I'm An Artist

I couldn't really sleep last night. Though I kept envisioning things, which make it seem as if I had been dreaming, but I don't think I did really. Luckily I don't feel too tired at the moment. I just spoke to Marion who came by to give me back the DVD's she had borrowed. It was nice to see her again since we had not been able to really talk the last couple of days. Everyone is so busy with their classes ad other things this new term. Yesterday I went to the first life drawing session and I have to see it was great. Very inspiring and relaxing. It was with a real model and I guess it takes lots of guts to sit there completely naked in front of people you have never seen before and don't know at all. The teacher is really nice and encouraging. If you don't believe in your own work than he will. It's great, 'cuase it shows that there is always someone who will be interested in your work. You might think it's rubbish, but someone else might totally love it. It was also very nice to see all the other people's work, their own style and the way they look at things. Because everyone looks at the same girl, the same body, but we all draw different things. Afterwards i walked back home with Clement and Claudia who took the class together with me. Because I already ran out of muesli I then went into town to do a bit of shopping at Tesco. Before going to the life drawing session i spent some time in the library watching part of Irreversible and writing down some things. This evening we will be doing another casting and this afternoon I will go to the lecture of Topics In American Cinema, where they will also show Roman Polanski's Chinatown, which i have never seen before, so I'm pretty excited. Have a cool day everyone. And indeed, it's stormy weather here as well, not just in The Netherlands apparently. Gone is the sunshine of yesterday.

Just Another Normal Tuesday

Just an hour ago I got out of bed. I guess I was pretty tired sleeping something like 10 and a half hours. It probably was because I went to The Venue Monday night and had to wake up early yesterday morning to go to my seminar and during the afternoon I went to see Les Quatre Cents Coups at the Gulbenkian. I had never seen it before. It was great with a lot of interesting shots. However it seemed that not everyone in the room could appreciate the film as much as I did. Especially two people behind me kept making comments and didn't bother do even whisper. Pretty annoying at sometimes. If there will be a next time I better not go and sit in front of them again. The seminar was really nice as well. On Monday we watched Pillow Talk, Tamar's favourite movie. It's with Doris Day and is this very colourful and chick-flick kind of romantic comedy. I thought the film was pretty fun, because it didn't take itself that seriously, but it will definitely not become my favourite film. But it's a nice film to analyze performance. We had to split up into groups again. This time 3 groups of 2 and 1 of three. I was together with this girl and besides discussing the clip we had to analyze we also had a bit of time to just chat randomnly. So it was nice to meet a new person and to get to know each other a bit. Today i will have the first life drawing session of the Art society which i just joined and of which Euan is president. Sounds like a lot of fun and not since the beginning of secondary school did I draw. So it's gonna be fun and I'm curious to find out how good or how bad my drawing is. Have a nice day! Bye.

Free Party!

So strange how you sometimes can all of a sudden look like the most popular guy on campus. Just right now, some minutes ago, walking back from the library with Alice, where I went after my seminar, I met Sandra. She had a presentation in 8 minutes so she was in a bit of a hurry. Then Alice left me, going to the sports centre. I walked on and run into Farhad who asked me about last night because I went to The Venue and before I went I met him outside so he asked where I was going. So i said it was fun and it was free so, really cool. Then I run into Jan whow as going to class as well. Than I saw Issa who was going to class and said hi and then Marion who was going to the library to return her books which were already late. And then finally, as if that wasn't enough, I also ran into Patricia. And all of that just from the sports centre until Park Wood. People must think I know almost everyone, which of course is not true. But I do know quite a lot of people. So yes, last night I went to The Venue. It was for free for anyone who was a member of any of the societies. So that was really cool. I ended up paying just 50 p to hand in my bag in which I had put my jacket. Veronique and Alice were already there when I arrived. They played a lot of different styles of music as if they were trying to please everyone from all the different societies. There was this group of guys with long hair, those typical rocker kind of guys who, banged their heads around when Linkin Park and Papa Roach came on. Not typical songs you expect on a night out in The Venue, but as I said, it was as if they tried to please everyone. They played like 3 songs of every genre before heading ov er into the next. So you had 3 R&B typish sonds and then 3 salsa tunes. Only thing I didn't like was that they had these breaks in between with a short performance. First by what i think was the drama society singing a song and then there was a performance of this rap duo who were really bad. I guess there song was called Dangerous. Must have been, because that's all they seemed to be saying. Afterwards they decided to host their own little dancing competition on stage which some people of course saw as the ideal way to show off their skills, which most of them obviously lacked, but I guess most of their friends are afraid of telling them or just want to keep them believing in this illusion, thinking they're the best dancer in the world. One girl was pretty good. But the whole thing lasted way to long and because Veronique didnt feel well we decided to go back home, which was good, because I wanted to leave at 1 am, like we did, but I know that I would have stayed as long as the party went on, because I would have liked to stay as well, even though I was tired. During the afternoon I met up with Euan and Clemenet to watch the casting tape just before I had my meeting with Tamar about my long essay. The hand in date of that one has changed to something like April 7th. So that's a bit earlier than it was first. But I have time so it's not such a big change. And when I came home I cooked a lot of rice which was way better than just one cup, cause soemtimes it didn't end up alright and it was a bit dry or a bit wet :( But now it was perfect. So tonight I don't have to cook. Lucky me! Marya, it was great speaking to you on MSN. Was quite a while since I spoke to you and yes, my dad tells me he sees you and Hakima in the bus very often. I'm glad everything goes okay, that your internship went alright and you wrote your long essay. That's great. I'm just at the beginning of it. Well, that's it for today. Have a nice afternoon and evening!

A Sunday Smile

Like Saturday the night was more interesting than the day. I only went to the library for just a bit to give Marion her book and read some articles. Clément had told me in an email before he maybe wanted to go into town to attend the monthly social of the Film Society at the Orange Street Music Club. I said I would come if he would go, but if not I would go to the Gulbenkian to watch the film The Band's Visit. Eventually we ended up doing both. I met Claudia, Aina and Clément at the Gulbenkian and after Claudia, Clément and I went into town. We had to wait quite a while for the bus to arrive. I don't think there is any unibus going into town on Sundays. But there was this other bus, which was only one pound. Not expensive at all, so we decided to take that one. Like last time I was at the social, again it seemed the social isn't really about socializing. Maybe it is, but a lot of people stay with their own group of people they know. I don't really like it either that there aren't so many people so everytime you walk into the room you feel as if everyone is looking at you thinking: and who are they? Well, we're film society members as well. But the whole atmosphere is kind of cold. It was cool though that Euan was there as well. Always fun to see him and today we're going to watch the tape we made during the casting together at 1 pm at the Gulbenkian. Another thing I don't like is that they maybe show like three short films, but in between there are these long breaks and noone, it seems, really knows what's goign to come. What will be shown and why. I feel it isn't very well organized and sometimes I'm thinking that this is more of a monthly meeting of the president with some of her friends, which the rest of the society members are welcome to attend as well, than that it really is a meeting between all of us. The place however is really cool. And indeed like Claudia said, they should serve food as well. The place would make a really nice restaurant or at least, a bar where you can also have a bite instead of just a drink. They showed a trailer and a documentary, which seemed really interesting, but after having already watched The Band's Visit earlier I couldn't really manage to pay any attention anymore at this point. So we ended up leaving early. But it was okay, because we still had enough time to catch the bus back home so we didn't have to walk all the way back home. Today I have my screening and before at 2 I will meet Tamar to speak about my long essay. Tonight I probably be at The Venue, it is said to be free for everyone who joined any of the societies. I'm thinking about not staying until too late though, because Tuesday morning I will be having my seminar and I feel already a bit tired right now, so i don't want to make it worse. And I'm gonna draw on Wednesday cause I joined the art society! Bye.

Made By Véronique And Her Housemate Emily (And Some Taken By Alice Of Course, Like Always)

Pictures of last night's little party. Yep, finally some new pictures for you to enjoy. I may look a bit crazy and tired, but I was completely normal. Guess I didn't look my best. :)

Posing Together Is Much More Fun Than Posing By Yourself

In good company.

That Beer Wasn't Mine :p

They Called It A Dancing Queens Party So...

...people danced. Or some, at least.

Pretty Crowded

As you can see I wasn't the only one.

Nice Party, But Wrong Music

Such a dull day, but it ended with a party. However the party wasn't that succesful either, which wasn't because of the people, the drinks or anything else, but because of the music. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but unfortunately one of Véronique's housemates was so sweet to make her laptop available to play music on in the kitchen. This was a really nice gesture of course, but her music wasn't exactly what I expected to be played. Last time I was at Véronique's place, her housemate Jeanne provided the music, so all night long I danced to bands like Phoenix, The Raconteurs and more of those bands. This time however, there was only salsa kind of music or music from way back in the day, which sounded like that song let's twist again like we did last summer. So not exactly what I had hoped for and I actually really looked forward to this party, because if the music's good, that for me means that this party is already 90% a success. And last time the music was exactly the way I like it. But of course it would be rude to tell this girl that we don't really like her music and ask her if we could use Jeanne's laptop to play the music on. Alice was there as well and after a while she started giving sings indicating that she wasn't feeling the music either. Not that I don't like it, it's ncie at times and I can appreciate this girls taste. But if you are looking forward to a party after what feels like a long and tiring week, you want it to be good, with good music you can really dance to. Maybe I have to host my own party next time. I will ask my hosuemates what they think about having a party at our house. Then I would play the tunes of course. But I did really have a nice night and because the rest of the day i did not go out anywhere, I just cleaned and finally finished it, the bio about Ian Curtis, I was really glad to see some familiar faces. I spoke a lot to Anne who I had not seen in quite a while. She told me about her time back in The Netherlands during the new year celebration and about her plans for next year and the courses she was taking right now. Also what was really fun was that she taught Aurélie, her housemate, some Dutch words. So when she was leaving she told me: 'Slaap lekker!' :) And then she said even some more words, so by the end of these six months, she'll maybe even be able to start an entire conversation! Today I will give back the book about Ian Curtis to Marion so I will probably go to the library to hand it back, because that is where she told me she would be. Because we don't have the camera yet I won't be meeting up with Euan and Clément to watch the tape we made during the casting which we filmed, so that we will probably do tomorrow. Maybe I go out to the Gulbenkian tonight and there are plans to go to The Venue tomorrow. I probably go, even though I do have seminar the next day. But if I just put my alarm clock on it shouldn't be a problem. It's Sunday and no rain, but sunshine. Woohoo! Enjoy!

No Regrets

It has been nice at my house lately. There's this really nice atmosphere and I've been talking to Farhad and Patricia a lot. I did net end up going to yesterday's party at house number 19, but I'm sure it must have been good. I heard a lot of people. Last night around 4 am, I was waken up, not sure if it was because of them or something else, but there were some crazy British people two of them very annoying, screaming and being very loud. Not cool at all. Fortunately it didn't last too long and I managed to sleep through it. Tonight Veronique will throw a party to celebrate the new year and the coming of her new housemates, I'm looking forward to that party, so I'll be there. Last time I was there it was relaly nice. The party was in the kitchen with not much space, but I kind of like that. At least the entire floor is then completely filled. We have to throw our own party in our house once. Would be cool. I saw another film by director Kim Ki-Duk yesterday. I watched Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring. It was my fourth Ki-Duk film. I really liked it, but still Bin-Jip is my favourite with Samaritan Girl coming in second. I also did a bit of reading and wrote some thoughts down for my long essay. Before i went to see the movie I walked into Heidi and Marion on the stairs. I had not seen Marion for quite a while already. So it's definitely time to meet up again. But with the start of this new term everyone is really busy again having different timetables and everything. After the film I went to do my shopping at Tesco for the upcoming week. I was in the mood to go into town and I needed some stuff, so that's why I decided to not wait until Monday, but just go now. And it's actually better, because the last two times I went on Monday after class almost all the juices were already gone, or at least the ones like. I think the brand is calles Copella. Tastes good. So today it's another day just like any other. I really felt as if yesterday was already Saturday. It's really because I don't have any other seminars or lectures to attend. Everyone says I'm so lucky with this timetable and I like it having a lot of time, but I would actually prefer having another course with a seminar or lecture. Then I at least have something to really go to. It's nice at the library but at the moment I really don't have any reason to go there. I only go to get out of the house, be around a lot of people and watch a film. Even though watching the films I have done by myself as well. And it's too bad I don't have seminars or lectures with the others, which of course we knew before. But I don't regret that or anything, because I really wanted to do this Female Performance course, even though I could have chosen to do Topics In American Cinema. But I really din't want to do that one, because I felt it looked too much like the history of cinema class i already did in Amsterdam. And this Female Performance course is really something else, it's really specific. Really all about the way an actress portrays a character and the meaning this gives to the film. It's like when you would do a course totally centered on sound or editing or mise-en-scene. In Amsterdam you don't really find those classes, it's more theoretical I feel. This is a lot of analyzing, which i really like. In Amsterdam we had one course with the focus on analyzing, but that immediately included most of the things, like mise-en-scene, cinematography etc. But then just bits and pieces of everything. I really liked that class, but I like that here you really have those film classes. At my university most are still also very related to media and how the media portrays people, things like that. Well, enjoy this Saturday. I heard it has been raining a lot there on the other side of the sea. Here the weather is dry and it isn't that cold at all.

Garden At Home

Made during those two weeks at home back in Haarlem. Just some pictures of our garden. It was pretty cold outside that day. See those white trees? It hadn't been actually snowing, but the trees were white.

Next!

I feel we're finally really getting started with our film now that we're busy doing the casting. Yesterday at 7 pm I was at the Grimond Building together with Euan, Clément, and Claudia, who was so nice to come out and help us. Only two of the seven people ended up confirming they would come. Both were boys, but only one of them Jean-Carlos actually turned up. Luckily Clément had asked Issa and Aina, his housemates to also come and audition for us, so we weren't left empty handed. It was really interesting to all of a sudden be able to ask whatever questions I wanted and to be in such a position of power where I am one of the people deciding who is right for the job and who isn't. But it was also quite difficult, as our film doesn't have any dialogue, so the last time we met up we actually already decided it was going to be more of a casting than a real audition. We actually just need people who look nice on camera, who don't have a very tight schedule and who are able to run a lot. And of course the girl and boy we end up with have to fit nicely together. It's strange though how doing such a casting you all of a sudden also look differently at people. Walking passed Aina and Issa on the street I never really thought like, you have to be in our film, come to the casting! But then when they're actually there you all of a sudden see that they actually do have potential and could very much fit the part. So that kind of opened my eyes. Next week we will be doing another one. This time we will try and get as much people as possible, send e-mails out to everyone around the campus so we have at least like 10 or more people to choose from. But it was a really good test this week and some ideas came up which we could use for next week as well. And maybe it is a good idea to do the casting in pairs, just to see how they work together. In the afternoon, before the casting I once again went to the screening of the course European Cinema: Realisms. Maybe I will go to the lecture one time, if that's possible, because I would like to know what the course is about exactly and why they picked La Règle Du Jeu last week and this week Germania Anno Zero. Again there was almost noone at the Gulbenkian to watch the film, but then again, I heard there aren't so many people doing the course. After the film I went to the library and read some texts. I met Heidi who had bene there since soemthing like 9 o'clock already. She always studies so hard. She's really an inspiration for all of us. I don't think anyone studies so much as she does and is so determined. Around 5 I went home to eat dinner and then afterwards went to do the casting. Today I have another day off. Maybe I will be doing my grocery shopping or go to the library to read and watch, once again, a film. Have already a nice weekend!

Next Time A More Upbeat Film

Today will be the day for our audition/casting for our film. It will be around 7 in Grimond Lecture Building, so anyone reading this who might be interested. Just come along! So I'm very excited about all this and that's why I met up with Euan and Clément yesterday at the Gulbenkian to have a little talk about what exactly we are going to do and how long it will be. I never been the one to decide who will be chosen, so it's really cool this time to be on the other side of the table, just sitting comfortably while judging everyone who appears in front of me. Normally I'm the one getting judged. There will be a camera as well to record everyhting so we can watch everything afterwards in case we forget how everyone looks again and how they did. After our little meeting Clément and I went to the library to read. We went to the fourth floor, but just before the computerroom. I actually had never been there an didn't know there was this row of tables in the back. Normally when you just walk by to walk into the computerroom you don't notice how far back the room goes. So now I know another nice place to study. I also spoke briefly to Alice when I went into the computerroom to check my e-mail. Farhad was also there and told me he was busy with an essay. There was a course he decided not to finish, but because he already did 60% of the course, the course leader told him he should just try and finish it, also because he could still hand in the essay on Friday. So now he thought like, why not just try and finish it. He doesn't really need to points for the course, but to have some extra is never a bad thing. Around 4.30 I decided to watch a film in the library and chose Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Finally after seeing La Pianiste and Caché I got to see this one. I think next time though I will see a more upbeat film, because Irréversible and Oldboy weren't the most happiest either. But Funny Games was very good and really interesting. It can be hard for some to sit through maybe and overall it also feels a bit strange. But I like the whole suspenseful feeling it creates. It's alot of torture, but it really shows how weird it actually is we as people watch films containing violence to entertain us. Funny Games really takes away all the pleasure that you might find in watching films with a lot of bloody scenes. Afterwards I went home to have dinner and that was already the end of my day. I will now take a shower and I also have to pay for my accommodation still, so I need to do that as well. Have a nice Thursday!

28 And Dead

Not that I was ever a big fan, but after he did Brokeback Mountain and got himself into the more serious side of the acting, moving away from the teenage heartthrob image, and playing a role of real substance, I was very curious to see where his career would lead him next. Recently split up with ex-finacee actress Michelle Williams, the mother of his 2 year old daughter, Heath was still very young. As far as I heard so far he had a lot of trouble sleeping and putting his mind to rest, so it might have been some accident which has caused him to die this young. Maybe he took too many pills just to finally go to sleep, never with the thought of killing himself and end his life. So it's not that I'm really shocked, but it's quite strange when you suddenly read that actor Heath ledger has died. It just comes out of the blue, like if one day he was walking down the street and he fell dead. If you would have told me Britney Spears died yesterday, i would be like, that's sad, but I think everyone kind of saw that coming. No big surprise. But this one is. The latest batman film is already finished, they're int he process of post-production. Heath is playing The Joker and it's probably his last role. He also played very recently in I'm Not There, the film about Bob Dylan, in which Dylan is played by multiple actors and even a woman, Cate Blanchett. Other films you might have known him from besides Broke Back Mountain and that were quite popular are 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale. Hearing that news late at night, yesterday, just before I went to bed, was thus quite a surprise and it made me think about it quite a lot. Before I heard this tragic news I just had a normal day going to my seminar early in the morning. Again it was very interesting. Tamar is really nice and just like last week we were put into groups and got the chance to analyze a short clip from the film we saw, this time Der Blaue Engel starring Marlene Dietrich. It's really nice how every week she connects acertain ideas or views about acting to one film to make it clear by using the film as an example. Tamar turns out to be my supervisor as well for my long essay and she thought my subject was very good. I will write about excesses of violence, sexuality and emotion in cinema and focus on female performance in films related to those three aspects. After the seminar I went home and watched the live announcement of the Oscars online. So what had to be a very exciting day for the film industry kind of turned into a sad one with Heath Ledger being dead. Most of the categories turned out to be just as predicted. Cate Blanchett did end up being both nominated as best lead actress as well as actress in a supporting role for Elizabeth and I'm Not There. Angeline Jolie didn't get a nomination for her role in A Mighty Heart, but instead Laura Linney received a nomination for her role in The Savages, in which she is said to be very good though. I haven't seen There Will Be Blood yet, even though I can not wait, but because I thought he was very good in Little Miss Sunshine and he seems very promising I hoped Paul Dano would earn hismelf a nomination as supporting actor, but he didn't. Saoirse Ronan who played young Briony in Atonement did get a nomination afterall, even though she didn't end up being nominated as best supporting actress for many other awards. And Sean Penn's Into The Wild didn't receive a nomination for Best Film, to many people's great surprise. But that was it. Some suprises, but never really big, because a lot of the predicitons always turn out to be right. At 4 pm after getting back home I went to the Gulbenkian to watch Hitchcock's Blackmail. It was playing for this film course which I don't take, but I am allowed to watch the films and because I had not seen it before I thought why not go and see it, it's for free! Well have a good day today everyone. I will try and enjoy mine like always. Ciao!

So Many Magazines

I feel like I've never been so tired in my life as I was yesterday. From the moment I woke up I felt tired and that feeling just didn't go away. I did woke up early to go to the library, but because I didn't work Sunday I thought I would not feel tired. Today though, right now, I feel like I really have had a good rest and don't feel tired that much, so I'm not sure what exactly it was that got me so tired. I didn't have a screening until 4 pm. So at the library, where I was from some minutes before 9.30 I typed something on a computer for my long essay, then read one chapter from this book about acting for my Female Performance course, then picked up my essay of British Cinema (I had 70%) and then got back to the library looking for books and stumbled upon a lot of periodicals. I knew somewhere they had all these magazine, but I never checked out where they were. So it was like a discovery and I happened to find two magazines with really useful articles. After the screening, which was Josef von Sternberg's Der Blaue Engel from 1930 with Marlene Dietrich, I went to Tesco to do my shopping and then went back home ate sushi and some bread and that was it. I tried to go to bed as fast as I can, which was something like 11 pm, so not that late. At 9.30 today I have my seminar and this afternoon I will check out the Oscar nominations and then maybe go to the Gulbenkian to watch Blackmail by Hitchcock at 4 pm. It's for free, because it's a screening from one of the film courses, so why not go. I haven't seen it yet and I always like Hitchcock. Well, see you!

A Day Spent Outside The Library

Whereas yesterday was my day off, today I'm going to work again. I didn't do anything yesterday, besides reading in the biography about Ian Curtis which Marion gave to me to borrow. I still have not finished it, because I never had the time to read in these two weeks that I have bene here again. Of course I guess I had time, but I just didn't use it to read the book. I did a lot of other things, like yesterday going for a drink at Véronique's place. I got to meet her three new housemates, all girls, like before. So again Véronique lives in a house with only girls. Jan and Alice were there as well and also Penelope whom I was glad to see, because it was a while since we had a drink together. Later on Heidi and Marion also dropped by which was nice, because I knew they were tired from working at the library, especially Heidi who had been there from early in the morning. So it was very nice of them to after working so hard still meeting up for a drink. Around 8 I got back home. I didn't have to walk far, because Véeronique also lives in Grimshill. She lives at number 22, I at 16. I cooked myself some dinner and I was happy, because the rice I made was really good. The day before my attempt at making good rice kind of failed. :( Maybe I will go and do my grocery shopping this evening after my screening for today. Tomorrow they are going to announce the nominations for the 80th Academy Awards ceremony and as always I am still excited, even though I don't really care that much about them. I mean, it's not that I watch a film just because it received an Oscar nomination. But I like the whole excitement that surrounds and event like that, so I will try and be at home tomorrow afternoon to see the announcement. Last year they also showed it live online, so I guess I'll be able to watch it again this year. Have a nice Monday everyone, bye bye!

Just Like Last Friday

Just like on Friday I again saw two films, one at the library and one at The Gulebenkian. This time I saw Oldboy, a Korean filmw hich apparentely won the Grand Jury Prize in 2004 at the Cannes Film Festival. The reason why i wanted to see this film was its poster which looked interesting and that was it. The film was a big surprise. It's both very cool and stylish, poetic, with some action scenes and this great story with this big surprise ending that i did not see coming at all. You really have to see it if you haven't seen it yet. It's funny, but also tragically sad and a bit dark and cruel. It's relaly a bit of everything, but done so well. So yes, I was in the library again, but only to print a text and read it and then watch this film just for fun and out of curiosity. I actually was going for a drink with Alice and some others, but the 'others' didn't have time or were too tired, so then with just a bit more then ten minutes long, we decided to go to the Gulbenkian and watch The Kite Runner, based on the very popular novel by Khaled Hosseini. The film is good, but that's mostly because of the terrific story, which I had not read before. There are a lot of twists and the film is very narrative driven, putting the story at its center. So when you think about it, the film itself is kind of plain in filmic terms. So if you have read the novel, the film may not add that much, since it's really the story that stands out and makes the film so engaging. The actors are good though, very touching, especially the little Hassan, the older Amir and Amir's father. It's a nice film and I warn you to bring tissues, especially for those who have not yet read the book and know of themsleves that they easily fall prey to film's like these which putt you up with loads of emotional torture. Afterwards I went home and jumped in my bed falling asleep. Now I've woken up and today is my day of rest. This afternoon I will be at Veronique's place to have a drink, but that's it. I'm just going to listen to music, read novels and maybe just a bit of working on my long essay. I don't think I can ever do completely without working. I just have some thoguhts and ideas which I need to write down and get structured.

Not Much To Tell

Last night I finally saw Eastern Promises, but I have to admit I didn't quite like it as much as A History Of Violence. Maybe if I see it another time I'll like it more, but there's just something about the way the film looks that I don't really like. This was the same with A History Of Violence, but I got over it as the film progressed, but with this one I had some trouble to just shed it off. It's still was good and overall it kind of feels like these old movies, but I have to say of all three films I saw by Cronenberg, I still like ExistenZ the most, which I really thought was brilliant. I really liked the plot and the characters. It's weird but in a very good way. So yeah, that one is still my favourite. Like I said before I was at the library all afternoon reading and watching Irréversible. Then at 7 I went home to have dinner. I cooked some pasta very quick and ate it together with some pesto and after also ate a banana. So I guess there isn't really that much to tell. After I'm done having breakfast I will go and read in the library and maybe head into town this evening for a drink with Alice and everyon else who would like to join. Bye!

In A Bit Of A Hurry So...

Woke up early and did my laundry around 8, then walked back and slipped into the grass just before my house after putting my clothes in the dryer. So now my umbrella has broken. Nothing to worry anout though, I'm fine, nothing broken. I spent my day in the library, reading a lot to get ideas for my long essay and I watched Irréversible a film by Gaspar Noé which features this famous rape scene of something like 9 minutes long and made the film very controversial. I happened to be very suprised by the film and actually quite like it. Besides the rape scene, which is probably the most terrible scene I've watched, the film really has some scenes which are great and are all pretty long takes. I'm now going to have dinner and then go to the Gulbenkian to watch Eastern Promises. What about yesterday? I wathced La Règle Du Jeu, received new All Stars, met up with Euan and Clément to speak about our film and that was it. I'm a bit in a hurry, sorry. Have a great weekend!

A Suprise!

So today I had lunch with Norman, Alice, Klement and Heidi and then something popped up! A gift for me, for my birthday. Yippie! The best gift i could ever receive, brand new ALL STARS! HI-HAH WOOOOHOOO! So thanks a lot! A sad thing though, the top of my teapot broke today, it fell out of the cupboard :( all my own fault!

Thank YOU!!!!

Are You Ready For The Ultimate All Stars Worship? Here It Comes. CRAZY!

Hop Into The Shower

Seems like some of us have classes early today, 'cause I've been trying to hop into the shower all morning, but haven't gotten the chance yet. Luckily for me I don't have any classes so it's not a problem. I will just go to the library and then have lunch at 12.45 with Alice, Marion, Clement and maybe Heidi as well. Then go watch La Règle Du Jeu at the Gulbekian. It's a screening from this other film course, but the screenings are free for everyone, if I'm not mistaken, so i'll be going. Then afterwards I will go to the library and then at 6 I will have a meeting with Euan and Clement about our film project. Yesterday I went to the library at 1pm. I was actually meant to meet up with Clement, but turned out he must have been there at the 4th level before me and because he didn't need a computer he went to sit on the other side, so not in the computerroom. But I managed to read a lot of thus book which is very useful for my Female Performance course and around 6 I was joined by the lovely company of Marion who had to look for books for another presentation she must do, this time 30 minutes long! They are keeping her busy quite a lot. I'm glad I don't have to do a presentation for this course, even though I wouldn't have minded. At 7 pm I went home to have dinner. Alice and Marion first wanted to go out to dance, but Marion wasn't really in the mood anymore and me neither, because of all the studying. Makes you feel pretty tired. So I ended up doing nothing interesting anymore. Today is going to be another busy they I guess. I think the shower is free, so there I go!

Appreciation

I'm very happy with my choice for the course Female Performance In World Cinema. Yesterday I had my first seminar and it was a very good one. The main focus is really on analyzing performance, thus acting, which is one of my main interests. And I have always liked to closely analyze a movie or just a shot clip and then try to interpretate everything you see and give it meaning. And because it can be very subjective it makes it all the more fun, because some people might see things you would have never seen or don't necessarily agree with. First Tamar, my coordinator and now also teacher, talked about the goals of the course and gave us some quotes to write down and some ideas by a couple of theorists about acting. Then we watched some clips from both Bringing Up Baby and Psycho, the last one we saw on Monday during our screening. We then discussed the things we saw and tried to give them meaning. Afterwards we worked in groups and analyzed a clip from Psycho. I was together with two girls, which went very good, and one of them I already new from the British Cinema seminar (it's the girl with whom we invented our own version of Alice In Wonderland with, Alice). Next week we're going to discuss the things each group saw and the meaning these things can have. After my seminar I went to the library and stayed there until 5 pm. I read a text for next week and started reading this useful book. I also read a bit in Sight & Sound, the filmmagazine, which they have downstairs at the library together with other magazines and journals. I also send an e-mail to the person who handles everything of the Long Essay course. This Friday we have to submit the subject we would like to write about, so I e-mailed him yesterday. He then asked me why my university want me to write my long essay in relation to the course of Female Performance and I wrote him back and explained. He then told me he was happy that I replied so quickly and so fully, explaining very well why they wanted me to do that. But he told me everything is fine as long as I don't repeat myself, because I'm already writing two essays for that course as well. But I'm a bit mad at my university. They don't reply quickly and I still don't know if they agree with me taking this course of Female Performance to use for my long essay. It's not nice when you think about how good I make them look with replying so quickly to the guy who's in charge of the Long Essay course here in Kent. 'cause in some way you can say that i kind opf represent my university now I'm studying here, so they better show some appreciation and send me back the files I sent them already some weeks ago saying they agree with me taking these courses. At 5 I went home to eat. I didn't cook, but just ate some bread and a banana. I didn't feel like really eating a complete dinner. At 7 I went to watch Little Miss Sunshine and to my surprise Clement was there as well. He came with his housemates and some other friends, but because all of them weren't members of the film society, they weren't allowed to watch the film. Clement decided to stay however, so together we watched the film, which both of us had already seen. There was only one other guy, but besides the three of us there was noone else. Then we walked back home. Clement had to go to the shop to buy something and I went back to my room to brush my teeth, shower and then sleep. Now I'm awake again. It's my first official day off. I will go and study in the library in some minutes, but I'm still a bit hungry so i'm going to eat a bit more museli and a piece of bread.

This Calls For An Umbrella

Oy oy oy, I just walked into my house coming out of a shower pouring down. The clouds must be very unhappy, crying their hearts out and making us people soaking wet. Luckily I have an umbrella, so soaking wet I am not, but the wind tried many attemps to blow my black umbrella away. Hopefully things will clear up, but I'm afraid not, which means I have to go back out there, back into the dark, trying hard to not get wet feet by avoiding stepping into ponds. Maybe I need to bring a flashlight or better some sunshine, as I will be going out to watch Little Miss Sunshine, which they will be screening at 7. So thanks to the Film Society I will watch it again. First I need something to eat having spend the entire afternoon at the library with the first minutes having to listen to some annoying guys who kept laughing loudly, making me put my earphones deeper into my ears. I'm tired, but I'm in need of some fun so that's why i'm going to watch the movie. Oh, and Alice lies, don't believe the message she left in the comment bar at the right. I never said I would call anyone, I'm not even able to, because I'm out of credit! Grrrrrrrr! And I thought everyone could make that rrrrrr sound.

Busy Start Of The Week

Such a busy today yesterday, but that's what I like. That's why I made it even busier by deciding to go to Tesco after my screening from Female Performance In World Cinema. I went to hand in my essay after reading it again and then printing it. The library was already pretty crowded when I came in and when i went to put some money into my printeraccount I even had to put my notebook on the desk in front of the computer I used in order to make sure noone would walk by and take my place. Also I left my account on so everyone walking by would know it was still in use by someone else. When you think about it it's not that fair. For days there hasn't been anyone, or at least almost anyone, but me Heidi, Marion, Alice and some others. So then when it's all crowded all of a sjudden you feel like you at least have earned a spot by being in the library almost every day, while all these other people weren't. And now they are kind of taking our place. So not cool, but what can you do about it? After handing in my essay I went back to read and then around 12.45 went to the Gulbenkian to have lunch with Marion, Alice and Clement. However, it turned out the meetind should have taken place at the reception and not in the Gulbenkian. I had been able to check my mail again at the library, after I saw noone at the Gulbenkian. Then after reading this I figured everyone was still on their way walking to the Gulbenkian and went back. Then when I took a seat after none was there, Marion walked in and a bit later Clement, whom I had not seen yet since he returned Sunday morning. I was really happy to see him again. Like Alice and Patricia, my housemate, he also cut his hair. I guess I'm one of the few who is going to let it keep on growing until i'm really fed up with it : ) Alice joined us after a couple of minutes as well. I had a Greek salad, Clement a salad with chicken and Alice and Marion had two panini's. Afterwards Clement went back to the library to read his essay, which he had to hand in and Alice, Marion and I went to the Film Studies Office. Alice had to hand in her essay and I went to pick up the presentation assignment of Documentary Film for which i was graded a 63%. Marion and Alice then went into town to do shopping and I went back to the library to read and then afterwards go to my screening. They were going to show Psycho and at first i was a bit dissapointed because I had hoped for a film which I had not already seen. But after a while I figured, why not, it's always nice to see a good movie again. And actually it turned out to be even better, 'cause I was able to refresh my memory, which turned out was actually in some need of refreshing. I had already forgotten a bit about the exact ending of the story and my enjoyment of Anthony Perkins' performance was even bigger this time, I can see why marion likes him and the movie so much. The screening took until some minutes before 6pm. So afterwards I took the unibus into town and did my shopping. I ate sushi as dinner together with some pasta with pesto and then around 9 I went to the reception to meet up with Marion and Alice. Alice had forgotten to e-mail Clement about the time of the meeting, because she tought Marion was going to tell him, which according to Marion, she had thought wrong. Alice then called Clement to ask if he would join us at the K-bar, but eventually he didn't anymore. Jan was with us as well and Sandra called me to say she was already at the K-bar, which was the reason we also went there. It was nice to see Jan again who went snowboarding and Sandra who went to Korea to meet up with her boyfriend. We had a nice chat and Alice started to get us to play some silly games. And then Sandra and Jan also came up with some, which have to be even more fun when you are drunk. After we walked home and I returned Jan a big with stuff I had took with me the day I went home to Canterbury after our time in London. Because his bag would have been too full otherwise I took the stuff with me and kept it safe for him. So now in a couple of minutes I will go to my first seminar It's from 9.30 until 11.15. Afterwards I go the library to study. By bye!

Start Of Spring Term

I'm going to the library in just a couple of minutes to find a computer, print my essay, hand it in and then go back to read some books for my new course which starts today and is called Female Performance In World Cinema and focuses on the relationship between director and actress. Sounds pretty interesting to me, so I can't wait to start this new course. We have a vieweing today at 4, which lasts untul 6pm. I have no idea which movie we're going to see, but I bet one you could call a real classic, or one that is at least considered pretty important. Hopefully it won't be a film I have already seen, even though if it's a really good one I would not mind seeing it again of course. Yesterday I went to Tesco, but it was closed like I mentioned in one of my last posts. I will go back another time. Maybe I'll check for some new All Starts as well, love those shoes and I'm in need of some new ones, but even though they're less expensive than most shoes, I still find 50 euros a lot of money. Hopefully they have some nice ones for sale. During the evening I decided to go to the cinema to watch La Faute à Fidel!, which was really nice, nothing great, but a very sweet, touching and funny story about this little girl who happens to confuse everything she hears and gets caught up in ther parents' political ideas. A lot of people in the audience, like me, seemed to really like it. It kind of reminded me of Goodbye Lenin!, the whole atmosphere of it, or at least it's that kind of film, which is just carried out really well, but doesn't bring anything which really makes you go 'wow!'. The little girl who played Anna, the main character was brilliant. She really portrayed her role very well and was very endeering. Really nice to see such a little girl do such a good job. So yeah, today's the start of the new term. This one course I have today is my only one, besides the long essay one. Have a nice day everyone!

On TV Tonight

For everyone living in The Netherlands, tonight American History X will be on TV. Such a great film, very dramatic, sad, and violent, but oh so beautiful. Gives you enough stuff to think about and Edward Norton proves once again why he's one of the best actors in the industry! Also features one of the coolest scenes, which for most people is almost unbearable to watch. You know which scene I mean when you see it, so obvious it can not be missed. ;)

Christmas Dessert

The dessert I made for Christmas. Really easy to make. Here's how: 1. Bake a chocolate cake; 2. Put plastic foil into an empty bowl; 3. Cut the cake in pieces and place them spread on the sides of the bow; 4. On top of this spread out layer of cake put some jam, then ice-cream; 5. Fill up the last gap in the middle with some more cake, then put in the freezer; 6. Take the bowl out of the freezer and put the entire thing on a plate, because of the foil it won't stick; 7. On top of the big cake put some white cream and then sprinkle it with pieces of chocolate; 8. At the top place some fuit or other decorations; 9. Enjoy, it's done!

So Tesco Opens At 12 pm On Sundays, I Forgot :(

Woke up somewhat before 9 am and said to myself, either you can stay in bed, even though you won't fall asleep anymore anyway, or get our right now and do your shopping. I choose for the last option and thus brushed my teeth, took a shower and then hurried to catch the bus from 10:08. Went to Tesco and stood in front of a closed door. Hmm, I thought, maybe by 11 they will open. Fortuantely I also had to go to Holland & Barrett, a shop Heidi told me about once, telling me that you could buy a lot of products for vegetarians. Before I went back home for two weeks I went to the shop and noticed they also had the Jordan muesli package of 1 kg. So today I went to buy that one plus some sausages made of spinach and cheese and a apple sultana bar, which I ate during my walk around the city to pass the time. After 11 I walked passed Tesco again, and still not open. Then I realized they probably would open at 12. Not wanting to wait any longer, I took the bus back to Park Wood at 11.30. It's not that necessary to buy anything, I still have a lot of stuff. So I will go again this other day. I also spotted some All Stars of 20 pounds, though, I did not really like those ones, but maybe they have others as well for the same price. I will go and check it out next time. Yesterday morning I finished my essay, or at least the writing part. I only had to add some footnotes and maybe a couple of citations or use some more examples from the documentaries I've used. Today I'm going to read it again and at the bibliography and then tomorrow I will hand it in. Around 3 pm I went to the library just to have a nice walk and to see Heidi, Alice and Marion. I ended up reading some texts I didn't got the chance to read and added some extra things to my essay. I stayed until closing time and then went home to have dinner. I promised to my mother to keep watching this TV show I always watch when i'm in The Netherlands, so that's what I did next. Some of you might know it, it's called 'Wie Is De Mol?' (Who Is The Mole?). It's this game/puzzle show where there's a group of 10 people who have to do several tasks every week. Doing these tasks they can earn money, which will at the end of the show be handed to the winner. However, in the group there's one mole, a person who is not in the game to win, but to sabotage everything and make sure they don't earn too much money. This person's prize is that he or she is guaranteed to be in the game until the end, which is of course really cool, because the game is really fun! Every week one person of the group is forced to go home, which is decided by a test every person needs to make. Goal of this test is to try and answer as many questions right about the mole. By paying close attention during the tasks you might get an idea of who the mole can possibly be. The questions which have to be answered every week are about the tasks of that same week. The person who answers most questions wrong, has to leave the game and go home. At the end there will be three persons left, one of them is the mole, one of them will be the winner and one of them the loser. So the goal is to try and stay as long as pissble in the game, which can be achieved by answering as many questions right about who you think is the mole and tries to sabotage the whole thing. Nowadays the game is played with Dutch 'celebrities' from the TV, film, and radio world, which is nice, even though at first when the game was played with just some random people it was really fun as well, as you ended up getting to know these people just as much you get to know these 'celebritites' some of which a lot of people don't really know either. Well have a nice Sunday everyone, I'm going to get a bit of rest. Myabe tonight I will go to the cinema to watch Blame It On Fidel, but I'm not quite sure yet. I can still go tomorrow.

Glad I Went To The Movies

Today the library will not be opened until 12, so I'm gonna have to start wokring here at home in my room. I don't think I ever received such a reaction when I said to Alice and Marion on the way back home yesterday, you know the library won't open until 12 tomorrow? And then they were like, yeaaah we know, Heidi told us. Such dissapointment in their voices. Great. Never had such a response when I told anybody the library would not open today at 9, like it normally is. I guess we kind of live for the library. But yes, it's such a wonderful place and such a great study environment. When I'm there I'm so focused. I can work for hours and hours, non-stop, without being tempted to go online and check out some websites before continuing again. Like the day before, I was at the library as early as I could, so i got there around 10 am. The fourth floor again was completely empty, with only Heidi and Marion already being there, sitting in a corner. I then joined them and started working. Some time later Alice also showed up and joined us for another working session. Because Marion left to have lunch at home and Alice had eaten just 2 hours before coming to the library, we did not have lunch together at the Gulbenkian. Instead Heidi went to buy something at the campus shop and later on I went to do the same. I bought a sandwich and some mixed fruit, both already packed. I don't know, but it seems here they always put mayonaise on their sandwich. I'm not such a fan of mayonaise, so noticing it was also on the sandwich I bought I was not too happy. But still it tasted really good. But I could easily do without the mayonaise. The day before Heidi mentioned she would like to go to the cinema to see The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford. I told her I would like to go as well, but of course it would depend on how far I was with writing my essay. But because I knew from the days before once I get home from the library I almost don't do any work, I thought just go, because their's a small chance you would really work tonight. So I went around 8.30. The film would start at 8.50. I had no idea though the film would be this long. It's almost three hours. Marion and Amandine were there as well. About the movie, I'm still kind of blown away by it. It was amazingly good. One of the best of 2007, mabe even the best I've seen so far. Of course it's hard to compare movies, so I rather speak about the whole experience and this one definitely was a fullfilling one. It had that The Fountain impact on me, even though both films and both experiences are compeletly different. But that's how good it was. Besides the cinematography, which is amazing, I also really enjoyed the music. The whole film looks beautiful and the pace is so nice and slow. So slow even that a lot of people might not be able to handle it, which is a bad thing, because even though there's this slow pace, the film is so interesting and never loses your attention. If you can't handle the pace, it would be a really bad thing, because some films are slow and therefore become somewhat boring, but this one isn't at all. And I'm sure a lot of people who would not be able to handle the pace, still would enjoy the film very much. But I loved this pace, because it made me feel like I was watching a novel. It's based on a novel, so that's why I thought it was so fitting. The film gave you so much time to look at the images, like it wanted to describe every detail to you just as in a book. And Casey Affleck, wow, he is amazing in this. One of the best perfomances I have ever seen. So strong, so layered. I'm glad i have been able to watch it on the big screen, because that's always so much better than any small screen TV out there. Because I went to the movies, I was not able to attend a party hosted by Veronique, who has returned and has three new housemates. So therefore she decided to celebrate. But i could not be there. I'm not sure if it's today Clement returns, but I hope so. I've been missing him and even though it's nice with the girl, it's just not the same without him. After the movie I walked home alone after watching the credits roll by. i loved it outside, it was comepletely dark, their were stars and there was me, walking, with noone else around. I only passed two security gueard and that was it. I was all by myself. So great, 'cause i was wearing my new headphones, listening to We Are Scientists. A perfect way to end a great evening. Right now I'm going to work work work. Enjoy your weekend!

New Favourite: We Are Scientists

I thought they had more albums released already, but besides some independently released records and EP's, their album With Love And Squalor should be really considered their debut. I stumbled upon it after it was added to one of those music blogs again where I´m always downloading music (did I say download, I of course never do such a thing as downloading ;) ). So I actually though it was there newest CD, but no. That one comes in March this year. I had heard about them, but never listened to a single song, so I imagined them to be like Neutral Milk Hotel or something, but no, they just make normal pop/rock :) Favourites so far: Can't Lose and Textbook.
Also nice The Apples In Stereo. Go check 'em out if you like!

Paprika