Tag Archives: US

“The Petrolienne” ?

Althought the name bicyclemark gave me, the Torontonienne, is not a misnomer (I lived in Toronto for the past 7 years, and it is a home to me), my real roots stem from a town called Petrolia. And as bicyclemark heard this morning, this tiny (one stop light) town was the first town in North American to discover oil (hence the lovely name). The interesting thing is, that it wasnt until I was old enough to have traveled to several other areas, and reflect upon my hometown, that I realized I grew up in a THEME TOWN! (of sorts).

Some of the oil-theme features include:

street lights shaped like oil derricks; the following street names: Oil Street, Tank Street, Eureka Street (where they first struck the black gold, Eureka!!); a town mascot named Derrick the Oil Derrick (oh the cheese); one of 4 restaurants is named the Oil Rig; the bar the Pump House; oil-related tourism of course … and I m sure there are more.

Perhaps the touted Disneyfication/ Cultural Commodification phenomena that is talked about so much right now in urban studies is somehow related. Was the formal branding of Oil Town an economic-development strategy by the town of Petrolia? Apparently many communities are seeking economic revitalization through the development of theme towns. Coca cola town, Food Town, Bavarian town (in the USA, and allegedly an economic success), UFO/Alien theme, Wild West town. Yes, the oil history of Petrolia is authentic (which sets it appart from many self-created theme towns), but there was definitely a plan to market the theme. I mean, who decided to creat oil derrick lamp posts?



Keeping in bicyclemark tradition, heres a lil bit of Amsterdam. There is a Ferris Wheel is Dam Square. I like Ferris Wheels, they re fun, nostalgic, and you get a view of the city. But definitely not worth the 8 Euros someone told me one ride costs (hearsay, I didn t actually stand in line to find out the cost). What is the value of a Ferris Wheel ride? When does the experience outweigh the cost? I think I would pay 4 Euros.

Today’s Sounds: the magnetic fields – (i’m addicted)


This ol park 2 – The Revenge

Gather ’round fellow world citizens, because today’s installment of this ol’ park is choc full of history and adventure. OK, maybe just history and some photos, but still, it was a mini adventure in itself out there today. Kirsten Dunst’s twin aka Ms. Thingk, was looking as lovely as always and ready to accompany me on another park adventure on a sunny Amsterdam autumn afternoon. A far cry from the vastness and emptiness of last week’s Westerpark, this week we went to the small and bustling – Sarphatipark.

Yes, you might almost miss it if you ride too quickly through the wondrous Pijp neighborhood, but if you were to miss it, you’d be missing a crazy world of dogs, bridges, ducks, children and working folk on their lunch break. It’s hard to believe that during the last years of the Nazi occupation, this place was a garbage dump.

But let’s step back for a moment, who is this Sarphati guy and whats he got to do with anything?

Samuel Sarphati, or Sammy as I like to call him, was a master of urban planning and a new Amsterdam hero of mine. He was a doctor to the poor and visionary who thought up the crystal palace of Amsterdam. Sure it burned in one night – but what a great night it was, if not for a brief moment.

But Sammy was a revolutionary, he was tired of people dying of disease in the ‘dam, tired of shit in the streets and shitting in the street. He developed plans to make the manure, garbage and ash into kickass fertiziler, which explains the abundance of nice plants in this land. And man did the rich hate him. But who had the last laugh.. he got a street, nursing home, and a park named after him – not too shabby for a lifetime of being coughed on and drawing funny designs. If that weren’t enough, he and I share a common bond… Sammy was Portuguese, oh yes! First generation Portuguese-Jewish in Amsterdam, see, I knew I was following in great footsteps. I’m just gonna watch where I step, since he didn’t manage to rid the city of poop.

Like the man himself, Sarphatipark is a people’s park. Complete with lots of benches, kiddy park space, and a plant hospital. On any given day, from tourist-photographers to exchange students from Holland, MICHIGAN, there’s no telling what simple beauty you might find in this park. Bicyclemark gives it, two urban planning thumbs up.

Something else I must pay tribute to is Bitch PhD’s recent post on abortion and motherhood. This is one of those posts that, for me, embodies why blogging is such a powerful and important means of communication and expression. I may have never lived it, but reading professor B, I feel that much closer to understanding what goes through a mothers mind. I have nothing to add to such a clear and powerful text.

Final note today: The blog vacation has been cancelled, no Brussel Sprouts for me. However the Torontonienne will be guestblogging on the communqu? this weekend, looking forward to that.

Today’s Sounds: Iron & Wine – EP

The Drock Files

Sometimes Drock writes me emails that are works of art… modern art… pop art. So without further adue… another one from the D-Rock files:


    Bicyclemark writes: I just remembered something… flashback… you wrote a check to me before I left DC… you were all fuckin sleepy… and in the memo part you wrote “Hot Sex”

    As if that shit wasn’t funny enough… I passed that check to dad for him to deposit… man did I feel weird handing my dad a check with a memo “hot sex” I just said to him ” dont mine the memo.. thats Drock being funny.

    Dad said nothing.

    Drock replies: Yeah that shit was fun…the check thing… I think your dad wrote in “Sextet” to hide the pain

By now you must be ready to spontaneously combust after those US presidential debates. I never heard so much goddam agreeing, once again I swear they were gonna make out on stage. They both love guns, war, xenophobia, faux tax cuts, religion, the middle class, the American worker and announcing that they have “a plan.” You can try focusing on the differences all you want, but the sad truth is, there aren’t that many. So in all my cynicism and nylism… I seek inner political peace. And miniclip.com has provided just the Oasis I need. Experience for yourself the joy of “The Hip-Hop Presidential Debate.” My personal favorite move is the W “Money Walk”, plus his gang of Baby Rice, Hollyburton, and Big C look like one badass crew. While you’re there look into Royal Rampage, where GWB and the Queen shoot up the town. Actually the list of fun goes on, most involving Bush and Kerry in awkward positions.

Moving away from that dead horse, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Deconstructionist– aka Asia- is studying to be a brain surgeon. Thus making her the first future brain surgeon blog that I read, which is quite exciting. I’m hoping I learn more about my own melon through her teachings. Plus, if that weren’t enough, she’s interested in BOTH pinball AND history. Two very intensive disciplines, both of which require good thumbs.

This weekend being my first ever time off since becoming a daily blogger, I’ve started to worry about the effects of so much writing on my wrists. My desk is actually a table and its far to high off the ground in relation to my chair. I’m like a toddler reaching for the cookie jar… for hours at a time. Whenever I read about Tony Pierce’s arm problems… spiders crawling up his arms… I worry about my own future. Then again.. he is 111 years old, and did have a great love affair with Anna Kournikova (photoessay alert – click through), so maybe there are benefits.

Today’s Sounds: Stars – Live Last Night.. still echoing in my head

Labour of Love

PLEASE NOTE DEAR READERS: As of this morning, Dec. 1st (9 days to my birthday) my blog is stuck in a timewarp, while some technical behind the scenes maintenance is done somewhere in California where my site’s brains are kept. Pardon the crap.. should be fixed today I hope.

Many of the bloggers who I helped get started in the last 6 months have become quite delinquent with posting. Maybe it’s a stage that my blog generation is going through, where being too busy or uninspired, keeps them from writing. I wish that weren’t so, blogging should be a bit like the mail, nor rain, sleet or rabid dogs should keep you away. Still, it’s exciting when the prodigal bloggers do return.

BBB and me explaining shit to the newbies.Yesterday I finally caught up with Blonde but Bright, back from her Baltic holidays. Our catch-up session went on for hours probably, as we caused a bike accident or two when we decided to pull off the bike highway and continue our discussion. Later she would throw up a nice post reminding the masses that much of these American elections are an illusion. Se?or Sneer does similar, in his post reminding you about the other candidates who aren’t allowed in the debates or in the spotlight.

Being as there is a general strike in the Netherlands tomorrow, and the good people of Atlantic City are out on the picket line, I felt this was a good time to go over the labor scene in several hot spots around the globe.


    – First lets start with Holland, I guess its a transport/general strike tomorrow, in protest of the governments massive cuts. Yet taking a walk around Uni you wouldn’t know it. No one here strikes, they don’t have unions, and they barely hang on to their jobs. I guess this is what they call the “flexible labor market.”

    – Nigeria, where much of your beloved oil comes from. Petrol workers strike. They say its about price control, or something. But if you think about it these employees make companies rich while they live in poverty, go figure.

    – Atlantic City, New Jersey Hotel and Restaurant Employees are in their second week of striking. They want real contracts, but the casinos aren’t interested. If you must feed your gambling problem don’t cross the picket line, wave and honk, bring some coffee, and then you can head over to Trump and gamble because he negotiated to avoid the strike. Plus he’s almost bankrupt.

    – Canada, civil servants are out on strike.

Now that I look at it, the list is far too long. But it still makes me think what strange times we live in. Strikes happen yet they don’t matter. Lives are at stake, yet it’s completely normal and probably appears at the bottom of page 10. And for those of us without unions, we just fend for ourselves and hope during the next restructuring we might still keep our tiny jobs in exchange for our another pint of blood and an applepie. Obviously I romanticize the days of big unions and direct action, say the 1930’s. I’m sure it wasn’t paradise by any means, I just wish I could have hung out with Joe Hill, ridin’ the rails*, hittin’ the skids*.

Let me once again take the time to condemn the upcoming US elections. I will continue to do so with every bit of evidence that comes forward that the process is dangerously flawed and has not been fixed since the last fiasco. It seems the system and its voters just continue to operate like its business-as-usual, excited to vote in a few weeks, nevermind the fact that states like Florida are corrupt and unfit to hold free & fair elections.

Today’s Sounds: Lost in Translation Soundtrack – Bill Murray singing More than Words

Nerd Meetup

I’ve appointed a personal independent counsel to observe hairline security. I suspect there is serious receding going on, but I’m reluctant to declare the onset of balding. Jimmy Carter and his team will be helicoptering in later to assess the situation.

For the first time ever, I met an online friend/a blogger I read – in person. Lilia Efimova aka Mathemagenic, rolled into Amsterdam from Pisa yesterday evening, and we immersed ourselves in Tibetan joy. They had the best tea of all time that I swear had dinosaur eggs in it. Rawr.

While sometimes you might meet an online friend in person and somehow you might not get on well, hardly the case with Lilia. Not only did we talk about bloggers and blogs that fascinate us, but we also let our nerdlyness hang out she shared the joy of her tablet pc with me. Tablet pc… that thing was sweet as sweet can be. I once thought they were some silly microsoft idea, the spruce-moose of computers, but NEE. This little puppy was sweet, portable, and downright sexy(if machines “do it” for you). I was initially worried that she would not want to talk about blogs because so much of her worktime is spent doing so, but no sir e, she was happy to shoot the shit about her adventures with Scandinavian bloggers in Sussex and her work related to knowledge management (km).

Overall, the dinner and blogwalk gave me a renewed sense of what I’m doing, why I do it, and that I’m not a complete freak. Well.. a partial one, but certainly not alone. Nevertheless, I know that I definitely want to pursue post grad studies in this realm, not to mention teach the people – spread the word.

Part of the conversation yesterday involved relationships between bloggers and readers, especially between individuals that are traditionally isolated from each other. As I read through Morgan Spurlock‘s blog this morning, I recognized that very situation. His documentary, Supersize Me, continues to float around the world, and has started appearing in schools across the US. But that’s not what gets me, what gets me is that Morgan is the director, not to mention the star, yet he blogs for all to read about how things are going with the film and his own daily life. He also includes his adventures, hopes, worries, trials and tribulations. Not everyone might see his blog the way I do, but you have to admit, its a far cry from a time where documentaries or any film is made and we as an audience have zero interaction with the director and understand nothing of who he/she is, besides the DVD extras which also changed film watching quite a bit. Anyway this idea of directors or authors or journalists blogging presents an interesting new arena connecting people, to some extent, who in the past would never have been connected. What do I sound like I’m preaching? In that case, pass the collection plate around.

And lest I forget= Happy Anniversary Soweto, place that gave us Mandela, Tutu, and countless others who fought and suffered for a better future. I might go out and buy Cry Freedom just to get more into the occasion.

Today’s Sounds: Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days

Weep Kryptonians

Kal-El, son of Jor-El has died. This is not the first time either. But don’t worry, because the internet and wikipedia will ensure that Krypton and its sons are forever remembered.

Derrida on the other hand, only now am I trying to understand him more. And I do appreciate what I understand of his philosophy in terms of language and word use. The words I type have more than just the meaning I think they have, they are multilayered with a historical and cultural connections. I think people forget that when they’re so busy being angry about so called political-correctness. As I’ve always said, it shouldn’t be called p.c., it should just be called thinking and considering the layered meaning of your words, before you speak. Actually I’m a Derrida idiot, but this is what he always reminds me of…. where’s my philosophical love in the Berkshires to help me out? …Amsterdam has never been the same without her.

Toronto’s number one chef in exile cooked dinner for some old and new Amsterdam personalities last night. Never has this city seen such a creative and loving chef, the man suffers for his art. Lucky us that he decided to come set up shop in the Pijp for a spell. Naturally I thought to bring the Torontonienne along, I mean.. who could resist introducing Canadians in Amsterdam to each other. I tried my best to listen-in on their interactions, observing Canuks in the wild. She will be guestblogging this weekend, by the way. (I hope) Yes, I shall be in Brussels spending quality family time. But I digress, over dinner we discussed the uniqueness of New Zealand, Australian Accents, and Canadian accents, which I am unable to reproduce via a blog. FOR Now.

Oh and – spy report – – spy report – spoke to my insider at the EU, this Croatia thing is a definite go it seems. I thought it was only an idea, but no no, they’re definitely going ahead with plans for Croatia to join the EU in something like ’07 or ’15.

I’ve never been there, but I have many Croatian friends here in Amsterdam, like the laid-back and fun-lovin cook at Foodism. (Oude Leilestraat Plug Plug) From his stories and what I read in the news, I’ll be very glad to have Croatia join the fun. I was thinking about it the other day, technically now, I could travel to Hungary and I am effectively a pseudo-citizen, in that I am a European Citizen. Going to Hungary could be like, me as an American going to.. New Orleans or something. Ok not the same… but I had you going for a second there.

Today’s Sounds: RFI Musique – I think its Baba Maal right now