Let´s go somewhere else tonight

Having lived for almost 4 years in Amsterdam, one catches himself of building a routine - also for socializing. So we thought, let´s go somewhere else tonight, just the two of us.
We ended up in the flashiest pub in the East, with golden aluminum foil stuck to the ceiling from where small plastic Christmas trees we hanging upside down, the walls full of photos of smiley World Cup supporters, popular Dutch singers and the like. There we small carpets on the tables and pots of flowers. The beer was reasonable.
In the beginning, we were the outsiders, but then a gentleman sat down with another couple at our table and we started chatting. Initially, he tested out Dutch and stated that this was a homophilian (how do you say that) pub. And that he worked in the building industry. This got me all interested:
- Have you read the Fountainhead?
- No, what is it?
- A great book, about architects. About the ones that build what the public wants and those who are committed to build only what they believe in.
- I build what the public wants.
- What did you build?
- A shop in Colombia.
Ok, I thought this was not leading too far. I took a coaster and wrote down: Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead. The gentleman looked at me, smiled and put it in his pocket. Then he drank his beer bottoms up.
So we went back to awkwardly staring at each other...
After a while, it turned out that he lived 4 years in France. In a prison - he came from Colombia by boat...with some uniquely Colombian gifts on it. After another round of beers we left. I was thinking, how dangerous, we move out of our routine and run into convicts and drug traffickers.
Or...was it true at all? Maybe I was just disappointed by the initial start of the conversation and gave too much importance to my imagination....
Anyways, bottom line is, I think we should do something different every Friday. Or every day, almost, for that matter.

Good books

There are superficial books, easy to read, entertaining. There are heavy books that make you feel good about yourself for reading them. There are all kind of different books for various target audiences and there are masterpieces.
The Fountainhead is one of them. I have not heard of Ayn Rand before. An amazing intellectual woman of the 20th century, having been born in Russia and developing her own philosophical system (obejctivism). The book is not only really exciting, but it boosts a readers´self confidence and challenges the boxed in thinking. It´s a real revelation.
The book was initially so successful, that a movie was made based on it...in 1949. Well, feel free to watch the movie, but as always, the book will offer a much richer experience!
It´s like a shrink ... and I hope it has long lasting effects!

Incredible India

What a luxury go on to India when it´s minus 5 degrees in Amsterdam! What a luxury to go to the wedding of two good friends in India! Too much luxury to start with!The parties, the ceremonies, the henna tattoos, dancing in from of the horse with the groom! Getting a suntan throughout the day and celebrating at night!
Meeting up with old friends!
Amazing....go, if you ever get the chance! And don´t worry too much about planning!
It´s unforgettable, the colors, the smells, the tastes (I opted out of this), the sounds (get ready)!
India is a country you cannot describe in words. You just have to experience it!
Oh, a new slogan: Experience India!
I am recovering from the experience - more precisely from the air conditioning of the plane. They never let you down... That´s the price one has to pay for a unique getaway in the middle of the winter...
Experience Incredible India!

The Driver of Human progress

What drives human progress? I would like to think that it is free, empowered thinking, forward looking, creative innovation.
However, if you look at the underlying motivations of progress, it is fear. Fear of God or fear of not making enough money. Whatever your convictions are in a Western society, these really are the main drivers of progress. The only problem with it is, that it does not put people in a powerful position where they think openly and freely, but it rather puts people inside predefined boxes.
I am happy to understand that 1) not everyone in the Western societies thinks like this and there are great creative initiatives and truly happy people who think way out the box. 2) human progress is not driven only by the Western societies and elsewhere happy, liberated thinkers and doers come up every day with new, better, more sustainable ways of doing things.
I guess this answers why most of us do not like to be considered mainstream westerners, it is actually more of a vision of fear and slavery than a happy thought.
I guess that is why I like reading Earth, the book, it mocks our rather narrow scope of thinking. A good read, but I do not think it gives too many answers to the big questions. It merely pushes the reader to let go, smile and try to do things differently next time.

Music

When I was younger, I used to listen to Ricky Martin. I don´t listen to him any more. I listen to random music all the time - music other people listen to and I overhear. I am not even sure what band is in...but I go to more concerts than even before and hear lots of music. I just don´t consciously listen to it.
But I appreciate music more then ever before. While I am at concert, wondering about the decibels and the damage to my ears, I observe people. People dance, jump, sing along, move their limbs in a random way, whistle, scream, clap, do all kind of things. Music does not let them just stand there and observe. People participate. People with different musical preferences react to different kinds of music. But everyone knows of some music that will cheer them up of bring them down.
This is why music, among the other forms of art is still the most outstanding. Because it´s alive, not static. If one reads a poem, looks at a painting or sculpture, one is likely to have an opinion. Yet it´s not too common to dance around paintings ... (possible, though, I know).
Music triggers us.
Different music for different people.
For example, the Blower´s daughter...brings me down, but makes me feel soo alive. I guess another song does the same to you.

The solution to global problems :-)

I like bold titles :-) But just before you read on, I must warn you, you may disagree with the thoughts shared here...if you read on, I´ll be happy.
So: There are so many issues in the world - from AIDS through hunger, flood victims, to victims of wars. All developed countries (and less developed ones, too) are trying to support all kinds of charitable initiatives to tackle these problems.
By sharing responsibility, it´s no one country´s ultimate responsibility to fix anything, though. So here´s what I propose: each country should "adopt" a global problem: e.g. the Netherlands will come up with solutions to alternative energy from water (hydro, tidal, wave). They would be accountable for always developing new technologies and governments and businesses worldwide would all come to the Dutch for solutions.
I understand we´d have to work out (1) how problems would be allocated to countries, (2) how can we ensure the quality of the solution if there is no market economy involved, (3) how can we make sure solutions are offered to businesses as well even though they do not always participate in the development.
Yes, I know, the theory is not fully developed yet. But imagine, the UN would get together and list all global problems and prioritize them. Then they would estimate the cost of solving it. And countries depending on their wealth would become responsible for 1 problem each. And in case they fix it (e.g. there is no more hunger in the world), they receive a new task, the next one on the priority list.
I also understand that this approach seems to simplify the complexity of issues (e.g. such as hunger - it´s a consequence of many factors). I also accept the criticism for calling this approach very "command and control"-like, even going against the fundamentals of the currently dominant free market economic system.
Yet, I still see a point in clarity (it´s clear who does what) and accountability (countries can hold each other responsible for meeting or not meeting the timeline of projects).
Oh, and maybe someone else already came up with this theory and it was already tried and went wrong. In that case, this is just a reminder of how ideas in different people´s minds reoccur.
The underlying assumption to this approach is that (1) we all care, (2) countries are willing to become part of this regardless of the changes in the government.
So, any questions? Where do we get started?
Let me know!

Green Porn

So many people refer to examples from the animal kingdom as a symbol of hard working, domination, community organizing, etc.
For example, Mama Grizzlies have enjoyed quite some attention recently. But apparently, the animal kingdom can also answer a tougher question - and offer examples of sexual behaviour.
Isabella Rossellini does an excellent job in translating animal sexual behaviour and explaining it in an arty way!
This is not porn, this is education!
And I have the feeling that you laugh and learn a lot!
Enjoy!

Support bands

I remember when I saw Jamie Lidell assupporting artist of Bjork. I think I like his music now more than Bjork´s. And I remember seeing a great gig of the Eagles of Death metal in Prague and it was amazing and when they performed as the support band for Arctic Monkeys, I was not so convinced...
In general, support bands are great, but no matter how hard they try, they can never get the crowd crazy. I just saw Sky Larkin as support band to Les Savy Fav. Actually both bands were great, but I slightly preferred the support band. And they gave away free badges. I liked them, but in the end we bought merchandise from the Les Savy Fav. And I was left with a feeling of guilt, for having the choice and deciding to contribute to the already well off band rather than supporting what I actually liked more...
I was punished by karma for my act because my ear has been ringing since the concert (48 hours now). Why do concerts have to be bad for your health? Anyways, Sky Larkin will be back in December to support another concert. maybe I will go back and not give an awkward smile to the drummer selling their merchandise, but reach in my wallet....
Long live support bands!

When tequila knocks on the door

Familiar? Think twice next time :-)

New World Order

Well, the picture is about consumption, the one I should really use here is the one that depicts the correlation between economic development and resistance to corruption.
So, last night in a a conversation the question came up if it is economic development or resistance to corruption that needs to happen first. I thought it would be economic development. Once a person has overcome basic economic hardship, he/she is more likely to become more transparent. Now I am not sure if this approach can be also used to assess country level development.

Others in the conversation were of the opinion that first one has to become less prone to corruption and then economic development will follow (except in geographic areas where crops were easy to grow, such as in Italy, but where the development over time slowed down and transparency seems to be lacking at times). Hm, but how can one become less corrupt? What are the drivers of this change of attitude?

One driver we could agree on was the protestant religion (an excellent example for Northern Europe) where work and honesty are the highest values. So once Northern Europeans became more hard transparent, economic development followed.

Ok, but what about wealth driven by natural resources (OPEC countries)? They are economically well off, but generally not perceived as transparent. In this case, is economic development a pure consequence of oil richness and chaos will return once the wells dry up? Or can welfare also lead to more transparency and resistance to corruption over time?

And also, what about Northern Europeans becoming less religious? Will they lose the virtue of transparency? Or has the value now entered their consciousness beyond religion? By living in the online era, are we going to transform our values? As we are becoming more open, flexible, and interconnected, how is our proneness to corruption going to be affected?

How will the new world order of transparency and economic development be?

Cocorosie and others

So it all stats with either having time to write blog posts but not having much to share or doing cool stuff and never getting around to share it. It´s Friday night and the party I was going to go to turned out to be tomorrow which got me some unexpected free time. So I am trying to catch up and share a CocoRosie experience.

CocoRosie is a freak folk, hip hop, experimental duo of two sisters born in the US of A and living in Paris. The show was a perfect kitsch performance. Perfect to the last detail. The way they sound is difficult to describe - there seems to be some oriental influence, a pinch of native American sound, lots of opera and shrieks and a whole palette of some kind of instruments - from a jukebox to a harp. Now this, combined with the merry go round and pink baby with vampire teeth VJ work blends so well, I just felt like in a fairy tale land.

CocoRosie is worth a wikipedia check!
And the week did not end its share of memorable moments there....we had a living room concert last night. The singer songwriter should be performing on huge stages! She won even over CocoRosie - at least for her interaction with the audience! Seriously, the amount of talented people...I underestimated it again.

I just wish I found my talent one of these days...until then I just keep baking and promoting sustainability. I guess that´s a safe start in my case!

Seu Jorge

The Amsterdam Dance Event is on. Unlike in previous years, I made an explicit effort to participate. And it worked out, even though most parties were sold out and the weather suggested you´d better stay home if you don´t want to get completely soaked.

We went to the concert of Seu Jorge, a Brazilian musician (across several styles). The concert was great, most Brazilians in Amsterdam were there too. Having just recently been to Brazil, it was a moment of reconnection (since in Sao Paulo I did not have time to do anything cultural).
But there was another point of connection. A colleague of mine just moved recently to Brazil. The day she arrived, her husband to her to a Seu Jorge concert in Sao Paulo. So, even though I have not seen her for almost 2 months, the fact that she sang along and danced to the performance of the same artist who was now in Amsterdam created a special connected feeling.

Which was nice.
After Seu Jorge left the stage, we waited for 3.5 hrs for Jeff Mills, the legendary techno DJ from Detroit to come on stage. Many people seemed ho have enjoyed his performance even more. But at 2:30am, all I could think of was work the day after and the lack of sleep I will have. So I left. Seu Jorge created a connection he was not aware of. And that was my little secret that made me smile....

Zim

I never thought I´d go to Zimbabwe. I have never been to Africa, so starting with Zimbabwe looked like a very unlikely way to go. Until it actually happened.

Zimbabwe is a beautiful country, people are beautiful, even though most of them live in extreme hardship. The countryside is amazing, even though in October it´s rather dry and turns brown. Yet the blue lizards and the birds, the zebras, even the cattle, it all feels to beautiful, so real and down to Earth. I feel privileged for having been there, seen it and experienced it first hand.
Now, the amount of spiders - even though they are harmless - was not all that pretty, but I have made significant progress in learning how to live with them.

The most beautiful part of the experience were the stories people were telling. Stories of resilience, of hope, of innovation, of never giving up and always finding alternative solutions and new ways of dealing with reality.

I found it somehow incredible to see kids walking for miles and miles to school and sitting down in the shadow of a tree in the afternoon to read their books. My reality has been redefined in a couple of days - seeing ladies carrying baskets on their heads, babies tied to their backs, vans so full that people were hanging from the door, roads full of people walking on them with almost no cars in sight.

Hearing the local stories of why development aid does not work and what kind of investment would be needed to help the country recover was yet another reality adjustment for me.
The willingness of businessmen to develop in a sustainable way, to build communities and protect biodiversity was so humbling. If people in hardship do get the message, why don´t we?
Even though I was in Zimbabwe for less than a week, it taught me a lot about life in the developed world.

Just recently, a famous Dutch actor committed suicide. He was loved, rich, young, famous, and healthy. But he had nothing left to fight for. He had it all.

This will not be true for the people in Zimbabwe where unemployment is 90% and the 10% that works helps throughout families and villages so that everyone can survive. I do not know where they see the end of the fight against poverty. But what I saw was that rather than trying to define a timeline, they go on, day by day, adding value to their lives. Not just monetary one. Maybe they do not even thinks it´s a fight. It´s just their reality.

Under the sun, the hot red sun, the song of the birds and the grass life goes on, slowly, calmly, with a lot of will and determination. We should all go to Zimbabwe to learn something about ourselves... and it would help the country a great deal, too.

Mamy Rock

http://www.mamyrock.com/

Literally - a grandma that rocks! And who said bridging generational divides was difficult!

And not a bad DJ at all, mind you!

Fascinating, energizing and undisputably unconventional!

She's so far not scheduled to have a gig in Amsterdam, though....but look out, she the hot news of the rainy fall!

A wish come true

I had a great afternoon with a friend, sitting on a bench, enjoying one of the last sunny afternoons of the year (unfortunately). We were talking about things we´d like to achieve, how we´d like certain things to work out, what would make us even happier than we already are.
I remember hearing people say "Be careful with what you wish for". I never quite understood it, but coming to a closing of our third decade in this world, we started discussing this with my friend. And seem to have finally got the message of the statement.
When our wishes come true (when you get your dream job, when you receive a reward, when people give you the attention you want, etc.) it turns out that even this dream situation has its downsides and you are not as happy as you thought you´d be once you wish came true. When you get there, you see that no situation is perfect. And that you can always wish for more, for better (human greed?).
This seems to be a lesson that everyone has to learn for themselves, everyone needs to achieve and see how it´s really not like what we thought it would be. It is a life long process of wishing, achieving and getting disappointed. It is also helpful on the personal journey of learning how to appreciate what we have. Of making the most of the current situation instead of constantly planning a more glamorous future.
At the same time, I personally find it important to avoid getting comfortable with a mediocre situation and to stop working on my personal development, sharper yet more harmonious self-definition. It´s an exciting process to learn to appreciate the presence and working towards improving it from within.
Wishes are good, but we need to learn that nothing is ever perfect, only I can work on myself to appreciate what is given.

LUSH

It all starts with presents. I would buy Lush, Rituals and other delicious cosmetics for friends, but not for myself. Also, if I got something from these brands, I would pass it on.
Until recently. I realized that it´s meant also for me and I can spoil myself to the extent of using it. So, if I get some delicious soaps and lotions, I use them and love the feeling of it - the smell, the touch, it´s all a whole new dimension.
It´s also nice that we got lots for scented wedding gifts! And just recently, a pleasant surprise - I was looking for a book I lent to someone and could not remember, who to! And one Sunday afternoon, planting a small flower in our 30cm * 2m front yard, the neighbor brought the book back and a box full of Lush delicacies (apparently, someone dropped it off with him as we were not at home). I am very happy to be reunited with Vegetal Cities, but still do not know who had it, since there was no note with the book. Whoever you are, thank you for getting the book back and for a box full of scented goodies! I am very happy with all of it. I just feel bad about not remembering who I need to thank...
Long live natural soaps and lotions! And friends who bring your books back (by the way, I hope it was inspiring to read the book)!

Assessing it

I am trying to think of all the documentaries we have seen in the past two years about the food we eat (The Future of Food, Our Daily Bread, Food Inc, Supersize Me, and many others), about fishing (The End of the Line) about overall (un-) sustainability issues (The Yes Man, Carrot Mob, Zeitgeist, Home, The Age of Stupid, etc), climate change (the Inconvenient Truth), migratory pressures, financial crises - the list could go on for much longer....There is so much info out there!
These films also propose some really gloomy scenarios. We are all eating mass produced food (whereas distribution inequalities have reached epic proportions), we have overfished the seas, used chemical pesticides and grew non-indigenous crops, grew businesses to a size where even with the very best intentions one does not have an overview of the full supply chain and it´s impact on the environment and communities, a huge part of the ice sheet in Greenland just broke off a day ago (its size is 100 square miles and over 520 feet of thickness) and it is just floating ...there goes our fresh water supply. And there it goes in the Himalayas where it also causes floods in Bangladesh and forces people to flee.
So, it looks really gloomy. Actually, worse than that.
Nevertheless, remember when the volcano is Iceland broke out in April this year for the first time? It was massive chaos. And remember the second time? Everyone was so much more ready to deal with it. We seem to adapt to new realities so well.
So here´s my proposition (and please, feel free to challenge it): Despite the fact that we do not know how the global ecosystems will function after Greenland will be all green, after all red-listed species will disappear, after we have used up all the oil and our western societies will grow very old, but I believe that human life on Earth will continue. We´ll just eat jelly fish and roaches, we´ll lower our consumption standards out of necessity, but we´ll still be around.
I wonder if the massive global distribution inequality will be reduced....but nonetheless, we´ll be here, possibly fighting over something we perceive as scarce, whereas it´s abundant.
I wish governments and captains of industry created a bigger wave of change and brought about a systemic change in the way we live. To start thinking in a long term, holistic way is (in my opinion) the solution. Yet, this needs to happen not on moral grounds, but based on the business case we create with sustainability. This would be the best case scenario. I see so many initiatives, so many enlightened well connected people who are working for this change, but I do not see the critical mass forming fast enough.
This is the reason for my proposition: even if we do not change our ways of doing business and consuming fast enough, we´ll eventually learn to adapt - learn to take care of ourselves, possibly even grow our urban food, live in less comfortable conditions, do whatever it takes. And start all over again. There were plagues in the middle ages. There were wars, economic crises...there were even times when our ancestors didn´t quite control fire. And look how far we got.
This is not to say that we should stop trying to fix what we are destroying - it is just to say that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, that I believe we´ll make it. It may not be the brightest sunlight at the end of the tunnel, but it´s not all that dark either.
How do you see this (not) happening? What will be left of us?

Sunflowers

I was looking for inspiration on a cloudy August morning. August mornings are generally sunny, in most parts of the world. Not so often in Amsterdam.
Last Saturday some friends came over to eat delicious lamb stew and cataplana (I guess the Algarve version of paella), have some delicious drinks and finsh with my home made cakes. (I have fallen in love with maknig cakes - it's a very relaxing process. And I rarely follow a recipe - which gives me as much space for creativity as I am willing to create for myself.)
Anyways, apart from the great (often unfinished) conversations and the many extra bottles of wine we now have at home, I got some flowers (Ik ben gek op bloemen!!!). Among the flowers were also sunflowers.
Since I have also bought a bouquet of sunflowers on Saturday morning at the market, our tiny apartment was getting very full of sunflowers. So I brought some to work today.
It it worked magic - the contrast with the grey sky was way too big. The yellow of the sunflowers is so full of life, warmth and optimism! It even turned the grey sky somewhat sunnier!
Long live the power of flowers!

Empathic Civilization

I would like to recommend a pretty awesome (and calming) animated video on the Empathic Civilization. Delivered by Jeremy Rifkin at the Royal Society of Arts, drawn by I am not sure who, but really well.
I am one of the lucky dudettes who saw Jeremy Rifkin live negotiating with the President of the European Commission about a carbon free economy. But Mr. Rifkin was on the side of hydrogen and the European public opinion was not. So, no deal.
Nevertheless, good and constructive thinking!
It's Friday afternoon and the only empathy I feel right now is towards a bed I would like to curl up in - or maybe a drink on a sunny terrace before..hmmm...very tempting.
Anyways, if you have 10 minutes and would like to learn about a new evolutinoary theory, click on the one above.
Cheers!

Unexpected

So we were at the Snoop Dogg concert on Monday night at Rabozaal in Melkweg. I was sitting there, listening to music I would sometimes find vulgar, and then it all clicked.
There was something clean and sharp about his performance. There was a connection with the audience, sympathy and yet the cool attitude with the diamond glove / microphone. There was cursing, plenty of weed, and yet something extremely coherent, very professional, neat and smart.
And then I thought: I will write in my blog about people who inspire me. Not only people who derictly work to change the world, but anyone in whom I can spot that special something. For me, in Snoop Dogg it was his sharpness, his alignment with his message yet an elegant way.
I have to admit, I was impressed....I didn´t quite drop it like it was hot, but I saw a great professional on stage. Who entertained for 90 minutes sharp, with his two bodyguards like wardrobes on the sides of the stage. With the diamond glove mic. It really worked for me!
It´s amazing how you find inspiration sometimes in places that you don´t expect.
And that´s it.
Someone stole the front wheel of my bike today. I may just track the person down and see if I find something inspiring in him...