...story of my life...

(untitled)

2011-10-17T15:15:00.003+01:00

It was one of those fleeting, frightening moments when I was lost. And it made me think, essentially, what kind of a person I am, where I'm headed, what my aspirations are, what steps I should take. Indecisiveness leads nowhere. Perhaps after writing it out, I'll finally act on it.

For the sake of a soundtrack, this somehow mystic tune plays in my head.

Where Beyonce gets it...

2011-10-14T14:12:00.002+01:00

Right, so if you thought Beyonce's "Girls" is catchy, that's where she caught it from. I'm most likely one of the last few people on Earth to find out about this quite obvious sampling, but I'm still frustrated at how the success of B's tune is pretty much 50% Major Lazer's doing.
PS: Rihanna rules!

#3

2011-10-02T19:14:00.004+01:00

It's a beautiful song from 2006 that just made it back to the UK charts at #3!

Lyrics spark all sorts of ponderings. Maybe it's just that I'm in a thoughtful mood today.

I've got the moves!

2011-10-02T17:36:00.003+01:00

It's all in the right moves. At the right times.

And when all you do is sit around and "think" about "moving", nothing can really happen. But it's oh so hard to make up your mind. Or is it just me? I'm a settler, for one, and I easily get used to whatever life brings, but at the same time I want more. Without knowing exactly what that "more" is.

I've always admired people with a clear goal in mind. From early on, they know: I'm going to be an artist, I'm going to be big in journalism, I'm going to set up my own business. And they do it. They follow through and do it.

And then there's people like me, who enjoy just living life, taking it one step at a time. And I can't seem to make up my mind as to what my goal is.

Neither here, nor there.

Good at everything, best at nothing.

For how long?

And it goes like this...

2011-03-22T18:11:00.000Z

Earth Hour 2011

2011-03-22T16:28:00.003Z

4 days to go, join in!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-09T21:23:00.002Z

I absolutely realize I've been gone, out of space, away from the blogspot for waaay too long, with a faint hope that maybe someone missed my sporadic posts during that period (haha, oh, I imagine all the tears of disappointed followers...not).

But it's a new year now. It's a better year. A BIGGER YEAR! A year that shall be like no other! A year that started off quite well and feels promising so far. I'm not sure what exactly it will promise, yet I do have some "resolutions" that I'll get on with in 2011; see how far that goes...

And I'll renew this blog, for what it's worth. So see you soon, properly :)

So the world's not a happy place?

2010-03-30T22:20:00.002+01:00

At least according to Gallup. Apparently, we should all move to the Scandinavian region if we want to feel satisfied with our lives and laugh at the rest of the world for sulking in misery. There must be something in the air there...

Alternatively, try USA or Canada, or Brazil for that festival feeling.

Right now, based in the UK, I guess I can settle for 54% satisfaction. But it's sad that Bulgaria is the least 'thriving' country in South-East Europe... our wellbeing index is just 6%.
Global Wellbeing Surveys Find Nations Worlds Apart

It's a bit depressing, this whole dark map of the world. Let's not get tangled up in statistics now and just try to make the most of what we have.

It's a thing of the past...

2010-03-30T21:41:00.003+01:00

I'd calculate the number of hours left of my University life, just for the dramatic effect hour counts generally have. But I don't have time for that.

Currently maxing out the final few weeks of senior year. Projects again... Academia strikes again. Let it strike; according to my glorious plan for the future, these will literally be the last weeks of school work for a couple of years. Thank you, University, but I've had enough. I'm ready for a change.

Where will we go? What will we do? Only time will tell! And there's hardly any time left. Trying to make the most of it, but at the same time - being ready to move on. It's a love/hate relationship, that final stride, I guess.

And soon it will all be over, for better or worse.

The dog days are over.

Back to the future...

2010-02-05T17:45:00.002Z

Today is one of those Fridays when you sit down and think about the future. Why? For one, because you realise it's near. It's always there, lurking behind the corner. The end of one era, beginning of the next. It's almost time to leave the safe confounds of the academic world (of which I feel I've had more than enough) and to embrace the world beyond. Where will it take us? What will it all be about? What am I doing about it all? Hmm... And again, I have the feeling that I'm not jumping into the future head-first... I'm one of those people who like things step by step. But today I wish I didn't go for little steps. I wish I found a way to go for something, no second thoughts, to have the utter dedication to a cause, to have a passion that will drive my actions, to know exactly which wagon I want to hop onto. It's not that easy. I realized, yesterday, that if I have a clear goal in my head, I'll pursue it till it's done. I don't give up easily; I try until the final fail. But when the goal's not clear, chances of me actually pursuing it are slimmer. So here's the task of the evening: set some goals. And get to them! Time's running up! ... and yeah, be chill and awesome in the mean time.

Social Media Week: London

2010-01-31T15:10:00.002Z

It seems that late January is the time for all the social media buzz, starting with the Grammy's special social media summit last Friday and their campaign "We're all Fans!" and now continuing with the Social Media Week in London, New York, Berlin, Toronto, Sao Paolo and San Francisco. From Feb. 1st - 5th, the world will be discussing changes and trends in the online world. Sounds good. I'm attending one event for which I'm absolutely psyched - Social Media: Music To My Ears . Kudos for social media and real-life networking!

***
We're all fans! - Grammy's initiative

***

Time for Good Ideas

2010-01-31T14:56:00.003Z

If you're in the NYC area and want to get some good ideas for 2010, why not attend the PSFK Good Ideas Salon on Feb. 4?

____________________________________

WHAT

Good Ideas Salons are where forward-thinkers come together to share ideas to make things better, whether that’s better work, better play or a better world.

Based on the success of its Good Ideas Salon series in New York, the team at trends and innovation company PSFK has invited motivated individuals to produce their own salons—harnessing the talent and creativity from within their own communities.

Once a month, Good Ideas Salons from Jakarta to Toronto to Hamburg connect local innovators and experts to discuss far-reaching themes like collaboration, mobile, design, and more. Videos of the salons are then uploaded and shared on the Good Ideas Salons website, transforming these local perspectives into a global vision.

WHY

Because innovation doesn’t occur in a bubble—it occurs locally and globally, offline as well as on. Good Ideas Salons bring local innovators face-to-face to define and refine their ideas. Videos taken from the salons deliver those ideas to the world.

WHO

Drawing from a range of industries, Good Ideas Salons bring together people with a focus on lateral thinking, the desire to showcase their knowledge, and the wish to renew existing relationships with likeminded peers as well as forge new ones.

WHERE

Because good ideas are not bound by geography, neither are Good Ideas Salons. They are held in cities around the world, big and small. Potential venues include cafés, bars, offices, studios, theaters, universities, community centers and rented event spaces.

WHEN

The 3rd Tuesday of every month.

____________________________________

Go get that good idea now! :)

Google Xistence Lives Life For You

2010-01-31T00:12:00.002Z

There's been such a hype around the ever-so-popular social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger and the like. We all seem to live more complex lives online than in real life. Really, that just sounds wrong. There are so many distractions online: updating your status on Facebook and looking through people's photos just because they're there, tweeting about your mediocre lunch at the cafeteria or clicking on all the links your followees post, going on MySpace to look at random music bands, going on Blogger to share something terribly exciting about life, possibly chatting on Skype and MSN in the mean time, checking all your e-mail accounts, going on LinkedIn for a professional update, and then of course looking through a whole lotta websites, just because they're endlessssss! Whew, well, that sounds like more work than going out for a pint with friends! And yet we seem determined to keep our 'online selves' alive and kicking, in on all the latest trending topics, gossip, and other possibly pointless information we absorb for hours in front of the monitor. It's an addiction and it's so hard to control, especially when you have 'nothing better to do in real life'. Oh, that's so sad and wrong, but I feel like a hypocrite saying that simply because I am one of those utter digital addicts. For one, it's cheaper to live online than offline ;) Either way, it's a twisted reality, this online world. Ironic, isn't it, that the more you use social media, the more antisocial you might become, in real life.

So here's a clever idea. Why not let Google live your online life for you? :) If only that application were real, it would save so much of your time, wasted in meaningless status updates that few people actually care about... And you know, instead of staring at a monitor 24/7, you can go out, meet friends, explore the world! (or, fine, play hours of WOW if you're THAT type of antisocial gaming person)

Let Google Xistence live for you online, so that you can enjoy REAL LIFE!!!

Someone please develop that app, I'll be one of the first customers! :)

All We See Is GaGa!

2010-01-30T23:51:00.003Z

The Lady of 2009, the astonishing addition to the world of pop, the extraordinarily talented Italian-blooded blonde who changed music in the 21st century... Ah, we all know her. She's like the pop phenomenon of the century and seems to have even more tricks up her sleeve. Now that she's proven to be, mildly put, out-of-this-world extravagant in all things fashion, getting that 'WHOA' reaction every time, she has earned her place as... a Creative Director of speacialty products design at Polaroid!

“I am so proud to announce my new partnership with Polaroid as the creative director and inventor of specialty projects,” said Lady Gaga. “The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation–blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era–and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand. Lifestyle, music, art, fashion: I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer, and to as my father puts it–finally, have a real job.”

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We can only dream of all the fancy design this girl's going to come up with! Incredible! And only 23 years old... Go GaGa!

(via PSFK)

Let's get on with it!

2010-01-29T20:44:00.002Z

A few months left, the last few weeks of life as an academic individual... who knows, maybe the last few months in London... it's one of the perks of life, that unpredictability. You never know what will follow, what turns your life will take. So all you can do is get on with what you've got right now and make the most of it. It's time to have the time of our lives :)
Now's the time for action. Now's the time to grab that opportunity by the neck, before it slips away. Just do it.
Easier said than done. For everyone. We all have determination, we all have that desire to be our best, but it's not that easy to be on top of everything. And time isn't always on your side. And things don't always look too well. BUT. Let's not give in to that sunken feeling of whatever it is that we feel when life's not working out exactly as planned. And let's look for an alternative. Cause we're above it all :) Sadly, total awesomeness doesn't pay your bills, but hey, it's a starting point :) Let's get on with it! Let's make this the semester that counts! Let's be everything, everywhere, everyday! Obama said it... Yes we can! :D
GO!

Peas and Grapes?!

2010-01-28T23:19:00.003Z

No, no, no... My ears, oh God, my ears!
Is it just me, or is 'Nipple on mah cookie' just about the most retarded thing ever?! Well, they said it, let's get retarded. And now her lumps are cookies! Awesome. No. Why did I listen to this?! Why is it etched in my brain?! Well... maybe now it will be etched in yours too! *cue evil laughter*

By the way, there's something about BEP songs that makes them stick in your head so! It's pure evil! And pure annoying. Listen to this and Samara will come eat your cookies in seven days!!!

Alternatively, here's the Nipple song. Terribly insensitive from a culture point of view. But no cookies or peas, at least.

12A

2010-01-20T19:41:00.002Z

So here's the result of white wine on a plane. Unedited.
____

So, we’re somewhere above Regensburg. I have already discovered the beauty of drinking white wine on board. Red wine is a no-no, cause it gives me a bad case of ‘purple lips’… and we don’t want the passport control people in London to stop me because of the purple lips. Ha, I guess after a break like that I simply need to ease out of drinking… or get used to drinking a lot. Hahaha, don’t worry, it’s almost time to touch down in London-town. Been listening to ‘One Love’ and ‘Sexy Love’ on my iPod – those are two of the songs of Winter Break 09/10 :) Lovely stuff indeed.
It’s been a month since I left London on the snowy morning of Dec. 19th. Ah, what a month it was. Full of fun times, wonderful friends, dancing all night, having the best of days and nights :) Couldn’t get much better than that. If you judge a year by its beginning, than 2010 is bound to be TOTALLY AWESOME! Last semester of university, lots of plans, lots of uncertainty, it’s life, baby!

Yes, life.

I’m sky high and can see all the clouds below me! I love flying! Especially when there’s no turbulence, ah. And I love my iPod playlist that just decided to Transform Me :)

The sun is shining outside. I think I might land in London with quite the tan. If only.

Oh look, it’s the third little bottle. How lovely. How awesome.

Wow.

Distance to destination: 809 km. Time: 2:06pm GMT. Halfway there! Oh, that’s a song I don’t like cause it gets too stuck in my head (Meet Me Halfway by the B.E.Peas, oh joy).

Well, it’s goodbye party times in Sofia, hello London randomness :) Let’s see what the semester brings. Let’s see what the future brings… Let’s see what my art project will be all about, darn that lack of inspiration. I wonder if at any point I’ll start writing in the stream-of-consciousness manner, meaning that I just type, type, type (oh, the digital era), until I start typing too fast and my brain stops thinking fast enough to type it all up and then the deepest, darkest secrets stashed up in my consciousness start coming out. Hmmm, let’s see.

Now watch me shut this thing down!

Oh, that would be a good song to play when my laptop battery starts dying out. But nooot yeeet.

Truth is, I’m bored aboard this plane. My good headphones got chewed up by a kitty-cat, so now I can’t listen to music in its completeness. Ah well, it’s all good cause we’re above this stuff :) Either way, I’m bored. There’s an empty seat next to mine (mine is 12A), and then the aisle seat is taken by a guy who just sleeps. Actually, that’s usually what I do… Sleep. Not today though. Maybe it’s the wine. It’s the first time I’ve had wine at 11 582m altitude above the Rhein river. How I want to go to Berlin, by the way. It’s a goal of mine. I wonder when it will happen. Need to work, make money, be awesome :)

Cheryl Cole – 3 Words – now playing. Such an amazing song, and OH that video!!

I can vaguely hear a kid screaming in the background. Good I have headphones on. So antisocial :)

Alright, let’s see what London’s gonna be like this time around. Anyone who happens to be awesome and in need of a break in London, do let me know :)

Okay, one more thing, how come there’s no wireless in the air?! Ugh. The captain just spoke. He sounds cool. Oh, there was once a captain who kept telling us jokes (mainly on the lame side). It was hilarious.

The past two years have turned my life around. So there. Everything changed. And now I look back and think, what if this, what if that… Well, technically, not everything changed, but I’ve certainly adopted a slightly different approach to life  It’s all about doing what I want… everything else is just bound to fall into place… or else.

10 000 000 fireflies.

The End.

Playlist of the Week

2009-12-09T03:24:00.002Z

David Guetta and Estelle can do no wrong! Watch them spread the One Love and dance till your heart's content!

Sudden change of mood... Muse it up and join the Uprising!

In New Yooooork, it's all about the inspiring lights! Amazing song by Jay-Z and Alicia-K!

Get the party started with Ke$ha... Tik tok, time to get to it! :)

Who says a little Bad Romance is bad.. it's epic, amazing, totally Gaga! Respect to the Lady!

Ah, Flashback! Calvin Harris, thank you for that!

One love, Three Words. Here's to Cheryl Cole and Will.i.am!

And so many more... But listen to these ones and tell me if you like them :) Let the music play! :D

We're at the Rolling Stones, baby!

2009-12-09T03:06:00.005Z

Ever wondered what's wrong with the London tube map?

The stops are not named after epic bands, that's what's wrong! Just look at how cool things get once we add a bit of music to the underground :)

We actually live with the Rolling Stones! And I'll be off to visit Portishead tomorrow... Oh I used to go all the way to Nirvana! And if you come visit me, chances are we'll meet at Prince and roll over to the Stones.

I say make it the official tube map! And let the music transport you!

The things that make my day... continued

2009-11-25T15:23:00.003Z

Getting a tweet reply from Popjustice, that's always fun!

Also, winning tickets to music gigs! That's pretty awesome.. and I do want to spend more time on that topic, but alas just as I was finishing up a post on it yesterday, the internet decided to die and killed my post as well, after which I could not be bothered to do it over again.

But yes. Do expect updates in the fairly near future :)

And stay awesome!

This is it...

2009-10-28T15:36:00.004Z

First film premiere at Leicester Square, quite exciting I must say. Well, what better epic movie event than Michael Jackson's "This Is It!"... It was amazing, red carpet and all! Had to shove my way through crowds of people so that I could get a glimpse of the stars... At the end of the night, I had autographs by a member of JLS and a member of Westlife (haha, boy bands forever!), and had met several amazing fun people!:)

You could feel MJ's love and the love for MJ uniting everyone! It was truly a unique evening... Once again, going for an adventure turned into a glorious venture:)

And here's one brilliant, true fan of Michael's, Martin Kamga:

Still haven't seen the film itself though. That's due Nov. 2!

Dizzee Rascal @ BBC Electric Proms

2009-10-23T00:20:00.002+01:00

Before I go back to studying for a not-at-all-exciting exam tomorrow, I wanted to share this video of Dizzee's epic live performance at the Camden Roundhouse on Oct. 21, 2009. Yeah, I was there and it was unbelievably awesome! So go bonkers, everyone!! :D

Wild West

2009-10-22T22:40:00.002+01:00

Kanye, of course, who else?
Swiftly stumbled from the brightest star in the universe to the biggest douche in the universe, to quote P!nk.
Why?
Cause he had a big ego. Too big. And it just had to all come down to the EMA's and Beyonce's best video of all times. Why, Kanye, why? Couldn't you control that crazy person inside you? Couldn't you tie up that wild ego of yours? No.
Result: EPIC FAIL. And gazillions of negative PR stories. Too many indeed.
Consequences: Oooh, tours cancelled - no sales; and the little bit where the entire world kinda hates you... :( Sad.
What to do? How to redeem yourself?
KILL THE DAEMON WITHIN!!! (and make a movie about it with Spike Lee)

SUMMARY OF KANYE'S "WE WERE ONCE A FAIRYTALE":
6min30secs of 'blah blah blah, something in a club, blah blah'
Then Kanye gracefully puking in the bathroom.
Then him technically gutting himself, also quite gracefully.
AWWWW, cute daemon!!! :D
Awwww... :( Sad that the cutie died and Kanye didn't.
Philosophical ending leaves you ponder all the questions in life. NOT.

So yeah, here's the film. It's almost worth 10 minutes of your life.

Brain Swap

2009-10-16T00:42:00.003+01:00

Interesting little idea... Just a tad creepy... but haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through somebody else's perspective?

And I'm addicted to...

2009-10-16T00:19:00.003+01:00

..the following websites, in the following order, apparently, seen as Google Chrome likes to keep track of that... I'm glad there's no statistic as to how much time I spend online, cause that would be disturbing, probably. Either way, I just wanted to point out that today Tweeter officially surpassed Facebook as the number one website. I don't know if that's a cause for celebration or distress, hmm. Cause Twitter is a bit limiting in terms of what you can say and how you can say it, but it's totally the best site to be if you wanna be the first to get updates directly from the stars (and possibly their assistants/fans). It's quite exciting! Favorite bit is still reading Calvin's tweets and random rants about food and what not.

Anyway... now you know what pages I tend to refresh more-so than others. Call me an addict - you probably won't be far from the truth. ;)

Epic Weekend

2009-10-15T18:48:00.002+01:00

Surprise visits home are always amazing :) Well, this one was even more epic than ever!!! Not only did I get to hang out with all my favorite people, but also to party it up with the stars - all thanks to City TV and the Loop Live concert:)
Kelly Rowland, Guru Josh Project, Inna, Eddy Wata, Tom Boxer, Vessy Boneva, Katerine, Illmate and more! Great fun backstage during the concert, then a totally amazing afterparty right into the wee hours of the night... Ah, the memories... There's nothing more I could have wished for :)

Here are some pics:
1) Glitter and awe during Guru Josh's opening act:

2) With Guru Josh Project @ afterparty

3) With Big friends (and colleagues:) Iliyan and Julie:)

4) With lovely Inna @ afterparty

And of course, song of the evening (and a rather touching backstage video, complete with a proper amount of loud out-of-tune singing:)

That's it.

Hooooowwl!

2009-10-07T22:29:00.002+01:00

A completely different take on homepage design - savage, but sexy. Shakira, the She-Wolf, is on the prowl for something big. She's the Alpha female of her pack.. of one.. but still.
I can now say that I'm happily howling along to her song. And while I love the song, I positively get freaked out by the cage act video... Hmm...

Yes, she certainly did something 'very interesting', but I'm afraid she could have totally dislocated her shoulder or broken her spine in the process.

... and now ...

2009-10-07T01:54:00.002+01:00

Now I should technically be sleeping. It's almost 2a.m. Pretty early for my standards, but still, I was really planning on sleeping tonight. No. Instead I'm online. (Oh, I messed up my entire schedule when I took a 3-hour nap between 7:30p.m. and 10:30p.m., so now I probably won't fall asleep till 7a.m., at which point it will be silly to even go to bed. End of no-sleep rant aside)

This week the talk of the online world has been the brand new, supposedly amazing Google Wave. So here's a fun video telling what it is.

It's still invitation-only, but you can kindly request one on the Google Wave website.

In an unrelated story, the Capital Jingle Bell Ball featuring so many amazing artists like Lady Gaga, Pixie Lott, Taio Cruz, JLS, Tinchy Stryder, The Noisettes, Lily Allen and so on... has been SOLD OUT in ONE HOUR!! WHAT?! I was thinking it would sell out fast, but ONE HOUR?! Wow... I think even if I did have money to purchase a ticket this Monday, I would have still missed the early buying frenzy. Kinda like Glastonbury Fest 2010 - tickets sold out in less than 24 hours. Crazy.

I'm listening to Capital FM now, with Dave Kelly calling possibly every single tune 'mint' (ie 'awesome') and commenting on the excessive whiteness of Cheryl Cole's teeth in her latest video. And here's a new-ish song by Agnes; it's mint too, in case you were wondering.

And a few other songs, which are minty fresh...
1) Dirtee Cash *oh yeah, it rhymes!* by Dizzee Rascal - that boy is absolutely adored here in the UK. And for a good reason too. Dizzee's got the right stuff!

2) Oopsy Daisy by Chipmunk - you could probably assume he's a pretty young dude considering the joyfully teenage title of the song. He's 18. And that's a good song. I mean, it's gotta be, if it's the UK's official number 1! Kudos!

3) Flashback by Calvin Harris - pure genius, that Calvin! He's put on this amazing album (Ready for the Weekend) while putting on an amazing tour as well! Bravo, bravo!

The end.

Did You Know? (4.0)

2009-10-07T01:36:00.001+01:00

curious little video about the ever-changing world we live in... from a mostly socio-economic-technological point of view. enjoy.

Calvin Harris Tweet of the Day

2009-10-04T21:36:00.001+01:00

...and possibly 'New Expression of the Week'

Spark It Up!

2009-10-03T18:32:00.003+01:00

Just a quick one on Jordin, who is amazing! I am currently addicted to "Battlefield" and "SOS (Let the Music Play)"... and yes, totally just let the music play! :)
YouTube is being uncooperative and does not allow me to embed the videos for these two songs, so instead, I'm putting up the image on Sparks's official home page (which is quite cute-awesomely designed:)

Rocking Graphics

2009-10-03T18:14:00.002+01:00

Bulgarian band Ostava did this nifty little video for their new song "Rock N Roll Song Designer".

I love stop-motion graphics... yet I can't help but notice somewhat of a resemblance between Ostava's video and this one made by Outlandish for their awesome song "Rock All Day"

...and they probably got the idea from an earlier music vid, but it's all good, I guess, as long as all those copyrights are paid up properly:)Though, okay, in this case it's just the 'book/artsy' motif that's similar; oh and personally I prefer the Outlandish approach to their clip. But kudos to all! :)

the things that make my day...

2009-10-02T17:07:00.004+01:00

... are totally random... in this case, it's MTV's twitter profile background.

Yes, pathetic and self-centered, I must say... Feel free to judge me :P

Boybands Back in Town

2009-09-26T19:38:00.002+01:00

I always thought that the age of boybands was over... Come on, we had the 90s with the Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Five, N'Sync, Take That and so on - and of course plenty of eye candy for all crazy teenage fans :) Precious things, those boybands; things of the past - no more!
JLS are here to make up for the recent lack of boybands. And here's their latest song...

Also back on the beatin' track, one of the all-time favourite bands from the back street are, well, back! New song from the BSB's, coming up!

And finally, more news on the boyband front, Robbie Williams said he'd gladly rejoin Take That... so yeah! Get ready, world, get ready to relive the good old times ;)

3D Lott

2009-09-23T22:51:00.002+01:00

Orange are currently selling special Monkey SIM cards with free music downloads... And they've got loads of posters around London featuring Lady GaGa, Little Boots, Dizzee Rascal... They're doing this massive promotion of their newest, music-fan-attracting SIM plan, right, and as part of it they're doing a Hologram Tour of Pixie Lott and Tinchy Stryder! Way to go!!! The 'tour' is on for four weekends, and will be in Birmingham this Saturday and Sunday. I think that might a good opportunity to jump over to Birmingham for a day trip :) So if the opportunity arises, I'll be off to watch holograms perform... :)

Here's an actual article on the topic :)

Oh, Sh..uga! (cont. 2)

2009-09-22T09:48:00.001+01:00

So, as you saw some of the comments people posted in the PJ SB Guestbook, here's what was inevitably going to happen... and it did.

Moving on now...

Oh, Sh..uga! (cont.)

2009-09-21T22:42:00.002+01:00

yes, thought I'd paste a couple of comments from the PJ Sugababes Forever memorial website...

Keisha writes...
I was kicked out so I didn't leave willingly. Siobhan lets make up.

Cheryle Cole writes...
Oh, dear Lord, I am wet.

Akon writes...
Akon

Siobhan writes...
When I'm walking down the street I say "HEY KEISHAAAAAAAA"! We could be hotter than the three other b*tches.

Larry writes...
We'll miss you like a hole in the head!

Kanye West writes...
...but Keisha was one of the best Sugababes of all rime. OF ALL TIME!

Katie Price writes...
I WAS RAPED. RAPED I TELLS YOU.

Keisha Buchanan writes...
Everyone and their dog has been raped Katie Price. Quit yer whining.

Jack Tweed writes...
Fuck this for a bag of skittles.

...the end...

Oh, Sh..uga!

2009-09-21T21:33:00.005+01:00

So, all of twitter is practically tweeting about the Sugababes breaking up, and some news agents already put out the story that Keisha is giving the boot to the other babes... Here are some of those reactions.

- News story
Monday, September 21 2009, 20:18 BST
By David Balls, Music Reporter

Keisha Buchanan has quit the Sugababes and will be replaced by Eurovision star Jade Ewen, it has been confirmed.

The 24-year-old, who was the only surviving original member of the band, will remain with Island Records as a solo artist.

The group have been the subject of tabloid speculation after Amelle Berrabah reportedly went missing two weeks ago, with reports claiming that Buchanan had been bullying the singer.

Berrabah has since denied the allegations; however media interest intensified following reports that Ewen had flown over to join the group.

An official statement reads: "The current line-up of the Sugababes has disbanded.

"Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah will continue as the Sugababes and will be joined by new member Jade Ewen. They release their album Sweet 7 on November 23rd through Island Records.

"Keisha Buchanan will continue to record for Island Records as a solo artist."

Sugababes rose to fame with debut single 'Overload' in 2000. Siobhan Donaghy was the first to leave the group in 2001 and was replaced by former Atomic Kitten singer Heidi Range.

Amelle Berrabah joined the group in December 2005 following the depature of Mutya Buena.

The group have enjoyed 24 Top 40 singles, six albums and greatest hits Overloaded - The Singles Collection.

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Some random threading tweets...

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What Popjustice had to say about it, last Friday...

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But then after hearing this...

...PJ got all sentimental and created this little tribute to the beloved girl band...

...did you take out your handkerchiefs? Ah, but there's no use crying over spilled suga...

A Good Example

2009-09-20T21:40:00.003+01:00

One of those feel-good-piano-motif tunes :) Thumbs up, Example, I feel like singing to this song and run around in the sunshine!... I also wish I lived in a part-cartoon world, sigh. Now, Example tweets regularly for people to download his song so that it could rise up and possibly make it to the Big Top 40 UK Chart. Everyone wants to be part of the big four-oh. Well, download this tune on iTunes, help the lad out!

Blueprint 3 in the making

2009-09-20T18:04:00.002+01:00

My graphic design professor says everything looks much more compelling if it's done for real, not merely Photoshopped. Since I'm a little crazy for Jay-Z right now, I stumbled upon this video for the making of his latest album cover. You know, when I first saw the image, I thought to myself "Oh, okay, that was certainly photoshopped all together."

But I was wrong, waaay wrong. Look at how much work went into the production of the cover! So it's official, everything in this album is top-notch, amazing stuff!

What a state of mind!

2009-09-20T00:43:00.002+01:00

I think it's time for all of us to move to New York City. I've been there once and I fell in love with it. I listened to this song once and I fell in love with it. Beautiful! Great job, Jay-Z & Alicia!

And that's not the only amazing new song by Jay-Z... Run this town... So awesome!

Basically, Jay-Z's new album is absolutely AMAZING, or as Tinchy Stryder put it "STRAIGHT SICKNESS!"

Go Orange!

2009-09-18T00:29:00.002+01:00

Final year at uni. Well, better make it the best it can be! That's the mission I'm on right now. And I can tell you so far it's been absolutely amazing! I've dedicated most of my time to getting involved in London life - more specifically, London's music life :)
After attending two small concerts in two weeks, I feel like I can call that a good start of the year :)
To keep that number rising, I'm planning on attending another gig in my third week thanks to the Orange RockCorps. Such a cool idea - the RockCorps are a charity organization, getting young people involved into doing some good for their communities, some little social project like fixing up an old garden, painting walls, cleaning up rivers - useful things of that sort. After dedicating 4 hours to such a project, you earn a ticket to an amazing gig!! Coming up on Sept. 25 is a great show at the Royal Albert Hall - should be massive, full of enthusiastic young people.. and of course featuring some top-notch performers!
Headlining the show: Nas, Nelly, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland, Chase&Status, Razorlight, and Daniel Merriweather... I'm not a hardcore fan of all of the above, but having the chance to see this,

this,

and this *Kelly will be there anyway... they better sing that!*,

... is sooo worth it!!! I can't wait!!!
Now, to earn this I'll be painting and fixing up a children's playground, this Wednesday from 10-2pm. I love this thing, I love being part of it!!! :D
And so my days go by :)

Viva MJ at the VMA's!

2009-09-18T00:00:00.002+01:00

Exceptional VMA's this year. Despite Kanye's little stunt which pretty much became the main focus of all post-VMA discussions to the point where 'Kanye' could now be considered an offensive word "Ugh, I can't believe he kanyed me like that!" (meaning whatever you want it to mean, really) - the whole ceremony was amazing!

It would have been unimaginable to have the ceremony without a tribute to the King of Pop, and the VMA's did a spectacular job at it - incredible tributes from so many artists! It must have been so exhilarating to watch these live! Wow, I'm left nigh speechless at how amazing everything was!

Blood and tears, mixed with a healthy dose of eccentricity marked Lady GaGa's appearance at the show... shock and awe is what this lady's all about, and she sure does it well :)

And then there's Kanye, for whom the entire world - including Tweeter - has been talking about constantly. It's like the biggest bit of negative PR anyone's ever brought upon themselves. Well, only the brightest star in the universe could have pulled that one off :)

A Good Beat Never Hurt No One

2009-09-17T23:40:00.002+01:00

Pixie Lott - undoubtedly amazing. Mama Did become a hit, as are her new tunes... My personal favorite - "Boys and Girls".

Amazing, that girl!

Too Long a Break

2009-09-17T23:38:00.002+01:00

Ah, summer days.. how fast they go by, filled to the max with most amazing adventures... and once again I managed to totally leave that blog behind, to collect digital dust, forgotten in virtual outer space...
But guess what, it's about to change.
NOW.

Goodbye for now...

2009-07-08T07:55:00.002+01:00

...one of the most touching, emotional farewells ever...

The world loves you, MJ! No one will ever forget...
:)

Tributes

2009-06-29T13:40:00.004+01:00

The world is still in shock after losing an icon.

Over the past few days, music fans all over the globe drifted between depression and disbelief, admiration and apprehension... why did this amazingly talented individual have to leave the world? Why at this young age? What now...?

Difficult to accept, difficult to move on.

So many people from so many cultures, brought together through grief. Sad.
But also beautiful. I don't remember ever seeing so many people show their love and gratitude for someone who just left our world. Well, it does remind me of Princess Diana's sudden passing and people's reaction back then. It's amazing, though, inspiring too. Now might be the time to bring up a quote by MJ himself:
"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."
If he could only see how right he'd be... Wow.

Well, we know one thing for sure, his music lives on forever! And it will continue to inspire generations to come... all people, everywhere...

Here are two MJ tributes by inmates at a detention center in the Philippines. One done in 2007, and one done just 10 hours after the shattering news arrived. 1500 inmates joined in, dancing to his songs with every heartbeat...

2007...

2009...

...And that was just one tribute to the late Idol... one out of millions.

MJ, you are truly loved!

And the more I think about it all, the more I realize how much you mean to me and to the entire world. Thank you!

Top of My Playlist

2009-06-28T19:00:00.002+01:00

Right. Here are some of my current music addictions...

1. Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho): Positively amazing rhythmic tune, absolutely makes me wanna dance and sing aloooong!!! I know you want to listen to that song over and over again as well, right? :) (oh yeah, it's been on repeat on my iTunes... uno, dois, tres, quatro...)

2. Agnes - Release Me: Passionate song, beautifully sung... also #1 this week in City TV's Big50 :)

3. David Guetta ft Kelly Rowland - When Love Takes Over: I've said it before, I'll say it again - this is the perfect shout-along song, and I can imagine what would happen if people were to sing this at a karaoke or something... especially if they were all slightly on the tipsy side...

4. AR Rahman ft Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho: Oh yeah, another one of those great sing-along songs:)

5. Nevena ft Marius Moga - Zoom: Go, Bulgarian-Romanian-Greek combinations! See what great stuff we can do if we only work together... Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom - most addicting tune ever!

6. Cascada - Evacuate the Dancefloor: I'm infected by the sound... :)

7. The Veronicas - Untouched: What I love most about this song is its beginning, which makes me shiver... powerful things, those violins...

8. Akcent - Stay With Me: Seen as this summer is full of Romanian hits, I have to include a song by Akcent which features the oh-so-typically-Romanian accordion. And the video is sad... and then really cheesy in the end.

Basically, when these songs come on, I pump up the volume like there's no tomorrow and sing along while driving around Sofia. Yes, other drivers look at me like I'm crazy, but at least I'm having a great time even when I'm stuck in hour-long traffic jams! So if some crazy chick drives past you with music blasting extra loud, it's probably me... if you're in Sofia, that is.

Today's the Big Day... :)

2009-06-27T09:21:00.005+01:00

If you're somewhere 'round Bulgaria this weekend, tune in to CityTV and watch the brand new, absolutely exciting edition of the BIG50 with Julie and Iliyan, 18:00-20:00 Sat., 14:00-16:00 Sun. Wooohooooo!

...my friends are all celebrity... ;)

Sinclar@Yalta, 26.06.09

2009-06-27T08:47:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was a sad day for music. Probably everyone paid their own special tribute to the King of Pop, either by listening to nothing but Jacko all night, or called numerous toasts in honor of his greatness, or simply thought about the mysterious ways of life and death.

Here in Sofia, tributes started early; the first one I heard was a radio tribute at OMV gas station in the morning, then at the 3-in-1 BeatBox Battle in the evening. The final tribute, which technically ended at 6:30 in the morning, was in Yalta Club, Sofia, where we danced the night off under Bob Sinclar's beats and amazing music selections! What better way to pay respects to one incredible musician than by honoring another quite good one? Bob Sinclar totally pumped up the energy at the club, making it an unforgettable night (and morning...).

Here's to great music everywhere, all the time! Cheers!

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T11:20:00.003+01:00

The world now mourns the loss of a King... but his music lives on forever!... it just won't stop!

Those wild, wild wallabies...

2009-06-25T14:10:00.002+01:00

Raw Story:
OPIUM-EATING WALLABIES GET HIGH, MAKE CROP CIRCLES

SYDNEY (AFP) – Wallabies are getting “as high as a kite” on opium in Australian poppy fields and flattening crops as they hop round in circles, according to a report.

The marsupials, which look like small kangaroos, have been getting into medical opium crops in the southern island state of Tasmania and chewing on the plant’s intoxicating heads, state officials said.

“We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,” state attorney-general Lara Giddings told a parliamentary estimates hearing.

“Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high,” local media reported Ms Giddings as saying.

Tasmania is the world’s largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market, with about 500 farms supplying approximately 50 percent of the raw material for morphine and other opiate drugs.

Livestock and other animals, such as deer and sheep, which eat the plants had also been seen acting “weird,” industry spokesman Rick Rockliff said.

“There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,” he said.
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How random is that?! Aren't wallabies adorably lollig? :)

Summer so far... (and some songs)

2009-05-24T22:10:00.002+01:00

The sun is shining, the weather is sweet (ignoring the occasional thunder storms)...

Summer's up and running here in Sofia; as the streets get hotter by the day, people take to the parks to enjoy some shade, a cool breeze, and chill time with friends, kids or dogs, where applicable (for the record, there's nothing like a chill afternoon in the park with friends). Weekends are especially nice around here, as a large portion of Sofia's excessive population migrates to the countryside, mountains, and other cool places away from the city. This leaves the S-town to the select few who by choice or obligation stay behind. Lately I've been spending my weekends here, totally by choice :) Perfect opportunity to hang out with friends, drive around rather empty roads, and live a timeless life. Amazing.

Chilling is just what I've been doing here. Plus partying. What more could I ask for?! Yeah, well, it is starting to feel very weird not having ANYTHING to worry about.. come on, a healthy dose of stress could come in handy to take me out of this awesomely lethargic state... Since I came back home, life's been too chilled compared to the final weeks at Richmond. I'm hoping to find something exciting to do for the rest of the break to keep my brain going - or else there's a chance all my brain cells will melt in the sun :) I'll let you know as soon as I've found something thrilling to dedicate my time to over the next 3 months. Wow. That's a lot of time!

In the mean time, here are some more summer hits (aka songs that are either overplayed on the radio here, or are stuck in my head for one reason or another).

1. Inna - Love -> certainly one of the tunes I've heard the most here in Bulgaria. Honestly, at first the only bit I liked about the song was the funky beat, while her voice didn't quite appeal to me. Now, after hearing the song about 1 000 001 times, I'm all used to her voice and am even tempted to sing out loud. Anyway, main reason why I like the song: awesome slow-mo video :) I love slow-motion; it simply makes everything incredibly graceful...

2. Akcent - That's My Name -> Akcent have delivered some pretty nice tunes in the past. Here's one of their latest pieces, also featuring amazing slow-mo effects :)

Also, is it just me again, or do 1. and 2. sound sort of similar ... Could it be that both come from brotherly Romania, from the same music label (Roton), and the two videos were probably directed by the same person (my research didn't get that far, but you'd assume that too, right?). Either way, keep 'em slow-motion videos coming :D

3. David Deejay ft. Dony - Sexy Thing -> not from 2009, but just as popular as the other songs, another sexy summer hit. Hooray.

4. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow -> yes, too much boom boom pow... this song is overpopularized, but still entertainingly danceable once you get into the boom boom pow mindset :)

5. Hadise - Dum Tek Tek -> my friend played that song to me, and yes, it's catchy, and I wish I had stupid sound on this stupid laptop so that I could actually listen to it again, but anyway, I thought it would be a nice Eastern European transition from Boom Boom Pow to Dum Tek Tek. Hehe.

6. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You -> this goes out to all my friends back in Bulgaria, back in London, anywhere over the world, really... While in a different context than that of the song, I can absolutely say that my life would suck without you all :)) So Thank You All! :D

Alright! So now that I'm all happy, having written this shortish post mainly for the sake of updating this blog, and having danced around a bit mainly for the sake of dancing, I can go to bed with a smile on my mouth and a hand on my... huh! Almost forgot the song which I listened to the most today, while road-tripping (aka driving aimlessly) around Sofia with my friend:

Good times, good times... what more could I ask for? ...

Oh Jubilee...

2009-05-20T21:00:00.002+01:00

...What will Michael Jackson do?...

Back on May 2, my friend and I had to endure the biggest transport fails of all times ... almost. As we struggled to make our way to the Pink concert at the O2 using virtually every means of transportation short of boats, we learned that when the Jubilee line is down on concert dates, getting to the O2 arena becomes nigh impossible a task...

The O2 is probably the most famous entertainment venue in London.
The only tube line that goes to the O2 is the Jubilee line.
On concert dates, thousands of people try to get to the venue.
No Jubilee line = hell.
TfL (Transport for London) have decided to bring hell to London by closing down the Jubilee line almost every weekend this summer. Wham!
Michael Jackson's 50 concert dates at the O2 starting in July will basically suck, transport-wise, for the most part, as there'll be no tube to transport all the crazy fans! Well, isn't that the best time to do tube repairs? Over summer, when the O2 is pretty much fully booked?

Makes perfect sense, right? Good luck catching all those 'Out of Service' buses, everyone! Just get cabs while you're at it, all other means of transportation to the Bubble are useless.

...and targeted marketing...

2009-05-18T09:56:00.003+01:00

...tailor-made for Twitter.

I wonder what other twitter-related websites and services there are... Also, who the heck decides what 'the new big thing' in social networking is and how exactly did twitter become oh-so-popular when it's not even all that exciting? Hmm.

Celebrity stalking, anyone?

2009-05-18T00:56:00.005+01:00

CelebrityTweet claims to be THE website for celebrity stalking... wow... seriously, where is this tw**ting world headed?

I do my fair share of celebrity stalking... but on the 'original' twitter... lol. One of my followees is MC Hammer (can't touch this). He's currently having a good time it seems; but is his son's name really Booby?! I really, really hope that's a typo...

Star Trek 2009

2009-05-17T22:38:00.003+01:00

I have to admit, I've never been a particular fan of Star Trek; I'd only seen a few episodes of the show and quite a few spoofs of the show... On a scale of 1 to 10, my Star Trek IQ would probably measure up to about... 2.

However... all has changed now (among other things:). Several friends and I saw the new Star Trek movie at the theater a week ago, and it was AMAZING! EPIC even! All thumbs up! Why was it epic? (not necessarilly in order of importance)
1. Amazing cast; in my humble opinion, everyone played their part really well! Kudos!
2. Nice effects! Of course in the age when special effects are more important to a movie than the actual plot, it's understandable that a SciFi film would be full of FX, yet this one also had...
3. A cleverly twisted plot! Exciting enough for all the fans, explanatory enough for all people (like me) who had a very limited idea of the Star Trek concept.
4. The Enterprise - yeah, the word 'hot' can be used to describe that spaceship.
5.
6.
7. Scotty and the Russian kid - gotta love comic relief characters :D
8. You know what, just go ahead and watch the film already :) I promise you won't be disappointed! And if, for whatever reason, you do end up all miserable and bored after seeing it, ... well, too bad. :)

Calvin's Twits

2009-05-17T22:16:00.004+01:00

I was just telling my friend today that I love Twitter mainly because of Calvin Harris's hilarious twits! :D So I thought I'd give an example of his usual twit-style.

How's that for WTF :)

(I totally used Paint to highlight the image; no, I did not use Paint just to resemble Perez Hilton or whatever)

Beautiful Days

2009-05-17T13:10:00.002+01:00

Every summer there are several feel-good songs that keep playing on and on and on, and just make you wanna sing along, while you're chillin' on the beach somewhere, sipping a Mojito or whatever your heart desires... Summer days are beautiful days! And here's a song to prove it. Though it's not a particularly recent song, it has been playing on the radio so much that I now associate it with summer times, good times, friends, fun, sun, and all the rest!

I'm still forced to live a mute digital life (i.e. my computer still has no sound), which certainly makes me a little bit sad (and increases the chances of me posting some video on here that I believe is a totally different video...)... But there's not too much I can do right now. I'll be on the lookout for a tech guy next week.

It's a lovely Sunday and I'll be out and about soon enough. I'll be listening to my ipod instead. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

Yay Home!

2009-05-12T20:33:00.002+01:00

Back home.
Great start of the break - fun times, party times, danceful days and nights, driving around town, seeing all of my amazing friends, feasting on Bulgarian food, chillin' and occasionally getting bored due to excessive chillin'... life is good, wouldn't you agree?

I guess my only complaint is that the computer I'm on, the one that connects to the internet, has no sound = totally lame, so I won't be posting any fun sound-related things for a bit now... sigh. :(

Other than that, I'm waiting for life to unveil itself in all sorts of exciting unexpected ways :)

Hooray!

That's it, then...

2009-05-08T04:17:00.003+01:00

Tradition has it that I always write a blog entry right before I leave for home/London respectively. Also, tradition has it that these blog entries are written in the wee hours of the morning (like 4:30a.m.) As of right now, I have an hour before I leave for the airport. Then another hour before check-in begins (though as a good girl I've done the online check-in and now the only thing I have to worry about is all the excess luggage *and the carrying thereof*)... oh, and riding the tube at 5:30a.m. is always an adventure :)

Apparently 4 a.m. is a great time to start exploring the mysterious of physics, for example. Take my laptop as a case study. The charger I have has always been loud and obnoxious, but tonight it started heating up and got even louder while charging my computer. At the same time, my mouse cursor started playing up - the mouse freezes and does what it wants to do, not what I tell it to do. Totally out of control. Now... when I unplug the laptop, the mouse is all well again. But here's the funny part: the mouse only acts up when the laptop is charging and placed a) directly on my bed, b) on the desk; the mouse is perfectly fine when the laptop is charging and placed a) on my lap... or b) if I'm holding it with both hands. What does that tell us about the electrical currents and all that jazz? Here's my theory:

The charger is having trouble sending the right amount of electricity to my laptop. As a result, there is a very gentle, but disturbing electrical current which strikes my laptop and affects the mouse cursor. When I add my electric polarity to the already polarized computer, I take currents off the mouse pad and balance out the whole system. Provided my heart doesn't go arrhythmic because of all the electric current transfers, it will all be good and I'll arrive home in however many hours. Top of my agenda: buy a normal charger.

I love technology! I also love the mesmerizing effect Dr. House has on my brain impulses at 4:30a.m. I'm actually quite proud at my little laptop mystery solution act thing :) Now I feel accomplished and can go back to an episode of House which is quite fascinating!

The End

The next post will be from the land of the Bulgars :) unless I get really bored in the next hour and decide to post about 20 other things. But how could I be bored when the mysteries of physics and electricity are upon me? Ha, perhaps I can't fall asleep because of an electrical overdose... oh how everything's connected!

Meat Pete?

2009-05-07T17:09:00.003+01:00

So, on a scale of 'WTF' to 'holy crap', how disturbing is that advertisement? Pete the Meat Puppet... the epic story of his life? What? And then.. it's an ad for Diesel jeans... What's the point of it? Is it supposed to brainwash people or send some subliminal messages? I don't know, for all I care, Pete can rot somewhere far away from me, and I certainly won't be buying Diesel jeans because of that puppet creature. He reminds me of Seed of Chucky or whatever that creepy movie was that gave me nightmares for 2 consecutive nights! Some ad campaigns probably shouldn't be released at all... Sweden...

Well, I guess what they were going for is a terribly catchy tune that won't get out of head until you buy a pair of Dieselwear.

(Have I mentioned how passionately I hate packing? - this comment was almost as relevant to this post as a meat puppet is relevant to jeans)

A Good Year

2009-05-06T17:30:00.002+01:00

That's it then. YEAR 3 of UNIVERSITY is officially OVER! :D:D:D Wow, it was a long, long year! No, actually that would be lying.. the second semester especially passed by so quickly (though I must say those last few weeks were a bit of a pain:) But looking back, this was probably my most exciting year so far, full of all sorts of cool events, surprises, explorations, and so on and so forth. It was a year full of changes, some good, some bad, some amazing! :) It was a year of success stories and failures, of course, but we'll just have to focus on the success stories and leave all the fails behind (yeah, drama is strictly for people who like drama, not for al; of us folks who prefer awesomeness instead...) Looking back, looking ahead - you know what, it's all good, in the end! So let's do a happy end of the year dance!!! (or, you know, just do a Calvin Harris style dance oooh yeah!)

AAAH LONDON!!!

2009-05-02T09:10:00.003+01:00

LOOK AT THAT!!! AGAIN! AN AMAZING EVENT BY T-MOBILE (THE GUYS WHO DID THE MASSIVE DANCE AT LIVERPOOL STATION) ------ THIS TIME IT WAS A MASSIVE KARAOKE!!! AND PINK WAS THERE TOOOOOO! and guess what... I MISSED IT AGAIN! :'(( WHYYYYY? Ugh I hate missing such stuff!! So I was on the tube yesterday and read '13 000 TO JOIN PINK FOR KARAOKE' and i really wanted to go, thinking it was 'TO happen' but noooo, it had passed THURSDAY when I was sitting at home bored out of my mind.... .... .... wow i wish i was there :( Anyway, I'm done complaining about my lack of 'foreseeing' when it comes to London surprises. Well, at least I'm gonna see Pink all legit and planned out tonight at the O2 woooooooohooooooo!!! It shall be... legendary!

Kids These Days...

2009-04-30T22:17:00.002+01:00

A couple of days ago my friend sent me this song, which I've listened to quite a few times now and highly recommend :)

It sounds like a fusion between Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Adele... and it's good!

Pixie Lott has so much potential and is singing her way to fame, supporting the Saturdays on tour, and will certainly keep ruling the music scene in the future... And she's only 18!! Wow! Amazing!

And then... Lady GaGa is just one year older than me! (Okay, that doesn't quite go with the title of this post, but still). So here's how Canada wished her a happy birthday in March 2009... (overpowering, eh?:)

Now that's the moment when I sit and wonder what I'm doing with my life... well... I'll let you know if something as epic happens, but I can probably assure you that I won't be rising on the pop music scene for now... :)

Do You Know Your Enemy?

2009-04-30T17:27:00.002+01:00

Even if you think you do, listen to what Green Day have to say about it...

AWESOME (addicting, too!)

Is Rupert Going on Stage (5)?

2009-04-29T23:00:00.003+01:00

Back in 2007, Britain had talent in the face (snout?) of a cutesy pig named Rupert.

Today, if Rupert took a trip to Egypt, he'd be burned alive... he'll also get dirty looks and people shouting and running away from him all-panicky!

In one day, the world went from fearful of a pandemic to an official Stage 5 virus spread announced by the WHO (who the f*ck is Alice?**). Aaaaaah, we're all going to die!! Call Obama, he'll save us on his 100th day in Office... or not.

Again, let me assure you, this whole thing is one pan-pig-paranoia! And I'm sick (haha, what a pun)of hearing about this deadly new virus. We are not going to perish, I repeat, we are not going to perish! Only 300 000 innocent pigs will die in Egypt. Life is cruel, no?

**What started as a silly pun about Alice actually turned out to be a successful youtube video search. Alice is a piglet, too, who can .. wind around a table leg.. and she was also 'active' in 2007. 2007 was a good year to be a pig. Hahaha, well no wonder, 2007 was the Year of the Pig, duh.

(Imagine what those dogs are thinking while watching this degrading fiasco... lol)

Have a Break...

2009-04-29T21:53:00.002+01:00

Have a £1000... plus Girls Aloud stylist Frank Strachan at your service, absolutely FREE***! ***All you have to do is eat tons of KitKat! Does anyone see a problem with such an amazingly tempting offer? No? Me neither! In fact, I might go 'round to the ole' corner shoppe and buy me some KitKat Senses, send in a code and win (cause all those competitions are always legit, right, and once you've one.. once.. you think you're gonna win every time.. or something of that sort). Watch the promo video and count how many KitKat bars get eaten during the ad.

And you enjoyed listening to those accents, didn't you? :)

It's Amazing...

2009-04-29T21:16:00.004+01:00

Yes, yes, yes, we knoooow, dearest Kanye, that you are the brightest star in the universe, the most amazing person alive, apparently the spirit of the Earth... all hail thee, almighty Kanye, but... do you like fishsticks? (blame South Park).

It's okay, we still love you! Or... your music at least... :)

(I understand it's an old song, give me a break!:)

Something Swiney This Way Twits...

2009-04-29T18:46:00.004+01:00

After seeing it on this hilarious blog, I had to sort of borrow the idea and do a twit-related post (as, apparently, I'm getting slightly addicted to Twitter as we speak).

Reality:

Fiction:

(original cartoon here)

... or is it...?

Something Swiney This Way Comes...

2009-04-29T17:45:00.005+01:00

Okay, just to make it clear, swine flu has officially been blown out of proportion. WHO claims we're getting closer to a pandemic because (hold your breath!) the first death outside of Mexico was reported! Before your heart stops, it was a 23-MONTH OLD BABY that died, plus the kid was Mexican and was visiting Mexico and caught the flu and it obviously wasn't treated on time... so there. Kids have weaker immune systems, hello! It frustrates me so much how the media spread the news about the flu faster than the flu itself!

Let me give you an example. Yesterday I did a Google search of the term swine flu. It returned around 73,000,000 hits!! You think that's bad? Today, doing the same search, it returned 245,000,000 hits. WTF! Narrowing the search term by adding quotation marks "swine flu" returned 83,500,000 results. Still... disturbing, don't you think?

Hold your horses! I think Google has gone wacko. It started giving me very, very random hit numbers. They change by the second and by change, I mean by several million... Hmmm... Observe.

"swine flu" - 3.3 million hits

Just swine flu- 6 million hits

Just swine flu again, like, 32 seconds later - 168 MILLION HITS

The numbers I had mentioned before the pictures were also true, I just wanted to include images as proof :)

In comparison, AIDS results have been at a constant 123 million since yesterday. At least that we know with certainty.

So please try and understand that this whole swine virus (which will now cordially be renamed the N1H1 virus because otherwise it's offensive to pigs everywhere) is an out-of-proportion media horror campaign or something. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE OF SWINE FLU! THE HUMAN RACE WILL NOT BE ERADICATED BY THAT N1H1 VIRUS! Plus, it's already a well-known fact that the world will end in 2012 as that's when the Mayan calendar ends... so what's the rush, we're all going to perish in 3 years anyway, swine or no swine.

God, do we really need to rise global panic levels now? Doesn't the world have enough problems already?! Forget the flu, stop being paranoid and just go out there and live your life!!!! NOW!!!!

(And in case you were wondering, the unfortunate Yahoo ad about a trip to Mexico placed right next to the swine flu news has now been updated... forget Mexico - go to Guatemala for the study! Right...)

All the Married Ladies...

2009-04-29T17:29:00.004+01:00

Don't you just love how there's EVERYTHING in the online world... just type any random old phrase and you'll get results. So here's a different, slightly disturbing (in whatever sense you decide, really) take on Beyonce's song. Don't wait around, put your mops up!

Yes, on a note of ANYTHING being available online, how about possibly the most pointless or awkwardly fascinating blog on the planet: Secret Lives of Traffic Cones/ Who would have thought that traffic cones hid so many secrets? And, oh, how everyone is trying to find a place under the sun, sometimes in rather unimaginable ways...

All the Single Ladies...

2009-04-28T20:33:00.003+01:00

... on Piccadilly Circus!!! AH! Why is it that I always miss those random dancing-in-the-street events?! How come I'm never there when the cool stuff's happening!? :( All I've seen is U2 on the roof of the BBC... now, how much of a loser does that make me?

That reminds me of how upset I was for missing the T-Mobile Life's for Sharing Dance! At least for that one, my excuse was that I was still in BG, but now I had no excuse to miss the single ladies... Anyway, let's remember the sheer awesomeness of the T-Mobile dance - all who know the moves, join in!

Girls Out of Control

2009-04-27T23:47:00.006+01:00

Something kinda Oooh hit the O2 yesterday and I just happened to impulsively buy a ticket to the Girls Aloud concert 3 hours before the event. And, boy, am I glad I did that! It was one heck of a show, complete with dancing, hotness, fire, wind, flying around (not exactly a-la David Copperfield), singing, more dancing, waving your hands in the air, shouting like you just don't care and other stuff of that general sort. I was particularly glad to 'sing' along to 'Promise', 'The Loving Kind', 'I Can't Speak French', 'Call the Shots', 'Something Kinda Ooh' and pretty much any other song/cover I knew the lyrics to! (Including 'Womanizer', among others). Well, without further ado, here are some pics from the pop event:

You know, whoever said going to concerts by yourself is boring obviously hasn't been to a concert by him/herself... It's as entertaining as can be! Or maybe that's just my experience? Eh, either way, I LOVE IT!

No Viva Mexico...

2009-04-25T14:25:00.005+01:00

As the world faces a new potential-but-highly-unlikely pandemic of a mutated swine virus which is transmitted from human to human and highly contagious, that originated in Mexico and has already spread towards Texas... Yahoo decides to advertise trips to Mexico for scientific research. Irony? Or a REALLY bad advertising campaign? Here's a screenshot of my Yahoo mail which shows what a bad idea it is to post worrisome news headlines and travel advertisements on the same page...

Dime Pieces

2009-04-25T00:56:00.002+01:00

According to Urban Dictionary, a dime piece is an extremely beautiful woman.

According to Lilana and 'Big Sha' this is nice chance to sing a somewhat un-catchy tune with Snoop Doggy Dawg... Big Sha, that's none other than Misho Shamara! While I like the beat of the song, most of the .. singing.. and lyrics and all that doesn't rock my sock(s). But kudos for pairing up with the Big Dog!!! (Also, is it just me, or is Lilana pulling a 'Kylie' on all of us with that black-and-white hoodie outfit thing?)

In an unrelated story, another song by the name of Dime Piece, only from a few years ago and certainly not done in a multicultural collaboration between Bulgarians and Snoopy. You decide which one worked out better. I'd still vote for number 1 though, comparatively.

Most Creepy Video Award...

2009-04-24T22:06:00.000+01:00

... goes toooo TOOL.

Ten minutes of psycho-freakish-disturbing-creepy-beyond-all-reason-images... It's.. not for the faint-hearted. Well, maybe it's not that bad, but it sure shocked me with its philosophical psycho-weird nature.

Положението е... чайка? :)

2009-04-24T08:53:00.003+01:00

Очевидно най–сериозният проблем на британските градове в момента са чайките. Много пречили и шумели... на мен пък са ми симпатични, особено тлъстите лондонски чайки, които отвреме навреме прелитат над Ърлс Корт. Симпатяги... но май единствена си го мисля това...

В Англия обявяват война на чайките

Британски депутат призова за мерки за контрол на увеличаващия се брой чайки в градовете, където те представляват сериозен проблем за гражданите, туристите и бизнеса, съобщава Би Би Си.

Дон Фостър, който е представител на либералдемократите от град Бат, ще използва отложен дебат в парламента, за да призове министрите да погледнат на въпроса сериозно.

Фостър заяви, че чайките са "антисоциални, шумни и в някои случаи агресивни".

Министерството на околната среда отбеляза, че местните органи имат правомощия да вземат мерки срещу чайките и призоваха хората да не ги хранят.

Чайките са сред птиците, които могат да бъдат убивани от упълномощени за това лица. при условие че останалите методи за борба с тях са неефективни или непрактични, пояснява Би Би Си.

Общините харчат все повече средства за справяне с проблема без особени резултати.

Сред методите са покриване на покривите с мрежа, за да не могат чайките да правят гнезда; замяна на яйцата им с камъни с подобен цвят или използване на ястреби, които да ги прогонват.

Ето например снимка на спесимен от сем. Чайковидни/Гларусовидни от едно наше пътуване до о. Тасос.

Why I love Google Chrome...

2009-04-24T02:03:00.003+01:00

Have you ever received a more precious message from your internet browser? :)

lollig

2009-04-24T01:20:00.002+01:00

Dutch word of the day, as defined by Wiktionary:

Adjective
lollig, lollige
funny, jolly

Example:
Jij hebt een lollig hoofd.
You’ve got a funny head.

Hahaha, that's such a lollig example! :D

DeFaced

2009-04-23T22:36:00.003+01:00

On April 23, 2009, at approximately 5:14p.m., I deactivated my Facebook profile. *GASP, NOOO, THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR!*

Temporarily, as an experiment of sorts. I'll see how my life will be without any Facebook influences in it - without the constant snooping around into other people's business, installing pointless applications, and wasting tons of precious hours on the ... hmm, rather ugly (especially as of recently) website; it will also be a time away from quite a few friends with whom I had a convenient contact method, and a time away from the closely knit Facebook community.

This is also where the second bit of my experiment comes in: I'll see how people on Facebook deal with the loss of a member of that community... I mean, 'virtual loss'; let's not go to a 'physical' loss yet, please :) So it's going to be an entertaining little experiment. :)

I've been off Facebook for nearly 6 hours now. Yippee! :P No withdrawal symptoms yet. Hahaha, ridiculous, isn't it? Silly, silly worldwide addictions... Sigh... I sometimes wonder how I allow myself to be part of that - but hey, I'm up for a change now ;) Bring it on!

As per tradition, here's a Facebook song! :)

Rhythm of the Day

2009-04-23T13:23:00.002+01:00

My random obsession for the day is this already oldish song :)

That's all. Adios.

Es war um 1780 und es war in Wien...

2009-04-22T19:13:00.002+01:00

This song was possibly the creepiest song I'd heard - back when I was really, really young, around 3 years old. My parents brought me some VHS tapes from Austria with Disney cartoons and an introductory part about Vienna - with that song playing in the background. Ha, for some reason all I can remember is the song being really scary, I have no idea why :)

Funny, when we celebrated New Year's (or Sylvester) in Vienna in 2006/7 I think, we were out in front of the Rathaus there, enjoying a cool concert, public waltzing, and fireworks. Some band actually performed the classic Falco tune, only told the story of a little Dachshund which died from over-eating with sausages.. haha, get it, sausage-dog eating too many sausages? Oh... yea.. priceless, right? Either way, it's a cool song and I'm not afraid of it any more! :)

***

So apparently I'm dedicating this post to songs which scared me when I was little. I should certainly include:

That one gave me the creeps for the longest time! I really don't know why... But for some reason when I was listening to it, my fragile little brain was imagining horrible things like ghosts and skeletons and murder.. go figure hahaha. Totally f*ed up. Why? Noooo clue. It was just one of those songs that scarred me for life :)

***

Aaaand of course, this one:

Right, at least with that one I actually have an explanation as to why I found it creepy. (whereas with all other songs here it's some sort of freakishly irrational fear) This song was a hit when I was 7-8ish. Back in the day, we used to go to Sozopol, a town by the Black Sea, where my parents worked on the Apolonia Art Festival. I loved Sozopol - it was a quaint little town with tons of markets, cheap toys, and bootleg videos yeah! Also, there was a guy holding a live python in downtown Sozopol - you could take a picture with the snake and all that, but I never got to do it :( ... Sozopol by night was a whole different story, though! One part of the town in particular was so frightening to me that I had to close my eyes when passing by it - the old Roman bath ruins (I think that's what those were). The ruins are in a pretty popular area of the old town, so we would go there quite a bit. I had no problem with the ruins until the dreadful day when a colleague of my parents' told me there were skeletons in there that came out at night and kidnapped children. Who comes up with crap like that?! I've never liked the idea of skeletons chasing me, so naturally I was scared out of my mind. Despite that, my parents and I would always go hang out at this cafe right by the ruins, in the evening, when the '7 Seconds' song would loop almost infinitely! AH! Since then, I associate the song with the skeletons and ruins at Sozopol. Hence it's a creepy song.

***

To finish off this rather retro post, I'll include two songs which I absolutely loved!!! :D

Zucchero. We had a Zucchero tape that we listened to ALL the time in our car, all through the 90's :) Especially when we went skiing... This particular song - a very entertaining song to sing along to - was my favorite. The part where he sings 'Single man, single man, desperado' can be included in the list of most misinterpreted lyrics in the history of song-writing - by me, at least. All I know is that I was shouting 'Sirene, sirene' (Bulgarian for 'Cheese, cheese') at the top of my lungs when the song was on... Talk about high IQ, right? :) As soon as I learned a decent amount of English and listened to the song again, I sank to the ground when my childhood interpretation of the lyrics was killed by reality. And I felt pretty silly, no doubt about that.

Final happy song, again one of the first songs I remember... a song I was absolutely sure was written and performed by my parents for some reason, was none other thaaaan:

The Lambadaaaaaaaa... which was the theme song to all parties at our apartment back in 1989 and onwards... Wow, no wonder I thought my parents composed it - cause they were playing it ALL the time; and I was too young and undeveloped.. mentally.. to know that there was such a thing as a music industry. Haha, I can't believe how confused I was back then... And I can't believe I remember that!

***

That's it then. Hope this retrospective entry did not bore you to tears. Also, let me assure you that I'm a tad brighter now than I was back then. :) I actually know where songs come from and don't consider random tunes creepy (except for that '7 Seconds' one... brr..).

Just Dance! :)

2009-04-20T17:11:00.002+01:00

Have you ever had the urge to start dancing in the street? It's happened to me quite a few times (and I've also done it a few times:)... The girl in the first video below takes this idea to a whole new level, though! Amazing, amazing, amazing! :D The second video, too, is full of awesome dancing and music... Amazing, amazing, amazing! :D Both vids were part of the special 3rd Birthday selection in my friend's show - where it's all about the music! (and the dancing, and the good times)

So enjoy and just dance! :)

Dream a Dream

2009-04-17T19:14:00.003+01:00

Watch CBS Videos Online
Admit it, probably the entire world thought the same thing watching 47 year old Susan walk boldly on stage in front of the cheerful audience and dangerous judges of "Britain's Got Talent." I was watching the show on TV, and also expected a bit of a laugh after being introduced to the singer. It was sad, though, to see everyone laugh, chuckle, and roll their eyes while Susan opened up her act with a few almost witty lines. She was smiling and gleaming, though, and as she said, she was ready to ROCK THAT AUDIENCE!

And then, in a matter of seconds, everyone went silent and the only sound in the room was the ever so mesmerizing voice coming from a most unlikely source, everyone could agree. Silence and awe. Awe beyond any awe seen on that show. A genuine appreciation for this woman's gift; also a shameful silence, for everyone felt equally stupid for thinking Susan would be just a "big, unattractive joke". That inevitably brings up questions about the degree to which we allow prejudice to govern our actions; how people are so critical and judgemental - all based on appearances...

But then this story is beautiful... It is a story of hope, of dreams coming true, and of beauty in unlikely places. It's a positive story, and certainly a motivation for everyone to pursue their dreams. Or, as Susan advised aspiring singers, "Just go fer it!"

Last, but definitely not least, this story shows that music is the most beautiful thing in the world and it always makes the people come together!!! :))

O Tannenbaum!

2009-04-16T14:11:00.003+01:00

Apparently pine/fir trees are no longer growing just on hills and out in nature... A sneaky little fir branch started growing inside a Russian man's lung!! It's crazy! When I was a kid my parents would tell me not to swallow cherries with their seeds cause a cherry tree might grow in my stomach. I never listened, but now I'm afraid that might actually be possible!

At least the Russian dude could have had a full-grown Christmas tree ready right on time for the holidays ;)

I've got a lot of love to give...

2009-04-15T21:12:00.004+01:00

I wonder if it's odd walking down the street with 'I Get All the Girls' blasting in my ears, but frankly I don't care, cause Calvin Harris is awesome! :D
And here's an awesome interview featured on the Popjustice website (yes, I did just feel like copy-pasting the entire interview on here... And I haven't made any gasp-inciting changes to it, don't worry):

"Calvin Harris is one of the most important people in British pop music and his new single, 'I'm Not Alone', is currently Number One in the hit parade.

To celebrate this here is an interview.

Ahoy Calvin. Where are you?
I’m in Willesden.

That’s nice.
It’s not at all. It’s awful. I moved my studio here and it’s a disaster to be honest with you. I’m in a fucking broom cupboard, I feel like Andy fucking Crane. It’s this room they rent out on a longterm basis and I’m the unlucky tenant.

How long do you have it for?
I can leave if I give two weeks’ notice which is great and I think I might do that sooner rather than later.

The idea of having this studio is presumably that you are away from distraction and working on new tunes?
That’s the idea but at the moment I’m working on making the live show sound good, which is a lot of work. And at the same time I’m trying to finish my album. And people keep asking me for backing tracks. I really want to give them things, but I’m not getting enough sleep.

The priority must be Calvin Harris: The Popstar.
Er, yes. I reckon. As long as I’ve got a record deal I’ll put records out and have that as a priority, rather than giving Flo-Rida a backing track. Which is what I’m trying to do now.

Does Flo-Rida really want a Calvin Harris backing track?
He does! Yes.

Has he asked for it to be based around any old ropey 80s songs?
No, just one of my own ropey 80s songs… (Laughs) I don’t know.

When you submit a song for someone American do you try to make your music sound more American, or do you try to make it sound more British?
It’s a boring answer but I just try to split the difference and make it not sound like anything. And sometimes that works. But to be honest with you I’ve been sending lots of tracks to Americans and not getting great responses so I definitely don’t have the answer to your question. I think all you can do is do something that you like. And as long as you like it…

…if anyone else likes it that’s a bonus!
I was NEVER going to say that!

You were heading there Calvin.
I was going to do an about turn and shock you with a piece of information so valuable that you would probably have had to simply put the phone down.

But then we ruined it all by talking over you. Interviewing fail.
Yes.

The question was more interesting than your answer, though. It was a good question that you let down.
Okay, sorry.

‘I’m Not Alone’ has been very well received. Are you going to fuck it all up with a follow up?
Yeah well the thing about the next one is that it sounds different to this current one. That’ll fuck me up a bit. And it also sounds different to anything else I’ve ever done.

Does it sound like Vampire Weekend?
No, no, no. It’s still dancey. It’s got a wailing diva on it. Mary Pearce. She’s not famous.

Was it ever going to be a famous person?
No, I wanted someone I could bung £250 to and never hear from again. Royalties are few and far between these days – I just got my iTunes statement through and to be honest with you it doesn’t even cover a packet of Fruit Pastilles. I’m on my arse, mate.

You’re literally in Willesden.
Exactly! All the evidence is there. I don’t need to spell it out for you.

How does one write lyrics for a wailing diva? Is it all ‘ooh baby I want to take you higher etc etc’?
No – it’s, er, interesting. It’s about shoes.

Shoes?
Shoes.

You sound like you’re moving about, are you on a roof?
No, I’m in a car now.

Are you on your way somewhere ‘important’.
Yes, it’s quite important. I’m going to Soho. I’m not allowed to say what I’m doing, sorry. It’s exciting though. Oh yes, it’s very exciting.

Is it exciting if you’re someone who isn’t Calvin Harris?
It’s basically only exciting if you’re me.

Anyway, just to get this straight, the big idea with your second album is that rather than rush something out and it be…
…shit…

…yes, shit, you’re going to take your time with it.
Well yes that was initially the idea.

And you’re going to release quite a few singles and then release the album as if it is some sort of ‘greatest hits’, and you’re going to pretend that was the plan all along rather than that you just didn’t record a second album quickly enough.
Well the first tactic of delaying the album was pretending that I lost it at Heathrow. That one worked pretty well. The second was the Dizzee Rascal tune, which reminded people that I existed. And the third tactic is now to put a single out and hope that it does so well that people forget I haven’t made a second album.

And the Heathrow ‘episode’, in which you claimed baggage handlers at Terminal 5 had lost your entire new album, was rubbish?
That was concocted between me and my sound engineer, Jimmy.

Just to get this straight: you used Terminal 5 as an excuse for not having made an album, in the same way that a child might tell a teacher that their homework had been eaten by the dog?
Well sort of yes. I should make it clear that they did in fact lose our bags – that is fact – but it was not true that the album was in them. I would never check a hard drive in luggage. So the thing about Heathrow wasn’t so much a lie, as… Well… An untruth.

It was a white lie because all you wanted to do was buy yourself some time to make sure your second album was great. And the reason you wanted to do this was that your first album was mainly rubbish.
The thing about that first album is that I was making music to please myself and I didn’t think anybody else would hear the songs, but then I got signed and they came out. Now I know other people are going to hear them I’m going to try my hardest to make it good. This time it’s the idea that I like it, that you like it, that everybody likes it. I don’t want to make anyone angry. I got the impression that people were actually ANGRY about my first album.

People found the first single annoying. But only because they heard it so much. But they only heard it so much because it was played as a response to people wanting to hear it. What are you supposed to do?
I don’t know.

You carry on, Calvin. That’s what do you.
Yes.

So next single: wailing diva. Have you got the third one lined up?
Well I have… And I haven’t. There’s two choices. There’s one that I’ve done that isn’t going to do very well in the charts. Then there’s one I’ve only just started that I’m quite excited about that probably will be the third single. But I don’t know. I DON’T KNOW!

What do people want from you?
They probably want me to go away, to be honest. The vast majority of people just would prefer it if I didn’t exist. And that’s okay.

All you have to do is please 1% of the population and that’s a Number One record. If 99 of every 100 people you pass in the street shouts at you about what a massive cunt you are it doesn’t matter because you’re STILL NUMBER ONE. And that’s what you need to remember.
But you still have to live your life. You can’t live your life with 99% of the world’s population thinking you’re a cunt, can you.

Well look at Max Clifford. Let’s just for a minute discuss your video which is about you being a sort of Dr Frankenstein and there’s a stuffed toy bear, and then there are some ladies having a dance, and…
Thing is, originally it was about something. And then it became a sort of bizarre, er, I don’t even know what it is anymore. But I like it. It looks like a film. It’s pretty and that’s all that matters to me. No videos are really about anything any more, are they? They’re just people on a green screen dancing. Mine is just another one of them.

The good thing about making a slightly shit video is that nobody really watches videos any more.
Well they look on YouTube don’t they.

It’s amazing we’re so far into this interview without yet mentioning your legendary Tweet.
Which one was that?

The one in which you announced that you were going for “a shit” in order to “make room for” your dinner.
Oh! Hahaha. I thought that was quite a good one but everybody turned out to be repulsed.

It was certainly honest. And all we can ask of from our musicians is that they are honest.
I don’t know where the line is. I don’t know where the line is with Twitter. Nobody does.

In the olden days you wouldn’t get Kate Bush going “just had a shit to make room for dinner”.
Well that’s the whole mythical thing isn’t it, about the 80s, when people say that it was better because you didn’t have access to them and they were more untouchable.

[Editor’s Note: This interview took place before ‘Acceptable In The 80s’ hitmaker Calvin Harris had released comeback single ‘I’m Not Alone’.]

What’s your chart prediction for the single?
Number 13. And I’ll be gutted. I keep thinking one minute that it’ll do well, then another time I think it’ll bomb.

People – and not even people whose job it is to be nice about you – have been talking about this as sounding like a Number One single.
Yeah but ‘sounds like’ and ‘is’ are well different. And I’ve not been doing much promo on it.

Why not?
Well, nobody really knows what to do. I’ve got three singles coming up before the album so we’re sort of making this campaign up as we go along. They’re saying we won’t go for it on this one, or on the next one, but for the third one they’ll really go for it. But what if there IS no third one? This is the problem I’m facing at the moment but it’s all good fun.

At the end of the day Calvin it’s only pop music.
Yes.

Lighten up.
You’re right.

On the other hand, it’s your career we’re talking about.
Yes.

But we’re all in this together, like in the High School Musical song.
You try and build up the most terrible records and pretend they’re amazing. You’ve been alright recently actually but I’ve never liked a Song Of The Day, I can say that with confidence.

Your new bloody single was Song Of The Day!
Was it? I don’t think I saw that. Well in that case thank you.

That was an interview. For more information on 'Acceptable In The 80s' hitmaker Calvin Harris have a look at his website, www.calvinharris.tv."

And also:
5 Reasons I Am Not Totally Shit
by Calvin Harris (for Popjustice)

1. "I made my album 'I Created Disco' using a computer called an 'Amiga'. Now, not everybody knows what one of these is - myself included - but what i can reveal is: a) it's nothing like an Atari, and b) it's the same colour as an Atari."

2. "I was once told by my music teacher that I was quite good, and stood a decent chance of success in the music industry and the very best of luck to me. HA! I certainly showed him! Egg on HIS face!"

3. "I was listening to my first single 'Acceptable In The 80s' (out March 12th) in my car the night I accidentally - I can't stress that enough - took out three rabbits and a fox on one relatively short stretch of road. Although I understand it would be big of me to take the blame for this, I just can't as it was totally their fault."

4. "I'm supporting Faithless in a couple of months on their arena tour, and I have a bet with my mum that if I say 'Hello Wembley!' in Nottingham, and vice versa, she will bake me my favourite cake (top secret) on a weekly basis and have it couriered to me wherever I am in the country, at entirely her expense. (UK only.)"

5. "I have an extremely anti-social cat."

---

In a rather unrelated story, I entered a competition to see Lady GaGa perform live next Tuesday at the Capital FM building... I'll let you know if I win :)

---

Now in a completely unrelated story, I'm the ultimate procrastinator... I can't even believe how extreme I make my life sometimes :) Haha, writing essays literally by the last possible second before the deadline. Sigh. Got one done today, need to do one more tomorrow (due Friday). Oh joy! Once Friday is over, though, I'll be on my way home, woohoo, for a very quick Eastery visit to Eastern Europe hehe. Sorry, I had to take advantage of that pun :) Anyway, I'm off to be semi-productive now (ie to think about all the stuff I have to do but not actually do it... amazing)

Capital Coincidence?

2009-04-15T00:53:00.003+01:00

Okay I admit this will be a silly entry... but... I have a theory that someone from Capital FM has been reading my blog recently. Haha. I've been listening to the station online, and they just mentioned the thing about Kanye and South Park which I had posted earlier. But then they were also talking about Eiffel 65's "Blue" song, which I had also mentioned a couple of entries back. Funny, I thought :) Well, the "Blue" thing was in relation to Flo Rida's song Suga (and not to the Cardiff Blues, as was the case here). Evidently, Flo enjoyed incorporating parts of the epic 90's da-ba-dee-daa song in his newish hit. Ah, and it's only in the academic world that plagiarism is considered a criminal offence! :))

And that was all.

Happy Ending

2009-04-14T20:34:00.003+01:00

Well, I've been thinking about this song lately, cause it's beautiful :) And we'll all get our happy endings, yeah! :) And all we need is a little bit of love... Lalala.

(And just to let you know, I do realize the song is sad and it's not so much about a happy as about the lack thereof, but I still take it as an optimistic song)

Do you like fish sticks?

2009-04-14T14:37:00.003+01:00

Certainly not the funniest joke in the universe... If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you probably didn't watch the latest episode of South Park, mocking the Brightest Star in the Universe, aka Kanye West :) Yeah, I went to his concert last year and he was awesome, but soooooo conceited :) At first I thought he was joking around, yet later realized he really takes himself THAT seriously and truly BELIEVES he is the best thing on the planet! ... Ah, yeah... Well, South Park made fun of this trait of Kanye's... and here's what Kanye said in his blog:

"SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER. I USE TO USE IT TO BUILD UP MY ESTEEM WHEN NOBODY BELIEVED IN ME. NOW THAT PEOPLE DO BELIEVE AND SUPPORT MY MUSIC AND PRODUCTS THE BEST RESPONSE IS THANK YOU INSTEAD OF "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" IT'S COOL TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'RE RAPPING BUT NOT IN REAL LIFE. WHEN YOU MEET LITTLE WAYNE IN PERSON HE'S THE NICEST GUY FOR EXAMPLE. I JUST WANNA BE A DOPER PERSON WHICH STARTS WITH ME NOT ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE HOW DOPE I THINK I AM. I NEED TO JUST GET PAST MYSELF. DROP THE BRAVADO AND JUST MAKE DOPE PRODUCT. EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS. AS LONG AS PEOPLE THINK I ACT LIKE A BITCH THIS TYPE OF SHIT WILL HAPPEN TO ME. I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE. I'M SURE THE WRITERS AT SOUTH PARK ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DRAW MY CREW. THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY ALSO!! I'M SURE THERE'S GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THIS... THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S ME!" - Kanye West

So I wonder, if I saw him in one of his upcoming concerts, would he say that he's maybe the second-brightest star in the universe or something? Who knows, who knows... And here's Kanye's newest song, Gay Fish, SP rendition. Highly educational indeed, like all South Park-related stuff:

Soundtrack of the day?

2009-04-13T20:11:00.002+01:00

Bad days suck. And you know what I hate - that when it's bad, it's BAD.

BUT everyone, we should not let anything bring us down, okay? Even when things are bad, worse or worst, try to think that if you were grammatically challenged, you'd probably say 'badder' which sounds a lot like 'better' doesn't it? :) So you know what - just make things better yourself!!! :D Or, as Monty Python would sing:

You Me @ 6 Gone Big!

2009-04-13T13:41:00.002+01:00

About two years ago, we went to watch Jessica's cousin's band (Set in Motion) perform in Camden, at a rather underground screamy gig. It was a line up of 5 bands, one of which was You Me at Six. I liked them back then, added them on myspace and then didn't hear much about them until recently when they went totally BIG!!! It's a cool feeling knowing that way back when we were practically watching future rock celebrities wohooo!

Next, let's keep our fingers crossed for Set in Motion too! :)

Heartbeats

2009-04-13T13:08:00.000+01:00

Beautiful song... sad and beautiful...

Flawless

2009-04-12T20:46:00.002+01:00

Look at 'em dancing!! Awesome... As George would say, absolutely flawless ... :)

Blues, Blues, Blues!

2009-04-12T14:26:00.003+01:00

Rugby for Easter, anyone? That's what we did - saw the Cardiff Blues play Toulouse at the Millenium stadium in Cardiff. Woooohoo, Cardiff won!! The atmosphere was awesome, sporty, loud and roudy! :D Alright! So now I can check 'Go to a rugby game in Wales' off my little book of firsts.

In terms of songs that go with this, here's one which was the 'victory tune' that played in the stadium whenever our team scored. (PS I love it!)

And another one, which could possibly be the team's anthem, right? ;)

Who's gonna ride you, Welsh horses?

2009-04-12T14:09:00.004+01:00

Gorgeous sunset by Swansea, where the tide was in and had covered up the grasslands. The horses didn't care, they simply walked on water! :) And in the end, a herd of them just galloped right on through... amazing! It was chicken soup for the horse lover's soul...

Also, I am making it a tradition to have a little soundtrack with every post, related somehow to whatever the post is about... So here's today's sappy wild horsey song:

PETA vs. Pet Shop Boys

2009-04-10T13:40:00.002+01:00

A bizarre request, undoubtedly, was sent by PETA to the great Pet Shop Boys, asking the band to change its name to "The Rescue Shelter Boys" in an attempt to raise awareness for the issue of abandoned and mistreated pets. The Boys declined the plea, although they were very kind about it and did express their compassion to the cause.

Somehow, it just wouldn't feel right to listen to "The Rescue Shelter Boys"... If nothing else, imagine how that song would sound with all the extra syllables... (not even Robbie can make it work with the new name:)

Prophet for Profit?

2009-04-08T19:55:00.003+01:00

Remember 2005? Remember Denmark? Remember a certain set of published cartoons which sent a wave of terror around the world? Yeah, I'm referring to the mocking cartoons of Mohammed which were published in a Danish newspaper despite the fact that it is against Islamic law to depict the Prophet in any shape or form... I remember back then how much conflict and controversy the caricatures caused; they were the 'hot topic' forever, it seemed, and the entire world was talking about that!

You would think that after that turmoil people would learn that although we have the oh-so-glorious "freedom of speech and expression" in the west, we still shouldn't disrespect other peoples' cultures and beliefs... especially when this can lead to violence.

So instead of putting this debate in the past, Denmark's Free Press Association has decided once again to bring up that issue by not only reprinting and multiplying the cartoons, but also selling them for profit... Why do that?! I wonder what the response will be. If there is a sudden surge of violence again, I'll not be surprised at all. "We're just starting a debate," Lars Hadegaard of the FPAssociation said - well, smart move there! Did you already forget the nice little debate we had in 2005?

Some people never learn, do they... So sit back, grab some pop corn, and get ready to watch the next ridiculous episode of "The World We Live in"

The End

Така ли е наистина?

2009-04-08T13:58:00.002+01:00

Борисов: "София не е била по-чиста."

Аз ли нещо не съм разбрала или наистина София изведнъж е станала една чииистичка и прекрасна? Вярно, че от около 3 месеца не съм стъпвала на наша почва, но по последни спомени не беше супер чисто...

08.04.2009 13:52 от Vesti.bg
Ние сме като Сталинград през Втората световна война. Обградени сме от правителството, което иска да направи София гето, е казал Борисов при спосещението си в Москва

"София не е била толкова чиста, колкото в момента. Всеки ден ходя и броя чистачките", е казал столичният кмет Бойко Борисов в руската столица, където е за Дните на София в Москва.

Според него "премиерът заедно с ДПС дирижира проблемите с чистотата в столицата".

"Ние сме като Сталинград през Втората световна война. Обградени сме от правителството, което иска да направи София гето", е казал още Борисов и добавил: "Станишев вместо да аплодира кмета на София за това, че е развалил концесията за боклука, ходи да брои кофи и да казва, че еди-къде-си има пълна кофа за боклук."

Този жалък плач на Станишев за Вълка (Румен Гайтански, бел. ред.) ме радва. Станишев, Вълка, Доган, са едно и също нещо. Станишев се опитва да помага на Вълка да си върне концесията, но няма да си я върне.

"Трябва да издържим още един месец. Влизаме в избори. Победата ще бъде за нас", е казал още столичният кмет Бойко Борисов.

Според него "Станишев и правителството са в паника заради спрените еврофондове и заради това, че България е най-бедната и най-корумпирана страна в Европейския съюз".

Do that beat!!

2009-04-08T08:57:00.002+01:00

Wow... I think I want to marry a beatboxer one of those days ;) That technique is so unbelievably cool!!! Sure, it looks rather silly, you might say, but I don't mind silliness as long as those beats keep beatin'! :)