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My Favorite Stuff in 2009

Dec 26

Posted by Bernardo in Film, Music, This doesn't need a category | No Comments

Before this year ends and we embark on our long drive tomorrow from the Rhine-Main area to the Austrian Alps, I want to wrap up this post I had in the oven for some time.

It’s merely a recollection of my favorite stuff in this very significant year in my life. I hope you can start something with it.

  1. YouTube video that I enjoyed watching the most: SOUR ‘日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)’ is the most creative, complex and entertaining piece of musical footage that I’ve seen. And it’s a crowdsourced video, which made me very happy.
  2. YouTube video that made me laugh the most: We must have watched this poor drunk Mexican (aka “El Canaca”) over a million times and cracked every time we did. Probably overrated in Mexico but we had one helluva time with it.
  3. My favorite song was definitely Lizstomania by Phoenix. Not a lot to say here, just that I absolutely love Phoenix.
  4. On the same note, my favorite album in 2009 was Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
  5. My favorite movie in 2009 is “Inglourious Basterds” (and I say “is” instead of “was” because it was not only my favorite movie in 2009 but became my favorite movie of all times; Tarantino just keeps raising the bar for me). Here’s a piece I wrote after I saw it. In second place is “Up in the Air”, which I thought it was exquisite and I seriously predict that it will win the Oscar for Best Picture in February.
  6. My favorite tweet in 2009: http://twitter.com/BernardoSosa/status/1473678178
  7. The most important tweet in 2009 (and probably the most important one I’ll write in my life): http://twitter.com/BernardoSosa/status/1444888501
  8. Favorite picture (taken by myself) this year is this one or this other one. Both were taken during a trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The conference I attended there and the trip in general are also two of the highlights of my year.

Now, on to work on my new year’s resolutions. Post to follow.

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Fotos of Phoenix

Jul 3

Posted by Bernardo in Music | No Comments

Anybody who knows me (not even that well) knows that I’m extremely passionate about music. Today I woke up and realized that this personal space had to depict that passion also and decided to blog more about music.

And I’ll start with two of my favorite bands, which, not coincidentally, have very similar styles and come from the same musical places (and yeah, both come from Europe). Phoenix is the french foursome, whose fourth studio album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” just came out last May. It is, in my eyes, their most powerful and exciting album yet. I highly recommend it. Phoenix has come to define that sub-genre of alternative rock that more excites me and that I mostly enjoy. I still feel a rush and energy (although I know it’ll start to fade slowly) whenever I listen to “Lizstomania” and can’t wait to see them live again (the first time I saw them was at a very intimate session in Mexico City, which I can recall as one of the most amazing musical nights I’ve lived).

And then along came Fotos, the Hamburg-based German band. Their sound can be classified along the same lines as Phoenix, they seem to have the same harmony creation process and their style is almost identical. However, their music and lyrics show the place they come from. Their last album “Nach dem Goldrausch” came out exactly one year ago and in it, they sound more and more like Phoenix than in their previous albums. The progression here is clear. Phoenix came first and Fotos, not trying to imitate but finding an inspiration, has come to sound just like them. It’s like a photo, it’s the same thing but in a different way.

Anyway, I liked the wordplay here that would allow me to write a little about my musical emotions lately and if you get a chance (and are into German rock-pop) listen to Fotos. If you haven’t listened to Phoenix, you’re really missing out some good stuff.

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