Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
12 February 2011
Late 2010 until now.
It's been a while since I posted some analogue photos; therefore the following batch comprises of pictures taken from (late) October 2010 to January 2011. Guess this whole lack of pictures is also attributed to me having been trying out my fisheye camera for the past few months. I still need to finish up the film on that one as well.
18 December 2010
My year in lists: Film edition
The end of 2010 is near, and this year has been incredibly awesome for me. However, I'm not looking forward to doing anything during the holidays, I just wish I could spend it hibernating and I want for this year to be OVER. It's been good, I have had a lot going on, but enough is enough and I'm keen on making a 'fresh start' in 2011. There are a lot of great things to look forward to, but also certain goals I want to achieve, so it could become a rather important year.
Anyhow, as a tradition during December; end-of-the-year-lists are popping up all over the internet. Rough Trade had its top 100 albums of 2010 ready about two months ago, while I can't even figure out my top 10. I'm working on it though, as from Tuesday we're doing a countdown on IKRS. So, my end of the year list concerning albums (or 'Audiophilia part 4') will be on here at the very end of the year somewhere.
My favourite films 2010
As I don't recall having seen that many GREAT films (not sure why though... is it the crisis? did I go to too many gigs to leave time to visit the cinema? were the films released this year just not my taste?), I only came up with a top 5.
01. Submarino
The latest film by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, director of 'Festen' and part of the Dogme 95 collective, is darker than dark, hence incredibly depressing, but oh so mindblowing. Submarino is about two brothers experiencing a traumatic childhood. Thirty years later, the scars of their past are still visible and goes way beyond the label of 'dysfunctional family': one of the brothers is filled with anger and agression, has been to prison and is seen drinking continuously, while the other brother is a widow, a heroin addict and father of a young boy named Martin. Little Martin here is the only opportunity of breaking the cycle of abuse and damage, but no matter how hard his father tries, does Martin have any future when his father can't kick the drug habit? Vinterberg does another great job here of making you feel uncomfortable throughout the film, as its content is poignant, and you're never sure whether you want to continue watching or want to look away.
When I saw this film in the cinema, I gazed across the room when it was over and saw a full grown man a few rows away from me wiping his eyes. I could relate to him entirely. Vinterberg is back, and how.
02. The American
Dutch photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn referred to his second feature film as 'a suspense thriller in the framework of a Western', and it truly was the most pleasant of surprises this year. From the trailer I would have considered this to be a typical Hollywood thriller, not very interesting in my eyes. But then I heard so many postiive things about it, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did because 'The American' was wonderful. The film is incredibly slow, but there's no moment without tension. There's barely any dialogue, yet that is exactly where its strength is, as Corbijn almost goes back to the basics of filmmaking as applied by people like Alfred Hitchcock: to let the film tell the story. George Clooney here does a great job of not speaking much, and this Jack character is one of the darkest he's ever played. To stay in the Hitchcock mood: he also slightly resesmbled Cary Grant. The tempo, beautifully shot images and close ups (being a photographer Corbijn clearly has an eye for visuals) make this film nothing like a Hollywood film, but not completely European arthouse either, it's somewhere in the middle, making its result incredibly effective.
03. The Social Network
Almost a classic story of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and wanting to belong in a group; The Social Network tells (through two different lawsuits) the story of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. He is a computer nerd at Harvard, who more or less steals the idea of starting an online social network from some of his fellow students, until the website goes beyond limits Zuckerberg could ever dream of. Despite Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook obviously existing in real life, and certain elements in the film might be based on true events too, there's no other way to approaching this story as fiction. But then again, brushing up events from real-life to add extra drama prove to create an excellent film.
The portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg here is very interesting for two reasons;
a. We are never really able to grasp what he's thinking or how he feels; we hardly come across any facial expression (I don't recall a single moment of seeing a smile on his face) or enthusiasm about what he's doing; he truly appears to be an excentric whizzkid, whose motives are mainly defined by actions.
b. In the beginning of the film Mark's girlfriend breaks up with him, because, well, he's an asshole. He only has one true friend and he wants to be in a final club, probably to simply 'belong' and join in on the parties. Then at the end of the film he may be millions of dollars richer; he has lost the one true friend he had, his ex-girlfriend still doesn't care about him (we can see him sending her a friend request on facebook and frantically refreshing the page), he's still wearing ridiculous flipflops and his interns are snorting cocaine off each other's bodies at a big party, while he sits in the Facebook headquarters working on the site...
Next to this characterisation of the almost tragic Zuckerberg; the strength of the film lies in the dialogues, which are incredibly fast, cunning and as sharp as a knife. A brilliant, well-written film, as long as you are able to keep in mind you are looking at fiction here.
04. A Single Man
First thing to be said about this film is that from a visual perspective it is probably the best film I have ever seen. There is so much attention to detail, but then if you see who directed, it all makes sense: it is fashon designer Tom Ford's debut as a film director. The story depicts a day in the life of George Falconer, an English Literature professor in 1962, who has lost his partner Jim in a car accident. With the death of his one true love and the unbearable loneliness that has followed up on this, he decides he is going to commit suicide at the end of the day... Colin Firth delivers a delightful perfomance as the grief-stricken, world-weary and terribly lonely George. Oh, and Julianne Moore isn't too bad either.
05. J'ai tué ma mère
Literally meaning 'I have killed my mother', this Canadian film is an intruiging portrait of a disturbed mother-son relationship, as well as the story of a confused and angry teenager. Hubert Minel, a homosexual sixteen year old wanting to move in with his boyfriend, despises his petty, old fashionedly dressed mother, and their 'conversations' involve hysterical yelling, screaming and wishing each other the worst. As this is mainly what the film consists of, it's not the most pleasant of things to watch, even though the fact that it's done so in French, makes it all the more passionate and intense. Xavier Dolan, who is responsible for directing, writing and playing the main character, has provided us with a visually stunning and enchanting debut, something quite remarkable for a twenty year old I should say.
Films I'm looking forward to see in 2011
Biutiful
True Grit
Black Swan
The King's Speech
Les Amours Imaginaires
Somewhere
127 Hours
Attenberg
La Nostra Vita
and I'm not sure whether the following films are going to be shown in the Netherlands; but I certainly hope so.
Howl
Jack Goes Boating
It's Kind Of A Funny Story
seems like 2011 is going to be a better year for films than this one!
Anyhow, as a tradition during December; end-of-the-year-lists are popping up all over the internet. Rough Trade had its top 100 albums of 2010 ready about two months ago, while I can't even figure out my top 10. I'm working on it though, as from Tuesday we're doing a countdown on IKRS. So, my end of the year list concerning albums (or 'Audiophilia part 4') will be on here at the very end of the year somewhere.
My favourite films 2010
As I don't recall having seen that many GREAT films (not sure why though... is it the crisis? did I go to too many gigs to leave time to visit the cinema? were the films released this year just not my taste?), I only came up with a top 5.
01. Submarino
The latest film by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, director of 'Festen' and part of the Dogme 95 collective, is darker than dark, hence incredibly depressing, but oh so mindblowing. Submarino is about two brothers experiencing a traumatic childhood. Thirty years later, the scars of their past are still visible and goes way beyond the label of 'dysfunctional family': one of the brothers is filled with anger and agression, has been to prison and is seen drinking continuously, while the other brother is a widow, a heroin addict and father of a young boy named Martin. Little Martin here is the only opportunity of breaking the cycle of abuse and damage, but no matter how hard his father tries, does Martin have any future when his father can't kick the drug habit? Vinterberg does another great job here of making you feel uncomfortable throughout the film, as its content is poignant, and you're never sure whether you want to continue watching or want to look away.
When I saw this film in the cinema, I gazed across the room when it was over and saw a full grown man a few rows away from me wiping his eyes. I could relate to him entirely. Vinterberg is back, and how.
02. The American
Dutch photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn referred to his second feature film as 'a suspense thriller in the framework of a Western', and it truly was the most pleasant of surprises this year. From the trailer I would have considered this to be a typical Hollywood thriller, not very interesting in my eyes. But then I heard so many postiive things about it, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did because 'The American' was wonderful. The film is incredibly slow, but there's no moment without tension. There's barely any dialogue, yet that is exactly where its strength is, as Corbijn almost goes back to the basics of filmmaking as applied by people like Alfred Hitchcock: to let the film tell the story. George Clooney here does a great job of not speaking much, and this Jack character is one of the darkest he's ever played. To stay in the Hitchcock mood: he also slightly resesmbled Cary Grant. The tempo, beautifully shot images and close ups (being a photographer Corbijn clearly has an eye for visuals) make this film nothing like a Hollywood film, but not completely European arthouse either, it's somewhere in the middle, making its result incredibly effective.
03. The Social Network
Almost a classic story of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and wanting to belong in a group; The Social Network tells (through two different lawsuits) the story of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. He is a computer nerd at Harvard, who more or less steals the idea of starting an online social network from some of his fellow students, until the website goes beyond limits Zuckerberg could ever dream of. Despite Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook obviously existing in real life, and certain elements in the film might be based on true events too, there's no other way to approaching this story as fiction. But then again, brushing up events from real-life to add extra drama prove to create an excellent film.
The portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg here is very interesting for two reasons;
a. We are never really able to grasp what he's thinking or how he feels; we hardly come across any facial expression (I don't recall a single moment of seeing a smile on his face) or enthusiasm about what he's doing; he truly appears to be an excentric whizzkid, whose motives are mainly defined by actions.
b. In the beginning of the film Mark's girlfriend breaks up with him, because, well, he's an asshole. He only has one true friend and he wants to be in a final club, probably to simply 'belong' and join in on the parties. Then at the end of the film he may be millions of dollars richer; he has lost the one true friend he had, his ex-girlfriend still doesn't care about him (we can see him sending her a friend request on facebook and frantically refreshing the page), he's still wearing ridiculous flipflops and his interns are snorting cocaine off each other's bodies at a big party, while he sits in the Facebook headquarters working on the site...
Next to this characterisation of the almost tragic Zuckerberg; the strength of the film lies in the dialogues, which are incredibly fast, cunning and as sharp as a knife. A brilliant, well-written film, as long as you are able to keep in mind you are looking at fiction here.
04. A Single Man
First thing to be said about this film is that from a visual perspective it is probably the best film I have ever seen. There is so much attention to detail, but then if you see who directed, it all makes sense: it is fashon designer Tom Ford's debut as a film director. The story depicts a day in the life of George Falconer, an English Literature professor in 1962, who has lost his partner Jim in a car accident. With the death of his one true love and the unbearable loneliness that has followed up on this, he decides he is going to commit suicide at the end of the day... Colin Firth delivers a delightful perfomance as the grief-stricken, world-weary and terribly lonely George. Oh, and Julianne Moore isn't too bad either.
05. J'ai tué ma mère
Literally meaning 'I have killed my mother', this Canadian film is an intruiging portrait of a disturbed mother-son relationship, as well as the story of a confused and angry teenager. Hubert Minel, a homosexual sixteen year old wanting to move in with his boyfriend, despises his petty, old fashionedly dressed mother, and their 'conversations' involve hysterical yelling, screaming and wishing each other the worst. As this is mainly what the film consists of, it's not the most pleasant of things to watch, even though the fact that it's done so in French, makes it all the more passionate and intense. Xavier Dolan, who is responsible for directing, writing and playing the main character, has provided us with a visually stunning and enchanting debut, something quite remarkable for a twenty year old I should say.
Films I'm looking forward to see in 2011
Biutiful
True Grit
Black Swan
The King's Speech
Les Amours Imaginaires
Somewhere
127 Hours
Attenberg
La Nostra Vita
and I'm not sure whether the following films are going to be shown in the Netherlands; but I certainly hope so.
Howl
Jack Goes Boating
It's Kind Of A Funny Story
seems like 2011 is going to be a better year for films than this one!
6 April 2010
An update about the past week(s)
I’ve been quite busy since the holidays, maybe not in the first week back to school, but a lot has happened in the second week though.
The first week back to school was fun and it was good to be back in the class. We did 2 trips out of school again, with Ross. Not spying on people this time, but one day when we had a lesson with a ‘food’ theme, we did a competition in Sainsbury’s, the couple who could find all the items on the shopping list Ross gave us, won the competition and would get a ‘prize’. The items on the list were typical British products, like Marmite, Horlicks, mushy peas, rice pudding, custard etc. I teamed up with a German guy, and we won the competition, basically because he was very fast.
The next day we went out of class again, today’s theme revolved around anatomy and we went to the Royal Academy of Surgeons, and its Hunterian Museum, which was a scientific freak show of disfigured skeletons, fetuses in jars and weird diseases. But it was interesting, and that’s what it’s all about.
On the weekend, me and Linda went to the BBC Radio6 protest, because as you might have heard, they’re going to stop BBC Radio 6. I’m not going to pretend I’m a frequent radio listener, let alone Radio 6, but it’s still a shame on behalf of music. We stood in the rain for 2 hours, and chanted and sung when we were supposed to, even though we couldn’t hear half of the things the protest conductors said, and we were distracted by the unnerving statue above the doors of the Broadcasting House:
Come on, you have to agree this looks like an act of gruesome pedophilic rape…
When the protest was finished, we left the place with a feeling of unity in the community and decided our hard work and devotion was to be rewarded with chocolate goodness at the Chocolate Festival at the Southbank Centre. When I read the words Chocolate Festival, I instantly think of a lot of free chocolate, and chocolate rivers and statues and sculptures. Let’s say I’d have visions of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; this was not the case however, it was like 10 stands of chocolatiers selling their overpriced chocolate stuff, not even giving away things for free(Yes, I am Dutch indeed). Then again, being Dutchies, we couldn’t resist the sight of pancakes, and we also tried luscious marshmallows and strawberries covered in chocolate sauce, which was like eating a bit of heaven.
Last week, on Wednesday, my teacher suddenly mentioned that the day after would be his last day in Kaplan. Everyone was quite shocked by this, including me. To be honest, after the shock I was quite upset, because Ross is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had in my life, and I don’t think anyone in the school is as competent for a Higher Advanced/Proficiency class as he was. He didn’t just teach English, he also made the lessons into… a sort of sociological debate and we often did little acting things as well. He just made it challenging, because he questioned your arguments, he had strict time limits on the writings & improvising plays and he moved very fast and smoothly through the lesson material. With him gone, it feels like there’s not much left in the school for me, with him it at least felt like I would always have a bit of a challenge and I really enjoyed the lessons. Some classmates said they missed a bit of human warmth, because he didn’t really do small talk and was quite reserved, but if you’re in his class for a while, you understand that he’s not that how-was-your-weekend-kind of a person at all, and probably doesn’t want to make an effort, as most of the students leave after 2 weeks. After a while in his class though, you sort off understand his humor, the way he conducts the lessons and what he expects from you, which is interesting.
So yeah, after 3 months in his class, it’s a bit upsetting for me, it’s silly, but over the past months I’ve had different teachers in the schools in both Oxford and London, and I’ve really started to notice how important it is to have a good teacher, it makes a great difference in your progress and especially the way you enjoy the class, sometimes even whether you show up in class at all.
I don’t want to judge too early, so I hope my new teacher will be OK, but I somehow have the feeling he can’t measure up to Ross.
On Wednesday afternoon I helped Robert out, who was moving flats and needed a hand with his luggage. From now on I’m going to think twice before I promise a friend to help out, because I had a sore neck following days… Anyhow, he’s happy with his new room and about the fact that he can take the quiet Overground train to work, instead of the Underground, so that’s cool.
Thursday was film club time again, ‘horror theme’ this time, if I weren’t so devoted to film club, I wouldn’t have come, because I absolutely hate horror films and would never voluntarily watch one, unless it’s a classic or a very relevant film. It’s not just because I don’t like being or feeling scared, but also because horror films usually are just utterly ridiculous. I can see that for a lot of people it serves a great entertainment purpose, but other than that it’s just complete rubbish to me, the dialogues are silly, the acting isn’t particularly high standard and the plots are completely inconceivable. They usually just make me laugh out loud, and go ‘Yeahhhhh right…’.
If I watch a film, I often watch it for entertainment of course, but I want some artistic value as well, I want a good or interesting story and/or dialogue, relevant acting and preferably good imagery. To me, the horror somehow fails as an artistic genre within film, because of its inconceivability. If a film is scary, yet realistic, it’s usually a thriller, rather than a ‘horror’. Anyhow, that’s just what I think, feel free to prove me wrong, I’m willing to reconsider my position.
After film club I met up with Robert again and we went to The Drums instore at Rough Trade, seeing them for free sort of made up with that one time I missed half of their gig at the Brixton Academy, after oversleeping. They were pretty good live, though I had mixed feeling about it. It sounded very different live than from their recordings, but I’m not sure if it’s for the better or the worse, the singer seemed like yet another Ian Curtis imitator, not only because of his singing, but also because of his wicked dancemoves. The guitarists seemed a bit autistic, one of them not even noticing he knocked over his microphone stand.
On Friday I went on a short day trip to Brighton, with my housemate Lucie. It was great, Brighton is an awesome city; the beach, the pier, the colourful houses, the fact that it reminded me of San Francisco and the North Laines. We walked a bit on the beach, then visited the Pier, which consists of a little theme park with arcades and a lot of candyshops. Then it started to rain so we started looking for some place dry, we ended up in a café at the Laines, and we sat in a lower area in the café on cushions on the floor. We had some good entertainment that afternoon; 2 women and a man came to sit in the lower area as well, but one of the women slipped on the step and hit her head against the ceiling, resulting into a cut in her head that started bleeding excessively. The guy took of his shirt and pushed it on the wound, whereas the other woman was squeamish and started sweating and panicking. Eventually the ambulance was called, and one of the ambulance guys asked: ‘What happened’, one of her acquaintances explained: ‘She slipped on that step over there and hit her head against the ceiling’. The ambulance guy: ‘Ah over there, where it says “Please mind your head”?’
After the drama was over, it wasn’t as bad as it looked at first, me and Lucie left, because it had stopped raining. We walked around the Laines a bit more and visited the Royal Pavilion, something I wouldn’t recommend, it’s a tacky palace, and very expensive for what you get. Then we went to the Northern Laines, which is basically Camden in Brighton. Then we made our way back to the trainstation, as we were both very tired.
On Saturday, Mandy, Desi, Hidde and Mandy came over for a day, which was great fun. I was very happy to see them and I really missed this, just nonsense humor and conversations, making crisps hats, throwing each others food in a pile of horse shit, making fun of the tramp sitting behind us in a café and making fun of people in Hyde Park. Nosing around on Brick Lane and playing in the Rough Trade photobooth.
The first week back to school was fun and it was good to be back in the class. We did 2 trips out of school again, with Ross. Not spying on people this time, but one day when we had a lesson with a ‘food’ theme, we did a competition in Sainsbury’s, the couple who could find all the items on the shopping list Ross gave us, won the competition and would get a ‘prize’. The items on the list were typical British products, like Marmite, Horlicks, mushy peas, rice pudding, custard etc. I teamed up with a German guy, and we won the competition, basically because he was very fast.
The next day we went out of class again, today’s theme revolved around anatomy and we went to the Royal Academy of Surgeons, and its Hunterian Museum, which was a scientific freak show of disfigured skeletons, fetuses in jars and weird diseases. But it was interesting, and that’s what it’s all about.
On the weekend, me and Linda went to the BBC Radio6 protest, because as you might have heard, they’re going to stop BBC Radio 6. I’m not going to pretend I’m a frequent radio listener, let alone Radio 6, but it’s still a shame on behalf of music. We stood in the rain for 2 hours, and chanted and sung when we were supposed to, even though we couldn’t hear half of the things the protest conductors said, and we were distracted by the unnerving statue above the doors of the Broadcasting House:
Come on, you have to agree this looks like an act of gruesome pedophilic rape…
When the protest was finished, we left the place with a feeling of unity in the community and decided our hard work and devotion was to be rewarded with chocolate goodness at the Chocolate Festival at the Southbank Centre. When I read the words Chocolate Festival, I instantly think of a lot of free chocolate, and chocolate rivers and statues and sculptures. Let’s say I’d have visions of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; this was not the case however, it was like 10 stands of chocolatiers selling their overpriced chocolate stuff, not even giving away things for free(Yes, I am Dutch indeed). Then again, being Dutchies, we couldn’t resist the sight of pancakes, and we also tried luscious marshmallows and strawberries covered in chocolate sauce, which was like eating a bit of heaven.
Last week, on Wednesday, my teacher suddenly mentioned that the day after would be his last day in Kaplan. Everyone was quite shocked by this, including me. To be honest, after the shock I was quite upset, because Ross is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had in my life, and I don’t think anyone in the school is as competent for a Higher Advanced/Proficiency class as he was. He didn’t just teach English, he also made the lessons into… a sort of sociological debate and we often did little acting things as well. He just made it challenging, because he questioned your arguments, he had strict time limits on the writings & improvising plays and he moved very fast and smoothly through the lesson material. With him gone, it feels like there’s not much left in the school for me, with him it at least felt like I would always have a bit of a challenge and I really enjoyed the lessons. Some classmates said they missed a bit of human warmth, because he didn’t really do small talk and was quite reserved, but if you’re in his class for a while, you understand that he’s not that how-was-your-weekend-kind of a person at all, and probably doesn’t want to make an effort, as most of the students leave after 2 weeks. After a while in his class though, you sort off understand his humor, the way he conducts the lessons and what he expects from you, which is interesting.
So yeah, after 3 months in his class, it’s a bit upsetting for me, it’s silly, but over the past months I’ve had different teachers in the schools in both Oxford and London, and I’ve really started to notice how important it is to have a good teacher, it makes a great difference in your progress and especially the way you enjoy the class, sometimes even whether you show up in class at all.
I don’t want to judge too early, so I hope my new teacher will be OK, but I somehow have the feeling he can’t measure up to Ross.
On Wednesday afternoon I helped Robert out, who was moving flats and needed a hand with his luggage. From now on I’m going to think twice before I promise a friend to help out, because I had a sore neck following days… Anyhow, he’s happy with his new room and about the fact that he can take the quiet Overground train to work, instead of the Underground, so that’s cool.
Thursday was film club time again, ‘horror theme’ this time, if I weren’t so devoted to film club, I wouldn’t have come, because I absolutely hate horror films and would never voluntarily watch one, unless it’s a classic or a very relevant film. It’s not just because I don’t like being or feeling scared, but also because horror films usually are just utterly ridiculous. I can see that for a lot of people it serves a great entertainment purpose, but other than that it’s just complete rubbish to me, the dialogues are silly, the acting isn’t particularly high standard and the plots are completely inconceivable. They usually just make me laugh out loud, and go ‘Yeahhhhh right…’.
If I watch a film, I often watch it for entertainment of course, but I want some artistic value as well, I want a good or interesting story and/or dialogue, relevant acting and preferably good imagery. To me, the horror somehow fails as an artistic genre within film, because of its inconceivability. If a film is scary, yet realistic, it’s usually a thriller, rather than a ‘horror’. Anyhow, that’s just what I think, feel free to prove me wrong, I’m willing to reconsider my position.
After film club I met up with Robert again and we went to The Drums instore at Rough Trade, seeing them for free sort of made up with that one time I missed half of their gig at the Brixton Academy, after oversleeping. They were pretty good live, though I had mixed feeling about it. It sounded very different live than from their recordings, but I’m not sure if it’s for the better or the worse, the singer seemed like yet another Ian Curtis imitator, not only because of his singing, but also because of his wicked dancemoves. The guitarists seemed a bit autistic, one of them not even noticing he knocked over his microphone stand.
On Friday I went on a short day trip to Brighton, with my housemate Lucie. It was great, Brighton is an awesome city; the beach, the pier, the colourful houses, the fact that it reminded me of San Francisco and the North Laines. We walked a bit on the beach, then visited the Pier, which consists of a little theme park with arcades and a lot of candyshops. Then it started to rain so we started looking for some place dry, we ended up in a café at the Laines, and we sat in a lower area in the café on cushions on the floor. We had some good entertainment that afternoon; 2 women and a man came to sit in the lower area as well, but one of the women slipped on the step and hit her head against the ceiling, resulting into a cut in her head that started bleeding excessively. The guy took of his shirt and pushed it on the wound, whereas the other woman was squeamish and started sweating and panicking. Eventually the ambulance was called, and one of the ambulance guys asked: ‘What happened’, one of her acquaintances explained: ‘She slipped on that step over there and hit her head against the ceiling’. The ambulance guy: ‘Ah over there, where it says “Please mind your head”?’
After the drama was over, it wasn’t as bad as it looked at first, me and Lucie left, because it had stopped raining. We walked around the Laines a bit more and visited the Royal Pavilion, something I wouldn’t recommend, it’s a tacky palace, and very expensive for what you get. Then we went to the Northern Laines, which is basically Camden in Brighton. Then we made our way back to the trainstation, as we were both very tired.
On Saturday, Mandy, Desi, Hidde and Mandy came over for a day, which was great fun. I was very happy to see them and I really missed this, just nonsense humor and conversations, making crisps hats, throwing each others food in a pile of horse shit, making fun of the tramp sitting behind us in a café and making fun of people in Hyde Park. Nosing around on Brick Lane and playing in the Rough Trade photobooth.
2 March 2010
CAN WE ALL PLEASE JUST CALM THE FUCK DOWN?
Ok, this could become a long post, as I haven't updated in about a month. Have been busy as usual, with school, gigs, 'being social' and film club.
I'm starting to feel quite lonely in school, as most my friends have left the school... Ashley is back in Korea, Robert and Richard are both finished with school (still in London though, Robert is working and Richard trying to find a job). In a few weeks all the people I've started with in January will have left.... Seems like I'm the only one who's going to be with Ross in the class for the rest of the year.
Speaking of Ross, last friday we experienced some more of his unconventional teaching methods. He said to us: ok, you're all going to different coffeeshops, you're going to order something, sit down and spy on someone and write down how you think this person lives, who he or she is etc.
It's the weirdest lesson I ever had.
And this week we were discussing language death and the possibility of a universal language, then he said: I'm going to talk to Ilse, she's going along with this and reply in Dutch, and we're going to see if we understand each other. So he started talking to me in something that seemed like a very bad version of Dutch, or some made up language with the occasional Dutch word thrown in... it left me in a state of utter confusion. Afterwards he revealed it was Afrikaans (which in some ways is very close to Dutch), he learned it when he lived in South-Africa for two years, when his father was working there. Funny how you can sometimes find out interesting things about him, as he seems overall a quite closed and reserved person.
Three weeks ago I was suprised by a teacher with the question whether I wanted to take over Film Club for the following two weeks, as he himself would be gone to do some work experience. Ofcourse I said yes, I felt honoured and was excited in the beginning. I felt trusted with a sort of responsibility, as it would entail buying the dvds, making the quiz, picking up the projector/laptop and setting it up. However, it didn't go very well, due to poor attendance (6 in the first week, 2 in the week after), the teacher having failed to tell anyone about me taking over (which means: projector/laptop + room 5 being taken over by a teacher) and technical problems (after room 5 being taken over I was put in a room with a tv which had no remote control, asked the teachers to find me some remote controls, they gave me a couple... without batteries, and in the second week I couldn't log in on the laptop..).
Concertwise I've seen, since I last posted; Surfer Blood, Jon Gomm, Air Waves, Pulled Apart By Horses, Beach House, Midlake, The Drums, The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink, Japandroids, Los Campesinos! and U.S. Girls.
Especially Los Campesinos! was great again, I saw them for the 4th time and it's still nowhere near boring.
I've missed some good stuff in Holland apparently. 'The Dutch Cabinet fell', due to disagreements concerning the Dutch military in Uruzgan [Afghanistan]. I'm too tired to explain the Dutch political system, so I won't bother.
Unfortunately, I will just about miss the general elections spectacle, as I'm still in London around that time. Victory could become Geert Wilders', the right-wing leader of the 'Party of Freedom', who compares the Qur'an (which he states 'should be burned') to Mein Kampf and wants to introduce a tax on wearing headscarves.
What I did notice in one of the videos concerning this issue I saw (didn't follow the whole thing that well) was the following; the use of the verb 'de zwarte piet krijgen'? What's up with that? Have I lived outside the Netherlands too long to recognize this use of the word zwarte piet? Since when is it a verb? Isn't it a little early on to speak of zwarte pieten anyway? + political journalism via pinning pictures of politicians on a tree is lame.
Another thing going on, in the Dutch music world, was the whole Lowlands hoax around it being sold out within a week (something never happens, always takes a few months), resulting into it actually selling out for real, as everyone starting buying their tickets. We can only assume the hoax was a marketing strategy?
Luckily I bought my ticket the day after it went on sale, and now most of my friends have their tickets as well, so it should be cool. Looking forward to it again! (probably the only thing worth looking forward to when it comes to going back 'home' in Holland)
From next week on, I have a two week holiday. Not sure what I'm going to do, have a couple of gigs planned and initially wanted to go on a trip to Liverpool & Manchester. That's probably not going to happen, as I don't have much money. I'm thinking about doing some daytrips, like Cambridge and/or Brighton and maybe do some photography projects and visit some museums...
I'm starting to feel quite lonely in school, as most my friends have left the school... Ashley is back in Korea, Robert and Richard are both finished with school (still in London though, Robert is working and Richard trying to find a job). In a few weeks all the people I've started with in January will have left.... Seems like I'm the only one who's going to be with Ross in the class for the rest of the year.
Speaking of Ross, last friday we experienced some more of his unconventional teaching methods. He said to us: ok, you're all going to different coffeeshops, you're going to order something, sit down and spy on someone and write down how you think this person lives, who he or she is etc.
It's the weirdest lesson I ever had.
And this week we were discussing language death and the possibility of a universal language, then he said: I'm going to talk to Ilse, she's going along with this and reply in Dutch, and we're going to see if we understand each other. So he started talking to me in something that seemed like a very bad version of Dutch, or some made up language with the occasional Dutch word thrown in... it left me in a state of utter confusion. Afterwards he revealed it was Afrikaans (which in some ways is very close to Dutch), he learned it when he lived in South-Africa for two years, when his father was working there. Funny how you can sometimes find out interesting things about him, as he seems overall a quite closed and reserved person.
Three weeks ago I was suprised by a teacher with the question whether I wanted to take over Film Club for the following two weeks, as he himself would be gone to do some work experience. Ofcourse I said yes, I felt honoured and was excited in the beginning. I felt trusted with a sort of responsibility, as it would entail buying the dvds, making the quiz, picking up the projector/laptop and setting it up. However, it didn't go very well, due to poor attendance (6 in the first week, 2 in the week after), the teacher having failed to tell anyone about me taking over (which means: projector/laptop + room 5 being taken over by a teacher) and technical problems (after room 5 being taken over I was put in a room with a tv which had no remote control, asked the teachers to find me some remote controls, they gave me a couple... without batteries, and in the second week I couldn't log in on the laptop..).
Concertwise I've seen, since I last posted; Surfer Blood, Jon Gomm, Air Waves, Pulled Apart By Horses, Beach House, Midlake, The Drums, The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink, Japandroids, Los Campesinos! and U.S. Girls.
Especially Los Campesinos! was great again, I saw them for the 4th time and it's still nowhere near boring.
I've missed some good stuff in Holland apparently. 'The Dutch Cabinet fell', due to disagreements concerning the Dutch military in Uruzgan [Afghanistan]. I'm too tired to explain the Dutch political system, so I won't bother.
Unfortunately, I will just about miss the general elections spectacle, as I'm still in London around that time. Victory could become Geert Wilders', the right-wing leader of the 'Party of Freedom', who compares the Qur'an (which he states 'should be burned') to Mein Kampf and wants to introduce a tax on wearing headscarves.
What I did notice in one of the videos concerning this issue I saw (didn't follow the whole thing that well) was the following; the use of the verb 'de zwarte piet krijgen'? What's up with that? Have I lived outside the Netherlands too long to recognize this use of the word zwarte piet? Since when is it a verb? Isn't it a little early on to speak of zwarte pieten anyway? + political journalism via pinning pictures of politicians on a tree is lame.
Another thing going on, in the Dutch music world, was the whole Lowlands hoax around it being sold out within a week (something never happens, always takes a few months), resulting into it actually selling out for real, as everyone starting buying their tickets. We can only assume the hoax was a marketing strategy?
Luckily I bought my ticket the day after it went on sale, and now most of my friends have their tickets as well, so it should be cool. Looking forward to it again! (probably the only thing worth looking forward to when it comes to going back 'home' in Holland)
From next week on, I have a two week holiday. Not sure what I'm going to do, have a couple of gigs planned and initially wanted to go on a trip to Liverpool & Manchester. That's probably not going to happen, as I don't have much money. I'm thinking about doing some daytrips, like Cambridge and/or Brighton and maybe do some photography projects and visit some museums...
7 February 2010
Who needs matresses anyway?
I didn't go to any gigs this week, by which I've sort off compensated the overkill on gigs from last week (6 in total, a personal record). Especially the gig on sunday was quite fun, I saw Los Campesinos! live for the third time, at Rough Trade East. I just love them so much... and the new album is amazing, after the instore it had to be signed by Gareth Campesinos ofcourse.
Linda had a mug with her that said: 'Go green: fuck a vegetarian', and this had to be signed by Gareth as well, and suprisingly enough he didn't seem to find it rather peculiar.... or maybe he did, but didn't show it, haha.
When I moved here I was hoping to make a lot of English friends, but I didn't (yet)... maybe because I'm usually not someone who just goes up to people and talk to them... and studying in an international school doesn't exactly help either. But last friday after the Let's Wrestle instore at Flashback Records (where they handed out free beer, yes you heard that correct, FREE BEER. IN. RECORD STORE. now that's what I call service) some people invited me to join them for a beer in the pub, which was really nice. The next day I met them again, as we all happened to be going to the Real Estate gig at the Lexington.
Mandy was in London with her school this week, we saw each other on Wednesday and it was insane. We met up in Camden and walked around there and in the centre for a bit, had a pint in a pub in Soho and then all the good fun started when she and her friends managed to smuggle me into their hostel (you had to show you pass everywhere). We spend the whole night creeping around in the hostel and drinking in the bar. One guy was completely off his head (probably after taking some pills) and thought he was on Ibiza.
Their teachers must be the most crazy ones in the world, one of them went out of the hostel at 3 or something, trying to find a store because he wanted more booze. A while later someone went outside and found him downing a bottle of vodka.
At 3 am I found myself eating microwave-paella with some people I didn't know (and who were extremely drunk or high, or both). At 5 am we (the die hards; mandy, roxy and me) decided to go to sleep finally, I ended up crashing on the floor in their room, provided with a little bed made from sheets by Roxy. The slightly less fun part: 3 hours later I showed up at school, looking utterly disgusting and smelling horrible.
In film club this week we watched My Beautiful Laundrette, featuring a young Daniel Day Lewis, who resembled a young Morrissey, he looked gorgeous:
Yesterday I had another party-night. A swedish girl from school was throwing a party at her appartment. Beforehand I went to Robert and Richard's appartment, Richard showed me his newly invented dancemoves and his feminine/vain side: he uses (pink!) hair straighteners.... The party was fun, everyone was sort off drunk. Nothing got broken, though. Atleast... as far as I know.
I was planning on going home that night, but when I looked at the time at some point, I saw it was already 3 am... So again, I crashed on the floor, this time at Robert and Richard's appartment. This floor was less comfortable, as it was a wooden floor (or 'tree floor' as Richard calls it) and I had to use my coat as a blanket.
So that is basically the lesson I learned this week; carpet floors are more comfortable to sleep on than wooden floors.
Linda had a mug with her that said: 'Go green: fuck a vegetarian', and this had to be signed by Gareth as well, and suprisingly enough he didn't seem to find it rather peculiar.... or maybe he did, but didn't show it, haha.
When I moved here I was hoping to make a lot of English friends, but I didn't (yet)... maybe because I'm usually not someone who just goes up to people and talk to them... and studying in an international school doesn't exactly help either. But last friday after the Let's Wrestle instore at Flashback Records (where they handed out free beer, yes you heard that correct, FREE BEER. IN. RECORD STORE. now that's what I call service) some people invited me to join them for a beer in the pub, which was really nice. The next day I met them again, as we all happened to be going to the Real Estate gig at the Lexington.
Mandy was in London with her school this week, we saw each other on Wednesday and it was insane. We met up in Camden and walked around there and in the centre for a bit, had a pint in a pub in Soho and then all the good fun started when she and her friends managed to smuggle me into their hostel (you had to show you pass everywhere). We spend the whole night creeping around in the hostel and drinking in the bar. One guy was completely off his head (probably after taking some pills) and thought he was on Ibiza.
Their teachers must be the most crazy ones in the world, one of them went out of the hostel at 3 or something, trying to find a store because he wanted more booze. A while later someone went outside and found him downing a bottle of vodka.
At 3 am I found myself eating microwave-paella with some people I didn't know (and who were extremely drunk or high, or both). At 5 am we (the die hards; mandy, roxy and me) decided to go to sleep finally, I ended up crashing on the floor in their room, provided with a little bed made from sheets by Roxy. The slightly less fun part: 3 hours later I showed up at school, looking utterly disgusting and smelling horrible.
In film club this week we watched My Beautiful Laundrette, featuring a young Daniel Day Lewis, who resembled a young Morrissey, he looked gorgeous:
Yesterday I had another party-night. A swedish girl from school was throwing a party at her appartment. Beforehand I went to Robert and Richard's appartment, Richard showed me his newly invented dancemoves and his feminine/vain side: he uses (pink!) hair straighteners.... The party was fun, everyone was sort off drunk. Nothing got broken, though. Atleast... as far as I know.
I was planning on going home that night, but when I looked at the time at some point, I saw it was already 3 am... So again, I crashed on the floor, this time at Robert and Richard's appartment. This floor was less comfortable, as it was a wooden floor (or 'tree floor' as Richard calls it) and I had to use my coat as a blanket.
So that is basically the lesson I learned this week; carpet floors are more comfortable to sleep on than wooden floors.
28 January 2010
Update!
So... finally an update on what shenanigans I've been getting myself into over the past weeks.
Obviously I've kept myself busy almost everyday after school; i've 'joined' the film club, took part in a mock IELTS examination, went out pubbing and had lunch with some friends a couple of times, went to some free gigs, and one great party (last weekend). On top of that I drink too much alcohol, eat unhealthy food and spend way too much money. I still haven't found a job, but that's probably mainly because I didn't make any real effort to find one, yet.
London is still amazing, but living here makes you quite tired, partly because of the commuting for me, I think. The snow in London made place for good old English rain and it's still cold, well that's obvious in winter isn't it?
The school is slightly more challenging, we actually get homework now and then, but still easy peasy.
I've made some great friends in school. I went to the pub with 2 swedish and 1 korean friend, I hadn't laughed so much in ages, one of the swedish guys struggles with his English and is extremely deadpan, it's absolutely hilarious, just to make conversation he will ask you these odd questions that make you go 'What?', for example: 'what do you think of the sound of the ambulances?' or 'do you like mr bean?', the best part is that the other swedish guy pisses himself laughing everytime the deadpan opens his mouth.
One day I had quite an unfortunate day of travel, I left the house at normal time, and it took me TWO BLOODY HOURS to get to school. The tube stopped at every station for about 10 minutes, because there was a train ahead of us, or the doors didn't work or something, eventually I was 45 minutes late for school, so I didn't even bother going up to the classroom to ask if I could still join the first lesson, because they just wouldn't let you in and there's no point if you missed half the lesson.
I took a mock IELTS exam, which went rather well. I had a total score of 7.5 (maximum is 9.0), which means I could go to any university I want, as you mostly need 6.0 or 6.5 to enter a British University. I was particularly suprised about my speaking, for which I scored 8.0, amazing. I was advised not to study for, nor actually take the IELTS exam, as it's not challenging enough and obviously too easy. In addition, it's only valid for 2 years. I've decided to do the CPE exam (Cambridge Profiency English) instead. This would mean I have to buy the books myself and study for it autonomously, as the school doesn't provide any classes for these exams. I'm willing to do it though, because this will be the only opportunity to challenge myself doing something more difficult, and at the end of the year I'd like to come home with something useful. The CPE cerfiticate never expires, and is recognized internationally as proof of your level of English. I still have to find out if it's valid for University as well.
Another day I went to a bar in Soho with a teacher and some people from school, was quite fun. The swedish guys showed up a while later and we went to some other pubs as well. The unfortunate part was that when I went home afterwards, I fell asleep on the tube (yes I was maybe slightly tipsy, as well as I was very tired from the long day) and woke up two stations after I was supposed to get off.... with no tube going back... Luckily I found like one last nightbus that went to Kingsbury.
Like I said, London makes you quite tired, especially if you have long days were you wake up at 5 or 6 am and are home at 9 pm or later, not that school lasts so long, just meeting with friends, and I can't exactly quickly go home and go back to the centre.
A teacher at school set up an after school 'film club', which I think is a great concept, as I wanted to set one up in the school when I was in Oxford, but it never came to it. You pay 50p, and the guy buys some dvds at a cheap store, then we enjoy a film on a thursday afternoon in a classroom, and afterwards 'discuss' it and do a quiz, so you can win (one of the) dvds that were options for watching. The second time we did film club we started this quiz thing, and it was quite awkward, I assumed the questions were going to be about the film we saw, but actually the questions were just random; we watched Up The Junction, not such a great British film from the 60s about class differences and abortion, and the questions were as followed:
'How many people did Jason kill in total in all of the Friday the 13th films?'
'How many different outfits did Carrie Bradshaw wear in the movie Sex and the City?'
..........
But nonetheless, it's a good way to spend a thursday afternoon.
In the last 3 days I went to 3 gigs, which resulted in me only having slept a total of about 17 hours over the last 3 nights, so I'm going to catch up on some sleep now......
'I'm out'
Obviously I've kept myself busy almost everyday after school; i've 'joined' the film club, took part in a mock IELTS examination, went out pubbing and had lunch with some friends a couple of times, went to some free gigs, and one great party (last weekend). On top of that I drink too much alcohol, eat unhealthy food and spend way too much money. I still haven't found a job, but that's probably mainly because I didn't make any real effort to find one, yet.
London is still amazing, but living here makes you quite tired, partly because of the commuting for me, I think. The snow in London made place for good old English rain and it's still cold, well that's obvious in winter isn't it?
The school is slightly more challenging, we actually get homework now and then, but still easy peasy.
I've made some great friends in school. I went to the pub with 2 swedish and 1 korean friend, I hadn't laughed so much in ages, one of the swedish guys struggles with his English and is extremely deadpan, it's absolutely hilarious, just to make conversation he will ask you these odd questions that make you go 'What?', for example: 'what do you think of the sound of the ambulances?' or 'do you like mr bean?', the best part is that the other swedish guy pisses himself laughing everytime the deadpan opens his mouth.
One day I had quite an unfortunate day of travel, I left the house at normal time, and it took me TWO BLOODY HOURS to get to school. The tube stopped at every station for about 10 minutes, because there was a train ahead of us, or the doors didn't work or something, eventually I was 45 minutes late for school, so I didn't even bother going up to the classroom to ask if I could still join the first lesson, because they just wouldn't let you in and there's no point if you missed half the lesson.
I took a mock IELTS exam, which went rather well. I had a total score of 7.5 (maximum is 9.0), which means I could go to any university I want, as you mostly need 6.0 or 6.5 to enter a British University. I was particularly suprised about my speaking, for which I scored 8.0, amazing. I was advised not to study for, nor actually take the IELTS exam, as it's not challenging enough and obviously too easy. In addition, it's only valid for 2 years. I've decided to do the CPE exam (Cambridge Profiency English) instead. This would mean I have to buy the books myself and study for it autonomously, as the school doesn't provide any classes for these exams. I'm willing to do it though, because this will be the only opportunity to challenge myself doing something more difficult, and at the end of the year I'd like to come home with something useful. The CPE cerfiticate never expires, and is recognized internationally as proof of your level of English. I still have to find out if it's valid for University as well.
Another day I went to a bar in Soho with a teacher and some people from school, was quite fun. The swedish guys showed up a while later and we went to some other pubs as well. The unfortunate part was that when I went home afterwards, I fell asleep on the tube (yes I was maybe slightly tipsy, as well as I was very tired from the long day) and woke up two stations after I was supposed to get off.... with no tube going back... Luckily I found like one last nightbus that went to Kingsbury.
Like I said, London makes you quite tired, especially if you have long days were you wake up at 5 or 6 am and are home at 9 pm or later, not that school lasts so long, just meeting with friends, and I can't exactly quickly go home and go back to the centre.
A teacher at school set up an after school 'film club', which I think is a great concept, as I wanted to set one up in the school when I was in Oxford, but it never came to it. You pay 50p, and the guy buys some dvds at a cheap store, then we enjoy a film on a thursday afternoon in a classroom, and afterwards 'discuss' it and do a quiz, so you can win (one of the) dvds that were options for watching. The second time we did film club we started this quiz thing, and it was quite awkward, I assumed the questions were going to be about the film we saw, but actually the questions were just random; we watched Up The Junction, not such a great British film from the 60s about class differences and abortion, and the questions were as followed:
'How many people did Jason kill in total in all of the Friday the 13th films?'
'How many different outfits did Carrie Bradshaw wear in the movie Sex and the City?'
..........
But nonetheless, it's a good way to spend a thursday afternoon.
In the last 3 days I went to 3 gigs, which resulted in me only having slept a total of about 17 hours over the last 3 nights, so I'm going to catch up on some sleep now......
'I'm out'
9 January 2010
My first week of school.
I survived my first week of school in London, and in hindsight it has been quite an enjoyable one.
On the second day of school some burglars came into the school at broad daylight [via scaffolding/roofs/window into the study centre] and nicked some computers. Not laptops, but proper big computers. Ironic bit is that I was in class in the room next door, we heard some noise, but probably all thought it was the construction people who are working in the school. The problem with those language schools as well is that anyone can walk in and out, cause the students change all the time, in Oxford they've had problems too, with trespassers coming into the cafeteria and nicking wallets.
Apparently, in this school homework is a rarity, which is annoying, because this way we have to do writings and stuff in 20 minutes time on the computers in school. Like 2 days ago we had 20 minutes to make a powerpoint presentation, complete with pictures, information, graphics, and afterwards we had to present it.
We also did a report, in a way I was not used to, we got all the information in correct sentences, we just had to put it in order and type it out. In Oxford we had to make up our own information, by doing a survey during our lunch time, then make the report ourselves, and later do a second draft as well. All this has been usefull though, because when I got my (corrected) report sent back this week it said: 'this is the best report in the class - well done'. Thank you Charles for your frantic love of homework.
I've kept myself busy after school as well; I visited the great National Portrait Gallery, including the 'From the Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed' exhibition, which featured some nice pictures by David Bailey.
I also went to the Houses of Parliament with a friend, and briefly attended some debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It was difficult to follow as these things usually are, especially if you don't know what the issue is about. I feel very sad I couldn't go to the first Prime Minister's Question Time of the year:
British politics is fuckin brilliant, it's pure comedy gold. Maybe I should go back some other time.
I saw 'hottest band for 2010' Delphic live (for free! thanks Linda, for letting me be your +1), didn't really listen to it properly before, but it was actually quite good live.
Yesterday I visited Portobello Market, great stuff there up in Notting Hill, bought a lovely dress, and I'm surely going back up there sometime.
That's it for the schoolweek, this weekend I'm trapped in Kingsbury, as they've decided to close all the nearest subway stations. Not that I was really planning on doing anything, I'm too tired to be bothered going out.
On the second day of school some burglars came into the school at broad daylight [via scaffolding/roofs/window into the study centre] and nicked some computers. Not laptops, but proper big computers. Ironic bit is that I was in class in the room next door, we heard some noise, but probably all thought it was the construction people who are working in the school. The problem with those language schools as well is that anyone can walk in and out, cause the students change all the time, in Oxford they've had problems too, with trespassers coming into the cafeteria and nicking wallets.
Apparently, in this school homework is a rarity, which is annoying, because this way we have to do writings and stuff in 20 minutes time on the computers in school. Like 2 days ago we had 20 minutes to make a powerpoint presentation, complete with pictures, information, graphics, and afterwards we had to present it.
We also did a report, in a way I was not used to, we got all the information in correct sentences, we just had to put it in order and type it out. In Oxford we had to make up our own information, by doing a survey during our lunch time, then make the report ourselves, and later do a second draft as well. All this has been usefull though, because when I got my (corrected) report sent back this week it said: 'this is the best report in the class - well done'. Thank you Charles for your frantic love of homework.
I've kept myself busy after school as well; I visited the great National Portrait Gallery, including the 'From the Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed' exhibition, which featured some nice pictures by David Bailey.
I also went to the Houses of Parliament with a friend, and briefly attended some debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It was difficult to follow as these things usually are, especially if you don't know what the issue is about. I feel very sad I couldn't go to the first Prime Minister's Question Time of the year:
British politics is fuckin brilliant, it's pure comedy gold. Maybe I should go back some other time.
I saw 'hottest band for 2010' Delphic live (for free! thanks Linda, for letting me be your +1), didn't really listen to it properly before, but it was actually quite good live.
Yesterday I visited Portobello Market, great stuff there up in Notting Hill, bought a lovely dress, and I'm surely going back up there sometime.
That's it for the schoolweek, this weekend I'm trapped in Kingsbury, as they've decided to close all the nearest subway stations. Not that I was really planning on doing anything, I'm too tired to be bothered going out.
5 January 2010
My shit year so far...
It's been a shitty year (literally and metaphorically) so far. I came back to London the 30th of december. I became ill on New Years Eve, so couldn't really enjoy the Mumford & Sons NYE party much (they were great though). Crashed at a friends house in Camden [I just realized that over the past 3 weeks, I've slept in 5 different beds, which is nearly a record] and continued to be ill for the next couple a days, spending most of my time on the toilet.
And ofcourse when I came home the first of January, my student oyster card had arrived... just after I had put 10 pounds on my other oyster card. great.
I was feeling a bit better on Sunday, so I decided to go to the centre. Unfortanutely I was shown another bright side of the beauty that is British public transport... First I had to wait about half an hour at Kenton station before a subway arrived, which is ridiculously long, especially in tube terms. Then the tube didn't go between Stonebridge Park and Queens Park, so everyone had to go on a 'replacement service' bus to Queens Park. After 10 minutes, the bus broke down. Everyone had to get off and go on another bus. A replacement bus for the replacement bus, oh the irony.
After half an hour we finally got to Queens Park. At first there weren't any tubes going from there aswell, and we were supposed to take an Overground train to Euston. I waited 20 minutes in the freezing cold for that damn train, and when everyone got on, some London Underground people came in and said the tubes were going after all, so again; everyone got off and got on the tube...
Only then I realized I'd have to go trough this hell all over again if I wanted to go back home. On the way back, the tubes did go to Queens Park straight away, however, not without stopping several times without actually being at a tube station. There was also some psycho on the tube, who thought it would be fun to smoke some cigarettes inside the carriage.
Then, from the bus at Queens Park untill outside Kenton station I was followed around by some Paki psycho, who kept on smiling at me and following me. Seriously, why do these fuckin lunatics always come after me?
Yesterday was my first day of school in London. I had set my alarm clock to 05.30, but woke up at 07.15... the exact time I was supposed to leave the house for school. So back to no shower, no breakfast, just straight to school.
Half of the people in my General English class were absent, as eventually only 7 of the supposedly 14 people were in class. My teacher, Ross, is a pretty uptight guy, with a Welsh accent and he doesn't look students in the eye, which at first made me believe he was blind. The class was rather boring, and it reminded me of my Business English lessons in Oxford, because the 'job interview roleplaying' seemed rather familiar.
The IELTS elective class was quite low level, but the teacher was pretty cool. Proper facial hair and all. Find him a bit awkward though.
After school I went for lunch with some nice Korean girls and later on we went to a pub with a shitload of other 'new' students. I had a hard time trying to convince a 19 year old Brazilian that the drinking age in Britain is 18 and not 21, and I had the most awful pint of fake Guinness ever.
So that's it for the new year so far. Let's hope it gets better.
And ofcourse when I came home the first of January, my student oyster card had arrived... just after I had put 10 pounds on my other oyster card. great.
I was feeling a bit better on Sunday, so I decided to go to the centre. Unfortanutely I was shown another bright side of the beauty that is British public transport... First I had to wait about half an hour at Kenton station before a subway arrived, which is ridiculously long, especially in tube terms. Then the tube didn't go between Stonebridge Park and Queens Park, so everyone had to go on a 'replacement service' bus to Queens Park. After 10 minutes, the bus broke down. Everyone had to get off and go on another bus. A replacement bus for the replacement bus, oh the irony.
After half an hour we finally got to Queens Park. At first there weren't any tubes going from there aswell, and we were supposed to take an Overground train to Euston. I waited 20 minutes in the freezing cold for that damn train, and when everyone got on, some London Underground people came in and said the tubes were going after all, so again; everyone got off and got on the tube...
Only then I realized I'd have to go trough this hell all over again if I wanted to go back home. On the way back, the tubes did go to Queens Park straight away, however, not without stopping several times without actually being at a tube station. There was also some psycho on the tube, who thought it would be fun to smoke some cigarettes inside the carriage.
Then, from the bus at Queens Park untill outside Kenton station I was followed around by some Paki psycho, who kept on smiling at me and following me. Seriously, why do these fuckin lunatics always come after me?
Yesterday was my first day of school in London. I had set my alarm clock to 05.30, but woke up at 07.15... the exact time I was supposed to leave the house for school. So back to no shower, no breakfast, just straight to school.
Half of the people in my General English class were absent, as eventually only 7 of the supposedly 14 people were in class. My teacher, Ross, is a pretty uptight guy, with a Welsh accent and he doesn't look students in the eye, which at first made me believe he was blind. The class was rather boring, and it reminded me of my Business English lessons in Oxford, because the 'job interview roleplaying' seemed rather familiar.
The IELTS elective class was quite low level, but the teacher was pretty cool. Proper facial hair and all. Find him a bit awkward though.
After school I went for lunch with some nice Korean girls and later on we went to a pub with a shitload of other 'new' students. I had a hard time trying to convince a 19 year old Brazilian that the drinking age in Britain is 18 and not 21, and I had the most awful pint of fake Guinness ever.
So that's it for the new year so far. Let's hope it gets better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
