August 12, 2012

HP opens miniature store in tram stop

Filed under: General,Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:37 am

A little unexpected guerilla action from staid and stoic Hewlett-Packard at the Leidseplein in Amsterdam—in a tram stop just across the new Apple Store the computer manufacturer has opened its own Spectre Store.

Spectre being a new 14-inch laptop by HP that nominally competes with the 1- inch Apple MacBook and the 14-inch Dell XPS. I say competes, but according to this Engadget review, it is slightly slower and more expensive than its competitors, and the only thing you get in return is a better screen. Then again, if you had cash to burn and a good screen was what you craved the most, you probably wouldn’t buy an HP in the first place.

The tram stop store has a display window with actual laptops, and HP has sales people on hand to tell you about their new ultrabook. Passers-by can win a laptop by scanning a QR code. The store will be up and running until next Tuesday from 10 am to 9 pm.

According to Bright, this is one of the busiest tram stops in the country.

(Photo: Edelman PR)

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August 11, 2012

Dutch animation classics by Toonder Studios

Filed under: Comics,Literature by Branko Collin @ 4:22 pm

This year is the 100th birthday of Marten Toonder, the godfather of the Dutch comic, and many events and publications mark the occasion, such as De Toonder Animatiefilms, a comprehensive history of the Toonder Studios’ animations.

The book by Jan-Willem de Vries contains over 500 illustrations and includes a DVD with many of the films.

Holly Moors says about the book:

The DVD contains quite a number of commercial animations […], but the films [that the studio made for itself] are by far the most interesting. Among them De Gouden Vis [The Golden Fish—Branko], a beautiful, quiet animation with wonderful Oriental looking artwork, magnificently subtle colouring and a rather vague, Oriental story.

[…]

The entire DVD turns out to be a treasure trove of such surprises.

Toonder (1912 – 2005) was mostly known for his comics though, and his flagship strip was the Tom Puss/Oliver B. Bumble series.

After Belgian comics creator Hergé (Tintin) had introduced text balloons for speech, most European comics artists adopted that style. Toonder however stuck to comics that looked more like illustrated texts, which allowed him to fully explore his literary style. That style, combined with the use of fables to parody Dutch society must have made him hard to translate, yet he was one of the very few Dutch comics authors who saw success abroad.

Several of his neologisms are used to this day in the Dutch language:

  • Minkukel: an inferior person.
  • Zielknijper: psychiatrist, literally ‘soul pincher’ (i.e. analogous to ‘head shrinker’).
  • Grootgrutter: supermarket, literally ‘large-scale grocery’.
  • Denkraam: something like intellect, but also frame of reference and paradigm, literally ‘thought window’.

A lot of writers who later became famous in their right worked for Toonder Studios, such as Lo Hartog van Banda, Paul Biegel, Thé Tjong King, Piet Wijn, Dick Matena and Jan Kruis,

(Illustration: still from The Dragon That Wasn’t, the first Dutch feature animation film.)

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August 10, 2012

Dutch gymnast Zonderland cranks the bar up even higher

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 11:31 am

On 7 August Dutch horizontal bar gymnast Epke Zonderland from Heerenveen, Friesland won gold at the London Olympics for his highly difficult routine with a unique 7.9 start value. Basically, by nailing this stunning routine down, he knew he could take home the gold. Instead of doing something very good and hoping to be the best, he obsessively practiced something never seen before and took the risk of either wowing the crowd or messing it up. He’s the first Dutch male gymnast to win a medal at the Olympics as well as the first Dutch gymnast (male or female) to win an individual Olympic medal, according to Wikipedia.

This is one of the last times he performed his famous high flying routine before London. On Dutch television, his coach mentioned several times that Zonderland mucked up this routine quite often, but really wanted to perform it in London regardless. Here’s him nailing his routine down, with the now famous ‘Cassina-Kovacs-Kolman’ elements before the Olympics. The announcer says that the week before Zonderland was not able to do it, while at the end he says, “He’s ready for London”.

Watch the actual Olympic performance here and listen to the crowd go wild.

And here’s the Lego recreation of his accomplishment that has gone viral.

And here’s artsy pictures of Epke Zonderland naked.

(Link: www.huffingtonpost.com)

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August 9, 2012

Government snubs its own cookie law

Filed under: General,IT by Orangemaster @ 6:31 pm

Not only does the new cookie law confuse Dutch website owners, but the Dutch government who came up with it can’t be bothered to adhere to it either. Their argument is that they don’t need to follow the rules because the cookies are not being use for commercial purposes. Watchdog Opta disagrees and says that cookies can only be placed without permission if it impairs the functioning of a website or if it cannot offer certain services.

The cookies used on the government site Rijksoverheid.nl are used to keep statistics, and therefore OPTA says they are a no-no. The government has conveniently failed to provide a counter-argument.

This definitely fits the description of “Do what the preacher preaches, but not what the preacher does”.

(Link: www.nu.nl, screenshot: the Telegraaf cookie banner)

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August 8, 2012

DJ Tiësto still on top, money-wise

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 12:42 pm

According to Forbes.com, Dutch DJ Tiësto (aka Tijs Verwest, if you knew him from his home town of Breda), is the world’s best paid DJ at 22 million USD. The number 9 spot is taken up by another Dutchman, DJ Afrojack, with a mere 9 million USD. He’s the one that apparently ‘taught’ Paris Hilton how to DJ, but then that happens when you date a DJ like him.

And surprise surprise, there are no women on the list.

And to rub that fact in, a reality talent show entitled Beauty and the Beat wants to teach poor women DJs the ropes in just one style of music, house, some time next February. Imagine having real talent and showing the world you can crank out DJs like Afrojack can teach Paris Hilton. The promotional video asks, “Do you have the looks, the skills and the drive?” in that order. It all sounds so condescending, so we’ll keep you updated.

(Link: www.ibtimes.com, Photo of DJ Tiësto by PauliD, some rights reserved)

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August 7, 2012

Dutch mussels get a Belgian Quality label

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 11:20 am

Since Belgian products are often associated with a certain culinary image, Dutch shellfish company Roem from Yerseke, Zealand has introduced a label called “Belgian Quality” onto the Dutch market. Basically, this means the mussels contain big ‘fish mass’, as that’s what I imagine Belgian restaurants like to serve to their customers and is what I remember eating there.

Roem, the biggest mussel supplier in Europe, of which about 70% of their product is sold in Belgium, is sure that just like Belgian beer and pralines, the Dutch will buy Dutch mussels with a Belgian Quality label. However, there’s nothing Belgian about the mussels at all — it’s a Dutch product that’s been given an image upgrade.

When the Dutch go on about ‘Hollandse producten’ (roughly more traditional Dutch products), it has more of a comfort food factor, like ‘hagelslag’ (sprinkles), ‘drop’ (liquorice sweets) and cheese, rather than a fancy quality to it. When Dutch food companies use the word ‘luxe’ (fancy), it’s maybe fancy for the Dutch, but not at all for foreigners. Pre-cooked bread package with 3 different kinds of seeds on top for about 2 euro a bag is not much of a luxury, but it is the way certain foods are sold to the Dutch.

(Link: www.knack.be, Photo of Mussels by HarlanH, some rights reserved)

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August 6, 2012

Bailiffs refuse to do bank’s dirty work in mortgage debt cases

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 8:59 am

Rabobank has been sued by a bailiff in Utrecht, GGN, because the bank tried to have it collect outstanding mortgage debts without a court order.

Last Friday the court announced it had asked the Dutch Supreme Court for advice.

The case seems to hinge on the fact that the contracts for the actual loans are of a different type than the mortgage contracts. The latter are drafted by a notary, which gives them greater weight. (The Dutch law speaks of ‘onderhandse akte’ and ‘bovenhandse akte’ respectively.)

Normally bailiffs are only allowed to force payment of a debt (by threatening to sell posessions or by actually selling them) with a court order. Apparently the ‘weightier’ type of contract confers the same power. Other bailiffs have also refused to execute Rabobank’s loan contracts. If Rabobank loses, it must secure a court order for every individual debt.

The case revolves only around debts for houses that have both already been sold and that have been sold for less than the market value. Rabobank admitted according to Z24 that this concerns about 100 cases each year.

Rabobank is one of the few major banks on the planet that wasn’t involved in the near-criminal subprime market that caused the global financial and economic crisis we are currently in, but you have to wonder if maybe it felt left out when you read this.

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August 5, 2012

Art by Simon Schrikker and Marie Civikov

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 1:33 pm

Yesterday the old, today the new.

Last week art blog Trendbeheer showcased a couple of artists I had not seen before (here and here).

Simon Schrikker, 2010

Simon Schrikker was born in Utrecht but currently lives and works in Rotterdam. His work has a certain three-dimensional quality, not in the least because he sometimes puts the paint on thickly, and is not afraid to extend the canvas when the subject calls for it. Check his painting of a shark to see how the thick, sharp paint amplifies the danger emanating from the animal.

Schrikker’s work will be on display at the Drents Museum in Assen from September 15 to January 27.

I just realized, Marie Civikov, 2012

Marie Civikov studied at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. Bold colours and aggressive imagery make these paintings stand out. Civikov’s work is currently part of an exhibition at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam.

Lively art! Check out their websites.

(Photos by the artists.)

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August 4, 2012

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam buys rare drawing by teacher Rembrandt

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 1:37 pm

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has bought this drawing of the Nerva Forum in Rome by Pieter Lastman for GBP 145,000 at an auction at Christie’s in London.

Historiek.net reports that Lastman made this drawing in 1602, Rembrandt’s birth year. It is one of his only two known Italian drawings in the world.

Lastman was a teacher of Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Lievens. The former only studied for half a year with the master, but it is believed that Rembrandt’s use of light was influenced by what he knew about Caravaggio through Lastman.

Another important Rijksmuseum acquisition is a wooden sculpture by Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621), the Screaming Child from 1615, which disappeared in 1897 and hasn’t been seen since. An anonymous donor gave it to the museum, which will display it in 2013 after the reopening of its main building.

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August 2, 2012

Gay Pride canal parade to feature Turkish boat

Filed under: Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 11:33 am

For the first time, Amsterdam’s Gay Pride canal parade will feature a Dutch-Turkish boat that fits 80 people. However, the organisers say that it’s mostly gay Turkish men on the boat and that they have few lesbians. “Many women are still afraid of coming out of the closet although many of them simply don’t have an affinity with the whole Gay Pride thing,” explains one of the female organisers.

They could already be full, but the Dutch film in the link says they could use 10 more lesbians. The whole point of the boat is to show that having a Turkish background and being gay goes together in a positive way. And even though they didn’t get any entrepreneurs to sponsor the boat, they’ve only had positive responses, as “emancipation takes time”.

(Link: www.lokum.nl, Photo of Gay flag by sigmaration, some rights reserved)

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