The first thing I want to share from this past week is this extract from a New Zealand school newsletter...
responses to this were mixed. Some people found it very motivational and claimed they were going to cut it out and stick it on their fridge, whilst others claimed that it was far too harsh, and too old-school authoritarian ('Stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a wishbone').
It is thought that the words quoted date back to 1959, which would somewhat explain why some people have found its advice dated, and the full text ends in a much more controversial fashion:
"You're supposed to be mature enough to accept some of the responsibility your parents have carried for years. They have nursed, protected, helped, appealed, begged, excused, tolerated an denied themselves needed comforts so that you could have every benefit. This they have done gladly for you are their dearest treasures. But now, you have no right to expect them to bow to your every whim and fancy just because selfish ego instead of common sense dominates your personality, thinking and request. In Heaven's name, grow up and go home!"...Yes, rather...
In any case, this newspaper clipping has taken the internet by storm after going viral on facebook. I would be very interested to hear what other people my age have to say about it, as I personally am undecided as to whether it is motivational or completely soul destroying.
I currently exceedingly excited about imminent release of a certain film...
Oh yes, my favourite musical of all time and one of my favourite books of all time has indeed been made into a film to be released on Christmas day! Here is the trailer... IT LOOKS AWESOME, I KNOW.
OkayOkay, so last week Children in Need happened. I don't need to go into detail as it's pretty much the same every year, except this year I was actually a part of it. In Cardiff Motorpoint arena, an orchestra of 55 and a choir of 1000 school children assembled to raise money for a good cause. And we got free t shirts...
...highly unattractive, I am aware. We played every childs dream of a concert, everything from High School Musical to the muppets, and there were even two 'celebrities' (I had no idea who one of them was, and the other was John Owen Jones off of Phantom).
I am not a big fan of children. I will babysit, for money, and I will watch my own brother from time to time, and I can deal with them in small numbers for a short amount of time. Then imagine the horror of spending all day with 1000 of them. AGH! It took a good hour to get them all on the stage, and then another hour to get them to shut up, all the while we didn't play a single note, however once they were all in place and knew what they were doing, they were surprisingly well behaved, and it was a surprisingly good experience. Welsh kids can all sing anyway, they're Welsh.
The only thing about this that was annoying was that in all the time we were waiting around, and accident occured in which my viola got a hole in it... Actual nightmare, all I can say is thank god for emergency stringed instrument repair services, it returns to my loving care tomorrow.
I purchased a ticket this week for Foals tour next year. I will be headed to Birmingham next March to see them for the third time, and I am already so so excited. This excitement was stoked y a performance of two new tracks on last weeks Jools Holland, the first being Inhalor, a track which I have previously written about on here, and the second being a track entitles 'My Number'. In relation to the direction of the album, as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out. The track had a similar vibe to Inhalor, similar, but not the same. See what you think.
I had a very interesting weekend in Bedford this weekend just passed. I spent it with the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir broadcasting live on radio 4 and visiting a prison. Listen here to the broadcast, bits of it are beautiful, other bits are hilarious, but on the whole its a very touching service. Also please bear in mind that it was 8am, we'd already been rehearsing for an hour, and the majority of us had had less than 5 hours sleep...
After doing this broadcast we paid a visit to Bedford prison. It was a terrifying prospect, there wasn't one person who wasn't at least a little bit worried about going inside a prison containing rapists, murderers and god knows what else, but once we were in there it was actually a really moving experience. We sang to them, and a few of them cried, then they sang to us (I know right?!), and then we had a chance to speak to some of them. All of the prisoners we met were the ones that were trying to change, and claimed to have 'found God'. The suspicious side of me is tempted to suggest that maybe they were just after parole, but I think that that would be unfair to suggest after meeting them. Some of the prisoners, since being imprisoned, had learnt to play instruments, and if you listen to the above boradcast you'll hear a recording of a song that two of them wrote. Coincidentally, one of them has one of the deepest voices I have ever heard, deeper than even that of my seriously baritone friends. On the whole, I discovered visiting a prison can actually be a very beautiful thing.
I bring hamster related news. That being that unfortunately my hamster passed away last week... All i can say is it's a good job I didn't get a kitten! Seriously though, the general consensus is that it was not my fault, he was just from a bad bunch.
Here is some memorial related music
R.I.P Bobby, I promise when I have time, I'll move you off the windowsill and bury you somewhere scenic.
FINALLY. To conclude this weeks post, I want you all to watch this! It was recorded 10 months ago, but I can often be very slow off the mark and therefore it has only just come to my attention.
This is the beautiful man who wrote, performed and recorded it, Jack Penate, writer of the classic 'torn on the platform'. He then released it for free, interesting, no? And recorded the video himself, in one take, in his own house. Hence why you can hear sirens going past at the start.
My favoutie comment is 'It's like Jack Penate banged The XX and they had a really (inappropriately) sexy kid.'Thanks for that, Thomas Butler.
Peace out xo
I'm so happy, think I could cry
Then the moment is lost to the sky
In the silence something is heard
Brings us back down crashing to earth.
Heaven is a place
No one lied
It's rushing through your veins
Flooding your eyes.
She's so worried the end is in sight
She could stay there for the rest of her life
A peculiar pain within her arose
As the perfect frame couldn't be froze.
Heaven is a place
No one lied
It's rushing through your veins
Flooding your eyes
It's hidden in your brain
The sweetest surprise.
We'll be gone soon.
Heaven is a place
No one lied
It's rushing through your veins
Flooding your eyes
It's hidden in your brain
The sweetest surprise
The mystery remains
Until we die.
Sweet Dreams.
