Snowy/Milou

Walking around the East Village, I have been spotting at least a couple of fine real-life specimens of Tintin's constant companion Snowy (Milou in French, ? in Dutch). This inspired me to look up Snowy's breed, which turns out to be the wire fox terrier. While I would love to get a dog once we arrive in Brussels, wire fox terriers do not appear to make the best pets. Wikipedia observes that "Among the less desirable traits of all fox terriers are their energy, digging, stalking and chasing of other animals, and yelping bark."

My best bet may be to learn fun facts about Snowy instead. More from wikipedia:

Basics: "[He] is Tintin's four-legged companion who travels everywhere with him. The bond between the dog and Tintin is deeper than life, and they have saved each other from perilous situations many times."

Linguistic and paranormal abilities: "With a few exceptions, Snowy never speaks (although he is regularly seen thinking in human words), since he is 'only a dog' . . . . Snowy often adds to the story in many interesting ways. For instance, Snowy is the only character in Flight 714 to remember that he was abducted by aliens."

Alcoholic tendencies: "Like Captain Haddock, Snowy is fond of Loch Lomond brand scotch whisky, and his occasional bouts of drinking tend to get him into trouble, as does his acute arachnophobia."

Evolution of the character: "The character of Snowy . . . was most dramatically affected by the introduction of Captain Haddock in The Crab with the Golden Claws. Before Haddock's appearance, Snowy was the source of dry and cynical side-commentary, which balanced out Tintin's constantly positive, optimistic perspective. When Haddock entered the series, the Captain took over the role of the cynic, and Snowy gradually shifted into a more light-hearted role, serving to create comic relief by chasing the Marlinspike cat . . . , drinking the Captain's whisky, etc."

Smurfs #2

I never really thought I would start a blog - let alone a blog containing not one, but two (and counting?) posts about Smurfs. It's just that moving to Belgium is bringing up a treasure trove of childhood memories.

The other day, I was researching the difference between transformers and converters, which I still can't say I completely understand. But then I recalled learning at least one part of the lesson the hard way, back in the day.

We had just moved into our new house in Roosendaal, the Netherlands. I must've been about 9 or 10 years old. Even though I was a girl, my room was decorated according to a (not-atypical in Euroland) red-and-white Formula One theme, straight out of the Ikea catalogue. I think the prior inhabitant, a boy, had slept in a racecar bed. Nevertheless, I loved my room and did not yet resent my parents for being Chinese and uninterested in ameloriating or personalizing interiors.

One day, I decided to play a record on my Smurfs turntable, which had been carefully shipped from the U.S. I had watched my parents use the converter with their grown-up devices, and figured it would allow me to do the same. Unfortunately, shortly after plugging it in, the record player began to emit smoke before basically exploding in my red-and-white room.

Lesson learned: Do not use converters on appliances better served by transformers. And identify which is which.

Belgian Smurfs

The title of this post is redundant, as it turns out Smurfs (or at least Peyo, their creator) were Belgian to begin with. Not only that, but they - as a species, I suppose - are turning 50!
Happy birthday, Smurfs!