R Nadia Sabrina: April 2009

politiK

~Look at earth from outer space, everyone must find their place~

All the songs in A Rush of Blood to the Head are amazing but Politik is the one song that made it my favourite Coldplay album. I think it is one of their greatest songs ever, without a doubt. Each time I listen to it it would trigger my emotions in so many ways.

I saw them perform this song live at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last month. It was delivered with so much passion and energy. I will probably make another post about my Melbourne trip but Coldplay's concert was truly spectacular! :D

As for the musical arrangements of Politik, i'm addicted to the stunning thumping beats and consistent drums throughout the intro. In the beginning of the song, emotions of anger, unrest and frustration are expressed and towards the end the music flows full of hope and peace. I just love the pure symphonic, intense and dreamy vibe to the whole song.

To me the lyrics can be interpreted in so many ways. It can be as general as talking about internal struggles, world issues, personal growth, relationships or a battle against yourself. It can also be about politics and love intermingled. I would love any discussion on your own interpretation of the lyrics.

When Chris sings 'look at earth from outer space' I assume he is saying that every human being needs to know that they have their own place and purpose in the world. He is also telling us that we should take a look around the world and ask ourselves 'who am I?', 'what's my purpose in life?' and 'what is my contribution to life, world and humanity?', 'What do you believe in?' and 'What is your stand?' It reminds us that even though we can't do everything, anything is at least something. We don't need to conform to the norms. Just do whatever we believe is right and stand for what we believe in.

This is also a song questioning our own personal political identity. Some people seem to blindly follow and idolize people (be it a politician, a celebrity or whoever) and they dont really have a clear stance and a clear belief on what they really believe in. When they idolize someone, they see them as perfect and nothing wrong can be done by their 'idol'. That is why Chris asks us to "tell me your OWN politik" so that we realize that we should form our own opinions and our own point of view without blindly following others.

I also believe that the song is about hypocrisy and superficiality that exists in the world and the obsessions with the petty / negative things in life when we should be more concerned about the real important issues of the day. It is also a wake up call directed to those who are racing for wealth, power and status in life. Well, that is just my take on it.

Everytime I listen to it I tend to think about different things. In a way, the song is a good 'reminder' for myself also. Sometimes we just need little reminders, don't we?

I read somewhere that the song is actually about a famous russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya since Chris Martin has voiced his admiration for her. She was a human rights activist and journalist who was the mortal enemy of Putin. Putin allegedly had her arrested and ordered her to go through a mock execution, before she was finally murdered in her apartment. This theory could be true since the spelling of the title is similar to her name. (It's also the way politic is spelt in Malay, with a K. Hehe).

Whatever it is that they were actually trying to express, the cohesion and balance of the music and the lyrics of Politik has managed to touch my soul.

Below are the lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Politik

Look at the earth from outer space
Everyone must find their place
Give me time and give me space
Give me real don't give me fake

Give me strength and self control
Give me heart and give me soul
Give me time, give us a kiss
Tell me your own politik

And open up your eyes, open up your eyes,
open up your eyes, open up your eyes

Give me one 'cause one is best
In confusion, confidence
Give me peace of mind to trust
Don't forget the rest us
Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds to heal and cracks to fix
Tell me your own politik

And open up your eyes, open up your eyes,
open up your eyes, open up your eyes
Just open up your eyes

But give me love over, love over, love over this
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# life and reflection,

~(awe)rora~

Wow!
I wish one day I'll be able to witness this!
This is just too beautiful to miss.
God's creations are just too great.
Gorgeous!
And this is just a picture.
(I am imagining seeing the real thing)

Stumbled upon this picture randomly somewhere on the internet..

Facts From Wikipedia

~~~Auroras, sometimes called the northern and southern (polar) lights or aurorae (singular: aurora), are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as polar auroras. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas by Pierre Gassendi in 1621.[1] The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere, the chance of visibility increasing with proximity to the North Magnetic Pole, which is currently in the arctic islands of northern Canada. Aurorae seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from further away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun was rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree people call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits." Aurorae can be spotted throughout the world. It is most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field.
Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis or the southern polar lights, has similar properties, but is only visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, or Australasia. Australis is the Latin word for "of the South."
Benjamin Franklin first brought attention to the "mystery of the Northern Lights." He theorized the shifting lights to a concentration of electrical charges in the polar regions intensified by the snow and other moisture. ~~~

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# books,

How my addiction to FABLES begun

Warning : This comic book series is NOT meant for children.

'What we want is a fantasy, what we need is the reality. The reality that you thought is real might just be an illusion. Sometimes, you would never know.' ~RNadiaSabrina~

And so the story begins.

Once upon a time, in the faraway land where fantasies and realities intertwine, a handsome prince charming who hunts and collects rare and invaluable treasures in the form of arcane books of visual stories (read: comic addict) presented one of such comic books to the Princess of the Faraway Land (ME!).

He presented me with the first volume of a comic called 'Fables' in the form of a trade paperback. The first volume was titled Legends in Exile and consists of the monthly Fables comic issues 1-5 . He knows that I didn't understand his interest in comics and to introduce me to comics, he thought that Fables would be the perfect comic series for me. He said I was going to like it since he knows that I'm into Disney movies. Now, he doesn't share the same passion that I have for Disney movies which is not surprising for a guy. But even a fairy-tale hater like himself enjoys reading Fables and it is a comic book which can appeal to everybody.

Just to side track a bit, I am going to reminisce a little here. When I was little, I didn't really like playing with barbie dolls or soft toys. My dad had to buy me boys' toys. You know, robots, control cars and the likes. I remember my mum saying that if I was given a barbie doll I would rather play with the box instead of the doll itself. Don't ask me why because I really have no idea. Growing up, I was never into Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine or any of the princess characters all the other girls wanted to be but I liked watching the Disney movies because of their stories and the way they were told. I never grew up wanting to be a princess. My favourite Disney movie of all time has to be the Beauty and the Beast (no princesses in that one :p).

Now, back to Fables. I loved the book at first sight. I also love the artwork on the cover. Now before you laugh, comics aren't as 'childish' as you would think it is because the artworks are very impressive and the story-telling too. My boyfriend also told me that some of the comic-writers are actually the same people who direct or produce movies as well, so there is a lot of creativity in comics.

My first impression of Fables is that it is a dark fantasy comic / graphic novel. So since it was a gift from my boyfriend I read it immediately as soon as I got it. It is a definite page turner and I couldn't put it down. It is basically about all the fairytale characters who are immortals and are all living in their own community in present-day New York. The story is told as real and complicated as it can be. Since these fairy tale characters (or 'Fables') have lived for a long time, a lot of things has happened and some of the innocence of the fairy tale characters have gone. The way the story is told is so interesting and beautifully twisted. I love it when a new fairytale character pops up. The way the fairytale characters are depicted is interesting and funny. For example (spoiler alert) Snow White as the deputy mayor of Fables Town and the frog prince is now a janitor.

The best thing about Fables is that we all know the characters and can relate because we've watched the Disney movies. Yes, Beauty and the Beast got married, but do you want to know what happened to them after the marriage? Then Fables is the comic for you. It's hilarious. And you should see what Prince Charming turns out to be today. There's pinnochio, sinbad, red riding hood and just about everyone else. Okay I better not spoil this on-going series for you.

I love it so much that I've now gone on to collect up to Volume 12 of the series and waiting for the new volumes to come out.

What happens after happily ever after? check it out in Fables.

The End.

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# movie, music

scenes and sounds of music

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# art, travel

Persistence of Memory

I'll probably blog in detail about how I fell in love with art, but basically I think it started because I had to follow my dad who is an avid arts enthusiast everywhere when I was younger. This enabled me to develop an appreciation and passion for the arts which i am now thankful for.

Today, I would like to just share a lasting memory of following my parents to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York when I was 11 years old in 1995. It was a great experience even though I now wish that I was slightly older then so that I could remember most of what I saw. I remember seeing a simple looking painting which looked basically like a canvas painted in white. It looked like a blank canvas. I then found out at the time that the worth of the painting was in the range of seven digits and as an 11-year old girl, I was extremely puzzled by the fact that such a 'simplistic-looking' painting would even be worth that much. It was after I gained a better understanding of the arts years later that i only understood the reason why paintings are each valued differently.

But that is another story.

Anyway, back to MOMA, the experience was really awesome and left a huge impact on me. Below are some of the paintings in the collection of the MoMA that caught my eye.

The Persistence of Memory
Salvador Dalí, 1931
oil on canvas
24 cm × 33 cm (9.4 in × 13 in)
Melting Clocks La persistencia de la memoria

The above painting is actually my most favourite of all paintings. I fell in love with the painting the first time I saw it. The image of the melting clocks are very deeply etched in my memories as it depicts that time itself is melting and we can never unwind back time. To me the painting symbolizes the need for us to always appreciate time and the present even though the past is not something we can easily discard or forget. Therefore, who agrees with me that the persistence of

time is a perfect and apt title for this painting? :)

soft-hard

the blue clock

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon The Young Ladies of Avignon) Le Bordel ("The Brothel").[
Pablo Picasso, 1907
243.9 cm × 233.7 cm (96 in × 92 in)

The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh, 1889
73 cm × 92 cm (28¾ in × 36¼ in)

The painting is about a terrible need for and a crave for something to believe /faith.

Pictures credits to wikipedia.

I suppose that's all for now. I'll try and share my thoughts on several art pieces if i have the time to do so in the very near future :)

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# music,

Music, when I was younger I

Sinead O'Connor

Sarah Mclachlan

Bjork

Sade

Tori Amos

Kate Bush

When I was younger, I only listened to the music that my parents played on rotation, inter alia,

Kate Bush. Tori amos. Deep Purple. Sinead O' Connor. Joni Mitchell.
Grand Funk. Sarah Mclachlan. The Beatles. Sting. Sade.
Whitney Houston. Mariah Carey. Khadijah Ibrahim.
Uji Rashid. Pink Floyd. Aretha Franklin.
Bee Gees. Led Zeppelin. Nancy Sinatra.
Fleetwood Mac. Bjork. U2.

(and too many more to list down)

Bear in mind that until 1996, MTV wasn't a word that existed in our diet consumption yet. (I was so into MTV during highschool but stopped watching TV when I was about 17 or so, when I started to go to uni and stayed on campus. ^-^)

Luckily, my dad has a large collection of CDs. I was lucky in the sense that I didn't have to buy my own CDs at the time (not that I could afford it with the little allowance that I get... well, at least I didn't have to) I remember going through them and listening to the ones which would make me crave for more. You know, those albums you couldn't stop playing on repeat. I then claimed them as my property because I was the one who religiously listened to the albums all day on my discman (Gosh, its been a long while since I used that word, discman). The few albums that I can remember putting on rotation non-stop were the Cranberries' No Need to argue, No Doubt's Tragic kingdom and Natalie Imbruglia's Left of the Middle.

I was 10 years old when i listened to No Need to Argue. My favourite tracks then were Zombie, Ode to My family, Empty, Ridiculous Thoughts and Dreaming My Dreams. Couldn't stop listening. Their music and Dolores O' Riordan's style of singing were simply addictive.

Around the same time, i found "the Cranberries LIVE" on VHS video tape somewhere in my then home. Pretty, Linger and Dreams from Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We and Daffodil Lament live were my instant favourites after I watched the video! I became addicted to watching them perform live (eventhough only through VHS) and that was the point when I knew that their music (then) would be my all time favourite.

Tragic Kingdom was my other means of escapism. It came at the time when teenage angst was just about to grow in me. Just a Girl became my instant favourite. My other favourites were Happy Now?, Spiderwebs, Hey You, Sunday Morning and Don't Speak. Their music was refreshing to me and I just love Gwen Stefani's attitude that bursts through their songs. Saw them live with my besties Ruzana and Sarah years later, when they finally came to Kuala Lumpur. Had a blast and every bit as gempak (awesome) as I imagined it would be!

Memories during the concert : All three of us wore pink hair spray (advertised to make our hair pink) since we wanted our hair to look like Gwen's hot pink hair in her Ex-Girlfriend videoclips which we so loved at that time. Unluckily, the hair spray colour did not turn out as it was supposed to and all it did was make our hair limp and glittery It was a massive disappointment for us that the product did not work and after that I learnt to be more careful of too-good -to-be-true products.

At least we all had a good laugh looking back at our pictures and the concert was memorable, even the part where I was almost a victim of a mini-stampede. We were near the stage and people at the back were pushing to get in front and Ruzana saved me (while Sarah was happily engrossed with No Doubt's awesomeness and oblivious to my predicament. Thanks Sarah, at least now you're a doctor and can save me later!)

Left of the Middle was another album that I didn't bother choosing which tracks to listen to because I listened to all the tracks from the beginning to the end. Almost every song in that album became my favourite at that point in time. When I saw her Torn video clip on MTV when it came out, me (and my cousins) cut our long hair short because we loved her hairstyle in the video clip so much. Okay that was random.

That's all for now, I have so much more to write on this topic :) Till then.

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# art, travel

"Viva la Vida" - the painting

The search of one's own personal reality and self-identity.

The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), I, Diego and Senor Xolotl, 1949. Oil on Canvas, 70x60.5cm. Private collection, Mexico City.

The above is the image of one of my favourite paintings by the legendary Mexican surrealist artist Frida Kahlo. How beauteous!!

I can never forget the first time I saw her paintings, 13 years ago, at Mexico City Frida Kahlo Museum (Museo Frida Kahlo) in Coyoacan aka the Blue House. I was in my early teens. That was the time I fell in love with her paintings. I was lucky that my parents brought me along to travel to Ciudad di Mexico from the other side of the world. The experience was amazing.

Long live watermelons?

The bold and vibrant painting of the still life watermelons below is etched in my memory because of the words inscribed. And also particularly because the meaning is 'Long Live Life' and the fact that it was her last painting completed before she died. (p/s: I love Coldplay's latest album, titled the same)

Viva La Vida (Long Live Life), 1951-1954. Oil and earth on hardboard, 52x72cm. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City.

She once said to her husband, Diego, "My blood is the miracle that travels from the veins to the air from my heart to yours". She painted Two Fridas at the time of her divorce. Clearly, she is picturing her feelings of sorrow and sadness at that time in the painting.

The Two Fridas 1939 Oil on canvas 68 x 68 in. (173 x 173 cm) Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City

My personal favourite.

Why?

Below are the random thoughts that came to mind when I see the above painting:

Split personalities.
Pain and suffering.
Inner reality versus outer reality.
Contradictions.
Inner voices.
Reflections.
Our roots and heritage.
Being who you are, or being someone others want you to be.
Are you willing to be someone else for the one you would die for?
Is love really worth sacrificing your own self-identity, other needs and wants?
Would you conform just because?
Hate me? Love me? Do I really care?

This painting really excites me, emotionally. What are the thoughts that comes to mind when you look at this painting?

~I haven't watched the film where Salma Hayek portrayed Frida. I've kept the DVD for almost seven years now since it first came out in 2002 but I myself don't know why I've been delaying myself to watch the movie. Hmmm. I'll watch it soon.~

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# art, books

an addict of many things, i am

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

# life and reflection,

My first post. Random thoughts.

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, by R Nadia Sabrina

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politiK

~(awe)rora~

How my addiction to FABLES begun

scenes and sounds of music

Persistence of Memory

Music, when I was younger I

"Viva la Vida" - the painting

an addict of many things, i am

My first post. Random thoughts.

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