Category Archives: Text

Utrecht and Back

It happens few and far between, but I found myself heading out to another fine city in the netherlands, late at night, for a party! A Portuguese party no less, where you can walk around and speak Portuguese to everyone and don’t worry, cause they speak it. At this same party, the Dutch are relegated to a corner where, for once, they are the minority in our republic of Portuguese-Transplanted. If you’re doing any tourism in the Netherlands anytime soon, don’t miss a journey to lovely Utrecht. Much smaller than Amsterdam, but brimming with life and history stuff.

On the train ride home, being prevented from dosing off by the annoying choral group that decided 3am is a good time to rehearse the highest pitch music you can imagine…. I started thinking of impeachment. That’s just what came to mind.

When oh when will there be enough evidence unearthed. Evidence that this government in the White House has deliberately manipulated the public, mismanaged resources, and abused the power of that office. Clinton got a BJ and they almost tore him to shreds, W bombs two countries to the stone age, gets all his old buddies nice government contracts, and takes the country on the modern-day crusades…. isn’t there enough to Bring on the Beef?

1 Year Uncle

Could it possibly have only been one year ago today that my little boy… my little A-Ren came into the world? Was I really sitting here in Amsterdam, staying up all night, waiting to hear word if I had a niece or a nephew?

It’s hard to imagine my family pre-A-Ren. Almost seems as if in every memory I have of the last few years, he’s somehow been pasted in there. Even from this side of the ocean, far away and unable to see him first-hand, I know he’s the pride and joy… the superstar of my family.

And of course, I’m a silly uncle, and I have so much guilt and fear, that living here in the Dam will make me a forgetten uncle. It’s to a point that I write in this blog in hopes that one day, A-Ren who I love so much, will flip through it, and say — “UncleBM, You wrote that about me?”

And I’ll play it cool, cause I want to be the cool uncle, I’ll say — Yeah kid, I did. Now lets get out there on our bikes, I’ve got windmills to show you.

Happy Birthday A-Ren!

Lame Duck Democracy

For those who somehow didn’t notice, and maybe I can’t blame you since it was so uneventful, the UK had parliamentary elections a few days ago. I’ll not keep you in suspense… labour won. Again. And again. I mean they got less votes, but when you live in a one-party country you can still win with a bad turn out. (sorry Lib Dems, Conservatives, “others” you just don’t count) You thought the situation was bleak in the US, Tony Blair could have gone on television shown his ass, and declared it a campaign — he still would have won. Hooray for democracy.

But wait, it’s not a total sham. I myself stayed up til 3am watching the returns on the BBC. Two major things kept me glued to the telly….

  • 1 – Jeremy Paxman, the very blunt and bold BBC guy, ridiculing Cabinet Member Jack Straw for pretending everything was great when his party had just done pretty poorly.
  • The best was watching the returns per region. I loved hearing the Welsh language announcements and I kept thinking of Eddy Izzard doing his Welsh accent. I also loved hearing the Scottish accents, and generally the random little parties that get like 30 votes being announced. Reminded me of the Monty Python skit… oh.. better save that for the podcast.

    • Generally speaking, the only silver lining is that it was very obvious that people were voting their disapproval at having been lied to about the need to invade Iraq. The only trouble is that not enough of them did it, and as usual – there is no real alternative to vote for.

    Tomorrow on the podcast, bring a pen, we’re learning about the European Constitution and my first hand experience as an EU citizen. The gloves are coming off, Im tired of all the fallacies and half-truths.

    People’s Herstory

    Twas the night before liberation day and all through the city, not a creature was stirring, except maybe a Portuguese-American riding back from Rock-n-Roll Amy’s. Some children are probably nestled all snug in their beds, while bm sits at his powerbook and listens to a People’s history of the United States on audio book.

    Perhaps you know of Howard Zinn’s thick but compelling History told from the people’s experiences. Nothing to do with that crap they’re dishing out in American public and private schools. I would know, I went through both and in the end — learned more from the people than from the outdated, poorly compiled history books. But I digress, this audio version is narrated by Matt Damon. I’ve never thought much of him as an actor really, wasn’t he the star in Ryan’s privates? Well, I can say that it’s cool to hear this book narrated by this voice. It’s crisp, familiar, and well.. nice.

    Who would you like to hear narrate your copy of People’s History, or any other book for that matter? I’d want James Earl Jones! When I was little, his voice was the official one of NJ’s phonecompany… Bell Atlantic. It was always fun to hear him whenever you dialed information. Some voices instantly ellicit respect and attention.

    I would also like to add that Howard Zinn himself reads the preface and conclusion, and I’ve heard him on Democracy Now many times. He has a good New England voice. We have a friend in common, so hopefully one day soon, he and I will sit and have a drink. I’d like to hear more of his life and his experiences. I can just picture it; that will be a truely great day.

    I remember Rwanda

    I just finished watching Hotel Rwanda. I just finished watching Hotel Rwanda. I just….


    People don’t tend to blog about Rwanda do they? I myself find it hard to reconcile the fact that I want so badly to write pages about Rwanda, and yet I want to simply bow my head in shame and say nothing because any attempt to say something noble would be completely useless and insulting.

    I am ashamed Rwanda. I am a European-American… and when I look at you I feel such grief and shame. And yet… when your country experienced such horror. When neighbors killed neighbors. When 1 million corpses of 1 million humans were left to rot in the streets of Kigali, I committed a far more diabolical crime. Just like the journalist in the movie said, I sat home, watched it on TV, thought to myself — That’s Horrible — and then I went back to my daily routine. While I may have been quite young, my western life simply didn’t leave me the time or the will, apparently, to organize a movement demanding that the international community intervene and stop the genocide. Oh yes, it could most definitely have been stopped, but who had time for that… there was Monday Night Football to be watched.

    It is often said that we who live in the rich countries of the world are lucky. We have the “great fortune” they say, “to have such a high standard of living.” But I don’t feel lucky. I look at my hands, and at the hands of all our governments, and all I can see is blood. All I can feel is shame and horror. A good international lawyer could and should probably make such a case, take all the governments of the world, and the people which support them through vote or taxes, and charge them with war crimes. What crime? Watching millions die when we had the power to stop it, and then simply continuing to eat our dinners.

    Moving Pains

    No, you’re not lost. I’ve moved. Just down the block from our old place, and a much easier address. More importantly, no more blogger. No more delays or system down or whatever the hell was wrong with blogger. My move has lots of bugs in it, lots of problems to be fixed, please don’t bombard me with “fix this bm” emails, because that will make my head explode. So-to-speak.

    I’ve been having great skype chats lately. This evening with Madge Weinstein, who will be appearing on my podcast this week. And looking at the news about the train derailment in Japan, makes me think of the conversation I had with Scott from Tokyo Calling last night. I do hope he and his family are ok.

    Both these conversations reinforced the fact that blogging… podcasting.. it’s all related to personal connections. You come to know someone, to some extent, and you grow/explore ideas with them. Just as I’ve come to know many of you reading this, so too have I come to know other podcasters, and it’s always amazing how easy it is to get along with them. Like we’ve known each other forever.

    Yet another example of this would be the Sloeries, Holland’s beloved podcasting couple, who came over to the bicyclemark ranch yesterday and filled my powerbook with yummy goodness. (thanks duc!) Still getting the hang of lots of these shortcuts and software, but I can tell you now, I’m sold, this here powerbook is Quality with a capital Q.