Top 5 Thursday: James Bond Theme Songs

I recently rewatched all the Bond movies. One thing I love about those movies is the opening credits, with a different theme song every time. Well, not always, because some songs aren’t all that good (wink, “Die Another Day”). But this gave me the idea to create a top 5 of my favorite Bond songs. I read some list online and I clearly have a different taste than the rest of the world. Here are my five favorites.

5. Skyfall by Adele (“Skyfall”)

I’m not an Adele fan, one of the few probably. From the opening burst of horns and the suddenly alluring tap of piano keys, everyone knew this was going to feel like a classic, old-fashioned Bond number. It’s a more dramatic balad, but it fits the feel of “Skyfall” very well.

 

 

4. A View to a Kill by Duran Duran (“A View to a Kill”)

This is the sound of the eighties baby! Not one of the best Bond movie, but definitely a great Bond song. This is the best Bond song to dance to!

 

 

3. Licence to Kill by Gladys Knight (“Licence to Kill”)

This captures the Bond feel very well. I love this song! I don’t understand why many find this a bad Bond song.

 

 

2. GoldenEye by Tina Turner (“GoldenEye”)

I take Tina over Shirley Bassey any time! This is such a cool song, very Bondesk. It’s very similar to the Gladys Knight song, at least the beginning is. “GoldenEye” is a beautiful song to an great Bond movie!

 

 

 

1. You Know My Name by Chris Cornell (“Casino Royale”)

This is the kind of music I listen to in my spare time, this is a song I pump up the volume to. With a rougher Bond, we get a rougher voice and lots of guitars. This song is awesome!

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Goldfinger by Sihrley Bassey (“Goldfinger”), Live and Let Die by Paul McCarthy & Wings (“Live and Let Die”), The Living Daylights by A-Ha (“The Living Daylights”)

Video of the Week (40)

These women pay a tribute to some awesome songs in this medley. It's very funny. It's lip sync, but hilarious.

 

 

 

Video of the Week (38)

A while ago I discovered Taylor Davis, a wonderful violinist. She plays legendary movie songs on her violin, but also songs from videogames. This is one of her Original songs, "Awakening", and I would like to share it with you. It's amazing! Please subscribe to her channel on YouTube: Taylor Davis .

 

 

DVD Collection Update (18)

It's been a while since the last update, I just simply didn't buy any movies or series for a long time. But Santa was good to me with some new additions to my collection and some giftcards. So here are the Dvd's I received and bought.

Off course I needed this fourth season of "The Walking Dead". We're in the middle of season 5 now. What I liked about season 4 is that the group was seperated and all the characters got a bit more attention.

I found "Blood Diamond" for only 1 Euro. That's practically nothing! I've seen the movie before, it's really good. Haven't watched it since I got it though.

"Sons of Anarchy" has already ended, but we still have the Dvd's. I'm still waiting for season 7 to come out, but season 6 was a present from my brother for my 30th birthday. Really cool. He is currently watching it with my mom.

I bought this the day it came out, because I loved this movie so much. And I rewatched "Guardians of the Galaxy" yesterday. And I know that it will be watched many many times. It's just such an awesome film, can't wait for the sequel. But for now, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is enough to keep me happy.

I hope that one day I will have every Disney animation ever made. I got a bit closer with getting "Oliver & Company". I remember seeing it in theatres (in 1988) and I never saw it again after that. So, this is a welcome gift.

And I also got "Frozen", another Disney movie. This movie is great, I love the characters, story and songs. "Love is an Open Dooooooooooor!"

Something else for a change, a music DVD. It's a Foo Fighters concert in Hyde Park. Like the two Disney movies, this was a Christmas gift from my brother. I didn't even now this DVD excisted, so that makes it even cooler.

I recently saw "Edge of Tomorrow" with a link on the internet and I didn't really expect that much. Well, was I wrong. It blew me away and ended up being one of my favorite 2014 movies. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt really kick some ass in "Edge of Tomorrow". I ended up buying it today.

Also a movie I saw in 2014, but then in theatres, was "Godzilla". It really did justice to the Original and I just had to own in on DVD. So I bought it today.

Video of the Week (32)

This is the perfect video for this week, the last video I will share this year. A couple, Michael and Carissa aka Us the Duo, sing covers. And in this video they sing the tophits of 2014. Really awesome!

 

 

Top 5 Thursday: Movie Playlist of the Year 2014

I decided to do something new, I’ve never done this before. I wanted to make a list of the five coolest, most awesome songs in movies of 2014. And it took me a while to go through all of them, because movies this year brought us some great songs. They might not be the most popular songs, you won’t find all of them in the charts, but that doesn’t take away any of their awesomeness. Here is the playlist.

5. Mr. Mustafa by Alexandre Desplat (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”)

Alexandre Desplat is an amazing composer and he made some wonderful music for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, one of the best movies of 2014 and also one of my faovrites of the year. Fun fact: he also wrote music for this year’s “Godzilla”, “The Monuments Men”, “Unbroken” and “The Imitation Game”. Does this man ever sleep?

 

 

4. Lost Stars by Adam Levine (“Begin Again”)

I loved this movie and its soundtrack. This song I just can’t get out of my head, it’s so good! Not a Maroon 5 fan, but Adam Levine nails this song!

 

 

3. Anthonio (Berlin Breakdown Version) by Annie (“The Guest”)

This synthy, John Carpenter-esque cut was part of one of the nicest surprises of the year. From a distance, “The Guest” looked like a fairly standard genre piece, but it was so much more. And Dan Stevens also is one of the biggest breakthrough stars of the year.

 

 

2. Everything is Awesome by Tegan and Sara ft. The Lonely Island (“The Lego Movie”)

There are earworms and then there is “Everything is Awesome”. So catchy that the mere mention of its name can instigate mass chanting, it’s hard to believe that it was created by people.

 

 

1. Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2”)

It may be overshadowed by “The Hanging Tree”, but this is the best song of the soundtrack. And my favourite song of this year’s movie playlist.

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Solomon by Hans Zimmer (“12 Years a Slave”), Love me Tomorrow by John Newman (“Edge of Tommorow”), Old Man by Neil Young (“The Expendables 3”), Come and Get Your Love by Redbon (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Hero by Family of the Year (“Boyhood”), American Interior by Gruff Rhys (“American Interior”), We Build This City by Starship (“The Skeleton Twins”), The Hanging Tree by Jennifer Lawrence (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1”)

Video of the Week (30)

Musicals are my guilty pleasure, so whenever a video like this pops up I get really excited. The Australian cast of the musical "The Lion King" decided to sing "The Circle of Life" on a plane. AWESOME!!!

 

Video of the Week (26)

This video isn't necessarily very special, but the story behind it is. A 13 year old Dutch girl named Anna always wanted to be famous. Unfortunatley she died in a car accident just a week ago. Her father wanted to fulfill her last dream, by posting this video of Anna playing the piano with the message: "Make my daughter famous!" What a beautiful thing, it's really chilling.

Video of the Week (10)

This week I found a video, that really made me laugh. And it also amazed me. Ths guy, Rob Cantor, sings an Original song while impersonating 29 celebrities. They are all spot on and especially when he's doing impressions of women, it's great. Just listen to this and enjoy!

 

Top 5 Thursday: "The Killers" Hits

"The Killers" new album 'Battle Born' is really awesome. I love this band. They are so unique, one of a kind and they had so many great hits. So I decided to create a top 5 for their best songs, the ones that were hitsingles.

5. Human
Fantastic song, no doubt about it.

4. Read my Mind
Just a really great song. It has such a good atmosphere.

3. When you Were Young
This used to be my favorite. Sadly enough on the Dutch radio they often play the remix version. Don't like this one, but the original is awesome.

2. Miss Atomic Bomb
This is the best song on the new album and this one is also ignored by the Dutch radio. It's such a powerful song that gives me the chills every single time. In a good way.

1. Dustland Fairytale
This song was never a hit in my country and I think that's so sad. When I heard this song for the first time, I was sold. Amazing.

They almost made the top 5: Mr. Brightside, Runaways, All These Things That I've Done, Spaceman

Check This Out # 1

I thought of a new item. It just came to me. I love browsing the internet and sometimes I see amazing things I just want to share them. But you can not share everything on facebook or tumblr. So I decided to share it with you, on my blog. Photos, video's, websites, books, you name it.

I saw this great video a friend of mine posted and it's a musical flashmob in a subway. Just check out the link below.

Subway Flashmob

I saw this on http://somewhereontheiceplanet.tumblr.com/. From "The Fantastic Mr. Fox". A great film, but a fantastic book I'm planning on rereading next month.

Off course this video! Probably everyone saw it, but this is hilarious and the actual proof that the Britisch have humor. Rowan Atkinson at the 2012 opening of the Olympics.

Rowan Atkinson at 2012 Olympics

I saw a production still of the 2012 thriller "Passion" with one of my favorites Rachel McAdams and also rising star Noomi Rapace. It's about a young businesswoman who plots murderous revenge after her boss and mentor steals her idea.

So, if you saw anything awesome and you'd like the share it. Please do, send me anything you think I should check out. See you next time!

Top 5 Thursday: Albums

I was going through my albums the other day, realizing that I don't know a lot of people that still buy albums. Most people download everything. I download music too, but I still buy albums once in a while. I don't have a big collection, but I do have some great ones in my opinion. Here are my five favorite albums.

5. So Far So Good - Bryan Adams
In my teen years Bryan Adams was THE artist for me. I have more of his albums and I listened to this album the most.I know every song by heart and I think technically this album is a best of album. My all-time favorite song is also on it, "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You".

4. Ceremonials - Florence and the Machine
You can't put Florence and the Machine in one genre. What is it? All I know is that Florence is super awesome and very good music. It's different from any other band and every song is different as well. This album is great!

3. Sigh No More - Mumford and Sons
Can you imagine that this is only the debut album? It is so amazing, because there is litteraly not one bad song on this album. This record gives me the chills and I mean that in a good way. I'm a very proud owner.

2. Jagged Little Pil - Alanis Morissette
Also an album I listened to a lot in my teenage years. I actually dressed like her for a little while. All her songs made sense and had such a deep meaning, they made my high school days easier. Thanks Alanis!

1. Stanley Climbfall - Lifehouse
After five (almost six) albums, the second one is still their best. It was (and still is) in my CD player a lot and I love every song on this album. OK, my all-time favorite Lifehouse song isn't on this one, but that proves again why this album is so good and all the songs are as well. And why it's my favorite.

They almost made the top 5: No Name Face - Lifehouse, This is My Truth Tell Me Yours - Manic Street Preachers, Ten - Pearl Jam, Black Album - Metallica, One by One - Foo Fighters, Day & Age - The Killers, Flamingo - Brandon Flowers

Top 5 Thursday: Live Concerts

Top 5 Thursday: Live Concerts This top 5 is an idea of my brother. When I started this list, I realized how many great concerts I have already witnessed. Almost all with my brother. Here is a top 5 of my favorite live concerts.

5. Alter Bridge (june 11th 2011)
I saw this band last year on the Pinkpop festival in our country. I had heard of the name, but it didn’t ring a bell. This was definitely a very surprising concert. Right after their performance on this festival, Coldplay would play on the mainstage. Most people left Alter Bridge early to see Coldplay, but me and my brother stayed. And we were so glad we did. What an awesome band and Myles Kennedy is without a doubt one of the best singers ever. He hits every note. What a great discovery!



4. Lifehouse (september 22nd 2010)
Not per definition the best live band, but Lifehouse is my favorite band and it was a special moment to finally see them live. Their hit “Hanging by a Moment” was the only hit in my country. I followed them after that and bought their albums, but they never did concerts in my country. When their fifth album came out, “Halfway Gone” was a hit here and they started touring again. It was one of my favorite days ever.



3. Foo Fighters (june 13th 2011)
I saw them at the Pinkpop festival last year and they where the last band to play on that festival. And what a performance. No talking, just two and a half hours of rock. One minute it started to rain and a rainbow appeared. Dave Grohl actually stopped playing and said how awesome that was. This was a great concert, one I look back to with a lot of pleasure.



2. Metallica (june 15th 2003)
I was very young and this was one of my first bigger concerts. It was also a festival, Fields of Rock, in Nijmegen. Nowadays it’s called Rockin’ Park. Metallica was the headliner that day and my second favorite live performance I saw. My brother is a huge fan and because of him I started listening to their music and came to love it. This concert was so great. I saw them a second time that year and I really hope to see them again some day, because it’s so long ago.



1. Pearl Jam (june 27th 2010)
Also part of a festival and Pearl Jam was the headliner. Without a doubt the best live band I ever saw. Eddie Vedder is vocally so strong and convincing and their lyrics are fantastic. I wish to see them again, because this was the best concert I ever saw.



They almost made the top 5: Bruce Springsteen may 28th 2012, Mumford and Sons may 28th 2012, The Eagles july 18th 2009, Metallica december 6th 2003, Beth Hart march 9th 2012

Pinkpop 2012

My second time at Pinkpop this year. Me and my brother Frank only went one day this year, because monday was the only day with and overall good line-up. It started at 12 and we saw Serena Pryne and the Mandevilles, a band from Canada. I never heard of them before, but I'm glad I went to see them. What a great band and a fantastic new discovery. I bought the album right away.

< br/> I also saw Jonathan Jeremiah. Not my genre, but pretty enjoyable, especially his opening.

The highlight for me was "Mumford and Sons" (I'm actually listening to their album right now). I love this band and their unique music. This performance was just perfect.

The headliner of this day was Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. The whole reason we came. What a show and what an energy this man has. After so many years Bruce still enjoys performing and it's so great to watch him perform. His setlist wasn't all perfect because I expected more classics. Instead he did more new songs. But it was great.

I also saw Herbert Grönemeyer, a German singer with a lot of heart and power. And Sea Sick Steve, who made all his own guitars and was only joined by one other bandmember. Real fun guy with great lyrics. Pinkpop 2012 was a succes!

4 Layouts, finally

I haven't done any scrapbooking for a long time. I just didn't feel like it. Last weekend I finally picked it up again, because my head was filled with good ideas. I just had to start again. So here are the four layouts I made this week.

Pearl Jam at Rockin' Park.

My bunny Oscar in the yard.

My trip to Walibi World, with my friends Irene and Evelien.

The Lifehouse concert.

I hope you liked them and you feel inspired.

Brandon Flowers Concert

Yesterday me and my brother Frank went to see Brandon Flowers. The only concert he gave in our country, completely sold out. Before Brandon came on, Fran Healy gave away a one-man show. He's the frontman for the band Travis and it was just him and his guitar. Pretty good performance and easy on the ears. Brandon Flowers came next and he played most of the hits on his album "Flamingo". I was super happy to hear "Magdalena" and "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" and off course "Only the Young" and "Crossfire" were part of his setlist. He played my favorites of the album. He also did his version of Kim Carnes' song "Bette Davis' Eyes", which was awesome. He did three Killers song: "Losing Touch", "Read My Mind" and "Mr. Brightside". The only downside was that his performance lasted for only a bit more then an hour. Overall it was a great show, Brandon sang very well, you could see he enjoyed performing, and he's even more handsome then on TV! We love you Mr. Flowers and thanks for a wonderful show.

Here are some pictures. Not very good quality, but we had a great night and that's more important.

My current playlist (3)

After visiting Pinkpop, I discovered some new awesome bands so my playlist changed again. Great songs on it, like every time because I choose all the songs (duh). And also some returning performers, because they made some great new songs. Here is the list of songs I'm listening to at the moment.

Brandon Flowers - Magdalena
Alter Bridge - Watch Over you
The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
Band of Horses - The Funeral
Foo Fighters - Walk
Lifehouse - Falling In
Brandon Flowers - Only the Young
Alter Bridge - Ghost of Days Gone By
Simple Plan ft. Natasha Bedingfield - Jetlag
The Gaslight Anthem - The 59 Sound
White Lies - Death
Radical Face - Welcome Home
Maroon 5 - Never Gonna Leave This Bed
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Brandon Flowers - Crossfire
Curtis Stigers & The Forrest - This Life
Alter Bridge - Metalingus
Alter Bridge - Isolation
The Gaslight Anthem - Stay Lucky
Lifehouse - Blind
The Naked & Famous - Young Blood

Pinkpop Day 3

For us it was the second day, but overall it was the third day of the festival. Everything went very smoothly this time. The first band we saw monday was Scouting for Girls. Didn't really expect much, but they were actually really good. Especially when they played "This Ain't a Lovesong". We saw a little bit of The Plain White T's. They are okay, but they didn't really impress me much. Beatsteaks did a better job. Never heard of them before, but a real good band from Germany. And a very entertaining lead singer. Next stop was The Gaslight Anthem. My brother told me they were very good and I can now agree. Amazing band, great songs. Really good! We saw Volbeat, but after hearing one song, we heard it all. Not very surprising. We left this act earlier to see Band of Horses. I was really looking forward to see them. And I got what I wanted. Great atmosphere and they gave me the chills a couple of times. Especially when they did "Funeral", such a beautiful song. Then we saw 30 Seconds to Mars. I really wanted to see them, but it wasn't what I expected. They started out very well and I love their music, but then it went downhill. Jared Leto is entertaining, but he abused his fame. He let the audience sing big parts of the songs (I payed to hear you sing, not the audience), he asked the people to jump every freaking song or to take three more steps forward (really dangerous, we all got squashed). And the fans.... it was like a Justin Bieber concert, all those screaming girls, come on it's a rock band! We left earlier then we planned. We got a pretty nice spot to watch the Foo Fighters and damn were they awesome. Best perfomance of the festival. And I'm seriously in love with Dave Grohl (okay, not for real but he's awesome). They played for two hours (a half hour longer then planned) and the played non-stop. Songs like "My Hero", "Times Like These", "The Pretender", "Best of You", "Learn to Fly", "Break Out", "Walk" and "Rope". They closed with "Everlong", my favorite song. And drummer Taylor Hawkins sang two songs, one of them being Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down". Those guys really showed us how it should be. AWESOME, thanks guys. Here are some photo's.

Scouting for Girls, a surprisingly fun band to watch.

Beatsteaks with the very energetic lead singer Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß.

The Gaslight Anthem. I'm glad I discovered this band!

Band of Horses

30 Seconds to Mars, a bit of a disappointment.

Last but not least The Foo Fighters. It was hard to make pictures, but like with the Colplay photos you get the idea.

My top five performances of the festival:
# 5. Manic Street Preachers/ Band of Horses (couldn't choose, sorry)
# 4. The Gaslight Anthem
# 3. Alter Bridge
# 2. Lifehouse
# 1. Foo Fighters

Pinkpop Day 1

Yesterday it was the first day of Pinkpop, the biggest music festival in The Netherlands. It's spread out over three days. Getting in was kind of a problem, so nothing ran smoothly. We needed a wrist band and we didn't get one. Ever person send us in a different direction, so it took a while for us to eventually get those wrist bands. The first band we saw were The Manic Street Preachers. Never saw them live before but we (my brother and I) always wanted to. They were awesome. They played 'Motorcycle Emptyness','If You Tolerate This', 'Design for Life' and many more. Next stop was Lifehouse, probably the main reason I wanted to go the first day. Because we had to go from one stage to the other, we mist part of the first song. But still I got to enjoy 'Halfway Gone', 'Broken', 'You and Me', 'Spin', 'First Time', 'Hanging By A Moment' and some other great songs. And I'm really glad they played 'Take Me Away', which is one of my favorite songs and they didn't play that when I saw them in Tilburg. After that, Lifehouse was going to sign. And yes! Jason, Rick, Ben and Bryce all signed my copy of "Smoke & Mirrors". I was super happy and nothing could ruin my day anymore. Not even the stupid wrist bands I didn't get at first. While we were waiting in line for the autographs, we saw Elbow and after that we saw Alter Bridge. The big surprise of the day. Damn they were good. Singer Miles Kennedy never missed a note and they had some great songs. We actually planned on leaving their show earlier, so we had a good view for Coldplay, but we wanted to see the rest of Alter Bridge. Coldplay was the headliner of the first day. They were good, nice show with fireworks and laserbeams. I got the chills when they played 'Fix You', but I kinda missed 'Lovers in Japan' and 'Life in Technicolor II'. All in all we had a great day, even though it didn't start all that well. On sunday we're going to stay home, to re-load. Monday, the last day of Pinkpop, we will go again. Here are some photos.

The Manic Street Preachers

Couldn't get closer, but I did see Lifehouse again.

My happy Lifehouse moment, after getting their autographs. The guys were super nice, Jason actually shook my hand and ask me how I was doing. Thank God my idols are nice people!

Alter Bridge, very cool band. Singer Miles Kennedy looked like Kevin Dillon.

And Coldplay, couldn't really make any good pictures. But you get the idea.