Xavier Defrang

That's it, it's now safe to say that the biggest product export from France to Belgium is its morons. The invasion started with a first wave of second grade artists and students but now my area is getting crowded by wealthy Parisians.
And I mean the kind of Parisian stupid enough to have a bas ass SUV with a 75 license plate. The kind that has enough cash to export his noisy, smokey, completely burned out lifestyle and actively take part in the steady decrease of the quality of life in Brussels. If you've ever been there, you know Parisians just behave like... Parisians! It started with Parisian guerilla parking techniques, quickly followed up with typical Parisian style whining in shops and restaurants but today we've reached a point of non return in terms of annoyance.

I was just walking down the street, when a young guy stops me :

French Guy - Excuse me, where are we?
Me - We're some-street-name-here
French Guy - Nooo, we're in 8th finals!

Considering the actual performance of their football team, this must be the absolute worst case of french assholeism I've ever encountered in my whole life! This is such a brilliant example of the Parisian rudeness...

I have to admit it's now a terrible time to live in France or even to be French. So they're probably doing whatever it takes to feel like they're still a significant nation in a globalized world. Pauvre France...

Simply put, I just hate Laurette Onkelinx. Not only because she totally screwed Belgian's school system but because she's the prototype of the gauche caviar and I always had the feeling she was treating John Doe like horse dung (we had some fine examples last week during a radio show). But now she really makes me wanna puke...

To end on a — kind of — positive note, I do really appreciate what Mehmet does for what's left of democracy in Brussels, a city slowly collapsing into a state of complete Washingtonization.

Last night, I crashed into the Wild Geese, your typical overseas « Irish Pub », located on the ground floor of an anonymous office building in the European district. I've been drawn there about four times but I always felt like half of the people in there were completely desperate. A perfect depiction of this feeling can be found in « Extension du domaine de la lutte », one of the most thought provoking book I've read and movie I've seen.

The most dramatic place in the pub is that small dancefloor packed with butt ugly girls wearing expensive clothes, peeped at by testosterone-sweating, obviously single males with more cash than actual sex-appeal. As no interaction occur, people occasionally pull their mobiles out of their pockets and frantically press some buttons just to pretend that they're so cool that their numerous friends spend their whole saturday night sending them messages.

Everytime I went to the Wild Geese, It has been an incredible social experience for me, this place is so full of would-be MILFs, nerdy expats, good looking gigolos of various mediteranean descent and Pat Bateman neverwases in eurocrat suits...

Last night, only minutes after the last criminal in Belgium had been arrested, a fearless hit squad of our Police force arrested 6 folks deflating SUV tires parked down a popular avenue here in Brussels.

Of course, it's much easier to arrest a peaceful programmer waging a war against stupid cars than the money launderers behind the steering wheels of those monsters.

Sorry but I don't buy the safety argument. SUV owners started this by choosing to drive a panzer into an urban environment, jeopardizing the safety of other drivers, bikers and pedestrians. The "freedom" argument is weak as well, then I want to be free to buy an automatic riffle at the corner grocery store... wouldn't that be great?

The good news is that the commando who was arrested was actually a bunch of copycat attackers and not Les Flagadas who started raiding SUVs earlier this week. It seems that gas-guzzler deflating is becoming a grassroot effort in Brussels now... Keep it up guys!

Brussels suffers from a rampant unemployment rate toping at 25% for a few years now. While unable to decrease this frightening figure, the various local authorities deserve an award for the skills in occupation management. Every now and then, we read grandiose announcements about the creation of all kinds of new socially-inclined McJobs such as public transportation stewards, neighbourhood entertainers, street educators, intercultural relations manager, office environment deputy-assistant, you named it.

I was recently amazed to see that there was an official, state-sponsored, cab steward at the exit of the Eurostar terminal. The sole duty of this kind fellow was to ask people whether they needed a ride, he would then write a number on a paper and hand it to the first cab driver available. As there were only a couple of cabs waiting, I still have no idea what was the point of his job besides to bias the stats...

How long will we have to wait to witness the central station hall haunted by shoeshiners kids?

Hidden somewhere in Les Marolles (next to the famous bar Chez Jeannine), there's this new restaurant called Soul.
Yes, it's yet another one of these conceptual fooding outlet but the Chef (coming all the way from New York, via Amsterdam) is so cool and talented that it's really worth paying a visit. Especially if you consider how hard it is to find some healthy food at a reasonable price in downtown Brussels. Oh yeah, and the place is 100% non-smoking!

PS: Ethan, that custom vegan plate was truly awesome! :)

If you're in Brussels you probably have heard about Carl de Moncharline a.k.a. The Spammer In Chief. You may be interrested in reading this thread before considering to vote for this hip aparatchik.

If you are into extreme electronic music and your actual meatspace is not far from the center of Europe, you can't afford to miss this party which will take place in Brussels :

On the lack of updates : Boups Radio has just relaunched!

Expect some improvements in the upcoming days. I'm still not satisfied by some things here and there.

Here is a video of the NYE Free Party which took place in Brussels Central Station. That was an incredibly exciting event!

Back to the future : Apple posted a doctored version of their legendary 1984 ad for the first Mac. Now the hammer chick has an iPod.