December 9, 2020

Dutch film ‘Accused’ sold to the US

Filed under: Film by Orangemaster @ 6:00 am

Directed by Paula van der Oest and written by Moniek Kramer, Dutch thriller ‘Accused’ from 2014 (in Dutch ‘Lucia de B.’, named after the main character and real-life accused Lucia de Berk – Dutch tradition only allows a last name initial in the press) has been sold to American interests, according to Dutch broadcaster Omroep West. The film is scheduled to be released early next year in North America, according to Rinkel Film. ‘Accused’ was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, making the January Shortlist.

In 2001, Lucia de Berk a licensed paediatric nurse from The Hague was accused of having murdered dozens of patients. Most of her guilt was determined by statistics: she had been near the victims at the time of their deaths, and although a direct link with her in the form of a confession or evidence could not be established, the court found that the statistical likelihood of her being near all these victims at the time of death was so minute, she must have done it.

According to Wikipedia, in 2003, she was sentenced to life imprisonment (for which no parole is possible under Dutch law) for four murders and three attempted murders of patients in her care. After an appeal in 2004 she was convicted of seven murders and three attempts. Her conviction was controversial in the media and among scientists, and was questioned by investigative reporter Peter R. de Vries. In October 2008, the case was reopened by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, as new facts had been uncovered that undermined the previous verdicts. De Berk was freed, and her case was re-tried; she was exonerated in April 2010.

At this time it’s unclear whether the film will hit movies theatres due to the health crisis, but it will be available as video on demand (VOD).

(Link: denhaagfm.nl, Photo of Lucia de Berk by Carole Edrich. Some rights reserved)

Tags: , , , , , ,

May 1, 2019

Dutch designed play area at Singapore airport

Filed under: Architecture,Aviation by Orangemaster @ 9:18 pm

At Jewel Changi International Airport in Singapore at Terminal 1, Canopy Park, you’ll find a play area for all ages, with four very big slides, designed by Dutch engineers and street furniture designers Carve from Amsterdam. The official opening is on 10 June, and everyone will be able to see how the first children and parents will enjoy the play area.

Carve’s Discovery slides look very much like jewellery you can play on. “The rubber patterns on the floor are designed in such a way that they create spiral-shaped dynamic reflections on the surface of the slides, which will surely end up all over instagram.” They are installed at the highest point of the airport and provide a spectacular view. There are four slides: a family wide slide, a free fall slide and two spiral-shaped tunnel slides.

For anyone in The Netherlands and not in Singapore, you can climb onto Carve installations in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark, the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, the Ark Park pavilion in Utrecht, the Strijp S grounds in Eindhoven and the red fence square in The Hague.

(Links: bright.nl, Photo: businesstraveller)

Tags: , , , ,

September 30, 2018

‘The Vegetarian butcher is not a butcher’

Filed under: Animals,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 4:00 pm
anti-meatjpg

Much in the same vein as ‘soy milk’ is not legally milk in some countries, the Dutch trade show for the meat products sector to be held on 5 and 6 November has decided that popular brand The Vegetarian Butcher (in the Netherlands known as De Vegetarische Slager) is not a butcher.

Funny enough, the company received an invitation to sign up to compete in The Best Butcher of the Netherlands, and didn’t hesitate a second. Once signed up, their shop and restaurant De Vleesch Lobby (‘The Meat Lobby’, in Dutch) in The Hague was out in front with some 3500 votes for the province of South Holland. But we can’t have meat substitutes win, right? In a way, it’s stupid for them to have received an invitation in the first place (nobody bothered to check what they produced), however, it would have made quite a statement if they had won.

At some point, the organisers realised that De Vleesch Lobby didn’t serve meat and decided they cannot be considered butchers. Owner Jaap Korteweg was disappointed to be chucked out of the competition, but one thing is certain: the meat sector can’t ignore the rising popularity of meat substitutes.

(Link: frontpage.fok.nl)

Tags: , , ,

February 26, 2018

‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in the spotlight next week

Filed under: Art,Technology by Orangemaster @ 8:48 pm

2-stateofthear

As hinted to in an article about using the Rijksmuseum’s scanner to catch baddies, the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague will be using a Macro-X-ray Fluorescence scanner (MA-XRF) scanner to analyse Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ next week, to find out more about the painting.

And lucky us at 24oranges HQ, we’ll be there and bring back photos if we’re allowed to take any, as we have ‘a man on the inside’.

Nicknamed ‘the Dutch Mona Lisa’, Vermeer’s iconic painting was last studied in 1994 during a conservation project. In those days, they had to take paint samples from the priceless work to examine it, something that doesn’t have to be done any more thanks to technology. Scanners and X-ray machines don’t even need to touch the surface of the canvas and can provide new insights into how Vermeer painted the girl and the materials he used.

Whether her earring is a pearl (I’m in the ‘no’ camp) or some shiny trinket and whether or not the girl had some sort of connection with Vermeer is still a matter of speculation.

(Link and photo: phys.org)

Tags: , ,

February 9, 2018

Crates of porn handed over to Dutch library

Filed under: Literature by Orangemaster @ 8:47 pm

book_stack

The Dutch National Library based in The Hague has received a collection of pornographic books, part of which is specifically about fantasies set in WWII. Former conservator of the Paleontology and Mineralogy Cabinet at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Bert Sliggers, donated 100 crates of erotic literature, spanning from the end of the 19th century to today.

The library plans to hold an exhibition entitled ‘Porno op Papier’ (‘Porno on paper’), featuring a deal of his collection. Sliggers never hid the fact that he collected pornography. His collection starts in 1880, with books that were censured for various reasons. And one of the weirder genres he owned was Nazi porn. “Even after WWII this type of pornography sold well, in the hundreds of thousands of books.”

(Link: www.telegraaf.nl)

Tags: , ,

November 10, 2017

A bright future for ministry building in The Hague

Filed under: Architecture,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 9:59 am

Saskia Simon and Kees van Casteren from OMA, (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture), a Dutch architectural firm based in Rotterdam, co-founded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, explain the revamped architecture of a building at Rijnstraat 8 in The Hague in the English-language video below.

According to the video’s description, upon completion in 1992, Rijnstraat 8, the former Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) building represented an innovative office typology as well as an example of sustainability. Today the building, designed by in the 1980s, no longer offers the flexibility and openness required of a contemporary office space. In collaboration with the original architect, Jan Hoogstad, OMA developed an integrated concept for the building based on a renewal of its existing architectural qualities.

Although Amsterdam is the capital in the Netherlands, The Hague houses the government, but in true Dutch style, that doesn’t mean buildings have to be boring. In this case, a building was modified to become much more transparent – literally. And the video gives you a nice view of The Hague from a tall building, as if you were there.

(Link: archdaily.com)

Tags: ,

February 4, 2017

Buildings in The Hague get a Mondriaan makeover

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 9:21 pm

Mondriaan

For the centennial of Dutch art movement De Stijl of which Piet Mondriaan (or Mondrian) was a member of, the city of The Hague has had city hall done up as a Mondriaan painting, with characteristic blue, red and yellow squares and bold black lines.

The project was made using large, adhesive, monochrome rectangles, applied one by one by Rotterdam-based design firm Studio Vollaerszwart, making the building look like a De Stijl-type artwork. Other buildings in The Hague will follow suit, include pontoons in the Hofvijver, a pond in the city the centre, and the Mauritshuis museum.

(Link: hyperallergic.com, Photo: trendbeheer.com)

Tags: , ,

November 22, 2016

Mice chilling in the supermarket fridge

Filed under: Animals by Orangemaster @ 12:01 pm

Ah yes, there’s mice at an Albert Heijn supermarket in Limburg! We told you a few years back about mice in a hospital in Amsterdam, and I’m thinking that’s probably worse than at the supermarket, but it’s all gross. These mice look like they’re dancing:

And there’s also the classic clip at the Albert Heijn from The Hague Central Station. It was being filmed while an employee of Dutch Railways was also filming and has more mice than the above clip, which is not a good thing:

(Link: limburger.nl)

Tags: , ,

January 12, 2016

Bike paths are too busy, cyclists take risks

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 12:54 pm

A recently published report by the Foundation for Traffic Studies (SWOV) on the use of bike paths in Amsterdam and The Hague has reached the major conclusion that bike paths aren’t wide enough, and extrapolates their findings to other big cities during rush hour. As well, 20% of cyclists fiddle with their smartphones while cycling, four out of five cyclists don’t look around them when passing others (something Dutch driving lessons hammer into you) and one of out 20 cyclists cycle the wrong direction.

The report points out that many bike paths are not wide enough to accommodate the flow of cyclists, although 90% of people cycle with a standard sized bike. It does say that scooters are bigger and tend to add to the traffic, but only account for a small percentage of bike path users. Half of the locations observed in both cities during rush hour are too busy and the risky behaviour mentioned above is not making cycling any safer.

In Europe The Netherlands is the king of ‘cycling usage’, with 84% of the population owning a bike, while Denmark takes top place for ‘cycling advocacy’. The legend of there being more bikes than people here – a unique occurrence in the world – is still true. The real threat to safety remains scooters because they go too fast. The effects of having moved them off the bike path in Amsterdam has not yet been observed and reported.

In this older video below, there’s a cyclist moving ahead of the green light, which is wrong but not a huge deal. There are people completely outside of the cycle lane going wide and that’s slightly annoying. And then there’s some freestyling that is risky and inconsiderate. I’ll admit to pulling some stunts while cycling, but I categorically refuse to do anything with my smartphone and don’t listen to music.

(Link: www.iamexpat.nl, www.swov.nl, Photo by Flickr user comedynose, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , ,

January 4, 2016

Duindorp wins bonfire battle, sets new world record

Filed under: General,Nature by Orangemaster @ 11:03 am

2016-ny-bonfire-brankocollin-008

On 31 December the battle of the Christmas bonfires in South Holland was heatedly contested between Duindorp in the North and Scheveningen in the South, both on the beach. Current world record holder Duindorp ignited its fiery rivalry against Scheveningen to win by 50 metres in height, with a fire that was 4,000 cubic metres.

Duindorp took the win with a stack measuring 33.80 metres in height as compared to Scheveningen’s stack of 33.30 metres, which made all the difference, setting a new world record, confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records who I guess kept warm and took notes.

On January 3 in Amsterdam families and friends got together on the Museumplein with the Rijksmuseum as a backdrop to burn Christmas trees, a tradition that kicked off in 2009 and is now an annual event. Back then the pile of trees slowly being added to the bonfire caught fire and the fire brigade had to intervene. Nowadays there’s a fence around the bonfire and the police are there as well for crowd control.

(Link: www.nltimes.nl)

Tags: , , , , ,