I really like Yu Aoi. And how cool is the spread?

Because I like making lists

Magazines purchased from Kino in August:
Haco no. 21
So-en Oct
Lucky Sep
Allure Sep
Vogue US Sep
Vogue Paris Sep
Spring Sep
Fruits Sep
Popeye Sep
Cool Trans Sep
Elle Sep
Vanity Fair Sep
Wallpaper Sep
Time Aug 31
Monocle Sep

Books purchased from Kino in August:
Let Me Tell You Something About That Night by Cyril Wong
Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
The Lies That Build a Marriage by Suchen Christine Lim
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin
Hardboiled Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
On Photography by Susan Sontag
The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman
Coco Chanel A Biography by Axel Madsen
Chanel by Edmonde Charles-Roux
Front Row Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor In Chief

Books borrowed from library today:
You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Influence by Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen

Cameras I now own:
Holga 135BC
Golden Half
LC-A+ RL
Black Slim Devil
Blackbird, Fly
Fuji Instax Mini 7
Diana F+ Tokyo Rising
Digital Harinezumi
Canon IXUS

And because I am refusing to go to bed. Maybe I'll do a random list every Sunday night.

Please make me some lists. About anything. Tell me something about you. I like to read lists too.

I like.

Head Porter Plus and Visvim.Via acanned.com/ @acanned

Dark clouds trying their darndest to take over the other morning.

Fashion moment

I like reading about fashion. Perhaps more than I like or care about fashion. And these are what I have to pore through currently.

Like I said, I'm developing a reluctant curiosity about the Olsen twins. A random flip through Influence in Kino made me want to see more in greater detail, but I wasn't about to fork out $60+ for it.

That's where the library comes in. Our library is wonderful, do you know? I found four of the titles from my latest must-search-in-library list (stored in my phone).

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr is one of them. I pick it up every time I walk past that long table in Kino but in a poor effort to save money, I always put it back and tell myself to wait for the paperback. But now I've gone and gotten it from the library and I worry that it may be The Northern Clemency all over again.

You see, I refused to buy it ($40+, it was) and before the paperback arrived, I triumphantly found it in the library. It ended in horror because I really liked it and now each time I walk past it (in paperback, less than $20) I wish I own a copy but I can no longer justify it since I've already read it!

And, the icing on the cake is that after reading this, I think I should have gotten The Perfect Scent, which I also nestled back into its slot on that shelf, after all. Fragrance is something I should learn more about, because I really dislike writing about it. "Exciting and original" metaphors sound good to me.

I think I'm crazy. I certainly sound crazy.

Does book buying get other people in such a tizzy?

(Tomorrow's last day of Kino's 20% for members.)

Into flats lately.

I bought four pairs in shoes in Bangkok. And discovered the other day that the Irregular Choice sandals are cheaper here in SG. Self-consolation: Maybe they don't have my size, maybe I wouldn't have fallen for them here. Sometimes love is about timing and opportunity.


Finally wore these Gap/Pierre Hardy sandals again on Friday, after months and months. I should wear them more often. They're easy to walk in. I think I want the grey sandals from the upcoming collection too. But maybe I'll wait for sale this time. We'll see.


Chuck Taylors I got from rockstar a while back. I like the all white and palest of grey muted colour palette. The Muji plimsoles, well, I've been abusively wearing them everywhere for picture-taking excursions. After BKK, they're rottenly dirty and embarassingly stinky. Time for a wash.

This means I've gotten six pairs of shoes (Gap from last year, I think) since June. Some self-control is in order.

I should also be barred from Kino. Maybe I'll take a picture to show you all the stuff I've bought from them in August.

(They had 20% on National Day weekend and the entire second half of the month, plus it's Sep issues for magazines and Sep issues are important for both work and personal gratification.)

We stayed at Reflections Hotel in Bangkok. It's a little old but I really liked it. They're undergoing renovations now so it should be spanking clean once again soon.

Pictures of rooms have yet to be developed so I guess I'll show you another day.

Love the dress, love the shot. I'm not sure in which order. For some strange reason I can't stop staring at it. So I've made it my wallpaper.

Via ii-ne-kore.

Let's make a date, you and me.

We'll meet at the table beside the window but I'll get there first. I'll order the sweet and scalding hot milk tea that I like and I'll read while I wait. I'm one chapter into Mr Darcy, Vampyre. And several into the unauthorised biography of Anna Wintour. And halfway into The Sartorialist. But I think I'll switch to No one belongs here more than you. for this exercise. It's quirkier, weirder, more pretentious and more extraordinary, no? I'm having a Miranda July moment after re-watching Me and You and Everyone We Know in a pretty but slightly old hotel room in Bangkok at 5am in the morning. I didn't really like it back then, when I saw it in the cinema. But I do now. Either I've gotten older or stranger. Oh, but I digress. I tend to do that. When you arrive, I'll be slouched in the seat with my legs stretched out, both hands holding the book open while its spine is propped on the table. You'll sit down diagonally opposite me and adopt the same bad posture. Our eyes will meet for a fleeting moment. You will take out your book and your drink (pre-ordered at the counter before you approached the table) will arrive. We will read. We won't say a single word. We may sneak glances or we may appraise. But not a sound will be made. We will read for two hours, during which we are permitted to stare out of the window or to observe other customers. At the end of it, you will stand up. You will pay for your drink and you will go. You will leave me to my thoughts.

Hari Goes to Chatuchak

Dreaming of satchels today

My favourite of the lot, because I'm currently liking bags that are all black - including hardware. I can't mix metals, so this doesn't pose wardrobe problems for me. Proenza Schouler PS1. But why are their bags so expensive?

A.P.C.

Mulberry

Hari went to BKK

and met a real hedgehog.

We saw two of them in Chauchak Market. They were really, really cute.

Diana Mini

35mm. Shoots square and half-frames. Best of all, you can shoot both formats on one roll just by flipping a switch. Wild possibilities.

But I'm not tempted.

I would buy it in a heartbeat if it's a Holga Mini.

But the Diana. I've decided that I can't stand the way it looks. Gratingly prissy.

So I'll just stick to the Tokyo Rising I have, and leave it at that.

But it's a great concept. And I'd love to see the pictures you took with this camera.

From here.

Quite cute

35mm cameras from Cat Socrates.

Not tempted at all though. So all is good.

I learned that the world is divided into the hoarders and the sharers, and into the perpetually slighted and the eternally grateful; that the diners who eat the least are the ones who pretend to eat the most; and that no manner of advance instruction can prevent guests from saying your real name and even referencing your last three reviews loudly, repeatedly and in direct earshot of the restaurant manager. There’s a reason most people don’t go into the spying business. They have no aptitude for it.

What a restaurant critic has learned about human behaviour from observing his guests. Highly entertaining read.

This, on the other hand, makes me sick.

How about learning to educate and discipline your kids instead? Taking responsibility, maybe?

Like this ice-cream vendor said:

“But moms have a choice.”

“We should be mature enough to tell our kids, ‘No.’ ”

Wanting the trucks to go away “is not a valid issue,” he said, adding, “It’s like a mother being angry at a store being at a particular corner.” Besides, the ice cream man isn’t forever.

“It’s summer,” he said, sighing. “It’s only four months."

Mr Darcy

There were zombies.

And now, vampires.

Yes, Darcy makes such a good vampire.

Usually do not like stuff like that. Like my books the way they were meant to be. But I think I need to read this. Cos I love Pride and I love vampires (brooding, good-looking ones).

Two versions. I like the second, but of course.

Clouds are my only source of entertainment on way to work

I can read on the train but not on buses. So I amuse myself with the sky instead.



The lamp posts turned out curvy.

I've been wanting to do a home series. But trying to tackle something so familiar is a little hard for me. Random shots from a random day are all I have for now.

rockstar (by soon lee)