Such beauty!

Paper Planes by Glithero and Baddeley Brothers from Dezeen on Vimeo.

(Thank you, Phil!)

I give you 10 seconds to guess what this sound is.

When I was little I would get jealous of the film characters because the sounds that came from simple actions was so loud and crisp. I wanted that sound for my actions too. I remember feeling specially jealous of the sound that came from walking on gravel. I wondered why such sounds could only be heard on tv or on the radio.

Then, one Christmas, I got "My First Sony" and understood what a microphone was.

I was trying out the macro option on my camera for filming. I can't control it very much but I think it's quite good. But what I liked more was the sound of my pen on the paper. Sounds like breathing. Or slow chewing.

One of my favourite sounds is the sound of a horse chewing.

Skip to 0:23

Nederlands Niveau 3

I'm now finished with my Dutch course and I'm officially on level 3. On my certificate it says that this level is high enough to speak with the natives, to make appointments and arrangements. I can make short sentences without mistakes and use standard expressions. Under pressure (mostly emotional) I will make lots of mistakes, but I can still communicate. I can understand the radio and tv-shows and specific information as long as the speaking tempo is not too fast. I can also read texts written for the general public and write standard texts for every day life, for my studies and for work. 

Now I'm only missing the courage to do all those things outside the classroom!


Here my great teacher, Marieke, is holding an imaginary watermelon. 

Sad Girls.

Prints for sale now! This is one of the prints of my new series, "Sad Girls".

Check out my site to see the whole series:

http://rachelsender.com/#2445990/Sad-Girls 

Limited editions of 25.

Monday music.

Glühwein and negronis for everyone.

Ori spent all afternoon in the kitchen preparing snacks and Glühwein. 

Yummy German Christmas cookies made by Ori. 

Lawrence was one of the few men to follow our fancy dress code. 

I was in charge of making the cocktails. 

My dear Russian friends. 

Francesco and Harm looking casual. 

Look up!

Microphonelightbulb!

Dance!

Oripompanori. 

Something typical from somewhere. 

The morning after. 
--------


(Wow, this is my blog post number one thousand!)

Lighting up the dark.

I'm very proud of my friend Andrea Bauzà in Puerto Rico who was involved in this project of getting a dark 
street illuminated in front of the puerto rican train station Río Piedras. Together with the team of Urbano Activo they collected signatures and temporarily illuminated the street with all sorts of objects, making it look beautiful! Thanks to their initiative the city hall surprised them with their quick reaction, and now this street 
has the light it deserves. 

Congratulations, Andri!

Explain this.

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-unexplainable-black-white-photos

"Little Red".

By The Sartorialist.

Sense of rhythm.

Christmas lights in Rotterdam.

This design by Beaureau MEST is a way of reflecting the crisis, they say. I'm so tired of that word but I think it's great that they found a greener, more sustainable way of lighting up the city for Christmas (this should not depend on an economic crisis, I think). The containers used are recycled (reused)  and I find the light they emit is beautiful!

Featured in "Art of the Menu".

This made my day!

http://www.underconsideration.com/artofthemenu/archives/lantiquari.php

The text is funny too!

Friday music!

Andri, va por ti!

Wrap.

I just ordered a copy of Wrap magazine, can't wait to have it in my hands! This magazine publishes work of artists from all over the world. Its pages aren't stapled or bound, so once you've done looking through it, 
you can use the pages as wrapping paper. I think I will treasure the pages too much to give them that use though.


http://www.thewrappaper.com/

Stills from "Melancholia".

I thought Lars Von Trier's latest movie was amazing. Normally, end of the world movies make 

me feel very scared, but this one gave me a strange, peaceful kind of sadness. I could say it 

maybe even got me into a bit of a melancholic state. 

Even if you don't really like Lars Von Trier I would recommend it just to see Kirsten Dunst's 

fabulous acting. 

One thing I should get straight in my head is that it is useless to worry about something as big as 

the end of the world. It is also useless to worry in general. Do animals worry?