Thursday, September 29, 2011

ai heart ldn

9.9.2011

Last day of our first work week, and I didn't have time to eat breakfast once again so I started my day with a 'brunch'.

'extra large breakfast to go please'- extra large? :S

That kept me full until 9PM, when I had some evening cereal. My landlady saw that, and invited me to have dinner with her family. I thought that only Spanish people eat very late. She was worried that I couldn't handle the spicy food, but for my surprise it was less spicy than I thought. Though in a good way. I had a nice chat with her cousin- he recommended to go to Brick Lane for some curry. I'll keep that in mind of course.

After the dinner, I already felt sure to say 'I love London'.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Isle is Full of Noises

8.9.2011

While browsing through the Domino Records Facebook page I noticed a post of a Franz Ferdinand music typed puppet show, which would have the guitarist of the band actually playing music at the show. Of course I had to get a ticket!


I was lucky to get one, and when I asked my boss if I could leave earlier in order to purchase it on time, he just went: "A puppet show?". And you could imagine the confused face.

The show was at Wilton's Music Hall, 'the world's oldest, surviving Grand Music Hall and London's best kept secret'. That combined with a renowned German puppeteer Philipp Plessman, indie great guitarist Nick McCarthy and stunning visual art by Hank Schmidt in der Beek, you get the most entertaining puppet show ever!

a double bike lane. vau.



The story and show is described as follows: " On stage, the solo performer brings the characters to life as fantasies, projections and schizophrenic dialogues of an isolated man in the maelstrom of society. Evoking a sense of solitude and remoteness, the man flees into the void of dreams. This space becomes an island where his fantasies come to life. Not a puppet show in the traditional sense, it features no marionettes, rather you can see the puppeteer on stage playing parts and interacting on stage with the puppets."


Sounds like my cup of tea. But in reality after reading that you still didn't know what to expect, or at least expect anything like that. Which is Philipp having so many puppet characters in his hands and fingers, doing all the characters with different accents. Amazing! Honestly, I thought it would be done in an English accent, and I was worried I wouldn't understand anything, but he spoke a lot in German accent. That I understood! And all the scheisses in the world.

I thought I would have my eyes on Nick all the time, but Philipp was so good and was grabbing your attention all the time. But with all the wall projections, dialogue and music (inspired by 70's musicals and The Flight of the Concords etc.) it was a +10 combination. Okey actually a 10, because it took really long for the interval to begin, so I could go to the toilet.


Basically, it was so entertaining, that you would have had to see it yourself to fully understand see how bloody brilliant it was.


Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed during the show, so I tried to take video without anyone noticing. I have one with Philipp talking with the puppets, but for some reason it was really blurry. So here's just a small clip of a music scene.



And here's one of the songs, which ended up being on the 3rd album of Franz Ferdinand.



took me a while to have the courage to ask for a pic

Monday, September 26, 2011

Kiss Them Goodbye

This time of the year is always the most joyful one; when the new season of Desperate Housewives begins. But this time I feel sad; the last season premieres today.


Although I'm able to watch it only on Mondays a day later than in US, it doesn't matter, since it's on Finnish channel on Mondays. But I can't believe how I've spent almost a decade with the people of Wisteria Lane. Every year we wonder who is the new neighbor moving in and what secrets will be uncovered now. The 7th season wasn't that good drama-wise, but it still managed to entertain with its humor.

I started watching Desperate Housewives when I started high school. There was a lot of promotion on the streets and on TV. Must say that they have one of the best promos ever. And the first episode got me hooked immediately. I remember my mother complaining how I could watch a show like that, where right on the first seconds someone kills herself. And it being so immoral. First of all, I'm not the only one who got hooked on the show, my brother did too. Second, why was I allowed to watch Bold and The Beautiful at a very young age? And third, guess who started enjoying the show later on.

When your mother notices you're a fan of something, then you are. This happened a few years ago, when I tended to arrive exactly 9pm home after floorball practice to watch Desperate Housewives. But once I missed the bus, and it was already some minutes after 9, my mother gave me a call sick worried. Yup.

It might not be the end of the world when this amazing show ends, since there are a lot of good shows on TV nowadays. But with them I haven't developed a proper relationship, and I haven't been with them right from the beginning, and don't know how long will they last.. Okey, maybe it might be the end of the world.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Tesco Time

7.9.2011

The special happening of this day was that I finally did some groceries after being one week in London. While walking to Tesco, we saw something really interesting.


and frightening

I didn't have much time to buy a lot, but at least now I had something for breakfast.


And for the evening snack.


Saturday, September 24, 2011

Austra @ Scala, London

6.9.2011

I'm a fan of Domino Records. I've seen only a couple of artists of theirs though (The Kills, Anna Calvi). Last spring whenever I checked their website, I saw the name 'Austra'. Also YouTube kept on recommending me to see their videos. So I watched 'Lose It', which is a fine tune and the video is crazy.



'My face screams without an emotion' - brilliant. Now who hasn't felt that way sometimes?

I had listened to some more songs, but still it was only about liking them. So, I wasn't sure whether I should have gone to the gig or not.

I knew that I would have regret not going. And also last year I missed Mumford&Sons in Holland, because I didn't have the courage to go to Amsterdam right on the first week. But hey at least this gig was still in the same city.

Luckily there were still tickets left at the door, when I got to Scala straight after work. And what a coincidence to meet Finnish people waiting in front of the doors as well. Even bigger coincidence for them to live in the same area as I.


I went to stand as front as I could, and when the cool warm up band 'Kool Thing' started to play, this guy in front of me asked if I was ok and if I wanted to get on first row. I told him yes, I'm a bit too short for this. He agreed with me.

I wonder how many people like to play with the words cool and kool, when talking about the band. And how many get annoyed of having Sonic Youth's song 'Kool Thing' pop up first and more often than the band in Google. Anyways, this duo consists of an Irish and Australian, who formed the band in Paris and live now in Berlin. Kool. Apparently they also like Finnish people. Kool. They play kool music. Kool.

this was the best pic i got of them. kool. sorry.
 When Austra started to play I didn't even realize it, since the singer got on stage first and other members got on one by one, when it usually is the opposite. And now what could I say about it? It was great, but great is not enough of a good word to describe how good it actually was. The band as a whole is just something unique, and it gives a good feeling when watching them.


always wondered how a gig panorama pic would look like

And to the actual music! The base melodies were so catchy and made you dance, though the weird thing is that I never concentrated on them that much when listening to the album. Same thing with the drums! And the singing, the piano, everything! The album sounds even better now.

It was really nice to be able to get pictures afterwards with great musicians.


you might recognize this duo from the red picture
I was about to catch the tube and go home sleep, but surprisingly the Finns convinced me to go to the official after party. Never been to one of those, so it was interesting to see. And take the taxi for the first and second time in London (now how useful was it to bump into Finns living in the same area).


Well, it was the best last minute decision that I've ever made to finally go to the gig. I had a great time.



There was only one video on YouTube of the gig, and it was too short. So I decided to put one from their older gigs. This is also a great tune, and actually the only time the English crowd went a bit crazy (really disappointed how conservative they were).

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Gossip from The Farm

5.9.2011

First intern day at The Animal Farm, they produce + write songs, manage artists, publish music, bang the drums, what wouldn't they do?


located at the biscuit factory

My job is to take care of a piglet called Linda.


 And it is challenging. Like taking this lift.

that's why we always take the stairs now. to not have fluffy butts.

 I didn't really have time to be nervous of the first day, since searching for a home took all my concentration. But all in all the day went fine; chill office (sofas), chill staff. Also the parking lot is full of teenagers waiting for some famous artists to walk by. But not Noel Gallagher.

Though a head-banging laptop problem; the wi-fi doesn't work on my laptop at the office.

And whatmore! They force us to listen to great music. How can I last?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Glass buildings, scams, eminems and light.

1-4.9.2011

After waking up, it was time for the hard core room searching. As there were no wi-fi yet in the house, we went to Canary Wharf to look for a place with it. Huge glass buildings and shopping mall, felt totally lost. We went to EAT to eat just for the free wi-fi, which apparently was only for cloud members. Pff.





Then off to IDEA library, but we weren't able to figure out the settings, so we had about 20 min. to use the computer there. Not that much luck finding anything, so it was time to go to the Finnish Seamen's Church. Of course during the first days it didn't feel like being in London, and now we immediately went to a place, which had Finnish-looking furniture and a shop with exported goodies. Like the black candy, which the Finns love, others hate and sour candy.



fish&chips afterwards, chips eaten already. forgot that they use vinegar with em, nam!

Many hours by the computer, and one viewing, which was awful. Fitted carpet torn, kitchen and bathroom dirty. Eww. And the guy didn't know how to count, even with a calculator. Back to a place with wi-fi -> McDonalds'. There weren't any sockets though, so we had limited time to use our laptops. However we realized that it's free and easy to register for Cloud. Now why didn't they say that at EAT. We were able though to arrange a viewig for the next day, and it seemed quite promising.

 So, the next day back to Canary Wharf and IDEA + Starbucks with our Cloud zone yeii. And the promising viewing, well it didn't happen, cause the woman never texted me the directions how to get there, and my 5+ messages were never replied. Although we got a few promising emails of nice looking apartments, but sadly we did spend most of our day with scams. Someone's always had a bad experience, so their lawyer has told them to use Western Union for money transfer, or then they've lost their phone in a friend's party, so they couldn't be reached. But the best part is when we were asked for our interests (Linda loves fashion, I love football), we got a reply of the person being a fashion designer and she watches soccer. SOCCER, who sane English/European person uses that word?! That messaging ended with Western Union too, and we didn't find the person by name, email or phone number on the Internet, and also noticed the same kind of message on a scam alert website.




Use Google to your advantage!

Desperate and tired, we recorded a video, which I wasn't able to edit now, so you'll probably never see it. Basically we promise to find a cat for someone who finds us a flat. We would have put it on YouTube in hope of it having millions of views and eventually finding a place. Lol. And this cat would have starred in it.

maxxie from east germany


Spending the time in glass buildings and by the computers, Linda and Karen decided to show me a bit of the other side of London in the evening, which I appreciate! Though I was responsible of taking us there. But that's the best way to learn how to use the tubes over here. We also were thinking to take some homeless signs with us.

the english are known for not being good with technology, so at first i thought that this was their proud moment


In our elementary English books there were always loads of pictures of Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben etc. Can't believe that I finally saw them, also I can't believe that it took me ages to travel to London. My parents always took me to places like The Philippines, Canada, Austria like a hundred times. But never London, or Disneyland. I had to get old enough to go myself. Pff.

The highlight though of the night was:



 And I'm sorry to say that English girls look really slutty on a night out. Don't get mad at only me, others think so too.

Day 3 of flat hunting, and Karen had to go back home, thanks for your help and letting us use your phone! We had another viewing, but one of the other rooms were already taken. You should have seen our faces on the way back, like we've lost a dog or something. I got another viewing for the next day, and hoped that the third time's the charm. Linda went to stay with her family friend's so that meant I had the king size sofa bed all to myself. Which wasn't a good thing, since I don't like sleeping in huge beds. But I tried to enjoy it now, when Linda wasn't there to snore.


Worked fine until 8am. At that time people just in front of the main door started to have some kind of drinking game/ party. I really thought that they were coming from an afterparty. It went on for an hour, and I felt like having a nervous breakdown after stressfull days and now this. I was scared to look what was going on, maybe I could have been killed or the other way around. But apparently it was the Korean neighbours having a wedding ritual thingy (which included drinking raw eggs). I'm always interested in cultural stuff, but not at 8am on a Sunday morning!!!

The viewing was 10min away from Maria's house, and the area looked really nice, so did the house. Just renovated, the room relatively cheap. The only thing was that the Bangladeshi family was living in the house too, but at that point I didn'care at all, I wanted a room to call my own. So I took it, and Linda ended up taking a place closer to our working place.

At that moment it felt like all the troubles were away. The best way to enjoy that was to watch Zombieland and Shrek 4 later in the evening with a couple of beers.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Suzanne and I

Yesterday at work I noticed that Anna Calvi's new video was available. I was anxious to get home and write about it, but I never got home until now. More of that at some point.

Anyways, I've told at least a couple of times that 'Suzanne and I' is my favorite song of her debut album. From the first time I heard it until the time I didn't see the video, I never had any kind of image for a video of the song. (Which is very weird, because usually when I listen to music I start to think of what kind of video I would do for the song.)

And now after seeing it, I have that image stuck in my head.

I've been waiting for a while now to see a really great video from Anna Calvi. And not only was the director Romain Chassaing able to deliver that, but also I think that it is one of the best music videos I've ever seen.

The choreography by Lionel Hoche and the dancers tell the story beautifully, and the slow motion bits give it the extra dramatic cut. A classmate of mine in Holland said very often 'it's love' when she talked about something that she really liked. This could be 'über love' then.

I've probably said enough of one video already, though I could go on and on. But simply; a dramatic video for a dramatic song, Bju-ti-ful. I should just go Suzanne and Aijaijai and let you watch it.



Ps. I also love her hair in this.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Personal Treatment

It should be kind of obvious to most of you that listening to music and discovering the new and old is something that I can't live without. Friends come and go, family far away, but music it stays.

It's my personal treatment, the non-irritant Dr. Phil. And it's about time to share more audio/visual treats for you all.

Let's start with a few of my favorite artists, who have released something new in August.

I've mentioned already many times how I adore Anna Calvi and the way she plays the guitar. Well in 'Baby It's You', B-side single to 'Suzanne and I' (my favorite song of her debut album), her talented playing just pierces straight to my brain.

Baby It's You by Anna Calvi

Florence + The Machine. pff. I can *pff* either in good or bad. And pff my oh my. I've been waiting for a long time now for her to release new music, and what happens is that I don't even listen to the song 'What The Water Gave Me', because I concentrate too much on the video. The video isn't that special, just footage in the studio and some bits of her outside. But the way it was filmed, showing all the emotions Florence is able to transmit from the song in front of the camera. The song has a dark start, but after halfway through the song starts to build up into something I would listen to preparing for a sports match or whatever challenge.

And yes now I have the song often on repeat, it grew on me, or actually it still grows. I also really hope to see her before I leave London.



Of course I'm going to leave the most melancholic song for the end. But this time it's the video, which I ask you to pay close attention too. It bursts of 'happy melancholia'. It screams 'freedom'.

I give you the second single 'Holocene' from Bon Iver's second album.



Now who wants to go to Iceland with me?

Saturday, September 10, 2011

London calling, Speak the slang now

31.8.2011

When I went to Holland it took me about 3 weeks to start writing my blog. So I thought that I would be updating my blog almost immediately after something interesting has happened now that I've come to London.

But no.

Searching for Wi-Fi and then searching for a home and coming home a bit tired made it impossible. But now it's the weekend, and when we look at the bright side, I've been here only just a bit over a week. Not that behind we are! Try to say that previous sentence with a Yoda voice.

Anyways, a lot has happened, emotional rollercoasters so on so on. Let's get back to the first day, otherwise my next entries won't make any sense. As if they would anyhow.

Last time I talked about a new friend, who smelled lovely. Well, her name is Samantha. Or Sammy, Sam.. I just call her The Duck. But lately I've noticed that I've been calling her with her real name, I guess somekind of bonding has happened. When you meet her the first time you don't call her Sam, you also call her The Duck or "What the hell is that".



And why does she smell good?


got a little bit carried away

The seller came to tell us that buying one of those Escadas, you can have an expensive bag for free. That was the most polite kick out ever.

sam got a bit swollen during take-off

After landing in London (btw my first time in England, not counting Heathrow Airport) we took the train to London Bridge, where David, a friend I met in Breda (last time saw in January but felt like yesterday)came to pick us up and took us to Maria and others' house. We thought we could have bought our ticket in the train, and would have been fined for not having one, but the guard just kindly gave a warning.

"lindaa take a pic of my 1st time in the train!"

 And of course first expectation of London right on; pavements, grey sky and busy people.

I was really excited to see even more Breda people, but even more excited of the sushi evening waiting for us! The German wanted to make sushi for his b-day, so big thanks to him!



All in all a lovely evening, except for the fact that one of my favorite Liverpool players, Meireles, transferred to Chelsea -.- UGH

don't worry ma i'm fine!