Snow in Westerpark

Westergasfabriek terrein

De Gashouder, Westergasfabriek.

Snowsledding in Westerpark

Snowy trees in Westerpark

Winter has arrived in Amsterdam. First, it was freezing cold with record low temperatures for November and then we were hit by an amazing amount of snow. I took a walk around Westerpark to feel and hear the crisp of fresh snow and took some photos (more on Flickr).

Literanita is a literary evening at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam where writers and poets present their work. The theme of the third edition was politics with the Dutch elections coming up in a week.

Hugo Logtenberg

Tomas Ross

Robert Junius

Arjen Lubach

More photos on Flickr.

The YouTube Canon, organized by Upload Cinema

Last night the Canon of YouTube was presented at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam. Barbara de Wijn and Dagan Cohen (founders of Upload Cinema) asked 25 internet experts (including yours truly) to send in their top 10 YouTube videos. An important selection criterium was that the videos had to be internet native; the videos have to be born on the web or made especially for the web (so no Susan Boyle performing on Idols). This meant that the number 1 video of my personal top 10 was not included in the Canon.

The crowd at the City Theatre seemed to be different from the people attending the regular Upload Cinema events in the Uitkijk. They looked more like the City Theatre regulars but seemed to have a great time. There was a lot of giggling, laughing and even applauding for some movies. However, there were also people expressing a more critical note. I overheard two woman stating that it was one big fake, happy and shiny YouTube show. They missed the presentation of YouTube as a platform for protest. Of course, this is an important part of YouTube. Movies shot with mobile phones in Iran during the Iran Revolution were quickly spread and picked up by regular news outlets. The movie of Neda dying on the streets may be part of the next edition of Upload Cinema ‘Saved by YouTube’:

Activism on Internet is the theme of our March edition. We’ll be showing how people use the power of video and the Internet to make a statement, and even more importantly: set change in motion.

Sold out City Theatre Amsterdam

The two-hour program ended with a surprise: the recording of a video of everyone singing along to the famous Numa Numa song. The lyrics were projected on the screen and 500 people ended up singing and dancing as can be seen in the following video I made on stage. Sorry for the shaky camera, I was also dancing and singing ;)

No, I’m not skiing but I’m at the Wintercamp event in Amsterdam.

Winter Camp is an event, organized by the Institute of Network Cultures and will take place 3-7 March ‘09 in Amsterdam. Network Cultures Winter Camp will be a mix of presentations and work spaces with an emphasis on getting things done. It will be a four-day program of work spaces and plenary presentations, in which a dozen networks (each of which has 5-15 people) can work on their specific current topics.

I’m part of the meta group as a researcher/analyst-designer and blogging coordinator. The event will be blogged by students of the University of Amsterdam and you can follow their posts (starting today) at the Wintercamp blog.

Annette Wolfsberger (Virtueel Platform), Sabine Niederer (INC), Ned Rossiter.

More pictures in my Flickr Wintercamp set (ongoing process).

Tea and Twitter

Yesterday, @puur from Puur* Amsterdam organized the second edition of Twitter Tea Amsterdam. We had a lovely high tea at the Bakkerswinkel Warmoesstraat in Amsterdam with 30 female tweeps.

@10inc and @silvertje

Twitter ladies

Pie and scones

@marlooz

@SanneW

More photos on Flickr in my Twitter Tea (Set)

Last night I was introduced to the phenomenon of nerdcore. Yes, I’ve been often labeled a nerd and me and my friends often spend evenings just geeking out so this sounded like the perfect evening. Glitched, the Dutch nerdcore event program started of with the premiere of the Nerdcore for Life documentary followed by several of the artists in the documentary performing. The documentary was funny, insightful, humorous and shed a good light on the origin and current state of the nerdcore scene.

MC Router

MC Router

Geeky shirts

Beefy

MC Lars

I am a pirate! from silvertje on Vimeo.

More photos on Flickr: Glitched – Nerdcore (Set)