January 2002 Archives
Are you on medication?
No. / beat / Are you?
Yeah...
Oh.
... painkillers. Are you off work?
Yeah. I'm in bed mostly. Sleeping, and...
Sleeping's good...
... sweating a lot.
// OH NO... //
... Oh. Sweating's not good.
Don't worry. I'll be ok in a few days.
// AARGH. FOOL... //
... so uh, I just wanted to touch base. I gotta go, expecting a call.
/ a phone rings /
That's the other line. It's my mum.
Ok. Talk soon. / puts down phone /
// ...YOU NEVER SAY YOU SWEAT. LADIES DON'T SWEAT. IDIOT. //
It is time to introduce you to 'bitterballen', a Dutch delicacy. Snacks in this country, unfortunately, don't come much better than this. Most of our native fast food is deep fried and deeply disgusting, yet pleasantly filling. (I am relieved to say we haven't picked up the British habit to deep fry pies and mars bars. Yet.)
Bitterballen (bitter = alcoholic drink, ballen = balls) are the smaller cousins of the popular kroketten (more 'lunch' than 'snack', often consumed in a 'broodje', a bun). Both require dollops of mustard to make them edible. Both consist of portions of meat ragout, which are breaded and then deep fried.
Bitterballen are served in pubs, often as part of a 'bitter garnituur', platters of finger food to serve with alcohol. These include tiny, spicy eggrolls called 'vlammetjes' (= little flames), chunks of liverwurst and cheese.
Beware. Bitterballen are heat seeking fiends. Prepare to encounter a core of molten lava. In case of emergency, quench with liberal amounts of beer. Tip: Bitterballen are usually served with little wooden sticks. They are absolutely useless. Use your fingers for total control. Bite off part of the crust first, then let cool before finishing off the rest of your small friend.
Mmmm! bitterballen, gezellig. Here's a recipe.
Overeat. Drink and drive. Cheat. Wear ill fitting shoes cause they look good. Shave. Lose our temper. Boast. Diet. Get jealous. Collect stamps. Hoard. Count the days. Hurt because we can. Order the same dish from the Chinese take away each and every time. Shout. Scratch a scar. Bite lips. Gnash teeth. Bite nails. Walk cats. Feel jealous. Share needles. Name kids after football players. Sleep in. Worship. Read romance novels. Send Christmas cards. Put a cookie on it. Feel guilty. Have crushes. Read spoilers. Talk to strangers. Count tiles. Get tans. Make lists. Rush. Write on windows. Keep plants, flowers. Save money. Overspend. Save for later. Wear make up. Hold grudges. Pine for the fjords. Waste time. Hold pageants. Plant kisses on letters.
God bless home delivery grocers, they're a godsend for the sick. Sometimes though, you end up with something you didn't really want, like processed cheese.
We moved to Blaricum in 1967 when I was four years old. From our Amstelveen apartment to a semi in what was then still, but only just, a farming village.
We settled in when farmers were forced into selling their land. They were going to build new houses, effectively joining the next village, Huizen, with ours. It was farewell to the old days, hello to the modern 70s. It was progress.
"You will marry CHRISTIAN (played by Ewan McGregor) from Moulin Rouge, live in a sparkling elephant at the Moulin Rouge, and spend your days righting wrongs and singing songs because all you need is love (and it helps that it's Ewan McGregregor you're living with ^_^)." What's YOUR M * A * S * H future?
Congrats to Meg 'n' Paul for finding a new flat. Much happiness wished. It sounds wonderful. Wouldn't mind a flat in London if included sig. other.
Aragorn's secret diary. And more. In this Live Journal. Click green arrow to go to next entries - you sometimes have to skip a few. Legolas: Boromir dead. Very messy death, most uncessesary. Did get kissed by Aragorn as he expired. Does a guy have to get shot full of arrows around here to get any action? Boromir definitely not prettier than me. Cannot understand it. Am feeling a pout coming on.Frodo off to Mordor with Sam. Tiny little men caring about each other, rather cute really. Am quite sure Gimli fancies me. So unfair. He is waist height, so can see advantages there, but chunky braids and big helmet most offputting. Forsee dark times ahead, very dark times. [ via captainfez ]
Tiny Tokyo, best take away sushi I've had so far. Unfortunately, the Amsterdam one is closed for renovation, but I passed through Utrecht twice today - had some for lunch and then bought more for dinner on my way back. Beautiful.
Top Gun is a horrible, horrible, crappy 80s film with a despicable theme song and offensive score. And I should know, cause I'm pretty sure I've seen it close to 10 times.
This page looks shite in Opera 5/Mac, and the layer swapping doesn't work properly in MSIE. Sorry about that.
Cameron the Alien: Hanging With the Bloggers: 'That's right, I'm from fucking outer space!'
A very Happy Birthday to you, Jeffrey.
Photographic Views of Meija, a portrait of Old Japan. [ via nosenseofplace.com ]
Made a few changes in the menu to make it a little more clear what's what. I have no idea whether anyone is reading 'Ashes' (now under "BtVS"). Let me know if you are.
Is anyone else finding the start of this year hugely uninteresting? When's the next good thing going to come?
the_dr: Top 11 Bootlegs of 2001. 'Bootleg' apparently has a new meaning, as in pro sounding remixes by Tom, Dick and Harry. I could really get into this. [ sorta via Holgate on plastic.com via MF ]
NL.DESIGN... one thing I've noticed about Dutch (web) design is that everything has to be BIG and browser filling, wherease elsewhere, small is beautiful and less is more. (Click around and find the text of the 'Barcelona lecture' by Mieke Gerritzen - big name designer for VPRO / Net 3, etc.- it's hilarious dunglish. 'medialabs were pupping up everywhere'. I don't like her work much. When her re-design for the Net 3 leaders and bumpers came in when I was working at VARA, I banged my head against the wall in frustration )
SANDBERG INSTITUTE (flash version). It's aliiiiiiive.
Miami New Times: "If you wake at night and see her," a ten-year-old says softly, "her clothes be blowing back, even in a room where there is no wind. And you know she's marked you for killing." [ fascinating link from an otherwise infuriating MF this morning ]
I opted out of tons of ads and now I'm finding the broken images far more annoying than the banners.
First I ordered sushi. It never arrived. Then I ordered pizza. That never arrived either. I'm hungry, and Indiana Jones has the most annoying soundtrack EVER. Is that John Williams again?
There are some nice pictures of Amsterdam in J A Z Z magazine. Some of them are very familiar, because they were taken close to my place, and there's one there that I took as well - not too long ago, and had here on prolific.org. (The green GEB construction)
onlineblog.com's Neil McIntosh got the scoop on Blogger's upcoming premium service. Am I going to pay 30 dollars for stable servers? Yes, I probably am. I use MT for more of my sites now, but Blogger still propels parts of them and it's still the quickest, easiest service to set up a quick blog. Everybody around you (me) is familiar with it. It's just an ace tool. So yeah, my credit card's ready.
Pixo: Products: Microbrowser 2.1... simulation the iMode environment.
Ain't It Cool reviews the Moulin Rouge DVD, which sounds delightful.
Note to self: VNC
--<[ FRONT242 ]>--. Great looking but extremely frustrating website for Belgian EBM meisters Front 242. Just gimme the feckin' news, please!
Till-boy in Albert Heijn (supermarket): 'I have NEVER seen people spend so much now that we've switched to the Euro. It's been busier than ever. People seem to think things are cheaper, when in fact, everything is shamelessly more expensive! Honestly, look at cigarettes.'
Watching Norwegian band Madrugada on Dutch television. Only caught the last few minutes - sounded intriguing. TV guide description: 'atmospheric rock'. It sounded like the Cowboy Junkies doing The Doors to me. But in a good way. I ordered their two albums. Will let you know how it goes. Here's some video - where they sound more like The Mission. Yikes. Or a less annoying Tindersticks. Oh, here's the full gig in Real Audio.
I had my hair cut at a new place in town. I am sporting a new 33 Euro hair cut. I have Feng Shui hair.
There are at least three hairdressers in the street my office is on.
I used to get my hair cut at Kinky's. But I got tired of having my head groomed by 12 year old girls with shapeless green hair and plenty of piercings, waving their frankly offputting bare bellybuttons in my face. And they'd cut me wrong. I'd end up with 90s hair, which is so not me.
Time to look for another salon. Time to choose between the three. A quick glance through the window sorted it. Number one looked like it was for the grannies in the old people's home across the road. Number two for kinky - as in curly - hair.
Kottke's on a roll: If we assume that fame has the same rate of inflation as the US dollar, Warhol's 1968 15 minutes of fame now lasts around 75 minutes. Fame lasts longer, but is worth about 5 times less than it used to be, minute for minute.
Well, these people get it right, anyway.
Why does EVERYBODY write 'villians' ? It's villains.
Remember a few months ago, I said I was working on the ugliest site (and ugliest idea for a site) EVER? Well, it went live. Now they've gone bust. Hurrah.
Ev @ status.blogger.com: I've been working very hard installing new servers. I should have them up tomorrow, along with an announcement. Fun, fun!
I got a (standard) raise. Yay, more CDs!
ProVeeOffshore... I haven't a CLUE what it is, but it's pwetty and you get to um, sail, a little speed boat around the world. By Lightmaker.com.
Oliver Willis's The complete guide to weblogs.
I've been listening to Mena being interviewed on onLine Tonight. 1. you have to listen to it just to hear the bit where Ben speaks 2. nice to have a radio presenter who knows what he's talking about 3. why doesn't Bob get interviewed (on Dutch radio) about the equally fabulous Pivot?
I never got my Secret Santa gift. Or perhaps it hasn't arrived yet.
A few years ago there was a site where you could edit a piece of film, I believe it was an old Hitchcock movie, or another classic. It was a Flash or a Shockwave application. Anyone remember this, and whether it's still on line? [ update: thanks to Stijn for the link ot Psycho Studio. It's maker, Brendan Dawes, has a blog. ]
Idea: a net connected exercise bike. Cycling provides the power and increases your bandwidth... great way to surf all day and get the exercise you lack.
About today: (6am) took major-ish step. (1pm) have hair cut. (4om) job evaluation meeting. ugh.
Sound Blaster Extigy... hmm, nifty.
The Rosetta Project: buildng a near permanent archive of 1,000 languages.
Sometimes people send interesting URLs around at work. They're always ones that you and I saw months or years ago (Habbo, Nosepilot, etc). This is frustrating. I started a blog at work so I can share my finds and maybe get others to blog theirs (I'm not going to e-mail them around all day) - but it's on one of our Unix machines, half the company hasn't got access to it. Big effing sigh.
Question: do you get to keep any of the molecules in your body that you are born with? I.e. when you die, do you still have molecules in your body that were there from the start? (I'd say 'yes', but where can I find scientific proof of this?)
I haven't been shopping much, so I haven't had much 'Euro' practice. The few times I have engaged in the exchange of money, I have received either the wrong change back, or have found other foreign coins in my change: old Belgian and French coins mostly. I think a lot of people are taking advantage of the confusion.
Can't mention John Peel without thinking of The Fall, still going, um... strong.
John Peel 2002 Festive Fifty... with 30 second samples of each song. Good to get a feel of the new bands out there (if you've been slacking like me and not paying attention).
BBC - Radio 1 - Alt - Peel Sessions Live: White Stripes. 3 live studio tracks.
I've added a lot of entries to CROON. You may not notice, because I back-dated a lot of them, to the date they were originally sent in (going back as far as 98). I've been strict with the rules in the past, but now I'm a little more lenient - simply because I need more entries. I'm sure you have a song that reminds you of a friend, a lover, your childhood, an era...
depeche mode dot com: Paris Exciter shows were filmed for a possible DVD release.
Send a barrel of good vibes to Alexis Massie who plans to revive afterdinner. [ via DMP ]
iKea [ via MF ]
The new imac. Yikes. [ via Arnab ]
Via 'A Day Late' this very cool Pet Shop Boys Song-by-Song Commentary. My favourite PSB song is 'Left to my own devices'. This site reminds me I really should do more work on gf.com and get some of all that information that's all in my head out on the web. Share, share, share, that's what it's all about. All I need is a few weeks off.
re: matt's post on simple layouts & big pictures..., I was mocking up a new layout for prolific.org (cause I don't like this one much) and for some reason I want to push the text below the fold, so I had this huge picture. It looked great, but unfortunately the photo is copyrighted. I'd have to go recreate it to be able to use the design.
bigempty.com - tim gasperak, gorgeous lay out, great photography inside. [ via a whole ]
How AbFab are you?
not.so.soft dot com >> gallery >> iona christmas and new year 2001/02... looks like a beautiful place to be. In summer.
It would be nice if Amazon.co.uk listed their stuff in Euros...
I've updated CROON.org, now powered by MT.
Little China Grrrls: I would never go see a martial arts film in the cinema. That's why I didn't go see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Even when half the blogs I read were raving about it. I just assumed they were all mad. I rented the film today on DVD and hang my head in shame. The film's pure poetry. It's got a lovely story (unrequited love, is there any other story, really?), good acting, amazing action scenes, where the action is about the beauty of the body's movement, rather than the body's dropped, and it's got beautiful scenery and a rather pretty score. Very much enjoyed it. Go see it, if you haven't.
I bought a clock (bottom, left hand corner) for the first time in my life. I've always kept time by looking at my watch, or my computer, or the microwave. I feel naked when I'm not wearing a watch, but I have no idea whether I look at it a lot. Anyway, buying a wall clock felt very... adult.
IL CANTO DI MALAVITA... saw this in the shops this morning. 'Mafia' songs from Calabria. Apparently they're forbidden in Italy.
Hard to find in Holland, but Twining's Lemon and Ginger infusion is really quite delightful. Recommended to me by two of my friends within a few days of each other. When does anyone EVER recommend tea to anyone? Crazy anglo / irish people. Anyway, it's not too lemony (I don't like anything too lemony... except for real lemonade), more gingery and quite spicy. Twinings let you order on line (world wide) so I did.
No one over here is going to be impressed with this, but for those of you across the pond who haven't fallen for the delights of SMS (mobile text messaging) yet, here are some stats: On New Year's Eve, Dutch KPN delivered 6 million text messages (and 2,5 million mobile calls). Dutch Libertel got 4,2 million text messages and 2,1 calls. No stats on 'Ben' or any of the other mobile phone providers. The Netherlands has a population of 16 million.
Banknotables.Com signed and unsigned Limited Edition Prints. Yes, and we managed to make them even uglier than the real thing.
Five songs that really excited me as a very young child, though I'd no idea why: 1. Send in the Clowns 2. Money, Money, Money 3. Big Spender 4. My Way 5. Is that all there is. (I was a camp showtunes hoor even before I knew what a hoor was. Or showtunes. Let alone camp.)
kottke.org: home of fine lorem ipsum? [ .. digs deeper ] Oh wait. Still there. Just gotta be persistent.
I was asked to provide my top 5 songs of the last quarter for my piece in Strobelight. Here they are: 1. Kylie Minogue - Can't get you out of my head. 2. Felix da housecat - Silver Screen. 4. Gavin Friday - Cycles (Sinatra Cover). 5. Leonard Cohen - Boogie Street. 6. Anthony Stewart Head - Babies.
Chris redesigns and the photo has me rolling in the aisles.
Did I mention Tom's gone commie?
Audio - Kid A: Amnesiac Studio: Paul Oakenfold remix of Idioteque.
I'm already tired of my new design, so maybe I'll just use one of MT 1.4's default templates. Out on Monday.
minor 9th | weblog is looking very pretty.
Holy cauldron: Dealers in Australia have begun selling Harry Potter ecstasy tablets in nightclubs.
Empire Online: vote for the Empire Film Awards 2002.
... also, getting very tired of British reporters sniggering while reporting on the Euro changeover. You seem to devote more screentime to it than we do ourselves, so you're either scared or jealous.
Another redesign for the Irish Times.
I'm wondering whether all those people saying 'It looks like Monopoly money' have actually ever SEEN Monopoly money.
Fairvue Central >> Features >> Second Annual Weblog Awards. How about 'best designed weblog awards'?
"Writing is nothing to be ashamed of. But do it in private, and wash your hands afterward." --Robert Heinlein
Mazie kicks ass. Send a 70 year old a postcard. (via MF sideblog)
Metafilter discusses Hotmail scam. Read if you have a hotmail account.
Simon Napier-Bell's top 10 favourite music books.
Absolutely beautiful Radiohead @ Pinkpop festival on Dutch telly tonight. I missed half of it - didn't know it was on. Did anyone tape it? The other night we were complaining about the absolutely abysmal photography of the MTVe awards. That director, whoever it was, and those cameramen should take a good look at how Dutch NOB films their stuff. Gorgeous shots that show the music, enhance the music. They don't miss a thing.
movabletype.org : news. There's a new interim version of MT coming up soon.
I ventured out into the new year for the first time this morning, on my way to work. The streets are red with fireworks paper. It's misty and it's cold.
From the ATM on the corner of my street I draw 150 Euro. The crisp new bills look foreign. For a second I feel a tinge of excitement. It's like being on your holidays. Where can I spend some cash?
At work, I draw the bills from my wallet. The excitement's gone. The 50 Euro bill looks drab with its hesitant am-I-orange-brown-or-not attitude. The 5 Euro bill has a festive silver border. It looks like a lottery ticket.
I feel most comfortable with the 20 Euro bill. Purplish soothing blue, slightly reminiscent of our own sadly departed 10 guilder note.
The map on the notes will prove useful. Europeans will be able to point out their hometown to anybody who asks. Americans can quickly be told 'no, Amsterdam is not the capital of the Alps, see?'
I hear it usually takes three weeks for coins to travel two (? correct me if I'm wrong) kilometers from their point of origin. I'm looking forward to finding my first Irish Euro coins in my change.
Interesting. As the observant visitor knows, I can speed read books. In fact, I find it almost impossible not to. I have, however, big problems reading comics. They make very little sense to me, probably because I can't pick up both the image and the text quickly enough for my speed reading brain to process the information. Or something. Anyway. Haven't read comics since childhood.
Well fuck me with a broomstick: this is my d.n.a: is back, well, almost.
Eliza Lodge Hotel, the place where I stayed during the Dublin theatre festival is doing a November - February/Sunday-Thursday special: 39 pounds per night. It's bloody tempting!
I detest 'New Year Resolutions'. But I do want to make an effort of listening to more music this year, because that was seriously lacking in 2001. Over the last few days, the holidays, I've listened to a wider variety of music than I had over the rest of the year. Finally got to enjoy the CDs I bought instead of just having them sit there on my stereo, looking pretty. I may even come up with a 'best of 2001' after all.
I ordered this British Sea Power single from Amazon last night after listening to some samples on their website. It has the weight of Joy Division and the sheer enthusiasm of very early U2. And something else I haven't pin pointed yet.
The Guardian looks at the year ahead in Pop. New British bands to keep an eye on. Particularly interested in 'British Sea Power'.
Irish Abroad - Shopping.: Irish writers t-shirts, mugs, etc.
Wilco's back. (in Dutch) And a very happy birthday too.
A Day Late... powered by upcoming 'calender' feature in MT.
Sean Bean: The Interview: he hasn't actually got that tattoo yet that the 9 Fellowship characters are supposed to have got.
Wishlist: more large plates, an egg timer (burnt spuds anyone... had to start over), a bigger TV (just like my previous TV, the screen is fuct... it's a prol=static thing), a new house with a BIGGER kitchen. A dish washer. A guest room.
this is aaronland: talking about MT.
I've been up for 24 hours. Happy New Year to you all. 'm off to bed.