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This month flew by, and not only because I had to walk very slowly following my shockwave treatment on my achilles tendon. I still owe you all the “Get out of the house!”-post detailing my adventures walking with a cane, but first let’s get the monthly round up out of the way.

On my Goodreads you can see that I am participating in the reading challenge once again. I have again decided to read at least 12 books, as this is a manageable amount of books to read in between all the other stuff I do.

Read – Online

For the people that missed the “David Bowie is…” exhibit, there’s an app.

Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi went viral.

Maybe the 10 years later meme on Facebook wasn’t such a good idea after all.

The Empty Mason Jar of the Influencer Economy: The Case of Caroline Calloway and her Creativity Workshop Tour.

Ballet danser Sergei Polunin entire existence has been a huge mess for quite some time, which has been excused and sometimes even encouraged by many in the (ballet) world because he’s just being a “tormented artist”. The Paris Opera Ballet however is having none of it. I am very curious to see if these consequences will lead to change, but I’m afraid that he will continue to socially, physically and mentally destroy himself completely while his adoring fans keep applauding him. What a waster.

The Not-So-Subtle Racism Behind the Marie Kondo Criticism.

I have written before about the Deciem drama, which has now come to a definitive end now that founder Brandon Truaxe died.

The Unbearable Heaviness of Clutter: A cluttered home can be a stressful home, researchers are learning. As a person who’s struggled (and sometimes still struggles) with hoarding tendencies, I say: chicken, egg. I do think it’s interesting that women suffer more from having a cluttered home than men. I’m going to assume that is because women are judged more harshly on the state of their home. Or their everything, basically.

An interesting take on the burn out phenomenon that has become so prevalent in YouTubers these days.

The Gillette Effect: What a Single Ad Reveals About American Men.

For the people who ask me why I, as an (old school) Queen fan have no intention of going to see the “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie: because director Bryan Singer sexually abuses young boys and has being doing so often and for a very long time, something that has been known by pretty much everyone in Hollywood and everyone that follows the Hollywood life. Note: despite the fact that he got fired from the movie (for unrelated reasons),  he will make 40 million dollars from this movie…

De Efteling is adapting some of their “racially insensitive” characters in their Carnaval Festival ride.

The American Hotel in Amsterdam will be turned into a Hard Rock Hotel. Has the themeparkification of Amsterdam reached it’s zenith?

Listened to – Music

The Black Parade. Despite knowing this album from a to z to hidden track (especially the hidden track), it all of a sudden made me cry this time.

Marshmello ft. Bastille – Happier Cover (Grace Kelly & Cale Hawkins)

Listened to – Podcasts

I didn’t listen to any English language podcasts this month for some reason.

Watched – Films and Documentaries

Surviving R. Kelly. Even as a music loving teenager living in a not so big town in the east of The Netherlands (yes, this was the 90’s, no, we didn’t have internet yet) I knew through people in the know that he was a mega creep who preyed on young teenage girls. So it’s safe to say that even back then, everybody knew. Nobody did anything about it though, because “musical genius”, whatever the fuck that means. Now everybody is shocked and up in arms, but will anything change? Will this finally be the end of R. Kelly abusing women, more specifically black teenage girls? Or will things just continue as they always have over the last 25+ years? Calvin Michaels has a lot of interesting points about this documentary series.

From a practical point of view, a documentary about Margaret Staal-Kropholler, the first female Dutch architect.

The Mother of Beauty, about a Hollywood modeling agency in the 1940 – 1960, whose owner discovered/created Marilyn Monroe.

Watched – TV and Youtube

Shmoxd (“shmood”) DIYs stuff and makes awesome videos of that.

Making a Medicine Chest with lots of drawers.

Love this art studio!

2019 Bullet Journal Setup + January Plan with Me! I don’t even have a bullet journal, I just watch these videos to relax.

A doll house, from scratch.

Since it’s apparently The Month of the Disgusting Rapist Creep: Harvey Weinstein and the Oscars: How Gwyneth and Shakespeare in Love Won.

Miscellaneous awesomeness

Risograph machines and where to find them.

You wanna wear Amsterdam around your neck? You can.

And of course THE best track to have come out of House of Talent:

At the end of a silent month here on Featured Mag (a bit more on that in next week’s post), here’s the round up post:

Read – Online

Robyn released her new album after an almost 10 year absence. How Robyn transformed pop music.

I have written before about the Deciem drama, which finally seems to have come to an end now that their CEO, who exhibited highly disturbing behaviour has been fired. For all that want to read up on the story from the beginning, here’s a time line.

Montserrat Caballé passed away.

Interesting article about white rappers.

Whitewashing in food craft circles.

My Disability Story Isn’t For Your Catharsis. Interesting article about a thing that I, being chronically ill, often think about.

When Chicana party crews ruled Los Angeles, article by Guadalupe Rosales, who curates the Veteranas & Rucas Instagram.

100 websites that shaped the internet as we know it.

Wabi-sabi. Sounds nice, which it is.

A couple of months ago I linked to a podcast about the pop punk voice. So how about the Indie Pop Voice? For those going “The WHAT?!” here’s an article that explains everything about this Indie Pop Voice.

Listened to – Music

SOPHIE’s Oil of every pearl’s un-insides album.

Danny L Harle – 1UL

Daft Punk Alive 2007.

Listened to – Podcasts

De Machine, a Dutch podcast about the music industry.

Watched – Films and Documentaries

The McQueen documentary.

School life about husband and wife team John en Amanda Leyden who teach at Headfort School, a boarding school where they teach their students to become the best person they can be. Note: I was very shocked by the uh, backwards ideas some of the students had about homosexuality. I understand that this school is located in Ireland, but damn. It’s a short scene, in which the teacher challenges their ideas and tries to get them to change their minds, but I was still shocked to hear such young kids say things like that.

Robby Müller – Living the light. About cameraman Robby Müller and his quest for perfect light.

My generation. About the swinging 60ies.

Grace Jones – Bloodlight and Bami

Watched – TV and Youtube

Made a ZINE in 24 hours on RISO printing.

“In the end” by Mike Shinoda and the entire audience at Reading 2018. I cried like whoa.

Sam Johnson is a voice teacher and critiques singers both known and unknown in a wonderfully constructive manner. Very educational!

The Rave Years – With Keith Flint & Richard Russell.

Ski Oakenfull reconstructs Unfinished Sympathy from literally nothing.

Miscellaneous awesomeness

Nook PET Felt Lounge Chair, a chair made out of recycled plastic bottles. I’ve sat in one, and it’s a wonderful chair.

30 years of Dutch dance.

Bubble buddy, a grater made out of recycled plastics, that you can use to make your own detergent.

Having a hard time memorising your study notes? Sans forgetica to the rescue!

Despite it only being the 25th, I’ve decided to cut April short here in Featured Mag today. Partially because this post is already long enough as it is, but also because the best part of the month has already happened: I got a new editorial assistant! Her name is Willa and she’s helping me edit as we speak:

According to my Goodreads I finished one book this month, by Dodie. I didn’t know who she was before I read her book and I have no idea how this book even ended up on my to read list, but I am glad to have read it. The the writing, the layout and the drawings give the book a zine-y feel, which I like a lot. A warning though: Dodie has lived through a lot and is still having a hard time and she writes about this openly and explicitly. This is not one of those fun quick reads. The contents gave me a lot of food for thought and I had wished this book had been around when I was younger.

I also managed to read about half of “The Self Care Project”. I was looking for a non-vage, non-fluffy, non-“just take three baths a day with 10 dollar bath bombs”-type book, and I think I’ve found it. I will of course update my review as soon as I’ve finished it.

Read – Online

An article about Mike Yung, a singer who spent most of his adult life singing in the New York subway, only to go viral a couple of years ago and also be “discovered” on America’s Got Talent, and how this all (despite everybody assuming the contrary) hasn’t really made neither his life nor his career a lot easier.

How “that one photo” of James Dean came about.

Molly Ringwald wrote an excellent article on how she looks back nowadays on the movies “Pretty in Pink” and “The Breakfast Club” she made as a teenager.

Junot Diaz wrote a painful and intense article about how being sexually abused in his childhood influenced and distorted his life and relationships thoughout the rest of his life. About how hurt people hurt people.

The homelessness problem in Los Angeles is getting more and more out of hand. The LA Times covers this issue in words and images.

Levittown near Philadelphia was built to be the perfect suburb. Of course this “perfection” came with not-so-hidden awfulness.

Cosmetics company Deciem is the umpteenth cosmetics company entangled in scandals and drama. This article (Please note! There’s a picture of a dead sheep posted in this article. It’s not bloody, but you can see bones and fur) gives the entire time line. It’s almost as if people who decide to start a cosmetics company are, uh, very special *coughespeciallyawfulcough* people. To keep things positive, an interview with former co-ceo Nicola Kilner about her time in the company, being fired and her current world view. An interesting interview for anyone who’s spent an enormous amount of time, energy and love on something, but who all of a sudden ended up empty handed.

Legendary concert hall Paradiso is 50 years old! Dutch article on how this place came to be and how it evolved into the professional concert hall it is now. With film fragments from back in the day.

A Dutch article for anyone who’s ever wondered why houses are so damn expensive in The Netherlands.

Listened to – Music

Leo P, sax player extraordinaire of Too Many Zooz fame, dropped his first solo EP. Sax Star Suite Part 1 and it rules! This EP, produced by Matt Doe (also of Too Many Zooz fame) can be found here on Spotify, and on all other music platforms.

Listened to – Podcasts

Note: I’ve decided to no longer list the podcasts in Dutch in the English blogpost, as you can google translate an article/look at the pictures, but won’t be listening to a podcast in a language that sounds like “gggghhhgggtje”. If you are interested in which podcasts I listened to in Dutch, click on the Dutch flag to see the Dutch version of this blogpost. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “Dutch” this much, ever.

In this episode of the podcast series The Essay, Deborah Bull, who’s one of my favorite ballerina’s ever talks about the cultural and societal impact of Nijinsky’s revolutionary ballet “The Rites of Spring”. Tipped to me by Daphne, this month’s interviewee.

Watched – Films and Documentaries

The Problem with Apu – Comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary on Apu from The Simpsons and all things that are wrong with it. At first, The Simpsons responded to him in quite an unsympathetic way,  but today a YouTube clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was posted on the internet in which voice actor Hank Azaria seems to have changed his mind on this matter. Hari has replied to him on his Twitter (ps: don’t read the comments).

Watched – TV and Youtube

Fake food – You’d love to take a bite, but that would be a bad idea. Best job ever, y/y?

368 – the new YouTube series by Casey Neistat.

Miscellaneous awesomeness

The singing horses. And oldie, but goodie. Those who’ve been following me for a long time will know that I’ve been plugging them since 2004. They’re the best thing to have ever been posted on the internet, bar none.

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Next week, I’ll be opening the month of May here on Featured Mag! See you then!