Rows and rows of big dark clouds

It's Sunday. No big and interesting adventure ever happened on a Sunday. I hate Sundays. I don't really, cause they also mean sleeping till 11 a.m., only since I don't really have a job these days, I can pretty much sleep all I want any day of the week, which robbed sundays of their sole purpose. And outside of family reunions, I really do hate sundays, because there is nothing interesting to do on a sunday, and I don't know why, but they seem to be rainy all the time. So today's top 5, in honour of Crap-Sunday-Weather, will be the top 5 things I sould remember not to do when I am down on a sunday, together with possible solutions. I do not actually believe there is a cure to sunday crap-ness, but you never know. There we go. I should not :

1. Listen to the music I want to listen to. What I should do is choose whatever track I feel like listening, and then pick its exact opposite. I should avoid, in particular, listening to sad tunes (it only ever makes things worse. Patty Griffin nearly killed me today. By the way, about Patty Griffin... Is it cool to listen to Patty Griffin ? I like it, but I also have to be pointed out what's cool, so I'd really like to have your opinion... Long Ride Home is such a nice song...)

Also, listening to rock music that you believe will make you more... say tonic and... wake you up is not a good solution. I tried the Babyshambles (whom I really, really love), and all it did was adding a wish to kick the furniture and punch innocent walls to a feeling of down-ness. Whatever you call it. It's no good.

Because then either you stay aggressive till it's time to go to bed, or you do punch a wall, and then you hurt your hand, and then you feel so stupid you want to punch yourself. I would say... stupid hip hop stuff. Or maybe also "Superman (It's not Easy)" by Five for Fighting. But that might just be me. Cause it's a sad song, but it makes me feel happy, somehow. Scouting for Girl also does the trick (especially "James Bond", which is really cool).

2. Go back to bed and do nothing. Then I feel bad because I haven't done anything worthwhile with my day and it adds guilt to the lot. Baaad idea.

3. Start making a complicated recipe that I always wanted to try. Are you crazy, Reader? On a gray sunday under the sign of Craponus, roman God of failures? Usually, I find out that I am missing a key ingredient AFTER I melted half a pound of butter. Then what do you do with half a bloody pound of melted butter? Drink it? So no complicated recipe.

Then again, you might never have thought of baking a cake just because you're down, but that's what comes up first when I think about things I could do when I am bored. It's also valid for any creative work. Start with what you do have, and then figure out what you could do with it should be the general guideline.

4. Procrastinate. Cause it's sunday and you're supposed to rest and you're entitled to do nothing. No good at all. The logical thing is to start on the most boring task you can think of. Like... I dunno... cleaning the windows. Because, look at it this way : you are already bored to death doing nothing, so why not go on being bored to death, but at least figure you've done something worthwhile at the end of the day? (There, even I would argue that cleaning windows is really not worthwhile at all as long as you can see through them. But I'm sure you see what I mean).

5. Go. On. Facebook. Going on Facebook when you are bored will only EVER make things worse. I don't know why I like Facebook so much. I think I like the Facebook pages of other people so much that I pretend I like it myself in order to absorb some of their coolness... Doesn't work. Three hours spent on FarmVille are a good equivalent to drinking half a pound of melted butter.

Now, reader, time for me to follow my own advice and go 'glossarize'. I promise I'll write something a little more... interesting and cool next time. When the sunday afternoon jinx is gone again. Have a nice week-end!! Hu hu hu... that sounds kind of cynical now, doesn't it? Well go ahead, then! Clean the windows!!

You make my dreams come true

Hey reader !!

My sister F is going to Japan tomorrow (Bon voyage, F !! Keep breathing until you're on the plane, and then everything will be fine. You are a tree. Your roots go deep, deep in the earth, and you feel the wind in your leaaaaaaaaaaves. No? Ok, then...) and the other day, when she came to visit, she told us about two of her favourite movie lines ever. Now. Is that not a great idea for a top 5 ? It is. Let me not forget it is. But it is not today's. (Feintés :D)

Today's top 5 is also a movie-related top 5, concerning "those moments that make you shiver even long after you have watched the movie". Please, please, for my sake, read the top 5 rules. I probably forgot great ones. And also, please, please, tell me which in the comments.

So. Here goes. (Oh, and I make no claim to originality). (Oh, and now that I think of it, possible spoilers ahead)

1. The Dead Poet's Society (unexpected, huh?). At the end. I love the movie, I love that scene, and it makes me shiver just thinking about it right now. You know which scene I mean, I'm sure, and I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it yet. By the way, if you haven't seen it yet, do.

2. The shower scene in Casino Royale. Now Casino Royale is hardly a "favourite movie ever" candidate, but that scene ?! That scene is wonderful. I told you about it already I know. But let me tell you about it once more. Eva Green (oh, if I just could look like Eva Green, just for a minute) has killed a man. It was self defense, and she had no choice, but still. She killed a man, and she's traumatized. James Bond (yeah, OK, I say Eva Green and James Bond. Indulge me.) comes up to her room to see if she's OK (This is getting real long, but I love it so...) and he finds her sitting under a cold shower in her wondrous dress. Now what does James Bond do ?

Does he take her out of the shower and dry her hair ?

No he does not. He sits next to her under the shower, keeping his expensive leather shoes on, because does he care about his expensive leather shoes ? No, he does not. And then he takes her in his arms and turns on the hot water tap to make her warmer. I can hear you hardcore James Bond fans at the back going "Sean Connery would have thrown her a blanket and poured himself a drink". To you I say : "You do not exist, I only ever have 2 readers, whom I both know, and who are no hardcore James Bond fans". And "I don't care. I like Daniel Craig 100 times better".

3. The prison scene in Dark City. I don't remember the movie so clearly, to tell you the truth, even though I remember it was great, but that scene is carved in my memory for ever. He's in prison, and she comes to visit him ("he" being Rufus Sewell, and "she" being Jennifer Connelly --If only I could look like Jennifer Connelly...--) and he's got the power to change reality, and he shatters the parlour's glass, just so that he can kiss her. OK. Those "shiver" scenes are always big, girly love scenes. Breaking news, I'm a girl.

4. Collision. Now it's not a scene, it's a movie. But there are at least 5 scenes in that movie alone that make me shiver just thinking about them. My favourite one involves Sandra Bullock and her cleaning lady, but I cannot say more, because 95% of my readership has never seen the movie (in spite of my insistance, pleas and numerous begging sessions). I guess I might have spoilt it for them.

5. The scene in Amelie when she bakes her cake at the end. A French movie in a top 5 is not a usual thing. But then again, Amelie is not a usual movie. Anyway, she bakes a cake and imagines her love is at the door. Then it turns out he really is. Might be because I've baked so many cakes and imagined my love bringing me the missing ingredient so many times without him ever showing up at the door that seeing the scene was kind of like having a wish granted. I love that movie.

Now, reader, I have to go, because a top 5 includes... well... 5 things, so mission complete, and also because lunch is ready and I should go take it out of the oven. Weirdly enough, I now really, really want to see Sense and Sensibility. Do you ?

PS: The title is tacky, but the song is cool. Have you seen 500 days of Summer ?

Ashes to ashes

Well reader, it's me again! I'm coming back from my first international business trip to Lille. What do you mean, "it's not international if you stay in France" ? What do you mean "we don't give a rat's ass"? Have you been watching Craig Ferguson again, reader? Oh no, wait. That's me. Guess I'm talking to myself again...

Anyway. First mission complete, it was really nice and interesting and I love my job. Did I tell you already? Well, I do, anyways. And while going to Lille (and coming back from Lille, which included missing my stupid train because of my stupid alarm clock and waiting for three hours at the stupid Lille train station in a stupid café and having to pay for my stupid ticket twice) I watched videos on my laptop (which I had probably brought with me because a part of me just knew I could not catch a train before 7 a.m.)

I watched the first episode of Dollhouse season 2 (while going to Lille. That's a paragraph ago. I know I should go see a doctor about that brackets issue...). What I mean to say is: I watched the first episode of Dollhouse season 2 and THE WHOLE season 1 of Ashes to Ashes. And I just thought I should tell you that it was great.

Both were great.

And I will never, ever understand why shows like Smallville manage to stay on air for years on end, and shows like Dollhouse and Firefly get cancelled in a jiffy. Bad ratings. For DOLLHOUSE! It's great! It's fantastic! It's moving, it's original, it's funny, it's sad and I love it. I hope it's going to keep things up until the end, which I know to be near. So here's to Joss Whedon, and I hope he keeps up the good work for years to come, even if it's just one season at a time.

But let us not be bitter, and let me tell you more about Ashes to Ashes (nothing whatsoever to do with Joss Whadon there. It's an English show). It's a Life on Mars spin-off. Or a follow-up, I don't quite know which, but it's really good in any case. It's the story of a single mother who gets shot in the head (things are starting out great for her...) and who is sent back in time to 1981. She doesn't know if she's dreaming or if it's some kind of paranormal time travelling thing, but in any case, she knows for a fact that she's one second away from death in her real life, and she still wants to get back to her daughter.

You might or might not enjoy the main character being a little too hysterical for my taste, (even though she plays really well), but not liking Gene Hunt (who is about as unlikable as they get, since he is racist, homophobic, bitter and rude) is a real challenge. I don't know what it is with English series these days, but between Dr Who, Life on Mars and this one, I just can't wait for the next one to come up.


Anyway. I guess this is all for today. I hope you are well, and I hope you managed to follow. Next time, I promise, less brackets and more interesting stuff. I know I can do it.

PS: We do have TGVs in France. The steam train thing is just because my TGV just looked like a weird rectangle.

And I'm a million miles froohom youuuh

Well well well reader. Guess what? YES! Indeed! I have not written in a very long time!! No particularly good reason for this. I was thinking about something great to write about the end of this schoolyear, that will be my last, it is now official. Did not find anything great, at least not great enough to describe my years at the university, so I figured, let's just tell them I made it and move on.

I MADE IT READER!! I'M AN INTERPRETER!! Do the boogie, do the boogie, YEAH!! YEAH!!

So, 5 words to describe my mood now, before I move on to today's 'official' top 5: happy, incredulous, sad, panicky and hopeful. I do hope sad will go away one day, when hopeful turns to happy. Twice happy! Wish me luck!

But enough about me, let us turn to today's top 5 : The top 5 things I learnt while watching "Alisa, Folge deinem Herzen" on the German channel ZDF.

You have to forgive my regular references to Alisa over the last few posts (actually, I think I only talked about it once, but still), since I am watching one episode a day these days. It is slowly becoming an obsession. It is eating away my life, my soul, and most importantly, any sense of taste. Just kidding, it's actually not that bad, the actors are good and the music is great. (Check out "wrong turn", by Jack Johnson, it's a great, great song). Anyway. Alisa, as we will call it for short, is, as the title indicates, following her heart. And teaching me valuable life lessons in the making.

1. If you are in Germany, and you really, really want to look inconspicuous, because the whole police force is after you since you've been making dirty business with arms dealers (I always feel silly saying "arms dealers" in English. I keep imagining some kind of limb-distributing ATM...) what you really, really should do is sport an ugly and fake looking blond wig, huge sunglasses and Columbo's coat. And walk really fast but making teeny tiny steps, looking either at your feet or casting quick glances all around you.

2. Apparently, the German police force are quite stupid

3. If you're really sad because your boss died, the first thing you should do is go out in the garden and play a sad little tune on your trumpet while doing the boogie of death. It's always appreciated by the mourning family, which will then proceed to come out in the garden and give you a nice big hug.

4. Behind every great german businessman, there is a strong willed Damart-model who bakes apple-pie for him.

5. You could make me watch anything. Anything at all. Put a nice soundtrack and a love story in it, and there I am. Lost. Forever.

There you go reader. And if any of you likes "Alisa, folge deinem Herzen", please note that I am being mean, but I like it too. More than I like to admit. They're all so lovable. XD

Have a nice evening !!

Every step

Lo reader !

I have not written in quite a long time (how many of these posts start with that same sentence, I wonder...) but I was quite busy. I ACTUALLY was quite busy, for once, since I finished my final paper from hell (though I had a lot of trouble with La Poste, and let it be known right here that I really, really don't like them. *insert something rude*). Anyway, between two nervous breakdown, I still found time to go to a festival in my hometown, Colmar, and see plenty of concerts, which was absolutely great. Great, great, great.

Here it is, then, the top 5 concerts I saw at the Foire aux Vins this year. Top 5 rules apply (I saw only 6 concerts, and I'll spare you the BB Brunes, which is a French pop group and which I don't like very much. At all. And there are not enough numbers in 5 to make room for Superbus either, which is another French group, and which was nice and all, but not really my cup of tea.)

Well.... here goes!

1. Cocoon. First group I saw this year. It's a French group, but it's in English, and their songs are all soft and pretty. They were very nice and funny, and the perfect way to start the whole series. Do listen to their songs, and maybe look at their videos too, they're really nice and put you in a great mood!

2. The Do. They are kind of French too, I believe, though they sing in English, and they are at least part Finnish. Well, let's say they're European. They absolutely did not sound like what I expected, and I liked them very much all the same.

3. Charlie Winston. Might well be the best concert I ever saw. It's definitely in the top 2, anyway. (I feel very sorry for my sister M who was not with us, but if he ever comes to Brussels where she lives, I'm in!). I was in love when I got out. I don't quite know with whom, but I sure was. He started the concert, then his brother joined him (Tom Baxter, apparently well known in the UK, and very very good at playing the guitar and being awesome), then at the very end people from Cocoon and the Do as well as his brother joined him on stage and it was really, really cool.

In case you don't know about Charlie Winston, his album's called Hobo, it's just brilliant and it makes you feel happy. Do listen to it, and tell me what you think. Especially... Well, especially all of them, but more particularly 'Tongue Tied" and "Every Step".

4. Amy Macdonald. I don't know if I ever told you about Amy Macdonald before, but I bought her album about a year ago after seeing her 2 minutes on a French TV show. I just love her voice and her lyrics are nice and it's folk music, which is, I believe, my favourite kind. She's from Scotland, and no one in the whole room could understand a word she was saying when she spoke to us, but the concert was still brilliant, and I wish I could go back and hear it again right this evening. Thank you so much, V for inviting me!! And if you don't know Amy Macdonald, I would say... listen to.... "Barrowland Ballroom", and "Let's Start a Band".

5. The Babyshambles. We waited for one hour, and were quite convinced that they wouldn't come, since Pete Doherty had had legal troubles, but they were very much here in the end. I did not know their songs, and I don't even know why I took the ticket in the first place, since I did not know the music and was firmly convinced that they would actually not come, but I don't regret going for a minute.

The atmosphere was incredible (really), and the music was great, and their rendition of Twist and Shout was just... well. We all twisted, we all shouted, and we had a great, great time. I felt a little bad though, because... well, I know it sounds silly and probably patronizing and all, but it made me a little sad being so happy and seeing that man on the stage being so not well. Made me think of that song by the Flogging Molly that goes:

"Well it breaks my heart to see you this way

the beauty in life where's it gone?

Somebody told me you were doing OK,

somehow I guess they were wrong"

But. It was a great concert, and I loved every minute of it.

Altogether, it was a great, great festival, and I really want to go again next year and see as many concerts as I can. There really is nothing like live music with cool people around you, in my opinion. And then you can go have a dring and talk about the coolest bands you saw and all, and it's still great memories years after. What was the coolest band you ever saw? I need to know! I need to know who I have to see next year!

Love is hard...

Hi Reader !!

Here's a new top 5 ! A new Top 5 inspired from my sister F's Blog a few weeks back. The Top 5 Things I love even though I'm terribly ashamed to admit it. It's such a brilliant top 5 idea. And yes, there are things that I am STILL ashamed to admit, even though I already told you so many shameful stuff. Let it be known that I still hesistate here, line 5 of this post. Maybe I'll just give up and not publish this message. But let us be brave and write on. Nobody reads this anyway. And those who actually do probably know I have to be ashamed of a lot of stuff. Bollywood, musicals, my multiple crushes on nine tenth of hollywood actors (notwithstanding Orlando Bloom), my hopeless love of Dr Who... Aaaaah, so many things I should be ashamed of, and stand up for, against all odds... (whatever...)

Well, enough procrastination, here comes the actual top 5.

1. Rrrrrrrrrghhhhhhaaaaaaaacan't say it ! Can't say it !! Thhhhhhe Twiiiilight-----(Ok, ok, no one knows my actual name. No one is interested anyway. Go on ! Go on ! Breathe ! It's easier if you say it fast...) Hhhhhh... hhhhhh.... THE TWILIGHT SAGA. Feels better now it's out.

Yes. The Twilight saga. I read the four books in two weeks, stayed up all night to know the ending, and found it great. I liked it, I liked it, and I firmly intend to go ahead a read them again some time soon. Also I went to the cinema, and saw the movie, and will go ahead and pay for my ticket to watch the second one, might even watch it twice and pay both times. And even though I laughed at the sutpid joke that goes "what do you get when you cross a disco ball with a douchebag" and the answer was Edward Cullen (yeah, cause in Twilight, vampires glitter. I also laughed when I found out...) I still must admit it. I liked the books very much.

2. English-old-lady style dresses. Put a dress with tiny pink flowers on it in any clothes shop, you can be sure that I will take a fancy to it. If given the choice, I would probably look like an English Gran all the time. Probably comes from all those Jane Austen books I read. By the way, have you seen "The Young Victoria" ? If you have not, you should, it was pretty good, and they had great dresses. It made me giggly (especially Sir John. Go, see The Young Victoria, and giggle at Sir John for me. His life is crap, he hates everyone, and he kicks the furniture around. I thought he was swell). I would like to see it again, actually. And Paul Bettany's in it. What a great, great link to point 3...

3. Well, I must admit, my kind of man. Tall, blond, blue-eyed. This is, I must say, quite shameful. And very unoriginal. But well. Here it is.

4. My willingness to see anything that's a musical. Even if it's French. Even if it's Le Roi Soleil and I bought the CD. Oh, no, no, no, this is never going to be published on my blog for all to read. Le Roi Soleil, yes, I must admit. This is sooo less cool than secretly being a gothic punk fan and listening to Hard Kaur, F, if you hear me... But well, I liked it. I still kind of do ("Je fais de twaaah mon essentieeeellle..."). Still recovering.

5. Oh so many songs and groups and music styles that I KNOW are not particularly clever but still love to listen to, very loudly, in my MP3 player while I brush my teeth. Rihanna, Britney Spears, the Sugababes (oh my...), and the Spice Girls, and also, even, too, Billy Crawford). There. I said it. I wrote "I love to listen to Billy Crawford" on my blog.

Help me ! Tell me what you love and are ashamed of before I wilt and die !! Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You are my only hope.

Your butt is mine ! \o/

I just can't believe I finally found a good reason to put this as a title here. Anyway. Yeah, cause "I'm bad". You'll understand in a minute. But first, a big question, adressed mostly to my sister F: What does Michael Jackson say, in Bad, that sounds like "shamoo, shamoo"? Anyone?

Ok, now for the actual post : Today, my top 5 favourite actors who look perfectly evil without even trying.

1. Rufus Sewell. This whole post is actually just an excuse to write something about Rufus Sewell. He looks evil, he squints a little (or maybe one of his eyes is bigger than the other, I can't decide), and he's got green eyes and curly black hair. I want green eyes and curly black hair on the 7 feet tall and cape-wearing, curry-eating man I ordered for Christmas. Write that down, Santa! Rufus Sewell played in A Knight's Tale, which is one of my favourite comedies ever (featuring Paul Bettany. Crap. Paul Bettany's got no curly black hair, and blue eyes. Whatever, Santa. Take your pick.)

He also played in Dark City, where there is one of those scenes (oooh, I just found the theme of my next post!)... One of those scenes that make you shiver just thinking about it. Oddly enough, it involves another black-haired and green-eyed creature, who is, incidentaly, the wife of aforementionned Paul Bettany. This first paragraph is getting sooooo long... :D Well. Rufus Sewell.

2. Alan Rickman. I saw him first in Robin Hood when I was 8, and he said something to the effect of "I'm going to tear your heart out with a teaspoon ("why with a teaspoon ?") because the less sharp, the more painful". And then I saw him in Sense and Sensibility. Like Rufus Sewell, I saw him both as a nice and as a totally evil character, and loved him in both cases. Wait... Am I talking about Rufus Sewell again ?

3. Gary Oldman. Just for the "disappointed" thing in the 5th Element. Just for the 5th element. I have not seen him in much else, in fact. But just for this, he's got my vote. I really like the 5th element actually. Mostly because of Gary Oldman, I believe.

4. Thomas Gumpert. Yeah, I also did not know the name until 30 seconds ago (thanks, IMDb), and you probably don't know the face. He's the guy who plays the villain in a stupid German telenovela I'm watching at the moment in order not to forget my German during the holidays (Ok, also because I really want to know the ending, and also because I'm slightly addicted. But the actors are actually very good, unlike the scenario which is as lame as they get).

Thomas Gumpert, then, who plays an evil German (how original). He looks very much like the stereotypical Nazi, I must say, with icy-blue eyes and he's kind of freaky (also he speaks German, which sends shivers down my spine). Yet he is so caricatural that he cracks me up. He smiles an evil smile, and you can see that the actor is actually having fun (or at least I like to believe he is). I'd like to meet him in person, I'm sure he's great fun. I can't see his evil smile without smirking too. And now I can't even see his face without smirking.

5. Paul Bettany. Comes 5th because he doesn't actually look evil without even trying, he just plays evil guys very often. But I love him in anything (except of course for Dogville (akh, bakh) and Firewall (ukh bukh) for very different reasons. And some other things were bad too. But I still love him). And he can look absolutely terrifying. Have you seen Gangster Nb 1, Reader ? He laughs and bares his fangs in an elevator, and the picture is burnt in my retinas. Very, very frightening.

Anyway. This is it for today's top 5 (I have no time left, lunch-break is nearly over). I am sorry for the lack of ethnic diversity in this post. I tried thinking of a black or asian evil looking actor whom I really love, and could not find any. The only asian actor I could think about was Takeshi Kaneshiro, and he's not evil at all. In the last movie I saw him in, which was quite good, he was cast as a wise military genius/zen master. About as believable as Orlando Bloom as Yoda. But hell... any role will make me happy... Have a nice day, reader !!