Happy?

Today I'm a happy bunny. I finally got the CDs I've ordered from Amazon. Franz Ferdinand, The Stills (Logic Will Break Your Heart), Snow Patrol (Final Straw), and the music from 31 Songs. The postman delivered it to me yesterday, but I didn't have enough money to pay the duty tax (16.40) to him, only to remember 2 minutes afterwards that I do have an extra tenner tucked in my jeans. So this morning I had to queue up at the post office to get my package. Oh well, it's worth the wait. Finally some new CDs! And good ones as well.

At work my boss is not around. He's skiing. My other colleague is sick so she's staying in. So I'm the only one left of the team on this friday. It will be a miracle to see me here at my desk after 5 pm today...

On wednesday Ajax lost against Heerenveen, 4-1. Raffie wasn't playing, Zlatan is still injured, and I guess that the poor performance from recent games just culminated on wednesday. We're still 6 points in front of PSV, so there is still a nice lead. And I think that after this game, the players will be more motivated and they'll start to play better in the next games. A loss isn't always a bad thing.

Update on friendster: 51 friends and counting...

I just realized I got my paycheck two days ago! Whoopee!!!

"I say, 'Don't you know?'. You say 'Don't you know'. I say 'Take me out'."

The Darkness

The music revelation in 2003 surely must be The Darkness. Four guys from Lowestoft, England playing heavy metal music as remembered from back in the 80s. And not only that, but vocalist/guitarist Justin Hawkins also dresses up in a catsuit and sings in a falsetto as if his balls are being squeezed by Howard Dean.

Their debut album, Permission to Land, is filled with 80s heavy metal, borrowing bits and pieces from AC/DC, Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, etc. When they came out, nobody was sure whether they were just taking the piss or are serious. My conlusion is that they are taking the piss seriously and it helped them gather fame and fortune. They're definitely set to be a big band.

Yesterday they played in Zurich. I bought the ticket ages ago, because I wanna see these fools play 80s rock music. The music I remember from my early days. I drove 2.5 hours by myself after work to get there. In there it was full of brits and people not likelt to be found in a Linkin Park concert. Late 20s, 30s, even ealry 40s yuppies were there to celebrate the music the once loved. That's the audience that The Darkness have made their own.

The concert lasted 1h20m. They played almost all of their songs from Permission to Land, with one new song (a sweater song). Justin is just naff. In his catsuit, he really looks like he's stuck in a timewarp with Steve Tyler (from Aerosmith, doooh!) and co. His voice is higher than I thought. Everytime there's a singalong, the crowd just can't reach the notes. Squeezing my balls didn't help. Guitarist Dan Hawkins looked a bit normal. With his black Thin Lizzy shirt he just looks like the ordinary rock fan. Bassist Frankie Puollain and his "pirate" look is another thing to laugh at. Even more so when i realized his roadie was dressed up the same style as Frankie, complete with a bandana (Dan's roadie has a Thin Lizzy shirt on as well). The drummer, well he's just the drummer.

Songs like Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman, Black Shuck, I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Dancing on A Friday Night really got the crowd going. Everybody's jumping and screaming trying to match Justin's falsetto. Justin really loves the attention. He's a good guitarist, so he shows off in every way possible.

They finished the night with Love On The Rocks With No Ice. Walking out and driving home (another 2.5 hours - I must be fuckin nuts to drive 5 hours only for a 1h20m concert!) I felt like a kid again. The same kid who was rocking to Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, and Poison in the 80s and 90s. No wonder The Darkness made it big. Being remembered of childhood is always a nice thing and having a laugh at that is an nice addition.

"You cu-u-uuuuuuunt. Get your hands off of my woman motherfuckaaaaaaaaaaa"

High class?

Friday we had a goodbye drink for a friend who is leaving New York. He found a job there and is starting next week. So now I have to find another drinking buddy... On that note, I did get drunk on Friday...

Woke up on Saturday, got out and did my normal Saturday walk around town. Bumped into some friends and accompanied them (two girls) for some shopping. I am reminded again how much I hate shopping with girls. But I just watched them shop cause I had a hangover and some music (Turin Brakes) so it's okay to wait outside a shop for 40 minutes while they try on everything.

Saturday night, a birthday party at a pub, then another goodbye party at a posh bar followed by a posh club. We got in, it was packed like hell - people just showing off - so I just left. Didn't want to buy a drink there because it's fuckin overpriced. I'd rather waste my money on a panini. Am I saying this right? I choose not to buy alcohol??? Oh my god, something is wrong with me...

It took me a while but I got out of the Crimson Room. Can you?

Slap!

I got slapped on my hand (metaphorically) by myboss today because I was on the internet all the time. I knew that when I moved desks I would get this. Before my desk was 'hidden' and he couldn't see what I am doing exactly. Now he just has to turn around and he'll see what I am up to (which has a 90% chance I am on the internet...). Oh well, so what? And it's better if it is said in my face than being talked about behind my back.

I just had to include this pic here. Don't know why. Maybe because it reminds me of my youth? Or maybe because these people were really famous at one time. If you don't know who they are, you're either born in the late 80s or even 90s. If you're not and you still don't know what this picture means then you should be ashamed of yourself.

Yesterday: Netherlands 1 - USA 0. Arjen Robben made a great goal after a nice individual action. And Johnny Heitinga had a good debut for the national side. Too bad Nigel de Jong didn't get his debut yet. The game itself was lacking a bit of passion, cause it is only a friendly. But coming back to Heitinga, he will definitely go to Portugal and is now the 3rd central defender (after Stam and Cocu but Johnny is definitely better than FdBoer at the moment). All he lacks is experience. A defense with Stam and Heitinga will be very hard to break down.

Funny thing about that game is, I was following it via a matchtracker on the US Soccer website. I had to leave, so I left my computer running with this website. When I came home, I checked the matchtracker and it said 0-0. I thought "damn, why can't we beat those Yanks?". Then I checked a Dutch site and on the headline it said that Robben helped Netherlands to victory. Turns out the US site forgot to update the score!

School of Rock

Jack Black is the man! I liked him since I watched High Fidelity, and became a fan once I found out about Tenacious D. He is funny, but more importantly, he is a music geek, focusing on 70s/80s rock music. You can tell his influences if you listen to Tenacious D (one song is about Ronnie James Dio, once vocalist for Deep Purple). Tenacious D's skits are also very funny.

Every once in a while, actors will have a certain movie to use as their vehicle. A movie where they can perform their full ability and show the world what they are able. Jim Carrey had Ace Ventura (and Bruce Almighty). Macauley Culkin had Home Alone. Michael Jackson had Moonwalk, and John Travolta had Battlefield Earth. This time it's Jack Black's turn with School of Rock.

The story is simple. Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, who just got kicked out of his band because his looks and antics didn't fit the band. While bumming around he managed to get a job as a substitute teacher (by way of pretending to be his roommate). He discovers that his class is full of talented kids then starts his own band. But before that he has to teach these 10 year olds all about Rock N Roll. This includes giving out CDs to listen to as home assignment (Yes, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc). Kids that only know MTV (Christina, Britney, Justin, P Diddy) will find out about AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Ramones, etc. Basically, Jack Black's music.

I like the movie. It makes me wanna play in a band again (which hopefully soon will come true). It reminds me that there are better things to learn at school than just maths, physics, biology, etc. And that Jack Black is indeed cool.

Even if you don't like Rock, you gotta watch this movie. You'll learn a lot about music. Lots of the roots of today's music can be found in this movie. P Diddy used a Led Zeppelin tune (Kashmir) for the Godzilla soundtrack. Ozzy Osbourne was in Black Sabbath. Lots of female singers cite Stevie Nicks as their influence. And the list goes on and on and on...

"Music is my life man! What else am I supposed to do?"

Happy Valentine's Day

It was a busy and tiring weekend for me and I didn't have time to log on and rant about Valentine's Day. Although I did enjoy this Valentine's Day. If Valentine's Day is February 14th then this is what happened:

00.01. I am in Verbier, in the pub having my Vodka RedBull. I'm with my friends sitting in a table with other people. Apparantly I look familiar to one of the girls sitting there but she can't figure out from where. I know for sure that she hasn't seen me anywhere but I just play along.

01.00. We're moving from the pub to the club. To our eternal satisfaction, some guys behind us in the queue tries to enter before us claiming that they have a table. The bouncer looks at them and says "yes, but these guys came first". Hah! Take that you bunch of show offs! We get in first. Again in the cloakroom these fools try to get in before us and again the bouncer is telling them to wait for us. Hahahahahahhaha! That really makes our evening.

04.00. Time to leave. It's only me and a friend, the others have left earlier. We walk out and look for some food. We find the "croissant window" which looks like a drug dealer. Some croissants, some pain au chocolat and a delices au jambon. Nice! Walking back while eating and a bit drunk, we manage to get in bed at 04.30.

08.30. "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!". My friend is screaming trying to wake us up. I have a slight headache and still want to sleep longer. Somehow I got out of bed and onto the breakfast table but inside I am still sleeping. I need some sleep...

10.30. We are hitting the slopes of Verbier. The sun is out, the snow is a bit melting (spring snow) and I'm ripping it on my snowboard. I have to, otherwise I can't keep up with the others. All the way to Mont-Fort (3330m above sea-level). I think this is the first time I hit the slopes so early.

13.30. Lunch, which takes one hour because of some ticket screw-up. After lunch it is the slopes again. But food in my stomach is making me lose my balance a bit.

16.30. Finally back from the slopes. Now we are just sitting on a terrace having a pint of beer. Beer is always nice after snowboarding.

19.15. After chilling and resting at the chalet, we are heading back home. The three of us are hungry and in need of some food. After discussing our options (pizza, kebab, McDonald's) we decide to pass by Montreux and find a pizzeria.

20.30. We find a pizzeria and order a fondue. This is my Valentine's Day dinner, spend with two other singles, another guy and a girl. Hey it beats last year Valentine's Day dinner.

22.30. Back at my friend's place. We watch a movie (Buffalo Soldiers), but I keep falling a sleep. Must be the tiredness and the beers and the weed. I'm tired and sleepy as hell.

So that is how I spend February 14th. Some other may have spend it differently. I didn't have a special date or even a girlfriend but it was a nice February 14th. But then again, most of my days are like that anyway. The saying is true for me, everyday is Valentine's Day.

"Happy Valentine's Day! Every day the 14th."

Most Embarassing Moment?

Before last saturday, this was probably the most embarassing moment:

During a party I met a nice girl. We started talking and I offered her a drink. She agreed and I went to the bar with her and ordered two vodka red bulls. The waitress came with the drinks and said "30 francs please". I opened my wallet and to my shock I could only find a 20 franc note. I rummaged my pocket looking for change and could only find an extra 4 francs. So I was missing 6 francs. I took the drinks, gave one to the girl and asked the waitress if she accepts credit card or a debit card. "We don't accept any card", she said nicely. I looked around and couldn't find anybody I know, so I had to turn to the girl, gave her the drink and ask if she has some change. Turns out she doesn't have any money at all on her. While I was thinking what I could do (there wasn't much I could do anyway), the girl then says "should I run away with the drink?". It sounded good, so she fled with her drink, while I'm still standing there with my drink and the waitress waiting for the money. What sounds good does not necesarilly turn out to be a good idea. I gave her 24 francs and said "I don't have anything more. If you want, I'll go get some money and pay the difference later". The waitress looked at me with disbelief, and at first didn't want to accept the idea. But after some hard begging, she agreed to just take the amount and forget about the rest. Then I had to find the girl again.

That was pretty embarassing. It taught me to check my wallet before offering nice fit girls a drink. Or have a back-up plan in case I don't have enough money. But what happened on saturday might have surpassed that.

After clubbing, I was driving this girl home. Nothing happened and at the moment there was no intention at all. In my car I had this mix-tape on. I made the tape about 7 years ago. It has cool songs on it, like Foo Fighters, Beck, REM, Blur, and other stuff. So as I was driving and talking to her, suddenly a new song came on. To my horror, it was Spice Girls' Say You'll Be There. Apparantly 7 years ago I found it funny to put in a Spice Girls song in the middle of this cool mix tape. Never knew it would bite me in the ass like this. There was this silence, before I said "wow, what are the spice girls doing here". She just laughed, but when I offered to fast forward the tape, she went "yeah, good idea." So there goes any hopes that I might have had with this girl. Stupid Spice Girls!

It happens to all of us, no?

"I'm giving you everything all that joy can bring this I swear.
And all that I want from you is a promise you will be there."

Afterparty

It seems that on weekends I always end up in Shakers. It's not the most sophisticated places, but it's the place where everything lives up to expectation. As long as you don't have high expectations. Or any expectations.

Mexican food prevented me from getting drunk on saturday. It also prevented me from falling a sleep halfway during the night. After food, drinks obviously, followed by clubbing. Last time I went here I got rejected, but this time we got in. The music could have been better though. Imagine this sequence: Rock Your Body - Billie Jean - Holiday - Sweet Dreams. From Justin Timberlake to Eurythmics in less than 10 minutes! Crap DJ. I could've played much better.

Anyway, after that went to Shakers for 30 minutes because it was already closing time. Then we tried to get in an afterparty. My friend got in, I didn't. Apparantly it's full of people still loaded and wanting to party on forever. I gave up and signalled to her that I want to go home instead, so she chose to go home as well. Came back home at 6 or something. It's been a while that I came back at that time. And I wasn't even that drunk or tired.

Good news: Ajax beat PSV 2-1! It's about time they won against PSV at the ArenA.

Mental note to self: buy Championship Manager 03/04. Finally found the winning tactic!

"I said 'Maybe, you're gonna be the one who saves me.'"

The way it is

I've been looking around for these CDs: Franz Ferdinand, The Stills, The Shins, Scissor Sisters and A selection of 31 Songs (if you haven't heard those bands, well frankly my dear, you are just unhip). Unfortunately I can't find them in CD stores here, which means I have to buy it via the internet. I don't have anything against buying form the internet, I just find it less personal. If I go into a CD store, I can pick it up, look at it, at some stores I can listen to it, read the linear notes and then get out my wallet and pay for it. On the internet I can't. No, wait. I actually can do all those things. It's just that when I leave the CD store I have the CD in my hand and I can put it on straight away, while if I bought it from the internet I have to wait at least 3 days. I'm not that patient when it comes to music. Although I've been waiting for more than 3 days for those CDs to appear in my favourite CD store. Heck, I'm gonna order them tonight from amazon. And here I thought I can make a case against buying from the internet.

It seems that 80s new-wave is back in. Stellastar*, The Rapture, The Stills, Hot Hot Heat, now Franz Ferdinand and Scissor Sisters. I guess they all grew up listening to The Cure, Duran Duran, Joy Division, Talking Heads and the likes, and this is the music the came up with. Which is cool, because I'm a kid of the 80s as well. It's a twenty-year cycle innit? So in 2014 expect grunge to come back from the grave. And in 2023 a new The Darkness...

Yesterday went out to the local. The first time in ages I didn't know anybody behind the bar. Weird. And on top, they gave us the wrong prices. They charges us more for a B52! Us, the loyal clients. The three guys always there. We're like Norm at Cheers or Barney at Moe's and they did that to us? He'll better give us some free drinks next time.

No links today. I'm too lazy to dig up the internet...

"People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being... Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too. But that's the way it is."

Janet Jackson's boob/breast/tit

As a pop culture fool/nerd/victim I feel obliged to comment on Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during her performance with Justin Timberlake at the Superbowl halftime. I know, I'm a bit late but then again Janet is also a bit late in showing her boob. From the way she sings/poses/dances, she should've shown her boobs ages ago.

Anyway, I think most of you know what happened. If not, you can watch it here. Justin was singing Rock Your Body with Janet and by the time he got to "gotta have you naked by the end of this song" his hand moved across Janet's breast and ripped of a piece of her dress, showing her boob. For a moment we get to see her boob, before she covers it up. Afterwards, Justin claimed it was a "wardrobe malfunction". However, the timing couldn't be better so I believe that it was intentional. Add to that the fact that Janet had a nipple shield on her nipple and that Justin's tearing could NOT be an incident. Go look at the video again.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Justin wants to get back at Britney who snogged Madonna at the MTV Awards and Janet needs publicity. In fact, the next day she came out with a new single. Coincidence? I don't think so! And this way she diverts a bit of the attention from her brother as well. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Anyway, her boob is not that nice anyway. I've seen better...

"Gotta have you naked by the end of this song."

Ajax Youth System

Yesterday Ajax played ADO Den Haag in the Dutch competition. They beat them easily 4-0. The interesting bit is that in the starting line-up it was filled with homegrown players. Maarten Stekelenburg, Nigel de Jong, Johnny Heitinga, Wesley Sneijder, Daniel de Ridder, and Ryan Babel all started this game. Actually John O'Brien can be added to that list as well. These guys have been at Ajax since they were 9-10 years old (O'Brien being an exception as he came when he was 14 form the USA and Stekelenburg who came when he was 15). And that is without club vice-captain and the biggest homegrown talent of them all, Rafael van der Vaart. They all went through the whole youth system and now they are in the first team. I don't think any big club in Europe can do that.

Ajax is famous for their youth system. It scouts and take very young kids, then nurture and grow them in the Ajax culture. They learn how to play in the Ajax system and what it means and takes to be an Ajax player. Unlike other big European clubs who buy their players. Some will say that Manchester Utd was succesful with the likes of Becks, the Neville brothers, Scholes, Butt, Giggs but truth is that those players came from other clubs and only joined Man Utd at the age of 15-16. There is a lot of difference between a 15 year old teenager and a 9 year old kid.

Every now and then Ajax seem to produce a bunch of talents. Last time around it was the class of 94-95 (Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, Reiziger, Reuser, Musampa). Mixed with some of the class of 90-92 (Bergkamp, de Boer twins, van der Sar, Witschge) Ajax won the Champions League in 1995. Maybe this generation will win it again next year?

The starting line-up from the past 3 matches. Players marked with a * are homegrown talents.
vs ADO Den Haag (01/02):
Stekelenburg*; de Jong*, Heitinga*, Escude, O'Brien*; Galasek, Sneijder*, Maxwell; De Ridder*, Babel*, Sikora

vs NEC (25/01):
Stekelenburg*; de Jong*, Heitinga*, Escude, O'Brien*; Galasek, van der Vaart*, Sneijder*; De Ridder*, Sonck, Sikora

vs Roda JC (21/01)
Stekelenburg*; Grygera, Heitinga*, Escude, O'Brien*; Galasek, van der Vaart*, Sneijder*; Soetaers, Sonck, Sikora