Done

I've made it...

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Nanowrimo, Travis Barker remixes and more

I won't be blogging next month, because I've decided tot join Nanowrimo. The plan is to write a novel of 50.000 words, starting on November 1st, and finishing on November 30rd 23:59. It's all about setting goals for myself and even though I'm worried I won't even make it to write 5.000 words, I think it will be a wonderful experience, so why not?

I will take it serious, so I can't afford to spend energy on blogs, reading books or watching too much television.

You can follow my progress here.

To let you not completely uninspired. Watch this movie of one of the best drummers in the world: Travis Barker. Lately he's remixing a lot of hip hop songs. I'm stunned every time I see him drum. It sometimes looks like he's holding 4 sticks. It must be a sign of his incredible talent.

Last, but not least, let me show you a view from my house

Don't worry, I will be back.

Conserve (1947)

I started to read the complete works of W.F. Hermans. His first novel Conserve was somewhat unexpected. The story takes place in the U.S. and starts with the history of complete different characters, a few from the mormon community and one is a descendant of the American indians. Quite ambitious choice, but when you read on you'll know why W.F. Hermans is considered as one of the greatest writers in the modern Dutch (or even European) literature.

When I started I got the impression the story was all about critisizing the way religions act as a authority over people lifes in a quite cynical way. As I read on the story seemed to be more about individuals that are being judged (and even being hospitalized) for being different. Individuals that are questioning everything, even the purpose of their existence. In this context, considered his great style of bringing a lot of irony and absurdism to the table, the book really has a great story.

Here's a nice quote that reflects it's theme, roughly translated: "We're both lonely and weird. We both don't really know on which things we still may hope. What is it we still want? We've left almost nothing untried. Why did we try like that? We haven't told the half of all that we've done, but it's clear we've tried to get results that weren't really results."

But even though W.F. Hermans is known for revisioning all of his stories until the end of his life, some story lines start really messy and feel somehow incomplete compared to the rest of the story.

Nevertheless I can really recommend this book if you simply want to be blown away.

More about Conserve can be found here (in dutch).

Death With Interruptions (2005)

I've just read Death With Interruptions (As Intermitências Da Morte) of José Saramago. I have to say I actually wanted to read The Stone Raft, but since that book wasn't available and the story on the cover of Death With Interruptions was really intriguing I bought this one. Just be honest, who wouldn't want to read a book that started with "The next day nobody died".

This picture perfectly fits with the picture I had of Saramago when I was reading the first half of the book. It's full of really playful humour as he seriously describes the way the government, the church, insurance companies and hospitals handle the situation in a country where suddenly nobody dies.

There is a real turn in the book when the reader actually meets "death" as a character. From that moment on a bit more drama takes place.

I don't want to spoil your fun by telling the whole story, because I really enjoyed reading this book.

For more info, you can read this post.

Bye Bye, Fish Bowl

I don't have to give constant support on location to the Fish Bowl anymore. I'm thankful for the nice pictures I can share with you now.

I've been there fulltime since February. I had to start 7 o' clock on the location. It gave me a nice opportunity to shoot these pictures. Of course the low clouds made it even more special as they reflected the lights that were coming out of this fish bowl.

And one more of another greenhouse in the neighbourhood to show you how much light gets out of a greenhouse at night.

So the next weeks I'm back on the office working on the next (a much smaller) project. I probably won't make more beautiful pictures than these.

W(p)GtR

Like I tried to say in my previous post. It's a shame most scientific (or technological) books and articles are way too boring. So when I know a book, that's interesting, funny and very creative, I should dedicate a post to that book, don't I?

Here's a piece of the first chapter of "Why's (poignant) Guide To Ruby".

Pretend that you’ve opened this book (although you probably have opened this book), just to find a huge onion right in the middle crease of the book. (The manufacturer of the book has included the onion at my request.)

So you’re like, “Wow, this book comes with an onion!” (Even if you don’t particularly like onions, I’m sure you can appreciate the logistics of shipping any sort of produce discreetly inside of an alleged programming manual.)

Then you ask yourself, “Wait a minute. I thought this was a book on Ruby, the incredible new programming language from Japan. And although I can appreciate the logistics of shipping any sort of produce discreetly inside of an alleged programming manual: Why an onion? What am I supposed to do with it?”

No. Please don’t puzzle over it. You don’t need to do anything with the onion. Set the onion aside and let it do something with you.

I’ll be straight with you. I want you to cry. To weep. To whimper sweetly. This book is a poignant guide to Ruby. That means code so beautiful that tears are shed. That means gallant tales and somber truths that have you waking up the next morning in the arms of this book. Hugging it tightly to you all the day long. If necessary, fashion a makeshift hip holster for Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby, so you can always have this book’s tender companionship.

You really must sob once. Or at least sniffle. And if not, then the onion will make it all happen for you.

Why's (poignant) guide to Ruby is worth mentioning, even if you don't care about Ruby programming or software at all. Besides the fact you can read it for free, you will get a little smile when you read the cartoons or the anekdotes of the writer.

I wonder if I could write like that. Most of my articles about programming would be quite boring too. That's why I avoid the topic as much as possible.

Imagination To The Utmost

"Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are." - Richard Feynman

What more can I say? It makes me think about dealing with real life when we find solutions to our own little problems or about how easy it is to make up things, but so hard to really describe the real world.

I knew a professor that was a huge fan of Richard Feynman, not just because he was an brilliant physicist, but more because he was a real good teacher and writer that knew how to reach out to his students en how to express himself. Of course as a young student, I was too busy having fun instead of really trying to find out more about Feynman.

But now I appreciate this quote only more as I read a lot of boring scientific articles. It's a real shame he's an exception in the scientific world.

Our Uncle (2008)

Since I'm following his blog for a while, I decided to read a book of Arnon Grunberg again. His latest work is Onze Oom (Our Uncle).

It's a very long story, the book is more than 600 pages. That wouldn't be so bad if I didn't found an awful lot of repeating sentences. Still, the story is... Well... Typical Grunberg? It's something absurd, something nihilistic, something humourous and yet interesting enough to read on. The main story is from the viewpoint of a little girl, which sometimes made me think I was reading a Roald Dahl novel (Matilda?), but only less imaginative.

As most of his books, I always have the feeling that something isn't right. It's also the reason why I like to read some of his books. Our Uncle definitly belongs to this collection.

There are a lot of remarkable quotes, but none of them really describes the theme, I guess... Like I said, I always have the feeling that something isn't right. I don't want to say that's the theme, but it makes me think and I believe it can make you think about things too.

Fish Bowl

Believe it or not, I work in this building since February, even though it's just a customer of a customer of my employer (this is not a typo!).

It's a greenhouse which futuristic design is inspired by palm houses and The Crystal Palace, but I always think of a fish bowl when I walk to it. The official opening was last Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately I couldn't be there, but it's a good reason to dedicate a post to this remarkable building with some original pictures.

The building has a land area of 12 ha. The company that owns this building is a world wide distributer of anthuriums. I've heard people say that the daily revenue is about 1 million euro.

The pictures on the wall of the The Crystal Palace are a cruel joke compared to the actual inside of the building. The actual inside is of course all about production and making things happen as efficient and as quick as possible.

Argh, I hate to talk about work when I'm home. Sure, it's a really cool place if you've never seen it before, but in the end it's just a big fish bowl.

If you want some more information, click here.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

You've probaby never seen a music video like this one.

Info from the creator(s): Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratory footage.

Kingdom of the unreal but also a higher state of being, ultimately free of the limitations of the material world through the agency of science, technology, and imagination.

I'm not sure about the ultimately free part, but nevertheless, it's a nice piece of work.

Original source: http://www.neurosonicsaudiomedical.com

Turtle Person

There was a period in my life I used to discuss with a friend about really ethical/philosophical/open-minded stuff almost all the time we were together. After a long time doing this, I just got tired of discussing and talking. It suddenly made no sense to me to keep talking and discussing as if that would radically change the world. I'm honestly grateful for the precious times we talked whole evenings long about the most sensible and senseless stuff, but in the end I guess I really liked to be alone with my own thoughts.

I was thinking about this when I read the next lines:

"We talk too much", he said with an unusual seriousness. "That sensible talking has no value at all, not one. With that you get the further and more distant of yourself and that's a shame. You should be able to crawl back into yourself, like a turtle."* - from Demian by Hermann Hesse

Even now when people keep stressing their own opinions I don't agree with, I let them. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

When people repeating their opinions trying to convince me, I only get more suspicious. I start thinking they must be after something, appreciation or something, and with that, the opposite of what they say seems more likely to be true.

I guess I am a turtle person. I actually use to have a turtle. Her name is Dino, she is a red-eared slider and she lives with my mom now.

* roughly translated from the dutch version: "We praten te veel", zei hij met ongewone ernst. "Dat verstandige gepraat heeft helemaal geen waarde, geen enkele. Je raakt daardoor hoe langer hoe meer verwijderd van jezelf en dat is een zonde. Je moet helemaal in jezelf weg kunnen kruipen, net als een schildpad."

The Elementary Particles (1998)

I've finally read The Elementary Particles of Michelle Houellebecq. I wanted to read a book of Houellebecq for a long time, but it just didn't happened untill last week when I bought the book. One of the reasons I wanted to read a Houellebecq is of course the controversy surrounding Houellebecq. It's a good way to keep getting attention and keep people excited, I guess.

First of all, I found The Elementary Particles a great mixture of sociological history of the Western world and popular science( fiction). Most of the characters personal histories are extensively described, which should make it easier to understand them. I don't mind the explit sexual and violant scenes of the book, because in this case it's justified as the writer describes the main characters and the emptiness of their existence.

What bothers me a bit more is that the story evolves with the help of long monologues, but that's just my personal opinion. Most people wouldn't even notice that, so don't pay too much attention on my remark.

Now here's a notable quote, roughly translated from the Dutch version: "Unpredictable; Unpredictable, frivolous and clownish, that's how people are". I now realise this has much more impact when you would have felt the context in which you could have read this in the book, but it describes the theme perfectly and the reason why I really liked it.

Chocolate Milk Pictures

Last evening after swimming for about an hour, I bought a big chocolate milk pack and drunk it on my way home. It's healthy and apparently better for recovery.

Now I do love walking down the streets at night, but last night I just felt I had to make some pictures. Chocolate milk makes me do crazy stuff obviously, because I was really impressed by the first picture.

Krauss vs Mercier 1 - 0

I was reading Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. After a while I noticed a similarity between this book and The History Of Love by Nicole Krauss. Both stories evolve around another book. Strange thing is: I stopped reading Night Train To Lisbon because I felt this technique of using another book in the story was a cheap way to show the writer's poetic supremacy, even though I'm well aware of the fact it was not meant like that. But still, that's something I didn't feel when reading The History Of Love. Of course there were more reasons for me to stop reading Night Train To Lisbon, but that's my main reason.

No hard feelings, Mr. Mercier, no hard feelings...

Ken Kesey On A 20 Euro Bill

Strange things happen in life. About a week ago I got a 20 euro bill with the following words and things on it:

ESTRECHA LA MANO A-TODO EL MUNDO,

EXCEPTO AL GRAN GEORGE, EL MANIÁTI-

CO DEL AGUA, QUE HACE UNA MECA Y

REHÚYE ESA MANO POCE ASÉPTICA, DE MODO QUE

McMURPHY SE LIMITA A SALUDARLE Y,

MIENTRAS SE ALESA, LA DICE A SU,

PROPIA MANO DERECHA:-|MANO, ?CÓMP

CREES QUE ESE TIPO HA PODIDO DESCU-

ERIR TODO EL MAL QUE HAB HECHA? [KEN KESEY]

Don't know which language this or what it means, but I guess one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

By the way, on the 7th line there's a question mark that's actually upside down on the bill.

My Favorite Dentist

I discovered a good article about pointers in Delphi here. It's nice written, clear and not just for dummies. I wish he was my dentist.

Heartshaped Cloud

Today was a beautiful day. On my way to work, I looked up in the sky and I saw a heartshaped cloud.
Tagged it, just in case.

Of course I'm not the only one that has even seen a heartshaped cloud, just take a look at the last picture on this post or take a look at Google Images.

Without getting sentimental, I just wanted to give it some love back with this post.

The Upside Of Down

When I walked nearby Spuiplein (Spui Square, in the centre of The Hague, The Netherlands) a few days ago, I noticed a bunch of huge pictures of little infants standing in a circle. When I looked closer to those pictures, I saw it were little children with Down Syndrome (wiki).

This exhibition has been initiated after the release of a photo album called The Upside Of Down of photographer Eva Snoijink. It intended to let passengers enjoy the simplicity and beauty of the photographs and to give a more realistic view of Down Syndrome. It has to lead to more understanding and acceptance for children and people with Down Syndrome eventually.

Since I loved this idea, I blogged this post to give the rest of the world a glimpse of this exhibition.

Every picture has a few lines saying something about the child from the parents. At first this just looks very sweet, but I guess you can also see it as a way to stress the fact that even though they may look the same, children of Down Syndrome are really individuals with they're own unique identity.

You can enjoy these pictures on Spuiplein until August 10th.

For more pictures, take a look at the blog of Madbello: part 1, part 2 and part 3

Sources: Residentie.net (Dutch), DeUpsideVanDown.nl (Dutch)

Drag Me To Hell

I've seen the movie Drag Me To Hell in the theater yesterday. It's directed by Sam Raimi, probably better known for the Spiderman movies and Dead Evil. I liked the story and suspension through the whole movie. Some scenes are unnecessary gross, but it remains highly recommended if you're into scary movies! Watch the trailer at YouTube here.