Music Monday #9 – Hey Matthew

Get the song here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?oxa9clp01qg
or here
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ewl8os

It’s Music Monday again and again I’m late. I’m stressed out, can you tell? Anyway, Music Monday is important and should not be neglected too much. So today I bring you a sweet song from the 80ies – Hey Matthew by Karel Fialka. You know how they say, you can take the girl out of the 80ies, but you can’t take the 80ies out of the girl.

Anyway, this song reminds me very much of being very young. I probably had it on an old cassette tape somewhere (remember cassette tapes?) and I also remember it was on one of my brother’s cassette tapes – I probably copied it from his tape, in fact. Remember how you used to spend hours making mixed tapes and figuring out what song to put next and rewinding and fast forwarding and all that? Well, I do. The good old days, right?

The single to the song was released in 1987 and peaked at #9 in the UK Singles Charts (says Wikipedia), making Karel Fialka a One Hit Wonder.

(See the extended version with lyrics here.)

___________________________
Karel Fialka – Hey Matthew

I was sitting with Matthew, we were watching TV
I said Hey Matthew, what do you see?
Do you see the guns, do you see the bombs
See those people throwing all of those stones?
Do you see the cars going up in flames
See their faces, do you know their names
Hey Matthew, when you’re watching TV
Hey, Hey Matthew, what do you see?

Do you see the tension in a rich man’s house?
Do you see the cat, do you see the mouse?
Do you see the beauty or the big bad beast?
Do you see the famine, do you see the feast?
In this world of villains do you see the crime
Is a superhero waiting at the edge of time?
Hey Matthew, when you’re watching TV
Hey, Hey Matthew, what do you see?

I see Dallas, Dynasty, Silver Hawks, He-Man
Tom & Jerry, Dukes of Hazzard, Airwolf
Blue Thunder, Rambo, Road Runner, Daffy Duck
The A-Team, The A-Team, I see the A-Team

I was sitting with Matthew, we were watching TV
I said Hey Matthew, what’ll you be?
Will you walk like a lion in the danger zone
Will you pass unnoticed in the great unknown?
When you see the press out on a witch hunt
When you see a political publicity stunt
Will you fight for the right, will you be a man?
Will you step aside, will you give a damn?

Will you ride that tide with the starry eyed?
Will you give and take, will you laugh ’til you ache?
Will you learn to live, will you take, will you give?
As the bridges burn, will you live and learn
Will you be numbered with the brave and true?
Well, good luck kid, here’s lookin’ at you.

In the future, Matthew, so bright and free
Hey Matthew, what’ll you be?
Hey Hey Matthew, what’ll you be?

I want to be a soldier, street fighter, be a policeman
A captain of a boat – big boat. I want to be a magic man
A cowboy, a train driver, high jump champion
A fireman, a pilot, I want to be your friend.

It’s all a game – I hope.

Hey Matthew
Hey Hey Matthew.

I hope. I hope. I hope. I hope.

Video Saturday #13 – All About Albinism

Today’s Video Saturday is all about albinism. I don’t know how, but after about three hours of fascinated clicking I arrived at the Wikipedia article on Albinism in popular culture and was very fascinated by the fact that I had never realized that albinos are actually portrayed rather poorly on TV. Then, several days later, I found this adorable picture of an albino hedgehog:

So it’s only natural that I show you something about albinism this Saturday. Let’s start with this very interesting introduction to albinism, which – coincidentally – has been uploaded to YouTube TODAY.

Next is an 8 minute documentary about an
African woman with albinism and about how
albinism is seen as something bad there:

Next we have an albino squirrel:

And last but not least, Phoebe the hedgehog:

I hope you learned something and enjoyed the videos. Comment, and be sure to check out the aforementioned article on Albinism in popular culture or just generally check out the Wikipedia article on albinism.

Linkage #5: Firefox Add-on PicLens

A few days ago I found a very nice Firefox Add-on called PicLens. It helps you look through many photos, for example through the Google image search. You just see the images as a long bar and you can scroll along it and see one photo after the other. Since my computer is a bit older I thought, “yeah right, like this is going to work smoothly for me”, but it does. It works like a dream. It’s not compatible with everything, but it works with the Google Image Search and with Deviant Art and with Shirt Woot and what not. So just get the add-on and enjoy!

[Get the PicLens add-on here]

Music Monday #8 – Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Get the song here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jgpzmtgwm10
or
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ze14ey

 

It’s Music Monday again and today I have something very special for you. If you know who Zooey Deschanel is, you’ll be thrilled! If you don’t, let me enlighten you. Zooey Deschanel (imdb.com / wikipedia) is an actress who very much enchanted me in the fun movie Eulogy. She also was in the new Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy movie.She’s not only a great and funny actress, she also has a very pleasant voice, and so she formed a band with M. Ward and they called it She & Him. I really “like their style”, the songs sound like they could be from the 60ies, but they still sound very fresh. You can get their album Volume One at Amazon.com for only $9.99 – if that’s not a bargain, I don’t know what is! I’ll certainly order my copy shortly. If you’re not convinced yet, check out the You & Him MySpace page to listen to several other songs.

[Zooey Deschanel on YouTube]

___________________________
You & Him – Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Why do you let me stay here, all by myself?
Why don’t you come and play here?
I’m just sitting on the shelf
Why don’t you sit right down and stay a while?
We like the same things and i like your style
It’s not a secret, why do you keep it?
I’m just sitting on the shelf
I gotta get your presence, let’s make it known
I think you’re just so pleasant, i’d like you for my own
Why don’t you sit right down and make me smile?
You make me feel like i am just a child
Why do you edit? just give me credit
I’m just sitting on the shelf

Video Saturday #12 – Demolition Day

This Video Saturday is all about demolition, or to be more exact, the demolition of buildings. Let’s get right to it.

This first video shows your average planned building explosion.
This works out well.

The second one is also a controlled demolition that works out well.

Some don’t work out as planned, though, like this one:

And this one also didn’t quite work:

And you always have to consider that there’ll be a lot of dust involved!

I hope you enjoyed seeing all this demolition.
Now go plant a tree or leave a comment.

Music Monday #7 – Sleeping In

Get the song here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?l4tdxmd3drx
or
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xvcvwi

 

Today’s Music Monday is about a song by the band The Postal Service, which consists of Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie) and Jimmy “Dntel” Tamborello. They named there project thusly because they lived far apart and, as Wikipedia writes: “Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DAT’s to Gibbard, who edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals along the way), sending them back to Tamborello via the United States Postal Service.” And while the US Postal Service first wanted them to change their name, they eventually reached an agreement that they could keep the name if they did promotion for them.

I first heard this song at a Starbucks in Barcelona and I liked it so much that I asked them what musician it was. They had no idea. But I googled the lyrics later and found out who they were. Now I have their album Give Up and I like it quite a bit, especially “Sleeping In” and “Such Great Heights”.

___________________________
The Postal Service – Sleeping In

Last week I had the strangest dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where there was never any mystery
Of who shot John F. Kennedy

It was just a man with something to prove
Slightly bored and severely confused
He steadied his rifle with his target in the center
And became famous on that day in November

Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping in
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping in

Again last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded

For treating others as they’d like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November

Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping in
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping
Don’t wake me I plan on sleeping in

Video Saturday #11 – High Speed Cameras

Today’s Video Saturday is all about high speed cameras, or in other words, about extreme slow motion videos.

Let’s start with this video of the ignition of a lighter:

Next we have an egg going to waste:

The obligatory water balloon explosion:

Here’s a fascinating video of billiard balls, filmed with a high speed camera (and also some shots with an infrared camera):

Popcorn!

And last but not least, a drop of water:

If you want more videos like this, do a YouTube search.

And now, enjoy and COMMENT!

Drink more water

Today I found an interesting post called 9 Great Reasons to Drink Water, and How to Form the Water Habit. I think this counts as one of the very little things we can change in order to do something good for ourselves. It can improve our quality of life and all it takes is for you to go to the tap about once an hour. I strongly recommend you do NOT buy bottled water, as plastic bottles cause a huge amount of waste. There are options such as BIOTA water sold in bottles made from corn which, if recycled, degrades within about 80 days, with the exception of the cap of the bottle. However, it is much better to simply get a water filter because that way you get your water from the tap and you do not produce any waste. I can’t stress this enough. The aforementioned MSNBC article states that in 1997, 3.3 billion water bottles had been sold, while in 2002 that number had already reached 15 billion. If you feel you must buy water in plastic bottles: RECYCLE!

The ‘9 Great Reasons To DrinK Water’ article, in case you’re too lazy to read it yourself, states that drinking a lot of water will help you lose weight, lowers your risk of a heart attack, gives you energy, can cure headaches (if they are caused by dehydration), is good for your skin, etc.

A word of warning is in order, however: don’t overdo it. If you drink about two gallons (7.5 liters) of liquid in two short a time, you could die from water poisoning. (See also: Hold your Wee for a Wii or the sad story about Cynthia Lucero’s Death.)

I believe however, that under normal circumstances you’re not tempted to drink 2 gallons of liquid in a whole day, so get on with it and start your water drinking habit!

Music Monday #6 – I Can Do Better

Copy and paste this into your browser:
http://www.mediafire.com/?y3dyzrykkpf
or
http://www.sendspace.com/file/z5y772

It’s Music Monday again, and to everyone wondering why it’s on a Tuesday and whatever happened to Video Saturday – well, I went to a fantastic Tegan & Sara concert on Friday and so I was hanging out in Munich on Saturday and I’ve been trying to recuperate since. But I’ll make it up to you eventually by telling you all about the concert and Video Saturday will be back this coming Saturday, so never fear.

Today’s song is called I Can Do Better (I guess) and it’s by Sarah Bettens, who we all know and love for having been the lead singer of K’s Choice. (By the way, she mention there might be a reunion, so watch out.) K’s Choice were one of the most successful bands from Belgium and everything they did was great. Then, however, both Sarah Bettens and her brother Gert Bettens tried their hand at solo projects. Gert’s band is called Woodface. As much as I loved them together in K’s Choice, their solo stuff never compared.

I already reported on the Sarah Bettens concert I’ve been to in December and so if you’ve watched the first Video Saturday, this will be familiar to you. However, I stumbled across the song again a few days ago and figured it deserved a Music Monday.

It’s the last song she played at the concert and her voice is just perfect for the blues and the band was snipping their fingers when she played it and it was my favorite moment of the whole show. Go see the video (of another show) here:

______________________________

Sarah Bettens – I Can Do Better

Everyone I know in town
Tells me you’ve been sleeping around
Looks like I am being used
Am I not quite enough for you
Now I don’t mean to be cruel
But I can do better than you
I can do better than you

I took your car and packed my bag
Don’t you beg me to come back
I don’t know what I’m looking for
But I don’t need your loving no more
Now I don’t mean to be cruel
But I can do better than you
I can do better than you

How could I’ve been such a fool
Giving you my love
Did I forget the basic rule
Never give it up

Looks like I am being used
Am I not quite enough for you
Now I don’t mean to be cruel
But I can do better than you
I can do better than you
I can do better than you
I can do better than you

Enjoy, and leave a comment!

Linkage #4: Architecture: 100 Most Viewed Projects

Today I would like to refer you to an interesting website about architecture, called The Top 100 Most Viewed Projects. I’ve recently developed an interest in architecture and I’m wondering if you can become an architect even if you have no skills (yet) in drawing or sculpturing or any of that. It must be an interesting job.

I like architecture that is “pretty”, simply put, and I think it’s boring if somebody just tries to build something that is supposed to impress people because it’s very tall, like this:

I do have to admit, though, that I think the Etihad Towers (scheduled to be completed in 2010) look pretty cool, although they cast a lot of shadows. But maybe that’s not even bad for Abu Dhabi – I assume it’s a very warm country.

And isn’t this fascinatingly unusual? It’s the Apeiron, which has an underwater restaurant and a helipad and will generate two thirds of its own energy.

Also, the OPUS project by Zaha Hadid looks quite spectacular, but my appreciation of her decreased when I read that her design for the Aquatic Center now costs three times as much as had been planned in the original budget – £210 million GBP instead of £75 million GBP. The roof alone will cost about £60 million GBP. I think that’s pretty outrageous. There certainly would’ve been a cheaper way to do it… Either way, here’s the OPUS:

For more interesting building projects, once again, check out WorldArchitectureNews.com.