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Belgian Identity
It's true, Belgians lack a 'Belgian Identity'
When you talk about Brits, you immediately think of 'walking the line' and hats, the French have their 'baret' and bread and cheese, the Dutch their Gouda and the blond girl in weird dress, and of course the windmills.
I can sum up some more like that.
But what do the Belgians have?
We are said to be stupid. They know us because of the genocide law, because they attacked Sharon and Bush with it. We're a kingdom. And there is a dispute between Walloons and Flanders. Oh and Brussels is the capital.
There is good chocolate and loads of beer.
Commonly that's what friend abroad know to tell, if they know anything to tell.
Further-on little know about Belgium or its beauty.
I convinced many friends abroad to come over, and they were all stunned about the beauty squeezed between France, Germany and the Netherlands.
If there's one thing we all know, it's the Atomium.
Our national monument. The French have their big fallus, we have this weird set of balls...
After its renovation it is as shiny as in 1958. The furniture is renewed, and in any way you cannot look next to it when seeing the skyline of Brussels.
The perfect export product for a Belgian.
Although...
We are not allowed to publish any pictures of it without paying.
Unless it is for a news fact.
On all buildings there is copyright, and thus you need to pay the owner for the copyright.
Not many architects check this, or bother to put SABAM/or SOFAM on the matter.
But the Atomium does, in fact, it is probably one of the largest incomes of the architect, André Waterkeyn: an estimated 30.000 euro a year.
When you use a picture online, SABAM might find you and request 91,65 euro per photo per month...
That's an awful lot if you ask me...
For a project, I am checking on the use of an image of the Atomium.
What can be used and what not. A drawing is allowed or not?
In any case I think it is a pity. When thinking about a visual for Belgium, we all think of the Atomium.
But we don't use it since it costs too much.
Such an image would strengthen the 'looks and impressions' and the 'recognition' of Belgium, whereas now, we just stay what we are: ' a tiny country without a real vision/image'...
Btw, I am pretty happy with the recent evolution, it is impossible to control the flow of images on the web. I hope they drawn in work tracking those images ;)
In any case, the internet calls for a redefinition on copyright in any sense.
Update:
In a phonecall with Sabam:
'How come cityscapes of the Empire State Building are allowed and cityscapes of Brussels with Atomium are not?'
'Because the Atomium was submitted for copyright and I don't know about those other buildings..'
'Then I guess we won't use THE atomium in our site. It wil become simply an atom...'
Technorati Tags: at*mium, belgium, image, sabam
Posted on February 5, 2007
in Limit of my knowledge, Living in Belgium
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Comments (5)
Comments
Jeremy Clarkson made a documentary series for the BBC: Meet the Neighbours, which was all about stereotypes in Europe. There's a particularly cringeful one about the belgians (you can watch a part on YouTube).
I living in England at the time it was aired and was watching the show with my then new girlfriend and her friends. The Documentary looked at favorite pastimes of Belgians such as: The Moustache Club (Snorrenclubs), FinchSinging (Vinken Tellen) and "Shit yourself Rich", where people place bets on which patch of grass a cow might chose to take a dump.
It was hilarious, if not a little embarassing.
Posted by Dr.Pew | February 5, 2007 12:44 PMSorry, it seems my linking didn't work. Here's the YouTube link:
Posted by Dr.Pew | February 5, 2007 12:45 PMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqKtuYdeTto
Same thing goes for the European Parliament as well as the Berlaymont...
By the way, did Google pay the rights for the aerial photos of the At*mium in Google Earth/Maps ?
Belgian bloggers should organize a google bomb for the atomium with a first result in google being a page showing off the stupidity of this SABAM thing...
Posted by Mich | February 5, 2007 12:55 PMIt's a pitty, but most of the landmarks are copyrighted. You can check the rules, one by one at:
http://istockphoto.com/tutorial_copyright_list.php
Posted by Bart | February 5, 2007 2:04 PMHi Ine. Sorry for the link in this comment, I don't mean to spam here. Last your I did a little 'research' of my own on the Belgian identity. This was the top five of what Belgians are known for:
(1) chocolates, waffles, French fries (which they invented, contrary to the name), and beer
(2) oil painting
(3) their strength, large size, and calm manner
(4) their mussels
(5) their multi-lingual capacities
http://aardling.com/is-dit-belgisch/
Posted by Stijn | February 9, 2007 2:53 AM