Monthly Archives: August 2013

First Lines: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

On the surface, Neil Gaiman’s latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, is the story of a man who remembers what happened over forty years ago, when he was seven and the opal miner killed himself in his father’s white Mini; how he met Lettie Hempstock, who, although she was just a… Read more »

Seen Live: JeugdOrkest Nederland

Grieg: Pianoconcert – Live HD Concert – Hannes Minnaar – Limburgs Symfonie Orkest olv. Otto Tausk Last year, Hannes Minnaar made quite an impression on me with the above performance of Grieg’s Piano concerto. So a concert by JeugdOrkest Nederland, featuring this work, along with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite? Good… Read more »

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First Lines: Chariots of the Gods

Long aeons before mankind rose to dominion of this planet, Elder Ones filtered down from the stars. They build Cyclopean cities and monuments that stand until this day, and in their benevolence, they passed on their superior knowledge. For a change, I’m not talking about H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu-Mythos. This is pretty much what Erich Von… Read more »

Seen Live: De Parade

De Parade has set up shop in Utrecht. Last week, I went and saw three shows. The first one was Torre Florim and Roos Rebergen (and band) playing songs from their Tweede Speeldoos album. Which was so excellent, that I got myself a ticket for their club show in Ekko, later this month. De tweede… Read more »

First Lines: Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five tells the tale of how Billy Pilgrim came to be in Dresden when it was fire bombed off the face of the earth in World War II, and how he became unstuck in time afterwards. That part includes Flying Saucers and the planet Tralfamadore. Slaughterhouse-Five is a bit of an odd book. It has… Read more »