Category Archives: Audio

By clicking the subscribe button you can listen, on your mobile device, to all past shows and automatically get new ones when they are released.

bicyclemark72: Manipulating the Public, Part 1 (fixed)

AudioCommunique #72(mp3)
29min+, 80kbps, 16Mb+

Too much to mention, but the discussion involves :

    The documentary: Century of the Self, by Adam Curtis
    The Father of Public Relations, nephew of Siggy Freud – Eddie Bernays
    Freud’s theories on the nature of people and psychoanalysis
    Corporations and the US government get into the business of understanding how to manipulate people
    Making it acceptable for woman to smoke
    WWI and WWII and the parallels with Nazi propaganda
    Buying Stocks, Cars, Clothes… buying an image
    Creating a link between Democracy and Business as well as The good of the country and business
    United Fruit’s PR campaign and war in Guatamala
    Bernays Fake News Agency and Propaganda machine
    The neverending parellels with Iraq and virtually everything today

Frisbee Champions

Since Ms Thingk told me to talk more about Amsterdam life, especially the personal details, this is going to be an exciting update to my fledgling ultimate frisbee career here in the Netherlands.

As many of ye readers well know, I’m a very active new member of the Amsterdam City League, and I practice with the team known as Crunch, one of a few great teams from Amsterdam which play around the country and the continent (i think). Normally I avoid the weekend road trips to god knows where, simply because I treasure my weekend time, especially for podcasting. However this past weekend I joined the Crunch-3 squad in the final games of the outdoor season, in Arnhem. What followed was a whole series of firsts in my life:

The first time I played ultimate frisbee outside of amsterdam.
The first time I joined the team Ive been practicing with for months.
The first time I played on state of the art new fangled almost grass-turf.
The first time I scored a whole lot of points against a Wageningen team that just could not control me.
The first time I collapsed midway through the third match of the day with violent leg cramps and was carried off the field.
The first time I watched the amsterdam red lights play live.

And sure enough, for the first time ever, I was part of a team that won the Netherlands 2005 Division 5 outdoor league.

It’s pretty incredible to see how seriously the Dutch can take frisbee. So many players of so many different ages (the old guys intimidate me). So many teams with so many funky names like the B-Frisbee-2’s or IceyDykes. While there may have been lots of international people present, I really felt like I had entered into a secret dutch sect of frisbee worshippers… and I kind of liked it, despite the sharp pain in my legs.

And YES, Frisbee Girl fans, she WAS there… and she still gives me those looks and I still feel light headed when we talk.

Speaking of flying discs, look- a ninth planet!

bicyclemark71: The Dutch War Problem and Relationships in the Netherlands

Join the Mindcaster and myself as we sit in my garden and tackle cultural issues, especially relationships and civil unions in the Netherlands. (experimenting with a microphone… hence the odd sound)

AudioCommunique #71(mp3)
28min+, 80kbps, 16Mb+

Topics Include:
The Misuse of Public Funds by the Bush Admin
The Dutch government won’t share their intel on the Iraq War
Relationships, Living Together, and Civil Unions in the NL
The progressive aspects of culture here we forget about
Privatization of Electricity
Ryanne’s Video Blog is mentioned

Music Includes:
João Donato – Bye Bye Brasil
Bill Frisell – Perritos (Intercontinentals)
Lali Puna – Alienation (from Remixes and B-Sides)
Jay Unger – Ashokan Farewell
Lenin and Zelia Duncan – Naturalemente (from the João Donato Song Book)

Throwing Disc in a Few Hours

Apparently the frisbee team is playing against Arnhem in a few hours, and I’ve agreed to fill in for some missing players. I’ve never been to Arnhem and I wonder if the idea that since Amsterdam is that capital they will fear us, holds any water.

I mention these mundane daily life details because my mind is sort of on that, and it’s late, and I hope I don’t drop too many discs tomorrow. Beyond that its Saturday night and Ive been to three different meet-ups and this is an exhausting way to live. But instead of blogging about these useless details any further, I recommend you:

1 – Check what Madame L is up to
2 – Read the overflow of info from Lindsey
3 – And finally, the greencatfish, ladies and gentlemen.

Blonde But Gone

This post is about ex-pat life and the people who make up your life. Actually it doesn’t matter if you’re an expat, I’m sure where ever you live, you’re in the business of surrounding yourself with people you admire, enjoy, learn from, and just plain feel like “your people”. For many, family is a good source of this as well… unconditional love, I think they call it.

So as expats or anyone living too far from their family, those people you allow into your life and who’s life you’re allowed into, they act as more than just those you like to hit the town and drink one down with… they are vital components of who you are and the manner with which you go through life. They are your second family. And anytime one of those family members leaves, even if it isn’t forever, a part of you leaves as well.

Too dramatic, you think? It’s normal in an international city, says you? Perhaps. But last night the Mindcaster, myself, and some other friends, celebrated in honor of the departure of the great BlondeButBright. The famed blogger, academic, feminist, social critic, and pigeon hater. We joked and danced and even drank a bit, I think to both soak in some last moments for many months and to mask some of the sadness to see our friend go.

Fear not Amsterdam, BBB will certainly be back in 2006, refreshed and ready to once again take this town by storm. Until then, we’ll always have incriminating photos to make us smile thinking of that last crazy autumn night.

bicyclemark70: Whats Happening in Darfur?

An important interview with a friend who just returned from the refugee camps on the border with Darfur, Sudan.

AudioCommunique #70(mp3)
27min+, 80kbps, 15Mb+

Subjects Include:
Donahue
Is my show about Amsterdam or World Affairs – a response to listener mail
An interview with my friend Fannie direct from Montreal
A recommendation for action

Music Includes: (im tired of the amazon associates links)
Orchestre Baobab – La Rebellion
Phillip Glass and Ravi Shankar – Offering
Coheed & Cambria – Wake Up