Πάντα ῥεῖ (panta rhei)

Belgian Bombing 2008

2009-10-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

BELGIAN BOMBING 2008 from Gil Chief Rock on Vimeo.

Robber knocked the fuck out at beauty parlour

2009-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hilarious:

Last Man On Campus mixtape

2009-09-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

I've got a mixtape online titled Last Man On Campus. You can download it here. It was originally a mix I did a while back on the radio show Oskoorland, Radio Campus ULB (hosted by French and Défi J). I recorded it afterwards for your listening pleasure.

Tracklisting:
01. Intro (Bucktown Trailer)
02. Smif-n-Wessun - Bucktown
03. Common - Maintaining
04. Colors Break
05. A Tribe Called Quest - Oh My God
06. Peanut Butter Wolf - I Love H.E.R.
07. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - This Land Is Your Land
08. Bernard Purdie - Cold Sweat
09. Cannonball Adderley - Phases
10. Stanley Clarke - Power
11. Coldcut - Timber
12. Michael Jackson - Get On The Floor
13. Madlib - Mystic Bounce
14. Rozer Break
15. Various Panthers - Freedom
16. OC - Time's Up
17. Défi J - Un Ange Saigne
18. Various Panthers - The Points
19. DJ Static - ITF 1997
20. Outro (LMS Shout Outs)

Go and check it out!

Master Shardlake

2009-08-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

I've been reading C.J. Sansom's historical mysteries lately. He has written four novels about Master Shardlake, a hunchback London lawyer. The stories take place at different intervals during the reign of Henry VIII. So far he has written four books: Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation.

Dissolution takes place in the year 1537. The King has recently proclaimed himself to be head of the Church of England, and the country is rapidly changing as a result. Thomas Cromwell is at the height of his power and has ordered the dissolution of the Catholic monasteries. However there is trouble at the Scarnsea monastery, off the Sussex coast. One of his investigators has been found dead, brutally murdered in a sacrilegious way. He calls upon Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and adamant supporter of Reform, to investigate the crime.

The story reminded me of Umberto Ecco's The Name of the Rose. The mysterious murder, set in a monastery, surrounded by internal politics, ressembles this story very much. You could it is more an "Ecco light", with less theological discussions and more detective elements. I enjoyed the book very much as light bed-time reading. The historical setting is depicted well, and the mystery captivates enough to keep you wanting to know more.

Dark Fire takes place a few years later, in 1540. Since his involvement in the murderous events at Scarnsea, Shardlake tries to stay away from politically laden investigations. However, Cromwell once more calls upon his services. The formula to Greek Fire, the legendary weapon used by the Byzantines to destroy the Arab navies, has been discovered in the library of dissolved London monastery. Unfortunately the formula has dissapeared after the brutal murders of the officials who had found it. Once more Shardlake gets on the trail in order to retrieve it.

There is more action/adventure in this novel than in the previous one. Since Shardlake is a hunchback and takes the intellectual challenges on himself, a second character is introduced, Master Barak. Barak works for Cromwell and brings muscle to the story. The historical depiction is again excellent, yet this time the work has more of an adventure movie type of feel.

Sovereign is set a year later, in 1541. Thomas Cromwell has fallen from favor, his role as trusted advisor to the King has been taken over by Archbishop Cranmer. The events take place during Henry VIII's Progress to the North. A state visit to accept the surrender after the rebellion of 1536 in York, called the Pilgrimage of Grace. Shardlake is there in order to deal with the petitions by the locals to the King. Barak, having lost his job after the demise of Cromwell, is now working for Shardlake as an assistant. Once again, there is a political murder tied to the rebellion. At the same time, Shardlake has been charged with the care of a political prisoner, Sir Edward Broderick.

Although the first two books, were nice-an-easy reading material, the formula is starting to wear thin by now. I hadn't noticed before that Sansom's character development is actually very superficial. It hadn't bothered me before, because the previous stories bounced merrily along, whereas in Sovereign things just seem to happen to our heroes. Their actual input is very meagre. They could have easily been left out of the story. I had to drag myself to read to the ending. When Sansom tries to convey emotions, he resorts to basic descriptions like "he felt frustrated" or "he couldn't take the horror". You can say it, but if I'm not feeling it ...

Revelation is the final installment of the series. A brutal murder displayed publicly by a friend of his, draws Shardlake back to work for Archbishop Cranmer. Cranmer is less of a favorite than he was the year before. After a few years of hard Reform, the King is allowing some of the Catholic traditions. A behind the scenes war between Reformers and anti-Reformers is going on. The outcome will influence the place of political adversaries at Court. And since the King has a tendency to chop off the heads of people he disagrees with, quite a lot is at stake. Cranmer believes that the murder might have something to do with Catherine Parr. The King , after having disposed of his latest wife, is pursuing her now. Since she looks kindly on Reform, Cranmer and his circle are hoping she will accept. If however, it would be known that religious fundamentalists are involved in murders tied to Parr, it would not bode well. Quickly, however, it becomes clear that they are dealing with a serial killer, who commits murders in a certain way in order to make sure the prophecy about the end of the world as depicted in the biblic book of Revelation comes true.

Although the flow of the story is better than in the previous novel, the weak character development is still a turn-off. Sansom tries to link the way insanity was viewed and treated (in places such as the infamous Bedlam) with the murders taking place. But because you see everything through the eyes of Shardlake, who apparently is not a man with the most emotional insights, I wasn't really drawn into the psyche of the killer, nor the plight of the people chasing him.

For the fans if historical fiction, I can recommend the first two books. But only as light entertainment. The descriptions of the era are very nice, and no doubt historically correct. However, it would be best to stop after the first two, because you can only get more of the same but less good.

Latest goodness

2009-06-09T09:56:00.001-07:00

Like I said in the previous post: Don't you love it when life is good? The last few weeks have been filled with dope parties. First up was the incredible Cheeba Cheeba party at Café Bota with Vic 'n Lloyd, Funky Bompa and Shimmy Timmy. The played an amazing set with classic breaks, funk, soul, nusoul, latin and hip-hop. The music itself was "upgraded" by J to the C singing over instrumental tracks. Plus, there wasn't an incredible throng of people. There was just enough crowd. The same people that had come in around 11, stayed until 5 in the morning ("where ya gonna be ...").

The week after I've been to the Mirano club to see Cerrone live. Me and Reck were completely out of place there. You had the fancy chicks, some models, fancy schmancy dudes ... and us. Wierd night out. Dope tho, since Cerrone absolutely rocked (supernature a.o.). There was also a cocktease hitting (or annoying, you pick) on a friend of ours. Finally we ended up in a bar in downtown Brussels where the Funky Bompa was playing some dope ish.

Last week was the exposition of Kool Koor, "the 11th letter", with grafitti based art. Besides the art Smimooz and Défi J were doing a set, plus there was free beer. What more can you want?

The day after Reck and me went to Radio Campus to chill in the studio with the guys from Souterrain (Défi J, Rayer, Rafeek Trafikante, Simon Le Saint). They were doing an interview of Mantrax, a musician/composer from Brussels living now in New Jersey. He's been working on a new album, which in all probability will be the fucking bomb. It all went well until someone lit up a blunt. And then everybody was so fucked up it became a live sitcom. The conversations/interview was ... well ... about nothing from that point on, but oh so hilarious. This was followed by an excellent nineties hip hop set by Le Saint and a dope soul, funk, hip hop set by Défi J.

Dope ass week

2009-05-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have been dope, and will continue to be dope for the week to come. Starting with Monday 4th, when I attended the defense of a PhD (Permanent Head Damage some say) of a friend of mine, who can call herself Doctor in Neurolinguistics now. This was followed by the obligatory drunken bout.

Fast forward to Saturday. The illest brothers of Landen Jay & Ray (Raydius 360) organized the event "Hip Hop op een Hoger Nivo" ("Hip Hop on a Higher Level). The concept was to throw a 4 elements barbecue. According to the planning the first people would be arriving at 11 in the morning. Starting from 12 beat makers would be making a beat each, to which MC's would rhyme later on. At six the b-boy crew Rafaga de Viento (Leuven) would be doing a showcase, and afterwards a party was planned. In between somewhere everybody could eat some BBQ, while grafitti artists did their thing. The problem with all of that is that you're dealing with Hip Hop headz. Me and my man Reck arrived at 2 in the afternoon. There were about 5 people there plus Ray. Everybody only started arriving after 4 o'clock. Jay got there at 5. The beat makers got to work only at that moment. The delays were tremendous, but perhaps that was a good thing. Everybody was relaxed and nobody was in a hurry. Reck, i-Sa, Raydius 360, Sir-5 and SolarNRG presented their beats, Rafaga did their show, and dope ass records were spun. Late in the evening Jay did some freestyles with Kool Koor. We thought the evening would be over about midnight and we were actually ready to leave then. But, the atmosphere was too nice, the Landen crew is excellent company, so we weren't able to take off before 4 o' clock in the morning.

After a short work week, I went to Club Med, Vittel. This was an incentive from my company, because we made our objectives last year. I've never been to anything like that. And I probably never will. Club Med is excellent for sports, and that's about it. The food is not bad, but not excellent either. There's always a lot though. The animations in the evening suck ass. But apart from that I had an excellent stay there, chilling with the colleagues. I did some archery, played golf (which is actually nice to do) and drank free booze.

We got back from Vittel saturday evening. My plan was to go out for some drinks and be back at a reasonable hour. Until Reck told me Madlib and J-Rocc were dj'ing in Antwerp (The Petrol). The Landen crew would be there as well. So, we got in the car and were off to Antwerp. That evening was pretty amazing. Before the main event our local dj Lefto (De Hop, StuBru) was on the ones and twos. He kept that shit locked down. Swerving from nineties classics to underground new school stuff. His set was amazing. In between a Canadian group (singer and dj) did their thing. I wasn't really into it, but they rocked out, so props to them. Later on J-Rocc did a few dope routines before he started spinning with Madlib. I have to admit that I wasn't always feeling them, with their electro sounding beats at times. Round about four we decided to bounce. We didn't get any further than the entrance, where we chilled till 5 with Jay, Ray and Kool Koor. By the time we got back to Brussels, the street lights were turning off and natural light was coming up. Oh what a night ...

And this weekend, we got Cheeba Cheeba coming up and the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Don't you just love when life is good?

Witch Hunter

2009-04-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

C.L. Werner's Witch Hunter is the first book in the trilogy surrounding Mathias Thulmann, a (you guessed it) witch hunter living in the human areas (the Empire) of the Warhammer fantasy world. He is a sort of inquisitor tracking down the undead, necromancers and everybody and anything that has something to do with the Chaos gods. In short, he's a über-righteous bad-ass motherfucker. In this story he has been send, together with a mercenary called Streng, to investigate a series of strange murders in the territory of Lord Wilhelm Klausner, a former witch hunter. He finally unravels a dreadful mystery surrounding the Klausner family, which set in motion events which no doubt can be read in the following two books.

The book makes for an enjoyable read in the evening, althoug it cannot be counted among the literary greats. The story in itself has the right amount of tension, mystery and plot twists to keep the story interesting. The pace keeps going at a steady rate up until the ending in a cliffhanger. I have started the story now, so I'll probably buy the next volumes as well. However, it is a good book, not a great one. What is mostly lacking is proper character development. All the characters are relatively flat, having only a little more depth than Harry Potter. The only people I could feel for were the weakened Lord Klausner and his honest son Gregor. But only slightly. All in all it makes good bedtime reading, but not more than that.

The God Delusion

2009-04-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion I was a bit reluctant to pick it up. Not so long before I had read Michel Onfray's Traité sur l'Athéologie (in a Dutch translation), which bored me to death. The man basically bitches for 200 pages how bad the world, and more importantly, himself, has been treated by organized religion, while making a few shortcuts in his historic analysis. The book actually got on my nerves after about page 50. His rantings did not support my atheism in any way. In fact, the history of ideas within the great religions as depicted by Karen Armstrong in The Great Transformation has given my atheism a much better basis (although arguably this was not the author's intention). I saw Dawkins' book in several bookstores, and each time I was bit tempted, but the memory of Onfray's bitching steered my away from the counter. I finally decided that I did want to read it after seeing one of Dawkins' speeches (video). The man was not boring, he wasn't ranting. He was very scientific, witty, and entertaining. I've recently been on a holiday overseas. While we were waiting to board our plane, my girlfriend and I were wandering a bit throught the duty-free shops. On an impulse I bought The God Delusion.

The book's object is to analyse the god hypothesis as explanation for life, the universe, and everything from an evolutionary, scientific standpoint. Dawkins takes all the arguments believers generally make for religion and/or against the evolution theory, and deconstructs them one by one. All the things you kind of sense that are wrong with the religious myths are duly thought out and spelled out for you. If you ever needed some sources to back you up when you're trying to get a christian/muslim/whatever of your back, they're all there. Especially the part about morality was interesting. He argues that all our moral choices stem from a universal, human approach to morality (a sort of blueprint in your mind if you will) coupled with the current zeitgeist. This is also true for religious people, who justify the "right" morals for their time by picking and choosing the appropiate parts of their scriptures (instead of it being the other way around). This book is a perfect support for my atheism. The only part where it falls short on is the explanation about the "beginning" of it all. Science does not cover that aspect to date. Maybe one day it will. At least adherents of science dare to say that they don't have all the answers. Attributing this lack of knowledge to some god(s) however is just plain intellectual laziness.

As a conclusion, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed reading this book. It is to the point, well written (save the abuse of the sentence "have your consciousness lifted by Darwin" in the middle chapter), and build upon solid science. In general I don't discuss religion too much with people who are not interested in an intellectual discussion. And when I do I don't really try to prove religious people wrong. Since reading this book, I probably keep the same attitude, apart from one thing: I have lost a part of my cultural relativism. When parts of a culture/religion is wrong, people should be called out on that. Gay people are not the scum of the earth, hitting your wife is wrong in all circumstances, ...

Moments for Miel

2009-04-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I went to a tribute to Miel Vanattenhoven with my dad, Hammy and my man Reck. Miel Vanattenhoven was one, if not thé, leading forces behind the Jazz scene in Belgium. He has run Jazz Middelheim up until his untimely death not so long ago. During his lifetime he has helped many musicians in Belgium and he has introduced many others to each other.

In honor of his work, the Flagey organized a tribute concert with a.o. Freddy Thielemans, Fred Van Hove, The Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Toots Thielemans and a few members of Grazzhoppa's DJ Bigband.

We arrived a bit late, so we missed the first concerts. Fortunately we were in time to see the divine Toots Thielemans play. For those of you who don't know who Toots is: shame on you if you're a Jazz fan!, if you're not check his website. He played with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra once more. They started off with arrangemants by Maria Schneider, an excellent contemporary composer. They played more laid back orchestral arrangements. After the first tracks, Toots joined them to play his (Dat Mistige Rooie Beest, Bluesette, ...) and other's (Summertime, Wonderful world, ...). As usual the man was ûber dope. Especially when he was talking about how Jazz is like a virus (Grafitti headz know what I mean).

After the concerts a jam between the DJ Bigband members and Toots and other members of the bands that played took place. This was interesting to see, although it didn't really go anywhere. It was clear that neither the DJ's nor the musicians were used to playing together, especially when switching styles (turntablism vs. jazz).

At any rate it was a lovely evening and I think Miel would have approved.

Last days

2009-03-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

Alas, all good things must come to an end. And in general way to soon. I'm writing to you with a jetlagged mind in the comfort of my own chair. Although traveling is always fun, it feels good to just sit here. Unfortunately I've got to work tomorrow, ... but that's tomorrow.

Before flying back, we still had two more days in Hanoi. Hammy filled these by going on a mad shopping spree with my sister, to which I was allowed to tag along. The result was a score of gifts for ourselves, family and friends. Most of it was taken up by clothing. Hammy got herself about 20 new pieces of clothes, most of which was tailor-made at two stores named Le Soleil and Countryside Silk (near the St. Joseph Cathedral). She also bought a designer dress in a shop named Cocoon (30 Pho Nha Chung, Nha Tho Area), in which she looks absolutely gorgeous. It has a traditional Southeast Asia cut, but with a modern twist. As for myself, I get a few shirts and three suits made by the best tailor in Hanoi, Minh Quang (175 Phùng Húng).

In between shopping, we paused for a visit to the Love Chocolate Café (26 To Ngoc Van, Tây Hồ). As the name suggests they specialize in chocolate. For those who know me: it doesn't get any better than this, I swear. The inside design is a bit kitch, but the service and the calm more than makes up for that. And the chocolate! Hot chocolate with banana flavor, chocolate pudding, intense brownies, chocolate cake with coffee sauce, chocolate chip cookies, ... and that's only what we had! Mmmmh, chocolate.

The first day was rounded off by drinks at Minh's Jazz Club. Minh can be considered to be the father of jazz in Vietnam. He started listening to jazz during a time when that kind of music wasn't on the radar in the country. Moreover his father was afraid he might attract negative attention by the communist party by listening to it. Minh studied the classics by day, and jazz in secret by night. Eventually he played a concert in the capital in front of an audience that had some influence. He kept to the traditional repertoire, except for the last song. This song started out like a classic, which he then flipped into a jazz rendering. At firtst the people were taken aback, but after the initial shock he got a thundering aplause. Since he has been playing, recording and teaching jazz. For the last twelve years he also runs his own bar. Every night there is live music, performed by now established names and up-and-comers. This particular evening we saw amongst others, Minh's son perform. The repertoire was a mixture of local and American jazz. I made a little video, which I'll be posting on online somewhere soon.

The second day we had an excellent brunch at the Sofitel Metropole. This hotel was originally build by the French during rule of Ino-China in 1901, and is therefore a prime example of colonial art. It was then, as it is now, one of the finest luxury hotels of Vietnam, with rooms price between €200 and €500 a day. Surprisingly enough, they offer a brunch package which is very good value for money. These brunches are priced €15 to €20, for which you get an offering of assorted imported cheeses from Europe, pâtés, a sushi bar, caviar, a main dish (we had rabbit and langoustine), and a desert bar. For what is considered in Europe to be a bit more expensive than student prices, you can stuff yourself from 11h till 16h on excellent food, in a little oasis of calm.

In the evening my sister took us to some back-alley projects near the Westlake to a local sculptor of Buddhas. For the measly price of 800 000 VND (about €30) we were able to buy a 20 year old statue of more or less 50 cm high. It used to serve in an actual temple. These sculptors have got a deal with several temples to provide them with new statues at a lower price, in exchange for which they are allowed to resell the old ones. The woman who sold it to us, told my sister that we got a significant reduction in price because of sis's vietnamese roots. I would like to thank my little sibling at this point for the trouble she went through in letting us stay at her place (the same goes for her boyfriend of course) and for letting us schlepp her around during the shopping quest. She has been instrumental in showing us the good stuff and in negotiating the fairest prices. I'm sure she saved us a lot of money. So, again, thanks baby sis.

As I said in the beginning of this post, all good things must come to an end. That evening we packed and the next morning we were off to Hanoi airport for our first transfer to Singapore. The only thing we couldn't fit in our luggage was the wrapped up Buddha (the skinny serene version by the way, not the happy fat one). Hammy has been going on about buying ever since we decided going on this trip. Needless to say she was extremely happy we were able to get our hands on a semi-antique. She carried the statue like a baby during the entire trip. Upon embarking in Hanoi, right before we would be passing immigration, an office stopped us. She asked to check if the statue would fit into the overhead compartments in the plane. The Buddha is sitting on a lotus flower, making the base just a little to big to fit. She told us we would need to check it in. Hammy pleaded that it would get damaged and that we would make it work and that afterwards we were taking an international flight where there would be more room. The officer must have seen the despair in her eyes, because eventually she let us pass.

After 5 hours we arrived at Singapore airport, where we needed to wait for 6 hours to catch our connecting flight. Luckily the airport is quite big, so we were able to wail away time visiting the orchid garden, the butterfly garden, buying shoes for Hammy, getting a new gadget for me (iPod Touch, damn my sister's boyfriend and his iPhone gadgety goodness), and take a swim up on the roof. At midnight local time we got on board, and about 14 hours later (with a trip of 6 hours back in time) we were back in Europe. I got a little time left to just chill and do nothing, waiting for my kitties to get back home (I'll be glad to see them). The only question that remains now, is: where will be going next time?

Ha Long Bay

2009-03-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we (I, my girlfriend, my sister and her boyfriend) spent an evening and half a day with my sister's biological family in a village about 15 km outside of Hanoi. As always we were greeted with a warm welcome, which (of course) included an enormous amount of food and quite a lot of alcohol. There's no better way for fraternizing with the uncles than getting drunk together on the home-brewed ricewine. They call it wine but it's actually hard liquor containing at least 50% alcohol. It's always a bit surreal visiting them. They're my extended family in a way, and I'm treated as such, yet at the same time they're not really family. I know all the faces, I recognize kids that have grown since the last time I've seen them, so it all feels familiar. On the other hand I don't see them enough to be able to create an actual bond. Plus there is the language barrier. Nonetheless, surreal or not, I've had a lovely stay, and it was nice to see everybody again. My sis' big sister has gotten married in the meantime and is raising a ... well to be honest, a rather chubby little boy, who's absolutely delightful. The kid brother has turned into a rather tall young man and the little nieces have become charming young women. It's been six years since the last time I was here, and it'll probably be a lot longer before I'll come back. So, we need to bring grandma over to Belgium in the near future, now that we still can, for to experience a European culture shock and to see where she sent her granddaughter so many years ago.

Monday morning Hammy and started a 3 day-2 nights tour of Ha Long bay. Ha Long is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the site for the James Bond movies The man with the golden gun and Tomorrow never dies. It's a very typical thing to do in Vietnam, but that doesn't make the bay less beautiful. The problem you might have, is choosing the best option out of the myriad possibilities to visit the site. There are hundreds of travel agencies and hotels offering cruises. And all of them offer more or less the same thing, ranging from prices between $30 to $300. The more or the less can be found in slight variations of the itinerary, but most importantly in the services and levels of luxury that are offered. Although you have to take the 'brochures' with a grain of salt. You never really get what they say. Hence the expression 'same same but different' (those of you that have been to South-East Asia recently know what I mean). First of all, although there a gazillion different agencies, the're actually all working together in some way or other. At every tour we've done, we got lumped together with people from 'other' tours. That doesn't really pose a problem as such, but a little intellectual honesty up front wouldn't hurt. We were promised seafood dinner and lunches. To us that means an abundance of crabs, shellfish, squid, etc. To them it meant two scampis and some squid. There were two french girls who had been promised foot massages on board. No foot massages. We and a Canadian couple paid for a double room, upon arrival on the boat the guide just asked who would like a double room like it was up for auction. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Of all the choices we had we settled for a tour with one day and night on a junk, and the second day and night in a bungalow on Monkey Island for the modest amount of $95 per person. In total this made $190 or 3 325 000 vietnamese dong. Being in Vietnam makes you feel like a millionaire sometimes.

After a three-hour bus drive we arrived in Ha Long city. The harbour there is completely filled with boats, almost all of them now are styled after the old style junks. Although the weather forecasts were favorable, the sky was cloudy and grey. During the morning we could only make out the silhouettes of the islands around is in the dense fog. We boarded the boat and after the room lottery we ate (not so seafood) lunch. There were a little less than twenty other people with us. All of them (Germans, Canadians, French, Singaporese, Australian, Vietnamese) quite nice (apart from our guide, who was an annoying pushy twat), so that was an added bonus. After lunch the fog had lifted somewhat. After a small kayaking excursion, there was an opportunity to enjoy the surrounding scenery on deck. Ha Long Bay is made up of an enormous amount of islets (and a couple of bigger islands) with varying sizes. These islets are made up of dissoluted layers of limestone giving the area a particular shape and feel. These limestone karsts (as they are called) consist of pointy rocks with trees and bushes growing on top of them. It's quite amazing to see how these plants have found a way to grow on such a barren surface. In that afternoon gloom with low hanging fog in the distance, they had this very special twilight zone look to them. Unfortunately there wasn't any sun, but fortunately this also gave an extremely cool effect cruising round the bay.

The next day we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island for a small trek to the summit of the Viet Hai mountain. Being part of large group, which had to follow a guide gave it a bit of a school outing kinda vibe at first, but we quickly forgot about that when the climb became steeper and steeper. At first there were rocky steps, along the way these steps became craggy rocks. Again, it was fortunate not to be too warm that day. On the summit we could climb a rickity rusted promontory, which was missing a landing at the top. The view was exceptional from up there.

In the afternoon we were dropped off at our bungalow resort on Monkey Island. And the first thing we see while walking to our bungalow, was a monkey chilling on the gravel road. That afternoon was extremely chill. The resort is entirely made out of bamboo and is situated on a small beach in a secluded hamlet. Peace and quiet all over. Just around the corner of a large rock there are a few other beaches where the other tourists are dropped for a short visit, but the they stay on their side. This creates the illusion of a small paradise, especially since only we and another couple were staying there for the night. Up until the moment when they guys from the bar decided to blast nineties style crappy house music. I was obliged to ask them to turn it off.

In summary, our trip was absolutely lovely. OK, there were a few details service wise that could have been better and some of the things that were promised weren't delivered, but on the whole I think we got good value for money. Now we've only got a few more days left in Hanoi to do some last minute shopping (including tailor made suits) and to check out Minh's Jazz Café.

More Hanoi

2009-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Before I get into the next part of our stay, I still need to tell you something that happened before we left for Sapa. Lil Sis proposed to use her bike while exploring Hanoi. I've got a driver's licence for a car, but I've never really driven a motorbike. It didn't seem too difficult, however a little training couldn't hurt. During the evening we drove to a secluded area where the expats live. As expected, controlling the machine wasn't that difficult. After a few laps I was confident enough to use her bike the next day. She let me drive back to her appartment. The road in front of us was almost empty. At this point I got a bit cocky. We were driving at 60 km/h when I saw people in front swerving to the left. Because of the bad lighting I couldn't really see why. There seemed to be a darker patch in the middle of the road. I thought it was a pothole. In order to avoid it I moved to the right. Wrong choice. Someone had put a large metal grille covering the entire right side of the road, which I only by the time it was too late. Next thing I know we're on the ground. Luckily we didn't get hurt too much. Lil Sis got a cut on her leg. I got several cuts on my hands and left leg, and my ribs are bruised. I learned my lesson though.

Anyway that was before leaving for Sapa, the cuts are healing and my ribs hurt a little less. Yesterday we visited my sister's Vietnamese family. I'll get back to that later. Right now it's time to get some rest. Tomorrow Hammy and I are getting up early for a 3 day visit of Ha Long Bay.

Sa Pa

2009-03-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

Sapa is a village not to far from the Chinese border. The main attractions are the mountains and the local minorities that live there (e.g. the Black H'mong, Xa Pho, Muong). We took the local night train at 22h, in order to arrive at 6 in the morning in Lao Cai (situated on the Chinese border almost). From there we took a van to Sapa.

We did the traditional tour of three villages in order to visit the minorities. The walk in itself was very nice. Together with two other couples we walked in the mountains, saw a few local houses, and passed by rice terrasses. As for the minorities, it was more a case of us being watched than the other way round. The moment we arrived we got surrounded by people (mainly women) trying to sell us jewellery, bags, and clothes. The sales tactic is very simple. Be persistent. If you keep offering, they've got to buy something. Or so they thought.

We were supposed to trek through part of a bamboo forrest. One of the couples was Vietnamese. The man wore suit pants, his girlfriend wore a miniskirt. The walk through the bamboo was to difficult for her, forcing us to cut the funnest part of the day short. I hope she got blisters.

The second day we stayed near Sapa for a shorter hike up the Dragon's Claw mountain. Here it is possible to follow a stone path, making the climb less arduous. Since it was very hot, that worked out just fine. The same day we took the slightly more comfortable night train back to Hanoi.

Ha Noi - Day 1 & 2

2009-03-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

In a way arriving in Hanoi was a relief after the busy streets of HCMC. More importantly, I got to see my little sister again. She's been living there since the beginning of last year, and I hadn't seen her since september. We're staying at her (small but comfy) apartment near the Westlake in the north of the city. This is in the Ho Tay district, which roughly translates to "where the foreigners live".

The plane trip from HCMC to Hanoi was with a lowcost company called Jetstar. The flight was OK, but unfortunately the plane was constructed for Asian people, meaning no legroom for the big westerner. Anyway, we arrived in Hanoi and naturally we needed a cab. This has given us the opporunity to jack a local, instead of getting ripped off ourselves. A normal cab ride costs 230 000 vietnamese dong (roughly 10 euros). A minivan will take you to the centre (to a fixed spot) for 30 to 40 000 dong. There was a minivan outside who wanted to take us for 170 000 dong. For this price the driver would take us to the exact address. That seemed like a fair price, but only if the time he needed to drive us was reasonable as well. They tried to get us in the van quickly. Now, when people are telling me to "hurry up" to take a deal, I'm suspicious. I asked how long it would take. They told us 35 minutes, which is how long a normal taxi would take too. Eventually we got in. First everybody else was dropped off, then the driver didn't know where he had to go, thus taking a total time of 1h30. So, there was no way in hell we were paying 170K. The driver did not know this. My sister explained it to him in Vietnamese. Eventually we gave him 100K. Driver not very happy. After being rippee all the time, it felt good to be the ripper for once.

We've had a lovely two days in Hanoi, with my sis and her boyfriend, and visiting the city (the temple of literature, the ethnology museum, Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Hoan Kiem). As for the people, I liked HCMC better I have to admit. HCMC is assailed by motorbikes, you have rivers of the them, making the city a very noisy and crowded place. In comparison Hanoi has hardly any traffic at all. But, the people in HCMC are more relaxed than in Hanoi, less "communist" I'd say. It doesn't really matter of course, since we're here mainly to see my sister.

Ho Chi Minh - Day 4

2009-03-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

As expected, today was a lot more fun. Even though we spent most of the time in the bus, and the tour was just as touristy, the sights were a lot cooler.

After a four hour drive (for a mere 96 km) we arrived at the Cao Dai temple. Cao Dai is a mixture of Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. One of their saints is Victor Hugo fro some reason. We visited their holy see in Tay Ninh. The main building is a prime example of the word kitsch. They've got dragons spiraling columns, a ludicrous amount of Divine Eyes, images of Buddha, Christ and Lao Tze; and all of this in exaggerated colors. Is it a must see? Not really, but you can't help leaving the place with a faint smile on your lips.

We then proceeded to the Cu Chi tunnels. During the Vietnamese-American War, US troops controlled Saigon. The Viet Cong controlled most of what was outside of the city. Their main camp was to be found at Cu Chi (or better never was found). The Vietnamese started digging tunnels at the start of their War of Independance, initially against the French. By the time the Americans came to play, an elaborate network was created in which the VC lived, cooked, studied and fought the ennemy. During the visit, we were shown a part of the tunnels (especially enlarged for us westerners), the erstwhile living conditions, and the cruel spiky traps they left for the GI's. Before the actual tour started a video was shown, with footage from the sixties. Pure old school propaganda about the American killers War Heroes and other victories. Brilliant. At the end of the tour there is a possibility to shoot with one of the guns that were used back in the day for about a dollar a pop. I couldn't resist the AK 47. I probably didn't hit a thing, but it was fun though.

That about wraps it up for our stay in HCMC. Tomorrow we'll be flying to Ha Noi.

Ho Chi Minh - Day 3

2009-03-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today we did a one day tour of the Mekong Delta. That was not as interesting as anticipated. We started with an early rise at 6, and set off at 7.30 for a two hour busride. This was followed by a loud motorboat ride over the river near the village of My Tho. First stop was a beekeeper. We tasted honey tea (sweet and sticky, can't go wrong with that) and people could hold a huge snake. By this time I was started to feel like the typical tourist, no more like the teenager on a school trip that's preplanned. Naturally they tried to sell us honey. Next up: a boat trip to another island, where we saw how coccnut candy is made, where they tried to sell us, you guessed it, coconut candy. This was followed by a rowing boat trip, all down the same line, one after the other. And finally, after lunch, we got the chance to ride around an island on a bicycle. That at least was fun.

We fell once more into a dreadful tourist trap. Luckily we met some nice people on the bus: dutch travelers, a Belgian expat living in Shanghai with his American-Chinese girlfriend. Also an MC from Germany with the right attitude towards hip-hop (from the Gonzales Familia). It was a forced day of semi-rest in good company. That counts for something too I guess.

Tomorrow will be infintely more interesting. We'll be seeing the Cu Chi tunnels and the kitchiest religion on this planet, Cao Dai.

Ho Chi Minh City Day 1 & 2

2009-03-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

In the meantime we've arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, (HCMC) Viet Nam, the former Saigon. But before I get to that I need to talk a little bit more about Cambodia.

The third day we did our last tour of the temples. This was pretty nice, but a bit unnecessary as well. In two days you can see all of the most interesting ones. On the other hand it was a pretty relaxed day. One of the reasons we did a third day was that we had a 3-day pass, another reason was the fact that the battery of our camera was dead the before right about when we were visiting Preah Khan. So, we went back there for the pics. I really enjoyed that temple for the same reason I liked Ta Prohm: the awesome sight of the strangler trees. These huge trees grow right next to or on top of buildings. Their reeds go round and/or insert themselves in the stones of the structures. The buildings become unstable, but eventually they're held together by the strangles. Pretty dope sight.

In the evening we went out for some entertainment and food to a place called the Dead Fish Tower. It was recommended heartily by the local tourist guide for the free apsara dancing (the ritual hotties for the Hindus) and crocodiles. Like fools we walked into the tourist trap. The resto is different, in that they got several plateaus on which you can be served, making it a bit special. But then you've had the most interesting part. The dancing is ok, but not that exceptional. I expected to see the crocs displayed somewhere in the center of the room, but no such luck. They're stuffed in a corner of the room. The positive part is that the animals come from a breeding farm that closed. Instead of setting them free, after which they get killed and turned into handbags, the Dead Fish takes care of them. Nevertheless, it was expensive. I wanted to see the dancing (fool that I was). The next day we saw a flyer of a daily free show by Cambodian orphans. So, if you ever go to Siem Reap, skip the Dead Fish and go help orphans instead.After dinner, we were tempted by a Thai/Khmer massage. That was pretty violent I must say. Not bad, just rougher than expected. But hey, who can say no to being manhandled by young chicks?

Conclusion of our stay: Cambodia isn't a country you'd readily think of going to. This, however, does not mean it isn't worth going. People are very friendly, selling tactics are not as agressive as say Egypt, and it's quite beautiful. I can only speak for what I've seen during a brief stay in essentially one town (and surroundings).

And now to Ho Chi Minh. You move one country and there is a world of difference. Your basic SE Asia-ness remains, but whereas Cambodia (or at least Siem Reap) is a slowly developing country, Vietnam is steadily on the rise. We went from a small town to a big city. You immediately get the big city vibe of course. The first thing we noticed was the cleanliness of the streets though. Siem Reap is very dusty and there's dirt and trash all over the place. HCMC is paved almost all the way and there is as good as no trash. The second thing we noticed was the amount of traffic on the road. Ten years ago Vietnam's cities were filled to the brim with bicycles. Every street was a river of bicycles. These have been replaced by motorcycles. And a growing number of cars, quite a few I can't afford. The last time I was here (in 2004 if I'm not mistaken), the motorcycles were not all that young and the known Western music was still mostly about the eighties. Nowadays most of the bikes are new and accessorized: colors ranging from white to pink, drawings on the side and all kinds and colors of helmets you can see. There are actually entire shops dedicated to helmets alone. Another thing I noticed is the change in clothing , mostly of women. Back in the day most women wore simple pants and (mainly see-through) shirts. Now there is all kinds of clothing. Music has been updated as well. They even got local hip-hop (sort of) and r&b acts. The city is bustling and economically on the rise, that's very clear. Strangely enough, everything here is a lot cheaper than in Cambodia. And Ha Noi is supposed to be even cheaper. So we're holding off buying stuff here.

Today we did the tour of the historical city, which included the General Post office, the municipal house, and the erstwhile Opera house. All of these are French colonial style buildings. We also saw the Reunification Hall and the War Remnants Museum. The Reunification Hall is the former presidential palace where the American puppet regime, led by President Diem, ruled the south before the viet cong seized/liberated (depending on the point of view) the city and the region. Again, my mistake. I already saw it, and I'd forgotten that it's actually quite lame. You just get to see the former presidential rooms, which have been preserved in an early sixties time-warp. The War Remnants Museum tells the story of the Vietnam/American War through the eyes of the communist regime. Absolutely brilliant just to see how "the glorious Vietnamese people" have overcome "America's war of sabotage against the reunification" of the country. It's being renovated right now, meaning the top levels weren't open. As a result Hammy didn't get to see the bottled Napalm babies which used to be here (she didn't mind that much).

Tomorrow we're doing a trip of the Mekong Delta. We'll be seeing floating markets, islands, honey rhum.

Cambodia - Day 2 and 3

2009-03-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

We started our tour of the temples today with the classics: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm.

Most of the constructions were build between the end of the 12th and the end of the 13th century. The Angkor kingdom was at its height during that period and lasted until the beginning of the 17th century. After this time the power shifted to the Khmer in the South, present day Pnom Penh. The temples were lost to history until the French rediscoverd them in the 1850's. Most of them are either dedicated to Hindu gods or Buddha, sometimes both. Their most exquisite features are statues and bas-reliefs.

Amgkor Thom consists of a series of temples, of which the most interesting one is called Bayon. It is not extremely large, but it contains very nice bas-reliefs on the outer walls and huge faces on the towers. These faces point in the four cardinal directions and represent the four buddhist virtues. The basic idea is that they send out these virtues to the world. The buddhist equivalent of a beauty queen wishing for world peace (remember Miss Congeniality).

Angkor Wat is the biggest (and most famous) temple complex. I say complex because it used to be a religious village within the enclosure on itself. It has a moat, a huge causeway flanked by nagas (mythological mulit-headed snakes), and a very large temple. It's very nice, but a bit of a letdown after Angkor Thom. See it as the difference between the Koekelberg Cathedral in Brussels and St Gudule or the Antwerp Cathedral: one is huge and fairly simple, the other is intricate and detailed. I have to admit though that the bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat are quite impressive. Plus we got the see a monkey from upclose, that in itself made it worth the visit.

I'm not going to bore you with details from Ta Prohm. Suffice to say it was quite nice, but not as dope as the other two. But, when you're there it's worth the visit.

Since we're still recovering from jetlag we made it an early night after that.

Today we did another tour to some more temples: Bantaey Srei, Bantaey Samre, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. All of these were a lot smaller than the ones we did yesterday. They're less known, but that doesn't make them uglier. All well worth the visit. They had more of a nice and small character after the bombast of yesterday. Furthermore there were a heap less tourists, so we had some space and quiet. Those of you who want to know what they look like will have to wait for the pictures.

After a quick swim we'll be getting some food, we'll watch traditional apsara dancing (apsaras are supposed to be the hot chicks you get in heaven, as opposed to devadas who are chaste and no fun) and feed live crocodiles.

Cambodia - Day 1

2009-03-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning Hammy and I took the plane at Schiphol Airport. The first time I went to Viet Nam (in 1996) with my family, it was with Singapore Airlines and it was brilliant. Since then I've been going on and on to Hammy about how good it was. For this reason we're flying with them again. The service hasn't changed a bit, in the sense that it was excellent once more. Very good service, proper food, ample leg room, and the hottest airhostesses in the business. Needless to say, Hammy (and me as well) was very pleased, especially since this her first time on a big plane. The 12 hours of flight were over in no time.

Our stop-over in Singapore was a bit of a letdown though. I had forgotten, or willfully blocked out, how expensive everything is. Even a simple coffee costs up to 8 euro.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, Cambodia, it was excrutiatingly hot. Moreover, the pick-up driver which the hostel was supposed to arrange wasn't there. No biggy, we took a cab, but it didn't bode well for our stay. The cabbie told us he couldn't park in front of the hostel, because else he might get a fine from the cops. We needn't worry however, since he could drop us of only a street away. Naively we agreed. After zigzagging 5 streets we arrived at the hostel. The room we got is big enough, it's relatively clean (as hostels go) and we have a view on a pagoda. Plus, there's an indoor swimming pool. So, at least that's alright.

After checking in we did a tour of the city. Siem Reap is actually quite small. In one afternoon we have seen most of what there is to see. We see practically all the markets, one of the 5 pagoda's and the former Royal gardens. Apart from that, there's only the Angkor history musem and the miniature temple complex. So basically we got it covered.

Today we started our tour of the Angkor temples, but that's a story for another post. I'm going to take a swim now.

Vietnam

2009-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

We are mere hours away now from the holidays. Tommorow at 11 o'clock Hammy and I shall be flying to fair Cambodia, and from there on to Viet Nam. I'm finishing up my day of work. So ... the good times start now!

Kittens!

2009-02-16T08:47:00.000-08:00

Funny as hell.

Crowley bio

2009-02-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ruud Vermeer's Aleister Crowley chronicles the life of one of the more influential occult writers. Crowley is best known for his work on the Thelema religion and the controversies surrounding his way of life.

I first come into contact with his work on holiday. Someone I met on the road introduced me to his book on yoga and meditation. I only read the first 50 pages or so, but I was impressed by the clarity of his writing. Up until I didn't have the time to go deeper into his ideas. Since, he wrote quite a lot, it's good to know beforehand what is essential and what isn't. So when I saw this biography in a second-hand bookshop for a reasonable price I bought it immediately.

Unfortunately, the contents of this bio are a bit weak. Although all the aspects of his thinking and his life are there, the writing is not very captivating. Events just happen one after another and that's about it. Even when an attempt is made to explain some events or background to his ideas, it only scratches the surface. The book is good to give you a quick overview of Crowley's life and works, but nothing more than that. The author is clearly a fan of Crowley, nevertheless his description is not very flattering. After reading this book, Crowley strikes me as a narcissistic fils-à-papa, with a penchant for the occult and pompous poetry, who apparently had a certain amount of charisma.

Körperwelten

2009-02-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

My mom wanted to see the exposition Körperwelten (Body Worlds in English). At first I wasn't especially thrilled to go. I thought it was another artsy fartsy exhibit with dead people's bodies. But, since I did like the idea of doing something with my mom, off we went. In retrospect I'm actually glad she proposed it. The exhibit was surprisingly tasteful and expertly done. In reality it's not an art venue, but rather an educational exposition. The object is more about giving a lesson in anatomy 101. You start with a bare skeleton, and gradually the bodies get more fleshed out, as the next part is being explained. A visit should be made compulsory for med students, but also for high school pupils. The whole is very scientific, yet respectful. And I must admit I got schooled today in a pleasant manner.

A hat full of sky

2009-02-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

A hat full of sky is the second Discworld novel in the Nac Mac Feegle series. It tells the story of Tiffany Aching, the new witch of The Chalk. At age 9 she got her calling, when the evil Queen of the Fairies kidnapped her little brother (see The Wee Free Men). Together with the clan of the Nac Mac Feegle she embarked on a rescue mission. The Feegle are little blue Scottish fairies, or Pictsies. The curse, fight, drink and steal, but they have great respect for the new 'hag' Tiffany. In this follow-up story Tiffany has become 11. She leaves her home to be an apprentice of witchcraft. She goes to work with Miss Level up in the Ramtop mountains. Although she is quite young, she's already full of power. This attracts a bodyless creature called a Hiver, who takes over her mind. With the help of the Wee Free Men and Granny Weatherwax she's able to overcome the entity.

The story is a natural follow-up in the coming-of-age story of a young witch. Although the story itself is not the most complicated or ornate one Pratchett has already written, it is perfect bedtime literature. Tiffany is a very likeable character because of her stubborness, and who wouldn't be charmed by a bunch of Feegles falling over each other trying to help her out? On the other hand, I do think more can be done with these characters than has been done to date.

Obama's transparancy

2009-02-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

Everybody is saying nowadays how great the new US president, Barack Obama, is. So, I know that this post seems a bit "jump on the bandwagon", but still you gotta hand it to him. After 8 years of hearing that monkey mangling the English language on the news, it's refreshing to see someone who's got a clue as to what is going on in the world and is tech-savvy.

Obama has made a stance on how the US will evolve again to a more open and transparent form of government after the extreme secrecy of the previous administration. And at first sight he seems to mean it. Since his inauguration he has made some interesting changes that don't make it to the big media. On of his more important decisions was to revoke Bush EO 13233. The National Coalition for History noted that "The President today signed two Executive Orders and three Presidential Memoranda. These five documents represent a bold first step to fulfill his campaign promises to make government more responsible and accountable, to launch sweeping ethics reform, and to begin a new era of transparent and open government. . . . Finally, the Executive Order on Presidential Records brings those principles to presidential records by giving the American people greater access to these historic documents. This order ends the practice of having others besides the President assert executive privilege for records after an administration ends. Now, only the President will have that power, limiting its potential for abuse. And the order also requires the Attorney General and the White House Counsel to review claims of executive privilege about covered records to make sure those claims are fully warranted by the Constitution." Archives Next notes that he also signed the Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and the Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act, in which he "instructs all members of his administration to operate under principles of openness, transparency and of engaging citizens with their government. To implement these principles and make them concrete, the Memorandum on Transparency instructs three senior officials to produce an Open Government Directive within 120 days directing specific actions to implement the principles in the Memorandum. And the Memorandum on FOIA instructs the Attorney General to in that same time period issue new guidelines to the government implementing those same principles of openness and transparency in the FOIA context."

Another small change to note, that is indicative of the new mentality, was blogged about by Jason Kottke. He noticed that the robots.txt file on the whitehouse.gov sit has been changed. This file tells search engine crawlers which content is OK to index, and is therefore searchable. The old text file contained almost 2400 lines. This is the new one: "User-agent: *Disallow: /includes/". Or put differently, everything we put online is free for all to see (including the Presidential blog!).

Enough Obama loving for now. Let's just hope he keeps his other promises as well.

Saturdaze

2009-02-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was really forward to last saturday. The plan was wake up round 'bout noon, eat something, pick up my man Reck to buy some records in Antwerp, go to the VK to see Capone-n-Noreaga. Instead I woke up with a killer migraine. Not the kind of pain that makes you wanna throw up, or lets you feel the contours of the inside of your skill, but more a persistent nagging ache in the frontal lobes that just won't go away. It finally did the next day, but it took 4 Dafalgan Codeines and 2 Immitrexes together with a lot of sleep. The good (?) news though was that apparently CNN was crap. The rhymes are still tight, but the beats suck (new school jiggy shit). So, at least I didn't lose €20. That's gotta count for something, right?

Malus Darkblade: The Daemon's Curse

2009-01-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dan Abnett & Mike Lee's The Daemon's Curse is the first in the Malus Darkblade series. Malus is a well-known character from the Warhammer fantasy tabletop game. He is a Dark Elf, who is especially cruel (even for his race). This series tells the story of how he gets possessed by the demon (or daemon if you will) Tz'arkan. The first installment recounts the events leading up to the possession.

Malus is a highborn Dark Elf, a noble, who has not been able to gather the amount of bounty which is expected given his place in society. On the instigation of his sister Nagaira he leaves the race's capitel Hag Graef in search of an unknown source of great power and wealth. During his search and travels, accompanied by a score of retainers, he basically gets in fights, captured and tortured all of the time. This is followed by him worming or fighting himself out of the predicament of the moment. It goes on like that right up until he gets possessed.

The description above doesn't really do justice to the crafty writing of the authors, but this is how the book feels. Things happen one after the other. There isn't a real deepening of the main characters, apart from Malus' cruelty and hateful temparement. Maybe I'm missing something because I'm not a Warhammer player. I only know what the game is about thanks to what some of my friends have told me about it and the few times I joined them. So for the Warhammer fans there might be an extra layer to the story that went straight over my head. In short, if you're not really into the whole Dark Elf thing, I wouldn't especially recommend the book. In my opinion Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 books are a lot more interesting (even for a 'layman' like me).

Comin' to u live!!!!

2009-01-21T06:12:00.000-08:00

There are some hip-hop shows comin' up. Next week we got Capone-n-Noreaga coming to Brussels at the VK (Vaartkapoen). They should have come to Belgium about ten years ago (at the time of the excellent War Report album), but that got cancelled. Prob'ly because Capone happened to be in parole violation right about then (again). But they're playin' now! And at the VK in Molenbeek. For those of you who don't know: that means not too many RnB chicks/dudes and hardcore beats all the way.

However I'm especially looking forward to the 24th of February. Check the rhyme - tour is coming to Gent, with none other than: Paris (The devile made me do it, Guerilla Funk), Lords of the Underground (Chief Rocka, Tic Toc), Alkaholiks (oo oooo!) and ... Jeru the Damaja! What a killer fucking line-up. So in the words of the Liks: One million beers to drink, choose one.

Anderson's Long Tail

2009-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

Chris Anderson launched in 2004 the Long Tail hypothesis in an article in Wired Magazine, which he reworked into the book The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. It is based on the graphical representation of a Pareto distribution. Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who saw that in 19th Century Italy 20% of the population controlled 80% of the country's wealth (this is why it is also known as the 80/20 rule). George Zipf saw the same phenomenon in the use of words. The most commonly used words (such as "the") account for the largest proportion of use. The frequency of words is inversly proportional to its rank in the frequency table. When you display this graphically you get what is known as a Powerlaw distribution. The high use of a limited amount of resources can be found in the "Head", while the low(er) use of a huge amount of resources can be found in the "Long Tail".

Anderson noted a similar distribution in online shops like iTunes (music) and Netflix (movie rentals). In bricks-and-mortar retail stores the amount of available items are limited because of real world limitations to shelf space and distribution issues. In the digital realm, the cost of an SKU is virtually zero. This means that the less mainstream items can also be placed in inventory. His research showed that in these cases selling a little of a lot can also contribute to profit. Simply put, business is ruled in most cases by a given level of scarcity. Thus the most viable business model is one that focuses on selling as much hits as possible, whilst avoiding losses. Anderson postulates that when confronted with more choice, people tend to buy more and with more variety. Niches become more important and generate revenue. In order not to be swamped by the multitude of niches good filters are absolutely mandatory. Filters are not the same as the traditional cultural gatekeepers.

Even though I'm not sure how pervasive the concept of the Long Tail is in the world-wide economy, I am convinced that (for now) in certain sectors and/or for certain ways of doing business it is a force to be reckoned with. Long Tail economics is an important new business model. The classic examples of Amazon, iTunes and Google have shown its viability. Anderson states his case in a convincing well written way. For anyone interested in how the internet is changing our way of living, this book is a must read (together with Weinberger's books). It is a perfect introduction to a new way of thinking about business. The natural follow-up read is Wikinomics, which provides a complementary insight. In short: heartily recommended.

Wikinomics

2008-12-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams' Wikinomics, how mass collaboration changes everything tells us how the internet and the digital culture is changing how we are interacting with each other, with the world, and how we are doing business. It is the natural follow-up to their The Digital Economy.

The basic premises of the book is that in thanks to the web 2.0 era the possibility to share information has encouraged a growing number of people to work together and to make better use of worldwide supply-chains. The large, established corporations have not always responded well to this, and most of them are not quite ready yet to change their business models. The authors however encourage companies to become what they call an "enterprise 2.0". The main attributes of such an enterprise are being open, peering, sharing, acting globally.

Being open implies being transparent (to a certain level) towards the world. On the one hand this means that you do not hide skeletons in your closet, on the other hand the authors state that opening up part of your system (which is not core business) can be beneficial. The common example of the latter is the opening up of applications and infrastructures by Amazon, Google and Facebook (but also the outsourcing of innovations by P&G).

Peering concerns working together in an open-source fashion to incrementally improve a given product. IBM has been able to extract considerable innovations from investing in the Linux community.

Sharing information and resources speeds up the process of innovation. The tricky part here is to share important information which do not count as trade secrets. In the beginning of the book, the example is given of a gold mining company in Canada, which couldn't find an important source of gold. Tests had shown that their must be a vast gold vein somewhere on their grounds, but their top geologists couldn't track it down. In the gold mining industry it is considered not done to share geological data. This is exactly what they did, and soon enough the new gold reserve was found thanks to the help of a huge amount of external contributors.

Acting globally is not deciding as a company what you will be doing and then doing this globally. Collaboration should be done on a global scale. Involve all the players in your supply chain. Share the gains and losses, and develop the product together.

All of this doesn't just happen by itself. It needs to be managed properly and done for the right reasons at the right time. Just opening up all your knowledge for the sake of opening up is not the answer either. Coca-cola can share the way they produce large quantities of cola, but they don't need to tell the details of their secret formula. Work together where it is beneficial, share information where possible and keep the secrets of your core business to yourself.

Tapscott and Williams flesh out their basic idea by detailing the components and prerequisites for the creation of an enterprise 2.0, to which they add a large amount of examples in the business world. All in all they make a convincing case. Part of what they are describing is already happening, part might be on its way. What is sure is that the information revolution and globalization is changing our world. The old business models are slowly outliving their usefulness in their current forms. The path sketched in wikinomics (although I'm not really a fan of the word) seems reasonable and well thought out. Only history will tell if it will all play out like that, but I for one hope it will. A culture, and a business, based on an open mentality can only make us evolve faster as a species. In a way capitalism, with the aid of the internet, has succeeded in creating the building blocks for a more egalitarian society in a way that communism never has.

NISO guidelines for building good digital collections 2.0

2008-12-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

The NISO Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections "provides an overview of some of the major components and activities involved in the creation of good digital collections and provides a framework for identifying, organizing, and applying existing knowledge and resources to support the development of sound local practices for creating and managing good digital collections. It is intended for two audiences: cultural heritage organizations planning projects to create digital collections, and funding organizations that want to encourage the development of good digital collections."

It is now editable by anyone who has an account. "With the third edition of the Framework, we open the document up for ongoing contributions from the community of librarians, archivists, curators, and other information professionals. We encourage you to contribute your own ideas and experiences, suggest resources, and evaluate those that have been suggested."

Zoetrope: historical browsing

2008-12-03T04:20:00.000-08:00

Interesting new publication and tool from the University of Washington:

"Zoetrope: Interacting with the Ephemeral Web
Eytan Adar, Mira Dontcheva, James Fogarty, Daniel S. Weld

The Web is ephemeral. Pages change frequently, and it is nearly impossible to find data or follow a link after the underlying page evolves. We present Zoetrope, a system that enables interaction with the historical Web (pages, links, and embedded data) that would otherwise be lost to time. Using a number of novel interactions, the temporal Web can be manipulated, queried, and analyzed from the context of familar pages. Zoetrope is based on a set of operators for manipulating content streams. We describe these primitives and the associated indexing strategies for handling temporal Web data. They form the basis of Zoetrope and enable our construction of new temporal interactions and visualizations."

Grazzhoppa's DJ Bigband: Around the world in 80 beats

2008-11-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

DJ Grazzhoppa is back with his Bigband. The latest incarnation contains 11 DJ's, a horn section and two singers. On the 19th the new show was presented at the KVS (the Royal Flemish Theatre) in Brussels. At first I was a bit apprehensive, because the previous show wasn't all that. Every track they did had a build-up, layer per layer, and then just stopped instead of going somewhere. They weren't really songs, but more a basic backbone to what might become an actual song. This time around though the songs were there. I was actually impressed. There were some classic "let's drop a beat and a scratch" moments, but the interplay between the dj's, the horns and the singers worked remarkably well. The previous to last song, called Anywhere but here, even gave me goose bumps, it was that amazing. They still need to get rid of some sloppy execution here and there, but with touring I'm sure that will disappear. In short, if they're in your area, go and see that shit! In the meantime, go to their homepage for some music and videos.

"around the world in 80 beats" live snippets from grazzhoppa on Vimeo.

Gza presents Liquid Swords

2008-11-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

Last night's concert was more than I hoped for. Gza played his seminal album Liquid Swords at the AB. Hardcore beats from the early Wu-Tang period. The best record he has ever made. It's a bit strange to hear every track from a record live, but even if you know what the next track will be it still remains too good when it drops. After he did all those songs, he followed up with some new stuff, but also with some of the old like clan in da front, crash your crew, Triumph and even ODB's Shimmy shimmy ya. As a support the amazing Killah Priest was there. Unfortunately the latter didn't do Tai chi, but ya can't have it all I guess.

This is the third time I've seen Gza, and each time he sucked ass. Too drunk to stand up straight, he didn't finish any of his sentences while rapping over a DAT tape. Luckily Dreddy Krueger was there to make the shows acceptable. This time however, he was sober, and spot on. The best Gza show to date, with nothing (or as good as) but dope ass beats. The only let down, was the fact he refused to do an encore. Killah Priest did something which resembled half a song and then just stopped. What can you do? Rappers are mostly amateurs when it comes to being professional musicians. I'm very happy with the Liquid Swords experience, and I hope other hip-hoppers will do follow his lead. Imagine Nas doing Illmatic, KRS doing Return of the boom bap or his self titled album, Gang Starr doing Step in the arena, Jeru doing The sun rises in the East, Black Moon doing Enta da stage, ... One can only hope.

Here's a video from a show two days earlier:

Five Peace Band

2008-11-07T09:24:00.001-08:00

Last tuesday Chick Corea and John McLaughlin were incredible. The are now on tour in Europe with the Five Peace Band, which is made up of three (as McLaughlin put it, in excellent French) heavy-weights in the world of Jazz: Kenny Garrett on sax, Christian McBride on bass and the incredible Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.

Chick Corea started his career with the likes of Herbie Mann and Stan Getz, before replacing Herbie Hancock as Miles Davis' pianist (appearing amongst others on Bitches Brew). After leaving Davis he formed the fusion band Return to Forever, with Stanley Clarke, Bill Conners and Lenny White. After the break up in the late 70ies he played in a variety of settings before forming the Elektric Band in the mid 80ies, which included the amazing drummer Dave Weckl. In the 21st century he's still releasing strong (solo) records, which are jazz and fusion oriented.

John McLaughlin is another virtuoso who featured on the classic Bitches Brew record. He was the leader of the Mahvishnu Orchestra and was a member of the incredible Lifetime, both classic examples of the fusion era.

The show was an absolute tour de force. At times soft, at times hard as fuck. But with a craftsmanship to be reckoned with. The songs were a mixture of some new and some old tracks, blended with a lot of improvisation. What more can you ask? Admittedly there were two or three minor moments where it was probably more fun for the musicians than for the listeners. But these moments didn't last too long. Herbie Hancock was also there. He was invited at the end of the show to play an improv track which was absolutely amazing. They may be getting a bit older, but these guys have not lost their energy. Absolutely amazing.

Skoda Jazz

2008-10-28T05:24:00.001-07:00

After Belga and Audi, Skoda has taken on the role of music promotor with the Skoda Jazz festival (22 september -13 december 2008). A number of dope artists have already done their thing (Herbaliser, Seun Kuti, Omara Portuondo, Jeff Neve, Amon Tobin, Horace Andy), but there is more greatness to come. My pick for the next few weeks:

Nov 4: Chick Corea & John McLaughlin: Five Peace Band: what can I say? These guys played on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew record, followed by succesful groups (Return to Forever, Mahavisnu Orchestra) and solo careers. (Koningin Elisabeth zaal, Antwerp)
Nov 4: Pierre Anckaert Trio: excellent Belgian jazz (Garage 29, Brussels)
5 Nov: Herbie Hancock Sextet: no introduction necessary, remember Headhunters, Maiden Voyage and Rockit to name but a few (Koningin Elisabeth zaal, Antwerp)
Nov 14: John Scofield & the Piety Street Band (+Philip Catherine): bebop guitarist extraordinaire, earned his stripes with the likes of Miles Davis, Bill Frissel, Bill Lasswell, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, etc. (Motives for Jazz Festival, Genk)
Nov 16: Guru's Jazzmatazz ft. MC Solaar: Legendary MC of Gangstarr, the first to extensively experiment with the mix of jazz and hip-hop together with France's first MC to get worldwide recognition. He's coming with DJ Doo Wop and some musicians. Nuff said (Arenburgschouwburg, Antwerp)
Nov 23: Chucho Valdés: founder of Irakere, he brings a blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms, jazz, funk, rock and whatever strikes his fancy (Bozar, Brussels)

Toots the Jazz Master

2008-10-20T00:31:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Toots Thielemans (86), Belgium's (Europe's?) finest jazz musician. He received a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) award. He is now an official Jazz Master (the first European to receive the award). And well deserved it is. Noone who has seen him live, remains untouched by this giant's virtuosity and emotion-laden technique.

Jazz Middelheim (Antwerp) 2008

Good Omens

2008-10-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's Good Omens tells the story of the coming of the End Times. The Anti-Christ is born and soon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Famine, War, Pollution (Pestilence retired in 1936 after the discovery of penicillin) and Death, will be here to start off the Great War between Heaven and Hell. The problem is that the Angel Aziraphale (who used to have a fiery sword of justified vengeance, but thosee humans looked so cold) and the demon Crowley (who hisses slightly when he talks and had something to do with an apple and a tree) like the Earth the way it is. So, these unlikely long-time friends try to stop it from happening. The child who they think is the Son of Satan, is however a normal human. Due to a mix-up at birth, involving babbling satanist nuns, the Anti-Christ ends up growing up as a relatively normal child in Lower Tadfield, England. And so the race against time begins ...

The book was written when Terry Pratchett's star was starting to rise and Neil Gaiman was working on the Sandman graphic novels. Since then, the book has acquired somewhat of a cult status. Luckily I didn't know all of this when I started reading it. I've been a fan of Pratchett's work since a friend of mine introduced me to the Colour of Magic while studying (ahem) at the university. I only knew Neil Gaiman by name (I had heard of Sandman and American Gods), but I think I will become a fan of his work as well. Although there are some typical Pratchettisms in there, it is most definitely not a Discworld novel. The book has its own pace and character. What is very clear is that the combination of styles works very well.

Good Omens makes fun of the way people act towards one another and the planet (and a little bit of religion). The ending is so wonderfully naïve as to give you hope. But, although the story in itself is very nice, the most interesting part is the depiction of the characters. The story betrays a deep insight into people's motivations, hopes and frustrations. Definitely a must read. And now, to the bookstore to buy American Gods and some more Discworlds.

Zorro

2008-10-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

About four years ago my mom introduced Hammy and me to two beautiful little kittens, a black female with white socks and a mixed male. We saw them and were lost. They got a little bigger and now they're four years old.

Unfortunately one of them got sick recently and we were forced to let him go. Needless to say that was not a very pleasant experience. The female has been a bit lonely since then. Miaowing incessantly, asking for a lot of attention. So we got her little friend.

I present to you, four months old Zorro!

Universal Declaration of Archives (draft)

2008-09-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

The International Council on Archives (ICA) is preparing a Universal Declaration of Archives. It should be endorsed at the Annual General Meeting held in Malta in 2009.

DRAFT DECLARATION

Archives record decisions, actions and memories. Archives are a unique and irreplaceable heritage passed from one generation to another. Archives are managed from creation to preserve their value and meaning.

They are authoritative sources of information underpinning accountable and transparent administrative actions. They play an essential role in the development of societies by safeguarding and contributing to individual and community memory. Open access to archives enriches our knowledge of human society, promotes democracy, protects citizens'rights and enhances the quality of life.

To this effect, we recognize

a.. the unique quality of archives as authentic evidence of administrative, cultural and intellectual activities and as a reflection of the evolution of societies;

a.. the vital necessity of archives for supporting business efficiency, accountability and transparency, for protecting citizens rights, for establishing individual and collective memory, for understanding the past, and for documenting the present to guide future actions;

a.. the diversity of archives in recording every area of human activity;

a.. the multiplicity of formats in which archives are created including paper, electronic, audio visual and other types;

a.. the role of archivists as trained professionals with initial and continuing education, serving their societies by supporting the creation of records and by selecting, maintaining and making these records available for use;

a.. the collective responsibility of all - citizens, public administrators and decision-makers, owners or holders of public or private archives, and archivists and other information specialists - in the management of archives.

We therefore undertake to work together in order that

• appropriate national archival policies and laws are adopted and enforced;

• the management of archives is valued and carried outcompetently by all bodies, private or public, which create and use archives in the course of conducting their business;

• adequate resources are allocated to support the propermanagement of archives;

• archives are managed and preserved in ways that ensure theirauthenticity, reliability, integrity and usability;

• archives are made accessible to everyone, while respecting the pertinent laws and the rights of individuals, creators, owners and users;

• archives are used to contribute to the promotion of responsible citizenship.

Source

Mac & Hayes R.I.P.

2008-08-11T03:48:00.001-07:00

In one week the world has had to mourn the less of two great entertainers. Bernie Mac has died at the age of 50. Isaac Hayes left us at 65. Both too young to go. Thank you for the laughs and thank you for the music.

Cooper & Chalfant's Subway Art & Style Wars

2008-08-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Subway Art is thé classic book about NYC graffiti that has influenced generations of graffiti artists and hip-hop lovers alike. Inside you'll find the masterpieces by the Kings of the Line, Dondi ( R.I.P. ), Blade, Lee, Kase, Seen, Lady Pink and a host of others. I just spotted on the blog of the Brussels hip-hop crew and record label Souterrain that there is an e-version. Actually there are several. The one you can find underneath stays close to the paper format, and can be read in an easy viewing page flipper. There is another version in a Scribd file (pdf kinda format), which kan be found here. For the actual reading the latter is a bit more clear, but also slower to load.

This book can't be seen apart from the classic documentary Style Wars, so I included that one too for your viewing pleasure.

Get your own - Open publication

Link if you want to watch full screen.

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme

2008-08-08T02:07:00.000-07:00

Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme is a documentary about that real shit. Watch and enjoy.

Discworld: Moist von Lipwig books

2008-08-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

In Going Postal Terry Pratchett has introduced the character Moist von Lipwig into the Discworld universe. Lipwig is a petty con artist who, at the 'request' of Lord Vetinari, the absolute ruler (Patrician) of the city of Ankh-Morpork, has taken on the daunting task of getting the city's run-down post office going again. To accomplish this, he uses his sense of showmanship to launch a number of initiatives. One of these is the invention and production of paper stamps. These can be bought here by the way. There is also a fan page and a dedicated forum. Inevitably he comes into conflict with the clacks (Discworld version of the telegraph) company the Grand Trump, which is run by shrewd and cruel businessmen (most notably the chairman Reacher Gilt). With his flamboyant style and daredevil attitude Lipwig, as Postmaster General, gets the job done.

At the beginning of the second book in the series, Making money, Lipwig has turned the post office into a smoothly operating machine. He is also betrothed to the love interest of the previous book, Adora Belle Dearheart, the cynical, chain-smoking, tough mama, employee and advocate of the Golem Trust Fund. The crimes of the past have been forgotten, he's got himself a woman, he's even become somewhat of a respected citizen. He's got everything a man could wish for ... and he's bored. Vetinari alleviates this problem by introducing him to Topsy Lavish, the elderly chairwoman of the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. The next day she dies. She has left the majority of the shares and the chairmanship to her dog Mr. Fusspot, who is placed in the care of Lipwig. Cosmo Lavish, an incredibly ambitious member of the family is not very happy with this choice and tries to undermine Lipwig's efforts to make the Bank a respected institution again. As the story unfolds Lipwig once again proves to be innovative. He creates paper money (picture) and ends up replacing the gold standard by ... something else (wouldn't wan to ruin the fun).

The basic backbone of the larger story is more or less the same as the first books of the City Watch series. The main character is down and out. Out of necessity he picks himself up and becomes a useful member of society. Then he gets bored, but luckily a new challenge presents itself. If a third book will appear, Lipwig will probably get married in that one. That being said, this new series is different in the portrayal of characters. The con man with his devious ways, the obsessive postal employee Stanley and the absolutely mad Cosmo Lavish, make both books very enjoyable reads. As always, Pratchett portrays a deep insight into the Western world in general and human psychology in particular. Long time fans will definitely not be disappointed. For those who are not familiar with the Discworld, this would make a good introduction. The story's focus is less on magic than usual, while the themes are universal in nature, making it enjoyable to people who aren't really into fantasy.

Forbidden Ensemble: Porno soundtracks

2008-07-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

Three known Flemish artists are the musicians behind the Forbidden Ensemble. They have composed a soundtrack to seventies porn movies in true retro style, with excellent titles like We Have to Take Some Measurements First, Sonny darling I'm having a shower and I want to have the master bedroom decorated first. And best of all, the entire album can be downloaded for free. Go to their website and have a listen. You will not be disappointed. In their own words: "This music sounds like a combination of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and the Emanuelle sequels of adult movies. Feisty and furious with a sugarcoat of sensuality. This is the first volume of their ventures, played on real instruments and treated to have the authentic sleazy sound of the 70's."

Check out the promo video:

P*rno Soundtracks Volume 1 - Sonny Darling, I'm Having a Shower Now from PornoSoundtracks.com on Vimeo.

On The Go: Repeat offender

2008-07-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

Legendary graffiti tape from back in the day. 'Nuff said.

Digital reading with Kindle

2008-07-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

I recently heard about the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. The article I read about boosted the ease of use and, most importantly, the ease of reading thanks to a paperlike quality of the screen. I was really excited about all this and wanted to have one. I'm an old school book lover. I just love having a paper copy, flipping the pages, rummaging through the bins in bookstores. However, I also read quite a lot of papers on the internet, mostly in pdf format which I don't intend to buy. Printing all of these would become expensive and would not be very friendly to the environment. So, an e-reader would come in handy. I wanted to write a post about how nice it would be to own a Kindle for that particular purpose. And then I did a quick check up on the internet. Instead of going the open source route, Amazon has opted for DRM proprietary software (read: Big Brother). The only non locked-in formats the device will support is html and txt, which can only be converted by mail at 10 cents a pop. Too bad, it seemed like a good idea. Yes, it's easy to buy books from their store, but if I want to buy a book I'll buy the paper version. My studies in records management have taught me one thing: digital media cannot be trusted, pc's crash, get corrupted by viruses, formats get outdated. My books are paper, my music is vinyl. MP3's and e-books are the things you find as torrent files to back up the other formats. Which reminds me, I really need to make hard copies of my pictures.

I hope Amazon will see the light in the future, or that some other company will. Apparently, the screen is really all that. So the product in itself seems amazing. But it's best to wait a little bit longer until the 2.0 release (and for the price to go down). In the meantime, here are some reviews: Paul Thurrott's in depth review, the Kindle Swindle, Gizmodo's Real Life Review, Wired's (Sony) Reader vs. Kindle, Technology Evangelist's video about the design features.

Gent Jazz 19 August 2008

2008-07-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

I thought that I wouldn't be able to see any of the great live shows in Belgium this summer. Until further notice I'm working on my master thesis. And it still needs quite some work. But, Friday my dad asked me if I wanted to go to Gent Jazz. And since all work and no play makes me go crazy, I (reluctantly) agreed. And I'm glad I did. We missed the first band, Brazzaville, but that couldn't dampen the spirit.

When we arrived, Marcus Miller was in the middle of the song Jean-Pierre, which is one of my favorite Miles Davis tracks. Let's take a step back first. I saw Miller live the first (and up until now the only) time about ten years ago in Maastricht. He played before the incredible Buckshot LeFonque (legendary fusion project of Branford Marsalis and DJ Premier). I was there for the latter, but when Miller got on stage he just blew me away. Smooth and soft when he needs to be, but most of all what an energy and power! Immediately afterwards I bought the album Tales. So, I was very happy with the opportunity to see the man once more. He has worked with several great musicians, such as Earl Klugh, Grover Washington Jr. and Bob James. After them he teamed up with Miles Davis for several years and recorder a number of albums with him. I didn't know he wrote Tutu, which was the last song he played. As you might expect everything he played was with virtuosity. Kudos also to the 20 year old saxophone player he had with him. He also had a DJ Logic with him, although I fail to see the logic in bringing that DJ (get it? oh I crack myself up sometimes, ahum ...). You've got these very talented musicians doing incredible things ... and a sucka dj who did nothing more than some stabs, slow-ass chirps and fades. Besides that I really enjoyed the funky blend Miller is so good at.

I had heard of the Neville Brothers, I knew a couple of songs (not by name), but I didn't really know their music. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Funky as hell, mixing up everything in a way only people from New Orleans can. They played a rumba version of Ain't no sunshine, a funk version of It don't mean a thing, a soul version of The bayou to name but a few. A beautiful mix of original material and covers in all styles they could think of. On a side note, I was very surprised to see the physical appearance that accompanied the lead singer. The guy is massive, big muscular arms with tattoos on both of them, balhead with a tattoo of a bird on his face; and then this fragile, sensitive voice. Anyway, the Neville Brothers rock!

Words can only say that much, here's some music:

Marcus Miller

The Neville Brothers

Te of Piglet

2008-07-18T02:50:00.000-07:00

The Te of Piglet (or Virtue of the Small) is the companion book to the Tao of Pooh. Once again A. A. Milne's characters are being used to illustrate principles from the Taoist philosophy. The elements he described in his previous book are explained in more detail: Owl is the epitome of knowledge without wisdom, Rabbit is the clever person who worries about appearances, Tigger represents impulsiveness without taking the time to do things right, and Eeyores are people who always complain instead of seeing the silver lining. Piglet is used as an example of the Virtue of the Small. He's A Very Tiny Animal who might not do great deeds, but he does come through in a pinch. He's portrayed as the only one of the 100 Acre Woods friends who evolves as a person. Instead of lamenting about his smallness, he does what needs to be done when necessary.

Benjamin Hoff's portrayal of Pooh and his friends starts of well enough. However, a few pages into every chapter he starts complaining about how the Western world (although he seems to equate the US with the West as a whole) is doing things wrong. Because of this, parts of the book feel as a petulant rant. At times he even comes off as bitter. This is in contrast with the ending, where he claims belief in the coming of an esoteric better world (very much like The Last Battle of Narnia and The Silmarillion) based on a back-to-nature philosophy in which all of nature lives in perfect harmony.

All in all I would suggest to read the Tao of Pooh (which is absolutely brilliant) and leave this one be. If you really want to read both, do so in one go. Don't leave too much time between them. This way, IMHO, it's easier to appreciate the good parts of the Te of Piglet while skipping the once that aren't really up to par.

Dawkin's militant atheism

2008-07-10T17:20:00.001-07:00

Richard Dawkins is the man who introduced us to the concept of the meme ( a self replicating unit of culture) in his renowned book the Selfish Gene. Since then he has written a score of books on evolutionary biology in an understandable language. He is also a staunch critic of creationism (including its current American version intelligent design). During his TED speech he urges all atheists to stand up against the mixture of politics and religion, since the only place in the world were Church/Mosque/Temple/Whatever and State are still strictly kept separate is Western Europe (and Turkey). This kind of subject has the danger of either becoming tedious or ridiculous. Dawkins is neither of these. He talks eloquently and, above all, he's very funny (as well as being right).

(Original page here.)

Karen Armstrong's TED Prize Wish

2008-07-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is as an annual conference which brings together a host of internationally renowned thinkers on a large range of topics. The idea is to spread ideas because the organizers "believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other." The best talks are distributed freely online.

The yearly TED Prize grants several prize winners' "One Wish to Change the World, by leveraging the help of their community. They receive monetary and organizational support for their work to be undertaken. Underneath you can find Karen Armstrong's wish.

Karen Armstrong has written 20 books about comparative religion. The main tenet of her argument is that all religions basically say the same thing by placing great importance on compassion. I've only read The Great Transformation up until now, but that book has got me hooked on her writing. In it she describes the historical roots, together with their history of ideas, of the main current religions. It's nothing short of an amazing piece of scholarship. The next two works on my list are The Bible: a biography and The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

(If the video loads too slow, here's the original page.)

Simple explanation of Web 3.0

2008-07-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

We have hardly digested the Web 2.0 social revolution an people are already talking about Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web. The Semantic Web is made up of a number of different technologies with enough abreviations to scare most people away from the concept. Freek Bijl, a Dutch internet strategy advisor has given a simple presentation explaining Web 3.0 for dummies.

Part I: the basics

View Upload your own

Part II: techniques

View Upload your own

agglom has aggregated these two presentations with other slideshows and videos, and links, under the header "Web 3.0 - meaningless or future - what do you think about?"

Bloody Good Samaritan

2008-07-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I was waiting for the tram, when a lady holding a baby asks me in Dutch if the next one is going to the Brussels Midi train station. She, the baby, and her daughter were going to Antwerp. From where we were it's faster to go either to the North of Central station. Since I was going to Central I told them to follow me. So, the next tram arrived and we got on it. After which they more or less ignored me. Fine, you don't have to make small talk if you don't want to but in general people say at least a few words if someone's helping them. Anyway, to get to the centre you first take the tram till Montgomery and there you change for the metro. We arrived at Montgomery. I told them to get off and to follow me once more, which they reluctantly did. I lead them to the right metro stop. Then, I explained that next they will have to take the next metro, get off at Central Station, mount the stairs, go through the long hallway and go to track n° 5. This seemed to me quite precise. I sensed they didn't want to talk anymore so I backed off. The next metro came, I told to get on and I got on myself. They didn't move. From inside the metro I motioned to them to move before it was too late. The daughter waved at me with this strange look on her face which seemed to say "ok strange man go away now". After the doors closed and the metro was moving again I just stood there perplexed. I mean, I could not have been any clearer. They probably just stayed put for the next hour or so, waiting for the train to Antwerp. If they were lucky they found someone else who spoke Dutch to explain to them the same thing I already said. They totally ruined my good deed of the day. Fucking tourists.

Festivals in Belgium

2008-06-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

The festival season is approaching once more. Here are my picks for 2008:

Couleur Café: 27-29 June at the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels.
* Friday
- MC Solaar
- Orishas
- Erykah Badu
* Saturday
- Omar Perry
- Juan Formell y Los Van Van
* Sunday
- Baloji
- Psy 4 de la Rime
- Massilia Sound System
- le Peuple de l'Herbe

Gent Jazz: 10-13 and 17-20 July in Gent
*Thursday 10/07
- Herbie Hancock
* Sunday 13/07
- Bert Joris Quintet
- Saxophone Summit (Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman)
- Wayne Shorter Quartet
* Thurday 17/07
- Buscemi Big Band
- Herbaliser
- Erykah Badu
* Friday 18/07
- Roberto Fonseca
- Omara Portuondo
- Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club
* Saturday 19/07
- Brazzaville
- Marcus Miller feat. DJ Logic
- The Neville Brothers

Cactus Festival: 11-13 July in Brugge
* Friday
- Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
- Brooklyn Funk Essentials
* Saturday
- Saul Williams
- Cinematic Orchestra
- Arno
* Sunday
- Bootsy Collins & the Hardest Working Band

Les Ardentes: 10-14 July in Liège
* Thursday
- Cypress Hill
- Laurent Garnier
* Sunday
- Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators (also on 12/07 in KortrijkCongee)

Dour: 17 - 20 July (near Mons)
* Thursday
- Birdy Nam Nam
- Birdy HardERS (Birdy Nam Nam vs Party HardERS) & Special Guest Busy P.
* Friday
- Ice Cube
- Wu-Tang Clan
- Roni Size/ Reprazent
- Richie Hawtin
- Flat Earth Society Meets Jimi Tenor
- The Bug could be good
* Saturday
- The Herbaliser
- DJ Krush
- Mr Scruff
- Black Moon
- Lefto
* Sunday
- DJ Q-Bert
- Beat Torrent (perhaps)
- Akro (with live band)
- Svinkels (perhaps)

Feest in't Park: 22-24 August in Oudenaarde.
* Friday
- DJ Food & DK
- Discobar Galaxie
- le Peuple de l'Herbe
- Jerboa 'Au Cinema'
* Saturday
- Hooverphonic
- The Roots
- Red D & Lady Linn
* Saturday
- Beenieman
- Arno
- George Clinton with Parliament/Funkadelic

Grotere kaart weergeven

Archivopedia

2008-06-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Archivopedia is a wiki project for, you guessed it, information regarding everything about archives. Check out the presentation.

View Upload your own

Brainiac - Looking At Breasts Experiment

2008-06-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

What we do in the name of science:

Tao of Pooh

2008-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago I saw the title of this book by a writer I had never heard about. But what a title: The Tao of Pooh. Cute, yet intriguing. Since then I wanted to buy it, but I never did. I already own enough books I still need to get through, and the few times I checked in the local English bookstore they would have had to order it so I didn't bother. Last week however I was showing the bookshop Sterling Books to a friend of mine, without the intent of buying anything, and the book was in. Naturally, I couldn't resist. And I'm very I glad I couldn't.

In the Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff explains the basic concepts of Taoism with the character of Winnie-the-Pooh as the perfect example of its principles in action. Pooh exemplifies the idea of the Uncarved Block, or P'u. "The essence of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed." Essentially it means that we should listen more to our Inner Nature and see things as they are instead of how we want them to be. This in contrast with Owl who lets his knowledge get in the way for the sake of keeping up an image of wisdom, Eeyore who lets it get in the way of enjoying life, and Rabbit who uses it to sound Clever. The other concept that is touched upon is that of Wu Wei, or Effortless Action (lit. non action or not doing). This means doing things in a natural way, knowing when to act and when not. The traditional metaphor is that of water flowing. A stream of water will not try to move a rock in its path, but will flow around.

As an introduction to Taoism this book is very nice. It explains all the basic concepts in an easy to read and understand way. Using the Pooh characters as metaphors works very well. It's easy to imagine Pooh as a practitioner of Wu Wei and seeing things for what they are in his simplicity. I'm almost convinced that A.A. Milne was a Taoist philosopher without realizing it. Moreover, my interest in Taoism is now aroused. I've always had this feeling that it's an interesting philosophy, but living in a Western society you never really get in touch with it. So, there is much more to find out. First, we'll read the follow-up though, The Te of Piglet.

Old School Marcel Vanthilt

2008-05-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop Documentary from 1986

Cult of the amateur

2008-05-23T02:26:00.000-07:00

In The Cult of the Amateur. How today's internet is killing our culture and assaulting our economy Andrew Keen has written an anti-web 2.0 polemic. The title, as well as the basic idea of the book, comes from Nicholas Carr's post The amorality of Web 2.0. The premise is that the democratization of the internet is a Great Seduction (incidentally also the title of Keen's blog), in that it's promising what it can't deliver, i.e. the new digital economy will free us from historical structures and injustices, in particular mainstream media. The democratized media ideally does way with intermediaries, making the offered information more truthful and efficient. Keen asserts that this is not the case.

Summary. What he calls the Noble Amateur is being glorified by web 2.0 proponents, and in many cases are glorifying themselves. The new media has made it extremely easy to publish one's own opinions and artistic endeavors. The result of the ubiquitous blog, video- and music sharing sites is an enormous flood of amateur productions. It is already impossible to read every book that has been published, listen to all the music on the market or see all the movies. Do we need to wade through all the, mediocre at best, amateur art as well, Keen asks. The same goes for amateur journalism. In most cases he considers them opinionated without being actually knowledgeable, basing their thoughts on the work of others. This in contrast with real journalists who have experience and the financial backing (thus access to resources) of their employers. The result is a flattening of our culture, and a media that is more vulnerable to corruption. That is why we need cultural gatekeepers in a formalized, official and transparent way. The new elite of the internet is now anonymous. Algorithms have become more important than humans. On sites like Digg and Reddit, top ranking news items are based on popularity. So, if an item gets more diggs, the item becomes important. Systems like that can be gamed. Citing Pareto, Keen states that all systems are dominated by 20% of the people that shape 80% of the content. So wisdom-of-the-crowd sites are being shaped by twentysomethings. Related to this, he warns for is the flattening of paid and unpaid content. In traditional media it is clear what is information and what is a commercial. On sites like YouTube it is now easy to insert commercial messages that look like it has been produced by amateurs. By gaining anonymity, we're losing context.

For our economy, the problem with the web 2.0 culture, is the concept of the free lunch. People are reading free news on blogs and other sites, sharing mp3's, videos and books, and give nothing in return. Traditional media loses money, but no new revenue is being created to sustain the economy. If we don't watch out, record companies will no longer be able to support artists, news agencies will have to cut down on decent journalism, publishing only faits divers, and Hollywood will crumble. And what do we get in return? Wikipedia with its badly written prose and sometimes gross factual errors, MySpace mediocrity and YouTube amateurism.

This is not the biggest danger. In the chapter "1984 2.0" Keen explains the problem with search engines. Sites like Google are aggregating enormous amounts of personal information. Up until now, there exist no laws detailing what exactly can be done with that information or how long it may be stored. In this way we're giving up our right to privacy.

This more or less summarizes the book. A more extensive explanation is given by Andrew Keen himself during a presentation at Google (Authors@Google):

Review. After reading Weinberger's pro web 2.0 books I thought it seemed like a good idea to see what the other side of the medal looks like. Keen gives a warning against the all too rosy view of how the internet looks like now. Checks and balances are duly needed to avoid too much abuse of people. In the last chapter he proposes a few solutions, which make sense. One of them is, own up. Sign information with your own name. In that respect, the information in online encyclopedias can get better. The newly founded Citizendium is being cited. This is a wiki like Wikipedia, with the difference that editors need to use their own name. Another adjustment is the importance of experts. When a discussion should arise about nuclear fission, the word of a Ph.D. in nuclear physics will carry more weight than that of a 13 year old high school student. Joseph Reagle pointed out in his blog that in Wikipedia editing is in fact checked for relevance and accuracy (as wel as Lessig, see further). The discussion Keen refers to, is portrayed as a war between an expert and an amateur in which the amateur won. This is however not the case. Apparently the expert was being reprimanded for editing without explanations, while the amateur was banned for a moment in time from editing at all. For a more details, see the original post.

Keen warns for the danger in the data searchengines gather. Google knows more about everyone than any institution ever before. Nobody knows what they do with the data gathered from searches and there are no laws controlling it. He's got a point there. Some form of legislation might not be too bad. The European Union is now taking some first steps. Privacy officials are conerned that searchengines keep their data for too long and propose to destroy them after six months. Although it's good that some rules will probably follow, I'd rather they didn't destroy the data. I'm convinced there are possibilities of doing some very interesting historical and sociological research can be done with the gather information. It would be a better idea to hand it over to a digital repository (archives) under the control of the EU.

In the chapter "moral disorder" he talks about the dangers of sexual predators trying to seduce children on social networking sites, and the growing addiction to porn and online gambling. In his "solutions" he hits the nail on the head. It's up to the parents to instill proper values in their children. Yes there are perverts out there. But out there means the real world too. Teach your children well and the problem won't become one.

That being said, the book feels more like a cleaned up rant than anything else. It's not always clear what Keen is against. He's defending main stream media, because they can provide us with decent material based on their size. On the other hand, he's against companies like Google because they're becoming too big. He blames web 2.0 for destroying the music industry and other media. The fact that record companies are losing money can not be attributed only to the fact that music can be shared. And if it can, then I would like to see the research that supports the direct link he's trying to convince us of. Although I don't have a thorough economical background, even I feel that he's lumping arguments together. But don't take my word on it. Andrew Lessig, the founder of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society and CEO of the Creative Commons project, criticized the sloppy reasonings and economic explanations on his blog. He wonders how it is possible that all the factual errors present in the book could have gotten past the rigorous editing process that Keen claims is inherent to mainstream media (as opposed to the internet). "And then it hit me: Keen is our generation's greatest self-parodist. His book is not a criticism of the Internet. Like the article in Nature comparing Wikipedia and Britannica, the real argument of Keen's book is that traditional media and publishing is just as bad as the worst of the Internet. Here's a book -- Keen's -- that has passed through all the rigor of modern American publishing, yet which is perhaps as reliable as your average blog post: No doubt interesting, sometimes well written, lots of times ridiculously over the top -- but also riddled with errors. Keen's obvious point is to show those with a blind faith in the traditional system that it can be just as bad as the worst of the Internet. Indeed, one might say even worse, since the Internet doesn't primp itself with the pretense that its words are promised to be true."It bothered him to the point that he made a wiki about the book, The Keen Reader. He explains the several fallacies in Keen's work. His economical views on how internet businesses work are a bit shortsighted, lacking a basic understanding of economics.

Further more, Keen places an undying trust in the Experts of this world. Everybody's opinion counts equally on the internet, while the value of those who know more or are more creative is being ignored. Therefore we need cultural gatekeepers. And who is going to decide who will be those Keepers of the Gate? The concept of a truly transparent organization which elects its members democratically is very beautiful, but how long will that last? Such an organization would only slow the pace of knowledge sharing down. The internet was able to develop so quickly because of the lack of gatekeepers. Don't mess it up by installing them now. And let's not forget that mainstream media isn't all that wonderful. Do we need another Britney Spears or 50 Cent? And Big News isn't always that neutral either. It is well known that Fox News is pro-Republican, just like we know in Belgium that the newspaper De Morgen is somewhat pro-socialist and the magazine Knack is republican (the European meaning of the word, for the Republic, against the monarchy). Most importantly, all the mediocre music, videos, amateur news and whatnot is of fleeting interest. They'll get their 15 seconds of fame, and will dissapear again. Quality eventually floats to the top. Mr. Keen does not want to wade through all those MySpaces and YouTubes. Well other people do. And for those who don't, there are other ways of finding good things. Personally, it helps me more to read on a forum or a blog music reviews by people who consistently write good reviews than by reading professional magazines. The magazine might have a better understanding of the exact musical references, but the blogger will tell me if that shit is dope. And that's all I need to know. After which I'll try to figure out for myself if I like it or not.

The internet is having a profound impact on the way we live our lives. It's also a young technology. People are still adjusting to what it is like to be a 'netizen'. Yes, bad things come from that, such as Second Life addictions, but there are also TV addicts. Keen says that on the internet people only visit those sites with likeminded individuals, reinforcing their beliefs. And the difference with your local bible study group is ...? We're talking basic psychology here. You hear a piece of information. Then you try to incorporate it your mental model of the world. Conflicting information gets filtered out, compatible info stays. Meaning: like attracts like. Traditional media are supposed to give us a more general understanding of the world, by producing balanced information. The fault in this reasoning is that everybody is interested in the world. People who are find their information in regular newspapers but also on the internet. Those who are not, don't. The same goes for being critical on the internet. People who are critical in general remain so online, those who are gullible do not. I wonder if people are not even more critical online since it is well known that everybody can publish anything they like.

The internet has opened up a world of possibilities. People like Keen would like to close them again. Yes there is a lot of amateurism out there which cannot compete in some respects to official media outlets, but there are also very good amateurs who are worth listening to (besides a number of experts writing blogs). I want to be able to choose between both of them, instead of someone else making that choice for me. The book is interesting in the sense that it provides some counterweight to some of the all too positive web 2.0 proponents. But more than that it cannot be said to be.

Baloji's Hotel Impala

2008-05-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Starflam's Baloji has dropped his first solo album a while back, called Hôtel Impala (volume 1). Since buying it a week or two ago I've been listening to it over and over again. To anybody who likes Hip Hop, cop that shit! Overall the beats are good, the rhymes are tight, what more do you want? The sound is not like that nineties ish we like, but it sure as hell isn't like that protools synth crap we've been hearing for the last couple of years either. If anything, Hôtel Impala sounds personal and committed. For a more detailed overview of the album, here's an interview with the man himself.

Tout ceci ne vous rendra pas le Congo

De l'autre côté de la mère

Interview (with English subs)

Baby loves Hip Hop

2008-05-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

"Hall of fame hip-hop producer Prince Paul teams up with some of rap music’s most celebrated mcs to create a prehistoric, preschool musical masterpiece. Part book on tape (narrated by Grammy winning poet Ursula Rucker), part Broadway show (The story was just optioned by Pablo Piccasso!) the cd takes kids (and parents) on a musical journey that tells the story of 5 best dino friends that come together to teach key life lessons and have fun."

The Dino 5 consists of DJ Stegosaurus (Prince Paul), MC T-Rex (Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5), Tracy Triceratops (Ladybug of Digable Planets), Teo Pterodactyl (Scratch of the Roots), and Billy Brontosaurus (Wordsworth of eMC).

Nice one. 'Cos I'm sure Babies love Hip Hop too.

He's a muthafuckin' puppet!

2008-04-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

A movie called Black Devil Doll. "Suck my puppet dick, bitch." Hahahahaha!!!! Check the hilarious trailer. Definetely NSFW. "If the thought of a wayward white woman having sexual relations with a demonic jive ass black puppet offends you, DO NOT SEE Black Devil Doll." "And if you think you're ready for him, think again bitch."

The colour of magic

2008-04-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

Sky One has already made a movie adaption of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. This Easter they have released the man's first novel, the colour of magic. And once again it looks good. I'll be watching it soon.

You can see a trailer on the official site. The two parts can be seen here and here. Enjoy!

P.S.: if you missed the Hogfather: click.

Egg suicides

2008-04-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

Send me your stereotypes

2008-04-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

The only things most people in the West know about the Arab world is what we hear on the news. Since the images we get are not all that positive it's easy to think in stereotypes. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan wants to open up a dialogue via her personal YouTube Channel. Until the 28th of August (World Youth Day) she'll be accepting questions about the Arab world, asking everyone to Send me your stereotypes. I'm curious about the result.

Everything is miscellaneous

2008-04-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

David Weinberger's Everything is miscellaneous, the power of the new digital disorder offers a refreshing view on the way we organize our world and order information, and on the importance of knowledge. Historically he divides these efforts into the first, second and third order of order. The first order of order comprises the physical world. It is the way we organize our personal things, our house, a store, factories, etc. The second order tries to make knowledge accessible: classifications, taxonomies, encyclopedia, card catalogs etc. In the third order (which has the same object as the second) miscellaneousness rules.

The second order of order has been guided by the limitations of the physical world. No two things can be in the same place at the same time. Conversely, no one thing can be at two places at the same time (although quantum physics has cast somewhat of a shadow over that idea). In the same way, the organization of world views had to be thought out on paper. A certain item, a concept, can only be placed in one spot on the page. In the third order, these limitations no longer exist. Within the digital realm every concept can be at different places at any given time and knowledge can take on the form we choose to see at any given time.

The opening chapters of the book give an historical overview of the way we have been classifying the world, starting with the Aristotelian idea that there is a natural order of things and that knowledge should be divided according to this "natural formation, where the joint is, not breaking any part as a bad carver might" (Plato). This has resulted in tree-structures, where everything has its place and is a part of a broader or narrower class of categories. The problem is that the world is more complex than that. Besides, the way unified trees are structured depends on the way the person who has conceived it sees the world. The classical example is Melvin Dewey's Decimal Classification system (DDC). The choices he has made, honorable as they were, were obviously historically, personally and culturally biased. Nevertheless, the traditional classification methods have their virtues. In his own style, Weinberger explains what they are about, how they work and how they came about, in chronological order (from Plato over faceted classification to taxonomies, over ontologies to the semantic web), together with their virtues and shortcomings.

The newest member of this family is the folksonomy. A folksonomy is derived from the words 'folk' and 'taxonomy' (not to be confused with folk taxonomy). It describes methods of collaborative tagging. The classic examples are the sites del.icio.us and Flickr, but there are many more who utilize the same principle (eg. CiteUlike, LibraryThing, Connotea, BibSonomy, Technorati, Digg, Reddit). On these sites you can tag (add keywords) to the content you're saving to your account. These tags, together with the content you saved, are visible to the rest of the community who can use them to find interesting information. Folksonomies are more flexible than classical categorization schemes since anyone can add any type of keyword they'd like. The disadvantage is that anyone can add any keyword they'd like. Folksonomies provide a bottom-up approach, which enables finding items more intuitively because they are stated in a language that everybody speaks. On the other hand they can hide objects for the same reason because of problems with homonymy, synonymy, typos and the use of idiosyncratic tags.

The major innovation of the digital age however, lies in the fact that concepts (and its related content) no longer need to be in one specific place. As Weinberger puts it, in tree-like structures every leaf hangs from a particular branch. Now, a leaf can hang from many branches at the same time. He states that messiness can be seen as a virtue, since you only 'clean up' when you need to according to your preference of the moment. As an example he cites the online shop Amazon. A shop which arranges itself in different ways every time you visit it, in a view suited to what you're looking for at the time.

David Weinberger has a very positive view on the way technology is changing the way we think. This latest information revolution is providing us with new possibilities. He feels that we are reverting to a more natural way of gathering and disseminating knowledge: through conversation. And he's right. The more connected we get, the faster our knowledge base will grow as a species. Taxonomies provide you with a view of how information is related and how knowledge should be divided, according to the author of the taxonomy in question. Now, everybody can create his view. We have to watch out though that we don't revert to what Jaron Lanier calls digital maoism. It is not the 'hive mind' that will set us free, but the collective work of individuals. Sharing information, heightens our general knowledge. Working towards a consensus where everybody is happy with the outcome is an illusion however.

Only a small percentage of people actually are concerned with all of the above, but if only 1% of the world's population plays an active part, the rest can still make use of what these 6.8 million people have done. Of course, not everything is digital. We have to live in the physical world. An online shop can rearrange itself every time you visit it, in the real world there are some different constraints. This is especially true for archives, where finding a piece of information is not the only issue. In order to understand what you have found, you need to be able to place it into context. The structure of the inventory (taxonomy) will, ideally, provide you with the structure of the archive(s) in its original and/or functional state. This structure depends on the choices the archivist has made, so it's subjective to a certain extent. When done well however, these choices can give you an insight about the relevance of the document to the research you are conducting.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the digital realm is enabling us to get connected, make our work more efficient, erode certain traditional power structures. Weinberger depicts somewhat of a digital utopia which sounds very appealing. How it will evolve, only time will tell. I'm sure not everybody will agree with his stance, but the least you can say is that Everything is miscellaneous provides us with something to think about.

To keep the discussion going, Weinberger has set up a website.

Here's a summary by the man himself (in case the embedded video doesn't work, you can watch it here):

Cluetrain Manifesto

2008-03-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Cluetrain Manifesto started out as the website http://www.cluetrain.com/. Four men (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger), who only knew each other in the third degree, ended up having a conversation one day in 1999 about why the media coverage was all wrong about the internet and why business in general didn't get what it is all about. At one point one of them quoted an acquaintance from a big company that was in trouble: "The cluetrain stopped here four times a day for ten years and no one ever took delivery." The website went live in March 1999 and started a discussion about the relation between business and its customers via the internet.

The manifesto consists of 95 theses put forward as a call to action for all businesses to become a part of the networked world. The similarity with Martin Luther's 95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences is obvious. In 1517 Luther nailed his manifesto to the door of the Church of Wittenberg in reaction against what he perceived to be wrong with the Catholic Church at the time, unwillingly starting the protestant revolt. In the same spirit, the authors wanted to express their thoughts on what was/is wrong with business-as-usual.

The essential idea behind the website, and later the book (online and in print), is that markets are conversations. Back in the day when the 'market' was actually a physical place where you went to, people were discussing wares and news. The items for sale were a product of someone's labor and/or craftsmanship. This all changed with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Labor became compartmentalized and a new elite came to the forefront. Mass production gave rise to mass markets and eventually to mass marketing. Companies evolved into monolithic entities defending their secrets like a fort. The result of all of this, is that 'business' became psychologically separated from 'people'. Markets are divided into demographic targets on which common denominator advertising is unleashed. This has worked well in an environment where the media outlets can be controlled, i.e. newspapers, magazines, TV ads. And then came the internet. People are getting more and more connected over the boundaries of the physical world. If a marketing campaign tells you that the product in question is the best thing that has happened to mankind since the invention of speech, you will go on the internet to find out how much of the marketing BS is really true. The point that the authors are trying to make, is that businesses should talk to people again, admit that they make mistakes sometimes and then fix'em. If you let your employees get connected, amongst themselves and with the rest of the world, their overall knowledge will increase and thus that of the company itself. The internet is not TV with a pay button. Be honest. Break down the walls of Fort Business.

The message that Cluetrain brings, sounds very appealing. They have a valid point. A lot of companies still use websites that look very good, but hide what you're actually looking for. If the answer to a question cannot be found in a FAQ, try to find another way of contacting anyone (although admittedly, American websites are usually more filled up with flashy BS than European ones). When the company itself fails to deliver information you will go online and find it for yourself. The big divide here is a question of philosophy, which we can also find in the open source vs. proprietary software discussions. The first group basically believes in the power of people and propagates a positive view of humankind, while the latter sees customers as a necessary evil, made up mostly of thieves and freeriders. The record industry is losing money because of illegal downloads, but at the same time myspace is creating new celebrities. A company that has understood the power of a community is Ninja Tune Records. They have an active forum, filled with music lovers and avid followers of the label. People cry that downloading is killing music. It's not. It's killing record companies. Just like new energy sources have killed the coal industry in Belgium. Life changes. If you want to stay with the program, do what successful companies have done. Change your business model and use what the world offers you.

Since the publication of the manifesto a lot has changed, and other things have remained the same. Online advertising still looks very much like typical mass media advertising. It's a bit different with games, since it is good place for product placement. On the other hand, within some businesses, the problem of connecting people within a company has been alleviated somewhat through a proper ICT alignment and the use of knowledge management systems like really useful intranets and groupware. Still, a great deal of work needs to be done and, more importantly, mentalities have to change. No doubt this will happen over time. Today, technology changes very fast and the way we are living with it. This however is only physical. Mentally, people change a lot slower. The internet as we know it, only exists for about 15 years. Historically speaking it's still a baby. We are experiencing a revolution. Not of the kill-the-king-long-live-the-new-leader variety, but a revolution nonetheless: the fourth information revolution (not to be mistaken with the concept that states we're evolving from industrial to more service jobs). The first one was the invention of speech, the second writing and the third book printing. During the previous one, the European continent (with the invention of the mechanical press by Gutenberg during the 15th century; the Chinese were well before us) was characterized not only by a more rapid way of dispersing ideas, but also by better roads and safer means, thus quicker, of travel. The same thing has been happening since the fifties of the previous century: holidays for the working class, affordable cars, TV, telephones, computer science, the internet and cheap airplane tickets. And the end is not near for some time to come. Conversely, all of this is mainly true for the Western world. The poorer countries (as well as digital illiterates in general) will need to find a way to bridge the digital divide. Non-democratic countries have been able to censor and monitor the digital world. Utopia is not around the corner. But, then again, it never was.

Essentially, the manifesto has a positive view on the world and how it's changing. The object was to get people to think about our changing world. As I said, mentalities need to change and that takes time, but also awareness. Right now, most people who are working are 'digital immigrants'. We have learned how to work with computers at a later age, while 'digital natives' are growing up with it. There is no telling how they will affect the rules of business.

Iraq: the War Card

2008-03-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Just in case someone was wondering how many times Bush lied to get his country into the Iraq war: these guys counted. FYI: 935 times.

European history exhibit

2008-03-17T03:38:00.000-07:00

This week-end my girlfriend and I finally got around to seeing It's our history!, an exhibit aimed at promoting European culture and identity being held at Tour & Taxis Brussels until the 12th of May. We were able to walk through at our own time without being bothered by too many people crowding us. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that in the rooms opposite the Star Wars exhibition can be found. Who needs Europe when you got Yoda, right? That'll be for the next time.

The exhibit starts with a very dark room where the only thing there is to see is the picture above. Actually it's a movie (scale 1:1) representing the EU. Every person on it is from one of the 27 countries. We are told that each has his/her own special story to tell. So we waited for them to say something. Which they didn't. And we stood there like idiots trying to find something else in the room. A bit disapointed we trudged on. But also a bit relieved because if we had to wait there to listen to 27 stories ... Anyway, point taken (diversity of Europe and all). Spread over the exhibition, there were separate videos telling the story of each individual, including a couple that escaped the DDR by digging a tunnel under the Wall, a member of Solidarność, the French and English diggers who shook hands on completion of the tunnel under the Channel, and others.

After that a few pieces of art are on display (couple of paintings, statues and conceptual totalitarian boots), emphasizing that 50 years of piece on the European mainland is/has been the exception on the rule. Or maybe the expo started with this part. Can't remember. Anyway, next up is the year 0, i.e. 1945. The war was over. A large part of the countries involved were mostly destroyed by the ravages of fighting, which meant Europe was in a bad shape. It also meant a clean slate. In a spark of genius the losing parties were involved in the rebuilding of the continent, instead of trying to punish them as hard as possible. This revolutionary act has changed the course of our political history for the best. That and the insight that intertwining our economies, coupled with a high standard of living, is the best way to avoid a new war. In a large part of course we owe our economical resurrection to the generosity of the Americans, through the Marshall Plan. We can argue that it was in the best interest of the US as well to create a stable economy in Europe, since we have close business relations; and in the long run they didn't give anything for free. Nevertheless they could have done nothing, which they didn't.

The great people that were at the basis and have helped shape the EU as we know it now are presented: Spaak, Monnet, Schuman, Churchill, Adenauer, De Gaule, Beyen, Bech, De Gasperi. But also those who weren't a part of the European political elite but had an influence nonetheless: Truman, Marshall, Stalin, Keynes, Beveridge. A part of the room is dedicated to each person. To add to the general atmosphere, subtle lighting is used. Unfortunately some parts were so subtle that it was rather difficult to see certain items. The centrepiece is a large video in black and white telling the story of the beginning of it all: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), accompanied by a facsimile of the very first steel bar that was melded under the auspices of this new organization.

The following few rooms are dedicated to the general history of Europe since 1945. An overview is given of the changing living conditions following the support provided by the Marshall Plan. You are guided through the 50ies up until the 80ies in typical living rooms so to speak of that era, with examples of items used in the different eras. I think that the exhibit will be themed slightly different according to the country it will be in. Since we're in Belgium there are Belgian magazines for instance and a separate piece dedicated to the World Fair of 1958 (Expo '58) couldn't be left out.

The story of Europe is more than just the emergence of the consumption society of course. Up until the 80ies several dictatorships have ruled certain parts: Franco in Spain (1939-1975), Salazar in Portugal (1932-1968) and "The Regime of the Colonels" in Greece led by Georgios Papadopoulos (1967-1974). Each is being presented in a concise manner, but it's easy to fill in the blanks of how 'fun' it must have been during these rules. Even the countries that were democratically organized still had a historical debt to their colonies. During the 1960ies all of them started to demand (and eventually got) their independence. The transition from colony to independent state was always difficult and resulted in the large scale and unorganized moves of the former oppressor. For Belgium, the planes of Sabena (our former national air carrier) were mostly used. A replica is on display. Inside you can listen to the stories of several refugees in different languages.

The basis of the EU is to be found in the treaties, governing bodies and policies. A replica of a table were discussions are being held display a number of touch screens. Here you can read (in a bird's eye view) what the economic and political union is about. Every screen highlights a different aspect: the 'Temple' model (Commission, Parliament, Council, treaties and organizations), the policies (transportation, employment, agriculture, environment...) and law. A general overview is given together with a timeline. On the timeline clickable dots provide extra information on the different steps leading to the present day working.

By this time we have arrived in the 90ies. This means the disappearance of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent reunification of the European continent, including the enlarging of the Union. A brief history lesson about Eastern Europe follows, including the way of living under Soviet rule and the uprisings in that 50 year period (the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Prague Spring in 1968, destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989).

We're nearing the end of the exhibit. Several containers talk about the role of the EU in the globalized world. Each one has a different theme, from production, over illegal immigrants to lifelong learning. At the back of the container there is a lifesized video of two workers having a conversation explaining more or less each theme in a down to earth manner (alternately in Dutch and French). The last thing you get to see is a huge video wall with images of your past. There is computer screen in which you give in your birth date, followed by a period of time in your life, i.e. your twenties, thirties, youth, etc., and a specification in sports, music and culture. On the screen images and music is then projected. Really fun. We stood there for ten minutes or so trying out different eras. Until we finally realized we're not 10 years old anymore and we had better stop playing.

Conclusion - We have spent a nice few hours. The brochure said you need about an hour and a half to get through. It took us about three, although we didn't read or listened to everything. I must admit though that we didn't learn a whole lot more about the EU than we already knew. To us it felt it bit like preaching to the choir, since we're pretty much convinced the European project is a necessary evolution. There is still work to be done sure (eg. agricultural policy and its relation with Africa, the perverse effects of Dublin II), but it cannot be denied that for the most people the EU provides us with a stable economy and political situation. Some claim that life has gotten more expensive because of the Union. Prices have indeed gone up, but blaming it only on the EU betrays a weak understanding of the globalized economic flows. We mustn't forget that Europe is still a big player in the world, despite her small size (the entire EU is smaller than China). In order to remain a power to be reckoned with we need to evolve in the direction of more integration. I think the Belgian motto is applicable here: In unity lies strength. That's why I don't understand the people in my country who want Flemish independence. The 21st century will be the era of the supranational state IMHO, so why do they revert to a 19th century concept like the nation-state? They probably think the internets is TV with a pay button, we should all crochet our clothes once more and send those damn foreigners back where they came from. Getting a bit off topic there. Point is, I hope that at some point the different countries will cease to exist politically (not culturally).

As for the exhibit: a lot of people don't know about the EU, where it came from, or what it is doing now. Unfortunately, people who are not really interested in all of this probably won't spend €10 to get educated. This expo is an ideal school visit led by the history teacher. Get 'em while their young I say and when their minds are still open. And if the school isn't visiting, parents, I urge you to do it yourselves. Whether you like it or not, the EU is there and it has an influence on your lives. So you might as well know what it's about.

P.S. 1: Here are some more pictures.

P.S.2: In the near future Euranet, a radio and internet service, will see the light. "A major aim is to inform young citizens about the European Union."

Google Sky

2008-03-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

As we all know Google is taking over the world, ... or is at least very competitive and innovative in the digital realm. You have probably already seen Google Maps and Earth. There exists now the inverse: a view of space called Google Sky, where you can look at the sun and the planets surrounding us in a normal viewing mode, or in infrared and microwave; AND in historical maps. There are limits to how far you can zoom in over larger distances, but still : very cool.

Pest (1)

2008-03-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

The city of Pest has taken on a series of changes during the 19th century. In 1838 a flood destroyed most of the rural dwellings, the Chain Bridge, the Danube's first permanent crossing was built during 1838-49, and the city's development was boosted by the unification in 1873 and the 1000 year anniversary of the Magyar conquest in 1896. At the same time it was also a period of political unrest, which culminated in the failed revolution of 1848. "After the civil war of fighting for independence ended in defeat for the Hungarians, Habsburg repression was epitomized by the newly built Citadella on top of Gellért Hill, built to frighten the citizens with its cannons and large garrison of soldiers overlooking the entire city. Following the agreement of Compromise of 1867 which made an allowance for a Dual Monarchy, familiarly known to its subjects as the K&K (based on German for "Emperor and King"), the twin cities underwent rapid growth and expansion, and finally formally merged. Pest was extensively remodeled in the image of Vienna, acquiring the main artery: Nagykörút (Great Boulevard) and Andrássy Avenue which led out to Heroes' Square and a great park with fountains and lakes."

Around the Parliament - The National Assembly is housed in the magnificent Parliament building (third largest in the world), which was constructed between 1885 and 1896 (opened during the festivities of the millénaire. A competition was issued, which was won by the architect Imre Steindl. The plans for second and third place were realized as well and can be found facing the Parliament: one serves today as the Ethnographical Museum, the other as the Ministry of Agriculture. While the latter buildings are in a typical Austrian Baroque style, architecturally sound but nothing like you've never seen before, the Parliament is something different. Very spiky and white. In my opinion one of the must-sees in (Buda)Pest. Especially for members of the European Union, since we get a free tour. The outside is in sharp contrast with what you find on the inside. The interior is a bit more bombastic, with (almost) an overload of gold coating and statues. To me Hungarians have a tendency to put statues all over the place. You'll be hardpressed to find a building without tons of them all over. During the tour you get the see the main entry hall, the Holy Crown of St. István (together with the royal orb and sceptre and the Conference Hall. The Holy Crown, surrounded by statues of former kings and leaders, was sent by Pope Sylvester II to St. István, who was crowned with it on Christmas day 1000. Another theory states that it was created under the reign of Béla III. Whatever it may be, since it has become a symbol of Hungary, and as such it has made its way into the national coat-of-arms (including the lobsided crucifix). More impressive was the Conference Hall. We got the see the Old Upper House Hall, which is a mirror image of the Deputy Council Chamber. As good as the entire room is gold plaited. On the wall behind the speakers you can see the coat of arms of the different former regions of the empire, flanked by paintings depicting historical events. Apparently the representatives used to like a good Cuban cigar back in the days. Smoking, however was forbidden inside the hall. Just outside you can find a designated spot where everyone could leave their cigar, to be picked up later after the discussions were finished. If a speaker had made a particularly good point, it was possible that his cigar was gone, as a sign of respect. I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean. If someone would nick my cigar I wouldn't really like it.

On a side note, right outside the building you can see the national flag with a hole cut out in the middle. This represents the freedom of the Hungarian people. It is a replica of the one used in the 1956 uprising against the communists. During soviet rule there was a commie symbol in the middle, which the insurgents had cut out. If you walk past it and keep to your left, you can get to St. Stephen's Basilica by crossing Liberty Square. As in so many places in Budapest the square is surrounded by exquisite Habsburg buildings, but what struck me the most was the excellent contradiction that it offered. An obelisk on the northern end commemorates the Red Army soldiers who died during the siege of Budapest in 1944-45. On the eastern side, a statue honors the US general H. Bandholtz, who foiled the looting of the National Museum. Communists and capitalists face to face so to speak.

Commemoration of the victims of the Arrow Cross - If you walk to the back of the Parliament, you will find a walking aisle next to the Danube, where you can go for a stroll. At some point you will see an artist's rendering of the holocaust. The local fascists, the Arrow Cross Party had shot a number of Jews and other dissidents on the banks of the Danube, when they were in power (1944-45), and dumped their bodies into the stream. To remember these atrocities an artist constructed a statue consisting of a series of metal shoes. In in it's own, yet small way, it is a powerful image. Which made the attitude of this Asian family completely incomprehensible to me. The mother thought it was a good idea to pose for the camera with a big smile next to these shoes that represent bloody murder. Now, I know that Asians have a compulsive need to stand and smile in pictures. Fair enough. But then, the husband wanted to test the solidity of the metal by kicking one of the shoes. How disrespectful can you get? To me, that's almost the same as striding into a mosque with dirty combat boots or sacrificing a chicken in a buddhist temple. Well, maybe not, but you know what I mean. Let's just suppose that they didn't know what it was for.

St. Stephen's Basillica (Szent István-bazilika) - Dedicated to King István, the first Hungarian christian king, this church was designed in a neo-classical style, based on a Greek cross floor plan, and built during the second half of the 19th century. The massive main door is decorated with the heads of the 12 apostles. On the inside there are several excellent paintings and a very beautifully lighted statue of István. The most impressive sight however is the dome with its exquisite mosaics and other decorations. I'm not really sure how it happened, but we totally forgot to climb the tower to take in the 360° panorama of the city. We did see the Holy Right Hand. Stephen died in 1038 and was canonized in 1083. Apparently his hand was found intact a good time after his burial. This was seen as a holy portent. So, they kept it and put on display. The hand has travelled all over Hungary before arriving in Buda in 1771. Being so holy and all, the reliquary needs to be maintained. If you want to see it in decent lighting you need to throw in some coins.

Introduction

Previous post - Buda

Hip Hop Collabos

2008-03-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

Remember the great collabos from back in the days?

Stop The Violence Movement: Self-Destruction

Crooklyn Dodgers

Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers

Panther Soundtrack: Freedom

Panther Soundtrack: Tha points

Turkish Islamic Reformation

2008-02-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

Robert Piggott (BBC) tells us that "Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion. The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran. "

The Hadith is a collection of oral traditions related to the acts and words of Muhammad. It is regarded as an important tool of interpreting the Koran and acts as a basis for the Sharia. Turkish scholars are now reinterpreting the texts in order to modernize the teachings to a modern society, based on the same spirit of logic on which islam is purported to be founded. Many of the prophet's words that are in the texts, were actually added later to serve the purposes of that time. Like the Bible, the Hadith knows many writers. The intention is to update the islamic religion by going back to its original roots and by reading what it says, not what the reader wants to read.

Bunnies are evil!

2008-02-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

MEMRI has translated another episode of the Palestinian childrens TV show "Pioneers of Tomorrow". After having killed off our good friend Farfour, they needed a new mascotte. Now the show features the Hamas Bunny Assud, who urges the viewers to - wach out children, there comes a big word - boycott Danish goods and threatens to kill Danes over the Muhammad cartoons. Apparently, we westerners don't understand the mercy of the prophet, which of course means we should die. The Danes have published the cartoons because, get this, the muslims aren't faithful enough anymore nowadays. No, the Danes published those cartoons because we, in the west, have fought (against the christians) for the right to laugh with anything and everyone. By the way, here are the cartoons. They claim that the prophet is filled with mercy, yet they themselves profess hatred and violence. Here are some more big words children: contradictio in termines. And no children, becoming a martyr is not an ideal to live up to. It would not make you more of a hero, it would just make you more dead. Is it just me, or is there something seriously wrong with these people? If I were a moderate, sane muslim the makers of these kind of programs would fucking annoy me for making me look like a lunatic.

Conclusion: bunnies are evil!!!!:

Little Tortilla Boy

2008-02-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

Different takes on Pablo Francisco's original sketch.

Some animation

2008-02-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

Theme planet: Bunny Situation

Blockbuster Ad: Carl & Ray

Gopher broke

Vizzavi ad

OMFG: (Spoiled brat)²

2008-02-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

That other white meat

2008-02-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

Most of you know Jeff Dunham's Achmed the Dead Terrorist by now, but let's not forget the amazing Peanut.

P.S.: Walter for President!

Buda

2008-02-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Budapest consists of the twin cities of Buda and Pest, which were united in 1873. The ancestors of today's Hungarians (or Magyars) arrived at the end of the ninth century. The clan of Árpád settled on what is now the south of the city. It was their King's brother Buda who gave the name to the west bank of this settlement.

Castle Hill - "During the 14th century, the Angevin kings from France established Buda as the royal seat of centralized power. They built a succession of palaces on the Várhegy or Castle Hill, reaching its height in the apogee during the Renaissance times under the reign of "Good King" Mátyás (1458-90) ..., with a golden age of prosperity and a flourishing of the arts. Hungary's catastrophic defeat by the invading Turks at Mohács in 1526, led by Suleiman I, the Magnificent Sultan, paved the way for the Turkish occupation of Buda and Pest. It lasted for 160 years until a pan-European multinational army besieged Buda Castle for six weeks, finally recapturing it at the 12th attempt, with lots of lives lost on both sides." (Buda Castle)

The most interesting sights on Castle Hill are the Royal Palace, Mátyás Church and the Fisherman's Bastion. You can visit these sights in about half a day.

Fisherman's Bastion - "The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion is a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style. ... It was designed and built between 1895 and 1902. Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen which was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. It is a viewing terrace, with many stairs and walking paths."

The Bastion is a very beautiful place in itself, but besides this it also gives you a very nice view of the opposite bank of the Danube and of the nearby - spiky - Parliament building. If you start exploring the Hill from this side, you first pass the Army Museum's excellent building, then stroll through a few picturesque streets, before arriving at the Mátyás Church. The Bastion can be found directly behind it.

Mátyás Church - The Parish Church of Our Lady was buillt between the 13th and 15th centuries. Her name refers to King Mátyás Corvinus - the Just - who has greatly enlarged and embellished it. During the 16th century a large part of Hungary was ruled by the Ottomans. In this period, in 1541, the church was turned into a mosque. Much of the original decorations were lost. After the liberation of Buda, most of the building was destroyed, later to be rebuild in a baroque style by Franciscan Friars. At the end of the 19th century the building was restored to its original 13tch century plan, but neo-gothic elements were added as well.

The above cited history lesson is not a reason in itself to visit the church. Aesthetics on the other hand is more than enough reason. When we were there restoration works were in progress, so the tower spire wasn't very visible. The inside (for a moderate entrance fee) can be visited. While most of the buildings and other churches in Budapest are more baroque oriented, Mátyás Church has blended the catholic tradition with the orthodox style of "bombing" every available mm of space with religious images. Needless to say that the overall impression is quite ... well, impressive. It seems that on a fairly regular basis it is possible to attend concerts in the building as well.

The Royal Palace - The first royal residence was built in the 13th century by King Béla IV (who donated his daughter to god because Hungary survived the Mongolian onslaught - more on that later). Since that period however, the first and subsequent castles were repeatedly destroyed during ensuing wars. Its present form is reminiscent of the Habsburg rule over (and from 1867 till 1918 more or less with) Hungary. It is not original however since the Axis used the building as a last major stronghold during the siege of Budapest (December 1944-February 1945). The castle was rebuild once again. No longer the central seat of power, it was turned into a historical site.

"The new Communist government of Hungary considered the Royal Palace a symbol of the former regime. During the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors were destroyed. Important exterior details were also demolished. Buda Castle became a cultural centre with three museums and the home of the National Széchényi Library." We visited the National Gallery, where (as you can imagine) Hungarian national art is on display. Personally I was particularly fond of the baroque and late 19th century paintings. Very vivid colors and evocative scenes portraying mostly national history or christian imagery. If you're into art it's worth a visit. The only problem I can mention, is the same for all national museums: too much. After about 12 different rooms it gets hard to remember what you have actually seen. But still, it was a nice place to visit and not too expensive (especially if you're a student); and we were there at exactly the right time since it had just begun to rain.

Initially I also wanted to visit the Széchényi Library, because I felt I owed it to my profession somehow (which is bullshit of course). The Library is said to house a superb collection of books, amongst others the Corviani, a collection of ancient books and manuscripts belonging to King Mátyás. Interesting no doubt, but only for a quick stroll. And since we don't understand a word of Hungarian (which is not so surprising since the language only resembles itself), we thought better of it.

Another sight of the castle is the Mátyás Fountain, which is situated at the front side of the palace. I expect it to look a bit more appealing in summer, when there is water actually running down the fountain. Right next to that you can find the Lion's Gate (see picture above).

Gellért Hill - This hill lies to the south of Castle Hill. It's a nice spot to go for a walk. Along the way and on top you can find battlements which act as observation points for a view of Pest. Unfortunately for us it was a bit foggy when we were there, but you can't have everything I suppose. Besides trees, there are a few other sights along the way. The most interesting sights are the thermal baths that are situated here, but these will be discussed in a separate post.

Rock Church - I thought this was a church with a musical theme, where the lord would be praised with electric guitars. That was, as it turned out, a bit too optimistic a view. Rock Church can also be translated as Cave Church. So, it's basically a church in a rock. Apparently same religious folks found the concept of Lourdes very nifty, so they made their own version in 1926. For my half Polish girlfriend there was one interesting artifact in there, i.e. a copy of the Black Madonna of Czestechova. We're not religious people, but we do like religious art and history.

Liberation Monument - On top of the hill you can find this monument, which commemorates the liberation of Budapest from the nazis by the Russian army in 1947. To the Hungarians this ushered in a period of communist repression, which is why they removed the statue of the Worker at its base and moved it to Memento Park. The monument consist of a woman on a 14m high pedestal, flanked by two statues representing progress and the battle with evil.

Citadel - After having suppressed an uprising in 1848-9 the Habsburg rulers built this fortification as a reminder of who was boss. Today it houses a restaurant, a hotel, a nightclub and a museum about the Second World War in Budapest. We didn't visit the museum, since we had already seen the very interesting House of Terror (more on that later) and we reckoned that if we wanted to see nazi fortifications and camps, we'd rather do that in Germany and Poland. At our hostel we met a merry band of Irishman (with who we spent our last evening in Budapest in a very pleasant and mostly drunk way), who told us that it is worth a visit though.

Statue of St. Géllert - The hill is named after a saint called Géllert who lived in the 11th century. In his efforts to christianize these parts he was so persistent, and therefore so utterly annoying, that eventually people got fed up with his preaching, stuffed him in a barrel and tossed him off the hill into the Danube. On the spot where it is believed he was thrown off, a statue was erected in 1904. A spring that bubbles up here is used to create a fountain. Not when we were there. That's for the summer period I guess.

Previous post - Introduction

Next post - Pest (1)

Budapest

2008-02-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

January was dominated once more by exams. I had my last one the 28th. Luckily Hammy and I had a little holiday planned to the fair city of Budapest (Hungary) from the 1st to the 8th of February. We have had a lovely week (although unfortunately there wasn't any snow), and I can recommend anyone to go there for a quick getaway. In the next few posts I'll be giving a small rundown of the things we have visited.

We have kept more or less to the traditional sights during day, and we tried to find some nice bars (with live music when possible) during the evening. The - touristic - heart of the city is divided roughly into four parts, comprising several districts: Castle Hill (and surroundings) and Gellert Hill & Taban on the Buda side (Districts I-II & XI), around the Parliament and Central Pest on the Pest side (Districts V-VIII, IX, XIII). To visit most of what there is to see, you need about four days in my opinion. In this period it is possible to see the Royal palace, the Fisherman's Bastion, Mátyás Church and Géllert Hill in Buda; the Parliament, St. Stephen's Basilica, Heroes Square, Vajdahunyad Castle, Andrassy Street, Vaci street, Liberty Square, the House of Terror, the Opera and the National Museum in Pest. If you time your days right you can also visit the excellent thermal baths: Géllert Hotel, Széchenyi, Rudas and Lúkacs.

More details about these locations - with pictures - are to come. Alas, another holiday is over and real life is in need of attention once more.

Next post - Buda
Pest (1)

Of drug vaccines and weedmachines

2008-01-31T10:40:00.000-08:00

Researchers of the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, USA) claim to have developed a vaccine for drug addiction. Thomas Kosten, the lead scientist explains that this new product is actually a modified version of the drug. "The vaccines stimulate the body to produce antibodies which then attack the drug while it is in the blood stream. This prevents the drug from reaching the brain and creating the reactions that contribute to dependency." There have been promising results with cocaine. The product decreases slowly the amount of coke that reaches the brain. Since it consists of a gradual process, withdrawal symptoms should be minimal. Although results have been favorable, more tests need to be done in order to get an FDA (American Food and Drug Administration) approval. European researchers have been working on a (similar) tobacco vaccine, but they lag behind Kosten's work.

Recently, in Los Angeles, medical marihuana has been made available to patients thru vendor machines. Only registered patients with a prescription are allowed to use the dispensers. "The specialized machine installed Monday at Herbal Nutrition Center - a medical-marijuana dispensary on La Cienega Boulevard - requires fingerprint identification as well as a special prepaid card. ... The black, armored box is bolted to the floor at the entrance to the dispensary. It has a card swiper, a video camera that also takes a snapshot of any user and adds it to a database, and is protected by armed security guards." Even so, you can imagine that not everybody is happy with the pot machines.

The funny thing is that in the same country people are working on a "vaccine" against drugs and others are putting weedmachines on the streets. As Dr. Kosten states as well, addiction is not a case of physically getting it out of your system. People who like taking dope, will probably look for a replacement if one doesn't work anymore. Perhaps this anti-drug drug might easy the initial problem of a cold turkey, but let's not forget that that's only the beginning.

And putting weedmachines on the corner? It takes the inherent coziness away that can be found in a good old-fashioned coffeeshop. Besides if you're sick, you might like the social contact when buying it from a real person. But what do I know? It's easy to judge from across the Atlantic. In my opinion, a more honest - legal - approach to the marihuana "issue" would probably do society more good than hard repression. We know by now the "war on drugs" is - and always has been - a lost cause. Intelligent and honest information usually works better than acting like a bully.

Henry Rollins is Provoked

2008-01-29T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday (January 24) Henry Rollins has presented his latest spoken word performance at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Every two years or so the man is back with a new show in which he speaks of the things that have happened to him and about the injustice he sees around him. As usual he walked on stage and talked for three hours straight.

He started of by telling us about where he had spend his Christmas vacation just before coming to Europe: Pakistan. Apparently he was there when Benazir Bhutto was killed. Right after the assassination he went out into the streets for a walk. You'd think that an American wandering around during a moment of crisis would surely get himself killed. He talked about the grief the Pakistani expressed and the outrage against the political situation. During another trip he went to Beirut, Lebanon, another so called hot spot. The gist of his stories about his travels is: when you keep an open mind and a genuine interest in the people you meet, you're bound to have an interesting and - most likely positive - experience. And you might learn a thing or two.

A large part of his performance was about the tribute gig he did with a band called the Ruts. Rollins has been a huge fan of theirs since the late seventies. They only released a number of singles and one album when their singer Malcolm Owen died from a heroin overdose. Last year, 27 years after they had split up, the band got together again for one last time to play a benefit for Paul Fox, following his diagnosis with cancer. Rollins was asked to fill in for Owen. They were supported by Tom Robinson, The Damned, Misty in Roots, UK Subs, Splodge, John Otway and the Peafish House Band which featured Lee Harris, (The Blockheads), Tony Barber of The Buzzcocks and Rowland Rivron. This was a heavy part of the performance since it speaks of the double edged feeling that goes with playing with your all-time favorite band because one of them is dying.

As always, he discussed the political situation in America. He is a staunch advocate of peace, who hopes that the next president will be able to clean up the mess that was left behind by the present legsilotian. He implored us to be patient and to not give up on America ("good people, bad representation"). However, this time around he didn't rant about politics as much as before. He left us with an amazing quote though: "Mandela is dead (pause) because Sadam has killed the Mandela's". According to him we should be watching out for more of these beautiful sentences during the year to come. Bush doesn't have to think about re-election anymore and Karl Rove (AKA Bush' Brain) is gone. So, whatever he will say next will have to come from his own mind. Gems of poetic beauty are sure to follow.

Get educated

2008-01-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

Break has launched the new interesting and extremely useful online encyclopedia Chickipedia.

Chickipedia Vs Wikipedia - Watch more free videos

Effects of cell phones on sleep

2008-01-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

The British newspaper The Independent published an article called Mobile phone radiation wrecks your sleep. The results of the research - sponsored by Mobile Manufacturers Forum, an international association of radio communications equipment manufacturers - done by the Universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Michigan (USA) has shown that "radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion." "The scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45. Some were exposed to radiation that exactly mimicked what is received when using mobile phones; others were placed in precisely the same conditions, but given only "sham" exposure, receiving no radiation at all. The people who had received the radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one. ... Professor Bengt Arnetz, who led the study, ... believes that the radiation may activate the brain's stress system, "making people more alert and more focused, and decreasing their ability to wind down and fall asleep". ... [The study] also complements other recent research. A massive study, following 1,656 Belgian teenagers for a year, found most of them used their phones after going to bed. It concluded that those who did this once a week were more than three times – and those who used them more often more than five times – as likely to be "very tired". Dr Chris Idzikowski, the director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, says: "There is now more than sufficient evidence, from a large number of reputable investigators who are finding that mobile phone exposure an hour before sleep adversely affects deep sleep."

I don't know how many of you use your cell as an alarm clock, but I know that I have for the last 5 years or so. From now on I think I'll stop using it for that purpose. Especially since Hammy and I have bought an excellent replacement: the Wake-Up Light. The idea behind this product is that, about half an hour before you're supposed to get up, it "gradually fills your room with light, allowing you to wake up naturally. You'll rise feeling fresher, more alert ..." The light activates your energy hormones, giving you more energy than usual by the time you wake up. Now, I'm quite a heavy sleeper. It happened fairly often that I sleep through my alarm clock, or stop it without waking up. So, I was sceptic at first, but this stuff really works. Before, I "snoozed" for more than half an hour before getting up, now I'm out of bed ten minutes after waking up.

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

2008-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

It is well known that the famous actor Tom Cruise is as sane as Caligula. For years now he has been Scientology's most ardent supporter and active campaigner. If being a scientologist doesn't spell madness in itself than his latest claims certainly do. There are a few videos circulating the net in which he states that he rescued America after 9/11, and that psychiatrists/psychologists should be jailed (since there are no such things as chemical imbalances they must be pseudo scientists).

Four years ago he has accepted the Freedom Medal Of Valor (for Achievement in the Field of Excellence). In his acceptance speech he asked the crowd "should we clean this place [the world] up?" According to the renowned German historian Guido Knopp, this scene is very reminiscent of the famous speech made by Joseph Goebbels on 18 February 1943 in Berlin, where he asked the crowd "do you want a total war?" (Bild Am Sonntag). Knopp warns us that Scientology is a dangerous sect for which we should all watch out because they want to install a totalitarian system with the aim of controlling people's souls.

What I have always found strange, is that a doctrine that states that aliens which we cannot see are here to help us save our souls, still has followers. Oh, wait, that's the basis of most religions. Let me rephrase: Why do people rather believe in what they cannot see, than in science (which has a higher probability rate since it is based on empirical evidence and doesn't claim to have the absolute truth) is beyond me.

Although scientologists have tried to suppress the diffusion of the above mentioned videos, there still out there. The madness of Cruise can be witnessed here. More info on Scientology itself can easily be found on the internet.

Here are ze original ramblings:

And the Jerry O'Connell parody:

Medal of Valor acceptance speech:

99 words for ...

2008-01-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

What's on a man's mind?

Natalia Meets En Vogue feat. Shaggy

2008-01-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (January 13) my family, Hammy and I went to see the new Meets show of Natalia in Antwerp. For those of you who don't know who she is: Natalie Druyts is a Belgian pop singer (with some soulish qualities) who got known after becoming the first runner-up of the Belgian Pop Idol of 2003. In the meantime she has acquired a solid live reputation thanks to her professional attitude and magnificent voice. Two years ago she organized Natalia Meets The Pointer Sisters at Het Sportpaleis in Antwerp (one of the largest venues in Belgium. The show was a huge success. And now she was back with a series of six concerts with the ladies of En Vogue and the Jamaican player Shaggy.

I think about 15 000 people where there. The show was quite amazing. She had an excellent band, including Sugarfoot on drums (touring drummer for Michael Jackson, Elton John, Cameo, Madonna, George Michael, ...) with her and she can hold her own on a stage. The show was a mix of Natalia and En Vogue songs. Natalia set it off with some of her own songs. Then came En Vogue with some of their biggest hits. From then on both groups alternated and sang together their respective tracks. Especially for the occasion they have recorded a song together called Glamorous.

The only disappointment was Shaggy. Musically that is. The man didn't do all that much. And what he did was more show than anything else. I mean, he's got one flow and that's it. They made him sing at the end. Unfortunately singing is not something he can actually do. Let's just say that he could open the off lock with his off key. He did his hits, badly at first but after the break it got a little bit better. He brought a friend with him who can sing ... to cover his lack of skills I guess. On the other hand, I don't think that that was his function. Five strong women accompanied by a macho player makes for a good show. So, in my humble opinion, Shaggy was there as Jester in the court of these Queens. He was funny. When he first came on he was wearing a soldier's costume of the American Civil War era of (if I saw correctly) the Confederate Army. I don't know how many people in Belgium got the joke though. And during the song "It wasn't me" he said: "When you're caught red-handed, you look the woman in the eye dead serious. And you say: I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Funny man.

Personally I like smaller venues more, because of the personal atmosphere. For a show like this, that's quite impossible of course. I've had a very good time and since I'm in the middle of an exam period (one coming up this wednesday) Natalia came as a welcome distraction. If you ever see Natalia come to a place near you, go check it out. In the meantime, here's some illegal footage (thank you internet):

Terry Jones' Evil Machines

2008-01-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

The new opera/musical Evil Machines by Luis Tinoco and Monty Python's Terry Jones has recently premiered in Lisbon (Portugal). Originally a book, Jones has rewritten the story into a libretto. It is about machines trying to take over the world and involves cars, motorbikes, washdryers, parking meters and gigantic vacuum cleaners singing opera on stage.

Show them to me

2008-01-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

There is really only one thing I can say about this:

How many five year olds can you take in a fight?

2008-01-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

I could take about 22, how about you?

BXL Represent

2008-01-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

Don't know who these guys are, or what those motorbikes have to do with it (or guns for that matter), but still: Bruxelles représente!

Little Sis

2008-01-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

My little sister came into my life, when I was 16 years old, at the age of 10 (almost 11). My parents wanted to help someone less fotunate than us. So, the they had decided they wanted to adopt. We went to Ha Noi (Viet Nam). There, we visited an orphanage. After drinking the traditional tea with the director, we were ushered to the courtyard, where a group of children (all girls) awaited us. Neither my mom nor I knew what was expected of us. We just said hi and stood there sheepishly. All of a sudden my dad said: "she's the one." Why her? He couldn't tell, it just felt right. Only last year, she told me that she was the only one who wanted to come with us. Why us? She couldn't tell ...

Now she's 22 and has grown into a confident young woman, who has just finished a bachelor of Law. But the most astonishing news she has told us at the end of 2007, is that she will be getting married May 19 on a boat in Ha Long Bay. This means that I will have to start seeing her as a grown woman. But in my heart she'll always be that little girl who stole my last smoutebol.

Baby sister, I wish you all that's good and I hope that your future husband will give you the world you deserve. I can't wait to see you as the beautiful bride you undoubtedly will be.

Happy Hogswatch

2007-12-24T03:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Hogswatchnight everybody!

World Orgasm Day

2007-12-20T00:22:00.001-08:00

December 22 is World Orgasm Day. This is an event organized by Global Orgasm on Solstice Day 06:08 Universal Time (GMT), meaning at 07:08 in Belgium. The idea behind it is that everybody has an orgasm at the same time "to effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible instantaneous surge of human biological, mental and spiritual energy." During and after the orgasm you should concentrate your thoughts on peace. "The goal is to add so much concentrated and high-energy positive input into the energy field of the Earth that it will reduce the current dangerous levels of aggression and violence throughout the world" (R. Lynn, 2006).

The organizers cite three reasons for the event: peace, gender & social justice, and global warming. The well-being that an orgasm brings is seen as a good way to promote peace. "To combine the energy of orgasm with a conscious empathy for all beings, human and otherwise, would be a powerful boost to the well-being of our planet and species." "The planet needs a rest from all our other desires, so what better way to get us to take a rest from over-consumption than an orgasm?" Plus, overpopulation taxes the planet so they propose to have fewer offspring.

It is also a science project: the Global Consciousness Project "runs a network of Random Event Generators around the world which record changes in their randomness during global events." They postulate that concentrated consciousness has measurable effects, in the sense that our minds influence matter and quantum energy fields. So, instead of thinking typical masculine thoughts of power and control, they propose that we focus on our feminine traits of inclusion and partnership, especially during the collective orgasm.

Do I believe all of this? Don't know, but it never hurt anyone to have more orgasms. So, everybody grab your (a) partner (or help yourself) tomorrow morning for the sake of peace. If these guys are right you have helped promote social awareness. If they're wrong, at the least you will have a good start of the day.

A stroll through Myspace

2007-12-16T01:06:00.000-08:00

This morning I watched a documentary about a band called The Internationals during a trip in South Africa, a bit in the style of Buena Vista Social Club. One of the band members' roots lay there. He was there to discover the country and its music and the rest of the band came with him. This led me to check out their website and myspace page. The Internationals is an instrumental band that has a Jamaican ska sound. They reminded me of another Belgian band, Los Callejeros (mspage). They went to Cuba to film the documentary Cara o moneda and evolved into a loose collective that plays latin-reggae inspired music. From their friends page I got to a singer from Ghent called Gudrun Roos, who does their backing vocals. She is also the lead singer of Cafe Con Leche (more latin music) and Comptoir du Désir (swing, 30ies jazz). And this in turn lead to a great jazz vocalist called Rondi Charleston (website). The last person to add to this list, is a new soulsinger I first heard on Solar Radio, Nyee Moses. So, if you want to listen to some great music, just follow the links and enjoy.

New studies

2007-12-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

It has taken blood, sweat & tears to get it done, but I am finally enrolled at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). As of today I am officially on my way to become a knowledge manager. The course is called Master after master in Business Information and Services Management (BI&SM). Sounds impressive, huh. I have done all my studies at the VUB (Master in Contemporary History and Master in Archival Science), so I am well aware of the inherent chaotic functioning of the institution. In general, this has always worked to my advantage. Now (since the Bologna changes) it was a bit less funny. The internal mail lost my application papers. As a result I had to apply for a late registration. Which took forever. The most annoying part was the lack of information. It took more than a month before getting any word on what was going on (including numerous e-mail reminders and the help of the head of my faculty). But, that's all water under the bridge now. I am registered. Now I can concentrate on the stress for the upcoming exams and writing a clear definition of what my master thesis will be about.

On a side note, The BI&SM used to be called Master in Business Information Management (BIM). They added the "Services" only recently. The professors still talk about the bim-people though when they want to differentiate between us and the students of another master with who we share some classes. This always reminds me of a track by C-Mon & Kypski (although it has absolutely nothing to do with it):

Talking books

2007-12-06T02:05:00.000-08:00

The Hogeschool Antwerpen (College of Antwerp) has organized a virtual exhibit of 40 works of two of their libraries called Het Boek Spreekt (The Book Speaks). As they put it, it is the result of a project of inventarisation of the documentary heritage found in the libraries of the departments of Dramatic Arts, Music and Dance, and (Audio)Visual Arts. You can browse through the different documents in a webbased viewer, and even listen to some music. Each item is accompanied by extra information about the author and the document itself. The exhibit is only in Dutch, but even just to have a look at the pictures it's worth a visit.

Archives in movies

2007-12-06T01:16:00.000-08:00

Scholars are in general, in their own specific way - well - nerds. Merriam-Websters defines a nerd as someone who is "socially inept", but also "slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits." It can be a shameful term (social ineptitude), as well as one to be worn with pride (dedication). I don't think anyone will be calling Bill Gates a nerd nowadays. Not in his face anyhow. The word geek is offered as a synonym. To me, a geek is one type of nerd. The other type tells something about the focus on certain bits of knowledge that are completely meaningless to anyone who does not share the same mindset. The number 42 doesn't mean a thing to the largest part of the world, but has a relative significance among a minority of readers. What I'm trying to say is that scholarly professionals like what they do, and they like the little geeky bits of information that go with it. When they see things that show a reflection of their profession, they tend to feel a certain connection with it.

Which brings me to my point. Archivists are no exception to this rule. They work in archives, do research about archival science, and take pride in their role as keeper of knowledge in the service of history. Images of archives (and libraries) appear from time to time in movies. Some very dedicated academics have found the time to make an extensive list of which ones on the site Archivalia. No doubt, their significant others find their dedication very endearing. Not that I'm putting them down, I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't dutifully surfed to their site when I read about it. :-)

ASEAN Union?

2007-12-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, is a geopolitical, economic organization aimed at accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development among its members, and the promotion of regional peace and stability and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. On 8 August 1967 the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand signed the ASEAN Declaration (commonly known as the Bangkok Charter), which established the organization. Brunei Darussalam joined in 1984 about a week after becoming independant. During the nineties Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam followed suit. In the same period a free trade area was created, AFTA.

In 1997, the bloc began creating organizations within its framework with the intention of further integrating the region. In 2005 the first East Asia Summit (EAS) was held in Kuala Lumpur. This is a forum held annualy by the leaders of the ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand in order to improve the existing ties between these countries.

With the forming of the EAS, the idea arose to form a (Southeast) Asian Community. The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) was created to study the ramifications of such a policy and the possibility of an ASEAN Charter. With the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter on 12 December 2005 the EPG was assigned to produce a draft. On 23 November 2007, during the ASEAN Summit in Singapore, the charter was adopted to integrate the region as a legal organization bound by one set of rules. "The Asean charter establishes the group as a legal entity, creating permanent representation for members at its secretariat in Jakarta and committing heads of state to meetings twice a year. Members also adopted a blueprint for economic reforms designed to create a European-style economic community by 2015, with free-flowing goods, services, investment and skilled labor." It does not, however, have anything to say about human rights. "The charter only calls for a new agency to review human rights among the members of the 40-year-old Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The document gives the body no powers to punish violators - an apparent diplomatic victory for military-ruled Myanmar."

Critics have "condemned the document as watered-down to irrelevance", which is only "the codification of existing norms." But, Rome wasn't build in a day. It has taken Europe a long time as well to work out its differences, and a real political union still doesn't exist. But, slowly we're getting there. At least now a legal entity will be created. If the ASEAN countries intend to contribute to this organization, it can only gain momentum. As it stands the Charter still needs to be ratified. So, we can only wait and see what happens. If enough countries ratify, and a positive economic cooperation will follow, it can only lead to a more stabile and prosperous region. The 19th century has seen the rise of the nation states, during the 20th century these nations have started to mature. The 21st century might just be the era of the supranational unions.

Opening of Nazi archives

2007-11-30T01:04:00.000-08:00

After more than 60 years the largest archives containing records of the Nazis have been opened to the public. The International Tracing Service (ITS), located in Bad Arolson, Germany, contains over 50 million records related to the persecution and Endlösung of the more than 17 million people who went through the concentration camp and slave labour system.

The origins of the ITS go back to 1943 with the founding of the Tracing Bureau, charged with the task of tracing and registering missing persons. In 1947, the International Refugee Organization (IRO) took over the Central Tracing Bureau (the "Central" was added in 1944) and gave it its current name. "While preparations were being made in 1954 to revoke Germany’s status as occupied territory, steps were taken to ensure the continued existence of the ITS. The service was to remain under the umbrella of an international commission and would be managed by an entirely neutral institution, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) in Geneva."

The archives are under the control of the ITS International Commission, comprised of 11 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, United States of America), which supervises its work since 1955. Up until now the main objective of the ITS was helping people find what they call DP's (Displaced Persons). The members of the International Commission have now agreed to open up the archives in order to promote historical research, within limitations concerning privacy issues. It is not expected that these records will provide new insights in our understanding of the history of the Holocaust, but it will deepen our knowledge. It will help us to keep the memory alive of the human suffering caused by the delusion of a small group of individuals.

Recently the Simon Wiesenthal Center has launched Operation Last Chance, the final effort to hunt down and capture Nazi war criminals. The campaign offers € 10,000 ($13,000) rewards for information leading to prosecution. It is sometimes very difficult to actually convict someone, because of a lack of good evidence. Maybe the ITS archives can be of assistance here.

On a side note: other interesting sites, among the many on the net about WWII, is the Holocaust History site, the BBC's WWII pages, Poland's Holocaust, and the German Propaganda Archive.