Visueel dagboek van Michael Minneboo.
Het Spui, 11:40
A view of the Spui square I took just after I visited the American Book Center, where I decided that I wasn’t going to buy the autobiography of Keith Richards. At least not at the moment: I have a big pile of comics and books waiting for me at home and I just finished the Rough Guide to the Rolling Stones not so long ago. So I’ve read enough about the Stones for now.
Huidekoperstraat, 12:00 pm
I went for lunch with Merel Barends at Cafe Kale. Across from the cafe someone did the arty thing on the wall. It looks much better now.
The Dutch writer Harry Mulisch died of cancer last Saturday. It was in the news on Sunday, so the front page of ‘Het Parool’ had a big picture of the writer on its front-page. I can’t say that I was a particular fan of Mulisch’s writing, but he is considered to be one of the greatest writers in the Dutch language. Also by himself, he wasn’t known for having a small ego, that’s for sure. But I’ll take people’s word for it when it comes to his writing skills. Still, I thought it was a nice gesture of the paper to put the portrait of Mulisch this big on the front page.
Dam, 2:00 pm
On Halloween afternoon, a Zombie walk took place in downtown Amsterdam. About twenty-five people showed up to walk the streets dressed up like a zombie, yelling “BRAINS!” I admire people who dare dress up like this and walk in public like a loony. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing make-up like that or any kind of make-up for that matter. But it was quite a sight and got different responses from the shopping public. Since it was such a busy shopping day this Sunday, it sometimes was hard to see the dressed up zombies between the crowds of the zombies of consumerism.
I shot some video of the Zombie Walk and will put that online later this week.
Friday, when I walked to the party goods store to check out some Halloween stuff, I passed a store filled with stuff for and about cats. Yes, these stores exist also. Anyway, in the display window I saw this pumpkin, which must be one of the most kitsch pumpkins I’ve ever seen. Not that I mind kitsch per say. The party store also had some ugly stuff: badly made bats and things like that. Still, I love Halloween. I like the iconography of it. The pumpkins, spooks, and other things to dress up the house or whatever. As long as it’s well crafted and the design looks convincible.
Daily Webhead: Halloween store from Mike’s Webs on Vimeo.
Friday afternoon I went out to check some Halloween stuff. At the Louis Wittenburg party store they had an elaborate display outside. Note the line of costumers in front of the store. Halloween has arrived in Amsterdam, that’s for sure.
Museumplein, 8:20 pm
After my girlfriend and I came back from dinner, we walked passed the museum plein. (Museum Square). It’s one of the strangest squares in Amsterdam, with the long green lawn with strange paths. I can hardly follow its design. Still, this vista at night looked kind of nice I thought.
This certainly is the biggest pumpkin that I’ve ever seen. You can see it life @Marqt on the Overtoom. By the way: not only is autumn my favourite time of year, I also am a big fan of Halloween. On my old blog Mike’s Webs I wrote several times about my favourite Holiday.
Alleyway Van Baerlestraat, Amsterdam, 11:40 pm
I kinda liked this head.
Alleyway Van Baerlestraat, Amsterdam, 11:40 pm
Doesn’t anyone use a post-it anymore?
Amsterdam Central Station, 9:00 pm
Before getting into the train on Tuesday, I took a snapshot of the area behind central station. They’re building a new station for the subway. Note the roof of the site hut, which almost functions like a perfect mirror thanks to the water on the surface. Also note how badly the window of the train station needs to be cleaned 🙂
Daily Webhead: Bird on the tracks from Mike’s Webs on Vimeo.
Trainstation Hilversum Noord, some weeks ago.