August 31, 2007

The Dutch touch, Bollywood style

Filed under: Dutch first,Film by Orangemaster @ 3:17 pm
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For the first time in the history of Indian film-making, Hindustani-Dutch artists will play a role in an Indian film. Narsingh Balwantsingh (shown here), Fareisa Joemmanbaks and Kiran Sukul will be making their Indian film debut in Saiyaan Chitchor (Eternal Love).

The film in which major Bhojpuri artists Manoj Tiwari and Nagma will be starring is scheduled to start shooting in September 2007 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar (North India) and the mega filmcity complex in Mumbai. It should be released in December 2007. Eternal Love will be in the Bhojpuri language, spoken by both the Hindustani in the Netherlands and in Suriname.

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl)

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August 30, 2007

Twingo a no-go with Dutch women

Filed under: Automobiles,General by Orangemaster @ 9:55 am
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The advertising campaign for the launch of the new Renault Twingo caused a scandal in the Netherlands. An anonymous letter was sent to 30,000 Dutch women, which started with “Salut chérie” (“Hi dear”) in which women were invited to go shopping in Paris by a mysterious correspondent.

Of course, it was easy to find out who sent the letter, as two pictures of the new Twingo were in the envelope. However, it seems that many Dutch women are not up on cars (cars maybe, Twingo no) and do not have the same sense of humour as the marketing folks at Renault, who, I think, messed this one up.

The Dutch advertising commission was contacted by many “victims” of this advertising campaign (Renault got 400 complaints, the Dutch advertising commission got 25, according to Dutch newspaper, AD), saying it has caused problems in their relationship. Renault even replaced the second part of its campaign, which was a test drive invitation, by a letter of apology.

I love the smell of a good culture difference in the morning.

(Link: le blog auto, tip: Laurent)

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August 29, 2007

Make me a Muslim match

Filed under: Dutch first,Religion by Orangemaster @ 8:53 am
muslim dating

There are more and more singles in the Netherlands, and apparently a lot of them are Muslims. Going to a club and hooking up is really not their thing, and so on October 19, anyone fitting the bill can get dressed up for the first-ever Islamic Single Event.

“The days of being matched up and married through contacts is over. Young Muslims want to pick and choose. One wants a career woman, while another wants a woman with the same level of education or maybe not”, says Rachid El Hajoui. This way El Hajoui hopes to build a platform for single Muslims looking for partners. (This sounds like men looking for women and not the other way round, but hey.)

To avoid attracting any ‘players’, the admission fee is € 50.The venue is also quite small and located in a small village. Halal food will be served, chaperonnes are welcome, and there will also be blind speedating and some entertainment. “For people who want to play, they can always go to Ibiza!” Moreover, this event is for Muslims over 25.”

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl)

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August 28, 2007

One man’s fight for peace and quiet

Filed under: General,Music by Orangemaster @ 9:31 am
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Translation: “Don’t play music from the speaker of your mobile phone. It doesn’t make you cool, it makes you fucking annoying.”

Alexander Klöpping, a student at the Universiteit van Amsterdam started a website that expresses his annoyance with people who play loud music from their mobile phones in public transport. His website, fucking irritant (fucking annoying) lets people get it out of their system.

“Enough with this asocial behaviour! Almost every mobile phone comes with earphones, so the decent thing to do is use them.” Unfortunately, then they just turn up the volume, which irritates folks as well, according to the reponses on the site.

A similar movement was launched in London and was a huge success. Four thousand commuters signed a petition against the “noise criminals” and about a 1,000 told their stories online. The government came into action soon after and signs were posted in buses and metros.

For anyone going “oh, but the use of swearing, how poor”, let me explain the cultural context. The Dutch don’t consider swearing in English a bad thing, in fact, it seems to reinforce their point, as swearing in Dutch is considered less cool and wrong.

(Link: Blik op nieuws)

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August 24, 2007

Bird friendly lighting at sea

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 12:12 pm
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The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) and Philips have recently developed a new type of lighting for oil and gas platforms that is ‘bird friendly’. The lights give off a limited part of the colour spectrum, which distract birds less when they fly over the North Sea, making their journey much safer. A platform of the NAM, just off the Dutch coast at the height of the island of Vlieland, is currently testing the new lighting. The primary results are apparently very positive, according to NAM and Philips.

Remember, this is a country that builds bridges for frogs and wildlife.

(Link: De Gelderlander)

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August 22, 2007

Amsterdam is as multiculti as it gets

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 10:41 am
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Amsterdam is again in 2007 the most multicultural city in the world, according to the City of Amsterdam. As of 1 January 2007, 177 different nationalities were living in the city, making Amsterdam No. 1 in this respect. Runner up is Antwerp with 164 nationalities, while New York has 150.

In 2006 a new nationality was added to Amsterdam, as someone from Malawi went to live there. Most foreigners come from Morocco (64,588), Turkey (37,421), Great Britain (10,244), Germany (6,670) and Suriname (5,609).

Despite the constant hordes of people, Amsterdam only has 743,104 inhabitants, who are mostly Dutch, as 532,548 only have the Dutch nationality. As well, another 123,204 have two passports, including a Dutch one.

And what’s this picture? This is De Bijmermeer or ‘Bijlmer’, a suburb of Amsterdam, an architectural feat and the city’s symbol for where to put all the poor and usually non-white foreigners. I’ve lived there as a foreigner, so I know first hand, although I did see some poor, white, retired Dutch folk. It was also world news for the plane that crashed into one of the buildings. If you don’t know this story, grab a beverage and read it, it’s really something.

(Link: trouw)

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August 19, 2007

Caving your trolls

Filed under: IT by Orangemaster @ 10:32 am
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A new Dutch plug-in for the blog software WordPress fights trolls in a very Dutch way. This week, Henk Van Ess of Voelspriet.nl launched the Cave Your Trolls concept. The idea of Cave Your Trolls is to let “bullies” in forums and weblogs keep doing what they do, without anybody reading what they spew. Instead of moderators having to remove their nasty comments manullay, the trolls sit in their cave and keep talking to the walls. WordPress users can now download the beta version.

(Link: webwereld)

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August 18, 2007

Red hair day in Breda

Filed under: Art,Gadgets,Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:00 am
Van

Breda has declared Sunday, 2 September ‘Red Hair Day’, so that artist and painter Bart Rouwenhorst can paint and take pictures. Downtown Breda is expecting some 800 red-haired people for the occasion. As of Sunday, some 20 artisits with a fascination for “carrot tops” or “gingers” can check out pictures and paintings in de Grote Kerk. Rouwenhorst has been painting red-haired people for years “They are rare and special. Their skin colour is totally different, and so it is extremely difficult to paint them realistically.”

Van Gogh did a fine job if you ask me.

(Link: De Telegraaf)

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August 17, 2007

Ring my bell no more

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 10:11 am
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Pastor Harm Schilder of the Heilige Margarita Maria church parish in Tilburg was fined 5,000 big ones (euro) today and already another 5,000 big ones last Friday because his bell rings too loud. Too loud means 80 decibels instead of 70 decibels, which in laymen’s terms is the difference between a car and a noisy factory. Nevertheless, when the bell hits you very early at 7:15 am, I can imagine it’s loud.

The pastor was told by his boss the bishop not to ring the bell until they get the volume fixed. Stay tuned until next Friday.

(Link: Omroep Brabant)

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August 16, 2007

Women’s toilets in stereo to foil rules

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:35 am
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Brasserie De Jongens van Almere in Almere, Flevoland has made the news with their toilets. The brasserie has installed two women’s toilets in one space. Owner René Josso was forced to do so to follow rules imposed by the city. “We already had separate women’s and men’s toilets when the city came up with an additional requirement. To save space, we squeezed two ladies’ toilets together,” Josso explains. Apparently, the toilets are a hit, as women think they are “fun”.

(Link: zibb.nl)

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