dear music

brokeback mountain syndrome





































the star of the day-- Airbus A380
















stewardess attraction

introducing darling Seagull 4A-109 from lomography.


*gasp*

it's based on an original german design from over 50 years ago. a classic of analog cameras. excellent colors, resolution, and depth of medium format film. you need a firm grip on the seagull's solid metal curves, and this bird is not light at all.

i have always been curious abt the twin lens camera, how it works, why the need for 2 lens?
here are the facts:

twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective lenses of the same focal length. one lens takes the picture, while the other is used as the waist-level viewfinder. the viewfinder consists of a 45-degree mirror (the reason for the word reflex in the name). at the top of the camera is a matte focusing screen with a pop-up hood surrounding it.

The two lenses are connected, so that the focus shown on the focusing screen will be exactly the same as on the film, i.e. to eliminate parallax errors.

the typical TLR is medium format (using 120 roll film with square 6 x 6 cm images). presently, the Chinese Seagull and the German Rollei are in production. yes, the famous seagull is made by the Chinese.

the Seagull 4A-109. selling at 300 euros/usd http://shop.lomography.com/seagull/
china seagull www.camerachina.com

donna wilson is a british designer and knitting expert who creates unorthodox creatures like this:


angry ginger

www.donnawilson.com she also creates house furnishings

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

if you are into wierd looking toys, check out www.whitewall.com.au
by maggie pereyra

by kathreen ricketson

the wierder and more sadistic the toys, the more they calm stricken souls.

last week, i went to an annual Master Photographer Seminar organised by Photographic Society of Singapore. this year they have invited former United Nations chief photographer John Isaac to share his stories and experiences as a photographer with UN and Unicef. his main work is more or less of street photography.

John has worked with Mother Theresa, Audrey Hepburn and Michael Jackson, to name a few. he is a man full of life philosophies, which he infuses into his pictures. recounting his close shave with death at Rwanda and Kuwait, recovering from a nervous breakdown after witnessing the war, he said man has only 1 life, if you gotta die now, you will die now. as for taking pictures, he believes in not only seeing with the eye, but also with the heart.

he is now happily retired with his wife, occasionally taking a few assignments. recently he finds joy in nature photography, especially taking birds. sometimes he would let go of the "perfect" picture, because he know that nature is a cycle: a mother bird will fly back again with food for her chicks. by waiting for it to come back again, is to have understood more of the moment, and one may even take a better picture the 2nd wait.

John's life is no doubt an adventure. he started off as a baritone in UN, and his talent in photography just happened to be discovered in a small competition. hearing him describing his helicopter rides, him being ushered by bodyguards at arabian palaces, the living characters and their stories in his pictures, i cant help but envy him for all the opportunites he has of being a photographer with a world organisation.


kuwait at war. from a ship

http://www.johnisaac.com/ humble, sincere, articulate, lucky chap.

went outback steakhouse with hubby for a hearty american dinner. we had breadrolls(with butter), caesar salad, cream potato soup (cheesy cream soup with chunks of potatos), spring chicken(with cheese and bacon and fat chips), and shrimp and mushroom pasta(fettucine in cheesy cream). both of us felt more and more sleepy as we ate, like have downed sleeping pills. we slept on the whole bus journey back, and once home, plonked on sofa and slept further half hr. it is like drugged sleep. wonder if such symptom ever exists scientifically for over-consumption of carbo within 15min.

a trembling heart
is where the strongest heart would emerge
what the ****

customarily late, the twentieth and final Comes with a Smile has been sent to print. here's the track listing:

1. The Eighteenth Day Of May. The Waterman's Song To His Daughter (new recording for CWAS)
2. The New Pornographers. High Art, Local News (bonus track from Japanese CD)
3. BC Camplight. Suffer For Two (brand new demo recording)
4. The Mendoza Line. Tell It To The Raven (unreleased outtake)
5. The Real Tuesday Weld. Dreaming Of You (unreleased)
6. Rivulets. Can't I Wonder (solo version of track from forthcoming album)
7. Spoon. The Beast And Dragon, Adored (new recording)
8. Drive-By Truckers. Great Car Dealer War (unreleased outtake)
9. 31Knots. White Hot (unreleased)
10. Billy Mahonie. Minor Folk Tune (new demo)
11. Constantines. Shine A Light (unreleased live version)
12. The Howling Hex. Death Letter from Centerville Springs (unreleased live recording)
13. Gravenhurst. Entertainment (unreleased live recording)
14. Tim Bluhm. If Love Hath No Pride (unreleased)
15. Arab Strap. That's Where We've Left Our Love (bonus track from Japanese CD)
16. Mick Harvey. Just A Little Bit Of Rain (rare studio recording)
17. matt pond PA. NJ Holiday (brand new demo recording)

All tracks are previously unavailable besides #2, 15 and 16.


11th November 2005
A Final Smile?
A letter from the Editor

Due for mid-January '06 publication, Comes with a Smile's landmark twentieth issue looks likely to be our last. As long-suffering readers will be aware, Comes with a Smile's history is dotted with periods of inactivity and a publishing schedule that's been erratic at best. Recent years have seen a significant upswing in productivity, with a semi-regular output of three issues per annum with--we'd like to believe--a concurrent increase in production values and quality of content that represents true value for money in a market dominated by advertising-driven "competitors".

Sustaining this output over the past eight (yes, eight) years has always been reliant on funding from unsung individuals who soon come to realise that lofty entrepreneurial ambition must be unceremoniously swept aside in favour of pride at a job well done. One after another, those who have dipped into their pockets to maintain and enhance CWAS's visibility have come away with a stack of magazines, a handshake and a significantly depleted bank account.

Comes with a Smile continues to be a bedroom operation in every conceivable sense. Anyone calling to speak to the "accounts department" or "someone in advertising" expecting to be put through by a honey-voiced receptionist will, instead, be greeted with a monotone "yup" or "that's me" from yours truly. (That ping in the background is the microwave signalling my lunch is ready.) From this same West London room have sprung the last fourteen issues of Comes with a Smile, shaped via e-mail by a group of contributors motivated by enthusiasm for the music that encompasses (and effectively defines) what the magazine is "about". Reluctant to be confined by genre and frankly oblivious to (and frequently appalled by) what constitutes "newsworthy" elsewhere in the media, Comes with a Smile's raison d'être has always been to engage with our readership via conversations with and critiques of musicians and music that we deem "important" (without the elitism that suggests), and the overriding impression from your response is that we have succeeded. "So why stop now?" you ask.

It's become increasingly apparent in recent months that a profitable future for CWAS remains a distant dream, a fact exacerbated by the positive steps we've taken distributing the magazine overseas in ever-increasing numbers. Such steps have enhanced Comes with a Smile's reputation globally whilst hindering us financially to the point where a cry of "enough is enough" emanated simultaneously from both the magazine's current benefactor and your editor. In short, we've become victims of our own success. Furthermore I'll admit it's been tough to sustain my various roles at the magazine without a salary and the idea of entering a ninth year further in the red than at any time since our inception in 1997, seems a foolhardy "career move" at best. To stop now feels less like turning my back on something and more like turning around to face the wolves who have sat patiently on my doorstep for too long.

The closing of the covers should, at the very least, signal a major overhaul of the website, ensuring every printed word is preserved online. Ideally such an undertaking would encourage a more pro-active attitude towards the site as a regular source of up-to-the-minute reviews and interviews. Bandwidth permitting it could provide a desirable digital resource for our sought-after musical rarities as well. But yes, I agree (and indeed happily take credit for), the appeal of CWAS is largely tactile and its collector status cannot be replicated with a website. However, in the absence of any unexpected monetary intervention of lottery-win proportions, comeswithasmile.com at least offers us a continued presence in the world.

To practical matters. As of today, we are closing the subscription link on the website. We will continue to take orders for single issues (including #20 nearer publication) until our stocks are exhausted. All current subscribers will receive a full refund for any issues after #20 for which their subscription would otherwise have been valid. Subscribers who paid via PayPal will have the unused balance of their subscription refunded via PayPal, and those of you who have subscribed by cheque should please email Mark at sales@comeswithasmile.com with details of how you would like your payment to be made. We can only make payments in UK sterling.

To my left there's a cupboard where a set of Comes with a Smile is tucked safely away "for posterity". I think when issue 20 arrives back from the printer and my library copy takes its place on the shelf, I'll leave the few remaining inches of space empty…I reckon there's room for a few more yet.

Matt Dornan, 11th November 2005

this limited lomo lc-a darling is the newest collectible. only 50 pieces worldwide. cover drawings done in enamel paint. a package costs, ahem, USD350.

basking