Cogs can think.

I’d like to congratulate the United States football team on an outstanding performance, the 1-1 draw against football heavyweight Italy. With only 9 men against 10 of Italy, they fought like lions; an heroic match, with an excellent play by the US.

I don’t say it very often, but well done, US!

I’m a great fan and admirer of Rammstein. I usually detest metal-like music (”Yeah, let’s hit this guitar as hard as we can, and chant ‘Fcuk the system!’ in canon!”), but Rammstein, actually, is not really metal music. Rammstein is so much more.

When you mention the name Rammstein under a randomly selected crowd, there’s bound to be one or two people who say something about nazism or something similar. Totally unfounded, as Rammstein has absolutely nothing to do with it; they even wrote a song dedicated to it, “Links 2 3 4″, in which in the chorus explains how their hearts beat in their left chest. To see how ingenious Rammstein is, however, download the song, and see how the “Links zwei drei vier” is sung like a marching band. Duality, mmmm? They do that a lot in their lyrics; the German language allows for lots of monophones to be used to create duality.

What intrigues me about Rammstein is the absolute sense of rythm. They have the BEST percussion of ANY band in the world. I love how they are able to combine their wonderful German (their German is… Perfect, it intrigues me, as you all know, I have love for East Germany (where Rammstein is from) and Berlin) with Goethe, good guitarplay, and excellent percussion. Till Lindemann’s very opera-like voice really helps in this respect.

Please bear in mind that Rammstein is about more than spectacular performances, German industrial metal, and weird songs about sex (”Buck dich, dein Gesicht ist mir egal”). They write a lot of relaxed, guitar-less songs as well. They often adapt poems by Goethe in their songs. One of my favourites is “Ohne dich” (”Without you”):

Ich werde in die Tannen gehen
Dahin wo ich sie zuletzt gesehen
Doch der Abend wirft ein Tuch aufs Land
Und auf die Wege hinterm Waldesrand
Und der Wald er steht so schwarz und leer
Weh mir, oh weh
Und die Vögel singen nicht mehr

Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein
Ohne dich
Mit dir bin ich auch allein
Ohne dich
Ohne dich zähl ich die Stunden ohne dich
Mit dir stehen die Sekunden
Lohnen nicht

Auf den Ästen in den Gräben
Ist es nun still ohne Leben
Und das Atmen fällt mir och so schwer
Weh mir, oh weh
Und die Vögel singen nicht mehr

Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein
Ohne dich
Mit dir bin ich auch allein
Ohne dich
Ohne dich zähl ich die Stunden ohne dich
Mit dir stehen die Sekunden
Lohnen nicht ohne dich

Wirklich, so wunderschön. Ich habe gegen mein Vati erzählt dass ich vielliecht irgendwan gut Deutsch lhernen möchte; mein Deutsch nun reicht nicht, find’ ich. Es kann soviel besser.

VS

Koninkrijk der Nederlanden VS Côte d’Ivoire

Let’s kick some ass.

Update: 2-1. Happy!

I need to blog about one things; the issue of the use of the word ‘cancer’ on OSNews’ boards.

I snapped at a few readers for comparing things/products/companies to cancer. While in English the use of the word cancer (as in, ‘a cancer’) is generally not frowned upon, in other languages this is much different. In Dutch, one only uses the word ‘cancer’ when directly speaking of the disease. Any other possible uses are considered highly impolite, offensive, and generally not very posh. The same goes for instance for German (’Krebs’). Now, OSNews is an international website, and as such, one has to respect how other cultures feel about certain words. Other than that, OSNews is run by someone from that culture, and contrary to what many seem to think, OSNews has never been, is not, and probably never will be, a democracy. As Eugenia once put it (on the now defunct forums), “OSNews is a privatly owned LLC”.

Coming with Oxford Dictionary entries for cancer which don’t speak of the disaese (“a practice or phenomenon perceived to be evil or destructive and hard to contain or eradicate”) don’t mean anything either. As I said in a reply on OSNews, one of the defintions of ‘to fcuk’ is ‘to procreate’. Does that mean it is now suddenly an acceptable verb in every possible setting?

And of course it does not help my mother had cancer last year. But that is not the main cause. Whenever a friend of mine says ‘kanker!’ (’Cancer!’ is sometimes used an exclamation of furstration in Dutch; compare to i.e. ‘Fuck!’ in English), I correct him. Same on OSNews.

Too bad if you don’t agree. Go read Digg.com.

The new Google Earth release has high-res images of Warmenhuizen and big City Alkmaar! It’s so cool to see esp. Warmenhuizen, where I live, on Google Earth. Mail me or leave your address in the comments’ section if you want the .kmz files for Google Earth for my parents’ house, my own house (where I’ll move to this Thursday) and my university (Amsterdam).

Our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, has put some serious pressure on the US, on behalf of the European Union, concerning the concentration cam… Err, prison camp Guantanamo Bay. Europe wants the thing shut down and dismantled; it seems the 3 recent suicides sped things up a bit.

Guantanamo Bay is a modern day concentration camp, carefully placed on militairy US soil, so that the prisoners cannot rely on the American constitution and law. The ‘prisoners’ there, who have been there since roughly 9/11 without any form of trial, legal counsil, or whatever, have been tortured both physically as well as psychologically. Why do you think the US does not support the ICCt at The Hague? Worse yet, why do you think the US has an approved plan to actually invade* my nation were American soldiers ever to be held in The Hague?

The world will be a better place without Guantamo Bay. About fcuking time the EU stepped up. Let’s hope the EU finally has grown a dick and is willing to be a man about this.

* The ‘The Hague Invasion Act’ is one of the main reasons why I do not have a single shed of trust or appreciation for the USA and its government. I simply am not willing to show any form of support or appreciation for a nation which has invasion plans against the Kingdom. As simple as that. As far as I’m concerned, the US is an enemy of the Crown.

What a weekend. Seriously. Friday evening, barbeque at Gemma’s. After that, an unplanned night of partying in Amsterdam’s ‘Amsterdamned‘. Lots of fun with Marco, Levi, Lot, Nadia, and Thyza. We didn’t make it too late, as I had to get up really early in order to be able to make it to work on time– I had to jump in my car at 6:45 in order to get home in time for work (8:30).

After work, me and Marco went with a van we borrowed from friends, to pick up two 3-seater couches (in vibrant red) for my new house. All went pretty well. I stayed at home Saturday night. The next day was the big day, of course: the opening match of the World Cup for my country.

I watched the game in Amsterdam at Levi’s place, again by car. The Netherlands beat Serbia/Montenegro in a not-so-very-good-game, but who cares; we won! It was really weird to see us sing the national anthem out loud in front of the TV. After the match, we ‘dined’ at Burger King, and went out to drink the night away. And by golly we did. Sorry for the voicemailterror, Martin!

And now I’m home again. Just saw Australia (coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink) beat Japan by 3-1, and right now, the Czech Republic is leading with 1-0 in its match against the US. All good news!

I love the following song… “You Look So Fine”, Garbage. Album closer on Version 2.0. It’s very melancholic, and definitely one of the best things Shirley has ever written.

You look so fine
I want to break your heart
And give you mine
You’re taking me over

It’s so insane
You’ve got me tethered and chained
I hear your name
And I’m falling over

I’m not like all the other girls
I can’t take it like the other girls
I won’t share it like the other girls
That you used to know

You look so fine

Knocked down
Cried out
Been down just to find out
I’m through bleeding for you

I’m open wide
I want to take you home
We’ll waste some time
You’re the only one for me

You look so fine
I’m like the desert tonight
Leave her behind
If you want to show me

I’m not like all the other girls
I won’t take it like the other girls
I won’t fake it like the other girls
That you used to know

You’re taking me over
Over and over
I’m falling over
Over and over

Loving me one more time
Hide inside me tonight
Do what you want to do
Just pretend happy end
Let me know let it show

Ending with letting go
Ending with letting go
Ending with letting go
Let’s pretend happy end
Let’s pretend happy end
Let’s pretend happy end
Let’s pretend happy end

Today was 666, of course. Everywhere in my country people were holding… Prayer marathon to stop the devilsatandamienluciferbeelzebub from stricking today. Nothing happened, so the prayers must’ve worked, right?

Reminded me of a joke. “Why are you wearing an umbrella in this sunny weather, here in Hawaii, sir?” The man replied, “To fend off the elephants, my good sir.” “But, there aren’t any elephants here!” “Yes, exactly, so it works.”

—

Fcuk 666. I had a really good day.

If you’re wondering why I ain’t answering any of your mails: my ISP is being a bitch all day, not allowing me to retrieve my email. It’s annoying as fcuk >:(.