Cruel

Losing a match in the dying seconds is cruel. When you're new in the first division, you've got ambition but you're not sure that you can cope with the higher level, you open against the champions (the biggest club in Belgium), you build, you play easy and chrystal clear football, the atmosphere sends shivers down your spine, it's 0-0, you've been out there for 91 minutes and some seconds, your team plays a perfect match, 0-0, enormous achievement, smiling faces everywhere, you are about to kiss your neighbour, but than ...
There's Biglia's freekick. He hits it perfect. Wasilewski touches it with a subtle header. Adamovic is too late. It's 0-1 and it's all over.

Isle of Dogs, 'Van', London_2007

18'16"

One Big Tour (3.4Km): 18'16". For now I rest my case. As from monday I start my 10K schedule. 12 weeks, 3 runs a week...

Quality

Tomorrow is the kick off of the 07_08 season in the Jupiler League. KV Mechelen plays Anderlecht 'Achter de Kazerne'. We wil be there.

In the following weeks the competition starts everywhere in Europe. 04 august in France, 11 in England and Germany, 18 in Holland and Portugal and 25 in Italy and Spain. Everybody agrees that the English Premier League and the Spanish Primera Division are the high quality competitions in the world. I agree.

But what is quality?

The quality of a football team is the sum of :

1. Individual quality (skills, football intelligence, speed, power, endurance, experience)
2. Disposition (team spirit, enthusiasm, ambition, the readiness to suffer for the team)
3. Tactics (the team has to be able to pick up the ideas of the coach)
4. The ability to keep a clean sheet
5. The ability to score goals

Sounds easy? It's the most difficult in football to do it the easy way. Wait a minute. I forgot number 7. Luck.

Gloucester Road, London_2007

Horde Zla Sarajevo 1987

Q1, FK Sarajevo - Marsaxlokk

Dead Man Walking, Emmylou Harris, Placebo and Seasick Steve on the stereo. So it's an easy 95,7km drive from the office in Vilvoorde, next to Brussels, to Genk. From Sarajevo to Genk is a 17 hour drive through Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. It’s 1.640 kilometres one way. FK Sarajevo's veteran player does not fly unless he has to. It's the same with Dutch stars Dennis Bergkamp and Willem van Hanegem. But Mirko Turkovic (36) came to Belgium by plane. He had to. FK Sarajevo wants to qualify for Q3 in the Champions League because than the team might play one of the bigger teams in Europe. Imagine Liverpool or Arsenal or Bremen or Valencia or Ajax... That's the Bosnian state of mind. It's also the Genk state of mind. But that's just what it is. They do not seem to live that state of mind. Outside the stadium the Genk fans look relax. The usual mix of very young and very old arrive early. The weather is fine. There's nothing better to do. They look football but they don’t talk football. It's Q2, it's not a real match. It's the first leg, there won't be a decision today. The Genk fanatics make fun of Sarajevo. They make fun of the Balkan war and they tell the story of Turkovic, the playmaker with fear of flying. Q2 is in the pocket. Confidence is big in Genk. There's very few supporters in maroon-coloured shirts. Nice shirts. Legea branded. Beautiful colour, Maroon as in FC Metz, Sparta Praha and AS Roma. Nice and very friendly people. Among them are Bosnians who live in Belgium but most of them travelled from Holland and Germany to Genk. Are they refugees? Or the sons and daughters of war refugees?

The buses from Sarajevo did not arrive yet. Then, close to the television compound outside the stadium, I can see them when they get there. In a metal cage. There's not enough plastic to hide them. 99% young males, not shaven, no need to yet. There's alcohol written all over their faces and when they see me staring at them, they spit. One pisses in my direction. It's the usual. They are angry and they mean it, man. They go through and came to hell to support their team with all the energy they have got in those immature, lean bodies. They sing and they jump. The leaders talk to the police. They are negotiating. Let's be friends. We are rough but will do no real harm. Do not consider us as a dangerous group, only some of us are dangerous individuals. If you see something you do not like, isolate the individuals.
But nothing will happen in Genk. This is football, tribal and national fanatism comes with the sport. It ads colour and maroon really is a beautiful and peaceful colour. Maroon comes from the French word marron and it means chestnut. The castanea sativa is known as the sweet chestnut because you can eat it.
The young men from Sarajevo call themselves Horde Zla, the Evil Horde, nothing sweet in that name. Who are they and what is their history? FK, Fudbalski Klub, Sarajevo is the only team that could break the Croatian and Serbian dominance in the Yugoslav First League. In the beginning, the club was founded in 1946, they were called Pitari, pie makers. The club was formed by the local authorities. Their fan base was originally in the older and in the Bosniak parts of the city. Almost every Bosniak is a Bosnian muslim. But nowadays you can find as many Bosnian Croatians and Serbs in Horde Zla. So it’s not a race thing… The official history of Horde Zla starts in 1987. They consider themselves Yugoslavs and the first nationalist connection still has to be made. The Bosnian war stopped all cultural live in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the siege 329 bombs exploded in Sarajevo every day. From 1992–1995 12.000 inhabitants of the city were killed. A lot of them were buried near the Kosevo Stadium because only heavy canon fire could reach that neighbourhood. You can see thousands of white graves near the stadium of FK Sarajevo. It’s a holy place, the place were the Horde Zla fight their holy wars… In the nineties Pitari joined the Muslim dominated Bosnian army and fought in the war to defend city and country. After the war they took the North stand again. That’s where they will be waiting for Genk on the 8th of August.
Yesterday Genk was the better team. But it’s not always the better team that wins the match. Football has got it’s decisive moments. A communication breakdown featuring goalkeeper Logan Bailly and central defender Eric Matoukou resulted in a 0-1 lead for Sarajevo. Genk made it 1-1 from a penalty.
In the 86’ left back Muharemovic made it 1-2 from a counterattack starring Mirko Turkovic. He played for only 22 minutes but showed his strength.
Racing Genk or FK Sarajevo, who will make it to the next round? This Belgian puts his money on the Bosnians.

In the AA-stand in the Cristal Arena someone wrote Horde Zla Sarajevo 1987 on the steps. It's a scar on Belgian football. Please do not take it away!
Trivia:
- Racing Genk’s centre forward is the Croatian born Ivan Bosnjak.
- Hugo Broos, the Genk-coach played FK Sarajevo in the eighties. 6-1 in Anderlecht. Today’s coach of Sarajevo, Husref Musemic, was in the other team. FK beat Anderlecht 1-0 in Sarajevo.
- Logan Bailly is named after Johnny Logan, the Irish singer.

Chelsea FC, London_2007

40'17"

Almost like a metronome, well dosed & disciplined... First K in 6'45"; middle K in 6'25"; first Big Tour in 20'25"; speeded up at the Meadow of the Geese (2x) and at the Proctor Far Side (2x) and finished with a 200 meter sprint. Total distance: 6,8K. Time: 40'17".

Shakhtar Genk

Racing Genk is the Belgian runner up. They finished 5 points behind champions Anderlecht and had an average of 22.500 fans in the Cristal Arena (the former Fenix Stadion) last season. For Belgium this is very big. So you do not overdo it when you call them top four with Anderlecht, FC Brugge and Standard from Liege. The budget is 20M €. Genk were champions in 1999 and 2002. They were then kicked out from Q2 in the Champions League by Maribor from Slovenia (5-4 ag) in 1999 and in 2002 they passed Q3 beating Sparta Praag by scoring more away goals (4-4 ag). So they made the UCL and a lasting impression because you can find them in the all time statistics. When you look for biggest defeat ever you can find, among others, Real Madrid – Racing Genk: 6-0.

But at home they only lost one game ever. They played 1-1 against Real from Madrid, 0-0 against AEK Athens and they lost 0-1 against AS Roma. Antonio Cassano scored in the 81st.
Tonight Genk enters Q2, one of two qualifier rounds they have to survive to enter the UEFA Champions League.

And what about Shakhtar Genk? KRC Genk's past is in THOR Waterschei and KFC Winterslag. The two teams became one in 1988. Waterschei and Winterslag were two of seven coalmines in Limburg. Waterschei was closed in 1987 and Winterslag in 1988. In Donetsk in the Ukraine there still are a lot of miners travelling down the shafts every day. Shakhtar is Ukranian for shaft.

So it’s the black gold in Genk’s past that connects them with Donetsk.

The real gold is in Shakhtar's Budget. There is a gigantic difference with Genk's 20M and it's easy to prove. Have a look at the new players in the squadlist and have a good look at 3 in particular: Alberto Castillo from Olympiacos (20M), Ilsinho from Sao Paulo FC (10M) and Christiano Lucarelli from AS Livorno (8M). That's the real money, that's another world...

Shakhtar enters Q2 tomorrow. They play against FC Pyunik from Armenia. Genk has to beat FK Sarajevo from Bosnia. This is Europe and it sounds great!

Grosvenor Railway Bridge, London_2007

A Hazy Shade Of Sunshine

Second week @ work starts. Now it's back to business. But first...

Sneaking with the snails, chasing low flying and very scared birds, jumping in, out of and over puddles, catching a hazy shade of sunshine. I'm running again. For the first time since 17_07 @ beauregard. So it's back to business and back to life. I did not that bad after an annoying injury. The Big Tour (3,4 km) in 20'35", the first kilometer in my usual 6'40", did some sprints on my way to 5 km in 31' flat. I can go with that. Average heartbeat 149 with a maximum of 171. Maybe the maximum can be explained by our fifth wedding anniversary and the inauguration of our kitchen, yesterday. We had 50 guests, the weather sucked and it was a perfect day. Thank you, little baby Jezus and thank you giant dEVIL.

By the way: David Steegen is @ Rio De Janeiro. Note to self http://davidsteegen.skynetblogs.be/

Stanhope Mews, London_2007

Quatorze

... @ beauregard ...

• note to self: diagonal 97 (amerikalei 97 2000 antwerpen) spanish/catalan tapasbar & wine by the glass
  

• note to self: chablis 2006 'grand vin de bourgogne l'orangerie de chateau'

Peter's Hill, London_2006

Magnetic Field

... alive @ Beauregard ...
(Flemish=Dutch)
From Andrew Hussey (Paris. The Secret History)

'Dit was dan ook waar het de surrealisten begin jaren twintig om te doen was: fantastische ervaringen creëren vanuit het alledaagse; van de stad een, in de woorden van André Breton en Philippe Soupault, "magnetisch veld" maken waar de restanten van het moderne leven door de kracht van de individuele geest op magische wijze een gedaanteverandering ondergaan.'

• Note to self: Down and out in Paris and London (George Orwell - 1933).

Tube, London_2002

Jump in Time/Time stands Still

... alive @ beauregard ... weather getting better ... books as well

Blog temporarily semi-closed because of the holiday season.
Be back full force 23-07-07 ...
DO NOT PANIC. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Be sure, I said it before, I'll be with you in a few.

Not my Picture. Can prove it. So can you.

Beauregard_2006

Loo in the City, London_2007

Where I Am ?

@ home

@ work
Please, be patient. I'll be back.
For the time being: this is what I was thinking, reading, dreaming and could have been writing about

• Orballo, Rias Baixas D.O. Albariño 2005. Excellent, white, from Galicia in Northern-Spain.
• In Bagdad American soldiers found an orphanage with 20 children. They were exhausted, lying on the floor in their own shit.
• Hackney, the place not to be in London, on Newsnight. 15 minutes of do it yourself TV by desperate but proud black teenagers.
• The Banksy from Brussels is called Bonom. Check him out on the net or in real life.

• Mind the Bike. People are promoting the exploration of London by bicycle. The Tour the France has it's Prologue in London, Flemish photographer Stephan Vanfleteren is exhibiting his Flandrien pictures at the Host Gallery (1 Honduras Street). This Gallery wants to be the number one in photojournalism.
• Vincent Kompany (young, gifted, black, smart, Belgian football player with African roots) went to the Congo where his father was born. He is an amabassador for SOS Kinderdorpen and they are supporting orphanages. I saw it on TV: emo works, ratio does not. Vincent in Congo creates the urge to help. But there's a Grand Canyon between the urge to help and to help in real life in real time.

• In 2006 there were 13 million refugees in the world. The largest numbers are fleeing Afganistan (2,1 million), Irak (1,5 miljon), Sudan (686.000), Somalia (460.000) and from Congo and Burundi (400.000 each). The 13 million does not include 4,3 milion Palestinians. The 13 milion does not include people on the run without a permanent place to live but that actually stay in their own country. That's an extra 25 milion people. 13 milion of them wander around in Africa.

Inspired by Banksy, London_2007

Kick my Conscience

Blur, 1993, Modern Life is Rubbish
Now: Listen to the single nag nag nag from Cabaret Voltaire (1979). Sure, it's on YouTube.

I'm shocked. Again. Radio 1 in Flanders might sponsor the culture of nagging with taxpayers money... Can you believe that? Last monday I wrote about complaining as a national sport, the next day I read about the plan of Pat Donnez. The excellent radiopresenter and -producer is planning a tryout for a new show. He wants to put Grumpy Old Men on the radio. He calls it Gromberen (growling bears). A show for the discontent in Flanders, so that's for almost everybody. He wants to create a forum and an opportunity for the dissatisfied to throw it all on the airwaves.

Than there's Steve Michiels, a painter and a cartoonist. He says he started publishing his cartoons when he was sixteen. At least once a week he wants to tell us what he thinks about this world going to pieces. Very loud and over-simplified: there is no way out, we are on this boat together and we are sinking. Michiels calls it a case of mental hygiene, putting the garbage outside. Now, other peoples' garbage makes me sick. So, stop that. When the cat crawls your garbagebag to pieces, I do'nt care and I don't want to know. Take care of it yourself. Clean it up and shut up.

I see no problem when Pat & Steve keep knocking on my door to bother me about hunger in Africa, people dying in the streets of Brussels because of deprivation or the hole in the ozon layer. That's about kicking me a conscience and in the end I've got one. It is the popular theory of the famous writer Louis Paul Boon. But nobody can convince me that the world should know or understand his big problem with (a) the cashier in the supermarket with the fake nails, (b) the world famous chef who puts his name on instant meals, (c) the total collapse of civilisation or (d) the lack of parkingspace in your street.
Get a life and have the guts to show the world that you are happy and a very lucky bastard. If you have AIDS, your wife has got cancer or your 3 year old dissapeared when on holiday in the Algarve: point taken. In that case I was not talking about you. Of course I was not.

PS When nuissance becomes government...
Delcambre, Louisiana, US. It's forbidden to wear baggy trousers showing your underpants. If you do you risk a maximum of 6 months in prison and a penalty of 500 $.
Will my country, with a little help of our national naggers, be the first to tackle this problem:
(1) whale-tail and
(2) celebrity whale-tail?

(1) Campus whale-tail

(2) Gillian Anderson, Celebrity whale-tail

Homeless, London_2002

Black & Blue

Of course, it’s the Stones Album from 1976, the first without Mick Taylor and introducing Ron Wood. Keith & Mick tried Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins and Ron Wood who was a free agent after the split of The Faces in 1975. And Ronnie got it! Not his guitar but the influence of black music gives the album it’s name and it’s the talent of the late great Billie Preston that adds an enormous extra to the familiar Stones recipe. Black and Blue might be an underrated album but nobody can overlook Melody because of Billie’s piano. And because of an anecdote that you can find in a lot of Violence Against Women studies. In June 1976, Atlantic Records put up a billboard on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles to promote the new record. It showed a bruised and bound woman saying, "I'm 'Black and Blue' from the Rolling Stones —and I love it!" A new organization, called Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), protested to Atlantic. And… the company took down the billboard.

Now this entry is not entirely about the Stones. It’s about yesterday’s election in Belgium. The government got beaten. They are liberals (blue) and socialists (red) and they are known as Paars (purple). Since 1999 this is the coalition that governs the country. Today, I’m sure, they are analyzing in depth but in a few quotes I’ll try to synthesize what they told yesterday in a first reply to defeat.
- There is no progression by left side parties anywhere in Europe.
- We lacked enthusiasm.
- There is a lot we did the wrong way.
- We were too modest about everything this government did in the past.
- There’s nothing wrong with the way we tried to explain things.
- There’s nothing wrong with our program…
Most votes in the Flemish part of Belgium went to the centre party (CD&V) and to everyone else right of centre. ‘Good management’ and ‘Credibility’ were CD&V’s slogans to take more than 30%. They made a profit out of the failures of Verhofstadt’s government. Like Purple did 8 years ago when CD&V and it’s partners made the same mistakes. The majority of the voters went for it and so now it’s time for something else. But it will not be something completely different.
And what about Black and Blue? It was the old left wing crocodile, Louis Tobback, who predicted years ago that Purple was going to be Black and Blue in the end. That's what I call vision.

Smart crocodile!
Mind you: this is not about what happened in Wallonia. We are two countries. I knew it and yesterday’s result proved it to be right. The majority in Flanders wants to change the foundation of the country, that’s what CD&V’s 30% is telling us. But on the other side of the language border nobody is interested.
Good luck, Mister Prime Minister, Belgium is yours.
What do I think? I’m shocked. People cannot stop nagging. They keep on going. Even when there is almost nothing left to nag about. There is no new government yet but, come on, let’s start complaining right here, right now.

World's End 'by the river,' London_2007

Baby it's You

"Death Proof is bloody, stupid and buoyant in a kind of infantile way, celebrating mayhem and flesh and gore…” (Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post). No offense taken by the director, I can imagine. This one is supposed to be silly and stupid. In the theatre where I saw it, people were wetting themselves laughing out too loud. In my head I heard Tarantino giggle non stop and I saw him in the movie enjoying himself to death surrounded by ugly girls. Death Proof is a tribute to Road-, Carchase-, Slasher-, Exploitation- and Sexploitation-movies from the sixties and seventies. It’s a tribute to B-movies and that B might stand for bad. There’s a lot of conversation. Girltalk. Yeah, boring. But it's the kind of conversation you’re not familiar with as a man so you keep listening with an embarassed grin on your face. Be always aware that it’s girltalk written by a man. So, double fun.

Sidney Tamiia Poitier & Brigitte Bardot: barefooted

This is what makes this one different and unforgettable to some of us:
Lapdance (Vanessa Ferlito from CSI: New York); baby it’s you by Smith (from A Group Called Smith, 1969); Zoe Bell (Uma Thurman’s stunt double in Kill Bill) as herself; Lebanon, Tennessee; could Pete Townshend have been a member of Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich?; jump cuts; Kurt Russell crying and drinking Four Roses Bourbon in his wrecked car; Sidney Poitier’s daughter in her thong style bodyshorts; Willy Deville’s it’s so easy (from the soundtrack of Cruising, 1980) on the radio; the Soldier Blue-filmposter; the yellow Mustang; laisse tomber les filles by Serge Gainsbourg=chick habbit by April March …
I Had a good time!

Tip: Enjoy baby it’s you by Smith on YouTube.

Smith is/was a one hit-wonder from Saint Louis, Missouri. The singer is Gayle McCormick.

Gayle McCormick from Smith

Smith performs the weight (original by The Band) on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. It’s also from the A Group Called Smith album.

V & A & Kylie & WWII, London_2007

Daddies & Daughters

Spent the weekend at Nieuwpoort by the sea. Met a lot of new people: husbands & wives, mothers & sons, daddies & daughters. I know that everybody thinks that I'm a 'father and son' kinda guy. They are not mistaken. But for me it's only 50%.

By the sea I met two guys who don't have a son. No son fullstop or not yet a son. I don't know and it's not important. And I think they know that it's not important. But when you've got only one and it's a girl, the world is all about daddies & daughters and it's the best little universe in the world.

Jits, Nieuwpoort_2007


Zomer, Nieuwpoort_2007


Renet, Nieuwpoort_2007


Eva, Mechelen_2007

It's mellow, it's soft, it's hazy and it might be corny to some of you but anyway: The Savage Juliet, fathers and daughters (from Longshot, 2004) is nice to dream to. TSJ are from NY, NY. The singer's name is Kate Dwyer. She writes most of the songs. Their second album is called Another Roadside Attraction and The Savage Juliet is a very, very intriguing name for a band. They caught my eye. In an interview on http://www.thedelimagazine.com/ they explain where they got the name from. "It's some old lady pantsuit store in Missouri. She might be a renegade… I think it's a clothing store for the kind of eccentric, southern old ladies who still wear driving gloves. Chad thinks she has a penchant for bittersweet affairs.A girl was telling me a story about her hometown and mentioned the store and we needed a name… it was the only one we all loved and that didn't have an attachment to anything weird or bad so we kept it." Excellent story.

Kensington & Chelsea, London_2002

The Philosophy of Blogging

“Let me put this bluntly, in language even a busy blogger can understand: Criticism — and its humble cousin, reviewing — is not a democratic activity. It is, or should be, an elite enterprise, ideally undertaken by individuals who bring something to the party beyond their hasty, instinctive opinions of a book (or any other cultural object). It is work that requires disciplined taste, historical and theoretical knowledge and a fairly deep sense of the author’s (or filmmaker’s or painter’s) entire body of work, among other qualities.
Opinion — thumbs up, thumbs down — is the least important aspect of reviewing. Very often, in the best reviews, opinion is conveyed without a judgmental word being spoken, because the review’s highest business is to initiate intelligent dialogue about the work in question, beginning a discussion that, in some cases, will persist down the years, even down the centuries.”

I got this from the weblog of Marc Goossens, responsable for Dance at the Cultural Centre of Berchem (Antwerp).
http://www.daprice.be
Marc Goossens just received a price for best cultural weblog, one of 18 categories at the annual Satin Pajama Awards for European blogs. It’s organised by A Fistful of Euros. These ar some pretty farcical, quite obscure names but what Marc wrote about criticism, reviewing and opinion is correct.
I almost put down brilliant in stead of correct. Sometimes I’ve got the urge to overdo things. But I fight against it and from time to time I win.
Anyway.
I really believe in the principle or the philosophy I discovered in blogging: it’s an instrument to get in touch with an opinion, a world or a part of it, or to be confronted with ideas you did not know before. It could just kickstart you to create a piece of genius and to win a nobel prize. Or it can just amuse you. And that’s what I like most about blogs or blogging.

Cloth Fair, London_2007

Waste of Paper

(New Series)

Superfluous glossy magazines with more than 200 pages. You've got no time to read them, they are expensive & pretentious and yet you buy them.

Gathering Dust, 2007

• Wallpaper. JUNE/JULY 2007. INTERNATIONAL DESIGN INTERIORS LIFESTYLE. Standing proud. Bigger, brighter, bolder. Our 100th issue. 7.90 €
• Monocle. issue 01. volume 01 MARCH 2007 A BRIEFING ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS, BUSINESS, CULTURE & DESIGN. 11 €
• GQ Style. THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO MEN'S FASHION. SPRING/SUMMER 2007 ISSUE 4. FASHION, GROOMING, ART, DESIGN, OPINION. 12 €

One day you'll catch me burning them in style.

When you check on the web (do'nt do it too often, it's bad when you want to nourish yourself as an original thinker) you'll find almost everything.
http://www.popcultmag.com/passingfancies/bottomfive/glossymags/slickmags1.html
Damned! But hey, you can feel a part of the community.

Tube 'SECRETS', London_2007

TOMATOES in the Summertime

The new kitchen will be ready real soon. Can't wait. So, maybe this will be the very basic & simple start of a new life in a new kitchen environment.

But first things first. Why tomatoes? Take a look.

http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/93782/
You should know by now: it's because they are so sexy.
(soup)
Gazpacho
Ingredients
1kg large tomatoes, halved; 500gr country-style bread, crust removed, cut into pieces of 2,5cm (about 4 cups); 1 red pepper, seeded, diced; 1 cup chopped peeled cucumber; 1/2 cup diced red onion; 1/4 cup Sherry wine vinegar; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1/2 teaspoon cumin; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 1 cup water
Instructions
Split, seed and chop tomatoes, reserving juices and discarding seeds. Place chopped tomatoes and tomato juices to large glass bowl. Add next 9 ingredients. Let stand at room temperature 1/2 hour. Working in batches, puree gazpacho with 1 cup water in blender until smooth. Pour gazpacho into coarse strainer (opt) set over large bowl. Press on solids to extract as much soup as possible. Season with salt and pepper.
Chill at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Serve cold.

(Side dish)
A Bite of Tomatoe & Watermellon & Homemade Juice
Ingredients
8 small tomatoes; ¼ watermellon, diced; 1 tablespoon of lime juice; 1 teaspoon of lime zest; 60 ml olive oil; 1 tablespoon of tomato vinegar; a pinch of salt; 200 ml tomatoe pulp; 200 ml mineral water; ½ clove of garlic; green and purple Shiso or black sesame seeds.
Instructions
Homemade tomatoe juice:
Mix the pulp of tomatoes with water, boil and add a crushed clove of garlic. Filter, spice and chill. Serve when cold in small glasses. You can add some tomatoe vinegar.
Skewer with tomatoe and watermellon:
Seed the tomatoes with a teaspoon. Marinate the watermellon (5 minutes) in limejuice, zest and tomatoe vinegar. Put a piece of tomato on a cubicle of watermellon and put a green and a purple leave of Shiso (or the sesame seeds) on top. Fill the skewers this way, make sure it looks good. Add salt.

(Main dish)
Grilled Tuna & Penne with Tomatoes & Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced very thin; 2 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary; 2 cans plum tomatoes; salt; freshly ground black pepper; 250gr penne or other short tubular pasta; 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar.
4 tuna steaks; olive oil, salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Put oil and garlic in large skillet over medium heat. As soon as the garlic starts to sizzle, add tomatoes, salt and grind lots of pepper, add rosemary. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, then turn off heat. Cook pasta in lots of salted water. When done, al dente, drain and immediately put into skillet with sauce. Turn heat on low and toss pasta in sauce 1 minute. Turn off heat; make a well in middle of pasta, pour in vinegar, toss pasta well. Serve asap.
In the meantime: mix olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Brush it on the tuna steaks. Grill for 4 minutes per side.

Plain Tomato Soup, London_2006

Idols (I)

Discover. Get excited. Milestones & landmarks. Never to forget Idols that inspire. Adoration. Admiration. Respect. Positive vibrations.

O N E

Prince and The Revolution, live Parade Tour in Brussels (Vorst) August, 1986

T W O
Prince, live Sign O' The Times Tour in Antwerp (Sportpaleis) June, 1987

http://users.skynet.be/newpowersoul/belgium/prince_in_belgium_index.htm

So what is there to say about an artist who himself lost faith in the recording industry and in show business? He performs 21 nights in London this summer. Prince will kick off with 7 concerts in the doomed dome that's now officially called the O2 Arena.

I would never miss such an occasion, but... Something happened to my connection with the imp of the perverse. I feel that he is a brilliant has been. He used to do something to me with every record or song, word or note, his guitar, his piano, his drumming and his dirty dancing with Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Sheila E, Cat and even Candy Dulfer.

I will never forget the opening of the 1987 concert in Antwerp. It's June and too hot inside a sold out Sportpaleis. Now, here is one of the true great music-moments in my live.

It's at the very beginning of the concert. It's dark. Oh Yeah. Imagine the rhythm-track of Sign O' The Times. It's an anthem in itself, it knocks you out, a beat and sound you can pick from a million. Prince & Cat, extremely high up on the stage, wind blowing through their clothes, yellow and orange lights, Cat turns like a dancing dervish, Prince gives a Hendrix-inspired guitar performance, licking and bending and beating the six strings and he ruins his throat singing In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name. High on his heels he pushes and rides against Cat's ass. But if a night falls and a bomb falls Will anybody see the dawn? I'm all goosebumps, start to cry and cannot stand the thought that in a few moments this is going to be all over. It's the sign... of the Times. Than there's the drumming of a live band and it's coming from behind. The band marching in. Sheila E is leading the pack and they are all banging a drum. Eric Leeds, Dr. Fink, Levi Jr., Atlanta Bliss, you name them. There's tears all over my face and I don't want to hide them. This is a magical mystery moment. And all of a sudden it's Play in the Sunshine. Still a genius performing but the magic is gone.

I'm 100% sure the genius will be in the O2 Arena but it cannot beat that perfect momentum in the summer of 1987. If I'm in London in the summer of 2007 I'll visit HOW WE ARE, Photographing Britain in Tate Modern. If you pay 31,21 £ you can see Prince. 3121 is the title of his new album. I did not get it. My Prince was here for the last time 20 years ago.

Millenium Dome aka O2 Dome, London_2007

Athens is to blame

O N E

(23_05_2007)

They welcome you at the airport and there's blue banners in the streets. Like Istanbul was in May 2005 and Paris last year in the same month: this is UEFA Champions League City for a week. Athens is a city that I'm not very fond of. It's a permanent attack on your lungs, there's too many cars and I got ripped here once and that's something one can never forget or forgive. I trusted a man who insulted me by saying "You people from the West never got time." To prove that wrong I followed him to have a drink. The story ends with them taking their time to empty my wallet. It was 4 pm, broad daylight. It can happen everywhere but to me it happened in Athens.

Did the goddess take it's name from the city or was it the other way round? What came first deity or city? I cannot get my facts straight. That bothers me. And I blame Athens.

It's the eldest still inhabited city in Europe. People have been living here for at least 3000 years. In the 4th and 5th centuries BC there where almost 300.000 inhabitants in the area. In terms of population of the metropolitan area it's the number 14 in Europe. 3.799.134 people, last year... So it should be my kind of town. But it's not, no way. There is no chemistry. Athens is ugly, it's chaos but of the boring kind, there's no colour, I do not like the light, for me the vibes are negative, it never seems to inspire me and when it rains it smells like decomposing flowers. In a few minutes I reach the situation where I suspect people not to smile at me on purpose.

So who is going to blow the expensive Calatrava-roof off the stadium tonight? The well dressed Men & Women from Milan or the working class Anfield Boys & Girls? Will it be opera or The Beatles? The Cavern Club or the Scala? Being a Stones-guy myself, I don't have to choose. I want to see and say "excellent football" but I'm quite sure that I will not get any. But it's the final so circumstances are always special. And you know what? If it's a stinker, I've always got Athens to blame.

T W O

pippo, the clown that does not smile

(05_pm)

"Who needs Zeus when you've got Fowler?" was written on, without a doubt, the best banner I saw tonight. But Milan won Paolo Maldini's fifth Champions Cup. Now he is the eldest (39 in June) ever to captain a team in a European final. What a crap match it was. It proved that Liverpool needs more than one Gerrard to win these matches: one behind the ball and another in front of it, one to set it up an another to score. The match made clear that AC Milan is the smartest and the high quality team that deserves to win the 006_007 UEFA Champions League. Because coach Ancelotti is correct when he says: "I'm happy we've got a team with two faces. If they keep us from playing good football, we try it the other way." That's your total football in 2007.

wet feet guaranteed

Can't wait to leave Athens. I'm sure it will rain all day, tomorrow. Streets will get drowned and everybody will wear the wrong shoes. I got drunk in Fandango on Michalakopoulou. Nice bar, good music. It made me feel like going home. I miss my Highland Park (18 Years Old). And I blame Athens.

Deptford & Isle of Dogs_London, 2007