Intoxicate me now.

Toxic. The latest song which has managed to bury itself into my head and get stuck there. And before you run off thinking that it's the Britney Spears song I'm talking about, stop. Yes, it is her song I'm talking about, but covered by the most wunderful Yael Naim. 

Rising to fame when Apple featured her song "New Soul" in the MacBook Air commercial, rumour has it that it was Steve Jobs himself who discovered her. Of French-Israeli origins, she sings rather well in English, French and Hebrew.

And she was in Madison last night. Music is usually so much better live, but yesterday was so much more. Giving off an Anne Hathaway-Julie Delpy vibe (which could never ever go wrong, obviously,) she was enthralling, accentuating the music with some memorable antics. And that voice!  

I'm positively smitten. :) 

The highlight of the concert for me was Toxic. The studio recording is lovely, and the live version magical. What she played at SXSW comes close, I suppose. 

It was hilarious when she started playing New Soul. Half the girls in the audience (and two guys. Just two,) ran up to the stage and started jumping up and down. 

And the applause after the concert did not stop until the whole troupe came back on stage wearing red (Go Badgers!) and performed New Soul again and then some. My feeble words cannot do justice to her music or her performance. She's touring in the US for the next week or two. Hope you can catch a concert!

New exhibit unveiled.

Chicago, IL. A new exhibit was unveiled on Saturday at the Art Institute of Chicago containing a single photograph by a reclusive French artist who wished to remain unnamed, titled Au large de la fonte. 

Noted Italian art critic Grigio Pellegrino had this to say about it, "... [the photograph] embodies contrapositive destruction, the removal of one object from the universe by another leaving only the shell of existence which reflects the human condition."

The late Henri Cartier-Bresson was unavailable for comment, but the manager of his estate expressed strong feelings of disappointment that the photograph was not in black and white. 

The Indian Association of Orthopedic Surgeons issued a vociferous statement alleging that the photograph belittled the human trauma that ought to dominate any study undertaken, however artsy(sic), of orthopedics. When asked if the leg ought to be included in the photograph, the director instead suggested an inclusion of the surgeon involved in the creation of the cast. 

The exhibit is open from 10:30am-8:00pm Monday through Thursday, 10:30am-5:00pm on Friday and 10:00am-5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

In between lenses.

Most people who love photography get stuck behind the lens a little too often for their own liking. It isn't something that is easily admitted, though. 

It's nice to have someone better than yourself at photography come along with you to lovely places. And include you in the frame in a most tasteful fashion when possible.

Taken in MahakooTa and Badami, Bagalkot district, Karnataka.

Photos courtesy Grey skull. And that awesome cam of his.

To drink philosophically.

Café Descartes: I drink, therefore I am.

Taken from a bus somewhere in the Near North region of downtown Chicago.