Last Tuesday, was the one and only day a special documentary about one of the best (in my opinion) metal bands ever, Iron Maiden, was shown in our local movie theatre in Heerlen. Olivia had found out quite early that it was playing so Stephan, her, and I, all having Iron Maiden in our all-time most favourite band top five, decided to go and see this special documentary. I’m lucky we did! The documentary showed the life of the band members on the last “Somewhere back in Time” tour, that took place in 2008. Iron Maiden apparently was the first band ever to be crazy enough to tour the globe in a customised airplane: Ed Force One. Not only did they travel around 50.000 kilometres, but also the plane was most of the time flown by their lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who is a commercial airliner pilot as well. The documentary was the first in its kind because normally the band members of Iron Maiden do not like to have a camera team with them, and they tend to keep away from press. Even without actively seeking out commerce, they still manage to sell a lot of albums, and I think they must belong to the most successful metal acts around. The documentary itself gave a nice personal view of the band members, who unlike other famous bands, seem quite modest and laid back; going golfing and sight seeing whenever the opportunity arises. The thing though that surprised me most was their enormous popularity in Southern America, ok I knew metal was popular there, but I couldn’t have imagined it was so popular. Apparently, the music means a lot to the people there. Luckily, there was also a lot of Iron Maiden music in the documentary, and I can say this, after watching it, I really am looking forward to seeing them live! I hope they will have a gig somewhere near soon. But for now, I think I have to do with playing their albums over and over and the videos like the one below; Up the Irons!
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
1947 Earth
I think it was almost two years ago that when visiting the namesake, we were discussing Indian movies and he told me most of the Bollywood movies he did not really like. At that time, he did show me some scenes of one of the movies he did appreciate: 1947 Earth. I remember being impressed by the beautiful scenes and music at that time and us planning to watch it together in one of the movies nights we used to plan when he was still living in NL. Unfortunately, we somehow never got around to watching it, maybe also because most of the movie was in Hindi and I needed some kind of subtitles to understand ;). But still I was really curious to see it one time, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and order it from Amazon; last week it arrived.
The movie revolves around a group of friends of different religions that live in British India of 1947, just before India’s independence and breakup in what we now know as India and Pakistan. More specifically, it tells the story of Leny baby, a Parsi girl, and her nanny Shanta, who is a Hindu. Shanta falls in love with the muslim masseur Hassan, which arouses the jealousy of Dil Navaz, also muslim, who is better know as the Ice Candy wallah and is also madly in love with Shanta. During the violence that occured at the breakup of India and Pakistan, also the group of friends starts falling apart, and the classical love triangle between Shanta, Hassan, and Dil Navaz leads to growing tensions between the former friends with in the end devastating results…
Indeed the namesake was right, it was a beautiful, yet more specifically a really impressive movie. As I said, the scenes were brilliantly filmed and are supported by beautiful music, which in the good old Bollywood tradition also plays an important role in this film. More importantly, the movie gives a personal view, that of the little girl Lenny, on the atrocities that happened between different religions at the time of breakup of British India, and illustrates the madness of good friends becoming enemies solely because they don’t share the same religion. And although, I think the characters were not fully deepened out, 1947 Earth illustrates one thing very well, it starts out as a joyful movie but grows dimmer and dimmer as it goes on. It’s a movie that incites one to contemplate and think about the results that difference in religion, opinion, or just a normal chain of results can ultimately have in extraordinary circumstances. Moreover, it illustrates how an ordinary life can turn into complete madness… Thus, if you can get your hands on it, it’s a movie I would certainly recommend you to watch! Hint: you might find more where this came from (see below).
Quramitry
Yesterday was one of those special days. The day started already beautifully with a nice walk and splendid company of a special someone. And while I felt the four hours spent together went by too fast, the evening was also one to remember. I decided to go and visit the little theatre in Landgraaf for a folk group, called Quramitry, I hadn’t heard of before, but sometimes these unknown groups can give you a surprise, and so they did. Their music was a good mix of feel-good pop music, some folk, and some american influences, most of the songs written by themselves, and some unexpected covers in the same style. Most of all the great enthousiasm of the band members was exciting to see, but I was also surprised by the quality of the music; lots of different songs, excellent vocal arrangements, and the different instruments fitting together as puzzlepieces…only question I can come up with is: why the heck don’t they have a banjo player ;)? especially seeing the young age of the musicians, their enthousiasm, and a sound that could also be commercially successful, I think we will hear more of them soon. More specifically because they released a cd too, and the gig yesterday was the release party. Of course, I also got me one, so I will be enjoying their music some more. Suffice it to say, it was an evening well-spent, although it would have been even better to have that special someone with me, but alas… I included a video below for your enjoyment…
The good old pub
…and how I sometimes miss the days we went to see this brilliant band The Old Firm… So to see they’re still playing some gigs, hope someone can get them to come to Heerlen. Enjoy!
First Photostarters Event
Last Sunday, Tally and I organised the first photostarters.com photography event. At first, it was meant as a nice day of photography with just the two of us, but already soon a lot of people were liking the idea of going somewhere together, making pictures, and swapping experiences for a day. At some time we would even have been with six people…but because of the unpredictable weather only the die-hards remained, and at the day itself we were going to the beautiful city of Maastricht with three people. In the early afternoon, unfortunately we had to cope with real Dutch weather, a lot of rain, which had us taking shelter at a nearby café, which served all kinds of delicious coffee, I think a lot worse scenarios are possible ;). Informed by modern technique, we knew we had to stay inside for about an hour till the weather would clear, and finally we found ourselves in dry weather, that gradually improved during the day, and in the late afternoon the sun came out. Maastricht is a beautiful city and has loads of nice photogenic locations ranging from modern architecture, to historic buildings, to some nature here and there. So, we had plenty to choose from, but most of all it was a great day catching up with friends, snapping pictures, teaching, and learning from each other. Suffice it to say, I think this is an event worth repeating and I’m already looking forward to our next meeting, which we’ll have to plan soon! I’ll keep you posted, and should you be interested to participate in next events please let me know:). Oh, and for photographs you can visit the photostarters site!
Tsar Saltan Opera by Opera Zuyd
Last Tuesday, again there was a performance of Opera Zuyd in the Heerlen Theatre, performing the Russian Opera Tsar Saltan by Rimsky-Korsakov. Again Stephan was singing in the choir and was so friendly to arrange some tickets for us. Originally the Opera is performed in Russian, but for the occasion was translated into Dutch. In the beginning of the Opera, three sisters tell what they would do for the Tsar, if he would marry them. The first would make him a great meal, the second would make everyone new clothes, and the third and youngest would bear his hero son. The Tsar hears their talk, and marries the youngest one, much to jealousy of the other sisters. Just after the youngest girl gets pregnant, the Tsar has to leave for war. This creates the opportunity for her sisters to falsify the message when the child is born, and hence the Tsar gets a message that his wife bore him a monster. Upon reading the message theTsar decides the mother and child should be put into a barrel and put to sea. Miraculously the son grows up fast and is an adult when they reach a foreign shore. The fairy tale of course continues and as always has a happy ending, which I will not spoil for those that haven’t seen the story yet.
The music of the Opera was quite heavy in the beginning and different from what I’ve seen in previous ones. Also I needed to get used to hearing the Opera in my native language; still I like Italian and French better for singing, but that might be personal. The costumes were beautifully made, and part of the opera was narrated. Luckily, all was done with a lot of humour which made it a very nice Opera. However, there’s still a minor point of critique, in comparison with other productions I think the main vocals were a little disappointing, only the two main female voices I really liked; especially, the soprano singing the swan part had a beautiful voice. Still, I had the feeling that sometimes the choir outperformed the lead vocals. All in all, it was a beautiful night out, not in the least because of my lovely company, who made it a worthwhile evening. Also because she was still showing up while she was not feeling well at all, but still being so charming, I really appreciated that 
!
Monty Halls’ Great Escape
People that have me heard talking about my travels to Scotland, know of my enthusiasm about that country. Up till now this country ranks high in the “top-five most beautiful places I ever visited”. The rough beauty of the landscape, the rich history present for each step you make, the castles, the lochs, and the isles provide you with such a complete experience that it’s a holiday location I can recommend to everyone. Because of my enthusiasm, I also try to follow the TV documentaries about this country I happen to come across. Luckily, the BBC seems to have a lot of them nowadays, the latest being Monty Halls’ Great Escape which reports on a marine biologist, tired of city life, and following his dream to become a self-sufficient crofter (Dutch: keuterboer) on the Scottish west coast. What makes the documentary interesting in my opinion is that such a decision takes a lot of courage but also at the same time illustrates a person that’s tired of the hectic city life we all got so used to and goes in search of a life of harmony, quietness, in touch with nature, but most of all less stress. The BBC website gives the following summary:
Marine biologist and professional diver Monty Halls turns his back on city life to become a 21st century beachcomber on the west coast of Scotland. Inspired by his childhood love of otters, Monty moves into a run-down cattle shed overlooking an isolated beach. With the help of a team of locals, he turns it into a comfortable home. The spring weather is the best anyone can remember and Monty is soon bringing the croft to life, with a crystal clear sea inviting him to explore.
So if you share my love of Scotland and feel for romantic days of yore, go and check it out!
Carnaval 2009
This year carnaval was a little bit more quiet than previous years; instead of going the usual four days and staying till 4 in the morning, I went three days and arrived home more earlier. Still, it was a most enjoyable time. Especially, our participation in a parade was a lot of fun, more than I expected. Also because we had such a lovely group. This was the first time I particated in a parade, and I think our theme of the traffic jams on our local highway was a nice one, and the costumes were lovely done. As you can see on the picture below, I ended up walking the parade with a stag’s head in front of me, quite useful for getting people out of the way I must confess 
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Winter Wonderland @ Terworm
For the first time in around a decade, we seem to have something that resembles a real winter in the NL. Temperatures are well below zero, and everything’s covered with snow, looking beautifully and more important a lot more cheerfully than the normal dreaded rainy winters we so often have. Yesterday, we went for a nice stroll through the Terworm area, with this nice snapshot as a result (taken with my phone’s camera, so please bear with me).
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A History of Scotland
Last Saturday, I really enjoyed watching this documentary on the history of Scotland, one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever visited. As it turns out, it’s a series, so I hope I can watch the next episodes too. The documentary explored the Scotland of the early middle ages, when it was still divided into four large parts, every part ruled by a different tribe: vikings, Picts, Gaels, and Angles. Most of all, the documentary was beautifully shot, showing off Scotland’s most beautiful scenery, the rough Highlands, the glenns, the lochs, and the ruins of old castles. It reminded me off our beautiful journey to the Isle of Skye and furthermore think of visiting the country again soon. The documentary is broadcasted on BBC 2, on Saturdays from 21:00-22:00 CET, and made in cooperation with the Open University UK. More information can be found here. Oh yeah, and check out the accent of the narrator/presenter: it’s just brilliant!