the sentinel amsterdam vol. 5 #12
DESCRIPTION
The Sentinel, Amsterdam tri-weekly e-zine with all that is good and informative on lifestyles with perspectives, opinion and sport from Amsterdam looking out at the rest of the world. We inform, update and entertain from our city just under sea-level.TRANSCRIPT
The SentinelAmsterdamIntegrity heart humour
SporT
HOME GROWN IN CATALONIApErSpECTIVESLIFESTYLESTrAVELopINIoN
TECHNoLoGYArTFILMMUSIC
TrENDSHEALTH amp WELL-BEINGrECoMMENDEDSporT
FEATUrE
vol 5 12 ndash 19 June 2012
HOME BREWED ANTWERP
CoNTENTS 02
03CoNTENTS
In this issueFEATUrE p 04
CoLopHoN
The Sentinel Amsterdam
e-mail sentinelpostgmailcomwebsite wwwthesentineleu
The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photosillustrations that are subject to copyright If you consider your copyright to have been infringed please contact us at sentinelpostgmailcom
Editors ndash Gary Rudland amp Denson PierreDesign realisation and form ndash Andrei Barburas amp No-OfficenlWebmaster ndash wwwsio-bytestumblrcomWebhost ndash Amsterjammincom
Contributors Eline Verbauwhede Simon Owusu David King Dirkje Bakker-Pierre and David Billy
Home grown in Catalonia
CULTUrE p 22
Antwerp
ArT p 40
TRACK
TECHNoLoGY p54 SporT p 80 MorE
News feeding The Gold Room rESTAUrANT rEVIEW p 52Mistral
CULTUrE p 54Home brewed in AntwerpStar Beer Guide p 58
THE SENTINEL RECOMMENDED p 60
SpoTTED p 64
FILM rEVIEW p 65Room 2c
TrENDS p 66Fashion loves football
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING p 76GOH slimmer
lsquoBarcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destinationrsquo
lsquoIf we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss outrsquo
lsquoThe Dutch language is a necessary tonic
lsquoA contemporary city conversationrsquo
04
Home grown inCatalonia
FEATUrE
lsquoAsk anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelonarsquo
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lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
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To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
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CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
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30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
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34CULTUrE
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36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CoNTENTS 02
03CoNTENTS
In this issueFEATUrE p 04
CoLopHoN
The Sentinel Amsterdam
e-mail sentinelpostgmailcomwebsite wwwthesentineleu
The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photosillustrations that are subject to copyright If you consider your copyright to have been infringed please contact us at sentinelpostgmailcom
Editors ndash Gary Rudland amp Denson PierreDesign realisation and form ndash Andrei Barburas amp No-OfficenlWebmaster ndash wwwsio-bytestumblrcomWebhost ndash Amsterjammincom
Contributors Eline Verbauwhede Simon Owusu David King Dirkje Bakker-Pierre and David Billy
Home grown in Catalonia
CULTUrE p 22
Antwerp
ArT p 40
TRACK
TECHNoLoGY p54 SporT p 80 MorE
News feeding The Gold Room rESTAUrANT rEVIEW p 52Mistral
CULTUrE p 54Home brewed in AntwerpStar Beer Guide p 58
THE SENTINEL RECOMMENDED p 60
SpoTTED p 64
FILM rEVIEW p 65Room 2c
TrENDS p 66Fashion loves football
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING p 76GOH slimmer
lsquoBarcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destinationrsquo
lsquoIf we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss outrsquo
lsquoThe Dutch language is a necessary tonic
lsquoA contemporary city conversationrsquo
04
Home grown inCatalonia
FEATUrE
lsquoAsk anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelonarsquo
05FEATUrE
06FEATUrE
lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
03CoNTENTS
In this issueFEATUrE p 04
CoLopHoN
The Sentinel Amsterdam
e-mail sentinelpostgmailcomwebsite wwwthesentineleu
The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photosillustrations that are subject to copyright If you consider your copyright to have been infringed please contact us at sentinelpostgmailcom
Editors ndash Gary Rudland amp Denson PierreDesign realisation and form ndash Andrei Barburas amp No-OfficenlWebmaster ndash wwwsio-bytestumblrcomWebhost ndash Amsterjammincom
Contributors Eline Verbauwhede Simon Owusu David King Dirkje Bakker-Pierre and David Billy
Home grown in Catalonia
CULTUrE p 22
Antwerp
ArT p 40
TRACK
TECHNoLoGY p54 SporT p 80 MorE
News feeding The Gold Room rESTAUrANT rEVIEW p 52Mistral
CULTUrE p 54Home brewed in AntwerpStar Beer Guide p 58
THE SENTINEL RECOMMENDED p 60
SpoTTED p 64
FILM rEVIEW p 65Room 2c
TrENDS p 66Fashion loves football
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING p 76GOH slimmer
lsquoBarcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destinationrsquo
lsquoIf we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss outrsquo
lsquoThe Dutch language is a necessary tonic
lsquoA contemporary city conversationrsquo
04
Home grown inCatalonia
FEATUrE
lsquoAsk anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelonarsquo
05FEATUrE
06FEATUrE
lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
04
Home grown inCatalonia
FEATUrE
lsquoAsk anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelonarsquo
05FEATUrE
06FEATUrE
lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
05FEATUrE
06FEATUrE
lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
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FEATUrE 17
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CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
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28CULTUrE
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30CULTUrE
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32CULTUrE
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34CULTUrE
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36CULTUrE
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CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
06FEATUrE
lsquoIt is almost criminal that so many millions remain
ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short
drive from the cityrsquo
a group press trip to the province designed to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the region allowing me to check out the best of Catalonian rural life
lsquoThere are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing pastrsquo
Letrsquos get motoring and the best way to do this as a group is in a modern 25-seater bus This trip does take our carbon footprint into consideration after all With a starting point at the airport the city does not enter the equation and we head straight for the mountains Yes just down the road from that stony beach there are fantastic highlands with great roads special scenery and the reassurance of local everyday life flashing past your window Our first stop is to have lunch and meet the director of tourism for all things LrsquoAlt Berguedagrave Ms Rosa Colomer Oro She is an infectiously passionate local and we should have known that we were in for some good exercise when she arrived in three-quarter-length trousers and super comfortable walking and climbing shoes sporting a nicely designed and regionally colour-coded top
To loosen up our lungs we first headed up to the imposing look-out onto Pedraforca complete with cool and interac-tive tour aids (you receive a booklet with all the sights and points to be visited and a unique stamp to prove you have visited) This is great for kids as the natural park area in which we found ourselves has so many points of interest
Go ahead try it Ask anyone within earshot if they have ever been to Barcelona There is a high chance that the response will be positive Now ask if they managed to get out beyond the city limits and into the rural areas of the province I am prepared to wager a tiny sum that the response will be one of bemusement that you have even asked such a question
It is now more than a decade since Barcelona overtook Amsterdam as Europersquos number one weekend-break destination and itrsquos easy to understand why The football played by the club representing the city is out of this world in its attractiveness and the city is blessed with a large beach at its foot Nevertheless it is almost criminal that so many millions remain ignorant of the splendours of nature that exist just a short drive from the city or its international airport
lsquoDesigned to highlight options for various themed holidays within its vastness The trip focused on the ecological brightness of the regionrsquo
The prevalence of over-city-focused tourism has not been lost on organisations charged with maximising the true scope of their offering especially when it is so wondrously impressive In May The Sentinel was part of
By Denson Pierre
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 07
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
08FEATUrE
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 09
To turn all this into a fantastically designed guest house Conxita has used as much as possible of the material from the mill buildings and its equipment to create a warm and comfortable lodging place All shampoos soaps and cleaning solutions are made in-house It is truly an amazing and wonderful set of gardens our hosts maintain here They are self-sufficient in so many ways and a perfect example of why bio-dynamic principles could truly be as effective and inexpensive as the idealists would have us believe and adopt There is a lot of manual work to be done and even five days before we arrived unseasonal snow badly damaged some of the delicate plants growing towards the sun
lsquoThe young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fussrsquo
As part of a touring holiday of this region I cannot recom-mend a stay here more highly It is just beyond words if you are a lover of that which is eco-friendly tasty and healthy In Conxita you also have one of those women whose book you just want to help write The next morning as we left before the sun came over the mountains shading this unique place I dragged myself away while the young woman of the house was unaware that she had provided me with a perfect example of how technology and ecology can co-exist without a fuss She was busy watering and weeding with her iPod headphones on and then calmly raised her glance to wave an elegant goodbye to us as we climbed aboard our transportation to more sensations of rural Catalonia
httpwwwmolidelcasoes
Next we headed over to Goacutesol (1502 metres) a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time during his key formative years arriving by beast of burden and on foot to absorb the extremely pleasant air particular ochres and remoteness As a side note he did leave in a hurry when there was talk of typhus having reached the village We set out on an intermediary level of mountain path eventually arriving at a spring some 16 kilometres along and above It is said that this is one of the tasks Picasso accomplished but it left me as a sea-level dweller gasping and struggling for oxygen even at these lsquomodest heightsrsquo The views throughout and the sense of accomplishment enjoyed after you survive a climb make it more than worthwhile however
At the foot of the climb is the main square of Goacutesol where the house in which Picasso stayed can be found More importantly after such a thorough bout of exercise it contains a few cosy cafeacutes for refreshment After the trials of an overweight lowlander battling a mountain trail it was pure bliss to sample a chilled bottle of what turned out to be the tastiest lager I sampled throughout the entire trip It is brewed in Barcelona and I look forward to enjoying another bottle of Estrella Damm soon
lsquoThis fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projectsrsquo
My highlight of the first day was the place where we would dine and rest for the night None of my colleagues on the trip or indeed the organisers could have known that this fully bio-dynamic operation is one of my own dream projects Yet here it was Upon entering the compound run by Conxita Carreras the instantly revitalising aromas of medicinal and culinary herbs flowers and vines caress you A river runs by with purposeful force providing a typical soundtrack to truly rural life Moli del Caso was previously a watermill hence its position on a relatively powerful mountain river
lsquoGoacutesol a village where Pablo Picasso spent a short time
during his key formative yearsrsquo
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
10FEATUrE
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 11
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
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28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
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34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
12FEATUrE
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 13
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
14FEATUrE
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 15
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
16FEATUrE
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 17
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
18FEATUrE
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
FEATUrE 19
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 20
For complete and world class tours of Prague
Packages includebull Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)bull Literary Praguebull Prague Architecture through the agesbull Religion and the citybull The old city at night
These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists
Day segments and ratesPR 0800-1230hrs AG 1330-1630hrs UE 1730-2130hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult Group size upper limit = 8 Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25 Family package rates are negotiable
ContactJaroslav Cernosek+420 251 620 008Mail jcernosekcentrumcz
wwwyourtuliptourcom
JC Tours
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 21
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
22CULTUrE
lsquoThe book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmissable aspect of a
trip to the European city of diamondsrsquo
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
Antwerp twinned with Amsterdam
23CULTUrE
lsquoLooking forever across the square on to what has to
be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe
Antwerp Centralrsquo
On this particular trip we decided to take a Toerism Antwerp guided tour of a few evening highlights and they certainly came up trumps for The Sentinel We were collected from the Radisson Blu Astrid where we would eventually bed for the night with its unbeatable location looking forever across the square on to what has to be the most beautiful train station in Western Europe Antwerp Central Our tour guide was Ms Vera Verschooren a local woman who has been with the regional tourism organisation since the mid-1980s
My wife and I both felt we were pretty familiar with Antwerp and all it had to offer to a discerning visitor given many previous visits the most recent being just a year ago However we soon learnt from Vera that we had actually missed a huge amount of what was interesting engaging tasty and historic in her city The slight embar-rassment of missing so many points was compounded by the fact that these highlights were not all hidden or off the beaten track Many were in fact right next to and even beneath where we had sat and caroused on other occasions Humbling indeed and with Vera as a motherly and lovely guide we enjoyed peeling back whole new
It is not that there is any perceptible real-world administrative fusion between these two cities but both to me are pretty much becoming what seems like one given a tiny leap of imagination For a simple starter the culture is pretty much the same and the language of the internationally minded here is easily English The Dutch language is a necessary tonic should you wish to delve more deeply into the cultural manifestations of this lsquohiprsquo city however
In real terms getting to Antwerp from Amsterdam can be quicker than getting from Amsterdam to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands Quite fantastically NS Highspeed can get you there in as little as 67 minutes (Thalys) and more affordably on an NS InterCity train you can do the trip in 2 hours 17 minutes Just enough time to read a paper or get through a few chapters of a book The book could be about beer since beer culture is an unmiss-able aspect of a trip to the European city of diamonds
By Denson Pierre
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
24CULTUrE
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 25
We enjoyed peeling back whole new layers of the city
explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for
diamondsrsquo
lsquoWe have elevated it to the level of our favourite
easy-to-reach cityrsquo
establishments which hosted us on the holiday aspect of our trip
Hotel Scheldezicht (httpwwwhotelscheldezichteu) affordable clean lsquostylishrsquo good beds with lovely welcoming understanding staff and even nearby free parking for driversHet Kathedraal Cafeacute (httpkathedraalcafebe) felt more dramatic previously as grand cafeacute Het Elfde Gebod but still worth enjoying a couple of drinks and the peculiar sculptures hereCafeacute Paters Vaetje (wwwpatersvaetjebe) central cosy and serving the right number of high quality beers toast amp mushrooms and other cutters to keep us going Nicely zany staff members who know their beer and how to make you feel welcomeCafeacute de Pelikaan also just around the corner and great evening fun and sampling to be had with Yves Klinkhamers and the many brews he serves
Now pay attention to the other sections as there is more Antwerp flowing from us here in Amsterdam
layers of the city explained from the heart from how and why it is laid out the way it is and how it evolved to be a centre for diamonds to its strong traditions in trade art fashion and design
The Sentinel is focused on all things Flanders for the next few issues so watch out for various aspects and peculiari-ties of the city of Antwerp and hopefully get a feel for why we have elevated it to the level of our favourite easy-to-reach city on a scale that is not overwhelming but so full of all you could need for any kind of city break imaginable Oh and it is much cheaper to enjoy high quality beer and rove around on public transport than it is here in hometown Amsterdam
It is perhaps funny to note that more of The Sentinel team (co-editor Gary Rudland and his wife) were also in Antwerp for a weekend break just before the start of the actual press trip so you will also find a couple of images of us lsquoabsorbing the culturersquo as we fused activities Special and separate mention must go to the staff at the hospitality
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
26CULTUrE
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 27
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
28CULTUrE
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 29
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
30CULTUrE
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 31
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
32CULTUrE
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 33
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
34CULTUrE
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 35
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
36CULTUrE
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CULTUrE 37
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 38
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 39
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
ArT 40
12052012 - 16092012
TRACK is a unique art experience in the city of Ghent 41 international artists have been invited to create new works which also give you the opportunity to (re)discover the city
wwwtrackbe
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
41ArT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
ArT 42
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
43ArT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
ArT 44
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
45ArT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
ArT 46
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
47ArT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
ArT 48
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
49ArT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
Familiar and yet always innovative Marriott
The Prague Marriott Hotel is located in the heart of the city center a few steps away from historical landmarks such as the Municipal House and a short walk from the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square After a decade in the Czech market this Marriott flagship property represents a symbol of superior and dedicated service combined with local know how and expertise
The hotel interior was recently renovated its rooms and suites now offer even more comfort and luxury All 293 spacious guest rooms are fully equipped with high speed wired and wi-fi internet personal safe mini-bar satellite TV with LCD screens movies and music on demand voice mail data ports individual climate control and a comfortable working area
The hotel offers 1450 square meters (11 conference rooms in total some with daylight) of newly renovated flexible conference reception and banquet space located on one level Whether you need to organize a board meeting for 8 participants or a conference reception for 750 delegates the Prague Marriott will provide a tailored service that exceeds your expectations The professional event management team will create a successful event you will always remember
Since July 2009 we have incorporated ldquogreen eventsrdquo into our everyday standards By applying the principles of reduce reuse and recycle to all events and meetings we make them more eco-friendly and help guests and meeting planners reduce their carbon footprint on the environment
CLASSIFIEDS 28
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
YOU WONrsquoT FIND BETTER PRICES IN THE CZ THAN IN OUR AIRPORT SHOPS
It pays to shop at the airport Many brand outlets with a wide selection of exclusive goods carry The Best Price Guarantee logo which means you get the best prices in the Czech Republic
A4indd 8 12412 1012
CLASSIFIEDS 51
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
52rESTAUrANT rEVIEW
mistral 90
lsquoFrom the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my lifersquo
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
Pelgrimstraat 20 2000 Antwerp Belgium
During an evening walk around the beautiful atmospheric and historic city centre of Antwerp a tiny little rustic restaurant was pointed out to us by our guide from Turisme Vlaanderen From the outside it looked like the cutest most petite eatery Irsquove seen in my life a mesmerising mix of countrified tables chairs and flowers like something out of a fairytale
Upon entering we were immediately captivated by the utterly charming atmosphere The owner and chef a very Belgian lady called Marie was intensely busy cooking in her homely looking kitchen where old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans were steaming away The restaurant is so small that there are only a few little tables in the room with the kitchen and a narrow old staircase leading up to a second floor with a few more tables in a similarly quaint space
The chef creates authentic and extremely tasty Provencal food in a fitting atmosphere Even though you are in Antwerp it really makes you feel like you have made a
By Antonia Egon
rESTAUrANT rEVIEW 53
little side trip to Provence in springtime The interior of the restaurant is so picturesque and charming it makes you feel privileged to visit it and taste all the great homely food
We started with a freshly made tapenade with olives capers and parsley combined with slices of simple French bread We couldnrsquot resist asking for a second portion while continuing to enjoy the lovely accompanying house wine When the main course arrived we were silent for a second in awe of the great appearance and smell of this truly magnificent ratatouille It had so many layers of flavour and depth of taste it kept us talking about it for the rest of the evening
Apparently the grandfather and parents of the chef owned a house in Maillane near Avignon just across from the house where the French writer and Nobel prize winner Freacutedeacuteric Mistral was born hence the name However the power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenon that is the mistral wind itself
Mistral is a truly unique little place in terms of its deacutecor people and food and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Antwerp and looking for a special dining experience
lsquoIt really makes you feel like you have made a little side trip to Provence in springtimersquo
lsquoThe power and sensations of the flavours we sampled could easily have been inspired by the even more awesome phenomenonrsquo
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
54
Home brewed in Antwerp
CULTUrE
lsquoEach city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to itrsquo
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
55CULTUrE
only craft brewer in Antwerp As shocking as that might sound it is actually a good thing since it has set what I consider to be the benchmark standard for very good beers available from the tap (which incidentally is connected to the entire working brewery that surrounds you on the lower levels)
This is a family run business and the enthusiasm they feel about what they do is infectious You are very likely to find yourself consumed by discussions about the process of making beer as well as being given a tour of the equipment and having the steps explained by Hans the brewer or Kristof the business leader Peggy glides around in the background making sure you are sufficiently watered and that the bar snacks arrive just when called for It is a huge place so extremely good for large groups including dining parties This is because Het Pakhuis is also a brasserie with an impressive menu to suit most tastes and diets Naturally these include a few special dishes prepared using beer as an ingredient while edible by-products from the beer-making process are also used to make homemade breads There is a lot to learn here
Het Pakhuis is the perfect starting point for an Antwerp outing It is easily reached by car public transport or even walking from the city centre The journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome meal although you may just find yourself tarrying a little longer than initially expected Discover this gorgeous place for yourself as well as the inspiring philosophy behind it
On every single day of the year you could try a new example of the many fine beers available from the breweries of Belgium and still find yourself needing to continue the journey of discovery well into the following year Each city town village and historic abbey seems to have at least a couple of beers with a story linked to it Usually their names reflect the humour of the brewers and their trusted pre-samplers or some wholly obvious historical or botanical characteristic of the region or the drink itself Modern variants have catchy names that clearly have only the most tenuous of links to anything they claim but the names work well for curious tourists
The Sentinel is now launching a new section delving into the world of beer and highlighting a star beer (see following section) We hope you may eventually find them yourself preferably at your local cafeacute or off licencesuper market if you cannot make it to Flanders and the capital of the best beers in the world
For those who can make it to Antwerp here is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest manner Just within the historic quayside (Schelde) and now super-trendy South District you can find Het Pakhuis This former warehouse has been beautifully refurbished for your pleasure and entertainment and is the
By Denson Pierre
lsquoHere is a dynamite tip for grasping the art and craft of beer brewing in the fullest mannerrsquo
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
56CULTUrE
lsquoThe journey through the flavours of their house beers will set you up for an enjoyable and wholesome mealrsquo
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
57CULTUrE
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
58STAr BEEr GUIDE
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
The SentinelStar beer guide
Traditionally brewed three grain beer the light freshness of wheat creaminess of oats a citrus-like dryness and with a hint of vanilla Only last year did we praise this award-winning brew (2008 World Best Beer Awards ndash Ale) and upon returning to Belgium it would appear that its appeal has widened helped along by the great deal of marketing that appears to have gone into it since Best served from the tap in its Baroque-fashioned glass not many beers you are likely to come across will have all four members of an assessment team with varying taste prefer-ences singing its praises At 84 alcohol by volume it is among the tier below the very strongest Belgian beers but this fact is belied by its flavour which is reminiscent of a refreshing and characterful blond beer Simply delicious and literally intoxicating
By Denson Pierre
TRIPEL KARMELIET
STAr BEEr GUIDE 59
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
60AMSTErDAM
Balcony Amsterdam West (1025hrs) 140612
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
We find the best most fun most typical exciting or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you an easy way to feel like a local
61
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdamrsquos best address for live Irish music Five (5) nights a week Check our agenda for upcoming sessions Join the friendly atmosphere have a good pint of Guinness and the good old-fashioned ldquoCraicrdquo
Vibes Vibes is a relaxing cafersquococktail bar art gallery with a large selection of coffees herbal teas and homemade cakes and an amazing card of cocktails made with fresh fruit by a professional cocktail bartender of 15 years experience Enjoy our Italian kitchen in a cosy and friendly atmosphere
IncantoIncanto is a restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with feeling for nuance
The wine list contains over 150 Italian wines
Cafe TisfrisCafe Tisfris is recognisable for its landmarks funky pillars and terrace The modern artistic interior with a warm bustling atmosphere and inviting music attracts quite a mixed crowd Tisfris offers a friendly and efficient service and is a great pit stop for ldquoyummyrdquo refreshments
Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch dinner or to simply enjoy a drink Edel is situated in lsquoHet Sieraadrsquo on Postjesweg It sits in the former clockmaker and jewellerrsquos academy building and has a large waterside terrace Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam
Connoisseurs Delight Fun Drinking amp MusicTo Be Seen and Tasted
To Be Seen and Tasted Connoisseurs Delight Neighbourhood Cosy
Opera Prima - Patisserie Bistro TraiteurThe best place in town for lunch exquisite high teas or brunches and all of your luxury catering both private and corporate
rECoMMENDED
Opera PrimaKinkerstraat 228 Amsterdamwwwoperaprimanl
TisfrisSt Antoniebreestraat 142 Amsterdamwwwtisfrisnl
EDEL Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam wwwedelamsterdamnl
Mulligans Irish Music BarAmstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwwwmulligansnl
VibesJan Pieter Heijestraat 137 Amsterdamwwwwixcomvibes137vibes
IncantoAmstel 2 Amsterdamwwwrestaurant-incantonl
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
SporTCLASSIFIEDS 62
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
MechelenAuthentic and full of surprises Thatrsquos Mechelen Hospitable and honourable Thatrsquos the people of Mechelen Come and experience the cityrsquos urban charms for yourself
TECHNoLoGY 63
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
64SpoTTED
Answer to sentinelpostgmailcom
Where is this inAmsterdam
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
Room 2cfilm
Room 2cfilm
This is the film that first blew our minds and introduced us to the future of sci-fi movies With outrageous special effects and an intriguing storyline we follow Neo a troubled middle-of-the-road computer geek slowly finding out that all is not right in the world in which he perceives he is living Welcome to the desert of the real
There are movies that stamp themselves into memory via a series of gritty separate scenes rather than their continuous play and this is one Sean Penn makes an impression as a super-tough Irish-American delin-quent who ends up incarcerated and grows even tougher for it Was this the film to define the 1980s Hollywood young male actorsrsquo stereotype
By David King
By dpmotions
The Matrix (1999)
Bad Boys (1983)
FILM rEVIEW 65
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
TrENDS 66
lsquoAn unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and footballrsquo
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
Fashion
FootballBy Dirkje Bakker-Pierre
67TrENDS
The trending colour at the moment for T-shirts dresses scarves socks trousers skirts jumpers hats and any other piece of clothing you could ever think of in the Netherlands is orange The colour has never really trended as a fashion colour mainly because it doesnrsquot combine with anything but red white and blue and it doesnrsquot really look good on anyone
When I say anyone I am of course making a huge excep-tion for the Dutch national football team who look like absolute winners in their entirely orange kit the latest example of which might very well be the most intensely orange kit they or should I say we have ever worn at a tournament
At the moment I am very much enjoying the childish pleasure with which people are decorating their houses cars bikes themselves and anything else to which they can attach a little orange flag or balloon Nothing goes untouched every shopping street has a football-themed decoration in place and every bakery is selling specially made orange cakes All the songs you hear in the streets have the word oranje Holland or champions in them and every sunset has an orange haze
An unbreachable chasm has always existed between fashion and football I know many people who live andor work in fashion and football is of complete and total irrelevance to most of them A lot of them even have an anti-football thing going on and hate it with a vengeance The exception is David Beckham of course For some reason he has succeeded in combining being a football star with being a fashion icon and has even managed to be the first man on the cover of Elle
Another love affair between fashion and football is the famous Dutch design duo Spijkers amp Spijkersrsquo design for the V-dress an orange dress with some red white and blue trimmings made by beer giant Bavaria in the hope of seducing more and more fashionable girls into wearing orange during this yearrsquos championships
Who knows fashion and football might prove to be a winning combination this year after all
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
68GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
Like most landscape gardeners we can handle all regular work in gardens including paving Whatrsquos special about wondertuinen is that we work in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is special
Our aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killers We choose organic solutions and bring origi-nality creativity and our logistic wizardry to them
our way of workingWe come by to have a look at your garden and listen closely to your wishes Based on these and our own experience we come up with unique solutions and original features using our keen eye for beauty in materials colours and aesthetics
We can organise different specialists to bring LED lighting into your garden as well as builders painters and gardeners with integrity heart and humour of course
We then come up with a plan and a price Our first offer is free of charge After discussing the plan with you and
hopefully striking a deal we agree upon a date for work to commence
oUr WEBSITE WWWWoNDErTUINENNL Our phone 0613702070
Some of our supplierswwweco-logischnl Go to lsquoWonen en inrichtenrsquo and then lsquotuinrsquowwwgoodscentsnl You can order their goods through us SpECIAL oFFErIf you would like to have some work done in your garden call us soon If we reach an agreement to carry out work in September or October we can offer you a 5 reduction on the total price For work carried out in November or December the reduction increases to 10 HAVE A GrEAT SUMMEr
Gardening amp wonder gardens (wondertuinen)A modern gardening company
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 69
lsquoOur aim is to provide a personal touch to re-use materials wherever possible or desired and to use no pesticides or weed killersrsquo
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
70GArDENING ADVERTORIAL
John OrsquoDreams
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
GArDENING ADVERTORIAL 71
lsquoWe choose organic solutions and bring originality creativity and our logistic wizardry to themrsquo
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 72
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 73
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
TECHNoLoGY 74
By Simon Owusu
TechBit Sio-BytesIt was always the way for decades that what we watched on TV read in newspapers and listened to on the radio was controlled by broadcasting publishing and recording companies These traditional companies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of view The danger of these unique worlds was that if we did not venture outside the boundaries they created we could miss out on everything else The problem with these worlds was that their filtered versions of reality were only one version of the truth what they considered to be the truth These companies controlled the filters and therefore controlled the content we absorbed trapping us in tailor-made worlds of their making
The internet has changed the landscape across these industries in many respects No longer do the media companies decide what we watch listen to or read The guardians of content the filters to our world have lost their position and this has shifted to the people We are able to surf the internet to find our own content filter-free and with no boundaries This shift however has become a
bit of a fallacy The power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebook disrupting the traditional media companies Now control is yielded through complex sets of algorithms formulas or sets of steps for solving a particular problem and primarily used by the aforemen-tioned companies to rank relevance or relations
All content on sites like Facebook and Google are constantly ranked and prioritised based on relevance by algorithms that determine what we watch listen to or read This means that what we see is actually what the algorithms think we should see and in turn what Facebook and Google think is relevant These algorithms filter out content they decide is not relevant to us and are therefore creating our own tailor-made internet world just like the traditional media companies This is no more evident than when you look at your Facebook News Feed
Your Facebook News Feed is in a way a tailor-made world based on the activities of your friends The more friends
nEWSFEEDInG
lsquoCompanies created unique worlds through which they influenced our point of viewrsquo
lsquoThe power to control what people see read or listen to is still being controlled but now by the likes of Google Amazon and Facebookrsquo
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
nEWSFEEDInG
TECHNoLoGY 75
you have the more activities will pop up into your News Feed and over time Facebook starts to filter out what it considers irrelevant What is shown is determined by an algorithm called EdgeRank which determines what makes it into your News Feed You only see what the algorithm thinks you should see and everything else is filtered out without your consent Any interaction on Facebook is classified as an Edge so a lsquoLikersquo a status update or sharing a link are both lsquoEdgesrsquo EdgeRank determines what is more relevant to you and should therefore appear more frequently in your News Feed Which Edge shows up in your News Feed is determined by the Affinity Weight and Time Decay of the Edge
Edge Affinity is how close you are with someone when you lsquoLikersquo an update comment on a picture click on a link or interact with something that shows up in your News Feed from a friend This usually means you have closeness with that person and the more you interact with them the more they will appear in your News Feed and vice versa
Edge Weight is the value system used to weigh everything that appears in your News Feed Usually videos weigh more than pictures so a friend posting a video is more likely to show up in your News Feed than one who uploads a photo These weights can change based on what Facebook is trying to promote at the time Sharing a link might weigh more if Facebook wants to place emphasis on sharing links
Finally the Time Decay of an Edge is how long the Edge has existed The older it is the less valuable it becomes Facebook always wants to promote fresh content at all times Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google once said ldquoIt will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for themrdquo This rings true and is now the state of the internet All major websites from Google Facebook and Amazon to eBay and Netflix use similar algorithms that create an internet experience based on what these companies have decided is relevant In doing so they are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparency in what is being filtered out
Even with technology some things never change We are always trapped and the only thing that changes is who is holding us prisoner
lsquoThey are creating tailor-made worlds for us where they control what is filtered in and provide no transparencyrsquo
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
HEALTH amp WELL-BEING 76
GOH slimmergohconceptgmailcomwwwfacebookcomGOHconcept
+31(0)6 44519526 (David Billy)+31(0)6 51890832 (Peter Fenwick)wwwbillysfysionlwwwfenwickpersonaltrainingnl
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
77HEALTH amp WELL-BEING
closely monitors your thresholds and will guide support and make sure you refuel (diet) properly during this phase It is intrinsic to what we do that we have all three special-ists at your service at all times
Furthermore we have come to realise that our training group also includes people with health challenges other than simply weight loss High blood pressure cholesterol problems and minor diabetes are other issues so we have expanded our focus to cover total health improvement In light of this we have decided to make the GOH team even more complete by taking a General Practitioner (doctor) on board
Up to now the GOH team has only been busy with the Weight Loss Package (GOH slimmer) but stay tuned as in the near future we are planning to release new packages These will include GOH kids (focusing on overweight children) GOH Prenatal amp Post-natal and GOH office
Do visit and join our Facebook page (httpswwwfacebookcomGOHconcept) and come along to one of our free-to-enter seminars where we explore and explain more fully why our concept works so well and can easily work for you too Our contact details are listed here so feel free to call for a chat if you know you should GOH but have not yet got round to doing so Group II of the Weight Loss Package is ready to rollout so come and join us now
Itrsquos your body and we are here to help GOH slimmer
Big rewards await those who are serious about their health and well-being The GOH team takes a great deal of pleasure in announcing the tremendous achievement of our pilot group In terms of weight-loss and after the rotation of just the first two weeks of the GOH Concept members have on average shed some 235 kilograms each
There will be more intensity and steeper weight-loss to come but it just goes to confirm our guarantee of positive results for people operating within the holistic approach we utilise here at GOH The team of a physi-otherapist dietician and personal trainer has been closely co-managing each individualrsquos progress within the group and now the figures are beginning to prove the effective-ness of GOH
As the programme (Group I) continues and we arrive at the point where we need to increase the intensity of the physical training in particular we thought we would just outline another few general points about how the body tends to react to weight-loss and increased levels of aerobic exertion It is usually at this stage of a fitness improve-ment programme when not properly supported that individuals begin to misread signs and pain signatures (slight soreness gentle burning sensations and shortness of breath) leading to loss of motivation The GOH Concept
By David Billy
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS 78
Get advice on housing rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam
wwwwswonennlenglish
wwwconsultancymarketmediacom
- Account Manager Market Media- (Internship) International Marketing Executive
we are looking for
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDS 79
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
SporT 80SporT
The Gold Room has been called in from recess Normally during major tournaments we make way for general reporting on the games and outcomes but this time we have cause to make an honorary Gold Room debutant of someone who would not have managed it on the usual criterion of playing beautiful football
Mark van Bommel is the captain of Oranje and as I write this the Dutch nation is enraptured in a sort of unspeakable doubt and nervousness about the prospect of going out of Euro 2012 this very evening should his team not overcome the highly fancied German outfit We will see how that turns out as there is actually no football reason why the Netherlands cannot easily beat Germany and push on to impact the tournamentrsquos later stages
A week ago Van Bommel found himself at the centre of a storm of wider social ramifications than the football itself when he stood up to the truth about abusive taunting directed at black players during an open training session in Poland That too many people in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe are what Western
Europeans generally consider to be thirty years behind in terms of how they deal with and feel entitled to speak and behave towards those with cross-cultural and national differences is a sociological challenge for the European Union and its satellites Education needed
Even if the Dutch FA and more shockingly Bert van Marwijk chose to adopt the UEFA line that nothing like this could categorically be said to have happened under their watch I feel it took Van Bommel to keep the team together and without realising at the time make it easier for the multi-cultural support base Oranje enjoys at home and around the colourful globe to understand
For standing up and simply saying there was a problem and is a problem Van Bommel has put the spineless character of Van Marwijk (his father-in-law) into sharp relief How a divorce is worked out remains to be seen but Van Bommel is the enforcer of the ugly destructive midfield football Van Marwijk likes While this would never warrant a positive mention among lovers of the beautiful game he is due respect and new-found appreciation for keeping the discussion alive along with the hope that this continuing scourge which I equate to terrorism is dealt with and not left to further distress our enjoyment of each other and football through meek evasive denials
By Denson Pierre
The Gold Room
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
SporTSporT 81
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT
CLASSIFIEDS
wwwczechtourismcom
82
CZECH REPUBLIC - STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT