A couple of weeks ago Eddie and I went to Ten Kate Motor Cycles in the East of Holland to watch the new CB1000R (I already had ordered it - so maybe handy to have a look as well :-) )
When I viewed the latest entry at the Dutch Motor Forum I found myself caught on this picture of Remon, Who likes the CB1000R too and made some pictures that morning.
On what would have been the slain gay rights leader's 78th birthday, the
city of San Francisco unveiled a monumental statue of former Supervisor
Harvey Milk in the rotunda of City Hall today. Finally after more then 30 years!
The Radio 4 clasical music top 400 brought me up an idea: from now on I will try to have a personal Sunday top 10 list. Because I am still in the classical music mood - the first list is:
My favorite classical music pieces:
1. William Walton: Violin Concerto
2. Richard Wagner: Im Treibhaus (Wesendonk lieder)
3. Dvorak - From a new World
4. Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa
5. Copland - Billy The Kid
6. Tsjaikofski - Ouverture 1812
7. Richard Straus - 4 letzte Lieder
8. Sibelius - Violin Concerto
9. Mozart - Piano Concerto K482
10. Heine - Es treibt mich hin (Lieder)
According to the listerners of Radio 4 (Public classical music broadcast) the top 10 of classical music is:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus Passion
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem
3. Johann Sebastian Bach: Hohe Messe
4. Georg Friderick Händel: Messiah
5. Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
6. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
7. Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder.
8. Antonio Vivaldi: The 4 Seasons
9. Ludwig van Beethoven: Pianoconcert nr. 5
10. Gregorio Allegri: Miserere
Niko is based on Michael Hollick, an actor from New York. He has (part of) his face and his voice. The rest is pure GTA magic :-) The poor guy is paid a lump sum and gets nothing from the $600 million the game already made. Harrison Ford has a better deal with IJ IV...
Maybe it was the comic of Joe Bar I got from Marijn and Merel or the encouragements of so many friends: Today I passed my Motor Cycle exam!
The weather was perfect (sunny 18C), the time of the day just right (15:00) and the examinators very nice (I got two - because mine was trained on the job). I got straight A's for every part of the exam and so tomorrow I can apply for my revised drivers license. :-))
Fascinating read in the New Yorker - Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin’s
virtual reality. Incredible story of a legendary
retoucher (he even did the Dove "real women" campaign). His company The Box makes almost al fashion ads and photo's pixel perfect...
Kiss-Inn: A peaceful protest against the verbal and
physical abuse of men and women that still
happens in the name of god, allah, homophobia, boredom or plain stupid
aggression. Yesterday at the homo monument in Amsterdam.
I am totally hooked on Dan Cruickshank's adventure in architecture currently on BBC Two. It is a terrif journey in search of some of the greatest buildings and places of the world. Places I never heard of - or see.
It made me curious to his other earlier series - which I am now downloading :-)
I was at the Dutch Institute for Image and Sound in Hilversum to have atour at their archive. It is huge with more then 80.000 hours of television alone. In the picture you see one of the 54 vaults they have packed with tapes. The nice thing about this archive is that everyone can search and watch fragments.
A nice article of Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker of last week: how humans can invent if they just put their minds to it. We all recognize that when brainstorming some amazing ideas can pop up. Why don't we do this more often? It could help to overcome some of the major issues we are facing today.
ASIMO, met its latest challenge yesterday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony in a performance of
"The Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha."
"Hello, everyone," ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra. As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked the actions of a conductor,
nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both
hands. ASIMO took a final bow to enthusiastic shouts from the audience.
The police found a dead body in the canal in front of my house today...
MALAYSIA, PENANG: Police detained 14 men in a fitness and sauna centre believed to be a front for gay activities the police from the state anti-vice department also seized 1,800 pieces of condoms from the premises. The raid was part of an on-going operation codenamed Ops Rose aimed at curbing immoral activities
Niels Helmink is the technical manager of Erwin Olaf and creates his own photographs as well. His latest work is of shopkeepers in their shop where time stood still.
Robert Downey Jr is great as Iron Man. A little bit to much Audi for my taste - for the rest an enjoyable movie.
In this weeks episode of Brothers and Sisters Scotty and Kevin are married: A USA primeime network first. :-)
Just saw The Bankjob a great movie based on actual events around the 1970's in London. A couple of guys rob a bank and discover some interesting compromising pictures. Jason Statham stars. A pity that the release in Holland is due in July 2008.
I made my choice for my new bike: The brand new CB1000R in Pearl Cool White :-)
At Honda Amsterdam I met by coincidence the manager of Honda Netherlands and his European (Japanese) boss. They were very happy that I was customer number 1 for this bike. It should be delivered midd of June.
The only thing I need now is a drivers licence...
I was invited at the CEO dinner of MailMerge which was at this nice Lighthouse Ship in the Harbor of Amsterdam.
I heard yesterday the news that J.J. Voskuil died on May 1st. He was the writer of the largest novel in Dutch history (5058 pages...) describing 30 years of his work at a scientific office at the middle of the 20st century in Amsterdam. The novel is remarkeable because nothing happens in it... it just describes the (very boring) life at an office... But we all can relate to that one way or the other it is brilliant.
Bought a large piece of Amber with a couple of insects trapped in it. It is amazing that these creatures were trapped 20 million years ago...
In the middle of no-where (and actually halfway of the famous spice caravan route in ancient days) lies Petra a village that is from about 300 BC. It is unbelievable to see the facades carved out of the rocks. A small caynon leads to the village and it is no wonder that only sice 1812 Petra was rediscovered. We went in very late the first day and very early (06:00) the next day and had the place practically for ourselves. In this quiet surroundings things got even more mystical. It was worth the trip on its own and is something the people of Jordan are rightly very proud.
For me it had the same impact as the Piramids and the valley of the kings in Egypt: Stunning!
After we crossed the heavy security border between Israel en Jordan by foot we took a taxi to Petra - an one and a half drive. The taxi was a Samsung 5 and agreed on a 48 Dinar (about €48) fee. After a minute or so we noticed that the taxi was not heading to Petra but to Aqaba. The driver explained us he had to stop for a moment at his house. Ok we said. After a 5 minute wait, the driver came out with the message that an other car would take us to Petra. In came Azzem with his small Toyota. After crossing Aqaba we stopped again - he had to get a permit to drive us to Petra he said. After a half hour, he came back with a permit and we drove to Petra, at least we expected... we stopped again on the way - he had to deliver the chickens to his wife. After that we stopped several times so he could buy cigarettes and at a mosque so he could say his prayers... :-)
Well: that's Jordan for you. The people are so friendly you simple cannot be angry at them - it their way of life I guess.
The Euro Vision Song Contest is on its way again. Will the Swiss finaly win in Belgrade with Paolo? In a couple of weeks we will know more. Holland will be - as usual - last with Hind...
In a country where everyone has to spend 4 years in the army and therafter every year an other 30 -50 days it is no surprise that guns are very common here in Israel. Where you would see people walking around with a cell phone in other countries, Israeli carry their gun - usualy an Uzi.
