The best joke of the evening belonged to Joe Najjar who stated that between paying for Harvey’s flood damages and for Irma’s path of destruction, there will be no money left in the treasury for President Trump’s Mexican border wall.
Another duh-insight I found on social media stated that the storms and quake are Mother Nature’s form of punishment for abandoning the Paris Accord.
While Irma was travelling to Florida and Jose was making its way through the Caribbean, Aruba continued to campaign Carnival-style and to party!
One of my friends sent me the #3 on AVP jingle which the MinEnergy calls: “A wonderful song, you going to love it and listen to it over and over.” I listened. Just a below average, machine-made, cheesy tune, with the lightning bolt repeated by a cast of motley characters, in the video footage.
I imagine it is supposed to serve as a cool throwback to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Or what? Why are they doing the bolt? Should we start worrying about their strange illuminati hand gestures??
I was glad to see my friend Errol de Freitas looking so well. He says the MinEnergy rounded up a bunch of talented musicians and singers and decided to also participate in his own commercial, rocking a flat newspaper-boy cap. Tell me, when was the last time he distributed newspapers? I also paid attention to the way he consulted his phone for the challenging and complicated lyrics, which he had to remember, standing in front of the mike: #3 on AVP. He made it. Relief. With 71 shares and over 9K views that rhythmic noise made the rounds tragically confusing politics for carnival, promising “prosperity for you and me, getting soaking green,” at least that’s the noise I managed to decipher.
What can I say? Silly fake song, with a silly fake promise, and posturing musicians. Watching the MinEnergy political career, he debuted at the PPA in 2001 with 634 votes, moved over to the AVP list, landing 1,217 votes in 2005, peaking at 2,805 votes in 2009, then suffering a bit of a setback in 2013 with just 2,100 votes, that’s a 26% decline. Is it a trend? It means just 1,554 votes in 2017. Perhaps less? Do people really believe the prosperity message?
And talking about parties, I went to one at Tinashi Lounge on Saturday, Virginia’s surprised birthday get-together. When I turn 40, this is exactly the type of party I would like to have: Hosted by Jacky, with beautiful people, delicious home-made cake, Villa Sandy Prosecco, catering by Peanuts restaurant, and a cast of personalities: a mix of business, politics and media.
Tinashi belongs to Darren or Kevin van Ommeran. Or both. So don’t say that Paradera is dead. It’s not. It’s rocking with live DJ spinning Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in an intimate cocktail lounge, tiny but cute. I think the big, expensive monsters are too much of a gamble and the van Ommeran twins are now busily collecting a chain of small places, Hamaka, Tinashi, and one coming shortly into Weststraat, where the defunct Carlos & Charlie’s once operated.
I met #29 on the AVP list at the party, tall and handsome Marksonn Maduro. Being good looking is definitely an asset. Known as the Richard Visser effect, it is never a political obstacle. Most female party-goers went absolutely gaga, when he stepped in. I found out that the opportunity to join the AVP list presented itself after his team Monument, won the Hackathon Oranjestad in May, introducing technology to main-street in an effort to attract more traffic. The Free WiFi just became a reality this weekend, Marksonn informed. Anyway, our foxy MinPres asked him to get on board, which Marksonn’s aspiration, to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in his fellow millennial, empowering them, and encouraging them to live an active lifestyle.
As I moved on to chat with fashion goddess Diana Lerma, Marksonn introduced himself to MEP Princess Lalo Croes. I like that about Aruba. Rivalry is only skin deep, and it immediately washes away over Prosecco and birthday cake.
