Tag: music

Categories
weeknotes

weeknotes, 47/24

a nice, quiet week. the eyes got better, the water levels dropped and work got done.

we booked tickets and arranged accommodation for a trip to sweden next spring, for a work thing. i’m usually a bit wary of booking stuff so far in advance, but it’s also nice to have everything in place and know that it is going to happen. let the anticipation begin!

i’ve been sending tiny niece one book every month for her growing library, and this month’s was “and tango’s makes three“, which is a sweet tale of 2 papa penguins who adopted an egg in the central park zoo. sadly, i couldn’t find it in portuguese, so i picked the spanish version and translated the difficult words in pencil underneath them. i think she’ll enjoy it — she’s very much into animals and their sounds these days. :)

the highlight of the week was a classical music concert we attended in faro. the local orchestra has a series of concerts that are made to be more approcheable and fun for the general public, and it was really nice. lots of kids in the audience, but everyone was pretty much spellbound to the fast music and the shenanigans of the orchestra. and in the end, they dropped balloons from the ceiling! :D

Categories
music

yes she did.

Icelandic pop singer Bjork backed independence for Tibet during her concert on Sunday in Shanghai, eyewitnesses said on Monday. She shouted “Tibet, Tibet!” followed by “Raise your flag!” towards the end of her final song, “Declare independence.”

quote from shanghaiist.

we were there and it was really at the end of the concert. i had to ask someone beside me if she actually said “tibet! tibet!” because i guess my ears didn’t quite believe it too.

“It’s unlikely Bjork will be performing again in China any time soon, if ever. Bravo.”

quote from danwei.

eheh, at least we were there! :)

(image by mulder)

Categories
in portugal in the netherlands music

the piano has been drinking.

d. on vismarkt

 

you know love
causes such misery and pain
i guess i’ll never be the same
since i fell for you

oh i guess i’ll never see the light
i get the blues most everynight
since i felt for you

“I used to know this girl named Suzy Montelongo. And her brother’s name was Joe Montelongo. Joe always wanted to kill me. He sang in a band called the Rodbenders. Suzy Montelongo used to wear these angora sweaters. I’m crazy about angora sweaters. I guess it’s kind of a hang-up of mine. She had angora socks, and angora shoes. I believe she was originally *from* Angora. I don’t know where she is anymore, but every time I see an angora sweater, I think, maybe, *inside* will be Suzy Montelongo. Eh-he-he…”

mr. tom waits, in repeat mode.

Categories
links and ideas music

pearls before breakfast

what happens when one of the world’s best violin players performs on his stradivarius at a metro station in new york, incognito?

find out on this brilliant piece by the washington post. it’s big, but it’s well worth it.

Categories
music

wear it on

mr. bolinhos suggested i did a review of my ipod shuffle, and here it goes. :)
for those of you that haven’t seen it yet, here’s the ad from apple.

i got mine on xmas, and before i owned one, i used to think shuffles were… well, weird. i thought i needed to choose what i wanted to hear or to see what was playing at the moment. i wanted control.
but as i found out, i don’t need it. some things are just meant to be enjoyed and with the shuffle you can do just that: relax and listen. i love it precisely because they made it compact and light, and nonetheless, easy easy.

anyway, there’s continuous and shuffle mode, and you can always skip songs, or go back to the beggining of your playlist. or fill it with another playlist when you get bored of feel like shaking your bootie. with 1gb there’s plenty of room for many songs or audiobooks and the battery holds plenty morning jogs or train trips.

then there’s the apple details, the simplicity that makes a difference. there is a little dock, which you plug through a usb cable to your mac/pc. the shuffle fits the dock through the headphones hole (one plug less) and there it is, charging, or ready to take some more music (just itunes required).

but what i love the most about it is the clip. bigger ipods or other music players are usually heavy or otherwise noticeable. you have to be careful in which pocket you put it and you cannot take off your jacket with your headphones on. impossible to wear on your pijama while you vaccum clean.
no problem for the shuffle. clip it on your tshirt (or pijama) and do everything without having to notice it. it’s just so portable and easy to carry around that you feel like you never need to take it out or otherwise worry about it. and now they even have it in 5 different colors.

two not-so-pleasant points though. if you’re a last.fm fan, the shuffle won’t scrobble your tunes (hardware incompatibility) and also, if you wear it on your belt or trousers, careful not to bump against other surfaces, you might scratch it. it’s not exactly fragile, it won’t break, but you tend to forget it is there quite easily.

truth is, i love mine. it feels urban and very very “me”. :)