And under our blue skies, marble movie skies

Brit Gal' in the USA got tagged and filled in a survey. She didn't tag other people herself, but asked anyone who enjoys this kind of thing to join in. So here I go.

What are your current obsessions?
- my bachelor paper on last year's American presidential debates // deadline is next week and I'm working on it all the time
- ice cream // more of an all-time rather than current obsession, but ah well
- the new Röyksopp album // it's awesome

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often?
My black skinny jeans, couldn't live without. My (fake) leather jacket as a close second.

What's for dinner?
Depends on my mom's plans. :) I'm secretely hoping for tortellini.

Last thing you bought?
New headphones and a new top from Mango. Oh, and a leather jacket from Sanna (Vagabond Set) who is selling all of her clothing.

What are you listening to?
(I'm so busted..) The latest Pet Shop Boys album. And I love it.

If you could be anyone who would you be and why?
John Malkovich, just to have that voice!

Favourite holiday spots?
London, Rome, Lisbon.

Reading right now?
I'm too busy for actual reading at the moment, but I've spent quite a lot of time with 'The Travel Book' lately.

4 words to describe yourself.
Friendly, forgiving, competitive, energetic.

Guilty pleasure?
As mentioned above, Pet Shop Boys. :) And loads of tv-shows I should probably not be wasting my time on.

Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak?
Monty Python, situation humour, Andre from America's Most Smartest Model ("I'm feeling Soviet!").

First spring thing?
Cocktails and summer dresses.

Best thing you ate or drank lately?
The tarte tatin I ate last weekend in restaurant Hof ten As. Yum!

Favourite ever film?
'Requiem for a dream'.

Care to share some wisdom?
To quote The Libertines: 'if you've lost your faith in love and music, oh the end won't be long'.

What may surprise us about you?
My best friend is for some reason I don't know not talking to me and whereas I'm pretending to don't mind at all, it's killing me.

I'm not going to tag anyone either, so if you feel like filling in this little form, feel free to do so!

Oldie of the week (4) - The Supremes, 'You Can't Hurry Love'

It's been a while (shame on me), but here's another oldie of the week!

As I have mentioned before, I'm really into Motown lately. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations... are all great examples of great acts that resided under the Motown Records label that was immensely popular in the sixties.

But the song I've picked this week is one of the greatest hits by Diana Ross & The Supremes. The song is called 'You Can't Hurry Love' and is written and produced by Motown's signature production team Holland-Dozier-Holland. In 1966 it was a chart success for The Supremes, later on it would also become a hit single for Phil Collins in the early eighties.

Don't have to be a big bucks Hollywood star

Last week = summer in Belgium. ( = crazy amounts of ice cream and cocktails)



I wish it came back.

Lego Beatles

How long must I wait, how much more can I take

I've been up to a couple of 'reunion' meetings this week.

Today me and my friend Ann-Sofi met each other for the first time in four months. I got to know her back in September last year through a website called Interpals. It's a website where one can find e-mail or snail mail friends from all over the world, and where in fact I have already got to know a lot of interesting people.

Ann-Sofi, who is a Swedish-speaking girl from Finland (apparantly, certain parts of Finland speak Swedish), moved to Belgium last year to work here as an au-pair. Because the people she got to know here were almost exclusively Scandinavian (mostly other au-pairs), she decided to look for a Belgian friend. And then she found me on Interpals.

The first thing we did together, was - oh, surprise - go to a party at Make Up Club. I immediately liked her and I like to think she likes me too. So, from that point, we started meeting up more often. Drinks or lunch during the week, a NATO-party at her Norwegian friends' place, Sinterklaas (for the non-Belgians: a Belgian kind of Santa Claus) in Antwerp, Lucia (a Scandinavian celebration) in the Swedish church, pancakes at the Christmas market, loads of Australian ice cream (we're both ice cream addicts), and so on. After new year we were both quite busy, so we unfortunately didn't get to see each other anymore. In less than two weeks she's leaving, so we decided we hàd to meet up again.

Today I went to the ULB area in Brussels (where she lives). We went to a parc nearby, chatted lots and lots, and had eh, loads of ice cream (as in: six scoops each, oops!). I'm so glad I've got to know her, and I'm sooo going to miss her!

(and now back to listening to Diana Ross and the Supremes, I'm very much into the Motown sound lately!)

The beauty of speed

Fooling around with my camera on my way to the north station in Brussels.

Most played (10)

1. Manic Street Preachers - Jackie Collins Existential Question Time


2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons


3. Röyksopp - Happy Up Here


4. Metric - Gimme Sympathy


5. The Veils - The Letter

You'll never live like common people

Easter vacations are always party time! Previous week I've been to the Make Up Club on Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday a whole bunch of my friends were dj'ing, Sis & his mates and Peter & Michaël. All great guys with a taste in music that's almost as fantastic as they are themselves. Thursday parties unfortunately never last as long as the weekend parties, so Tessa, Michaël, some people we didn't even know and I went into town to have some more drinks afterwards.

Michaël dj'ing

Tessa
Eline Michaël Me & Michaël
no idea who this is
Tessa & ISaturday's party was "I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor Part II", promoted by the lovely Neon Enlightenment girls (make sure check out their blog, it's ace). It wasn't the best Make Up party I've been to so far, due to the dj's who managed to fuck up song after song by adding unnecessary scratches, bleeps and whatmore (I mean, they even ruined Pulp's 'Common People' - to me, that's a severe kind of blasphemy). Despite all of that, it became a great night after all. 1) There was a very good gig by the lovely FrYars, who I interviewed about a year ago when he was supporting Vampire Weekend in Brussels, and who makes really great music. 2) The ending of the party was really eh, explosive. At some point there was this guy who was dancing like a gay penguin, which for some reason led ús back to the dancefloor as well. At the same time, the dj's decided to suddenly play much better music. So we danced the night away once again.

Phara at the beginning of the night, waiting to hand out the self-made Neon Enlightenment badges to the party people.
FrYars
Gerlin

Gerlin & Phara

Oh mummy, what's a Sex Pistol?

Summer's in town, and I went out for a sunny nature walk today.

me, my sister Iris and my cousin Jana

of course: no ice cream, no fun

And tip of the day: Manic Street Preachers, one of my fave bands, are releasing a new album next month, but you can already listen to a new track on their homepage. It's called Jackie Collins Existential Question Time, it's great and youcan listen to it here. Enjoy!

It's so tricky tricky

My sister and I have been baking cupcakes this week. Our frosting wasn't our biggest success so far, but the cupcakes tasted really good, I dare saying myself. Yummie!

On a side note: I'm starting to get really excited about something I should not be that excited about at all because it's probably not even happening, ever. I hate it when I do that.

Beating like a hammer

For once, things are going quite like they should go. Easter holiday only just started and I've already done quite some work for my bachelor paper. Plus, I've incalculated enough 'fun space', including two parties at Make Up this week (hehe).

Tonight will be great as well, since I'm going to see The Rifles play at Botanique. AND before the gig, I get the chance to interview them! At first I was a little freaked out, because I only got to hear about the interview about an hour ago. I thought it wouldn't happen anymore since the interview was already requested last week and there was no news from the label, so I handn't prepared any questions! Fortunately it turned out that I've got plenty of questions to ask them, nicely stored in my head. :) I'm really looking forward to this interview. I already met the guys a couple of times before and they're really great to hang out with.
Soooo, wish me luck!

Oldie of the week (3) - The Cure, 'Pictures of You'

First of all, hurray to our Belgian cyclist Stijn Devolder who's just won the Ronde van Vlaanderen for the second year in a row!

But okay - sorry for keeping things so quiet on this blog during the last week. Belgium finally got treated to some great weather and I've spent most of my time sitting outside, singing along to summer songs or eating ice cream and chocolate easter eggs. That way I'd even forgotten about the Oldie of the Week. But don't worry, I've got one in store for you!

This week's Oldie is a song by a band that probably doesn't need much of an introduction: The Cure. The song I picked is 'Pictures of You' and isn't even thàt old. It's part of the brilliant 1989 album Disintegration (the same album that also features songs like Lovesong, Lullaby and Fascination Street) and got released as a single the year after. The Cure are without a doubt the masters of melancholy, but in this song they even manage to outshine themselve.

I've looked up a live version for you, because there's only an official video clip for the shorter radio edit, that just isn't as incredible as the full version.



i've been looking so long at these pictures of
you that i almost belive that they're real i've
been living so long with my pictures of you that
i almost believe that the pictures are all i can
feel

remembering you standing quiet in the rain as
i ran to your heart to be near and we kissed as
the sky fell in holding you close how i always
held close in your fear remembering you
running soft through the night you were bigger
and brighter than the snow and
screamed at the make-believe screamed at the
sky and you finally found all your courage to
let it all go

remembering you fallen into my arms crying
for the death of your heart you were stone
white so delicate lost in the cold you were
always so lost in the dark remembering you
how you used to be slow drowned you were
angels so much more than everything oh hold
for the last time then slip away quietly open
my eyes but i never see anything

if only i had thought of the right words i could
have hold on to your heart if only i'd thought of
the right words i wouldn't be breaking apart all
my pictures of you

Looking So long at these pictures of you but i
never hold on to your heart looking so long for
the words to be true but always just breaking
apart my pictures of you

there was nothing in the world that i ever
wanted more than to feel you deep in my heart
there was nothing in the world that i ever
wanted more than to never feel the breaking
apart all my pictures of you

I tremble - they're gonna eat me alive

What is your current obsession?
Facebook (still), Metric, chocolate easter eggs.

What do you see outside your window?
My neighbour's chicken.

Do you nap a lot?
Absolutely not.

Who was the last person you hugged?
I think that must've been Michaël last week. I love hugging. I need more hugs.

What’s for dinner?
No idea, mom's going to suprise me.

What was the last thing you bought?
Weeds season 1 on dvd.

What are you listening to right now?
Metric. (again. that latest album is simply brilliant.)

What is your favourite weather?
Sunny yet not too hot.

What’s on your beside table?
A postcard of London, my watch, my cell phone.

What's in your bag right now?
My agenda, my wallet, sunglasses.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?
London or Norway.

Where are you typing from right now?
The computer in my bedroom.

What book are you currently reading?
A book about the latest American presidential elections.

What would you like to have in your hands right now?
Someone special. (how cheesy is that?)

What would you like to get rid of?
Insomnia. Stiffness in my calfs.

What did you want to become as a child?
Everything, going from fancy carreers as a lawyer, over artistic things like a singer or a writer, to...garbage woman. :p I was very ambitious.

What posters/pictures do you have on your bedroom wall?
The Libertines, Tori Amos, Infadels, Paul Weller.

What is your plan for tomorrow?
Have lunch with friends. Watch the cycling (Ronde Van Vlaanderen). Work on my bachelor paper.

What should everyone have?
Someone to watch over you in some way.

What do you find to be an important quality in a person?
Loyalty. And the will to fight for a friendship you think is valuable.