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.

But my heart told my head

Pour une fois, un post en Français. Pour ma grand mère Jeannine, à qui j'ai loupé l'occasion de le dire. Je ne sais pas exactement pourquoi je suis en train d'écrire ça, probablement que c'est parce que j'ai trop peur pour le lire à l'église. Mais : C'est important quand même donc : Voilà, une petite liste de ce qu'elle m'aura apporté, personnellement, et aussi peut-être à ses 18 autres petits enfants.

- Un goût pour l'art et les belles choses, et l'expression en général. Un goût tellement prononcé qu'il aura même créé de vraies vocations chez certain(e)s d'entre nous.

-Un goût prononcé pour mettre les mains dans la patasse, dû aux séances de malaxage de glaise quand j'étais petite.

-Un goût prononcé pour les "beaux mecs", et pour les solides, aussi, parce qu'elle n'avait pas choisi n'importe quel grand-père.

-Un amour inconditionnel des "BN tout nus" + beurre et miel

-Des tas de souvenirs de vacances d'été, sous le cerisier, (généralement les mains dans la patasse)

-Une critique positive de Jane Eyre, qui m'a aussi encouragée à le lire.

-Tous ces livres d'art, dans la bibliothèque, et plus particulièrement ceux sur les créatures fantastiques. Qui font peur, mais qui sont tellement romantiques.

-Des Noëls, des rencontres chez elle avec des cousins et des cousines qu'on ne voit pas si souvent finalement, et que du coup, on considère comme une vraie famille. Un sens du QG. Qui restera là longtemps, longtemps après son départ, parce qu'on ne va pas laisser tomber ça comme ça.

-Des éclats de rires qu'on pouvait entendre depuis le premier étage. Et probablement depuis la maison d'en face.

-Un certain amour des animaux et des gens. Et la conclusion que "plus on les observe, et plus on les observe de près, moins on en a peur". Dans sa bouche, ça parlait d'une araignée dans sa cave, mais je pense que ça s'applique assez bien à l'alsacien d'à côté, en fait.

-Du coup, des voisins qui l'aiment, et ça, on ne peut pas en dire autant de tout le monde. Cheannine, elle a su s'intégrer.

-Ma maman, et des oncles et tantes, qui seraient autrement si elle avait été autrement, mais autrement, ça ne seraient pas eux, et eux, c'est mieux.

Il en manque, il en manque des tonnes, mais il va falloir faire avec. Les gens qui partent, ça donne toujours l'impression qu'on n'en a pas fait assez. Mille mercis, donc, et désolée.

I'm feeling glad

Reader, I have annoucements and news. Today : Five good news.

1. Spring's come. Definitely. All the signs are here: radish, tulips, cherry blossoms, runny nose, itchy eyes, sunshine, sunshine all around, and I'm feeling happy. I was really, really fed up with the winter and the cold and the crap weather. I had lunch with my friend V today, sitting outside in Kaysersberg, eating a salad in the sun, and I just felt happy that winter's over. (Also we went and partied all night on saturday, and went to a concert, and I had not done any of this in a long time, and that evening was just perfect. I think I really needed to go out and dance all night. I should do this more often. Anyone care to join me? Murder on the dancefloor? Dancing Queen? No? Ok then. I'll just go brush my teeth and listen to Rihanna.)

2. I've watched Dr Who, yesterday. The brand new Dr Who. The one without David Tennant. The one with Matt Smith. And it was absolutely great. Now, I'd hate to rush things, it might still go wrong, but he passed, Matt Smith did. And so did his brilliant Scottish friend Amelia Pond. Way! To! Go! I really missed the one-shot episodes (as I am not a great fan of large-scale plots. It's the same with every series. X-Files more than the others perhaps, because I really, really hate Mulder's little sister, and I wish he'd just give up on her already. Melissa! Melissa! Melissa was eaten by aliens, Fox, get over it, and back to Eugene Tooms. He scares me. He scares me everytime I go to the bathroom, and here's the catch: I've never even seen the bloody episode!)

Anyway, one-shot episodes seem to be back, and it was a really good one at that. I do hope it will go on like this, and stay that cool. He said "Carrots? Are you insane?" about three minutes in, and I was lost. Maybe the BBC can do it again! They made me love David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston, I am willing to love Matt Smith too. And all the new characters that have been added seem really cool too. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!

3. This is my 200th post. I wrote 200 of these (good news to me, not so sure about you :D). I do hope I'll reach 400 and maybe even 1000, as long as you are willing to put up with my grammar mistakes, my constant whining, and stay interested in my slug-filled adventures and detailed classification of post-2000 Hindi musicals, characters with hats, and English actors' backsides. I love blogging, I love the format and the medium, and I love comments, and I'm very, very happy I've got you, reader.

4. I'm going away again. I was born under a wandering star. Maybe. Which is going to take me as far as Stuttgart. I've been spending too much time on my parent's couch doing nothing at all. So I'll be off next week, in one last and desperate attempt to improve my German enough to claim I actually speak it.
I've found a room, a cool flat-mate, and though he also owns a pack of live scorpions, I'm pretty sure I'll feel at home real soon (provided he doesn't choose to lock me up in his basement and feed me beetles, I've only met him twice, you can never be sure). In any case, I'll be going to Stuttgart, and having brand new adventures on German-speaking land. Wish me luck. I will tell you all about it. What I won't do is crawl under my bed and indulge in my most sociophobic behaviors. No watching series all night, sleeping till noon, and hiding away as soon as someone makes a noise in the hallway! No nervous giggling and sudden, shameful silence in the middle of a sentence I am sorry I ever started. Open, sunny, easy-going Claire I'll be, and my brain will have no choice but to remember that it exists and knows better. Mark my words.

5. My brother and his fiancée S are getting married. Two months from now. 5th of June. I'm very, very happy, and I can't wait. Two months! Not even two months! Here are the details. And in my blog-roll. Weeeeeeehehehee! A wedding! Drinks all around! And then guess what? They might even stay in France! No more expat interviews! He he... Happy news \o/

There you go, reader. I have a feeling maybe part of the crap actually is melting away under my very eyes. And it makes me oh-so-happy. I hope you're happy too.

Noch mehr Spass hätt' ich daran, mich selbst ins Knie zu schiessen...

Never, ever before did I use the word "derelict" as often as I did today. In fact, I do believe that I had not, ever, used the word "derelict" before today. And it's funny, because "derelict" happens to be exactly how I feel right now... But it was a new contract, reader!! How about that! Brain-melt completed at 8 p.m. tonight, but at least, it was interesting and it was some work.

Anyway, now that I am coming back from Lille, on a train and bored with my eeeeeePC (I can never remember how many eeeeez there are. Even when it's written on the screen right in front of me...) I figured I might as well just get on with it and write a new top 5. Today, the top 5 things that PISS ME OFF in a completely irrational way (pardon my French), even though they are really not important things at all.

1. Slow and/or crappy ATM machines in French train stations that do not properly record every number you type in, and then they think that the PIN-code is wrong and they beep terribly loudly and say things like "NO! WRONG CODE! HA HA HA! LOOK! HERE'S YOUR TRAIN ENTERING THE STATION! YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT GETTING ON IT!" and then all the people behind you complain to the people next to them and sigh heavily because not only are you either a thief or a dimwit, but you are also wasting their time. (Do you love the word dimwit, reader? I know I do). Someday, I'll stay next to the stupid machines once I have my train ticket, and then wait patiently and make fun of the next person in line who gets into trouble for typing his or her PIN code too fast. Being annoyed doesn't necessarily make me charitable.

2. My cell phone when it runs out of batteries. I hate it when it cuts me off mid-sentence, especially when said sentence is "I'm sorry, I have to go, I'm afraid my battery is l..." and then I feel like I'm rude, even though it's hardly my fault. I think the stupid cell phone could hold on for 2 more seconds. Just 2 more. C'mon.

3. My headphones when they get all knotted up in my pocket and then I have to detangle the whole thing in the subway with everyone there having nothing metter to do than watch me. I have to say, though, this one is really just my fault. First of all, because I can never seem to manage to have my headphones last longer than 2 weeks. Second, because the only headphones that I have had for more than a year I have destroyed as much as I possibly could without actually damaging their ability to produce sound. I separated the two wires leading up to my ears, and now it doesn't just get twisted any more, it knits a bloody pullover in my pocket everytime I put it away. Also they are the weird kind with the wire for your left ear reaaaally long, and the one for your right ear really short, and then you have to go all the way around your head to put them on properly and it annoys me. It annoys me much.

4. People making noises in waiting rooms. I have never been able to understand how it happens that you can sit next to them for half an hour and not notice anything, but once you hear that they are chewing their gum loudly, or maybe breathing heavily, or fidgetting with their key-ring, then it drives you completey nuts. Happened to me twice tonight. And I was already derelict before. Imagine how I feel now!

5. Streets where house numbers have been granted by a madman who couldn't count. You arrive in the right street, you're looking for number 145, and then you notice that next to number 12 is number 324. Then there's number 98. And that's in Lille. But if you're in London, you must also distinguish between 345 Crescent Road and 345 Crescent Street. Makes me completely mad. Wakes up the Godzilla in me (which is never really far beyond the surface I must say).

Anyway. Here are some trifling things that annoy me beyond expression in my daily life. Because some times, it's nice to write these things down, it helps me remember that I don't have real problems, and I have enough time to worry about my headphones getting knotted up in my pockets. Tell me about you!! What's annoying to you?

Oh! And also, before I forget! I wanted to share with you this sentence by Anne Brontë, in the preface to "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (see how I don't write Tennant with a double N? I had to make a real effort!). Made me laugh to myself on the train this morning, and it was before 7 a.m. so it must have been real funny :

"...if I can gain the public ear at all, I would rather whisper a few wholesome truths therein than much soft nonsense".

I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies to Anne Brontë for getting all mixed up in her advice and doing exactly the opposite here. Now, next time, I'll try to find a fex wholesome truths for you, and you'd better be ready and polite, even though "He that [has the courage to dive for the truth at the bottom of the well --don't ask me, I'm just copying this from a book--] will be likely to incur more scorn and obloquy [yes, you hear me right, obloquy. And scorn.] for the mud and water into which he has ventured to plunge, than thanks for the jewel he produces."

Now, this may well be tasteless persiflage from my part, but the preface to the second edition to the Tenant of Wildfell Hall is sheer brilliancy, from beginning to end, obloquy included.

Next time : post n° 200!! Any good idea of something special I could write to celebrate?

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

Here come the drums here come the drums

Hey reader! Here I am, waiting for the very last episode of "Alisa, follow your heart", (the German series I told you about a few posts ago). It is apparently to be followed by "Monika, don't trust your brain".

It's the 240th episode of the series (oh my, I can't believe I've watched so many). It has helped me a lot with my German (am I believable? OK, right, maybe it hasn't, but I can now say "Zum Risiken und Nebewirkungen, lesen Sie die Packungsbeilage und fragen Sie Ihren Artzt oder Apotheker" nearly as fast as the guy on TV, who says it after basically every add (it's the warning for over-the-counter medicine, for which there are very many adds in the afternoon on German channels. Suits the target. I have the same taste in clothes as English old ladies, and the same taste in TV shows as German grans.)

Oh my, here we are. Started already. They got married, last time, and the previous three episodes were spent mostly making out on various couches all over Germany, whispering "I love you", and "Never again shall we part", and "I'll never let you go" and "you're my life". Also, we had a little sneak preview of the following series, "Hannah something or other", which is actually a spin off. Very handy. In any case, since I also baked millionaire's shortbread yesterday, I'm not sure I can handle any more sugary sweetness. Here we go. Speeches. Cut the cake! Cut the crap :D

So. Well. What I really wanted to tell you is : today's top 5. Today's top 5 will be about the series that really matter(ed). Now, I'm not crazy, I know the difference between fiction and reality, and nothing is ever as important as what happens in real life. But some series, especially n°1, just matter more than others. They make you laugh and cry even once the credits have rolled, they make you feel like you know the characters, they change you ever-so-slightly, just like books can. Top 5 rules apply, and some of the items on the list matter much less than others. Number 1 and 2 matter more than 4 and 5. So it's not really a top 5. It's more of a list. Here goes, in any case (and I promise I'll try to be a little more focused from now on).

(Ah ! Watlz time ! Huhuhuhu I so wish I could put a video right here. You'd love it I'm sure. She looks like a swan, he looks like a penguin, their offspring have a 50/50 chance to fly... Ok right. I don't care. I love it and have been waiting for it for... 240x40 minutes. Feels like a lifetime.)

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Best series ever, according to me. I'm not at all ashamed of admitting how much I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series 1 to 7 kept me rivetted, me and my sister M were in front of the TV every saturday at 20.50 sharp (not sure she's as keen as me to admit stuff on the internet, but hell... XD), and I so wish it had not ended and I still miss it, and I still compare all the series I watch with it. Willow, Alex, Anja, and my favourites : Spike, Giles and Buffy herself... 7 years of coolness and great dialogues. And the best title music in the history of television. Also, something more I have in common with my best friend V. We both cried our eyes out during Acathla, and we still call Alyson Hannigan "Willow"...

2. Dr Who. Now, only three seasons had any impact on my mood (I did not like the fourth so much, and I have terrible fears concerning the 5th), but boy... They really hit hard. And there are so many episodes, and so many aspects of it that give me the shivers that I think The Doctor deserves his place on the top 5 completely, in spite of the ridiculous visual effects and the Oods, which are so ugly I wish they had blurred them altogether. Still, there is the "Blink" episode with the creatures that can move only when you don't look at them, the episode when the Doctor becomes human and David Tennant's last, which I watched at my sister's the other day. I think I'll stop right now, because I feel like all I ever talk about on this blog is the Doctor. Is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feeling?

3. ER. I don't know exactly why, but I know that simply listening to the title music makes me cry. Cause it's over, now. And I'm a little emo. I was very disappointed by the last episode, but it's still a brilliant series, with great actors and great stories, and Neela. (My my. Alisa and her brand new husband are off to Canada in a horse drawn carriage. I'm a little stressed about the part where they cross the Atlantic, but whatever). Neela, and Abby, and Carter and Benton and Archie. Yeah, even Archie. And also Kovac, who kills me with his smile, even though I don't even like his character that much. And also that episode in Africa which was better quality than many movies, and that other episode with Ewan McGregor as a guest star.

4. Firefly. Another Joss Whedon series, and I'll never know if it mattered so much just because I felt maybe if I loved it enough it would not really be cancelled. It has great characters, brilliant dialogues and that's all I would ask for. But it also has a Star Wars vibe to it. And by that I mean a cool Han Solo vibe, not a lame Jar Jar Bings groove. Yeah. I said Jar Jar Bings groove. I'm very sorry.

5. Bones. This is one of the ones that don't really really matter, but I still want to mention it here. Because Booth is one of these character that you think you might actually fall for in real life. And because I like them all so much, Sweets and Bones and Hodgins and even Angela and her calling everyone "sweetie". I really wish they would show us the end of season 5... It was suspended, here in France.

So here. And of course, there are many, many other series that are really great (Lost, for a start, House MD, Glee (ahahaha !! That's a new one ! Drives me completely nuts, can't wait till april for season 2 !), Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes...), the list is very, very long. What's your opinion on the subject? Any series' characters you might fall for in real life? Anyone thinks I have missed something huge?

Defying gravity

Hi, reader ! I'm writing this both from my hotel room in Limoges and from my brand new eeePC, so, please forgive the typos, which can tonight be blamed both on the tiny keyboard and on the weird location (is that not a valid excuse for bad spelling ? Ah, well. Will have to do.)

I had a huge allergy problem yesterday night, asthma so bad it made my head hurt, and a terrible case of the sneezes. I learnt my lesson, and will leave my friend A's cat alone next time, even though it's cute and I compensate never having a pet of my own.

Anyway, I felt a little weird when I got up, and today, as I was on my way to my next contract (in Limoges, as I said), many weird things happened to me. I think I saw a baby elephant in a garden on the train (in a garden I saw from the train. Not a baby elephant in a garden on the train), I think I saw the blond woman from Fringe staring very hard at me from an old Renault when I was crossing the street, and I think everyone looked at me in a weird way. Also my brand new eeePC had a terrible blue-screen episode, which I hope won't happen again. I just mean to give you more explanation as to why the following post might be a little weird. Oxygen deprivation and all, I think I may be a little high.

Anyway. Today's top 5 is : "The top 5 questions about books that I asked myself on the train from Colmar" I hope you'll like it, though it is a very self-centered post. If you do not like it, I'm very sorry, I blame it on the boogie.

1. Is it true that I like books written by women more than books written by men? I always thought I did, but come to think of it, some of my favourite books and stories were written by men. Even though Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë will always be my favourite, I really love male authors too. William Goldman's The Princess Bride, Neil Gaiman in general, John Irving, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy and Stephen King (though I must admit I mostly only really liked Dolores Claiborne). So I don't really know anymore. And William Shakespeare, though I can't honestly claim I know anything about him. He still wrote that line in Hamlet which is so beautiful it makes me shiver.

2. Would I still love The Princess Bride as much if I read it again now ? Did I only love it that much because it was the first time I really read a book in English ? Did I only love it that much because I liked the movie ? Will I ever be brave enough to read it again to find out, or had I better just let it be, in case I do not love it as much re-reading it ?

3. Can you establish a link between a book's popularity and its quality ? I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society that I just finished on the train, and it was a huge success. I really liked The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie that I read coming back from Finland, and it was a success too, I believe. I kinda like the Charlaine Harris books, and they're very popular. I like to think that when something is really, really popular, it means there is something particularly good in it. Might not be the best thing ever, and all, but I figure there is always a fair reason why people love something.

It's a comforting thought, somehow. Take Brad Pitt, for example : He's a superstar, and though you may like him or not, you can't deny that he's a really good actor. He doesn't owe it all to his good looks. (Then again, Avatar is a huge box-office success, and I think it's a really sucky movie...). My point is : Do I really have abysmal taste in literature, or is there some hope yet ?

4. How much of my liking a book is owing to the environment I'm in when reading it. I told you about reading Jane Austen in an old military club a few months back, and today I read through half of The Guernsey Literary... in the train, while being slowly steam-cooked by the SNCF's crazy heating system, and listening to some classical music on my MP3 player, so focused and so into the book I would not swear I was really conscious. Did I really like the book, or is it only the artificial, heater-and-comfy-jumper-induced fever that made me so enthralled? (How I hate that word...) Is there any way of knowing if a book is really good without reading it twice?

5. I think I should have brought The Shining with me, seing how the hotel I'm in is the perfect location to read it. Would that have been a good idea, do you think ?