Paper dreams, honey

Happy Tuesday from The Kooks!

You don't pull my strings because I'm a better man
Moving on to better things
♥

I'm a lady, I'm a lady.

It's a Thursday and I want you to bask in the awesomeness that is Santigold.

Because I'm a lady. Usually.

I hope everyone ends today on a high note. ♥ Cheerio!

Won't you let me knock, knock, knock on wood?

I love old songs so it's imperative for me to really like The Knocks. They have covered Eddie Floyd's Knock on Wood, The Supreme's You Can't Hurry Love, The Temptations' Ain't Too Proud to Beg and Marvin Gaye's Ain't No Mountain High Enough--just to name a few. I think they're awesome (although they are yet to cover Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness*, and I'm just going to go nuts when they do because I love that song!). I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think the late 50's to the late 70's is a golden time in music.

Anyhoo, Keish blogged about The Knocks in her very cool music blog, check it:

Now available for your enjoyment is The Knocks' latest gem, The Same Old Songs. The 6-song mini-album is a collection of some of the boys' favorite classic motown, soul and pop records remixed and covered for a generation. Enjoy!

Track List:
1. Knock On Wood (Cover)
2. Same Old Song (Remix)
3. Can't Hurry Love ft. Alex Winston (Cover)
4. Keep Me Hangin' On (Remix)
5. Ain't Too Proud To Beg (Cover)
6. Ain't No Mountain ft. Julia (Cover)

DOWNLOAD HERE

2046 by Wong Kar Wai

They say a person's preference reflects her character. When we write about our favorites, we unknowingly impart a little bit of ourselves. Now, I don't think I'm ready for that kind of openness. Kidding! (But yes, although I will write about the books I read, I draw the line at blogging about every material thing I acquire. It's so. Just. No.) Anyway, back to the movie...

I'm unable to explain why 2046 is my favorite film. It's infamous, it's iconic, it's a masterpiece. I did find this clip on YouTube while trolling for funny vlogs though. So I thought I'd share. See for yourself. I've seen all the great American and European movies¹ but I still think 2046 is on a class of its own. You'll have to watch the movie itself to know how rich and fluid the screenplay is, of course. But this clip should give you an idea on just great this film is. If you liked Hero and Lust, Caution, you'd like 2046. So well-written, so well-executed and the costumes. The costumes!

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¹An exaggeration but for my age, I'd like to think I have seen most of the "pillars" of film. (Mostly because I like movies, studying the most trivial things and feeling smart about myself)

God save the Queen

I don't have a lot of favorite singers from MY generation. My favorites are usually from my father's time or his father's. Until, of course, I found Adele--who turns 23 today (but who are we kidding, she has the depth of a 40 year old). I'm sure you know her by now as she is taking the mainstream entire music industry by storm, getting rave reviews from the kids of Glee to the snobbiest indie listeners. My eight year old sister, for one, just loves Adele's Rolling in the Deep. I know that at 8, she's not cognizant enough to recognize the hurt, despair and misery in the song but I just know she knows Adele has incredible talent. I love that song myself. I'm glad Adele's talent resonates to all.

The magic of Adele's music proves that talent knows no genre. She is truly a spectacular performer and I just love how she banks on talent alone. No eccentricities. No elaborate dance moves (well, her music is not really danceable). No frills. And definitely no gimmicks (I do love me some Lady Godga but Adele is just on a highly different class of her own). I especially love her honesty, both in her music and in her interviews. She's just so transparent but classy. My friends and I closely follow Adele and judging from stories of her admitting that she "smokes and drinks more than a lot" and that she's "scared of moving to bigger venues because she wants to keep her performance as intimate as possible", one knows that she really IS Queen. All cool, calm, and collected. Of course, another reason why I look up to her so much (aside from her ability to beautifully put into words all the emotions in her heart of hearts) is the fact that she never really cared about society--with all that unsolicited (and sometimes, very demeaning comments) advice about her weight, her vices, her craft. I hope she stays the same for a long, long time.

Happy birthday to the Queen!

PS: Here's another performance of Adele that I just love--a special performance of an Etta James original, I Just Want to Make Love to You. Such a sexy song, such an exceptional cover!

Preach, sister, preach!