Pascal Bollon

Category: Making Nonsense of It

Some lighthearted instantaneous takes on life.

Rats

This was supposed to be a light, funny chronicle about how boring football has become. Or so it seems to me after the last 3 international competitions. What use to be called catenaccio, is now called parking the bus. The day took a different turn though when a rat was...

Dry January and Other Ways to Save Your Soul

Roll up Dry January! How best to start the year than with the driest of spirits. Did you think that you were forsaken? Atone, Sinner! Drinking is bad for your health. Who would have thought… With smoking a niche occupation, that front has gone cold. And sex is good for...

Why i don't start smoking again

I miss my little Cloud of Despair, but it is Time to Stop Grieving

3 years later and I still miss smoking every single day. I miss the comforting little boundary of me-space that a cloud of smoke creates. Every now and then, I am asked why I stopped, why I did not stop earlier, or why I ever smoked in the first place....

Did I Watch the Wrong Movies Again in 2023?

The end of the year is a time of introspection. Did I miss anything? What were the highlights of the year? Ah, the irresistible attraction of the Year’s Best Movies listings. That is how I ended reading the best movies of the year in De Standaard. Their critics describe each film...

Menhirs, Silent Witnesses Of Our Human History

Standing Stone. Aka menhir. A word that evokes moors, moss, lichen and mottled rock. Alone, in a line or in a circle. Standing in a clearing, hidden in a forest, or lying by a road, menhirs are everywhere in the world. Since centuries? No, for millennia. They are history, timelessness. Still,...

Time Flies When Having Fun

Apparently Netflix got a reprieve thanks to Stranger Things. Well. Looking at my feed, the bets to keep me as a client seem twofold: random content selection – quite ironical in itself for a non-linear content provider – and a wall of comedy and stand-up. And yet, my laugh-o-meter has reached a...

Watching Paint Dry

A handful of English expressions have always had the ability to start my imagination. Many such expressions exist of course in French, as rich, as evocative. Yet, as I slot the precisely relevant expression at the exact correct point, it kicks off for me more than an hyperbole, saying or...

And then my car decided to drive home

  I love my car. I think it loves me back. At least, it welcomes me back every time I open the door. But it does not like the way I drive. It will give me hints of it. Like a good driving instructor. Randomly braking violently and shouting at...