blog.forret.com » Brussel

Nokia Trends Lab @ AB

Peter — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:14:25 +0000

This Friday in the Ancienne Belgique: Nokia Trends Lab with Shameboy. There was a remix contest for a Shameboy song and it was won by Pieter Santens. I also downloaded the tracks last week and thought I’d use Acid Express to make a quick remix. But I quickly realized that I was so used to using the full version of Acid that going back to Express was like stepping from a Saab onto a scooter and still trying to hit the highway. So I stopped. Unfortunately I can’t find the winning remix on the Lab site.

Nokia Trends Lab is a cutting-edge event which combines mobile phone technology with creative and experimental art. Shameboy will look for local talent to remix their single, ‘Splend It’ from their Heartcore album. As an exclusive to Nokia Trends Lab, Shameboy has allowed samples of ‘Splend It’ to be temporarily featured online. The participant who creates the most memorable and original remix will be invited by Shameboy to record the track in the studio on 4 May. The remix will debute at the Nokia Trends Lab event which takes place on Friday 9 May at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The music video for the remix will be shot during the event, by young talents using Nokia N95 8GB. These young talents will also be selected through a Film Lab on the Nokia Trends Lab website. The music video will then be aired on JIM.

If you still want free duo-tickets: send an email to info@nokiatrendslab.be with as subject “Shameboy tickets”. It’s also on Facebook!

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FM Brussel playlist live on Twitter

Peter — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:14:42 +0000

Via Pietel I heard of a Twitter account that publishes the playlist of StuBru in real-time. Interesting, but I listen to FM Brussel. How hard would it be to make the same thing for FM Brussel? Not that hard, it appears. After some twiddling with curl, twitter API and other PHP, here is the Twitter account for the playlist of FM Brussel.

http://twitter.com/fmbrussel

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Tasting whisky

Peter — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:28:02 +0000

This weekend was filled with heavy alcohol, since I went to a whisky tasting. We only drank a ‘wee dram’ (2,5 cl) at a time, with some bread and water in between so we remained sober enough to listen to our sympathetic whisky expert who told us about malt, barrels and distilling.

After preparing our palet with a blended whisky (irrelevant which one, real whiskies buffs never talk about anything that’s not single malt) we got to experience 5 single malts:

Whisky #1: Arran – which was the cheapest of the lot, not bad but not too special

Whisky #2: Ben Nevis – I liked this one more, had more of a sherry touch, as I recall.

Whisky #3: Balvenie – this tasted like a girl’s whisky. Quite a disappaointment after the previous one. Doublewood = the whisky was kept in ex-bourbon barrels for most of the 12 years, and was then transferred to ex-sherry barrels to ‘finish it off’. Ex-sherry barrels give a much nicer taste (see, we were still sober when that was explained).

Whisky #4: Glenfarclas – this one was my favourite. Definitely sherry-like, smelled really nice.

Whisky #5: Classic of Islay – this one smelled like a barbecue. The malted barley was dried with peat (’turf’) and by God, did you smell it. It went great with some sliced meat, though.

In all, a pleasant experience. I might spend the 50€ one day to get me a bottle of Glenfarcas.

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Pecha Kucha Brussels

Peter — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:48:32 +0000

I know I’m a bit late,and Ine, Bruno, Bart and … have already given their opinions, but I still needed an excuse to post some pictures of the event, so: last weekend I went to Pecha Kucha Brussels!

As everyone already mentioned, one presentation really jumped out: professor Jean Paul van Bendegem with his presentation “Wunderkammer”. It started with the painting “The origin of the world” by Gustave Courbet, which is essentially a frontal view of the crotch of a naked woman, which of course is a good way to catch the audience’s attention.

He then started free associating via freemasonry, over the Sherlock Holmes society, over women’s bottoms, the painting of the nude woman in court (I forget the details) and ended with the painting of a man’s crotch called “The origin of war”. There was no real message, but the voyage was vivid and entertaining.

From the other speeches, I remember the BioMODD, a (game server) computer designed by Angelo Vermeulen as a living organism (with algae and fish in the cooling system), Jan Vandenbergh’s fascination with the number ‘8′ and a removable park designed as a huge carpet of artificial grass. The rest was less interesting to quite simply boring.

I must say I like the Pecha Kucha formula, however. 20 slides of 20 seconds each makes for a turbo-speech of 6′40″. It can be brilliant, but in cases where it isn’t, the end is probably less than 5 minutes away. The Brussels edition had a lot of architecture speakers, which is not surprising when you consider the concept was created by people from an architecteral bureau in Tokyo, but still, some more variation would have been nice. Overall, the organiser Alok Nandi did a good job. I think I will go to #3.

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5 * 3 * 2007

Peter — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:15:07 +0000

Net een stokje gekregen van Frank, en ik dacht er toch al aan een korte review van 2007 te schrijven, dus …

3 artiesten die ik in 2007 leerde kennen

Balkan Beat Box
Corinne Bailey Ray
John Legend

3 dingen die ik niet licht zal vergeten

Nina.
…
…

3 stommiteiten of blunders

Barcamp Brussels #4 organiseren omdat ik vond dat het nodig was, niet omdat ik het wou. Het kwam op een slecht moment voor mij en ik heb er niet dezelfde energie ingestoken als de vorige keren, met het te verwachten resultaat. Geen erg, het was het moment om de fakkel door te geven.
Mij laten gaan, op allerlei vlakken, met als apotheose alleen thuis zitten op Oudejaar met longontsteking. Augmentin met broodje kaas, en de eindejaarsshow van Raf Coppens trekt nergens op.
Vrienden verwaarlozen. Dat rechtzetten is direct een goed voornemen voor 2008.

3 dingen waar ik trots op ben

De manier waarop mijn passie voor tango, fotografie en Web2.0 tesamen kwam in de creatie van www.milonga.be, met agenda, wekelijkse newsletter en binnenkort forum. Is nu al de #2 tango portal in Belgie, nog 1 te gaan.
De organisatie van Barcamp Brussels #3. Die ging zeer vlot, op een gezellige locatie, veel sprekers, super sponsors, goeie sfeer.
Mijn eerste foto in de krant voor een artikel over het tango wereldkampioenschap in Buenos Aires.

3 gekochte of gekregen dingen

De auto die ik wou. Nogal klein, nogal gulzig, desalniettemin de auto die ik wou.
Mijn Canon 50mm fixed lens, heeft me veel doen evolueren als fotograaf.
Een scheermes met borstel en schuim. Ik scheer nu weer nat, onder de douche.

3 mensen die dit stokje van mij krijgen

Tja, ik heb mezelf wat geisoleerd uit het bloggerswereldje de laatste 6 maand, ik hoop dat er nog op posts van mij gereageerd wordt.

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MIVB en Google Transit

Peter — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:39:14 +0000

Wouldn’t this be a great idea: the Brussels public transport not mapped by MIVB’s horribly unpractical route planner, but by Google’s Transit maps. You just need to get an export of the stops, the routes and the times, and they can be shown on Google Maps just like that. Where should we start looking for the source data? Then create agency.txt, stops.txt, routes.txt, trips.txt, stop_times.txt, calendar.txt and that’s it.

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Barcamp Where #4

Peter — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:57:47 +0000

I’m getting a little nervous. Barcamp Brussels is gonna happen on Nov 24th or Dec 1st and I still haven’t found a location. All my options have returned negative. The previous times I never really had a problem with that.

So I’m gonna put the question out there: who knows a nice location for Barcamp Brussels #4? If possible, I would actually like it to be hosted at someone’s offices, since it’s on a Saturday anyway …

In Brussels (not just the center, let’s take Brussel/Halle/Vilvoorde)
I expect around 100 attendees
we need 3-4 presentation rooms of 20-30 persons each
a hall or lounge with seats and coffee would be nice
catering on-site or otherwise a neighbourhood with restaurants at walking distance
available Wifi would be handy – or we can set that up ourselves
preferably easy to reach by public transport, or with sufficient parking
if the location costs more than, say, 2000€, it’s not an option.
I tried a lot of socio-cultural venues (KVS, BSB, DeBuren, BTCCTB …) , but the moment I mention ‘Internet’ they say ‘no’. So I gave up on those.
none of the locations of the previous events

Suggestions welcome via mail or comment!

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Announced: Barcamp Brussels #4

Peter — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:57:52 +0000

It’s almost been 6 months, so here we go for the 4th time: I’m starting the preparations for Barcamp Brussels #4.

The proposed dates are: Nov 24th or Dec 1st. Location: to be defined. Sponsors: to be defined (you know how to reach me). Logo can be found on Flickr.

If you want to attend and/or present: please add your name to http://barcampbrussels.wikispaces.com/BarcampBrussels4.

(via www.barcamp.be )

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Porque te vas

Peter — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:50:10 +0000

This is a song I like to play when I’m DJing, it makes people smile: “Porque Te Vas” by Jeanette (Dimech).

I got reminded of this song by a newsletter of the Beursschouwburg, they’re doing a “Porque Te Vas” contest where people can bring new versions of this classic. Inscription before Oct 10th, and the event is held on Oct 24th, with hosts STIJN and Pieter De Buysser, the jury consists of Maria Tarantino and Stijn Meuris.

Hoy en mi ventana brilla el sol
Y el corazon
Se pone triste contemplando la ciudad
Porque te vas

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My City, Your city: Brussels

Peter — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:30:04 +0000

Because Ine asked me nicely:

My favorite ‘grab-a-bite’: De Markten, certainly when it’s sunny and you can sit outside
My favourite shop: Mr Ego for clothes, Passaporta for books – for CDs I would want a shop like the Virgin store in Paris: scan any CD’s barcode and you can listen to it on any headphone set in the shop – since there is no shop like that in Brussels: I shop Amazon
My favorite restaurant: SkieveLat (Sablon), very close to where I live – great ‘ribbekes’
My favorite ‘take my friends when in town’: l’Achepot on the Graanmarkt (awful website, but nice restaurant), in the Dansaert area, or resto Henri near the Varkensmarkt
Other 5 things to mention: the restaurant on top of the Muziekinstrumentmuseum, the Chaff cafe – best terrace on the Vossenplein, the Warandepark/Parc Royal – with the nice Kiosk, café Roskam – my hangout place in the ‘Vlaamse’ area, the Recyclart tavern – cheap, cosy and with free Wifi!

And I’m gonna throw the stick at a couple of fellow-Ketjes (Brussels inhabitants, that is):

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Arno on the Francofolies

Peter — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:15:20 +0000

Arno and his deep-philosophical reflections on life, music and being paid.

(Interview on RTBF about the Francofolies festival)

“Je suis ouvert comme une vielle pute… Tu vois le bazar !?”
“Je ne pense pas, ce sont les soeurs catholiques qui pensent”

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Barcamp Brussels: one month to go

Peter — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:09:04 +0000

In about 30 days, a bunch of Internet entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and geeks will gather at the Halles des Tanneurs in Brussels to share experiences and learn from each other: Barcamp Brussels. This is the 3rd edition of this ‘unconference’ that has proven to be a great place to meet new people and ideas.

Attendees = participants

So what is this ‘unconferencing’ thing about?

A BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. (barcamp.org)

The rules:

Attendees must give a demo, a session, or help with one, or otherwise volunteer / contribute in some way to support the event. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the wall. The people present at the event will select the demos or presentations they want to see. Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can’t be present.

So even if you do not do a presentation, you can still help out. What I am already looking for at this moment is:

1 person to organize the recording of all sessions: he/she will have to make sure there are enough cameras, that there is someone at each presentation to videotape it, and will also make sure all recordings are published on a videohosting site like Youtube.
3-5 persons who will do the actual recording, with their own camera or one that we could borrow. Since there will be three simultaneous tracks, 3 is the minimum, but for security, five would be better.
2 extra projectors (we already have 1)

The topics

What can you talk about?
Well, it the broad sense: Internet, technology and its impact on our lives. That can include topics like: blogging(*), SEO (*), marketing (*), Photoshop (*), hosting (*), mobile (*), virtual reality (*), webdesign (*) … It does not have to be Internet based: e.g. I am planning a presentation on musical mashups.

Wanna join?

If you want to attend:

add your name and topic to the Barcamp Wiki (now almost 50 attendees!)
put it in your agenda: Saturday May 5th!!
start preparing your 25 minute speech/demo/discussion
show up at 9h for coffee and cookies and start to mingle!

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