Lists

I kind of like filling out these random lists. I came across this one and thought I should post it. I've highlighted the things that were applicable to me....

I miss somebody right now.
I dont watch TV these days.
I wear glasses or contact lenses.
I love to play video games.
I’ve tried marijuana.
I have been in a threesome.
I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.
I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.
I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.
I’m TOTALLY smart.
I’ve broken someone’s bones.
I’m paranoid sometimes.
I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.
I need money right now.
I LOVE sushi.
I talk really,really fast.
I have long hair.
I have lost money in Las Vegas.
I have at least one sibling.
I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past.
I couldn’t survive without Caller ID.
I like the way i look.
I am usually pessimistic.
I have a lot of mood swings.
I have a hidden talent.
I’m always hyper no matter how much sugar i have.
I have a lot of friends.
I am currently single.
I have pecked someone of the same sex.
I enjoy talking on the phone (depends).
I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
I love to shop.
Enjoy window shopping.
I would rather shop than eat.
I don’t hate anyone.
I’m a pretty good dancer.
I’m completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
I have a cell phone.
I believe in God.
I watch MTV on a daily basis.
I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.
I’ve rejected someone before.
I have no idea what i want to do for the rest of my life.
I want to have children in the future
I have changed a diaper before.
I’ve called the cops on a friend before.
I’m not allergic to anything.
I have a lot to learn.
I have been with someone at least 10 years older or younger.
I am shy around the opposite sex.
I have tried alcohol before.
I have made a move on a friend’s significant other or crush in the past.
I own the “South Park” movie.
I would die for my best friends.
I think that Pizza Hut has the best pizza.
I have used my sexuality to advance my career.
I love Michael Jackson, scandals and all.
Halloween is awesome because you get free candy.
I watch Spongebob Squarepants and i like it.
I am happy at this moment.
I’m obsessed with guys.
I study for tests most of the time.
I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I’ve ever met.
I am comfortable with who I am right now.
I have more than just my ears pierced.
I walk barefoot wherever i can.
I have jumped off a bridge.
I love sea turtles.
I spend ridiculous money on makeup.
Plan on achieving a major goal/dream.
I’m proficient in a musical instrument (used to be, lol).
I worked at McDonald’s restaurant.
I hate office jobs.
I love sci-fi movies.
I think water rules.
I want to go to college out of state.
I like sausages.
I love kisses.
I usually like covers better than originals.
I can pick up things with my toes.
I can’t whistle.
I can move my tongue in waves, much like a snakes slither.
I have ridden/owned a horse.
I still have every journal I’ve ever written in.
I talk in my sleep.
I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.
Climbing trees is a brilliant past-time.
I have jazz in my blood.
I wear a toe ring.
I have a tattoo.
I can’t stand at LEAST one person that I work with.
I am a caffeine junkie.
I cosplay or know what cosplaying is.
I have been to over 15 conventions.
I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical the better.
I’m an artist.
I only clean my room when necessary.
I like a person of the same sex.
I love being happy
I am an adrenaline junkie

Ring-a-ding!

I'm not a big jewelry-fan. I don't like to wear rings, they annoy me, but I do have periods that I like to wear a bunch of bracelets and bangles. I don't like matchy-matchy jewelry or the typical "bling" stuff. No swarovski for me. I am a sucker for "old-looking" boho stuff. Most of my jewelry comes from markets, small shops or from shoppingsprees on vacation, but there are a few big brands that I do love.

Pilgrim, for example. This Danish jewelry line mixes boho with luxury and I love it. Buying an item really feels like a treat.


spring 09 collection "Flowers and Pearls"


charm collection


charm collection


The second jewelryline that I love and would buy as soon as I'm not a poor student anymore is Soho Hearts. It's designed by a Dutch woman, living in New York and the line is quite succesful over there.

Good initiatives!

I would like to ask your attention for two initiatives.

The first initiative is the 1% Club. Founded by a group of people who think that extreme poverty can me solved by cooperation of the world population. The idea behind this club is that if everyone invests ONE percent of their time, knowledge and or money in helping the poor in this world, world poverty can become history. It is not unrealistic to believe in this concept, I know for sure this can be done. Because, as they say at the one percent club: If we can write an encyclopedia together (wikipedia), why can't we work together to end poverty?

Here's their website: http://www.1procentclub.nl/ Make sure to check out the report on the 1% Event that took place on the fifth of June!

Another initiative that I came across on facebook is a website called "Wij blijven hier!". A blog edited by young muslims who want to stay in the Netherlands, despite all the negative voices concerning the Islam in Dutch politics and society. A refreshing and inspiring view! Please see their website: http://www.wijblijvenhier.nl/

Dresses!

Ok while I'm at it, I also Adore these items from ASOS.COM

ASOS Aztec Skirt 2 in 1 Body Con Dress


ASOS Drapey Colour Block Body Con Dress


ASOS Cream And Black Paneling Bodycon Dress


ASOS Floral V Back Pencil Dress

Just a quick blog-update. I am still quite busy with my internship and have no blog inspiration whatsoever. I have some parties coming up and I am in desperate need of some new part-outfits. I love wearing skimpy dresses with insane heels, but my repertoire is getting old. I've been browsing the internet and fell in love with the new H&M party collection, and this dress in particular:

Jungle Drum

Somehow this song makes me very cheery and happy!

Bat for Lashes 2

In my previous blog about Bat For Lashes, I wrote that I still needed to buy their latest album Two Suns.



A few days later, a gift-wrapped copy of the cd was delivered to my house. It was from my boyfriend who had read my blog. Sweet!

I've listened to it a couple of times now, and it's growing on me. I especially like Daniel, the song that coincidently is their first single of the album too.

Olivia Palermo

Haven't had time to blog in a while. Have been busy with my internship at a small NGO. My internship was supposed to come to an end on the first of May, but I was asked to stay a while longer(until July/August). Well, it was kind of a tempting offer and I took it. This means that I will spend most of my time in the office and at conferences though.

As my personal style is kind of "out there", I always have to take into account what I can or cannot wear to the office. I am a fan of hippie-style-print-dresses and most of them are unfortunately not appropriate to wear to the office. The last few months have thus been kind of a fashion "slump" for me.

I like smart, simple, put-together looks, but somehow I always end up over-accessorized. I admire women who can pull off simple looks.

Olivia Palermo, socialite and one of the main-characters in the The Hills-spin off; The City, is one of those women. She is so impossibly chic and can pull off that simple, smart look very, very well. Sigh.










Ha! She likes the hippie-print-dresses too!

Bat For Lashes

Bat for Lashes is one of my favourite bands. Natasha Khan, the lead-singer is amazing! Her voice, her style, I just love love love her!

They have a new album out ("Two Suns") and I still have to go and buy it, but I'm sure that I won't be dissapointed.

From their last album "Fur and Gold" (2006), I loved every single song. Natasha's voice reminds me a bit of Kate Bush, also the whole "vibe" of the album is a bit eerie/ fairytale-ish.

The video for "What's a Girl to do" has some elements of the movie Donnie Darko, which I think is great.



Natasha has amazing style. It's bold, totally insane, but extremely cute. I wish I could walk around like that every day!

Fidelio

Last weekend, I went to the opera here in the Hague. I have to admit, operas are not really for me, but somehow I always end up going anyhow. This time it was the opera Fidelio, the only opera Beethoven ever wrote.

Up until now, I've only been to Italian operas, this one was in German. Not really my cup of tea. But although opera music itself does nothing for me, going to the opera is actually a good thing.

The whole atmosphere and everything surrounding it, is great. It's entertainment! I saw some of the most horrifiying outfits (fur! NO!), some of the most horrifiying Dutch "celebs" (Marijke Helwegen! NO!) and I almost passed out, because the man sitting in front of me had a seriously bad case of dog's breath.

I think it's safe to say that you won't find me at the opera again any time soon...

Teken het Appel voor een Kernwapen Vrije Wereld!

Kernwapens bedreigen onze wereld nog altijd. De negen landen die samen meer dan 25.000 kernwapens bezitten, houden zich niet aan de afspraken om te werken aan een kernwapenvrije wereld. Diverse landen werken aan de ontwikkeling van eigen kernwapens, en er is de vrees dat nucleaire technologie en kernwapens in handen van terroristen terecht komen. De tijd is rijp voor concrete stappen! Steun daarom de oproep aan de Nederlandse regering om officieel te verklaren dat zij de oproep tot een kernwapenvrije wereld in 2020 steunt, zich uit te spreken voor een kernwapenvrij Europa in uiterlijk 2015 en om de kernwapentaak van de Nederlandse luchtmacht te beëindigen.


Teken op www.nonukes.nl

Mario Savio

Today, I was thinking about things that inspire me. I get inspired by images, old photos, fashion, art, music, books, movies...people.

I have a whole list in my head of people who inspire me some way or the other. Right now, I would like to highlight one person on that list. He is probably not that well-known, but to me he is one of the most phenomenal speakers ever.

His name is Mario Savio.

Mario Savio was one of the key members of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in the 1960's. I could go on and on about this, but his speeches speak for itself. For the people who would like to know more about Mario Savio, activism at Berkeley or the whole sixties era, I can recommend the DVD Berkeley in the Sixties


Mario Savio: Speech Sproul Hall Steps, December 2, 1964


Clip from Berkeley in the Sixties

Weekend

Just spend the weekend by meeting up with friends, shopping with my mom and watching Sex and the City dvds with my boyfriend. He had a huge cold, so that's probably the only reason we were watching them together. He was too weak to protest. ;)

I ran into my old crush, while I was hanging out with a good friend. I hadn't seen him in almost three years. He lives abroad and is probably the last person I would ever expect to run into, but there he was, sitting at our table when I returned from the bathroom. It felt so liberating not to have any feelings towards him whatsoever. Although he wasn't that talkative, it was good to just see him and feel like my normal self. Not like before, a nervous wreck, anxious about the way I came across in the conversation.

So when he left and non-enthousiastically mumbled something like: "I'll see you around." (translation: I Don't Care If I Ever See You Again), I really felt the urge to go all Paris Hilton on him and blurt out: "TTYN!" (Talk To You Never!). Didn't do that of course...

Went to Primark on Saturday with my mom. Bought some cute stuff, but most of what they sell is just rubbish. I really want to plan a quick shoppingtrip to the UK, Primark is just so much better over there! Well maybe in June, after my trip to Istanbul. Which I'm also really excited about!

But...more about that later!

Lay Lady Lay

In a few days, on the 10th , me, my boyfriend and some of my friends will go to the Bob Dylan concert in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. I was never a particular fan of Bob, but my boyfriend sort of introduced me to his music. One of the few songs I knew back then was “Lay Lady Lay” and it sort of became “our song” (cheesy!). Every now and then he serenades it to me on his guitar when I’m in the shower. Which is kind of cute, don’t you think?

Nowadays, I’m totally in-the-know about Bob. I’ve listened to the music, I’ve read the books, I’ve watched the documentaries. In two years time my Dylan-knowledge has expanded progressively. The one thing I keep coming back to though are the romances. Maybe that’s a typical girly thing to do, but I’m extremely interested in anything that has to do with Dylan’s love life.

So, as a tribute, I’ve picked out three of Dylan’s (rumoured)lovers/love-interests. Three interesting women with a career of their own, who once fell for the charms of Mr. Dylan. And who happened to have a killer fashion sense!

Edie Sedgwick

Edie Sedgwick is one of Andy Warhol’s most well-known muses and definitely one of the IT-girls of the sixties. Her mod-look became very popular in the sixties and her signature opaque tights are still a hit with fashionistas around the world.


























Francoise Hardy

A French singer and actress who was quite popular in the sixties. Dylan mentioned her in the poem "Some other kinds of songs" on the album sleeve of "Another Side of Bob Dylan".

for françoise hardy
at the seine's edge
a giant shadow
of notre dame
seeks t' grab my foot
sorbonne students
whirl by on thin bicycles
swirlin' lifelike colors of leather spin
the breeze yawns food
far from the bellies
of erhard meetin' johnson
piles of lovers
fishing
kissing
lay themselves on their books. boats.
old men
clothed in curly mustaches
float on the benches
blankets of tourists
in bright red nylon shirts
with straw hats of ambassadors ...




























































Joan Baez

Joan Baez is probably Dylan’s most well-known lover and also my favourite. A singer with an amazing voice, mostly known from her protestsongs in the sixties.

Whole Wheat Cupcake

Today’s the deadline for my master application. I’m hoping to get in at the Journalism & Media programme of the University of Amsterdam. I don’t have high hopes though, of an approximate of 200 applicants only 12 will be admitted to the programme! Of course, I’ll keep all options open, but this is what I really, really, really want!

This programme is every aspiring Dutch journalist’s dream, because it gives access to the most coveted internships in the Dutch newspaper and television world and among the teacher are some of the most appreciated and experienced journalists in the Netherlands. There’s only one but: I tend to have a preference for what I once read was being called “pastry magazines”.

This comes from the thought that the more “serious” magazines and newspapers are “whole-wheat” and the happy-go-lucky fashion magazines tend to be cupcake-material. I’m not sure if this comparison is making any sense, but it comes down to the fact that I see myself more as a cupcake than a whole-wheat bread.

That being said, I know that I can switch on my “serious-mode” and write some pretty whole-wheat articles. That’s what my academic background has taught me to do. I’m just not sure if that’s what I want to do the rest of my life.

Well, maybe I can be a whole-wheat cupcake instead.

Bring Back the Supermodels!

In the 90's there was a group of Supermodels (with a capital S)who dominated the runways and fashionmags. Some girls my age (22) will probably remember that supermodel era and of course everyone still knows who those Supermodels were. Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour, Claudia Schiffer and many, many more, but my absolute favourite was, and still is: Cindy Crawford.











I used to sit around, flip through my mother's magazines and cut out all the Cindy-pictures. You can imagine I was pleasantly surprised by the editorial in the November 2008 issue of french Vogue (styled by another one of my favourites: Carine Roitfeld). With the whole early nineties revival (bodycon dresses etcetera), Cindy is the perfect model to showcast the new (/old) trends. Other magazines picked up on this too, because Cindy will also be featured in the April 2009 issues of Allure Magazine and Harpers Bazaar (US). She still looks amazing!


French Vogue, November 2008


Allure Magazine, April 2009


Allure Magazine, April 2009

Ophelia

For over a year, I've been fascinated by this painting. Because of the Millais exhibition in the Van Gogh Museum last year, this painting seemed to be everywhere on posters in busstops.


John Everett Millais, Ophelia 1851-1852

Ophelia (as in: Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet)has been a muse to many painters in the nineteenth century(Millais, Waterhouse). Especially her tragic, mysterious death seems to be an inspiration to artists.


John William Waterhouse, Ophelia 1894

This openingscene of the movie The Hours (2002), with Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf, somehow reminds me of Ophelia's death too:



And this Kylie Minogue musicvideo from the 90's is also clearly inspired by Ophelia (awful song though):

Blair Waldorf versus Marie Antoinette

Sofia Coppola is one of my all-time favourite directors. She creates these unbelievably beautiful dreamworlds. After two years, I'm still obsessed with Marie Antoinette. Critics may have burned it to the ground, to me it is a perfect modern interpretation of Marie Antoinette's life. Coppola portrays Marie Antoinette as what would now be your typical too rich, too pretty, too young socialite.

That is why I found the next two videos so on point. The first video is the official Marie Antoinette trailer. The second one is based on certain Gossip Girl scenes, but with the same MA-trailer voiceover. You'll see that it blends perfectly! I thought it was remarkably cute and smart!