karinxxl 3Speak Podcast: Recent Episodes
None
Listen and watch the latest videos from karinxxl. Hosted by 3Speak.tv. The free speech video platform on the HIVE blockchain.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/szewfyyeth
For some people this might be daily business. Wild running in the wild and you just randomly walking by and just being wondered about everything that is just there.
Sure when you live on the countryside this could be your backyard setting on the daily. But for me here this was something special.
While walking the dog and the sun was starting to set, that is when I saw a little head in the bushes peeping out. I decided to take a moment and see what was happening. As always...the dog had zero idea what was going and he thought most likely that I was just taking a chill pill.
The most interesting here is that I wasn't aware that there were any deer hanging around here. In general you can see them a lot later in the year when the leaves are already falling a bit, and that is when you can see them through the trees.
But since all trees are full in the leaves at the moment, I haven't spotted any around there.
I really love these kinds of gifts of nature just popping around. That is when you see when there is so much beauty when you here the birds on the background and it feels like the world stops.
And this little deer was minding his own business. Zero and zero knowledge of that me and my dog were standing over there. I don't really know what he was doing there. I guess just having a drink and looking if there was something to eat somewhere.
Yeah I also tagging a bit of pobphotocontest in here, even though this is a video. Not for the contest, but I guess there are more people who appreciate nature stuff a bit more. Let's hope this threespeak video will work, because it is less than 15 seconds. But then the deer was walking again, so no 15 seconds of this ;)
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/hvbnegabhb
Recently for some reason my feed has shifted over to sailing stuff again. And with shifted over, I mean more like flooded. That is always the deal, if you watch one kind of video, the next one is already next in line.
I guess my feed has a valid point, because since Spring has started the idea of heading over towards the water is pulling on me again. The funny thing is with the weather shifting to better stuff, the wind has also died. I have already thought on hitting the (ice cold) water here in the Netherlands, but with hardly any wind and water below the 10 degrees Celsius also lets that idea disappear with lightspeed again.
So the only thing to do now is look back at the previous year of sailing when we slept in a bay on Kefalonia Greece somewhere. I love sleeping on the water which is not really attached to land, as it gives something special. In the night the boat is just rocking around a with the little waves which makes you fall asleep in an instant.
In the morning the first thing you do is just jump out out of the boat to wake up with a little bomb on the water. Making coffee on the back of the deck with the morning sunshine on the water, ow man....this is just the dream.
Staying in placeThis anchoring in this small bay was not the easiest if you ask me. As a beginning sailor I am not the best at anchoring at all. So putting up an anchor from the bow on the far distance at 5 times the depth of the water seems logical.
But on the aft side swimming two land lines to shore to tie them up to big rocks on land was new to me. Helping each other a bit with a dinghy and running around on land to tie them up was a multi person task. With also makes you realize again that being on the boat with just two people can bring a lot of challenges on there.
I have noticed it a couple of times already with docking in marinas as well. With more people it just makes it a lot easier with tossing lines and having the option to compensate something when there is a quick task that needs to be done. After all, boating is dealing with the current circumstances, and they just change a lot very fast all the time.
This video was afer all of that was done though. Chillmode was there and there was time and place to just have some fun and fool around in that beautiful bay. The place here is called Foki bay and it is located near to the fishing town of Fiskardo on the island of Kefalonia in Greece. There are so many islands here to discover and learn about!
I'm really looking forward to boating around again this year, hopefully there will be tons of boating moments to find again this year!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/nbtcahmzou
It has been centuries ago sinced I have taken the time to learn how the piano again. First there was summer and summers are for hanging outdoors. Then when autumn came the next and still there was no playing option. This was because some home renovations and the piano needing to be somewhere else. I can tell you, moving a piano is not so easy and you need a couple of people with you to get this job done.
The next part is then getting the piano back out of storage into place which took even longer. All this time I didn't play. You know what happens when you don't give something the attention that it needs. It makes your skills drop exponentially. And since I was still a beginner in my piano journey, that means my skills are about back to zero again.
For leaning how to play the piano there are two things that are important if you ask me (I guess a lot of people who actually know what they are doing will disagree on this though). You need to have the technique to actually play the piano, and you need to know what to play by learning how to read sheet music.
Simply PianoNow that is when my 'Simply Piano' app comes back into play. I think one the most important things on learning how to play an instrument is that you need to have fun while doing it. I remember being a kid that my friends had to go to music lessons and they hated it. That will surely not help your progress.
For me now the motivation is intrinsic because I want to learn how to play and also I enjoy whil playing so. Every time when I start I play until my hands are soar or I don't understand the sheet music any more. This is also the moment when you realize that doing something like this actually makes the body heat go up. I'm always warm after playing and it wasn't even because of exercizing.
Simply Piano helps with having the fun in there. You have the option to use regular sheet music, or you can use these passing-by screens. I like these a lot because they connect to the midi system on my piano. So whenever you make an error, the tone gets red but you can still continue. While in the sheet music, you have to hit the right note before being able to continue.
Now this is the puppy version of 'Yellow' in the category Essentials. Levelling up, you play the same song but with more notes added in there making it more challenging and more realistic. Regardless....I was out of the game for so long that I really needed to start back at the essential before progressing to the more complicated versions.On the good note...It is coming back to me quite fast. Not in a day kind of fast, but I am noticing the progress already after fumbling around again for a couple of days.
This is also a different option on how to start learning how to play the piano. For me for some reason, this doesn't really work. It is more about the lengths of the tones, and when using a tablet a sheet music, this feels more than extremely confusing
YellowSo I have never really noticed how basic most of the Coldplay songs are built up. Ofcourse they add a lot more notes and chords in there and play it faster, but the basic is truly understandable for a music beginner.
That makes them fun to play as you can easily recognize yourself in the song.
Yes, I am totally back to being a beginner and I am also totally fine with it! At least there is some progression again!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/dwcizuseii
Over the last couple of months I have been trying to to upload some videos here and there and often it wasn't the biggest of successes. Admittingly, I really suck at editting and also don't always have the time and the patience for it. Fair enough, that might be the bigger issue indeed. But it seems to be working again and that means that I can toss in some videos from other trips, that were also way too cool to ignore.
This is a drone video from my trip in Northern France where I headed out with the camper to nowhere and anywhere at the same time.
For starters where you can see in the thumbnail: These are seals who are chilling on the sand when the tide is low. Every day these guys swim into shallow water to take a rest and a good sunbath and also make a lot of noise with it as well. It is kind of a weird to see from the distance. It looks like all of these seals are in not such good shape as it looks like they have beached....But you can also see them moving and when the tide coming in again, they hop on down. Nothing to worry about!
The coast line was so diverse over there. On the one corner you would have the big cliffs acting as a big guardian over the sea, and around the next corner you would have these lush green fields.
I was surprised about the landscape over there, and all of a sudden I understood a lot more why this place is so often visited in late seasons. The weather is still friendly when you plan your activities for a bit, the food is good and fresh since everything comes out of the sea over there. And the roads also don't make you feel like a rush as you are driving through these small sleepy towns.
Droning was a challenge over here, as there were always some storms lurking around the corner and sometimes the wind would get really gusty really fast. And as you know landing your drone on beaches is not really a winner, so you always need to handcatch it....which is also not fun when it is windy because the chance that it chops into your hand is also there.
Regardless, this region was very surprising to me and I would love to head back again there over the years. The dream of a little camper van.....
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/ercsadwvsp
Lesotho was surely one of the more remote and desolate countries I have ever visited up until now. Being landlocked entirely by the country of South Africa it almost seems that because it was so high and without that much vegetation, that no one wanted to go snooping around over there. That left the mountain population in their own little country, which often is called 'Kingdom in the sky'.
And I get it! Lesotho feels so totally different. Towns are relatively small, but the cool thing is that towns are very independent and they take care of themselves. All with a little bit of land and people are hurding their cattle around. People looked in good shape and also in good spirit, everyone was super friendly. Honestly, Lesotho was nothing but friendly faces and everyone really seemed to be being quite good in life!
At a certain point we needed a place for an overnight stay and we ended up on this mountain ridge overlooking the river which had formed a nice valley through the erosion over millions of years. A stone house with even a small bathroom attached which even had a small heater running on gas to get some hot water which apparently often had frozen over in the cold winter nights. There is not a lot of infrastructure at this place. The water comes from the rain as said, when it freezes, the pipes which are above ground freeze and pop. No electricity is here, except for when the generator runs 3 hours a day when the sun is setting. The rest is wood fire and candles. I like the idea of this!
At night there was thunder and lightning and the wind was whirling around the little stone cabin which did made me think a bit about being up over 3000 meters altitude and how close by these thunderstorms were. On the other hand, it fitted the setting perfectly.
Getting towards here was not an option without having a 4x4 or at least a car with high clearance. There were no roads towards these houses. And although the entirely road system in Lesotho had been renewed recently to fanastic flat tar (the Chinese government invested in the roadsystem. At first I had no idea why but after driving past a diamond mine, I started to get an idea all of a sudden), once you leave the main road it is all just sand and gravel and crossing rivers.
I just can not stress enough on how sweet everyone here was. These little houses were run by a couple where the girl prepared some fantastic for us with just the little amount of ingredients and options that she had, and the guy helped up making a fire (which was super necessary and is really a skill I would want to work on) and they were just so sweet even though we had a big language barrier.
It all doesnt matter when everyones intentions are right. It was only one night in Lesotho, but surely one that I won't forget very soon
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/rawyvbowmy
When most people think about heading out to South Africa, they think about going towards Kruger National Park which is the biggest national park and located in the North East of the country. The park is in the lowlands after a big mountain ridge, and because of that after rainy season this is a really mosquito prone area where it is a good option to take malaria prophylaxis. Not really fun if you have to take medicine to do your vacation if you ask me.
Luckily South Africa has plenty other options throughout the country for visiting wildlife which are not in a mosquito region, but still are very spacious and have a lot to see.
Addo Elephant national park
In the South of the country near the bigger town of Port Elizabeth (which nowadays is called Gqeberha since 2021) Addo Elephant park is located.
The name doesn't do the park entirely justice, because it is not just elephants who live there, but they do have a gigantic population living there.
Next to these elephants I also saw some buffalo, even two lions, tons of zebras and even a couple of spotted hyenas.
But today is about elephantsAnd such beautiful creatures they are!! And so big!!
Better said. I have never so many elephants in my life together in one big park. Sure you call it a park, but Addo elephant national park is gigantic. And it not even one park, it has multiple smaller pieces in there which you can visit with the same entrance ticket. Check out the mileage on the map on how big this actually is!
Safaribookings.com
Ofcourse I had seen some elephants in my life here and there which was mostly in zoos. But never in these amounts and so close by.
In Addo Elephant national park you are allowed to drive yourself through the park with your own car. Not only guided tours (which are also to be recommended because these rangers have a lot of love and knowledge for the animals and you will learn a lot about their behavior) but the ability to just drive around and see whatever you want to see.
Sure there are rules to this. Give the animals space (and you want this becase these guys are big!!), when you are closeby you should turn off the engine for the sound for the animals, and naturally no feeding and getting out the car. But again, you don't even want to do that because this is wildlife in their natural habitat, and these guys will always win.
What a creature!I was really impressed by the size of these animals and fascinated by their behavior. Because let's face it. Elephants are BIG. At a certain point I turned the car around the corner (you are not allowed to drive fast in the park for obvious reasons) and there was a elephant walking over the road towards the car. Not in a malicious way, he was just passing through. But when an elephants passes by the car, you realise he can tip the entire vehicle over in a heartbeat, and you feel the ground trembling because of the weight of the animal....well, then you feel really small again.
Elephants are herbivors and they just eat grass and bushes all day up to 160 kilograms of grass according to Beekse Bergen and drink around 60 liters of water per day. With all of this happening through that small thrunk that means a lot of effort is put in during a day and they are always on the move for food and water
Also the behavior of the elephants in groups is really interesting. They move around in big groups (which is ofcourse safer to prevent the little ones from getting attacked by other wildlife) but they also run off with their small little families. You can recognise those by the little ones accompanied by its parents.
It really gets interesting....When there is a waterhole around and it is a hot day! Elephants also like to cool themselves off and just swim around but also need some big drinks ofcourse. At these waterholes you can see groups heading towards here and just play around.
Swim (I didn't know elephants could swim with these big bodies) and play, and just squirt water everywhere with the big trunks.
Check out the video below of what I saw at a waterhole on a really hot day (40+celsius) and how the animals behave. You will instantly fall in love!
I have found a new favorite animal and Addo elephant national park showed that it really has a animal friendly way of preservation!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/fcfrchlerp
I really like the ocean. Boom, nothing else additional to mention about this. I like spending my time there, I like the sound that absorbes everything else. I like to see what other people are doing on the beach. And I like to just close my eyes and see what is happening around me.
Reaching the Indian ocean was like a first breeze of getting out of the damp air with sandstorms and some time even temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. The ocean was screaming for a dip in there.
But in the evening when the sun was setting and the tide was pulling back I started seeing these little critters on the beach.
It looked like a tiny jellyfish which was washed up ashore and had no options on going back. I dont know about you but I am not the biggest fan of jellyfish at all. Usually while swimming in the ocean at some point you will feel a little sting and it turns out there was some small jellyfish hoovering around you. Thanks but no thanks so I stayed away from them.
And on a beach this empty... It wasnt really a problem at all.
We don't see beaches that empty that often. Usually there is always something to do, or a family hanging out there with the kids, or some entrepreneur who made a beach club out of it. But not here. Morgans Bay South Africa was nearly entirely empty and I loved it!
The creatures in the waterIn the distance we had seen humpback whales passing by. With the biggest splashes they would come out of the water almost with their full bodies to again splash back in.
With the weight from 15 to 60 elephants that is no joke at all. Those splashes are serious and you can see them from far away.
But now the focus was on these small creatures in the sand. And all of a sudden the jellyfish started to move as you can see on the video!
But huh! Werent this just jellyfish who were washed up ashore and had not where to go anymore?
This turned out to be small little crab like animals who just took up their little shell house and departed. Every time when a wave would come up and make the sand softer, they would travel and dig themselves into the sand so they would be a bit more protected for when there is no wave coming in.
I observed the whole spectacle for a while and was very wondered about the whole thing. Even more interesting was that in the morning there was nothing of this to be seen.
So this really is a tide thing and how creatures adapt to what is going on at that moment.
And water creatures...damn they are smart!
I continued my walk over the beach looking into the other direction. The peace returned after the whole jellyfish-crab (what should we call them??) show had finished.
Maybe the Indian ocean deserves a dip to dive in after all?
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/nrcpejvtri
It had been a damn long while since I had made an outdoor fire in the wild. Sure every now and then I light up the firepit at home. But that isnt the same as making a fire in a total outdoor pit.
The sound of the wood cracking, the sissing of the left over of moist coming out. And in this case...the tjirping of the crickets in the night. A whole lot of them
Staring into fire sometimes just feels like staring into the ocean. It doesnt leave much room for anything else. Because every second it different and it lets the mind drift away.
In the case this was a wood fire which by most South Africans is started to get a 'braai' going, a barbeque. But it was passed dinner time already and the only thing that suited was a bottle of wine.
The camping was entirely empty as it is not high season here as yet. Just a lonely motorbiker who turned up late in the dark was the company. A retired old friendly dude who told stories about life and motorbiking through Africa and how he had broken his leg in a trip when his bike fell on top of him and he had to dig out his leg first before he could leave again.
Stories for the next generation. Stories by people who just go sit next to their friendly neighbor and share their stuff. I really like this about South Africa. The kindness of everyone and generosity to share whatever they have with them. Whether if it is an experience or their coffee. Us Dutchies can take a bit more of an example on that.
The woodfire was burning into warm ashes and in that same time the wine was flowing like it should. South Africa is a wine country for a good reason, but there is so much more to see.
It was time to hit the sack as the fire slowly died out.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/wdkivzbych
In the weekend I took the drone out for a bit to work on the skills again. The trees are in good autumn colour at the moment and with fields being under water there is enough to see.
On thing that I do not pay enough attention to always is the factor of lighting at the end of the day and how much light you loose. Meaning every shot that was made in the weekend was ready for the trashcan instantly. But it did give good inspiration again though.
As it is dark super early by now already it was time to finish some of the last editting of the images in Greece. These are just little movies for myself as vacation memories or something and not anything flashy.
I did inspire me to take a look at some 'how to make a perfect shot' videos that Youtube has. It is funny how these short are snappy videos are the ones that explain stuff best to me. The user 'QuickAssTutorials' is the one that I love following the most with some really decent tips and tricks on what to do, and most importantly what not to do.
Can you spot a couple of the failures that I made in this video? That is the thing with editting. You can not really undo all of the shots that you have already made there. The shots already exist and that is what you have to work with. Hopefully I can take some time in this learning curve to go and produce the next awesome shot. In Greece I was having enough attention already to not crash the drone into the water, since my last one went for a swim unfortunately. But that means that when you are paying attention to some aspect a lot, you loose the attention for other stuff.It has to become a natural way of working, and what I also noticed over the weekend with this ice cold wind here. When it is cold and you start to shiver, that isn't really that easy to do. Making slow shots, moving to the side, also angleling the drone to the side at the same time, and managing the gimble at the same time. Ow yeah...do this all fluently so it looks like one motion.
Easier said than done I would say and that is stuff that needs time and a decent moment to sit and pay full attention to it. I am considering to take off the joystick handles to get better movement which isn't sudden and radical, but I have to experiment and see if that works.
Stuff to work on! But it give inspiration to fly and take it out again and work for the best shot! Music by Eli Filosov
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/aebflachmg
As the smokescreen from Amsterdam Dance Event is starting to disappear and the cities are getting back to normal ( I didn't go this year, because I wasn't feeling it at all) it was also time to look back at something electronic earlier in the week.
I went to see Moderat in the venue called 013 in Tilburg Netherlands. Moderat is a collaboration between the producers 'Mode Selektor' and 'Apparat' and they come and go with breaks in their existence every time. This was the second time during this 'More Data' tour that I went to see them and as you can see in my previous blog about the tour, I was super siked last time that I saw them.
But that was then....and this time it was differentInitially I thought it was me. It was a weekday, I was tired, it was raining cats and dogs. Let's say my mood wasn't the best to head towards the venue, but on the other hand...This was the perfect moment to just let it all go and enjoy music and some good vibes as the show about a year ago was just everything fantastic.
What I really like previous time was the combination of the visuals which really enhanced the music and the mood of the song and also the energy coming from stage.
And that energy...I wasn't feeling it...But initially I thought it was me. I saw some other people around me moving to songs like A new Error and Rusty Nails but I didn't feel it at all. And what I also noticed was that the sound was not really as I had hoped. But the previous show was in the 'Afas live' venue, formerly known as the Heineken Music Hall, which is known for how good the sound always is. And from what I could always remember after visiting the 013 venue was how much the sound sucked. As it was as well this time.
The looped tunes sounded normal, but the additional synths were way to loud, as the underlying hi-hats were just absent and the bass sounded more like a washing machine so loud that even my pants were moving from the vibration.
To top it all offTo complete the whole distaster the frontman spoke the legendary words 'we have been on the road for a while now and as you can hear we have started experimenting with some different variations.
Translation of this: 'we are fed up with touring so we want to do something to make it fun for ourselves' and that is something you could just feel the whole time. I get it, songs changes over time and often playing a new version of them brings a lot more. But don't change them for the sake of changing them. Or better said...Experimenting so much that even the timing went wrong for instance in the song Reminder
Walk or not?By this point I was already so annoyed and disappointed that the thought of walking off crossed my mind more than once. If this had been on a festival with more people playing, I surely would have done so. But now this solo show which you dedicated visit and then walk off...That feels like a waste of money.
But it was a waste of money actually. The sound was so loud that without earplugs that would have been the end of your hearing and so out of balance. I don't know what was wrong, but it was really wrong.
And that while a year ago this surely was my show of the year. What a contrast!
The decor during Fastland**
Everyone was waiting for the encore of Bad Kingdom but what I did like is that they played Intruder as final song which has a suuuuper intense middle part in there, but the sound dude was again capable of just putting a washing machine sound in there again. By the time the set finished I looked around and half of my friends had walked out already.
I guess the conclusion of all of this was...It was not what I had hoped for. And that was just a disappointment. Will I go a next time? I'm not sure honestly.....
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/bxpxpwarao
Summer was ending and finally it was time to empty out the drone from its images. Because editting...yeah it takes some time. Not the editting itself it the issue. With the quite naturally working 'Videoproc Vlogger' the editting gets easier and easier even though you don't have a lot of experience in it.
Better said....now when working with it, I don't really know why it took me so many months to start working on the images from the island of Lefkas in Greece. Because doing something with the images, takes you back to the place. And the region of Lefkas is a beautiful one to hoover around in.
That is the beauty of sailing around here. Your boat takes you to a different harbour, a different island, a different anchorage every day, and it feels like you are on a roadtrip on the water. There is no rush, there is no deadline, the only thing I don't really like is sailing in the dark so we make sure we don't have to. And that is super easy in the Lefkas region, as all island are very close to each other and there is no reason to doing something overnight.
The region is known for that it has pretty steady winds in summer time. Not because of wind coming from the sea, but because the clouds build up above the mountains on the main land, sucking the air towards the clouds to make thunderstorms. Et voila, you have a steady wind which gets stronger in the afternoon. The perfect region to go sailing in.
While others have enough experience to make images with their drone while sailing, I didn't feel comfortable enough to do that as yet. The first reason is that we had recently drowned a drone before in the water. And also because our sailing skills were not that good as yet, so we needed all focus on the water to keep the boat from doing stupid stuff. Hence, no actually sailing images, but only images from later on the day. Working on this one to get more of this happening, because I love a good video of a boat in motion. (but I also love to drone to be alive and kicking and drown again instantly)
Shots were made with the DJI mini pro, the images were editted with the free software Videoproc Vlogger and music is by Burial-Raver. And I love the fact that Ecency now has the option to integrate 3speak videos in your posts, which also makes life a lot easier.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/vqlbkuyl
Looking back a little bit at my recent adventure in the snow in Ischgl, Austria where I only had a brief moment to take out the drone because we were really giving the speed a good go over there.
On a beautiful day we just dumped the skies in the side of the piste and took a moment to take some nice shots.
I can tell you, flying a drone is not that easy when it is minus 15 celsius out there and you are wearing thick skiing gloves, but still we managed to makes something nice out of it.
Since we are still beginners in flying and still often try to orientate where the drone is hanging, versus only looking at the screen that was a challenge in this scenery.
The black and white background makes it really hard to see the drone if it is hanging in front of the snowy background, as that is white on white.
I also found skiing around with the drone in my backpack a bit challenging as I was afraid to crash myself (I literally didn't fall once so this is a bit of bullcrap, but still..the idea), and then squash the drone in my crash, but all of that didn't happen ofcourse.
I like the fact that a couple of weeks after this trip working with the images still gives a good vibe back to those days. Maybe this is like the same charm as that people have when they are making photo albums...it brings them back to the moment.
I used some free music from Music coming from Pixabay by LesFM which is a nice source if you just want something chill in the background.
Considering the circumstances to fly in were challenging, Im still okay with the result. I think of the options to put in there while editting might be when taking sudden turn to play the video on half speed so the turns are not so abrupt, but I consider these are learning lessons that I will take with me for the next future.
Fully inspired because of this I feel like I want to step outside again to some cool places, but currently it is like 35 knots wind out there which is not typical drone weather I would say, so saving it for a next session.
But making drone shots in skiing areas, yeah I really liked doing this, I just need a longer trip so I have more time to make shots from different locations.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/racnessa
Recently I was writing about the thought of saving up for a drone from crypto blogging. But there is also the option to turn it around, get the drone and start working with it. And there we went, and this is actually a super cool thing to do in the winter weather. A nice hobby to take outside in the winter and just fool around with. Take the dog and see what is all happening in the big world.
The reality is that flying a drone is kind of intuitive and it feels like you are game racing. But the reality is that a drone is not a game, and you can also crash it which makes it kind of an expensive hobby (potentially). I’m seeing this all as training and finding out how the drone works, and making some shots with it there, and also fooling around with editing software.
Because making a movie is one thing, but getting it all together is the next one. As editing software I ended up with Videoproc Vlogger which works really intuitively, and this really took only like 5 minutes (as people who do know what they are doing can spot from a distance) but as said…this is all just an experiment.
The music that I have put under there is royalty free music from Pixabay from Relaxed Vlog
by Ashot Danielyan Composer which you can download and use for free. Just a simple download and perfect for to put under. And all of a sudden the options have turned endless and the party's just getting started.
Again flying a drone is an activity to use your head with. There are tons of rules and regulations and most of all so many objects to stay far away from. And following this little river (which does give the coolest images) is of course also your greatest enemy when you miss the sight of a tree somewhere. So my literal first flights were in a field with nothing, and still I felt like I was able to crash the drone every second. It just needs time put in, and eventually we will get the hang of it.
Also practicing with starting and landing from hand versus doing that on the ground is one of the useful things, versus landing in the snow or in the sand. It all takes just loads of laps to get there
So…expect more shots from the sky, and hopefully we will see the improvement over the upcoming years!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/ewzrefqo
It was a long, longer and longest summer of not playing the piano at all. At the end of last winter I had made some nice progress with reading sheet music and playing a bit more complicated songs, something I was ofcourse super happy about. But take it a couple of months from there, doing nothing and hanging outside, and where are the piano skills? Yes, indeed bye bye and out the window!
Pixabay
But it has been raining cats and dogs for a while now, and also I just really want to get back at it, so I started playing again. But rusty isn’t even the term to cover how terrible this all was going again. This was the rising of the piano skills from the grave but still looking like a zombie. The hands weren’t doing what they were supposed to, the brain wasn’t processing and sending signals to the hands, and especially the left hand looked more like I had a stroke than actually playing piano.
As back in the days still, I was using the Simply Piano app to start it all up again, and honestly…I am still a big fan of this app. Starting from scratch again, making you play a lot of repetitions..This is just what I need.
*PS…I used my new favorite bot chatGPT to have an opinion about this jingle…and it says that it is a relatively easy song… Screw you dude!
"Jingle Bells" is a fun and upbeat song that is perfect for the holiday season. It is often played on the piano and has a catchy melody that is easy to sing along to. The song is usually accompanied by simple and repetitive chord progressions, making it a great song for beginner pianists to learn.
In addition to being a popular holiday tune, "Jingle Bells" is also a great song for developing piano skills. The simple melody and repetitive chord progressions make it a good choice for beginners, while more advanced pianists can add in their own flourishes and improvisations to make the song their own.
Whether you are a beginner or an advanced pianist, "Jingle Bells" is a fun and festive song to play on the piano during the holiday season. So why not dust off your piano and give it a try? You'll be spreading holiday cheer in no time!"
But uhhh..I guess it is a good idea to start a bit more again, until the point where it actually sounds good again… A long way to go..
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/blsaqtnp
Damn, it has been a long time being back in the fields of techno. Awakenings the biggest techno festival of Europe has changes its game and came to Southern Holland. And since it had taken forever to actually have the festival go through. Now finally, here we are!
With some beats from Speedy J cranking up the speed, the evening is getting better and better. More to come, and more to see!
The summer of techno coming back, here we are!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/rgfnwbif
Holy crap I am siked about sailing. After laying anchor somewhere in a little bay there is a chance to think about what we did today.
And that was learning how to sail, going 5 knots and having the boat helling over way more than I thought we would.
So...this is bizar...and so cool. and more to come!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/nnqxqcrv
On a random weekend night without having too much of plans, eventually I ended up in some clubby setting. Although I thought it would be more techno there was also a second location.
And that is were Benny Rodiguez was playing. He also was on the other stage with his techno alter ego Rod, and I only saw a brief glimpse of it.
Eindhoven is getting awake again in electronic music after the covid break.
Currently I am still a disaster in planning the most, but somehow I still end up in the decent spots.
For a sunny weekend, a peek inside? Nothing wrong with that.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/gbmxbdpy
The talk of the town over the week on HIVE has been the HBD interest on 20% and that there is not enough HBD for everyone since this will be so interesting and would be the move to get people to HIVE.
The bad news is. I really don’t have a good view on this as this is a bit above my level of understanding. But there are some good posts out there about it which you should check and see how the perspective is about it, that is the good news and it really can help you understand better what is going on. General consensus is that this is good news and the HBD you make from posts is potentially a lot more interesting.
So the actual good news is, that you source of information is right here all beside you on the HIVE platform, and you have access to this, since you are reading this already. Maybe you will even write your opinion about it, and people will appreciate it with giving an upvote on it.
Which will give you HBD for posting and rewarding it. And now the interesting thing will come about what you will do with your HBD. Because yes, 20% interest on your stables is really neat. But when you look at the price of HIVE in general now sitting at $0.92, it feels like 20% on this HIVE is just like a breeze away and could already be here like tomorrow. To me the potential on HIVE in terms of growth seems more around the corner than having that 20% interest or staking. Which means I will be collecting more HIVE for the future here.
Will it be the smartest move? I don’t know. I will have to dig a little bit deeper in the material and maybe will change my decision based on what I come up with then. But as you can see in the video. Digging isn’t always directly towards a clear goal, my dog would find. It can just be digging in the mud until you find what you are really looking for.
But we keep digging. For everything we want to know and find.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/rrvxhana
Gosh, I wished I had the life of my dog every now and then. Chilling in every corner of the house, acting like you own the place. Going on walks in the woods where you would want to chase endless throws of pine nuts. (No acorns though, because those are poisonous). Take a dump in some random place, and get some pets on the head from a loving boss.
Not a bad ending there as a ‘problem dog’ who was rehoused I would say. The territorial part from his behavior is due to his background. After all he is an Appenzeller dog who is used in the mountains to herd and protect places and keep the family together. And that is exactly what he does, he wants everyone together.
But bosses have lives as well, and sometimes they get in the way with this one who always wants to be in the same room as you. Which sometimes will end up with this guy walking up the stairs or opening doors by himself, the little rascal. And of course sneaking in the bushes to take a pee and come out the other side to make you think he ‘wasn’t doing anything at all.’
An angel face on four legs chasing stuff. That is how a weekend should be, spending time with the rascal in the woods.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/cixmefil
The build up of a dark tune. A break, the bass coming in. Melodies slowly fade away. Lights go dark and turn up super light again.. Visuals are on point. Boom….the techno is back.
It feels so good to be able to go places again. Sunny terraces and nice places turning into spring, but also night venues where people go to dance the night away and forget about their weeks.
So many new venues have opened up over the last two years where nobody has any notion of it. Tilburg is one of the cities in Holland which has been grinding away in opening up new cool places. Near the train station a whole new zone opened with all kinds of bars, creative places and dance initiatives. All with a little bit of industrial edge on it, to keep away the crowd of gyms and botox people. I like it!
When a friend here let us all know he had to play the turntables in the night there was no doubt of going and showing up. It was time to put on the dancing shoes and do an inspection of how the city of Tilburg was doing. We are back!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/jivgzusc
The last two weeks I haven’t really been the most active piano player which was kind of a bummer actually. But you know, there was outside life, there were chores around the house to do, there were people to visit, and there was being a couch potato. that is what gets in the way ;)
Last summer I also noticed that playing that building in piano time was a bit more difficult, so this is something I really need to get into the system to make any progress. You just notice that when you played two days ago the fingers are doing something useful on the keys, and also when you haven’t played for two week that you have taken ten steps back and it all feels a bit more unnatural. This is now…unnatural.
Last time I was working on integrating sharps and crosses into the whole piece, so in the sheet music the sharps and crosses work on the whole part and not only on one key. And more important, they are not only working on the octave you are playing in, but the same is there for every octave. Needless to say that this skill in my brain to read the sheets in that way has disappeared now already again, so I have to work on getting it in again. ‘I’ll stand by you’ is a good song to also have this in there.
As you can see there are permanent crosses here in the music which means they are always a half key lower. In this song this is not a problem because I never shift the octave, but I can imagine that this is not going automatically. Another part of learning in the pre advanced lessons was playing the 16th keys. These are keys which are played really fast after each other. I also notice this is not really something I am able to do very fast without pressing on 5 keys at the same time. This means practice practice practice and then eventually….Eventually we will get it.
Although this already is quite fun because these are ‘real songs’ which is cool to play something recognisable (and less annoying for the other people in the house hahaha). More to come!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/dthfgyap
This week a slightly different theme on learning on the piano compared to last week when I was trying to pop in the classic from Bach called Air on the G String. From what you could hear then that song is quite difficult and uses the full broadness in octaves on your piano.
This week I was back in the lessons on getting the theoretics game up more in the piano playing. Some weeks I am feeling more like just playing some songs, and some weeks I want to learn more about sheet music. This week was all about working with fixed sharps and crosses which are seen on the beginning of the sheet line of music. What it means is that for instance if there is a sharp seen on the F key, it means that all F’s in the whole line on every octave should be played as F sharp. Holy crap, that might seem easy for people who have scales in their brains safe and sound, but for me as a beginner I really have to think where all Fs are.
This is how the course plays the song, but I don’t find it all that alive, so I gave a little more waits and emphasis in the song…Yes, the sheet music doesn't exactly tell you that, but it is more how the song goes.
The good thing about ‘Iris’ is that this is a song where you do not have to shift up and down that much, thinking about where your Fs and Fsharps are. Every day I also try to start with a daily reminder session which also makes me think about where all the other Fsharps are. Again, learning scales is also not about only practicing them dry on saying which key it is, but it is also actually finding the key and feeling that it is like a ‘logical’ thing to play. So what happens is I see the sheet music, I count out where the sharps are in the beginning of the line (yes that is not always that logical to me. I do realize that where a note is on the line what I have to play, but saying if it is either a D an E of an F still needs counting in certain spots.
So these lessons are all about the Csharp, the Fsharp and the Gsharp scale and will be stuff to work on over the upcoming days/weeks. Theoretics, not always fun but you need them to get there!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/sbfjnhgj
One of the most beautiful songs there is as a blast from the past and really something that I wanted to learn how to play. A classic from the master Bach himself, and put in a practicing jacket by yourself truly. Thank God for the online course which keeps motivating me and also tells you when you suck.
I sucked a lot trying to learn this bastard. Not that the song is that difficult in terms of transitions, but more like putting it all together is just really not that easy. It took a couple of weeks to get the muscle memory in there, but now….I can now reproduce it without breaking my brain, and that is just awesome.
Here is the song on how I see it when I am playing. The funny thing is the difference when I look at myself when playing. That is the good thing about making a video on yourself every now and then. You can be your own critic on how you position your hands, use your fingers and do the rest of the body language. As in…I see myself rocking with the entire body along a lot, but on the other hand that is also how I experience music. So I don’t really feel bad about that. But what is most important to see is that the hands go towards logical spots on the piano without thinking that much. Muscle memory.
Is this reading the sheet music also that much? Or is it more focussing that you know what your hands have to do. For me it is the last one. I got a sheet music paper book from a friend recently, and that paper book doesn’t correct me when I make mistakes. That is when you notice you still have enough to work on.
Piano progress…it is still work in progress
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/rnkzvpvx
Meet Tony turtelony! My best friend while scavenging the sea bodem on the hunt for whatever there was to find. As I was watching ‘The Rescue’ documentary earlier in the week and think about how scary I found cave diving, I was think about how I thought about normal diving. This is something a lot of people do and don’t find it so scary.
But why does every thread in my body always scream that diving is just diving you should not want to be doing, and just keep it with snorkeling on the surface. After all, even when you stay quite up in the water, there is still enough to see.
In Aruba where I recently was I encountered quite some turtles in the ocean in places where they are not fed or anything. They were just there and chilling and these were not really well-known turtle spots. And the funniest of things is that these guys are damn big over there! I literally sometimes was ducking away because I thought this guy just might swim into me. And I guess their little turtle house is just solid as a rock and I don’t feel the need to check on how solid it is.
Swimming and snorkeling. I do really like the vibe underwater that there is absolutely no distraction and you can only hear the vibration of the water. But where the bottom gets away to far and you stare into the great big blue, nehhhh I am not so fond of that. I remember way back we were on a boat coming van St Martin to St Barths and some people had to take a pee underway. Jump overboard when the boat has stopped is always a good option for that, but the whole idea of that there was 6 km water underneath me, made me just stay in the boat and wait for some shore line.
But the cool thing about snorkeling is that you don’t have to go so far to see some nice fish and other wildlife just minding their business. You can just take some peeks around and see whatever drops by. Heck even swimming over the bottom of the sea and seeing how the waves create all of this texture in the sand is already mesmerizing.
But finding Tony the turtle and having a swim with him for a bit until finding a couple more of his brothers. Well, that is just bonus. Stay cool out there Tony!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/nsrrjhke
As the snow was drizzling down this morning (3 flakes max) which in the end is the ultimate Christmas feeling it was there again. The ultimate Christmas feeling in the most cheesy kind of way. I like Christmas when it is over the top. Christmas sweaters and socks. A good tree and lights everywhere.
A lot of Christmas songs on the radio and with the endgame ‘driving home for Christmas’. That is what I would love to learn one day. But when I truly listen how fast the hands go over the keys to strike them, that is waaaaay out of my reach. Maybe one day.
So I have been back on the easy Christmas songs, which playing them is nice and especially with some headphones on, so the rest of the world doesn’t hate me because of this. A little ‘Jingle Bells here’, a little ‘Rocking around the Christmas tree’ there. I love it that the Simply Piano app comes up with these kinds of suggestions to play in these times. Cheesy as you would want, and willingly to play them.
After a couple of weeks of being out of town I really notice that the level of my practice has gone bad in such a short time. Muscle memory is something that comes back after a couple days of practise, but this surely wasn't the first day as yet. Even though this song is not the most difficult at all to play, I was really struggling as you hear with still some errors in there.
You can’t have it all right? And the journey of progress is not the one with only progress to the upside. It is also with seeing what happens when you ignore the piano for a couple of weeks. But this winter time I have a lot of faith that eventually this will turn out in the good way.
But until then, I wish you guys all a very Merry Merry Christmas and enjoy to the fullest with the people around you!
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/cvgdcsjm
If you read this title is the first thing that comes to mind also the song from Mr. Probz from 2014. I remember when I had just reached Sint Martin for the first time and I had my two interns in the car and they were playing this song.
At the end of the song we had reached a fantastic beach at sunset and everything felt surreal and beautiful with the sun dropping into the ocean.
This week when I had reached the rocky East Side of Aruba and I saw the power of the waves crashing into the rocks again. My mind was slowly drifting again.
Or was that more because of the book that I was reading?
I was reading a Dutch book called 'Mocro Maffia' by Wouter Laumans and Marijn Schrijver which is about the Dutch mobster scene in Amsterdam where a couple of years back the mob war was on in the Moroccan scene. Liquidations were all over and the comparisons to the Italian Mobster scene were surely there.
Violette, power, drugs, money and liquidations..that is what this book is about and it is a true story…
And it starts with the gunfight of the rappers Mr. Probz and Flex. Which coincidentally the music passed by while I was reading this book and seeing the waves crash in again.
I never have the patience to read when I am at home, but while staring over the ocean I can read hours and hours. And so it happens I am already starting a new book again. But books and music don't really go together.
Books and wave after wave on the other hand are just fine. Time to slowly drift away again.
https://3speak.tv/watch?v=karinxxl/wsbkksiu
Nearly a year has passed since I started playing the piano. Some weeks I play more than others, one thing is for sure… I didn’t do much when the weather was warm and it was outdoors time. But now the nights are long again and it is time to get this baby rolling again. It was time for a new video on the progress.
Pixabay
This ‘Against all odds’ song from Phil Collins is actually a nice song to see what the chord playing is all about again. I use the ‘Simply Piano’ app to learn more about songs, learn how to play sheet music and also what types of different chords there are.
After working through Jazz chords (where I learned about making for instance from an E# to an E#7 chord) and the Slash chords (where I could for instance make and E/D chord, while making the left hand play a different key which is out of the tone for the chord) I now also started dipping in the Arpeggios. Remember, everything of this is new to me and up until this year I had never heard of all of this.
Making a video of what you are doing is actually just a really good thing to do to improve your skills and be a little bit critical of yourself. So in the video for instance I notice that my hand placing with finger 4 and 5 is just not really as it should be. That is finger 4 is often doing the same as finger 5, and these are the things technique wise that normally a teacher would correct you on. (I also noticed I do the same when typing on a computer, also self trained...pattern? I guess so)
Here you can see what I see while learning what to play with this app. It looks as if these chords pass by slow but reality is that to me this is already quite fast haha. On the side of this chord playing I also started with the ‘Mineut in G’ from Bach and here I really notice how bad my left and right hand are working together. This will need some daily practices for sure to get that covered going. But winter is long...I will get there
So I was inspired by @mipiano and @edje to start putting back online some music again. Even though it is literally nothing compared to what they are making (@mipiano skills I could only dream of...for real) it is called ‘Piano Progress’ for a reason. The ‘Spread the vibes’ challenge is to make people interact more about music which is cool in general. I am missing some elements of the rules which are there but the idea is good, getting the topic trending again as you can see in this initial post from waaaaaay back I would love to see some work from @bengy as he is the full time musician here, or and @artemislives since she really wants to get back on playing the piano again. Maybe this helps hahaha.