Wednesday, July 17, 2013

What happens in festivals?

Let’s be clear. You didn’t come to a festival to get a descent night of sleep. Because you won’t going to. If you are lucky you will get 3 to 4 hours of semi sleep, just after the last crazy camper decides to call it a night and right before the sun rises and the tent turns into a sauna. 
Now it is day and you are hot but it’s still early to start your day (no one is performing anyway so there is no point of getting up – festival logic). You try to squeeze some extra minutes of sleep while you are sweating like a pig and you can now clearly hear your neighbor putting on his deodorant. After a hell of an hour you emerge from your tent gasping for cold air. Your friends are already awake making fun of your laziness. 
Now begins the struggle that is getting ready. You put your clothes on in the lying position inside your tent hoping that no one can actually see you changing underwear or using intimate tissues. You then head to the nearest tap to wash your face and teeth while the most experienced campers next to you bust out shampoo, soaps, towels and give themselves a proper bath. You are still wondering who the hell has time for that? You go back to the tent to apply some makeup that day by day has been reduced to the basics (you started with a full face on but it’s day three and only an eyeliner seems fine to you). Breakfast is more likely to be some stale chips and cookies from yesterday that your friend yells to you to eat out of the tent because the cramps will attract ants. CAMPING RULES. 
After all these you are all now ready to move on to the festival site. Following the stream of people emerging from their tents and heading to the site you are carefully trying to avoid all the street food temptations since it’s too early to eat and you need to save money for drinks. Entering the festival you are confronted with the first band playing the main stage. You obviously don’t know them and couldn’t be bothered but it’s nice to have a soundtrack in your ‘morning’ aimless walk around the site. You make the necessary stop at the drink stall and then start wandering around the stupid sponsors’ stations where half drunk people make a fool out of themselves. You of course going to join them (this is how epic photos are taken) in order to win some crappy t-shirt or water gun. Two hours later you are dehydrated, sunburned, hungry and looking for shade to rest. Before you lay your tired body down to the grass someone who is actually checking the program screams that this Band is playing at this Stage and You need to go. You go. Music always makes things better. For the rest of the day you are running from tent to stage and back, splitting from your friends depending on the music interests of the group trying in between to find some valuable time to nap or lay ‘dead’ in the grass stuffing your mouth with crappy food and beer. Someone is playing somewhere, music through your ears but you have no strength to get up. You just wave and applause at the end of each song, whatever the band is.
As time draws to the headliner ‘s appearance and you have already spent hours jumping up and down watching favorite musicians you try to stay strong and not fall asleep then and there. You don’t want to end up being photo abused by drunk kids after all. You sum up all the energy left into you to queue in front of the pit barrier in order to get to there. That’s the reason you are here after all. That’s the reason you endure everything. For those 90 minutes of pure music magic when you and thousands of people stare at your stage gods and try to live the moment. It’s your moment of pure bliss when among all those new best friends you share kicks, punches, sweat, hugs and smelly farts in order to scream those damn lyrics and dance your heart out. This is it. All are justified now. 
The rest of the night is a mix of late night beers sitting in the grass, random new happy acquaintances and maybe an after party until you retire to your tent trying to avoid thinking of the pain in your feet. If only those damn kids could keep it down.

My first festival experience: Rock Werchter 2013

Despite the uncomfortable experience that camping is, especially if you aren’t properly prepared, the music makes up for everything.

Bands watched: The National, Green Day, Sigur Ros, Block Party, Blur, Kings of Leon, C2C, Rammstein, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, James Blake, Stereophonics, Django Django, Disclosure, Editors, Depeche Mode, Thirty seconds to Mars, Alt-j, Bastille.

Awesomeness: Blur, Depeche Mode.

Best Show: Rammstein.

Pleasant surprise: C2C.


Disappointment: James Blake.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

I hate everything today, this room, these people, the fuckers and the non fuckers. I shall soon leave this place. It’s all nice but toxic. Toxic in a way you can’t see, believe or imagine. Be oblivious and they will fool you. Ignore it and you will miss it. It may make no sense but it’s true. For me at least it’s true. It’s hard to describe what makes this place suck.  It’s all pink above but black beneath. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice bunch of people but something doesn’t stick. I have this feeling that they are all a bunch of selfish pigs, trapped in themselves and their little ego-bubbles. They don’t move outside of them.

I know that I am no different. Everyone is a bit of a selfish prick. I am one, I don’t deny it, but I least I am aware of it. I think that I am the only one in here who knows that. Everyone else walks like a fucking dick, a happy bubble. If you close your eyes you will see it. Little bubbles walking, talking, laughing, and making jokes being all nice and happy. But none of them collides. None of them really touches the other, connects or mixes.

Oh fuck it; maybe all these are not important. Maybe this is the way things are. You only get to see through people once in a while. You only get to know the real, naked self of just a couple of people in your life. If I think about it, I shouldn’t be bothered. I really don’t understand why this bothers me that much. If I think about it some of them are quite nice and funny. But I can’t let go of all the others. They are so fucking fake. I don’t really like this word, fake, it’s not the right one. They pretend, yes they pretend. That’s it. And they think that you are like them. They assume based on their own stupid self. I can see it and I hate it. I fucking hate it.


Fuckers and non fuckers. I can live with the non fuckers. I appreciate the fact that they are more like me and less like the others. The fuckers I don’t want around. They make this place stink. The non fuckers I need to know, to be around. This is my goal. Maybe they will make me more tolerant, more accepting and happier. No not happier. Happiness is a big word. More laid back, more relaxed and calm. I need to be relaxed and calm. I need to if I want to stay here. And I do, deep down I do. At least for now. 

Monday, April 1, 2013

Doodles

I have this thing, this habit, of always drawing on paper. Whenever I am lazy or bored and sometimes even when I am trying to concentrate I always find myself scribbling away. I use every piece of paper I find handy. Most of the times I am at work and I mostly use a piece of napkin. The themes of my doodles are mainly a mix of geometric and circular signs with some random letters (mostly my name and lyrics) in between. Here is a selection of them:

















Friday, March 22, 2013

Fictional Characters I would like to meet: Mr. Darcy


After all these movie, song and book characters it’s safe to admit that Jane Austin created the perfect man. I suspect Darcy was based in some sort of guy she fell for in her days. Years of longing for the ultimate love (she was obviously a hopeless romantic), years of unsuccessful courting and years of rejecting possible suitors led her to pour all of her desires, fantasies, needs and experiences in one guy, a nonexistent that is. And yes Mr. Darcy is what any woman secretly wants. At the beginning he seems too quite, too boring and snob but at the same time he creates a sense of mystery around him. That is something that every woman in her right mind values. He seems to be effortlessly charming but he is fixated in one girl. He is not a social butterfly but he is capable of deep emotions that he rarely expresses (an other quality that women seem to value). He sure looks like someone I would love to go drinking with in order to seduce him and make him open up. A mystery to unravel for myself. In a world of fast communication where things are said but not meant he would definitely had been a rare exception. 

Monday, March 11, 2013

Stoker


It’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. However you will choose to label Stoker (crime, psychological thriller, family drama) in its core is dark, twisted, creepy and pure gothic. It’s a slow burning mystery filled with symbolisms (some might say too many and too obvious). The egg, the spider, the shoes are all signs of an unusual coming of age.
I am not formed by things that are of myself alone, says India in the beginning. Like a puzzle missing his last piece she is waiting for her uncle in order to become free and to become adult. But in order to get there she will have to choose the pieces of her she wants to keep, the ones to discard and the ones to just accept. Driven by Park Chan-Wook’s stunning, directing job and aided by superb acting, brilliant music by my all time favorite composer Clint Mansell, Stoker is an unexpected twist on a girl’s journey towards adulthood. It’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s slow pacing at times, esoteric, too weird and the final revelation comes with a subdued power that will disappoint some. Not me. I am ready to start wearing high waist skirts, men’s sunglasses, grow my hair long and drive away to New York. 

Thursday, February 28, 2013

My top Ten movies of 2012

 10. The Descendants
It’s a bittersweet symphony, this life

9. Cosmopolis
It’s one of those movies that while watching it I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it but at the same time I was strangely drown to what was happening on the screen.  A dynamic yet vulnerable main character surrounded by a couple of unique and slightly twisted supporting ones. All of them covered by a sense of decay, repulsive but so attractive. I found myself thinking about Cosmopolis day after the credits rolled down.






8. The Imposter
I was between this and West of Memphis but I thought that the Imposter was directed in a more interesting way (mixing interviews, old news reels and re-enactments using the real criminal). It wins a place here just because the story is such a ridiculous and crazy one that could easily be a farfetched movie scenario. 

7. Amour
No one can film death like Haneke does. It broke my heart watching those two ‘rotting’ away alone in their apartment. Ageing and sickness can be so cruel. 

6. Lawless
I liked it. Interesting characters, clear story, fun time watching it. What else do I need? 


5. Marina Abramovic: The Artist is present.

I am a sucker for portraits of larger than life personalities and Marina is one. I guess most artists are but this documentary is a deep look into, not only her life and work but also her motivations, emotions and thoughts. Inspiring in every way.
4. Argo
Won an Oscar didn’t it? 
3. Looper
Movies like Looper is why I love cinema. Smart, interesting, complex, intense, well developed characters, fun and easy to ‘consume’. 

2. Seven Psychopaths
The fact that I never stopped laughing throughout the film earns them a place in my list. I adore Martin McDonough’s writing and Seven Psychopaths is a hilarious comment in a writer’s block, worries and imagination.

1. Shame
Devastating. It made me feel the pain of the main character and Steve McQueen tackled this sensitive subject with respect and clarity. But if it wasn’t for Michael Fassbender...

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Nine films to wait for...


 1. The Great Gatsby

I am a sucker for great love stories, the 20’s and larger than life personalities. Oh, and awesome trailers. 


2. Before Midnight

Jesse and Celine spend a day somewhere in Greece. So apparently he missed his plane.


3. The World's End
I love Edgar Wright. I love Simon Pegg. I love Nick Frost. I WILL LOVE THE WORLD’S END.


4. Byzantium                                                                                                                   
Neil Jordan, vampires and gothic stories. The last time this happened the world gained Interview with the Vampire. Just saying.
                                                                                            

5. Stoker
‘Personally speaking I can’t wait to watch life tear you apart.’ Chills down my spine.



6. The Place beyond the Pines
Hey girl, I am a motorcycle stunt rider this time and I am here to provide for you. Yes please.


7. Dead Man Down

Colin Farrell is my guilty pleasure (those sad eyebrows). At least here he has Niels Arden Oplev (the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) to direct him in this interesting crime thriller.



8. Elysium

District 9 was so long ago. It was about time mister Blomkamp.

















9. World War Z 
Zombies are taking over the world and Brand Pitt is here to save the day. Epic? Will see.