--- Artist Feature --- "For me, what I do is about giving birth to an idea. I become obsessive about my ideas. I dream them; they live inside of me. But to be able to stay true to your vision until the bitter end? That's success – there's nothing higher than that." Her eyes light up. "Everything else is just bullshit." It’s been a while since I’ve done an artist feature, so, taking a break from politics and shifting gears but not toning down the mood at all that has been permeating on this blog. So here's an infusion of music; we all need it, even if we don’t know it. Lykke Li (pronounced Lick-E-Lee for those wondering) is synonymous with a variety of instrumental work and her wispy, oft sombre, retro, child-like vocals. She’s been described as being “sweetly melancholic”. Born to self professed hippy parents (a musician father and photographer mother) she says that although she was born in Sweden, she traveled so much that she doesn’t identify with the country of her birth. By the time she skipped out at 19 yrs old and go to NY to pursue a singing career, her family were living in Morocco. So, she’s Swedish without being Swedish… Personally I can’t place why I’m a fan of hers, but I suppose if I must say, then it has something to do with that trademark nostalgia to her sound. It speaks of things past – what we can never get back again, and this is evidenced within some of the song titles – ‘I Never Learn’, ‘Just Like a Dream’ and ‘Never gonna Love Again’. I was only introduced to her late (comparatively) via her second studio album ‘Wounded Rhymes’. The first song I heard was ‘Rich Kids Blues’ and the landmark ‘I follow Rivers’ which had an arguably longer life span thanks to the many dance remixes around (most notably by that of DJ ‘The Magician’). I like the fact that she’s somewhat stand-offish with both her music and her fans, perhaps its just me being a writer, but even though we know a lot of facts about Lykke Li, she still retains an enigmatic air. Otherwise, I just find her paradoxically refreshing. She says touring often pains her, where she was once even diagnosed with PTSD, because in reality, she’s an introvert, so becoming a pop star was probably not the best thing for her, health wise. Coming Soon: Her latest Album 'I Never Learn' (see cover art below) makes its world debut on 5 May. Lykke Li: [Image Credits: prefixmag.com, discodemon.net, facebook.com/lykkeli, followfrisby.files.wordpress.com, studiotota.com, wikipedia.com, ilistenbecauseican.wordpress.com, pastemagazine.com, wanttickets.com] “It's not a very sane thing to try to be great all the time. You want to make something magical; you want to make something wonderful; you want to give to everybody; you want to heal people; you want to still be inspired. That's not easy.”
0 Comments
Everyday seeds of espionage, or just self defense. by Steven Benjamin Think of this as a loose, tenuous, bare skeletal blueprint of the skills needed to be a spy. Needless to say extra âsignsâ are always welcome, like an undying penchant for extreme sports like skydiving and bungee jumping, as well as the ability to undertake great physical challenges which test your mental toughness⦠Oh, and maybe the natural gift of knowing how to dress well, wear a tailored suit, or in the case of a femme fatale, control a room with an elegantly subtle evening number. 1. Do you have an eye for detail? 2. Are you something of a loner? 3. Are you a good poker player? 4. Are you physically fit without advertising the fact? 5. * Do you happen to know the 5 strongest or best natural tools (read weapons) your body possess (even without martial arts training⦠and by association, are you then aware of the main weaknesses of the human body?) * 6. When entering a room, do you first suss out the exit points? 7. How good is your general knowledge and memory, and are you capable when it comes to applied knowledge and resourcefulness? 8. Are you good with your hands, beyond simply decent hand-eye coordination? 9. Do you like adventure and traveling long distances? 10. Are you a good driver? If you're interested in the know how of the Spy world then visit these handy sites for tips on how to be a spy and how to spot one. > Spot a spy > Be a spy [ * Our bodies 5 best weapons (handy for self defense)
Top 5 weaknesses (easier to spot)
Depending on where you are, Skyfall is either out or still coming (very soon), either way I hope it does the job of in some way rectifying the sad year weâve had in terms of film releases. Aside from a couple of big budget superhero sequels there hasnât been much to be excited about â and Iâm on the side of those who was disappointed by The Dark Knight Rises (it says something that The Avengers had better box office earnings than TDKR)⦠so sad, lets end the year on a high. << Coming soon! In the coming weeks I will be featuring the talents of some of my artistic friends, focusing on poetry, art, photography and film-making. Stay tuned! >> Few would pick him, I know, and yes, there have been so many before me who’ve embarked on this topic, though most have done so in jest. Firstly, I am a very big fan of Daniel Craig, but for the sake of this article, I’ll regard his era as a sort of stand-alone franchise… Let me dive right in as to why I think Timothy is the one; of all the pre-millennial bonds, he was probably the only one, apart from maybe Sean Connery, who could throw a legitimate punch. I say this because all the others looked very staged in their action sequences. I’ll give Sean the benefit of the doubt because for that time period it was acceptable – it seemed more about the ‘threat’ of violence than the actual partaking in it, and the style of filming was very different back then... From a purely “agent-world” perspective, the lesser known Dalton provided the most legitimate turn, whereas the others were quite obviously actors playing a role. Connery had all the looks and swag to make the character iconic on the silver screen, but in terms of James Bond being an action man, agent and super spy, Dalton is the real deal. Let us not even touch on the farcical Roger Moore era (okay the early few were good, but he hung on – or they hung on to him – for far too long). Floating down a river in a fake crocodile – REALLY! Everything became too comical and spoof-like, and then there was his age: he just looked too old to do anything (believably) worthwhile fro Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Can anyone confirm whether or not Lazenby’s Worchester Sauce is named after the actor? Where Pierce Brosnan went wrong was in that scene in Tomorrow Never Dies, where he’s controlling his car with his mobile phone (though truth be told he could claim to be the victim of time appropriate script writing and the explosion of the technological age) – resulting in the Achilles heel of the story: an over reliance on technology and cliches. I actually enjoyed that film mind you, although Golden Eye was better (those were the best two of the Brosnan era – forget the other two where they took Bond to a new low with non-actresses Halle Berry and Denise Richards; great to look at, but seriously lacking talent wise). The thing of it was though, that Brosnan’s era suffered from a similar syndrome to that of the Moore era – getting caught up in unrealistic, sometimes farcical, and generally generic storyline habits. They’d find a formula and drone it out until there was nothing left to be had. (*even Brosnan has come out and said in hindsight he's somewhat embarrassed by some of his later turns, in light of Daniel Craig's steely version) Getting back to Dalton though; Eva Green mistakenly claimed (in an interview for Casino Royale obviously) that it was the first time we would see blood on James Bond’s face. But of course Timothy Dalton’s Bond can lay a legitimate claim to that, although Craig is a lot grittier and dirty, I still think Dalton tried to do with Bond, what Craig is doing now… it’s just that his production crew weren’t on the same wave length. So, the reason I say Dalton is the best, is because he was the first who attempted to draw closer to the character penned by Ian Fleming. After all, the reason many weren’t, or aren’t a fan of Timothy is because his was the atypical Bond, the first to wear a suit without a tie… it was brash, and perhaps a little too brazen for some of the fans of the more old fashioned ‘swirl your Martini and lean on the bar’ style. He was seen more in the company of the British SAS and has been referred to be R. Moore as hands-down the best actor (talent wise) to fill the role. Although his two films had there faults, as many do, I believe, for these reasons above, that Timothy Dalton’s – his version at least – was the best Bond, preceding Daniel Craig – the first real hard edged/nosed agent, with just a dab of suave. The Bond Vacation [courtesy of L.A Stretch Limos]:
|
[Banner illustration by Joel Kanar]
WRITING
|