Author Archives for Ellen

That’s Entertainment

That’s Entertainment is a song from The Jam‘s album Sound Affects. I think i bought this album around 1981, maybe even 1980. I liked it!

That’s Entertainment
The Jam
A police car and a screaming siren
A pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete
A baby wailing and stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamp light blinking

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

A smash of glass and a rumble of boots
An electric train and a ripped up ‘phone booth
Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat
Lights going out and a kick in the balls

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Days of speed and slow time Mondays
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up at six am on a cool warm morning
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard
Watching the tele and thinking about your holidays

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summer’s day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquillity of solitude
Getting a cab and travelling on buses
Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

The original

Published on August 10, 2015 at 6:00 by

Coffee break

I like coffee. I don’t drink any at home at the moment, so once or twice a week i go out and drink some coffee. Usually i go to the Coffee Company, close to my house. Occasionally i go to the Urban Espresso Bar, a bit further on. Charlie’s Kitchen is close by too, but that is not my favourite.

So what makes the Coffee Company my favourite? Well, i do enjoy the coffee. I usually have a medium latte. Sometimes with cake or tart or a cookie. But what i do love is the view. Its terrace is situated at the top of the Meent. You can see the aqua color of the high rising Beurs building at the Coolsingel. People coming and going, talking, eating, checking their phone. Just doing their stuff.

I do read the newspaper when i drink my coffee. Usually the NRC Next. I had a subscription to the NRC for around twenty years. I did stop over a year ago, price being one reason. Another reason was that i didn’t read it fully each day. So all the time i get a phone call or i walk into a person on the street trying to sell me a subscription to it, i politely say no. No thanks. It’s always hard to get away from them, they are trained to make you think, make you want. But a no is a no. Usually. I do sometimes chat with them. I once had a chat with two young people with the Volkskrant, that was a lot of fun. But still, no.

Back to the Coffee Company. I love sitting there when it’s sunny and not too cold, on the terrace. You are able to look far away onto the Meent. I love listening to people on the terrace. Today there was a young mother with her baby girl and a friend. Lovely.

I feel calm, at ease. Simply looking at the people around me. Sometimes a few words are said between me and someone else, usually i just sit there quietly by myself. Easy going yes. A nice coffee break.

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Published on August 7, 2015 at 6:00 by

Flower nails

Yesterday i started to read a bit on Rookie. It says of itself that it is an online publication for teenage girls featuring writing, photography, illustrations, videos, and more from our lovely contributors and readers. I did add the magazine to my rss feeds, but there is a whole backlog of articles to dive into. I do like the tone of voice, the style, music and beauty things. A few years back i did read the Style Rookie by Tavi Gevinson, but i stopped when she started Rookie and stopped working on her own blog.

Anyway, i found this article about painting flowers on your nails, Painted Flower. Which i loved. I went through my collection nails polishes and first tried to find all the reds (a few) and pinks (none!). I than switched to a darker theme, with a red flower with a yellow centre and a darker background. But no! i went for a green background with the yellow / pink-red flower. So i started out.

First i had to remove the old polish. Then i remembered my remarks of a week ago about my cuticles and decided to use Lemony Flutter from Lush and my Shea Butter Ultra Rich Hand Cream from L’Occitance. Then i put on the Nail repair from Trind.

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After some time thinking and picking out colours, i decided to do each nail the same with these colours. At the utmost left the Nail repair from Trind, at the right the top coat.
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I started out with the green with a golden shine as a base.
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The Mimosa yellow made a dot in the middle.
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This was a bit trickier. I did find out i couldn't wait too long to get into the red dot with my tiny brush and draw them to the yellow middle. To give the yellow a bit more shine and hide the red stripes into them, i put a little bit more yellow over them. After all this, when it was all dry, i added the top coat.
Published on August 6, 2015 at 6:00 by

Joy of Baking

One of my favourite youtube accounts i’m subscribed to is Joy of Baking. Cookies, candies, tarts, pies, ice cream, pancakes, puddings, all kinds of recipes you can find here.

Stephanie Jaworski is an excellent explainer of the right way to approach a recipe. She is calm, knows the ins and outs of the recipe, knows the difficulties and explains them patiently. Her website joyofbaking.com has been online since May 1997. There are many many recipes online.

I will list a couple of my favourite recipes from the site.

You can check the playlists on her youtube account.

I was subscribed to other cooking channels on youtube, but after a time i got a bit tired of those too happy faces, the recipes in which i wasn’t interested and the obvious commercial content.

Last week i watched a long clip about how to make French Baguettes. It was amazing. It made me wanna do it! Which i didn’t. But yes, i will bake bread. Soon! I do need to look up a good recipe. Sour dough or yeast? Plain flour, spelt, rye? Sunflower seeds? Pumpkin seeds? Anything else? I will need to do some research. My favourite bread at the moment is a spelt rye bread from the Marqt, so that would be a good place to start.

Another favourite which i should start working on is macarons. Hmmm 🙂

There are a few other cooking sites which are in my rss feeds. These two are the best for me.

  • 101 Cookbooks, a natural foods recipe journal. Not as busy as it used to be, but a great resource of all types of vegetarian recipes. I actually do have two of Heidi Swanson’s cookbooks myself, Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day
  • David Lebovitz, a former professional cook who devotes his life now to his website, his books and his love for Paris, where he lives. Excellent blog. He does focus on sweets in his books mostly.
Published on August 5, 2015 at 6:00 by

My world map, phase 7

Stanley Kubrick
stanley-kubrickThis week i watched Dr. Strangelove, released in the year i was born. I remembered parts of it. The former mad Nazi scientist played by Peter Sellers. I liked it better now. Lolita i’ve seen too. I also read the book written by Nabokov. Like 20 years ago, maybe even longer. I should watch it again. It’s been sunken deep away in my memory. Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut i’ve also seen. I’m thinking of seeing them all once again. The older movies up until Spartacus (1960) i don’t think i’ve seen. Spartacus i’m not sure about. But i should watch that one too.
Honestly, i think i’ve always known Kubrick to be a well respected director. Reading a bit more about him, i didn’t realize how he lived, what type of films he made, the wide range of genres, the perfectionism with which he made these films. So yes, i am gonna watch most of his movies once again. I might get back to you on this once i’ve done this.
PS. I watched The Shining last Saturday. It did get to me a lot better than previous times i saw it. For instance the title, which i had never thought about before. Shining is what the little boy Danny does. He asks for help from the cook who he has spoken to when they got int the hotel on their first day. The pedaling of Danny through the endless corridors of the hotel, the immediate fright that called up with me of seeng those two girls. The room 237 which he should never enter, the cook had said.

Speaking about the theme of the film, Kubrick stated that “there’s something inherently wrong with the human personality. There’s an evil side to it. One of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconcious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly”. (Duncan, Paul (2003), Stanley Kubrick: The Complete Films)

David Lynch
davidlynchTwin Peaks was huge in the late 80s. I was still at art school. I remember getting together with friends and watching episodes together. With donuts and coffee. And beer and wine too no doubt. The show is still on my list of shows and movies i want to see again. Especially the first season, the first eight episodes. The beautiful people in the show were a bonus. Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn and in the second season Heather Graham were totally gorgeous. The music by Angelo Badalamenti was wonderful.
This show is enough reason for me to ass David Lynch to this list. But there are also his movies. A guilty pleasure, Dune. With Sting! The Elephant Man i liked too. Blue Velvet was a weird movie with a lot of violence and many strange happenings. As Lynch himself said “a dream of strange desires wrapped inside a mystery story”.
One movie i forgot was directed by Lynch, The Straight Story. I saw this movie on the sneak preview in Lantaren/Venster in Rotterdam, when it was still in the Gouvernestraat in the centre. Mulholland Drive i need to watch again and read about.

Tonke Dragt
tonkedragtThe first book i read written by Tonke Dragt was Torenhoog en Mijlenbreed. It is a science fiction book for people 12 years and older. The main lead, Edu, is a planet explorer stationed on Venus. He is drawn towards the Venusian woods, but they are dangerous to all man made materials, like artificial cloth and plastics. He does go into the woods himself, finds the Venusian people living there and discovers he can read minds like they do. Years later i found out there was a sequal to this book, Ogen van tijgers. I did buy this book then, not sure when, but longer than 10 years ago.
De torens van Februari is another of my favourite books. The shape is a diary by someone who has lost his memories. Slowly he regains bits of them. He has managed to get to a parallel world of our own. He left our world 29 February 1964. Only a few days after i was born. 🙂 He used a word. The book told that you could guess the word if you read it carefully enough. Which is what i did! Multiple times! I thought it could be something with the word ‘verschrikkelijk’ (terrible). But i wasn’t sure. I never tried it anyway. Brilliant book!
I have more of Dragt’s books. Verhalen van de Tweelingbroers, De brief voor de koning, Geheimen van het Wilde Woud, De Zevensprong, Aan de andere kant van de tijd. All are a mixture of fantasy or science fiction. Some are more realistic than others.
I also just found out the book The letter for the King (De brief voor de koning) was just translated and released in the UK a year ago. Enjoy!

Philip Pullman
philip-pullmanI learned about Philip Pullman in 2003, when the BBC had the Big Read, a popularist reading ranking vote, in which his main book His Dark Materials came at number three. I was surprised that this book was rated above Harry Potter (at number five) and got it in our local book store Donner, a three in one edition. His Dark Materials consists of three books, a coming of age fantasy story about a girl, Lyra and a boy, Will. There are many parallel worlds in the books. Lyra lives in a Victorian kind of world, Will lives in our world. The main drive in these books is a war on God, the first angel who has proclaimed himself above the other angels and is ruling the worlds. Dust is a special elementary particle which is attracted to grown up people. The church believes it is related to the Original Sin.
I love these books. I am rereading them right now, for most likely the fourth time. There are still many details i have forgotten, little nooks and crannies which have slipped my mind.

J.K. Rowling
jkrowlingAt Christmas time in the year 2000, i lived in London in a shared apartment on Wentworth street, close to Spitalfields Market. I was alone there for Christmas time. I had found a job to do after i got fired at Oven Digital. Only a month before they got broke. I was making a website for Shipwrecked, a reality program on Channel 4. I had bought the first three books of Harry Potter to read during the break, all three in a box. Very fast after this i bought the fourth book. I don’t remember that, but it was released July 2000, so it’s most likely i did. I loved these books. Over the years i bought the follow-ups. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows.
I do enjoy the movies as well. Whenever they are shown on television (quite a lot!), i liked to watch them.
I never read a lot about Rowling herself. I’m not sure what i think of her. I have never really thought about that. But i do like her Harry Potter books.

Published on August 4, 2015 at 6:00 by

A walk in Rotterdam: Trompenburg Arboretum

Today, this sun shining warm day, i made a walk to the Trompenburg Arboretum. An arboretum does have a technical meaning, but in general it refers to a botanical garden with many different kinds of woody plants. It is about a half an hour walk way from my home. The garden is larger than it shows on the map, after the break. There is a small piece across the Groene Wetering and a large small piece behind the sports fields. The garden is beautiful. Stunning.

I left for the walk straight after i watched the Filosofisch Kwintet with a new episode about solidarity and togetherness. Ms. Ghorashi was the most clearheaded person for me, telling about small stories told out of spontaneity. Not judge to quickly, being interested in another person, being emphatic. I do feel there are links there with what i’m doing here, on ellenpronk.com.

Yesterday evening i watched The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. Scary! At one point i felt like switching it off, but i did manage to continue. Happy i did.

I did write a short piece about Kubrick for my world map series yesterday. Still have the others to do, this post could be online the end of this week. I read his wikipedia entry, his filmography and i decided to put time and energy into getting more information about him. Reading about his work and his working methods. To begin with watching his movies with a bit more attention is good.

That’s it. Well, not entirely.. the photos! After the break. Enjoy 🙂

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Published on August 3, 2015 at 6:00 by

Maintenance and an animation

I added some categories to this site. I looked at the archives page and saw this mess of all kinds of posts in presents.

I added the following categories:

  • Songs
  • World
  • lfs.nl
  • My story

I will need to go through all my posts once more to see if there are any left which will fit better in another category. You can check my archives pages to see how it looks now.

I also read some sites about CSS3 animations. I’m getting behind! I don’t like that! So i’m reading tutorials and trying some things out.

Sofar i added the javascript in the post, but with css i can not do that. That needs to be added in the head of the file. So i did a search for a good plugin which can help me out. I chose the Zia3 CSS JS plugin. It adds two input areas at each post, one for css, one for js. It works great.

A small beginner animation, after the break.

🙂

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Published on July 30, 2015 at 6:00 by

Today i painted my nails

Today, Tuesday July 28, i painted my nails.

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My fave Chanel colour Frenzy first
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and then the Nars Adelita as a topcoat

Looking at my nails this close, i really need to work on my cuticles. Either trim them, or moisturize them a bit more. Other than that, a bit longer would be nicer. But still, for me they look nice.

The other hand though.. pfff… my index finger just keeps on breaking of. So it’s rather short. The middle finger is a little bit longer, but still too short. The rest is ok.

I do like this combo. It is a kind of nude, but the transparent gold does give a warm shine. A keeper!

Also, yes, this is the first time i painted my nails after 19 February’s My nails. Just in case you were wondering. 🙂

Published on July 29, 2015 at 6:00 by

Being boring

One of my favourite Pet Shop Boys songs, Being boring.

Three seperate song tracks. I did pull down the pitch on the third track a bit, the one which you can only hear on the chorus. The second track is a bit lower and softer.

I do really enjoy making these songs. I have limited equipment though. I sing into my iPhone. I use the open-source Audacity to mix and edit it all. I know it’s not great, but i am happy i’m able to get these out there. I used to be so shy! Still am, but not as much as i used to be. Which makes me very happy!

Being boring – Pet Shop Boys
I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
“Dress in white” one said, with quotations
From someone’s wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
When you’re young you find inspiration
In anyone who’s ever gone
And opened up a closing door
She said: “We were never feeling bored

‘Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: “Make amends”
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end”

When I went I left from the station
With a haversack and some trepidation
Someone said: “If you’re not careful
You’ll have nothing left and nothing to care for
In the nineteen-seventies”
But I sat back and looking forward
My shoes were high and I had scored
I’d bolted through a closing door
I would never find myself feeling bored

‘Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: “Make amends”
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms and foreign places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here and some are missing
In the nineteen-nineties
I never dreamt that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought in spite of dreams
You’d be sitting somewhere here with me

‘Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: “Make amends”
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

And we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: “Make amends”
And we were never being boring
We were never being bored
‘Cause we were never being boring
We were never being bored

The original track

Published on July 28, 2015 at 6:00 by