Tonight I had another lesson and finally I learned to skate backwards. I am not good at it yet, but at least I now know how to accomplish skating backwards!

Funny thing is that I am better at making a backwards turn then the actual backwards skating … that is just so typically me!!!

Why you ask me? Why not?

I have been writing for the past couple of years, and I know that it is quite a challenge and that the change of actually being able to do it is pretty slim! But still why not?

I have said last year that I would like to try it, but in the end I didn’t.. this year however I am going to attempt it. I am not sure yet what I will write about. Well the problem is that I have some ideas, but those are fanfiction ideas. And that is not quite what this challenge is about.

No matter how you look at it, it is nice to find out that I am not alone. A friend of mine is going to try it too! Which is great to find out now instead of when you are almost done or when the month is over.

There are only ten days left!

The only 12 1/2 writing rules you'll ever need

But the problem is that I have done some pretty dumb things on my skates but nothing more serious then some scratches and bruises. And I guess that it kind of explains why I think I don’t need the protection gear. But well things are changing, for this course that I am doing I have to wear writs, elbow and kneepads as well as a helmet. The helmet was kind of weird at first but ten minutes later you won’t really notice it anymore.

But anyway following a course is great, I love it I should have done it sooner. But I guess that the time is right at this moment. I love skating and well it is so much fun to learn new stuff. Well it is time for me to get my things and go.

I was thrilled when I heard who was coming to Pinkpop, but I have heard people complaining too. And that is what I mean you can’t please everyone, especially not when you are talking about a group of 70 000 people.

What do you expect of course you don’t know and like all 40 bands! What did you expect that is impossible. I heard ‘older’ people complain that the festival was different then in the earlier days … dôh you are talking about 40 years ago! That the festival was more programmed towards young people … well hey they used to be the younger people once … the bands that where present at Pinkpop where a mixture of older bands and newer bands.

If you only want to exclusively see the bands from the seventies and eighties you should probably go to ‘Pinkpop Classics’. Really you can’t expect that a festival is programmed towards your liking and that nothing changes in 40 years.

Let’s be realistic here and look at the festival as it was. I think Pinkpop is still a festival which attracts people of all ages and they have fun all together. The weather was all on our side, the sun was shining we saw some great performances what more can we ask for? I had a blast I can’t put it any other way! I would be lying if I claimed anything else.

Okay, I am getting off my soapbox now and let you continue on with my review from Pinkpop the way I saw it. Here is what I liked or disliked;

When I first arrived at Pinkpop right before it started I walk straight towards the tent stage to see the first performance. The ‘Noisettes‘, and damn did they open the show it was awesome. The Pinkpop kick off couldn’t have been better, they got the party started. The singer really has a lot of action, jumping around and dancing.

And the drummer well at the end of the set he pushed have of his drum kit off the drum stage. There was a lot of action, great songs and a great atmosphere in the tent. I think that a lot of people where impressed by the show they gave away it really was that good. This is really a band to keep your eyes on. I think that we will hear a lot more from them. I really like the song ‘Don’t upset the rhythm’. Coincidentally I heard a song today on the radio a new single which sounded really good as well though it did remind me a little bit of Amy Winehouse but that is okay cause I like her music a lot too if only she could stop the whole drinking and drugs thing that is less desirable.

After the Noisettes we and everyone else probably went to the main stage to see Chris Cornell. I have to say that I am not really familiar with his music and I only knew one song but it is a song which I really like. Which is the song ‘Part of me’, it is one of those songs which get stuck in your head and you can’t get the tune out. I saw it on MTV a couple of times, but I somehow never saw the name of the artist well it turns out that it was Chris Cornell and though that name rings a bell somewhere I still have no idea who he is.

Upon looking him up I found out that he was in Soundgarden which is a band that I am familiar with but don’t really know any details about either. I always think that it is hard to really say something about a performance when you don’t really know the music or the artist. This performance didn’t really do all that much to me mostly because as I said I don’t know the music. It wasn’t bad at all it just wasn’t special either.

One colleagues, a music lover like me, also went to Pinkpop and there was one band which he really recommended to me. You have, like I, probably never heard of it but since I usually like the kind of music he likes I followed his recommendation and went to see ‘Me first and the Gimme Gimmes‘.

If you ever have the chance to see them live and you don’t mind punk music check them out. Really honestly, check them out they are hilarious. The members of the band are originally members of other bands who started this as a fun project. The band members are from bands such as NOFX, Lagwagon and Foo Fighters. They never had the desire to release any cd’s but a couple of years later they have. They only make use of covers, usually from well known songs and turn it into punkversions, they use songs like ‘Don’t let the sun go down on me’ (from Elton John), ‘You’ve got a friend’ (from Carole King).

On stage they wear matching outfits and make fun of everything. For instance with each song they did they mentioned how good they are in fact they are better than all the original bands. And they couldn’t stop talking about the silly pink hats which you can buy at Pinkpop to support Amnesty International. It was so funny! Really if you ever have the chance, and you want to have a good laugh!

‘The Killers‘ also performed on Pinkpop Saturday, I really was looking forward to seeing them live on stage and with me I guess a lot of other people. They are really popular right at this moment in the Netherlands and I was kind of hoping that they would be at Pinkpop but you never know it they can manage too book them or not. The Killers rocked they where so cool! I loved it, what can I say they really did show what they can do on stage and it worked. It was a really good warm up to Bruce Springsteen later that same evening. The singer of The Killers even did a one song together with Bruce Springsteen & the E street band. And well what is there to say about Bruce. I mean they reallty don’t call him ‘The Boss’ for nothing. He is awesome!

Pinkpop 2009 had some beautiful sunsets, this was during the Bruce Springsteen concert on Saturday.

Bruce and the E street band where on stage close to three hours. And when fans in the audience held up cardboard plates with names of songs he actually collected them and performed a couple of the songs. At the very end of the set he did ‘Dancing in the dark’. As you might know in the original clip, Bruce pulls a girl onto the stage who he dances with, this girl (coincidentally or not) is ‘Friends’ actress Courtney Cox Arquette. A girl in the audience was holding up a cardboard plate with the text ‘Dutch Courtney Cox’, with the help of a security guy she was pulled onto the stage and he danced with her. He really interacted with the audience and it was cool to see a man, a legend like this on the stage.

Sunday I was a little late but since I had no idea who the first two bands where I didn’t really mind. I wanted to see Milow and I was early for that performance.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and everyone was relaxed and in a good mood siting on the grass watching the stage or the screen when Milow started with his set. I like his music, and who doesn’t know that 50 Cent cover ‘Ayo Technology’.

The Pinkpop terrain filled with people, when you are down there it really doesn't look that full.

Sunday night the sunset over Pinkpop from the 'Skiberg'

Maria Mena, if you know me then you also know that I love this woman. Her writing style is something I really admire. I like the way she uses certain descriptions in her song, like for instance ‘Bottle up your smile and pour it in a cup. I’ll be on my way once I sobered up’. I don’t know, lyrics to me are important sometimes even more important then the song.

And Maria Mena is one of those people who I really admire for her creativity and talent. And I was fortunate enough to tell her that myself. I had to wait in line for a while but it was worth it. I have an autographed cd and the chance to tell her that I like her music. That autographed cd cover is so going on my wall right underneath Beth Hart’s autographed cd cover from ‘Leave the light on’.

Some people might find it silly but I like to be able to do that. Her music touches me in my core and that is something. It’s the same with Beth Hart’s music. And the autograph on the cd will be a constant reminder of that moment especially since I choose to frame them and put them on the wall.

Depeche Mode was supposed to be one of the headliners, they would be the closer on Sunday night. But due to an illness they had to cancel, and with only a couple of days left before the festival they had to come up with a replacement act. The first band that came to my mind was Krezip. It would be perfect they have been at Pinkpop 5 times over the last 11 years. And since they where going to stop at the end of June it couldn’t be more perfect if you ask me. Besides that they are Dutch so it would be easier to get them on such short notice.

But the organization claimed that they wanted to have a foreign band and a lot of names where said in rumors. Amongst them I heard U2 ( which would have been great but I always thought that it would be wishful thinking ), The Prodigy, Oasis, Greenday I heard them all. But on such short notice I never really expected them to get any of them. And until Saturday morning there was no word of who would replace Depeche Mode. That was until I checked the internet that morning with mere hours to spare they announced that Krezip would be performing in the time slot that was supposed to be for Placebo. And Placebo would take Depeche Mode’s closer time slot. A good idea as far as I am concerned.

I saw Krezip this past November at what was supposedly their last show in Limburg. Well I always hoped that they as a surprise would be added to Pinkpop. So I was a little bit disappointed when they initially weren’t. At the same time I was glad that I was able to see them once more before they quite as a band. But then on Pinkpop Saturday when it was announced that Krezip would be there I was overjoyed. This would be the last concert before the final two concerts. It was so good to hear all of their songs from the past one more time live.

I would have loved to see Depeche Mode, but since that was not an option I think that they did well with adding Krezip to the festival and pushing Placebo backwards. I mean they where really entertaining. I have to admit that I am not all that familiar with their music but while i was listening to the music I found out that I knew more songs then I thought I did.

Katy Perry is one of those artists that brighten up a festival like Pinkpop. Every year they have an act like this. Something fun! SOMETHING which you shouldn’t take too serious. Geesh people lighten up! Katy Perry had the stage filled with all kinds of attributes from a huge bubblegum pink name sign to a huge cat with eyes that light up. Or plastic straweberries and of course a cherry chapstick. She might vocally not be the best damn singer but it sure was really entertaining and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t like her music. Cause I do!

The Ting Tings, if there was one thing I was impressed with even more then I expected before Pinkpop it must be the Ting Tings. Damn they rocked, they surely had the whole tent going. Jan Smeets should have put them on the main stage! Really they where that good. I loved it!

If you ever have the chance to see them. Do it! One thing though bring your hearing protection you will need it!!! I have never been so happy to have them with me, I really needed them the music was damn loud but sooooo good!

The last band to perform at Pinkpop was Snowpatrol, I think that they are a great band and they did a good performance. But I didn’t expect them to be the closers of the festival, I was quite surprised by the choice. Not that it was a bad choice or anything but are they really that popular? I had no idea to be honest. I like the music so no complains from me, just surprised.

The only downside was the rain that fell on the last evening right after Katy Perry’s performance, we walked out of the tent when the sky opened. But what would Pinkpop be without a good rain fall. Pinkpop is known for it and since we almost had three sunshiny days our last day was graced with one massive raincloud! And when I say massive I mean massive it only took 5 minutes before it was done but it was 5 minutes of heavy rain. It was right after Katy Perry when everyone was trying to get out of the tent. So while the people at the back of the line where trying to get out of the tent the people outside wanted to get into the tent to find a dry place to hide from the rain.

But hey! If you visit you know that it will most likely rain, and since we had sunshine right afterwards the wet clothes dried pretty quickly. So most people forgot about the rain pretty quickly.

Ever since I started writing this review there has been nothing but trouble, first I lost a huge chunk of my story. Then I couldn’t upload pictures so I had to reinstall wordpress. When I finally did that my visual editor vanished. Looking it up I found out that it is a common problem with wordpress and when I was trying to fix it I was instructed to disable all the plugins and that is when nothing changed with the vsual editor and to top it off the text in the input field all of the sudden was white. Hence making it kind of hard to read….

Besides that my boss kept me busy after hours working on some more things for the websites for work which we are setting up. Oh yeah and I went on a week long vacation too … So I guess that explains the delay in finally posting this review of Pinkpop.

If you only knew how much time and effort went into this post you would probably think that I am insane. But I guess you can’t see the log of dates on which I worked on this. Or the whole reinstalling stuff… crazy.

Though I have taken up an old hobby, I am skating again. And I love it just as much as I always used to, and it makes me wonder why the hell I ever stopped. The answer is pretty simple if I think about it. I moved out of my parents house and in the part of the city where I used to live they only had these road with small stones and really uneven sidewalks which is only good for breaking your neck.

Here this new place where I moved to is never, the roads are mostly asphalt or at least a lot better. And just around the corner there are multiple parking places to choose from if I want to skate.

I have mostly been focusing on cone skating, which rocks. I love it! Plus it really helps that nowadays we have youtube which is a great source of tutorials.

Oh yes I have bought new skates by the way, the best skates I ever owned and not even that expensive. And I have some new wrist guards and cups so that I can practice some tricks. And I am not saying that I am any good at it but I have been learning a couple of different moves.

But as it is with all things there is still lots and lots to learn.

This is one of the tricks that I have learned myself, I mean well I might not do it as stylish as that yet but I am getting there, give me some time.

But this second video is the thing which I really would like to learn, make endless combination which will make your head spin. I am not sure if I will ever learn it but I will at least have fun trying it. If only I could learn how to skate backwards that would be helpful but I just don’t seem to be able to get the hang of it.

First for those who have not heard the original version of ‘Pokerface’, are there really people who haven’t heard it?;

Followed by the very interesting and not quite what I expected live television performance she did on april 26th.;

Very interesting, did I say that already. I personally expected dancers, lots of dancers and definably no live singing … or live piano play.

Let me start at the beginning.
A couple of weeks ago my boss asked me if I could help him out with the design of the company website since we are in desperate need of a new website I of course said that I wanted to help him. So these past couple of weeks a lot of time at work and at home has gone to the website so that I could help him out. Which is good and I really don't mind but it is a lot of work especially because things keep on changing all the time which means that I have to change the files all the time. So that has been what I have been working on these past couple of weeks.

And then there is some asshole who hacked my blog twice in one week. So once I asked my hostingcompany to put the latest backup back for me and before I had a chance to change all the passwords and stuff it was hacked again which leads me to believe that there was already something in that latest backup which screwed it all up. So between all the work that I already had I am now also trying to put my website back online. Something which always costs more time then you first think. Especially when you ask the hosting company if they can help you and their answer is simply to aks the webmaster …. ehm yeah I am that webmaster. I am the one who codes, writes, designs and makes this website and I need help. My email stating that I was that webmaster received no reply whatsoever. So in the best way I know I have changed, adjusted and fixed my website and kept it online but hidden for the general puplic for over a week to see if something would happen. So far so good, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I am actually so far behind that I already should have written a piece for Eurout weeks ago and I just can't seem to get it done. Each time I sit down to work on it I am interupted and I have to do something else. And then there are of course also my reviews which I write for NCIS and Dollhouse. I am two weeks behind on NCIS and actually only a day behind with Dollhouse. But now it is Eastern and it won't get done till at least tomorrow evening. And that is exactly what I mean when I say that it seems as if I can't get a break.

I have just been incrediby busy with all kinds of things and the few hours of spare time that I have I have been skating. Which used to be an old hobby of mine. But I actually stopped doing it when I left my parents house. Why? I don't know, I loved it. But well I guess that first of all it has something to do with the neighbourhood where I lived. The roads where bad and the sidewalks too, they where much too uneven to do some good skating so I basically stopped skating.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about what I wanted to do. I hated going to the gym, in fact I never liked it and I never saw the results of working out in te gym. So I was thinking about it and I called up my parents and asked if they could give my skates to my sister and asked them to bring them with them for me. So I tried skating on my old skates but they in fact have been lying in the gardenhouse for six years is not a good things. So I went out and bought some new ones. WIth soft boots and a metal frame. And three different manners of tieing them up. All the things I was looking for in new skates and only 59 euros.

Luckily for me I bought those skates the week before the spring started. Only one week later the exact same skates costed 89 euros. So I am one lucky gal with new skates and a new way to improve my health. So as I have said many hours have been spend on my skates already and many more will follow. I am determined to learn myself how to do some nice cone skating/freestyle skating tricks. It is a lot of work but I can do it, maybe not as good as I wanted to but I will manage to at least learn some new tricks.

Youtube by the way can be a very helpfull source since there are many movies which show you how to perform the tricks and how not to. I really like that we already had some pretty good weather even though it still is so early in the year since that means that I have a lot of time to skate.

I am gonna stop now. I want to write some more soon but this is all for now. It should be the first thing that you see when I am finally opening my website back up to the public.

See you all soon!

Posted via email from nepeace’s posterous

Yes, Richts is right! It does work which is good cause that could mean that it would be easier to update sometimes in certain cases.

The line-up is great, really something to look forward to. Man! I wish it was May already.  Damn! I want it to be May already but then when it is May it all goes way too fast. It is always something isn’t it!