No Copy

The end

UPDATE

The comments so far have been truly heart-wearming. I had never even expected anyone would miss posts on this blog. But then again: you are all such polite people, so I can see the reason behind your expressing what you have until now... ;-D

Still, it feels good as it is right now. And it would seem I'm not alone with this 'feeling'.  According to a recent future report by The Future Laboratory "a growing minority of overloaded consumers are phasing out their virtual selves and returning to face-to-face socialising," as you can read here for example. So yes, I'll be sticking around on the web but when I say something like "see ya", that would be IRL preferably!

Christmas holidays, the new year in sight. Time to relax a little. Spend time with family and friends. And... try and catch up on the many mails, requests, notificiations,... that I have been receiving lately. Via Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Scarlet mail, work mail, Flickr, Facebook, Netlog, Twitter,... Not to mention the good old post cards that seem to be flooding our snail mail box (thanks to everybody who sent us one - we're working on sending one back to you).

Perhaps it's the melancholic feeling I always get at the end of the year. Perhaps it's the lack of sunlight during these short days and long nights. But frankly, I'm tired. The web is a great thing, but I get the impression mankind has not evolved to the extent that our brains can cope with it all. Or at least, I haven't...

So no wonder people are shutting down their blog, are pronouncing the bankruptcy of social networking (found via Netlash) or are setting up a Facebook group that illustrates the same feeling of being fed up with some of the web2.0 overkill... Personally, I'm also going to take some time off blogging. Perhaps I'll pick it back up again later, perhaps I won't. But I am going to take some time to think about how, where and when I'm going to shape my 'online identity', if any.

I am not unplugging the internet, mind you. But this blog is probably going offline soon. It was a great tool in helping me to get to understand the blogosphere phenomenon. And it has introduced me to a great many wonderful people. I am not going to sum them up. I'm afraid I might forget some... But I'm sure they know who they are.

So thanks to them, and thanks to anybody who has ever visited this blog or commented on it.  All the best for 2008 and see you soon. IRL or online...

This one's for the road (tacky? who me? ;-D ) :

Paris, Texas

Earlier this year, a former colleague of mine moved to Paris. If you want to learn more about the stuff expats are confronted with (for example because you are dreaming of moving to Paris too), it might be good idea to read her blog, at least for a while (in Dutch).

The biggest problem seems to be the quality and the price of accommodation. It is, indeed, amazing how big the amounts are you have to pay for a place in the city of lights. This is one of the billboards we noticed while we were taking a short city trip to Paris last November (finally managed to update my Flickr account too, by the way):

Not exactly motivating is it? There are some real estate cowboys running the place, if you ask me. In that case, I think I prefer the real cowboys from Paris, Texas... Does it surprise you this reminds me of one of the better films AND soundtracks of the past few decades?

The kid's alright

Former Belgian basketball player Pieter Loridon (aka The Bomb, Antwerp Giants #11) is sick of the media portraying youngsters solely as being either agressive, or antisocial, or alcoholic, or anorexic and so on (as you might have noticed: so far, I did'nt get any further than the letter 'a').

  [photo]

The result of his frustration: www.theokgeneration.com, an organisation for kids who are OK and who are proud to be so.

I would be lying if I said I used to be a big fan of his (he played for the wrong team instead of the right one, after all :-) ), but he was a great player and he's never been afraid of ventilating his opinion in an outspoken fashion. For that, I tend to respect him. This time too, I can see his point.

Are there any other similar projects abroad as well, I wonder? If so, let me know. After all, I too believe the kid's alright:

Declare independence

As a responsible parent, it is probably not a very good idea to be using the F-word in front of my children. And since I am not 100% sure they do not read this blog, I am not going to use it out loud. But you get the picture, right? So: there!

No, not you, dear reader. But you, Yves Leterme, and all you politicians who have put our country in the state it's in today. A state in which a lot of Belgians (like myself) have to explain to the people they know in the French-speaking part as well as abroad, that we are not all short-sighted, self-centered, nationalist bigots who lack any form of historical perspective or solidarity. And I have had it. I am fed up with it.

So cut it out, Yves. Not only do you not have what it takes to get this new government on the rails, you are also not the statesman I want to see running this country in any near or distant future. Your simplistic pre-election propaganda has brought you a lot of votes, that is true. But you knew full well you could never live up to your promises once the elections were over. You do know what that makes you, don't you? What's that, you're saying? You're not alone in this? Of course not, but you are our self-proclaimed future leader. So forgive me if  I take the easy shot.

After all, I don't blame the thousands of Flemish men and women who have voted for you. Nor the media who keep feeding them mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows (to use a quote from Trainspotting) and political programme formats who steer away from any form of nuance. No, I blame you. As a politician, you should be dealing with the 'polis': the city (well, in Roman times that was), the state, the nation. Not with your own career, not with the electoral success of your party. But with nation and the people who make the nation. All of them.

That's more easily said than done? Absolutely! Mine is a judgment lacking every little bit of pespective? True! But then why, I wonder, did you make it all sound so simple before the last election day?

Anyway: you have made certain groups in our little country dream out loud of Flemish independence more than they ever have before. And however much in favour I am of good government as you call it, that is just taking it one step too far. To more or less quote Björk (of all people): "I will not let you do that to me". I know: what seeing one video  from Later with Jools Holland can lead to...

[Via zrlnd]

Feed the world

Early November, hundreds of volunteers will be going from door to door again, selling coffee and tea throughout this country for a worthy cause. Make sure you buy some... In the meantime, remember this video?

 

Ad by Peter Slabbynck for Tinker

Kill the poor

Today is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

I wonder how many of those we will be needing in the future before poverty will  have been eradicated.  In any case: every single one is one too many...

Untill we  kill poverty, the world is killing the poor. Jello Biafra was right:

België

[photo Peter Forret, also seen on Monuments]

Judging from what can be read in numerous foreign media, you might think our little country is falling apart. Well, it's not. And if I can help it, it won't. And I am not alone in this opinion... Bert at One Agency, for example, posted this message today:

"I, and many people in Belgium with me, are frustrated with the fact that our politicians and the traditional media have created the impression that people in the North and South of our miniscule country hate each other. This blog wants to prove the opposite: www.ilovebelgians.be.
Go check it out and share the love. Power to the people!"

Note: for those of you out there who had doubts whether "België" is even a song title, here's the proof it is:

By the way: it's  a song by Het Goede Doel, a Dutch band, in which they express their thoughts on moving from Holland to another country, Belgium being the best option they can think of. And if even the Dutch feel this way...

Note: Unfortunately, the English translation of the song was "Luxemburg (Is there life on Pluto?)" Also, the song is said to refer to the Utrecht café België on the Oudegracht, famous for its many different kinds of beer. Which sort of puts this thought a bit into a different perspective, I guess. :-D

Web 2.0, who cares?

I noticed this week that Andrea Weckerle has picked up blogging again (welcome 'back', Andrea). In her most recent post, she finds it really curious that some people would "ask where I'd gone. They didn't put my name into a search engine, which would've shown the recent hangouts. Instead, they must've just assumed that if I wasn't here l wasn't anywhere. What does that say about social networking sites and online communities? Well, it drives home the obvious point that while there is some overlap between friends/contacts across groups (and in the PR & social media circles probably more so than average), all-in-all it's less than one would expect."

I'd say she's got a point. Her observation also made me think about this quote I read some time ago on Threadwatch.org (via Jan van den Bergh):

  [photo]

"The title (viz. above, nocopy) isn't mine, it was from a 16 year-old kid that belongs to the wireless generation. His entire quote was,

“Web 2.0, dude, who cares, where’s Phone 2.0? The web is for old people and losers”.

What I've noticed is that teens are more connected than ever before, just not to the web, and usually not via PC. They don't care about 'social media' and Myspace was a fad. The kids I spoke to used it for two weeks or so, got bored and moved. Their 'social network' is real, and when they aren't together in 'real life' they stay connected with their cell phones. They aren't using Digg, Netscape, Facebook or "Web 2.0". Even the few that have blogs might post once or twice a month and even the self-admitted 'geeks' sad that the Web is like a big commercial.

A few of them shop on the Web, but it's word of mouth advertising that influence their purchases, not ads on Myspace or blogs, unless one of their friends happen to blog about something. All of them said they use cell phones and text messaging much more than they surf the Web or use messengers. I know they aren't the influencers now, but they will be. So where is all this social media stuff headed?"

You know what? Judging from how my students react to this web 2.0 'thing', this post on Threadwatch might be closer to the truth than most of us suspect... Or do you disagree?

Let's talk about sex

Sex is not a very common topic on this blog. But this time I would even like to encourage you to go and visit a sex site. If you own chickens, that is. Organically bred chickens to be precise. If you are looking for a date for your chickens, or if you would  like to put up an ad for them, then go to www.kippenseks.be (Dutch only).

 

"Golly, he's wearing white sox. What a turn-off on a first date!" [cartoon via]

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

30 March = Equal Pay Day. Amazing such a day  still has to exist. It is 2007 after all, isn't it? Anyway: support the campaign and get your code here.