Winkels to the Left, Winkels to the Right: Thoughts from Places, Antwerp

2011-05-13 · documentary visit · John · 2:30 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Books & writing) · mode: Documentary visit · tags: on location, recurring series, community lore

In a Thoughts from Places travelogue John takes the slow train from Amsterdam to Antwerp for a day away from the internet to write, arguing that reading and writing books have become counter-cultural in the social media era, and tours the Antwerp zoo.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Slow train from Amsterdam to Antwerp for a day without internet to write; writing needs concentration and facing boredom; books as counter-cultural in the social media era

★★★ John woke early on Thursday (12 May 2011) with nothing to do but write, and took the slow train from Amsterdam Central Station to Antwerp for time away from the internet to write. — 00:00:01
★★★ John says writing, for him, involves little typing but requires a lot of concentration, and to concentrate you must face the specter of boredom without fear. — 00:00:14
★★★ John argues that reading and writing books have become counter-cultural activities in the social media era, since books don't allow multitasking or update automatically. (hedged) — 00:00:26
★★ John says that as much as he loves the internet, he is happiest when he is writing. — 00:00:35

00:00:41 — Arriving in Antwerp knowing nothing; following tourists to two closed old buildings; finding the zoo next to the station

★★ Knowing nothing about Antwerp, John followed a guidebook-carrying tourist to two old buildings, both closed, then found the zoo back by the train station. (playful) — 00:00:48

00:01:11 — At the zoo: monkeys, puppy-sized elephants, a sleeping penguin, a soiled tortoise, giraffes behind a low fence

★★ At the zoo John saw monkeys, small elephants, tigers, a sleeping penguin, fish, a tortoise with another tortoise's feces on its shoulder, and giraffes behind an ankle-high fence. (playful) — 00:01:11 · puppy sized elephant

00:01:58 — The station's escalators; the cancelled ('afgeschaft') train; writing all the way home; a day without the internet; sign-off

★ Back at the station John rode an escalator that goes up, then straight, then up again, and jokingly calls it the world's coolest escalator. (playful) — 00:01:58
★★ John's train home was cancelled ('afgeschaft', abolished); another came an hour later and he wrote all the way home, his day without the internet. — 00:02:12

In the description and comments

★★ The description says John spent the day working on the revision of his new novel, which comes out in March. — video description · John's untitled novel (2011)

Humor (significant)

John tells a tortoise with another tortoise's feces on his shoulder to brush it off. — 00:01:36

“he either didn't understand me or he was making a fashion statement.”
John filmed the giraffes for ten minutes and they kept looking at him as if to say... — 00:01:40

“no matter how long you leave that camera on, we are not going to mount each other”
Amazed by an escalator that goes up, straight and up again, John asks if the Belgians patented it. — 00:02:02

“We must wrest this technology from their tiny polylingual hands!”

Threads in this video

told · John's internet-free writing day trip to Antwerp (2011) — John tells of his day trip from Amsterdam to Antwerp, away from the internet, writing on the train and visiting the zoo. (00:00:01)
first use · John's 'winkels to the left, winkels to the right' line about Antwerp (2011) — John says all he knew about Antwerp was that there are 'winkels to the left and winkels to the right', the line that titles the video. (00:00:41)
callback · Hank's 'all we are is monkeys with pants' song (2008) — John describes zoo monkeys as 'monkeys with pants' picking up sticks and planting ferns. (00:01:11)
callback · John's puppy-sized elephant (2008) — Among the zoo animals John lists 'almost puppy-sized elephants'. (00:01:20)
callback · John's giraffe-love bit ('people love giraffes who love giraffes') — John films zoo giraffes for ten minutes, but they look at him as if to say they will not mount each other on camera. (00:01:43)

Mentioned

Central: Antwerp · Antwerp Zoo

Also: Amsterdam Centraal station · Antwerpen-Centraal railway station · Belgium · puppy sized elephant

Only in the description or credits: John's untitled novel (2011) · Thoughts from Places

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