Questions, questions

On top of everything, I can't stop wondering: why a mouse in leopard print...?

Train to... (Re-introducing: Dogma)

Whatever happened to Dogma? Personally I was not that impressed by Thomas Vinterberg's Festen (yes, that was me!), but the idea of making films according to the rules of Dogma 95 was very interesting, wasn't it. I just checked the list of Dogma films on the official Dogma 95 website and according to that list Plymouth from Brooklyn based director Steve Loff is the last Dogma film made so far. But you try find any information about that film, I cannot even tell you what year it was made. ImdB never heard of that film anyway and Steve Loff's resume isn't that impressive either.
Sooooo.... I was thinking, looking at my new Sony Ericcson W810 i with videocamera.... why not make the first cellphone-made Dogma movie? And I did. It is still in post-production now, but I would like to offer the readers of this weblog the opportunity to have an unique early sneak preview.
The film is called Train to... Now isn't that a thriller title? There is kinda like a cliffhanger already in it, you see!

Now I would like to say some words to critics that might want to point out here that this is not the first film made with a cellphone. Well.. duh! I know. You Tube is full with it. But no one ever claimed his cellphone-made film was a Dogma film, right? And no one made a cellphone Dogma film AND a spectacular Dogma Cellphone Competition to go with that, right? Exactly!

Speaking of this competition (Lars von Trier is going to hate himself not coming up with this idea himself): everyone is free to enter, just tell me:

a. Where was Train to... taken? (I need to know the exact location)
b. Where is the train in the movie going to?
c. What size are the shoes you see in the movie?

All entrees will be invited to the worldpremiere of Train to... on a later to be announced date and place. The winner will get a surprisingly appropriate price.




(Train to... is probably not to be seen soon in a cinema near you)

News from the balcony

There is something strange going on on my balcony. I am no expert, but I have two troughs there with plants in it that really shouldn’t be there, I’m sure. I had them there last year, they were little green plants carrying funny purple flowers that blossomed all summer. Surely I don’t know their name, but I really think that they were suppose to die in the winter. I was even pretty convinced that they did.
But they are back! Like zombies they have risen from their graves. Right on my balcony! Only they have no flowers! So, eh, what’s the use?!
Now D. told me that I should be patient and wait a little. So I will. Her fingers are a lot greener than mine and besides: there’s no reason to not wait a little when miss D. tells you to wait a little.

And some things do take time. Like the sunflowers I’m trying to grow for the first time in my life. They are doing pretty good so far. Reaching out for the sky. There will be flowers here this summer somehow, I’m sure.

Fantasy

Yesterday I went to see Pan’s Labyrinth (or El laberinto del fauno) by the Mexican filmdirector Guillermo del Toro. What a beauty.
Del Toro tells a story about ten year old Ofélia. She awaits the birth of a little brother. Her mother is ill though. And sadly enough, after the death of Ofelia’s father, her mother is re-married to a brutal military commander in the regime of the Spanish fascist dictator Franco.
The film shows the brutality of war and harshness of live in general. For Ofélia, who loves fairytales, there is only one way to escape: by creating her own fantasy world of elves, fauns, secrets and promises in which she can be her own little princess.

But even an imaginary world is not always that comforting as you would wish it to be. You can not always hide from things that are tough, unfair and difficult, so Ofélia learns. And the price you pay can be immensely high.

But still, even in the bitter end, there is shelter.

Go see it.

Afraid of the water

We Dutchmen have always been very proud of the way we handled water. And with reason. Big parts of our land are built out of the water. Half our country lies beneath sea-level and we are fine with that. The way our coasts are protected against extremely high tides, our system of canals and sluices are unique in the world. And hey, didn’t we rule the oceans in the seventh century because of fine Dutchmen like De Ruyter, Hein and Tromp, who lived and breathed water?

It’s true. Or better: it was true.

Last week my town Haarlem and the nearby situated city of Haarlemmermeer (a former lake, reclaimed between 1849 and 1852!) was confronted with contaminated tap water. Nothing serious really. In one or two random checks a bacterium was found. It concerned a low concentration of the so called Escherichia coli or E. coli bacterium - as we now know caused by bird poop that got into one of the reservoirs of a water installation through a leak in the roof.
We panicked. We panicked Big Time. Because we in Holland are very used to having extreme clear and clean water coming from the tap, most people usually drink tap water instead of bottled water. And now this water wasn’t 100 percent safe!
We ran to the stores to get ourselves Spa or Evian and were willing to kill for every single bottle. With tears of despair in our eyes we cried that our country was doomed. People saw their children, pets and plants dying right in front of their own eyes. And if not, then they saw it through the eyes of others. Our leaders should be hanged or shot. No-one had warned us for this disaster in person, by telephone or maybe a courier. It was obvious: we had reached the edge of the cliff. This was: The End.

The fact that E coli is not a very dangerous bacterium and almost completely harmless in a low concentration, the fact that a little bit of E coli in your water is not very likely to cause any serious health problems, the fact that indeed no one got ill and the fact that if you wanted to be completely sure about the safety of the water boiling it for just two minutes would be sufficient – it didn’t matter. The proud Dutchmen of Haarlem and Haarlemmermeer had become afraid. Afraid of their water.

Hanging on a new cell pho-one...!!

I got a new phone. And what a beauty it is! After consulting the just one responder on the big What Should Be My New Phone inquiry and a convincing sign of approval by miss D. I decided it was best to go for a model that wasn’t in the inquiry at all, and ordered the Sony Ericsson W810i (3try it). He doesn’t only look very good, according to several consumers tests he is very good. In spite of what one very good friend of mine implied on Sony Ericsson cell phones in general, but he is not particularly known as a great connoisseur of anything electric containing more than four buttons anyway...

So I am very happy with my new and shining play toy. And while the batteries are being charged I’m gonna put Blondie’s Hanging on the telephone in the CD-player and sing along right now.

Julia's Birthday

My niece Julia had her 7th Birthday yesterday.

D. off to work

Festivity week (removed)