Good music? They've got you covered!

There are few things in the world worse than people who take a perfectly good song and make a bad cover. Seriously, it was fine before, why would you go and record the exact same thing without making any changes except putting your stupid voice to it and then rerelease it? For examples of pointless covers, look no further than Westlife's nonsense.

I think that if you're going to copy someone else, well for goodness sake at least do it better. So today's post is dedicated to those artists who did not just cover a song, but perfected it. Here are my favourites. Just don't ask me which version of 'Hallelujah' is the best, I'm afraid that's something that may never be settled. 

First up is Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky'. I've heard many covers and they're all pretty average. Then along comes Daughter with their version of it which is so different, and yet it works.

Then there's Birdy. This girl is amazing, and she's only 17. Her cover of Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love' is undoubtedly one of her most well known songs. But my favourite has to be her cover of 'White Winter Hymnal' (originally by Fleet Foxes). My word. What a gem. 

And even though U2 are pretty much legends, I have to include Jack White's cover of 'Love is Blindness', featured in The Great Gatsby. It is such a powerful version. To quote a YouTube commenter, "U2's version is like the guy who accepts his girlfriend was cheating on him. Jack White kills the bitch". 

Another band I wouldn't think to mess with is Arcade Fire. But their song 'The Suburbs' was covered Mr Little Jeans, the stage name for Monica Birkenes, a not so well known Norwegian singer. Her music is just dreamy and I'm not surprised by how great this actually is. 

Also known as that song from the KFC ad, Ellie Goulding's cover of 'Your Song' is beautiful. 

And it's not just slightly indie artists that I'm favouring because here is one of my all time favourite covers. Seether took George Michael's somewhat cheesy 'Careless Whisper' and made it cool again. And if you didn't already know, they are proudly South African!

Knysna

When a long weekend arrives, one cannot simply waste it working. And so with this in my mind I took a trip to Knysna this past weekend with two of my friends from university. I can now tick off 'go on a road trip' from my anti-bucket list.

Knysna is a stunning town in South Africa and it is conveniently close to where I study. The weekend began with a surprise party for Shivani's 21st at Tapas, and ended with a trip to the Garden Route Wolf Sanctuary where actual wolves roamed (this made me very happy!) In between, we squeezed in as much of the pretty sights of Knysna as we could, most of which involved water, whether it was the Knysna Heads, two cliffs facing each other at the entrance to the lagoon (seen in the photo above) or Leisure Isle or Thesen Island or the Red Bridge overlooking the Knysna River.

The beautiful birthday girl

Kelina and Shivani after a few cocktails

Birthday shots!

Shiv and I at the Knysna Heads viewpoint

Overlooking Leisure Isle

Missioning to find the prettiest shells

The Knysna Waterfront

Some of the boats lined up

Adding popcorn to my coffee ice-cream was a genius idea

The Red Bridge, an out of use iron bridge overlooking the Knysna river

They're actually quite normal, I promise

Admiring the sunset at the Red Bridge

One of the wolves at the sanctuary

World Cat Day

Today is World Cat Day. Yes, there is an entire day for the world to celebrate cats, as if they needed an excuse to be worshipped! I may be a little cat obsessed and on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady, I realise this. 

On Sunday, after talking about how much we really didn't feel like working, a friend and I decided on a spontaneous trip to the Grahamstown SPCA to visit the cats. Until then, I’d forgotten just how much happiness stroking a cat could bring. These are some of the gorgeous fluffballs that we met. 

Photos of the cats are credited to the Instagram skills of Tristam Riordan

I used to have three cats at home until we learnt that my sister was allergic to most animals and so the cats had to go. I still wish we could have given the sister away instead but the SPCA wouldn't take her. 

This is my sister, Annelisa, with one of the cats, named... well... I called her something different every day. Not that she ever responded to my calls unless food was involved.

As I no longer have a pet at home or at university because I live in res, I've been thinking about ways to help animals even when I don't own one. Here's what I have so far:

1) Volunteer to walk the dogs regularly at your local SPCA, or if you have limited time, then visit when you can and play with the animals. They will show you more love than your own mother ever will. True story. 

2) Every time you do your grocery shopping, add a tin of dog/cat food to your trolley to donate.

3) Support the Animal Anti-Cruelty League. They work in areas where poverty and ignorance lead to animal cruelty, not by prosecuting people but by advising and educating them. They give talks on animal cruelty and also provide mobile animal clinics in townships. 

I've supported them this year by buying their personalised diary, which is not only very pretty but also packed with useful advice and tips. Inside there are basic first aid instructions, energy saving information, pet care advice, cooking and baking info, and even recession fighting tips to save money. Not that I know how to cook or save energy or money but hey, with this diary I'm a step closer to getting there. 

4) Encourage people to adopt pets from the SPCA instead of buying them. 

5) Support local groups that care for feral cats. If you're a Rhodes student like me, that would be the Grahamstown Feral Cat Project that traps, neuters or spays and then releases feral cats. For more info, click here. 

6) Got an old blanket or two? Donate it to the SPCA or an animal shelter.

7) As for fireworks, if you're near animals, just don't.

On a lighter note...

The Anti-Bucket List

While procrastinating, I like to write lists; shopping lists, to do lists, hot guys at uni lists, DIY idea lists, bucket lists... See, even this sentence turned into a list!

I think that a bucket list is the biggest deal though. It’s like saying ‘I cannot possibly die without doing this first’ and so it can range from the extremely batshit crazy like swimming with sharks to the more heartfelt  like helping starving kids in Africa. Ok that last bit was a joke, who actually says that?

Don’t say Americans.  

My problem with writing a bucket list is that I make it so unrealistic that I never do anything. Run a marathon? Ha! I can’t even walk across the road without being out of breath. I’m also impatient.  If I want to do something, I want to have a plan and I want to do it now. I studied French for six years and would like to be able to go to France and put it to good use, but writing that down and not being able to do that any time soon is discouraging.

So my solution to my bucket list dilemma? Don’t have one! Instead, I’m going to list things I’d like to do/achieve specifically in the next six months or so. It’s purposeful, immediate and more of a reality than an idea. And then after that time has passed, I’ll make a new list for more things I want to do. I also won’t call it a bucket list because if I’m going to kick the bucket it better not be in the next six months.

So here it is, my anti-bucket list of things I’d like to do (so far). I’ve already started planning for some and as for the others, I'll get there.

1. Read Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting 

2. Register myself as an organ donor. Not that I think anyone wants my liver but I’m sure the rest is useable.

3. Go bungee jumping.

4. Wear a bikini to the beach (and in doing so, get over my body issues)

5. Travel out of South Africa

6. Go on a road trip: I’ve done this many times before but one cannot go on too many road trips. If you watch a lot of movies you will know that the solution to everything is to go on a road trip where romance will occur, unforgettable experiences will be had, and eternal bonds of friendship will be formed.

7. Do something good for someone in the Grahamstown community outside Rhodes.

8. Go to a music festival

9. Cook an entire meal for someone special: This someone will obviously be my mother and I’ll make her curry and prove I'm a good Indian daughter. Also, here's what I would look like as a good Indian daughter.

10. Learn how to make decent coffee: A beginner’s barista course is offered by The Factory Cafe in Durban, but comes at a price of R4500. So I’ll start hinting to my mother after I cook that curry.

11. Have my writing published

12. Get fit: note, I did not say lose loads of weight and look like a stick.

13. Learn how to drive

14. Watch the sunrise at the Monument in Grahamstown

15. Camp outdoors

Any other ideas of doable things to do?