Category: Culture

Escher: spheres

Escher museum: Escher in het Paleis, Den Haag

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Yesterday I visited the Escher in het Paleis museum in Den Haag.

The museum is located in the former winter palace of Queen Emma. This turned out to be a fantastic location for a museum like this. You still get to experience some of the royal look and feel and the Escher drawings fit perfectly into this environment.

There is a lot of Escher’s work available to see in the museum. All his famous works are there, including the impressive Metamorfose III. Click on the images in the below gallery for an impression.

If you are in the neighbourhood, I highly recommend you to visit the museum.

Website: Escher in het Paleis
Tickets: €9,=

Escher museum in Den Haag
Escher museum in Den Haag
Escher museum: fly light
Escher: Drawing process
Escher museum in Den Haag
Escher designed Bijenkorf wrapping paper
Escher: spheres

A weekend in Copenhagen

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Last weekend I made a short visit to Copenhagen. Favourite band tv-2 played a release concert for their new album in the Copenhagen Operahouse, so there were several reasons to hop over: a tv-2 concert in an incredible venue (have a look inside here).

I hadn’t been in Denmark for several years and it was both nice and weird to be back. It feels very familiar but yet it is no longer my home.

There are a couple of things I noticed (some of them I had missed):

Kaergarden with salt
There is nothing better than fresh baked bread with Kaergarden butter. The good thing is that they salt all butter in Denmark, which just gives it a much better taste.

Gullerodsbrod
Fresh carrotbread. And just the fact that all Danish bakeries are open on Sunday.

Cyclists with helmets
Everyone, children en grownups, is wearing a cycle helmet. I think we have as much cyclists in the Netherlands, and no one here is wearing one.

Great trains
The Danish trains remains one of the most comfortable trains to travel in.

TV-2
It had been a while (March 2009 to be precise) but one never can see enough tv-2 concerts. This one was entertaining too and it was also nice to meet some old Danish friends.

Great design everywhere
From fantastic buildings (Operahouse) to the clocks on the railwaystation to the furniture in the SAS lounge on the airport. The Danes are masters when it comes to beautiful design.

Backpacks
It seems the preferred way of carrying your goods around in Copenhagen.

Sandals with socks
Wrong. Especially in the winter and even worse with white socks. Just don’t do this.

I didn’t have that much time, but did have a walk around town, also to visit one of my favourite buildings in Copenhagen:
Rundertaarnet in Copenhagen

Records shops with Showtime sleeves
It's Showtime in Copenhagen shop windows too

tv-2
TV-2 in Copenhagen Opera House

and a great Danish breakfast.
Danish Breakfast

I stayed in the Cabinn City hotel, which is affordable and has a great location close to the trainstation and Tivoli. Recommended.

Where The Wild Things Are

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If you are young at heart, go see this film. It is wonderful. If you have children (not to young though) take them too. And the music is absolutely awesome too.

Official website

I am not back yet, I am still running around on the island with Max and Carol and KW. If you are as tired of everything as Max and me, I can recommend you to join us and be king for a day or two.

I will return soon (ish).

Did I tell you that you should go and see this film? Really you should.

A week of Wows

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Despite the job hunting going like wading through ever in thickness increasing mud, I had a week of wows. I witnessed beautiful things that really made me stop and say “Wow”.

Dan and Hugh


The first WOW was Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, Thursday a week ago exactly. I already wrote about that here, so I will spare you any further remarks. Clearly they have the wow factor. For obvious reasons.

Tim Burton Exhibition – Moma, New York


On Monday I visited the Tim Burton exhibitions in the museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York. It was great. I am a big fan of Tim Burton’s film work and have seen most of his films. He has a very distinctive style and the exhibition showed a lot of film props from his films, models, drawings and paintings by Tim Burton. It was great to see some of the models used in stop motion productions (The Nightmare of Christmas, The Corpse Bride). Sketches of what the hands of Edward Scissorhands should look like and more. It is amazing what a creative and weird brain this man has. Very enjoyable and wow if you are a fan.

My favourite Tim Burton films: Big Fish and Edward Scissorhands. I also quite liked Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and can’t wait for his take on Alice in Wonderland (the trailer with Johnny Depp looks amazing).

You can read more about the Tim Burton exhibition here, and also have a look at some videos. The photo above is the only photo we were allowed to take, a Tim Burton designed inflatable in the entrance area of the museum.

Do you like Tim Burton’s work and what are your favourite Burton films?

Snow Patrol in the Royal Albert Hall

And yesterday there was Snow Patrol in the Royal Albert Hall. I admit that I was quite late in discovering Snow Patrol but better late than never. The Royal Albert Hall is a fantastic place for concerts and Snow Patrol made good use of the hall’s possibilities. They even used the amazingly huge Albert Hall organ in one of their songs. They had a lot of musicians with them on stage (I counted 15 people at some point!), strikers, a horns sections, a harpist, and lots more and also had an amazing light show.

They played most of the songs from their latest Up to Now – The Best Of album. The first half was dedicated to the more quiet numbers (Run played with the violinists made me cry, as did the thousands of people singing along to it, fantastic atmosphere). And the second half was more rock ‘n roll and people got out of their comfy seats. It was an amazing experience.

The concerts are filmed for a later to be published Live DVD.

Some of my favourite Snow Patrol songs:

And some others:
Chasing Cars
Run
Take Back the City

Do you know Snow Patrol and what are your favourites?

Oh and a final Wow !! for all those people who have signed up for the non-xmas-card thingy. You can still signup if you haven’t done so and I better start drawing soon!

Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman in A Steady Rain, New York

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Now this was bound to be a magical evening and it was. I am not sure if it was the fantastic well acted and intense play that this is, or if it was the two leads auctioning off their shirts at the end of the show. Tough choice!

It was a challenge to get a decent ticket for this. Not the least because Ticketmaster (the ticket company selling the tickets) gives American Express creditcard holders a chance to buy tickets one week before all others. A very irritating gesture for all other people wanting to have a ticket.

So at the day the left over tickets became available I went to through all performance days until I found a ticket that wasn’t in the back of the theatre. And I fond one, for the 19th of November.

Needless to say that tickets for this show are immensely popular (when will you ever have a chance to see James Bond and Wolverine on stage together again?). And while it seemed that most of the Americans seemed to be there for Hugh Jackman, I certainly had nothing against watching Daniel Craig too.

Both actors played Chicago cops, best friends, in good and in very bad. It was a very naked staged, two chairs, a little bit of background and one and a half hour of intense acting. (There wasn’t an interval, which was great).

I admit that I was just interested to see those two men without really caring about the play – but the play was absolutely gripping. It took a little time to get used to the Chicago accents with which both actors speak, and it did take a little more time to get used to Daniel Craig’s moustache, but I was drawn into this intense story very quickly and forgot all about insignificant details like that.

All I can say is that if you are lucky enough to have scored a ticket, you have something to look forward too.

When I saw Bill Nighy in the Music Box theatre in 2007 (which was just opposite the Schoenfeld theatre as you can see on the photo), after the play the actors would come out and sign tickets and Playbill programs. I can only imagine the mess it would create if Craig and Jackman would do this. They were fully aware of this too, and decided to use their stardom to support charity. This meant that you could buy signed posters and Playbills in stead (for quite a spicey price I must say), and to raise even more money, they took off their outer shirt (big approval from the audience!) and offered to sell their under shirt to the public. The shirt would be signed, and you would have a chance to briefly meet them backstage. The two shirts went for $12000!

Life is good in New York. A little bit of (steady) rain yesterday (nothing more than appropriate) but today the sun is out. I am just checking the latest emails, try to not be too worried that there aren’t any concrete job related ones, and then I am off to Coney Island for some sun, sea and fresh air.

Have a nice weekend!

Diary of a redundant person: Speak the Lingo, shape your day, see a film

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Here are experiences from the last couple of days:

  • I have spent the last couple of days fine tuning my CV. I did not think it would take me that long but it did, mostly because it is so important to put the right wording in it. And to mention exactly the experience they (future employers) want you to have.
    I have uploaded it to a long list of websites and I daily sent out job applications.

    The more positive side – I have been called by two recruiters who have expressed some interest in my CV. That is positive isn’t it?

  • My state of mind was horrible the first couple of days, but it is simply too energy consuming to just constantly be depressed about it all. So I have decided that I won’t be depressed anymore and I have tried to find some sort of rhythm in my days.

    Sitting behind your computer screen all day staring at your email inbox waiting for something to come in does not do you any good. It drives you crazy.
    My schedule now is:

    • get up at 8.30am, have breakfast and more importantly make a cup of tea – the Milky Way
    • concentrate and work on job applications and CVs for a couple of hours
    • shut down computer and get out of the house
    • go and do something nice (a tea in a cafe, a film in the cinema, a walk in the park)

    Simple, but it works. There are also a couple of museums in London that are long due to be visited. The London Transport Museum is definitely on the list for this week. I might as well take advantage of the fact that I have some time on my hands.

  • I know what job to go for now. I know that I probably have a slightly better chance to get an IT project manager job, but I am more focusing on a creative project manager job simply because that’s what I really want to do. There are jobs out there to apply for, I just need to find that one employer who is willing to give me a chance.

    And I don’t mind leaving London for a great job.

The cinema cheers me up. I am able to forget all about job hunting while sitting in the dark for 2 hours.

In between the long list of boring block busters I recently saw two different films that I highly recommend:

  • Bright Star about the life of poet John Keats (with the always brilliant Ben Whishaw and directed by Jane (The Piano) Campion).
  • An Education with the highly talented Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in the main roles.

    An Education is directed by Danish director Lone Scherfig who you might know from Italian for Beginners. I love her work. The Education has been well received, so let’s hope she gets to make more films for an international audience.

Go see them if they come to a theatre near you.

Michael Jackson – This Is It

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I am from the generation where Thriller was a must have item in your LP collection. And even though I won’t consider myself a hardcore fan, I think Michael Jackson has made some fantastic music.

I saw This Is It , not because I am a huge fan still but more because I was interested to see what it was all about. The film has been compiled from footage that has been shot at rehearsals in the O2 in London and gives a fairly complete view of what kind of concert could have been expected. It luckily steers clear from over the top sentiment.

A couple of observations:

  • Wow, that concert would have been a huge production. The film showed footage where they were filming new versions of the Thriller and Smooth Criminal videos and on budgets that would make any film maker dribble.
  • MJ seemed a happy man in the rehearsals. And he seemed surprisingly fit too. He had no trouble doing all his classic dance moves, nor had he any trouble singing. (He did mention several times that he wasn’t singing full out in the rehearsals though). It really makes you wonder if what the press has been reporting (that he was a wreck basically) was true, and even more so – how he could have died the way he did.
  • If you have enjoyed his music you might want to go and see this film. As Andrew Pulver writes in the Guardian, it’s a fitting tribute to a bittersweet legacy. However the tagline of the film “discover the man we never knew” is a bit misleading, as you don’t really get close to MJ at all for the simple reason that he talks very little in the film. So it’s basically a concert film, and not much more than that.

Of course I needed to dig up my Michael Jackson albums after having seen this film.
Here are my 5 favourite MJ songs (in no particular order):

  • Black or White (I still love the video of this song and who can forget Macaulay Culkin rapping).
  • Wanna be startin Something
  • Man in the Mirror
  • Earth Song
  • The way you make me feel

What are yours? (If any?) Will you go and see the film?

Glorious 39 premiere at the London Film Festival

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Glorious 39

Of course I booked a ticket when I saw that Glorious 39 was going to be screened at the London Film Festival. I love Stephen Poliakoff dramas (Gideon’s Daughter, The Lost Prince are great) and he always seems to be able to assemble a fantastic cast.

And Glorious 39 does have the most fantastic cast: Bill Nighy, Charley Cox, Eddie Redmayne, Juno Temple, David Tennant, Romola Garai, Julie Andrews, Christopher Lee, Hugh Bonneville just to name a few.

Trailer

Synopsis

In the gorgeous summer of 1939, Anne (Romola Garai) seems to live a gilded life – a budding young actress, she’s the adopted daughter of Tory grandee Alexander (Bill Nighy) and head-over-heels in love with Foreign Office official Lawrence (Charlie Cox). She discovers some innocent-seeming recordings of meetings – but as she begins to understand quite what her discoveries mean, a tangled web of dark secrets begins to unfurl. People who have come into contact with the recordings are threatened and even die. The innocent certainties on which her life has been based dramatically unravel and amidst a growing sense of menace and betrayal, she has to confront the bitter choice she will be forced to make.

I didn’t know this part of British history, and the whole appeasement process that has taken place. It is rather shocking to think what might have happened if things had gone differently in the UK.

The film starts out showing the happy family of Anne but soon turns into a thriller that will glue you to your seat. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomache at the end of the film, only the best films do that. I recommend you to see it (UK premiere around the 20th of November, Europe and US hopefully later) as it is a fantastic (but shocking) film. The cinematography is amazing (it is partly shot in Norfolk) and the acting outstanding.

It was also fantastic to see Bill Nighy take on a role like this (after having seen him fighting guinea pigs (G-Force) and doing the voice of a somewhat short professor with a huge nose (Astroboy) as this is what he does best. I have never seen him turn this nasty in a film before, a great and memorable performance.

As the icing on the cake, the (nearly complete) cast and director Stephen Poliakoff showed up both before and after the film to do a short round of Q&A. I had no idea this was planned but how cool to not only see Bill but also David Tennant answering questions about this film.

Did I tell you you should go and see this film? Oh I did.

Sondre Lerche in London

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Sondre Lerche in The Slaughtered Lamb

I admit that I had my doubts about a concert in a place called The Slaughtered Lamb. Even more when I entered the pub and saw that the concert was in the cellar. In the cellar – come on!

But my doubt completely disappeared when I entered the space, it was cosy and better it was filled with comfortable sofas in all shapes and sizes. I found the perfect place on a comfy leather sofa close to the performing spot, read my newspaper as I was a bit early and suddenly there was Sondre.

It was definitely the definition of less is more, it was just him and his guitar but he played for ten. If there is one comment to make about this concert it must be that he dis not play “To be surprised”. Surprisingly enough. On the other hand – he gave such a kick ass performance of Two Way Monologue that I quickly forgave him.

He plays the Royal Albert Hall tonight, a place that could not be more apart from the Slaughtered Lamb cellar, but I am sure he will be entertaining there as well. If you ever get the chance to see him, please do, he is adorable. And a great guitar player with a lot of boyish charm.

To be Surprised is here.
More Sondre Lerche on his website.

What to do in London

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Bill, Bill and Priscill
First an update from the moving front:

I had planned to meet quite a lot of people tonight who wanted to have a look at the two rooms available in my current flat, but I fear that the planned tube strike from 7pm tonight might mess things up a bit. Just when I started to worry about that, my Italian landlord called, he is currently in the UK and said he was in no hurry at all to get the rooms filled. So I guess that means I will stop looking and he can sort it out himself. Which is good news – no more effort required from me then, me thinks.

My IKEA sofa bed has been sold and will be picked up on the 28th of June.

I sent 2 letters of recommendation to my new landlord for my approval (should not be a problem at all according to Angus)
I have ordered moving boxes and will start packing soon.
I need:
to find a reliable man with a van who can move the boxes to the new place on the 1st of July.
to sort out a Royal Mail auto mail redirection for my post
to quit all bills and send a change of address to a long list of companies

Moving date still set for the 1st of July which is 22 days from now. It can’t go fast enough for me.

This weekend I had my good friend over and we have been enjoying London. Here are some things that we can highly recommend:

  • Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Decent chick flick rom (and a bit of com) and recommended. Out now.
  • Yeah it is still on, so we couldn’t help ourselves.
  • We visited the Camden Stables (market). I had been to Camden before but I never made it to the stables section and we liked it. They also have a very nice area where you can sit down with your coffee and get something to eat from one of the many food stalls around. We opted for a pancake with nutella/banana. Not bad we can tell you!
  • We saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the musical And can be short about this: go see it! It was fantastic, great music, fantastic cast and an evening full of fun. An absolute joy to watch.
  • On Sunday we went to see immensely mad, crazy, hilariously funny Bill Bailey in the Riverside Studios. He did two tryouts in London before going on tour in the rest of the UK and I laughed my socks off. He is so funny. Catch him if he comes to a place near you.
  • We also enjoyed the view from Parliament Hill (Hampstead Heath), had a coffee in the cafe with the most incapable staff on Leicester Square (All Bar One – please don’t go there they are totally rubbish), had lunch while having a nice view over the Thames in Greenwich, and checked where Lord Sandwich hung out in the National Maritime Museum (free entry).

We had a great weekend! And you?

La Cage aux Folles – Playhouse Theatre, London – review

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

I wouldn’t have picked it myself, as I thought it would just be another silly musical. But I went along with a friend and yes it was a musical but it was far from silly. La Cage Aux Folles (which first was a play then a film, then a US film with Robin Williams (The Bird Cage) and now a musical on the London West End) was uplifting and touching.

The idyllic existence of Georges and the dazzling drag artiste Albin, star of the La Cage aux Folles club, is threatened when Georges’ son announces his engagement to the daughter of a right-wing politician, who wants to close down the local colourful nightlife! With a visit from the prospective in-laws imminent, they all decide to take drastic action to hide their lifestyle… but can they keep it up?

Worth seeing alone for Graham Norton who gave a surprisingly steady performance as Albin, drag queen extraordinaire. (But be quick as his last performance is next week. The show will extend its run though, just with another cast).

If you like a feel good musical with a good story then this is your thing. It’s also very watchable for the incredible dance performances of the rest of the male dragqueens. I think I might have to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical now too.

Official website for La Cage aux Folles
[Rating: 5/5]

State of Play – the movie

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State of Play - movie

If you have seen the fantastic BBC miniseries of State of Play, you’ll understand that the film had quite a bit to live up to. How could they squeeze a cracking 6 hours of drama in a 2 hours film. And worse – how could they (I mean how could they!) replace a British cast with the likes of Bill (Bafta winning for his turn as editor Cameron Foster) Nighy, Kelly McDonald, James McAvoy, John Simm and David Morrisey with people like Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe and have Helen Mirren taking over the role of editor?

I went to see it with the intention not to like it, I didn’t quite succeed.

The story line is simular to the one in the miniseries, but has been adjusted to a story set in the US. It does feel cramped though, and I wondered, if I hadn’t seen the miniseries, would I actually get what it is all about.

OK, I admit it, Russel Crowe wasn’t bad as Cal McAffrey, and he worked very well with Rachel McAdam’s Della, the blog journalist turning into his assistant.

Helen Mirren’s performance felt staged and was suffering from too little screen time. Also – there was no way she was going to outclass Bill.

All in all the story was still gripping and it was entertaining enough to watch but if you liked the film just a little bit I really urge you to see the BBC miniseries, because they are so much better.

[Rating:3/5]

New Boy, Trafalgar Studios – London and Paris preparations

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New Boy

The story is a bit wobbly here and there but what great performances of especially Nicholas Hoult (from About a Boy with Hugh Grant/Skins) and Gregg Lowe. It’s refreshing to see great young actors like these, the future of British stage and theatre is looking good.

The play is both funny and serious (without ever becoming too serious) and makes for an enjoyable night out.

I can only highly recommend you to catch it, but it seems so popular that the complete run has already sold out. It’s performed in a very small (but intimate) theatre, and deserves to be extended, and maybe even moved to a bigger theatre.

I just checked my hotel booking for Paris and saw that I have booked a Superior Single room. I wonder what Superior means in this case.

And I prepared a quick Paris map. The camera icons are places I might go to snap some photos. And if you are wondering what the snow flakes are: Ice cream shops, don’t underestimate the importance of those.

And I know there is a lot of talk going on about Google Streetview, but thanks to the genius of it, I just checked out the front of my hotel···, so I know what it looks like (and what to look for) when I arrive. I also checked how to get there from Gare Du Nord, which turns out to be easy peasy as it is right opposite the station. And there is an Italian restuarant right beside it, handy!

I think that is all the preparation I need. Now I just need to pack and catch the train Saturday morning.

Two days in Paris

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TV-2 in Paris

How to be impulsive and try something new in six easy steps:

  1. Read on facebook (and yes I want to be your friend too – I am known as Ingrid M van Vliet, the M standing for mad) that TV-2 (danish band extraordinaire) is playing a concert in Paris.
  2. Admit that taking the Eurostar train from London to Paris has long been on your todo list and that this might be a perfect reason to book it, like, now.
  3. Book a ticket for the TV-2 concert in ELYSEE-MONTMARTRE, Paris.
  4. Book your Eurostar ticket and realise that it is only 2 hours and 20 minutes from London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord by train! Make sure to reserve a window seat.
  5. Visit tripadvisor.com, search for “cheap hotel Gare du Nord, Paris”, read reviews from other travellers, pick a hotel and book it. Realise after you booked it that the hotel is located on Rue de saint Quentin which put a smile on your face.
  6. Start looking forward to the trip and promise yourself to do things like this more often.

Voici, c’est simple!