WE CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT WILL MANIFEST IN OUR LIVES. WE LIVE AND HAVE EXPERIENCES AND LEAVE PEOPLE WE LOVE AND GET LEFT BY THEM. PEOPLE WE THOUGHT WOULD BE WITH US FOREVER AREN’T AND PEOPLE WE DIDN’T KNOW WOULD COME INTO OUR LIVES DO. OUR WORK HERE IS TO KEEP FAITH WITH THAT, TO PUT IT IN A BOX AND WAIT. TO TRUST THAT SOMEDAY WE WILL KNOW WHAT IT MEANS, SO THAT WHEN THE ORDINARY MIRACULOUS IS REVEALED TO US WE WILL BE THERE, GRATEFUL FOR THE SMALLEST THINGS.
Frank Ocean is an American R&B singer-songwriter from New Orleans, Louisana. In 2010, he became a member of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) and lately, he has been very busy, from the self-release of his 2011's mixtape Nostalgia, ULTRA to his collaboration on Jay-Z and Kanye West's album Watch the Throne.
I've been listening to the old Frank Ocean on repeat for days. Super dope songs!
Now I’m gonna tune into Channel ORANGE, his debut album released on July 2012 (available on iTunes now!). Let's Go!
Actually, I can live with my OCD, but I think my friends are starting to hate me because of them. JK. Everybody loves me. ...what? Even God cannot change the truth (high five Michael Levy!).
FYI, Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) are disorders characterized by persistent, intrusive, and senseless thoughts (obsessions) or compulsions to perform repetitive behaviors that interfere with normal functioning.
Well, we talked about my OCD during the week, and that's what came out:
K. (my best friend): It's a part of you that I perfectly respect. And I don't think you "over-cleans" your house or yourself, it's just that you do things VERY slowly and that's what makes me angry. All I hope is that it doesn't get the upper hand in your life.
Noun's (her cousin): Myriam and The War against Grime! She's very fussy about cleanliness. This obsession involves morning/night skin care rituals, one to three showers a day, not to mention the harassment suffered by her poor little sister who has the misfortune to be one of us "normal" people (and by "normal" she means messy). No need to tell you her life ends if everything isn't done perfectly. How can you face the outside world without moisturizer? Myriam stopped counting the days spent scrubbing, scouring, washing, wiping, dusting... She turned pro in the art of housekeeping!
My mom: What's up with you OCD?? Look, I'm on call at the hospital today. And I'm rather angry right now so...
Josy (a family friend): Is talking to yourself an OCD? 'Cause I caught you doing that a lot lately. It's quite amusing. Is there a cure for that? Like seeing a shrink, maybe? I don't know. You're funny.
My "poor" little sister: You're annoying! I mean, you don't even let people sit on your bed! You're like "you have germs and whatever! GET. OFF. MY. BED." You almost cried the other day. It's crazy! And you have this effing obsession with your hair: you always think it looks greasy even though you washed it the day before and it's gorge as usual! Also, STOP telling me to clean my room... It won't make me clean it any sooner ya know. It's MY room not yours, for eff's sake!
Conclusion: My future shrink may have a lot of things to deal with.
Good luck with that crazy annoying little Mis clean it all, XO
I think the Internet is the greatest invention of all time! Holly contacted me via email a while ago about her new song 'Image' in order to get the message out to more teens that appearance isn't everything and that we need to love ourselves for who we are so we can keep our self-confidence up.
I've decided to help her and, even if we were in completely different time zones, she was happy to do this Q&A. Let's go!
Q: Introduce yourself in
nineteen and a half words:
A: Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand – I’m Holly Christina, a 19-year-old singer-songwriter who loves to play guitar.
Q: Did you always want to
become a singer when you were a child?
A: I wanted to either become a professional tennis player or musician.
Q: Show us a picture of your
workspace:
A: This is a picture of St Heliers Bay, about ten minutes walk from where I
live. I enjoy going for walks
along the Waterfront, as it’s very inspirational for songwriting. It’s a good
place to think about all the things I’m working on every day, including
teaching guitar, organising and performing music tours, planning music videos
and also coaching tennis.
Q: What/who inspires you to
write music?
A: Life experiences, people I observe or meet, and just generally
contemplating ideas in my mind.
Q: One of your songs is
called ‘Jane Austen’. What is your favourite Jane Austen book?
A: I enjoy many of her books, but ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (which I believe
was her first published novel in 1811) is perhaps my favourite, as it’s full of
great life lessons and interesting, resonating characters.
Q: Pick a track from your
album. Tell us the story behind it:
A: ‘The Victory’ – the first track from my album ‘interchange’ was written
when I was 16, and was having a bit of a “down day” – so to get some
perspective on things, I compared the perceived hard times that I was facing
(in present day life) to the absolutely terrible harsh times of past wars. So the song is really based on the metaphor
of ‘every day is a battle’ (then and now). I started off with creating the guitar finger-picking tune
and had this quirky idea for the opening line: “it’s 1066 in the morning” (the
Battle of Hastings is a well-known date to the English). Basically, as you can see in the music
video, the song suggests the story of war survivors, as they reflect on the
pain of war. The irony of the
saying ‘lest we forget’ is explored.
The lyrics of this song have many subtle references to past wars and
international memorial dates, and I tried to write uniquely and creatively,
while still maintaining an honouring and quiet reflection of the past.
Q: Tell us more about your tour:
A: I'm currently on my 'Break the Mould' NZ Tour. It's a presentation with five songs and talks, all with a positive message encouraging well-being for students and inspiring them to make good choices. The songs contain lyrics and stories that relate to teenagers, like self-confidence, life choices, peer pressure, career decisions and coping with challenges. So far in 2012, I've been to 8 schools in Auckland, and in the next two months I will also be taking the presentation to some schools in Christchurch and Wellington. I'm really passionate about this Tour, and I'm having a great time going around and singing to so many young people.
Q: What is your favourite
place on Earth?
A: Well, this is a bit of an odd response: even though I’ve never been there – I’m going to say
Salzburg, Austria. That’s my dream
place to visit. Ever since I
watched ‘Sound of Music’ as a child, I’ve always loved the idea of it – the
beautiful scenery and old architecture.
Hopefully one day I’ll get there!
Q: Your latest musical
obsession is:
A: I’ve always been a big fan of the composer, Hans Zimmer. I still really love his song ‘Cry’ from
‘The Holiday’ soundtrack!
Q: Five things that make you
smile:
A: Sunshine. Family. My guitar students. Sushi. The beach.
Q: What is your motto in
life?
A: “Break the mould” (one of my song titles)…
Q: If you were stranded on
a desert island with a record player, what 3 albums would you take?
A: Hans Zimmer – ‘The Holiday’ soundtrack
John Mayer – ‘Room for Squares’
George Fenton – ‘Ever After’ soundtrack
Q: Show us a self-portrait
(any materials acceptable):
A: Drawing is certainly not one of my strengths (as you can see), but I
enjoyed having a go at doing this!
Q: One last (silly) question. Do you put your right sock or your left sock on first in the morning? And why?
A: I always put my left sock on first and I'm not quite sure why, but perhaps it's got something to do with the fact that I'm left-handed. Or maybe it's because I had a knee reconstruction on my left knee when I was 15, so I seem to have better balance on my right leg.
Q: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to answer those questions Holly. Good luck!
A: Thanks so much for your support, I really appreciate it!
I came across Oh Land by complete accident while I was browsing around Youtube. No need to tell you it was one of the best accident I've ever had. Oh Land is the stage name of Nanna Øland Fabricius, a Danish singer-songwriter and former ballet dancer. I think her songs and music videos have something magical. It's like plummeting down the rabbit hole straight to Wonderland.
We have to take risks.
We can only truly understand the miracle of life when we let the unexpected manifest itself.
Every day – together with the sun – God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy.
Every day we try to pretend that we don’t realize that moment, that it doesn’t exist, that today is just the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if you pay attention, you can discover the magic instant.
It may be hiding at the moment when we put the key in the door in the morning, in the silence right after dinner, in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. This moment exists – a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.
Happiness is at times a blessing – but usually it’s a conquest. The magic instant helps us to change, drives us forward to seek our dreams. We shall suffer and go through quite a few difficult moments and face many a disappointment – but this is all transitory and inevitable, and eventually we shall feel proud of the marks left behind by the obstacles. In the future we will be able to look back with pride and faith.
Poor are those who are afraid of taking risks. Because maybe they are never disappointed, never disillusioned, never suffer like those who have a dream to pursue.
But when they look back – for we always look back – they will hear their heart saying: “What did you do with the miracles that God sowed for your days? What did you do with the talent that your Master entrusted to you? You buried it deep in a grave because you were afraid to lose it. So this is your inheritance: the certainty that you have wasted your life.”
Poor are those who hear these words. For then they will believe in miracles, but the magic instants of life will have already passed.
Unfortunately, I couldn't post the third Music Monday of the month because I have taken a social media break for two weeks.
So today I'd like to share with you my love for a Brooklyn all-girl trio, Au Revoir Simone, whose synth-pop music makes me feel like I'm wandering in a dream.
"Au Revoir Simone must have beamed in from a land where lace clouds breeze over crystal lakes and icicles grow from the warm earth. This New York three-piece's glorious synth-lead alt-folk will leave you crying on the stairs in the middle of the night" - NME Radar
FYI, the band's name comes from a line Pee-wee Herman says in Tim Burton's movie, Pee-wee's Big Adventure - and since I adore Tim Burton, this is the cherry on top of my cake ;)
Once called the Indie Renaissance Girl, Maritza Lugo —aka Mindsay Mohan — is a self-taught freelance artist who lives in New York. She is the one behind Hello Giggles' Illustrated Tweet Of The Day. That's where my love for her drawings has started.
M: Give me a Cliffs Notes version of you as an artist : Indecisive, passionate, emotional, filled with so many ideas, I don't know what to do with.
M: Show me a picture of your work space :
M: Top 5 influences, GO!
In no order: comic book art, Roy Lichtenstein, other artists, emotions, film/music.
M: One drawing. The story behind it:
The story behind this one, is there is no real story. I'm moved by expression and frankly, wanted to do something out of my comfort zone, which is usually portraits. This happens to be the lead singer of Sleigh Bells, and I love lines, millions of them. This is probably my favorite drawing because it came out of nowhere and means the world to me.
M: On a short video, answer your first thought, free association, to these words:
Lunch — Horcruxes — Ryan Gosling — Pink — London —
Well, the sweet summery sound of Young the Giant reminds me of Tunisia, when it was like eternal summer for my friends and I. One night, we were all lying on the beach, roasting marshmallows in bonfire, when one of them played a wonderful tune through his phone. And when I wanted to check out the band's name, it wasn't mentioned and nobody knew it.
Since then, I've been looking for Young the Giant without knowing neither its name nor any title of song, and by a stroke of luck I found them while browsing through Youtube a while ago - Oh dear Youtube, how much I love you!
Young the Giant is an American alternative rock band formed in California in 2004 and released its eponymous debut album, Young the Giant, in 2010.
For those of you who don't know what PDA are, Wikipedia answers: "Public Displays of Affection are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others".
As far as I'm concerned, there are things that are acceptable when it comes to PDA, and things that just aren't.
I don't mind holding hands, hugging or giving each other a peck. But some people go A LOT further than that.
I mean, there is kissing and kissing. Sucking on each other's faces in front of complete strangers is GROSS.
Some couples literally eat each other's faces. Hello, Hannibal Lecters! You're not THAT hungry, are you?
I don't need to see hot making-out sessions while walking down the street or whatever.
You love each other. We. Get. It.
It's not like your lives depend on how superglued your mouths are, is it?
Let me give you a tip: at some point, between tongue wrestling and ass grabbing, you have to get a room for God's sake.
There is a time and a place for everything.
And hook up in front of me is definitely not your best choice.
Let me introduce you to the young yet successful Birdy.
Jasmine van den Bogaerde, who goes by the stage name Birdy, is an English singer/pianist who won the 2008's Open Mic UK, a music competition, at the age of 12, then released an eponymous debut album, Birdy, on November 2011.
Each and every song cover on this album gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. Her voice is so powerful, but fragile at the same time. It's so overwhelming. At only 15, Birdy has been able to inspire people thanks to her music. I can truly say she is one of a kind.
'Skinny Love' (Bon Iver cover)
'Shelter' (The XX cover)
'People help the People' (Cherry Ghost cover)
'1901' (Phoenix cover)
"And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I'll hold it" ,
“A clear horizon. Nothing to worry about, on your plate. Only things that are creative, and not destructive. Well, that’s within yourself. Within me I can’t bare quarreling I can’t bare feelings between people. I think hatred is wasted energy. And it’s all nonproductive. I’m very sensitive. A sharp word said by say a person who has a temper, if they’re close to me, hurts me for days. I know we’re only human, we do go in for these various emotions, call them negative emotions but when all these are removed and you can look forward and the road is clear ahead and now you’re going to create something. I think that’s as happy as I would ever want to be.”
-Alfred Hitchcock
My definition:
Happiness can be found in the smallest things.
A look. A smile. A word. A touch. A scent.
Happiness is a choice. You choose to be happy.
It's within yourself. It will always be something unique to you alone, and completely different to the next person.
I don't believe in Happiness. I believe in moments.
Happiness is those moments in life when you actually feel complete.
You know when you’re on the Internet, and one click leads you to an amazing video? Well this is the story of how I discovered Crystal Fighters, a British/Spanish electronic/folk band formed in London in 2007. They also do remixes for famous artists like Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats or Pony Pony Run Run on top of their debut album, Star of Love, released on October 2010 in the UK (April 2012 in the US).
'At Home' (acoustic - Live in the Woods)
'Champion Sound'
'Follow' (acoustic - Live in the Woods)
'Plage'
Love,
XO
P.S.: Here is my post about The Heartbreaks on YM&C! Check it out!
Sometimes, I feel like those great ships, you know. Able to go anywhere across the seas. Limitless. Invincible. And never looking back.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize the whole thing is just a lie.
Because my great ship is actually stuck in a bottle. A huge one. And even if it gives me the illusion of infinity, at the end, the barriers are still there, more real than ever.
Barriers.
Tennessee Williams once said: “Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you’ll know you’re dead”.
But the grief is so present, so strong, that I can’t feel the pain anymore. It is part of me.
My aunt once told me I have a lake of sadness on the inside. And this lake may come from a lack.
I think she’s right. And I think everyone has his own lake.
It remains to find what is our lack. And do our best to fill it.
And so, maybe, the ship will leave the bottle. Someday.
