Merry merry Christmas to you all!

For now all the gifts should be wrapped (I just finished my last ones), cards written and food cooked. Some of you have already eaten, some of you like me are still suffering in hunger! Unfortunately in few hours this slightly pleasant pain will be transformed into a heavy aching full of guilt and regret, just like every year. And just like every year, automatically "The serious diet" promise makes it into the Top Five of New Year's Promises-list. Whether you actually start it or not, that we'll discuss in the future, there's literally no space for worrying about that today. So here are my very deliciously fishy Christmas wishes to you all!! Let me explain that "fishy" is for typical italian Christmas-meal tradition as here all you eat before Jesus was actually born is fish, fish and fish. That means fish starters, fish pasta, fish steak and fish desserts! Kidding, no fish desserts but almost. That's all folks!

Merry Merry Christmas !!

Sincerely yours,

Merilin.

Groove baby just groove!

Duck Sauce - Goody Two Shoes (Viceroy Edit) by VICEROY

Oh aren't they just two very groovy brothers?! Sooo loving the track right now!

via electrocorp

Party, love, get high and crazy - that's what summer's all about.

Living in a limbo

Ciao belli miei! Oh my god it has been REALLY a long time since I have written here.. But it was crazy at school and I was afraid to fail. I isolated myself definitely from all the distraction-factors.. (not quite - I fell in love and now that definitely isn't something you want to eliminate;) ). Anyways.. It was a real nightmare, the exams I mean.

Here's a brief & boring description of how this horrible torture at the end of the 5th year of art liceo (in the architecture section) looks like in Italy: first you have three different written exams: an essay in italian, a project in architecture (which lasts for three days) and finally the terza prova, the most frightening test which containes 12 questions on 4 subjects (philosophy, maths, english and art history). Oh, and in only 2 hours! The maximum you can get is 45 points (15 points for each exam). Then, once passed, you do the oral exam: first you may present your thesis (I kicked off with photography) and you'll connect it with other subjects and later you'll be interrogated on the whole program in all subjects. The maximum you can get is 30. Plus you present the credits you have got over the years (maximum 27) and in the end.. the most brilliant student can get 100 points as the result of his/hers Esame di Maturità - literally "the maturity exam", (for some years it has been renamed to Esame di Stato although). All this in 10 days. The results come out on the 16th. I'm still tramuatized, it has been for a week now that I dream of how I still must go through it, over and over again! God.

But to hell the exams, school's over. It's OVER! I cannot quite believe it. I have no special summer plans. I'm back at my home (alone, my parents are on a vacation in Salento, click here to see the photos of our last year's summer vacation there) and I'm really enjoying this limitless freedom. I have no future plans either, they all depend of my exam results. Feels like I'm living in some sort of a limbo at the moment, not bad I must say. I'm gonna go now, I'll get back to you soon but I won't promise anything. It's too sweet to have no programs!

xxx,

Merilin Kook.

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it

Friends... I've got SOO many things to tell you about and no time at all! I'm gonna anticipate a little:

First of all.. you may have noticed the red badge on the right.. (go on and click on it!) I was contacted by two french editors who officially live in London but actually operate from all around the world few weeks ago for an interesting project, all about it tomorrow.

On Tuesday I'll be moving. That isn't such a new thing for me, I've lost count on how many times I've moved in my life but this time it's a BIG THING as I'm leaving my parents house and going to live all by myself. All about the house and the place next week, with loads of pictures. The place is A DREAM!

And there is one last thing.. remember I told you about my intention to study architecture in London.. well.. well.. well... For now it seems that I have been accepted at the Westminster University! I still can't quite believe it. It was totally insane how I prepared my portfolio in only 10 days. The most intense days of my life.. I will tell you all about it soon with tips and links and guides for all of them who want to study in London.

PS! Listen the song, I just can't get enough of it! The man is a genius! I've heard Breakbot live twice already, both on events in Rome, one of which was the incredible "L'Ektrika Winter Attitude". Don't you find the graphics of this video magical?! Check out the Wizz animation here!

Hope to be back soon although I'm facing the toughest study period at the moment (which lasts until the beginning of July!)

xxx

My Friday is Saturday!

As most of you are preparing for Friday night out, I'm... preparing myself to go to sleep - I've got school tomorrow, not that cool at all. Ah, but no worries, tomorrow night will compense everything as I'll be going with my friends to the vernissage of "VELENO", an exhibition of two italian artists, DIAMOND and JB Rock, who mainly do stencils. It's held in the MondoPOP Gallery, in Via dei Greci 30. I'll be definitely taking some pictures, so be ready! In the meanwhile here is a track I've been listening a lot lately, from the Hed Kandi 88 Nu Disco album.

And now go and have a crazy night out !

Buongiorno

Hello everyone! Justed wanted to say good morning and share with you this wonderful picture my friend Kadri-Ann made of me about a week or more ago. I've got some more of me and more of her, I'll definitely share the rest of it with you soon enough. I decided to not blog as my mother and sister went to Estonia for a week and I had the house all for me! This happens so rarely! I was actually a little worried, I thought that I might be temptated by friends to go out and take the last of summer but then (un)fortunately I fell on the stairs and hurt my toe so bad I still can't walk normally. So.. that's why I took the whole week off to do some important things: as I'm hoping to get in the university in London (architecture) I needed to work on my drawings and stuff for the portfolio. I already "passed" the IELTS test, which I told you about, and for my surprise I got 7.5 as a result. I was really worried about it because I did find it difficult when I was preparing for it with the "Preparation Book for IELTS" and thank god I bought that book, wouldn't have done it without it. Recommending it warmly if you are about to take that test too. Now it's up to writing a good personal statement and then we'll see what life brings. Any tips from you guys? I'd be happy to get some advice from you. Running now, my mom is returning today and I need to tidy up a little. Really excited about it actually as she promised to bring some goodies from Estonia (black bread and chocolate!) plus a book and some other stuff.. In the meanwhile I wish you a pleasant day!

xxx

PS! I almost forgot, here's a nice track- push play and get the energy to start the day;)

Groovy vs. Chilly

I'm not gone and I definitely haven't forgot what I promised you. Still working on my pictures and hopefully tonight I'll post them. Yee! In the meanwhile I wanted to share with you two of my favourite songs in this moment, one by Macy and another by Erykah.

Which one do you prefer and who do you prefer?

I'm personally a big Erykah lover and Macy usually doesn't make it to my playlist but this song is good & groovy, just the way I like it;)

.. and suddenly everything feels right

no big talking today:
Today was/is one of those days when nothing seems to go right. I guess the sun isn't illuminating my sixth house rightly or Mars is positioned badly- I always blame it on the stars. It's kinda easier to have an excuse when things aren't going well, don't you think? But an excuse won't do alone. You need a thing, a trick which makes the blue cloud vanish away. For me it's music. Amazing how it works sometimes: listening to the right song is like taking a pill and pufff! the stress is gone. This one saved me today:

What's your "anti-stress pill" (and if it's music then which is your song) ?

PS! If you're looking for a good horoscope online check out elle.com, they've got daily, weekly and monthly predictions and trust me, very often they get it right!

Back in business!

Hey guys! I'm back ! Finally! Ohhh my trip was so great and it gave me such good energy, I can't even belive it. The wheather was great since the first day I got there, for the first two weeks it didn't stop snowing and when it wasn't it was sunny all day long. I managed to see all my relatives (I have so many of them) and spent some really great time with my closest friends. We hanged out at different events and parties, we even went officially clubbing (since it's strictly forbidden in Estonia to enter the club if you're underaged and this was my first time in Tallinn as a "grown-up"). This time it was all about relaxing too (usually I stress myself to do everyhting to be everywhere to see everyone), my mornings were really lazy and my days weren't planned at all, it was all about going with tha flow... Since it got really crazy in Rome before going there, it was exactly what I needed.. :) I took so many pictures, mainly of the nature, so be patient cause I promise you some really great shoots. I just need to sort them out (out of 2000).

In the meanwhile I thought my first post back in Rome should involve this nice house in Brazil as this year I'm trying to concentrate more and more on architecture, design and interior design. When I first saw this villa I remembered right away about my uncle who's visiting his friends in Brazil... he's probably sitting at the Ipanema beach right now and enjoying the nice view on the ocean (oh yes, and the girls).. What lucky guy. Strange thing, lately I've been quite a lot on the brazil-wave, from the food to the music (even live! on my trip I managed to go on a great jazz concert where they played mixed bossanova rythms, I'll tell you about in my next posts) and I really can't wait to go there on my own one fine day. Has anyone been there? If you care leave a comment about it:)

So before enjoying the pictures of this villa, push play on this lovely song by Astrud Gilberto, one of my faves!

PS! Don't you just looooveeee the stairs? Without them the house loses half of the magic, don't you think so? :)

Take me to Ipanema

Take me to Ipanema so I can breath the exotic air of the beaches, feel the breeze of the wind while it's whispering sweet things through my hair and watch the waves kissing the shore in the golden sunset...

Ahh.. You get the mood I'm in right now? It's winter and it's cold I'm hell missing summer!
I was putting together this year's holiday compilation and came across bossa nova on iTunes. More precisely Astrud Gilberto, a brazilian singer, who's songs are so elegant and extremely relaxing (and differently from her co-artists of bossa movement, never make me sad). If you haven't heard of her before then you surely know the The Girl From Ipanema, which she, by the way, sang famous (in english) in 1964. Here is the story of the song..

..It was 1962 when Jobim saw the girl.

Tom Jobim was a Grammy-award winning Brazilian song writer/performer who is considered to be the primary force behind the creation of bossa nova style. (wiki).
Jobim used to hang out always at Bar Veloso, an open air veranda-style bar where to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, chat with friends, read newspaper and watch pretty girls walk by. A definitely place-to-be in the trendy and artistical Ipanema, a beach neighborhood in South of Rio de Janeiro.

Almost every day a certain girl passed by the Veloso. She was tall and tan and young and lovely with long borwn hair and green eyes. The way she sensually swayed her hips and rather coldly ignored the whistling and cat-calls of the men at the bar certainly made her more special and beautiful of all the other girls. And Jobim fell in love.
"Isn't she the prettiest thing?" he said one fine day to his friend, Moraes, who wrote the line on a napkin and later elaborated the lyrics of the song.

In 1963 Jobim flew with his friends Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and his wife Astrud Gilberto to New York to record an album for Verve Records.

It was then that the idea of recording an English version of the song popped-out of their minds and Astrud was suggested to sing the part. Though she wasn't a professional singer, she was the only one who spoke English and could pronunce the words correctly plus she had a very sensual voice that well suited the theme of the song. In 1964 it became a world-wide hit and won a Grammy a year later.

And so was it back in home, Brazil, where mystery around the identity and the existence of "The It Girl" grew. It took a while until Jobim got the courage to introduce himself to the girl and reveal the truth. With the ice finally broken, he set out to win her heart. On their second date, he stated his love for her and asked her to marry him. Unfortunatelly that never happened, as she was already promised to her fiancè at the age of 15.

"She is a golden girl, a mixture of flowers and mermaids, full of light and full of grace, but whose character is also sad with the feeling that youth passes and that beauty isn’t ours to keep. She is the gift of life with its beautiful and melancholic constant ebb and flow."
- Revealed: The Real Girl from Ipanema.

The girl is Helô Pinheiro. (check!), (she is also the one in all of the pictures, exept for the first coloured one).

Only 17 when Jobim saw her the first time.
Shy and insicure of herself.
And she became the It Girl.
She was tall and tan and young and lovely, in his eyes.
And when she passes, each one she passes goes "Aaahh.."
And when she walks, she's like a samba that swings so cool and sways so gentle,
all in his eyes..

She was a real boom in the 60's, 70's and even 80's. Every single girl (and woman) wanted to be her. To evoke sensuality that entices men everywhere to dream. To be a fantasy of an exotic dream woman who embodies the elusive essence of everything that is desirable. But the thing is.. every woman can be and IS the Ipanema Girl, just in her most simple ways.. don't you think?

Listen on youtube the song by Astrud (click!)

Oh but the night is young ..

.. and so am I. (tomorrow I'll turn 19!:)



You're my last breathe
You're a breathe of fresh air to me
Hi, I'm empty
So tell me you care for me

You're the first thing
And the last thing on my mind
In your arms I feel
Sunshine

I put my iTunes on random play while I was photoshopping some pictures of Halloween (I'm gonna finally post them today!!) and suddenly Moloko started playing. It was a while for now that I hadn't heard their songs and I got so nostalgic! Four years ago when I was 15 I listened intensively their music, and there was this particular song I was so in love with- The Time is Now (I really felt it close, especially the first lines of the song...). I remember walking on every breezy morning (it was november) to school with snow storming in my face and listening the lines ".. flowers blossom in the winter time, in your arms I feel Sunshine..". I have to thank my friends Eva, Riin, Karilin and Anna-Liisa for introducing me this fantastic group in the first place. Miss you girls:) . It was a really great period, I miss it a lot, I remember celebrating my birthday with them and while preparing for the night (make-up and dress-up and usual chit-chat fun) Moloko was playing the whole evening.

Although I really like Moloko, I like better Ròisìn's songs, they fit more my personal music taste, more soft. She is really great: from disco icon to fashion icon: we saw her singing on Paris Fashion Week Viktor & Rolf's S/S'10 "Cutting Edge Couture" collection presentation.

!!!

Just listen her on youtube IF you think you haven't heard her before (the first one you definitely have) YOU WON'T REGRET! :

-The Time is Now (click!)
-Scarlett Ribbons (Ròisìn's solo project) (click!)
-Let Me Know (Ròisìn's solo project) (click!)
-Orally Fixated, the NEW SINGLE (click!)
-If We're in Love (click!!!)

PS! And if you care more you can check out this blog which posts pretty much about every single thing that goes on in Ròisìn's life as an artist. (click!)

About Lavazza, the calendar and Italian music

I never watch TV exept for some movie (although rarely), the Victor Victoria show (it's really awesome, I should post about it in the future) and the talent show X-Factor. It's actually sad to admit but the italian television is very poor and all you see is stereotype shows that offer nothing else than trash. But X-Factor is something different, maybe because of it's origins or because they just simply stick to the point of the show and that is MUSIC, quality music. And they have managed to have some quite important international artist as their guest like Mika, James Morrison, Skin, Tokio Hotel (okay, I just didn't mention it, I do not like them but it's crazy how popular they are among youngsters), Anastacia, Eros Ramazzotti, Take That... and the reason why I'm writing this post is... tadatadaaa...... Tonight's guest is going to be WHITNEY HOUSTON! I'm exited about it because she is really great and I'm happy that she managed to do a decent comeback, her new single Million Dollar Bill is really good. Now talking about italian music instead.. In these days Lavazza has publicated some photos from the every-year's calendar shoot and this year "Italian Espresso Experience" is all about the italian music tradition. Italians are really proud of their music and there are some songs that seem to never fade away from the italian's minds. So this was the perfect occasion to celebrate them, take a look at these shoots. After last year's a little more romantical calendar (take a look at the kissing picture on the right, with Vatican in the backgorund) Lavazza has decided to go back to their usual a bit surreal and bizarre style.
Photographer: Miles Aldridge
Creative curator: Armando Testa
Models: Georgia Frost, Lydia Hearst, Daisy Lowe, Alexandra Tomlinson, Alek Alexeyeva and Bianca Balti.

January-February "Va Pensiero"


March-April "Guarda che Luna"


May-June "O Sole Mio.."


July-August "Con Te Partirò"


September-October "Baciami Piccina


November-December "Nessun Dorma"

Stéphane.. Stéphane.. oh my love!

Let's talk about music. Good music. Quality music. For me it equals with a man called Stèphane Pompougnac. Many of you may know him already, but many of you may have heard about Hotel Costes. If not I make it quick to explain- Hôtel Costes is a famous luxury hotel in Paris (239 rue St-Honore) more famous for it's bar and courtyard lounge. Stéphane started working as a waiter at one of the bars that the Costes brothers held- the Costes Cafè, circa in the eighties. In the meanwhile he was also playing discs in such spots as Privilège, Diable des Lombards and Les Bains Douches. Finally in the 1997 the hotel realized what a talent he was and hired him as a resident DJ instead, he was just what the Hotel Costes' lounge cafè so desperatelly was screaming for. And then in 1999 the first album of this collaboration was born! Oh that glorious day! (The song you can hear on my blog - My Funny Valentine, infact, is the first song of the first album. I die everytime I hear it.) And the family has got larger! Infact about a month ago the 12th album of Hotel Costes was released.



I got to hear it all and I must say I did like it. Not bad. Doesn't beat the first one, doesn't beat the third one (!!!) but I'ld give it 7 points out of 10. Not bad as I CRITIC, trust me! So here's the list of the tracks, check it out and listen and tell me all what you think about it!

1. Unforscene - Alright
2. General Elektriks - Raid The Radio
3. Stephane Pompougnac - Latin Cha Cha
4. Normalites - Pink Skyscraper
5. Natural Self - In The Morning (Version) - good stuff. I like the back and the rythm.
6. Tafubar -The Wicked Thoughts Of You (Pete Phunk Afternoon Rhodes Remix)!
7. Afterlife And Pete Gooding Present No Logo - How Many More Years
8. Damian Lazarus - Diamond In The Dark
9. Malik Alary Feat. Manu D - I Have To Run Away
10. Massivan - 2 B @ 1 With The World
11. The Revolution, Cameron Mcvey & Stan Kybert - You Wouldn’t Want To Be
12. Charles Schillings Featuring Juanita Grande - One On One
13. Ben Westbeech - Get Closer !!!
14. Dj Vadim – Beijos
15. Sei A - Ether
16. Despina Ricci - Plage Ensoleillee