Amsterdam Weekly: Vol 4 Issue 32, 16-22 August 2007 by Amsterdam Weekly

Volume 4, Issue 33

16 - 22 AUGUST 2007 De Nieuwe Lekker Bezigheid

‘The young people’s language is a disgrace.’ page 8

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Cruising down unEasy river page 8 Street politics page 4 / Is there a doc in the house? page 4 A warehouse of art, design and more page 5 / Ad charity page 15 MUSIC: Are Hazmat Modine the ultimate global bar band? p. 11 / FILM: Will the real Jane Austen please stand up p. 19

Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Music/Clubs . . . . . . . . . .12 Gay & Lesbian . . . . . . . .14 Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Dining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Classifieds/Comics . . . .21

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

CITY SECOND BY PETER CLEUTJENS In this issue and... A certain amount of street politics— the extremely violent variety, that is—has been played out in Amsterdam over the last few days. Two 16-year-old boys poke a knife into an Amstelveen shopkeeper. The result is, unsurprisingly, that they kill him. A few days later, an unknown person is knifed at a home in Geuzenveld. Then, in the early hours of Sunday morning, a guy gets popped in the head with a gun at Cafe Jong Zuid in De Pijp. This bar was, until fairly recently, called Cafe Jan Steen. It was a deeply odd neighbourhood cafe frequented by a funny mix of locals, artists and criminals—hell, even Willem Holleeder was a regular there. Most were attracted to the ridiculously cheap beer. The bar managed to keep prices low because it was a stichting that employed people who’d just come out of prison and were on parole. Because of its rather hardcore reputation, it was regarded as the safest drinking hole imaginable. People were extra polite to each other. Strange how things change.

On the cover READ BETWEEN THE LINES Illustration by Bas Morsch

Next week Inside Uitmarkt

Letters Got an opinion? We want to hear it. inbox@amsterdamweekly.nl

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11/08/2007 - 15:37 - STATION LELYLAAN

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

AARON ISRAEL

AROUND TOWN

The word on the street Straatpolitiek.nl: two righteous writers telling it like it is. By Luuk van Huët If you’ve been following the news these, oh, say, past six years, you might’ve noticed a slight polarisation in the public debate. On one side, white-haired windbags are on a populist crusade against perceived Saracen attacks; on the other, home-grown jihad wannabes lust for 72 virginal brides (though luckily, the latest research seems to suggest that ‘virgins’ was mistranslated; what the Holy book actually promised was raisins.). Sometimes it’s hard to hear your own thoughts through all the wailing. Now, two new voices—Robert van Raalte and Ahmed Kissami—have entered the debate with their website Straatpolitiek.nl, posting fresh opinions in articles and stories. ‘We both study political sciences at the VU,’ says the dreadlocked Van Raalte, clad in an old army coat, ‘and there was a connection between us right from the start. We were interested in an extra-curricular activity, but the tradi-

tional student fraternities didn’t appeal to us. So we started Straatpolitiek.’ Kissami, casually dressed and sporting a short beard, points out that their studies helped raise their understanding of the current political system. ‘The Western capitalist system isn’t interested in solving many of our problems,’ he explains, ‘because these problems are its rationale. Without the problems, the state would be redundant.’ Van Raalte adds that Straatpolitiek is a forum for community outreach, a place to ‘engender and share this growing awareness.’ This doesn’t mean the two students feel authoritative on these matters. ‘Everyone has their natural prejudices,’ Kissami points out, ‘and we do too. But we wish to lighten this luggage of prejudice to free people. The more time you spend in pointing out your differences, the less time you spend noting similarities.’ Both men are quick to note that their own heritage (Van Raalte is part Indonesian, Kissami is Moroccan) wasn’t a defining factor in the genesis of Straatpolitiek. ‘That’s just the same hokjesgeest mentality,’ Kissami says. ‘Instead of a Rastafarian and a Muslim, people should see us as Robert and Ahmed.’ Van Raalte explains how a central tenet of Rastafarian ideology shaped his view of society: ‘We use the word “Babylon” to describe the system that enslaves us, just as it enslaved the Jews in the ancient city and the black race in the Americas. Even though it appears that humanity has made a lot of progress, Babylon is still scheming behind the scenes.’

Robert and Ahmed seek cohesion.

‘Something like a police officer giving you a parking ticket because you’re a minute too late,’ Kissami adds, ‘that’s also Babylon. It’s not necessary, but he’s just following orders. That is what we’re fighting against, but we only fight on an intellectual level, with our words and wits as our weapons. We’re not out to provoke or to unduly criticise without giving our own solutions for problems.’ Certain political decisions have Kissami riled up. ‘I’m not an anarchist or anything, but I just don’t believe that the democratic system truly works. Once every four years you get to push a button, you just have to assume your vote is counted, and then the politicians turn their back on you for another four years. I mean, why wasn’t there any upheaval about Secretary of State Ben Bot’s decision to hand over a contract to Shell worth twenty-one billion euros that relies on a pipeline through the Uruzgan province where Dutch troops are stationed? Our army was sent out to promote business interests; business always profits from wars.’ ‘I can’t believe that our representatives wouldn’t know about this,’ adds Van Raalte. ‘So they must be doing this deliberately. That’s why I find it hard to sympathise with politicians, except for some of the local ones, like Ahmed Marcouch from Stadsdeel Slotervaart. He really seems devoted to furthering the social cohesion in Amsterdam—just what we’re striving for.’ www.straatpolitiek.nl

Docs at the docks A new reality series is out to awake you. By Willem de Blaauw Revealing, confrontational and critical documentaries—that’s what Docs at the Docks is all about. Opening this week at the NDSM-werf in Noord, and continuing each third Tuesday night, a new documentary is screened that, according to one of the project’s founders, Jerry de Mars, will keep you talking until the wee hours of the morning. ‘I got talking one day with Jasper Helmer, one of the initiators,’ says De Mars, ‘and we came up with the idea for Docs at the Docks.’ De Mars, who is also involved with Vrije Media Collectief—a group that produces media, art and cultural projects—explains that, ‘the idea is to show films that are revealing and critical; topics that are often overlooked in mainstream documentaries. In general, this type of critical film gets only shown in small cinemas and we want them to reach a bigger audience.’

Amsterdam Weekly

AARON ISRAEL

Spreading wings. But only to the left?

Once the ball got rolling there was no stopping them, resulting in the very first Docs programme. But aren’t you stepping on the toes of festivals like Amnesty International Film Festival or IDFA? ‘True, some festivals, and in particular IDFA, show fantastic documentaries and often critical ones as well, and we certainly don’t want to try and copy those festivals. We’d like to think that we can give the audience something more than just a documentary. After our screenings, there’s room for discussions with specialists and journalists or others who know a lot about the film’s topic. There’ll also be spoken-word performances and DJs. In short, it’s an informative night out and not just a film. And it’s not just a one- or twoweek film festival,’ De Mars continues. ‘It’ll be an on-going thing. Our first programme runs until 20 November and then we’ll come up with another one.’ And the films? How are they chosen? ‘First we come up with a few themes. For this series we have war, media, energy and economy. The next series will probably focus on spirituality, food and the pharmaceutical industry. My two favourite films in this first series are Iraq

For Sale—War Profiteers (which will be screened 21 August) and Buying the War by Bill Moyers (18 September). The first is about the huge money-making war industry in Iraq and the second deals with the power of media. But is there a chance these films could ever make a difference? ‘We’ve been talking about that ourselves,’ says Hanneke Schots, the festival’s production manager. ‘It’s about making people more aware. We provide them with some of the information that is hardly covered by mainstream media. If they want to take action themselves, fantastic. Our main objective is to inspire them.’ Daan de Wit, who will conduct interviews with guest speakers after the films—many of them representing the right of the political spectrum—agrees. ‘Action is not the first thing to accomplish. We see ourselves as publicists, not activists. Any form of action of course starts with information. And we are trying to give the best information possible.’ And they hope to do more than merely preach to the converted, as so often happens with left-leaning political festivals. ‘I’ve been in those types of environments many times,’ says De Wit. ‘My goal has always been to bring relevant information from outside the mainstream and into it. That’s why we have chosen for a different form of presentation, as you can see on our website, flyers and posters. Docs at the Docks is not just a series of evenings with documentaries about-mostly-political subjects. It’s a full evening’s entertainment with interviews, interesting guest speakers, spoken word, art and music.’ www.docsatthedocks.nl

Haus rocks! A shrine for design and more. By Marie-Claire Melzer During last month’s Amsterdam International Fashion Week, the newly opened Wella Warenhaus organised a fashion show. The first model on the catwalk was the Netherlands’ one and only Professional Pin-Up Girl, Monique Sluyter, clutching a fake poodle (the shop also sells dog’s clothes) and wearing a tiny white apron with a giant ‘W’ on it. With the help of a man in the audience, she quickly got rid of the apron to reveal a glamorous black-and-white dress by Backhaus, in the style of a film noir femme fatale. Voila! Wella Warenhaus, warehouse of fashion, art and design— with a little bit of rock ’n’ roll thrown in. On a sunny afternoon, on a bench opposite the store, its initiators, Koos van Dijk (manager of the late Herman Brood) and fashion designer Sue Backhaus, explain how it all started. ‘Initially, I was thinking of opening a boutique in the area

AARON ISRAEL

16-22 August 2007

of the Negen Straatjes,’ says Backhaus, ‘but the premises we checked were all very small—and extremely expensive.’ Van Dijk continues the story: ‘Quite disappointed, we got on a plane to New York for a short vacation. We ended up in the Meatpacking District and that was an eye-opening experience. Young designers have gathered in the old factories and turned them into shops. By sharing the rent, they can afford to be in this cool part of town. Then we knew what to do: back in Amsterdam we went looking for a bigger venue.’ ‘Instead of a boutique, we decided it was going to be a large shop for a group of designers,’ says Backhaus. ‘And not only fashion, but art and furniture as well. A unique concept, as far as I know.’ The concrete building is rather cool; with rectangular forms and many huge windows, it really stands out among the 17th-century grachtenpanden that surround it. Van Dijk says: ‘It’s a great building, made in 1955 for Wella, that German company for hair products. The architecture has an American feel to it. It must have been quite a shock in those days and look how modern it still is! Fifteen years ago, Wella moved out. The upper floors were turned into apartments and the first floor and basement became a wine shop. We are renting the former wine shop now. When we first came here, the interior looked horrible, greyish and dirty. But we saw the potential. We broke down some walls and painted everything white. And we use special lamps: they bring out all the colours exactly as they are.’ A man in white overalls walks by. Van Dijk jumps up and asks: ‘Are you a painter?’ ‘Well, yes,’ says the man. ‘Would you be interested in a job? We still need the basement to be done. Wait—I’ll show you.’ And before the man can even reply, Van Dijk ushers him into the shop.

If you build it, they will come and shop.

After a few minutes, Van Dijk and the painter reappear; both men are smiling. They’ve just agreed that the painter is going to do the job. ‘I really enjoy doing this,’ says Van Dijk. ‘In fact, managing a shop is not so different from managing a rock ’n’ roll artist—except this is a little less time-consuming. With Herman Brood I had to be available 24/7.’ Backhaus adds: ‘Yes, a few years ago you would never have had time for this.’ ‘So far, we’ve had only positive reactions,’ says Van Dijk. ‘We thought maybe Wella would cause problems, but they loved the idea and let us use the name.’ At the moment, Wella Warenhaus sells work from 12 labels and one artist. Smartly cut dresses by Hübsch; furniture and lamps by HUH; bags by Boulogne and Kipling; Tshirts by Nes; shoes by Comme il Faut; hand-knitted shawls by Nobel; 1950s-style men’s shirts by Carol; leather bags and purses by Marchena Design; paintings by Paul Hardman; leather trousers and dogwear by Bimbeau Delux; and Backhaus’ own creations under the names of Cherry Sue (sexy 1950s styles) and Backhaus (glam, brightly coloured dresses). She explains: ‘And that’s only on the ground floor! We’re now busy renovating the basement, but when that’s done— hopefully in September—we’ll have room for more designers. The idea is that each designer also works one day in the shop, so we don’t have to hire personnel. And when we have enough people, we plan to be open seven days a week.’ So what are the criteria for being sold here? Backhaus says: ‘I’m interested in anything that is handmade and creative. If someone comes in one day with a designer dildo, I might consider it!’ Wella Warenhaus, Keizersgracht 300, Tue-Sun, 12.00-19.00, www.wellawarenhaus.nl.

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

Separating fact from fiction and opinion Refugee journalists living in the Netherlands have begun ex Ponto Magazine, an online publication highlighting issues in their countries of origin. One of Editor-in-chief Goran Baba Ali’s tasks is to keep it from becoming an activist medium. .= ?m,..njmmb .&gmmm ..j b... ...m! ..jb1dmk b . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnmmmmmmmmmmmhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"n. By Floris Dogterom ... tnkdmhmmmmmmmmnmnmhmmmmmmmmmmmmnnmmmmmmmmmmn.j.h Illustrations by Bas Morsch

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t’s the year 8 AD. The Roman Emperor Augustus banishes the poet Ovid to Tomi on the Black Sea, in the Pontius province. There, Ovid writes his Epistulae ex Ponto—‘Letters from the Black Sea’—a collection of poetic appeals. He sends them to friends and influential Romans, asking them to plead with the Emperor to reconsider his fate. Throughout history, several writers use the term ex Ponto as a metaphor for exile. In April 2007, a Dutch web magazine of exiled journalists is doing the same. The second issue has just seen the light. In fourteen articles, journalists from countries like Iran, Bangladesh, Russia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, as well as the Netherlands, discuss issues like the pros and cons of the post-Soviet Russian society, the rough road towards freedom of the press in Afghanistan and the Sierra Leone elections. Ex Ponto Magazine comes in PDF format, which lends it more of a magazine feel than a typical web page. Editor-in-chief and driving force behind ex Ponto is the writer, artist and journalist Goran Baba Ali (35). In the office of On File—the association of refugee journalists and writers—at Singel opposite the Koepelkerk, Baba Ali takes some time to talk about his brainchild. What’s your background? I grew up in Sulaimaniya, in Kurdish Iraq. I began as a literary writer, but I also wrote essays and opinion articles, often about Islam and sexuality. In the days of the no-fly zone—established in

northern Iraq shortly after the 1991 Gulf War—Kurdistan was semi-liberated, which also implied that there was semifreedom of the press. However, that didn’t mean life was easy for a journalist. The new pluralism also led to the rise of the Islamist movement. Were you threatened? Yes I was, although not physically, but more indirectly. My fellow intellectuals and I not only wrote articles, but also organised seminars. They were really popular, because people were hungry for information. These seminars attracted Islamists, too. One time I did a lecture on sexual freedom and argued for the emancipation of women and the abolition of the institution of marriage. Those were dangerous things to say in a society like that. I am not all that brave, and I started thinking: this is not the kind of society I want to live in. I couldn’t go my own way. I couldn’t breathe. Kurdish Iraq was like a big prison and it was getting increasingly dangerous for me. I came to the Netherlands eleven years ago. A year after I left, a friend of mine, a journalist who held the same views as I did, was shot dead by Islamists. What have you been up to since you came here? I’m a freelance journalist. One of the things I do is to maintain the On File website. Before that, I was a member of the On File board. We were thinking of ways to help refugee journalists in gaining work experience. We needed to create a podium for our members, so

they could publish and build up a portfolio. That’s how ex Ponto Magazine came about. Apart from a few stories in English, the magazine is in Dutch. Why don’t you publish the whole thing in English? You would reach a much bigger audience that way. Almost every refugee journalist continues to do TV, radio or writing articles once he is here, but only in his native language. That’s not very useful if you live and work in the Netherlands. We encourage people to write in Dutch. All articles are edited by a Dutch editor. Incidentally, I do have plans to publish a complete English version, as well as the Dutch one, after some time. Who is your target group? The Dutch media, as well as a broader audience. It has been well received. In May alone we had eight-hundred or so page views and the media have written positively about us. Readers tell us they like the layout. I am pleased with that, because we spend a lot of time on it. We would like to publish a printed magazine. And maybe we will next year. In Nafiss Nia’s article [next page] it is mentioned that Iranian journalists find it difficult to separate their own opinions from objective journalism. The same goes for other journalists that come from the countries of some of your ex Ponto contributors. Creating awareness about issues is OK, but is not our main goal. It is one of my tasks to prevent ex Ponto from becom-

ing an activist magazine. To give you an example: I have refused articles in which the author used the term ‘genocide’. You can’t do that. It is something for a researcher to prove if something must be called genocide or not. I don’t shy away from that kind of discussion. When we think an article needs improvement, we have the author rewrite it. I see that as a learning process for the author—he has to get to know the Dutch journalistic codes. I do realise, however, that in most countries of origin, journalists are activists. That’s unfortunate, but inevitable. I also had to learn not to voice my own opinion in my articles. Are scoops important? No, they’re a bonus. If we focused too much on scoops, we would need more input from non-members. Then, we would lose sight of one of our main goals, which is offering our members the opportunity to publish. I want sixty per cent of the articles to be written by our members. The other forty per cent is there for Dutch and migrant journalists. You might argue that migrants are also foreigners, but they do have a different background from refugees. What can we expect in the third issue? The theme will be genocide and ethnic conflicts. But again, it’s objective journalism we’re after, not opinions. You might say we are making our own lives difficult. www.exponto.nl

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

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‘I

learned that the personal views of a professional journalist should never be heard in his news coverage. Instead, he must only reproduce the events, like a camera,’ commented one of the participants of a civil journalism course in Tehran, Iran. The course was organised by Press Now, the group that supports independent media in conflict regions and transition countries. In the second issue of ex Ponto, Nafiss Nia, an Iranian Dutch poet and journalist who conducted the training, writes about how her students reacted to this Western outlook on journalism. Sitting at the windy but sunny terrace of De Bakkerswinkel at Westergasterrein, Nia (39) explains how she was forced to leave Iran 14 years ago. ‘I studied film and modern Persian literature. I felt like being an activist, in that I wasn’t satisfied with the situation in Iran. But I wasn’t politically active. Still, the authorities didn’t consider me to be a good Muslim girl. They warned me, they reprimanded me and they arrested me. In the end, I wasn’t allowed to study any longer. Life became so difficult that I had to leave.’ During the course in Tehran, she noticed how her students had huge difficulties with being neutral reporters. ‘That’s really tough in Iran. There are many activists who turned into journalists, and they all want to have their say. But it doesn’t work. Readers want facts, not opinions. That’s why newspapers sell poorly in Iran. I told my students to stay out of their articles in order to

reach more people. Initially, the students opposed the idea, saying that it was a Western thing, but eventually they agreed.’ Nia feels that all the activism and intellectualism in the world will not help to change her country. ‘Change starts from within yourself. In Iran, many people look modern from the outside, but in fact they aren’t. I have to say, however, that the women especially are working on change. They discuss the relationships between men and women, child labour, even homosexuality. I find that very encouraging.’ In May, there was some turmoil about the intention of Dutch parliament to free up 15 million euros to support the free press in Iran. Opponents claimed that the money would compromise Iranian journalists and even endanger them. The Iranian government accused the Netherlands of promoting a regime change, in close collaboration with the US. ‘Nonsense,’ says Nia. ‘Nobody forces people to accept money, and if they do, they’re aware of the risks. Moreover, the Press Now courses, for instance, stimulate contact between people from two worlds. My most active students are telling me that their participation in the course doesn’t represent a danger.’ Nia sees her courses as producing some great results. ‘A number of students have been promoted, others have won prizes. And on a personal level it has also been an important experience for them. They told me they have been encouraged to take their profession seriously.’

ast week, Amsterdam Weekly reported on the fate of the Muslim Rohingya in Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country. Many have fled to Bangladesh, a country with a huge Muslim majority. It is a drama hardly mentioned in the Dutch press. Nor does the discrimination against non-Muslims in Bangladesh get mentioned, except in ex Ponto Magazine. In the article ‘Een exodus die aan ons voorbij gaat’ [‘An exodus that passes us by’] the Bangladeshi-Dutch journalist, Arnob Chakrabarty relates how, since 9/11, tens of thousands of temples and homes of the Hindu minority have been demolished. At least 4,000 women have been raped and an estimated five million Hindus have left for neighbouring India. Chakrabarty is a freelance journalist who works for the Nederlandse Moslim Omroep (the Muslim broadcasting organisation), as well as other media. He fled his country in 1991 and that’s about all he wants to reveal about his background. ‘It is not very relevant to the story you want to write. Besides, in order to keep my professional distance, I don’t want to focus too much on my background.’ Admittedly, Chakrabarty says, his Bangladeshi roots do come in handy for stories like the one in ex Ponto. ‘But I don’t want to be an activist. Speaking of which: the image that all journalists in Third World countries are activists is false. I have noticed that with Bangladeshi journalists, the separation of journalism and activism is a subject of discussion.’ Chakrabarty states he participates in ex Ponto because of its ‘added value.’ He says that the maga-

zine can be seen as ‘an alternative source for news and background stories that you won’t find in the mainstream media.’ One of those stories is increased discrimination against Hindus since 9/11. Chakrabarty: ‘Bangladesh has radicalised since then, a fact you hardly hear anyone talk about. Large groups of Taliban have defected to Bangladesh, and fundamentalist Muslim parties have indirect contacts with al-Qaeda. The country is slowly but surely being Islamised. According to Chakrabarty, this process is caused by the high degree of poverty and illiteracy. The Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, among others, capitalises on those problems and sets Muslims up against Hindus, who make up 10 percent of the population. ‘Islamists tell the people to prepare for struggle against the Christian West. It’s the same story everywhere, from Indonesia to Algeria. And it’s very effective.’ Chakrabarty says that Bangladeshi newspapers report the crimes against the Hindu community, but only in the context of incidents. ‘The authorities say they want to prevent social upheaval. The Islamists as well as the government itself, are warning editors not to go too far. Journalists who report on arson and rape in a way that displeases the Islamists have been threatened and even killed.’ The journalist also notes that ‘Bangladesh is conspicuously absent in the Dutch press, at the same time [being] a priority country for development aid. Interest in foreign affairs runs along thematic lines. Zimbabwe? Political corruption. Bangladesh? Flood. British and American media tend to go beyond such simple schemes.’

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

unEasy Cruise Shit ahoy! Getting your feet wet on a budget. BY SIMON POOLE

f a car ferry and a garden centre got together and made a baby, it might look like this: easyCruiseTwo, the latest project from the Greek enfant terrible of budget travel, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The easyEmperor first made waves on the cruise market a couple of years back in the South of France with easyCruiseOne, which ploughed the azure waters of Nice and St Tropez. Its bastard cousin is anchored in the rather less crystalline seas round the back of Centraal Station, where I had originally spied her from my office window. Starting at €18 a night, this franchised cruise-liner certainly follows the budget model with regard to price. But however cobbled together this Frankenship may look, one question remains: does cheap have to mean bad? The only way to find out was to persuade a friend to pack a sense of humour and join me on a fourday adventure through the waterways of the lowlands. So it was that my photographer buddy and I boarded the Brussels train, intent on sampling fun afloat—and on a shoestring. Departure time from the Belgian capital was set at 3am. Despite—or, more likely, because of—an afternoon spent enjoying the local beer, events started taking a downward turn. Due to the combination of a revised departure point, inept directions and our own state of advanced refreshment, we never actually made it to the boat that first night. We resolved to catch up with our ship in Antwerp the next morning, but when we called easyCruise’s customer services department to find out where to embark, we were a little surprised to be told that there was ‘nobody in the office who

knows where the ship docks in Antwerp.’ Six international calls and a whole earful of lounge classics later, a cheery Aussie girl called from Greece to tell us to head for Willemdok. A half-hour train journey and a little shoe leather later we finally spotted our vessel. We had booked a two-person cabin on the lower sleeping deck; the first night it came with a somewhat limited view of a stone wall. ‘Cramped’ was the first word which sprang to mind. Oh. My. God. were the next three. Imagine an airline toilet with a shower and two foam mattresses strapped in, and you’re about there. As I tested the toilet facilities for the first time, one of the floor tiles came away with my foot in true Laurel and Hardy fashion. Later in the trip, we were wading through water of indeterminable origin due to an over-excitable drain apparently oblivious to its duties. After unpacking, we ventured upstairs and to the bar, where the only other customer appeared to be the Captain, a jolly chap more than happy to engage his guests over a biertje or two. We were secretly hoping for an invite to the captain’s table for a lavish feast of kroketten and kaas, but, alas, it never materialised—the meal, or indeed the table. With the entire space kitted out in the trademark orange—from bar tops to light bulbs—it would make the ultimate Queen’s Day party boat. (Or a downsize Royal Yacht.) On the top deck we found a selection of garden furniture and plastic foliage. Two large and rather inviting-looking hot tubs took pride of place towards the rear of the boat, marred only by the matching ‘out of order’ notices they bore for the duration of the cruise.

As we left the boat to make for the centre of Antwerp, we passed the Captain as we went. He recommended the red light district as a must-see, though I suspect he had misinterpreted something I’d said in the bar earlier about wanting to sample horse while I was in town. (Sadly, my hopes for an equine feast were dashed after we arrived at the speciality restaurant minutes after the kitchen had closed.) At midnight, we stumbled back on deck, to be met by a scene of half-a-dozen students shouting into a karaoke microphone in the bar; it seemed we weren’t the only ones enjoying the local ale. A couple of off-duty crew members had joined the party and they, and the bar staff, seemed a very jolly bunch indeed, especially since they are presumably subjected to this on a nightly basis. The opening chords of The Proclaimers were enough to make me run for the safety of my cabin. On Wednesday morning I awoke feeling a bit queasy, but there was beautiful sunshine streaming through the window. Fresh air was urgently needed, and it really was wonderful to take in the sights from the deck as we sailed towards Rotterdam. I met two older English ladies, both experienced cruisers. They described easyCruiseTwo as ‘certainly the most unhygienic boat we have been on,’ but did point out that the average Cunard trip weighs in at around eight times the price of this one. I left them to dreams of the Caribbean and dragged myself below to try out the restaurant. The room was empty. I suspect the students were still halfway through the greatest hits of Right Said Fred in one of their cabins, and most other sensible folk had long since fed and watered themselves. The chef appeared to have cut his

culinary teeth at a service station canteen: in fact, the whole scene was reminiscent of dining on a car ferry—minus 101 hairyarsed truck drivers. After a day of burning rubber on rental bikes in Rotterdam, all the usual suspects were present on the boat that evening, as a chorus of ‘I Predict a Riot’ penetrated the darkness from somewhere below. I began to imagine what it must be like when they have 100 guests on board, as would be the case on the return voyage on Saturday. The next morning, a woman in her 60s told me she was ‘sick of the Kaiser Chiefs’ and that ‘the young people’s language is a disgrace.’ I offered sympathy while simultaneously admiring her knowledge of modern music. I wondered whether her octogenarian mother was about to confide in me that she would prefer some of that nice drum and bass. The harmonious atmosphere appeared ready to break and four days suddenly seemed just enough. My colleague and I had already decided to abandon ship as soon as we reached Amsterdam and return to the comfort of our apartments. In fact, another impromptu bathroom flood put an end to any suggestion of staying aboard the final night in Amsterdam ‘just for fun’. After some final photos with the Captain and a few compliments about his driving, we walked down the gangplank for the final time and onto De Ruyterkade. It had certainly been a lot of fun and, to their credit, the crew were all delightful. If you’ve got the stamina and the inclination for a little 6am karaoke, I’d highly recommend it. If luxury is your thing—forget it. www.easycruise.com

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

SHORT LIST

Días Latinos, Saturday, Amersfoort

THURSDAY16 AUGUST Art: Hetnieuwestadsgebriefte Travelling from Istanbul to Amsterdam, Aylin Kuryel and Bob Pannebakker witnessed the contrasts between the two cities and recorded them in a series of photographs, currently on display at squat gallery Schijnheilig. The artists focused on casual details, found in the city streets, marking the decline, but also the exciting new possibilities of the urban environment. Their photographs and maps were inspired by early 20th century writing from Istanbul, like Ahmet Rasim’s S¸ ehir Mektuplari (Letters from the City). Rasim described the cultural habits and traditions of the city that were disappearing in the modern age. Previously on display in Istanbul under the name of Yeni¸sehirmektupçulari (Neo-City Lettrists), the exhibition title is now translated into Dutch as Hetnieuwestadsgebriefte. (Marinus de Ruiter) Schijnheilig (Wed-Sun 16.00-20.00). Closing Sunday.

Tour: The Dreamride & The Nightmare Project Depending on your preference of nocturnal mental excursions, art collective Kattenbak has organised two simultaneous bike tours through the city: The Dreamride and The Nightmare Project. Both tours will lead from the Kattenbak’s gallery in the heart of Amsterdam along the lesser known treasures of the city. Aside from the well-informed guides, the tours will include poetry, art performances, an array of eye-catching modified bikes and, of course, free refreshments. The Kattenbak was founded to exhibit and support young artists and organise art projects in public spaces. This month, aside from the bike tour project, the collective hosts an exhibition of multimedia artist Mariëlle Videler in De Kijkkasten, the display windows in St Nicolaastraat that HEMA Nieuwendijk has made available to the art collective. (Marinus de Ruiter) Spuistraat 227, entry before 21.45 at De Kattenbak, departure at 22.00, €5.

FRIDAY17AUGUST Art: Holy When Einav Leshetz points out that media coverage of life in Israel, or indeed many locations in the Middle East , is that of a war-torn nation where inhabitants struggle to survive day to day, it’s tough to dispute it. In fact, how often do you see or hear stories from the region that don't involve violence, bullet-proof vests or body counts? Out to prove that life in Israel isn't really as bleak as typically perceived, the young and upcoming Australian photographer has compiled this series of images that offer an

impression of Israel’s contemporary prosperity and culture, focusing more on a happy and peaceful vision that’s inspired by hope and growth. It even dares to present a more positive view of integration between cultures in the Holy Land. (Steven McCarron) Chiellerie, (Fri 17.00-22.00, Sat, Sun, Wed 14.00-18.00). Until 23 August.

SATURDAY18 AUGUST Festival: Días Latinos Sun, sea and sangria. Well, one out of three ain’t bad. Why bother flying for 15 hours wearing tight knee socks while consuming meals the size of a three year old’s lunch box to arrive in South America, when you can pay €13.20 (€7.90 korting) for a day return to Amersfoort and drink in all the Latin spirit you desire. Días Latinos is a two-day outdoor extravaganza, featuring more than 40 performances by artists originating from the likes of Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela and the Antilles. The organisers claim the event— being held for the 11th time—attracts around 100,000 visitors and amusingly state that these are ‘not only from the Amersfoort region’, which comes as rather a disappointment, really. So get down to the sounds of Grupo Tipico Colombiano—who wear bright traditional costumes—or sing along with Beatriz Aguiar, originally from Uruguay, but now a Dutch resident with a mean Latam repertoire. (Jane Cavanagh) Various locations in Amersfoort (various times Sat, Sun), free; €1 donation welcome. Also 19 August.

Rock: The Noisettes In French, a noisette is a tasty little hazelnut, but those more familiar with the up-andcoming band of the same name will know that the group prefers to emphasise the word ‘noise’ in their alias. Composed of three members hailing from London, The Noisettes have set themselves apart in the saturated indie-pop scene by blending each member’s personal style to concoct an arresting blend of bluesy punk rock. Lead singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa brings a new flamboyancy to the word showwomanship, going so far as to dislocate her shoulder while bouncing around on stage during an ill-fated performance. While not as vivacious, guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison are equally dedicated to putting on a rock-solid show. The Noisettes are worth seeing for their enthusiasm and talent alone, but it’s clear they’re a special musical treat when both Nina Simone and Deep Purple are counted among their influences. (Stephanie Shewchuk) Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €11 + membership.

Gay: Spellbound Summer Edition Gay Pride is over, but luckily the partying hasn’t stopped just yet. Whether it’s finally summer, or whether it’s pissing down again, what’s for sure is that the wonderful peo-

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

ple at Spellbound will give you a nice, warm feeling with their special Summer Edition party. Apart from the regular DJs Trashling and Martijn, and visuals by AlexetJeremy, tonight’s line up includes DJ Anne Anderson from Germany. She doesn’t just spin electro beats, Detroit sounds and housey tunes: she incorporates DJing with a wicked live performance. Also hitting the stage are Killer Caterpiller, two blokes influenced by Gary Glitter, David Bowie, The Residents, Depeche Mode and The Smiths, to name but a few. Or, in their own words: ‘it’s the bastard love child of two knob rockers living in Amsterdam.’ The upstairs bar is manned by DJs Toon and Zerowan and VJ Dorthe. (Willem de Blaauw) OCCII, 23.00-05.00, €7.

Festival: Hartjesdag Question: how did a festival which originated with peasants’ rights to hunt and roast a deer once a year in the forests around Haarlem end up as an excuse to drag up and get drunk? Answer: who cares? Just let the Lords of Misrule take over and suspend convention for the whole of this weekend. The mini-festival—whose only dress-code stipulation is that you come as the opposite sex—was celebrated for centuries in working-class districts around Amsterdam, finally winding up on Zeedijk, where it thrived. Until those nasty Nazis took over, that is: they banned all Hartjesdag celebrations in 1943, and it seemed the festival was doomed to stay moribund forever more. In 1997, however, a bunch of the neighbourhood’s bar- and shop-owners thought it was time to revive the gender-blending. Ten years down the line and it’s grown into rather a biggie, stretching from Prins Hendrikkade, down the dijk and onto Nieuwmarkt. The pink community will be celebrating at De Engel van Amsterdam and De Barderij, but everyone knows that it’s straight men who take to cross-dressing with the most gusto—so expect to encounter XY chromosomed dollybirds at every turn. That should be entertainment enough, but for those who want it formalised, there are three stages, all featuring choirs, local bands and good old fashioned singalongs. Podium Prins Hendrikkade is the spot from which the drag parade departs at 4pm on Sunday and, three hours later, is the site for the crowning of the Queen of Hartjesdag. See www.hartjesdag.nl for the full programme. (Kim Renfrew) Zeedijk, various times, free. Also 19 August.

SUNDAY19 AUGUST Music: Hofjesconcerten The Jordaan is full of them: hofjes, little courtyards that are situated between the houses. And although they are so charming it’s almost ridiculous, Amsterdammers living in less-charming parts of town rarely get to see them. All too fast you have cycled by, on the way to running some errand or another, without noticing you’ve just missed one. That’s because you have to know where they are. A good—and very charming—way to find out are the free hofjesconcerten that are organised each summer by Werkgroep Kunst & Cultuur Jordaan en Gouden Reael. All the way through the summer, and way into September, free concerts with all kinds of music take place in various hofjes. Next up, on Sunday, is a performance by the Amsterdam Chamber Groep on Bakkerpleintje. It starts at 15.00. You will find the entrance on Tuinstraat between numbers 76 and 90. (Sarah Gehrke). See www.jordaangoudenreael.nl. Free.

Photography: From Hero to Zero John Geven, who is usually associated with sensual portraits and commercial photography, has a new exhibition shot from a different angle, opening today. From Hero to Zero focuses on Geven as subject, while showing the world around him as he experiences it. In a wheelchair after a diving accident at the age of 19, Geven moved onward and upward during the last decade to make his way in the world of photography. Although he no longer has full movement of his arms, his adept use of a computer, along with a specially adapted studio, enable him to produce professional work. His perseverance has rewarded him with an astonishing output. ‘Such things can happen to anyone at any time,’ he explains. ‘I want people to understand that.’ The message can be found implicitly in the show’s series of mirrored portraits, showing alternatively the ups or downs of life. He awakens the viewer’s awareness about the arbitrary hand of fate by capturing BN’ers as staged in an array of unexpected situations. The works include such notables as actresses Sophie Hilbrand, Chantal Janzen and Tanja Jess, TV presenter Irene Moors, skater Petra Kagchelland and cabaret star Ruben Nicolai. (John Hartnett) Oude Kerk (Mon-Sat 11.00-17.00, Sun 13.00-17.00). Until 1 September.

World: Asakusa Jinta From the heart of Asakusa, the colourful Tokyo district that was the place to be for pleasure seekers in the 1930s, comes a ‘hardcore marching brass band’ that unite prewar jazz, polka and folk with more recent party music like ska, funk and punk rock. Asakusa Jinta are a cult band in Japan. Famous film director Takeshi Kitano wrote the lyrics for the opening track of their CD Asakusa Rock, and aside from clubs and festivals, their music could be heard in soundtracks of anime action films. The seven members combine the sounds of traditional brass and accordion music with slapping bass sounds and wailing electric guitars. It’s like the Pogues with Jimmy Page on guitar or Slash jamming with Gogol Bordello. On crack. Or wasabi. By any means, the band’s playing is tight and adventurous, so aside from pogo fanatics and party freaks, the music intellectuals and jazz aficionados among the audience will be satisfied as well. (Marinus de Ruiter) Sugar Factory, 22.00, €7-€9.

Send details and images for listing consideration at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl.

Amsterdam Weekly

CAROLYN RIDSDALE

16-22 August 2007

Two harmonicas, a tuba, drums, guitars, trumpet—and don’t forget the claviola, cimbalom and sheng.

PLAYTHAT FUNKY CIMBALOM WHITE BOY MUSIC Hazmat Modine 16 August, 20.30, Paradiso, €14 + membership By Steve Korver

The press clippings about New York City’s Hazmat Modine are a pleasure to read. The Times called them a ‘calypso/altcountry/blues/gypsy band’. Barbès heard ‘the kind of blues one might have found in a whorehouse in New Orleans had the city been built on the Black Sea somewhere alongside Macao and inhabited by Gypsies.’ Meanwhile The Village Voice welcomed listeners to an ‘old weird globalism’. It was time to talk to front man Wade Schuman, the band’s singer/guitarist/harmonica player. How would you describe your music? [Sighs] It always ends up sounding like a laundry list. While I just think [another deep sigh] that it’s essentially American music that... Actually I was just listening to some recordings of live shows we just did and went ‘Jesus Christ, it’s just rock ’n’ roll’. But it’s a rock ’n’ roll that bypassed certain rock influences. While the ingredients are the same—swing, blues, r&b and soul—it also incorporates a lot of world music influences and what is contemporary music in NYC these days. Like Latin. Like Eastern European. Actually, just think Elvis Presley if he grew up in the Barrio and his wife was Jewish. But isn’t American music just world music?

It’s an immigrant culture! From my point of view, a lot of the good things of American culture belong to immigrant culture. People came here and took parts of their old lives and created new ones. I always use our tuba player as an example—West Indian descent, born in NYC, grew up on the Lower East Side in a Hispanic and Jewish neighbourhood while playing avant garde, jazz, blues and latin music. A bit of a mix... It’s American! Or actually: New York City. You are also embracing all these, socalled, ‘forgotten’ instruments. Well I like sound and texture. And I’ve just never seen using the clichéd musical palate of guitar, drums and bass as the only way to do things. The tuba is a phenomenal instrument. It’s seen as kind of goofy but it’s got so much potential; Joe [Daley] is one of the great tuba players on the planet. So why not do James Brown kind of riffs on a tuba as opposed to a bass? What are some of the favourite ‘textures’ of the moment? Well, we have two harmonicas and I always love that. We also sometimes work with Scott Robinson and he plays the contrabass saxophone—about the size of a small furnace—and it’s the lowest, largest and probably most impractical thing ever to play music on. And that’s the reason we have an eight piece band, because we love all these different sounds. Our sax player Steve Elson

Wade Schuman (seated on tuba) likes his textures.

plays baritone sax, tenor, but also Armenian duduk. We also use the Chinese sheng which is where the harmonica came from—it looks like it’s a Gatling gun you blow on. And sometimes I like to use two tubas—it’s like whatever it takes to get things sonically exciting. Now I’m thinking I want to find a bassoon player... But we work with all sorts of people: like our good friends, the Tuvan throat singers Huun-Huur-Tu. While you obviously have all this virtuosity in the band, you still sound like the ultimate, albeit mutant, bar band— and I mean that in a good way—that everyone just wants to get down to. Well, we have spent a lot of the last decade playing bars in New York. And our main thing is to have fun. There are way too many bands that look as if their dog just got run over by a tractor, while the origin of all this music is music that you dance to and that you live your life with. It’s not some rarefied art form. We recently did this fancy gig in Russia and the audience just went nuts for us and we had to do an hour-and-a-half encore. And the response to the other bands was much less and one of these guys accused us of being a wedding band. Well, I just wanted to go: hey, we just had a really great time. And if your idea of a wedding band is when people dance and go crazy, well, that’s OK with me. I’m happy for it. I try not to take myself too seriously. Any forgotten instruments you want to track down while you’re here? I haven’t been able to snoop around. But there is an instrument in Germany I’ve been wanting to get. A schalmei—it’s basically melodic car horns you blow into with bells coming off, like a Dr Seuss instrument. Really loud. Really annoying. So I’m really thinking of getting hold of one. But to play chromatically you need 20 of them to play all the parts.

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

MUSIC Send listing suggestions at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl

Thursday 16 August Jazz: Haarlem Jazzstad 2007 The biggest free jazz festival in the Netherlands is centred on and around the Grote Markt in Haarlem. Over the next few days you can take in a diverse array of jazz-friendly acts, from traditional through contemporary jazz dance, pop and hiphop. Acts include New Cool Collective, Izaline Calister, Relax, New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble and Wouter Hamel. See www.haarlemjazzstad.nl. Various locations and times, Haarlem, free Asakusa Jinta, see Sunday

and bassist Jan Voogd. Concertgebouw, Koorzaal, 19.00, 21.00, €12.50 Festival: Jamsessie Festival (See Thursday) P60, Amstelveen, 19.30, free Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Performing with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, the RCO make their summer return to perform a series of popular works by Wagner and Debussy; conducted by Bernard Haitink. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €35 New Cool Collective

Pop/Rock: Lemon Blijburg, 21.00, free

Classical: Klankruimte En chamade: Exploring the incredible acoustics of the old church in a programme performed by trumpeter Frits Damrow and organist Erik-Jan Eradus. Oude Kerk, 15.30, €5

Pop/Rock: Hazmat Modine Adventurous and worldly New Yorkers inspired by the sounds of the ’20s and ’30s. Expect a tuba-tastic blend of blues, vaudeville, swing, cabaret, klezmer and folk. Also with Big Pete’s Lost Souls providing a hearty selection of blues rock ’n’ roll. See article on p. 11. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.30, €14 Classical: Openluchttheater Finalists of the Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours. Vondelpark Openluchttheater, 20.30, free Tango: Astillero Tango World class seven-piece tango ensemble from Argentina. Badcuyp, Noordpool, 21.30, €9 Folk: Jamie Smith, Brian Kelly & Paddy P Traditional Irish/Scottish folk. Mulligans, 21.30, free Pop/Rock: Monsieur Cannibale, John Spijker Melancholic acoustic pop from Monsieur Cannibale. Diverse styles from Amsterdam singer-songwriter Spijker. Winston Kingdom, 22.00, free Singer-songwriter: Open Mic With the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild. Skek, 22.00, free Classical: Grachtenfestival Classical music performed amid the glorious setting of Amsterdam’s numerous canals and waterways in the middle of summer. Full programmes run each day until 19 August; see www.grachtenfestival.nl for ensembles, locations and pricings. Various locations, times and prices

Friday 17 August Roots: Arbouretum Rootsy American folk and Americana led by Dave Heumann, who also plays in Television Hill and has worked with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.00, €7 + membership Dig d’Diz A double bill of swinging jazz, featuring sax player Jan Menu, guitarist Maarten van der Grinten

Rock: Jolly Roger Rock ’n’ roll party. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5 World: La Flamme Blijburg, 21.00, free Hiphop: Saigon Tough NY rapper whose career received a huge boost after appearing as himself on the US TV show Entourage. His album The Greatest Story Never Told is said to feature guest slots from the likes of Q-Tip, Faith Evans and Jay-Z, but, as yet, has been given no official release date, with unrest over whether Atlantic Records will eventually help bring it to record stores. Support from Winne. Melkweg, The Max, 21.00, €19 + membership Blues: Driving South Dutch blues rock. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5

Festival: Jamsessie Festival Exploring all forms of improv. Also tomorrow. P60, Amstelveen, 19.30, free Pop/Rock: SellaBration 2007 It’s a simple concept: stick your music online, write songs that are bland enough to appeal to the masses, then sell a stake in your tunes to your new fans so that you have enough money to record and release an album. Even before the internet was capable of shifting an MP3 in less than an hour, websites promising fame and fortune to young musicians have come and gone. Sellaband is the latest in a long line, and is celebrating its first birthday with help from some of the most successful artists who’ve signed up, including Daniel Ward-Murphy, Mandyleigh, Lily, Clémence, Cubworld, Second Person and Nemesea. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, €10 + membership

towards a band on a rapid upswing. Support from Some Weird Sin. See Short List. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €11 + membership

Folk: Jamie Smith, Brian Kelly & Paddy P (See Thursday) Mulligans, 22.00, free Festival: A Campingflight to Lowlands (See Friday) Walibi World, Biddinghuizen, various times, sold out Suicidal Birds Rock: Suicidal Birds, Starring Lisa Ferocious Frisian punk blues from The Suicidal Birds, and indie pop from Starring Lisa, featuring members of Noor and King Me. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5

Classical: Grachtenfestival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices

Sunday 19 August

Punk: Ari-Up & The True Warriors Punk reggae from the renowned singer with The Slits. OCCII, 21.30, €6

World: Openluchttheater With Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld, Lucretia van den Vloot and Michelle David. Vondelpark Openluchttheater, 14.00, free

Electro rock: Home Video A subtle mix of indie electronics and rock from the Brooklyn band. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 21.30, €7 + membership

Classical: Amsterdam Chamber Groep Chamber music outdoors in the Jordaan. See Short List. Bakkerpleintje, 15.00, free

Folk: Filthy Nelly An energetic mix of European folk and punk. Camping Zeeburg, 22.00, free

Pop: Norah Jones There’s not quite the same media onslaught that followed the release of her debut album Come Away With Me, but the contemporary easy listening pop from this American singer-songwriter still has a guaranteed audience right across the world. Collaborations with the likes of Mike Patton (Peeping Tom), Foo Fighters and Outkast have also shown she’s not quite the one-trick pony some suspected, and even her solo material has turned comparatively darker than her earlier hits. Could there be a rock diva waiting to burst out? Maybe not. Heineken Music Hall, 20.00, sold out

Folk: Jamie Smith, Brian Kelly & Paddy P (See Thursday) Mulligans, 22.00, free Rock: Trash Hombres Rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5 Festival: A Campingflight to Lowlands The biggest alternative music fest in the country sells out again. Big names include Arcade Fire, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails, Lily Allen, Motörhead, Tool, Sonic Youth, The Shins and Trentemoller. The party got a tad muddy last year, so how will this edition fair? See www.lowlands.nl. Walibi World, Biddinghuizen, various times, sold out Classical: Grachtenfestival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices

Saturday 18 August Classical: Nederlands Kamerkoor Okay, so it only features the male members of the choir. Works by Schubert, Cornelius, Wolf and Poulenc. English Reformed Church, 20.15, €15 Classical: Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen Performing Brewaeys’ Along the Shores of Lorn; Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B; and Brahms’ Symphony No.2 in D. With cellist Marie Hallynck and conducted by Etienne Siebens. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €19.50 Rock: The Noisettes Following hot on the heels of Gossip, roaring female voices and strong personalities are in vogue in the current garage rock/soul scene. A popular tag for this powerful London trio is ‘The White Stripes meets Nina Simone’. Whether they go down in history with either of those two names remains to be seen, but their hit single ‘Scratch Your Name’ and album What’s the Time Mr Wolf? certainly point

Classical: European Union Youth Orchestra Dishing out a romantic vibe with Bruckner’s Seventh and Berg’s Violin Concerto Dem Andenken eines Engels; conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €35 Jazz: Club Asakusa A wild mix of rockabilly, ska, rock, jazz, gypsy, and Japanese folk influences from Tokyo band Asakusa Jinta. See Short List. Sugar Factory, 22.00, €9 Festival: A Campingflight to Lowlands (See Friday) Walibi World, Biddinghuizen, various times, sold out Classical: Grachtenfestival (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices

Monday 20 August Rock: Silverchair It’s 12 years since the little Silverchair lads were launched into the international rock scene as grunge-lovin’ power chord playin’ teens. At the time, it was hard to take them seriously unless you were actually younger than them, but there were apparently enough fellow teens to secure their success at home and abroad. Now bearded, tattooed and still comparatively young, despite seemingly being torn apart by the music industry and fame, only to be

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007 pasted back together again, Silverchair are producing serious music that attempts to push the traditional rock boundaries. Although in doing so, they seem to have looped back around to the ’70s art rock of New Zealanders Split Enz—no bad thing by any means. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 19.30, €25 + membership Classical: NJO Summer Academy Works by Ligeti, Debussy, Benjamin and Janácek; conducted by George Benjamin. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €19.50 Ska: Leftover Crack Punk, hardcore, pop, ska and reggae from these diverse Americans. Support from Dutch punkers Brat Pack and the chilled reggae rock outfit SunFireSouls. Bitterzoet, 21.00, €7

Tuesday 21 August Classical: Celtic Tenors Irish tenors turning their attentions to classic opera and pop numbers. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €19.50 Singer-songwriter: Open Mic Open podium for songwriters organised by the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild. Cafe Sappho, 21.00, free

Wednesday 22 August Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra In their second performance of the week the RCO turn their attention towards Bruckner’s monumental Eighth Symphony; conducted by Bernard Haitink. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €35 Singer-songwriter: Sappho Live! Featuring Merlijn Nash. Cafe Sappho, 21.00, free

Saturday 18 August Super’s Afterparty House tunes from Jean, Tony Cha Cha and Marc Benjamin. The Zebra, 04.30-09.00, €15 Namaste: Welcome Home Psychedelic rock, downtempo, progressive world and ‘psytrance’ gathering. Special guests include Ozric Tentacles (UK), Eat Static (UK), Perfect Stranger (Italy) and Polaris (France), but there’s a huge line-up of DJs, plus jam sessions, chill zones and all-round feel good (or away) noise. Paradiso, 21.00-05.00, €24.99/€25.99 Highlight With Mr Baguz, Laurent and Philip Young. Cineac, 22.00-04.00, €15 Live at the BBQ Mixtape release, with Lil’Vic, Danny de Funk and MC Fit. Bitterzoet, 22.00-04.00, €7.50 Fightclubclub And the first rule... Nah, let’s not go there. With Jojo de Freq, Vance, Kid Reve and Rentboy. Flex Bar, 22.00-05.00, €9 Teleskope Invites Drumpoet Community Featuring DJs Alex Dallas, Ron Shiller AKA Soultourist, Edo Salgado and Olaf Boswijk. 11, 22.30-04.00, €12 Disko is Dead And dancing is terminally ill. Club Meander, 23.00-04.00, €5 GirlsLoveDJ’s DJs break all the rules and play whatever suits them, not what the audience necessarily wants to hear. Genres don’t matter. Nor does looking cool. GirlsLoveDJ’s is all about displaying your passion for the tunes. Hotel Arena, 23.00-04.00, €15 Armand van Helden Commercial dance moves. Also with Lucien Foort, Denniz, Fedde Le Grand and many more. The Powerzone, 23.00-05.00, €22.50

CLUBS Thursday 16 August Huiskamerhits Lowlands edition offering an eclectic mix of tunes. Bitterzoet, 22.00-03.00, €5 Pony vs Donkey Kong With Wannabe a Star and Sanyi. Flex Bar, 22.00-04.00, €5 Vreemd Right through August, Vreemd is celebrating its second birthday, building towards some mega parties at the end of the month. But there’s still plenty of weird and wonderful activities to enjoy already, including DJ sets from Bart Skils, Esther and Lupe. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €8 Fashion Radio & Re-Disco-Very With Lupe, Vitamin K, Marija Kadelburg and the Re-Disco-Very DJ team. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €7.50 Poptrash Three decades’ worth of rock, electro and hiphop with The Punchout DJs. Melkweg, The Max, 23.00-late, €5 PROPAGANDA! A night to head east for the best Balkan beats, Russian disko, mestizo and whatever mood takes the DJ team of Tommi, Pizdabolkin and Gusztav. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 23.00-late, €5

Friday 17 August No-Nonsense Nope, certainly no nonsense. Tunes from Miss Fitz (Berlin), Pep and David Reinhart. In the bar you’ll find the Intifada Soundsystem. Flex Bar, 22.00-05.00, €8.50 The Infamous Mudclub A special featuring Ewan Pearson (Berlin), Josz LeBon and Monica Electronica. 11, 22.30-04.00, €12 80’s Verantwoord Stuck in the past or stuck in a groove? Hotel Arena, 23.00-04.00, €12 Live in the Club, Die in the Club Puke behind the couch. With Beesmunt Soundsystem and Pusha Mau. Club Meander, 23.00-04.00, €5 Rednosedistrikt Eclectic grooves, plus special live guests. Bitterzoet, 23.00-04.00, €7.50 De Revolutie House, hiphop and funk sounds. Odeon, 23.00-05.00, €13 Discocult presents: Dublex Inc Dublex Inc was founded in Stuttgart in 2000 by Robin Hofmann, Florian Pflüger, Rino Spadaveccia and Felix Stecher. Together you can expect diverse and dynamic dance tunes. Also with the Discocult regulars. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €10 Paradisoul A Sonic Junior afterparty, featuring Big Booty Express with DJs Mr Wix, Tom Trago and MC Lyrical Tie. Paradiso, 23.59-05.00, €10

Oscar Bueno D-Edge Goes Sugar Factory Laughing Buddha Music (underground dance party organiser for a decade) brings one of Brazil’s top DJ/producers in electrohouse to NL. Presenting Oscar Bueno, resident of D-Edge, and a man who’s played alongside big names like DJ Hell, Sven Vath, Miss Kitten, Super Pitcher and Tiefschwarz. You’ll hear a sensual, melodic and electrifying mash-up of electro-punk, tech-house and minimal with an edgy twist from Sao Paolo’s top club. Also featuring Estroe, Lava and Manakin. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €12 Passion: Summer Party Clubhouse and electro. Odeon, 23.00-05.00, €10 Gemengd Zwemmen Two rooms of swimmingly diverse noise. In The Max, it’s all about the worldly grooves from the ¿Que Pasa? team; in the Oude Zaal, it’s indie dance, pop and rock faves all the way. Melkweg, 23.59-late, €8

Sunday 19 August Represent The concept is simple: four turntables, two DJs, some lightning-fast fingers and a few hours of fresh hiphop and R&B. Club Meander, 22.00-02.00, €5 WickedJazzSounds Jazz, hiphop, broken beats, nujazz, funk and Afro sounds, as classic vinyl collides with live musicians. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €8.50

Monday 20 August Cheeky Monday True skool jungle and drum & bass, featuring players from the local and international scenes. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-03.00, €6

Tuesday 21 August Strafwerk Electro and minimal sounds from Lauhaus, Daniel Sanchez, Kabale und Liebe and Edu de Leau. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-03.00, €5

Wednesday 22 August Freakin’ Ill Soul, funk and beats. Bitterzoet, 22.0003.00, €5

Amsterdam Weekly

STAGE

ART

Opening

Performance: Standing Up For MS Benefit gala for MS research. Guests include Martijn Oosterhuis (stand-up), Olaf & Jasper (cabaret), Rachid Larouz (stand-up), Bram van de Velde (stand-up) and DJ Robijn. Paradiso, (Tues 20.00), €20

Hetnieuwestadsgebriefte East-West perspectives in a squat gallery. See Short List. Schijnheilig (Wed-Sun 16.00-20.00), opens Thursday, until 19 August

Ongoing Comedy: Lach Us Diverse cabaret and stand-up. In Dutch. Cafe Sappho, (Thur 20.30), €6 Music/Theatre: Shhh...It Happens A truly freaky musical, set in an old, deserted amusement park where the evil Max Majestic has captured a bunch of hostages. Having transformed them in his ‘Freakmachine’, his evil masterplan is to set up his own freakshow to save the amusement park. But the freaks have a plan of their own. Panama, (Thur, Mon-Wed 20.00, Sun 15.00), €27.50

Little Britain, see Tuesday

GAY& LESBIAN Friday 17 August Social: Thank God It’s Friday Weekend drinks with DJs, snacks and drinks from 5pm until three in the morning. De Engel van Amsterdam, 13.00 -03.00, free

Roman Tragedies

Sunday 19 August Social: Transgender Cafe Transgender collective Noodles (www.n00dles.nl) organise a monthly cafe at Saarein for people with transgender feelings and their friends and admirers. Saarein, 17.00-00.00, free Social: Furball Cafe Furry or not, PRIK is hot! The number one meeting point for hairy Marys and those in pursuit of the hirsute. PRIK, 19.00-01.00, free Festival: Hartjesdag See Short List. Zeedijk, various times, free

Tuesday 21 August

Games night: Happy hour and bingo Happy hour from 17.00-19.00. Then blow all the money you saved on a round of bingo, from 19.00-20.00 Saarein, 17.0020.00,

Film: Series Night In cooperation with Boekhandel Vrolijk, tonight’s DVD taster is Little Britain, Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ groundbreaking documentary series on changing social mores in the United Kingdom. PRIK, 19.00, free

Club: Women’s night Busy, popular night for lesbians and their friends. Tonight it’s gonna be a twisted disco with the Disconymphs, Showbizliz, Nina Polak and Alex. Cafe Sappho, 22.00, free

Wednesday 22 August

Saturday 18 August Club: Xpress A brand new, ‘open-minded’ party with sexy cocktails and snacks. Cafe Sappho, 21.00, free Club: Spellbound Summer Edition Underground queer vibrations rock the former squat. See Short List. OCCII, 23.00-05.00, €7 Festival: Hartjesdag Unbridled cross-dressing madness. See Short List. Zeedijk, various times, free

Games night: Gay Prize Bridge An antidote to the scene: weekly gay bridge night using the Butler score. De Looier, 19.00-23.00, €5 DJ night: Like It or Not DJ Mayday plays her favourite tracks. And if you don’t like it you can... help yourself to the free snacks. De Engel van Amsterdam, 21.0001.00, free Club: F*cking Pop Queers Queers love pop, and this is where they get their fill. Expect Madonna and electro, urban and indie, new and classic. ArtLaunch Cafe in the smaller room. Studio 80, 23.00-05.00, free before 00.00, €5 after

16-22 August 2007

Theatre: Roman Tragedies Merging Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra into one big play about politicians going down. Watch either in two parts on separate nights or opt for the sixhour marathon, during which the doors will stay open, the audience can walk in and out as they like, and there’ll be catering, too. In Dutch. Stadsschouwburg, (Thur, Tues, Wed 20.15, Sat, Sun 16.00), €21.50-€39 Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Show Featuring varying performers and MCs. In English and Dutch. Comedy Cafe, (Thur-Sat 21.00, Sat also 23.00), €15 Theatre: Midzomernachtdroom Shakespeare’s fabulous classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream amidst the glorious setting of the Amsterdam Bos. In Dutch. Theater het Amsterdamse Bos, (Thur-Sat, Tues, Wed 21.30, €10 (Thur-Sat), €5 (Tues, Wed) Cabaret: Blue Man Group This music, theatrical performance, live art and audience interaction production has been showing its azure take on the postmodern stage in cities worldwide. The group is blue, bonkers and has been bamboozling Amsterdam audience for what feels like forever. Theater Fabriek Amsterdam, (Thur-Sat, Wed 20.30, Sat, Sun 16.00, Sun 19.00), €19.50-€49.50 Performance: Openluchttheater Two days of diverse performances. Friday features some impressive dance moves, including performances by The Kisshoff Moves and Rotterdam’s Scapino Ballet. Saturday’s focus is music, theatre and cabaret, with guests including Renee van Bavel and Sanne Wallis de Vries. Vondelpark Openluchttheater, (Fri 20.30, Sat 14.00, 21.00), free Comedy: In Your Face! Comedy Improv Show. In English. Comedy Cafe, (Sun 21.00), €13 Comedy: Improphecy Stand-up and improv. In Dutch. Club Meander, (Tues 20.00), €4

Jos van Gessel Colourful landscape paintings inspired by trips to Russia and Finland. Galerie Bart (Thur, Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 12.00-17.00), opens Thursday, until 22 September Einav Leshetz: Holy The first solo exhibition of the young and upcoming Australian photographer Einav Leshetz. While most media representation of Israel is that of a struggling war-torn country, Leshetz instead offers an impression of Israel’s contemporary prosperity and culture, focusing more on a happy and peaceful vision that inspires hope and growth. See Short List. Chiellerie (Wed-Sun 14.00-18.00), opens Friday, closing 23 August The Best Designed Books Every year, The Best Designed Books Foundation presents a selection of the most outstanding book designs of the past year in the Stedelijk Museum. This year, the museum has supplemented the selection with a separate category of printed matter: unusual publications devoted to poetry, some of which were produced in small editions. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 30 September From Hero to Zero A presentation by photographer John Geven, based on the story of his life. See Short List. Oude Kerk (Mon-Sat 11.00-17.00, Sun 13.0017.00), opens Sunday, until 1 September Laser 3.14: A Room at the Overlook Hotel The words (and more) of local street artist Laser 3.14 find themselves locked up indoors for once. Wolf & Pack (Sun, Mon 13.00-19.00, Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 12.00-19.00, Thur 12.00-21.00), opens Sunday, until 19 October Somewhere Else An expansive installation by Lucia Luptukova, who has created a work that both stands in the gallery space and is itself an access point to areas of W139 that are not normally accessible: a system of corridors that meanders diagonally through the various layers of the building. Inside this new organic space, she has created display room tailor-made to accommodate the work of other artists. W139, starts Saturday until Sunday 30 September

Museums The Apocalypse of Max Beckmann A nice companion to the collection on display at the Van Gogh Museum, this series features 27 lithographs from the German Expressionist, all inspired by the Biblical apocalypse. Featured are two versions: the series of original lithographs in black and white and the lithographs that Beckmann himself painted in watercolours. Bijbels Museum (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), closing Sunday Max Beckmann in Amsterdam, 1937-1947 An extensive retrospective of the work produced by the artist during his years in Amsterdam. One of the most distinguished German artists of the 20th century, Beckmann fled to the city in 1937 after the Nazis had labelled his paintings Entartete Kunst. His works bear witness to his interest in the world of cabaret, Dutch landscape and life in Amsterdam, and works featured here include the four impressive triptychs ‘Carnival’,

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

‘Acrobats’, ‘The Actors’, and ‘Perseus’. Van Gogh Museum (Sat-Thur 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.00-22.00), closing Sunday

theatre posters, the collection includes personal possessions, a recording of her voice and fragments of films in which she appeared. Joods Historisch Museum (Daily 11.00-17.00), until 16 September

Jonathan Meese: Jonathan Rockford (Don’t Call Back Please) One of German art’s rising stars, Meese will install a contemporary wunderkammer on the first floor of De Appel, featuring paintings, murals, drawings, assemblages, objects, collages, photos, pictures from magazines, posters and painted texts on the walls. De Appel (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), closing Sunday

Charlotte Salomon: Work in Progress Rarely and never seen works by Salomon, including reverse sides as well as individual sketches which she made for her series of over 800 gouaches, Life? or Theatre? Joods Historisch Museum (Daily 11.00-17.00), until 16 September De kunst van het verleiden You can’t run and you can’t hide—ads are everywhere, and they will have an influence on you, like it or not. This exhibition about advertising takes place in several rooms, with each devoted to another method, emotion or medium. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 16 September

Fashion Palaces 1880-1960 The emergence of the first chic fashion houses in Amsterdam at the end of the 19th century is the focal point of the exhibition. Grandeur and temptation typify the atmosphere of these magnificent, luxurious Amsterdam fashion houses and department stores. Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 26 August The Strength of Hair Two installations by contemporary visual artists looking at the important symbolic function of hair. Artists include Monica Blok, Hadas Itzkovitch and Martie van der Loo. Bijbels Museum (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 26 August Facing Death Drawings by Antwerp artist Eugeen van Mieghem (1875-1930) of his great love and muse Augustine Pautre. Even though she’d taken ill with tuberculosis in 1904, Van Mieghem continued to draw her, capturing her physical decline, much in the same way that Rembrandt had poignantly drawn his dying wife Saskia van Uylenburgh. Rembrandthuis (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 26 August Romy Schneider Part of Filmmuseum’s season celebrating the acclaimed film star, this exhibition pulls together costumes, affiches, audio fragments and portrait photos from artists such as Dennis Stock, Robert Lebeck and Werner Bokelberg. Filmmuseum (Daily 13.00-22.00), until 29 August Architectuur in Amsterdam A look back at the 30 most important building projects to spring up in Amsterdam over the past year. Zuiderkerk (Mon 11.00-16.00, Tues-Fri 09.00-16.00, Sat 12.00-16.00), until 1 September Le Corbusier He’s by far the most famous and according to many the most important architect and urban designer of the 20th century, but he was also a painter, sculptor, photographer and textile designer. In this first major retrospective since 1987, more than 450 original drawings, models, paintings, tapestries, films, photographs, sculptures, items of furniture and interiors will be exhibited together to demonstrate the strength and influence of Le Corbusier. Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.0017.00), Rotterdam, until 2 September 3rd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam Who and what will define the future of our cities and what role can architects play in this? The IABR brings together architects, urban designers, theorists, students, developers, policy makers, and politicians from home and abroad to tear apart preconceived notions of architecture and to look to the future. Among the many special events, three exhibitions are central to the festival: Visionary Power (Kunsthal), New Dutch City (Kunsthal) and A Better World—Another Power (NAi). See www.iabr.nl. Various locations and times, until 2 September JR: Face to Face Diverse works by the French photographer and street artist who displays his works on walls all over cities. In his first Dutch exhibition, JR will be showing intriguing portraits in very large formats, inside and outside Foam, as well as in the streets around you. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 2 September Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten Marking the opening of the Museum of Bags and Purses in its new idyllic location, an overview of exhibitions from the past ten years is featured alongside the permanent collections of bags and purses. Tassenmuseum Hendrikje (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 9 September Hell is Other People With its title derived from a line in the play Huis Clos (No Exit) by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, guest curator Nathalie Zonnenberg invites three young European artists to reflect on contact with ‘the other’. Contributing artists are Köken Ergun (Turkey), Sejla Kameric (Bosnia) and Gal Kinan (Israel). Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (TuesSun 11.00-17.00), until 9 September Sean Snyder, Schema (Television) A Docking Station presentation featuring video works by American artist Snyder. Key points raised include: what kind of experience and reality emerges from the chaotic and blurred visual consumption of the televisual image? How does television generate a sense of reality if catastrophes are interrupted by no less spectacular images of consumer products? Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 9 September

The Best Designed Books, see Opening

Hedi Slimane: Young Americans An internationally known photographer, avant-garde artist, and fashion designer, this new project features photo portraits of creatives from the New York contemporary art scene. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 12 September Persia The St Petersburg Hermitage lends some of its dazzling collection of Persian art to Amsterdam. This exhibition includes antiquities of the Islamic period all through the end of the Qajar dynasty in 1925. Hermitage Amsterdam (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 16 September Amsterdam in de wereld—De wereld in Amsterdam A collection of immensely rare treasures owned by the Universiteit van Amsterdam, including handwritten scriptures, printed books, pictures, and objects. UvA: Special Collections Library (Mon-Fri 09.30-17.00), until 16 September

The Present—The Monique Zajfen Collection New contemporary artworks that have been added to The Monique Zajfen Collection since 2006. Focusing on the human figure and spanning a range of disciplines, the works in this exhibition explore various aspects of the human condition. Artists include Marlene Dumas, Thomas Schütte, Neo Rauch, Wilhelm Sasnal, Mike Kelley, Pawel Althamer, Paul Graham, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Lisa Yuskavage and George Condo. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 16 September Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama An exhibition about the first international superstar. In the course of an astonishing career that spanned 60 years, Bernhardt became the West’s leading tragedienne. Her name became synonymous with acting and continued to cast a spell on players and audiences throughout the world, long after her death in 1923. Besides paintings, photos, clothes and Art Nouveau

LEKKER BEZIG tomer for De Hazen. It ‘Chiel Weverling and I D E N N I S VA N D E N works the other way started our idealistic BRINK & CHIEL around as well. When advertising agency De WEVERLING our clients from De Jonge Hazen about De Jonge Hazen: idealistic ad-makers Hazen hear about De three years ago. We Jonge Hazen, they basically do everything might become enthusiourselves, but someastic and suggest some times we outsource new projects for us. work to a few of our ‘We’re really proud Kleine Jonge Hazen, of some projects we’ve for instance a Flash done, like our animator, or a freemakeover of the lance writer. Before Metakids foundation that, we’d already for incurably ill kids. worked in the advertisFirst it was called the ing business for five or SOS foundation, but six years, but we we changed the name decided it was an ideal and revamped everytime to quit our jobs thing from the house and to set out on our to the annual own. De Jonge Hazen ‘If you have a great idea style report. They received a started as a fun initiastuck in your head...we’ll lot of great publicity tive to design birth after that. We also announcement cards look at it.’ helped out with the and advertisements for website of the Stoere friends, but we quickly By Luuk van Huët Vrouwen collective, adapted to also include which teaches environmentally friendly charities, foundations and business startshopping to women. We are always interups with limited funds. ested in big projects which benefit society ‘If the project is interesting and the as a whole. principles are sound, we are more than ‘If you have a great idea stuck in your happy to bring our expertise to it. head but can’t afford the publicity you ‘Out of the success of De Jonge Hazen need, we’ll look at it if you send us a came our professional branch called De detailed plan via our website. If we think Hazen in August 2006, nearly a year ago. your goals are attainable and we are Basically, our work with De Hazen pays interested in your project, we’ll handle the the bills, leaving us the time and means to publicity and only expect a gift in return. devote ourselves to our work with De ‘We’re called De Jonge Hazen because Jonge Hazen. There’s also an interplay everybody knows hares are way cooler between the two companies, in the sense than dogs.’ that a business start-up we helped out with De Jonge Hazen often will come back www.jongehazen.nl after becoming successful to become a cus-

Drawing Typologies—Proposal for Municipal Art Acquisitions Drawings A presentation of works by 30 contemporary artists who live and work in the Netherlands and employ drawing as a medium. Using five typologies to suggest the wide variety of ways in which artists use drawing as an artistic strategy, it not only presents 30 radical positions within the local field of drawing, but also reveals what makes drawing such an extraordinary and attractive discipline. Stedelijk Museum CS (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 16 September Mitch Epstein: American Work One of the world’s most renowned contemporary photographers, in American Power Epstein focuses on the complex relationship between American energy supply, the status of America as a world power and the American landscape. Additionally, there’s a selection of shots from his series Family Business, the story of his father’s furniture company going bust. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 19 September To See or Not to See Hortus celebrates the 300th birthday of Carl Linnaeus, the most famous botanist ever, who wrote his major works in Amsterdam. Hortus Botanicus (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 10.00-17.00), until 30 September Yoshitomo Nara The first ever solo show to be held in any European museum by Yoshitomo Nara, one of today’s leading Japanese artists. As a representative of the Japanese pop art of the ’90s, he gained worldwide fame with seductive figurative paintings, drawings and sculptures, all executed in a deliberately elementary style. The emphasis in this collection will be on recent work, most of it produced especially for the occasion. GEM (Tues-Sun 12.00-18.00), Den Haag, until 7 October Van Gogh’s Drawings: New Insights Works on paper seldom shown due to their light sensitivity, on display in the print room of the Rietveld building. While spanning Van Gogh’s entire career as an artist, special attention will be paid to several early drawings that have been added to the museum’s collection in recent years. Van Gogh Museum (Mon-Thur, Sat, Sun 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.00-22.00), until 7 October Magische Proefjes! Getting mystical with an exploration of magic and natural sciences from the 18th and 19th century. Teylers Museum (Tues-Sat 10.0017.00, Sun 12.00-17.00), Haarlem, until 21 October Held/Hero Commemorating the 400th birthday of one of the greatest heroes in Dutch history, Michiel de Ruyter, this exhibition focuses on heroes, hero status and hero worship in the Netherlands. It demonstrates that the nation has had and still has genuine heroes, highlighting official heroes, folk heroes, controversial heroes and personal heroes. The display is divided into five main themes: National Hero, Folk Hero, Hero or Not, Personal Hero and Michiel de Ruyter. Nieuwe Kerk (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 11 November Scenes and Traces A lengthy exhibition focussing on three parts of the Stedelijk Museum collection: design, video, and photography. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 25 November

Galleries Lindsay Seers: Swallowing Black Maria Recent films by London-based artist Seers, including Extramission, in which Seers transforms herself into a projector, photographs, and an installation. The latter is based on the Black Maria, the first ever film studio where all the earliest shorts were filmed for the Edison Kinetoscope. SMART Project Space (Tues-Sat 12.0017.00), closing Saturday Guus Voermans: Moving Sculptures Inventions and sculptures. Bold, bizarre and often quite startling, the automated constructions from the Tilburg-born artist offer a pretty unusual alternative to most art you’ll find in Amsterdam this summer. KochxBos Gallery (WedSat 13.00-18.00), until 28 August Exit #2: Sculpture Without a Clue Works by Niels Post. Etalagegalerie Weesperplein (Daily 06.0000.30), until 30 August

16 Dream Amsterdam Using the city of Amsterdam as his point of departure, Spencer Tunick created a series of impressive installations built from naked bodies. Now the images from that event are going on display at the locations they were created—Leliegracht and Q-Park at Marnixstraat. Careful not to fall off your bike. Various locations (Daily), until 31 August The Portrait Gallery Presenting an overview of portraits from 1950 to the present by ten veteran photographers, including Sanne Sannes, Ata Kando, Willem Diepraam, Machiel Botman and Barry Kornbluh. Hup Gallery (Tue, Thur, Fri 10.00-17.00), until 31 August Summer Exhibition Featuring diverse works by Cor Jaring, Frans Blind, Irene Hertel, Tho Jongh, Hanne Koorn, Immy Stur van Zoelen and Joan Verkroost. Oosterkerk (Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00), until 31 August Joyeux de vie An exhibition of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, that makes an excellent accompaniment to Foam’s retrospective. Gallery Vassie (Wed-Sat 12.0018.00), until 1 September Crimes & Splendors A selection of work from the politically charged British exhibition Paranoia. Featured is a series of night photographs by Dutch artist Martin Effert and video works by the likes of Mireille Astore, Lisa K Blatt, Norman Cowie, and Ricardo Giraldo Montes—all of which explore the essence of paranoia. Ronmandos (Wed-Sat 12.30-17.30), until 1 September Aerosol Symphonies Street art runs for the cover of GO Gallery. Tied in with the opening of the Grachtenfestival, fourteen talented artists have let themselves be inspired by an opera, a composer or symphony. Contributors include Laser 3.14, Faith 71, In hout (Johan Andeloe) and Morcky & The Boghe (Two Things), amongst others. See Short List. GO Gallery (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00, Sun 13.00-17.00/Daily during Grachtenfestival), until 1 September

Amsterdam Weekly Justice Movement’. Melkweg Galerie (Wed-Sun 13.0020.00), until 2 September Markus Amon: Mystic Women A series of nudes and almost-nudes by acclaimed German fashion photographer Amon. Studio Apart (Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur 10.00-21.00, Fri 10.00-18.00, Sat 12.00-17.00), until 2 September Toy Artefacts Sculptures and paintings by Michiel Verweij, whose works strike a balance between playful and a dark state of suspense. Galerie Vriend van Bavink (Thur-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 4 September Versneden en Verbeeld: Anatomie in Geneeskunde en Kunst It’s no secret that SMART Project Space was formerly the Pathologisch Anatomisch Laboratorium (PAL). And in this exhibition, it once again revisits its anatomical past, dealing in the history of the practice of anatomy, the history of PAL, and also the relationship between art and anatomy. So you’ll get to see old scientific paintings by the likes of Jozef Israëls, Gerard de Lairesse, and Andreas Vesalius, plus work by contemporary artists like Lisette Verkerk and Karen Arink. Elements will also be on display at the Tentoonstellingszaal Universiteitsbibliotheek, UvA. SMART Project Space (SMART: Tues-Sat 12.00-17.00; UvA: Wed-Fri 11.00-17.00), until 7 September Michael Bredtved, Joseph Beuys New works. Galerie Jos Art (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.30), until 12 September Marielle Videler Public display from the multidisciplinary artist. De Kijkkasten (Daily), until 19 September Expo This summer, De Levante gives carte blanche to Rietveld artists from Iran, Israel and Turkey. De Levante (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.30), until 30 September Happy II Tease After the success of last year’s collective exhibition of gay artists, the ABC Treehouse Gallery presents diverse works by ten new painters and photographers. ABC Treehouse (Thur-Sun 13.0018.00), until 30 September Platform 21=Folding Platform 21 presents a crosssection of the current developments in the world of folding—be it a sculpted paper dress by designer Zoe Bradley, the innovative forms architect Sophia Vyzoviti devises, or the amazingly constructed shoes of Marloes ten Bhömer. Then there’s the computational origami of physicist Robert Lang, whose software calculates and prints the crease lines of extremely detailed, folded animals. Platform 21 (Thur-Sun 12.0019.00), until 30 September

Katharina Mouratidi Katharina Mouratidi: The Other Globalisation Photo portraits of international participants from the ‘Global

ADDRESSES 11 Oosterdokskade 3-5, 625 5999 ABC Treehouse Voetboogstraat 11, 423 0967 Allard Pierson Museum Oude Turfmarkt 127, 525 2556 Amsterdams Historisch Museum Kalverstraat 92, 523 1822 De Appel Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10, 625 5651 ARCAM Prins Hendrikkade 600, 620 4878 Arti et Amicitiae Rokin 112, 624 5134 ArtOlive Polonceaukade 17, 675 8504 Badcuyp 1e Sweelinckstraat 10, 675 9669 Bakkerspleintje Tuinstraat tussen 76-90 Bijbels Museum Herengracht 366-368, 624 2436 Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001 Blijburg Bert Haanstrakade 2004, 416 0330 Cafe Sappho Vijzelstraat 103, 423 1509 Camping Zeeburg Zuider IJdijk 20, 694 4430 Chiellerie Raamgracht 58, 320 9448 Cineac Reguliersbreestraat 31-33 Club 8 Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56B, 685 1703 Club Meander Voetboogstraat 3, 625 8430 CoBrA Museum Sandbergplein 1-3, Amstelveen, 547 5050 Comedy Cafe Max Euweplein 43-45, 638 3971 Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 2-6, 671 8345 Consortium Veemkade 570, 06 2611 8950 DanceStreet 1e Rozendwarsstraat 10, 489 7676 De Engel van Amsterdam Zeedijk 21, 427 6381 De Looier Looiersgracht 40, 638 1412 English Reformed Church Begijnhof 48, 624 9665 Etalagegalerie Weesperplein Metrostation Weesperplein Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 Flex Bar Pazzanistraat 1, 486 2123 Foam Keizersgracht 609, 551 6546

16-22 August 2007

Zwarte Muur: De Transatlantische Slavenhandel Photo portraits by Laura Samsom Rous, who specialises in the people, particularly the women, along the coast of Africa between Senegal and Angola—the region most affected by European colonisation and the Transatlantic slave trade. Melkweg Galerie (WedSun 13.00-20.00), until 1 October

Galerie 37 Groot Heiligland 37, Haarlem, 023 551 8432 Galerie Bart Bloemgracht 2, 320 6208 Galerie Jos Art KSNM-laan 291, 418 7003 Galerie Paul Andriesse Withoedenveem 8, 623 6237 Galerie Rademakers Prinsengracht 570-572, 6225496 Galerie Rob Koudijs Elandsgracht 12, 331 8796 Galerie Vriend van Bavink Geldersekade 58 Gallery Vassie 1e Tuindwarsstraat 16, 489 4042 GEM Stadhouderslaan 43, Den Haag, 070 338 1133 GO Gallery Prinsengracht 64, 422 9580 Heineken Music Hall ArenA Boulevard 590, 0900 300 1250 Hermitage Amsterdam Nieuwe Herengracht 14, 530 8751 Hortus Botanicus Plantage Middenlaan 2A, 625 9021 Hotel Arena ’s-Gravesandestraat 51, 850 2400 Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401, 531 8989 Hup Gallery Tesselschadestraat 15, 515 8589 Jan van der Togt Museum Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen, 641 5754 Joods Historisch Museum Jonas Daniel Meijerplein 2-4, 531 0310 De Kattenbak Spuistraat 227 De Kijkkasten Sint Nicolaasstraat KochxBos Gallery 1e Anjeliersdwarsstraat 3-5, 681 4567 De Levante Hobbemastraat 28, 671 5485 Maloe Melo Lijnbaansgracht 163, 420 4592 Melkweg Galerie Marnixstraat 409, 531 8181 Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234a, 531 8181 Mulligans Amstel 100, 622 1330 NDSM-werf TT Neveritaweg 15, 330 5480 Nederlands Architectuurinstituut Museumpark 25, Rotterdam, 010 440 1200 Nederlands Fotomuseum Wilhelminakade 332, Rotterdam, 010 213 2011 Nieuwe Kerk entrance on the Dam, 638 6909 OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 671 7778

Oorbeek—Life in a Lamp, W139

EVENTS Party: Summer Breeze Latin Night Formerly one of the most popular events at Vondelpark, Summer Breeze Latin Night has set up camp at Westergasfabriek for the summer and is offering adventures in Latin dance and music every Thursday. Each week there’s dining, drinking, DJs, workshops and dance demonstrations for diverse Latin styles, so warm up those hips. Westergasterras, (Thur 19.00-01.00), free Tour: The Dreamride & The Nightmare Project Dreams, nightmares, bikes and art. See Short List. De Kattenbak, (Thur 22.00-00.30), €5 Festival: De Parade No place better to hang out on a zwoele summer evening than De Parade, now celebrating its 17th anniversary in a park setting near the Amstel. This fortnight of a circus-like, fun-fair theatre and music fest has grown over the years, but it remains a great place to settle down with a beer, gelato or an organic fruit juice cocktail while the sun slowly sets over the swinging merry-go-round. There’s oodles of original performances by up-and-coming acts, many of which are in Dutch, but there’s also plenty to amuse English-only speakers. Just a couple of the specials this year include The Ashton Brothers and Spinvis doing music theatre. Until 19 August. See www.deparade.nl. Martin Luther Kingpark, (Thur, Sun 15.00-01.00, Fri, Sat 15.00-02.00), €6 + variable performance costs Art/Music: Friday Night On a Max Beckmann trip, you can take part in the Beckmann Walk (limited places so register early), catch a performance by De Veenfabriek, or take in Gerbrand Burger’s video installation

Odeon Singel 460, 624 9711 Oosterkerk Kleine Wittenburgerstraat 1, 627 2280 Oude Kerk Oudekerksplein 23, 625 8284 P60 Stadsplein 100A, Amstelveen, 023 345 3445 Panama Oostelijke Handelskade 4, 311 8680 Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8, 626 4521 Persmuseum Zeeburgerkade 10, 692 8810 Platform 21 Prinses Irenestraat 19, 344 9449 The Powerzone Spaklerweg, 681 8866 PRIK Spuistraat 109, 06 4544 2321 Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, 520 0400 Ronmandos Prinsengracht 282, 320 7036 Saarein Elandsstraat 119, 623 4901 Schijnheilig Koningsplein 1 Skek Zeedijk 4-8, 427 0551 SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 107-113, 427 5953 Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 624 2311 Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59, 422 0471 Stedelijk Museum CS Oosterdokskade 5, 573 2911 Studio 80 Rembrandtplein 70, 521 8333

Really, I only want to paint beautiful pictures. Van Gogh Museum, (Fri 18.30), museum entry Festival: Hartjesdagen The Lords of Misrule take over and suspend convention for the whole of this weekend. So what’s say we dress like the opposite sex and let it all hang out? See Short List. Zeedijk, (various times Sat, Sun), free Festival: Días Latinos ¡Ay Caramba! Latin passion overcomes Amersfoort. See Short List. Various locations in Amersfoort, (various times Sat, Sun), free; €1 donation welcome Art/Music: Oorbeek—Life in a Lamp Musical summer weirdness. Let’s say someone was to install a 6x6x3 metre square lamp inside the gallery W139, then get the band Oorbeek to perform inside it. Does it sound plausible? Well, apparently it’s due to happen. Those wandering around the lamp will see only the band’s shadows accompanying the live soundtrack. You can even watch their projections on four huge screens, although there will be no cameras or projectors involved in the project. W139, (Monday 20.00) Film night: Docs at the Docks War: What’s it Good For?—A new critical documentary series that can be found every third Tuesday of the month at the NDSM docks. Events kick off with the theme ‘War is Trade’ and a screening of the documentary Iraq For Sale— The War Profiteers, investigating the other side of the war in Iraq—million dollar profits for companies who supply mercenaries and war materials. Following the screening there will be interviews with independent war journalist Arnold Karskens, Professor Jaap de Wilde and Wendela de Vries of the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Additional aspects include spoken word, music and related art, making for an educational and entertaining evening. See article p. 5. NDSM-werf, (Tues 20.00), €7.50

Studio Apart Prinsengracht 715, 422 2748 Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238, 627 0008 Tassenmuseum Hendrikje Herengracht 573, 524 6452 Teylers Museum Spaarne 16, Haarlem, 023 516 0960 Theater Fabriek Amsterdam Czaar Peterstraat 213, 522 5260 Theater het Amsterdamse Bos Amsterdamse Bos 1, 640 9253 Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8200 Under the Grand Chapiteau Next to ArenA, 621 1288 UvA: Special Collections Library Oude Turfmarkt 129, 525 2141 Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7, 570 5200 Verzetsmuseum Plantage Kerklaan 61, 620 2535 Vondelpark Openluchttheater, 673 1499 W139 Warmoesstraat 139, 622 9434 Walibi World, Biddinghuizen Westergasterras Klönneplein 3, 475 1412 Winston Kingdom Warmoesstraat 129, 623 1380 Wolf & Pack 232 Spuistraat, 427 0786 The Zebra Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 14, 330 5266 Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerkhof 72, 552 7987

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

Food to Thai for Thailicious Kinkerstraat 282, 689 0073 Open Daily 16.00-22.00 Cash Seeing one of the increasing number of novelty tuktuks that roam the streets made me drool for some Thai tiffins, and so it was that I hopped into one, crying, ‘Kinkerstraat!’ We stopped outside Thailicious, a takeaway and delivery that had four or five courier bikes lined up outside, like F-16s waiting for their flight mission. My eyes raked carefully over the menu in the window. It was full of playfully named items, like Thaimpura and Vegethairian, and prawn and fish dishes, like Ladies in Red—prawns in red curry—or Sweet Revenge—fried tilapia in a hot sweet-sour chilli sauce with tomato and onions. Why not, I thought and entered the modern, minimalistic and super-clean shop. It had a black-and-white interior with a large photo of a serene Buddha on a wall; a protective shrine in an alcove invoked prosperity and protection. A few tables and bar stools reassured me that it was fine to park my arse and eat piping-hot food fresh from the kitchen. I was warmly greeted from behind the counter by a blonde woman with a New York accent, as she dealt with the constant orders coming in by computer and phone. From the kitchen came sizzling wok sounds and smells that were exquisitely appetising. One customer hovered eagerly for his eats; it was apparent from the discourse between him and the owner that he was a regular. His body language radiated anticipatory pleasure. Yes, a good omen. I poured over the menu.

THE UNDERCOVER GLUTTON The tiny birds’ eye chilli peppers pack a numbing, devastating punch to paunch and palate. Beware, and be sure to take the heat symbols seriously. I, Dear Readers, went for the Thai Crown Jewels (a steal at €8), a compilation of starters which consisted of Thaimpura shrimp in a crunchy batter and a skewered chicken saté

stick, the chicken marinated in masala curry spices and oyster sauce before being grilled. This was topped with a fine, light-coloured-silky textured home-made peanut sauce made with

coconut milk and garnished with some crushed peanuts. Yum! The flavours were wonderful. Then there was a home-made fishcake with a sweet chilli dipping sauce: tasty with a spongy texture. However delicious, I find these a bit rubbery. A chicken triangle filled with minced meat, crispy corn kernels, fresh coriander and masala was rather like a samosa. There were two spring rolls, one veggie and the other with chicken. This feast truly whet my appetite. I washed it down with lychee juice. For mains, I had steak and garlic (€11.70): tender beef strips sautéed with lots of finely chopped garlic, oyster sauce and black pepper, and served on shredded Chinese cabbage and noodles. My belly was full and purred contentedly. There are also various curries, red and green, of increasing strength and potency. The tiny birds’ eye chilli peppers pack a numbing, devastating punch to paunch and palate. Beware, and take the heat symbols seriously. The flavour layers of sweet, sour, hot and salty reflect the chef’s talents. I was informed by the woman behind the counter that Thailicious serves Bangkok-style food, and it’s fresh, tasty and mouthwatering. The customers have heard about this place via word of mouth; they are mainly young professional people who lack the time or energy to shop and cook, but want to eat something that tastes home-made. Thailicious also does outside catering for companies or private parties up to 200 people. The hot grub is packed in special heat-holding containers that can keep the food piping hot for a good couple of hours. The couriers are like motorised waiters, come rain or shine, waiting to wing their sizzling meals past the tuktuks, taxis and traffic. These knights in shining helmets reflect the Thailicious ethos: professional in attitude, swift and courteous to the customers hungry for fresh, authentic and speedy cuisine. May it thrive and prosper.

Amsterdam Weekly

Infamous

FILM Edited by Julie Phillips. This week’s films reviewed by Massimo Benvegnù (MB),Shyama Daryanani (SD),Angela Dress (AD),Don Druker (DD),René Glas (RG),Andrea Gronvall (AG),Luuk van Huët (LvH),JR Jones (JJ),Shelly Kraicer (SK),MarieClaire Melzer (MM),Vincent Moritz (VM),Mike Peek (MP),Julie Phillips (JP),Gusta Reijnders (GR), Jonathan Rosenbaum (JR),Marinus de Ruiter (MdR),Bregtje Schudel (BS), Ted Shen (TS) and Albert Williams (AW). All films are screened in English with Dutch subtitles unless otherwise noted. Amsterdam Weekly recommends.

New this week Antonia This world cinema version of Dreamgirls is a lot heavier on the realism and a lot lighter on the escapism. Four young African-Brazilian women decide to quit their background-singing ways to form their own rap group to escape the poverty and dangers of the favelas of São Paolo, but their claim to fame is quickly undermined by internal disagreements and external pressure. The disbandment and subsequent final reunion of the four feisty fillies is predictable and at times even clichéd, but the talented actresses, all musical talents in their own rights, dazzle brightly enough to forgive the film these shortcomings. In Portuguese with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) Rialto Becoming Jane A semi-biographical look at the life of pre-famous Jane Austen and her romance with young Irish barrister Tom Lefroy. See review on p. 19. Cinecenter, Pathé Tuschinski Infamous Much of the liveliness of Capote (2005) derived from the built-in fascination of following the writer from Manhattan high society to rural Kansas while he wrote his true-crime thriller In Cold Blood. This feature by writer-director Douglas McGrath, made around the same time as Capote but held back, covers the same subject with a provocatively different tone, starting out as a flip comedy and making more of an issue of Capote’s homosexuality. Its putative source is Truman Capote (1997), George Plimpton’s non-book of gossipy quotes, and much of the story seems invented, especially the tragic relationship between Capote (Toby Jones) and Perry Smith (Daniel Craig). More ambitious than Capote yet wildly uneven, it has too many competing agendas, though it certainly holds the interest. With Peter Bogdanovich (as Bennett Cerf), Sandra Bullock (as Harper Lee), Jeff Daniels, Sigourney Weaver and Hope Davis. (JR) Pathé Tuschinski License to Wed As someone who’s been developing an allergy to Robin Williams over the years, I didn’t exactly welcome the idea of his playing the clergyman from hell, conducting a souped-up version of a rigorous ‘marriage preparation course’ for a Chicago couple (Mandy Moore and John Krasinski). But even if I could have put up with the unpleasantness of this as comedy, I still would have balked at the eventual portrayal of this monster as an angel in disguise—even when he’s monitoring the couple’s every move from a surveillance van to make sure they don’t indulge in premarital sex. Director Ken Kwapis gives this script by many hands a certain gloss, which it doesn’t deserve. (JR) 91 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt La Marea In Diego Martinez Vignatti’s (Batalla en el cielo, director of photography) debut feature, a young woman’s life is brutally transformed after losing her husband and son in a car accident. The sole survivor of the crash, she takes us through her raw grieving process as she withdraws to a small hut on a deserted beach, struggling to imagine a way forward. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. Rialto

16-22 August 2007

Planet Terror

Planet Terror Robert Rodriguez’s half of the original two-part Grindhouse, stretched to feature length, is less true to the exploitation formula than Tarantino’s Death Proof was: there’s way too much extremely sophisticated CGI and special effects, plus a cornucopia of explosions to boot. But that doesn’t make this riotous zombie flick, featuring a go-go dancer with a machine gun for a leg, any less of a guilty pleasure for the seasoned gore-hound. Rodriguez does go overboard with scratching and discolouring the film stock for that classic grindhouse look, possibly to compensate for all the explosions. (LvH) 105 min. Kriterion, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt The Simpsons Movie Hi everybody! While hardcore fans have been griping for a decade about every other episode being The. Worst. Episode. Ever! casual fans and people who don’t have such a herd of cows will probably enjoy this particular nuclear family’s meltdown. Most of the familiar faces from the show pop up throughout the flick, and enjoyment from those cameos and in-jokes can probably soothe even the most rabid fanboy, and if not, the prospect of new Futurama episodes should. If all else fails, Matt Groening should have some shorts laying around for you. For eating, that is. (LvH) The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Boy Culture Actor Derek Magyar (Star Trek: Enterprise) makes an impressive feature debut in this sombre video drama about a financially savvy but emotionally distant male escort. A creature of habit, he’s always restricted his client list to a select few, but when one of his regulars dies, he allows a mysterious elderly recluse (Patrick Bauchau) to fill the vacancy. The hustler is suspicious that the older man wants only to talk, but gradually he begins to open up, which both improves and complicates his situation with his two hot roommates (Darryl Stephens and Jonathon Trent). Director Q Allan Brocka (Eating Out) keeps the tone downbeat for too long, but one can’t fault his ambition in tackling the elusive connections between love, sex and money. (AG) Rialto Disturbia Probably the only factor saving Transformers from devolving into pure military and/or robot fetishism was lead actor Shia LeBeouf. In Disturbia his screen presence isn’t occluded by giant robots, so he can truly shine in this charming thriller about suburban voyeurism. LeBeouf plays Kale, a teen under strict house arrest who suspects his neighbour of being a serial killer. His suspicion slowly turns into an obsession, making the film into a modern take on Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It’s a shame that the ending feels so out of sync with the rest, but by then Disturbia has probably won you over with its slow but suspenseful buildup. Directed by DJ Caruso; with Sarah Roemer and Carrie-Anne Moss. (RG) 104 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Docs at the Docks New monthly left-field documentary series kicking off with the theme ‘War is Trade’. See article on p. 4. and Events. NDSM-werf

L’ Enfer (outtakes) Outtakes from the unfinished 1964 film by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Romy

FAB U FECK ING LOUS

Eagle vs Shark The shock waves from Napoleon

Dynamite (2004) have already been absorbed by the movie industry—director Jared Hess signed with Paramount for the lacklustre Nacho Libre and star Jon Heder has been sucked into the multiplex-comedy assembly line—but this New Zealand import is the first outside project I’ve seen try to replicate Napoleon’s deadpan geek humor. Loren Horsley, who cowrote the story with director Taika Waititi, is adorable as a shy fast-food cashier infatuated with a churlish electronics store clerk (Jemaine Clement). (JJ) Pluk de Nacht Open-Air Cinema A Hard Day’s Night This 1964 feature is The Beatles’ first movie and the most fun to watch if you’re not on anything. (The boys themselves weren’t yet on anything more serious than diet pills.) Richard Lester’s comedy was hip at the time, lovable now: the Beatles play cards on the train (while lip-synching ‘I Should Have Known Better’), go to a club, and run and jump in a field. Ringo takes a long, lonely walk beside the Thames; the boys do a slapstick chase, John says how he found America (‘Turned left at Greenland’), and they all make it to the concert just in time. With Wilfrid Brambell as Paul’s granddad. (JP) 87 min. Filmmuseum Open Air

Special screenings 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous A wonderfully expressive performance by child actor Andrew Patterson propels this seriocomic study of growing up gay in rural New Zealand in the ’70s. Patterson plays plump, girlish 12year-old Billy, who doesn’t understand why his friends (including his tomboy cousin) call him a ‘poofter’—he doesn’t even know what a poofter is. His tentatively sexual relationship with a geeky but precocious new boy at school is threatened when he develops a crush on the teenage handyman for his family’s farm. Adapted by writer-director Stewart Main from a novel by Graeme Aitken, this alternately hilarious and poignant 2005 feature is marred by melodramatic over-plotting toward the end, but it sensitively conveys the paradoxical sweetness and cruelty of children’s relationships. (AW) Rialto

Five-Word Movie Review

Open-air screenings

Schneider. Claude Chabrol later made the film from Clouzot’s script. Filmmuseum Ludwig A sumptuous 1972 Italian biopic of the mad king of Bavaria, from master of cinematic decadence Luchino Visconti. Helmut Berger does a fine job in potraying the vice and madness of Ludwig, a ruler more interested in art and sex than law and war. More important, Romy Schneider finally stripped the sugarcoating from Sissi when she reprised, 17 years later, her famous role as Empress Elizabeth of Austria, Ludwig’s cousin and lover. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (MB) 235 min. Filmmuseum

My Neighbour Totoro Sheer enchantment. This

1988 animated feature is a key early work by Hayao Miyazaki, a cofounder of the Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. A man and his two daughters move into an old house in the countryside and encounter Totoro, a giant slothlike (and slothful) creature who arranges for the girls to visit their ailing mother, riding in a phantom Cheshire-cat bus. Like much of Miyazaki’s work, the film has an ecological bent that recalls the Shinto reverence for animal spirits and reflects quintessential Asian values like respect for one’s parents and community in the face of crisis. It exemplifies Ghibli’s style of fanciful realism, paying close attention to minute details as well-drawn figures move across a fluid backdrop. It also deals straightforwardly with substantial emotions like fear of death, though at times it veers toward the heart-tugging cuteness of the Pokémon series. In Japanese with English subtitles. (TS) 86 min. De Nieuwe Anita Slumming Sebastian and Alex are two upper-middleclass jerks who enjoy ‘slumming’: mocking and playing practical jokes on people they find in lowerclass Viennese hangouts. Pia is a serious-minded primary school teacher who finds Sebastian online. Kallmann is a middle-aged failed poet and abusive drunk—repulsive, borderline schizophrenic, yet strangely lovable. For a lark, the jerks kidnap Kallmann, who’s passed out on a bench, and deposit him unconscious in a Czech border town. Darkly humourous, with a black, Mitteleuropa edge and dialogue that comes screwball-comedy fast, the film combines an edgy class consciousness with a propulsive narrative and quiet touches of fancy (Bambi, floating gnomes, a Javanese chorus line), and the spare, elegant photography gives the characters space to come to life. Austrian dystopic realism has never been this fun. Michael Glawogger (Workingman’s Death) directed. In German/Czech with Dutch subtitles. (SK) 100 min. Filmmuseum

50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Rialto

Knife in the Water This 1962 production was Roman

Polanski’s first feature film, and there are those who would still call it his best. A middle-aged married couple, intrigued by a young blond hitchhiker, invite him to spend a weekend on their yacht. The sexual tensions build slowly and subtly, and when they explode into violence, it seems to be the desired result. In Polish with Dutch subtitles; showing for free at restaurant Pont 13, Stavangerweg 891. (DD) 94 min. Cavia Open-Air Cinema Pluk de Nacht Fresh films under the stars. Rounding off the open-air feast at Het Stenen Hoofd this week are Workingman’s Death (Austria/Germany), Children (Iceland), Eagle vs Shark (New Zealand) and Immer nie am Meer (Austria). All films in English or with English subtitles. Entry is free, and don’t forget, even rain won’t spoil the party. Pluk de Nacht Open-Air Cinema Rialto open-air For the fifth consecutive year, Rialto previews five of its latest offerings on Marie Heinekenplein for your film-loving consideration. The Brazilian film Antonia (in Portuguese with Dutch subtitles) revolves around four sassy black women who struggle to escape the favelas with their rap group; it is preceded by the South African short Meokgo and the Stickfighter (in Sotho with English subtitles). Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry (French with English subtitles) depicts the clash between tradition and modernity in Guinea, while the Canadian film Manufactured Landscapes shows the ravaged beauty of polluted areas in China. Finally, Ezra (in English with Dutch subtitles) deals with the plight of a former child soldier in Sierra Leone. For some solid helpings of great world cinema, look no further. (LvH) Rialto Open-air Tuvalu This 1999 fairy tale of a blind man and his two sons, one good, one bad, is also a homage to the early days of cinema and the films of George Méliès. Directed by German film-maker Veit Helmer. No dialogue. Screening for free at restaurant Pont 13, Stavangerweg 891. 92 min. Cavia Open-Air Cinema Workingman’s Death To a soundtrack by John Zorn, Austrian film-maker Michael Glawogger portrays the lives of Ukrainian coal miners, Pakistani salvagers, Indonesians who haul sulphur from an active volcano, and butchers in a Nigerian slaughterhouse in this 2005 documentary. With English subtitles. 122 min. Pluk de Nacht Open-Air Cinema

Still playing Buddha’s Lost Children A feature-length documentary film about a Thai Buddhist monk who—armed only with his faith and boxing skills—wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse and preserve a vanishing way of life. Followed over the course of a year by Dutch director Mark Verkerk, Abt Phra Khru Bah transforms the lives of the children he encounters through a mixture of compassion and tough love. In Thai with Dutch subtitles. 96 min. Pathé Tuschinski Crónica de una fuga In 1970s Argentina, Claudio Taburrini, goalkeeper of a local soccer team, is kidnapped by a special military task force working for the fascist regime. He is detained in an old mansion with a few other ‘suspects’, where they’re questioned, tortured and humiliated for months. Finally, just when a violent death seems inevitable, the prisoners decide to escape. Unfortunately, Crónica de une fuga feels like

16-22 August 2007

Amsterdam Weekly

19 Letting other pens dwell on guilt and misery.

Jane Austen did not only write, she also lived and loved with all the passion a late-Georgian lady could muster.

BECOMING A WRITER, WITHOUT IRONY FILM Becoming Jane Opens Thursday at Cinecenter and Pathé Tuschinski. By Marie-Claire Melzer

Jane Austen wrote a lot about love and marriage, but never married. Why? Director Julian Jarrold took this question as the starting point for Becoming Jane, his new film about the 18th-century

you’ve all seen it before. The story is given little context, the focus falling on the kidnap itself. But the kidnap is hardly remarkable, with clichéd bad guys and very little character development. When a guard tells Claudio to get ready for a bath it’s obvious he’s preparing the viewer for ‘the drowning scene’. The film-makers seem busier with their checklist of tortures than the background of the story they are (not) telling. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. (MP) Rialto

Death Proof Death Proof It’s unclear whether the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez exploitation-flick double bill Grindhouse will ever reach our cinemas in its original form, but luckily this extended version of Tarantino’s half stands on its own. Kurt Russell plays Stuntman Mike, a shady has-been who stalks and attacks two groups of women with his death-proofed stunt car. Unfortunately for him, his second group of intended victims are professional, kick-ass stunt driver gals. While two thirds of the film are pure chick-flick, Tarantino excels in the carnage and chases even more than the dialogue. The cinematography and soundtrack are both exemplary. (LvH) 127 min. Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé De Munt Evan Almighty In this farcical sequel to Bruce Almighty (2003), God is still a janitor played by Morgan Freeman, but the Buffalo newscaster played by Jim Carrey is now a Buffalo newscaster-turned-congressman played by Steve Carell. As soon as the hero arrives with his family in a Virginia suburb to ‘change the world’, God orders him to build an ark, and then sends loads of animals in pairs after him until he obeys. Freeman’s God is a mix of Old and New Testament, with a dash of both sexism and sitcom; Carell’s Noah is a political fool, but that only proves he’s hon-

British author, whose work has been a continuing source of inspiration for films and television. There have been conventional adaptations like the BBC series Pride and Prejudice, Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility and contemporary comedies such as Clueless, based on Emma, and Bridget Jones’ Diary, whose original novel drew heavily from Austen’s writing. Becoming Jane is not another novel adaptation but, this time, a film about her life. It focuses on the years before Austen

est and sincere. This is idiotic, but it’s so good-natured I didn’t mind. Directed by Tom Shadyac from a script by Steve Oedekerk; with Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John Michael Higgins and Wanda Sykes. (JR) 90 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Half Moon A renowned Iranian-Kurdish musician, Mamo (Ismail Ghaffari), following the fall of Saddam Hussein, has been given permission to perform at a concert in Iraqi Kurdish territory. He assembles his many sons, all musicians, and sets off in a school bus driven by a faithful friend, Kako (Allah Morad Rashtiani). As touching as it sounds, Bahman Ghobadi’s Half Moon is a delicate road comedy, as they encounter a hoard of problems during the voyage—not least that Mamo believes the success of the project depends on the presence of a female singer, Hesho (Hedye Tehrani), despite it being illegal for women to sing in public in Iran. In Farsi with Dutch subtitles. Rialto The Last Legion A pulp historical novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi gets the Hollywood treatment courtesy of megamogul Dino de Laurentiis, who knows how to pick the right ingredients from the global market, but comes up with a bad mix here. In this infantile take on Gladiator, legion commander Aurelius (Colin Firth) and his mentor with shamanic powers, Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley), must protect the child emperor of Rome from Barbarian general Odoacer (Peter Mullan). A magic sword and a clever historical twist at the end don’t help raise the bar above thin fare for kids. Indian star Aishwarya Rai adds some Oriental spice as a mysterious warrior from Byzantium who joins the last legion, but the result remains a pretty bland minestrone. Directed by Doug Lefler. (MB) 110 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Das Leben der Anderen This Oscar winner by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck mostly deserves all the praise and admiration it has received. A study in the dehumanising effects of state surveillance, it focuses on two men living in East Germany in 1984: a playwright (Sebastian Koch) who attracts the interest of the state and a Stasi officer (Ulrich Mühe) whose loyalty to the socialist cause is starting to erode. Predictable and

became a famous writer, in a biopic that’s a mix of fact and fiction. It’s true that Austen grew up as a reverend’s daughter, had a sister named Cassandra whose fiancé died in the West Indies, and that she once received a marriage proposal which was first accepted, but then declined the next day. Yet the love affair in the film between Austen, played by Anne Hathaway, and the worldly lawyer Tom Lefroy (James— The Last King of Scotland—McAvoy) is mostly fictional. The real Austen did love someone, and was loved by him in return, but he was a clergyman who died young. Without spoiling too much of the plot: the love affair between Austen and Lefroy also ends, but not because Lefroy dies. Interestingly, the film gives a few different explanations. It suggests that the relationship between the couple ended because it was not accepted by Lefroy’s wealthy uncle, on whom he was financially dependent. Hence money problems come in the way, very much in

step with Austen’s novels, in which social compatibility and money always come into play. Yet the film also hints at another reason, this one originating from Austen herself. In a scene where she meets a contemporary author, Ann Radcliffe—an inspiration for Austen in real life, though they probably never met—Radcliffe (Helen McCrory) encourages Austen to embark on a writing career. Radcliffe seems happy with her life, though she admits that many people disapprove of her being a writer, forcing her and her husband into isolation. This, in fact, suits her fine as it allows time to work, but she feels sorry for her husband. Perhaps the film needs Austen to meet Radcliffe, to help her realise how difficult it would be to combine the writing life with marriage. And another very 21st-century reason is given: fear of commitment, plus fear of ‘what people will say’—and funnily enough, mostly from Austen’s side... Becoming Jane has an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, the complexity of that story seems to have passed by Hathaway and McAvoy. Their acting is superficial, not to say soapy, and lacks chemistry. Also the visuals are not very inspired. A moment of contemplation? A scene in a garden. To show that Jane is not a ‘girly’ girl? Cricket with the boys. Smouldering passion hindered by 18thcentury politeness? Flushing cheeks and clumsy movements. All this has been done before, but better and more convincingly. And the film’s biggest sin of all: lack of irony—the trademark of Austen’s work. But Becoming Jane does have its entertaining moments and makes a brave attempt to reduce Her Holiness Jane down to human proportions.

slightly distant, but also disturbing and effective. In German with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 137 min. Cinecenter, Het Ketelhuis, Pathé Tuschinski, Rialto

appearances by renowned Dutch thespians make this a film you’re not likely to forget. In Dutch. (BS) 97 min. Pathé Tuschinski

Molière This biography of French playwright JeanBaptiste Poquelin, better known under his pseudonym of Molière, gets the Shakespeare in Love treatment— bits, scenes and characters from his plays resurface in real life happenings—from director Laurent Tirard and screenwriter Grégoire Vigneron. What could have been a very light divertissement becomes a very heavy handed affair instead: Romain Duris (Arsène Lupin) tries his best to give charm and action to the lead character, but fails miserably to give him inspiration— quite essential when you portray a writer. While a general knowledge of Molière’s ouevre could be of help in the appreciation of this film, don’t feel obliged to rush to the library, as it’s not worth it. In French with Dutch subtitles. (MB) Het Ketelhuis

Ocean’s Thirteen Directed by Steven Soderbergh,

Mon fils à moi ‘Mon dieu, quelle histoire!’, exclames Mother as she exits her son’s bedroom. We could very well say the same: she has just successfully demanded to see her teenage son’s privates. In this unusual and well-done pyschological study from first-time French film-maker Martial Fougeron, the always amazing Nathalie Baye stars as an overpossessive mother who will try anything to prevent her 12-year-old son from reaching a healthy puberty. Obviously, as in every bourgeois French-suburban drama we’ve ever seen, events unfold in tragic terms. Mon fils à moi is definitely not to everyone’s taste, but Baye’s performance surely earns her a place in the Hall of Fame of Cinematic Mothers from Hell—Freudians, you’ve been warned. In French with Dutch subtitles. (MB) 90 min. Cinecenter Ober Absurdity reigns once again in Alex van Warmerdam’s latest feature, a hysterical tale about the many bizarre misfortunes of a waiter named Edgar (played by the director himself), who also happens to be the main character of a manuscript in the making. Reality and fiction coalesce even further when the badgered Edgar complains to his creator about all his mishaps and demands restitution. Van Warmerdam’s characteristic grim sense of humour and the many hilarious guest

Ocean’s Thirteen brings Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his pack of thieves back to that glamorous playground for adults, Las Vegas. But this time, it’s personal. One of their own, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), winds up in the hospital after being swindled by Willy Bank (Al Pacino). So Danny and the gang are out for revenge: clean out Bank’s finances and hit him where it hurts the most by ruining his chances of getting a Five Diamond Award for his latest hotel on the Strip. Not just another sequel, this is one of the most entertaining movies of the franchise so far: suave, sleek, and snappy. Includes eye candy. (SD) 122 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Ratatouille

Ratatouille In Pixar’s newest effort, Remy the rat finds himself in the restaurant of his late hero, TV cook Auguste Gusteau, whose motto, ‘Anyone can cook’, inspired Remy’s dream of becoming the greatest chef in Paris. Saved from a horrible death by the gawky garbage boy Linguini, he starts working with him to achieve his goal. But Skinner, the evil new chef in Gusteau’s restaurant, is not that easily beaten. Oldschool Disney slapstick with a heart, Ratatouille is all about fun. Chases are numerous and feature incredible camerawork while putting kitchen utensils to maximum use. The animation is equally stunning, containing deeply saturated colors and realistic movement from both animals and humans. With a jazzy soundtrack and lots of great details, this feels like cinematic spielerei, a seemingly effortless home run into animation history. (MP) Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski

Amsterdam Weekly

20 Samson and Delilah A film of the opera by Camille Saint Saëns, staged in modern dress by Frisian opera with Charles Alves da Cruz, Klara Uleman, Peter Michailov, Mourad Amirkhanian, Vincent Le Texier and Charlotte Besijn. 100 min. Het Ketelhuis Still Life Most of what we read about China nowadays is about their incredible economic rise. Rest assured that behind the veil of success, misery is to be found. Film-maker Jia Zhang-ke (Unknown Pleasures, The World) seems dedicated to showing us other aspects of a culture locked in massive change. His new film Still Life is a stunningly shot drama of people lost in the chaos of progress, in a city literally drowning as it is slowly engulfed by the reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam. Shot entirely on high-definition video, Still Life looks and feels like a documentary; and while the story itself is not, the background of the drowning city is very real indeed. As such, this blend of fiction and the real paints an alienating and disquieting picture of a country where the individual is merely an obstacle to progress. In Mandarin with Dutch subtitles. (RG) 108 min. Rialto Tales from Earthsea With its sweeping vistas and tiny figures making their way through vast landscapes, Goro Miyazaki’s first anime seems more inspired by The Lord of the Rings than by the films of

FILM TIMES Thursday 16 August until Wednesday 22 August. Times are provided by cinemas and are subject to last-minute changes.Film times also at www.amsterdamweekly.nl. Cavia Open-Air Cinema Stavangerweg 891, 475 0924, Knife in the Water Sat 22.00 Tuvalu Fri 22.00. Cinecenter Lijnbaansgracht 236, 623 6615 Becoming Jane daily 16.00, 19.00, 21.45, Sun also 11.15 Ensemble,c'est tout daily 16.15, 19.30, 22.00, Sun also 11.15, 14.00 Das Leben der Anderen daily 15.45, 18.45 London to Brighton daily 21.45, Sun also 11.00, 13.45 Mon fils à moi daily 16.00, 19.45 Les témoins daily 21.45, Sun also 11.00, 13.30. Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 César et Rosalie daily 17.00, Sun also 14.45, Wed also 22.00 Congorama Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 17.15 Enfer, L' (outtakes) Wed 19.30 Ludwig Thur-Tues 19.15 Sissi-Kindermiddag Sun 14.30 Slumming Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 21.45, Mon 17.15 Zidane,A 21st Century Portrait daily 21.45. Filmmuseum Open Air Vondelpark, , Hard Day's Night,A Fri 21.30. Het Ketelhuis Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 Adam's Applesdaily17.15, Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed also19.30, Sun also12.30 De Avonturen van het Molletje Sat, Sun, Wed 13.30 Harry Potter en de Orde van de Fenix Thur-Sun, Wed 15.00 Irina Palm daily 17.30

his father, Hayao (My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away). Loosely based on Ursula K Le Guin’s dark fantasy series, it starts out lively and entertaining, as the wizard Sparrowhawk and a young prince go in search of a sorcerer whose desire for eternal life has upset the balance of the world. Parts of it are lovely to look at, especially the flora. (Goro went to forestry school before he joined his father’s business.) But the film squanders its promise at the end in a big fight scene. Because of a rights conflict, Tales from Earthsea won’t be released in North America until 2009. In Japanese with Dutch subtitles. (JP) 115 min. The Movies

teach the youngster not to break the sacred tribal laws, the brother tells an ancestral story that directly relates to the delicate issue at hand. The story takes place in a mythical past and deals with forbidden love, kidnapping, sorcery and revenge gone deadly wrong. Films about indigenous people tend to meet with a solemn approach. Director Rolf De Heer (born in Holland in 1951, raised in Australia) ventured far from this beaten path, mixing epic storytelling with cheeky humour in this mythic swamp comedy—a thoroughly entertaining film that will teach you how to live the proper way. In English/Ganalbingu with Dutch subtitles. (VM) 90 min. Pathé Tuschinski

Les témoins Paris, early 1980s: a 20-year-old kid named Manu (Johan Libéreau) arrives from the provinces, moves in with his sister (Julie Depardieu), and is gets to know an older gay man (Michel Blanc), the married policeman Mehdi (Sami Bouajila) and his wife Sarah (Emmanuele Béart). Together, this group of friends and lovers face life, love and the arrival of the AIDS epidemic in this sensitive film, directed by André Téchiné. In French with Dutch subtitles. 112 min. Cinecenter

Ten Canoes This indigenous morality drama, set in Australia in the year 1000, begins with a young man who has taken a fancy to his older brother’s wife. To

Venus Some great films have been made about the love between an older man and a young woman: Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962) and Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon (1957), to name but a few. Unfortunately, Venus is not such a great film. There is nothing wrong with the story, by Hanif Kureishi; it’s just that the supposed chemistry between Maurice (Peter O’Toole) and Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) doesn’t come across. Kureishi clearly modeled Jessie on Matt Lucas’s Vicky Pollard (from the hilarious TV series Little Britain) and Catherine Tate’s equally mouthy Lauren (‘am I bovvered?’) from The Catherine Tate Show. Yet portraying a troubled teenage girl takes a little more than

Das Leben der Anderen Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 21.30, Thur-Sun, Wed also 14.30 Molière daily 16.30, 21.15 Samson and Delilah daily 19.15, Sun also 12.15 Shrek the Third Thur-Sun, Wed 14.15 La Stella Che Non C'è daily 19.45, 21.45.

De Simpsons Film daily 11.45, 12.20, 14.40, 16.45, Sat, Sun also 10.10 The Simpsons Movie daily 13.30, 15.40, 17.50, 19.00, 20.00, 21.10, 22.15, Sun also 11.20 Sneak Preview Tues 21.00 Transformers daily 21.30 Zoop in Zuid-Amerika daily 11.50.

Kriterion Roetersstraat 170, 623 1708 Cashback Sat, Sun 15.15, Sun-Wed 17.45, Sun also 13.00 Death Proof daily 20.00, Fri also 00.30 Planet Terror Thur-Mon, Wed 22.15, Thur-Sat also 17.30 Sneak Preview Tues 22.15.

Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Bratz: De Film Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.50, 15.25, Thur, Fri, Sun also 10.20, Sat 11.25, 13.55, 16.25 Death Proof Sat 22.25 Die Hard 4.0 Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.05, 21.10, Sat 19.05, 22.00 Disturbia Sat 23.05 Evan Almighty Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.25, 16.50, 19.20, 21.50, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.50, Mon-Wed also 12.00, Sat 10.20, 12.45, 15.15, 17.50, 20.15 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.00, Thur, Fri, Sun, Mon, Wed also 21.30, Sat 18.25, 20.45 Hairspray Sat 23.00 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.35, 17.40, 20.45, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.25, Sat 12.15, 15.40, 18.40, 21.45 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.15, 15.50, 18.25, 21.00, Thur, Fri, Sun also 10.45, Sat 11.30, 14.05, 16.40, 19.35, 22.20 The Last Legion Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 17.55, Sat 19.55 License to Wed daily 15.05, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed also 12.45, 17.25, 19.45, 22.05, Thur, Fri, Sun also 10.35, Sat 10.25, 12.40, 17.40, 20.05 Ocean's Thirteen Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 15.45, 18.35, 21.25, Sat 16.45, 19.45, 22.40 Pirates of the Caribbean 3 Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 16.40, 20.15, Sat 17.15, 20.50 Planet Terror Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.30, 16.10, 19.10, 21.40, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.00, Sat 10.40, 13.15, 16.00, 18.30, 21.00, 23.30 Ratatouille Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.00, 15.35, 18.45, Thur, Fri, Sun, Mon, Wed also 21.20, Thur, Fri, Sun also 10.15, Tues also 21.30, Sat 11.10, 13.45, 16.20, 20.35, 23.15 Ratatouille (NL) Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.45, 16.20, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.10, Sat 10.30, 12.55, 15.30 Shrek de Derde Thur, Fri, Sun 11.45, 14.05, Sat 12.05, 14.30, Mon, Tues, Wed 12.00, 14.20 Shrek the Third Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.10, Sat 18.55 De Simpsons Film Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.15, 16.30, Thur, Fri, MonWed also 12.00, Sat 11.20, 13.35, 15.55, 18.15 The Simpsons Movie Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.55, 17.15, 19.35, 22.00, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 12.35, Thur, Fri also 10.25, Sun also 12.45, Sat 10.15, 12.30, 14.45, 17.00, 19.15, 21.30, 23.45 Sneak Preview Tues 21.45 Transformers Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.45, 20.50, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.40, Sat 10.45, 13.45, 16.50, 22.30

The Movies Haarlemmerdijk 159-165, 638 6016 FILM TIMES WERE NOT AVAILABLE BY DEADLINE. NDSM-werf TT Neveritaweg 15, 330 5480 Docs at the Docks Tues 20.00. De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512, My Neighbour Totoro Mon 20.30. Pathé ArenA ArenA Boulevard 600, 0900 1458 Bratz: De Film daily 13.20, 16.00, Sat, Sun also 10.50 Die Hard 4.0 daily 20.15 Disturbia Sat 22.05 Evan Almighty daily 13.50, 16.15, 18.40, 21.00 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer daily 17.40, 19.50, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed also 22.10 The Good Shepherd Sun-Wed 20.30 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix daily 11.30, 14.30, 17.30, 20.30 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (IMAX) daily 12.15, 15.15, 18.20, 21.25 Harry Potter en de Orde van de Fenix daily 12.30, 15.30 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry daily 15.35, 18.05, 20.45 The Last Legion Thur-Mon, Wed 20.50 License to Wed daily 11.55, 14.15, 16.30, 18.50, 21.15 Little Miss Sunshine Thur-Sat 20.30 Ocean's Thirteen daily 18.35 Pirates of the Caribbean 3 daily 14.10 Planet Terror daily 12.40, 15.00, Thur-Mon, Wed also 19.30, 22.00, Sat, Sun also 10.15, Tues also 21.45 The Queen daily 18.00 Ratatouille daily 12.45, 17.45, 20.20, Sat, Sun also 10.20 Ratatouille (NL) daily 12.00, 12.35, 14.35, 15.10, 17.00, 17.45, Sat, Sun also 10.20 Shrek de Derde daily 13.25, 15.45, Sat, Sun also 11.10 Shrek the Third daily 18.30

16-22 August 2007 putting on a pink sweater and eating crisps. Whittaker’s Jessie simply isn’t as convincing as her comic counterparts on television. The scenes with O’Toole and his ex-wife (Vanessa Redgrave) however, are very moving. If only there had been more of those. (MM) 95 min. The Movies Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait The title alone would suggest that you’re in for a documentary on one of the world’s best soccer players but Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait is a completely different experience. Yes, we get to look at French international star Zinedine Zidane and his play up close, but that is literally all you’ll see. During the course of one match—filmed more than a year before the 2006 World Cup—video artists Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno applied heaps of special HD cameras and directional microphones to capture his every move and sound in extreme close-up. And never, ever, does he get out of frame, not even to allow a glimpse of his fellow players or show a goal. Couple this with a profound instrumental soundtrack by Scottish post rock band Mogwai and you wind up with an experimental experience which may be a bit frustrating for the soccer fan but mesmerising for those who’ll let the footballer become a piece of audiovisual art. (RG) Filmmuseum

White Noise 2 Sun 10.30 Zodiac Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 20.30, Sat 21.15 Zoop in Zuid-Amerika Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 13.25, Thur, Fri, Sun also 11.05, Sat 11.55, 14.20. Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458 Babel Thur-Sat 20.45 Becoming Jane daily 12.15, 15.00, 21.00 Buddha's Lost Children Sun-Wed 21.45 Bugs 3D daily 12.00 Death at a Funeral daily 13.15, 18.45 Dinosaurs-Giants of Patagonia (3D) daily 13.30, 17.30 Freedom Writers Sun-Wed 20.45 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix daily 15.30, 21.15 Infamous daily 16.30, 19.15, 21.50 Last King of Scotland Thur-Sat 21.30 Das Leben der Anderen daily 17.45 Ober Thur-Sat 19.00 Ratatouille daily 15.00, 19.00, 21.45 Ratatouille (NL) daily 13.00, 16.00 Shrek de Derde daily 12.45 Shrek the Third daily 15.45, 18.15 Ten Canoes Sun-Wed 19.15 Zoop in Zuid-Amerika daily 12.00, 14.15. Pluk de Nacht Open-Air Cinema Westerdokseiland Children Fri 21.30 Eagle vs Shark Sat 21.30 Immer nie am Meer Sun 21.30 Pluk de Nacht Thur-Sun Workingman's Death Thur 21.30. Rialto Ceintuurbaan 338, 676 8700 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Fri 23.00 Antonia daily 21.15, Sun also 16.15 Boy Culture Sat 23.00 Crónica de una fuga daily 17.30 Half Moon daily 17.40, 19.50, Sun also 15.30 Das Leben der Anderen daily 21.45, Sat also 14.45 La Marea daily 19.15, Sun also 16.15 Reprise daily 22.00, Sat also 15.30 Still Life daily 19.30, Sun also 15.10. Rialto Open-air Marie Heinekenplein, , Ezra Sat 22.00 Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry Thur 22.00 Manufactured Landscapes Fri 22.00 Rialto open-air Thur-Sat 22.00.

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS Ads are free, space permitting. They will be posted both to the paper and online. Guaranteed placement is available for a small fee; see our website for details. Ads may be published in English, het Nederlands or whatever language is best for you to communicate your message. How to submit an ad: via our website at www.amsterdamweekly.nl, by fax at 020 620 1666 or post to Amsterdam Weekly, De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam. Deadline: Monday at 12.00, the week of publication. AD OF THE WEEK ROCK LOVERS WANTED I’m a rock lover & would like to meet some people playing similar music. I’ve been singing for 8 years (actually in choirs but feeling more rock-like), so if there’s anybody looking for a singer, don’t hestitate to contact me. Magda 06 2313 7784 or maakkaas@gmail.com. Thanks, greets:)) in the heart of Amsterdam. Canal view (Bloemgracht), APT IN HAARLEM 1-bdrm sunny and a lot of light. Prize basement apt in Overveen €1100 p/mth. Call 06 2840 0067. (Haarlem)availablefrom1Aug SPACIOUSAPTFullyfurnished, for long-term with legal con- 65m2,1bdrmaptavailablefrom tract.Exceptbed,unfurnished. Sept. 7 minutes from Overtoom Bathroom with shower and and Kinkerstraat. For LOTS of bathtub.Livingroomwithopen pictures and more details see kitchen ca 52m2. €850 incl. http://sarris.googlepages.com/am Please call 06 2866 0570. sterdamapartmentavailable. 100'SOFAPTSavailableinA’dam ContactJay,0651294770,email immediately. From €450/mth. rome1239@hotmail.com. Rent Seewww.xpatrentals.com/offers. €1475 incl.

HOUSING OFFERED

ON THE GRACHTFully newly furnished one bdrm apt, shower, sitting/dining room, sunny terrace, kitchen, 65m

ZO SUBLET 900 INCL.Sublet furnished flat in Venserpolder, noregistrationpossible.Bighall, bthrm, wc, bdrm double bed,

op Borneo Eiland. Gezocht: woning centrum, De Pijp of Jordaan min 50m2. Offered: 90m2 apt balcony on southeast on Borneo island. Wanted: apt in Centrum, De Pijp or Jordaan. Min 50m2. 06 1531 0522 CATLOVERS ONLY!Well fur- or roversrob@hotmail.com. nished, comfy, light 1bdrm apt, APT FOR RENT Light and +/-50m2. Top location, 5mins airy 1-room apt on Jan Pieter bike from A’dam CS. Green Heijestraat available from 1 view, cute garden, widescreen Sept to 31 Jan. Fully furnished TV,computer,broadbandinterwith PC, internet and TV. net, dishwasher, washer&dryer and more. Clean bath- Suitable for single or couple, room/WC, small, cosy bdrm. no registration. €1000/mth Clean, easy-to-handle, healthy plus 1 month deposit. Call cats(nocatlitter).€986allincl. Misha 06 4669 4556.

lounge, kitchen, parking for bikes and cars. 4th floor, light, green area, shop, bus, metro and train nearby. TV, printer, 2 bikes, IT & Tel. 900€/mth incl. pierreguichard@yahoo.com,06 3309 7464.

APT Furnished studio apt perfect for one or two nonsmokers. Duration negotiable. Depends on a few things. For info please call: 06 2486 1231.

HOUSING WANTED

WRITER SEEKS APARTMT Writer seeks apt or sublet in central A’dam for 5 months from 1 Sept-31 Jan. Mature single person. Prefer uncluttered space, pleasant outlook. Email inez@inezbaranay.com.

21 Sept. Max €600 all incl. Phone in from 1 Sept. We can pay 06 1498 0208. up to €800. Would you have ROOM TO RENT! I’m a 23 something for us? portily.o. working Polish boy and ho.ricardo@gmail.com.

I’m looking for a nice cheap room to rent in A’dam for a longer time. My phone num1-BDRM A'DAM CENTRUM ber is 06 1767 9235. Female, professional (scien- ROOMWTDINA'DAMSociatist), non-smoker, quiet and ble, professional, British girl tidy, seeks 1-bdrm apt near seeks room or small studio/flat (preferably within walking inA’damfrom1Oct.Wouldcondistance) from A’dam CS. sidersublet.Budgetupto€700. Long-term from 1 Sept(or ear- I work as an IT contractor lier), registration. Spreek een mostly from home so need an beetje Nederlands. Please internet connection and room contact eeebbr@ yahoo.com formydesk.helen.olney@gmail or 06 1548 5084. .com. APT/ROOM REQUIREDAm LOOKING FOR A ROOM!Hi a 26 y.o. Australian male who guys! Am a 25 y.o. girl looking needs an apt or room for 6-12 for room starting from Sept. months. I work in A’dam for If you have any offer please a Telco. I have no pets and am reach me urgently. Look fora non-smoker, quiet and friend- ward to hear soon! Email ly person. Need apt/room close elcinir@yahoo.com or phone to A’dam/Haarlem/Zaan- 06 4367 0585. dam/Amstelveen or nearFOR YOUR PLACE Young abouts. Sunil: 06 2651 3387. couple, 26 y.o, nice, clean, LOOKING FOR A FLAT!I am non-smoking. He is a grapha young Finnish professional ic designer, she is a fashion looking for a furnished/unfur- design student. Perfect to nished flat around A’dam cen- occupy your empty small apt tre. Max €1000/mth. Must be and pay up to €800. Short or possible to register! Please long-term. Interested? Mail drop me a note on merwi@ portilho.ricardo@gmail.com. msn.com. Cheerios! NICE TENANTS We are a

2-BDRM FLAT 3 guys looking for good flat for 1 year in A’dam or nearby. We are prepared to caretake flat and to WONINGRUIL/HOUSESWAP pay €800/mth + deposit and Aangeboden: 90m2 apparte- good reference. Please call STUDIO/APTI’m looking for young couple, 26 y.o. in the a studio/apt, 1-bdrm, from 1 quest for a small apt to move ment balkon op zuidoostzijde us at 06 2488 0903.

30 + LOOKING FOR STUDIO/ROOM. I’m a designer so I require plenty of light. Will pay up to €450 max. Can u help? Then please call 06 4648 5851. Thank u. GEZOCHT 1-BDRM FLAT A young woman (computer scientist), non-smoker is looking for 1 BD, pref. furnished. Near A’dam CS (walking distance) /de Pijp /near a metro stop (up to Wibautstraat). For min. 1 year from 1st September, registration. Please contact at ely@cwi.nl or (020) 592 4288 (begrijp een beetje Nederlands). SHORT-TERM APT We are coming to A’dam for 3 days end of Aug are looking for an apt to rent for 2 nights in the centre of A’dam. We have no driving licence so just walking! Please email us! mil_ham @yahoo.com. A HOME NEEDEDfrom the start of Sept. I’m male, Icelandic, responsible student. Can pay up to €500. Prefer close to central. Please contact me in email since I’m not in Holland at the moment. giu@badtmperdesign.com.

APT FROM 1 SEPTfor young landscape architect, female, working op KNSM eiland, French, 25yrs. I’m looking for a nice place to share or to rent by myself. If you’re looking for a nice housemate or you wish to rent a place to someone who is trustworthy, please contact me ASAP 06 1290 4037 annezaragoza@ hotmail.com. ROOM WTD IN AMS Sociable, professional, British girl seeks room or small studio/flat in A’dam from 1 Oct. Would consider sublet. Budget up to €700. I work as an IT contractor - mostly from home so need an internet connection and room for my desk. helen. olney@gmail.com. SEARCHING FOR HOME Full-time working girl looking for home from begin Septend Nov, (shorter possible). Preferably 30 min radius from the centre. Max €400. elf_ in_green@yahoo.com. 1 APARTMENT WANTED 3 UvA students are looking for an apt to stay. 1 yr-contract. Registration possible. Max rent (depending on quality): €1100 all incl. 1 mth rent deposit + 1/2 month rent (VAT incl) commission to the one who shows us the apt we will

Amsterdam Weekly

22 get. Call 06 4373 5448. Only good times with current flatserious offers. mates OZ + NL guys. Prefer URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!! Latin female in late 20’s with good americam grandmother is smile, nice bike & cheesy stolooking for a studio, for 1 year. ries to make us laugh. Reg not Even real estate, please call possible. From 1st Sept. murrayjess@hotmail.com. me. Leticia 06 4797 4813. NEED A HOME IN A'DAM Hey hey — I’ll arrive in A’dam on 28 Aug to start a yr-long postgrad course at Amsterdam Law School. So I’m looking for a 1bdrm apt w/in walking distance.I’mrealisticaboutrental prices, just need help finding a place. I’m at peaceloveandal@hotmail.com. Thanks!

OTHER SPACES

PHOTO STUDIO For amateur and professional photographers. Can also be used as meeting or gathering space. 100m2, €150/day. Possible to rent photo equipment. High ceilings, good, natural light and located on WG Plein, adjacent to Overtoom. For appointment and HOUSING TO SHARE more info contact D. Ingel: VERY NICE HOUSEW/ GAR- 06 2883 4224. DEN. House owner very selWORK OFFERED dom in NL. Excellently located on Amstel River next to ENGLISH-SPEAKINGJOBS all sorts of public transport. We have all the English-speakLooking for non-smoking, ing and other foreign-lanexpat, responsible FEMALE guage jobs from all major or couple to share this nice employment agencies and house. Lots of privacy & space. employers in NL on one webFacilities incl. Also internet. site. www.xpatjobs.com. €700/mth. Call 06 4851 7854. (SWISS)GERMAN NATIVE ROOM IN AMSTELVEEN 2 Are you a native German young professional women speaking person with a fresh looking for a third (female) attitude? Are you looking for roommate. Large bright apart- a fun job in the centre of Amsment near Amstelveen cen- terdam? Do you have a few trum, €600 inclusive. saxkia@ hours a day, a few days a week yahoo.com available to earn €10 per LOOKING FOR A ROOMI’m hour? You might be the one 23, art student at the Rietveld Guidion is looking for! Send Academie and looking for a an email to ironken@guidroom in A’dam. Preferably in ion.nl (Ingrid). the Vondelpark area or Oud- FR & DE HELPDESK TNS Zuid but I’m open to any- EAP is a European online where else not too far! I’ll pay market research company max €350/400. Email peque_ and we are located on one of nina@yahoo.com. the islands in the centre of GROOVY ROOMIE WANTED Small room available in great apt near Rembrandtplein. €400 p/mth incl large terrace, funny entrance &

A’dam. Are you a native speaker French or German and would you like to work 12-24 hrs/wk in an international helpdesk team? Send your

CV to edwin.schukking@tns- WORK WANTED Need help country. Reasonable rates, global.com! painting,movingorgardening? quick service. Contact Lee FINANCIAL ASSISTANTP/T I can do it! Call 06 4486 5248. on 06 2388 2184 or isabelleandlee@planet.nl. 24 HOURS P/W. Child Helpline International(A’damcentrum) is looking for a Financial Assistant for its small but busy office. Sage Line 50 experience is a must. Deadline for applications is 15 Aug. Visit childhelplineinternational. org, or contact Abi or Helen 528 9625 for more information. WANTED: VOLUNTEERS ACCESS A’dam is a non-profit organisation aimed at helping newcomers to the city. We are looking for volunteers who knows the city, are outgoing to help run a workshop for newcomers. If interested please call 423 3217 or email ced-ams@access-nl.org. SALESPERSONNeed extra cash? Outgoing person needed p/t to sell our pub tour. Choose your own hours. Call 06 1192 1411. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Our company is expanding. We are looking for some serious people! Looking especially for people from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, England. If you have the desire to achieve more in life you are the right person. European Headquarter is in A’dam. No job but business opp. React: acnrene@gmail.com

WORK WANTED CLEANING/IRONING Efficient,experienced and friendly couple offers their quality cleaning/ironing services for A’dam/A’veen areas. We are fast and good at our work. We have some good references which can be provided after meeting. Call 06 4365 9790.

FOR SALE

16-22 August 2007 PERSONAL ASSISTANTDo you need help with your Dutch administration and legal documents, navigating Dutch bureaucracy, selling or buying a house? As an energetic and professional personal assistant and translator I can help you with all of the above. You can contact me for serious enquiries at dutchassist@gmail.com.

CORPORATE YOGA For stress-relief, improved breathing technique and relaxation in the workplace. Highly-qualified and experienced Hatha Yoga teacher and breathing ART FUNDRISING Profes- (adem) therapist. For info go sional advice for artists & to www.acornconsultancy.nl art graduates how/where orcall6798753or0622143030. /when to get financial sup- PERSONAL COACH My port for art projects. Advice, coaching specialties include counselling and monitoring communication issues in both of fundrising-process for your personal and professional creative ideas. Rates vary relationships; problems suraccording to services. Ref- rounding addiction of family erences available. More info member; working with symp06 4850 7004 or artfundris- toms of stress and burnout; ing@gmail.com. clarifying career and life PROJECTION BEAMER choices. For information go Available for your shows: DJ to www.knowboundaries.nl VJ camera DVD, video com- or phone (0)29 965 3639.

WEBSITES & BROCHURES Do you need a professional website or brochure? Experience and creativity at reasonable price. Ask for examples at info@re-type.com.

BEST MOVING SERVICEIN TOWN Driver with van (10m3) or truck (40m3) available. Plus extra moving men, hoisting rope and elevator. Any combinations possible. Call RELOCATING TO THE UK - Taco on 06 4486 4390, email everything must go: washing info@vrachttaxi.com or check ENGLISH LESSONS Lookmachine, cooker/oven, fridge, out www.vrachttaxi.com. hoover, sofa, chairs, tables, NEED A STUNNING WEB- ing to improve your English futon, lamps, ironing board, SITE? Experienced web for a specific purpose? Nativeplant pots, unicycle, guitar, designer builds professional, speaking university teacher plants, etc. Good condition, unique sites for very reason- with 8 years experience availlow prices. Email cooperjes- able prices. Online links to able for private classes in city past projects available. Jor- centre. All levels catered for, sica@hotmail.com. ADOBE PREMIERE PRO dan: jordangcz@yahoo.com, and all contexts. Reasonable 06 3034 1238. prices and professional help. CS3 English version, original puter to hard drive with sound product for Windows plat- XPAT PAGES Looking for Email easyenglishamstersystem. Parties or your priform (still in original pack- English-speaking plumber, dam@gmail.com. vate shows, day price or one dentist, lawyer, etc? www.xpating.) This package includes SUMMER WORKSHOPS night. Cheap children’s Premiere Pro CS3, Encore pages.com. Drawing and painting workshows, film fest, restaurants, DVD CS3, OnLocation CS3 RELATIONSHIP COACH shops by professional artist, clubs, bars, movies, cartoons, and all three Adobe manuals Enable your relationship to various techniques, all styles. music, travel, anything. Mr B (in English). I won this prod- become what you want it to Contact 681 3067/joneiselin@ contactnord@hotmail.com. uct but I need a Macintosh be. Identify and diminish hetnet.nl. version. Special price: €850. highly negative conflict styles. HEALTH & WELLNESS BRAZILIAN WAXINGBritish LADIES BIKE Nearly new Increase positivity within Beauty Therapist. 30 yrs expe- CROTCH CONSULTANTDr. ladies’ Pointer bike for sale. your relationships. This rience, CIDESCO, BABTAC Farrel Kane O’Lingus, crotch 1 careful owner, excellent coaching works for person- ANBOS, laser electrolysis, consultant. Need that extra condition. Comes w/ very stur- al and business relationships. P8N8 Skin Therapy Centre: spark back in the ignition dy chain lock, rear wheel lock, Visit thewatersfine.org or acne/rejuvenation/cleanse ladies? The drapes match the spare keys, lights front & rear, email info@thewatersfine. Linda Young Aesethetics. curtains but still got da blues? intact & fully functional. Need org for more details. New address: Eerste Jan One 30-min consult can make quick sale as leaving NL short- EXPRESSIONS COACH Is Steenstraat 109 in De Pijp. a positive difference! €40! ly. Available at bargain price your expressiveness stuck? Contact 06 4079 9921 or vis- Expert in matters of pelvic of €150 ONO. abileah1980@ Are you needing to inspire it www.lindayoungaesthet- feng shui. Please call 06 3404 yahoo.co.uk. and be inspired? Let me ics.com. 0311. Confidential. HONDA 50 MOPED Moped empower you with your speak- PETSITTER A'DAM Furry HEALINGFor stress-release racer honda 50, MX 5, fast 4 ing and presentations skills. Friends Care, petsitter avail- and deep relaxation, with speed, new tag, good broomer, www.corporatespeaker.eu able for taking care of your Ajit Kaur Sandhu, highly good price. Contact me at ENJOY YOUR TIME OFF! cat while you’re away, or walk- experienced healer and reicontactnord@hotmail.com. Order Strijkaway iron ser- ing your dog if you are just too ki master. Also gives reiki vice at your place. Or bring busy for it. For more info vis- and magnified healing coursSERVICES and take your clothes to iron. it http://furryfriendscare.tries. For more information ENGLISH MAN WITH VAN Visit www.strijkaway.nl, mail pod.com or call 06 5220 5541. call 679 8753 or 06 2214 3030. Can help with removals, big info@strijkaway.nl or call 06 Love & attention for your pet, Email ajit@acornconsulalso when you’re away. tancy.nl. or small, in or outside of the 1365 3682. MEN'S BICYCLE Phoenix men’s bike for sale, in good condition. Registered. Available Aug 23. €80. Contact Pete 06 1309 6741.

THE POWER OF MANTRA Swami Vivekananda Saraswati is in A’dam for a short visit before he starts his North America tour. He will be giving a lecture on The Power of Sounds and Mantra’s at Agama Yoga (1e van der Helststraat 70-1, De Pijp) Sat evening, 18 Aug. www.agamayoga.nl/06 4912 6884. Admission fee €7.50. HAIR LOSS PREVENTION New effective treatment to prevent hair loss and stimulate hair regrowth using Galvanic Spa System II. 12 times x 20 min during 24 days. ID Hair and Beauty studio. Tel 06 5040 1412 or email in44you @gmail.com. THERAPEUTIC TANTRA Holistic, therapeutic tantra and sensuality training. Specializing in sexual and sexuality-related problems and the enhancement of one’s sexual well-being. Private individual sessions for men and women. For more information: www.erostrance.com or contact Shanti on 06 4277 3290.

Amsterdam Weekly

16-22 August 2007

MASSAGE

ble and uncomplicated teachers. Classes 4x4 hrs/wk, 2/3/4 wks courses. Start 6 Aug and 1 Oct. Visit http://www.joostweethet.nl or email info@joostweethet.nl call 420 8146.

RENO-BOUW-RAJCZYK house renovations. Do you need cost-effective and highquality full house renovation? Professional, experienced and with excellent references. Online links to past projects. Call now and ask for appointment: 06 4451 7410 or 331 6550, www.renobouw.nl, karol-rajczyk@hotmail.com.

TANTRA MASSAGE Would you like to feel energized with renewed passion and creativity? Relaxed and revitalised? Deepening connection with your body, sexuality and spirituality? Yes. Eros Trance, private sessions in A’dam created to meet individual needs, men/women. Info: www.erostrance.com. HOUTEN VLOERDELENNu Shanti: 06 4277 3290. bij Klaas Bierman: eiken en AYURVEDA AND REIKI jatoba vloerdelen, multiplank. Ancient methods of healing. Tevens leggen en verduurzaFull body massage (1 hr) €43. men. Bel voor info of advies Indian head massage (30 0229 542 179 of 06 5533 4838. min) €25. Reiki (45 min) COMPUTERS donation. Certified since 2001 in India. You are most wel- PC HOUSE DOCTOR Specome to call me for any infor- cialised in virus/spyware mation. Mobile: 06 2740 0427. removal, h/w, s/w repair, data THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE recovery, wireless, cable/ADSL Second-year physiotherapy installation and computer male student in A‚dam offers lessons from friendly and expeatherapeuticmassageforrelax- rienced Microsoft professional ation, stimulation, medical & for reasonable price. Contact pain relief. The massage will Mario 06 1644 8230. be adjusted to your condition NEED HELP WITH YOUR or request. Contact email: mas- MAC? MAC-lover helps you sage.amsterdam@ gmail.com with basic setups, minor trouor visit http://amsterdamas- bleshooting, install, netsage.4lx.org to fill in the form. working, basic MAC lessons, SENSUAL MASSAGEfor dis- setting up programs, MS Word, cerning men, women and QuarkXpress, etc. Help with couples. By eastern Euro- purchasing the right MAC. pean classy beauty. Body-to- Contact Sagar at 779 1926. body sensual rub. Let me spoil COURSES you. Out-calls to hotels only. €170/hr. Email Saskia on sask- IYENGAR YOGA CLASSES iabraga@yours.com. with certified Iyengar yoga teacher Cristina Libanori. HOME IMPROVEMENT Tues 19.30-21.00 at Training PAINTING Professional Centrum, Europaplein 127 painting and plastering, inte- near RAI. Tram 4 (stop Dinrior and exterior, wood fin- telstraat). €10/class; with 10ishes, floors, decks, furni- card yoga strippenkaart ture, boats, canal houses, €9/class. Individual theradecorative and faux finishes. peutic classes arranged by For free estimates please call appt at €20/hr. cristina@thewheel-of-yoga.com/773 5307. 330 2634.

MUSICIANS

SINGING LESSONSOn Prinsengracht, beautiful atmosphere. Classical voice training, breathing techniques, vocalization, scales, etc. For beg & professionals. From classic to jazz pop or rock, and all styles of singing. Good prices + free intro lesson. For more info call Michael on 320 2095 or mail ajara77@yahoo.com. LEADERSHIP TRAINING Take an honest look at yourself as a leader, what’s your strong points, which areas need improvement? More info at www.leadershipnow.eu. DJ WANTEDI’m looking for an amateur DJ with his/her own turntables that can give me a few basic lessons. Call me and we discuss the fee. AGAMA IN AMSTERDAM Agamayoga has now opened a studio in Amsterdam. 7 classes a week. Authentic Tantric Yoga from Tibet and India. 1e van der Helststraat 70-1, De Pijp. www.agamayoga.nl. SUMMER WORKSHOPS Drawing and painting workshops by professional artist, various techniques, all styles.

Contact 681 3067/joneiselin@ tas. El taller será dado en hetnet.nl. español. Lunes 19.30 – 21.30 YOGAYOGA.NLisopenallsum- en Amsterdam. Comienza: 24mer long, offering daily hatha 09–07x10clases.Másinformes: yoga classes in A’dam, close to Alejandra Nettel 06 4707 8894, the Jordaan. Also Sun work- teatro@alejandranettel.com. shops, pre- and postnatal yoga, LANGUAGES baby massage and a second studio especially for private FIRST STEPS IN DUTCH yogaclasses.Visitwww.yogayo- Enroll in very special 2-wk summer course everyday ga.nl or call 688 3418. Dutch for beginners. Lively CROSSROADS Imagine hav- course in heart of A’dam with ing time to relax, connect with- opportunity to practice a lot. inandspirittodiscoverinsights. www.glossa.nl. Listen to your inner guidence and path. Group meets 6 times. DUTCH LESSONS A'DAM Free intro evening at De Roos Improve conversation/proin A’dam. Wed 5 sept. Facilitat- fessional purpose/studies/NT2. edby2friendlyandexperienced Also online. Min indiv rate teachers. Reservations only! €15/hr. Adults & children Monamyjo_norman@hotmail.com. Sat, 10.00-21.00. Also intensive courses. Min. intensive: 15 VIOLIN LESSONS In Con- hrs=€215,55. www.excellentcertgebouw neighbourhood. dutch.nl. New: Super-intenAll ages from 5 yrs-old, begin- sive summer course. Info: ners as well as advanced play- excellentdutch@hotmail.com, ers. Also coaching for Con- 06 3612 2870. servatory possible. First lesson KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE? free, please contact 671 4283. Hi! I’m looking for people TALLERDETEATROEn éste curso aprenderás los principios básicos de actuación por medio de juegos, improvisaciones y presentaciones cor-

who are fluent in Sign Language (pref. American) for a project. It will only take 30 min (or less) of your time. If you are the one or know of

RECORDING STUDIO Professional recording studio near Amsterdam center offering special recording and mixing deals. Experienced producers on premises, great ambience, vintage and modern gear. Always wanted to record professionally? www. myspace.com/fortressstudio, anyone who have the skill, www.fortressmusic. com, or please contact me at sign- info@fortressmusic.com. language1@gmail.com. ANNOUNCEMENTS Thank you very much! NEED LOWLANDS TIX Hi. DUTCH LESSONS New If you have 2 tickets to Lowevening courses starting in lands festival, I’d love to buy Sept in the centre of A’dam. them from you! Call Ashley €200-250 for 20 hrs. Visit at 06 3085 5078 or email www.mercuurtaal.nl or call acave094@uottawa.ca. 693 4250. A'DAM PHOTOS What’s on LEARN PORTUGUESEI am your wall? Where’s your awea Brazilian journalist and I some picture of A’dam? Eggert give Portuguese lessons for Photos can help you out. Our English speakers. Personal- team of experts works aroundized methods, conversation, the-clock to get the best picgrammar, vocabulary and tures of this beautiful town. much more. Rate: €15/hr or We’ve just opened up at €25/2 hrs. Contact ana- Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 114 paulawolf@hotmail.com or - so stop in and check it out. 06 2440 4376. CALIFORNIA WRITER livIMPROVE YOUR DUTCH! ing in A’dam, interviewing Conversation, study groups, leads (and the occasional private classes, intensive tourist) for travel book dealcourses, city language walks, ing with the peculiarities and NT2. Starting every week at idiosynchracies of the NL. If Link Taal Studio. Info: 06 interesting or perhaps ple4133 9323 or linktaalstu- santly weird, call for appt: 06 dio@gmail.com. 3404 0311. INTENSIVEDUTCHCOURSE atJoostWeetHet!Smallgroups, fun classes and inexpensive! Excellent and fast learning method. Energetic, accessi-

ANTI-PSYCHIATRYTruth is hard to see for who’s afraid of it. Speaking my truth has led to forced hospitalisation and medication three times. Psy-

chiatry has socially isolated me, mentally and physically abused me. I am still recovering from this and welcome any help. YouTube/Odddom HAIR MODELS WANTED Looking for hair models for top salon in A’dam. Must be willing to have a complete hair make over.Ifinterestedsendafacephototoakurangi2003@yahoo.com. Women only. PIMP YOUR HOUSE with stunning Amsterdam by Night photographs. For more info visit www.amsterdambynight. info, also for photos of your favourite night view. MOVING FROM AMERICA? Join the fun with like-minded AmericansatDemocratsAbroad. WithmonthlyDemsFunDrinks, discussions, issue groups, and other activities. You don’t even have to be a Dem to join! Go to www. democratsabroad.nl for more info. PLAY AUSSIE RULES The Flying Dutchmen is the Dutch Australian Rules Football team. We are going to Hamburg in Sept for the EU Cup and there are still places available on the team. No previous experience is necessary. So go to www.devliegendehollanders.nl or email Jase on jasonvdven@devliegendehollanders.nl. PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT For an art project I'm interested to get in contact with people residing illegally in A'dam in order of photographing their apts. I promise full confidentially and no publication of personal information. For examples of prior work look at www.ilyarabinovich.com. Email ilyarabinovich@hotmail.com.