Neverland

When the darkness takes me over
Face down, emptier than zero
Invisible you come to me
..quietly
Stay beside me
Whisper to me "Here I am"
And the loneliness fades

Some people think I'm somethin'
Well you gave me that, I know
But I always feel like nothing
When I'm in the dark alone

You provide the soul, the spark that drives me on
Makes me something more than flesh and bone

At times like these
Any fool can see
Your love inside me

All these years
Truth In front of my eyes
While I denied
What my heart knows was right

At times like these
Any fool can see
Your love inside me

I want to be someone
Who someone would want to be


Darling
In the kitchen
With your dreams

Will you fly
again
Take to the sky
again

Undo the hooks
Once and for all
Banish the tic tic tic tok tok tok
Again

Will you be
Yourself for me
Cause I can take it
I can stand
Anything

When you're with me
I can stand it
I can stand

But when you're gone
I never land
In Neverland

Want to be someone, someone would want to be

(by Steve Hogarth)

I Am Touched

I am so deeply touched. So deeply touched by all the care, love, attention and feelings that were put into the preperation of christams gifts for me this year. My Love, my friends, my family - you all put a lot of effort into creating something extraordinary, something I cherish truly, something that will stay with me for years to come. All the words in the world could not express how I feel right now. I love you all !!!

The Essential 2007 According To TJ

So again it's time for my year's round up of music and films that made the biggest impression on me in 2007.

That was a very good year for music as some of my favorite artists released their new albums.

Here's my TOP 5 albums released in past 12 months


1 PORCUPINE TREE - Fear Of A Blank Planet / Nil Recurring






2 NEAL MORSE - Sola Scriptura






3 BLACKFIELD - Blackfield II








4 ATAXIA - Ataxia II







5 DREAM THEATER - Systematic Chaos





There are plenty more albums that made me happy this year and are strongly recommended :

Pain Of Salvation - Scarsick

Between The Buried And Me - Colors

The Gourishankar - 2nd Hands

The Flower Kings - The Sum Of No Evil

Cohead & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow

Jordan Rudess - The Road Home

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Riverside - Rapid Eye Movement

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Damo Suzuki - Please Heat This Eventually

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte, No Buffalo

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Lydia Lunch - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Lydia Lunch

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet - The Apocalypse Inside Of An Orange

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Caliberation (Is Pushing Luck And The Key Too Far)

Grinderman - Grinderman

Marillion - Somewhere Else

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

Rush - Snakes And Arrows

Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

Hans Zimmer - The Simpsons Movie: The Music

James Blunt - All The Lost Souls

Pink Floyd - Oh By The Way (Box Set)

28 Weeks Later: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack





And now films. Again, pretty good year for movies. I really enjoyed some of the long awaited premieres but also was surprised by some unexpected productions. Some of them even got into my TOP 5
Here are five best movies I've seen this year in an alphabetical order :


28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)





300 (Zack Snyder)



Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)



Grindhouse (Quentin Tarantino & Roberto Rodriguez)



Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog)





Other great productions that made my day :

Halloween (Rob Zombie)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie



Still haven't seen those :

I Am Legend
Across The Universe
Beowulf

Polish history in 10 minutes

Very nicely done movie presenting most of the important historical events in Poland.

Normal

Here is my car
my phone
and my TV
I’ve got it all but you can see through me


But am I here?
It’s kind of hard to tell
I do a good impression of myself
But what’s normal now anyhow?


Prescription drugs they help me through the day
And that restraining order keeps me well at bay
But what’s normal now anyway?


Wish I was old and a little sentimental
You gotta see the waves, not the wine bottle


Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day

---Steven Wilson---

My Meeting With SBB ...

THE BAND

SBB's New Album "THE ROCK"

I've been waiting for that day quite a long time. Today I was finally going to meet the musicians from the legendary and critically acclaimed polish progressive rock group SBB. The band is playing a prestiguous gig tonight in Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice. Before that musicians were to meet with their fans in "empik megastore" in Silesia City Center in Katowice. So happy with the news I took a day off from my college and packed with CD's to sign and a digital camera to make some photos during the meeting I went to Katowice. The meeting was scheduled at 4 PM, 90minutes before the show. About 4:30 PM a very nice and eyecatching miss informed us that the band won't show up because one of the musicians has lost his way to Silesia City Center and the band was running out of time so the meeting was completely cancelled. I'm a bit sad because of the way the whole thing turned out, but hell, I love those solitary, winter excursions. No hard feelings gentlemen, we'll see each other next time :)


The Invisible Band

The Insurgents Monument

... shhhh !!!

Poland in UEFA Euro 2008

Well that's what I call a historical day. Finally polish football team is going to play during UEFA European Football Championship in 2008. After yesterday's victory with Belgium we'll have an opportunity to see our boys playing in this prestigeous championship for the first time ever !!! I wish it is 2008 already :)

Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories

"Stick Boy And Match Girl In Love"





Stick Boy liked Match Girl,
He liked her a lot.
He liked her cute figure,
he thought she was hot.




But could a flame ever burn
for a match and a stick?
It did quite literally;
he burned up quick.


Tim Burton

The Reason I Wake Up In The Morning

My dear younger sister Aleksandra :) My soulmate, my ward, my pride and one of the reasons I wake up in the morning. I've never understood why siblings have to be in the state of constant war. Maybe I'm too old to believe in this sort of bullshit. Anyway, here she is :)

We All Need Some Light

This passed week was a nightmare in a way. Constant problems with electricity made me so goddamn depressed and sad that I hardly had any strength to do anything. I used to hate the sunlight but these last couple of days I kept reminding myself a piece from Paul Gallico's short novel "Snowflake" which goes - "The Sun ! The Sun ! Dearly beloved Sun, how I'm glad to see you..." I really needed sunlight those days and it's lack was atoned by the music I drowned into. Amazing how we underestimate things we take for granted day after day, and then suddenly one sunny day, they're gone...

One Of My Turns

Well as long as I'm in this not so cheerful mood I like to get myself even more down. And Pink Floyd's opus magnum "The Wall" has always been there for me in such moments to keep me down and depressed, I like it that way actually.
Here's a clip from Alan Parker's film version of "The Wall" called "One of my turns", I bet that each guy feels like smashing something from time to time and feels an urge to beat someone to a pulp on a saturday night - whoever comes near you. Man or woman. Isn't it so?



"One Of My Turns"

Day after day, love turns grey
Like the skin of a dying man.
Night after night, we pretend its all right
But I have grown older and
You have grown colder and
Nothing is very much fun any more.
And I can feel one of my turns coming on.
I feel cold as a razor blade,
Tight as a tourniquet,
Dry as a funeral drum.

Run to the bedroom,
In the suitcase on the left
You'll find my favorite axe.
Don't look so frightened
This is just a passing phase,
One of my bad days.
Would you like to watch T.V.?
Or get between the sheets?
Or contemplate the silent freeway?
Would you like something to eat?
Would you like to learn to fly?
Would'ya?
Would you like to see me try?

Would you like to call the cops?
Do you think it's time I stopped?
Why are you running away?

(Roger Waters)

What Do You Want From Me?

Here are the lyrics to Pink Floyd song "What do you want from me?", they perfectly reflect my thoughts in recent couple of days:


As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
What do you want from me?
Should I sing until I cant sing any more
Play these strings until my fingers are raw
Youre so hard to please
What do you want from me?

Do you think that I know something you dont know
If I dont promise you the answers would you go
Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
Im not the one you need
What do you want from me?

You can have anything you want
You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water
Anything you want
You can own everything you see
Sell your soul for complete control
Is that really what you need
You can lose yourself this night
See inside there is nothing to hide
Turn and face the light

What do you want from me?

(Polly Samson, David Gilmour)


And here's the track itself :

Pink Floyd - What Do You Want From Me?

Rowan Atkinson & John Cleese - Beekeeping Sketch

This is absolutely hillarious and pretty rare. On one stage , next to each other Mr.Rowan Atkinson (famous Mr.Bean) and my beloved comedian and Monty Python legend Mr.John Cleese. Sit down comfortable and have a laugh :)

'28 Days Later' - '28 Weeks Later' and Godspeed You! Black Emperor

That passed weekend I watched two highly disturbing and creepy films - '28 Days Later' and it's following part '28 Weeks Later'. They both deal with rage virus that broke free from certain Manchester laboratory and with the speed of light had infected all the citizens of UK (and not only) with deadly rage virus. Virus wreaked havoc in UK and the picture of a lonely main character strolling around the desolated London haunts me since then. It's truly one of the most disturbing and memorable scenes I've ever seen on the screen.




Also during that scene some extremely illustrative musical tune was on in the background - after quick research I found out that it was a track called "Eest Hastings" by the post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. After watching those two movies I got an opportunity to listen to some more GYBE music and it's fabulous and packed with emotions that bring the sight of apocalypse to my imagination and it really sends some massive shivers down my spine.


Godspeed You! Black Emperor

I've hadn't had such a strong sensation while watching a movie for a long time now, so I'm even happier that I discovered those two highly recommended titles, and the great Godspeed You! Black Emperor music as well.

Teachers Apprenticeship

Another brand new experience is before me. It looks like I will start teachers apprenticeship next week as a part of my education program in my college. I will observe 50 hours of lessons in secondary school and grammar school as well as conduct 30 hours of lessons by myself. Of course these are gonna be english language lessons and it's something I haven't done yet so the jitter is on. Hope I won't become the type of teacher as presented by Roger waters in 'The Wall' (see photo above), no mincing pupils, no brainwashing etc. But who knows what's going to happen...Keep your fingers crossed !

The Unexpected Guests

Now that's what I call the unexpected visitors. Yesterday evening when I was just being lazy in front of my stereo, the doorbell rang and when I had opened the door I saw my old friend from Canada - miss Lizzie Kao. She came to visit my other friend Jacek and they paid a visit to me. How nice. Guess I'll be hanging around with them for some time during the next couple of days or so. Lizzie is the third person from abroad I have met since my return from Edinurgh in Winter 2005. What a great surprise :)))


My Canadian friend Lizzie Kao, Edinburgh, Scotland, Summer 2005




My good old friend Jacek K., Edinburgh, Scotland, Spring 2005

The Simpsons Movie

I was always a huge Simpsons fan and was waiting for The Simpsons Movie premiere inpatiently and finally couple weeks ago I had an opportunity to finally see it and... I totally love it. The humour is witty and jokes are really precisely pointed at some of America's weakest issues. There was a danger of this movie being not so fantastic, as so called critics were complaining about the quality level of couple of last seasons but critics were wrong. The movie is brilliant, funny, visually exciting and with a great plot. Strongly recommended for The Simpsons lovers and not only.

PS : Hans Zimmer did a great job again composing a fine musical score for the movie.

The Coldest Of Summer Nights

Weather reporters claim that today's night gonna be one of the coldest nights in months. The temperature is to reach not more than 6-7 Celssius degrees and still we have holidays don't we? I recommend a warm blanket, mild vodka drink and a good movie to warm ourselves up. So where's the global warming anyway Mr.Gore ???

Four summer days in Węgierska Górka

Photographed and edited by rael

Red Hot Chili Peppers Live In Chorzów, Poland July 3rd 2007

For those of you who missed the extracts of the first RHCP gig in Poland broadcasted in TVN last Sunday :
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live In Chorzów

---The Reason I Wake Up In The Morning---

The day when I purchased this incredible box set of my beloved director's movies - late Stanley Kubrick was one of the most joyous days ever. One DVD box set with almost all movies of The Master including :
"Lolita"
"Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"
"2001 : A Space Odyssey"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Barry Lyndon"
"The Shining"
"Full Metal Jacket"
"Eyes Wide Open"

and the great documentary

"Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures"



Below you will find some links that will tell you more about those works of art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_281962_film29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove_or:_How_I_Learned_to_Stop_Worrying_and_Love_the_Bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lyndon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Metal_Jacket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Wide_Shut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubrick

It Has All Started 40 Years Ago

I have always considered the magical year 1967 as the beginning of the music I love the most - PROGRESSIVE ROCK. As I soon found out - that is the truth. The year 1967 was always called the year in which psychedelic music was born. Just look at some of the albums released that year to learn how incredibly special and inspiring for the music of the following decades the year 1967 was.



The Rolling Stones - "Their Satanic Majesties Request"



The Beatles - "Magical Mystery Tour"




The Moody Blues - "Days Of The Future Passed" - the first album that put together rock band and symphony orchestra




The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Are You Experienced?" - that album gave birth Jimi Hendrix legend - the man who invented guitar feedback




Pink Floyd - "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" - another debut album of the band that had become the legend and is considered as the greatest progressive rock band. "Piper" also presents us with the genius of late Syd Barret, wonderful composer and songwriter who went to the other side of the moon shorty after recording that masterpiece.


...and finally the greatest rock album of all times :



The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - magnum opus and the most influential album of all time by prominent critics and publications, ranking number 1 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.It was recorded by The Beatles over a 129-day period beginning on December 6, 1966.[2] The album was released on June 1, 1967 in the United Kingdom and on June 2, 1967 in the United States. The album has a large influence on many artists.
Upon release the album was an immediate critical and popular sensation. Innovative in every sense, from structure to recording techniques to the cover artwork, the artistic effect was felt immediately.

John Frusciante - The Past Recedes

Neal Morse & Ryo Okumoto - Coming Through

LIVE EARTH

In 1985 I was way too young to watch, enjoy and appreciate LIVE AID. Two years ago in 2005 I haven't got an opportunity to witness LIVE 8 as I was flying from Edinburgh to Katowice and then having something BIG to enjoy instead of Pink Floyd reunion.

Finally today, now in the very moment I'm writing this post I'm watching 15th hour of LIVE EARTH broadcast. LIVE EARTH - concert of pop and rock music featuring various artists to inspire global warming activism. Among the artists are my favorites like Genesis, Damien Rice, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roger Waters, The Police, Metallica and many more. It's such an incredible concert marathon to experience. And still 8 hours to the end of this incredible event. What more can we expect than several hours of great live music in our own living room?

"The Straight Story" by David Lynch

Just watched the great movie directed by one of my favorite directors David Lynch called "The Straight Story" - the movie is about Alvin Straight, a sickly, elderly man who lives with his adult daughter Rose. When he hears that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a stroke, he makes up his mind to go visit him and hopefully make amends. The trouble is that Alvin's legs and eyes are too impaired for him to drive a car, so he hitches a trailer to his recently purchased 30-year-old riding lawnmower and sets off on the 240-mile journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.

What a great and deeply touching motion picture, a modern odyssey of a man dealing with his own mortality and the lasting bonds of brotherhood.

I recommend it to you all if you like slow and very emotional films.

---The Reason I Wake Up In The Morning---

JOHN FRUSCIANTE - "CURTAINS"

"It is a very warm album. It is also very sad, with additional doses of happiness, strength and humor for good measure. I do not exist, but if I did I would put this record on my living room turntable at night and dim the lights, keeping a blanket nearby and nestle into the cozy air molecules this music creates" - John Frusciante

Friends Never Say Goodbye

"There isn't much I haven't shared

With you along the road

And through it all there'd always be

Tomorrow's episode

Suddenly that isn't true

There's another avenue

Beckoning the great divide

Ask no questions, take no side

Who's to say who's right or wrong

Whose course is braver run

Still we are, have always been

Will ever be as one

What is done has been done for the best

Though the mist in my eyes might suggest

Just a little confusion about what I'll lose

But if I started over I know I would choose

The same joy the same sadness each step of the way

That fought me and tought me that friends never say goodbye

Suddenly that isn't true

There's another avenue

Beckoning, the great divide

I would choose

The same joy the same sadness each step of the way

That fought me and taught me that friends never say goodbye"

The Bloody Irony Of It All

Once again life shows its evil face. It so damn unfair that everytime we feel comfortable and secure with our life something has got to happen. Just like that. Out of the blue. Breaking your spine and killing your good will for months to come. Never in my life have I known the solution to these kinds of problems. And still the solution is a mystery. Is waiting really the only thing we are able to do in these sort of situations? Is time really the healer? I doubt it... It all makes me wanna cry. Helpless is mortal...