deluxe Blog and Journals

Ok, so I have been reading alot of post on buzznet talking about how they have gotten their brand new eyes deluxe edition. So far I haven't gotten mine yet. I know its probably sitting at the post office since they are closed on Sunday, but has anyone else in the US not get theirs yet especially if they are in the South East, because didn't they ship from Flordia? Comment  :)

With the release of the Common Existence Deluxe Edition (featuring 5 previously unreleased tracks) right around the corner, Thursday have premiered one of the unreleased tracks, "Common Existence," at AbsolutePunk! Listen to the track HERE!



Common Existence Deluxe Edition available online September 15th. Catch Thursday on tour this Fall, starting September 18th!

Hey Everyone,

We've posted the album version of "My Heart Radio" exclusively on our Myspace. We can't wait for all of you to hear the brand new songs and the remixed and remastered album versions of previous tracks on Eyes To The Sun. We'll have the album version of "Hello Mexico" coming soon to our myspace player so keep an eye out for it!

Also, Eyes to the Sun is now available for pre-order on iTunes. You guys can pre-order the digital album or you can get the Deluxe Edition digital album with four bonus tracks and our video for "Autumn." We know there are a lot of options to choose from so we've added a list to help you guys out.


Deluxe Edition Digital Album at iTunes
The album comes with the same 12 tracks as the CD and also has a bonus video for "Autumn" and 4 bonus tracks for $10.99
- "We May Be Cruel"
- "Pangaea"
- "Autumn" (acoustic)
- "Hello Mexico" (alternate verson)
- "Autumn" (video)


Regular Digital Album at iTunes
Same tracks as the physical CD for $8.99

Pre-Order Bundle from Online Stores
Each one comes with a free limited edition T-shirt plus the remixed and remastered album. You can pre-order the bundle from Smartpunk (with an exclusive signed poster), Interpunk (with an exclusive button) and Merchnow.

Hope you're as excited for the album as we are!

Love,
Sparks The Rescue

DELUXE

STANDARD

Hanoi is the elegant capital city of Vietnam sprawling its way along the Red River banks. There are many lakes, parks and leafy quarters which make the city just freshly green all year round. Ha Noi was first built in 1010 by King Ly Thai To who checked and found out that Feng-shui here was exceptionally good for the prosperity of the kingdom that time; Ha Noi was called Thanh Long meaning "the city of ascending dragons" then. Ha Noi is among the top lists of destinations for those who long for Vietnam vacations.

Hanoi's architecture is the blend of Vietnamese, Chinese and French. The city is known to the locals as three main areas: The Ancient Citadel Area (11th century) which was home to the Royal Family; The Old Quarter (Ancient Business Area) dated back from the 11th century was the business quarter of Old Hanoi; The Frech Quarter with French architure dated back from the 19th century were home to the French residents of Hanoi during their time here.

My family moved into Hanoi when I was 10 years old. The city was too overwhelmed for a boy who had been brought up amid wild and green mountains in the far-northern area of Vietnam. I had been more used to wild buffaloes plowing the green terraces than weaving chaotic traffic always full of mopeds and noise. Our new house was just by the airy and breezy West Lake which offered me a few free dips every summer morning. Every day, after school, I went to Bach Thao Park to seek new adventures with a few newly-made friends. My carefree childhood in Hanoi was full of fun and adventures.

Autumn in Ha Noi is like no others. It was here that autumn changed my life! I found myself waking up one morning caressed by the soothing breeze of fall with the news that I got admission to university! I ran for my bike and flew like a crazy boy down Thanh Nien Road to meet with other buddies for the coffee of celebration. That morning never fades out in my memory...

Seasons after seasons, I grew up with Ha Noi. The city seems to share the same rhythms with my heart and soul: be in when gathering with friends in the city parks; be it when mulling over my favorite hot coffee amid the old Town; be it the late nights I tumbled my way back home from the heavy Bia Hoi Stuff (draft beer)....

I'm about for an new adventure of life when my new project calls for my presence half of the country away from Ha Noi. Amazingly Ha Noi is heading into fall earlier than usual. I just wanted to take in as much as I could before leaving...Morning started with a walk in the chaotic Old Quarter watching traffic weaving through the smoke of my dear hot coffee as always. I suddenly didn't want to do anything, just liked to keep it this way forever. The sudden rain just set in and stopped, just like to bid farewell.

Leaving Ha Noi this time I'm sure I'll be away for a while. I'm off back to the mountains researching the new Vietnam holiday experiences. I'll help to bring all Vietnam travel experiences be it savoring the fine cuisine, be it getting lost in the culture; be it a hardcode biking adventure.... a complete one!
vacances au Vietnam
voyages au Vietnam
circuits au Vietnam

I started out blogging as an anonymous, gender-neutral, invisible writer with an androgynous nickname and no comments, no sitemeter, no pictures.

I eventually made connections among other bloggers. One day, I  left a comment on a famously femmefatale-ish lady's blog that I would be at the same concert as she was going to that night. The next post of hers was a brillliant slightly ashamed explanation of how she could never be seen 'off the air' or it would ruin the fabulosity and deluxeness of her remote image.

She has a buzznet account. She hasn't updated for two years.

I wonder about this. I wonder about the need for a new, artificially imposed 'remoteness' and mystery. I think of the people who claim to have had their hearts broken over bundles of electrons three time zones away. Pulses of energy.

One of my recent admirers, an overheated young aesthete and aspiring poet, has a convincing argument that younger men need to go through a phase of an ennobling love with an unattainable woman.

The book Sex In History argues convincingly that the whole concept of 'courtly love' was inspired by the stylized pining of Sufi poets for their ladies who were quite literally, physically unattainable. When the Crusaders were exposed to the idea of loyalty and unrequited love to the unattainable wife of a powerful lord, they converted it to Troubadour poetry, love for the sake of becoming a better man.

an attitude of subservience and fidelity to a cold and cruel mistress

an exorbitant and quasi-religious praise of the lady's beauty

the requirement that love be extramarital

(from the not-entirely-un-insane site "Woman Thou Art God"

(and, to her question, "Is man's worship of and fetishizing of beautiful women a hunger for Divine Feminine?" the answer is, in a word, Yes.)

So, if the Crusaders had to create and romanticize a false distance to keep loving their objects of affections, will prose-based, anonymous bloggers have to do the same in the new era of photoblogs?

Blogspot habits don't fly on Buzznet. Sorry.

Ignoring emails, not responding to comments, correcting spelling, furiously demanding that readers keep to the topic of the post, don't add to your artsy mystique here. It just makes you look like a dick.

And writing about fantasy sex doesn't make you sexy here, if that's important to you. I'm guessing our images of ourselves will become less important than ever with the rise of these sites. But I never tried to control how people percieved me anyway.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I leave you with these two thoughts -

The fastest-growing demographic in photoblogs, according to a study cited on PRI, are culturally literate and health conscious middle aged women.

And Andy Warhol's own favorite quote of his was not the '15 minutes of fame' thing, but "The most exciting thing is not doing it. If you fall in love with someone and never do it, it's much more exciting. "