The royal Belgian greenhouses and palace: a personal visit

Trust me, it was a superb experience on a perfect sunny day. More details and a 360° tour at www.monarchie.be (in English)

Video: “Get a shot to protect you from the Swine Flu”

I doubt whether this 1976 public safety video helps to prevent all the current mass confusion and panic. Let’s face it, we’ll all die in the end folks. [My brother's daughter yesterday: "I don't want to go to school daddy. The kids on TV are sick. "]

The 2009 Antwerp Marathon and ING 10 miles: first pictures

[Update 8 pm: VTM marathon video (Dutch audio, 8 pm TV news report) marathon website] It’s almost noon on a very wet Sunday morning in Antwerp. Downtown looks deserted, disregarding the police patrols and an helicopter who are making sure no one is actually driving into the Marathon arrival area. Yes, I was there, patiently waiting with my tiny camera right in between the network news and TV crews, getting soaking wet at 15°C/60°F, in what must have been the wettest Antwerp Marathon I can remember. Most people couldn’t be bothered to go outside, as the event was partially live on local cable station A-TV anyway.

Only minutes ago a runner from Kenya [#427, Daniel Koech, my photo above) passed the finishing line right in front of me [time: 2h 15'20"], although the network cameras and metal gates made it hard to get a decent shot of the Antwerp 2009 Marathon winner – without pro-gear taking pictures during a downpour tends to produce poor results. Weirdest feeling of all: the relentless rain had succeeded in effectively chasing away the crowd, as I’ve never seen such a deserted arrival area.   At 3.30 pm about 25,000 amateur enthusiasts will start the ING 10 mile run (2008 photos), passing through the river tunnel, sheered on by what tends to be a crowd of  100,000, with my brother being one of them. Afternoon Update: the rain cleared and the crowds hit the streets. My first processed 10 mile run shots:

One smiling Antwerp cop, a sour-faced Russian cyclist and lots of fun

Yes, what could they have been laughing about? (Antwerp police officers during the April 15 Scheldeprijs cycling race). The slightly sour-faced cyclist belongs to the Russian global cycling team. If you know him, just let me know. Do Belgians like cycling? You must be kidding. [I gracefully tried photoshopping the intrusive head at the left, but failed. Any advice appreciated.]

The real Temptation Island, Belgian edition

[tv-show ad courtesy www.humo.be] I’m desperately trying to locate the subliminal message hidden in this ad.

Belgium censors internet to protect pedophile privacy

Quote: “We now take note of the fact that the first observed case of Belgian Internet censorship is not an attempt to stop child pornography on the net, but a bizarre attempt to guarantee the legislative privacy of convicted pedophiles in Belgium.”

According to an article published today in Belgian Daily “Tijd” (‘Time’) [in English, by Google], the Belgian federal government has quietly introduced technical measures that redirect Belgian surfers to this updated STOP page when entering URLs that contain content the Belgian government considers to be illegal [fccu.be is the Belgian Federal Computer Crime Unit, a part of the federal Police]. Apparently major ISPs have voluntary agreed to accept this form of yet unclear censorship. The news came as a total shock and I’m still busy checking which sites have been affected. Update: “Big Belgian Firewall activated“ -translation by Google: Belgium is apparently blocking a Dutch site that does not respect “the privacy of convicted paedophiles”… I’m not kidding: Belgium does not actively block sites that cater to child molesters, but now does block one single site that lists those sex offenders. [Leading newspaper report]

Check out what is being blocked: http://www.stopkinderporno.eu (“stop child porn”): blocked (use a non-Belgian proxy from within Belgium). Welcome to Belgium: the charming country protecting the “privacy of child molesters by censoring the sites that list them”. Coming soon to a pc near you: mind-blowing tales covering the  pathetic Belgian state attempts to censor a billion “illegal” pages. Or how a tiny, virtually bancrupt country showed the planet how to censor the entire WWW in order to uphold its own obscure ideas on what should not be available on the net.  [Background:  "Towards full Belgian Internet censorship"]

Cured from being gay, assisted by Amazon.com recovery books

Spring is in the air in Antwerp: like most years this means rediscovering the outdoors, savouring the vibe induced by the first warm sunny days and a certain “je ne sais quoi” feeling, a hidden longing that used to cause sleepless nights each and every spring.

But this year this unidentified need finally became abundantly clear when my lovely, very religious neighbours ever so convincingly & repeatedly invited me over for coffee and much, much more. Before I knew what had happened I was holding a superb work titled “You Don’t Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling With Homosexuality” in my unsuspicious hands. In fact, virtually every book listed at Amazon.com when entering “homosexuality” mentioned a cure or religion, and they still do.

My kind expat neighbour from Mississippi elaborately explained how many formerly gay men she had empowered, empowered to see the light using simple medical electroshocks, how many of these confused men she had assisted in marrying an imported, big-breasted Russian-with-two kids, efforts that had all culminated in finally living that perfect straight life a devil-induced temptation had prevented them from enjoying. She introduced me to an unlicensed US MD who ran a salvation clinic here in Antwerp, a man kind enough to repeatedly shock my brain, ensuring me he would successfully cure me from this gay disease. He soon became my Savior, rescuing me from a life of gay sin. Obviously, assisted by all these great Gay Cure works prominently listed at amazon.com.

Kids, a lovely Russian wife, a wholesome faith, finally being one of the boys: hey, who could resist? So I jumped in at the deep end for what had become a wild rollercoaster ride towards total liberation and straight freedom. And here I was: waiting for my new wife and children to arrive, provided my €/$ 30,000 check would clear.  But to be honest, I did sometimes wake up all sweaty in the middle of the night, dreaming about the man I had intended to grow old with. “Tricks of the devil”, my neighbour ensured me, “pray more and read all those great Amazon.com books”.

Having read each and every great book I could buy at amazon.com about “homosexuality”, (‘A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality’, ‘Coming Out of Homosexuality’, ‘Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality’: thank you, Amazon!) I still became somewhat hesitant at times and really could have used more of your wholesome advice. I mean, if only I kept on praying real, real hard I would remain straight until my new wife arrived, right? Hey, they all promised it was meant to be this way: even the Amazon.com operator claimed these books were masterpieces. And if you can’t trust Amazon, who can you trust?

In the end, my new Russian wife and children never showed up (the €/$ 30,000 check was cashed though). And no matter how many books from Amazon on Healing Homosexuality I kept on reading to prepare, the electroshocks didn’t prevent me from calling my male partner, begging him to take me back. He cried and held me for hours. This morning we burnt the last books from Amazon. And called our lawyer.

Are you a satisfied Amazon.com customer too? [Worth reading: "Is Amazon homophobic?"]

‘Walk this way’: a stroll with the Antwerp mayor

There’s something eerie about this shot: while Antwerp mayor Patrick Janssens walks along with the starting pro-cyclists right in front of Antwerp city hall, most of his dearest constituents totally ignore him, looking the other way. It must actually be lonely at the top.

Cycling: Tom Boonen does Antwerp – ‘Scheldeprijs’ race 2009

Tom Boonen will start a major cycling race, today, in front of my door. Yes, I can take his picture, but why should I post them again? Update 1pm: I unexpectedly shot his photo (and 100s more), after almost being crushed trying to get near. Update 5pm: Alessandro Petacchi (Italy) just won this prestigious race, leaving Boonen way behind in a spectacular multi pile-up crash that blocked the entire road. Some rather amusing shots from my collection: Boonen, giving me the “hey, a fan” look (no longer, since Boonen was caught with cocaine), and Janssens, the Antwerp major, invisibly trying to fade into the background. Unlike last year, April 15 was an unusually warm day, with a crowd on the city beach and most cycling fans watching the race on their TVs. Coming up April 26: the 2009 Antwerp Marathon.

Picture postcard from my childhood: Rochehaut Revisited

Easter Monday 2009 slowly faded with glorious 20°C/70°F sunshine in Antwerp, Belgium: a long awaited present the inhabitants of this rainy-country-by-the sea enjoyed from start to finish. I can assure you that having Spanish strawberries on my balcony ànd wearing summer shorts lifted my spirit tremendously after what had been the coldest winter in 20y: we even got wet snow as early as Nov 2008. People watching on packed streetside terraces, walks in the Antwerp sculpture park with my SO: life felt good again.

After completing a classic long distance Easter call with my brother, I realized I still owned one of the boxes containing childhood memorabilia way back from the time I was a toddler. Closed.  Sure, I’d had a superb childhood in suburbia, but several decades later my entire family ended up scattered both geographically and socially, turning these perfect childhood summer vacation memories into reminders of a era long gone. But somehow I couldn’t resist opening this hidden treasure, finding long forgotten postcards and pictures (source) of mystical Rochehaut (pop 200), deep in southern Belgium on the banks of a superb mountain river.

Browsing my childhood images of this dreamy place where I innocently spent endless summers with my family, dating back to a period when life was simple and the future looked bright somehow managed to turn Easter 2009 into the most fulfilling weekend of the season.