Free Santa!

Paul McCarthy's "Santa with Butt Plug" has finally found a permanent home. A few years ago, when it was made, Rotterdam Municipal Council decided it wasn't suitable for a public space. But now something seems to have opened up in their minds, allowing the statue to be placed right in the middle of Rotterdam's most busy (and commercial) area.

I take it back.

Some days ago I said I couldn't find any shoes I really liked in Rotterdam. But this shop makes me have to swallow my words. I can't believe the shoes here.
Leti, quieres hacerme algún encargo? :-)

I found a treasure lost in the fog.

Last night I tried to remember my way to De Fabriek. This task (remembering how to get places) doesn't usually work out for me, so of course I ended up getting quite lost for about one hour. That can be quite a distressing experience, specially if it's in the fog and you see signs trying to convince you to go to Gouda by bike. But I had my music to keep me company (this outstanding album by Chad VanGaalen) which kept me in a good mood. And to my delight, I found this amazing hairdresser I'll have to go back to one day it's open. There was no end of trinckets all over the place, a great big table with cool mags for clients to read and a little exhibition of paintings on the wall. Just the kind of place I love. It's a shame I probably won't remember my way back, though.

Good taste for flora in Utrecht.

London Calling Festival in Watt

John & Jehn
(The coolest, chickest couple. Leti, estos te gustarían.)

Noah & The Whale
(My favourites!)

Wildbirds & Peacedrums
(Afterparty in Rotown. Intimate concert with no more than 100 of us. Goosebumpy!)

Late of the Pier

Us!
Cris and I were pretending to be rockstars but only managed to look constipated.
Sander, did you notice that guy touching your hair??

The Inkpot Building. I think I got a glimpse of Batman's cape swooshing around a corner.

I was in Utrecht yesterday where Sander showed me around this building where he sometimes works. It was like it belonged to Gotham City. The endless hallways, the orange carpet quieting my steps down, the low ceilings and the strange smells gave the whole building an awkward yet intriguing atmosphere.

I could live in a little red house like this.

My Kingdom by Robert Louis Stevenson

Down by a shining water well
I found a very little dell,
No higher than my head.
The heather and the gorse about
In summer bloom were coming out,
Some yellow and some red.

I called the little pool a sea;
The little hills were big to me;
For I am very small.
I made a boat, I made a town,
I searched the caverns up and down,
And named them one and all.

And all about was mine, I said,
The little sparrows overhead,
The little minnows too.
This was the world and I was king;
For me the bees came by to sing,
For me the swallows flew.

I played there were no deeper seas,
Nor any wider plains than these,
Nor other kings than me.
At last I heard my mother call
Out from the house at evenfall,
To call me home to tea.

And I must rise and leave my dell,
And leave my dimpled water well,
And leave my heather blooms.
Alas! and as my home I neared,
How very big my nurse appeared.
How great and cool the rooms!
- - ---- --- -- --- - --- -- - ---- - - -


My mother made us learn this poem when Helen and I were kids.

It feels like snow.

Pon, my class mate from Dutch class, told me it's going to snow tomorrow. The cold is getting quite bitter now.

I feel tempted to continue this series of blunt messages about Christmas...

A couple of nice ideas.

Source: Guerrilla Innovations

Fleet Foxes concert à emporter.

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Sunny & Cold.

My favourite weather.

Dutch basics.

Fatih aprende a decir en holandés: "Mi mujer me pertenece. Nosotros nos pertenecemos". Estoy haciendo el "programa de integración" (que es un curso de holandés) al que obligan a hacer a todos los immigrantes no-europeos en Holanda.

Origami siamese horses.

This is the result of my attempt to an origami horse. I need some more practice, better start by more basic shapes.

Rubber surfaces in the park.