Half Past Nine

Movie&Movie's

With not much vocal activities right now (no choir rehearsals, no festival organization and administration, etc.) there's lots of time to watch movies in the evenings. I can recommend V for Vendetta, The Prestige, The Wedding Planner and The Holiday. The first two are really great if you love original, unexpected plots and the last two movies are more 'girls only' and should be watched with a friend and lots of M&M's.


The only bad thing about this week is that I can't go to Europa Cantat and I'll miss Rajaton.... :(

But I'm looking forward to Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and G-Force!

Proud

Today I felt a bit like a kid on fathers day. You know the feeling when you made something special in school for your dad, with a little poem which said "you are the best dad in the world!" and you'd feel proud when you could give it to him.
Today I felt so proud of my dad. He came to visit us - and he came by bike. For those who don't know: he doesn't live next door, he lives practically on the other side of the country. Luckily, the Netherlands are not that big, but it's still 162 kilometers!!
After work, I was waiting for him at the end of our street, and there he was:

Borkum

And because all good things come in three: I've written another review for my website. The last one for this season. It's a review from our trip to the island Borkum which included a Wise Guys concert. Apart from the concert, we had a wonderful weekend on the island with sun, sea and beach.

Balve

I've just uploaded a new review on my website. This time an English one, describing the concert from Vocaldente in a cave in Balve (Germany) last Saturday. It's less detailed than usual, but I don't think it's short. Somehow I am not able to write short reviews. But I can write short blog posts! -end-

Dortmund

Endlich ist es da, mein Bericht vom A Cappella Festival in Dortmund zu Pfingsten! Ich weiß übrigens nicht, ob ich nochmals ein so langer Bericht auf Deutsch schreiben werde. Pfffff.... das hat Stunden gedauert! Hahahaha. Wäre schön, wenn ein paar Leute es lesen würden und mir davon berichten, ob dass es gut ist ;)

Still here

I'm still here, don't worry. Just a bit busy. June is a pretty full month this year. Our vocal festival Amusing Hengelo took place last weekend and it was fantastic. Due to this festival though, I didn't have time to finish the review I'm writing about the a cappella festival in Dortmund, which was also absolutely fantastic. I hope to finish writing it today. It's a bit hard, because my notes are too short and not so clear, and I decided to write in German which goes a little slower than English or Dutch. I'll have to dig my memory for the final details. After that I still have to select, edit and add lots of pictures, which I'm already looking forward to :) Maybe I can upload the review tomorrow...

The coming weeks we have planned two small a-cappella-concert-trips to Germany and I'm still doubting if we want to make three of it. Our summer holiday is also coming closer and we still have to think of a sunny, warm destination we want to visit. It's probably going to be a last-minute flight to somewhere south, I guess. Tips and ideas are welcome. Keywords: non-touristic, peaceful, nature, scary-disease-free and I prefer not to fly too long...

Landy

This story is bizarre. Nine years ago, my father-in-law sold the Landrover they had owned for years. The Landrover was very typical for my father-in-law, because he had converted it into a mobile home. He was a very handy man who liked to invent things. They always went camping with the Landrover and when Martin and his sister were young, they all four slept in the car. Mom and dad in the back, Martin on the front seats and his sister in a sort of hammock/bunk bed above him. A tent could be attached to the car to provide more living space. There were dozens of other funny and handy things about the car.

This is during one of our holidays together, in 1999. In the picture Martins mom and dad, my sister, Martins sister, Martin and my parents
He sold the Landrover because he wanted a camper, which would be more comfortable. At some points he was disappointed about the "luxurious" camper, and soon this vehicle was also including typical inventions ;)
Somehow he heard stories about the next owner neglecting "his" Landrover, the axis being broken and the car being demolished. He was sad about it, because he had always been very careful all these years. Maintenance was very important to him.
My father-in-law died in 2004, much to young.
We've always believed the Landrover was demolished, but today my mother-in-law discovered it in our town! She called us, we quickly went to the parking where she'd seen it - and we couldn't believe our eyes. This was really weird, there it was - dads car! A bit older, not so clean and polished as it used to be, but with many of the old attributes. We've been peeping through the windows for at least fifteen minutes. The old cupboards, the small hot plate, the curtains, the rail to attach the tent to the car, etc. Especially Martin recognized many tiny things that all remembered of his father. On the dashboard was an old compass. Martin and his mother have been searching for it a couple of years ago! They never knew it was in the car when they sold it.

Tadaaaa, here it is!
It's really weird what happened today. I wish my father-in-law could have seen it. He'd be so happy to know the car is still there.

-
Those who didn't know about our Landrover-love will now also understand the choice of car on our wedding day:

Stöckchen gefangen

Danke Dani!

Die Regeln
1. Beantworte die Fragen und füge Sie auf deinem Blog ein.
2. Ersetze eine Frage die du nicht magst durch eine neue und füge zusätzlich eine weitere Neue hinzu.
3. Tag 8 weitere Leute! Was, 8?? So viele Blogschreiber kenne ich gar nicht!

Das Spiel
1. Welches Parfüm benutzt du zur Zeit? Gar keine, ist das schlimm?
2. Song des Tages? Also heute? k.A. Blöde Frage, die streiche ich!
Meine neue Frage: Was hast du schon viel zu lange nicht mehr gemacht? Gitarre spielen
3. Was ist dein Lieblingsfilm? Lord of the Rings finde ich immer noch sehr toll. Aber ich habe letztens auch Madagaskar gesehen und The Hunting Party und und und. Eigentlich finde ich jeder Film, der wir in unserem Home Cinema gucken toll... ;)
4. Was ist dein Highlight des Tages? Die Lieferung unsere Gärtenmöbel heute Mittag. Und heute Abend gucken wir Madagaskar II :D
5. Was willst du unbedingt lernen? Technische Details der Fotografie. Ich tue nun immer nur was mir so einfällt.
7. Was hast du zuletzt gekauft? Gärtenmöbel!! Die werden heute geliefert!!
8. Was ist dein Lieblingswetter? Ich bin gegen Regen! Obwohl der Garten im Moment anders sagt.
9. Was ist dein momentan wichtigstes Ziel? Nach diesem Blogeintrag aufstehen und der Haushalt machen...
10. Was denkst du über die Person, die dich getagged hat? Ich habe sie nur einmal getroffen, war aber ganz nett. Würde sie gerne wieder treffen wenn ich in der Nähe bin.
11. Wenn du ein komplett eingerichtetes Haus irgendwo in der Welt bezahlt bekommen würdest, wo würdest du es hin haben wollen? Auf den Malediven. Und wenn, dann möchte ich auch mal tauchen lernen (Frage 5)
12. Was würdest du, wenn du könntest, an dir ändern? Höchstens etwas mehr Selbstsicherheit. Ansonsten gar nichts, ich bin wie ich bin.
13. Wenn du für die nächsten Stunden irgendwo auf der Welt sein könntest, wo wärst du gerne? Hong Kong, eine Freundin besuchen.
14. Was ist dir bei Freunden wichtig? Das man Spaß hat, auch wenn man sie etwas länger nicht gesehen hat, und das die auch in schlechteren Zeiten für sie da sind.
15. Wen würdest du gerne mal treffen? Öhm... ich habe keine Ahnung. Darf man auch zwei Fragen streichen?
16. Was ist dein Lieblingsstück in deinem Kleiderschrank? Die neue Hose die ich vor zwei Wochen gekauft habe. Aber die liegt im Moment nicht in meinem Kleiderschrank, ich habe sie an.
17. Was ist dein Traumjob? Die ganze Welt bereisen und Reiseprogramme im TV machen. Würde ich aber nicht machen, weil ich nicht so lange von Hause weg sein könnte. Aber wenn man das könnte, wow, das ist echt ein Traumjob.
18. Welche sind deine Lieblingsbands? Maybebop, Vocaldente, iNtrmzzo, The Glue, Wise Guys.
19. 3 Dinge die dir ein Lächeln aufs Gesicht zaubern: Sonne, Freizeit, Liebe
20. Was ist deine Lieblingsgroßstadt? In Köln und Hamburg fühle ich mich sehr wohl.
21. Was ist zur Zeit dein Lieblingslied? L'Elixir d'Amour von The Glue
22. Was ist deine Lieblingsserie? "24"
23. Was hast du gerade an? Meine Lieblingshose, ein T-Shirt. Ziemlich casual.
24. Was ist dein Lieblingsbuch? Ich mag ganz viele Bücher, aber "Ich bin dann mal weg" von Hape Kerkeling habe ich schon zweimal gelesen und würde ich ohne Probleme noch ein drittes Mal lesen.
25. Mein Mittagessen: Eine Brotscheibe mit Käse und eine mit Schokostreusel. Sehr Niederländisch.
26. Beschreib dich selber in drei Worten: lieb, perfektionistisch, strukturiert

Das Stöckchen geht an
Maike, Ursel, Schmetterling

Garden part 2

(click to enlarge)

More, more, more....

Vocaldente has finally uploaded sound snippets from their new album and the latest videocast is online.

I always like the Maybebop podcasts, there are 22 of them already! I just watched their latest one.

Voicemale is about to start their new show "At the movies" which sounds like fun.

Just when I think I know quite a lot of different vocal groups already, my brother sends me a link with a movie from a (new) vocal group from Israel, the VOCA people, which is awesome. First, they seem a bit weird, but the more you hear, the better and funnier it gets.

"Later" has started

That was the discovery some friends and I made yesterday. I meet these friends few times a year (because I don't live so nearby) and almost every year we are spending a weekend together somewhere in a holiday-residence. But yesterday we only met to drink tea, chat, make and eat dinner and watch a movie in the evening.

A couple of years ago, we said: What will it be like, later, when some of us have kids? Will they play together and join us on our trips and days out?

Well, the "later" has really started. Yesterday, five kids were running, crawling and lying around. It was a lot of fun. The youngest only 8 weeks old, the oldest 2,5 years old. Toys everywhere. Baby bottles, bibs, diapers, high chairs, stair gates and kitchen cupboards with child locks. Time to talk was rare, because every minute another kid was interrupting the conversation. Yep, the old times are over :)

New website online!

Later as I wanted, but still sooner as expected, is it online: My new website!! Rebuilding it was necessary, because I wanted to share so many information. The old structure of the website didn’t quite fit to that. I hope people will like the new design and content!

I want to invite you to have a look at corine.located.nl and I would love to read your comments in my guestbook.

Just a few more days.....

Somewhere in the first week of May, my new website will be online. It just had to happen now!

For those who want to have a look at the old site, here's your last chance!!

Hmpf....

...ich habe gerade entdeckt, dass wir die Wise Guys in diesem Jahr wahrscheinlich gar nicht sehen können. Ich wollte eigentlich noch Karten für das Konzert in Osnabrück kaufen (November), aber da ich an dem Abend Generalprobe für zwei große Konzerte mit 'meinem' Chor habe wird das wohl nichts. Dann gibt es noch die Möglichkeit, Ende Juni nach Köln zu fahren für das Konzert im Tanzbrunnen, aber Martin hat keine Lust auf ein Stehkonzert, ich will nicht alleine, und am nächsten Tag "müssen" wir auch schon nach Vocaldente, dann wäre das WE auch ein bisschen zu voll, mit zuviel Fahrerei.
Gibt es nur noch eine einzige Lösung: Wir fahren für ein Sommerwochenende nach Borkum, inkl. Konzert.
Eigentlich gar keine schlechte Idee.
Ein Jahr ohne Wise Guys kann doch nicht sein?
Oder?
Martin?? Können wir mal reden?

My modern grandmother

My grandmother is 83 years old and some years ago, she got a computer and I taught her how type and how to send e-mail. Her handwriting is very bad, so now she can communicate with people by writing e-mail or by writing a text in Word, printing it and sending it as a normal letter. It is fantastic how she learned this and I'm proud of her!
Today my mother had to come over, to "put a new pen into the printer" (a new cartridge). My grandmother has got a printer which can also copy and fax papers. In the printer my mother found not only blank sheets of paper, there was also a CD in it. My grandmother had tried to copy it for one of her relatives. Apparently she does know it is possible to copy CD's, but how to do it? I'm already looking forward to her next e-mail, in which she might tell me all about her attempt to copy a CD ;)

Round NL

Yesterday it was my mothers birthday, but we decided to visit our new-born nephew first. It was only a "little" detour - we didn't mind. After 450 km and having seen many relatives we got back home and found a hungry cat waiting for us :)

April

It's the 12th of April and I haven't blogged anything in April yet! It must be the beautiful weather, I'm outside in our garden most of the time right now. I've removed old leaves and lots of weeds and I've been staining the banisters (finally got that job done). In the meantime I'm working on my new website every now and then, with help from Martin. The website will be published in the first week of May! Promised!
Martin has been searching for the right cables and speakers to make our home cinema ready. A friend is coming over tonight and then we'll watch the first movie together! It's really cool :)
I've also become an aunt again yesterday! My second nephew is born and we'll go and see him tomorrow :) So we're busy and happy!

Garden

It's still too cold and wet to sit in our garden, but already there are beautiful flowers. And considering the concert free weekend I had to find something else to photograph...

(click to enlarge)

Sechs (!) Wise Guys melden sich zu Wort

Das ist mal ganz außergewöhnlich: Sechs Wise Guys melden sich innerhalb eines bestimmten Zeitraum zu Wort auf ihrer persönlichen Gästebuchseite und so tauchen sechs Bilder gleichzeitig nebeneinander auf. Dieses Bild wird es wahrscheinlich nie wieder geben - deswegen sollte es mal in meinem Blog 'verewigt' werden *g*.


Sehr interessant dabei ist natürlich Clemens' Eintrag, in dem er erzählt wie das Leben als nicht-Wise-Guy ihm gefällt.