TGIF etc.

FRIDAY!! Yay!!

Can you believe it? I'm in a very good mood today. Part of the reason is that I've been listening to Virgin Radio from the UK today (I was actually trying to find a good Irish station, but none really worked on my Phonostar player. Then I wanted to listen to Kiss FM from the UK because I'm registered at Songpeople and the keep inviting me to surveys that include questions about Kiss where you don't have the option to click "don't know" .... anyways, I wanted to know what it's like but it wasn't available on Phonostar so I chose Virgin) - and I'm loving it - and so does my co-worker in the room next to me so we're now playing it loudly. Examples of excellent songs we heard during the last couple of hours:

- Paul Weller - Wild Wood
- Rock the Kasbah
- Amy MacDonald - Run
- Snow Patrol - Run

They also play a lot of new British stuff I'm not familiar with. Problem is, the website where it says at the top which song is playing won't load. Argh. Not good for curious people like me.

I've also been checking out Jon McLaughlin's MySpace page. He did a song in the movie Enchanted and performed it at the Oscars last Sunday. BTW, 3 out of the 5 nominated songs were from Enchanted, but none won. Bummer for Menken/Schwartz, but good for Glen Hansard (remember him from The Commitments? I think he had long hair back then.) & Marketa Irglova from the film Once which I'd love to see because it's set in Dublin but it's not playing in any of the movie theaters in town, much to my and my co-worker's dismay. Anyway, Jon McLaughlin seems good. Couldn't listen to all of his songs on the MySpace page yet cos my co-worker turned up the volume next door.

Oh wow, I'm so rambling ... but I guess that's a good thing cos a couple of days ago I wanted to post something much more .... I don't know ... depressing ... cos work is still so much stress and I have no energy left in me etc. etc. It sounds stupid even to me know cos as I said, I'm in a good mood right now. I like my co-workers and the casual atmosphere here in the office (okay, that sounds as if we're having orgies, right? Not what I meant, believe me ...) and the fact that I get to listen to lots of new music etc. But there are downsides. But as I said, I'm not in the mood now to talk about them.

Anyway, here are the links to stuff I mentioned. Enjoy and good weekend to everyone who might be reading this.

Links:
www.virginradio.co.uk
www.songpeople.com
www.phonostar.de
http://www.myspace.com/jonmclaughlin

Changing places

... but just in the office. Moved from sharing a room with a colleague to one for myself (and the noisy computer server). Room's got 3 doors, though. I'm like the receptionist now.

Other stuff:
Check out the Puppini Sisters http://www.myspace.com/puppinisisters They do Swing versions of songs like Walk like an Egyptian or Crazy in Love. And their own stuff too. The myspace page looks pretty crazy (the background I mean). Makes my eyes hurt.

My cold is over. Lasted 4 days, basically. Not too bad. A couple of the other girls in the office upstairs are ill now. Given that we haven't really had a winter this year, it's pretty bad.

New music

The good:
A Fine Frenzy – Almost Lover: kinda like Soulmate by Natasha Bedingfield. Very quiet, slow and moving with sad lyrics. Love it.

Sugababes – Change: Pure pop with a nice melody. Sweet.

Foo Fighters – Road to ruin: This rocks. Great stuff.

Mika – Happy Ending: His other songs annoy me, but this one’s nice.

Gwen Stefani – Early winter: With her it’s the same as with Mika. Don’t usually like her at all, but this ballad is good.

Amy MacDonald - Mr Rock & Roll: Girl from Scotland. Haven’t heard her on German radio yet but hope I will soon. She says she was inspired by Travis. You might like her if you like KT Tunstall.

The bad:
Madonna – Candy Shop: Haven’t heard in Germany yet, but a Ukrainian station that I’ve been listening to this week plays it. Not good.

Sheryl Crow - Love is free: Her new single. Used to like her, but that song is lame.

The ugly:
Celine Dion – Alone: Cover version of the Heart song (you know, the 80s hard rock group with the Wilson sisters). I love the original but Celine just ruins it completely. I was in almost physical pain when my colleague played it.

Leon Jackson – When you believe: Cover version of the Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey duet they did for the animated film Prince of Egypt. I’m not sure if their duet was also called When you believe or if it was called Miracles or something like that. This boy Leon Jackson won The X-Factor TV show in England, apparently. Problem is, he can’t sing at all. Really awful.

P.S.: I’ve got a cold again and feel awful. Not good.