January 21, 2015

Carnival hits 2015: swearing, creepy fitness and fake leather

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 11:24 am

Carnival is less than a month away, so it’s time to fire up some wacky carnival hits for 2015.

FeestChaos (‘Party Chaos’) starts us off with an English-language carnival song called ‘Who The F*** Is Alice’, a reworking of Smokie’s song ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ from 1977 and Nijmegen band Gompie’s next level 1995 version ‘Alice, Who The F*** is Alice?’. You’ll see cafe singing, drinking and dancing, a Hummer limo, children swearing and some serious devoicing of consonants, which makes every ‘s’ sound like that snake in the Jungle Book.

Vieze Jack (‘Dirty Jack’) gives us the corny pun named song, ‘Jump 4 Jack’. Dirty Jack looks more like a zombie than a pervert, but acts like a pervert channeling a blond version of Elvis imitating a zombie. You’ll see men in drag, tits, ass, balls, and a Scotsman with a kilt, bagpipes and no underwear. The song is not too bad, the lyrics are all easy sex puns and the bagpipe riff works for me. Contains 1980s style sexual harassment at the gym and, as an added bonus, some zoophilia.

Although the song is unoriginal, Alberto pokes fun at the very recently former mayor of Maastricht, Onno Hoes. Alberto probably refers to Hoes’ ex-husband Albert. The song is called ‘Onno (mag ik je toyboy zijn?)’ (‘Onno, can I be your toy boy’?) and relates to his recent demise. The unfaithful and not very discreet Hoes was hanging in there as the mayor until some young ‘toy boy from Almere’ told the media stories about him and Onno getting together. The mayor’s exuberant sex life led to a vote to push him out of office. He survived the vote, but eventually resigned.

You’ll see some of the Village People, carnival costumes and a disco ball effect. The idea of the song is better than the song or the video. The lyrics are a bit nasty, but points for being ‘politically relevant’.

(Link: nieuws.nl, Photo of the carnival Prince in Sittard, Limburg throwing oranges)

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January 20, 2015

Two boring Americans on mushrooms in Amsterdam

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 7:37 pm
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Two American guys, Kong and Jesse, take magic mushrooms and take a ‘trip’ through busy and touristy downtown Amsterdam to attempt to pick up girls. Wearing any kind of apparel with Amsterdam printed on it is usually a warning sign to locals, and indeed girls barely talked to them — no surprise there.

The Koningsplein intersection and the busy Leidsestraat are first featured, with both guys interacting more with a trash can (dust bin) than with girls. They eventually talk about renting a bike, but it’s clear that’s not going to happen. When it gets darker, they end up at Rembrandtplein where there are currently winter stalls with arts & crafts and international food, another major tourist trap. Talking to girls is apparently nothing compared to feeling up our trash cans for some reason.

Kong and Jesse picked up nobody in the end, embodying what us locals think about of this type of tourist. Maybe it’s nice to see that two guys doing mushroom and acting stupid is nothing more than two guys doing mushrooms and acting stupid, and Amsterdam just happens to be the backdrop.

(Link: nieuws.nl)

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January 19, 2015

Belgium’s tough city of Charleroi shot for Dutch film

Filed under: Architecture,General,History by Orangemaster @ 1:48 pm

Charleroi

Anyone who has been to Charleroi, Belgium knows its particular mix of worn and torn houses, industrial greyness and general sadness that is contagious if you stay there too long. The city has a reputation for crime and violence, but has many good sides related to food, culture and even sightseeing if you give it a fair chance. However, it is a huge contrast to other nicer and possibly more economically sound Walloon cities like Namur and Liège, and surely like nothing you’ll ever find in the tidy, shiny Netherlands.

The film ‘Bienvenue à  Charleroi’ (‘Welcome to Charleroi’) was shot by Dutch director Jelle Dijkstra and his good friend co-director and co-editor Derk Zijlker.

Charleroi was voted ‘ugliest city in the world’ in 2008 by readers of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. High unemployment, crime and poverty rates, political and social scandals, abandoned factories and ghost undergrounds all contributed to this negative image.

Watch the film here and find out for yourself if it’s really that bad (English subtitles). At 5:59 there’s a sign in French that roughly reads ‘Life isn’t easy when what you see is black’ (as in being depressed).

(Link: www.vice.com, Photo of Charleroi by Gerard Stolk, some rights reserved)

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January 18, 2015

Dutch advert almost identical to French photographs

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 2:06 pm

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An advert for creamers from Dutch dairy company Friesland Campina produced by Amsterdam agency Norvell Jefferson with photos by Belgian photographer Jeffrey Vanhoutte last summer has an angelic feel to it that is pleasant to watch.

However, it looks extremely similar to ‘Poussières d’étoiles’ (‘Stardust’) by French photographer Ludovic Florent, shot in early 2014. Some commenters on YouTube even said it was plagiarised and it’s easy to see why.

See for yourselves. Look at the above link and then watch the making of the advert:

(Link: roomed.nl, Photo of White powder by Nomadic Lass, some rights reserved)

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January 17, 2015

Scientist predicts more river floods in the Netherlands

Filed under: Nature,Science by Branko Collin @ 7:33 pm

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University of Twente writes:

In the future, due to climate change and corresponding extremely high water levels, rivers in the Netherlands will be more likely to break their banks. This was the conclusion reached by Dutch researcher Suleyman Naqshband […]. River dunes in the major rivers of the Netherlands tend to persist and not flatten out, thereby increasing the risk of flooding.

River dunes in this case is the somewhat unfortunate name for sand structures at the bottom of the river. Apparently they are quite common in Dutch rivers. The university adds:

These river dunes can reach large sizes, growing to as much as one third of the total water depth. This restricts the flow of water, causing water levels in the area of river dunes to be much higher than in sections of the river in which they are absent. River dunes are also dynamic, growing rapidly in just a few days then flattening out or even disappearing completely at extremely high flow rates.

(Photo of the river Meuse overflowing in 1980: Martin Collin)

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January 16, 2015

‘Jesus and Hitler may offend, but Stalin is fine’

Filed under: Photography by Orangemaster @ 3:57 pm

Art student Dirk Hardy of Rotterdam’s Willem de Kooning academy has had two of his photographs censored from an exhibition at the town hall of Binnenmaas, South Holland. The mayor ‘vetoed’ a photograph of Jesus and one of Hitler, saying it could be offensive to some. However, a photograph of Stalin was no problem.

The exhibition entitled ‘Clay’ was a series of six images: Jesus, Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Tom Cruise and himself. The town suggested Hardy come with two other photographs to ‘fill in the gaps’.

Someone who thinks Hitler is offensive, but has no issues with Stalin doesn’t know their history at all. Although very different, Stalin is responsible for killing some 30 million people (yup, Jews, too) and Mao probably killed the most ever at around 78 million. Hitler comes in third with 17 million people killed. If you’re going to be a moron and censor Hitler, you also need to remove Stalin or else you’re an inconsistent, ignorant moron. And censoring Jesus is, as some Dutch friends would say, ‘a bit boring’.

(Links: imgur.com, Photo of Lenin in Ukraine by covilha, some rights reserved)

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January 14, 2015

World’s biggest ship named after Nazi arrived in Rotterdam

Filed under: History by Orangemaster @ 2:01 pm

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On 8 January a crowd watched world’s biggest and most expensive vessel ever built, the Pieter Schelte, float into the Port of Rotterdam. The ship was named after Pieter Schelte Heerema, founder of the Swiss-based Allseas group and a maritime engineer, but also a member of the Nazi Waffen SS, convicted and sent to prison for three years for his crimes against humanity in WWII.

The ship is owned by Schelte’s son, Dutch businessman Edward Heerema who has received much flack and petitions from Jewish groups and others to change its name. The Dutch government had given Allseas’ Netherlands subsidiary a $1 million tax break for its part in designing the ship, adding to the ship’s controversial nature. “While Mr Heerema’s father had been recognised by the courts as providing “very important” services to the resistance, he was earlier a “prominent” figure among Dutch collaborators with the Nazis,” according to the Netherlands Governmental Institute for War Documentation.

Edward Heerema distances himself from his father’s past, stating that the ship was named after “the offshore pioneer that he was”. Read more about this huge vessel and see more pictures.

(Links: www.ad.nl, www.jpost.com, Photo of Pieter Schelte ship by FaceMePLS, some rights reserved)

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January 13, 2015

Royal military police have sex in Golden Carriage

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:19 am

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Riding in the Golden Carriage took on a whole new meaning this week as the media reports that young Royal Military Police (Marechaussee) regularly use it as a location to engage in intercourse. The Golden Carriage is to be used by the Dutch royal family once a year to bring the monarch from a palace to a ceremonial hall in order to deliver a throne speech.

The source of the story is the mother of one of the military police who claims photos and videos have been made as proof. The military police’s lawyer says the youth have extremely static and boring work, and so they get extremely bored. He’s not surprised that they act lewdly, as their moral consciousness is not fully developed.

In July 2014 some members of the military police were fired for stealing from a sweets vending machine. Older members of the corps have demonstrated bad behaviour as well when the man who stole a piece of royal carriage admitted to it 50 years later.

(Link: nieuws.nl, Photo by Zoetnet, some rights reserved)

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January 12, 2015

‘My first day with my drone’ goes viral

Filed under: Technology,Weird by Orangemaster @ 5:10 pm

Zwier Spanjer, 26, was playing with his new DJI phantom drone for the first time and it all went South, which you can see and hear on the video at about 0:26 when it starts to sound like a swarm of killer bees descending on an unknowing Dutch village.

At the moment of writing this, the video had over two million hits on YouTube and according to Vice.com some 7 to 8 million hits on Facebook and other social media. Be sure to watch the 15 second ‘love edition’ as well.

(Link: www.vice.com, Photo of Drone by Karen Axelrad, some rights reserved)

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January 11, 2015

Baby hatches to open across the country

Filed under: Health by Orangemaster @ 9:44 pm

About a year ago Dordrecht opened the first modern day baby hatch for women in dire situations to be able to drop off their unwanted babies safely as foundlings. Online news source Dichtbij.nl says that Groningen and Papendrecht each have one as well. The provinces of Zeeland and Noord-Brabant will soon be opening baby hatches, and there are plans to open some in more prominent places such as Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and Maastricht.

Currently Dutch law forbids abandoning babies for them to be adopted as foundlings and Child Protection Services agrees, claiming children have the right to know who their parents are. The government has no plans to close down, stop or pursue anyone who would abandon a baby in these places, so the government will remain inert on the issue for now.

Sadly, an alternative that occasionally makes the news is when a child has been left in the forest or in a rubbish bin.

(Link: www.bbc.co.uk, Illustration by Leonardo da Vinci)

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