resistance

Forget about Venice, go to Amsterdam!

I spent some time this summer in The Netherlands, mostly in Den Haag and Amsterdam. I was impressed.

One thing I noticed - if you don’t drink beer while in Amsterdam the weather gets bad. If you drink beer and weather is still bad, drink some more. It gets better…

If you ever wondered why the sky looks so… unreal in Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, wonder no more. The sky in Amsterdam really looks impossible. I managed to take some pictures on my way out of the Van Gogh museum and just looking at it makes you feel like you are on a different planet. Imp-osible, surreal sky.

Funny story, we bought some of the lollipops they sell in the floating market, made from Mary Jane or Hashish and to tell you the truth they barely give an effect on you, but if you have 4 or 5 you kind of get in the mood. So we got some of these and I put some of them in a bag completely forgetting about them up until I was about to enter another country where MJ is not legal. I had “oh shit” moment.

It made me realize that people should be free to do whatever they want with their own bodies. If you want to take drugs, by all means, do it. It is none of the government business. The so called war on drugs is causing more harm than good. Drugs should be legalized, period. It is not healthy, but so is the tobacco, alcohol and fire arms and you can buy them everywhere, right?

If you are stupid enough to smoke or drug yourself to death, by all means life is a game of survival. If you are not intelligent enough to realize that drugs will fuck you up real good and you will probably lose your job, lifestyle and family, not my problem, it is yours.

The red light district was a bit of a disappointment though. It kinda looks like a place with dirty business and fast money. There was a girl with me and she was eager to take a look at the district, but she was very disappointed too. It was 1AM and she was the ONLY girl on the street not behind a window, if you know what I mean. You are not allowed to take pictures, that is of course unless you use some services.

This legalized prostitution thing is definitely better for the girls as they are protected by the law and all, but still the district appears to be controlled by gangs.

Yep, legal or not the oldest profession is not going anywhere so we may as well embrace it.

Overall Amsterdam is beautiful city, with a lot of cool stuff to do. Van Gogh museum is a must see. It is an experience. Make sure you go around 8PM so you can enjoy the night sky when you are out. You will be out right on time for when Amsterdam comes alive - 10PM. Everybody is on the streets, all bars are full with people, fun times.

As my uncle likes to say - everything cool happens after 10PM :)

I went to the Sea Shepherd - Pirates & Mermaids Masquerade party in Toronto couple of weeks ago. It was really nice party and I met a lot of really noble pirates and some irresistible mermaids…

Paul Watson (one of the founders of Green Peace and founder of Sea Shepherd)  was there. He talked at the end of the party for about an hour. His speech really impressed me! I can tell he was talking from his heart as he never  looked into notes and never stopped trying to find words to continue. He was in that speech emotionally and spiritually, a man who believes in what he does. I was surprised to see that he was very friendly and talked with anyone, happily agreed to pose for pictures and talk.

It is such an rare occasion to see somebody doing something not motivated by money these days. Trying to save dolphins, sharks, seals just because you think it is the right thing to do is as noble as it gets.

It made me think - These people are the heroes of our time! Hell, they are heroes of all times!

When 100 years later people realize that the last fish is caught in the nets, the last river is poisoned, the last wild animal is killed to be made into a fancy restaurant soup, when the last tree is cut, people will realize that they can not breathe or eat money! Oh, what a surprise that will be.

Apparently, most of the governments seem to think that to make money is more important. What do you think?

An Indian tribe in northern Canada (Mohawks I think it was) has send a special flag to Sea Shepherd so that their ships can sail under their flag. This is an extremely rare honor, once in a life time type of thing.

If you want to know more about Sea Shepherd (and you should) please check their web site: www.seashepherd.com. They are the only organization  dare to stand between the killers and the dolphins, whales, baby seals. There are very nice TV series on Animal Planet called “Whale Wars”, they are excellent, watch them.

Support Sea Shepherd, it is your ocean and your planet that is being destroyed. When the planet is dead, nobody will need your help!