Song(s) of the month - July 2013

Just found this song by Avicii and I think it will become my new favorite summer song, at least until the new Album of White Lies comes out next month. So excited. Listened to a couple of their new songs already and I love them very much even though they are not as dark as the older ones. So here are Avícii's Wake Me Up and White Lies' There Goes Our Love Again, although Getting Even is even better which you can download for free on their homepage






 Enjoy!

 

Christmas calender day 7th - 26th

so since I don't want to spam on my own (not because I am so very very lazy ;)) I summed up the last 'few' songs from my Christmas calender.
December 7th
December 8th
December 9th
December 10th
December 11th
December 12th After so many depressing songs here a funny one to cheer things up a bit
December 13th Glad Lucia Dagen!
December 14th
December 15th
December 16th
December 17th
December 18th
December 19th
December 20th 
December 21st
December 22nd
December 23rd
December 24th
December 25th
December 26th

PS: I am really trying to update some stuff here but I am sick for almost a week now, managed to go my good friend Janine's wedding but because I didn't rest much I am still carrying around a head ache and though thought and not to forget that runny nose. well what doesn't kill you makes you stronger but during the past days i wish it would kill me because strong isn't a word that i would use for my state of being at the moment. But I try my best.

Christmas calender day 4th-6th

a bit late but well

December 4th
December 5th because there was a tiny bit of snow today while it snowed in every other freakin part of the country :(
and December 6th

 Happy St. Nicholas Day! hope you all cleaned your boots!

 

Christmas calender day 3

So today I was baking my first Christmas cookies and what better song to accompany this than with a Rolf Zuckowski classic! In der Weihnachtsbäckerei

Christmas calender day 2

December 2nd Today I am sharing one of my favorite German Christmas songs with you which i listened to during most of my childhood. My old GDR records are just the best. Enjoy! Vorfreude, schönste Freude Happy 1st Advent!

Christmas calender

I am back! It has been a while since my last post, I will update this blog during the next days but i want to start with my personal Christmas song advent calender which I am also posting on facebook and twitter. :) I didn't had much of a Christmas last year so i need to make up for that and spread some Christmas spirit, especially since I found my favorite GDR records on youtube and will for sure share some of these amazing children's songs with everybody. Enjoy the the little adventure through my little world of Christmas songs:

December 1st: Rajaton - En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa
Let's start with something Finnish. Finland's best a cappella group Rajaton with a song from the Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius. Is there a better song to start the advent time with? I don't think so! :P

And don't miss tomorrow when I share one of my favorite German songs with you in my childhood GDR version!


 

Song of the month - July

This months I want to share a song which I also found more or less by accident. I don't give much about music casting shows. At least not in Germany. But surprise surprise I really like some of the contenders of Finnish Idols and such things. So when I noticed that 'the Voice of Finland' was over I checked out some songs and well I have a new favorite. :) This guy was just 3rd in the competition but who cares? Not me because this song is just amazing! Still gives me chills!

Enjoy Jesse Kaikuranta with Vie Mut Kotiin!



Well what can I say, I am a sucker for good ballads! :)

Song of the Month - June

So there were a couple of options for this months 'Song of the Month'. Since I am now now one of those working people we listen to a lot of radio at work. I was never a big fan of German radio especially since they play the same songs every day and almost the same songs every hour which is so annoying when you have to listen to it 6 hours in a row. But still you start liking a few songs if you hear them on a daily basis. Well but I also checked out the latest Finnish single charts, as i always do when I need new music and there I found the perfect summer song. So perfect since summer officially starts tomorrow and the weather is getting warmer again (or let's say it was way too warm again during the last 2 days.
So here it is June's Song of the Month:
Elokuu with Saatilla. But maybe I should have waited 2 more month since elokuu actually means August. ;) And jeah the video is totally weird and well I think one shouldn't watch it, but the song is good. So close your eyes and just listen ;)

Other songs that almost made it are 'We are Young' by Fun, Marina & the Diamonds with 'Primadonna', Die Ärzte with 'M&F' (so sad that i can't go to the concert in Hannover even though I have a ticket :'( ) my favorite Finnish rapper Cheek with 'Sokka irti' and the wonderful 'Count on Me' by Bruno Mars, which just made me miss my best friends even more these past too weeks.

Feel free to share your summer songs with me. I am always up to to new stuff.

ESC - the recap

Wow this Eurovison Song Contest sucked so badly. Not just because I could barely watch a performance because my computer is a piece of junk but no this voting result is a shame for Europe. That Denmark barely got points is so sad but that Sweden won and ALBANIA, a song which doesn't even deserve to be called music got more points then Estonia and Germany. Seriously, I don't get it! And Sweden didn't even give points to Denmark! The Balkan countries are perfect in giving neighboring countries many points even if the songs suck but Northers and western Europe really need to work on this.

 Ok Estonia became sixth in the end, and Germany, which had for the first time since 2004 a song that I actually liked, became 8th which is Ok. And Serbia who became third had a good song as well. But poor Iceland and poor Denmark. Amazing songs and in the end just 20th and 23rd place out of 26.
Ok i am way to flipping exhausted after today and this week to wait for the officially pages not to overran and working again, so I will update the results tomorrow. If i manage before my evening shift.

But Conan was as always right:

Good night everybody!
 

Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Same procedure as every year. It is ESC time. Always around my b-day but I got used to it. :D

And thanks to my new very cute USB-loudspeakers, I am able to watch it at home without inviting myself to somebody with a tv or working computer. (Oh how I missed listening to music or just watching a movie or tv series)

As last year I listened to all songs and well what can I say, most of them suck of course! I have the feeling the more often I watch it, the crappier the songs get but well it is entertaining after all. But there were some great surprises as well.

So here is my TOP 5 list of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.

5th Place: Divided between Israel and Netherlands (Seriously I can't decide!)
Israel: Izabo - Time
What a fun song! A bit weird sounding chorus but seriously I like it. Fun to listen to even though the clowns are insane.
Netherlands: Joan Franka - You and Me
When you just listen to the song, it is a really great folk song. I like songs like that a lot. But please leave away the Pocahontas costume from the live show.  It ruins the song!
6 Points!

4th Place:  Island: Gréta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget
This song is exactly what I expect from Iceland. A very good song which sounds somehow familiar. And that model like singer is of course a great bonus for us girls (Nordic guys are just the best!) ;) And the video makes me want to pack my bags and fly to Iceland right away! Well next year maybe! :) 7 Points!

3rd Place:  Denmark: Soluna Samay - Should've known better
In knew I heard this song already on the radio when I listened to all ESC 2012 songs last Thursday. Really great song, weird costume the girl had in the live show but who cares if the song is nice. 8 Points!

2nd Place:  Finland: Pernilla Karlsson -Jag är blunda
Of course I always support Finland in the ESC but this year, as last year (Heja Oskar!), I am very surprised about the song and like it a lot. It is in Swedish, which hasn’t happened in a while (since 1990 precisely) and it is a very nice song. It really was my favorite until last Thursday, now it's my No. 2 and running on my mp3 player very often since I heard it for the first time. :) Kymmenen pistettä Suomeen! 10 Points to Finland! (or 11 if I could choose!)

1st Place Estonia Ott Lepland - Kuula
My undefeated Number 1 this year! The more often I listen to this song, the more I love it. Seriously can’t believe that until last Thursday I haven’t heard about it! What a great and powerful ballad. 12 Points or much much more!!!

Also nice songs this year come from Switzerland (The singer just should learn English pronunciation), Hungary (good song, could run on the radio all day long) and surprisingly Germany (But you can't go wrong with a song written by Jamie Cullum).

So and the worst songs this year, well there are so many but I am seriously disappointed by Norway (You don't have to send an Erik Saade copy since he sucked already last year and his Doppelgänger sucks even more), Sweden (I really don’t get why everybody thinks this song will win), Russia (send this Babushki back to their old people’s home!), Turkey (usually one of my favorite ESC contestants :( ) and well Austria (I can’t even put in words what I think about this song). I won't post any of the links here. I don't want to encourage bad taste ;) but you can find all the videos on youtube.

Last but not least, a bit out of the ranking for me is Slovakia. They only real rock song. Pretty OK song but what I will most remember is the gorgeous singer. Are men allowed to be that beautiful? Wow! Usually I wouldn’t say something like that, or at least not in public ;) but he is definitely a keeper. And that hair!!! I am so jealous! Definitely my highlight of this years Eurovision when it comes to looks.


And since my favorite Swedish Eurovision show did it this year es well, some highlights from the past that I like:

Brainstorm - My Star (ESC 2000- Latvia, and no i don't think the singer was on drugs ;)) 
Roger Pontare - When Spirits Are Calling My Name (ESC 2000 Sweden) 
 August & Telma - Tell Me! (ESC 2000 Iceland)
Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah (ESC 2006 - Finland \,,/) 
Marija Šerifović - Molitva (ESC 2007 - Serbia 
Bonaparti.lv - Questa notte (ESC  2007 - Latvia) 
Eirikur Hauksson - Valentine Lost (ESC 2007 - Iceland)
The Ark - The Worrying Kind - (ESC 2007 - Sweden) 
Boaz Mauda - The Fire In Your Eyes (ESC 2008 - Israel, my favorite ESC song ever! Knew it by heart 1 day after hearing it for the first time) 
Anonymous - Salvem el món (ESC 2007 - Andorra)
Yohanna - Is it true (ESC 2009 - Iceland) 
Urban Symphony - Rändajad (ESC 2009 - Estonia)
Tom Dice - Me and my Guitar (ESC 2010 - Belgium) 
Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In Spring (ESC 2010 - Cyprus) 
Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (ESC 2010 - Sweden) 
Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (ESC 2010 - Norway)

And something really old (well one year older than me so super old :P), until last year I didn’t know that it exist but I had the chance to meet the younger brother in this group so I had to check it out. Herreys with Diggi-loo Diggi-ley. Oh and I was able to touch the golden boots! Haha funny moment indeed!

So enough for this year! now it is time to watch the shows!

Enjoy the ESC 2012 and Light your fire!

 

Song of the Month

Christmas Carols – My Top 10

So the second advent is already over and although I don't have much Christmas spirit it is still one of my favorite holidays.

But since the 1st Advent I am officially listening to Christmas carols and to spread the holiday spirit a but I want to shared my top 10. Since I lived abroad for a while my favorite Christmas Carols represent a wide range of types and languages. I hope you enjoy my collection. :D

1. Do you hear what I hear (Glee version)
I didn't know that one until a few weeks ago when the new Glee Christmas album came out. And now I am really in love. The original is a few decades old and also Ok but nothing compared to the Glee version. And that although I can't stand the 2 who sang the song since I saw them on 'The Glee Project' but you can't say anything against their voices. :)

2. Jul jul strålande jul
A Swedish carol which I got to know during my first stay in Finland in 2005. Just love it. It's simple and but beautiful. Unfortunately I still haven't found ait on youtube in good quality but I keep looking.

3. Oi jouluyö/ oh holy night
No matter in what language you sing it, I just love it. For many many years already. And each time I find a new language version I rejoice. :P

4. En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa (Jean Sibelius)
Probably THE Finnish Christmas Song. Written by the one and only Jean Sibelius. And it proofs my experience that so many Finnish Christmas Carols sound very depressing. Not that I mind, it is just how I experienced it. But still I like that Song very much, like more or less everything from Sibelius.

5. Winter Wonderland/ Winterwald
Liked this song since I was a little kid. And since I liked it so much I even sang it in my primary school Christmas celebration. Completely insane since no other kid new it but well. :D My mother was a Heintje Fan and his Christmas CD was on heavy rotation each December in my house.

6. Where you there on that Christmas night
Got to know this song last year and listed to it all December and was sad when Christmas was over and I had to take it of my mp3 player. So now it's back on and I listen to it at least once a day. Oh and not many people know that song so I am happy to share it here.

7. Tulkoon joulu
Another Finnish Christmas Song. I have it in very many different versions on my pc but I like the one from Suvi Teräsniska the best. Not a sad and depressing Christmas song, but very uplifting. At least for me. :)

8. Nu Tändas Tusen Juleljus
another Swedish carol which i enjoy also very much

9. Stille Nacht/ Silent Night
The only reason why I went to Church on Christmas with my grand da

10. Tonttujen jouluyö
A very loved Christmas song for children in Finland and well not just Children love it. It is fun to sing and if I remember right there might be even a dance to it. Or something like that. Tip tip tap! :P

Music just makes the world a better place!

So recently I've been addicted to blogs, not just because I am very good in procrastination (which I am) but also because there are so many cool people out there sharing amazing things with the world. Mostly I love all those Do-it-yourself-things (DIY), especially since I'm moving in January I'm always looking out for cheap and creative ways to make your house more like home. So in January I will try to make some cool lamps which I discovered online but until then I like to share other things, especially since I won't be able to write much before January when I start my new job next week (and because I am not ready to share my amateur sewing projects with anybody yet ;) ).

I love music, which everybody knows and I love to share music that I like because I think music can make the world a better place, at least for 3 minutes while listening to a great song. I get a lot of new music inspiration from good tv-shows. Grey's Anatomy has often beautiful music and last week a song on Bones just hit me. I immediately lost my heart for this simple but beautiful melody and after doing some youtube research the singer truly became my new favorite female singer. And that is something special since I barely like female singers at all. Of course I adore Adele but besides that there are usually just a few songs I like from other female singers. So now I want to share my new love with you. Mindy Gledhill. Her song Anchor was featured on Bones but the whole album with the same title is just awesome. At least if you are into that kind of music. I am! Sometimes I just need some quite happy tunes.

Enjoy!



PS Thanks to the blog 'Living, Laughing and Loving' I got inspired to do this fun unique signature. Totally loving it, even though I feel totally girlie now which I am usually not but well who cares, not me! :D

Time to pack!

So in 35 hours I'm leaving Finland. Such a weird feeling. During the last couple of days I had to say goodbye to so many people. Seriously I just wanted to cry way too often but well at least I know I made some friends I can truly rely on for the rest of my life. :)



And well, I found something a while ago and still can't believe that somebody here is doing that: Finnish Reggae! Seriously! And the most surprising thing: it is actually good! Here is my favorite song of Jukka Poika Kylmästä Lämpimään which is so perfect for the summer. :)

Enjoy, while I try to fit my last 9 month into a suitcase. Very tricky i can tell you!

Nähdään!

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Well some might think I'm crazy and I have to say I would never deny that anyway but when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest I might be a little over the top. I watched that show almost every year for over 10 years now and I have to say it is every year a highlight. The combination of awful songs, weird dresses, gay dancers and the regular total embarrassment of the German contestant is very fun to watch and a good topic for endless discussions with various friends.
And well after I've been to the ESC last year in Oslo myself the whole excitement around it really got to me. But this year is a little different. Not like 2 years ago, where I knew, before Norway hasn't even decided who to sent to Moscow, that Alexander Rybak will win the contest in Moscow (call it intuition or just really good taste of music :P), but this year I didn't even know the time when the crazyness is held in Düsseldorf 4 weeks ago. Anyway after a little research and the funny evaluation of all ESC2011 Songs by the Swedish TV channel SVT I'm ready for the first semifinal tonight. I haven't seen that semifinal in 2 years since I missed it last year. Well instead of watching the show in the hostel TV room it was nicer to sit on my xxth birthday in the TV total studio with other weird people enjoying the company of Alex Rybak. Definitely one of the highlights of my Oslo trip.

Anyway I made up my mind and here are my Top 5 of this years Eurovision:

5th place Latvia: Musiqq- Angel in disguise
What a great dancing song. And it shows that you don't need to kick in glass windows, have weird background dancers or a crazy fire show! Sometimes less is more. And, well, I prefer a funny rap instead of a circus show on stage. Strong 6 points and a spot on my mp3 player!

4th place Iceland: Sjonni Brink's friends - Aftur heim
Besides the tragedy of the original singer's death right before the national selection I really like the song. Different style, no crazy half naked dancers. And Icelandic is such a cool language. I really hope they don't perform the complete English version of the song in Düsseldorf since that version sucks. Anyway 7 Points from me!

3th place Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dino Merlin - Love In Rewind
I just love it, a little bit Balkan style but without overdoing it. You just need to move to the great melody. :) And you see, a country doesn't need to send an Idols or whatever Casting Show winner to have a great entry for the ESC! Love it! Funny also that they faking the playing of their instruments. 8 points to Bosnia & Herzegovina!

2nd place Azerbaijan: Eldar & Nigar - Running Scared
Well I love ballads. Always have, always will. And this one really gets me. Besides that I don't like the female singer very much and there is no chemistry between the two singers the song is just great. Let's hope the live performance will be as well. 10 Points!

The last but definitely best song for me is Finland's Paradise Oskar and his Da Da Dam
Well Paradise Oskar or Axel, how he is really called, is just the best. A great message and the song is so cute and adorable. Well and so is Axel :D His music just reminds me of a mixture of Teitur and Tom Dice (participated for Belgium in last years ESC). Ok his album is not as genius as Tom's but anyway 12 Points from me! Too bad that I cannot vote for him :'( So please everybody vote for Finland!

So everybody enjoy the Eurovision and Share the moment!


PS My biggest disappointments this year are Israel and Sweden. Israel is usually my secret favorite. I just love songs in Hebrew and well and I think my all time ESC favorite will always be Boaz Mauda's Fire in your eyes written by the one and only Dana International. Too bad that she couldn't write a decent song for her participation this year. :( Well and Sweden, what the heck? Last years song was so amazing. Not that anybody besides me seemed to have noticed that but well I still feel that song from Anna Bergendahl was written just for me but this years participant is just a no-go. Well after a meaningful song last year which didn't even make it into the final (shame on you Europe!) Sweden probably thought: Let's send a typical meaningless Swedish pop song with lots of dancers and a window-kicking Idols winner to get into the final again. Well let's hope next year will be better again.

What the .....

... heck is going on in this country?

Enjoy but be warned it's completely insane but can lead to humming that song for the rest of the day.

Munamies - Pomppufiilis

die spinnen die Finnen

aber mal sowas von.

I was checking the latest Finnish Single Charts since I'm bored with my music right now and what is number 1???

HEVISAURUS!!!

And yes it is exactly that! A group of dinosaurs playing sort of metal music. So obviously it is more made for kids but why is something like that in the official single charts??? Ok I shouldn't be surprised since I think Finland is the only country where an album of the Smurfs (fin. Smurfit) is regularly in the Charts. A the moment with a Christmas album of course.

Pitkästä aikaa!

You see I actually learn new things in Finnish! Not everyday as I would like to but well...
I'm just sitting in my room, eating freaking expensive but very delicious Norwegian melkesjokolade (Freia is the best in the world!) which Adam was so nice to bring me from his 10 day long trip to Norway for which I still hate him. Ok of course I don't, I'm just really jealous and now my wish to do a hiking trip along the Norwegian fjørds in one of the next summers is stronger than ever. Well maybe next year! :)

Anyway after a quite interesting week with lots of ups and downs I'm looking forward to a weekend of rest. NOT! 'Unfortunately' I signed up for the so called 'Survival weekend' of ESN. And I think for me it will be all about surviving. I was hoping to be back to 'normal' health again by now, but well if you never rest and just run around like a Duracell bunny all the time, the body has no chance to recover. So I still suffer from regular fever attacks but at least the coughing is gone. And now that my flat is silent for the first time in days (you cannot imagine how much noise 3 Greek girls can make and seriously they never shut up!) my headache almost disappeared. So I packed a lot of warm clothes like my skiing clothes, gloves, a had and of course my hiking boots. Better to have too many clothes than freezing. :D So we will go into the Finnish woods for 2 days including 2 nights (probably around -2°C then) camping in heated army tents which we of course have to heat ourselves. Hihi will be very much fun. Very interesting is that weeks ago the 50 places for this survival weekend were full after 15min and now more and more people are dropping out. All girls! Hahahaha cowards! Well more space in the tents and sauna for us then :P

So much for this weekend. Last weekend was sort of interesting as well.
First I was at another Uniklubi concert and seriously I will never ever again go into a club with is usually for people over 24. It was soooooooo disgusting. The men in their 40s and 50s undressing each passing women with their eyes and when they are drunk they get really hmm don't know the English word but one of the girls I was with at the concert just punched a guy for touching her and seriously I would have done the same. Unbelievably gross! And the women were as bad as the men. If I, at any point of time, wear tight leopard leggings, a black short shirt, a belt and a golden handbag while having a weight of around 150kg PLEASE shoot me! Seriously it wasn't pretty. And when than women in their late 50s dance to Coco Jambo and Mambo No5 it's really time to go. Unfortunately that awful club just wanted to make money and so the band started to play at 0:30! Of course nobody of us knew so the few Uniklubi fans in their early 20s had to wait for around 2 hours and witness this surreal scenery. But the concert itself was great!

Then there was of course also a Halloween party the day before the UK concert. Surprisingly good at least from the music which was the first time not awful club music but really trashy 90s party music. And seriously a party cannot be bad if they play BSB's Backstreets back! :P

On Sunday I did my assignment for my 'Religion in Finland' course and went to a local congregation. :) If you want to get to know Finnish people join a church here! :D It was very nice and I was even invited for a family diner yesterday. :)

Uni is during OK. Tomorrow I have my last regular class in my 'Religion in Finland' course which was really interesting. In the first lesson I was wondering why people study comparative religion but now I'm quite surprised how interesting it can be and I think it doesn't really matter if you studied political science, comparative religion or English literature when you are a taxi driver. ;)

Anyway I started a new course last week: 'Swedish-speaking Finns as a minority'. I was hoping it would help me with my thesis but was worried at the same time that i know already everything they will teach us. Of course the whole history part I heard and read already a dozen times but there are actually really interesting aspects I have never considered or heard of. Well since the course if from the Sociology department I hear a lot about studies and interviews and research and projects which makes it more interesting. Because who would have thought that it makes a differences in the perception of a bilingual Finn towards other bilingual and monolingual Finns to what kind of school (regarding to language because there are Finnish and Swedish schools here) you went.

Ok enough about uni. Need to go to bed and get some sleep before my 8:30am class and the first probably sleepless night in the woods. Wish me luck that I return at all and preferably without a pneumonia or a worse disease.

*kramar*

PS its -17°C this weekend in Lapland! I'm going there in 2 weeks!!!!!

Sick :(

Finnish fall/ pre-winter hit me with it's changing temperatures and constant sweating and cooling down when going day and night by bike. So now I'm listening to the following song and hope that the coughing and fever attacks go away pretty soon.



Dedicated to all TBBT fans out there! :)

More music

In Finland you can find a dozen of different forms of music but probably the most famous is Finnish metal. I'm not a big fan of heavy metal, since I prefer melodic music over noise :P so I got stuck with what I would put into the field of power metal or something like that.
Since my favorite Finnish guitarist Jari Liimatainen (probably the best guitarist here in Finland) got kicked out of my ex-favorite power metal band called Sonata Arctica, I was looking for something as equally good as the old Sonata stuff. And now I found it! :D
Jari has a new band! Their first Album came out last year and this is my favorite song of the album:

Cain's Offering - More Than Friends


Also this is very nice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd5K_F3C-4
but in general I would recommend the whole album!

\,,/ Rock on! ;)

PS This entry is dedicated to Suzy who loves Finnish metal as much as me. :)