Hey there everyone, Harry here. Once again I'd like to apologize for the lateness of this report as... Well, quite frankly, I really can't believe it's been nearly half a year since this trip. It feels as though it were merely a week or two ago. To pick up on where I was yesterday, let's begin.
To catch you up real quickly I was in Rotterdam pal-ing around with Jarno, Hooglander and the Beast. As well as Bart Van Der Put (I believe that was his name. He was a cool critic from Amsterdam and dreams of a day when genre film lovers can openly praise their films without being looked down upon as some sort of freaks. Jarno contacted me today with this little photo he put together of me eating fries with mayo (Patat met) in the land of windmills. Where he added dialogue from PULP FICTION...
Meanwhile, the identity of 'that guy from Amsterdam' has been uncoverd. This mysterious genius of film and images is none other than.... Sander de Regt! Though, I call him Sander (and sometime Kermit but... well, you'll see) I first saw Sander riding this most peculiar looking bicycle. I had never seen one like this, and whilst I was informed it is considered to be a geeky mode of transportation, I... Well. This bicycle was a TRANSFORMER, in otherwords it was more than meets the eye. This amazing contraption suddenly and a bit like the HELLRAISER puzzlebox would just suddenly begin transforming into what can only be described as a rolling footstool. Small and compact and easy to take into the theater, or on the train. Very cool. I really liked this tiny device. Instantly I wanted to know more about the Chaplin-esque guy and his wondrous device.
It was, in fact, Sander, the man who was taking me to Amsterdam to experience the universe of this oft talked about center of culture and beauty. Sander would strike you instantly as a peculiar man. He seems to move as though a thousand conflicting creative concepts were all bouncing around at once. Bottled excitement. We hopped into his Van and traversed to Amsterdam. On the highway we passed the countryside which was extremely green and extremely flat. You know the grid that a lightcycle dashes about? Well imagine it being green with lines dividing it all up and that's pretty darn close.
As we entered Amsterdam I immediately noticed that the town was vastly older looking than Rotterdam. And was a completely canaled city. Gorgeous. Moss grew everywhere giving this green slightly iridescent sheen to the stone work alongside the canals. The air there was damp and when I say the city injected one with life... I say it without a bit of cornball. There was a beauty and an energy that really got me excited. My God.... I was in Amsterdam with some strange man named Sander.
As we begin searching for parking to store his van, things became interesting. I have always hated parallel parking, and when Sander found this one spot I was absolutely convinced there was no way that on this narrow street and in that spot that looked to be a quarter meter too short, that he'd squeeze this vehicle in there. What ensued was the most magical and amazing act of parallel parking I have ever beheld.
I believe there was no less than forty 6 inch back and forths to miraculously slip in. Not once did he so much as touch the car in front or in back. It was, in a word, amazing.
Alright, now we unload from the car and bound down the alleyway to his little upstairs apartment. Upon opening that door there was the smallest tightest spiral staircase in the history of man. About two inches of each foot could fit on a stair at a time. Also the actual physical space was about 3 inches wider than me, I'm sure if one were looking down upon me from the top, it would appear as if a redheaded cork was slowly pulling up out of the neck of a bottle of some sort. I don't have vertigo, but for that moment in time I did. I've climbed Mayan pyramids in TIKAL and PALENQUE with wider steps... And I never thought I'd see smaller steps than those.
Sander seemed to delight at every problem that I found myself in, and was deathly afraid I'd kill his various chairs with the elephantine mass contained in my sausage like clothing. I, of course, played to his fears. Imagine a bull in a china shop and Sander as the nervous glassware dealer. It is a very apt analogy.
Once in his home I began to notice a bit of a muppet motif. Everywhere there seemed to be muppet and/or Star Wars imagery. We talked about the female geeks, of which he didn't believe existed. And according to the guys I met in Holland (all of which were pretty handsome if I looked with estrogen soaked eyeballs) seemed to complain of the same problem. Personally I've never run across this problem. In my world of Austin there seems to be an abundance of cool single female geeks of beauty. Maybe that's why I believe the town is the coolest on the planet. But I'm getting distracted... back to Amsterdam.
Sander seemed determined to show me this short film he had made as his Graduation Film from Film School. He said it was a science fiction musical called KAYA and I put up an enthusiastic front, hoping that it wouldn't suck too bad. You have to understand. I get a lot of tapes of people trying to do ultra low budget science fiction shorts and for every TROOPS level cool short there is a good two dozen remarkably uncreative works. However, I was intrigued by his sci-fi musical premise. I mean... after all, we did sing-a-long to the cd of SINGING IN THE RAIN all the way from Amsterdam.
Well, the video machine and television came to life and I sat back ready to be underwhelmed by KAYA. Boy was I in for a surprise. This piece was really good. And the music, the songs... Wow. This stuff was catchy. I still wish I had a cd of the music cause it gave me goosebumps. And shockingly this story of an advance totalitarian society that bans music and dance, which creates an underground of creative artists willing to sacrifice their lives to sing and dance... Well damn... I like that story. It really got me and I wasn't expecting it to. Ya know... There's this guy out there from the SCIENCE FICTION CHANNEL that's starting up a new show that features science fiction shorts, personally, if I were him... This is one I'd take a look at if I were you. ( Phone: (+31)(0)20 - 672 30 71 or E-mail: sderegt@globa lxs.nl)
And I'm not saying that in a "hey my friend thanks for the trip" I mean that seriously. It's still the best science fiction short I've seen that been sent to me that was non-comedic. The special effects work that Sander put in himself was really quite lovely. He really has a gift for compositing and a great use of colors. After that he showed me some test work that he was doing for a project based on some Dutch stories about bugs and a beautiful world down amongst the blades of grass. Sander was doing all the shots and effects work himself. The work was beautiful. And he basically getting this work out of a fairly normal PC. I was a bit shocked, until I remembered that FOUNDATION works the same basic way... but here was a single geek and a single computer doing amazing work. I kept being reminded of what George Lucas had said in WIRED a year or two back about a great film coming out of a garage by some kid and his computer. It's the dream of digital cinema, and for me... I felt like I was witnessing it here in the small apartment down a street two or three over from the market area and one street away from the most picturesque bakery I have ever seen.
Sander asked me what sort of shops I was looking forward to going to, and I instantly said, SILVERSCREEN. I had heard magical tales of the place from Tarantino and I was determined to go there and find something magical and perfect. I also asked about a vintage toy store. Now mind you I didn't have very much money on me. I never really do either. The site allows me to pay the rent and buy a few cool things, but thus far I still live in the same house, with the same screwed up bed and with a fan blowing on me. I ain't rich off this thing, who knows if that will ever come to pass... Personally, that's not why I do it. I do it to end up meeting people like Sander and somehow... I find myself in far off lands doing the goofiest things.
I first wanted to go to SILVERSCREEN, so we begin to hike off from his place which Sander says we'll return to so he could cook me Boerenkool met Worst. Yeah... uh huh. Right. That sounded a bit like the worst sounding thing I ever did hear off, but... when in Amsterdam do as the Amsterdammers do.
We just began walking. My eyes taking in doorways, boats, cannons, bridges, churches, cathedrals. My ears were attuned to a constantly talking Sander. When all of a sudden something seemed to click in his head and he began doing muppet voices. I began doing muppet and cartoon voices. He did Yoda, I did Yoda and quickly I found myself in the midst of the strangest most surreal conversation as I did Ms Piggy and he did Kermit, or he did Mickey Mouse and I did Goofy... all whilst walking this ancient city. And there I was, immersed in a conversation about Jim Henson and what he meant to a guy in Amsterdam. Wow. Isn't that something, I thought. Being tied up in America so much I have tended to really believe my icons as being my icons. But here was another person, from across an ocean with the same loves and interests. Sure... On the computer I meet tons of people. But here... Where it's back and forth. No time for Internet Movie Database, or a quick Yahoo search... Here it becomes real. No posing. No pretended knowledge. This Sander fellow... He knew his musicals and muppets, and then there was Star Wars. And folks... He knew his Star Wars and John Landis and John Carpenter.... In fact... there was scarcely a single icon of my youth that he wasn't familiar with. He loved film.
Eventually we found SILVERSCREEN only to see it was closed for another 2 hours. Drats. Just peering in through the window I could tell.... Cool shit lay inside. So off we went to this toy store.
Man. This toy store kicked ass. Old tin litho robots and flying saucers. This was the best collectible vintage toy shop I've seen. And the prices were... reasonable. Cheaper by 30% from American prices. Man... The old vintage Robby The Robot tin litho. I didn't quite have enough. Darn it.
While I love vintage toys, my first love in collecting is vintage movie paper, so I was holding out for what I would find at SILVERSCREEN. So after a time of oogling we headed back.
It seemed like it was taking about four times longer to get back, but then... that was probably my anticipation. My ‘beeper’, my ‘spidey sense’ was going off like a gong on the Gong Show. There was something I was meant to find. A treasure of some sort, I knew it. We found this one comic shop on the way back that had mainly underground comix and sure enough, there was the amazing Joop Klepzeiker and his horny dog Harry. God I love this character. But back at my hotel I had Joop Klepzeiker #1, and I couldn’t wait to show it to my degenerate dad.
Finally we made it back to SILVERSCREEN and man... This is a great shop! Instantly the smell of vintage movie paper poured into my attuned nostrils. Tis the sweetest smell save that of honeysuckle that I have known and loved. I followed my nose to... The vintage posters. I began flipping through the Belgium posters and started making a stack of interesting posters. Specifically BLACK SLEEP, BLACK SABBATH and an original stamped ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD in Belgium. But... Then I saw the stack of American posters and I knew... The item I was looking for laid in there. Gigantic piles wrapped in plastic. I sat down on the floor and went through all 500 - 600 posters and sure enough... there.... right there was my treasure.
Wow. A one-sheet American Issue for the second Laurel and Hardy feature. Holy Shit! Now... Would I be able to afford it. It’s not in mint shape, but... who the hell cares, right? Hmmm... So, I make a slightly larger pile. Trying to make the L&H poster less conspicuous. I go to ‘check out’ and HOLY SHIT!! The total for everything came to the equivalent of $125 American. YIPEE! Getting a deal is one of the greatest feelings in the world when collecting, cause anybody can collect at that BIG MONEY level. But us little guys, with the smaller bank accounts... It’s a bitch.
Sander and I spend the rest of the day wandering Amsterdam, eating at this bizarre place with a giant statue of Goliath that just cried out to come to life ala Harryhausen and kill me whilst I ate Potato Pancakes with bacon bits and ham.
After walking till the sun began disappearing we hiked it back over to his place and once there, he began to cook... Boerenkool met Worst. Ya know what. This stuff was really really good. It consists of, but is not exclusive to, cabbage, potatoes, other stuff and some sort of sausage/worst. I’m sure someone will post below what it was. All I know is it really hit the spot.
Then it was time to head back to my hotel in Rotterdam. On the way back we talked about the problems with the Dutch film industry and Sander’s dream for a more open film production country where movies can be made that entertained as well as being of quality. According to Sander’s letter I received today, it looks as if that’s beginning to come true, here... listen..
A small update on the Romantic Comedy-thing: some things are indeed changing in The Netherlands, just like the story about the Indie studio suggests. These changes will (if they prove to be as good as they promise us they will be) allow a greater chance for people like myself, to get cool movies made.
Richard Woolley has been appointed 'intendant' for our National Film Fund and he will be judging subsidiary applications primarily on their....(wait for it) ENTERTAINMENT value! A whole new concept for the money people over here, but a promising one nonetheless. So this is the man who will be a very important figure in the Dutch Film landscape in the near future. I hope he'll like my idea, but then again so do probably about 200 other people, so I won't be getting my hopes up to high for now.
I have attached the teaser poster I will be sending the fund with my application.
The Cgi-live-action-bugs-pilot has been completed, but I can show you no example of how it turned out since they're still busy trying to get all the necessary rights to be able to make it. But when they do and they find the money, I'll be doing about 500 cgi/compositing shots from my little Amsterdam apartment. How cool is that? It turned out beautifully though, it sometimes has a hint of the feel of the Falkor(?)flying scene from Neverending Story to it, just this small boy sitting on the back of a giant wasp flying into the sunset. It has a lot of potential...I hope they'll be able to sell it.
I'll be seeing you!
Greetings, Sander (de Regt)
As I left Holland I made a promise to my cohorts. I said I would introduce to you folks around the world Joop Klepzeiker and his dog Harry. So... without further ado... Here’s Joop and his horny dog Harry right here in my home atop the Alamo...
