritual to celebrate the return to one’s usual environment after spending some time away. Almost like a dog sniffing on a tree to mark his territory, I inhaled the smell of some good old hokkien mee at Newton and devoured it with all my senses. For the first time this year, I heard the “gong xi fa cai” tune on the background. Another new year’s celebration is coming up already.

NENA: "99 Luftballons"

"It is not the colour of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up." (Shiv Khera)

JOE COCKER: "You Can Leave Your Hat On"

Caught in the winter cold...

ENYA: "Waterfall"

滴水之恩当以涌泉相报 (dī shǔi zhī ēn dāng yǐ yǒng quán xiāng bào)

“A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring." Even if it was just a little help from others, you should return the favor with all you can when others are in need.