Lady in black

She's the most important person in the theatre. You don't know her, you're not nice to her, you get a lousy seat. If you treat her nice, you win. She's the insider and 'behind the scenes' queen. She's witty and chatty, she nags and smokes 40 a day. I adore her. Her name is Anna Marie.

Ostrava / Black coffee with attitude

I went to the city of warm heart and black lungs. Ostrava - former rich and half-forgotten queen of mines and heavy industry. It's a bit of a cultural shock - industrial and functionalist architecture everywhere. But it's a positive shock. Ostrava has got a character. And attitude. Although it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Actually no tea here. It is more of a strong black coffee. And at places it dazzles like a black pearl in the dust.

Women's Power

God knows what would happen if women rule the world. I don't know. I do know, however, that some of them can make life a very pleasant journey - with their charms, quirks, wit and unpredictability. And that many of them also happen to be a very pleasant objects to capture. These pictures don't have anything in common apart from capturing women I love/hate for being tender, strong, silly, bitchy, entertaining, loving, carefree, clever, sassy and full of life. Kristyna, Veronika, Nikki, Sylvia and Asia - they all possess some of Venus 'eternal' qualities and I somehow think that such quality glows through those pictures.

This is for Bill that sleeps here

Living in the cotton-wool cradle of our own limited consciousness until something strikes us?
I was passing by one of the financial buildings in the West End a few days back when this array of old newspapers and cardboard messages captivated my attention.
The first message reads:
Homeless + pennyless Ex-services please help and spare change for a bed & breakfast tonight out the cold + wet please help if you can thanks + god bless
The second message that lied next to drums in a plastic bag and went:
These are Bill that sleeps here's drums to give to his 8yr old daughter. So please don't throw away I will be back to collect after my hospital appointment later today. Thank you.
So the next time when you or me nag about some piece of piss, let's try to think about Bill that sleeps here! I'm sure we've got it much easier than him.

Look up Mr. Hundley!

I almost believed photography cannot surprise me anymore. But oh boy, this guy has just proved me fatally wrong! His pictures are bold, funny, sassy and on the fringe. So make sure you check out Monsignor William Hundley and his colourful way of portraying contemporary America. Http://www.williamhundley.com

What a queer boudoir

I went to this little vintage shop in Gent and when in I asked the guy if there was anything downstairs or upstairs. He told me (with heavy french accent): Downstairs is for bad people. But there's some furniture upstairs. I'd love to go downstairs but I figured out he didn't want me to. So I went upstairs. There was a very little furniture; in fact only a coffee table few lamps, and some freakish mannequins with wigs. But there was this little room with a clothes hanger and walls painted in pink. They were crammed with the most camp memorabilia you can imagine - models, boys who look like girls, and girls who look like boys, celebrities and other pop-culture crap - a teenage queer wet dream (or a nightmare). I was chuffed.

Devil is in details

I am still bizarrely mesmerised by churches, their interiors and decorations. Be it chubby cherubs, angels, saints or martyrs. I'm sucker for the medieval heaviness and the smell of frankincense. If you have the same quirk Belgium is feast for you. Gothic or Baroque, immaculate Belgian churches prove that devil is in details

Dam's Architecture

What do you do with all the water? Let's build on it. How to accommodate all those people? Let's add another stock. Amsterdam is a pick & mix. Modern and traditional housing together with more or less institutionalised houseboats comes together and create a colourful bricolage.

Dig Rotterdam!

Amsterdam and Rotterdam are like water and fire. Where the capital attracts hordes of tourists, young professionals and new money relying on its traditional charms; Rotterdam, completely destroyed during the 2WW, offers a spires of skyscrapers, wide NYC-like avenues and ebullient street life. Rotterdam is a brawling 'fuck off' to all things traditional and classy.
And it's the most black and funky city I've seen in Europe so far. The picks from the ZomerParade. Dig Rotterdam!

Amsterdam in motion

Banksy & the British complex

Ok, so Banksy has been outed by Mail on Sunday. Woo-hoo! Big Deal! It has become clear that his real name is Robert Gunningham and he has (shock) a middle-class background! Well, just an average Joe then? What is really striking about this is that people actually does pay attention to that information (online Guardian dedicated the front picture to this).
So is it just me? I mean, the largest part of population in the South of Britain belongs to the middle-class bunch, right? And apparently Banksy was born in the south of Britain. Why people then make so much fuss regarding his class status? And why all those middle-class journos write on this matter like if the middle-class was suddenly a personification of resident evil? Banksy's amongst the best British export and his work possesses those nearly-forgotten British qualities of being ironic, clever and punctual. Yes, that sort of qualities that once used to be held by the middle-classes (at that dark era when a tea was served right next to a fruitcake, hence - long time before Starbucks and the credit-frenzy). What is really worrying though is that people seriously still consider a class status as something important. On the beginning of 21st century, long time away from the Victorian era of false morality your average Brit still does give a shit about job occupation of Banksy's parents. If you ask me, this thinking is what makes bloody Britain backwards and pre-pubertal. Let's just put things straight - Banksy is a good chap that cares about things most people ignore and he does so pretty cleverly. Whoever cares about his personal status or family background is a backward twat!