anakzaman's simple world

2010 review

2010-12-30T23:41:00.002+01:00

So the year 2010 is ending tomorrow. Here some of my high/lowlights of the year.

Best album: The Suburbs by Arcade Fire. When these guys make music it's as if they make magic. Kanye's is close but I haven't heard i enough.

Best movie that I watched: I didn't watch a lot but I like The American (even though my missus hated it). There was something about that movie that make me think a lot after I came out.

Best book I've read: Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. If he was writing when I was still in uni my professional life would have been so different. The guy is a genius!

Best football game: Barcelona - Real Madrid 5 - 0. You know which one. In 50 years they will still be talking about that fooball game.

Best iPhone/iPad game: Angry Birds. I'm still hooked even though I finished all levels.

Best gadget: Having Spotify on Sonos. No need to buy CDs anymore, I can listen to whatever I want.

Best song: Fuck You - CeeLo Green. The hook, the sound, the words, the uplifting mood. A perfect pop song.

Best reunion: Take That with Robbie. Yes I like them, so what?

Best purchase I made: Dr Dre Beat headphones. I might look like a fool wearing them but the sound quality is amazing.

Trending it before it's a trend: five-fingered shoes.

Best concert: Vampire Weekend at Montreux Jazz Festival. They were awesome and very polite.

Buzzword: Bunga-Bunga. How Berlusconi is still a prime minister, not even the Italians know...

World Cup 2010

2010-07-14T22:13:00.002+02:00

Here's what I thought of the World Cup 2010

Worst XI: Green; Ottamendi, Terry, Cannavaro, Evra; Felipe Melo, Kaita, Lampard; CRonaldo, Rooney, Anelka; coached by Domenech. All for the obvious reasons.

Best Goal(s): Gio van Bronckhorst vs Uruguay; Honda vs Denmark; Suarez vs South Korea

How did he miss that? Yakubu vs South Korea; Higuain missed a sitter (forgot against who); Robben in the final

The ref didn't see that? Lampard non-goal vs Germany; Tevez off-side goal vs Mexico

True fighting spirit: Landon Donovan

Best save: Luis Suarez vs Ghana

He was not missed: Michael Ballack

Trendy formation: 4-2-3-1

Totally uncool formation: 4-4-2

Best entertainer: Diego Armando Maradona

Most talked about during the World Cup: Mark van Bommel, Paul the Octopus, vuvuzelas

Has his head stuck up his own ass: Sepp Blatter (@seppblatter on twitter)

Team spirit: France

A joke: Howard Webb

And finally the best XI with explanation:

GK: Stekelenburg - he had an amazing World Cup. Not very known and lots of people (including the Dutch doubted him) but showed that he is a worthy successor of van der Sar. Only had one dodgy moment (Forlan's goal), but his stops denying Kaka, Fabregas, Forlan, and those Slovaks were world class. He'll be missed at Ajax though (no, he's not officially gone yet but any top team should will want him).

Defense: van der Wiel, Lugano, Pique, Lahm - last season, van der Wiel was the only player to play all Ajax' games and he's been constant, and he's performed amazingly well in the World Cup. Lugano is a true leader in the Uruguayan defense. Pique is probably the best defender with a ball at his feet, he can actually pass the ball properly. And Lahm is one of the best full-backs around and he can play both sides as comfortably.

Defensive midfield (because 4-2-3-1 is trendy): van Bommel, Schweinsteiger - I'll get to van Bommel later, and Schweini played without having to serve Ballack and made German tick. He was at the heart of what was good about Germany.

Attacking midfield: Sneijder, Xavi, Mueller - Sneijder's passing ability is unbelievable, he can pass the ball in almost any situation. Xavi is still the master of the midfield, the king of the ball. And Mueller is a hard working youngster doing everything right.

Attack: Villa - it's a toss-up between Villa and Forlan, but because Villa plays more for the team (whereas Forlan it's all about him), he gets the spot.

Coach: Maradona - but of course.

I hear you say "van Bommel? VAN BOMMEL? why? WHY?". Well, I believe van Bommel was one of the best defending midfielders. Sure he kicks players around, but he does it so well not to get caught. His first yellow was in the semis for dissent! That means he is able to play on the limit and stick to that limit for 90 minutes. No laps of concentration. And is defending ability is actually the less important facet of his game. He can pass the ball around, create openings, and works hard.

At PSV he won 3 Dutch titles and twice Dutch player of the year. At Barcelona he won the Champions league (and played in the final). And last year he was instrumental for Bayern, winning the double and losing in the Champions league final. You don't get all that by just kicking people around!

He's the type of player that any team wants. And he doesn't care about being the most hated player around - another good quality (can't see that in Gerrard or CRonaldo). So for the balance of my best XI, he's in my midfield.

Can't wait for Euro 2012. Hopefully Paul will still be around, I will then bet according to his predictions.

Howard Webb

2010-07-12T22:26:00.002+02:00

After last night's final, I am still pissed off. Holland was in the final against Spain and it should have been a great game.

Before I go on, let me clarify these points first:
1. I am a big Holland supporter - having been born and raised there.
2. Spain deservedly won the match, they were the better team.
3. Holland can only blame Robben for not scoring.

However, I am still mightily pissed off at Howar Webb, the English referee. He brandished 15 yellow cards during the game and he never ever had the game under control. Yes, Nigel de Jong should have been sent off. But he didn't because it's the final and if you don't send him off for that challenge (intentional or not), well that just sets the tone. Webb then overcompensates by handing out yellows way to easy for the Dutch and not so much for the Spanish.

Howard Webb was the one who refereed the Spain Switzerland match and after the game the whole of Spain was furious at him. On top of that, all of the English media have been brandishing the Dutch football as thuggish and Mark van Bommel became the most hated man in football (outside of Holland of course). I'm sure those things influenced his decision making during the final, resulting in a poorer final than it could have been.

Basically he should be consistent. Do it according to the rules. You kick somebody in the chest with studs up - RED. You wave your hands asking for a car - YELLOW. The last man tries to stop an attacker with his arms - red. A shot deflected off a defender - corner.

I'm alright now with Holland losing. But I'm still pissed off at Howard Webb.

Holland vs Brazil, World Cup 2010

2010-06-28T23:58:00.001+02:00

So in the quarterfinal Holland will be facing Brazil. As a Holland supporter I want Holland to win and my heart says they will. My head though isn't sure.

I still remember 1994. Holland vs Brazil in the quarterfinals. Brazil scored twice in the first half (the second goal from Bebeto with Romario in an off-side position but not interfering with play). Then Holland replied with two goals in the second half (one of them from Aron Winter) before Branco dived, got a freekick and blasted it in. Ronald Koeman kicking him when he was down probably made his shot harder. Holland met Brazil again in 1998, in the semis and it went to penalties.

For this world cup both team play very similar. A defense of four with the full-backs going up to support the attack. Two defensive midfielders in front of the defense to shield the defense. And four attacking players who can do what they want.

Holland is the only team that hasn't conceded a goal from open play but then again none of the teams they play against had an attacking trio the quality of Robinho-Kaka-Luis Fabiano.

The only light I can see is that Robben will be playing against Michel Bastos, arguably Brazil's weakest link. But then again Gio van Bronckhorst, 35, will have to fend off Maicon and Elano/Dani Alves.

Whatever happens, the game on Friday will be a classic. And I will cheer on the Dutch!

FC Barcelona

2010-04-07T15:27:00.002+02:00

After Ajax Amsterdam, my second favorite team in Europe is Barcelona. This is mainly because there is such a strong link between Ajax and Barcelona (think Johan Cruijff). Also because Barcelona plays football the way Ajax intends to. Where Ajax fails, Barcelona excels.

Last week during the Arsenal-Barcelona match in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal, Barcelona played a blinding 20 minutes. In the first half their performance was among the best I've ever seen and many agreed. That they didn't score was just a sidenote, it was the passing, position play, speed and the way they left the opposition all confused (and Arsenal isn't just a football club either). The game ended 2-2 so all still to play for in the next leg.

Last night was the return leg in Barcelona. Arsenal pinned their hope on Theo Walcott but Barcelona have Lionel Messi. And Xavi. After Barcelona conceded, Messi just ran riot. Nothing and nobody could stop him. Behind him Xavi was pulling all the strings. Pass the ball there, run here, receive ball and pass straight away, look and run, pass, always in constant motion. Everytime Messi has the ball he becomes a threat. Scoring 4 goals is just proof what he is capable of.

I love watching Barcelona play. There is a certain arrogance and class to their game. They are adhering to the first basic principle of football: the opposition cannot score if they don't have the ball (see Johan Cruijff). The fluidity of the passing, the constant movements and the early pressure when they lose the ball.

I really hope Barcelona wins next weekend against Real Madrid - they will then clinch the Spanish League. Then the Champions League. If they can hold on to their title, it will show how great a team they are.

In any case, they already showed the most amazing football last week. Messi showed he is God last night. And he is only22...

Music

2010-03-04T18:46:00.002+01:00

It's already March and today I just bought the second album of the year. Yes, my music consumption has gone down dramatically. It used to be about 2 albums per week, and now 2 albums in 2 months.

The first album of the year that I bought was Them Crooked Vultures. I'm a big fan of Dave Grohl and I couldn't just let that supergroup go without listening to it several times. The second one I just bought is Owl City's Ocean Eyes. Mainly because I have Fireflies stuck in my head ever since I saw it on MTV Austria back in December.

Both of them I bought on iTunes. No physical CD, just an electronic file that surely will be deleted one day. Ten years ago I was against downloading music, my reasoning being that the artwork and all that is part of the album package. But when you buy from iTunes you get the artwork anyway and any other details you might want to know you can find on the internet.

Another way of listening to music is Spotify. I have a premium subscription and I can type in anything I want to listen and it will play - even on my iPhone. Since most music that I have bought I only listened to 2 or 3 times, Spotify makes perfect sense for me.

It does not mean that I will never buy CDs again. Next week I will definitely get Plastic Beach. And when Radiohead, U2, Coldplay, Muse, Foo Fighters, Weezer, and some other bands come out with an album I need to get a CD to complete my collection of their albums.

The experience of listening and purchasing music has definitely changed and I am changing with it. God knows how we listen to music in 20 years time. I hope I still have a copy of Owl City's Ocean Eyes somewhere though because Fireflies certainly lifts me up.

Musings over The Noughties

2009-12-23T12:01:00.001+01:00

In a couple of weeks we'll be entering a new decade. The Noughties will be over, replaced by "2010-2019". It's been an interesting decade and here are some personal musings over the decade.

* The fall of MTV.
In 2000 I was still watching MTV regularly and I still remember being influenced by them. I picked up on Coldplay by watching their music video of Shiver (this was before Yellow - when the everyone else jumped on that bandwagon). There were some interesting programs. In 2009 I barely watch MTV and last time I accidentally flicked on it a program called "16 and pregnant" was on. Oh how the mighty have fallen! MTV used to be the cool epitome of music and pop culture. A marketing channel for pop stars. A place to listen and see the coolest acts in the world. Now all those have been replaced by MySpace and YouTube and MTV is no longer a music television.

* Social networking
Ten years ago I kept in touch with friends and family by email and the occassional phone call. These days I just look what they are saying on facebook/twitter/koprol and think I know what they are doing. No emails, no phone calls. In many ways I have lost touch with many people, even though they are my facebook friends.

* Global warming
Probably the issue of the decade. Ten years ago nobody batted an eyelid if you flew across the world then got into your Hummer to have some fresh tuna. These days everybody would bat an eyelid if you did.

* iPod
The noughties is also the decade where technology just went crazy. And the case in point is the iPod. The first iPod came out in 2001. A friend of mine got it and it look beautiful. There was a wheel (that actually moved) and some buttons (that were physical buttons) around the wheel. Fast forward 6 years and Apple came out with an iPhone, an evolution of the iPod. Now almost everybody has an iPod or an iPhone. Ten years ago I was still walking around with a chunky CD player. At one point I had a MD player but that only lasted a couple of years.

And not only did Apple revolutionize the way we listen to music, they also revolutionized the way we buy music. Now you can buy songs easily via iTunes. Some of you might say Napster set the revolution, but Napster wasn't about buying music, it was about sharing music. Apple actually made it work, to sell music online. Radiohead then went that extra step further with In Rainbows.

And all that because of the iPod that was invented in 2001.

* The Wire
The best television series ever.

Snow on the road

2009-12-18T16:53:00.001+01:00

It snowed last night and evrything is white. Yippee!

Unfortunately with snow comes the big 4x4s driven by soccermums. Yes, those mums who drive their big-ass cars without knowing how to drive properly and it drives me mad!

This morning I was driving the missus' car (a Mini) on a road with a bit of snow on it. In front of me: an Audi Q7. Its speed: 30 kph. Seriously.

Now the soccermum (yes it was a soccermum) in it probably thinks "there is snow, must drive carefully" but what she ought to know is that her car is big, it has snowtires and four-wheel drive. It can do bloody more than 30 kph on a road with some snowflakes on them!

No wonder people get road rage from driving behind these spackers!

Thierry Henry's handball

2009-11-22T14:13:00.003+01:00

The Hand of Frog. Everybody knows about it, everybody has an opinion about it. Here's mine, albeit a bit late.

I was on holiday when I saw this on CNN. At first I just wanted to find out the score, as I knew France won 1-0 in Ireland. As I was watching the highlights, Ireland was 1-0 up and the game went into overtime. France got a freekick and scored. My first reaction: offside! Two french players were clearly offside. Then the slow-motion replay showed that Thierry Henry handled the ball before Gallas headed it into the net.

The same confusion can be seen and heard on the youtube clip I posted. The french commentator said it was a clear offside and then realised Henry handled the ball.

So What?
"So What?" indeed. For me the bigger issue is that because of that handball, France is going to the World Cup and not Ireland. The game was tight and at that moment both teams still had a chance (it wasn't as if the French were up 2-0 already).

Yeah, but players cheat all the time and refs always make mistakes
True. But players who cheat don't go become all honest straight after the game. Thierry Henry came clean straight after the game. Either you come clean directly to the ref or keep it for a couple of weeks before coming clean. And refs do make mistakes, that is part of the game. But as a ref, if you see six or seven players claim a handball, then something must have been wrong. The ref did consult his assistant but they both didn't see anything.

A replay?
No. A replay will set the wrong precedent. If this game is replayed, then slowly every other team will want a replay. I can imagine Chelsea asking for every European game to be replayed and any team who lost against Man Utd will do the same. No replay, the ref has blown the whistle and the result should stand.

FIFA is corrupt that's why there will be no replay.
FIFA is definitely corrupt, no doubting that. But if it was Robbie Keane who handled for the Irish winning game, FIFA would still do the same. Partly it's because its run by fools (Sepp Blatter was put in UEFA by a certain Adi Dassler, he worked in the watch industry without any football experience before that!) and partly it's because the rules say so.

So what should be done then?
I believe that Thierry Henry should be given a punishment and the best one is that he shouldn't be allowed to play in South Africe. Divers and aggresive tacklers do get punishment after the game, so Henry should get one too. Although I doubt that will happen because Henry is a big name and carries a lot of sponsorship too. And FIFA should try putting another linesman on the backline (which they are trying to do for the World Cup).

Didn't Roy Keane blame the Irish?
Yeah but he's a grumpy old man.

Some (random) thoughts

2009-09-25T15:04:00.003+02:00

Just a couple of things I've learned/noted/need to jot down

When renting a car in Germany, pay a bit extra to get a more powerful car. I rented a cheap Opel Corsa and had to pay the price on the Autobahn. The car is barely able to do 150 kph convincingly and then it was being overtaken by almost every other car on the Autobahn.
Muse's The Resistance: OTT camp prog-rock/pop. Absolutely fabulous! We vs They lyrics? Check. Weird sounds? Check. Timbaland beats? Check. Three-part symphony? Check.
Spotify is great! I still buy CDs but before I buy them I can listen to them. Before Spotify I would have definitely bought the Monsters Of Folk CD. Now having listened to it on Spotify I don't need to, because that album I'll probably listen to twice or three times. And having it on my iPhone? Genius!
I'm still in withdrawal mode after finishing The Wire. Don't know what to watch now.

There are some other things on my mind. Hopefully I can put them on my blog when I have the willpower to do so.

Spotify on iPhone

2009-08-28T16:56:00.003+02:00

I've been using Spotify premium for about 3 months now and I love it. I can listen to almost anything I want wherever I am as long as I have a computer near me. Now it will get even better as Spotify have announced that Apple have approved their iPhone app. With this app I can listen to anything on my iPhone via Wi-Fi and 3G and I can even save playlists to listen to them offline.

The premium subscription is probably the best thing in the world. For 10 Euros a month I can listen to almost anything. Therefore my CD buying habit is taking a BIG hit. Where before I used to buy a CD or two a week, now I'm on one CD per month. Everything else I just listen to on Spotify, especially as I did have a habit of buying CDs which I only have listened to less than three times.

The only problem is that for the moment the Spotify app is only available in the UK, France, Sweden, Spain, Norway and Finland. Hopefully it will be available where I live soon because I need it. Yes, I need it!

The Wire - the best TV show ever

2009-08-18T14:47:00.002+02:00

I've been reading on the internet for a while about The Wire being the best television show ever. In March during a visit to the UK I decided to buy the first season DVD. I could have gone for the whole boxset for Season 1-5 as there are only 5 seasons, but wasn't sure if I will actually like it.

I put on the first episode and the show was a bit slow. There was a lot of swearing going-on but slowly it caught me. What caught me first was how in the show it wasn't simply good guy vs bad guy. No, in The Wire almost everybody and everything is gray. Sure there is the main cop McNulty but he's not the Horatio Caine straight ass cop who can solve everything and anything with just taking off some sunglasses. And in D'Angelo Barksdale (the first of many drug dealers in this series) it wasn't the usual drug dealer.

The story goes out nicely and before I knew it I was hooked. Each episode is about 55 minutes long and last weekend I managed to watch 10 episodes! I'm almost done with season 4 and I have season 5 ready. I should have bought the boxset.

The Wire is not about good vs bad, it's not a cop vs drugs series, it's more than that. It shows all the politicking - in the police, drugs, city hall, schools, even the corners. It shows characters that are supposed to be good but with big flaws and vice versa. It shows the intricacy of a big city (Baltimore) and how everyone is tangled up in it. And it's amazing the number of characters you have to keep up with as there are tons.

Whereas with Lost, Prison Break, Heroes and the likes I watched the next episode to know what is going on next or to understand what has happened before (until my interest runs out), with The Wire I watch the next episode knowing well what is going to happen but wanting to see how it is going to happen. And that makes for great viewing.

Definitely the best television show ever.

Paleo 2009: the other days, questions and conclusions

2009-07-28T11:35:00.002+02:00

Day 5 I didn't go. It was cold and only Cold War Kids interested me but they were on late. Day 6, the last day, I didn't go either. Full of french artist. I watched the fireworks from a pretty place close to my place instead.

And that was the end of Paleo 2009.

I do have some questions about Paleo in general that will probably be unanswered forever.

Why do people still eat Kebabs at Paleo? There are about 50 food stands, at least half of them serve delicious food, some of them quite cheap and yet I see people eating disgusting Kebabs. You eat a Kebab when you are in Geneva at 2 am because everything else is shut but you don't eat one at a Food Festival!
Why do concertgoers barge in to get to the front way too late? You want to be up front, come earlier.
And vice versa, if you don't want to be up front, then don't go there.
Why do people use earbuds watching concerts? That never makes sense to me.
A stand sells Red Bull. The same stand sells Vodka Orange. Yet they cannot sell me a Vodka Red Bull?
Why can't concertgoers clap in time to the song that is being performed? The clapping always speeds up. It ruins the song.

My conclusions from Paleo 2009:

Best concert: Kaiser Chiefs
Surprise concert: Rodrigo Y Gabrielle
Surprise he made it: Peter Doherty
Best food above CHF 10: Brochette XXL
Best food below CHF 10: Malakoff
Worst bit: iPhone + Orange not working

See you next year!

Paleo 2009, Day 4

2009-07-26T09:56:00.002+02:00

Friday's weather was menacing. It was cloudy and windy, and it rained a bit during the day. I wasn't sure how the weather was going to be, until at about 19.00 the sky cleared up. Somebody t Paleo must have a hotline with the weather Man.

Music:
Peter Doherty - he actually showed up, on time and did not look too wasted! He's not that bad, it was just him and his guitar, strumming and singing. However, the man needs a shower.

Charlie Winston - didn't see much of him, but he can do a mean beatbox, even better than Justin Timberlake.

Fat Boy Slim - he was DJing for 25,000 and did not disappoint. He didn't play much of his own songs, instead he was properly DJing (with videos and all) and he looks like a man who was enjoying himself immensely. He also looks like a man in the pub who has supported Brighton Hove & Albion all his life. His set was great. Mixing up White Stripes, Iggy Pop, Daft Punk, etc to his own stuff.

Naive New Beaters - they look cool, they sound cool. Might check them out more.

TV On The Radio - they are as eclectic as Radiohead in every sense.

Food:
I had to have some Curry Magret de Canard from Paprika. One of the best dishes at Paleo. Then had a raclette and finished it off with the greasiest spring roll ever. And I actually had some red wine this night (with beer and white wine as well).

Paleo 2009, Day 3

2009-07-24T15:32:00.002+02:00

It was raining in the morning and in the afternoon there was a hailstorm, so I wasn't sure whether to wear wellies and a raincoat or not. Luckily around 19.00 the weather cleared up and it was fine.

Music:

Rodrigo y Gabrielle - I literally walked in on them playing at the Chapiteau and boy were they good. They were each playing a classical guitar and did wonders with them. At one point Rodrigo was doing proper heavy metal licks (Master of Puppets).

Amy McDonald - she did a great version of The Killer's Mr. Brightside and did Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark. Her own songs all sound the same.

Moby - I left before he started, I already saw him twice before. I did hear him at home and he sounded good.

Food:

Brochette XXL - lots of meat on a stick, yummy! After that a Hot Fondue, which is a hot dog bun but with fondue poured into it instead of a sausage. Mostly drank beer.

Paleo 2009, Day 2

2009-07-23T13:46:00.002+02:00

The second day of Paleo. It rained a bit in the morning, so the air was less hot and dry and it made for wonderful weather conditions.

Music:
Franz Ferdinand - they were there in 2005 and I honestly think that they're 2005 performance was better. The new songs just doesn't sound as good on stage as their earlier stuff. Dunno why. I had a chuckle when I saw a sticker with the letters "E A D G" on Bob's bass (if you're a bass player you'll understand).

Thomas More Project - halfway through Franz Ferdinand I left to watch this local band. I knew the guy who used to manage them and they are pretty good. Great sounds accompanied by animations, apparently it's an audio-visual thing. Not sure if they own the copyright of the videos though.

The Prodigy - Keith Flint is not as mad as I thought he is. He also doesn't do a lot (apart from running around and waving his arms like he just don't care), just a yell here and there. Maxim did most of the talking/singing/screaming.

The Ting Tings - pretty good. Jules is a great musician and him hooking up with Karen White for her vocals and rudimentary guitar skills proved to be great. I like it how all of Karen's guitar swtches and buttons were taped up so that she didn't fiddle with it.

Food:
Malakoff, Calamari, Sambusa, Gauffre. And beer.

Paleo 2009, Day 1

2009-07-22T13:43:00.002+02:00

Yesterday the Paleo Food (and music) Festival started. It was burning hot and the mood was festive. I was introducing Paleo to a friend, who despite living in the area for 11 years only made it there for the first time ever yesterday. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

Music:
The Gossip - Beth Ditto has amazing lungs and is an entertainer. The drummer looks like a hardcore lesbian, and the bass player (a session musician for the tour) must be the uncoolest person ever to perform on the Grande Scene. He dressed in normal jeans and a white t-shirt, with uncool shades.

Kaiser Chiefs - proper festival band. Nick Hodgson, the drummer, is indeed a frustrated frontman stuck behind the drums. And Ricky is good at getting people to do singalongs. It helps having songs like Ruby.

Placebo - just heard them in the background.

White Lies - they look like your average bored neighborhood teenagers but they have such a deep sound and sing songs about death. Pretty good.

Food & beverage:
Started off with some satays, then a sandwich au magret et foie gras, topped it off with spring rolls. Beer, rose, beer, rose, vodka orange, beer, beer, beer.

Einstein's Riddle

2009-07-16T10:49:00.002+02:00

I found this riddle in my post today. It took me about 10 minutes plus an excel sheet to figure it out. Apparently Einstein himself made this riddle and he said that 98% of the world population would not be able to solve it. So this means that I'm part of the 2% that can. Are you?

Here's the riddle:
1. In a street there are five houses, painted in five different colours.
2. In each house lives a person of different nationality.
3. These five homeowners each drink a different beverage, smoke different brand of ciggies, and keep different pets.

Question: WHO OWNS THE FISH?

Hints:
1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede owns a dog.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is next to, and to the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall owns a bird.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes blends lives next to the one who owns a cat.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

You can always Google the answer...

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T14:15:00.002+02:00

I just have to, don't I?

Yesterday night Michael Jackson died in his home at the age of 50. Apparently he took some pain killers (Demerol) and then stopped breathing.

Having been in the music industry from the age of 6, Michael Jackson basically grew up in the limelight. He then defined pop music with Thriller in 1982. At the same time MTV was just born and MJ & MTV rode the wave of pop culture all the way to the beach, breaking any barriers in between.

But what impact does Michael Jackson have on pop culture? Well, here's a few: Thriller is probably the best pop record ever. Ever. Billie Jean is the perfect pop song. The music video for Thriller was way ahead of its time (both the use of video as a medium to project the song and the video itself). His dancing, although ripped off from James Brown, influenced many (his moonwalk on Motown's 25th is still and will always be a defining moment). Not to mention his publicity stunts (sleeping in an oxygen tank, buying the remnants of the Elephant Man).

Just look at Justin Timberlake, Pharell Williams, Usher, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, and the likes. They are all Michael Jackson wannabes. A guy who could dance like Jacko even became a (short-lived) star on Britain's Got Talent.

Before his self-aggrandising songs (started with We Are The World, continued with Man In The Mirror and hit its peak with The Earth Song), Michael sang about everything. Monsters, fighting, a kid who is not his son, never stopping, even about mama say mama sa mama cu sa (whatever that means). He even proclaimed that he is a lover and not a fighter. Which is totally in contrast with songs these days who are ore about fighting than loving.

During the end he just couldn't hold it anymore. Dwindling sales, rubbish music, mounting debts, Neverland, neverending court cases, etc will surely break a man down. He wanted to come back with a string of 50 concerts and he was preparing himself for it, with tickets being sold-out in matter of hours. Isn't it ironic that in the days of his preparation he then died? (note to Alanis Morissette: now that is ironic.)

The King of Pop is dead. Long live the King of Pop.

Amsterdam

2009-06-17T16:15:00.002+02:00

Last weekend I was back in the city I was born, Amsterdam. I always love going back to Amsterdam. I feel home there. Usually I go there to visit friends and family, but this time I came for the Windmill Windup.

It's funny that the Windup took place on fields where I used to play football as a little boy. Although when I looked around at the different football clubs that were there I couldn't find my old club.

I got there Thursday night. Went into town and grabbed a bite to eat in Zeedijk. It was easiest as the other boys were lugging all their luggage with them and then had to go to the fields afterwards, whereas I have a bed there in Amsterdam.

Friday played games during the day. At night I went into town and ate at Febo. I munched down two kroketten and two burgers. I could've eaten more actually. Then a bite with some mates at Leidseplein. I always try to pass by Leidseplein when in Amsterdam, just because it is the place to be, to sit down for a beer, to soak up the atmosphere.

Saturday it was just at the fields, then a birthday bash. Sunday it was family time.

I didn't eat at Toetanchamon or had Haring. I didn't spend much time in the city center and I couldn't get an Ajax t-shirt at Schiphol. But I did have a great time. And I will always come back to Amsterdam. Because it feels like home there.

Radio

2009-06-03T15:53:00.002+02:00

Every morning the missus usually puts the radio on. And now that I have to commute to work, when I use the car I end up listening to the morning radio as well. There aren't many radio stations we listen to - it's either World Radio Switzerland or Virgin Radio. Other radio stations are just not good.

But I have been annoyed at WRS for quite some time now. They are the only English radio in the neighborhood, but it's not good. Every half hour I get to hear the same news items over and over again, the music is crap (jumps from the latest hit to the cheesiest song from 1984 without a hint of professional programming). And now in the morning, when I'm in the middle of a traffic jam, instead of having cheery music they have talk shows talking about serious health matters or something similarly boring. It's just crap.

On top, in Mark Butcher they have the shittiest radio host ever. He is just shit (I hope he reads this. If you do, Mark you are rubbish!). Then there is a woman who thinks she is the coolest in town and knows everything about music - when in fact I know more. So yeah, I can't stand that radio station really.

On Virgin Radio, the music is much much better. But the ads are very long and in french. And in the morning they have the two most annoying characters on radio (Bruno & Camille - or something like that). They speak in an annoying french, and even though I understand it perfectly it still annoys the hell out of me. When they have English speaking guests they then translate everything in French and when these two clowns speak in English it is with a heavy-almost-fake French accent.

Fortunately, now I have installed my Sonos sound system and I can listen to internet radio. Now we listen to Capital FM (London) in the morning. Much much better. I wish I can listen to that in my car as well.

Sonos, Spotify, etc

2009-05-05T16:18:00.002+02:00

One thing with moving homes is that you always end up re-thinking the "media hub". With media hub I mean the whole cabling between the television, music systems, DVD, consoles, and computer.

In my first studio, everything was done haphazardly. And as it was a mess, I didn't really care about cables sticking out everywhere. I had my television, a VCR player connected to the telly with a SCART cable, the TV cable going to the VCR first. I took an old amp from my aunt and hooked up an LP player, bought a CD player and hooked it up to that amp too. Had a couple of old speakers connected to the amp. Later on I bought a Harman Kardon tuner/receiver, hooked everything up to that and later on bought a DVD player.

Then I moved to a bigger place. I found a TV table (one where you put the TV on top with everything else underneath it) in my old kitchen (go figure) so stacked my tuner/receiver, DVD player, CD player and VCR on top of it with cables running behind it. On some shelves next to it I had the LP player hooked to the old amp and then hooked to the receiver. Later on I got a PS2 and put it on the shelves and hooked it up to the TV and receiver. I bought a home cinema speaker set, so I had 6 additional speakers to hook up. It was quite alright and not as messy as before.

After that it was moving in with my girlfriend (now the missus). She had a TV unit, so we bought a new flat screen TV and put that on it. In the unit came my CD player, the DVD player and the receiver. I chucked out the two old speakers. On the shelves next to the TV unit came the old amp, the LP player and the PS2. I ditched the VCR as it was useless already at that point. Later on we got cable TV so I made place for the cable TV box in the TV unit. And one birthday my in-laws gave my a Nintendo Wii, so that fitted in nice on the shelves.

So when we bought the new place I thought about the whole media hub. I made sure the TV jack is next to the phone jack and with lots of electricity plugs. As the old TV unit was old, we bought a new sleek one. Problem is that the CD player is too bulky for that - so that is off to the cellar. The LP players (I have two for some reason) and the old amp are also in the cellar. So now I just have the receiver, a DVD player (which I will replace with a Blu-Ray one soon), and the cable TV box, with my router nested in there as well. I just need to connect both consoles but that is an easy job.

But now the problem is playing music. No CD player is connected to the receiver so I can't play any of my 700+ CDs. So for the moment I have my iPod connected but I found a solution. I am going to get the Sonos, so that I can stream the music I have. I will also get a Buffalo Linkstation Mini as a network-attached storage device so that I don't have to have my Mac switched on all the time to play music. And then I hope Spotify will be available for Sonos.

Less cables, more music. And next time I move it will start all over again. Hopefully by that time everything will be wireless.

Paleo 2009, here I come

2009-04-23T15:56:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I got my tickets for Paleo 2009. I got myself the weekpass because there are many acts that I want to see: Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, White Lies, Snow Patrol, Moby, TV On The Radio, The Ting Tings, The Gossip, Placebo, Prodigy, Amy McDonald, Pete Doherty (if he ever makes it), Charlie Winston, Cold War Kids and Santogold. Ok, some of them may have passed their best (yes you Moby) but nonetheless a great line-up.

But half of my motivation does not have to do with music at all. It has to do with food. Because at Paleo you can eat amazingly good food from lots of food stands. It's not just your regular festival hot dog and lukewarm beer. I will have some duck liver curry, or some hot fondue (a hot dog bun filled with melted fondue cheese), or malakoffs (deep fried cheese), or rat sticks (I think it's chicken but could be some other animal on a stick, grilled), or liver sandwich, or spring rolls (amazingly good when you're drunk), or even Indonesian food. And I will wash it down with cold beer or cold rose.

If the weather is wonderful, it will then be a wonderful week for me. Especially now that I live around the corner from this festival...

Moving

2009-04-01T15:43:00.002+02:00

After signing a contract back in 2007, last Friday we finally got the keys to our own brandnew appartment out in the countryside. Which meant that last weekend I was occupied with moving.

Normally moving 30 km isn't that much of a big deal, but here it surely is. Not to mention all the things that went wrong during the move as well. Movers came late, cleaning company didn't clean as they were supposed to, tax authorities being a pain in the ass, de-registering and registering, building a new IKEA wardrobe (201 cm tall and 250 cm wide) all by myself, unpacking boxes, telephone company messed up on activation date, etc etc etc.

I am still physically tired and there are still lots to do before it becomes free of "temporary solutions". Even though it is only 30 km away it really feels like I'm moving countries. Hell, moving from Indonesia to Switzerland was easier compared to this move.

However, now we live in a small village in the countryside and we are loving it...

iPhone

2009-03-18T09:45:00.002+01:00

I just read on the beeb that Apple holds about 10.7% of the worldwide mobile phone market share. Given that the iPhone first came out on June 29th, 2007 that is an amazing achievement. To have 10% of the world's market share in less than two years? Not many companies can do that.

I can't find the total mobile phones worldwide, but let's say it's 1 billion. That means that Apple sold 107 million iPhones worldwide in less than 2 years!

Apple will also release a new software upgrade for the iPhone which will allow the iPhone to do copy-paste. Yes, finally I will be able to copy-paste text. About bloody time.

The motor show in 5 minutes

2009-03-12T15:39:00.002+01:00

Every year Geneva hosts the motor show. A big occasion for car manufacturers to show their latest products, their ideas, and their wealth. And every year since 2001 I have been there with a press pass, together with my cousin.

However, my cousin has since moved to the other side of the world to open a pancake place, so I am left by myself. I've asked friends but nobody was available and unfortunately I was ill the day before the press day so I didn't feel too great.

So I decided to pass by the motor show quickly, basically to give my & my cousin's press pass in so that we will still be invited in the future years.

Normally I would go all out, eat and drink until I'm full and drunk, while watching the ladies who stand next to some dull objects - usually some weird-ass car designed for the year 2187. But this time I only stayed 20 minutes - with 15 minutes being spent on the phone to my cousin (courtesy of Volkswagen). And the remaining 5 minutes I quickly pottered around to see what I can see. And here are my observations:

The credit crunch has impacted the car industry. There are less food and drink readily available. And by Fiat and Alfa Romeo, all the hot chicks that are usually there are gone. They can no longer afford proper models!
The new VW Polo looks a bit like a BMW 1-serie.
Mercedes came out with the new B-class. Who the hell buys B-classes anyways?
I couldn't find a flyer for the Mini After-work party. Hope it wasn't scrapped.
The Seat bags looks cool this year - I didn't get one though.
No food at Nissan! At least it didn't look like there was.
General Motors still had a stand with cars on it amidts rumours of GM going bankrupt.
Neither Hyundai or KIA looked like they were giving out footballs. I want a football! (every year I manage to miss it).
I didn't see any PS3 games that you can play from inside a car. Hmmm...

After that I gave up. I got home and became sick again.

Next year it will be the 80th motor show. So next year I will definitely eat a lot and drink until drunk.

No Line On The Horizon

2009-03-10T15:26:00.003+01:00

I have two magazine subscription, Q and Time. I read Q to keep me up to date with what is going on in music and I read Time to keep me up to date with world affairs. However, sometimes both magazines venture into each other's territory as was the case when U2 released their new album, No Line On The Horizon, last week.

I was quite surprised to read that Time didn't rate the album well. They put it on par as Pop - which we all know is U2's worst album. Q on the other hand, gave it 5 stars out of 5 and put it on par with Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby! - definitely the best U2 albums. So how come the results are so different?

I wanted to buy the album as soon as it came out but only managed to go to the record store on Saturday (yes, yes I can but it online, but for some albums I need to have it physically). So I've been listening to it and try to make sense out of both reviews.

But first, both magazines have said that Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby! are U2's best works. I wholeheartedly agree, although I find Achtung Baby! having an edge over Joshua Tree. As for U2 songs, my favorites include The Fly, With Or Without You, and Walk On.

With the new album, U2 went back to basics (using Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite as producers for starters) but at the same time also tried something new. And here I think is where the two reviews differ. Time probably thinks that it tried for something new but failed (unlike when U2 did Achtung Baby! for instance). I understand that, like when you hear Edge's guitar you suddenly think of Where The Streets Have No Name, or when Bono goes oh-oh-oh-oh you wonder which song it was that had a similar oh-oh-oh-oh (btw, all U2 classics have oh-oh-ohs in it - proof that Bono doesn't need words or either ran out of words). But given that these guys have been in it so long (30 years and counting), what they are showing here is a new sound but still well in the U2 "soundscape". And this is why it earned them 5 stars from Q. You sort of expect them to do this, they did but much better than you expected.

Moment of Surrender is the beauty of the album. Bono shows his creaky voice but then eases it into the song and in the end you are unconsciously humming the oh-oh-ohs. Breathe is also a great song. Eno said it was one of the best U2 songs he ever worked on. At first it doesn't sound like much, but the song draws you in and at the end when Larry does his cymbal thingy you realised you just heard a very good U2 song.

Sure, some of Bono's lyrics still raises eyebrows, and yes, Edge's chiming chugga-chugga guitars sounds exactly like you have heard it but this is still a new horizon for them. And instead of becoming like The Rolling Stones just rolling along playing greatest hits from yesteryears, U2 is still very much what they are: The Best Band In The World.

Coldplay still has a lot of work to do.

McDonald's - slow food?

2009-02-03T14:16:00.002+01:00

Yesterday at lunchtime I had to go sign something for the new flat. As we were rushing and didn't have time for lunch, we decided to drive by past a McDonald's on the way back to work. This is supposed to be a fast way of getting food.

I've been to many countries and I've tried McDonald's in many of these places. And there is always one constant - it is indeed fast food. In Indonesia they have a timer and if they don't manage to get your food out before the timer ends (I think it was 90 seconds), you get free fries. Other countries as well, they serve fast. As it is supposed to be fast food.

But here in Switzerland they are so goddamn slow. I have waited for 10 minutes at a McDonald's counter waiting for my Big Mac menu. And yesterday was worse.

We ordered at the first bit of the drive-through. Ordering was a bit of a challenge as the women didn't understand what I was saying. But we managed to order something simple (a Filet-O-Fish Menu, a McChicken and a Beef Rustico) in the end. I drove around the corner and was waiting in line behind a white car. After more than 5 minutes the person in the white car got his food (which was only one bag - so it wasn't that much). I drove to the window to claim my food and was joking to the missus that I would say sarcastically "fast food indeed". The women then looked at our order (only then!) and started to fill the bag. Then she said "Can you drive a bit forward as it will take 5 minutes for your McChicken." Hearing that I lost it and said "Just give me what you have. Quick. I've been waiting here for 10 minutes and now I have to wait more? Just give me what you have. Yeah a cheeseburger will do. Whatever."

At this point I was expecting her to have a sense of urgency, but nooo, she kept waddling around in her booth and making no effort to speed things up, nor to apologise. I was so pissed off I could have thrown the Coke back at her, but it was my missus' Coke not mine. Even paying took ages. When she handed me the change I just drove off, but at the same time the car behind me started beeping. Which is fair enough as the poor chap behind me was waiting for a while as well and he still had to deal with that slow waiter.

Now, how difficult is it to get this right? You get the order and if you don't have it scream to the kitchen to have it made right away. It is supposed to be fast food! I sometimes wish they have that timer thing here. Because if they had it (at any McDonald's) I would be eating free fries all the time. All the time.

Moral of the story: Don't expect McDonald's to be of the same standard here in Switzerland.

Swiss trains

2009-01-23T16:38:00.001+01:00

I'm on the train from Zurich right now and as we're approaching Bern there's this announcement: "We're approaching Bern and we are sorry for the delay of 3 minutes. "

Yes, trains in Switzerland are always punctual they actually apologize when they are 3 minutes late. Three minutes!

Update: I spoke too soon. The train has stopped now due to a problem in one of the stations and it's been sitting idle for half an hour already. Only now does it start moving again.

It was so tacky...

2009-01-19T10:37:00.002+01:00

Saturday evening we all went out to celebrate my best mate's birthday. He wanted to do something fun, so he made reservations at this bowling alley where they also serve pizza by the meter (yes, pizza by the meter!).

The bowling alley is a bit worse for wear. Imagine a bowling alley in the 80s and that's about it (albeit with an electronic score board - I don't think they existed in the 80s yet). There are pinball machines, video games (Time Crisis II for Christ sake!), a pool table and an air hockey table. However, it was quite packed with people wanting to have some fun (such as doing Tequila shots while bowling).

Anyway, we started out with the meal first. As we were 17 of us, a meter of pizza is never going to be enough, so we had to wait another 20 minutes for another meter. In the end we ate 3 meters, but if they were any quicker I reckon we could have eaten about 5 meters. But the best bit was when suddenly there was live music playing. And when I say live music it is not a band, but one guy with a couple of keyboards and a drum machine, singing hit songs. At first he sang Italian songs, then French, and then we heard the intro of Tina Turner's Simply The Best. At this point we all had consumed a fair amount of alcohol, so when the refrain kicked in, we all shouted "You're simply the best!". This song was followed up by Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall and then Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger.

We bowled afterwards for 2 games. I didn't do that bad considering I haven't bowled in ages. 150 and 143 (in the second game I only had 3 pins in the first 2 frames as I was experimenting with a throw).

Evenings like that are always fun.

Possibly the best job in the world?

2009-01-12T11:46:00.003+01:00

There's an opening here:
http://www.islandreefjob.com/

The applicant needs to have good swimming skills, and a love of snorkelling, scuba diving and other water sports. The successful applicant will earn AU$ 150,000 for six months, with free return flights and expenses. Accommodation is provided on the island.

Why am I not applying???

2009

2009-01-07T12:36:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year everybody!

I went snowboarding last weekend in a small place called Torgon. It's part of the Portes du Soleil, a huge ski-resort that spans over France and Switzerland, and you can actually ski from one country to the other (very useful before 12/12/2008 if you want to smuggle stuff from one country to the other).

The skiing domain comprises over several ski villages and one of them is Torgon. It's quite small, but once you get up there, you can go across to several other places. And the good thing about this place is because it's small and not very known, there aren't a lot of tourists who go there to show off their ski-gear during apres-ski. Which means more room for me to fall over and less queues at the lifts.

It was blue and bright and you can see the clouds hanging below you. The snow was perfect and even though it was cold (about -8 degrees) seeing the sun in all its glory makes up for it.

The weather is still freezing cold and I haven't seen the sun in days, which means that skiing conditions is still great. Shame I'm stuck in an office for most of the day. Oh well, at least I can go home for lunch and watch 30 Rock.

Best albums of 2008

2008-12-30T11:36:00.002+01:00

So it is the time of the year again where I'm listing the best albums of the year. This time it's made easier for me as on the right side of this blog I have a list of music that I bought this year. It's been a remarkable year for my music-buying habit, because I bought so little this year. I guess I became more selective when buying music, and I also was saving up so I tried to restrain myself (which I did successfully).

Based on the list I bought 29 albums that were released in 2008. I'm picking the top 5, otherwise I might as well review all 29 albums.

Anyway, here are my Top 5 albums (in the order that I bought them):

We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings. A guitarist with White as a surname, singing, backed by a drummer. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? But unlike The White Stripes, in this band the genius is behind the drums. And doesn't sing. No blues based rock backed by fundamental drumming, just beats and rhymes filled by fundamental jangling guitars. It makes you move, it makes you dance, it makes you want to know what her name is. Pure unadulterated pop, just how I like it.
Viva La Vida And Death To All His Friends - Coldplay. I know, Coldplay might be boring, but they are still one of the biggest bands in the world and I am still a fan and they keep bettering their previous albums. Viva La Vida is grand in every sense of the word. Shame about the customes that they wear these days, but as far as their music goes, this is Coldplay at their best.
Partie Traumatic - Black Kids. Reggie Youngblood (Balck Kids vocalist) was born when The Cure was at the top of their game. 20-odd years later, Black Kids re-invent The Cure. But instead of being on downers, now they made it on uppers. Yes, Reggie Youngblood sounds almost identical to Robert Smith, but instead of crying of pictures of lost loved ones, with this album you can dance (still, albeit, dancing after lost loved ones).
Perfect Symmetry - Keane. The intro of the first song will get you going. You'll be transported to some 80s disco night and it keeps going. It's cheerful, it's melodic, it's good. After being bitter in The Iron Sea, here they come up nicely.
Only By The Night - King Of Leon. As you can see I just bought it a couple of days ago. I bought it because it was voted by Q as the best album in 2008. At first I was thinking, if it was, why have I not heard any of the songs on the radio? Turns out I had (it was Use Somebody), but I just didn't recognise it as Kings Of Leon. The album is Great. After a couple of listens, I'm hooked on Sex On Fire and Use Somebody already. And the whole album is great to listen to. You can tell the Followil clan has grown up, you can hear it in the music.

One special mention though: Chinese Democracy by Guns N Roses. It's not in the best album list this year, hell, it's not even on GNR's Top 3 albums list (and they only made 5 albums). But still an achievement. The last time GNR released a studio album it was 1991 (Use Your Illusion I and II - not a double album, just two albums released on the same day). Seventeen years have gone past where Axl Rose recorded, fiddled, fired, re-recorded, fired more people, fiddled more with the making of this album. Seventeen years and almost $14 million and a whole lot of musicians (most of them were fired in the process). Even an ardent GNR fan will have problems naming the current GNR line-up.

The album itself sounds like it was made over 17 years. Overproduction to the limit, where every single gap is filled by everything and the kitchen sink. Songs that sounds like it was 1994 or 1999. Sounds that made Prodigy big and that made Prodigy sink. And Axl still wailing away.

I bought it because I just had to. I'm sure most people did as well. After all, somebody must appreciate 17 years of hard work (and not to mention 17 years of waiting by the fan).

What's your Top 5?

It's been a while

2008-12-18T11:17:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I last blogged.

The reason of the hiatus was mainly because I was "disconnected" for the past 3.5 weeks. A big event in my personal life followed by a 2 week holiday in the sun disconnected me from the trials and tribulations of normal reality. Instead I was in my own world and did not have the means and the time to blog.

Anyway, there are some topics I want to blog about and I will try to do so when and if I have time (probably next week at work where there is fuck all to do as everybody's gone on their Christmas holidays):

Axl Rose finally releasing Guns N Roses' Chinese Democracy after 17 years wait (The Spaghetti Incident?! is not counted as a new album).
Whale Sharks, as I saw one during my vacation.
The new Airbus A380. Yes, it is a bit of old news but I flew in one and it's worth a post.
Real Madrid becoming the new Barcelona as they bought another Dutchman, this time it's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The year-end top 5 (or 10) albums, picking them out from the list on the right.
And maybe some other bits & pieces.

Until then, get yourself ready for Christmas. Be prepared to be crushed in stores by panicked last-minute gift buyers (including myself - I still have to get gifts for the in-laws) and be ready to hear Last Christmas over and over and over again.

The Mother of all Hangovers

2008-11-13T17:23:00.004+01:00

Last Friday I went out with my mates to celebrate something.

I was picked up at 18.00, went to the pub in time for Happy Hour. Between 18.30 and 19.45 I downed 3 pints of my beloved Heineken. Then went to a Korean restaurant and had some all-you-can-eat meat grill thingy. I must have had at least 3 Hite beers, a girlish cocktail, a Grappa as a digestif and the owner gave me a glass of Taiwanese rose liquer as well.

Then went to a bar I used to frequent a lot (a lot, at least 3-4 times a week) in my younger days. Had a couple of Sambuca shots and some vodka tonic. Just like my good old days, I fell a sleep. After that one of my mates challenged me for an uphill run. He though it'll be good for me to get some air, I just thought "I'll beat his ass". I did beat his ass (even though I was practicaly incapacitated) but then followed it by puking as if I just won the Iron Man race.

We then continued the journey to a club that used to be the club I used to go to. It used to be this dark and camp place but they moved and the darkness and campness have gone, sadly enough. Anyway, somehow I woke up and drank more Vodka Tonic and shots. At one moment I fell asleep again. My mate woke me up at about 4, then drove home but stopping at Sloppy Joe's to get a burger.

The next day I had to force myself to get out of bed at 12 to walk the dog. My head was pounding, cold sweat was pouring from my head and everything that went into my mouth came out again. It truly felt like the mother of all hangovers, I don't think I ever felt hungover like that, it was painful. I walked the dog quickly then slept again and was only human again at around 17.00 when my girlfriend came back in after doing lots and lots of errands.

That night I went to see Quantum of Solace and had a Guiness while watching it.

Obama

2008-11-05T14:17:00.002+01:00

I'll join in with what has been said over and over and over again today, yes it was a historic result. Barack Obama has been elected as the next US President. He's the first black president of the US. He's done it by campaigning tirelessly for 21 months.

After 8 years of tomfoolery by that eejit GWB, it should be quite easy to go and say "I'm not like him" and charge as a president. Easier said than done obviously, but apparently that was the mood not just in the US but all over the world.

McCain was supposed to give Obama a big challenge, bigger than Hillary, but by choosing Tina Fey, er, Sarah Palin as his running mate. Most people just gave her the appendix -ILF to whatever word was used to describe her.

Anyway, to see how the world views Obama and McCain, here's an interesting bit from the Economist. And being in another country in Europe, I can tell that is exactly how the feeling is.

So congrats for Barry Soetoro, aka, Barack Obama. Hopefully he will live up to his speech this morning and hopefully he will let people like me enter easily to the US for a holiday...

Hospital

2008-10-30T17:20:00.002+01:00

Last week I was hospitalised for 2 days. It wasn't much, just a small operation to correct a deviated septum and to cut my uvala. Google it.

In hospital I didn't do much, just slept for most of the time, if not played with my iPhone. There's not much else to do and the body was recovering from being under general anaesthetic. Funnily enough, lots of people were concerned when they heard that I was going under GA. For me it doesn't matter. I fall a sleep, I wake up, and that's it.

My throat is still hurting now but I'm getting used to it. It'll probably be numb after this weekend (as it will be a special weekend involving copious amounts of alcohol).

So this week I'm not working. That is, not in the office. At home I still have my laptop on and I still have to do some stuff but at least I can nap whenever I feel like it.

If you've been following my facebook updates, this post should explain the weird statuses I had a week ago.

Finally

2008-10-20T22:16:00.001+02:00

After three visits, last Saturday I finally got the iPhone. And this blog entry is written from my iPhone. More details on the story later, right now I want to watch hell's kitchen.

Hey Mr. DJ

2008-10-13T10:40:00.003+02:00

A couple of weekends ago my girlfriend's parents' church organised a gala dinner in order to raise some money for the parish. They asked me whether I could help with the music as they want to have a bit of dancing after dinner. The music was supposed to be 60s music as the majority of the people coming to this gala dinner would be people who danced to music back in the 60s.

Anyway, I said "sure". I looked for some equipment, hired a mixer and borrowed my girlfriend's dad laptop as he has is iTunes on it and it has much more 60s music than I have among my CD collection (60s CDs that I have: The White Album, Sgt Pepper's, Revolver, Pet Sounds, Best of The Who, Best of Marvin Gaye, but that's about it I'm afraid).

The night went on and after dinner I started the music. With a portable CD player, a laptop and my iPod I tried my best at mixing 60s music. To my surprise, the people (who I have to say were all around 60 years old) were having fun and some were dancing as if it was 1969. With the exception of 3 songs (Dancing Queen, YMCA, D'Ya Think I'm Sexy) I think I played all 60s music. After two hours of dancing, somebody requested a slow song. The crowd then realised it was past midnight and remembered their real age again. The day after, people all said that they had lots of fun.

A couple of days ago I received an email from one the the persons who was dancing, asking if I would be available to do the music at her retirement party in December.

So this is my DJing career so far: started out at a work Christmas party, did a party in a small club once, weddings, the annual frisbee party, and now church and retirement parties. Soon I'll be mixing it up in St. Tropez next to Tiesto baby!

The quest for an Iphone continues

2008-10-01T10:18:00.002+02:00

Yes, I know, I'm way behind. Everybody else has one already and I'm still looking for an iPhone. Last time I wasn't so successful so I tried again.

About 10 days ago I went to an Orange shop to inquire about the iPhone. They had some in stock and I was ready to pay the penalty on my current subscriber just so that I can get hold of an iPhone. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have my original resident permit with me, but the guy put it aside for me.

Yesterday I came back to the shop with my original resident permit. The guy still had my iPhone, he then started working on preparing the contract. At one point he passed my details on to the credit control department where suddenly he said to me that there will be a limit of CHF 300 per month. To be honest, with my consumption and with the subscription package that I chose I would probably not go over CHF 300 per month anyways but I still wanted to know why this limit was imposed on me. The guy understood my question and then passed me on to the credit control department.

The conversation went something like this:

Credit control (CC): "Sir, you will have a limit of CHF 300 per month."
Me: "Why?"
CC: "We have put your data in the system and it came out with this limit. You will have it for 3 months and if you pay all your invoices correctly during the 3 months we will do an assessment again."
Me: "Why CHF 300 per month? What precisely of my data is making you come up with the CHF 300 limit."
CC: "It's from the system, I can't tell you why. If not, you can put a deposit of CHF 500 and then you won't have a limit."
Me: "But that's not answering my question. I want to know why I am imposed this CHF 300 limit? What is it exactly? I never defaulted on any payments before, I earn more than enough to pay you CHF 300 per month, so why the limit?"
CC (getting annoyed): "Sir, I'm offering you a contract and you can either accept it or not."
Me (also getting annoyed): "I just want to know why there is a limit before I can accept your offer."
CC: "I cannot tell you sir why there is this limit".
Me: "Why not? Why can you not tell me?"
CC: "I cannot tell you, it's from our system."
Me (about to lose it): "Well, your system sucks. You just lost a client."

I hung up and then huffed out of the shop while the poor sales guy said sorry to me. He must be cursing inside as he just lost his commission on a new subscriber.

I just wanted to know why there is a limit. Is it because I'm not Swiss? Is it because I'm from a third-world country? Is it because my resident permit expires in 2010? Is it because I is black?

Oh well, and there I thought Orange has excellent customer service. It's fucked up with the phone providers here. One is owned by the state and doesn't care about customers. One says they care about customers but then do something like that (yes, that's you Orange). And the other one (which I'm currently on) does not have the iPhone.

And I still don't have an iPhone.

Masterchef

2008-09-23T16:05:00.002+02:00

If there is something I can watch on telly all day long, it's not football, nor is it CSI: Miami. It's anything related to cooking.

I love Hell's Kitchen USA, where Gordon Ramsay curses those poor wannabe chefs fighting for a chance to make it big time. He absolutely tears into them, it's a surprise none of the wannabe chefs have slapped him in retaliation or even said "FUCK YOU!" back at him.

I've also been watching Masterchef on BBC. Just watching how those people cook and present their dishes, and how it should taste is really drawing me in.

Some other stupid cooking shows like Ready Steady Cook, Great British Menu, Saturday Morning Kitchen, Nigella, even shows with Jamie Oliver and/or Ainsley Harriott in it, I'll watch them. If I'm not working and there is something with cooking on the telly, I'll watch it.

Watching all these cooking shows have influenced my cooking. I used to be a "put-it-all-in-the-pan" kind of cook, but now I make sure that everything is seasoned and cooked properly. Last weekend we had a dinner party with friends and I made some fish that was presented in a manner that would have made that Masterchef critic proud.

Maybe I should sign up for the next Hell's Kitchen...

Sunny London

2008-09-15T16:15:00.002+02:00

Last Friday I wrote on my facebook status that I was going to London to escape from my rainy town.

Well, fact was that it was sunny and bright in London over the weekend, whereas it was raining here.

Can you believe it, the weather is actually nicer in the UK? Not a lot of people believed me. Heck, I couldn't believe it myself.

Anyway, it was a nice weekend away in London to see some friends who got engaged.

Music and personality

2008-09-05T10:55:00.003+02:00

I stumbled upon this news item on the beeb today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7598549.stm

A study shows that musical tastes and personality types are closely linked. So by knowing what music tastes someone has, you can tell the personality of that person.

So here I am, and I like pop and rock. Pure unadulterated pop best mixed with some crunching guitars, although now and then I listen to some indie, some soul, some rap/hip-hop, some blues. But my main musical taste is pop-rock.

The study says this about people who like chart pop: "High self-esteem, not creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, not at ease" and this about people who like rock/heavy metal: "Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease".

Now I am confused. Do I have high self-esteem or low self-esteem? Am I creative or not? Am I hard-working or not? Am I outgoing or not? Am I at ease or not? The common personalities between those two musical tastes is "gentle" and "at ease". So I can say that I am truly "gentle" and "at ease". But for the rest, this study has not shown what my personality is.

Maybe I should listen to more blues.

Ajax 2008-2009

2008-09-03T14:39:00.003+02:00

I just realised I haven't blogged about Ajax for a while.

The season just started last Saturday and Ajax is looking good (although they started the campaign with a 1-2 loss against Willem II). Marco van Basten is now the headcoach, bringing his buddies John Van't Schip and Rob Witschge along as assistant coaches.

Players in: Dario Cvitanich (top scorer last season in Argentina); Miralem "Micky" Sulejmani (a revelation from last season, he's now the most expensive Dutch transfer); Oleguer Presas (the Catalan socialist who played for Barcelona before); Ismail Aissati (one of the most talented footballers in Netherlands, snapped from rivals PSV) and Evander Sno (young midfielder from Celtic).

Players out: Kenneth Perez (too old, too annoying); Albert Luque (hasn't showed how good he used to be); Nicolae Mitea (too many injuries); Jurgen Colin (simply awful); George Ogararu (that's what you get when you get beaten by a 35 year old Marc Overmars who hasn't played professionally in 4 years).

The team is shaping up very solidly and hopefully by the end of this season they will be champion. It's about bloody time!

Bored On A Friday

2008-08-29T16:11:00.001+02:00

Lightning Bolt

2008-08-20T18:07:00.002+02:00

The Beijing 2008 Olympics has primarily been about two names: Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

Michael Phelps made history by winning 8 gold medals in the swimming pool and he did it with style (6 or 7 world records along the way).

After him came another man, Usain Bolt. The lanky Jamaican won the 100m without even trying. And today he won the 200m and both times he beat the world record. He's up for another gold in the 4x100m relay and seeing how good the Jamaican sprinters are, it's quite possible he'll win another one.

The debate continues about him winning the 100m. He started well, went ahead, and with 20m left he stopped trying and was celebrating already. Some people say that was disrespectful to the Olympic spirit (what spirit?), some say that he was just enjoying himself. Since everybody has an opinion on this one, I like to add mine.

For me, the Olympic is about winning, about getting gold medal. If you know that you have it in the bag, why try harder? Why not celebrate? It's not disrespectful at all. He was way ahead of everyone else, he looked around and then started slowing down and celebrating. Why should he run faster just to please the people? His aim was gold, he got gold. Simple.

I guess some people want to know how fast he could have been had he pushed all the way. Well, he would have definitely been faster, but he doesn't want it so why should we push for it? He beat the world record anyway (how did he do that? I still don't understand).

If only I could run as fast as Bolt...

Stan Da Man

2008-08-16T12:15:00.002+02:00

About two months ago my girlfriend found out about the local dog refuge, where they keep all the stray and abandoned dogs. We went there a couple of times and thought about adopting a dog, and mostly we came there to walk a dog. It's quite nice, you can come in the afternoons and pick a dog and walk around the countryside. It's pretty relaxing.

After a while, my girlfriend found out about a dog called Stanley, who was left there by his previous owner. It is a 6 year old American Cocker and quite a small and cute dog. We walked him a couple of times and then decided to adopt him as he can live perfectly in an appartment (he doesn't need a big garden).

It took a while before we got him as he has some skin disease which needed looking after by the vet, but last Saturday we finally got him.

He's a kick-ass dog. He can walk off the lead, he lives perfectly in an appartment, he is very well housetrained, doesn't bark a lot. In general, the perfect dog to have. It's very nice to have a dog and I'm enjoying it very much.

All he does is eat and sleep, and even in his deepest sleep he will wake up and follow anybody who goes into the kitchen with the hope of getting more food.

Ages ago I would have said no to having a dog, but now I'm loving it. People do change.

Stag Do (and NOT drinking)

2008-08-04T15:41:00.002+02:00

Last Friday was a public holiday here, and being in the middle of summer, it means a nice long weekend. As one of my mate here is getting married next month, it was the perfect occasion to have a stag do.

Good weather, bunch of guys, the girls were away, and an appartment with a garden in the country side (they had the hen do in London) means three things: alcohol, meat and more alcohol. Friday afternoon we set-up the barbeque and put on meat on it. The fridge was packed with beer and other alcohol. Although only 6 could make it, we went through a lot of alcohol and a lot of meat. Somewhere during the night we went to a bonfire and played frisbee around (and over) it. All while still drinking alcohol.

Saturday was the outing. We went to Walibi to have some fun on the rides there. But this meant that one person was going to be a designated driver. I voluntarily took on the role and ended up not drinking. But with the amount of alcohol I drank the night before, I was pretty much still intoxicated for most of the day.

In the end, during the whole of Saturday - including dinner at a Brazilian where they serve great meat and kick-ass caiprinhas - I only had two alcoholic drinks: a bottle of beer and a caipirinha during dinner.

It was a weird feeling, because normally I would have been one of the first to be drunk and in that kind of opportunity I would have drunk a LOT. But being sober gave me a different feeling and I still enjoyed the night as much as I would have if I was drunk. And I remembered everything that went on the morning after.

I guess I can do it without drinking. I never thought I could but I did. Another lesson in life learned.

Paleo, Sunday

2008-07-28T15:01:00.002+02:00

I did went to Paleo on Wednesday, but didn't stay long. We even missed Mika as he was on very late.

Yesterday I went again, to have some fun. I was quite tired actually as the night before there was a wedding and I only went to bed at around 03.00. Doesn't sound late for a Saturday night, but I'm getting old.

Anyway, got to Paleo, watched an old Brazilian chap for a couple of minutes, then queued for a "sandwich magret du canard" (good stuff, believe me). A couple of beers, then a malakoff. More beers, then a satay as I tried to enter Chapiteau to watch Yael Naim but it was too crowded. Hung around a bit then went to see R.E.M.

I was there 5 years ago when R.E.M. closed Paleo. Last time they were a bit somber but this time around they were rockin'. No sad songs, no stuff from Up, and Michael Stipe was up for it. Peter Buck was actually smiling and looked like he was enjoying it. It was a greatest hits set, but it was a fine performance to finish off another Paleo.

Who will they bring in next year? I'm still hoping for Foo Fighters.

Paleo 2008, Tuesday

2008-07-23T15:56:00.002+02:00

Yesterday it started, the annual festival called Paleo.

At first I wasn't going, but then my girlfriend's mom managed to get a week ticket, so I used it for Tuesday because I wanted to see The Wombats. Unfortunately they pulled out last minute and were replaced by Young Knives.

I didn't get there on time anyway to see Young Knives.

When I got there The Hives were playing on the main stage. Weird seeing such an energetic band playing at 19.00 when the sun is still out. Howlin Pelle said it best himself, that the peak of the festival was right there at the beginning. It's quite funny seeing The Hives. About 6 years ago I once went to a party dressed up as a Hive (black trousers, black shirt, white tie). In 6 years time The Hives haven't evolved much and still are a Swedish garage punk rock band playing Hate To Say I Told You So. Anyway...

A couple of beers later, I was still looking for my friends. Couldn't find them at the usual hang-out place so watched Cali just to keep me amused. More beers and while watching Pete and The Pirates my mate rung me up and we started a small journey around Paleo, with lots of beers, a bottle of white wine, more beers, that began around the Bacardi Tent, via the Main Stage while Ben Harper was playing, through backstage and then the camping area. I honestly never realised how big the campsite of Paleo is.

Tonight: Mika.

iPhone 3G

2008-07-15T15:44:00.002+02:00

Last Friday, the gadget that I've been waiting for finally came out in Switzerland. It's the iPhone and it was the 3G version they came out with here.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just me waiting for this gadget.

Shops were open from 06.30 am last Friday to accommodate the demand. I'd rather sleep more. I passed by a shop around 09.30 and picked up a ticket for the queue. The ticket said 121, while the board said 33. That means there were at least 88 people queuing up. I thought "fuck this" and left the shop. (In hindsight, I've should've kept my ticket and returned after lunch - it would have probably been my turn).

On Friday night I had drinks with the boys and a friend also failed miserably in his quest of getting an iPhone 3G. He queued up at several shops and didn't get anywhere. He also heard that on Tuesday the shops are re-stocking on the iPhone.

Saturday and Monday passed (on Sundays shops are closed here). I didn't even bother. But today at lunchtime I was on a mission.

Unfortunately I was waaaay too late and all the shops (around 10) that I've went to all sold out.

The quest continues...

Goodbye Sammy

2008-07-11T14:58:00.002+02:00

A couple of years ago I would never have put myself down as a dog-person. But since I've been with my girlfriend I have grown fond of Sammy, her parents dog. Yesterday he left us for good and it was a sad day.

It is still sad.

Goodbye Sammy, the best dog in the world. Ever.

Euro 2008 review

2008-06-30T09:50:00.002+02:00

So it ended last night when Iker Cassilas lifted the European Cup in Vienna. Spain took home the cup after beating Germany 1-0 by a Fernando Torres goal. It ended 3 weeks of football and now it all goes back to normal life...

Anyway, a quick review of the Euro from me:

Biggest disappointment: Mario Gomez. I had him as the topscorer, he was hailed as Germany's next Gerd Muller, but didn't score a goal at all. Now he's become "Mario Who?"
Best flop: Luca Toni. Topscorer in Germany, all he did was shoot the ball anywhere but on goal.
Best timing: Raymond Domenech proposing to his girlfriend on live TV minutes after the French were kicked out of Euro 2008.
Best planning: The French team booking and paying for exclusive use of their hotel (the Mirador Kempinski) all the way until the 25th of June. They left on the 18th.
Comedy goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann, Rustu Recber, Volkan Demirel, Nikopolidis, Ricardo, Peter Cech.
Biggest surprise: Austria playing decent, better than anybody expected.
No surprise: The French going home so soon.
Is Cristiano Ronaldo a big-game bottler? Yes.
Biggest increase in value: Andrei Arshavin
Should've been in The Killers: Christopher Metzelder
I cry for my country: Alex Frei
Best driver: The French coach driver
Song you hear everywhere: Songs sung to the tune of Seven Nation's Army bassline.
Crazy fans: 10,000 Portuguese fans picking up the team from Geneva airport and then following the bus all the way to Fribourg.
Not missed: Raul, England
Missed: Fabio Cannavaro
Most fashionable person: Jogi Low
Best personal experience: Watching Holland vs Italy in Bern (in the FanZone)
Best goal: Philip Lahm's winner against the Turks.
Never say die: Turkey
Can't win in finals: Michael Ballack
Best Brazilian: Marcos Senna
Best supporters: the Dutch
Should have been in a rock band: Slaven Bilic. Wait, actually he is.
They were champions last time around? Greece. They confirmed it was a fluke.
Best team: the Dutch
Best game: Germany vs Turkey
Euro XI: van der Sar; Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Chielini, Zhirkov; Senna; Schweinsteiger, Xavi, Sneijder; Arshavin, Villa

Can't wait for the 2010 World Cup!

Jakarta & Singapore

2008-06-25T16:50:00.002+02:00

From the 11th until the 20th of June I was in Jakarta and Singapore. In Jakarta for my cousin's wedding, in Singapore to relax (as it is impossible to relax in Jakarta).

The wedding was great. It's the second time when a couple got married after I've introduced them to each other (although both times without any intentions of hooking them up). It was a bit tiring, especially since the wedding was on Saturday at 8am, right after the football match between Holland and France (which we all had to see live). So most of us didn't had a good night's sleep.

Anyway, it has been more than 2 years since I've been to Jakarta and that city does change quickly. New malls, here and there. Even more traffic (I seriously thought it was impossible but hey, Indonesians are known to make things possible). Still as hot, still as inefficient. Good partying.

While in Singapore, it happened to be during the sale period (honestly, this was unplanned). Got All-Stars for dirt-cheap but didn't buy much though. Just spend time wandering from one mall to another, watching Narnia, going on a cable-car ride, and eating curry.

Good holidays...

Euro2008 so far

2008-06-23T16:09:00.002+02:00

After my last post, this one is really hard to write. Because last Friday, Holland lost 1-3 to Russia. I have boasted that the Dutch will win it this time, but they were humbled by the Russians. Guus Hiddink, the Dutch Russian coach, knew exactly where the Dutch weaknesses were and he made his team pound on it over and over again. Even with Edwin van der Sar in goal, the Dutch just couldn't hold and in extra-time they caved in.

It was a great match and the Russians deserved the victory. Shame really.

Anyway, here are more of my insights on the Euro2008 so far:

France was a pathetic team coached by a pathetic man. Abidal in center back?? Replacing an attacker when in need of goals?? Glad they went out with a bang.
The Romanians needed a win against the Dutch but played as if they didn't need any goals. Weird.
Greece winning in 2004 was a fluke. It was proven in 2008.
Turkey are winning German style, but the Germans still do it better (see their 3-2 win against Portugal).
Austria played better than anybody thought (either that or the Germans and the Croats suck ass during the group stage).
Non-Portuguese people in Switzerland can now sleep well.
UEFA is overcharging on the beer inside the Fan Zones.
Guus Hiddink is a master tactician. Holland 1998, South Korea 2002, Australia 2006, now Russia. After Euro, Hiddink will leave Russia and be replaced by Dick Advocaat who will make a mess off the legacy that Hiddink has left.

Three more games left. That's it, three more games and it's over.

HUP HOLLAND HUP!!!

2008-06-10T14:12:00.002+02:00

Last night I went to Bern to experience the Holland vs Italy match. Like most of the people who don't have connections in UEFA or don't have platinum Amex cards, I didn't get a ticket for the match. So I thought of just going to Bern and watching the game there in the Fan Zone with other Dutch supporters.

Me and a mate left Geneva at 17.45 and got to Bern at 19.26. As we walked out of the station it was already a sea of orange. There were Dutch supporters everywhere. We found the big Fan Zone and made ourselves comfortable among 20,000 other Dutch supporters. At 20.45 the game started. It was a great experience. The whole crowd were singing and singing. Everytime Luca Toni was in picture the whole crowd started to sing "Lu-ca Toni is ho-mo" to the tune of Seven Nation Army's bassline.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the first goal (was he offside? was he not? don't care, it was allowed). Wesley Sneijder made a beautiful second after a quick counter attack and Gio added the third. The Dutch played wonderfully well, magnificent, while the Italians were lugging around not sure what to do anymore.

It was surely a match to remember and it was quite a party afterwards in Bern. Unbelievable atmosphere. I'm glad I had a chance to go and hopefully the Dutch will make it far this time.

Euro2008 Day 1 and 2

2008-06-09T10:06:00.002+02:00

So the Euro2008 has started and 4 games have been played so far: Switzerland vs Czech Republic (0-1); Portugal vs Turkey (2-0); Austria vs Croatia (0-1); and Germany vs Poland (0-2).

So far, here are my observations:

The first two goals of the tournament were miskicks. The Czech guy and Pepe both mishitting the ball but it still went in.
Austria didn't play as bad as everyone expected. Either that or Croatia was thinking they bagged it easily (as everyone and their dogs think they would). It made for a great game.
Portugal and Germany are contenders.
Germany finally won a game in the Euros since 1996.
A Polish guy scored two goals for Germany against Poland.
Alex Frei is useless, he's a bad version of Pippo Inzaghi. Now that he is injured it might actually be a blessing for the Swiss. Now all Kuhn needs to do is take Streller off the pitch as well.
The Czechs are old. They won't go far.
Holland will still win it.

Oh, btw, Stereophonics and Manics at Caribana were great. Big fun even though it was a bit muddy.

Euro 2008 preview

2008-06-04T17:04:00.003+02:00

In three more days Euro2008 will start. It will be played right here in my backyard (Switzerland) and the neighboring Austria. And I am excited about it. Probably as excited as the 10,000 Portuguese fans who welcomed the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and his bag of hair gel at the Geneva airport last Sunday. Well, minus the car and the honking.

So here's a bit preview (might be a bit subjective though):

First game: won't be one to remember
First person to be send off: A Turkish guy after bumping into Ronaldo, and Ronaldo then falling over as if hit by a 100-kilo brick.
Most likely fight: When Switzerland meets Turkey, both on the pitch and off it.
Worst team: Austria, they're so bad the nation is embarassed by them
Flop of the tournament: Either France or Italy
First coach to get the sack: The Austrian guy probably, but it won't be his fault
Hooligans: Portugal vs Turkey
Top scorer: Mario Gomez from Germany (he'll score 4 against Austria and then 1 more in another game)
Winner: Netherlands (of course)

I'll put on update with the atmosphere from here...

Kylie and Blue Man Group

2008-06-02T16:16:00.002+02:00

Last weekend was a concert-full weekend. Kylie Minogue on Friday and Blue Man Group on Saturday.

The Geneva Arena isn't a very big concert venue. I reckon it holds about 5,000 people altogether, maybe a bit more, with half of it seated places. We got tickets for the standing area (sitting at a concert? no fuckin way!) and wandered into Arena about half an hour before the concert started. I was quite surprised at how big and intruding the stage was. It took more than 2/3 of the standing area in the Arena, which didn't leave much space to be standing around. But we settled on a place a bit in the back.

Kylie came out at 20.30 and the whole show was fantastic. Emphasis on the word "show" as it's more of a show than a concert. Not just Kylie changed clothes every other song, also the backdrop and floor of the stage changes did. Backed by a band of 9 (drums, keys, guitar, bass, two backing vocals, three horns) and about 8 or 10 dancers, the show was just pure and plain energy. It was tack as well as it was catering Kylie's inner fanbase - the gay audience.

Some songs were re-arranged, some were sung like they are, everybody could still sing and dance to her songs. She sang most from her latest album, but some good oldies as well.

As it was her birthday a couple of days before, I got to sing Happy Birthday to Kylie (along with everyone else in Arena). Hey, not everyone get to sing Happy Birthday to Kylie directly...

Anyway, she finished the concert with I Should Be So Lucky and I was feeling very lucky to have seen that concert. A great show.

The day after it was Blue Man Group. This wasn't a concert, in reality it was more of a theatrical show. I have one of their albums and saw them appear on Jay Leno once on telly but I didn't have an idea what they would do. It was actually like a musical, but with a big theme surrounding the music that was played.

These guys were great, playing instruments invented by the original Blue Man Group. Also very interactive with the audience. They played some great songs and some great covers (I Feel Love, Baba O'Riley).

I don't think they can beat Kylie (well, how can 3 blue men beat Kylie in any shape or form?) but it was very entertaining.

The first shows of this summer are behind me. Up next, Caribana!

Champions League Final and Indiana Jones

2008-05-23T15:44:00.002+02:00

Two things to blog about in this one post. Maybe even three, depending on my mood after blogging about two.

First, the UEFA Champions League final that took place last Wednesday in Moscow between Manchester United and Chelsea, both from England. Last time two teams from the same country played in the final, it was boring as hell (2003; AC Milan vs Juventus). This time it also went to penalties, but it was far from boring.

Man Utd came out attacking and in the first half dominated the game. They scored one via Cristiano Ronaldo but should've had at least two more. In the last minute of the first half, a Chelsea shot was deflected, hit Rio Ferdinand's back and dropped in front of Frank Lampard. Easy one for him and it gave Chelsea hope.

In the second half Chelsea turned things around and had the upper hand. But they failed to score. So the game went into extra-time. A great chance for Man Utd was headed away unhumanly by John Terry so it went down to penalties. Cristiano Ronaldo, whose goals and game this season was the one of the main reasons Man Utd made it so far, missed it by hesitating. John Terry had the chance to win the game but slipped and mis-hit his penalty. The ball ended up against the post and wide. In the end it was van der Sar who saved Nicolas Anelka's penalty and it was Manchester who was partying at 01.30 am in a cold and wet Moscow.

Then there is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like many Indy fans, I have waited a long long time for this fourth installment. Critics were saying that this one sucks, but I watched it yesterday and I have to say that it's all in line with the other Indy's. They are as far fetched as the other Indy's were. If you're a fan, you will have seen it already and liked it. If you're not a fan, well there's not much I can say.

And the third thing?

My collarbone is getting better but I cannot do anything stupid with my left arm yet. Which is difficult to do. I'm prone to do something stupid.

Update on the collarbone

2008-05-13T16:02:00.002+02:00

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've broken my collarbone. Right now, I can move my left arm pretty well although I cannot keep it straight yet - so driving a car is still out of the question. I can't lift heavy stuff (with neither left or right arm), can't throw a frisbee yet (I've tried), but I can do other normal stuff. And I still have to wear a brace.

I'm seeing an orthopedic surgeon soon, as my collarbone is sticking out quite a bit. It might need surgery, but I hope I don't have to and that it'll heal soon.

Even with a broken collarbone I managed to get a great party starting at Talampaya last weekend. As usual, Saturday was my DJ-ing set. It was a bit tough getting the crowd going but a couple of big beats always does the trick. Then it went into a haze of mixed-up songs. At one point I played Enter Sandman and this metal dude came out of nowhere and started headbanging and then asked me for Ace of Spades.

Today it's the first day back in work after 12 days off. Man it feels weird.

Collarbone

2008-05-05T17:22:00.002+02:00

last wednesday i had a football game. after about 5 minutes the ball came into the penalty box. i quickly ran towards it, but there were two defenders between me and the ball. with quick thinking i put myself next to one defender and wanted to draw a foul, which will result in a penalty. as i was falling down, my left arm was caught by the second defender and i fell on my shoulder. straight away i felt that something was wrong, but didn't know what. i ran my finger through my collarbone and then i realised, i've broken it.

i got up, walked off the pitch, called my girlfriend, and went to the hospital. 4 hours later i got out with a figure 8 sling, some anti-inflammatory pills, some painkillers and some morphine.

i'm still wearing the figure 8 sling, but the pain has reduced a lot.

now just hoping that my bone will heal in time for my dj-ing gig on the weekend!

upside of this is that it's lovely weather and i don't have to sit in the office.
downside is that i'm typing with one hand only.

Summer concerts

2008-04-29T15:42:00.002+02:00

It's that time of the year again where I have bought my tickets to see the concerts that are happening this summer.

So far the list is like this:
May 30th: Kylie Minogue
May 31st: Blue Man Group
June 5th: Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers (at Caribana)
June 6th: Kate Nash and Keziah Jones (at Caribana)
July 23rd: Mika, Justice (at Paleo)

I'm still deliberating on whether to go to this one
July 7th: The Raconteurs, Vampire Weekend (at Montreux)
July 12th: Adele, Mark Ronson, Jill Scott (at Montreux)
July 22nd: Ben Harper, The Hives, The Wombats (at Paleo)

And names that I might miss:
June 4th: Alanis Morissette (already seen her ages ago and she's over the hill anyway)
June 7th: Maroon 5, Boy George (no reason)
July 10th: Gnarls Barkley, Travis (at Montreux, too lazy to go during a weekday)
July 14th: Quincy Jones with a lot of guests
July 15th: Babyshambles (what are the odds of Pete Doherty actually making it on stage?)
July 16th: Lenny Kravitz
July 17th: Alicia Keys (already seen her)
July 25th: Massive Attack (already seen them twice)
July 27th: R.E.M. (already seen them), Yael Naim

Though choice, isn't it?

Brighton

2008-04-23T11:38:00.002+02:00

Last weekend, me and my girlfriend went to Brighton to celebrate her birthday. We left Friday morning (er, more like Friday mid-day because of Easyjet delay), got to Gatwick, grabbed a car and drove down. Surprisingly, it's quite near to Gatwick (only half an hour drive).

Anyway, Brighton (officially Brighton & Hove) is a nice place by the sea. Unfortunately Friday and Saturday's weather wasn't that great but on Sunday it was lovely. And like any other tourist coming to Brighton, we hit the pier almost as soon as we got there.

I really like the pier. The silly slot machines, the little machines where you put in coins to move more coins and lots of video games. The coin machine in particular is highly addictive. Then the silly games you can play: tin can throwing, rubber ring throwing, dolphin derby, etc etc. On Sunday I managed to get on the little roller coaster and it was fab. It has actually been quite a long time since I have been on a roller coaster.

But there are more things to do in Brighton than just the pier. Shopping in and around Churchill Square. Wander around the Lanes. Have Fish and Chips (there's a chippie around almost every corner). Enjoying the scenery (which we did on Sunday by driving around the Downs).

On top, all the people there are very nice. It's definitely a must when you're in England.

Oh, and while we were in Brighton, we had drinks and were sitting on the same couch as Kelly Jones (he from Stereophonics). Shamefully, the only interaction we had with him was "can we sit on this free bit here?".

Fine

2008-04-16T14:58:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I received a fine from the police in the post. I had been stopped by the police about 2 months ago and was wondering when the fine will come. The fine was for CHF 130 and the cause of the fine was this: "Excessive noise due to squealing/screeching of tyres" (ok, it was in French, but the translation is that). Bet you have never been fined for that, have you??

Simpsons not suitable for children?

2008-04-09T15:38:00.002+02:00

I laughed out loud when I read this article on bbc.

The Simpsons is not suitable for children but Baywatch is???

Liverpool vs Arsenal

2008-04-09T14:21:00.002+02:00

On Sunday I caught a bug (even though I had a flu jab earlier this year) and was rendered useless pretty much until now. So last night was a good opportunity for me to just sit back, relax and watch some football on telly.

The game was Liverpool vs Arsenal, the competition was the second leg quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League. They had played each other 3 times before and the score was always 1-1. If it was to be 1-1 again it would have gone to penalties and nobody was ruling out that possibility.

But when the game started it was clear that Arsenal was looking for goals. They attacked in waves and with so much speed and precision it was amazing to watch. I wasn't surprised when they got their first goal, by Abou Diaby, after some collective passing around.

Then slowly Liverpool started to come back, and from a corner, Samy Hyypia got away from Philippe Senderos and headed the ball in the goal, with Lucky Luke-esque precision. 1-1. Was it going to end like this?

After half-time Arsenal was clearly a bit more tired than Liverpool and Liverpool kept going at it, until Fernando Torres did what he does best. Receiving the ball with the back to the goal, he took a step forward, turned around and lashed a beautiful shot in the corner. Amazing goal.

Arsenal had no choice but to attack. Walcott and van Persie went on, and Walcott then did an amazing run from deep in his on half, passed 4 guys and passed the ball to Adebayor who just slipped it under Reina. 2-2 and Arsenal were going through. But as they were celebrating, Babel then ran into the penalty box and Kolo Toure got on the wrong side of him. Babel fell down and the ref pointed to the spot.

Gerrard taking the penalty on the Kop side of Anfield. No guesses how that ended.

And then Babel added a fourth goal when all Arsenal players were desperately looking for a goal.

It was one of those really good games, one of those games that will be talked about for the next couple of years. Lucky I could watch it on telly.

Easter Weekend

2008-03-26T14:59:00.002+01:00

For about two months, me and my girlfriend, er, fiancee, were contemplating on going away for a week around easter. With a long weekend, we could easily go away for 7-9 days with only taking 4 days off work. As usual, we both were busy with work and what not, so in the end left it very very late to look for holidays.

At Wednesday before Easter we went into some travel agents trying to look for last minute offers, but since this is Switzerland, they don't do last minute offers very well. Swiss people tend to plan their holidays months and months in advance, nobody is crazy enough to do it last minute and no travel agent is crazy enough to offer special last minute rates. We looked for Sharm-el-Sheik, Las Palmas, Canary Island, everything with sun and beach and where we could scuba dive, but nothing came up.

So on Wednesday night we just sat at home, browsing the web and we found another destination: Stuttgart. You might wonder, why Stuttgart? Well, it's only 5 hours driving, it has an outley center close by and well that's it really.

We booked a hotel and decided to drive 5 hours. I charged my GPS on Thursday night but Friday morning when we woke up it was all white around us. Yes, for the first time this winter, it snowed properly. This then made the driving a bit of a challenge, as it probably be more than 5 hours in treacherous conditions. I still wanted to drive but my fiancee looked up some flights and found a cheap flight to Stuttgart via Zurich. So in the end we flew to very short journeys (30 minutes to Zurich, then 25 minutes to Stuttgart).

The outlet city is called Metzingen and it's amazing what they all have. Hugo Boss is the biggest store there by far, but any other brand - you name it and they probably have an outlet store there. We also found some nice restaurants to eat, a city center and on Sunday morning we went to the museum to see Pop Art Portraits.

All in all, it was a nice getaway. If ever you want to do some serious shopping, then Metzingen is recommended.

Spectacles

2008-03-13T17:03:00.002+01:00

About a month ago I was sitting in a meeting room trying to read the powerpoint presentation that was given. Normally I don't have problems with my eyesight, but this time I just couldn't read what was on the screen in front of me. Granted, I was sitting in the back, but still I used to have 20-20 vision.

A week after that there was another meeting where someone put up a powerpoint presentation on a screen. This time I wasn't sitting in the back but everything was still out of focus and I couldn't read what was on the screen.

So a week ago I went to the opthamologist to get my eyes checked. After 5 minutes of trying to read letters from a wall, the verdict came out. My right eye was out by -1.00 and my left by -1.25. It's not a lot, but still it's bothering me when I have to read presentations from a wall at a distance.

I went to an optician afterwards and chose some fcuk vision spectacles. After 30 years without glasses, my eyes finally couldn't tolerate all the bad things I do to it (reading in dim light, having two computer screens with different resolutions next to each other, not eating enough carrots, etc). Now like the rest of my family, I wear glasses.

I'm also going to try contact lenses, maybe they suit me better...

78th Geneva Motor Show

2008-03-05T16:47:00.003+01:00

It's that time of year again, where all car manufacturers all over the world flock to Geneva, Switzerland for the annual motorshow. A show where I have had the opportunity to come as a member of press for the past 8 years. A show where the manufacturers showcase their latest technology. No surprise that this year, all manufacturers were big on eco stuff. Even Cadillac had a hybrid Escalade!

Anyway, yesterday was press day and like usual my cousin flew in to enjoy the press day with me. We started out at Kia as they were the first one who had visible breakfast. It was just bog standard croissants and orange juice so we moved on to Citroen. Over there the breakfast was quite good, very nicely presented as if it was a Michelin starred restaurant. A couple of sandwiches, some cakes, scrambled egg, and shot glasses of orange, coffee and yoghurt. A good start for the day. Same their cars suck.

A mid-morning snack was more than welcome at Ferrari. Even though they make fast cars, the coffee machine was very slow. I wonder why? For lunch it was business as usual at Toyota. Good stuff, dependable stuff. Then to Mercedes for a second lunch - a German speciality of sausages and potatoes. To be a bit picky, the food was actually from Bayern, whereas Mercedes hails from Stuttgart. Their biggest competitor - BMW - hails from Bayern. I wonder if the chef realised this?

Dessert at Nissan, drinks at Volvo and Saab. More drinks at Volkswagen, snacks at Ford.

And as of 5pm there was the Mini after work party. And this year it was actually full - even though Mercedes and Th!nk had similar parties. Good cocktails and good nibbles, mixed with cool music is worth closing the day for.

I really enjoy the car show, I do.

Kill Your Friends and Killing Yourself To Live

2008-02-29T15:12:00.002+01:00

You might just have read the title of this post and think: what's wrong with him? I don't have any morbid obsessions, these are titles of books I bought last Friday while I was in London.

Kill Your Friends, by John Niven, is a great book. It tells the story of a year in the life of an A&R guy. The time is 1997, Britpop's height, and Steven Stelfox is an A&R guy at London Records. Half of this book is based on reality as John Niven was an A&R guy, and the other half is fiction - although there is probably less fiction and more truth in the book than Niven would admit. He mentions some acts that did exists at the time but seems to have been forgotten by now, he mentions the great Radiohead concert at Glastonbury 1997, and all the sex, drugs and rock & roll you can think of.

I started reading this book in TopShop while waiting for my girlfriend to shop and two days later I finished it. After reading it, I wished I spent my twenties as an A&R guy...

Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a True Story, by Chuck Klosterman, is a funny story of Chuck crossing the USA from NY to Seattle to look for places where artists have died. It is a bid morbid, but his fascination comes from the fact that some of the dead artists still live on after they died (Elvis, 2Pac, Cobain, Morisson, Lennon, Hendrix, Joplin, Duane Allman, Buddy Holly, the list goes on). Intertwined with his dope-high ramblings, it makes for a funny reading.

Just the fact that he can relate all his relationships to a KISS member is pretty absurd but worth reading for. Again I finished this book in two days as well.

Now I need to get more books.

Poker

2008-02-26T17:32:00.002+01:00

Last night I played poker at a friends' place with friends. It is actually the first time I played proper poker. I did play once, with money - but it was more fooling around (even though I won). This time it was a proper poker night.

Entry was CHF 20 and I got 1,000 chips. I managed to lose it all twice and had to re-buy myself in twice. In the end I came second and therefore broke even as I got my money back.

It's quite fun playing poker with friends. Definitely better than playing poker on an iPod. Although the amount of beers I drank must have clouded my judgement once in a while (hence why I bluffed a couple of times).

Next time I'm going for the big pot!

Burger King

2008-02-18T17:04:00.002+01:00

Today at lunch time I though of going to Burger King. I'm more of a McDonald's person but once in a while I like to indulge in a Whopper with Onion Rings on the side. The burger actually tastes better than McDonald's but the fries sucks.

Anyway, it came as a suprise to me to see that the only Burger King in town has shut down and in its place is a new fast food restaurant selling burgers called Swissmeal. So Burger King has left the city. What a shame. I heard something about Burger King before but didn't realise it was shutting down.

I didn't go into Swissmeal, although I suspect they do sell burgers that are similar to the Whopper (based on some blogs it's actually true). Same thing happened with Wendy's ages ago. They shut down and in its place came a new restaurant with a different name but a similar logo selling similar stuff. And where Kentucky Fried Chicken used to be, now there is a fast food joint selling - guess what? - chicken.

I guess I have to try Swissmeal one of these days.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T14:47:00.001+01:00

Amy Winehouse

2008-02-11T15:41:00.000+01:00

So Amy Winehouse bagged 5 Grammies last night. Not surprising, giving how good her album Back to Black is.

I've heard almost all of its songs on the radio, but I decided to buy the album anyway and I have got to say that the album is amazing. First of all, Amy wrote almost all tracks on it. And Mark Ronson - the shit-hot producer du jour - made it into a funky album with lots of horns and all. Amy's voice is just amazing.

Then you see her pictures in the papers. In the tabloids. About how fucked up she is. About how fucked up her husband is. About her drug problems, her tattoos, her partying, her marriage, etc etc etc. And not to mention her hair.

Is she fucked up because her music is putting her to fame? Or is her music so good because she is fucked up?

Time will tell. In the meantime, keep enjoying Back to Black. Yes, you can listen to AC/DCs as well.

Ronaldo's free kick

2008-02-05T22:08:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday I was in Luxembourg, working on the year-end numbers and being harrased by auditors. In the evening I went for a quick dinner by myself and decided to walk past by the Tube - a sort of English speaking bar/pub. It's a small one and they have one screen to show any matches.

Fortunately for me, the minute I walked in Man Utd vs Portsmouth was just kicking off. I got my pint and took a seat by the bar and watched the game. The good thing about watching a football game is that you don't really need anyone to talk to.

However, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the free-kick I really needed to talk about it and couldn't. What an amazing free kick.

Now, personally I don't like Cristiano Ronaldo and I have seen lots of free kicks but I do have to say that this one was very special indeed. The way he kicked it, the way the ball flew in, the whole sequence.

Normally, footballers take free kicks by spinning the ball (a la Beckham) or kicking it as hard as possible (a la Roberto Carlos) but Ronaldo kicked it differently. He sort of toe-poked the ball and gave it and outside curve effect and the way the ball dipped was just amazing.

I'm just glad I got to see it live.

Snowboard vs skiing

2008-01-21T14:15:00.000+01:00

Ever since I've took on wintersports, I've only done snowboarding. At the time the decision was quite easy, in all honesty it was cooler to snowboard than to ski. And probably easier as I know how to skateboard a bit. It took me a while learning by myself but I can now say that I'm a good snowboarder (not excellent or magnificent but just good).

Last year I found some ski boots in my girlfriend's parents cellar and they fitted me perfectly. It belonged to someone who is unlikely to ask them back so I took them and made the decision to try skiing once. I almost went last year but grey weather kept me from doing it.

So on Sunday I said to myself - I am going to ski. I brought my snowboard as well, just in case. I rented a pair of skis (for €9) and set off with my girlfriend. We just went on a green piste (the easiest one). At some points I picked up speed and everything but the biggest problem was that I couldn't shrug of speed. So there I went, going faster and faster until I braked. Also having the poles was actually a hindrance for me as I tried turning using the poles (you should turn using your body weight). I managed to go down the piste with only a couple light falls. Then I went to my car and switched to my snowboard.

At least I've done it and I didn't do bad for a first timer (I actually think I did pretty alright). I just need to learn to shrug of speed but if I can do that I can then do both skiing and snowboarding. I'll try again next time.

Best albums of 2007

2008-01-14T14:49:00.000+01:00

It's 2008 already, so it's time to list the best albums of 2007. However, I don't seem to have a list of albums I bought that are produced in 2007 so I'm just going by memory.

Here are the albums that were produced in 2007 that have made an impact on my music library/knowledge/tastes/list/etc/etc. In no particular order:

Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion. It's pure pop, it sticks in your head, it's fresh, and it gives us a little Freddie. Highlight: Relax.
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible. Probably the best album of 2007, it's that good. They might have seven members, but it sounds like 700 musicians at the same time playing music as if it was the end of the world. Highlight: Keep The Car Running.
Hard-Fi - Once Upon A Time In The West. They are from Staines, they sound from Staines, and this album makes you think of Staines even more than their first one. Highlight: Suburban Knights.
Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High. Emo kids turn pure pop, making way for Pete Wentz to become tabloid fodder. Highlight: Thks Fr Th Mmrs
Mark Ronson - Version. Mark Ronson doing cover versions of great songs, with the help of Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. Highlight: Just
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare. Alex Turner is definitely one of the best current songwriters. Highlight: Flourescent Adolescent
Cherry Ghost - Thirst For Romance. Alt-country pop from Bolton. Highlight: People Help The People
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds. He brought Sexy back, case closed. Highlight: Sexy Back
Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers. They finally found that little thing that makes them pop. Highlight: You're Love Alone Is Not Enough.
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards. The best new band I've heard in 2007 (they're probably aren't that new though). Highlight: We Used To Vacation

That's it - the 10 best albums of 2007 for me.

Snowboarding

2008-01-07T16:15:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday I went up to Contamines with a couple of friends. On Saturday we all bought helmets, so we thought it'll be a good time to test the helmets. We weren't sure about the weather, but I was sure that it snowed a bit on Saturday night, so there must be some powder. As I woke up, I looked outside and it was raining.

We got there at 10.30 and after kitting up and putting on the helmets, we went up. Suprisingly there wasn't a queue at the ticket booth. We saw a bit of snow, but still wasn't sure how the day was going to be. Got out of the ski lift and realised that there is a bit of powder. Then we went a bit higher and it was powder everywhere. It was cloudy and sometimes we were in the clouds where we couldn't see anything at all, but the powder was absolutely magnificent.

And then we realised that there was almost nobody else on the piste. Great powder, not a lot of people, all we were missing was some sun, but that wasn't important. In the afternoon it cleared up a bit and we even saw the sun for a bit.

It was great boarding in powder, boarding without a lot of people around you, no queues at ski lifts, and falling down with a helmet on the head. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun snowboarding. Hopefully the season will stay like this.

Happy 2008

2008-01-03T11:51:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year everyone, hope 2008 will be fab!

During Christmas - New Year period I didn't do much. Played Guitar Hero III, watched the whole season 1 of Heroes, snowboarded a bit, Christmas lunch, New Year's party, and some sleep. Isn't that what we all need?

The best concert of 2007

2007-12-19T16:25:00.000+01:00

I've been lucky with the concerts I've seen in 2007. I've got to see some big names this year and enjoyed almost all of them. The Rolling Stones, The Police, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Muse, Bjork, Macy Gray, Beastie Boys. It's very hard to chose the best concert as they all have good bits and memories.

Seeing Keith Richards alive playing the blues while Mick Jagger bosses the band he's been with for 40 years is absolutely priceless.
Watching the dynamic trio called The Police ripping the Stade de Geneve up with their amazing skills, as if they never fought and separated.
Bjork's ethereal performance at Paleo which left me speechless most of the time and breathless some other times.
Listening to Muse doing prog rock while big white balloons are flying over the crowd.
Jumping and screaming to Sabotage as Beastie Boys took me back to the days.
Alex Turner singing to his peers about current sub-culture.

But best of all must be Arcade Fire. There are not a lot of times in my life where I am in a concert where I felt that the performer was not just playing music but actually giving out their souls to the crowd and it all blends into one with music as the medium. That's how I felt watching Arcade Fire. I even got goosebumps. Not by how good their music is or how good they entertain me, but by how amazing their performance is as a whole package. I've seen a lot of concerts in my lifetime but Arcade Fire has shown me how to perform live. All of them switching instruments, running around like being high on E, but still combining together to create an amazing vibe so that the audience can feel their experience.

And for that, Arcade Fire's concert at Paleo 2007 is the best concert in 2007.

Christmas markets, christmas parties, etc

2007-12-17T10:28:00.000+01:00

On the weekend of Dec 7th - 9th I went to Vienna to walk around the various Christmas markets with my girlfriend. It's quite amazing how many Christmas markets they have and also how many stand there are in each market selling punch. The turbo-punch really kicks ass and really makes you warm (it also makes you drunk). The Austrians seem to like hanging out in a Christmas market and drinking lots and lots of punches. I quite like it too.

We got back Sunday evening and I had Monday to rest a bit. Then Tuesday morning I hopped on my scooter to the airport where I had to ran to catch my flight to Heathrow. My name was already being called out while I was going through airport security. I got to Heathrow, took a cab to the office, then a coach to a restaurant, had a nice office Christmas lunch, drank lots, took a cab back to the airport and flew back home. All in a day's job.

Wednesday I was home and Thursday morning I flew out again, this time to Luxembourg. There I joined the office Christmas party held in a nice hotel in the middle of nowhere in Germany. I partied till I couldn't keep awake anymore and on Friday I was hungover. I had to wait a couple of hours at the airport as the flight was delayed. I got to Geneva and went straight to my girlfriend's office Christmas party. Again a couple of drinks followed.

Saturday had to rush around to do some errands and had a nice dinner and drinks with friends. Sunday woke up early to prepare a fry-up for some friends. Then went to the local Christmas market - although in this one they don't have turbo punch.

Now I need some sleep.

Escalade

2007-12-06T14:56:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was the time of the year again where I challenge my endurance in the annuals "escalade" race. It's not a long race, just 7,25 km but it's still a long way for someone who has pretty much no endurance like me. It was also a bit cold and wet but that doesn't stop someone like me from running (hehehehehe).

The first time I did it in 2005, I ran it in 40.05 minutes and came 1591st. To put that in perspective, my mates all did it around 30 minutes. Last year I ran it in 39.07 and came 1573rd. One minute improvement but only 18 places better. This year I ran it in 37.52 and came in 835th.

If I keep this up in ten years time I will be able to compete with my mates.

btw, they have clips of everyone crossing over the finish line. You can download it here.

No England in Euro2008

2007-11-22T16:12:00.000+01:00

Last night I came home a bit early after having some drinks with my mates to watch England play Croatia. England needed a point to qualify, while Croatia is already qualified. England is playing at home, in front of 80,000 people in Wembley. It's basically a sudden death match, the biggest game there is before Euro2008.

Before the game I already said that England shouldn't qualify. They always boast that they have the best team in the world, that with the players they have they can win anything but the fact is that they have only won 1 cup and that was 40 years ago. Their so-called "golden generation" have achieved fuck all, and still they think they have a divine right to be in every championship just because they are England.

When I switched my telly on I couldn't believe it when I saw the scoreline: 0-2 for Croatia. Then I saw the replay of the goals. First goal was the goalie's fault. Steve McClaren chose inexperienced Scott Carson over Paul Robinson and that goal was the price he had to pay. The second goal was just a defensive blunder. Two Croatian, 6 English players and still noboy picked up Olic's run. Micah Richards just put his hand up instead of chasing Olic and Carson couldn't do anything anymore.

England managed to get level (nice goal from Crouch) but then again they sat back. Rule #1 in football: if you have the ball you're opponents cannot score a goal. Those overpaid primadonnas obviously forgot rule #1 and chose to give the ball to the Croatians instead. No wonder Croatia scored another goal.

So England is not coming to Switzerland and Austria and Steve McClaren has been fired. Hopefully the English FA looks into the root of the matter and England can have a great team again. Otherwise it will be a waste of the talents like Rooney and Hargreaves.

As for me, I'm happy to know that next summer there won't be loud and noisy Englishmen all over the place...

Duran Duran - Red Carpet Massacre

2007-11-20T16:06:00.001+01:00

I just got Duran Duran's Red Carpet Massacre. Before I say anything else, here's a disclaimer: I'm a big Duran Duran fan.

Anyway, on the cover there is a sticker saying "Featuring Falling Down, produced by Justin Timberlake, co-written by Duran Duran & Justin Timberlake". This is the Justin Timberlake who was born when Duran Duran was on top of the world. Funny old world eh?

I'm listening to it right now and it sounds very Timbaland-ish. No surprise as Timbaland produced a couple of songs. And Duran Duran are always best when working with the current hottest producers as they did with Nile Rodgers back in the 80s. I just feel that the actual music is diminishing a bit and it's all synthesizers and programming. Sure, back in the 80s they were heavy on synths as well but I can still remember some great John Taylor basslines and some Andy Taylor guitar riffs.

At least it's not as bad as their previous albums (Astronaut, Pop Trash, Medazzaland), although it's nowhere near their top work. But hey, once a Duran Duran fan always a Duran Duran fan.

Holidays

2007-11-14T15:54:00.000+01:00

I got back last Sunday from my holidays with my girlfriend on (what was supposed to be) a sunny island.

A quick recap. Flew 12 hours to get there. Had a nice meal by the river. Looked at the King's Palace and the other temple with Buddha on the beach. Did some shopping. Then flew 1 hour south to a nice island. Again, had a nice meal. Walked by the beach at night. Popped the question. Got engaged. Did some diving. Drank some beer. Played my PSP. Did more shopping. Found Chuck Klosterman. More nice meals. Drove around in a battered Suzuki Jeep. Spend 6 hours at the airport. Then flew back home.

A very memorable holiday. For all the right reasons.

Holidays

2007-10-26T16:10:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow me and my girlfriend are leaving for two weeks of holidays. We're going to where it is nice and sunny, we're going away from the horrible cold weather we are having here right now.

We're going here:

and here:

See you in two weeks!

Cold and other random rants

2007-10-19T16:17:00.000+02:00

When there is nothing to blog about, there's always the weather to blog about...

Wednesday was still nice, I was playing football outside and enjoying a Indian summer day. Today the sun it still out but it's about 10 degrees colder. And the friggin air con in the office isn't helping either as I'm so cold even a whole bottle of single malt scotch won't warm me up (yes, I have though about it at work).

Anyway, one more week of work and then I'm off for a well deserved two weeks break.

Tomorrow: England vs Springboks. I think the Boks will win it.

I just found out Google does Sketch-Up. Very useful for me at this point in time.

Radiohead - In Rainbows

2007-10-11T13:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Radiohead came out with a new album called In Rainbows. You might not have seen it in record stores yet. That's because it's not in the usual record stores.

As Radiohead's contract with Parlophone expired after Hail To The Thief, they decided not to sign to a record label and instead distribute their music themselves via the internet. Nothing unusual here so far. The unusual thing is that Radiohead did not price their new album, but they left the price up to the buyers. It says "It's up to you" when you want to pay. It is really up to you.

I paid GBP 5. The rationale being that there are 10 songs on it and on iTunes I normally pay $0.99 per song. So for 10 songs $10 sounds about right. Of course when I pay on iTunes the artist will only get about 20% of the $0.99 whereas Radiohead gets the full $1.00 I'm paying per song but I couldn't be bothered with the whole calculation etc. I'm a big fan of Radiohead and I'm willing to spend that much money on their new album.

Yesterday morning I received an email with the download link. I downloaded it and put it straight on my iTunes and listened to it. Fans of Pablo Honey and The Bends should not be bothered, but I do sense a shift from the electronic stuff they did in Kid A and Amnesiac back towards more instruments.

I won't give the album 5 stars yet, but the way they put the album out is definitely worth 5 stars. It can either be a one-off experiment or it can be the start of a revolution. Hopefully it falls in the latter.

Go ahead, purchase In Rainbows now.

Ajax out of Europe

2007-10-05T15:11:00.000+02:00

And last night Ajax was kicked out of Europe for this season by losing to Dinamo Zagreb 2-3 at home. First they lost against Slavia Prague for the Champions League, and now they have lost to Dinamo Zagreb for the UEFA Cup. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Had Edgar Davids not forgotten his shinpads and not broken his leg, this would not have happened. And had Real Madrid not come with €27m for Wesley Sneijder, this would definitely not have happened.

Oh well, hopefully Ajax will get the double.

LDN

2007-10-01T10:01:00.000+02:00

I spent the last week in London, from Monday til Sunday, mainly for a work-related training and a nice weekend with my girlfriend. And when you are in London there is always a lot to blog about.

First thing was my hotel. As it was a work-related training, I booked the hotel via work. I didn't want to be too close to the training site as it was very close to Heathrow and if I stayed there I would not be able to do anything at all during evenings. So I booked a hotel in South Kensington. It says that it's a four-star hotel. When I walked into the lobby, it all looked very nice and swanky. They gave me a key to a single room and when I entered the room it was as small as Harry Potter's room under the stairs. I booked two months in advance for 6 nights and they gave me the smallest room in their hotel! So I complained but they didn't have any other rooms for the night. The next night they moved me to another room with a double bed but again the room was small. And not just small but it was definitely not 4 star standard. Cracks in the wall and ceiling, carpeting from 1973, no mini bar, very small, etc. On Thursday my girlfriend came and we wanted to stay there until Sunday. I managed to ask for another room (3 rooms in 4 nights) but this one was shit as well. Finally we gave up and moved out of that hotel to a real 5 star close to Piccadilly Circus. And when I checked out from that hotel in South Ken, they didn't even ask why I checked out earlier, or how my stay was, or the usual standard questions. Can't believe that they have four stars.

Second is the transport. To go back and forth to the training site I had to take the Piccadilly line. Which is quite nice, I just sit there and play my PSP and I'm at Hatton Cross in 35 minutes. On Tuesday afternoon though there were delays in the Piccadilly line, so it took me an hour to get back to the hotel (I had to switch to the District line). On Wednesday I was meeting up with an old colleague. The plan was to meet in Parsons Green. Me and another colleague took the train in to Ealing Broadway. But there it was announced that there are several delays on the District line. We then jumped on the Central line to Notting Hill thinking that we can get a District line down to Parsons Green. When we got to Notting Hill Gate, the platform for the District line was overflowing with people. Turns out that on that the District line wasn't working in between two stations and Notting Hill Gate was bang in the middle of those two stations. So we went out trying to find a cab, but of course we weren't the only one to look for a cab when there is no tube. We then found a bus that could take us to Fulham Broadway. It should have taken us 20 minutes on the bus but after 50 minutes we started to give up hope. Traffic jams everywhere. Somehow we got to Fulham Broadway, but what could have been a 5/6 pints night ended up being a 3 pint night.

And lastly Oxford Street. I should remind myself over and over again not to go to Oxford Street on the weekends. It's just too crowded!

Also went to see Wicked. A great musical, very entertaining and a very interesting take on the wicked witch of Oz.

It's nice being in London...

The Police - Stade de Geneve, September 16th 2007

2007-09-18T17:14:00.000+02:00

The latest trend in music is reunion tours. Bands that broke up ages ago suddenly were touring together again, some for the love of it, others just purely for the money. One of these bands is The Police.

The trio was big in the 80s but fighting between the three band members led it to break up sometime in the 80s. They did play again together once in the 90s during Andy Summers' wedding (or was it Stewart's?), but they all shrugged it off as a drunken one-off. After that they all denied reunion speculation.

However, after they were inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame they met up and discussed the idea of touring together. I'm glad they did, because it's going to be a good tour.

I've seen Sting a couple of times and during his shows he always plays a couple of The Police songs, but the energy is just different. So having scored tickets the minute it came out I was looking forward to seeing Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland back on stage again together playing all their best hits.

The venue was Stade de Geneve, a new football stadium in Geneva. The first concert there was Johnny Hallyday and apparently the acoustics were awful. I don't think there has been another concert there ever since, but I did saw a couple of football games there. Fortunately, this time around they have fixed the acoustics problem and the sound was way better than I have imagined it to be.

Opening the show was Fiction Plane, a three-piece band fronted by a singing bassist by the name of Joe Sumner. In case you didn't know, Joe is Gordon Sumner's - aka Sting - son. They played a bit of rock music but you can't help notice the similarities between them and The Police. Not just Joe's vocals that resembles his old man, but the whole thing just sounds like The Police junior. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Andy's son on guitars and Stewart's son on drums. "We are not The Police, they will come on after us" was the comment the guitarist made and I'm sure a couple of people in the audience were indeed fooled.

Then it was turn for The Police. Sting being Sting, holding his battered Fender '58 Jazz Bass and fronting the mike as usual. Stewart Copeland all dressed up as if he was going to the gym - complete with headband and gloves. And Andy Summers looking as if he just dropped his kid for football practice and passed by before going to Starbucks to pick up some coffee. But when they played Message In A Bottle all those differences just disappeared and I saw one entity, The Police.

The chemistry between them is amazing and the energy they give out is just out there. You can feel the bond between the three and I did wonder how the hell they could fight each other (literally - at one gig Sting played with a broken rib after a fight with Stewart back stage). But it seems that they've buried the hatches and were up for it.

I guess the fighting came on because Stewart started the band but Sting soon took over. Sting then acknowledges this subtly when he sang So Lonely and change the line "Welcome to this one-man show" to "Welcome to the Stewart Copeland show". And Stewart does make a show with his unbelievable drumming.

They played all their hit songs and I was jumping up and down, screaming all the songs with the 40,000 people in the stadium. The beer helped as well. And to my amazement, I saw teenagers and kids in the show as well, people who normally aren't old enough to remember who The Police was. They probably know The Police after listening to that Puff Daddy song about B.I.G.

After the concert I was in such a high and the songs are still playing in my head. They should do this more often.

ps. I don't have pictures or videoclips. If you want to see some pictures and clips (and a setlist) click here for a review of their concert in the UK by my mate.

Home owner

2007-09-11T10:52:00.000+02:00

As of yesterday evening, me and my girlfriend are officially home-owners. Well, the appartment still needs to be built but we are in debt already and we have signed the deed to our future appartment already.

I felt as if I've signed my life away. It's a great feeling!

So around Christmas 2008 we'll be moving in to our newly built appartment, in a small village that has a population of 1,600. Yes, a thousand-and-six-hundred people.

I was born in a city of 800,000 then moved and grew up in a metropolis of 15 million people (which inflates to 20 million during daytime), then went over to a "city" of 300,000. Next stop, a village of 1,600.

Guns 'N Roses

2007-09-07T13:47:00.000+02:00

After reading Mick Wall's W. Axl Rose I have to admit that I found out some facts about Guns N Roses that I didn't know before - even though at one point in my life I considered myself a GNR fan. I still listen to Appetite for Destruction regularly and Rocket Queen is among the songs with the highest play count on my iPod.

Well here are some facts about GNR that I didn't know until I've read the book:

Axl is a big fan of ELO and Queen, studied music and played the piano in high school
Duff, the punk from Seattle, is a Prince fanatic
Duff is a multi-instrumentalist who before joining GNR was a drummer in a band in Seattle with Andrew Wood (if you know your Seattle grunge history you will know Andrew Wood)
In November Rain, the "string" sounds weren't actually played by an orchestra but comes from Dizzy's keyboard. In the videoclip however, there was an orchestra, hence the mistake
None of them are from Hollywood (I always thought Steven was)

And here are some facts about me concerning GNR that you might not know before:

I used to have a GNR poster on my wall (but then again, who didn't back in 1990?)
I must have had several copies (at least 6) of the Appetite for Destruction album in various formats, but never owned two at the same time.
Sweet Child O'Mine was the first song I ever performed with a band on stage. I was 14 at the time. Several years later while in university we played this song again and only then did I realise how wrong I was playing this song the first time.
Rocket Queen is my favorite GNR song
I will buy Chinese Democracy when it comes out - even if it's in 2019.

Funny how you find about these things, innit?

Polo

2007-09-03T15:13:00.000+02:00

On Sunday I went to see a Polo match with my friends. The day was beautiful (the last "last day of summer?") and the setting couldn't be more Polo-like.

As you expect from this sport, the setting was very posh. People wearing jackets and all other snobbish clothes, people drinking champagne, people arriving in their Aston Martins, people eating caviar in the VIP section, posh sponsors, etc.

I've never seen a polo match before so it was quite interesting to watch. The ball is very small and the horses go very fast so it's a bit difficult to watch. And when you watch the ball you tend to forget about the rider until you suddenly see him on the ground waving his stick at another rider. It's quite enjoyable actually and it's a good outing on a nice sunny Sunday.

Of course after the game me and my mate were dying to throw a frisbee around the polo field but the car was parked too far away.

Switzerland vs Holland

2007-08-23T14:18:00.000+02:00

There are not many opportunities to watch a decent football game around here, so when Switzerland announced that they would be playing Holland for a friendly match, I just had to be there. Nothing to do with me being a big Holland supporter.

Anyway, since alcohol is forbidden within the stadium, me and my mates met up at the pub for some food and quick beer drinking session. I managed to drink a pitcher of beer in an hour but I don't think that's enough for a football match.

Around 19.45 I hopped on my scooter and made my way through traffic and pedestrians, all the way to the entrance of the staidum where I parked my scooter. From there it was literally 5 minutes to our seats. Except that we stopped by a beer stand and bought some beer - which turned out to be non-alcoholic. What a waste!

Holland was there with almost all their best players. Arjen Robben was the only one missing as he was injured and too busy dealing with Real Madrid. Edwin van der Sar was there but got injured during training so Maarten Stekelenburg stepped up in goal. Mario Melchiot injured himself as well, so Kew Jaliens played right back. Otherwise it was Heitinga and Bouma in defense, Urby Emanuelson left back, Gio van Bronckhorst the defensive midfield, Wesley Sneijder and Demy de Zeeuw in midfield and Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raffie van der Vaart up front.

After about 10 minutes, the ref awarded a penalty to Switzerland for a foul I didn't understand (there are no replays in the stadium). Tranquillo (yes, his name is Tranquillo) Barnetta converted the penalty. Holland played as if it was a friendly, whereas Switzerland was out there with guns blazing. So 1-0 at half-time. Marco van Basten then made the following subs: Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuijt, Khalid Boulahrouz and Clarence Seedorf in for van der Vaart, van Nistelrooy, Jaliens and Sneijder. With Babel and Kuijt in attack, the Dutch became more dangerous although Tranquillo managed to score another goal. But within seconds (the Swiss supporters were still celebrating his goal) Kuijt pulled one back.

There were more chances for Holland but unfortunately this friendly will go into history as Switzerland 2 - Holland 1.

After that, a 5 minute walk back to my scooter and then dashing back home.

If only I managed to get Euro2008 tickets...

The Rolling Stones

2007-08-13T11:06:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday I got a chance to see the dinosaurs of Rock & Roll. Yep, none other than The Rolling Stones. They were in the country and somehow I managed to get myself some (free) tickets.

After 40 years in the business, you're never quite sure what they are like live. I was just worried that Keith might drop dead before he gets on stage but he was quite alive actually.

The stage was in an Olympic stadium and they built a huge stage for them, although the drumset was a bit hidden amidst all the amps. The weather was great and it could not have been a better day to see the Stones.

At 21.00 they came out and started playing - what else - Start Me Up. And it's true, once you start Mick Jagger up he'll never stop. Even though he is close to 60, he moves more than Alex Turner on stage. He swaggers about, sways his (tiny) hips about, basically showing what an entertainer he is. He is truly a showman.

Next to him was Keith Richards. He just shuffles around on stage playing cool licks on his guitar. He looks like Capt Jack Sparrow's dad (wait, he is Jack Sparrow's dad, hmmmm) and he sang one song. He has a good voice suprisingly, especially for someone who always seem to have a fag in his mouth (and a drink in his hand if he's not holding a guitar).

Then there is Charlie Watts on the drums. The one that looks the most sensible. His drumming is the glue that keeps it all together. While Mick is off singing high notes and Keith is just ambling along with his licks, it's Charlie's drumming (and the bass) that keeps the rhythm going. He must be one of the most underrated drummers ever.

And on the left is the other guitarist Ronnie Wood. He joined the Stones as a replacement for Brian Jones and he doesn't look out of place at all. Just the wrinkles on his face fits well with Mick and Keith and he does his guitar duties very well. He tries to be as cool as Keith although just missing it by a fine line, but he is a very integral part of the Stones.

There were a bunch of back-up musicians as well. A bassplayer, two keyboardists, a horn section and some backing vocals to fill in any gap in the music.

They went through all their greatest hits (Jumpin Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Woman, I Can't Get No Satisfaction, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Sympathy For The Devil, Paint It Black, and some more). Mick is forever changing shirts to put over his black t-shirt. Keith is forever lighting up fags (Ron too actually). Mick interacts very well with the crowd.

For most people in the crowd this will probably the only time they'll ever see the Stones. For me too actually. So when they played a long version of Brown Sugar to end the show I wished it never ended.

I wasn't born when the Beatles stopped touring, but I have watched the Who and now the Stones. I can say that I have now seen the bands that influenced modern pop and rock.

Egypt

2007-08-07T16:22:00.000+02:00

Last week we were on holiday in Egypt. Mainly to go diving in the Red Sea as it's one of the best places to dive in (and alos one of the most accessible ones).

We went to Soma Bay and stayed in one of the three hotels available there. The hotel was billed as one of the Leading Hotels In The World but we beg to differ. Dinner was always buffet and not a la carte and it doesn't cater well for vegetarians. My girlfriend was sick one day with food poisoning - which means one day of our holiday wasted. The front desk people were all clowns. And there were other problems as well.

The diving itself was great although we didn't have much time to do lots of diving because of the food poisoning case. First we wanted to be Rescue Divers but now we're just Emergency First Responders who can dive with Nitrox. Not too bad. We'll become Rescue Divers another time. Saw lots of fish and corals in the Red Sea.

Egypt itself is a weird country. When we flew back home, the plane stopped at Sharm-El-Sheik. There we had to get off during transit. The problem is that it's 02.00am local time. But we stepped off and most shops were still open. I saw a sign for a Burger King upstairs so I thought about getting a midnight snack (a Whopper). Took the escalators up to find a policeman / customs guy waiting. I wasn't going out of the airport so I knew my rights. He asked where I was going. I pointed upwards toward Burger King and said "Burger King" (in fact there was only Burger King upstairs and nothing else. He asked why. I said "to eat". Then he wanted to see my passport. I said "I have my passport" but didn't make any suggestions that I was going to show it to him and started walking off to the next escalator. He approached me, but I knew that I don't have to show him my passport, so I wasn't worried. Then he said "pocket money". I wish I could say "fuck off!" but I said "don't have" instead. I went up and while queueing I heard the boarding call so I decided against waiting for a burger and went down. The same guy was there still and asked me "you have now". I wanted to say "fuck off" again but said "no" instead. What a stupid guy. What annoyed me though is that people behind me were showing him their passports (although not sure whether they gave him any money).

And I lost count how many times I was asked whether I was an Arab by an Egyptian. They seemed to have a game going on called "Guess where the tourist is from" and they lost lots of points with me.

Now back to the fucked up summer here in Europe.

Paleo 2007, Wednesday

2007-07-26T14:28:00.000+02:00

After the concerts and mud of Tuesday, Wednesday is when Arcade Fire and Bjork are lighting up Paleo. The sunny day dried most of the mud, although in some places you could still step in mud. But in general it was much better. Also because the sun was out.

I got there around 19.30 and headed straight to Chapiteau to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I have their first album and they do sound good on CD, the singer sounding a bit like Thom Yorke. But on stage, his voice is really high-pitched whiney and with two Telecasters wrapping up his whiney voice, it just became irritating. I left Chapiteau and headed for a beer and some food instead.

Got a great spot to watch Arcade Fire, about 10 meters dead center in front of stage. The stage looked already full of clutter, there was a pipe organ, couple of keyboards, and some helmets. Arcade Fire came on stage and for an hour and a half I was transfixed. They were amazing, one of the best concerts I've ever been to - if not the best. Arcade Fire on stage is like watching a circus. But not a circus full of clowns and animals, a circus full of magicians and athletes doing the most amazing things. Only 1 member is not a multi-instrumentalist (the other girl), everyone else played at least 3 different instruments during the gig and they all sang as well. Even the drummer played keyboards on one song and guitars on another. Sometimes it feels like it was turning into chaos and just when they were at that tipping point, they brought it back to order without losing that sense of chaos. It was absolutely wonderful, totally mesmerizing. And the music is fucking awesome as well. Bands like Arcade Fire are what good music is about, and they are here to save the world from manufactured over-hyped acts. Honestly, if ever there is an Arcade Fire gig near your place, be sure to go.

Then Bjork ended the night. As always, she is weird and wonderful. This time she wasn't backed by a proper band. Instead she uses a DJ playing a funky thing that looks like a big iPhone, a programmer, a keyboardist, a percussionist (beating the smallest cymbal I've ever seen) and an Icelandic horn sections (The Wonderbrass). As expected, Bjork came in an outfit that doesn't make sense. A red dress/cape thingy, with half her face painted blue and green. She sorts of flapped around the stage while singing. And her songs were either very slow and mellow or hard with big beats. Her voice is amazing and she uses it very well, but maybe after Arcade Fire my standards have gone up a lot.

I just read somewhere that Arcade Fire and Bjork share the same management. Interesting.

Anyway, that was it for me for Paleo this year. No drunken disorderness this year. I will do it next year with a vengeance!

Paleo 2007, Tuesday

2007-07-25T15:04:00.000+02:00

It's that time of the year again, Paleo time where I will enjoy myself in this huge festival of music, alcohol, junk food, more alcohol and more music. It's my 7th year coming to Paleo already and it seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

On Tuesday the three big headliners were !!!, Arctic Monkeys and Muse. Despite all the traffic, rain, and dog that won't eat, I managed to get there as !!! were halfway through their gig. I heard a couple of their songs already and their live show is energetic. They sound a bit like The Rapture - that kind of electro disco - and they were really going at it on stage. The backing vocalist even flashed her boobs. When !!! played it started to rain but with the sun out as well. There were two rainbows in the sky, one being really beautiful. What a coincidence, since the current Paleo poster has a rainbow in it as well. I got totally drenched but I was having fun already.

Then the beer started flowing and the food was being bought as well. All in the mud. An inch-thick mud. Feels like Glastonbury with less wellies.

After that came Arctic Monkeys. They have been a sensation ever since they hit it with I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Alex Turner and his band came out and they just started playing song after song. Great performance music-wise but Alex Turner isn't an entertainer. In fact, some times I got the impression that he was a bit bored singing and playing his guitar. He looks a lot like Harry Potter gone rock & roll without the glasses and scar. Their songs are amazing though and I still can't believe good a songwriter Alex Turner is. He's the motor of the band (with a little help from drummer Matt Helder) and it really shows. I'm sure they will grace Paleo another time.

More beer, more food, more mud.

Then came Muse. I watched them at Paleo 2004 and I watched them last December. I was expecting a gig more or less the same as the one I saw in December. But the last one was an indoor gig and this one is outdoor and the difference is quite obvious. Muse plays much better outdoor. In Decemberthey finished with Knights of Cydonia, this time they opened the concert with it. A mixture of OTT western sci-fi rock, it just set the tone for the whole concert. Matt Bellamy is his usual self, a very shy and quiet magician on the guitar and piano. Chris now sports a moustache reminiscent of Nick Cave, while Dom just pounds away on the drums and keeping the rhythm going. A very good show to close of the first day.

After that more beer, more food and then home.

Up next (today): Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Arcade Fire, and Bjork.