Marco's Oscar Nomination for 3:10 to Yuma Score

Last week, on January 22, the Oscar nominations were announced and we are SO EXCITED that Marco Beltrami has been nominated for best music for his "3:10 to Yuma" score. I know I am maybe a bit biased (Marcus worked on the orchestrations), but the score sounds awesome!

The movie is a modern version of a western and the music is reminiscent of Ennio Morricone. Still, it is a very clever and original score. Especially his use of instruments is interesting to say the least! In the following clip, Marco explains part of the scoring process (warning: this is a clip for film score geeks!!!)



And here's a music sample of the score.



Beautiful, isn't it? And this is just a short sample. The full score is fantastic (and really, I am not just saying this because we know Marco!!!).

To be honest, the competition is quite strong. We saw "Atonement" on Friday, which is also nominated for Best Music (Dario Marianelli). Loved it! The other nominees (for Best Music) are "Ratatouille" (Michael Giacchino) (I loved the movie, but must admit that I can't really remember the music, just that it sounded French...), "The Kite Runner" (Alberto Iglesias, the guy who scored the Motorcycle Diaries. I read the book (great book, by the way!) but did not see the movie), and "Michael Clayton" (James Newton Howard, didn't see that movie either).

Can't wait till the Oscar ceremony... if there will be one!!! With the writers' strike, no one knows... We support the writers though, and hope there will be an agreement soon...

Le tour d'Adrien et Carl-Eric

www.terresenvue.org, le site des deux cycleurs belges, Adrien et Carl-Eric Alexis

While at Peter and Barbara's for the babyshower, I met two fellow Belgians, Adrien & Carl-Eric, two brothers who are travelling the world BY BIKE. Unbelievable, but they are actually doing it!!! They have been underway for 7 months already and bicycled through Europe, Africa and South America. Now, they landed in L.A. and will still cross the USA and Canada, before flying back home to the old country.

What an adventure! You can read all about their travels on their website www.terresenvue.org where they post pictures and keep a journal.

It was really interesting to meet them and learn about their experiences in different countries. Overall, they were extremely positive! Apparently, a bike opens many doors!

Right now, I believe they are on their way to San Francisco. Unfortunately, they don't have the weather gods working with them!!! It's been pouring lately... Wish I could send them some California sunshine... soon!

Good luck, Adrien & Carl-Eric!

Baby shower

Evy, Bram en Marcus in gesprek over buiken en baby's!

Voila, hier ben ik weer eens met een serieus inhaalmanoeuvre. We hebben weer vanalles ondernomen de voorbije weken dat het bloggen er een beetje bij ingeschoten is. Maar nu dus een overzichtje!

Om te beginnen: de babyshower!

Elke, mijn collega op het werk, bevalt binnenkort van een tweede zoontje in de States. Evy, eveneens een Vlaamse schone die hier in California woont, bevalt kort daarna van een dochtertje. Beide kindjes zullen dus Amerikaantjes (geboren op Amerikaanse bodem - ius soli) en Belgskes (de mama's en papa's zijn Belgen - ius sanguinis) zijn.

Om dit op de traditionele Amerikaanse wijze te vieren, hadden Barbara en ikzelf het plan opgevat om een babyshower te organiseren. Op de babyshower worden allerlei spelletjes gespeeld (o.a. pronostiek van geboortedatum, -lengte en -gewicht, de omtrek van de zwangere buik raden, etc), er is taart en koffie (zie foto - Peter snijdt de taart aan), en natuurlijk ook kadootjes. Ja, hier in de VS geeft men de kadootjes op voorhand. Beetje raar, vind ik, maar aan de andere kant is het natuurlijk ook wel handig voor de ouders dat ze dan op het moment van de geboorte al een heleboel spullen hebben en die niet meer moeten kopen... Ik ben er ook nog altijd niet uit of het dan de bedoeling is dat je de ouders + baby NA de geboorte nog eens gaat bezoeken. Met Evy en Elke weet ik dat dit wel het geval zal zijn, omdat het toch een Belgische gewoonte is om de ouders na de geboorte te gaan feliciteren en de nieuwe aanwinst te gaan bewonderen. Maar hoe Amerikanen het doen? Geen idee, ik zal eens moeten rondvragen...

Jammer genoeg kon Elke er uiteindelijk niet bijzijn, omdat de dokter haar volledige platte rust had voorgeschreven. Elke, we duimen allemaal en tellen met jou de dagen af! Evy, rond en gezond (haar eigen woorden) was er wel. Hier nog een paar kiekjes van de plezante babyshower-zondagnamiddag.

Evy en Bram pakken het kadootje uit dat Marcus en ik voor hen gekocht hadden...

Het is een surfboard-speeltapijt! Heel toepasselijk (vonden wij toch) want Evy en Bram zijn echte surffanaten! De baby zal dus vroeg genoeg de smaak te pakken krijgen!!!

Palm Springs International Film Festival

The first week of 2008 started with heavy rainfall in Los Angeles, in particular, in our bedroom!!! Yes, unfortunately the leaks in our roof which we thought were fixed 2 years ago, apparently were not fixed very well... It POURED rain in one corner of our bedroom!!! (thankfully not on our bed) We spent all Friday night changing buckets, towels and rags to keep that corner as dry as possible... We weren't completely successful so I got somewhat annoyed in the middle of the night... Especially since we complained to the manager on Friday night and all he could say was: "Nothing we can do about it now... First the rain needs to stop, then maybe the roofer can have another look..." Huh??? So, we're supposed to stay awake all night to keep the place dry? Indeed, that's basically what he told us to do. So now (since Sunday night) it has stopped raining, but I still have not seen no roofer... Even though we keep bugging the manager, apparently the roofer has better things to do??? (Personally, I think he has no clue how to fix it) It makes me mad, let's hope it won't rain for a while!!!

Anyway, on Sunday at least we didn't have to deal with this, because we headed out to Palm Springs to the International Film Festival (we had Brandon look after our apartment and luckily, it didn't rain inside that night). We stayed at a lovely small hotel, the Pepper Tree Inn, in downtown Palm Springs (room 23, which was awesome, because it had a jacuzzi in the room!!!) Palm Springs is about 2 hours southeast of LA, it is in the middle of the desert, has (almost) year-round sunny temperatures and... is voted one of America's 10 best places to... retire!!! (that's what the billboard said on the way... and indeed, we felt VERY young when walking around PS... I believe the average age must be 65 at least... even the waitresses in the restaurants... they were charming... but old!!!) I think people got to Palm Springs in the 50s or 60s (Elvis Presley and his Priscilla used to vacation here) and just never left...

On Monday, we visited the Moorten Botanical Gardens, and were very impressed with the hundreds of varieties of desert cacti there. Here's a couple of pictures that will give you an idea.

A row of cacti

I hope not to get entangled in this cacti web!

Marcus feels the sturdy cactus leaves

It almost looks like a pink lollypop! (but I wouldn't lick it!!!)

After the gardens, we wanted to visit the Palm Springs Art Museum and go see the modern sculpture exhibition "Picasso to Moore" (I really like Henry Moore's work) but unfortunately the museum was closed (I should have known, most museums close on Mondays... Oh well, it's a reason to go back!)

Outside the museum, at least one piece of art we could admire!!!

We had lunch at Pinocchios in the Desert (great service!) and then headed to the movie theater to see the screening of Belgian movie (and contender for the Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Film) BenX at the Film Festival. Here's the trailer. I had seen the movie once before, but really enjoyed seeing it again. Marcus also liked the film a lot, so we're crossing our fingers for the Oscar nominations!!! There was a Q&A afterwards with the director, Nic Balthazar, whose enthusiasm was endearing! Following the screening, there was a reception, organized by the Consulate General of Belgium, and thus a chance to chat some more with Nic and his wife, Lieve Blancquaert, and meet their kids. They are such nice people and it was fun to get to know them! Here's an article + picture that was published in the Desert Sun today about the screening and the reception. The more buzz, the better, so please go see the movie and spread the word!

Until soon!

PS. The Film Festival is still going until January 14, 2008. Worth a visit!

De eerste dag van 2008

Foto genomen met m'n cell phone - vandaar de mindere kwaliteit... maar het geeft een goed sfeerbeeld!

Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Dat al jullie wensen waar mogen worden in 2008!

Wij hebben een leuke oudejaarsavond achter de rug. Eerst lekker gaan eten in Monsoon Cafe in Santa Monica met Brandon, Steve & Lola, Inge & Marc (jammer genoeg geen goeie foto's want camera laten liggen in de auto...) en daarna naar Hilde en Stefaan's party pad om het nieuwe jaar op sprankelende wijze (met heeeeeeel veel bubbels) in te zetten!

Ik dacht het foto's nemen aan Brandon over te laten, maar blijkbaar was die toch net iets te bezopen (ja, met al die champagne...) om treffelijke beelden te schieten. Veel donkere schimmen in donkere hoekjes van het (overigens heel toffe) apartement, dat wel ja... (moet wel zeggen dat B. een hilarisch filmpje gemaakt heeft dat ik nog op de blog probeer te zetten. check back later. Update: hier is het filmpje!)

Dus hier voorlopig een kleine selectie van eigen werk!

JD, Steve, Lola en Brandon in de keuken

Evy, Inge en Inge!

Ikzelf en Ralitsa

Happy New Year Stefaan!

Marc & Inge heading out the door...

Het was een fijne avond. Hopelijk brengt 2008 meer van dat!

Groetjes!