Odds & Ends #2

1. This whole album by Korean Alternative Rock band Nell is love. It's not everyone's type of thing but to me, it's like a concentration of psychedelic goodness wrapped up in an explosive synthpop bundle of joy. The band says they're influenced by Muse and Radiohead and I think you can kind of see hints of that in their music (but I reckon Nell's stuff isn't as dark). The new album is called 'Newton's Apple'. If you like them, I also recommend checking out some of their old songs here and here.   

2. I told her her arms were in my photo so she stuck them up in the air. You can see that in the photo. Also I really need to stop taking photos of my food. I've become one of those people. 

3. I've been asked again by my high school history teacher to give a short spiel to this year's Year 10 students about picking up Modern History / History Extension as an elective. I said yes because I owe this teacher so much for all his support during years 10, 11 and 12. It's funny though because the request came right after I wrote that blog post on education and how institutionalized I found it to be. I hope none of that negativity seeps into what I say to the students. They've got plenty of time to be cynical after they graduate.

4. Vivid and I were never meant to be. Every year, I make plans to go check it out but something always comes up. I'd like to go on Saturday but then again - can you imagine the crowds on a weekend? Maybe next year. For now, I'll be living it vicariously through people's Facebook and Instagram uploads. 

5. Someone tell me what this is and why it looks so familiar:

5. I've been doing tattoo research lately. It came about since a friend was thinking of getting one from Newtown and wanted company. I've thought very briefly about it in the past but I don't think it ever really hit me that I could essentially do whatever I wanted to with my body. And as we get older, I think we start to realise that we really shouldn't have all these preconceived notions about tattoos that we've been taught our whole lives. Essentially, it's just an aspect of yourself made visible on your skin, like a piercing or a beauty mark. Of course, there's a difference between getting something meaningful and something like an Adventure Time character while you're drunk (I've seen this lol). If I did get one though, it probably won't be for another few years because 1) that's a serious decision yo and 2) I need a couple of years to muse over what to get and also see if the decision stands the test of time. For me, it would have to be a small one and also somewhere not immediately visible. 'Cause I value my life and my mum is scary when she's angry.

This moon is nice. (Bet you didn't know this but Cynthia means moon and my mum picked it because I was born near the Moon Festival). But ask me again in a few weeks time and I'd probably have changed my mind.

6. Ignore the first part. Start watching from 5:10. It's amazeballs.

Everything That Annoys Me About 'Education'

This post came about as I was watching one of those TEDx Talks on YouTube. (It was this particular one if anyone's interested). In a nutshell, it was about education and how the only real learning you can get is from outside the system. Good talk - albeit a bit scripted-sounding but hey, kudos to the kid for memorising all of it.

Yes this is actually a post about education. I know - whoop-de-doodle-do.

Education. My world used to revolve around it. I ate, slept and breathed studying. Okay, maybe not too that extent because I distinctly remember being the most chilled out Year 12 person ever. It must've been the nine free periods I got every week. I practically lived in the library, picking up things about people I didn't even know through social osmosis. By the way, I've always wondered how it was possible for high school students to get involved in so much drama but then again, my life was Doctor Who and YouTube so what do I know?

Anyway, although it wasn't something that I based my existence on, education was still a big part of my high school life (as it is for everyone). I'd go to school, come home, procrastinate a bit and then hit the books. I'd cram all this shit about family law and Belonging into my brain, compulsively memorising quotes for the sake of regurgitating it all up during the exam. If you asked me to, I could probably still recite you half of Wuthering Heights. Sometimes I found it interesting (Year 11 Modern History hola!) but other times, I don't think I really derived that much enjoyment from anything I learnt. I mean, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. It was all for the sake of the big ole ATAR. But it worked and the school was nice enough to give me a piece of yellow paper with the word 'Dux' on it at the end of my schooling.

Ultimately though, education during high school was not preparing me for life. It was preparing me for university entrance, and by extension financial stability.  

University was such a massive culture shock. Not because the learning system was different but because I met so many people there who were super-articulate, extremely experienced and worldly and who just plain old knew their shit. As you would expect, journalism kids are the most politically engaged people you'd ever meet. I kept wondering how they got this way. Was it parental influence? Home environment? Or just the school they went to?

I think it was a bit of everything.

With the first two, I could kind of let it go. As someone who's got parents with a refugee background, I think they did the best they could raising my sister and I up financially. Asking them to be the sorts of parents who engage in political discussions with their kids over dinner is too unreasonable an ask. Neither do I expect them to have connections to people in various industries or fully support what I'm learning. It's always funny watching my Mum react to people asking her what I study. She'll give a frustrated sigh and say, "I don't know, don't ask me. That girl does what she wants to do." LOL Mum. It's PR, not prostitution (although the journalism kids would disagree).

But if it was the school they went to (I'm back to talking about the people I met at uni if you're confused), then I guess I did feel like it was a little bit unfair. After all, I remember the Careers Advisor telling my Year 10 cohort to do accounting at uni because 'it's where all the jobs are at'. Seriously? You should do it if you like numbers and calculations, not because you think it's the easy way out. To be fair, my school was classified as 'low socio-economic status' so I guess getting the students into university was the number 1 priority. And that was what the parents expected them to do so the pressure was also there. But maybe they should've thought a little bit more in advance. What happens after we get in? What non-academic skills and knowledge did they infuse in us?

Maybe they did try. The deputies gave us those speeches during assembly about becoming more engaged and seizing opportunities. But I think they talked the talked and didn't follow it with the 'walk' part. What opportunities did the school give us? The SRC? A handful of students out of 250?

I want to make it clear that there were teachers who really did try. And I admire their effort since students didn't exactly make it any easier. If you grew up in a community like mine, you'd understand what I mean. People don't really want to think for themselves. (I should know because that was me as well). And now all that stuff I'm learning in Foundations to International Studies is coming to the surface and I want to blame it on Asian cultures being collectivist societies....

Anyhoo, those were all my problems with high school education. I don't know how I got here - I started this post with the intention of talking about education in general. Ha, typical. Please ignore the last five paragraphs.

What I really wanted to say before I got into that whole spiel about high school is that education in its present state doesn't really set you up for life very well. This is just my personal opinion and I know a bijillion people out there would be happy to argue against this. I'm not saying we shouldn't be learning Science or English. I'm just saying that the way we're being taught and assessed doesn't always match up with the real life application and more importantly, the repetitiveness of it sucks all the joy out of learning.

I have an essay on cultural globalisation due in 2 weeks time. I was actually feeling quite good about this assignment because I'd chosen an interesting topic comparing the beauty ideals of India and Korea. I was happy to read through the journal articles and watch a couple of videos. I would've also been quite  happy to do a big ranty post about my findings (although you guys probably wouldn't have appreciated it much). But putting it into essay form just about killed all that mojo. I understand the importance of writing but WHY in that particular style and WHY does it have to use all this convoluted, pretentious language. I have interesting stuff to say but you want me to phrase it all boring-like and use double spaces in between my lines. WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO ACCOMPLISH. Yer makin' me hate what I've learnt.

 A Visual Representation of All the Fucks I Give About University Assignments Over Time

Same with the PR assignment. It was good because it forced you to do all the proper research before coming up with an actual campaign. But then they had to ruin it by telling you to include theoretical references. Wut. That's like telling me I need to include cavier in my hamburger because it'll make it more sophisticated.

In conclusion, education is only good so far as it encourages you to learn and expand your opportunities. But while we're doing all that studying, I think it's also important to keep in mind that we should be learning outside as well, or at least engaging with things that interest us and enrich our lives. /end conclusion that sounds way more cheesy than I wanted it to

A Week In Photos

A Week In Photos

(Subtitled: I Can't Be Fucked Blogging Properly on a Sunday Night)  

It may look like a million dollar advertisement for the new Godzilla movie it's actually the new Engineering and IT building at UTS. Petition to replace the Jenga building with this as the new university icon?

I found the hipster version of the Colosseum in Surry Hills!

My immaturity knows no bounds. 

Mad Spuds Cafe - go here if you're a fan of starch and weirdly placed tomato garnish

Jennifer. Lawrence. Speaking. Vietnamese. 'Nuff said. 

I went to the moon on Saturday night with Collin, Nanc and Jess and we spent half an hour lying there staring up at the stars. It was pitch black and literally one wrong move would've sent us pitching over the edge of the cliff into the ocean below. I loved it.  

Oh and Jess if you're reading this, your blog post meant a lot to me. Year 7 was a lifetime ago and we were only kids so don't dwell on it too much. Plus, I was an annoying little know-it-all. Not gonna deny it. As for the other stuff, I'm really not as perceptive as you give me credit for haha. 

Powerhouse Museum at 9:00am 

Powerhouse Museum at 10am - half an hour before the event started

The line-up was pretty exciting. We had Festival Director of Vivid, Jess Scully; Tom Tilley, host of triple j Hack; Senator Scott Ludlam of the Western Australia Greens (aka the guy who called Tony Abbott out in a viral political video); Dan Ilic, an Australian comedian and TV personality + quite a few others. Oh and free food from Black Star Pastry.   

Just a little bit of encouragement for those who need it

Drink up, baby, stay up all night
With the things you could do, you won't but you might
The potential you'll be that you'll never see
The promises you'll only make

Drink up with me now and forget all about
The pressure of days, do what I say
And I'll make you okay and drive them away
The images stuck in your head

(Source)

I like to think that in a parallel dimension, the musical chemistry of John Paul White and Joy Williams of The Civil Wars translates to actual romantic chemistry and the two are happily married and living on a little farmstead somewhere in Nashville. I like to think that they have kids and these are the songs being sung to them lovingly every night by their musically-gifted parents.  

Well, maybe not this particular song since I'm 99.9% sure it's about alcoholism. 

Since I have nothing specific I wanted to talk about in this post (sorry, my life this week has been as eventful as Season 3 of Breaking Bad i.e. not very), allow me to infuse your day with a bit of positivity before I abruptly and awkwardly conclude this post.

Dear You,

I don't pretend to know what's going on in your life or what sort of worries and insecurities have been weighing you down these last few weeks (or months). Maybe they're just short term things, like exams or a stressful job interview. If that's the case, then I wish you the best of luck even though you probably don't need it, you capable and awesome human, you. And if you don't do as well as you wanted to, don't beat yourself up over it. Nothing we do in life is ever a waste of time - take everything as a learning experience and you'll find that it's easier to recover from setbacks. (Hear that future Cynthia? You better be taking your own advice lol). But if they're long term issues that are slowly sucking the happiness out of your life and keeping you up at night, then I understand they may not be as easy to get over. After all, these are the things that we find difficult to put into words and articulate to people, even those we are really close to. They're always there at the back of our mind, even if we try our hardest to run from them or seek temporary reprieve in some form or another. If this is you, then I feel for you, I really do. It is emotionally exhausting to have to go through all this confusion and some days it feels almost impossible to get out of bed because you don't have the energy to face all this shit. Or maybe you do but are unwilling to try because you know that the optimism may be short-lived. Whatever it is, please know that sadness and confusion are only temporary emotions. You will find a way out of it, even if it may take a while. Perhaps it will involve a change in perception - teaching yourself not to care or compare so much. Your only obligation is to yourself so concentrate on making yourself happy. And there are people who care about you, who are willing to give you the time of day to listen and advise. Just remember all this and you'll be fine. And I'll be cheering you on the whole way, whoever and wherever you are. 

Um okay, that's all I had to say. Have a nice day everyone. Bye!

*Awkwardly inserts banner image at the end of the post so something will show up on the homepage - yeah I really need to find a way to circumnavigate this feature*

That One Time I Experienced Sleep Paralysis

And it was the single most terrifying moment of my life. For those who have been fortunate enough not to go through it, let me tell you that the saying "You will never know true fear until you experience sleep paralysis" is 100% true.

********************

I don't remember the exact time it happened but it must've been sometime between 3-5am at night. It started with a sudden jolt of consciousness - like that feeling you get when you almost fall asleep on a bus but the rockiness prevents you from doing so. And the moment I "woke", there was an immediate feeling of wrongness about the room. I felt like I was being watched or scrutinized and when I glanced to the foot of my bed, a shadowy figure was standing there. That's when the horror really kicked in.

You know that hypersensitive reaction you get when someone's about to touch your face? The fact that you're aware of it and expecting the contact kicks your nervous system and pulse into overdrive. That was the feeling I got when my brain realized there was something else in the room. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable because it seemed like whatever the fuck that thing was, it was definitely coming closer. A pressure started to grow on my chest and my brain attributed that to the malicious entity sitting on it. I also started hearing low-pitched growling and felt phantom fingers touch my face. I was so terrified I think I tried to scream but all that came out was this weak pathetic croak because my throat muscles wouldn't work. My whole body was a lump of useless flesh.

And then the worst part. I actually saw the thing in the room with me. Its face was leering down at me from above and it looked like a cross between an old woman and a gargoyle. I had a moment there where I wholeheartedly believed in the supernatural.

The episode faded away gradually. My limbs started working again but when I stayed still, the feeling would creep back in until I started hearing the growls. So as soon as it was physically possible, I sat up and flicked on the light switch. I probably stayed awake for about 15 minutes after that, just trying to process it all and tell myself I wasn't fucking insane. The whole episode probably only lasted 2 minutes max but it felt like a lifetime.

So definitely the worst experience ever. And even though afterwards I read all this scientific analysis on sleep paralysis, how it's caused by disrupted REM sleep and proof that the 'malicious entities' really are just hallucinations of the mind, I cannot get over my terror of it happening again. Can you blame me?

P.S. Google image "sleep paralysis" if you're really curious as to what an episode feels like and how different people visualize 'the creature'. But don't do it if you scare easily.

P.P.S. While we're on the topic of the strange and creepy, how awesome is Sia's Chandelier video? Once you get over the weirdness, it's actually quite riveting. I've watched it like 10 times now, no joke.

I also may or may not have mentioned this because I needed a suitably creepy banner image for the post...but it's fitting, no?

(Source)

P.P.P.S. Total change of topic but I managed to cross off my very first item on 'The List'. Thanks Celine for cooking for me! I doubt you're reading this but here's your shoutout anyway.

Eurovision: The Hunger Games of Europe

Tomorrow is one of the most important days of the year. Not because it's Mother's Day (although you probably shouldn't forget about that either) but because it's Eurovision Final Day.

(Source)

Yep. That about sums up the whole contest.

Eurovision is like The Hunger Games for European countries. Except instead of arrows and knives, your arsenal consists of pyrotechnics, enthusiastic backup dancers and glittery pants. (Think Europeanized k-pop). Like The Hunger Games, a whole continent becomes emotionally-invested in this one contest and citizens of countries are able to contribute to the competition's outcome by voting for their 'favourites'. I put favourites in brackets because mostly, countries just vote for their neighbours and the whole contest becomes like a glorified experiment in politics. Also, no-one ever votes for Britain or France.    

My extreme love for this annual song contest cannot be expressed in words. I love how unapologetic it is about its glorious tackiness. I love that some countries actually send forward their 'best' acts in the hopes of making their nation proud. I also love that others are like 'fuck it, we ain't hosting this damned contest next year' so they send in a mediocre singer with a lackluster song. That's the other thing; if you win Eurovision, your country has to host it the following year. 

Anyhow, the final is airing in Australia tomorrow night at 7:30pm on SBS ONE. Australians aren't allowed to vote (plus it won't be airing 'live' from Copenhagen) but it's still worth a watch. Below are some acts entering this year, which in my opinion, capture the whole glorious Eurovision spirit. If you're not going to watch the contest, at least have a look at these. Trust me, you won't regret it. 

(Source)

Country: Armenia
Song: 'Not Alone' by Aram Mp3
Eurovision Spirit: Even though it's been heralded as a strong fan favourite, it's got a slow and vaguely boring start. The real magic happens at 1:50 when the dubstep and pyrotechnics kick in. Then he really starts going for it.
Likelihood of Winning: Hard to say. I mean, he definitely made good use of the fire machines but maybe his lack of backup dancers will let him down. However, the song's not terrible enough to be written off as a half-assed entry and neither is it great enough to turn voters off. (If you haven't guessed already, genuinely good songs rarely ever win Eurovision).

(Source)

Country: France

Song: 'Moustache' by Twin Twin

Eurovision Spirit: Way to go France! A++ for accurately capturing the spirit of Eurovision and not taking yourselves too seriously (as you've always seemed to do in previous years). Plus, who doesn't like a song about moustaches? And great touch at the end with that blond chick fondling the giant moustache. 

Likelihood of Winning: It is a sad but accepted face that no-one ever votes for France. But with this entry, who knows? Maybe history will be made.

(Source)

Country: Austria

Song: 'Rise Like a Phoenix' by Conchita Wurst

Eurovision Spirit: YAAAAAS YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS GOOOO AUSTRIA!

Likelihood of Winning: I don't even care. She is a winner in my books. And just listen to that crowd!

Disclaimer: I've only watched one semi-final. (We lag over here in Australia). Who knows what other brilliant acts there are in the next one? 

P.S. I've made an adventure list. You can click on it at the top of the 'popular posts' banner. 

It's all a bit fragmented...

Everyone's been posting really profound stuff lately - i.e. reflections on life, university, relationships, happiness, etc. Meanwhile, my posts have been nothing but fluff. Really, they're about as deep as a Twilight movie. It's not that I haven't been thinking about these things (in fact, they that take up permanent residence in my brain without my consent) but verbalizing them is hard. It's much easier to muse over a thought than it is to write something out. Especially when writing seems to attribute these thoughts some sort of terrifying permanency or validity. 

But before I get to all that, have some pictures of my Newtown/USYD morning adventure with Chin-gu 1 and 2. (See what I did there? I totally just snuck some Korean into my blog post. Gotta get some practice in before Septebmer.) We ate breakfast at a cafe which may or may not be called 'MilkBar' and once again, I attempted to take close-up hipster shots of the food and various tabletop adornments. The old man at the other table was judging me so hard. But it's okay - my Asian-ness partially excuses such behaviour. 

From the University of Sydney, you get to see a prime example of juxtaposition at work. Behold the ugliest building in Sydney (UTS) next to the fairest (The Living Mall). It's kind of like when I have to stand next to my sister and tolerate the tackiness she brings into my space.   

Coffee is strange. Sometimes it affects me, sometimes it doesn't. Today, the caffeine kicked in while I was in language class and I was practically vibrating in my chair. I probably could've run up all twenty-seven floors of the UTS tower if I wanted to. My friend worriedly thought I should get some food into me before I spontaneously combusted from all the excess energy.

Before we saw Nancy off to class, the three of us sat on the grass, talked and listened to the 'Kiss Me' cover by The Fray which I saw on Lyanna's tumblr a few days ago. (Beautiful rendition by the way - y'all should check it out). We watched the SRC campaigners harass everyone but us and well, it was nice just to sit there and soak it all up. Hanging out with people outside of uni is so therapeutic sometimes. *LAME ANALOGY ALERT* but sometimes I feel like a rechargeable Duracell battery and instead of electricity, it's companionship that gives me energy. Oh wow, that was totally cheesy.

 I had a lot to think about today. Some of it was during my walk back from USYD to UTS when I was wondering what life would be like if I'd enrolled at this university and pursued something like law or nursing instead of communications. It's funny because a few years ago my whole life - no, my whole existence revolved around high school and the whole learning/studying experience. That was what I had to do. The ATAR was my end goal, no questions asked. In a sense, the predictability was comforting and like a lot of people who graduate from year 12, I spent the first half of university trying (and failing) to regain that sense of groundedness and stability in my life. 

For people who don't do courses that require intense face-to-face contact hours, it's really easy to feel as if university isn't a significant aspect of your life. You spend a lot of time kind of flailing about in the dark, looking for something to grab hold of and to act as your constant in life - like the role high school had occupied during your teenage years. And if you've got a job, internships or other extracurricular activities, you start to realise that there isn't a constant and you've just got to deal with a reality that is just very segmented. 

In a way, it feels liberating. University is important but it's not the be all end all (not for my course anyway). I've got a life outside of it, be it working, travelling, gaining experience or putting effort into the relationships that matter to me (because I never did enough of this during high school and it is my one true regret). 

On the other hand, it is also a burden because you're never 100% sure about what you're doing, where this path leads and whether it is the path you're supposed to be on. I never did well with choices. I hated those 'choose your own adventure books' as a kid. I'd much rather prefer it if someone told me that this was the right path and I should be working hard at subject X to get from point A to point B to achieve result C. 

There was a point to this post but I think I may have lost it somewhere between the fourth and fifth paragraph....

Anyhow, at this exact point in time, I think I'm mostly okay with what I'm doing and how my life is unfolding (even though the end point is still extremely fuzzy). Accepting that things change and pieces get shuffled around is all part of growing up. Your values and goals are always shifting and I think we should all accept this and try the best we can to figure out what needs to be done now. That's probably the main thing I've learnt in the past year.

Ugh, writing this hurt my brain. I need to go watch or read something trashy to get my mind back to normal. 

I'm Going to South Korea!

(Source)

I've probably told everyone by now but if for some reason, you haven't been on the receiving end of my mania excitement, I'll tell you now. I'm going to South Korea in September! 

La mia famiglia will be tagging along but I have the fullest intention to ditch them at the nearest noraebang so I can run off with the first cute Korean I see. Annyeong-haseyo, Cynthia imnida...OPPA SARANGHAE?!!

Just kidding. I'm not going to Korea to flirt (i.e. embarrass myself 'cause my flirting game sucks shit). I'm going for the food, the scenery, the shopping, the convenience stores, Lee Min Ho, the eatyourkimchi-stalking, the nightlife, the cafes, the parks and most importantly, the chance to recreate my very own Boys Over Flowers scene on top of Namsam Tower. That's right. Don't think I'm gonna do it? I'll film it and post it here as proof.

Obviously I am extremely pumped for this trip. The excess energy is making me a bit loopy and it doesn't help that I've been coming across some really cool Korean content lately.

(Source)

This was trending a couple of days ago and even though it's short (less than 2 minutes), I thought it was cute. I also wonder how many takes it took them to synch the performance with the train's arrival at the station. Poor guy in the middle must've been so bored. 

From my (very very limited) knowledge of Korean, I'm guessing that the girl on the far left is getting told off by her mum, the second guy is addressing an elder - maybe his boss, the girl in the red jacket is having an argument with her boyfriend (hence the banmal and the pissed off 'what is this' at the end) and the forth guy... well he's using a lot of 'juh gi yo' so I'm guessing the person on the other end of the phone is talking over him. Or maybe he's trying to order some friend chicken. Hmm. 

I wish there were translations though. Imagine how amazing this could be if we actually understood what they were saying?

Odds & Ends

In the holidays, I killed a man and hid his body in the children's playground at my local park. I'm surprised no-one has discovered it yet.

Okay, I didn't really kill a man. I just needed an eye-catching first sentence for the preview of this post.

So just a bit of housekeeping:

• If you want to follow this blog (bless you if you do), the best thing to do would probably be to click the 'Join this site' button and connect using your Google or Twitter account
• You can also click the Facebook Like button but as far as I know, that won't notify you of posts or anything. A little bit redundant if you ask me but hey, it'll make me feel loved?

Partly the reason why I started a new blog was because I found this nice template. I liked the nifty banner thingy at the top and had fun rearranging the layout from scratch. I still really love it but we are now entering the post-honeymoon phase of our relationship and some of the little things are starting to bug me. 

For example, the image previews for each post look great on the homepage but in terms of getting people to read the actual post, it's not exactly effective. Some people (like me) are too lazy to click on a 'read more' link so we skim the first sentence to see if it's worth the bother. It makes me feel like I should start each post with "I fell pregnant over the holidays" or "Guess whose nudes I stumbled across on facebook?".

Speaking of first sentences, WHY DOES THE TEMPLATE AUTOMATICALLY CONVERT IT INTO SHOUTY CAPS ON THE FRONT PAGE. It looks so.....obnoxious or aggressive. It's like CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK MEEEEEEEEEEEH.

From now on, every post also needs to be accompanied by a suitable image in landscape-orientation. Otherwise, it doesn't generate a 'read article' link (and also messes up with the aesthetics of the homepage). I have no idea what I'm going to use as the graphic for this post. I suppose I should find one. 

I picked it because it goes well with my opening sentence.

(Source)

Finally, this isn't a complaint but a heads up. I've included a blog roll on the left hand side of my blog. If I've linked yours there and you would rather I remove or rename it, then just shoot me a message. If I've been an inconsiderate twit and didn't link you to the list, please let me know as well. It's probably just because I wasn't aware you also read my blog. 

So what's your favourite band?

I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back

The less I give, the more I give back

Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise

I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you.

(Source)

No one ever really answers the question "What's your favourite band?" or "Who's your favourite artist?" properly because essentially, they're being asked to reduce all their varied tastes and preferences into one single subject. And usually when a person asks you that, it's because they want to know you better. So whatever answer you give, it's probably going to be a big factor in their initial impression of you. 

'I'd Rather Dance With You' by Kings of Convenience is one of my all-time favourite songs. If my music library hadn't decided to wipe itself clean every few months, it'll probably be the most played song on my phone. (Samsung people, please get your shit together). So does that mean that indie-folk-pop is my absolute favourite genre, and that my favourite  band consists of two men from Bergen, Norway? 

But I also really really like 'Bad' by Korean-Canadian rapper, Tablo. I liked it so much that 

I even dedicated 3 whole days to learning how to rap in Korean despite knowing (at that point) absolutely nothing about the language. (DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY.) You could probably classify 'Bad' as Alternative Hip-Hop.

Then there's 'Feel Good Inc.' by Gorillaz (alt. rock), 'Pain' by Loveholics (K-ballad), 'The Girl' by City and Colour (acoustic - also the only song on here that would ever make me cry even though it's hardly a sad one), 'Timeless' by Rameses B (electro? house?) and of course my angry PMS song, 'Make Me Wanna Die' by The Pretty Reckless (hard rock). I love all of these for different reasons.

So what answer am I supposed to give you? Would the person asking be able to answer this question? I doubt it. 

Now that we've clarified that it is really difficult to establish a favourite band, I will go on to the next part of my post. 

I actually do have one. They're called The Civil Wars. 

(Source)

Yes I do have a favourite band. And I know that just makes the whole first part of this post redundant. Sorry.  

Anyhow, if you read my old blog, you're probably banging your head against the wall right now because really, you should've seen this coming. I've literally written more than 15 posts about The Civil Wars on ablibberinghumdinger, each one more gushy than the previous. I have lots of ~feelings~ about The Civil Wars and I need to share these, preach the gospel, spread the love, or else I would explode. DON'T DENY ME MY LOVE. 

So yes, The Civil Wars are an indie/folk/country band (not a political conflict or bikie gang) composed of singer-songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White. They specialise in raw, stripped back, acoustic-centric compositions such as the one I've posted at the beginning of this post. But even though their style is very minimalist, there is an indescribable strength in all their melodies and harmonies. Their music is melancholic, joyful, sorrowful, tragic, sultry and haunting. It reminds me of dreamy, smoke-filled stages of ages past, the golden leaves of Autumn, of fireplaces, lullabies, rainy-days and many other beautiful and wistful things. 

So basically their music is like a hipster's instagram. But much less pretentious. 

Apart from recording Grammy-winning albums, The Civil Wars also have an exceptional talent for live performances (see here). Adele once called them her favourite live act and a must-see-at-least-once during your lifetime type of band. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't listen to her and they'll never be able to catch another The Civil Wars gig again. Why? Because the duo split up last year. 

When they picked their band name, I doubt they knew how fitting it'd become a few years further down the track.... 

(Source)

It's been a bit unclear as to why this happened even though they've both given interviews since the split. And despite having recorded one last(?) album together, it seems like Joy and John Paul aren't on good terms. The latter even failed to mention Joy in his acknowledgement speech when the duo won their fourth Grammy earlier this year. He then made a public apology about it, probably because of pressure from fans.

It breaks my heart that The Civil Wars are no longer working and making music together. Everything they wrote or performed was just so beautiful and pure. Their music was my rainy-day music, my sentimental-jam, the ultimate de-stresser during the HSC and after that, the tunes that kept away my early morning blues during those depressing train-commutes to university. It's saddening that everything came to an end so suddenly. But I guess it was nice while it lasted.