Hans' Milieu

Hey Milieunairs,

It is Music Monday and thus time for another Vivaciously Varietal Vibe!

• Flavour: Pop/Rock 

• Artist: Thom Yorke

• Album: Twilight Saga: New Moon OST

• Song: Hearing Damage

Rationale: For quite some time I have spoken about songs which I have labelled as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. A majority of songs by MUSE, such as ‘Sing for Absolution’, fall into this category. ‘Hearing Damage’ by Thom Yorke, in my opinion, is another song which can be described as such.

I am not sure if it is Yorke’s surreal voice or the constant electronic and hypnotic pop synth buzz, but this is one of those rare songs that I can listen to over and over again without fail. The song is simply addictive. As it stands, I think that Hearing Damage is by far one of the most listened to songs in my entire music collection. I am actually listening to the song, and have it on a loop, as I write this post.

‘Hearing damage’ was written and recorded by Radiohead front man Thom Yorke, who specifically wrote and recorded the song for the New Moon soundtrack. Fans of the Twilight Saga will recognise ‘Hearing Damage’ from the scene in New Moon when Victoria pursues Charlie before being chased by Jacob. As a matter of fact the New Moon soundtrack, in its entirety, is actually very good and, oddly enough, was even given the ‘thumbs up’ by my father – a good thing because it means that the old folks will enjoy listening to the music no matter how loud you play the album. Consequently, regardless of whether you like the Twilight Saga or not, listen to the album for New Moon because you may be pleasantly surprised by the experience.

– Thom Yorke Lyrics

As always, whenever I post about Vivaciously Varietal Vibes on Music Monday’s, simply click on the name of the song to be taken to a web page that displays the songs lyrics.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Even before we arrived in Australia, I knew that Britney Spears would be bringing her ‘The Circus’ tour to the land down under. However, I never thought I would actually get a chance to attend the concert.

For starters, Britney’s last show in Melbourne was on the 13th November and we were only set to arrive in Melbourne on the 16th. Furthermore, tickets to the event were not exactly cheap, ranging from stadium seating at $250 (R1700) per person to the insanely priced ‘Love Seats’ for $1500 (for two tickets –> R10 000 ). Consequently, chances of me attending Miss Spears’ performance were pretty thin.

Or so I thought.

Through a fortunate turn of events, Britney had actually extended her tour due to popular demand, adding three extra shows to her repertoire. One of those shows, as luck would have it, was in Melbourne.

I would be lying if I said that I was not excited at the possibility of watching the princess of pop perform in the flesh. After all, like the Queen (Madonna), it is not as if Britney would be making her way to South Africa. So it was pretty much a ‘This Is It’ kind of scenario.

Amazingly, my parents ascertained that this would be a fantastic experience and wholeheartedly agreed to buy tickets to the show. Not only that, but they even allowed me to opt for the ‘stool’ seating, which is directly behind the ‘Love Seats’ and, as it turned out, was literally a meter and a half away from the stage.

Without a doubt, ‘The Circus presenting Britney Spears’ was the best concert I have ever been to. I am unable to truly relay how awesome the experience was. The circus elements to the show, alone, were worth the price of admission; from acrobats, to martial artists, clowns, mimes, weapon artists, magicians… you name it and it was there (animals excluded). In addition to the circus element, I have never before been privy to a live performance with as much pyrotechnics and stage theatrics as this. The ‘wow’ factor was simply phenomenal. I do think that the experience was made just that much better courtesy of our seats which, as I have mentioned before, allowed us to be almost within two arm lengths of the pop princess.

Contrary to the controversy surrounding Britney’s performance in the land down under, I can honestly admit that I would watch it again. So what if she lip-synchs? Anyone who has heard of Britney Spears knows that she is infamous for lip-synching (along with many other famous artists). So this was really of no surprise. In my opinion, if you want to hear an artist sing, buy the album. If you want to watch them perform, go to a concert. Whether they sing ‘live’ or not is irrelevant. With that said, it is worth noting that Britney did sing at least one song live, the ballad ‘everytime’. To all the naysayers who think Britney Spears cannot sing, let me tell you, this chick has a good voice. As a matter of fact, she actually sounds better live than through her recordings. So it is a shame that she does not perform ‘live’ more often.

Considering how close I was able to get, I was quite surprised to realise how small Britney Spears actually is. She is tiny. Then again, I am 6’4”, so a lot of people are smaller than I am. After two kids, she does look very good. While I’m on the topic of her body, it is worth noting that she is rather fit. She has good muscle tone; most definitely what could be described as a dancers body. So she is not petit and does appear to have some extra junk in her trunk. I think the biggest surprise to me was how small her boobs were. For those who know we, I’m a boob man. Britney has a good handful, but not what one would expect after all of the boob job debates. Have a look for yourself, in the album below.

View Full Album

I am truly so thankful that I could have this opportunity and would like to send a huge ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’ to my loving parents who made it all possible.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Hey Milieunairs,

It is Music Monday and thus time for another Vivaciously Varietal Vibe!

• Flavour: Rock 

• Artist: MUSE

• Album: Origin of Symmetry

• Song: Feeling Good

Rationale: MUSE are truly an amazing band. They have such a unique sound, one which I have dubbed as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. They are, without a doubt, one of my favourite artists. A title which I do not bestow likely.

Although they have released a new album entitled ‘The Resistance’, I felt it would be good to dedicate a post to a song which has been ‘covered’ more times than one can count.

The song, ‘I am Feeling Good’, was originally written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd. The MUSE rendition of ‘Feeling Good’ is one of the most unusual versions of the song that I am currently aware of, but one that is equally as beautiful as the rest.

With that said, I wish that you all ‘Feel Good’, no matter the day or the circumstance. Life is too short for regrets and grudges. So, ‘cheers’ to a new dawn, a new day, and one day soon, a new life!

– Muse Lyrics

As always, whenever I post about Vivaciously Varietal Vibes on Music Monday’s, simply click on the name of the song to be taken to a web page that displays the songs lyrics.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Courtesy of Twitter, I was notified that the recent American Idol winner runner-up, Adam Lambert, was releasing his new album. My first response: “If he is not the winner, then who the heck is”?

A quick Google search informed me that the legitimate winner of the last season of American Idol was actually Kris Allen. Who would have thought, considering that Adam “media-whore-and-loving-it” Lambert is the one stealing all of the spotlight!

Truth be told, the last time I actually watched any variant of the show was when local Anke Pietrangeli beat out Pussy Poseletso Sejosingoe for the top spot, back in 2003 on the South African version of the show. Since then, I have pretty much lost all interest in anything Idols related.

However, what I do care about is when I have to begin pulling out facial recognition software to correctly identify artists. Case in point: Rihanna VS Adam Lambert.

Molly good golly do these two look alike!

Even though we all know that Rihanna had some unwilling and unconventional ‘remodeling done’, one would be hard pressed to deny the similarities between everyone’s favourite Jamaican princess and American’s latest flamboyant Queen. That said, would it not be delicious if it was uncovered that one of these two ‘stars’ was, in fact, an illegitimate love child?

I can already picture the headline on the next cover of Heat - “Exclusive: Lambert is Rihanna’s brother, but he was too ‘White’ to keep”. Alternatively, and of course the most likely scenario, is that someone at Lambert’s record label got a little too excited with Photoshop – 21st century technologies, “making you look like everybody else”!

As if the two stars looking alike was not enough, both are releasing their new albums on the same day, Monday the 23rd of November 2009.

To ensure that you do not accidentally buy the wrong album, which you would be forgiven for given the ‘twin’ factor, Lambert’s debut album is entitled For Your Entertainment, which is also blue and sparkly, whereas Rihanna’s latest album is called Rated R, which is all dark and ‘emo’.

Since both albums are hitting the streets on the same day, which are you going to “buy” first?

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Hey Milieunairs,

It is Music Monday and thus time for another Vivaciously Varietal Vibe!

• Flavour: Rock 

• Artist: Story of the Year

• Album: The Black Swan

• Song: The Truth Shall Set Me Free (iTunes Bonus Track)

Rationale: In truth, I do not listen to heavy rock. Any song where the lead singer sounds like he has swallowed a flea ridden cat and is attempting to cough the poor sodden creature back up, is simply not a part of my vibe. Although not impossible but highly unlikely, I dare say that I would rather listen to the constant ‘bitches and ho’ motif’s of droning Rap and R&B driven artists than the cat call enthused rhythms of hard rock.

Even with that said, I can actually see the appeal to hard rock. Primarily in that I assume hard rock to be the audio equivalent of an extreme emotion; perhaps such as a raging anger or deep wounded sadness. That does not mean that people who listen to hard rock are inherently angry or prone to masochism, for those are merely unequivocal stereotypes. Instead I believe that the music serves as an aid, a medium of sorts, where an individual is able to channel his/her feelings through an emotional relation to an artists sentiment infused lyrics and tone. It is this emotional relation which drove me to dedicate this Music Monday post to The Story of the Year’s ‘The Truth Shall Set Me Free’.

“And you shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free” ~ John 8:32

Recently it has come to my grave attention that various family members, of the paternal disposition, have taken it upon themselves to directly target myself and my immediate family in a rather negative and callous light. All seemingly because it appears that they are, unfortunately, inbred with the vehement disposition to automatically assume the worst in people, rather than attempting to find out the truth and the subsequent solace it will undoubtedly bring. This is incontrovertibly brought on by their infallible inability to face problems directly, instead resorting to hurtfully shameless acts of passive aggression. Consequently, myself and my family have been thrown into a rather emotionally taxing conundrum, which does not appear to have a clear end in sight, despite our reconciliatory advances. Ultimately, it truly is a sad state of affairs, one which has resignedly forced us, myself in particular, to re-evaluate the distressing indispensability of particular familial ties. I cannot relay the kind of soul ripping anguish I have felt over this purposefully vague description of a very real and unnecessary predicament. A predicament doubtlessly bore of uninformed, refutable and capricious suppositions. All in the aid of nothing, resulting in an unfounded quandary. If only they had chosen to seek the truth, instead of purposeful damnation, for the truth would have set them free!

"…Life is too short to be unhappy! You have to take the good with the bad; smile when you’re sad; love what you’ve got; and always remember what you had. Always forgive but, never forget. Learn from your mistakes, but never regret. People change and things go wrong, but always remember… that life goes on"! ~ George Carlin

George Carlin has, unknowingly, crafted an ethos with which to live by. One which has regrettably imbued me with the necessary counsel needed to allow me to inauspiciously and fundamentally, along with a sense of deep sadness, move on and away. The last few days have, without question, been incredulously taxing. However, as the infamous adage denotes: ‘what does not kill you, only makes you stronger’. Thus, I know that my family and myself will persevere, against all.

I will take, this chance, To break from your traditions
And I will burn, your worth, I’ll burn all that you said
And I’ll finally face, this day, With my eyes open wide
And I will erase, your lies, Tear off this [your] disguise
And now I can say, The truth shall set me free

When the sun is gone, And the rain starts to fall
I will be the one, I will rise…
Rise up through it all!

An excerpt from the lyrics of ‘The Truth Shall Set Me Free’ by Story of the Year.

As always, whenever I post about Vivaciously Varietal Vibes on Music Monday’s, simply click on the name of the song to be taken to a web page that displays the songs lyrics.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!