Friday 26 April 2013

Blast from the past

I won't be around much next week so I decided that I wanted to leave you with one last amazingly fantastic blogpost. It is not much, but as I was reliving my childhood moments (as you do late at night), I decided to share this brilliant poem with you. The sheer genius of the words still captivate me after all these years. Deep, heartfelt and absolutely touching. As a child a was mesmerized by these poets and I still am today. I am actually considering getting the text tattooed on my forehead.

Behold:


Have a great weekend my darlings! Perhaps I shall entertain you some more tomorrow. But maybe not.

Thursday 25 April 2013

Best live performances

Today I would like to show you some live performances of artists I admire. Most of these artists I've seen live, some I am dying to see. Just hope you will enjoy these!

Justin Timberlake


Katy Perry



Mika


Adam Lambert



  

Beyonce


 

Adele

 

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Inspiring person: Justin Timberlake



When I was 12 years old, I found hormones started to race through my young body. I thought I was very mature back then and considered MTV to be the best tv channel in the world (note: this was before MTV forgot all about the music). It was also the time when Justin Timberlake left N*Sync and released his solo album Justified. I was not instantly a fan, but his music grew on me and before I realised it, I was in the Gelredome in Arnhem to see him live. It was my very first gig and it left an impression on me.

I recall my cousin and me made this amazing sign that said: JUSTIN YOU ARE THE BEST GREETZ I & M. I remind you that I was 12 and then that is still considered cute.

Years passed by and a few years after his first album he released the second one, called Futuresex/Lovesounds. I started to love him even more and went to see his second show in the Netherlands. Mind you, back then I wasn't looking for the deeper message in songs and I just enjoyed dancing to it and I did not realise that 90% of the songs were about sex. Neither did my mother. Don't tell her!

Anyways, JT left music to start a career as an actor and all the posters up on my wall were gradually removed and I moved on with life. Until earlier this year. JT announced he was releasing a new album. I was very happy as my teenage memories came back to me. I wasn't too thrilled about the first single but it grew on me. Most importantly, I was amazed at his live performances. His voice is flawless and his performance is poised and perfect. He makes it seem so effortless, the way he moves across the stage and plays with the audience. There is another Justin who could learn a thing or two from him ;).

I find myself listening to his old albums all over again and I am still amazed by how well-produced and clever these songs are. Not to mention that JT is a very good comedian too. I shall not bother you with more text. Here are some of his best songs for your enjoyment:




 

 
And the best video ever:


Sunday 21 April 2013

Why us girls should stick together

Today as I was just browsing and minding my own business, I came across the May cover of GQ UK. The cover featured Emma Watson dressed in a provocative outfit, heavily inspired by the Pretty Woman film. I was looking at the cover and the only thought that crossed my mind was "Damn, she's become very pretty." However, as I was looking at the comments, a lot of people commented saying things like: "She becomes more trashy the more she becomes famous." and "SHE IS SUCH A SLUT!"

Now, I do not know about you, but if I think about Emma Watson, slut is not the word that comes to mind. Even though I do not follow her career closely, I have seen her grow up through the Harry Potter films and I think she has become a very clever and beautiful young woman who knows how to deal with her fame. Yet somehow there are many people on the internet who feel the need to hate on a woman for wearing daring clothes. Why is that?

This is the cover:


Why do we women feel the need to judge each other constantly? Why can't we just look at another girl thinking: "Gosh she is pretty, I wonder where she got her hair done?" instead of: "That bitch looks too good for my taste. I bet she has 16 STDs." Are we really that insecure about ourselves, about the way we look and act that we have to insult everyone we consider to be a threat?

As women we are still seen as the 'weak' gender. We are already constantly judged by men as it is. Why are we scratching each other's eyeballs out as well? We should be supportive of each other as we are all in the same position and instead of being jealous, we should be proud that another woman manages to be successful in a men's world.
Surely I judge others too. Mainly on their outfits if I don't like it. Doesn't mean I judge someone as a person just because of what he/she wears. I don't think Kim Kardashian is a great role-model for young girls but that has nothing to do with the way she dresses or her personality as I bet she is a nice person. But I wonder why men are allowed to walk around half-naked and pose in only their boxers and that is considered to be sexy, while if us girls do that, we're skanks? Just because we have boobs? Bullshit.

And yes, I do not think we should exploit little girls and dress them like they are 25 year olds. Let them be kids. I do feel that if an 18 year old chooses to wear a bikini and post a picture in that bikini on facebook, she should be able to without being called names.

You could argue it comes with being in the media all the time. Since when have we become so primitive that being in the media automatically means that a famous person should be a target for constant scrutiny? Miley Cyrus changed from innocent child star to sexy vamp and parents were outraged. It would certainly mean their kids would copy this behaviour! I'm sorry, but if you do your job as a parent well, you should not have to rely on popstars to teach your children values. These famous ladies are still young. Let them live. Let them grow up and make mistakes. Instead of calling them sluts or hoes, just respect them. We're all female. We all know how hard it is to constantly feel the pressure of being thin and sexy and pretty and nice. Let's not take others down to feel good about ourselves.

In conclusion; don't be afraid to admire another girl for being pretty or for her success. If you work hard enough and be yourself, you'll be the person others will look up to and admire.

Now for some female empowerment:


Monday 15 April 2013

The Justin Bieber Experience by a non-belieber

As is universally known now, I met Justin Bieber on Saturday. I am not really a JB fan, the only song I can sing along is Boyfriend and I know the chorus of Baby, but my dear friend Niko wanted to meet him, so I obediently tagged along.

When given my wristband, I was told: "Unless you want to be strangled, please hide it." I did. I love my life too much to let it be taken away at a Justin Bieber gig. Right that instant a little girl came up to me to ask me how I got the m&g. My heart broke to let her down. We moved on to the VIP entrance, where a lot of fangirls were waiting. After a while, we were let in, but not after girls grabbed me by the arm and screamed "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT BRACELET?" at me. I was very scared.

We were led inside and I thought it would be a short wait. I was wrong. He was 4 hours late. It was the longest wait in the history of waiting. Niko was stressing like I usually do and I just tried hard to keep myself from jumping out of the window. Around 9, we were finally led to the M&G room. There was a queue and every time a girl met him, they would run past us whilst crying hysterically. I found it very amusing. We finally got into the room. Justin was drooling over Niko's jacket. I said hey and wanted to stand next to him but security yelled that I had to go to the other side. Okay, whatevs. Justin loved Niko's jacket so much that he wanted an individual picture with Niko. I was happy for that bitch as he had been moaning about getting one for ages.

After that, we went to our seats but as all the girls stood on the chairs, we instead moved to the middle of the venue. There was a large open space which was nice. The countdown began. The screaming became unbearable during the last 10 seconds. Then the intro started. I actually loved the intro as it was very well done. To keep it short, I liked the show, loved the dancing, could barely hear the singing due to the screaming, but I was glad it was all over as I got really tired of the constant noise.

It took us hours to get back home because everybody and their mother left the venue at the same time. It was quite the experience and although the show was ok I won't go again anytime soon. I can't handle so many fangirls together.

Here's a video about my experience:



The Justin Bieber experience by a non-belieber. from Ingrid Chant on Vimeo.

And our picture:

Thursday 11 April 2013

Inspiring person: Johnny Cash

It is time for another blog about an inspiring person. Today, I would like to talk about the late Johnny Cash.

Ever since I was a little girl, my dad made me listen to his music. He was a huge fan of Johnny Cash, mainly because of his attitude and the fact that the only thing the man was interested in was play his guitar and sing his songs. It is true that he wasn't the best singer around, but his voice had a raw edge to it and the imperfection made it stand out from his peers. He was known as a story-teller. His songs are all tales about his life or fictional characters and I have always been attracted to singers who are able to tell a story.
He was the man in black, always dressed in this colour during live performances. He would always start his performance with the same phrase: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." He performed in the Netherlands once and I asked my father why he didn't go, as he was part of the fan club and all. He said that there wasn't really anything interesting to see as he just stood there with his guitar singing songs. It might be boring in comparison to the massive productions nowadays, but I think it is interesting to see an artist with just his instrument, performing his songs.

Apart from his music career, I find the story of his love life very touching. He was first married to someone else, until he met June Carter, the love of his life. They were inseparable and she helped him kick off from his many addictions. June died in 2003 and only 4 months later, Johnny passed away as well. They say it was caused by complications caused by diabetes, but the general opinion is that really, he died because of a broken heart.

One of my favourite quotes of his is:

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."

As someone who is prone to stress, this is very inspiring to me and it tells me to let go of all worries because you can't change the mistakes you make.

Now I would like to share some videos with you:



With June Carter:


My favourite song:

His very last song:


You must watch this...


This my darlings, is what a real artist is. Being able to sing without a microphone in front of so many people and still sounding so powerful and pure, that is talent.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Music Confession Tuesday

So I stumbled upon this song again today. I used to listen to this when I was a little Ingie, even though my mum shouldn't have let me listen to such dirty songs when I was that young. Whatever. I've survived!

Anyways, for the first Music Confession Tuesday, I want to feature my darling Justin Timberlake and his good friend Nelly who crashed a playboy mansion party. Werk it.


Friday 5 April 2013

Thinking outside of the box.

Hello! Sorry it's been a while. I've had zero inspiration to write anything and real life got in the way. Shit happens, they say.

Anyways, today I was having a conversation with my father about something random and I happened to say: "But I don't know what *insert random name* would think about this." He then said I shouldn't care about what others think. I shouldn't stay inside the box but get out of it. I thought that was a very interesting thing.

I have never considered myself someone who follows the rules. I was too odd to do so and even if I tried to comply with what other people wanted, I was dumped somewhere along the way because I wasn't cool enough. If you think about it, isn't that what we do most of the time? We try to colour within the lines and if someone is different than the norm, we are so quick to judge and desparate to make sure those people become what we think is 'normal.' Society decides which clothes to wear, what music to listen to and which shows to watch on tv. The world would be so much better off if the group of people who dare to think outside of the box would expand, to let creativity flow and make life a little less boring.

In other news, here's a video of a cute puppy: