Yold

There is something extremely depressing about young women dating older men. I should explain that the rant below is in no way a competition or jealousy thing, because I am not interested in young women or older men, so here we go:

The other day I was sitting in the train on my way back to Amsterdam (also known as "Actual human society") and halfway through this couple sat in the bench in front of me. The woman was probably in her late twenties and not unattractive. The guy was in his late 40's or early 50's, had a comb-over of sorts and wore a leather jacket.

They were on their way to her place in Amsterdam (also known as "A place stores are still open after 6pm") and discussed how they would spent their evening. The woman wanted to see "Borat", the guy had no idea what that was, but eventually agreed. After that they discussed which restaurant to go to, the woman (being young and happening and not unattractive) had about six ideas on where to go for cheap but fairly good food in what, no doubt, are restaurants frequented mostly by young and happening and not unattractive people.

Couples in public generally are highly annoying as it is. Because they happen to be together, they feel the need to be showcasing their physical affection which is both a clear attack on single people, and generally gross. But when the age difference is so clear it's all just so damn stereotypical (midlife crisis, father-figure, you can figure it out) .

While watching them go on about their weekend I could just see them visiting her parents on sunday afternoon. Her boyfriend being about the same age as her father presumably is, a lot of negotating (probably by her mother) had to be done before the visit was arranged. Then, while the four of them are sitting in the living room everybody tries to avoid the subjects "age", "future", "marriage", "kids" and (in gods name!) "sex" as much as they can, leaving only "the weather", "sports" and "music, films and TV".

The older guy and the dad probably at one point find out they have about the same taste in music, and while the talk warms up (the younger woman and her mom glance at eachother reassuringly) they realize that they were both at this 1974 Rolling Stones concert, and both still own a tour shirt.

I give them one more month.

Electification (2): Animalistic

The elections of last week has brought us the following:

- the evil people of the christian democratic party have lost three seats, but remain the largest political party
- the even more evil people of the free-market, anti-immigration, otherthingwitha - inbetweensomething VVD have lost six seats
- labour (my homeboys) have lost a whopping nine seats
- the former mao-ist SP has gained immensly
- a very christian social party has gained three seats
- a very very very scary right-wing xenophobe party led by a guy with weird hair has won nine seats

and
- the "animal party" has entered parliament with two seats.

He's coming!

I can't quite explain my love for the Italian hairball featured in the video below. He's slow as hell in releasing stuff, a bit over the top at times, and occasionally wears leather pants (long time ago, last time was in 1999... I think). Still, I think his albums are amazing, and his live performances are absolutely breath taking. And Zucchero is FINALLY coming to Amsterdam again.

So, on May 28, 2007 I shall by making utterly awkward and very painful to watch moves to this song and many others.

So long Donny

Donald Rumsfeld resigned last week as secretary of Defense in the US and Craig - I would kill to have that accent - Ferguson of the Late Late Show bids him farewell;

Electification

As you may or may not know, the Dutch will hold elections on November 22 to select some people to pretend to run the country for what supposedly would be the next four years, but most likely will be six months (that is, if our current prime-minister remains in charge; in four years he managed to go through three cabinets).

About 30% of the voters are still unsure about who they will support, but seeing that I pay the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) 2 bucks a month (to.... ehm... get drunk?), it should come as no surprise that I will vote for their sorry asses, even though my expectation is they will lose (that is, not become the biggest party). That leaves just one question open; which of the 80 people on the list of candidates will I vote for?

Yes! You guessed correctly, after the amazing succes of the previous edition, it's time to once again play: Vote who Boris will vote on!

The rules are simple, theres a couple of candidates below, one reader one vote (meaning an expected total of at the most three votes) and the results do not in any way have to influence how I will actually vote. Here's my selected candidates:


Name: Wouter Bos
Nr.: 1
Pros: He's the big guy, leader of the pack, he's down with his homies (including those in da hood), he likes progressive rock, is a vegetarian but does not complain about it, to a certain extent he's quite funny, and lets face it; he's not ugly either.
Cons: Why vote for the nr. 1 guy? It's not like there's any question to whether or not he'll get in. Also, he can be a little over the top.


Name: Martijn van Dam
Nr.: 9
Pro's: his weblog is highly entertaining (well, as far as political weblogs are entertaining, lets be reasonable). also, his picture is even more Wouter Bos-esque than Wouter Bos' own pictures.
Con's: he studied something technical. which is probably why he's on hyves, I hear that takes a lot of computer skills to get on. like, you know, press the keys on your keyboard...

Name: Hans Spekman
Nr.: 17
Pro's: was an elderman in Utrecht for social affairs, and one of his claims to fame was helping immigrants the national government denied citizenship but did not have the interest of actually getting out of the country, by giving them shelter on the budget of the city - making sure mothers and children don't have to wander the streets is apparently a Labour thing too.
Con's: has been nominated twice so far for the Worst Dresser In The World award. So far he has lost, but he's confident he'll win it next year. Finger's crossed Hans!

Name: Roos Vermeij
Nr.: 32
Pro's: Studied history. Also, she's a woman.
Con's: She studied it in Leiden. Also, she's a woman.

Cast your ballots before November 20th people!