Favourite Songs of 2010: Part 3

 

So I did decide to split it into 3 parts. Just because Part 2 was getting pretty long.

These last 5 songs were ones I only started getting into around November and December. Despite all but one being released before December!

Kelis’ Acapella was actually released in February! But I hadn’t heard it until after I heard Scream and went looking for other recent songs by her. It’s a song all about how her life was in acapella until she had her son and he became the music of her life. It’s a beautiful song lyrically; musically it manages to be soft but electric and makes you want to dance. Next time I get a chance I’m going to buy her album!

 

Rihanna’s another artist, along with Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, who seemed to be all over the place 2010. Rude Boy was a catchy song but I never fully warmed to it. But I loved Only Girl in the World more, which although it didn’t feature on my radar til mid December, was actually released in September. I love when the chorus kicks in, makes me want to sing it out loud!

 

To further prove I’ve been living under a rock for half of this year, Taio Cruz’s Dynamite only gained my attention in December, despite being released in July! And the main reason I heard it was because my 12 year old brother was going around singing it constantly. And I was pretty excited as I thought the lyrics were ‘I throw my hands up in the air sometimes/Singing Ayo, Galileo’. And I thought ‘Wow, I can’t believe someone is singing about the Father of Modern Day Science, how cool!’. Unfortunately, when I listened to the real version of the song, the lyrics are ‘Singing Ayo, Gotta let go’. And this story just goes to prove how nerdy I can be. I still sing it my way though.

 

Imelda May is one of my favourite acts. I love her rockabilly sound and the amazing retro clothes she wears. I bought her first album Love Tattoo in 2009 and played it loads. My mother also stole it off me and played it on repeat. I won a pair of tickets to see her live that year and never got a chance to go and I kick my for not going as she would have been amazing. 2010 was a great year for Imelda, she played at the Grammys, which is a fantastic achievement and released her third album, Mayhem. Which is also the name of the second single released off it. It’s toe tappingly good, up there with Johnny Got A Boom Boom.

 

The last song was released at the beginning of December and still is a big song here in Ireland. Horse Outside is a song about the merits of having a horse over a car, sang by The Rubberbandits. The video, which is a fantastic parody of certain Irish life, is half the fun of the song in my opinion, but it came on while ice skating a few days ago and everyone was shouting the ‘I’ve a horse outside’ part to the song. I have yet to be a club when it’s played but I can only imagine how popular it is there. The video and song can be a bit crude, so watch on your own accord! The song has garnered a lot of controversy, due to it’s bad language, how it portrays Limerick City in a bad light and the drug references. Personally I don’t see why people are taking it so seriously, it’s clearly a joke, as outlined by The Rubberbandits on The Joe Duffy Show (radio show for people to whiny about the most mundane of things).

Foodie Friday: My 2010 Resolution Dishes

 

So part of my New Year’s Resolutions last year was to cook 12 new dishes and to bake or make 12 new sweet dishes. I picked 12 as there was one for each month, even though it didn’t really pan out that way! I thought to ease me into more food related blog posts, I’d start by showing the lists from last year!

So when it came to cooking the more savoury dishes, some of them are mains, some of them soups and some of them more side dishes. I thought it would be good to mix them up a bit. Not all worked, most did though!

1. Spanish Tortilla (fell apart a bit but still tasted nice)

2. Round Roast of Beef with Yorkshire Puddings

3. Vegetable and pulse soup (so filling and lovely!)

4. Steak with fried mushrooms and fried onions

5. Veggie Burgers and tomato salsa (like to retry, veggie burgers were a bit gummy)

6. Spaghetti and Meatballs

7. Roast Vegetable soup

8. French Onion Soup

9. Butternut Squash and Chicken Risotto

10. Mushroom Soup

11. Chicken and Roast Veg Cous Cous

12. Cheese and Bacon stuffed Chicken Breast

13. Cheesy Broccoli Gratin

14. Potato Bake

15. Chicken and Mushroom Vol Au Vents

For the baking and sweet dishes, it was a lot more hit and nice. Though some of them I’d definitely like to retry and some have become baking staples.

1. Czech Honey Cake (didn’t work out, so yummy when I tried it in Prague though!).

2. Yoghurt cakes and yoghurt muffins (great way to use up just gone off yoghurt).

3. Honey Granola

4. Chocolate Eclairs (pastry came out well, didn’t like the chocolate topping though).

5. Raspberry and Blackberry Sorbet

6. Apple Tart

7. Apple Crumble

8. Apple Caramel Cake (we had boxes of picked apples at mine!)

9. Tres Leche Cake (from The Pioneer Woman, turned out too soggy!).

10. Tiramisu (chocolate flavoured instead of coffee).

11. Pizza dough.

12. Red Onion, Garlic and Mozzarella Foccaia.

13. Turkish Delight.

 

I’m going to do the challenge again this year, so any suggestions on what to make would be great! I’d love to hear your ideas.

Favourite Songs of 2010: Part 2

 

I was going to originally have all the songs in one post but as I went through them, I kept remembering more and more! I probably have enough to make a third part to this but we’ll see how it goes!

X Factor has influence on people whether they like to admit it or not! Adele’s Make You Feel My Love was actually released in 2008 but the first time I heard it was when it was used as a song choice during the knock out stages in X Factor. It’s popularity on X Factor caused the song to re-enter into the charts, which I’m glad it did, otherwise I might never have heard this beautiful version of the song (which was originally a Bob Dylan song fact lovers!).

 

While on the subject of X Factor, the next song was featured on there too. Diva Fever covered Barbra Streisand, but 24 hours previously I had just heard the Duck Sauce version. And it was stuck in my head. After X Factor it was everywhere and permanently stuck in my head. Duck Sauce is a collaboration between DJs Armand Van Halen (who I have heard of, most recently due to Bonkers with Dizzee Rascal) and A-Trak (who I had never heard of, but he’s worked with, amongst others, Kanye West). Still a catchy tune!

 

Another person who was all over the place this year was Katy Perry. In 2010 she released California Gurls, Teenage Dream and Firework, all songs that have been popular and relatively catchy. My favourite was probably California Gurls, mainly because I enjoyed all the spoofs on YouTube about it. That and the awesome suit Snoop Dogg wears in the video. I want one.

 

Dance crazed of 2010 was whipping your hair. To Willow Smith’s aptly named Whip My Hair. There’s been a lot of comments on this song but you have to admit she has star quality for a 9/10 year old! And a mature quality to her voice, a lot of people thought it was Rihanna. I hope she does well in the future. Also, seeing as I’m all about the spoofs these days, there’s an awesome Sesame Street and Willow mash up, check it out here.

 

Scream by Kelis is the first Kelis song. I’ve loved Kelis since her first song Caught Out There and bought her album Tasty after hearing Milkshake just once. I was flicking through the music channels once day when I saw Scream come on and then forgot about it! Not because it’s a bad song but because I got carried away by the rest of the day and just forgot. When I finally remembered and looked it up, I listened on repeat. The music is produced by David Guetta, which usually means I like it! And there’s something about the lyrics during the quiet piano part that just speaks to me. There’s two versions of the video. Both are actually the same, the second was made to work with old school blue and red 3D glasses, something I can't wait to watch once I get my hand on a pair of them!

Favourite Songs of 2010: Part 1

I have a feeling quite a lot of my posts for the next week or so will centre around 2010!

I’m going to start with my favourite song for the year. The rest then will be in no particular order. Some aren’t that amazing, they were just so darn catchy that I couldn’t help but love it!

My favourite was Tightrope by Janelle Monáe. I saw her on Ellen in May for the first time and fell in love with her and her music. It’s like James Brown, crossed with Outkast, mixed a bit with Lauryn Hill and a dash of Prince. Incredible vocals, with jazzy funky soulful sounds that make you want to get up and dance. Which I often do. Her album The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III), which was released last year, is a mixed bag of different sounds but Tightrope is definitely my favourite. Sounds like the love child of James Brown and Andre 3000 and makes me get up and dance, clap my hands and slide along the floor. If you haven’t heard it, you should definitely listen!

 

I stumbled across Lights On by Katy B at the beginning of November when I saw it on a friend’s Facebook page. I don’t often listen to songs that others post, as I can be quite fussy when it comes to music but for some reason I was compelled to do so. I love the song! It kinda reminds me of UK Garage music from the early 2000s, mixed with some R&B. It features Ms Dynamite, which is, despite all the moaning on Youtube about her contribution to the track, an added bonus for me as I love her first album. This song was just released a week ago and Katy’s tipped to be the next big thing for 2011.

 

Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding was one of the first songs I liked last year. It has a dreamy quality to it but the chorus also makes me want to dance. It’s not usually a song I’d like. I love the video as well.

 

Speaking of making me want to dance, that’s what Usher’s OMG makes me do when I hear it. Not the best lyrically, probably not my favourite Usher song either but it’s damn catchy!

 

It wouldn’t be 2010 without Lady Gaga! While I loved Bad Romance and probably preferred it over her other songs released, Telephone definitely stands out. For the amazingly crazy video and how catchy and dancey it is.I also love all the spoofs, covers and mixes. I like The Key Of Awesome and the office version spoofs. I like the classical instrumental version Aston do as well as the Lady Gaga vs Metallica bootleg.

 

Probably THE song for the summer was We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool Vrs DCup. It took a few plays to grow on me but when it did I listened to it for days. Everyone went wild when it was played in clubs. It’s short, catchy and a fun tune. Video is pretty funny too.

 

The last two songs for this post are ones I’ve already blogged about. Hollywood by Michael Bublé and Fuck You by Cee-lo Green. Click the links above to read about them!

New Year’s Resolutions!

So until last year, I never really ‘did’ New Year’s Resolutions. I thought they were lame. Why promise to change something just at the being of the year? Why not make resolutions throughout the year, try better yourself all the time? I used to bite my fingernails and one day just decided to stop. And it worked. I think if I had made it a resolution though, I would have failed.

I don’t know what changed last year, but I decided to make some resolutions. I supposed I needed some focus, something to work towards. And that’s important more this year than ever before. I suppose they were more goals that resolutions, I was trying to achieve something instead of just change something. These are the ones I did manage to achieve:

1. Cook 12 new meal dishes

2. Make 12 new dessert dishes

3. Watch 50 films I’ve never seen before

4. Start a blog!

The other stuff I didn’t get around to completing, like read 50 books (I got as far as finishing 14, plus starting another 10. I like to have several books on the go), my weight loss goal (though I gave it a good try) and visit 3 new countries (money restrictions prevented this unfortunately, otherwise I would have).

For this year, I think I’ll stick to similar enough goals, but I might modify them a bit. So here they are!

1. Cook 12 new savoury/dinner dishes

2. Make 12 new sweet dishes

3. Read 25 books

4. Watch 50 films I’ve never seen before

5. Eat more fruit and veg

6. Lose weight and exercise more (I do have a more specific goal than this, but I don’t want to talk about it just yet)

7. Write more on the blog

8. Get a job

I also want to learn a new skill, I haven’t decided what yet but I might start that a few months later, I don’t want to load too much on at one time.

Hope 2011 and is going well for all of you so far. What are your resolutions? Do you make them? Do you stick to them? Let me know!

30 Day Music Meme: Day Twenty Seven

Day 27- A song you wish you could play

Today’s song came so so SO close to being Day 20’s song (A song you listen to when you’re angry). But I decided to hold off for today’s one. As I would LOVE to play this on the violin.

Vivaldi’s Winter (especially the first movement) is probably my favourite piece of classical music. I just look the fierceness of this piece, the staccato notes add urgency and it really does invoke visions of winter, iciness and blizzards for me. I could just listen to this all day every day.

For the videos, I have chosen two versions. The first is closest to the version I have on my iPod and the second I found while scouring through so many different videos to find the first one!

30 Day Music Meme: Day Twenty Six

Day 26- A song you can play on an instrument

Like most Irish children, I learned to play the tin whistle in primary school. In first class, the year before we started lessons in class, I picked up my cousin’s tin whistle and taught myself to play the chorus to Turn on the Sun by Nana Mouskouri. First song I learned to play in lessons was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I continued playing traditional Irish music on the tin whistle for another seven years, including in my Junior Certificate Music Exam.

I have a relatively good musical ear. Not great, but I picked up my friend’s guitar and taught myself today’s song. Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. Granted, not the hardest thing, but I have always been interested in learning how to play the guitar. Interested but not motivated. Story of my life.