Red Cathedral

" Support your local artists ," is een uitroep die wordt gebruikt om lokale kunstenaars, musici en andere creatievelingen in een gemeenschap te ondersteunen door hun werk te kopen, tentoonstellingen bij te wonen, of op een andere manier hun zichtbaarheid en succes te vergroten. Dus wanneer de Bib van Tongeren en cultuurhuis de Velinx regionale schrijvers uitnodigen om hun boeken voor te stellen, dan ga je kijken en praatjes slaan met mensen die oprecht plezier beleven aan het schrijven, of het nu voor grote uitgeverijen is, of voor hun eigen kennissenkring.  Zo kon je er leraar Geert Vanspauwen  ontmoeten die momenteel aan zijn 96e novelle werkt, leerlingen probeert aan te moedigen door hen personages in zijn verhalen te maken en dankzij zijn eigen boeken en het opzoekwerk ervoor in zijn hoofd de wereld rond zwerft. Kaye Dee verzamelde hartverscheurende getuigenissen van queers van alle leeftijden en versmolt ze tot één roman. Pride is een protest en nu dui...

De titel CRISIS an Sich zou best wel eens kunnen slaan op de geopolitieke crisis , sociale crisis , of klimaatcrisis die de ondergang van een globaal imperium en de val van een socio-economisch systeem aankondigen. Als je bovendien door de foto's van het evenement bladert, stuit je vast ook op postapocalyptische situaties, helse creaturen en oorlogstaferelen.   It's the end of the world, and I feel fine , zong R.E.M. ooit, maar alvorens nu al je bezittingen te verbranden en te wachten op het einde zoals sommige gelovigen in de dagen voor de jaarlijkse " rapture ", misschien toch even duiden dat  CRISIS  een miniature wargames beurs is. De belangrijkste tabletop wargaming beurs in België om precies te zijn. Tabletop wargaming en TTRPG's; met miniaturen op een speelveld even een veldslag uitvechten, of een fantastisch avontuur beleven. Namen zoals Warhammer als wargame en Dungeons & Dragons als tabletop roleplaying game (=TTRPG) doen ongetwijfeld een ...

This Cars & Coffee-event was hosted by Café Poorthuis in Tongeren. If the name of this event rings a bell, that might be because there are C&C-meetings all over the world.  "Cars & Coffee is the global phenomenon where the passion of supercar owners and enthusiasts become reality. It is a world class, multibrand and multiperiod display to share the emotions conveyed by the roar of powerful engines and by the sight of so many stunning cars",   Is what the  official Cars & Coffee website  states. However: their events seem to have ceased in 2019 and yet in the following days and weeks there will be similarly named meetings in Bonheiden, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Kortrijk, Almere, Swindon, New Braunfels, Hamburg, ..  The multibrand and multiperiod statements were absolutely true for the Tongeren meeting. Oldtimers, youngtimers, brand new supercars.  Brits, Germans, Japanese, Americans, French, Scandinavians, Dutch and evidently some fiery It...

Precisely a decade ago, during a rainy weekend, there was a Viking market in Tongeren and I was exited for this initiative by the Gallo-Roman museum. Alas it took me 10 years and living in Tongeren for half a decade, to cover another such event by this museum.  Luckily the Roman festival ( Romeinenfestival ) was worth the wait. A Roman market with historical artisans, workshops, free museum entrance, food, 50 re-enactors, including legionairs from several legions, periods and provinces and the thing everybody remembers: gladiator fights in the streets.  And the weather was much better. Some useful links: ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutorial was posted here . ▷ Some highlights might go to Instagram , Threads or Bluesky . ▷ A video might go to Clapper & to Tiktok ▷ Buy Red Cathedral a whisky on Ko-Fi ▷ Updates are on THE Facebook . ▷ Give a follow to this young creative fo...

Starting a review with some words of praise seems right. Thank you Elftopia for installing huge umbrellas at the food area so people could eat without getting scorched by the sun ( and guess what; if it rains, those same umbrellas also protect cosplays and cameras ).  Thank you Elftopia for lowering the price of water during the ongoing heatwave.  Thank you Elftopia for making sure there was plenty to see, and to do, other than posing/shooting for photographers/cosplayers, or having a chat with friends, followers & acquintances.  Thank you Elftopia for an efficient, and well-controlled parking system.  Thank you Elftopia for not selling every shot of mead at 7€.  Thank you Elftopia for making the potato field behind the pink chapel finally accessable to diabled persons, and no longer a hazard for ankles. Thank you Elftopia for listening to the complaints of the visitors over the years and making adjustments where possible.  In a perfect world, I would h...

There was an anomaly in the time-space continuum during Castlefest . We arrived -on Sunday- earlier than usual. Didn't do anything unusual. Only danced to the concert of SeeD. Drank less mead than normal. Yet still we did not manage to see the entire fair in a day. So the fabric of time must have torn or folded in some strange way, causing it to slip uncontrollably through our fingers. Even stranger: it only started raining at the moment we reached the car. That's simply uncanny!  What witchcraft have you used Castlefestians? Teach me ! My only witchcraft comes out of some soulsnatching boxes dangling by my sides.  And if you want to see the results you'll have to be patient. I'm editing the CF stills, and those of a spaghetti western shoot 2 days earlier ( No, this time I did NOT set a church on fire ), and editing videos for our  LGBTQIA+/cosplay project , and the following weekends are filled with Elftopia , Antwerp Pride and Geek Village . But don't w...