Trip to Amsterdam: Day 2

To be published.

Trip to Amsterdam: Day 1

Today was the D-Day for our trip to Amsterdam. It was the day of our departure, basically. We were to meet at the station in order to take the train to Brussels. There were lots of people in the train, but some of us managed to get a seat, others had to stand throughout the whole trip. We finally arrived in Brussels North Station round 9.45 pm. Our train to Amsterdam was to leave at 10.15 or something like that.

Meanwhile, some of us fetched a drink or something else to eat. (I bought a so-called pain saucisse. Tasty!) Mr Van Mensel found us waiting on the platform. The air was really really cold… Everyone was trying to get a little warmer by keeping their hands in their pockets and covering their heads with scarfs, hoods…

We took the international train to Amsterdam, but we'd have to get off the train in Den Haag (The Hague) in order to see several things in the economic and political capital of the Netherlands. So we arrived there about less than three hours later, meeting Mrs Leijnse in the station. Then we put our cases in some metal device having the form of bank safes, and we walked to the Mauritshuis, i.e. a museum displaying many beautiful pieces of artwork, but also (as kind of cherry on the cake) the famous Meisje met de parel by Johannes Vermeer.

A little bit later, outside, we got to listen to Pitchou and Wilhelm who gave us a historical and political survey of the Binnenhof, i.e. the Parliament of the Netherlands. The air seemed colder and colder, so that we haven't stayed there for long. And before I forgot, please note that we saw our first "Bekende Nederlander":

Mrs Leijnse: "You see that man with a hamster on his head? It's Geert Wilders, a controversial politician"

He was being photographied by someone in front of several parts of the buiding. Approximately a dozen of bodyguards were present to avert any potential threat, due to his radical politican opinions.


After that, we walked to the Couperusmuseum, about Louis Couperus, of whom we'll read three books in the second term. We split the group in two: a group would stay in the museum while the other would go for a walk in the neighbourhood. I was part of the group that stayed inside. Our guide was Ton, a man who is really a Couperus freak. He spoke fluently and cracked up several jokes that nobody understood. That's the reason why Mrs Leijnse let him know that we weren't Flemings, but French-speaking people studying Dutch… He spoke less quickly after that… He told us about "Louwis"'s life and his works. Then we went out for a walk round the block, located in a neighbourhood where many diplomats (cf. CD licence plates) live.


We came back to the museum half an hour later, half frozen. About five minutes later, we headed for the station.

We picked up our cases in the safes and we ran to catch the train to Amsterdam. It was pretty crowded, so that most of us stayed in the transit space between two railroad cars. We arrived in Amsterdam at 6.15 pm approximately. We took the tramway to the Leidseplein, the closest to the Jeugdherberg, a youth hostel in the Middle of the Vondelpark. We installed our headquarters in our room and after that we went downstairs to have a drink and play pool; even M. Van Mensel was part of the fun!





It was only just before one o'clock that I decided to go to my room and sleep.

Christmas Party in Namur

Today we all celebrated Christmas — or, say, kind of — by gathering in the English literature seminar, and we chatted, we drank, we listened to music… it was thus great fun, basically.

I took a lot of pictures tonight, but as I'm leaving for a three-days trip to Amsterdam
tomorrow morning, I don't have the time to upload the pictures. Anyway, I'll do it asap. There are some gems, believe me. Just one quote perhaps:

Mr Romero: Do you want some wine, Simon?
Me: Oh yeah, but just a finger.
Mr Romero: Oh, we hardly know each other!

Silly, as usual… See you soon then!

"The Funny Crash Compilation"

An avid reader — our good friend Martin — posted in the comments a video that made me "laugh out loud"… Check it out:



I can't help feeling myself the pain that these people had when they had their accidents…

I especially liked the passage when the cat tries to catch something hanging from the fan…

I'll post more of them someday…

Shame on Him! Tredecies: Ehud Olmert

I finally decided to search my memory for someone having a combover I hadn't mentioned yet on this blog. Then the face of Ehud Olmert (Prime Minister of Israel) came to my mind… Look at this piece of evidence:


When I first saw him, after his predecessor Ariel Sharon fell in a coma due to I-don't-know-which illness, I immediately spotted his combover. Of course: that's always what I look on a middle-aged or old man.

But since then, as we can see on the picture below (showing the evolution of his hair), Ehud Olmert was wise enough to cut his combover, making him look less silly than before…


Congratulations, Mr Olmert!

Then I wondered which could have been the reasons that led him to make the good choice. Yesterday, I found this interesting open letter to Ehud Olmert published in January 2006 on the Jerusalem Post:

Dear Mr. Olmert,

Your recent TV appearances, albeit in troubled times, have moved me to write to you on a personal matter that has been troubling me about you for sometime.

I too had the misfortune to lose my hair, as is the way with so many Jewish men. I too chose to artfully comb what remained in an attempt to conceal the fact. There were certain angles from which you could view me (usually if you were sitting and I wasn't) where you genuinely couldn't tell that I had lost my hair – or at least, at my most delusional, I could persuade myself thus.

However, the combover years were not happy ones. Sport in particular gave rise to much awkwardness, as it gave my opponents plenty of ammunition with which to unsettle me. I often rose majestically into the air to head a football, and then faced the anxiety of starting the Bobby Charlton rearrangements even before my feet had hit the ground. [Bobby Charlton was one of the stars of England's 1966 World Cup-winning soccer team, who lost his hair at a young age and resorted to ever-more-elaborate combover arrangements in a ludicrously vain effort to conceal the fact; readers of American origin might wish to substitute, say, Rudy Giuliani.]

A gust of wind was also incredibly unwelcome, unmasking me as it did in front of total strangers.

My anguish was put to an end one afternoon, when a colleague at work put his pencil down and said: "I simply cannot sit here a minute longer with your hair looking like that."

He took me by the hand and sat me down in a barber's shop with the simple but life-transforming instruction to the man in charge - "Take it off."

It was interesting that, phoney as the combover had been, and as much I knew in my heart that it fooled no one, it still took my colleague to force the issue. This took place a dozen years ago, and I have often reflected how deeply I am indebted to my now former colleague; how he released me from such tension and awkwardness.

Mr. Olmert, I would like to perform the same role for you. I simply cannot scream "Take it off!" at the TV screen anymore. Believe me, it is a liberating and life-affirming experience. Unafraid of being unmasked, you will have an immediate spring in your step, a key stress release for any politician.

You are going to need a steady nerve and clear thoughts in the difficult days ahead, and I would never be so arrogant as to suggest which political course you might steer for Israel. But on this issue I do feel qualified to weigh in.

Take my advice. Get rid of the lid, and you will be far better placed to negotiate your way through.

The writer, a committed reader of The Jerusalem Post, is the director of a duty-free business based in London.

What we can conclude from all that is that Rudy Giuliani's combing-out [btw, I've just coined this word as a pun to coming-out] cleared the way for a series of men who come to feel that trying to hide their baldness is not only useless, but also pathetic.

PS. I found an American that's a HUGE combover; I'll write about him very soon… A hint? Let's say that he's was until 2006 high-rank diplomat at the United Nations…

Lost in a jungle of… bras

Here's another scene from A Christmassy Ted, the Christmas special episode of Father Ted I was telling you about a couple of days ago. In this video, Father Ted and Dougal get lost in the lingerie section of a supermarket…



Wasn't that funny? I like the The Things They Carried-like, Vietnamish atmosphere…

Note that we saw Kevin McKidd as Father Deegan (a young priest): that was quite a long time before he stars in Rome as Lucius Vorenus.

John McClane fears nobody

Our friend from the Editing Room has come up with two other alternate endings for Die Hard:

It's probably some stock broker got depressed…

And another, this time a crossover with Terminator and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie:

Casey Jones: Ooops!!

Catch 'Em If You Can

In today's Simpsons episode (braodcast on Club RTL) there was a remarkable spoof made on the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Let's watch those first:



I find it highly original, and John Williams's music is — as always — tremendous.

Let's now watch the parody, just after I mention that Homer and Marge try to escape from Bart and Lisa because they'd like to be alone just one day.



In one word: wicked!

One, Two, Tree

Here's the introduction of the Christmas special episode (my personal favourite) of the brilliant Britcom Father Ted, with the late Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly. This extract also features Ardal O'Hanlon as Father Dougal McGuire and Frank Kelly as Father Jack Hackett (the grumpy old man).

Father Jack: "A pair of fecking women's knickers!!!!"

S.N.O.T.

What happens if you search for "snot" in YouTube? (I know it's a silly idea, but that's how I am.) Well, you find lots of things like these three videos:



This politician's named John Edwards. I think that many people will not vote for him due to this video…

In the next one, we find out that germs can actually affect the pope (yet I thought he was in the grace of God…):



He says in Polish:

"It will proceed in city of grace (atchoo) (applauses)
As it happens, and ecumenical meaning can have sneeze." (translation by a YouTuber)

And the last one is so outrageous that I'm just gonna link it… (Mr Romero and Martin, is this really outrageous???)

Landscape

Instead of talking about "linguistic landscapes" (cf. the summary in Dutch I posted last Friday), let's enjoy this beautiful painting by Rob Alexander, an illustrator who works for Magic—The Gathering:


It's almost like in this commercial for Joival, the milk brand…

Chessington

Why haven't shown you yet the most-seen of my videos on YouTube? Probably because I never thought of it. So there it is: it's a skecth from the second series of Little Britain, with David Walliams (here as Lou) and Matt Lucas (here as Andy).

In Herby, Andy Pipkin is enjoying is annual bath…

I thought you hated France! I thought you said the French could never been forgiven for surrendering to the German war machine, and collaborating with the occupier by setting up the Vichy Government...

If you have enjoyed this evening's programme, you might like to travel back in time half an hour and watch it again.

--> Brilliant quote! I wish I could do that sometimes!

Andy wanted to go to Chessington World of Adventure (if you didn't understand what Lou mumbles…).

And, believe it or not, the crew actually went to Paris to shoot that scene!!

Walt Disney: Emperor of Dreams

Here's the final version of my blog entry about Walt Disney, which I also posted on germ@namur. Maybe I'm just gonna change a few links, adding silly things (like the spoof on Honey I Shrunk the Kids).

Who has never heard of Walt Disney? This world-famous cartoon director and businessman was born on 5 December 1901 in Chicago, IL. He is an icon in American culture, as will be shown in this blog entry.

Walt Elias Disney started his career as an advertising illustrator, but failing to meet the success he desired, he left his hometown to go to Hollywood. He founded a cartoon production company (known today as the Walt Disney Company), and a couple of years later, his Steamboat Willie made him famous, with its introduction of the character of Mickey Mouse. This film was the first in an endless series of worldwide-successful cartoons such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland – among many others.

But Disney’s interest lay not only in cartoons, but also in live-action movies: he most notably produced Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews. Disney also invested his money and his time in the creation of an amusement park in California, Disleyland. This theme park was designed in such a way that all American families could walk in a fantasy world that would remind everybody of his cartoons, for instance by getting lost in Alice in Wonderland’s labyrinth. As a philanthropist, he decided to create a new university, CalArts (short for California Institute of Arts), in order to promote the creativity of talented people who would probably become prominent in the arts.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on 15 December 1966 — he was a heavy smoker. An urban legend says that Walt Disney was cryonically frozen, but he was actually cremated. Despite his death, his work was carried on by others, through the Walt Disney Company, which is now owned by his offspring. For example, several other theme parks were built in Florida, Tokyo and Paris. Even a Disney Cruise Line was opened in the Caribbean.

As far as the movie legacy is concerned, the Walt Disney Company went on to make not only many other successful cartoons such as The Beauty and the Beast, but also live-action films among which Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and hybrid forms mixing traditional animation with live action, e.g. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The latter is the only film featuring characters from Disney and from Warner Bros. in the same frame.



For almost a dozen years, the Walt Disney Company has invested more and more money in computer-animated films, which notably resulted in the two Toy Story films. These were made by the Pixar Animation Studios, which are now owned by Disney. Their most recent released film is Ratatouille.

In conclusion, Walt Disney is considered as an important character in the American, but also world culture, which makes him a legend. His future-oriented empire is one of the most powerful, and it still has many wonderful stories to tell, making us wander in the utmost fantastic universe.



Simon Labate and Quentin Poncelet

Die Harder

What if some genius had the idea of giving a twisted ending to all of the Die Hard movies??

Die Hard I



Die Hard II



Apparently, John McClane rose from the dead:

Die Hard III



Arnie "Governator" Schwarzie killed Zeus!

And this time, will McClane be lucky to get rid of his opponent?

Die Hard IV



Apparently John McClane likes being butchered…

Clarkson is beaten…

Remember my passion for watching Jeremy Clarkson destrying cars? Some talented YouTuber got this brilliant idea: putting together as many movie car crashes as possible. Here's what it looks like:

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Morality: always fasten your seatbelt when you get into a car!!!

Good guy! I can't figure out how this man had the courage to make such a montage… It probably took him hundreds of hours…

Would someone be nice and count the number of cars that were destroyed??? Think about all the stunt cordinators that have to create such "choregraphies" (I mean by that "stunts", of course). So many crashes, but all of them are completely different…

Public idiot

My mother sent me this video made by a supporter of the Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht… Interesting to see from a linguistic point of view…



What do you think of this? I think he can't even speak French… I don't even know what he's talking about! I hope it won't make bad publicity to Anderlecht…

Wait, I found another video by this guy… Apparently, he does speak French (OK, not a very good one):



Nondidjû! (…) On va vous massacrer !

Even the press (OK, La Meuse is not the best newspaper) heard about it.

It also reminds me of that video where François Duval tries to explain how he crashed his car… Idiot.

"Ventriloquie magazine" (title borrowed from Miam Monster Miam)

Don't have much time to write, so just watch this brilliant ventriloquism sketch featuring Achmed the Terrorist by Jeff Dunham:



ROFL

"Chubby little looser, pathetic little fat man"

David Bowie makes fun of Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) in an episode of the second season of Extras, a Britcom (or "shitcom", as they called it in one episode) I really enjoyed watching this summer:

"Life's a piece of shit when you look at it"

As I'm running out of time to make things I like, I can only post this brilliant bit from the Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"



Lyrics:

Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistle]

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That's the thing.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life,
[whistle]

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...

Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistle]

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.
[whistle]

Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
………

Lando's stroke of luck is beer

Do not read this unless you know Star Wars!

It appears that Billy Dee Williams, who played the character of Lando Calrissian in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, makes commercials for a living — for shooting a film doesn't make him earn a lot of money, apparently… So let's first watch this add first, and then a joke made about it:



And here's the joke: