there’s nothing here but fierce chickens
the cock crows raucously and lustily
for his lady friend beside him
for me
bird-brain stares
affronted by this effrontery
this invasion of his territory
then a burst of speed
a mad flapping of wings
as poultry adrenaline surges
in defence of fowl urges
till the intruder is banished
from bird’s eye-view
and amorous overtures
can begin anew

Sky Lines

BUD student photography exhibition

bought 陶喆's 太美丽 and 杨乃文's 女爵 over the weekend. former because life! listed it as a top 5 chinese album of 2006. hmm, initial instinct to stay away was right. the r&b just sounds tired. 忘不了might work as a novelty song but it's not something you can listen to over and over again. there were also 3(!) advert songs, which just smacked of commercialisation through and through given that the norm is usually one. plus, it contained the really annoying duet with jolin tsai with the skin-crawlingly irksome shout-outs "jolin in the house/dt in the house." the track that i like, olia, is buried all the way at the end of the album.
faith's comeback album is a much more welcome proposition. i remember that a reviewer once described her voice as the harshest s/he had ever heard. i guess yang's mellowed with age and some of that edge has been rounded off, leaving a richly distinctive voice. the standouts so far are the first two tracks 女爵 and 我離開我自己, but the entire album is listenable. "一颗热的心穿着冰冷外衣" - "a burning heart cloaked in an icy coat" - sums up her persona succinctly, but wait, is that a hint of a smile in the lyric booklet? guess she's glad to be back as well.