Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

No, this is not a review of The Power of One , a Bryce Courtenay book. Although I expect I'll be writing that review within a few years. Stay tuned while I write about music, Apple and Taylor Swift instead? Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple on her website's blog - To Apple, Love Taylor - explaining why she doesn't like something they've chosen to do. Apple's new music streaming service will not be charging for music for three months (yay for users / customers), nor pay artists for the use of their music (not so yay for the artists). Swift explains why this is unfair to artists, writers and producers. "We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation." I like your thinking, Taylor Swift. The world responds by writing about Swift's letter / blog post. Apple is rich and has the money to pay artists , the world says. So let Apple pay the artists . In a world built on (and from, I think...

" Iedereen is van de wereld En de wereld is van iedereen " "Everybody belongs to the world And the world belongs to everybody"   ~ The Scene

Disclaimer first: I know Tommy personally. He's a great guy with a head full of amazing ideas. I honestly wish I'd written down some of the stuff I've heard him say in the past as he's an inspirational guy who never stopped following his dreams.    That out of the way, now let me say:  WOW!  This sounds ab-so-lute-ly amazing !!!!!!!! I'm a big fan of rock music, anything that sounds like I can dance to it while singing along, really. Trance music however tends to give me a headache - no joke. This music I turned on to listen to, thinking I wanted to reTweet it and needed to know it wasn't horrible or headache-inducing. Twelve minutes in I'm still listening and enjoying the sound. Half an hour in I'm surprised I'm still enjoying myself. I'm still in my chair - barely - however I'm certainly moving to the music and honestly, I'm liking the sound. A lot. An hour on and I've listened to the whole set. My very first hour of trance ev...

I put my headphones on earlier (as there was some construction work going on close by) and was listening to Manu Chao which tends to make me smile and want to dance along. As I walked (or waltzed? seeing my hips were definitely moving) into the kitchen trying to remember all the words to " Me Gustas Tu " I was focused on the music. And on the smell of coffee coming from the coffee maker, in all honesty. Which means that, without pause or hesitation, I walked straight into the open door of a kitchen cabinet which struck my forehead and has now left me with a pretty impressive bruise. As I stood in my kitchen repeating "owowowowowowow" I figured this might make for a fun blog entry which is why instead of drinking my coffee while it's hot, I am writing down these words. You know what - I've decided that hot coffee comes first after all; it smells divine.

I'm not usually one to add videos to my blog, I'm more a pictures / photos kinda girl. However, I just HAD TO post a link to this awesome band. Check out Bring Me Home by Square Attic!

Very, very quick post after reading a news story about Lady Gaga... Apparently some narrow-minded people were protesting outside one of Lady Gaga's concerts about how she is very outspoken about gay rights, and LG sent a huge long message to her fans through Twitter basically saying to ignore the protesters and be glad to love instead of hate. "Don't waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see...   I wanted to make my fans aware of my views on how to approach, or rather not approach, these kinds of hate activists...   Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are..." (Source: Lady Gaga's Twitter page   ) Awesome to read a message like that - not a self-promotion or anything like that, simply a message saying "this is what I think, and this is how I think my fans should handle these people." By loving instead of hating. Awesome message. M...

I love listening to music. I love re-discovering a song that I've known for years, that I've heard so many times, and then reading the lyrics properly and seeing the song in a whole new light. I love the way a song brings back memories of good times, of bad times, of fun times, of sad times, of people and of situations. I've got songs I associate with people, songs I associate with experiences, songs I just love because they brought me comfort or joy at one point in my life and listening to those songs reminds me of the tough times or the happy times and the fact that I lived through those experiences and survived -That I  came out stronger and more sure of myself, with new knowledge and experiences to add to the story of my life. One of my friends loves finding songs and song lyrics online that express her feelings. Whether she's been through a break-up, she's happy, she's sad - anything, she finds a song that matches her mood. I love that about her an...