“Sure you can, old sport,” Gatsby said. Boy, was he wrong.  I remember when professor Wadlington talked to us about this Gatsby, and how he’d been so misguided. He’d invested everything into going back in time to get something that was impossible. Poor Gatsby. It was always too late.

I’m only looking forward. Back there is nothing. Absolutely nothing.  Everything is ahead.

More repeats – I’ve been printing some christmas cards, lots of them, with a lovely lino cut I’ve made of a moose. I’m very fond of mooses and grab any opportunity to see them when they’re on the TV,  but I’ve never seen one in real life.

Red, green and blue Mooses

You can now buy these christmas cards in my Etsy shop. I hope you like them.

Nu ma pricep la televiziune nici macar la modul amator. Nu ma pricep tehnic vorbind. Nu stapinesc limbajul specific si nu am fantezii regizorale. Dar stiu ce-mi place si sint sigura ca remarcile mele sint sustinute de bun simt, de experienta ochilor zgiiti la tv si de o oarecare posesie de emisfere cerebrale stinga si dreapta, cu a caror uniune fericita ma laud uneori.

 Sint un observator  cindva avid, trecut prin faza indignarii, momentan blazat de atita zappare  sterila. De fapt, nu sterila e cuvintul cel mai potrivit, mai degraba daunator. 

Fiind dintr-o generatie mai veche, avind un copil de iubit, dar mai ales, de crescut cum stiu mai bine, “bine” fiind cuvintul cheie, ma zbat ca pestele pe uscat sa-i cultiv (si) simtul muzical. Din pacate, el are déjà 6 ani si singurele sunete armonice –mai mult sau mai putin- pe care le-a procesat sint cele de la radio. Unele dintre CHR-urile noastre dragi, care se asculta, se cauta, se vind ca piinea calda si se bat intre ele mai ceva ca zmeii din poveste. Am gresit refugiindu-ma in lumea mea, cu castile pe urechi, ascultind in mod egoist ceea ce eu credeam ca mi se cuvine exclusiv. In capul meu era ca nu trebuie sa “deranjez restul lumii” cu toanele mele hedoniste. In plus, am un mod foarte ciudat de a asculta muzica: ori o pun pe repeat, ori sar dintr- una in alta, fara sa le las sa se consume, daca simt ca ma consuma, ambele variante fiind cit se poate de enervante pentru posibila audienta. Eu ascult jazz. Funky.Metale grele. Blues. Oldies. Multa chitara. Bass (uuh, so sexy)!

Bun, dupa “preludiul” asta prea lung si pentru o virgina, incerc sa ajung la mesajul din titlu. Din vinovatie asadar, si din nevoia de a compensa si mai ales, a indrepta propriile greseli, am incercat sa caut un post Tv muzical care sa ma ajute in acest demers. Constat inspaimintata si indignata de lipsa de respect prin omisiunea din target pe care mi-o furnizeaza toate televiziunile de profil ca oferta e compusa din: “videoclipuri” vechi, facute cu picioarele, care au sarmul lor si locul bine stabilit in evergreenuri, dar tot cu picioarele ramin facute si cu un sound de faci riduri, ori duduite uleioase care se mingiie intru slava irigarii organului masculin. Toate pe fond negru, toate supra-tencuite, toate cu chiloti si centura, tocuri, ude, uscate, fierbinti-pina-la-overheated, mustind de fetisuri defetisizate si toate, dar absolut toate, cu cadre realizate cu incetinitorul, in timp ce ele inchid ochii, “patrunse” de moment. Acuma…avind creier de femeie, sigur sint mai rea si mai putin ingaduitoare pentru ca pe mine nu ma excita. In absenta altor pretentii de emotii pe care mi le-ar putea stirni, mai ramin cu asta. Daca tot s-a generalizat ca sexul vinde, mie de ce nu-mi vinde nimeni nimic? Sau de ce nu incearca, macar? Bagati-ma si pe mine in prostitutia voastra, daca aveti cu ce…Promit sa platesc cit face.

I like to test images out for the ability to repeat, ’cause I do love repeats! This is a photo of part of a baking tin that has been used as a paint palette.

An organization will not begin the transformation until it is aware that the quality of the product or service must be improved. Awareness comes about when an organization loses market share or realizes that quality and productivity go hand in hand. It also occurs if TQM is mandated by the customer or if management realizes that TQM is a better way to run business and compete in domestic and world markets.

Automation or other productivity enhancements might not help a corporation if it is unable to market its product or service because the quality is poor. The Japanese learned this fact from practical experience. They could sell their products only at ridiculously low prices, and even then it was difficult to secure repeat sales. Until recently, corporations have not recognized the importance of quality. However, a new attitude has emerged—quality first among the equals of cost and service—the customer wants value.

Quality and productivity are not mutually exclusive. Improvements in quality can lead directly to increased productivity and other benefits. The improved quality results in improvement in productivity, capacity, and profit. Many quality improvement projects are achieved with the same workforce, same overhead, and no investment in new equipment.

More and more corporations are recognizing the importance and necessity of quality improvement if they are to survive domestic and world-wide competition. Quality improvement is not limited to the conformance of the product or service to specifications; it also involves the inherent quality in the design of the system. The prevention of the product, service, and process problems is a more desirable objective than taking corrective action after the product is manufactured or a service rendered.

TQM does not occur overnight; there are no quick remedies. It takes a long time to build the appropriate emphasis and techniques into the culture. Over-emphasis on short term results and profits must be set aside so long-term planning and constancy of purpose will prevail.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

O.K. Periodicals nummertje drie ligt alweer in de winkels, met dit keer als thema: Herhaling.

Honderden mensen maken samen cover voor design-tijdschrift

De derde editie van het ontwerp-tijdschrift O.K. Periodicals is onder grote belangstelling gepresenteerd op het Illustrative Festival in Berlijn. Deze editie is zo bijzonder door de cover, die honderden mensen gezamenlijk maakten.

Eerste crowdsourced magazine-cover ter wereld

De derde O.K. Periodicals heeft het thema REPEAT, wat terugkomt in tekst en beeld èn op het omslag. Honderden mensen hebben een bijdrage geleverd door elk –handmatig of met de computer– een gedeelte van de cover na te maken. De bizarre, unieke reproductie van de cover laat zo, op visuele wijze, de kracht van het online netwerk zien. Het resultaat is de eerste crowdsourced magazine-cover ter wereld.

In de breedste zin wordt het themanummer over herhaling belicht in tekst en beeld. Met onder meer een intrigerend verhaal over een high society seriemoordenaar, menselijke printers, herhalende trends en patronen in mode, de beleving van iemand met het Gilles de la Tourette-

syndroom, illustraties van repeterende gezegdes, een interview met een Steven Spielberg look-a-like, een napratende parkiet, en nog veel meer uiteenlopende onderwerpen.

Het snelgroeiende & internationaal succesvolle O.K. Periodicals magazine werkt altijd met crowdsourcing en is op die manier in staat ominspirerend werk van gevestigd en opkomend creatief talent te laten zien. Elke editie zenden ontwerpers, illustratoren, kunstenaars, wetenschappers, schrijvers en fotografen van over de hele wereld werk in rondom thema’s als verzamelen, falen en herhaling. Met als resultaat een prettig verwarrend magazine dat prikkelt, verrast en verdiept. Maar vooral inspireert. Bekijk de sneak-preview op: www.ok-periodicals.com

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“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly, it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” – Joseph Goebbels

Here is the album review I promised on my twitter yesterday!  Before I start, once again I want to thank you all for supporting my blog, both my music reviews and my personal entries.  I really appreciate all the views and I hope that you’ll keep it locked here because I ain’t stoppin’! Thankyou.

You already know what I think of Russian Roulette, and the other 3 songs we’ve heard already from Rated R.  Generally, they portray a darker, edgier side to Rihanna, both in the production (deeper, more menacing beats) and lyrical content that includes a bit of cursing, a lot of swagger and references to pain, trials and tribulations.  ”Russian Roulette”, “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard” are more or less indicative of the album as a whole.  In contrast to her previous smash Good Girl Gone Bad, it’s a lot less uptempo.  The songs are mainly midtempos and ballads, which may alienate a lot of fans who want her faster, danceable material (though “Hard” and “Rude Boy” cater to these needs, and do so well with swagger lyrics – the latter seeing Rihanna come on to a ‘rude boy’ as if she were the guy who is gonna “put it on you”).  However, the slower material allows for two major things: one, to prove that Rihanna can actually sing.  Okay, she’s no Beyoncé, but she holds her own a lot better than many people might expect.  ”Russian Roulette” and closing standout “The Last Song” don’t employ lots of vocal runs, but they emphasise strong, clear vocals that prove Rihanna’s got a voice as well as a body – btw. the artwork for this era is immense! – and also go well with the more emotionally searching and vulnerable material.  Two, it allows for Rihanna to delve into her pain, and although it’s never made explicit that she’s referencing her love, abuse and love lost with Chris Brown, songs such as “Stupid In Love” and the epic “Cold Case Love” immediately bring that whole affair to mind.

Not every song is concerned with love lost.  ”Te Amo” is about a girl who’s infatuated with Rihanna, and its undulating beats have been beefed up slightly on the album version to make it more hypnotic and possibly (along with “Rude Boy”) the song that would have slotted in nicely on Good Girl Gone Bad.  ”Rockstar 101″ is backed up by Slash’s guitar work and like “Hard” and “Wait Your Turn”, it demonstrates Rihanna’s confidence in herself – something she perhaps wants to emphasise.  She is fierce!  However, compared to some of the other tracks, “Rockstar 101″ falls somewhat flat, as it doesn’t have as much depth as the emotionally-charged midtempos, nor does it ring as true as the harder-knocking songs.  It does demonstrate that Rihanna is not an urban artist – she’s a pop singer who encompasses a range of music. On this album, she combines elements of rock, pop, R&B and melds them together to create a dark album that works for the most part.  And credit goes to her for trying to improve on each album – like Good Girl Gone Bad, the amount of filler on the disc is fairly minimal (in contrast to her first two records) and she’s tried to do something different that has evolved as she has as a person.  So I must applaud that.

A couple of the ballads such as “Stupid In Love” and “Photographs” (which benefits from will.i.am’s synthed beats that kick in midway) are perfectly solid, but pale in comparison to the best tracks.  These are, in a nutshell, first single “Russian Roulette”, “Fire Bomb”, “G4L”, “Cold Case Love” and “The Last Song”.  These all work because Rihanna is putting herself out there vocally and emotionally.  The producers do a fantastic job (praise must go in particular to Justin Timberlake and The Ys’ work on “Cold Case Love”, which shows a gradual building of beatboxing, standard beats, guitars and strings to an epic climax that fades out by itself and underline Rihanna’s pain at a love misfired – “Release me now ’cause I did my time”) more or less throughout, but Rihanna herself carries the songs.  ”Fire Bomb” has been compared to something by Kelly Clarkson, but in my opinion it knocks much harder and is a compelling contrast to expectations – most people would expect a club banger from the title, when in fact it’s a slow pop/rock ballad which essentially says “if I’m going down in flames, you’re coming with me”.  ”G4L” is one of the darkest songs which shows Rihanna pledging to be “down 4 life”, ride or die until the end.  The off-key tweaks at the beginning signal something mysterious, and the lyric “I lick the gun when I’m done ’cause I know that revenge is sweet” is one of the best opening salvos I can remember.  The track brings to mind the tiny gun tattoos on the sides of Rihanna’s breasts, demonstrating that even if she may be a sweet person on the surface, she’s also a strong and determined one – her attitude is reflected in her music as much as her body art.

“The Last Song” was the track that stood out to me most from listening to the 30-second snippets, and it doesn’t disappoint – it’s a perfect closer to the album, not only in name but in texture also.  It employs a soaring guitar and heartwrenching lyrics, chronicling the realisation of a breakup.  ”The sad song ends up being the last song you’ll ever hear.”  Rihanna’s spare vocals almost seem to cry the lyrics throughout the track, and the buildup throughout the song until near the end where all the instruments fade out is done perfectly.  Rihanna said that she wanted Lil’ Wayne and Kings Of Leon to like her album, demonstrating her desired blend of urban and rock. The album is definitely a mélange of styles, but apart from “Hard”, I don’t see enough hip-hop for Weezy to connect with, and the rock elements are nowhere near as indie-pop as Kings Of Leon.  However, the soaring guitars provide something edgier and deeper within the context of a pop album, and the hard-hitting beats and synths knock plenty – the combination of which provide something quite extraordinary and special within itself.  Rihanna should be proud of this record.

Rated R has a focused aggression to it that rings truer than it did on Good Girl Gone Bad. Despite the lack of uptempo smashes, it’s a fantastic record that hopefully will have as much repeat-play value as her previous record.  Whether it’s because of her personal struggles, maturity as a young woman or desire to experiment musically (probably a combination of all three), Rated R shows growth.  I pray that her label doesn’t re-release the album, since it’s perfect as it is and comes across as something sincere, rather than designed to make money as a light pop confection.  Why I’m impressed with Rated R, beyond the simple fact that most of the songs are solid or better, is because it’s cohesive.  All the songs work together to make the album more than the sum of its parts.  It has a big emotional impact, and it sets a musical mood (dark, edgy and yet heartfelt) that doesn’t let up throughout – in her own words, from “Hard”, “that Rihanna rain/reign”.  I didn’t know if she had it in her to best Good Girl Gone Bad, but even if it doesn’t have as many number 1 smashes and addictive beats, Rated R is a musical step forward that I personally value that little bit more.

In management, we read a term PLC or Product Life Cycle. It meant that every product or product category has a defined life after which its public acceptance will start drooping down, diminishing. There are so many factors behind that which range from technology to public awareness, consumers’ want for more, competition,  consumer intelligence and, most importantly, fatigue.

While competition is an external factor, I’d like to count consumer intelligence or want for more as an internal factor in the product itself. Meaning that the product will, over a period of time, start losing its relevance or importance to the consumer. That the consumer will start feeling bored or tired of using the same product, same experience day after day. That his requirements and expectations will increase.

We have many examples. Starting from a poor landline phone which was hard to dial, to sleek business phones and blackberry, we’ve seen the transformation in little over a decade. Our poor PC that operated on Windows with basic functions has now taken various shapes, size, range and accommodates thousand times higher capacities than what it used to be ten years back. These are all results of fast changing consumer preferences with increasing usages.

Consumers develop a fatigue if they have to experience the same or a very similar product experience over a sustained period of time. The K-serials with Saas Bahu jhamela got over us to the hilt before Star had to take it off-air. Several other new formulas are going to meet the same fate on telly – be it reality shows with much of theatrical melodrama or, the so-called serials with social messages of child marriage, female foeticide and so on.

Remember, we had enough of “kutte main tera khoon pee jaungaa” in the eighties and they had to make way for refreshing romantic flicks. We had too much of one bad guy-in-a-happy-family-spoiling everything kind typical cinema in the name of family entertainment, very much like fatigued K-serials. They made way for better family drama like Waqt, Baghbaan and so on. With their new USPs they worked. We had too much of David Dhawan-Govinda kind cinema ruling the Bollywood for a long time. They worked when Bollywood was not producing enough of good humour. So, whatever vulgarity or flimsy content it came with, it sold with a particular category of audiences for a long time. Initially all those films had a Shakti Kapoor, Laxmikant Berde or so trying to poke with the same funny acts which failed to make you laugh after some time and looked idiotic. Qadar Khan’s double-meaning dialogues also faded out gradually. Soon, a new formula was devised by Dhawan sahib around infidelity where the hero would have two wives or multiple relations and his entire life went into saving both of his marriages. The initial bit probably amused some. But, he and some more film-makers went overboard by giving us so many films that I can count at least 8-9 films made on the same plot, with good star-cast. Later ones failed big time. Interestingly, I remember at least 2-3 films each starring Govinda as well Salman, on the same plot. Then came more of infidelity a la No Entry style. Do Knot Disturb sealed the fate for many, with the same lesson.

When Priyadarshan gave us Hera Pheri, we thought a new saviour had arrived. Gadually, all his films started resembling with each other so much so that now you can predict the entire plot after hearing the first line of the story. All the climaxes resembled each other to the extent that you can take one climax and fit into almost all of his movies without affecting their result. I think, he would do better by shooting one climax with all the artistes (and crowd) showing their back while running the race. It can be safely used in all of his next films, in case he intends to continue his trend and have different artistes in different movies. Just hope that he has thought of some changes for the climax of DeDana Dan which gives a déjà vu of Hera Pheri. Priyadarshan ji, if you haven’t and you can still manage it, my humble request, please do it now.

Then Madhur Bhandarkar type of films come replete with pessimism and sadism where the director takes pleasure in watching you cry and act like a whistleblower. Man, it is good to be in the whistleblower’s shoes but, it is worse to believe that the world can only be seen in either black or white. There are shades of gray in everything. His plot is always conceptualized, designed and developed by painting things in black and white. Man, grow up. Nothing in this world comes in either only black or white. Selling pessimism for a very long time like those sundry Hindi News channels who always can be seen predicting the end of the universe on a particular date & time for umpteenth time cannot help. World would believe once, twice, thrice but, not always. Sell anything. But please do not try to hardsell anything more than twice in Bollywood anymore. That simply doesn’t work. Every profession, everything in life has a good side to it too. Had it not been so, forget other things, Bollywood would also have just been a scam, a fiasco called casting couch. But it is not. It is into serious business of making films. There are aberrations everywhere.

Surprisingly, we notice, most of the directors who started with the promise of making something different for us ended up being so different that all their respective projects started looking look-alikes. A direct lift from another earlier successful film. Sad.

To this context, I’d likes to say kudos for traditional film-makers like the Yashraj or Karan Johar’s banners which do not pompously make any promise to serve us “different” cinema but whatever they serve is generally not such a big lift from the older flick.

The recent fiasco of so many films has proved that you can sell any damn thing at least once in Bollywood with a good success, if it comes in a good and complete package. A repeat is also allowable. For that matter people may even watch the same film multiple times, if it is watchable. But, showing them the same film with another name won’t work. Similarly, re-packaging the same formula and content in the new incarnation like old wine in a new bottle won’t work anymore.

I think, I’ve got at least one of the many concrete answers for the question I asked in my previous bloghttp://passionforcinema.com/“who-is-to-blame”-introspections-by-a-young-movie-maker/

Must thank my readers for their contributions.

I used Photoshop to Design these florals after spending time in the Design studio in London. You spend forever drawing in sketchbooks and Developing you ideas at Uni then you get in to the real world and designs are produced within a matter of hours. These images were re drawn and scanned in to Photoshop where I adjusted the images, changed the colours and put my ideas in to a repeat design, it’s so simple once you know how and im pretty impressed with the outcome.

Congress passes $6,500 tax break for move-up or repeat buyers. Here is a link for full details: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/faq2.php

When I arrived in Philly to make the city my new home on November 5, 2007, the Red Sox were already World Champions, having swept the Rockies who swept the Phillies. The season was over, and I hadn’t given rooting for the local baseball team any thought whatsoever (though an Eagles game was on the night I moved in, I had already decided I would never be anything other than a Ravens fan, blackouts be damned.)

I had no idea that in a year, the Billy Penn curse would be but a memory, the Phillies would be World Champions of baseball, and Barack Obama would be elected president. It was a truly exhilarating time, in a good way. Better still, the Phillies followed up their championship run with a brilliant 2009 season in which they proved they were no flukes. I certainly didn’t expect Harry Kalas, the legendary voice of the Phils, to pass away so suddenly during the season. Now whenever I watch a Phillies game, I think about how much better and less bland it would be if he was the one doing the play-by-play.

Throughout the year this remained a tight-knit team of players who did a good job projecting the fun they were having playing the sport, and I had fun watching them and even going to two games at the Bank (one a loss to the Orioles, which wasn’t too bad, and one a win over the Nats, complete with a Werth Grand Slam.) They may not have repeated as we all would have liked (even expected) but they go into 2010 as defending Champions of the National league, and while the team is rather old, most of it will return intact, and hopefully with offseason transactions will return stronger than ever.

So I thank the Phils for putting up a valiant fight against the formidable opposition. The two best teams in the league played, and the most expensive one in the most expensive stadium in the most expensive city won. I can live with that. My disappointment will dissipate in time. And now I, like millions of Fightin’ Phils fans out there, look towards the future.

97 days and counting till spring training.

Mets fans, the nightmare is over.  The lesser of the two evils, the New York Yankees have won the 2009 World Series.  There will be no repeat in Philadelphia, thank god for that.  It was one of my biggest dreams for Shane Victorino, my most hated player in the sport, to be the final out of the series, and maybe it’s my present for having to go through such a World Series like this one.

Hideki Matsui won the MVP and it was well deserved.  He hit 3 homeruns, batted .615, and had 8 RBI (6 tonight) in the World Series.  If it weren’t for Matsui tonight, we would be looking at a Game Seven.

It was definitely a unique experience, having our two most hated teams face off against each other in the Fall Classic.  The Phillies going for their second straight, the Yankees going for their 27th.  To me, and probably most of you, the Yankees winning isn’t as bad as the Phillies getting that repeat.

The 2009 Major League Baseball season is now over.  We can all look forward to 2010 with fresh hopes and dreams that next year, the other New York team will be celebrating in late Fall.  It doesn’t matter what happened this season, last year, or even the year before.  2010 is a new year and we can dream about making the playoffs again.  The 2009 baseball season is over.  The Yankees are World Champions.  The nightmare is over.

What is it with socks? No matter how many pairs I buy I can never find two that belong together. Each morning i am to be found performing the same desperate routine: find sock, search for similar, pull out likely candidate, compare, contrast, abandon, repeat. And repeat. And repeat.*

An alien archaeologist, on discovering them, would probably conclude that I had made a special collection of odd socks (‘possibly for ritual purposes’) or else that ‘the inhabitant of this dwelling was almost certainly one-legged.’

As indeed I sometimes wish I was. Or at least ‘odd-legged.’

* And yes, I do know it’s my own fault for not pairing them up before I put them away.

As we all know this World Series hasn’t been easy for us Mets fans.  Our two biggest rivals, the Phillies and the Yankees, face off in baseball’s biggest stage.  The Phillies try to repeat while the Yankees try to win #27.  Mets fans were torn up on which team to root for, and most of us have decided to root for the Yankees.  They always say to root for your league but how can we when our biggest rival, the team that has stolen our division title, a team that has flat out embarrassed us since September of 2007.

The Phillies making the playoffs for three straight years was bad enough.  Them winning the World Series last year was even worse.  A second straight National League pennant hurt just as much.  And now, they have a chance to repeat, after us Mets fans thought this series was over after Game Four, and that just cannot happen.

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds were the last National League team to repeat as World Champions.  The 2000 Yankees were the last team in baseball to have done it, and we all remember because of who they beat.

Hearing the words “Phillies” and “dynasty” in the same sentence makes my skin crawl.  The Phillies are, and will never be anything close to a dynasty.  As Mets fans, the thought of it just makes us sick.  And if the Phillies can win Game Six and Game Seven and repeat as World Champions, the word “dynasty” will be thrown around for a long time.  I don’t know if I can go a-whole-nother year hearing that the Phillies are the “defending World Champions”.

Most of us Mets fans, namely me, cannot deal with the Phillies winning two-straight World Series titles and being referred to as a dynasty.  That is why the Yankees have to win.

Ik heb het nu al twee dagen. Een liedje. In mijn hoofd. Geen idee hoe ik eraan kom. Het is nou niet direct mijn lievelingsliedje. Eigenlijk heb ik er niks mee. Maar toch zit het in mijn hoofd. In principe maak ik me er niet druk om. Het is immers een bekend verschijnsel. Iedereen die ik ken heeft het er wel eens over gehad. Vaak vind ik het ook wel leuk, vooral als het een lekker nummer is. Maar als zo’n nummer aanhoudt begint het na een tijdje te vervelen.

Vooral als het een paar dagen aanhoudt. Dan ga ik denken: ‘Kan er een andere cd op? Deze ken ik al!’ Helaas luistert het brein daar niet naar. Nee hoor, geen haar op z’n hoofd die er aan denkt om een ander nummer te spelen. Gewoon dat ene liedje. Keer op keer.

Ergens gisteren begon het weer. Het gaat zo: ‘Ik gelooof, ik gelooof, ik gelooof, ik gelooof, ik gelooooooooooooooff…. in jou en mij!’  Mocht je het niet herkennen, het is Avond van Boudewijn de Groot.
Heb ik iets met dit nummer? Nee.
Hoorde ik het laatst ergens waardoor het nu in m’n hoofd zit? Niet dat ik me kan herinneren.
Had iemand in m’n omgeving erover? Volgens mij niet.
Ben ik dan fan van de persoon Boudewijn de Groot? Zeker niet. Integendeel, ik vind hem wat engs hebben.

Desondanks zit het liedje vast op repeat in mijn hoofd. En hoe. Wat een fanatiekeling. Het probleem is dat ik de tekst helemaal niet ken. Alleen die ene zin. Waardoor het dus een zeer eentonig gebeuren begint te worden, dat liedje in mijn hoofd. Stel dat het een doorsnee volzin met een paar zelfstandig naamwoorden en een leuk onderwerp en desnoods nog wat komma’s ertussen was geweest, dan had ik er niet zo’n last van gehad. Dan was er voldoende afwisseling. En dan kon ik daar de nodige woordgrapjes van maken. Maar dat nummer van de Groot…pfffttt… ‘Ik geloof, ik gelooooof, ik gelooooof, ik geloooof, ik geloooooooooof…in jou en mij!’ Het lijkt wel een mantra. Continue recitatie. Iets met bevrijding door beheersing van de geest. Of zoiets (bron: Wikipedia). Het irritante is nou juist dat ik in dit geval helemaal geen beheersing over mijn geest heb. Het is er steeds. Dat klinkt trouwens erger dan het is. Ik moet er ook wel weer om lachen. Ik bedenk namelijk allerlei varianten op het liedje. Ik heb net al een soort carnavalskraker bedacht. Een soort hossend ritme, met wat aanstekelijke coupletten. En dan als refrein, wat nog veel aanstekelijker is, uiteraard: Ik geloooooof…..etc.

Net bedacht ik een hardrockversie. Die was dan ook echt hard. Ik zou er bijna van gaan headbangen, maar dat leek me op deze rustige en vooral warme zondag geen goed idee.

Van de jazzy versie was ik erg gecharmeerd, al zeg ik het zelf. Een beetje Dinah Washington gecombineerd met Joss Stone. Ik wed dat het een muzikaal succes zou kunnen worden. Tegelijk realiseer ik me dat een liedje bestaande uit louter één zin voor de luisteraar op den duur geen happy listening meer is. Daarom heb ik gegoogled om de hele tekst van ‘Avond’ te vinden. Soms moet je van de nood een deugd maken toch? Dan maar de gehele tekst van dat liedje uit m’n hoofd leren en hopen dat ik dan wat meer inspiratie krijg. En daarmee een kneiter van een cover.

Tot nu toe heeft het tot mijn spijt niet geholpen. Dus bedacht ik een andere aanpak. Een overdosis. Dat moet toch helpen om de mantra om zeep te helpen? Dus ik You-tube wat en jawel, daar is het liedje. Inclusief clip (moet ik ook nog dat hoofd aanzien, maar ik heb het er voor over deze keer). Na een keer of 10 het clipje afgespeeld te hebben, verwacht ik dat het liedje zichzelf vernietigd heeft. Niet dat dat logisch zou zijn, maar ik wil zo graag van dat liedje van af dat ik zelfs mijn eigen onlogische logica voor logisch aanneem.
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NEE HOOR! Het is er nog steeds!
Goed. Ik ben het zat. Dan maar accepteren. De hele clue in dit leven. Acceptatie. Dat is wat ik nu ga doen. Met een roseetje, zon en een flinke hoeveelheid lekkere hapjes. En iets doet mij geloven dat ik dan deze Avond wel overleef.

The Irish finance minister says the end of the British VAT holiday and falling prices in the Republic will mean fewer shoppers will travel north…. From BBC News. Full story

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The Irish finance minister says the end of the British VAT holiday and falling prices in the Republic will mean fewer shoppers will travel north…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: airline flight. The blog is also related to: weekend trips.