Sh'PAM! PAM! PAM! Another one bites the dust!

Today, because I am, somehow, for no apparent reason, in a martial mood, I shall write a post about songs that I'd listen to if on my way to a battle. It's actually partially inspired by Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (whom I love)... in the book he says that each of us is born with his or her very own song, and all you need to do is find it. Then he writes about a lady and says :

"Take Daisy, for example. Her song, which has been somewhere in the back of her head for most of her life, had a reassuring, marching sort of beat, and words that were about protecting the weak, and it had a chorus that began "Evildoers beware!" and was thus much too silly ever to be sung out loud."

I find the idea so amazingly cool, and I wish I had exactly that song in the back of my head, that's the type of person I'd like to be, I think, a little bit. It's probably one of these leftover things from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In any case, I don't. I think my song is about marshmallows and puffy blankets. That's fate for you.

In any case: I like the idea of a marching sort of beat to lead you through life's daily battles (like ordering coffee at Starbucks in German and getting the English accent on the right words. Bringing yourself to talk about something really important. Getting that stupid paperwork done. Getting out of bed. You know what I mean...)

So here are 5 songs that I think are good battle-fighting songs.

1) Another one bites the dust. Or We will rock you. I don't know what it is with Queen, really, but every time I listen to their songs, it gets me completely hyper. I'm not exactly a fan, and I don't even like everything they do (like, for example, "Princes of the Universe", which is terrible) but MAN! These two, and a few others, they are so awesome and so completely great that I find it hard to believe anybody actually wrote them. I think they must have been part of our collective imagination much earlier on.

So that would be for physical tasks, I think. Like going to Ikea and getting that 45 kg bookcase back home using only public transportation. And your roommate (eternal gratefulness, but the SHAME!!! OH THE SHAME, IT HAS NO END!!! Like a GIRL, for heaven's sake...)

2) Uninvited, by Alanis Morissette. I don't like this type of over-emotional songs, usually. I'm very easily ironic and snobbish about that type of songs. But this one? I don't know. It makes me want to punch holes in a wall and grow taller and taller until I'm big as a statue and shining and terrifying, a little like Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings movie. That would be for... getting angry at someone you like.

3) Sunday Bloody Sunday, by U2. I'm in a U2 kind of mood, these days, weirdly. That song is just great, and it makes me want to move mountains. That would be for political battles, obviously. That would be for going to a demonstration.

4) Inertia Creeps, by Massive Attack. It's a nice crescendo-type song. Really cool on the train to somewhere where you're scared to go. Matrix-type of mission.

5) Alles Neu, by Peter Fox. I don't know if you know Peter Fox, reader. He's a really cool German hip-hop (kinda) singer, and this song is about destroying things and starting a revolution, and beginning again from scratch. It's, hence, self-evident the type of battle that this is about.

With this, all I can say is: peace out (ha ha ha)

Note to self...

Dear future Claire :

Whatever happens, come wind, come rain, if you're alone on a friday night and feeling pathetic, DO NOT, DO! NOT! Decide now's the appropriate time to try listening to Radiohead's OK Computer. It is wonderful indeed. But it's giving me a blue screen (ha ha ha).

PS: In case you were wondering, I'm perfectly fine, and will be fully operating again tomorrow.

I'm my own grand'pa

Hullo reader ! Well, I haven't been writing here in forever, so I thought I'd drop by, and keep you updated on my status, because, as is famously known, my life is rivetting. So here are 5 random news from Cologne.

1. I still love it here. I love my room (which is actually furnished now, and very comfy too, thanks to the generosity of... we'll say Santa Claus, but you know who you are), my flatmates are still great, and if only I could manage to drag my butt out there, I'm pretty sure I'd even enjoy the city in itself. I've been a little short on time, in fact, these days, and haven't been to the city center this week. Maybe it would be a good idea to get some fresh air. And ice cold wind. And rain.

2. I went to a techno party with flatmate N the other day. I went mostly out of curiosity, but I really did love it. I think it's not really music. And I don't mean that in a grandmother "that's not music it's noise" kind of way, obviously. It's just, it doesn't talk to your ears so much as to your ribcage. It's music that you can actually (cheesy-alert) listen with your heart. I mean that literally. Because it vibrates. Follows that you can also listen to it with your lower intestine, but that's a really cheap joke. "Bässe massieren eure Seele" I guess is what I mean, but Peter Fox said it better than I can, though it's a little pompous for my purpose, I guess.

3. I'm going to Senegal next month, to work. I'm kind of scared. I don't know what to expect, there are going to be hundreds of us out there, and I don't generally like such huge gatherings, but I'm still very excited and can't wait to be there. It's probably going to be sunny as well, which really will be a nice change, the weather here is just plain depressing. I already got my shots and my passport, and my plane ticket and all, but I still feel like there's no way I'm going to Senegal in a week or so. Still, it's going to be very cool, and my friend J is going too, so I'm guaranteed to have a lot of fun.

4. I've been watching too many stupid videos on the internet lately. Especially Muppets video. Therefore, I've had stupid songs stuck in my head for days, like the Manah manah song, or the one that goes "I'm my own grandpa ! I'm my own grandpa ! It sounds silly I know, but it really is so, oh I'm my own grandpa". It has been a constant and conscious effort not to start yelling them out in the kitchen randomly. I'm holding on. I think it may burst out of me some time, and then, though I will still find my roommates great, they might change their mind and throw me out on the streets. Thanks for nothing, Jim Henson!

5. I've bought a salad today (rivetting, I told you). One of these pre-mixed, ready to eat things with mayonnaise in them. I thought it was perfectly innocent coleslaw, carrot-free and delicious. It actually containted PINEAPPLE. PINE-APPLE in COLESLAW. Germans are mad.

Well, that's it from here, I believe. I hope you're well. As for me, I'm going to go have a look in the kitchen, see if there's something reasonable I can scavenge.

When I was out there

Well, I'm back already with the promised post about the Cranberries concert I went to last week. But first, let me get something off my heart: I'm very, very sorry about my complete and utter incapacity to deal with double punctuation and spaces in my English texts. I keep wiritng "oh !" instead of "oh!" and I'm very sorry about this. Just so you know: in French, there are spaces before and after :;! and ? and this is all very confusing for my little brain.

Now let's get back to the concert.

I like the Cranberries very much, and have liked them ever since I was in Junior High... I don't really remember which song started it, whether it was "Dreams" or "Ode to my Family", but I really, really love the music and have always been impressed by the voice of the singer. So when me and my best friend V heard that they were going to be playing at the Foire aux Vins in our hometown, we decided to go (and I got invited! Thanks, V!), especially since the first half of the concert was going to be the Gotan Project (see this here if you're interested) and I liked them a lot. They are not very well known, but I had heard parts of their first CD at my sister F's place.

I was a little worried about said first part, though, because it's got nothing to do with the kind of pop/rock band I am used to seeing in concert. It was, however, really great, what with videos and a little bit of theatre, and a guy playing the bandonéon (O.ô for the badonéon, I tell you, reader...), and though it took the audience a little time to get used to things, they ended up being a real success. Still, I find it a little... say... odd, to pair up the Gotan Project and the Cranberries, but why not... I, for one, was very glad to see them both.

As for the Cranberries, V and I were really excited about seeing them, and the concert went great, (we were really close to the stage, too, and there were quite a lot of real fans in the audience, so it was nice), only the sound was a little strange, and we couldn't hear the singer properly. She kept going backstage for a while and coming back and going again, until they just stopped playing, because of some support power system failure or something.

They hadn't sung their most famous song yet, so the crowd went wild and started screaming, and then I went wild and started shaking (I don't LIKE IT when 10 000 people scream at an empty stage, it makes me feel like I'm in "28 days later", which is ironic, because they all wanted to hear "Zombie"), and then they turned the lights on, said "yow, be quiet, they're coming back" in a very, very unpleasant manner, and then they fixed the problem (much more pleasant) and the band came back and sung the last 3 or 4 famous songs that they hadn't had time to sing before, and left.

I juste hope they'll still come back and won't hate us for screaming because of the power shortage, because they really are a great band. She said "We're Irish, we've invented Murphy's law", which was as good an excuse as any for the Foire aux Vins' technical shortcomings... Which were surprising, because I love going to FAV concerts, and it was the first time ever that anything went wrong, as far as I am concerned...

Anyway, thank you, Cranberries, and thank you V, for a really cool concert (and the photo, as usual, is courtesy of V as well, since I'm not good at all with a camera).

What it's for, or what it's about...

I’ve been working reader! Real-working! A mission! Cool and interesting!

I met another one of those guys. Did I ever tell you about the volunteer interpreter guy from Copenhaguen? I think not. He was a volunteer interpreter. From Spain. Very tall, lean, handsome, with the whitest set of teeth and the nicest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. Cultivated and funny, and he could play the guitar and sing. And then someone said he had trained as a doctor. I’m pretty sure the man’s hobby was saving kittens from fires. Made me want to go back to bed.
Well I met another one of those, yesterday. Same kind. Organic farmer, sporty, looked like a hippie, taller version of Edouard Baer (if you are not French, you might not know, but I do. And it’s a good thing, to look like Edouard Baer in my book). Then he said he was also into music. Then he said he had worked with orphans in the Himalayas. I hesitated, and then I grunted and decided I found them both annoying. Do you think it’s a healthy reaction?

Anyway. Over the course of the week, I found out one more thing to tell to my imaginary group of students about being an interpreter (yes. I’ve got followers in my head. They follow me around and say “yes master, you are wise”. In fact they are mostly a little group of Claires from the future, whom I tell that I am very stupid now, and they’d better improve before their turn comes. It is a little less self-important than it might seem).

Where was I? Oh yeah. One of the things I tell my imaginary group of students about being an interpreter, is that you need to be able to stand alone in the middle of a big, empty hall, and look like you’re OK with it and you belong there and you need no help at all. I believe this to be an impossible task.

This is one of the parts of my jobs that I like a little less: arriving at the venue with no idea what to do, who anybody is, where you need to go, and generally what to do with your arms, that are so bloody long, and your mouth, which you suddenly realized is a little frowny, but then you smile, and then you feel stupid, and then you bite your lips, and you look stupid and affected, and then you start frowning again. Sometimes, I try reading, but read what?

The best is when you have something related to the theme of the conference, (not a book, because you don’t want to look like you don’t care, not your vocabulary list, because you don’t want to look like you don’t already know it all by heart). Like maybe an article about the eating habits of penguins if you are going to a Linux conference. Loosely related. Knowing all the while that no one gives a damn what you read, I’m aware of that fact. But I can’t help it. And my little group of followers are still running around in my head, waiting to be impressed by my amazing skills.

In any case, followers or no, when I am sitting alone in an uncomfortable leather chair that is much too close to the ground, studying my shoes and making bets with myself on the number of places where my feet are going to hurt when I take them off tonight, I often wish I just were home. Home sounds nice, at 7.30, when you are alone and embarrassed. So here is a list of things that make me feel like home.

1. Knitwear and jam. Not both together, of course. My mother used to knit (she stopped now, somehow), and all my pullovers when I was a kid smelled like the hospital, because she had knitted them there (my mother’s a nurse). Now I’m the only person in the world who actually likes the smell of hospitals. As for jam, jam makes me feel like home for exactly the same reason. My mother makes jam. It is like a fever, a passion, an industrial endeavor, call it what you like, but it causes my home to smell like hot orange juice or strawberry very late at night. Somehow, jam only works if you make it very late at night. I keep annoying my mother about making crazy sorts of jam and letting the whole fruit in them instead of mashing them up, but the truth is, whatever the shape and form, it’s always nice to have your home smell like jam when you go to bed.
2. Talking about knitwear, that old dark blue pullover which is one of the rare items in my closet that are actually too big for me. Never felt cold in that pullover, and it probably has to do with the fact that it was worn both by my sister and my father. Who could feel cold in a pullover like this? It’s thick and itchy, and it’s got a nice, night color. It weighs about 5 kilos. It is immortal. It is the father of all pullovers. And it still looks new.

3. De Palmas’s “Marcher dans le sable.” Reminds me of when I was in high school in a weird, good old times kind of way. It’s not particularly happy, either, but somehow to me, it will always taste of summer, laughs, running around in fountains and sun.

4. The Star Wars movies. After watching them 678 times each, (probably a little more for episode 6, I guess) they still totally work. (Do I need to specify that I only like episodes 4 to 6? I hardly think I do…) I know the dialogues pretty much by heart, but only in French, because I was too young to read the subtitles when the rage was full on…

5. The Indian restaurant where I helped out when I was at the university. I still go there regularly, and even when I just think about it, it makes me feel like home. I went to a street festival the other day, and there was a stand with Indian cuisine, and it smelled like the restaurant, and I wanted to teleport. I did not, and I still had a great evening, but you get the idea.

I’m leaving Germany next week, and going back home for a while. Well, I’ll be off to Brussels soon, even though the European tests of death are postponed till April next year (Can I swear on the Internet? I believe I cannot. I shall refrain. I already said Arsch last time…), so I won’t stay home very long, but still. Bye bye Stuttgart, live long and prosper etc. Maybe I’ll tell you about homecoming, and leaving places where you settled for a while next time, if I find 5 interesting things to say!

After the storm

Reader, I've officially had enough. I'm a healthy young woman, and I've been sick for one week in a row, that just cannot be tolerated. Back pains, then a really bad cold and temperature, and today, migraines. Now I'm complaining again. Sorry. Still, I figured, while I am sick, why not let others enjoy a bit of what I learnt over my last 5 or 6 migraines. Could be helpful. Most of these 5 hints would be considered common sense by most. But, you never know. Hence: Top 5 things NOT TO DO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES when you have a migraine, or feel a real bad one coming up.

1. Watch Eyes Wide Shut. Now I would say that one of the things NOT TO DO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE even when healthy is watch a Stanley Kubrick movie, but I might just be mean. I never could watch any until the end, so I suppose I cannot and should not judge. Still, Eyes Wide Shut with a migraine is an even worse idea than Eyes Wide Shut when healthy, and that's saying something. I stopped understanding anything, saw black patches all over the screen, nearly threw up on my Australian cousin, who was home at the time, and then went to bed and cried myself to sleep. One very, very good night for me.

2. Go to you german sight translation course, even though you know you are the only sucker who goes there every week, and you are bound to end up alone and helpless. But I already told you about that one.

3. Pretend you're fine and go have a friendly chat in German with your roommate and his friends. Who are listening to hard style techno music. Makes your head pop. I've come back from the dead to deliver this message to you : No hard style techno music OR German conversation when you have a migraine. What happened to me is what happens to the aliens in Mars Attacks. T'was not pretty, and from above, I can see my roommate trying to scrub the remains of my brains from his scorpions' terrariums. (Sorry, gross)

4. Go for a walk because you figure maybe fresh air would help. Even though the German countryside is beautiful and the cherry trees in full bloom, it will not improve your situation, you will want the stoopid birds to shut up already, and generally hate anyone driving a car.

5. Read those Harper Connelly books by Charlaine Harris. She's the one who wrote the True Blood books, which are great and very funny. The Harper Connelly series is very good too, but much less funny, and much more Stephen King like. Absolutely gross and very dark and cruel. Bad, bad mix when your head already hurts and you just want soothing. I just want soothing, reader. However, the Charlaine Harris book has got me hooked, and I want to know the ending. Sometimes, you must suffer.

Well, here we are. Yet another self-pitying post. It's actually not so bad, and I'll be much, much better tomorrow, the situation has done nothing but improve over the last few days. I hope that you are doing good!

The Cave

Hi again, reader!

Now that I have moved to Germany, I figured I could try and start blogging a little bit more regularly. It will help with my English, hopefully, since I am speaking German so much lately. Of course, right now, I am back at my parents' place, sitting on the couch, but it won't last, I'm going back tomorrow. In any case: I will try to blog more often now that I am having adventures in a foreign country on a daily basis. First type of adventures I had last week: Spending time in gothic-dark-metal-rock-clubs in Germany.

Now if you know anything about me, (just read the previous post, for example), I am not a gothic-dark-metal-rock-club type of girl. I am a folky-pop kind of girl, and I like to drink herbal tea. I gather, also, that German gothic-dark-metal-rock-clubs are particularly... let's say... radical. I might be wrong, however, as I have no points of comparison whatever. Still, I spent some time in them last week, since it's the type of things my flat-mate M likes to do. It was really great fun, in a Discovery Channel sort of way... Here are 5 things I discovered :

1. You can be the Prince of Darkness and the King of Doom if you wish to. Just do it. It's OK, here. You are among friends. I find it pretty cool. Give me two weeks, and I'll be the Duchess of Night and the Marquise du Désespoir. It sounds so much more gothic in French, I figure...

2. If you wish to be the Prince of Darkness and the King of Doom, however, watch the DJ closely. He might choose to play little pranks on you. Like for example wait until you and your valets are very, very drunk and then play "Walking on sunshine" or even, amazingly "Ca plane pour moi", a weird Belgian hit from the late 70's, by a guy named Plastic Bertrand. (It's in French, but it's still Belgian. :D YOU GUYS NEED TO TAKE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES). The sheer name of the singer gives you an idea of what it sounds like. It was a very... 4th dimension sort of an experience. Or rather, Close encounters of the 3rd kind, maybe.

3. You will be more noticed wearing a T-shirt and jeans than, say, a tartan skirt, a linen shirt, a jingly little ankle-chain, and a dead racoon hanging from your back. I am not kidding you about the dead racoon part. However, apparently, wearing a washed out 92 Backstreet Boys Tour t-shirt is OK too. Did I ever tell you about Colin Farrell... Crap, no. That was Boyzone....

4. If you are the Prince of Darkness and the King of Despair, you also know how to dance to the music they play in clubs like the ones I was at. I can't. I can dance on Rihanna "Pon De Replay", and I'm not even so sure about that. But: My challenge for next time around: Play "Pon De Replay" in my head, and try and dance to that, while completely ignoring Rammstein in the background. I'm pretty sure it will be a huge win for the Claire Team. I'll keep you informed. ("let the bass from the speakers run through ya sneakers, move both ya feet and run to the beat" \o/ _o_ \o/)

5. Maybe, just maybe, I'm completely losing my marbles. It is a possibility I can't ignore. I'll keep you posted on this one too, I promise.

PS: Another mission for next time: Learn how to spell Marilyn Manson before saving my beautiful Paint illustration.

Thistle and weed

Reader, I need to tell you something veeeery important. I have found it. All the time, when listening to music earlier, I thought "that's THE band. THE band that was started just for me and I'll love them forever". I never do. But this time? I found it, I did. And you need to listen to it, you do.

MUMFORD & SONS

I told you about them in an earlier post, presuming I might forget all about them in two days. Instead they grew on me. Then I saw them in concert, thanks to, but sadly without my sister M (thank you, thank you, thank you for telling me about the date, and sorry much that you weren't there). I was there however with my best friend V, who did not know them that well, but was instantly convinced. Amazing is how they were, and nice, and just what I needed.

Here are 5 things I love about Mumford & Sons.

1. I can listen to the whole CD ("Sigh no more", buy it! buy it!) without finding one single track I want to skip. The sad songs are great, the happy songs are great, and when there's one I like a little less, I listen to it again, and I find it awesome.

2. They are a folk-band. I do believe "folk" is what I like. I thought it was country, but I think now that it is rather folk. They play the banjo, and most of all, they all sing together. Oh my. People who sing together, I don't think I could find any example of an occurence that I don't like. Abba: check. The destiny's child: Check. Russian army choirs? Check. Mumford & Sons? You bet.

3. They have great lyrics. Now, maybe just by my own standards, I don't know, but I think they are great. First of all, their song titles are beautiful. "Thistle and weed" being my personal favourite. They also say things like "and pestillence has won when you are lost and I am gone". Pestillence! Pestillence has won! And also "you are lost and I am gone" I don't know, it's nothing special, but it just gives me the shivers. And also, between the great lyrics, they breathe in and just sing one note and you can feel that it comes from the pit of their stomach and they give all the air and the strength they have and you just want to fly and sing too and you love the world and you love them. That's how it makes me feel, and I don't care if it's cheesy.

4. I am not at all ashamed of loving them. Most of what I listen to is... best described by the terms "girly-pop". I know it, and I regret it, but you can't fight your feelings, can you. Even when they are for Brian Adams ("Everything I doooo, I do it for youuuu"). But Mumford & Sons, that's another deal altogether. Hell, I even bought a T-shirt :)

5. They get me in a group-hug mood that I wish I was in more often. They make me want to be nice. I don't know why or anything, it just is so. It was the same with "On the road again", by Canned Heat, I remember, one day, we listened to it in the car with my sisters and my brother going to my grand parents. It was a long time ago, and my sister F had just brought their greatest hits CD, and I remember thinking "how I love them all, and how beautiful is the world we live in" and such. You know what I mean. Well, Mumford & Sons do the same to me. Make me want to spread the love. So here I am. Spreading the love. I hope you'll like them too. First one is sad, I must warn you. Second one is the first one I ever heard, so I'll try it on you too.

White blank page

Random fact time ! No top 5 today. Just random facts:

-My "official" computer, the apple of my eye and the essence of my days, has been fixed by my super-powered brother in law V. I can now type with reasonable intervals between the keys, which is really nice. Feels like luxury, after using me eeeePC for so long. Like for a week, that's how tough my life is... I'm very glad about this, and so here we are: an Internet tribute to V, whose week-end was spoilt by my merciless nagging.

-Have you ever listened to Mumford & Sons? I heard of it on Craig Ferguson, the other day (today, in fact), and when he said "English pop-folk band", and said their album was named after a Shakespeare sonnet, I knew I'd love it. I was right. I mean, what's not to love? English, Pop, and Folk. With a little Shakespeare thrown in. Do listen to their songs, they're really brilliant, I hope they're really, really successful, and I likes them much. They have banjos and they sing together and they're like the band that needed to be invented just for me. At the crossroads of Joe Purdy and Flogging Molly. (And a little bit of Damien Rice, as well, though that's not my favourite side of them, with all due respect to Damien Rice. There's only so much Damien-Riceness I can take, and Damien Rice himself should stay in charge of it).
Go on Deezer right now, reader, and tell me what you think. (I have discovered them today, I might have forgotten all about them tomorrow, but I don't think I will.)

-What I like best about modern society and the internet is THIS type of things. I don't know if it's me, but it makes me cry. This one does, and the Belgian one in a train station where everyone starts singing "The sound of Music" too. And then I feel better about life in general.

Here are my news for today. Three random facts. I have to say: This month of fFebruary has sucked. I hated it (apart from some cool stuff, like my sisters coming over, or going to the movies with my friends). I hope March will be better, and I'm sure it will, with the help of flash mobs and Mumford and Sons and sunshine and more good stuff. Blank slate: now, it's time for the spring.

Lots of love,
Me

Every step

Lo reader !

I have not written in quite a long time (how many of these posts start with that same sentence, I wonder...) but I was quite busy. I ACTUALLY was quite busy, for once, since I finished my final paper from hell (though I had a lot of trouble with La Poste, and let it be known right here that I really, really don't like them. *insert something rude*). Anyway, between two nervous breakdown, I still found time to go to a festival in my hometown, Colmar, and see plenty of concerts, which was absolutely great. Great, great, great.

Here it is, then, the top 5 concerts I saw at the Foire aux Vins this year. Top 5 rules apply (I saw only 6 concerts, and I'll spare you the BB Brunes, which is a French pop group and which I don't like very much. At all. And there are not enough numbers in 5 to make room for Superbus either, which is another French group, and which was nice and all, but not really my cup of tea.)

Well.... here goes!

1. Cocoon. First group I saw this year. It's a French group, but it's in English, and their songs are all soft and pretty. They were very nice and funny, and the perfect way to start the whole series. Do listen to their songs, and maybe look at their videos too, they're really nice and put you in a great mood!

2. The Do. They are kind of French too, I believe, though they sing in English, and they are at least part Finnish. Well, let's say they're European. They absolutely did not sound like what I expected, and I liked them very much all the same.

3. Charlie Winston. Might well be the best concert I ever saw. It's definitely in the top 2, anyway. (I feel very sorry for my sister M who was not with us, but if he ever comes to Brussels where she lives, I'm in!). I was in love when I got out. I don't quite know with whom, but I sure was. He started the concert, then his brother joined him (Tom Baxter, apparently well known in the UK, and very very good at playing the guitar and being awesome), then at the very end people from Cocoon and the Do as well as his brother joined him on stage and it was really, really cool.

In case you don't know about Charlie Winston, his album's called Hobo, it's just brilliant and it makes you feel happy. Do listen to it, and tell me what you think. Especially... Well, especially all of them, but more particularly 'Tongue Tied" and "Every Step".

4. Amy Macdonald. I don't know if I ever told you about Amy Macdonald before, but I bought her album about a year ago after seeing her 2 minutes on a French TV show. I just love her voice and her lyrics are nice and it's folk music, which is, I believe, my favourite kind. She's from Scotland, and no one in the whole room could understand a word she was saying when she spoke to us, but the concert was still brilliant, and I wish I could go back and hear it again right this evening. Thank you so much, V for inviting me!! And if you don't know Amy Macdonald, I would say... listen to.... "Barrowland Ballroom", and "Let's Start a Band".

5. The Babyshambles. We waited for one hour, and were quite convinced that they wouldn't come, since Pete Doherty had had legal troubles, but they were very much here in the end. I did not know their songs, and I don't even know why I took the ticket in the first place, since I did not know the music and was firmly convinced that they would actually not come, but I don't regret going for a minute.

The atmosphere was incredible (really), and the music was great, and their rendition of Twist and Shout was just... well. We all twisted, we all shouted, and we had a great, great time. I felt a little bad though, because... well, I know it sounds silly and probably patronizing and all, but it made me a little sad being so happy and seeing that man on the stage being so not well. Made me think of that song by the Flogging Molly that goes:

"Well it breaks my heart to see you this way

the beauty in life where's it gone?

Somebody told me you were doing OK,

somehow I guess they were wrong"

But. It was a great concert, and I loved every minute of it.

Altogether, it was a great, great festival, and I really want to go again next year and see as many concerts as I can. There really is nothing like live music with cool people around you, in my opinion. And then you can go have a dring and talk about the coolest bands you saw and all, and it's still great memories years after. What was the coolest band you ever saw? I need to know! I need to know who I have to see next year!

Paper planes

Hello again, reader !

Yeah, two post in two days, I'm just in a crazy mood, don't get used to it...

First of all, let me wish a happy happy birthday to my brother P! Happy birthday P! Hope you have a really nice day!

Now to today's post: I have been to the movies recently to see "The Boat that Rocked" (called "Good Morning England" in the French version, God knows why...) and I liked it a lot, and it made me think about how great soundtracks can be, in movies. A few days before, I had watched Star Wars episode 4 with my mother (4, 5, 6, let me say it once more, the only Star Wars episodes worth watching) and it had reminded me how important soundtracks can be, in movies.

So here you are, my top 5 soundtracks (musicals excluded, because that's cheating, and I've done it already anyway...)

In order to keep me sane, please do refer to the Top 5 rules in the right-hand part of this blog!

1. Pirates of the Caribbean. The soundtrack just makes me happy. Also makes me march down the corridors of the subway with a Xena the Warrior Princess grin on my face, which I know is going to cause problems sooner or later. But there's really nothing quite like the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, except maybe for...

2. Star Wars. It's mythic and great, and I like that low, humming noise you get when Vador walks in, and I like the main theme, and just listening to the music at the beginning, with the text fading away in the starry sky, makes me feel like I'm 5 all over again. These movies, reader... I don't care what happens with the franchise now. These movies are just great.
3. Pride and Prejudice. This is the one I like to pretend I'm a 19th century English lady to. Especially on the train to Brussels. Going all "my is that couch slow" and batting my eyelids at my reflection in the window, pretending Mr Darcy is sitting in the seat in front of me. Of course, that's just before I fall asleep, start drooling on the seat and can only be woken up by the ticket punching guy after the third time he's called me and tapped on my shoulder. Less ladylike, but very entertaining for all the other people in the wagon.

4. O Brother Where Art Thou. This is not very original, I know, and the movie is actually not that great, but the soundtrack is just brilliant. I don't think I'll ever get sick of these Alison Krauss songs. I don't think I'll ever get sick of any of that soundtrack. Only problem is, I can't listen to it on public transportation, because I can't help but sing along, and there's only so much my dignity can take. Drooling and snoring is OK, singing is a no-no.

5. Slumdog Millionnaire. Not very original either, but really, really, those M.I.A. songs? That great, great one with the gun-noises? And listening to a song that goes "some I murder, some I let go" on the Parisian subway is also quite satisfying, I must say. It is possible that I have a murderous light in my eyes while doing so, but then again, I pretty much always have a murderous light in my eyes in the Parisian subway, so it's not too embarrassing. Pretty much everyone does. Thank you to my sister F, by the way, who both gave me the CD as a present and pointed out to me what the singer was saying. I thought it was "sam sam sama sama mah dah". Now my life has changed.

Anyway, here it was, my top 5 soundtracks. I have to say it. I probably have forgotten some great ones. Elizabethtown, Juno, Shrek, Shrek, Shrek (crap, I've forgotten Shrek...) all kinds of great soundtracks. Don't resent me.

Have a nice day, reader!

Seems like everywhere I go...

The more I see, the less I know...



Ok, granted, it's not too original. But hell. That's a good song. In fact I was on the verge of a terrible panick attack tonight, and then I went and saw a Craig Ferguson video on YouTube (I've been doing that a lot when I was on the verge of a giant panick attack, which has happened often this week. I love it. And then I make stupid private jokes with myself all the time...) Anyway.

I was looking at Craig Ferguson videos on YouTube (because I don't have CBS here at my flat) and then I saw that video of Michael Franti & Spearhead, and suddenly I felt much better. I do hope it will have the same effect on you. Especially if your back is stuck. But I'm just saying.

Spread love, reader ! Weee heeeheehee...

PS: Here's the non-live version if you like those better. I know I often do.

It's not easy...

Well, I've written a post some time ago about songs in movies and series, and then I wrote another one about movies that make you cry, and after being (once again) reduced to a pathetic soup after listening, in a row, to all the great, great songs my friend H gave me (they always have that soupifying effect on me, but I've had a sad, sad week this week too, so it kind of soupified me ²), I decided to tell you about one particular song, which is kind of part of the soundtrack of my life, and always makes me feel better.

The song, reader (yeah, that suspense was killing you I know, it's about to end, pretty soon. By the way, did you know that it snowed in Colmar this week ? Amazing, innit ?) is called "Superman". Hence the "soundtrack of my life" comment, since you know by now that I have superpowers, an amazing strength, and a thing for capes. Nah, just kidding (about the superpower thing, I do think capes are the ultimate classy accessory, and they should be made compulsory from the age of 20 onwards). The only superpower I have is that of helping old ladies reach the can of peas on the top shelf in grocery stores. And I often demand to get paid.

Anyway. "Superman, It's not easy" is a song by the Five for Fighting, which, as soon as I steal the secret of the deezer.com widget from M, I will link here, for you to listen to. It was used in many soundtracks, because it's so beautiful and cool, and it's about Superman and how it's not easy to be great. It makes me feel better for two main reasons :

-It goes "It's not easy to be me" and "even heroes have the right to bleed" and stuff, and it's a bit like someone going "now now, darling, you're just great, it's OK to crack down once in a while" like that. Handy to have someone like that in your MP3 player for nights of desperation...

-After listening to it a little while, it makes me laugh, because as I stated earlier, I have no superpowers, and my life is pretty easy. So I exaggerate the drama queen aspect of crying to a song, laugh a little at myself, think about why my life's so easy, and then I always feel much better. I had to change the next track on said MP3 player though, because it was a song by Francis Cabrel, whom you probably don't know if you're not French, but who is a disease which can only be cured by two lexomils and a triple vodka. Now the next track is Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca". Thank God for Ricky Martin.

Anyway. A song I wanted to share with you, so that maybe it works on you too. Have a nice day !!

Sun pokes through my lashes

Isn't that cool ? "Sun pokes through my la-a-a-shes"... Don't know why exactly, the sun poking makes me smile. May be because I am sun-deprived at the moment who knows...

Anyway, I was on the bus this morning (as every morning) and since there was no cute Indian bus driver to talk to (did I tell you about the cute indian bus driver?) I listened to my MP3 player and it got me thinking about how much of the songs I really like actually come from series or movies. But mostly series. So I figured I'd do another top 5 about the series with cool music. Hope I can find 5. Mostly I wanted to get rid of the gross art-work I designed for my previous post, I admit... but still...

1. Buffy. Buffy has been the source of many great songs that I listen to all the time. Including Nikka Costa's "Everybody got their something" which I find really cool, and brightens my mood everytime I listen to it. Right now, though you can't see me, I am shaking my head to the imaginary rythm of Nikka Costa. It is also thanks to Buffy that I now listen to K's Choice, though indirectly I must say, since the one who invested was actually my sister Marion. The Buffy Soundtrack song is called "Virgin State of Mind" and it is great, and I think it was the main reason why M finally bought the album, which I, in turn, listen to all the time. Though I know it is going to get me in the mood for slithering down to the basement and eating Nutella directly off the pot (lots of things have gotten me in the mood for that lately, though... Slugs are not the last of these reasons).

2. See ? I knew that. 2 only, 3 to go, , and I already need to think... Ah, yeah, House MD (would have said Dr Who gladly but -really- I can't. Dr Who's music is mostly just weird instruments going whoooo whooo whoooo all the time. I am not in favour of it.) The House MD soundtrack is really good, and I tend to think (though I am probably robbing some extremely worthy soundtrack-picker from his well-earned glory) that it is because Hugh Laurie knows and loves music. Whatever the cause, though, I listened just yesterday to "Desire" by Ryan Adams, thanks to House MD. I'm in favour of Desire, by Ryan Adams.

3. The problem here is that from 3 to 5 are mostly series I have never seen. I know of some great great songs from One Tree Hill, or the OC, or Dawson's Creek. I know the songs are great (the Snow Patrol and other truckloads of cool, girlie-pop) but alas, I cannot give my opinion as to the series themselves, insofar as:

- I have never even watched an episode of One Tree Hill mostly because I choke on my tears after watching the first 5 minutes of the show because the music is so moving, and then I feel ashamed, and then I go do something useful instead of watching TV.

- who knows what fans of Dawson's Creek could do to me if I dared to call it lame yet once again

- I have never watched the OC because I have not. I don't like the characters too much, so I change channels.

-There is also the strange case of Grey's anatomy which most of my friends really like, but which I have never watched. I hear the Soundtrack is brilliant though, so I mention it here.

Anyway... It is getting a little late here so I guess I'm going to go back home now... Hope you're having a nice day, and all !! Go listen to "Everybody Got their Something" if you're not, it might help...

3%£**8 the whales, save the plankton

Not from a song, from a book. Which claims it's from a bumper sticker. Already told you about the book, btw, called "The Metaphysical Touch".

Anyway, I figured it was a good quote to introduce my post which is (not really) about the Fête de la Musique. The Fête de la Musique, as you might have guessed, is a French... well... a celebration, I guess I'd call it if I was asked to write a post about it... A celebration. A night when French amateurs go out on the street and make some music. Which is cool, really. Only I think it's become a little to whaley recently, and the plankton seems to have dramatically disappeared from the radar (yeah, I know you'd never see plankton on a radar, but you see what I mean. Make an effort for the sake of my cool metaphor, will you?).

Metal punk rock underground trash hard punk metal did I say punk groups seem to have taken over. Which is cool, I mean, because we need it and stuff. Only the trouble is, sadly, you don't see too many string quartets playing near the river anymore, because mostly, bigger groups have oversized speakers, and you wouldn't hear them. This is a street, guys, not the Stade de France. But it was still fun to walk around with my best friend V and make silly comments about people, and we had a nice evening, which is the main thing!

Besides, we still heard nice music, like for example a gipsy music group near the library, which was really cool and nice, and I hope there's here again next year.

I also turned on the TV when I got home, and guess who I saw there ?? Jason Mraz. Did I tell you about Jason Mraz? I don't think I did. Because I was waiting till I had actually bought the CD before telling you about Jason Mraz.

He's very very cool, and since I discovered his coolness on the "50 first dates" soundtrack, I have found at least 3 songs which made me make faces when I was on the bus. Like ^_^ that.
maybe even like *^_^* that. And I hadn't even seen his tattoo at that time... I also got more interested through my friend A, from Dresden, who told me more about his awesomeness. Mr Mraz, indeed, seems to be much more popular in Germany than he is in France (i.e. He is popular in Germany, and no one knows him in France) and I first heard "I'm yours" while listening to the German radio SWR2...

Anyway. You just need to listen to Jason Mraz. So here are 3 "videos", I hope you like them. I do anyway. In case you hadn't noticed.

Life is Wonderful. Only I like the accoustic version much better. (Or is it accoustique?)

^_^²

My favourite link, cause no video is always better if you ask me.

As you might have guessed, I also bought the CD, except I have not listened to the whole of it yet, (I am currently watching Dr Who like a maniac, and when I am not, I am watching How I Met your Mother like a maniac, and my MP3 player's packed, so I have to figure out what to erase before I have room for Jason Mraz, and then I'll be able to give each of the songs a thorough, bus-riding listening, and it's going to make me happy before I go to work, which is, believe me, not that easy.)

Have a nice evening!!

Love is the seventh wave...

Today, Reader, I want to talk to you about Stingian wisdom. Stingian as in "Sting-the-singer" not as in "the people of Oriental Stingnesia", because remember, it's me talking. Besides, there is no such country as Oriental Stingnesia. Not that I know anyway. Maybe I'm going to get terrible comments and death threats from people from Oriental Stingnesia. Now now... This post has not even started yet, and I'm already putting my life at risk...

Anyway. As I said, today, I want to talk about Sting's lyrics. I'm not generally a huge fan of his work, though I really like what he does. I don't know, he's just a little too "I love the planet-ish" for my taste (says the big U2 fan, who still believes Bono has superpowers and is just about to save the planet by singing "One" in a beautiful duet with Bill Gates...) Sting's music's just some random stuffI like to listen to once in a while, if you see what I mean. But I was listening to it on the train yesterday (yeah, it's just some random stuff, but it's still on my MP3 player...) and I figured that his lyrics are really good.

Once again, they are not particularly original ("the Russians love their children too..." that might well be true, but they still call them Boris and Vladimir, which sounds pretty cruel to me... Now I'm going to get death threats from Russians too...) but still, they are sometimes very good, poetic and well... it looks like I just ran out of adjectives. They sound a little like sayings really. Simple truths, things like that... "takes more than a licence for a gun"... And not just in "An Englishman in New York" which is obviously based on the concept.

But still, "a gentleman will walk but never run" is my favourite example. I tried explaining that to my PE teacher for years on end. I walk, I'll walk for hours if you like, just don't make me run! It makes me look red and sweaty and I pant. It's not LADYLIKE!!! They would not listen. I don't know if you ever had to suffer the high school yearly race, reader. If you have, well, I propose we start some kind of club. "We survived the high school yearly race". We can trade secrets about how to fake an asthma crises or hypo-glycemia, immitate our mum's signature and stuff. I'm pretty sure it could come handy in our professionnal life too... "Can't come in! I'm sick. Look! My mum wrote a note!"

Anyway. Where was I... Sting! Sting. Well, I would have liked to move on to Fragile, and how it's very beautiful and wise, just like nearly all other Sting songs, but I'm afraid this post is not serious enough to adress such matters as a beautiful song, and I would hate to receive death threats from Sting fans as well. I'm in a silly mood so I'll not try to address poetry today... I guess I'll just leave it at that then! Have a nice day!

Oooh oooh I'm an alien....

How wonderful life is...

Well, reader, now that Sweeney Todd is out, I can write my post about my five favourite cinema musicals. Indeed, now, musicals are hype, and I have no reason to be ashamed. At least not right now, because you haven't read my list yet. Wait a second, and you shall see... Anyway, I thought it would be important to write a post about musicals, because they are one of my favourite kinds of movies. Make them sing, and I'll like the movie, it's nearly a guarantee. Even if they don't sing well, even if the music is terrible and the story even worse, I'm going to like it. Or at least to sit through it. It's just that it makes me wish my life was the same way...

You know, as in that Buffy episode (Once More With Feeling). The whole town is possessed by a demon who makes everybdy start singing random songs. I love it. I wish we were allowed to start singing random songs all the time for all kinds of pretexts, and no one would look at us as if we were weirdos. I never tried, but I can imagine what it would look like if I got up on my desk in the middle of my french-to-German translation class and started bellowing "girls just wanna have fun" at the top of my voice. Or "lonely, I'm so lonely", on the street at night, coming back home from the train station... Supposedly, Johnny Depp would start singin the same song in L.A. and we would end up making a wonderful duet without even knowing it... Hmmmm... I wish...

5. Grease. Ok, now I'm ashamed. But come on, it does rock, doesn't it? They dance, and they sing, and they're very good at improving my mood, and their dresses are actually coming back into fashion nowadays! The return of dotted fabrics and yellow leather jackets (!)... I would actually give up the terrible "sad" love songs by Olivia Newton John. They are terrible. Like yellow leather jackets.

4. Might well be "Music and Lyrics". That was god fun too. I liked the fun part. I'm a fun-loving person, actually. And also, I must admit, I like Hugh Grant. I know, I know, that's not very original, as 50% of the population likes Hugh Grant (the other 50% are male). So yeah, Music and Lyrics would come 4th.... here comes the backside tag... :D

3. Once, I guess. I really loved that movie. But I already wrote a post about it, so I'm going to leave it at that. It was really great, though...

2. Number two would be Singing in the Rain. A classic, with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds (she's Princess Leïa's mother, in real life, how could anyone not like her??). Even now, when I watch the "Make them Laugh" sequence with Donald O'Connor, I just can't help laughing. And also that blond gal who keeps saying "What do you think I am, dumb or something?" (Well, it really doesn't sound as good when it's written down). Anyway, it's really good fun, and the music's nice, and it makes you feel like tap-dancing. Besides, when it's grey outside and it's been raining for days on end, you can think about that mythic sequence with the post light, and it helps cheering you up.

1. Incontested first would be, of course, Baz Luhrman's incredibly great musical Moulin Rouge! with the greatest music ever, without which I might never have known Ewan McGregor's incredible talent and beautiful set of teeth. He's got such a voice!!! But apart from him, the movie is really great, the music is original (even though nearly all songs are remixes (if you can call them that))... Incredible people are involved in the soundtrack, by the way, like Bono, Beck, David Bowie, Fat Boy Slim... and also it makes you cry, and cry, and cry rivers. That Baz Luhrman, really... I which he would shoot more!!

Anyway. As you might have noticed, I have not included any Indian movies in there, though I'm a huge Bollywood fan. I wouldn't have known where to put them, in my top five. Would have made everything too difficult to rate, and besides, it would have been unfair competition. Well, reader, I'm going to have to get back to work, now, cause I'm such a good girl. I wish you a very nice day! The hiiiills are aliiiiiive....

Almost Happy

Well, reader, I did it again. I've got a weird curse on me, I think it's related to the one that makes me eat everytime I watch CSI... I know it's going to make me pukey, and I still decide to eat, generally gross things like broccoli with tomato sauce or anything vaguely brain-looking... It's weird. Maybe I should write a book, like "Lose Weight With CSI"...

K's Choice is a brilliant Belgian group, about which I don't know much, but that they wrote one of the best albums currently on my player (Yeah, I know, reader, it did not have much competition, what with Abba Gold, the Spice Girls, and Shakira, har har har... it's easy to make fun.)

As I was saying, it's one of the best albums I have, but it's also one of the most depressing. And everytime I'm blue, I listen to it, and it makes everything even worse. I know it's going to make me sad and depressed, and yet, I can't help it.

But I still wanted to tell you about it, because it's such a brilliant album. Besides, it's not really depressing, if you look at it properly. Some songs are actually all the opposite. But those songs which are depressing REALLY get you down. (-I refer here to "Shadowman" and the bonus track -which should be delivered with a pack of Lexomil...)

Anyway. I don't think I'm making such a good advertisement for the album, but really, it's beautiful and you should listen to it. The "Almost Happy" one is the only one I've ever heard, but I know there are others, maybe more rock'n'roll, I guess. Oh, and they wrote the great "Virgin State of Mind" song, which is also in the soundtrack of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

There we go, reader ! That's about it for today! I hope that you're doing good, and I'm going to the kitchen see if I find a truckload of chocolate... Dream on... Well, I guess I'm just going to keep pestering Bernie till I find something to cheer me up ! YouTube, here I come !!

Ja dieses Schunkeln kann ich nicht ausstehn...

Hey reader!!

I have two hours to kill before I can go and eat with my friend V, and I'm already very hungry, so I thought I'd come here and write a post in order to make time go faster. I really don't like the university's computer rooms, reader, it's cold (because the window's open, not because of the inherent coldness of information technnologies or any such thing), and nobody speaks because they have been trained since birth by all librarians on the planet to NOT TALK when in a big room full of people. Most of the people I can see from here are actually doing the same thing as I am (i.e. checking their mail, checking up their favourite actor on the IMDb...), and I hardly see why we couldn't enjoy a little chat while we're here, but hell... We know what happens when you try to play this little game with the librarian, reader! Death awaits! Pain, first, then death. The Nazgûl librarian lurks behind his (its?) desk with his (its?) sharp teeth and beady eyes! Keep silent!
Anyway. I finished my "Referat" on thursday, and I was just soooo happy that it was over that I felt like singing a little song. I did not. But I felt like it. Besides, I was all stressed out, because there are really cool people in my group, who speak perfect German, and to whom I would really hate to appear stupid or dull, and they were not there! So it was OK, pressure off! And the teacher liked it, and so I'm pretty happy. Besides it's over! It's the over-ness I like best, I think.

While I'm talking about German presentations, I figured I could tell you about the Wise Guys, which I heard about during a German presentation. I don't know, some of you might know them, but it's all German-speaking, so you need to speak a little German if you want to be able to enjoy the music. Yeah, because they are musicians. Their "particularity" is that they only ever sing, they do not use any music instrument. I've never been a big fan of beat-boxes, I always figure it's kind of disgusting and can't help thinking about how much they must spit, but then again, with the Wise Guys, it's OK, it's not as bad as it could be. They have one particular song which made me laugh a lot, it's about people in Germany who can't help swaying from one side to the other as soon as some music's playing. The lyrics talk about sea-sickness and lemmings, and wonder why people don't just get up and dance, which I've always wondered myself. Granted, it's not overly clever, but still, it's funny. Well it makes me laugh. And for once, I actually listen to some music in GERMAN, which is something close to a miracle, so I thought I'd tell you about it! (I seem to have become too old for such phenomena as Tokyo Hotel, and "99 Luftballons" is cute, but it's just the one song. And the Fool's Garden only ever sing in English, which is not helping my German much...)

Anyway. I guess I'd better go now, I wanted to write a little add for the translation project I'm in this year (we need to find actual customers, so we need to advertise, of course), and if I don't get started now, I probably never will!!

Have a nice day reader!

Make your own kind of music

This morning, on my way to the metro, I was listening to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" soundtrack. And suddenly I thought, Claire, that's what your next post is going to be about: Music and cinema. And music and TV series of course.

I mean, isn't The Music really important, don't you think? Can you imagine a movie without any music? Most of the times, what really gets you crying or worried is the music isn't it? The psycho knocking on a glass with his teaspoon in horror movies, or the guy with the violin in love stories. Or Ewan McGregor and his amazing voice in Moulin Rouge, like (yeah!! here comes a picture of Ewan McGregor!!).

Besides, what do all famous, mythic movies have in common? A famous soundtrack, you name it!! Star Wars (tatatataam taaam tatatataaam tam tatatataam tam...), Indiana Jones, The Godfather, Matrix (wake uuuup!!! Waaaake uuuup)... Same goes of course, for shows (Buffy, the X-Files (piu piu piu piu piiiii piuuuuuuuuu), Dallas...)

I think the composers do not get enough credit for their hard work. John Williams is pretty well known (he's the one who composed the music for all George Lucas's and Steven Spielberg's movies, plus a few Harry Potters I think), and so is Danny Elfman (all Tim Burton's plus The Simpsons), but other cool people like Klaus Badelt (the one who wrote the extremely cool Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack), or Patrick Doyle (Much Ado About Nothing, some of the Harry Potters...), are not very well known at all. (Lord, reader, I hope you follow, my use of brackets is getting eerie...)

I have to say, I am always impressed by the multiplicity of the abilities of these people, but most of all by those of Michael Giacchino. He has invented all kinds of schpounks and bleeps and strange snorting noises for Lost (hey!! :D one more opportunity to stick a picture of Josh Holloway in, reader!!), and yesterday, I went to the cinema with my sister to see Ratatouille (which, by the way, is not as great as it's supposed to be), and who composed the jazzy music, which was very nice?? Michael Giacchino!! Unbelievable, is it not?

Well, anyway, I found it really strange, but reassuring as far as his mental health is concerned. I mean, the poor guy has had to scratch forks against china for years, I guess he can't ever stop shivering, and now, there he goes, an opportunity to put his ears at rest! I'm very happy for you, Michael, if you hear me (yeah, we are very good friends, Michael and me...)

By the way, he also wrote the music for Alias, which is a good opportunity to add a picture of Michael Vartan to this post... I just looooove blogging... :D

Anyway. My chinese lunch is going to be there pretty soon (hmmm.... I've been wanting to order for aaaaages and now it's time at last!!!)) So I guess I'll be leaving it at that...

Have a really nice day, reader!!