January 7, 2020

Father spots his kids damaging property with fireworks

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 3:04 pm

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After all the property damage, injuries, fires and even deaths related to people using fireworks in the Netherlands on New Year’s Eve, the issue of anybody using fireworks is finally being hotly debated at the national level.

One father in Enschede, Overijssel who I bet thought his children were good kids, found out through social media that his kids are destructive little shits. Football club Sparta Enschede put out a film of the destructive little shits trashing the club’s stands on social media and the father recognised his destructive little shits. He contacted the club to tell them that and agreed to pay the 10,000 euro worth of damages caused by his destructive little shits.

“Luckily there are still honest people who accept responsibility,” one of the club’s Board members said. Hopefully dad will set a good example for these destructive little shits and punish them accorgdingly. It has not been mentioned whether the destructive little shits are also members of the club. I can’t imagine they would be welcome any time soon even as spectators.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, Photo of Football by Bramus, some rights reserved)

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October 29, 2018

Why people hate pianos at Dutch train stations

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 10:26 am

A few days ago, a picture of the piano at Amsterdam Central Station was doing the rounds on Instagram, as it was overturned. A friend of mine reposted an article about the unfortunate piano on Facebook, saying “My mood today”.

The man who did it will have to go to court, but having sat down after his ‘crime’, he waited for the police and didn’t seem to care. A new piano was put in its place rather quickly after the incident. The piano has had faeces, acid and other things poured onto it, so yeah, fresh piano it is.

The first reason people hate train station pianos is that listening to a piano is meant to attract attention and evoke emotions, which is for many people the complete opposite of what a train station is supposed to do, which is get people from A to B as easy as possible. In other words, the piano detracts from the goal of getting to their train without being distracted.

The second reason is the fake feeling of ‘life is hard, but doesn’t this small bit of happiness bring us all a little bit closer’, apparently a feeling that is just as irritating as giving out free hugs or anything else that forces people to feel woolly. It’s one thing to encourage togetherness, but it is another when it is done as part of Dutch Rail’s marketing strategy when all they do is up the prices of tickets every year and offer the exact same service year in year out.

Reason number three is that piano playing gives narcissists a stage. Nobody wants to wait around for some amateur noodling of whatever the favourite film ditty of the year is. Playing for people is something that shows empathy, but in fact is a totally narcissistic gesture, according to the people interviewed. At lease a street musician does it for money.

I happen to like public space pianos, but that’s usually because I don’t use the train to commute and have time to find my train and I tend to hear decent piano players, not parents letting their children muck about because they have to.

(Links: vice.com and nos.nl; Photo of piano keyboard by Adam Henning, some rights reserved)

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May 23, 2012

Art or vandalism? Jurjen Semeijn turns public objects into furniture

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 9:02 am

Artist Jurjen Semeijn says this about his Street Furniture project:

This is a series of unique pieces of furniture as art created from materials found and appropriated around the city of Amsterdam. On the spot where the materials were found these seemingly worthless road signs, fences and planters were freestyle (yes, without any plans) sawn, drilled, cut, screwed and put together as quickly as possible, turning them into extremely valuable pieces. Eventually they were left for lucky collectors to find.

Each object is accompanied by before and after photos, the time that it took to create the piece, and a list of the tools and machines involved (typically a saw, a measure, a felt pen, a screw driver, some screws, and ‘imagination’). Semeijn calls this type of forging art ‘guerilla upcycling’.

(Via: Trendbeheer. Photo: Jurjen Semeijn)

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May 12, 2007

Ban on eggs and butter for Luilak

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:18 pm
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In Haarlem and other parts of the Randstad (conurbation including the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), kids celebrate Luilak, the night before Pinksteren (Pentecost). Traditionally, kids go out in the streets to pull pranks by ringing doorbells, smearing candle wax on windows or as of late, engaging in more serious forms of vandalism. The trend of the past few years is smearing houses and cars with butter, egg yolks and flour. To try and avoid incidents this year, the police will fine or impose community service to any kids caught with butter, eggs or flour on Luilak night.

Tip for Haarlem residents with or without parking permits: make sure to move your car away from downtown and make sure your car is not parked in the makeshift tow zones that magically appear the day before without any warning whatsover besides a temporary sign posted at the makeshift tow zones themselves. The fines are hefty.

(Link: Telegraaf)

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