Down the hillside - José González

Down the hillside - José Gonzalez

My first real week of lectures has come to an end and it's been... well, not really what I expected nor what I came all the way here for. I guess I'll just have to grow my way around not being a regular student anymore and just being able to get rid of these quite useless burdens with the minimum effort possible so as to focus as much energy as possible on the real reason why I am here. Anyway that's kind of part of the whole process of learning and evolving, which I'm supposed to go through methinks. Still haven't decided how I'm gonna fill up my weekend, but given that I've come to the end of the Flash's and Arrow's past seasons, I'm gonna try and focus on useful things like cleaning up and/or exploring the city (weather permitting). Now let's just enjoy some José González to end this Friday night on a high note.

#sundayrevival I still haven't found what I'm looking for - U2

I still haven't found what I'm looking for - U2

You might remember that a little less than three months ago I posted one of my favourite U2 songs, 'One tree hill', just to celebrate the fact that I had just started watching the homonymous TV series. A TV series that I just finished watching tonight, and when you spend months with fictional characters in a fictional world, it's always extremely hard to cut your relationship with them and come back to reality, realising that they are not a part of your real world and real life. Or maybe they are, in the end this is the magic of movies and series and books, isn't it...? Anyway I found myself reading about the actors, their lives, what they are doing now and so on... I think it's my brain's way of slowly and gently detaching with the characters, and when strong music is linked to the show, listening to the songs is another great way of easing the end of it all. So I went back to listen to 'The Joshua Tree' and off that great album I am posting this one song today. Why? Because all the main characters have in some way found what they were looking for, while me... I still don't think I know what it is I am looking for, so I guess that this song is a great way for remembering that real life is real life and things don't work as "smoothly" (killings and accidents and kidnappings apart) as in the entertainment industry...!

Hold me down - Halsey

Hold me down - Halsey

Yesterday I posted 'Meet on ledge' by Counting Crows and, talking about songs that got stuck in my head lately, I need to share with you guys this one too! I really can't get it out!
I have also been watching the Season 6 finale of 'One tree hill' and I've been crying a little bit. Ok, maybe a little more than a little bit. It's peculiar how we get attached to characters that are not even real people but who portray potentially real people and stories, and it is always amazing to be touched by that, especially when the shows go on for quite a long time and you really have the time to feel part of that world that is created. Don't you agree?

7 minutes - Circlesquare

7 minutes - Circlesquare

Hey guys, sorry for not posting yesterday. I was about to skip today too but then I decided to make an effort...! I got some hideous thing, probably a sunstroke or something like that... the strong wind hasn't been helping either, anyway I've got a fever (I think), a bad headache and some general malaise... not the best way to end this holiday in such a beautiful place as Algarve, but I got the best of it anyway! I've decided to post this song that has been there as a draft in my post list for a month and a half because it really feels like the perfect one to summarise how I'm feeling. I discovered it at the end of a 'Queer as folk' episode a few years ago and loved it immediately, and now it's time to share it with you! It's a little gem, so make sure you don't miss it out (the video is amazing too)!

#sundayrevival One tree hill - U2

One tree hill - U2

Lately I started watching a new (old) TV series, that is 'One tree hill'. Yeah, yeah, I know I am living my second teenage at almost-26 (or maybe it's the first one), but I am really enjoying the dose of teenage drama, feelings and experiences that my life is filled with (mostly on the screen I must say). I love TV series when they make you think about life, they teach you somethings, the remind you why you are who you are and what are the important things in life. Even if they're fake, there's always something good you can take and use in real life. I'm enjoying 'One tree hill' quite a bit for now, even if I practically just started. And watching this series, I couldn't help thinking at this beautiful, beautiful masterpiece by U2. I put 'The Joshua tree' on yesterday and well... many of these songs make me feel incredibly nostalgic. It might well be my favourite U2 album, and this is one of their best songs imho. Couldn't ask for anything better for this sundayrevival.

The original high - Adam Lambert

The original high - Adam Lambert

Hey guys, tonight's been a movie night for me, actually TV series + movie! Between yesterday and today I breezed through the first seasons of MTV's highly anticipated 'The Shannara chronicles'. Being a long-time fan of the Shannara book series by Terry Brooks, I was very much curious about this TV transposition. Being the books very dense and very captivating and being MTV's series targeted mainly to teenagers, what I got was not very different from what I expected: teenage drama, polygamy, special effects and so on. All in all the result is not bad, but I can really say it is on a different level than the books. After finishing that, I moved to the final chapter of 'The Hunger Games', the second part of 'The Mockingjay'. Having read the books a couple years ago, I knew what to expect from the plot and I must say that this second part of the series last book is better than the first, densely packed with action and, for what I remember, quite truthful to the book. The ending is well crafted and left me with a positive impression of the whole movie series. But it's not only videos... don't worry, this is still a music blog and today I'm giving you the title-track of Adam Lambert's latest album, hoping you can enjoy it!

First love / late spring - Mitski

First love / late spring - Mitski

Double shame on me. After a busy day two days ago, wandering around in Milan, doing some courses that came up at the last time and then going to the cinema with my aunt, I didn't post yesterday... no excuses, but my day has been quite full coming back home from Milan and... well, that's it! Moreover I got up not too late and I already thought I would post something, but then it went off my mind. And today... today has been a rough day too, as I woke up super early to go and fetch my grandparents and take them to the doctor... unfortunately my car didn't wake up with me and it was all for nothing...! So I went to get lunch at my other grandparents' (it was grandma's birthday) and I practically spent my whole free time on Booking.com and so on, arranging trips that I'm undertaking in the next few weeks! Now I just finished watching Eyeshield 21, the anime series I've been following in the past few weeks, and I'm quite happy it got to an end, so that I can watch some real TV series now! Anyway, even if the show got pretty slow and boring lately, it's been the first time I understood so many words spoken by the characters (I watch them in original Japanese language with subtitles), so it looks like my (languishing) Japanese studies are paying off!! In honour of that I'm gonna be posting probably the last song off Mistki's 2014 album (for now), even if it's still early (and not late) spring and my first love is gone with the wind!

It's cool to love your family - Feist

It's cool to love your family - Feist

I think you guys can get a rough idea of what point of my life I am at by the timing of my posts... since I stopped working about 2 weeks ago, I feel like I immediately starting crossing the midnight barrier incredibly often!! Well, that's it and I can't deny I've been feeling very, very well in this past two weeks, I really needed this break to preserve my well-being and I'm happy I went and got it. So, here I am, back in Milan, had dinner with a couple of dear friends and then took a gelato in my favourite gelateria (notwithstanding the cold outside) and got back home, hung my freshly-washed clothes and watched the last episode of The Leftovers season 2. I meant to post this song and, well... given how it ended, I think it really does make perfect sense.

Laughing with - Regina Spektor

Laughing with - Regina Spektor

I am watching the second season of 'The leftovers' and I'm loving how I cannot explain right away what the hell is happening and what the characters are thinking and why they are behaving like they do, so multiple levels of interpretation and I think also multiple possible interpretations of things on the same level... a mess. I also took a walk on the seaside under the stars, as I needed to get out and breathe some air and being in contact with nature like this is always mesmerizing and beautiful. All of this brings me to the song that was playing at the end of the episode I just watched, in which I recognised Regina's voice. Searching for it, I realised it is out the first album of hers I listened to ('Far'), and also the one I didn't listen to ever after. Gotta give it a chance in the near future, in the meanwhile let's just remember that we're not laughing to god, but...

I'm shipping up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys

I'm shipping up to Boston -
Dropkick Murphys

I'm sorry I've been away from the blog for a couple of days, travelling back from Thailand has been quite hectic and I didn't have any internet connection available, then yesterday I meant to post but I was at home so tired that I end up forgetting about it. Pity, because I had a song I really wanted to post, but I will do it now with a few hours of delay! I don't remember if I shared with you my latest TV series, but in the past few months I've been watching Shameless (the UK version): it's the story of a big family living in Machester's outskirts in a pretty degraded situation, but it's pretty nice and at times quite funny! At the end of the 6th Season, which is where I got to now, one of the main characters dies and the whole thing is very emotional, with this song playing in the background at the end of the episode, so it felt right to share it with you!

Arsonist's lullaby - Hozier

Arsonist's lullaby - Hozier

When an album is so great I would like to post it all and when it's as long as 17 tracks, well... chances are you get to see a lot of posts about it! And that's what's happening with me and Hozier, not that I'm complaining at all! I recently noticed he's coming to play a couple of dates in Italy this summer, pity I won't probably be here to go see him.
This convulse week has come to an end (working time did, at least) and today in the afternoon I have been finally able to get to know a little bit more about my future! On monday I will be moving to (close to) Venezia for a month, where I will attend a training, after which I will get my first real, paid job! So, what happens now is practically that I start working by attending a 1-month intensive training course. Which pretty much means studying. It's never over!

PS: I was particularly excited when I found out that Hozier's music had been used on Teen Wolf, pretty badass soundtrack for the end of the last season, kudos!!

Wake up - Arcade Fire

Somethin' filled up

my heart with nothin',

someone told me not to cry

Getting to the end of a long book or a TV series (as it is my case now, I just finished True Blood) always leaves you with a feeling of emptiness inside you when that parallel world did mean something for you, at least at one point, if it taught you any lesson, if you felt like being a part of that world...

Children wake up,

hold your mistake up,

before they turn the summer into dust

I stand here with a fixed and empty stare at the computer screen, trying to process things, tearing up with that parallel world, getting out of it once and for all, making sense of reality, of my reality once again and realising that this will be a part of it no more.

I guess we'll just have to adjust

Wake up - Arcade Fire

I am spending these days in Milan as if they were my last, I have no idea what will be of my life, but chances are I will be spending at least a bunch of time here, be it for the people who gravitate around here, be it as it is so close to my hometown, be it for the relationship I built with city, be it because it's the one place in Italy I would choose to live my life in. Yet, whatever comes next, it's not gonna be the same. Things are changing already, as I mentioned in my latest post, and I am changing too. I am slowly realising that this very relevant and long chapter of my life is ending, and I am getting some closure, I am actually willing to get some closure because behaving like this helps me get so many memories of the time I spent there, the things I've done, the places I've loved, the people I've met... but everything comes to an end, and something new starts! I guess we'll just have to adjust.

Bad things - Jace Everett

Bad things - Jace Everett

Being in that time of one's life between giving in the thesis and discussing/defending it, I have loads of free time. And by loads, I mean the whole day. Ok, I confess, today I have started getting a few slides ready for the discussion time, but aside that I'm mainly devoting my time to video games, reading, swimming, yoga, spending time with relatives, receiving tickets for "high speed" (thank you Milan municipality, thanks a lot) and, mainly and mostly, watching TV series. I have (with utmost regret) finished watching the first two seasons of Orange is the new black, and I'll be eagerly waiting for the third. After that I started watching a series that has now ended permanently, i.e. True blood. I mean, after two seasons I still haven't understood how they could keep up a show with: a not-pretty starring female character, a not-pretty-to-quite-ugly and gloomy starring male character, the most unnervingly stupidest character ever (the brother of the protagonist) and the usual tales of vampires vs werewolves vs humans vs other supernatural creatures vs whatever. The funny thing is that at times, well, let's say often, I find myself eager to go on watching, as the plot is quite flowing and, I confess again, there are a few hotties and a few interesting characters! Well, as usual one of the things that I love the most about the show is the opening song, so here it is!! Go on and do real bad things with your loved ones!

You've got time - Regina Spektor

You've got time - Regina Spektor

I have mentioned it to you yesterday, I have stuff for you, gooood stuff! While eating my lunch today (late lunch I dare say, it was past 3 PM) I finished watching the first season of Orange is the new black! Things are getting messy and I can't wait to carry on with the second season, as the show is quite catchy. It took a while to start, maybe the whole season, but I'm quite sure I like it quite a lot now! One of the things I've been loving the most is, of course, the opening song by Regina Spektor, which I already knew as some friends suggested I should listen to it while they were watching the series a while ago, so I did and I liked it. Needless to say, I'm liking it even more now that I have associated it with the show!