Pukkelpop day 1

All right, I'm back from Paris and it's time to post a couple of the shitload of pictures I've been taking during the past week.

DAY 1 AT PUKKELPOP

* Kaizers Orchestra: no pictures (energetic)

* Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong (very good gig, very promising band)



* small part of Amy MacDonald: no pictures (gig was meh)

* The Cribs (not as good as last year, unfortunately)

* Dirty Pretty Things (oh Carlos, I love you)

* British Sea Power (one of the better gigs of the festival, way better than I expected)

* Editors: just a picture of the big screen, I wasn't standing close enough for proper pictures :( (fifth time I saw them, fifth time I loved them to bits)

* Roisin Murphy (excellent singer and show lady)

* The Killers: my sister took the pictures (it's her fave band)and they're on her camera, so no goodies for you guys (gig wasn't bad, not as good as last year at Werchter though; maybe it was just a bit strange to pick them as the headliner)

* off stage

my sister Iris
Nick

a boy who untied my shoe laces before the Cribs started to play

me and Iris

Off to Paris

Back from Pukkelpop, had some of the best days ever. Pictures etc will be put online later, now it's time to pack for 4 days of Paris!

Au revoir!

See you in a couple of days!

Pukkelpop: the preview

Thursday I'm leaving you guys for a couple of days, as I will be at the Pukkelpop festival in Kiewit. These are a couple of the bands I - some of them more than the others - would like to see:

• Thursday: Kaizers Orchestra, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, THE CRIBS, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (it's always a good time for Mr. Carlos Barât, even though I'm not really that much into the new DPT album), British Sea Power, Freaky Age, EDITORS, ROISIN MURPHY, The Killers
• Friday: Those Dancing Days, Pete & The Pirates, Das Pop, Arsenal, Los Campesinos!, FOALS, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Stereophonics, Robyn, BLOOD RED SHOES, THE RASCALS
• Saturday: LYKKE LI, The Whip, Black Kids, THE NATIONAL, Epica, MANIC STREET PREACHERS (finally), Bloc Party, SIGUR ROS (never gets boring), We Are Scientists, SOULWAX, Hermanos Inglesos

Lokerse Feesten

Yesterday, Elke and I went to the final night of the Lokerse Feesten, a series of evening gigs in Lokeren that lasts for a week. We arrived quite early, since the pre-sale tickets were all sold out and the guy in the ticket shop had told us we should better be there in time if we still wanted to find tickets at the venue itself. They didn't seem to run out of tickets that quickly but anyway, after buying ours, we went into the city. There was a funfair going on, so of course Elke and I went for 'smoutebollen' ('oliebollen', 'Dutch donuts' or whatever you would call them). Yum yum.

The artists playing were Buffalo Tom and Alanis Morissette. Buffalo Tom turned out to be really boring, watching Alanis was very cool as I used to be a huge fan of hers at the time of her first two albums.

currents

Current mood: pretty neutral
Current music: the radio playing Kate Nash - Pumpkin Song
Current hair: loose
Current clothes: black skinny jeans, black and white striped top
Current annoyance: the changing Pukkelpop program
Current thing I should be doing: writing reviews
Current desktop picture: Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto
Current favorite band: The National
Current book: Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland
Current cd in stereo: The Virginia EP by The National

when you're only wet because of the rain

Sunny times never last long here, but luckily I don't mind a heavy rain storm every now and then. Me and my sister spent our day watching 'Magnolia' and baking our first chocalate cake. There's still work on it, yet it's a pretty good first attempt.

What goes around comes around

Jim just broke up with me, with kind of the exact same words and reasons I broke up with him a while ago. Which makes I can't really be angry with him. Which I wasn't intending on being anyway.
Maybe it's better like this (after all, it was very shortly after Piet, who I loved/love very deeply), but still it hurts. It's not really a surprise though, I'm such a fuck-up.

Laura's little soundmachine

Thanks to Sanna's Vagablog I discovered Muxtape, a website that allows you to make your own online mixtape, which - of course - makes me feel like a little kid in a huge playground.

My first mixtape effort looks like this:

1. Frou Frou - Let Go
2. Figurines - Let's Head Out
3. Arsenal - Lotuk
4. Editors - You Are Fading
5. Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Theme
6. Admiral Freebee - Rags 'n' run
7. Thom Yorke - After The Gold Rush
8. Midlake - Head Home
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
10. Sigur Rós - Fljótavík
11. Royksopp - What Else Is There
12. Craig Armstrong - Let's Go Out Tonight (Feat. Paul Buchanan)

http://lauravaneeckhout.muxtape.com/ --> check it!

People say that you'll die faster than without water

On Friday, me and Elke went to Roosdaal to visit Karolien who was at home, recovering from heart surgery. The operation she had to undergo was pretty serious, but fortunately it seems like she's recovering really well. The pain is getting better and she's already able to walk on her own again. Of course she's still getting tired really quickly (also due to the medication), but it's good to see how well she is progressing.

Afterwards, I went over to Elke's place for a splendid night with cocktails and pizza!

--> discovery of the evening: the Brazilian Night (wodka, coco, blue curacao)

--> I can't remember the name of this cocktail, but it was a mix of mint and coco (nothing too special, I just liked the colour)

--> my beloved wodka

--> my not so beloved wodka (just kidding)

--> a cocktail called Mimi (amaretto, rum, coco)

--> Magic Daddy (my dad's legendary invention, nowadays basic knowledge for all of my friends) with pisang, amaretto and orange juice

At the bottom of our last cocktails Elke dug up her laptop, so we could stay up chatting to the beautiful tunes of Arcade Fire's 'Funeral'. I love summer nights.

Before going to sleep, we watched Twin Peaks for the first time in our lives. It was just a random episode, so we didn't understand much of the story, but we had a great time. I loved the theme song, for a start. Jim was texting me at that time, and when I was telling him about Twin Peaks, he was getting all excited ('James is the one with the bike, right?' 'He has a cool name.' 'You didn't see a bike yet? Sorry for keeping your hopes up!').

Plan B

Past Thursday, me and Elke went to Plan B with Wing-Ling. She was my best friend in primary school and we were still getting along really well during high school. Unfortunately we don't get to see each other that often anymore now we're going to different uni's, but we try to meet up every now and then.
We had a really good night, it's amazing how you can be seperated from someone for months and months and then meet up and have fun like you still see each other each day.






antisocial moment; I feel like a 21st century hippie in this pic


the only person in this pic that has been on a holiday is me, yet I'm the one with the white legs :)