Everyone's favourite Belgian :)

So I'm back in our new and fabulous house in wonderfully overcast Guildford,and we've been in a bit of a Jonatan Cerrada frenzy for the last few days.I've finally got round to buying La Preuve du Contraire,and it should come next week,so that's something to look forward to (I hope).
Myself and Keira have been quite taken with this song (the video's quite nice as well :) )

Now I'm not the biggest fan of Spanish music (possibly coz I don't speak Spanish),but I'm thinking this is rather good.I'm looking forward to the third album anyway.

Am I really what you idolise?

There are many jobs in the world that I'd like to do.I'd like to be a translator for Interpol or an EU organisation.I wouldn't mind being a multilingual journalist for VG in Oslo.And I'd love to be Aleksander Denstad With's backing singer (amongst other things).But unfortunately for the minute,I'm stuck (once again) with walking around Gillingham in the rain delivering cosmetics,catalogues and Chinese take away menus.My back hurts,my shoulders hurt,I've pulled more muscles than I knew I even had,and I'm getting paid bugger all :( I'm just looking forward to moving into Europop Mansions in Surrey next week,knocking up some Loving Potion and watching endless repeats of this year's Eurovision :) In the mean time though,I guess this might cheer me up...

10 things to love about Oslo

So I've just been reading EuropeCrazy and seeing as it's a year today since I went to Oslo for the first time, I felt inspired to compile my own list...



1- Oslo Sentralstasjon
Yes, it may be one of the favourite hangouts of Oslo’s junkies (so I’ve been told),but I’ve never noticed any there. Anyway, as far as train stations go, I like this one. There’s 2 shopping centres attached to it, what’s not to like?!



2- Karl Johan’s Gate
Bit of a common touristy option, but Oslo’s main street is wonderful. Lots of fabulous shops like Bikbok, a nice big H&M and several Platekompaniets, it’s a great place to fritter away your hard earned krone! Not that frittering away your hard earned krone is that difficult to do anywhere else in the country… Karl Johan’s Gate is also home to such buildings as Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament, which is a much prettier building than ours), the National Theatre and det Kongelige Slottet (the Palace).

3- Norwegian generosity!
From what I’ve experienced, Norwegian people are lovely and friendly. And they’re also generous when it comes to students. I saved lots of money at various places like Holmenkollen, the Nobel Museum and the opera, just for looking young :) No one even bothered checking my international student card, which is a bit of a difference to here in Britain, where they analyse everything in detail trying to catch you out and stop you getting your precious 10% off. So that was nice, particularly seeing as Oslo is the most expensive city in the world and everything.


4- Narvesen shops
I know you can find them all over Norway, and I know they’re just newsagents, but still, Narvesen shops are cool! And they do good offers like hot dogs for 19 krone and pizza for 22 krone and stuff. If only we had them here…

5- Public transport
What’s so special about a few underground trains and tram lines? Well, nothing really I suppose, it’s just that in Oslo I can use them without getting confused like I would in London. For a start, there’s only 6 underground lines, which can only be a good thing. And the stations and trains never seem to be ridiculously packed like they are in London. Of course, Oslo is small enough for you to walk to most places, but just in case you’re lazy, it’s nice to know there’s a good public transport system :)



6- Dronningparken
Dronningparken is part of the Palace grounds, and it’s my favourite part of the city. It’s a nice place to sit and relax, (apart from if you get accosted by the local ducks like we did :) ),and it has very pretty little lakes.

7- Fit men
Oslo (as I assume is also the case for the rest of Scandinavia) is full of ridiculously attractive men. Which is nice. Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence of this, but just as a guideline, Oslo is where the lovely Bjørn Einar Romøren comes from, and a good percentage of the population of the city are just as sexy as him. If not sexier.


8- Anker Hotel
It’s not a particularly attractive place from the outside, and it’s certainly not in the most attractive part of Oslo either, but it’s where I’ve stayed on both occasions now, and I couldn’t imagine staying anywhere else. Fabulous service (ooh I sound old), fabulous views (now I sound even older), and the biggest breakfast buffet I’ve ever seen at a hotel!


9- Aker Brygge
Aker Brygge is where I want to live one day, it’s lovely. Very lively when the weather’s nice, but still kind of romantic on the not so nice days. There’s loads of shops and restaurants (I recommend the Albertine Bar, it’s super), and if you go round the other side and go to the top of the Akershus Fortress, there’s fabulous views of the Oslofjord.


10- Holmenkollen
Going to the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump is without a doubt, the scariest thing I’ve ever done. But it was completely worth it, the view from the top is pretty spectacular (although it would have been even better if it hadn’t have been so bloody cloudy). There’s also a ski jump simulator at the bottom, which I would have liked to try, but seeing how scared I was going to the top of the tower, simulating going down a high slope at 90mph probably would have been even worse!

All this time I've been hiding

I can't seem to get enough of Aleksander Denstad With at the minute,I think he's quite wonderful *sigh*.I just found this video anyway,I've never heard the song before,but it's called This Is Life.I dunno who the girl singing is,but I don't like her voice.

What a wonderful thing,a sunny day...

As someone who's proud to be of Italian origin (and therefore gets excited about any mention of Italy in the media),and who is also partial to a bit of Dima Bilan,imagine my excitement when I found this video just now.

I must say,I never thought Mr Bilan would cover a 100 year old Neapolitan love song (particularly after his recent hip-hop shenanigans with Timbaland).But it's obviously from some film soundtrack,and I think it's rather nice :)

Grr

I'm even more gutted the ski jumping wasn't on telly now I know that Bjørn Einar Romøren won it.Bloody snooker or whatever it was taking up the Eurosport schedules!

I wish your heart was big enough for the two of us

I'm feeling miserable today because everyone seems to be going on holiday,and I'm stuck here in nasty rainy,windy Britain :( And to make things worse,there's no ski jumping on Eurosport today.I don't know why,they showed every competition on telly last season...Anyway,I just found out that you can now go to Oslo from Gatwick.This is good news,and something I think might just come in useful sometime soon.
To prevent myself from being more miserable than strictly necessary,I've been listening to some good old Europop.Notably these ones...

Aleksander With- A Little Too Perfect

If you don't have Aleksander's album,Coming Home,then I suggest you buy it.There's some wonderful pop on there,my favourite song is called How About.It's super,and not your typical everyday pop song.Unfortunately though,he hasn't released it,so there's no video.However,A Little Too Perfect is also a fabulous song,it's like a musical tiramisu!I don't know who the drummer in the video is,but he's quite nice.Aleksander's not too bad either.I love Norwegian men,I can only hope to have one of my own one day...:)


Røyksopp- Eple

Not quite Europop,but fabulous all the same.I love the video to it too,it's a bit cool.Well,I like most of Røyksopp's videos actually,but this is my favourite.And Melody AM is quite possibly the second best album I've bought this year.


Marie Serneholt- The Boy I Used To Know

I've mentioned how much I love Marie Serneholt on here before.Her album Enjoy the Ride is as close to pop perfection as you can get and I've been getting into this song again lately.It's not quite as good as I Need A House and some of the others,but it's still very catchy and poptastic.There's no real video to it yet,but someone's made one,with lots of annoyingly good photos.I seriously don't think there is such a thing as an unattractive Scandinavian...

Just a thought...

Did Gracia really deserve to come last in Eurovision 2005?If my memory is correct,there were most definitely a lot worse songs than this one.Turkey's Rimi Rimi Ley maybe?

The world is mine and I'm feeling so divine

I've always had a bit of a fascination with Belgium for some reason.Maybe because it's the home of the European Commission and EU Council (who I want to work for),maybe it's because the Flemish language is really cool,or because the smell of the chocolate shops in Bruges is the best smell ever,or that's it's the only country I've ever been to twice for about 6 hours in total.Most probably though,it's because Belgian men are fit,on a level only the Scandinavians can match :) I particularly like Tom Boonen at the minute,he was rather super in the Tour de France this year,and as the guy on Eurosport said- "He's a Belgian superstar...you don't get to say those words very often."
Belgians are also pretty damn good at pop music,as I discovered last year when I came across the brilliant Tired by Das Pop.And there's Jonatan Cerrada as well obviously,but my new favourite Belgian band are Hooverphonic.I only discovered them yesterday,but I've decided I really like them.
This is a really cool song,called You Hurt Me.Couldn't find the actual video on youtube so I've just got a live version,but it's just as good really.


This is good too,it's called One,and it's full of wonderful dreamy vocals that remind me of Karin Dreijer's on the Röyksopp song Sparks (which I also love).The video is arty and a bit strange,but it also has all the lyrics in it,which are quite pretty.


According to the fountain of all knowledge that is Wikipedia,this song The World Is Mine was the theme song from some programme on Sky One.I think it's my favourite Hooverphonic song so far,it's very happy,and is about as different from One as you can get.