december 2017 finds is kinda long since the end of the year always puts me in turbo mode. i like to get things done so that i can begin the new year with some sort of a clean slate.
1. i’m still in last month’s warhaus trip. below, you have i’m not him, a short documentary.
in what seems a very belgian effort, maarten took a while off and spent it on a borrowed boat. so he could get the head space necessary for putting together his first solo album. i envy him, the whole thing looks so cool and quiet.
2. we took a day trip with friends to nearby anna. there, we enjoyed nature and some sunny valencian winter.
3. i’ve been obsessing about this song. pure imagination is a cover of the gene wilder original by adam levine from maroon 5. the video is a short manga by omocat. it’s a wonderful song i find perfect for winter.
4. comics
i read 5 this month. here they are, in increasing order of how much i liked them.
artigues & prevert by benjamin adam has a great minimalist style of drawing, but a vague storyline i couldn’t get interested in. everything was done by the same author. maybe he should get a writer buddy, just saying.
la renarde by marine blandin and sebastien chrisostome is a collection of short stories with a lot of sick details.
blaise opus 2 by dimitri planchon is the secret thoughts of a contemporary family. i laughed.
paolo pinocchio by lucas varela was a close second! i liked the main character, the detailed drawings and the dark humour.
la favorite by matthias lehmann has an absorbing storyline that picks up speed and ends with a bang.
5. the oishinbo series was translated into spanish and published here last year. i bought the 6 books i didn’t have. i’ve read the book on rice and then bought 3 more books of the series. i enjoy reading in spanish and learning a lot about japanese food. and i bought the last one a few days before the end of the year! now i have the whole series!
6. i went to the botanical garden twice this month to get my cat fix. it was great: they came flocking to me! a dream come true 🙂
7. i had my first almuerzo in the valencian temple of la pascuala. it was memorable. imagine they have sandwiches twice the length of those in the pic below! at 10 am, it was full of chattering people. i’m definitely going back one day!
8. the thing that made me happiest this month is decidedly the come back of my “wall”. my friends helped me get 6 cheap plates of insulating material. fortunately, the height was exactly the height of my room. so, 13 months later, my mood board is up and running again. even better than a xmas tree for me!
9. i cry every time i watch this duet of simon le bon frum duran duran. simon’s vocals are not at their best here but it doesn’t matter. it’s so wonderful, it couldn’t be better. it’s part of a concert called pavarotti and friends for the children of bosnia.
10. i remember they used to play this song on super channel back when i was a teen. i love it, it’s a classic.
11.on cristmas day, netflix premiered the second season of las chicas del cable. you can bet i binge watched the new 8 episodes. and i know i’m not the only one.
12. eat your sushi’s simon and martina are in kyoto, tasting kaisei cuisine. i liked the video. for me, the highlight is the details given about the secrets behind the ritual of it. wonderful!
13. marching church put out some sort of an anti-christmas song and video. it’s the heartbreaking story of a father who is not allowed to see his children on christmas day. so he decides to kidnap them. a good song.
also, read more about the video in this interview with sky ferreira, the director.
14. this is how i discovered an older track by sky, everything is embarrassing.
15. read here to discover naomi watanabe, a comedian girl with 7.4 million followers on insta. she is the most followed person in japan. i love her!
16. it’s been on one of my playlists for a while. i’ve been watching out for alternative south korean acts for a while and this is one of my favourites.
17. i also watched two films. first, how the grinch stole christmas, a great winter holiday classic. also, a massimo bottura documentary called theater of life. they had a great idea, but didn’t put in practice very well. it’s worth watching if you’re a foodie. because you can get excited about cameos by alex tala and rene redxepi.
all these being said, i wish us all a happy and productive 2018!
photo credits: little aesthete, copyright holders
video credits: copyright holders
