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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 Not even I understand everything I am ¬Aurelius Augustinus of Hippo 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.). |
KASTEELTUIN ASSUMBURG | HISTORY GARDEN CASTLE
Centrally in the park Assumburg / Oud Haerlem there is a castle garden, behind castle Assumburg, of which I only recently became aware. Yesterday I went there for a visit, inspite of the fact the rosarium and herb garden were, of course, not yet in full bloom. Reconstruction dates from 1997-2011. More photos on https:www.flickr.com/dutchsimba/albums [31MAR2019]
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SHETLAND, SEASON 5 | TV CRIME FICTION DRAMA ![]() 'Shetland' is a British television crime drama television series, made by ITV Studios for the BBC and broadcast on BBC One; it was first broadcast in 2013. The series stars Douglas Henshall as Jimmy Perez, a detective inspector working for the Shetland police, Alison O'Donnell as Detective Sergeant Alison 'Tosh' Macintosh, and Steven Robertson as Detective Constable Sandy Wilson. Mark Bonnar (as Duncan), Lewis Howden (Sgt Billy), Erin Armstrong (Jimmy's daughter Cassie) and Julie Graham (Jimmy's superior Rhona) are also principal members of the cast. The story takes place largely on the Scottish archipelago of that name, although much of the filming takes place on the Scottish mainland. The stories are based upon the novels by Ann Cleeves. Douglas Henshall won the 2016 BAFTA Scotland award for best actor for his role as Jimmy Perez, and the series received the award for Best TV Drama. This 5th series commences with body parts washing ashore of a person subsequently identified as Daniel, a young man from Nigeria. It is found that he was looking for his younger sister. This brings the storyline to that of people trafficking. On a personal level Jimmy develops feelings for a married woman, Alice (role by Catherine Walker), while Duncan bunks with Jimmy because his wife kicked him out and his business is down the drain. Sandy becomes under investigation of 'criminal negligence'.. Again a pleasure to watch, 'Shetland' remains in my top 5 of top crime drama entertainment. en.wikipedia.org:_Shetland_(TV_series) www.imdb.com/ www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/... /shetland-series-5-cast/ (a who is who..) Clips of series 5 on BBC One website [30MAR2019]
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MURAL: BOOKS (UTRECHT) | STREETART
www.rtvutrecht.nl/(NL) - still above from this RTV Utrecht video. [28MAR2019]
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TRAPPED - SEASON 2 | CRIME FICTION TV-SERIES
![]() Trapped (Icelandic: Ófærð) is an Icelandic television crime drama series, produced by RVK Studios and first broadcasted in Iceland on RÚV in December 2015. The first series of 10 episodes see Andri Olafsson (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), the chief of police in a remote town in Iceland, solving the murder of a former townsman whose mutilated corpse is recovered by fishermen. The 1st episode of the 2nd series premiered on RÚV on 26 December 2018, while I watched it on BBC Four during February/March 2019. On Facebook I had read some negative remarks on the 2nd series, not as good as the 1st series, but I do not agree on this. While the first season heavily depended on severe winter circumstances (impressively filmed indeed) and a murder mystery, the 2nd series has more meat to the bone with plotlines involving foreign investments met by hostile sentiments, terrorism, pollution, foreign workers, homosexuality, agriculture against industrial development as well as drama in relations of the main characters Andri (now detective in Reykjavik, sent up north to investigate) and Chief of Police Hinrika. The mysteries involving the several murders, a suicide and attempted murder see an unexpected outcome as well. Hinrika is a prominent and excellent role by Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir: actress, screenwriter and also politician! Plenty of drama and crime through all 10 episodes to keep one very much entertained, Pleased to find a 3rd series can be expected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapped_(Icelandic_TV_series) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3561180/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 [24MAR2019]
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DRESSED FOR DEATH by DONNA LEON | CRIME FICTION NOVEL BOOKS ![]() Dutch title: 'De Dood Draagt Rode Schoenen'
Commissario Guido Brunetti's hopes for a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera - a body, a man dressed as a woman (quickly assumed to be a prostitute), so badly beaten the face is completely unrecognizable. Pleasant reading. [22MAR2019]
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KEUKENHOF | FLOWERS FLOWERBULBS TOURISM
And for the perfect selfie... Yesterday 'De Keukenhof' opened its yearly presentation (21Mar-19May). The sun came out this afternoon, we decided to go; not all bulbbeds were yet in full bloom, but the amount of tourists had not yet peaked as well! Keukenhof (EN: Kitchen garden), also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in Lisse, Netherlands. These flowers are a calling card for the flower industry. The presentation here at De Keukenhof results in the flowerbulb industry getting some 1.500 press contacts each year, both national as well as inter-national. www.flickr.com/photos/ more photos of this visit [22MAR2019]
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DE DAM by FRED FEDDES | HISTORY BOOKS
The Dam, celebrated as the centre of the Netherlands, the national square of Holland in Amsterdam, it features the Royal Palace, the National Monument and the monumental Nieuwe Kerk (host to major exhibition including the yearly World Press Photo). Over time it changed in appearance several times, as the many illustrations in this book shows. I was pleased to note the location of 't Schilt van Vranckrijck, almost on the Dam, an inn where Cosimo III stayed during his stay in Amsterdam in the 17th century (Cosimo's travels in the Netherlands was reviewed further down this page). Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin around a dam in the While this book focusses on a small, albeit important part of Amsterdam, it also provides a timeline of historic events through the ages. The fun thing is this book is richly decorated with images and illustrations, dating from the 17th century upto and including more recent photos by Ed van der Elsken! www.fredfeddes.nl/english [18MAR2019]
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SPRINGVLOED (SPRINGFLODEN) SEASON 2 | TV-SERIES CRIME DRAMA ![]()
Spring Tide (Swedish: Springfloden; Dutch: Springvloed) is a Swedish television drama series. In this 2nd series we see Abbas (Dar Salim), who had a late appearance in the 1st series, investigate the murder of his first love in Marseille. Tom initially helps him, but Abbas and his knifes leave a trail of blood and Tom is sent home by the local investigating officer, Michelle. For a long time we remain in suspense how the plotlines of Marseille and Stockholm will connect. Julia Ragnarsson played a starring role in Blinded (Fartblinda, 2019) as journalist Bea Farkas (MyBlog 2020Q4). www.imdb.com/ [15MAR2019]
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EVERYONE A PHOTOGRAPHER | PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
[12MAR2019]
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EDGE OF CIVILIZATION by EDDY VAN WESSEL | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOJOURNALISM
Today I visited the Leica Store in Amsterdam, for Eddy van Wessel's photography on display in the basement. At the time of writing Eddy is at work in Baghuz, Syria. [12MAR2019]
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THE TRUTH WILL OUT | TV-SERIES CRIME DRAMA
We also see plotlines developing with Peter's team: administrator Barbro Svensson (Ia Langhammer), Caijsa Bergholm (Louise Peterhoff) and Jorma Virttanen (Christopher Wagelin) - the latter two not without blemishes in their careers. An excellent series, true 'scandi-noir'! IMDb: Det som göms i snö / The Truth Will Out [10MAR2019]
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PHOTOS FROM JAPAN by PAULIEN OLTHETEN | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOBOOK
Paulien Oltheten (b. 1982) travels the globe with her camera, casually but precisely capturing photos and video footage of people on the streets who are passing by, waiting or hanging around. Sometimes she asks the person to change his or their attitude, in other words to pose. I found it very annoying to have captions referring to a previous page, the need for swapping pages. [10MAR2019]
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1666 by REBECCA RIDEAL | BOOKS HISTORY ![]()
The book begins in the spring of 1665, among London’s "barking dogs, clattering carts, calling pigeons and chattering early risers" on a grey Tuesday, just three days after a grand, trumpeted procession swept through the capital declaring war on the Dutch. The great events of the mid-1660s are told from the English point of view: the fire in London that flattened most of the medieval City, the great plague that killed around a quarter of the capital’s inhabitants and the second Anglo-Dutch war. Born in Chester in 1983, Rideal studied history at Leeds and had been pursuing her interest alongside her TV career, first with an MA at University College London and then by founding The History Vault, an online magazine exploring less familiar corners of the past in essays, book reviews and interviews. A wonderful book. And so nice it matched the book about Cosimo III (below), for he decided to start travelling through Europe when he found the second Anglo-Dutch war had ended. www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/25/rebecca-rideal [10APR2019]
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DAVID 'CHIM' SEYMOUR, PHOTOGRAPHER | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EXHIBITION
I was just in time to visit this large retrospective exhibition of the Jewish Polish-American photographer David 'Chim' Seymour (1911-1956), at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, until March 10th. David Seymour was one of the greatest documentary photographers ('photojournalist') of the 20th century and was one of a group which included his friends Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson who founded the photo agency Magnum Photos, in 1947. jck.nl/en/exhibition/chim-david-seymour [.....2019]
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EEN TOSCAANSE PRINS BEZOEKT NEDERLAND | HISTORY TRAVEL BOOKS ![]() 'De twee reizen van Cosimo de' Medici 1667-1669'
Cosimo III de' Medici (b.14Aug1642 – d.31Oct1723) was the penultimate (6th) Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Prince Cosimo was running away from a less romantic marriage to Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a cousin of Louis XIV and he took the opportunity to make these Grand Tours in preparation of his career as www.lubberhuizen.nl/ (NL) [04MAR2019]
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THE ICE LANDS by STEINAR BRAGI | BOOKS THRILLER MYSTERY
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Set against Iceland's volcanic hinterlands, two couples (more or less) set out on an impromptu trip in a car. From Wikipedia: "Steinar Bragi (full name: Steinar Bragi Guðmundsson) is an Icelandic writer born August 15, 1975. en.wikipedia.org:_Steinar_Bragi [.....2019]
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MAMMON SERIES 2 | DVD TV-SERIES CRIME DRAMA In MyBlog 2018 Q3 I discussed the first series, while entertaining I found it sometimes confusing which I thought had to do with only 6 episodes cramping the plot. This 2nd season has 8 episodes and succeeded much better in portraying a multi-facetted plot to the viewer. Political machinations, high-finance subterfuge, investigative journalism and murder victims with seemingly extreme-right connections, plenty of suspense & drama. It's all in there! Recurrent roles for Jon Øigarden as journalist Peter Verås, Nils Ole Oftebro as Frank Mathiesen (editor) and Ingjerd Egeberg as Eva Verås, Peter's sister-in-law. Am hoping a 3rd series will be commisioned soon! en.wikipedia.org:_Mammon_(TV_series) [.....2019]
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DONKERE DAGEN - MARTIN BRIL | BOOKS COLUMNS
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laikaspoetnik.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/martin-bril [.....2019]
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VERA - 9th SEASON| FICTIONAL TV CRIME DRAMA
![]() 'Vera' is a British television crime drama series based on novels of the same name, written by crime I recently watched Series 9, unfortunately I missed the 1st episode (this run had only 4 episodes). www.imdb.com [.....2019]
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BLACK LAKE SERIES 2 | SCANDI TV CRIME DRAMA SERIES
![]() Black Lake series 1 was discussed earlier on my blog (2017 Q4) and I visualize a 2nd series (announced in 2017) until I found it was a prequel to the first. But I found that out after having seen this 2nd series. This 2nd series was broadcast in Sweden and Denmark from October 2018, followed by a BBC Four broadcast commencing on 29Dec2018 which I recorded and watched recently. www.imdb.com [.....2019]
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GESICHTER DES NORDENS by RAGNAR AXELSSON | PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOBOOK
Ragnar 'RAX' Axelsson is an Icelandic photographer who has spent the past few decades photographing the people of the cold remote places of ‘the North’. Ragnar Axelsson (b.1958), also known as RAX, is an Icelandic photographer. en.wikipedia.org:_Ragnar_Axelsson [19FEB2019]
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FRIDAY ON MY MIND by NICCI FRENCH | BOOKS CRIME FICTION ![]()
By the time his corpse is fished out of the Thames, neurologist Alexander 'Sandy' Holland is scarcely identifiable. But a hospital bracelet he’s wearing labeled 'Dr. F. Klein' leads DCI Sarah Hussein and DC Glen Bryant to Frieda, and she makes the dry-eyed identification. www.kirkusreviews.com/.../friday-on-my-mind/ [07FEB2019]
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THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH by DONNA LEON | BOOKS CRIME FICTION ![]()
www.publishersweekly.com [07FEB2019]
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ZILVEREN CAMERA 2018 | PHOTO JOURNALISM AWARD Dutch photographer Cynthia Boll has won the Dutch photography award Zilveren Camera ('Silver Camera') 2018 in the category Documentary International for her photo series Sinking Cities, Jakarta. The series is a direct result of her photo project The People Behind The Seawall, that DutchCulture helped produce. dutchculture.nl/nl/news/zilveren-camera-award [06FEB2019] |
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STONEMOUTH | TV-FILM CRIME FICTION Stonemouth is a 2012 novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. The novel was published in 2012 and was filmed in a two episode tv-film. Stewart Gilmour returns to Stonemouth, a fictional seaport town north of Aberdeen, for a funeral. It is five years since he ran away to London after a sexual indiscretion at a wedding. Stonemouth is controlled by two rival gangs, the Murstons and the MacAvetts, and Gilmour was engaged to a member of the former clan before he had to leave. [.27JAN2019]
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IN A HOUSE OF LIES by IAN RANKIN | CRIME FICTION NOVEL BOOKS ![]() Another splendid novel by Ian Rankin, again featuring the three partite: John Rebus, DI Siobhan Clarke and DI Malcolm Fox. Three boys discover a car deep in a gully in thick woodland. It has been there for a long time, and there’s a decomposed body in the boot. The legs are handcuffed and appear to be police-issue equipment. Rebus is suffering from COPD (emphysema) and needs to keep an inhaler on him. He had to stop smoking and all but has given up on alcohol; he seems a typical pensioner as he walks his dog Brillo in the Meadows. But from the Meadows he can see the apartment where his old adversary Big Ger Cafferty lives... The protagonist in 'In A House Of Lies' is still John Rebus, though Siobhan is very much on the foreground as well (obviously Rankin may have difficulty writing from the thoughts and emotions of a woman), while Fox has taken a backseat in this novel. www.scotsman.com
[20JAN2019]
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IN ALLE STATEN - MAX WESTERMAN | WORLD MEDIA JOURNALISM ![]() 'Het Amerika van Max Westerman'
While this book was published over 10 years ago (2007, Nieuw Amsterdam) it still provides valuable insights, but it's also very much a pleasure to read through the concise, 'to the point'-style of writing and while critical never negative, Indeed, Max often proclaims his love for this powerful country where people have a plentitude of optimism and bounce back from disappointments for a 2nd (3rd, 4th..) attempt on success and the American Dream. The author keeps it light, there is plenty of self-criticism and he occasionally shares a tongue-in-cheek remark. nl.wikipedia.org:_Max_Westerman (NL) [16JAN2019]
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GOLDSTONE | FILM DVD AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
Indigenous Detective Jay Swan arrives in the frontier town of Goldstone on a missing persons inquiry. What seems like a simple light duty investigation opens a web of crime and corruption. The film has extraordinary sceneries of the outback and the community consists only of a handful of houses and trailers. www.imdb.com
[13JAN2019]
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THE COLOUR OF TIME | HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHY
'The Colour of Time', of which I recently acquired a Dutch translation (published in 2018) spans more than a hundred years of world history from the reign of Queen Victoria and the US Civil War to the Cuban Missile Crisis and beginning of the Space Age. It charts the rise and fall of empires, the achievements of science, industry and the arts, the tragedies of war and the politics of peace, and the lives of men and women who made history. Marina Amaral has created 200 stunning images from the original B&W photos and each photo has a short narrative describing the situation in context. marinamaral.com/the-colour-of-time [.....2019]
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MARC RIBOUD, PHOTOFILE | PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHY
The Photofile series brings together the best work of the world’s greatest photographers in an attractive format and at an affordable price. Handsome and collectible, the books are produced at the highest quality. [10JAN2019]
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FORTITUDE, SEASON 2 | CRIME FICTION TV DRAMA DVD
In this second series I think they tried to cram in so many weird ideas and subplots, things became quite complicated and it needed some knowledge of the first series too to grasp the plotlines. I am not too keen on supernatural aspects in these mystery series, too many easy ways out. [04JAN2019]
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