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A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

Thoughts and reflections on works of fiction and literature. Pondering of life through pictures and words. Babbling about gay rights. Travelogues and anecdotes.

  • [1] Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain
  • [2] Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • [3] Yu Hua: To Live
  • [4] Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty
  • [5] Colm Toibin: The Master
  • [6] Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
  • [7] William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
  • [8] Charles Higham: The Civilization of Angkor
  • [9] Graham Greene: A Burnt-Out Case
  • [10] Dai Sijie: Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
  • [11] Alan Hollinghurst: The Swimming-Pool Library
  • [12] Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
  • [13] Colm Toibin: The Blackwater Lightship
  • [14] Alan Hollinghurst: The Folding Star
  • [15] Ross King: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
  • [16] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
  • [17] Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections
  • [18] Colm Toibin: The Story of the Night
  • [19] John Banville: Shroud
  • [20] Leo Tolstoy: Resurrection
  • [21] Peter Hessler: River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze
  • [22] Ian McEwan: The Atonement
  • [24] Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera
  • [25] Ignacio Padilla: Shadow without a Name
  • [26] Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
  • [27] Richard Russo: Straight Man
  • [28] Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground
  • [29] Alan Hollinghurst: The Spell
  • [30] Hermann Broch: The Death of Virgil
  • [31] James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room
  • [32] Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • [33] Xingjian Gao: One Man's Bible
  • [34] C. Jay Cox: Latter Days
  • [35] Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird
  • [36] William Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew
  • [37] Daniel A. Helminiak: What The Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
  • [38] James Baldwin: Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
  • [39] Kenji Yoshino: Covering - The Hidden Assault of Civil Rights
  • [40] Italo Calvino: If, On a Winter's Night A Traveler
  • [41] Arthur Phillips: The Egyptologist
  • [42] George Orwell: 1984
  • [43] Michael Warner: The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Ethics of Queer Life
  • [44] Andrew Sullivan: Virtually Normal
  • [45] Henry James: The Wings of the Dove
  • [46] Jose Saramago: Blindness
  • [47] Umberto Eco: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
  • [48] Dan Brown: Da Vinci Code
  • [49] Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
  • [50] Ken Follett: The Pillars of Earth
  • [51] Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
  • [52] Michael Thomas Ford: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Like Me
  • [53] Jonathan Franzen: How To Be Alone
  • [54] Jonathan Lethem: The Fortress of Solitude
  • [55] Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
  • [56] Zadie Smith: White Teeth
  • [57] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Double
  • [58] Jose Saramago: The Double
  • [59] Andrew Holleran: Dancer from the Dance
  • [60] Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O & Other Stories
  • [61] Andrew Holleran: In September, the Light Changes
  • [62] Tom Perrotta: Little Children
  • August 06, 2006

     

    Saturday Night Live

    I'm not a night person. Usually lights out before 10. Last night I had a compelling reason to stay out late--my friends called and asked if I wanted to karaoke--a very healthy alternative to bars and clubs, which had been permanently removed from my equation of fun. Something about karaoke (other than its addictiveness) brings out the other side of me, the secret premise of a convivial existence which is otherwise suppressed, when I sing my heart out. I've always thought songs and their lyrics have such powrful associative power that stirke the heart chord as if they are sent from somewhere just to find you, to pick the scab of your whole experience. Anyway, Matty and Greg have always asked me to post what my iPod is playing--mostly Cantopop (Cantonese pop) and classical music--I will share a few slow-jam tunes that I sang along under the disco ball last night.

    #1 on my iTunes in terms of the number of time it is played (504), all-time fave diva Sandy Lam

    First entered on iPod on April 25, now #1 song on my iPod this week, overall ranked at #13

    The only song on my top 25 that is not Cantopop, ranked at #25

    Another new hit on my iPod this week, name of the song is Second Ranked Angel, is it talking about me?

    Overall #10 on my iTunes is a song I listen to almost everyday

    5 Comments:

    Blogger mattviews said...

    Okay, I'm confused. There are a few Johns lurking around without blogs. lol :)

    Yes, I *really* like #13-Kong. It's a sad story though--about unfulfilled love, and it sort of talks about my life and I can see myself in it.

    Hong Kong is probably *100* times more dense--lots of high-rises and skyscapers. The streets are narrower packed with shoulder-jostling crowd.

    8/06/2006 6:30 PM  
    Blogger matty said...

    Hey! This is great music!!!!

    I found all of these Faye Wong CD's in the Richmond this weekend!!! If I ever find some money I am going back!!!! And, there were a number of Ms. Lam's stuff there as well!!! I can't remember where it was but B knows!!! We should go for dim sum and explore all those way cool shops and spend lots and lots of money!

    I don't do karoke but it might be fun to watch sometime.

    8/06/2006 9:52 PM  
    Blogger mattviews said...

    Matty,

    I've got all of Faye Wong and Sandy Lam's CDs...I can burn some music for you. Save the money for the food!!!!

    8/06/2006 10:24 PM  
    Blogger johnNokc said...

    Matt -- Mea culpa. Did not mean to confuse you with my earlier generic "john" post. I'm the one in OKC. I recently discovered your blog (thanks to the other Matt -- blame him!) and sometimes I forget who I am. So many names, so many numbers. My worst subjects in school.

    8/07/2006 10:24 AM  
    Blogger matty said...

    Yay!!! Rip away, please!

    Wanting for some Goldfrapp!?!? Or, dare I ask, Barbra!?!!? LOL!

    My real issue is that I am a sucker for marketing. So, I love FW so I want her CD's for the pretty pictures and way cool packaging! sigh...

    8/07/2006 12:20 PM  

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