Holland.com

Speaking of burqas

[via Amsterdam Historical Museum : My headscarf]:

What does wearing a headscarf actually mean, why does someone choose to wear a headscarf, where do you buy them, how many have you got, how do you tie a headscarf, what must you be careful about when putting on a headscarf, when did you first wear one and have you still got it, does your headscarf go with the clothes you wear? All these questions were put to Amsterdam Muslim women and girls on the street, at the university, in shops and other places. Their answers give an impression of the relationship young women in Amsterdam have with their headscarves.

Here's a slideshow I made of images from my visit to this exhibit.

Here's the podcast.

Bloggers in Amsterdam - a photoset on Flickr

This is a hot, wet and bothered holla back to the people of Holland.com.

I have finally recuperated from the ignominous aching of my old and sagging body and, after seeing the evidence of my having a good time, I've taken out hits on David from Jossip, Danielle of Celebrity Baby blog and Ezra Klein.

There's too much evidence of my having fun ... too much fun.

[via PerezHilton.com: Trainspotting]
Perez-trivia of the day : The man can down 'shrooms like they're nobody's business. And once 'shroomed, my hair freaks him out.

When I was asked by the fine people of Holland.com with which blogger I wanted to pair up I without batting an eye said "Perez Hilton". I mean, if gurl is going to have a serious 5 days off, notwithstanding posts like this one, then girlfriend will have the queen of all media as her travelmate to the land of hashish, shrooms and legalized prostitution.

Amen to that.

I give the ambiguously gay clothing store for Dutch men ... drum roll please ...

About 49 Euros.

In all my years, and they are going to be 40 this next June, I have never, EVER felt comfortable with these posters of Ché Guevara. I find them utterly problematic. Not because I don't think that revolution as a meme is not valid. What bothers me about this particular picture is the almost saintly qualities invested on the man.

Revolution is not pretty, it's never peaceful. Revolution is disruptive and always at a cost. Revolutions are not carried on the shoulders of messiahs, saits, martyrs or virgins. Revolutions are waged by people, common everyday people. Revolutions are not waged by icons or memes but flesh and blood and very mortal people.

What is even more upsetting is that this image of Guevara was popularized by Fidel Castro himself. He sold la revolució as if it were the rapture.

... with none other than with Perez Hilton. We're staying at the Lloyed Hotel and strongly contemplating going to a Liza Minelli concert like the queen and fag had we are.

The flight was uneventful but I am exhausted. Will check-in later. I will leave most of my Amsterdam blogginng to the "Counter Talk" section unless it's something more 'articleish', like my coming post on the Red Light District. But since I will be blogging about the trip, I did a little pimping up of the blog to mark the festivities.

Let the righteous liberal flaming begin.

Besides going to Amsterdam, I also have been invited to speak at or participate in several other events.

This Friday I start participating online in the Media Center's "Media Center Conversations". The Media Center is a media-technology-society think tank; and in this online collaborative project, bloggers and journalists get to mix it up to talk about culture, advocacy, public policy, etc. This will go on until their Global We Media Forum, which is happening in London this year. I'm penciled in to go. I don't have all the details about the online comings and goings but know that LittleJudy and Ron Mwangaguhunga from The Corsair are editors who have lined up evil geniuses like Perez Hilton, Ronni Bennett from Time Goes By, Nichelle Stephens from the Nichelle Newsletter, Ramiro Burr from the San Antonio Express-News and the fellas at Yahoo!Buzz Index.

On February 11th there will be a progressive bloggers "summit" here in New York City at the Grassroots Media Forum.

Am I to believe my all-expenses paid mini-vacation in the Amsterdam is a horrible conspiracy to have the Prime Minister of Holland rub all over me and 23 of my new bestest friends so he can steal our collective sexy birthday mojo?

[via And the least popular party guest is... - Yahoo! News]:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Branded a petty bourgeois by neighboring Belgium, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende appears to be equally disliked by his own citizens who voted him the most unpopular birthday party guest.

Asked "which Dutch celebrity would you absolutely not want to see at your birthday party?," 12 percent -- the highest proportion of those polled said: Jan Peter Balkenende.

This makes sense. I mean, why would anybody care to invite a loser sellout like me anyhow? Why would organizations like Personal Democracy Forum, LINC Project, South by Southwest, Cable Television Public Affairs Association, NYC Grassroots Media Conference, New American Media, the Association of Asian American Journalists, The Media Center, BlogHer, NARAL, People for the American Way, New Democratic Majority, NYC Democracy for America or any other organizations, journalists and documentarians be interested in anything I have to say about anything I do?

Oh. Wait. I see. I am now on the same league as Jack Abramoff, Armstrong Williams and Doug Bandow? What kind of a moron would equate my going to Amsterdam to maybe smoke some hashish, check out the Anne Frank Museum (which I did not 20 years ago, when I first went to Amsterdam), interview health care officials in the Red Light district and maybe have a couple of beers with my favorite Cuban, Perez Hilton to, and I quote, "curry government favor" by "accepting pampering by people with an agenda".

What.

The.

Fuck.