A perfect white wedding - an “how to” guide for the ultimate marriage experience

Ever wondered how to arrange a “perfect white wedding”, without a wedding planner, without all the glossy magazines that only create that fake “arranged” feeling? I might be able to give you a couple of clues, as I just returned from one of the most amazing weddings I’ve ever experienced

Obviously, you need “true love” to start off with. I know, this is 2006, for some people “true love” may sound kind of corny (”hey, when’s the divorce party”) but let’s just say it makes a basic difference.

Next: a perfect location (the lush green hills/woods, lakes and marina’s of Luxembourg, Europe, did the trick overhere), an original hobby (the bride is a deep-sea diver) and a couple of diving buddies (100 will do) that are so close they will almost make you cry, - mixed with a number of super-cute children from several previous marriages: how’s that for starters?

Finally: ‘downsize’ the whole experience: arrange eg for a whole campsite instead of an hotel to accommodate all guests (they actually instructed us to bring our campers or even tents and it was so much fun: we stayed it the middle of nowhere and felt like 18y olds again!) -

“Big” is often not beautiful at all when it comes to weddings.

Obviously, being original is easier when the bride is a passionate diver, it was even more easier as the diving-club scripted the whole experience.

OK, enjoy the shots I took last weekend:

Just be the perfect bride to start off with - - - - And find yourself a hardworking man who loves you

Invite some real divers (yes, even these “older ladies” will dive 30m/90 feet deep in pitch-dark rivers)

Find the smallest chapel in the country, it’s fun! - - - Exit while divers in wetsuits shower you with rice

Party untill you drop, but make sure you get in that diving suit next morning

[All shots taken on location in Luxembourg - best wishes, dear Françoise]

Dutch gas station robbed at gunpoint by transvestite on high heels: “oh babe, hit me with your best shot”

A local gas-station in Tilburg was robbed by a huge transvestite last Monday, while a few miles away the largest funfair in town celebrated its “Gay Monday”: http://www.gaybelgium.be/content/EEVFAupZkprHYLshEP.shtml (in Dutch)

(pics courtesy of www.rozemaandag.nl)

Above: some of the more innocent transvestites at the Tilburg Gay Funfair 2006

The criminal transvestite bought a packet of cigarettes but suddenly started making “threatening, trusting movements” (sure..) “with a sharp object” towards the stunned 25 yo male employee :-). The high-heeled cross-dresser finally made a jump for the cash and ran off at high speed (he must have been a real athlete, at 36°C/100°F on high heels, in a very tight dress)

Police failed to get even the most basic description from the gas-station clerk: “He/She was big, pink and looked like the 1.000 other transvestites now walking down the streets”. One drag-queen means fun, 1.000 is considered to be an emergency, especially when they start hitting on gas-stations
Watch the Dutch transvestites in an overheated, packed gay funfair in downtown Tilburg, Holland: (courtesy BD-TV):

VIDEO: http://ed.noterik.com/adserver/edtv_player.php?asset_id=16859&ph=BD (please note: the depicted transvestites in this video were obviously not involved in the gasstation robbery. Some Queens have some pride left.)

[Windows Mediaplayer direct VIDEO link: http://ed.noterik.com/adserver/playlist.php?newsasset=16859&commercialasset=0&closerid=16493&bitrate=mid ]I’m off to my diving appointment - cu later, enjoy your summer.

Summer Break 2006

The next few days I’ll be busy working with my diving instructor, as I intend to go on
a diving vacation to the Red Sea in Egypt next fall. Obviously, I need to prepare.

I intend to go diving in Sharm El sheikh, Red Sea, Egypt next fall: (I know, it looks fabulous ;-))

However, I must succeed in my open-water training, otherwise Egypt will turn into a boring week by the pool.

First stop: www.nemo33.com in Brussels:

I Know, it looks daunting: 33m deep (100 feet)

Next stop: the less clinical waters of the “Oosterschelde”, for open-water training - I hate it, but I have to go.

[Photo: members of my divingschool in Switzerland, June 2006. Die-hard divers :-)]

I’ll be back posting at this very spot asap (probably early August) - thank you for checking this blog on a regular basis.

Have a nice summer,

Peter, Antwerp

I’ll have a vibrator, a dildo and some lingerie: sex for sale in front of Antwerp City Hall

On sale during “downtown rock” in front of Antwerp City Hall last night: the content of almost a complete adult store

[my shot showing a mobile dildo and vibrator sales stand, in front of Antwerp City Hall, July 24, 2006]

Meanwhile, an overheated crowd (36°C/99°F) just went on “rocking” while ignoring all the vibrators and assorted sex-toys on sale:

Anyway, I had a great time (even without the vibrators on sale and even managed to get myself a wholesome fruit cocktail - not all Belgians are drinking beer like water

[Thank you for respecting my original photo's on this Blog. Thank you for linking to the entire blog articles]

Approved: US “Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act” - will it make any difference to stop sex-offenders?

After the White House (including the Texas warlord with no conscience) applauded the approval of the Act last Thursday, [ http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060721-1.html], many Europeans strongly doubted the impact of putting the names of 560,000 US convicted sex-offenders online.

“A cheap smokescreen”, a local child-protection worker labeled this US law: “Put a list of all sex-offenders online so your children are now assumingly 100% safe from the 560,000 convicted but released US criminals who committed these disgusting crimes”.

As if the next not-yet-convicted offender is already on that list - this US law only creates an unjustified sense of fake security.
It may be just as useless listing your neighbour, who’s son is playing with one of the millions of unsecured US handguns that kill more American minors yearly than all sex-offenders in US history.

Or to put this item back on track, fact: “The majority of all abused US children are being abused within their own family, by someone they know or who is a relative. That ’someone’ will seldom show up early in the ‘convicted’ listings”.

First point: 1 out of 500 US citizens is a convicted sex-offender? (….) This data is way too vague to be useful.
In case they’re correct: what on earth went this awfully wrong in the US? European figures are way lower.

Second point: will you sell your house and just move knowing that a convicted sex offender lives nearby? Will it mater? How will the neighbours react: beat up all 560,000 sex-offenders when nobody’s watching? If sex-offenders are released, they should not pose any danger - if they do, releasing them is almost as criminal as their acts.

Belgium has had its fair share of psychopaths who molested and even killed minors - would putting their names online have made any real difference? Should’t the money be better spent on psychiatric treatment of these sick people, instead of turning them over to the local lynch gang?

Most serious sex-offenders have a deeply rooted personality disorder and some should be on medication or receive psychiatric counselling.

Releasing them while putting their names online is the response of a US government that pretends to care, but prefers to go for a real cheap and basically fake “solution” to an over-hyped issue that simply wins them votes. Votes from a US population faced with staggering local crime figures. The US are at war, but the battleground is called “America” and non of the perpetrators or victims are “terrorists”.

Reference: The European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children, “Childfocus”, http://www.childfocus.be/en/index.php?language=en , a Belgian foundation.

Become a Master in Applied Ethics - the cynical demise of yet another word

Just take a look:

Quote from http://www.kuleuven.be/maae/page.php?LAN=E&FILE=subject&ID=354&PAGE=4

—-Masters of Applied Ethics Programme 2006-2007

Objectives:
The purpose of the programme is to provide mature students who have already completed a university degree (either a 4-year Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree) the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the method and content of ethical reflection. Both scientific and professional endeavours increasingly confront persons with ethical challenges and the need to address ethical issues in a competent, informed, and consequent manner. Ethical intuitions are no longer sufficient in themselves.

Recognizing that ethics itself is a discipline that exhibits its own, specific characteristics, and developing an appreciation and ability for ethical thinking and speaking requires adequate guidance.

Through this programme, students will be expected to achieve a thorough understanding of an ethical vocabulary and the discipline of ethics, its principal foundations, and its most frequently used methods of reasoning, assessment and problem solving, all of which will enable students to think about their respective areas of study or discipline and their professional involvements in a critical manner. Students will come to understand, follow, and participate in contemporary ethical discussions and research.

The programme accomplishes three goals: (1) an initiation to the discipline of ethics; (2) a thorough understanding of how ethics functions in different cultural and/or situational settings; (3) an application of this understanding to a specific field of ethical reflection, culminating in the ability to do individual research work in this field.

The degree is terminal in character and is intended to function as a complementary study to supplement what each participant has chosen as his or her principal area of study, research, or professional work. It is not intended to function (and cannot function) as a preliminary step towards a doctorate at the KU Leuven.

—

OK, now let’s get real: no-matter what you are or believe in, irrelevant to what you majored in, apparently the University of Leuven (near Brussels) believes that just by paying a large amount of tuition fee, one can become a real-life “Master in Applied Ethics”. Dream on, KU Leuven - this is an expensive time-waster. General theoretical ethics are a stuffy subject for those who stay behind the closed gates of a university setting, their real-life value is way below the the price of the course’s printed material. It’s a Catholic university, why not advise them to read the Bible nightly?

Anyway, it’s always nice to see that loads of cash can make someone a “Master in Applied Ethics” (note the “applied :-))

See also http://www.ethics.be/ethics/index.php?LAN=E

Some well-paid US managers visibly took their “applied ethics” tuition elsewhere:

[read Enron's "code of ethics": http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/packageart/enron/enron.pdf ]

“Wooden shoes”: how Holland’s “sex and drugs” liberal image turned into a rigid, over-regulated society

While enjoying the crafsmanship that had gone into the production of this masterpiece I found in an old but arrogant “barn-turned-into-an-overpriced-marina-café-restaurant” last weekend near my favourite Dutch divingspot

[my shot left: rare Wooden Shoes, July 22, 2006, Wemeldinge, Holland]
I just could’n resist taking a look at the equaly unusual display of goods that basically show how confused Holland really is when it comes to “values” and “rules”:

[streetshots, Goes, Holland]
Soft-drugs are OK and sold all over Holland, while a simple pub has countless “85 db” noise/security warning signs, and huge rules listings that made me say “no, thank you, I prefer having a drink in Antwerp”: no drug shops, but a laid back approach to “real life”.

In spite of their so-called liberal culture, life is being scripted in Holland, by an over zealous government that likes to hold everyone’s hand from the cradle to the grave.

No thank you, I prefer the more Latin approach of Antwerp, Belgium

8 yo Dutch death jumpers: “having fun” while diving in front of incoming motor yachts

Due to the ongoing heatwave (+30°C/90°F for over one month) I decided the drive the 100 km/60 miles to the Dutch seashore. I spent a great 3-day weekend with friends from two diving-schools, enjoying the local marina’s and often quaint ports dating back to the 15th century.

However, we were shocked to see 8/9 yo jumpers in the port of Veere, Holland [ http://www.veere.nl/index.php?simaction=content&mediumid=1&pagid=258&fontsize=12&stukid=532 ], risking their lives by jumping of the historic main entry to the marine. It’s a 10m (30 feet) drop, while avoiding huge motor-driven yachts apparently being the main challenge.

It can be a lethal game, being shown on these shots I took yesterday - the boy jumping made a narrow escape:

[right: my shot shows the boy almost hitting the speeding motor-yacht in Veere, Holland]

“This is my fucking life, not a dress rehearsal”, the sanitised face of prostitution in Antwerp

“This is my fucking life, not a dress rehearsal”, a huge, sweaty drag-queen angrily shouted at me while crossing the nearby square that links the old Town part of Antwerp City with the sanitised prostitution district. At 35°C/95°F, a friendly chat was not an option.

I know, I should have taken a real action shot with my cell-phone cam, but I’m sure that you can respect my choice not to be hit with a brick-handbag or sprayed with maze.. The drag-queen/prostitute who inadvertently crossed my path showed some resemblance to the ones that show up every Saturday at www.redandblue.be - the local Gay Dance-Club that insisted on becoming my neighbour.

[shots left: courtesy of www.redandblue.be - right: my shot of the square in front of the Antwerp red light district]

Cleaning up a sleazy part of town is never an endeavor to be taken lightly. The prostitutes near the historic part of Antwerp saw their livelihood in danger, but obviously lacked the money or power to resist the city council (”"Get’em Out by Friday“) that used all of its muscle to turn the Antwerp sex-industry into a booming but sanitised, well contained tourist attraction. If you care for historic facts: run http://www.sosschipperskwartier.be/ or http://www.rossebuurt-toffebuurt.com through http://babelfish.altavista.com/ (Dutch to English will do just fine).

In the end, the building promoters won the game across the board: the sanitised, remaining part of the Antwerp Red Light District boasts identical, almost sterile cubicles for “sex workers” in esthetically pleasing aluminium, supervised by a medical team.

VILLA TINTO was build by developer De Coninck. Photographs of Villa Tinto real life operations can be found here

[photos: Antwerps's legal prostitution district: Villa Tinto mega-brothel]

The remaining part of the neighbourhood is being transformed into an upscale residential loft-area, being close to the outrageously expensive Antwerp riverbank area.

If you ever visit Antwerp, you can book an official 2 hour guided red-light tour for 55 EURO: (http://www.antwerpen.be/smartsite.dws?ch=BTH&id=15037&rec=15258) - but unfortunately, a visit to or interaction with a local prostitute is not included

Quote from www.icon-magazine.co.uk about Villa Tinto:

” Antwerp’s sex trade is not only legal, it’s interior designed. Developer Franky De Coninck commissioned leading Belgian designer Quinze & Milan to fit out Villa Tinto – the first purpose-built brothel in the city’s new “tolerance zone”.

Quinze & Milan’s design has created the reddest building in the red light district. The 51 suites for window prostitution have red lamps, furniture and ensuite bathrooms. Streetlights on the exterior cast a red glow on the street.

The design prioritised safety. After consulting with the sex workers, designer Arne Quinze gave the brothel a sophisticated alarm system, safes to store cash in and en suite bathrooms. It even has a police station on site.

The commission followed an article Quinze wrote in a Belgian magazine on taking the sex trade out of the shadows and giving it design presence. “It’s the biggest business in the world, it’s always seen as not so beautiful. But if you show the beautiful part of it, I think you can build an erotic style,” he says.

When property developer De Coninck read the article, he realised that Quinze – better known for designing the furniture for Rem Koolhaas’ Seattle Library and Brad Pitt’s LA mansion – could be the man to create the prototype designer brothel.”

- end of quote -

Great, the Antwerp upscale designer mega-brothel VillaTinto was created by the same guy who designed Brad Pitt’s furniture.

37°C/100°F Heatwave hits Antwerp

With a officially recorded 37°C/99°F Antwerp, along with the rest of W-Europe, today reached the highest temp this century as a heatwave grips much of Europe. It’s currently 2.50 am in downtown Antwerp, with no wind and a sweaty 30°c/90°F. Forecasters expect that some counties in nearby England might reach 38°C/100°F.

I have no airconditioning in my home: being used to an average 21°C/70°F summer makes this damp heat even harder to bear. I spent most of the day near a private pool, way out of reach from any WiFi hotspot.

The unusual temps caused some unusual incident, like these windshields that were visibly not manufactured to withstand the impact of tiny fissures when the car-airco cooled down the glass too sudden:

[pic: courtesy of www.hln.be]

Video link: http://www.zoomin.tv/videoplayer/?fuseaction=videolaunch&pid=hln&id=222055&nbg=ftv
Next victim: my internet connection?

Calling 500,000 phone numbers, just to say No to politics

I just got a call from a very charming guy with a warm voice, asking a very unusual question He represented a small new party which was trying to convince Antwerp voters to vote ”No” (a real, actual “party”) at the upcoming elections in October - giving a new meaning to the local obligation to cast a vote. (That’s right, not showing up at a local election in Belgium means getting a fine, Belgians do not enjoy the liberty to vote, they are under the obligation to do so).

The “NO” party is currently calling every single listed Antwerp phone number, while volunteers are ringing every single doorbell.

Most elections have their share of bizarre parties who never make it, and “NO” is probably one of them. There’s a difference though: the votes the “NO” party would eventually gain will be subtracted from the actual number of seats in the city council, thereby confronting the “real” parties with the unpleasant fact that xxx number of voters decided not to support them. If “No” gets one single seat, another party will loose one.     

VIDEO: watch how Antwerp citizens react when confronted with volunteers asking them to vote “NO”:  http://www.nee-antwerpen.be/inforeisvideo.htm

Some pics: http://www.nee-antwerpen.be/media.htm 

In case you could’t care less about Antwerp politics before you stumbled upon this item: 33% of Antwerp City (pop. 500,000) votes for the extreme right-wing Vlaams Blok, (  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlaams_Blok ) - most of these voters are no extremists at all, they are just totally fed up with the current ruling coalition. Try this at home: mix liberals, social democrats, left-wing greens, socialists and add a touch of extravaganza.

Now try managing a city of 500,000.

Well, you can always say “NO”

   

Hit me with your best shot: why getting hit by “A streetcar named Desire” can backfire

Holding on to some basic dignity can be a tricky thing, especially when the past comes back to haunt you. Yes, I did read “A streetcar named desire”, Tennessee Williams’ acclaimed melodrama, but the actual vehicle that hit my car in Antwerp, way back in the 90’s had nothing to do with any sultry feelings of desire. It had become a long forgotten incident, until I felt a sharp pain while lifting a heavy diving bottle several weeks ago. And even empty diving bottles are heavy.
Anyway, life is seldom a smooth ride, so I tried to ignore the pain and spent a very memorable weekend with Eric (my diving instructor) in the southern Dutch delta port where most members of my divingschool experience their first openwater dives. The weather was great, the food refined - we both had a great time.

[left: the marina at night, right: Goes (Holland) with its restored wooden ships]

Like in a Streetcar named Desire, there’s currently no happy ending to this story. A recent RX showed ’slowly emerging damage from the past’: getting hit by a streetcar in the 90’s had caused unnoticed spinal damage that for the past few weeks has started slowly pushing straight onto a nerve. I’m not sure if I will be able to continue lifting heavy objects like diving bottles. I’m not even sure how bad it all will get.
Towards the end of “A Streetcar named Desire” Blanche’s past begin to catch up with her, until her life becomes unbearable.

Let’s just hope my spinal disks won’t be causing me that much trouble - hey, I didn’t write my life’s scenario either.

Summer Night City: Antwerp, July 2006

   

This riverbank sign tries to prevent ships from entering a dock closed way back in the 60’s. These Antwerp city riverbanks currently feature a trendy artificial beach, although bathing is not really an option. Unless you can’t resist a 5m/15 feet drop.

Baby, light my fire: tales of exploding technology

Most of us are familiar with the stories about the exploding non-genuine GSM/cell-phone Li-Ion batteries that had Nokia scrambling to convince customers to use only “original” replacements, but the damage can be far more devastating.

Imagine reading this blog, with your laptop safely where it fits best: on your lap.

I suppose the guests at a recent June sales conference in Osaka, Japan were more than happy their laptop was way above their private parts: the Dell manufactured machine went up in flames when a malfunctioning but ‘original’ Li-Ion cell simply exploded.

Lithium fires are not a pretty sight:

[pics: courtesy of http://www.theinquirer.net ]

Note: last year Dell recalled +20,000 Lithium-Ion Laptop Battery packs that may overheat. Many of them were never returned.

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com

Brussels Airport: being number one

I’m still kind of confused about the fundamental point Brussels Airport is trying to make here - they were voted Europe’s best airport by making sure you will never miss a connection, even if it means cutting up your luggage? Anyway, I wonder how many Louis Vuitton bags make it through any airport’s baggage handling without a scratch

[Brussels airport, shots taken: departure pier one  - June 2006]

Hosting the Gay Eurogames, in a semi-hostile city that doesn’t care

You may or may not have noticed, but Antwerp will host the 11th European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation Eurogames. The biggest athletic event for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in Europe.

From 12 to 15 July 2007, Antwerp claims to welcome about 3.000 participants. Antwerp is currently trying to find them a cheap place to sleep. At private, “volunteer hosts”. The Hilton chain doesn’t sponsor the event.

Official website: http://2007.eurogames.info

Along with many gay natives of Antwerp, I feel inviting these games to Antwerp has become a tragic mistake based on pure economics, not on liberal values.
It sure can be good marketing, but in a city where 33% votes for an anti-gay, anti-multicultural, homophobic party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlaams_Blok), I get the distinct impression that the current Antwerp city council is only into “gay games” for the cash and the PR, while image-building on a degree of tolerance that no longer exists.

All smiles at Antwerp City Hall (photo credit: www.gaybelgium.be)