Tuesday, May 31, 2011

fantastic website...

So whilst standing in the Post Office line, one of my best friends who was kindly standing with me mentioned to me about this awesome website StumbleUpon. What it does is browses the web for you after you have chosen your particular interests and then finds websites/images/etc. on the Internet that it thinks you will like and probably wouldn't have found without its help. Its really a gem of an idea and i have spent endless time stumbling upon amazing art, websites, facts, information and videos. Go check it out and make an account! :)

One Day Trailer 2011 HD

it will change your life...

So last year whilst travelling to Greece i needed a book to read, because the thought of sitting on long ferry trips to islands with nothing to read killed me... So i when we landed in Athens i dashed to the book shop to see what i could find. There was a fair selection on display yet none appealed to me. There were countless soppy love stories, a couple of thrillers, millions of travel guides, a self-help book or two and the odd memoir. Then i saw One Day by David Nicholls. I had seen someone on the Tube reading it and had thought the cover looked interesting and the storyline sounded good too. So i decided i would buy that. Well it turned out to be the best buy ever. I will recommend the book to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether you like novels or love stories (it isn't a typical soppy woman's love story). I was absorbed and three hour long ferry trips felt like three minutes as i was transported into the world of the characters. So absorbing yet crushingly sad at points. Everyone who read it after be gave it the thumbs up. So if you are looking for a fantastic and gripping book, read that, it will change your life! :)

And to make it better, they are making a film, planned to be released in August in the States. Very exciting!

delight of the heart kind of song

So we all have that song, that feel-good song that puts a smile on your face from the first notes played and continue to make your heart happy as the song carries on playing. There is that song that makes you think, wow, all is well and content and delightful in my world right now, regardless of how awful you felt that morning or how bad your day seems to be going... And yes it sounds cheesy but its true. The song might change depending on your current selected genre of the day/week/month but that same feeling still floods through you when that song plays. I love that feeling. I can't help smile and think wonderful thoughts. Right now, that song for me is "Good Life" by One Republic. I don't really listen to One Republic, find them a bit too poppy for my liking (i prefer rock and indie and electro) but this song which was featured on the "One Day" trailer just made my day and i immediately downloaded it and it has been on repeat since. Maybe i love it so much as One Day is one of my favourite books and i'm excited to see the movie and so the happy feelings towards that are transferred in the feel-good vibes of the song, i don't know, whichever way we look at it, its a good happy song. Give it a listen and be happy. :)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Music from the Underworld

I love Angus & Julia Stone (A&J) and their music paints such lovely pictures in my mind. Which brings me to say that i am in love with most music that comes out of Australia. We would all love to say we love our own countries' music and that the rest of the best music comes from America and the UK. And yes, a lot of great music comes from those two fore mentioned countries but i think it goes without saying, undisputed and silent victors are the Aussie's when it comes to the music scene... Their take on Indie and Folk is fantastic and the tuneage that crops up from Down Under never ceases to steal my heart with the mellow tunes and hollow twangs and of course, the heartfelt lyrics. The rock and alternate scene is great their too and their appreciation for good music is on a high level. They have an array of great festivals and concerts showcasing unknowns and also popular indie and rock bands. Although they are infiltrated with other genres such as Hip-Hop, Rap, etc, they reign in the indie scene. Unbeknown to most of the world, apart from the groupies of course, so many artists come from there, the list is long and strong and you would be surprised to hear which vegemite-eating, thong-wearing artists are born and bred on the largest island.

I salute the Aussies and thank them muchly for their great music.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Ma bug peu d'amore

little melodies of wonder

I'm a playlist person; i make endless compilations with ridiculous titles, grouping my music into titbits of heaven for my ears. So in a recent escapade on making a playlist that pools all my self-pity songs for moments of wallowing i stumbled upon my podcasts... i haven't listened to those in ages and so my numbers were up. I decided to take the plunge and listen through some of the tuneage that had piled up through the numerous podcasts i had subscribed to. And my oh my they were amazing. Why in the name of all that is glorious had i not been delving through them more frequently? And this also made me think, i am South African and we have a large music scene, yet i am not really interested at all in the music produced here but rather in other places like Australia where fantastic indie music is made. So now my music library has gained a rather wonderful sets of songs, some favourites of which i am now going to tell you all about so you too can share in the joy that is indie music and other interesting tunes.

Yeasayer - I remember
Sparkadia - Talking like im falling down the stairs
Gossling - I was young
Thieving Irons - Babylon is burning
Black Whales - Rattle your bones
Sun Airway - Oh, Naoko
Pomegranates - Skull cakin'