OMG, I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER. It's been almost exactly a month, damn.

It has been a pretty interesting month at that; our warm water in Leiden suddenly stopped working and stayed that way for a week, the landlady came to "fix it" and her expertise resulted in no warm water AGAIN a few days later, lasting for yet another week and a half or so, halfway through which our heating ALSO stopped working.

No hot water and no heating in a house full of cracks in the walls, in the winter? Yeah, it was fun! The plumber came today though and god bless him, because he fixed everything and now the house is warm again! No longer will I have to retreat to my parents' house just so I can take a shower.

I also bought a ton of books and some clothes, after a short period of being too poor to buy myself anything but food. It was also to cheer myself up again, because a_suitcase MOVED OUT. :'( She only moved literally around the corner, but I miss her nonetheless.

Aside from the absence of Renée herself, all the pretty posters around the house were hers, as well as most of the DVD collection, the DVD player, half the kitchenware and the living room table, so the house is very empty and depressing at the moment.

In more positive news, I SAW EDDIE IZZARD OMFG, I love him and the show was amazing. I would include one of the videos of it I found on youtube but they are long and not very good quality, so... no.

Other actual fun things I did included hitting up the the Amsterdam documentary festival with electricwitch to see Videocracy, a creepy documentary about the hot mess that is Italian television. Afterwards I went to the Amsterdam Hermitage again and finally saw the rest of the exhibit, which I LOVED. Personal belongings of the Romanovs? YES PLEASE. I also went to a Picasso/Cézanne/Mondrian exhibit with my family on my nan's birthday, yay.

Have a trailer of Videocracy because it was really interesting, if very creepy and in parts problematic in and of itself (the film goes on and on about gender inequality in Italian tv and how women are barely allowed to speak, but... no women are interviewed?) Still, it's worth checking out for sure.

BTW, it's... really not safe for work.



Interesting factoid: the trailer was banned from Italian TV. Surprise surprise.

Finally, I think I will post pictures of all the pretty things I've bought recently, because... idk I hadn't gotten any nice things for myself for a while so new things are now VERY EXCITING to me. Shut up.

( I'm broke now but I have pretty things )


Sooo that's all for now I guess. If I can manage to unlazy myself this month there will probably be a lot of posts full of pretty pictures and/or videos I didn't take, because I'm in a spammy kind of mood.

All that tl;dr having been said... HOW ARE YOU GUYS? <3 I have been a terrible LJ friend recently and I'm sorry! I do still care and try to keep updated, but I've been falling behind lately.

So I hope everyone who celebrates Halloween had a good one! And please admire my beautiful Halloween icon for a little because I will have to delete it after today. Tragedy!

It's not really celebrated over here, but I did have a good day. I went to a free screening of The Fall at the train station (yes really haha) with a_suitcase - that wasn't very Halloweeny obviously, but when I got home I FINALLY got around to seeing American Psycho, which was a little more like it!

All in all I've seen a lot of films this week - I went to see My Winnipeg in Amsterdam with my dad on Tuesday, which was preceded by a surprise showing of the short film The Heart Of The World WHICH I LOVED SO MUCH, OMFG. It is up on youtube so I can share its amazingness with you:




AMAZING, RIGHT? RIGHT.

Then on Wednesday I saw This Is It with my mum (I loved it and I'll be going again soon, not gonna lie), and on Thursday I saw Julie & Julia AND Bright Star. My wallet does not particularly like me just now, but it was fun!

I loved Julie & Julia mostly for the gorgeousness of the scenes set in 1950s Paris and a variety of beautiful French houses and kitchens, and Bright Star was just gorgeous all around - there are some screencaps here which frankly don't even do it justice, but I'm just trying to get you guys to see it haha so anything helps I suppose. They left out this cap which I LOVE:



Soooo yes, go see it!

When dad and I were in Amsterdam on Monday, we also went to the Van Gogh Museum, to see the exhibition about his letters. He was a prolific letter-writer, and a lot of the letters he sent and received have been preserved. A lot of them contained little sketches of paintings he was working on as well, and were shown next to the same, finished paintings. It was a great exhibition but it made me a bit sad because I'm a sap, I guess. It just makes me sad to read his letters where he talks about what he wants to achieve with his art, and how one must always try to keep seeing the beauty in things, but to know that he ended up feeling like such an all around failure and so plagued by his psychiatric problems that he took his own life a few years later, after all. idk, boo, it sucks. He deserved better.

Aside from my sad life story-related emo, it was really exciting and interesting to read van Gogh's letters. He quoted a lot of poetry and literature, and even aside from that they were very interesting to read. A complete annotated collection of them has actually just been published, but it costs €400, ffffuuuuuuuuck the world. I want it bad, but yeah, never gonna happen.

And lastly for now... Nanowrimo has started?! And I still don't know whether or not I want to try and participate this year, haha. I don't have a plot so it would end up being a hot mess anyway, but last year was so much fun that I kind of want to. idk idk idk. Anyone got any plot ideas lying around? haha.

DAMN, LONG POST. I'm done.

It bugs me that I haven't allowed myself to be creative since I was a kid. It's this insecurity thing, I think - I don't want to make anything that might not be good, so I don't make anything at all. I don't know. It's stupid, because now I get these periods where I feel enormously inspired by pretty much everything and I'm aching to just do something with all the beauty I see, make something out of it, but I don't know how and I don't know where to start so again, I don't.

This happens every few months or so and it's happening again now, so because I don't know how to do anything, don't know what else to do, I just start looking for pretty things aimlessly. Photographs, art, books, music, clothes, posters... whatever. Preferably things I can buy, because then at least I'll have something to show for this stupid mania. I don't know, it's weird. Kind of embarrassing to be so out of touch with things I love that the only way for me to feel okay is to buy them. Eh, I don't know. It's a good thing I'm broke, I guess, that way at least I can't buy too many things I have no use for.

I did buy this:



New winter coat! Totally permitted, because I have been wearing the same one for six years now and I was so sick of it, it was driving me nuts. The fake fur collar comes off and has a regular white collar underneath. I spent a month mooning over this coat, saving up until I had the money to get it. Now it's mine!



Bobby poster! I love this image and I love him and it was cheap. Yes!

I was happy with the way my room looked for a while but now I'm not anymore - it's too empty. I'm probably going to be buying more prints and posters over the next few months to fill out my remaining wall space a little more. I still need a bookcase, but I think that will have to wait until I get some birthday money in December.

In more real life news: tomorrow I'm seeing North By Northwest in the theatre with my dad! It's always exciting when old films are shown in the cinema so I'm looking forward to it.

Then Tuesday I'm going to my nan's to hang out and watch more Bollywood films, including Paheli which I can honestly recommend to everyone, even though Shah Rukh Khan sports a terrifying moustache all throughout it. I love this film and Shah Rukh's part in it so much that even despite the olde timey stache and the turbans the size of baby elephants, I would STILL HIT IT. And that's saying something because men I love suddenly sporting unflattering moustaches usually make me despair. And all that is not to mention Rani, who is pretty as ever and who seems to have a thing for films about ladies doing what they want even when it's not generally considered the traditional thing to do. I love her for that. Anyway, yes, Paheli is great and one day I might picspam it, I dunno.

For starters though have the end credits, which involve an awesome song and dance sequence in which all the main characters are string puppets! I love this particularly because the film is a fairy tale from ~olden times~, so the puppet idea feels extra appropriate, besides being hella cute.



And while I'm at it have my jam for the day, because... anything to make this post less uninteresting, lol.



Okay, end of disjointed entry!

OH MY GOD SOMEONE COME SEE THIS WITH MEEE



Please?

I fail at commenting on my flist and at updating recently, I'm sorry! I've been busy with 50% fun things and 50% failure to function properly at university, lol. My film history class is A+ would enroll again, though my classmates are dumb and respectless (they laughed at every silent film clip that was played, at Busby Berkeley, at FRED FUCKING ASTAIRE, at Leslie Caron... man, I don't even know why they enrolled.)

I also ended up dropping English after all, I figured it might be for the best. I can still take classes from the English department for fun, and that way I'll have fewer worries about passing enough classes a year etc.

Also I FINALLY got my jacket! I thought they were just late sending mine out but apparently they sent all of them out late, since the day after I received mine everyone was suddenly wearing one when I hadn't seen a single one before, lol. Whatever, it's still pretty <3



lol this was disjointed as hell. I may write more later this week but I'm out for now!

So guess who just signed up for a film history course to mitigate the awfulness of a completely Law-filled semester, even though the classes are way earlier in the morning than she can technically handle and she's already pretty busy and oh hey it starts tomorrow?

Damn right. Oops, I guess?

It was necessary, though, since I don't know whether I'll be let back into English, plus my law classes this semester all look to be spectacularly boring. Blargh.

Also tomorrow I have to go see a psychiatrist (it sounds so srs D:) to get my ADD ~diagnosis, so, um. I don't think 'yay' is a fitting way to end that sentence, but idk what else to say, because frankly a diagnosis would be a good thing to have at this point in time.

I... feel like I should say more but frankly I have NO IDEA WHAT. This would be a great moment for me to post some outfit photos from the past few weeks to distract you, but I haven't taken any because I've been either too lazy or in too much of a hurry. Lol this is exactly why I'm not updating, I am apparently using up my whole supply of non-awkward moments irl or something.

ANYWAY HAVE A VIDEO OF VINCENT PRICE BEING HILARIOUS ON "WHAT'S MY LINE" AND ONE OF JOAN BLONDELL KICKING ASS (LITERALLY), because I have to make up for this trainwreck of an entry somehow.






I found out like last week that Joan Blondell was married to DICK POWELL?! Oh my god, say it ain't so. She is one of my biggest '30s ladycrushes, but all Dick Powell does for me... honestly I can't even figure out a way to finish this sentence. THERE IS NOTHING POSITIVE ABOUT DICK POWELL. I guess he sang in key? That's about it. She divorced him later though so 's all good!

Ugh, this week. I DO NOT LIKE THIS WEEK. There's good stuff happening besides the bad, but my mood's been down the drain for days so whatever, I still hate this week.

Good news first so I can remind myself:

I PASSED MY CIVIL LAW EXAM


which means


LAW SCHOOL ISN'T KICKING ME OUT


which... I don't think I mentioned on here, but they were going to kick me out if I didn't pass civil law. WHICH I DID, so hell yes. Oh this also means that I've passed my first year and electricwitch and I are now ~*classmates*~ lol. THIS SHOULD BE FUN.

Also good news is that I BOUGHT THIS BOOK AND IT IS AMAZING:



I don't think you can tell very well from this picture but this book is fucking MONSTROUSLY HUGE. It is also full of beautiful posters and nerdy background history about them and about early cinemas and film promotion and fnfa'sdgjhjsdk this is the kind of book that gives me nerdgasmic pleasure. Also the original price was €75 BUT I GOT IT NEW FOR €25. Fuck yeaaaaah. I am pleased.

On the downside though I'm probably being kicked out of the English faculty for failing at life and my classes (err for all you new frands: I am (soon to be 'was' lol D:) doing a full-time law BA and a full-time English BA.) Ngl it's pretty much my fault since I let my crazy ass sleeping problems and ADD get the better of me and never actually reported that I was having issues on time, so it looks really sketchy to come knocking with all this shit now that I've actually failed enough classes to be kicked out. IT STILL FUCKING SUCKS THOUGH, I really loved English. I guess this is what I get for being all "NO FUCK HELP I CAN FIX THIS MYSELF" lmao because I can't.

I talked to the English students advisor this morning and she basically said "sorry but you're fucked," though she did tell me to try pleading my case with one other person who miiiiight be able to keep me in (but probably not). I had to get up early this morning to go see her even though my sleeping has fucked up majorly again, and she already told me I'm fucked, so tbh the part where I burst into tears (and hopefully gain some sympathy) in that other person's office will probably come easy. fuuuu. I'm already embarrassed and it hasn't even happened yet.

Aaaand then there's the two months plus homicide thing which I don't think needs explanation as to why it's depressing.

The weather is nice though and at least I'm still a student SOMEWHERE? lol.

UM

TOM WAITS
JOHNNY DEPP
HEATH LEDGER
LILY COLE
TERRY GILLIAM'S BRAIN OF GENIUS



DO FUCKING WANT

OMGG

BUSTER KEATON'S THE GENERAL IS GOING TO BE SHOWN AT THE FILM MUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM THIS FRIDAY

IN THE OPEN AIR

AND I CAN'T GO BECAUSE I'M PO' AND RETURN TICKETS TO AMSTERDAM ARE PRICY

FMLLLL



I WANT TO SEE BUSTER KEATON ON A BIG SCREEN DAMMIT.

I've finally seen the new Harry Potter film - twice since Wednesday, even! This pleases me greatly because, ngl, I love the shit out of that film. They changed a lot of stuff in ways that make no sense at all, but I have decided that being a book purist would turn me into an eternal grump so I can mostly accept the changes. And guys, guys, seriously, HOW FUCKING GOOD DID THIS MOVIE LOOK? I am a sucker for good design and pretty cinematography, and HBP? Fucking DELIVERED. I love love LOVE the look of it. Also insert obligatory marriage proposals to Arick/Helena B-C/Maggie Smith (shut up okay ilher)/Evanna Lynch/Rupert Grint here. Also, props to Tom Felton for being so surprisingly good that I actually feel the need to mention it here! I was always kind of "eh" about both book-Draco and film-Draco because he didn't strike me as particularly interesting or noteworthy, but this film made me really feel for him more than for many of the other characters, so well done that man! Also also, the kid they cast as Hogwarts-age Voldemort was amazing and creepy, I approve.

In non-HP news, I caught the last half of a talk show interview with Viktor & Rolf on tv this evening. Man I am not proud of most things that come out of the Netherlands, but I have so much everlasting love for Viktor & Rolf, y'all don't even KNOW. I love that they design fierce as hale clothes and aren't afraid to go completely nuts and overboard with their collection themes, and I love that they are GQMFs and smrt and have great taste in basically everything in the world. I did not think my country had what it took to bring forth such fierceness; I see now that I was wrong. I did not know! Anyway, the interview was really A+. They had asked V&R to pick a number of clips to show and discuss - from films, tv shows, documentaries, even commercials, whatever they wanted, and the interview sort of happened around the discussion of those clips and why they chose them. They chose really interesting stuff (Paris is Burning among other things, homg <3), had really on point commentary on gay representation in Dutch and international media, and talked a lot about inspiration and creativity and idk, it was just really wonderful and interesting. I'm gonna see if I can find the entire thing online somewhere so I can watch it from the beginning, and maybe also subtitle and upload it for any non-Dutch people who might want to see it.

By the end of the show I really wanted to hit up style.com and put together a huge V&R picspam, so this is what I am doing! I've got like 150+ images right now though and it's waaay too late for me to finish narrowing it down tonight, but there will be a V&R post tomorrow!

Aaaand lastly, I'm finally putting together my first post for Sachlichkeit, the film blog my bb jahrhundert was sweet enough to let me be a part of! It is going to be a Bollywood primer of sorts (yes, really), which will probably look funny in a sea of posts about films that are generally considered respectable, but I've really wanted to write one for a while now so w/e, I'm going through with it. It is turning out to be REALLY DIFFICULT though because seriously, I am for some reason trying to explain the entire cultural context and system of visual shorthand in Bollywood films AND writing a who's-who and need-to-see film list in a single post? Got damn. I'm trying though, and hopefully it will turn out okay.

OKAY THE END, I am going to bed!

No I'm lying, I feel as though my posts are incomplete without MJ gifs nowadays sooo oblig:



Fierce bitch is fierce. ♥

OKAY BYE. <3

So after about five years of going "gosh I really should..." I finally read Coraline! I know I know, not like it's even long or anything but idk I just never got around to it ok! Having done so now though I feel that I should mention how it is BRILLIANT. ~*Special thanks*~ to my housemate Jonathan for letting me borrow his copy, because otherwise it would probably have taken another 5 years. Soo yes if any of you are even slower than me (doubtful!) and have not read Coraline yet, do it! Neil Gaiman is awesome and this book is proof.

I only just realised that I accidentally planned basically my entire week to consist of movie marathons with a bunch of different people, oops? I'm watching Bollywood films with my nan tomorrow, as-yet-undecided films with a friend on Wednesday, and having a Harry Potter marathon with friends on Thursday because they will be in Denmark when the next one comes out so they need to be ~prepared~. I was going to go to Denmark with them but then I was short on cash, plus the timing was bad. Sadface! Anyway I'm pretty okay with the film marathon week because even though the weather has been really really good lately, apparently a NEVERENDING THUNDERSTORM is about to start tomorrow, so I guess I'll be safely inside during that mess. This is good!

Also, I am still hung up on MJ. This is less good because it means I unleash my MJ-related emo on the world all the time because I am apparently incapable of shutting up, and I am probably boring people slowly to death with it. But WTF IT SUCKS SO BAD. This is seriously longer than I have ever been upset about anyone dying, including relatives of mine. That really kind of disturbs me idk but I can't stop being sad about it? fnas'dkg I don't know, have a damn video of him with a llama being cute because that is all I am good for right now


OKAY THE END. Cry.

My brother's graduation was really nice \o/ he was the first person called to the stage by the teachers even, because he did best in some biology competition he never even told us about :') It is clear: my baby brother wins at life.

Also I had never been to his school before and HOLY SHIT, IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ART DECO SCHOOL BUILDING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I am so jealous. From what I've heard I'm glad I didn't actually go there because apparently it's not particularly full of likeable people, but my own school's building was a hideous 70s (50s apparently, I stand corrected!) monstrosity and just, holy crap, I am so jealous! It's not like I'll ever have reason to be in that building again, so I decided to bust out my camera and take some pictures. I'm glad I did because I just trolled google and flickr to find more pictures of the building and hey guess what: there are like three of them, and they suck.

So yes, look at my baby brother's old school because it is gorge:



( Moar here! )

Okay, thus ends my picspam of envy.

Also yesterday evening I watched part of a BRILLIANT BBC documentary series about the very beginning of film history, called The Last Machine and presented by Terry Gilliam (hell yes!) It was AMAZING - so, so thorough and interesting and really fun to watch! My dad taped it when it aired in the 90s, but accidentally recorded something else over nearly half of the episodes. D: I've been googling for hours because I really want to see the rest of it, but I can't find a single episode available for download ANYWHERE, nor has the series ever been officially released. THIS IS RLY UPSETTING >:( Damn you, BBC. I don't know if anyone with more Google chops than myself can find it, but if you do I will be grateful to you for fucking ever. I am desperate D:

So many awesome things going on! IL my life right now.

Firstly of course MY BROTHER PASSED HIS FINAL EXAMS HELL YEAH \o/ he did so well, I am v. v. proud! I want to buy him a gift since I have money again (I spent the last two weeks basically without it, no lie) but I don't know what he waaaaaants D: Possibly I have located the most difficult person in world history to buy presents for. He never wants anything, HOW CAN HE NEVER WANT ANYTHING? Idk idk. I will find him something though, I am determined!

Besides this I have been doing a tiny bit of studying and a lot of hanging around with friends, which is the way I feel things should be since I am at heart a lazy bum. I went to see my housemate Jonathan play Rosalind in an A+ hilarious version of As You Like It, watched Top Hat and a couple of... um, interesting Jason Isaacs films with electricwitch (man Jason Isaacs you know I love you A LOT but I just, I mean, what the fuck), spent time with my family for father's day, and just got back from inspecting fantoom's new crib which IS AMAZING and which I would basically move into asap if it was... not already someone's crib. Also a friend notified me that Regina Spektor is playing a gig in Amsterdam in July so we will be going to see her play next month!! I AM EXCITED.

Idk idk I think my point is that life is rly nice right now? Yay \o/

Also I am the laziest person in the world so I have already shooped three whole pictures of my room into something resembling acceptable quality, and this is them:







More to follow when I am not lazy! I love my room so you're gonna have to put up with a big-ass picspam at some point, guys.

It is rly late though so I'm off to bed now, since tomorrow I am to visit my nan and watch Bollywood films with her HELL YES. It's been too long since I've watched any!

Renée and I have been watching lots of film series lately - I'm not sure what prompted that, but it's kind of fun. So far we've finished all of the Harry Potter films, the Mummy series (OHAI 1930s BRENDAN FRASER I DIG YR SUSPENDERS) and, most recently, the LOTR trilogy (the extended versions, obviously), which made me distressingly aware that even though I've seen them all a ton of times I still managed to forget that half of the scenes even existed, and also that my lame crush on Haldir from three years ago is still firmly in place. (DO YOU SEE HOW I WAS LAME AND COMMENTED IN TINY FONT THREE YEARS AGO? DO YOU SEE IT??? Ohh younger self.) Also, it made me really really want to change my LJ tag for whiny emo posts (currently "cheer up emo kid") to "why does it cry sméagol?". I may still do this, as I secretly love it. Not-so-secretly now, I guess.

Another fun thing I did: I went to a museum on Sunday! I went with my mum, it being Mother's Day and all, and it was REALLY AWESOME. Actually I have been going to museums frequently-ish lately (which, yay, I don't do that nearly enough so go me) - I've even been to the Waterhouse retrospective in Groningen twice now, which is quite a feat considering that Groningen is ~3 hours away and I normally can't even bring myself to visit the museums around the corner from my house. Anyway, the Waterhouse retrospective was awesome, but the Gemeentemuseum around the corner from my parents' house had a really brilliant exhibit, so that is the one I'm going to be fapping about in this post. Actually they had two brilliant exhibits: the first one we saw was the Christian Schad retrospective, which wasn't as big as I had hoped but still awesome, despite the fact that they didn't have one of my favourites of his:


(Lotte, 1927/'28)

Anyway it was still awesome and they did have ( another favourite of mine (cut for boobz). ) So yes, go go Christian Schad!

AND THEN there was the exhibit that I loved x a million, which was about artist couples and their work! The official exhibit name (in Dutch) translates to "Love! Art! Passion! Artist Spouses," which ain't right because a lot of the couples weren't actually married (and a bunch of them split up due to the relationship being really depressingly awful, like Claudel/Rodin and Höch/Hausmann) but nonetheless, it was a pretty fucking brilliant exhibit. For one thing, I'm willing to bet that it's the only (non-monograph) exhibit I've ever seen where at least 50% of the art was by female artists, and even besides that, most of the artists featured were pretty fucking awesome. Every room was dedicated to either one couple or two of them, and for every couple there was a pretty lengthy blurb about their art and their relationship on the wall, which was really nice. The relationships themselves really ran the gamut from crappy and abusive and sexist and short to adorable and emancipated and fair and lifelong, and most of the art was wonderful. I also bought the exhibit poster, with this painting on it:


(Alexej von Jawlensky - Girl with peonies, 1909)

Yay! I bought a little catalogue/program type book (which of those is (more) correct to use here? HELP ME OUT YOU GUYS) of the exhibit as well, so I may post an art spam based on that soonish, possibly focused on the art by the ladiez, because I like to do my bit for feminism. Would you guys be interested in that possible post I might possibly post y/n?

Holy crap my life kind of rocks?!

+ I PASSED MY FUCKING ROMAN LAW EXAM SO HARD, HOLY SHIT. They posted the answer sheet online today and I only got 4/30 multiple choice questions wrong, and the open question right as well. Holy craaaap.

+ I bought pretty dresses on Asos!



Also I only have to pay half of the shipping costs because I'm ordering together with Renée \o/ Having a housemate who digs Asos as much as I do is KIND OF BRILLIANT.

I also wanted to buy this dress on clearance:



But then someone snatched the last one up right before I wanted to put it in my basket! AND NOW SOMEONE RETURNED ONE SO I CAN STILL BUY IT, but I'm not sure I should? Is it nice enough, internet?

+ Renée and I are working on making our living room prettier, which is fun. Our first poster arrived today:



Cutest ever? IT MIGHT BE.

+ I just found out that there's going to be a showing of a silent Lubitsch film with Pola Negri in my hometown on Monday! I AM SO THERE, holy crap.

I think I was going to scream more, but I'm off to a lecture type thing about Polanski in a minute so this will be all for now. But um yes, basically good times are upon me it seems!

I feel like I haven't properly updated in forever! Possibly this is true, I don't really remember because my brain is kind of shuffled at the moment, ha. Anyway yes, have a list-type breakdown of the things I haven't updated about yet!

Positive happenings:
+ I GOT MY ROOM KEY HELL YES. Still no contract, but I've been assured that will also arrive at some point haha.
+ a_suitcase is amazing and she made me a welcome package!! Omg you guys it has MIDSOMER MURDERS DVDS. And recipes! (This is good because I can't even cook potatoes, no lie.) Also tea and Lush soap and assorted lovely foodstuffs and an ADORABLE CARD and omg. Basically my point is: a_suitcase wins the prize for SWEETEST HOUSEMATE EVER.
+ I got my boots and they fit! American sizing is a strange and terrible thing which I will never understand, so this is a relief.
+ I met up with a friend from England today who was in Amsterdam in between flights (to Dubai of all places, wut da hale) which was fun!
+ Also: LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN AMSTERDAM FOR A TENNER:



UM HELL YES. First off, LOOK AT THOSE TITLES HAAA and secondly THAT IS €0,50 PER FILM, WAT. Also included are titles like Sex Madness (1938), She Shoulda' Said No! (1949)... well, you get the point. And also, oddly, Die Freudlose Gasse (yes, the one by Pabst with my bb Asta!). It's like... 19 sleazy exploitation/delinquency scare films and... a social commentary by Pabst? Lol.

Sadly less pleasant things also happened:
- Our entire house is being repainted/recarpeted/re-other-thinged on the inside, which means that from 8 am - 4 pm we have a bunch of painters stumbling around, making TONS of noise and getting dust everyfuckingwhere. You can't touch anything without white dust smears appearing on your hands or clothes and also did I mention how all the old locks in our house are being replaced so that I can't comfortably shower or pee between 8 am - 4 pm because there are four strange men in my house AND NO LOCKS ON THE BATHROOM DOORS?
- Side-effect of the painters making enough noise to wake the dead, starting at 8 am? Yeah, I apparently taught myself to sleep through that. And since they make more noise than my alarm clock, GUESS WHAT I ALSO DON'T HEAR IN THE MORNING. I haven't been able to wake up in time for a single class since the painters got here D:
- Also due to all the construction happening on my ceiling I am not sleeping in my own room, but all my stuff is still in there, only covered in plastic sheets and taped off and completely impossible for me to reach. IN A SITUATION IN WHICH I AM BUSY TRYING TO MOVE OUT, THIS IS NOT VERY PRACTICAL.
- The Asta Nielsen program is over :( :( I mean my wallet needed a break and all (or what's left of it more like; I have like €10 left in the bank oh lawd) but I WANT MORE ASTA! Whatever, this totally counts as sad.
- The Dutch postal system has decided to start charging €12,50 for every parcel received from outside of the European Union as of January this year, without any kind of prior warning or whatever, and to also a) lower the value a package from outside the EU is allowed to have without the addressee paying import tax, from €40 to like €25 or some shit, AND b) make the shipping costs the addressee paid count towards the value of the package. Because of all this bullshit, I not only paid €12,50, but €10 in import taxes on top of that, for a pair of boots which only cost me €20, purely because the shipping fee was high. So BASICALLY what I am trying to communicate here is that the higher echelons of the Dutch postal system are comprised largely if not entirely of motherfuckers. Now plz excuse me while I choke a bitch because they made me pay more to receive my boots than the boots themselves actually fucking cost, and all this ENTIRELY without warning. Ughghghghh.
- I have a really fucking important resit on March 9 and I don't know where I'm going to find the time to study rasjdg;asdlgkj
- Last but not least: I just managed to deposit a scaldingly hot cup of tea in my lap, half on my leg (ow ow ow) and half on my previously-white dress. I hope the stains come out D:

Okaaaay I am done being a debbie downer! Awesome! Tomorrow I am going to meet up with a friend to discuss our summer holiday plans and Friday is my parents' anniversary and Saturday I'm going to pick out paint for my room with a_suitcase, so my life is pretty good!

Ahh these last few days have been good!

On Saturday I went shopping for boring useful things and then to the Erwin Olaf exhibit at the local photo museum, both with a friend who moved to Australia and is here for the holidays. It was the last day of the exhibition and I'd almost forgotten it was on and that I'd wanted to see it until my friend was all RAHAKLGSGH YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IT IS GOOD and I was all OMG I FORGOT so then we went together. Conclusion: it was good!

When I get back from Stockholm I'm buying a poster with this photo on it:


DEAR GOD I WANT TO BE THIS GIRL OKAY PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN ASAP

Then yesterday I went to see my bb Asta's Hamlet which was SO AWESOME, aah. The live music was really good and the film was really good and my bb Asta was REALLY GOOD and also did I mention that the place where we saw the film looked like this:











Can you tell this is my favourite cinema? We actually saw the film in the big auditorium ohhh it was great.

AND finally, today I ran a thousand million five hundred last minute oh-god-need-to-do-this-before-Stockholm errands and then went to Leiden to meet a_suitcase who is awesome and fun and also MY NEW HOUSEMATE?! I have a room in Leiden guys hell yes!

Fortunately for me I am not done being busy yet:
# I leave for Stockholm tomorrow, where my boyfriend and I will be going "OH THIS IS COLD BUT KIND OF AWESOME" until Thursday.
# Thursday I am probably going shopping with some classmates, fresh off the airplane back from Stockholm. Why I do this to myself I do not know.
# Friday I leave for some backwoods place in NL for dispute weekend.
# Saturday I leave the weekend for a couple of hours to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday with him in Amsterdam.
# Sunday the weekend ends and I go to Amsterdam with the boyfriend yet again, to reunite with my beloved Asta Nielsen festival.
# Monday evening I get on the ferry and head Londonwards with the English study association (including some classmates/friends of mine \o/)
# Friday I come back I think? And then Saturday I leave to spend the weekend in some weird bungalow park type place somewhere in NL with friends.

AND THEN finally January is done and so are my wild adventures of not being home. Upon which I will promptly not be home again because I will be MOVING TO LEIDEN!

Um. That is, if I'm still alive by then. WISH ME LUCK YOU GUYS because I don't know how I'm going to keep my energy up and my bank account not empty until February D:

Sooo yes. I will be mostly-absent from here until February I guess. That seems weirdly long!

Oh lord D:

I am on the verge of breaking down and buying these boots:



(picture shamelessly stolen from someone on wiwt2)

They cost just under €55 all in all. Technically I have this money but... I'm also still going to Stockholm and London and on weekends and on trips to Amsterdam?

PLEASE STOP ME INTERNET!!!

Also I have finally seen my first Asta film in the theatre! I went to see an Asta double feature last week with electricwitch but the ENTIRE DANISH EMBASSY had decided to also go, so it was sold out. Yesterday I actually got in! It was Nach dem Gesetz and it was pretty awesome, even though it had a reaaally weird moral to it (if you have lofty selfless ideals, feel free to kill rich people and steal their money to donate it to the cause! Jail time is worth it!) but Asta was fieerce and it's so amazing seeing a silent film in the theatre and with live music!

Der Absturz is showing today, but I don't think I'll be going because a) I've gone yesterday and am going again for Hamlet tomorrow, b) I don't want to go on my own today cause I'm feeling kinda blah, and c) seeing an Asta film in Amsterdam is HELLA EXPENSIVE. Like, if I skip today that pays over half of the price of those boots up there D:

I'll still be seeing like 9 more Asta films in the theatre this month and next so I hope I can manage to... not hate myself for not going today? It's just... all that money D:

ETA: I BOUGHT THE BOOTS. JSYK I'm going to blame it all on you guys so I can sleep peacefully tonight.

Hahaaa this is going to be the most boring entry in the history of my LJ (and that is saying something)! You guys had better skip this or something.

Sooo I'm really tired right now, actually-for-real-falling-asleep-on-my-keyboard tired, and it's only 9:30 pm?? COME ON NOW SELF! I guess it's cause I had to get up early to take a stupid exam. Facts: tiredness sucks and so do exams.

What's also funny is that the ceiling in my room is literally at risk of coming down, all of it, at any given moment, as diagnosed by... some guy who knows about these things. I don't know what you call them in English, whatever. I've been telling my parents for, oh, a year? about the huge crack in my ceiling which has slowly been turning into more of an upside-down canyon type deal, but they didn't listen until the whole thing was apparently SET TO COLLAPSE and now I have been banned from my room for ~4 weeks and will be sleeping in our tiny tiny jam-packed-with-crap spare bedroom. This is especially fun because I HAVE EXAMS THIS WEEK AND NEXT and my CEILING IS COLLAPSING??? I don't even know. I'm just pissy that I can't sleep in my own bed anymore and that I have to clear out my entire room for the people who are going to fix this, even though I don't have the time, much less the energy to empty my whole wardrobe and bookcase and take apart my bed and shit because hi, EXAMS?

Luckily for me I have also discovered Bollywood films like... two days ago, and they are doing a pretty good job of cheering me up with weird dance sequences and glitter and really groovy songs. If any of you are knowledgeable about Bollywood films (or at least more knowledgeable than I am, which... you basically are if you know more than three films), plz hit me up with some recs or I may have to stop procrastinating!

I would post a cute B'wood cap to make this post less awful or something, but I'm too lazy. Have something that's already on my photobucket instead, namely CLARK GABLE WITH MOTHERFUCKING PUPPIES.



For reals, if this image does not make up for this mess of a post then idk what will. LOOK AT IT IT IS CLARK GABLE WITH MOTHERFUCKING PUPPIES.

Now if you'll excuse me I will go study some more and/or die. Pls remember me fondly.

OH MY GOD

YOU GUYS

DDDD:

I'm going to be really busy this January - like, half a month of exams and four different weekends/trips away kind of busy - and now I found out that the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam is having a freaking FESTIVAL ABOUT ASTA NIELSEN. Festival as in SEVENTEEN OF HER FREAKING FILMS. Oh my god oh my god.

Let me just break this down: I do not have a lot of money at all. All of the money I do have is going towards 1) accomodation, food and activities in Stockholm for two days, 2) birthday present for my boyfriend, 3) food and activities during dispute weekend, 4) food and activities in London for four days and 5) food and activities during a weekend with a group of friends. This alone will probably leave me completely broke (thank you self for your marvellous planning!)

AND NOW THEY TELL ME THERE ARE SEVENFUCKINGTEEN ASTA NIELSEN FILMS PLAYING IN JANUARY?! Somebody up there wants me dead you guys D:

There are five films I won't be able to attend due to them being played during my dispute weekend and chillin'-with-friends-in-a-cabin weekend, which leaves... twelve. Twelve. Five of them are thankfully being played on the same day during a seminar (topics: 'Playing History: Asta Nielsen in Early Cinema', 'Asta Nielsen, Fashion and Modernity' and 'The tears of Asta Nielsen', OH MY GOD) so I'll only have to pay once to see all of those, but oh my god I am going to be in the red (and completely overworked) by the end of January, you guys.

WHY DO I HAVE TO BE OBSESSED WITH OBSCURE DEAD ACTORS INTERNET WHY



Oh yeah because they're kinda awesome I guess.

Also: electricwitch you have to come see an Asta film with me at least once ok!!

Dear baby brother:

BITCH WHY YOU GOTTA GET ME HOOKED ON TRUE BLOOD?

I mean it's not like I have a metric ton of work to do rn or anything. AGH.

Also I am seeing real creepy stalker potential in the way vampires in the series can track people who have drunk their (the vampires') blood? Like, all you have to do is mix some of your blood into your girlfriend's drink once and voila, stalkervision switched on! That's kinda creepy. Luckily and by great coincidence, Love Interest Vampire is just not that kinda guy! And I still want to watch this despite rolling my eyes at that and not even being that into vampires. Like, at all. Idek you guys. Whyyyyyyy

Also guess what else I got for my birthday!



HELL YES