Some weeks ago I heard a very interesting lecture by John Cleese. Most people know him from his period in Monty Python and the reunion of Monty Python last summer, or from the comedy Fawlty Towers. I still start laughing out loud when I think of the scenes at the Ministry of Silly Walks! Many people don’t know, that he’s given many lectures to business people. He’s earned a fortune with that, to give as alimentary to his divorced wives, […]
Since 2005 we call that the third Monday of the year ‘Blue Monday’. It’s supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. On Monday we feel more down than on other days, and even more so on the third Monday of the year. It’s cold, dark, the holidays are behind us and we realize that we didn’t manage to hold on to the good intentions we started the year with. Every time I hear of Blue Monday, I […]
Happy new year to everyone! Isn’t it exciting, the start of a new year? Every year again I want to believe in this chance to start all over again, to begin with a clean slate. In the euphoria of party and firecrackers at midnight I have so many good intentions, that the hangover the next day feels extra heavy š What is it with a new year, starting all over again and good intentions? I often made the mistake to […]
Last Saturday I was at a great show of Wendy McNeill. Her new album is full of migration stories: Sicilians coming to New Jersey, English orphanages coming to Canada, Curds running fro the poison gas attack. It kept me busy. And this morning I realized, that Christmas is about migration too! Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to get registered. They were not welcome, no one wanted to help them. One guy offered them a shed, used for […]
Do you recognize the tension between being ambitious and being content? When ambitious, I tend to become one-track minded, almost fanatic. When content, I tend to become a couch potato. That’s black and white. Do I have to do it in terms, or is there also some gray? How does gray look like??
Do you know this situation? You meet someone and after the meeting you feel totally worn out, as if that person sucked all the energy out of you. I’m not talking about a friend in need who needs your help and support, and who will give you help and support back when you need it. After a meeting with a friend in need you will usually not feel worn out. I’m not talking about confronting and inspiring meetings either. The […]
There are many ways to seduce someone. My Dutch friends on Facebook talk about it, because Julien Blanc is planning to visit the Netherlands. He teaches men to seduce women by overpowering and dominating them. Men pay thousands of dollars to him to learnĀ that they have to force the face of a women to their dick.Ā Various countries have banned Blanc and in the Netherlands we have a petition to politicians to ban him too. I’m against his methods, […]
Last night I spoke with a friend who’s a production guy, often traveling with big productions crews. Sometimes he and his colleagues might mingle with the backing band, but never with the stars of the show. He was part of the huge production crew of the European tour of Justin Bieber. When he described Justin Bieber as a spoiled prick I wasn’t surprised, it confirmed what I already thought. The friendĀ continued with telling me, that all the people with […]
When stretching your boundaries, you are also changing your perspective on things, often unnoticed by yourself. After the change, others might feel a distance to you, which makes you feel lonely. It’s up to you how far you want to change, how big the distance should grow, how to deal with it. If you put effort into a good relationship to your dear ones, it can bridge the distance. Feeling stiff Two months ago I started to workout again, my […]
We all want to predict our future, to have control on what’s happening next, to avoid awkward situations when we feel uncomfortable because we don’t know how to react. it’s a huge market in predicting the future, with cares, stars or a medium. Changes will always bring you to awkward situations. You can prepare yourself as good as you want to, changes are always in a certain way unpredictable. Moving to another place is a very clear example, starting at […]
Excitement Will the Scots vote for independence tomorrow? I don’t know. Though I do know the importance of independence for me personally. The first major step was on the day after starting at university, when I went to the city council of my new home town to officially register there. I felt light as a bird, the world at my feet, all options open. Is Scotland feeling this kind of excitement too? Responsibility Of course there’s a downside of independence. […]
Local initiative Last Friday I was at the opening of COEN, a local initiative with workshops for artists to become more commercial. At the reception a theater maker told me how difficult it is for her to combine commercial thinking with creative action. We had an interesting conversation. Problems as artist ‘They want us artists to become commercial entrepreneurs. But as artist, I want to create without having to think about the commercial value. ‘ ‘I agree, it’s your creativity […]
There is no easy road to success, every artist has to go his/her own way. Or as I saw in a quote from Joseph Campbell last week: “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on somebody else’s.” So if the path is not clear, that should be a good sign, right? Does that mean that you should feel lost all the time? That sounds quite depressing, like the myth that an artist has to suffer in order to […]
Last night I felt like a diva, sitting with sunglasses at the terrace of a nice restaurant, the sun shining right into my face, a glass of wine on the table, great food, accompanied by three nice men. What is a diva like? Often people (women) are called a diva, if they are very picky and have unrealistic specific demands, like eating the yellow M&M’s only. The picky attitude is associated with a nagging voice, portrayed asĀ childish behavior. At […]
Art is always something new, something that hasn’t been there before, at least not in that form. It requires a certain amount of freedom, freedom of fear, to create something new. And new is unpredictable, therefore scary for many people. Today is a national mourning day in the Netherlands, for the victims of the plane crash in eastern Ukraine. Another conflict area that is dominating the news is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I see many one-sided and aggressive reactions on social […]
