From Blogger to Amsterdam Vlogger
At the time of writing this, my blog has been around for two years. As I’ve stated before, the purpose of my blog, like the BBC is to inform, educate and to entertain. Some might add an additional purpose, which is to annoy, something I’ve certainly been successful at.
My blog has always been nothing more than the observations of a shallow and sarcastic man about life in the Netherlands. The idea to call myself the Shallow Man came from a very serious and bitter ex-girlfriend who said to me “you know you’re the shallowest man I’ve ever met.” How I laughed. I was amazed that she actually did have a sense of humor, which was seriously lacking during our time together. Inspired by her comment, I decided to call myself the Shallow Man.
Two years of blogging the highlights
There was obviously a gap in the market for sarcastic observations of life in the Netherlands. There are many expat bloggers out there, and hats off to them, most of them are so polite about life here. I was amazed that none of my fellow bloggers had focused on some of the things I noticed every day in the Netherlands.
- Dutch fashion sense (flat shoes, denim and lately holes in the knees of jeans)
- Dutch tolerance (Don’t mention the Piets or why so many Moroccans and Turkish people are unemployed
- The Dutch dating scene (where the antelopes hunt the lions)
- Dutch directness (tell it like it is, even when not asked)
- Dutch sororities (learn how to roll those R’s)
- Dutch female emancipatie
The Amsterdam plague of knees
Jeans and Birkenstocks, loved by the Dutch. She’s painted her nails so is probably a foreigner
Anouk hid her terrible secret from the rest of corpsmeisjes
Time to vlog about Amsterdam
I’d been considering making the move to video for some time. It’s clear that attention spans are getting shorter, and that you can get a lot more across in a five-minute video than a 1000 word blog post.
I’m pleased to announce that the Shallow Man series of Vlogs (which sounds like a naughty word) will now be available on the Makers Channel as well as on YouTube. Please subscribe to see exclusive content, which I can promise will be every bit as annoying as my blog. Some of you have been following me since the beginning and I thank you for this  and hope that you’ll continue to do so on my other channels too.
Below are some of my most popular videos to date, plus a trailer for my next video which will be all about the things that you really shouldn’t say to Romanian women in Amsterdam.
Dating Dutch women a survival guide part two
No wearers of Birkenstocks were hurt during the writing of this post.
Until next time, follow the Shallow Man on YouTube.
