I know Ne Obliviscaris are pretty well-known now, and Be’lakor have their share of attention. And then there’s guys like Empyrean and Aeternitas.

I’VE NEVER HEARD OF MOST OF THOSE OTHERS BUT I’M SURE THEY’RE ALL PRETTY GAY.

I HAD A LOOK AT YOUR BLOG.

ALSO FUCK JESUS.

A: A FUCKING ANNOYING NERD.

Anyway, I thought Dutch people didn’t like it when people say they’re from Holland, because Holland is just a region of The Netherlands. I’ve had NLers bitch to me about that . Unless you’re referring to your region, and not your country. :P Of course, you should also explain why holland.com is the tourism site for The Netherlands. :)

I digress a bit here, but really, for the most part, I’d rather see a band in a club than in a big arena or stadium. It’s more intimate, the sound is usually better.

Another thing, festivals are cool and all, but I remember fests like Ozzfest and SOTU where you had to get up at like 6 or 7 AM to show up in time for the show which started at like 8 or 9AM! And the show typically lasted all the way until about midnight. Now I love music and seeing bands live, but damn, that’ll wear anyone out. Your ears can only take so much high volume, and your body can only take so much moshing, and standing for hours on end. :P What was always funny to me is when one of the big headlining acts would come on at say 9:30PM, after having likely rolled out a bed an hour or two earlier, and start chastising the crowd which has probably been standing watching bands since 8AM for not being “energetic enough” or whatever. :P

In Holland, Germany is considered ‘the enemy’, whereas Belgium is mocked. Comparing them would most likely result in heated argument. Yeah, don’t try it.

I understand why, linguistically, it’s easy to refer to Europe as a singular term. It’s just something that annoys me very much; even more so when there’s no effort made to try to correct this mistake. I recently had someone ask me where I was from (an American). I said I was from Holland, and he replied with “is that in California?”. That’s the second time, in around a year, that that has happened. It disgusts me. I’m not saying that all Americans are idiots, I’m saying that much has to be done in order to change this perception.

I don’t know if it’s just those I’ve met, but I’ve found that Dutch seem to especially condescending, judgmental, and pedantic, towards America/Americans. He comes off like some stuffy professor shaking his finger at his “ignorant buffoon” students. I wonder if it’s some cultural thing.

I mean, here, Davidian is basically presuming that most Americans are referring to to “Europe” or “Europeans” as if it connotes a homogenized group of people culturally, and not merely a geographic region. Quite a presumption. I believe that people often think like this to that they can feel superior to another people.

I think some of this also comes from an unreasonable expectation that someone living 4-7000 miles distant is expected to know as much about the cultural minutiae of various European countries as someone living in Europe is. Granted, Europeans typically know more about America than vice-versa. But is this not to be expected because of wide dissemination of American movies, TV shows, music, products, businesses, etc throughout Europe? (How many times have I heard Euros complain about this too?) Americans speak English. English is presently the lingua-franca, therefore many Europeans also speak English as well as their native tongue. If an American learns a language spoken in Europe, he can only immerse himself deeply into the culture that one European country. I believe this and other factors add up to give Americans a bit of a disadvantage as far as learning about the various cultures and sub-cultures of Europe, while it gives Europeans an advantage as far as learning about America. Should it make them feel superior and promote an urge to lecture to the unwashed American masses? I guess whatever floats their boats. :P

Anyway, just my $.02 (yes I’m an American).

*pause for reflection*

Actually, maybe I won’t volunteer for that duty assignment after all. By the time I get around to any of that, the human race as a whole will have evolved to communicate solely with telepathy, in which case Eyal won’t be banging out any more blogs and you’ll no longer have any need for your shiny new toy. Sorry.