My first real vlog! So many things to get used to. Talking. Brrrr. Looking in the camera. Brrrr. But still, considering this is my first outside filmed vlog, it is ok. I guess.
I did enjoy the walk. And the talks with different people. The fisherman. The photographer. I gave them my old card, with a drawing of me on it, and my website written on the back. I should get some more. I kinda liked sharing these.
Enjoy your weekend!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my most favourite television shows of all time. Yeah, ok, Firefly is up there too, it had a great half a series run. But the seven seasons of Buffy are so wonderful. The late 90s, watching the show on television, it was so much fun. I don’t think i remembered at the time i actually had seen the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 92 or 93 at the Rotterdam Filmfestival. It was one of my more easy going picks end i enjoyed it so much then.
This episode, Once More, With Feeling, is the special musical episode. When this episode was broadcasted in the Netherlands, the net didn’t know what to do with this. They decided to broadcast it out of the usual time for Buffy, later at night. So stupid! This episode is in the top three list of my favourite Buffy ones. Together with Hush and The Body.
Watching Buffy was the start of my admiration of Joss Whedon. A thoroughly nice person with up until now excellent taste in choosing the right direction to go into. Starting with Buffy, then Angel, Firefly, Dolllhouse and ending with the Avengers blockbusters. Hopefully more will follow.
So, i tried to sing the first song of Once more, With Feeling. It is hard, to sing a cappella, i admit. Hard to hold the tune. As you may have noticed in my earlier songs. Still, it was great hearing and seeing all the songs once again. All the clips are included in this post. Enjoy!
I mean it, ENJOY!!
Going Through The Motions – Once More With Feeling, Buffy
BUFFY:
Every single night
The same arrangement
I go out and fight the fight
Still, I always feel the strange estrangement
Nothing here is real
Nothing here is right
I’ve been making shows of trading blows
Just hoping no one knows
That I’ve been going through the motions
Walking through the part
Nothing seems to penetrate my heart
I was always brave and kind of righteous
Now I find I’m wavering
Crawl out of your grave
You find this fight just doesn’t mean a thing
VAMP:
She ain’t got that swing
BUFFY:
Thanks for noticing
VAMPS AND GOAT DEMON:
She does pretty well with fiends from hell
But lately, we can tell
That she’s just going through the motions (Going through the motions)
Faking it some how
GOAT DEMON:
She’s not even half the girl she…ow.
BUFFY:
Will I stay this way forever?
Sleepwalk through my life’s endeavor?
VERY HANDSOME GUY:
How can I repay—
BUFFY:
Whatever.
I don’t want to be
Going through the motions
Losing all my drive
I can’t even see
If this is really me
And I just want to be
Alive!
The original start of the Buffy episode Once More, With Feeling
And the rest of the songs…
Thanks to Nina and Lana for this wonderful event <3
This morning i went for a walk past some allotments, municipal gardens and other such initiatives in Rotterdam. I will make more walks like this over the next weeks. I won’t always find people to talk to, but it is good to see the gardens and its crops anyway.
De Spoortuin
I was lucky. There were people in the Spoortuin. I got an walk through the most amazing woody foresty garden, next to the railway and the Essenburgsingel, so close to the center of Rotterdam. The start of this garden is a municipal garden, with some areas for schools close by. Next a small building for the tools, with grapes growing outside of it. And then a narrow woody path besides the water, mint growing beside it. Some trees form bridges over narrow water inlets, good for fish, birds and frogs. A magnificent tree fallen down, with new trees growing straight up into the sky from its trunk. An extremely wide tree with thick ivy stalks grwoing up into its crown of leaves.
Rinus told me a few years back there was the intention to build houses in this place. The people living around it joined up together to fight this plan. They won! The garden is wonderful. I’ll go back there to make a couple more photos.
Links and photos
Wilde natuur in hartje Rotterdam, bestaat dat?
The rest of the walk
I was less lucky for the next part of the Essenburgsingel. Both gardens there were closed, the Educatieve Tuin Essenburgsingel and the Pluktuin. I did make photos of the entrances. All three of these gardens are part of the bigger Essenburg Park. I’m not sure how this area will develop, i will do more searches and hope to talk to people over there soon about this lovely area.
I walked further on, over the Mathenesserbridge and along the Mathenesserweg to the tube station Marconiplein. My old neighborhood. Some new housing, like my old house, demolished years ago. But other than that basically still the same. I took the tube back home. A good walk!
Scary!
No make-up. No neatly combed hairs. No straight looking into the camera. All the things you can do wrong i do. I still like it though. I feel there is something in this video, something i really like. I do hope this is the start of many other video’s. No music, a bit of talking, a bit of filming.
But ooh man, i am so nervous!
My first vlog!
Watching youtube videos is what i do mostly before i try to get some sleep at night. I am subscribed to a few users. This list is in a constant flux. I do have a weak spot for Dutch beauty (b)(v)loggers. It is getting a bit less these past months, but i still have quite a few beauty girls in my subscription list.
Just yet, when checking out The Nerdwriter and his subsciptions i added a couple more channels to my subscribed list: The School of Life, Vox and Anna Akana. I already watched many of the School of Life’s videos, i do go to the Vox website once a week or so. Ana Akana is a new one. I watched one video, liked it and subscribed. Lets see how that will work out.
The Nerdwriter is someone whose videos i do admire. Art, music, movies are among the most prolific themes. The Nerdwriter is Evan Puschak. After a period of working he started for himself, now living mostly of Patreon pledges.
I haven’t seen all his videos. I went through his entire list this evening, marking the ones i am interested in. Which is most. Makes me feel humble, looking at his work, comparing it to my own. I do know my field of expertise is on a different area, but still. It is good to see someone working hard, thinking and talking about the things of life which are of interest to him (or her).
So, salute to the Nerdwriter. May you keep on working for a very long time!
the Nerdwriter Facebook – Twitter – Reddit
How Stories Control Our Economic Reality
How Steely Dan Composes A Song
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban: Why It’s The Best
The garden gives so many courgettes over the summer. I had to look for recipes for which i could use it. Apart from rasped in an omelet, a ratatouille, courgette soup and many other recipes. So: cake!
I found a good recipe on the bbcgoodfood.com website. It is in a way similar to a carrot cake. Oil, no butter, brown sugar, sultana’s and walnuts. The first time i made this cake i still had some walnuts in the house, which i all cracked and put in the cake. The second time i didn’t have any walnuts anymore. So out came the sunflower seeds.
I’ve baked this cake around five times in the past weeks. I still have some courgettes from the garden, so i will bake another one tomorrow to take with Friday morning. It does taste a bit like a carrot cake, it has the same combination of wet and dry ingredients. I love it. I do leave out the vanilla, i simply don’t have in my house. Please add if you do have it.
Ingredients
Method
Escape to the Country is one of my favourite programs on the BBC channel. It shows 5 times a week, usually around three or four o’clock. Dutch time that is, in the UK it is on an hour earlier. I do admit people with a large budget, of more than £ 500.000 are my favourite. Larger gardens, larger houses, larger kitchens. I like that. My favourite presenter is Alistair Appleton. Yeah, i go for the pretty boy.
I sometimes dream away of my special house i would love to live in. An old industrial building? A large loft in New York? A house on the beach? All houses far away from my little apartment in the center of Rotterdam. Which i do love! It’s like, i hardly can imagine myself living anywhere else. I am living in this same house for the past 21 years, so yes, it is hard to really see myself living somewhere else. But dreaming does take me away sometimes.
To be honest, I don’t really see myself living in the countryside. Maybe when i’m older and live a more relaxed life. But i’d like to see myself living in cities, as i do now. Amongst the people.
Grand Designs
Grand Designs is another program i enjoy watching. It is not on that much now, and mostly on repeats.
First of all, I do love the presenter Kevin McCloud. Very sympathetic, knowledgable. A good face, pleasant voice. Seems to get along with most of the people participating.
When i did some searches i found this all time favourite episode with Ben Law and his woodland house. I even remembered his face. Not the house though.
There is one other episode which i do remember, the one with an old industrial building, no longer used. Completely redone by the people who bought it. At the end they drove a car into it and used it as furniture. I did do a search, twice. I went through all the listing hoping to see the episode quickly, but i missed it. Most likely it is no described the way i remember it.
I do love both these shows. I don’t always watch it. But when i can, i enjoy it. A few shows i found on youtube. There are loads more on.
I don’t think much about alterior motives to make these shows. They could be good for houses retail. They could be good for showing the countryside. For showing landmarks. But i don’t think about that a lot. I prefer to sit on my couch with a cup of tea or some fruit and yoghurt. Dreaming away a bit.
A short selection. Feel free to either watch it on tv, or do a search yourself in youtube or vimeo. Or watch in live on the BBC or Channel 4.
Enjoy.
Escape to the Country – Hampshire [16-68]
Escape to the Country – North Devon [16:59]
Escape to the Country – Dorset [15:36]
Ben Law’s Woodland House
Grand Designs | Season 16 Episode 4 | Worcestershire 2015
Popular Videos – Grand Designs
I was watching Mamma Mia last week, and this song came up and yes! Honey Honey is one of the songs i really want to sing. One of my guilty pleasures.
Sex!
Well, sort of anyway.
I was ten years old, watching the Eurovision Songcontest and i fell for them. Agnetha with her tight blue satin pants and bright blonde hair. Anni-frid with her curls and red printed skirt. I didn’t notice the boys to be honest. I bought the single, Waterloo. Two years later i bought Dancing Queen. I know most of the ABBA songs. The Name Of The Game. Take A Chance On Me. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Take A Chance On Me. Money, Money, Money. Knowing Me, Knowing You.
Honey Honey is an early ABBA song. It is on the Best of ABBA album i actually do have on vinyl. Not sure who bought it. It could be my mom or any of my sisters. Or me!
I couldn’t get myself to do the heavy breathing after ‘I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing’. But a slight little ‘oaahhh’ did come out.
Enjoy!
ABBA – Honey Honey
Honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey
Honey honey, nearly kill me, ah-hah, honey honey
I’d heard about you before
I wanted to know some more
And now I know what they mean, you’re a love machine
Oh, you make me dizzy
Honey honey, let me feel it, ah-hah, honey honey
Honey honey, don’t conceal it, ah-hah, honey honey
The way that you kiss goodnight
(The way that you kiss me goodnight)
The way that you hold me tight
(The way that you’re holding me tight)
I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing yeah
I don’t wanna hurt you, baby, I don’t wanna see you cry
So stay on the ground, girl, you better not get too high
But I’m gonna stick to you, boy, you’ll never get rid of me
There’s no other place in this world where I rather would be
Honey honey, touch me, baby, ah-hah, honey honey
Honey honey, hold me, baby, ah-hah, honey honey
You look like a movie star
(You look like a movie star)
But I know just who you are
(I know just who you are)
And, honey, to say the least, you’re a doggone beast
So stay on the ground, girl, you better not get too high
There’s no other place in this world where I rather would be
Honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey
Honey honey, nearly kill me, ah-hah, honey honey
I heard about you before
I wanted to know some more
And now I know what they mean, you’re a love machine
Oh, you make me dizzy
Honey Honey
Star Parade 1974
And another version 🙂
Mamma Mia
Vacation time is over.
I had to get used to relaxing. Only the final few days i took it easier. Thursday i spent at home watching a the Hills rerun on MTV. I loved it. Going to the garden as well and enjoyed spending time there.
I did get quite a few ideas for posts. Some for songs, some for cooking, some for video’s. I made drafts for them. Ready to fill up with content and make final. As i did with this post, with the photo’s i made during these past two weeks. Not too many though.
So yes, i do feel a lot more relaxed now. Also ready to work again.
Hugs 🙂
