Milk, Beethoven and a lot of violence

What am I serving you tonight?

"In Dublin's fair city / Where the girls are so pretty, / I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone. / As she wheel'd her wheel barrow, / Thro' streets broad and narrow, / Crying "cockles and mussels alive alive O!" / "alive, alive O! Alive, alive O! / Crying Cockles and Mussels alive, alive O!" / As everybody's knowing, You've got a decent tongue, / Whene'er it's set agoing. "

Still does not ring a bell? Maybe some movies stills then....

Well, in case you still have not managed to guess what I am presenting you tonight, let me tell you! Get ready for ultra violence, milk and Beethoven! Here is "Clockwork Orange! "

October 4th Blog is WW Blog Day

The 4th of October this blog will show its sympathy with the people who are fighting against the Junta regime in Burma. There exists a growing list of Bloggers on the Free Burma site, who have promised to do the same and refrain from posting on their blogs, but instead will put up a Banner on their site. The banner will real "Free Burma".

This blog will follow suit and asks everybody that owns a blog to do the same.

Short Notice - Burma #2

All recent development on Burma can be followed here. For local sources in Burma, please visit these websites (this one, this one, this one) and forward them or put them on your own blog. The news has to spread!

Short Notice - Burma

This Monday, October 1, Amnesty International members around the world are holding a series of demonstrations outside Burmese embassies and high profile public locations calling for the Myanmar authorities to respect the right to peaceful protest.

In New York City people are assembling at 12:00pm at the Permanent Mission of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) to the UN at 10 East 77th Street (near 5th avenue, east side of Central Park). Check the AI website for info on rallies nationwide and other ways you can help.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

Its getting late, late enough for an unmatched quality horror flick....

Blood! Your precious blood!

Hitchhiking #5 - Hitchhiking Signs

Last time I discussed how to conversate with your driver, in this concluding tutorial, I will inform you on which signs the use when hitchhiking.

The decision what kind of sign to use for hitchhiking is difficult. Well, not so much maybe. The first thing you need is a .44 Mangnum Marker (preferably black). Why especially that one, I hear you ask. Well the penetrating smell of the marker is part of the whole hitchhiking experience! Secondly you need a cardboard. The board does not have to be white especially, but it might be the most noticeable colour for bypassing cars. If you are really serious about hitchhiking you might want to consider using an orange or green strip along the sides of your cardboard.

I heard somebody saying that he used a strip of cardboard (A3 size) cut lengthwise in half (i.e. about 10 x 40 cm) and a set of about 10 prepared and 20 blank A3 sheets folded lengthwise in half. He just put the one he needs on top and holds the lot together with some rubber bands.

Personally, I just use carton boards that I find on the streets, in supermarkets or old pizza boxes from home. Card boards (min. A4 size) are really easy to find, just remember that the sign has to be visible enough for distant cars.

Now what?

First word of advise is to never write on your board before your are actually on the road. In one of my previous posts I wrote that your journey' s starting point (considering that you depart from an urban area) is most likely to be a traffic light, toll station or even better petrol station. For all three of these spots you don't need your sign. Why not? Because you ask drivers instead of showing them your signs! You start writing on your sign the moment you are not at a petrol station or close to a traffic light. See your sign as kind of an emergency tool. Hitchhiking with a sign (or worse thumb) proves to be a lot more difficult then just asking drivers. Believe me! I hitchhiked in China and Mongolia and the use of a thumb or sign is yet unknown to drivers (especially when "whitey" does it!).

However, imagine you are up in the middle of nowhere and there is no petrol station or traffic light anywhere near. This it is time to start using your sign! Get it out of your bag pack and start writing on it!

What to Write

First word of advise - write a not-a-so-distant-destination on the thing (i.e. does not have to be your end destination). Example, if I want to go from Helsinki to Rome (a hitch that could be done in 3 days) , I should not use a board saying "Rome", when I am only in Berlin. Instead use a sign that says "Direction Munich". The word "direction" is very important, as it gives the driver an incentive to drop you in a city on the way to Munich.

Other than destination signs you could as well write things such as "number of the highway", "next petrol station" or perhaps even funny things (they work the best for me). You can start using "funny things" when you are a bit more confident about your hitchhiking skiills. Things you could write on your board are "grow some balls", "Not American (when you are in Europe) or "Not European" (when you are in the US/UK), "Free company", "God's child" or "Good bloke" e etc.

You could also trigger the drivers conscience by writing things like "Won't Kiill You" or "No Criminal/ Kiiller/ Serial Murderer". These have helped me a lot to get a ride more easily.

Last word of advice, give the best smile your mother ever gave you! It is important to look nice to drivers. It has often been said that drivers are unlikely to pick up hitchers that don't look kosher or too alternative. I have been picked up by elder women driving alone, fathers with babies in the back and kids that just received their driving license. Look representative, so that drivers have no reason to be suspicious. Hitchhiking in couples work good for that reason, although I did most of my hitchhiking alone.

Finally, don't forget that your sign is often the only communication you have with drivers, so be sure to write clearly and in the local language (English is not understood everywhere!).

Next time: Hitchhiking #6 - Recap and useful links

Marketing BS

After having studied marketing for too long, I can say that a lot of it is just plain BS. The following movies shows what marketing people really think of their work and collegues.

Watch it, its hilarious!

Love for "Ed Wood"

Don't like comics? Well, fair enough!

What do Johnny Depp and bad movies have in common? Ehhh..... dunno? Ed Wood, of course!

Who? The guy that made movies like "Planet Nine from Outer Space" (allegedly described as "the worst movie ever made"), "Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love" (sweet!) and "intimate Confessions of the Cocktail Hostesses" (now, that was a good movie!)

Well to come to the point, Depp starred in Tim Burton's tribute to Ed Wood not that long ago. The result you can see after you saw "Planet Nine from outer Space (don't worry its only 1 1/2 hour of your life!).

Anyways, enjoy these cult flicks and thank Google!

Planet Nine from Outer Space


Ed Wood - The Movie starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton (!)

Comix

Right, its getting dark and it rains outside. Seems like its time for some old, oooold skool comix!

I dug in the depths of the Internet and found some very cool cult-like comics, which I'd love to share with you!

Adventure comic from 1938 (!), which you can download and read here. You can find the first edition of Black Terror (1941) here (Direct link) or the second one here. An old edition of Female Outlaws (beautiful title) you can find here!











If you can't be bothered to download an entire comic, you can also read them straight from your screen too! Click here to read a very old Frankenstein comic or here for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. To close matters, this is for a good friend of mine, The Corsican Brothers!








I also have some indie comix of course! Check them out. some old Rip off comix (1977-1989) to be here (note site needs registration!). A rendom link why Jesus hates Zombies and some more Indie Pulp!










If you like more the kind of modern mainstream stuff, then I suggest you have a look here or here (website in Russian, comics in English).

In order to read all that stuff, or at least some of it, you need this!

Marilyn Monroe #2

Last time I gave you postcards, this time I provide you with some more active visuals. Huh, what?!

Unforgettable videos of Marilyn, of course!

Trailer of "Some like it Hot"


And..."Happy Birthday Mr. President"


TV commercial

The Shining

Today a new classic movie... the Shining!

Thank you Google!

After having pressed the "Play button", give the movies some time (depending on your connection) to load...

Space Invaders

How much I love this game! It is a classic and I think most people that are born in the beginning of the 1980s or late 1970s know it very well... Space Invaders! I collected a range of links, which all have something to do with this classic video game. Of course I as well uploaded the gem!

Play here


Play online
Space Invaders play online here
This is a Korean site which has a good copy of the game

Space Invader Glasses
Space Invader Bag
Space-invading doorstep
Invaders in the mix


A creative human version of the game

Marilyn

I am taking you again way back, back to black and white cinema. You might ask yourself why, well so that you can enjoy some beautiful classic pictures of the most attractive blond ever - Marilyn. Who? Monroe!

Enjoy!

You can buy these postcards here

New Webtool "Blog Rush"!

Just a short note saying that I have joined the latest Web hype, Blog Rush. Blog Rush is a new service that claims to get traffic to your blog hassle free (and also for free). It’s called Blog Rush and in theory it sounds like it could work.

It works on a basic parymid type system. You place a Blog Rush widget on your site. The Blog Rush widget is basically a big box that generates links to posts from your feed. Most traffic exchange ideas, such as Links2Blogs, only give you a click credit when someone clicks on one of these links on your blog. Blog Rush gives you a click credit every time your blog is loaded so you’ll benefit immediately people start visiting your page. In addition every time you refer someone they generate click credits for you.

Give it a try here

I am Cuba

Today a special post. I finally managed to find the movie I have been looking for ages for and I am sharing it with you!

Soy Cuba (I am Cuba) is described by film critics as "a unique, insane, exhilarating spectacle". Filmed in Spanish, dubbed in Russian, and subtitled in English, this unique collaboration between Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes are Flying), the poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko, and writer Enrique Pineda Barnet dramatizes the conditions that led to the 1959 Cuban revolution. Originally made in 1964 (and unpopular both in Russia and Cuba), but only to be introduced to the capaitalist world in the 1960s and 1970s.

Imagine traveling in Cuba, its 1964 and you you are soaken into a world of: luxury, poverty, revolution, and vagrancy. The times are changing, the world around you is changing. However, no matter how much anything changes, the sun-soaked gorgeousness of the land doesn't budge.

This is Cuba, I am Cuba

Part I


Part II

Cows!

In my last post I mentioned Picardie's cows, as being an excellent opportunity to make pictures of. Well... here is proof!


If you want more photos, click here

Picardie - Villiers L'hopital

I have been hitchhiking from Berlin to Frankfurt to Paris to Barcelona to Paris to Picardie to Vienna to Sofia and back home to Rotterdam. Why specifically these cities? Well, because in all of them I have friends which I had not seen for a long time. All my hitchhiking I have done in 1,5 months. About every hike and destination I write a short story on my blog. This time: Picardie!

After my stay in Barcelona, I decided to change landscapes and go visit family members in rural France. Well, saying France I actually mean Picardie. Picardie is way up in the north of the country.

There exist many French jokes about Picardie and its inhabitants. That is mainly so because the province is a tad backward and specialised in the growing of potatoes and sugar canes. People tend to be rough and not so delicate looking as in the southern parts of the country.

Anyways, let's start with my hitch from Barcelona to Picardie. An adventure in itself (as hitchhiking always is!). Spain is not known to be the easiest place to hithchike, especially not in Catalonia the part of Spain I was at. After having waited 6 loooong hours I finally managed to get a ride from 3 French students, who were terrified by the looks of a hitchhiker. Actually they were quite boring, so I cant be bothered to tell you more than that they drove me from Barcelona all the way to the French border.

At a gas station where I was dropped, I had a snack and noticed that it was getting late and dark. I was about to loose faith..... but then suddenly he arrived, who? "Chocolat"! Well at least I got to know him under that name. Chocolat was about as old as I am and had a French mum and a Pakistani dad, which explained his "Chocolat" like skin colour.

He turned out to be a brilliant companion and one of the nicest drivers that I ever had. He was a small time drug dealer in the North of France and had served only a bit of time in prison. But these are just details, as the guy was simply amazing. He smoked one spliff after the other, while sipping cheap bear from cans. He had the most amazing stories and the best thing was that his car was the biggest piece of garbage I have ever seen in my life! The car was literally burning from the inside and smoke came out of every possible hole. We were both completely black every time we went out for a break. However, it was fun, massive fun!

"Chocolat" drove me from the French border all the way to Paris, which was in total about 800KM. I arrived sometime in the morning, while Chocolat drove westwards into Bretagne. In Paris I decided to halt for a moment before hitchhiking the last 200KM to Picardie. I stayed at a good friend's place in Paris (thank you Stephan) and hitchhiked the next morning to Picardie.

There is not much to say about the village I have visited there. The name is "Villiers L'hopital", but don't expect even a Wiki page as the village is so minuscule that it does not even appear on maps. It is so tiny that even for the most necessary groceries (including bread, milk etc), you have to travel for at least 20 minutes by car. Anyways, I stayed there for a week, which was more than enough. Fortunately, I took some great photos of crazy looking cows!

Next time: Vienna!

Stonemason

I am a great fan of Stefan Morrell (also known as as Stonemason). Why?

Check his work below:

"Chinglish"

Having lived a while in China one comes to understand that the English language can actually be a pain sometimes. Why? Because, when comparing it with Chinese it has so much grammar! It is therefore no wonder that China has so many strange English signs in public places...

Have any of your own country? Post the link in the comments!

The 1980s...

Back in the"good old" eighties, we had different TV shows as we see now. Especially so, because back in those days TV shows were not so universaly exploited as they are now.

My parents liked us to watch Belgian channels, which were not as violent as the Dutch ones. However, looking back they sure looked funny....

This clip is about a frog and his adventures on a farm.

The following show is actually Dutch, involving a giant owl telling newspaper stories about events in a animal fable town.

We also had a big bull who's best friend was a turtle....

And then of course the whole world was watching He- Man. A modern Christ figure protecting innocents from the Dark Side....

If you want to share some of your own country, post them in the comments!

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda poems are often completely visualised, so as to allow the reader to indulge fully in fantasies and human emotions. The poem below (can also be played on screen) is a prime example of that...

Poetry

And it was at that age...Poetry arrived

in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where

it came from, from winter or a river.

I don't know how or when,

no, they were not voices, they were not

words, nor silence,

but from a street I was summoned,

from the branches of night,

abruptly from the others,

among violent fires

or returning alone,

there I was without a face

and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth

had no way

with names

my eyes were blind,

and something started in my soul,

fever or forgotten wings,

and I made my own way,

deciphering

that fire

and I wrote the first faint line,

faint, without substance, pure

nonsense,

pure wisdom

of someone who knows nothing,

and suddenly I saw

the heavens

unfastened

and open,

planets,

palpitating plantations,

shadow perforated,

riddled

with arrows, fire and flowers,

the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,

drunk with the great starry

void,

likeness, image of

mystery,

I felt myself a pure part

of the abyss,

I wheeled with the stars,

my heart broke loose on the wind.

The State We are in...

The below described incident has passed the news very much in my country, but I reckon it to be well illustrative for the state we are in.

The following movie was taken at University of Florida. The student got tased by the police after having questioned John Kerry about impeaching Bush.

The following is an account of another student that was present:

"He interrupted another student's question, and although Kerry had earlier said he was taking no more questions, he told Meyer he'd take his comments next. Kerry asked the police to allow Meyer to speak.

When it was his turn, Meyer first asked about the 2004 presidential election and followed with statements about whether President Bush should be impeached.

t that moment the microphone was turned off and police began to take Meyer out of the auditorium. Meyer then started to struggle with the officers.

As they pulled him toward the exit, Meyer broke free and tried to get away. At that point, six officers tackled Meyer to the ground and told him to roll over.

News coverage from "democracy now"

Could this happen in another country? I mean, apart from the fact that he got arrested, nobody reacts, nobody stands up and does anything. Everybody just sits around and waits till the guy actually get tased...

Is this the state we are in?

Piet Mondrian

"Everything was spotless white, like a laboratory. In a light smock, with his clean-shaven face, taciturn, wearing his heavy glasses, Mondrian seemed more a scientist or priest than an artist. The only relief to all the white were large matboards, rectangles in yellow, red and blue, hung in asymmetric arrangements on all the walls. Peering at me through his glasses, he noticed my glance and said: "I've arranged these to make it more cheerful! (Visiting Mondrian)

I like painters that are progressive in their art. Painters that evolve as their life and surroundings change over the years. Painters that are naked and not afraid to show this on canvas.

One such a painter is “Piet Mondrian” (or “Mondriaan”) who changed his style many times as he traveled from the Netherlands over Paris and to New York. Starting as an naturalist or impressionist, he got his artistic inspiration from typical Dutch landscapes (windmills, flowers etc). However his search for simplification, brought him eventually to Paris. Paris at that time (1910) was at the forefront of cubist art. The city has embraced Picasso and Braque and is still considered to be the birthplace of modern abstractism. To emphasize mondriaan’s departure from life in his artistic backwater of the Netherlands, he changed his name (Mondriaan into Mondrian).

During WW Mondrian saw himself forced to go back to the Netherlands, where he founded one of the most influential artistic group in the 20th century – “De stijl”. The movement expressed a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. The movement's members advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour - they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and only used primary colors along with black and white. De Stijl’s influence came from something which Mondrian later described as neoplasticism (i.e. ultimate simplicity and abstraction, both in architecture and painting).


After the ending of WWI, Mondrian returned to Paris, where he would remain until 1938. The intellectual freedom and artistic innovation of post-war Paris, led him to flourish and embrace an art of pure abstraction. It was at this time that Mondrian began producing grid-based paintings, the style for which he late came to be renowned.


In September 1938, Mondrian left Paris in the face of advancing fascism and moved to London. After the Netherlands were invaded and Paris fell in 1940, he left London for New York City. Mondrian work had a great impact on his life, some even caught the painter dancing in horizontal and vertical planes, but never in circles.

If you cant be bothered to read the whole text, below you find a 0.52 seconds movie, which explains the mind and vision of Mondrian

To understand more or to simply lay back and enjoy, watch the beautiful 5 minute movie below.