Hi!

Wauw,  I neglected my online alter ego for two months now. I blame the exams, thesis and the like :p. Really, I’ve been busy and will be the next month. What’s on the agenda? Movies (Sex and the city  today ), Rock Werchter, official proclamation (I’m graduating the 5th of July) and just hanging out…

Enjoy the summer!

Kelly

Friday I won tickets to the avant premiere of the Soulwax documentary Part of the weekend never dies. The Belgian premiere took place yesterday evening at the Docville festival in Leuven. And while sitting completely passively in the cinema chairs, it was amazingly difficult to remain passive while watching THIS film… The long-anticipated documentary is a perfect pre-party. 120 Soulwax and 2 ManyDj’s shows in Europa, Asia, the US and Australia were filmed with only 1 camera and this footage portrays Radio Soulwax’s touring adventures and the party-potential of these Belgian hipsters. Moreover the documentary was edited ingeniously, mixed properly with the matching sounds.

It’s still amazing, in the words of Nancy Whang, “how a human being can withstand so much touring and performing, every night, for years on end…” SOULWAUW!

Lately I’m really in to the Brooklyn band MGMT. Dancable, witty and lyrics that seize me right away. Their fabulous (sorry, lately I’m in to Sex & The City as well ) single “Time to pretend” captures emotions that some fellow students and myself encounter in our last year in college.

“I’ll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I’ll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I’ll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I’ll miss the boredem and the freedom and the time spent alone.”

It seems that we’re on the verge of true adulthood. Twenty something years old, graduating in June (if everything goes as planned ) and then what? It’s frightening as hell, but also really exciting…

There is however one major event already planned in my post-university life: Rock Werchter (from the 3rd of Juli until the 6th). MGMT will be there as well, WOOHOO!

This semester I’m taking a course in film history. This implies I have to watch several classics a week, ooh what a sacrifice

In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen:

· Der Letzte Mann (1924): This is a  typical German Kammerspiel drama, directed by Murnau. Although, the film’s story isn’t much of a specialty, it is the innovative use of camera movement that makes Der Letzte Mann so important to the history of film. It was the first film in history to move its camera backward and forward, as well as up and down and from side to side. The subjective camera, this is when the lens becomes the eyes of the film protagonist, is also remarkable.

· Pantserkruiser Potemkin (or Battleship Potemkin) (1925): intriguing film with exciting montage by a genius of the modern cinema Sergei Eisenstein. This film needs no introduction, it’s a classic.

· The Gold Rush (1925): Comical movie not only starring Charlie Chaplin, but also directed by Chaplin. It’s an easy going film witch classic jokes that will be repeated throughout the entire film history.

· Der Blaue Engel (1930) – directed by Josef von Sternberg: This is one of the first films accompanied by sound. It’s tragic film about the degradation of a professor who falls in love with the dancer Lola Lola. Lola’s song “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt” became a true hit.

· The Philadelphia Story (1940): A witty, romantic film with an amazing cast directed by George Cukor. Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart perform excellently in this picture.

· The Seventh Seal (1957):  this enormously dark picture by Ingmar Bergman celebrates its 51th birthday this year. The film is however timeless because of its existential theme: the meaning of life. There are some surprising characters in this picture: for example a frightening personification of death. An intense film, if you ask me…

· Closely watched trains (1966) : a film from Czechoslovakian director Menzel. Basically it’s a film describing a young railway station apprentice’s embarking on a self-discovering journey. This young man is confronted with love, war, adventure and … frustration.

Other films on the agenda are: Le Quai des Brumes, The magnificent Ambersons, Accattone, The night of the hunter and L’Ascenseur pour l’échafaud. I’ll try to discuss them here as well. If you think there are any classics I should definitely add to my “to see” list, let me know!

Yesterday evening the unpretentious Girls in Hawaii played a enchanting set in Leuven. And I was there to witness it .

I’m not a GIH expert, I just know several of their songs, but I was more than willing to discover more of this sympathetic band. And I’m glad I did. The entire set was fascinating and I wasn’t bored a single minute. Once the Girls have you in their power, you’re off for a dazzling melodic trip. They have a typical, authentic sound and the harmonizing voices from the band members comply really nice with the music.

Songs from the previous album “From here to there” were excellently performed and the songs from their new and long awaited album “Plan your escape” were welcomed as well by the enthousiastic audience.

In musical terms Belgium became one yesterday evening. The Walloon Girls in Hawaii made an effort to address their mixed audience (Flemish and Walloon fans) in Dutch, French and even German. And music… well, that’s a universal language.

Friday night I finally got to see one of the founders of the new wave: THE CURE! The band played a stunning 3 hour during set. The set was amazingly well balanced (a good ratio hits vs rather unknown songs). The Cure played more than 30 songs, including two of my favourites Just Like Heaven and The Walk.  Hits such as Boys don’t cry, Friday I’m in love, Never enough, Lullaby, Close to me and A Forest, made the audience go completely wild. Even the people who were  sitting felt the urge to shake their asses on The Cure tunes. I noticed, in addition, that the crowd was in general surprisingly enthousiast. I found this quite remarkable considering the somewhat mature audience (the band has its roots in the 80’s, meaning a lot of people in their twenties back then are between 40 and 50 in 2008 ). Several thousands experienced a true nostalgic moment I guess…

Also noticable was the charismatic frontman Robert Smith who looked amazingly happy friday night. I always imagined him to be a mysterious, gloomy man, but friday he was even flirting with his audience when singing Why can’t I be you, he danced while singing Lullaby and addressed the audience several times.

There was one downside to this wonderful evening. Because of the lack of a keyboard the typical Cure-melodies weren’t as refined as on CD. The Cure, however, did manage to impress me and thousands other Belgians.

The Setlist

Plainsong
prayers for rain
a strange day
alt.end
the end of the world
lovesong
to wish impossible things
pictures of you
lullaby
from the edge of the deep green sea
hot hot hot!!!
please project
the walk
push
friday i’m in love
inbetween days
just like heaven
primary
a boy i never knew
never enough
wrong number
one hundred years
disintegration

at night
m
play for today
a forest

boys don’t cry
jumping someone else’s train
grinding halt
10:15 saturday night
killing an arab

freak show
close to me
why can’t i be you?

Yesterday evening the Queens of the stone age performed a kick-ass gig in Antwerp. I was looking forward to finally see them in an inside setting in stead of on festivals (I’ve seen them 3 times before) and my patience has been rewarded.
They only played for about an hour and a half, but it was such a powerfull and intense set that I couldn’t blame them . Hit singles such as No one knows, Go with the flow, Little sister and the crazy rockin’ tunes from Feel Good Hit Of The Summer arose a musical blast among the enthusiastic audience. But QOTSA classics such as A song for the dead, Burn the witch and In the fade caused a lot of “dance-your-shoes-to-pieces” moments as well .

The songs from the new cd were also very popular: 3’s & 7’s, Make it witchu and Sick sick sick were already singles in Belgium. But also the very dancable Battery Acid and the melodic Turnin on the screw were justly praised…

Moreover the highlights of the evening weren’t merely musical. At one moment a crowdsurfer managed to get ON STAGE for about 4 seconds after which he jumped off the stage into the audience again. Homme could appreciate this rock-and-roll behavior and this guy has the eternal respect of all QOTSA-fans

And finally I must add: Josh Homme is sooooo charismatic. He is a true frontman of a true classic rockin’ band!!

Yesterday I finally got to see Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd after months of impatiently waiting for this film to arrive in Belgian theatres. The creative alliance between Burton’s directing skills and Johnny Depp’s astonishing acting still feels magical. Both men are geniuses in their branch. But chapeau for the other cast and crew members as well! The makeup artists, for instance, should also receive credits for their remarkable styling. Although the film is a musical, which I’m not particularly fond of , you get used to the singing and it actually adds a fitting dramatic tone to the plot. Burton’s use of colours has the same effect on the story and makes the film visually attractive.

The story of the film is based on the Broadway musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” which narrates the sad history of Benjamin Barker, his wife Lucy and their infant Johanna. After being expelled from London by Judge Turpin – who has his eye set on the beautiful Lucy – Benjamin returns after 15 years hoping to rejoin his family at last. The meat pie-baking eccentric Miss Lovett informs Benjamin – who actually returns as the revenge seeking Sweeney Todd -about the unfortunate fate of his wife and child… Sweeney Todd will never forget and never forgive and his gruesome quest for vengeance begins with Miss Lovett as his accomplice.

This intrigueing film has an interesting website as well on which you can cut your own trailer. Let the creativity flow

Totally unexpected I got the opportunity to go to the Smashing Pumpkins concert in Vorst (Brussels) yesterday evening (thanks again Petra ).

I only knew some songs by the group, but most of those played yesterday sounded quite unfamiliar to me. But that wasn’t really an issue because in my opinion they rocked big time . I never knew the Pumpkins could be so ‘loud’. Some classic songs like Today, Tonight Tonight and 1979 were on the setlist, but the absolute classic disarm didn’t manage to enter the list.

The onset of the concert immediately grasped my attention: Porcelina blew me away! The Pumpkins played for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. STUNNING! They seemed unstoppable and tirelessly.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Billy Corgan’s amazing skirt which added an extraterrestrial look If I find a picture somewhere I’ll definitely post it here!

And to compromise the lack of disarm yesterday…

I love music and since my membership on Last.Fm I’m even more motivated to discover new bands.
The recommendations of the program are very helpful. I already knew Mark Lanegan for example, but never properly listened to any of his songs. Until today. He was one of my recommendations so I listened to his song Hit the city which I’m now absolutely fond of. Check it out: