''The bottom of the world is gold and the world is upside down'' freedom - fernweh - films - boho - beatdom - bob dylan - drinks - records - sixties - coffee - poetry - summer nights - jazz
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Heath Ledger as Bob Dylan: now that´s perfection
This 'I want you' clip from the biopic ´I´m not there´ shows the relationship between Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo, whom he dated between 1961 and 1964. Suze Rotolo is the woman walking with him on the cover of 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' through the streets of Greenwich Village. One of my favourite album covers ever by the way. In the film Charlotte Gainsbourg plays her. Their relationship is passionate but troubled. This clip only features the beginning of it, which is exactly the way it should be, if you ask me. Golden match: Heath and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Such a loss...
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Barcelona in January
As I said before, Yeji (one of my friends) and I spontaneously booked a trip to Barcelona last week. We had no resits, so we had a week off and why not celebrate this in beautiful Barcelona? Since tickets were only 50 euros and we found a hostel (which was called 'The Hipstel', awesome right?) for only 9 euros a night with breakfast included, the choice was easily made.
Last Tuesday we flew from Eindhoven (a city in the south of the Netherlands) to Girona, Barcelona. We only booked hand luggage, so it was quite a disaster to get everything we wanted to bring with us in those small suitcases. Eventually, we managed to do this and we began our short trip. We arrived at the hostel around dinner time. Fortunately, everything went well. I'm emphasizing this, since we both are awfully chaotic. We lost our key, phones and passports several times and I'm not even talking about the amount of times our sense of direction left us in the lurge.
Anyway, the first night we had planned to go out, despite the fact we didn't sleep good at all the night before our departure. I only slept 3 hours that night, which wasn't the best way to start a trip filled with shopping, wandering through Barcelona and going out. But a friend of Yeji had worked in a very exclusive club at the beach last year, and she'd arranged to put us on the guest list, so we had no choice. That night was a special R&B/Hiphop night as well, so it turned out to be pretty nice. Though the drinks had outrageous prizes, we had a good time, since the music was very good. It was funny to see all those Spanish party people, everyone was looking shiny: high heels, short dresses and lots of hair. Quite different from Amsterdam.
The second day was dedicated entirely to shopping. One of the reasons we came to Barcelona! Topshop was very disappointing. The store was tiny, especially compared to those in London and NY and the collection wasn't special either. Thank god Zara was heaven on earth. Everything is cheaper in Spain anyhow (since Zara is spanish) and there was still sale, so the prizes were amazing. I bought a few wonderful things, all about 10 euros a piece. Mango was good as well. After a long day, we had dinner in a cosy bar, called Bar Lobo. We ate a lot of hummus, which we had also bought for breakfast and lunch, since it is de-li-ci-ous.
That night we wanted to go to some place a bit more underground. We wanted to see some cute guys and since pushy and smooth Spaniards are definitely not our type, we figured we had to look for them in a place other than exclusive clubs. So we approached some alternatively looking girls that afternoon and asked them where we had to go. They gave us the name of a club and so that's where we want that night. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big success (music was lousy and there was very few people over there) and so we asked for a place where they played techno.
Thursday we got up early again, since we didn't want to miss the free breakfast. The few hours of sleep every night began to take its toll. And my entire body was hurting but that didn't keep us from walking to the Sagrada Familia, which is still worked on but the process is a bit further than the last time I was in Barcelona. Did I already mention the sun was shining and it felt like summer that day? All days we were in Barcelona actually. You could already smell spring in the air, I love that feeling. I could wear my summer jacket the entire time, I didn't even bring my fur coat!
After a short rest in the hostel, we went to El Born, a student and vintage area. We went to Parc Ciutadella and visited Musée Picasso. I only knew him from the work he's famous for, with the absurd forms and faces. It turned out he made some very realistic and impressionistic work as well, when he was only fifteen years old! Unfortunately, they were working on the museum, so we could only see the beginning and the end of his work.
That night was the most amazing night of all. Yeji's friend had arranged we could visit a Burlesque Dinner Show in the same club we were Tuesday night. We were eating with the owner of the club and a friend of his. I didn't know what to expect, but they turned out to be very nice and funny. The food was a-ma-zing. We had sushi first, then the best salmon I have ever tasted and some caramel dessert. The show was even better. The girls wore great outfits, not trashy at all, very sexy. They performed songs like 'Fever', 'Candy Man', etc. The lead singer sang 'And I'm telling you...' from Dreamgirls and she almost did this as good as Jennifer Hudson and that means a lot! They were pole dancing as well, including a guy. We were completely blown away, he had so much power in his body, he was almost floating through the air. We stayed a while to dance that night until our feet couldn't keep up, cause we wore our high heels ;)
Friday was our last day and we had a check-out at 10 o'clock, which was pretty tough. That day we didn't do that much. We went to the beach in the morning, which was fabulous. It was 24 degrees, we played music and really enjoyed this, since it was raining in our home town! We strolled through El Born the rest of the day and had a lovely meal that night. We concluded our trips with drinks at a cocktail bar and went to our hostel to wait till we could take the bus back to the airport.
A tradition definitely is born. For not a lot of money, a few days in sunny Barcelona, it's the best idea we had in a long time. Barcelona, we'll be back.
Last Tuesday we flew from Eindhoven (a city in the south of the Netherlands) to Girona, Barcelona. We only booked hand luggage, so it was quite a disaster to get everything we wanted to bring with us in those small suitcases. Eventually, we managed to do this and we began our short trip. We arrived at the hostel around dinner time. Fortunately, everything went well. I'm emphasizing this, since we both are awfully chaotic. We lost our key, phones and passports several times and I'm not even talking about the amount of times our sense of direction left us in the lurge.
Anyway, the first night we had planned to go out, despite the fact we didn't sleep good at all the night before our departure. I only slept 3 hours that night, which wasn't the best way to start a trip filled with shopping, wandering through Barcelona and going out. But a friend of Yeji had worked in a very exclusive club at the beach last year, and she'd arranged to put us on the guest list, so we had no choice. That night was a special R&B/Hiphop night as well, so it turned out to be pretty nice. Though the drinks had outrageous prizes, we had a good time, since the music was very good. It was funny to see all those Spanish party people, everyone was looking shiny: high heels, short dresses and lots of hair. Quite different from Amsterdam.
The second day was dedicated entirely to shopping. One of the reasons we came to Barcelona! Topshop was very disappointing. The store was tiny, especially compared to those in London and NY and the collection wasn't special either. Thank god Zara was heaven on earth. Everything is cheaper in Spain anyhow (since Zara is spanish) and there was still sale, so the prizes were amazing. I bought a few wonderful things, all about 10 euros a piece. Mango was good as well. After a long day, we had dinner in a cosy bar, called Bar Lobo. We ate a lot of hummus, which we had also bought for breakfast and lunch, since it is de-li-ci-ous.
That night we wanted to go to some place a bit more underground. We wanted to see some cute guys and since pushy and smooth Spaniards are definitely not our type, we figured we had to look for them in a place other than exclusive clubs. So we approached some alternatively looking girls that afternoon and asked them where we had to go. They gave us the name of a club and so that's where we want that night. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big success (music was lousy and there was very few people over there) and so we asked for a place where they played techno.
Thursday we got up early again, since we didn't want to miss the free breakfast. The few hours of sleep every night began to take its toll. And my entire body was hurting but that didn't keep us from walking to the Sagrada Familia, which is still worked on but the process is a bit further than the last time I was in Barcelona. Did I already mention the sun was shining and it felt like summer that day? All days we were in Barcelona actually. You could already smell spring in the air, I love that feeling. I could wear my summer jacket the entire time, I didn't even bring my fur coat!
After a short rest in the hostel, we went to El Born, a student and vintage area. We went to Parc Ciutadella and visited Musée Picasso. I only knew him from the work he's famous for, with the absurd forms and faces. It turned out he made some very realistic and impressionistic work as well, when he was only fifteen years old! Unfortunately, they were working on the museum, so we could only see the beginning and the end of his work.
That night was the most amazing night of all. Yeji's friend had arranged we could visit a Burlesque Dinner Show in the same club we were Tuesday night. We were eating with the owner of the club and a friend of his. I didn't know what to expect, but they turned out to be very nice and funny. The food was a-ma-zing. We had sushi first, then the best salmon I have ever tasted and some caramel dessert. The show was even better. The girls wore great outfits, not trashy at all, very sexy. They performed songs like 'Fever', 'Candy Man', etc. The lead singer sang 'And I'm telling you...' from Dreamgirls and she almost did this as good as Jennifer Hudson and that means a lot! They were pole dancing as well, including a guy. We were completely blown away, he had so much power in his body, he was almost floating through the air. We stayed a while to dance that night until our feet couldn't keep up, cause we wore our high heels ;)
Friday was our last day and we had a check-out at 10 o'clock, which was pretty tough. That day we didn't do that much. We went to the beach in the morning, which was fabulous. It was 24 degrees, we played music and really enjoyed this, since it was raining in our home town! We strolled through El Born the rest of the day and had a lovely meal that night. We concluded our trips with drinks at a cocktail bar and went to our hostel to wait till we could take the bus back to the airport.
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A tradition definitely is born. For not a lot of money, a few days in sunny Barcelona, it's the best idea we had in a long time. Barcelona, we'll be back.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Casablanca
As time goes by, some movies never lose their magic. 'Casablanca' is one of them. Though not that much happens and the film is only set on a few locations, 'Casablanca' has this thing: it integrates you from beginning until end. Maybe because it not one of those old films that has a perfect ending and it's not extremely happy and cheerful, like many old films are.
'Casablanca' was produced in 1942 by Michael Curtiz. It is set during World War II and stars huge actors Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The film is about Rick, a cynicle and cold man who owns a succesful bar in Casablanca. The people who go there come from different parts of the world: America, Italy, France and Germany. A lot of Nazi officers come there as well.
Rick isn't impressed by them at all. He isn't interested in politics, he is just the proprietor of a bar. Then one day a man, Victor Laszlo, and a lady, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) step in his bar. These two people definitely impress him. Laszlo is a Czech fugitive leader and is sought by the Nazis. They don't want him to leave Casablanca cause he's expect to begin a big revolt against the Nazis in America.
The lady asks Rick's friend and the house pianist Sam to play 'As time goes by'. Rick runs to Sam and is furious. He had ask him never to play that song again. Then he sees Ilsa and he's blown away. There's an evident tension between them. As it turns out, they have been lovers some time ago. Rick was rebelling against the Nazis back then as well. One day the Nazis took over Paris and so Rick and Ilsa had to fly to Casablanca to be safe. On the last moment, Ilsa didn't show up. She left a letter saying that she couldn't go, but she blessed Rick and wished him the best. It turned out her man, who was in a concentration camp, wasn't dead at all. Of course, she didn't tell Rick this when she found out just a bit before they were supposed to go.
Rick, who opened his heart, became bitter and synical in Casablanca. Until Ilsa showed up again. It was obvious they couldn't stop thinking about each other and they met several times to talk things over. I'm not going to tell the entire plot, but what it comes down to, is that Rick had to choose between love and war. Would he stay in Casablanca with Ilsa or would he help Ilsa's husband by giving them the letters Laszlo needed, so that he could continue his work conquering the Nazis?
'Casablanca' is a pure love story, with war on the background. Though I was never a big fan of Humphrey Bogart, he turned out to be pretty fabulous in this film. The reason I didn't like him, was because he was an extreme jerk on the set of 'Sabrina'. He didn't want to work with Audrey Hepburn, because she wasn't good enough for him. But in this movie he's amazing as a cynical though humorous man. He has this thing that integrates you, just like the movie itself. Bitter as he comes off, it turns out he has a heart after all. Ingrid Bergman is very believable as well. Her accent is adorable and I never knew she was that beautiful. Grace Kelly had competition.
Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of Casablanca (how I would love to go there one day!) besides one market, since the film mostly sets in Rick's bar. But this bar has a very cosy ambiance, so it's no big deal. 'Casablanca' has a wonderful title song, which makes you want to go back seventy years in time and sit in Rick's bar, smoking a cigarette and having a drink. The way they talked was pretty amazing as well. Most characters had an accent, since they were supposed to be Scandinavian, French or Czech. Rick, who came from New York, hadn't, but the way he called Isla, 'Kid', makes you wish someone called you that as well ;)
'Casablanca' is magic, full of thrill because of the War and because it tells the story of a great but impossible love. The way love is supposed to be if you ask me. Not impossible, but passionate and tense. Until that happens, let's watch Casablanca. Over and over again.
'Casablanca' was produced in 1942 by Michael Curtiz. It is set during World War II and stars huge actors Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The film is about Rick, a cynicle and cold man who owns a succesful bar in Casablanca. The people who go there come from different parts of the world: America, Italy, France and Germany. A lot of Nazi officers come there as well.
Rick isn't impressed by them at all. He isn't interested in politics, he is just the proprietor of a bar. Then one day a man, Victor Laszlo, and a lady, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) step in his bar. These two people definitely impress him. Laszlo is a Czech fugitive leader and is sought by the Nazis. They don't want him to leave Casablanca cause he's expect to begin a big revolt against the Nazis in America.
The lady asks Rick's friend and the house pianist Sam to play 'As time goes by'. Rick runs to Sam and is furious. He had ask him never to play that song again. Then he sees Ilsa and he's blown away. There's an evident tension between them. As it turns out, they have been lovers some time ago. Rick was rebelling against the Nazis back then as well. One day the Nazis took over Paris and so Rick and Ilsa had to fly to Casablanca to be safe. On the last moment, Ilsa didn't show up. She left a letter saying that she couldn't go, but she blessed Rick and wished him the best. It turned out her man, who was in a concentration camp, wasn't dead at all. Of course, she didn't tell Rick this when she found out just a bit before they were supposed to go.
Rick, who opened his heart, became bitter and synical in Casablanca. Until Ilsa showed up again. It was obvious they couldn't stop thinking about each other and they met several times to talk things over. I'm not going to tell the entire plot, but what it comes down to, is that Rick had to choose between love and war. Would he stay in Casablanca with Ilsa or would he help Ilsa's husband by giving them the letters Laszlo needed, so that he could continue his work conquering the Nazis?
'Casablanca' is a pure love story, with war on the background. Though I was never a big fan of Humphrey Bogart, he turned out to be pretty fabulous in this film. The reason I didn't like him, was because he was an extreme jerk on the set of 'Sabrina'. He didn't want to work with Audrey Hepburn, because she wasn't good enough for him. But in this movie he's amazing as a cynical though humorous man. He has this thing that integrates you, just like the movie itself. Bitter as he comes off, it turns out he has a heart after all. Ingrid Bergman is very believable as well. Her accent is adorable and I never knew she was that beautiful. Grace Kelly had competition.
Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of Casablanca (how I would love to go there one day!) besides one market, since the film mostly sets in Rick's bar. But this bar has a very cosy ambiance, so it's no big deal. 'Casablanca' has a wonderful title song, which makes you want to go back seventy years in time and sit in Rick's bar, smoking a cigarette and having a drink. The way they talked was pretty amazing as well. Most characters had an accent, since they were supposed to be Scandinavian, French or Czech. Rick, who came from New York, hadn't, but the way he called Isla, 'Kid', makes you wish someone called you that as well ;)
'Casablanca' is magic, full of thrill because of the War and because it tells the story of a great but impossible love. The way love is supposed to be if you ask me. Not impossible, but passionate and tense. Until that happens, let's watch Casablanca. Over and over again.
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