September 18, 2012

Lady Gaga gets Dutch shoes for perfume campaign

Filed under: Fashion,Music by Orangemaster @ 3:16 pm

For Lady Gaga’s perfume launch ‘Fame’, Dutch shoe designers United Nude created a special shoe (not the one shown), inspired by the advertising campaign where the pop diva is featured as a naked colossus with an army of tiny, naked gold men figurines climbing her body.

Creative Director of United Nude Rem D. Koolhaas, (not to be confused with Rem Koolhaas, his cousin and internationally renown architect), said that “the shoes had to be as high as possible (30 cm). We went for climbing gold men, and yes they are nude, United Nude.”

Lady Gaga performed yesterday and is performing again today in Amsterdam at the Ziggodome.

(Link: www.highsnobette.com, Photo United Nude)

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September 14, 2012

Cute blonde princesses on children’s charity stamps

Filed under: General,Photography by Orangemaster @ 9:49 am

A new series of charity stamps (‘kinderpostzegels’), which are sold door to door by school children raising money for poor kids in poor countries , will feature the ‘Triple AAA’, aka Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane, the daughters of Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Máxima. The Triple AAA joke was said by the Prince himself once, we can’t take credit for that.

Starting 26 September, one of the 200,000 school children who sell these stamps will ring my neighbour’s door bell and sell him pics of the young blonde Dutch royals. In November, the stamps will be available for purchase at the post office.

(Link and photo: binnenland.nieuws.nl)

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September 13, 2012

Dutch to produce world’s first almost 100% recyclable asphalt

Filed under: Dutch first,Sustainability,Technology by Orangemaster @ 5:00 am

Dutch company VolkerWessels has just unveiled a Dutch invention called the HERA System (Highly Ecological Recycling Asphalt System), which is said to recycle asphalt “cleaner, better and cheaper”. The first HERA in the world was recently installed at the Rotterdam Asphalt Plant.

Asphalt is normally produced and recycled by directly heating raw materials. The HERA System reuses almost 100% of old asphalt, has much lower harmful gas emissions and saves on costs. As well, the asphalt produced is of high quality and last longer.

The HERA System was developed together with Swiss company Ammann, a major player in asphalt production facilities.

Watch the corporate Dutch video with drummers and cooking meat comparisons.

(Link: www.agentschapnl.nl, Photo VolkerWessels)

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September 12, 2012

Osama bin Laden to adorn Amsterdam museum

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 3:44 pm

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has recently purchased a painting by South African artist Marlene Dumas featuring deceased al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. This ‘major work’ can soon be admired at the long-awaited reopening of the museum on 23 September in a room entirely dedicated to Dumas where 35 of her works will be exhibited.

Marlene Dumas works and lives in Amsterdam. How many clams the museum handed over for the painting is unknown. Osama will be sharing wall space with Young Men (not the women in the picture), the name of a series of drawings that was started in 2001. Dumas has drawn portraits of ‘young men with an Arabic look, from terrorists to innocent men in Amsterdam’.

(Link: binnenland.nieuws.nl, Photo of Paintings by Marlene Dumas by pavement-hopscotch, some rights reserved)

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September 11, 2012

Exhibition Pop Art in Europe

Filed under: Art,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 7:40 pm

Until January 2013 Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen will hold a unique exhibition entitled ‘Pop Art in Europa’ featuring European Pop Art, a style usually associated with the United States and the likes of Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. More than 100 works of European Pop Art from the Netherlands, the UK, France, German, Spain, Portugal and Belgium can be admired, something that has never been shown this way before, with many works that have never been on display in the Netherlands.

Find out more about Hamilton, Arman, Richter, Polke, Deschamps and many other who were inspired by film stars, politics and daily life, and arguably had more in-depth meaning than their American counterparts. The Dutch end is being held up by such artists as Wim T. Schippers, Woody van Amen and Rik van Bentum.

And while you’re there, have a good look at the building of the Museum Het Valkhof, which got a major face lift some years ago. The residents of Nijmegen either love or hate, although when I lived there it was mostly bewilderment. It’s a big glass thing that shines bright when there’s sun, located right next to a very big park, the Valkhof Park which boats large Roman ruins.

(Photo of Wim T. Schippers’ floating rock Het Is Me Wat by Wikipedia user Stamper, some rights reserved. Link: Bright.)

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September 7, 2012

Dutch artists help spruce up Philadelphia

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Orangemaster @ 7:33 am

Back in 2010 Dré Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas painted favelas in Brazil, now they are helping to revive one of the worst neighbourhoods in the US, Germantown in Philadelphia, which is full of drugs, murder, poverty and violence.

The goal of the Philly Painting project is to revive the neighbourhood and turn it into a new historic landmark. Follow the link and watch some videos about the project.

Over the course of their residency, Haas & Hahn are being challenged to consider design not just for a block but for an entire commercial corridor. Philadelphia’s Commerce Department, a major partner in this effort, recognizes the potential of a major project like this to radiate optimism and serve as catalyst for additional positive change and commercial potential.

There are photos galore here.

(Link: www.rnw.nl, Photo of Philly mural by dwweber, some rights reserved)

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September 5, 2012

Mayor of Maastricht does 180 on weed pass

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 9:04 pm

This April we announced the coming of the weed pass for NL residents only, supposed to deter cross border drug buying in the southern provinces of Limburg, Brabant and Zeeland. The weed pass will be introduced in the rest of the country as of January 2013, and Amsterdam is already gearing up for some sort of a fight.

The mayor of Maastricht, Onno Hoes, was a big fan of introducing the pass until this week. He now believes that coffeeshops shouldn’t be members only clubs, saying people are now avoiding coffeeshops.

You don’t say! Creating a database of weed smokers is not only awkward for the smokers, but it is a hassle and a half for coffeeshop owners. I know this for a fact, as I tried to buy a joint recently in the South to see how that went. Oh, and you don’t get a pass, what’s that all about, man.

First of all, besides meeting friendly all-female staff, they did need to see some ID and not any kind of letter stating where I actually lived. Second, besides telling me which parties I should vote for in the upcoming election with regard to the weed pass, they showed me their membership administration: a bunch of recipe cards in a box, nothing digital. They said if the cops come in, they need to be able to show their membership. I guess if it’s on a computer, you can’t produce it as quickly as with a rolodex, but that all sounds very shifty to me.

Someone else also said that forcing the south to follow the law, while other provinces don’t have to abide by that same law just yet isn’t really fair, either.

This story is far from over as it’s a matter of time before smart people from Amsterdam will figure out a way to buy weed for tourists and make a killing from it.

(Link: www.nu.nl)

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September 4, 2012

Netherlands scores poorly on list of stylish European countries

Filed under: Fashion by Orangemaster @ 4:02 pm

Some 12,262 respondents of Skyscanner.com, a European travel site, were asked to rate European countries on the basis of style, and the Netherlands wasn’t a big favourite. It landed second place in the top five least stylish countries just after Russia and just in front of Turkey.

Although I wouldn’t put too much stock into the survey, which reeks of summer filler, I myself wouldn’t think that the Dutch were doing that bad, but they are more practical casual than smart casual. Apparently, the Danes and Swedes dislike the Dutch style the most, which is interesting since the Danes are in fifth place of most stylish and the Swedes in fifth place of least stylish.

The easy to guess first three places with Italy, Spain and France sound plausible, considering all the fashion houses that come from those countries. Having Britain in fourth place, sure why not, although a British article seems to think that missing third place is a bit like not getting a bronze medal at the Olympics.

(Links: www.telegraaf.nl, , Photo of White leggings by Malingering, some rights reserved)

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August 31, 2012

Dutch nail world record longest hearse procession

Filed under: Automobiles,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 11:28 am

The Dutch city of Baarn, Utrecht has bumped off Hell, Michigan (what’s in a name) as record holder of the longest hearse parade on Thursday, 30 August 2012. The American Just Hearse’N Around group had 51 hearses on 17 September 2011, while the Dutch managed to rally 107 hearses and easily set a Guinness World Record.

Nuvema, the group who held the attempt yesterday, was enthusiastic about the turnout and also the media attention paid to hearses, which is good for business. Check out the pictures of all the hearses that participated).

(Link: perssupport.nl, Photo of Hearse by Jason L. Parks, some rights reserved).

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August 29, 2012

Passing off Thai coins for euro coins

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:02 pm

Canadian quarters in washers and dryers at the laundromat in the US and in Canada, old 20 French frank coins, if I remember correctly, for the parking meters, which probably works in the US as well: every country has their slugs (see definition No. 3).

Since the introduction of the euro, it has been easy to pass off certain lesser coins for euro, at the least the one and two euro coins. Pictured here is a 1 bolívar fuerte from Venezuela that was passed off to me as a 1 euro coin.

According to Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool, people who have been to Thailand are freely using Thai 10 bath coins, which are worth about 24 euro cents. Although there’s a king and a temple on the 10 bath, the similar colour scheme confuse folks who don’t check these things, especially in a bar or taxi. Well, that’s how I landed the fuerte.

“We estimate that lately at least 10,000 of these coins are circulating in the Netherlands, says Sander van Golberdinge, Deputy Director for Detailhandel Nederland — the umbrella organisation for all retail trade in the Netherlands.”

(Link: www.dutchamsterdam.nl)

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