I've been pretty busy the last few days since my parents came to visit. One of the things we did was go to a rock concert - the one by Tarja Turunen, the ex-voice of the Finnish band Nightwish. And – not surprisingly – the concert was incredible! She has an amazing, strong and well-trained voice of an opera singer, and is not afraid to experiment with it. This, against the background of strong, dynamic hard rock music with gothic elements, results in a combination which is unique and sends a thrill down your spine. Plus she’s amazing at establishing a rapport with the audience – who love her immediately – and seems to be a natural on the stage. So if you ever get a chance to go to her concert – by all means, do! Here is one of her songs which she sung at the very end – “Until my last breath.” Enjoy!
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There’s certainly a lot of funny and original electronic gadgets on the market nowadays, but his one has really caught my eye. It’s an Mp3 Player in the shape of… a cow head! Now, since it’s been launched by CREATIVE, which is a US company, it seems that the fascination with cows as a design motif is not limited to the Netherlands only ;-) These cute cows – described as “cow-tastic” – are called Creative Zen Moo MP3 Players – and come in a range of colours – see below. So why not be original and let a cow play music for you? ;-) It hit me yesterday evening. And it hit me hard. I have left Holland. And it means so much more than just crossing the border and moving – it means leaving behind the life I have built in the past two years, and all the things I loved in it. Living in the Netherlands was not perfect, of course. It had its fair share of frustrations, but which place doesn’t. The important thing is that it had a lot of things about it – some big, some tiny – which I came to love – a lot of them found their way to this blog! Separately they may seem insignificant, especially to an outsider, but together they made me happy – no more and no less than that. The kind of happy when you get up in the morning and can’t help feeling excited about the rest of the day. The kind of happy when you notice hundreds of things around you which makes you smile and which you find pretty. When you know that there is still so many things you are looking forward to, and you can start planning them starting this weekend. When you’re never bored, when there’s always something fascinating to do, to see, to experience, and when you feel you’ve finally found your place. And when you have someone you love to share it with – probably the most important element of all. And that’s why today I’m sitting on the pile of boxes in our new apartment in Warsaw, where my husband got relocated for his job, and my happy little place on earth got left behind – many, many kilometres behind. I have a strange feeling of displacement. As if the world outside was somehow wrong – a bit like in a dream when you cannot wake up but part of you realizes it shouldn’t be happening. The air seems suffocating – the result of not living on the seaside anymore - the colours seem dull and the light is definitely wrong – I’m almost afraid to take pictures knowing that I do not have the Dutch light at my disposal anymore to make the colours vibrant and the photos alive with them. And I feel so cooped up here, not being able to do what I did in my free time for the last two years. I’m sure the feeling of wrongness will fade away with time – after all I am good at adapting to new places… In the meantime I think I will have to work on a photo collage, a photo tribute of sorts to all those small and big things I’ve loved about the Netherlands – I’ll post a copy here when it’s ready. But for now I’m entitled to a period of feeling sad and miserable – and what’s better to mope with than a sad, sad song? Here is the one I recommend – Two for Tragedy by Nightwish. The Singing Moose December has finally arrived! No more waiting – now I can finally take out the Christmas decorations and change the autumn pumpkins and leaves lying around the house into moose (my personal favourite), reindeers and read-gold-and-green arrangements. Plus it’s time to seriously start thinking about Christmas gifts, so there will be more entries appearing on my blog with gift ideas – so keep coming back! The picture on the left of a moosy reindeer which for years now signals the beginning of a Christmas period at my parent’s house – it deserves a golden medal for brightening up the atmosphere with its dancing, ringing bells and an energetic rendition of a Christmas carol special – so why not splurge on a moose windowsill performer? When do you get creative with music? Well, for instance when you clash the symphonic power gothic metal band composed of Finnish lumberjacks with the most famous classic opera song ever - and you get something absolutely BRILLIANT. Sounds impossible? Not at all - let me present to you Nightwish and their version of the Phantom of the Opera. It's the kind of music that makes your skin crawl (in a positive way), which leaves an unforgettable impression, and which redefines " classic" by turning it upside down. Look at the teenagers in the audience - they go crazy - jumping to one of the most famous pieces of the classic opera ever - who would've though it possible? I love it, teenagers love it, my parents love it, my 80-years-old grandmother insisted on getting a DVD with it. Well, ok, my husband did not love it, but everything that even touches on the gothic rock or metal gives him the creeps, so that doesn't count. So listen to one of the most creative pieces of music recently redorded! |
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August 2012
AuthorA fiery red head, a writer and a photographer in love with beautiful design and all things creative |