BEYONCE KNOWLES: "Irreplaceable"

there’s room in many places
and angles to look at,
faces
fading
a late afternoon sun,
dark thoughts on the run
and where you just gazed left before
nothing is left anymore

ENYA: "Relaxation"

The beauty of yoga, to me, is its simplicity. It’s the awareness of a person of his body, it’s the connection of man with himself. Finding what we lost. No game, no opponent, there is only yourself. No line that a ball should not cross, only the borders of your own body are the limits. No goals to score, no points to count. No field, no swimming pool, no track. Just a few square meters and some oxygen to breath. No weights that must be lifted, except for the invisible one of gravity. The only fight is the one with your own shadow. There are no rules, only restrictions imposed by yourself. A body, on its own. Strength and grace. Balance and control.

MARIAH CAREY: "Touch My Body"

Mens sana in corpore sana.

THE BANGLES: "Walk Like An Egyptian"

MADONNA: "Express Yourself"

You first anxiously try to figure out what you want to do with your life. Only later you find out that life actually decides what it's doing with you. In your twenties, you want to impress. In your thirties, you dare to express.

ABBA: "I Have A Dream"

Once drunk we know wine’s strength
Once smitten we know love’s weight
You can not write my poems
Just as I can not dream your dreams.

(translated extract of "Dreams and Poetry" by 胡适 - Hú Shì)

DEEP BLUE SOMETHING: "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

- Wow, nice watch you are wearing...
- Tiffany's.
- Gosh, it's not yours, you stole it?!

AXELLE RED: "Je t'Attends"

Tous ces gens qui passent autour de moi
Dans la ville
Ces gens qui courent et qui marchent au pas
Où vont-ils?
Est-ce le vent qui les pousse
Vers d'invisibles rêves?
Que voient-ils au bout de leur course
Quand le brouillard se lève?

NINA SKY Ft. PITBULL & SHAWNA: "Turning Me On"

I believe we all have an art in life, our own refuge, a skill we treasure, a place to come home. From sports to music, craft to knowledge, dance to chess. There's something that inspires us, that empowers us. There's something each of us is good at. Through what you really like to do, shines the real you...

LEONARD COHEN: "Be For Real"

“You have expensive watches, we have time”, the African guide said. I put the article away. Wisdom is scattered around the globe and from very young onwards I came to realize already that crossing borders actually removes them. It must be no coincidence that the term global view exists. Traveling opens your eyes and makes you a different person.

Of course, being able to travel is a privilege in itself. The money you need to buy a plane ticket can feed many mouths in the city it brings you to. A camera captures faces of people who earn less a year than the camera costs. After a day of dust and dirt, we wash our guilt and compassion away in four-star hotels, while seventy year old women sweat on the rice fields outside. There is a flipside on every coin, and god knows a coin can make a difference.

I think you should just not be hypocritical about it. Be for real, be humble. Consider yourself privileged, and act accordingly.

I remember a couple backpackers in Nepal, boasting about how they had been trekking for a few months already, trying very hard to impress and appear as “real” backpackers (whatever that may mean). So of course, they “slept in 5 USD per night rooms”, they “always ate local food” (more local than the locals probably), and they were proud that they “had sit on the roof of the bus when traveling to this remote village”. The guy had caught so much wind up there that he is probably still unable to comb through his long hair until today. He wore the typical backpacker’s clothes that seem to be a necessary yet ridiculous uniform to be accepted among peers. In Nepal in particular, where apart from the Himalaya mountains in the north most of the country is just as flat like a billiard table, it seemed to be a fashion trend to promenade in a mountaineering outfit, as if you were about to conquer the Mount Everest the next morning. Imagine them sitting there, sipping beer in the late afternoon sun, in… thermal underwear.

Anyway, the next morning the couple is on the same public bus. Properly seated inside, this time, not on the roof… Battle attire on, the unavoidable Lonely Planet on the lap. Next thing you know, she digs up a silver-shiny hi-tech device from the wore-down rucksack, unfolds a screen, presses a button and…they start watching a Hollywood movie. A movie in a movie. Be for real.

THE CURE: "Lullaby"

"Dreams never sleep" (Citibank ad)

PAUL McCARTNEY: "Hope of Deliverance"

I watched the movie “The Road Home” on the plane this week. This must be one of the few film titles where the English translation is probably better than the original 我的父亲母亲 (wǒde fùqīn mǔqīn), which literally means "My Father and Mother". “The Road Home” was directed by Zhang Yimou, and in this movie of 1999, the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi made her first appearance on screen. I appreciate both, for different reasons.

This is not just a movie; it’s an exhibition of beautiful pictures, displaying a time when life was much simpler but love more complex, and courtship subtle and sophisticated, but much more rewarding. Don't forget the tissues .

JAY CHOU Ft. LANDY WEN: "屋頂 " ("Wu Ding")

台北 Taipei (Taiwan)

MICHAEL BUBLÉ: "Home"

I came across this advertising line of an outdoor furniture brand in a magazine: "You don't need to stay inside to feel at home". I could not agree more.

JOE COCKER and JENNIFER WARNES: "Up Where We Belong"

You are on top of a cliff. A lost seagull, some dark-threatening clouds, waving grass. The sound of silence, hairs dancing in the winds. You look down. White-whirling foam, thrashing the rocks. No idea how deep the water is. It doesn't matter how high you stand. You know how to swim. You'll survive this. Just jump. Feel the wind. Live.