$~WE DUTCH CAN MAKE GOOD MOVIES AFTERALL"|

On Thursday Zwartboek (Black Book) came on TV and of course I watched as it is one of the biggest Dutch films ever. Seems it's also really one of the best. I really REALLY enjoyed it. It left me very impressed. How come we don't make more movies like this? Or maybe we do but I just don't watch them because on an early age I already gave up on Dutch films. But Zwartboek definitely brought back my faith in Dutch cinema and watching it I felt so proud. It's a great achievement. Of course it isn't perfect, there are some flaws, like Ellis (Carice van Houten) breaking open this door with this steel thingy very easily while this group of men had to use this fire thing to burn open the lock. But those unrealistic things aside, Zwartboek is a real thrill. It's highly entertaining, very well acted, and reminded me of those early Hollywood classics with great stars such as Ingrid Bergman. Carice van Houten shines as Ellis de Vries. She builds up her character very well. It's very layered. She's also good in expressing emotions just with her eyes and stuff. Very strong face. Also Sebastian Koch does a very good job. I liked that a lot of parts were in German. Made me get used to hearing Dutch more easily as at the beginning I felt the sound of the voices kind of floated above the images as if they were all re-recorded during post-production. Most surprised I was with Thom Hoffman. Apart from Carice he was the best thing of the film. Great performance. I just can't believe he didn't got any nomination for it. Not even for a Gouden Kalf (the Dutch version of the Oscar). Sometimes I get annoyed by a soundtrack where the musis rises everytime something big is about to happen, to make it all seem more exciting. Here however it didn't bother me at all and I actually found it very fitting. Zwartboek really has surprised me. Now if I watch Simon next (another Dutch film which was well received) my faith in Dutch film might be completely restored. Paul Verhoeven should make more films in The Netherlands!

^@PLEASANTLY SURPRISED">

There's this Dutch TV show called De Wereld Draait Door (The World Keeps On Turning) which is about all things newsworthy, like stuff going on in politics, media etc, etc. And last night my parents and I saw something funny on TV so my mum send them an e-mail hoping that they will check it out and show it. They always show clips from TV programs which viewers might have seen and which were funny and then they show them. So because my mum send them an e-mail I thought lets check out the website to see who's going to be on the show tonight. One of the name's was Sabrina Starke, a singer/songwriter who I wasn't familiar with, not until some minutes ago. I thought lets check her out and I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. She's from Rotterdam but sounds as if she came straight from the US. Her first single is called Do For Love and it's a really good song. Normally I don't really listen to soul/R&B stuff, even though I really like Jill Scott. But this girl she's real talented. This song can get her real far. And it makes me proud that she's from the same small country I'm from. After supermodel Doutzen Kroes and actress Carice Van Houten who will play Tom Cruise's wife in the upcoming Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) film Valkyrie, we now have Sabrina Starke. Keep an eye out on her, she might be real big at the end of this year.