Editorial - 27 February 2003

Just had a visit from some union-representatives at my work. Don't wanna bore you foreigners with the details, but it has got something to do with the idea that we are blocking talks about new rules for union-representation in small enterprises. As we represent those small enterprises in all talks with the governement on social and political levels, we are being targeted for it. Didn't had too much trouble from it. In fact, it was some fun entertainment during the luchbreak. Some banjo-music in the back, some speeches we couldn't understand and lots of people to watch. As always, click on the pictures for a bigger view ...

Green, red and blue arrive.	The band playing in the back.
Some speeches.	Cleaning up after they left

Editorial - 26 February 2003

I don't know what it is, but I'm having trouble sleeping since sundaynight. I lay awake for a few hours, doze off for an hour, wake up again, doze off again and so on during the whole night. Probably only sleeping three hours total. It's getting really annoying.
Song of the week : "Can't Stop" Red Hot Chili Peppers
Oldie of the week : "Ground On Down" Ben Harper
Last seen movie : "The Lost Continent" : awful and boring monstermovie with religiousfreaks and some gratitious boobshots which have absolutely nothing to do with the story and don't even create any interest from any of the male parts in the film. The actress just has a small top and some kind of wonderbra on. Completly moronic. I taped this movie during the afternoon, hoping it was the classic with stopmotion animation. The movie on which Jurassic Park is actually partly based. Too bad it was this crap.
"Shaolin Soccer" : hilarious soccer-kung-fu comedy with special effects and random references to lots of kung-fu movies - inlcuding an amazing spoof of the late great Bruce Lee. Me and Franky (and a whole lot of other people in the theater) were laughing our asses off. Incredible ... If you don't mind watching a chinese movie, try this one out. And don't be scared if you hate soccer. I do too, but that doesn't stop this movie from being very funny.
"Catch Me If You Can" : Spielbergian feel good drama/comedy. Yet based upon a true story of a con-man who acts as an airline-pilot, a chief resident of an ER and a state prosecutor. All before his 19th birthday.
Leonardo Di Caprio is wonderfully lighthearted, yet touching in the more dramatic scenes, bouncing off greatly with Tom Hanks - dependable as ever. Nothing much to say really : well made movie from some of Hollywoods top-talents. And you don't even notice it takes two hours and a quarter to tell the story.
Doing this week : Trying to sleep.

Editorial - 21 February 2003

First Bmac got a tattoo, a few weeks ago Worf decided to follow in his footsteps and last weekend Tsjerno got one. He sent me some pics, but just like in Worf's case I can't publish 'em (yet). Tsjerno drew his design himself and impressed the hell outta Tattoo Bertje - world famous for his tattoos on The Red Hot Chili Peppers and others.

Editorial - 20 February 2003

Good news today : Mobistar decided not to change it's name to Orange. At least not yet. Due to the recent selling of some parts of KPN and Orange brands in the UK, France and Belgium, we have a dual situation here. we had an operator called Orange which had to change it's name to Base because the mothercompany sold it's Orange-parts in other countries, lost the right to use that name etc etc etc ... On the other hand there was France Telecom which had a huge share in Mobistar and who bought parts of Orange. So it seemed not more than natural to rebrand Mobistar to Orange in order to have a global name for all it's local subsidiairies. In reality the story gets even longer and more boring but you get the drift by now.
Seems a lot of Mobistar employees don't want to get rebranded into Orange - partly due to the fact that the other Orange (now Base) had lots of outtages of it's network in it's first years. They think the Orange name therefor has suffered in the eyes of many consumers. They are probably right. I don't want to become Orange either. I prefer the green of Mobistar anyday ...

Editorial - 18 February 2003

Last sunday I got together with the people I went to Egypt with recently. Had some decent food (even a Tiramisu-contest), some laughs and off course all the photographs that weren't digital like mine. Time to sharpen the pens and start ordering. So there will probably be an even bigger collection online at this address.
Song of the week : "Special Cases" Massive Attack
Oldie of the week : "The Same Deep Water As You" The Cure
Last seen movie : "The Matrix" : TV-stations seem to be picking up this movie - hoping to catch in on the starting hype due to the imminent release of the follow-up "Matrix Reloaded". Despite having the DVD (was one of my first purchases) I watched it. It was a saturday-evening and I had nothing better to do unless going to a drum 'n bass party, but some of you know what I think about that kind of "music" (using the term loosely now).
This movie has got more style than substance and yet it doesn't bore - unless perhaps you're watching it six times a year ? Once or twice a year doesn't hurt. Not many movies can say that. Dipping some science fiction into a mild philosophical sauce (without getting to strange or I wouldn't like it), you get the usual battle of good versus evil, terminator-style : man versus machine.
Most of them are decent (Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving) or fine actors (Laurence Fishburne), some are just perfectly cast (Keanu Reeves) no matter what their acting abilities are. The sets are gorgeous, the effects awesome. Lots of scenes are even becoming classics (the lobby, the helicopter ...)
Here's to hoping the Wachowski brothers don't screw this one up by adding two more movies to the franchise : Reloaded (may 2003) and Revolutions (november 2003).
"Blow Out" : a Brian De Palma classic from the seventies starring John Travolta and Nancy Allen.
Doing this week : Nothing.

Editorial - 16 February 2003

Following up last year's special Valentine's design, I made another one this year. Backed up here for historical purposes.

Editorial - 12 February 2003

Quite the surprise last monday-morning when I suddenly got another student under my care for the next three months. I had two of them last year - which went quite well I think - but I had no idea there was going to be a new student. Actually nobody except the manager knew she was coming last monday. Had to scramble to get a laptop up and running with some useful software ... oh well, we managed, no harm done.
Song of the week : "Bother" Stone Sour (a second time here because I keep singing it in my car - which is quite unusual for me)
Oldie of the week : "Everybody Needs Somebody" The Blues Brothers (I'd sing this one anyday with both lungs)
Last seen movie : "Taxi 3" : funnier than the second one, not as good as the first one. That about sums it up. Good laughs, silly carchases and stunts, quite some funny actors, scenes and gimmicks. And a nice cameo from one wellknown tough guy hero actor from the states in the begin-sequence. Good brainless entertainment.
"The Magdalene Sisters" : very powerful drama from the man who gave us the sensational "My Name Is Joe". British actingdrama at it's very best - without the weird eightteen century costumes fetish most british drama seems to need. Based upon a true story about some horribly misguided nuns running a "re-adjustment" center for "girls in trouble". If you called getting raped, getting into trouble therefor getting punished by some sort of slave-labour in the washing-facility of these nuns for an undetermined period of time ... well then you must be nuts. Just one more reminder why I couldn't care less about the catholic church - even though I was "cleansed with the holy water" when I was about a month old. Christianity might be okay, but catholicism sucks big time. Bunch'o fscking hypocrits.
Doing this week : Fixing some HTML for my nephew. He wants to make a CD that will start playing upon inserting and which gives you the chance to start 17 different musicvideos ... too bad it has to be done quickly. Otherwise I could've tried something more flashy than what I'm going to do.

Editorial - 3 February 2003

I guess the snowstorm last week was intended to make Bill Gates feel right at home. Importing some snow(storms) from Seattle. Nice move ... not. Can't say that his speech on .NET (that's dotnet for you all) was that great. Heard and read it before over the past year. Still nice to see people speak quite fluently for half an hour without grasping for ideas, mumbling and so on. Which - as usual - couldn't be said of most of the other speakers at the usual IT-convention. Always the same companies, always the same people, always the same big words. Kinda boring in retrospect.
Song of the week : "Go With The Flow" Queens Of The Stone Age
Oldie of the week : "Chemistry" Semisonic
Last seen movie : "The Truth About Charlie" : the truth's not that good actually. movie starts off slow, then goes into overdrive for half an hour, fades out, becomes a little boring and campy and doesn't pick up the pace in the end. Not all acting is up to par, and most actors don't know what genre this movie's supposed to be ... and that's the biggest flaw : what is this ? A thriller ? A comedy ? And why the campy parts ?
"The Pledge" : slow-paced drama starring Jack Nicholson as an honest, lone cop going on retirement after his last case isn't solved to his likings. His gut tells him they arrested the wrong man, so he moves to the small towns where his suspect could be living. Emerging himself in the townlife he searches for clues, sets up a whole new life and finally takes a hug gamble ... Nice performances, a scenery nature-lovers will like and a nice idea to start the movie. Only minor let-down is the quick and easy conclusion which could've been handled differently. It isn't bad, but it doesn't seem to fit completely in the story.
"Little Voice" : Beautiful, touching english comedy-drama about a silent girl, dominated by her mother, who blossoms when she sings old fifties and sixties songs so accurately that it seems like an exact copy of the original performers' voices. It was so good that I kept watching even tough the movie started around midnight and I wanted to go to sleep early.
Doing this week : Since my girlfriend has got to work the next four days until eleven in the evening, I've got the place to myself. Tonight there will be some dishes (greasy pans) and updating the site some more (movie-reviews and stuff). And the next few days I'll probably do all the cooking.

Editorial - 2 February 2003

Just some thoughts on the space shuttle Columbia explosion only a few hours ago ...

darkman says sleep tight

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