Weekend in Review, some observations, Cleaning tests, and the Mermaphrodite.
Ok. Quick catch up: Friday evening, went to the Rijksmuseum with Jakki. My "ICOM card" wouldn't do, so I had to pay the 10 euro admission (long story). The Rijksmuseum is currently under renovation, so right now they have a handful of galleries open, where they're showing their "greatest hits"... lots of great paintings, but not so sure it's worth the 10 euros. One could conceivably spend a good deal of time in front of each and every piece they have on display and still make it out of there in, iunno, 2.5 hours? There was a weird thing where they projected light onto Rembrandt's The Night Watch so that certain figures appeared to be 3-dimensional... difficult to describe, very strange. Went out for dinner afterwards. Eventually found a pizza place that worked ok for me. not bad, not great.
Saturday: walking about. resting.
Sunday: took a private tour (arranged by Mireille) with about 10 other people (including our own Jakki Godfrey) of the Rembrandthuis before the museum opened. Our tour guide was none other than Ernst van de Wetering - The Guy who wrote The Book on Rembrandt. He showed us their Rembrandt 400 exhibit, made up of paintings produced by Rembrandt during his 20-or-so-year stay at the house. Every room of the house has at least one Rembrandt in it - some have as many as 16. very cool, and one c'n't've asked for a better guide. (yes, i just made up a rare triple contraction. bite me, it's fun.)
Got falafel. Yumyum. Rested and read on my little porch/balcony/thing.
So that was my weekend.
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3 observations and questions:
1. I've seen far too many Yankee hats here. It's repugnant. Sure, I guess it's possible that I'm running into every single expat from New York that's here. It could happen. Really, it could. I'm assuming that they're Dutch people, though. I mean, I'm sure that they've just been wearing them in celebration of their two recent wins over my beloved Redsox. I wonder what they think of the Yanks' subsequent 4-game skid. How do the Dutch feel about Randy Johnson's miserable season? What about injuries that will likely sideline Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield until at least September, if not the entire season? Should I stop the next person I see that is wearing a NY Yankees hat and ask them these questions? Because I really really want to. Would that make me look like an asshole?
2. While we're on the topic of sports: Today at work, one of the security guys asked me how I felt about the US getting thrashed in their World Cup match by the Czech Republic. I shrugged my shoulders and said "maybe soccer just isn't our sport." (actually, i said football to him) He responded by saying something along the lines of how we must be jealous of the Dutch Soccer (Football) team. I told him that I had heard that their baseball team is amazing, too.
3. I am losing weight. Today I wore a pair of jeans that were quite tight (read: struggled with the top button) one month ago. When I did the old "pull the waist of the pants forward" routine, I had a solid two inches of room. Now, I have no way of certifying this now (as I am currently without scale), but I'm guessing that I've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 pounds (how many kilos is that?) in that month. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. We'll see if if I end up ripped like Jesus. You know, that thing where you're skinny, but you're cut. AKA Dope obliques.
So anyway. Yesterday, took samples for cross-sections, among other things. Met Abby, the post-grad fellow at the museum. She graduated from the Courtauld program a year ago. Very nice. Her boyfriend (an American living in Amsterdam) has already suggested that we should get together and take a ride in the canals on his boat. Fair nough.
I shall leave you with images of cleaning tests I did today. Discolored (probably pigmented) varnishes, thick overpaint, lots of grime. good times. Everybody loves cleaning tests.
And, without further ado, I give you The Mermaphrodite. Fear its wrath and giant manboobs.
Saturday: walking about. resting.
Sunday: took a private tour (arranged by Mireille) with about 10 other people (including our own Jakki Godfrey) of the Rembrandthuis before the museum opened. Our tour guide was none other than Ernst van de Wetering - The Guy who wrote The Book on Rembrandt. He showed us their Rembrandt 400 exhibit, made up of paintings produced by Rembrandt during his 20-or-so-year stay at the house. Every room of the house has at least one Rembrandt in it - some have as many as 16. very cool, and one c'n't've asked for a better guide. (yes, i just made up a rare triple contraction. bite me, it's fun.)
Got falafel. Yumyum. Rested and read on my little porch/balcony/thing.
So that was my weekend.
---------
3 observations and questions:
1. I've seen far too many Yankee hats here. It's repugnant. Sure, I guess it's possible that I'm running into every single expat from New York that's here. It could happen. Really, it could. I'm assuming that they're Dutch people, though. I mean, I'm sure that they've just been wearing them in celebration of their two recent wins over my beloved Redsox. I wonder what they think of the Yanks' subsequent 4-game skid. How do the Dutch feel about Randy Johnson's miserable season? What about injuries that will likely sideline Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield until at least September, if not the entire season? Should I stop the next person I see that is wearing a NY Yankees hat and ask them these questions? Because I really really want to. Would that make me look like an asshole?
2. While we're on the topic of sports: Today at work, one of the security guys asked me how I felt about the US getting thrashed in their World Cup match by the Czech Republic. I shrugged my shoulders and said "maybe soccer just isn't our sport." (actually, i said football to him) He responded by saying something along the lines of how we must be jealous of the Dutch Soccer (Football) team. I told him that I had heard that their baseball team is amazing, too.
3. I am losing weight. Today I wore a pair of jeans that were quite tight (read: struggled with the top button) one month ago. When I did the old "pull the waist of the pants forward" routine, I had a solid two inches of room. Now, I have no way of certifying this now (as I am currently without scale), but I'm guessing that I've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 pounds (how many kilos is that?) in that month. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. We'll see if if I end up ripped like Jesus. You know, that thing where you're skinny, but you're cut. AKA Dope obliques.
So anyway. Yesterday, took samples for cross-sections, among other things. Met Abby, the post-grad fellow at the museum. She graduated from the Courtauld program a year ago. Very nice. Her boyfriend (an American living in Amsterdam) has already suggested that we should get together and take a ride in the canals on his boat. Fair nough.
I shall leave you with images of cleaning tests I did today. Discolored (probably pigmented) varnishes, thick overpaint, lots of grime. good times. Everybody loves cleaning tests.
And, without further ado, I give you The Mermaphrodite. Fear its wrath and giant manboobs.
posted by mpc at 11:19 AM
2 Comments:
DELIGHTFUL.
I mean seriously, its better than I could have even imagined. S/he appears to be with child. I imagine that birth being a lot like the videos I saw of Shamu giving birth, just a lot "beardier".
The word "beardier" was gross on so many levels.
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