A perfect spring day. Waking Saturday morning to fresh air and the breaking light. Grocery shopping, a trip to the fruit and vegetable market, over the bridge to take food scraps to the neighborhood zoo. Greeting a friend sitting in a corner café, a stop at the flower shop. An afternoon in the sun, a book and fresh strawberries within reach. Balcony doors open to the sounds of the neighborhood taking in the spring.
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed last week: 1. Spotting these beautiful, curious etchings by Il Lee (via but does it float) 2. Attending the opening of photographer Anne Schwalbe's Blindschleiche und Riesenblatt exhibition at Foam 3. Reading this great post about life in a foreign country and the support of love. A familiar feeling 4. Watching the documentary Inside Job and the great editing of its familiar, but still sobering message 5. Starting to read Herr Lehmann, my first book in German
As we sat down for breakfast, he looked over at me with a question, "Shall we make it a goal to travel to one new country per year?" This was a goal I could live with. The past years have taken us to new and familiar parts of the world. In 2007, I took him to the US for the first time after I had made my first visit to Poland. In 2008, we traveled throughout Switzerland. He had been before, but it was my first time. We saw Geneva, Interlaken, Zurich, Neuchatel, Solothurn, and a dozen villages in between.
The summertime took us to Luxembourg (new) and next-door Belgium (familiar). Throughout 2009, we explored his homeland: Berlin (natürlich), Munich, Cologne, Potsdam, and Dresden. Two more trips to the US to see Oregon and Washington. He had his first American Christmas in 2010, a year that took me for the first time to South Africa, then Portugal.
Making a goal out of this is not a bad idea. "Does a country count as new if only one of us has been?" He has explored the Scandinavian countries, I have covered Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Cambodia. "Yes." This summer will take us to Turkey. Next year, hopefully to Indonesia. "It's a deal."
Images of Interlaken, Switzerland.
Beautiful photo, incredible after effect of the flooding in Pakistan. Image by Russell Watkins/Department for International Development via unicornology)
An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters.
Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenonemon before - but they also report that there are now less mosquitos than they would expect, given the amoungt of stagnant, standing water that is around.
It is thought that the mosquitos are getting caught in the spiders web thus reducing the risk of malaria, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed last week: 1. Spending a day in the Hague for the Movies that Matter film festival, running until 30 March 2. Interviewing interesting people, like Ed Kashi, Andrew DeVigal, Nanako Koyama, and more 3. Spotting the photography by Ye Rin Mok (pictured above, via thank you, okay) 4. Hearing about Velour, a clothing brand started in Göteborg, Sweden that now has a store in De Negen Straatjes (via GYPROT) 5. Spotting a rare occasion when my two homes (Amsterdam + Portland) come together in the form of Olivia Bee's photography being part of a publication by Foam, the photography museum in Amsterdam (pictured below)
Steps across the continent. A balcony in Rome, vino and veritas. Murakami in Budapest, when I was on my Nietzsche kick and you insisted on singing Ella Fitzgerald through the night. Surviving a phone booth battle in Bratislava, then the nighttime visitors from Australia. A doorway in London, covered in mayonnaise. Old bookshops and stale cigarettes. Then Amsterdam. Poetry and farewells.
A 'hello' from afar, dear friend. A digital kiss, or three. Dutch style. Left cheek, right cheek, left.
I love the quiet routine of the morning time. Discovering Japanese photographer Nanako Koyama and her project Every Morning (via oh, hello there), I was curious to know more about her visual exploration into people and their mornings. Here, a few questions I posed to Nanako:
Why did you choose to explore the connection between people and mornings? Nanako Koyama: Well, I grew an interest in exploring that which makes someone an individual―like the series '5 Stories About Rooms'―this was about exploring peoples' individualities and idiosyncrasies as well, in a way. Anyway, I was thinking that the moments before breakfast illuminate a person's real personality, or parts of it. When eating breakfast, one's brain finally becomes activated. To put it the other way around, before eating breakfast your brain is still kind of asleep and it feels like this is the only waking moment when you're not really in control of yourself. I just thought this "being yourself" in the morning would be interesting to explore. This is why I chose breakfast as my subject.
I wrote a postscript in Japanese but I'm still working on an English version. I'll post it as soon as possible too.
How do you approach the people in your photography? Do you know them personally or do you work with people unknown? Nanako Koyama: For this series I asked my friends if they would let me take their photos. Most of the time I take photos of people I know. I like to take photos after I've thought hard about the concept and composition. I do sometimes take photos of strangers. Even though I like to think about concepts or composition though, I mostly take 'snap shot' style photographs.
What was something you learned about people during this project? Nanako Koyama: At first I thought that as the country changes, the culture and people would change along with it to some degree. Because of this I was thinking about exploring a photo series about the differences between people. When I was actually taking photos though, I realized that the differences between countries are very confused and whilst different there were a lot of cultural similarities between the countries, especially in regards to breakfast time. Even now, with national boundaries swept away, these people―my friends―have their own cultural differences and these helped form their individualities. This is what I learned from this series.
Are you still working on the project? Nanako Koyama: I'm currently working as a studio assistant at the moment and so unfortunately I have little time to travel, however I would like to visit America or some other places where I've never been before in the future with this project in mind. So, yes, I can say I'm still working on it.
All photos used with permission from the photographer.
Well, it's Thursday, not quite the weekend anymore, but I wanted to send out the weekend links I put together for my faithful readers. New and exciting projects at work have scrambled my familiar schedule and I'm still figuring out how to stay on top of my personal projects. Hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are also enjoying the first signs of spring!
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed last week: 1. Listening to an evening of The Decemberists at Paradiso. Just the bit of Pacific NW that I needed (pictured above via) 2. Stretching my writing muscles in a weekend workshop 3. Watching La Flâneur, a time-lapse video by Luke Shepard made up of 2000 photos of Paris 4. Reading the article The power of lonely (via something changed) 5. Reading The Elements of Content Strategy from A Book Apart. Nerdy work stuff that I can't wait to dive into 6. Receiving a note from a friend that reminded me of the importance of public broadcasting. To support NPR and PBS, sign this petition 7. Viewing amazing productions during a new multimedia contest (Blanco by Stefano De Luigi pictured below)
Thinking about Korean tea lately. Remembering all the time I spent in the teahouses in Insadong - a favorite neighborhood in Seoul - on the weekends, lounging over a cup of tea and the Korean alphabet. My three favorites were quince, jujube, and plum tea. Always served in a beautiful, earthy cup with a small wooden spoon.
Although I traveled around much of the country, I never made it to famous green tea fields. However, I did learn how to perform a Korean tea ceremony, an elaborate ritual with specific equipment and certain gestures and moments for each part of the performance. The ritual of drinking tea was always best when served with delicate rice cakes, pictured below.
(image above via, image below via, last image via)
A few weeks ago, I discovered that a small children's farm (kinderboederij) in my neighborhood accepts donated vegetable and fruit scraps for the animals. Living in an apartment in the middle of Amsterdam doesn't leave much opportunity for gardening and definitely doesn't allow for a compost pile. At the farm, they keep goats, incredibly large hogs, rabbits, gerbils, two calves, chickens, a cat, and more. I'm so happy to be able to donate the leftovers to these cute city animals instead of throwing them away.
The dark days of winter have almost passed. While I enjoy the yearly chance to hibernate, I love to see the light dawning when I wake and be able to ride home without bike lights when I finish for the day. Thank you to warm-lit lamps and steaming drinks for your coziness during the cold months. Until next year. (image above via, image below via).
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed this week: 1. Taking in the images of colored ink being mixed in water, captured with a high-speed camera by artist Alberto Seveso (pictured above, via 11.54) 2. Browsing the schedules for two upcoming film festivals in the Netherlands: Food Film Festival 18-20 March in Amsterdam and Movies that Matter (Amnesty International Film Festival) 24-30 March in The Hague 3. Discovering a recipe for bulgogi-style tofu (via @seenandsaid) 4. Wishing I could watch the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood. Apparently nowhere to be found in my world 5. Watching the short film Time Doesn't Stand Still by Asa Mader and Benjamin Millepied. Beautiful. Watch it (pictured below in a photo by Valerie Sadoun, via le project d'amour) 6. Dancing to the beats of Berlin DJs Modeselektor and Apparat at 5DaysOff 7. Making banana pancakes with this tasty recipe
An image leftover from a never-written holiday post was the inspiration for me to finally buy my own copy of the classic book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The film adaptation is now out in the States, although it doesn't look like it will make it over to Europe until the fall. Has anyone seen it? What did you think? I will bide my time waiting for the film with another read of this great novel (image via plush palate).
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed this week: 1. Browsing through the book Wild Animals (Wilde Dieren) by Dutch illustrator Rop van Mierlo (image and video below, via anothersomething) 2. Discovering The Makers, a photo project by Jennifer Causey with beautiful stories about people in Brooklyn who make things happen (Morris Kitchen pictured above, via frolic) 3. Browsing the Monkey See list of the all the films based on books coming out in 2011 4. Revisiting an old NYTimes article Why We Read 5. Although well into the year of the rabbit, enjoying this cute animation 6. Scouting out cinema notes at Smart Project Space 7. Walking through a sunny city and playing taste tester to Chef Marcus
[vimeo vimeo.com/17296041 w=500&h=400]
Captivating video of Bali, Indonesia made by Stephan Kot with music by Helios (via wearethedigitalkids).
[vimeo vimeo.com/16339841 w=500&h=400]
From Amsterdam to Portland: Happy Birthday to my lovely little sister Alyssa. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag zu meine kleine Schwester Alyssa. One of the most important people in my life who is always up for a laugh or adventure. Ich liebe dich!
singing in the shade by doro y el mundo (via orientaltiger)
A new publication by Motto Distribution with 30 images by Anne Schwalbe, a photographer from Berlin who I had the opportunity to interview last May.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.
Read the full text here, attributed to Rosemary Urquico (image via).
Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.
A few things I enjoyed LAST week: 1. Dreaming of a summer holiday in Fethiye in the Turkish Riviera (pictured above) 2. Browsing the collection of photos from New York Fashion Week on The Big Picture 3. Listening to Joan as Police Woman live (finally!) at Paradiso 4. Looking at how others enjoy my favorite moment of the day with this fantastic blog (pictured below, via @kfar53) 5. Watching the Vice Guide to Narco Cinema, the Mexican film genre that has exploded in popularity. Crazy.
