The Sweetest Taboo

Possibly one of my favorite songs with a video to match.

Sade (pronounced shar-day) is as beautiful as her singing.

This song from 1985 represents everything that was right (and wrong) about the eighties in London. 

Right

A love of all things Spanish. Madrid was THE place to be and visit. The colours, the people, the styling, its music, the food and drink. And of course, love and romance.

The music video is London to a tee, in terms of fashion. Check out the band members.

Distressed denim. Blue, Levi's 501s were THE cut, paired with a leather belt and large silver buckle. Red bandanas tucked into pockets.

Note the zoot suit style of trousers with braces buttoned on. The pork pie hat.  The short back and sides, grade one haircuts. With a quiff. 

My youth.

The red shirt and denim jacket. The bass guitar up high, in his face, Mark King-style. All thumb strumming. Trombonists. Acoustic guitars. Black and white. And no second rate misogynistic rapping about byatches and bling.....

And her.

The large gold hooped earrings (I love). Red lipstick. Ponytail. Kohl-framed eyes. The brows.

Her high-cut light-brown suede jacket with silver clasp (very gaucho style) and cuff detailing. And the shoulder pads....

The way she walks, and moves across to the band.....absolute sensuality in a pair of old battered jeans. Evening gown or denim make no difference. She is the embodiment of her music. It speaks for itself. No novelties needed here.  

Sophistication. Beauty. In a class of her own.

And him. Strong Latino looks, crisp white shirt, and a pair of Raybans. Enough said....

And that tune.  The drum intro, sexy jazz bar style throughout. This was wine bar muzak in every way. That haunting voice....

Wrong

I love trying to interpret lyrics. But unless you are the song writer you will always find a different understanding to its original meaning.

Is it about her loving a man already in a relationship? Who knows. Written in the mid-eighties, a lot was still considered taboo.

But at the time it was rumored that the "sweetest taboo" was a reference to skag, better known as heroin. 

Something that will always be a painful reminder for those old enough to be pubbing and clubbing in eighties London.

Her riding the horse is supposedly a metaphor for "riding the horse", or taking heroin.

She was rumored to have been a junkie for several years, before becoming successful. And to have sold her body for her fix.

To know true happiness you must know pain first. And that comes thru clearly in this song.

Fortunately that rumor was proven to be totally untrue and its more likely to be about good old love, sex and romance.

The only certainty is that when she writes on the window at the end of her video, she is spelling out the word temor, Spanish for fear.

Is the sweetest taboo fear? Maybe. But a fear of what.....falling in love? 

(ADL)

What if....another tardy response

If I could share a PBJ with you at the beach, my day would be even warmer.

Washed down with ice cold tonic, I'd be your best performer.

Taking long beautiful walks together in the forest, I hope will never end.

Lost in time, one star at a time, each and every weekend.

If we can laugh until you hurt my gut. I'll know right there, you're the right nut.

But if I had one question for Atticus Finch, I would thank you, Ma'am.

If Bruno was my brother, I'd care for him like no other.

And if Lennon never met Ono? His work would just be so-so.

If I could name my black stallion, he'd be my lifelong companion.

If I could guard my heart from temptation, from what isn't mine.

With you right there, I'd still be the first in line.

If I could cheat death, would I? Hand-in-hand, shall we try?

What if...

The Human Face of the UK's War in Afghanistan

You will never see what he has seen. He will never seem the same.

After a three-week long patrol, the 1000-yard stare...

To see the BBC's full story and more pics, please click here

David Lynch's Twin Peaks returns

This quirky, awesome, weird, strange, amazing, far out, unusual, "special" series is to return next year.

And that means an excuse to watch the old series all over again.

Read full details in today's The Guardian here

Asia’s Endangered Colours

When flying off to some far-flung destination in Asia, the colours I witness on arrival often set the mood for my stay.

Colours are where my journey begins in search of absolute beauty.

As I come in to land, the deep blue sky is a subtle introduction to what lies ahead.

Depending on the time of the day, I’ll be lucky enough to encounter that deep, rich azure background. Broken up only by the white puffy, cotton wool-like clouds stretching across the heavens.

I look down and the blue seamlessly merges into the island’s surrounding turquoise waters. Interrupted only by the small white horses, the crests of waves, breaking up as the breeze picks up.

Washing against small fishing boats, in search of their daily catch.

I haven’t even arrived, yet my mood is already building up for what lies ahead. Relaxed, excited, and expectant.

The colours of blue, green and white, resetting my temperament, as the aircraft slowly descends towards my island destination.

It could be Bali. An island closer to home, such as Pulau Tioman. Or one of Southeast Asia’s many other beautiful island retreats.

But its colours are where I begin my journey into paradise.

Or a trip to colder climes in South Asia, up on the border with the Himalayas and Tibet.

I’m flying through thick white clouds as I descend towards Ladakh, in India-controlled Kashmir.

Looking down I see huge, white mountaintops, their background a bright electric blue sky.  Snow-capped with silver lines.

Connecting down to the different meandering valleys that stretch for hundreds of kilometers through the mountain range.

Some of these silver lines are rivers flowing under the ice that will have melted by August. Only to re-freeze a few months later, as winter sets in again.

But as you close in on Leh Airport, you encounter a high-altitude desert. There is beige colored sand everywhere. At 4000-meters you do not expect to see sand so close to snow.

And lower down in the valleys, the rivers are bordered by vibrant, green vegetation on either side. Irrigated by the fast flowing rivers.

Light is a funny old thing. It allows us to see what is around us. It allows others to see us. Without it, we would all be stumbling around, shrouded in darkness, and covered in cuts and bruises from our trips and falls.

It is the energy that gives colour to all things around us.

It is the quality of a destination’s natural light that has always made a place for me. The further away from the bright lights and noise of the big city, the better.

The best time of day to take photographs that capture those warm colour palettes is early in the morning, and early in the evening.

Early in the morning, take in the deep saffron coloured robes of monks in Shan state, Myanmar, as they receive food from local residents.

Or watch the deep, rich, bright blue and emerald colored ceramic tiles of mosques and mauseleums in Xinjiang, northwest China, as the sunsets, reflecting off of them.

But unfortunately there is one colour I have increasingly noticed during my regional travels the last two decades.

It’s a grey, dull, unfriendly, all-enveloping colour.

We sometimes experience the worse of it here in Kuala Lumpur, a few times a year. Sometimes lasting a couple of weeks. In Singapore and Jakarta also.

It’s the colour of economic development. It is the colour of pollution. In its worse form, it is thick, dangerous to breath, hazardous haze.

The region’s unfettered economic growth of the last three decades has produced a very ugly and dangerous, side effect.

A few years ago, I caught a train from Hong Kong to Beijing. It’s a very slow 24-hour long journey. Perfect for unwinding and relaxing. Catching up on your reading, and listening to music.

The last five hours of the journey approaching Beijing, I couldn’t see the sky due to the high pollution levels. And in some parts I couldn’t see further than 100-meters ahead of me.

Most of us want to own a car or motorbike. We all want to have the latest, fastest, thinnest, smartphone, tablet and laptop computer. But at what cost to the environment?

Have you noticed our beautiful colours disappearing?

"Just Keep Swimming" Thirty best film quotes since 2000

Click here to read the full article in today's Daily Telegraph.

"Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf**king snakes on this motherf**king plane!" Snakes on a Plane (2006)

"Let's go to the Winchester, have a pint and wait for this to all blow over"Shaun of the Dead (2004)

"If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." Taken (2008)

"What did you expect, an exploding pen?" Skyfall (2012)

"Now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled." The Prestige (2006)

"I want to play a game..." Saw (2004)

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." Gladiator (2000)

"But then I realised maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in f**king Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn't die." In Bruges (2008)

"Norway has trolls, so more power lines are needed. That's just the way it is." Troll Hunter (2010)

"If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world." The Master (2012)

"Just keep swimming." Finding Nemo (2003)

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is."Zoolander (2001)

"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained." The Hunger Games (2012)

"I drink your milkshake!" There Will be Blood (2007)

"I am Groot" Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

"You go Glen Coco!" Mean Girls (2004)

Wendell: "It's a mess, ain't it, sheriff?" Ed Tom Bell: "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here." No Country for Old Men (2007)

"The cold never bothered me anyway." Frozen (2013)

"Everybody runs, Fletch." Minority Report (2002)

"Do I look like I give a damn?" James Bond (Daniel Craig) after being asked if he would like his vodka martini shaken or stirred, Casino Royale (2006)

"I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman." The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

"I'm watching you, Wazowski. Always watching." Monsters Inc (2001)

"I love lamp." Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

"Say what you like about the Nazis... they had style." Outpost (2007)

"Oh my gosh, look at that fluffy unicorn! He's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!" Despicable Me (2010)

"Life is only on earth, and not for long." Melancholia (2011)

"It's not murder, it's ketchup." Hot Fuzz (2007)

"You smell like pine needles and you have a face like sunshine."Bridesmaids (2011)

"Why so serious?" The Dark Knight (2008)

"You're not an asshole, Mark. You're just trying so hard to be." The Social Network (2010)