Mrs. Fantastico

I'm not a cat person. I like cats, but I'm not a cat person. I like dogs, too. But we have cats. And I tend to talk about my cats kinda often. But that's because my cats are reeeealy weird.

Kitty (short for Mrs. Kitty Fantastico), for instance, is a very strange cat. Since our other cat Miou-Miou suddenly jumped her and tried to kill her, she lives in my room. She's a good roomie, you know, never leaves a mess, I never find any empty beer cans lying around and she's quiet most of the time. But the other day, I woke up in the middle of the night and there she was, sitting next to me, just staring at me. She didn't move. Her yellow eyes were fixed on me and I felt like she had something to say. I have no idea what, though, coz I don't speak cat, but I think she was trying to scare me. She's probably trying to get rid of me. She also does this thing, where she gets up and leaves as soon as I get near her. Or when I'm in the shower, she starts meowing, like she needs to get in the bathroom right that moment or she'll pee in my shoes. But I'm not budging. I even thought about some payback for all those times I got out of the shower with shampooed hair just to open the frigging bathroom door for her: I'm going to get up in the middle of the night, when she's sleeping and I'm just going to stare at her. I'll make some noise so she wakes up and sees me, staring. Vengeance will be mine.

"You can't help that. We're all mad here." - The Cheshire Cat

Song of the Week

"Landslides"

First performed by Fleetwood Mac, this song has been covered over and over by numerous bands
from the Smashing Pumpkins to the Dixie Chicks. It was featured on the album Fleetwood Mac.

This is one of my favorite songs ever. I love the version by Fleetwood Mac, but I also like Tori Amos' and the Dixie Chicks' versions. Even though it's the same song, the interpretations very different. The Tori Amos version makes is so quiet and peaceful that I feel like I'm standing on a snowy hill, contemplating my life. The Dixie Chicks version is very warm and, well, they just have amazing voices. I think this song was/is very personal for Stevie Nicks. Getting older and realising that life goes on are things we deal with on a daily basis. This song reflects this.

Other songs by Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac which I like a lot are "Crystal", "Little Lies" and "Gypsy".

Check it out:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CX6WHvxTYHs

My Band

I've been thinking for some time now about starting to play the piano. I want to be able to play like Diana Krall or Rufus Wainwright. And I want to sing, even though I'm no good at singing. I figured that there are a lot of singers who can't sing, so who cares. As soon as get a hang of the whole piano thing, I wanna have my own band.
I'll have a drummer chick called Paco, a bass player called Lou and who has peroxide blond hair, a guitarist called June who's obsessed with Samuel L. Jackson. (Lou can also play the saxophone). Of course they can all sing. I'm not sure what the hell we'll be playing, but we'll think of something. Some jazz I guess, some punk, lil' bit of everything...I'll see you at our first gig.

Song of the Week

"Wuthering Heights"

This song was released 1978 and was a total hit. Kate Bush was soon established as one of the top music artists

Kate Bush is special, and so is her music. That, and because I love Emily Brontë's masterpiece "Wuthering Heights", I chose this song. Kate Bush can do so much with her voice. First time I heard this song, her voice kinda scared me. But actually it's amazing what she can do with it and at the latest when she goes "Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy..." I get carried away.

Other songs I really love from her are "Babooshka" and "Moving". Not only are the lyrics moving, but the melodies just get me. She's not conventional and nothing short off brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Tori Amos, which might not be a coincidence.

Check the clips out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gfGc4wcil2g

Don't You Tell Me

I've finally gone with the flow and got myself an iPod. It's a mini, which nowadays is already totally retro. So today I walked around with my headphones on all day, listening to the Best of Me, which means everything from 80s hits like "Oh Mickey" to Neil Young's "Down by the River" and the Clash's "Come on Eileen".

I don't think listening to music is anti-social. While the Bangles were singing just for me, I watched the world around me go on and on. Not only did I feel like I was in a musical, but I noticed how people are different when you aren't really listening to them. Either they just ignore the fact that you're not hearing a word they're saying, or they give you that look that's supposed to tell you that they want to tell you something and that you should take those wretched headphones off. I just smiled back derisively and nodded my head rhythmically (or so I hope) to Tenacious D's "Tribute". Just so you know: they don't like it. But hey, do I care? Do you?

Music also changes the listener. While listening to the Jam's "A Town Called Malice" I felt like dancing on the table. Alisson Krauss singing "That Kind of Love" made me want to curl up in a corner and cry. That all happened within five minutes.

Do you know how some people say that listening to the wrong kind of music can make you commit suicide? Usually they mean stuff like Death Metal and so on. I must agree, that there is music that makes me feel suicidal. But that's stuff like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. Listening to that kind of music feels like a hand groping around in my bowels. I just want it to stop, so a bullet would be appreciated in a moment like that. But really, statistics showed that Country fans have the highest suicide rate. Is Willie Nelson the Devil? Marilyn, you're off the hook.

Song of the Week

"Stand and Deliver"

This song from Adam and the Ants was released in 1981 and is a typicall New Romance song. New Romance was pretty in between 1979 and 1982. Adam and the Ants started out as a New Wave/punk/post-punk group, but evolved into a pop band. I can't say that I like everything by the Ants, some of their songs are downright awful. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for in the music.

The reason I chose "Stand and Deliver" is a) Adam Ant (alias Stuart Leslie Goddard) is one amazing looking man (or was) in those leather pants and with those tons of make-up on, b) the whole neo-romantic style is kinda cool and c) the song really gets you going. Adam Ant uses his voice in that deliberate off-key way, which gives him a "Do I care?"-attitude. Plus: I can't help it, but the 80s...hmm

Watch the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPgHbt0ODr4

16 Going On 35

The educated teenage girl has seen "Sex and the City" and knows what expects a woman in the world of relationships in her mid-thirties - thanks to Carrie Bradshaw and co. Now, even though our thirties lye way ahead of us, we wouldn't have expected to be faced with the same dilemma than the four fabulous women: When the hell are we supposed to have children? Do we want to get married one day? Are our parents' values worth anything in the world of tomorrow?

Regarding question number one: Let's say I want to go to a university and then have a job I actually like. I will probably want to get somewhere with what I do and have a better than reasonable salary. Someday I'll want to travel the world. Am I going to have Junior between studying and my great job? Will I be a working mum? Or do I want to have my baby after I got the Oscar for Best Director? Wait, I'd have to win it before I'm forty, because that biological clock doesn't stop ticking my friend. And hey, when am I going to find the partner who will play the other major role in the process of procreation? Timing...

Problem number two is, that we don't really know what marriage is supposed to do for us anyway. For some marrying might just be a sign of true commitment from their men. But what's that worth when divorce is man's emergency brake? Or is marriage what you do when you want to have kids? That's not really a problem nowadays, except maybe in places where the no-pre-marital-sex thing is still very in. I guess every person has to find the meaning of matrimony by/for himself...

Do you see where I am going with all this? I'm sixteen, and I'm already worrying about the tick-tick-ticking of my biological clock. Times sure have changed...