Cultural experiences

So, what about my cultural experiences? I will tell you something about the following things:
• Dance/ballets
• Cabaret
• Stage Plays
• Operas
• Musicals
• Paintings
• Sculptures
• Pop music
• Classical music
• Video art
• Architecture
• Films
• Fashion
• Applied arts

I’ll start off with Dance and Ballet. To be honest with you, I HATE ballet, because I think it’s really stupid to dance like they do. I DO like modern dancing like hip-hop, but only to watch. I’ve never danced myself, and if you don’t mind I’d like to keep it that way. Of course, if people think it’s brilliant, that’s their opinion, but mine is really simple; dancing is fun to watch, and (excuse me for my language) ballet SUCKS!!!

The next subject is cabaret. Unfortunately I’ve never been to a cabaret show, but of course I did watch some old shows that are on the telly after a few years. My favourite comedians are Najib Amhali, Hans Teeuwen and Bert Visscher. I like Amhali the most because he makes fun of everyone and everything in a way that the people he’s talking about even like it.
Hans Teeuwen is quite rude, but I do like his opinion about Holland and how the world is changing. Bert Visscher is hilerical when you like it, and I totally agree with Wikipedia when they say his humour can be compared with that of Tommy Cooper.
Other comedians that I think can be fun SOMETIMES are Javier Guzman, Jochem Myjer and Youp van ‘t Hek.

Najib Amhali
So, what are my experiences with Stage Plays? Of course I did play in the final musical in groep 8, but that’s all. There aren’t many plays I have been to. Except for Elckerlyc, a play where we had to go to for Dutch, I think I haven’t been to any. So, I’ll tell you very fast what Elckerlyc is about.
In the show we went to (a newer version of the old play), Elckerlyc (everyone) has had a live that was only about making money. He doesn’t believe nor fear God, and God is fed up with that. He sends Death to take Elckerlyc. In a conversation with Elckerlyc, Death tells him that God is fed up with him, and he has to make a pilgrims trip to tell God why he has done certain things in his live. Of course Elckerlyc doesn’t want to go, and he tries everything to escape. Death doesn’t let Elckerlyc fool him, but he does tell him he can take someone with him. All his friends say they will never leave him, but when he asks them to come with him no one dares. Only Virtue (Deugd in Dutch) wants to go with him.

Let’s put it this way; I think some plays are fun, I don’t really like musicals but I HATE operas. All those people singing at such a high tone is really annoying to hear, and while they are singing at that high tone, they are also trying to tell a story. I do have respect for the people who sing in operas, because it’s probably really difficult to sing at such a high tone for such a long time. As you might already have noticed, I am a bit of a ‘cultuurbarbaar’ but at the end I will say a lot of positive things (especially in the music part)

In the second grade we went to London, and over there we went to the musical Chicago. I don’t remember what it was about, so I don’t think I really liked it. Unlike operas, I think musicals are pretty fun. No people singing at an annoying pitch, a story that is just as clear as in a normal play, how good can it be?

Paintings are, after music, the most interesting parts of culture; at least that is what I think. I’m not into it enough to have like a favourite painter or painting or something, but I do like the paintings of Andy Warhol. I’ve also been to the M.C. Escher museum, and since I’ve been there, I appreciate his paintings as well. Of course I also have respect for the Dutch Masters, but in comparison with the two I just named, I think there paintings are quite dull and boring.
I like Warhol because he doesn’t only draw nice pictures, he also uses a lot of colour and I think you get a beautiful result. When I went to the Escher Museum, I bought a booklet called ‘How to draw as Escher’, and I can tell you, that is the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to do. Also, you can stare at his paintings for so long, because there are so many things happening.
The Eagle Belvedere
Andy Warhol M.C. Escher
I’m already being honest with you the whole time, so I’ll be that again with this subject; sculptures aren’t my most favourite subject when we’re talking about art. I don’t know ANY sculpturist (someone who makes sculptures, sculpturer or sculpturist? I didn’t know, so I just wrote down sculpturist), the only sculptures I see are in the newspaper. I do know ‘De Verwoeste Stad’ by Ossip Zadkine (see picture), and I think, even though it isn’t the most beautiful sculpture, it has a very clear meaning; the heart of the sculpture (which represents Rotterdam) has been ripped out.

Ah, finally, we have arrived at my favourite part of culture; pop music. Of course, every song that has a high spot in the charts is a pop song, even though it’s heavy metal or something.
I think in the last 10-20 years, the quality of pop songs is unbelievably low, because even rock songs like ‘Violet Hill’ by Coldplay and ‘Sex on Fire’ by The Kings of Leon score high in the charts. I think this, rock songs scoring high in the pop charts, started with the British Invasion, and especially the part the Beatles had in that. After that rock songs have always scored high in charts and for me as a hard rock-fan, that is of course a plus.
Even though I am being quite negative here, I don’t dislike ALL the pop songs that aren’t rock.
And, if concerts also belong to my cultural experiences, I think I also need to tell you that I went to a concert of The Police with my dad. I think it was awesome.

The next subject will be classical music. I think that’s pretty dull, but of course classical music was, in its time, also pop music.
I do know a lot of composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, but I don’t know more about them then their names. Oh wait, I do know a song; ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, and I think its Mozart’s. Classical music CAN be very inspiring, but only if you like it.
The pictures below show Mozart (left) and Beethoven (right)


I think video art and movies belong in the same group, so I’ll just put them together here.
I don’t watch a lot of movies, but if I watch one, it’s usually a comedy, at least something with a BIT of humour in it. My favourite movies are Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13. They are about criminal Danny Ocean (George Clooney). In the first part, Ocean gets eleven criminals to help him rob some of the biggest banks in Las Vegas. Everything is going fine, but then the criminals he’s working with find out he has another motive than getting a lot of money; he wants his ex-wife back, who is having a relation with one of the casino-owners. His plan (robbing the bank and getting her back) succeeds, but at the end he is arrested.
In the second part, Benedict (the man who was with her ex-wife) wants Ocean to pay him back. To do that, he and his partners go to Amsterdam, Paris and Rome. Their plan is to steal one of the oldest and most valuable VOC-shares, the Vanderspeiglegetuigschrift. Also, Danny has a competition with another thief, to see who could first steal the Imperial Coronation Egg. Danny wins, and also they get enough money to pay Benedict back.
The last part is pretty difficult to explain and understand, so I won’t be bothering you with that.
Recently, the only movie I saw was Inglorious Bastards, but I think you know what that’s about, because there are a lot of commercials about it on TV.
I don’t really know what video art is, but I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and I don’t really know a good example of video art that I know. It does say that video art can also be a documentary, so I’ll just say I recently watched a documentary on Discovery Channel about how the world has changed since it exists.

Architecture looks like one of the most difficult forms of art to me; it takes a lot of time, and when you are finished (assuming you want to make money with it), you need to have the luck that the audience likes it.
My favourite architect is Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect who designed the Sagrada Família, which I think is one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings in the whole world.
I like Spanish architecture the most, simply because it all looks so nice!! Of course the buildings in Paris aren’t very ugly as well, but I find them a bit overdesigned.
The Sagrada Família at night.

OK, so the next subject is fashion. I am completely NOT into fashion, but I do think it is important that you don’t look like some scummy man or something. You don’t need Armani or Dolce & Gabbana for that, but if you like to throw your money away like that, then it’s your decision. I don’t have a favourite brand or something, but I usually buy my clothes at the H&M or America Today.
What I do find important, is shoes. I usually buy Nikes that are for sale, because even though they’re cheap, it is still very good quality.