eggggsdfjsldkj: April 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Back from Barcelona!!! / Supermodel Sighting

I finally arrived home from Barcelona yesterday.

Phew! It was an amazing trip.

Beautiful sights, EPIC food (we had several Michelin-starred meals), fun fun fun, and wine wine wine.

On my flight home I had Supermodel Christy Turlington and Edward Burns and their kids on my flight sitting three rows behind me.

(I did not take this photo.)

For those who haven't spent years gazing at Vogue, Christy was one of the top 5 supermodels of the 90s (along with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour and Linda Evangelista).

As a photographer, I've WORSHIPPED these ladies and studied their work for years...it was a total A-list sighting in my book.

And it was shocking to Christy as she is now, dressed in unglamorous mom-clothes, her hair in a disheveled bun with her kids scrambling all over her lap. Flying in COACH.

When she got on the plane I did a double-take because I was sitting in the exit row (10B) which is where the boarding door is. She literally stepped on my foot and apologized. And I was like "that looks like an older, incognito version of Christy Turlington..." but it couldn't be...because she brushed by me and walked into economy...but then Ed Burns got on the plane right behind them!

(He also proceeded to get in a verbal argument with another passenger regarding overhead space which drew a even more attention to them.)

Celebrities flying coach. It just feels so wrong, because you imagine they have this incredible glamorous life with no-hassles. Supermodels especially. And I mean, they DO have that life...but they also live in the real world as real humans as well.

Never in my life did I think I'd get to witness a yawny, constantly-adjusting-trying-to-get-comfortable -while-sleeping-upright Christy Turlington!!!

I will leave you with a blast from the past, George Michael's "Freedom 90" starring Christy, Cindy, Linda, and Naomi.

More on Europe very soon!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Amsterdam Museums and Bieber Sighting!

We woke up on our fourth and final day in Amsterdam and went on a mini morning bike ride to return our bikes after breakfast.

The architecture in Amstydam is so kewl.

Then we headed across town the newly reopened (after a 10 year remodel) Rijksmuseum.

There we saw works of masters like Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Vermeer.

Pretty pretty pitchers...

This one's supposedly pretty famous.

As is this one, The Night Watch...

Really pretty museum.

Also there's a beautiful library in there that looks like something out of Beauty and the Beast.

We had a fab lunch.

And on our way to our next stop passed by a crowd of people outside a very fancy hotel.

All of a sudden everyone started SCREAMING and JUSTIN BIEBER and his entourage drove into the entrance of the hotel in a row of blacked out Mercedes-Benzes.

BIEBERRRRRRR!!!!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon touring other museums, exploring the city, and searching for stroopwaffles.

STROOPWAFFLES!!!!

Next stop Barcelona!!!!

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P.S. Justin Bieber got a LOT of backlash regarding his visit to the Anne Frank House the day after we were there.

And I found a great article defending him.

Haters gonna hate.

BIEBER 4 EVA!

===========================

WORLD REACTION TO JUSTIN BIEBER'S ANNE FRANK COMMENT SAYS MORE ABOUT US THAN HIM
by Monica Bielanko

I didn’t really care about The Biebs either way before today. Much like Ozzy I was of the “who the what is a Justin Bieber?” camp.

Now, I’m a fan.

So if you clicked here expecting an extra large helping of snark served to Justin Bieber for the comment he left in the guest book of the historical Anne Frank House in Amsterdam you will be disappointed. But you should keep reading anyway. Dare I say these words will be in keeping with the spirit of love, compassion and kindness Anne Frank has come to represent – which is more than I can say for most of the stuff written in response to Justin Bieber’s comment.

As Yahoo reports, on Friday Bieber paid a visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam – the hiding place of the young Holocaust victim who notably detailed her life, from ages 13 to 15, in a diary.

“Truly inspiring to be able to come here,” the 19-year-old wrote in the guest book. “Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.”

And the world went crazy.

“Belieber” is a nickname many of the pop star’s fans go by. Now the entire Internet (mostly adults) is in an uproar, calling Justin an egotistical, punk for the comment which struck many as an attempt to acknowledge his own celebrity and not appropriate for such a somber place.

Listen. The kid is 19-years-old and living in a different galaxy. A different universe. A place most of us cannot even begin to comprehend. Am I saying he’s an excellent human being? I don’t know. Don’t know him. What I am saying is the kid paid a private visit to the Anne Frank House on a Friday night. Pretty fucking cool. If you were vacationing in Amsterdam and tried to get your 19-year-old to the Anne Frank House on a Friday night he would probably bitch and moan about it and then sneak out to get stoned with his friends. Admit it.

So, a teenager taking the initiative to learn about Anne Frank when he could, quite frankly, be snorting coke off the asses of starlets (he might’ve done that later, though) is great! Instead of doing whatever it is world famous pop stars with unlimited funds do on Friday nights (see aforementioned parenthesis) Justin Bieber spent an hour learning about Anne Frank and, before leaving, left the message in the guestbook which the organization then posted on their Facebook page.

As of today countless articles have popped up on the Internet calling Bieber an asshole. Nearly 2,500 people have commented on the Anne Frank House’s Facebook post. The top comment from Kevin Garcia Leon has 1,395 likes so far. He says “She would’ve been a WHAT? That little idiot is way too full of himself. She’s an important historical figure so show some respect.”

Thing is, Bieber is showing respect. He’s a teenager, don’t forget. A teen trying to connect with another teenager and his way of doing so was by saying he would be humbled to think that Anne Frank might dig his music. That’s all.

If you’ve read The Diary of a Young Girl then you’ll know Anne was obsessed by all things Hollywood and hung pin-ups on her wall to cheer herself up during her years in hiding. To be blunt, Anne Frank probably would have been a “Belieber.” She was barely a teenager, after all. Is that so terrible? To imply a 14-year-old might’ve been a fan of a cute pop star? Anne Frank may have been wise beyond her years but she was also a young girl who was obsessed with movie and music stars, just like most young girls. In fact, as The Telegraph reports, Bieber’s entry in the guestbook was prompted by one of the guides, who pointed out that Anne Frank was a fan of the pop culture of the time and that she might have been a fan of his.

Annemarie Bekker, a spokesman for the Anne Frank House, said museum officials were “a bit overwhelmed” by the negative reaction to Bieber’s statement.

“He’s a 19-year-old boy taking the effort to come and see the museum, and we’d like to point that out, and I think it’s quite innocent what he put down,” Ms Bekker explained.

Exactly.

Nobody publicized Justin’s visit to the Anne Frank House but the organization itself. He didn’t tweet about it, there were no Instagrams of him giving the peace sign outside the building and his manager didn’t mention it to any media outlets. In the same Facebook post used to share Justin’s message the Anne Frank House wrote, “We think it is very positive that he took the time and effort to visit our museum. He was very interested in the story of Anne Frank and stayed for over an hour. We hope that his visit will inspire his fans to learn more about her life and hopefully read the diary.”

I think a bunch of Facebook obsessed adults jumping down a 19-yearold’s throat for a comment left in a guestbook during a private tour says a whole lot more about where we are as “grown-ups” than it does about Justin Bieber. What a bunch of judgmental, finger-pointing, holier than thou assholes we’ve all become.

If you want to really show Anne Frank the respect you accuse Justin of lacking you should know the overriding reaction to Bieber hasn’t been very Anne Frank of all of us.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Amsterdam: Anne Frank, Countryside Bike Ride, and FOODS

On our second day in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank Haus. They don't allow cameras...but I will just say that the place is NOT uplifting.

We HATES the Holocaust!

Asian Poses! (Bieber came here the following day. Can you IMAGINE the blowback that would have occurred had he done something like this??? Poor kid can't do anything without the haters jumping on his ass. More on that later...)

We walked around the city...A LOT. My poor feetsies.

Stopped for meatballs and beers.

And a pre-dinner snackie of CROQUETTE.

CROQUETA became a recurring theme over the course of this adventure. MMmmmmm...

And then we had an amazing meal at Balthazar's Keuken (Kitchen). It is also a place without a menu. You just eat what you are served.

Started with a plate of apps. Beet Bruschetta, Pesto Barley, some kind of tasty creamed fish thing, amazing soft cheeses, and pork rillette.....MMMMMMMMMmmmmm...

Then there was a Filet Mignon (I think, I don't know the difference between meat cuts, as long as it's BEEF) served on top of Fried Gnocchis in a delicious sauce.