Zaterdag 4 september, vergezeld door mijn ouders, ben ik aangekomen in Lincoln. Francesco, mijn Italiaanse ”in case of emergency vader” heeft vrijdag de sleutels opgehaald van mijn nieuwe huisje. Ook had ik mijn bureau, fiets, boeken, printer e.d. opgeslagen in de garage van familie Garcea. Samen met mijn ouders alles vervoerd & ingericht die middag. Zaterdagavond hebben we met familie Garcea bij Gino’s (een Italiaans restaurant in Lincoln) gegeten als dank voor alle hulp. Dat weekend is voorbij gevlogen! De ouders zijn op maandag vertrokken naar Nederland.

Vandaag, 6 oktober ben ik begonnen aan mijn tweede week van de course. Dit jaar heeft 3 doelstellingen. The 8000-word dissertation; the test of a range of undergraduate skills in research, analysis and communication. ”The test of your ability to work relatively independently, making your own decisions about your topic and how your analyse it”. Het telt voor 25% mee in de overall mark van level 3. Het vinden van een creative partner om vervolgens samen een novel portfolio samen te stellen (en een self-promotion film) zijn de andere 2.

Begin december komen mijn broers een weekendje naar Lincoln.

Dat was het voor nu, mijn dissertation roept!

Bijgaand wat sfeerfoto’s van mijn nieuwe huis.

Ik houd jullie op de hoogte!

As the clock ticked over to 9pm, the Wembley Arena went dark. John Mayer emerged from the darkness. Mayer opened up with a powerful and resounding version of ”Heartbreak Warfare”, a favourite and current single from his latest record ”Battle Studies”. This song held significant importance for me, as it was the first time my ears were blessed with the magic of Mayer. After intricately picking his way through ”Vultures”, he addressed the crowd properly for the first time: “How many you out there are single? And how many of you consider yourselves to be… perfectly lonely?” asked Mayer before playing, funnily enough, ”Perfectly Lonely”. For his next song, Mayer unexpectedly turned the clocks back, bursting into one of his hallmark tracks.

“Let’s get rid of all this completely benign, crap, wasting time… let’s lift all the worry off for the rest of the night. Too much worrying… This was at a time where I made worrying into an art form, on the ”Room for Squares” album, check it out.” Whilst strumming out ”Assassin”, Mayer found himself almost out sung. His very own ”Who Did You Think I Was”, backed by a guitar riff. The US singer faultlessly tore though song after song, reaching perfection every time.

After relaying an impeccable version of ”Free Fallin”, Mayer and his band swept through a mesmerizing blues jam. Initiated by a entrancing, flawless, three-minute drum solo from the fantastic Steve Jordan, Mayer and his cavalry contributed their outstanding talents. The Connecticut-born musician then reached back into his stash of mainstream ‘pop’ songs, wowing the people of London Town with gorgeous vocals on both ”Waiting On The World To Change” and ”All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye”.

“Everything’s gon’ be alright this evening!” sung Mayer, before starting another one of his quirky monologues. “You having a good time so far? We’re gonna send you out with a couple more! One more time thank you guys so much, thank you for making us feel like we never left home, this is unbelievable, we hope you’re having the time of your life out here.” Mayer appeared to be getting a little sentimental, but quickly showed his jokey side again before playing the standing out tracks ”Belief” and ”Half of My Heart”.

Mayer closed out the first part of set with the most poignant speech of the night: “As much I as I goof around, as much as I sound sincere… I’m actually just sincere but extremely nervous,” as Mayer continued to talk, the opening chords of ”Why Georgia” began to faintly appear in the background. “So whenever you read something that’s a goofy statement or something, that’s just me being sensitive but like tucking it behind a whole bunch of layers and bullshit – but I can’t ever bullshit this song, so I just have to say that before I play this. This song saved my life.”

What succeeded the speech was quite possibly the most intricate, heartfelt and emotional performance of anything I’ve ever seen in my life. John had been on flawless form all night, but this rendition of ” Why Georgia” and ”Message In A Bottle” really was on another level. I can assure you that the majority of the Apollo was fully aware of John’s talent – that said, I’m not sure just how many people were prepared for what was to follow. He had the entirety of the venue in absolute awe, completely still and fixated by his velvet voice, mesmerized by his jaw-dropping guitar playing. I myself have been to shows, but never in my life have I been so taken aback by one song, spending the final minutes of it simply standing with my hands on my head in sheer disbelief – I was lost for words. For fourteen and a half minutes, Mayer and guitarist David Ryan Harris serenaded the crowd with their tantalising picking and delicate harmonies, and towards the end of it, in the middle of yet another breathtaking solo, he simply mouthed the words “Thank you”. His genuineness was incredibly apparent, clearly overwhelmed by the crowd’s response. Mayer left the stage to a rapturous applause, only to return 2 minutes later.

After Mayer retook the stage, he played a spectacular version of ”Who Says”. Mayer ended his stay in the capital with the most epic of finales, capping off a fantastic evening with a euphoric performance of ”Friends, Lovers or Nothing. The song climaxed with Mayer coming down to the crowd, signing memorabilia with one hand, shredding with the other. He then proceeded to play his guitar with the very items that he’d signed, even using a Sharpie as a slide.

All-in-all, it was a monumental night. Mayer’s performance was raw, captivating, and ever so touching. Every note that left both his guitar and his mouth was as pure as can be, sending shivers down the spine of every person in attendance. Never before have I witnessed such musical perfection at such a consistently high level, and never will any of us ever forget that performance, and no account, picture, or video could ever do it enough justice.

I had 3 absolutely fantastic days down in London.

P.s. Bram, thanks for the amazing time and for borrowing your All Stars on Wednesday-night.

Rory Sutherland, the Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK, current President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and past TED speaker, gave an incredibly inspiring lecture on Wednesday the 10th of February.

His main theme was Behavioural Economics and how understanding a person’s behaviour can be the most potent force to create lasting change and break down perceptual barriers in communication. Rory was keen to champion the ideas from John Kay’s forthcoming book ‘Obliquity’, which explores ways of solving problems by looking at ‘why people do the things they do’ rather than ‘telling people what they should do’.

The talk was full of anecdotes and examples drawn from his twenty years in advertising and a lifetime observing how people go about their business, including:

- The real differences between caravans vs. yachts;
- How to market coach travel and frozen food;
- The way choice is framed affects decision making;
- The curious relationship between scarcity and value;
- The power of seduction vs. force;
- How ‘brand’ is a psychological extended warranty;
- How intangible value can be more important than real value;
- Why banks have marble pillars.

Rory really is a inspiring speaker and he gave us all much food for thought showing us that the best result does not always come from the most obvious route.

Movie below: Rory Sutherland (video on TED.com).

Yesterday; 24th of January was also the anniversary of my housemate Björn. We went out for dinner on Saturday night to a Italian restaurant called Prezzo with all the Dutch people from West Parade & Avondale street. When dinner was over, we went to the Appletree to drink some cocktails. Finally we went out to the Engine Shed. We had a nice evening out.

A few weeks ago I promised to bake Björn an apple pie for his Birthday. I accomplished this promise yesterday morning. The apple pie turned out perfect including candles and above all it was very tasty! Special thanks goes out to my Mom for the recipe.

International Documentary Film Festival

This film is about consumerism totally consumed us. It used the language of music video, propagenda and commercial advertising as a response to the forces of globalisation. It fights fire with fire. The questions it raises are ultimately more important than any answers it might suggest. For it’s originality, sense of humour, irony, forcefulness and visual virtuosity, the Silver Wolf Award goes to Surplus: Terrorized into being consumers. – Amsterdam, Nov. 2003.