16 October 2008 
Mama Cash Bath Tub Race 2008
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Helen, Abi, Elspeth, Morgan - four students from SIT Study Abroad Amsterdam entered the Mama Cash's fundraising Bath Tub Race in the Amsterdam Lijnbaansgracht. They did set a record - started last, sank twice - raised a whopping 800 euro's for a good cause and managed not to get pneumonia. The water is rather cold, in March.
Not Like This
But Like This:
So here he is, with his new hairdo. Not as they did a few years ago, with the shaven body, but neatly coiffed and plucked, an elderly gentleman, proud to still have most of his hair.
Hairy Harry
Meet Mickey, Dia's cat. He's sitting in the bathtub, drinking water from the tap, unaware that tomorrow he is going to have his hair cut. In the past, he's had some interesting haircuts (naked body, full tail, fur boots and hairy face), so it will be interesting to see what he'll look like this time tomorrow.
Herk's Werk
Sometimes you need a wake-up call. I got mine this afternoon when a possible customer mentioned my website. 'This website is temporarily not available', I told the silly souls who visited my site. 'I'll be back soon with a completely renewed site,' I lied lightly. Yeah right! The road to hell is paved with good intentions. There were so many choices to make (colors, fonts, what to say, where to put it, which pictures to show, and how - I ended up doing nothing at all.
Till that phone call, that is. Suddenly I felt that Enough is Enough. And I have taken so many decisions these past five hours, that I feel slightly dizzy. And now I've got my site back. Is it perfect? Hell, no. Wait till it's perfect and you'll find that in the meantime the worms have eaten most of your flesh. But it gives an impression of what I do - or what I like, when pressurized: www.herk.biz
Mint Condition
The old lady's engine was more reliable than some of my best friends, but semi-necessary things like speedometer, rear-window heater and adjustable mirrors had died one by one and a small but continuous drip of oil leaked from an unknown source in the intestines. After 15 years and 215.000 kilometers it was time to trade in Old Faithful, my Peugot 106.
The Car is Dead, Long Live The Car!
So Meet & Greet Suzy Q. She is 8 years old and 75.000 km long, and - at least colourwise - in Mint condition. When people who haven't met her yet ask me what kind of car she is, I proudly tel them: Spring Green!
PS Note the Citroen logo in ton-sur-ton green on the front, giving Suzy a cat's nose appearance. Meow! This Saxo's so sexy.
Inclusive Thinking
Yes, we do love Beekbergen, famous for its clean air, which is why lots of Institutions for Needy People have been established in the Healthy Woods surrounding the village in the past century. Smack in front of the Dutch Reformed Church (foundations traced back to the 11th century), you see not one, but TWO mailboxes: one for people who live in wheelchairs, the other for us sorry lot who have back problems. A fine example of Inclusive Thinking. Go Beekbergen!
Pretty Is As Pretty Looks
Go to a hairdresser and you'll end up a Better Person. More Beautiful. Happier. Nobler. My new hairdresser is Oliver (Interline, Rozengracht) and he is the Houdini of Hairdressers. I gladly accept that I - resisting greyhead - have to look unspeakably ugly for quite some time first. I drink coffee, read the paper, listen to the conversations and hope no one I know will enter the premises before Oliver has rubbed the d:fi (d:struct pliable molding creme, with artifical pineapple flavour) in my color-corrected coiffure.
Boop's Concise Guide (2)
Another short movie in this series - hopefully hyrogliefs Boop will soon see the light, too. I expect to be getting better at this as I go along...
This Suitable Occupation for Girls is a bit of a mystery to me, too. Are we looking at a Martyr? A Witch? A Stunt Woman? You guess is as good as mine.
Most of the film is a shot of a 'moving painting'. The image of Boop burning is printed on special foil (which I found in Voorburg), attached to a glass plate, and set on a frame that I bought through Marktplaats in Delft, originally showing a Chinese waterfall. A simple yet ingenious mechanism behind the glass suggests the waterfall (and now the fire) is actually moving. And there still is an option to switch the bird-chirping-sound on, but since that seemed to go better with the waterfall than the stake, I decided to keep that switched off on this occasion.
For non-moving images, see Mz Boop's Concise Guide.
Up-Market Resort For The No Longer Living
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Père-Lachaise in Paris, France, is the top of the pops of the cemetary market; filled with Family Homes, Chapels, Parisians and famous citizens of the world. Roaming its streets I met many a celeb (for a selection, see my Père-Lachaise pics, when I was really looking for the image of The Desperate Woman (I'll come back to that some time). And it is here that I discovered that TDW has no face.
Let's Keep In Touch
The letterbox pic is made by Drama Queen, Feeling Faint Today.
Top left headstone on the other pic says: 'Hier Had Uw Naam Kunnen Staan' ('Your Name Could Have Been Here'). Location for both pics: Huis Te Vraag (cemetary, gorgeous garden), Amsterdam.
Cyclops Cat
Believed to be extinct since the days of Ancient Greece, but apparently still around in some form or other. Spotted in Nativity Scenes-alley in St. Jans Cathedral in Den Bosch: the last stuffed Cyclops Cat.
The Oldest Profession
One project I've been working on for a long time now, is the History of Mankind in 21 Images, in which every image has to contain Betty Boop, as a symbol of the Feminine. Since I need to keep myself interested, too, I've now decided to call my project A Short Job Guide for Girls. This isn't the first in the series, but the first one that moves...
My Season's Greetings
And here is my card to accompany wy best wishest to you for 2008. Keep your head cool and your feet warm. It's a pic of me and my brother, having a bath. We only had a shower, and for some reason my brother was afraid of the shower, hence the wash tub. We had three, and this was the middle-sized one.
Approved Season's Greetings
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This is the approved card - driving to my parents I suddenly passed a magic bit, with white trees in a light grey mist. When I got to my parents, I ran in, grabbed their camera and ran out again, shouting (they are somewhat hard of hearing, and anyway I was excited) "Found your Christmas Card - be right back" and drove to the fields outside the village where I know are some lonely trees. This pic was voted unanimously (three for, none against) as the right card. As you can see, I really do come from a family of party animals.
Rejected Season's Greetings
For the past few years, I have been making a Season's Greeting Card for my parents. And every year we have a lot of discussion on what is an appropriate card - my father and I tend to disagree about this. This is the Reject for 2008. I quite liked the Vrrroommmm-into- the-new-year spirit of this pic, but my dad didn't want it because it wasn't X-massy at all. On this pic you see him (quite the macho, which is rather unlike him) and my mum on his motorbike. The pic must have been taken between 1952 and 1956 in Van Breestraat, Amsterdam, where they were living at the time. I really would have liked to cut them out of Van Breestraat and paste them onto heavenly blue skies, but considering their age (84 and 87) that may have been a bit too close for comfort.
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