What have I been drawing lately?

Tags

drawing, improvement, mick jagger, rolling stones

Not much. I’ll admit that. But I didn’t draw nothing. So here it goes!

The top of the climax, my best work of quite some time: Mick Jagger. Since it was the last thing I finished, you’ll find it at the bottom of the post!

I started out with drawing this friend of mine. I believe
I began last summer (dear, it’s almost summer again), but the first attempt didn’t really work and I noticed it soon enough so I just quit it and this is how it looked.

This friend I had attempted to draw, was a lover of photography and I found especially this photo of herself brilliant. Shadows of leaves created a very cool effect that I hoped I’d be able to reproduce with pencil. Well, attempt #1 failed, but this time I didn’t give up so easily. No, I tried it again. Somehow I haven’t finished the second attempt yet, but I can tell you, it did work out much better than the first attempt, so that’s something at least! To be honest I’m actually quite fond of the right side of her face, but I can’t seem to get the left side the way I want it. I’m afraid I’ve arrived at the point where I’ve tried to adjust it too many times, that it’s ruined. It’s such a shame.. I had hoped to finish it, she’s so gorgeous and I wanted to do her justice but it feels like such a failure. ANYWAY it’s not the last thing I’ve done.

I continued drawing, more or less. I did this little sketch of Benedict Cumberbatch. In an attempt to create some more contrast (I feel like I need that in my drawings), I did this sketch and threw in some charcoal pencils. What do I think of the result? I didn’t create as much contrast as I wanted, but it looks pretty cool. Or am I wrong? I find it so hard to judge my own works and that’s quite frustrating sometimes. Anyway, Benedict’s face is pretty recognisable, but that’s no wonder with such unique eyes, lips and cheekbones.

Then, my final drawing. I just finished it yesterday and – pay attention all – I’m proud of myself. It’s something that’s much better than anything else I’ve done. I still haven’t used much contrast and all, but I’ll be working on that in future drawings.
IT’S MICK JAGGER! If you hadn’t noticed that yet. Drawing him was so much fun to do! He is the perfect example of why I prefer to draw men instead of women. A regular (celebrity) woman is covered in make-up, nothing real, nothing raw to see and to draw. If you look at the original photo of this drawing (which is on the cover of his biography, written by Philip Norman), there’s so much to see, naturally following there’s much to draw.

I hope you can appreciate it. If you’ve got some (or lots of) critics, you’re welcome to share them. I only ever want to get better and getting feedback often helps.

Thanks for reading and watching, have a nice day!

 

Book Resolutions 2014

Tags

2014, books, reading, resolutions

Here I present to you a short list of books I’d like to read this year. I know, we’re already halfway January, but it’s never too late for some resolutions.
I’m spending less time at reading than I’d like to. I’m really busy with school and work and other hobbies of mine so I’ll just put my sights not too high. I hope to have read at least 20 books, by the end of the year.

1. Currently I’m reading A Clash of Kings, second book in A Song of Ice and Fire series bij George R.R. Martin. (Edit: finished by March 7th, 2014)
2. I suppose I’ll manage to read the third book as well this year: A Storm of Swords. (Edit: finished by May 26th)
   
3. I’ll also want to read Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown (OH! by the way, I heard some big things around Dan Brown since he has been spending a lot of time in Amsterdam, in and around the Rijksmuseum! Rumour has it that the next book may be set right there! In our lovely capital city wow yes I’m excited about that! Can’t wait to hear some more about this..) (Edit: finished by April 10th, 2014)
4. The Fault in our Stars, by John Green (before June), it’s already waiting on my bookshelf. This book as well as the next in my list will have their films premiered this year and I hope to read the books first. (Edit: finished by March 8th, 2014)
5. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (before October) I’ve held many times in bookstores but never bought it, I’m still hoping our library will add it to their stock. 
6. I recently bought the pocket book versions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories and I hope to have read them all by the end of the year.
7. Ascend, by Amanda Hocking. Third book in the Trylle trilogy. (Edit: finished by April 25th, 2014)
8. The Keystone, by A.M. Dean, which I got on my bookshelf, though I believe it’s a sequel to The Lost Library, so I ought to read that one first.
9. The Safe House, by Nicci French.
10. Stephen King’s The Shining, waiting on my bookshelf until I’m brave enough to read it.
11. I hope I’ll get to read something by Richard Castle.
12. I’ll continue with the Vampire Diaries series, can’t remember how much I had already read of it though.
13. About Tolkien & The Great Adventures of Tom Bombadil, waiting on my bookshelf and I can’t wait to read this!
14. Some Jane Austen (my mom will have her books lying around somewhere).
15. I’d like to try books by Lee Child or Ken Follet. My mother reads their books very often (translated though) and she makes me want to read them as well.

Those are the first 15 out of at least 20. Perhaps I’ll change the list along the way, who knows what other books I’ll want to read as well. Anyway, this is a start. It gives me some great things to look forward to, this year.
Do you have any recommendations for me to read some time, this year? To make my list complete? I’d be glad to listen!

Much love and the best wishes, for all of you. Happy 2014!

New Sherlock “The Empty Hearse” (SPOILERS!)

Tags

Benedict Cumberbatch, martin freeman, sherlock, SPOILERS, the empty hearse

Yup, I’ve seen it as well! The new Sherlock episode. I don’t know whether you are with me or not, but I’ve waited for this moment for so long! So.. What did I think of it? First of all, I must say how glad I am to have seen Sherlock’s face again! Benedict Cumberbatch, naturallly, is a fantastic actor and his looks don’t particularly speak against him either. For these reasons I had filled those 2 years of waiting watching as many Benedict Cumberbatch-involved films and series as I could, e.g. that new Star Trek movie, and “Van Gogh: painted with words”.

But now, Sherlock the series are back. Surely, it’s changed. The way they portray Sherlock’s thoughts and observations is different, displaying much text, instead of zooming in and slowing the time. I got the feeling that they sped up those details. Not sure how to explain, but those moments that used to be exaggerated and stretched out, now whizzed by, making it harder for the spectators to keep up with his thoughts. This new way of editing got me a bit confused.

Aside from that, I loved this episode so much. Everyones expectations were high, though not knowing what to really expect apart from another high quality and brilliant episode. Every fan thought out theories explaining Sherlock’s fake death, but the producers just sort of mocked them all, leaving us only more confused of what really happened there on and around that building. The only thing I dared to speak out loud before was the fact that Molly had something to do with it, since Sherlock asked her one last favor at the end of episode 3, but we never found out what it was (so it had to have something to do with him jumping off the building) and the fact that he was so obivously playing with that ball in the laboratory before speaking with Molly. Figured he would have put it somewhere in his armpit to stop the blood from flowing, making it seem like he had no pulse. Yeah that’s what I’d been thinking, but the rest was all a puzzle to me and now it still is! Are we ever really gonna find out what happened? Perhaps it’s gonna take another 3 seasons or so, before they finally decide to reveal it to us.

I did really love the theories they elaborated in The Empty Hearse. The first one, where Sherlock is all bad-ass, goes through the window after the jump and just kisses Molly right there and then, wow. That scene was amazing and it set the fangirl inside of me on fire! I did like that very much, yes. Yes, I did. Oof, don’t know how I’ll get over that. ALRIGHT. And then it gets even worse. Moriarty and Sherlock on the roof – in another theory – laughing because of how they pulled it off, together, teaming up.  Laughing at John, whose agony you can hear in the background. And then suddenly, Sherlock and Moriarty caught eachothers eyes and they draw nearer to eachother. I imagined the Sherlock fandom all over the world screaming, oh that was great. Producers were making a little fun of us with that, I presume.

Throughout this episode I did feel very sorry for John and the emotional rollercoaster he must’ve been in, Sherlock mocking his grief. Wow that was harsh. But then again, it’s not different from previous episodes, John being the victim of Sherlocks .. eccentric behaviour. I am glad though, that John did shave off his mustache, boy that was a mistake.

Anyway, this whole episode made me feel all sort of things (I was horrorstruck when John was stuck underneath that pile of wood) and I can’t wait for the next one. See more of this beautiful Benedict in his beautiful role in these beautiful series. And I shouldn’t forget Martin Freeman of course, I don’t know how he does it, but I feel John, I feel his pain, his wonder, his love. All the actors and producers and co-operating people are great really, everything is great. I can’t praise it enough so I’ll just stop.

(But can I admit, that I really hoped we’d get a full shot of Sherlock with the long wild hair, in the beginning? I wanted to see how it suited him, but all we really got to see was the hair, not in combination with his face. So yeah, disappointed!)

Now I’m just left wondering (if you’ve seen it), how did you feel about this episode? And if it’s relevant to you, how did you manage to cope, past two years?

Songs and Names

Tags

a letter to elise, beethoven, elise, für elise, Music, name, the cure

Elise. It’s quite a common name in the Netherlands. It’s my name. Yet I always trouble myself on how to pronounce it in English, I don’t know why. Can’t say that I’m very good at speaking English at all, though.

What I do know is that my parents must’ve really liked the name, or they wouldn’t have named me this way (I assume). Yet again, I’m not sure.. how I feel about it. It’s just my name, you know? I can’t look at it objectively. It’s something that belongs to me, and however I feel about my name is probably related to how I feel about myself.

So, anyway, what was I getting to? Right! Names in songs. My name in songs. I assume everybody knows at least one song (or symphony, in this case) with my name in it. The very famous Für Elise by Beethoven. I’ve known it since I was born, sort of. When I was just a one-year-old, I was given a serenade in a restaurant, they wanted to celebrate me by playing Für Elise! I can’t remember a thing, naturally, but I’ve got my parents’ memories and the photos. (Judging from the photo shown here, I was pretty terrified and I don’t think I really understood what was happening.)

There’s also one tiny little annoying bit about my name and this very famous symphony: my parents thought it was funny to use Für Elise as the ringtone for our home phone. Very funny indeed! I guess every call is now meant für me.

Then, there’s another song. I discovered it a couple of years ago and it made me very happy: A Letter to Elise, by The Cure. Oh, how I love that band, how I love that song. It’s so sad, but so lovely.

“Oh Elise it doesn’t matter what you do
I know I’ll never really get inside of you
To make your eyes catch fire
The way they should
The way the blue could pull me in
If they only would
If they only would
At least I’d lose this sense of sensing something else
That hides away”

I had only hoped that they would play it live, that one time I saw them. They didn’t though, but I guess I can think of me as lucky enough to have even had the chance of seeing them live, at my age.

I don’t know any other songs with the name Elise. Maybe you do? Or perhaps you know a song that has your name in it? Tell me, and how you feel about it, or if you have special memories concerning that song.. I’m curious, let me know!

Rijksmuseum!

Tags

amsterdam, awesome, library, paintings, rijksmuseum

Today I went to the Rijksmuseum in  Amsterdam, for the second time this year. It’s an amazing place because everything about it is awesome. Except for being a little overcrowded. People everywhere. Lots of people everywhere. People standing on your feet and all of that.

ANYWAY that’s not the point. It has the greatest collection and the building is perfect. It’s huge, it’s grand. As well as from the outside as from the inside. I’m not gonna say anymore about that, if you want to know what it looks like (apart from pictures) you’ll just have to visit it some day.

About the collection, I think I pretty much saw the entire collection this time. Except for the Asian Pavilion. My favorite part was and will always be the 16th/17th century. For many reasons, I think. First of all, the painting styles were brilliant in those days. Second, they often have either interesting underlying thoughts, or Greek mythology has a role in it (and don’t even try to deny that Greek mythology isn’t awesome). On top of that, those ages were great for the Netherlands. We went through such a growth and I’m not even the most nationalistic person but come on, how could you not be proud of that? What we’ve achieved back in those days? Naturally, not everything was all perfect, it never is, but we developped quicker and better than the rest of the world, resulting in science, art, society, .. Not to forget the great trading thing we had going on.

Yeah, the golden ages were golden for us, Dutchies. All our developments and “greatness” are apparent from the art that was made around the same time. It’s the kind of art that I can understand the best, and I just love it okay. I don’t know how to explain it any further.

There was one other spot that I could not leave out of this post. You know, since all the books and stuff that’s going on here uh-huh. THE LIBRARY. Yup the library. It is great! Although visitors can’t even really enter it. But still, you can get a good look at it and that’s also pretty nice, right? It’s a four-store space with many many many valuable books and it looks pretty awesome. So here’s a photo. Enjoy

And yeah I recommend you to visit it.
What I enjoyed the most: Jan Steen, Frans Hals (really love that), Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Vermeer, entire 1600-1700 floor. The entire building. The variety of everything.
What I enjoyed the least: Crowdedness! If that’s even an correct word. But don’t blame me, I’ve had a tiring (yet awesome) day. I didn’t really like the modern age area either, by the way. It was small, I didn’t feel like it did justice to modern art in general and perhaps maybe the fact that I don’t always get modern art is also a cause for me not liking it very much. (And the department was devided in two. To get to the first part you have to climb many stairs since it’s at the top of the building. Then to see the rest of the modern art you have to go down a few stairs, go halfway around that huge building and then climb up a couple of stairs again. Try and do that when you’ve already been walking in that building for 5 hours straight!)

Well, this doesn’t end very positive. But it should be positive, because the Rijksmuseum is really worth your time and you should really go if you’re thinking about it. Do it!!

If you’re reading this and you have already gone to the Rijksmuseum, I would love to hear how you felt about it, so feel free to comment!

(Please excuse my babbeltywabbelty use of English in this post, making no sense at all, but like I said, I’ve had a tiring day! Tiring days can do crazy things with one’s mind.)

.. And Then There was only the Book Thief

Tags

agatha christie, and then there were none, markus zusak, reading, recommend, the book thief

I finished my very first Agatha Christie novel, and I can only say WOW, what a great story! I’d been wanting to read something by her for quite a long time and my mom suggested I should read “And Then There Were None“. I’m very glad I did. Brilliant suspense. You know somethings going to happen, you can almost guess what is going to happen, but still it is surprising and not just what you were expecting. I can’t really explain.. But I can’t wait to read a next novel by Agatha Christie.

I’ve also read “The Book Thief“. Before I started, I had some mixed feelings. War novels never really were my taste for books.. Mainly, I think, because the overall feeling is so depressing and it makes me feel completely powerless. On the other hand, the cover was appealing, the blurb was appealing to me. I had heard so many great comments on this book. It really got me excited about it. Then I heard they would be turning it in to a movie and I decided I needed to read it. Can’t read a book after the movie’s released or people start thinking bad things about you. Right?

Anyway, I got the book and I started reading it.. It was special.
It’s told by Death. He collects the souls of the fallen. He knows emotions, unlike you might expect, he can be amazed, moved by human beings. He remembers everything very clearly, and links every event to the colour of the sky at that exact time. He comes across a 9 year old girl, Liesel, in nazi-Germany, a couple of times. Liesel has a story. She has seen death, various times. Death is interested in her story. Liesel is interested in words, books. Once she starts learning the read, she starts stealing books. At the end of the story, she starts to write down what she has experienced. This is the story that Death is telling us, influenced by his own experiences and feelings.

A confession: I’ve shed tears.
Do I recommend The Book Thief to you, whoever you may be?: Hell yeah.
Next book I’ll read: Torn, second book in the Trylle trilogy, by Amanda Hocking.

Few things I’ve read this summer

Tags

books, death comes to pemberley, frankenstein, harry mulisch, invisible man, read, switched, the liar, the memory game

I have returned from 2 weeks of holiday in the most beautiful parts of Germany. I had much time for reading there and I managed to read the 5 books I brought with me. If only I would’ve taken more with me because I had finished them all before the end of the two weeks. There was only one bookshop in the neighbourhood and unfortunately, they didn’t have any English or Dutch books and I was left without anything to read.

1. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. I daren’t say much about this book because as you all know it’s a brilliant classic and I’m afraid my words would only be a disgrace to it. All I can say is, it was a lovely read, sometimes quite hard and it often left me wondering what to feel towards the creature: pity? contempt? The same with its creator, his actions weren’t just either. Who’s to blame? And maybe even more important, are his actions representative for human beings, would we all handle the same if we’d in his position? The good and the bad side are mixed, there is no real villain and neither is there a real hero. It’s not just black and white, there is so much more to it. A valuable lesson I’d say.

2. Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells. I’m not going to say much about this book, I enjoyed reading it and it was most definitely a very interesting story. Unfortunately, when I finished reading it I found out that I had been reading a shortened version.. Why do they even make those?! Perhaps you can imagine that I was quite frustrated, but I’ll probably read the real, complete version some time later.

3. Het Theater, de Brief en de Waarheid, by Harry Mulisch. Complicated Dutch literature, but lovely to read. I really don’t know how to start describing this book because I feel like that’s impossible. Unfortunately I can’t even tell you to just read it, because it hasn’t been translated to the English language. Okay, so if you can read Dutch: go read this book. If you can’t, well I’m sorry for you, perhaps you can go and read something else by Harry Mulisch, something that has been translated. (I’d recommend The Discovery of Heaven, then).

4. Switched, by Amanda Hocking, first of the Trylle trilogy. I loved this book! You’ll probably think: isn’t it just another young adult series about miserable teens in a fantasy world? –  Maybe, sort of, but not really, no. I felt it was less dramatic and with less shallow characters, although certain points had the tiring effect as some other young adult series, but I did really enjoy reading it. Amanda came up with a sort of new species, not the kind of creatures you come across everywhere nowadays. After I’d finished this book I couldn’t wait to dive back into that world. Luckily we got another two parts!

5. The Liar, by Stephen Fry. I enjoyed this book so much! It’s very different from what I normally pick up to read but this was great. I think I actually laughed out loud at some times while reading this. Great plot, brilliant thinking, hilariously written and somehow it feels educational. When I had finished this book I just couldn’t wait to read more by Stephen Fry. (This was my first book by him.)

I’ve started reading Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James (continues Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice with a murder mystery) but I’m stuck halfway. I don’t know what it is but I just can’t seem to get any further in it. I hope to finish it though, because I do wish to know what happened. I’m afraid it’s just too slow-paced..
To find out if I hadn’t actually lost all my reading skills I started in another book. The Memory Game by Nicci French and so far it’s good. It has a very interesting beginning and I believe I’ll be able to finish this one quicker, hurray!

I only got one week of holidays left, then I’ll start my study Nursing. I’m looking forward to it, but I am afraid I won’t have much spare time for reading, drawing and for other hobbies of mine.. Naturally, I will try my best to post something every now and then.

Before I Wake

Tags

before i wake, book review, eric bowman

Although I couldn’t find much about this book on the internet, I came across Eric Bowman’s Before I Wake in our local library. This book being one of the few English books that the library had in stock, I picked it up and read the blurb. What it told me gave me enough reason to give it a try. How glad I am that I did.

The book is a thriller. You’re invited in a cop’s life, seeing him solve a series of murders. The fact is, the reader is not the only person that is allowed to look over the cop’s shoulder. There’s a writer, allowed to write a book based on what he gets to see while accompanying the police solving those murders. Plot twist: the writer is the killer.

Now, before you start yelling at me for spoiling the book: I’m not spoiling it. It’s what I read on the blurb of the book. What at most times is the base for the entire suspense, a secret well kept until the end of the book, is now told to you on the very first page. And yet, Before I Wake kept me tense and excited from beginning to end. Not daring to put the book away, because I needed to know what would happen next. Sometimes it got to me so badly that I couldn’t sleep at night, it kept my mind busy thinking about it and I couldn’t get any real rest.

Another thing I liked about this book is that at the start of each chapter you get a peak into some additions, like letters or fragments from books owned by certain characters. These additions contain extra valuable and interesting information, that can be applied to the story, linking things or broadening subjects.

The book discusses matters as being anti-America, especially towards the media culture that originates there. Sometimes this seems to be a deception and you perceive that the real focus has to be a personal grudge. The killer/writer has a grudge against the people that lead to him being set in prison when he was a teen. He felt like he wasn’t given a fair chance and he wants to find someone with a seemingly alike childhood but with a future succesful unlike his own, he wants that person to suffer like he did.

I would really recommend this book, it’s an exciting thriller with a deeper layer about the commercialising world, the ‘bad influences’ coming from the United States. It has a very original storyline, unique suspense and strange plot twists. What I will remember best about it, is its ability to make me feel utterly miserable, sympathising with the agony of the main characters, while at other times when the main characters felt truly happy, I felt like that too.

 

Rock Werchter 2013

Tags

Editors, Festival, green day, Music, Rock Werchter, RW13

I realise you haven’t heard much from me lately, for several reasons. Now I wish to report on the past weekend, how I spent it and how it was – I went to the Belgian festival Rock Werchter (4th – 7th of july). It might not be of interest to all of you, but here it is anyway.

I went to Rock Werchter with two of my friends, but my boyfriend also was there with two of his friends so we kind of went everywhere with the six of us.

First performance we witnessed was All Time Low, a pop/punk band, on Thursday, although we just stood and watched from a distance. After All Time Low, also on the main stage, Airbourne (AC/DC-ish) would perform and we were all quite excited about that so we went up to the front and after some waiting we were all going crazy right there, the boys jumping into every mosh pit that appeared. It was a great show. Then we stayed to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club because my friend was a big fan of them and then we watched Vampire Weekend (and my other friend constantly told us how hot she thought the singer was).

Then the end of the day came closer and so did the act that I’ve been waiting for the past 3 years.. But first, The National came. I’ve known them for quite some time and I’m always amazed by their powerful, sad but fucking beautiful music. Their concert was exactly what I expected from them: musically perfect. And their singer was quite awesome too, because he didn’t just sing: he lived the music. And he made his way through the people in the front pitches, literally.

And then the last wait was there.. I’m talking about the last hour before Green Day came on stage, yes GREEN FUCKING DAY WHOOP WHOOP and of course we tried to get as far to the front as we could get, which was a bit hard because all the other die hard fans were already there, but during the show itself we succeeded in getting to the second row! And Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt continuously appeared right in front of us, so we could get a good look at them *fangirling*. And about the show itself: it was fucking great, like the last two times I’ve seen them, they always know exactly how to get everyone joining in the music, even the people in the back that are lazily laying on the grass. What I always like to hear best after Green Day shows, is the people that aren’t really that big of a fan, but are totally blown away by the amazing show they just gave. For example: they just rose in my boyfriend’s list of favorite bands; they made a friend of mine miss another show she really wanted to watch, because she just couldn’t leave Green Day’s show, not under any circumstances; my mom is now totally in love with them. (Besides all the great things they did and the awesome songs they sung, I was a little bit disappointed though: Billie Joe didn’t pull down his pants *cries*)  And yes they played freaking awesome songs, they played Letterbomb, Waiting and half the songs of Dookie so this was for me pretty much the ideal setlist, thank you Green Day!!
(I was kind of sad though that I had to miss Biffy Clyro.. they played a different stage and I had to wait and gain places for Green Day, but I’m sure I’ll see them some other time)

And that was just the first of four days.. This is going to be a long post!

The second days started with The Bots at the main stage, but we were exploring the terrain a bit. Friday was a chilling day for us, laying in the grass enjoying the nice weather and the great background music. That’s how we enjoyed Two Door Cinema Club and Phoenix. At the end of the day, Kings of Leon played the main stage and we made sure we could get in front for them, and it succeeded quite well, except for the displaced annoying children in front of us. After Kings Of Leon, Blur took the main stage and we stayed there for a while until my friends couldn’t take it anymore and we had to start heading towards our camping. While we were on our way, suddenly we heard a loud WHOO-HOO and there was Song 2, and we sung along our way through Werchter and that was fucking awesome, everyone could still enjoy the music.

Then on Saturday we just kind of went everywhere and it didn’t matter much as long as we’d be in the front with Volbeat and Rammstein, the last two acts of the day on the main stage. (Pretty much every band I wanted to see acted on the main stage.) And we got there in time! My back was barely holding me the times that we had to wait, but we stood in good company and the concerts were worth the wait, naturally. Volbeat would be my first time and it was everything I expected it to be. Rammstein was my second time and I believe it was even better than the first time. Their show is great and it cannot be compared with anything else, everything about it is just complete, and if you wish to know more details you should go and see them for yourself.

The last day.. I don’t think I can find the words to describe how awesome it was. I’m still battling whether to call this the best day or Thursday.. This day I’ve seen A Day To Remember, 30 Seconds To Mars, Depeche Mode and (for the 2nd time) Editors. We’ve also seen Gogol Bordello but that wasn’t really my type of music and we’ve heard some songs from Band Of Horses, Bastille and Tom Odell. And unfortunately I had to miss one of the greatest bands today, The Gaslight Anthem. Again, wrong stage at the wrong time.. But back to the acts I first mentioned, who played at the main stage (once again). Every single one of them was so fucking great and I’ll never forget them. I’d been really looking forward to A Day To Remember and they didn’t let me down, not at all. Great performance, great setlist, good public involvement, and they’re just so fucking awesome! I hope I’ll be seeing them again soon.. And 30 Seconds To Mars was just what I expected from them I guess, and my friend was going totally crazy because she caught one of those fish that they sent over the audience and now she’s got it at home, a nice souvenir! Depeche Mode was also great.. From a total different generation of music, but still it was something I wouldn’t want to miss and although we were incredibly exhausted that last day, when they started playing “Enjoy The Silence”, all of our suffering was forgotten and we got this enormous boost that got us through the rest of the evening, making everything even a 10.000 times more awesome. Depeche Mode was a great prelude to Editors. Editors were the main act of the day and oh-my-god they were so great.. Much better than the last time and every song I sung from the bottom of my heart and now I just want to go back to that concert and go over and over and over it again. Take me back please!!

Best music, best people, best festival, best fucking weekend ever.. If you’ve been there too, you’re welcome to share your experiences! And if you haven’t been there… U jelly yet?:)

Summer reads

Tags

crime, horror, slice bookshelf, Summer reads, thrillers

I saw several person doing things like this and I thought I’d share a list of my summer reads with you as well. Perhaps the books in my list don’t really classify as books fit for the summer, but I’m going to read them anyway and I think they’re perfect for whatever time of the year it is. I will read them indoors, when it’s raining outside. I will read them while I’m baking in my favorite spot under the sun, on the beach or in my backyard. I will read them at festivals and on holidays. I will read them on my way to wherever. Practically anywhere and at any time. It won’t be a list of chicklits. I don’t really like those. My list mainly consists of crime, thrillers, fantasy, perhaps a little horror. Yea, that’s what I’ll like to be reading. Whether we’ll get a nice or a horrible summer.

1. Before I wake, by Eric Bowman. I already started this one and I think it’s pretty fucking awesome. Keeps me excited and tense from beginning to the end. It’s lovely and horrible.
2. The Memory Game, by Nicci French
3. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
4. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronté
5. The Shining, by Stephen King (if I’ll be able to stand it: I didn’t finish the movie. Or I’ll try some other Stephen King books, I’d love to read 11.22.63)
6. Some more Dan Brown novels
7. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I’ve seen the film and, well, can’t wait to read it!
8. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
9. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
10. Well hopefully many more. Maybe I’ll start with Lee Child’s Reacher novels, or read some less known works of Tolkien. Perhaps some great classics I’ll come across – anyhow I’m looking forward to it, and I hope I’ll finish looooots of books! I’ll definitely try to keep you up to date – what books I did read and how I felt about them.

Lots to look forward to, and I hope to update you soon enough:)

(p.s. I started up my own account on the new social media site for booklovers: my profile on slice bookshelf. If you’re interested you can follow me to keep right up to date.)