A quiet day today. I did work on the videoclip. It does look good. Tomorrow i’ll do the finishing touches.
Went to the supermarket to get catty litter and bread and eggs and chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of wine.
Read more Harry Potter. Nearly done with the second book.
Also thought a bit more. About myself, about my life, what i want.
Tonight it’s Great British Bake Off time. Partly the reason i bought the wine.
Enjoy your day!
This morning i worked on the videoclip Het Kralingse Bos. I made a definite choice about the music. I love it. It brings tears in my eyes. I also added all the separate clips, edited most of them to their best moment. I’m thinking now about the final order of the clips. I’ll work on that part tomorrow. So far, it looks good on getting all of this done at the end of Thursday.
I did go to the market. I bought some chips with mayo and ate them sitting on the stones outside of the central library. An older woman sat next to me while i was eating. We talked a bit. She said it was very crowded at the market. I said i hadn’t been there yet. I bought the chips first. She said it was from Bram Ladage. But i said it wasn’t, it was from Rob van Klaveren. She smiled. She also complained about the refugees entiring our country. I tried to explain to her that it weren’t that many people. I also said to her that you shouldn’t take the news at face value. I doubt though she really heard me. We also talked about the lack of lights on the freeways. Since i don’t have a driver’s license, it’s hard for me to say anything sensible about that. I did say to her that i thought that the freeway, once you’re on it, seems to me one of the safest places to drive. That cars do have their own lights anyway. I don’t think she agreed with me. I don’t think anything i said made an impact really. After i finished my chips, i said my goodbyes and went to the market and bought some veggies. To be honest, i didn’t think it was too crowded there anyway.
I worked a bit more when i got back home. I read a bit. Started with Harry Potter! I do enjoy the first book. I like the language. The way J.K. Rowlings uses it to define the world of wizards, dragons, three-headed dogs. It is very much a dream come true for Harry. The food in the book seems amazing!
This evening i watched some tv. I think i will watch the Dutch show Newshour, starting in around 15 minutes. I’m following the news about Volkswagen. They made software where the emission of harmful materials was diminished in a test situation. This Monday Volkswagen lost 20% at the stock-exchange. Today, Tuesday, they lost another 20%. I am curious about the details of this story. Volkswagen seems to me one of the core German industries. How did they come to installing this software in their cars. Even making it? Curious to see how this will pan out.
Enjoy your day! Seeya tomorrow 🙂
It does feel like this journey i set out on a year ago is finally getting somewhere. The clip i made last week is not the best ever, but to me it is the first clip i ever made. The first of many. Yes! It was such a joy working on it. Over the weekend i slept a bit better. I also do start to feel different. Happier. More at ease. Not sure how to describe it really.
So today, monday 21 September, the very first day of autumn, i spend walking through the Kralingse Bos. Taking clips all over the place. Of the trees. The leaves. The sky. The mushrooms. The water. I spend some time talking to a person sitting in the car close to the sheep herd. I saw that herd the last time i walked through the forest, a week and a half ago. The thought that crossed my mind then was that i liked seeing the sheep there. I felt it was like a different kind of keeping the grasses and other plants a bit shorter. This time i walked up to them. I saw the sheep, the dog sitting besides the car and a man sitting in the car. We talked for a short bit. It was indeed what i suspected, the sheep were rotated through the park and grazed the various lands they were put on. The goal was to get them all around the park for two or three times. Sometimes when a land was flowering a lot they were not allowed there. Or other plants they – pretty sure they are the forest keepers and other people supervising it – don’t want in the forest that much. He said the name of one such plants, but i confes, i forgot. He also said there are orchids blowing in the forest. Close to the golf course. A place i haven’t seen yet. Another plant he also named was the leper lily, the kievietsbloem in Dutch. A flower which is extinct in Belgium and only grows in a few areas in the Netherlands. So yeah, it’s pretty special it is growing in the Kralingse Bos. He also talked a bit about all the different sorts of people he meets walking in the forest. Some are looking out for birds, birds of prey even, others look out for flowers. Yes, I did learn a bit!
I also sat at the water for a while. There was a bit of sunshine, only high clouds. I listened to the water lapping. I looked at the water’s continuous change of shapes. Mesmerizing.
When i got back home again, i made me some tea. I did copy the clips from my phone to my computer. All 72 ones. I also picked the music. Classical this time, from Rudolf Escher. Tomorrow i will listen to some other pieces from him. I do want to get the right piece. But anyway, i will work on it for the rest of the week. I do hope it will be done by Friday, but i’m not sure of course.
Time to go to bed now. Good night sweeties!
I saw the movie Jesus Christ Superstar twice in the early 70s. With my mum. I was around nine years old. At home we had the soundtrack. I played it so many times. I sang along with it. This song was one of my loves. It has faded over the years. But i do remember that one time friends of mine turned it on and talked about it. They loved it too!
I did add the entire soundtrack to my Spotify playlists, but i didn’t listen to it yet. I hope i have time for it soon. If only for old times’ sake.
I don’t know how to love him – Yvonne Elliman
I don’t know how to love him
What to do, how to move him
I’ve been changed yes really changed
In these past few days when I’ve seen myself
I seem like someone else
I don’t know how to take this
I don’t see why he moves me
He’s a man he’s just a man
And I’ve had so many men before
In very many ways he’s just one more
Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love? Let my feelings out?
I never thought I’d come to this
What’s it all about?
Don’t you think it’s rather funny
I should be in this position
I’m the one who’s always been
So calm, so cool, no lover’s fool
Running every show, he scares me so
I never thought I’d come to this
What’s it all about
Yet if he said he loved me, I’d be lost, I’d be frightened
I couldn’t cope, just couldn’t cope
I’d turn my head, I’d back away
I wouldn’t want to know
He scares me so, I want him so
I love him so
The original from the movie
My first clip! Finally! Yay!
I love the music. I’ve known Ed Lincoln for like 10 – 13 years. Marijn once sat behind my computer and added music he felt i missed. Ed Lincoln was in that list. I’m happy there is no singing in it. It’s happy music. Which is how i feel right now.
This is my first proper videoclip. I still have to learn many many things. This week i learned a lot about iMovie, about making clips. I didn’t use many transitions. I liked to keep things simple for starters. I am already thinking about my next videoclip project. Once the weather is a bit better, i probably will do one around the Kralingse Plas. But there are also other options: the beach, Delft, the Rottemeren. I’ll let it sit there for a while and decide later on.
For now, i hope you will enjoy this clip.
🙂
Or the title in Dutch: Zuurkoolstamppot met spekjes en rookworst.
The weather here is not too cold, around 18ÂşC. But it is wet. Raining almost the entire day. So yesterday i thought about what i would eat, and this came up. It is a winter dish.
With the amounts i have it’s enough for three days, two days if you’re really hungry!
Ingredients
Preparation
Enjoy!
Working on a video. With music! Something is working right. It’s not perfect, but the clips i filmed work, the music works. But i do need a bit more time to get it right. Till the end of the week anyways.
I am tired now though, i haven’t been sleeping well the last few days. So i’m giving myself a day off.
Bye bye!
In the late 80’s i didn’t have enough money to buy me full albums. So i got out and searched through the singles and found the just out of the top 40 box. Many singles from that time i still have. And no, i never had this single. I did just check this, but i couldn’t find it.
In the 00’s you could be rickrolled. It did happen to me a couple of times. And even though the lyrics are quite basic, i do like the song. So here it goes!
Never gonna give you up – Rick Astley
Ooh ooh
We’re no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We’ve known each other for so long
Your heart’s been aching but
You’re too shy to say it
Inside we both know what’s been going on
We know the game and we’re gonna play it
And if you ask me how I’m feeling
Don’t tell me you’re too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We’ve know each other for so long
Your heart’s been aching but
You’re too shy to say it
Inside we both know what’s been going on
We know the game and we’re gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
The original
Friday i went for a walk around the Kralingse Plas. It was a lovely day, around 20ÂşC with an almost clear blue sky. I did take a tram and started close to the park. I did a short route this time. Over the Verborgenlaantje to the water. I sat there for a short bit, enjoying the view, the birds. I walked back along the Boezemkade and visited the gallery where a friend curated an exhibit. He wasn’t there though. I will make an appointment soon to see him! After that i walked back home.
This song has grown on me over the years. I remember reading about the group Deacon Blues, who said this song was the best song Steely Dan has ever made. I was surprised by that, and it made me listen to it more carefully. At first i didn’t notice this song. It seemed mellow, soft. Which is exactly what it is. Languid.
The lyrics. I read them today, a couple of times. I did a search on duckduckgo.com too and finally found an interesting article on stylusmagazine.com, my one time fave website. Damn, it stopped in 2007, so long ago already. It is still online, happy with that! This article called Top Ten Obscure Steely Dan lyrics. Deacon Blues is not in the top ten list, but it is mentioned in the intro.
This is one of the strangest lyrics ever put to wax—and it’s attached to a song that’s still played in elevators and department stores all across America. If you listen to “Deacon Blues” and only hear lite pop, the joke’s on you; with just a little close-listening, and the help of that English degree you never thought you’d use, it’s clear that “Deacon Blues” isn’t about a melancholy priest, but about a young hipster celebrating being a drunk, jazz-loving loser in an America that only cares about college football teams. And herein lies the greatness of Steely Dan: they wrote complex, mysterious songs disguised as catchy pop tunes. They’re both the most MOR and least MOR band ever. They’re accessible and subversive at the same time. If that isn’t the definition of great art, what is?
Listening to this song, reading this article makes me realize i hardly know enough about Steely Dan’s lyrics, or any other group for that matter. I really really should put in a lot more effort!
*sigh*
Anyway, you may listen to my recording, which in my opinion is extremely horrible. Better you listen to the original version. With the music, the saxophone, the female singers in the background, the gitar and bass and drums and whatever more. Then listen to the tellings of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen themselves, and some other people too.
Enjoy!
Deacon Blues – Steely Dan
This is the day
Of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers
Wild gamblers
That’s all in the past
You call me a fool
You say it’s a crazy scheme
This one’s for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I’ll make it this time
I’m ready to cross that fine line
Learnt to work the saxophone
I, I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
(Aah)
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I, I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama, “The Crimson Tide”
(Aah)
Call me Deacon Blues
(Deacon Blues)
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I’ll rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I’ll make it my home sweet home
Learnt to work the saxophone
I, I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
(Aah)
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I, I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama, “The Crimson Tide”
(Aah)
Call me Deacon Blues
(Deacon Blues)
This is the night
Of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I’ll be what I want to be
I learnt to work the saxophone
I, I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
(Aah)
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I, I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama, “The Crimson Tide”
(Aah)
Call me Deacon Blues
(Deacon Blues)
The original song on the album which i actually do have! And yes, i did buy it when it was released, in 1977.
Steely Dan discuss the production behind “Deacon Blues” from “Aja.”