Melodic Monday #7: To France

Mary, Queen of Scots, is a popular subject for writers, so here is a song to go with the famous Queen:

Mike Oldfield is best known for 'Tubular Bells' but I prefer his collaborations with various female singers, and this is my favourite. If you prefer a bit more guitar and drums, you can find Leave's Eyes' cover below.

Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly - To France

Leave's Eyes - To France

Melodic Monday #6

In honour of the recently released Hobbit film (which I have yet to see) here is a Lord of the Rings collection to listen to:

I love Enya's music; this is a gorgeous track but not one to listen to if you're especially tired.

The Bridge of Khazad Dum by Howard Shore:

And finally a lighter video, made up of different clips from the film. "They're taking the Hobbits to Isenguard". Some people may find the tune annoying, but it makes me laugh and I can't watch certain parts of the film without laughing.

Doctor Who and the Asylum

I recently read this adventure about the Second Doctor and the first time the Daleks were introduced to the Who universe. It was interesting to read about a more serious Doctor with a hint of his mischievousness that we see today.

Somehow, the Daleks seemed a lot more menacing on paper than they do on television.

The first episode of the 7th series aired on Saturday (yet I will not be able to watch it until Friday, so I am trying to avoid spoilers) and it was called Asylum of the Daleks which made me think of the song by Fun Boy Three.

Melodic Monday #3

With all the excitement of last week, I forgot to mention that the previous week's song, Nemo by Nightwish, contained the lyrics "..between the pages two and three" in the second verse.

This week's song is Decode by Paramore.

Comment with the literary link.

I was thinking of inviting other bloggers to participate possibly on a bi-monthly basis. Either way I will continue this weekly musical offering for the forseeable future.

Red and Black week: Bookworm outfit

Did anyone else spot Stevie Wonder's black outfit with red and white during the jubilee concert last night? Even his glasses were black with what looked like red bats on the side.

Here's the only picture I could find (sourced from the Liverpool Echo website) where you can barely see the red bat. If you're in the UK, you can watch it on BBC iplayer.

So this is my second post for the Red and Black Week. I've decided to show one of my favourite tops.

This isn't a fashion blog and I'm afraid my sense of style doesn't match up to the great outfits I've seen while browsing the other blogs partaking in Sophistique Noir's event. This is just to show you the top.

I bought the bookworm top online from pindippy, a website of web series and 'stuff' run by Jessie Cave who is better known as Lavender from the Harry Potter films. It describes me perfectly, as you can see a little in the background. (There's also two rows of dvds but space is tight) It has a lovely feel, is ethically made according to the label, and as it's one-size fits all I didn't have the usual 'will it be the right size?' worry when ordering it.

Melodic Monday #2

I promise I have plans for a longer blog post. I can walk about my room again, but I still can't see surfaces so bear with me while I organise the chaos that is my room.

To recap this meme: Each Monday (I'll try to make it each Monday anyway) I will post a music video which will be in some way related to books. Some songs will be very obviously 'bookish', others might be a bit obscure. The link could be anything, something in the video itself, the lyrics, etc.

This weeks video is Nemo by Nightwish. One of my favourite songs by a favourite group. These guys are Finnish as well, which is where I'm going this summer! I'd call them melodic rock (I'm sure there's a specific word for their genre) Anyway, enjoy and try to spot the literary link.

If you want to take part:

• Post a music video that in some way links to the theme of your blog (or if it's a general theme, choose a subject)
• Link back to this blog in your post to say where the meme comes from.
• Comment and include a link to your post and I'll pop along and try to guess the link in your song.

Delain and unpacking

My room (and my brother's room which I'm using at extra storage space while it's empty) look like a bomb has hit them. I'm moved back from uni at the weekend, and somehow the wardrobes and drawers are already too full.

On the plus side, while searching for the envelope I need to hand my old house's keys in tomorrow I found my £10 voucher for Waterstones; another excuse to buy some more books, not that I often need one.

Saying that, I've managed to buy 10 books and two magazines over the past few days, I'll post a picture after I get back from my two day trip to uni.

In yesterday's song, the band's name is actually related to books. Delain is the name of a realm in Stephen King's series "The Dark Towers", and "The Eyes of the Dragon" is set entirely within Delain. I'll confess to not having read a Stephen King book yet; it's on my to-read list. I'd quite like to complete the challenge of reading all my already-bought unread books first.

Melodic Monday

I've seen memes on other book blogs, so I thought I'd try creating one.

Each Monday (I'll try to make it each Monday anyway) I will post a music video which will be in some way related to books. Some songs will be very obviously 'bookish', others might be a bit obscure. The link could be anything, something in the video itself, the lyrics, etc.

I shall leave it up to anyone to guess, otherwise I'll tell you in my next post.

Today's video is Get The Devil Out Of Me by Delain. (They're brilliant live, by the way)

Comment with what you think the link is.



If you want to take part:

• Post a music video that in some way links to the theme of your blog (or if it's a general theme, choose a subject)
• Link back to this blog in your post to say where the meme comes from.
• Comment and include a link to your post and I'll pop along and try to guess the link in your song.

Eurovision!

I love watching Eurovision each year. Usually I'll print off a scorecard to rank the countries, and then settle down for a three hour marathon of silliness and the odd catchy song.

Sweden definitely deserved to win. I loved the song, Euphoria by Loreen, yet the dancing is bizarre; it seems to be interpretation but only vaguely ties in with the lyrics. Check out the 'crab steps' at 0:55.

But wait.....this post has a link to books. Cyprus had a europop catchy song titled La La Love, sung by Ivi Adamou; not the best vocals but not the worst song on the night. And....... they are dancing on a table made out of books. Now I can't work out how this is relevant to the song apart from the backing dancers whose clothing may be based on school outfits. But here's the song for your enjoyment anyway (or not depending on your musical tastes).

Who was your favourite?