Independent woman? March 3, 2009

I was listening to the radio this morning and they started playing Independent Woman by Destiny’s Child. As I was (naturally) singing along I suddenly wondered about the words I was actually saying. There’s such a big emphasis on being independent in today’s society, like it’s terrible to depend on someone else. And it just struck me that this is kind of weird.

 

I mean, to all intents and purposes I’m independent. I live with housemates, have an OK job, pay my rent and bills. I can cook, I do my washing and I know how to change a lightbulb.

 

But I depend on people. I depend on my family. I depend on my friends. If I didn’t… I think I’d be a pretty unsociable and unloving person. If it didn’t matter to me if they were there when I turned around or not… what would that say about my relationships with them? And if I didn’t depend on other people, then would other people really be able to depend on me?

 

More than anything else I’m dependent on my heavenly father.  I can’t do anything without him, but with him all things are possible. Knowing that I can depend on him, that he will always be there and will never abandon me… it’s amazing. And essential in my life. He gives me strength, and courage and a reason to get out of bed in the morning on those days when all I want to do is pretend the world isn’t there.

 

So do I want to be an independent woman?

 

No thanks!

 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The Waffler Returns! January 20, 2009

 

Guess who’s back, back again….?

 

It has been a while my friends. This Waffler has been away, working and playing, but not blogging! However, the drought is now over and what better way to kick things off again than with a picture of a waffle?? This particular waffle was purchased from a street-front vendor in Brussels, near to the Christmas market. It was covered in melted Belgian chocolate and tasted AMAZING.

 

By way of starting in an enthusiastic manner, you’re actually going to get two blog posts this week. (I know this for a fact, because I’ve already written the second one! It didn’t seem appropriate as a starting point though. I mean, there were absolutely no waffles involved at all.) Fancy that eh? Nothing for months and then two come along at once.

 

It’s like a really, really bad bus service.

 

I’d like to use this first blog back to share with you one of my favourite discoveries of the past 6 months. It’s a band. And actually, I didn’t discover them so much as have their EP handed to me by a friend who had it going spare. It took me a couple of weeks to get around to moving the CD from my bag to a stereo… but from the moment I did I was entranced and pretty swiftly found myself dancing about with a big grin plastered all over my face.

 

Ladies and gentlemen may I present… The Steve Bland Assembly!

Clicky on the picky to go to their myspace page and have a listen. The songs are bright, catchy and musically made me think of Ben Folds. Just to warn you though, I Think I’ll Blame The Government will make it’s way inside your head and never ever leave!

 

 

One of my favourite songs (Lift Your Feet) isn’t available to listen to on their MySpace at the moment, but you can check it out here.

28 Days Later August 13, 2008

A momentous event occurred today:

 Radio Lutterworth has launched for its 3rd ever broadcast – on air on 97.5fm and online for the next 28 days. Alas, this is the first time that I will not be presenting, a fact that makes me really rather sad. However, I still thoroughly recommend you have a listen, and feel free to harrass the presenters with ridiculous (but polite) e-mails. Make sure especially to listen out for Ben & Joe. Whilst they are on air, be sure to send many messages along the lines of “Northampton Saints are the best!”, “Come on you Saints!” and “Saints to win the premiership this season!” As a Tiger’s fan, Joe is sure to appreciate it.

Also not to be missed is the self-dubbed “Asian-sensation”, Mr Sunny Patel (or Sunny P as I like to call him). He’s on weekend breakfasts this time round, which is a rather entertaining idea. There are many other lovely presenter types there too, so do have a listen and let me know who your favourites are.

Simply click on the logo above to take you to the website and then choose Listen Live!

Lately I Have Been Mostly Listening To… August 12, 2008

…this song. I can’t seem to find a version on youtube to link to which isn’t a) a live version with poor sound quality and irritating screaming audience members or b) a cheesy fan-made slide show which doesn’t capture the song at all. So if you want to hear it, take my advice and download it, legally. It’s well worth the 79p. 

I’ve owned the album with this track on for a pretty long time now, but the lyrics to this have just kind of suddenly dawned on me recently. Maybe because of moving out of home… I don’t know. It’s a lot about taking risks, and I have really been thinking a lot lately about how many of the decisions I make are in some way motivated by fear. Which is kind of ridiculous, since I do not need to be afraid. Of anything.

“Do not give way to fear”  1 Peter 3:6

Anyway… here’s the song!

 

The Walk

Deep in a wood
Where nothing is seen
A tightrope is strung to his heel
And high on the walk
He’s down on one knee
He waits for the slow of the breeze

Oh, wow
Look at him now on his feet
High up in the sky

And every moment, extends endlessly
If feels as though time isn’t moving
And every second, hold breath not to breathe
And watch as he moves to the beat

Well down on the floor
I watch from my seat
I watch as he sways with the trees
And slowly he moves
But so elegantly
I’m all on the edge of my seat

On the tightrope everything’s bare
All that there is from here to there
On the tightrope the goal is quite clear
Don’t lose yourself in your fear

Everyone waits on a walk
Some are long and some small
But all of them tall
And everyone must make a choice
Will I go for it all, and possibly fall
The tightrope is thin
I could possibly win on the walk

Well high on the walk
The tightrope it bends
And nobody knows where it ends
To win or to lose you’re all on your own
‘Cause everyone must be alone

On the tightrope everything’s bare
All that there is from here to there
On the tightrope the goal is quite clear
Don’t lose yourself in your fear

- Hanson

Here, there and everywhere May 28, 2008

Hello there dear reader.

I apologise for the distinct lack of blogging over recent weeks. It’s mainly due to the fact I seem to have been unable to stay still for more than 48 hours at a time! I’ve been running about all over the country, visiting York, Birmingham, Reading, Witney and I’m currently in Cambridge. I’ll be in London next weekend, after spending two nights in Thetford and attending a wedding in Cromer at the end of this week! However I promise I will attempt to blog more frequently during this time, despite the craziness, as it would obviously be cruel to deny the digital world of my many opinions and adventures for so long

 

So in the meantime, allow me to comment on the phenomenon that is the Eurovision Song Contest. I will hold my hands up and admit to being a bit of a Eurovision fan. I can’t help it. I enjoy the chance to sit down once a year and allow my ears and eyes to be assailed with some terrible musical offerings, whilst being given free reign to laugh at my fellow Europeans. This year I voted for Denmark, with their song ‘All Night Long’, which owed more than a little to Jeff Beck’s ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’. Now Eurovision in the UK would not be the same without the commentary from the genius that is Terry Wogan. However I have never heard the poor man sound more dejected than at the end of the results on Saturday night. You see the songs entered by various countries appears to make very little difference to how many votes they get. It’s all about voting for your neighbours, and in recent years this has meant an Eastern European nation winning every time. This year it was Russia’s turn. And well done them. The UK came absolute last. We lost to Azerbaijan’s entry with the crazy man, the knitting brides and the washer woman with birds in her hair. We lost to about 7 different songs which would fall into the category of “life is miserable ballads”. We were even beaten by the Latvian pirates (although to be fair, that was a fun act!).

 

Now the past couple of years I could understand our poor results. We sent novelty acts: Scooch with their horrific ‘Flying the flag’ number, and don’t even get me started on Daz Sampson. But this time round we had our best entrant in years! Andy Abrahams (runner up on X-factor the year Shane Ward won) did us proud. The former bin man got up there and gave it his all. The song was catchy, bright, cheerful… and yet the only countries to give us any points at all were competition newbie San Marino (that mighty nation) and Ireland. Who had themselves sent a turkey. Literally. Conclusive evidence that whoever we send and whatever they sing is now utterly irrelevant. The UK is not popular within Europe, nor is anyone scared of us. We have no friends so we get no points. Germany are suffering a similar problem. What grates even more is that a large part of the funding for Eurovision come from the western countries in the EU – not the Eastern ones. We get a buy into the final because of how much money we put in. What would happen if we all pulled out? It’s certainly tempting after this year.

 

However I reckon that by the time 2009 rolls around, we’ll all have become optomistic once more and we’ll still participate. I just need to remember to not bother watching the voting next time. It’ll only make me angry.

 

And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

Get up and go! March 11, 2008

Today my friend and I made a CD. It’s so awesome that we feel we should share it with the rest of the world. Here’s the track list for the Ultimate Work Out / Get Out Of Bed And Get Going Mix!

1.  Friday – Daniel Bedingfield

2.  Pump It Up – CNC Music Factory

3.  Do Your Thing – Basement Jaxx

4.  Right Here, Right Now – Fatboy Slim

5.  Body Rock – Moby

6.  You Shook Me All Night Long (remix) – ACDC + a million other artists

7.  Switch – Will Smith

8.  Inflate My Ego – Daniel Bedingfield

9.  Where’s Your Head At? – Basement Jaxx

10.  Fighter – Christina Aguilera

11.  Rockafeller Skank – Fatboy Slim

12.  A Little Less Conversation – Elvis vs JXL

13.  Galvanise – Chemical Brothers

14.  Die Another Day – Madonna

15.  Pump It – Black Eyed Peas

16.  Canned Heat – Jamiroquai

17.  Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson

18.  Hey Boy Hey Girl – Chemical Brothers

It’s almost enough to make me want to start working out again.

Almost.

A bear, a Scot, some strangers and the soundtrack February 20, 2008

At 6:25am this morning I awoke very suddenly from an exceedingly weird dream, in which my father was being mauled by a grizzly bear. It was all his own fault though, since he went out into the garden to look at the animal instead of staying indoors like we told him to. Honestly, you’d think at his age his dream-self would have a little more common sense.

In other happenings today, Andy Murray followed up winning his 5th ATP title in Marseille last week by going out in the first round of the tournament in Rotterdam. Big losing loser (kidding… mainly). He’s so inconsistent! At least when Henman was going through a bad patch he had the decency to go out in the first round of every tournament and not get our hopes up too much.

I went out to dinner tonight with some of my sister’s friends. I’d not even met most of them before but a fun time was had. I like meeting new people. Almost as much as I like catching up with old friends. I think I just like people! I’m a sociable creature, most of the time.

Lately I have been mostly listening to:

• Thnks Fr Th Mmrs – Fall Out Boy
• Them – Jem
• Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder
• Over You – Daughtry
• Place Your Hands – Reef
• James Bond Theme (From Tomorrow Never Dies) – Moby
• The Prayer – Bloc Party
• Ain’t No Party – Orson
• Highroyds – Kaiser Chiefs
• Skeleton Key – The Coral
• What A Little Moonlight Can Do – Steve Tyrell

In exactly one weeks time a plane will be landing in Ohio and I will be on it!

Ahead of their time… January 4, 2008

Right now I’m feeling pretty sorry for these guys… 

And no, not just because they were once in a cheesy band with very little credibility… but becase it turns out they were just a little ahead of their time. “What is this nonsense?!” I hear you cry! Allow me to explain. Between 2002 and 2004 Busted were really pretty successful in the UK, Europe and Asia. They sold over 3 million albums and entered the record books for selling out Wembley 11 times in one year, despite only ever releasing 8 singles (4 of which hit number 1 in the charts). So far, so merry. The tale doesn’t yet elicit much sympathy, but stay with me dear readers.

2005 is where it all went wrong for Busted. They decided to attempt to break America and failed spectacularly. The aftermath led to the band going their separate ways to various solo/other band projects.  “Their sound would just never have worked in America” people said, and Busted were consigned to history.

But in 2006/7, across the pond, this lot popped up…

My that’s an original looking album cover. Anyway it has come to my attention that these young whippersnappers (and I can call them that as wiki informs me the oldest is younger than me) have covered two of Busted’s songs! Their cover of “What I Go To School For” was only used as a track on their debut album, but Year 3000 was released and made number 10 on the itunes top 100 – making it the band’s second most successful single.

I have two things to say about this:

1) the irritating part is that the Jonas Brothers versions are just more bland than the originals, and therefore worse.

2) the amusing part is that they’ve changed some of the lyrics to make them more “family friendly” which, given how Busted were viewed over here, says a lot about the American market!! I won’t go into detail but I recommend you check out the following links to the youtube videos for each of Year 3000.

For the original…  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43EwRJCq4U

And for Jonas… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNPg2j4B1r4

The lyrics changes are actually a lot bigger in “What I Go To School For” in that they’ve changed the entire concept of the song. The Jonas brothers aren’t in love with a teacher, they like a senior. It’s more proper. Or something.

 

That said I just realised, since the guys in Busted wrote the song themselves, they’re probably not quite so cut up about the whole thing. In fact I expect they’re laughing all the way to the bank!

 

Musical Geography December 24, 2007

Yes I know, two blogs in one morning. I agree, it is a little excessive. Yet depending on how long I’m kept here at work with nothing to do, there could be more by the end of the day! 

I would like to know if I am alone in finding that music sounds different depending on where you’re listening to it. I don’t mean so much if you’re listening in the car vs at home on your stereo (although that may well be true), I’m thinking geographically.

I came to this conclusion during my time in America. My first case in point is Razorlight’s second, self-titled album.

                           

Now I have always preferred Up All Night. To me, the two albums could have been produced by two entirely different bands. There was something about the second album that I just didn’t quite get. I mean I still thought it was good, but it wasn’t connecting somehow. Then one day whilst walking home, about a month into my time in Ohio, it popped up on my mp3 player. Suddenly it seemed to make more sense to me. I know that the band wrote the majority, if not all, of the record whilst in the States, and I think it must clearly have had an effect on their sound. It wasn’t until I sort of, returned the album to its point of origin, that I could really appreciate where it was coming from. I’m still not saying it’s better than Up All Night, but it’s definitely gone up in my estimations!

The second thing to catch me off guard was when I then listened to some more British music, typical of the current brand all over the UK charts. In particular the Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Hard-Fi.

       

Somehow they too sounded different! Their songs were suddenly more… well, gritty. I’ve never liked that as an adjective for music but there’s not really an applicable alternative! It was very strange to hear such familiar songs in a different way. It wasn’t a bad way… just to hear them speaking into a foreign context I suppose. They don’t connect with the listener in quite the same way. I wonder if this explains the difficulty many British bands have in succeeding across the pond. Not only their lyrics but also their sound is so often quite specifically culturally relevant. Even if it’s unintentional.