Have you got a blurry world map stored in your brain, where foreign countries float slowly on intelligible coordinates, behind thick fog (unless they share borders with your country, in which case the map becomes more stable and reduces to one dimension)? Where is Belgium on that map? Does it even have a place? Is it a mere specter of medieval eeriness, where fat peasants grill wild boars and gulp down thick black beer, and sly-eyed princes seduce their pale ladies with divine chocolate bon-bons, inside ornate cushioned carriages pulled by yeti-booted horses through the idyllic green land and into dark towered castles? Is it an insignificant pancake of space surrounding Brussels, wherever that may be?
We will tell you. The first thing to know is that Belgium is a cartoon country - cartoons are to be found and obeyed everywhere, from airport corridors to children's salami. It has been functioning without a human government for months. It receives TV channels from England, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain, so it must be someplace close to them. Even before TV, all these countries – among others - had put a foot on it, or walked a boot on it, one way or the other. The process has produced the very special Flemish breed, residing on the west part of the country (you can actually divide the place into ever smaller parts, it's like a fractal – but let's keep it simple). It's blunt, surreal, refined, and subtle all at the same time. And now it seems to have produced the quintessential Belgian movie too.
So if you are above 18, you are curious to know what the famous Belgian culture is all about, and Kamagurka is too difficult a start, despair not, for Ex Drummer will be out soon. We have not seen the movie yet! Loved the trailer, though, and then this scene that we found on YouTube (with english subtitles) corroborated our suspicion that this is it. A pity it was written by that bastard, Herman Brusselmans, but hey. Let's give him credit, you can't get more Belgian than that.
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On Monday we forgot to water Sven! We blame Marina the Nut for that. Boy, was he angry! Now we'll never get him to pose for a picture! So we spent the last few days trying to bond again and we couldn't blog. We apologize for that. Maybe we should reconsider our blogging routine. Twice a week should be fine, no?
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