selfie: word of the year

In Holland we choose the word of the year.
A word which is new and used a lot during that year

This year it is the word 'selfie', a bit strange because it's almost an english word...
But also the meaning of the word is a bit funny, I think.
People are taking pictures of themselves and place them on social media.

I'm often surprised when I see people in the middle of the street,
suddenly stand still to take a 'selfie' of themselves.
Redo their hair and looking in the camera with an appealing smile
They don't seem to notice their environment.
that surprises me and makes me smile :-)

I wonder what new words and phenomenons will pop up next year...

Zwarte Piet

In Holland we have a discussion about our traditional 'Sinterklaasfeest'.
Every year around December we play the game a bisshop arrives from Spain with a boat.
He brings lots of presents and Zwarte Pieten (black servants) along.
This may sound strange in foreigners ears, and people may think of rascism...

For many Dutchies Zwarte Piet is a kind of clown, making jokes and is innocent.
But nowadays we live in a multicultural society and more and more people are protesting against it. They want to change things about this tradition.

Now even the United Nations join in into this discussion.
They want to abolish it all. That makes a lot of dutch people angry.

I've made two illustrations about this theme. Find them also on SaltyStock

The first one shows Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet looking for coloured servants
instead of black ones. In the row of candidates a Smurf, the Hulk and Tweety,
all wanting the job ;-)

Find this illustration also on Illustration Daily

In Holland we have an expression 'jezelf groen en geel ergeren' which means
'to become green and yellow from annoyance'
That's were above illustration is based on. Maybe if the discussion
continues for a while, we will have all green and yellow Pieten ;-)

Holland - Rusland year

2013 is Holland - Rusland year.
A year to celebrate our friendship.

That's why there are several Russian exhibitions over the year.
At the moment there's a huge Malevich exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum
in Amsterdam. (It's on my wishlist)

But lately there are some troubbles...
First about the gayrights in Russia,then problems with the Greenpeace ship.
And after that some more incidents... It's on the every day news now.
For some people the party is over.

I've made some Holland - Rusland illustrations.
Above you see one of them:

Russian puppetplayer plays with Dutch marionet

Find the other illustrations here about this theme.