On the last Sunday of the month, I always write a little recap of that month for my series Reflections. Today I’m looking back at the exciting new music I’ve discovered and the 33 (!!) films and series I’ve seen so far this year.

New exciting music

Whenever we’re not watching films, chances are hubby and I are listening to music. This month our favourite radio station, BBC Radio 6 Music, introduced me to two new exciting tracks.

The first one is Doorman by British musicians Slowthai and Mura Musa. The second track is Azo Toke by the collective Kokoko! from Kinshasa. It doesn’t matter if it’s 7 in the morning or 11 at night, whenever I hear these songs I can’t help to wave my hands in the air and shake my booty. I don’t think it’s a charming sight, haha.

Want to hear for yourself what all the fuzz is about? Then have a listen here below! It’s also worth looking up Kokoko! online and see how they use plastic bottles, scrap metal and even an old toaster to create their energetic tunes!

In January I wrote 5 blog posts

Well, 6 including this one of course…

• The Dutch Girl Tales #10: drie museumtips voor en cultureel verantwoorde start van 2019!: in this month’s Dutch-language post I wrote about the three fantastic art shows I saw in the Netherlands last month.
• 5 Years ‘Dutch Girl in London’ Giveaway: last October my blog turned 5 years old and to celebrate that, I announced a special giveaway in this article. The competition is open for another week, so go find out how you can enter!
• My 10 Ultimate Travel Wish List Destinations: I’ve been fortunate to have been to some amazing destinations last year (see below), but there are always more places to discover and adventures to be had. Find out here what’s on my travel bucket list and see if you share the same!
• My Travel Highlights of 2018: curious to know where I’ve been to last year? Then read my travel highlight of 2018 on my travel blog Miss Travel Clogs.
• Five Cultural Things to Do in Central London: my top 5 cultural things to do in Central London!

This month I watched 33 films and series!

Okay, this is not entirely true because I also added the films and series that didn’t make it to last year’s recap. You might remember that I wrote the previous Reflections on New Year’s Eve just before hubby and I were about to start our annual holiday film tradition. On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day we have a 2-day film marathon. On one day we watch films chosen by either me or hubby and the following day we watch the film choices by the other.

My choices usually include some 80s and 90s ‘classics’ (that often unfortunately don’t pass the test of time…). In this list you can recognise hubby’s films marked with a *, while my choices are marked with a **.

January recommendations The Green Butchers* Split Glass The Old Man & the Gun Stan & Ollie Sharp Objects (HBO series) The Kominsky Method (Netflix series) The Sisters Brothers New in the cinema / on Netflix Bird Box** Black Mirror: Bandersnatch The Upside Mary Queen of Scots The Good Place season 3 (Netflix) Meh, not that great The Favourite Support the Girls 22 July Miss Violence

Old(er) films Point Blank* Bottle Rocket Slaughterhouse-Five* Daft Punk’s Electroma* Virile Games* Mary Poppins** Demolition Man** Beetlejuice** Contratiempo / The Invisible Guest** The Grand Budapest Hotel Gone Girl Gone Identity The Girl in the Spider’s Web Johnny English Strikes Again Documentaries FYRE: the greatest party that never happened

January was also the month HBO dropped the teaser for the final Game of Thrones season!

If you are a Game of Thrones fan like me, then you’ve probably watched this little clip at least once already. I have to say, I very much enjoy the TV series but really had no idea of the significance of all the many tiny details in this clip.

Did you also feel rather puzzled after watching it? Then I recommend watching this detailed analysis of it. Although I couldn’t remember most of those scenes either, it was still helpful and made me even more excited about the new (and sadly final) season. Season 8 of Game of Thrones will air from April 2019.

There was also time to see some art!

• Anglo-Saxons at the British Library:(where the main image of this article ws taken) this was actually the second time I went to see this show. I was hoping it would be a bit quieter this time around, but it was even busier! Although I find all the exhibitions at the British Library very engaging, I’m surprised this specific topic keeps attracting such a big crowd! It closes on 19 February, so hurry up if you want to go see it as well!
• Anni Albers at Tate Modern: I didn’t really know of this artist before, neither had I really considered the connections between weaving and art. I found this exhibition surprising, moving and inspiring. It was funny to see that Anni Albers was connected to Black Mountain College and therefore also Robert Rauschenberg (in whose home in Florida I lived and worked for 6 weeks during the artist residency almost two years now already!).

• Staging Jackson Pollock at Whitechapel Gallery: the centrepiece of this show is Jackson Pollock’s Summertime 9A (1948), which returned to this east London gallery after its UK premiere there 60 years ago. You can see photos of the original exhibition and also rare archive materials about the organisation (staging) of the original show. (On until 24 March 2019.)

• Modern Couples at Barbican: this blockbuster show explores how relationships between creatives can influence and initiate art. Some of these relationships you might have known about already – like Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera and also Lee Miller & Man Ray – but some seemed a bit far-fetched to me, just for the sake to be able to include them in the exhibition, such as the suggested relationship between Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca.
• Surreal Science at Whitechapel Gallery: this show was utterly wild and I loved it! For this show, the Italian artist Salvatore Arancio was invited to select and respond to the collection of George Loudon. This Dutch collector owned 200 curious scientific objects, ranging from anatomical specimens from taxidermied animals to bisected human skulls and papier-mâché flowers.

My favourite photos on Instagram

Did you know that I have 4 Instagram accounts? Yes, it’s quite difficult to keep up with them, but it helps me focus on my specific interests. I use one of those accounts mostly for posting my music videos (@ladymodular, in case you’re interested), but the others for photos. And these were my personal favourites for these three accounts in the last month. What do you think?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3NK4nBd9-/

Congratulation if you made it to the end of this blog post, haha! I hope you enjoyed this month’s recap. As always I’m eager to hear what you’ve been up to this month so let me know in a comment below!
Thank you, Zarina xx

Oh, and don’t forget you still have one week to enter my special 5-year anniversary giveaway!