Chi sent me this through Facebook. Makes me evaluate who the roots are among my friends. I know who they are and so do they. Here is hoping you have many roots yourself.
Last Month I did some moderation for an event at the International Rotterdam Film Festival here in Holland. There is a write-up in independent magazine about it. Have a look!
Blogging Rotterdam, Part Five: Understanding Europe’s Zeal for Media Literacy The Independent’s Randi Cecchine, a filmmaker and educator from New York City, is impressed to learn that governments in Europe are eager to come up with policies to promote media literacy among their citizens, particularly young people. But as a European friend suggests, the role of the government in establishing guidelines concerning media literacy and education can be complicated—especially if media makers are cut out of the policy-making loop.
Here is my quoted excerpt (for family to be proud) the rest you should really read if you are interested in this stuff.
Gabriel McIntyre (I’ll call him Gabemac) was the charming conference moderator. I found it interesting that they chose an American to lead the discussion. Gabriel is originally from Atlanta, but has lived in the Netherlands for many years, working as an educator and with emerging technology and advertising.
He helped me understand the European media literacy context a little more clearly, reminding me that most media is funded by the government, and that historically media has often been used for propaganda for pretty bad purposes. The notion is that if the government has such a large role in creating the media, it also has a responsibility to enhance the cultural undersanding of media.
I ask Gabe what he thinks comes out of events like this.
“Policymakers make policy. It’s up to artists to take the policy and make it right. That’s always how it is, in any democratic society. And if they didn’t make right policies, the artists wouldn’t take it up. Or they would say, you screwed up there—this is better.
I just heard that my good friend Steve (who has been there for me through a lot of shit) has popped the question and is getting married! He is in Australia at the moment and decided to ask Ghislaine there. I have to admit I was rather surprised becuase I never thought Steve would want to get married, but I guess when the right woman comes around, you just go in full throttle sometimes as a romantic. I wish the both of them lots of happiness and now I get to save for a possible trip to Australia for the wedding! SWEEEET!!!
This is a great video to remind ourselves of what we have and to focus on the wealth and privileges we have. If you are able to see this you have an internet connection and a computer and are very privileged. Remember that. First step to change is awareness.
We are in Munich this week for the DLD 08 conference making films. This is the first one to get things kicked off. A really great conference with lots of amazing people. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some good interviews up on Watchme from it. Here is the first film.
It’s good to be back and see everyone. This is me and my uncle Jack. We used to go climbing together when I was a kid. We don’t do that nowadays. Maybe someday soon though.
I haven't been home in a while. Things have gotten pretty crazy with private life and with XOLO. I needed to get away and get back to who I am. The best feeling in the world when you feel betrayed is to come home and feel the love. And with my family, EVERYONE shows up, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends all come together, eat, drink and give me love and support. There is no greater gift in the world than that. I am the luckiest man!
I just got tagged on Facebook with this picture. It’s an old picture from Highschool and Chi Byers tagged it for me. Man that reeled me back a few years. I’m not sure what that spot is on my face. I think it’s on the picture when it was scanned. Man I loved those shoes.
It’s that time of year to play this awesome song from my firend Steve! Furthermore for my Birthday WE ARE LAUNCHING THE XOLO ALPHA!!! How cool is that. So here’s the deal. Today we will be sending out the first 10 invites, checking the system and then follow with some more invites. It may take a week to get through our list, but we are starting. What a great birthday present that is. If you haven’t sigend up to be a tester you can still do that at www.xolo.tv still, but you have to be fast.
For those who are wondering what I’m doing for my birthday, I will be at the Holland New festival every evening from now until friday. Friday there is a cool party, so come by and have a drink with me.
Van donderdag 25 t/m zaterdag 27 oktober presenteren Cosmic theater en Made in da Shade het tienjarige jubileum van het Hollandse Nieuwe festival. Dit festival vindt plaats op 10 verschillende locaties op het terrein van de Westergasfabriek. Alle activiteiten in het festival worden speciaal samengesteld rond een jaarlijks wisselend thema. Het thema van 2007 is: familie.
Het festival presenteert vijftien nieuwe eenakters van toneelschrijvers en theatermakers. De nieuwe, ongespeelde theaterteksten worden gepresenteerd als geënsceneerde readings, door gerenommeerde acteurs, regisseurs, vormgevers èn door nieuw talent.
GO BIG OR GO HOME, landelijke tournee van do 11 okt 07 t/m di 18 mrt 08 (première do 25 okt, Amsterdam, Theater Frascati) Een grensverleggende ontmoeting met de Amsterdamse straat, Amerikaanse en Zuid Afrikaanse invloeden, break dance uit IJsselstein, moderne dans met een Boliviaanse touch, krachtige Afrikaanse dans, Spaanse en Braziliaanse ritmes die met hip hop kruisen.
GO BIG OR GO HOME is the new production from the Amsterdam Dance Group "Don't Hit Mama". Crossing borders dance with street, american and south african influences. Modern dance with Bolivian touch, African dance, Spannish and Brazilian rythms with hip hop mixes. National tour in Holland is from thurs. 11 october '07 until 18 march '07 (Premiere is 25, october 2007 in Amsterdam Theater Frascati)
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Last Friday we played some Poker at GabeB’s. Mindcaster, bicycleMark and Richard Bluestein showed up as well. Richard grabbed the tape recorder and just put it on the table to a show. You can hear it here. I won a whole 10 euro that night! YEAH!!! It was actually just great to see Richard and the Mark(c)s all together.
This video is a panel discussing OPEN ID and it’s uses with the heads of Twitter, jaiku, People Aggregator, Skipper, Hyves.nl, LinkedIn, XING and more. Very long, but very informative.
For those who are interested, I will be speaking on the panel “Transforming Media” being hosted by Divx at the Picnic Festival in Amsterdam. The panel is in the Engine room on Wed. 26 and is from 10:00 to 13:00. If you are there, give me a shout out!
Furthermore there are lots of interesting things to be seen at picnic, for free. If you have the time next week, check out the program. The conference track is 900+ euro (I know it’s pricey) but you don’t need that for all events.
GabeB doesn’t like to eat fish. But I’m sure that this fish placed on his plate would FREAK him out. I know it would freak ME out! It’s the BlobFish!!!!! Enjoy your meal.
A video compilation of my experince at the Music Festival Lowlands 2007. It was a great festival again this year. Thanks to Wiendelt, Hugo, Hans, Patricia, Peter-bas, Marieke, Walter, Stephan and of course Tamara!!!!
Apparently Thailand has a new punishment for Bad Cops. Ohh the horror! All cops who are caught littering, being late, parking illegally, taking bribes, etc. are foorced to where Hello Kitty armbands. The cuteness factor is so demaeining that the Police Corps think it will work.
Just think if they did this in New York. I see it now. “New York Cop kills 2 homosexuals and is forced to where a spongebob hat for 2 months.”
Our Mascot on XOLO is a rather ugly breed. But I think it is such an awesome looking dog. But this dog takes the cake. How could you not fall in love with a dog that looks like this.
The Chinese Crested dog “Elwood” appears at the 2007 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Friday, June 22, 2007, in Petaluma, Calif. Elwood, who weighs in at just 6 lbs and was rescued as the result of a New Jersey SPCA investigation, has won the title of World’s ugliest dog of 2007. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, was crowned the world’s ugliest dog Friday, a distinction that delighted the New Jersey mutt’s owners.
Elwood, dark colored and hairless save for a mohawk-like puff of white fur on his head is often referred to as “Yoda,” or “ET,” for his resemblance to those famous science fiction characters.
“I think he’s the cutest thing that ever lived,” said Elwood’s owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.
People are always amazed at how much these reality shows and contests are so popular. It’s not crazy. What we are seeing is true drama, that is not being acted. I don’t care how good an actor you are, there is nothing like seeing real emotion, real drama or experiencing those fleeting moments that reality shows provide. As an example look at this clip to see this dorky mobile phone salesman bring tears (real emotion) to the crowd in this song contest.
Neville Hobson gave me a ride back from the conference in belgium. We had a great talk on the way back about geek stuff but life as well. It’s good to hear that his new company is working out well 4 him. We both feel it is an exciting time to be alive.
At the first eu communication award party. Something new. I think i’d rather be at the vloggies for true communication awards. Shouldn’t jay dedman or peter van dijk get this award? No. Too bad. And The winner is mr. Gaya? The heads of UEFA. Football rules europe.
I have just arrived at the european communications summit in Brusseles. Lots of interesting people here, but i’m the only one without a suit. We’ll see how it goes. Now we are listening to how the web 2.0 is changing publishing.
I didn’t see this one coming. Apparently apple has added support for Youtube videos on apple TV. which says to me technically they’ve just allowed for Flash video on Apple tv. Which says further to me that adding Metacafe or Veoh films is only a hack away. could this mean that Flash video is going to take over as the dominant file system for video podcasting rather than Mpeg-4? I wonder.
Here is another great site for viewing all kinds of movies, shows etc. It seems to all be published using DIVX and Stage6.com. The name of the site is Joox.net. Could it be a rip from the name Joost? What is interesting about this site is that people are allowed to upload and add links themselves.This way I guess they don’t have to worry about multiple log-ins. That’s one smart way. That is until the Hollywood companies start placing bad copies of the films on first, with drop-outs, bad sync sound, no ending etc. Or thy could just add annoying 30 second ads every 5 min. and place them on these sites. Luckily the boys and girls in Hollywood fight with lawyers rather than brains, so you should be able to enjoy this site for a while.
P.S. The site owners are trying to keep the porn off with difficulty.
Just got a twitter from David Sifry (CEO Technorati) that he just launched a really sweeeeeet simple search site for technorati. Have a look at it. It is simple, has RSS feeds of the search, different settings, and is just plain sweet and simple.
Okay. I know that Gabe B’s biggest dream is to have his film play in movie theaters and big screens all over the world. Me, I wanted to be playing on all the small screens like on iPod’s all over the world. It’s something we’ve teased each other about over the last 10 years of working with each other. (Yes, 10 years. You heard me right!) But now I’ve found a way to make his dream come true now that mine has come true.
By signing up, people can buy a DVD or arrange for some download of our films and host screenings wherever they can. Everything from office parties, college get togethers to Art House cinemas can then play it.
YES!!!! Bauer. It’s time to release “Losing Face”!!!!
Today I’m speaking at Blognomics 2007. It’s setup by my good friend Guido van Nispen to bring attention to the economics of blogging in Holland and the possibilities there of. Great stuff! I’m really happy to be a part of it this year.
After reading the comment from Tamara on my last blog post, and the fact that many people look over my sholder and ask me how I do THAT (whether that is some cool new web 2.0 app or revving up my laptops fans, I decided to start a separate blog with a bunch of Non-geek tips and tricks for my digital lifestyle. This blog is for those like Evert, and my brother and Sister who are getting new macs and want to geek it out, or for those who just want to really be on the edge without bleeding like Kelvin and Tamara.
What is that number? The key to unlock DRM on the new Blue Ray HDVDs. It’s been around for a while, since feb., and has been slowly creeping around the net in forums and such. It didn’t go big news until it got involved with a cover-up conspiracy on Digg however. Some lawyer thought it would be better to remove the post from this popular community news site, and all hell broke loose! So what’s so great about this code? I think it’s the base of the encryption that they use in the DRM butyou have to be a real GEEK to know how to use it, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until someone fits it into a keychain remote to kill the DRM in this new Technology. When will the Big Guys get it? DRM is gonna kill them. It’s pointless, useless and just causes a pain for people who actually pay for the content rather than those who are pirating it.
Example for you to think about. I don’t watch many of the shows on TV, as it’s on TV and I never have the time to watch them. But every now and then, I’ve got to keep up with what my students are talking about, so I have to watch a Heroes, or Lost or something. Where do I goto watch this? Sure you can Bittorrent this stuff all day (or weeks) waiting for episodes to download, but I’m impatient. I just got to one of these to sites for my movies and Tv shows if I don’t already have them on my Mail Rental DVD list.
On a final thought, if Big Media wants us to pay money for content, I have a real simple solution for them. MAKE BETTER CONTENT!!!!! How many Summer Blockbuster line-ups this year are gonna be remakes or sequels? Something like 80%. Get creative guys! Enjoy!
It’s always nice to see when good friends make a mash-up of the past years, and you see all these special moments that you were with them, or special moments of other friends. Even more so all the amazing things that you shared together or virtually. I think the sharing of virtual moments that really happen, and then recorded and vlogged is really special. It’s as if you are always with the ones you cherish, and the circle comes back inside by seeing other friends, girlfriends, loved ones having those special moments even without you there, but you still share the moments through this new medium. Okay, it’s early and I’ve just had my coffee, so maybe I should just say it was cool to open up netvibes this morning, and browse through my xolo tagged videos and see this mash-up again from Marc. Have alook and maybe you will understand. If not? Never mind. You will someday.
Gabe, Wiendelt, Ron, and Anina and I were invited to walk around the European Cable Conference in Amsterdam last month and do some filming. It wasn’t as cool as the DLD conference was. A LOT OF SUITS. But we made a few films, so it wasn’t a total waste. The intro video is below. More videos can be found here.
I’m going to Montreal this week together with Tamara, and Martin Lessard has been kind enough to arrange a blogger meet-up there. I’m really stoked. Here is the link to his post with the details and the post below. I can’t wait!!!!
Gabe MacIntyre, AKA Bad Mother Vlogger, XOLO.TV Vlogger will be in Montreal. (French version)
To welcome him, I planned a gathering for all active/non-active/wannabe/curious blogger/vlogger/web2.0 trend setter of Montreal and vincinity,
Come on in for a drink: March 8th, 2007, from 5 pm à 7 pm at the Méliès. (Quite central, isn’t!)
Everyone are invited, join the club! (and 7pm isn’t really a formal limit)
Hey everyone! Could you all do me a big favor frineds, colleagues, family and surfers by? Could you go over to the Valleywag and vote for me in that latest Vlog Hot contest? I’ve only got 6 votes! NO! It can’t be! Please help me keep my dignity! I really appreciate it!
How cool is this! This week on National TV in Holland the top band BLOF played a set. The guitarist was wearing a XOLO.TV shirt! A salute to all the vloggers! Oh yeah baby!!!! The guys from BLOF are so cool for doing that. Plus is great that I like their music as well. Always helps eh .
Apparently I am IRON MAN!!!! Cool. Iron Man rocks, although I think I would prefer to be the Silver Surfer and jet out of here sometimes. But then I’d miss Tamara too much, so she’d have to surf with me. But Iron MAn is pretty cool as well.
Matt is a 30 year old guy from Connecticut who traveled around the world and decided to film himself dancing, badly, on camera (using his simple little Canon digital camera, same one I’ve got). Then he got home, and edited the video by himself. That’s it. Watch it. You’ll be a better person for it. (And turn up your speakers.)
There are few teachers in my life that I’ve had that inspred me. Of course there was my Art teacher that got me into photography, my Geography teacher got me into nature, and for a few weeks there was Mr. Good, a substitute Physics teacher. And he was really the best science teacher I ever had. If I had him for more than a month maybe I would have ogne further in science to do fun stuff like this:
Most of the time you hear about people meeting eachother from other countries online first, then travelling great distances to meet ypo in real life. Well this is story is the exact opposite. While Tamara and I were travelling in thailand we met Alex from Poland. You know how backpackers meet-up. It was a day I’ll never forget becuase that day I heard I got my first seeding money for XOLO, and the day before Tamara and I swam with Dolphins. But I digress. We met up with Alex in a club on this island in Thailand, and he told about travelling around wanting to do photography professionally. He had more or less just started. I told him all about blogging, flickr, podcasting, vlogging etc. and he was really interested. Now a few months later I get a message from him that he has some of his travel photos online, and I REALLY like them. He’s thinking about doing some travel vlogs, and I wish him all the best with it. What I’m trying to say here is it’s nice to goto another country, meet someone from yet another country and then virtually travel with them after we have physically departed from one another. You never know who the highway or virtual highway has instore for your life.
I said it on XOLO.TV just a couple of weeks ago, and people didn’t notice. Well it is out! The Apple iPhone is here. Not a a complete iPod of 60 GB, but it just about is. For those who just got a N93 (like me) damn! Oh well. Something to get to test asap!!!
I opened up my online bank to transfer over rent and so forth and I see a new message that ABN AMRO has opened an office in second life. Oh man there goes the nieghborhood. So let me think what you could do? Store your Linden? Or how about transfer Linden to Euros, Dollars, Yen and back? I think it’s mainly a show at the moment. That they just thought, “We have to be in Second Life becuase everyone else is.” But in my opinion Second life really blows with all these companies coming in and “re-doing” real life in second life. Make something new, different like the ABM loan sharks club or something. Second life is supposed to be an imaginative exploration. Not a copy of real life. In any case, here is what the mail read:
Geachte relatie, ABN AMRO opent, als eerste bank in Europa, de deuren van een virtuele vestiging in Second Life. Hiermee zetten we een eerste stap in de richting van de volgende generatie internet. Het doel is om de nieuwe toepassingen van deze omgeving te onderzoeken en te ontdekken. Ook voor u als ondernemer, biedt het wellicht nieuwe mogelijkheden. Wilt u meer weten over Second Life en onze vestiging aldaar? Lees er hier meer over. Met vriendelijke groet, Drs. J. de Ruiter, Directeur MKB Drs. F.H.D. Josephus Jitta, Directeur Directe Kanalen en Innovatie
Translation: ABN AMRO wants to help you as a company in second life. — Right.
Youtube may see the Brazillians in court becuase of a little scandal with one of thier beloved football stars ex-wives. Brazilian court orders YouTube shutdown | The Register : “A Brazilian court has ordered the closure of YouTube following the site’s failure to completely remove a video showing Ronaldo’s ex-missus and her new boyf indulging in a bit a of beach rumpy-pumpy, Reuters reports.
Model Daniela Cicarelli sued YouTube after the offending film proved a smash hit among Brazilian YouTubers. She and squeeze Tato Malzoni last year ‘filed to force YouTube to take the video down and demanded $116,000 in damages for each day the video remains up’. Although YouTube did indeed remove some copies, other users reposted it and the whole sorry exposure dragged on for months.”
Now what will ever stop them from re-posting and re-posting and re-posting. I mean honestly. It’s a never ending cycle. Is this just meantt to be doomed? Funny how you never hear about revver, blip or metacafe being sued.
Well, the joint isn’t but the segway is apparently. As of New Year’s the dutch Royal traffic agency has banned this awesome mode of transport becuuase: ‘It doesn’t have a brake, you brake by leaning back, and that’s clearly not permissible.’
That’s right. It may be January 1st, but I never really count this date as it’s a non-day when done correctly. You are usually so blown away from New Year’s Eve and all the stores are closed, everyone is hung over and tired. Just don’t count it. Last night was great. We first had Patricia, GabeB, In-Ah, iFranz and Renate over for dinner. Then we went over to Wiendelt’s for the 12:00 drink. After that we headed off through a firework gauntlet of amsterdam to get to the Doffer where Hans, Nieltje, Corrine and Marc met up with us. I’d like to write more, but I’m to tired and I can’t remember much anyways. I know I owe Hans a few films or something, and I remember now why I don’t drink champagne. It gives the worse hang-overs. Uhhhh.
Here are some pics of our breakfast together this evening. We didn’t get out of bed and eat until 5:00 p.m. and the moon was already out. Man. See what I mean by a non-day? And just so Tam doesn’t get to mad at me for posting this pic of her in the “morning”, even though I think she is beautiful, here is a link to some more pics of the evening.
Every now and again someone puts soap in a fountain here in amsterdam. This happend last week at the American hotel. All of leidseplein was covered in little bits of bubbles that looked like snow. Even mindcaster said, “damn it’s snowing’.
New Year’s in Amsterdam is an experience few forget. Imagine 40 million euros worth of fireworks going off all at once. It’s quite intense. But very fun.
Last New Years was a blast. This year looks like it will be as well. We’re all getting together for drinks, food, fun, music, dance and of course fireworks. Look at this pic from last year. Apparently Tamara looks like she is really appreciating my sexy moves for our new year’s kiss. What a woman.
Happy Holidays from Thailand from Gabe and Tamara. Just so you know. We are not in Thailand NOW. We pre recorded this in the summer. Although it’s not a bad idea.
It’s been so hectic the last 2 weeks. I haven’t blogged much, because so much has happened. Just before I went for a trip to New York, my best friend Pavle’s father passed away. Tamara talked about it on her blog a bit. It was really devastating for him. That was a lot to deal with, and too much to give it justice in the few sentences that I have your attention. The only thing I can say is that his father was a REAL tough guy. He had cancer of the lower intestine for months, and the pain must have been unbearable. But his family didn’t know, and all he was using was aspirin for the pain. I’m not sure if he didn’t want to worry his family, or he just didn’t want to admit it himself, but he refused any treatments to prolong his life for another half year or so. It seems I’ve always got someone i know dying of cancer around this time. Last year it was my Grandmother. I’d like that to stop please.
On to more pleasant things, I went to New York for a conference. GEMS or (Global Entertainment and Media Summit). Not much of a summit. I think there were maybe 50 people there? But I did meet with a couple of interesting people that I hope we will be doing some great “Green” projects with. New York was in full Christmas swing. EVERYONE was out on the streets shopping. MAn what a lot of people. I hope to have some videos up soon of that. I was a bit worried of Bed Bugs as that’s what everyone said be careful of. I really searched my hotel room for any signs, but found none, so I think I’m safe. I can’t really say too many exciting things as I was only there for 2 nights before I left for Paris and Le Web 3.
It was larger than last year, and it was really freaky being there. Le Web was the first REAL conference that I spoke at about videoblogging. It was wild to go back there after one year, and to know SO many people in the web 2.0 biz. It gave me a realization of how far I’ve come in such a short time. And made me wonder where I and XOLO.TV will be in another year from now. The conference was hijacked by French politics which I’m sure you can read all about that scandal all over the place. For me it was great to meet up with old friends, and new. A real treat was meeting Luca. The crazy Italian blogger who is a big fan of XOLO. I guess in the end this whole web thing has added a new dimension to meeting people. The only thing is, I have to read about the lives of som many friends now, it’s almost hard to keep up.
But it is nice to be back home again. I was soooo tired that I couldn’t do anything at all for a couple of days. I was seeing double even after my second cup of coffee. Time to wind down and enjoy the holidays my body was telling me. So that’s what I’ll have to do. In any case, I’m hoping for a version of XOLO that I can really let loose on before Christmas, that would be a great present. But an even better one will be no laptop, lots of wine, food and friends in the end. So to all the virtual friends out there. Be Merry!!!!
You’ve heard it before. We love to fry things in the south. Fried chicken, fried snickers bars, fried shrimp (thanks bubba) and for thanks giving Fried Turkey. You may wonder how that works?
Well you first put a sloppy paprika sauce on it like my uncle is demonstrating here. Doesn’t that look good?
And then drop it in a big vat of hot fat. YUMMMY!!! While you are waiting you have a few beers, talk to family, catch up etc. It actually cooks the turkey really fast, and yes it is juicy!!!
But of course we have all kinds of great dishes to go along with it. Tamara loved the Squash Caserol. For those not from the South, squash is a yellow vegetable. May favorite is Sweet Potato Suffle’. Of course my Aunt Bonnie did the family’s famous Pound Cake. It puts a pound on you with each bite, but it tastes soooo gooood. Tamara loved that and is begging me to make it.
I guess I’ll have to wait till she gets better. She’s come down with some flu that everyone else has got. In-Ah has it, Jag has it, even Wiendelt was in the office today coughing all over everybody. I really hope I don’t get it. I did make Tamara some of my famous Chicken Soup to get better. In any case
It was great seeing the family again for ThanksGiving. I think it may be a while before I get back to the states though.
Today is ThanksGiving here in the states. After coming over to talk to some people about investing in a second round for XOLO.TV I get to spend some time with my family. And I’m really lucky that Tamara got to come along as well. It’s not often that I get over to see my parents, uncles, aunts and cousins for Thanks Giving.
I think the last time I was here for Thanks Giving was at least 6 years ago or so, if not more. I’m really excited to see everyone, and I have all these Christmas gifts already for the Family. Although I haven’t wrapped them yet. Well I couldn’t becuase of the freakn’ security checks that if anything was wrapped, they would be unwrapped, and I’d have to wrap it again. Thus wrapping and travelling is a waste of time.
Well the cars is being loaded up, so I gotta grab the cameras and go have some turkey. YUM!!!!!! Oh and sweet potatoes. Gotta love those!!! A little note for the non-americans, it’s usually turkey for Thanksgiving and Honey Baked Ham for Christmas.
There was a great vibe going on in the Akhnaton Club in Amsterdam last night. Wiendelt and Esther organized the 3rd Jam Party. It’s when a bunch of friends get together, practice for a month and then perform great jam songs for fun. But don’t think it’s not professional. It’s sounded excellent! Gabe B sang a number of songs, Hugo sang a great rendition of “Saturday Night”, Wiendelt and Esther tore down the house many times and I got to sing a song as well. If you missed it, that’s too bad. It may be a while before another Jam Party is organized seeing as how Esther is about to have a second child. Oh man, when does it end all these kids being born around me? In the mean time, there will be some videos online soon I’m sure, but you can always check the Jam Party Photo pool on Flickr. If you were there and have some great pics, please add them to the pool! The pictures added there were taken by Tamara. They look excellent, but she thinks she still needs a better digital camera. I tend to agree actually. Any advice for what she should get? Let us know. It’s almost Christmas.
To everyone who came to the party and helped organize it, thanks for a wonderful night. Now I need to go take another aspirin for my hangover.
Last night Tamara and I threw a Halloween Party. It was to celebrate MY Birthday, Tam’s birthday and a 3 year Anniversary. Click on the picture to go see some more photos. It was excellent seeing all the costumes that everyone came in. And oh man was there a mess this morning. After 5 hours we’ve finished cleaning and are now reliving the night. Notes for next party: - 3 bottles of Vodka is not enough - Need more Cointreau - No one drinks red Vermouth - Tamara’s guacamole dip evaporates within seconds
Is nothing working when posting to blogger? Anyone? still not working!!!
Update: After getting numerous errors, doing searches on Google, talking in Forums, etc. Blogger is finally posting again to Gabe.NL. HOORAY!!! I’m so happy.
So I had to first turn off comments, rss feeds and archives to get it to work. Then slowly step by step started to add those back. After 1 month it is back and I can start blogging again, and man is there a lot that happened in that time!!!
Cross Media Week 2006 wast last week here in Amsterdam. I was invited to talk about “Consumer generated media”. And of course I walked around getting some impressions of the event. Have a watch.
Tamara was looking theough our Flickr contacts this evening when she saw a picture of my old desk and office. WITH SOME GIRL SLEEPING THERE! I guess that’s not strange as we are no longer there at the offices near the river in Amsterdam, but it came through a photo stream of one of my ex-students / intern / friend (but not in that order). The interent is a small place indeed.
Tamara and I went to Lowands this weekend. It was great! Of course we were not alone. IT seemed everyone except Gabe B and In-Ah were there. We had Wiendelt, Hugo, Patricia, Peter-Bas, Marieke, Marcel, Tatjanna, Hans and Paul were there as well. Great Fun. Click here below to see our pics from Lowlands (on the picture). Below that is a video made by Wiendelt.
To keep up with my travels with Tamara in Thailand, we decided to make a new blog. More of a travel blog. To see it please go here: Gabe and Tam in Thailand!
Through my travels the past month I have watched the World Cup in 5 different languages. It started off with English and Spanish in the United States. ESPN was covering the World Cup pretty well while we were at VloggerCon in Sanf Francisco, and then Atlanta. However the Spanish station Univision something (which has recently doubled it’s viewership since the World Cup) had better covereage. You have of course seen us watching the games in the airplanes on the way to California, but it was great to watch it with my uncle Dean who was my soccer coach as a kid, and who has a tournament named after him in Georgia. You can see him and Tamara in the picture here in full supporter getup.
Then back in Holland I watched the continued matches while I prepared for my trip in Berlin. Watchng the first rounds of many teams, and Holland winning thier second match to secure entry into the next round. Then off to Berlin.
In Berlin of course everything was in German. I still can’t get used to the conference way of watching a game which the Germans love. It basically swithces in between the different games playing at any one time, which means that you never get to watch a Goal happen Live! Bummer. I was so disappointed when Holland lost as I feel it really is home for me now. But life must go on, even though I was in Full Orange getup for the games.
Then I arrived for my backpacking trip through Thailand yesterday. I thought World Cup coverage would be sparse at best. I was wrong. We got updates from the pilot of the game, and once we got our hotel sorted out, I went to a bar 1 block away and watched the highlights of the English loosing to the team that shall not be named (see above holland vs. X), and the French winning over Brazil games. It was all in Thai, so I didn’t understand a word of it. But I saw all the amazing moments of the Matches and understood enough. I’m currently posting this in an internet cafe in Bangkok. The price price per minute is 25 euro cents. Gives you an idea of what the football clothing is that they sell here. I saw some German, and France game shirts (the official ones) for about 100 baht. That’s about 2.5 euro! Sweet!
So there you have it folks. One Cup, 2 Gabes, 3 cameras, 4 countries, 5 languages and counting. WeallSpeakFootball!
My last day in Berlin and I went on a little travel with my Mini Cooper and Tom Tom to guide me. After going around and seeing the sites like Check Point Charlie, The Prusian Palace, and other amazing sites, I met up with Frans and Alex to enjoy a nice brewski on the side of the water to philosphise about the tao of blogging.
It was a real emotional and thought provoking trip going around old East Germany in the Mini. Here you can see a picture of the Mini with the Amercian flag crossing the wall’s monument line, just a block from Check Point Charlie. It seems there is nothing left of the old East German way as everything has been taken over by Subway, Starbucks, Hilton, etc. Good or bad I’ll let you decide.
It was such a great experience to be in the Coke Flat for 2 weeks and meeting all the awesome people that came by and be a part of the whole football madness. Getting tickets to the games was a real treat, and one I hadn’t expected. I could literally smell the grass from the pitch I was so close in this picture after one of the games. I know most people are gonna role thier eyes now, but I really want to thank KnallGrau and Coca Cola for the oppurtunity to be a part of weallspeakfootball. It’s something I will not soon forget and enjoyed thouroughly. To those who still get to go, make the most of it I say, and steal a couple bottles of Coke Blak for yourselves.
Well, the Spaniards are gone and the Dutchies XOLO.TV crew have arrived. Get ready for some fun now. I don’t know where this journey is going but it’s off to a good start. We have picked out our places to sleep, although I think we are all to jacked up on this experimental coca-cola coffee drink that they’ve got here at the apartment to actually sleep tonight. Welcome to the House: Wiendelt & Esther, Hugo, Marc and Mark, Tamara & Myself from Holland and Bernie from Austria. Music by Steve Park.
Here is the weallspeakfootball Music Video for your viewing pleasure. The footage is from the party we had in the apartment on Saturday night, and last night watching Korea vs. France at the Fan Fest downtown. It’s a great place to end the night after a long day of blogging.
My Baby got home safely. Even though she was driving a french car. Thanks for looking out for her Marc! Great pic here as they are driving back from Berlin. She looks happy.
Nicole and I were walking around the Fanfest here in Berlin today and look who we ran into? Apparently Pele is doing a promotional tour for a new album he has made. Okay. As long as I get ot have a picture with him. It was a rather surreal/virtual experience.
I just got tagged on 
What is interesting about this site is that people are allowed to upload and add links themselves.This way I guess they don’t have to worry about multiple log-ins. That’s one smart way. That is until the Hollywood companies start placing bad copies of the films on first, with drop-outs, bad sync sound, no ending etc. Or thy could just add annoying 30 second ads every 5 min. and place them on these sites. Luckily the boys and girls in Hollywood fight with lawyers rather than brains, so you should be able to enjoy this site for a while.
