Empty Field

One of the artists I most admire and most enjoy listening to is Zoe Keating and hearing her new album "Into the Trees" for the first time over the last few days, I have not been disappointed. Her arrangements have always been exquisite, merging and melting layers of sonic perfection together and creating something truly special and unique. And on her new album she has truly blossomed, matured and demonstrated an incredible talent for making work that is truly special and moving. I just adore it. Along with the newest albums from Joanna Newsom, CocoRosie, Sia and White Hinterland, not forgetting Tom Ze's ingenious "Com Defeito de Fabricação", all of which are absolute masterpieces, it is one of my favourite albums of 2010, without any doubt.

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Travel.

I've never been to Asia.

I've been lucky enough to have spent time in Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean and North Africa in my life and to have seen some incredible places. But Asia remains completely mysterious to me. And I'm very curious. I've planned to spend a week in Cologne, Germany in September to study German and a few days in Marrakech, Morocco in November this year (25th birthday trip) and after that I think I might save my money and attempt to visit South East Asia at some point next year, perhaps in May. At the moment I'm considering Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand (and possibly also South Korea!) and am terribly excited about this! But these are all just plans. Fun plans. But plans nonetheless. At the moment I'm content and grateful to have a job I enjoy, live somewhere I love and have the luxury of traveling at all.

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I've been following the Charles Taylor Sierra Leone War Crimes trial with great interest. It's a fascinating trial, not least because of the involvement of Ms Campbell etc. Watching the videos of the testimony and looking at the proceedings from an outside perspective it appears more than a bit of a media circus. I can't say whether Taylor is guilty or not; I only hope that justice is done for all of those who were emotionally and physically injured by the atrocities which took place. Campbell's reluctance to testify and her declaration that the trial was an inconvenience for her has attracted much criticism, which I understand, but at the same time, what has been explained to a much lesser extent were her comments clarifying her reluctance. Her fear for the safety of her loved ones, she said, was her main reason in feeling uneasy and uncomfortable testifying against Taylor and probably the reason why, I believe, she refused to acknowledge him as the source of the conflict diamonds she received. I'm very curious to see how it all turns out.

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