January 22, 2016

Airport baggage car gets lost in Antwerp

Filed under: Aviation by Orangemaster @ 11:46 am
airplane1.JPG

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of jokes and less funnier stories about lost bags, but this fine film should make you smile: a baggage car from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport gets lost like a tourist in Antwerp.

It’s an advertising stunt for Schiphol because “Schiphol, is closer than you think.” The baggage car is driving through the main square, attracting all kinds of attention. The Dutch driver goes around asking how to get to Schiphol. Some people were helpful with instructions like “drive along the Schelde”, the river that runs in Antwerp, and “keep on for two kilometres then ask again”.

The makers also claim that Antwerp is only an hour train ride way, but that’s with the expensive Thalys train, as there are no normal trains running between Antwerp and Schiphol, a well-known headache for years now. The normal train service between Brussels and Amsterdam that also includes Antwerp and Schiphol is not a direct service and is still a mess (dated article, but gives you an idea).

Then again, Brussels Airport, aka Zaventem, is closer, so why go to Schiphol I wonder, especially if your baggage gets lost in a foreign country.

(Link: www.parool.nl)

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February 17, 2015

Dutch porn filmed at Belgian university

Filed under: Film,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:05 pm

Porn-UA

On a Dutch porn site Belgian journalists spotted a Dutch porno filmed at the University of Antwerpen with a Flemish girl in the lead as a student called Cloe who meets up with a cameraman and then gets down to business. The journalists passed on the tip to the university who says they are going to try and sue the people who made the film for hurting their reputation. The university campus of Groenenborger is clearly shown in the film as is the institution’s logo.

The site apparently indicates that Dutch porn queen Kim Holland could be involved, but that remains to be seen.

(Links: nos.nl, www.standaard.be, Photo of Anti-porn poster by fidelramos, some rights reserved)

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May 20, 2013

Spike and Suzy re-imagined

Filed under: Comics by Branko Collin @ 4:34 pm

Spike and Suzy (Dutch: Suske en Wiske) may still be the biggest selling comic in the Netherlands, but a sales drop of 75% in 16 years in their native country Belgium has urged Studio Vandersteen to look at ways to renew the franchise.

The result is a spin-off comic called Amoras in which all the popular characters have aged about eight years. Spike and Suzy are now in their late teens and the target audience is in that same region. Publisher Johan de Smedt told 7sur7, “Amoras remains faithful to the spirit of Willy Vandersteen, whose heirs have agreed to the project. But it is more brutal, more violent and it does not always end well.”

Suske en Wiske have always been the flagship comic of the Dutch language. Their popularity in the Netherlands led creator Willy Vandersteen to even change names to make them more palatable to a Dutch audience. Ragdoll Schalulleke (Antwerp dialect for ‘scallion’) for example became Schanulleke.

In this story, Spike and Suzy accidentally use professor Barabas’ time travel device to ‘flash’ to the island of Amoras, Spike’s original home land, but to the Amoras of 2046. The future Amoras has been colonized by the evil Krimson who believes that “history is a playground and a treasury”. The story ends on a cliffhanger and it’s quite a biggie as far as cliffhangers go, so be prepared to also buy the next album which should appear in November.

*) French: Bob et Bobette; American: Willy and Wanda. They sell almost a million albums each year in the Netherlands. In their home country they have to had to give the sales crown to Kiekeboe.

(Image: Standaard Uitgeverij / Charel Cambré)

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August 22, 2007

Amsterdam is as multiculti as it gets

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 10:41 am
bijlmer1.jpg

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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