I don't really need this.

Things that made me happy this weekend

Weekend’s not over yet but still, here are a couple of things that surely made my heavy heart a bit lighter that last couple of days:

1. the weather:

Yes, I’m that easy. I just need 3 minutes of rain (the first rain this year, mind you) and I’m as happy as can be. 

I mean don’t let this picture mislead you, my window is still wide open and I’m still walking around half naked around the house but at least there’s this clear after-rain air coming in and it’s wonderful. 

2. Seeing my silly family:

We all met yesterday for the Azkarah (memorial thing) of my grandfather who died before I was even born (cancer). It’s nice to see the small Winter clan every now and then. They are funny people.

This picture is a bit too hard to explain but I’ll try: That is my father there holding his daughter (on the left) and his grandson (on the right). So actually, that girl on the left (my half sister, who celebrated 1 year of existence last week) is the aunt of that little creature on the left (my nephew, who will be exactly 6 months old on Monday). Confused? I don’t blame you. 

3. Food, of course:

I think it has been almost two months since I went home for the weekend. Which also means it’s been this long since I had a decent Friday night dinner with my mum. I had a dream a while ago where I ate her food and it was so real I just kept craving her oven baked potatoes ever since. So I made some! it came out pretty accurate, I must say. I added a Seitan steak and some green beans. It was almost too tasty. I might never go home again. 

(I’m going this Thursday, for the holiday)

4. Radiohead mixes:

I love Radiohead and I love remixes. I sure do love Jamie xx so I’ll start with him:

So at first listen (which was a while back when Jamie himself played this during his mix for FACT) I was quite disappointed. I guess I was expecting something else altogether. But you know how it is with music. For me at least, mostly when I don’t like/ understand something at first, It becomes one of my favourites later (my first listens to Amnesiac made me go “WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM ME HELP” and now it’s my favourite album of all times). So yes, now I like it. A lot. I think it’s very different than most remixes we heard on this (amazing) series. There’s a reason for them calling it a “Rework” rather than a Remix. You can barely recognize the original song here but the more I listen to it the shorter it seems to me, too short. 

So yes, this Rework + the intoxicating air coming into my room right now through the window = pure happiness.

Next we have Anstam:

Separator must be my favourite song off the album so it’s kind of hard for me to hear people messing about with it. Still, there’s something very pretty about the powerful metallic beats and pessimistic vibes Anstam chose to insert into the song, turning it almost into something you might hear in the background of a deserted battle field. It’s a whole new way of hearing this song. In the long run, I don’t know how I feel about him (them? her? no one really knows) taking the most uplifting song on the album and turning it into something so gloomy, but I still do think that the remix itself is a good one and maybe it’s just because I really do believe that this song is already perfect as it is that I find it hard to accept. On the other hand, that’s kind of bullshit because I am a great believer in the power of the remix and I’ve seen brilliant songs become even better (that’s the miracle of the remix) so I guess only time would tell how I really feel about this one. 

Last but not least, we have SBTRKT:

I already really appreciate SBTRKT’s work so I was anticipating this one as well. I’m not let down by it. It’s a good, solid remix and I can definitely see myself dancing around my room to it not long from now which is, I think, the whole point. SBTRKT plays well with the already existing elements in this song and adds a nice beat, not really messing with the original structure of the song (even the bridge is still there) but making it a lot more suitable for all them record spinners out there. I like it. Maybe a bit to easily. That’s never a good sign. 

5. Going to a Hip-Hop gig tonight:

I’m really getting back into hip-hop lately and it’s a lot of fun. I used to be deep into it in my teen days (god I feel so very old saying that sort of shit) but somewhere along the way we kind of went our separate ways, although I always tried to keep an eye for it. I think I failed.

Lately I’ve been enjoying it more and more and I think it’s a beginning of something beautiful. I have so much to discover and explore but I’m sure I’ll have a hell lot of fun doing so. 

Israeli Hip-Hop was never something I had much appreciation for, I think mostly everything sounds a bit sillier in Hebrew and most of the Hip-Hop scene around here is made out of stupid full of themselves people with idiotic lyrics and mediocre beats. Very frustrating. 

Tonight I’m going to see some Israeli Hip-Hop and I’m going to enjoy it. Finally I found a group that don’t make me roll my eyes at their songs but rather move my head up and down, just like Hip-Hop is supposed to make you go. They’re called Cohen@Mushon, based in Tel aviv and they have some great tunes. 

Tonight will be the big début party for their second album and I have a feeling it’s about to be a hell lot of fun. I’ll report back on it later.

Here’s one tune that I really love mainly because of the amazing beat behind it. Pretty awesome:

6. Blogging:

I don’t know why but blogging is fun.