Last weekend the HMV branches of Hong Kong offered a bunch of sales on different categories of items, so I went to take a look (and of course bought [useless] things, among which one CD). U2's sophomore effort has been on my to-buy list for a while now and finally is no more. Probably related to that purchase, yesterday I woke up with their debut album on my mind, so I went on and listened to both of them during the day. I must confess that 'Boy' is among my favourite albums of them, most likely in the top 3, if not in the top 1! I always link the beautiful atmosphere of these songs to walking throughout lower Manhattan, as it was probably my soundtrack when I strolled there in 2011 during my second visit to New York. This song in particular always gives me that magical feeling in my guts that you only get when walking around Washington square park and Greenwich village. So I dedicate this post and what is probably my favourite U2 song to the magic of New York!
What a horrible moment... I am sure you guys have known about the mass shooting happening in a gay club in Orlando, awful news that we keep hearing more and more often lately. Yes, the chances of any one of us dying in a terrorist attack are trivial and I think that the more we amplify this kind of news, the more power we give to those who commit these vicious crimes. Nonetheless it is worth noting that the most important thing to do, in my opinion, is NOT to respond to this kind of violence with more violence and hate and intolerance. I can just imagine how delighted Donald Trump and the such are at such news, which will surely be yet another consent boost. Let's not make that, otherwise the politics of terror will just get stronger and stronger. Be brave, be strong and spread the love. To everyone.
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...!
Today I have been working out a thing that has been bothering me for the past weeks: since I updated the OS of my Macbook, I have been unable to listen to and to transfer on my iPod the songs I had bought on the iTunes store with my old account (created with an email address that doesn't exist anymore). Not even trying to change mail and working with the authorisations did any good, so the only solution I had left was to... download the songs I had bought with that account. Do you see the irony in that? I guess that the DRM (Digital Rights Management) thing didn't really work out, it did not for me at least. The good thing in all that is that I got to listen back to old songs I haven't been paying much attention to lately. And I just realised I hadn't posted anything off Dolores's debut album as a solo artist since... the very first post of this blog!! I'm making it up now, as thinking about what this album has meant for me and listening to it always gives me a powerful chill!
I have just come home from a dinner organised by my dearest wife to say goodbye, as she is moving to another city for work. It was just her, some of her colleagues from work and me, no one else of our original high-school friends group and this is a bit sad to realise, as we are all spread around by now. I am very happy for her, it's a good opportunity both professionally and personally and she really needs that, so I hope she'll be able to get the best out of it! I don't know why, but then this song instantly came to my mind as soon as I placed my sushi-filled butt on the chair, so I guess that's why I'm posting it, and not because I relate to the lyrics: even if we somehow lost touch with each other, I do think that a love like this (the one between me and my hometown friends) will indeed last forever, notwithstanding the distance!
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.
I am in Milan tonight, after spending a very weird day between home and here, waiting for people to come and check household appliances, wasting my time and then choosing to spend some time with people who I care about and who made me feel better in a day that didn't start well. Waking up early is killing me, given my current sleeping times, but I need to go back a little...! Tomorrow is gonna be even worse, as I agreed to meet a friends for breakfast at 8, as she's going to work after that. What remains of me will see another friend for lunch and then probably go back home!
I have known that I am behind schedule with my posting with respect to my playlists and tonight I decided to quantify my delay! I have noted some songs off the last playlists of 2015 that have not been featured here yet and that really need to imho; all in all I have a week worth of posts, which not so bad, I can make it... (if I don't keep skipping posts or posting "older" songs that really really need to stay here)!! Well, in case I'll have to resort to some double posting, which would not be half bad given the name of the blog! Anyway, I'm just back from Milan where I spent the whole day, we went out for dinner to celebrate my mother's birthday and it's been nice (and cold). Will be back in town next week for a few things that need to done and a few people that need to be seen! For now I'll just leave you with one of my favs off Enya's new album, which is the beautiful 'Echoes in rain'! Enjoy!
I am kind of at a loss being here and needing to choose a song to post... I have posted a lot of Florence + the Machine lately, so I can't keep on; the problem is that in the last 3 days I've been only listening to them, mainly to their new album. The impact of the concert on my relationship with it has brought me to a level close to obsession, and I understand I need to break free (but I keep indulging...)! Anyway, yesterday I've been busy organizing and enjoying my usual xmas dinner with friends and it's been nice to be together, even for just a few hours. Then today I mainly cleaned up the leftovers of yesterday and prepared a little more sushi for tomorrow, as I already had the ingredients ready. I've not been feeling great in the last few days, and tonight I feel especially weak and ready-for-the-flu. Let's see how I'm gonna wake up tomorrow...! Maybe Santa Claus will spread some magic powder on me and make me feel well again! So as to catch two birds with one stone I am posting an Enya song off my former playlist (I'm lagging behind with posting, I know...), as she always puts on that kind of christmasy atmosphere! Wish you a great xmas eve and holidays and everything!
Today I'm on time for my post, yay! Proud of myself just for once!! Jokes apart, here I am taking advantage of an advertising break in the middle of X-Factor Italy's final (not that the singers are so great this year, I won't mind missing a part of the show) to share with you a great, great performance of one of my favourite songs off my favourite album by my favourite band, i.e. The Cranberries! This song is the favourite of my friend C, who came with me and another friend at my first Cranberries concert in Milan in 2010. Unfortunately the didn't play this song that time, but they did play it when I went to see them again in 2012 (I was alone that time though...)!! Have a good night!
Double Enya post! With this one-two I am finally putting an end for real to my time in Veneto (for now at least, never say never!) and I am all set to start the travel back home! After bringing in a couple cakes at work to celebrate my last day and saying goodbye to all the colleagues, I am now ready to stop by the main office to leave this very computer, cellphone and all the stuff I had been endowed with, and to head west.
I will just leave you (and Veneto, can't underline it often enough!) with a quote out of this song, which I think tells perfectly my story and my current feelings, as they are often the same when you put an end to a part of your life to go back home!
Last night in Conegliano for me, and with tomorrow I'm closing this Venetian parenthesis that has kept me going for the biggest part of this year. I can't say I won't miss anything about what I had here, especially the people, otherwise I wouldn't have lasted so long, but neither can I deny the relief I'm feeling by heading back home, wherever my home is and will be in the next future (for now I'm going back to my "safe harbour" in my hometown). I have made this choice and it was needed so that I could find my way, and I am also taking this chance to post the first song out of Enya's new album, which I just started listening to but which I am already quite liking, mostly because its sound is very... Enya-like. The old-times Enya. But back to goodbyes... I have spent about 10 months in the Province of Treviso, moving back and forth from here to there and back to my safe harbour and then to Bangkok and more in the meantime. It's been too much, I realise it more and more as days go by. Now I'll be back to my starting springboard, with a little more inertia, ready to take the next jump, goodness knows where. But first, I hope I'll be able to enjoy my time pushing down the springboard!! Goodbye Conegliano, goodbye Veneto, I hope to not see you too soon!
Hello my dear readers, it's been a tough couple of days, as you can imagine. Maybe even more than you can imagine! A pair of more than 6 hours flights one right after the other, with some 3-4 hours of cumulative sleep, getting to Bangkok in the evening, the van that was taking us to the hotel smashes against the wall in the motorway, luckily nothing bad happens but what a fright! Then I get to the hotel, I get a smoking room and can only sleep 1.5 hours. That making it an optimistic 5 hours of sleep in two nights. And here I am right before the beginning of the third night. I think you can imagine how in need of sleep I am. And I think you can imagine even better how in need of Enya I have been and still am! Here she is for you, in case you might need her too!
I am at a loss. After a pretty nice weekend, with all my medical exams, meeting friends, watching F1 and enjoying this last moments of hot and super pleasing sun at the end of summer, I am at a loss. I really have no idea what to post for today's sundayrevival... I have been listening to a lot of music lately, a lot of stuff I already knew but stuff that I got to know in the past few months/years, so nothing fit for this post. And out of 487 different songs I listened to in the last couple of weeks... is it possible that I can find nothing? It is. So it is. Well, that's not a big problem. I'll go dig another hole. And I think I just found my answer! Last week the Cranberries posted pictures of a big sign, quoting the title of their first album, that has been hung in their hometown (methinks), and so... why not share a great song off 'Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we?' Here it is. Sounds perfect, ain't it?
Today has been a busy day: I woke up with a bad stomach-ache that worried me somehow and given my swinging health, I went to the hospital together my parents to get myself checked. After an efficient service, they gave me a short therapy and sent me out with a diagnosis of gastritis, a "simple" stomach infection, that should not be linked to the many fevers I've been having in the past months. So, if nothing else happens, I'll be flying to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi tomorrow! But before embarking on this one-week business trip, I want to share with you one of the songs I listened in my car while driving back home yesterday, a long-time favourite of mine (I got to know it as soundtrack of the Fifa 09 video-game and then listened to it many times again before going to The Script's concert in early 2011). I'm sure all the teenagers (and former teenagers) out there will not be indifferent to this song!
Yes yes, it's kind of an Enya period, I'm listening to her more than I usually have done, and that means more blog posts of hers! But it doesn't seem you guys are unhappy about it, rather...! This is a 10-year old song I included in my current playlist, and I hope you're gonna enjoy it as much as I enjoyed my trip to Ayutthaya today: many temples and ruins, golden and stone buddhas, elephant-riding, feet-eating fish, floating markets, food, heat, people, fun, burning sun... did I mention the heat? Well, yeah, we had it all!! I'm starting to get more and more used to Thailand!
Hello my dear people, I am back to you at the end of a very tough day for me, with the alarm clock set at 6.30, a 3-hour drive and a full day at work after a night out (with my aunt and a friend of hers) at Hozier's concert in Milan!! But I'm glad I planned this as I did, the concert has been quite enjoyable, if not memorable, and of course I couldn't do without sharing a song by him today, one of the few I haven't shared with you already. The peculiar thing is that 'From eden' has been probably the one I enjoyed the least live: it was at the beginning of the concert, right after my favourite 'Angel of small death...' and it's neither an up-beat rock song nor a romantic ballad... yet I found it playing in my mind right after the gig, so I think that in some way it did leave an impression on me! Anyway, if you get a chance, go see Hozier, it's well worth it!
This morning I woke up at 6.15 to undertake a 4-hour drive to get to work... not the worst thing in the world, but not the best way to start a new week either. I have been feeling lousy all day, and now a little bit of headache is getting onto me. But the trip has been fine, luckily there were some clouds filtering the direct sunlight, so I didn't get too hot and sweaty in the car. Plus, I put on Enya music (as I have been doing often lately... damn stressful, adult people's life!) to soothe my head and to wake up gently. It worked once again, so that's been a good move! In the second half of the trip I moved to my current playlist to get going at full speed, and this was actually the only song I listened to twice, as it is also featured in the playlist. It's peculiar, as while listening to Enya, some Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack songs sung by her popped out and I was dancing at their epicness, so it's funny that she was already composing music inspired to Tolkien's book even before it got (even more) famous with the early 2000s movies. I hope you all, Enya's fans, LOTR's fans, music fans and bloggin fans can appreciate this post, which is number 600 for me and my blog!!
After the awesome Cyndi Lauper post on Friday (new +1s record, thank you guys, I'm so happy you're as happy as I am about marriage equality!!!), I hope I'll keep it up with another good post! Today some uni friends from Milan came to visit at my grandma's in the countryside, we had an awesome time with the pool and the sun and the company and everything, so great, it's so awesome to spend time with friends, makes you forget about what you would like not to think about (like going to work on a summer Monday or trying to understand what the f* is going wrong with your damn, old body) and enjoy life at the fullest! Concerning music, I wanna go back to what I told you on Friday, so I'm posting one of my old Cranberries favourites, a song that I haven't been listening to for more than 2 years and which lyrics I still know by heart...! "Seems like yesterday we were 16, we were the rebels of the rebel scene..." I've never been a rebellious, violent or politically involved / aggressive guy, but I like to think that I've always been thinking outside the schemes, in my own way, being weird in my own way (which meant even being mainstream, maybe when the people close to me didn't think I would be), which today is quite a rebellious approach to life methinks. So this song resonates with me, it always has resonated and even more today that I started working and I somehow miss those times when I had the whole summer free to enjoy... who knows? Maybe it's gonna happen again in the future! For the time being, I'm alright with getting the most from what I've got, which is always a good thing! Have a nice new week you all!
Due to the very annoying fever and general illness that has been affected me in this week in Thailand (in particular, but throughout the whole of 2015 actually), and the headaches deriving from it, I ended up listening to a lot (more) of Enya (than usual), and I must say that it works, her soothing music often helps me relax and feel less pain in my head. In turn, you have been seeing a lot of Enya on the blog, and my feeling is that for some time you're gonna keep seeing more of her! In the meanwhile let's all enjoy this beautiful instrumental piece of music, one of the first songs of Enya I loved, as it is included in her best-of 'Paint the sky with starts', her first album I started listening to! Hoping that you're feeling better than I do, I wish you a pleasant whatever-part-of-the-day-is-fitting (here in Thailand it's almost bed-time)! Cheers!
