nilonilonilo

Dear Brussels, I'm afraid I'm done with you.

Mon, 06 May 2013 21:09:35 +0200

Maybe it’s because we’ve had the harshest winter in a long, long time, and life here was a bit harder than usual, or maybe I’ve just been reading too many articles on Brusselnieuws with readers’ comments from people who have nothing to do but whine all day, but honestly, dear Brussels, I think you and me are done.

Can I even call you ‘dear’ still? I’m sorry to say this, but it’s getting harder and harder every day.

I’ve lived here happily for thirteen years or so, but when I stop and look at you now, what I see is more or less exactly the same place as thirteen years ago. Perhaps a little worse off.

I wish I still had the enthusiasm of a freshly arrived French immigrant in the nice/cool/hip (add your own nuance) borough of Saint-Gilles. Hey, I was once an enthusiastic freshly arrived Flemish immigrant in Saint-Gilles myself. But now that enthusiasm has largely disappeared. (Perhaps I should just move to Saint-Gilles again, instead of staying in the not always very uplifting borough of Anderlecht.)

Yes, you are multicultural and diverse; I have friends from all over Europe and I love shopping at the Turkish and Moroccan corner stores. Yes, you are rather affordable for a European capital. And yes, there’s an incredible amount of culture here: contemporary dance, theatre in three languages or more, good museums, and fantastic gigs every week. I’m not complaining about that. But the excuse is wearing thin. The one thing you truly excel at, dear Brussels, seems to be mediocrity.

I’m sick of the inertia here. I’m sick of your pathetic politicians, lacking any credibility or competence, any ambition or integrity. I’m sick of this impotence – or is it just plain unwillingness? – to get anything done. There are hundreds of unfinished projects lying around in hidden drawers. Projects that have been talked about for years and years, pretty much since I arrived here, but that will probably never ever see the light (open air swimming pool anyone?). And whenever something actually gets done, it is always with years and years of delay, and results are mediocre at best.

I am sick of your boorish inhabitants, your reckless drivers, your cretinous citizens. (Although calling them citizens would actually imply a certain amount of civic sense, which often seems to be lacking.) I’ve had it with your bad services. I am sick of your dirty streets, the endless littering, the ubiquitous smell of urine. One could run the risk of getting used to it (“it’s part of living in the capital, right?”) until you travel abroad and realize that yes, it is actually possible to enjoy clean cities and friendly people.

I am sick and tired of your congested streets, of your air pollution, of your unabated love for diesel engines. I am through with being treated like shit for riding a bike rather than a car. I’ve had it with your shocking lack of proper cycling lanes. At best you’ll slap some paint on the road, or build some crazy obstacle course abruptly ending in some seriously dangerous situation, and call it “bicycle infrastructure”. I’m not having it anymore. This city is not made for cyclists or pedestrians, it’s not made for public transport, but driving in you is a nightmare too. Is there anybody who actually likes to move around in Brussels?

When I moved here, I sensed a great feeling of optimism and energy. Brussels was cultural capital of the year, I felt really excited about being a new Brusseleir, I felt this place was going somewhere. Now, as said, this excitement has largely gone – it seems to me Brussels has gone nowhere and is rooted more firmly than ever in its mediocrity. I look at the central thoroughfare in downtown Brussels and wonder whether we are in 2013 or 1993. Good luck in competing for the title of European Green Capital 2015, but seriously, who do you think you’re fooling? You’re lagging behind several decades compared to other cities when it comes to mobility, urban planning, ecology. Get your shit together first, and then maybe try again instead of throwing dust in people’s eyes like that.

As for me, I believe it’s time to move on. Thirteen years in one place is a lot. Caring readers can always send me suggestions for places to move to. (Extra points awarded for seaside locations – or at least a big river, nearby mountains, good food/music scene/climate, proper cycle lanes.)

So long, dear Brussels.

tangyauhoong: Keep The Fun Going on Flickr. You don’t stop...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:34:21 +0100

tangyauhoong:

Keep The Fun Going on Flickr.

You don’t stop having fun because you get old. You get old because you stop having fun.

Giclee Print

Tang Yau Hoong: Web | Shop | Facebook | Tumblr | Twitter | Behance

Impractical Guide to Brussels

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:57:29 +0100

Everybody wants to be a travel writer, including yours truly. So when i saw that The Impractical Guide was looking for people to write a piece about Brussels, I jumped on it and put together a little something, which you can read here.

Working on something else about Brussels too, a bit longer, rather less positive, coming up one of these days, perhaps, hopefully.

Some people remarked that in order to get the mixtape I offered...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:56:34 +0100

Some people remarked that in order to get the mixtape I offered you a while ago, you have to download all the separate tracks from the Dropbox folder. I understand this is totally non-user friendly and so 2001. I tried to fix it so that it would be a Zip file or something but it didn’t work out. Apologies about that. Will work on the logistics for the next edition.

Also, I inexplicably forgot to include a track by The Dropout Patrol. This Berlin band put out their debut album last year and it was definitely one of my favourite albums of the year. Check it out if you like your indie nice and quiet but punchy when necessary, bass-heavy (but not in a dubstep kind of way), melodic, understated, Karate style. So here’s a respin of their video for Irrelevant Variables, one of my favourite tracks on the album (which you should buy!).

In my list of best gigs of 2012, I somehow forgot the one by...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:26:50 +0100

In my list of best gigs of 2012, I somehow forgot the one by Patrick Watson, on the 26th of October. It was very, very good. The music was wonderful, the band looked like hobos but they are all fantastic musicians, and the stage design only added to magic. To compensate for the ommission in my list, here’s a little video they recorded in the Halles St-Gery in Brussels a few hours before the show. Recorded and published by the fine folks of Bruxelles Ma Belle.

Nilo's 2012 X-mas mixtape

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:32:00 +0100

A few more hours, and 2012 will be history. For me, it was the year of bike punctures (10 in total or so), and I had my fair share of medical troubles. Highlights on the other hand included running a 20 km race and a fantastic second trip to Iceland.

Anyways, the end of the year means it’s time for the 2012 edition of Nilo’s X-mas mixtapes!! Perhaps it’s a little too early too really speak of a tradition, but it’s my pleasure to share once again my favourite tunes of the past year. Note that those tunes are not necessarily tunes that were released last year, it could just as well be stuff that I just (re-)discovered.

Also, it’s not a tape, and the tracks are not mixed together, but well, you get the point.

Part one is the mellow poppy part. Nothing too obscure or far-fetched here, just some nice little tunes. It opens up with a track from Dutch maestro Spinvis, and features a second Dutch track by I am Oak. A lot of Belgian stuff too, the twee pop of Renée, the genius pop (not my words) of VO, and a nice old little ditty by the strongly related but now defunct Raymondo. There’s a track by Rökkurró, an Icelandic band whose album I picked up at Reykjavík airport this summer, a beautiful live track by Antony and the Johnsons, and some more indie favourites such as Liars, Dirty Projectors and Patrick Watson.

Motorpsycho put out a fantastically epic, trippy double concept album out this year, but none of the tracks would fit in right on this compilation. Future of the Left’s album was also pretty neat, but my favourite track on that record was a bit too rough to include here, so I put in ald number by their predecessors McLusky, whom I in fact also just discovered this year. We end with a rather epic song by musical boy wonder Peter Broderick and a beautiful, beautiful minimalistic piano track by his best friend Nils Frahm.

Part 2 is the sunny part, the exotic part, the groovy part. There are two Nigerian 15-minute stompers on there. Everybody has heard Fela Kuti’s ‘Opposite People’ before, of course, but it was played so brilliantly by Antibalas at their Brussels gig in October that I just had to include it. The other one is by Segun Okeji, it’s one of the most exciting African tunes I’ve heard in a while and I discovered it through the excellent 22tracks.com website. Other than that, there’s stuff from Congo, Kenya, some Colombian stuff with the fantastic all-star band Ondatrópica, Guadeloupe and even … Germany!

Click here to get Part 1 and click here to get Part 2.

Hope you’ll like it!

Other than that, I wish you a smashing 2013, and personally, for myself, less punctures.

Cheers!

2012 in concerts

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:45:00 +0100

It’s been a busy year concert-wise. I attended 67 gigs, and also played about a dozen times with Jean-Mikili and had my first gig with Uncle Berry. (I also played a solo set in a living room in Reykjavík, but there were only four people and I only played four songs, so I don’t know if it’s really worth mentioning.)

I’ve been pretty methodical and noted every gig I’ve seen this year, so it’s easy to go over them now and pick the very best: great musical nights, with a band playing at the top of their game, setting the whole venue on fire and afterwards you only want one thing: Can we do this again?

So here are those gigs of 2012, in chronological order:

22.02: Tune-Yards - Botanique, Brussels

17.05: Ebo Taylor - Bar du Matin, Brussels (!!!)

09.06: Pomrad + Liars - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels

01.09: The Dropout Patrol - Sounds of Bronkow festival, Dresden

06.10: Kid Koala - Botanique, Brussels (!!!)

08.10: Castus - Le Chaff, Brussels

27.10: Antibalas - Théâtre National, Brussels

08.11: Efterklang - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels (!!!)

26.11: Do Make Say Think - Atelier 210, Brussels

(Gigs marked with !!! make up the top 3 of the year.)

A special mention goes out to my dear friends of Ballet Dancer and their one and only gig (plus one try-out show in their rehearsal space), I hope they find a way to keep on playing and keep on indie rockin’.

By far the worst show I saw this year was Betticiclopp and Pierre Elitair in Recyclart in January. But then again I attended that show for all the wrong reasons.

May 2013 bring us many more kick-ass concerts!

europeandi: Thanks to Uncle Berry for bringing music, warmth...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:47:39 +0100

europeandi:

Thanks to Uncle Berry for bringing music, warmth and friends to our living room this afternoon for little festive cheer!

Thanks Tom for the cool pic. Finally got to play my first gig with Uncle Berry. Was fun!

transitmaps: Brussels Metro Map Changeover, April 2009 Here’s...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:37:57 +0100

transitmaps:

Brussels Metro Map Changeover, April 2009

Here’s an interesting pair of photos from 2009 that show two in-car strip maps that co-existed on Metro trains in Brussels. Together, they show the changes in the system that were occurring with the opening of track between the Delacroix and Gare de l’Ouest stations.

Apart from a new look to the map, the system itself seems to have been overhauled completely, with the previous lines “1A” and “1B” becoming “5” and “6”, amongst lots of other changes. Note also the four languages used on the informational stickers: French, Dutch, English and German!

(Source: Daniel Sparing/Flickr)

Ah, Brussels, perhaps the only place in the world with a circular metro line that is not circular? Three years later, and this whole Simonis (Elisabeth)/Simonis (Leopold II) thing is still confusing me.

Got to spend the weekend in Zeeland. First fog, then rain, and...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:31:00 +0100

Got to spend the weekend in Zeeland. First fog, then rain, and to cap it all off, a full-blown storm. But also two hours of sunshine to go out and blow the dust out of our brains.

watershedplus: The Firefly Squid is a specie of squid equipped...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:35:08 +0100

watershedplus:

The Firefly Squid is a specie of squid equipped with photophores that emit a deep blue light.
During the spawning season millions of these biolumunescent squids come together to fertilize and to drop their eggs in the Toyama Bay, Japan.

from here

Fluorescent squid - how awesome!

I took this picture about two months ago, during the car-free...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:43:45 +0100

I took this picture about two months ago, during the car-free Sunday in late September. A great day, cycling around town, catching some late summer sunshine. But let’s not focus on the climate or my bare feet here.

See that tower in the background? It’s the Brusilia tower, with its 36 floors the highest residential building in Belgium - until now. (When finished, the Up-site tower along the canal in downtown Brussels will be the highest.)

It stands by the Josaphat park in Schaarbeek, on the grounds of a former sports hall, in which the Rolling Stones even played a concert in the sixties! The sports hall was torn down shortly after, and the present tower was finished in 1974. It was designed by Jacques Cuisinier, the same man who designed the Martini Tower and atrocities such as the administrative centre at De Brouckère and Hotel Méridien in front of Brussels Central Station.

Although it met with a lot of disapproval when it was originally built, the Brusilia tower has become somewhat of a cult building. It still exudes a lot of class and quality, it’s not grim at all. Last week I visited an apartment that was for sale there, only on the 3rd floor, which is nothing when you see how many floors there still are above. (But still the view on the park was better than the view in 95% of Brussels’ apartments.) Sadly, the bid I made was too low… Wouldn’t have minded living in this iconic tower…

This past weekend, the three-day festival Paradise Now took...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:24:50 +0100

This past weekend, the three-day festival Paradise Now took place in an abandoned printing factory right in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Anderlecht. I was too lazy on Friday and busy on Saturday, but yesterday I went over and had a great time discovering this huuuuge place, full of installations, pieces of art, performances, discarded printing equipment, rublle and tons of books left around the place. It was all a bit eerie (it was dark) yet magical, enchanting. I didn’t stay long enough to catch the concerts, but i’m really pleased that I went, it was a cool surprise, despite the chilliness, to discover all these nooks and crannies (in the main factory building, some ruins next to it, and an abandoned house on the same grounds), bursting with creativity, with a tolerable level of arty farty.

The building will be demolished in the near future.

thedropoutpatrol: Video by: Alexandra Riedel, Manuel Müller,...

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:46:50 +0200

thedropoutpatrol:

Video by: Alexandra Riedel, Manuel Müller, Ulrich Kalliske

Another great video for a great band. Live in Brussels this Wednesday!

Three years already since I went to Nepal? Yup … This...

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:31:23 +0200

Three years already since I went to Nepal? Yup … This picture is still my desktop wallpaper. Click here for more.

cabinporn: Dawn overlooking Mueller Hut in Mt. Cook National...

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:36:22 +0200

cabinporn:

Dawn overlooking Mueller Hut in Mt. Cook National Park, New Zealand.

Submitted and photographed by Hamish Elliott.

I had lunch here one day in April last year, abundant sunshine and snow, was brilliant.

@kidkoala ruling like a boss in Brussels yesterday. Even playing...

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:09:31 +0200

@kidkoala ruling like a boss in Brussels yesterday. Even playing some Player (!) in his set, Moon River (thank you!) And just generally rocking an awesome show. And I scored a kazoo! Perfect night! (Taken with Instagram)

Last Monday (a running story)

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:41:46 +0200

Despite the stormy weather (or because of?) there are lots of other runners out there. Out there = the canal towards Charleroi, southwest of downtown Anderlecht. Lots of dog owners are about too, amongst them the mysterious lady with the long grey hair and her golden retriever, a regular. The ground is littered with branches, lots of them, snapped off from the trees by the wind. Some massive ones too, could crush a car with those. Widow makers.

I decide to go for a longish, slow run. I’m wearing my oversized fluorescent yellow high-visibility jacket, hence I look like a giant running lemon. The jacket is not waterproof, but keeps out most of the wind. Prevalent winds around these parts are southwest, so I have a headwind for the first half of the run. Towards the turning point, it picks up strongly, sending an intense rain shower my way. Fresh.

I reach the turning point, so I turn back. Wind in the back now. Rain is gone as soon as it came. Bright, intense evening light, sharp contrasts, golden glow. The setting sun to my left. Ahead of me, where the rain is drifting towards, a double rainbow forms. Just a few seagulls, there will be more in winter. No heron today. Along the side of the track stands a blue Volkswagen Polo, in which it turns out a couple is having sex.

Last two kilometres, slowly slowly. More runners, more dog owners. I make it back home, have my shower. My knee never hurts a lot while actually running, but this will probably my last run for a long while. It’s been a fun hobby.

Had the perhaps last outdoor lunch of the year, and then ticked...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:02:00 +0200

Had the perhaps last outdoor lunch of the year, and then ticked off another long overdue box on my Brussels to do list: the Scheutbos park, a nice spot of urban countryside in Molenbeek. Sundrenched yellow fields and a crisp deep blue sky. Buddhist prayer flags as a nice extra surprise. (Taken with Instagram)

lefto: Co-directors Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau visited...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:11:00 +0200

lefto:

Co-directors Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau visited 180 courts throughout NYC’s five boroughs to create their debut documentary. They traveled to a majority of the locations by bicycle, carrying camera equipment and a ball in their backpacks. The film’s title refers as much to the subject matter as it does to the method of film-making, providing an unprecedented perspective on urban America’s most popular, and accessible, free recreation.

Looks like another great documentary that I’ll probably never get to see … :-(