Her (2013)

 
Loneliness is a feeling i think we all experience in life at some point. But in this society, loneliness seems to strangle more and more people. For some, finding the love of your life is the best solution to say farewell to that feeling. 

It's that feeling must have chased Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) in 'Her'. After developing an emotional Operating System (OS), he develops a relationship with it, in a world where OS's become the norm of society.

I really can't wait for this movie( directed by Spike Jonze) to be released in the Netherlands, first reviews from the States are very positive, some people are calling it the best love story ever. 
Check out the trailer!

Thai Prison Life

What if you like boxing, but at some point in life you end up in prison because you committed a crime? Well, in most of the countries it's over with the boxing part. But not if you are in Thailand, you can even be the next boxing hero. 

In the Bangkwang and Klong Prem prison for example, inmates get the chance to fight for their freedom. No, it is not a joke, the best boxing inmates get a reduced sentence. If you join the games, you get equipment and money. From that point, you can just fight yourself into freedom. Wow!

Check out this awesome video by 'Fightland', about the inmates and the Thai passion for 'Muay Thai'. 

That Scandinavian Home

I love those Scandinavian homes like you see them in Scandinavian tv-shows like 'The Bridge' and 'Borgen'. If you have the privilege to live like that, you are surrounded by interior that offers cleanliness, comfort, serenity, style and not to forget a sample out of the Scandinavian nature. 
Of course it's all about taste, your home is the place where you should feel safe and 'home'. 
'My Scandinavian Home' is a blog i am following for quite a while now, because it's the blog where Scandinavians share their homes with the rest of the world. They inspire me!

If you share my love for this interior, don't forget to take a look at My Scandinavian Home 

Pure Bathing Culture - Wildest Moments (Jessie Ware Cover)

Born with a passion for music, i have been listening to many forms of music. Because i like variation, i am trying to share all kind of songs with you guys. There is so much good music, just make time your best friend and discover it!

Now this work by Pure Bathing Culture, from Portland, is a very delicate cover of Jessie Ware's 'Wildes Moments'. Right from the start, you get blown away by the indie voice of Sarah Vesprille. That indie feeling stays with you till the end and grow because of the 80's elements and echo effects. Synths and drums are soaring! Because i love them, i will also share 'Dream The Dare'! Makes me feel like i am on top of the mountain.

Pandreas - Rås

Is it the air they breathe? Is it the water they drink? Are they mythical creatures from the Fjords? Or do they all get inspired by Todd Terje. I don't have an answer, but the next big producer from Norway has arrived. 21-year-old Andreas Kleven Rasmussen will leave his nest at Bergen soon, to spread his musical talent all over the world. 
His new track called 'Rås' has brilliant deep rhythms and the  sweet euphoric melody and floats you to an isolated tropical island. Away from work. Away from the December darkness. 
Listen and join my euphoric little bubble.

Fanny Lyckman

If you like fashion, the world wide web is a perfect place to find passionate fashion - bloggers. They can inspire people with their creativity, style and pashion for fashion. 

One of those bloggers is Fanny Lyckman. Click. Done. Added to my favorites!

Benjamin Clementine

The year 2013 has been a great year, to me it was also a year of discovering new talents and heroes. A month ago, i discovered Benjamin Clementine. The first thing i noticed about him, was that rich, soulful voice. Packed with emotion, sometimes a little bit rough at the edges. But maybe that is just part of why i like it so much. 

His background is interesting, because he left London for Paris at the age of 20. Having no money at all, he had to sleep in a metro station for two years, before he got together enough money to move to a hostel. The metro station was the place where he covered songs by Bob Marley, Nina Simone and James Brown. Later, indie label Ekleroschock discovered and signed him. Now, being 24, he released his first EP; Cornerstone.

Kodak To Graph - Glaciaa

This song proves that music can be like a dream. It also proves that music can be like the sun. Kodak To Graph (Michael Maleki), combined music and video in a perfect way. The video is a collection of footage he captured across Texas, California, New York and Ontario. The only thing he wanted, was to create music to accompany the footage. The result is something i have never heard, never seen before. It's inspiring, rythmic, nostalgic, dreamy and touching. 

After five minutes you wake up. Makes you want to dream again. And again.

Richard Avedon: 'Women'

Until december 21, Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills is hosting an exhibition that spans six decades of the very special photograpghy by Richard Avedon (1923–2004).

A short overview:

Approximately 300 contact prints, drawn from the Foundation’s extensive archive of sittings, reveal the tremendous range of subjects that Avedon photographed: musician Ella Fitzgerald; Avedon’s adored sister, Louise; and the young actress Elizabeth Taylor, among many. An additional room is devoted to his unprinted color work, with dozens of transparencies displayed in wall-mounted light boxes. Subjects range from 1958–59 advertisements featuring Carmen Dell’Orefice to supermodels Stephanie Seymour and Christy Turlington.

If you want to know more about it, check this website!

 

Dustin Tebbutt - Where I Find You

Now the time has come to share some tender guitar sounds. Singer-songwriter Dustin Tebbutt relocated from Australia to Sweden to dedicate his time and talent to produce an album. The result is magnificent, it’s about his move to the other side of the world, the things he lost or left behind, and about the person he became. This song is so pure!
Keep an eye out on Dustin Tebbutt, he will self-release his album next year in the UK.
 

Bubble Wrap Bike

We all love to play with bubble wrap. The sound and the feeling you get when you pop the material, it's epic. A good solution to fight stress, but also a great way to protect your package. Both are not the reasons to why it was invented. Believe it or not, an engineer from New Yersey invented it to be wallpaper in 1957. Bad taste? I don't know, but the vision on this material changed. From that moment, it was mainly used as a way to protect packages from getting damaged.

But now i want to cover my walls with it, so i can run into it with popping sounds as result. And it might not even hurt me!
Enough for now, check out this creative masterpiece. The bubble wrap bike!

Sparky - Portland

Numbers, the famous label from Glasgow, are celebrating their 10th birthday. As a special way to do this, Numbers decided to re-release some of their early tracks. 

Portland is a classic deep house track from 1998, recorded by Dave Clark (Sparky).
This Portland track comes as the extended version. On the EP, you'll also find a thrilling remix by Ricardo Villalobos.

This is special!

iDiots?

Today i ask myself the question why we look at ourselves as being one of the most learned generations ever. There are researchers however, writing scientific articles about that we are actually not that learned. So this looks like a paradox to me.

Big Lazy Robots, a studio in Barcelona, created a video starring some funny robots to make fun of our high-tech society. Don't we all have a phone that can do everything? But don't we all find it hard to make a decent phone call with it? This video also created to have a laugh at ourselves, because we get happy by having things we don't really need and spend more time on our phone than with our partner.

But their message, don't take it too seriously! Anyway, i had my daily dose of humor by watching this video. Well done!

Amsterdam, City Of Lights

It's December, in Amsterdam not really the most sunny month of the year. The 'Amsterdam Light Festival' brought international artists to Amsterdam to enlighten the city for 50 days. They worked on 30 light sculptures and projections in the historical city centre. The side programme has an extensive amount of events, taking place in many museums, restaurants, theatres and shops.

My plan is to participate in the 'Illuminate', a spectacular evening walk through the beautiful Plantage Neighborhood of Amsterdam. On this route, illuminated artworks have been installed to be part of this evening walk. 

More information about this special event here

Karl X Johan - Never Leave Me (Vinjette Remix)

Vinjette, a Swedish duo from Stockholm did a very interesting rework of ‘Never leave me’ by Karl X Johan.

The result is a very sweet, catchy and awesome track!

 
And because i´m hugging with music today and Stockholm is my favourite city, i also share this amazing remixtape with you. Of course this producer is from Stockholm!

Fäviken Magasinet

Ever thought about visiting that restaurant you have in mind, to simply spent some of your savings? This week I discovered the existence of this very special restaurant in Jämtland, Sweden. Fäviken Magasinet looks as if it was built straight from a dream.

During the summer and autumn, we harvest what grows on our land when at the peak of ripeness, and prepare our harvest using methods we have rediscovered from rich traditions, or that we have found through our own research to maintain the highest quality of the end product.

Fäviken Magasinet is a restaurant with accommodation. We offer our diners the possibility to reserve a room for one night.

Sounds brilliant. I’ve just decided that i will start saving money to visit this place in the near future. And you know what? It’s listed no.34 on the ‘theworlds50best’ list of best restaurants in the world. 

Take a look for yourself! 

The National Pool - Better

Today’s kick off will be with this electro-rock duo ‘The National Pool’. They started in 2006 and this year they are exploring new sounds, with this new experimental, dreamy sound as a perfect result.

This is the kind of music i would play on my lazy sunday! The duo from Baltimore added a tropical sound to it, i simply love it!

With Locals, New Way Of Connecting People

Inspired on his honeymoon on Sri Lanka, Marijn Maas started a company called 'With Locals' in Asia, to connect travellers with locals directly. Travellers get the opportunity to experience the real Asia.
In Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia you now have the honour to dine with the most authentic inhabitants of these countries, or to participate in their tours and other activities. And your payment is simply a direct donation to the locals! Amazing!

Now over 400 hosts and still growing! Visit With Locals here

Jaakko Eino Kalevi - No End

Today, my favorite track is very special. Jaakko Eino Kalevi, yes this name is difficult, seems to be a very talented multi-instrumentalist. In his daily life, he is driving people around by tram in Helsinki, Finland. But how to describe this song? Well, it is jazz, electronica, indie and dub all mixed up in a one out of a million production. Keep an eye out on this musician!

Xmas Jumpers At Urban Outfitters

Fact of the day; we all love Urban Outfitters.
Since Christmas is coming, shouldn’t we all have that perfect outfit? That outfit that stays in our family member’s mind for ever. That outfit that makes them want a picture of it so bad.
Well, i want a Christmas jumper from Urban Outfitters, and i want it NOW!

Xmas Decoration

Xmas is my favourite time of the year. The word Xmas is my favourite abbreviation of the word Christmas. Time to show you my favourite Xmas decorations, the result of some hard work.
This is where i wait for Xmas to arrive, surrounded by the cosiness of Xmas-lights.
HOHOHO!

Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Collapse

Yes, this wonder boy from Brisbane is only 17. He is what i like to call the revelation of 2013. I can hear some Bon Iver influence, but this is also very intelligent, mature, atmospheric, beautiful, innovative and it melts you like chocolate.

Things I Like Things I Love

My girlfriend is a true shopaholic. Shopping releases a neurotransmitter in her brain, which i call ‘dopamine with a dress’. If you have a passion for fashion, you are always looking for that special shop. My girlfriend found that special shop, just around the corner from where we live. ‘Things i like things i love’ is that place where her dopamine is having a party.

Walking in, fashion meets beauty and beauty meets the eye. Stylish and vintage are the words i would choose to describe how the place looks like. Best of all, it doesn’t give you that forced retail-feeling like you get in many other shops. And items are never overpriced!

'Things i like things i love' offers you special handpicked items, chosen with love and care. They say they get inspired by what their customers from Amsterdam wear. You will find a mix of vintage, second-hand and new items inside of their store. But it's not only about clothes, interior and photography are two other important concepts.

I don’t mind joining my girlfriend, i always find myself on one of their lovely sofa’s, enjoying the music and drinks. Everything just makes you feel home.
If you live in Amsterdam or if you are here as a traveller, don’t miss out on this shop!
Website