Friday 30 November 2007

A Good Film

At last, a good film. For the first time we watched a really nice film during the screening of our course British Cinema. I would even say that this could be a film I would buy, or at least wouldn't mind buying. I guess director Danny Boyle just makes really cool films. The film we saw was Shallow Grave and starred Ewan McGregor. I didn't no what the film was going to be about, so I was expecting either way a really boring social drama, kind of like Naked, or a film quite similar to Trainspotting. However , Shallow Grave is a real thriller with some comedic elements. That was also immediately one of the things that kind of bothered me, after I had seen the whole film. 'Cause the film starts out a bit funny or at least not that serious, but then as things go wrong it becoems more serious and characters act very unexpectedly, which at times was kind of frightening. But in the end it all ends on a softer note, again being not so serious ending like soemkind of feelgood comedy. But that was just a minor thing, overall the filmw as really cool. Interesting story, good characters. I really liked it. I guess we will end British Cinema in a very good way when it comes to the films, because next week, our last screening we will watch The Queen. Finally I;m goign to see that one, which is great because I myself was not sure if I wanted to go and see it at the cinema, because I'm kind of afraid the film won't interest me at all, because I couldn't care less about Elizabeth or Blair. And to see them portrayed in a film, i;m not sure what to think about that. However, Helen Mirren's performance I of course are more than willing to see, so if the whole story won't interest me she will. It's kind of like watching Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth. Before the lecture I went to the Film Office to pick up my essay for Documentary Film. On the way down there I met Marion and because she had not seen me for a while she decided to walk with me to the office just so that we could have a little chat. What i didn't know though, was that the film office is closed from 12 and then opens again at 2. I was there just before 1 pm, thinking that from 1 they would have lunchbreak, but turned out they weren't open at all. Again, I had come all the way up there for nothing. But i didn't mind. I got to see Marion and afterwards I went to pick up some books at the library for my second essay for Britisj Cinema. Instead of going online and go to the page of the library catalogue and search for books that way, I prefer just going to the aile where all the books related to cinema are and then wander my way through. While I take a book from one shelf, I listen to my Ipod, and then look at the bibliography or the contents tos ee if anything relates to my chosen subject. I think I find some pretty useful books yesterday so hopefully they will help me get really started. After the screening of British Cinema I went home. I did my grocery shopping on Tuesday so i didn't have to go into town, which was better because of the filmmeeting we have every Thursday at 7. When i got home i checked my e-mail and because this time we would have a little course about how to direct actors, Euan proposed to meet half an hour before the meeting at the Gulbenkian so we could discuss our movie. I e-mailed him that it was a good idea so at 6.30 we met. Clément however didn't feel too good, so he stayed home. Hopefully he feels better soon. Euan and I discussed the music we want to use and talked about casting. I had sent an e-mail to the Drama Society to ask if we could make use of their 'actors' and I already received some e-maails from people who were interested to participate. So now we have to set a date for a first round of auditions, which will be very difficult because we only have two more weeks left before Christmas break starts and I will go to London for a week before I return home to spend two weeks in the Netherlands. Next weekend however we will probably do our test shots, so that's already planned, which is good. So we're really making some progress. Also we are goign to write a treatment for next week, so that's good. Around 7 we walked to the Grimond building for the filmmeeting which was pretty interesting. They brought an 'actor' or at least a guy who had done some modules about it and had starred on some plays and short films. So he had some experience. It was mostly interesting because it brought back a lot of memories. I kept thinking about how I got directed for the playI starred in last year and how everything went during my auditions for drama school the beginning of this year. So it brought back all these memories, good and bad. It kind of made me sad at some moments as well. Because the meeting lasted 'til somethign like 8.30 I had dinner around 8.45. I just cooked some vegetables really quick and then warmed some tomato soup, which i ate with the vegetables and some bread. Right now I'm going to brush my teeth, take a shower, have breakfast, read the text for my seminar and around 11.30 go to the Film office to finally pick up my essay.

Thursday 29 November 2007

No Essay

I was supposed to get my essay for Documentary Film at the Film Office yesterday afternoon. Elizabeth had sent us all an e-mail saying we could pick them up on Wednesday afternoon. So I went all the way down to the Film Office to get hold of it and see what mark I got. However, the woman who works there told me only the essays of people who's surname start with an a 'til d were brought back. The others would come in tomorrow afternoon, so today. I have no idea why Elizabeth didn't sent us another e-mail about it, which would have prevented me from going to the Film Office. I especially went out to get my essay and now I had nothing. Slightly dissapointed, but not really I walked back home. It was actually quite nice just to have a little walk. So I didn't really mind I had come all the way down there for nothing. I noticed my poll is already closed and in total 8 people have voted. Too bad not more people voted, but maybe only these 8 people read my blog? Well, I don't care for how many people i write all of this down everyday, it's mostly for myself, so after all this I can look back come here and read all these stories and have a little ride down memory lane. I have to check what happened to my DVD of A History Of Violence. I ordered it on Aamazon a while ago, not knowing though, that we would end up receiving a copy for free, because there went something wring with sending text messages about a free screening of director Cronenberg's new film. But i still have not received this copy form Amazon, so I went by the Park Wood reception to see if a package for me had arrived. This was straight after I went to the Film office. Well, the woman behind the counter, first told me I had to wait for an hour, so she could write down all the names of people of whom there were some new packages delivered today. So i went back home and like an hour later returned. Still my name wasn't on the list, so apparently it has not been sent yet at all or somethign just went wrong, so I will contact Amazon. I didn't do much yesterday evening. I mostly thought about my essay and then went to bed. I'm going to take a shower now and brush my teeth...

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Too Much To Carry

Just to clear things up immediately, I didn't vote! So, I guess someone just likes the new lay-out. Yep, apparently it's possible, Alice. Well, Marion said she liked it. But I have no idea who voted for cool, but it sure wasn't me. That just wouldn't be fair. Yesterday was a busy day. I did my presentation and it went pretty good. I wasn't nervous at all, but I never like that it always ends up differently than youw anted to. The night before when you're in your room pretending to already stand there doing your presentation in front of your fellow students everything goes smooth, you feel very loose and try to act cute and all, but then the moment you actually stand there it all suddenly feels so cold, empty and a bit boring. All these eyes staring at you, and you yourself are constantly thinking what it people think of you and your presentation. Is it good? Do they understand everything? Do I make sense or just tell a lot of crap. I started kind of speaking by heart, but then towards the end ended up reading a bit more, just to get it over with and not make it too long. There were quite a lot of people, so it was nice a lot of people showed up. I tried to ook a bit at everyone, just to get them all involved. I especially liked that one guy, Matt or Mathew, sometimes nodded his head, giving some kind of reaction to what I was saying, which is nice for me. 'Cause then I knew at least someone was interested and thought I was making sense. This other guy, Glenn, sometimes did the same thing. At the end of my presentation , one guy commented as well as Matt. But I could 'defend' myself and my point of view pretty well, so it didn't hurt my presentation. So overall I think it went okay. When we left the room after class was over and I walked towards the door where Elizabeth stood holding the door open she said something like: 'interesting choise'. So I guess the fact that she thought I had chosen an interesting documentary must have been positive, so hopefully this means she thought my presentation was good. The documentary I spoke about, by the way, was Unser Täglich Brot (Our Daily Bread) a film by Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The film is about food production and shows the different stages our food goes through before it reaches us, the costumers. So you get to see the factories and the people who work there. All shown without interference through use of voice-over, interviews or music. In this way as a viewer you really get to make meaning out of the images yourself and create your own opinion. The film shows the production of vegetables and fruit, but also meat. In some scenes therefore you get to see how cows are being killed and then sliced open or how fish are lured in into this big tube that sucks them out of the water while they were freely swimming. Because I didn't have the documentary on a DVD or some kind of other disc, i had to come early to set everything up. So i just brought my laptop and then connected it to this big screen so that everyone could see the clips I was showing. I had downloaded the documentary, 'cause they didn't have it in the library and buying it for me wasn't an option as I don't like to spend money on something which I probably only goign to use for my study. It was sometimes quite strange to see Alice and Clement looking at me while I was dloing my presentation. It's different watching your friends while they are watching you. And I sometimes tried to get some info from them on what they were thinking, a reaction while I was speaking, but I'm not sure what they really thought. Clement, though, soemtimes kind of nodded or at least i could see he thought i was saying things that made sense. After everyone had done their presentation, or at least the four of us who had to do it this week, which also included Alice and Clement of whom both presentations went fine as well, we discussed the docuemntary we saw on Monday during our lecture which was Little Dieter Needs To Fly. For some reason I felt more exhausted than usual, which i guess might have to do with doing the presentation for some odd reason. Just to do something fun and get away from campus I decided to go and do my grocery shopping after class. Because Alice also was going into town we went together. At first i wanted to bring back my laptop first, 'cause else I had to carry it with me all the way down, but because Alice was immediatelty going to take the bus I decided to just go along with her just so that we could go together which is nicer then going by yourself. Next time though, I will bring back my laptop first, because it really got too heavy. I actually just should have brought it home, because I knew that Alice and I wouldn't stay together, 'cause I was goign to look for Sainsburys, the other and bigger supermarket, while she just went into town to look at some shops. So we only sat together in the bus at the beginning and then I went off to go to Sainsburys by myself. So yeah, for just those couple of minutes together, I could have done without them, 'cause I know we will be spending time together a lot more in the near future. But I guess I'm just like that, everytime I get the opportunity to do something together with a friend I can't just say no. But yes, that's why i ended up carrying my laptop in my backpack all the way down to Sainsburys and back. I had never bee to Sainsburys before and was not entirely sure where it was. I knew that it should be easy to find when walking from Canterbury West station, which is the train station. I checked some maps on the internet how to get to Sainsburys and seemd not to be too dificcult to get there and indeed, it wasn't. It's very easy to find and maybe just 10 to 15 minutes by foot. It was already dark, which gives you the feeling it's harder to find your way, but I managed pretty well. Just pay attention, keep in mind how you walked, try to remember some buildings or things like roundabouts and you must be fine to afterwards find your way back. I'm very proud because I found it very easily and also had no problem with finding my way back. Sainsburys is definitelt a better shop when it somes to the amount of different products they have. I especiallhy was interested in the mueseli, of course, because in Sainsburys they have a 1kg package of Jordan's muesli, which they should have in Tesco as well, but they don't. I have never seen it, even though online it says they have it. I do prefer Tesco though, because you can find your way much easier. Sainsburys however has much more products, which is good when you're vegetarian, because they have a lot more substitutes for meat, which is nice. Bad thing was that the rice milk was sold out and I really can't do without rice milk anymore, so that's why i decided to go to Tesco as well. Really, next time I will make sure my backpack is empty so I can put almost everything in there and only have to carry one bag, instead of three, which now was the case. So I had to carry everything, which was quite heavy, but I managed. I walked back to the busstop where I got out to walk to West station and then go to Sainsburys. I waited for a bus to come and then went to Tesco. First though, I went into this small supermarket to check if they would have some rice milk, but they only had soy, which I don't really like. So I went to Tesco and bought my milk, some clementines and tomato soup. I also grabbed a package of vegetarian sushi, which is one pound. However, turned out I didn't have enough money, so at when I wanted to pay for my grocery shoppings, i had to tell the woman behind the counter that I didn't have enough and would like to not buy the sushi. I guess I'm a poor student, but it wasn't a problem for them to return the sushi. Because of the milk my bags got a lot heavier, and I mean a lot. Unfortunately the only bus that went back to university didn't stop at Park Wood but just at Keynes college, so I also had to walk from Keynes to Park Wood. Regularly, which I normally never have to, i needed to stop to put down my bags and then change them from one hand to the other. And my hands really hurted, because you can't get a really good grab, with plastic bags like that. Finally when I came home I put everyhting down in front of the door of my room, went to the bathroom real quick, because int own the public toilets were already closed and I really had to go. And then after I put all the products in my cabinet in the kitchen and the refrigerator. I guess I'm too much of a nice person, because of all my housemates I seem to have the smallest area in the refrigerator that's for me to use. Then again I also have the least amount of products, and I end up surprised that everytime I manage to get everything I have bought into the little are that is all mine. I must say that i sometimes do get a bit frustrated that some of my housemates buy things that they just don't eat. They buy a lot of things, while I just buy things I need every week and really end up finishing all those products. So far, I think I'm the only one who has managed to almost finish his jar of jam, while the ones form everyone else are still very much full, whciht akes a lot of space and makes me think if you're not going to use it, or at least not regularly, then don't buy it. I eat a lot of jam, or at least i decide to eat it, because i have bought it. So because I know I have bought it I put an effort in finishing it and therefore for some days I didn't buy cheese, just so to finish my jam first. Now I do also have some cheese. So I eat a slice with cheese, and one with jam, another with maybe hagelslag, which are these tiny chocolate bits you sprinkle on your bread, really nice. But yeah, they have a lot of things which they never seem to finish. But anyway, it's not so much pf a problem, because until know I have managed to get everyhting in our refrigerator. Today it's my day off, I'm goign to start working on my essay. See you and have a nice day!

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Finished And Ready

Victoria made a call some minutes after the people at the reception got back to work after their one hour lunch break and then this guy came to light the little fire in the kitchen. We now got hot water again and the radiator is working as well. So in a couple of minutes I'm able to take a warm shower again. I'm now really ready for my presentation of today. Yesterday during the afternoon and early in the evening I prepared it changing a lot of things and basically rewriting all of my notes. So around 9 I was really finished, which is why I didn't go to the Gulbenkian anymore to watch Superbad, this comedy that is said to be pretty good. But in the end it's not a film I'm dying to see, so I'm not at all dissapointed. It was however, the only time they played it. But there will be so many other films for me to see. The lecture of yesterday was about drama-documentary and how fiction and documentary sometimes overlap. We watched Werner Herzog's Little Dieter Needs To Fly, which apparently his latest film Rescue Dawn, which I unfortunately haven't seen yet, is based on. Watching the film I assumed Rescue Dawn was about Dieter and the experiences he went through, but I was't sure. So when I got home I checked and found out I was right. I thought the film was quite entertaining. Dieter really tells energetically and makes the events easy to imagine. But when you look at the form there are some strange things at times. After the lecture I went home after speaking a bit about the film with Clement outside of the lecture building. he then went to the library and I went back to Park Wood. So today at 2 I will be having my presentation. I'm guessing I will be the first to start, because I will be at the seminar 15 minutes early because the documentary I'm speaking about is on my laptop and therefore I need to set everything up before. Maybe afterwards I will head into town to do my grocery shopping so that on Wednesday I have all day to start working on my second essay for British Cinema. Bye!

Monday 26 November 2007

Cold, Cold Water Surrounds Me Now...

This morning I went to take a shower and all I got was cold water. Apparently the little fire in the kitchen that is supposed to heat up everything went out and now we don't have hot water and the radiators don't work. I just went by the reception to tell them about it, but of course they were closed for lunch. I forgot about it so i came by for nothing. We will try again later, but just call them instead of going by the office. But Farhad and Victoria also have no idea how to get that little fire back on, so we just have to wear a lot of big sweaters right now to keep ourselves warm. It's pretty cold outside at the moment. This morning when I was walking to Grimond for our lecture it wasn't all that cold, but as I was walking back afterwards it felt like freezing. Yesterday might have been the same, but I stayed in all day, so i have no idea what kind of weather it was. I only know that during the evening it all of a sudden started to rain really hard. Another thing that kind of frustrates me is that they didn't come to clean our house today and we don't have that much toilet paper left. They really should realise that they can't come to clean our house on Monday one week and then the next drop by on Thursday. They have to be more consistent. But yes, yesterday I stayed at home. Alice told me she went to town with Marion in the morning and there was this little market where apparently they also sold stroopwafels. So maybe next time I'm in town I will have a look. Not sure though if they wills till be having the market, but you never know. But I worked on my presentation, or at least thought about it and prepared for it like I will do again this afternoon. It's no real use starting on my essay, without having done my presentation. It's easier for me to do the presentation first before I can move on to something new and fully commit myself to my essay. But hopefully we will be having hot water again very soon. Have a nice afternoon everyone. See you!

Sunday 25 November 2007

Third Time In A Row

The third time I went to the Gulbenkian Cinema this week, after having gone to watch Venus on Thursday and Yella on Friday. Now it was time to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I was pretty sursprised that, even though reviews have been very harsh, I did really enjoy it. Obviously I can see the many things that have led critics to bring this film down and smash it completely, making Cate Blanchett's perfromance one of the few positive things about this film. But the film is not that bad when you think about the story and its structure. It might be a bit boring for some people, but I found msyelf to be enetrtained towards the end. I have to say that there wasn't a real feeling of climax, with some peaks now and then giving real exitement, but that overall the film was like one continuous straight line never rising above it, giving that extra thrill that makes you truly engage with its characters and plot. But besides all these bad things it still can be a very enjoyable film, it's not that bad. I've seen a lot worse and if you like good acting performances than this one will keep you very interested, cause it's filled with them. But yep, this was already the third time in a row. I don't think I have ever been to the cinema that much, especially not three days in a row. This Friday Control will be playing, finally, and on the 7th, so still some days away, I will finally be able to see Once, the film I've been waiting to see the most. Before Once it was The Fountain, which totally swepped me off my feet and rocked my world, making it one of the best experiences I've ever had watching a film. That movie is so great and probably the best way to watch it is on the big screen, which I was fortunate enough to do so. They are still playing the trailer from Once every time, so I'm looking away fromt he screen every time it shows up. Because again with Elizabeth I could exactly tell which part were featured in the trailer, because i've already seen that one maybe over 10 times. But enough about movies, the rest of my day, what did I do? Well, I finished working on my presentation. Besides just preparing it and having to speak during the seminar for 5 minutes we also have to hand in a written version, which is like a summary of the presentation i will do on Tuesday. So I have finished that and now I only have to narrow it down to some points I want to make and speak about during the real presentation. Also I watched some TV shows. This Dutch comedian Najib Amhali has this new show which I decided to watch and very much enjoyed. Like every day I did cleaned a lot of dishes and of course I cooked. And at 7.30 I left to meet up with everyone at the Park Wood shop which is at next to the reception. Marion came along this time as well as was her housemate Dennis, which was very cool. We had a drink at Darwin college. I decided to have a cup of tea, instead of drinking a glass of water for free. Today I will work on my presentation again, reading my written text and changing some things. No plans for tonight, so I'm going to make this day a relaxing one. Oh, and you only have three more days to vote, so please do. I'm just curious about the final outcome.

Saturday 24 November 2007

My First Match

Last night brushing my teeth I noticed a scratch on my left arm, some kind of little bruise on my right wrist, and some red spots on my forehead, which was the reason why I kind of felt like having a little bit of a headache or felt I was having tired eyes. I guess they are all the result of my first ever boxing match. Two minutes it took, which might seem short, but isn't at all. I'm telling you, afterwards you're exhausted. Because this girl, who is the only girl in our class had some trouble with her eye and I think her contact lens, we once again were with an even number of people, so everyone had a partner, instead of having one group with three people, like in my group during the practicing. I have to say that everyone is really nice, which is always cool. And it's fun to fight against some other guys as well, instead of just Clément. It also gives you some insight of how far the other guys are and how they fight. But my first match was against Clément, and I think we were both a bit surprised that we were really going to have this match. I think Clément was a bit more like, no way, this is not happening, than I was. I was actually quite stoked and was really up for it. It's cool that we got this opportunity after all these classes. And it seemed like the perfect time, because for some reason yesterday there weren't as many people as there are normally. So there were only four pairs, so four matches. Clément and I were the last to go, so we had already watched the other guys. What i was worrying about the most was keeping my energy level up. It's hard to keep going. I always love it though when Ben, our teacher, says: dig in, come on! It's cool to get that support, someone trying to give you that extra push you soemtimes need. And sometimes it really helps. There were some times during practice that i felt really tired, but then when someone said, come on, just dig in, I found myself filled with energy again and I could go on, feeling almost kind of numb, not being aware of my tiredness. But yesterday I think I was pretty tired, even before coming toc lass, so I was really hoping I would not end up feeling exhausted too soon, because I really wanted to get a good match. But in the end it went quite okay. The strange thing was that when we had a little break after our first minute, I was all of a sudden not at all tired anymore and could go totally go for it again the second round. We both wore these leather helmets, which i had never wore before. But the thing was so tight that in the beginning I was like, how am i ever going to breath with this thing on my head, but of course I didn't notice anything anymore once I was in our fight. But it really went good, and Ben though so too. He said my body punch was really good, so i was happy. It's cool that he also knows my name. I guess it's because I sent an e-mail twice to ask something. I don't know how else he could know my name. But that's nice. What i really like as well, I know it's really gross, but I guess i don't mind getting dirty. But what i really like is when your gloves become all sweaty on the inside. Just all that sweat, being all filthy, but not caring about that at all. And yesterday with the match it was even worse, because we got the leather helmets on from the guys who were fighting before us. And the one I was handed was all wet. You think like yuck, but of course you don't care, just put it on. Great! Share the sweat. But no problem, because when i came home I took a shower so then I was so fresh and so clean clean, again. I made some dinner. And because the class was half an hour shorter than normally, I had more time to cook. We were asked if we would like to go to the boxing Christmas social, but because it is the 17th of December we aren't able to go. I'll be in London and Clément is back in France getting ready to spend some time in hospital. But it was funny this thought, because when you think about boxing you imagine some tough guys and then look what we're having, a nice and cosy Christmas dinner. But yeah too bad we're not here, because it would be cool to get to know the others better. Because one thing boxing class really is not is a way to socialize and get to really know some new people, because you don't really have time to talk when you're throwing punches at your partner. After dinner I went to pick up Clément at his house around 8.30. We were goign to the cinema (yes, again) to see the German film Yella. I knew Heidi and Alice were going to be there as well, but to my surprise Sandra came as well, and I had not seen her for a very long time, so it was nice to see her again as well. The film was very good and very different. Definitely not a film for everyone, because I can see a lot of people not liking this film, saying they don't understand it or it makes no sense to them, but me, i was completely fascinated. First off, Nina Hoss, the actress playing Yella, was outstanding. Such a great performance. Very small in her gestures and expressions, but so strong. You could really feel the psychological aspect, the constant buzzing in her mind, her struggle in the inside. I was very impressed. I knew the film was going to be 'strange', because that's the kind of films the director Christian Petzold makes. So when something happened at the beginning I already assumed to know what had really happened. I really liked that the film was full of these kind of signs and symbols, 'voices' from the past that followed Yella. So with having seen Intacto, Venus and now Yella, this week has been a very good week in cinema. And tonight I'm probably going to watch Elizabeth: The Golden Age as well, with a stunning Cate Blanchett. In the trailer alone she shows already this powerful and demanding presence. She will blow me away comepletely. I had already seen the first one, which was simply called Elizabeth, and in which Blanchett was very good, but in this one she seems to be even better. Reviews haven't been that good though, saying that the film looks beautiful, Blanchett is very strong, but the film tiself is too much of a soap opera and they don't really seem to care about being historically accurate. But i will find out myself tonight ocne I've seen it myself. My seminar by theway was quite alright. I had a feeling there was this more relaxed atmoshepere, and it was one of the better seminars so far of British Cinema, but still it wasn't all that good. And I always end up feeling like all energy has been sucked out of me and I just want to get on the bus and escape into town to forget about everyhting, clear my mind, and celebrate the weekend. It's for this that I'm sometimes like, too bad the boxing is on Friday, because after the seminar it would just be so nice to run off into town and do absolutely nothing. But then again i really enjoy the boxing, so I don't really mind. And this week, with me having my first match was one of the coolest classes so far. I'm already excited for next week. I'm going to brush my teeth right now and eat some breakfast. Have a fun weekend everyone!

Friday 23 November 2007

Like Old Days

So everyone keep on voting on the poll here on the right. Most of you so far think the new lay-out is quite alright, but you prefer the old one. Well, let's see what will happen in the upcoming days. I don't think I will change it though. Maybe I will start a new poll about what it might be you're not really like about the new lay-out. I had quite a busy afternoon yesterday. It started out like almost every morning, eating breakfast, writing on my blog like I'm doing right now, have a shower, brush my teeth etc. and then go off to class. It was Thursday which meant we had our lecture of British Cinema. It's already our ninth week, which means I'm already here for 10 weeks in total. You wouldn't think it's already that long, but it really is. But time goes pretty fast. The film we saw after our one hour lecture was Bhaji On The Beach. It wasn't that bad. It's from the same director who did Bend It Like Beckham, which was quite a hit. Bhaji was quite similar, even though both stories are different, but they touch upon same subjects. but the film was quite funny at times and I found it to be nice to for once see a film involving young adults and teenagers and their problems. But like with a lot of films, this one ended up being to long and becoming a bit over-dramatic. At the end things almost go awfully wrong just to have this big kind of climax to make it all just a little bit more exciting. But overall the film was quite entertaining, and much better than last week's Naked, which was one of the worst films I have ever seen. Because last night there was a free screening for members of the Gulbenkian cinema at 6.50, Alice, Clement and I, who were all going decided to stay on campus and not walk back to Park Wood. We had a drink together at the Gulbenkian, which was really cool, because it kind of reminded me of the 'old days' when i would go there almost every day with Clement during the first week, having lunch. It would have been great to keep going there, but I'm not sure if we would have had any money left right now, if we would have been goign there every day. But it was ncie to just have a drink together. Of course our conversation was about movies, not that that's the only thing we ever talk about, but I guess to us it's one of the most interesting things of course. At 6 me and Clement would have our own filmmeetign with Euan. Because both the free screening and the filmmeeting of the film society were goign to be around the same time, we decided to meet up an hour before the film, just so that we could both talk about our film and see Venus, which was the free screening. So around 6 Euan came in and we went on talking about our little project. Alice decided to take a walk so that us boys could discuss, which was very sweet of her, even though she could have stayed as well, it would have been no problem. I know you won't go and steal our idea. :) Maybe you don't even like the idea so there's no intention in stealing anyway. We're getting quite ready to really start off our project, meaning that we're goign to now have auditions and search for actors, we're really looking for the music to use and are about to make test shots. So we're really moving forward. Our film will probably be shot around February or March. It isn't quite possible to do it before our December break. There just isn't enough time and we don't wnat to rush things. So after having our little meeting and Alice had come back we all went to watch Venus, which was even better than i expected it to be. It was both funny and very sad as well. It really makes you realise about life and how we're all goign to die one day. It was also really nice to have these really old actors to be the central focus of the film, you really got some insight in their lives. Peter O'Toole was amazing. He can give every word so much more meaning then any other actor can and really gets through to you. Also amazingly good was Jodie Whittaker, who played Jessie, the girl Peter O'Toole's character shares a close bond with. She gave a very convincing and fresh performance, standing her own against the mighty O'Toole. Some scenes were filmed in Whitstable, here in canterbury, at the seaside where I went soem weeks ago. So it was very cool to recognize this place and we've all actually been there. Of all places they could have filmed they chose Whitstable, the place we happen to be really near to. So now when the film will maybe show up on TV one day we can all say to our firends, look, I've been there! And I'm sure not every Brit can say the same, so it's quite special that we've been at the location of where this film was shot. Well now, I'm goign to eat breakfast, cause I'm hungry. :) Toodles!

Thursday 22 November 2007

My 2 Hours In Town

I went into town yesterday from 12 to 2 pm. First did my grocery shopping in Tesco and then went to buy myself some new clothes. I wanted some new socks and underwear just because I wanted some new ones, but also because the more socks and underwear I have the longer it takes for me to run out of clean ones which will lead into me having to do the laundry. So now hopefully I won't have to do my laundry every week, which isn't all that necessary. I do it weekly, because I don't have any clean socks or underwear, but T-shirts and jeans I have more than enough. So now to get it more balanced I bought some new ones. Well, because shops like H&M and Topman aren't all that expensive I also bought a new pair of black jeans, a cardigan and a beanie. I like that I never spend much money when I shop for groceries. This time it was only like 13 pounds, which mainly was because I bought some fresh courgettes, wanted to try some new muesli, even though I didn't finish the muesli yet which I had bought last week and I needed to buy rice. And there was some tortellini just for one pound, so then I decided to buy that as well. When I got back into the bus I felt quite exhausted to my surprise, like I lost a lot of energy. I also felt a bit hungry, even though i had already eaten breakfast before I came into town. So when i got back home I ate an extra bowl of muesli and a banana. I was supposed to go to watch L'Ultimo Bacio at campus, but decided not to. First of course I asked myself if I would regret it or not, but I don't really. It was never one of those films I really felt the need to have seen at least once in my life, so I don't feel bad about missing out on it. And maybe I will see it another time. But I didn't feel like going, mainly because the thought of having to watch the film in a lecture room like I was having the screening of British Cinema, didn't really appeal to me. I much rather sit in a real movie theatre, like I will be tonight. There's this free screening for members of the Gulbenkian cinema. The film they will show is Venus, which I had not seen yet. It's the one with Peter O'Toole which he managed to get an Oscar nomination for last year. Because the weekly filmmeeting is at the same time, Euan, Clement and I decided to meet an hour before the start of the movie so we could have a little chat about our little film and talk about our plans and make our ideas even more clear. So tonight I will be at the cinema. The last two days I have spent mostly at home, which I really felt the need for, but at the same time I also feel it's better to go out sometimes, just leave Park Wood. The thing is that if I stay home I get just a little bit homesick, or not really homesick, but I think about home and miss it a bit. And yes, when i stay at home it will actually be almost the same as when i would have stayed in The Netherlands, which is go to Amsterdam to go to my lecture and then go back home to Haarlem and that's it. And if I don't do soemthing 'special' during the evening it feels the same here. Then I just go to my lecture at campus and then back home to Park Wood. But on the other hand, I just needed some time for myself like everyone sometimes needs. But I really had fun in town, I like to go all the way down there. My rucksack or backpack (I think mine is big enough to call it a backpack) was very heavy. I put my ricemilk and three litres orange juice in it as well as a piece of cheese, the tortellini and the bananas. At Topman I almost ran out of money so i already asked the guy at the counter if it would be able for me to pay one part in cash and the other by card. But it turned out I had enough money afterall. We students get a 10% discount, so then I ended up paying just in cash like was my first plan. So today I have British Cinema, lecture and screening afterwards. I'm afraid both won't be any good, but I'll possibly manage to sit through it like I always do. I just realised I dreamt that the film La Vie En Rose about Edith Piaf was going to play again int he upcoming weeks afterall, but it won't, last Monday really was the last time, so it was just all a dream. And in case you haven't noticed it yet, please do click on some little thing on the right, just for fun. ;) Well now, that's it for today, I really need to listen to a new Bob Dylan album...
Ah, and I forgot to mention that apparently our microwave was broken, so the day before yesterday, this guy came to replace it. Apparently on Monday the people who clean our house every week noticed our microwave was broken so they told the people from Park Wood about it, and now we have a new one! I think we were all a bit surprised, when the man came to replace it I first didn't understand why he came and thought he mentioned something about him having left his keys in our kitchen. But then he said something about the microwave and that it was broken, so i asked Victoria who just came down the stairs if she knew about anything, but she didn't. But the guy told us we have to clean it, which I guess we never did. But now we will, I'm sure. Also today it's Thanksgiving, which I don't think they celebrate here, but the Americans living here at campus do, so last night I walked into the kitchen and stumbled upon two big turkeys on our kitchen table. Patricia once again is having this big dinner with friends of which some are from the US, so they decided to celebrate it together. I'm a vegetarian, but I don't have any problem with seeing two big pieces of turkey lying on a table, at least, I don't really mind. I even watched Sang Des Bêtes on Monday during the screening of Documentary Film, in which horses, cows and sheeps are shown being slaughtered, which is not at all a pretty sight. I must say I found it to be a bit more though to watch then I expected to, but still it's part of our reality, so I can look at it and didn't walk away and leave the room, pretending things like that don't exist and i rather not be confronted by them. But yeah, I forgot to mention all of that at first, so now this post has gotten a bit longer, which probably noone will notice, because I don't think anyone immediately reads a message the moment I post it. But have a good day everyone, four weeks and I will come back for a little visit home. Bye!

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Next Time I'll Throw In Some Red And Lots Of Ribbons

Too bad you don't like the new lay-out Alice, but I'm not going to change it, 'cause I like it very much. But maybe I will make a new lay-out for Christmas especially for you with lots of red and green. I didn't have seminar yesterday. I'm not sure why, but I don't really care, I had a great day off, very relaxed. I watched this great film which Euan gave me. It's called Intacto and it has this very intereesting and fascinating story. I thought it was very good and it's one of these movies you expect Hollywood to make a remake of so it will appeal to a larger audience. I didn't manage to work on my presentation or my next essay for British Cinema, but I checked my agenda and next week there are already only three weeks left until I have to hand in the essay which will be 5000 words this time, so I really have to start on that. So I will trying wokring on it today, but first I need to go into town to do some shopping. I will do my grocery shopping today, because I'm not sure if I'm able to do them tomorrow. Thursday is always a very busy day and there's this free screening at the Gulbenkian of which I'm not sure yet if I can go to, because we also have our filmmeeting. But if I go to the screening I have to be there on time. So this afternoon after having my breakfast, which i'm having right now while I'm writing this, I will go into town. So yesterday I didn't do much, I was at home reading a book, watching De Wereld Draait Door, making dinner etc. Today there will be a screening organised by the Italian society somwhere on campus. The film they will be showing is called L'Ultimo Bacio, which was remade into a US version not so long ago with actor Zach Braff as one of the leads. It has the same title but in English of course, which is The Last Kiss. So i probably will be seeing the film, the original version and maybe afterwards go to a party organised by the salsa society, which is also for non-members. But for the rest of the day i will make it a relaxed kind of afternoon. Well everyone have a nice day, Bye!

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Apple

We watched some short documentaries for almost three hours at yesterdays lecture of Documentary Film. Some were more interesting than the others, but overall they were all quite good. Still, though, it was hard to keep concentrated without your mind wandering off. For some reason I still feel pretty tired, which is strange because I've slept really well the last couple of days. I've been going to bed early, like last night at 23.00, and then woke up around 10, which you think should be more than enough. But my body still feels tired. So last night I didn't go to the cinema to watch La Vie En Rose. I should have, because it was the last time they showed it and I had not been able to see it yet, even though it had also been playing for a long time already in The Netherlands. But I wasn't in the mood. Instead I lay on bed listening to Sade, Sean Lennon, SiA and eventually Fiona Apple. I started listening to Extraordinary Machine, it was my first, then I went on to Tidal, her debut, and just some days ago I finally decided to listen to When The Pawn... It still surprises me how much I came to like Extraordinary Machine. Her music is so different and not extremely pretty or anything, but maybe that's what makes me like her music so much. It sounds so different and her voice as well. So I ended up really falling in love with Extraordinary Machine, which is already some years ago. Tidal was exactly the same. After listening a couple of times to that one I fell in love too. With songs Like Shadowboxer and Sleep To Dream. And now When The Pawn... which I already love as well, especially Fast As You Can and The Way Things Are. And her version of Across The Universe which is originally by The Beatles is brilliant, I secretly love it even more than the original. Which brings me to the Lennons, 'cause John Lennon performed the song, but his son Sean has been making music for a while now as well. I just started to listen to Friendly Fire and again, I'm very surprised. There's this one song on it Parachute which is really good. Sounds very mellow and has nice lyrics as well. So that's how the rest of my day went. I don't know exactly why but we don't have seminar today, so I have a day off. No real plans for tonight, so it might be that I end up doing the same as yesterday, which I don't mind at all. It's fun to go out and do somethign,b ut I know that I would really like to just stay at home as well and make it a nice realxed day, very easy and simple. Hopefully everyone likes the new lay-out, I thought let's change it a bit, make it more December like... : )

Monday 19 November 2007

I Shouldn't Be Alive

I don't think I've ever been so cold as last night, really i thought I was gonna die. What happened? Well, I went into town together with Clément to go to this special meeting organised by the Kent Film Society of which we both are members. The meeting would start at 8.15. They were going to show some short films that were made by some students the years before and also one made this year for the 'Two days Later' competition. I met up with Clément at 7.30 so we could go into town by bus together. Some minutes before we met up I was emailing some friends and at the end of my mail I realised that it became quite windy outside and I wasn't exactly sure, but I thought it was raining as well. So when I went outside at 7.30 to pick up Clément at his house I found myself standing in the middle of the rain and too make it worse, it was freezing. So we walked together to the bus station at Keynes College. We took a shortcut of which I'm still not really sure if it was really that much shorter, but maybe it looked longer because of the weather. I had taken my umbrella out of my bag, while Clément was peeling his clementine. He told me how he had been in the library almost all afternoon and that when the library was about to close they rung a bell to let everyone know they were closing. Because of this Clément panicked a bit and tried to save his files very quickly. But it turned out something went wrong and he lost 2 hours of work, poor guy. So his Sunday had not been that great so far and in the morning he spilled his muesli and later on also some coffee. When we arrived at the bus station we had to wait for the bus to come. There was one goign to Whitstable, but not to town, so we had to wait longer. My feet were becoming very cold, because I stepped into a pool of water, and when you wear All Stars that means you're feet and socks are now wet. The wind was still very cold and both me and Clément felt like freezing. We kept looking, hoping the bus would arrive, but it didn't. Eventually we waited for like half an hour, but still no bus. For some reason the bus was late. We then decided to go back, because it was too cold to keep waiting. But because we both wanted to really go to the meeting and felt that if we would go home right now we would have been standing in the cold for nothing. So we walked up to The Venue and I called a taxi, which brought us straight to the Orange Street Music Club were the meeting was taking place. As expected, when we had just stepped into our taxi and were driving away from the university road, the bus to town passed by our car. But at this moment I just didn't care anymore. We were cold and this seemed the best solution. The taxi cost us 8 pounds, which is quite expensive, but when we plit it into two, it's not that bad. I was willing to sacrifice my money for it, so no regrets. In the taxi you were even able to feel the wind a bit, but still it was better than standing outside. It was really really cold. When i took a shower later on that night it was like somethign was pinching my toes, like these tiny little needles waking them up. The social was very cool. Euan came as well, so it was really cool to see him. The Orange Street Music Club looks very nice, it's like this big living room. And there was this little screen hanging from the ceiling on which they projected the films. I have to say that only one film, the one that won a prize, looked quite good, the others I found a bit too amateurish looking. Nothing wrong with that, but I hope our film will look better visually. Of course lighting is very important, but also the staging of the actors, where do you place them and how close to the camera. Because in the last film they showed, the one that I liked, there were some really good shots of this girl sitting in the train. And her face was really filmed up close, which made it look very good. After having watched the films we went home again. Euan had told us about a concert he was going to on Tuesday in London. It would be really cool to go as well, so I have to check if it's possible and how expensive it will be of course. Walking back to the bus station my feet felt even more cold. My socks were very wet and stuck to my feet and the wind seemed to come in from every side of my body. My winterjacket freally wasn't enough. At the first bus station I asked two guys at what time the bus would arrive and they told us that it would be here in 15 minutes. Because walking back maybe takes us 20 minutes Clément and I decided to walk. At maybe the third or fourth busstation we decided to wait afterall, because it was really cold and we had been walking for like ten minutes so the bus could arrive anytime now. After maybe waiting another 5 minutes the bus was finally there and we got in. For some reason the bus driver really checked our buscards, which normally they don't really do, but this one did. And then when we arrived at the station at Keynes college we walked back home to Park Wood, but I really started to notice that I began having trouble with speaking. I was so cold that I couldn't move my lips properly anymore. So when I was home I almost immediately took a warm shower. It was so good to be home again. My nose was very red and cold. Next time I will take even more clothes with me and maybe wear two pair of socks instead of just one pair. And then out of the shower i went into bed. The rest of my day was just like Saturday. I just stayed home in the morning and during the afternoon. But it was fun to go into town during the evening, just the cold weather made everything a bit less fun.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Drying For Free

The first time I liked it, the second time was alright as well, the third time I still felt cool doing it, but now...I don't like to do my laundry at all. Having to walk all the way to the laundrette with at least five bags full of clothes, then put them in the washing machine, if you find one that's empty and then putting the money in, if you have the exact amount in cash, else you have to change it in the shop first. I especially don't like it when it's crowded with people. Luckily for me, yesterday that wasn't the case. But I don't like to do the laundry anymore. At first it was cool, because you live on your own, you feel idnependent, look at me, I can do my laundry all by myself, i don't need anyone doing it for me. But now I'm already fed up with it. It's because you have to go there, then go back home and after 45 minutes you have to go back, put the clothes in the dryer and go back home again,w ait another 45 minutes and then go back to get your clothes. However, I got lucky yesterday night, because to my surprise there was one dryer which already was paid for. So I only had to put my clothes in. To dry your clothes it's 60 pence, so that's quite alright not having to pay that myself. But at first it didn't change much, because when i met Veronique in the laundrette before, when i was putting my clothes in the washing machine, we then afterwards walked back home together and when she got into her house and I walked on to mine I thought I dropped a coin. At home it turned out I was right and I dropped one pound. So when after something like 40 minutes I got back to the laundrette to put my clothes in the dryer I walked back the same way I walked home with Veronique. I looked for a coin but didn't find anything, so i just walked on. But then when I came back again after putting my clothes in the dryer I didn't have to pay for I found my coin of 1 pound, so I was all of a sudden very happy. This, unfortuantely, didn't last that long, because when i got back to the laundrette again and opened the dryer I found my clothes to be still wet, or at least not completely dry. Turned out I had forgotten to clean the thing in front of the dryer first. Because I was tired and wanted to go to bed early, I just took my clothes with me instead of doing another drying sessionn to try and really dry them this time. So now my clothes are still a bit wet and they're all spread around my room trying them to get dry. So yeah, I really don't like to do my laundry sometimes. Something which I kind of expected was that nothign happened when I decided to just put white and color together. I was so not in the mood to do my laundry that i just didn't care putting the white clothes with the colored ones. But in the end it turned out fine. My white clothes are still as white as before, so I guess for me it's no problem to just put them together white + color. Besides doing the laundry I didn't do much yesterday. I was home all day. I only worked a bit on my presentation. I feel there isn't much to do so it is no real use. I already saw my documentary once and then wrote down a lot of interesting things, so that's probably all i will speak about. The rest of the day was kind of boring, like most of my Saturdays are when I'm at home in The Netherlands. I listenend a lot to Beirut and Fiona Apple, and that was it. I had dinner, which I wanted to keep as simple as I can, but then I noticed I had to finish my carrots at least on the 18th, which is today, so I had to finish them. And because there are way to much of them to eat in one day i had no choice than to start witht hem last night. I already made some vegetables from the freezer when i realised i had to eat my carrots, so i ended up eating a lot more as well. Hopefully today will be much nicer. I'm going to the special filmmeeting in town tonight, which sounds really cool. I really like the Kent Film Society, it's arranged very well. Have a nice Sunday everybody!

Saturday 17 November 2007

Upper Second

I couldn't care less about the seminar once Keith told us our essays had been returned to the film office all marked and stuff. So I didn't even really try to be involved in the whole discussion. But even if I wanted to I don't think I could have. The girl who always speaks this time give this great performance, drawing all attention to her, making sure everyone knew how she felt about the film we saw Thursday and how the rape scenes had offended her and how hard it was for her to watch the film ever since opening scene of which she could not understand it was included. It was interesting and all, but at the end it was all we spoke about, cause the seinar was already over. I would have liked if we had gotten the time to talk about some other aspects as well. But we didn't. Then my essay. I'm very happy cause I have a 67% mark, which is in the Upper Second Class. There's a Marks above 80 % class, a First Class Marks and then you have the Upper Second. Then there's also a Lower Second and a Third Class. But upper class is alright. According to the description in a blue book we had been given at the beginning of the academic year: 'Marks in this range will reflect very good work which will be characterised by coherence and relevance, soudnness of argument, appropriateness or reference, depth of knowledge and research, and discrimination.' Well that's great. Alice had a 70% mark, so she better not worry too much about her next essay anymore, 'cause apparently she does pretty well. Clement didn't have his mark yet, because Keith for some reason didn't tell their group the essays were returned, so he never went to get his. But hopefully he has done good as well. Same for Nicholas. But he handed in his essay later after having asked for an extension. In the afternoon I went to the boxing class together with Clement. The professional teacher once again had come to teach us, instead of Ben, the guy who usually is in charge of the lessons. But it was really fun. We did a bit of everything, stretching, rope jumping, working on our punching. I'm already looking forward to next week. Then after having taken a shower at home and had dinner very quickly I went out again to see 3:10 To Yuma at the Gulbenkian, which was extremely good. Very good characters, very exciting story. I know it's a remake, but I never saw the original, but apparently critics who saw both still think this updated version if very good as well. Both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale gave solid performances. I especially felt for Bale's character, he was such a caring father and he really wanted to make a good living so his wife and kids would have nothing to worry about. Alice, who had no idea what movie we were going to see, but who had just decided to go ocne Marion asked her if she wanted to come to the cinema, ended up very dissapointed, because she doesn't like westerns. Marion didn't realy like it either. Heidi, who was also with us, fortuantely thought it was very good, just like me. So at least someone agrees with me. I guess if you like westerns or just a film with some good action and you don't mind to watch people chasing each other and lots of gun fights, you will be in for something really good. This week for some reason went by extremely fast. Can't belive it's Saturday already. No idea what i'm going to do today. i guess work on my presentation, even though I feel there isn't so much work to do. Maybe I will watch a movie. Aah, yes, I have to do my laundry. And Sinterklaas, i guess he has already arrived!
Edit: He has not arrived yet. I can watch it live. :) Of course there is some trouble with his ship again, there's always soemthing going on to make it a bit extra dramatic. If you have no idea what I'm taking about, go here, it will asnwer all your questions: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23

Friday 16 November 2007

M.A.: Muesliholics Anonymous

Like last week I had a busy Thursday and this week it was the same. I went to my lecture at 2 and then afterwards went into town to go to Tesco and right after that had to go to the filmmeeting of the Kent Film Society where we watched three short movies this week, one of them being Beadhead by robert Rodriguez, whom you might know because of Sin City or El Mariachi. Our lecture was just like every week, one hour Keith, two hours movie. The film we watched this week was Naked by Mike Leigh. Besides the actor who played the main character and who people might know was Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movies, this film was horrible. I really don't like these depressed kind of films with these strange characters who seem to make no sense. I can not believe someone has written all this. Sometimes the film seemed like this terrible soap opera with the music extra loud during dramatic moments to make it all seem even mroe dramatic. I really wonder what Keith will say about the film in today's seminar. So after the lecture I stood outside talking to Clement and Alice for a while and then we went to the library where I had to scan some papers. Then I left to go and take the bus to go into town. I spend something like 11 pounds, which i was very pleased with, because I expected to spend a total of at least 15. I left around 5.45 to go to town and came back soemthing like 6.45. So when i got home I had to hurry, cause the filmmeeting would take place at 7. This Sunday there will be this special sort of meeting soemwhere in town for everyone of the society. I will definitely go because it's fun to have something else to do than go to some party, which besides going tot he cinema, is actually the only real thing you can do. I need to see 3:10 To Yuma as well, which will be shown in the Gulbenkian, it's a remake, but said to be very good. Today, when I was coming out of the shower I realized that here I didn't buy any study books. Every lecture they just give you the text we need to read or a summary of the power point notes. So you don't have to spend money on those. Here at Kent it's therefore less expensive, or at least it is for me. Again I bought two packages of muesli, both 1 kilo. I happen to eat muesli for breakfast everyday here, which is possible, because except for Monday my classes start at 2 in the afternoon so i have time to really eat. On Monday I start at 10 which also gives me a lot of time to eat as well. When I have to go to Amsterdam most of the time I have seminar or lectures at 9 or 11 and because I have to go by train I always leave one hour before. I also need to go to the train station first. I go by bike, which takes me about 15 to 20 minutes. The same for the trip with the train. So most of the time I eat a bit of bread and then leave quickly to not be late. But because I have enough time here I'm eating muesli every day now and I love it so much. I guess I am really a bit of an addict. Cause at first i went to do my shopping on Saturday or Sunday, but because last week i ran out of muesli I had no choice to go on Thursday. Same for this week. And the bad thing is, first I only bought one package and had maybe just enough for the whole week. But now I buy two and it's also just enough. It's really bad. And I was lying in bed last night imagining me in this big bowl of muesli with lots of milk and eating as much as I can. It's so stupid. But then again, there's nothing wrong with eating muesli, so it's nothing to worry about. Last night I also fell in love with Beirut all over again. I still regret I wasn't able to see them live in Paradiso. There were still tickets available. It would have been the most beautiful night. Zach Condon, the singer, and who actually is the band, cause you can say he's Beirut, but when he performs he needs some extra musicians, so you refer to them as a group. But yeah Zach Condon he's amazing and he has one of the coolest voices I've ever heard. He's so great, I totally worship him right now. And there is this 'programme' online, which Marion told me about, which is called The Take Away Show. Basically it are just performances of bands and artists, but the performances take place outside on the streets of Paris or some kind of weird place like an elevator as The Arcade Fire did. And Beirut just sang on the street. And I was like, wow, what if I happened to be there, I would have gone out of my mind crazy. That would be so awesome. Cause you never expect to see this artist just perform live on the street. There are a lot of episodes, also with The Shins, Andrew Bird, Minus The Bear, Elvis Perkins etc. Extremely cool. Well that was it. ByE!

Thursday 15 November 2007

Stop Playing That Damn Trailer!

So I started the day by running together with Clement. I had to hurry a bit as when he came to my hosue I had just came out of the shower, so I put on my sports gear and then we left. Once I got back home I worked on my presentation a bit, watched some Dutch TV programmes online and read some news. At 6.50 they were going to show 12:08 East To Bucharest at the Gulbenkian cinema. This month I'm going a lot, because they will be showing lots of interesting films, and because I don't have television, it's my only real source, besides at times borrowing DVD's from Clement. Still it's a big difference watching films on my laptop. The big screen is so much better, which Zodiac from David Fincher made me for some reason for the first time truly realize. I guess it was because of these scenes that took place at the office and you could still see so many things in the background. It totally made me aware of how much more yous ee when the film is projected on this big screen, so that's why i prefer goign to the cinema. One thing I can't stand though is that they keep showing the trailer from the film Once. It's my most anticipated film of the year, I've been waiting for it sooo long. I NEED to see it and they will play it in December here at the Gulbenkian, but until that time I don't want to see anything of it. So everytime they play the trailer I have to look somewhere else. It's really annoying. I don't close my ears with my hands though. i should, but else people will think what's wrong with that guy? Cause the thing is, I don't think i've ever went to see so many films at the cinema in this short period of time. So there are a lot of trailers I have already seen a million of times. And I start to notice that when I see a film i becoem more aware of the clips they used in the trailer. So yeah, this month better get over real fast so i can finally see Once. Because I expect it to be great, and I mean Before Sunrise, Before Sunset great. Like when you first saw Lost In Translation great. I totally love movies like that, so I'm sure I will go crazy about this one. And I know the music from the film is perfect. I actually listened to the album some months ago that both actors of the film recorded together. But then i decided to not listen to it anymore and wait for the movie. Still, though, I never expected I had to wait this long. Anyway, 12:08 East Of Bucharest was awesome. So funny. It was definitely a real surprise, partly because I expected real drama. I loved the characters, especially old man Piscoci. Well, today I have lecture at 2 and the film meeting. Right now I'm enjoying my muesli. Bye...

Wednesday 14 November 2007

D.A.N.C.E.

I went running with Clément this morning, but I was a bit tired, didn't got the time to eat something, and the road was very steep, making it very tough, so after a while I just had to slow down and walk a bit. I guess it's also because last night I went to The Venue and I was told it would close at 12. So it was open from 9 to 12, but it turned out it wasn't. It actuallyw as open til 2 am. So Alice and I were already there just around half past 9. Marion forgot her student ID card, so she had to go home to pick it up when we were already walking towards The Venue. Because she had to go back she decided to pick up Clément as well as he still had to eat dinner and would join us somewhat later. When Alice and I arrived at the Venue there was almost noone there and I started to doubt if it would actually going to be crowded at all, cause it was a Tuesday, which I guess isn't the most popular day to go out. But eventually it got pretty crowded and the dancefloor was filled with people. Cléments housemates had come as well as well as some of their friends. AlsoJan came to join us after going to the sprts center first. They played dance music, because it was Ministry of Dance night or Ministry of Sounds, I don't know exactly the name, but I think they sue it a lot. Anyway it was very good. And even though I like to listen to a lot of bands, whenever I'm out in a nightclub I don't really care about the music they play i can dance to everything. Alice and I were the only ones who stayed til closing time. We were the first to arrive and the last to leave. We danced continuously for like four hours. So no wonder I was a bit tired this morning when Clément and I went running. We left around 10.05 and were back in Park Wood around 10.40. Then I took a shower, second one of today and now i'm having breakfast after doing the dishes, which was a lot. Hana came by to have breakfast with Farhad and then they left to go to the grammar lessons. I at first went to those lessons as well, but because the first lesson was kind of a waste of time I decided to no longer go. And it's better, because I have time to work on my presentation which is scheduled for after next week. Yesterdays seminar was quite good. There were a lot more people than last week, because last time we were only with 6 in total. But it was nice and we discussed the documentary from Nick Broomfield which we saw the day before, The Leader, His Driver and The Driver's Wife. The film is very interesting and raises a lot of questions about Broomfields own performance in the film, because he appears in it himself, he can be seen, and he also can be heard through voice-over. It's also a very good documentary when you look at the tone of a film and the way it presents its subjects to the viewer. So today I'm going to work on my presentation and tonight I will porbably go and watch 12:08 East of Bucharest at the Gulbenkian cinema. The movie has been released in NL as well, but i never managed to see it. So that's what's on today's programme. See you!

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Now I'm Sh Sh Shaking

I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden it's freezing! It's so cold outside. The air seems to almost cut your skin. It's like December weather and November has only just begun. I don't know if it's as cold outside right now as it was yesterday, but yesterday it was very cold. Farhad couldn't understand either how it was that all of a sudden the weather cahnged this drastically. The documentary lecture was very interesting, which is not that strage nowadays. I was on time and the documentary we saw was very good. I didn't feel sleepy at all. I only had to go to the bathroom once, so because of that i missed just a small part of the documentary. Afterwards i walked with Alice to the shop, because she needed to buy something to eat. Clement went home to bring Lea to town who was leaving to France again in the afternoon. After going to the shop we went to the Gulbenkian. Alice had her meeting again with the British guy who wants to learn to speak Italian and I went to buy a ticket for the cinema, for Julie Delpy's film 2 Days In Paris. The film was very funny. Other than most coemdies the jokes kept on coming in this one. I went together with Marion and we both enjoyed the film very much. Before goign to the cinema i didn't do that much. I just put the papers on which i had written my noted in a map and ordered out some other stuff as well. Today I will go to the Venue with Marion and Alice and maybe Clement as well. The two of us also need to run again very soon, we haven't done that for some weeks now. I have my seminar at 2 today. Right now I'm having breakfast. I'm eating half of a bagel, two little pieces of organic bread with jam and a bowl of muesli with rice milk and chunks of banana. Time if flying by fast nowadays it seems. We're already in week 10 i believe. I try to enjoy my time here as much as I can even though at times it all still kind of feels unreal and I'm not quite sure if I'm really aware of the fact that I'm here in the UK and this is not one long dream or something. I hope life in NL is good and I'm looking forward to come back and celebrate Christmas. :D

Monday 12 November 2007

Passing Afternoon

I didn't do anything yesterday, just spend time at home listening to music and reading a bit lying on bed. I wasn't in the mood to go out and have a drink, even though I was invited to go and drink something at the Gulbenkian with Marion and Heidi before they went to see Hallan Foe. For some reason I still felt a bit tired. I think I slept alright, but I could have done better. Tonight I'm going to see 2 Days In Paris, the film by actress Julie Delpy. She directed it, produced it, wrote it, edited it, and plays in it herself. I love both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset by director Richard Linklater. And for Before Sunset both she and actor Ethan Hawke, who also writes novels and recently directed his own film as well, had helped writing the screenplay. So I'm definitely looking forward to see Delpy's film, which is said to be very funny and quite a surprise. In an hour I have my weekly lecture of Documentary Film and that's it for today, so I guess in the afternoon I will work a bit on my presentation already, which is scheduled to take place in two weeks if I'm not mistaken. I'm listening to Iron & Wine right now, which is perfect for starting your day. I hope everyone is doing fine and that you had a nice Sint Maarten. At our house there are never that many children who drop by, but we always have some sweets in case people do come. Here they only do Halloween, which is quite similar. Just something like 42 days until it will be Christmas. I'm looking forward to it already. The year is almost over. Last year around this time I was busy with the play. It doesn't seem all that long ago. I've been looking, by the way, if there are any interesting concerts when I will be back home for two weeks, but so far I haven't seen any. However, looking at the movies, they will be playing My Blueberry Nights, the latest Wong Kar Wai during the time I will return, so I think i will be seeing that one.

Sunday 11 November 2007

No Rush

Woke up around 11 and then decided to watch Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, which i had not seen before. I had no big plans, just like today, so I had enough time for whatever it is I wanted to do. I took a shower around something like 2.30 maybe, which was pretty late. Then I cleaned up my room and did the dishes later on. I think of all people I'm still the one in our house who does them the most. But i like to do it and there isn't anything else you can really do when you're at home. At first I was supposed to go to the movies with Marion and maybe Alice, but because Hedi couldn't go yesterday Marion decided to go with her today. Alice wasn't home, so she didn't read my e-mail, else she would have still liked to come with me, because today she has her friend over who is here in Canterbury for this language course, so she isn't able to go today. But I ended up going by myself, which was no problem at all and I actually quite like to go to the cinema myself and especially when you walk home afterwards it's really nice. It was completely dark and I was the only one when i passed the library. There was absolutely noone on campus. Really cool. The movie, Hallam Foe, was alright. i have to say that when yous ee the trailer youe xpect soemthign completely different. And thinking about it now, the trailer really doesn't give much away of the plot, it are actually just short clips from scenes in which the characters look really nice and which gives the trailer this sort of atmosphere that really makes you want tos ee the movie. It's a good example of how they really know how to sell a movie. But i think that when i see it a second time I will like it more, because the more I think about the movie the more I seem to like it. I went to bed early, maybe just a few minutes after 11pm. I was talking to Alice on MSN before, we were exchanging some songs which we could easily imagine to be part of a movie. It's really fun to listen to songs the other person really likes, cause our tastes are so different sometimes. Today will be just like yesterday with no real plans. I'm just going to have another peaceful day, no rush. :) My Ipod works fine again, by the way, so dont worry.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Once Again Made By Alice




Made By Jan



Can't Get Enough

My hair is slowly starting to grow longer, which makes me happy, 'cause I'm in the mood for longer hair. Yesterday's seminar...I was actually feeling pretty goo about going, but then of course I ended up doing nothing. Alice described it the best, it was like watching a talk show. The blonde guy was there agin and as usual he doesn't say anything interesting. Overall the seminar wasn't very serious. And I'm sorry, but I hate it when Keith our professor starts by asking every time, what do you think of when I say gangster film or horror? Well, this weke it was about the heritage film or the period film or costume drama or whatever youw ant to call them. But i just can't stand the question, because you can assume that we all, us film students, have at least one film that belongs to those genres and are very well capable to see what kind of characterize them. So to ask every time the same question, it makes me feel like he must think we're stupid or something. Of course, i can come up with a million things, everyone is able to do so. So then I just don't want to answer. cause I don't want to be like, uhmmm, women in corsets. And then he goes, yeah, what more? Like hello, it's not a quiz. But yeah, talk show, great description, because the blonde keeps on talking, like the other one girl. The funny girl is alright. Like I keep saying, she knows so much, always says the best stuff. But the blodne guy...arghhh. The funny girl mentioned The Importance of Being Earnest, and then the blonde guy for some reason ahd to comment that some of his familymembers were extras in the film. And I was thinking, so? What the f*ck do I need with that information. Cool your family played in a movie, I don't give a damn. Really, it's so stupid. If you're goign to say something, at least say soemthign interesting. I really don't like it. Documentary Film is awesome, both seminar and lectures, but British Cinema, yawn. I should have better chosen the writing a short story course, but then again, i had to finish my minor. So i didnt really have a choice. After the seminar i went back home and then after soemthing more than an hour left againt to go to the boxing class. Clement couldn't come, because his girlfriend came from France. But the boxing was alright. The boy and girl I had to box with were both very nice and helpful. So iw as glad they didn't feel bad havign to box with me as Im far less experienced. Especially the boy was very good, but he was very patient with me, so that was really cool. There was a party in town at night. I ended up going, but I'm not sure it was such a good idea. I wasnt really in the mood. I feel a bit tired and I'm still kind of dreamy because of the concert. This one song Mr. November, can't get enough of it at the moment. And as I was sitting at a table with Jan, Alice, Marion and later on Clement and Lea his girlfriend and knowing I had my Ipod in the left pocket of my jeans, i kept thinking about listening to the song. Marion wasn't really in the mood either and had not eaten before, so she was very hungry. Clement and Lea were going to London the following day, which is today, so they had to leave early. So they went all back by bus together. I stayed, though. I tried to have a good time just for Alice because I knew how much she wanted to go out and do soemthign fun together. Unfortuantely there wasnt anyone dancing, I was actually in the mood eventually to dance, but because there were only two guys acting like fools, i decided to go home. Im not sure if there were any buses that were still going back to campus, but i didnt find them so i walked home. Fortunately I walked back home on Wednesday with Clement as well, so I knew a way of which i was certain could get me home, because I already wasnt quite sure how to get home the other way, like we used to go in our first week. So i first began one the first way, but then was afraid I would get lost so i turned around and then went the other way. So i was pretty happy when i saw the blue sign with 'University of Kent' written on it. When i got home i went to bed and that was the end of yet another day here in Canterbury. :p

Friday 9 November 2007

Ipod Trouble

I woke up around 11 and then brushed my teeth and took a shower to go to my lecture later on at 2pm. The lecture itself kind of made no sense as our professor Keith was speaking about heritage films and then showed For Weddings And A Funeral as one of the examples as well. A little bit confusing.Fprtuantely the screening for once was really nice and I didn't fell asleep which was pretty surprising because I happened to be still a bit tired. The film we watched was A Room With A View. A very good film, though at a certain point a bit too long with nothing really interesting happening and making it not all too hard for the viewer to foresee how the story was going to end. But Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely amazing and I thought it was funny to see her in one of those sweet and innocent roles. 'Cause nowadays she is kind of like Johnny Depp always going for the more 'strange' roles. When the movie had finished and I came back from the bathroom, I was in total shock. As I was looking outside I saw that it was completely dark and it was raining very hard. Ever since we had to turn back our clock one hour I don't think we had had a British Cinema lecture anymore, so to go inside at 2pm by daylight and walk out in complete darkness was not something I expected. Because Clement went to Sainsburys, a supermarket and told it was pretty good and also not too expensive, kind of like Tesco but with more choices, I thought let's try and go there as well. Because he didn't know exactly where it was, I decided just to take the bus into town and then ask someone. But as I was in front of Wilkinson and asked a guy, he told me it was something like 30 minutes by foot. And because it was dark, raining and I didn't want to get lost, I decided to just go to Tesco instead. I ran out of muesli, and I really really needed some, so i had to come into town to buy not one but two pacakges. I also did all the shopping for the rest of the week and in total I spent 15 pounds. Then I went back home again by bus. I met Jan, who later on also joined Marion, Alice, Veronique and me to go to the K-bar to look at the karaoke. When I came back home I had something like ten minutes to eat dinner, so i just put some tortellini in a pan full of boiling water, which only takes two minutes, and had my dinner. Then I went to the filmmeetign to meet up with Euan and Clement. Euan brought this little thing with him which connected his I-pod to the TV so he could play his music for all of us to hear. We thoguht about some music to use for our film and to catch the atmosphere we want to create. It was really cool and interesting as usual and now it's time to get some test shots. So maybe in the upcoming weeks we will be busy doing that. I walked back home, said goodbye to Clement who was goign into town to meet up with Claudia and some others, put on my winterjacket, because it was freezing! And then walked to the reception almost immediately, cause it was already around 9 pm. So there I met up with Alice, Veronique and Marion and together we walked to Keynes college where Jan was waiting for us. None of us sang. I have a bit of a cold still so i didn't want to and there are a lot of people watching so I'm kind of like, no. Alice and Veronique wanted to sing, but not alone. So eventually none of us sang. But we just drank soemthing, sat there, chatted a bit, and then around 11, went back home. But it was nice to just go out again. Today I have seminar at 2 and I'm goign tot he boxing class and tonight maybe a party in town which is organised by the Italian and spanish community. Oh, and my laptop doesn't seem to recognize my Ipod anymore when I plug it in, what am I to do?! : (

Thursday 8 November 2007

I'm The New Blue Blood, I'm The Great White Hope, I'm The New Blue Blood, I Won't Fuck Us Over, I'm Mr. November!

So what about yesterday? Yes, it was one of the most amazing days and nights and yes I saw The National! It was amazing. Almost too overwhelming. The waiting was killing me. At 9 they weren't there yet and then when it was 9.10 I started to have doubts and thought they would maybe show up at 9.30 instead of 9. But then the lights went out. But...nothing yet. And finally they were there, and it was bliss. I sat smiling, big, big, smile. This wasn't my first concert, for Marion it was, but for me it wasn't. Still though I felt this was kind of my first, meaning that it really was a cocnert of a band I have really come to love and is part of all those bands that I have come to love over the last, maybe 2 years. So many I have to see live. It's so much better than just listening to the album. There's nothing compared to seeing them play their songs, hearing them play them as you are there with them. It was magic. I didn't cry, but I felt like it many times. The feeling when a song starts and you think like, which one is this and then you recongize the melody or the singer starts singing and you recognize the lyrics and this rush comes over you, making you scream from the inside: Yes, they're playing this one, WOOHOO! There was just one minor dissapointement, which was that they didn't play We Are Looking For Astronauts. But...I have a new favoutire, which is Mr. November, LOVE that song and they played it. It was the perfect way to end, but instead they decided to come back on stage again to play some other songs. But oh, do i love that song, every bit of it. I was out all day. I had not slept very well, almost not at all. Maybe I went to bed too early, thoughts kept racing through my mind, making it impossible for me to fall asleep. So I was feeling pretty tired when the day started. Took a shower and everything, had the last bit of my muesli/oat cereals and at 9.30 I went to Clément's place. Knocked on his window, noone came, so i thought, hmmm, maybe still asleep? Fortuantely no, but he had just come out of the shower. He woke up at 9 and went to take a shower at 9.20, thinking that taking a shower at that time would make him be right on time. But no. I don't know how it happened, but we still manages to be on time. We had only half an hour, which makes you think it's impossible. We had to go in town to meet up with Euan at the Canterbury West Train Station to walk from Chartham station, which is the first station you pass when going to London, back to Canterbury. Our whole trip maybe took soemthing like 2 and a half hours. So yep, we take this filmmaking very seriously. We all want it to be very good. I wish I could tell you all about the story, but I'm afraid someone might steal our idea and even more so our title. So my lips are sealed. But it was amazing we were able to still be on time as we first met Ciro, who apparently had broken his toe during his football training. Must be very painful. And then later on we also met Marion who went to the library, but couldn't concentrate, cause she was constantly thinking about the concert. When we has said goodbye to her Clément said soemthing like, wow, she must have been really anxious to go, cause the library opens around 9 and when we met her it was still soemthing like 9.40. So yeah, she must have realized very quickly that it would be no use to study today. Clément and I took the bus. I had no idea where the station was, or so i thought. I actually kind of new, because I had noticed the train tracks that are just in the middle of this street that goes uphill into town. From the first moemnt I saw those tracks, just in between a row of buildings, i fell in love with the image. So instead of goign off the bus where we usually go off, we had to get out earlier. We arrived at the station around 4 past 10, so not at all too late, which is quite an accomplishment. I really believed we would not arrive in time. Euan was already there standing in line for a ticket. We got ourselves a ticket as well. Then Euan wanted to buy soemthing to eat so we went to this great place. It's this big hall with really ncie and fresh products, kind of like an in-store market. I don't think it's that expensive eather. i'll definitely check it out again. To get to know places like that you really have to know some British people who really know the town. We took the train and then got out at Chartham, which only takes 5 minutes, but it's already pretty far from town. So then we started walking and taking pictures, lots of them. We saw some really good things. Like this little space behind some bushes, which probably is the porperty of someone, but there were some farm buildings which look like they were completely abandoned. So beautiful to see. Also some bridges over some water, which looked perfect. And a lot of open fields with the most beautiful trees and very big. I like it when in an open field you find this big tree standing all by itself. And especially in autumn, the leaves, gorgeous. We walked and we walked. A great way to start your day. The weather was not too cold, just right. I'm not having such a cold anymore, i'm already getting better. So hopefully it will stay this way. i might even go and sing a song at the karaoke tonight, cause we really have to go Alice! No excuses. This is the day. Of course they won't have any songs by The National, but I won't really mind. It's just to have fun. When we were back in town, we walked back to Keynes college. Euan had to go a different way, he lives in Canterbury where he shares a house with some students, so he left. Clément and I then walked all the way back. I still had half an hour, so it wasn't a problem. I would meet up with Marion at 1pm at the busstation at Keynes college. Luckily I was so smart to bring my cocnert ticket and ticcket for the National Express already with me, so i didn't have to go back home. At the busstation i said goodbye to Clément and then waited for Marion and together we went into town by bus to take the National Express. The trip to London corst soemthing like 13 pounds. Euan had to Clément and me, though, that the price is pretty much the same when you go by train and by train you gain half an hour, cause it's only one hour and a half, instead of 2, which is when you go by bus. So maybe next time, train would be a good option as well. Marion and I still had some time left, cause the coach was leaving at 1.50. So we decided to go to Tesco real quick to get us some sushi and a sandwich. Marion also took a bottle of water, which unfortunately she had to throw away when entering Shepherds Bush Empire, the place where the concert was held. I managed to drink all my water before, so i had to throw away an empty one. The trip to London seemed to take longer than when i went to London the first time. But i guess, marion was right, when she said it was because I was really looking forward to go and could hardly wait. Then everyhting seems to take longer. But it was good, because we had time to chat. I think i might really like her parents, which seem so conscious of the environment, using no liquid soap, because of all the plastic bottles and are really serious when it comes to taking long showers. They also use special soap to do the dishes, so that afterwards they can sue the water to water the plants in the garden. So they're pretty much doing for all I stand for nowadays. I'm going to start my own palstic bags to the supermarket as well. It's so much better. When we finally got to London we had something like 3 hours. We wanted to walk, but had no idea how to get to Shepherd's Bush, even though i dont think it's that far away. Because we could find a map, we decided to both buy one, whichw e can also use when we go to London in December. We ended up taking the bus which was something like 3.50. The bus tripw as around 45 minutes. But that was different ont he way back, which was why we managed to be at the coach in time, because we were destined to be late. We left Shepherd's Bush Empire just some minutes after 11, and I had to wait pretty long, before the woman behind the desk finally came to me so i could buy two T-shirts and the EP Cherry Tree for Marion. So when we took the bus back to Victoria, we only had maybe 30 minutes left. And thinking that the bus trip would take us around 45 minutes, we assumed it would be unpossible for us to be at the coach at 11.45 pm, when we also werent quite sure where the coach stationw as for the departing coaches. We got to Sheperd's Bush around 5.30 So we decided to eat our sandwich and walk around a bit and taking some money for the cashmachine. Overall it didn't take so long to wait and because we walked around it didn't really feel like waiting. When we got back to Bush Empire, we noticed that there were quite a lot of older people. Apparently The National are no Arctic Monkeys, so no crowd full of teenagers. But yeah, the music is quite different. But they're oh so good. And the singer's voice is one the best i've ever came across. Because Marion had a ticket for level 1 and I for 3, we had to separate, but we didn't really mind. And as I was sitting in the front row in the middle of level 3, I was thinkign about how excited Marion must be waiting for so long. I myself was soooo excited, and knowing Marion loves them more than me, nomatter how much it is I love them, i knew she must go almost crazy to wait and wait and wait. St. Vincent, who is pretty coola nd similar to Feist, was the support act, and she was really cool. She was all alone. Her guitar and some recording thing,w hich she would make a sound on and then it would repeat itself so that she would ahve a beat. But The National. It was magic. there music is perfect live. such a good atmospehere. From where I was sitting I had a really good look of the entire stage. And I must say i didn;t mind at all to be sitting there instead of downstairs int he middle of the crowd. I enjoyed it so much. I know that if I was in the crowd I would ahve gone totally crazy. But sitting on level 3 was already so good. I loved everything about it. Definitely the best concert so far for me. So afterwards we bought ourselves a T-shirt, which i'm wearing right now. We were in time for the coach, after a woman in the bus back to Victoria gave us pretty good directions to where the coach must be, and Marion, if it wasn't for her, got us to the station for the departing coaches. She suddenly knew where it was and started to run so i ran after her and togetehr we ran to the station, very much in tiem still. And we were even more lcuky cause the coach went to the busstation at keynes, instead of in town. So we didn't have to walk home all the way from Canterbury to Park wood. Lucky us. And then I went to bed. One of the best days of my life. Loved everything about it. Itw as the perfect day out. Can't wait to do it all over again on December 20th when we wills ee Patrick Wolf also in Shepher'd Bush Empire. Totally different artista nd music and I think a totally different crowd as well. But it will be so good. If only I could go back to yestrday night. Why does everyhting have to become a memory?

Mr. November
This is nothing like it was in my room
In my best clothes
Trying to think of you
This is nothing like it was in my room
In my best clothes

The English are waiting
And I don't know what to do
In my best clothes
This is when I need you

The English are waiting
And I don't know what to do
In my best clothes

I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope
I'm the new blue blood

I won't fuck us over, I'm Mr. November
I'm Mr. November, I won't fuck us over
[repeat]

I wish that I believed in fate
I wish I didn't sleep so late
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders
[repeat]

I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope
I'm the new blue blood

I won't fuck us over, I'm Mr. November
I'm Mr. November, I won't fuck us over
[repeat]

I wish that I believed in fate
I wish I didn't sleep so late
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders
[repeat]

I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope
I'm the new blue blood
I won't fuck us over, I'm Mr. November
I'm Mr. November, I won't fuck us over