It's Getaway Friday - gateway to the weekend, and the perfect time to take those keys and drive off to the nearest faraway beach! Here are some tracks to get you in a beachin' (and not bitchin') kind of mood from synth-driven Mausi and the legendary Phoenix.
I absolutely love the youthful and creative vibe of Hongdae, and could probably spend an entire trip to Seoul just cafe hopping and people watching. While we had a pretty hectic itinerary on our trip to Korea last year, we did manage to squeeze in some time to visit the Hongdae Free Market on a pretty autumn Saturday afternoon. On Saturdays between March and November, the park right in front of Hongik University becomes Hongdae Free Market,where artists set up booths to sell their items - from cute headbands, hand-dyed stockings, stationery to portraits and other works of art. Think Etsy come to life. The place was packed when we went, with many locals and tourists looking through the artists' wares, and a performance happening in one part of the park. It was in the Hongdae Free Market that I chanced upon Qqoogo, the artist I featured in an earlier post.
More pictures (and some songs, as usual) under the cut! If you ever visit the Hongdae Free Market, what kind of items would you shop for?
I had my first encounter with Hongdae in 2010 and immediately fell in love with the place then. Hongdae is vibrant, creative, unpolished and a little bit rebellious - in other words, it is everything that is crazy/beautiful about youth. I guess it helps that there is a large student population in the area because of Hongik University.
When I get really busy and ultimately very stressed about one thing or another, or if I want to feel inspired, there is nothing more I would want than some quiet time in a quaint coffee shop, enjoying a plate of waffles with ice cream, maybe some hot chocolate on the side while I write, just to take a break from everything. If that's not feasible, I daydream about places like Hongdae and look through my old photos of the place to help me remember.
If you ever find yourself in Seoul and are looking to be inspired, take the train to Hongik University station and spend an afternoon taking a leisurely stroll around the area, camera at the ready. You'll chance upon one-of-a-kind boutiques, quirky cafes and some pretty cool street art. It's exactly what my friends and I did - on the last day of our trip, we took one last walk around the neighborhood we called home for our five days in Seoul. You'll find some of the pictures I took below, plus a lovely little song to get you in a pleasant mood. (Incidentally, the band Busker Busker is an indie group from Hongdae who recently gained mainstream success.)
It's a lovely Sunday afternoon, and I just came back from having lunch and watching a movie with the family. The weather was nice today so I decided to drive with the windows down and the music up on my way home from the mall. I've got a beach trip with the family over the long weekend and these two songs would be really nice to drive to on a road trip. Contemplating though if I should just ride with the folks going to Kota Keluarga - gas can be expensive! Anyway, here are two song suggestions to add to your road trip soundtracks. Enjoy whatever is left of your weekend, and make it count!
Foster the People - I Would Do Anything for You
Lonsdale Boys Club - Light Me Up
Many things make me miss being a college student – a daily allowance from the parents, literature classes, an awesome literature teacher (shout-out to Mr. Borra!), college parties, and believe it or not, studying at coffee shops.
Coffee shops are an intrinsic aspect of college life, and they seem to flourish anywhere where there is a university – the university town of Dumaguete has streets lined with cafes, and Hongdae in South Korea is home to cute and quirky cafes (plus some awesome clubs, but that’s for a whole other post).
Do you remember that scene in "The Beach", when Richard gets a view of THE Beach for the very first time, and it's beautiful and he's so amazed by what he's seeing, and Moby's "Porcelain" starts playing? That's probably one of my favorite movie moments ever. And ever since that movie, when I hear the song "Porcelain", I think of nothing but fine white sand and blue water.
Every travel moment should have a soundtrack, because music is a perfect companion when traveling - I'd even go as far as to say that the iPod is probably the second best thing to human travel buddies (so if you're ever traveling solo, you mustn't board your flight without one!).
The summer is a season for trips, trips, trips, so I thought I'd share a portion of my summer soundtrack in this post, with sixteen of my favorite summer songs. It was incredibly difficult to cut the list down to 16, as I had about 50 songs on my playlist - maybe I'll post the rest of the songs next year. For now, I hope you like these!
Also, what are your favorite summer songs? (I'm a music junkie, so please, I hope you can recommend some for me!)
Just a bright, happy song to cheer you up when you're on the road. Jason Mraz is made of pure awesome, and he has a lot of bright, happy songs which I love. Also try "Make It Mine" and his version of "Melt With You" from the "50 First Dates" soundtrack.
2. "Whoo! Alright - Yeah...Uh Huh" - The Rapture
This one totally screams "Pool Partay!" to me, which probably has to do with its music video:
This is a new favorite, and quite frankly, I'm a little addicted to it! I've had this one on repeat on my iPod for a while now. It's from a KPop experimental group called Clazziquai Project. The vocals on this are awesome. More importantly, this song makes me want to wear a sundress and put flowers on my hair. That's how summer-y it is.
I first heard this song on some random compilation they were playing in a record store, and I thought it was lovely.
10. "We Give In Sometimes" - Up Dharma Down
"Sand and the sea, meet in between. Fire and ice, you and I..." I absolutely love this song and this band. If there's one song I'd like everyone who's read this post to listen to, it'd be this song, because it's from an awesome Filipino band that deserves global recognition (which they've already received, mind you - they were featured on Time Magazine once!). And check out the awesome video!
11. "Ocean In Your Eyes" - Smokey and Miho
This one's also from the "Y Tu Mama Tambien" soundtrack. Apparently the girl was from Cibo Matto, and the guy is from Beck! I had no idea.
12. "Better Together" - Jack Johnson
You knew there had to be a Jack Johnson song here somewhere, right?
13. "Put Your Records On" - Corinne Bailey Rae
This song is here because of the line that goes "Sipping tea at a bar by the roadside (just relax, just relax)."
I grew up watching black-and-white Beatles performances, and I remember having one of my very first little girl crushes on the very young Paul McCartney in those videos. I read somewhere that this song came to George Harrison as he was walking around the garden on a beautiful spring day. I think that if a beautiful spring day were a song, it really would sound like this.
15. "Summertime" - The Sundays
Probably one of the oldest songs on this list, and a timeless favorite for me. A long time ago, in another blog, I wrote this to describe it: "Catchy tune, interesting lyrics, totally feel-good - it's the perfect non-love song for the summer."
16. "Walkin' on Sunshine" - Katrina and the Waves
I was born in the 80's, but unfortunately, as I was too young, I have no memories of that decade. But I do remember discovering music from that time when I got a little older, and this one is definitely one of my favorites. It's just so fun to listen to! You can't not cheer up after listening to this song.
Everyone and their mother probably has a casette tape of this stashed somewhere so I won't be putting a link to the song here, but I am posting this video from one of my favorite books and movies, "High Fidelity", where a hilarious Jack Black plays "Walkin' on Sunshine" and just goes crazy. Happy summer everyone!
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