Archive by Author
Paulien Cornelisse: Taal is zeg maar echt haar ding Posted by Elena on Mar 13, 2011
My office book club, which has only met once, at Trafalgar Café in Eindhoven, where we discussed our shared literary experiences over schnietzel and beers, recently read a book that has been quite popular among Dutch readers since it came out in 2009: Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding, by Paulien Cornelisse. Cornelisse is a…
Carnaval: 24-hour party people Posted by Elena on Mar 6, 2011
I will continue to “rep” Limburg this week and treat you all to a little taste of the Carnaval festivities that tear up Maastricht (and the surrounding area) every year for the few days before Lent. And when I say tear up, I do not joke. People from all over the Netherlands come to the…
One of my favorite things: the Rietveld Schröderhuis Posted by Elena on Feb 27, 2011
The Rietveld-Schroder house is, in my humble opinion, maybe the Netherlands’ finest attraction. 20th century Dutch architecture is, of course, its own course of study, and its reputation precedes it. But you don’t need to be a design nerd to appreciate the Schröder house, which is open to the public Woensdag t/m Zondag, by reservation…
Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share Posted by Elena on Feb 6, 2011
This past week I finally sat down to watch an episode of the long(est)-running Dutch soap opera, “Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden,” which has been beloved by 1.3 million viewers once a week since October 1990. I wanted to watch because the show had been mentioned at my office: one of my coworkers proposed that drama…
Kids these days say the darndest things Posted by Elena on Jan 30, 2011
Awhile ago now, I was talking to one of my friends about whether there was any Dutch hip hop I should be covering for this blog. I probably asked with a little bit of a smile, because the idea of Dutch hip hop is funny. He mentioned De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig and Die Antwoord, though…
Tinkebell: A brush with contemporary art in the Netherlands Posted by Elena on Jan 23, 2011
This past week, a new editorial by Rutger Ponzen in de Volkstrant revisited the Tinkebell phenomenon. I’d never heard of her before, but she’s a Dutch artist (Tinkebell is, predictably, her pseudonym; her real name is Katinka Simonse) who has made herself famous (at least in Holland) by making art about animals that has tended…
Hallo, Mestreech Posted by Elena on Jan 16, 2011
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t live in one of Holland’s four big cities – Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Den Haag – grouped together like a big happy family up North. Instead, I live in Limburg. This little southland of outliers has its own distinctive culture – and, in many cases, its…