August 2, 2017
While the country goes on holidays, it’s super busy nuts at 24HQ and good news is hard to come by, but fear not, we’ve got you covered like sunscreen.
Here’s a neat live performance by Kypski of the band C-mon & Kypski from Utrecht that technically has four band members, two of which are DJs and one of which is Kypski.
Here’s the live turntable and controller performance of ‘Headcrack’, a song (a not a remix) from his 2016 album ‘Wreck Fader’.
Tags: C-mon & Kypski, Utrecht
July 31, 2017
A couple on vacation on Mallorca decided to blow up their inflatable flamingo they had bought at the toy shop before leaving. They jokingly posted on social media that the flamingo has an abnormality, but that they are open minded and accept him the way he is. The flamingo’s neck is the other way around, which means it’s not very comfortable to float around in as it pokes you.
They wrote a letter to the shop they bought it from to ask them jokingly what went wrong during the flamingo’s gestation. As of this morning, their post was viewed over 22,000 times and someone even offered them 50 euro for the abnormal inflatable flamingo.
The shop jokingly wrote back that in a sea of pink flamingoes, they would know exactly which one was theirs, a bit like having an odd car in a huge car park, and that they could also come by and trade it in.
(Link and photo: omroepbrabant.nl)
Tags: flamingo, swimming pool, vacation
July 28, 2017
The smallest police station in the Netherlands is in Sloten, a 10th century village that today remains the oldest part of Amsterdam. Sloten was eventually integrated into Amsterdam in the 20th century and is now part of Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West district.
Built in 1866 the station is apparently the source of some great stories. Until about 1965, constable Freek Raat would let the locals sleep off their hangovers in the station’s 4m2 cell. Even local youth that caused trouble were locked up for a few hours to teach them a lesson.
These days, the small station has been empty and slowly falling in disrepair since 2015. The City Restoration company and Sloten residents want to fix up, which is why they have set up some crowdfunding and as I write this, they have reached 88% of their 50,000 euro goal. Even though the deadline of 1 July has gone by according to the video, it could easily be a flexbile date.
Although the video is in Dutch, it’s about taking a virtual tour. The red fire brigade pole outside the station is said to be the only one left in the country. The goal would be to put a tourist office and shop there with local honey, slippers and what not. The flag of Sloten, which itself means ‘locks’, features golden ones and a cow or some say an ox, however not referring to neighbouring Osdorp (roughly Ox Town). In fact, Osdorp is actually derived from the name Oostdorp (East town) having to do with the fact that way back in the day Osdorp and possibly Sloten were culturally influenced by Haarlem, about 10 km further west, rather than Amsterdam.
(Links and photo: mijnstadsherstel.nl, Oud Osdorp)
Tags: Amsterdam, Nieuw-West, Osdorp, police, Sloten
July 26, 2017
Even back in 2008 the Russian Foxtrot B-80 submarine that watches over Amsterdam North’s NDSM harbour was scheduled to be removed, but that never happened. The 90-meter-long submarine built in Riga in 1956 and brought to Amsterdam from Den Helder in 2002 for 56,000 euro by a local architect has been in the harbour since and now belongs to a Belgian company that has been served an ‘enforcement action’ to remove it.
Today, the submarine is considered to be a real risk because it is in poor condition. They were big plans for the B-80, from being a place for fashion shows, being turned into a presentation space and even becoming part of a ship museum, all ideas that fell in the water.
In 2009 the submarine was owned by a Turkish firm that wanted to tow it away in order to have it destroyed, but they were asked by the Dutch government to pay a hefty ‘deposit’ to guarantee that everything would go according to European regulations. The Turks didn’t want to pay the amount, something the Belgians tried to appeal in court as well, but lost. Now the Belgians have to tow it away, but we wonder how this is all going to be enforced.
And yes, the B-80 is a cool thing to look when you take the free ferry from Amsterdam Central Station and arrive 10 minutes later at the NDSM harbour.
(Link: parool.nl, Photo of Russian Foxtrot B-80 submarine by FaceMePLS, some rights reserved)
Tags: Amsterdam North, Russia, submarine
July 24, 2017
Back in 2014, we expanded on the Dutch actors in the television series Games of Thrones, and now in a friendly game of ‘Zoek de Nederlander’ (‘Find the Dutch person’), a Dutch drone is now also part of the series.
In season seven of Game of Thrones, a NEO drone from Dutch manufacturer Acecore Technologies from Oss, Noord-Brabant was used to film aerial shots in Iceland.
The NEO drone can lift up to nine kilos in the air, which was needed to carry the RED Epic Dragon 6K camera with Cooke s4 25mm lens, hanging from a Gremsy H16 gimbal. Even though there was a lot of wind during the shoot as well as temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius, the kit held up very nicely. The drone was used instead of a helicopter to save on time and money.
(Link: bright.nl, Photo by Anthony Kelly, some rights reserved)
Tags: drone, Game of Thrones, Oss, Zoek de Nederlander
July 20, 2017
From August 14 to 31, writer Luuk Imhann will make Amsterdam Centraal Station his new workplace, from 11:00 to 20:00 seven days a week. In an empty shop space, he’ll be writing his new book, ‘Loutering’ (‘Purification’) in front of everyone, and people are invited to drop by and have a chat with him about how it’s going and what he’s writing.
The second part of a trilogy and set to be published next year, the book takes place in Amsterdam and is a retelling of the myth of Odysseus (aka Ulysses) in one day in Amsterdam.
(Link: nieuws.nl, Illustration: Benthem Crouwel Archtitects)
July 18, 2017
Off the coast of the Netherlands near Wijk aan Zee, North Holland someone has apparently spotted and filmed Dutch-built yacht Oceanco Y712, the second biggest sailing yacht ever-built in the world, which looks like a modern-day pirate ship when its sails are out. Someone also took a video of its maiden voyage last February in Hoek van Holland, South Holland, which has that pirate feel as well, thanks to the weather.
The Y712 is 106 metres long (or 105 metres depending on sources), and earlier this year was the biggest yacht ever built until it was surpassed by the Jubilee Y714, which looks very different and is 110 metres long, making it the biggest yacht ever built in the world.
The rumours were that someone super rich was taking the Y712 out for a spin, but nobody knows who that was. I can tell you that Oceanco’s website is in English and in Russian, which gives you an idea of their clientele.
UPDATE: Now called the Black Pearl, the yacht belongs to a Russian man.
(Links and photo: bic-news, quotenet.nl)
Tags: boat, sailing, Wijk aan Zee
July 17, 2017
Model and former semi-professional footballer Dennis Verbaas, 28, from Lisse, South Holland, now known as Dennis Muhammad Abdullah after converting to Islam two years ago, is set to marry Princess Tunku Aminah, 31, the only daughter of Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, Malaysia, a state that borders on Singapore.
The second of three children, Dennis wanted to play professional football, but had heart issues. His sister signed him up to a modelling agency, which kicked off his career. Verbaas travelled around the world for work and probably came into contact with royalty in Johor while doing so.
The pair will be married on 14 August in a ceremonial process that will start on 8 August with all the traditional obligations, including a ‘royal bath’ in the botanical gardens of the Sultan.
(Links and photo: nos.nl, straitstimes.com)
Tags: Lisse, Malaysia, royalty, Zoek de Nederlander
July 15, 2017
The city of Uden, Noord-Brabant is currently featuring the biggest mobile chair swing ride in the world. It stands at 80 metres and can go up to 70 kilometres an hour. Specification wise, it is identical to the Star Flyer at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, although that swing ride is a fixed one.
The biggest fixed swing chair ride in the world can be found at Six Flags Over Texas in the United States, and its called Sky Screamer. It has a height of 121 metres and reaches speeds of 56 kilometers an hour, which makes sense given the sheer size of the ride (POV video).
(Link: ed.nl, Photo of a chair swing ride at Oktoberfest, Munich)
Tags: fairground, Noord-Brabant, Uden
July 13, 2017
While women’s Ajax team aren’t even celebrated when they win big, the Dutch women’s national team gets a roaring lioness on their new uniforms, which matches the team’s nickname for the past 46 years, the ‘Oranje Leeuwinnen’ (‘Orange Lionesses’).
The emblem will make its official debut at the first game of the UEFA Women’s European Championship this weekend, which is being held in the Netherlands, and will remain a permanent fixture on the women’s kit. “When redesigning the logo, we simply removed some elements which made it elegant yet still recognisable as the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) emblem and remained unmistakably Dutch,” explains W+K Amsterdam creative director Craig Williams.
(Link and image: dezeen.com)
