La Mala is back!

Spain's reigning queen of hip-hop La Mala Rodriguez has a new video. Check out the video clip of "Nanai" the second single from her album Malamarismo. As always La Mala is fierce in this video clip.

No Me Llames Dolores, Llámame Lola

Lola


The video of "Lola" from the Spanish band Pastora.

No me llames Dolores, llámame La Xica, la que siempre va sola buscando follon! Busca busca busca follonnnnnn! Me meto en medio de todo el mogollón.

Free Hugs Available

Yes, that is what the sign says. Free Hugs available at Dam Square in Amsterdam!

I find it a warm and generous gift and it made me happy to see this girl being totally sincere and open to those who wanted to share a hug with her. Although many people were a bit hesitant at first, they slowly overcame their shyness and gave her a hug. On many faces I could see a smile where at first raised eyebrows or a bored expression was to be seen. What a big difference a hug can make! Kudos for the blond girl and her friend!

Nathalie Portman haunts Paul McCartney

Nathalie Portman has a cameo in the video of Paul McCartney for his new single "Dance Tonight". I find the video quite enjoyable. The song has a "simple" happy tune and Nathalie Portman is so cute as a futurist electronic ghost who dances to the sound of McCartney's mandolin.
The video also stars Mackenzie Crook who plays Gareth in the original British TV show "The Office" and plays one of the rogue pirates in the last two movies of "Pirates Of The Caribbean", the one with the fake eye that keeps popping out.
The video had its worldwide premiere on YouTube last Wednesday. It was directed by Michel Gondry from the Bjork videos and the movie "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind".

Sellaband

I am still spreading the word about Sellaband an explosive new concept that is breaking down frontiers. As I am a big fan of this concept of artists and fans making music together I would like to share this video with you.



Check out also my previous posts about Sellaband; click here and here to read my previous posts on this subject.

Happy B-day Therese!

Therese, Happy Birthday to you! I could never forget your birthday because of the pre-programmed email reminders you keep sending me! I am looking forward to our dinner party this evening!

Picture: thanks to Taart Van Mijn Tante for the best birthday cakes in Amsterdam

Cosplay Transformers Video

Guys playing Transformers; HIGHlarious!

Cosplay Transformers - Click here for more amazing videos

Hotspots Everywhere

When travelling, what is better than let a local show you the best places to visit in his home town. On AudioSnacks you can download the most fun audio tours made by locals in Boston, Chicago and London to name a few cities. Besides audio tours in MP3, you will also find maps so you will know exactly where to find that cosy bar in Le Marais in Paris.

Fallas de Valencia

I missed this year's Fallas in Valencia, Spain. I heard that next to the carnaval in Rio, the Fallas Festival in Valencia is the greatest party in the open air in the world. This festival is a celebration of Saint Joseph Day (March 19) in Valencia.

Besides the name for this celebration, the fallas are gigantic sculptures of which the core is made from wood. These enormous and colourful sculptures (approximately 350 statues) are lined up in each neighbourhood of the city and have their own theme varying from the entertainment industry to political parody. Each neighbourhood has their own organization that works all year long to make the construction, the falla, which is eventually burnt on the last night of the festival.








Beside a Falla organisation, each neighbourhood has their own Fallera, a girl dressed in traditional clothing who represents her neighbourhood at all festivities and who takes part in the annual Fallera Mayor election.
Every day during the festival at 2 p.m. precisely La Mascleta, a huge firework, takes place. Thousands of Valencianos, gather at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to watch this spectacle. When the Mascleta starts, you will be deaf for the next five minutes, wondering whether this is how it sounds like when you are on hostile territory during a bombing in a war. Imagine enduring this deafening noise every day during the festival. Although I never could get a good position to watch this firework spectacle I found it impressive if only for the noise and the enthusiasm of all spectators.



People waiting for La Mascleta to start. On the left side of the picture, behind the yellow/black sign, there is where the Mascleta is positioned. Needless to say, I could not see a thing, but only heard a deafening noise...

But Fallas is not only fireworks. Every day there are processions and of course lots of drinking and eating! On the last night of the festival all fallas get burnt.





And then it starts all over again. The Falla organisations gather again to think about the new design and theme of next year's falla and which girl should be representing them next year. If you decide to take a sneak peek at Fallas next year, make sure to be in great shape as this festival will wear you out. It's a week of bonfires, fireworks, processions and craziness. Every day the program is loaded, there are only give and take 350 fallas to see in just one week, Mascleta at 2 p.m. and around midnight again fireworks. In between there are processions, music and oh the neighbouring villages also have there own Fallas, so be prepared! Fallas, a fun, impressive and noisy Valenciano tradition, every year.



A video of the Mascleta that Antonio Caballer (a famous Spanish pyrotechnic) lit up at La Plaza del Ayuntamiento during Fallas 2006.


Note: All pictures were taken during Fallas de Valencia 2006

Cheer Up!

"Interesting stories, things that affect my life and people that means a lot to me.."
Who would not like this phrase from the song "Live, Laugh, Love" by country singer Clay Walker:

"I'm gonna live, laugh, love just for today
Gonna take all the trouble that tomorrow might bring and put it away
Gonna drink every drop of happiness
'Till they cover me up
I'm gonna live, gonna laugh, gonna love"

So, if you are feeling blue or even if you are in happy mood, these lines will have a positive effect on your mood whether as an acknowledgement that life is good or just as a small "pep talk".

So just put away the trouble that tomorrow might bring and just live, laugh and love!

La Titimania

I love this song! It always makes me feel good and brings a smile on my face. The song is about old geezers who are into young women and are affected by the "condition" called "Titimania". It has a nice melody, good lyrics with a good sense of humour and if you watch the video you do not need to understand Spanish to know what the song is about. So, just watch the video and slowly your hips will follow the beat and a smile will appear on your face.

"La Titimania" from the Cuban band Los Van Van starring (a young) Mr. Juan Formell himself.

Sunshine

After saving our climate in "An Inconvenient Truth" it is time to save the sun in "Sunshine".



"Sunshine" is a Sci-Fi movie set in the not too distant future. A team of astronauts and scientists are going into space to re-ignite a dying star with a bomb the size of Manhattan. This movie is not your ordinary disaster/Sci-Fi movie. Of course it has cool special effects, but it also has a surprising twist and director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later") succeeds to keep that suspense till the end.

Some cast members:

• Cillian Murphy ("Breakfast on Pluto", "Rey Eye", "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "28 Days Later")
• Michelle Yeoh ("Memoirs of a Geisha", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Tomorrow Never Dies")
• Chris Evans (Fantastic Four)
• Chris Curtis ("Whale Rider", "The Fountain" and "River Queen")

Sarkozy wins the French elections for presidency

With 53% of the votes Sarkozy won the elections. France had decided to give their mandate for the next five years to the Conservative Party. France has called for a change, hopefully it will turn out to be a positive one.

I am PC and I am Mac

For weeks I have been doing research, talking to many people to ask for their opinion and experience with Apple and still I cannot decide whether to buy a MacBook or to stick with Sony Vaio.

Watching this parody of South Park on the Mac commercials did not help either but at least it made me laugh.

In case you missed it. Update!

Paris Hilton's luck is running out. She is sentenced to 45 days in jail! Well, at least she did say 'I'm Sorry' to the judge. Watch here to see why she thought it was OK to drive with a suspended licence. Wowsa!

New wave of twisters strike USA.

France begins voting for new president. On Sunday May 6 it will be decided who is going to take over the French presidency from Chirac as from May 15. The French people will choose between the candidates Ségolène Royal of the Socialists Party and Nicholas Sarkozy of the French conservative party UMP. More after the jump.

Dutch courts rules that ABN AMRO is not allowed to sell its US subsidiary LaSalle without shareholder approval. A take-over bid is still expected from a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Fortis. Questions were also raised about the position of the bank's chief executive, Mr. Rijkman Groenink, who has offered to resign, but the Supervisory Board has expressed their support.

Kenyan jet went missing with 100 passengers on board. A Kenya Airways flight that went missing shortly after taking off from Yaounde, the commercial capital of Cameroon, crashed Saturday with 114 people on board, government officials in the west African nation said. More here.

Berlusconi calls left wing voters "retarded"."Those who will not vote for the conservative party are mentally retarded and should be hospitalized". Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi gave his outspoken view during a campaign rally in Palermo, Sicily on Saturday. He showed his support for the mayor of Palermo, Diego Cammarata, whose opponent is Leoluco Orlando of the Socialists Party in the next city council elections on May 13 and May 14. Berlusconi admitted that he exaggerated too much, but "it was just a joke". Source: ANSA

Spider-Man 3 premiered worldwide and is already breaking records! The swinging superhero attracted many fans on the movie's opening day. Some figures: Japan - $ 3.5 million on a Tuesday!!; South Korea - $ 3.4 million; Hong Kong - $ 960.000,00 and $ 59 million nationwide USA. Source: Box Office Mojo

Episode Preview Lost - The Man Behind The Curtain (US Trailer, S03E20)

Only three episodes left of Season 3! To get a preview of next Wednesday's episode watch this video.



In this episode Ben unwillingly gives information to Locke about the island and takes him on a journey to various locations including strange monuments and the mysterious Jacob. Back at the beach, Juliet's secret is revealed. Flashbacks will show us the origins of the DHARMA Collective and the history of the island including "the purge".

Lost is in its third season and judging the storyline there is no certain end in sight, but according to E!Online the show will end in only two more seasons.

French Elections

François Bayrou advises to vote for Ségolène Royal of the Socialists Party. Although he did not say specifically who he will vote for, François Bayrou (candidate Centre Party), mentioned in an interview with French newspaper "Le Monde" last Thursday that he will certainly not vote for Nicholas Sarkozy in the second election round on May 6. Bayrou received 18.6% of the votes in last month's first round and came in third. After last Wednesday's TV debate between Sarkozy and Royal, Bayrou mentioned to "Le Monde" that "voting for Sarkozy would only make the ruptures in French society bigger and turn the situation from bad to worse. Voting for him would only unleash violence ". According to a poll published by the conservative French morning daily newspaper "Le Figaro" on Thursday, Sarkozy won the TV debate: 53% found Sarkozy convincing against 31% for Royal. Source: ANP

Socialist Royal warns right-wing Sarkozy a "dangerous choice"

The campaign is over! Friday May 4 was the final day of campaigning before this Sunday's vote. The two candidates for the French presidency, Ségolène Royal and Nicholas Sarkozy, are not allowed anymore to do any campaigning to win over voters who did not support them in the first election round.

Black and White in Colour

In this documentary the film maker is following Roma singer Vera Bila and her band Kale and shows how she lives in Slovakia. After watching the documentary I was confused and I did not knew how to explain to myself what I just watched.
As a fly on the wall "Black and White in Colour" shows Vera Bila as the Roma singer, the mother of an adopted son, a dedicated wife but also as a woman who sabotages her own life. Although short in height, this Czech Roma lady has a great voice. I was touched by all songs featured in the documentary and I have been frantically surfing the Internet to find out more about her music.
But at times the documentary feels as a long PR video to promote Vera Bila and sometimes it feels as the scenes are manipulated either by Vera or the film maker. I felt a bit 'cheated' and I do not know if I even could blame someone for it as the objective of the documentary is not clear to me. The topic of how Romany live in Slovakia and are viewed by society is only briefly touched and brushed away by Vera which I find disappointing as I believe it would do more justice to the documentary and mostly to the Roma singer Vera Bila. Thinking more about it, I believe I have not seen one documentary that is totally 'objective' about its subject, but is edited the way the film maker wants to get his/her message across. And if the message is to show the talent of Vera Bila then that message surely comes across loud and clear.
Video clip or not, I am impressed by Vera's voice and would like to show you a musical excerpt from "Black and White in Colour".




Black and White in Colour, 1999
Director: Mira Erdevicki
Producer: David Charap

Wii

YAY! I have a Wii! I did not get one when they first went on sale. I have waited patiently for months for a new release, until I could not stand it anymore last week and decided to buy a Wii in ... Madrid. Yes, Madrid as in the capital of Spain. As the Wii is still out-of-stock in my home town and no new release date has been communicated yet, I decided not to wait anymore and to try if I could buy one abroad rather then to wait till Xmas 2007. So finally I have a Wii and I can tell you that it is really fun playing. Being a non-gamer at heart (so I thought) I slowly changed into a Wii-addict. I have only played two games so far, so my experience with Wii games is still very limited.


DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It is fun playing "Rayman: Raving Rabbids". The graphics may not be of such a high quality as in 'Gears of War' for the Xbox 360, but I would rate it a 10+ for FUN!! You can take up any challenge and work on your skills or just shake your booty and you can even have a work-out. This game has it all. Experience "Rayman: Raving Rabbids" by playing "tossing cows" (how cruel! I am against this degrading 'game' so I refuse to play it, unlike M who acted as if he was a western cowboy ...) or "rabbits don't like closed doors" in which you have to close the door while the rabbits poo and wee... or "gifts" when you are given a bomb after which you have to run like hell to 'dump' the bomb at another rabbit. These are just a few examples of the game "Rayman: Raving Rabbids" and I can recommend to everyone to give this game a try.


And what about Wii Sports, a game that makes your muscles feel sore, makes you sweat and in some cases even lose weight. This is the part where most girls get interested to read this post and sigh relieved. Good news for those girls, because Zander Urquhart, a personal trainer, has developed a program to lose weight by playing with the Wii. His idea is so successful that he has a four-week waiting list for clients desperate to get that bikini-shape. He said: "I was watching this five-year-old who needed encouragement to do any exercise, but here he was for half an hour, running about playing tennis, boxing and baseball and working up a sweat. I started thinking about how useful this could be for other groups." This class was originally intended for children, but soon Urquhart realised that adults were as keen as their children. Too bad if you are not a local, as Zander Urquhart seems to be the only person offering these classes, IN GLASGOW!


Another story about losing weight by playing with the Wii is the one about Mickey Delorenzo, a computer programmer from Philadelphia. Mickey lost nine pounds in six weeks by playing the Wii 30 minutes a day without any adjustments in his diet or daily activities. He ate what he would normally eat and did what he would normally do. Mickey Delorenzo lost the weight by using full body motion, by moving his feet and his arms to mimic the real thing. By using the full range of your arms and feet he had more results than if he would sat on the couch and made small moves. So if you want to get into that bikini-shape by using the Wii, it means you have to exercise more than just your thumbs.

Now if only someone would discover a way to burn calories while blogging...

Music & Life

A cool and short animation about music & life.