Pearl Jam in Holland!

Yes, I was there, the first concert of Pearl Jam in Holland in six years! And it was great! This is definitely one of the best live-bands in the world. They didn't play most of my favorite songs (Love Boat Captain, Light Years, Nothing As It Seems, Crazy Mary), but they did play a lot of other great songs, such as Jeremy, Insignificance, Even Flow, State Of Love And Trust and many more!

It was a wonderful evening!

I did not make this picture myself, I hope the photographer doesn't mind I stole it from another site...

Oh, we left for Arnhem in the afternoon, but jumped in the wrong train! The first time this ever happened to me! Well, I got to see quite a lot of my beautiful country. ;-)

Enchanted by The Secret Garden

No picture today. Bought a camera this weekend, but so far I have not succeeded in oploading any photos to my computer. ;-(

Today was a great day! I woke up at 5.45 when the weather seemed good, but when I went to work there was thunder and lightning all around! I ran to the station with my umbrella and didn't get hit by lighting, which made me feel quite happy. Listened to great music in the train and when I arrived at my work, 2,5 hours after I left home, it was raining again! With The Juliana Theory in my portable cd-player and a smile on my face I arrived at the office where things went great and I ate two big pieces of birthday cake, because one of my collegues had become one year older. Walking to the station at the end of the day I had to wait for a bridge and nearly missed my train, and while running to catch it I lost half of the contents of my bag which had opened itself by itself! Luckily I could recover my bread and the notes for my novel and catch the train just in time! In the train I let myself become enchanted by The Secret Garden which is such a wonderful story! Over 2,5 hours after leaving work I arrived home where I am feeling rather tired, but also very happy. ;-)

Will go to sleep early today...

Crash

Wow

Bic Runga

Bic Runga's Beautiful Colission arrived in the mail today! I listened to it twice already! Last week her song When I See You Smile became the track I listened to most often in one week: over 40 plays, according to Last.fm! With She Left On A Monday as the second most played track in one week ;-) I already noticed that there are more beautiful songs on this cd...

Today

Today was a good day. And the weather was very nice too. Had another flat tire...

Just looking at the clouds...

Wow, I am so tired! Not used to getting up at 6 anymore... But again it was a fun day! Life is treating me really well lately.

The trip home was really to long (2,5 hours), but I loved just watching at the trees and the clouds outside. I'm learning to appreciate my own country more and more. Have to buy a digital camera soon, so I can make beautiful pictures of it. Or at least try to. ;-)

Too bad I arrived home to late. When I went to the supermarktet there was not one piece of bread left! I guess I will have to live on crackers tomorrow! ;-)

Right now listening to the new Reamonn cd that I found in the mail today. It has a beautiful cover as you can see. Hope the music will be equally beautiful.

Rain and KT Tunstall

Had a fun day today! It started rather early, but I felt so awake that I didn't mind. Had to laugh when the sunny weather on the way to Friesland had changed when I arrived there after 2,5 hours of travelling. It turned out to be raining pretty hard there. Work was very nice, I really like to work on websites and to see them growing...

When I left it in the evening was nice and sunny, but the closer I got to my parent's place the more grey the sky became. And here it's been raining ever since I arrived here. ;-) Luckily, I had brought my new cd of KT Tunstall which turns out to be better and better every time I hear it!

Anyway, I find that I really like this travelling around. Tomorrow I have to go up north again, before I will return home tomorrow night.

Right now listening to my cool last.fm player!

The secret garden

This afternoon I finished A Passage to India. Outside it was raining hard and without end, which is the perfect atmosphere for reading a fascinating novel in my opinion.

Tonight I will start with The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Lately, I have become really interested in classic novels for children and this is, of course, one of the greatest classics.

Today, I also tried to write again, with minor success. I was afraid of having a writer's block, but my inspiration seems to be returning. To bad I have to work so much the next few weeks...

Have to get up very early tomorrow and travel for 2,5 hours to get to my new job! I will definitely choose some good cd's too listen to in the train. ;-) Probably Idlewild, Switchfoot, Something Corporate and Goo Goo Dolls, because those always make me happy while travelling. ;-) Right now listening to Staind, because it was time for some angry music to shake me awake. ;-)

Jude, the movie

Just watched the movie Jude with Jude Law and Kate Winslet. When I first saw it, probably five years ago, it made a deep impression on me and it was the main reason why I started reading the novels of Thomas Hardy, since this movie is based on his Jude the Obscure. For a time he became my favorite writer.

Five years ago, however, I was a different person, and that's why I was really curious whether Jude would impress me that much again.

It didn't. I still think it's a good movie and Kate Winslet is a terrific actress, but the ending was way to depressing and unnecassary, like most Hardy novels... But like a good Hardy novel, the atmosphere is really beautiful... Sad, but beautiful.

In the meantime I just can't stop listening to that wonderful song by Bic Runga.

Fell in love with a song

Thanks to my last.fm player I discovered the New Zealand singer Bic Runga. I liked the song last.fm played and decided to download some of her songs. I found four songs and one of them was called When I See You Smile and I fell in love with it right it away...


When I see you smile
It feels like I'm falling
It's not for anybody else to know
The way your face could light the bitter dark of every street
In every town I'll ever go
It's not for anybody else to know
For anybody else to know

When I see you smile
First thing in the morning
It raises curtains on your lazy eyes
Could it be that you and I have the greatest love to ever be
How could this have ever been before?
It's not for anybody else to know
For anybody else to know

When Friday night arrives
We'll let it pass outside the door
This is not for anybody else
Anybody else to know


I have already ordered her cd from my favorite internetstore: Djangos. ;-) Along with Fold your hands child by Belle & Sebastian, Ganging up the sun by Guster and Opaline by Guster, because I had some coupons to redeem. ;-)

Pirates of the Caribbean

Went to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with one of my friends and had a great evening. The movie was a lot of fun and afterwards we set outside a cafe, because the weather was really lovely!

Jude!

Whoohoo! The new Jude cd arrived in the mail today! He's one of my favorite singers, so I am very excited about that!!! My first impression is that I like it, but time will tell if it is as good as No One Is Really Beautiful, King Of Yesterday or Sarah. It sounds most like that last one, at least. Will have to review this one, so I will listen to it carefully ;-)

Also in the mail: Retrospective by Natalie Merchant and A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash. I have known both for quite some time now, so I know that they are really great!

Yesterday was a fun day, because I went to Rotterdam with my collegues to see some interesting things, have fun and eat good food!

Oh, and from next week on I'm going to spent my free days at the other side of the country, working for a division of the Department of Justice... It's over 2,5 hours from here! I must have been mad when I said yes... ;-)

We live in a beautiful world

Tonight I watched this strange movie called Punch-Drunk Love. It's story about this really weird guy who falls in love with this pretty woman. In the meantime strange things happen. I liked it. ;-)

This week I have been listening a lot to the music I discovered about three and a half years ago. Train, Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, Jude, Switchfoot, and many more, all music that I got to know through one person. It's still hard to believe how much influence this one person has had on my musical taste. It had never happened before and it hasn't happened since and I can't imagine it will ever happen again.

Oh, and today I downloaded Don't Panic by Coldplay, which I heard in Garden State yesterday. I must be one of the few persons who didn't know this song. Somehow I never got round to listen properly to Parachutes, even though I have both their other records. Anyway, I really fell in love with this song!

Oh, we're sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
All those places we've gone,
All of us are done for.

We live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world,
Oh, we're sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
All those places we've gone,
All of us are done for.

We live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world.
Oh, all that I know,
There's nothing here to run from,
And there, everybody here's got somebody to lean on.

Garden State

Tonight I watched Garden State. I bought the dvd this morning, together with Punch-drunk Love, Crash and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, because I felt like buying some new good movies since the weather is rather rainy later and I'm finally earning money again. :-)

I really liked this movie. It's not very excited, but it had me captivated right from the start.

Wow, I never really explain things here, now do I? ;-)

Switchfoot

Yesterday I had another flat tire. This time when I wanted to cycle home from work. Fortunately, my boss was kind enough to lend me his bike and today one of my collegues fixed my own bike for me!

Somehow I am not very lucky lately with these kind of things. My washing machine isn't working correct either... Still, I have to say I do feel very lucky anyway! I have great friends, a nice job, brilliant idea for a story and so much more to feel good about!

Right now listening to Switchfoot. I still can't explain why, but this is such a great band and their music always makes me feel so happy!

And if I'm lucky I will get the new Jude cd next week! I'm so very excited by that!

Oh, and Wednesday me and a friend went to Marie Antoinette. The movie, that is. I'm a big fan of Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation), so I just had to see this one. I didn't think it was as good as her other movies, but I still liked it. The dreamlike sceneries did a lot of good. Tomorrow I want to buy some new dvd's to watch this weekend. Any suggestions???

A passage to India

Yesterday I finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A simple, but lovely tale.
I now started A Passage to India. So far I like it.

Listening to Edwin McCain's Misguided Roses.

Today I got my bike repaired at the bike shop, so I hope I will have no further problems with that. A new problem has arisen though ;-) This time with my new washing machine. It got delivered today, but it doesn't work correctly yet... Hopefully they can fix that next week...

Madman?

Since a few weeks some kind of madman is giving free concerts from his balcony not far from my room. He is listening to loud music and singing or rather screaming along with it. It's really weird. Sometimes a cop or a neighbour tells him to stop, but he doesn't seem to mind them. First I thought he was drunk but my roommate says something else must be wrong with him...
It makes me wonder how society should approach these kind of people. Would this guy be better off some place where they take care of him? Or not?

Italian for beginners

Last weekend I watched a very nice Danish movie called Italian for beginners, made by the same director who also directed Wilbur wants to kill himself. Even though I don't understand one word of Danish (nor Italian) I liked the story.

Right now I'm reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Also a very nice story that gave me some ideas for my own story. Too bad I couldn't really get started with writing today. Instead, I listened to loads of beautiful records.

Bookfair!

Me and a friend went to the biggest bookfair in Europe today and had a great time there. Deventer is a lovely old city and there were loads of interesting books.

I bought myself quite some nice ones:

John Steinbeck - The grapes of wrath
Charles Dickens - The pickwick papers
E.M. Forster - A passage to India
Rudyard Kiping - Kim
Henry Fielding - Tom Jones
Charles Kingsley - The water babies
Thomas Hughes - Tom Brown's schooldays
Beatrix Potter - The tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle
Beatrix Potter - The tale of two bad mice
Early Irish myths and sagas
The penguin book of folk ballads of the English-speaking world
David Donald - Why the North won the Civil War
F.L. Paxon - The American Civil War