Amsterdam & Big Decisions

Okay, so I've made a major decision. In 2012 (probably in August or September) I'm moving to Amsterdam.

Now before you think this is a rather rash decision, keep in mind I've been finding it hard to vacation anywhere besides Amsterdam for the past six years. Ever since I spent four months there, living in an apartment I rented from a friend who rented it from a friend who owned a yoga studio (and only used the three bedroom flat I sub-subletted on Saturdays for magic mushroom tea parties), I couldn't stop coming back.

It's not the drugs. I like a puff. It's great for menstral cramps, migrains, and for hangovers. Still even when I lived in A'dam for four months, I actually started treating marijuana like other people treat alcohol. Not every day, sometimes too much, but in a sort of situationally dependent moderation.

Now that the weed issue is cleared up, let me tell you why I was standing on a bridge spanning the Keizergracht about a week ago crying my eyes out. I didn't want to go home this time.

It was raining and the wind was pretty brutal and it was cold and my hair was so wet it was dripping. And yet I still knew I wanted to move to Amsterdam.

So from time to time I'm going to talk about it if only because relocating is a fairly interesting topic and I haven't been an expat maybe since I went to the US for school (and then stayed so long I was no longer considered an expat anymore).


I'm going to start by getting my neighbour to help me with my Dutch (I have a year afterall, I should be learning more Dutch every day!), make plans, find out information, and when the time nears find an apartment.

I can't help it and I know my Dutch friends think it's a bit hilarious, but ik hou van Amsterdam.

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YouTube's Video Editor, Amsterdam, & Sucking

I'm going to start this post backwards because I've only just started the process of uploading my video clips, so I have no flippin' idea how the video editor YouTube launched works yet. So in the meantime whilst I wait I'm going to have a rooibos tea, listen to pirate radio, and watch the rain come down. Yes my planned boat ride on the canal shall no longer be. Though if the rain let's up I'm marching down there to see whether it's on or not anyways. I figure if it's not on at least I can sneak into the Rijksmuseum and not feel guilty.

On to the music. One of the features of YouTube's video editor is you can add music to your videos. I have no idea what copyright issues are going to do to the availability of my selection - but in the meantime let's dream shall we? Together?

Now Miss Pool (that's L) has suggested that I use Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" and while I love me some Kraftwerk, it doesn't fit the video's subject matter. Going from Amsterdam to the seaside isn't exactly a transeuropean voyage.

Here's a list of songs I have considered in the 7+ minutes that it has taken YouTube to upload my 9min 59sec video...

Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Atmosphere

Adam and the Ants: Prince Charming

The Specials: Ghost Town

The Smiths: There's a Light that Never Goes Out, Back to the Old House, Panic

And then it occurs to me...doesn't YouTube have a time limit for how long videos can be? If my vid is going to be 10 minutes long I'm going to need more than one song....

This is why I haven't forrayed into the YouTube video making world before. It's well complicated. Must stop listening to Ska. It's making me use my Ali G voice.

Phew. Somewhere from the starting point of YouTube to the absurdity of viral videos of annoyingly cute kitty cats, the nice people at YouTube upped the cap on the time limit from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

The videos have all uploaded now. I have tagged them and all that stuff. So on to the next step.

Blogger not only didn't save my post, but I had some image problems too because I really need to buy Photoshop my print screens didn't save properly, but it doesn't matter because this "tutorial" I had planned to teach you (whilst teaching myself) how to use the YouTube video editor sort of became all about trying to find ways around the Editor's lack of functionality or lack of the functionality I wanted YouTube to offer me.

Here's why I think YouTube's Video Editor sucks the big one:

1. The whole editing the clips side bar-arrow thing is quite crap. Why can't I just point my mouse and click and remove the panels one by one??? Why??????

2. YouTube couldn't resolve the copyright infringement issues of using music, so what they offer is a list of artists I have never even heard of. So either I am way less cool then I think I am or no one knows who the hell these artists are either. Please say it isn't only me. Nice to know, on a sidenote that YouTube is really planning to make some more revenue off the music industry.

3. The transitions, to put it mildly, are what I would expect to see if a 5 year old figured out how to make a Power Point presentation. Does the world need another video that transitions between clips via a heart-shaped fade? I mean isn't Chinese karaoke videos plentiful enough?

What I had planned this morning was to make a brilliantly edited video of the video footage I've been shooting in A'dam. What happened is too horrible to even post a link to. However I am going to find the right software and do it. Just probably not until I'm back in France and the housework's been done.

Here is one of the print screens that saved properly. It looks basic doesn't it? Well that's because my dears, it is.

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Amsterdam Day 10 in Pictures

The moon over A'dam the night of the lunar eclipse.

More moonlight over Amsterdammy.

Finally up and at 'em.

Banksy?

Duck on a rudder.

Happy cat.

Yes. A four person tandem. What??

Bicycle ornaments.

Zanvoort.

Wall murals at Zansvoort.

Sculpture.

The North Sea.

Haarlem.

Haarlem train station.

Odd structure @ Haarlem train station.

A gift for a friend with a good sense of humour.

Odd thing at La Paz Coffeeshop in Zanvoort.

Amsterdammers having a little boat party.

Dumpster.

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Books, Tea, Time, and The Droste Effect in Amsterdam

Day two in Amsterdam was recovery day. I did a little grocery shopping at the Albert Heijn, made sandwiches, and did a lot of napping. I blogged about finding a copy of The Olympia Reader and the famous scandal surrounding Lolita. Day three however after enough rest this wicked girl was ready to hit the town a little bit.

So I headed to Centraal Bibliotheek. It's located between Centraal Station and the NEMO Science Center in front of the massive floating Chinese pagoda restaurant. You can't miss it. It is afterall the biggest library in Europe.

Inside I managed to discreetly snap photos for the purpose of this blog. See the world's best reading/writing chairs are inside the Amsterdam central library. I tried to find online who designed them and how to get my hands on one, but so far nothing has turned up. Here are some pictures, if you know who made them or where to buy them I would be most thankful for the tip.

I headed up another level to take a look at some of the books in the Centraal Bibliotheek's "Amsterdam" collection and ended up finding a book (in Dutch, English, German, and French no less) about the pews of the Oudekerk (The Old Church, Red Light District) and learned a new word in the process.

miserichord: (sometimes named mercy seat, like the Biblical object) is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.

I also had a seat to enjoy the view, another reason besides books to visit the Centraal Bibliotheek.

One last snap of possibly Satanist magazines in the religious magazine section, and I was back out on the street.

I wandered around and fell upon this creepy, creepy thing I had made a note in my notebook to try and pass by again for the purposes of getting a photo for my blog. Isn't it horrible and yet quite amazing in it's own way? It's in the window of a Dutch restaurant on Zeedijk.

Another random Amsterdam window, this time instead of taxidermy there's a tiny world beyond the glass.

I had lunch again at Thaise Snackbar (Zeedijk) and it was as delicious yet again. I will eventually eat at another restaurant and possibly one day vacation in a different city. Until then, the pad thai was too good for words.

The plan was to first go to the Waterlooplein market to find an old Droste Dutch coccoa tin. I saw about seven the other day and could barely find one when I went back specifically to find the damn thing. I finally found one and a cute little milk jug and sugar bowl set. Total for everything was 5,00 euros.

I wandered back up towards Nieuwmarkt towards a secondhand bookstore called The Book Exchange because I wanted to browse for some books, but I found the passage of books again (on the same street at TBE, but before Ruusland street) and bought some there first. Then I went to The Book Exchange and bought some there too.

The new plan was to find an art store and buy the supplies necessary to make my Tardis themed notebook while having tea and Dutch brownies. I planned to make from scratch meatballs and spaghetti sauce for dinner. I found the supplies (less than 30,00 euros and will probably be enough materials to make several Tardis themed notebooks) and then it started to rain so I popped into The Bushdoctor Coffeeshop to have a smoke and wait it out.

Once home I did have tea and brownies and homemade spaghetti and meatballs with foccacia bread and I did watch Monty Python and The Holy Grail, but didn't get to the Tardis notebooks. Tonight I suppose will be leftovers and Tardis. Will have to watch some old episodes of my favourite Doctor (I guess it's probably David Tennant).

Enjoy some random A'dam photos:

Swans and bicycles on a bridge near Waterlooplein.

Near this bridge. (See above.)

Postcard I personalised for a friend.

My moleskin pages from yesterday with my spirograph.

Another postcard (Nirvana) to send to my neighbour's son.

This might be a bad translation, but "Bread has a point"? Please help if you speak Dutch!

From under my umbrella...

Yes Pizarro, what have you done??

Odd car.

Books bought. A few Tardis supplies.

Tea, books, Droste tin, tea set, Tardis supplies.

Yummy.

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