Pelgrimsplekke

Burn productions: Never Extinguish & Human Machines

2011-11-19T09:30:00.000+01:00

As an energy drink these days, it seems you just have to produce video content to keep it up. After years of Red Bull's domination in extreme sports video's, competitor Burn is now catching up with some skateboarding and snowboarding video's as well. Mind you, we're talking about beauties like "Human Machines" and "Never Extinguish", so you don't hear us complaining. Good storytelling, although I'll stick to plain Coke's.

Probably more to come on http://www.youtube.com/burn

(Rune Clifberg pic from the behind the scenes Facebook album )

Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off "I'm with you" tour @ Lanxess arena

2011-10-09T19:19:00.004+02:00

On Friday the Red Hot Chili Peppers kicked off their European tour in Cologne, Germany. The Lanxess arena was sold out for the presentation of the new album 'I'm with You'. A long awaited gig as the peppers haven't been touring in the past 4 years.

With a slightly altered formation, Josh Klinghoffer is since 2010 the official replacement of guitatrist John Frusciante, Red Hot gave away a performance not soon to forget. The concert opened with Monarchy of Roses, one of the singles on the new album. Other new songs included Factory of Faith and of course Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie. But Red hot didn't just play the new album from beginning to end. A lot of the older classics like Otherside, Under the Bridge and Californication were played in between, making the crowd crazier everytime. Finally a drum solo by Chad and "Give it Away" put a crown on the concert.

Backed up by great visuals and an impressive video wall, the Red Hot Chili Peppers sounded fresh and enthusiast, just like their new album I think.

Watch the video and judge yourself.

> find more tour dates here

Graffiti wars

2011-09-16T10:01:00.003+02:00

Channel 4 made this great programme about the graffiti wars going on between graffiti and street art artists.

"In London over the past 18 months the tension between the camps has played out in a battle of spray cans between freehand graffiti writer King Robbo and his nemesis, the stencil-using street artist Banksy.

The graffiti war between the two men began in the early 90s but was re-ignited by what was widely seen as an unforgiveable transgression of strict graffiti rules by Banksy.

It was an act that pulled 80s legend King Robbo out of retirement to retaliate in the place where it all began, the streets.

The film goes behind enemy lines as the war escalates, until tragic and unforeseen circumstances bring about an unexpected ceasefire."

found via @michaelvdm

Kilian Martin, reinterpreting skateboarding

2011-09-02T09:06:00.001+02:00

Kilian Martin, who joined the Powell Peralta team last month, made a(nother) short skate film with director Brett Novak. The well shot slow motion footage and the unique skate style of Kilian make this one really worth watching and hence, sharing.

I've had never heard of this skater before to be honest, but I suppose we can rely on what Mike Vallely said about him:

"Kilian Martin is the skater I’ve been waiting for-for over twenty years. Hailing from Madrid, Spain, Kilian has gathered up his influences and inspirations, and then taking from the best of them, unchained himself from tradition and any social justification, completely reinterpreting skateboarding on his own terms. More so than method, Kilian trusts in himself – His body, his spirit and his skateboard are one."

In 2009 and 2010, Brett Novak already dedicated some of his short skate films to Kilian, illustrating his progress through the years. The style reminds quite a lot of Rodney Mullen, yet looks original and fresh.

You can find more of Brett Novak's work in advertising, music and skate video's on www.brettnovak.com

Tarp Surfing

2011-08-27T10:47:00.001+02:00

Des zomers als de zwakke Californische bries voor onvoldoende curls zorgt, zetten de lokale surfer boys het op een Tarp surfen. Het concept is even simpel als geniaal: golven worden nagebootst met een zeil en de surfplank wordt vervangen door een skateboard of longboard. Of de surfsensatie ook enigszins wordt benaderd, durf ik te betwijfelen, maar het levert ten minste fijne beelden op. En zoals de pioneers het zelf zeggen "if you're not tarp surfing, what ARE you doing?"

Eén adverteerder sprong alvast op de tarp surfing kar en verwerkte het fenomeen, dat overigens niet nieuw is maar recentelijk heropleeft, in een Mountain Dew commercial.

Mocht u zelf een tarp surf sessie voor ogen hebben, eigen u dan ook vooral het juiste vocabularium toe. Op tarpsurfing.com staat de enige echte Tarpology.

BYOT : Bring your own Tarp!
DEWAI- Don’t Even Worry About It: classic response to a heavy or need to know situation
TarpaQ : The gathering of bros 4 a Tarp Surfing session and bbqing !
Tarped Out : This means your Done … Over it.. Long Session im sooo Tarped out.. look at my Tarp Hands !
...

Tarp from Graham Unterberger on Vimeo.

Shadow Art by Newcastle Brown Ale

2011-08-15T11:59:00.001+02:00

Newcastle Brown Ale, or better their agency Vitro, commissioned NY artists Ellis Gallagher and H. Howard to make a shadow art installation for the beer brand in San Diego. At night, a spot lights some 4000 caps and throws a shadow on the billboard, ensuring a lot of attention from the partypeople around in the nightlife district.

Here's the making of:

Rise Up, Reggae Stars

2011-08-10T11:27:00.001+02:00

Rise up is a documentary from Luciano Blotta about 3 artists in Jamaica, trying to make a better living with their musical talent. I remember discovering 'Turbulence' when BBC originally aired it in 2010 but it's only after integrally watching a recent re-run on the dutch TV that I realised it probably deserved a blogpost too.

The documentary was shot over several years and goes deep into the musical soul of the Jamaican people, often underpriviliged and struggling. There are 3 main characters. On one side Turbulence, a self-made ghetto star who eventually scored a hit with his song 'Notorious'. On the hand other 'Ice', a wannabe gangster who's more occupied with his looks than his singing. Finally of course the unpolished diamond 'Kemoy Reid', with her mesmerising voice and shy look probably THE revelation of this film.

Defintely worth your time if you like music.

Da meanest - Co$$

2011-08-05T09:01:00.000+02:00

Hypnotizing beat by Co$$ from his album "Before I awoke"

Lokerse Feesten 2011, dag 1: Primal Scream, Kelis, Goose

2011-07-30T21:53:00.002+02:00

Doorgaans heeft een mens weinig redenen om Lokeren aan te doen, maar de plaatselijke feesten doen het hem wel, de discotheken in de wijde omtrek buiten beschouwing gelaten.

Dag 1 van de Lokerse feesten begon met Das Pop, maar gezien ik Bent naderhand wel genoeg heb gehoord, kreeg een kippensaté van de vietnamees voor de deur voorrang op sman's vrolijke deuntjes.

Dan maar meteen naar Primal Scream, die na 20 jaar hun baanbrekende album Screamadelica nog eens brachten in Lokeren. De fut is er na al die tijd nog niet uit en de heren brachten een fijne videowall mee om enkele nummers op te leuken. Een lange set, met af en toe een psychedelische dip, maar al bij al een goede start van de avond.

Kelis trad aan in strak tijgerpak en als dat niet genoeg was om de Grote Kaai op te warmen, deden recente hits en oudere hits als 'Scream', 'A Capella' of 'Milkshake' het wel. Een goede mix van beats en breaks, luchtig genoeg om het op een vrijdagavond niet te overdoen, straf genoeg om het plein in beweging te zetten.

Een elan waar Goose overigens vlotjes op verder ging, zij het dan met hun eigen interpretatie van hoe een beat hoort te klinken. Goed voorzien van oren, poten en synthesizers, that is. Dat knallers als 'Synrise' en 'Can't Stop me Now' voor een feestelijke aflsuiter zorgden van dag 1 hoeft geen betoog en de boys uit Kortijk maakten hun live reputatie nog maar eens waar.

Kort samengevat: blij dat ik naar Lokeren ben gereden voor Primal Scream, Kelis was slechter en Goose mogelijks nog beter dan op Pukkelpop vorig jaar.

Maar oordeelt u, zoals steeds, vooral zelf:

A Friday at Couleur Café

2011-06-27T22:21:00.003+02:00

Couleur Café, het Brusselse stadsfestival weet me de laatste jaren steeds weer te lokken met een aantrekkelijke mix van hip-hop, reggae en zowat alles daar tussenin. Dit jaar werd vrijdag uitverkoren voor de immer boeiende thuismatch.

Na NTM vorige jaar, mocht IAM de Franse scène vertegenwoordigen en het publiek op gang trekken met hits van weleer als Petit Frère, On est pas né soyus la même étoile en 'Demain, c'est loin'. Een absolute voltreffer, want hun coté obscure staat wat mij betreft nog steeds hoog aangeschreven. Ook Patrice wist aardig wat sfeer te brengen, met olijke reggae deuntjes en gitaar in de hand. Zeker zijn laatste album, 'One', eens checken.

Ziggy Marley's concert leek eerder aan de stille kant, maar bon, de prestatie van neef Damian vorig jaar kon de man nauwelijks overtreffen en misschien had het gedonder van Method Man & Redman het gehoor al wat aangetast.

Al bij al zeer geslaagd, maar oordeel vooral zelf in de commentaren.

Een korte complilatie van optredens:

20km door Brussel

2011-06-04T11:26:00.003+02:00

Foto's van de jaarlijkse volksloop doorheen de straten van Brussel.

Open Air, a street art documentary

2011-05-04T10:52:00.003+02:00

“In 2006, we created this short for the University of Southern California’s Public Arts Studies Program.
This documentary explored the studios and methods of six of the top street artists in America: Faile, Skewville, Mike De Feo, Dan Witz, Espo and Tiki Jay One.
Official selection of the Coney Island Film Festival and the Freewaves International Film Festival.”

A Triad Film by KNOX

via www.stencil.ro

Travel Impressions of Brazil

2011-04-02T13:14:00.003+02:00

I've always thought of this blog as a bit of a travel blog, but I've realised the occasional travel impressions are about all what's left of it. Living abroad proved more resourceful than the occasional travel. Anyway, after my latest travel to the South of Brasil + Rio de Janeiro, I'm happy to share some shots that caught my eye.

The visit of President Obama to Rio created quite a fuzz on Copacabana beach, with some half baked's spicing up the gathering.

For the launch of the new pixar movie "RIO", the Copacabana Palace, hosting the press conference, was put in the spotlight. The actual actors preferred to stay in the Fasano, a much hipper place on Ipanema beach.

Brazilian Sand Art.

Take it Eazy! Street Art in Rio de Janeiro

View over Rio de Janeiro

Iberê Camargo Museum (ICM)
Porto Alegre, Brazil.

A much laurelled architectural masterpiece.

The Cachaçeria and distillery "Fingerhut", a must if you are in Santa Cruz do Sul.

Lizete Engel, woman of the house, will give you a splendid little tour in perfect English and of course some tasting afterwards.

Lovely swimming spot in nature, somewhere around Santa Cruz.

Becoming a cool brand is not a crime

2011-02-24T10:17:00.004+01:00

Ik kan het me nog levendig herinneren, Nike die probeerde om skateschoenen aan de man te brengen. Ik was een 16-17 jarige skater en geloofde hen voor geen minuut.Ik heb als gevolg ook nooit met Nike's geskateboard. Wel met DC's, és, Osiris en Globes want dat waren geloofwaardige skatemerken. En ik was niet alleen. Het was een woelige start voor Nike SB, zo staat ook te lezen op hun Wikipedia pagina.

Des te interessanter was het om op de boekpresentatie van "How cool brands stay hot", Gert Kerkstoel te horen praten, tot voor kort Global business director van Nike SB (en Belg). Want terwijl de coole skate merken meer en meer mainstream werden (en daardoor veel van hun 'street credibility' verloren), zette Nike SB koers in de andere richting door zich onder te dompelen in de skatecultuur.

Door zich als skatemerk te gedragen (een team, een eigen film) en zich te laten leiden en inspireren door skaters, niet door C-suits, wist Nike het multinational imago wat van zich af te schudden en geloofwaardigheid op te bouwen in de skate scène. Door extra inspanningen, zoals de eerste HD skatefilm "Debacle." , wilden ze tonen dat ze wel degelijk iets wilden bijbrengen en niet enkel freeriden op de stijgende populariteit van skaten. De acquisitie van Paul Rodriguez en later ook van Erik Koston ('the Michael Jordan of Skateboarding') zette de geloofwaardigheid van Nike SB enkel kracht bij.

En daarvoor krijgen ze van mij wel respect. Het moet niet makkelijk geweest zijn om etters als mij te overtuigen om te skaten met Nike's. Vandaag de dag lijkt het hen wel te lukken, o.a door het maken van goede video's met hoog deelbaarheidsgehalte. Ook bij mij neemt dat een pak sceptiscisme weg. De kracht van video hebben ze bij Nike SB wel begrepen. Het verhaal van Nike Skateboarding is daarom een inspirerend voorbeeld van merkauthenticiteit en hoe dat op te bouwen. Gewoon door echt te zijn en mee te doen.

Voor mij is het misschien te laat, hoewel mijn skateboard nog steeds trots uitgestald staat, kruip ik er zelf nog zelden op. Maar soit, ik loop wel rond met zwart lederen Dunks, dus dat is voor Nike misschien ook wel ok.

The Making of Debacle:

A good day feat. Ft. Paul Rodriguez, Ice Cube, Kobe Bryant, Eric Koston

Around the World with Nike Skateboarding
(Is dit geen zalige clip?)

Androidify yourself

2011-02-15T08:17:00.003+01:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Just for fun. Google developped a little application, available for free in the Android market, to androidify yourself. The video below shows some of the features. The customization goes pretty far as you can modify the width and height of the limbs as well as choose from many accesoires to pimp your newly created Android.

Tout s'achète, il suffit de payer le prix

2011-02-08T07:40:00.002+01:00

Robo Rainbow

2011-02-02T08:54:00.000+01:00

Complicated technical solutions to help in the random act of vandalism.

robo-rainbow from mudlevel on Vimeo.

5 Documentaires om online te bekijken

2011-01-31T19:44:00.000+01:00

Digitale televisie mag voor velen de vervelende vraag " Is er dan echt niks op tv?" uit de wereld hebben geholpen, voor talloze anderen, waaronder mezelf, blijft het toch maar al te vaak bij lusteloos rondzappen in de hoop iets goed tegen te komen. Toen mijn toestel vorige week dan ook nog eens de geest gaf,was ik aangewezen op ons aller geliefd internet (vooral Google Videos) voor degelijke video content. Een vruchtbare zoektocht zo bleek, waarvan ik graag enkele hoogtepunten deel.

5 documentaires die je gratis kan bekijken via Google Video's / Youtube:

1. Why we bang
Produced and directed by Orlando Myrics and Clifford Jordan for Ghetto Logik Entertainment - 1:14: 49

Op nummer 1 want zonder twijfel de meest aangrijpende documentaire van de hele week. Een rauwe 'inside view' van de bende oorlogen tussen Cribs en Bloods in LA. Op het eerste zicht veel gangbangers met een grote mond, maar de hartverscheurende testimonials van moeders, ex-gevangen en gangsters die er genoeg van hebben maken je toch wel erg stil als je deze uitkijkt tot het einde. Niet super professioneel gefilmd en soms moeilijk verstaanbaar , maar dat maakt het net echter en geloofwaardiger dan Boyz 'n the Hood. Goeie speakers zijn een must.

2. Riding Giants
Directed by Stacy Peralta ; Written bij Stacey Peralta & Sam George - 1:41:19 (2004)

Deze documentaire over de geschiedenis van 'big wave surfing' opende in 2004 het Sundance Film Festival en met rede. Je krijgt meer op je bord dan enkel wat surf shots. Met historische precisie wordt het hele verhaal van de beginnende surfcultuur uit de doeken gedaan, onderbouwd door de herinneringen van toenmalige en actuele helden. De mythische golven van Hawaï, de unieke levenstijl die ermee verbonden is, de vrijheidsdrang,... deze documentaire graaft diep in het DNA van de surfcultuur. Een aanrader.

3. Macheads
Director: Kobi ShelyWriters: Kobi Shely, Ron Shely - 54:45 (2009)

Deze documentaire is best freaky en gaat over de obsessie van Apple fans voor hun geliefkoosde merk en leider Steve Jobs, wat het meteen ook een beetje lachwekkend maakt. Mind you, dit is nog voor het iPad/iPhone tijdperk en gaat zelfs terug tot de tijd waar mensen nog opgewonden waren over 'het web' zonder meer. Zet je schrap voor uitspraken als "I would never have sex with a Windows user" en "Muslims go to Mekka, we go to Macworld". Hilarisch.

4. Why we fight
Director: Eugene Jarecki Writer: Eugene Jarecki - 1:38:41 - (2005)

Een documentaire die onderzoekt of de het leger (en de belangen erachter) in de Verenigde Staten niet té belangrijk zijn geworden. Met andere woorden: of ze het conflict niet opzoeken louter om de industrie draaiende te houden. Met het indrukwekkende lijstje van militaire interventies in de laatste eeuw kan men bezwaarlijk zeggen dat de film kant noch wal raakt. Er worden ook serieuze vraagtekens gezet bij de genereus gepropageerde idealen 'vrijheid' en 'democratie' die dienen om de strijd te rechtvaardigen. Een beetje Michael Moore stijl.

5. Buena Vista Social Club
Director: Wim Wenders Writer: Nick Gold (original concept) - 100 min (1999)

Deze documentaire is ondertussen al meer dan 10 jaar oud, maar blijft hartverwarmend als je van de Cubaanse folk legendes houdt. Van het prille begin in de barrios tot wereldwijde roem , toont 'Buena Vista Social Club' hoe Ry Cooder de muzikanten op leeftijd bijeenbracht en de meest fantastische muziek liet maken. Afwisselende interviews en live beelden van de concerten maken dit een entertainend stukje video. Brengt de zon in huis.

Dit is natuurlijk slechts een kleine greep uit het aanbod en gebaseerd op persoonlijke smaak. Het loont zeker de moeite om zelf eens op zoek te gaan. Ga naar Google Videos, zet de filter op "lang:20 min of meer " en bij voorkeur ook "Hoge kwaliteit", typ een keyword in... en ge zijt vertrokken!

Niet genoeg? Deze video's haalden de top 5 niet maar zijn ook aan te raden:

WATTS zap - best of 2010 (47:29) . De klassieker van Eurosport met eindejaar.
Life In Prison A Project Envision documentary
Distortion - Skateboarding from Berlin
New Flavors - The influence of Southern Hip Hop on American Culture

Banksy genomineerd voor Oscar beste documentaire

2011-01-25T18:00:00.005+01:00

Banksy en Jaimie D'Cruz zijn genomineerd met "Exit Through the Gift shop" voor de 83ste Academy Award van Beste Documentaire. De film die een beeld schetst van de street art scène door de camera van een kluns die zichzelf ontpopt tot commercieel boegbeeld "Mister Brainwash", verdient zonder twijfel deze erkenning.

Het verhaal wil dat Banksy de beelden van ene Mr. Guetta zou gehermonteerd hebben tot deze meer dan degelijke documentaire over street art. De scepsis en ironie is echter nooit veraf en de documentaire voelt daarom ook meer aan als een aanklacht van de meester zelve dan wel een reëel inzicht in de street art scene, ondanks de spannende beelden van artiesten als Neckface, Swoon, Cheez,Coma en Space Invader.

Toppunt daarvan is het zwaar gehypte event van Mister Brainwash in L.A, dat in de documentaire wordt ontmanteld als een goedkope copy-paste oefening van pop- en street art, maar wel veel buzz genereerde en geld opleverde.

Moest je "Exit Through the Gift Shop" dus nog niet gezien hebben, is bij deze het signaal gegeven dat je dat binnenkort toch maar eens moet doen.

Favoriete iPad apps

2011-01-18T20:18:00.002+01:00

Je hebt ze misschien ook gelezen, de artikels die je ervan moesten overtuigen om voor kerstmis zeker geen iPad in huis te halen. Als je daar lak aan had en nu met zo'n glanzende tablet op de schoot zit, kan het volgende lijstje je misschien boeien. Indien het betreffende artikel werd aangewend om je nieuwe speelgoed af te schilderen als overbodig gadget kan het je bovendien wapenen voor het nodige weerwerk. Een kort betoog, dat het kleine ding, naast een enorm afleidingspotentieel, ook wat extra productiviteit kan opleveren.

Evernote : een bestseller van een app die het mogelijk maakt om notities te nemen en te organiseren op de iPad. Maar het gaat verder dan dat, de applicatie bestaat ook voor al je andere toestellen (laptop, PC, android- of iphone) zodat je steeds alles bij de hand hebt op elk toestel. Geschreven notities (incl. gelijktijdige audio opname) van de iPad kan je zo aanvullen met foto's vanop je telefoon, 'clipped webpages' van je pc, tweets en pdf's van je laptop. Alles wordt netjes georganiseerd in doorzoekbare (en dankzij gps ook geografisch georganiseerde) notitieboeken. Perfect om ideeën, projecten, blogposts etc. te structuren en steeds op zak te hebben.

Dropbox is gebaseerd op hetzelfde principe als Evernote en zorgt ervoor dat je al je files steeds op zak hebt, zij het op je laptop, Android/iPhone of iPad. Een extra folder in je documentstructuur op pc maakt het wel erg makkelijk om net voor de meeting nog even alle belangrijke documenten naar Dropbox te slepen om ze achteraf boven te halen op de iPad. Het elimineert ook wat gefriemel met kabels omdat je foto's vanop je smartphone meteen beschikbaar kan stellen op je pc thuis én op de iPad om ze tonen. Je kiest zelf welke files je wil delen met vrienden en kan er dan meteen naar linken ook.

Prezi for iPad: is een verlengstuk van Prezi, dé nieuwe presentatietool van het afgelopen jaar. Gezien alles zich in Flash afspeelt kon een aangepaste applicatie niet uitblijven. De mix van 'zooming' presentaties en de 'pinch & zoom' UI van de iPad maken dit de perfecte cocktail voor persoonlijke presentaties in een verkoopomgeving. De iPod app blijft trouwens perfect werken op de achtergrond dus er kan zelfs een sfeervol muziekje bij.

Flipboard: heb je waarschijnlijk al, want een alom geroemde app die saaie streams (Google reader, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr,...) transformeerd in een aangenaam magazine dat je rustig doorbladert op de sofa. Obscure titels met verkorte links die reuken naar tijdverlies, verschijnen nu als krantenartikels met titel, foto en korte inhoud. De klik die anders telkens wat moed vergde, verliest compleet zijn relevantie want de beslissing is veel sneller gemaakt (of overbodig). Een app die je veel tijd bespaard met het doorploeteren van streams en feeds.

Skype: jawel, je kan telefoneren met de iPad. De introductie van Skype voor Android en Skype voor iPhone (te installeren op iPad) maken het mogelijk om te telefoneren via VOIP waar je ook maar internet verbinding hebt (WIFI, 3G of zelfs ERPS blijkt voldoende). Een camera ontbreekt nog op de iPad, maar video ontvangen kan alvast wel. Maakt je misschien niet meteen productiever, maar bespaart wel op je belbudget.

Overige:

Adobe Ideas: de gratis versie is een soort 'MS Paint', je kan ideeën schetsen en foto's bewerken met een verfborstel.

Foto Editor: met de gratis versie kan je al vrij uitgebreid foto's bewerken (effecten, kleuren, filters)

Sundry Notes: gratis app om vrij handschrift te combineren met getypte notities, audio opname, foto's, webpagina's en symbolen. Goed voor aantekeningen tijdens presentaties, vergaderingen of de les.

Social media: een combinatie van Hootsuite, Friendly, Twitter for iPad, Flipboard en de standaard Youtube app doen het voor mij op de iPad. Daarnaast bestaan tal van andere die waarschijnlijk ook de moeite waard zijn.

Next Generation Marketing, Day 2

2010-12-04T11:28:00.004+01:00

Finally, after some cancelled flights in Berlin I can sit down in my sofa and write down some 'lessons learned ' from day 2 at the Next Generation Marketing conference for B2B (#b2beu). As day 1, it was a very exciting day with many great cases and revelations. A shortoverview:

- The Collaborative Tribe case. Amazing example of how social media can work for B2B. Dassault systèmes developped amazing creative to support awareness of their new 3D modelling software (to design airplanes and stuff) and let it go viral. During 6 weeks a worldwide audience was waiting for every next episode to be released. Finally they could submit scenario's and vote for them.

- Facebook ads allow very specific targetting, making it useful in a B2B setting. As said on day 1, you're talking to humans not logo's, so they really are out there.

- Roy van Griensven from Phillips came with a very identifiable story. The traditional 'silo' organisation has to be overcome to create an integrated experience for the customer. As indeed for the doctor who buys a Senseo at home or a MRI scanner at the hospital, it's twice a Phillips.

- Communities are good places to nurture leads in a long sales cycle, as long as you don't come with pushy contact forms, obvious product display or sales talk. See GetInsideHealth ( better done then the one I used to work on)

- Enable Sales. Provide the right person with the right information at the right time. And give them an iPad. That will finally make them appreciate the marketing team.

- Rick Seagal came with a visonary talk about the @work state of mind: where marketing has more meaning.The leader of Gyro HSR, was very inspiring and I could only humbly listen ( and feel like a baby in marketing).

- The main point is that work is no longer a physical place, but a state a mind in which someone is observant, in consideration, opinated and generally 'leaned forward'. Consequently as a marketer you cannot "stop" this flow, but go with it, while you deal with ever decreasing attention spans.

- How to reach people in a @work state of mind?

touch the heart
care, don't convince
give back, don't take
Ideate, don't execute
Join the flow, don't stop it

--> that means, amongst others, making your communication desirable and usefull

- "B2B might be dead but the best of marketing to people has yet to come" (Rick Seagal)

- From PayPall we learned how they used Neuro Marketing to tailor their message to one that would stick in both female and male brains. This is a field overlapping science and marketing and probably there will be more of this in coming years. Companies like Neurofocus are at the forefront, delivering neuro information related to brands.

- It's about "Deep Subconscious Responses" on key brand attributes, sounds exciting eh?

- Read Buy-ology from Martin Lindstrom

- Dr. Osman Khan lectured us about loyalty and it's benefits. When done right. Most loyalty programms focus on creating a barrier, forcing your customer in some way to stay. On the other hand, when you create a positive attitude, you have loyalty based on emotional attachment.

- Only loyalty based on emotional attachment will ultimately lead to people truthfully recommanding your product or service (wether or not online). Others will go as fast as they came.

- The case of Kodak, was another great example of how social media can be leveraged in a B2B setting. It started with exploring social media for their B2C activities, but B2B soon followed with blogs crammed with usefull information for business owners, event information, discusions and more. (e.g http://growyourbiz.kodak.com/ ) .

- People from Kodak are also empowered to blog about what they love: imaging and technology. See http://1000words.kodak.com/ & http://pluggedin.kodak.com/ . Also, respect for the Vlogger Dude, a vlogging C-suit.

- Evaluate the ROI of Social Media, as in the Risk Of Ignoring.

- Start with a blog, then with Twitter.

- @kirstenpetra put us to work in a hands on workshop on inboud marketing. We had to build a case on three pillars:

Free content to attract the suspect --> Be Found.
Content you can ask an e-mail adress for --> let the prospect learn more
Meaty Content you can ask personal information for --> attract the lead

Unfortunately I then ran off in an attempt to catch a plane that was bound to be cancelled, but that Brussels Airlines kept scheduled till the last moment. Sorry kirsten, I'll make up for it by buying the Inbound Marketing book.

>> read more on Day 1 of the conference

Next Generation Marketing, Day 1.

2010-12-01T23:47:00.002+01:00

Some take-aways from Day 1 at the Next Generation Marketing, a B2B marketing conference in Berlin. Just a selection of tips and advices that seem reasonable to be published, knowing the've been ripped out of their respective presentations and context. For more check the #b2beu hashtag on Twitter.

- The day started with great news: Joel Harrison telling us it’s a great time to be B2B marketer. No more being reduced to creating glossy brochures. We’re kings of the data now.

- Chris Brogan made several good points, but for that you should read his blog first, and probably his book too. Major take-aways:

Leverage the power of share buttons. Mentally they’re a mile away from forwarding an e-mail.
Live or die by your database. What’s the use of 10k followers when Twitter shuts down.
Be there before you need to make the sale.
Do not automate status updates across platforms

- The panel discussion about Emotions and decision making in B2B marketing was more than interesting. Extraordinary moderator as well. The main point here was that in the end of the day you’re handling with humans, and they’ve got emotions. Handle them.

Trust. (In you as representative of the company behind.)
Fear. (Of disruption, change)
Doubt. (Whether to make a good decision. Both for the business and personally)
Reward. (For the wins of a good decision)

- Tell a story. Make clear where your customer belongs in that story.

- John Gerosa from Google come with a refreshing view on search from a B2B perspective.

Be found. If your print campaign is not backed up by proper search , you’re missing an opportunity.
Be relevant. (Cfr. ‘Reward’, in this case for the click)
Be Engaging. So people return afterwards.
Be Accountable….and use video. 2 out 3 C-suit exec’s watch work related video at least once a week.

- @rlevans told us e-mail is not dead. Your teenage kids will start to use it when they enter the ‘real’ world. And when they get to work, they’ll get afraid of ‘unread items’ too, so don’t worry. However, be relevant. Use your data to be relevant.

- 42% of buyers search for 4 suppliers , 26% contacts 4 suppliers. 63% first contact supplier themselves. Don’t think you’re in control.

- When you market to Fortune 500 companies, focus. Do your homework and focus. On few customers, on few deliverables of high quality.

- Mobile is going to be great. Install Google Goggles if didn’t yet.

- Read “Groundswell” if you didn’t yet. Understand “Social Technographics” and then understand to whom you’re talking.

- Before: You Offer --> Customer Respond to offer --> You Fulfill the order. It was about you shouting.

- Now: Customer has Need --> You Match the Need --> Customer engages with you. It’s is about you being found (trustworthy).

- Use Inbound leads. They’re much cheaper than outbound ones. That basically means: using your brain instead of your wallet.

- Create persona’s. Let them become your best imaginary friends.

- Companies don’t talk to logo’s, they talk to people. So don’t put your brand in between them.

- Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors. 46% can tie a specific deal to it.

- Listen, humanize, optimize, share, create, rate, review, contribute,…

>> read more on Day 2 at the first European B2B marketing conference

ID918 - Interactive Street Art in Cologne

2010-11-15T18:58:00.003+01:00

Two weeks ago I passed in Cologne, Germany.

I first spotted a 'traditional' Space Invader in the Hohe Strasse.

Now, Space Invaders are nothing new, however fascinating, they've succesfully invaded Germany years ago.

More interestingly, I found a QR code in the same kind of mozaic style, just next to the Dom. (Should we call it QaRt)? When you load this picture in Google Goggles, it takes you to a blog that's under construction. For good usability that was actually already painted below anyway, so you shouldn't be too dissapointed.

There is a picture though, with the exact view from where you would be in front of the QR code. That gives at least vague idea of what it might become. In the picture you see Tetris like cubes falling from sky, building a tower that mirrors the authentic one and a huge block on the square in front. It appears the blogpost dates from oktober 2010 so that's pretty recent too.

If you consider the possibilities of augmented reality this little piece of street art could virtually go in all directions. For now, all we can do is wait, see and watch street art getting interactive.

http://id918.blogspot.com/

Morcheeba passing by Brussels

2010-10-28T18:05:00.001+02:00

Exactly one week ago, I know I'm late with this post, Morcheeba played for a well filled Cirque Royale in Brussels. Now I'm not what you call a dedicated follower of Morcheeba, but I'm aware of their songs and I like them. Even more now that I've seen them playing live. The mix of downtempo beats, instruments and Skye's sexy voice make's it so suitable for a laiback chill-out session.

Of course Morcheeba was in Brussels to promote their new album Blood Like Lemonade, but at no point I had the feeling I was attending a PR stunt. Both old and new songs passed the revue and the public loved it. Their hit 'Rome wasn't build in a day' was probably one of the highlights of the evening, Skye's "Do you feel like dancing?!" must have been a relief for many. Personally I liked a lot "Beat of the Drum" from their new album and Otherwise, a older classic.

Unfortunately I was too much in a hurry to grab my camera, so I was confined to my mobile with pretty lame audio quality.

Somebody closer to the stage also caught this memorable moment of the concert:

Tour de France 2010 through Brussels..

2010-07-06T19:34:00.002+02:00

In 30 seconds.

We also got the chance to see crown prince Filip with his family, having a peek at Tour passing in his frontyard. Not that exiting, till they actually had to arrest a guy who was running on the wrong side of the side and didn't feel like walking all the way back to avoid the royals...

Nas & Damian Marley kick off Distant Relatives Tour

2010-06-30T20:38:00.004+02:00

Nas & Damian Marley kicked off their Distant Relatives European tour at Couleur Café in Brussels last weekend and the way they did definitely deserves some laurels. Though time pased fast, it was a lenghty performance with of course the tracks of their new album Distant Relatives (As We Enter, Dispair,...), but also some older numbers (Welcome To Jamrock, Road to Zion), surely to everybody's pleasant surprise.

Nas sang one of his old hip-hop classics "You Can Hate Me" and after an ironic "Are there some Bob Marley fans present tonight?" Damian burst out in an uptempo version of 'Could You Be Loved'. Absolute greatness.

http://www.distantrelatives.com/

If you have watched all videos, you might have realized that the guy in the back of the stage was waving the rasta flag during the ENTIRE concert. For that: respect.

Minus Label Night

2010-05-16T19:04:00.005+02:00

Altijd fijn als er jongens uit Berlijn afzakken naar het Brusselse. Zeker als ze dan ook nog eens een bak vol verse minimal deuntjes meebrengen die aanleiding geven tot heel wat feestvreugde en dansgewoel. Deze keer waren het Fabrizio Maurizi, Heartthrob en Matt John die als afgezanten van het Minus Label naar Fuse werden gestuurd. Als amabassadeurs van de "Minimize to Maximize" sound zeker de moeite dus om eens voor buiten te komen.

M-nus Recordings

Al sinds '98 pusht het label de grenzen van de electronische muziek vanuit thuishaven Berlijn. Ook op vlak van technologie is frontman Richie Hawtin niet vies van verniewing. Zo stond hij enkel jaren geleden aan de wieg van de Final Scratch technologie (om MP3's vanop een laptop af te spelen op vinyl), recentelijk schudde de man ook het idee voor Twitter DJ uit zijn mouw. Twitter DJ is een downloadbare applicatie die verbinding legt tussen de DJ software Traktor en Twitter. Op die manier kan het publiek, tijdens een dj-set, in real-time volgen welke platen worden gespeeld en op welk moment een nieuwe mix begint. Erg vermakelijk, maar volgens Richie zit er zelfs nóg meer achter: het humanitaire idee erachter dat artiesten nu correct vergoed kunnen worden wanneer hun nummers worden gespeeld.

Uit een vrij oud interview met de minus man himself blijkt niet alleen een grote liefde voor elektronische muziek, maar ook een gewiekst marketeer, met een uitgesproken visie van een gedigitaliseerde muziekindustrie ("don't make vinyl"), het creeëren van 'user experience' voor klanten en fans van het label, en een nooit eindigende digitale compilatie.

Travel Impressions of Warsaw

2010-05-13T13:48:00.004+02:00

In order to get a slight bit of continuity in this blog, I'll complete the "Travel Impressions series" with some shots of Warsaw, Poland, and later on Brasil as well, as I neglected to do that some months ago.

Warsaw is a mix of different cities it seems.mixed up by history. OldWarsaw (visible in the Old Town) , Nazi Occupied Warsaw (one could also call it the destroyed Warsaw), Communist Warsaw and Modern Warsaw.

Though the most prominent one in the mix nowadays surely is the modern Warsaw with it's multitude of shops, sushi bars and skyscrapers, the city honours its history and boost hundreds of monuments and memorials, as well as scars of the second world war and the communist era.

This very mix, together with the openess of the Polish people, makes it a lovely city to stroll around and keep your eyes open.

A bullet scattered house in the Praga neighborhood

View on Old Town and Theatre

Street art in ul. Gryzbowska

The Mermaid, symbol of Warsaw, as a recycle art piece

KluboKawiarnia. A Sovjet-communist themed club, including Lenin portrets on the wall, but with not so proletaric prices and tough looking 'comrades' at the door/fence. Once in, it's a pretty good party though, with sometimes good and sometimes suprisingly commercial house tunes for a 'socialist inspired' place.

A Mall, with the same shops as in Brussels but a nicer design. next to the central station.

Behold the symmetry.

Celebrating Originality

2010-03-21T11:12:00.003+01:00

To celebrate originality Adidas gathered a bunch of celebrities to feature in their latest Originals ad called "The Street Where Originality lives". It was my girlfriend who at first summonned me to watch it, as it was a topic on some clebrity gossip blog. Not knowing what to expect and with some horrible misplaced celebrity endorsements in mind I saw to my surprise a nice clip with what could be called "celebrity endorsement well done".

On the tunes of Dee Edwards' 'Why Can't There Be Love ', a range of famous sportsmen, singers, skaters, models, etc. flash around the screen, one more obvious than the other, but all part of the same message: originality (through diversity?). Of course, if a brand wants to claim the association with "Originality", we wouldn't expect less from a video.

For the rather die hard sneacker fan the video features some rare models, whereas the celebrity watchers must certainly watch the video twice to spot everyone. Anyway, it has been a while since I saw a brand using celebs in a rather decent way, and the clip could even have convinced me without them. Naturally the celebs boost the viral value:. +214K vieuws in 6 days. Can't do bad to the Spring collection launch.

The video is also supposed to drive traffic to the Adidas originals site, where the celebrity experience continues as you unlock the digtial "Adidas Neigbourhood" with an AR code on your (purchased or printed) sneaker.

To spot:

sneakers with wings at 00:32
Tallulah Morton 0:05
Ana Ivanovic at 0:13
Jay Baruchel 0:18
David Beckham 0:21 0:53
Snoop Dogg 0:22
Noel Gallagher (+ Ian Brown) 0:27
Whitney Port 0:30
Hyori Lee 0:35
N-Dubz 0:44
Ciara 0:47
Agyness Deyn
British TV host Louise Roe
Cheer Chen
former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon

The Red Bull Pipe

2010-02-07T18:34:00.002+01:00

For quite some time Red Bull has been sponsoring extreme sports, organising sports events ands so. It's amazing to see how everytime they seem to be able to take it a step further. By building Shaun White a private half pipe, and making nice coverage of it, they got worldwide media attention, not to speak of the online viral effect.

Moreover it builds persona around Shaun, a cool dude to be associated with as a brand.
Surely when Shaun wins gold at the Olympics, many a journalist will refer to the footage below (which has the red bull coveniently stamped all over it.)

Anyway, I liked it.

An Adventurious 2010

2010-01-02T09:18:00.000+01:00

“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page.” (St. Augustin)

Reading trough Seth's "What matters now" e-book my eye fell on this nice quote. The advice that followed was as captivating and forms a pretty good base to start the new year on, I believe.

Enjoy 2010!

Adventure calls. Blaze a new trail. Cross a

continent. Dare to discover. Escape the routine.
Find a fresh perspective. Go slow; gaze
absentmindedly and savor every moment. Have
some fun! Invest now in future memories.
Journeys are the midwives of thought; Keep a
journal. Leave prejudice and narrow mindedness
behind. Make for the horizon and meet new
people. Navigate the unknown. Observe, and
open your mind. Pursue a road less traveled.
Quest for truth. Rely on yourself. Sail away from
the safe harbor; Take a risk. Unleash your
curiosity. Venture further. Why wait? eXpect the
unexpected. Say Yes to adventure….journey with
Zeal!

Robyn Waters is an Ambassador of Trend, a Champion of Design,
and a Cheerleader of Possibilities. She’s the author of the Trendmaster’s Guide.

Inspired Video's from Inspired brands

2009-12-08T08:06:00.001+01:00

Great video from Inspired bikes, starring Inspired team rider Danny MacAskill and his bike. Crazy tricks and an amazing soundtrack ( Band of Horses) make this video so extremely pleasant to watch. Apparantly I'm not the only one to thinks so, as the video stars in the top ten of 2009 most succesful viral video's on Mashable.

Anyway, this one hardly makes you think you're watching a commercial and as for (niche) brands with some street credibility, I think this is the way to go. Purely emotional brand experiences. Great stuff.

Painting Video

2009-11-17T23:43:00.001+01:00

Video painting. The multimedia duo SWEATSHOPPE (Bruno Levy and Blake Shaw) has some clever ideas...Combining LED technology with camera projection and movement tracking software (also outputting the X-Y coordinates for the projector), they are basically able to paint video on the wall.

In this video, 'the landing', they showcase their work.

(via Dsgnworld)

A Tribute to Kabouter Wesley

2009-11-14T10:31:00.001+01:00

De vuil gebekte Kabouter Wesley kan toch steeds weer aan het lachen brengen met zijn absurde logica, grof gedrag en een steevast onvoorzienbaar einde...

Director: Jonas Geirnaert
Supervision/animation: Volstok Telefunken
Animation: Michélé De Feudis

Travel Impressions of Paris

2009-11-11T14:26:00.001+01:00

-nihilism dans le 4ième.-

la seine.

-"Il sont fous ces romains"-

-art installation at Paris Nord. representing some ascension or something, going up, blowing smoke and playing Gregorian choir music...

The Bubble

2009-10-31T10:48:00.000+01:00

A controversial book and a nice advertisement. The bubble is a collection of Berlusconi's most funny, shocking or least intelligent statements and the ad says just that. The ad made me laugh, though the title of the book is a slightly more gloomy...

(via Ads of the world)

Massive Attack - Live at Vorst Nationaal with Martina Topley Bird

2009-10-26T21:54:00.007+01:00

Een fijn concert gisteravond van een Massive Attack dat duidelijk in vorm is. Samen met zangeres Martina Topley Bird én met backup van een uit de kluiten gewassen videoscherm, zetten ze een stevige show neer in Vorst, die al mijn verwachtingen inlosste.

Robert Del Naja en Grant Marshall (+ supporting act) lieten hun legendarische melancholie niet achterwege, noch de trippy beats, en wist bij tijden ook stevig te rocken, wat het uitverkochte Vorst absoluut wist te appreciëren. Een mix van hun meest gekende klassiekers en nieuwe nummers, hard en zacht, geëngageerd en soms gitzwart. De klassieker 'Teardrop' met Martina Topley Bird in de glansrijke hoofdrol (en in het oogspringende outfit) was alvast een onvolprezen voltreffer, wat mij betreft althans. Een glimps ervan staat op band.

Dat er een duidelijke socio-politieke boodschap schuilt achter de pakkende onliners en flarden tekst op het grote scherm valt moeilijk te ontkennen, maar 'te zwaar op de hand liggend' zou ik ze nauwelijks durven noemen. Ik ben ieder ieder geval naar buiten gegaan als geëntertaind muziekliefhebber, niet als een depri anti-kapitalist. Bovendien was het ook allemaal netjes vertaald naar het nederlands/frans, waarvoor dank.

Nu uitkijken naar dat nieuwe album.

Love is not on TV

2009-10-25T09:33:00.004+01:00

In this (old) interview on Brazilian Television, Hunter Campbell Patchy Adams, the American physician, social activist, citizen diplomat, professional clown, performer, and author who lies at the base of the Hollywood movie "Patchy Adams" starring Robin Williams, explains how Hollywood misinterpret his story to make a mediocre comedy. Clear answers, some wise words and a great example of intellectual movie criticism. Watch the interview

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

2009-10-20T21:28:00.002+02:00

Watch the video. Visit http://www.neurosonicsaudiomedical.com/ for more information. Well, not so much info there anyway, just a very nice production.

Heavenly Lanterns

2009-10-18T13:39:00.006+02:00

Artist Gu Wenda is exposing his Heavenly Lanterns - art work these days in Brussels, on the Mont Des Arts. It's part of the europalia art festival on China. Eevery 2 years the Europalia festival celebrates the cultural heritage of a specific country and this year, obviously it's China.

More than 5000 lampons cover the Bâtiment Dynastie. Defintely adds some color the city!

Did You Know 4.0

2009-09-29T19:47:00.007+02:00

Amazing visualisation of shifts in interaction patterns, social media habits, approach to advertising, mobile usage and more. (thanks to @geertdelaet's Wassup Session).

Car free, Care Free

2009-09-28T19:46:00.013+02:00

I'm a bit late with this post, cos the 'car-free-sunday' in Brussels was already more than a week ago, but as the summary is based rather on what I saw than on the actual fact of having a virtually car free city center that day, i judge it less important (to my own convenience, you understand).

Anyway, as I have no bike (in Brussels) I was forced to jump on my skateboard as only means of travelling. Lukily I did have a cycling companion to take care of the uphill parts. A logic pleace to roll down to was the skatepark at La Chapelle (Kapellkerk), where Brussels FM had installed their truck to pump some beats. Ragga at my time of arrival ,I remember. Nice.

After a beer and hanging around around we continued our way to Bar Recyclart, where some customizing was going on for bikes and skateboards. Also some fine skateboarding as a matter of fact. I took the opportunity the check the inside of the heavily painted station again and took some pics to document.

It was a nice day and a nice initiative to ban all cars out of the city for a day. Therefore I must disagree with the nerdy chit chat about Brussels being even more dangerous when the cars are banned... Car free is care free :)

La Mezcla

2009-09-18T19:39:00.003+02:00

How catchy can you make it?

Escama Studio - Recycled Fashion

2009-09-10T19:49:00.006+02:00

I'm not a handbag man, nor a fashionasta, don't get me wrong, but I think this is cool. Handbags made from pull-tabs or pop-tops as they call it. A cooperative of women in Brazil is producing this great stuff, real recycled fashion. They also have an amazing website where you can see which person actually created your bag, as her name is on the hang tag inside the bag. The cooperative provides a basic income to people in the community through the production of these handicrafts. In a setting where they can make friends and regain self-esteem. Nice!

Ricardo Villalobos @ Fuse

2009-08-30T18:06:00.002+02:00

Last night the dj saved my life.

A Day at Pukkelpop (with 50 Cent)

2009-08-24T19:40:00.007+02:00

Een dagje Pukkelpop, in een lekker blakend zonnetje, het moet gezegd het was de moeite. Met alleen 50 Cent aangevinkt op m'n lijstje voor de mainstage,werden mijn verwachtingen al vroeg op de avond ingelost. Best wel entertainend. Daar getuige ook de video's van. In de boiler room blijven me dan weer vooral Ellen Alien en Tocadisco bij, hoewel ik me ook nog wat herinner van een steengoede set door Ed&Kim...Het feest was verzekerd!

Een moment opname tijdens het 50 cent optreden. Wie niet groot is, moet slim zijn:

Anderen hebben het dan weer van wat beter dichter bij in beeld gebracht:

T Rex in the street

2009-08-18T19:58:00.003+02:00

Passing by the Chaussée de Wavre pretty regularly, always enjoy this one at the Museum of Nature Sciences. Dinosaur street art.

Tamil teacher driving over hands

2009-08-05T18:25:00.004+02:00

Good one. A Tamil teacher driving over the outstretched hands of his pupils. Apparantly this is just one of many practices schools in Tamil Nadu use to show off the strength and skills of the kids they educate.

The argument is that the pupils in fact derive their skills from karate practice and are therefore not hurt by the bike driving over their fingers. (Seen the long tradition of yoga and other meditation techniques it wouldn't surprise me if the training includes breathing excercices).

Parents would (paradoxically?) be releaved to see their children going through such a challenge and coming out unhurt. It is told to give them more strenght and confidence. Yet schools are now told to ban all of theirs stunts to avoid accidents.

Still the picture might look quite shocking through western eyes...

picture from Café Foto [DS]

Cellcom commercial goes wrong

2009-07-30T19:01:00.005+02:00

McCann Erickson made a not so subtle commercial for Cellcom, a telecomoperator in Isreal. It depicts Israeli soldiers and Palestinians alike, playing a fun game of soccer over the (internationally condemned) 'anti-terror' wall. To show the world what really happens when a football is shot over the wall, the Palestians made their own version.Great viral marketing?

If you are looking for a telecom operator that actually does something for the Palestinians click here. (in NL.)

The Apple App Wall

2009-07-23T19:05:00.005+02:00

Apple displaying their iphone apps in a very cool way. The wall displays all apps available in the Apple store. Everytime an application is purchased, the icon pulsates. Tech crunch caught it on camera for us.

Grey Goose Bar Brussels

2009-07-20T10:16:00.010+02:00

Yesterday a foreign friend of ours arrived in Brussels asking, to go to the Grey Goose bar in Brussels. For those who don't know, Grey Goose is a vodka brand.

Apparantly the news about the great design of this particular bar had reached even the distant shores of Brazil. Eager to check this out I started looking for it on the net, with a rather mixed result.
Yes the bar exists, but it's not accesible to the public. It's the headquarters bar/meeting room of Grey Goose in Brussels.

Meeting room? Yes indeed this is where they receive guests in the company. Nice one. Must deliver a great brand experience. On top of that the design has started to life a life on itself, getting exposure on several blogs and design sites.

Good work and good taste.(by Pursang Antwerp)

photographs by Frank Gielen

Billboard Mania

2009-07-13T20:34:00.007+02:00

Browsing through pictures of last year, I came across a little movie I shot from a billboard in Chennai. We were safely behind the glass of Sid's AC-ed car and therefore the music of the car kind off synchronises with the billboard...I like it (as much as the associated memories ).

It was a campaign from Vodafone and one of the few billboards that actually caught my eye. The other pic is to give an idea of what all the other billboards looked like...

chetpet bridge

ans some more from Flickr to illustrate:

We hate Jaundice We love... Indian copywriters?

Street Art from around the corner

2009-06-15T19:14:00.006+02:00

As I'm moving out in a couple of days, I thought it useful to take some pic's from the (street) art that I see daily on my way out. They became familiar to me and I guess they are worth sharing with you. Goodbye Anneessens.

Banksy vs Bristol Museum

2009-06-13T10:50:00.004+02:00

‘This is the first show I’ve ever done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off.’

Great teaser video to go and see Banksy's works in the Bristol Museum.
Found on http://www.woostercollective.com/.

Abrazos Rotos

2009-06-09T19:38:00.005+02:00

Great movie. Great photography. Very recommandable. Maybe these clips can convince you.
Abrazas Rotos from Pedro Almodóvar.

Why Streets Look Nicer with Graffiti

2009-05-26T20:28:00.005+02:00

Source: Make My Mood. Well yes, these things would surely cheer me up on a random strawl through the street. Though they are not called hidden beauties for nothing. Anyway, spray can art at it's best if you ask me.

Stepping in front of a bus kills

2009-05-23T11:34:00.007+02:00

This anti-smoking campaign from the National Council against Smoking in the US didn't yell about how dangerous smoking really is, but rather focused on (boldly) asking smokers why they ignore the messages on the packs. Defintely another way of looking at it.

"You can't ignore this message. Why ignore them on cigarette packs?"

World Record Base Jump

2009-05-21T11:08:00.005+02:00

Amazing little video shot by the two guys who base jumped the Burj in Dubai. Robin Smidt and Jan Bednarz wrote history when they first jumped of the world's tallest building. It's only the second time that the French jumper got caught, the first time they got away with it. Watch their legendary and highly illegal base jump:

Youtube 48hour ad contest

2009-05-18T19:56:00.004+02:00

It's the Cannes Young Lion's advertising competition made available to the masses, on Youtube . The 48h competition will reward the YouTube winners with a place at the real competition in Cannes. There the challenge will be to make a 60min ad with a mobile phone only, in 48h.

Apparantly it's unleashing a lot of creativity from all corners of the world and it's fun to watch...and vote.

All ad video's had to be made for an well known international charity, kept secret until friday the 15th of May. A short briefing announced Oxfam and the 48hours started. Thousands of ads were made over the weekend and posted on Youtube. They all ask for your signature, your way to show your support at the copenhague climate convention.

Funny, striking, creative or boring...you have 13 days..4hours...49minutes to judge yourself.

>www.youtube.com/canneslions

Guaranteed Laughing - Family Guy

2009-05-16T08:39:00.005+02:00

Family Guy, my daily portion of humor on BBC three. I think you wether like it or you absolutely don't, but I find it brilliant. For the simple reason it's the only show on TV that makes me genuinely laugh every two minutes. That keeps me hooked.

In the 100th episode special, Steth Macfarlane puts it more or less like this "We hold a mirror to American society (so you like what you see or you don't)"
Judge yourself.

Travel Impressions of Zaragoza

2009-05-05T20:36:00.005+02:00

Not in the mood to describe my past weekend in detail, but it was great. I hope the travel impressions reflect that. Here is a piece of Zaragoza.

España

wind turbines 30km outside Zaragoza

viva el capitalismo

cathedral of Zaragoza

Goya, the painter from Zaragoza

view on Basilica

Tabacos

Have you Spotted a Space Invader?

2009-04-30T20:18:00.003+02:00

Conquering the world with a very apart style of street art. Meet the space invaders!

From LA to Varanasi , from Berlin to Tokyo. You can find them,thousands of them are already around the world. They sure did an interesting job.

space invader - NYC

camouflage space invader - Avignon

space invader -Barcelona

see the worldwide space invasion happening at www.space-invaders.com

Brussels From Above - part II

2009-04-28T20:29:00.005+02:00

Some continuity in life is sometimes good. Therefor a little sequel to my previous Brussels from Above post from some time ago. I had been years since I had been up in the Atomium, not since it was renewned at least, though it could be much longer, but I found a good reason. Some foreign visitors in town (aka the family in law) on a sunny sunday afternoon. After all the view is great...part II.

view of brussels skyline

there actually was a death ride going on (see the cabels?) from the top of the atomium, adrenaline for sure.

basilique van koekelberg in the achterground

Ignore everyone - Being Poor sucks

2009-04-24T19:36:00.005+02:00

Gaping Void is funny cartoonist 'on the back of business cards'. Besides drawing and writing he also gives ideas to creative people on how they have to make money out of their talent. To that goal he started with summing up some do's and don't's. I liked some of them, which I withheld here for you. Read all of them here

1. Ignore everybody.

3. Put the hours in.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

24. Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.

32. Allow your work to age with you.

33. Being Poor Sucks.

Skateboarding Kicks Ass

2009-04-22T19:18:00.005+02:00

I love skateboarding and I love good cinema...the both combined in 4 minutes of kickflip slow motions, explosions and a good soundtrack is just great. Fantastic piece of skateboarding footage, from the movie Fully Flared, performed by Lakai skateboarding team.

found it first at: alwaysthinksideways.wordpress.com

Art Revolution - Virtual Berlin Wall

2009-04-21T20:35:00.004+02:00

A cool initiative is worth spreading and I like this one: http://www.artrevolution-berlinwall.de/

The point being to create a virtual berlin wall online, archiving street art in all it forms and appearances. Nicely ordered by style, origin and searchable by artist. Could deliver a great resource for street art.

Images are not saveable, so I got a screenshot:

I did visit the real Berlin wall as well though , some years ago already. The longest remaining part being a 1.3km long open air art gallery. Cool stuff. Defintely a tip if you go to Berlin!

Due to damage over the years the open air gallery, originally painted by 118 artisits, is now getting a makeover.

Acid Partout Police Nulle Part

2009-04-14T19:48:00.007+02:00

An Image from my neigbourhood in Brussels. Probably not far from the truth, except for the parking fines, cos for that: police partout!

Brussels From Above

2009-04-11T17:51:00.007+02:00

This morning in Brussels: some snaps from the 24th floor of Hilton. A nice view from above...Unfortunately the windows have not been cleaned on the outside for a while which blurs the view. Anyway, Brussels rises and shines.

palais de justice, under construction...since?

elevator downto the 'Marollen', at sunset.

Give praise - Saian Supa crew feat Kymani Marley

2009-04-06T19:01:00.005+02:00

ky-mani marley

"Give Praise...
My heart is filled with Love
But Don't let my eagles fly...
cos I don't want to have to
hurt no body, no..."

A pearl of a song if you ask me.
Few of you might know so that's why I wanted to share.

Listen and Enjoy.

Another view on Advertising

2009-04-04T13:58:00.005+02:00

Selected works from Banksy, giving another view on advertising...

The Fall of Man :)

Uplace Machelen - inspireert steden?

2009-03-31T20:00:00.008+02:00

Het gebeurt al eens dat spontaan de wenkbrauwen worden gefronst bij het aanhoren van toogklap of zelfs serieuzere zaken, dat weet iedereen. Ik meen dat dit meestal op ongeloof duidt, maar zeker ben ik daar niet van. In ieder geval heb ik vandaag toch eens gefronst bij het aanschouwen van de voorstelling van Uplace te Machelen.

Een mega-fantastisch project dat de oude industriezone onder de viaduct van Vilvoorde moet omtoveren in een internationale trekpleister van pure fun, maar die ook business, entertainment, wonen en natuur allemaal naadloos aan elkaar reigt. Een all-in-one experience bestemming zoals ze het noemen, die alles aankan om u te plezieren...
Toen kwam de frons.

De kei-toffe video met Tine Hemmerechts moet het allemaal nog cooler laten lijken.

Jammer dat ik niet overtuigd was. Geef mij maar een afgeleefde, pittoreske straat met verhalen aan elke straatsteen of een likje street art. Dat vind ik 'more of an experience' dan een nieuwbouw oase onder de viaduct. Maar belsist u vooral zelf:

Wel alle credits aan Glenn, en zijn wassup sessie. De marketingzijde (emotiemarkt) van het Uplace verhaal houdt wel steek.

Martha Cooper, hip-hop photographer

2009-03-29T12:06:00.008+02:00

Browsing through De Hop page I discovered Martha Cooper, previously unknown to me, therefore the more fascinating. Apparently she was one of the first photographers to document street art and graffiti artists in NY city, as early as the seventies.

Though that's not all she did, through her photos she gives an insight in the life of the NY children, playing in abandoned building sites. It's actually those early pictures that made her acquinted with the hip-hop culture and graffiti scene.

She bundled her work in several books: The Hip-Hop files, Subway Art and the more recent Street Play (2006). Defintely something I'll be looking for in the second hand book shops around Anneessens.

When Street Play was published Martha Cooper came to Brussels to speak about her photography and sign her book.

>Watch the video here

photos from Flickr

More about Martha Cooper on wikipedia

Brussels Street Art

2009-03-28T00:17:00.002+01:00

I have seen this 'live' from the train and remember being very impressed.Thanks to Stencil's nice blog about street art I found the youtube video.

Belgian made street art.love it.
Etterbeek station, Brussels.réprèsente :)

What's in the box?

2009-03-23T20:25:00.004+01:00

The latest youtube hit from the Netherlands. A science student (Tim Smit) from Nijmegen ,with a more than healthy passion for making films and a budget as tight as 150 €, made it to this demo video. Great stuff, make sure to keep on watching till the helicopter arrives to blow up the house (5:35)!All the special effects are home made on a pc in the attic...

460 000 hits and going, no wonder Hollywood got interested

Back in the Cloud!

2009-03-21T18:07:00.008+01:00

Vrienden van de blog,

...hopelijk zijn jullie er nog, de laatste weken was het immers maar triest op mijn blog. Mea culpa, maar zonder Internet in mijn nieuwe woonst ging het bloggen nogal moeizaam. Dat probleem is nu de wereld uit dus hopelijk krijg ik mijn inspiratie weer aan de praat om ter tijd en stond jullie te voorzien van ongemeen interessante info over het reilen en zeilen in de wereld...mmh van wat ik interessant vind.

Achter jullie rug heb ik wel blog posts geschreven voor de Ello Mobile blog, dus in afwachting van wat komen zal kan je daar alvast eens gaan rondneuzen... En nu ik er toch aan ben, geef ik voor de leken ook het filmpje van Ello mee...check it out!

BOB Controles Regio Aalst

2008-12-14T17:32:00.005+01:00

Het is feest als Bob rijdt!

De lijst van eindejaars controles in de regio Aalst

Bob campagne Aalst

Week van 15 tot en met 21 december 2008

maandag 15 december
Baardegem-Dorp - Baardegem
Gentse Steenweg - Aalst

dinsdag 16 december

Bremtstraat - Nieuwerkerken
Parklaan - Aalst

woensdag 17 december
Parklaan - Aalst
Boudewijnlaan - Aalst

donderdag 18 december
R41 (viaduct) - Aalst
Brusselbaan 122-300 / 157-311 - Erembodegem

vrijdag 19 december
Gentse Steenweg - Aalst
Dendermondsesteenweg (Ring tot Hofstade) - Aalst

zondag 21 december
Parklaan - Aalst
Brusselbaan 122-300 / 157-311 - Erembodegem
N45 (expressweg) - Erembodegem

Week van 22 tot en met 28 december 2008

maandag 22 december
Ninovesteenweg - Erembodegem
Steenweg naar Oudegem - Gijzegem

dinsdag 23 december
Faluintjesstraat / Maaldershofstraat (kort gedeelte) - Meldert
Leopoldlaan - Aalst

woensdag 24 december
Brusselse steenweg - Aalst
Bredestraat - Aalst

Week van 29 tot en met 31 december 2008
maandag 29 december
N45 (expressweg) - Erembodegem
Boudewijnlaan - Aalst

dinsdag 30 december
Geraardsbergsesteenweg - Erembodegem

woensdag 31 december
Steenweg naar Oudegem - Gijzegem
Albrechtlaan - Aalst

City Trippin' to Amsterdam

2008-12-14T16:16:00.006+01:00

Finally some more blogging about travelling!

At a mere 250km from Brussels, Amsterdam is the closest capital for a city trip. And it's worth it. Except for the large amount of tourist crowds around the busy places, the city is perfect for a short weekend out.

I Amsterdam...at the museum

The canals and architecture of the city are probably the biggest attraction and invite for long walks through the center. Though it's easy to get lost, if you follow some big canal you always get back where you wanted. The city is pretty big, therefore exploring the city by bike is often a good plan if you really want to see everything in some days time.

Going by car from Belgium is easy and only a couple of hours driving, but be aware: parking space in Amsterdam is rare and damn expensive (3,5 to 6€ per hour). A full day in a covered parking costs 50€. Driving around in the city is definetely discouraged and the small streets are not great for driving anyway...

So we walked and walked around...this is what we saw on our way

Skewed houses along the waterside

The House of Bols, the modern version of brewery visit. Won the design award of the year for the nice concept of the 'museum'.

Smells and Tastes...

A great tour, a great tasting session afterwards...and great marketing @ the House of Bols

Pop Art in the Academic neighbourhood

Concert Hall

picture of the diamond skull exposed inside

more houses along the canal

One of the classics: the red light district of Amsterdam by night, 90% tourists, 10%...

Houses and boats...charming

Amsterdam Central Station - boats, trams, trains qand bikes...

a lot of bikes.....

Original Advertising - FairTrade

2008-11-24T09:17:00.002+01:00

To really change your way of shopping...

Reverse Graffiti - Eco-Friendly Art

2008-11-21T11:34:00.011+01:00

As much as one can love street art and graffiti, the environmental arguments stand strong and might trigger opposition to the art on the wall. Not so anymore it seems, as creative minds have found a solution, even for the detrimantal effects of the spray can.

Reverse Graffiti it is called. For this eco-friendly form of graffiti only soap and clots are needed to make little pieces of art on cars and walls in the city. By removing dust and dirt on polluted walls, great art works emerge and give life to otherwise forgotten and ugly city walls.

One great example I came across is the one of Alexandre Orion, who in a tunnel in Sao Paolo, Brazil, m ade a huge and beautiful piece, only by removing black dust. Though temporary (see

video) his reverse graffiti deserves all the attention it can get. At least he caught the attention of authorities and forced them to thoroughly clean all the walls he had flourished with his skulls.

Other Reverse Graffiti artists include Scott Wade, who goes crazy on dusty cars:

Reverse Graffiti in San Francisco by Green Works:

Original way of advertising, by means of reverse graffiti, London:

(source:www.environmentalgraffiti.com)

Ten Prooi aan de Standvastigheid

2008-11-21T10:01:00.002+01:00

Vrienden van de blog,

Het leven in België mag dan al niet zo spannend zijn als het constante rondreizen, het zou geen uitvlucht mogen zijn om niet meer zo regelmatig te bloggen, maar toch. Eens mens kan niet steeds blijven rondreizen en tenslotte valt iedereen wel min of meer ten prooi aan een greintje standvastigheid. Desalniettemin kan een stukje proza over de dagdagelijksheid de routine ietwat doorbreken en jullie wederom verblijden met een update van mijn, zij het minder baanbrekende, avonturen.

Zo vergaat het ook mij dezer dagen en dat vertaald zich dan in een vaste betrekking op de Belgische arbeidsmarkt. Eerder deze week heb ik getekend bij Luon, een marketingbureau in Overijse, alwaar ik het team zal versterken en mij verdiepen in de do's en don'ts van het (online) marketingwezen. Vanaf 1 december is het uitslapen en onschuldig potverteren dus wel degelijk achter de rug en kan het serieuzere werk beginnen...

De laatste dagen vrije tijd worden ondertussen doorgebracht met sightseeing in België, zodat mijn wederhelft zich hier, ondanks de door en door trieste meteorologie, meer en meer thuis kan voelen. Brussel is al grotendeels ontdekt, Aalst al enkele malen herkauwd en ook Gent is al kort de revue gepasseerd. Nu nog een romantisch weekendje in Brugge en een bezoek aan de Scheldestad en we kunnen weer een tijdje voort...

Hopelijk kan ik snel weer interessantere verhalen vertellen en u vol blijdschap weer ontvangen als vriend van de blog,

bij leven en welzijn tot dan...

R.I.P Ray Van Mechelen

2008-10-29T14:44:00.004+01:00

"you wonna earn monie?Awel, then you fuck"

"Da maske lacht ongs oit hé Ray"

"Tis nimier lek at was én tzal nooit nog werre lek as vreuger, zongder de Rày"

(Matroesjka's gaat verder zonder Peter Van Den Begin)

Meneer Zee

2008-10-28T08:56:00.007+01:00

Het gebeurt al eens, zij het sporadisch, dat een mens zijn kamer opruimt en oude schatten terug boven komen drijven. Hetzelfde lot verging mij ook wanneer ik stootte op het trouwboekje van mijn neef Jan (met Sofie) alwaar ik het prachtige 'Zegt dat genoeg' in terugvond. Dit groots stukje kleinkunst, van zijn hand, raakt, verliefd als ik zelf ben maar toch ook bij anderen geloof ik, een gevoelige snaar. De tekst is hieronder opgenomen omdat ik het meer dan de moeite waard vind om het met u te delen. Hopelijk is het liedje binnenkort ook in muzikale vorm terug te vinden...

In één ruk door kan ik daar aan toevoegen dat Jan tegenwoordig door het leven gaat als groots verteller onder de naam Meneer Zee. Hij heeft nu ondermeer zijn eigen boek geschreven: 'Wolf' en trekt doorheen het ganse land om kinderen in vervoering te brengen met zijn uitermate fascinerende vertelkunsten. Op de website van Meneer Zee (http://www.meneerzee.be/) kunt u daarover alles terugvinden, in de badkamer, de slaapkamer of de klok. Zeker de moeite waard!

Meneer Zee - Zegt Dat genoeg

want ik hou van jou...

Castelraimondo, Paradise for Language Students

2008-10-24T12:55:00.006+02:00

If you were wondering what Castelraimondo is all about, I can be short. It's a small village, surrounded by hills, in the region of Le Marche,Italy. Pretty quiet and with the majority of the population (5000 in total!) being well passed the retirement age, nevertheless not completely uncharming.

The Castle to which Castelraimondo thanks its name might be old, but lacks all the splendour of middle-age castles as we like to imagine them. I guess they had not much alternatives to name their village hundreds of years back. Castelraimondo counts a supermarket or 2, 2 gelateria's in the main street, one bar (Alchemy) and the obligatory pizzeria, which all seem to live from the international students who come here to learn Italian (Scuola Dante Alighieri)

That last purpose, learning Italian, Castelraimondo serves pretty well. Not a single soul speaks English here, so if you don't give it your best shot you're destined to starve. The absence of entertainment and nightlife also makes studying languages by far the most useful activity, without any sign of the pleasantly disturbing atmosphere one finds in the bigger cities such as Rome.

Anyhow, Castelraimondo is still Italy, making it a synonym for good food and good wine. Escaping the daily ratrace and enjoying the small things of life are therefore the main pleasures one can get in Castelraimondo. But less is more so you don't hear me complaining.

The Castle of Castelraimondo

The main street of Castelraimondo

Against the background of 'Le Marche' hills

like I said, enjoying good food and wine...

A beautiful sunset, adding charm to the night in Castelraimondo

Rome In a Nutshell

2008-10-22T19:07:00.005+02:00

Rome is great! Though I didn't have time enough to visit every single place, the purpose of my trip to Italy wasn't sightseeing in the first place, Rome definitely impressed me. The city breaths history on every corner of the street and is absolutely stuffed with places I remember from the time I was studying Latin.

Unfortunately the city at the same time attracts huge crowds of tourists, who sometimes disturb quiet contemplation about times long gone. Anyway, look for yourself and start planning your next city trip if you haven't experienced the greatness of the Roman Empire...

Spanish Stairs

Fontana di Trevi

Colosseum

The Roman Empire, at its end

Veni,Vidi,Vici - Julius Ceasar

Rehabilitatieverslag - Speciaal voor Vrienden Van De Blog

2008-10-15T18:16:00.006+02:00

Vrienden van de blog,

Na een lange reeks van voor u misschien ongemakkelijke of overbodige Engelstalige posts, bedien mij bij deze opnieuw van ons aller lands- en moedertaal om u te voorzien van een aangenaam stukje proza. De statistieken leren mij namelijk dat zich onder u toch een handvol trouwe lezers bevind die zich graag tegoed doen aan een literair hoogstandje, al dan niet voor het slapengaan. Speciaal voor U dus, die zich statistisch gezien hoogstwaarschijnlijk in Erembodegem of Antwerpen bevindt alwaar ik op de het grootste aantal lezers kan rekenen, nog eens een blog post in het Nederlands of toch iets dat daar sterk op gelijkt.

Mijn avontuur in India is op zijn einde gekomen en door middel van een gestaag aantal Belgische bieren, Frietkotprut, Bourgondische wijnen en reeds verloederde sociale contacten in het binnenland, ben ik begonnen aan mijn rehabilitatie in België. Niet dat dat zo moeilijk is, maar toch. De gemiddelde temperaturen in dit tranendal liggen straks net onder de helft van wat ik gewoon ben en mij op de rechterkant van de straat begeven vergt de nodige concentratie. Bovendien is het niet meer sociaal aanvaard om een uurtje te laat te komen en moet ik dwangmatig terug met mes en vork leren eten teneinde de Belgische goegemeente niet voor de kop te stoten. Alvast bedankt, beste vrienden, voor uw begrip wanneer weeral eens overduidelijk blijkt dat dit nog enige moeite kost.

Anderzijds kan ik nog altijd een mondje Tamil of Hindi spreken wanneer ik nog eens de nachtwinkel betreed, een stevig hart onder de riem voor de globetrotters onder ons, nietwaar?

Terug in België betekent ook meteen een harde landing in de realiteit van de arbeidsmarkt en een bondig afscheid van het (thuis) werken in India, toegegeven, een ietwat pijnlijke evolutie. Gelukkig zal ik mij in de toekomst niet meer hoeven beroepen op een hongerloon van enkele dollars per dag om rond te komen, toegegeven, een perfect verklaarbare en welgekomen evolutie.

Om met een vrolijke noot te eindigen, wens ik de aandacht te vestigen op het feit dat ik dus terug beschikbaar ben om enkele potten te pakken, te sjotten, uw hart uit te storten en alle andere dingen waar u ongetwijfeld reeds een jaar naar hebt uitgekeken. Hopelijk is dit voor u inderdaad een vrolijke noot natuurlijk en snelt u terstond naar de telefoon om af te spreken...

Gelukkig kan ik jullie volgende week alweer van wat buitenlands cultureel nieuws voorzien gezien ik mij naar de desolate landbouwersgemeente 'Castelraimondo' zal begeven in Italië, waar mijn grote liefde (en haar moeder) zich momenteel bijscholen in de Italiaanse spraakkunst. Buiten mijn beste beentje voor te zetten, teneinde mijn grote liefde ook naar België mee te krijgen, kan ik daar ongebreideld rusten in een pittoreske omgeving en mij te goed doen aan kilo's pasta.

Rehabiliteren, een mens zou van minder moe worden.

Bij leven en welzijn, tot de volgende!

Pelle

Tiny Dancer

2008-10-15T18:00:00.001+02:00

Almost Famous - Tiny Dancer

The Reverse Culture Shock

2008-10-12T16:49:00.003+02:00

Today one year ago was the day I left for an unknown adventure in India. Today I'm home for about a week, slowly adapting to the Belgian lifestyle again. Though it might sound strange, there is something like the 'reverse culture' shock, meaning that even one's home country asks for some minor, sometimes major, adaptations again.

Upon my arrival a national strike for more buying power had been declared and put on hold the public life (and transport) in Belgium, for a day. It will not surprise you that after a year in India, the discussion about buying power (decreasing due to inflation) seems banal and superflous. Not only my own buying power was extremely low, having seen the masses without buying power over there every single day, pretty much makes me ashamed of the noisy union bosses yelling for more money and less work. It makes you quit and gets one thinking about how spoiled we are here in our little Belgium...but what to do? Not joining the ratrace would be a good start, right?

On the other hand it's good to be back. It's quite, clean and structured here. Cold as well. It's hard to make conversation sometimes, I'm not really aware of the changes, maybe even lost a bit of feeling with people. But I'm more me, I enjoy and staying for a while...

Travel impressions of India

2008-10-06T09:53:00.007+02:00

Another post with some travel impressions of our journey through India

Tropical birds in Agra

I really wonder how they guarantee the 'No Pain' at this piercing shop in Udaipur

Construction works on the highway towards Mumbai

A Rolls Royce in the streets of Mumbai

Sunset in Hampi, Karnataka

Besides fat tourists, also real pigs in Goa

Crossing the river in Hampi, 2 motorcycles + 4 bikes+10 people. By the time you reach the other shore the basket is half filled with water...

Colours of India

God is Love

vegetable portions on the market in Kochin, Kerala

Traveling India: Mysore - Cochin

2008-10-04T11:27:00.004+02:00

To complete the list of blog posts related to my travels through the Indian Subcontinent; I hereby quickly add some pictures of the last stages. We slept 2 consecutive nights on a bus, going from Hampi to Mysore and Mysore to Kochin, but the ultimate reward were the houseboat which we thoroughly enjoyed. Already some days ago

Mysore

Palaces of the Maharaja in Mysore

Kerala (Cochin)

Communism on the backwaters

a houseboat

Church in the backwaters, Allepey

On the houseboat

Grave of Vasco Da Gama, Kochin.

Traveling India: Stage 7: Goa & Hampi

2008-09-28T10:35:00.006+02:00

Mea Culpa, it has been some time since the last post again, but what to do if you're chilling on a beach in Goa? The last thing on my mind was spending time in a grungy internet cafe instead of palm filled beaches. That said, there's not much more to say about Goa. The season hasn't started and though it was sunny, most beaches were nicely deserted. We rented bikes, drove around Goa, spend time on the beaches, swimming and drinking some beers. Of the legendary rave parties and crazy nightlife we didn't see a thing. The Summer of Love is over I guess and made room for hordes of fat tourists enjoying the good value for their euros. Nevertheless we had a great time and calmly enjoyed Goa for 3 days.

Afterwards we headed to Hampi. A horrible bus ride over way too many bumpy roads brought us to this isolated pieces of rocky hills and hundreds of temples dotted over the landscape. This very same landscape I found more attractive than the temples themselves, because maybe I have been seeing too many of them since I arrived in India, now almost a year ago. We cycled under the burning sun through the valley and catched some amazing views. While the guys prefered to go for a marathon of sightseeing, the both us took it rather easy and did everything on our own pace.

Traveling India: Stage 6: Mumbai

2008-09-23T12:41:00.004+02:00

The last three days in Bombay have been lovely. Not only the city is really great, but we've enjoyed the greatest hospitality from our friends here. Leti's friend, active in the fashion business, offered us a small house in the north of mumbai where we could stay for free as long as we wanted. The place belonged to family that only uses it when they are in town, so we had our own quit place with all household facilities, in many aspects better than our own flat in Chennai.

The first day we ventured into the wholesale textile market of Mumbai and had great lunch, after a horrible bus ride from Udaipur (20 hours, cos a bridge collapsed somewhere on the way). In the evening we went to Colaba to meet my friends from Belgium who had arrived late from Zurich. The reunion was awesome and we had good fun and the next day, the guys also moved into the house where we stayed.

Clock Tower and Bombay Stock Exchange

Thanks to Thomas' business contact in Mumbai we had a car (a Toyata monovolume). fully air-conditioned and with a driver from the company who took us everywhere. We did a lot of luxury sightseeing, going from one place to the other and again had great lunch. His agent also took us out for dinner in the evening, to a pretty famous restaurant in Mumbai called 'Khyber'. Afterwards Leti's friend took us to a club called 'Hawaian Shack' which was also enjoyable but unfortunately closed early at 1:30am.

Bombay Skyline, Chowpatty Beach

Next day we had another day of sightseeing together with Thomas business contact and his driver and we got to see many nice places in Mumbai. Marina Drive ,Malabar Hill, Dhobi Ghat, Ratan Tata's office in the Bombay House, Victoria Station... we've seen it all. For a moment we could also forget we were poor backpackers, as we had a coffee in the Sea Lounge of the prestigious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, with view on the Gateway of India and the Arabian Sea. We also visited the company offices in the financial center of the city.

Taj Palace

But enough luxury and free dinners for now, tonight the 4 of us are heading to Goa to enjoy some sun and beaches...

See ya!

Daravi, biggest slum of Asia, Mumbai

Travel Impressions of India

2008-09-19T08:04:00.011+02:00

Some impressions of traveling through India

The Hairdresser in Amritsar had no clue how to make a mohawk, this was his first attempt. A very funny episode....

The first hour in the sleeper train you are actually still able to smile. The smile gradually fades as more and more people start to stare, remove their shoes, start putting Hindi music, spit or don't succeed in shutting their babies up during the night. Luckely the smile returns once out of the train :)

Boys swimming in the Ganges, Varanasi

Mmmm, Mutton in Old Delhi

With Shankar, Officer at Raj Ganj, Delhi

Me, riding on a Cycle Rickshaw in Agra, the driver and Leti in the backseat.

People celebrating Mother India at Pakistani Border, Attari

Close up of the Taj Mahal, Agra.

No Torch in Tibet - Protest in McLeod Ganj

Hanuman, the Monkey God, Shimla

Traveling India: Stage 5: Rajasthan

2008-09-18T16:05:00.006+02:00

We got quicker out of Jaipur as we intended and headed to Udaipur further south, after having dealt with the most important Jaipur monuments.

Jaipur boosts some amazing buildings and looks pretty organized. The old city (inside the walls) is divided in squares with specialized bazaars for every block, but despite all that it's still hot, polluted and overcrowded. The City Palace, home of the Maharajah, is surely worth the visit, but once outside the city confronts again. We walked and walked and walked around Jaipur till we literally couldn't feel our feet anymore, but we got a fair impression of the city in the 2 days we were there.

We also reasoned Udaipur would better to chill out so we took an overnight 10h bus ride to Udaipur.

Udaipur is famous for it's Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace right in the middle of it. The Bond movie 'Octopussy' was shot here and many of the restaurants show the movie every single night for the hordes of tourists that arrive here in the season. The place is beautiful though and pretty peaceful. It has been raining quite a bit over the last couple of days, but the sun also shines regularly and the many rooftop restaurants with lake view are cool to chill out or get stuffed with continental food. We have been enjoying ourselves, visited temples and walked around the lake and generally having a good time.

Lake Palace, Udaipur Jagmandir Island, Udaipur Kama Sutra on Temple,Udaipur

Tomorrow we are taking a marathon bus ride of more than 16 hours to Mumbai, where my friends Thomas and Filip will be arriving on the same day as us...

As always, to be continued....

Traveling India: Stage 4: Amritsar - Agra - Varanasi

2008-09-16T08:28:00.006+02:00

It has been a while since I have been able to blog, but the last week was one of intensive traveling with little time to find a quit internet cafe. Every other night we spend sleeping in a train, sometimes peaceful, sometimes extremely irritated by the unmannerly co-travellers (spitting inside the train, putting Bollywood hits on the cellphone at 7am etc.).

After the theater at the Pakistani border closing ceremony in Attari last week, with a heavily partying Indian site and a small delegation of 3 tourists on the Pakistani side, we took a train from Amritsar to Agra.

at the Pakistani Border in Attari

The Taj Mahal is as magnificient as they say and we both loved it. Our train had 4 hours delay though and upon arrival in Agra, we got to know the Taj Mahal is closed on friday (meaning the next day for us). We kinda had to rush to make it before closing time, but still wondered around the taj for more than an hour and had a great view from our guesthouse rooftop afterwards. We also got to see the Taj in the pouring rain :)

Except for the Taj Mahal and the Fort, Agra looks more like a big slum and the Taj Ganj is dirty and congested. In addition sales people, autodrivers and others are very pushy and annoying. We got what we came for, the Taj and the fort, and left in the evening for Varanasi.

Varanasi, formerly known as Benares, is the most sacred place for Hindus and life here evolves around the sacred Ganges river. We took a guesthouse right next to the Mani karnika burning ghat, so we actually smelled the whole time some bbq smell (of bodies being cremated). The tiny streets near the river are so small that no traffic can go through, yet cows are blocking the alleys everywhere, filling them with their fresh 'packages'. Very nice to walk on slippers here...

The next morning we took a boat ride along all the ghats. It's a colourful and lively combination of people washing, swimming, drinking, praying, and offering in and from the Ganges. We also took a close look at the burning ghat and saw bodies being cremated and blessed with water from the Ganges. Parts that do not burn, such as hips and some other bones are disposed in the river. Holy men, sadhus, pregnant woman and children are just thrown in the river, their bodies are supposed to be pure already so don't need to be burned. In the same river, 100m further people are drinking andf washing their clothes...pretty strange. Yet, the rowing guy of our boat ensured us that the Ganges is a very clean river!

manikarnika burning ghat & people washing 100m further

Now we are in Jaipur, Rajasthan the desert state. We have to visit some stuff still, but tonight we are already leaving for Udaipur. I guess I'll talk about that later...

Till the next one!

Filip

Travelling India: Stage 3: Dharmsala - Amritsar

2008-09-10T06:04:00.007+02:00

From the cold mountain air we have been catapulted into the heat of the Indian planes again, by means of one of the most horrible bus rides till now. The only bus from Dharmsala to Amritsar is a public bus, leaving at 5 am in the morning. Together with a bunch of Israeli backpackers we threw our stuff on the roof of the bus. Though the driver ensured us no attachment was needed, I was fearing all the way long that I would see my backpack flying past the window after hitting yet another hole in the road. In the morning we were freezing in the bus and after some hours we were sweating like pigs. The temperature change is enormous and we both have a serious cough now. In addition, one of the girls (of a huge bunch of noisy kids) threw up on me while I was asleep. She actually threw up out of the window but the wind blew everything on my lap..yummie. My mood was defintely ruined for the rest of the ride after that, as you can imagine.

Luckely after our arrival in Amritsar, a small Indian city (only 1 million people) in Punjab, we got what we came for: The Golden Temple. This Guru Dwara is the holiest place for Sikhs, the ones that are commonly known in Europe for their turbans and look like the stereotype of Indians for many abroad. The temple is absolutely amazing, entrance is free and we strolled around for a while. After dinner we returned to see the temple at night, even more beautiful and a very relaxing place for a late night walk. All this made up for the bad bus experience earlier that day and we are both very glad to have made it here.

This afternoon we are going to the Pakistani border in the back of an open jeep to see the border closing ceremony with Pakistani and Indian soldiers. Hope I will be able to tell you about that later;)

Indian quality Internet doesn't allow me to upload pictures for now...to be continued

Travelling India: Stage 2: Manali - McLeod Ganj - Dharmshala

2008-09-08T17:00:00.005+02:00

As our travels are continuing, we found ourselves deeper in the Himalayas after a 10 hour bus ride through crazy, rough, and beautiful scenery and arrived in Manali. This little mountain station is a popular place for backpackers going further trekking into the Himalayas, but equally attracts Indian honeymooners. To avoid those last group of people we went 2,5 km further up to Old Manali, the backpackers area full of cheap places to stay, bars and restaurants. The first day was more or less spoiled by rain, but the second day in Manali we ventured out and walked several miles through the surrounding hills. Very relaxing, a lot of fresh air and ice cold during the night.

After 2 days Manali, we took an overnight bus to McLeod Ganj, the official place of the Tibetian Governement in exile and the current home of the 14th Dalai Lama. The ride was horrible and after very few moments of sleep we arrived at 4:30am. Of course no guesthouse is open by that time so we found ourselves on the street, roaming around in the middle of the freezing night. Eventually an early autodriver took us somehere to stay, though crappy and distant from the town, we grabbed our chance.

After barely 6 hours sleep we checked out and decided to stay in Dharmshala, the town underneath McLeod Ganj (where the Dalai Lama originally found refuge) and close to the bus station to catch the only bus to Amritsar: public transport bus leaving from Dharmsala tomorrow at 4:30 am, another short night. Anyway, McLeod Ganj is a really nice place and we walked both up and down the 10km from Dharmsala to Mc Leod, enjoying nice views, spotting multitudes of Tibetian monks and stopping here and there for coffee and water along the way.

The 'Free Tibet' atmosphere is omnipresent and apparantly already more than 250,000 Tibetian refugees have found their way to Mc Leod and surroundings, many of them by foot from Tibet itself. Noisy Israeli's and devoted monks go side by side here, but in the end it's a little bit of Tibet in India. Interesting.

Tomorrow we are leaving the high planes and going to Amritsar in the Punjab...nice perspectives again!

See ya!

Pictures of Stage 1: Chennai-Delhi-Shimla

2008-09-06T09:43:00.005+02:00

As promised the pictures of our first stages of our journey through India. The first pictures are the most recent ones.

View over Himalaya valley from toy train. Kalka-Shimla

The toy train from Kalka to Shimla

Sunrise over the mountains

Monkeys in Shimla

Monkeys at the Monkey temple in Shimla

Jama Masjid Mosque, Old Delhi

Old Delhi, crazy traffic

Presidential Home by sunset, Delhi.

Raj Ghat, where Mahatma Ghandi was cremated

Travelling India, Stage 1: Chennai - Delhi- Shimla

2008-09-04T15:09:00.005+02:00

My first travel blog post, right from an Internet cafe in the Himalayas...

Chennai-Delhi

After an early morning flight to Delhi, from Chennai, we arrived early and with plenty of time to explore Delhi for the day. Old Delhi looks even worse than Chennai, with more people, more traffic, more beggars and more street kids harrassing people. Luckely their historic buildings like the Red Fort ad the Jama Mashid, India's biggest mosque, make up for it and I'm glad I've seen it. We then headed to the Raj Ghat, the place where Mahatma Ghandi was cremated, surrounded by beautiful parks. We made acquintance with one of the guards, a really young and cool guy patrolling in the park. As he posed his semi automic machine gun next to my backpack, we smoked a cigarette together and chatted away for at least half an hour. A nice change compared to the Tamil Police...

New Delhi surely is more modern, though I must have overestimated it. The metro system is impressive but once you get out of it you are undoubtedly back in India. Modern buildings looking nice from far away but that's about it. I also have the impression that Bangalore is even more modern than New Delhi, at least comparing both 'modern' places...

In the evening we made a long walk on the promenade linking the Presidential Home with the Gate of India, and walked around the 'Government Area' to finally head back to Old Delhi for our first overnight train....

Delhi- Kalka- Shimla

From Delhi we took an overnight train to Kalka. In Kalka we immediately boarded on the toy train towards Shimla, at 5 in the morning, allowing us to enjoy the sunrise over the early Himalaya Hills, great! Shimla itself was once the summer retreat of the British governement in Delhi and that's pretty obvious here. Though it's definetely gone glory, Shimla remains charming with its rather European look. We are at 2000m here and the town also has a monkey plague, meaning there are monkeys everywhere, from the mainstreet to our own hotel window. The monkeys (in addition of some Indians) harras tourists and even steel stuff. We observed how a poor sadhu got ripped of his chapatis by one of the hairy creatures....

After a long night of sleeping, today we walked uphill to see the monkey temple on top of the hill. To keep monkeys at a safe distance they rent out sticks for 5Rs, though not really necessary.

We also booked some more tickets to Manali, Amritsar, Agra, Varanasi and Jaipur, hope I'll be able to keep you all updated, with pictures next time!

India 100 Years Ago

2008-08-26T07:07:00.010+02:00

Vrienden Van De Blog,

De laatste werkweek is van start gegaan en ik ben in volle voorbereiding van mijn reis door India, die zo'n maand in beslag zal nemen en mij zal leiden van de Hymalayas in het hoge noorden tot de meest zuidelijke stranden van Goa en Kerala , met alle bezienswaardigheden ertussenin. Hopelijk kan ik tijdens mijn reis hier en daar een luguber Internet café binnenspringen om jullie op de hoogte te houden en enkele mooie kiekjes voor te schotelen.

Enkele vaste waarden staan alvast op het menu, Taj Mahal, Varanasi, De gouden tempel in Amritsar (niet al te ver van de grens met Pakistan), maar hopelijk kunnen we hier en daar de toeristische stromen ontwijken om enigszins rust te vinden, na al die maanden in een rusteloze stad.

Hieronder vindt u reeds enkele foto's uit de oude doos die sommige van de plaatsen uitbeelden waarlangs ik zal passeren. Dit is hoe India er 100 jaar geleden uitzag, ik ben eens benieuwd wat ik er van zal zien!

Bij leven en welzijn tot binnen...kort.

Pelle

Taj Mahal in Agra & Benares (Varanasi)

Delhi , 100 years ago

Golden Temple, Amritsar

Jaipur, 100 years ago & Tomb of Akbar The Great, Sikandarah

Victoria Terminus, Bombay, 1908

The Worst British Airways Experience Ever

2008-08-23T06:30:00.008+02:00

Update: Looking for BA in Chennai? Also read: British Airways abandons Chennai on Chennai Expat

I have previously seen and been subject to horrible customer treatment in Chennai, but what British Airways in Chennai accomplished to do in the last week, certainly broke all records.

It all started when we wanted to change the date of a paper ticket issued by BA. First we had to arrive at the former British Airways office in Chennai to find out it no longer exists. British airways in Chennai is only reachable through a phone number from now on. We call the provided phone number and are told to go to the airport, far away from the city and almost an hour drive with the Honda Kinetic in morning traffic.

At the airport we are not granted acces because security only allows passengers to enter the airport. After the usual chit chat (and the cop telling us to go to BA in
the city!)one of us is allowed to enter. Unfortunbately, only to find out there is nobody of BA present in the airport around that time. After a long search and behind security doors a British Airways employee is spotted. The employee has no clue and allows to use the phone to call the same number we previusly called. The voice on the other end now says 'why did you go to the airport??'. Frustration starts to grow as you understand. The lady adds 'go home and relax', causing the anger to hit record peaks.

Back home the same number is out of service for the rest of the day. Our first attempt failed and we file a complaint to British Airways.

The next day we finally get through the customer number of BA in Chennai. Miss Bindu from BA tells us to go to the American Airlines office in Chennai, everything will be taken care of there. The next day we find the AA office. A very friendly guy from AA tries to helps us out, but Britsih Airways has not send him any details and he can't do anything. We call the British Airways customer number from the American Airline office to tell them that. They put us 41 minutes on hold! After that they promise to send the information asap.

The next day no information has NOT been send by British Airways. It has then been more than 3 days already to simply change the date of a ticket, without any result. British Airways in Chennai really dsoesn't seem to care too much.

When we call again to the BA number, they finally ask for details concerning the date. We announce we would like to fly on the 4th of OKTOBER. British Airways calls back some time later, saying no seats are available on the 4th of SEPTEMBER and asks to upgrade. British Airways not only saves money on representatives in Chennai but also seems to be saving on providing adequate training for call center employees in India.

Finally we got more and more convinced that British airways would never help us out of this situation as they prefer ignoring customers and we started looking for alternative solutions. Finally our problem got solved by a travel agent in BRAZIL, after a few phonecalls over there the flight date was succesfully changed... within 2 hours time.

Conclusion: British Airways in Chennai fails on all fields and despite 5 weekly flights from London to Chennai they can't provide adequate customer service to customers in India.

"A warned man is worth two"...