Never Forget

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

 

- William Ernest Henley

Words

Via MelodysBlog

Its about time

via The Classy Issue

Go with the flow

Via Zulu Dancer

April Book (Dr Seuss)

When I told Marcee what my April Book was she laughed. I am not kiddding when I say that 'Oh, The Places You'll Go' is one of my favourite books. I only read it 2 years ago and often revisit it when I am feeling down or need perspective. Once when asked to give a talk to a bunch of really inspirational 'dance for life' contestants, I read bits from the book to make a few points. Its fun to quote the 'great thinkers' of our time but nobody does it better than Dr Seuss.

This is what my cover looks like too. Too lazy to take a pic blah blah blah

But on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike.
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

- Dr Seuss (Oh, The Places You'll Go)

Read this book and thank me later ;)

I Love...

Toni

Via MonaMade (Source)

Running Stuff

I may have never mentioned this before, but I have always been useless at 'physical' stuff. At school the teachers didn't even bother to try and get me involved because I was a 'creative' kid. So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I can run. Not only that... But I also enjoy running.

Marcee was the one who used to drag me to the promenade and ask me to just try. Recently she decided to run a race with @alambchop & @bohoparadox. A few days before the race she was starting to get nervous, so I offered to run the race with her. We both entered the 5km race, with no real training and finished in under 40 mins. Not bad at all :)

It was apparently so good that we may very well start training and do the Gun Run (10km). Eeeeekk!

The beautiful and inspirational Marcee

Running makes me pull weird faces

That's what I did this weekend :)

Way back when (Make it Happen)

THIS is my Mariah

Art

Romance - Thomas Hart Benton, 1931-32

via Black Contemporary Art (source)

Something about this piece makes me think of a book I read recently (A Mercy by Toni Morrison)

All Black Everything

Once when I was at the convent school I drew a garden and in the garden I added some black flowers. One of the nuns made me go outside and find black flowers. She then told me there were no black flowers. Seeing this, I suddenly felt such relief. Dont ask why I held onto that for such a long time lol.



Via Serious wapanese



Just believe

via melody's blog

Sunday Inspiration - Crazy

I LOVE playing this song in my car, especially when I am feeling down. And you already know how I feel about Mr Tyler ;)

Sunday Inspiration

I know that it is already Monday morning, but let's pretend that its still Sunday. I don't just love and write music. It is so much more. Trying to describe it would be pointless. So I'm just going to share some goodness with you.


I first heard this song about  months ago. I had no idea who/what Neon Trees was, but after tis song I wanted to get their album. I'm not crazy about this music video, but the song more than makes up for it. Don't say sweet Porcelain never shared good stuff with you ;)

You can also find me on twitter (@BlckPorcelain) and also on Facebook

I'm out!

Sunday Inspiration: Stimela

I grew up listening to Stimela as a kid. In fact hearing their songs as well as those by Sankomota always makes me think of Saturday afternoons in Soweto as a kid; My mom hanging up washing, while a visiting uncle sits outside with my dad with music blasting from a neighbours house.

It was only as a presenter at Radio 2000 that I really started to APPRECIATE Stimela. They were truly before their time. Check out this song: Whispers in the deep. I even dig the video and its interpretation of some of the lyrics.




The late Nana Coyote's vocals are my favourite part of this song. I also love that the band is having such a good time in this video. This song makes me feel the same way.

Thank you Stimela for the music.

I.P

Sia

Every Sunday I'm going to blog about things that inspire me as a musician.



I saw this live performance by Sia a few months ago. I was so impressed, but I had stopped blogging. Now that I am doing it again, I would like to share it.

I loved that she let the theme live beyond the video (see below) and found a way to keep it beautiful live. This woman has an incredibly unique voice & her quirky-ness is also quite endearing. She definitely isn't weird for 'being weird' sake. She appears to be really comfortable with The-Weird.




I love colours, I think people don't get creative enough with colours, the use of colour in the video is simply beautiful. This is honestly the first time I felt like the music was being well represented visually. Often music videos are not an extension of the music itself, but in this case it was a perfect match. I have to hand it to her (pun intended), it is a thing if beauty!

I am inspired. Thank you Sia. :)
I.P (Invincible Porcelain)