Art's a Scream!

The Museum of Modern Art, New York City.  A haven for weird-art-philes.  Whether it's rows of soup...

or a Starry Night....

... the museum is a Scream!

But seriously, the museum did have some pretty fantastic, very famous paintings.  I particularly liked this Monet...

Would look great in the living room.

Next to it was the famous "Water Lilies", which takes up an entire room.

There was even a painting from the surrealist Dali...

As well as the first surrealist sculpture I've ever seen.

That's a leg hanging from the middle.  Your guess is as good as mine.

 Then there was stuff that just defied any interpretation you tried to throw at it.

This looks like a plain American flag...

... but on closer inspection, one sees it's made of little newspaper clippings, even comic strips.  Cool!

Now let's appreciate some art.  A point for the most "creative" interpretation of this painting - Oof.

Can you imagine cleaning this chair?  I fear sitting in it - it might swallow me.

This art is by "intel".  It's a blow-up diagram of computer chips and circuitry... I guess art is different things to different people.

This drawing is pretty cool - from close up, it looks just like lines, but from far away, you can see the outlines of a library.

And a familiar piece of art!  Well, when I saw these last time, they were not in a museum  but on the streets of Paris.

Romanian Vampires and Free Alcohol

Last night, I watched my first Eurovision.  Eurovision is sort of like American Idol meets the Olympics - every year, the countries in an (ever-expanding) Europe send one group of singers to perform in front of an excited, flag waving audience.  Then, at the end of all the performances, people all across Europe call in to vote for their favorite country.  Since you can't vote for your own country, there was a definite tendency to vote for your nearest neighbor (so all of the Balkans voted for one another, while hardly anyone voted for poor Ireland, even though their performance wasn't half bad).  The winner would host the next year's Eurovision.

Unlike American Idol, however, entire groups could perform, complete with dancers and very artful presentation.  Half the fun was just watching how it was all put together.

Countries that did well were like Azerbaijan, combining artful presentation, a romantic pop ballad, and, most importantly, a young heartthrob singer.  (You can watch the video below.)

Then there were entries like Romania.  Ok, actually, nothing was like Romania's entry.  After watching, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  It seemed like the singer was an operatic vampire from some mildly dystopian future.  It just kept getting weirder and weirder.

Ok.....

But by far, my favorite was Greece's entry.  I mean, what's not to love about Greek kilts, glow in the dark instruments, and dancing that seems like it's more likely to be found after a night of heavy drinking?  Plus, their title seemed like a good reason for Greece to win and host the Eurovision next year... alcohol is free.

I've been to Greece, and the alcohol is not free.

Unfortunately, Greece didn't win (but they didn't do half bad - coming in 6th place!)  So for a point, who did win the Eurovision?  Caveat:  google is not allowed this time!  Either you have to already know the answer, or you have to guess.  It is a country you have heard of - I can guarantee that.    

There's a Hat for That

At the end of my recent trip to the US, I visited New York City for the first time.  And what a city it was.  Let's be frank.  New York is weird.  Wonderfully weird.  There are a ton of "Only in New York" moments I will share with you over the next few days.

I was in New York City for Easter.  One of the big events is the "Easter Bonnet Parade", which is less of a parade, and more of a gathering of people who wear the most interesting, absurd, or just plain weird hats.

Some people dressed up very nicely, in clothes you would expect if, say, you spent the weekend in the 1920's.

This guy went back even farther, and dressed up in the style of the 1620's.

Other people did Easter themes.  These folks were true "egg-heads".

All sorts of Easter bonnets, replete with tons of flowers.

 

To the point it was hard to hold on their heads anymore...

Some got quite large.

And quite complex.

Even the dogs got in on the action.

This little fella was died blue!

The classic beehive.

He has trolls sprouting from his head!!!

And some people didn't stop at only a hat.  I have no idea what fashion statement this guy is going for.

Not caring at all about the cold weather.

Fashionable fur?

The little known "Easter Robot".

One of my favorite hats - it was animated, with spinning eggs and dancing people.

This lady's hat was so lively it attacked an onlooker.

Feeling Orange

This last Tuesday was Queen's Day (or King's Day?) here in the Netherlands.  Normally a day to celebrate the monarchy, this year was special, because Queen Beatrix passed down the crown to her son, (the now) King Willem.

In general, it's a day to wear orange, dance, listen to music, drink... but mostly, wear orange.  For the occasion, I got an orange wig.  Yes, that's me (on the left) with my friend Chiara.

Looking smashing.

People took the opportunity to wear all different types of orange.

Even the dogs get into it!

If you forgot your orange, you could always buy some on-site.

The other option, if you don't like orange, is to deck yourself in the colors of the Dutch flag - red, white, and blue.

This was what Chiara's friend chose to do - he refused to wear orange, but ended up buying a red, white, and blue cowboy hat.  I told him he was all set to visit Texas now.

Another big part of the day is the "sales".  This is the one day a year that people are allowed to have "garage sales" (without garages, of course).  People line up on the streets starting at 6 AM to hawk all sorts of junk to anyone who is willing to fork over a euro or two.

Of course, the other part of Queen/Kings day is the chance to get drunk in the middle of the day.  This student house (sort of like the Dutch equivalent of the frat house) was decked out in orange for the day. The guys dragged out their sofas to sit in front, drink, listen to music, and get totally wasted.

The DJ, with a table made out of beer crates.

Other activities, more oriented to the kids.

We headed to the city square, where we watched the coronation on TV.  Sadly, the new king did not actually wear a  crown.  A point if you can say why.

Even the buildings around town take the opportunity to "wear orange".

Music provided by the most dynamic DJ I've ever seen.

Finally! Someone takes the obvious marketing strategy of selling orange juice on Queen/Kings Day!

Listening to music, of a more lively band.

Near the end of the afternoon, the poor square is showing signs of massive partying.

Hanging out the window to listen to the music.

Various businesses take the chance for some marketing.  The local grocery store was handing out orange fuzzy guys, wearing crowns.

While my yarn shop knitted up some orange tree cozies, complete with crowns.

Sitting on the canal at the end of a long day of partying.