Amsterdam Weekly: Vol 5 Issue 46, 27 Nov-3 Dec 2008

Volume 5, Issue 46

27 NOVEMBER- 3 DECEMBER 2008 ‘“Hey, schatje, wait up,” he cried.’

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Filling the seat Our single and desperate house writers go cruising for cuddles.

Pages 7-9

OPINION

FEATURE

REPORT

AGENDA

Shhh. It’s quiet out there in the city. At least if you know where to look.

Getting giddy with some leftist radicals over the credit crisis.

Dancing like a happy hippie to Bharati’s pure Bollywood fare.

Love dancing, guess whoing, big banding, devotional clapping, art opening…

Pages 4 and 5

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Page 10 and onward...

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

In this issue and...

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Attachments

A small sect of radicals probably knew it all along. The global financial meltdown, singleness and silence are all intertwined. Take the recently launched dating site for rich people (www.rijkenederlanders.nl). Thanks to the credit crises, it will probably lose a lot of members. However, as if to stave off too much drain, the site now allows more ‘financially unfortunate people’ to join as long as they’re ‘physically fortunate’. Nice. Sounds like a one-way trip to heartbreak, a state that a recent Universiteit van Amsterdam study related to post-traumatic stress disorder since their shared symptoms: sleeping problems, irritability and flashes of rage. All three, coincidentally, can be much better hidden if you simply stop talking. Test out the theory with the new phenomenon of ‘silent dating’ (www.sprakeloosdaten.nl). It’s essentially the same as speed-dating but instead of talking and inadvertently revealing your current desperation and past sob stories, it’s all about eye-contact. And red eyes could mean you just partied too much, rather than cried on your pillow the whole night. Later, while sleeping blissfully with your new silent partner, you can thank the rich pigs that crashed the system and got you laid. What a wonderful world.

Features Inbox Quiet city. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Nature Calls Bunnies . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Feature A is for anarchy . . . . . . . . . . 5 Amstergraph Quiet jungle . . . . . . . . 5 A Quick Bike Fix Ghost riding . . . . 5 Street Fashion Quality denim . . . . . 6 Report India! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The People Versus Dogs. . . . . . . . . . 6 Main feature Our swingles. . . . . . . . 8 Lekker Bezig Petra Boers. . . . . . . . 15 Film Review Oorlogswinter . . . . . . 17

Agenda Short List 10 / Music 11 / Clubs 12 / Gay & Lesbian 12 / Stage 12 / Events 13 / Art 13 / Addresses 16 / Film 17 / Film Times 19

Plus The Mouth Witte Uyl . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Night in the Life Tig RIP. . . . . . . . . 20 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Fokke & Sukke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

On the cover Illustration by Kalle Mattsson www.hijackyourlife.com

Next week

Images from Useful Photography #008 (www.usefulphotography.com) Collected & edited by Hans Aarsman, Claudie de Cleen, Julian Germain, Erik Kessels, Hans van der Meer.

Special guest: Adriaan van der Ploeg. Published by KesselsKramer Publishing.

Urban apathy

Contact Amsterdam Weekly Publisher Yuval Sigler Director Todd Savage Editor Steve Korver Assistant Editor Steven McCarron Copy Editors Mark Wedin, Corbin Collins Film Editor Massimo Benvegnù Editorial Assistants Sarah Gehrke, Jessica Hartman Editorial Intern Kim de Jong Art Department Mattijs .Arts, Aquil Copier, Russell Joyce, Karen Willey, Kallen Yan Design interns Floor Bijkersma, Renata Sifrar

Amsterdam Weekly is published every week on Wednesday and is available free at locations all over Amsterdam. Subscriptions are available for €60 per six months within the Netherlands and €90 per six months within Europe. Agenda submissions are welcome, at

Sales & Marketing Consultant Allison Cody Account Managers Randy Abels, Ulrica Carlsson, Marc Devèze, Kate Hutchinson Sales Intern Eva van Gerven

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AROUND TOWN

Inbox

In search of those quiet places

Nature calling

By Mark Wedin

Submitted by: Siobhan Wall Function: Author Date: Sunday 23 June November 2008 22.48 Subject: Quiet Amsterdam I wanted to write and say that the recent changes to Amsterdam Weekly are inspiring. In particular, I find Nature Calling very useful because I’ve been writing a book about tranquil places in Amsterdam and the articles about animals in natural (or unnatural) habitats remind me that this is a city where we are never far from some amazing untamed, open spaces.

Although I think Amsterdam is a wonderful, lively city, the noise of trams and cars can get a bit overwhelming at times, especially for people who have had to work very intensely all day. I wanted to help residents and visitors to find the quietest places in and around Amsterdam and found the best way to do so was to wander through the city by bike, and I think this was a 21st century, Dutch version of the impulse to ‘derivé’ like the Situationists in 1960s Paris.

I meandered with a purpose, knowing that Amsterdam is meant to be one of the greenest cities in Western Europe, but not having any English language guides to the many parks and really tranquil places, I decided to go off and find them myself.

As a photography lecturer, I was also used to talking about images, but rarely had time to take any shots myself. So, I began research into a very different side of Amsterdam and over many months, took hundreds of photos of some remarkable, rarely seen landscapes and unusual interiors.

I went out when it was sunny and wrote indoors when it rained, (which meant for the last two summers, I ended up taking a lot of notes...). I found the best shots of parks were after a snow storm, to capture the white snow against bare, black branches, so I even went out on Tweede Kerstdag, enjoying the fact that I was cycling totally alone through windswept Florapark.

When they found out that I was exploring the tranquil spots in and around the city, people asked me if I knew where the ‘muzak-free’ cafes and restaurants were, so I began to seek out places that didn’t play loud music, as well as walks along river banks shrouded in fog, and hidden gardens rarely seen by tourists or even locals.

I came across Erasmus Park, an amazingly verdant inner city ‘island’ with a surprising field of shaggy headed yellow flowers. A few weeks later I got a bit lost in Diemen Vijfhoek, a strange, slightly alien, unkempt place full of nesting starlings and abandoned paths; quite different than the neat formal gardens behind canal-side museums.

I managed to find over 230 quiet places, over 140 of which are in the book, and it was hard to select from my extensive ‘tranquil archive’. I was especially pleased when the Dutch designer who did the layout for the book told me she only knew of half the places in the book—so even Amsterdammers were surprised by quiet places they had never been to.

In fact, I may write a second book, as people keep suggesting other quiet places, and I just want to go on exploring...

[Editor’s note: The launch of Siobhan Wall’s Quiet Amsterdam, published by ImageFound, is on Saturday 29 November, 17.00-18.30, Shashin Books, 1e Constantijn Huygenstraat 19.]

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

Photo by Mattijs Arts

The rabbit’s dark and boney side If you walk around De Nieuwe Ooster cemetery early in the morning, you’ll see hundreds of wild rabbits, flippityflopping about. Mostly brown, some black. Maybe a couple of white ones, too. They love it in the cemetery.

It’s safe, quiet and filled with an abundance of colourful plants and trees—many of them delicious and nutritious for the little hoppers. The earth there is soft, easy on their paws. And, as evidenced by the number of baby bunnies every year, it’s a great place to raise a rabbit family.

True, while burrowing, the rabbits frequently come across large boxes buried in the ground. But the rabbits don’t mind the boxes. They dig around them. Or sometimes, if the box is very old and has deteriorated, the rabbits will dig through.

The owners of the cemetery aren’t particularly pleased with the rabbits. Neither are some of the patrons. Especially the rare ones who see a rabbit flopping past, dragging a human bone. It doesn’t happen often. But it’s happened. And it rather kills the warm and fuzzy feeling that rabbits are known to evoke.

Complaints are submitted, and filed. But there’s nothing the cemetery owners can do. They applied for a permit to get rid of the bunnies, but it’s never been granted. A cemetery in Bussum has the same problem.

They went to court and lost. Legal statutes dictate that the health and safety of wild rabbits outweighs the peace and solitude of dead bodies.

Life is for the living. Mortal remains are sacred. You can argue both sides. But unless legal opinion changes, or a strain of myxomatosis breaks out, these long-eared gravediggers will be there for some time. Probably long after we’ve joined them, in a less active fashion, deep under the ground.

Special thanks to Johan Mullenders of De Nieuwe Ooster.

Got nature tips? naturecalls@amsterdamweekly.nl

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

Global finance

AROUND TOWN

By Marlous Veldt

WE TOLD YOU SO Lefties energised by the credit crisis, but lack modern theories or answers.

The rooms are still the same—bleak lights, cream walls and classroom chairs—but the energy in radical lefty achterzaaltjes is different this November. Gone are the long faces and solemn interventions. Instead, the audience is confident and at times almost boisterous. The base of this make-over isn’t the election of Barack Hussein Obama, however. It’s the credit crisis.

‘Look at the discussions that are running in papers. There are words that were off-limits for 20 years: crisis of capitalism, Marx... A fancy paper like the NRC runs pages and pages of this stuff and that’s really good,’ says Kees Stad, sitting in a community centre in Den Bosch, handing out the fair-trade chocolate he just received for initiating a couple of dozen punks and hippies in the basics of the current global financial crisis.

A one-hour lecture by Rodrigo Fernandez, a PhD student of Space and Economy at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, took us on a swift tour of how our original exchanges of bananas for car-

rots were replaced by financial derivatives that only connect to the real world when they crash. And despite the complicated words and charts, everybody except one stayed in the room.

I followed Stad to Den Bosch after we both attended a talk at the Transnational Institute (TNI) on the same topic.

The audience in the stately home of this network of activist-scholars in De Wittenstraat were mostly respectable citizens involved in moderate activism, students and other academics. But they were just as eager as the people in Den Bosch to learn how this was all allowed to happen.

Professor Barry Gills of Global Politics at Newcastle University explained that we should go back to ‘the Reagan counter-revolution, the overturning of the post-War Keynsian doctrine and the invoking of the free market, anti-statist ideology and econometrist economy theory.’ With obvious gratification he added that these principles of ‘neo-liberalism and free-market fundamentalism’ are

And remember kids: anarchy is responsibility.

Stencil illustration by Mattijs Arts

now condemned by practically everyone as the causes of the crisis. What took them so long?

Unfortunately both meetings were less confident in what they had to offer as alternatives. Gills proposed reinstating government supervision of financial markets and institutions. Out of the Den Bosch audience came the idea to replace money with things that are really valuable, like passion and determination.

Several people pointed out the need to stop the pursuit of economic growth. But nobody provided a plan de campagne of how to bring about these changes.

‘Really the left has been just as surprised as the right,’ says Stad. ‘In fact a whole generation of Marxist analysis has never been filled in. At universities it’s very difficult to find an economist who has a really radical story, and the same with NGOs. It’s all been drowned in compromise.’

Among those who have been applying Marxist theory to the current stage of capitalism are the people of Rode Morgen, a small, originally Maoist group that is working towards ‘true socialism’.

‘We organised a solidarity meeting with the workers of Cerus [who are on strike in the Amsterdam harbour] and found out that the credit crisis is very real to them,’ says Jan Harink. ‘The government and the union leadership were urging for lower wage increases because of the credit crisis, while the company continues enriching itself by exploiting the workers’ labour.

‘It’s a huge contradiction. There are billions going to the banks, while huge problems are already appearing in the [real] economy.’ says Harink. ‘Instead the crisis should be paid by the parties that caused it: the monopolies and conglomerates still making their billions of profit.’

Paying up is not enough though. ‘You can’t solve a crisis without abolishing capitalism,’ said Harink. ‘This system only has a future of war, hunger, environmental disaster. It doesn’t bring anything to anybody, except to a small group of parasites who enrich themselves at the expense of the majority of the working people.’

These socialists believe it’s scientifically certain that the end of capitalism will result from the opposing interests between parasites and workers. And thanks to globalisation, it’s now possible to create a global revolutionary movement. ‘In 2006, for example, there was a worldwide strike of car manufacture workers. That is the road we should take: combining theory and practice.’

So is the revolution near? Some audience members seemed to think so. But Stad says we should be patient. ‘People talk about the anarchist Spanish revolution as if it were a spontaneous thing, but it took 50 years to build. It also started with small groups sitting around a table, thinking about how they could make sure more villages would join. It’s the only way it works.’

More info at: www.globalternatives.nl www.casinocrash.org www.globalinfo.nl www.rodemorgen.nl

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paddoverbod

Amstergraph

Name a quiet spot Begijnhof - 26% / Vondelpark - 21% / Hofjes/canals/Jordaan - 13% / Westerpark/Westergasterrein - 12% / Hortus/Artis - 9%.

Source: Dienst Onderzoek en Statistiek Amsterdam

Graph by Nicole Martens

A quick bike fix

By Pete Jordan

Ghost riding Last week, letter writer Caren Harple posed the question: ‘When someone is riding with an extra empty bike beside them, [...] is there a special name for this?’ Since my childhood, I (and most folks I know) have always referred to this act as ‘ghost riding’ a bike. But in Dutch, that same phrase—‘spookrijden’—means something completely different: someone driving a vehicle down the motorway in the wrong direction. (Scary to think that it happens often enough that there’s a term for it! Just earlier this month, a spookrijder was killed in a collision on the A2 motorway.)

I’ve heard spookrijden used for similar situations with bikes (like, say, a cyclist riding north on the (southbound) Spuistraat fietspad).

In Dutch, the term for cycling with two bikes is quite simply: ‘fietsen met twee fietsen.’ It’s an act performed overwhelmingly by males. Of the 150 ghost riders I’ve noted in the past year or so, 89 per cent were men. (Is it a macho thing? Or are men more adept at ghost riding due to having, on average, longer arms that can more ably stretch out to guide the second bike? I don’t know.)

Whenever I ghost ride a bike at night (for example, after seeing off a guest at the train station and taking the guest bike back home), many Amsterdammers often pretend I’ve got a stolen bike for sale by jokingly asking, ‘Te koop? Te koop?’

React: bikes@amsterdamweekly.nl

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AROUND TOWN

The people versus...

Street fashion

By Floris Dogterom

By Mo Veld

Deep end blue

Illustration by Tomas Schats

It’s a dog’s life A couple of weeks ago, a frightening incident happened in Vondelpark. An unleashed dog bit the finger of a one-and-half-year old toddler, who was feeding the ducks. The dog, described as a ‘hound’ on Oud-West alderman Werner Toonk’s weblog, didn’t let go and the partner of the little boy’s mother had to pull the jaws of the dog apart. Following Toonk’s blog post, a discussion ensued, where several people made a call to make leashing of dogs in Vondelpark compulsory. A certain Ben went a step further, saying that he is ‘for a ban on keeping animals as pets in general. It is degrading for animals to be locked up and to be taken out on a chain.’

I couldn’t agree more. Okay, I may be biased. My parents told me that when I was toddler, a dog attacked me. Ever since, those four-footed creatures just scare me. I don’t like them. They stink, they’re noisy, they drool all over you if they get a chance, and you can’t have a decent conversation with them. But I think I dislike dog owners even more. If you lock up an animal for over 23 hours a day in a 45 square metre apartment, walking him twice a day for 15 minutes, and you still think you are contributing to his welfare, you need to have your head examined. In this country, people should only be allowed to have dogs if they live on a farm, where the animals can run around freely 24/7. I would also like to make an exception for the last 16 Dutch shepherds, whose sheepdogs must have the most liberty of all Dutch dogs. But that’s as far it goes.

Another serious annoyance is, of course, the dog’s doo-doo. According to statistics of City Hall, in 2006, 42 per cent of Amsterdammers found dog shit a nuisance.

(Oddly enough, the only nuisance that scored higher than dogs, in Vondelpark at least, was rollerbladers.) This is quite an achievement for Amsterdogs, given the fact that there are only 19,432 of them (January 2008). The Dutch are just too damn lazy to clean up the excrement of their pets. Ever seen canine crap in Luxembourg or Hyde Park? Of course you haven’t. Parisians and Londoners are civilised people.

Dogs can’t help themselves. They’re animals, they go by their instinct. They bite a kid, they shit where they feel like. It’s the dog owners that need to be educated.

Cleaning up the shit and walking the dog on a leash is a start. But a total ban on dogs would be best, for people and dogs.

Something to report? thepeopleversus@amsterdamweekly.nl

Fashionistas, like the recently awarded ‘fashion icon’ stylist Aynouk Tan, come down hard on casual dress.

Denim, workwear, sportswear or streetwear: it’s all the same painfully boring garb for these self-elevated high-fashion disciples. Their selfimposed bubble excludes any hint of normality or real life. They were likely traumatised sometime during infancy and decided to live a fairytale life, enchanting each other with the most outrageous and decadent party dresses over and over again.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most extraordinary of them all?

This romantic escapism is a very human streak and it definitely gives colour to our species, but it’s just a phenomenon in the far regions of the fashion spectrum.

The vast majority of us choose to live somewhere smack in the middle of this spectrum, where we also catch illuminating sights of other extremes. Fashion is like the universe; it expands in all directions.

Take denim for instance. Amsterdam may not be a high fashion city but we’re definitely a denim city. These rugged pants that descend from the earliest officially marketed forms of workwear seem to perfectly suit our practical and understated mentality.

The key to denim is that it’s basically the opposite of fashion.

Meant to be an ultimate understatement in status, it has the dis-

tinct quality of growing on you. The jeans and the person who wears them become one unique entity, of which the beauty only unfolds upon closer inspection by connoisseurs, or on a sub-conscious level for passers-by—assuming it’s an authentically crafted pair of jeans.

The magic lies in the wearing of original denim fabric, dyed in real indigo and woven on old narrow looms. In short, this happens to be quite an exclusive jean these days, with its own disciples who are just as dedicated to their beliefs as the fashionistas are. In fact—and thanks to the Japanese who started this crusade—the ‘please don’t mention the word fashion’ clothing industry is booming now that high fashion is being stuffed down our throats. The expanding blue spectrum is like the slow food movement, rescuing near extinct crafts and slowly re-educating the masses with a taste for real quality.

Specialty ‘denim- inspired’ store Tenue de Nimes, which opened last Friday on Elandsgracht, makes another fine case for Amsterdam. They are like an art house love story shining above all the porn-like mainstream blockbusters.

React: inandout@amsterdamweekly.nl

India Festival

By Sharida Mohamedjoesoef

A BOLLYWOOD TRIP OF SHAMELESS DANCING Were you there? Did you hum, sing, dance, clap and cheer along? Last Wednesday, the Concertgebouw, normally filled with lovers of subdued Western classical music, was now seemingly shaking hands with the devil, as it hosted a 90-minute opulent Bollywood feast for sore eyes and ears, generating an incredible amount of oohs and aahs from a highly diverse audience, varying from Indian expats wearing saris to pony-tailed Dutch pensioners donned in hippie attire.

At the heart of all the excitement was the glitter and glam of a musical extravaganza called Bharati, a story about Siddharth, an Indian-born engineer, living in the US who returns to India to work on the Ganga Cleaning Project. He falls in love with the beautiful, mysterious girl Bharati (read: India).

Siddharth is not the only one who has fallen for Bharati’s charms. He has to ward off some stiff competition and has to work his way around the girl’s overprotective stepfather. But hey, this is a Bollywood-style show we are talking about. In other words, the kind of show in which the iceberg would have melted to

prevent the Titanic from sinking. So, after the usual trials and tribulations, Siddharth finally rediscovers his roots, manages to bridge the rift between tradition and modernity, and gets the girl.

In between, the audience was treated to a breathtaking ride along India’s rich centuries-old musical traditions, with virtuoso tabla performances and phenomenal dance choreographies— some original, some based on famous Bollywood blockbusters such as Devdas and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

To top it all, tantalising glimpses of the rapidly changing face of India were projected on a giant screen, reflecting the country’s cultural diversity and the myriad influences making up the fabric of contemporary Indian society.

The only bit of criticism came from an Indian couple who felt the show was leaning a tad too much on India’s Hindu traditions. They had a point, but that was before the break. After the break the show convincingly made way for India’s Islamic heritage by giving a superb performance of a traditional Qawali song, again taken from a famous Hindi movie.

Lo and behold, intoxicated as most of us were with the magnificent performance of 60 dancers, 25 singers and 15 musicians, we got up and danced. Some like Rajastani gypsies. Some like a baboon having a fit. Others swaying away, probably reliving nights of smoking pot in Goa. More info: www.indiafestival.nl www.bharatitheshow.com

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

F E AT U R E

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Love online Laura Groeneveld (30) Interests: Inventing new hobbies, eating pineapple, planning.

Laura on herself: I aim to be Miss Marple, only younger and better dressed.

Other house writers on Laura: Beware: she keeps a copy of The Encyclopaedia of Unsolved Crimes near her bed.

Looking for: Someone with a Porsche 911, or a Hummer, because I just got my driving license.

TEXT IN THE CITY Winter is near. And many singles are craving someone cuddly to hibernate with. Take our own house writers, please. They’re desperate and ill informed in proper pickup techniques. We herded them together in a bar to cull ideas on finding love, then sent each one out on a different route. At the end of the week, they came back together to explain why they’re still alone.

Illustrations by Kalle Mattsson

To save myself from eternal singledom, I subscribed to the free online dating site relatieklik.nl. I should have joined ages ago in order to do proper research for this article and go on tons of dates, but somehow I didn’t manage... But then on a lonely and rainy Friday night, I finally sat down with my laptop.

Now, joining a dating site isn’t as easy as it sounds. First you need to answer a million questions and create a profile that’s cool, but not stand-offish. It’s also important not to come across as desperate. You’re really aiming for something like: ‘I was looking for a way to renew my library card online and somehow ended up here.

I have a very busy social life and plenty of hobbies, but if you’re free and good looking then please leave me a message.’

I like to think I pulled it off, but the problem is that while I was creating my profile and asking myself all these questions, I became completely self-absorbed. (I can’t help it, according to the psychological test I took on this site, I’m very focused on my inner emotions). I kept thinking about me, myself and my profile, and it didn’t cross my mind to actually go out into the virtual world and contact other single people.

But with my deadline looming, I finally logged in and replied to a couple of messages. I also managed to upload a photo, which was not an easy task. I may look angelic, as a fellow house writer pointed out, but I usually end up looking demonic in pictures.

After I had done all that, I didn’t hear from anyone for a while. I got worried. Really worried. Then a message came in. ‘Hey, your picture looks cute. Xx’. Awesome. It turned out it was written by a 19-year-old student who still lives with his parents. But bless him.

He’s one of my favourite people of all time.

Then other messages found their way into my inbox. Some more interesting than others, and although it seems a lot of people can’t spell, the guys that responded were actually quite nice. And funny.

Of course there were the odd ones. Like the guy who says in his profile that he wants to have children as soon as possible and approached me in a very aggressive manner. Or the guy who claimed to be an ex-model and sent me a picture that was taken on a very hot day when he forgot to put on a shirt and button up his very tight trousers.

Most people seemed keen to point out their love of travelling. I saw pictures of nice-looking guys vacationing all over the world.

There were also pictures of men posing with animals, disabled people, or their parents, all screaming: ‘Hey! I’m a nice guy, not a serial killer! I’ll be sensitive to you, as long as you’re not too complicated and don’t whine too much.’

It was all a bit superficial, until one guy sent me a really nice message which showed he had actually read my profile and shared some of my interests. Then suddenly for me, it wasn’t a casual ‘Oh, I’m just here to write an article.’ I cared. I clicked. Maybe not enough to go on a date. But who knows? Maybe I have a new hobby. ___

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

F E AT U R E

Speed Dater X Luuk van Huet (30) Interests: Obscure popular culture, animation, French toast.

Luuk on himself: I tend to grow on people. Like fungus.

Other house writers on Luuk: He still doesn’t know we’re laughing at him, not with him.

Looking for: Sugar, spice and kryptonite.

Do this well and it will lead directly to step three: making contact.

There were other steps but they required more advanced skills (talking) so we skipped those.

First there was the girl who went for a cultist who had given her a venereal disease, just after I helped her find a new home. Then there was the lady who had me travel to Berlin to break off our fling. And let’s not forget the woman who dumped me by sucking face with one of my friends at the New Year’s bash I organised.

Let’s just say I have great taste in the wrong women. In light of my forays in the seedy underbelly of the single scene, I opted for another approach: quantity over quality. Enter speed-dating.

Even though the name suggests it, speed- or flash-dating has little to do with amphetamines and/or exposing your naughty bits.

It entails rounding up groups of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, who’ll gladly fork over €30 for a chance to meet Mr or Mrs Right in the time it takes to have premature ejaculatory sex.

If you both feel the chemistry, you check a box on a form that says ‘Yes’ (whether it implies ‘Yes, I wouldn’t mind seeing him over a beverage of choice in a non-threatening environment’ or ‘Yes, I would gladly scream his name during a roaring series of multiple orgasms’ is left unsaid) and presto, you get the contact information to set up another rendezvous.

When I show up at the posher-than-thou Panama looking my lamentable best, I’m ushered into a large salon where 24 tables are arranged in neat little rows. I’m greeted by our gracious host/glorified pimp of the evening with manic gusto and receive a folder with the names of the bachelorettes, their corresponding numbers and the dreaded ‘Yes/No’ boxes.

I take a seat at my first table. In keeping with the traditional gender patterns, it’s the men who move around, while the women get to sit all night. It might be indicative of a broader pattern: while the women seem to have come in giggly groups, eagerly comparing score cards during the breaks, the men all wear the determined expression of a solitary hunter.

I have plenty of time to observe. The seat across the table is empty. It’s like the school dance all over again.

After four minutes, I meet my first sassy glasses-wearing bachelorette. Just as the conversation gets interesting, the bell sounds and I have to move on—a pattern sustained for the rest of the evening. While I’m pleasantly surprised by the quality of the conversations (but then again, I’ve always loved to hear myself talk), it feels like I have the attention span of a goldfish.

Twice, I come clean with my mission of writing an article. The first bachelorette looks miffed and smirks: ‘Well... at least you’re honest,’ while the second bachelorette thinks it’s hilarious. Taking the sympathetic approach by confessing to being recently dumped yields no results. Neither does mentioning German philosophers or, strangely enough, my freelance writing gig.

I do have an interesting conversation with a girl from Romania about history and Romanian film, however, and I later find out that she’s my only ‘match’ of the evening.

One out of 24 isn’t bad, but my conscience dictates that I’ll have to come clean. Whether she’ll respect me in the morning is another matter. ___

The Rules: lots of Perrier, little sex Marie-Claire Melzer (37) Interests: Films from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

Marie-Claire on herself: I enjoy watching war films and I don’t smoke that much. Really, I don’t.

Other house writers on Marie-Claire: She tends to hide behind a curtain of smoke.

Looking for: A muscular type in camouflage gear.

My grandparents, who got divorced long before it came into fashion, each developed a different outlook on love. My grandfather, who went on to have lots of girlfriends well into his 80s, used to say: ‘Always make sure they love you more than you love them.’

Well, he remarried a nutcase and had to build himself a cabin in the backyard to hide out in, dying a grumpy old man.

My grandmother, on the other hand, remarried a man who adored her, and died chuckling because she was still having such a great time. She told me: ‘When you really like someone, go for it!’

I’ve always thought my grandmother was right. And so, when I see someone I really like, I go for it. Funnily enough, the men I have met so far typically shared my goal-oriented attitude, except their goal often turned out not to be me. Hmm, could I be doing something wrong, after all?

I recently found myself single again, so I eagerly said ‘yes’ to a drink in the cafe with fellow single Weekly writers. I vaguely knew there was a plan attached to the meeting, about doing an article on singles, but I figured I could back out on that. Here is how I stick to my resolutions. After a few drinks I agreed to read The Rules, a women’s dating bible by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. And write a piece about it.

The basic rules are simple: do nothing. If a man comes up to you, pretend you’re not interested. Don’t give him your number.

Certainly don’t ask for his. If he still continues to pursue you, he must really like you. Bingo. Seems to make sense, in a way.

But many little rules I don’t get. Sip, never slurp, your drink (my most successful dates always involved at least some alcohol slurping). Another one: Your gestures are soft and feminine.

When your hair falls in front of your face, you tilt your head back and comb back your hair with your hand, with the top of your head in a slow sweeping motion. (Not sure how to do that.) And: It’s better to stay home and read The Rules than go out and break them. (But, um, how would you meet anyone then?)

The book also offers strange ideas on how a night out should start: You get a drink. A Perrier perhaps (...). And on how it should end: sex is never mentioned... And then came the scariest part: Don’t be clever or cynical and say ‘I would have been better off staying home and watching Seinfeld.’ Men aren’t interested in women who are witty in a negative way.

Suddenly it hit me, the ladies who wrote this book are führers who want to transform the world into a happy dating paradise full of plastic people holding hands while listening to Celine Dion or Coldplay. I think I’d rather be real than Ruled. Lord help me, I’m gonna stick to my grandmother’s advice!

So here is my appeal: if you ever catch me sipping mineral water or sweeping my hair back with soft, feminine gestures, or listening to Celine Dion or Coldplay, buy me a drink. And make it a stiff one. ___

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

Remove excess hair

F E AT U R E

9

Yes, we can!

Floris Dogterom (43) Interests: Rock, roll, vinyl, pinball, the tropics, disinfectant hand gel.

Floris on himself: I’m not the dork I pretend to be in the article.

Other house writers on Floris: Yes you are!

Looking for: Someone who laughs at my lame one-liners would be awesome.

Rebecca Wilson (31) Interests: Singing in the shower and (as of now) smiling like a maniac at old ladies and dog owners.

Rebecca on herself: I may not be the most confident person in the room, but deep down I know my own value.

Other house writers on Rebecca: She’s really insecure.

Looking for: Anyone channelling Obama.

I’m 43 and I’ve been single again for six months. When informing people about this unwanted development, they—especially men— sometimes say it’s a fantastic opportunity to sleep around before I get trapped in another relationship. But this intention, as attractive as it may sound, presents me with a problem. Not only have I been out of the chat-up business for almost six years now, my pick-up techniques have always been lousy, if not non-existent.

This must have something to do with the fact that I'm a nerd.

Need proof? Once a year I go to the Mauritshuis in Den Haag to look at my favourite painting for at least ten minutes—a 17th—century landscape by Jacob van Ruisdael. I run a blog on 1980s seven-inch singles sung in the Den Haag dialect. And whenever Pinball Repair Man has reset the high scores of the pinball machine in my local, I take great pride in setting new ones. Talking about these interests has never resulted in casual sex.

But this predicament could change for the better in only 30 days, because I have bought a copy of The Rules of the Game, the self-help sequel to Neil Strauss’s best-selling The Game. Yes, the tale of his transformation into a pick-up artist.

‘Neil Strauss’s writing turned me from a wallflower into a wallflower who can talk women into sex,’ screams the blurb on the cover. Promising, to say the least! The book focuses on reverse psychology of the type, ‘You think you’re a dork but in fact you’re a tiger. Grrrr!’ And the objective is to get a date in 30 days or less.

I must say, the first chapters weren’t that bad. Especially the one with grooming tips. ‘Remove excess hair,’ advises Strauss. ‘Get tweezers or a nose hair trimmer and remove any hair in your nostrils, between your eyebrows, in your ears and on the back of your neck.’ But pretty soon, the book started to get weirder.

Chapter ten covers disqualifying remarks (playing hard to get).

‘Make her compete. Threaten to leave to talk to your friends, the waitress, or those “more interesting girls over there”.’ Chapter 14 introduces the ‘rings routine’: check on which finger a woman is wearing a ring and tell her what that means according to ancient Greek mythology. Real pros might seize the opportunity to touch the woman’s hand. And in chapter 15, Strauss seriously recommends you see a psychic and get a reading. With that experience in the pocket the ambitious lover-to-be should be able to say things like, ‘I have an intuition that...’ But keep it positive, the author warns. ‘Don’t tell her, “You’re really insecure”. Instead say, “You may not be the most confident person in the room, but deep down you know your own value”.’ After this I didn’t read on.

Nevertheless, on the Amsterdam Weekly’s ‘Desperate House Writers Pick-up Night’ in Pacific Parc, I tried to apply the tricks from the book. The disqualifier. The rings routine. The psychic stuff. But I couldn’t. It just wasn’t me, and instead I reverted to my own interests. I gave a little lecture on the enormity of the skies in Ruisdael’s paintings. I talked about obscure seven-inches in the Den Haag dialect. And, inevitably, I bragged about my pinball high scores. No one was impressed. I decided to call it a day and sped down Marnixstraat to my local. Shit. Closed. No pinball today. ___

I can’t flirt. Since I spent my 20s playing house in a long-term relationship, I have retained the flirting skills of a shy 18-year-old.

When I meet someone nice, I just wrap him right round my finger with techniques like ‘the sudden inability to smile’, ‘the sudden inability to form coherent sentences’ and ‘the sudden ability to avoid eye contact’. I don’t mind being single at all, but this flirting lark, well, I’d like to feel a bit more like a grown-up. And thanks to this Weekly article, I finally had the excuse to consult a flirt coach.

I contacted Esther Popelier. Her cheery website flirtincompany.nl says you should flirt in any relationship, be it amorous, friendly or business. This doesn’t mean she’ll teach you how to seduce your boss. Just that to her, flirting is ‘paying courteous attention to others’—an indispensable social skill.

Popelier turned out to be a friendly girl who really believes in her message. This made it easier for me not to revert to my usual cynical mode when she told me the first step of flirting: get yourself in ‘yes-mode’. Basically: be up for it or it’s a lost cause.

Step two is approachability. Be focused on other people rather than yourself. Your yes-mode’s inner radiance will signify to them that you’re an interesting person, who is also up for it in a non-desperate way. Do this well and it will lead directly to step three: making contact. There were other steps but they required more advanced skills (talking) so we skipped those.

Find out for yourself how to achieve a happy, relaxed state of being that will let your inner go-getter shine. Once you find yourself in a threatening situation—a bar filled with attractive people—your yes-mode may switch to ‘can I please just be left alone in a corner-mode’. Mine does. Popelier says that’s normal.

To get out of your head and into your surroundings, she suggests counting things—men in red sweaters, for example (though I’d change bars if you get very far with that). We also discuss my main flirting technique, ‘the sudden inability to smile’. I should practise smiling and chatting with little old ladies and dog owners to let the process sink in.

I spent the hours before the ‘Desperate House Writers Pick-up night’ frenziedly trying to gear up to yes-mode. I grinned at a few dogs, sang jazz standards in the shower, sprinkled myself with lavender talcum powder and rose water, and arrived at Pacific Parc in a state of extreme tension, though smelling like a hothouse bouquet.

Still, I was approached on the dance-floor by about six men.

Interestingly, five of them were black. Last time I went out in Pacific Parc I met a Lebanese guy and a dwarf. Is my yes-mode racially biased or do you have to belong to a minority to be confident enough to actually approach people?

Indigenous Dutch dating culture just isn’t action-oriented. The place was packed with single 30-somethings, clearly looking but hardly mingling. Including me. If only there had been more old ladies around. Cycling home I passed yet another enterprising black guy. ‘Hey, schatje, wait up,’ he cried. I was impressed. Why can’t we all be more like him, direct and in full yes-mode? It’s time for change. Yes, we can! ___

Wanted: lovely dates for our desperate house writers If any of our single desperate house writers appeals to you, send an application to editorial@amsterdamweekly.nl to win a date with them at our upcoming Xmas party.

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

9

10

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AGENDA: SHORT LIST

SHORT LIST

Liam Finn, Friday, Paradiso.

THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER

SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER

Festival: Le Guess Who?

World: Asif Ali Khan & Party

Montreal’s Melissa Auf der Maur, former bassist for Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins opens Utrecht’s Le Guess Who? festival this week with a presentation of her new band.

In its second year, the festival expands its all-Canadian line-up with acts from eastern America. Joining Auf der Maur on the bill to illustrate the quality and diversity of the region is fellow indie rock Montrealers The Stills, death metallers Beneath the Massacre, NY’s wholly cool Dragons of Zynth and Telepathe, the pristine indie shoegaze pop of Beach House, folkster Hayden and plenty more. Give me some Tim Horton donuts and a beaver and I’ll be ‘aboot’ right. See www.leguesswho.com the programme. (Colin Delaney) Various locations in Utrecht, various prices.

The words ‘devotional music’ are almost redundant in Sufi culture, as most everything within that stream of mystic Islam is dedicated to exalting the spirit. An emerging master of the subset of Sufi music called Qawwal is Asif Ali Khan, a 35-year-old from Lahor who’s gathering a reputation for the incendiary intensity of his singing, the variety of his improvisations and the ardour of his invoking the sacred. Khan works within the modernising Qawwal strain of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan—its bywords: go farther!, sail higher!—with a ten-member ensemble (called, irresistibly, a ‘Party’ in Qawwal tradition) that features harmonium, tabla and several guys specialising in knockabout, polyrhythmic clapping. Guaranteed, by evening’s end they won’t be the only ones putting their hands together. (Steve Schneider) KIT Tropentheater, 20.30, €23.

FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER Pop/Rock: Liam Finn Sorry Liam. I know you’re trying to escape it, but let’s get it out the way: this 25-yearold New Zealander is the son of Neil Finn (Split Enz/Crowded House). And it shows.

To a point. There’s a sense of pure pop Beatles-melody, earnest lyrics and the ability to wrap an audience around his little finger. But heritage only gets you so far. Following on from his punky youth recordings with NZ trio Betchadupa, Finn has gone solo, putting together the rather impressive I’ll Be Lightning, which falls between the guitar pop of Dad and the melancholy of Elliott Smith, but all more noisily and rough around the edges. With his looping pedal, a spare drum kit and touring partner EJ Barnes (daugther of Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes), it’s the most exciting sounds to come from the family in years. (Steven McCarron) Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.15, €10 + membership.

Salsa: Cubop City Big Band If you ever want to see this salsa and Latin jazz band—a vibrant force on the Dutch and international salsa scene for the past ten years—then get your ass down to Bimhuis, where they’re paying tribute to legendary musician Tito Puente. This could very well be your last chance to see the band perform in Amsterdam, as their government funding was cut last August. In response, drummer and leader Lucas van Merwijk decided to be proactive—he put the 20-piece band up for sale on Marktplaats. If you wanna save salsa, visit the website—the current bid is a mere €1000, something of a bargain. This Friday, bassist Andy Gonzalez, who was a member of Puente’s Golden Men of Latin Jazz, will be joining Cubop on stage. Sizzling. (Liz Farsaci) Bimhuis, 20.30, €18.

SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER Film: The One Minutes Awards Now in their tenth year, the One Minutes—films of, yes, exactly one minute duration, including credits—have become a fairly successful concept. Talk about the MTV generation and their short attention span growing up and becoming artists. Recently there’s been collaborations and shows in Shanghai, Beijing, Venice, so the concept where artists get absolute creative freedom in an absolutely restricted time frame is taking over the world. But now, with the annual One Minutes Awards taking place again in Paradiso, the whole shebang is returning to where it came from. Themes include ‘Small News’, ‘Looking out the Window’ and, manifestly, ‘One Minute of Freedom’. Let’s see what they’ve done with it. (Sarah Gehrke) Paradiso, 20.30, €10.

MONDAY1 DECEMBER Party: LoveDance Paradiso is marking World Aids Day in style with this charity music, dance and artistic extravaganza, now in its sixth year. Minister of Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk kicks off this year’s event—supposed to be bigger and better than ever—at 21.30. A plethora of live music acts, DJs and VJs will be there to boost the party all night long, including The Nuclear Family, Labcane, Girls Love DJs, Twisted Disco Nymphs, Jeugd van Tegenwoordig and loads of others. Dance performances will include capoeira by Metre Miti and friends. If that isn’t enough excitement for you, there’s even an Abba musical medley. (Liz Farsaci) Paradiso, 20.30-05.00, €25.

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

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

MUSIC

AGENDA: MUSIC

Must see: Rock

11

Pop: Pete Murray Australia’s newest answer to Jack Johnson. How come no-one’s trying to be Evan Dando anymore? Melkweg, The Max, 20.30, €20 + membership Folk: Kismet Amsterdam folk rock. Skek, 21.30, free Americana: The Inlaw Sisters Appalachian mountain songs and American traditionals as this Amsterdam singing duo launch their new album, Robbing The Devil. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.00, €7 + membership

Thursday 27 November Monday 1 December

World: Eliades Ochoa Yet another explosive Buena Vista Social Club presentation. This evening it’s the magnificent Cuban singer/guitarist at the forefront of a son special. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €25 + membership Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Wagenaar’s Overture from Cyrano de Bergerac, Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 in D; conducted by Jaap van Zweden, with oboe soloist Alexei Ogrintchouk.

Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €20/€50 Jazz: Andrew d’Angelo Trio Divergent New York jazz from the sax player. Bimhuis, 20.30, €16 Contemporary: musikFabrik New music from forwardthinking Germans. Includes Goebbels’ ‘Red Run’, Neuwirth’s ‘...miramondo multiplo...’ and ‘Hooloo mooloo’, and Sun Ra’s ‘Outer Nothingness’ reworked

by Marshall Allen. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €31 Reggae: Andrew Tosh and CenC Love The son of reggae legend, Peter Tosh of The Wailers. Andrew even toured with them back in the early ’90s, as well as recording an album in tribute to his father in 2004, so rich Jamaican grooves are obviously on the cards.

Support from Bushman. Melkweg, The Max, 21.00, €20 + membership Pop/Rock: Dialogues DJs and live music collide, tonight with Valerius and Cujo. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €6 Experimental: Doek@OT Action painter Tali Farchi improvises with musicians Wolter Wierbos, Wilbert de Joode and Marcos Baggiani. OT301, 21.00, €6 Soul: Popcast Live Funk, soul and hiphop grooves from Soulstice and Surya & Robian. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €7.50 Experimental: STEIM & DNK Electro-acoustic, improv, noise, dubstep and robotics, as three international experimental duos take to the water. There’s also low frequency architectural feedback by Mark Bain.

Talk about naval. Stubnitz, 21.00, €5 Pop: Phoebe Killdeer She’s already known for embracing the bossa with lounge cover act Nouvelle Vague, but this Aussie lass has much more bite when it comes to originals. Of which, you’ve probably heard her ‘Paranoia’ on the radio and TV. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.00, €10 + membership

Opera: Die Fledermaus See Saturday. Het Muziektheater, 19.30, €15-€90

Photo by Michael Lavine

TV on the Radio

Jazz: Michiel Borstlap’s Eldorado Groovy, keyboarddriven jazz. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €11

Melkweg, The Max, Wednesday 3 December

Experimental: Zea Zea? Yes, Zea. We’re as surprised as you are. We thought the Amsterdam/St Petersburg split between this formerly local duo was gonna be a pretty serious obstacle, but here they are. Well, at least one of them. Maybe two. With Father Murphy and Soccer Committee. OCCII, 21.00, €5

The indie rockin’ equivalent of Fear of a Black Planet, TV on the Radio have established themselves as a raw melting pot of guitars, art rock, soul and electro—undoubtedly aided by the diversity of their Brooklyn background. Their latest, Dear Science is gonna top countless year-end lists. And yeah, tickets are long gone. Think they’re heading for Heineken Music Hall? 20.30, sold out

the end of 2008. But before they sign off, this final Bimhuis performance pays tribute to the undisputed king of salsa music: Tito Puente. They’re joined by bassist Andy Gonzalez, formerly of Puente’s band. See Short List. Bimhuis, 20.30, €18 Rock: De Kift Dutch art rockers on tour to celebrate 20 years of Kifting. Patronaat, Haarlem, 20.30, €12.50 Singer-songwriter: Nina Kinert Polished Swedish songstress, sometimes offering countrified guitar twang and subtle melodies reminiscent of Emmylou Harris. But you can also hear a more contemporary pop twist on tracks from her fourth solo album Pets & Friends. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €11 + membership

Classical: Combattimento Consort Amsterdam A surprise programme of seasonal opera and ballet works. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €27.50 Latin: Rodrigo y Gabriela A Mexican duo—though based in Europe—mixing Latin harmonies with typical rock structures. Already huge in Ireland, Rod and Gab are now aiming for the rest of the continent, throwing in covers of Led Zeppelin and Metallica amidst their own rapid and rhythmic Latin grooves. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.30, €20 + membership Rock: Triggerfinger Rock ’n’ roll riffage sneaking over the border from Belgium. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €11 + membership

Pop/Rock: Stuk Jasja Offermans presents sets from Indian Askin, Bella Hay and Appel Jacks. Zaal 100, 21.00, €3

Rock: Dog Called Phenix The local rockers launch their new album Someone’s Gonna Love Me in Panama’s new hall. Panama, 21.00, €15 (incl CD)

Ska: Zibabu Ska punk reggae party with the locals presenting their new CD. Support from Braindead (Hamburg). OCCII, 21.00, €5

Telepathe Futuristic experimental Brooklyn pop duo drawing comparisons with TV on the Radio and CSS. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.00, €7 + membership

Singer-songwriter: James Cottrial Dude from Austria with guitar. Skek, 21.30, free

Sunday 30 November

Electronica: Who Made Who Elastic bass grooves and big danceable rhythms from this Danish outfit, who take the spirit of dance music and recreate it with slide guitar and elements of disco funk. Part of Noodlanding! Paradiso, 23.30, €10

Electronica: Squarepusher It’s almost a decade since Tom Jenkinson, AKA Squarepusher, took to a stage in the Netherlands, so anticipation is undoubtedly high for this gig. A virtuoso bassist, as well as lord of the squelchy synths and thunderous drum & bass-style rhythms, he’s unquestionably out of the ordinary. And then there’s new CD, Just a Souvenir, with its vocoded party anthems coming across like Transformers gone disco. Melkweg, The Max, 21.30, €17 + membership

Friday 28 November

Pop/Rock: The Madd An Amsterdam BeatClub party with a live set from these Rotterdam guitar mods. Winston Kingdom, 22.00, €10

Classical: Toets des Tijds Concert Pianists/composers Allan Segall and Hans Christian Detlefsen play their own compositions and works by Scriabin, Messiaen, Fulkerson and Ustvolskaya. Werkgebouw Het Veem, 15.00, €12

Pop/Rock: Polarkreis 18 German electro/guitar pop attempting to be an A-Ha for a new generation. Good luck with that. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.30, €8.50 + membership

Experimental: Brokkenmiddag A Corrie van Binsbergen presentation, featuring De Brokkenfabriek and Kamal Hors (oud) with Hermine Deurloo (harmonica). Zaal 100, 15.30, €5

Saturday 29 November

Soul: Alice Russell Brit songstress and her six-piece band providing a funky, jazzy and swinging matinee performance. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 16.00, €12.50 + membership

Rock: Club Hell De Diepte does rock ’n’ roll. Sets from Low Point Drains, The Anomalys and The Rock and Roll Adventure Kids. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 23.30, €10

Opera: Marco Polo / Choral Flow De Nederlandse Opera tackle Chinese composer Tan Dun’s 1996 ‘opera within an opera’, which portrays the Venetian explorer Marco Polo’s journey to the Far East as one of both physical and mental anguish. Tonight is the final performance, marked by what should be a stunning choral performance in and around Het Muziektheater.

Whether you’re an opera fan or have tickets to the performance, be sure you’re in the area for the free ‘Choral Flow’ performance from 18.30. Het Muziektheater, 18.30, 20.00, free/€15-€90 Singer-songwriter: Liam Finn The son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn, but this 25-year-old is much more cutting-edge. While presenting an impressive standard of Beatlesque/Elliott Smith melodies, with his looping FX and touring partner EJ Barnes (daughter of Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes), their gigs are a vibrant blend of noise and harmony. See Short List. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.15, €10 + membership Salsa: Cubop City Big Band It’s been a wild ride for drummer/percussionist Lucas van Merwijk and his feisty New York-style salsa ensemble. Unfortunately, like so many cultural outlets, funding problems have made them decide to call it a day at

Classical: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Even with freezing fingers, these Norwegians make a magnificent racket. Works by Rachmaninoff, Bartók and Ravel are conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. And don’t forget pianist Arcadi Volodos, who’s a massive draw, too.

Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €64.50/€75.50

Contemporary: London Sinfonietta Key this afternoon is the Dutch premiere of Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations. There’s also Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks, Davies’ interpretations of two Bach preludes and fugues, and Nancarrow’s Study No.7. Conducted by Brad Lubman. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 14.15, €25/€29.50 Opera: Die Fledermaus Seasonal operatic joys in this famous Strauss operetta. Waltzes, polkas, vengeance and a bat. What more can you ask for from a famous warble-fest? Het Muziektheater, 19.30, €15-€105 Chanson: Thomas Quasthoff Schubert, Mussorgsky and Schumann, with the renowned bass-baritone backed by pianist Justus Zeyen. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €37/€43

Who said quality lo-fi indie guitar pop was extinct? No-one told The Dodos.

Classical: Cello Octet Amsterdam Performing Arvo Pärt’s new O-Antiphonen and the Dutch premiere of Jonathan Harvey’s Cello Octet, amongst others. Amstelkerk, 14.15, €23 Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Like Thursday but with violinist Vesko Eschkenazy stepping in for Barber’s Violin Concerto. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 14.15, €20/€50

Contemporary: Radio Monalisa Matinee Pianist Rita Knuistingh Neven and electronics manipulator Gerda Geertens improvise new, organic works. De Cameleon, 16.30, €10 Heavy: Finnish Fire An enlightened batch of Finnish folk metal from Korpiklaani, Falchion, Kivimetsan Druidi and Battlelore. Usually you just can’t find such a perfect balance of trolls, flutes and head-banging in Western Europe. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 19.00, €18 + membership Experimental: Cafe Pig With Knalpot and Podload.

OCCII, 20.00, €4 Hiphop: Mind The Gap Open mic for MCs and poets.

Studio K, 20.00, free

Experimental: DNK-Amsterdam Electro acoustic session. Set one features viola and electronics from Alexander Bruck. Set two is by Australian bassist Mike Majkowski. SMART Project Space, 21.30, €5

Tuesday 2 December Pop/Rock: Wolf Parade Montreal indie rockers, but we try not to hold that against them. Their second album, At Mount Zoomer, was released by Sub Pop in the summer, and yeah, it has a light sprinkling of that Arcade Fire chaos and magic. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 19.45, €16.50 + membership Singer-songwriter: Citizen Cope Solo acoustic show from Clarence Greendwood, mixing up blues, rock and hiphop. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.00, €7 + membership Classical: Strauss Festival Orchestra Like a New Year gala, this Strauss party is pretty celebratory, and comes with live ballet, too. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €33/€39 Hiphop/R&B: Estelle, Sabrina Starke The sounds of sexy 2008 hiphop, Londoner Estelle worked with the likes of Sean Paul and Kanye West on notable hits ‘Come Over’ and ‘American Boy’. Falling in with the same groove, there’s support from Rotterdammer Starke. Melkweg, The Max, 20.30, €22 + membership Pop/Rock: The Dodos Lo-fi American indie rock with a psych-folk edge. Suitably charming, recent album, Visiter, got the music bloggers dripping wet through summer—it certainly wasn’t the weather. Half a year on, tracks like ‘Red and Purple’ still sound rather delightful. Support from Jennifer Gentle. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €12 + membership Jazz: Die Schrauber, Raxinasky Technical and expressive jazz experiments from Germany and Belgium. Stubnitz, 21.00, €5

Wednesday 3 December Classical: Lunch Concert Preview of tonight’s RCO concert. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 12.30, free Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Kurt Masur conducts for Brahms’ First Piano Concerto and Dvorák’s New World Symphony. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €20/€60 Americana: Gary Louris & Mark Olson A feast for fans of the folky Americana of The Jayhawks, as these two talents reunite. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, €16 + membership Experimental: MKM! Noise and sludge from Monotonos, Death Sentence: Panda and Ovo. OCCII, 21.00, €6 Rock: iLiKETRAiNS Shimmering shoegazers from Leeds who could actually teach modern-day dEUS a thing or two. Goth? Who said goth? It’s not goth.

Honest! Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.15, €7 + membership Rock: Shit and Shine An indie band who’re more like an army of drummers with guitar accompaniment.

Tribal, noisy and certainly weird, their sets often contain just the one long song. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 23.30, €7 + membership

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Amsterdam Weekly_12-18 June 2008

A G E N D A : C L U B S / G AY & L E S B I A N / S T A G E

CLUBS

Must see: Electronica

STAGE

Thursday 27 November

Opening

Lights Down Low Indie pop laced with electro and rave. With DJs Sick Boy from Poptrash and Homework from Hommeles. Club 8, 22.00-03.00, €7.50

Theatre: Words Fail Me Goodbye show of the award-winning mime artist Rob List. Frascati, (Thur-Sat 20.30), €12

KISS meets OutsiderS Featuring DJ Dirty Dimbrosky and David Raging Bull, and a special appearance by DJ One Mike, this night brings soul, funk, disco, hiphop and interactive installations. Bitterzoet, 22.00-late, €7.50

Festival: Punch! A festival of dance, film, food and drink. Choreographies on show in this edition are Out of Service by Keren Levi and ZOO by Gabriella Maiorino. SMART Project Space, (Fri-Sun, various times), various prices

Vreemde Grooves Vreemd is this party, and pretty groovy as well. With DJs Thomas Martojo and Mara Trax, S_Loop as VJ. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €9

Music/Theatre: Kaatje is verdronken An absurd family drama by Alex van Warmerdam. Theater Bellevue, (Sat 20.30, Sun 15.00), €16

Siksmiks Techno party with Secret Cinema, Joris Voorn, Edwin Oosterwal, Kabale Und Liebe, Warren Fellow and Steve Rachmand from Awakenings, who will all do whatever they feel like. Flex Bar, 23.00-05.00, €10 WKND Not quite the weekend yet, actually—which might explain why the vowels are missing. House with Brad Tipp and Timstr. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €5 Blue Note Trip Weekly jazz and dance fusion featuring DJ Maestro and guests. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 23.30-late, €8

Friday 28 November

Music/Dance: Birth of Prey The Dutch premiere of this performance by Lisbeth Gruwez and the Belgian ensemble Voetvolk deals with mechanisms and moving patterns between hunter and prey.

Melkweg Theater, (Sat, Sun 20.30), €10

Sonic Warfare Melkweg, The Max, Friday 28 November The dark side of electronica: dubstep, drum & bass, hiphop and more. Special guest is BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs. 23.59-late, €13 + membership

Smells like ’90s No, it’s not what you’re thinking —this party is all about ’90s house tunes. Boom boom! Club 8, 22.00-04.00, €5 Latin Village Part one of the three-day Latinfest including Latin house, salsa, mestizo and more. Gashouder, 22.00-06.00, €34.50

klinch: Electric Deluxe #3 Techno and House with Speedy, Radio Slave, Nathan Fake and Marcel Dettman. Melkweg, 22.00-late, €17

Amsterdam BeatClub A party of sleazzzze; with the finest vintage music, burlesque shows, go-go dancers, sideshows and film. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-late, €10

Rebel Up! Soundclash Diasporic sounds from the global underground: mestizo beats, gypsy funk, roots, Arabic, African rhythms, Latino, Asian and gritty electronics. OCCII, 22.30-04.00, €4

Le Pop Hip pop, hip hip pop, hip hip pop hurray! With Tom Trago and San Proper. Canvas, 22.00-late, €7.50 Conflict The altercation takes place between some 11 DJs: among them D1, Heny G, Nicon, Brutuzz and much more. Flex Bar, 23.00-05.00, €10 Carnivale Electronation’s Pablo Lamberti, Konrad Bac, Lauhaus, the Jop & Jordi Show and much more make up the night. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €15 klinch: Bar Weinig Techno and house with Anja Schneider, Move D and Estroe. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 23.00-late, €13 Namaste: Connecting Cultures Psychedelic dance tribes. Stubnitz, 23.00-late, €16 Terug Naar Toen/Sinterklaas What’s the connection between ’80s and ’90s music and a December holiday party in November? No idea, but you could go here and try to find out. Odeon, 23.00-late, €12 Seen Dekmantel party with DJs Off the Wall, Mr Wix, Vanilla Nice and Lars Vegas. Paradiso, 23.59-5.00, €15

Saturday 29 November 24 Hour Party People Why go running in the park when you might as well keep on dancing? Studio 80, 23.00-06.00, €12 Schuurpapier & The Unbearable Light DJs Theatre with an afterparty by the Unbearable Light DJs. De Nieuwe Anita, 20.00-late, €5 Global Warming World music dance night with Kareem Raihani and Chaos. Studio K, 22.00-04.00, €6 Latin Village Part two of the three-day Latinfest including Latin house, salsa, mestizo and more.

Gashouder, 22.00-06.00, €34.50 Fuck Yeah Rude indie pop! Tonight there’s a special guest. Club 8, 22.00-late, €7 Full Color Canvas turns 1! The birthday party features DJ Wanka, Skes, Mulat and DJ Marcello. You can also ‘get dressed by Visjuweel’—not sure what that means, but it does sound exciting. Canvas, 22.00late, € 7.50 Huiskamerhits This school-night party has been extended for the weekend. With DJs 100% Vooraan, Gayblade Axion Team, Gee, Parra, Bizar etc, etc, etc.

Bitterzoet, 22.00-late, €7.50

India Festival: Indigo Diverse India-themed clubnight, with live music, dancers, visuals and surprise acts. Jalabee Kartel and Tiesto’s favourite Bishi Battacharya make the stage. The dress code is bluepurple-green-gold, or, perhaps even indigo? Paradiso, 23.00-05.00, €12.50 Amstereo Relaunch With DJs Roger 72 & The Walk, Jack de La, Beesmunt Soundsystem and more.

Flex Bar, 23.00-late, € 8.50 BLA BLA Dubstep and minimal, with live act Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts and Polder, plus various DJs. Studio 80, 23.00-late, € 14.99 Namaste: Connecting Cultures See Friday. Stubnitz, 23.00-late, €20

Sunday 30 November Panorama This party ends quite early, but at least it offers a head start. The extensive programme includes Daniel Sanchez, David Labeij, Naald en Draad, William Kouam Djoko, Hangmat & Rein Dmitrischenko and a special guest. Canvas, 15.00-01.00, €5 Bring it Back—Hosted by MC Marxman MC Marxman on the mic with this club-tech-house party by Fire and Loveland organiser Marnix, DJs Onnik, John Paul Spliff and Vader. Studio 80, 16.00-00.00, €10 Wicked Jazz Sounds Jazz you can dance to. Sugar Factory, 23.00-5.00, € 9.50 India Festival: Zonde Paradiso’s weekly naughty party this week features the theme of India; in collaboration with Pink India. With DJs Ashu, Sanyi and Lupe.

Paradiso, 23.30-05.00, € 7.50

Monday 1 December LoveDance Massive annual party for World Aids Day 2008. See Short List. Paradiso, 20.30-05.00, €25 Cheeky Monday True skool jungle and drum & bass, featuring players from the local and international scenes. Winston Kingdom, 21.00-03.00, €7 Funky Junkie A wild cross-section of funk sounds from DJ Koldun, who invites a selection of live musicians to improvise while he works the decks. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-03.00, €6

GAY&LESBIAN Edited by Willem de Blaauw.

Friday 28 November Party: iT Hollywood Party Although the famous club has been gone for a long time, its legacy is still very much alive. Dress as your favourite Hollywood star and be treated like a real celeb. Rouge, 22.30, free Party: Goldrush AIR Trolley dollies and pursers galore at this special flight attendant/airline dress-up party.

There’s in-flight entertainment, flying cocktail boys and DJs Jerry Black and MBC. Free entry for airline staff (show your airline ID) and those dressed up like the genuine article. Exit, 23.59-05.00, €12.50

Dance: Escaping Grey & Bava Two shows by Italian choreographer Giulia Mureddu that explore the darker sides of the human psyche—with the help of masks and puppets. Theater Bellevue, (Mon 20.30), €13.50 De Koning Sterft Ionesco’s play is a key work from ’60’s absurdist theatre that delves into the meaning and purpose of life. King Berenger I gets the news of his timely death: it will be at the end of the performance. Everyone knows about it, but not everyone accepts the fate—is that what they mean with ‘The King is dead, long live the King’? Stadsschouwburg, (Tues 20.30), €10-€27.50 Theatre: Jerk In the mid-’70s, the American serial killer Dean Corll murdered more than 20 boys —with the help of teenagers David Brooks and Wayne Henley. The play is a fictional reconstruction of how Brooks, in prison, uses puppets to reenact the murders as a means to take responsibility for his own part in the atrocities. In English.

Frascati, (Wed 19.30), €14 Dance: Do You Have a Cigarette? And Other Ways to Approach A piece about clubbing, escapism, loneliness and hope, created by Pere Faura. Let’s hope it’ll contain better dancing that what can usually be seen on a 4am dancefloor.

Gasthuis, (Wed 21.00), €10 Performance: Playing Ensemble Again and Again In the new production by Ivana Müller, cofounder of the collective LISA, six performers are placed in an ever-changing setting. Frascati, (Wed 21.00), €14

Saturday 29 November Party: Swing Your Thing No worries about what to wear at this naked, shoes- and men-only, dance party.

Loosen up and swing your thing. Church, 22.0004.00, €12.50 Party: Fresh Rapido’s little bro’ is a dance party for the body beautiful. DJs Max Morel and Pagano. For those who can’t stop shaking their butt, there’s an afterparty at Club Roque, from 04.00-10.00. Hotel Arena, 22.0004.00, €11.50/€15

Sunday 30 November Sex club: S.O.S. Organised by those naughty boys from GALA/Church—who also brought us Ladz and (Z)onderbroek. Well you don’t need much clothing here either as S.O.S. isn’t about that Abba song, but all about Sex on Sundays. Nude or underwear, it doesn’t matter. Anything goes (quite literally). The Eagle, 16.00-20.00, €8

Monday 1 December Benefit: Love Dance Huge, popular and not to be missed annual AIDS benefit party. This year it will be opened by Minister Plasterk. As usual it will be jampacked with acts and DJs, from DJ Lupe to DJ de Nachtzuster, from Jeugd van Tegenwoordig to Sue Moreno and Rose Murphy. Plus tons of musical stars and a special tribute to Vera Springveer—who used to host the night—by Girls Wanna Have Fun. See Short List. Paradiso, 20.30-05.00, €25

Most appropriate party name in Amsterdam? Swing Your Thing deserves a standing ovation.

Ongoing Performance: India Festival—Call Cutta in a Box The Berlin collective Rimini Protokoll specialise in ‘reality theatre’. In this case, that means setting up a live connection with an Indian call centre. It also means that you will check in at reception, receive a key to a hotel room and have an hour-long telephone conversation with an Indian call-centre worker. Lloyd Hotel, (Thur-Sun, hourly between 13.00 and 20.00), €10 Theatre: Ifigeneia in Aulis Timelessness— nobody does it as well as the Ancient Greeks. Set on the brink of the Trojan War, Euripides’ tragedy centres around a war that is justified with dubious arguments. Stadsschouwburg, (Thur, Fri 20.30), €10-€27.50 Music/Theatre: Vrouwtje met grote jas A theatremusic-cabaret merger by Jurre Bussemaker, who presents several persona with the desire to live their lives in a grand way. Which can often be achieved with little things... Theater Bellevue, (Thur-Sat 21.00), €13 Comedy: easyLaughs Comedy improv in English.

Two different shows every Friday night. CREA Muziekzaal, (Fri 20.30, 22.30), €8, €5 (late night) Music/Dance: Monday Match For each edition of Monday Match a dancer chooses a musician as a partner, or vice versa. This duo then come up with an approach for a unique improvisation lab.

Bimhuis, (Mon 20.30), free

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

EVENTS

AGENDA: EVENTS/ART

Must see: Event

Dining: Thanksgiving Day Perfect for Americans stranded away from their families, or those who just love to eat and don’t mind an excuse to be ‘thankful’, this pot luck dinner has become something of an annual tradition, and is good value, too. All that’s asked is you bring your own starter or dessert to share, and also reserve a place in advance so they know how much food to make. (Less keen on cooking?

American-themed restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe are also preparing special Thanksgiving menus.) ABC Treehouse, (Thur 18.00), €20 Discussion: Dizcuzz Everything you wanted to know about music managers, such as how to be one, or how to make sure one doesn’t steal all your takings at the end of a gig. In Dutch. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, (Thur 19.00), free; reserve at info@dizkuzz.nl Lecture: Now is the Time—Art & Theory in the 21st Century The fourth of seven lectures addressing urgent social and art-specific themes and their relation to contemporary art in the new millennium. In this edition, Rick Poynor (UK) and Camiel van Winkel discuss ‘Design’. In English. Oude Lutherse Kerk, (Thur 19.30), €7.50 Book fair: Boekenfestijn Bargain-book hunters will be out in force this weekend, hoping to pick up newish books at a snip of their retail price. It’s filled with all the stock publishers need shot of, so you can pick up almost anything: novels, classics, comics, computing, science, travel, art and much more. Plus, there are huge selections both in Dutch and in English. RAI, (Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00, Sat, Sun 10.00-18.00), free Discussion: Contemporary Art in Iran International professionals from the cultural field in the Middle East and North Africa meet to analyse and discuss cultural topics. This time: photographer and conceptual visual artist Sadegh Tirafkan from Iran. Felix Meritis, (Fri 15.00), free Multidisciplinary: GraphicWarFare Expo A day and night of live painting, beer and music, with artists from all over Europe, beer from the Asterbrouwererij and music from the Chronic Soundz Crew. Villa Freakens, (Sat 14.00-late), €4 Book presentation: Quiet Amsterdam Imagine a quiet Amsterdam. No hustle, no bustle and certainly no tourists. Well, it’s possible. Siobhan Wall presents the silent secrets of the city in her new book Quiet Amsterdam. There’s also a book signing at Waterstones tomorrow (14.00). See Inbox, p.4. Shashin, (Sat 17.00), free Film/Music: I Love Sadza! A cultural fundraising event promising a mix of film and music. Catch previews of short films from Black Soil International HipHop film festival. Then there’s the music from Caspian Hat Dance, Karmakonga, Adam Arthur and a long list of diverse singer-songwriters. Not bad for a fiver. De Balie, (Sat 20.00), €5 Party: 15 years Radio Onda Italiana Forget the November weather and step into the Festa della Radio. Find yourself in something resembling a Fellini movie set, only in Amsterdam-Oost. Expect live Italian music, finger food, theatre acts, wines and the best espresso in town. Oh, and there’s entertainment for all ages across the 12-hour shift. Cruquiusweg 113, (Sun 12.00-00.00), €12.50 Event: L’Usine Sunday afternoon talk show. Guests include film-maker Ramon Gieling, politician Sander Chan, mime artist Jan Langedijk, theatre-maker Laura van Dolron, playwright Oscar van Woensel, writer Jelmer Soes and music from Harmonie Sint Antonius.

Hetveem Theater, (Sun 16.00), free Performance: Chaim Levano Performing Kurt Schwitters' phonetic poem Die Sonate In Urlauten and works

by Austrian Ernst Jandl. Gallery Godá, (Sun 15.00), €5 Film: The One Minutes Awards An evening of spectacular video? Six Tommie awards will be given to the best one minute videos in the following categories: one minute of freedom, small news, looking out the window, book or film retold, city minutes and junior.

Paradiso, (Sun 20.30), €10 Literature: Jean Hatzfeld Talk with the French author, who’s made a name for himself writing about the horrific events in Rwanda. In French. Maison Descartes, (Tues 20.00), €6

Truttenware Party Plantage Doklaan 8-12, Sunday 30 November An alternative to Sinterklaas and Christmas shopping. See www.truttenware.nl.

13.00-18.00, free

ART Opening Katja Mater: Cumulus An agentur presentation where Katja Mater turns the lens of photography on itself by employing technical conventions like exposure, depth of field and colour to investigate her singular subjects. Artis Bibliotheek (Fri, Sat 12.0017.00), opens Thursday, closing Friday Decembergeluk 2 Group exhibition. Galerie Ei (Fri, Sat 12.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 27 December Dreamscape An exhibition where the works of 50 top artists in the fields of surrealism, imaginative and magical realism have been brought together. Spanning 15 different nations, their art can be compared to the work of artists such as Bosch and Dali. Loods 6 (Mon-Fri 13.00-18.00, Sat, Sun 11.00-20.00), opens Saturday, until 7 December Drie Presenting three artists: Jeroen Glas, Joris Kuipers and Marije Vermeulen. All three are exploring ways of expression away from the canvas while maintaining their background in painting. Expect light installations, wall paintings and MRI and CAT scans.

Chiellerie (Sat, Sun 14.00-18.00), opens Saturday, closing Sunday Herman Brood Museum Jan van der Togt, Erven Brood and Brood’s former manager Koos van Dijk have worked together to compile an exhibition of the rocker/artist’s most important works, including some never before seen pieces. It features paintings, drawings, graphics and special items, such as the originals

The annual and usually cutting-edge RijksacademieOPEN is this weekend.

from the children’s book Biggetje Bennie, items of clothing, musical instruments and the cactus given to Brood by Bono. Jan van der Togt Museum (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.00), Amstelveen, opens Saturday, until 25 January 2009 Jacob Backer: Rembrandt’s Opposite The Amsterdam artist Jacob Adriaensz. Backer (1608/9-1651) was one of the most successful painters of the Golden Age. Four hundred years after his birth he is now being honoured with a major retrospective of his finest works. The exhibition makes clear why this virtuoso painter was so highly regarded by his contemporaries: his vivid use of colour and accurate touch gave his paintings an unprecedented allure. Rembrandthuis (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 22 February 2009 Nathalie Lété: Wonderland An installation featuring carpets, illustrations, ceramics and textiles with two or three dimensional elements, all encompassing a fantasy world of birds, flowers, insects and folklore.

Soledad Senlle Gallery (Mon-Sat 11.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 10 January 2009 RijksakademieOPEN Residents of the Rijksacademie face the public and show off their stuff.

This means a diverse range of artworks, connecting with forms such as architecture, theatre, new media, music, dance and books. The two-day event is topped off with group presentations for special projects, performances and discussions. Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Sat, Sun 11.00-19.00), opens Saturday, closing Sunday

Museums 100 Jaar Academie van Bouwkunst Showcasing graduation photos and maquettes from graduation projects over the past 100 years. Zuiderkerk (Mon 11.00-16.00, Tues-Fri 09.00-16.00, Sat 12.00-16.00), closing Friday

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AGENDA: ART

Art of the State Photographs and video works by sixteen artists from Israel. Through their works they reflect upon their country: the community in which they live, the numerous cultural and religious differences among Israel’s population and the current political situation. Joods Historisch Museum (Daily 11.00-17.00), closing Sunday

Art: Opening

Building India An exhibition presenting the architecture and urbanism of contemporary India, as seen through the eyes of five young Indian architects.

ARCAM (Tues-Sat 13.00-17.00), until 24 January 2009 CoBrA 60: Scribblers Daubers Cheaters Sixty years ago the experimental CoBrA artists were described as ‘Scribblers, Daubers, Cheaters’. Nowadays, CoBrA is the most important post-war art movement in the Netherlands. This exhibition pays tribute to the rebellious spirit of this international group of artists in a scintillating tribute, with over 70 superb works from the 1940s and 1950s. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.0017.00), until 25 January 2009

Hendrik Werkman: The Blue Barge Exhibition containing Werkman’s preparatory studies for the suites of prints he made as an act of resistance for The Blue Barge during WWII. The most famous of these is Chassidische Legenden. Joods Historisch Museum (Daily 11.00-17.00), closing Sunday

It’s All Glamour and Glitter Exploring the evolution of the evening bag—from Fendi clutches to Leiber’s sparkly cupcakes. You’ll also be able to marvel at bags by designers such as Cartier, Valentino, Gucci, Lacroix and more. Tassenmuseum Hendrikje (daily 10.0017.00), until 1 March 2009

Drie Meiden in Verzet—Hannie Schaft en de Zusjes Oversteegen Exhibition about Hannie Schaft—’the girl with the red hair’—and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen, the girls she collaborated with in the resistance movement, and the difficult choices forced upon them in WWII. Verzetsmuseum (Tues-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat-Mon 11.00-17.00), until 7 December

Protest! Campaign Posters from 1965 ‘A woman’s right to choose’, ‘Say no to nuclear weapons’, ‘No home, no throne’ and more classic posters paint a picture of prominent societal issues over the past 40 years. Who was protesting and how? And what were the protests about? Verzetsmuseum (Tues-Fri 10.0017.00, Sat-Mon 11.00-17.00), until 29 March 2009

Als Casablanca Photos of Detroit by Marco Bakker, taking inspiration from Christine Otten’s recent novel Als Casablanca. OBA (daily 10.00 22.00), until 7 December Diorama’s van Suriname The Rijksmuseum has acquired five dioramas by the Surinamese artist Gerrit Schouten (1779-1839). These works show painted scenes from daily life in 19th-century Suriname.

Rijksmuseum (daily 09.00-18.00), until 8 December

Vodou A grand exhibition about voodoo on Haiti, featuring more than 250 spectacular objects from one of the most important collections in the country: the Lehmann collection. The exhibition aims to show how these objects and their accompanying rituals are a part of the daily life. Tropenmuseum (daily 10.0017.00), until 10 May 2009

Erik van der Weijde: Siedlung Siedlung, German for ‘settlement’, features 220 black-and-white photos of detached houses. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the National Socialist Party set up a huge construction programme to provide these Seidlung houses for workers who agreed to become party members. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00 -18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 10 December

Stedelijk in de Stad—The Construction Cabin on Tour The Stedelijk’s artistic version of a construction cabin is touring the city from the Oosterdokseiland to the Museumplein, passing via Noord, Centrum, IJburg, Slotervaart, Zuid-Oost, Oost, Westerpark and De Baarsjes. See www.stedelijkindestad.nl. Various locations (various times), until 1 December 2009

NL28 Olympic Fire An exhibition in which scale models, film, debate and theatre help visitors to imagine that the Netherlands is organising the Olympic Games in 2028, a century after the Games in Amsterdam.

Zuiderkerk (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 13 December

Galleries Olie en Onrecht in Nigeria Photography by Kadir van Lohuizen highlighting the injustice, largely created by the oil industry, in Nigeria. OBA (daily 10.00-22.00)

Bollywoodaffiches Classic Bollywood film posters.

Filmmuseum (daily), until 14 December Damien Hirst: For the Love of God It’s Indiana Jones and the diamond-encrusted skull. Or something. With this Amsterdam premiere of Hirst’s latest attentiongrabber, it’s a good time to ponder whether, like Indy, Hirst’s past his best. Still, this is as cutting edge as the Rijksmuseum gets. To accompany the exhibition, he’s also chosen a personal selection from the museum’s collection of 17th-century art. Rijksmuseum (daily 09.00-18.00), until 15 December Palestine 1948 On 14 May 2008 it was exactly 60 years ago that the State of Israel was founded. This long term presentation shows how this event affected the lives of individual Palestinians. Tropenmuseum (daily 10.00 -17.00), until 4 January 2009 Renzo Martens: Episode 3 Tied in with the opening of IDFA, Episode 3 is the name of a film and exhibition that touches upon the construction of a documentary and the film-maker’s role. Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the objectivity of documentaries is explored by Martens, which is also the subject of this accompanying exhibition. Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 4 January 2009 Stefan Zweig, weerbaar tegen fanatisme An international travelling exhibition designed by Austrian artists to help you discover the literary skills and philosophies of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, who committed suicide with his wife in 1942, despairing at the future of war-torn Europe. OBA (daily 10.0022.00), until 5 January 2009 New Leipzig School A younger generation of painters at Leipzig have created their own artistic vocabulary with tremendous craftsmanship which at the moment is driving the world crazy—in a good way. This is the first Dutch exhibition of the new movement, with particular focus on major trend-setters Neo Rauch and Matthias Weischer.

CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00 -17.00), until 11 January 2009 De wereld van Christiaan Andriessen A chance to view a hundred pages from the sketch diaries of Dutch artist Andriessen, originating from 1805 to 1808. Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Tues-Sat 10.0017.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 11 January 2009 Speaking Out Loud A multimedia exhibition dealing with the act of speaking, reading and writing.

Aquil Copier: I Haven’t Sent You Any Air Mail Beautiful painted landscapes (diverse techniques) as seen from the air. 2x2projects (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), closing Saturday Photo by Naoya Hatakeyama

Water in Photography Huis Marseille, opens Saturday 29 November, until 1 March 2009.

Marnix Goossens has been granted the distinguished documentary assignment Document Nederland, portraying the tendency of the Dutch to keep on seeking new relationships with ever-rising water, as well as earthly problems caused by climate change and rising sea levels. As a counterpoint and supplement to this exhibition, a small retrospective of water-related photography from the past has been compiled from the Rijksmuseum’s rich photo collections, offering photographs by Balthasar Burkhard, Naoya Hatakeyama, Roni Horn, Asako Narahashi and Syoin Kajii. (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00)

Includes diverse works by Tim Etchells (UK) and Vlatka Horvat (CRO), Mukul Patel (UK) and Manu Luksch (AT), Christoph Keller (DE), Jaromil (IT) and Jodi (NL), and many more. Montevideo/Time Based Arts (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 17 January 2009 Caspar David Friedrich and the German Romantic Landscape For the first time ever, all the works by Caspar David Friedrich from the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg will be loaned for a special exhibition focusing on this renowned German artist. His paintings and drawings are at the centre of the exhibition, but they are surrounded by works by contemporaries, predecessors and followers.

Hermitage Amsterdam (daily 10.00-17.00), until 18 January 2009 125 Favourites The Rembrandt Association celebrates its 125th anniversary with a five-part exhibition: key purchases from its history; returned Dutch artworks; old (non-Dutch) masters; comparatively modern works (Chagall, Matisse and De Kooning); and acquisitions from the last ten years. Van Gogh Museum (Mon-Thur, Sat, Sun 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.0022.00), until 18 January 2009

Helen Levitt: In the Street A retrospective of work by the renowned American street photographer Helen Levitt, famed for portraying the dynamics of New York street life from 1930 onwards, paying special attention to the innocent and adventurous world of children at play. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.0021.00), until 18 January 2009 Kees Scherer: Photographic Explorations A selection of vintage prints from Scherer’s extensive oeuvre.

As a photojournalist, in the ’50s and ’60s he published numerous reports of his global travels in Dutch newspapers and magazines, belonging to a generation of photographers that opened up photographic reporting to the wider public. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.0018.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 18 January 2009 Viviane Sassen: Flamboya This collection of photos

by Sassen explores the memories of her youth in Africa, and poses questions on the constraints of the photographic medium and the regular Western stereotypes about Africa. It features both old and new work, including the images for which Sassen won the 2007 Prix de Rome. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 18 January 2009

The Earth from above from a Dutch perspective. Last chance to see Aquil Copier’s I Haven’t Sent You Any Air Mail.

Iva Gueorguieva & Matthew McGarvey For the third episode of guest curator project CrossRoads, visual artist Iva Gueorguieva and her husband, sound artist Matthew McGarvey present the installation Echolalia, including large double-sided drawings, small paintings, a video projection and a sound installation.

OUTLINE (Thur-Sat 13.00-17.00), closing Saturday Amsterdam Bevalt! Black-and-white photos of 30 famous native Amsterdammers taken by Maarten Corbijn, AKA Corb!no. Faces include John Kraaijkamp Sr, Patrick Kluivert, Sacha de Boer, Simon Vinkenoog, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Ed van Thijn, Matthijs van Nieuwkerk, Jaap van Zweden, Clairy Polak and Danny de Munk. Melkweg Galerie (Wed-Sun 13.00-20.00), closing Sunday Ontferm U Translated as ‘Have Mercy Upon Us’, this is a multidisciplinary project by Elena Beelaerts in cooperation with Floris Tilanus and Henk Jan Bouwmeester. It deals with the rituals associated with the transportation of works from the artist’s workspace into the public eye. W139 (daily 11.0019.00), closing Sunday Mexicaans Dodenaltaar Expositie A deathly Mexican theme for Día de los Muertos, featuring an altar and paintings by Adelina Reyes and José Guadalupe Posada, and photos by Alejandra Nettel. Kortsluiting (Daily 10.00-22.00), closing Sunday The Art of Pushing Pixels A brief overview of the craft of CGI development, showcasing the work of Dutch and international artists who use computer graphics as a creative tool for artistic expression. ABC Treehouse (Thur-Sun 13.00-18.00), closing Sunday 112 Ambulance Amsterdam—Too close for comfort Between 2004 and 2007, photographer Willem Poelstra caught a few rides in ambulances, resulting in this wounded series. Melkweg Galerie (Wed-Sun 13.00-20.00), closing Sunday Between Dark and White III The third instalment of this series inspired by ‘mental space’. This time Anami Schrijvers takes charge, with support from Erik Olofsen and Erica van Loon. P/////AKT (Thur-Sun 14.00-18.00), closing Sunday

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

Lekker Bezig

AGENDA: LEKKER BEZIG

By Rebecca Wilson

Photo by Joost Benthem

Petra Boers, editor of Duf2, independent and daring bookazine ‘Duf is a 300 page grabbelton for teenagers. It starts where the internet ends, and it’s still wireless. Even teens today like something to leaf through in bed when they shut off the computer. Duf offers a different source of inspiration. It’s a kind of teen bible.

‘After the success and the seven prizes we won with DUF 1, designer Suzanne Hertogs, co-editor-in-chief Nicole Ros and I started on this second edition in 2007. The process was chaotic. We all live in different cities and more than 100 writers, illustrators and photographers worked on this book. It shows how you can make something together through the internet. I must have sent and received 10,000 emails about Duf and there were many nightly chat sessions—we all have day jobs. Sometimes we’d get lost in our own Dufuniverse. I’d proudly show my boyfriend what we’d thought up during the night, and he wouldn’t get much of it.

‘Duf 2 looks as fun and chaotic as its birth process was. Suzanne’s design philosophy and my content philosophy is ‘more is more’. Well... without ads, celebs, bling-bling or must-haves. The content is meant to inspire teenagers in this stage of life where they define themselves and think a lot about who they are and how they relate to politics, religion, ideas and so on. There is this gap between the imagined life in most mainstream teen media—full of celebrity gossip and bullshit ads, and the boring ‘adult’ themes they get at school, like history, art, literature, politics, religion. We try to connect these ‘boring’ subjects—which are off course not boring at all—to their universe. And we write about real life.

‘I know, this all does sound really boring, but the essence of Duf is that we tackle these subjects in a humorous, non-boring way. So we show sixty-nine sexy art works, and write how to get “culturally correct” aroused in an art museum. Something I would have wanted to read as a teenager is for instance this article I wrote on the male and female orgasm including a nice “foldoutcopulationillustration”. Most media offer that ‘how to do it better’-vibe. This article is full of funny, but realistic information.

‘In Duf my interest in art, language and education all come together; it’s the first thing I’ve ever made exactly the way I wanted to, with no compromises to bosses or the market. That’s why I'm really proud of it.’

Website: www.duf.nl

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AGENDA: ART/ADDRESSES

Three is a Nice Couple Installations by three Amsterdam-based artists. De Veemvloer (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00, Sun 15.00-18.00), closing Sunday 3MIX Paintings by Miguel Rivas (Dominican Republic), Sara Nettel (Mexico) and Blanca Torres (Mexico). De Stoker (Fri, Sat 11.00-17.00), closing Wednesday Moderne Mexicaanse Meesters Work by four Mexican artists: Emilio Sánchez Díaz, Alejandra Nettel, Anna Kurtycz and Veronica Elizondo. Galerie Wies Willemsen (Fri-Sun 10.00-18.00), closing Thursday Marjolein Rothman: Our Land Based on official Royal portraits and anthropological photography from the Dutch colonies, Our Land makes visible what escapes the eye: the ambiguous meaning of a history which still haunts the present. Motive Gallery (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 6 December The Mona Lisa Project Showcasing 100 takes on the Mona Lisa by Florentijn Bruning, created with materials such as spray paint and lacquer. GO Gallery (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00, Sun 13.00-17.00), until 6 December David Goldblatt Works by the renowned South African photographer. Galerie Paul Andriesse (TuesFri 11.00-18.00, Sat 14.00-18.00), until 6 December Subodh Kerkar An exhibition of installations, boat sculptures and photographs by the renowned Indian artist, who works with a range of mostly natural materials such as shells, palm leaves and used wooden fishing boats. He then photographs his finished works to create a secondary piece of art.

Canvas International Art (Thur-Sat 14.00-18.00), Amstelveen, until 6 December Europa Neurotisch ‘What do artists think of Europe?’ is the question asked throughout this exhibition.

Following an open call, works created in response were collated and can be seen presenting opinions from across the continent. Petersburg Project Space (Thur-Sat 15.00-18.00), until 6 December Structures Group exhibition that examines the structure of the art world from the perspective of the artist. Souterrain (Thur-Sun 12.00 -17.00), until 7 December Eerbetoon aan Klaas Sans Paying tribute to their departing photography teacher with a series of works by former Fotogram students. Fotogram (Mon-Thur 09.30-21.00, Fri, Sat 09.30-17.00), until 10 December Puking Roses for.../Romance Stills from a dramatic video performance by Marieke Coppens. De Kijkkasten (daily), until 12 December Nina Rave: Wasteland New paintings, inspired by the terrain around her and the development of the Westermoskee. Meneer de Wit (Thur 14.00-21.00, Fri, Sat, Wed 14.00-18.00), until 13 December La Fiesta De Los Muertos Works by Mexican artists Emilio Sánchez Diaz, Alejandra Nettel, Anna Kurtycz and Verónica Elizondo. Galerie Wies Willemsen (FriSun 10.00-18.00), until 14 December Steampunk Time Machine: Futuristic Impressions of the Past Works by a group of renowned and upcoming artists who have taken the world of art, technique and retro-futurism as a source of inspiration. Expect nostalgic reinterpretations of Victorian romance novels, Imperialist adventures and Voyages Extraordinaires. artKitchen (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 14 December

Ies Schute An installation of mixed techniques. Consisting of walls of paper, built up from small creations, the separate drawings, texts and photographs work to form a uniform view. Ververs Gallery (Thur, Fri 13.0017.30, Sat 14.00-17.30), until 19 December Nicky Hoberman: Girls Series Big-headed, large-eyed gals populate the paintings of this English artist, who presents her first solo show in the Netherlands. Galerie Hof & Huyser (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 19 December Nisja Architectural paintings by a young Polish artist.

Radar Gallery (Fri-Sun 13.00-17.00), until 20 December Helgi Thorsson: Garry and Berry Go Ga-Ga Icelandic artist Thorsson presents a solo exhibition of life-sized gnomes (he calls them ‘elvur’), monsters and figurines from a forgotten pop world. Fantastical music, video, drawings and paintings are also on show. Galerie van Gelder (Tues-Sat 13.00-17.30), until 20 December Stephan J Englisch This German artist specialises in night photography, with this aesthetically pleasing series focussing on Amsterdam at night. Galerie Bart (Thur, Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 12.00-17.00), until 20 December Mitsy Groenendijk: Time Is On My Side ‘Monkey see, monkey do’ sculptures. Witzenhausen Gallery (Thur-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 20 December Myra de Vries: Changing Landscapes In this new series of paintings, De Vries combines landscapes and figurative elements from her immediate surroundings with grim fairytale-like fantasy realms. AYACS (Fri, Sat 13.00-17.30), until 20 December Koud Resident artists of De Service Garage, including the likes of Arik Visser, Benjamin Roth, Erik de Bree, Charlott Markus, Daan Hofstede and Frank Ammerlaan, help to celebrate the first anniversary of the space. De Service Garage (Wed-Sun 13.0018.00), until 21 December Bart van Leeuwen Marking forty years of distinctive and atmospheric fashion photography by the Dutch artist (b.1950). Blow Up Gallery (Thur, Fri 14.00-18.00, Sat 13.00-18.00), until 27 December This Side of the Globe Travel photography from the Middle East and Asia by Kurt van Aert. Mezrab (Thur-Sun 15.00-20.30, Fri, Sat 15.00-22.30), until 31 December Kalki, Tokarski and Hildebrandt The first exhibition in the Netherlands of the work of three acclaimed German artists: Michael Kalki, Wawrzyniec Tokarski and Gregor Hildebrandt. Grimm Fine Art (Tues-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 3 January 2009 Up Close & Personal Twenty artists present new works. Walls Gallery (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00), until 9 January 2009 The Touch of Dick Evers Action and body painting.

Aromatique (Fri-Sun 12.30-17.30), until 16 January 2009 Theo de Feyter: Beelden uit Syrië Paintings. Galerie de Rietlanden Exposities (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.00), until 18 January 2009 No Reference Last year, Christophe Coppens was the first winner of the H+F Fashion Award. The Belgian designer received a €20,000 cash prize to realise a special project. This project encompasses an accessories collection, a forthcoming book and this exhibition, all tracking and revealing his unique process of creation. Platform 21 (Thur-Sun 12.00-18.00), until 18 January 2009

There really are many more art listings online at www.amsterdamweekly.nl/art.

Meneer de Wit Postjesweg 2, 616 3680

ADDRESSES

Mezrab 2de Laurierdwarsstraat 50

2x2projects Veemkade 350, 489 7471

Montevideo/Time Based Arts Keizersgracht 264, 623 7101

ABC Treehouse Voetboogstraat 11, 423 0967

Motive Gallery Elandsgracht 10, 330 3668

Amstelkerk Amstelveld 10, 520 0060

Muziekgebouw Piet Heinkade 1, 788 2010

ARCAM Prins Hendrikkade 600, 620 4878

Het Muziektheater Amstel 3, 625 5455

Aromatique Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 11b, 624 0044

De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512

Artis Bibliotheek Plantage Middenlaan 45

OBA Oosterdokskade 143, 0900-2425468

artKitchen Joris van den Berghweg 101, 622 3422

OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 671 7778

AYACS Keizersgracht 166, 622 8579

Odeon Singel 460, 624 9711

De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151

OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913

Beeldend Gesproken Borgerstraat 102, 612 1847

Oude Lutherse Kerk Singel 411, 623 1572

Bimhuis Piet Heinkade 3, 788 2150

OUTLINE Oetewalerstraat 73, 693 1389

Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001

P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53, 06 5427 0879

Blow Up Gallery Hazenstraat 67, 665 3435

Pakhuis de Zwijger Piet Heinkade 179-181, 788 4444

De Cameleon 3e Kostverlorenkade 35, 489 4656

Panama Oostelijke Handelskade 4, 311 8680

Canvas Wibautstraat 150

Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8, 626 4521

Canvas International Art Fokkerlaan 46, Amstelveen, 428 6040

Patronaat Zijlsingel 2, Haarlem, 023 517 5858

Chiellerie Raamgracht 58, 320 9448

Petersburg Project Space Frans de Wollantstraat 84

Church Kerkstraat 50-52

Plantage Doklaan 8-12 Plantage Doklaan

Club 8 Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56B, 685 1703

Platform 21 Prinses Irenestraat 19, 344 9449

CoBrA Museum Sandbergplein 1-3, Amstelveen, 547 5050

Radar Gallery Eerste Rozendwarsstraat 17-H, 06 2416 3300

Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 2-6, 671 8345 Consortium Veemkade 570, 06 2611 8950 CREA Muziekzaal Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400

Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458

RAI Europaplein 22, 549 1212 Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, 520 0400

De Duivel Reguliersdwarstr 87, 626 6184

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Sarphatistraat 470, 527 0300

The English Bookshop Lauriergracht 71, 626 4230

Rijksmuseum Jan Luykenstraat 1, 674 7000

Exit Reguliersdwarsstraat 42, 625 8788

Rouge Amstel 60, 420 9881

Felix Meritis Keizersgracht 324, 626 2321

De Service Garage Stephensonstraat 16

Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400

Shashin Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat 19, 840 1549

Flex Bar Pazzanistraat 1, 486 2123

Skek Zeedijk 4-8, 427 0551

Foam Keizersgracht 609, 551 6546 Fotogram Korte Prinsengracht 33, 624 9994

SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 105-113, 427 5953

Frascati Nes 63, 626 6866

Soledad Senlle Gallery Sloterkade 171, 615 1395

Galerie Bart Bloemgracht 2, 320 6208

Souterrain Messinastraat 38

Galerie de Rietlanden Exposities Rietlandpark 193, 419 4705

Stadsarchief Amsterdam Vijzelstraat 32

Galerie Ei Admiraal de Ruijterweg 154, 616 3961 Galerie Hof & Huyser Bloemgracht 135, 420 1995

Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59, 422 0471

Galerie Paul Andriesse Withoedenveem 8, 623 6237

De Stoker Witte de Withstraat 124, 612 3293

Galerie van Gelder Planciusstraat 9A, 627 7419

Stubnitz Odinakade, NDSM-werf

Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 624 2311

Galerie Wies Willemsen Ruysdaelkade 25, 470 1073

Studio 80 Rembrandtplein 17, 521 8333

Gasthuis Marius van Bouwdijk Bastiaansestraat 54, 683 8494

Studio K Timorplein 62, 692 0422

GO Gallery Prinsengracht 64, 422 9580

Tassenmuseum Hendrikje Herengracht 573, 524 6452

Grimm Fine Art Hazenstraat 24, 422 7227

The Eagle Warmoesstraat 90, 627 8634

Hermitage Amsterdam Nieuwe Herengracht 14, 530 8751

Theater Bellevue Leidsekade 90, 530 5301

Hetveem Theater Van Diemenstraat, 626 9291

Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8200

Hotel Arena ’s-Gravesandestraat 51, 850 2400

Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7, 570 5200

Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401, 531 8989

De Veemvloer Van Diemenstraat 410, 638 6894

Jan van der Togt Museum Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen, 641 5754 Joods Historisch Museum Jonas Daniel Meijerplein 2-4, 531 0310

Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238, 627 0008

Ververs Gallery Hazenstraat 54 Verzetsmuseum Plantage Kerklaan 61, 620 2535 Villa Freakens Landsmeerderdik 151A

De Kijkkasten Sint Nicolaasstraat

W139 Warmoesstraat 139, 622 9434

Kortsluiting 1e Schinkelstraat 16

Walls Gallery Prinsengracht 737

Lloyd Hotel Oostelijke Handelskade 34, 419 1840

Werkgebouw Het Veem Van Diemenstraat 410

Loods 6 KNSM Laan 143, 418 2020

Winston Kingdom Warmoesstraat 129, 623 1380

Maison Descartes Vijzelgracht 2A, 531 9500

Witzenhausen Gallery Hazenstraat 60, 644 9898

Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181

Zaal 100 De Wittenstraat 100, 688 0127

Melkweg Galerie Marnixstraat 409, 531 8181

Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerkhof 72, 552 7987

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

Film review

AGENDA: FILM

By Marie-Claire Melzer

Oorlogswinter Opens Thursday at Het Ketelhuis, Pathé Arena, Pathé de Munt and Pathé Tuschinski.

A WINTER IN WARTIME War and the springtime of youth painted in blue and white. Lots and lots of white.

Martin Koolhoven is one of the few Dutch directors with a truly imaginative visual style. He not only knows how to tell a story by using a strong script and fine actors, but also by exploring the visual possibilities of cinema.

Such visual stylistics brought out the claustrophobia in Het Schnitzelparadijs,

FILM Amsterdam Weekly recommends.

Festivals Amsterdam India Festival The Filmmuseum closes the India Festival by showing, along with other classics, three Bollywood films that used the Netherlands as a location. Dance numbers with a backgroud of tulips grace both Sisila (1981) and Prem rog (1982), while recent romantic comedy Hum tum (2004) gives a glimpse of Vondelpark, Museumplein and even an Albert Heijn. De Balie, Filmmuseum, KIT Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal, The Movies, Rialto IDFA It’s the closing weekend for IDFA, the largest documentary film festival in the world. Catch up on all you’ve been missing, listen to your friends’ suggestions, and most important, avoid crappy docs (and the trams in front of the Tuschinski). For complete schedule see www.idfa.nl. Filmmuseum, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Joris Ivens, 110 jaar This week, the celebration for the Netherlands’ most acclaimed documentarist continues at Filmmuseum, focusing on his work from the ’60s, which includes such titles as Industriële architectuur: steden, havens (1963), Vietnam: oorlog/voortbestaan (1967) and China: de Culturele Revolutie (1976). Filmmuseum

New this week Cargo 200 How the hell Aleksei Balabanov manages to get away with such a bleak, damning portrait of contemporary Russia while giving Putin the finger, without receiving a polonium enema is a mystery to me. His Putin-esque depraved, impotent police officer has to investigate the murder he committed and the kidnapping of a girl he shackled to a filthy radiator, while her fiancé returns in a body bag from Afghanistan as the titular Cargo 200. It might be a potent, well-made

in which a large restaurant and its employees were a metaphor for a harsh society, where many are forever doomed to stay the underdog. And it was horrorlike in Het Zuiden, a film about a thirty-ish woman who wrestles with the amputation of her breast due to cancer.

There Koolhoven cleverly made the

metaphor for the last spasms of the Communist regime, but it’s a thoroughly dark and depressing film to say the least. In Russian with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 89 min. Filmmuseum Entre Les Murs François Marin (François Bégaudeau) is a French teacher in a Parisian high school. At the beginning we see him as he approaches both old and new colleagues as the school year starts, but from that moment on, we’ll only see him inside the classroom, facing the everyday problems of being a teacher in a multicultural environment. This year’s Palme d’Or winner from Laurent Cantet is a clever adaptation of the autobiographical book by François Bégaudeau, who basically plays himself in the movie, thus giving it a documentary touch. In French with Dutch subtitles. 128 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Rialto Oorlogswinter War. Winter. White snow. See review above. 103 min. Het Ketelhuis, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski The Women Diane English, the creator of Murphy Brown, gathers a ‘who’s who’ cast with high female star wattage for a sappy, contemporary remake of George Cukor’s 1939 classic. More fodder for those ‘girls’ night out’ at the movies that apparently work out pretty well at the box office. 114 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Still playing Aanrijding in Moscou A recent hit from Belgium at the last Cannes Film Festival, this Flemish romantic comedy (sounds strange, eh?) is set in the proletarian suburb of Ghent called Moscou (Moscow). Matty (Barbara Sarafian) is somewhat unhappily married to Werner (Johan Heldenbergh), and they have three children. One day she bumps, literally, into truck driver Johnny (Jurgen Delnaet), and she has to start making choices which might affect the other members of her family. A funny, poignant debut by director Christophe van Rompaey, based on a script by Pat van Beirs and Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem. 102 min. Het Ketelhuis And When Did You Last See Your Father Successful forty-something author Blake Morrison (Colin Firth) looks back on his relationship with his well-intentioned but selfishly boisterous and overbearing dad (Jim Broadbent) in the last months of his father’s life. Covering four decades, the story traverses the hero worshipping of a

implicit theme of horror—the obsession with the human body and its mortality— utterly explicit.

For Oorlogswinter, a war/adventure film based on a novel by Jan Terlouw, Koolhoven chooses to use the motif of snow. All kinds of snow, as Koolhoven explained in a television interview: ‘real snow, but also plastic and digital’. Partly, this is motivated by realism, because the winter of 1945 was historically a very cold, snowy period. But he takes it so far—there is snow in almost every shot— that you can’t help but search for symbolic meanings. One of which could be that it illustrates the cold and lonely process of growing up, which is precisely what the main character, Michiel (a great performance by Martijn Lakemeier), is going through. After all, the film is also a coming-of-age drama.

It’s 1945 and Michiel is a 14-year-old boy in a small town in the Netherlands.

The Germans still occupy the country, and his biggest hero is his Uncle Ben (Yorick van Wageningen), who is a member of the Resistance. In contrast, he lacks any respect for his father (portrayed in a moving performance by Raymond Thiry), the mayor of the town, who chooses not to take sides in the war.

Michiel longs to be like his uncle and can’t wait to join in the activities of the Resistance, but they consider him too young. Then, by chance, he gets the opportunity to help a wounded RAF pilot (Jamie Campbell Bower). This results in

little boy, the resentment and embarrassment of a teenager and the adult son’s acceptance of his dad as a person with as many strengths as annoying faults. And When Did You Last See Your Father is elegant and heart warming, but it leaves the raw pain of loss untouched.

Directed by Anand Tucker. 92 min. Cinecenter

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex Uli Edel vividly por-

trays the development of the most radical and aggressive left-wing movement in post-war West Germany: the Red Army Faction (RAF). Unfortunately, Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are just too likeable to be taken very seriously as bloodthirsty terrorists.

Although the film paints a realistic picture of what it was like to be young and anti-establishment in the ’70s— music and all—it fails to answer questions that arise naturally. What was the ideology of the RAF? Why is it that violence seems to become an end in itself? And why, after the arrest of the initial leaders, is the second generation even more aggressive than the first? Still, the devastation caused by desperation within and the decline of the RAF is all there, in explicit and sweeping action scenes. In German with Dutch subtitles. (KE) 150 min. Cinecenter, Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé De Munt

Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis A smash box office hit in

France, this effervescent comedy is about prejudices and the differences between the north and south of France. To help his depressed wife, post office manager Philippe Abrams (Kad Merad) tries to cheat his way into a transfer to the Côte d’Azur, but when he’s discovered, he’s relegated to the dreaded Nord-Pas-de-Calais region with its freezing cold weather and inhabitants who speak the ‘Ch’timi’ dialect. But lo and behold, Abrams actually likes the North, and befriends locals, especially postman Antoine (Dany Boon, who also co-wrote and directed the film). Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis loses parts of its fun for non-francophone audiences, but there’s still enough left to enjoy this gentle and hilarious story. In French and Ch’timi with Dutch subtitles. (GR) 106 min. Studio K Blindness A mysterious disease spreads through the population of the Earth, causing blindness in an alarming rate. While the government hastily quarantines the affected in makeshift camps, one woman (Julianne Moore) retains her vision and sticks by her husband and a group of victims. The worst aspects of humanity surface while the circumstances worsen in the camps in what could have been an inspired mix of art house

It’s an intriguing concept, but apparently some things are better left unseen. That’s Blindness for you.

17

dashing action scenes, such as a spectacular chase with horses, as well as moments of human reflection. The boy learns that living in the world of adults isn’t always nice, that people are not always what they pretend to be, and that sometimes you have to deal with betrayal and lies.

The fine script, written by Koolhoven, Paul Jan Nelissen and Mieke de Jong, also covers another aspect of growing up: the fact that the older you get, the better you understand your parents. As the drama unfolds, Michiel learns to see his father in a different light. In fact, he realises that he can even be considered a hero in his own right. By redefining heroism, Oorlogswinter fits in a tradition of Dutch war films questioning strict boundaries between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It started with Paul Verhoeven’s 1977 classic Soldaat van Oranje, which dared to give all characters, whether collaborator, victim, resistance fighter or silent majority, a bit of good and bad.

Though the rest was shot almost entirely in shades of blue and white, the final scenes, showing the celebrations of the Liberation, burst to life in full vivid colour. Yet again, the art direction perfectly illustrates the alienation of Michiel: amidst the cheerful, flag-waving crowds, he’s undoubtedly a more mature, but still very lonesome figure. The final verdict?

Koolhaven has made a quality adventure war drama that should appeal to all age groups. ___

and post-apocalyptic horror, but besides an engaging second act and the fabulous Mrs. Moore, the film lacks an engaging narrative structure due to its slavish devotion to the award-winning book it’s based on. (LvH) 90 min. Cinecenter, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Rialto Body Of Lies Just another spy flick about the already outdated War On Terror, this time courtesy of Ridley Scott. CIA-spook Leonardo DiCaprio uncovers an evildoing scheme in Jordan and tries to keep the world safe from evildoers with the help of his chunky boss/family man, played by Russell Crowe. It stands to reason why Carice van Houten had her part cut from the film: DiCaprio’s character would seem impotent, nuts, or queer as a show pony to rather spend his days hanging out with sweaty guys with beards, than to stay home for some old fashioned marital bliss with our Carice. (LvH) 128 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Boy A Adapted from a novel by Jonathan Trigell, this wrenching drama fictionalises the notorious 1993 murder of toddler James Bulger by a couple of tenyear-old truants in Merseyside, England, and the public outcry over the killers’ release in 2001. A rehabilitated murderer (Andrew Garfield), trembling with hope, is given a new identity and quietly paroled, but his heartfelt desire to start over is immediately threatened by the British tabloids, whose screaming headlines demand to know where the monster is hiding. The movie is taut with suspense but culminates in wise resignation as the hero comes to understand he’s running from a part of himself. (JJ) 100 min. The Movies, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Bride Flight To escape personal drama and the suffocating environment of post-WWII Netherlands, three young families decide to emigrate to New Zealand. The husbands leave first to look for work and accomodation, and their brides meet on a fateful 1953 trip from London to Christchurch. Directed by Ben Sombogaart from a script by Marieke van der Pol, with Karina Smulders, Anna Drijver and Elise Schaap as the three young women, and a special appearance by Rutger Hauer. 130 min.

The Movies, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski, Studio K The Bucket List Jack Nicholson is a billionaire Scrooge with terminal cancer, sharing a room in his own hospital with auto mechanic and family man Morgan Freeman. Class barriers vanish as the two become best friends. Atrocious Hollywood claptrap. (JR) 97 min.

Pathé ArenA

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Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AGENDA: FILM

ing by Tony Leung and debutante Tang Wei, beautiful cinematography and incredible sex scenes can’t compensate for the clunky flashback structure, plodding narrative and absurd length. Could someone get Mr Lee a new editor, please? (LvH) 156 min. Pathé Tuschinski

Special screenings Carmen Meets Borat Director Mercedes Stalenhof follows the life of 17-year-old Carmen, who lives in Glod, a gypsy village in Romania, and dreams of escaping to a better life in Spain. But one day, an American film crew, led by a dubious British comedian sporting a moustache, arrives in her village and exploits its inhabitants in every possible way. After Borat gets worldwide success, villagers decide to sue Hollywood and the town falls into chaos. But what is left of Carmen’s dreams of a better life away from Glod? There’s so much in this documentary and not everything works, but still, most parts are irresistible.

(MB) 85 min. Rialto Chappaqua The title of this 1966 piece of curiosa might sound esoteric already, but it’s just the name of the town in Upstate New York from where the protagonist, Russell Harwick, comes from. Russell is played

by Conrad Rooks (who also hails from Chappaqua, and wrote, directed and produced here), and the film is pretty much a reconstruction of Rooks’ travel to Europe to receive drug treatments, hallucinating bits and all. Since apparently Rooks’ dad was pretty loaded, the film showcases some top talent from the Sixties, including a score featuring Ravi Shankar, Philip Glass and Ornette Coleman, and cameos from Jean-Louis Barrault, William S Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In English. (MB) 82 min. Filmmuseum

Cidade de Deus This 2002 drama is set in the 1960s and ’70s in a lawless slum of Rio de Janeiro, where feral youths eagerly matriculate into bloodthirsty street gangs. Directors Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles note the seductiveness of violence (one new recruit insists that no innocents be killed but almost immediately violates his own edict) and the cyclical nature of poverty (once all the major combatants have been murdered, a new gang of kids stands poised to take over), but I have a hard time believing that the film’s criticial popularity reflects anything but its nonstop action and astonishing body count. In Portuguese with Dutch subtitles. (JJ) 130 min. Kriterion Crumb Terry Zwigoff’s disturbing 1994 essay about

underground comic artist Robert Crumb, best known for Fritz the Cat and Mr Natural as well as his ‘Keep On Truckin’ drawings. Made over a six-year period, the film’s intimate, multifaceted portrait is exceptional in many respects, presenting Crumb not as a cartoonist but as an artist, plausibly described by critic Robert Hughes as ‘the Brueghel of the second half of the 20th

Burn After Reading The latest offering of the Coen

brothers is many things at once: it’s a spy film spoof, a comedy of errors, a great metaphor for the paranoia brought about by the war on terror and a clever deconstruction of narrative film-making itself. But it’s the stellar cast including Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Frances McDormand, who all get to behave like knuckleheaded dumbasses, pompous nerds and slick sleazeballs, that will probably draw the bulk of the crowd, and rightfully so. If you don’t mind being subjected to a little cinematic horseplay by those rascally Coens, you’re in for a treat. (LvH) 96 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski, Studio K Caos calmo Pietro (Nanni Moretti), while enjoying a day out at the beach with his brother Carlo (Alessandro Gassman), saves a woman from drowning. When they head home, he finds out his wife has died unexpectedly. His grief takes him from his TV executive desk to a bench, where he sits every morning waiting for his ten-year-old daughter to finish classes. Life circles around him, and Pietro starts observing all the little bits of action happening in the square, trying to find a new meaning to his existence. Look out for a cameo by Roman Polanski. Based on the award-winning novel by Sandro Veronesi. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (MB) 105 min. Cinema Amstelveen

Cloud 9 This German entry at the latest Cannes Film Festival presents the classic love triangle we’ve seen so often in other films, only this time we get to see old folks get down and dirty. Dressmaker Inge (Ursula Werner) has been married with Werner (Horst Rehberg) for more than 30 years. However, she falls for Karl (Horst Westphal), a 76-year-old customer. It’s a very touching and realistic portrayal of love and sex, that can apparently take you to ‘Cloud Nine’, no matter the age. It can also make a good double-header companion with recent documentary release Young@Heart. In German with Dutch subtitles. 98 min. De Uitkijk The Darjeeling Limited A year after their father’s funeral, brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) meet aboard a train for a journey of spiritual healing. The fact that

Mamma Roma Anna Magnani is at her most vol-

canic, hyperbolic, and magnificent as a Roman prostitute trying to go straight and provide a respectable middle-class existence for her teenage son in this feature by Pier Paolo Pasolini, set in the slums of Rome. Pasolini turned mainly to period films and allegories in his subsequent movies, but the ultimate rejection of the bourgeois and petit bourgeois world is as total in the subproletarian milieu of this film as it would be in his later work. Not to be missed. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (JR) 110 min. Het Ketelhuis Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum Is it right to make fun of the ongoing restoration problems of the Rijksmuseum? This humorous documentary by Oeke Hoogendijk, which has just been screened at IDFA, takes us behind the close gates of the construction site, and introduces us to an extremely interesting gallery of characters who now grace the corridors of the Rijksmuseum, including architects, concierges, politicians and demonstrators. 110 min. Het Ketelhuis

Must see:

Cidade de Deus Kriterion, Monday, 22.00

century’, and exploring in considerable depth Crumb’s dysfunctional family background, sexual obsessions, working methods and political positions. Zwigoff not only presents a complex human being and the range of his art but also guides us through a profound and unsettling consideration of what it means to be an American artist. (JR) 119 min. De Nieuwe Anita Danger: Diabolik Based on the notorious Italian comic strip, Diabolik chronicles the adventures of the morally questionable superhero (played by John Philip Law) and his sexy friend Eva Kant (Marisa Mell). Mario Bava’s 1968 film has now reached cult level, not only among the director’s many passionate fans. Score by Ennio Morricone and supporting roles by Michel Piccoli as Inspector Ginko and Adolfo Celi as Ralph Valmont give the flick extra kudos in Cult Corner credibility. In Italian with English subtitles. 105 min. Cavia Hell Squad In order to rescue the son of a diplomat who has been kidnapped by terrorists, a group of Las Vegas showgirls undergo commando training and organize a rescue operation. The Dirty Dozen meets Showgirls in this messy, straight-to-video flick from

they have not spoken to each other in a year doesn’t prevent them from getting straight into the family’s old dynamics, which involve manic tics, substance abuse and sexual escapades. But soon both the emotional and the physical baggage starts to fall away. Wes Anderson’s delicious comedy is a rich plate for filmgoers, entertaining and poignant, just as it should be.

(MB) 108 min. Kriterion Het Echte Leven Martin (Ramsey Nasr) is a young film-maker, ready to start shooting his new film, starring his girlfriend Simone (Sallie Harmsen). But when the male protagonist bails out of the project, Martin is forced to cast crew member Dirk (Loek Peters), who has no previous acting experience, as Simone’s love interest. Het Echte Leven, the opening picture at the Nederlands Film Festival, is the fourth feature film by Robert Jan Westdijk (Zusje, Phileine zegt sorry). Cinema Amstelveen How To Lose Friends and Alienate People British everyman Simon Pegg plays Sidney Young, a cocksure London satirist who is inexplicably offered a job on New York’s fashion-defining Sharps magazine.

Determined to forge a career on his own terms, he soon realises that integrity plays second fiddle in the world of American celebrities. Kirsten Dunst plays the colleague he eventually clicks with, and Megan Fox plays, err... a babe (what else?). Based on the real-life memoir of Brit-hack Toby Young. 110 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Il y a longtemps que je t’aime Kristin Scott Thomas is a talent who cannot be used often enough. Her characters are usually hard-as-nails socialites, who fanatically guard their real emotions with cynicism and acerbic wit. In Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I loved you for so long), she has never been more brittle, or so tough. Her Juliette has just been released after 15 years in prison for a crime that seems beyond comprehension. Still, Juliette has refused to defend her actions, even to her younger sister Léa (Elsa Zylberstein), who desperately wants to understand. A strong, composed debut by novelist Philippe Claudel.

In French with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 115 min. Het Ketelhuis, De Uitkijk

1987, also known as Commando Girls and Commando Squad. But the question remains: do the showgirls really go ‘commando’? 87 min. Cavia L’ amore Two justly celebrated short features by the great Roberto Rossellini, The Human Voice and The Miracle, both starring Anna Magnani, were combined into this 1948 feature, devoted, according to Rossellini, to earthly love and the beginning of divine love respectively. The first is an innovative adaptation of a one-act play by Jean Cocteau with only one onscreen character, recorded in direct sound; the second is a controversial tale (co-scripted by Federico Fellini) about the seduction of a naive shepherdess by a man she believes is Saint Joseph. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (JR) 78 min. Het Ketelhuis Lust, Caution Ang Lee’s latest has been compared to Zwartboek, but it’s actually more akin to the first time you visit a new girlfriend’s parents. Everybody is on their best behaviour, the pleasantries seem to go on forever, you’re forced to watch an endless amount of vacation slides, and it’s only partly made up for by the screwing. Or, to ditch this forced metaphor: solid act-

Into

the Wild Moving, if somewhat overlong, account of the life of Christopher McCandless, with a bravura performance from Emile Hirsch. At the age of 22, McCandless left his wealthy, dysfunctional family, gave his college cash to Oxfam and took off into the breathtaking beauty of the American wilderness. What starts as a run-of-the-mill road movie twists into an American Odyssey as, after two years away from it all, McCandless meets an untimely death in the wilds of Alaska. The usual Characters Met Along the Way include Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and Hal Holbrook. McCandless won’t stick with any of them, and gradually begins to unravel in his determined solitude.

The film becomes a meditation on the human need for human company, framed against some of the most glorious scenery the world has to offer. A triumph for Sean Penn as a director, backed by a custom soundtrack from Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. (AD) 140 min. Kriterion Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Great, more animated talking animals and goofy antics! While the sequel to Madagascar is unlikely to change this cynical perspective, it’s not all bad. While the animation itself is not as dazzling as your average Pixar flick and the overall feel of the film is quite bland, the voice cast (including the last performance by the late Bernie Mac) is quite good, even though Sascha Baron Cohen as the Lemur King is becoming grating. While there’s not much to recommend besides the hilarious penguins, there’s not too much to fault here either. Like porridge or macaroni and cheese, kids will dig it. (LvH) 89 min. Cinema Amstelveen, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski The Mourning Forest This 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase won the Grand Prix of Jury at the Cannes Film Festival last year. A nurse (Machiko Ono), grieving for the death of her young son, grows close to an elderly man (Shigeki Uda), one of her patients who suffers from dementia, and who takes her on a mystical quest into the forest in the mountainous region west of Nara. In Japanese with Dutch subtitles. 97 min. Filmmuseum My Best Friend’s Girl Dustin (Jason Biggs) asks his roommate and pal Tank (Dane Cook) for his services,

Forget spaghetti westerns, Italian horror is where it’s at. Catch Operazione Paura at Cavia.

Operazione Paura One of the great overlooked horror films, this low-budget 1966 chiller by Italian director Mario Bava (known internationally as Kill Baby... Kill!) stars Giacomo Rossi Stuart as a handsome young doctor who arrives in a remote village to perform an autopsy and discovers that a little girl, trampled to death during a village festival years earlier, has returned in ghostly form and persuaded various townspeople to bleed themselves to death.

Bava, son of a pioneering Italian cinematographer, made a bet that he could shoot the film in 12 days, and even on that tight schedule he manages to conjure up some pretty unnerving images. A must-see. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (JJ) 83 min. Cavia Ravi Shankar: Between Two Worlds Ravi Shankar is probably better known for his long friendship with late Beatle George Harrison, but there’s so much more he accomplished as a musician and ambassador of Indian music worldwide. This documentary by Mark Kidel sets the record straight, starting from Shankar’s childhood as the son of a travelling diplomat who first got onstage at the tender age of nine, to the current activities of the Ravi Shankar Foundation. 89 min. Filmmuseum

5 word movie review

It Was Him Not Yoko Ravi Shankar: Between Two Worlds Filmmuseum

which consist of giving women the worst date of their life, so that they reconsider and take their former lovers back. But, of course, things go differently with Dustin’s ex-girlfriend, Alexis (Kate Hudson). Formulaic Hollywood romantic comedy from Howard Deutch, who directed one of the seminal films of the ’80s, Pretty in Pink. Boy, that was a long time ago. 103 min.

Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Nights in Rodanthe A doctor (Richard Gere) estranged from his grown son and an innkeeper (Diane Lane) reeling from a failed marriage enjoy a weekend of passion, but can they find lasting happiness? This romantic stinker, based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook), is one of those films in which every plot development becomes a life lesson and every gesture is weighted with significance.

The tragedy in the last act is so clumsily handled you can almost hear the air hissing out of the story.

George C Wolfe supplied the innocuous direction, and the groaner of a screenplay is by Ann Peacock and John Romano. (JK) 97 min. Pathé De Munt El Olvido New documentary by director Heddy Honigmann (The Underground Orchestra, Forever) focuses on old waiters and bartenders working in Peru, telling

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

stories from their lives and their country. We all know bartenders know a lot of jokes, but they are also masters in the art of surviving with style, dignity and poetry in a world which is out of control. Honigmann makes them talk about the gigantic inflation in Peru, the fall of the middle class, the corruption, the violence of Shining Path and that of the local Army. You’ll definitely feel like having a cocktail afterwards. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. 92 min. Rialto, De Uitkijk One Night in One City This multiple award-winning Czech dark animation feature brings to life a surreal universe reminding of the best work of visionary stopmotion pioneers such as Jan Svankmajer and the brothers Quay. Combining poetic fantasies and humor, sorrow and nostalgia, Jon Balej’s mini-stories are about loneliness, secret dreams, friendship, and finding one’s place in this world. 76 min. SMART Cinema

Quantum of Solace The second instalment of the

rebooted Bond franchise is chock-full of action, stunts and wanton destruction of elaborately designed luxurious sets. The ubiquitous product placement is somewhat negated by said wholesale destruction of it, and while the narrative is nothing to write home about, it moves the film along quite nicely. The selling point of the film is Daniel Craig in his incredible portrayal of James Bond and the understated, yet crucial connection with M, played by Dame Dench. It might be a blockbuster for the masses, but it was made by master film craftsmen with wit, style and intelligence. (LvH) 106 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Radeloos Paco (Marius Gottlieb) has to cope with the death of his father. Yara (Marloes van der Wel) wants to go to art school, but her mother (Renée Soutendijk) pushes for her to become a model and starve herself.

The two try and look for comfort in each other. Adapted from Carry Slee’s novel by director Dave Schram and screenwriter Maria Peters, Radeloos brings a faithful portrait of troubled adolescents to the screen. 110 min.

Cinema Amstelveen, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Rocknrolla Guy Ritchie probably thinks of himself as the British Quentin Tarantino. His latest is simply another revisit of the gangster picture genre, filled with somewhat sharp dialogue, funky characters and unbridled violence. One Two (300’s Gerard Butler) is a London scam artist learning the ropes from shark Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). The underworld gallery around them is populated with all kinds of colourful peeps providing, if not plot, at least overacting and expensive costume design. The best is crooked accountant Stella (Thandie Newton at her sexiest), the rest is rather forgettable, even if not as bad as Mr Ritchie’s most recent oeuvre. I know you’re all waiting for a Madge joke, but I am not going to give you one. (MB) 114 min. Pathé De Munt Le Silence de Lorna Lorna is a young Albanian woman who just moved to Lieges. In order for her to obtain the EU citizenship, local criminal Fabio makes her marry Claudy, a junkie. Lorna’s dream is to open a bar along with her boyfrend Sokol, but in order to free herself from Fabio, she must get rid of fake husband Claudy and use her ‘European’ status to pass on her Belgian citizenship to a Russian mafioso. The Dardenne brothers move away from their minimalistic, 16mm handheld-style, with this grim contemporary drama that won them a well-deserved Best Screenplay award in Cannes this year. MB) 105 min. Rialto

Sita Sings the Blues Nina Paley’s animated film won the award of Best Feature at the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival and was the opening film at the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival. A sort of autobiographical tale inspired by the director’s real life break-up with her husband, her reading of The Ramayana, the famous epic Hindu poem about the doomed love of King Rama and Sita, and a mix of old jazz songs and cartoons. It’s a highly entertaining film.

82 min. SMART Cinema Stranded This documentary looks at one of the most astonishing survival tales of all time. On 13 October,

Web tip:

Bert & Ernie tries Gangsta-Rap http://nl.youtube.com/wat ch?v=21OH0wlkfbc

1972, a rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, boarded a plane for a match in Chile, which crashed on the way.

Sixteen of the 45 passengers resurfaced, after surviving for 72 days on a remote Andean glacier. Thirty-five years later, the survivors returned to the crash site to recount their harrowing story. Previously documented in the 1973 worldwide bestseller Alive (and the 1993 movie of the same name), this shocking true story receives the definitive cinematic treatment, crafted with riveting detail by documentary film-maker Gonzalo Arijon, and featuring a masterful combination of on-location interviews, archival footage and reenactments. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. 130 min. Kriterion Vox Populi The latest film from Eddy Terstall (Simon) deals with an ambitious and flamboyant leftwing politician in a midlife crisis, Jos Fransen (Tom Jansen). Some weeks before the election, his daughter, young actress Zoë (Tara Elders) becomes involved with the simple and straightforward military policeman Sjef (Johnny de Mol).

Not only is Tom whole-heartedly welcomed by his daughter’s new in-laws, he also becomes influenced by their outspoken ideas on immigrants and demagogic political views. Due to Fransen’s refusal to take a position in these matters he is losing votes, so he realizes that uttering the opinions of the common man could be a guarantee to political success. A satire on the current Dutch political scene. 100 min. Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion W Oliver Stone strives for Greek tragedy, but his take on Dubya’s life story and his first term owes more to Freudian psychoanalysis than to Sophocles. According to Stone’s overly sympathetic account, George W became president and invaded Iraq because of his troubled relationship with his daddy. While the fragmented narrative and the “psychobabble” don’t do the film any favors, the outstanding performances by the cast are a sight to behold. Josh Brolin’s performance in the title role, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell manage to save the film from the dustbin its subject is destined for. (LvH) 131 min. Kriterion Waltz With Bashir The opening film of the Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht, Waltz With Bashir follows in the steps of Persepolis with its use of animation to deal with adult, political and contemporary themes—in this case the 1982 Lebanon war. Director Ari Folman attempts to share his personal experience of the war by interviewing friends and witnesses, whom he turns into animated figures, thus creating a visual hybrid of documentary and fiction. In Hebrew and German with Dutch subtitles. 90 min. The Movies, Rialto Young This documentary by British director Stephen Walker about a Massachusetts rock choir where the choristers’ average age is 81 could easily have become tacky and sappy, but instead Young@Heart is surprisingly humane and upbeat. Songs such as Should I Stay or Should I Go, Forever Young and Fix You take on new meaning when sung by people on the brink of death.

The choristers’ humour, lust for life and determination are infectious, and the standing ovations at each show well deserved. Perhaps it’s not so bad, being old. (KE) 109 min. Rialto

La Zona A Mexican gated community is entered by three petty thieves trying to stage a robbery. Two are killed by the locals, while the third gets trapped inside La Zona and can’t escape. Moral and logistical dilemmas hit the community, as they try to cover up the events from the State Police to keep their status quo. Amazing feature film debut by Mexican film-maker Rodrigo Pla, definitely a name to watch. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. (MB) 97 min. Studio K Edited by Massimo Benvegnù. This week's films reviewed by Jennifer Lyon Bell (JLB), Massimo Benvegnù (MB), Angela Dress (AD), Kate Eaton (KE), Andrea Gronvall (AG), Luuk van Huët (LvH), JR Jones (JJ), Joshua Katzman (JK), Dave Kehr (DK), Steven McCarron (SM), Mike Peek (MP), Gusta Reijnders (GR), Jonathan Rosenbaum (JR) and Bregtje Schudel (BS). All films are screened in English with Dutch subtitles unless otherwise noted.

AGENDA: FILM

FILM TIMES Thursday 27 November until Wednesday 3 December. Times are provided by cinemas and are subject to last-minute changes.

De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Amsterdam India Festival .

Cavia Van Hallstraat 52-I, 681 1419 Danger: Diabolik Thur 20.30 Hell Squad Sun 20.30 Operazione Paura Fri 20.30.

Cinecenter Lijnbaansgracht 236, 623 6615 And When Did You Last See Your Father Sun 11.15, 13.45 Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex Thur, Sun-Wed 16.00, 19.45, Fri, Sat 15.15, 18.30, 21.45 Blindness daily 16.15, 19.15, 22.00, Sun also 11.00, 13.30 Burn After Reading daily 16.00, 19.15, 21.45, Sun also 13.30 Entre Les Murs daily 15.45, 18.45, 21.45, Sun also 11.15.

Cinema Amstelveen Plein 1960 2, Amstelveen, 547 5175 Caos calmo Sun 15.45, Tues, Wed 20.30 Het Echte Leven Thur, Fri, Sat 20.30 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Sat 13.30, Sun 13.45 Radeloos Sat, Wed 15.30, Sun 15.45 Sinterklaas en het Geheim van het Grote Boek Sat, Wed 11.30.

Filmhuis Griffioen Uilenstede 106, Amstelveen, 444 5100 Lady Chatterley Thur, Fri, Tues 19.30.

Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 Alice in Wonderland Tues 19.00 Amsterdam India Festival Cargo 200 daily 19.30, 21.30 Chappaqua Mon 19.00 Charly Thur 19.00 Concert For Bangladesh Fri 19.00 De Avonturen van het Molletje Sun, Wed 13.45 Hoppet Sun, Wed 14.00 Hum Tum Fri, Wed 21.15, Sun 16.00 IDFA Joris Ivens, 110 jaar Thur-Wed 17.00 Makdee: The Web of the Witch Sat 16.00 Monterey Pop Sat 19.00 The Mourning Forest Thur, Sat 17.15, Fri 16.45, Mon, Wed 17.00 The Party Wed 19.00 Pather Panchali Sat, 14.30, Mon, Wed 17.10 Prem Rog Sat, Tues 21.15 Ravi Shankar: Between Two Worlds Sun 19.00.

Het Ketelhuis Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 Aanrijding in Moscou See www.ketelhuis.nl Fietsmug & Dansmug See www.ketelhuis.nl Fuel See www.ketelhuis.nl The Fugitive Kind See www.ketelhuis.nl Il Gattopardo See www.ketelhuis.nl Il y a longtemps que je t'aime See www.ketelhuis.nl Het kleine spookje Laban See www.ketelhuis.nl L' amore See www.ketelhuis.nl Mamma Roma See www.ketelhuis.nl Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum See www.ketelhuis.nl Oorlogswinter See www.ketelhuis.nl Ver van familie See www.ketelhuis.nl Vox Populi See www.ketelhuis.nl.

KIT Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8500 Amsterdam India Festival .

Kriterion Roetersstraat 170, 623 1708 Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sat, Sun, Wed 15.15, Sun also 13.15 Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex Thur-Mon, Wed 18.00, 21.00, Tues 18.00 Cidade de Deus Mon 22.00 The Darjeeling Limited daily 17.00, Sat also 0.00 Fietsmug & Dansmug Sat, Sun, Wed 13.30 Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask Sun 15.00 Into the Wild daily 21.45 Het kleine spookje Laban Sat, Wed 15.00 Sneak Preview Tues 22.15 Stranded daily 17.45 Vox Populi daily 20.00, Thur, Fri, Sun, Tues, Wed 22.00 W daily 19.15 Wall-E (NL) Sat, Sun, Wed 14.45, Sun also 12.45.

Melkweg Cinema Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 624 1777 Control Wed 19.00 The Oxford Murders Thur-Sat, Mon 19.00.

The Movies Haarlemmerdijk 159-165, 638 6016 Amsterdam India Festival Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sat, Sun, Wed 14.45 Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex daily 16.30 Boy A daily 19.30, 21.30, Sun 12.30 Bride Flight daily 19.15, 21.45, Sat, Sun, Wed 14.30, Sun also 12.00 Burn After Reading daily 17.00, 20.00, 22.00 Entre Les Murs daily 16.45, 19.15, 21.45, Sat, Sun, Wed 14.15, Sun also 11.45 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Sat, Sun, Wed 15.00, Sun also 13.00 Waltz With Bashir daily 17.15.

De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512 Crumb Mon 20.30.

Pathé ArenA ArenA Boulevard 600, 0900 1458 Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sat, Sun, Wed 12.40, 15.10, 17.15, Sat, Sun also 10.20, Fri 12.15, 14.30 Avanak Kuzenler daily 19.20, Sat also 0.20 Blindness daily 21.50, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 16.30, Thur, Mon, Tues also 13.40 Body Of Lies daily 12.20, 15.20, 18.15, 21.00, Sat also 23.45 The Bucket List Tues 13.30 Burn After Reading daily 22.10 Dostana daily 11.50, 14.50, 17.50, 20.50, Sat also 23.50 How To Lose Friends and Alienate People Thur-Mon, Wed 17.20, Tues also 15.50, 18.15, Sat also 23.30 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa daily 13.20, 15.30, 17.40, 19.50,

The name is Bond. Blames Bond. Yes, dames get all vengence obsessed in Quantum of Solace.

19

22.00, Sat, Sun also 11.10 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (NL) daily 13.15, 15.20, Fri-Sun, Wed also 12.10, 14.15, 16.20, 18.20, Sat, Sun also 10.00, 11.10, Sun also 12.00, Sat also 0.10 My Best Friend's Girl daily 17.30 Oorlogswinter daily 13.30, 15.50, 18.20, 20.45, Sat-Wed also 11.00, Sat also 23.10 The Ottoman Republic daily 12.30, 14.45, 17.10, 19.40, Sat 0.30 Pride & Glory daily 20.10, Sat also 23.00 Quantum of Solace daily 15.25, 17.00, 18.00, 19.10, 19.30, 20.40, 21.40, 22.00, Thur-Sat, Mon-Wed also 14.20, Thur-Mon, Wed also 20.20, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 12.00, 13.00, Thur, Mon, Tues also 12.30, 14.10, 15.00, 16.40, 17.30, Mon, Tues also 11.45, Sat also 22.50, 23.30 Radeloos Sat, Sun, Wed 14.40 Sinterklaas en het Geheim van het Grote Boek Fri-Sun, Wed 14.10, 16.40, Thur, Fri, Wed also 11.45, Sat, Sun also 10.00 Sneak Preview Tues 21.30 Wall-E (NL) Sat, Sun, Wed 12.10, Sat, Sun also 9.50 The Women daily 13.50, 16.20, 18.50, 21.30, Sat, Sun also 11.20, Sat also 0.00 Yuvvraaj 21.

Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sat 10.20, 12.40, Sun 11.30, Wed 12.00, 14.15 Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex Sun, Mon-Wed 16.30, 20.00, Mon, Tues 13.10, Thur, Fri 20.30, Sat 20.15 Blindness Mon-Wed 12.45, 15.30, 18.15, Sun 17.15 Body Of Lies Mon-Wed 12.10, 15.10, 18.10, 21.10, Thur, Fri 12.00, 21.30, Sat 13.00, 22.15, Sun 17.30, 20.30 Boy A Thur, Fri 18.10, Sat 17.40, Sun 18.40 Bride Flight Mon-Wed 12.20, 15.20, 18.20, 21.20, Thur, Fri 15.00, 18.15, Sat 10.15, 16.15, 19.15, Sun 17.45, 20.50 Burn After Reading Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.30, 22.00, Thur, Fri, Sun-Tues also 17.00, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.00, Thur, Mon, Tues also 14.30, Sat 18.30, 21.00, 23.40 Cachorro Wed 21.00 How To Lose Friends and Alienate People Mon-Wed 14.00, 19.15, Thur, Fri 12.45, 15.30, Sat 15.00, 23.35, Sun 13.45, 21.50 IDFA Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 12.15, 14.45, 17.15, 19.45, Thur, Mon, Wed also 22.15, Mon-Wed also 13.00, 15.45, 18.30, 21.00, Sat, Tues also 17.00, Sat 12.00, 14.30, 19.30, Sun 10.45, 13.15, 15.45, 19.15, 19.45, 22.15 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (NL) Sat, Wed 12.30, Sat also 10.15, 14.50, Sun 10.20, 12.00, 12.45, 14.45, Wed 15.15 My Best Friend's Girl Mon-Wed 16.45, 17.30, Sat 11.00, 19.00 Nights in Rodanthe Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 14.40, Mon-Wed also 12.00, 17.30, 20.15, Sat 16.30, Sun 15.00, 21.20 Oorlogswinter Sat, Mon-Wed 13.15, 16.00, 18.45, Mon-Wed also 21.30, Thur, Fri also 13.00, 15.45, 18.30, Sat also 10.20, Sun also 11.45, 14.30, 18.15, 21.00 Pride & Glory Sat 22.45 Quantum of Solace daily 18.00, 20.45, Thur-Tues 15.15, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 21.15, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.30, 13.30, 16.15, Thur, Fri, Mon also 19.00, 21.45, Sat, Sun, Tues also 21.30, Fri, Sat also 22.00, Sat also 12.15, 17.15, 20.00, 23.30, Sun also 18.45, 20.15, Tue Radeloos Mon-Wed 21.50, Sun 19.00 Rocknrolla Mon-Wed 21.50, Sun 19.00 Sinterklaas en het Geheim van het Grote Boek Fri 14.20, Sat 10.15, 12.50, 15.40, Sun 11.15, 14.00, Wed 13.45, 16.40 Sneak Preview Tues 21.45 The Women Mon-Wed 17.45, 20.30, Thur, Fri 12.10, 20.15, Sat 13.45, 21.45, Sun 12.15, 18.30, 21.15, Mon, Tues also 12.20, 15.00.

Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458 Alles is liefde Wed 19.00 Boy A Mon-Wed 12.15, 18.15, 20.45 Bride Flight Mon-Wed 12.00, 15.15, 21.30, Mon, Tues also 18.30 Burn After Reading Mon-Wed 13.30, 16.15, 19.00, 21.45 IDFA Lust, Caution Tues 13.30 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Mon-Wed 13.00, 18.45, Tues, Wed also 16.00, Mon, Tues also 21.15, Wed also 21.45 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (NL) Wed 12.30, 15.30 Mamma Mia! The Movie Mon-Wed 14.45 Oorlogswinter Mon-Wed 12.15, 14.45, 18.15, 20.45 Quantum of Solace Mon-Wed 18.15, Tues, Wed also 21.00, Mon also 12.30, 15.00 Queen Mon 21.00 Sagan Mon 15.20.

Rialto Ceintuurbaan 338, 676 8700 Amsterdam India Festival Blindness Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 22.00, Sat 16.45, Sun 12.30 Carmen Meets Borat Sat 16.00 Entre Les Murs daily 19.00, 21.30, Sat, Sun also 13.15, Sun, Wed also 16.00 El Olvido Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 20.00, Fri, Sun, Wed 15.15, Sat 14.45, 19.15 Rotterdam Film Course Fri 10.00 Le Silence de Lorna Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 17.15, 21.45, Sat 20.45 Waltz With Bashir Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.45, Sat 13.00, 18.45, Fri-Sun, Wed 15.00 Young@Heart Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 17.45, Sat 12.30.

SMART Cinema Eerste Constantijn Huijgensstraat 20 One Night in One City Sun 22.00, Tues, Wed 22.00 Planet B-Boy Thur 22.30, Fri-Sun 20.00 Sita Sings the Blues Thur, Sun, Tues, Wed 20.15, Fri, Sat 22.30 White Lies Black Sheep Thur, Mon, Tues, Wed 22.00 Wild Combination - A portrait of Arthur Russell Thur, Mon 20.00, Fri, Sat 22.00, Sun-Wed 22.15.

Studio K Timorplein 62, 692 0422 Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sat, Sun 15.15 Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis daily 22.15 Bride Flight Fri-Wed 17.00, Sat, Sun, Tues, Wed also 19.45 Burn After Reading daily 20.00, 22.00 Het kleine spookje Laban Sat, Sun 13.15 Wall-E (NL) Sat, Sun 13.00, 15.00, Wed 15.00 La Zona daily 17.15.

De Uitkijk Prinsengracht 452, 623 7460 Anubis en het pad der 7 zonden Sun 13.15, Wed 15.15 Cloud 9 daily 17.00 Il y a longtemps que je t'aime Thur-Mon, Wed 19.00 El Olvido Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 21.15 Wall-E (NL) Sat, Sun 15.15.

20

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

AGENDA: FOOD&DRINK The Mouth

By Nanci Tangeman

Giving the menu the bird De Witte Uyl Frans Halsstraat 26, 670 0458 Tues-Sat 18.00-01.00 Cash, PIN, credit cards I’m never sure whether I want to watch a bird or eat it. I can gaze at an azure magpie outside my office window for hours (especially when I’m on deadline). And I don’t snicker like a 14-year-old boy when someone tells me he just saw a couple of great tits. It’s also true that on my computer is a list of almost every bird that’s passed in front of my binoculars.

But sometimes that list of birds starts looking more like a menu: sagegrouse, ring-necked pheasant, wild turkey. And it makes me feel just a little bit guilty (and hungry).

So, during a very busy month when I haven’t taken the time to watch the wild fowl, Partner-inall-things-avian and I decide to go out and eat some.

De Witte Uyl (The White Owl) has been one of my favourite Amsterdam restaurants for a decade, long before I became a twitcher. Owners Annemieke den Uijl (who’s not afraid to discuss her Marlies Dekkers undergarments) and Nick White, along with head chef Han Schuiten, cook exclusively with organic meat, and, as much as possible, organic vegetables.

The candlelit restaurant, elegantly decorated with 1920s furniture and big vases of dark sunflowers and a flock of (sculpted) owls, manages to be intimate yet comfortable for a garrulous party of five like ours. It also offers a dozen dishes, plus dessert.

There’s no differentiation between starters and mains. You choose two dishes in any order, and a dessert, for a set price (€39.50).

I head straight for the birds on the menu. I start with boned quail (probably Coturnix coturnix, according to my bird guidebook) on wok-fried peas in a pot, with haricots verts. The vegetables are fresh and crunchy, and the garlic and ginger lend a slight Asian flavour.

For my second course I opt for the duck special (probably a domestic Muscovy) served with a tinge of remorse.

My friends stick to sea and land.

The scallops are plump, served on small pancakes with samphire (sea parsley) and puréed pumpkin and basil. The ravioli is homemade with powdered hazelnuts, which gives it an earthy flavour. Annemieke warns us that the lamb steak has a strong cumin taste.

Two friends try it anyway: one would have preferred less cumin, but both clean their plates.

We choose red and white wine to match the collection of courses: Bodega Senorio de Cruces Albarino 2007 (€25) and Spice Route Pinotage 2006 (€35).

No birds for dessert, but I do get the chance to try to ID some rare Professor Grunschnabel ice cream flavours. With no guidebook to help me I guess incorrectly, but enjoy them anyway. The hazelnut mousse is a hit with our crowd, as is the mountain of chocolate (three species—white, milk and dark) that accompanies the coffee and tea.

The night’s culinary journey has been a bit of a guilt trip, but I’m motivated to dust off my binoculars and head to the forest in the morning. Who knows? I just may work up an appetite. __

The vegetables are fresh and crunchy and the garlic and ginger lend a slight Asian flavour.

A night in the life...

Ye will, ye will, ye won’t come back Tig Barra Overtoom 31 Open: No longer ‘You want a Tig story? I met my wife in here. How’s that for a story?’ Eoin has a slight slur in his speech and a triumphant ring in his voice. ‘We were sitting at the bar, Des was verbally abusing her, and now we’re married.’

True, maybe Eoin’s is the most straightforwardly romantic story, but with this Irish bar on Overtoom shutting up shop last weekend, it’s just one of the million other classic tales to rear their ugly heads in remembrance. The special Tig romance shines through in all of them.

There’s the one of Conor lining up ketchup sachets on the bike path in front of the terrace, hoping that passing cyclists would run over and spurt themselves. It didn’t work. In the end he got so upset that he took all the sachets onto the terrace and jumped on them until they burst. Then Maria stormed out, and eventually made him write an apology letter, which was pinned up behind the bar for at least a year.

Another one is the night when Tino and Gav were dangling from the balcony and poking their pool cues into other people’s pint glasses downstairs—only to be thrown out by Ruan and spend the rest of the night trying to get in again, wearing different disguises. It didn’t work.

Or how about the supposedly quiet Sunday night, when Dave and Steve and the new guy Showbiz played that very basic drinking game which involves throwing a cigarette packet over a glass in the right way, and they secretly poured him triples instead of

By Sarah Gehrke singles, and in the end he was running around the pub doing things that shouldn’t be printed. But let’s just say it was here that his nickname shortened to ‘Show’.

Another one occurred after closing hours, when the place was broken into, and just when the police arrived Shari, Paul and Jules, and actually pretty much the entire staff, plus a few regulars, happened to be walking by on their way from Bourbon Street to Craig’s place for after-hours drinks.

Craig was that little fella with his denim combination, though that of course couldn’t outshine JoJo’s purple velvet blazer plus leopard print shirt. He became a little bitter after being promoted from barman to ‘entertainment manager’ but everyone still loved him.

Shame he couldn’t come to Matt’s goodbye do, where there were DJs and Rosa initiated the Babyfreeze breakdancing competition, which led to everyone rolling around on the floor and ending up covered in grey dust.

But hey, better than being covered in mayonnaise, which also happened on quite a few nights, due to mainly football- and Vodka Bath-related fights. Rolling around on the floor happened on several occasions, for example by Alex after someone had bought him a Turbo Shandy with a shot of vodka and a white wine in it, or by Mikey after Andrew made him drink that special birthday drink.

And now the Tig is dead. Where did it all go wrong? Maybe it started when they took down that cheesy sign that said ‘Ye will, ye will, ye will come back’. Or is it because no one ever paid for Jason’s breakfast which miraculously appeared on so many tabs?

We will never know. But many people and many stories will have to find a new home now. Preferably one that has mayonnaise in little sachets. ___

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

S E RV I C E S

21

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22

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

S E RV I C E S

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Daytime and evening appointments possible.For app or HOLISTIC NUTRITION consultation call 0621468317 Health & nutrition counseling for those who want to lose weight, balance moods, deal HEALTH with food addictions or just FREE CLASSIFIEDSReach learn to eat healthier. Pri45,000 active, cosmopolitan- vate consults, group workminded Amsterdammers shops and health food store every week through Weekly tours. Contact Lisa for a free Classifieds. Ads are free, one-hour consultation at space permitting, and go both www.beindependentlyin print and online. For healthy.com details, visit www.amster- NEW ERA CHILDREN The damweekly.nl/classifieds. children that are born now possess a new conscience NEWYEAR-NEWBEGINNINGLife Coaching is about and very special abilities.How bridging the gap between to give them the correct eduyour dreams and your life. cation?How to open their Start living the life you real- unborn talents?How to avoid ly want! 2009 can be the start- the external attacks that coving point to your successful er their unique individualiand happy life! You can buy ty? OPEN PRESENTATION:Wed 26th Info:06 present-vouchers for the ones 31209886 www.universyneryou love or get a free introgyarts.co.uk ductory session. Call me now QUANTUM TOUCH Effec06 3821 7647 tive energy healing for injurys BELLASAN.COMFor health , back pain , emotional balsupplements and natural ance etc .Please call Chandialternative remedies come ka for more infomation 06 and visit us at bellasan.com 18847280 Cleanse your system and lose weight naturally with the best 123 LEANBODY PROGRAM Chlorella algae from Japan, -a healthy way of losing see a difference in your skin, weight! The right combinanails, hair and energy levels, tion of food, exercising and 100% natural product. supplements!Personal training, healthy menu plan and www.bellasan.com detoxication customized just PILATES LESSONS I am a for you! It takes courage and certified pilates instructor and determination to start loswill travel to you to for a 1 hour ing weight.This can be your lesson. Lessons include exernew beginning!We can help cises to strengthen the core, lengthen and tone legs and you.So try it out! 0612475646 arms, and improve posture.

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PSYCHIC CONSULTANT Stop walking around in circles. The difficulties that you are experiencing are in real-

Amsterdam Weekly_27 November-3 December 2008

S E RV I C E S

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WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS ity your life’s lessons. Learn how to take positive advantage out of them! Interested? Learn more at www.martin-van-der-velde.nl

first lesson is free! I’m a professional American saxophonist that has taught music at several international schools. I love teaching and can explain music in a fun way that makes sense to the student. English only. For more info go to johndikeman.com or call 0614221682

ous reactions only please!

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THIEVING MAGPIE BOOKSTORE‘I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book.’ - Groucho Marx The Thieving Magpie Bookstore 1e Bloemdwarsstraat 15 PIANO LESSONSPianostu- www.thievingmagpie.nl dio Groenburgwal offers pro- PHOTO PROJECT: NAMES fessional piano teaching in For an art project we are lookthe center. Openings are day- ing for men with these names: time for adults and after- Eduard, Richard, Anton, Gerschool for children. All lev- ard and Theodor. Picture takels and backgrounds wel- en in the street in Jordaan come. Husband and wife team Sat. 29th of november, takes with 10+ years expat expe- only 1 hr. For details: laurience. Lessons available in rence@aegerter.nl. Pictures or call 020 420 8146. english and dutch. on show in Amsterdam gallery ENGLISH&TURKISH Are l.willems@scarlet.nl this January. www.lauyou a complete beginner, BANDMATES WANTED! - renceaegerter.com quite fluent or somewhere rockstonescissors- (Indiin between? Whatever you electro) is looking for bandGROUPS want to do in life, learning mates: drummer&bass and another language is a superb PRESIDENT OBAMA!Join maybe synthplayer! myschallenge.I am a freelance pace.com/rockstonescissors the best party in town at language teacher who works or sternshower@web.de all www.DemocratsAbroad.nl with individuals, groups and easy going, just give me a the 51st state of the Democompanies. hawanurpins@ shout and we meet for a jam! cratic Party, with monthly hotmail.com DemsFun Drinks and more.

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EXCELLENT DUTCHGroup lessons in Amsterdam&Randstad-PROFICIENCY in conversation with solid base of pronunciation,grammar & spelling–Beginner:every Fri., 19:00- 21.00, start 03-10-08/ 12,00 p.h,small groups. Also private: 16p.h,private intensive and on-line, 06-36122870, 250. www.amsterdamwrit- www.excellentdutch.nl ers.com. 06.2720.1858 DUTCH COURSES New BLOW YOUR MIND! Award evening courses starting in Winning Amsterdam based Nov., centre of A’dam (close glass blower will teach you to Heineken Brewery). 200the art of glassblowing, Flame- 250 for 20 hrs. Visit www.merworking, or bead making. cuurtaal.nl or call 693 4250.

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Find what you are looking for: www.amsterdamweekly.nl

MUSIC

SAXOPHONE LESSONS Master graduated at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with wide experience in teaching, gives saxophone lessons.

Beginners, intermediate and advance levels. Different styles and a lot of fun! Spoken language can be Eng, Dutch, French, Italian. First lesson no charge! 06 27526558 saxlesson@yahoo.com

THE ARTS

ART CLASSESSmall friendly group in relaxed atmosphere, a refreshing alternative to adult education.

Workshop place is 120m2 Reachable with public transportation, tram 9-10-3-7-bus 22 To book or for more info: classical etc. Improve your call the workshop 06 sound and learn more about 24402866 your instument. VocalACTRESSES/ACTORS/PERcoach@live.com FORMERS Wanted for LEARN DRUMS FAST! underground/ experimental Drum lessons with a profes- film projects. Contact: Flysional player.Teaching and ing Sheep Productions 06 389 Performing experience; Dif- 802 54. ferent Styles. All levels,all PHOTOGRAPHY Fasion, ages.First lesson half music, portrait, check price.Fast learning guaranwww.andresphotography.com teed Contact : 0650433880 contact me for info and rates OPERA TICKETS Die Fled- to andresinbox@gmail.com ermaus. Two tickets for sale.

3D GRAPHIC ARTISTlookExcellent seats. 71 euros ing in Amsterdam for 3d each. De Nederlandse Opera, graphic animation artists to Het Musiektheater: Decemexchange tips, advices and ber 4, 2008 at 19:30: Row 5, suggestions.We are professeats 26, 28 (side by side sional user of Maya and we seats). Phone 070 2010241 would like to work with oth(Den Haag) er people on animation proLEARN SAXOPHONE... jects and create a group of flute or clarinet from a pro; artists involved in the graph-

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Come on board of JCI Airlines and discover our four destinations to ‘be Better’. For more info: www.jciai.nl/flyingJCIAirlines

VOLUNTEERS VIDEO EDITORS NEEDED Jimmy Alter is looking for music minded people who would like to go to pop/alternative gigs and make video items. Do you have a DV cam and editing software? We can arrange free concerttickets and clearance for ya! Take a look on our items: http:// www. jimmyalter.nl/media SMART PROJECT SPACE urgently seeks volunteers to assist the Cinema team and to help organise projects, events and exhibitions. Interested? Then send your CV to info@smartprojectspace.net VOLUNTEER IN PERÚ Espaanglisch offers inexpensive language classes using native English speakers to the poorest economic areas of Trujillo and Chimbote, Peru. This programisaimedatgivingthose previously unable to afford language classes a chance to learn a new language.www.espaanglisch.com for details.

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