Tag: music

Posted in Musical sparks

Eurovision, part deux

Posted on by Cate

I know that Eurovision isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so I will try to make this my last post on the topic. For 2013, at least. (Unless we can arrange a world tour for the fabulous Cezar from Romania – see yesterday’s post if you missed his performance – in which case, I will be posting daily to keep the dream alive.) Anyways, there really were so many astonishing acts this year that I can’t do them justice without boring you to tears.

So, I’ll stick with my top three – Cezar from Romania (the star of yesterday’s post), Farid Mammadov from Azerbaijan (and his mirror box-dancing friend, the unsung hero of the piece) and Krista Siegfrids from Finland with ‘Marry Me’ (which sounds more like the declaration of a crazy stalker than a woman in love).

I haven’t even included the 95 year old guy from Greece, or the voluptuous yet bookish-looking lady from Israel, or the whispering hipster from Hungary, but you can check them out at eurovision.tv if you’re curious (and you really should be).

Without further ado, here are the clips for Azerbaijan and Finland – and if you can’t bring yourself to watch the videos, at least check out the lyrics to ‘Marry Me’, below. They say the song is for marriage equality (the end of the performance was a bit of a hint, I guess), but I say these lyrics are about so much more.


Marry Me

Spying on you undercover, drinking coffee with your mother
Am I getting closer?

Baby, I feel like a sinner, skipping dinner to get thinner
Where is my proposal?

I’m your slave and you’re my master
Oh baby, come on, take your shot

So marry me, I’ll be your queen bee
I’ll love you endlessly
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me, baby

I’ll play your game, I’ll change my last name
I’ll walk the walk of shame
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me baby

Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong

I know where the future’s heading, I can see my perfect wedding
Isn’t that just bracing?
I don’t think there are no ladies who will give you cuter babies
Isn’t that amazing?

I’m your slave and you’re my master
Oh baby, come on, take your shot

So marry me, I’ll be your queen bee
I’ll love you endlessly
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me, baby

I’ll play your game, I’ll change my last name
I’ll walk the walk of shame
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me baby

Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong

This is the day, I don’t wanna wait much longer now
If you run away, I’m gonna find you anyhow
Oh, yeah, yeah, oh yeah
Whatchu waiting, whatchu waiting
Whatchu waiting, whatchu waiting for?

So marry me, I’ll be your queen bee
I’ll love you endlessly
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me, baby

I’ll play your game, I’ll change my last name
I’ll walk the walk of shame
I do it for you, for you, for you
Yeah, I do it for you, marry me baby

Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, ding dong
Oh oh, oh oh oh, ding dong

Posted in Musical sparks

Eurovision-ary, Romania

Posted on by Cate

Another year, another Eurovision. I remember sharing my excitement about this spectacle last year – it really is an amazing event. Somehow, just when you think it’s not possible to beat the previous year’s highlights/lowlights, our European pals rise to the challenge.

Literally, in the case of the breathtaking performance from Romania this year. Here is the clip – you really have to see it to believe it. And then you’ll appreciate why I have no more words to add here…Take it away, Cezar.

Posted in Musical sparks

Merry Christmas!

Posted on by Cate

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours – I hope that you have a wonderful festive season, full of everyday sparks, and the time to enjoy being with your family and friends. And also some time to enjoy being by yourself, maybe to look back on the good things that happened in 2012 and look forward to the exciting adventures that await in 2013. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Christmas sparks today – we’re lucky to share our family lunch with seven little people plus grownups, so I’m sure there will be plenty of sparks around!

I came across this flash mob video this week and thought you might like it too. It is from earlier this year, but it feels very festive. It also makes me want to organise a flash mob in 2013, so if you’ve got any ideas – please let me know…

Posted in Sparky gifts, WWWhat?

EverydaySparks. Gangnam style.

Posted on by Cate

I’m always amazed by how quickly the market can respond to trends. Not the stock market, but the market for clothing and accessories that are quickly produced and often sold cheaply to take advantage of something that’s very now. And since now can be so fleeting – yesterday’s “Team Aniston” t-shirt is tomorrow’s rag for dusting – I am in awe of people and companies who can produce trend-based products, getting in and out of the market before people move onto the next big thing.

And the current ‘big thing’ seems to be that South Korean rapper/dancer/jockey PSY and his song Gangnam Style. The song was released in July this year and it seems to be spreading around the world. And, like a fluffy koala that bites you, or a delicious apple with a worm in it, this song seems cute and innocent at first, but progresses quickly to SUPER ANNOYING on the richter scale. Yes, that is a measure on the richter scale.

I knew it had gone too far when I saw Australia’s Today show this morning – they crossed to a school playground full of little kids dancing around to Gangnam Style. On the face of it, I say good on them for dancing – getting away from their ipods and high sugar cereals and torturing passengers on public buses. But there’s something kinda creepy about 6 year olds shouting along to the song, “HEEEEY, SEX-Y LAY-DEEEEE” and making strange moves that must be mimicking the video clip. Still, I think most of the other words are in Korean, so I guess they can’t be blamed for going with what they know. Although I do like that one of the kids at my niece’s school has changed those words to, “Heeeey, steak and gra-vy”. Much more age appropriate, sonny.

Anyways, if you want to impress your friends and family with your very own Gangnam style, check out these finds from etsy – I couldn’t believe the range of options. But you’d better get in quick, as there’s probably an obscure rapper/dancer/jockey from a tiny village in Botswana putting the finishing touches on his latest dance hit and getting ready to launch it to the world…

Only $9.99 for this Gangnam Style bow tie from TessaROXX.
I feel like there is a giant “Keep Calm” factory out there somewhere, cranking the handle day & night to produce more “Keep Calm And…” products. This one is from appleholic.
For a trendy baby. Not sure what the deal is with the pearls though, but whatevs. This is from Sassy Kat Boutique.

And I just found this shop – Impressive Steps. You can customise flip flops with your own message, so that you can leave a trail of advertising, or messages of love, or just plain nonsense across the beach.

Taking it to the beach. Gangnam Style. From iStep.

And if you have no idea what this Gangnam Style is all about, here’s the You Tube clip that started all the madness. And fuelled an industry producing heaps of stuff with a very short shelf life. Which is surely another topic for another day…

Posted in Arty sparks

Pop Charts

Posted on by Cate

Some people need charts and visuals to really make sense of the world. I see how it can sometimes be helpful to reduce the confusion of something big or complex into a series of connected boxes on an A3 piece of paper. In the corporate world, accountants have their ‘mud maps’, HR people have their ‘org charts’, management consultants have their ‘stakeholder maps’ and marketing people tend to have something brightly coloured and written in code, so that it doesn’t make sense to outsiders. But that’s just work. What if there were clever people who used their charting prowess to help us navigate and better understand the real world? Ta-da, here’s Pop Chart Lab.

The Lab began a couple of years ago, founded by a book editor and a graphic designer who joined forces with one modest goal in mind: to render all of human experience in chart form. Uh huh. Their range is amazing – they have tackled everything from beer to culinary devices to the story of a boy’s migration to a town called Bel Air. Here are some of my favourite prints (they also print their charts on t-shirts, in case you want to educate the masses).

(c) Pop Chart Lab

Oh yes, from Bill Haley in the top left to Lady Gaga in the bottom right corner, this is indeed A Visual Compendium of Notable Haircuts in Popular Music. It’s a signed, limited edition print that is sure to get people talking. And if you like this, you’ll probably like its cousin: A Visual Compendium of Notable Haircuts in Hollywood. (That one even includes Chewbacca’s impressive ‘do, along with several cast members of the Harry Potter franchise.)

(c) Pop Chart Lab

And here’s the chart that I think is my favourite – a collection of 13 pie charts about pies. Yep, they’re breaking down the ingredients that go into those delicious desserts and it is just as scary as you might imagine. All the old favourites are there – including Fig. 12, Peanut Butter Pie, which is full of gooey goodness: by my calculations, almost 50% peanut butter, around 20% Oreos and almost as much butter, with a fair dose of heavy cream, vanilla extract and bittersweet chocolate. God bless America, I say. (If pies aren’t your thing, you might like The Delectable Kaleidoscope of Candy Bars – a pretty, colourful and super-detailed examination of the common ingredients and textures linking a bzillion different types of sweet treats.)

(c) Pop Chart Lab

And finally, Constitutions of Classic Cocktails breaks down nearly 70 famous drinks into their constituent parts. Apparently, this is the most elaborate chart that the Lab folk have ever made – it is beautifully designed and unbelievably detailed. Whether you’re looking for inspiration to get shakin’, know a dedicated barfly with a birthday coming up, or just like the design, this is a good ‘un. I love it because to me it looks as though the cocktails are at the centre of a mysterious sort of galaxy. Or perhaps cocktails are like the Wheel of Fortune. And let’s face it, when the drinks are flowing, both of those statements are generally true.

If you’re thirsty for more info, you can check out many more educational works of art at the fabulous Pop Chart Lab site here.