i’m pretending to be a good fishermans woman
just like anna inkersman
the gladiator of all fishermans wives
it makes it a lot easier thinking of you
on the sea where you have to be a month at a time
working hard in the day
your hands cracking from the cold and the salt
in the night when you go to bed
you try to sleep by listening to the boat breathing
the boat breathing
and the only thing
the only thing you can think of is me
waiting for you by the window
with the brightest red lipstick on my lips
just like anna waits for her man
how will i learn
i’ll wait

emiliana torrini, fisherman’s wife

these days my head is filled with network quirks, calculus, emails and the omnipresent countdown.
i still find time to obsess over little things. naturlijk.
little things like emiliana torrini. i stumbled accross her heartstopper video on youtube, and the video is so delicate that i think i instantly fell in love with this fragile creature, pulling the strings of the puppets. half-icelandic, half-italian, she sings surrounded by acoustic guitars, accordeon and the occasional boat creeks… but what really stands out is her voice, her accent, her peculiar way of saying words, not losing syllables on the rush of getting to the end of the sentence.

anyway, i found a few of her songs on itismusic.org, from a session she did in january, 2005, i think. give it a try.

i am thinking it’s a sign that the freckles
in our eyes are mirror images and when
we kiss they’re perfectly aligned
and I have to speculate that God himself
did make us into corresponding shapes like
puzzle pieces from the clay
and true, it may seem like a stretch, but
its thoughts like this that catch my troubled
head when you’re away
when I am missing you to death
when you are out there on the road for
several weeks of shows and when you scan
the radio, I hope this song will guide you home

they will see us waving from such great
heights, ‘come down now,’ they’ll say
but everything looks perfect from far away,
‘come down now,’ but we’ll stay…

such great heights, the postal service and a really old picture.

her face is a map of the world
is a map of the world
you can see she’s a beautiful girl
she’s a beautiful girl
everything around her is a silver pool of light
people who surround her feel the benefit of it
it makes you calm
she holds you captivated in her palm

suddenly I see
this is what I wanna be

suddenly I see
why the hell it means so much to me …”

kt tunstall, suddenly i see

i heard the tunes of this song on the opening of the devil wears prada, and it has been stuck in my mind the whole day. i like these kind of jolly songs that make me want to shake my head around and sing out loud. they usually have the energy that it takes to lift spirits and motivation a bit, and turn me into a productivity frenzy bee.
does this happen to you? what’s your soundtrack? please share!

ps - lulu, i’ve started learning mandarin this week :) i’m one step closer!

Owen Pallett has the smallest, tiniest little features, delicate like a bone china horse. (on AMP ::: ROCK)

on one of the last weeks in groningen, i was listening to “adventure.exe” by owen pallett while writing the neverending thesis. i had found the song on a orange commercial, some time ago and then fell in love with it…

anyway, if you’ve heard anything else by owen, you’ll know he’s a violin player and well there isn’t much violin on this song… it’s more of a guitar solo and some instrument i can’t recognize, playing towards the middle of the song… and there is rain in the background and a sort of scratching sound, if you hear carefully. those scratching noises were intriguing me for some time - they sounded familiar.

and then it hit me. because it’s something most people don’t do everyday or never even heard of it, and because i was damn happy and proud of my minute of geekness, i’m going to tell:
he’s scratching rosin on his violin bow. over and over again. sometimes on the edges, sometimes across the full length of it. and sometimes he blows the excess off.
the noise is so familiar, i must have done it hundreds of times before. :) can you hear it?

he did get the violin in the song afterall. owen rules.

more:
* orange videoclip, though you can’t hear the sounds there.
* adventure.exe comes on final fantasy album “he poos clouds”.
* violin bows and rosin.

* i’m almost back :)

When I woke up this morning, first I laughed and then I cried.
Was I feeling good or bad? I just could not decide!
So naturally I asked my mom to tell me how I feel.
But she didn’t tell me that; instead, she told me something real:

Figure it out!
Figure it out!
Figure it out!

You’re the only one who knows the things you feel, so figure it out! “

oh, the sesame street’s wisdom :)
days have been… hum… quite… something.
two weeks left to present the thesis and pack a year of life into suitcases far too small to handle it. hang on while i figure a way to work things out.

and all the girls in every girlie magazine
can’t make me feel any less alone…

(death cab for cutie, on repeat around here)

Didnt know what time it was the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin down some rock n roll lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren’t no d.j. that was hazy cosmic jive

There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds

There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
Cause he knows its all worthwhile

He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie

…
starman, david bowie on the itunes.

it’s all worthwhile, oh yes it is. :)

ps - sing along, look for a starman in the sky and wave your heads to the music.