Five years left

Amusing and interesting video on how newscasts are produced.

I'm delighted to see how many campaigns are pushing people to take action for a better future at the moment. Here's a poster contest for a campaign to increase the visibility of the Millenium Goals in the struggle against poverty (gosh, are there really only five years left?).

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Gerade wir wieder ordentlich auf die Schokolade gedrückt. Neben dem kurzen Neste-Greenpeace-Spot gibt es einen geringfügig längeren Beitrag in der ARD Mediathek über Kakaobohnenernte in Afrika und Kindersklaven aus Burkina Faso: Kindersklaven für Schokohasen. Mahlzeit.

Dafür noch etwas zur Erheiterung: Was ein Navi noch nie gesagt hat (aber sagen sollte)

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Photos from the medieval fair in Waxenberg:

Entertainment

I feel bad for only fulfilling 15 of 100 basic skills for geeks. Ah, it seems my nerd days are over.

Instead, I find myself enjoying this Kendo video way too much. I want to play it over and over again, just to enjoy that feeling of pure love that Kendo gives me and to exult in the joy of gogi. Every inch of that video speaks through body language (which I'm probably only reading because I understand at most 5% of what is said ... taisho, shimpan, shiai, ippon, yuko datotsu, tehehehe). The people clapping, the kenshi's utter look of bewilderment. Pure love.

Another lovely film is this stop-motion production. Very cute.

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Der Rechberger Mittelaltermarkt fand wieder statt, und nach dem wunderbaren Erlebnis letztes Jahr hatte ich natürlich hohe Erwartungen. Leider wohl zu hoch, denn dieses Jahr fand ich ihn etwas enttäuschend. In der Lagerwiese waren "Löcher", wo letztes Jahr Gruppen waren, und einige der hochwertigen Händlerstände, die mir noch gut in Erinnerung waren, fehlten auch. Dafür gab's Jonglage zum Mitmachen und die Möglichkeit einer Quickie-Hochzeit.
Das Ambiente ist allerdings unschlagbar, daher: Nächstes Jahr wieder!

Yule

Not really using canned vegetables often, I now have a reason to not use them at all. I needed some beans for cooking and ended up with a stone in the food. Holy crap. I cannot image the bad production criteria that let a stone get into the can.

Talking of food:
Awesome bentos. I love such a creative and aesthetic use of food. That's the kind of attention to detail and dedication that creates a great food culture

And another video on an important topic: Act Now

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In Linz gibt es gerade die Ausstellung "Kulturhauptstadt des Führers" im Schlossmuseum. Die Aussstellung ist in verschiedene Schwerpunkte aufgeteilt (Architektur, Kunst, Literatur, Theater) und beleuchtet die Pläne, die Hitler für Linz hatte, und inwieweit diese umgesetzt wurden. Der Kunst-Bereich ist äußerst umfangreich und beinhaltet zahlreiche Bilder aus der Zeit der 30er und 40er. Man wird förmlich von der Kunst erschlagen. Die Ausstellung ist sehr empfehlenswert, da informativ (in erdrückendem Ausmaß), und brachte mir als Linzer einiges näher, wovon ich vorher nur wenig Ahnung hatte, auch wenn mir persönlich der Architektur-Teil ist leider etwas zu kurz gekommen (obwohl er auch umfangreich ist; da er für mich aber der interessanteste Bereich war, hätte ich mir gerne noch mehr gewünscht).
Die Ausstellung liefert auch kleine Einblicke in die Kindheits- und Jugendhintergründe und ich dachte mir öfters, dass deutlich wird, welche innerliche Verhärtung jemand erlebt, der immer wieder enttäuscht wird (Wiederholungsprüfungen in der Schule, mehrfaches Versagen in der Realschule, zweifache Ablehnung der Kunstuni, etc.). Mit 15 hatte er schon deutliche Umbaupläne für Linz. Derart gerichtete frühe "Ambitionen" indizieren doch, dass die Person schon jung sehr unzufrieden gewesen sein muss.

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Am dritten Adventwochenende gab's auch einen mittelalterlichen Weihnachtsmarkt am Froschberg in Linz, auf den ich kurz zur Ablenkung vom Lernmarathon geschaut habe. Er war sehr klein mit wenigen Händlern, aber ich hatte eh nicht vor lange zu bleiben. Hängen geblieben bin ich dann doch, und zwar bei den lieben Menschen vom Mjöllnir Clan, die mich etwas über die Wikinger aufgeklärt haben und mir gleichzeitig ein bisschen linguistisches Fachwissen vermittelten, das mir bei meiner Prüfung in der darauf folgenden Woche geholfen hat. Ich bedanke mich herzlich und verneige mein Haupt ob der Liebe und Arbeit, die die niederösterreichischen Wikinger ins Handwerk stecken. Hat mich tief beeindruckt. Für mich ist jetzt auch nachvollziehbarer, was die Wikinger-Darstellung so reizvoll macht. Mal sehen, was das neue Mittelalter-Jahr bringen wird.

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To finish off:
Here is an awesome song and video (ending song of the game Portal). It was, of course, written by the awesome Jonathan Coulton.

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This year's Christmas card. Had planned to make real cards and send them off, but ran out of time. Thus, the cheap version.

Golling 2008

Went to the medieval fair in Golling yesterday. No photos, since my camera is broken. Instead, I used it for some life drawing and post-market sketching.
I enjoy life drawing so much at the moment. After some sketches, I tend to do more dynamic and interesting poses even without a model. And I tend to notice many more details about people's appearances and body-language when I draw them.

The Handmaid's Tale and Rechberg

Book recommendation: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

With The Handmaid’s Tale Margarte Atwood follows the tradition of George Orwell’s 1984 by drawing up the picture of an alternative, dystopian present. The novel’s reality is based on a well-controlled patriarchate in which women are put into a position that is reminiscent of the nineteenth century. “Families” consist, if they are lucky, of a husband and a wife, between who there is often no love lost, and a Handmaid, whose job it is to get pregnant, give birth to a child and then to be referred to the next family.
The protagonist of the novel is one of these Handmaids and tells her version of the time before society changed and how she now lives after the change. While rather little actually happens in the novel, the reader’s interest is kept throughout the 280 pages by the glimpses that Atwood gives us about “her” society. We learn about its rules, people’s resistance and find enjoyment in discovering similarities to religious dogmas and society as it was a century ago.

What I find fascinating about the dystopian stories that I have come across recently is their obsession with childhood and childbirth. I was strongly reminded of the film Children of Men when I read The Handmaid’s Tale. Both stories pick out childbirth, or rather the lack of it, as a central theme. It’s probably reasonable enough – after all, Science Fiction criticizes the present by showing how the future may look like if we continue as we do; and children are one of the strongest symbols for the future. No children – no future.

***

This weekend was another medieval fair, this time in Rechberg. The promotion already started a week before the event, on Monday, when the band Rhiannon began a trip on foot from Linz to Rechberg (60km) in four days, accompanied by a baker with his donkey, the Tuchfärberey. Which is an endeavour that, in my eyes, absolutely rocks.

The market itself was wonderful. Situated in the middle of Mother Nature, very large and friendly. The music seemed to be more of the quiet kind, which is rare on markets, as the bands usually need to gather attention. I enjoyed the more peaceful music a lot.
Unfortunately the market only takes place once every two years, and it isn’t sure if it will be the same next time, which is a shame. I could have spent days there (Sunday alone went by too fast and simply wasn’t enough).


The beginning of the trip on Monday in Linz.


Some of the musicians played additionally apart from the announced program. Here's the new band member of Rhiannon with her harp.


We squeezed in a little photo session on one of the sidetracks that led from one area to another. (Her smile is actually nervous. "Wellll. I'm sitting on a slippery, moss-covered stone and at some point I need to get off again.")


"Now I'll freeze like that, become a statue, then I won't have to get off at all."
(Medieval leather-shoes are actually very tough for walking and climbing around like that. Christine rescued me several times from fallling very hard.)


20.000 shades of green.


A highlight of the fair. This German Spitz was the most hyperactive dog I've ever seen. In a cute "Give me attention! I wanna play! I'm here! Look at me!" sort of way. And whenever he got the attention of his owner he happily freaked out :D


After the end of the fair Christine and I went to the near observation tower in the forest.
I'm biased, but I think the Mühlviertel has some of the most beautiful landscapes in Austria. Forest, hills, all very soft and round and green.


And became queens of the world for some odd minutes (Well, she did. I was much too concerned by the suspicious noises the wood of the tower made whenever we moved).


Not quite an adventurous pirate lass, but maybe at some point in the future...

Medieval Fair on Burg Clam

Some pictures from the medieval fair on Burg Clam from June 1st. It was a nice fair, beautiful setting and relaxed atmosphere.


A car-view of the castle



Absolute highlight of the fair was the Fangdorn-show, with an immensely moveable dragon (10m long, 3m tall), breathing smoke and fire (not as much fire as he'd have liked to, due to Austrian security regulations, but still quite impressive). The actors were incredibly funny. They were prevented from doing some of the special-effects, so they compensated a bit with hilarious side-comments. Spontaneity rocks.



Afterwards the kids could go and touch Fangdorn. You wouldn't believe how quickly a giant dragon can get drowned in kids.

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Apparently our fast-paced society already began in the fifteenth century, when the chess rules were altered in order to allow for a quicker game.

Inspired by one of the craftsmen in Clam, I designed a Byzantine Chess:


The ornaments are based on clothes patterns from ancient Byzanthium, as is the clothing of the figure in the middle (symbolizing luck/destiny). The craftsman who was working on a Merels game board in Clam also told us that, in medieval art, women whose face was painted in two colours symbolized unstaete (falsehood or inconsistency), which I shamelessly took over for my design.

Langenzersdorf

I paid Vienna a visit this weekend and went to the medieval craft fair in Langenzersdorf. It was a really nice event - no fee and very much focused on education and passing on information on all sorts of stuff from the Middle Ages. I loved how open and friendly everyone was, ready to explain everything and talk about anything, especially the guys from the Wiener Wache/Dreynschlag. Markus and me spent a long time talking to them about their group, fighting styles and training. Very, very informative and interesting (of course, I couldn't stop finding comparisions to Kendo).
Just a pity that the weather wasn't all that good. That night there had been a storm, and the people sleeping in tents had a quite eventful "rest".
Also talked a bit with Viatores Vitiosus about leatherwork, since I'm really intrigued by it and would like to start it myself. It looks like that will be a bigger (ahem, financial and temporal) investment, so I need to think about it some more.

Photos:


Pretty armor


Arduinnas Gefährten showing their skills with a bow (later they shot with their feet - yes, really)


Music, my favourite part of these markets


The highlight of the day - two trebuchets. One big, one smaller, shooting 150m into a field. In the evening, they shot fireballs :->

Sunday was Kendo training in Vienna. It amused me to see how everything is connected. One day I talk with Dreynschlag about footwork in historical fencing, the next day we practice ashi sabaki. Everything's connected, and the more you learn, the more connections you find.

An Ode to Humanity

From my research:

The folk tale is not afraid of greatness. It believes that humanity is not a drab collection of mediocrities, but that nearly everybody has some poetry in him, and that it can flower at times into something which leaves the earth altogether and strikes the stars. Because it believed in human nature it believed that human nature could transcend itself [...]
- John Buchan, The Novel and the Fairy Tale

We're living in a time that likes to emphasise the wounds that mankind deals to nature. Many people feel they have an easier time dealing with inanimate matter than with other people; - which makes this almost a century old sentiment nicely refreshing. It's good to be reminded every now and then that everybody is special in their own way, and you only need to take the time to discover their singularity (the "greatness of little things in others", as the Book of Tea says). I like to lament the self-destructive way of mankind myself quite often, but if All of Humanity was really that bad, I think we wouldn't be here anymore. Most of the people we encounter are inherently good.
The quote also reminded me of one of my teachers in my first year of uni, who made us learn a poem by heart. He said that in several years' time we probably wouldn't remember the poem anymore (he was right), but that a small part of the poem would remain within us and make us more beautiful.

This also ties in with something that Takuan writes about education:

Menschenliebe ist die natürliche Gesinnung des Menschen. Pflicht ist der natürliche Weg des Menschen. Wie traurig ist es, wenn einer seinen Weg verlässt und nicht darauf wandelt, wenn einer sein Herz verloren gehen lässt und nicht weiß, wie er es wieder finden kann!
Wenn einem Menschen ein Huhn oder ein Hund verloren geht, so weiß er, wie er sie wieder finden kann; aber sein Herz geht ihm verloren, und er weiß nicht, wie suchen. Die Bildung dient uns zu nichts anderem als nur dazu, unser verlorengegangenes Herz zu suchen.
- Zen in der Kunst des kampflosen Kampfes

Which makes poetry one of the means to find our heart and the love within us, in order to transcend ourselves and reach the stars. People should read more.

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Last week I went to a cabaret. The media was there, so now here's a short video of the music that was played there with an interview of Leonding-based band Rhiannon.

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Tehehe :->



(Apologies for only posting these small, silly comic pictures recently. There's not much time to work on the big illustrations.)

Jubel!

Upper Austria now has a Society for the Faciliation of Historical Festival Culture, Verein Stupor Mundi. More medieval stuff in Upper Austria. Makes me very happy.

I love my town <3

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Older picture that I never finished, but reworked now:

Golling

I came across this test in which you can try to distinguish fake smile from real ones. I got 19 out of 20 right, which surprised me. It's amazing how close you can get when you know what to look for.

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This weekend was our traditional annual medieval fair in Golling. Unfortunately, our friends from Lower Austria with who we usually met up there didn't come, but it was a lot of fun nevertheless.
What I love about the fair in Golling is that it's surrounded by beautiful mountains and forests. Usually a part of the fair was held in the city and the majority just a little outside on a field and, after a short path through the forest, on a big clearing with a lake. This year the part from the city was moved beyond the lake on (again) a big field next to the forest. This enhanced the atmosphere even more. We took some time to just lie on the grass next to the lake and enjoyed the cool air that came from the forest. All in all it was a wonderful fair, lots of fun and I discovered a great music group.

The lake:



Christine and I in the new dresses we made. I also made my brother's trousers. Next I'm planning to make a complete outfit (including underdress) based on medieval drawings. Concerning that one, I want to try to push the authenticity level as much as possible concerning the cut.

Zen and Jedenspeigen

Kendo training on Thursday was great. Afterwards it felt as if endorphins rather than blood and water were flowing through my body. I again realized that I really have to work on my concentration. It seems to have deteriorated over the years, and I'm now much too easily distracted (causing me afterwards to do some research on the philosophy behind it. Wikipedia says it takes many years to be capable of mushin. I think that's an understatement).
I'm trying to apply what I learn from Kendo to drawing/painting. There are similarities. My arm and wrist are tensed up during Kendo; that's probably also what makes my sketches look so unappealing (apart from the anatomy mistakes). Maybe my grip on the pencil should be much more relaxed and not as tight as it is, so the end result won't look forced and I can pay more attention to the lineweight. I probably also should approach drawing more analytically - observe, notice patterns and causes for mistakes and eradicate them. You learn more effectively when you're aware of every step you take, because then you see when you take the wrong path.

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I spent the weekend in Vienna, buying books and going to a medieval fair. I finished reading one book on the train and came back with five new books. The shelf next to my bed is now officially unable to take more books.
I started reading Not on the Label, which seems to be very similar to We Feed the World, only that it's specific to the British market. The author had a look at products from Sainsbury and Wal-Mart, talked to workers in Birmingham, etc. So in the end it will probably be not as useful to me as it could be, but I got it for 1€, so I won't complain. So far I found out that packaged salad is put into water with chlorine before being packaged, with a chlorine level twenty times higher than in swimming pools. Yummy. Another good reason for me to buy organic food.

The market in Jedenspeigen was nice, although I guess that was mostly because of the people I met there. Rhiannon played quite frequently, but apart from them the program didn't interest me that much. The market was also fairly small and took place on a field (the organizers had lots of hey put on the ground). The earth was extremely dry, there were lots of people, resulting in lots of dirt being whirled up and blown into our faces. I was regularly trying to get the dirt out from under my contact lenses. However, what I really liked about the market was that the people from the craft guild (Handwerksgilde) were there and gave you lengthy explanations when you asked about their work. I learned a lot from listening to them. They were also very friendly and approachable.


A very nice church that we came across while walking to the market. Lovely architecture.


One of the craft guild.


Two "knights" practicing their sword play. That was also a very nice visual image, those two silhouettes moving about in front of the sky.

Back to Camelot

The fair in Linz was nice. Huge masses of people, which got annoying around midday, but in the evening there were fewer people, the heat cooled down and we had a good time. There was some very good stuff at the fair. Some of my favourite merchants (Windalf, for example) and nice, skilled artists. Frank und Frey did an awesome fireshow with eight people and Discordia, as ever, showed a highly motivated swordfight, which resulted in one of the fighters injuring his knee. The fair was just a bit weak on the music side, which is a shame, since that's my favourite part.

Photos:


Going to the fair in the morning, posing with our mead horns.



This was a fairly young group from Linz. They were nice (although it was obvious they were still inexperienced) and tried to involve the kids, which was good, as the fair was aimed at families.



Angus der Barde, who was the most entertaining musician at the fair (of the two that played). And he was nice enough to keep playing a bit when the artist who was scheduled after him could not come.



Aaaand the jester. He was awesome. At the fairs, the good jesters can be as good as the music (for me), and sometimes even better. He was definitely a good one. Poor him could not speak German and tried to communicate in English with the children (who had no idea what he wanted). Very sweet guy.

It's getting dark

The program for the medieval fair in Linz was announced (here). It seems the organizers are trying to even top last year's fair. There's again free entry, plus free breakfast (as long as there is food), some kind of prize draw for people in costumes (yay!), a beer tasting and horse-drawn carriage rides. And again, the fire show at night and a concert. I can only repeat my statement from last year: Linz is great and I'm deeply impressed by the cultural program it offers, especially if you compare this fair with some others that you have to pay for.
...like Salzburg's, which was last weekend. The fair was pretty much like last year. Same program and same merchants, just some different musicians (who were as good as last year). It was a nice, little market, nothing overly exciting, but nice. Of course, usually it's the company who makes the market, and I went with two roleplay geeks and enjoyed their company a lot. No photos, because I forgot my camera in my flat.
So far, of the three fairs I've been to this year, I enjoyed Schörfling most. And not just because it caused me to appear on the front page of an online magazine on medieval fairs :)

I'm looking forward to the summer vacation. Then I'll get back into my habit of painting 5+ hours every day. And, of course, there'll be my research trip to England!

Sketches:
(the first pages of my sketchbook-to-go)

Haul the Colours Up High

I went to see Pirates of the Carribean in English last week. What a pain (the process of getting there, not the film). I missed the bus by two minutes, so I had to get to the cinema in 20 minutes (the bus takes 10 minutes). Miraculously, I managed it and was only five minutes late, wondering if I was in the wrong film since the people on screen were talking (singing) in German. There were lots of language issues in the whole film - German sound, no sound, etc. In the end, we got our money back, because the group of English people complained (they probably didn't understand a word in the German parts).
All in all, though, I liked the film. Definitely better than the first sequel and I liked Jack better as well. Ooooh, his first scene. It was brillliant. I first thought "Hmmm, this is ... kinda abstract" until he appeared on the screen and everything made sense. So, unlike the second film, worth watching.

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The medieval fairs were good. Lots of fun, lots of nice sellers. On Saturday we got into a thunderstorm and hid in the car for an hour. Tittmoning was the bigger market, more merchants, more visitors, more people in appropriate garment. My brother bought some clay dishes. Schörfling was a quite small town market. Fewer people and merchants and (at the beginning) almost no people in garment except for us. But this meant we had more time to peacefully walk through the area and watch the shows. Surprisingly, we also bought more stuff there. I got myself an amber bracelet and (tam-tam-tam) a leather armguard from AC Atelier (I wanted to have something like that since I saw two friends from Amsterdam wearing them). Markus got a dagger from them. I was very impressed with their work ethics - the normal armguards sold at such markets are for men, so far too big for me. I told the merchant that I'm looking for something smaller, and he said he could custom-make one for me in an hour. We went away so I could think about it (it would have cost 30€), and when we came back some time later to give him the commission, he had one ready and gave it to me for 15€. Awesome! Next my brother is getting a sword from him and I probably a fibula or some buttons.
We also found our favourite mead seller in Schörfling, who renamed her shop, but will be at a lot of the fairs we will be going to this summer (now there's a bottle of hemp mead in our cellar). We also found out that there will again be a fair in Linz this year. With all the nice stuff we got and the information, it was a really good birthday.

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A quick portrait I made for a dear friend. Alex's character:
(roughly referenced off the mirror in my room)

The Legend of Amerang

I had a blast. Even though a few things went wrong on the way to the castle, all in all the day was loads of fun and it felt so good to walk among people in medieval clothes again. The market wasn't too big. I'd say it had a nice, comfy size - not too big to get lost and to not see everything and to not be able to talk to the people, but also big enough to offer some variety. All the artists were so open and friendly that I felt completely at home. I spent quite a while talking with the couple from Vergessene Künste who sold some liquors, bathing stuff and food. They were nice enough to explain to me how they make their stuff, why they can't offer mead, and they also showed me how they make their mustard (like it was made in the Middle Ages, just without the stones that make your teeth disappear after a lifetime). I also got a small discount for wearing historical clothes. Yay.
I also repeatedly came across one of the jesters, who then started to tell another visitor that I was following him around and pretend-flirted with me. God, it was fun. Also talked with another seller about night markets and how they're much better than markets that end at 6pm.
The fire-show was amazing. Not as impressive as other shows I've seen (especially since by now I'm somewhat used to them). Still, I cringed often. The two guys from the show set the stage on fire, as well as the towel they used for killing the fire and their clothes. One of them set his tongue on fire. The other one fell into a heap of glass splinters.

I once again realized that I much prefer small sellers and companies to the big mass-market ones. The couple from Vergessene Künste seemed to enjoy explaining their work to me and kept giving everyone who approached their tent drinks (here's the difference between small markets and big, commercial ones: you don't get free stuff to try on the commercial markets - you even have to buy a glass of mead to drink before you can decide if you even like the mead and want to buy it).
There was also a big difference between the trains. I had to change once, using the Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) for the longer trip and the Chiemgauer Lokalbahn (local train for the area around the Chiemsee) for the shorter one. The local train was much cheaper. The Deutsche Bahn made me pay extra because apparently there are different fees for taking different types of train, even when they're going to the same place. So because I took a train that had a travel time of 52 minutes instead of 57 minutes I had to pay 5.30€ more. I wasn't made aware of that when I bought the ticket, only when I already was in the 'wrong' train and the unfriendly ticket woman told me that I have to pay more. Thanks. Also, the staff from the local train was much friendlier. The Deutsche Bahn woman was unfriendly as hell (which I'm not used to, since the staff in the Austrian trains is always very polite and friendly). One of the people from the local train chatted a bit with almost every passenger when they bought their tickets, and the children got chocolate at the beginning of the trip (as it was a special occasion because of the market). When I went back home the same guy also talked with me for a while, asking me about the market. Big kudos to the staff from the Chiemgauer Lokalbahn - they worked all day (with a 30 minute break) to operate the train so we could get to the market and didn't have time to see it for themselves. They're also donating 1€ to the kindergardens in Amerang for every ticket that's sold this weekend.
The Deutsche Bahn discourage me to go to Germany again by train.

The weirdest sight of the day was probably the goth girl smoking a black cigarette. It reminded me of the shop in which you can buy black toilet paper for 2.50€ per roll.

Photos will follow.