Test (2 Viewers)

[Dennis Nicholls]

Well the kitties appeared to be most distressed by the 12 hour drive, but have now explored the new digs and have adapted to having stairs. You should have seen the expression on Fluffy Pumpkin's face as he viewed the stairs for the first time. You could almost see the wheels and cogs turning therein. He charged full-speed up the stairs, wandered around upstairs for a moment, then ran full-speed down the stairs. He must have gone upstairs and downstairs six or seven times during the first half-hour in the new house.

 

[Cees Alons]

On our previous cruise, Charo was one of the entertainers. I didn't know before that night that she's such a marvellous and talented classical and flamenco guitar player.

She actually trained under Andres Segovia. And started her career uhm.. under Xavier Cugat, the band leader.

Her real name is Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza. Just remember that name!

Her technical ability on the guitar is absolutely stunning.

Cees

 

[Mike Frezon]

You could almost see the wheels and cogs turning therein. He charged full-speed up the stairs, wandered around upstairs for a moment, then ran full-speed down the stairs. He must have gone upstairs and downstairs six or seven times during the first half-hour in the new house.

Imagine the culture shock. Having your entire life and everything you know to be true turned on its ear and all the sudden being in a strange, yet marvelous place. Kind of like leaving:

For:

No matter what your perspective...it's just gonna be a whole lot different!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh, Cees: As soon as you said you had seen Charo perform, I KNEW you'd reference her guitar playing abilities.
That girl made such a career in the 70s based on her more visual set of abilities that noone one EVER take per performing seriously. Yes, it's a curse.
The Cougat thing, too, was always good for a joke.
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I finally got around to watching The Vanishing last night. A supremely interesting flick to watch. Although, I would suspect it carried a much bigger emotional wallop back when it was released. We seem so desensitized now as a society to horrific kidnapping/missing person/psycho killer stories that I would imagine the closing chapter played a whole lot "bigger" when it was first seen. i know there was a US remake a few years ago, I would be interested to know if they racheted the story up a few notches for that reason.
One of the things that made it so interesting for me was the "travelogue" aspect of the film. The shots of scenery and roadside stops that were prevalent throughout the film were incredible.
I had to go and get a map of Europe to see where France and The Netherlands were in relationship to each other (Should I put that in a spoiler? I don't want to give away too much of the movie! ) I am wholly ignorant of world geography. Us Americans are way too nationalistic. Through my church I've gotten to know a couple of college-age Indian students and am amazed at how much they know about the U.S. and about how little I know about India.
I thought the performances were all good. I thought it was an odd bit of storytelling how the film jumped about a bit chronologically. But it seemed to work. At least I didn't get lost! One of the things I liked was the way the director did NOT hit you over the head to make a point. For example, when the daughters of Raymond Lemorne were watching the TV interview of Rex Hofman and said "Look, Dad, there we are"...and you don't find out till a later viewing of that same interview that the father had been at that scene with his family. Creepy.
Well done.
I had only planned to watch the first hour and then make my bedtime...but that went out the window as I had to see how the whole thing turned out. I guess that says something about the film.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I had to go and get a map of Europe to see where France and The Netherlands were in relationship to each other

Oy veh, Mike: you are going to confirm non-Americans in their belief that we are clueless about the external world. :b
Did you know, for example, that California has a larger population (32 million) than the nations of Canada (30 million), the Netherlands (16 million), Austria (8 million), Belgium (10 million), the Czech Republic (10 million), Greece (10 million), or Hungary (10 million)?
Did you know that it is a longer drive from San Jose to Boise (680 miles) than to go from Paris to Rome? Try driving from Paris to Rome with 3 crying kitties someday!
For your pennance, you should buy yourself a copy of the National Geographic Atlas of the World (whatever edition is current). I suggest getting the best price via http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

By the way, Mike, who are those people whose photos you posted, and what do they have to do with state politics? :p)
Oh, wait, here's a link for a bio for one of them:
www.nraleaders.com/senator-larry-craig.html , as posted by a group who OPPOSE his views. If that's the worst your enemies can say about you, you must be a pretty decent and competent person.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oy veh, Mike: you are going to confirm non-Americans in their belief that we are clueless about the external world.

But I am...I am. Clueless, that is, about the "external world". Does it say "external world" on any maps? I haven't seen that.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I think that "external world" is the modern vernacular for "there be dragons here" on the older maps.

 

[Cees Alons]

you are going to confirm non-Americans in their belief

I once told an American table companion that I lived in Amsterdam. He asked: "Uhm, Amsterdam is the capital of Brussels, right?".

And I don't even dare to write down what most people ask if I tell them my wife was born in the old city of Haarlem (which is almost as old as Amsterdam, and situated rather close to it, just like New-Haarlem to New-Amsterdam, sorry: Harlem to New York).

Cees

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Cees,
From my limited travels in Europe, I may venture to guess that many Europeans may also draw erroneous conclusions about Americans. If an English-speaker is neatly dressed and comports himself properly, he is deemed to be "English"; whereas if another English-speaker dresses in tacky clothes and acts boorishly, he is deemed to be an "American".
When I travel in Europe, I pack dignfied casual clothing. Once I was having breakfast at the hotel in Salzburg, and was dressed in a tweed sportcoat and slacks. The hotel restaurant was nearly empty. Several tables away from me a man and woman were having breakfast, and she was going on (in German) about how boorish Americans were. And the worst were Californians....they were culturally clueless and only cared about the beach and surfing. Her companion tried to shush her, pointing me out and saying there's one over there. She looked me over and told him "nein, er ist Englander!"
A few minutes later the waiter came over and we started chatting (me in my best Hoch Schule Deutsch). We discussed the various artists' performances in the recently-concluded Mozart festival, and then he asked me where I was from. I told him "I'm from California...I run a surf shop there." The woman who was convinced that I was English all but spit out her coffee hearing me say that.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Cees,

I also sometimes have to remind my electrical engineer friends that the capacitor was invented in the Netherlands (i.e. the "Leiden jar", invented in 1745 by Pieter van Musschenbroek). So I guess it goes both ways.

 

[Mike Frezon]

They totally spoiled it. They changed the ending. They added a girl to the story, who got romantically involved with the protagonist and changed the outcome. George Sluizer was inexperienced enough to allow the studio the different Hollywood "solution". Too bad for him, and for the movie.

All right, Cees. I am totally confused (a common situation for me! ). The re-make was also directed by George Sluizer? Why did he make the same movie twice just five years apart? That's really odd.
Should I see the newer one...or just have you tell me how they changed the ending?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Mike and Cees,
Another thing gleaned from the atlas....
Idaho is an "alpine" state of 216,000 square kilometers.
Austria has 83,000 square kilometers, and Switzerland has 41,000 square kilometers.
Idaho therefore is an alpine state as big as Austria, Switzerland, and the alpine portions of Germany and Italy combined!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Sung to the tune of Edelweiss...
Idaho, Idaho
the state veg'table's the potato.
Small and white, clean and bright
We sing this song in legato.
Blossom of snow: the Syringa.
The state's gem stone is garnet.
Idaho, Idaho
Bless my homeland forever.
Idaho, Idaho
the Western White Pine grows high.
The summit of Mt. Borah
climbs two-miles-plus to the sky!
Appaloosas run free and fast
the Hagerman Horse is no more.
Idaho, Idaho
Bless my homeland forever.
State symbols of Idaho.

 

[Cees Alons]

Mike,

Why did he make the same movie twice just five years apart?

The original movie (Spoorloos = Untraceable) was a big success in Cannes as well as with the critics and Dutch and Flemish audiences. But not commercially, at least not huge. Foreign films never did (or do) very well inside the US and "Hollywood" felt it needed an American remake, so they invited George Sluizer to direct it.
He saw it as a kind of international recognition (poor guy), and the money wasn't too bad either, I assume. Unfortunately, apparently, he wasn't quite prepared for the commercial environment in the big film industry.
I'd say go see the remake (rent it) and decide for yourself. I won't spoil it for you by telling more about the plot. The actors (Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock) are certainly not bad. It's just that the movie lost its sting. That's all I can say and in fact, I'm interested in your opinion.
Dennis,
Yes, that "commonly held" opinion about Americans is certainly not mine. The Dutch generally have a reasonable geographical knowledge and so we're a bit surprised still, if "commonly known" information is absent. But the same I told you about an American friend goes for French, English and Irish people, I can tell you.
And we have our stupidities too (and our stupid people). However ... a recent study of an Irish university showed the Dutch (together with the Germans) as the most intelligent (IQ-wise) nation in Europe. I won't tell you which European country had the very lowest average IQ, according to that study.
Of course, we, the Dutch, have our reservations about the scientific quality of that study.
Speaking of geographical knowledge, I still have a problem identifying all the different states of the US. It's a good thing that you guys are in the habit of linking the name of the state to a city as a habit (Washington DC, Houston Texas, Denver Colorado, Nashville Tennessee), so I know some of them by heart.
Cees

 

[Haggai]

It's a good thing that you guys are in the habit of linking the name of the state to a city as a habit (Washington DC, Houston Texas, Denver Colorado, Nashville Tennessee)

Actually, DC is officially a "district," not a state. Sort of a weird non-state area. But there are plenty of Americans who think Washington DC must be right next to Seattle, Washington, which is on the other side of the country!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, the Keifer Sutherland version of The Vanishing is in the $5.50 bin at my local Wal-Mart...so I guess I'll pick it up some day and add it to my interminably long queue of movies-to-watch.

However ... a recent study of an Irish university showed the Dutch (together with the Germans) as the most intelligent (IQ-wise) nation in Europe. I won't tell you which European country had the very lowest average IQ, according to that study.

I never said Americans were dumb...just nationalistic. We can't see past the ends of our noses (or shorelines).
I need to travel more. But I probably won't. :frowning:

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Should we start a new poll over in the polls forum to determine the name of the country in Europe with the lowest average IQ?

I would guess that it's some very poor and polluted country, such as Albania.

 

[Mike Frezon]

He did seem intentionally vague on that point.
The Faroe Islands?

 

[Cees Alons]

It's an eastern-European country. I just don't want this to get political.
It's the next three worst countries that is so shocking.
Cees