January 31, 2012

Dutch pop music on postage stamps

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 4:32 pm

Yesterday, the Dutch post office started selling a special postage stamp with the music of famous Dutch singer songwriter Boudewijn de Groot, which, if you scan it in with your smartphone you can hear his hit Land van Maas En Waal. Other Dutch artists are also featured in this series of Dutch pop music (‘Nederpop’), including Doe Maar, Het Goede Doel, Guus Meeuwis and Frank Boeijen, which will be out eventually.

I hope they include some women as well, dear post office.

(Link: www.entertainmentbusiness.nl)

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January 30, 2012

Animal emergency number forwards callers to local TV channel

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 10:36 pm

The animal police do not seem to be entirely sure what to do when people call their emergency hot line, 144, De Pers reports.

Ms Van der Meer from The Hague called the number last week because she had found a wounded bat. The operator forwarded her to Dierenambulance (a volunteer-run ambulance for animals), where they referred her to pest control.

Residents of the Amsterdam neighbourhood Geuzenveld called 144 because a cat had refused to leave a tree for several days —they were told to call the local TV station, AT5.

Press spokes person Ed Kraszewski of the National Police Services Agency said that “the 25 operators received training, but it is mostly ‘learning on the job’.”

Parliamentarian Dion Graus (PVV), the initiator of the animal cops and 144 thinks that operators are trying to sabotage his brain child from the inside.

(Photo of a Dierenambulance by Alberto Garcia, some rights reserved)

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January 29, 2012

Singer gets death threats over burqa song

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 4:05 pm

Radio Netherlands writes:

Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit Do the Burqa onstage following death threats.

The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy’s ‘Do the Hustle’, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa […].

The Dutch government wants to ban burqas, a head garment traditionally worn in the Arab world.

Vlemmix once ran for parliament on a platform in which he would become Minister of Fun. In 2007 the entertainer flirted with controversy over a song about Polish guest workers.

See also: Carnival song mocks liberal parties—”Behave yourselves!”

(Video: YouTube / Johan Vlemmix)

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January 28, 2012

‘Do not revive’ tattoo for 88-year-old woman

Filed under: Dutch first,Health by Branko Collin @ 1:09 pm

Tattoos that should help first responders and physicians realize that a person does not wish to be resuscitated seem to be getting popular with the 80-something set. In September last year an 81-year-old from Norfolk in England had ‘Do not resuscitate’ tattooed to her chest, and now an 88-year-old from the Netherlands followed suit.

According to today’s Volkskrant, which has a photo of the tattoo, the woman opted to have the text “niet reanimeren” put on her chest because she was dissatisfied with the other ways to convey her wish. She fears that the codicil in her wallet may be overlooked, and she dislikes carrying a ‘do not resuscitate’ coin around her neck.

According to the paper, the idea started ‘just for laughs’, but then became more serious.

Opinions on the legal status of the tattoo differ. “You cannot be much clearer”, professor in medical law Johan Legemaate of the University of Amsterdam said.

Martijn Maas of the Nederlandse Reanimatie Raad (Dutch Resuscitation Council) points out that on the other hand a codicil needs to be signed and dated, and that this tattoo is not.

The woman wishes to remain nameless.

See also: ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ tattooed on Norfolk pensioner

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January 27, 2012

Phone app to find toilets wins national prize

Filed under: Online,Technology by Orangemaster @ 1:23 pm
toilet1.jpg

Designed by three twentysomething students at the University of Amsterdam, HogeNood (= really need to go) won a national prize for the best smart phone app. Although it is currently available as a beta for Android, iPhone users will have to wait for now.

HogeNood won this national prize awarded by Economic Affairs because it uses government data, a condition for being eligible to win. Second place went to an app that helps you find a school in your neighbourhood and third place was for an app that helps determine whether putting solar panels on your house is a profitable idea.

(Links: www.telegraaf.nl, hogenood.nu)

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January 26, 2012

Poor understanding of dialect ruins old man’s reputation

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 6:22 pm

A 90-year-old pharmacist in Maastricht is said to be devastated after popular Dutch talk show De Wereld Draait Door messed up the translation of a subtitle in their film of the elderly man.

In a segment where they show funny videos, a woman walks into his pharmacy and asked for something for her throat. He makes a charming joke, saying, “Did you sing too much?”.

Problem is, the television show didn’t air this because they thought he said “did you sing too much”, but they understood it as “did you suck too much”, which, if that had been what he said, would be kinda funny.

But he said ‘sing’ (‘gezongen’) and not ‘suck’ (‘gezogen’). The man has a Limburg accent that the subtitler didn’t understand, made an assumption and basically trashed a hard-working old man out of ignorance.

My friends also tell me that if the old man had meant ‘suck’ (blow job), he’d have used a totally different verb in local dialect.

The show sent the man a ‘we’re sorry’ bouquet of flowers, but he still claims he’ll never watch the show again.

(Link: www.limburger.nl, Photo of Old drugstore by fpeault, some rights reserved)

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January 25, 2012

European first: elephant gets contact lens for eye

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 4:29 pm

Yesterday, Amsterdam Artis Zoo elephant Win Thida (not this one, but one like it) became the first ever elephant in Europe to be given a contact lens, in her case, for her left eye. The 44-year-old Asian elephant had a damaged cornea and had problems keeping her eye open because of the pain.

She probably injured her eye with a branch while playing with other elephants.

(Link: www.telegraaf.nl, Photo of Asian elephant by cskk, some rights reserved)

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January 24, 2012

A tattoo gets you free films for a year

Filed under: Art,Film,Weird by Orangemaster @ 6:12 pm

Some 18 film fans are going to get a permanent film ticket tattooed on their bodies just so they can get free entrance to films for a year. A movie theatre that operates in the towns of Almelo, Kampen and Zevenaar came up with this to accompany the latest blockbuster, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I think one year of free movies isn’t enough for something as difficult to remove or permanent as a tattoo. And it’s probably not a super deluxe tattoo, it’s a film ticket. The tattoo artist who was hired to do the job is the one doing good business. If anyone has a pic of their work, let us know.

(Link: www.waarmaarraar.nl, Photo of Dragon tattoo by Deanna Wardin, some rights reserved)

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January 23, 2012

Carnival song mocks liberal parties—“Behave yourselves!”

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 6:03 pm

Duo Kwast en Krietje has written a song about the spat between the leaders of the two liberal parties in Dutch parliament, Prime Minister Rutte and PVV leader Wilders, last September. Wilders told the Prime Minister back then to “behave himself” (doe eens normaal in Dutch) during a budget debate.

At the time Wilders’ behaviour was widely held to be inappropriate. Dutch parliamentarians are generally expected to be civil, behaviour that is monitored by the chair.

Carnival is a time in which traditional roles are reversed. Each Carnival association (each town has one, large cities often have more than one) elects its own ‘prince’ who pretends to have taken over from the actual government, and songs and floats often mocks those in power. The tone with which this happens tends to be very light-hearted though—carnival-goers tends to be fairly uncritical of authority in daily life, at least in my experience.

Kwast en Krietje are from the town of Wanroij in Noord-Brabant, near the Limburg border.

(Link: Omroep Brabant. Video: Youtube / Krietje)

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January 21, 2012

Donald Duck does not live in Friesland

Filed under: Comics by Branko Collin @ 3:10 pm

The Dutch weekly Donald Duck magazine celebrates its sixtieth birthday this year by having the Duck family visit the provinces, Parool reports.

The first of these celebratory issues is in the stores right now. In it Donald and Daisy re-enact the story of the sunken city of Stavoren. If that sounds like the recipe for a classic Barks-like adventure, forget about it. The Friesland themed story has all the charm of a copy-written widget factory brochure.

See also:

Illustration: Donald Duck and his nephews (Kwik, Kwek and Kwak in Dutch) busy fierljepping (a Frisian word that means far-leaping, demonstrating nicely the close relationship the language has with English), source Donald Duck magazine.

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