Civilians, register criminal facts yourselves!

Political party Vlaams Belang came up with a website on which civilians can report criminal facts themselves. According to the party there is a lot of crime the civilians don’t know anything about. The party finds it very important that everybody is informed concerning all the criminal facts taking place in Flanders. The flaw of the website is that it puts the focus on crime in Antwerp, and not on Flanders as a whole.

The website consists of three different parts. First, there is the ‘meldkamer’, where civilians can register crimes that happened to themselves or to friends. People talk about their cars being damaged, petrol being stolen from their parents or simply about being robbed while getting out of the train.

Second, you have ‘opsporing verzocht’. Here you can consult a description of people who committed criminal facts, but haven’t been arrested yet. Also, you can see which people have gone missing. In both cases, you are requested to give all the information you have about these persons.

The third part of the website is called ‘preventie’. A list of how to prevent certain crimes can be found here. Vlaams Belang gives tips of how to prevent crime, varying from robbery to carjacking. If you know someone who has come into contact with one of the criminal facts listed here, the party recommends you to tell this person/these persons about the site.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Oscar ratings plummet

Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast on ABC took a tumble in the ratings. Following in the footsteps of both The Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, ratings for Sunday night's 77th Annual Academy Awards were down this year. The weak ratings for Sunday's Oscar broadcast came as no surprise because this year movies such as "There Will Be Blood", "Michael Clayton", "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers. The night's big winner, "No Country For Old Men" which won four awards including best picture and best drama, only made a modest $64 million at the North American box office. Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, "Juno," crossed the $100 million. That film managed to win just one Oscar for best original screenplay.

This years TV ratings for the Oscars were the lowest in 34 years. On Sunday only 32 million Americans watched the Oscars. In 2007 41 million Americans tuned in to the Academy Awards. By contrast, the most watched Oscar broadcast on record was the 1998 show when the blockbuster "Titanic" won 11 awards. That year 55 million Americans tuned in. Until now, the show’s worst rating dated back to 2003. That year the Academy Awards took place just a day after the invasion of Iraq. The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture. Sunday's broadcast, with comedian Jon Stewart as Oscar host, now ranks as the smallest U.S. TV audience for the Oscars since 1974, when actual viewer totals first became available.

Hannelore Glibert

The new magazine of Goedele Liekens & the new editorial office of VTM

September the third Sanoma is presenting a brand new magazine. The name hasn’t been decided yet, but it will be a monthly magazine with a new fresh concept. When the former director of the VRT (Belgian television) Van Hecke started to work at Sanoma, he soon announced a cooperation with Goedele Liekens and the start of her own magazine. He admits that it has taken very long for the magazine to finally come out, but he’s happy with the fact that they have taken all the time they needed to make it good. Everything is slower in the world of magazines than in the world of television.
The compilation of the editorial office is finalized and a few months ago the first specimen copy was made. The editors and the name of the new magazine are presented to the press in about two weeks.
We are also expecting a new TV show from Goedele Liekens, this will probably be in September on VT4 or Vijftv.

After VRT, VTM has made a few changes as well. The news is going to be presented with another setting. This Thursday it was inaugurated by Verhofstadt, Peeters and Bourgois. Dany Verstraeten was the first who presented the news on the new setting. The old setting wasn’t even 4 years old. But the director said it is important not to let the viewers get sick of the setting and surprise them with a brand new one.

Kathleen De Roey

Indoor cycling

Recently I have discovered a new challenge. I had never heard of it before, but because of a promotion I had the chance to experience it and it was amazing! It felt like dying a little bit, but afterwards I felt more alive than ever. It clears your mind like every sport but it’s also very relaxing! Indoor cycling is fun, because you ride your bicycle on the rhythm of music. You do it in group with a trainer who guides you through the entire work-out.

You begin by arranging your bicycle at your individual needs. The bikes are adjustable to your height, the length of your arms and legs so you can exercise in a healthy manner. The training program begins slowly to warm up your muscles guided by gentle music. After the warming up, the music starts to accelerate to take the work-out to a higher level. The resistance of the bicycles are also adjustable and are forced up all the time. But when you think you can’t go any further you can stop adjusting it or even go back to an easier level. This is the most advantageous thing about indoor cycling, it is totally adjustable to your own level and condition!

And when you are about to die of exhaustion it gets worse! The trainer says you have to stand up while riding your bicycle to train your stomach muscles. And then you have to sit down, get up, sit down, get up, … Indoor cycling is also very varied for example after every hard exercise, an easier one follows. After spending an hour on your bicycle the stretching part begins. It’s very important you stretch after a heavy exercise so your muscles don’t turn sour. I had a great time with this exercise, it’s all about going beyond your own limits.

Kathleen De Roey

My spare time...

Actually I haven’t got a lot of spare time. Every Saturday and Sunday evening I work in a restaurant, and usually I spend the rest of the weekend working for school or sleeping in. Every day of the week I commute from Rijkevorsel to Antwerp and back, and when I arrive at home, again, a lot of schoolwork is waiting for me to be done. Currently, acting (I’m in a theatre group) is my only hobby, but it is - to be honest - a very demanding one. We’ve been practising a lot for the last few weeks - 4 times a week, from 18.30 till ± 22.30 – because next week, we’re staging our play. After a while all this practising gets very exhausting, because it asks a lot of time and energy and even sleep; there’s still schoolwork to be done!

As from next week, after performing our play, I will finally have some spare time, which I’ll devote to reading books, listening to music, watching TV and relaxing and of course to friends. But on top of that, I’m also going to try to pick up my writing again. I’ve already written a book, about the dramatic life of Katherine Petersen, and currently I’m working on a second one, but because of school and a lack of time, I haven’t been able to work it out yet. I have always had a very vivacious imagination, which can be stimulated by listening to Queen-music (I’ve been a huge Queen-fan for over 10 years) or watching to series like Prison Break.

I also love reading books, especially horror books and thrillers, and magazines like ‘Prison Break Magazine’ for example or ‘Dag Allemaal’ and ‘Blik’. I also love going out with friends and drinking cocktails.

By Ruth Knaepkens

In my leisure time...

...I mostly go out with friends to a bar or to concerts. I love going out, talking with friends and relaxing with a cocktail. It’s great for unwinding after a busy week. We often go out to the Sals with the whole class. I also enjoy going to De Rots or Pand Demonium because of the music they play there and quite often you can also go to concerts there. The best concerts are at the Biebob or at Hof ter Lo. I also like spending my spare time with my animals. I have a Devon Rex cat called Adonis. He’s very attached to me and he takes up a lot of my time. He demands a lot of attention and affection, but I don’t mind. I love spending time with him when I get back from school. We spend our evenings on the couch. He loves sitting on my lap and watching TV together. Besides a cat, I have mice too. I had six mice but one mouse gave birth to nine babymice last week. In the weekend I clean out the cages and spend some time with my mice. A lot of time in the weekend is also spent on cleaning my room, doing groceries and my laundry.

But most of my free time is spent surfing the internet and chatting with friends. I also like listening to music on the internet. Sites like My Space are great for that! I think that overall I have a good balance between active and passive activities in my leisure.

Hannelore Glibert

Where should alternative people go out?

In my spare time, I usually go to rock bar De Rots, in the heart of Antwerp. The bar is situated on the Melkmarkt. De Rots is a rather new bar. It has been opened because there were lots of pop music bars, but no rock bars in the city. The Rots is also unique. It consists of three different parts. There’s the bar, the store (selling LPs, CDs, DVDs and memorabilia) and a place where local bands can rehearse.

When I want to see a good metal band perform, the place to be is the Biebob. The Biebob is a rather small venue in Vosselaar, nearby Turnhout. Because the room is so small, it’s a very cosy venue. Also, there is no barrier between the stage and the crowd. This way you truly feel connected to the band performing. Concert tickets at the Biebob almost never exceed the price of 20 euros, which is a good thing for young people who don’t have much money. The bands playing at the Biebob are not as big as those who perform at Hof ter Lo, though they attract a pretty big crowd as well.

Hof ter Lo is quite a big venue situated on the Noordersingel in Borgerhout. Hof ter Lo attracts bands with a huge international fan base. The most recent example is Megadeth. Ticket prices at Hof ter Lo are higher. They sometimes reach 30 to 35 euros. Since 2002, Hof ter Lo also offers local bands the opportunity to rehearse in the same conditions as professional bands. This complex, consisting of four rooms, can be found in the basement of Hof ter Lo.

Jessica Van Sintruyen