Goddess' characters

The New 'Doctor Who'

2010-04-11T21:01:00.002+02:00

The Doctor's at it again... After the long wait, we've finally gotten a new doctor. But then, what do we really think of it? Now, when I say we've got a nre Doctor, I not only mean that there is a new actor, but there are also new executive producers, ie. head director and head writer.
It's still early, so this is just a preliminary overview.

The Doctor: Matt Smith, the youngest doctor ever, has taken up the reigns to become the new doctor. Most will say, that it's a difficult task, some even, impossible. However, he seems to have a natural playfullnes and charm that is endearing. Plus, I think that the one thing that we see in this doctor that is quite new, is a vulnerability that previous doctors have been scared to show. I think that there's a lot of potential. I think the acting from the first two episodes is top notch.

Amelia Pond: A red-headed scot. Ie. pretty and stubborn. I like her. She's got the insecurity of the little girl that we saw in the first episode, as a little girl, and she's got the grit of Donna Noble.

The directing is interesting. In the first episode they did an entire section in one shots. It gives an interesting view- slightly broken.

It's the writing I'm slightly worried about. At the moment it seems too easily solvable. However, like I said, it's still early. This is just a beginning to the series, and after each episode I'll update.

Greetings from Cardiff

2009-08-16T17:23:00.003+02:00

Hey all,

I'm on the road again. This time back to the UK. Yesterday was exhausting! After waking up at 7 and getting to the airport by 9 to pick up my cousin's girlfriend that was coming into Amsterdam, I discovered that my flight had been pushed back 2 hours. Not only that, but I missed my cousin's girlfriend! At least that's what I think happened, because I couldn't find her. After an hour and a half of waiting I gave up. Deciding to go pin some money to get a much needed cup of coffee, I discovered that I was completely broke! Apparently I still hadn't been paid. Go figure. THIS meant that I would not only be stuck with out coffee, but I wouldn't be able to even get myself from the airport in Bristol to Sandras place!

Luckily for me. Nien and Gilles came to the rescue. Armed with $150 Euros they drove to the airport on their way to Eppe and not only semi-relieved me of my now forming ulcer, but got me out of a tricky situation. So, hereby, thank you Nien and Gilles. You're a Godsend.

I finally checked in at 12 and then spent the next 2 hours waiting to board my flight. It's funny, how when you want something so badly, time seems to slow down to almost a creeping rate and though this summer seems to be flying at an alarming one, let me tell you, those two hours seemed more like an eternity. I could have died, reincarnated and been placed back in those 2 hours and no one but me would have been the wiser.

On a happier note, I sat next to what must have been one of the hottest Welsh men I've seen in a while, who asked me for drinks when I get to Cardiff... If I ever manage to get him on the phone.
I finally arrived at Bristol airport, only to discover that the regular buses to Temple Meade weren't running that day. Just my luck, they had an alternative shuttle service... that ran once in the hour. So by the time I got to Temple Meade, took the train to Bristol Parkway, and then finally a cab to Sandra's place, I was ridiculously late. And more than that, enormously tired. Absolutely knackered if you must know. However, that night was Sandra's bachlorette party, or hen do as it's called here, and so I had all of 10 minutes to change into my psychodelic outfit, fix my hair and makeup and be out the door. Which is why, I landed up asleep in the bus on the way to the city center hugging a plastic bag with 3 wine bottles in it.

Dinner was in an italian restaurant, where I picked penne with chicken and blue cheese. Probably a bad idea. No, really, a very bad idea. The pasta was great. My stomach unfortunately wasn't. My food that day had consisted of a bit of salad for breakfast, a granola bar for lunch and 1 coke somewhere in between. Not very healthy. All this in resulting in the fact that dinner was actually too heavy for me and I had a stomach ache for the rest of the evening.

Afterwards it was bar-hopping. Now, for those of you who've never been out in the UK, let me tell you that it's an experience. Slutty and drunk is the dress-code. The most beautiful girls can look like tramps sometimes. At one point this gorgeous girl walked in. She had a lace dress on that covered only the absolutely necessaries, high heels and perfectly curved hair. All in all- she could have been a model. One hour later... She'd been hit by the ugly-tree... Wobbling on her heels, tripping over herself, dress slipping in all directions, the drunk-sweaty look... the guys around her were hitting on her, but were also too drunk to know the difference between their two heads.

It was great to see Sandra though, and meet some of her other friends.

Hopefully the rest of the trip will go better.

The New Season

2009-05-19T22:06:00.003+02:00

The new season of television for the fall of 2009 has been slated. The beginning of May is when programs once again find themselves on the cuttingroom floor and newly pitched ideas are thrown into the cespool of what is 'hot on television'. Each year we've found, to a growing degree, that the networks have changed their minds on what they consider to be good marketing, but this year seems like any other in this respect as more 'intelligent entertainment' is taken off the air to make room for more cop-shows and reality programs. Which is making 2009 an extension of an old idea.

This year's fall seems to include spin-offs and new ideas for old stories: With NCIS, Stargate and Boston Legal's spinoffs starting fresh (Boston Legal though has been cancelled by ABC after only 5 seasons). Lots of cops, but with a twist, and an occasional sci-fi show- They're bringing back "V".

It's also a year for famous people coming to tv (or back to tv). The new spin-off for NCIS for example, may include LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell in it's cast. Though, this is still a rumor at this time.

CBS has gotten itself a new list of the same old, though with shows like 'House Rules', "Miami Taruma' and 'Back', it seems as if they're trying to experiment just a little. But only Just.

Fox though, has probably the most interesting line-up for new shows, with a drama about a man who wakes up in a woman's body, a treausre hunt drama and a Sci-fi program about 2 different worlds: outer space and vertual reality.

But some shows are staying: Chuck for example, though there are drastic changes being made to it, House, Numb3rs, Bones, Fringe, etc. However look at them: They're Doctor, FBI, FBI, FBI... do you see the pattern here? Vampire shows are out, such as 'Moonlight', and so are rich socialites as in 'Dirty Sexy Money'.

But even he cops don't last if they're not wanted: Life, Eleventh Hour, The Unit (though it's military not cop), Without a Trace. And the old calssics, like King of the Hill, and the remake of Knight Rider, has been booted.

Surprisingly enough, a couple of shows that have been cancelled are also to be picked up at other places. For example, Medium, which was cancelled by NBC is expected to be picked up by CBSm and also from NBC 'My Name is Earl' is being shpped for by both Fox and ABC.

It comes down to the fact, that when it comes to money, networks would rather put out the cash for what is considered a safe bet, rather than being experimental. Who cares what anyone who isn't part of the masses thinks. Time is Money, and they determine what's in each time slot. So we just have to put up and shut up.

So they think...

The lost art

2009-05-10T00:32:00.005+02:00

As I sit here to Midnight Serenade by Glenn Miller, I think about how things have changed. How with the years artforms come and go. And how romance isn't what it used to be.
In the middle ages it was common practice for those who wanted to show her love to play music for their love (either themselves or hire someone to do it for them). Now, I'm not saying that I want some guy to stand outside my door in tights with a mandoline singing off key, but where did it go?

Glenn Miller's score is an ode to this time, this art. It's a travel through time, inviting the listener to fall in love for a few minues.

A beautiful illustration of this is in an episode of Torchwood. Captain Jack gets sent back with one of his team to the second world war, where he encounters the real Captain Jack, an in what seems to be a deep love and regret they dance. The dance is not only one of sadness, but a beautiful eternal love and respect. By taking his name, he is showing an eternal devotion to the soldier that will die the following day. They don't play the serenade at this point, but the sentiment is the same.

It's beautiful. Depressing. Heartwarming.
It's what this ode is about, what this art is about.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1262521949851398710#

Wiiiiiiiiiiii

2009-04-04T11:23:00.002+02:00

So, I now own a wii... which, is in fact one of the coolest things on the market at the moment, in my opinion, when in comes to gaming. Not because it has the coolest games, because, well, those are limited. Niether are the gaphics the most awsome you've ever seen, nor the options available for one to do something with. However, it's one of the first full body experiences. At the end of a good long wii session you're exausted, and relatively sure you're going to have musclepain the next day.

Plus, there's the wii board. Wii fit, though catered towards people that are not regular exersizers, has something for everyone, whether it's learning to balance, becoming more flexible, trying to get fit, or even just having a good time. The games are fun, and require a certain level of concentration, and the exercises are harder to do than one would expect (Espiecially if you're as unbalanced as I am).

As for the games available at the moment, they're somewhat limited. Especially, when you consider that the average gamer does do things on his own or with one other person. The Wii offers a range of party games, but they're 'the more the merrier' type of game.

And of course because the wii is still such a hot item, games are pretty expensive still. 50E is probably the average price for most of the games on the market.

The Many Faces of Men: Male Icons in 1950s America

2009-03-11T13:37:00.002+01:00

The 1950s brought in a change of how men were viewed. This was especially the case with the role of fathers during this time. Until the 1950s and melodramas, the men who dominated film were the ‘manly men’, those that were slightly crazy, or the single bachelors with multiple women. However, by the time the melodrama came to the screen, men were taking on a new role in The United States. They were becoming true fathers with a ‘softer side’. They were known to help around the house, aid in raising children and even bring home an income. At the same time, due to the opening of sexuality the image of sex symbols arose encompassing anyone of large fame at the time. They are what are now seen as normal traits, but in the fifties this was a new phenomenon; one that lasted and that created the image of ‘boy next door’ and ‘super dad’ as well as creating a new kind of sex symbol from these two images.

The ‘boy next door’ image was one that was brought on by Rock Hudson in the 50s. Average, stable, and kind were just some of the traits that gained importance. They were qualities that seemed to be exactly what the people of the time were looking for in a screen hero and when comparing an actor such as Rock Hudson to other great names of the time such as James Dean and Marlon Brando, one can see where the appeal for this particular image derived from. Dean and Brando were known for being on the wild side, they lived the life of fast cars, women, and an abundance of alcohol with the occasional fight. They were what men wanted to be- tough- but would never. Hudson on the other hand was quiet, tried to live his life as far away from the media, drank moderately, and dated, eventually marrying. He was what most women at the time were looking for, and what men could possibly be. This was the image that changed men. They could be softer and more grown up. Such is the case in the Douglas Sirk films Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows. The role of Rock Hudson usually followed these lines and portrayed precisely these types of men. In the first of the two films he makes the transition from ‘bad boy’ to ‘Boy Next Door’ by adopting a new method of living and thinking, and in the second he plays a man who has no need of fanciful pursuits and no time for people who are other but themselves. He lives a simple life and is happy with what he has and whom he knows.

The second image that the 1950s created was that of the father. As mentioned, previously father roles was that of money-maker, however, in the 50s there was a shift in this respect as fathers started taking on a more active role within the house by helping with the children and household work. There was an increase for example, in how many men knew how to change diapers, or knew of pregnancy stages. These men were the grown up versions of the ‘Boy Next Door.’ They were trustworthy, good husbands and fathers who were to be found in the home, not only in bars or at work. They went to their son’s football game, and managed to work at the same time in order to keep food on the table and electricity in the house. Rock Hudson was the icon of this type of man as well. Hudson dated in the beginning of his carrier, but unlike Dean or Brando kept his dating habits quiet, and eventually settled down with Phyllis Gates in 1955.[1] For the three years he was married, Hudson was seen as the perfect husband. This was most likely brought on by his pre-marital image, and his movie roles. Funny enough, though, in both Magnificent Obsession and All that Heaven Allows the father figure is missing. In both cases we get the impression that the father possessed all the qualities that were being searched for in men, however, through death did not appear in the story. Also, though, not a melodrama, his role in Lover Come Back (1961) contains a perfect example of the father role. After a drunken night where Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) and Carol Templeton (Dorris Day) accidentally get married and consummate their marriage, they manage to get an annulment and Webster moves across the United States in order to give Templeton space. Templeton meanwhile, is pregnant but does not enlighten Webster and when she goes into labour Webster is told. The impression the audience receives when Webster arrives at the hospital to witness the birth and confront his ex-wife is that he is a man who feels as thought he has missed something crucial in the previous months. It is as if he has been hoping or rather dreaming of starting a family and was forced to miss out on it. The desire of having a family drew many men at the time and resulted in America’s post- World War II baby boom.[2]

The ‘boy next door’ and ‘super dad’ became a new type of sex symbol towards the end of the 50s. Rock Hudson’s movies allowed for previously not noticed men to feel like heroes. They could star in movies; be cowboys, gardeners, stupid multimillionaires, run corporate companies; and win over the beautiful woman with which to start a family. The viewer sees a woman like Joyce Philips, who married an outstanding doctor well loved in the community and yet she finds it in her heart to forgive and fall in love with Bob Merrick. All of a sudden there is a realisation that if she can forgive a man for his faults and fall in love with him for his new found strengths he must really be a good guy. Just like in the early 90s the person with glasses was the geek, before the 50s dangerous men were attractive. This was the image that launched both Marlon Brando’s and James Dean’s carriers. With Rock Hudson’s carrier though, it was the industries way of showing that being normal and stable was the appropriate and attractive thing to do. Slowly the dangerous look began to fade and more ‘boy next door’ figures began making an appearance and Rock Hudson was inducted one of the first men to match the description for this particular sex symbol.

Rock Hudson was beyond a doubt one of the strongest icons of men in the fifties. He brought to the movies a wholesomeness that was previously missed and gave men a new idol to strive to be- could be. It became cool to be good and appealing to be kind and just. This was just the beginning of the chain reaction, though, paving the way for the coming out of homosexuals almost thirty years later. Once again Rock Hudson was a strong member in this movement, not only coming out and telling people that he was a homosexual, but also began the awareness movement connected to AIDS. In a time where social and medial change was inevitable, Rock Hudson and his peers helped shape men in society into beings that can be considered small personal heroes: Fathers and Husbands. Also, with the Post World War II baby boom underway, and a steady increase in the amount of children born in the subsequent years the ‘super-dad’ role continued to thrive and more men committed to family life. The trend still seems to be changing as the notion of stay-at-home-dad can from time to time be seen in some current families. This trend is obviously partially a result of what was sent in motion in the 1950s and will continue to change over the course of time.

[1] Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boom, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-WW2_baby_boom

50 questions

2009-03-01T17:27:00.007+01:00

1. Should boxing be banned?
No. Why?

2. Should the driving age be raised to 18?
Yes. At 16 You're not even an adult, and considered responsible, so why should you be
able to endanger the lives of others?

3. Should semi-automatic weapons be banned?
Yes, to the public.

4. Should teens who murder be executed?
No one should be executed.

5. Should hunting be outlawed?
It should be regulated in each individual area.

6. Should recycling be mandatory?
Manditory? No. Requested? Yes.

7. Should schools require student uniforms?
Absolutely. It's easier for the students and better for the administration. Students can
be intellectually different, they don't need to have different clothes to show how they
differ.

8. Should college athletes be paid?
No. It's EXTRA-curricular. They don't have to do it. Education comes first.

9. Should condoms be available in high school?
Yes. For the safety of their students. They're going to do it anyway, so promote saftey!

10. Should the death penalty be abolished?
Yes.

11. Should handguns be banned?
To civilians.

12. Should assisted suicide be permitted?
Yes, but under the strictest guidelines.

13. Should legal immigration be stopped?
You could try...

14. Should dying people be kept on life support?
It should be decided by the family and doctors.

15. Should tobacco products be banned?
You could try that too... All I'm saying is Contraband.

16. Should the logging industry be allowed to harvest public forests?
Absolutely not. They should grow their own.

17. Should state lotteries be banned?
No. Why?

18. Should alcoholic beverages be banned?
Can you say the C-word

19. Should alcoholic beverages be legalized for all ages?
For all ages no, but there should be a difference in age when it comes to hard and soft liquer

20. Should the Internet be censored?
not unless there isn't freedom of speech.

21. Should school prayer be allowed?
Yes, but students shouldn't be forced to participate.

22. Should music lyrics be censored?
Freedom of speech.

23. Should extremist groups (i.e. KKK, skinheads)be banned?
Freedom of speech, but they should be monitered closely.

24. Should parents of teen vandals be held responsible for their child's damage?
It depends on the age of the teens and the damage.

25. Should research on cloning be discontinued?
No, but there should be strict oversight.

26. Should convicted sex offenders' names be made public?
Absolutely not. They have a right to live in peace like anyone else. Unless they do something else illigal

27. Should affirmative action laws which give special privileges to minorities be eliminated?
Yes. I think that to be united, people must get through it together and with the same leverage. Segregation helps no one.

28. Should a rookie salary cap be enforced in pro sports?
All sports players should have capped salaries.

29. Should the U.S. provide foreign aid?
It's the responsibility of all nations to can help to help.

30. Should females in the military be excluded from combat and other "hazardous" duties?
Why? Are women worth more than men? They're still sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands.

31. Should high schools be segregated by the sex of the student?
To what end?

32. Should parents of students who are excessively absent from school be prosecuted under the law?
Isnt' failing enough of a punishment?

33. Should "home schooling" be permitted?
Why not. If parents think they can do better let them. However, parents should be advised against it. They miss out on the eperiences and I can't imagine it being anything but lonely.

34. Should Native Americans be allowed to have gambling casinos on their reservations?
yes. Should they fall into the trap laid against them and get stuck in the ruck? No.

35. Should students failing their classes in high school have their driver's license revoked?
No, a lot of students would have no way to get to school then. How would that help?

36. Should pros be allowed to draft college athletes before they graduate?
No. It doesn't force them to finish their education, which they should.

37. Should wolves be reintroduced to public lands?
Is that safe?

38. Should free, disposable needles be given to drug addicts?
yes. Rather that than HIV.

39. Should marijuana be legalized?
No. People mistake it for being legalized in The Netherlands. It isn't legal. There are just no laws saying that it can't be used.

40. Should adopted children be given the choice of contacting their biological parents?
absolutely. Roots are important. They mold people. Also it's important to know any medical problems that could occur.

41. Should mothers who give their children up for adoption be allowed to keep their identity secret?
If they so desire.

42. Should welfare be limited by time?
No. But people should be actively searching. If they aren't

43. Should all pregnant women be required to take an AIDS test?
Not unless the doctor think's it's neccessary

44. Should off-shore drilling be banned?
It's bad for the environment, but there's supply and demand, and considering that we're running low on everything. Until we find alternate things to use, I suppose we're going to have to keep drilling.

45. Should school funding come from local property taxes?
Property taxes? Well, not at the moment, with this economy.

46. Should casino gambling be legalized in Ohio?
I'm not sure why it was banned in the first place.

47. Should the U.S. phase out the Electoral College (regarding presidential elections)?
Yes, though I'm not sure that's possible anymore.

48. Should abortion be legal?
Yes.

49. Should universities limit the number of years a student has to finish his/her study?
No. One should be able to learn as long as you want.

50. Should families of victims be allowed to decide the punishment of those who commit crimes?
Absolutely not. How could they be clearheaded enough to make an informed decision.

Because I'm in the Mood...

2009-02-24T00:43:00.001+01:00

A fantastic spoof! A great little piece with David Tennant and Catherine Tate!

List: Children's Picture Books

2009-02-24T00:30:00.002+01:00

A Top 10 of picture books!

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
2. Doctor De Soto byWilliam Steig
3. Jeremiah in the Dark Woods by Janet & Allen Ahlberg
4.The House at Pooh Corner: A Pop-up Book
5. Dinosaurs and All that Rubbish by Michael Foreman
6. Bright Red Kisses by Teresa Toten
7. There's an Awful lot of Weirdos in Our Neighbourhood by Colin McNaughton
8.The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
9. Curious George by H.A. Ray
10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Thanksgiving

2009-02-18T00:01:00.004+01:00

In memory of a genius who gave us years of pleasure. Thank you Charles M. Schulz

List: Romance

2009-02-17T00:12:00.000+01:00

Here's another list... My favorite Romance Writers & Novels

Authors:
1. Julie Garwood
2. Karen Hawkins
3. Julia London
4. Betina Kahn
5. Lyndsay Sands
6. Victoria Alexander
7. Stephanie Laurens
8. Christina Dood
9. Lisa Kleypas
10. Amanda Quick

Novels:
1. Ransom by Julie Garwood
2. Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood
3. The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James
4.To marry a Duke by Julianne MacLean
5. The Last Bachelor by Betina Kahn
6. One Knight Stands by Jocelyn Kelley
7. The Seduction of Sara by Karen Hawkins
8. The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke
9. The Duke by Galen Foley
10. The Rake by Susanne Enoch

Note: I'd like to also note the works of Gorgette Heyer... All of them! However, I'm still in ups on weather I'm going to consider that romance or literature.... in my opinion we'd have to put it in the same light as Jane Austen.

Riddle me this, Riddle me that...

2009-02-16T21:56:00.006+01:00

Here's a poem by sylvia platt...

Metaphors

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Hey Mr. Producer! I'm talking to you....

2009-02-15T19:45:00.004+01:00

Originally I was going to do this post about the woman who'd had 8 kids in the united states, but after watching TV this evening, I've decided that the television industry is going to get the brunt of my anger.

Even though we, here in Holland, are a couple weeks behind in television, I'm not the kind of person to read ahead to see what's going on. So imagine my surprise when one of my favorite characters from Ghost Whisperer died. In the television world now, there are few shows that show marriage in a good light. There's lying, hurt, divorce, and much more. Ghost Whisperer is one of the few shows where that isn't the case. There's a loving relationship where the relationship isn't the issue, rather the science fiction is. That the foundation is steady in the relationship allows one to just enjoy it and he storyline. Now that they've killed off the rock of the marriage, it's turning back only the ongoing soap wheel that's today's television.

In the same way a lot of other shows were cancelled and good characters were cut. Look at for example Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. A fantastic show, and cancelled before the 1st season could even end properly. Or, how about Firefly, Angel, Amsterdam, or Dirty Sexy Money. All shows that were cancelled before their time.

Or how about Birkoff from La Femme Nikita, Doyle from Angel, Kate in NCIS, Janet Fraiser in Stargate SG-1, Mrs. Landingham from the West Wing, Admiral Fitzwallace from the West Wing... I'm sure everyone has a couple characters they can think of.

I understand the need to go in a different direction, and for most of the above named shows a death is a great way to introduce new characters and keep the storylines fresh, but the above named characters are for the most part replaceable. In the case of Ghost Whisperer I'm not sure if that's possible. They built the character up too well to just replace him in my opinion. And after going back on my origional promise not to look ahead, there was no way after tonight's episode that I wasn't going to do that. Lukily because it's a sci-fi show they're able to bring the character back for a couple episodes. But how will the show survive into the next season? Especially after a lot of the viewers are contemplating never watching the show again.

So here's what I say to producers and the people sitting behind the desks at the television corperations: Give us real television. We're smart enough to understand well written television, and we're looking for variation. Don't fill all the tv spots with the same junk. If I really wanted to watch a soap opera I would. Instead what are you offering us? Half a dousan of the same types of shows. FBI Shows? atleast 4 I can think of at the top of my head, and all of them are in some way bringing science/math into the foreground.

Whatever happened to originality?

We have the choice nowerdays between the same types of shows and reality tv. Which I wont get into. That would need an entire rant in itself.

Bring back good television.

Please.

He said it didn't happen... was he living in a hole?

2009-02-07T18:46:00.005+01:00

In the 1960s there was a group of 4 members of the Catholic church that rebelled against the church's modernization and consecrated men in an unsanctioned ceremony. In 1988 they were excommunicated.

Last week the excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI. What people are most confused about isn't that they were allowed back into the church, but rather, that the Pope embraced them just days after the Sweedish news released an interview with Bishop Williamson, who stated: "I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against -- is hugely against -- 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler." He then went on to say that he didn't believe in gas chambers. The Bishop did not deny the death of "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them [died] by gas chambers." Aparently he thought that the death of 6 million Jews wasn't possible.

As you can imagine, this sent red flags all over the place.

The head of the society Williamson belongs took distance from him, stating that his colleague made his own statements, and the Pope tried to mend ties with the Jewish community by not denying that he believed that the gas chambers had existed. However, he did not openly take action against the bishop.

Was this wrong?

I'm as open as they come on a lot of issues. I uderstand that there are always two different sides to an argument. But was this guy living under a rock? Williamson is 68, which means that he was born in the second world war, and although this happened in the UK, the fact that he doesn't believe it happened begs the question of how did he come to believe this? Doesn't the fact that some countries consider such comments punishable under hate-crimes, ring something for him?

He did send a letter in appology, but the appolgy was to the Pope and his head of PR, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. In it he didn't deny what he said, nor did he say he had made a mistake, but rather he was sorry for the rukus he had caused the Holy Father.

The Jewish community is supposed to get an appology any day now. But is that enough? Should the pope appologise for reinstating the priest? Can he be excommunicated agian? Should we be happy he's old and in ill health and that he'll probably die at some point?

I personally think that the answer is no. Perhaps I'm looking at this through my partial catholic upbriging, but I just do not see how any of this will help. It won't fix years of work and talk between the church and the Jewish Community. Nor will it retract the statement that has been put out.

Perhaps the solution is to reeducate those that speak out that way. A fieldtrip to Auswitz perhaps. Maybe they need to be sat in a room and hit on the head with the overabundent information from the time.

But I think that it is important to remember. This is all the doing of one man and not the institution. And though he may be misled in thinking that he should be dipping into a political arena, when his job is to help his congregation to enrich their christian lives.

The damage is done. Let us hope that it can be cleaned to a point that both parties can move on in their relationship to bring the Catholic Church and the Jewish Community closer.

Funny people

2008-12-30T12:49:00.006+01:00

For those who have been following my blog, you might be interested in looking at the blog of PJMulroy. She's a close friend, and someone I regularly knock mu ideas around with. Her last blog was about how we were looking at a bunch of different comedians, that when she placed one on her blog I thought: "Who else is out there?"

I personally like comedy that's intelligent. It doesn't need to have an abunance of bad language. If you're going to use it, use it for a reason. So, I've been you tubing to see what's out there:

I suppose I should start with Russell Peters. He's probably what can be considered the new brilliance of Canada. He pushes boundries, what's PC, race, and habits of different cultures. All without binking an eye. He's the first Indian comedian.

Then there's Rhod Gilbert, the Welsh funny man. He was a finalist in the Channel 4 'So You Think You're Funny' Competition 2002 and the winner of the Gift Of The Gag 2003 and BBC Comedy Awards 2003 competitions. He talks about games, religion, sex shops and travel among others, a definate must see.

Oh and Stephan K. Amos. He was raised in London after his family moved there from Africa in the 60s. He does a great Nigerian accent and can talk about and imitate almost every time of londoner.

Michael McIntyre has a fantastic sketch about a 'man drawer'. His life experiences are included as he talks about his wife and children and he quickly adapts to his audiences.

D L Hughley isn't really the type of comedian that I would usually watch because of his obscene use of language. But his observational humor about whites, blacks, and mexicans are spot on. He borders and flirts with racism but then again makes it aware that that sort of racism really exists in ways that we in Europe don't really see or understand.

Ed Byrne is an irish well of comedic knowledge. His chatty nature draws audiences in quickly.

Steve Byrne is Korean-Irish American and has gotten the nickname of the karate kid of comedy because of his martial arts material.

And though he might look dsigusitingly like a former member of kiss, Russel Brand is hilarious. He pokes fun at gender stereotypes and makes plain the devide between manly men and the 'softer side of sears'.

Nina Conti is one of the few great ventrilaquist acts left. She's so cute becausew she giggles and turns red as she works.

Chris Rock's stand up is in a class of his own. Though people may not understand all the references because they are so North American, it's easy to see why he is so good. Not only does he talk about politics, race, and family values, but he does it in a way that anyone would be able to see the joke. Bigger and Blacker is in my opinion a piece of beauty.

Lastly I would like to mention Australia's Dave Hughes. Hughsie as he is often referred to is one of Australias leading comics. He talks fast and he's got beady eyes, but he's fantastic, covering gender, family, and society among other topics.

These are the people who are heading the stage today, but there have been others before worth mentioning: Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connelly, Bob Hope, George Burns, Eddie Izzard, Joan Rivers, Candance Burgen and of coarse the eternal Abbot and Costello, with their famous sketch "Who's on First." It's an icon in American comedy and a must see for everyone.

Quaint

2008-12-18T11:58:00.002+01:00

I'm in the UK at the moment staying with friends in Aylesbury. They recently moved from The Netherlands here and now live in what has to be the cutest little house that I've ever seen! It's a real cottage, and if you're thinking, aren't cottages small? you're not far off. It really is. The entire house is about 70 meters squared. But I'm in love with it!

When you walk in the front door there's a small living room with a period fireplace that's the focal point of the room. There's white painted wooden cupboards on both sides. The door on the other side leads to the kitchen, which is the biggest room of the house. The cupboards are also white wood, which is exactly what you would expect. The door to the right leads to a small hallway which in turn leads to the bathroom of good size. It's cold in there in the morning, but it's big enough for myself and two friends to do our evening toilette in.

The other door in the kitchen leads to the garden, which is questionable bigger than the house itself. It'll make a great place for the summer with a raised platform.

In the kitchen there's also a staircase leading up to the second floor. Upstairs there are two bedrooms, no hallway, pretty much the stairs lead right to the doors. Both rooms are spacious and the hard wood floors there, complete with paint splatters add a great character to the house. It's small, but anyone walking in would automatically feel like they're home.

I do.

Today's plans are to go to oxford. It's about an hours drive from here and is one of the oldest and prestegious of England, with it's famous university.

Have a good day and see you all soon!

The different faces of Facebook

2008-12-16T16:43:00.003+01:00

Facebook, a global website created as a means for people to get in touch with friends and meet new people has been used in a new way. As a way to pass legal documents. In Australia the courts allowed a lawyer in Canberra to serve a couple who had not paid their loan installments over facebook. It was used as a last resort because the couple were not to be reached over the phone, by email, or at home. This was the first time that something like this has happened and the Australian courts said that they'll continue using facebook as a tool as long as it is used appropriately and through a message, not on people's walls so that others might read.

I think this is pretty rediculous. And I'm not sure it's all that legal. What about if you've given your password to someone else. I myself use a set number of passwords, all of which my brother and a couple other people know. As much as I love my brother, I wouldn't want him to know of financial or legal problems until I was ready to tell him.

I'm not for it. Who's to say we wont start doing this kind of stuff by text messege. Where will we draw the line?

Bush Gets Shoe-ed

2008-12-14T23:00:00.002+01:00

I think I saw one of the funniest videos today. During his visit to Iraq, Someone in the press room took off his shoes and threw them at President Bush. The lame duck president managed to duck in time. But I'm wondering: Where was the secret service? Aren't they supposed to step infront of the president. I know it wasn't a bullet, but still, what if there had been a brick in the shoe, or if it had been lined with lead? Instead of them, know who put themselves between the American President and the shoe? The Iraqi Prime Minister! And after that had happened what did Bush say? "That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know." If that isn't one of the best Bush-isms, I don't know what is.

For a good laugh... http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/14/bush.iraq/index.html

House

2008-12-14T22:52:00.003+01:00

My dad found the deed to the house. Sorry it's in ducth for those that can't read it.

KOOPCONTRACT ********** #, AMSTERDAM, 15 augustus 1814

Op Heden den Vijftienden Augustus des Jaars agttien honderd veertien, des namiddags ten vijf Uuren, ten verzoeke van de Heer Joannes Bernardus Westerwoudt, makelaar, wonende te Amsterdam op de Singel No. 294 als gemagtigde van Hermanus Joannes Uytenbroek blijkens procuratie op den eersten Augustus agttien honderd veertien, ten overstaan van den ondergeteekenden Notaris Hanssen en zijn Ambtgenoot en brevet gepasseerd, welke procuratie, behoorlijk geregistreerd, is geannexeerd aan de Minute van de hier natemeldene Acte der Conditien van Verkoop – zal door Agidius Hanssen en zijn Ambtgenoot , openbare Notarissen resideerdende te Amsterdam in het Locaal voor publieke Verkopingen van ouds genaamd het Oude Zijds Heeren Logement te Amsterdam ingevolge de deswegene gedane annonces worden geprocedeerd tot de publieke vrijwillige Verkoop aan de meestbiedende of hoogst mijnende van
Een distelateurs Winkelhuis en Erve, staande en gelegen te Amsterdam in de ********** het derde Huis van de Heerengracht, wijk 36 No. 459.
Waartoe voormelde Hermanus Johannes Uytenbroek den eigendom heeft bekomen, bij transport op den zeventienden October, des Jaars agttien honderd ses, voor toenmalige Heeren Schepenen in Amsterdam gepasseerd.
Tot de Verkoop van welk perceel hij Requirant bij Acte op den tienden dezer maand Augustus, ten overstaan van den ondergeteekende Notaris Hanssen onder wien de Minute daarvan is berustende, die behoorlijk is geregistreerd, en zijnen Amtgenoot gepasseerd; heeft doen opmaken de vereischte Conditien, welke ten kantore van gemelde Notaris hebben ter Visie gelegen, en die hij requirant, verzogt aan de gegadigdens als nu voortelezen en vervolgens tot de voorschreevene Veiling te willen overgaan. – En heeft na gedane voorlezen alhier getekend, was geteekend J.B. Westerwoudt.
Ter voldoening aan welk requisitoir den ondergeteekende Notaris Hanssen in tegenwoordigheid van deszelfs ambtgenoot de voorschreeve Conditien hebbende doen voorlezen, dadelijk is overgegaan tot de Veyling van het voorgedachte perceel in maniere navolgende.
Eerstelijk tot het Ontvangen der biedingen van de gegadigdens, waarna den Heere Johannes van Bleyenburg, makelaar, wonende te Amsterdam, in de Lindenstraat no. 46 tot eene Somma van twee duisend drie honderd vijf en twintig Guldens den hoogsten bieder is gebleven, ten gevolge waarvan het voorgenoemde perceel voor de gebodene Som aan hem provisioneerd is toegewezen, welke toewijzing dezelve verklaarde te accepteeren en voorts domicilium te kiesen ter zijnen voormelde woonplaats. En heeft na gedane voorlezing alhier geteekend /:was geteekend:/ J. van Blijenburgh. Boven de voorschreeve gebodene som van twee duisend drie hondervijfentwintig Guldens, is vervolgens gevraagd geworden eene Somma van twee duisend Guldens, welke bij den afslag successievelijk verminderd zijnde tot eene soma van ses honderd Guldens, zo heeft den Heere Arnoldus Schouten, Makelaar, wonende te Amsterdam aan het oude Kerkspleyn No. 39 bij mijning verklaard zich voor de gedachte Som van ses honderd Guldens met bijvoeging van het hoogste bod, ter voormelder Somma van twee duisend drie honderd vijf en twintig Guldens, als koper te stellen van het meergenoemd perceel, ende zulks voor en ten behoeve van den Heere Jan Simons H., Mr. Loodgieter, wonende te Amsterdam in de Beerenstraat No. 9 dewelke hier tegenwoordig, verklaarde deszelve koop also te accepteeren. En na het kiesen van domicilium ter hunne voorschreve woonplaatzen, zoo hebben dezelve na gedane voorlezing alhier geteekend /:was geteekend:/ A. Schouten = J.S. H..
Ten gevolge van welk laatstgemelde, de hiervoren aan den Heere Joannes van Blyenburg als hoogsten bieder gedane provisioneele toewijzing vervallen zijnde; zoo heeft den Heere Joannes Bernoardus Westerwoudt, als verkoper verklaard, het opgenoemde perceel voor de gedachte Som van twee duisend negen honderd vijf en twintig Guldens, definitivelijk te verkopen en toetewijzen, aan gemelden Heere Jan Simons H. die zulks accepteerd, zonder echter van de aan hem gedefereerde keuze bij Conditien vermeld, gebruik te zullen maaken omme daarvan genot te hebben en daarmede naar inhoude van de gemelde Conditien te handelen naar welgevallen. Aannemende en belovende meergenoemden Heere Jan Simons H., omme de voormelde kooppenningen ter Somma van twee duisend negen honderd vijf en twintig Guldens in Conformiteit der gedachte Conditien aan den Verkoper te betalen voor of op den eersten September aanstaande in goed grof ongestempeld Zilvergeld ten kantore van den ondergeteekende Notaris Hanssen, met verder belofte omme allen de overige Conditien en voorwaarden stiptelijk te zullen agtervolgen en nakomen.
Blijvende het voorschreeve perceel aan den Verkoper speciaal gehypothequeerd en verbonden tot dat de koopschat en de door den koper te dragene kosten zullen zijn voldaan. Onder reserve van dit privilegie steld en subrogeerd den Verkoper den Koper en allen de rechten van Eigendom, welke deszelfs principalen op het voorscheeve Perceel zelve mag hebbende; zich daarvan ten behoeve van gemelden kooper ontdoende bij deeze, met Authorisatie omme deeze te doen overschrijven, ter plaatse daar het behooren zal.
Tot nakoming dezer, kiezen parthijen domicilium ter hunner voormelde woonplaatsen.
Waarvan Acte – Gedaan en gepasseerd in Amsterdam ter plaatse, mitsgaders ten dage, maand en Jaare voormeld. En hebbende Comparanten benevens ons Notarissen na gedane voorlezing de Minute dezer onderteeken, welke gebleven is in de bewaring en het bezit van den ondergeteekenden Notaris Hanssen /:was geteekend:/ J.B. Westerwoudt = J.S. H. = Agidius Hanssen, Notaris = H. Happe, Notaris . Geregistreerd te Amsterdam den zestienden Augustus 1814 D5 fol. 149 & C4al. Ontvangen met de verhogingenhonderd zeven en veertig Guldens, zeven Stuivers en vier Penningen /:was geteekend:/ Abbema Voorafschrift H. Happe, Notaris, Agidius Hanssen, Notaris.

Overgeschreeven den sestiende Augustus 1816 aan het kantoor van bewaring der Hypotheeken te Amsterdam fol 36A. Een ter zelder dage genoomen ambtshalve inschrijving. Geregistreerd 8 ok 15 Art.27.
1e Regt van overschrijving f 43-17-0
Ontvangen het hierneven staande 2e Zegel van de registers f 3- 6-0
Bedrag van vijfenzestig Guldens f 47- 4-0
zestien stuivers tien penningen 3e 10 en 16 add f 12- 5-6
10 en 16 add daaronder begrepen f 59- 9-6
4e Depot recif salaris 5-17-10
5e Salaris des ambtshalve insp 9-10
f 65-16-10
De Hypotheekbewaarders
(onleesbaar)

Bookstores

2008-12-11T22:07:00.002+01:00

Anyone that knows me can attest to the fact that I love books. Books, movies/tv, and writing are probably my biggest loves. My biggest hobby after that... buying books. On CNN.com today you'll find this great list of what they consider the best bookstores in the world to be. Not necessarily regarding content but location, architecture and beauty. You'll find them at: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/12/11/iconic.bookshops/index.html

If that isn't enough, here's another list: http://www.bookstoreguide.org/

And if you want some pics... http://www.miragebookmark.ch/most-interesting-bookstores.htm

Oh, and don't forget libraries:http://www.miragebookmark.ch/most-interesting-libraries.htm

Architecturally also the Chicago Public library on state street is amazing from the outside, with gargoyles looking down on you. Also the National Library of Kwala Lumpur is a sight to see. The experience inside is even better. I've never seen such a complicated library before!
And not to forget the Unversity of Cardiff's library. Also a beauty.

So, I'm up for a trip to Maastricht. I really have to see that bookstore. I'll go from there.

Pandora's vs Eve's Daughter

2008-12-03T23:26:00.000+01:00

Lately I've been thinking about Pandora's Box. The whole idea of it is just mind boggling and twisted and of course vastly amusing, especially considering everything that has gone on during our history.

For those of you who don't know Pandora's story, here you are:

"At one time the only mortals on the earth were men. Prometheus had made them, Athene had breathed life into them. The chief god Zeus did not like them.
One day Prometheus was trying to solve a quarrel that was raging between the gods and the men. At a festival the men were going to sacrifice a bull for the first time. They asked him which parts of the bull should be offered to the gods and which should be eaten by men. Prometheus decided to play a trick on Zeus. He killed the bull, skinned it and butchered it. He split it into two portions; in one he put the best, lean meat. In the second he put bones followed by a thick layer of fat. Prometheus offered both to Zeus to take his choice. Zeus looked at both portions; one looked good but was rather on the small side, the other was much larger and covered in a layer of fat which Zeus felt must cover the best, tastiest portion of meat. He chose that one. When Zeus realised that he had been tricked he was furious. He took fire away from man so that they could never cook their meat or feel warm again.
Prometheus reacted immediately flying to the Isle of Lemnos where he knew the smith Hephaestus had fire. He carried a burning torch back to man. Zeus was enraged. He swore vengeance and started making an evil plan.
Zeus, set Hephaestos the task of creating a clay woman with a human voice. Hephaestos worked and worked and created a masterpiece. Athene, goddess of wisdom and Zeus' daughter liked the clay figure and she breathed life into it. She taught the woman how to weave and clothed her. Aphrodite the goddess of love made her beautiful. The god Hermes taught her to charm and deceive.
Zeus was pleased with what he saw, but he had made her as a trap. He named the woman Pandora and sent her as a gift to Epimetheus. Epimetheus had been warned by his brother Prometheus that he should never accept gifts from Zeus because there would always be a catch. Epimetheus ignored his brother's warning, fell in love with Pandora and married her. Zeus, pleased that his trap was working gave Pandora a wedding gift of a beautiful box. There was one condition however...that was that she never opened the box.
For a while they were very happy. Pandora often wondered what was in the box but she was never left alone so she never opened it. Gradually over a while she began to wonder more and more what was in the box. She could not understand why someone would send her a box if she could not see what was in it. It got very important to find out what was hidden there.
Finally she could stand it no longer. One day when everyone was out she crept up to the box, took the huge key, fitted it carefully into the lock and turned it. She lifted the lid to peep in but before she realized it the room was filled with terrible things: disease, despair, malice, greed, old age, death, hatred, violence, cruelty and war. She slammed the lid down and turned the key again...keeping only the spirit of hope inside." (http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/carolrb/greek/pandora.html)

Now, the moral of the story is that no matter how bad it gets, hope is still there. Except that my question becomes: How do we get to hope if it's still in the box?! We've got everything else. Why was that not made available to us? And why didn't anyone tell the poor girl what was inside. Why would Zeus even want to do that? I realize that it was to trick man, but still, it kind of feels like when my brother took my Barbies and decided that they'd be better of decapitated. How do you play with them after that? At least in the Bible when Eve ate from the apple and she and Adam were banished from Eden, their punishment was exile, death and pain at childbirth and the knowledge of good and evil. This is a whole other ball game.

I'm not saying that in Christianity God can't be vindictive, of course he can and has been. Look at the great flood and God tricked Adam and Eve (through the snake) into eating from the tree of knowledge. After all if God knows everything he would have known that it would happen. One could look at these stories that way, and for hundreds of years they were. However, there's a big difference between the opening of Pandora's Box (or rather jar) and childbirth, death, banishment, and knowledge of good and Evil.

First of all most women survive bearing children nowadays. According to a study done by UNICEF, WHO, and UNFPA; Maternal death in developed countries averages at about 1 in 2,800. In Africa it's 1 in 16. Compared to 2 hundred years ago, there's definitely a drastic change (http://www.who.int/whosis/mme_2005.pdf ). We're getting better at keeping our women alive. Next death, imagine over-population, I’m not saying we should all die, but it would get crowded without some sort of control. Banishment seems a little severe. I know that they were kicked out of Eden, but it is not as if we have it so bad at the moment. Anyone who has been to the top of Mount Sinai at Dawn or Niagara Falls, or even central Amsterdam could probably attest to that. These are my favorite places in the world, and each one of us has our own little heaven on earth. And lastly, Knowledge of good and evil- is it truly that bad to have that knowledge? It isn’t the knowing that is a pain, but rather the responsibility that is. Just because we know about it does not mean that it was already there.

Pandora on the other hand isn't considered that lucky. She's been remembered in history as the woman who released all evils. Or rather "disease, despair, malice, greed, old age, death, hatred, violence, cruelty and war." If I were her I'd ask for my money back.
Let’s look at her list: Disease, well we eradicated small pox, but now it’s back as a biological warfare. In 2006 National Geographic even said that the measles is back and that there are people in the United States at risk. Despair, well, wherever there is war and fear there’s despair. Israel and Palestine cannot seem to figure it out, nor Pakistan and India; but those are our ‘never ending wars’. What about the wars the western world seems to start, like Afghanistan and Iraq. The world is still at war with the Al-Qaida and that looks like it will never end. Malice seems to be all over the place and in all forms such as betrayal and abuse. Some people are just twisted. How many people in the world have become corrupt and as a result greedy? Old age and death, well, there is no getting out of that. Hatred and violence and cruelty are also things that we may try to prevent, but that does not seem to go away.

So yes, I’d rather be the daughter of Eve, but in the end we’re a combination of both ladies. We cannot seem to keep our grubby hands out of the cookie jar, and nor should we. Science is full of mishaps waiting to happen and things accidently being discovered through each mistake: dynamite from nitroglycerin for example by Alfred Nobel, or Velcro by George de Mestral.

All in all we should be lucky with what we have and remember that there is a Niagara Falls when we feel outbalanced by all the evils, because they make all the beautiful things all the sweeter. We may not truly have hope, but in the end I think we have something a lot more powerful: belief.

TV

2008-12-02T05:11:00.000+01:00

At the moment television is having a boom. The writers strike did it a lot of good and we're getting some really good television out of it. Albight a lot of it is some sort of twist on a FBI show.
Let's have a look at some of them:

Bones: This season has once again been top notch. The characters are prehaps even wittier than before.
Boston Legal: This show keeps getting better and better. This season is seeing a whole new kind of funny.
Dr. Who: Actually one of the 2 shows from the UK i'm watching at the moment. David Tennant the current Dr is leaving with an introduction to the new one on christmas day. A must see for any sci-fi lover!
Eleventh Hour: X-files-y but good. It's biology and FBI cases in one. It's new though so who knows where it will go.
Fringe: Another great twist on the old story. FBI agents that investigate fringe science. It's got bad guys, good guys, science and a whole lot of funny. It's new, so we'll have to keep an eye on it, but it looks like a keeper. Then again I said that about Studio 60.
House: Everyone's favorite doctor. The man's a nut. Brilliant but a nut and I love him for it. It's become a lot more melodramatic, but none the less there is craziness!
Stargate Atlantis: In it's last season and I'm loving it more than ever. The original lasted a good 10 years and I didn't regret any of it. This is adding to the tradition. Even with the last movie being dissapointing.
Supernatural: The writing is getting a lot grittier. Yes there is the whole religion thing coming into play, ever since they discovered Angels, but it's nothing like Touched by an Angel and these Angels are just as dangerous as some of the demons.
Top Gear: The other UK show. It's for car nuts and the rest of us alike. Great humor, crazy stunts and adventures. They even occasionally have a 'star in a reasonably priced car' that I know of! This show gets more ludecris and as it does it gets even more addictive. This season just adds to the trend.
Numb3rs: The math is still easy to understand and the stories are good as well as the character development.

These are the ones I'm watching at the moment. But there are some old ones that I'm either getting back into, never lost touch with or discovering for the first time.

Angel: Great stories, great characters and great monsters. It's about life after highschool and the nightmare of it all. RIP
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Some of the best writing in television in my opinion. It's Highschool and life after. The difficulties we face and the chalanges that we meet. RIP
Dexter: I just finished watching season 1. If I ever make time to get any further I'll let you know what I think. But it's original and whitty. A must see for any crime buff.
NCIS: I'm actually just getting into this and have just started season 3. So far it's good. I'll let you know what I think when I've caught up
Stargate SG-1: I really miss this show. Especially Richard Dean Anderson. But age gets to everyone. It was good until the end. I mean it, the last episode was dissapointing. Especially the last movie. But it had travel, distant cultures, time jumping, space hopping, physics and people in military uniform... what more could you or would you need? RIP
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: It died too young. It should have survived. The 'sequal' of the West Wing, with the same writers, directors and some of the same actors! RIP
West Wing: Arguably the best show ever made. It had great writing and acting. There was a dip when Aaron Sorkin left, but the last two seasons made more than up for it. If you haven't seen it and like drama with a dash of humor... GO SEE IT!!!! RIP
X-Files: This show will always have a spot in my heart. It really introduced me to television and true script writing. You laughed, you cried and occasionally you were even scared. RIP.

There's probably a lot more. But this is my list.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T23:57:00.003+01:00

Happy Thanksgiving.

So I've been thinking about what I should be thankful for this year.

That I'm healthy again
That I have my parents and my brother
All the people that managed to get Barack Obama elected
Fantastic friends
M&Ms
Supernatural

now I'm just getting silly... but truely. I give thanks for everyone in my life who has helped shape and mold me into what I am today. My mother, you are my inspiration. My brother, you are my rock. Dad, you are my confidant. And my friends, you're the shoulders I need. You carry my to new levels and help me discover things about myself.

And on a happy note I leave you with an excerpt from the West Wing. It's from Shibboleth:

C.J.: I’m sorry to ask you this, sir.
BARTLET: Not too late to stop yourself.
C.J.: I need you to pardon a turkey.
BARTLET: I already pardoned a turkey.
C.J.: I need you to pardon another one.
BARTLET: Didn’t I do it right?
C.J.: You did it great, but I need you to come out here and pardon another one.
BARTLET: Aren’t I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?
C.J.: Sir, could you come out here and just get this over with?
BARTLET: No, I’m not just gonna get this--What the hell is going on?
C.J.[approaches]: They sent me two turkeys. The most photo-friendly of the two gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s zoo. The runner-up gets eaten.
BARTLET: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.
C.J.: Mr. President...
BARTLET: Just buy the second turkey.
C.J.: They already sold it.
BARTLET: There’s not much I can do.
C.J.:You can pardon the turkey.
BARTLET: The turkey hasn’t committed a crime.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: C.J., I have really no judicial jurisdiction over birds.
C.J.: Yes, I know that, and you know that, but Morton Horn doesn’t know that.
BARTLET: Who’s Morton...?
C.J.: He’s a high school kid from the turkey place.
BARTLET: He’s in high school and he doesn’t know I can’t pardon his turkey?
C.J.: That’s what I’m betting.
BARTLET: C.J., if we don’t and I mean completely overhaul public education in this country...
C.J.: Yes sir, but maybe this is not the best time to...
BARTLET: Where the hell is he?
C.J.: Right out there.

Bartlet immediately heads for the door, with C.J. following behind him. As Bartlet and C.J. come out of the Oval Office, we see Donna and Morton by the door of the room near Charlie’s desk. Troy, the turkey, is in front of them.

C.J.: Morton, this is President Bartlet.
BARTLET: Hey, Morton.
MORTON: Wow.
BARTLET: Well said. Is that the turkey?
DONNA:Yes.
BARTLET[to the turkey]: You’re pardoned.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: What do you want?
C.J.[with hand gestures]: Well, you know...
BARTLET[to the turkey again]: By the power vested in me by the Constitution of the United States, I hereby pardon you.
MORTON[pleased]: Okay.
BARTLET: No, it’s not okay.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: Morton, I can’t pardon a turkey. If you think I can pardon a turkey, then you have got to go back to your school and insist that you be better prepared to go out in the world.
DONNA: You can’t pardon a turkey?
BARTLET[beat]: No. I tell you what I can do. I’m drafting this turkey into military service. In the meantime, somebody will be drafting a check, which will have my signature on it, so the folks can buy themselves a Butterball.
MORTON: Okay.
C.J.: Donna, will you have Morton take Troy back to his pen, and remember to support his hindquarters.
BARTLET[quietly to C.J.]: What’s wrong with him?
C.J.: The turkey’s hindquarters.

Morton picks up Troy and walks off with Donna

Back in NYC

2008-11-04T21:33:00.000+01:00

I'm sitting here in Akeli's apartment and watching the race with Stephan. We were supposed to watch it at Akeli's office with her and her colleagues, but one of the states... I can't remember which... put abortion on the ballot. So, as a result they're working around the clock putting together things for a press conference tonight after the election is over and everything is called. So until she gets home at 1 I'm going to write, watch CNN, and drink my orange juice.
At this point, I'm waiting for Indiana and Kentucky. The polls closed at 6 and so far it looks like Kentucky is going to McCain.

In a couple seconds the next group of polls will close. Vermont, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. CNN has already projected Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain. In Kentucky even the 18-25 year olds voted for McCain. Hmm... odd. These are exit polls though... so we'll see. Fun Fact: If Virginia votes Democratic, it'll be the first time in 50 years that they've done so.
While we're waiting, let me tell you about the bus ride to New York. Well like usual I took a nap and played with my PSP. All in all not that exciting. The thing was is that while you're playing PSP it allows your mind and ears to wander. Mine wondered to the woman behind me, who apparenly had been in a house of a friend which was busted by the police. There was a guy staying there who had murdered someone. From the way she was telling it, it sounded like it was a movie. Who knew that these things really go on like in the movies. Police holding guns to a mother and child while yelling for the guy they're looking for. Scary.

The polls in North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia have now closed. At the moment the board still looks very red, but it's still early in the night, so anything can happen. Indiana is the big state at the moment. It voted almost 89% republican during the last election. The only places that voted democratic were the college towns and up in the north-west corner that are actually considered suburbs of chicago, Illinois, which always votes Democratic. At the moment the state's still divided, but slightly in favor for McCain.

North Carolina and Florida are at the moment leaning towards Obama, and Indiana is still leaning to McCain. The popular vote though is heading towards Obama.

The thing about this election though, what most people are worried about is what is called the 'Gregory Effect'. These are the people who openly support someone, but who in actuality vote completely different. For example, an 18 year old that lives in Mississippi who comes from an incredibly republican family, And so hides behind a McCain t-shirt. In actuality they vote Obama at the poll. The same goes the other way. If you have friends who are very pro-Obama and you don't feel that you should vote Democratic, you'd hide behind the Democrats even if you're a republican. Politics here is a little like homosexuality: Don't ask don't tell.

Projection: South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee is going to McCain. Obama: Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Main, Delaware, Maryland and Dist. of Columbia.

Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina can't be projected yet, even though they've closed.

Once it starts going, it goes fast- a half hour ago McCain was in the lead by 5 electoral votes and now Obama is ahead by 33 votes. But it's still the beginning of the evening, so anything can still happen.

Okay, so we're waiting again... Let me tell you about today. We started the day off really late and decided to go down to the financial district. We got off the subway on wall street and Broadway, which is where the Trinity Church is located, and our first stop of the day. It's a beautiful small church. The string orchestra was preforming, which gave the church an ethereal feeling. It was like being in a documentary.... walking around with your own soundtrack. The Church was originally built by the Dutch, but in the mean time has been burned down twice. All that's original is the ground it's on. None the less a great place.

Then ground Zero. It's odd to see it in person. There are cranes and construction and a bunch of other things, but all in all what really hits you in the hole. Just the fact that there should be something there and there isn't anymore. It's nuts. Then a stop to Boarders to see if they had some of the graphic Novels for Jan, and then wall street and city hall.

After we took the subway to grand central and walked to Rockefeller Center. It looks great tonight. NBC had a map put into the ice which they were going to fill in as the night goes on. The Election stage is there and hundreds of people were gathering to watch everything unfold. We continued on to Times Square where CNN had stationed itself. We collected the t-shirt and then went to the subway to get back to Akeli's to watch the rest of the evening.
So that's it for now. I've got all my Starbucks mugs as well as all my baseball t-shirts. Now just clothes. Prediction: New Hampshire to Obama.

Fun Fact: Nantucket has a bus service... but there are no stops or schedules.
Projection: Pennsylvania to Obama
This is an important win. Both Sides really pushed for this state. Maybe we did manage to help a little there ;p.
Now it's 102 electoral votes for Obama to McCain's 34.

Anyway... I'm going to go look for fruit. I'm not really going to be around the next coming few days. I'll see when I can post.

viva Obama

Last note from Boston

2008-11-03T17:45:00.000+01:00

So, this morning turned in a slow sart. We left at 12.30 from the hotel, only to realise that it was 11.30. The time change had happened overnight and therefore had given us an extra hour. We first went to the sight of the Boston Tea Party. Which, is now a park! Here I was expecting to see a boat, a plaque, a museum, a statue- I don't know, something! But instead it was a park. Nothing mentioning that it was the sight of the event. It's a pretty park, I wont disagree, but you'd think they'd have put something. Americans are usually really good at that kind of stuff, so you'd think they'd do SOMETHING! Afterwards we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts so that I could have a Boson Kreme. I was wondering if it would be different in Boston.... but it wasn't. Still good though.

Then we took the boat shuttle to Charlestown. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean that it wasn't cold, becuase it was. Today was a whopping 3 degrees, and with wind chill it was noting but freezing. We took a bunch of nice pictures, I saw buildings from Boston Legal, and all out enjoyed the 20 minute ride. They dropped us off at the USS Constitution, which is exactly where we wanted to be.

The USS Consitution is a 1797 frigate which carries anywhere between 44-60 guns, both short and long range and had a crew of about 450-500 people. During the war of 1912 it won 3 battles and at the 'end' of it's carrier had a count of 53-0. The ship was built specially and was designed such so that cannonballs literally bounced off it. I put end in quotations because technically it hasn't been retired. Needless to say if they were to send it anywhere, by the time it got there the battle would be long over, but it's still in use and is taken out about 2 times a year. It's manned by the US Navy, who not only give tours (our tourguide was guy that looked like Sammy Davis Jr. but had pants on which made him look like he was wearing a diper), but polish, do upkeep, and do the necessary repairs to it. It's under parital reconstruction at the moment, but none the less very intersting. Fun Fact: The word scuttlebutt comes from these ships. Nowerdays the word means gossip. Back then the only place that sailors were allowed to talk was near the water tank (Go figure people back then were talking near the water-cooler ;p) and the hole that you reached through to fill your cup was called the scuttlebutt. So, scuttlebutting was talking near the water tank.

After, we headed to Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill is where the turning point of the war of independence happened. 3 scermishes occurred here, and ended in a slaughter of the loyalists. There's an obilisque you can climb of 535 steps (some of the most uneven ones I've ever seen... it makes mount Sinai look easy) but we made it up and got a spectacular view of the surrounding city.

This concludes Boston actually. We'd seen everything by this point. So, we went to Macy's where I bought a really nice black dress and a thicker pair of PJs. The heating didn't work last night, so I thought it might be a better idea NOT to freeze, like I did last night.

And in a moment we're going to head to dinner near the hotel. Tomorrow we'll be taking the bus to NYC, where we'll be until saturday. I'll be home sunday afternoon.

So, my final opinion of Boston... I don't think i'll be back here. It's interesting, and historical (I'm glad I came) but now having seen it I can say that there's nothing here for me. It's pretty in it's own way, but not my kind of people. It's too expensive, too small, and too student-like. Philly is still my favorite.

A Long message and Halloween

2008-11-01T14:02:00.000+01:00

The reason that I haven't written is because we have no Internet here in Boston. I didn't realise how difficult it was not having Internet a couple days and not being able to get into touch with people. I love writing about my day and working through it. I especially like hearing what all of you think, so it works out both ways I suppose.

Let's start with Thursday. Nothing really happened that day, considering that we were in a train for about 10 hours. It's actually really exhausting travelling by train. I ran through my battery on my PSP and then had nothing left to do but finish reading my book and start another. For all you Lyndsay Sands fans... The newest book is great. Funny and simple, if not a little odd, it wasn't at all what i thought it would be. Enjoy it, because there isn't another one coming in the series for a while as I understand it.

We got to our hostel, which really isn't that bad. It's a straight metro line into town which takes about 20 minutes, because they travel so slow. The metro also looks more like a tram, but that they travel underground as well. They're really nice though. People here are really different to those in DC and Philly. If Philly is Amsterdam, and DC is Rotterdam, then Boston has to be Den Haag. The people have the same stuck-up/superior way of walking and talking. I'd definitely never live here... I think I'd go nuts between them.

We're staying in the college area. This place is crawling with students. Not only are we near Boston University, but we're also close to Boston College. If you think that Groningen or Utrecht have a lot of students, you've obviously never been to Boston. Boston has more educational institutions than anywhere else in the united states. Among the 47 Universities and colleges you've got BU, B college, Harvard, MIT, Berkley, Bunker Hill Community College, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. It's pretty ridiculous. So you can kind of imagine what it's like here. Our Hostel is only about 3 stops from BU and another 10 to BC, so we're pretty much in the heart of one of the student areas.

The room itself is quite nice. Nothing a good cleaning couldn't fix in any case, but we've got our own kitchen and we share the bathroom with about 4 other people, so it's relatively clean. That being the case, the first thing we did was go out for groceries and soap so that we could do some laundry. I'm surprised my nails are still where they are considering all the hand washing I've done in the last two days, but all my cloths are clean again. That night we decided to stay in, which I'm glad about. I got to watch Supernatural (The Halloween episode) and The Eleventh Hour, which were two of the programs I had hoped to catch. The constant commercials drive me crazy though!

Yesterday turned out to be a fun relaxed day. We walked the freedom trail, had a tour through the state house and met up with a friend for dinner. The freedom trail is a path that goes past all the important historical sights of Boston. It's literally a trail, they've put a bricked line into the ground for you to follow, with occasional painted areas, which are a little less clear, so every now and then you really have to look for the continuation of the line. There are a couple really famous places on the trip, I'll spare you the history of them all, but there are a couple that might interest some people, so I'll tell you a little about those. The fist is a place that was owned by Ebeneezer Revere. He was the brother of Paul Revere, who I'll get to in a moment. Other than the fact that he was Paul's brother he's not all that interesting. The interesting thing was that his house has been used for about 4 different versions of The Christmas Carol. Whether that was because of his name or because his house just fits with it I don't know, but as a great lover of the dickens books and movies I can tell you that it's really quite a sight to see in real life.

The next place is the Old Book Store. When I saw this on the map you can imagine what I thought.... OOOOO BBBOOOKKKKSSSS!!! Stephan looked a little scared, especially considering that he's carrying my luggage when we travel and I'm carrying his. ;p. But luckily for him, and I suppose my bookroom, it's no longer a book store but a jewelery store. What is interesting about the building though, was that it was the first literary building in the Untied States. Not only was it the first publisher, but it was the publisher for Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Longfellow. It was also the local hang out for authors such as Melville. I can just picture all of these people sitting around a table at various periods of history and discussing literary ideas and opinions. Dickens also stopped here on his tour of the United States to spend some time with the local writing talent and considered the place to be "A delight, where the level of discussion surpasses daily existence and focuses on the novelty of the universe."

Now we come to Paul Revere. I don't know if you know about him, but Paul Revere was made famous by the poem of Longfellow. When the colonies were breaking away from the British, he was a spy for the colonists who supported the separation. They were worried that Hancock and Lee would be executed and was supposed to warn people that the British were on their way so that they could hide. History textbooks quote him when he said: "The British are coming, the British are coming." This is taught in all 8th grade history classes and is probably one of the most famous stories of the Revolution. It's what started the revolution, the Boston tea party, and the Boston Massacre. So then my question becomes: How come the history books got it so wrong. Apparently most kids here in the US are learning the story completely wrong. Revere never yelled that the British were coming and he did manage to complete his mission. Anything else is poetic licence by Longfellow. You can imagine how brainwashed I felt when I had a 8 year old lean over and tell me that I had the story wrong when I while I was in the midst of explaining the events to Stephan! Apparently they've only starting correcting history books about 5 years ago. So anyone who was in 8th grade before then has this glorious piece of fiction in their head.

So, hereby, let me set the record straight: Paul Revere was a goldsmith/silversmith (Apparently they use those things interchangeably here... I'm not sure my great grandfather would have agreed with that) who by the age of 19 was as rich as Croesus. His company was doing so well that he decided he needed a little more excitement in his life. What did he do? He married. But boredom set in and as a result when the colonies decided to break away with mother England, he decided to join the effort by running secret messages to Lexington and coder (where the munitions were kept) stating what the movement of the British troops were that were stationed in Boston Harbour. So between his Goldsmith-ing, fathering children, and his courier job, he was kept quite busy.

Now, there were plans put into place for when the Loyalists would start moving, and to warn everyone there was a plan to hang lanterns from above the New Church. One for if they were coming by land and two if they were coming from see. His best friend would hang them while Revere would try to slip past the British to warn Hancock and Lee. When movement started one night, the plan was set in motion. His best friend hung the lantern and Revere went to warn everyone in Lexington. He was rowed across the water by some friends, but they didn't have cloth to keep the oars from making noise, so one of the men ran to his sweetheart's house to get some cloth and they made it safely. Revere then took a horse from someone he knew and set of the Lexington. By the time he got there another runner who had gone by land had already made it there to warn Hancock and the General. It wasn't until he was told to go and warn the minutemen in Codor that he happened upon a British Patrol that he was caught. On their way back to Boston they were caught unaware by a firefight and Revere escaped.

That's it. That's all that happened that night. Further Revere managed to live to an age of about 80. He had 15 children by 2 wives (the second he married 6 months after the death of the first) and he wasn't famous until Longfellow made a hero out of him about 5 years after his death. This account though comes form the diary of Revere. How true that is I don't know. Any Literature student can attest to the fact that anytime you put something to paper things get changed because of audience and such. So as to accurate, who knows. But this is what schools are teaching children now.

His house was really interesting, the building is very well preserved, even though the furniture wasn't original. Also he lived next to the Mariner's house. It's a hotel for sailors. Where they could rest, eat and be entertained while on shore. Fun fact: It's still a Mariners house. The only people that can lodge there are sailors. For free.

We then went to boarders so that I could buy a book to read. Having finished all the others, and then we met up with Sidharth. Sidharth and I met in Toronto the year I lived there. He was Sasha's classmate, but I didn't really get to know him until after I left. He and Sasha both went to University in/near Philly so kept in touch and are really close. We had a good time. The three of us first went to dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant and then decided to go on a pub crawl. I slept really well last night.

Today we've dubbed as 'REST DAY'. Which is exactly what we are doing. Besides being woken up at 10.30 by my parents we've taken it really easy and are now at an Internet cafe checking mail and getting to send my email. No sightseeing today, we're going to go shopping and then we're meeting up with another friend from Toronto: Cristina. Her father was the Portuguese Consul General's daughter at the time and we had 13th grade Bio together. She, the South African Consul general's daughter and I became really good friends towards the end of my stay in Toronto and even better after I left. Facebook really is the greatest creation since email.
So, that's all pretty much except to tell you about last night. As most of you, if not all of you know, last night was Halloween. So we got to see kids trick or treating, as well as college kids in the craziest costumes. I saw 2 Palins and 1 McCain. 6 Bananas, and more miniskirts than I can think of. Stephan and Sidharth were having the time of their lives. We even saw a jack-o-lantern carved into Obama. But the greatest part of Halloween, hands down, are the kids. They were SOOO cute! Bar, you would have loved them! Imagine little bumble bees, small princesses, spidermen, and much more, running around with their parents and knocking on doors. I swear, when I have kids I'm so bringing them here (the US, not Boston) to experience this. Every kid should experience this at least one time in their lives. Even though the Halloween party I have every year is a lot of fun, nothing can replace the real thing as a kid.

So I'll leave you with the image of bumble bees and supermen, and I'm going to go have lunch. Have a great day and Happy belated Halloween!

Last day in DC

2008-10-30T22:25:00.000+01:00

Another early evening, but to tell the thruth, I'm completely tuckered out. We started our day at 9 taking the shuttle down to the capital so that we could go to the supreme courthouse. It's a fantastic building! Hold on, the Phillies are about to win the World Series... Ole! I can just imagine Philidelphia, people must be going nuts there!

Back to the supreme court... it was really interesting to be back there. It was just as I remembered it, except smaller. I suppose when you're young everything looks big, which was the case with this room. After the supreme court we went to the Washington Memorial. It's just what you think... you go up... you go down. Not much more than that. It's more interesting on the outside than on the inside. Then we strolled down to the WWII memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial. The World War 2 memorial is the newest, it wasn't dedicated until 1997. Why so late? I have no idea, kinda odd. They rushed with all the others but didn't seem too hurried with the WWII memorial.

The Korean Memorial is by far my favorite of them all. When I saw it for the first time in 1998, it impressed me, and it still does today. If you don't know know what it looks like, or to refresh your memory, it's a triangle of brush with soldiers walking through it. Behind it are etched in black marble various faces of people who died during the war. Just looking at it you feel as if you could perhaps experience what it must have been like for them to be moving through the brush in Korea, pushing forward, not knowing what was lurking ahead.

The Lincoln Memorial is everything you think it should be. It's a dedication to a great leader who changed not only the way people lived, but how people were percieved. On the wall inside the gettysberg adress is carved into the wall. Even though it's one of the shortest addresses, it's one of the most powerful, moving and well known. "Four Score and twenty years ago..." It's some of speechwriting at it's best.

The Vietnam Memorial is the most well known though. Here in the States there isn't anyone who doesn't know someone who is on that wall. School kids who visit are given a name and location to look for it, and in flocks it becomes like some sort of find-the-name-game. On the wall there is one NFL (National Football League) player. When he got called the team wanted to give him an injury so that he wouldn't have to go, but he refused and was sent to Vietnam. His wife meanwhile asked to get sent to Hawaii to work as a nurse, because that was where the military was moving from. 7 months later he recieved leave and went to Hawaii to spend time with his very pregnant wife and a month later he returned to duty. Two weeks later he was killed by a morter and a week later his wife gave birth to his son. Hours later she heard of his death. As interesting as the story is, you're probably wondering how I know that. I know a lot of things. I'm pretty brilliant, ;p but in this case, one of the men who served under him told me today. He'd come to DC for a veterans convension and stood there just looking at the names. At one point I was standing next to him reading the names when he looked over at me and asked me if I knew of anyone on the wall. When I said I didn't he said: "Let me tell you about one." And so I heard of Eugine R. Cavory. I've never seen someone so lost and proud at the same time. So if you're ever in DC... He's on section 16, line 25.

After icking up a sandwich, we hopped on the bus to Arlington. I would have loved to get off and look around, but we were a little pressed for time. We stayed on the bus until we got to the National Archives. Here I was able to really observe both the original Declairation of Independence and the Constitution. The declaration isn't readable anymore, but there was a copy next to it. It's really too bad we don't use this kind of language anymore. It's art pure and simple. It's courteous and beautiful, not to mention tasteful. It's like Sam says: "never has a war been so courteously declared. It was on parchment with calligraphy and 'Your highness, we beseech you on this day in Philadelphia to bite me, if you please.'" (West wing). There really isn't anything as famous which is as powerful here.

Walking out of the National Library we walked right to Heather. Heather and I went to school together in Moscow. She was a year younger, but we got really close in my last year. Stephan went to walk around and see DC at night, and Heather and I went to dinner at the cheesecake factory. Yum. Heaven on earth. If Heaven contains chocolate, cheesecake, and the inability to get fat, then I'd be a happy camper. If you like my cheesecake, then you'll love it here. I love it here. We laughed and talked, catching up on everything. Then we stopped at Starbucks so that I could ge my DC mug. Then Heather drove me back to the hotel. It took 45 minutes and we got lost twice, but we made it.

And now to pack my bag. Tommorrow morning we've got to get the shuttle at 7.30 so that we'll be at union station for the train at 8.30. It's a 10 hour trip to Boston.

I'll just have to come back to DC again... I still haven't seen the FBI building!

DC

2008-10-29T22:30:00.000+01:00

So, I'm sitting here in my new hotel room, in a different hotel in a much if not safer part of town, then definately in town (instead of the boonies!). As I mentioned yesterday the waterline in front of our hotel burst, and as a result we had no water when we checked in. Or last night. Or this morning. By 11 o'clock the fact that the toilet couldn't flush and we couldn't take a shower was getting to us, so I went to the front desk. A pleasant conversation with the GM resulted in them telling me that they didn't know if it would be fixed today and that they would send us to another hotel. One even further away from the city. So, we decided to check out of the Comfort Inn (We didn't have to pay for our night there) and check into the Best Western Capitol View. Wanna know how great this place is? Not only does it have running water, and a metro 2 stops away, it's safer, and sitting here at the desk I look out the window and actually see teh Capitol Building. It's a beautiful piece of architecture, and all lit up it does give the feeling of control and leadership.

Anyway, back to this afternoon. After moving hotels we wento to Union Station to find a sightseeing bus company, and landed getting the famous hop-on-hop-off double decker bus that seems to have taken over much of the world, or at least Europe. It's the one Loes and I took in London, and the ones that seem to be getting in the way of everything in Amsterdam. The one stop we got off at today (w have a 2 day ticket) was Capitol Hill, where we first got a tour of the capital building. First you go through a check by the Capitol Police and then you're given a headset. Now, I thought, like you all must be thinking... capitol hill, headset? Couldn't they make it a little more interesting than those stupid prerecorded visits?... but instead the headset was linked to the microphone of the guide, so instead of having to move so that you could hear the person shouting in a big room, you could stay your distance, enjoy your surroundings AND hear the man talk. He takes you to the old senate room, where Senators are still sworn in- a beautiful area mostly in dark brown and bordeau red, it resembles a gentleman's club more than anything else. The old house has been emptied and become a hall of statues, where each state can donate 2. I'd tell you who was in the room, but I myself had no clue who they all were and those that I would have thought were important weren't there. I'd have expected Davy Crockett or something, but no... the unknowns were there. The guide did say that Rosa Parks would be put there on permanent display in a fortnight. Fun Fact: If you whisper on one side of the room you can hear it clearly on the other. Apparently this was most annoying. I can imagine. Say supposing you were sitting on one end and discussing with your neighbour your 'secret plan to fight inflation' and the republican or democrat on the other side heard it.... not so secret anymore.

After the tour we got another ticket to go to the balcony of the House of Representatives. It wasn't in session, we couldn't take any electronic devices, bags, books, notebooks, etc. with us and you had to sit down when you got inside. Evesdropping on a conversation happening behind me I listened as one of the security guards was commenting to another how if Obama won he'd pretty much get to do whatever he wants, because congress is predominantly democratic at the moment. 1/3 is up for reelection, however, most if not all these states are expecting the incumbant to get reelected, which would leave a majority of democrats. The checks and balances system wouldn't actually be active, something that hasn't happened since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Leaving the capitol building we went to the Library of Congress. Suffice to say they have TONS of books! The actual library is absolutely beautiful. If you've seen National Treasure 2, you'll know what I'm talking about. What you don't get to see in the movie, while Nicholas Cage is running around looking for the President's secret book, is that above all the books there are statues. There are 8 marble statues spread evenly around the base of the dome, each is symbolic and has a pendentive above it. The first is Art, with the pendentive which states: As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness. The second is commerce, the third history, followed by law, philosophy, Poetry,religion, and science. Each lady is surrounded on either side by a bronze statue of someone who was renouned in said field. Michelangelo & Beethoven, for example, surround Art. Commerce: Columbus & Fulton, history: Herodotus & Gibbon, Law:Solon & Kent, Philosophy: Plato & Bacon, Poetry: Shakespeare & Homer, Religion: Moses & St. Paul, and Science: Newton & Henry. Fun Fact: James Hadley Billington was sworn in as the Librarian of Congress on September 14, 1987. He is the 13th person to hold the position since the Library was established in 1800. And no, he wasn't a public Library Librarian before this... he was actually head professor of History at Princeton.

At this point it was pretty much 5 o'clock, and because everything was closed or closing, we decided to hop back on the bus and continue on the tour while it was still running. We passed all the highlights and tomorrow we'll finish them. Finishing at Starbucks we took the subway back to the hotel and now i'm admiring the phenomenal view I have from the bedroom.

I'm off to sit in the tub and read a book.

Prison in Philly

2008-10-28T22:00:00.000+01:00

Dickens wrote that during his trip to America there were 2 things he wanted to see. The first was Niagara Falls, and the second was the Eastern State Penitentiary. This prison was built about two miles away from Philidelphia, commissioned by a group of men led by Benjamin Franklin who believed that people were all good at heart but led astray. The cure for this would be pure solitude. After getting Congress to agree with the notion, they started a contest to see who could design the perfect prison. Two years later an English architect won and construction started on the penitentiary. The outer walls make it look like a fortress or castle, the idea behind it being that people would be scared of it, especially coming from Europe where castles represented fear and torture. Inside there was a wheel structure. The 'center' would contain someone who would be able to look down each cellblock, containing about 60 rooms, ie. 60 prisoners. There were no doors to these rooms, but a small latch which food would be sent through. The cell which is about 2x3m contained 1 bed, 1 table, 1 chair, and 1 bible. The other side of the room had a door which led to a small 2x3m courtyard where the inmate would be able to go 2 times a day for a half hour to stretch their legs and get some sun. There was no speaking, no human contact, and a shower once a week. The idea was that people would do their penitence in pure silence contemplating their crimes and becoming good Christians through their bible study. By the 1850s though there were so many people that people got cellmates that the ideas behind the penitentiary were lost and it became a maximum security prison. Al Capone spent time here as well as a few other celebrities of the day. Women were also imprisoned here briefly, but after 'miraculous' pregnancies where quickly moved elsewhere.

The prison is completely run down, but the church-like structure is still there if you look hard enough. You can still see the white paint that's peeling off the walls and the spartan if not monk-like way the rooms are arranged. They've done virtually nothing when it comes to upkeep, so walking down the blocks of this once revolutionary establishment it isn't fear or depression you feel, but rather interest and bewilderment as you think of the best intentions of mice and men. Because even if the idea of penitence seems good in theory I think I agree with Dickens when he says that: "I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers...". I myself would never have survived this place considering how much I love to talk and with only the bible to read I would probably have gone nuts with the lack of variety. The people who work here are eerily perky and seem to have some sort of odd love for it. An interesting stop, that's literally around the corner from Sasha's apartment building. By the time the prison was closed down in the 1950s the city had extended so much that it surrounded it, and the elite neighbourhood was just a block away. Fun fact: cloth ropes were actually one of the most used methods to try to escape prison. It isn't something we just see in comedies and cartoons. They actually worked. Also only one person of the escapees was never recaptured, and this was only because the people he escaped with killed him so that if caught he wouldn't rat them out.
The rest of the day was spent shopping and eventually dinner with Sasha and her father, watching game 4 of the World Series. The Phillies won again with 10-2. And a new record was made as the pitcher hit a home run. Fun fact: The last time the pitcher hit a homerun in a world series was in 1974. It was pretty amazing to watch.

This morning the day started really early as we caught the 8.30 bus to DC. It took a little over 3 hours thanks to the jam, but it was a good time to catch up on sleep. We first had a lunch/dinner and then went to our hotel. We're in the Comfort Inn on New York avenue, 1600. On the map it seems to be walking distance to everything, they advertise that they are as well, but in truth it's a long way with the bus, through a section of town that is possibly not as safe as I would want, Not that the fact that it's a predominantly African American neighbourhood, but the houses are dilapidated and some of the characters are questionable. Everyone seems to want to talk to me and ask where we're from, not because I look out of place, but because I'm with the white guy on the bus. Stephan sticks out like a sore thumb and if it wasn't for the fact that he sometimes looks uncomfortable I'd be laughing my ass off. The bus drivers seem to feel bad for us though, so they don't make us get out at the stop but keep driving as close to the hotel as possible and just let us off at their turn-off corner.

After checking into the hotel, which is really nice, we put our stuff away and went back into town. Because it's pouring we decided to duck into a Smithsonian museum and decided to start with the Air and Space Museum. This museum is amazing! They've got everything that you can think of from the Wright Brothers airplane (it's real) to the Apollo 11 command module that Armstrong came down in. We didn't get through it all before they closed but it allowed us to at least start on it. We then walked down the Mall to have a look at Capitol Hill and then to the right towards the White House.

After a walk, Starbucks, and another interesting bus experience, we're in our room early. It just isn't the weather for anything else and game 5 of the World Series is on. So even though the water line exploded down the street and we don't have water, I'm warm in my bed, with my new t-shirt that says: Friends don't let friends vote Republican.

So I'm going to finish watching the game and get some sleep hopefully we'll have better weather tomorrow.

Philly day 3

2008-10-27T10:18:00.000+01:00

The day was definately packed with all kinds of interesting things. We started out yesterday morning with a visit to Christ Church, which is one of the first churches in Philly, the first congress worshiped here and a few of the declaration signers are burried there. It's a modest church, just what you'd expect from protestants who left Europe because they were being persecuted. Fun Fact: As I was walking through the church there was a pastor talking to two small children and their mother, and he said: "Do you realise how young this country is, why you're children are the 12th generation of this nation." How weird is that?!

After a coffee break, where I had the most delicious warm milk with pumpkin spice (This was amazing, I think it should be shipped out internationally.) we went to have alook at the old city hall, the liberty bell, and the independence hall visitor center for tickets for the tour. Then slightly hungry we went to get a cheese steak. Now this is a local delicacy... if that's what you can call it. It's bread with cheeze wizz, and cooked beef. It sounds disgusting, I know, but in truth it's fantasic.

While Sasha and Stephan were off getting that, I went to the physick House. Doctor Physick was a very promenant doctor, who not only did a lot for the community there, but also for medicine. Instruments, such as the ones he created for eye surgery and dentistry are still used today. He also made the first American Soda after reading about the work of schweps in europe. The house in itself is very beautiful and is run by the great great grandson of the docotor. The family apparently lived in the house until the late 60s, which makes it even more amazing that it's in such good condition. Fun Fact: The curator had a fun time showing me around and giving me tons of interesting little facts. I'm not going to list them all, but these were fun. Apparently back then when you were dying they'd bleed you. The idea was that they needed to get the bad blood out of you. Usually this just killed you quicker. However in some cases you didn't die, but fell into a coma. Thinking you were dead they'd start arranging a funeral, but just to be on the safe side they'd leave you out to be viewed for a few days, which is why it's called a wake. It's just in case you wake up... and sometimes people really did. If you were still sure that your loved one was dead they'd burry you, but just in case they'd put a bell topside with a string going down into the coffin. So, if you happened to wake up and find yourself burried alive all you had to do was ring the bell. The guy that came to dig you out was called the graveyard shift... a term still used in hospitals for example. Also, two people who you think look alike are called dead-ringers. This is because, someone who's rung the bell and been dug out, if you saw him a couple days later, people would say: "Wow he's a dead-ringer for the guy we burried a couple days ago."

After our cheese steak we went to independence hall. Which was all of two rooms. There's an upstairs but that's only open in the spring. The only rooms you get to see are the courtroom and the congress room, where both the declairation and the consitution were signed. Unfortunately everything except George Washington's chair isn't authentic. After a 20 minute tour we headed to the Rosenbach house.

The Rosenbach brothers were the first people to create a library in their own home and open it for others. They in essence became the first lending library. In it there are thousands of interesting and abnormal books, such as the diary of a well worn hankerchief. It's considered to be the first book written in the United States. Also there were rooms dedicated to Sendak, an illistrator, who illistrated some of my favorite childrens books: Where the Wild Things Are, Chicken Soup with Rice, and Jacque and the Lion. It was interesting to see where his inspiration had come from and how he went about with his drawings. A couple years ago he illustrated an opera and the bad guy who in the opera is a quasi-hitler was drawn exactly so. In the pictures he became a sort of hitler/napolien clown in a very italien comedy del art.

Afterwards we went to the Obama office, where we got a small course in phone banking... not my cup of tea. As most of you know I'm not a call center kind of person, so this definately wasn't my thing, but I called 3 people and had done my duty for the day.

Then Sasha took us to the most decadent place I've ever been. It's called Naked Chocolate, and if there's any place on earth that's bad for you, it's here. A cup of chocolate milk is just a melted down bar of chocolate. The cups luckily are the size of espresso cups, but even that was almost too much to take. I in any case didn't finish it.

With a chocolate haze around us we met up with Sasha's parents and sister for dinner. We ate at a place called Cuba Viva, and looked like the set of Much Ado during the trip to Stratford. The food was amasing and the company was great. It was fantastic to see everyone and be able to catch up, especially considering the atmosphere around us. It's definatly a place I'd love to go back to. Afterwards a hop to a bar where the obama people were watching the game, which we stayed for about half of before I decided that I was about to fall asleep.

I didn't even finish the game when we got home, I was so tired.
But it's a new day and the penetentary awaits. So I'm off to prison.

Philly

2008-10-25T23:10:00.000+02:00

Greetings from Philly... home of one of the world series teams of 2008 and swing state in the election. From what I understand it's going to be a big player. If McCain doesn't win here, then he doesn't win. So, we'll have to wish hope and pray that the people here in Pennsylvania figure it out in the coming 11 days.

So our day started out packing our backpacks getting ready to go to philly. Because the bus was leaving from chinatown we decided to go there for brunch, and found a pancake house (after much walking around... it's HUGE!) that was run by Malaysian chinese. At 2 we caught the bus, which was all of $10 and 2 hours later Sasha met up with us.

The first thing I saw getting off the bus was the amount of McCain posters all over the place. It seems like New York doesn't even have them, and come to think of it I'd be scared to wear or show one considering how many people are gung-ho there. In any case, we took the shuttle to Sasha's place to drop off our stuff first. Now, when I say shuttle, I really mean shuttle... it's a free bus service run by the building for the people who live in it. It's rediculous. Apparently Sasha pays about $900 a month and in it comes water, heat, a washing machine, dryer, cable, and this shuttle service. It's rediculous. The building looks like a hotel, and was one back in the day.
After dropping our stuff, exchanging gifts, and a long walk into town, we landed up at one of the Obama volunteer offices. Where we met with the person in charge, Claire, and had a look around. We'll probably do some volunteer work one afternoon just for the experience.

Dinner followed, in a local bar where we ran into a lot of Sasha's friends and old collegues, All of them working for the campaign in one way or the other, so we got some great info. Interesting stories in any case... One for example came from Sasha... it's kinda gross... There's a woman in Texas who a week ago claimed that she'd been attacked by a black man in front of an ATM. He'd seen her McCain/Palin sticker on her car and in a rage beat her up and carved a backwards B on her cheek. Yuk. In any case, se went to the police in order to report the incident. FOX News went balistic with covering the story, but a couple days ago the woman came out again saying that she'd made the whole thing up, gave herself the black eye and carved the B herself. Now I wonder, I know some people do extreme things in the name of politics and belief... heck Gandhi stopped eating... but to carve a B on your cheek because you don't want the other guy to get elected... how nuts do you have to be?!

That's it for today, time to throw in towel and get a few winks.

I'll leave you with this fun fact: There's no first street in Philidelphia because the Quakers founded Philidelphia and because they put God first, they couldn't put anything above or equal to him. Not even a street.

Day 2 New York

2008-10-25T00:13:00.000+02:00

Things look a lot differently by the light of day and after atleast 8 hours of sleep. We took our time this morning getting up and then went in search of an ATM and food. Then we took the metro down to Grand Central Station. It looks a lot lighter in real life... In documentries and movies it always seems to be a little darker and I wouldn't say dreary, but more old. The same type of feeling you get with art deco. But after what had to be a big clean up it's really beautiful and light. Constellations on the celing and beautiful art on the walls. Vacationing with Stephan is well.. exactly the opposite as going with Loes... not that I don't love going on vacation with you Loes... and to tell the truth I miss it a little... we had plans- Big plans, but after central station we walked out and Stephan said let's go right.

Right was a good option because it took us to the Public Library, where inbetween all the beautiful and boutiful books, the 4 bag checks, and a few Escher-esque staircases that lead absolutely nowhere, we discovered a great colletion of photos of Babe Ruth, Lou Garing, and Mickey Mantle. For those of you who aren't as up to their Baseball history Babe Ruth was the cause of the Curse of the red sox after they sold him off to the Yankees, Lou Garing died of ALS way too early and missed out being one of the highest batting average hitters of his time and Mickey Mantle who beat Babe Ruth's record the year after the Bambino retired. They were amazing pictures. I'd seen them all before online, except for the one of Lou's funeral where Babe is leaning over the coffin. A moving picture to be sure.

The minute we got out of the library Stephan spotted the Empire State building. So we dashed over to go up it. It looked extactly as it did in every movie I can think of. An Affair to Remember, On The Town, New York, New York... it looked exactly the same. You would think that it would be covered in bird shit after so many years, but it's sooo clean! We hypothesized that it was just too high up for the pigeons, but that theory was shot to hell when a group of pigeons started attacking the people next to us. Fun Fact: There's actually a docking area for Derijables at the top of the ESB... it was only tested though, because it was too dangerous to use regularly.

Btw... what's with all the Dutch here?! By the end of the day it seemed like we'd run into ALL of them! Ugh... And they look soooooo Dutch.

Afterwards we randomly walked around for a while, eventually finding ourselves in Barnes and Nobles (BOOKS!!!!- I only bought 4... I'm pacing myself) and then Macy's. We met up with Akeli afterwards and headed home to drop of stuff and then back into town for dinner. For dinner we landed up at a diner. It was pretty amazing. Only I fogot how big the portions are. So we had way too much food, but the Mac and Cheese was fantastic as well as the spicy buffalo wings. Then a trip to times square and now we're back at Akeli's place.

A non-sequncial, but none the less intereting, Akeli just voted absentee for the election, but I had never seen an ballot before. Not only do they vote for president but they also vote for every circut court judge they can think of. Even if you have no idea who each one of them is you have to vote yes or no for retention of the judge. Fun fact: there is 1 mccarthey and a nixon on the ballot. poor people. Dick Durbin is still Illinois senator. When we went to Springfiled, IL in 6th grade the guy was in office, and apparently he's still there!

Well, it's midnight, so it's time to hit the sack again. Tomorrow it's another big day with us travelling to Philedelphia.

New York

2008-10-23T22:09:00.000+02:00

So I've made it to New York! And seeing Akeli (the friend we're staying with) is like there hasn't been an almost 10 year gap since we've seen each other. It's uncanny how we just kind of picked up where we left off... same jokes... same way of talking... poor Stephan's haveing a hell of a time trying to keep up... but I'm not sure if it's the jetlag or that things have gotten just a tad too weird for him. lol.

Morning started out okay, the plane from Amsterdam left on time after half a douzan checks and an inquery into who Mrs. Richards was... aparently there was someone else on my ticket. That was luckily corrected immediately. I wouldn't have wanted to have a problem with that in the states! I got some reading done, we played a lot of 'shit head' and half watched the inflight movies: Nim's Island, Catch Me If You Can, Spin City, and an episode of Wonder Woman. (Jan, it was the original Wonderwoman.... Absolutely crazy... oh, and the bad guy is played by the nambypamby judge from Boston Legal! He already looks like he's 60 there... he must be 80 now or something cause besides for the wrinkles he look EXACTLY the same!) Oh, and the pilot of the flight's name was Kirk. I kid you not! Immediately the two of us started up with the star trek jokes!

We arrived about a half hour early and had to gather our luggage, go through customs, put our luggage somewhere else, go get our hand luggage checked again (had to take off our shoes too) and then had to wait for the shuttle to take us from the A pier to the F pier. In a rush and worried we were about to miss our connecting flight we arrived to find out that our flight had been delayed by half an hour. We grabbed what would have been a late dinner and waited for our flight, which was futher delayed for another 15 minutes. Eventually we borded the antiek and what had to be held together by tape Dash 8-100... for those not familiar with airplanes it's a propellar plane which seats something like 40 people. 20 minutes taxi-ing, 26 minutes flying and 45 minutes circleing awaiting permission to land and we were in La Guarda. A 10 minute cab ride later and we were in Akeli's place.

Now this apartment bares mentioning. In it's time it must have been a fantastic apartment. it could easily fit a couple starting out with a livingroom, bedroom, bathroom and kitched. The living room is akeli's bedroom and has a screen to separate the areas and the bedroom is where her gay roommate sleeps. He's over at his boyfriend's place for the next few days so I have akeli's bed, Akeli's in her roommate's room and Stephan's got the pull out couch. About halfway through the evening Stephan decides to go freshen up, and Akeli tells him that the bathroom door does kind of stick, but no problem, turn the knob to the right, lift, and then turn to the left and it opens easily. Well, that didn't happened. What did happen was that Stephan got stuck for about an hour with us trying to get him out. With no luck with the sticky handle I eventually removed the knobs with a knife/screwdriver so we could fiddle with the inside. That seemed to have been broken, which was causeing the problems, so after trying a number of different tactics Akeli went to look for the Super. They don't have one. But luckily the guy in the elevator could help and eventually using an old creditcard he jimmyed the door open.

Dinner was ordered, I watched the first 3 innings of the Philidelphia Phillies against the Tempa Bay Devil Rays... Game 1 of the World series and Stephan passed out on the couch.So all in all an eventful day. Tomorrow, who knows what it will bring!

Now I'm going to pass out. Enjoy your day tomorrow, and I'll send an update soon.

Murphey's Law

2008-10-20T20:26:00.003+02:00

Since I've been little my mother and father have named every rule I can imagine:

Never Run With Scissors

Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth

Always eat the peas, you don't know who out there is starving for yours

And my personal favorite:

When you haste that's when accidents happen

Even though I always thought those that wanted my peas could have them, it's the last one I'd like to talk about.

About a month ago I asked my brother to go to Media Markt and buy me the largest external harddrive he could find for 100 euros. For 70 he bought me this great harddrive with so much space my mouth began to water at the thought of all the music, movies, and tv shows I could put on it. Low and behold the next day it was broken. My mother had tripped over the cord and it had fallen to it's doom- Not after taking everything with it.

So, two days later I went with my father back to Media Markt and I exchanged it. For an extra 80 euros. I got something that the guy told me would be less easy to break.

Two weeks later I've broken it. This time I was the one to trip over it. And after downloading everything all over again, I've hit a point where I say: I really don't give a shit anymore. I can't return it, and I'm going on vacation in 2 days. Just calm down and let it pass over me.

This isn't the first time Murphey's bit me in the ass.

Two years ago I bought a laptop. An acer that was on sale and that was supposed to be oh so reliable. A day after the 1 year warrenty it dies. sigh... 3 months and 1000 euros later I have another laptop, but it's a sony... and i'm starting to feel Murphey scrating at my elbow. Now if the scab follows I think I might pack it all in and become amish. I'm one step away from it as it is.

Technology is supposed to be reliable. Entire countries are now on computers. If that's the case and my small little electronic junk can't survive how are we supposed to? I'm just waiting for the Die Hard 4.0 to come to life... "firesale everyone, everything's got to go, get it while it's hot!"

Realism in Romance: A Look at Health-, Penal- and Labor Issues in Oliver Twist

2008-10-13T23:37:00.001+02:00

Realism in Romance: A Look at Health-, Penal- and Labor Issues in Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens. In 1822, after years of living in idyllic conditions, John was transferred to London for work, and it is here that Charles encountered poverty for the first time. Entranced by the busy and dirty streets of London and the conditions people were living in, he was known to skip school in order to ‘discover’ the city. Things turned for the worse though, when John could no longer afford to pay his bills and he sent Charles to work at Warren’s Boot Blacking Factory and even then John Dickens was placed in Debtors prison with the rest of the family. Only Charles seemed to be able to avoid this, and then only to be alone and very poor. At the age of 12 he was now fending for himself on the streets, determined to earn back everything that he had lost. Eventually Charles got work as a legal clerk and from there became a reporter.[1]
His history, like so many others of his day influenced the way he wrote. However, unlike other Victorian authors, Charles had a deeper understanding of the problems facing England’s society at the time having lived through most of the events he wrote about. The issues that he and so many others took onto themselves varied. Everything from labor issues to Parliament reform. They were all about change and how it wasn’t happening fast enough. They were concerned with the plight of the lower classes and that there was not enough being done to help those who had less money and/or were not aristocratic. Writing turned out to be one of the avenues used in order to gain support, or at least inform people on the broader scale on what conditions in certain areas of the country truly were like.
The majority of the readership of novels and newspapers were the upper classes. This was because they were the only ones with the time and money to read, and in some cases also the ones that could read as the rate of literacy at the time was still quite low. Therefore writing turned into an appropriate medium to reach a wide audience.
However, as well as informing people at the time there were a large number of people who critiqued Dickens’ work. They called it unrealistic and Romantic with too much melodrama to be other than it is. This does not mean that the novel fulfilled it’s duty: to entertain and enlighten, but it allowed for people to turn a blind eye and take it as fiction. A great example of this conundrum is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It is not a realistic novel, but it incorporates realistic elements, such as health and Sanitation-, penal- and labor issues that Effected England in the 1800s. Therefore, though it is a melodramatic romance, it has a realistic layer underneath it.

Sanitation and health were problems people living in 19th century England faced. In the 1840s a public sanitary reform ensued which resulted in an acts being passed in the late 1840s. Dickens believed in the importance of good sanitation, and mentioned it in most of his novels. After coming to London Oliver quickly finds himself in the rooms of Fagin, which are described: “It was a dirty place. The rooms upstairs had great high wooden chimney-pieces and large doors, with paneled walls and cornices to the celing, which, although they were black with neglect and dust, were ornamented in various ways; from all of which tokens Oliver concluded that a long time ago, before the old Jew was born, it belonged to better people, and had perhaps been quite gay and handsome, dismal and dreary as it looked now.”[2] This is an example of what conditions were like inside homes. However, surprisingly enough, it is not Fagin, or one of the boys that ever gets ill in the novel. Sikes does fall ill, and considering the condition that Fagin lives in, Sikes and Nancy cannot live much better. Sikes also mentions that he has been sick for three weeks. Though we do not know the cause of his illness we can assume that if he were living in more sanitary conditions he might have recovered earlier. Lucky for Oliver, he seems to become unwell after leaving the horrid conditions and going somewhere where sanitation is of higher importance. For instance when Oliver gets sick and is brought to the house of Mr. Brownlow, or that after being shot he is taken in by Mrs. and Miss Maylie. In each time he is brought to an environment that is healthier for him and does not allow for contamination to spread.
The conditions of the streets also give pause. “Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes with which to look upon the slime beneath; windows broken and patched, with poles thrust out on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud, and threatening to fall into it, as some have done; dirt besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage;- all these ornament the banks of folly ditch.”[3] It is of a comedic nature to state here that the mayor of London at the time was not only unaware of the condition of Jacob’s Island (mentioned above), but he also disbelieved its existence. It seems romantic, as if a foreign country, but Jacob’s Island is truly a section of London and did indeed suffer as badly as mentioned. Because of how casually Dickens creates ironical twists to injury, illness, and dirt in the rest of the novel, chapter 50 can be easily looked over as another one of his ironical and fictitious writings. It was only after the publication of Oliver Twist in the 1930s that the Sanitary Act was passed (1866). It was “a response to the failure of previous legislation and allowed action to be taken against local authorities providing inadequate sewer services and water supply. It called for comprehensive sewerage and water connection of all houses, street cleaning and legislated against overcrowding, to be enforced by Sanitary Inspectors.”[4]

The penalty for breaking the law was harsh. Also, there was no difference made between penalties for adults or children, as criminals were considered born into what they were. They also believed that there was little, if not no, way to nurture criminals in such a way that they would be able to resist a life of crime. Because of the way that Dickens handles criminals in the novel it is obvious to see that he does not believe in the theories that previously dominated society. He seems to twist humor into most, if not all sections of the novel pertaining to crime, penalties, prison, or hanging. The police officers, magistrates, and constables are caricatures and are usually made fun of in some way or another. For example, when Oliver lays injured in the home of Miss Maylie and the constables arrive to arrest him, the doctor keeps our hero from being arrested. However, the way this is done makes fools of the constables without them realizing it and then when they look at him oddly, he dares them to disagree with him.[5]
Dickens’ characters make light of what could be waiting for them throughout the novel. Hanging for instance is taken as much in humor as a warning. “’He’ll come to be scragged won’t he?’ ‘I don’t know what that means,’ replied Oliver. ‘Something in this way, old feller,’ said Charley. As he said it, Master Bates caught up an end of his neckerchief, and holding it erect in the air, dropped his head on his shoulder, and jerked a curious sound through his teeth; thereby indicating, by a lively pantomimic representation, that scragging and hanging were one and the same thing.”[6] This is another prime example why this novel is a romance. Even though the realistic elements are intertwined, the morbidity of the novel corresponds more to a romance than it does to a realistic text. Even the accidental hanging of Sikes at the end of the novel plays into this, as it seems very unrealistic that he could accidentally hang himself, however, Fagin’s real ending comes to the reader much more possible. This is also why the novel first discusses Fagin and only then turns to Sikes. By having the accidental hanging at the end of the novel, the author allows for the reader to put down the book with a feeling of stepping back towards reality. If the novel had ended with Fagin, the reader would have been more ready to believe that the actions taking place were of a more nonfiction nature.

The conditions that people had to work in were very bad as well. Dickens was a strong supporter of labor reform, especially those that pertained to children. Oliver’s life is typical of an orphan of his age. Orphans from poor families were sent to work houses and had to labor at a very young age. Only orphans from rich families could be put in orphanages. One of the most common occupations for children was with machinery, where they could replace or fix things that were really small. Also coal mining was often where poor children were sent to work. The conditions were awful and incredibly dangerous. A well documented case is that of “The young girls who worked in the match factories run by Bryant and May endured long hours and poor pay. They worked with dangerous materials such as phosphorous that could cause a disease known as 'phossy jaw' that rotted their lower jaw.”[7] For children in the country, like Oliver, things happened a little differently. People with various occupations were able to buy an orphan out of the poorhouse in order to apprentice. Children were not able to choose their apprenticeships, but rather were placed somewhere, which is unusual for Oliver. At first, Oliver is able to choose not to go with Mr. Limbkins who has a group of child chimney sweeps that he orders. “’It’s a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish. ‘Young boys have been smothered in chimneys before now,’ said another gentleman. ‘That’s acause they damped the straw afore they lit it in the chimbley to make ‘em come down agin,’ said Gamfield; ‘that’s all smoke, and no blase; vereas smoke aint o’ no use at all in makin’ a boy come down, for it only sinds him to sleep, and that’s wot he likes. Boys is wery obstinant, and wery lazy, gen’lemen and there ‘s nothink like a good hot blaze to make ‘em come down vith a run. It’s human, too, gen’lemen, acause, even if they’ve stuck in the chimbley, roasting their feet makes ‘em struggle to hextricate theirselves.’”[8] Here as the characters are making light of roasting feet and hextricating boys, Dickens is showing that there is little to no regard for the plight of child labor. It wasn’t until 1899 that all children had the option of going to school until the age of 12.
At the undertaker’s, though, Oliver seems to have it very well. He has a somewhat decent place to sleep, he gets meals- even though they are little more than scraps they are still more than he had previous to his employment there. Also the owner of the business treated him fairly, allowing him to go to things that he would otherwise take no one to. Therefore it can be construed that Oliver’s leaving there as seeing ‘a gift-horse in the mouth.’ It seems unrealistic that after achieving something that seems somewhat better than Oliver had before, he would choose to run away after a skirmish with Mr. Claypole, and go to London, where he has no friends, family, or connections. Even what seems like his only friend, Dick, does nothing but wish him well as he himself prepares for his death (a death that does not even happen in the novel, considering that he returns later, wanting to write a letter to Oliver giving his love.)

Realism plays a factor in this novel, however, does not take up enough of it in order to make it a realistic novel. Like the Route-Goldberg effect, one thing seems to happen after the next so rapidly, that the novel gives a romantic feel to it. The majority of the characters are two-dimensional and are caricatures, not to mention that the reader’s ability to distance him- or herself from the plot allows for the notion of a foreign place to be the backdrop. That is to say, it is as if one can still think that the events are happening elsewhere and not in London, because of the irony and unrealistic events that take place. None the less, there are a variety of elements that are based in truth. These elements predominantly surround the issues of Health and Sanitation, Penal law, and Labor. Dickens clearly gives his opinion within each issue of reform and cleverly hides information within entertaining tales. Each chapter deals with at least one of the three issues and each character flirts with them as well.
When it comes to Health, one sees how bad the conditions of the time really are. He places people live and their ability to recover from illness. Also, one sees how certain areas of London are so bad that they are almost detrimental to live in. Change in the Penal system was important to Dickens as seen in his constant bringing up of it. Also the way that Fagin is treated towards the end of the novel. However, more than just the way in which things are done have to be changed, as Dickens asks people to rethink their position on nature and nurture when it comes to criminals. Finally, Labor laws needed to be reevaluated. Because of Dickens’ experience with these laws he felt that they would have to be altered so that others would not be put in the same situation that he was in. This includes how children are used as well as for what occupations.
Clearly this is a novel based on personal truth and strife that has managed to bring the plights of the middle and lower class to the parlor of higher classes. By doing this, Charles Dickens has managed to create a name that transcends literature into politics, and history. The changes that occurred after his rule of the English language will be forever engrained in English society. When Dickens died in 1870 at the age of 58 his epitaph in Westminster was appropriately positioned stating: "He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world".[9]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992

Fisher, Julie & Cotton, Andrew. Learning from the Past: Delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor in nineteenth century Britain. WEDC, 2005, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/Publications/Briefing%20Notes/BN%20Learning.htm

London’s Children in the 19th century. The Museum of London, 2003, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/wc/world_city_6.htm

The Charles Dickens Page. 1997. http://charlesdickenspage.com

Guide to Westminster, City Of London Press, leaflet.
[1] The Charles Dickens Page. 1997. http://charlesdickenspage.com
[2] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 114-115
[3] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 329-330
[4] Julie Fisher and Andrew Cotton. Learning from the Past: Delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor in nineteenth century Britain. WEDC, 2005, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/Publications/Briefing%20Notes/BN%20Learning.htm

[5] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 199-200
[6] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pg 117
[7] London’s Children in the 19th century. The Museum of London, 2003, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/wc/world_city_6.htm
[8] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pg 16
[9] Guide to Westminster, City Of London Press

The Abominable Train

2008-10-13T23:35:00.000+02:00

The Abominable Train
By Margriet Hesseling and Marloes Konterman

There once was a train known for it’s excellence in keeping time. Unlike the other ICE trains that ran in that day and age, this train had showed up on time, and repeatedly did so. In fact, it had never been late to an appointment. It was actually so accurate that it was known by the name: MEL. Most Efficient Locomotive. It was so efficient, that while being on time, it also managed to be comfortable, safe, carry a maximum capacity, and not smell as bad as the others. It had a special air filter built in that offered passengers the scent of roses.
Unfortunately, its competitor, Other Train, as it was called, had an even more special quality to it. It could read minds and offer people whatever food they wanted in at any point in time. Rice? Sure! Macaroni and Cheese? They had it! Boerenkool with potatoes, sausage, onions, extra extra extra crispy bacon, and of course hamburger meat charred to the bone, because Josh Lyman loved it that way. MEL could not compete with that.
One evening, at quarter past seven, as MEL was just passing the Ajax Stadium also known as the Arena or flying saucer- not to mention the home of both Ajax and the GoAhead Eagles- two nitwitted dumb twenty-something year olds sat and thought about how to improve MEL in order to once again beat it’s competition Other Train. They hadn’t gotten many ideas yet, in fact none-at-all. It so happened, that they couldn’t seem to even form a coherent thought as one of them was lacking sleep and the other thought she might be high on life and probably still basking in the win of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
All of a sudden though, the blond girl had an idea. Which was of course very extraordinary seeing that she was blond (and we all know what they say about blonds). The idea though, was quite spectacular. So spectacular if truth be told that the brunette flopped back into the chair, this was in a reclining position, in surprise and awe. The idea was to look around the train and interview customers, because the customer knows best and is king. So, the brunette made an excel sheet with some questions. It looked much like this:

Wat du jo like about this train?
Wat du jo not like about this train?
Wat wood jo like 2 chang?

Now they wanted to print, but they had no printer. So, they decided to just go around asking the questions. They were too stupid to even grasp the concept of writing the questions down on a piece of paper and distribute them that way, or even keep it as a queue card or cheat sheet.
The problem was that when they finally got around to asking people the questions, they seemed to forget what they were going to ask. Also, the answers kept slipping their minds. Thus, the questionnaire was useless.
Then they had a revelation! They kept forgetting. Perhaps the trick to it was to have passengers forget what they did on the train, therefore never realizing that the train wasn’t better than another. To justify this kind of brainwashing they argued that the passengers would enter the train and no time would pass with boredom when they got off.
They’d accidentally stumbled on the idea of cryogenically freezing passengers without knowing it, and won the Nobel Prize for physics that same year. Realizing that they weren’t as stupid as they thought they ran for Prime Minister and Secretary General of the UN and won, causing mass hysteria and a global economic crisis that would last into the next ice age. Luckily they had their cryogenic freezing techniques and were able to get away and frozen before the mass mobs attacked and killed them both.

Epilogue

The blond was released from freezing too early and instead of getting stupider as was hypothesized to, landed up getting one of the highest IQs ever recorded and spent the rest of her day in a mental facility trying to solve the problem of the circle.

The brunette woke up on time, and realized in the year 2591 that men had become dogs and women had become kangaroos and that there was no baseball, puzzles and ice hockey anymore and in a fit of depression learned to groom cats and mice properly.

Other Train was pulled out of commission a year after its creation, when it was discovered that the food created was being made out of a new type of polymer highly toxic for people.

And as for MEL, MEL was replaced by the MEL 2200, which included the cryogenic freezing as an option. It remained a big hit though due to the rose scented air.

END

Almanac entry

2006-11-30T01:22:00.000+01:00

Van alle commissies binnen SESAM is er waarschijnlijk niet één zo aktief als de Accie. De taak van deze commissie is voor elke donderdag een interessante avond voor te bereiden voor de leden en ik kan u vertellen hoe moeilijk dat werkelijk is. Sinds ik lid ben geworden in september 2004 ben ik 5 keer de accie in geweest, waaronder de zomercommissie (zomie). Elke keer is anders en elke keer is weer een nieuwe uitdaging. De grootste van deze uitdagingen is een middag of avond zien te vinden waar alle leden van de accie bij elkaar kunnen komen.
Daarna, moeten de ideeen gaan vloeien. Geen gemakkelijke taak. Kranten worden weer uit de kelder gehaald, meerdere websites worden bezocht, en een belrondje wordt gehouden. Gebeurt er wat in het Concertgebouw? Kan Amice Den Herder gratis kaartjes voor ons regelen? Is er een interessant toneelstuk ergens? Wanneer was de laatste keer dat we een spelletjesavond hadden? Wat gebeurt er in de komende tijd op Py?- Dit zijn allemaal vragen die telkens weer voorkomen.
En dan moeten we ook nog een locatie zien te vinden. Avonden zoals WOORD (‘Willekeurig Oratorisch Ongeoefend Ratatouille Dialoog’ een soort namaak van ‘De Lamas’ en ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’, bedacht door Amica Konterman en mijzelf) kunnen in een kleinere ruimte worden gehouden, maar een bonte avond heeft dan weer meer ruimte nodig.
Als alles geregeld is, en de acciebrief getypt is, is er nog maar een ding over: de leden laten weten wat er in de komende tijd zal gebeuren, interesse opwekken.
De meest geslaagde avonden zijn die avonden, waarop meestal iedereen of bijna iedereen komt opdagen. Een voorbeeld hiervan was een bonte avond die ik een keer met Amice Van Wonderen en Amice Polder heb georganiseerd. Er werd piano en viool gespeeld, gezongen, Amice Den Herder droeg een gedicht voor over een tijger, en het toenmalige bestuur (Amica Coumou en Amice Ozdemir en Voges) hadden een semi-crossdress playback gedaan van Linda, Roos en Jessica, om slechts enkele optredens te noemen. In diezelfde accie hadden we ook een ‘Holistische Expressive Verbeeldingsavond’ in de vorm van een speurtocht met opdrachten en vier camera’s om de avond vast te leggen. De volgende accie waar ik in zat, had ook geslaagde avonden. Zo was er de grote wandeltocht door Amsterdam, waarbij we drie verschillende wandellingen hadden. Elk wandelling had een thema en vragen. Ik had nooit gedacht dat SESAM zo fanatiek zou zijn en uiteindelijk was het onmogelijk om een winnaar uit te kiezen.
Maar er zijn ook minder geslaagde ideeen. Soms verandert er wat. Het weer bijvoorbeeld. Dat is het meest onvoorspelbaar in Nederland. Een prachtige dag kan soms ineens omslaan, en een avondje in het Vondelpark is dan niet meer mogelijk, en een alternatief moet dan gezocht worden. Erg lastig op het laatste moment. Je zou dat eigenlijk niet denken in een stad zoals Amsterdam. Maar, met de dure Euro zijn activiteiten voor studenten wat beperkt, en soms is er gewoon niks interessants! Als het echt niet lukt, dan zijn er van die goude oudjes die gewoon weer gebruikt kunnen worden: spelletjesavond, gekke-dingen-eet avond, en als het echt moet een avond naar de film.
Een ding blijft zeker: aan het eind van de activiteit gaat de avond altijd verder met borrelen op Py. Waar, als een activiteit geslaagd is, er altijd uitgebreid over wordt gesproken. Een prachtig einde voor een uitbundige avond.

tocht door amsterdam

2006-11-30T01:21:00.000+01:00

Voor iedereen die een leuk tocht door amsterdam wil doen raad ik dit aan:

Route 1

Start: Societeit Pylades

Goedenavond Dames en Heren, vanavond ontdekken we een stuk van ons gelieve hoofdstad Amsterdam. Vanuit onze mooie societeit zullen wij ons richting de westelijke kant van het centrum begeven.

We beginnen op de leidsegracht. Aan het eind hiervan keert u links. We staan eerst even stil bij het verleden op nummer 380.

Tell de punten Aantal:__________

Loop door de straat die zijn naam ontleent aan de huidenhandel die in de zeventiende eeuw in deze buurt was geconcentreerd. Keer op de volgende gracht naar rechts, en zoek het gebouw van de Wilde Man. Hier verbleef rond 1716 Tzar Peter de Grote bij zijn vriend Christoffel Brants. Het verhaal wil dat de Tsaar dronken werdt en te laat kwam voor een ontvangst bij de burgemeester. Nasdarovnja.

Zet uw tocht voort, tegenover de gracht naar het Felix Meritus Huis en haal een programma boekje op voor de komende maand.

Ga naar de toren waar de kroon van Maximilliaan licht. Deze toren is, met zijn 85 meter, de hoogste van de stad. Hier zult u aantreffen een monument voor gelijkheid. Neem een foto op allebei de delen van dit monument om uw compassie voor de gelijke rechten voor homosexuelen te betonen.

Ga langs het Anne Frank Monument naar de voordeur van de kerk. De wester kerk heft het grootste schip van alle protestante kerken in Nederland. Hendrik de Keyzer, die de kerk ontwerp, stierf in 1621, een jaar na dat de bouw begonnen was. Rembreant licht hier welles waar begraven, maar zijn graf is nooit teruggevonden.

Maak de zin af: “O Mooie Wester toren…_____________________________________”

Zet uw tocht voort langs het Anne Frank Huis. Rechts af de Lelygracht op en terug naar de Keizersgracht. 1…2…3… en u bent er.

Volgens de lugubere legende staan de hoofden voor die van zes inbrekers, die door een dienstmeisje betrapt werden en later zijn onthoofd. Maar het zijn eigenlijk beelden van…___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Van de heren, gaan we naar de Prinsenstraat en daarna gaan we richting noorden. De Noorderkerk, gebouwd tussen 1620 en 1623. Het was de eerste in Amsterdam waarvan de plattegrond een grieks kruis vormde. Alles draait om de preekstoel, die voor alle beoekers goed zichtbaar is. Hendrik de Keyzer ontwierp de kerk maar stierf vroegteidig. Op 14 Februari 1941, om 6 uur ‘s avonds spraken leden van de toen verboden comministische partij van Nederland hier 250 medeburgers toe. Wat is hier verder gebeurt?_______________________________________________________________

Ga rechtdoor en keer rechts bij de Harlemmerstraat. Zoek het West-Indisch Huis. Dit gebouw heeft vele functies gehad en heeft dienst gedaan als vleeshal en als wachthuis voor soldaten. In 1623 werd het verhuurd aan de West-Indische Compagnie. In 1628 is hier door de Piet Heyn bemachtigde schat van de Zilvervloot opgeborgen. Nadat de WIC naar elders was verhuisd, verplachte de stad het gebouw in 1657 als nieuwezijds herenlogement.

Nu is de vraag, wat huist er momenteel in dit historische pand?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

wow... I really haven't posted in a long time

2006-11-30T01:05:00.000+01:00

It's one of those 'good god I still have a blog' moments. It's hard to think of what to write. So much has happened in this last year, however on the other hand absolutely nothing has. It's gone so fast that I haven't really had time to do anyhing but study. Or so it seems. On the other hand my parents moved to Frankfurt from Toronto... Big change there. They're now so close to me that they're here all the time.

I've got some new hobbies... puzzles for one, except that I jsut trew one over by mistake and I'm ready to rip my hair out... I was pretty far, it's a difficult puzzle.

Also I'm watching "Firewall". I haven't really decided if I really like it. Though I'm a big fan of Paul Bettany. Harrison Ford is boring though. Besides Starwars and Indiana Jones I haven't really found any of his movies appealling. I had to watch Blade Runner recently for class and I was bored beyond belief.

I'm yawning. I guess it's time for bed. After all it is 1:18am here.

night night

A Poem

2006-02-23T20:37:00.000+01:00

Two mice had a pair of dice,
And diced the night away,
When morning came,
It just wasn't the same,
The two little mice got horny.

The End

a long time gone

2005-12-19T13:47:00.000+01:00

Yeah... the dixie chicks are in my head... don't ask... I don't get it either. It's been a while and I have so much to write and say... First of all what I've been up to since this summer... Well, as a lot of you know I went to the Backstreet Boys concert... Once again... don't ask... I initially went along on a spur of the moment 'I'll keep everyone company' and landed up really enjoying myself. It actually surprised me how many songs I knew, considering that I'm not that big a fan. I have two of their albums I think.
What else... I guess I'll skip over to december, considering that everything that happened in between is pretty much school related. Change of classes etc. My mother came to visit at the end of November, and then by the begining of December both my dad and Lindsey (Jan's girlfriend) were staying with us... us being Jan and I. Kinda weird. On the 5th we celebrated Sinterklaas... Which was fantastic and fun. Dad really got into his gifts afterwards, especially the DVD of 'Dad's Army' I got him. I think I can still hear him laughing in my head... lol.
Last weekend, when I was supposed to be studing, I instead went to dinner with a really close friend of mine: Ajan. His girlfriend was unavailible for the night and he had a christmas party. I had a very good time. It was definately a notible point. Met new people and enjoyed the city I love so much. (we had dinner on one of the tourboats at night). Yesterday afternoon I went to the Nutcracker with a couple friends. It was phanominal. Plus the lead dancer was really hot.... probably gay... but I can dream. ;p
And right now I'm at the university again, looking out on a view that, if they could clean up a couple buildings here would be spectacular. I've just finished taking my Phonetics exam.. yuck! And I'm going to go to my shakespeare exam any moment now. I'm just waiting for the previous exam in the room to leave. Then I'll be heading home to study for tomorrow. I can't wait.... erg.
Up coming... Christmas in Malaysia, I leave on friday for two weeks. My Uncle's getting married on the 26th.... Not that I'm not happy for him, but I have no interest in singing actually... and no interest in being in Malaysia for Christmas. I must say that I am curious as to what's been going on there in the time I've been away and how my cousins have changed, especially the younger ones. New years plans are still iffy, but then I'll be home to commence with my NORMAL life... if you can call it normal.

2005-10-15T00:26:00.002+02:00

Alecia and Linda on the Ferry back to the mainland

2005-10-15T00:26:00.001+02:00

Alecia in the maze

2005-10-15T00:26:00.000+02:00

Me, Linda, and Alecia, at Centre Island

2005-10-15T00:25:00.001+02:00

Linda and Me in front of a maze donated by the dutch

2005-10-15T00:25:00.000+02:00

where we went to get the "tram" tour

2005-10-15T00:24:00.002+02:00

Centre Island

2005-10-15T00:24:00.001+02:00

These too!

2005-10-15T00:24:00.000+02:00

I want this dress!

2005-10-15T00:23:00.001+02:00

Linda watching the baseball game

2005-10-15T00:23:00.000+02:00

Me and Meg at the Skydome

2005-10-15T00:22:00.001+02:00

Lin and me... by this point both of us had wet feet!

2005-10-15T00:22:00.000+02:00

Me at Niagra Falls

2005-10-15T00:21:00.002+02:00

Even more niagra falls

2005-10-15T00:21:00.001+02:00

Isn't this pretty?

2005-10-15T00:21:00.000+02:00

From a closer look

2005-10-15T00:20:00.001+02:00

More Niagra Falls

2005-10-15T00:20:00.000+02:00

Niagra Falls

2005-10-15T00:19:00.001+02:00

These look soo comfortable... they're buddist prayer slippers

2005-10-15T00:19:00.000+02:00

Linda with Madonna's shoe

2005-10-15T00:17:00.000+02:00

Me with Fred Astaire's shoe

2005-10-15T00:16:00.002+02:00

Linda with Piece Brosnan's shoe

2005-10-15T00:16:00.001+02:00

Phil Collins' shoe

2005-10-15T00:16:00.000+02:00

Sasha with Madonna's shoe

2005-10-15T00:15:00.000+02:00

Sasha at the Bata Shoe Museum

2005-10-15T00:11:00.000+02:00

Sasha, Jay, Me and Linda at the Skydome

2005-10-15T00:10:00.000+02:00

Cherise, Selby and Danaca

2005-10-13T23:58:00.000+02:00

Marloes got engadged to Rob

2005-10-12T18:44:00.000+02:00

NIEN AND BAR VERY SERIOUS

2005-10-12T18:43:00.002+02:00

PRESHOW: RAFFISH

2005-10-12T18:43:00.001+02:00

NIC AND BARABRA

2005-10-12T18:43:00.000+02:00

ME, NIEN, NIC IN LINE

2005-10-12T18:42:00.002+02:00

NIC

2005-10-12T18:42:00.001+02:00

NIC

2005-10-12T18:42:00.000+02:00

NIEN IN LINE

2005-10-12T18:41:00.000+02:00

NIEN

2005-10-12T18:39:00.002+02:00

NIEN AND NIC BEFORE CONCERT

2005-10-12T18:39:00.001+02:00

ME, NIEN, AND NIC B4 CONCERT

2005-10-12T18:39:00.000+02:00

NIC

2005-10-12T18:38:00.001+02:00

Barbara

2005-10-12T18:38:00.000+02:00

bsb

2005-10-12T18:37:00.003+02:00

BSB9

2005-10-12T18:37:00.002+02:00

BSB10

2005-10-12T18:37:00.001+02:00

BSB11

2005-10-12T18:37:00.000+02:00

BSB12

2005-10-12T18:36:00.003+02:00

BSB5

2005-10-12T18:36:00.002+02:00

BSB6

2005-10-12T18:36:00.001+02:00

BSB7

2005-10-12T18:36:00.000+02:00

BSB8

2005-10-12T18:35:00.001+02:00

BSB2

2005-10-12T18:35:00.000+02:00

BSB4

2005-10-12T18:34:00.001+02:00

It's dinner

2005-10-12T18:34:00.000+02:00

BSB

het oudste dispuut

2005-10-05T20:28:00.000+02:00

Het oudste dipuut van de SSRA
Dat is SESAM illuster en groot
De and'ren zij sidren en vluchten van angst
Voor de schedel zijn zij als de dood.
Zie de maagt verschijn
In haar schone pracht
'T is on leven, ambitie en droom.
Slechts aan ons de trots de SSR
Wij oreren en kennen geen schoom

Tiralala tiralala tiralala
Tiralala tiralala tiralala tiralala

SESAM!

Slechts aan ons de trots de SSR
Wij oreren en kennen geen schoom

Koken voor de nuldejaar's lust

2005-08-19T21:36:00.000+02:00

Soepen

Groentensoep met pesto

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
2 Aardappels gesneden in blokjes 1l Vlees bouillon
100g Courgette 50g Rijst
1g Bloemkool 100g Witte bonen (blik)
100g Sperziebonen 50g Diepvriesdoperwten
1g Champignons 1 Teen knoflook
100g Ui 25g Pijnboompitjes
1 ml Olijfolie 100g Parmezaan kaas
50g Gesneden tomaten blokjes Basillicum

Verhit 2 eetlepels olijfolie in een pan en fruit de ui even aan. Bak de tomaatstukjes met vocht even mee. Voeg de bouillon, fijn gesneden aardappelen en groenten, rijst, witte bonen en doperwtjes toe. Kook de soep in ongeveer 25 minuten zachtjes gaar.

Stamp intussen in een vijzel de knoflook, pijnboompitten en bazillicum tot een gladde pasta of pureer deze ingredienten in de keukenmachiene. Roer 2 eetlepels parmezaanse kaas en de rest van de olie erdoor. Roer 1 of 2 eetlepels van deze pesto door de soep.

Tomatensoep

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
Grote pot appelmoes (Vleeswaren)
Pak tomatensap 2 eieren
150g Taugé T Bouillonpoeder
Kleine prei 2T Ketjap manis
1 ons Plak kipfillet zuikerklontjes

Doe de tomaten sap, bouillon poeder, ketjap, en suiker samen met appelmoes in een pan en bring dit aan de kook. Zet het gas lager en voeg taugé en de klein gesneden prei toe en laat dit even mee pruttelen. Bak van de eieren een omlet en snei dit in kleine stukjes en voeg dit samen met de kipfillet toe aan het geheel en lat dit nog even door pruttelen.

Salades

Griekse salade

Voor 2 personen

Ingrediënten:
Knapperige slabladeren 75g Feta
1 Vleestomaat in stukjes Zwarte olijven
Komkommer in stukjes 8 partjes citroen
Rauwe uiringen (een half uur geweekt in koud water) Sap van 2 citroenen
Vers gemalen peper

Schik de slabladeren op en schotel, prenkel er wat citroensap over en strooi een peebtje vers gemalen peper overheen. Garneren met de partjes citroen en serveren met een pitabroodje.

Gemengde Salade met geitenkaas

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
2T Olijfolie ½ komkommer
100g Ontbijtspek 150g geitenkaas
1Krop eikenbladsla 2T (appel- of wijn) azijn
1krop sla zout
100g veldsla Versgemalen peper
4 tomaten 4T Kant-en-klare croutons

Verhit de olijfolie in een koekenpan. Bak de plakjes spek op een patig vuur in circa 5 minuten knapperig bruin. Was intussen de kroppen sla en de veldsla. Sla de slabladeren goed droog en snijd ze in groeve repen. Verwijder de worteltjes van de veldsla. Snijd de tomaten en komkommer in stukjes. Snijd de geitenkaas in blokjes. Neem de plakjes spek uit de pan en laat ze op keukenpapier even uitlekken. Roer de azijn door het bakvet.Verdeel de slasoorten over vier diepe borden. Verdeel de blokjes tomaat. Komkommer en geitenkaas erover. Sprenkel het spekvet erover. Breek de spek in stukjes en strooi deze met de croutons over de salade.

Hoofdgerechten

Forel au bleu

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
4 Forellen Peterselie
200ml Wittewijnazijn Peper
50g Boter en wat gehakte Zout

Voor de court-bouillon:
1 Ui 1 kruidentuiltje (peterselie, tijnt, laurier)
1 Selderijstengel 2 eetlepels wittewijnazijn
2 Wortelen

Doe in een pan een liter water, de fijngesneden groenten, de kruiden, de azijn, peper en zout. Breng aan de kook en laat een kwartier doorzieden. Laat vervolgens afkoelien. Breng in een steelpannetje 20cl azijn aan de kook. Giet deze over de forrellen en laat afkoelen. Leg de afgekoelde forrellen in een braadpan en bring aan met de gezeefde courtboiullon. Breng langzaam aan de kook en laat zo’n 10 minuted doorzieden. Haal de forellen voorzichtig uit de pan en leg ze op een dienschotel of op borden. Schenk er wat gesmolten boter met peterselie over.

Indiase roerbakschotel met garnalen

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
300g Pandanrijst 400g Doperwten
1 Zakje patak’s tikka masala 125g Rose garnalen
80g keriepasta 346g mangochutney
8T Volle yoghurt 1 Zakje Thaise groentemix
2T Zonnenloemolie

Rijst koken volgens gebruiksaanwijzing. Kerriepasta mengen met 4 eetlepels yoghurt. In braadpan olie verhitten (Liefst zonnebloem) Groentemix ca 3 min roerbakken. Doperwten uitlekken. Keriiepasta bij groene voegen en ca. 1 min verwarmen. Al roerend 300 ml water toevoegen. Afgedekt ca. 5 minuten zachtjes laten sudderen. Doperwten garnalen en rest van yoghurt toevoegen en nog 3 minuten verwarmen. Op smaak brengen met zout. Curry serveren met rijst en chutney.

Lasagne met drie groenten en kaas

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
3 uien 3T Aardappelmeel
300g worteltjes 300g geraspte oude Goudse Kaas
300g doperwten (diepvries) 1T Mostert
zout nootmuskaaat
¾l melk Lasagnavellen (voorgekookt)
2t kruidenbouillon poeder 3T paneermeel

Snijd de ui in dunne ringen. Snijd de worteltjes in dunne plakjes. Kook de ui, wortels, en doperwten elk apart gaar. Laat de groente uitlekken. Breng melk met kruidenbouillon aan de kook. Los hat aardappelmeel op in wat koud water en schenk dit al roerende bij de kokendemelk. Laat de saus enkele minuten zachtjes koken. Roer de kaas erdoor en voeg de mosterd, peper en nootmuskaat toe. Verdeel de saus in 3 porties en roer elk portie door de groente sort. Wortelsaus, lasagnevellen, uiensaus, lasagnevellen doperwtensaus, lasagnavellen. Nogmaals herhalen. Eindigen met saus. Strooi er de panneermeel over. Bak lasagne in midden van voorverwarmde oven. (200c) in ongeveer 45 minuten goudbruin en gaar.

Pannenkoek met champignons

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
250g Biologische champignons 8 Pannenkoeken
1Ui 1 Pak tuinerwten-worteltjes
3T Olijfolie
1 Potje Roomkaas met knoflook

Champignons schoonvegen en in plakjes snijden. Ui pellen en snipperen. Olie in een pan verhitten en ui en champignons in 5 minuten bakken. Helft van vrijgekomen vocht afgieten roomkaas toevoegen en laten smelten. Pannenkoeken verwarmen volgens gebruiksaanwijzing. Tuinerwten-wortelmix verwarmen volgens gebruiksaanwijzing. Champignonssaus op smaak brengen met zout en peper. Saus op pannenkoeken scheppen en pannenkoekenscheppen en pannenkoek dubbelklappen.

Pizza Met Broccoli en brie

Voor 4 personen

Ingrdiënten:
2 pakken verse pizza (Marghrita) 1 Pakje roombrie 60 (200g)
2 zakken broccoliroosjes 75g Gezouten cashewnoten
olie (om in te vetten)

Oven voorverwarmen op 200g. 2 bakplaten invetten, pizza’s op bakplaatleggen. Broccoli eventueel in leinere roosjes verdelen en in ca. 3 minuten beetgaar koken. Intussen brie in blokjes snijden. Broccoli en noten mengen en over pizzas verdelen. Bestrooien met blokjes brie en pizza’s volgens gebruiksaanwijzing bakken.

Reebiefstukjes met mozzarella

Voor 4 personen

Ingrdiënten:
4 Reebiefstuken 2T Crème fraîche
25g Boter 1t Bouillon poeder
50g Mozzarella Peper
50ml Cognac Zout
100ml Wijn, rode 50ml Water
½ T Krwijzaad

Verhit de boter in een koekenpan en bak de reebiefstukjes op hoog vuur aan een kant in 2 minuten bruin. Snijd intussen mozzarella in mooie plakjes. Keer de biefstukjes en bestrooi ze met zout en peper. Leg op elk biefstukje een plakje mozzarella. Strooi het karwijzaad over de kaas. Bak de biefstukjes in nog circa 2 minuten bruin en van binnen rose en laat de kaas iets smelten. Zet er eventueel op het laatst even een deksel op. Leg de biefstukjes op warme borden en houd ze warm. Schenk congnac, wijn, water en de bouillonpoedeer bij het bakvet. Laat dit op hoog vuur inkoken tot een mooie jus ontstaat, roer de aanbaksels los. Roer de crème fraîche erbij. Schenk een beetje jus langs de biefstukjes en geef de rest er apart bij.

Dessert

Baklava

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
250g Ongezouten boter 1T Honing
5T olie 1T Citroensap
600g Diepvries bladerdeeg 1zakje Fijngehakte pistachenoten
375g fijngehakte walnoten
250g suiker

De ongezouten boter smelten en door de olie roeren, hiermee het bakblik bestrijken. De verschillende laagjes bladerdeeg te grootte van het bakblik. Uitrollen. Als je een wat kleine bakblik grbruikt, kun je het deeg dubbelslaan. Een leegje deeg op de bodem van het bakblik of bakvorm leggen en goed aandrukken, met het olie-boter-mengsel bestrijken (niet veel gebruken, dit ‘verpest’ de smaak van het gebak), dan tweede laagje bladerdeeg erop leggen. Deze opniew invetten (weer heel dun) en er dan ca. 3 eetlepels gehakte walnoten erover verdelen. De volgende tweelaagjes weer invetten en op iedere tweede laag walnoten leggen. Op die manier ga je door totdat ergeen deeg meer over is. De bovenste laag diogonaal met een scherp mes inkerven met een afstand tussen de lijnen van ca. 4 a 5 cm. In tegenovergestelde richting ook schuin inkerven, zodat er een wiebertjespatroon ontstaat. In het midden van de oven op 175 graden ongeveer 30 minuten bakken, daarna de oven op 175 graden ongeveer 30 minuten bakken, daarna de oven op 150 graden zetten en het gebak verder bakken totdat deze goedbruin is.

Voor de siroop: De suiker ongeveer 5 minuten met water koken, honing en citroensap erdoor roeren en vervolgens heet over het notenbak gieten. Het gebak met gehakte pistachenoten bestrooien.

Chocolade Mousse a la marita

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
6 eidooiers 200g puur chocolade
50g suiker 15g boter
400dl slagroom 5 blaadjes geletine
100g suiker 1 reep chocolade
6 eiwitten

6 eidooiers met 50g suiker schuimig kloppen. 400dl slagroom met 100gr suiker en 6 eiwitten stijfkloppen. 200gr puur chocolade met 15gr boter in een kom op een pan met heet water al roerende laten smelten. 5 blaadjes gelatine in ruim koud water circa 5 minuten weken, uitknijpen, op laag vuur voorzigtig oplossen en aan de warme chocolade toevoegen. Het dooiermengsel erdoor laten roeren. Laten afkoelen en het eiwitmengsel erdoor spatelen. 4 kleine vormpjes met het mengsel en circa 3 uur in de koelkast laten opstijven. Van een reep chocolade raspen voor de garnering.

Coupe Dame blanche

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
½ l roomijs 20g Boter
¼ l slagroom 4T Melk
100g Bittere chocolade 1T Pedersuiker

Breek de chocolade in stukjes en verwarm deze zachtjes in een kom op een pan met heet water. Snij de boter in stukjes en voeg deze toe. Toer de boter goed door de chocolade. Als het mengsel goed homogeen is mengen we de poedersuiker met de melk en voegen dit mengsel ook bij de chocolade. Klop de slagroom met wat suiker stijf. Door in een coupe een bal roomijs, spuit er met de spuitzak een toef slagroom op. Doe de chocoladesaus in een kannetje zodat eenieder ervan kan nemen zoveel men belieft.

Kwark met banana en noten

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
50g Pecannoten
3 rijpe bananen
1 beker biogarde kwark (naturel 500gr)
2T Vruchtenlimonade siroop

Pecannoten grof hakken. Bananen schillen. Twee bananen in plakjes snijden, de andere prakken. Bananen puree en bananenplakjes met vruchtensiroop door kwark scheppen. Kwark bestrooien met pecaannoten en direct serveren.

Tiramisu

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
500g Mascapone cacoapoeder
4 eidooiers 2 borrelglaasjes Amaretto
2 eiwitten 2 borrelglaasjes Crème Mandorla
1t citroenrasp 2 kopjes sterke koffie
100g basterdsuiker snufje zout
1 pak lange vingers

Meng de koffie, de Amaretto en de Mandorla door elkaar. Doe de mascarpone, de suiker en de eierdooiers in een kom en klop dit los. Voeg nu de helft van het koffiemengsel toe en ook de citroenrasp.

Klop de eiwitten stijf met een snufje zout en spatel het vorzichtig door het mascaronemengsel. Dompel de lange vingers in de andere helft van het koffiemensel. Leg de langere vingers op de bodem van een schaal. Giet hier een deel van het Mascarponemengsel overheen. Dompel de rest van de lange vingers ook in een koffiemengsel. Leg de lange vingers op het mascarponemengsel. Giet hier de rest van het mascarponemensel overheen. Bestrooi het met cacao poeder en laat het geheel minstens vier uur in de koelkast.

Vanille-ijs (glace à la Vanille)

Voor 4 personen

Ingrediënten:
½ l melk 8 eidooiers
250g suiker 1 vanillestokje

Breng de melk met het vanillestokje aan de kook, laat 10 minuten trekken en neem het stokje er weer uit. Klop suiker en eidooiers in enn pan totdat het mengse; schuimig en heel licht van kleur wordt. Giet langzaam, onder kloppen, de melk bij dit mensel en warm het daarna voorzigtig op tot ongeveer 85ºc. Als het warmer wordt schiften de doooiers en is het mengsel reddeloos. Laat het onder veel roeren afkoelen. Vries het in de vriezer.

Godfried Bomans quote

2005-08-19T21:31:00.000+02:00

Hebt u wel eens bedacht, dat de versiering van een kerstboom eigenlijk de zuiverste abstracte kunst is, die men zich denken kan?
Ja, daar helpt geen ontkennen aan: de modernste jongens zijn die naamloze glasblazers en fabrieksbaasjes geweest, die, lang voor de term in de kunstgeschiedenis bekend werd, hun poeierige arabesken al luchtig de wereld inbliezen. Hoeden af voor die vergeten avant-garde, op wie niemand acht sloeg en die een eeuw geleden al roekeloos marcheerde! Want zij hebben het stoute stuk volbracht defuturisten van het verleden te zijn.

Godfried Bomans.

2005-07-04T00:12:00.000+02:00

Mom, Dad, and our tourguide in the bus

2005-07-03T00:08:00.000+02:00

Me, Danaca, and Selby

2005-07-02T00:00:00.001+02:00

Papa on St. Martin

2005-07-02T00:00:00.000+02:00

Mama on St. Martin