Music Favourites: November 2014

5 most listened to songs for the month :

(Random Order) 

1. Thinking out loud- Ed Sheeran- X

So as a dancer, the most attractive quality in a guy is if he can dance. And not just the Dougie. If the guy can lead you in a romantic couple dance song or has amazing Usher like party moves, I am swept off my feet, gracefully.
Ed sheeran or otherwise Ronald Weasely. Haha, I m kidding, or maybe not. So this Ginger, writes unconventional rap. He also sings cute songs with Taylor Swift. And, "It's too cold outside, for angels to fly" from The A-team is his genius work.
Love song X dancing. DONE DEAL. X is by the way read as Multiply, that is the albums name. It's a generic love song, with a very beautiful and addictive tune. Plus, the video, my oh my, is the cutest thing ever. From his video where a puppet version of him runs around town (Sing!) to a hip-hop dancer breaking into homes and weird parkour (Don't), Thinking out loud is my favourite video (I have the chronic case of Dancers bias).

It's is just 5 minutes of pure ballroom choreography by Nappy-Tabs ( Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo). Nappy-Tabs are famous for their lyrical hip-hop pieces from So You Think You Can Dance (I LOVE THAT SHOW). But this cute ballroom has so much of musicality involved. 

A little into Nappy-Tabs brilliance, Top 3 favourite Sytycd Nappy-Tabs routines:

1. Get outta your mind- Alex Wong & Twitch- Season 7

2. Bleeding Love- Mark & Chelsie- Season 4

3. Scars- Robert & Dominic- Season 7

Back to Ed Sheeran, being the amateur dancer he is, he did a good enough job as a dance partner in most lifts and as an artist to give a great cinematographic support to his music. 

This song, is my go to song before I go to sleep, and when I am in that "lovey-dovey" mood.

Great Song. Great Video.

8/10.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-EO5I60KA

"Darlin' I, will be lovin' you till we're seventy"

........

2. Blank Space- Taylor Swift- 1989

Taylor Swift has smashed records with her new album 1989. The album is a commercial success debuting number one on U.S. Billboard 200, it became the highest sales week since 2002 and Taylor swift became the first artist to have sold a million copies or more within a week. 

Taylor swift used to write a lot of Country-Pop and now she has moved to more Pop and Synthpop (pop with the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument), and well it is clearly working for her, even though she has still stuck to her love song writing.
This song is not like the lovey-dovey cute song or the generic break-up song. It is a whole new level of creepy. If you have watched the movie Gone Girl, you will get the whole creepy girlfriend/wife vibe.

The video begins with Taylor Swift, the 'serial-dater' in her castle in the most gorgeous black lace dress. Her lover for the weekend, Sean O'Pry (MY O' MY) arrives in an AC Cobra. The music goes, 'Oh my god, Look at that face', when he arrives which is so apt.

Their relationship is in the beginning stage. They have their royal dinners, walk around the lawn with 3 Rottweilers, chase each other, ride bikes in the living room, carve their names on a tree, etc. She paints a portrait of him and then hangs it in a hallway filled with defaced portraits of all her other ex-lovers. Only at this point you realize how creepy this is going to be.
So they are out, for a picnic, and she catches him texting someone else. This unleashes the Stalker/over-possessive/creepy/jealous girlfriend that she is.

Things to do if you are the creepy jealous kind:

1. Fight. Chuck a flower vase at him.

2. Wear a leopard dress and mascara (not waterproof), sit at the fireplace. Cry and let your make-up be the evidence. Punch a hole in the wall. 

3. Drop his phone, in a fountain, while he is watching. Metaphorically, the woman he was texting is also drowning.

4. Take a knife, or a sword, and deface the portrait of him that you painted. 

5. Take a pair of scissors and cut out 2 holes from his Armani shirt so that we can see his nipples. Just like how it is done in Mean Girls. If you feel adventurous, give the shirt some cowboy frills. Cut some pants to make them into sexy shorts or 3/4th's. Be the designer you always wanted to be. 

6. Stab a Heart shaped cake so that red blood-like liquid comes out of it, for the Dramatics sake.

7. If you have been the kind who thinks being the Princess from Disney movies is too mainstream, go ahead be the evil queen with the poison apple which is also a voodoo doll that controls the guy.

8. Throw a temper tantrum by taking a Golf club and smashing his BEAUTIFUL vintage AC Cobra. You can pretend that it is the girl he was texting and or your Tai Chi teacher because channelizing your anger didn't work and he wouldn't give your money back.

 9. Take an axe and chop down the tree you carved your names on. There is nothing more liberating than deforestation.

10. If smashing the car doesn't help. You can cry and throw a tantrum while sitting on his dead body (If you manage to kill him), that would definitely win you an Oscar.

If you are Sheldon Cooper, I WAS BEING SARCASTIC. Don't be a creep.

The video ends with Sean O'Pry running away, and Taylor Swift welcoming her next victim.

On the amount of Dramatics and Creepiness Scale, with the music and Taylor's amazing fashion sense I will probably rate this an 8/10.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg

"Cause darling I'm a nightmare, dressed like a daydream"

........

3.Uptown Funk- Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars- Uptown Special (2015) 

As the name suggests, the song is a Funk and Soul tune. The Lyrics don't mean much but the music is so catchy. The minute you listen to the song, you automatically go into the nodding and snapping your fingers mode. It is a great workout song if you like gymming to funky tunes. 

The video has a 1980's vibe to it. Hats, Gold chains and Funky Blazers. I don't know how Bruno Mars does it, but he pulls off that pink blazer with such funk. The video is based on Bruno Mars' funky moves, and the hooligans walking and dancing around a vintage car. Like the lyrics, the video is pretty meaningless. But the Funk factor is maintained.

For being snazzy and funky.

6/10.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0 

"Girls sent you Hallelujah."

.....

4. Secrets- Mary Lambert - Heart on My Sleeve 

So we all have our share of secrets. Secrets that we tell our closest friends only.Secrets that we take to our graves. Embarrassing secrets, hurtful secrets, bad memory secrets and what not. Mary Lambert effortlessly tells us something that P!nk tried telling us. SO WHAT?

We need to stop caring about what everyone thinks of us. Everyone judges because everyone has their likes and dislikes, basically opinions. It's good to have opinions on things. It is bad to promulgate negative opinions because that might overshadow the truth that you missed out. But it is worse to be affected by bad opinions or opinions you don't necessarily like in a self destruct fashion. Sometimes, being affected by a negative opinion helps us in finding a flaw and fixing it, only if we consider it a flaw in the first place. If it is just a personal trait, just because it has a negative opinion attached to it, DO NOT make it a flaw. For instance, being over weight is not a flaw. If someone calls you fat, the only thing that you should be thinking about is if it healthy for you to be that way, if not, get healthy, not size zero. If you chose to live with the unhealthy lifestyle then being called fat should never affect you. So you shouldn't care what people say once your choice is made.

I followed a rant-y tangent. Anyways, the lyrics to this song are brilliant, so much depth comically executed. 

It is fine. Don't let the secret eat your insides. Let it go.  

Mary Lambert is asking you to come out of your secret closet. LITERALLY.

Haters Gonna Hate.

Potatoes Gonna Potate. (huh?)

It is a catchy pop song, with THE best lyrics for the issue at hand.

8/10.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqqqV50zaAc

"I love my butt and I won't shut up."

......

5. Yellow Flicker Beat- Lorde- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 OST

ARE YOU EXCITED FOR MOCKINGJAY PART 1? If you don't live in India, you'd have probably watched it. Mockingjay Part 1 releases this week in India, Nov 28th to be precise. And I CAN'T WAIT.
I hate to admit this, but I haven't read the books. Please don't hate me. I thought Hunger Games would be like Percy Jackson. Yes, I know, but I didn't like Percy Jackson. I hated the first movie. It was boring and I swore to not watch anything like that EVER. That was also an added reason so as to why I didn't read the book then. Now, after watching Catching Fire, I am inspired to read the book. (Divergent also goes by the same line of inspiration for me)
I have been waiting for Mockingjay. For the aftermath of Catching Fire. For J.Law. For Peeta. For EVERYTHING.

Okay, I just fangirl-ed for a paragraph, but it's allowed.

Lorde, is a year younger than me, I am sorry but I can't get over it. It is also one of my driving forces, "Lorde is a year younger and she has won 2 Grammy's already, what have you done?".
But man this girl is on fire. From Royals to Tennis Court to Yellow Flicker beat she has taken her eerie-spooky yet amazing style of music and is headed towards World Domination.
The lyrics are so deep and mature for a 19 year old. But that's Lorde for you.
That is the reason why this song goes so well as the Soundtrack for Mockingjay in terms of the correlation in meaning of the movie, book and song.
The tied up boy-cut updo looks so amazing, And her Red Blazer and Pants set is just phenomenal.
Lordes' dancing skills are a little unconventional. If you have watched the video of her cover of Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, you will know it's her signature hand gesture dance,

Her vocals are killing. The vibe is fantastic. The Lyrics are beautiful.
10/10.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdILZ_1P74

"And I'm locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me"

So, I hope you enjoyed reading my little rant about my favourite music for this month.

Ok. Thanks. Bye.

Fin. 

Zohan: A Gift from God

I have this thing for names that start with the letter 'Z'. If I had a choice to name myself, I would probably go with Zoey or on similar lines. I also have this thing for dogs. Who doesn't have a thing for dogs? Dogs are the only species that have this unbreakable bond with humans. They are not here for our whole lives, but once you have the beautiful experience of loving and living with your own dog, you know your life feels whole.

Most movies that have dogs in them instantly attract my attention, but Marley & Me, damn, that movie made me cry like a baby for hours. One of my favourite quotes from that movie:

“A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?” 
― John Grogan, Marley & Me

There isn't one thing that I wouldn't agree with in that quote. We humans are scared. We can't trust our species completely, ever. No matter how "madly" you are in love with a person, be it your partner, parent or child; we never give our complete trust to them. We are a little short circuited in our brains that way. We are scared of being disappointed or of being a disappointment, and hence we just don't trust, because that is just so much more easier. But you see, loving your dog, is a whole another level of trust that you start to feel. There is this really cheesy saying about how the eyes are the gateway to the soul or something, I still do find it really cheesy, but I guess it works for dog-human eye contact. Everyday when I come home from college, my dog greets me by frantically (in a good way) jumping on me and I have to eventually pet him. There is this look in his eye. I know it is not his puppy dog face because dog owners just do know those kind of things, but it is this look which just has pure unconditional love in it. He looks up at me with his beady hazel-brown-black-ish eyes, and I picture a whole universe in them, and I am fine. Things are just fine. Life is sorted.

Okay, I am getting overly philosophical about it, but that's what my dog does to me.

At the age of 5 I made my dad stop the car during a moving-house road-trip from Mumbai to this small town called Hashimara in West Bengal, which is a journey of about about 2400 kms. Before I go onto why I made my dad stop the car (No, it was not for a pee break, I wouldn't give that much build up for that, or maybe I would, hehe), I am an Air Force brat, my dad worked for the Indian Air Force for a long time. I have changed over 6 schools and lived in most parts of India (how much I brag), so yes, we used to move from one place to another by taking that once in 2 years over 2000 kms road-trip and it was always a lot of fun. So back to why I made my dad stop. I saw a puppy stranded on the side of the road, and like a brave naive kid, I went and picked him up and played with him for a long time. We fed him, and then it was time to leave. That was the worst feeling ever. But it was also the best feeling ever too. Because I knew it meant so much to me to be able to spend that little time with that tiny puppy. That puppy was a fortunate stroke of Serendipity. By the way, Serendipity is my favourite word.
It made me love dogs for the rest of my life. Every year from that incident, my Secret Christmas Wish List Card to Father Christmas would be about how I want a dog, or rather how I NEED a dog. I was very angry at my parents for never getting me one for a very long time, and I almost gave up when I was about 17 years old. It was like everyone was sent on this planet for a purpose, and my purpose was to love my dog. I can't really fulfill the purpose without having a dog of my own.
Years of waiting, and 1 Engineering semester later, 25th of December 2013, My Mom walks in with this brown ball of life in her arms, and I am fine. No, I am not just fine, I am FAAAIINNNEEE. Life is wonderful.
That my friends, was the BEST day of my life.

So my doggy, is an English Cocker Spaniel, is the most hyper thing in the whole wide world, barks at the milkman every single day, loves people and is my everything.
Like I said, I have this thing for names that start with Z, we therefore named him Zohan. No, my dogs name is not inspired by the horny Adam Sandler from 'You don't mess with the Zohan'.
Zohan in arabic means, a gift from god, and well he definitely is a gift from god.
We eventually realized that shorter names are easier to train dogs, my Mom eventually started calling him Zo-bee, and now he answers to that and a lot of other names and sounds.
He loves boiled chicken. He will run in his sleep and find you if you say the word 'leash'. He hates it when people are scared of him and hence barks. He can't walk in one straight line, zig-zag is his favourite pattern. He is so stubborn that he will lie flat on the ground and refuse to move if he doesn't want to move. He loves fighting with my sister. He will roll all over my feet when I come back home. He manages to knot his hair into big bunches (I need to cut them off). He requires about 10, 100 meter sprints around the house after a bath to warm himself up. He loves sleeping with all four limbs out, in his famous cockroach pose. He loves sleeping in general. He loves cheese. He hates being combed. He is extremely possessive about his toys and his leash. If you ask him to fetch the ball, he will run to it, carry it in his mouth, run towards you and then run away from you, he will NEVER drop the ball. If he has done something naughty and you scream at him from the other room, he will still know you're scolding him and hence will stop and look down with an "oh-shit!" look.
He is THE cutest thing ever and he turns 1 today.
YAY! :)

Somethings you should know if you just got a dog, or are planning on getting one.
Things that Zobee taught me about owning a dog:

* Start the Potty Training by the 3rd month, we started way too late, and now it is so difficult. Because we were moving houses, we just put newspapers in one bathroom and now that's where he poops and pees. Still, train your dog early.
* DO NOT give them chocolate or raisins. Raisins and Grapes are extremely poisonous for dogs, certain breeds can die instantly. Salt is also bad for them. These are probably the kind of things that the vet will tell you anyway.
*Don't give your puppy more than one chicken leg to eat, In excitement they will chew,crush and swallow the whole bone, but at about 3 a.m. there will also be undigested chicken leg puke.
*Dog Food is the best food, packed with nutrients. Coat supplements, Liver health tonics are all cool too. Most of them stink like hell, so be prepared.
*If you don't know what Ticks are they are these beetle-ish looking insects black in colour with I think 6-ish legs and are found usually near the neck region. If you ever find them, go to your vet, figure out the anti-tick medicine. If you find a tick which has grown pretty huge with a white ball kind of structure surrounding it, your dog will most likely get the tick fever. Go to the vet as soon as possible.
* If your dogs snout swells up because a bee bit him, do not freak out, one injection and it will all be fine.

These are some things that I did not know until I actually got Zohan.


So, this was a tiny blog-post for my tiny baby dog, who is THE best dog in the whole wide world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOHAN :)

As an ending note, I completely agree with Rita Rudner.
"I wonder if other dogs think Poodles are members of a weird religious cult".


Tribute blog-posts are quite a thing this November.



Woof.
Fin.

10 amazing things about having a younger sister

12 years ago, my Dad woke me up at 5am on the 3rd of November 2002 and asked me, "Did you want a baby brother or a baby sister?", half asleep and disoriented I answered, "I know everyone says it would be nice to have a brother, but I want a little baby sister". To that my Dad had the most simple reply which is the 2nd best moment of my life as an older sister (1st being actually meeting that crying pink ball for a human progeny), he said, "Then let's go meet your baby sister".

At 7 years 3-ish months of age, that is the best thing that you want to hear, a little kid, who you can dress up and play your kitchen-set/doctor-set/barbie/hotwheels-track-set/teddy-bear/tea-party-set (I had a lot of toys) with.
But most importantly, friends will come and go, things always change, but your sister will always remain that one constant in your life that will always be there for you no matter what.

When you are 7 years older, you automatically become the older responsible one, and trust me that is so annoying when you're the kind of kid who breaks an arm while doing cartwheels and plays basketball with boys twice your age. Basically, being the hyper kid I was and being terribly annoyed at the "responsible" one tag, It is only later in life that you realize how responsible you have become by default and how protective you feel towards your kid sister because she means the world to you.

Yes, now she's 12, uses my makeup (ugh), takes my earrings and other accessories (ugh), creates a mess with her craft things which is surprisingly bigger than the mess my dog makes (UGH!), it is all so terribly annoying. We fight, she cries, Mom screams at me, My Mom and I fight, I don't talk to her for a few hours, and then we are fine. It's like the sisters version of Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. I guess it applies for every sibling. No matter how bad the fight is, you are genetically designed to like each other.

So, back to the subject, today is my sister's birthday, and I feel a little generous. Without further ado :

10 Amazing things about having a younger sister.

1. She is like your Lab rat. I made that sound so horrid, okay, basically, she is your test model. Your first attempt at a new hairstyle or whatever is usually on her.
Well, I am an amazing older sister and I have successfully executed everything from fishtails to lace braids to dutch braids on her beautiful long locks.

Side french braids twisted into a fishtail. Learnt from binge YouTube-ing.

All credit goes to:

https://www.youtube.com/user/CuteGirlsHairstyles and

https://www.youtube.com/user/LuxyHair

2. Whenever you're bored, she is always there to entertain you. When the world gets boring you can always count on your sister to entertain you by either being the nutcase that she is or by simply annoying her (I am horribly sadistic, I think I have a problem). Former sounds like the most probable scenario in my household, but yes, you can always force her to get into the car with you to go to the supermarket because your Mom makes you do boring things like that and hence make something as boring as buying groceries interesting by skate-shopping-cart-boarding. (That was one long sentence)

3. You have a built in ally with your parents. Apart from the times that you tell on each other. You take the blame for the others mistake because you know the other would do the same as an unspoken rule. You cover each others ass in all cases.

4. You can be the weirdest and silliest version of yourself and she wont judge. Wont judge? She is just as weird as you are.

5. You can trip on the weirdest things from dog videos to the kids on Ellen DeGeneres show at 1 a.m. with her, just because both of you feel like it. 

6. You can take her to the Gaming Arcade and go absolutely bonkers by letting that kid inside you. Being the younger one, she will make sure that the kid inside you is let loose in all possible cases. On the bright side you will still beat her at Dance Revolution due to the added advantage of experience.

7. You can watch Disney movies back to back with her, and she'll always sing along when "Love is an open door" plays (Frozen is OUR movie, well it's the international symbol for sisters really). Being the older one, you will always introduce her to the coolest things because watching the reaction is priceless and almost like reliving your own childhood.

8. You will always be the first person she will come to you for advice on anything from academics to boy issues to fashion expertise. No, she will not go to Mom first, you will always be first. It's comforting to know that no matter what, you will always be number 1 on someones list.

9. She considers you as her role model. Being the older one you get to be THAT role model for someone. Two things happen due to this, One, it is extremely flattering to know that your kid sister wants to be just like you when she grows up, Two, because of the fact that you're a role model to your own sister you will always have that moral conscience kick in when required (which otherwise wouldn't kick in as hard because you aren't accountable for anything or anyone, it's actually really subjective), to be a good person at the end of the day, because somehow you feel that responsibility towards your baby sister.

10. She is your first real best friend. A built-in best friend since childhood. :)

P.S. Happy Birthday Samriddhi. I hope you had the best day :)

#SisterLove

#LameHashTagsBecauseIamBored

#OkayThanksBye

Fin.