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Welcome to my Blog! Anybody, providing he knows how to be amusing, has the right to
talk about himself. -
Charles Baudelaire In 2013 I started a series of photo albums on Blurb.com, named '36Exp' (a subject adressed in 36 exposures, a reference to the exposures on most common rolls of 35 mm film: 12, 24 & 36.). The books can be ordered directly from the Blurb.com website. |
CATHEDRAL OF THE PINES by GREGORY CREWDSON | PHOTOGRAPHY
Gregory Crewdson (b.26Sep1962) is an American photographer. He photographs tableaux of American homes and neighborhoods. As a teenager, he was part of a punk rock group called The Speedies that hit the New York scene. Their song, 'Let Me Take Your Photo' proved to be prophetic to Crewdson's future career. In 2005, Hewlett Packard used the song in advertisements to promote its digital cameras. Crewdson's photographs usually take place in small-town America, but are dramatic and cinematic. They feature often disturbing, surreal events. The creation of the self defined American realist landscape photographer and his peculiar style originates from Crewdson’s long appreciation for 20th century melodramas and literature. Gregory Crewdson’s most recognized and iconic collection is 'Beneath the Roses', similar to his previous projects, its haunted urgency and profound dislocation from the audience is uncomfortable yet familiar. In this exhibition, Gregory Crewdson departs from his interest in uncanny suburban subjects and explores human relations within more natural environments. en.wikipedia.org:_Gregory_Crewdson [25SEP2017]
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BRAQUO | FRECH CRIME DRAMA TV-SERIES ![]() Braquo is a French crime drama television series created by Olivier Marchal. It was produced by Capa Drama with the participation of Canal+ in association with Marathon Group, Be-Films and RTBF. Braquo was first broadcast in France from 12 October to 2 November 2009. The name of the series comes from the French word braquage, meaning armed robberies, particularly of banks. We've just finished watching season 3 and it was a great pleasure to get reacqainted! This 3rd and apparently final season was announced by lead actor Jean-Hugues Anglade in 2011. However, the ending of the 3rd season, with two separate plot strands left unfinished, suggested a possible return. I love this French version of 'Scandi Noir': Braquo is as 'noir' as it gets: the rough & tough main characters, the dilapidated police headquarters, back alleys and abandoned factories... Dark and bitter! The fourth - and final - season of Braquo was shot between February and June 2015 in Marseille and Paris. It is directed by Xavier Palud and Frédéric Jardin and written by Abdel Raouf Dafri. It screened in France in September 2016. Main characters: In this 3rd series we see former Internal Affairs Vogel return to revenge himself on Eddy Caplan. Vogel finds an uncomfortable accomplice in a young woman who is as intend on taking revenge on Caplan as The main plot of the 3rd series is the Russian maffia increasing their foothold in France, but Machiavellian conspiracies start when their 'capo di tutti capi' dies of illness (lead poisening by the many tattoos he got while in prison). www.capatv.com/en/portfolio-item/braquo-season-3/ [24SEP2017]
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PEAKY BLINDERS | CRIME DRAMA FICTION TV-SERIES Peaky Blinders is a British television crime drama based upon the exploits of the Romani/Irish Peaky Blinders gang, which operated in Birmingham, England, during the aftermath of World War I. The first series aired on BBC Two on 13Sep2013 and ran for 6 episodes. The 2nd series premiered on 02Oct2014. The 3rd series premiered on 05May2016. On 26May2016, the BBC announced they had ordered a 4th and 5th series of the show. Series 4 will likely be released late 2017. en.wikipedia.org:_Peaky_Blinders_(TV_series) [23SEP2017]
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THE BLACK SWAN by NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB | BOOKS
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b.1960- ) is a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader, and risk analyst, whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by The Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II. Taleb is an author, has been a professor at several universities, serving as Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering since September 2008, and as co-editor in chief of the academic journal, Risk and Decision Analysis since September 2014. He criticized the risk management methods used by the finance industry and warned about financial crises, subsequently profiting from the late-2000s financial crisis. He proposes antifragility in systems, that is, an ability to benefit and grow from a certain class of random events, errors, and volatility as well as "convex tinkering" as a method of scientific discovery, by which he means that decentralized experimentation outperforms directed research. 'The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable' was released on 17Apr2007 by Random House. The book also covers subjects relating to knowledge, aesthetics, and ways of life, and uses elements of fiction in making its points. The author frequently shares anecdotes from his own life to elaborate his theories. The book is part of Taleb's four volume philosophical essay on uncertainty, titled the Incerto and covers the following books: Antifragile (2012), The Black Swan (2007–2010), Fooled by Randomness (2001) and The Bed of Procrustes (2010–2016). en.wikipedia.org:_The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable [23SEP2017]
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MAPS Ever since my schooldays I have had a fascination for maps, in all shapes and sizes. As a boy I used to circle places (e.g. the National Parks in the US in my 'Bosatlas') I dreamed of visiting.
[23SEP2017]
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MY FAVOURITE BOOKSTORES Bookstores which impressed me the most on my travels, sofar: Blackwell's of Oxford (at Broad Street) Foyles of London (Charing Cross) Topping & Co Bookstore, Ely, England Title Wave in Anchorage, Alaska Powell's Books in Portland,Oregon Kinokuniya, Siam Paragon, Bangkok [15SEP2017]
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UNFORGOTTEN | CRIME DRAMA TV-SERIES
Unforgotten is a British television crime drama, first broadcast on ITV on 08Oct2015. I had seen the first series and found it for plot and drama a notch or two above average 'whodunnits'. After the success of the first series (nominated for the BAFTA award for Best Drama Series), ITV commissioned a 2nd series, with Lang returning as writer. Unforgotten series 2 is probably even better than the first series! Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar show sterling performances. I am glad a 3rd series has been announced. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgotten [09SEP.2017]
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CONTEMPLATING CONSPIRACIES I contemplate #warontyranny #corporatetyranny [08SEP2017]
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SPOMENIK | MONUMENTS I had never heard of 'Spomenik' until this day, when I read an article in DeGroene about these monuments in Tito's Yugoslavia! From Wikipedia: Monumental. www.jankempenaers.info [08SEP2017]
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GERRY RAFFERTY | MUSICIAN MUSIC Autumn. Melancholy straining the levees. Gerald 'Gerry' Rafferty (b.16Apr1947 – d.04Jan2011) was a Scottish singer-songwriter best known for his solo hits 'Baker Street', 'Right Down the Line' and 'Night Owl', as well as 'Stuck in the Middle with You' recorded with the band Stealers Wheel. In 1969 Rafferty became the third member of a folk-pop group, The Humblebums, composed of comedian Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey. Harvey left shortly afterwards, and Rafferty and Connolly continued as a duo, recording two albums for Transatlantic Records. Legal issues after the break-up of Stealers Wheel meant that, for 3 years, Rafferty was unable to release any material. After the disputes were resolved in 1978, he recorded his 2nd solo album, 'City to City', which included the song with which he remains most identified, 'Baker Street'. In 1983, Rafferty announced his intention to take a break and devote more time to his family: "It dawned on me that since Baker Street I had been touring the world, travelling everywhere and seeing nowhere. Whatever I do in the future, it's at my own pace, on my own terms." Rafferty released 2 further albums in the 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, new technology enabled Rafferty to distance himself even further from the conventional approach of the music industry and work entirely on his own terms. In 2009 Rafferty released 'Life Goes On'. In 1965, 18-year-old Rafferty met 15-year-old Carla Ventilla, an apprentice hairdresser from an Italian family in Clydebank, at a dancehall—a story he later recounted in the song "Shipyard Town" on North and South. They married in 1970 and lived in Scotland with their daughter, Martha Mary, before moving to the south of England in the late 1970s. In October 2013 Peter Cameron released a biography of Rafferty entitled "Stuck in the Middle with Gerry Rafferty", published by the independent publisher Linn. en.wikipedia.org:_Gerry_Rafferty [08SEP2017]
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MUSKIETENGAT by JOHN TER HORST | BOOKS HISTORY ![]()
[04SEP2017]
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SECTION DE RECHERCHES | FRENCH TV CRIME DRAMA
![]() Section de recherches is a French television series that was first broadcast on TF1 on 11May2006. I recently came across this series, broadcasted on Belgium's Canvas, and have only seen the 2nd series (located at Nice). Plotlines were entertaining, but not the best French crime drama I have seen sofar. en.wikipedia.org:_Section_de_recherches [17AUG2017]
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THE CORONER | BRITISH TV CRIME DRAMA SERIES
![]() The Coroner is a BBC Birmingham ('feel-good') drama series of 20 episodes, starring Claire Goose as Jane Kennedy. Matt Bardock has a very nice role as Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins. Jane Kennedy returns to Lighthaven as the local coroner. She works with Davey Higgins, a Detective Sergeant in the South Dart police; they were childhood sweethearts and he broke her heart. The BBC announced on 02March2017 that there would be no further series. [17AUG2017]
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SEBASTIÃO SALGADO 'GENESIS' | PHOTOGRAPHY
Genesis is the magnum opus of world-renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. To create his ode to our fragile planet, Salgado travelled to such remote regions such as the Galapagos Islands, Madagascar and Antarctica: places where people and animals still live in harmony with each other and with the natural world. nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/en/exhibition/salgado-genesis [10AUG2017]
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SO ANYWAY... by JOHN CLEESE | BOOKS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
John Marwood Cleese (b.27Oc1939 - ) is an English actor, voice actor, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom 'Fawlty Towers', with Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. This is a very entertaining look at Mr. Cleese’s early life. It must not have been easy for Mr. Cleese as a child. He was tall at a very early age — five-foot three at age 8 and over six feet tall at 12. Being that height so early in life not only makes you stand out in a crowd. Mr. Cleese weaves his recollections seamlessly together while along the way displaying some of his sardonic observations, I envisage him making his remarks with clenched fists and teeth but in a very polite and eloquent manner. Having had to deal with BBC scrutiny and 'political correctness' (which he abhors) he quite enjoys putting his readers (his audience) at arms length and uttering the occacional 'fuck'! An excellent book by one of the best comedy writers of his generation, even though he did not include much from his Monty Python days. www.washingtontimes.com/.../book-review-so-anyway [01AUG2017]
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FOLLOW THE MONEY (SEASON 2) | TV SERIES CRIME FICTION DRAMA ![]() ![]()
Cast: [31JUL2017]
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STREETS OF THE WORLD EXPO & BOOK | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOBOOKS
Photography by Jeroen Swolffs, who travelled all over the world to depict streetscenes in every country in a sphere of positive spirits and hope.
[29JUL2017]
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ON READING ('36 Exp'-series) by RUUD LEEUW | PHOTOBOOKS
[25JUL2017]
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BROADCHURCH, SERIES 3 | TV-SERIES CRIME FICTION DRAMA ![]() Broadchurch is a British television crime drama, produced for and first broadcasted on ITV. The first series, which premiered on 04Mar2013, focused on the death of an 11-year-old boy and the impact of grief, mutual suspicion and media attention on the town's community. While one can enjoy series 3 without having seen series 1 or 2, aspects of these series continue in three. Broadchurch series 1 focused on the search for a boy's murderer by detectives Alec Hardy (played by David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (played by Olivia Colman). Alec Hardy saw his marriage and his career going on the rocks and is hoping to start afresh in Broadchurch, but has difficulties adapting. Ellie Miller annoys him immensely, with her empathy and emotions, but she finds his weak spots, finds great pleasure in teasing him while contributing with her perspective to the investigations and knowledge of the local community. The series was created and written by Chris Chibnall, who was inspired by the Jurassic Coast of Britain to set his crime drama in a fictional, close-knit small town in Dorset. Harbour Cliff and Beach in West Bay, Dorset is often featured in the background while filming. Series 2 primarily focuses on two plot strands: the trial of the murderer (who after initial confession claims to be innocent when on trial and is set free) and the reopening of the Sandbrook case (backgroud of Alec Hardy). Tennant, Colman and most of the cast of series one returned for series 2, as we see many familiar faces in series 3. A U.S. remake in one season, Gracepoint, also created by Chris Chibnall and starring Tennant, aired on 2014 on Fox. The French channel France 2 also announced an adaptation, titled Malaterra. Filming for the series 3 began in May 2016 and broadcast started on 27Feb2017. The final series follows Miller and Hardy as they investigate a serious sexual assault. In all three series the personal background and family issues of Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller ('Millerrrrr...' ) add to the drama, lifting Broadchurch's entertainment to a level much higher than a simple 'whodunnit'. The working relation between Hardy and Miller provide a glimmer of humor, which I do so appreciate. Also again an excellent role by Jodie Whittaker, as Beth (the mother of Danny, the murder victim in series 1 and again in a starring role in series 3); recently it was announced that she is to become the next 'Doctor Who', the 13th and first woman in that role! Enjoyed all three series tremendously, Tennant and Colman had a great raport between each other and the drama was intense. en.wikipedia.org:_Broadchurch http://www.imdb.com/ [24JUL2017]
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THREATS OF PAIN AND RUIN by THEODORE DALRYMPLE | BOOKS
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The man himself has this to say of this book: I can only hope that they entertain the reader as they have entertained me. At least they will do no harm, in compliance with the first principle of medical ethics..' Some background from Wikipedia- Regarding his pseudonym 'Theodore Dalrymple', he wrote that he "... chose a name that sounded suitably dyspeptic, that of a gouty old man looking out of the window of his London club, port in hand, lamenting the degenerating state of the world". Meanwhile he followed some adventurous paths in his life! www.goodreads.com/book/show/22239152-threats-of-pain-and-ruin
[20JUL2017]
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FARGO (SERIES 1) | TV-SERIES FICTION CRIME The 1st season of this black comedy-crime drama tv-series Fargo, premiered on 15Apr2014, on FX. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks and Martin Freeman, the season consisted of 10 episodes. Set in January 2006, the season follows drifter Lorne Malvo (Thornton) who stops at a hospital in Bemidji, Minnesota following a car accident and influences local mild-mannered insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Freeman) with his violent and deceptive ways. Their meeting sets forth a series of murders throughout the city. Meanwhile, Deputy Molly Solverson (Tolman) and Officer Gus Grimly (Hanks) of Duluth, Minnesota attempt to solve several crimes across the state they believe may be linked to Malvo and Nygaard. Filming of the first season began in Calgary, Alberta in late 2013 and concluded in 2014. It is one of the few US tv series I actually enjoyed, being a fan of Billy Bob Thornton, I had enjoyed the original (1996) Academy Award-winning film Fargo and found all key actors here (including Colin Hanks as Officer Gus Grimly, Keith Carradine as Lou Solverson and Police Chief Bill Oswalt played by Bob Odenkirk) doing a wonderful job. I have been a fan of Martin Freeman since his role in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) and his part as Watson in the Sherlock tv-series (starring Benedict Cumberbatch). Am looking forward to see Fargo 2 and Fargo 3! en.wikipedia.org:_Fargo_(season_1) [18JUL2017]
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ABANDONED PLACES by HENK VAN RENSBERGEN | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO BOOKS As a photographer Henk van Rensbergen explores the empty buildings of our times, an urban world where mankind has disappeared. In Belgium he is considered one of the pioneers of Urban Exploring in Belgium. He started some 30 years ago, venturing in abandoned hospitals, factories, hotels, etc The photos in 'Abandoned Places' (published in 2016, as a spin off of the bigger coffee table book, which was published 2 years earlier) show the silent beauty and the macabre decay of these places, sometimes revealing their secrets… "Some of the photos were taken at locations I visited during my stay after flights, most however are the result of planned explorations. I prefer to set out on my own, but with many locations it isn’t wise to do so. I am very aware of the legal questions involved. Therefore I never break my way in, I don’t invade ones privacy, take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints." The photos reproduce the atmosphere that reigns inside these abandoned places, the presence of people is still very tangible and it is that eerie ghost-like feeling that stirs the imagination. As a kid van Rensbergen first started doing this exploring, he clearly remembers the urge to explore one freightening abandoned villa in the dunes of Oostduinkerke, a Belgian coastal town and that one started a long series of explorations! Henk van Rensbergen (Brussels, b.1968) is an airline pilot, and currently flies as a Captain on the Boeing 787. He has already had several exhibitions and was represented at different art fairs. This book contains 160 pages, has a hardcover and the size is roughly A5. [17JUL2017]
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