Tickets for Sziget are ordered!

During our Europe trip this summer, we're also going to be in Budapest for a few days.
And what a coincidence, exactly during Sziget festival that is.
So we're going to see a lot of new bands and established ones, like Chef'Special and the Roots. Nice thing to look forward to during the lousy weather we have in the Netherlands these weeks. It seems like fall, though it appears to almost be summer. Can't seem to figure that out. Anyway, enjoy your day!

On the Road, the movie

Recently, I posted about the book On the Road I had just finished and about the fact that the Beat Generation is very fascinating to me. Now, a few weeks later, I have seen the movie, inspired by the book, which had his world premier at the festival of Cannes and which is now shown in many, many cinemas all over the world.

I can say that I've never looked forward to seeing a film this bad. The book On the Road seemed hard to adapt for the screen but also very promising. Since there's so much you can do with music, with visions of the road, of America, of sunrises and sunfalls. And Walter Salles, the director, did a great job adapting all this. He casted some very good actors and in my opinion, the movie respected the book in a way that the main lines of the book were adapted very good. But of course there were also a few disappointments. One thing that will never change: making a film of a great, great book is hard, and fans of the book will be the most critical viewers ever.


I won't tell you more about the story, since you already know what it's about when you've read my previous post about the book. Well, allright, here's the main line: the young writer Sal Paradise starts a journey (that will never stops because life on the road never does) after the death of his father. He meets the craziest people, spends a lot of time with Dean Moriarty (the most important person of the book), Dean's girlfriend Mary Lou and Carlo Marx.

One thing that was very remarkable about this film, was that it was a lot more promiscious than the book. Of course, the book was revolutionary, mainly for the free life the main charachters were living: sex, drugs, alcohol and gay love. And, considering the fact that the book was published in 1957, all these things were much more taboo then than now. But I think the film will provoke a lot of shocked exclamations from conservative people. A few things shocked me as well, so if you're not into that kind of stuff, don't go.

There were also a few things that didn't match my expectations. For one thing, like my father remarked very well (next to the fact that the book 'Seize the day' by Saul Bellow played a part in the film while it wasn't even published yet in 1957) that the actor that played Dean, Garrett Hedlund was not like Dean in the book at all. And I totally agreed with him. Don't get me wrong, Garrett Hedlund is a great actor, and his looks, well his looks are just amazing. I fell in love with him the minute I saw him. But that's not the point, the point is that he wasn't as active as Dean should've been. He was crazy, yes, he slept with every girl in town, yes, but he wasn't always running around and he wasn't stumbling over his words either. A shame.

But the other actors, Sam Riley (who played Sal Paradise), Kirsten Stewart (who played Mary Lou) and Viggo Mortensen (who played Old Bull Lee) matched my expectations very well. Not only was their acting good, they also adapted a bit of the characters they had to perform. And that's very admirable. Kirsten Dunst played an important role as well, as the second love of Dean, but I shall not say a lot about that. I'm just not that into Kirsten Dunst.

Over all, the movie On the Road isn't much more than a few hours of young people making trips through America (New York, San Fransisco, Texas, Mexico, Denver) while they're smoking, listening to jazz, having sex and thinking about their lives. But hey, that's exactly what the book is about. And hey, the book is brilliant. But I do think you should read the book before you see the movie because you'll probably understand the different parts of their travels better and you'll know more about the Beat Generation that way. And that's just bloody interesting.

Pamela Love S/S 2012

From the moment I first saw jewelry by Pamela Love in one of the many editorials that included her fabulous rings, necklaces or bracelets, I fell in love with her work. This summer it outshines everything else in the world of jewelry. With a lot of Aztec influences, North African Berbers and Moroccan. Bright colours and sharp figures. It's wonderful.

FREEDOM

Shame on me, I think I've never not posted anything for such a long time.
I hope you haven't forgotten me! I promise I will update my blog more often this month (not that hard, since I hardly posted anything last month) and I can tell you a lot of wonderful things are about to come!

I've just finished my final exams, yesterday was my last one. What a relief. May was such a long and dreadful month. The only good things was that I turned 18 this month, but since that day, I haven't done anything but studying, working and making my exams.

I sincerely hope they went well, I have to say a few of them were a little harder than I expected but I'm quite sure I'll have my diploma by the end of the month. I'll let you know!

This is the first day of three moths of freedom. Three months of fun, three months of work (a lot of work, that is, I have to save a lot of money for my vacation next month), three months of parties, three months of sun (hopefully!) and three months of relaxation. I can't express the happiness I'm feeling when I write all this ;)

Yesterday I celebrated the beginning of the holidays with a bottle of red wine, a lovely meal and some good records. I think the beginning of a fantastic summer is here, the summer I'm going to travel through Europe for a whole month and the summer I'm going to move to Amsterdam. It scares and excites me at the same time.

I hope you'll be here to follow me through all this, I hope you will have an amazing summer as well. Look at the recept, gather all the ingredients and make it a marvellous summer.

All photos: www.theroadishome.com

"Everybody Wants to be Famous"

Every now and then I hear a song for the first time (this time on Radio6, not a big surprise, I know) and I fall in love with it right away. I immediately downloaded the album of this artist, Julian Velard, it's called 'Mr. Saturday Night' and it's really good. Funny how you can expect something totally different from a face when you hear a song. Cause the first sound of this song made me think this was an older, almost black man (I have to say that the album version has that more than this YouTube clip) and then you see this white, young man playing the piano in the clip. Well, something to cherish as well I guess, cause Joss Stone has that as well and it's marvellous.

Strength in the eyes

When I was just a little girl of five years old
All I wanted was a cuddly toy, to have and to hold
The world seemed so innocent, so pure and so sweet
With my little friends I would play a game called trick or treat
Or I would bother my parents with questions all the time
And if someone wanted my ice-cream I would say:
‘Give it back, it’s mine!’

When I was a bit older, let’s say ten years old
You had to be cool; at least that was what I’d been told
I became aware that people had an opinion about one another
So I behaved like my friends and attached from my mother
I know I was young but it doesn’t make me proud
I had my own things but always wanted to belong to the crowd

Then there was the time that I was fourteen years old
Slightly I had the feeling I was able to unfold
But fact of the matter was that I was insecure and didn’t know why
The people all thought I was oh so quiet and very shy
I was, I can honestly say that’s a true fact
But at least the way I behaved was real, nothing was an act

Now that I am almost eighteen years old, I feel
That it’s most important to be completely and utterly real
At sixteen I had changed a lot and felt so wise
I was able to look at someone with strength in my eyes
At seventeen I finally feel I can go my own way
I know people talk but I don’t really care what they say

Once were warriors

Recently I was reading the second issue of our Dutch Vogue (have you already seen the cover? It's amazing, gives you a real spring feeling by the light colours and Lara Stone), when I saw this amazing shoot. I was really blown away. Fabulous colours, the clothes are extraordinary and the model just matches completely with the concept, which I see as Lost meets Avatar meets fashion. Petrovsky & Ramone (Dutch duo photographer) can't make anything that isn't amazing, I guess.











Rianne Ten Haken by Petrovsky & Ramone for Vogue Netherlands

You can leave your hat on

Sophie Vlaming for Elle Magazine, she really is my all-time favourite model.

She's got everything she needs, she's an artist, she don't look back

She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks
She's a hypnotist collector
You are a walking antique.



This song has one of the most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard.
Very subtile yet strong.
It's not certain about whom it is exactly but it's probably about Joan Baez (the fellow folk singer) and even though it's an anti-love song, it is really appealing. Maybe because it's an anti-love song. Bob Dylan always wanted to do the opposite from what was expected.

Living in the city

No, it won't be New York, and no, it won't be Paris either, but from August I'll be living in the most beautiful city of the Netherlands: Amsterdam.
Because yes, I have a room!

Yesterday I was having a look in the building with a friend of mine. The aunt of my mother told me her granddaughter lived there, so I signed up for an information evening and well, that evening was yesterday. The building isn't finished yet, that's why a part of the contract is that we, the 260 students that will be living there, will work 48 hours this summer to help finishing the building. I'm very curious what they want me to be, cause I'm afraid I'm not a great construction worker. But my friends/family can help and their hours will be part of the 48 hours I have to fill, so that's gonna be a lot of fun.

The building is located in Amsterdam Sloterdijk, facing the Slotervaart hospital. Very close to the building there's a metro station so I'm very happy with that. The room will be very small (about 11 m2) but the price is amazing: only 265,50 euros per month. We will be sharing toilets, showers and kitchen with a group. There'll be about 4 groups per floor and about 16 persons per group. I hope to have nice housemates but I'm sure that'll work out fine. Almost turning into a positive person here ;)

When the building is finished, there'll also be a restaurant and a bar. Great, right? And one of the best things is, the friend that was joining me that evening will be my neighbour next year! After we signed the contract (quite thrilling to do without your parents, for one moment I really felt like a grown-up already!) we walked through Amsterdam laughing and being extremely happy. We looked like two antisocial people staring at our mobiles and telephoning as well.

So, after my exams I'll probably be spending a lot of time deciding how to decorate my room, buying things like pans, glasses, etc. Can't wait till the time is there.