Articles April
Coming up Off-Screen
By: Sophie Dijkman
In this monthly section you will be informed about what is coming up Off-Screen! Stay up to date on all of our fun media related events, parties and trips. From the themes to the sign-up dates, this update will give you all the information you need for the events. Did anything in the calendar spark your attention? Check out here what is coming up Off-Screen, even in times of quarantaine!
Thesis Talks
Even though we are stuck in quarantine, the Acquisition Committee could not let this event go and transformed it into Off-Screen's very own Thesis Talks! So, are you writing your thesis right now? Are you next year? Are you not even sure what a thesis contains? We've got your back! The Acquisition Committee members will have interviews with teachers and students who are familiar with the subject. These interviews will be recorded and posted on Off-Screen's social media throughout this week, so click on going and don't miss this series! First one coming up: Sven Brandenburg interviewing Mark Deuze this Tuesday.
What: Thesis Talks
When: Week of 13th of April
Who: Any interested Off-Sceener!
Where: Facebook
Off-Screen's Filmfestival
This classic Off-Screen event is also one we couldn't let go, which is why the Media- and Educational Activities Committee is organising an online version! Every Off-Screener can submit a movie they made or starred in and the winner will be anounced in an online cermony on the 7th of May. So, have you recently made a (short) movie that you want to share or do you want to get creative during your time in quarantine: this is your chance! Don't by shy and see you on the 7th...
What: Off-Screen's Filmfestival
When: 7th of May
Who: Off-Sreeners, friends and family
Where: YouTube - link will be posted in the Facebook event
Poster by: Bence Gulyas
Promotion Committee
Poster by: Julia Wegman
Promotion Committee
Quarantine Tips & Tricks!
By: Elisa Boulter & Jessie Swart
ELISA'S DAY
Hey guys!
Quarantine all started on the 17th of march when I found myself stress-booking a flight back home 5 hours before departure! After a very stressed-out cry from my mum to come back before borders shut.
A thing I’ve learnt after nearly a whole month of being stuck inside my house, is that keeping a rhythm is very important in order to sustain productivity and focus throughout the day.
I try to keep my days as organised as I can because the tendency of letting yourself and your routine go is very tempting..
So, here’s what I’ve been doing :
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I wake up at 8:30 am (although sometimes I repeatedly press snooze - next thing I know, it’s 11 am, great job Elisa!)
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The very next thing I do is to step outside my bedroom door and sit in the sun whilst reading a book (currently reading : Everyone worth knowing). Some mornings, when it feels a bit more difficult or whenever I find myself not being in the mood to read I just sit in silence and convince myself that this is meditation. Bear in mind, my attention span is very short so the whole ‘focus on your breath’ practice is quickly replaced by some random and less random thoughts. But whatever, I guess I’m still a beginner and these skills take years to achieve.
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The next step is one that I don’t look forward to prior but thank myself for achieving after - YOGA. After a few bossy calls from my sister from the living room, I manage to pull myself together and embrace my yoga mat for a great 30 mins session - part of the 30 day beginners challenge class with Adriene on Youtube (she’s great! go check her out) : https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
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The next thing you know, after having done a small amount of research for my thesis - It’s 12:30 - Time for a WORKOUT !!! I dread this session as I know that my sister will be right onto me to be ready to start right at that time.So there’s no way out for me ! It’s very tiring but also highly rewarding after a good 45 mins session and bucketloads of sweat - It feels satisfying to think that I’ve accomplished a full workout by 1:30pm. The release of dopamine (as you’ve heard before, I’m sure) not only makes you feel good but also improves brain activity (great for when you’re writing your thesis!) The youtube channel I follow for the daily workouts is the following : https://www.youtube.com/user/ChloesAddiction
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After this pretty busy morning, I make lunch and do some more work..
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Then finally, I binge-watch either the Vikings on Netflix (which is a great series I highly recommend watching it) or Tiger King which is also tremendous” and slightly disturbing ..
- Elisa
JESSIE'S DAY
Hey Off-Screen!
Life’s pretty weird right now and personally I find it hard to stick to a routine during quarantine, but what I find harder is to not feel guilty about not sticking to a routine. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
Life is so confusing right now, I personally think we don’t need to stress about having an incredibly productive quarantine like some of the Instagram accounts I follow (recently unfollowed) show. However, that being said I do have a few things I try to do within the day, because I know I will go insane if I don’t have some sort of structure within my day. From being someone who tries to spend as little time as possible home to being not allowed to leave home, it was a hard adjustment. A hard, and boring adjustment.
So here’s my list of what I try to do each day:
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At the beginning of my quarantine, I really tried to wake up at 9 every day, but truthfully speaking this didn’t last long, partly because of the time difference as I had to suddenly adjust to Dubai’s timezone but mainly I just really don’t want to be so strict on myself so now I just try to wake up sometime in the AM.
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My family and I actually start our day with a little workout together. My dad will instruct a full-body workout routine and afterward, being the only one in my family who can touch my toes with my legs straight, I was put in charge of instructing a short yoga session.
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I try to go outside in my garden for a bit to get some sun. I’m lucky that I have a garden during this time, it becomes a little escape for me where I try to do something creative each day, whether that be painting, drawing or recently I’ve started making little clay works of flowers.
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If I don’t do that, I try to read a bit. Being in my childhood home now I’m limited to the books I read as a teenager. I’m currently reading The Perks of Being A Wallflower (highly recommend it if you haven’t read it already). This has been really nostalgic for me actually since it reminds me of the days I spent hours on Tumblr, which is now replaced with hours on TikTok.
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I also try to fit in time to do some work for classes in my day, trying to remind myself that just because I’m home doesn’t mean there’s no school.
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My family also tries to watch a movie every night together and we alternate whose turn it is to choose the movie. This was my idea, and though I love films, I regret it. Mainly because it’s become so predictable; my dad will choose a propaganda war film, my mom will choose anything with Kate Hudson in it, and my sister has gone down the Julia Robert’s route. So far my choices have been Little Women, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and one night of laziness where I chose The Hangover.
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Somedays I do everything that I’ve just listed, some days I do none, but I do find that having these ‘goals’ helps to feel calm during these times. The rest of the time I’m spending hours on my laptop either on Youtube or Netflix, mostly Netflix.
- Jessie
Jessie's painting!
Camila's Hot News
By: Camila Salcedo
In this monthly section I share the hottest news of each week of the month. Every month I summarize and write about news items of the past month that are relevant to this day. As you all know the news of this month has overall been very negative, which is why I chose to bring you some positive news highlights! This month I wrote about the contained wildfires in Australia, China flattening the curve, New Zealand legalising abortion and Coronavirus' oldest survivors! Do you want to know more? Click here!
Finally, after 6 months in a row it was reported this month that the wildfires in Australia are now contained. Which means the environment can start to recover and later on wildlife will start to come back to their original habitat. However, this fight is not over since there were more than a billion animals killed, 33 people who died and a thousand homes destroyed because of these fires. Australia is aware of everything they have lost but is looking forward to start recovering from this catastrophe.
Picture source: @currumbinsanctuary
So far this month has had a big impact on the majority of the countries on our planet. It all started as an unknown flu in China but the cases started multiplying in a short period of time becoming a worldwide pandemic. Lately there has been a lot of stress but it is necessary to stay positive, in fact China is the first country to flatten the curve of the virus and it has also approved the testing on people of the vaccine they created, and they state it is regulated by international standards and local regulations. If the tests come back positive it will lead to a large-scale of safe and effective production.
Picture source: @saraaemiliee
Like some countries in the world, New zealand was a county in which women were penalised if they decided to terminate their pregnancy. This law was created in 1977 and has now, finally after almost 40 years, been taken out of the country’s crimes Act. It is not a reckless liberty but instead is regulated by letting women decide a termination up to 20 weeks since the fecundation. It was a big win for women in New Zealand and it is expected that many other countries follow their example.
Picture source: @tibouunette
This is the story of Alma Clara Corsini, a 95 year Italian old grandmother who has lower expectations to survive the virus that has already killed 87,866 people around the world. The probabilities of an old woman staying alive after the virus were low, nevertheless, she is among another Chinese man who is 100 years old and another Dutch woman who is 107 (!) years old. These seniors are amongst the oldest people in the world who survived this virus that is tormenting more than 1.4 million people around the world.
Picture source: @TheNewYorkPost
My Take on Murphy's Law
By: Alexia Radu
This enveloping frenzy, this palpable, common sense of confusion, were all entwined in a feeling of indignation as there was nothing for me to do. I could attempt to needlessly divert attention from our full-blown pandemic and narrate something completely off-topic but this story is worth mentioning. Initially corona seemed like a distant, unknown concept that will follow its course and be done with in just a few weeks without causing any major distress. I was wrong. So wrong. Although this time it wasn’t about the universe just fucking ME over, corona’s timing was so unlucky for me that it even started being hilarious at one point.
Corona’s first strike (a perfect one I must add): in France “all public transport from tomorrow midday will be banned”. Shock meets hopelessness halfway. Why? I could simply be vague and say I was waiting for a friend to come visit me in Amsterdam but in all honesty, this doesn’t go well without the real details; so here it goes, I was waiting for my ex who’s my current boyfriend to come visit me. After panicking for 2 hours, we change the time and he’s bound to arrive by train first thing in the morning.
I have alarms set every 2 hours. At 6 in the morning I receive his text: he is in the train station in Paris, the cold is killing him, everything is closed so he can’t get any food and everyone is keeping their distance. It’s deserted. We wait. Patiently? Definitely not. I can feel my heart sink - “They just announced that the train going to Brussels is cancelled.” (another amazing strike). I know the next one to be cancelled will be Amsterdam. I know this will be the ultimate culmination of a series of terribly unlucky events in my life that have been thrown at me lately but I cling to some hope. We start counting down the minutes, seconds. Platform 10. He is leaving. This is not the end of the story though.
We cannot stay in Amsterdam as my apartment is too small for a quarantine of 2 months and I share the kitchen with 10 other people. My dad, who is not a fan of my boyfriend (to say the least), wants us to come to Germany (where he lives) to quarantine there. The next 2 days were so hectic I don’t even know from where to start but, I pack everything, drive 4 hours to Germany praying to get there and not be stopped on the way and then when we arrive, my dad meets my boyfriend through an open window. What do I mean by that? Well, we didn’t know if we have corona or not so for 2 weeks we kept our distance and my dad only said hi from inside the house, us on the front lawn. Not the perfect scenario but now, thinking back at it, I did have some serious luck this time.
Noa's Confessional
By: Noa Jansen
Noa’s confessional: a place where you can spill the tea and tell all your sins.
In this sacrament, Noa can forgive sins in Off-Screen’s name. With all the crazy stuff happening within Off-Screen’s walls, it was about time for us to have a safe place to tell your most embarrassing, weird, unusual and striking stories for them to be heard by all of us. So from now on, when something special happens to you, you have something on your mind or there’s something else that you really want to share with the rest of Off-Screen, send an email to noa@offscreen.nl, tell me in person or reveal it to me in a dream.
I decided that, just like in a real confessional, everything should be and stay anonymous. And remember, this is a safe place where everyone can come to terms with his/her sins, where judgement is a word that doesn’t belong in our vocabulary, and where we can all enjoy your embarrassing stories.
I hope that - even in quarantine - everyone still experiences enough embarrassing things so y’all can confess to Noa. Here’s one from pre-corona times but I’m looking forward to hear all your crazy quarantine stories!
“It was my boss from the foodtruck where I’ve worked for three summers. So I knew that it wasn’t really convenient, but after a night of drunk sex after Rollende Keukens we started dating. Soon I realized I shouldn’t have done that. Proud as he was, he told me that he had run a marathon, but that he lost his two big toenails during the run. “Do you wanna see it?” He saved them in a jar. “No thank you”, I answered full of disgust. Yet a few days later I still received a photo with the two toenails lying next to each other. The text that he sent me after the last time we slept together, made me realize that this definitely was not a match, and it reminded me of a freak that had stared at his victim the entire night: “It was fun yesterday. By the way, did you notice we breathed in sync the entire night?” Uhm… uhl??”