Hawksley Workman. One of my favourite male singers. And the video is so beautiful.
Posts tagged Music
Zoey Van Goey is a local band we’ve seen on several occasions. They’re a an engaging live act and off-stage the members are talented, smart and nice. I was very pleased to find a video for their “The City is Exploding” – the art direction made me think of my very good friend (and frequent commentator) Darth Ken. Hope you all enjoy it and you are having a good weekend.
Blog silences happen when un-bloggable things are happening.
So, bloggable things in quick recap form:
- I’m reading a lot of Georgette Heyers at the moment. I’m on my third in less than a week.
- I’ve cast on for Helga Isager’s Pine in a new Scottish handknitting yarn. I will have to rip it out as I started the brioche stitch section last night at knitting group and Something Clearly Went Wrong.
- Wimbledon is in its second week and I’m really enjoying the coverage. I have always loved watching tennis – not just Wimbledon – and it makes for great knitting TV. Andy Murray is the homegrown hero, but I’m finding it slightly difficult to warm to him as he’s of the Agassi school of tennis and I’ve never been a huge fan of that particular style.
- And I also watched a bit of Glastonbury coverage on Auntie Beeb. Blur were fantastic (surprisingly so as they never were the best live act out there) and made me super-nostalgic for my youthful days.
Back to un-bloggable things.
I could listen to him all day (and frequently do if nobody else is around). Just listen to that phrasing..
(I was raised on a diet of Sinatra and ABBA – and Other Half maintains this fact explains my psyche perfectly. I have no idea what he means by that. Any takers?)
A deadline has been and gone. Yesterday, in fact.
So I can finally start thinking about packing for Denmark, buying Branston Pickle for my Danish friends (don’t ask) and even post-Denmark things. As I’m flying out on Monday, you could argue it is about time.
I’m still torn on whether I should buy A.S. Byatt’s new novel, The Children’s Book, for my holiday or whether I should wait until I come back and will have actual time to read (isn’t it funny how these things work?). Part of me wants to tear into it as soon as possible and another part of me wants to savour it. A new Byatt novel is always a cause for celebration, even The Biographer’s Tale which I read travelling around New Zealand and cannot remember very well except for a faint pang of disappointment.
After the deadline was met yesterday I met up with Tigerlilith as she wanted my opinion during button shopping. We found the perfect buttons at Mandors where they also had the most stunning Liberty fabrics. Specifically this red/blue print called out to me – I was already visualising a 1930s inspired tailored shirt when I reminded myself that I need a new hobby like I need a hole in my head. A reminder I also needed last night when Kirstie Allsop was trying to wheel-spinning yarn on primetime TV.
Finally, I’m completely sold on Patrick Wolf’s new single, Vulture, and the streamed bits I’ve heard of his forthcoming album, The Batchelor, sound amazing. My 2007 was soundtracked by his The Magic Position and if 2009 turns out to be soundtracked by him again, I shall be rather pleased.
(Title is from TS Eliot as per usual, you might say..)
After Georgia pulled out/was forced to pull out of this Eurovision Song Contest with their gun-to-head song called “I Don’t Wanna Put-in” (get the “pun?”), what can we expect from ESC?
You know I’d only do this for you, my lambs. I’ve sat through every.single.entry and this is the cream of the crop (in more ways than one).
Armenia: Bizarre video – part glamorous folklore, part gym class, part street dance. Surprisingly catchy but maybe be too weird for mainstream Eurovision.
Belarus: Mullet plus “his admiration with the vocal capabilities of Ian Gillan inspired a spiritual journey into the creative heritage of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even today Petr cherishes the hope to perform the part of Jesus in the famous rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.” A must-see video (for about forty seconds).
Bulgaria: A former mime(!) who sounds a bit like Jimmy Somerville. Classic Eurovision, in other words. In my weak moments I might put this on my iPod.
Estonia: The song reminds me a lot of Georgia’s 2007 entry whilst being really interesting in its own way. I also rather covet the singer’s hair.
FYR Macedonia: “I can’t see it qualifying, unless Europe is overwhelmed by a simultaneous and collective wave of nostalgia for early Bon Jovi b-sides.”
Norway: Full-on favourite to win – with good reason. Bloody catchy and upbeat. Looks even stronger now I’ve sat through the other countries.
Slovakia: Jesus, I’ve got records older than that girl. It is the year of dull ballads but at least this one has drama. Reminds me of Cyprus in 2000 (amazing and underrated).
Slovenia: Quite a year for violins. You only need to watch it from the 2.10 mark on maybe twenty seconds onwards. That dress. The voice. The song. Words fail me.
Turkey: Hotly tipped to win or go top three – and while it is certainly one of the most interesting songs this year, in a stronger year it’d just go top ten. Not a patch on last year’s Turkish entry (one of my favourite songs of the noughties in a completely un-ironic way).
Acts hotly tipped: Norway, Greece and Turkey. Finland and Ukraine are outsiders. Estonia is the dark horse.
And as Germany has just roped in Dita von Teese to help with their stage show, they’ll get some votes now. UK is completely deluded in its belief that a Lloyd-Webber dirge will win, of course. I expect Denmark to land midfield, bless Brinck.
Over all: A really weak year (unless you like boring ballads).
Suffice to say that I did not appreciate Let the Right One In. Despite liking little nasty books, I am definitely not a horror reader. It was also very, very wordy.
From one of the programmers behind Etsy, I give you Orbital B. It is “a collection of particles operating on one simple rule: choose another particle in the system and orbit it with a fixed radius at a constant velocity.” In other words: you get to play with little aplets and create really gorgeous art vaguely reminiscent of Umberto Boccioni (Italian Futurist whose artwork I admire).
If Orbital B isn’t your thing, how about NewScan. You select your favourite newspapers and, hey presto, you get to read the news. It’s pretty if a bit impractical.
Finally, some things once seen cannot be unseen; some things once heard cannot be unheard. So, keeping that in mind, here is Limahl and His Swing Orchestra. You can thank/threaten me later.
Denmark is the oldest kingdom in Europe with a rich history of conquest, trade and culture. Regrettably, being lower even than the Netherlands, Denmark will be the first to disappear as the waters rise.
The 5.5 million people of Denmark speak a language they themselves do not understand, with a numbering system that contradicts all laws of Math. Its consonant-free nature did not stop Denmark from winning the Eurovision in 1963; they won again (in English) in 2000.
Facts
Capital: Copenhagen
Economy: Dairy products, beer, cookies, exploiting Greenland’s natural resources and labour force, wind turbines
Famous landmarks: The Little Mermaid, Tivoli, Legoland, Birthe Kjær
I have found the essential guide to this year’s Eurovision. The darlings at ESCnation has compiled a guide to every single competing nation (and Georgia). It is hysterically funny (and some bits are not safe for work – such as the description of Poland) even if you do not care a tuppence about Eurovision.
Speaking of which, I sat through a live-stream of the Swedish national final and sadly the best performance was a strange, beautiful version of last year’s winner. I really didn’t get the winning song, Malena’s La Voix and, apart from a late 1990s-esque boyband and the ever discotastic Alcazar, didn’t tap my feet at any stage. Hmph. Sweden, you disappoint me.
(And in case you are dying to know, Norway is emerging as the big favourite to win.)
Yesterday we had snow, rain, thunder and sunshine .. and it looks like this pattern will continue today. Four seasons in one day.
Who am I to resist posting this:
My nose is running, my head is stuffed and my throat is sore. So, let’s cut this short.
The identity of the new Doctor Who is going to be revealed today on BBC1. I called Paterson Joseph in November after watching a potential slip-up during an interview. Behind The Sofa has an interesting discussion going with Stuart making a surprisingly good case for Hugh Grant(!) although the consensus seems to be either Paterson Joseph or Chiwetel Ejiofor. The Daily Dust points out that “if there’s a black doctor, it means that when the world gets round to doing all the press for Barack Obama and how black people are getting into positions never thought possible even just a few years ago, then Doctor Who is getting mentioned in those articles.” We shall know very, very soon.
UPDATE: None of the above as it turns out..
BBC has one of those prediction things that they like doing: “we may be witnessing the death of the English indie scene that rose out of the embers of Britpop, and has now become tired and cliched.” Which is utter nonsense, of course. We may see the end of identikit guitar bands pushed into the limelight by clueless record companies (The Pigeon Detectives, anyone? The Kooks?) but those bands have very little to do with indie music. Auntie Beeb also thinks that 2009 will be the year of electro-pop-rock which is a complete contrast to, say, Klaxons who vowed British audiences and critics in 2007 with their, er, electro-pop-rock.
I didn’t like this site when it first popped up, but it has improved. Which Book? gives you reading recommendations based upon parameters of your own choice. I plugged in a few “musts” and was recommended Patricia Duncker’s Hallucinating Foucault (which I have already read and absolutely love).
Have a lovely Saturday.
