Mika – Life in cartoon motion

Saturday was a happy day for me. There was a little package in my post box. Only 5 days after its release date, HMV managed to deliver MIKA’s debut album “Life in cartoon motion”. I suspect some of you do not know Mika, some of you know him from my previous introductory post and some of you are fans like me.

Mika must really be getting tired of all the comparisons to Scissor Sisters and Freddie Mercury but what can we do if it’s true. It must be his vocal range from low to extremely high, which prompts those comparisons. There’s a bit of Freddie in all of the songs and the most Scissors-like are probably “Love Today” and “Stuck in the middle”. By now I’m already done listening to the previously released “Grace Kelly” and “Relax”, so my 2 new favourites from the album are firstly, the ballad-like “Happy ending” which ends with an opera-like section where you can hear that he’s had classical voice schooling; and secondly the disco-dance-pop-like “Ring, ring” (hidden bonus track), which must be using a sample of an old eighties or nineties song, I just can’t figure out, which one.

I’ve bought records because of only one song and I usually feel I’ve done a good deal when I can love 3 songs on an album. In case of “Life in cartoon motion” I could love at least 5 to 6 songs. 5 out of 11 is undoubtedly a good deal.

You may or may not like Mika’s music but you should at least give it a try or you may be missing out on witnessing a star being born. He has written all the songs on the album, including the lyrics, he plays piano or percussion on many of the tracks and he’s done the artwork of the album book. Talent really transfers to different areas.

Here's for you to listen: Mika "Ring Ring"

Change is good

I had to change the looks of my blog. This one is rather boring and not exactly as i like it but the previous one was melting together and several of its functions stopped working. Before i come up with a new one, we're all stuck with this one. Stick with me!

Smell of scent

Have you noticed that with really cold weather, like we’re having currently, your scent smell gets fainter. Why is that? Or, why does smokers’ scent smell weaken? How come some people don’t realize they have a very strong body odor? Why is dogs’ sense of smell so much better? Why is it possible to eat or drink something disgusting with your nostrils closed? Some of those questions have been answered here. Like for instance I found out that dogs in general have a nose approximately a hundred thousand to a million times more sensitive than a human's, because humans have about 2*4 cm² of olfactory epithelium, whereas some dogs have 150 cm². I also found that not all humans can smell andostenone, a component of male sweat (and minor component of female one). And so on.

Smells play an important role in my life, I think my scent memory is the strongest and most lasting one all senses. Just one whiff of aroma can bring back memories and trigger emotions. I was once sniffing a friend of mine the whole evening long because he smelled like someone important from my past. I have followed a man on the street because he was smoking a pipe. I think my olfactory sensory neurons are more sensitive than several other people’s. That gives me the beautiful world of smells but also makes me more sensitive to the smells that do not suit me.

However, there are loads of scents I absolutely adore, like:

freshly sliced cucumber
cherry tobacco pipe
sautéing onion for cooking
freshly washed bed linen
roses
freshly washed hair
bread
fresh coffee
oranges
man
forest in autumn
coco
wild strawberries
nail polish remover
fresh wood
chokecherry tree
lilac
freshly cut lawn
christmas tree
baking apple cake
basil

Add your favs.

Feelin better

Photo: N

Being sick sucks. Sucks sick. Anyhow, I’m almost well now. But meanwhile I did not have any inspiration to write here. Yesterday night I couldn’t sleep so I wrote sth but it’s not for public display. So I still got zero material:)

I could write about the last trip to London, of course. However, since it was more than a week ago, it now seems I could just jot it down in couple of sentences. Seeing S and J again was great, shopping was satisfactory and Portobello lovely, again. Ooh, Lovely London! Oh, and stand-up comedy was way better than I expected. Must see again.

I could also write about the Estonian Eurovision entry but this year I really cared so little I almost passed out. In the words of a 13-year old: Waddeva!

However, there is one topic I could write about that I thought of this weekend but I’m not sure how to make it presentable here. I’m workin on it.

A year older, none wiser

So much to write and so little time… But, before new emotions take over, I have to note down that there was a little birthday celebration of myself and N. The celebration was with very limited guest list, as the venue, my home, is rather small. That means there were 20 or so people, a disco ball, and 2 beauty queens for the evening. I promised a total makeover but since I can’t afford any plastic surgery (and don’t need any:) I went for changing my hair style – changed the cut as well as the color. For more information, ask for the pics. Coz I really don’t have time to write:)

Popopidoo...

...happy birthday to me:)!

Life in movie motion

This thing is getting worse by days, the thing that I confuse dream life and real life. Last Friday the whole night passed as a movie or a music video or a dream, if you like. I don’t know your dreams, but mine are quite like movies or videos or sometimes very much like real life. The whole night I felt as if things and people happened to me and I didn’t have much say in it. We started off at A’s place (I know you’re trying to figure out which A, don’t even bother, there’s too many:), celebrating his birthday. The dress code was “black, with colourful accessories”, very chic. And at some point we were off to conquer the night clubs. BB was on the list, again. This time, however, I saw many people I hadn’t seen for a while, which was a surprise. The night was long and full of chatting, dancing, listening to drunken theories of life and how it sucks, dancing, flirting and chatting some more. Later that night me and some friends ended up at a semi-celebrity’s boyfriend’s house. Really, everything was just happening as in a David Lynch movie. Well, may-be not quite that spooky. Maybe, as in a Tarantino movie. At 8 o’clock am I was standing outside the house, in this little garden-city, with my red shoes, on a freshly fallen snow, waiting for a taxi to finally take me home so I could sleep.

In David Lynche’s “Lost Highway” there’s this scene, where they enter the party and a song is playing. I love that scene and I love the song. Listen to it here: Barry Adamson “Something Wicked this Way Comes”

Mantra

Mantra-mantra-mantra-mantra.....

The ones who know, what mantra means for me, know that i must be having a real s***y day. Or actually, 2 of those kinds of days already.

Breathe in, breathe out....Yehhuia....it'll be better....for sure

New haircut?

When we were little, my sister and I, we were not the cute little girls you expect the daughters to be. We were more like little boys, running around, climbing trees and always up for some mischief. It was probably because we got used to being on our own from early on, when spending the summers at grandparents’. On top of everything, we looked like boys, because our mum always had our hair cut short. The only reason I tolerated it was coz I really, really liked going to the hairdressers. We were quite different in looks, she having this really thick dark hair and me with my thin and fair baby hair.

Throughout the adult years we’ve experimented with the hair color but always kept it on a longer side. At some point I’ve even been a red-head but for many years now, I’ve stuck to blonde. My sis has tried red, for a long while accented her natural dark hair color and also went for blonde a couple of years ago. When I think about changing my hair, it’s mostly in the range of maybe trying shading or cutting it a bit, maybe consider cutting a fringe. She however, has made the most drastic change a girl can make, she cut her hair off completely! What possessed her, I have no idea! I could never do that! It looks a lot better than I expected, actually. But I still hope she’ll let it grow from now on:)

Theory of limited happiness

What if happiness is limited…have you ever wondered? I’ve got this theory and I’ve elaborated on it a bit with N and S. Think along with me for a second. Say we take our life apart into different categories and start ticking. If all’s fine in the category, you tick it. Check!

Ok, first there’s love – having someone to care for and who cares for you. Or if you do choose the single life, at least have enough of the single life’s benefits;) Then there’s people around you – friends and family – people with whom you can have fun together but who also stick around when you’re going through a rough patch. Then there’s health, of course – you get a tick if you’re doing fairly well physically and mentally, because let’s face it, none of us is 100% healthy, whoever thinks that, already has a bit of a mental problem:) Fourth is job or studies or whatever it is you’re filling your days with. If an adult spends approximately 70% of the whole awake time, on their job, it should at least be something they don’t absolutely dislike. And last, but not least, there’s the material aspect of life. Do you have what you need for your life? Some need more than others but it is a question of perception. If you think you’re doing ok and have enough, and that you can allow yourself things you need, you can tick this category.

And this, my friends, is it. How many did you tick. I don’t even need to know, which ones, though, it’s rather individual, which category you consider more important for happiness. In any case, my theory is that normally people don’t get a full score. The elaboration of the theory is that this whole happiness business is periodical. There may be periods when suddenly your life’s great in all aspects, or vice versa. However, it does not change the whole theory.

You may argue, of course, that there are some lucky bastards who keep on having good luck all the time. But remember, there are also the ones who are cursed with constant bad luck. So I think they exist outside the theory and balance each other out. That means the “normal” people live the theory. Take a look at your own life or at the lives of people around you. Sometimes you look at someone and think: “He’s really got it all! He must be so happy!” But often looks can be deceiving and beneath the surface, those people’s lives aren’t perfect either. I think if you already get a solid four out of five, you should be doing ok, because you can work on the one category you’re failing in. With three, you’ve still got hope, coz working on 2 categories is also not unthinkable. When you only get 1 or 2…well, you’re kind of f****d. I suggest you first go back to the beginning of the test and re-evaluate your answers, maybe you’re being too picky and don’t appreciate what you have. Or, if it really is that bad, just hope that the elaboration of the theory is correct and you’ll be out of the hole soon enough.

Now tell me, how many did you tick?

My wonderful year 2006

Oops, I almost forgot to do it, to conclude my year 2006. Here’s a recap of the important travels, events and people. Blogging is a wonderful thing, coz I can actually analyze my year. Like, for instance, it seems to me that in 2006 all of the good times and most interesting things were kind of crammed together. Maybe this year I should try and divide the fun more evenly, to at least try to avoid the winter and early spring blues.

January
Bought my own place, barely survived the cold wave.
February
Went to Budapest.
March
Went to Depeche Mode concert.
April
Nothing.
You see what I mean, not much happened in those 2 months. From May on things start happening, and it’s all good almost til the end of the year.
May
Went to Prodigy concert, met the legendary Swedes – Mr. Acorn and Mr. Svenne, started my rollerblading season and broke some bones, saw Buena Vista Social Club in concert.
June
Spent amazing time with R in Spain, met J, had the most amazing Jaanipäev in Hiiumaa, went to Prangli, met another R. N left the country for 3 months.
July
Went to Lithuania, met another R, era of S, spent the best month of the amazing Estonian summer, got a car, went to Berlin to see Robbie Williams show.
August
Went to Simply red concert, got creative.
September
The Swedes left the country, for a while feared that my life would change forever, went to Crete.
October
N came back, had my first TV moment with Boney M.
November
Took part in a movie shoot, went to London, went to Pink concert.
December
Discovered Mika, had my second TV moment, had real great Xmas and NY parties...zzz...

NY party, vol 2

Last week the year was rushing towards its end and I was without any plans. S, A and PM were away. So, me and N joined the rest of the “we-don’t-have-plans-for-the-big-night” crowd. We were A1, G, A2, ML, K1, K2, N and me. (I am speaking code, and the initials don’t really tell you much, sorry:) but I can assure you it’s an amazing crowd). All right then, we’ve got the crowd, check, we’ve got the place (chez A2 and ML), check, A2 and G are taking care of the drinks and food, check…so there’s nothing left to do, but to put on my high heels, grab a chair with me and go. For your information, a chair is the coolest new accessory when going out (at least when you know there’s not enough in your destination location:)

We started off with drinking, while A1 was preparing lasagne, which was our appetizer (delicious). Then we rolled our own sushi. (I know it’s an unusual order of eating, but whatever.) The sushi was really delicious, definitely better than in the sushi places. We played some Alias and with half an eye I could manage to spot me on TV, several times (on the show mentioned in NY vol1 post). For the big moment we went outside and since all of our watches showed a different time, we just did the 9,8,7… counting at some point and welcomed the 2007, I’m pretty sure it was only about a minute before the actual arrival time.

Some of us, including me, went on to another party – to a supposedly very high class, young and fabulous, glam party. I didn’t quite see the glam, though. I mean, what’s glam about having only 2 toilets for such a huge crowd and the drinks running low in the bars. But I guess the party was ok. I was in a bit of a daze the whole night and I have a feeling I said something really stupid to someone I know. Or maybe that happened in my dream. I can’t be sure, for the party went on afterwards, in my dream. I have really vivid dreams, you know. Anyhow, that was NY 2006 vs 2007.

Pic 3

It's arrived, the 2007. More about the NY party a bit later. Stay tuned. Right now i just felt likeposting this pic. Because it's so peaceful.

My 3 Xmas

Ufff, so much to write about before the end of the year… yet, so little time. 2 last days at work in 06, time to wrap everything up and clean my desk and drawers of all the rubbish to be ready for 07. And S is visiting, and N needs my time and love because her love has left the country, again.

I’m done celebrating Christmas with the 3 of my closest families. First there was the office Xmas – with the biggest of my families. As already a tradition, there were performances. The girls performed a Thriller inspired dance and the boys (the competitive little …:) had 2 performances – one James Bond inspired act and another one, which was inspired by god knows what….probably by “Strictly come dancing”. And we ate and we drank and we held speeches. And as much as I wanted to go on partying and move on to night club, I just couldn’t. I drank one espresso after another, but still I was so sleepy that I had to retire.
Then there was the family Christmas – mum, dad and the 3 kids. I got lots of excellent presents and we ate and we drank and….we ate some more:) And the next day we went to the country and we lit the candles on the cemetery, visited some relatives and ate some more. The weather was excellent and it was all really nice and I even managed to take some photos.

And then there was the other family Christmas, with S, A, N and PM. So you can only guess what we did. A safe bet is to guess that we ate and we drank and we exchanged presents. Some really nice presents. Strangely enough I got several pairs of knickers. I’m surprised how well Mr. Claus knows my size and taste in this field:)

(Let me know if you want to see more pics)

Gifted

I love making presents. One of the reasons might just be, coz they look lovely all in a row like this, nicely wrapped. So, my loved ones, can you guess, which one is yours;)?

NY party, vol 1

There you go, the ultimate Christmas week had a wild kick-off yesterday. Resulting in a tiny hangover today. I guess that’s expected after drinking champagne for 5 hours yesterday.

What was I up to, then. Now, this is a big secret, but I know my readers and you won’t tell anyone, will you:)? I was at the filming of a new year’s show of a certain Estonia’s TV channel. The 3-hour show will be broadcast as a live show on 31st of December. But hey, you don’t really expect a channel to take the risk and go live for 3 hours….on a bloody NY eve, do you now?

Well, imagine dressing up for a festive event and then pretending you’re in an elevated mood for hours, as if you’re at the best NY party ever. It was easy though, as I was actually having a good time. And no, it wasn’t just the sparkling drink responsible for it. We were sitting at tables, eating finger food, drinking champagne (as mentioned before) enjoying the performances and laughing and clapping on call. I know now I made a wise choice wearing gloves. As for the performers and the guests, you can say everyone was there. The business elite was doing the same as was I, that is the aforementioned – food, drinks and clapping. And the stars and starlets and TV people were doing the performing part. As the infamous “Strictly come dancing” glamour show has just finished, all of the dancing stars were there and in a way the channel made all the dancers sing and all the rest of the people, like politicians, singers etc, dance. Generally it was all just about watching the show but it was rather strange to do the countdown…9…8…7… etc to new year. Then again, now that I’ve done the whole fancy part, I can just relax, wear my sweat suit and watch myself on TV on 31st.

Afterwards we were all invited to an afterparty, by a certain well-known businessman, to a certain night club he owns and his certain young girlfriend was actually serving drinks to me and taking care that we had everything. But you know how it is on Monday evening, without the right crowd, it’s rather difficult to get the party started.

Mr Claus

Last Friday proved again that you basically only need the right crowd to have an effortlessly good party. Well, seemingly effortless, as there are always things that need to be organized. It was J’s late birthday/house-warming party and you can only imagine our surprise when at some point in the evening we got a visit from Santa Claus…Mr. Claus was a bit to the kinky side with his ambiguous jokes, or maybe he was just automatically picking up our crowd’s vibe. Anyhow, I was glad he was still just a Santa, giving us presents and telling his stories, and not a Santa/Stripper, who’d have ruined my whole perception of Santa:) So, the Santa was the organized part, but the rest of it was all rather spontaneous, like Kox giving a memorable performance of the song “I fire you all!”, or the otherwise always sober as a judge, but this time so cutely drunk M, proclaiming his love to all the friends; or all of us singing the re-independence time songs together…eh, the moments that make memories…at least til the next party comes along.

And well, today the ultimate Christmas week starts, with Christmas lunches, Christmas dinners, Christmas parties etc. By the end of the week I’ll have eaten so much that it’s only wise to start the week off with the tight fitting dresses and leave the more loose ones to the end of the week:) I’ll review the best of the events here as well. Keep reading!

A small dose of Swedes

The Swedes were back in town for the weekend. It’s been 3 months since they left. On Thursday evening almost the whole summer crowd was back together, greeting them and approximately an hour into them being back it felt as if everything was like it was supposed to be. And you just know that even if they were gone for longer they’d still fit right in. So the question really is, why did they move away in the first place.

On Friday evening there was the birthday party of the third Swede, Mr. Nui. How come it’s this way, that when you’re drunk, all kinds of things are “more possible” than when you’re sober. And not just in your head. No. For instance, when the time came to move on to night clubs and the ever-lasting problem of getting a taxi arose….we just took the bus. I mean, there was a night bus or sth like that and we took it. Mr. Nui paid the bus driver, the driver asked the other people to wait and there we were with our crowd of 10 people or so, in the huge bus, which only made 2 stops, as some of us wanted to go to one and some to another club.

And, as far as I’m concerned, I got through the weekend with no permanent damage. However, I still tend to end up in situations, where (in my most rational moments) I think I shouldn’t end up in. But since I still do, even with the universe (that jealous biatch) trying to stop me, I like to take comfort in the thought that it’s probably not entirely my fault. Maybe some things are just supposed to happen. That much I know about myself that that I’m not the kind of person to deny myself sth good in present for a possibly greater good in future.

MIKA

I have a new favourite. He’s called Mika, he’s a musician, he looks great and he’s got an amazing voice. The only thing is that he might be just a bit young for me and that he lives a bit far, in London right now.

Ok, wishful thinking:) But Mika really is my new musical favourite. I want to hear more of him and I want to see him perform. There’s a huge talent there and as much as I’d like to keep him only for myself, I believe in a year or so, he’ll be big all over Europe. Right now he’s hitting the radio stations with the song called “Relax”.

However, for a little taste of him, here’s another song “Grace Kelly”, performed live on “Later, with Jools Holland”.

Edit: The next single Grace Kelly will be out at the end of January and the album will be released beginning of February. I'll review it soon after i get it:)

Surprises in the night

Last night, when i was coming home from my night out, which, by the way, was a really good one after a long while now. I really felt like a socialite yesterday, going from one party to another. Even the infamous BB club, which has recently only managed to disapoint me, was top notch...

Ok, back to the getting home story. It was sth around 4.30 at night and i was on my way from the taxi to my place when i saw a young woman lying on the street in front of my house. Of course i went to check on her. She was well dressed, wore jewellery and was just lying there next to the house wall, sleeping. I tried to wake her up to find ut where she lives and help her home. Waking her was not the easiest task, as she was obviously really really drunk. At least i hope she was only drunk, in the light of recent stories of people being druged in the nightclubs. So i woke her and my next task was to find out the address. Not so easy either, as she was really not registering what i was saying, nor was she able to give me any intelligible answers. I offered her differnet languages in which we could speak. For some reason she chose English. Later we switched to Russian, because that was her mother tongue. As it turned out, she lived in the same house as i. I managed to get her on her feet. Again, not a very easy task, considering i was smaller than her and wearing heels. I walked her to her staircase, somehow found keys in her pocket, helped her in, found her flat, opened the door and helped her in. I hope she was able to take it from there and just get to sleep. At least she was in the safety of her own home. I really hope she’s doing ok and i hope nothing had happened to her in her drunkenness. I keep thinking maybe i should’ve done more, like help her to her bed or sth but that would’ve felt like invading her privacy too much.

Now, i know sth like that could never happen to me from drinking. I know my drunk self and how and what i can and cannot do. I always, always manage to get home, the very least ...or maybe i just don’t get so drunk. However, i know some people in my circles to whom this could easily happen and, if something as bad would happen that someone would drug me with a pill slipped into my drink or whatever, then i’d have no idea of how my body reacts and what i am or am not capable of doing. I just wish everyone had good friends to party with, so that there’d always be someone to take care of you, make sure you get home and maybe also give you an aspirin and a glass of water or if need be, take you to the doctor.