Amsterdam

Jasmina Tesanovic (5 Novembar, 2006 - 21:53)

LipikarThis is not The Hague, this is Amsterdam. This is not a juvenile emigrants' prison but a designer hotel, one of the most extravagant in Europe. Every sleeping room is different. The public space is amazing: a Kakfaesque designer labyrinth.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/11/jasmina_tesanovic_di.html
The Lloyd Hotel is quite literally a redesigned prison. It once held teenage boys, foreigners, under a notoriously harsh regime. My room resembles the prison cell that my indicted ex president Milosevic had in The Hague's war crimes tribunal. It features thick bare walls, a shower barely exposed right in the middle of the room, and a toilet as a hermetic cabin. The room's fourth wall is open glass, exposed to the world, or, rather, the opened spaces and uncurtained windows of Dutch tower blocks.
The local residents, people of Amsterdam, are eating, drinking, watching TV in their uncurtained windows. A couple of blocks away from my hotel, women of all ages, half nude in hooker lingerie, are sitting in windows casually selling their bodies with the utmost indifference. Women of color, mostly, small and plump... The Dutch girls on the streets of Amsterdam are big, blonde, hefty girls, indifferent to the male gaze. The smell of hashish is pervasive. The bicycle people are invasive: the local bikes are extravagantly complicated Dutch devices, like a perversion on wheels.
At the Stifo conference, my favorite speaker is a female biotech enthusiast, who speaks of a future where we will be able to eat those we love without hurting them. Thanks to 21st-century meat-production technologies, we will be able to produce from one cell of their body a delicious nutritious meal!
Who do you love? My companion at dinner is a young filmmaker who just came from LA. There she shot a scene with a plastic surgeon specializing in vaginal esthetics. The doctor tells all: the demand on the ground is for the reconstructed vagina of a teenage girl. jasmin
In the Amsterdam red-light zone, an NGO founded by an ex-prostitute offers us guided tours of the sex-work district.
Just outside that district I notice the office of War Child, Brian Eno's NGO for help to the stricken areas in the world. I see the name of Kosovo, among other areas. It is gusty weather in Holland, harshly rainy then starkly sunny: a huge glittering rainbow embraces this city, this Euro-Babylon where the name Jasmine, I am told, has become a choice name for the children of hippies.
Well, not hippie children, strictly speaking. That can't be possible at this late date. They must mean hippie grandchildren.

» Jasmina Tesanovic

Obviously,

nsarski (5 Novembar, 2006 - 22:09)

you haven't been in Las Vegas. What are you waiting for, Jasmina?

i have,

Jasmina Tesanovic (5 Novembar, 2006 - 22:24)

venice las vegas, i blogged elsewhere, it was before blogb92

Sorry I did not follow

nsarski (5 Novembar, 2006 - 22:32)

your opus, Yasmina - but I will try, I will. Venice? OHMYG. How corny. Did you try Bel'Aggio? They have $60M Cezanne on the toilet door, for God's sake!

"At the Stifo conference, my

zokster (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:26)

"At the Stifo conference, my favorite speaker is a female biotech enthusiast, who speaks of a future where we will be able to eat those we love without hurting them."

"A couple of blocks away from my hotel, women of all ages, half nude in hooker lingerie, are sitting in windows casually selling their bodies with the utmost indifference. Women of color, mostly, small and plump..."

"The bicycle people are invasive: the local bikes are extravagantly complicated Dutch devices, like a perversion on wheels."

Zokster,

nsarski (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:42)

did you ever think of renaming yourself, like Rembrandt van Rijn, or van Gogh? Man, I love your art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

zoki van bullshit

zokster (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:45)

zoki van bullshit

as if

Jasmina Tesanovic (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:48)

you were there mr zox
how do i upload my pictures from vegas

Well,

nsarski (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:52)

you go to Vegas and upload a picture. What?

no, no

Jasmina Tesanovic (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:55)

i don t know how to stick my vegas pictures in this commenti can do it in the body text but not here

ovako

Brooklyn (5 Novembar, 2006 - 23:59)

napises img u kockastoj zagradi

pa napises URL za tu sliku

pa napises /img u kockastoj zagradi

sad cu opet da probam

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:06)

hvala

forward slash pre poslednjeg

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:08)

forward slash pre poslednjeg /img

Ne, Yasmina,

nsarski (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:12)

treba da zavrsis referencu sa "/". Dakle sa [/img], a ne sa . Now, go to Vegas....

probam

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:12)

Whew!

nsarski (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:14)

Nije lako....

somebody

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:17)

helped me from b92

nemam utisak da sam sama uspela
uzasno su mi mala slova
a ja poluslepa

OK, ja cu je postaviti mesto tebe:

nsarski (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:26)

Wow! I like your Mexican hat.

hvala ali mi nije jasno sta sam

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:28)

pogresno radila
imam diary of an american idiot, 2005
mozda ga upload ovde ako postoji interesovanje
objavljivala sam tu i tamo delove

moze,

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:29)

samo da nema veze sa ustavom i sergejem...

sad

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:30)

cemo malo da olabavimo do sledecih izbora

Dear Yasmina,

nsarski (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:35)

izbori su ovde prekosutra. Welcome to the good ole US of A!

do you

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:36)

vote?

Sure I do!

nsarski (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:39)

But, no use.

well,

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:43)

this year is supposed to be your year than!

i'd like to vote..

i'll be voting in brooklyn

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:49)

but with great cynicism

go brooklyn!

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:51)

Quote:

but with great cynicism

that's a brooklyn girl for yeah :)

where in brooklyn are you?

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:55)

(are you?)

can send me email

Brooklyn (9 Novembar, 2006 - 03:01)

at xxxxx if you'd like.

Brooklyn!

nsarski (9 Novembar, 2006 - 03:47)

Don't tell me you are still working!

actually,

Brooklyn (9 Novembar, 2006 - 04:58)

yes, it's 10:56 and i have at least 2 more hrs to go (if i'm lucky). yes, my life sucks.

hey brookyln girls

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:56)

go for it

when are you coming back to brooklyn

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 22:01)

to drink wine with us?

gotta love

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 22:03)

newyorkers :)))

i know i know

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 00:37)

as if i were there, i am in so many ways

What's The Hague?

mikeloti (6 Novembar, 2006 - 01:12)

Should there be the Amsterdam?

yes,

Brooklyn (6 Novembar, 2006 - 01:44)

just like the google

Bientôt chez nous, aussi

SašaM (6 Novembar, 2006 - 02:58)

Su tu regardes autour de toi, tu verras presque partout la même chose. Avec la mondialisation tout devient pareil - la prostitution, l'aliénation et les vagins retouchés par les chirurgiens. À Belgrade ça pourrait être similaire, mais il n'y a pas assez de sous. Pas pour l'instant. Mais, passe-nous voir bientôt !

1) how are the bicycles invasive?

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 20:43)

2) why would anyone want to eat a nutritious meal made from the cell of a loved one? (though i recognize the agricultural efficiency of such a scheme.)

3) vaginal reconstruction: is the goal to become a virgin again, or just to be "more beautiful"?

How are the bicycles

zokster (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:03)

How are the bicycles invasive?

Post NO

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:20)

Commment

invasion of the bicycles

Stephanie Damoff (11 Novembar, 2006 - 00:37)

appreciate the examples! as of today, or maybe tomorrow, i pledge to no longer take leaks with my bicycle, or to use it to look in windows.

Stephanie, is this your

zokster (11 Novembar, 2006 - 12:42)

Stephanie, is this your bike?

no, this

Stephanie Damoff (11 Novembar, 2006 - 17:45)

A nice one, but why are the

zokster (11 Novembar, 2006 - 19:32)

A nice one, but why are the tires of different colours?

one tire is the evil in the world

Stephanie Damoff (18 Novembar, 2006 - 19:58)

the other one the good.

the man has to keep peddling to keep them in balance.

he gets tired a lot.

stefica

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:17)

1) bikes run over people in Amsterdam
2) I always feel like eating what i love
3) I DON T KNOW...

they do in new york, too

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:31)

i'm curious because we (bicyclists) think of amsterdam as a totally bike-friendly city. this surprises me. do they ride in a disorderly manner?

here, bicyclists are of course supposed to follow the same rules as cars, but they don't. they ride wherever they want, in the wrong direction, running red lights and stop signs, and all of these at night, without lights so you can't even see them coming at you. when i am biking i feel more in danger from pedestrians and cyclists who do not obey the conventions of the road than i do from cars, who more or less do follow them.

i know a lot of so-called bicycle activists, but they do harm to their own cause by this kind of inconsiderate riding that puts themselves and everyone else at risk. people dislike bicyclists because of the ones that ride irresponsibly.

I think it is a mainstream

Jasmina Tesanovic (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:36)

political issue
even ANTS can become BIG if they rule

i hope we ants on our bicycles will become big

Stephanie Damoff (6 Novembar, 2006 - 21:48)

but that we will rule benevolently and with love. and with cleaner air.

zokster (6 Novembar, 2006 - 22:08)

zokster (11 Novembar, 2006 - 21:24)

It was quite interesting to

d j o l e (7 Novembar, 2006 - 09:03)

It was quite interesting to find out that NGOs exist in old democracies, like Holland. Could you, please, tell what field of interest do the NGOs occupy in the country with the centuries of parliamentarism?

I know only

Jasmina Tesanovic (7 Novembar, 2006 - 15:13)

women'
s NGO-s
and they do have them...
i guess it is a personal way of handling matters which the state handles as a matter of law
i guess nobody would put up a prostitute to handle the prostitution legal issues in a state department
so prostitutes organize themselves to get what they need

What actual power do NGOs

d j o l e (7 Novembar, 2006 - 15:32)

What actual power do NGOs have then there. Do they bid for their law proposals, or does the personal way of handling matters mean that they organize themselves to help in a certain issue?

Great Jasmina you've really

bganon (7 Novembar, 2006 - 14:52)

Great Jasmina you've really captured the flavour of one of my favourite cities and the people that travel through them.

But come on no mention of the trams that are almost as dangerous to the pedestrian as bicycle people.

Have you ever hung with locals long enough for them to insist you ride with them - worse still when you are forced to balance on the back of the bicycle? I dont recommend it.

oh come

Jasmina Tesanovic (7 Novembar, 2006 - 15:09)

on Bganon
did you ever ride in a BELGRADE tram?i grew up in the sixties in Beogradska street, as kids we rode hanging on the back of the tram OUTSIDE and we loved it...
this is a punk piece, i dont know amsterdam much really
two years ago i was robbed of ALL my possessions and ended up in real almost prison
and you know what saved me...GOOGLE...it was sunday and they let me go with thier paper in dutch...

No you come on Jasmina -

bganon (7 Novembar, 2006 - 16:24)

No you come on Jasmina - Amsterdam trams are more numerous, faster and scarier than those red rustbuckets we have!

That kind of hotel you descibed could only be in Amsterdam.... Have you ever been there for New Year? Complete lunacy. I thought balkanites loved gunpowder.

OK, zatvaramo temu o

zokster (7 Novembar, 2006 - 16:27)

OK, zatvaramo temu o biciklima:

http://zoki.busythumbs.com/users/z/zoki10zoki/zoki/images/00021402.jpg

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