In Amsterdam, with just a hint of good weather, people frantically go outside to do stuff. Like bbq-ing. When I was searching online for a hammock I came across this little fellow. A campstove by BioLite. It reduces your carbon footprint, because it produces less carbon monoxide, less smoke, and uses less wood. And it even charges your gadgets while you grill something tasty on it. You might think this doesn’t add much to the equation, but BioLite also produces HomeStoves to bring cleaner energy to the developing world. The campstove can be bougth at Bever Amsterdam – it excludes the BBQ-weather, for that matter.

There are several great jeans brands. And new ones keep popping up. Yesterday I came across this label while cycling in Amsterdam. Hema. Hema is seamlessly part of Dutch culture and category-wise comparable to Target. And though Hema is a lovebrand it’s not the first brand you think of when thinking of jeans. That’s why the big logo is quite boldly chosen. It reminds me of the Zeeman (a store that has invented cheapness) t-shirt hype. But who knows. Maybe these jeans too become a hype this season. And yes, it was a bit awkward cycling behind this girl and taking a picture of her butt. It made me feel like a dirty old man. But it’s all for the good cause of hopefully inspiring you a little.

On the first of June, Holland Festival kicks off for 26 days of international theatre, dance and opera. The festival, established in 1948, is The Netherlands’ foremost performing arts festival, bringing the best contemporary works from across the globe to Amsterdam. As every year, many of the choice performances sell out well in advance, so if you like to go, you better be quick. If your favourite does sell out, there are a number of side-shows and screenings that are publicly accessible, the most famous being ‘the opera in the park’. This year Wagner’s ‘Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg‘ opera will be broadcast live in the Oosterpark from the Muziektheater on June 20th at 17u30.

We love all boys, but we love Nils Gerbens our ex boy-next door a little bit more. Nils this one goes out to you: Dear Nils Gerbens, please make a feature length film… Or perhaps a trilogy, or a trilogy of trilogies. Or better yet, can we all plug into your Nils Gerbens brain. Get lost in the Nils Gerbens Wonderland and hear the famous Nils Gerbens laughter from the inside. Aaaaah pretty please… Nils Gerbens we heart you for ever into infinity and beyond with sprinkles on top _xoxo The Girls™
ps: portrait of Nils Gerbens (click to see full painting) by Nils Gerbens.

This month’s edition of Creatie is quite a special one. Creative, art-director, and very good friend Jarr Geerligs took complete control of the Dutch advertising magazine – focusing on ‘creation.’ He took his job quite seriously. First: He came up with a great theme: Crossing The Fields & Bending The Rules. Within this mind set he put to work a broad variety of creatives, resulting in a great deal of unexpected creativity. Secondly: He had all of the contributors photographed in quite a special way – a portrait of their feet, rather than their head. And last but not least, he updated the Creatie-logo a little and created the cover – click image for full picture. Go get one and immerse yourself in this wonderful, broad, inspiring world Geerligs created.

Like most new technology 3D printing provides easy access to previously impossible ideas and potentially allows everyone to create new things. Some of the ideas I have seen so far look promising, others less so… Like the American guy trying to establish an open-source weapon printing industry. Do it yourself guns to print at home… ready to kill, what a dreadful notion that is. On a more positive note Amsterdam may be the first city to realise a 3D printed building this year (or next). Combined with other exciting modern techniques such as this, these could be the first steps in realising a genuine change to the way we build houses and who decides why or where this happens. Count me in. More info here.

We live in an era of great cultural change. Also in our profession. Every good designer, art director, writer, strategist or developer is preoccupied with what his or her added value is. In the past, our industry was dominated by opportunism. The people with the biggest ego were the winners. It didn’t matter which client you worked for, as long as you could win an award with it. times are changing. More and more, I see colleagues – in the broadest sense of the word – who have started to think differently about it. People with a talent. And those that want to put that talent into businesses they believe in. That make their heart beat faster. That make them happy. And that’s when awards or honorariums become slightly less important – and when those ideas are more likely to be shared, and sometimes even given away. that’s a good thing. What Design Can Do is a two-day international event which takes place in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam on 16 and 17 May 2013. Conceived by Richard van der Laken and friends, What Design Can Do celebrates the power of design and its problem-solving abilities. And it exposes design as a catalyst of change and renewal, and a way of addressing the societal questions of our time. Every year, I connect to What Design Can Do. Simply because I, although i’m a writer, find it two of the most inspiring days of the year.

Another great expo in Amsterdam, from March 16th  till 27th of April at gallery Ron Mandos. Katinka Lampe always impresses me with her portraits – partly because of the size of her paintings. Her recent works on show at Ron Mandos are inspired by teenagers showing off, promoting themselves on YouTube, and asking to rate their looks.

Now there’s a piece of inspiration! Or should we say a piece inspired by many others? This short, dubbed ‘Crinis13’ (crinis is ‘hair’ in Latin), is, according to Floor Stoop and Mike van der Giessen (Fotofloor), a piece in which Pre-Raphaelites meet poetry meet Dada meet Rorschachto. The central idea was to create a bridge between photography and motion pictures. According to the renowned photo-duo there’s a revolution going on in this overlap; “Classic photography is inching closer towards the moving image, and vice versa. The reason, of course, is that photographers nowadays have cameras that can film professionally; with some technical insight it’s relatively easy to create your own ‘cinemagraphs’. But, other than moving collages or still images on a screen coming to life, real overlap is rarely seen.” In making this beautiful fashion short Fotofloor says it was inspired by the films of Man Ray and Luis Buñuel and in particular by Fernand Léger’s Ballet Mécanique. In fact, the goal was to revive Dada. But the magic really took off with “After Effects wizard” Marvin Koppejan, motion director of postproduction company Woodwork. ”He cut, pasted, juggled, mixed, mirrored and conjured up images with a photographic eye.” Koppejan: “The footage is recorded in a slow 120 frames per second, instead of the usual 25 fps, in order to be able to stretch and accelerate faster in post production.” The result is magical. Produced by Caviar.

In the city of bikes creativity is everywhere. Like on this bike. There is a whole architectural construction on it to transport and protect a beloved pet. I didn’t see the owner of the bike, nor the pet on my run through the park last weekend. But the pet could be anything from a dog, a bunny, to a parrot. Probably not a Mogwai considering all the windows. Then again, it protects against the rain, which is helpful too. The construction of the windows hint towards The Amsterdam School style of architecture, like The Ship building in the Zaanstraat here in Amsterdam. Speaking of ship, the window construction almost looks like the bridge of a ship. Does that make the pet the captain and the driver the first mate? It’s remarkable what people do with their bikes to modify it to their needs and create a style of their own.

Whenever I come back to visit my homeland, I’m always amused, surprised and somewhat cringeful at the state of social disarray reflected by the official government advertising warnings. Australia is infamously known for its dangerous species, from the great white shark to the deadly red back spider. Now there appears to be a new threat lurking Down Under, known as… ‘Drinkwalkers’. So prolific and volatile are they, that the Australian government has released a public awareness campaign warning citizens to “Watch out for Drinkwalkers”. The official page of the Motor Accident Commission website reads: “Some Drinkwalkers can’t remember how they got from one pub to the next, or how they got home. Like Sleepwalkers, Drinkwalkers don’t know they’re doing it. Which can been pretty annoying, inappropriate or just plain dangerous.” Listen to the full radio commercial here.

OMG we love Boys, and we are not the only ladies in Amsterdam. Miss Kiki ‘ZTRDG waikikilab‘ Kouthoofd is Boy Crayzay. Us Girls™ have always been a fan of the eye of Miss Coolhead since her colourful juicy cheeky shots for fantastic food blog ZTRDG. Now she has built her own digital shrine to all things Boy-like. A representation of a little men’s world of of Boys™ that will grow up to be real men. You know the decent-chivalrous-yet-always sporting a crazy grin on the face-cheeky kind of-boys will be boys-dudes. But now we’re getting carried a way . We love Cool Boys ps: dont forget to watch ‘mooiboys 4-ever‘ heart heat smiley face _xoxo TheGirls™